Nitwits

I heard about this story today and had to look it up. It seems these bozos were roofing a house and found some money stuffed in cans. They took it to another location and called the news media to announce the find.

Only problem was, they couldn't get the story straight, so the police started looking into it.

Here is a quote from the police chief:

"Had they kept quiet ... they probably could have sold the money and no one would have ever known," Police Chief Joseph E. Solomon said. "It just got away from them. Sort of like the snowball rolls down the hill and it keeps going and crushes you."

The homeowner didn't know the money was in the barn.

Bombs?

I learn from Rob that all kids are alike. I bet that if Rob and I sat down to compare notes, his childhood in Georgia and my childhood in Louisiana were very similar.

Rob had one advantage over me, though, as he shows in this post. He could buy black powder. The kids in my neighborhood didn't know you could buy that stuff, so we had to make it. The charcoal was easy to find. A quick trip to an encylopedia gave us the other ingredients. A freindly pharmacist sold us what we needed after we convinced him we were not trying to hurt anyone, we just wanted to make some small bombs.

Pharmacist: "What do you kids want with that stuff?"

Us: "We're trying to make black powder."

Pharmacist: "Okay, just don't blow yourself up."

Can you imagine having that conversation today? I bet you wouldn't make it out of the store before the FBI and DEA and DHS and all manner of acronymn agencies swooped down to arrest the whole bunch of us.

This nation is turning into a bunch of sissies.

Christian

I read The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller. Yeah, I know it is a hard-core, right wing blog that makes fun of left-wing subscribers, but I resemble that remark sometimes.

The Emperor takes a swing at those who are offended that he is a man of faith. A quick soundbite:

We Christians have somehow managed to get a reputation for being a "meek and mild flock who always turn the other cheek".
Try opening a history book.
Then let go of that delusion.
For your own sakes.

Go read the whole thing.

Craftsmanship

A long time ago I was taught to shingle a house. My Dad taught me. I put myself through college one summer, shingling houses. I hate it with a passion. Putting a roof on a house is hot, demanding work. I've roofed a couple of houses since then, and the pride of craftmanship was always tempered with an earnest dislike for the job. But, I never cut corners and always did the best job I knew how to do.

This past winter my wife and I bought a house. We fell in love with the place and it was a new beginning for both of us. Then the shingles started falling off. A half dozen at a time, the shingles would turn loose in a high wind and hit the ground. Luckily, I was able to match the color and style of the shingle (I have Rustic Black, if anyone cares). The first time it happened, I used half a bundle. An hour ago, some more fell off in a high wind and I used the other half bundle. This weekend, I'll go to the lumber yard and buy another bundle.

This house is only three years old, and shingles shouldn't be falling off. If you do the job right, you will only start losing shingles in a hurricane, and being in Louisiana, I can identify a hurricane. The guys who roofed this house did a terrible job, and they should be taken out and shot. - - No, better, they should be taken out and nailed to a roof with their own nail guns. Only problem is, they would probably fall off in just a few days.

I gotta get a shower and go to work.

Scooter Trash

It was a beautiful morning today in Central Louisiana, so I decided to ride the bike to work. I ride a Honda GL1500, the ubiquitous Goldwing. I've been riding for the past thirty years, but using the bike as a means of transportation for the past five years. I'm a member of the Ironbutt Association and recently joined the Blue Knights as a retired peace officer. With gas prices going for about $2.15 per gallon in the local area, and my Chevy pickup getting about 15 mpg, it is refreshing to get on the motorcycle, which gets about 40 mpg.

I've got to have a pickup truck. My family regularly needs to transport something too big to put in an SUV. When the weather is nice, I don't have to drive the darned thing. I can climb on the bike.

That's not to say I am a fair-weather rider. I have ridden in 27 degree F weather, and once rode in a downpour across three states (Okalahoma, Kansas, Iowa) during an Ironbutt ride. I'll get into the pickup truck when I need to, but mainly would rather be on the motorcycle.

Crime and Punishment

Clayton Cramer leads me to this little bit of thought provoking crime reporting.

Crime Rate Drops, but Florida's Prison Population Exploding

Well, duuh! Ya think? If we lock them up, they ain't out committing crimes. I can't believe someone paid this reporter to do this piece.

Thanks, Clayton.

California Moonbats

From the AP, we get this little piece of reporting about a bill that will require manufacturers to put a serial number on every bullet made or sold in California.

Like that'll fuckin work!

I can see so many holes in this law that I am surprised anyone would even seriously consider it. And I have only looked at it for five minutes. As I sit here blogging, my mind comes up with more reasons why this bill is a loser.

Of course, I cast my own bullets, I've been shooting for forty years, I've been reloading for twenty. There are a lot of things wrong with this bill on a number of levels. Scientifically, practically, and constitutionally. Take your pick. This bill fails the stink test.

But then again, I've never known the California legislature to be bothered with scientific knowlege, practical applications, or constitutional limits when considering a bill. For that matter I've never known the Louisiana legislature to be concerned with those things either.

