A more-random than usual observation

Lemme bore you for one second (or several) before I get around to making a lot of people mad.

SCIENCE! (if you follow my FB postings you'll get that) says disease is: "an impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors" Merriam-Webster

According to SCIENCE! and this definition, a broken arm is a disease. A hangnail is a disease. Freezing to death is a disease, "a response to environmental factors ... climate." 

Yep. Those of us in the South who've suffered heat stroke or heat prostration, "bear-caught" in my neck of the woods, will absolutely agree that environmental factors can cause disease.

But, my issue is with addiction being a disease. The above definition says it is. I do not agree. Addiction is no more a disease than being fat, less. SCIENCE! also agrees with me and disagrees with me. Which side are you gonna believe?

Addiction can't be a disease. Disease is caused by something outside the control of the person so ailing. Lemme interject here I've beaten three addictions, four, depending on how you tally 'em. None were, are or will be disease.

Consider alcohol.

Alcoholism isn't a disease. It's a condition. Alcoholism requires a person to continue detrimental behavior for the addiction to progress. Stop drinking and the problem stops.

Alcoholism can lead to disease like cirrhosis of the liver. Many addictions can lead to disease.

Alcoholism is not a disease. It's a choice. A choice can't be a disease.

If addiction is a disease, then so is the pursuit of any other destructive behavior. Smoking is a disease. Diabetics eating doughnuts every day and driving their sugar to stratospheric levels is disease, not the diabetes itself.

Decisions should not be categorized as disease.

Faith in humanity restored

Now that is class. Citizens lining up to protect the police on W. North Ave. in Baltimore.

This image is from the Black Flag Tactical page on FB.

It clearly shows men standing in front of police officers in Baltimore to protect the officers from rioters.

Images like this and the video purported to be of a momma clobbered her son for being one of the rioters remind me that the world does have good people.

This morning on NPR aired an interview with a young man who looted stores. He was speaking the morning after his rampage and was aghast at what he'd done. He pointed out his community no longer had a place to shop, nowhere to buy groceries, shoes and so forth.

Remorse is good.

Standing up to those who do wrong is better.

Black Flag has plenty of comments on the above picture, including this one from Zach Colton: "Haha i keep seeing words like "real men" "leadership" and "community"....all things that pigs know nothing about."

I'll just let that comment rest there.

Far more common are comments like this from William John. "Mad respect for all those gentleman assisting the police to take back their streets. Even prouder to see the gentleman with the American flag on his shirt and American flag Bandana. Time for American's to come together as 1 UNITED, instead of the scum trying to rip us all apart."

When I linked the image to my page, me bud Jeff Wilson had this to say: "Actually, showing the bad is all its perverse glory is critically important. Why would good rise up if we remain ignorant of what we are facing? Just showing the response to evil will lead to questions about imbalance and inappropriateness of response- like showing a criminal being taken down by police, without having knowledge of the gunfight and 45 minute car chase that preceded it."

Respect.

So do it again

If you are an adult, annoying teenagers is pathetically easy.

Annoying them while teaching them a life lesson is also pretty easy.

Annoying them, teaching them a life lesson and making a point all the same time, not so easy.

Here's what you do.

Wait until a teenager does something painful or complains about doing something that was painful. Doesn't matter what it is. Pain must be involved. Bee sting. Stubbed toe. Banged head. Dropped cell phone and cracked screen. Whatever. Emotional, mental or physical pain, it's all good.

When the teen is done ranting, ask question 1:

Did you enjoy it?

The teenager is going to say "No" and probably say it a bit sullenly. Teenagers do a lot of things with a sullen attitude. We did. If the answer is No, proceed to question 2.

If the answer is yes, then reply "Well good. Do it again."

As I've never received a legitimate "Yes" to question 1, I don't know what kind of reaction to expect.

Question 2: Did you learn anything?

This answer will vary. But, the most common reply is "No."

If the answer is no, you say, "Well, do it again."

The teenager will be surprised, shocked and possibly aghast. Certainly the teen will think you have lost your mind. Correction. This will be further evidence that you, as an adult, have no mind and the world should be run by teenagers because they know everything and just need the chance to put their knowledge to work, just as soon as they get done sending a few more gazillion text messages.

If the answer is yes, you reply: "Well good. It wasn't a wasted experience."

More shock, amazement, aghast-ment and etc. Further proof to the teen that they should be in charge of everything and everyone over the age of 30 needs to be confined to a nursing home.

