Veterns Day

First of all I would like to thank all those that have served an are serving to protect this great nation. There was an assembly at school today and It was a good program although the presentation could have been better. It got me thinking about our nation. I realized that the older I get the more I appreciate those that have served.

The Color Guard Posted the colors then someone dress as presidents from the civil war to WWII got up and gave speeches of the presidents about the wars that they either served in or where president during. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Wilson, and Eisenhower. As each president came up I thought about what made each one great, for that matter what makes any president great. Also why did we win those wars so convincingly. The thing the presidents had in common was that they were first decisive and second the government was still "of the people, by the people, and for the people". The second I feel is the most important and one that we have strayed from. It seems that now it is of the controlling party, by the government, for the controlling party. Sure there have been recent presidents that were decisive but it seems not motivated to benefit the people.

The wars, well, it's kind of the same thing. Instead of putting everything we have into it and going in it to win it, we are too worried about the politics. If it's worth fighting it's worth winning and its worth putting all our efforts into the politicians have tied the hands of our armed services. They need to unbind their hands screw the politics and let the military get the job done.

Do the Swastika, the Confederate Flag, and the American Flag have something in common?

So this morning I woke up and turned on the TV while I was getting ready. What I heard, I found really disturbing. It seems that several students got sent home from a California school on Cinco De Mayo for wearing clothes that had American flags on them. The school in their infinite wisdom said that the patriotic clothing was inflammatory. Does anyone else see something wrong here?

First of all doesn’t the constitution say a little something about freedom of speech? I’ve read many things printed on clothing that to me are inflammatory but they are protected under free speech. More to my point, what country are we in? Let’s see……America. So now it would appear that they are saying patriotism is wrong if it is inflammatory. The only time I can think of this being the case in our county’s history was during the revolutionary war.

So my next question is since we are in America why do we celebrate Mexico’s independence? Do we celebrate any other country’s independence? The answer to this begs the question what makes Mexico so special?

What does all this have to do with the Stars and Bars, and the Swastika? First lets look at the Stars and Bars, too many it is a symbol of racism, to others it is about southern pride. In all actuality it was just the flag of the Confederate State of America during the Civil War (which was about state rights not slavery). Slavery might have been the “straw that broke the camels’ back” but the civil war was about something bigger. After the Civil War the KKK started using it and it started being seen as symbol of racism.

The Swastika is a symbol that’s origin goes back a long time and are somewhat unknown. The Swastika is just the German name for a symbol that is seen in many pre WWII cultures such as the Egyptian and Native American just to name a couple. However, after WWII its association with the Nazis made it a symbol of Anti-Semitism.

Both of these symbols now stand for something other than what they where originally intended. Is Old Glory now becoming an Anti-Mexican symbol? If so when did this happen?

Now to a slightly different but related topic. Why is there an African History Month? The better question is why is there only an African History Month? Where are the Irish, Native American, German, Spanish, Mexican, and French History Months? Having a History Month for only one of the ethnic groups/races we are discriminating. We should have all or none.

To wrap all this up and bring everything together, what makes this country great are the freedoms it offers. The freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear Arms, the freedom of press, the freedom of religion, The freedom to celebrate holidays not limited to but including Christmas, Hanukkah, and Cinco De Mayo. The freedoms listed above and more are what the American flag represent. So how is the American Flag inflammatory on Cinco De Mayo when with out the freedoms represented by Old Glory in America Cinco De Mayo would just be 5-5.

Thomas Jefferson To William S. Smith Paris, Nov. 13, 1787

Pay attention to the words in red.

"DEAR SIR,

-- I am now to acknoledge the receipt of your favors of October the 4th, 8th, & 26th. In the last you apologise for your letters of introduction to Americans coming here. It is so far from needing apology on your part, that it calls for thanks on mine. I endeavor to shew civilities to all the Americans who come here, & will give me opportunities of doing it: and it is a matter of comfort to know from a good quarter what they are, & how far I may go in my attentions to them. Can you send me Woodmason's bills for the two copying presses for the M. de la Fayette, & the M. de Chastellux? The latter makes one article in a considerable account, of old standing, and which I cannot present for want of this article. -- I do not know whether it is to yourself or Mr. Adams I am to give my thanks for the copy of the new constitution. I beg leave through you to place them where due. It will be yet three weeks before I shall receive them from America. There are very good articles in it: & very bad. I do not know which preponderate. What we have lately read in the history of Holland, in the chapter on the Stadtholder, would have sufficed to set me against a chief magistrate eligible for a long duration, if I had ever been disposed towards one: & what we have always read of the elections of Polish kings should have forever excluded the idea of one continuable for life. Wonderful is the effect of impudent & persevering lying. The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, & what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. Yet where does this anarchy exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusetts? And can history produce an instance of rebellion so honourably conducted? I say nothing of it's motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure. Our Convention has been too much impressed by the insurrection of Massachusetts: and in the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the hen-yard in order. I hope in God this article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted. -- You ask me if any thing transpires here on the subject of S. America? Not a word. I know that there are combustible materials there, and that they wait the torch only. But this country probably will join the extinguishers. -- The want of facts worth communicating to you has occasioned me to give a little loose to dissertation. We must be contented to amuse, when we cannot inform. "


