Nielsen's ra(n)tings

Politics, guns, homeschooling for the gifted, scuba, hunting, farming and somewhat coherent occasional ranting from your average Buckeye State journalist/dad/farmer/actor.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

NRA didn't doom Zumbo

Jim Zumbo (see here) made his living by providing a service to gun enthusiasts and shooters. He penned some very ill-considered remarks, which cost him the faith and allegiance of a large portion of his target audience and, ultimately, his job.

His contribution to hunting lore and/or Second Amendment discourse will not be missed; his contribution was neither unique nor particularly insightful. I will go so far as to say it will not even be noticed – nature (and media) abhors a vacuum, so someone will step up to provide those services previously tendered by Zumbo.

I note that some have accused the NRA (see comments on this post) of being behind the stunning amount or criticism directed at Zumbo. As a gun rights guy, on again/off again member of the NRA and hunter for 38 of my 46 years, I can say that I didn’t get the “rally ‘round the black gun” memo from my NRA masters. I found out about the blog post through Instapundit and left my own critical feedback at Zumbo’s blog all without consulting the talking points from my NRA overlords.

How can this have happened? How could such a swift outcry come without extensive orchestration, action alerts and form letters supplied by that monolithic repository of all evil, the NRA?

It’s because the NRA is just people..it has no evil, insidious power of its own. Zumbo got a mountain of critical responses because every one of those respondees was self-motivated to give him a piece of their mind, not because the NRA pulled some strings and made members dance to its macabre tune. Because of his position in the public eye, Zumbo was a de facto representative of the hunting and shooting communities. He was expected to be a learned advocate of the shooting sports. When he made damaging remarks antithetical to the beliefs of those communities, reaction was swift and he was removed.

He also lost most of his sponsors who, after all, depend on Zumbo’s former target audience for their business. His actions are akin to a US State Department official railing against this country as “The Great Satan,” or the Press Liaison from PETA showing up at a media affair in her new jaguar fur coat, munching a baby seal kabob and offering to share her favorite recipes for kitten tar tare. Both display conduct inappropriate to their position and should be removed immediately.

In each of the above cases, criticism of a behavior out-of-keeping with their position, would lead to dismissal. This previously may have been a drawn-out, dampened process, with letters and telephone calls – in the era of the internet, the reaction was instantaneous and overwhelming, something even the NRA is powerless to orchestrate.

The Zumbo fiasco was not an example of the power of the monolithic NRA, the group-think of gun owners (as there were many different reasons in comments critical of Zumbo’s post) or the injustice of a ravening lynch mob…it was an example of the power of the internet to give individual and equal voice to the common man.

Labels:

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Right name for the job

From the Department Of Making Sure The Guy Has The Right Name For The Job:

Scientists have found that circumcision cuts (pun intended) a man’s chance of contracting HIV by 60 percent. Enter our intrepid World Health Organization lackey (pun realized belatedly) tasked with commenting on the study…going from relative obscurity to eternal glory in the blink of an eye. From the story:

"This is an extraordinary development," said Dr. Kevin de Cock, director of the World Health Organization's AIDS department. "Circumcision is the most potent intervention in HIV prevention that has been described. (emphasis added)"

It’s a good thing his parents didn’t name him Richard or Benjamin!

Labels:

Friday, February 23, 2007

Treasures from the auction

The whole Rantmeister clan went to the local auction last night and we bought so much stuff, I had to leave partway through and take the van home to exchange it for the pickup truck…we were going to need a lot of carrying capacity.

I bought a couple oak file cabinets, a couple pieces of old matte green art pottery and a nice blue-to-yellow glass Toby pitcher, the blog-daughter bought a set of Johnson Brothers dishes (including platter and gravy boat) for $2 and Doc-wife got the weird buy of the night…she spent $20 for this HUGE (4’x4’x30 inches deep) three-drawer file cabinet absolutely full of dressmaker patterns from the 1940s through the 1970s. There must be (very conservatively) 750 patterns in this monstrous vault, plus lots of zippers, lace and other do-dads. Son-and-heir and I toted it into the house last night and it probably weighs all of 200 pounds.

I guess it was the one thing she never knew she always wanted. Mental note: Don’t let Doc-wife get hold of the bidding number again at that auction…ohhh, my aching back!

Labels:

Unworthy precedent

So the elite, enlightened, globalists among us would open our borders and have us incorporate input from the rest of the world when crafting our laws and interpreting our Constitution, huh? Remember the questions from Democrats during the hearings of the newest U.S. Supreme Court justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, concerning utilization of international law in their deliberations?

I have to ask myself what they think of the international precedent (cue thunderous music and reverential spotlight) set when a court in Cairo, Egypt sentenced a blogger to four years in prison for “contempt for religion” and “insulting the president.

