Adulting

So, my 40-year old house has a leak in the water line IN the foundation.  This is a masonry home, and the drywall is laid directly on the masonry walls, I believe, which means re-piping the house is going to be messy.  And expensive.

Dammit.

Sometimes adulting sucks.

UPDATE:  Second Plumbing contractor came out.  Couldn’t find a wet spot, didn’t try to jack my wife around, recommended calling a leak detection specialist who said “don’t call until the wet spot returns, or we’ll have a hell of a time finding the leak.” Oh, and “It’ll be much less expensive to find and fix the leak than to re-pipe the whole house, and it should be covered by your homeowner’s insurance.”

I feel better now.

2nd Update: It’s not a slab leak. It’s a canine leak. Apparently one of our dogs has anxiety issues when neither my wife or I are at home. The bedroom door will be kept closed from this point on.

It’s a lot cheaper than a re-pipe.

Facebook

I deleted my Facebook account.  Deletion should occur on or before 6/28.  I don’t have access to the account anymore.  You want to get in touch with me, email works.  I think I’ll just return to blogging.  It’s less toxic.

Medical Miracles

A year ago on this day I was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Yeah, it was kind of like that.

Kinda graphic images below the fold.

Here’s what a healthy liver is supposed to look like:

Here’s what put me into the hospital:

It wasn’t cancer, it was NASH – “Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.” Chemical weapons couldn’t delay the inevitable.  The Sword it was.  I got a “low-mileage Lexus” of a liver on September 24.  I’ve got a wicked cool scar, and I’m still walking around.

That sumbitch tried to kill me. It failed.

What the Internet was Made For

The spreading of information.  Friend Kevin Creighton, who works now for Ammoland, generated this and posted a link to it on the Book of Face.  I’m posting it here.  Please spread it around.

State Gun Rights Matter

From the repeal of onerous gun regulations in Illinois to the opening up of permit-free concealed carry in states like Missouri and Kentucky to the unfortunate losses of Constitutional rights in California and Washington state, the fight to keep our right to keep and bear arms is often fought on a smaller scale by state level gun rights groups, rather than at a national level.

This is why we’ve built this handy interactive map to help you find the gun rights organizations in your state. The people in these groups are the ones who are knocking on the office doors of the politicians in your state, doing their best to preserve and expand your right to keep and bear arms. Support them, along with supporting your favorite nationally-based gun rights group, because we need to win the fight to preserve (and maybe expand) our right to keep and bear arms everywhere we can.

