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9/11 Revisited

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I posted this several years ago, but I thought it appropriate to repost with an update.





And then there was Spain:


Then London:

But in between those came Beslan:


Does anyone doubt that the enemy wants to do that here? I recommend that you read Steven Den Beste’s latest (2006) piece, The Disunited States of America, but remember this: Disagree all you want, but when you start working for their side, don’t be surprised when the rest of us roll right over the top of you, leaving nothing but a smear.

I’m sorely disappointed with my fellow man seventeen years down the road from the initial attack.

Humbled

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During my second, third hospital stay? my daugter set up a GoFundMe fundraiser, and – being cogent – I told her to take it down.  She did.  But the first 2-3 days of my last hospitilization, “I wasn’t all there” puts it mildly.  I’m currently on short-term disability, and I need a replacement liver.  My health insurance is great, but there’s only so much it covers so my wife told her to fire it back up again.

She raised $10,140 over a very short period, almost exclusively from readers of this blog.  Other bloggers such as Say Uncle (and I don’t have a complete list) linked to it.  Lots of encouraging comments were left with the donations, along with a lot of praise for the contents of this blog.

All I can say is, I’m humbled and grateful for all of you.  Thank you from the bottom of my soul.  Thank you for letting me join this tribe, where I have met, both online and in meatspace, some of the finest human beings anyone could ever know.

“Thank you” is inadequate for what I feel, but it’s the best I can do.

Still Alive

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I’m pretty damned sick, but I’m still kicking (weakly).

So far I’ve had four hospital stays: Memorial Day through the following Friday, July 10-14, August 11-14, and August 15-24. 

I’ve been “not right” since at least January, beginning with severe swelling of both legs.  The first hospital trip was due to that.  Diagnosis:  non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.  (That means “lots of scar tissue to the point the liver don’t do it’s job much.)  Second trip was due to internal blood loss from a gastric ulcer combined with blood thinners I’d been taking since May of 2017.  I had about half my normal blood volume.  Felt great for for a couple of weeks after being given three units of blood, then August 11 I didn’t feel great anymore.  Lots of blood tests, lots of medication adjustments.  After being discharged from the hospital, I collapsed at home the next evening, so back we went.  Seems your kidneys don’t work real well if your liver isn’t working right, and also if your liver isn’t working right, nasty crap like ammonia builds up in your bloodstream.

I “lost” a couple of days there I literally have no memory of.  Took about a week to get my brain fully back online.  For an engineer, it’s scary to realize you cannot do simple arithmetic in your head.

So I’ve been at home now since 8-24, and I’m setting up “Short-term disability” until I can get some strength back, at least enough to get into my office to start doing some paying work.  So if’ you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, now you know.

How Do You Have “Reasoned Discorse” With a Far Leftist?

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Over at Quora, I answered the question “What do most Americans fundamentally misunderstand about the U.S. Constitution?“

That the purpose of the Constitution is to establish the rules under which the Federal government is constructed, and that those rules are designed, as George Will once observed:
When James Madison and fifty-four other geniuses went to Philadelphia in the sweltering summer of 1787, they did not go there to design an efficient government, the idea would have horrified them. They wanted a safe government to which end they filled it with blocking mechanisms. Three branches of government. Two branches of the legislative branch. Veto. Veto override. Supermajorities. Judicial review. And yet I can think of nothing the American people have wanted intensely and protractedly that they did not eventually get.

 The world understands. A world most of whose people live under governments they wish were capable of gridlock, that we always have more to fear from government speed than government tardiness.

And:
The very virtue of a constitution is that it is not changeable. It exists to prevent change, to embed certain rights so that they cannot easily be taken away.

And we get this:

In the comments I had several exchanges with someone who is so far left I can’t even grasp it.  Here’s one:

Bhuvanesh Bhatt
“The reason that almost all “improvements” make matters worse is that most new ideas are false.”

Kevin Baker
I was quoting George Will, but in answer to your question let me recommend to you a couple of excellent books on the topic, The Burden of Bad Ideas, and Intellectuals and Society

Don Tracy
Honestly, I have never found any conservative ideology to even be readable. I would not waste my time on any proclaimed conservative because they write in a mysterious religious tone that is baffling to anyone used to rational discourse.

Kevin Baker
Translated: “There’s no talking to The Other Side™, because their philosophy is not understandable by my side of the aisle.” That way lies physical conflict.

Don Tracy
More accurate translation: “There’s no talking to the Republican/Conservative coalition.”

Kevin Baker
You’re falsely attributing to “the Republican/Conservative coalition” the beliefs of “murderous racists in Charlottsville” who are a tiny minority of the population.That’s called “Othering,” a necessary precursor to dehumanizing your opposition. Once they’re not humans, well then you needn’t regard their rights.

Don Tracy
You totally miss the point. The conservatives have never condemned the racist behavior and some actually blame the “non-conservatives” for instigating the trouble. I understand you truly believe in the “cause” but what gives you the right to be so twisted?

Kevin Baker
“Face it, non-conservatives are committed to respecting all people and their arguments with the expectation that they will play fair.”

Yeah, right. You’ve exhibited just that in this comment thread (not).

Don Tracy
I fully support and even believe in Antifa. They are freedom fighters.

Kevin Baker
So you’re good with Antifa violence? I thought you supported rational discourse. Yeah, we’re on very, very different sides.

Don Tracy
It is valid opposition. Trash can fires are a great way to get your attention.
As for different sides, I think you made a choice out of ignorance. If you would investigate with an open mind then you would have to agree with Antifa. Childish fear should never be part of decision making.