Seeing as most of the push for using international law as a touchstone for our American statutes is coming from the intellectual (and ineffectual) left, I’m curious how this ruling, sentencing a blogger for pursuing two of the left’s favorite activities, will play. Is this a precedent they want to have considered when the next freedom of speech question comes before the court?

Egypt, home to more than 70 million (mainly Muslim) residents, seemed satisfied with the verdict, though some wanted their pound of flesh. From the story:

“Many people expressed the view that Abdel Kareem should be killed for what he wrote, and each of them shared their preferred way to kill him: stabbing, hanging, and of course, the classic beheading. One actually asked a lawyer if it was legal to now kill him, since this verdict clearly brands him as an apostate, and the Sharia punishment for an apostasy is death. People were talking about killing him in the most casual manner, as if he was no longer a human being to them.”

Here’s a strong precedent. Hey, a third of the world is Islamic and at least pays lip-service to the merits of Sharia...now that’s a lot of weight behind this international case law. If it seems absurd that we should even consider following this legal course, then how do we decide which precedents to consider? There’s the problem…you can’t and maintain the supposed impartiality of the justice system. By picking and choosing precedents from the international community, the justices would be introducing their own prejudices into a supposedly impartial process. They’d be straying from looking at the law of the international community as a whole, instead picking and choosing among various venues to back up their own pet beliefs.

Our system is grounded in the Constitution, which has served as a pretty good model for more than 200 years. The legislative and executive branches craft the laws, and the courts ensure they fall within constitutional guidelines.

If international input is desirable, it should be considered at the legislative level, when the laws are fashioned, and where there is opportunity for debate. It should not be considered at the judicial level where the consensus of international law is anybody’s guess and I, for one, have no wish to see anyone in this country jailed for contempt of religion or insulting the President.

Labels: ,

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Political McNuggets

Some political McNuggets (trans fat-free, of course).

*****

John McCain has shown he is a crafty, cunning old political wolf. Appointing former RINO Sen. Mike DeWine (spit!) as chairman of his Ohio 2008 Presidential election campaign is sheer genius. It’s like Sun Tzu said, “you’ve just gotta do the lamest, dumbass thing you can think of so your enemy won’t be expecting it – then you can really stick it to them (apologies to Sun Tzu if I have inadvertently misquoted him.)”

I’d say McCain’s move embodies that philosophy. Imagine…appointing a political hack who lost his incumbent seat by a big margin because even staunch party members couldn’t stand the sight of him. DeWine’s ascension is the last thing anyone would expect. It’s daring, unexpected, unorthodox, some might say.

I’d say it’s stupid.

*****

I haven’t found anyone one either side I can comfortably lean toward for election 2008.

For the Republicans:
McCain: Too old, soft on illegal immigration, would support Assault Weapons Ban.
Giuliani: Anti gun, soft on illegal immigration, New York point of view.
Romney: Bigger politically expedient flip-flopper than Kerry or Hillary.
Duncan Hunter: Currently my best hope, though I’m unsure whether he’ll gain enough momentum to attain the upper tier.
Tancredo: Mixed gun position, pushes “Social Security lockbox” myth.
Gingrich: Hasn’t announced, lot of baggage.

For the Democrats:
Obama: No experience, thinks unions are the answer, anti gun.
Clinton: Will say anything the polls tell her to say, wants to expand government role, is married to Bill.
Richardson: Soft on illegal immigration, anti-military.

Applications from candidates who are pro-gun, fiscally conservative, smaller government, pro-abortion rights, pro-privatizing Social Security, anti-illegal immigration, pro-homeland and international security and pro-education vouchers are being accepted at the Rantmeister’s office. Wipe your feet off before you come in and try not to step in that furball the cat hacked up in the doorway.

*****

This internet thingy makes it easy for anyone to check whether their representatives are “speaking with a forked tongue” about past events. From Victor Davis Hanson:

“Why did a majority of Democratic senators — such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Harry Reid, Jay Rockefeller, and Chuck Schumer — vote to authorize a war with Iraq on Oct. 11, 2002? And why is this war now supposedly George Bush’s misfortune and not theirs?”

It’s all there at the touch of a button, Buckos, and no complicit media can cover for you any more.

*****

Things are getting good between Obama and Hillary…at least there’s some entertainment value in these skirmishes more than a year and a half before election 2008. I was a little surprised to hear entertainment mogul David Geffen slam the Clintons:

”Geffen, who was a co-host of an Obama fundraiser Tuesday night in Los Angeles, saved even sharper criticism for former president Bill Clinton, to whom he was close before a falling-out over the pardoning of financier Marc Rich at the end of Clinton's second term. "I don't think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person," Geffen said in an oblique reference to questions surrounding the former president's private life.”

