All your base are belong to us

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As noted previously, government has a huge file on me. With all the stuff I do, the licenses I have and frankly, being me in general, this is not surprising.

I go through a background check at least once a year, sometimes more. I get fingerprinted regularly. My annual physical is part of the government records. In short, the government knows a LOT about me.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday the government can learn even more about me. Law enforcement now has the right to pull DNA samples from someone who's been arrested.

On one hand I see this as the 4 dissenting Justices see it - an intolerable invasion of privacy.

On the other hand, I see it as some of the 5 judge majority see it - the same thing as getting fingerprints.

I pull my info from this HuffPo story.

IN FAVOR

"Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court's five-justice majority.

Pulling fingerprints is a long established matter. It has led to the solving of many other crimes. Getting DNA, under a search warrant, has also led to solving crimes. Both have exonerated people.

Are your fingerprints a matter of your personal and private business? When you touch something with a bare finger, you leave a fingerprint behind. For that matter, you also leave some cells behind which have your DNA. Do this is in a public place and yeah, it's public. Period. To me it's exactly like walking down the street. Do that and you're in the public eye.

Ya doesn't like it, ya stays out of the public.

However...

IN DISSENT

Public is one thing. Government is quite another.

The SCOTUS case ruled the warrantless DNA swabbing is allowed for "serious" and violent crimes.

 Anyone who believes government is going to stick to that limit voted for the current president.

...Justice Antonin Scalia predict[ed] the limitation to "serious" crimes would not last. "Make no mistake about it: Because of today's decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason," Scalia said in a sharp dissent which he read aloud in the courtroom. "This will solve some extra crimes, to be sure. But so would taking your DNA when you fly on an airplane – surely the TSA must know the `identity' of the flying public. For that matter, so would taking your children's DNA when they start public school."

Oy. He's absolutely correct. Once government gets permission to harvest information about people in for one thing, it will expand that to cover anything and everything.

You think not?

EXPANDING GUMMINT

A Maine license with fingerprint coding.

Do you have a bunch of gibberish on the back of your driver's license? Not a bar code, but what looks like the printer had a migraine. In Georgia and some other states, that's a fingerprint digitally encoded.

When this was passed in Georgia, it was done to help eliminate identify theft and fraud. In this regard, it has been one of the most spectacular failures in the history of government. Not too long ago federal folks served warrants in an ID theft case in the town where I live. Several people have been arrested on more than 100 ID-theft related charges per person. Law Enforcement simply didn't bother to pursue more warrants.

The fingerprint is NOT supposed to be used in criminal investigations, in Georgia at least.

And if you believe that's actually what is happening, you voted for the current president twice and wish he could be elected dictator for life.

The simple fact, born out by the history of humanity, is that government will take everything it can get and then some. DNA harvesting is just another step in giving government more control of our lives.

It's wrong and it's going to lead to more abuses.

Definitely not good enough

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Among the many books I have, there are three which I will never read.

Book 1 is independently published. I received the book as an entry in the Benjamin Franklin Awards, an annual book competition for independent publishers in which I am a judge. I will not tell you the author nor the name of this book. I do not want to embarrass the elderly man who wrote it.

Book 2 is Syndey's Comet by Brian Herbert, son of the late SF grandmaster Frank Herbert. I don't even like to TOUCH this book. It is that bad. I might touch it long enough to hurl it and lots of profanities at Herbert if I ever meet him.

Book 3 is actually the kind of book I'd genuinely LOVE to read. But, I'm not gonna.

It has nothing to do with the writing of the book.

It has a bit to do with the content of the book.

It mostly has to do with the way a handful of people treated me.

"Baker, that don't make a bit of sense, even for you," you tell me.

It's just the way I am.

The book cover is at right. Looking at the cover, this would be a perfect fit for me.

I ride and like it a LOT. I hugely enjoy philosophy. Combining the two for me just, well, it's a case of cosmic congruence for me.

Except it's about Harleys.

I have nothing against the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Correction. I do have something against Harley-Davidson in a way, hence this column. But what I have against this American motorcycle has nothing to do with the bike, but everything to do with a few people who ride Harleys.

More specifically, just a few people I have met over the years, more recently one in particular in the county where I live.

I 'splain.

I ride a Honda 1100. I call it Purple Haze. It has the loudest exhaust of any bike in the county.

Some time back I was talking with some other riders who ride Harleys. I asked about the rides they take. For non-bikers, "ride" has a variety of meanings. In this case, I mean a road trip.

I was immediately informed by one of the riders that their rides are for Harley owners only. No one else is welcome.

My Honda and I are not good enough, apparently, to ride with them.

This is an attitude I've seen expressed by a number of other Harley riders. Sometimes it's done without malice or an intent to discriminate, such as pouring rice under an import ride at a bike show. The rice means it's leaking. That's just funny.

The rider I mention above was clear in his discrimination. I am not good enough to associate with them.