It is, of course, entertaining to annoy teenagers. But there's a much deeper meaning to this. I've yet to meet a teenager who understood it and I've met few adults who got it.

Bad would be an improvement

The writing on the side of the bottle has to read "HAHA! Stupid American idiots. They drink our brake fluid!"

Hovey provided this reminder, a picture of hell in a box.

This is not a case of Engrish because the writing was not in any form of English from either side of the Atlantic. For that matter, it might not be Chinese hieroglyphics. It could be random slashes of ink on the carton and the bottle.

If whoever designed the containers had drank much of that crap, it probably was random slashes in an attempt to spell out "I'VE BEEN POISONED TO DEATH! HELP ME!"

"That crap" was a box, bottle and liquid contents which Hovey Smith swears he got in China on a business trip a day or so before he came back to Georgia to attend the Georgia Outdoor Writers 2015 conference in St Marys.

I believe Hovey as he's never lied to me, nor given me reason to doubt him. After that ... stuff ... I have reasons for other opinions about Hovey, none of which I can go into here because he can shoot just as well as I can.

 Hovey said the Chinese call it "white liquor" as he sat down at the table with me and handed over a barest sip of the stuff in a plastic cup. I immediately thought of the "white" bourbon Jim Beam sometimes sells. It's the raw bourbon, before aging in the barrels.

"It has bamboo with a hint of machine oil. They like to get foreigners drunk on it," he said.

Hah. A challenge! Not that I intended to get smashed on the stuff, but I certainly had to sample this stuff which the Chinese like to foist on unsuspecting Westerners. I immediately thought of sheep's eyeballs and other "delicacies" foisted off on us Western types much to the amusement of the Eastern hosts.

I sipped. Being Southern Born, Southern Bred and determined to stand tall in the face of adversity, I put on my best poker face as it burned its way down. The burn wasn't that rough.

The taste. Well now.

That stuff would have to go a LONG way to be called bad. I'm thinking a 20-year soak in burnt oak casks might bring it to the level of moderately effective paint thinner.

Vile. Demonically vile. UnConstitutional punishment vile even during the days witches were burned at the stake. In the Sandman Slim novels, the main character drinks something brewed in Hell. Richard Kadrey got the idea for that whisky from the stuff Hovey had. Machine oil, you bet. Bamboo, yep. A complex host of other tastes found in the world's biggest metal foundries that set up shop next to outdoor commercial tanneries and piped the combined effluent out into a fermenting vat into which semi-rotted carp scales were dumped for flavor.

I felt my genes mutating.

Except worse. No. You can't imagine. Be more thankful than you can imagine that you haven't found out and pour on greater hope that you will never try it.

"They love it," Hovey said.

While Hovey did not lie to me, I feel certain the Chinese lied to him.

I told Hovey alcoholics who shoot hair spray into water to remove the alcohol for drinking would sip that stuff and become stone cold sober and never, ever drink again.

He laughed.

Polly tried it a second time because she could not believe her first taste. Words fail me.

I was certain the last bit of the stuff was going to dissolve the cup. Even the scent was enough to cross my eyes and people who know me tell you I have no sense of smell. (That, thanks to a walk through a cloud of anhydrous ammonia when I was 5).

It took four good bourbon and sodas to erase the taste. It took that much to straighten my insides out.

Intrinsically vile. You'd serve this to people whom you hate so badly you want them to keep living.

Even now I can remember it and the memory is causing my stomach to cramp.

I'll see if I can get a bottle to share with y'all next time you come around.

I ain't a racist ... or am I?

Crost my FB thread this morning comes a link to a crowdfunding site raising money for the gent behind the VSU flag flap. Yer not getting a link to it from me.

I admit to not having a clue how other people think unless they tell me. The gal behind this campaign tells me exactly how she thinks in her rants on the fundraising page. For that matter, so did that the guy behind the flag protest, if I am to believe the media reports.

Dunno what your definition of racism happens to be, but the sewer system these two are spouting is my definition of it.

I ain't racist. I hate everybody equally. AR HAR HAR!

I don't hate people because of their tan lines. That'd be like hating someone because of their hair color. Why? What's the point? There are plenty of reasons to dislike someone, reasons that have everything to do with how that person acts, thinks and talks.

That kind of stuff can be controlled. You can control what you say. You can control what you think. You can control what you do.

Aside from serious medical intervention, you cannot control how tall you are.