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5mXPYPX79s

compasion vs logic

Compassion vs Logic

Forest fires, landslides, monsoons, earthquakes, droughts, famines, tornados, epidemics, pandemic, and wars all have one thing in common... death and suffering. The death and suffering usually happens to innocent humans. So often we see pictures and videos of theses victims on the news, often asking even pleading for help. These same pictures and videos pull at are our heart. Our hearts go out to the victims of this suffering. We hear that no human should have to endure such suffering, so we want to help. This help is often in the form of food, water, medical treatment or money. What does this accomplish? On the surface it seems obvious what they accomplish.

The earth is full of resources but in reality it is a closed system. Earth can only support so much life whether it is plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, or humans. The more resources a living thing requires the smaller the size of the population that can be supported indefinitely. This concept is known as a carrying capacity in other words it is the number of specific organisms that a given environment can sustain. When it comes to carrying capacity humans are no different, the earth can only support so many.
In regards to wildlife the limiting factor (the part of the environment limits the size of the population) is usually one of two things, food and space. If the carrying capacity is exceeded starvation and disease runs rampant. The mortality caused reduces the population back to or below the carrying capacity. This shows us that natural disasters, diseases, and wars can be a way to help the problem of over population.

God has given humans the ability to think, solve problems, and create. The development of agriculture and the ability to transport resources globally has increased the earth’s carrying capacity for humans but there is still one. According to many we have already exceeded it. That is debatable. I do know this. When water is given to an area plagued with drought the water giving does reduce the suffering for the time being but increases it in the long run. People that would have died survive and the population increases instead of decreasing. Then a famine comes and we give them food and again the population increases when it should decrease. The next time one of these events strikes it might not be as massive as the previous one but will cause more people to suffer.

To quote Spock “The needs of the many out way the needs of the few” and someone else once said “give someone a fish and feed them for a day, teach someone to fish and feed them for life.” However there are only so many fish!

So the question become is this. Is it more humane to ease the present suffering only to increase suffering for future generations or let a relatively small number of humans suffer so a larger number of humans in the future so not suffer as much?

Destination Whitesides

Its 1630 on September 24, 2009 I’ve just gotten off of work and a trip I’ve been waiting on for months is about to start. I left Scioto Trails to head to home. After a quick change I double check to see if I have everything. I did. I had one more stop before I was to meet up with two of my cohorts.
My next stop was CVS in Lancaster to get some gear that a friend picked up after Mavrick left it at the training site. From CVS we grabbed some grub and I was off to the rally point alpha. Upon arrival Hound Dog and Mavrick met at the door. After unloading I sat down for a mission briefing. At 2200 we sacked out.
0700 Mr. Wednesday, Commando, and two others arrive and we depart in the Hummvan for our base of operations in N.C. where we will meet up the two others known as Steather.
1800 we arrive at our base of op Steather are no where to be found, but we find 4 other bridge teams. Down two members and with only four rig points on the mountain our plan had to change. We set out looking for Steather while discussing our options. We searched to no avail but then Steather found us. United we set up base and discussed our options. We settled on a black op. Hound Dog departed with three in tow. The rest is classified.
It turned out to be a wet night for all. Day break and all were on the move. At roughly 0700 both groups met at the parking lot of Whitesides Mt. Though rainy, windy and cool the mission continued. The usual scenic vistas along the climb were hidden by fog or clouds. The black op the night before was a success. The next step was to finish rigging the ropes.
Upon completion the next phase was about to start. I was the fifth one over. This was my longest rappel (@ 730ft) the conditions where anything but perfect. Visibility was low, rain was coming down (and up), wind was blowing, everything was wet and the temperature was cool. I’ve trained, rappelled in high wind, rain, snow and even blindfolded so the only thing new was the height about 600 ft higher than my longest drop prior to now.