State
Organization
Mailing Address
URL
Alabama
Alabama Gun Rights Network
2009 Rodgers Drive, Huntsville, AL 35811
Alaska
Alaska Outdoor Council, Inc.
310 K Street, Suite 200, Anchorage, AK 99501
Arkansas
Arkansas Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 2348, Conway AR 72033
Arizona
Arizona Citizens Defense League
P.O. Box 86256, Tucson, AZ 85754
Arizona
Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association
P.O. Box 74424, Phoenix, AZ 85087
California
California Rifle and Pistol Association
271 E. Imperial Highway, Suite 630, Fullerton, California 92835
California
Gun Owners of California
P.O. Box 278120, Sacramento, CA 95827-9932
California
Calguns
4212 North Freeway Blvd., Suite 6, Sacramento, CA 95834
Colorado
Colorado State Shooting Association
510 Wilcox St., Suite C, Castle Rock, CO 80104
Colorado
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners
P.O. Box 357, Loveland, CO 80539
Connecticut
Connecticut State Rifle And Revolver Association
P.O. Box 754, North Haven, CT 06473
Connecticut
Connecticut Citizens Defense League
P.O. Box 642, Groton, CT 06340
Delaware
Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association
P.O. Box 94, Lincoln, DE 19960
Florida
Florida Gun Rights
2910 Kerry Forest Parkway D-4, Suite 361, Tallahassee, FL 32309
Florida
Florida Sport Shooting Association Inc.
4105 Saltwater Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33615
Georgia
Georgia Sport Shooting Association
880 Marietta Highway, Box 351, Roswell, GA 30075
Georgia
Georgia Carry
P.O. Box 142924, Fayetteville, GA 30214
Hawaii
Hawaii Rifle Association
P.O. Box 543, Kailua, HI 96734
Iowa
Iowa State Rifle And Pistol Association
240 Prospect Rd North Liberty IA 52317
Iowa
Iowa Gun Owners
P.O. Box 3585 Des Moines, IA 50323
Idaho
Idaho State Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 140293, Boise, ID 83714-0293
Idano
Idaho Second Amendment Alliance
P.O. Box 4292, Boise, Idaho 83711
Illinois
Illinois State Rifle Association Inc.
1589 N 7000 W Road, Bonfield, IL 60913
Indiana
Indiana State Rifle And Pistol Association Inc.
P.O. Box 40025 Indianapolis, IN 46240
Kansas
Kansas State Rifle Association
P.O. Box 219, Bonner Springs, KS 66012
Kentucky
Kentucky State Rifle And Pistol Association Inc.
P.O. Box 241, Elizabethtown, KY 42702
Kentucky
Kentucky Concealed Carry Association
P.O. Box 1269, Frankfort KY 40602-1269
Louisiana
Louisiana Shooting Association
350 Quill Court, Slidell LA 70461
Massachusetts
Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts
361 W. Main ST Northborough, MA. 01532
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Gun Rights
P.O. Box 785 Worcester MA, 01613
Maryland
Maryland State Rifle And Pistol Association
341 Whitfield Road, Catonsville, MD 21228-1808
Maryland
Maryland Shall Issue
1332 Cape St. Claire Rd #342, Annapolis, MD 21409
Maine
Maine Rifle and Pistols Association
14 Pine Street, Wiscasset, ME 04578
Maine
Gun Owners of Maine
P.O. Box 65, China, ME 04358
Michigan
Michigan Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 71, Marshall, MI 49068-0071
Michigan
Michigan Coalition For Responsible Gun Owners
P.O. Box 14014, Lansing, MI 48901
Minnesota
Minnesota Rifle And Revolver Association Inc.
13756 89th Place N.Maple Grove, MN. 55369
Minnesota
Minnesota Gun Rights
7809 Southtown Center, #173, Bloomington, MN 55431
Missouri
Missouri Firearms Coalition
1709 Missouri Blvd, Suite E, #302 Jefferson City, MO 65109
Mississippi
Mississippi State Firearm Owners Association
430 Withers Lane, Woodville, MS 39669
Montana
Montana Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 48 Ramsay, MT 59748
Montana
Montana Shooting Sports Associations
P.O. Box 4924 Missoula, MT 59806
North Carolina
Grassroots North Carolina
PO Box 10665 Raleigh, NC 27605
North Carolina
North Carolina Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 4116, Pinehurst, NC 28374
North Carolina
North Carolina Firearms Coalition
3434 Edwards Mill Road, Ste. 112-130, Raleigh, NC 27612
North Dakota
North Dakota Shooting Sports Association
P.O. Box 228, Bismarck, ND, 58502-0228
Nebraska
Nebraska Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. BOX 27131 Omaha, Nebraska 68127
New Hampshire
Gun Owners of New Hampshire
P.O. Box 847 Concord, NH 03302-0847
New Jersey
New Hampshire Firearms Coalition
PO Box 7182 Milford, NH 03055-7182
New Jersey
Association Of New Jersey Rifle And Pistol Clubs Inc
P.O. Box 651, Newfoundland, NJ 07345
New Jersey
New Jersey Second Amendment Society
P.O. Box 96, Highston NJ 08520
New Mexico
New Mexico Shooting Sports Association Inc.
P.O. Box 93433 Albuquerque, NM 87199
New York
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association
713 Columbia Turnpike East Greenbush, NY 12061
Ohio
Ohioans For Concealed Carry
2885 Sanford Ave SW #24874
Grandville, MI. 49418
Ohio
Ohio Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 1201, Morehead, KY 40351-5201
Ohio
Buckeye Firearms Association
PO BOX 357 Greenville, OH 45331
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Rifle Association Inc.
P.O. Box 280, Maud, OK 74854
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Second Amendment Association
P.O. Box 626, Edmond, OK 73083
Oregon
Oregon State Shooting Association
P.O. Box 231191, Portland, OR 97281-1191
Oregon
Oregon Firearms Federation
P.O. Box 556, Canby, OR 97013
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Rifle And Pistol Association
624 Jerseytown Road Millville, PA 17846-9783
Pennsylvania
Firearms Owners Against Crime
P.O. Box 1111 McMurray, PA 15317
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association
PO Box 37635 #26617, Philadelphia, PA 19101-0635
Rhode Island
Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition
928 Atwood Avenue, Johnston, RI 02919
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Firearms Owners League
P.O. Box 226, Fiskeville, RI 02823
South Carolina
Gun Owners Of South Carolina
Post Office Box 326, Prosperity, SC 29127
SouthCarolina
Palmetto Gun Rights
4711 Forest Drive, Ste 3 #298 Columbia, SC 29206
South Dakota
South Dakota Shooting Sports Association
P.O. Box 3, Dell Rapids, SD 57022
South Dakota
South Dakota Gun Owners
P.O. Box 3845, Rapid City, SD 57709
Tennessee
Tennessee Shooting Sports Association Inc.
105 Imperial Blvd. #1213, Hendersonville, TN 37077-1213
Tennessee
Tennessee Firearms Association
P.O. Box 198722, Nashville, TN 37219
Texas
Texas State Rifle Association
8411 North I-35 AUSTIN, TX 78753
Texas
Lone Star Gun Rights
9870 St Vincent Place, Austin, TX
Utah
Utah State Rifle And Pistol Association
2718 E. 9725 South Sandy, UT 84092-3405
Utah
Utah Shooting Sports Council
P.O. Box 17561, Salt Lake City, UT 84117
Virginia
Virginia Citizens Defense League
P.O. Box 513, Newington, VA 22122
Virginia
Virginia Shooting Sports Association
PO Box 1258, Orange, VA 22960
Vermont
Vermont State Rifle And Pistol Association
454 South Main Street, Northfield, VT 05663
Vermont
Gun Owners of Vermont
P.O. Box 45, Saxtons River, VT 05154
Washington
Washington State Rifle And Pistol Association Inc.
PO Box 64971, University Place, WA 98464
Washington
Gun Owners Action League of Washington
P.O. Box 50012, Bellevue, WA 98015-0012
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Firearm Owners
P.O. Box 130 Seymour, WI 54165
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Gun Owners
PO Box 329, Waupaca, WI 54981
West Virginia
West Virginia State Rifle And Pistol Association
P.O. Box 553 Charles Town, WV 2541
West Virginia
West Virginia Citizen’s Defense League
P.O. Box 11371, Charleston, WV 25339-1371
Wyoming
Wyoming State Shooting Association
P.O. Box 942, Worland, WY. 82401
Wyoming
Wyoming Gun Owners
1740H Dell Range Blvd. #447, Cheyenne, WY 82009

