I.Q. test

AP wire
updated 8:54 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 1, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. - Rocky, a 700-pound grizzly considered one of the most gentle animals of all Hollywood's performing beasts, bites down on the neck of a veteran trainer.

Illusionist Roy Horn is severely mauled by a show tiger during a Las Vegas performance.

An elephant at an Indonesian tourist resort tramples its longtime handler to death.

And now the latest — a 40-year-old trainer at SeaWorld Orlando is drowned by a massive 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum, an incident that raises anew the question of whether some beasts, especially the biggest ones, have any business being tamed to entertain.
Descriptions of Tilikum, the 22-foot orca which has now killed two trainers, inevitably come around to his intimidating size.

Sorry, if you expose your vitals to a PREDATOR, you may become a chew toy. Neither you, nor your next of kin, should be surprised. Orcas are intelligent, not human. Any thing 100 times your weight, with corresponding appetite, has an unfair advantage in unarmed combat.

The end of an era

AD has warned that those who haven’t updated their blogs will be deleted. I don’t blame him, I need to do the same thing.

I also need to recover my interest in the changing face of America. Since the last election my interest has declined because I find it difficult to believe any one, much less the majority of voters, wanted a socialist president.

Lower case is deliberate.

This political creation has convinced me that Jimmy Carter is not the worst we could pick for this high office. Carter proved that the US could survive four years without a President. Obama may prove that we can’t survive four years of social programs.

I become more convinced each day that the most powerful, productive nation in the world is doomed because the indigent have learned to vote themselves unlimited benefits.

If you are physically unable to work, or care for yourself, a compassionate nation should help. However, if you have made decisions that continue to deprive you of the means to care for yourself or your loved ones, give up the twelve pack, jerk your panties up, wipe your nose, and get on with doing what you know is right and needful.

I have been around too many that their entire life centers around where they will party the weekend away, too many that would rather buy a beer, than milk for their child. If I have to feed the child, I want the little dear put under the care of someone who will teach them how to live. Harsh I know, but we need a defense against unlimited reproductive rights by the electively stupid.

Sorry for the anger, I’m in the mood to throw someone down the stairs,

repeatedly.

The significance of the collapse of this nation will be the death of millions from starvation, and the violence of nations unrestrained by the threat of a police action. The Useless Nitwits will have to leave Turtle Bay and go harass someone else. They have no teeth without us, and no tolerance for us. The banana republic we are about to become will certainly not be able to fund them.

I was doing some of the recurring training that is done at Nukes, and heard a woman say in this weird adoring voice, “I love Obama”.

I thought I was going to puke.

Glassy eyed, unthinking adoration.

If he was a preacher in a Midwest church (sorry Midwest, Jim Jones wasn’t a southern boy), his supporters would be lining up for cool aid. I remember that party, almost had to help clean it up.

I suppose I should focus on something more positive, perhaps the building wave of protest by Dems against their own leaders. I’m seeing more protests now than since Vietnam. I think it’s only going to get worse.

Our national leadership no longer cares what the constitution says, our president ignores it, and the Supreme Court looks for inspiration to interpret that document in nations ruled by government employees instead of elected officials.

Sad days indeed.

Fallen Heroes

When I bought my bike last year I thought I might do something in opposition to the over publicized, protected speech of a group of religious nut jobs. I would be willing to test the righteousness of their claims with trial by combat, even though that is a little out of style.
I finally decided on the Patriot Guard. I signed up and never got a notification of a need in the area.

That all changed yesterday.

I am now a member of the Red Knights, who rode escort for an area firefighter who was killed in Iraq. We were told there was a very slight chance some of those nut jobs might show up to spread their hatred. No one wanted to miss that.

Luckily, none showed their ugly faces. I did get to see the out pouring of emotion by my entire community for a firefighter, by people who didn’t even know him.

It was said by one of the Patriot Guard Riders, “the fire service really knows how to send off one of their own.” Several of these men rode hundreds of miles to stand with us. We appreciated them very much.

