Getting Used To A New Job

I am working now full time as a Developer/Analyst... I have to get used to some of the ins and outs of being a full time code monkey.

I am at Microsoft this week and next week on a Proof of Concept for a large project that the team is starting. We have a Microsoft developer here that I have been writing code with. I was constantly behind in my completion of my coding tasks. We would need something built and the both of us would attempt to build it. The Microsoft guy would be done with the entire project before I even got my structure created. I thought that it was because this is essentially my first job where I am developing software full time, and this guy has been writing code for his entire career.

He then gave me a nugget of advice that he uses to write code. He said that there are many tasks that you will do all of the time, and there are some tasks that are difficult that you will do only once in a while. What Microsoft Guy suggested was after you have completed the task, make your code "generic."

He said to take my completed code and strip out all of the project specific code so that you could plug anything in to the code and make it work. You then carry this code with you wherever you are working. He then showed me how he writes code so quickly. For any set of requirements he has, over the course of his career, written something that can handle it. So all that he does is paste his generic code in to his new project and then modify it as needed. In the span of just a few moments not only does he have his structure layed out, but most of his code is already written. All he does from there is wire everything up.
He actually has Visual Studio configured with various macros so that he can just insert his snippets through his right click.

Of course you have to keep your generic code snippets up to date, and re create them when something is deprecated, but the time it saves is amazing.

I wonder if there is somebody out there selling generic code snippets... Possible business opportunity!!

Thieves In the Night Part II

Another week, another gross disregard for the Constitution, another step closer to financial obliteration. The Democrats got their health care bill introduced in to the full Senate for debate. On Saturday.
This bill is over 2,000 pages long. If you were to read it non-stop, it would take nearly 36 hours to complete. No eating, no drinking, no sleeping, no breaks. 36 hours. It took about 10 days to get to the full senate. How many senators have read the bill? I bet I can count them on one hand.
This bill creates almost 111 new government agencies. It forces you, at the point of a gun, to buy health insurance. If you don't buy health insurance, government agents will come to collect you.

American People, were you so upset with George W. Bush that you needed to sell your soul to get rid of him? How does it feel now that you have let the thieves in you house? How does it feel now that they have their knives at you neck?

I am convinced now that this bill will pass, and it will be assuredly signed by our Marxist President. Words have meaning. If this is not Marxism, then what is? If this is not loss of Liberty, what is? The only bright spot in this mess is that the Supreme Court still might declare this bill, soon to be law, Unconstitutional. My hopes are high, but hope kills pilots.

Obama Went To China...

And all we got was a stern lecture by Communist President Hu. Nice.
The very simple fact is that China owns us. The good news is that China owns so much of our debt that if we fail, they fail. It is kind of like the relationship between banks and large real estate developers. No matter what happens during the relationship, as long as the bank owns the paper on the buildings, the developer is given more and more money so that he does not fail. Case in point, Donald Trump. He was near bankrupt in the mid 90s, but still the banks gave him money. Because if he went down he drug the bank with him.

We are Donald Trump, China is the bank. The bank is pissed at us, but can't let us fall on our face. So we get a stern lecture. That's cool.

We have no leverage in the relationship. We have no leg to stand on. We have to do exactly what our banker wants us to do. That means we keep our mouths shut on freedom and liberty. No problem for this administration... they don't believe in those things either.

Obama Is Weak

Let's say you had a horrible sickness. You have your family doctor that you need to treat your illness with drug UnFuckYourselfinall. The internal medicine doctor tells you that you need to treat the illness with UnFuckYourselfinall. The infectious disease doctor tells you to treat with UnFuckYourselfinall. Finally the top doctor that specializes in your illness says you need to treat your sickness with UnFuckYourselfinall. What do you do?

Most reasonable people would have started taking UnFuckYourselfinall after the Family Doctor prescribed it. President Obama has a similar situation in Afghanistan. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said that he needs to send more troops. The head of operations in that area, Gen. Petraeus, said that the President needs to send more troops. The general that President Obama placed in command in Afghanistan, Gen. General McKrystal, says that if he does not get more troops he will loose the war. For pity's sake even the ultra left wing hippies that call them selves Nat Geo journalists say that we need more troops once they have been in country.
The natives are BEGGING us for more help. What does the President do? Nothing. Says that he rejects all options.

Then in an act of pure cowardice, the President leaves the country for a trip to Asia that will keep him out of the country until the Thanksgiving Holiday. What does he have his Attorney General announce? That the 9/11 mastermind will be tried in New York court. WHAT???? You couldn't say that your self in one of your many MANY press conferences??? You couldn't stand up like a man and tell the American people that yourself? You had to let your bitch do it???

What does this really mean? The President is a pussy. Plain and simple. The guy has no balls and no clue. He is getting Americans killed in Afghanistan with his indecisiveness. Good work America. Way to elect an absolute incompetent pussy as your chief executive. I am so proud.

Like Thieves In The Night...

Thieves are exactly what they are. Steal money from us, at the point of a gun, and hand it over to people who did not earn it. The nose is under the tent, the frog is in the ever heating water, and the ball is rolling down that slippery slippery slope.

The Health Care Reform Act was introduced in to the house on 10/29, and passed 220-215 on SATURDAY. My vacation plans get more debate time that. How many representatives actually read the entire bill? I bet I can count them on one hand.

This bill is bad news for America. Not only will it bankrupt the country, it will destroy health care as you know it. When you artificially reduce the price of something, that something will inevitably become in short supply. There is a reduced benefit for the production of the product, so fewer people want to produce it. The very same is true for health care. Why would doctors, who after their residencies just want to make money, stay in government controlled health care? No benefit for their trouble, out they go to other more lucrative positions. Why would GE want to continue making MRI machines? Reduced demand for the product, as fewer and fewer hospitals will be around, no benefit, why make them?

Simple fact is that this bill will actually raise the price of health care, while simultaneously reduce the quality of health care. The benefit? It guarantees that a large percentage of Americans will be dependant on Government for their health. What party is forever touting more and more government benefits? Do the math. This is nothing but a vote buying scheme, to keep one political party in power.

UFC 104 Recap

Stefan Struve def Chase Gormley Submission (Triangle Choke) 4:04 rnd 1
My Pick: Stefan by RNC first round.
It was a triangle and not an RNC, but close enough! I am back baby!

Kyle Kingsbury def Razak Al-Hassan Decision (Split)
My Pick: Kingsbury by KO second round.
Kingsbury's skill is suspect... He gets the win though.

Jorge Rivera def Rob Kimmons TKO (Punches) 1:53 rnd 3
My Pick: Jorge by armbar first round.
Candy from a baby. Kimmons improved to take a beating, but Jorge wins the day.

Chael Sonnen def Yushin Okami Decision
My Pick: Okami by decision
Sonnen did what Okami was supposed to do, and took the top position and held it.

Patrick Barry def Antoni Hardonk TKO (Punches) 2:30 rnd 2
My Pick: Antoni by KO third round
Kind of upset I missed this one... Looks like Barry really was the better kickboxer.

Ryan Bader def Eric Schafer Decision
My Pick: Bader by G&P KO first round
No KO, but no surprise.

Anthony Johnson def Yoshiyuki Yoshida TKO (Punches) 0:41 rnd 1
My Pick: Johnson by KO first round
Fish in a barrel. Yoshida is the fish. I don't know why the Judoka insist on fighting at their weight and not cutting... of course being 6 pounds overweight Johnson may not have thought about cutting either. Yoshida needs to visit with Okami about how to cut weight in MMA. Yoshida could be a force at the lightweight or bantamweight classes.

Joe Stevenson def Spencer Fisher Submission (Elbows) 4:03 rnd 2
My Pick: Joe by decision.
Joe is vastly improved since he started working out with Greg Jackson.

Gleison Tibau def Josh Neer Decision
My Pick: Neer by KO mid third round
Gleison took a tip from Kurt Pellegrino and fought Josh the same way. Take the fight away from the feet, and control top position. Does this set up Neer vs Fisher II??? Looser goes home??? AWESOME!!!!

Cain Velasquez def Ben Rothwell TKO (Punches) 0:58 rnd 2
My Pick: Cain by G&P KO second round
Looks like Cain is ready to run with the top of the division!

Lyoto Machida def Mauricio Rua Decision
My Pick: Machida by arm triangle choke first round
Machida didn't win the way people wanted him to... HE DIDN'T WIN AT ALL!!!! Leg kicks DO end fights, and I have not a clue what fight the judges were watching. IMMEDIATE REMATCH!!!

I go 8 of 11 this time out. Better than usual!

UFC 104

Haven't done picks in a while so I might be rusty...


Stefan Struve Vs. Chase Gormley (Heavyweight)
Stefan is 1-1 in the UFC. He is coming off of a RNC win over Denis Stojnic. It is no secret that Stefan likes the ground game, 13 of his 17 wins come by some sort of submission. His three losses tell an interesting story as well, two come by KO, and one by submission. Can he win if the fight is NOT on the ground?
Chase is new to the UFC, and this is his first fight in over a year. He last fought Eric Pele, winning by decision. Chase is 6-0
Chase is going to have first time jitters AND a bad case of ring rust, not good coming in to a fight with a two time UFC vet. What Chase does have going for him is... well I don't see anything Chase has going for him. Stefan is seven feet tall... Chase is 6'3". Stefan has had over twice as many fights as Chase, and fought better opposition. Stefan by RNC first round.