He's exactly right. I am not good enough. I'm too good to hang around people who insist on dividing the world based on arbitrary information and refuse to accept other people.

Anyway, as to the book - I tried to read it. I read the opening chapter. The author even discussed the Honda motorcycles. He said clearly, the Honda brand is a better, tougher, longer-lasting and more reliable motorcycle than a Harley (which is also backed up by maintenance and repair records from around the world). He also said there's just something about riding a Harley that cannot be found in any other motorcycle.

Agreed.

But as I read the author's musings my mind continually ran back to the rider who thinks I'm beneath him. I thought about other Harley riders I have known who didn't exactly express the same opinion, but made it clear through their actions that I'm a lesser rider because my steel steed is a Honda.

What infuriates me to no end is that this kinda attitude goes beyond HD discrimination.

What really makes me mad enough to chew nails is: This kind of attitude is pervasive in society. We judge people based on choices they make which have NOTHING to do with the kind of person they are. For instance, Justin Beiber fans are sneered at, as is the singer himself. When done without malice, this is funny. When done to create discrimination, it's just freekin' wrong. If someone like Beiber's music, that's their business! It's none of your business and should not affect how you treat them.

Exactly like that.

Even beyond that, what takes my anger to the outer limits is:

I do the same damned thing. I will judge people based on a factor that has nothing to do with who they are. I consider that factor and decide I am better than they are. I have even done so in this column, expressing an opinion that I'm better than the discriminatory Harley riders. Never mind it is a defensive reaction.

Dammit.

That is NOT the person I want to be, NOT the person I try to be and it pisses me off beyond belief.

I have simply got to do, correction, BE better.

You have no idea...

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The vast majority of people in the United States have no idea what they ingest or absorb on a regular basis.

As remarked this week at the County Commission meeting, sheep parts are often processed in things people put into their bodies. By parts I do not mean the meat as in lamb chops.

No animal testing needed. The four-legged sheep are dead.

"Lipstick from sheep guts." was a comment made at the Commissioner's meeting.

Really?

This page is a PIA to read. I suggest highlighting the text and it becomes easy to read. But it does tell you what sheep byproducts are used for, including cosmetics. "Also, fats and fatty acids play an integral role in chemicals; glycol is found in brake fluid and glycerol is the ingredient that makes asphalt stick together. To top things off, most people don't realize that products they use on themselves everyday, such as: makeup, cosmetics, tanning lotion, shaving cream, and hand cream, contain sheep fat and fatty acids."

I'm laughing insanely right now.

The same people who would have conniption fits simply SEEING a pile of sheep fat have no problem smearing it on their lips and eating it. If you don't think you wind up eating the lipstick you wear, then you have cognitive issues I'm not going to be able to fix.

Then again, I have been wrong before. 

Really? Sheep placenta? Face cream?

Somebody needs to explain this to me.

It's entirely fine to wear sheep placenta (see right image) but lipstick made from sheep fat is right out. Admittedly a critter had to die to deliver up the rendered fat, but that's also a side issue. The sheep died to provide meat. enterprising folks learned to use the fat rather than just throw it away.

As for other uses for sheep byproducts, sausage casing is made from the chitterlings. Chitterlings are the intestines, in case you missed that. 

The hooves, bone and horns go into marshmallows, piano keys, gelatin desserts like ice cream, yogurt, and jello.

For you baseball fans, remember the outside is leather. The inside of the baseball "contains processed blood."

I am beyond amused right now because of the massive discomfort and revulsion some of you are experiencing.

Compounding my delight is the fact that the vast majority of people have no idea what they are eating when they eat "food." 

If people really bothered to learn about what they eat ... I don't know. Thinking more critically, I don't believe eating habits would change. People gotta eat or die. Given the choice, most folks will eat rather than starve.

Even more discombobulated than usual

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Most people have a stream of consciousness. Most people also have a mild, meandering creek that's lovely to look at and ride down. Me? I have a Class VI rapids stream of consciousness. Y'all know that, or should by now.

So with that in mind, I warn you now: Today's rambling may be more disjointed than usual. It's a topic I've been rassling for a good long while now. I do not expect to achieve a resolution in my mind, but I have to get this out.

I start with this news item from the HuffPo. You need to scroll down toward the end of the article to get to the good part. I am HUGELY looking forward to this experiment being repeated. If it is repeated and found valid, this it's going to amount to a bitchslap across the face of a lot of people. At the same time, it is NOT going to be 100 percent validation for a bunch of other people. If it can't be repeated, it'll be listed as yet another anomaly.

Ooooooo!

What we have here is a case of science possibly validating something that religion has long stated.

Oooooo.

So here's my conundrum.

I do not claim to be a scientist nor do I claim to understand everything science does.

Neither do I claim to be an expert of religion nor do I understand everything that God does.

So.

SCIENCE

I have read that accepted scientific fact at one time stated the earth was flat. We now have evidence the earth is round.