I smell a Celebrity Death Match in the offing!

Labels:

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

'I do not think that word means what you think'

And people wonder why Britain’s crime rate is rising and people treat the criminal justice system like the joke it is….from the Telegraph:

”A teenage girl has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering her love rival - a 39-year-old mother of two…Ross, now 17, of Croydon, south London, pleaded guilty to murder and was ordered to be detained for life with a minimum term of 10 and a half years.”

So life in prison, for Brits, means 10 ½ years as long as you’re on your good behavior? In the immortal words of Indigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, "I do not think that word (life in prison) means what you think." They’re not engendering any respect for the system when word (life in prison) and deed (10 ½ years) are so widely disparate.

I also do not cast a blind eye to the deficiencies in our own system. A life sentence should be a life sentence and the added "without possibility of parole" shouldn't be required.

*****

Side note: This occurred in gun-free England…how is this possible? Gun are gone, right, so sweetness and love should prevail. Rantmeister’s axiom: If someone is dead set to kill some other sumbitch, they’re going to use whatever means comes to hand…be it gun, knife, baseball bat, car, poison, sword or Ronco Kitchen Magician. The tool is not the problem…and its elimination is not the solution.

Labels: ,

Monday, February 19, 2007

Gak! We've eaten the peanut butter of death!

Peanut butter jar lid of death


Someone send nice flowers to our funeral…we didn’t know it, but for the past week we’ve been eating from the Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter Jar of Death. We’re goners…forward all our mail to Boot Hill, because that’s where we’re going to take up residence.

In the photo above is the incontrovertible proof that we’ve been smearing our bagels recently with veritable death spread. Blithely, in our ignorance, ignoring the FDAs warning about possible Salmonella Tennessee contamination. We’ve already eaten about 3/4ths of the jar, so it’s probably too late for us…run!…save yourselves!

Me to Doc-wife (who is spreading peanut butter on a raisin bagel): Hey, I wonder if we have that bad peanut butter… (checking lid)…yep.

Doc-wife: Mrfffm brrrfm (munching happily on the bagel…bravely in the face of impending doom.)

Me: Hey, you done with the toaster? I want one too.

Labels:

Calling Billy Bob and Bruce!


We are so screwed.

A group of scientists, ex-astronauts and cosmonauts has decided that asteroids are a threat to human existence on Earth (apparently their DVDs of Armageddon and Deep Impact arrived from NetFlix this week.) So instead of dialing up Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton, this brain trust has turned to the world’s last, best hope: the United Nations.

I am not making this up, though I wish I were.

Yes, the United Nations is the perfect basket in which to place all the world’s eggs. Blessed with agenda-driven science, corruption, inefficiency, moral decay and willful blindness, the UN brings a whole host of human attributes to the fight for mankind’s survival. Just to complete the perfect storm, how about making the representative from Zimbabwe, that high-tech titan, the chairman of the “Committee To Save The World From Big Rocks That Fall From The Sky…And Free Palestine.”

I am feeling the love…feeling the safety…nearly ready to burst into a chorus of “We Are The World…”

The Association of Space Explorers, the group of former astronauts and cosmonauts, intends to host a series of workshops this year to flesh out the plan to deflect space rocks and will make a formal proposal to the U.N. in 2009.

I hope the higher-ups at NASA are looking at this, shaking their heads and saying “that’s nice, boys, why don’t you go play with your Spacely Sprockets and decoder rings while Mommy and Daddy fix this little problem.” I hope that NASA’s on the ball because I have a huge problem trusting the future of the Rantmeister clan to a group which has proven itself unable to deal with any problem in this world, let alone in space.

Labels: ,

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Zumbo kicks hornet nest

The gun aficionados internet sites are all abuzz this afternoon after Outdoor Life writer Jim Zumbo checked his brain at the door and declared that AKs, ARs and the host of other military styled weapons have no place in hunting.

His stirred up a shitstorm. The last I looked, the original article had over 2,600 comments (and the counter had quit clicking) and comments on his lame-ass apology, posted a little while ago, was zooming past 700.

From his original post:

“I call them "assault" rifles, which may upset some people. Excuse me, maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I'll go so far as to call them "terrorist" rifles. They tell me that some companies are producing assault rifles that are "tackdrivers."

Sorry, folks, in my humble opinion, these things have no place in hunting. We don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern. I've always been comfortable with the statement that hunters don't use assault rifles. We've always been proud of our "sporting firearms."