Kyle Kingsbury Vs. Razak Al-Hassan (Light Heavyweight)
Kyle dropped his UFC debut to Tom Lawlor back in December of ought 8. He has been idle since.
Al-Hassan looked... very strange losing to Steve Cantwell by armbar. Al-Hassan kept his hands out in front of him during the stand up, had very little movement, and despite having several wins outside the UFC by submission looked like he had never ever been on the ground before once Cantwell very easily took the fight there.
I am not sure what the UFC was thinking when they signed Razak to another fight. Maybe they just wanted to hear Bruce Buffer announce his name again. That alone is worth the fighter's show money. IF Al-Hassan comes out against Kingsbury they way he came out against Cantwell, good night Razak. Kingsbury by KO second round.

Jorge Rivera Vs. Rob Kimmons (Middleweight)
"El Conquistador" won his last fight in the UFC beating Nissen Osterneck by split decision. Jorge shows all of the skills it takes to succeed in the UFC, except winning consistently. For some reason he just falls apart in his fights. Jorge has shown very good stand up, and brilliant ground skill... He has also made boneheaded mistakes on the feet, and incomprehensible decisions on the ground.
Kimmons... He is a goofy guy. This Victory Fighting Championship vet is 2-1 in the UFC. How? I don't know. I don't understand how this guy is the same guy I saw, and talked with at the VFC events. He had such a weak grasp on fighting concepts and almost no ground skill... I am glad that he has improved. Rob won his last fight over Joe Vedepo by Guillotine Choke.
I know that Jorge is very hot and cold in the UFC. I don't think that he will have any problems with Kimmons though. Despite Rob's improvement, he does not have the chops to take out Rivera. So, again, this one is Rivera's to lose. Jorge by armbar first round.


Yushin Okami Vs. Chael Sonnen (Middleweight)
Okami won his last fight by decision over Dean Lister. That statement really does not honestly convey what that fight was. Okami beat Dean Lister, a man who won nearly every ADCC match he ever had by submission, a man who fierce competitors would withdraw from competition once they heard Dean was competing, a man known worldwide for his ground skill, by controlling him on the ground. Impressive. Most impressive. Okami is a beast.
Sonnen beat Dan Miller by decision in his last fight. Sonnen is a well known wrestler with very little in the way of submission defense. That shouldn't be an issue in this fight.
Both guys are wrestlers, both guys look to control and pound their opponents. I don't see Sonnen out wrestling Okami. Okami by decision.


Antoni Hardonk Vs. Pat Barry (Heavyweight)
Hardonk is back! I just like his name. It makes me think of Crocodile Dundee. Member the guy? "I don't need a gun. I have a Donk." Member that??? Anyway Hardonk is a kickboxer from the very famous Vos Gym in Holland. Outside Thailand, this is where you want to go if you want to be a Thai Boxer. Hardonk has some of the best leg kicks out there, if it stays on the feet, cover your ears. The "thuds" from him landing those kicks will eventually sicken even the toughest of constitutions.
Pat Barry won by leg out against Dan Evensen.... Then Tim Hague taught him that if you can't fight on the ground, you can't fight. Pat is a kickboxer. He has very little in the way of wrestling or ground skill.
I am actually looking forward to this fight. Both of these guys are kickboxers, and both are very skilled in landing the leg kick. We should see both guys getting more adventurous with their kicks as the fight progresses and both guys learn that the other guy will not be trying any of that ground nonsense. I think that Hardonk has the advantage on the feet. Antoni by KO third round.
Ryan Bader Vs. Eric Schafer (Light Heavyweight)
Bader is a bad ass wrestler.
Schafer is a not so bad assed BJJ guy.
Bader smashes Schafer in to little red pieces. Bader by G&P KO first round.

Anthony Johnson Vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Welterweight)
Ruble Johnson!! Here is a guy who sold his soul to the devil, Gorge Sorros, for raw power. Not since Pete Sprat showed up have I been so excited about a fighter's stand up. Crisp strong punches, and kicks... wow. I have been working on my kicks for nearly 20 years now. I could work for another 20. I STILL won't have kicks like Anthony Johnson.
Yoshida, is another Japanese Judo star coming to the US to fight. Yoshida's game is to wait for you to make a mistake then exploit that mistake.
Yoshida is in for a beating. His style does not do anything to counter Johnson's "overwhelm with power" approach. Yoshida will not have time to take advantage of Johnson's mistakes, because Johnson will have already knocked him in to next week. Johnson by KO first round.

Joe Stevenson Vs. Spencer Fisher (Lightweight)
Joe managed to control the ground game and win a tight decision over Nate Diaz in his last fight out. Joe is a ground guy who likes to play around standing up first. He has very little power in his stand up, but he does have good wrestling and a very good ground game.
Spece beat Caol Uno by decision his last time out. We all know Spence. They guy is a very sharp boxer and a good ground guy. Not so good with the control game, but very good at slapping on submissions from his back, especially the triangle choke.
This is going to be a tough fight for Spencer. Spencer has shown that he does not do well once someone has passed his guard, and Joe is very good at passing guard. After he passes guard, Joe will likely stay in the half guard or side control positions. Joe by decision.

Gleison Tibau Vs. Josh Neer (Lightweight)
Gleison lost to Melvin Guillard by decision in his last fight. Gleison is a smart strong ground guy, but he is very lazy. He really does not work very hard for submissions, and gets them only when he has frustrated his opponent enough to give up something.
Josh Neer is one of my absolute favorite fighters to watch. He fights every second of every round. He tries to finish the fight every second of every round... Josh lost his last fight by decision to Kurt Pellegrino. Kurt was able to slow the fight way down and smother Josh on the ground. Not the game Josh likes to play. Josh's game is to smash your face, or triangle choke you. That is what he does.
This should be an interesting fight. I think that heart will play a major role here, and who has the bigger heart? Josh the freaking Dentist Neer. Gleison may be able to smother Josh the first round, but after that the lazy Tibau will not be able to stop the aggressive Neer. Neer by KO mid third round!!


Cain Velasquez Vs. Ben Rothwell (Heavyweight)
Cain is the new up and comer in the UFC. He is 6-0 with 5 fights ending in KO. Cain took apart Cheick Kongo by decision last time he was in the cage, and looks to do more of the same.
Ben Rothwell was a stand out in the IFL, as well as any other promotion he fought for... except Affliction. He was dropped by Andrei Arlovski there. Ben is a well rounded fighter from MFS. He wins mostly by KO, but has some submission sprinkled in there.
I don't see how Ben wins this one. Cain is more athletic, a better wrestler and seemingly sharper on the feet. Despite the HUGE gap in experience, 6-0 to Ben's 30-6, I think Cain wins this one. Cain by G&P KO second round.

Lyoto Machida Vs. Mauricio Rua (Light Heavyweight Championship)
Machida won his last fight by knocking Rashad Evans completely out. Machida has raised Karate's flag in MMA. Not just Karate, but the super traditional Shotokan style of Karate. His use of foot sweeps has made kickboxers stop kicking, and his power on the ground forced wrestlers to stop going for takedowns. He is a new conundrum that the MMA world, so focused on BJJ and Muay Thai, has yet to figure out.
Rua is a kickboxer who knocked out Chuck Liddell in his last fight out. Shogun used to be the quintessential Chute Boxe fighter, but no longer. Ever since the injury to his arm in his first fight with Mark Coleman, Shogun has not been the same man.
This fight should end very quickly for Machida. He will first put Shogun off balance, take the fight to the ground and finish it with a submission.
I have been one to make fun of Karate, mainly because of the rigid adherence to silly rules and restrictions that its practitioners love. It has made the art stale, and worse, useless in a fight. The Machida form of Shotokan keeps the forms, and the tradition, but opened up to all of the other styles out there. Now Machida's base is Karate, but he is a true Mixed Martial Artist.
Machida by arm triangle choke first round.

Learning?

What do we learn with this video?



Dolphins aren't always cute... sometimes they are just assholes.

Obama Wins Peace Prize

Good thing they got it there before we kick in a troop surge in Afghanistan.

I thought that American liberals were the only one permanently attached to Obama's nut sack, but I guess that I can add European liberals too. Is this simply the consolation prize for the Olympics?

CW45 Goes In To The Shop

It sucks when something so good, has so much potential, disappoints you.

My carry pistol, a Kahr Arms CW45, is, seemingly, the best carry pistol ever made. It is extremely lightweight. It has a very thin form factor. It shoots a large round, .45 caliber. It is accurate (I am able to get nice center mass groupings from 30 yards, with only a 3" barrel!). It's slide spring is strong enough to compensate for much of the heavy recoil of the .45 round.
All signs point to awesome... EXCEPT, mine started to have problems. When I fired the pistol, sometimes after one mag, sometimes after several, I noticed that the trigger did not reengage. I had to force the trigger forward, forcefully, in order to get the pistol to fire. At first I thought the pistol was dirty, not so. Even after a good cleaning the problem persisted. I fooled myself in to thinking that it was a "break in" problem, and it would go away after more rounds went through the pistol.

The last time I went to the range, I couldn't finish a single magazine with out the issue presenting itself. A pistol can have all of the advantages in the world, but if it doesn't go "boom" when you pull the trigger it will cost you your life.