I stepped over the guard rail, laced the approach line through my rack. I descended to the main line, hooked on to fall protection and de-rigged. Standing there looking in to the fog I watched two others disappear over the edge and into the fog. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hesitant, it was more a voice in my head saying this is insane, nerves, and anticipation than fear. It was now my turn. Worst case scenarios ran through my head.
The weight of the rope and the adrenaline now surging through my veins made it was a difficult to rig on. I double checked everything, my harness, rack, and self rescue equipment. I disconnected from the safety tether and started toward the “terminal edge”. What a great thing to call it. Terminal is not I term I like to hear when hanging off the ground. Despite all my thoughts and the word terminal I started to move down the rope. Upon reaching the terminal edge I thought “its going to happen sometime so I might as well get it over with” so I looked down. What I saw reminded me of some flights I’ve been on. All I could see below was white. So it was off the edge and into the unknown.
As I descended through the clouds I started to see the outline of the tops of the trees hundreds of feet below. Progress was slow at first. As I descended farther I slowly spun around and was now facing the away from the cliff face but the view I saw was surprising awe inspiring. There I was hanging on a 7/16in rope who knows how far off the ground the cliff face was behind me. Looking up I could barely see the ledge that I had just gone over though the clouds in front of and to my right and left was a valley masked in fog. Below there was still the faint outline of the trees. It was like I was floating in the clouds. The descent continued and I became more comfortable, slowly I the coils of rope, Mr. Wednesday and the bottom came into view. Suddenly I realized that what I was doing was no different than the cliffs back home, so I let the rope flow through the rack at a faster pace more the pace of my usual rappels. Before I knew it my float through the clouds was over and my feet were on the ground. What seemed like forever was really only fifteen minutes. My objective was complete. The other four had their turn and the objective of the trip was complete. The mission had been accomplished but was not over.
We de-rigged packed up and headed to camp. Once there we put on dry clothes and headed to town for dinner to get out of the rain and to kill the rest of the night. The rain ended and we headed back to camp for the night.
Morning came; camp was packed and headed for home. On the way back we stopped at Dry Falls before continuing onward.
The trip was great. I made some new friends, reconnected with some old friends and did something few people can say they have done.
Thank God for the safety, friends and the experience.

Another Adventure with John and Kelly

Last friday after working on a roof for 8 hrs I started a 5.5 hr drive to start a float trip on the Allegheny River.

I met up with John at the Buckaloonas Campgrounds, loaded up my gear into a two person kayak, we put our head lamps on and set off to an island to met up with Kelly, Russel, and Jonah. After about 15 min of paddling and finding that all the headlamps did was to attract bugs and illuminate either by bag or my hand turned them off we noticed that there where three different places on the island that kept turning on and off lights. Some how we picked the right spot on the first try. Upon arriving at our camp for the first night John and I found out the the fly for their tent was missing and rain was in the forecast. So instead of using 3 2.5 person tents for 5 people we used 2. The storm hit at about 0330.

Once morning broke we grabbed a quick bite, packed up and set off in 1 canoe, 1 2 person kayak and 1 1 person kyak. Rain continued sporadically. Lunch was at a park/ boat ramp and several groups put in while we where eating mt most lively group (most likely due to intoxication)were floating in tubes and complaining that the water temp was too cold. After lunch we set out, the sporadic rain continued and the swollen tributaries rushed to join us on our trip.

Then the search for the next camp was on. Rain had stopped and the sun peaked out between clouds. The first island we came to had grass almost chest high so we moved on. John and Russel pulled up to the next island and started to laugh. As I pulled up I asked what was funny and got no response. I was approaching the grass beside them, entered the grass expecting to hit land and like them I just kept going farther in to the grass and never found solid ground. I found out what they were laughing at. So finally we come upon an small flat island with some short grass, a great view and cracked sand. This was it!

We beached our vessels and got a picture. Then John and Kelly worked on dinner, I set up tents and Jonah and Russel helped where needed. Dinner was cooked eat and in the process of being cleaned when Kelly said I think the water is rising. sure enough it was one tent stake was now under water and the stove was near the edge too. We pulled the boats farther aground and started packing by the time I got to the first tent three stakes were under water and on corner was about to go under. after the quickest packing job and moving the boats two more times we abandoned our shrinking island in search of a safer, dryer camp.