This really has me concerned. As hunters, we don't need the image of walking around the woods carrying one of these weapons. To most of the public, an assault rifle is a terrifying thing. Let's divorce ourselves from them. I say game departments should ban them from the prairies and woods. (emphasis added)”

I guess I’m a terrorist, since I’ve used these terrorist weapons, right Jim? You know what else, Jim? Police departments get calls all the time from people who are terrified about teenagers carrying evil black BB guns into the woods…I guess they have no place either, huh? Some people just hate guns, Jim, and the sight of any gun is cause for alarm…and spouting your own ignorance about the utility of the Brady-demonized “assault rifles” from the bully pulpit is inexcusable.

Zumbo’s unfortunate comments are already being used as ammunition (how’s that for irony?) by the Brady Campaign, which is crowing that “Even Outdoor Life’s Top Gun Writer Thinks Assault Weapons Should Be Banned.”

That someone who makes his living writing for the gun lovers and sportsmen across the country could be so ignorant is mind-boggling. That he could write these things and then offer up a cover-his-ass apology saying “I’m your friend, really,” and “I talked to Ted Nugent and he’s in the NRA, so it’s okay” is insulting. If they have any hope of minimizing the fallout from this colossal poochscrew, Outdoor Life needs to fire him (not say “we don’t agree with him, but hey, it’s the same ole Jim”) NOW. Any sponsors he has would also be well-advised to drop him like a hot potato, because this one hit a nerve and the gun community is not going to forgive and forget anytime soon. Anyone who wants to “stand by their man” should be prepared to suffer the penalties of guilt by association.

Saying “I Was Wrong. BIG TIME” just ain’t gonna cut it, Jimbo.

Labels:

Worrying about our kids

As time passes, I find myself invested more and more in foreign news.

That’s because we’ve hosted 13 exchange students…each of whom we’ve made a member of our family and for whom we only want the best. So when we hear about disasters, political upheaval and international confrontation involving their home countries, we get the jitters.

Most recently, we’ve gotten the jitters about Venezuela and, consequently Jesus, the boy we hosted from that country in 2001.

We’ve watched nervously as President Hugo Chavez has launched his country on the path to socialism, which treads delicately on the slippery slope to communism. He’s seized many privately-owned businesses, including utilities, driven away foreign investors and seen his country’s inflation rate shoot past 20 percent. To combat the resulting shortages in his newly price-controlled grocery stores, he’s threatening significant jail time for grocers found to be hoarding food or evading the price controls. He’s seen the rich move their investments out of the country and has imposed controls on those seeking to buy dollars as a hedge against the Bolivar’s slide. In the midst of an unprecedented oil boom, his efforts have put the economy in the crapper.

That bodes poorly for Jesus, a very-bright, talented, principled young man whose natural abilities and drive would be rewarded with unlimited success in any free and open society. With socialism, however, you close the path to entrepreneurship by shutting off the rewards from such efforts. What’s the point of hard work when the government owns and/or controls the major industries? And to make matters worse, Jesus is a tech guy…computers and electrical engineering…and the market for those abilities is weighted internationally, not locally. What international company is going to be interested in doing business with Venezuela when Chavez is doing his best to curtail foreign investment?

National and international news paint the same grim picture and it worries me that all the promise of such a young man, who should be his country’s greatest source of pride and its treasure, is in danger of being wasted.

*****

We also just found out that our first exchange student, a German boy named Till, spent the last six weeks in a cast after breaking two vertebra in a snowboarding mishap. Doc-wife’s reaction? “Yeah, well, okay…but when’s he going to give us some grandkids?”

Medical people are NOT sympathetic. Especially not when potential grandchildren are involved….

*****

We’re expecting a late spring/early summer visit from Rachel, the Brazilian student we hosted in 2000. She has now finished college and is trying to decide what to do with her life…knowing Rachel, that will change 27 times between now and Tuesday.

*****

Jesus and Alla, the Russian girl we hosted in 2004, have been carrying on an online relationship since they met via our computer in late Fall 2004. It’s progressed to the point where the blog-daughter tells us there may be wedding bells in the near future.

I’m not sure how to feel about that…host-son romances host-daughter…isn’t that some kind of electronic/digital host-incest? A question for another time…

Labels: ,

Friday, February 16, 2007

The kids are alright!

We had a great surprise Wednesday.

That was the day the big blizzard was rolling in…it was also the day of the middle school parent-teacher conferences. Of the two, the conferences had caused Doc-wife and I more anxiety.

You see, it’s always an adventure to talk to son-and-heir’s teachers. The teachers want him in therapy, want him on drugs, wonder if he’s on drugs, think he’s brilliant, are sure he’s a serial killer in training and uniformly demand that he be tested to prove he’s human and not some interstellar whack job masquerading as a middle schooler. We’ve never gone into the classroom and had the teacher have to stir her memory to remember son-and-heir…when we say we’re his parents, they usually start backing away and looking for the exits.

This time, it was different. It was like being in some weird-but-too-good-to-be-true other dimension.