Over the weekend I went on the Internet and found that I was not the only one to have these issues. It turns out the CW45 is notorious for having these problems. The factory does immediate RMAs for the issue and fixes the bad pistols. I found this to be the case, as when I filled out the RMA form, a number came almost immediately. I will monitor the customer service I get, and let everyone here know when I get the pistol back from the factory.

My question is why was this allowed to happen? If you market a pistol as a concealed carry weapon, CW stands for Concealed Weapon, why would you allow manufacturing issues like this to persist once you have them recognized?? My Internet research tells me that the CW45 has had problems for nearly two years now. The number one thing that a gun should do is go boom. If yours doesn't you have real problems.
Why not issue a recall on the model? Why send out defective models? I don't get it.
Smith & Wesson, Springfield Armories, and Colt, not to mention HK, Kimber, and Glock all are very large companies with the ability to wipe the floor with Kahr. If it doesn't shoot, your reputation is tarnished. Reputation is very important in the gun business, and small companies like Kahr simply can not afford to have these issues if they intend to continue in business.

Anyway, this is my first day since 1996 that I have no handgun in the house. My long guns are far away from my bedroom, and even if I moved one in to the bed room closet it will still be a long ways away, maybe too long if push comes to shove...

For Old Time's Sake

Kung Fu guy challenges a MMA gym. Wackyness ensues.

Should Have Won Video Of The Year

WRONG HOLE with DJ Lubel, Taryn Southern and Scott Baio from Scott Baio

Yeah He Is...

My Soggy Weekend

The wife and I took a little trip to Dallas this weekend to watch the Rangers take on the Mariners. We have been Mariners fans since we watched Ichiro play in Seattle last year. There are very few players in professional sports that give 100%, 100% of the time. Even fewer in pro baseball. The long grueling schedule combined with pointless games lulls most players in to a constant state of mediocrity. Ichiro doesn't play that game. He is 100% all the time. That is why he is so much fun to watch.

We trekked down to Dallas on Friday afternoon after the wife got off of her shift. She had been up since 3pm the day before and got off her shift at 11am. Understandably, she slept the whole way. We checked in to the hotel 2 miles from the ballpark.

After a short nap we took a walk in the nice, but cloudy Dallas evening to the ballpark. Just as we got our tickets scanned, the rain stated falling. And it fell, and fell and fell. We decided to get a beer and hang out. As we sat down the new iPhones became very important. Using the Weather Channel app, we were able to check the radar to see if there was any chance of the game getting started. Two and a half hours after the time the game was supposed to start, it was announced that the game would be postponed until Sunday. No big deal, the teams would be playing Saturday, and our tickets would be honored if we exchanged them for that game.

We stood in line, in the poring rain, to get our tickets exchanged. After getting everything taken care of, we walked over to the Arlington Trolly stop. There we waited, and waited, and waited. No Trolly. More on the Trollies later.
We had no cash, we were already a little wet, I had brought some rain ponchos, and the hotel was only 2 miles away. Might as well hoof it right?

We soon were soaked nearly all the way through. Note for the future, super thin $2 ponchos do not work well for walking in wind and driving rain. We make it nearly to the hotel, wet, tired, and hungry. That is when we saw Humperdink's. A restaurant and brewery. I wanted a beer and something to eat, so I managed to convince the wife to stop in. Humperdink's never had to soggier patrons. They ushered us in to an out of the way booth.

I was a bit worried that Humperdink's would be the typical extract brewery that has become popular lately. See Granite City or BJ's Brewpub for this type of pseudo brewery. What sucks about these guys? Well, they serve fresh beer like McDonald's serves fresh hamburgers. More on that later. Anyway Humperdink's turned out to be an all grain brewery with its own brew staff at each location. Cool! The wife and I had their Big Red IPA. A nice IPA. I thought that it was a bit light on the malt, and the finishing hops gave it a bit too much acidity, but beggars can't be choosers. We got a real brewery just across the street from the hotel? Jackfreaking pot.

We finished our food and our beers and settled down for the night.

Saturday we woke to find that the rain had not stopped. We felt that we may never see Ichiro play. What do you do in Dallas when it rains? Go for sushi lunch and go shopping, of course! We hit Ichiro's favorite place in Dallas to eat sushi, Mr. Sushi. It just happens to be a few blocks from a major shopping center, the Galeriea. I kind of wanted to visit Rahar Brewing Company in Ft. Worth again, but I knew we would not have time. Next time Rahar!!

We arrived at the ballpark to find that the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. The game was ON!!!
It turns out that the season ticket holders did not show up for the game, and the ushers were not caring where you sat. We sat down two rows up from the field, right behind the players warming up to bat.
Ichiro was so close we could have spit on him. It was awesome.

Ichiro turned out to have a great game, hitting a double, then a home run. Ken Griffey Jr. helped out a little too. They played nearly a whole game before the rain returned, getting to the bottom of the ninth before calling the game on account of rain.

As the game was called, we found our trolly that was going to take us to our car, parked back at our hotel from last night.
In an epic dick move, the trolly that was supposed to take us to our hotel, decided to call it a night, despite leaving several people at the ballpark. One of the other trolly drivers, pissed off at the other driver, was nice enough to take us, and many others to our hotels. We learned on the trolly from the other driver that this particular driver has a long history of stranding people. Turns out that we an many others were left yesterday by the same driver. What an ass.

Anyway we were hungry, and well, there was Humperdink's. We stopped in again. I had their Buttface Amber. It was excellent. Very nice malt front with touches of chocolate malts in the back a good brew.

We headed back to OKC, in the rain. The wife drove, she is working nights and wanted to stay up as long as possible. This time I slept.

Health Care Speech

Obama set forth his health care goals last night. Although I do not agree with the presentation of Joe Wilson's comment, and fully condemn him for it, his meaning is correct. The President and his cronies in the House and Senate are lying to the American People. Not the kind of "lie" that you tell when you believe one thing and the evidence later proves you wrong, the real kind of lie where you know absolutely that what you are saying is a falsehood, and you say it anyway.

First some nit picking:
In the beginning of the speech the President said that the uninsured are one accident away from bankruptcy. This is idiotic. All of us are one accident, mistake, or bad decision away from bankruptcy. It is like saying that we all could die crossing the street tomorrow, or that if we do bad things a spectral entity that we can not see will punish us after we die. It is a bogeyman.

Next he mentions how we are the only advanced democracy that allows millions to go uninsured. I am absolutely sick of this statement. Especially by elected officials. To say this is to reveal that you either have no clue as to what form of government the United States Constitution set up, or you are deceiving people so that you can trick them later. We do not live in a democracy. The Founders HATED democracy. Democracy is rule by the mob. The United States Constitution created a Representative Republic. It is not mob rule it is rule by law. There is a big difference.

The President then goes in to what is "broken" with our current system, and what the left and right are thinking. The President likes to appear as a centrist, he isn't, but he likes to appear that way. The left, including the President, wants single payer, the right, myself included, wants everybody to pay their own way.

He then goes in to the two buzz words that the left loves to pull out about anything Government controlled: Stability and Security. The is the biggest bunch of hogwash there is. The Government is neither stable or secure. Nothing is. The natural state of anything is flux. There is nothing stable or secure. Government programs are subject to the whims of bureaucrats. You have zero control over your own decisions or what changes you wish to make. If you don't like it and want to get out, no dice. The Government will use force to make you comply. Try to opt out of Social Security. See how far that gets you. Health care, same way.

He then starts to outline how the new "reform" will force private insurance companies, who need to make a profit to keep going, to get out of the health insurance business. No caps on what an insurance company will pay. Guaranteed coverage despite pre-existing conditions. Forcing insurance companies to pay for routine medical visits, procedures, and tests.
These things will bankrupt the insurance companies, or make it so expensive that only the richest of Americans can afford it. Everybody else... public option.

He mentions that his plan will not insure illegal aliens. This is sort of true, but mostly a deception. It is against the law for health care workers to ask if the people they are treating are residents of this country. They get treated everywhere, and anyway. Most of the patents that my wife treats now are illegals. All get 100% free treatment care of the American Taxpayer. This will not change, so the illegals will not get insurance, but they don't care because they get free treatment anyway.

Then we get a little deception about insurance competition in states. The President says how in most states fewer than 5 insurance companies provide coverage. This is bit of smoke and mirrors. Mr. Obama fails to mention that it is because of government regulation that insurance companies do not cover people in those states. It is too expensive. The future? They hope so.

He then talks about how he will pay for the plan, with out talking about how he will pay for the plan. The simple fact is that the plan will bankrupt the country. Taxes will have to be raised on all those paying taxes, less than half of the population now.

All of the debate can be boiled down in to a few simple facts:
No government controlled health care system on the planet has not rationed care. Care is not rationed now.

Government intervention has contributed greatly to the increase in health care costs.

Any of the proposed reform bills will increase costs to the taxpayers exponentially.


That is it and that is all. You want to reform health insurance? Promote health insurance the way it was meant to be. Just like your car insurance. My insurance does not pay for an oil change, a tire rotation, or a break job. Why should my health insurance? High deductible insurance with a Health Savings Plan is the the way to go. I pay for everything under $2000. The insurance company pays for the rest.