The darkness was settling in and we were not having much luck. So we decided to cross the river and check out the steep bank on our left. After beaching my kayak I scrambled up the bank and found a bench big enough to set up camp. By no means was it an ideal place but it would work. we unloaded the gear, pulled the boats three feet up the bank and began to set up the tents. Oh, I didn't mention my tent ended up on a game trail resulting in me not sleeping well due to the numerous times a deer or other large animal ran into the tent. The rain was done for the trip and everyone else some how managed to sleep well.

Once again the sun came up and we eat breakfast then began to pack and noticed that our boats were now only a foot out of the water. About that time someone came by and asked if we had seen any blue kayaks as it would turn out he had two float away.

We floated to an old ramp just past the Oil City Boat Club little did we know that it was in a private community and that the way in and out was a narrow one lane road. Kelly's dad met us there with the horse trailer. we loaded up and headed for home. on the way we pulled over for several vehicles and one of the drivers, rolled down the window and said " what are you doing, I own this ********* south end...", Oh wait that the wrong story this guy just smiled and smugly ask "It was kinda hard to turn that around down there wasn't it ?" We agreed and then after he left busted out laughing.

Like one of my scout masters once said if you get nothing else out of something you should get memories. I must say When you get the three of us together something memorable always happens.

A letter to my representatives

So I sent out four letters and the text is as follows.



The Founding Fathers of this great nation knew what they were doing when they wrote the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and The Bill of Rights.I also feel that order of the amendments was well thought out and purposeful and that they reflect the importance that they placed on the amendments.Today I am writing regarding the Second Amendment. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It has come to my attention that there are some lawmakers that want to outlaw concealed carry, reintroduce an assault weapons ban, and increase taxes on firearms and ammunition. To start with, the second amendment gives us the “right to keep and bear arms”, keep means to own, and bear means to carry. Some people would even say it unconstitutional to require permits to carry firearm and require that they be concealed. On the other hand I feel that background checks are necessary. However I feel that it is redundant to require an additional background check to obtain a ccw permit since background checks are done at the time a firearm is purchased.

On the issue of the assault weapons ban, where in the second amendment does it mention what type of fire arms the people can “keep and bear”? Historically what people owned was state of the art, cutting edge for that era. While the military was still carrying muskets or single shot breach loaders, many of the volunteers carried repeating riffles. At that time the civilians had the same if not better technology than the military. Looking at it that way makes me wonder why I cannot own a fully automatic rifle without paying for a permit if I would want one. Personally, I do not see the need for one, but none the less I feel it unconstitutional.

Now, about increasing taxes on ammunition, it in essence takes firearms and thus the right to protect oneself, from people that cannot afford to purchase ammunition at these higher prices. Not only would this prevent some law abiding citizens “the right to keep and bear arms”, it would also discriminate between the rich and the poor.

I know I have mentioned “the people” and “the right to keep and bear arms” and have yet to mention the use of the word militia. The militias are in essence the National Guards of each state. Who protects the people when the government gets corrupt and starts to become like the tyranny that caused the Revolutionary War? Who was there to protect the Jews from Hitler? Makes you wonder why Hitler banned firearms….not really, he was smart, he knew that people had no way to resist an armed military if the people were unarmed.

I urge you to support H.R. 197 and if you vote against it or for any new restrictions on our second amendment, you will be telling me that you no longer want my vote and you will not get it.

Let me leave you with some words from Ed Abbey, one of my favorite authors, “If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the government and outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.” I hope everyone in Washington wakes up and they do not force law abiding citizens to become criminals by making them choose between turning in their arms and defending their right to protection from murders, thieves, rapists, tyrants, and a government run by tyrants.



I have received one response which frankly is one more than I expected and it is quoted below.




Thank you for expressing your position on gun control.

I do not support an outright ban on guns nor restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens to possess guns. However, the biggest threat to [sic] Second Amendment and privacy rights is gun-related crime. In the absence of safeguards that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and distinguish between lawful and unlawful use of firearms, concerns regarding personal safety could fuel greater support for and out right ban on gun ownership.

Gun owners and gun safety advocates can and should work together to reduce gun violence without compromising the Second Amendment or privacy rights of law-abiding Americans.As the Senate considers these issues, I will support common sense reforms that balance the rights of gun owners with the need to increase public safety and protect the public from gun violence. Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
United States Senator
SB:cw

What a politician. Is it just me or did he do a great job of walking the fence?