The science of A'Tuin.

I point this (and many other now-overturned scientific "facts") to certain people. The most coherent reply I get is that "What we state as fact is what fits the available evidence and our understanding of that evidence."

Meanwhile I mentally burn out another transmission."Yeah, but you (science) were wrong! Not just once but a BUNCH of times! So why should I trust everything you say now?"

"Because we're right," is the answer I get. I truncate here for space reasons. But semantically, that's exactly the answer provided.

And so a tautology is launched that would give Ouroboros a choking fit.


Of course the same exact thing can be said of religion. Further some of the scientific "facts" which were wrong were based on religious teachings.

F'dang. More tautology.

Occasionally I get an "I don't know" as an answer. When faced with that as an honest answer, the debate is over.

RELIGION

The chief question for religion is "why." Why anything and everything. Actually, the same can be said for science.

God at work?

Periodically someone who claims to have a skull-to-cosmic-consciousness connection to the great creator will write down (so to speak) what that creator dictates. Over the course of human existence, plenty of people have stepped up as a spokesman for the one true god. Most - correction - all are ridiculed. Ridicule is the resort of those who run out of intellectual ammunition. Both sides are equally guilty of that kind of fight.

Religion has often been proven wrong. The dogmatic move forward, ignoring or rationalizing away the mistakes of the past. And yet, science has proven as factual many things which religion has stated. Prior to the science proving it, it was pooh-poohed as bushwa.

Is any of this sounding familiar?

When asked for proof, the essence of the reply of the religious is "God said."

Calling Ouroboros. Paging Mr. Ouroboros...

Rarely, less often than in scientific circles, someone will stand up and say "Well, I just don't know." Argument over.

MAKING SENSE

In this debate which has raged ever since the first shaman clobbered the first person to question him, I find myself increasingly retreating into the statement Socrates made popular - All I know is that I know nothing.

Science, at least the hard sciences, as I understand it is an attempt to make sense of the physical world.

Religion, at least as I understand it, is an attempt to make sense of the human condition.

Move the most infinitesimal distance away from either of those positions and the two overlap. The overlap is where the arguments reside.

For those interesting in walking out to the far end of science, you can read of how our universe is one of many, perhaps unlimited, how our "laws" of physics don't apply in those other places, how our "laws"  and "facts" were created at the instance the universe was created and at least one noted big thinker who says gravity does not exist. Really. Boiled down to the essence, these advanced theories are the same thing as religion. To wit: Something happened. We don't know what, why or how. We're trying to figure that out.

The same stuff exists on the religious side with various levels or realms of existence, what happens there and so forth.

As Rebel says, "my head parts hurt."

ONE MORE THING

Science has not proven the existence of God one way or another. As my scientific friends tell me, lack of proof is not proof. In other words, saying "It does not exist" is not a valid scientific statement. Saying "We do not know if it exists" is a valid statement.

On the religious side, mankind is attempting to bring a human-order and understanding to a cosmic consciousness. Understanding that metaphors are always inexact, I tell you that trying to reduce God to a human understanding is is like trying to teach calculus to Hairball, my daughter's cat.

Blow 'em ALL up

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Many many years ago I said when I owned a house, I'd have book shelves in every room. People who've been to my place have seen shelves in every room.

Every room.

On two different shelves I have a set of books some of which have profoundly influenced me and helped shape me into the person I am today. They are also my all time favorite reads. The list includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dune, Tales of the Old Duck Hunter's Association and Other Drivel, My Health Is Better in November, Stand on Zanzibar and This Is Your Captain Speaking. The Bible is not included in this list because the above books are all first edition (except Dune) and cannot be replaced.

To this list I must now add Ralph Peters' work, The War After Armageddon. This surprised me immensely.

I found the book in a rack at a discount store, a chain of stores I routinely visit because I can get novels for about 20 percent or less of the original cover price. I nearly passed over Peters' work because I seriously do not like war novels and don't care for action novels. But the price and the fact that it was a novel of what could happen in the future made me buy it.

Egad.

The writing is good. Not great, but good. The character development is very good, not awesome, just very good.

The exploration of human interaction with politics and religion as the basis for those relationships is as good as anything I have ever read, including Dune. That kind of discussion cranks my tractor.

Peters, a former military man, uses war in the Middle East as a plot device for his exploration of what can happen when a large group of people is simply pushed too far. Egad. Egad. Egad. Egad.

The scenario he posits is frightening realistic and to my thinking quite possible. Religion and politics are not a metaphor in this book. It's reality and can be seen right now.

One of the statements which struck me hardest was made by the protagonist Lt. Gen. Gary "Flintlock" Harris. He said that if it was possible, he'd blow up every part of the planet over which war in the name of religion was fought.

Arg. Confusing.

He said he'd blow up any rock that caused religious division.

Yes. 