Reform torts. A loser pays system solves most of the idiotic malpractice suits that your health care professionals spend ridiculous amounts of money on, thus reducing overall costs.

Government is not the answer.

I Finally Found Something Good About Living In Oklahoma

My senators kick ass.



Take it!!
Excellent argument presented by Senator Coburn, countered by "We got to take care of people." Awesome.

I say it is excellent, because he said exactly what I would have said to her.

It was such a beat down, that now I am starting to wonder if this lady wasn't a plant put there by the Senator's staff so that Dr. Coburn could smack her down... Hummmmm Okies are tricky. Damn reverses....

Best Game EVER!!!

Imaged For The First Time

A single molecule.



The image is of pentacene, which is commonly used in solar cells. The rectangular-shaped organic molecule is made up of 22 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms.

You can see the hexagonal shapes of the five carbon rings are are clear and even the positions of the hydrogen atoms around the carbon rings can be seen.
We are not so good that you can see the individual atoms, but still, the lumps of carbon chain, visible, just as we envisioned it is nothing short of astonishing.

Wow. I don't know what is more amazing, that we actually did something like this, or that the molecule looks exactly like I used to draw them in Mr. Wood's Chemistry class. I used to think that the way we drew compounds was for simplicity's sake. Nothing more that a diagram, a learning tool to easily see where the atomic connections would be made. To actually see that the molecule looks like that blows my mind.

All matter is nothing more than spheres touching one another. Simply amazing.

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Time To ROCK!

Patterson: I Am Being Forced Out of Office Because of My Race.

No, dude, you are being forced out of office because you are bad at your job. You need an excuse as to why your approval ratings are in the teens. The "racist" media is not to blame. Your idiotic ideas and plans to raise taxes through the roof are to blame.


Gov. Paterson of New York

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Buy New Cars... No Wait Don't

After people started taking advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program the Government has decided to.... Scrap the program.

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Let's be frank about this stuff. This was a simple trade in program. Every car dealership in every state in every county in every city in every town does this all day everyday. The weakest greenest worst used car salesman in the country does this all day everyday. The government couldn't handle it for six months.

Why? Let's use President Obama's favorite word, sustainable. The program overpaid for cars, then destroyed them. Nobody made any money. For every car that was "purchased" for 2 to 4 thousand dollars, another 1 to 2 thousand was spent to destroy it. No wonder the program failed. It was simply not sustainable. You have to have some money coming in on the other end. Have to. Otherwise the doors close.

This is the same group of people who say they can do a better job than your insurance company. Basically the health insurance reform public option uses the same model.

Wake up.

At Political Rallies, Leave Your Guns At Home

Headline news this morning, protesters bring guns to Obama protest. Jesus wept. Are you people in-freaking-sane??????
Apparently about a dozen people decided to come to the protest openly caring guns. One guy brought his AR-15. That is the civilian model of the M4:

The others had handguns strapped to their hips. The protest happened in Arizona, which allows open cary of guns.

NO LAWS WERE BROKEN, nobody was arrested, and nobody got hurt.

That is not the point. The point is when you do that kind of thing it sends the wrong message. The open carry guys were trying to say that they have the right to bare arms. What came across is that a bunch of rednecks wanted to shoot the President. Stupid, Stupid, STUPID!!!

There are ideologies on both sides. You won't convince them, or bring them to your cause. The people whose attention you want to get and convince are the thinking people. If you do thins kind of crap it turns off the thinking people!!! Hell, I am a supporter of your rights and it turns ME off!!!! You stupid MORONS!!!

Be smart! If you see one of these idiots at a rally, show them you CCW permit, say you support them 100%, then tell them to put the gun in their car. They look like idiots and do nothing to help the cause.

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Legion

I have enough Christian background to make me freak out when I watch these movies. I can't wait!!!

Outstanding!!!!

I never really met anybody who believed ALL of the Obama conspiracy theories. Sure, I am in Oklahoma, I hear my share of them: Obama is a Muslim. Obama is a homosexual. Obama is an illegal alien. Usually people pick one theory and run with it... THIS guy believes them all!!
Not only that, he adds some new ones.



Watch it all. You will be glad you did.

When the rioting comes out of Oklahoma like he predicts, he can join my band of roving miscreants.

Perhaps the Most Intelligent Thing Ever Created By Man

Tuba Players... We're Jerks

UFC 101 Recap

I did not get to see this UFC in all of its glory. I only got to see a fight here a fight there... Ok I only got to see the battle of Gorges, Penn vs Kenny, Amir vs Hendricks, and Forrest V Silva.

Jesse Lennox def Danillo Villefort TKO (Cut) 3:37 rnd 3
My Pick: Villefort
Meh.

George Sotiropoulos def George Roop Submission (Kimura) 1:59 rnd 2
My Pick: Sotiropoulos
Sotiropoulos put on a BJJ clinic. Roop had no chance as submissions were flying around the room like bumblebees at a Snickers company picnic. It was just a matter of time before Sotiropoulos caught the Kimura from the north south position.

Matt Riddle def Dan Cramer Decision
My Pick: Riddle
Matt has come a long way since TUF, just too big and strong for Dan.

Alessio Sakara def Thales Leites Decision (Split)
My Pick: Thales
This was a big surprise for me. I thought that Thales would dominate the ground game and eventually sub Sakara. I need to see this fight.

John Howard def Tamdan McCrory Decision (Split)
My Pick: Tamadan
Wow... I guess the Barn Cat is not as sharp as I thought.

Kurt Pellegrino def Josh Neer Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Neer
I felt that Neer would just power out of Kurt's ground game or stuff Kurt's take downs to keep the fight where Josh could really do some damage. Good work on Kurt to dominate the fight.

Ricardo Almeida def Kendall Grove Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Almedia
No surprise here. Almedia is twice the ground guy Grove is. I am a little surprised that there was no choke ending...

Johny Hendricks def Amir Sadollah TKO (Punches) 0:29 rnd 1
My Pick: Amir
This fight was stopped way early. Bad call by the ref.

Aaron Riley def Shane Nelson Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Riley
Riley is a tough guy and this fight really had no other outcome.

Anderson Silva def Forrest Griffin KO (Punch) 3:23 rnd 1
My Pick: Silva
Again, this fight really had no other outcome. We saw in almost every fight that Forrest has that he is very sloppy about his defence. We also saw in the Jardine fight, that Forrest can be easily dropped with punches directly on his chin. Bad combo against a guy like Silva.

B.J. Penn def Kenny Florian Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 3:54 rnd 4
My Pick: Penn
Kenny had a decent game plan. It was the same one that GSP used... but GSP was 30 pounds heavier and a hell of a lot stronger. I am not sure that Kenny was the bigger man in this fight. Penn retains the title. I don't know if there is anybody left at 155 for Penn to face.

I go 6 for 11. Ouch.

UFC 101

Very late in the game, but here they are:

B.J. Penn (155) vs. Kenny Florian (155) Penn
Anderson Silva (205) vs. Forrest Griffin (205) Silva
Amir Sadollah (166.5) vs. Johny Hendricks (171) Amir
Kendall Grove (185.5) vs. Ricardo Almeida (185) Almedia
Kurt Pellegrino (154.5) vs. Josh Neer (155.5) Neer
Shane Nelson (156) vs. Aaron Riley (154) Riley
Tamdan McCrory (170) vs. John Howard (169.5) Tamadan
Thales Leites (185) vs. Alessio Sakara (185.5) Thales
Matt Riddle (170) vs. Dan Cramer (169.5) Riddle
George Sotiropoulos (155) vs. George Roop (154) Geroge =) Sotiropoulos
Jesse Lennox (171) vs. Danillo Villefort (170.25) Villefort

One of Chris Rock's Best

Obama: Public Option is Not a Trojan Horse, Oh, Wait, Yes It Is

Elections have consequences. Plain and simple. You can't elect a bunch of socialists who ignore facts, and expect to get sane legislation enacted. It just doesn't happen.

Obama said recently that the Public Option in health care is not a Trojan Horse for a single payer system. Complete and utter BS. He knows it to. Anyone with half a brain knows it. To explain to the brain dead, let's use the Left's favorite whipping boy WalMart.

You have a nice little town, where people buy their goods from their local stores. Drugs from the corner pharmacy, tools from the local hardware store, food from the grocery store, so on and so forth. These business sell their products at a price that can keep them in business and put a little coin in their pockets.
WalMart moves in. It wants the market share of the little shops. What does it do? Because it has deep pockets, WalMart can sell its products at a loss. This undercuts all of the other stores and the people flock to WalMart. Everybody else, who needs to make a profit, closes their doors.

Sad right? Well guess what the government can do? They are WalMart here, and the insurance companies are the small businesses. Nobody has deeper pockets than the Government. If they introduce a Public Option, it is a certainty that the private insurance companies will get out of the health care business. They can't compete, and they know it.

I don't know why this is a surprise to people... The left has been saying that they would do this for years. The President said it many times himself, before he was President.

If you want to reduce how much you pay for health care, do one thing. Tort reform. Doctors are being killed by how much insurance they have to pay for malpractice, and lawyer fees. Reform torts!!! If you enact a looser pays system, malpractice becomes a virtual thing of the past.

This will not happen in this congress, or in any other congress. The Congress People are mostly lawyers. They won't cut their own throat... Even if it is best for the country.

