So, umm, who here brought the Petrolium Jelly?

Well, Once more I've delayed my weekly 4 more months. But hey, when the inspiration strikes, right? Anyways, I want to talk to y'all about this whole 'not voting' thing. Now, I know not voting seems like the perfect solution. You get to know you've stuck it to the man, the man you stuck it to doesn't get reelected, and of course, there's this warm and tingly feeling that you get from washing your hands of the stupid, shitty, fucked up system that we've all grown to know and hate.
Now, if this isn't you, skip down three past the next few lines. If it is you, then listen the fuck up:

VOTE YOU GODAMNED COCK SUCKING MOTHERFUCKERS! VOTE BECAUSE YOUR FUCKING LIVES DEPEND ON IT! VOTE BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T YOU'VE LOST! BY NOT VOTING, GUESS WHAT, YOU FUCKERS SUDDENLY LOSE ALL FUCKING STAKE IN THE FUCKING PROCESS AND WHILE THAT MAY SOUND FUCKING TERRIFFIC AT FIRST YOU LOSE OUT IN THE LONG RUN BECAUSE WHEN THE GODDAMNED DEMMIKRAT YOU DIDN'T VOTE AGAINST GETS INTO OFFICE AND TAKES YOUR FUCKING GUN, AND THE FUCKING GREEN PARTY FUCKER YOU DIDN'T VOTE AGAINST DECIDES YOUR SUV IS TOO MUCH EXCESS FOR THIS WORLD, AND WHEN THE GODDAMNED MOTHERFUCKING LIBERALS DECIDE YOU HAVE TO APOLOGIZE AND PAY 90% FUCKING TAXES SO SOME MOTHERFUCKING LAZY SLOB CAN MOVE HERE FROM MEXICO AND COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY BECAUSE HE INJURED HIMSELF CLIMBING OVER THE FENCE, THEN YANNO WHAT? YOU'VE GOT NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT! YOU DIDN'T VOTE! Voting is what keeps shit like this from happening! Voting is not a way to punish a rogue politician, voting is a way to reinforce the one that you agree with and agrees with you! Punishing the rogue dickhead is just a pleasent consequence of that action! Voting isn't about compramise! It's about taking your ideas and ideals and shoving them down everyone else's throat! THE FUCKING LIBERALS DO IT CONSTANTLY, and it WORKS for them. HELLOOOOO, IS THERE A LIGHTSWITCH IN THAT BRAIN OF YOURS!? CAN IT BE ANY FUCKING MORE OBVIOUS!?!?! IF THE FUCKING LIBERALS AND STATISTS CAN VOTE THEMSELVES IN, THEN WHY CAN'T THE CONSERVATIVES AND LIBERTARIANS VOTE THEMSELVES IN AND THE LIBERALS BACK OUT!? FUCK, WE'RE OVER 51% OF THE POPULATION, AT LEAST, SO WHY ARE WE HAVING SUCH A FUCKING HARD FUCKING TIME!?

You know what I think? I think the problems we have in this country is because people that don't vote turned the reigns of this country over to the people that do vote. I've been reading statistics, yes, scary thought, huh? But seriously, less than 50% of the voters turned out for the presidential election. That's a scary thought if you ponder what it leads to and where it comes from. But you see, not voting isn't the solution, shit you get the same effects if you vote third party, except you actually lend support where it's needed: With the party that you actually believe in.

That's actually quite a profound concept if you think about it. You have a demmikrat that you hate and a repulslikan that you hate, and then there's this third party, who supports you, your ideals, and your values. Now, knowing this, you'd probably love to have this candidate in office..but third parties are votes thrown away, are they not? Well, not really, you see, you agree with this party just like many others like you agree with this party, and many of those others don't know about this party's existance. As such, every vote that gets thrown to the party as they're discovered adds up and as such they eventually get a large enough percentage of votes to get heavy media attention, garnering them even more support. Now they have a fighting chance, and now your lesser of two evils turns into two evils and one good (For you and your like minded voter friends, that is.)

Now, if you have two evils and one good, who the hell are you gonna vote for? Exactly, suddenly this third party candidate is in office, and you know you effected political change. Sounds like a pipe dream doesn't it. Well, it is if it's just you. But get enough people who believe in your values and ideals and it's not a pipe dream, it's a water main, ready to flush out the system...and I suck, at the metaphor crap but you get my drift, right?

