BLOGGERS!

I wrote this is something of an "agitated" state and decided to revisit it today see as how I'd waxed insulting in a few spots.
Insulting I was and insulting I'll stay.
Fuck these people and the four weiner dogs that followed them in.

Can't live with 'em. Can't shoot 'em. I guess you could shoot them, but there are so many and I've got shit to do.
Seriously, the bloggosphere is is fairly on fire these days what with the stinking corpse of Reagan conservatism sloooowly sinking, mercifully, beneath the waves.
This is actually,the first election where I really don't care who wins. I mean I haven't cared before, but then it was because all the candidates were shit.
I recall referring to the 1988 election as "Evil Incarnate vs Cream-of-Wheat". George's dad was evil. Something about eight entire years of Reagan (a man I voted for actually - twice.) while his vice pres had nothing to say about anything.
"I fully support the President's decision..." Repeat endlessly. Anyway the guy was spooky but a fucking saint compared to his idiot son.
Mondale = Cream of Wheat (boring, good stuff, but hard not to turn out lumpy).
Now, this election, I've got no major problem with any of the three. Even McCain has shaken out as the best of a sorry lot. His "hundred years in Iraq" projections? I think he may be pulling a George Wallace here and not really mean it. In any case I don't think the situation's any more fuck-up-able at this point. Guess we may never find out. Pity.
Anyway, bloggers. George, the Ogre. Both ends and the middle of a decent guy, I'm sure - and he's thrown a fair bit of business my way.
But, he's slipping. Check his tirade on coyotes in his May, 8 post;
"Coyotes are viscious cold hearted predators..." (sic - I know how to spell "vicious")
"Cold-hearted" aren't they mammals? I guess that mammals can have a cold heart. I've got one. But, vicious? That's a value judgment. I don't think wild canines (or domestic ones for that matter) have value systems. They're just animals making a living.
Vicious, cold-hearted predators indeed. Like ladybugs, dragonflies, dolphins... us. Well, we're omnivores but we can be pretty, damned vicious about it.
Really, concerning coyotes, the only real question is this: Do you pronounce the 'e'?
OED lists both pronunciations, but guess which one is first.
Two easy ways to spot the transplanted urbanite: They pronounce "coyote" with three syllables. And they call a pickup a "truck".
Avoid these common screw ups and the guys at the feed store won't make fun of you after you walk out. Maybe.
Mostly, I've been dropping by madogre.com regularly since I read that McCain is on the global warming bandwagon and I wanted to see/read some fireworks.
George has some problems with Mc, and has regularly assured his readers that global warming is the result of sunspots - along with a lot of other things.
I've mentioned to him more than once that, even if the warming thing is a complete hoax - being that we now have the highest levels of atmospheric, CO2 of the past 650,000 years - isn't it a tad irresponsible to not, at least, err on the side of caution?
Even if the earth is just a giant blob of oil with a crunchy coating, it's still finite. We will run out, and these nimrods with their, very American, Hummers, Excursions and Chevy Subdivisions don't seem to get that. Idiots.
Anyway, George hasn't risen to the bait and good on him for it.
He does obsess about cars and horsepower and I think that, particular boat has sailed, but who am I to say? Just a poor steel-beater.
The Ogre has a striker though. "American Warmonger" (isn't that redundant?).
Apparently this gent works with the Og. at the gun shop and,in spite of my anti-social tendencies, I find myself liking him.
Anyway, they in the gun store were recently cursed with an argumentative customer from, of all places, Canada.
Now we all know what horrible dicks these Canadians can be, what with their throwing their weight around on the world's stage, acting all superior and snooty. Oh wait. That's us.
No, Canadians are, unfailingly, some of the nicest, most boringly-polite people on the planet. A joke from my sister, a professor at the University of BC:
"What's Canada's national color?"
"Beige"
Anyway, the 'Monger proposed a contest where he and the Canuck (his word - a nationalist slur unless I miss my guess) would pair off, him with a Barrett (the Ford F350, Shortbox of rifles) while our neighbor to the North, a 22.
Speculation was that, in the event Herr Monger lost - ie was shot - he'd "...slap a band-aid on it and walk it off".
Now, I'd pay $100 for the opportunity to shoot this guy with a 22, Hell, make it a 22 short, just to see him "...slap a band-aid on it". I think the experience may be a little more "Wild Western" than he imagines.
Maybe this is my problem: The gun nut bloggers are so damned rabid about this that it's embarrassing. They all envision jack-booted thugs (Democrats) going door to door, confiscating guns.
Is this a real worry?
Fuck no!
Are you mental?
Even if it were, is it really that smart to be so damned vocal? Don't you think that may tip those Demothugs off as to where the folks wit' the guns is at?
One blogger who shall remain nameless, oh hell, we'll call her "The Ice Bitch", even felt compelled to post a running inventory of her gun collection - often complete with projected values.
Now, is this going to dissuade the young up-and-coming gangbanger from dropping by and doing some shopping?
Wait, she'll shoot him.
So, he'll come when she's not home.
See, none of these dimbulbs seem to realize that these "thugs" (Oleg Volk's word - Even though I disaggree, I like this guy - mostly because he has a modicum of humility.) are fully-formed humans such as themselves, just a fuck of a lot tougher, generally speaking.
Which leads us to the other thing that I just love, love, love about these folks: Their, seemingly complete, willingness to "smoke off" some bad guy with no thought to any long-term consequences.
No thought except "getting in trouble".