Will the real Obama please stand up?

Best Site EVER!!

Go here.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Shoot it!! Shoot it!!!!

This Made Me Smile

What's My Horoscope Corage Wolf?

Unholy Cooperation

The time, March 1994. A man sits at a bar. He is dirty, unshaven, uncaring. His addictions have all but consumed him. All he has is his music. He is deeply troubled.
Another man walks in to a bar. He is British, clean cut, good looking, and homosexual. As can be plainly seen from his gait, he has absolutely no rhythm. His fame as a musician was short lived, but intense.

The British man sits next to the dirty man at the bar. The strike up a conversation. Talk eventually turns the their common interest, music.
The two make a starting discovery about their greatest hits.

For a short while the two men record their discovery. It lifts the dirty one's spirits so much that he bursts out of his depressive state. Both men prepare to re-emerge as musical powerhouses... But alas! The government deemed their collaboration as too awesome for the world to behold.

Destroyed, and heartbroken, one man takes his own life. The other simply fades away, and withdrawals from public life.

The government finally deemed that the public was ready for the one collaborative song that the two created. Here it is:

Personality Cult

I wasn't going to say anything on the growing personality cult of President Barack Obama. All leaders who wish to keep leading need to have some sort of cult in order to keep people interested in them. It is the nature of the beast.
I knew that President Obama's cult would be stronger than most because he has 100% of the media, Hollywood, and the press behind him. This is to be expected.
Then I saw this:


You pledge to be a servant of Barack Obama????? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?????? You pledge to be the President's servant????????? Is this a joke? Are you being serious?

This is dangerous territory. When people start pledging to other people my pucker factor goes up exponentially. When you pledge your loyalty to a person, it is no longer the country that you are working for, it is the person. Kings make you pledge to be their servant. Dictators make you pledge to be their servants. Most notably Hitler made all Germans pledge an oath to him.
America is about pledging loyalty to the Constitution. And what are the first words in the Constitution? WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. So when you pledge your self to be a servant of the Constitution, you are really pledging yourself to the people of the United States of America.
This is a pledge I can live with... One that pledges you to a man??? Nope. Not good.

Sold My House!!

Well my house in Omaha is sold... It is a bitter sweet thing. I had more emotion around that house than I expected.
It was the first house that my wife and I bought. We made it our home for 8 years. Good times and bad times all right there.
We ended up selling for more than we thought we would get, BUT we had to pay closing costs, so we ended up taking home less than we thought. Oh well, the saying goes that if both sides feel cheated, a good deal was made.

Anyway the sale of my first home and the passing of the "Cap and Trade" (C&T) bill in the hose were oddly coincidental. One of the major issues with C&T is that it puts new requirements on the sellers of homes. At present time buyers of homes get a home inspection to ensure that the house is in good shape. The government will make it a requirement that all houses to be sold are inspected by a government agency to ensure their environmental rating, and to require certain retrofits, if the building is air conditioned.
This now requires the seller of the house to invest more money in their house, ensuring that they will make less money on the sale.
Work done on a house that is required by the government will NOT add to the value of the house. In fact, with older houses, it will cost much more than the seller can afford to do.
My house was a small home in an ok neighborhood. Not a great neighborhood, but an ok one. It was priced as high as we could price it for the size and the location. I thought the house was worth much more, and if it were in a different neighborhood it would have been worth much more. BUT had I been required to retrofit the house I would have been pouring money in to the house that I could not possibly get back. Had we needed to retrofit, we could not have bought the house we now live in. Actually we would have probably been forced to rent, because the cost of the retrofit would have destroyed any equity or profit we would have gotten.

IF there was a significant gain for C&T I maybe could see some need for it... Not really because I don't think the feds should be involving themselves in private contracts, so does the Constitution, but nobody reads that old thing any more. Anyway there is absolutely nothing to be gained from C&T. No gain for all of the pain. Why? Why?? Why???

On Body vs Off Body Carry

I have been comparing on body and off body carry for about 8 months now. I use a non traditional off body carry device, that being a Osprey Veer bag:


This bag has a very nifty top pocket that seems to be specifically designed for concealed carry. Believe me, it isn't designed for concealed carry, I am 100% sure that is not what the bag designers were thinking when they put this pocket in.
Any way the bag sits very nicely on my hip with my draw hand sitting right on top of the zipper. The great thing about this bag is that it looks like a true man bag. When people look at it they don't think, "he has a gun in there" like they would with the front pouch. They just look at me funny and think that I am gay or a metro-sexual. I have no problem with this.

My on body carry method is an inside the waistband holster. I have carried multiple ways, my favorites being the appendix carry, and the rear hip carry.


Appendix Carry


Rear Hip Carry

Here we go:
Off Body Major Pros:
Full concealment. My pistol is completely tucked away in my bag. Zero chance of someone seeing the gun unless I want them to.

Full body movement. I can bend over, sit down, run, go to the restroom, throw my hands in to the air, and wave them like I just don't care, whatever. I have absolute movement with no chance of the gun printing, or revealing it under my shirt.

Comfort. Nothing digging in to my hip or my gut. I can sit down were ever I wish no little reminders that I am packing.

Fashion. I don't have to worry about what I wear. I can go as tight as I want with my clothing and not worry about printing.

Ease of carry. The pistol sits very comfortably in a shoulder bag. It hangs there no problem. Because it is a bag I have lots of room, so I also carry my 7 shot reload mag.

On Body Major Pros:
Fast draw. No zippers to mess with, no bag to hold on to during the draw. Pull and point.

Zero chance of accidentally leaving your gun somewhere. The holster is attached to your hip. It goes where you go.

Most traditional, most accepted way to carry. Let's face it, most guys who carry guns would rather be seen with that awful front pocket thing than what could be called a purse.

Comparisons:
With off body carry there is a possibility that you will accidentally leave your bag and gun somewhere you don't want it.
This has never, ever happened to me, BUT with the ease of off body carry you could put your carry device down for whatever reason and someone could go through it and find your pistol. Whether it be someone looking to steal something or a child looking for a new toy. This is a big concern. On body carry this never happens, the gun is attached to you at all times.

Draw speed showdown.
In a heated situation where the gun is needed, there are a lot more steps that have to be performed to draw the pistol with off body carry. Open the zipper. Draw hand grips the pistol grip, rear hand grabs the bag, pull. On top of this the pistol can get hung up on the sides of the pocket forcing you to look down and clear the obstruction. Not good when seconds count.
On body carry just lift the shirt pull and point. You are on target immediately.

Static about the man purse. Some guys just want to give static about your bag. I have only had one time, in Texas of course, where anyone has actually confronted me. I handled it the same way Connor McLeod of the clan McLeod handled it when a cop asked him if he was a homosexual (You a faggot Nash? Why? Are you cruising for a piece of ass?). Occasionally I hear comments yelled out behind me, but really if you are going to do that I find that you are revealing your own cowardice then exposing my inadequacies.
On body, no muss no fuss.

Concealment. The bag is better hands down. With on body carry if the pistol isn't placed just so, the bulge gives it away every time. When you do an on body carry you can't bend over, you cant reach up to get something. You flash the gun or it prints every time. I have not been busted for this, BUT many of the people I know on message boards have. I feel much more comfortable having the pistol safely tucked away in the bag where there is no chance of printing, or flashes. However, interestingly enough, the only time I have been "busted" was when a reader of this blog saw me with the man bag, and asked me if I was packing.

The comfort issue. In any situation where you are not standing up you have a comfort issue with the on body carry. It digs in to your hip, it preses in to your gut, it is difficult to get a seat belt around it.
Off body, no problem. Seated, standing, in the car whatever you are good to go. In the car is especially handy. Ever try to get something out of your pocket while in the car? It is just as difficult to draw if you are in the car, more so with the appendix carry. With off body I just set my bag next to me and away I go. I have the same draw problems as when I am not standing, but it is much easier to get at the pistol.

Transitioning between carry and non carry environments. You go to a store, and you see that they have a no weapons allowed sticker in the door. You have to ditch your piece. With off body carry all I do is go back to the car and put my bag in the trunk. Done walk in to store. With on body carry, I have to play a cloak and dagger game to get my gun out of my pants without anybody seeing what I am doing. Even though I am 100% legal in carrying the gun and keeping it in the car, John Q Public, actually Jane Q Public, freak the hell out when they see anything resembling a gun. Southroads mall in Omaha got shut down because some woman saw a guy walk in the the mall with what she thought was a rifle. It was an umbrella. So, if they see you put a gun in the car, you can bet the farm that you will have some explaining to do with the police when you get back to your car. If you car is still there. You may have some explaining to do at the impound lot.

All in all there are many pros and cons, personally I am a big fan of off body carry. It is so much more convenient, and frankly I am more comfortable with the concealment than I am with on body carry.

Perhaps the Best Internet Comic Ever Written

Female Ninjas

I don't understand it, but damn...

Culture Shock

I find myself in a bit of a culture shock. Or maybe a reverse culture shock.

I spent almost 15 years doing traditional Martial Arts. I received black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do. The culture in these arts was belt based. In order to learn new techniques, you had to progress through the belt levels. Great emphasis was placed on testing and receiving new belts.
The first two questions that were asked of any new student walking in the door was, Have you trained before and What belt are you?
Time and trouble were spent mastering moves that may or may not have any relevance in a combat situation.
Sparing and contact were kept to a minimum, except for those who wanted it. Even Though you used different moves in sparing, great emphasis was placed on the non combat moves, because they were required for testing.