Hat tip to The Rottweiler

Army Days

This article talks about war stocks and the logistics nightmare that comes from moving people, equipment and supplies halfway around the world. An old army maxim is that amateurs study tactics, but professionals study logistics. Simply put, you can have a big army in the field, but if they don't have bullets to fight with, and beans to eat, they are just so many starving refugees. Most people don't understand the vast amounts of equipment and supplies that an army consumes on a daily basis. Just to give you a "for example", the last Armor Battalion I was assigned to could field about 400 people on any given day. We drew ice at the rate of 10 lbs per day per soldier, so our battalion ice requirement was 4000 pounds of ice per day. That is two tons, of just ice, that had to be transported to the field every day. Ice is a perishable item, so that two tons had to be brought to the field every day. Someone had to make it, someone had to bag it, someone had to transport it every day we were in the field. Add to that the amount of ammunition we consumed, the amount of food and fuel and batteries and spare parts we consumed, and it will give you some idea of the problem of fielding a simple Armor battalion. Multiply that for Brigade and Division level, and you start to get an idea of the logistical nightmare that accompanies and Army in the field.

Which leads me to this vignette. Way back in the mid 1970's I was in basic training. We were issued field rations (C-Rations) that were left over from some old war-stocks. Each C-Ration contained something called a B2 unit, which was the meat portion of the meal. The B2 unit was canned and the date of manufacture was stamped on the bottom of the can. One fine summer day in western Kentucky, we stopped for lunch and I broke out my meal. The bottom of the can showed the date April, 1952. Those pork patties had been dead longer than I had been alive.

Louisiana Politicos

From the Daily Wipe we get a story about Winn Parish DA Terry Reeves, his expense acocunt and his recent audit. It seems that there are some interesting numbers there, including over $169,000 spent for travel for the time between January 2002 and June 2004. The article goes on to compare the expenditures of that office with similar accounts in larger parishes.

Woo-Haa! Livin large in Winn Parish. I wonder how long the voters are going to put up with Mr. Reeves?

Minuteman Project

From the Cigar Intelligence Agency, we get this post concerning the Minuteman Project which recently ended along the Arizona border.

Weeks of slaughter and atrocities are now at an end, and the Minuteman vigilantes are going home. Oh, wait a minute. It never happened.

Just goes to show you what concerned volunteers can accomplish. Without any government aid, and with the world watching, they managed to reduce illegal border crossings by simply being there. No blood was shed, no civil rights violated, no one was injured, but the flow of illegal immigrants was staunched.

I love it.

Traitor

Hasan Akbar is a traitor who knows the end of his time is coming. He is the guy, you remember who fragged his brother soldiers in Kuwait just before Operation Enduring Freedom. Now, he is accused of stabbing an MP who was escorting him.

Akbar took a sharp item from an office where he was meeting with lawyers and attacked the M-P who was assigned to escort him to the men's room.

This guy just pisses me off.

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin.

Wrong, wrong, wrong

I saw this over at Rob's place and had to try it.

The results are below, but their questions are just wrong. I'm a small town kind of guy, preferring to live in the country, if possible. My five favorite towns in the US?

Libuse, LA
Natchitoches, LA
Fair Play, TX
Navarre Beach, FL
Jefferson, TX.

I bet they didn't even include those towns as possibilities.



>

American Cities That Best Fit You:

60% Miami

60% Seattle

55% Chicago

55% Denver

55% Las Vegas

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Money, money

From the Daily Wipe comes this article, talking about the upcoming legislative session and the need for money to fund the state's activities. Governor Blanco wants to raise sin taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling to fund the shortfall.

I call bullshit. This state has never had a stable funding base, and taxing these "sins" won't help in the long run. For example, I am a smoker, preferring cigarettes, but much increased cost in my cigarette habit will give me added incentive to quit smoking, which is a good idea for a number of health reasons. I don't gamble, I drink very little, and these taxes won't affect me at all. I suspect that if cigarettes are taxed an additional 50 cents per pack, a great number of smokers will quit.

So here is the question: if they tax these "sins" enough, more and more people will curb their appetite for these "sins". Why not put the state on a firm financial footing? It seems to me that getting it right the first time is important.

To my way of thinking, the state only has four real reasons for governing. They are:
1. Public Safety and Corrections. We need police to protect and serve the public at all levels, municipal, parish and state. We need prisons to contain the violent predators that prey on our citizens.
2. Road and bridge maintenance and construction. Roads and bridges are the economic engine of the state. We need to maintain what we have and build better roads. This is probably the most important economic work the state can do.
3. Public health care. We need the Charity system to provide health care to our most vulnerable citizens. I don't realistically think that we are ever going to rid ourselves of public health care. We need to monitor it closely to insure that only those who need it are able to use it.
4. Education. We need to educate our children, but not in the manner we are educating them now. Schools need to get leaner, stronger, and focused on results that prepare our children for the future. What we do NOT need are bloated bureaucracies. Divide the total education budget by the number of students and issue vouchers to every child. Let the parents decide where the children attend school, whether it be public or private. Those schools that can't attract students will close. Those schools that provide the best value will thrive. The other ones will close. As to busing, that needs an overhaul, too. Buses should take a child only to the closest school that teaches the appropriate grade. Any other choices the parents make should factor in private transportation.

SO, my guidance to the legislature. Use the above list as a working document and keep your nose out of places it doesn't belong. Damn the Saints, damn the golf courses, damn everything but the above four areas until our budget is in the black.

Bourbon

Over at Say Uncle, I notice this post that talks about bourbon whiskey. Bourbon is a very specific type of whiskey and must be distilled in the state of Kentucky (by law). Go to the link and learn more than you ever wanted to know about bourbon.

First post.

First post, on this a new blog from a grandfather in central Louisiana.