The forecast was suitably gloomy to fit the occasion, a soft rain becoming a downpour occasionally. The local departments raised a forty foot American Flag between two tower trucks on the road in front of the church. A dozen pieces of apparatus joined the escort. Every branch of the military was amply represented. The officers and men of his unit made certain that one drop of rain would not touch the widow or her family. The flag line and honor guard stood uncomplaining, in the rain, for three hours, to do honor to our brother. The police made sure the procession was not delayed.

The local people stood by the road, in the rain, and held American Flags, to show their respect for a man they had never met. They stopped their cars and got out to wave tiny dash board flags, and hold their hands over their hearts.

The family was visibly moved by the honor done their loved one.

The graveside service, in our National Cemetery, included full military honors, the bagpipe corps, and the ringing of the bell for his “last call”.

Thank God for the rain, or a lot of tough guys would have tarnished their image.

Just when you think things can't get worse......

Then they get terrible.

My mother in law has dementia, to me one of the most cruel of malady's. Your loved one slips away a little at a time, until the shell that's left is an object of pity, that doesn't know you anymore. The love of my life has been adjusting to that reality for a year or so now, not easy but doable.

A week or so ago the motherinlaws vitals dropped almost out of sight, she was recovering in the ICU with some testing, when someone did a CT looking for a stroke, and found a tumor the size of a tennis ball in her frontal lobe.

With that news, we basically threw everything down and ran for home. I put TLOML on a plane in Portland, Oregon at 17:30 on the sixteenth and ran for home. 3200 miles, in four days.

The MIL is losing body functions at a rate slowed by steroids and cushioned by dilantin.

The Love of my life is now trying to prepare herself, no hope there, and is wound tighter than a spring. There is some doubt if the MIL will make into the new week.

Amazingly enough, she is awake all night and sleeps all day. She is hard to wake, but manages with some help. Today they woke her and dressed her and put her in a wheel chair, when I walked in the room she recognised me.

It absolutely broke my heart

It's the only time that I could hug her and kiss her face, previously she did not react well to affection from me. Sadly that was never a big problem.

We had all the youngest there for pictures, it wasn't planned, it just happened. The tiniest came all the way from Japan with her mother (of course).

The MIL looks better than a lot of the residents, but we know it's drugs and can't last.

TLOML has been to fun places like the Funeral home to make arrangements in advance of the event, probably a good idea. It seems to be a little unsettling though.

What do you do with this?

I guess we will muddle through, it's not like we have a choice.

If there is a plus side to this, it would be that it will be quicker than dementia and, in a sense, cleaner.

Sad, but that's the best you can make of it.

New Hobbies

I think I'm going to take up a few hobbies, say for instance, cliff diving or grizzly goosing. Something a little exciting, perhaps crocodile teasing, or explosive ordnance disposal while intoxicated ( perhaps the only way to do that and not blow an artery), maybe just motorcycle racing with out a helmet.


I don't really have a death wish, but I did go to a Christmas dinner at the "Assisted Living" facility where my mother in law is incarcerated.


Locks on the doors, to keep the little dears from wandering off, a very high ratio of care givers (most of whom I expect to become alcoholics, I would) and a lot of artificial high spirits.


The music was provided by an ancient rocker with the most amazingly preserved hair color. He was ten years older than me, with not a strand of grey. How does he do that? Super Glue, perhaps, only his hair professional knows for sure.


The food was excellent, beef you could eat with a straw, crab cakes, shrimp, and stuffed mushrooms. Nothing that required teeth to chew, you could easily gum the stuff into submission, and they did.

Wine was offered, I begged for a full bottle, to divert my thoughts.

I've never seen so many walkers outside of a Hollywood Florida mall. They were lined up like assault vehicles at a Mayday Parade in Moscow.

The Christmas Carols were rendered in a voice that may have been strong once, but broke all too often now. Betty, who sat across from us, sang along in a beautiful little girl voice, that hasn't belonged in a little girl for a tragically long time. I saw a little old lady cry when she was told to eat her dessert. I saw too many people, who were at one time, strong parents and spouses, and providers.