Now, to give an example. There's this thing, it's called the Free State Project. If you're a member of my family, you're probably rolling your eyes and going "Oh, dear God here it comes again", if you're not a member of my family, then listen up. The Free State Project is this group that is trying to take 20,000 people from wherever (And I'm talking 'around the world' type wherever) and move them to the state of New Hampshire in a way designed to effect political change. And yes, I am serious, look, here's their website: Free State Project. Some more statistics I've heard about involve the mass migration of Conservatives down to the south, leaving the northeast to the liberals. This is probably the worst political move the conservatives could make. Seriously. If you leave someone the land, they will rule it, and they will see their tactics as effective and spread. But before they spread they'll change the system in such a way to prohibit it from being retaken by the conservatives and libertarians. Putting it another way, they pull the political lever to 'statist' and then break it off. Right now, there are enough conservatives in the northeast to keep this from happening, and the Free State Project is attempting to show off how these southbound and southern conservatives can help out; not by retreating and living on the defensive, but by charging the statist threat head on and attempting to stop it dead or even turn it back before that lever gets busted permanantly statist.

I probably haven't even scratched the surface of this subject. Hell, I may even come back later and totally rewrite this post because I know it's not exactly Shakespeare. But maybe it'll mean something to enough people who have already a vague idea as to what I'm talking about that come the next election day evening the electorate won't be looking to each other saying: "So, umm, who here brought the Petrolium Jelly?" Because hopefully, this next election day we'll have senators, congressmen and other officials who support our country, and not some group of schmucks that desire to assrape our country.

cops.

Cops. Short word. Small word. Also a four letter one to quite a few. Hell, I'm pissed off at 'em as much as any for past transgressions as a group. Problem is, I say "as a group". That's actually quite a big problem.
I know what you're going to say, though, cops is cops and cops is bad peoples. But that's where many people are wrong. Bad cops is bad peoples, and good cops...well, they just kind of get lost in politico's shuffle drawer, hidden away so that there's always a scapegoat. Mind you, I'm not saying cops in general are good, either. Cops is cops and individuals is individuals and quite frankly, cops is individuals just the same. Individuals can be good, individuals can be bad.

Okay, no doubt we've all heard about the most recent L.A.P.D. shooting. You know, the one involving little Susie Marie and her father, Jose Raul Pena. If you haven't turn on your TV, the fallout should be in full swing. And if that doesn't work, google the guy's name. And if you're too lazy to do even that, then I'll relate to you my take on what happened: Guy threatens to kill daughter, wifey calls cops, cops arrive, standoff ensues. Guy shoots at cops, some 60 rounds, according to witnesses, cops respond with 90 of their own, making it 150 rounds of 9 mm ammo in total.
Now I know that some of you are shaking your heads, thinking that 'the cops' could have done something different, maybe ducking for cover, or propping themselves up behind a car door, or a sheet of paper or something. But just consider for a moment, you are a sole individual, there with your friends, your acquaintances, and maybe some people you don't know, but know are on your side. Now, you're there, and this guy has been pointing a gun at you and his kid, alternating between the two, for over three hours. Then he decides to shoot. Three volleys, according to the media, are fired at you, and one of the people standing near you takes a bullet. What would YOU do? Remember, YOU are an individual during all this, you're not part of a group, you aren't leading, you aren't following orders. You decide your actions. YOUR individual life is in danger due to a madman.

Now I can't answer for you, but quite frankly, the guy's kid is not my problem. I'd open fire on him to protect myself from injury or death in a heartbeat. And I don't think there would be a jury in the world who would convict me as an individual citizen. So, why are we holding cops to a higher standard? They're individuals, deserving of perfectly equal treatment under the law. If they break those laws, they're individual criminals, if they uphold them, they're upstanding citizens. It's not that difficult, really. What makes people hate cops in general, I think, is the fact that cops, when they fuck up (Wooo, scary bad words there) and do something generally high profile in a bad way, they either end up thrown to the wolves, or they get shuffled to the back room and people pretend they don't know anything about soenso. That right there is why I'm so pissed off at politicians, using good people as political tools. Claiming 'training' or 'self disipline', or some other bullshit, as justification to play cops like cards, irregardless of whether the cop deserves a break, or not.
Cops is individuals, and individuals deserve to be treaded as such. We need to stop with the posterboys, the witchhunts, the political toying. Until we do that, bad cops are going to continue to make a mockery of the system, and good cops are going to continue to pay for acting like human beings.

Where's the justice in this justice system, again?

Statistically Speaking

Okay, everybody here knows I'm pro-guns, pro-self defense, pro-shoot the bastards. But I'm here to offer some words of encouragement to those who cower in fear of the scary dangerous gun that's gonna cause the destruction of mankind. It ain't gonna happen to you. That's right, you heard correctly. It's not going to happen to you. And statistics back me up. You have a .005% chance of making the violent crime stats in the United States. .005%! Dayum, huh?