Kevin Baker
Not exactly “trash can fires.” Black-clad antifa members attack peaceful right-wing demonstrators in Berkeley

Don Tracy
It is still valid opposition and required to expose and castigate the un-American fascists leading our nation at all of our expense for their profit.

Kevin Baker
So you endorse their violence. Check.

Don Tracy
The violence is only in your imagination.

Kevin Baker
No, it’s reported in the media – which I’m sure you believe is right-wing. But I can point you to the people arrested at the Berkeley event as reported by the police there. Who’s ignoring reality now?

Don Tracy
That’s true – the media is entirely biased for the right wing. I don’t need it.

We live in entirely separate realities.

Oligarchy

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I knew that D.C. was corrupt, but I was unaware just how bad it actually is.  Elect someone new to Congress or the Senate?  They can’t represent the people who elected them because they have no power.  That is in the hands of the Power Elite, and through them the staffers and the lobbyists.  And if they don’t toe the line, the RNC and DNC will do everything in their power to make sure that they don’t get re-elected.  We don’t have a Representative Republic, we have descended to an Oligarchy.  Watch all four parts of The Swamp.  If that doesn’t piss you off, nothing will.  And note that the only members of Congress that agreed to be part of this documentary series are Republican House members – no Democrats, no Senators.

Part 1:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZqPo6R4WAc]

Part 2:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czKKwwnm_Oo]

Part 3:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMzVFYvx7VI]

Part 4:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLOs2ebwc34]

Torches, pitchforks, tar and feathers anyone?

SCOTUS

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I know Mike Lee is being promoted for the opening Supreme Court seat, but he’s currently part of the (tiny) Republican majority in the Senate.  Should he be the successful nominee, his most likely replacement would be Mitt Romney.

Trey Gowdy, on the other hand, is a member of the House and is not running for reelection. He’s a supporter of the Tea Party, and if you’ve watched any of the videos of him grilling department officials and others, he’s pretty damned impressive. He’s qualified, and I think he’d be an excellent choice.

What say you?

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

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So TV chef Anthony Bourdain recently committed suicide.  As to “why,” there’s very seldom any understandable reason.  I’ve seen a lot of Bourdain’s work, as my wife loved his No Reservations and Parts Unknown shows, and I got sucked into them as well.  Then I ran across the YouTube series Raw Craft, which was about as commercial as Bourdain got.  That was fascinating to me.

The thing about him that appealed to me was that he was very open about what he thought, but was open to pretty much everything.  He listened.

Being an openly New York liberal, his basic beliefs conflicted with a large percentage of the U.S. population.  As an example, in an interview he was asked what he would serve President Trump and Kim Jong Un if given the opportunity.  His response:  “Poison.”

Unsurprisingly, that offended a lot of people.

So for the first episode of his eleventh season of “Parts Unknown” he decided to forego the normal destinations like Uganda or Suriname and instead he went to someplace truly exotic and literally unknown:  West Virginia.  (Give that link a watch while it’s still available.  It’s not quite an hour long.)  From the show notes:

I guess for a long time I’ve been going to foreign locations like Iran, Liberia, Vietnam, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia where the culture and politics are very, very different than my own, and yet I try to go with an open mind and show some respect. And I like the idea of going to the heart of “Trump, God, and guns” country and looking at it in exactly the same way — with an open mind, as I’ve done elsewhere. It seemed only fair and only right.

I’ve gotta tell you, I was absolutely rocked back on my heels by, first of all, how beautiful it is, and how kind people were to me, and generous. I mean, in the same way that my preconceptions are upended so often around the world, I felt the same thing happening in West Virginia. In the stereotypical coal mining town in West Virginia — which is pretty much where we went, into the poorest area of West Virginia coal country — I was utterly moved and enchanted by the people and the place. And I like to think I came back from it with a more nuanced picture of what it means to be a coal miner, and why people voted for a sketchy businessman from New York who’s never changed a tire in his life.

You know, I went right at those things — guns, God, and Trump — and I was very moved by what I found there. I hope that people who watch the show will feel the same kind of empathy and respect, and will be able to walk in somebody else’s shoes, or imagine walking in somebody else’s shoes, for a few minutes in the same way that hopefully they do with one of my other shows.

Yesterday Rod Dreher posted a eulogy to Bourdain, A Tale of Two Tonys for The American Conservative. Give that a read as well.  Dreher concluded his piece with something I cannot say any better than he did:

If you didn’t follow Bourdain’s work, I hope you will now. We lost a great American last week.

Central AZ Blogshoot

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On Saturday SUNDAY, June 3 a friend of mine who moved here from Australia wants to introduce anyone interested to his brother, who is the Membership and Branches Officer for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, a pro-firearms political party Down Under. As I mentioned a few posts below, it will be at the Casa Grande public shooting range, just off I-8. Stephen Bowler will be available to answer questions about what actually happened in Australia after their buybacks and hand-ins, and everybody can bring their bangsticks and throw some lead downrange at the same time.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to make this one.

Elzy Pearson Public Shooting Range: 2766 S Isom Rd, Casa Grande, AZ 85222

Opens at 8:00AM

Take I-8 West from I-10. Exit at Trekell Rd. Turn left. At Arica Rd. turn left again. At the end first intersection, turn Right on to Isom Rd. The public range will be the second range on the left. The first belongs to the police department and they don’t play well with others.

Several of the ranges are covered and equipped with concrete shooting benches, but no chairs. Bring chairs, beverages, etc. The main range is 300 yards, and there are 100 and 50 yard pistol ranges. The range has portajohns, but I’d bring a roll of TP just in case. No glass targets, no tannerite, and no .50BMGs.