Quote of the Day – P.J. O’Rourke Edition

Kathy Jackson of the Cornered Cat blog pointed me to this one on Facebook.  It ties into something I’ve been working on the last few weeks, but I thought I’d post it here as QotD:

Now the Bible might seem to be a strange place to do economic research—particularly for a person who is not very religious and here in a country that is not predominately Jewish or Christian.

However, I have been thinking—from a political economy point of view—about the Tenth Commandment.

The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: thou shalt not commit adultery, steal, kill, etc. All religions contain such rules. But then there’s the tenth commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covert thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

Here are God’s basic rules about how the Tribes of Israel should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is, “Don’t envy your friend’s cow.”

What is that doing in there? Why would God, with just ten things to tell Moses, choose, as one of them, jealousy about the things the man next door has? And yet think about how important to the well-being of a community this commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a meal, if you want an employee, don’t complain about what other people have, go get your own. The tenth commandment sends a message to collectivists, to people who believe wealth is best obtained by redistribution. And the message is clear and concise: Go to hell.

This Blog is Old Enough to Drive

Sixteen years ago on this day I hit “Publish” on my very first blog post:

Is this thing on?

Apparently so. Too bad I managed to lose the opening essay it took me an HOUR to compose. Oh well. I’ll reconstruct it and put it back up later.

Welcome to The Smallest Minority, so named because most of the really good names Eject! Eject! Eject!, USS Clueless, Instapundit, Acidman, and so on were already taken. And while not a Randian, I accept a lot of Ayn Rand’s observations as accurate, and it was she who wrote: “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”

This blog is about the rights of individuals, that smallest of minorities, so it seemed apt.

More (hopefully MUCH more) to follow.

And MUCH MORE did follow, damn, did it ever.  6950 more posts, plus this one.  Three of the four links above are now defunct, but this one soldiers on.

“That America will return one day, I know it will.”

Digging through the archives looking for something else, I stumbled across this old post. I liked it so much I thought I’d repost it here:

Old Aviators and Old Airplanes….

This is a good little story about a vivid memory of a P-51 and its pilot, by a fellow who was 12 years old in Canada in 1967. It was to take to the air. They said it had flown in during the night from some U.S. Airport, the pilot had been tired.


I marveled at the size of the plane dwarfing the Pipers and Canucks tied down by her. It was much larger than in the movies. She glistened in the sun like a bulwark of security from days gone by.

The pilot arrived by cab, paid the driver, and then stepped into the pilot’s lounge. He was an older man; his wavy hair was gray and tossed. It looked like it might have been combed, say, around the turn of the century. His flight jacket was checked, creased and worn – it smelled old and genuine. Old Glory was prominently sewn to its shoulders. He projected a quiet air of proficiency and pride devoid of arrogance. He filed a quick flight plan to Montreal (Expo-67, Air Show) then walked across the tarmac.