That means it's not gonna happen to you, it's not gonna happen to your friends, your family. No, it'll happen to the family 4 streets over who you don't know, so that's okay. It'll happen to the people in the next neighborhood over, who's kid is in your kid's class. It'll happen to the school lunch lady who grumps at the latest changes in the school diet. But it will not happen to you. So rest at ease! And continue to promote gun control, safe in the fact that these other unarmed citizens are getting what is not going to happen to you...but...

It wasn't going to happen to them either. It was a total and complete statistical improbability that it could happen to them. A .005% chance that they would end up a statistic for violent crime. So if it wasn't going to happen to them, and it's not going to happen to you. It sure as hell ain't gonna happen to me. I'm workin' on gettin' something to carry. If ya live in Texas, here's a tip. Antique guns and replicas of those antique guns. But I digress. The thing is, criminals go after the easy targets. The school lunch lady who's a bit on the obese side, the yuppy parents who live four streets over. The minority couple in the next neighborhood who can hardly speak the language. Sure we'll rationalize it. She couldn't run fast enough, they brought it on themselves with their yuppy-mobile beamer. The criminals thought they were badmouthing them in a foreign language, or maybe it's just the neighborhood. Problem is, it still leaves us with that bit of fear in the back of our mouths. If it happened to them, it could happen to me.

My father, great man, love him to death, told me the chances are astronomical that the house would get broken into; and of course, he's right. It is less than a one percent chance that My home would be picked for the next burglary. Hell, I figure I should feel real safe, but I don't. Yeah, the neighborhood is small houses set right close together, there's a cop sittin' along the main stretch in, and of course, the fact that the houses are right up to the road isn't a big plus for a prospective burglar. But it's still a possibility. Just like the chances that a drug operation was operating out of the house and the end of the street were astronomical, guess what, it happened.

Statistically speaking, everybody should be safe, since your chances are so slim. But realistically speaking, somebody has to be part of that slim margin, and if the people who are aren't prepared, then that violent crime could easily turn into murder, or even rape (Yes, even for the men, as horrific as that sounds.)

I'm going to end with this. I'm not an expert. I'm not a dedicated researcher of these subjects. But what I am, I am a private citizen who is looking for a way to exercise his constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and since I will be armed, and (hopefully) at least minimally professient in the usage of the firearm, I will be prepared, just in case that statistical improbability turns out to be more probable than I'd prefer. Can you all say the same?

Mein Papers!!!

Look, I know I've been quiet for the past few weeks, but this seemed serious enough to bring me back out of my hole of solitude...boy that sounds cheesy. Anyways, there is this bill, getting kicked around congress. From what I can tell, since, of course, I'm lazy and all that, just like every other joe schmuck out there who actually gets to decide who becomes part of the washington leadership, I haven't read it, it involves creating a cookie cutter design for state ID cards.

Okay, great idea, grand idea, you're probably thinking. That'll stick it to the terrorists, have the federal government design the ID cards with intent to...ah, screw the fun wordplay. It's a bad deal! First off it opens us up to a national ID card, with a chip inside it that tells where you are at any given time. Then that opens us up to national checkpoints. National checkpoints to stop terrorists, of course. Then, once the federal government has branched into the ID market, they'll take the gloves off, start up the ol' print works and next thing ya know, you'll have a fuckin' whole book of papers you need just to keep from being seized under suspicion of terrorism. Seriously. You will need travel clearance to be able to travel from state to state. New documents and changed documents will be issued every few weeks/months, and you'll be required to keep up with them. If not, you'll be whisked away to be interrogated to see why you failed to maintain your papers.

Maybe I'm being to...what's the word...unrealistic...no, that's not it, this happened in Germany, the former USSR, Iraq, Iran, Somolia...or maybe you think "Never in America! It's unconstitutional!", Well, yanno, you've got nothing to hide, do you? Besides, regulating traffic throughout the united states is quite constitutional, yes indeedy, the interstate commerce clause tells me so. Or, at least, that's how the EPA got founded. Oops, did I just let that slip?
Okay, so we have the interstate commerce clause pluggin' away here. We have papers that keep us defended from terrorism. Where is the unconstitutionalism? It's not unlawful search and siezure. The gubment ain't searchin' it ain't seizin'. Hmmm...not the first, they aren't preventing you from doing, saying, gathering, or worshiping with the papers, nuh-uh. You still have your guns...so where /are/ they violating you with the papers? I dunno, really, which is why it can happen.

So, uh, write your congressman, tell your senator, and rememember this. You drew the line back at the constitution. Now they're saying to take one step forward each day. Just one step you say, and every day you do that. Now, turn around and see how many miles you, your parents, your grandparents, their parents, their grandparents. See how many steps you have taken over the years. See how many miles you have traveled from the original constitution. You like what you see? No? Well, how about just one more step?..