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes to the whatever power necessary to blow up every religious rock in the world that has sparked a war.

Blow them up. Turn them into dust.

If you serve a god that is more concerned about a piece of dirt than the people of this world, then Ralph Peters suggests and I clearly state your god has his priorities in the wrong place. Attaching so much religious significance to a piece of dirt or a building that you'll kill someone over it — No. Blow it up so it can't belong to any religion. If a religion tries to lay claim to it again, blow it up again. I say that knowing what the Old Testament states.

Peters' work in this book is infinitely forgettable for his writing ability, somewhat forgettable for his character development, but the message in the book is one that needs to be writ large, remembered and lived.

If you follow me, we're both in deep kimchee

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This not about church or religion.

Some time back I interviewed a Church of God pastor from West by God Virginia. He runs a church which his grandfather ran. He's been there more than two decades and has turned down promotions from the COG international office.

talk about a parking problem...

His church is on a leveled off mountain. At the time, the congregation was waiting for a mining company to flatten another mountain so they could build a bigger sanctuary.

He told me "The passion of the Christ is 'I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.' The passion of too many minister is 'I will leave you and I will forsake you.'" He went to to say a church pastor should buy a cemetery plot in the community where that pastor serves.

As the COG pastor said, it takes an average of 18 months to get to  the point of trusting someone. So, just as the congregation is willing to trust the preacher, he's gone.

I brought this up a while back on FB, about how church leaders are experts showing up and leaving in short order. Some preachers don't even bother to unpack, I believe. I know a few who absolutely will not stay in one place for more than six months. I also know a few people who won't hold a job for more than a few months. Ahem. Anyway, the average pastor stays at a church for 18 months.

A friend reported a conversation from another pastor who said "I know it's time to leave when they start looking to me instead of Christ."

I suggest the pastor in that case ain't doing his job.

Except that he very well may be.

He's dealing with humans, after all.

The problem is when the Bible describes us as sheep, it was dead right on. We need a leader. Even the most devout anarchists I know pledge allegiance to leaders. They espouse the views offered by others. They demand everyone walk down the path someone else created. They look for inspiration from others.

Leaders worth following are a rare commodity. Even more rare is that individual willing to stand up and say "I'm going another way. You can follow me if you want to, but I am not your leader."

I hesitate to say that humans want to be accepted, but I believe that to be the case. Even the most misanthropic person on the planet wants to be included, whether or not he or she will admit to it. That inclusion may be only one other person, but the isolationist is going to want someone. The Unabomber comes to mind when I think of an isolated person. And yet it's still obvious from his writings that he wanted to be a part of, not apart from. If he truly wanted isolation from humanity, he'd have never written his manifesto.

A good cult!

The problem is people are far too willing to attach themselves to someone who is a good salesman and not a good leader. Cults are made by people who can fake a connection to other people with such sincerity that it reaches a primal need for a human to human connection. This is why I say the pastor who said he was leaving may have done his job. It's also why I criticize the pastor.

This is also why this nation has elected the same person with a different face to be the president for as long as I've been an adult. It's the Cult of Personality.

This is also why we are splintering into an increasing number of factions.

Until we are willing to break away and find a leader worthy of the title, even if that leader is ourselves, don't expect much to change. When, and if, we do manage to rally behind a leader worthy of leading us, I doubt most will have the intestinal fortitude to be led.

Let 'em get in the way

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This article posits a query which has been going on for as long as I can remember.

Full disclosure - I often have problems remembering last week. So I really have no idea how long this debate has been going on.

No problem here.

But still. If the boy wants to play with dolls, let him. If the girl wants to be a ninja, more power to her. Let the kids be kids.

More to the point, get involved with the kids. When they want to do something, help them do it. In raising my two, I did stuff with them. Lots of stuff. Whatever they wanted to do which included (when they were small) riding around checking on the cows.

We did things together. Now my son is 16 and my daughter 14. Both hug me regularly in public. In front of their friends.

Neener. Neener Neener.

Even MORE to the point, get your little ones to help YOU.

When my two were small, I got them to "help" me frequently.

It took twice as long to accomplish the task v. me doing it by myself. Doesn't matter.

Atta boy!

I showed them I cared. I showed them they mattered to me. I taught them that they could. They now have skills. They can do, by themselves, what we used to do together. They can even doing it faster than I can in some cases.

I also taught them skills that are sadly lacking in today's world. My two can put food on the table straight from the source. They have fed the family several times over in fact.

I spent time with them, time that can never get retrieved. They spent time with me. We did things that had to be done and things we wanted to do. The two were not always the same.

The point is, WE did it. How many of you parents can say the same thing? You new parents, will you be able to say it years down the road?

What I did is not hard. In fact, it was beyond easy. I capitalized on something.

Children absolutely LOVE to help. Guaranteed.