Then I went to a fighting gym. I have been there for about 4 years now. New students were welcomed, then shown where the mat was. Little to no emphasis was placed on belts. The only belts that mattered were championship belts. Sure there was a belt system in place, but since everybody did the same techniques what use was there in testing?

In the fighting gym everything was about respect. You gained it by spending time on the mat, and in the ring. Those who stepped in to the ring or the competition mat were looked on with reverence and the training focused on getting them ready for fights. Training was always intense, because somebody always had a fight somewhere. You could not help but improve your technique. You improved, or you were dominated.
Useless techniques were discarded. No time was wasted on moves that could not be directly applied to the fight.
All that mattered was the fight.
Technique drills and sparing time was overbalanced in favor of sparring.

Both cultures had their positives and negatives. I the fighting gym, only the toughest of new people stick around to train. It is good because anybody on the mat or in the ring at any given time is going to give you trouble. Everybody is tough, nobody ever quits.
It is bad because maybe that one guy is a diamond in the rough, but needs just a little bit of external encouragement, or incentive to get them to be a good training partner. In the fighting gym, this person is crushed, and sent home

In the belt obsessed gym, everyone is included and encouraged to participate. This is great because all are given a chance to learn and grow. Everybody learns the beauty of the Martial Arts and have the chance to participate in all activities.
It is bad because the weak and the half assed are there to drag you down. The workout is not nearly the intensity of what it could be, because all fitness types must be accommodated.

In my opinion the TMA gym will foster a false sense of security in most of the participants. They believe that their workouts and their sessions will prepare them for the fight. In fact very little of what they do prepares them for the fight.
Heart, toughness, the ability to take and receive pain is not experienced. For certain perseverance is preached, and for the very unfit, experienced in the daily work out.
In the fighting gym, you never gain a true sense of security. You are always striving to improve your fight game, because those around you are doing the same thing. There is no complacency, because complacency is punished by those willing to push farther than you are. The fight is the only thing that matters. Heart is built daily. Limits are tested daily. At some point in every workout your mind attempts to betray you with thoughts of quitting. These qualities build the fighter.

The gym I just joined tries to make a distinction between the two cultures. In the beginning it is more of a TMA dojo. Emphases is put on getting belts. When a certain level of achievement is attained, you are allowed to work out in the intense advanced class. This allows the beginner to learn and grow until they are ready for the more intense work out.

I am in a bit of a culture shock, because I am stuck in the beginner classes. I know the moves, and I have the fitness and drive to be in the upper level, but they simply do not know me yet. So, I am stuck in the belt ranks. After being at the fighting gym for so long I miss the intensity. I miss the fight. I thrived in the fighting gym because I craved the ability to step up my game and to find other fighters that were willing to go hard until we dropped. Few and far between were those types of people in the TMA dojo. In the fighting gym that type of personality was always the guy you were with.

Cheney In Hot Water

What is the deal? Well, the former Vice President was tasked with creating a group of assassins to capture or kill top al-Qaeda leaders. Sounds good right? The CIA was given the task and began training and planning for missions.
Here is where it gets sticky. The 1947 Intelligence Act requires the Executive Branch, of which the CIA is a part, to disclose to congress what it is doing. BUT this only involves covert operations. Former VP Cheney asked the CIA not to report what it was doing to congress. Is this a violation of the Intelligence Act? It depends. The Act, like most federal law, is vague. The line that seems to have been drawn is the "direct action" line. In other words, did we have people, boots on the ground, from this assassin group working in a foreign land. If we did, that is direct action.

IF the assassin group was in direct action, and the former VP knew about it, throw him in jail. He broke the law. You were doing the right thing Mr. Cheney, but you still broke the law. Off the the hoosegow. No one is above the law, especially the Executive Branch of the government.
If there was no direct action, then former VP Cheney was just creating the coolest group of ass kicking ninjas EVER. The only thing he would be guilty of then would be being awesome.
Why wasn't I approached to be an ass kicking ninja... I could do it...

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Abe Wagner In TUF!!

My buddy Abe Wagner is going to be on The Ultimate Fighter. Go Abe go!!

Here is Abe at the recent UFC Fan Expo where the cast was revealed for the first time.

North Korean Leader Has Cancer

Die. Just freaking die you troll. You oppressing, saber rattling, goofy bastard, just DIE.

Here is a man who lives in luxury while his people cannot get enough to eat. I hope that cancer is very very painful. I hope he can't find the drugs to combat the cancer. I hope that you suffer more than the average cancer patient in YOUR country. Die. Die. Die. Make the world a better place.


Dude, just die already...

Want to know what socialism looks like? Take a look at North Korea. It isn't because the U.S. imposes sanctions that your country takes a dive. It is because Communism and Socialism DOES NOT WORK. Why with all of the examples in the world do we continue to pursue this way of life? Because, at its heart, Socialism/Communism is about POWER. In fact most governments are about power. Madison knew this. Madison also knew that the natural state of government is to feed the self interest of those that govern. That is why he framed up our government they way he did. With three branches in total deadlock all of the time. But all that has changed now. But this post is about Kim Jong Ill. Who is ill. And we all hope he dies in horrific pain very soon.

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Most Significant Thing to Happen At UFC 100

The Buffer 360 in all of its Awesomeness was revealed. It is like Magnum replacing Blue Steel.

UFC 100 Recap

I hate decisions. Most of the time it means that the fighters were fighting not to loose. I hate that. I like fighters who finish fights. I like fights that end early. That is why I am starting to like Brock Lesnar. He finishes fights... Sort of.

Shannon Gugerty def Matt Grice Submission (Guillotine Choke) 2:36 rnd 1
My Pick: Shannon by triangle second round.
Shannon ended it a bit early, but I like that!

Tom Lawlor def CB Dollaway Submission (Guillotine Choke) 0:55 rnd 1
My Pick: CB by RNC second round
This was supposed to be DB's comeback fight... I guess nobody told Tom that...

Dong Hyun Kim def T.J. Grant Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Grant by KO first round
Kim might be for real.

Jon Jones def Jake O'Brien Submission (Guillotine Choke) 2:43 rnd 2
My Pick: Jones by KO late second early third
Jones will be fun to watch in the future.

Jim Miller def Mac Danzig Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Mac will G&P his way to a decision victory.
Wow. This was supposed to showcase Mac, and bring him back in to the UFC fold. Wow.


Mark Coleman def Stephan Bonnar Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Bonnar by decision
It was very cold last night, and I could not explain why... Now I know. Hell froze over. Maybe the UFC will throw both of them out??


Yoshihiro Akiyama def Alan Belcher Decision (Split)
My Pick: Akiyama by KO frist round.
Belcher showed that he has talent, drive and absolutely no way of defending straight right hands. Akiyama got a takedown in the last round to seal his "victory," but it was not pretty.


Dan Henderson def Michael Bisping KO (Punch) 3:20 rnd 2
My Pick: Henderson by decision
Many new to the MMA game heard that Henderson had this Hammer of God right hand, but they never saw it. They saw Hendo whip it around a few times but never really saw it in all of its glory. Well, inexplicably, Bisping dropped his hands for just a moment and BLAM. Good night sweetheart. Check it out:

Wow.


Georges St. Pierre def Thiago Alves Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: GSP by decision
GSP won every round on every judges scorecard. One judge gave him the last round 10/8. Complete domination.

Brock Lesnar def Frank Mir TKO (Punches) 1:48 rnd 2
My Pick: Lesnar by G&P KO first round
Brock did not figure out you could throw punches from half guard until late in the first round. After that it was just a matter of time.
No one in the heavyweight division right now can beat Brock. No one. Not Nog, not Randy, and certainly not Check Kongo who is assuredly Brock's next victim.

Jon Fitch def Paulo Thiago Decision (Unanimous)
My Pick: Fitch by KO late third round
I didn't get to see this fight, but whatever. Good job Jon.

I go 7 for 11. Star studded, but overall less than awesome UFC. Dana better start talking to his fighters, because if many more PPVs go like this one, people will stop watching.

At Least Our President Just Looks...

The leader of Italy ladies and gentleman. The leader of Italy.

Pedo Bear Moment

The chick who's ass President Obama was checking out???

Brazilian Mayora Tavares. She is 16. Awesome.

I'd Hit That!!

You know he would!!!

I Am A Sap

Occasionally you come across a song that is so incredibly stupid that you can not stand to listen to it. The only problem is that it touches you in a way that you can't explain. It reminds you of someone, or of some place, or some event, or just touches you. You can't explain it, you can't stand it, but you listen over and over.

I get a little choked up and the emotions that this one brings up in me. I don't know why. It reminds me of the wife.

I am going to go to the shooting range later to restore what ever man-ness I lost by posting this...