Now the lights are on and nobody's home. This was the first time I've seen my mother in law without makeup or her hair done. That's a real sign of how far she has gone from here. There were way too many empty vessels.

Then you see the secret glances, you look at their eyes, and see that some are not gone, but only hiding.

Excuse me I have to go write my name on some bullets.

Nohussein,,,,,ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo

B. Hussein Obama wants to lead this country,,, where?

Doesn't the Bible, which he professes to believe, say "And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me."

B. Hussein Obama would you have let Jesus die?

B. Hussein Obama would you lead us to hell and open the gate for us to walk through?

I think I have my answer!

Getting ready,

The Love of My Life told me this morning that she isn't ready for me to leave for work yet. She isn't feeling good about it.

Neither am I.

I am a whiny little boy these days, I managed somehow to hurt my back, and I am finally about to go to the Shaman about it. I take few to zero drugs, for any reason, personal discomfort would be least among them. I've seen way too much of that for my mental comfort.

However, when it takes fifteen minuets to put on a sock, well, you should do something.

I was seeing some improvements, and now I'm not. I guess I need some help.

The stepson and grand kids are coming today. We will have a little Christmas again.

I am almost ready to leave for California, a few details remain, a few more little things to put in the mobile survival facility. Fuel in the truck, program the navigation computer, load the maps and pack the computer, secure the breakables in the trailer.

Muster the intestinal fortitude to leave the Love of My Life for a month, and then two more months. This is going to be tough, the mother in law is past eighty and has been diagnosed with uterine cancer and ovarian cysts. We don't expect good results from treatment. That means The Love of My Life is entering one of the toughest times of her life and,

I will be gone.

Worms probably feel better than me.

Don't tell me Happy Holidays

IT'S CHRISTMAS,,,,, AND DON'T FORGET IT!!!!!
This day is a celebration of Christ's Birth Day! I don't care that the actual day might be in June, for cat's sake! This is the day we choose to celebrate. If you don't believe in God and His Son the way, or as I do, OKAY, thats your choice, I feel some regret that you don't, but IT'S YOUR CHOICE!
Don't infringe on my choice!

The poem below say's it fairly well. From an E-mail,,,,

WRITTEN BY A 15 yr. old SCHOOL KID IN ARIZONA :

New Pledge of Allegiance (TOTALLY AWESOME) !

Since the Pledge of Allegiance
and
The Lord's Prayer
are not allowed in most
public schools anymore
Because the word "God" is mentioned....
A kid in Arizona wrote the attached

NEW School prayer :

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

If you aren't ashamed to do this,
please pass this on.
Jesus said,
"If you are ashamed of me,
I will be ashamed of you before my Father."


Not ashamed. Pass this on.

A Christian Has Passed

Mr. Johnny Hart has passed. He is a man of simple faith. He professed his faith to one hundred million people a week.

I wish I could do as much, we do what we can, and lament the rest.

I profess Jesus as my personal savior, and claim Gods promise according to St. John 3:16.

I do Not preach my faith, I try to live the example. I am poor in wisdom, poor in conviction, but rich in my savior.

I am confident Mr. Hart has reaped his just reward and sits at the right hand of the Father today.

May God give us all grace to follow his will.

Rest well his good and faithful servant.

Back to the graveyard,,,,

Ambulance Driver said he believes every medic has a grave yard of people who have died while in your care.

I think he's right.

His post about death while assisted by paramedic, sent me back to the graveyard.

I am taking his advice and trying to make friends with the ghosts.

I have told a lot of people, "you can do anything on adrenaline for twenty minuets, then you have to sit down before you shake apart."

It's true, a hero is just too busy to think about how scared they should be. Then when they have time to reflect, they $h*t themselves and collapse.

If you don't believe in ghosts, don't do EMS, you will believe. I can see their faces, I can hear their families cry, and so far, I have not been blamed.

Some of them are quiet now, time brings peace.