The Bluff

Just a little musing … this time around the French were in the lead to push us into military action against Qaddafi in Libya, with Italy actively supporting it and allowing us to use our bases there. But a few decades ago when Reagan attacked Libya in reaction to Libyan agents bombing a nightclub in Germany and killing American servicemen, the reaction was quite different.

Only England would let us use our bases to launch our aircraft (thank you Maggie Thatcher!) and the French wouldn’t even allow us to overfly their country, forcing our aircraft to take an insanely long journey through the straits of Gibraltar. And it was possibly an Italian politician who called Qadaffi to warn him our aircraft were coming and allowed him to get away.

Yup … back then we did what we felt we needed to do to protect our own interests and didn’t let the reactions of the rest of the world affect us — we sought a moral justification, but only cared about our own judgment of that justification. Now we let the rest of the world draw us into actions even if they may not make sense or accomplish anything for our interests.

An African friend . . . → Read More: Military action against Qaddafi — how a few years changes things

I’ve decided to drop the Ebook price of my novel, Off Road, to .99.  The book’s been out for over a year now, and while it’s still selling … I’d like to go for bulk rather than profit. Fortunately I’m not trying to make a living off of my writing, and now my only goal is to sell more books and get more people interested in the sequel (which is still many, many months away from even a first draft, I’m afraid — DAMNED DAY JOB!).

So if you’ve got a buck to spare and like to read, give it a try. There are plenty of samples and reviews to look at on the left side. And plenty of other good information, like you’ll see below:

Off Road

The best book ever written!

By me, anyway.

Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.

More information here. Buy it at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle (only .99 for Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a free reader). Or in any Ebook . . . → Read More: My novel, Off Road, now available for .99 (Ebook versions)

It’s just common sense that when the price of an item goes up, you open up as many sources of that item as possible. If corn becomes very expensive, you try to get more farmers to grow corn. Maybe you start growing corn yourself because even though your garden may not be particularly efficient, it saves some money and you’re getting more benefit for yourself.

So we need to drill for oil in this country. Drill everywhere. And here’s a group pushing for that.

We learned three things from the BP gulf oil spill:

There are some excellent well sites in the Gulf (it produced a lot of oil for a long time).
The world recovers quickly from oil spills (it is, after all, a naturally occurring fluid that spills out on its own sometimes).
The Obama administration doesn’t have a clue on energy (the stopped all future gulf drilling and wouldn’t even let BP produce the spilling well through the relief well they drilled).

Off Road

The best book ever written!

By me, anyway.

Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, . . . → Read More: Drill Baby Drill!

From these reactions on the “Protect Wisconsin Families” facebook group (really a group to defend the funding of the Democrat party through enforced union participation) to the Wisconsin state legislature move to end aspects of collective bargaining for some public employees  … I’m guessing Wisconsinites didn’t get the memo about ratcheting down the rhetoric.  There are calls to get Walker “into a dark alley,” “go postal,” tar and feather him” … and various other calls for violence. Some of it of a sexual nature.

Now don’t get me wrong … there’s nothing wrong with having a debate and a vote, and there’s nothing wrong with the people of Wisconsin getting angry at their representatives and recalling them (if they have the votes) and then turning the legislation around. And there’s even nothing wrong with unions, public employee or otherwise, though I’m personally opposed to the former. Disagreements on these subjects are why we vote, that’s what democracy is about, and it’s appropriate for this to be handled at the state level.

But let’s keep it in perspective … what’s happening in Wisconsin IS democracy, whether some like it or not. And what happens with recalls and the next election is also . . . → Read More: I’m so proud of the classy Wisconsin left and how much they honor the democratic process

A friend of mine recently posted on the savings he’s realized with his hybrid Prius, so I decided to do a little math and see if a hybrid would be a worthwhile trade for me. Now I have nothing against hybrids, and have ridden in both a Prius and a hybrid Accord, and not only were they comfortable but the owners liked them. So should I trade in one of my old vehicles, both of which are basically paid for, and take on a payment on a hybrid?

A little math tells the tale, and I’m attaching an Xcel spreadsheet for you to use if you’re interested in the same question. Just plug in the MPG of your current vehicle and the one you are looking at buying (or the numbers from any 2 vehicles), how many miles you drive per year, and what price you pay (or expect to pay) for gasoline, and the spreadsheet will tell you what your savings will be.

For me … the vehicle I would replace gets a consistent 25 mpg around town (which is where I drive it) and I don’t have a payment on it at all, though it has reached a point where it’s . . . → Read More: As President Obama and Democrats drive the price of gasoline back to $4 a gallon, is a hybrid worth it?