You absolutely cannot control who your ancestors from 100 years ago happen to be.

Control what you can. Let the rest slide.

When it comes to the stuff you CAN control, yeah.

I ain't a racist, but (yeah yeah, I know, nothing good ever comes next) I'll bet you the gal behind that fundraising campaign and the guy behind the flag protest will tell you I'm racist.  I'd like to see their criteria for defining a racist.

Ah so.

Yeah, I'll trash the flag too!

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Thinking about this kept me up last night. Literally.

The Flag Flap at Valdosta State University is causing heads to go all splodey.

While I'm all in favor of exploding heads, especially in certain people, I am extremely in favor of exploding heads of the majority of people who are up in arms about the flag-walking incident.

Lemme state right here, right now in front of God, you, my readers in South America and whatever terrorists and federal officials are reading this blog: I'm ready to trash the United States Flag in the most vile and foul manner I can think of.

Now that I have exploded some more heads, here's the usual verbose explanation.

Following the incident when a few college students with more anger than sense decided to walk on an American flag and a former Playboy model and veteran snatched the flag up to prevent 'em from continuing to do so, a massive rally was held at VSU with "patriots" flying the flag everywhere.

"Patriots" around the nation have rallied to the gal who thought nothing of showing off her boobs, butt and shaved crotch while wrapped in an American flag and sometimes wearing part of a uniform.

I am trying VERY hard to avoid profanity here. It ain't easy.

The majority of these flag wavers piss me off.

The majority of these flag wavers make me want to paint a giant US flag on the middle of I-75.

The majority of these flag wavers make me want to grab their flags and do despicable things with 'em.

Yeah. I'll trash the flag too.

Why?

Because these people have turned a symbol into something MORE important than what the symbol represents. I am reminded of religious people who venerate objects rather than try to live the lessons taught by their faith.

Yeah. I'll trash the flag too.

I won't be happy about trashing the flag. It will make me angry. But I'll do it. I won't like it. I will not be fit company for other human beings (which assumes I am fit for human company at other times) for a while afterward. But I'll do it.

Why?

To make a point.

Where in the whole multiverse are all these protestors when it comes to supporting our veterans? Where are they when it's time to put up or shut up when it's time to back those men and women to died to support what the flag stands for?

Lemme make this personal. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?

Where are you when a veteran commits suicide?

Where are you when a veteran needs a place to live?

Where are you when a veteran dies because of a POS VA Health Care system?

Where are you when a veteran needs a job?

Where are you when Congress sticks its collective thumb up its rear end and refuses to do what's right by our veterans?

Rally in the street did you? Tote your flags demanding justice did you? Scream for reform as loudly as you could, did you?

Some of you did. Some of you have backed our veterans with everything you could do.\

You.

So.

Rock. 

You folks, yeah. You are part of reason trashing the flag makes me angry. Our veterans are another part.

But as for the rest of you flag-waving - nope. Not going there.

As for the rest of you who can only be stirred from your apathy only when your personal sensibilities are affronted ...

As for the rest of you who are so massively offended by someone walking on the flag that you rushed out and bought Made in China flags of your own ...

As for the rest of you - nope. Still not going there.

If flag desecration is what it takes to get you off your - dammit this is harder than I expected - to get you up and moving to do something, then yeah, I'll trash the flag too. And I'm gonna revile you every instance I'm trashing the flag.

Our veterans are so much more important than a piece of material with red, white and blue coloring. Our veterans deserve so much more than what you are giving them. They deserve so much more than what you're even willing to give them.

If flag desecration is what it takes to motivate you to FINALLY do the right thing, yeah, I'll trash the flag too.

If this what it takes to get you up and moving to demand more for our veterans, then hand me a flag. I need to go to the bathroom.

A man of few words

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The sole reason this particular blog exists is because I am a reporter. I talk to people, write down what they say and then turn that into news articles.

So. I bring you this: "Player will cooperate with the news media, and will participate upon request in
reasonable activities to promote the Club and the League."

This is a phrase from the standard National Football League player's contract.

Didja read that? "Player will cooperate with the news media."

Marshawn Lynch, who apparently plays for one of the two teams in the StuporBowl, is now also famous for refusing to cooperate with the media.

He signed a contract saying he would talk to the media.

He gave his word.

Now, he's backing up on his word. He's broken his word.

Just so you know.