This time, we got glowing reviews about our all-As (Huh? Son-and-heir with all As?) offspring. He’s doing his homework, turning it in, getting all As on tests (not unusual) and generally behaving like the gifted child we know. His math teacher raved about him, saying she’s really looking forward to the advanced assessments the class will take…she said he is an advanced and creative thinker and could have some interesting solutions on the more advanced math. Ditto science: “I use (son-and-heir) as a reference in class sometimes.” Social studies: “I love him…I think he’s got like 120 percent…he knows so much about culture and history.”

Language arts was a little different, though he still has a good grade there. Son-and-heir has mentioned this teacher to us before…she’s a far-left ideologue whose political leanings often spill into class. From our brief interlude, she also came across as a grade A BITCH whose interest is in collective action rather than individual achievement. Of course, it doesn’t help that son-and-heir is a loner and individualist who despises writing and quit reading the grade-level books she assigns when he was in third grade.

Our message to him: There are petty, vindictive people like this everywhere…do the work, ignore her philosophical bludgeoning and get a good grade – success is the best revenge.

The blog-daughter had a (nearly) equally good report. The book on her: All As on tests, failure to complete homework is dragging her down a little, though we received her honor roll notification letter in the mail yesterday. All of her teachers thought she was terrific.

Of course, they all described her differently…in some classes she was reserved, in some helpful, in others joyous and bubbly. Doc-wife observed that she’s the ultimate livery stable horse – her interpersonal performance is tailored to each person with whom she comes in contact.

After completing the rounds, Doc-wife and I just looked at each other, waiting for the “but…”

It never came. I hope this wasn’t an anomaly, but a trend. We’ve been handed a little candle of hope…maybe our kids won’t end up like Unabomber Ted Kaczinski and Imelda Marcos, respectively…maybe we’re not complete and utter failures as parents.

Life is (temporarily, anyway) good. The kids are alright!

*****

And just because I can, here's the video!


Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Gun laws didn't stop Utah shooter

Here is one reason why I'm glad I got my Concealed Carry permit (CCW) - I only wish fewer places were off-limits to carrying.
*****
This guy is a perfect example of why more gun laws are NOT the solution to such episodes. He had a shotgun...not an evil semi-automatic assault weapon (otherwise known as diabolic death hose)...and even rabid anti-gunners admit that shotguns have a place among the hordes of small game hunters throughout the country. He also was illegally carrying a .38 caliber pistol (age for ownership is 21.) He walked into a mall with these items concealed (broke another law there...tsk! tsk!) and opened fire. He killed six people and wounded four.
A call to 911 didn't stop the gunner...it was an off-duty police officer, out on a date, who happened to be carrying his weapon. He engaged the guy in a gun battle and pinned him down until help arrived.
The police are NEVER going to be able to arrive quickly enough to stop such an act...the best defense is provided by armed law-abiding citizens who have passed the background checks and training requirements to receive their CCW.
More laws only hinder those who are predisposed to obey them.
*****
LGF ponders whether this is another case of Sudden Jihad Syndrome (hat tip LGF), something the police and mainstream media habitually fall all over themselves to disguise.
Young, male Muslim...violent rampage with car, gun, bomb, other tool of destruction...it's becoming a very common story here and worldwide. I'm not anti-Muslim...I am, however, anti Jihadi Muslim. I object most strongly to people who are trying to kill me and my family. Islam needs to get its house in order with regard to the hate spewed by some of its imams and the destruction caused by its young radicals or risk guilt by association and the inevitable consequences.
In the meantime, I've got my CCW and this (and others) to provide some measure of defense.

Labels: ,

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Ninja questions: ROFLMAO

I came across this today and laughed my butt off.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Edwards fiasco a sign

Not that I had even considered voting for John Edwards anyway, but how inept and out of touch do you have to be to hire a foaming-at-the-mouth extreme liberal like Amanda Marcotte (more here, here and here) of Pandagon to be your interface with the web world?

In her profanity-laced rants she managed to denigrate the Catholic Church, motherhood and the unjustly-accused Duke lacrosse players, among others. So far, bloggers have not yet confirmed that she turned her invective on ”truth, justice and the American way” (probably apple pie, too), but there had been some furious airbrushing along her blog trail.

Marcotte, of course, is free to write whatever she wants about whomever she wants…it’s not her fault that she was brought on board a Presidential campaign. You don’t blame a rabid weasel for being a rabid weasel: it is what it is. You just have to have the foresight to realize that perhaps it is not the best choice as the web-based image you want to present to the public.

Edwards’ campaign realized this, of course, after the blogburst of criticism was reaching its crescendo. Yesterday, she was canned…sent back to the minors where she can froth away, safe from the tender eyes of middle American. It was another nail in the Edwards coffin, though, another miscue in the inept campaign of the Trial Lawyer Who Would Be King.