I can take ANY toddler, no matter how scared he or she is of me and hand the little one something and say "Can you help me take this to (insert some person a short distance away)." The kid is zooming off with whatever it was in his hand. It gets delivered, He hauls back, zooming past me and giving me a High Five at the same time.

Children have a major desire to be needed, wanted, to contribute and feel useful. When you feed into that, you build real character into that child. You teach him or her that they can matter, they do matter and what they really will make a difference.

It's now so ingrained in my two that they go out looking for things to do to help other people. Unfortunately this has not translated into doing stuff around the house. Someone else's house? They are all over it.

Getting back to the original subject, if the kid wants to play with dolls, let the kid play. If it really bothers you (and it should not, unless the child is doing vivisectionist work), then ask the kid to HELP you do things. Equally good, ask the child if you can help with what he is doing.

Thanks but, nah. I'll pass

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Social media has been beyond awesome in allowing me to connect to people I lost touch with. Rebel, Mary, Phil, Tom and James come to immediate mind. They are part of a crew who took me through one the hardest periods in my life and made sure I came out the other side.

I've also reconnected with most of my graduating class. Two major exceptions. Marcus, well, I'm not gonna reconnect to him in this reality. In the next world I certainly hope so. Marcus was killed in a car wreck in his freshman year of college.

The other major exception I shan't discuss here.

Then, social media has thrown some names up in front of me from people I left behind (and in turn was left behind) years ago. As I see these names and pictures pop up, I look and wonder if I should reach out.

Then I remember what we went through.
 
I emphasize we because it took two (or more) to tango. 

Certainly I was the cause of strife in far too many cases. At the same time the other person was the cause of strife in far to many cases.

We were both an exacerbating agent far to many times.

There's certain memories that need to remain where they are. Forgiveness is granted. Forgetting is done as long as I don't have to deal with them now.

You may very well say we've grown, up, out and older. Certainly this is the case. Maturity definitely brings a different outlook on certain matters.

Irrelevant to me where some folks are concerned. While I must truthfully thank them for helping shape me into the person I am today, I really don't need to relive what it took to get me to this point.

So, why I say thank you for the potential re-connections, Social Media, I say, nah. I'll pass.

Study to go off on a rant!

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This is not about religion. 


2 Timothy 2:15  - Study, to show yourself approved.

This and what follows is my opinion and only my opinion.

A few people in my town who would rather share gossip, spread rumor and otherwise ignore the truth are up in arms over an incident that did not take place at our local school.

What did or didn't happen is less relevant than who is complaining. Less relevant because they complain about many things without bothering to get the full story. So, it's old news in one respect that they complain.

This group who has complained has not bothered to learn the truth, not bothered to find out the details, not bothered to educate themselves.

In that, they are no different from groups of complainers in your community.

They complain because the rules are being applied. This bothers them because they did not know what the rules were until said rules were applied. Then, it's time to bring out the torches and pitchforks.

Let me, please, extend this heartfelt and deeply held sentiment to all those who complain as above.

Put in a TV show format so they will understand.

In the United States you have the right to free speech. You have the right to complain. You have the right to verbal diarrhea without knowing what you are talking about.

I also have the right to ridicule you for spouting off and being so uniformed a troop of howler monkeys would make more sense than you.

All together now, aone atwo athree...

In the current debate about our school system, yeah, I do know more than the people who are complaining. Yassee, I read the policy. I read the other policy. I read the other other policy. I even learned about the federal laws and policy. So, yeah, I do know more. I've instructed educators about the various policies and the laws.

2 Timothy 2:15  - Study, to show yourself approved.

These policies, especially the local one, is given to the parent(s) of every child in the school system. The Board of Education asks for feedback. Except from teachers, admin and me, I'm not aware of the BoE getting feedback until the policy is applied. It's also available online. http://tchs.turner.k12.ga.us/?PageName=%27Handbook%27.


When the rules are enforced, those enforcing and creating the rules get more feedback than a Yoko Ono concert.

As for the policy, parents sign off, sometimes, on the policy without ever bothering to read it. This means they have read it, approve of it and agree to it. Ya get that? When you sign something it means YOU AGREE!

 Except in the case of so many people, it doesn't mean that.

"Yes, I signed it. No I didn't read it."

Which, being translated into sheeple is "Yeah I signed it but you can't hold me accountable for that. You see, I'm too bloody stupid to bother reading something that has a significant impact on my life and I trust that you are doing what I want you to do, until you actually do it in which case I will object and demand changes and spread rumors about something that didn't happen in hopes of making such an uproar that something will change, which I will also ignore until something happens and I feel like doing the same thing all over again."

The current matter, paddling, is covered in a number of policies.


And yes, I know the policies. I also know that if those people who complain knew and understood the policies the way I do, they would not be complaining. Would. Not. Because they would know they have nothing to complain about, because they would have seen that the policies were enforced at the beginning of the school year.

But that requires willingness to learn. Sheeple don't learn. Sheep dogs do.