Yo, Christians! Forgive and forget what Jane Fonda did

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This one is aimed at those who claim to be Christians, those who want to be Christians and those, like me, who are trying to get to that point. If you are not in these categories, this blog does not apply to you.

To briefly ‘splain, I am not yet what I consider to be a Christian. I’d like to be. I am working toward that. YMMV

So, moving along. Jane Fonda has formally apologized for her actions during the Vietnam War. 

As expected, this is not going over well with a lot of people. Some ‘Nam vets are protesting. Others are also protesting. It’s gonna take a long time for the pain that war caused to go away, if it every does. Parts of our nation are still fighting one war that formally ended 150 years ago.

One vet said, “Forgive is one thing. Forget is another.”

The Christian Bible says otherwise. To forgive is to eliminate. If it has not been eliminated, there is no true forgiveness. To ‘splain:

Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Some translations use the word “sins” in place of debt and “who have sinned against us” in the place of debtors.

Jesus gave the Lord’s prayer as the template for Christians to pray. In it, He instructs Christians to seek forgiveness from God based on how the Christians forgive others.

Think on that for a moment. Do you want to be forgiven completely? Do you want it wiped out? Do you want it eliminated? “Yes,” say those who believe in what the Bible has to say.

So what does the Bible have to say about it?

Matthew 6:14-15 - For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Good enough. Forgive to be forgiven. Excellent.

So, how does God forgive? Hebrews 8:12 - For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. This is said several times in several ways in the Bible.

God forgets. If the One who created everything forgets, then what He forgot cannot exist any more except as fiction. If God forgets, it does not exist. If it does not exist, God can’t bring it up later. God can’t point to it and say “AHA! This is what you did.” It is gone.

It has to be gone. If the sin still exists, then God must acknowledge it. If God says the sin exists, He must deal with it. He deals with it by holding us accountable. “For the wages of sin is death.”

Do you want God to forgive and forget or just forgive and bring it up later?

God is clear: to forgive is to eliminate. If it has not been eliminated, there is no true forgiveness.

Under Jesus’ template prayer, we ask God to apply the same standards to us as we apply our fellow humans, “as we also have forgiven.”

To forgive is to eliminate. If it has not been eliminated, there is no true forgiveness.
Jesus said people have a choice, even where Jane Fonda is concerned. Forgive and forget and it can never be brought up again. Forgive and keep bringing it up again and again. That’s not true forgiveness. How would you react if God treated you that way?
Jane Fonda made a mistake, She apologized. If you are Christian, it’s time to forgive. If you can’t forgive, then God is not going to forgive you. If you can’t forgive Jane Fonda, how can God forgive you?

Dunno about you, but I have enough to worry about on my own. I don’t need to carry the burden of what someone else did.

Forgive. Forget. Move on. If you can't forget, then her mistake stills exists and you try to hold her accountable. How will you react if God treats you the same way? If you can’t forgive and forget, then how can Jesus’ sacrifice apply to you?

How do you want to be treated?

Nature's way

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One of the problems anti hunters have is cognitive dissonance. They see reality. They reject reality. They substitute their own version of how the world should turn and then demand the rest of the world fall into lock stop.

They say "It's natural. It's nature's way."

Nature is a bitch and I do not mean a female canid. Here's some more quite graphic proof. Did I mention graphic?

Need something even more disturbing? How about chimps dining al fresco on still-living lunch.

Animal rights activists are always anti-hunters. Many anti-hunters are ARA, but not always. Regardless, they think an animal ripped apart and eaten alive is more acceptable than an animal that dies in seconds from a shot.

How can they think this?

The excuse is - the animals don't know any better.

Science is rapidly proving animals DO know what they are doing and have far better cognitive functions than we suspect, especially among the higher order critters like primates and cetaceans. They know exactly what they are doing. Chimps are great examples of this. Consider orca attacks on baby whales in which the orcas eats the jowls and tongue, leaving the rest of the baby whale hanging in the water.

Cognitive dissonance states otherwise.

Nature's way is that carnivores, of which humans are one species of many, catch and eat other animals. Humans just happen to have tools, as do so many other animals, that makes the task easier and less taxing on the body.

If lions on the African plains could understand the workings of a .30-06 and use it, you can absolutely bet they'd be popping antelopes at a few hundred yards and walking up leisurely to have lunch.

That is absolutely nature's way.

Not just another free speech post

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When listings of the most stressful jobs in the world are made, the list is usually topped by active volcano inspector or involuntary suicide bomber.