I have to believe Edwards is a smart, if smarmy, guy. Law school and his rags-to-riches rise on the strength of flawed malpractice law require a modicum of intelligence. So how, then, could he make a boneheaded move like this? Is he removed from the day-to-day operations of his campaign or perhaps surrounded by a uniformly foaming-at-the-mouth campaign staff? Either way, it bodes ill for his prospects. To win the White House, you have to appeal to the vast sea of moderates in middle America. So while the howling juvenile passion of the extreme liberal can be invigorating, it is ultimately unappealing to those who will make the decisions in 2008.

The Edwards campaign, for whatever reason, mistook Marcotte’s blog hit-count for mainstream popularity…choosing numbers over message. It was a big mistake.

Update: She's baaaaaack! Breck Boy just doesn't know when to quit!

Labels:

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Salt(water) in the wounds

My sister with the dolphins...may the fleas of a thousand camels infest her armpits!

My sister sent me some diving pictures from her recent cruise vacation.

Damn her!

Here we sit with the wind howling, the children home from school and the thermometer pegged at a chilly 2 degrees F. Diving pictures from the Caribbean? Sure, rub our noses in it! Pics of you diving with the friggin’ dolphins while we’re forced to burn the cats just to stay warm?

(Sorry cat lovers…a little wishful hyperbole there…)

We had hoped to go diving somewhere this winter, perhaps with my sister and her husband and son, but logistics (and the fact we have a Russian exchange student…that creates problems because of travel restrictions) prevented it. We’re stuck staying in the country and (pretty much) restricted to driving getaways for the duration of her stay. We’re planning a trip to Dollywood with the inlaws and their foster children for spring break…nothing like a little dose of redneck glitz to show a foreign visitor the REAL America.

Son-and-heir and the Rant-daughter have been making loud, obnoxious noises about taking another cruise…perhaps this time to the Western Caribbean or Mexico…maybe Belize…anywhere warm. Doc-wife keeps mentioning Alaska (no diving there, of course…we’re not drysuit certified!) I keep saying “okay, yeah, that’s nice…but we can’t go until early summer at the very earliest.”

And meanwhile, the wind continues to howl outside. And I keep getting emails announcing great cruise deals to somewhere, anywhere, warm. And I’ve got my sister’s photos to look at to remind me not everywhere is white, windy and wintry.

Thanks for the salt in the wound, sis! Maybe you should save it for the sidewalk!

Labels:

Cold steel nostalgia

Cold steel nostalgia

There’s another Gunrunner online gun auction going on now through Feb. 12 and there are a couple items of interest to me…reminders of lost youth.

When I was a teenager, I saved a lot of the money I made working at a local plant nursery and persuaded Dad to buy me a gun…a Remington 572 BDL Fieldmaster Deluxe .22, complete with 3-9x scope. To this day, that remains my favorite .22…not a squirrel was safe in the woods when I was armed with that slick-shooting beauty. I traded it away in college (for what I can’t remember) and have always regretted that decision.

So lo and behold, the latest online auction has two 572s included. Of course, they’re the lower grade ADL version, but the same mechanics, pointability and feel. Hopefully, one or both will make their way to my gun safe at the conclusion of bidding.

Labels:

Monday, February 05, 2007

Officially on the '24' bandwagon

Doc-wife and I are halfway finished watching a DVD set of 24: Season One. I bought the set a couple months ago after hearing the buzz surrounding the series, but we never seemed to get enough time to watch it – this week’s chilly temperatures and blowing snow have provided that time.

The only thing I can say is “holy crap…I can’t believe what have we been missing!?!” It’s so addicting, I’m in danger of joining the legions of my fellow countrymen who ask themselves “what would Jack Bauer do?” before embarking on some controversial course of action. I'm officially on the "24" bandwagon.

I remember when the show debuted…gimmick, I thought. How can you enliven a show and retain an audience when each episode covers only one hour in the day of its protagonist?

Question answered.

The show packs so much action/suspense/adrenalin/intrigue into each episode it’s a wonder Bauer continues to stride the Earth with gritty purpose, rather than slumping into a fetal position with his favorite teddy bear and wishing it would all go away. How the heck anyone can watch this in the conventional network airing manner is beyond me…so many of the episodes end in cliffhangers, it would be sheer torture waiting for next week’s episode. And if you happened to miss an episode? Forget it…life just wouldn’t be worth living.

Bauer unfailingly does the right thing in his pressure-cooker circumstances – cool and collected doesn’t even begin to cover it. The supporting cast is filled with fully-fleshed characters, too, from his family and co-workers to the apparently honest and principled Presidential candidate who has discovered he is surrounded by a nest of vipers he had previously called his campaign staff and family. The acting is solid and almost too believable.