2 Timothy 2:15  - Study, to show yourself approved.

Whither truth?

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I do not frequent the "alternative media" because I get beyond tired of sorting their spin from the news. I don't listen to talk radio or watch TV for the same reason.

Color me whatever you like, but I have this habit of thinking for myself and verifying information before I  believe it.

So, crost my feed yesterday comes a story from alternate media that the president has signed an executive order to ban the import of certain weapons and ammo. It took me clicking that link, an embedded link in that story leading me to another story where I clicked YET another link to finally get to the Federal Register where this all originated.

I had to wade through a bucket load of extraneous links to make that happen too.

So. Don't take my word for what I write below. Find out for yourself.  The Federal Register, BTW, is a massive document published periodically. It contains a report of what the government does. The three pages I reference in the link is partly today's topic.

So, can the president by executive order ban the importation of ammo?

Sorry about this, but gotta swamp you for a moment.

Executive Order 13637
to designate defense articles and defense
services as part of the statutory USML
(United States Munitions List)
for purposes of permanent import
controls, regardless of whether the
Secretary of State controls such defense
articles or defense services for purposes
of export and temporary import; and to
clarify that defense articles and defense
services controlled pursuant to the
Attorney General’s delegated AECA
(Arms Export Control Act)
authority are part of the statutory USML
(along with those that are controlled for
export and temporary import by the
Secretary of State), but that the list of
defense articles and defense services
controlled by the Attorney General is
labeled the USMIL to distinguish it from
the list of defense articles and defense
services in the ITAR (International Traffic in Arms
Regulations) that are controlled
by the Secretary of State.

When your brain stops spinning, this means the president can act pursuant to a law Congress passed. It also references “defense” repeatedly.

Here’s the issue. What does “defense” mean? If that means guns like pistols, shotguns, rifles and ammo for the same for the civilian market, then yeah, the prez can ban in the import. If it means items related to what the military can use, then the prez has no authority here over the civilian market.

Reading further into the matter, I come across this language:

“foreign policy and national security reasons.”

“7 CFR part 447”

“based on the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States posed by the unrestricted access of foreign parties to U.S. goods and technology and the existence of certain boycott practices of foreign nations.”

“This rule will not result in the expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100 million or more in any one year, and it will not significantly or uniquely affect small governments.”

“THE U.S. MUNITIONS IMPORT LIST (USMIL)”

Several categories are listed as “reserved” which means there’s nothing there right now. Categories listed are: "CATEGORY VII—TANKS AND MILITARY VEHICLES" and "CATEGORY VIII—AIRCRAFT AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT"

You now have the information. What you make of it is up to your, but at least you have the real story on which the spin is based.

When realities collide

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Being young, stupid and having been shot not too many years before, I was quite full of myself when I stood up before a panel of internationally respected journalists and gave them my 19-year-old's opinion.

At hand was when does a journalist stay a journalist or set aside news gathering to help. I said screw journalism, help  the people!

Me bud Doug Rogers (a freakin' amazing shutterbug) broached the topic on FB: Question for the photogs: Should photographers take pictures of people getting their legs blown off or should they stop (we are assuming that there are enough people there to help)? (in light of the Boston Marathon Bombing)....You already know what I think..

You'll get to what he thinks at the bottom of this piece.

I replied:

This is an ages old argument. However, in this case there is more than just wounded people and journalists with cameras.

1) EMS, nurses and a TRUCKLOAD of people qualified to deal with medical issues were already on scene. This is exactly why the loss of life is so low.

2) Unless the photog had emergency medical training, trying to help in this case would be getting in the way. So, take the pictures.

3) There were loads of other people also trying to help.

In the case of disaster where there was no help, screw the camera. I am a human first. If someone died because I was more interested in a picture - no. I'm not that kind of person.

Whom would you want to explain your actions to?

1) The family of the dead person. "Sorry. Yanno, I have a job to do. Had to get the news."

2) The editor. "Sorry. Person was dying there and I tried to save them."

As a newspaper publisher, I know what I expect my employees to do. You are a human first and a photog next.

Another commentator in this thread looked at it from the victims' perspective: If my legs were blown off, I would be upset if a photog was surrounding me capturing this horrific experience in my life. I would not want to come across any photos of me either. I think there is a tasteful way to capture tragedy. People crying, hugging, helping others, etc. would be more touching and interesting to me.

There's a gut shot for us journalists. At the same time, the comment is irrelevant. I remind everyone the purpose of the media is to make money. Us journalists don't get a free ride. We have bills to pay just like you do. We earn money by delivering the stuff you want to see. In this case, people may say they do not want to see people bleeding with shredded arms and legs. Reality says different. Reality says those are the money shots.

As Don Henley sang "We need dirty laundry."

There's also the question of documenting the event. Without any doubt, the Boston Marathon bombing is the most photographed terrorist attack ever. It will not surprise me if there are more than 1 million static images and more than 100,000 hours of video.