UFC 100

Well... Art Davie said that we would get here. It was in doubt for a while, the dark years were tough. Only Dish Network carried the fights, and venues had to be changed sometimes on just a few hours notice. But we made it through. 100 UFCs. It is more like 130, with UFC 37.5 Ultimate Ultimates, UFC Japans, and Ultimate Fight Nights, but really who cares?
Of the 8 men who participated in the very first UFC, opened by a belch, literally, from Bill "Superfoot" Wallace only three are still active: Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, and Pat Smith. None of those men are on the card for UFC 100. Kind of sad. Maybe I am a glutton for punishment, but I would have liked to see Shamrock v Gracie III, or Smith vs Shamrock II. It would have been fun.

Card:
Matt Grice Vs. Shannon Gugerty (Lightweight)
Grice has struggled in the UFC going 1-2, loosing to Matt Veach by KO most recently. Matt trains out of Norman, Oklahoma where he was a state wrestling champion.
Gugerty is 1-1 in the UFC losing his last fight to Spencer Fisher by triangle. Gugerty seemed to be a babe lost in the woods fighting Fisher. Spencer has that effect on most people.
Matt surely has the wrestling advantage, but Shannon seems to have an edge in the ground game. Neither of these guys really likes to stay on their feet so I expect that Matt will secure a takedown work some ground and pound before Shannon catches him with a triangle. Shannon by triangle second round.


CB Dollaway Vs. Tom Lawlor (Middleweight)
CB is 2-0 since losing to the STILL injured Amir Sadollah. What is with Amir? Frak Mir came back from a broken femur faster. Anyway, CB beat Mike Massenzio by KO back in December. DB is a good stand up guy with an ok ground game.
Tom Lawlor beat Kyle Kingsbury by decision in his first and only UFC appearance.
It is difficult to match these two up because in his seven fights Lawlor has one no contest and one DQ. He has very little experience otherwise. CB is a well known TUF finalist that has three UFC level fights winning two of them.
I have to go with the experience here. CB by RNC second round.

Dong Hyun Kim Vs. TJ Grant (Welterweight)
Kim "lost" his last fight to a Karo Parisyan high on pain killers. The fight, he should have been named the winner, was ruled a no contest. Kim is a Judo guy with some decent kickboxing.
TJ Grant steps on for the injured Jonathan Goulet, to take on Kim. TJ won his last fight, and UFC debut, by split decision over Ryo Chonan.
Grant trains out of FitPlus in Canada. He seems to be a very strong ground guy with all but two of his wins coming by submission. He likes the armbars with 8 of his 14 wins using that submission.
I think this is a bad match up for Kim. I don't think that Grant will come at him like anybody else he has faced before. Parisyan have Kim a hard time, but Karo still came at him like a Judo fighter. I think that Grant's submission wrestling style will be difficult for Kim to deal with.
Grant by KO first round.

Jon Jones Vs. Jake O'Brien (Light Heavyweight)
Jon "Bones" Jones walks in to the ring once again. For all of his talk you would expect Jones to have as many KOs in the UFC as Chuck Liddell. He does not. He actually has only won by decision in the UFC. Most of his 8 wins are by KO (5), so look for him to throw leather.
Jake spoiled Heath Herring's first walk in to the UFC, but has not done much since. He dropped the next two of his fights, and managed to eek out a split decision over Christian Wellisch in his last fight. Again, most of Jake's 11 wins end by KO (8). So he will throw leather as well.
Both of these guys will want to land the big punch. Jon shows a lot of technique and poise in his striking. Jake looks like a drunken monkey. Jake will undoubtedly go for the takedown. He needs to get the fight on the ground in order to win. Jon will be ready for this. In this kind of a contest, look for the best athlete to win. That is Jon "Bones" Jones. Jones by KO late second early third.

Mac Danzig Vs. Jim Miller (Lightweight)
Mac has struggled in the UFC. He has lost two in a row first dropping a decision to Clay Guida, then getting triangled by Josh Neer. Mac is an all around fighter winning on the ground and standing up.
Jim Miller lost his last outing by decision to the Juggernaut that is Gray Maynard. Jim is a ground fighter, and simply was over powered on top by Maynard.
This fight should bring Danzig back to his winning ways. Jim will want the fight to go to the ground and will be looking for the takedown the whole time. Mac will stuff the takedowns, dominate the stand up, and eventually use Miller's takedown, or Miller will allow Mac, to take the top position. It will be all over from there. Mac will G&P his way to a decision victory.


Mark Coleman Vs. Stephan Bonnar (Light Heavyweight)
Coleman is a wrestler who looked awful against Shogun. He has no gas (left vague on purpose)
Stephan Bonnar has struggled in the UFC. He seems to win a fight he shouldn't then lose a fight he should win immediately after. He beat Eric Schafer by KO, then lost a decision to Jon Jones. You would think the reverse would have been true.
Here we are again. Coleman has no business being in the UFC. Bonnar should win this fight. All he has to do is stuff takedowns for 1.5 rounds. Coleman gasses after that and then Stephan can win by whatever he wants. Will Stephan do that? The only way Coleman wins is if he can secure an early takedown and land some good shots early in the first round. However Bonnar is notoriously durable, I don't see it happening. Bonnar by decision.


Yoshihiro Akiyama Vs. Alan Belcher (Middleweight)
Akiyama is a cheater who greased against Sakuraba. I hope he dies... No I don't hope that... I hope Belcher smashes his face until he looks like Takayama!! Post Frye Takayama!!

Sexy!

Akiyama makes his debut in the UFC. He is a Korean born in Japan. He uses a mix of Judo and karate. He has heavy hands and has fought, and beat some tough western fighters knocking out Dennis Kang, and making Melvin Manhoef tap to an armbar.
Alan Belcher, any time I hear that I think of the guy who Kendal Grove caught with a Brabo Choke. Belcher has improved greatly though, most recently choking out Dennis Kang with a Guillotine. Belcher is a somewhat reckless striker and a hot/cold ground fighter. Sometimes, like against Kang, he is a superman, other times, like against Grove, it looks like he does not train on the ground. Who will show up?
Akiyama has already dealt with all of the problems that Japanese fighters face when fighting in the UFC, bigger fighters due to cutting weight, overly aggressive first rounds, elbows on the ground. The only thing he has to learn about is the cage, and I don't think that will be much of a problem. Belcher has the ability to win this fight, but I don't think it is in the cards. Despite my dislike for him, Akiyama by KO frist round.

Dan Henderson Vs. Michael Bisping (Middleweight)
Hendo "won" his fight against Rich Franklin by split decision to take the coach spot on TUF. Henderson is known for his wrestling and his big right hand.
Bisping is the UFC's golden boy in England. He coached the Brits to a devastating win over team USA in TUF, and deservedly so. The leader of the Lion's Den is a good striker and a good ground guy. He won his last fight over Chris Leben by decision.
The only guys to have submitted Dan Henderson are the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva, a Nogueira black belt. Is Bisping at that level on the ground? No freaking way. No one has ever knocked out Dan Henderson. He has been in there with Rich Franklin, Quinton Jackson, Anderson Silva, Yuki Kondo, Shungo Oyama, Wanderlei Silva, and Gilbert Yvel. Bisping think that he is going to knock out Hendo? No freaking way. Henderson by decision.

Jon Fitch Vs. Paulo Thiago (Welterweight)
Fitch beat Akihiro Gono by decision in his last time in the UFC, and is looking to extend his winning ways. Jon is a great ground fighter, and has very solid stand up skills. He looked to be the one who could unseat GSP from the 170lb throne, but Georges' wrestling proved to be too much for Jon.
Thiago destroyed Josh Koscheck in his debut in the UFC. No one gave Paulo a chance after Kos has been so dominate, but Thiago went in there like a man on a mission and put Kos to sleep. Here we have the prototypical next generation Brazilian fighter. Paulo has the Muay Thai of old school Chute Boxe with the BJJ skill of BTT. I look for great things from this fighter.
All of that said... Putting Paulo in with Fitch as his second fight is a lot like the out of the frying pan in to the fire analogy. Kos was bad ass, but still not at Fitch's level. I think the UFC is making a big mistake in moving Paulo along too quickly. The man who beats Fitch is arguably going to be next in line for a shot at Alves or GSP depending on the outcome of their fight, and I don't think that Thiago is nearly ready for that. The UFC should feed Paulo with some new up and comers to showcase his growing talent, and round him out as a fighter. Instead they are throwing him to Fitch.
This is a tough fight to call. I think that Paulo is very very good, but I don't think he as the kind of experience it will take to beat a savvy guy like Fitch. I think that Jon will frustrate Paulo by not engaging and irritating him with quick punches and kicks. Fitch will stuff any takedown and cause Paulo to make a mistake by rushing in on him. That is where disaster will strike. Fitch by KO late third round.

Georges St-Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves (Welterweight Championship Fight)
GSP is the greatest MMA fighter since Sakuraba. GSP is the complete fighter. Increasable standup. Razor sharp ground skill, and a world class wrestling game. He is everything you want in a fighter. BUT he has a fatal flaw. Opponents get in to his head. Matt Hughes did it in their first fight. Matt Sera did it in their first fight. GSP has a bit of a confidence issue and for some reason believes that some opponents are better than him. Believe me ALL fighters entertain these thoughts before a fight. It usually happens the first week or so of hard training. You are tired from working out hard, they fight is a ways away so you see nothing but more hard training ahead. The other guys are fresh and you start to get your ass kicked. You feel that if these guys are doing this to me, what the hell is this guy going to do to me??? You normally shake this feeling just as you peak when you are destroying all of your training partners because you have the gas to out physical them and your technique is sharp from the training. Some fighters don't lose those thoughts. And when looking at that other guy across the ring the fear gets the better of them.
The way Alves has been destroying people, he might be in GSP's head.
Alves is on a 9 fight winning streak. He beat Josh Koscheck by decision his last fight out. Before the decision win with Koscheck he had been knocking guys out left and right. His Muay Thai has been unstoppable.