The dizzying twists and turns, betrayals and revelations in each episode would be impossible to follow if you missed one during the regular network airing…this show is the best argument I’ve ever seen for Tivo.

It probably comes as no surprise that Walmart or the Amazon website will be getting a visit from the Rantmeister in a couple days to pick up season two…I’d like to think that’s what Jack Bauer would do.

Labels:

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Is our soft civilization doomed?

There was an interesting article by Selwyn Duke in the American Thinker about the hurdles western civilizations, particularly the United States, face when dealing with the spread of the Islamic culture. From the article:

“People may laugh. That's crazy, say they, we have the greatest military in the world, the most advanced technology, and a nuclear umbrella. Yes, that's true. But first, I don't claim we'll fall tomorrow, next month, or next year. Even more significantly, though, external enemies would not initiate our undoing. The fact is that no body, no matter how strong, imposing and well-armored, can survive an untreated disease metastasizing rapidly within. The smallest bacteria can kill giants as easily as dwarves.

And that is what ails us. Every time an action designed to preserve western civilization is taken or even proposed, a great internecine battle ensues. We capture combatants on the battlefield and then spend millions in legal fees debating whether to adjudicate their cases in civil or military courts. We rightly scrutinize Imams making a scene at an airport and then spend millions more arguing about so-called "racial profiling." And it's incessant. Every act nowadays, from singling out illegals for deportation and the suspicious for scrutiny to getting swatted by "Tigger" to a six-year-old boy giving a girl a peck on the cheek, is met with hand-wringing and a disproportionate reaction. And far too often litigation results, costing us valuable resources.“

While I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment of the situation, and have said the same thing in previous posts, I have faith that the bulk of the American people will wake to the danger before it is too late. We’re a fickle people…as prone to swing from a largely coddling worldview to one of bloodthirsty vengeance.

Read the whole thing…it’s well worth it.

Labels: ,

Friday, February 02, 2007

Pulling for Phil

I hope Phil’s right.

Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog Day “seer of seers, prognosticator of prognosticators” emerged from his den today and declared there will be an early spring. From the story:

“Phil did not see his shadow (today), which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter. Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999. “

Color me skeptical…18 inches of snow already on the ground and temperatures predicted in the single digits this weekend will do that for you, I guess.

Auction masterpiece?


Son-and-heir and I went out to a local auction last night because he’s looking for ways to supplement his $10 a week allowance. Said I: “You could buy stuff and then I’d sell it for you on Ebay.” Said he: “Sounds good.”

So we went.

The first item we bought was an oil on board painting of a melancholy clown sans most of his makeup. Hmmm. Son-and-heir got nervous and wanted to stop at $10…I bid the painting up to $22.50. I liked it. I liked it even more when we found out the artist, Francis J. Meyers, is a deceased Cleveland Art Institute instructor who is listed in national sales catalogs. There are also some rudimentary drawings of his on Ebay listed for fairly high prices.

Woo woo! If we decide to sell the painting (a big IF), all proceeds go to son-and-heir’s gaming computer fund.

Next purchase was a pack of 1950s nudie playing cards for $3…where were these when I was doing “Cuckoo’s Nest?” We also bought a beer advertising sign with thermometer, leather baby shoes, a mahogany chest of drawers (for my daughter’s room, $25) and a silverplate cigarette holder thing, the likes of which I’ve never seen, but which was engraved in 1954 and is apparently European. I promised son-and-heir proceeds from reselling these items as well, provided he keeps track of his expenses and proceeds in a comprehensive manner, does the packing and shipping, and does the research to provide an accurate Ebay listing.

It’s education cloaked in entrepreneurial trappings.

Doc-wife on sick call

Doc-wife called in sick today.

She awoke at 1:30 a.m. with nausea, spent the next 3 ½ hours in the bathroom and finally decided that enough was enough…she made THE CALL to work. I’m sure “shocked and stunned” was the only way to describe her employer’s reaction.

See, Doc-wife DOES NOT call in sick. Ever. She has worked shifts immediately after breaking her hand in several places, face-planting in the dirt after getting bucked off a horse and spraining her knee playing volleyball. She also had to leave a shift early once, but only because she was immediately taken into surgery for a fallopian tumor. She has worked through countless bouts with migraines and the accompanying nausea.

Ironman? Pshaw! Titanium is more like it. Maybe even the elusive “unobtainium (anyone else see ‘The Core?’)”