This event needs a human face and that includes tragedy.

I am reminded of the very first disaster covered with something more than just words. The Hindenburg. I am reminded of how Vietnam changed the face of war coverage. I am reminded of how the second battle in Iraq further changed war coverage by sending reporters out with troops.

I've had to cover gruesome events. I still recall the first murder scene I covered. I still CLEARLY see the aftermath of a head-on semi collision and - nah. You don't need to know more. I covered it. I took pictures until I ran out of film.

There was nothing I could do to help. So I documented to the best of my ability. I gathered everything I could and sorted it out back at the office. In the field, in the moment and on the scene is not the time to do intensive editing.

See the whole thread here: and find out what Dougie Fresh thinks

https://www.facebook.com/doug.rogers.7902/posts/10151441599477881?comment_id=26889512&offset=0&total_comments=11&notif_t=feed_comment_reply

Rocking da house

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Eddie James, the singer famous for the song "I Am" was in Lee County on Wednesday night performing at a Church of God. Clan Genius packed up and hauled out to hear this mighty man. This video is nowhere NEAR the experience of seeing him perform live with his kids on stage as well.

"It was awesome," quoth the youngest of Clan Genius (Susan).

Jesse also express, in his own way, that the concert and show were beyond reproach and he had a most wonderful time.

So yeah, it was a night well spent and worth so much more than we dropped in the offering plate.

Yeah. Offering plate. No charge to attend the show. When was the last time you got to see top selling recording artist live for free.

When the night was over Eddie James and his literal bus load of kids left. Yes. Bus load. Eddie runs a program for kids who have been in trouble with drugs. He averages 40 teens and young adults at the time and has adopted many who have gone through his program.

Yeah. Adopted them.

Anyway, the show was a major hit among the young crowd. Kids packed the front of the church, bouncing, jumping, yelling, singing and carrying on. Exactly like they should be doing, especially in church.

Especially. In. Church.

Gonna take some of you a while to get that.

What a night.

Fortunately for most of the young'uns in attendance Wedensday, the concert was not unusual. They are used to church services where they can express themselves.

When I was the age of some of those kids, my church was sit down, stand up, kneel, carefully walk forward and intone at the proper moments. I remember my mother telling me repeatedly if I didn't like something "you can just sit in the car." One Sunday we pulled up at church and I grabbed the Sunday paper to read. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm going to sit in the car," I replied.

I did not sit in the car, but neither did she threaten me with that again.

If church had been fun, like it was Wednesday night, when I was younger, I probably would have continued to attend through my later teen and young adult years.

Church should be fun. Let kids have a good time. Let them rap, crank the guitars to 11 and pound the skins loud enough to cause tremors. God says we are to enter into his presence with joy and thanksgiving. I think God enjoyed the show Wednesday night too.

Beating you to death with your own horse

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OK, so the title is a badly mixed metaphorical analogy. By now you should be used to that.

Afore I get started, please read this by my longtime friend. Now, please exclude the comments about abortion, Christianity and religion. Examine the substance of what she says.

I believe this can be summed up nicely in the two statements I ripped from her blog:

What's good for the goose is good for the gander, or whatever. I am being forced as an religious context deleted to support something that is a violation of my conscience.

Cut the apron strings. Stand on your own two feet.

Oo. Well said, well said, well said. BooYAH!

Gratuitous RHPS image.

Point 1: She is forced to support something with which she has moral and ethical disagreements. I suspect a majority of people object to being forced to support that which goes against their conscience.

I also know these people, if given the opportunity, would take strong measures to prevent themselves from being forced to support stuff they disagree with. They'd even enact laws and create criminal penalties to prevent being forced to give that support.

Careful with that dead horse, Eugene!

When you decide to legally eliminate support for things you disagree with, then parity, equality, fairness, etc etc etc require that you extend the same right to other people. What are they going to eliminate? What pet projects of yours are gonna be cut? What will be made illegal?

Fortunately my friend has the answer in part two.

Close enough.

S'right. Get off your butt and on your feet. Unless of course you can completely support yourself on your butt. In which case, more power to you.

Stand on your hands for that matter.

One-handed pushups? Rock it like Jack Palance!


If asked, the majority of people I know would also endorse this concept whole-heartedly. Would you? Really?

I doubt it.

Most people will support that idea.

Except when it gets personal.

Except when it it becomes uncomfortable.

Except when it affects them (you) directly.

Except when I apply your reasoning and logic to things you do which I disagree with. Then, I'm wrong, again, and have obviously misunderstood your point. Except I didn't. No one likes to have their own words used against them.

The problem is most people are in full support of parity, being equitable, etc etc etc etc for everyone else. They (you) want special treatment.

Yeah. You do. Argue with me all you want, but when it comes right down to it, your rights are far more important to you than my rights are to you. Again, argue all you want. The empirical evidence is weighted so heavily to my position, yours might as well be on Mars.