These paragons of courage have convictions that seem to begin and end with the Criminal Code - Just like Alberto Gonzales.
If it's legal, it must be okay.
Now, on the subject of dealing in death, I can count the number of dead bodies I've seen on the thumbs of both hands - and both of those people were in boxes. So, death and I don't have much of a relationship.
I have, however, known many, many people who've killed folks - and lots of them. My Dad for one. Other friends I've had, former Green Berets, Rangers, Marines and Seals and virtually none of them that I knew, carried a gun on a daily basis. Most didn't even own one. If they did, it was a rifle.
My impression was that these were folks who knew what happened when you shot someone.
Studies of combat stress have found that the number one fear facing troops, going into combat, is the fear of having to kill. This is followed by a fear of letting your folks down. A bare third is the fear of being killed or injured yourself.
Killing is antithetical to humanity.
Read "On Killing" by Lt. Col. Dave Grosman, a former Ranger and psychology professor at West Point.
I'm not going to give you a synopsis. Just read the fucking thing. It's cheap. You can get it for eight bucks. I've even given you a link.
Especially interesting, to me, was the "Dilemma of the Discarded Weapons" found on the battlefield at Gettysburg.
Out of 27,574 muskets recovered after the battle, 24,000 were still loaded. 12,000 of those were loaded more than once, and more than 6000 had from 3 to 10 rounds still on board. One had been loaded 23 times.
The point: - And Grosman elucidates it quite clearly - This wasn't incompetence or fear or confusion. It was an aversion to killing.
A First War Infantry Commander complained about "draftees who wouldn't fire".
One man actually had rationalized that if he didn't shoot at any Germans then they wouldn't shoot at him. Not saying that this is good thinking. Just an indication of the mindset of folk in the shit. People don't want to kill other people, unless they're sociopaths.
We in America have perverted our morality into such a spot that you can shoot someone for breaking into your house.
What would I have people do in the situation? I don't know.
The fear of physical harm, I believe, has to present for the shooting to be defensible.
Other than that, hell climb out the fucking window.
Advice from a late 19th century safe-cracker, cat burglar and "stick-up-man" Jack Black, author of "You Can't Win":

"And what madness for the householder to try to corner a burglar in the dark, prepared to resist capture but not to kill for loot. When he senses a burglar in his house, why can't he say in a loud voice, 'Is that you, Percy?' and give him a chance to fade away quietly? He'll do it. He knows there are plenty of other houses."

However, that didn't stop that shitbird a few months ago who shot the two, daylight burglars that were ripping off his neighbor.
Should he have done something? Hell, yes. Did it have to involve a shotgun? Maybe. Did he have to kill both of them? No.
What's more, he probably felt the same way, being that the Media described him sobbing with remorse in his house a few days later while the reporters circled.
Good impulse, the crying, but as many, many cops and judges have said "You should have thought of that before you..."
Damned straight.
Thinking. That's the bitch.
Now, Marko. This is the guy I've got the biggest crow to pick with. In reality, I would probably like him. I'd enjoy deflating most of his arguments in person, but, in person, that's less of a problem.
On his blog, lordy lordy. You've never seen so many leap to his defense. First of all, they all think he's some sort of genius. I don't think it's him with that delusion. I think he's probably a decent guy, even though he doesn't want to drink a beer with me. I suspect that he's a "designer beer" kind of guy anyway. I know the Ice Bitch is. Fond of IPA's she is. Does she know what IPA stands for and what it all means in a historical context? Maybe. Who cares?
Anyway, all come to Marko's defense and good for them. Pointless loyalty seems to have a serious spot carved in today's society.
They just tend to get incredibly insulting if you dare to disagree with the great man.
Anyway, like I said, The Wrangler himself isn't responsible for this egocentricity. He probably finds it as embarrassing as I would.
But, Marko penned this piece of tripe and the gun-nut world bowed and genuflected. They love it when articulate people restate their beliefs for them.
So, top illustration refers to the aforementioned, well-written but poorly thought-out treatise on "The Gun is Civilization".
News flash, Marko. And I say this as someone who could conceivably be your friend:
Anyone with brains and determination can and will get, from you, whatever they want.
Or maybe not.
But, are you willing to take that chance? Match your range skills against someone who's looking at prison if he loses?
I sure as fuck wouldn't be.
More recommended reading: "No Duty to Retreat" by Richard Maxwell Brown.
This was a professor of mine from way back in a portion of my college career, 1985 or so. Marko was just getting pubes then.
I'll close with some words of wisdom from a former tenant of mine, 56 years old and half of that spent "in the joint" (his crime; growing hooter in the woods - repeatedly):

"If you want to hurt somebody, it's the easiest thing in the world. Just meet them on a sidewalk. Don't stop, and when you're just even with them, punch them in the throat and keep walking. They won't be able to do a thing."