Somewhere in the top 10, journalists find a spot. The job is so stressful that France (yeah well, it's still a valid point I'm making) requires journalists to have the most vacation time as required by law. The most.

Journalists also appear on top 10 lists for things like alcoholism and stress-related health problems.

It's a stressful job, in case I haven't made that clear.

So now comes this ... idiot. yes, I realize I'm breaking my own rules about insulting people, but if you ain't a journalist (old journalists never die, we just meet a last deadline), then you really don't know what you are talking about.

Sara Gilnes.

According to my admittedly brief research, she started her career in the newsroom, but didn't stay there long. She scooted into management pretty quickly.

And, as is typical of this kind of promotion, she completely ignored (forgot, dumped, whatever), what it's like in the newsroom.

Lemme make this clear. Journalists swear. I, an ordained minister in two denominations, swear.

I've heard people, every single one of 'em is NOT a journalist, say such language is the sign of a small vocabulary.

My reply? A string of epithets threaten to truncate the otherwise sesquipedalian stream of polysyllabic utterances I am normally capable of. My words could curdle milk, congeal blood after exsanguinating said target and remove from the supporting structure water-soluble-adhesive-backed panels of synthetic or natural materials imprinted via offset press with a variety of designs.

Yeah. Limited vocabulary. Every journalist I know is a walking thesaurus. And you thought the thesaurus went extinct millions of years ago. HAH!

Swearing, as science has proven (you can look it up), does make things better. Especially on deadline with things going wrong.

Word slingers swear. Get used to the idea.

We also drink. I beat the caffeine monster a few years ago, which makes my brethren-in-ink stare stupidly at me when I mention it. Yep. No coffee, Mr. Dew, energy drinks etc. Limited chocolate intake too. I regularly wish to resume my habit of mainlining chicory-enhanced Louisiana coffee, but has thus far forestalled the urge.

We also drink adult beverages. Yep, I imbibe occasionally. Feel free to judge me all you want to. I have yet to see a real newsroom where there was no "emergency snake bite medicine bottle" stashed somewhere. Sometimes ya gotta have a chemical relaxer periodically.

A lot of us smoke. An erstwhile college galfriend got me started. I did quit, but I admit when the deadline monster is slavering down my collar and the press shop is yelling, I could probably light and smoke one to the filter in a couple of seconds.

We've got other "bad habits" according to the people who decide which habits are good and which are bad. It's a pressure relief valve. A lot of the time, it works. Unfortunately, it's not perfect. Journalists also rank high on the list of suicides.

Why are we so stressed? Stress is another way of saying pressure and journalists are under extreme pressure all the time. Deadlines never end. People lie and we get blamed. Honest errors result in monster lawsuits. We're simultaneously vilified, excoriated and sainted. The list goes on.

So why do we do it? I can't explain. Not won't, cant. If you're not a journalist you cannot understand. It's like being a real mom or a real dad. If you are one you understand and you can't explain it. If you're not one, you can't understand.

Change - hopefully for the better

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At prison Sunday night, we talked about change. A new year is a time people traditionally look to for change.

Part of the sermon was how 2014 saw changes in me; I hope they are for the better. I changed because I wanted to.

The first actually began a few years ago when I reconnected with college buddies and connected with a few other folks. Years behind all of us and the wisdom life beats into us has modified us all to some degree. These people who are near and dear to me forced me to change; again 'cause I wanted to. The change they brought about became obvious to me over this past year.

Rather than just spit out whatever I thought and present it as A Law Of The Universe, they challenged me to back it up OR say it's just my opinion and applies to me. This has carried forward into more of my life and I like it, a lot. It's not permeated everything, but I want it to.

It may be good for me. It might not be good for you.

Change 2 was came through an NPR article (I think). Regardless, the article talked about dealing with and talking to people. The article said when engaging someone, do not ask what they will do. Rather, as HOW they will do it.

That simple change from WHAT to HOW resets their mind. Rather than back up into a defensive mode, people will generally shift gears and enter an education mode.

By asking "how" you are really asking for help. You ask for helping understanding their point of view.

They have to think.

Of course some people will object to thinking. Deal with them as you see fit.

Change 3 was as monumental to me as the above two. Tommy Clack is a Vietnam veteran missing his right shoulder and all of that arm and both legs above the knee. His left arm is intact. This'll get you started in learning about this truly amazing man.