Pick a topic. Abortion. Gay marriage. Employment. Taxes. Government supplied services. G'head.

Few are the people who will truly stand up and say "Yeah. I said it. I meant it and if you apply it to me, I'm gonna like it!" I'm trying to be that kind of person, but I admit I have a ways to go.

And you're an expert how?

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In my community there is a person who swears I am beyond an idiot and have no idea how to do my job. 

In case you wonder, I run a newspaper.

This person, who insists I'm clueless, once worked for a newspaper. This person was fired at the end of the probationary period.

Ah. Well, at least this person had SOME idea of what I go through each week in producing a newspaper.

Considering the semantic content, this person's complaints are universal. Which doesn't make sense.

Lemme put this in slightly more personal terms.

You do something, your job. I don't know what it is. I don't have to know. You do it.

Your job takes a certain set of skills, abilities and a few other things which you bring. The job has requirements you must meet. Etc.

Now, here I come. I have never done your job. I have only a vague idea of what it takes to do your job. All I see of your job is the public face. I do not know what you have to do where I cannot watch. Frankly, if I had to do your job, I wouldn't make it through the probationary period and might not last the first day.

"You," I say, "are an idiot and have no idea what you are doing."

You grind your teeth, mutter expletives under your breath and mentally question my sexual habits and ancestry.

You are mad, in other words, because here I come criticizing how you work and there's no way I could do your job.

Sound familiar? Truthfully, you can't count the number of times someone has told you that you are not fit to do your job. Reality is they are the ones who are clueless.

Lean in a bit closer.

How many times have you gone off on someone about how they do their job when you really don't understand what they do and how it has to be done?

How many times have you bitched about law enforcement? How much do you know about their training, the liability they face, the paperwork they have to do, the restrictions they work under and - lean in close again - the idiots they have to deal with on a daily basis?

How many times have you bitched about government spending too much and you have no idea what's in the budget? Do you even know how much real control elected officials have over the budget? When government plans to cut programs and services, how much complaining do you do?

How much do you really know about what it takes to be a full time reporter? Ever sat down and tried to read a file of foot-thick government reports?

How much real experience do you have in running a retail store? Ever filled out monthly sales tax reports? Quarterly income tax reports? Dealt with a wholesale supply company?

What do you really know about the RN does in a hospital? Are you willing to wipe backsides, listen to people scream in pain, watch people die knowing there's nothing you can do, and have to coddle people whom you believe are a waste of good oxygen?

I cover high school sports and often hear parents and other adults on the sidelines screaming at the coach. I have, a number of times, turned to them and said "If you think you can do better, go to college, get a teaching degree, learn to become a coach and apply for the job." I get yelled at in return, but I am right.

My point today is, it's easy to complain but incredibly hard to intelligently and rationally criticize. So, the next time someone goes off on you about how inefficient and ineffective you are at your job, remember you do the same thing to them.

They ain't MOLLY HATCHET but...

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As far as I'm concerned, the best Southern Rock band on the planet is MOLLY HATCHET. My first experience with them was with the No Guts No Glory release. I wore the cassette out and probably damaged my hearing.


When listing my top bands of any any genre, MOLLY HATCHET tops the list. The rest of the list may wobble a bit depending on my mood that day, but the top 20 includes in no particular order today: Judas Priest, Tom Petty, Ozzy, George Clinton, Johnny Cash, Brian Setzer, Pink Floyd, The Ramones, The Doors, AC/DC, David Alan Coe, SRV, Koko Taylor, Clapton, Hendrix, Unknown Hinson, Seth Yacovonne, David Wilcox, Robert Cray, Skynyrd, ZZ Top and a few others. So that's more than 20. I told you it is a fluid list.

A Canadian band that sounds like they should be based in Jacksonville, Muscle Shoals or Macon is a rising star in my list.

http://www.zedhead.ca/

I listened yesterday to The Walrus interview Zedhead frontman Fogman on www.irock109.com . Walrus, who once shot me which firmly cemented our friendship beyond measure, plays cuts from folks I've never heard of. Some of the time I wish he hadn't. Sometimes I'm beyond glad he did.

Zedhead, links to their FB page, is one of those groups.

Growling vocals. Screemin' geetar. A moanin' blues harp and working man lyrics. It's the kinda music that makes me want to find a better set of speakers. By better, I mean louder. They play blues-driven music that is exactly what I like to fire up when I'm in the mood to escape from the world for a while through music. Their music takes me to a place no one but me can reach.

Zedhead is already a popular band for motorcycle conclaves and they are gathering serious attention in Europe. Their American following is limited, but growing.

With the state of music today, I do not know if Zedhead will achieve rock star status. One thing I do know, if their kinda music is what drives your soul, like it does mine, it won't matter what the rest of the world thinks. You'll listen. You'll thank the muses which drive Zedhead and you'll be upset that you didn't find out about this group sooner.