Man … I’m getting sick of the rhetoric about the whole Wisconsin Public Employee Unions vs. Governor Scott Walker and the Republican majority — who are trying to balance a budget and make sure that future budgets can be balanced as well. To see how ridiculous the rhetoric has gotten, take a look at this petition to support public worker unions by the NEA (National Education Association — but don’t sign it unless you really do believe in this crap). Here are a few points that people involved in this ridiculous battle should understand:

Unions for government workers do NOTHING to stand up to “Corporate America” for higher wages and a better standard of living, because they don’t interact with corporations at all; they are there to stand up to TAXPAYERS to demand higher taxes so they can get platinum benefits the rest of us pay for but only dream about having since our for-profit employers can’t afford them.
Yes, public employees are our neighbors and friends, and provide crucial servers, but they are also VOTERS. Which is why they already HAVE a voice in their management and why they don’t need a union. We, the voters (including them), will look after them . . . → Read More: So tell me again why I should support PUBLIC EMPLOYEE Unions

Man … what a business trip. Lots of fine food and even some fun, but always at company functions and never exactly where I wanted to be.

Anyway … got a coupla things to post on this week, so hopefully I haven’t been totally abandoned. Since my writing doesn’t support my lifestyle yet, I’ve got to pay the bills in other ways. Which means the best way to follow this blog is definitely via facebook, email, or RSS feed (look at the box on the right over there) ——>

Off Road

The best book ever written!

By me, anyway.

Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world of God, guns, big trucks … and family.

More information here, including an Ebook coupon. Or buy it at amazon.com. Paperback or Kindle (only $4.00 on Kindle, which can also be read on a PC with a . . . → Read More: Even to Vegas, Business trips suck

Movie poster for Atlas Shrugged

I’ll be traveling next week so I’m not sure what kind of posting I’ll be doing. For now, here are a few videos and some information on the movie version of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s classic novel from the 1950′s that I think every modern American should read. And after about a year on and off I’m almost there myself (it’s a LONG book, and I took a few breaks for some lighter stuff).

It’ll be interesting to see how close to the themes of the book they manage to get, but these clips are heartening. The content of the book and Ayn Rand’s real life made it clear she thought personal charity was fine (all of her main characters engage in it), but was against any kind of government welfare. Given that the people on the left feel as though all charity/welfare MUST come from the government (thus Mr. Obama and company limit charitable tax deductions but increase government subsidies to everyone), that seems incredibly heartless to them.

But then … if they got it, they wouldn’t be “on the left,” and we’d all be a lot better off.

Off Road

The best book ever written!

By me, anyway.

Set against . . . → Read More: Just a couple of videos on Atlas Shrugged

I’m not really one to spend a lot of effort supporting permitless carry laws, so long as there is a licensing system that is “shall issue,” inexpensive, and easy to obtain and keep. But … Wyoming will be state number four, and it hasn’t caused in problems yet in Vermont, Washington, Alaska, or Arizona. And there’s no reason to believe it will in here.

I wonder if laws like this lead to “gun tourism.” I remember when Montana briefly took down their maximum speed limit on state highways, and the stories abounded of sports car owners making journeys to Montana so they could run at 110 MPH on public roads. That’s easy to imagine happening. And it’s also understandable why they ended that practice, though this article suggests it was a big mistake.

But it’s also to imagine someone who enjoys firearms in a place like California thinking … “you know, if I’m going to take a trip this year, why no go someplace I can carry my gun. I can never do it at home, and it’d be cool.” And that doesn’t bother me either, because if they’re responsible enough to deal with all of California’s hoops to own a firearm, they’re . . . → Read More: Assuming the governor signs the bill the state to my North, Wyoming, now has constitutional (permitless) concealed carry

Transcribed from last night’s History channel show Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy:

Now some people think our founding fathers gave the right to bear arms to the people. Then there’s others that think they gave the right to bear arms to the militias. Either way, I’m an avid hunter, and I kind of equate guns to that of birth control and deep fried twinkies: I’m glad they’re there, just in case I ever need ‘em. Git’r Done!

Like all the History channel shows that cover guns there’s a little bit of political correctness there — he had to mention that he was a hunter and include a reference to the now outdated view that the 2nd amendment only refers to militias — but that’s probably the best we can do a mainstream television show.

I love the humor of Larry the Cable Guy, and it’s great to see a show that cover’s those of us in “fly-over” America and the things we love.

Off Road

The best book ever written!

By me, anyway.

Set against the background of the American civil war of “progressives” vs. patriotic American traditionalists and a family caught in the middle, Off Road is a journey into the uniquely American world . . . → Read More: Larry the Cable Guy’s view of guns and the 2nd amendment