He spoke this fall to the highs school students here. Mr. Clack, who nearly died in Vietnam, has been around the world, done more than I will ever accomplish, shook my hand after he was done speaking and said "What can I do to make it better?"

I hope my shock wasn't visible. This man asked me what he could do to make the speech better.

His simple remark changed me. I'm trying to look at everything I do now with an eye toward "What can I do to make it better?" With that in mind, lemme rephrase, "HOW can I make it better?"

So I ask you, my readers, how can it better and how can I contribute?

Bad guns

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In the spirit of this season, Yes, Virginia, there are bad guns. There are good guns.

Here's a pretty good start on the bad ones. I don't agree with all his choices. My list would not include 6, 7 and 9. Here's a good starting point for the best ones.

I have owned a lot of the guns on the best list. Depending on your source for bad ones, I've owned a few there as well.

Dave Petzal is considered by many to be a world authority on firearms. For my money, he's got a LONG way to go to reach the status of Col. Jeff Cooper. But, Petzal lists as Remington 16 gauge as one of his worst guns of all time. This particular Remmy was a converted 12 gauge receiver. Petzal hates it. I had one for a while, traded it for a 16g double barrel and I was (am) happy with both.

Petzal also included a 36-inch barrel bolt-action 12g shotgun as one of the worst of all time. I've seen one, watched someone hunt dove with one and I absolutely agree. Fortunately I have never owned one of those.

As Joe Saxon says, "You pull the trigger and it goes bang. What more do you want?"

Joe will agree with me when I add: "A gun that won't blow up in your hands, works properly and doesn't take a 2x4 and a vise to reload." The last could be negotiable depending on the circumstances.

So with that in mind, lemme tell you my worst and best gun of all time.

WORST

RG10s. I've had 2, both given to me and I overpaid for both. This wheelgun shoots .22 shorts ONLY and the cylinder will line up properly with the barrel sometimes. The back blast is truly impressive when someone else is shooting one. If you are shooting it, the back blast is beyond impressive. Wear safety glasses, ear plugs, gloves, an asbestos shirt and still try to talk to someone else into shooting it while you watch from a safe distance a few counties away.

It shoots shorts but the noise is incredible. What it lacks in accuracy it makes up for in trigger pull. When your trigger finger needs a workout, get an RG10s and dry fire it. That 35-pound trigger pull will even work your abdomen.

Some people say the "Saturday Night Special" is the Raven .25 acp. Not so. The Raven is a dependable little autoloader. Do not blame the gun for the puniness of the round.

If any gun ever deserved the moniker "Saturday Night Special" it is the RG10s.

Bizarrely enough, this gun was made in Germany, a country known for the quality of it's engineering. I think it's Germany's revenge for what we did to 'em in WWI and WWII.

BEST

Mossberg 500. Someone will argue this place should be occupied by the Remington 870. Go write your own column after you read this.

I've also had 2 Mossbergs, one of which I traded. I traded because the recipient in this trade needed a 500 in his gun safe.

The 500 straight from the factory can sport a barrel of 18 to 36 inches with removable chokes. The receiver can be mounted for a scope or you can get a cantilevered barrel for the scope (get this the cantilever). You can get wood or synthetic furniture. Customizing is only limited by your imagination.

You can load everything from mouse-hunting to ammo that I'd hunt Dangerous Game with.

It's a pump, the most reliable repeating shotgun you can buy. For my money Ithaca perfected the pump with the older model 37s. But the Ithaca is not as customizable.

The 500 and the 870 are the most customizable guns on the planet. The reason I put the 500 above the 870 is black powder. Yes, the 500 now has a .50 black powder barrel which means the 500 is now a truly all-season, all use firearm.

You may have a gun which you say is the best. But unless you've actually hefted and tried to a shoot the RG10s, I suggest you don't have a worse one.

Free speech and forcing the government

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The First Amendment, free speech, includes the right to keep your damfool mouf shut. It also prevents government (not private business) from making you keep your damfool mouf shut.

Clear enough.

But. Can a private citizen force the government to say something?

You may now state, "Say what, Baker?"

At issue are vanity license plates. These are vehicle tags that sometimes have witting statements. My taxidermist has one "Strap1On." I'll let you wonder what he means by that.

Governments have long denied and approved various vanity license plates. Profanity is routinely shot down. Vulgarity, well, standards vary. How about offensive?

Offensive to whom? Why? How?