Who wins... Depends on GSP's game plan. Fitch and Koscheck were able to nullify Alves with their wrestling. GSP is a better wrestler than both of them, so he should be looking to take Alves down and keep the fight there. If GSP does that, Alves does not have a chance. BUT if GSP decides to dance a bit with Alves, GSP goes down, and down hard. I don't think that GSP can match Alves punch for punch or Alves' intensity in the stand up game. I don't think that GSP is a stupid fighter, so...
GSP by decision.

Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir (Heavyweight Championship Fight)
Lesnar is a beast. He is a man/bear. He is the stuff of nightmares for all martial artists. A big aggressive, athletic man. When a martial artist says that size doesn't matter, ask them about Brock Lesnar.
Brock is a wrestler. He will take you down and pound on you.
Mir has never looked so sharp as he did in his last fight against Nog. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira hangs his hat on three things: BJJ, boxing, and his chin. Mir out boxed Nog, then knocked him out. The legendary chin of Nog, simply could not stand the multiple straight right hands that Mir threw. Frank looked composed and comfortable in the ring.

The last time these guys fought Mir was barely able to lock on a kneebar. Lesnar was able to smash Frank up, and if it weren't for a questionable stand up, Lesnar would have won that fight. The simple fact is that the only way Frank wins this fight is if he can keep it standing, stuff Brock's takedowns, and pull the fight in to the fourth or fifth round. Brock's endurance has never been tested and I am reasonably sure that he will make a mistake in the later rounds due to fatuge.
Can Mir do it? No. I don't know if anyone on Earth can stop a fresh Lesnar takedown for very long. Stuff one yes. Stuff two maybe. Stuff three? No freaking way. Mir is going to be put on his back and smashed to pieces.
Lesnar by G&P KO first round.

The System, She is Broken

I was in Wal-Mart yesterday buying some needed supplies. As I get there I notice a gentleman getting out of his Cadillac SUV and walk in to the store with me.

I do my shopping and I go to pay. Just in front of me in line, I notice the very same gentleman. He seems to be very well dressed, in a casual way. He has a brand new baseball cap, polo shoes, and Gucci eye glasses. He is paying for two very large bags of dog food. He gets a call while waiting and pulls out of his pocket an iPhone. On his wrist is a very nice looking large designer watch.
His turn comes up and pays for his bags of dog food with an EBT card. I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Here is a man that is surrounded by luxury items. Items that I would not buy because of their exorbitant prices, and lack of value for those prices. Yet he has no qualm about paying for sustenance for his dogs, animals that serve no purpose in modern urban life, with money given him by the community.

I guess I am just old fashioned. I would be completely destitute before I accepted any money from the Government. Even then, I don't think I would do it. I would have to be naked, homeless, and near death to accept it. To me accepting anything from the Government is worse than accepting anything from *gasp* my family or my parents.
I am my own person. Getting assistance from the Government is like saying that I am simply a ward of the State. The concept is as repulsive as it is horrifying.

Perhaps this guy was simply down on his luck... But why would you have an expensive cell phone with an expensive call plan, a very nice new luxury car, etc, etc.
Too many things just did not add up.

The system, she is broken. The mindset of the people must be changed for any type of reform to work. Getting money from the Government must be a shameful thing. It must be thought down upon. It must be thought of as the thing that only bad people do. Eating poo must be thought of higher than getting food stamps.
Only then can the system be fixed.

Well Did You??

What The Hell Is Wrong With This Place??

I am new to the OKC area. The wife is on a 30 hour in house call. It is the 4th of July. The local FairTax and Libertarian groups are putting on a "Tea Party" at the state capitol. I think that I will go. I have nothing better to do.

I hear they are going to be talking about the FairTax. YAY!!!!
I hear they are going to be talking about out of control spending in the Federal Government. YAY!!
I hear they are going to be talking about gays and their sexual deviancy. YA.... Wat???

What the hell is wrong with you people? First you have some batshit crazy state senator present some proclamation declaring "the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation and poses a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism or Islam." WAT??????

Really??? What two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home poses more of a threat than terrorism??
Islam is a threat??? Really?? A religion? Really?? More than your religion or some other religion?

In case you bigoted morons have not noticed homosexuality has been part of human culture FOREVER. Just look in to... well EVERY society since man has had a society. Not until very very recently has it been "bad."

What is it about homosexuality that scares these people? What threat does it present to your way of life that you will not allow two people in to a "marriage" or any other type of social contract? Is it the same thing that pissed you off about the blacks marring in to white families? Or the Asians? Or the Catholics marring the protestants?

Grow the fuck up. Leave other people alone, worry about your own backyard and the freedoms that you are surrendering to the federal government. The gays could help us out on that one. I bet they don't like their money being stolen either.

Pain Killers = BAD

First Danny Ganz now Michael Jackson??? What is to blame?? Dilaudid.
What the hell is this stuff?? Meth? It seems like once you take it, you are hooked, and you only stop takeing it after you go in to cardiac arrest.

Only ibuprofin and asprin for me!!


Don't take it!!!!

What The???

Funniest picture EVER!

Trip to Rahr Brewing

Wanting to get out of the house, because we spend WAY too much time there, the wife and I took a trip to Dallas to catch a baseball game and... Check out a local microbrewery. We found on the interwebs that Rahr brewing in Ft. Worth has an open house every Saturday from 1 to 3pm. They advertise a brewery tour and beer tasting.

We thought it would be like most brewery tour/tastings. A quick walk through a brief explanation of the brewing process and a small glass of beer.

NOT SO!! You walk in to the large warehouse, and pay the $5 admission fee. From there you are given tokens for three PINTS of beer, AND a glass pint glass. All of the types of beer that Rahr brews were available. On top of this, next to the taps were little glasses that you could sample the beer before you got one.

This little brewery was packed with people. It was AWESOME!! Rarely do you see people enjoying craft beer, but to see so many of them out on a hot day to have a few was just amazing. On top of all that, the beer was very good. The IPA was a little low on the IBU scale for my tastes, but still a good brew none the less.

Then came the brewery tour. An assistant brewer gave the tour, and gave us some history on the brewery.
It turns out the founder of Rahr brewing, Wilhelm Rahr, came from Germany to start a brewery. Since there was no place to buy malt from in Wisconsin 1847, Wilhelm Rahr started his own malting company.
Things were great, the Rahrs made beer and malt for many years. The malting company soon out paced the brewing company and the Rahrs were producing malted barley for many other breweries, including one in St. Louis... That is until the nanny state stepped in. January 29, 1919 the United States ratified the 18th amendment to the Constitution, baning all alcoholic beverages in the country.
This put a bullet in the head of Rahr brewing, and many other breweries all over the country. Malted barley however was still a needed commodity, and Rahr was well positioned to supply it. The company survived.

Fast forward to 2004 the great great grandson of Willhelm Rahr, Frederick William "Fritz" Rahr, Jr., opens Rahr brewing in Fort Worth, Texas. Fritz went to collage in Fort Worth and wanted to stick around. What better way than to do what you family used to do best? Make some beer!! Fritz buys all of his malt from his family's malt company so the Rahr product is unique in that it is almost wholly created by the Rahr family.

It was a great tour, and some good beer. What more could you want?

At The Point Of A Gun

I recently had two very similar conversations. They dealt with, at their essence, what laws are. What are laws? They are rules that must be followed under threat of violence.

It comes down to very basic human nature. To really get in to the nitty gritty read Thomas Hobbes work, particularly Leviathan.. Yes, the one where he says life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short", but only in a world with out Government. Also in that book is the thought that a person has a right or license to anything and everything. He goes on to say that there is no such thing as "law" in nature. "Law" only exists when one human being forces another human being to submit to his will. This ALWAYS happens under threat of violence.
Thus, any law that is created by a government is forced upon the people under threat of violence.

This is fact. Not true you say. You have eaten some bad Natto and you are hallucinating you say. Am I? Let us take for example one of the most trivial laws around, jaywalking. It is illegal nearly everywhere in the United States, yet virtually everybody does it. Why? If it is law why does no one care if they jaywalk?
Because it is a law that is NOT enforced. There is no threat of violence, thus people, who do what ever they want to do unless somebody stops them, jaywalk with impunity.

But what happens when I jaywalk in front of Robocop? Robocop, in his three prime directives, just uphold all laws. He tells me to stop. I keep walking. Robocop now must enforce the law. He must carry out the threat of violence, or intensify it, so that others will heed the law. Robocop draws his gun and says stop. I now stop because I know that Robocop will fire if I do not.

This is what laws are. Remember this when you think about trivial things that come up in daily life... Such as smoking bans. Ask yourself if you want Government agents to walk up to a smoker and force them to stop at the point of a gun.

Even better, think about Welfare. Welfare is essentially the government taking, at the point of a gun, money from one private citizen and handing it to another private citizen. If you or I were to do that, it would be called robbery for hire.