I’m sure the accusations of “short-timers syndrome” are flying around her work…mentally if not verbally…because she will change jobs at the end of March. Though there is a little truth in that thought, it would be more accurate to say that she is tired of working through illnesses which bring other people to the hospital. She should not have to work with a broken hand/severe abdominal pain/bruised and stitched face…she should have the option to have someone else pinch-hit for her in an emergency. Up to this point, she’s felt like the little Dutch girl with her finger in the dike…she can’t leave or the whole world will come crashing down. She had no backup and was on her own in the battle against all the world’s ills.

So she couldn’t work today…her employers found a solution to staff the department…life goes on. She found out she can, at times, be human and the world will not end.

At least not today.

GOTL due for facelift

I just read that one of my favorite places in the world is due for a facelift.

Geneva on the Lake, a small summer-only arcade and dining entertainment strip along Lake Erie, will soon see a new “boardwalk, amphitheater, microbrewery, shopping plaza and a seafood restaurant,” according to an article in the Ashtabula Star Beacon.

The plans were announced by businessman Don Woodward, a bright guy who was one year ahead of me in high school. I’m sure the improvements will be somewhat profitable, but what the business owners and village officials really need to focus on is some way to bring the crowds to GOTL during the other three seasons. I don’t think Woodward can do it by himself.

Thousands of people cram the GOTL strip every night, Memorial Day through Labor Day…every other night of the year, you’d be hard-pressed to find a dozen people. It’s like a ghost town…businesses are boarded up, leaves and trash accumulate on the sidewalks, parking lots are chained closed. It doesn’t look like the same place.

Recently, a couple more businesses have begun year-round operations on the strip…they include a large winery and a small storefront seafood restaurant. These businesses, however, face the challenge of not having the built-in crowds that summer inevitably brings; they need to find a way to give GOTL an identity and purpose through the off-season months which will give the crowds a reason to come.

A complication in developing this off-season identity is the fact that many of the business owners are old-time GOTL fixtures, and are used to their business being a three-month dalliance. To truly develop an off-season identity, everyone needs to sign on to the idea…from Woody’s World to Eddie’s Grill. They would also need to put some money into upgrading their facilities for off-season usage…winter days can be cold…and decide what services to offer in lieu of their traditional summer fare.

Some ideas that come to mind:

*Winterfest…turns a negative into a positive and would add an additional season of usage. Add ice skating and sleigh rides…turn the burden of the lake effect snow to your advantage.
*Little Napa – focusing on the wineries which abound nearby…would have the advantage of being adaptable to year-round use.
*Christmas on the Lake…an extra season of usage.
*Lake borne gambling Mecca – would need state legislation first.

Woody’s plan is a good first step. Hopefully, he can get the bulk of the remaining business owners on board with an improvement plan.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Pissing away an opportunity

I don’t know what to make of this year’s exchange student.

She comes from a small town and, apparently, competed and won a scholarship contest to be able to come to the United States for a year, complete with a stipend for spending money and reimbursement for educational expenses. I would have expected the contest to produce a motivated achiever.

What we have found is someone interested in going to the mall, to restaurants and acquiring various electronic devices.

*Interest in bettering her English? Zip.
*Interest in busting the grading curve in her classes? Nada.
*Interest in acquiring a herd of American friends? Yawn.

She pissing away her opportunities and it’s made for a tough year. Maybe it’s because she’s the unlucky 13th student we’ve hosted. It’s still somewhat difficult to hold conversations with her because her English has not improved to the same degree as that of other students we’ve had…and she shows little interest in getting better. It’s so bad that my daughter and son can have critical conversations about the student, right in front of her, and she has no idea. My son, kindly to a fault around most girls, is routinely pretty rude to this oblivious student when she is attempting to manipulate him for some gain.

Things boiled over last week when the student, 17, and my daughter, 12, got into a catfight in the barn while feeding horses. From what I can ascertain from stories told by the girls and my son, the student tried to push my daughter out of the way (bad move, unless you want to pull back a bloody stump where your am used to be,) My daughter pushed back and kicked at her and the whole thing tumbled into a mass of hair-pulling, scratching and slapping. Doc-wife had just left for work (was a half mile down the road) and I was away at rehearsal at the time, or I would have personally packed the student’s bags and taken her to the exchange coordinator’s house. Things had simmered down by the time I got home and have not, as yet, heated back up…I guess she’s aware enough to know that she is on exceedingly thin ice.

We host students because we like to interact with these bright young foreign visitors and, because we’ve been fortunate in our lives, want to share some of our bounty with others. We expect the visitors, however, to have some appreciation for what we offer and to try to make the most of their time here.

Plainly that’s not the case this year. We’ve asked the children whether they want to host a student next year and both responded with an enthusiastic “yes,” indicating to me they see this year’s hosting experience as an aberration. At present, Doc-wife and I are still debating whether to continue our hosting streak.

The student’s flight home is scheduled for May 15.