SCOTUS is taking this one up. At issue is a Confederate License Plate too offensive? In Georgia, it;s not. You can buy a license plate with a Sons of Confederate Veterans emblem. The Sons are a non-racial group, even yankees welcome, which supports Southern Heritage.

The right to be offended clobbers the right to not be offended, as it should be.

However, this case does not turn on offense. It is a very real question of how much can we force government to say. A license plate, issued by the government, is a statement by government. Can private citizens force government to say anything?

Look at this another way. Government is supposed to be by, for and of ALL of us. Government is supposed to be us. You. Me. The guy behind you who just ducked around the corner so you can't see him when you look back. Racists. Right to Life and Right to Choose. Atheists. Deists. Anarchists. Socialists. Even your weird cousin.

In a sense, when government says something, we all say it.

So, can one person force government to say something? Can one person force the rest of us to say something? Can the rest of us tell that one person to shut up and make that stick? Do we have to listen to him? Does he have to listen to us?

I say let 'er rip. When one voice is silenced, we are all diminished.

Getting my attention

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As a newspaper editor, I am wanted. Admittedly a lot of people want to get ahold of me to strangle me, but some people want me because they believe I can get them free publicity.

My spam folders fill every day with requests for free PR. Increasingly less common is snail mail requests. Most of these go to File 13 unopened and unread. Every now and then, one merits opening.

It is always MORE than just a standard envelope with a few pages shoved inside. It's ALWAYS thick, many times a box and often oddly shaped.

The best one EVER was more than 20 years ago when a fish finder company introduced an truly new underwater fish sonar. It was called SideFinder and this one look to the SIDE of the boat instead of straight down. The PR campaign was a week long. Each day I got a box. Inside was a fortune cookie. I opened the cookie for a cryptic message. The final delivery was the PR package explaining the previous fortune cookies.

A very expensive PR campaign, but if I remember it 20+ years later, it shows how effective it was.

Crost my desk today is a stuffed envelope from a company called DipDip.com . I was expecting something comestible when I opened it.

Nope. I got Egg-Shaped Mini Christma stickers, DipDip Christmas Stickers and DipDip Magic Poker.

I call BS on No. 3. If you want to see REAL magic poker, attend one of the Isabella Poker Club meetings and watch how fast your wallet mysteriously empties. Happens to me every. single. time.

Anyway, goal achieved. They got free PR for their creative attempt to get my attention. You have the website. Go ye forth to learn more if you want to. It's something to do with education. Me? I've learned enough about the company. I'm gonna give the stickers to a child and slide the cards into my next hand at the Isabella Poker Club meeting.

Ain't not never done gonna agree on where this be at

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Ok, so this title is a bit over the top, even for me.

My point is about grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax (as opposed to sin tax HAR!) and all the other rules which make up verbal communication.


I'm pretty flexible, in case you've not noticed, about the rules of English.

I have long said and believed the point of communication is to get an idea across. If the intended audience fully understands the idea on the first attempt, communication wins! If the audience doesn't get it, then communication is a failure. More specifically, the person trying to express an idea has failed.

If you are not the intended audience for the idea, it doesn't matter if you get it or not. In some cases, you being unable to understand is actually intended. Think cypher and secret codes.

My writing cohorts out there regularly throw fits over what they see as incorrect use of the language.

Why? More importantly, why is it wrong? See above regarding a successful attempt at communication.

Who put YOU in charge of the language?


At the same time, I admit to seeing the use of "your" when the word should be "you're" as jolting. If you are attempting communication with me and you use the pronoun wrong, then you have failed. I have to back up and re-read. This annoys me because you have wasted my time, not because you have twisted the language to suit your own purposes. Do it often enough and I will tune you out completely.

I dangle prepositions. I mix metaphors. I split infinitives. I use "ain't." I will even use a triple negative from time to time: "ain't not never." I deliberately twist the English language for effects. I have my own ways of spelling some words. Yassee, yer ways ain't mine. I refuse to be constrained by a set of arbitrary rules created by people who are not a part of my world.

I'm gonna write and talk the way I want to. If this' here be bothering you, then lemme introduce you to this thing we in the South call a door. Open. Step through. Close.

If you understand, on the first attempt, what I am saying/writing/communicating, SUCCESS! If you don't then:
1) I failed.

2) I didn't intend it for you.

Most of the time, pick option 2.

Always pick option 2 if you object to where I'm at.

Typos, OTOH, drive me beyond around the bend. GAH!