After taking several minutes to perform his walk-around check the pilot returned to the flight lounge to ask if anyone would be available to stand by with fire extinguishers while he “flashed the old bird up, just to be safe.”

Though only 12 at the time I was allowed to stand by with an extinguisher after brief instruction on its use — “If you see a fire, point, then pull this lever!” I later became a firefighter, but that’s another story. The air around the exhaust manifolds shimmered like a mirror from fuel fumes as the huge prop started to rotate. One manifold, then another, and yet another barked — I stepped back with the others. In moments the Packard-built Merlin engine came to life with a thunderous roar, blue flames knifed from her manifolds. I looked at the others’ faces, there was no concern. I lowered the bell of my extinguisher. One of the guys signaled to walk back to the lounge. We did.


Several minutes later we could hear the pilot doing his pre flight run-up. He’d taxied to the end of runway 19, out of sight. All went quiet for several seconds; we raced from the lounge to the second story deck to see if we could catch a glimpse of the P-51 as she started down the runway. We could not. There we stood, eyes fixed to a spot half way down 19. Then a roar ripped across the field, much louder than before, like a furious hell spawn set loose—something mighty this way was coming. “Listen to that thing!” said the controller.


In seconds the Mustang burst into our line of sight. Its tail was already off and it was moving faster than anything I’d ever seen by that point on 19. Two-thirds the way down 19 the Mustang was airborne with her gear going up. The prop tips were supersonic; we clasped our ears as the Mustang climbed hellish fast into the circuit to be eaten up by the dog-day haze.



We stood for a few moments in stunned silence trying to digest what we’d just seen. The radio controller rushed by me to the radio. “Kingston tower calling Mustang?” He looked back to us as he waited for an acknowledgment.

The radio crackled, “Go ahead Kingston.”

“Roger Mustang. Kingston tower would like to advise the circuit is clear for a low level pass.” I stood in shock because the controller had, more or less, just asked the pilot to return for an impromptu air show!

The controller looked at us. “What?” he asked. “I can’t let that guy go without asking. I couldn’t forgive myself!”

The radio crackled once again, Kingston, do I have permission for a low level pass, east to west, across the field?”

“Roger Mustang, the circuit is clear for an east to west pass.”

“Roger, Kingston, I’m coming out of 3000 feet, stand by.”

We rushed back onto the second-story deck, eyes fixed toward the eastern haze. The sound was subtle at first, a high-pitched whine, a muffled screech, a distant scream.


Moments later the P-51 burst through the haze. Her airframe straining against positive Gs and gravity, wing tips spilling contrails of condensed air, prop-tips again supersonic as the burnished bird blasted across the eastern margin of the field shredding and tearing the air.



At about 500 mph and 150 yards from where we stood she passed with the old American pilot saluting. Imagine. A salute! I felt like laughing, I felt like crying, she glistened, she screamed, the building shook, my heart pounded.


Then the old pilot pulled her up and rolled, and rolled, and rolled out of sight into the broken clouds and indelibly into my memory. I’ve never wanted to be an American more than on that day. It was a time when many nations in the world looked to America as their big brother, a steady and even-handed beacon of security who navigated difficult political water with grace and style; not unlike the pilot who’d just flown into my memory. He was proud, not arrogant, humble, not a braggart, old and honest, projecting an aura of America at its best. That America will return one day, I know it will. Until that time, I’ll just send off this story; call it a reciprocal salute, to the old American pilot who wove a memory for a young Canadian that’s lasted a lifetime.

I know we still retain the possibility to be again what we once were, but I’m afraid that entropy will win in the end.  The culture of a nation reflects the philosophy of that nation, and ours is no longer that of John Locke and Adam Smith, but rather Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx, when it isn’t just “…a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined  contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and  fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious  into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single, solid weight:   self doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind’s wings should have grown” as Ayn Rand put it.

If you didn’t mist up a little when reading that story, you may be who I’m talking about.  

“That America will return one day….

I sure hope so.

Quote of the Day: Larry Corriea Edition

From his Monster Nation post The 2nd Amendment is Obsolete, Says Congressman Who Wants To Nuke Omaha:

In something that I find profoundly troubling when I’ve had this discussion before, I’ve had a Caring Liberal tell me that the example of Iraq doesn’t apply because “we kept the gloves on”, whereas fighting America’s gun nuts would be a righteous total war with nothing held back… Holy shit, I’ve got to wonder about the mentality of people who demand rigorous ROEs to prevent civilian casualties in a foreign country, are blood thirsty enough to carpet bomb Texas.

You really hate us, and then act confused why we want to keep our guns? But I don’t think unrelenting total war against everyone who has ever disagreed with you on Facebook is going to be quite as clean as you expect.

RTWT.