Wine and Swords

Such a Wonderfully Large Subject

2010-09-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

Y'know I've been doing research so I can respond to Mr. Gutschow's comments in the previous post and I had been unaware of how much there really is to do in order to put out a good article on that. Let me explain:

When it comes to this conversation on Islam there's a great deal of rhetoric on both sides and unfortunately the people who're ruled by their passions are usually in control of the conversations. I'm making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's crossed when I release my response. *sigh* Life would be much easier were I to just call 'em big bad meany heads.

On Islam, The Religion of Peace and a conversation with Nick Gutschow

2010-08-22T16:21:00.001-07:00

Well I've been percolating this post for a couple of weeks. This post is going to be the first of a series (I know, that's been said before on this blog, but this time it's true). The meat of the matter is going to be some conversations on Islam. Specifically dealing with the clashes between the Mid-East (and various elements therein) and the West. I don't expect that this series will cover every minute detail of a clash that has been going on for many generations. I do expect that the series will try to communicate points concisely and as comprehensively as possible for this author working in this media.

So, a few weeks ago I put up a message on my Face Book page that went something like this:

For those who think your enemy does not train? This gentleman's name is Ustaz Hussein and a few minutes spent plugging that name along with Silat Sharaf into google might prove enlightening. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYcIAHeY3lc

Now, this was meant more to go out to my brothers from Warrior Talk and a few other places. People who are interested in subjects like this, the clashes between East and West and the elements of Islam willing to utilize violence over there principles (which is not necessarily a bad thing, I will expand on it in my later posts). So you can imagine my surprise when I received a communication from Emir (Group Leader) Nick Gutschow of Silat Sharaf. The communication(s) are as follows:

Nick Gutschow August 5 at 4:51pm

Before posting something claiming anyone as an "enemy" you may want to take a few minutes to really learn a few things about the individual. You might be surprised what you find. The battle is not always an external one. The true enemy is our own ignorance. Assumptions have led to so much darkness in this world.

My name is Nick Gutschow and I am an Emir in Silat Sharaf (as well as a student of Sean Stark's PSP; I just recently started with him). I trained with Ustaz Hussein closely for 6 years in Taiwan. He is my teacher and my friend. If you ever care to truly learn something about the art or the man I am very open to a conversation on the matter. They are both pretty spectacular in my opinion.

Sir,

I am in the process of composing my reply which may take several days due to some things that are taking precedence in my personal life. In the interest of bringing this discussion into an open forum so that others may benefit as well, would you be open to moving it to my blog?

With Respect,
-Aaron

Nick Gutschow August 5 at 8:54pm

Sure. Keep me posted.

Aaron August 10 at 10:49pm

Okay, I'm hoping to have the initial questions up by friday. Would you be open to an interview style format (at least initially)?

Nick Gutschow August 11 at 7:58am

Sure I guess, if that's how ya want to run it.

For clarity you should begin with the initial post you made that caused me to contact you. That way anyone joining in will know our starting point and I can speak to that. If I had come across someone criticizing or question Ustaz I probably wouldn't have said anything, but such a flat declaration warranted a response.

Again, keep me posted.

Aaron August 13 at 4:41pm

Okay, couple things real quick:

1. in the interest of fairness I formed most of my opinions about Ustaz Hussein after reading some of the relevant threads over at Warriortalk.com where he commented. The main thread link (a discussion in which he participated, and impressed me with both his candor and logic) is (http://www.warriortalk.com/showthread.php?p=1004509&posted=1#post1004509)

2. To start with can you speak to the link between Islam and Silat Sharaf? In the WarriorTalk thread Mr. Hussein mentions Muslim Chivalry and the Feydai/Fedaykin (help with terms would be appreciated as I want to make sure I'm getting them correct), as I don't want to repost that discussion on the blog (and I'm unsure of the etiquette about doing so) can you also speak a bit to the differences between Feydai/Fedaykin and the terrorists that most westerners associate with the phrase "muslim warrior"?

Looking forward to hearing back. For the sake of ease of editing can you respond to my email address connor.odonnell@gmail.com?

The Muslims are training, are you? - Page 14 - Warrior Talk Forums

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Nick Gutschow August 13 at 4:59pm

You want me to do this here or on a forum/blog discussion somewhere?

Aaron August 13 at 5:06pm

If you could write a response to the initial questions and then send it to me at my email account I will add my own comments (perhaps with minimal editing for formats sake) and then send it back to you for your approval before repost to my blog. I want to make sure that nothing is misunderstood or taken out of context. Really, I'm looking forward to a fascinating discussion. Thanks for giving me this oppurtunity.

Mr. Gutschow has been extremely timely with his responses so the lag between this initial exchange and my posting this is entirely my fault. The response that he emailed me is below:
The questions:

“Can you speak to the link between Islam and Silat Sharaf?” “Can you also speak a bit to the differences between Feydai/Fedaykin and the terrorists that most westerners associate with the phrase "muslim warrior"?” First, I will cover some basic review. Please note that I am no scholar, but rather just a hobbyist of sorts in the study of religious history and development. Islam is one of the major monotheistic religions of the world. It formed in the 7^th century with the coming of its primary prophet, Muhammad. In the 1000+ years that followed it became one of the central pillars of an entire civilization, just as various forms of Christianity and Judaism came to be inexorably associated with the developing civilizations of Western Europe and later the European settled Americas. During its golden age this Islamic civilization was the keeper of much of the science and culture of the ancient world, and at that time it spread far and wide (including as far as South East Asia, which is relevant to this conversation). It was also during this time of expansion and the centuries that followed that the powers of the western and mid-eastern worlds began and continued to butt heads, leading to more than a millennium of an adversarial relationship, at least on some levels. This is an extremely simplified account of course, but I just wanted to make sure we were all talking about the same thing. Now, to understand Silat Sharaf’s connection to Islam, we have to understand where it came from. Silat Sharaf is the ever evolving creation of Ustaz Udom Hussein. It is the synthesis of his own training from a diverse background including other more traditional Silat, other East and Southeast Asian martial arts, as well as martial practices of the Ottoman empire (the last unified remnant of the once great Islamic civilization that began so long ago). In this sense then it is a collection of martial practices which mostly developed in nations primarily made up of Muslims (followers of Islam), or perhaps better said a collection of martial practices developed in the military arms of civilizations the identity of which are in part based upon Islam. Lastly, Silat Sharaf IS Ustaz. If what I gave you just now is the list of ingredients, Ustaz and his own outlook and experiences are the oven. The end result of all of this then is a martial art that uses the vocabulary of somewhat mystic Islam. Just as in my early days of Kung Fu study I ran into concepts here and there framed in the terminology of Chinese Buddhism and Taoism, so too here we sometimes talk about things with Muslim words. For me as an agnostic then I always have to consider things in slightly different terms (and in my years with Ustaz most of our students were non-muslim), but the ideas are the same at their root. So I think with that I answered your first question, but I am going to continue in my line of thinking in this last paragraph as it leads to the answer to your second question. As human beings, we are abstract animals. We like to capture whole ideas in very much simplified collections of symbols. Let’s look at the English language for instance. The word “justice” say is in some raw existential sense nothing more than a string of squiggly bits that indicate a combination of phonetic sounds, and these sounds tag a word in our language, and this word is one of great complexity and difficulty. Get 10 modern Americans in a room debating the true meaning of justice and you are in for a long night. It is no different with any symbol. Let’s take the swastika for instance. Holy god does that conjure such horrible things in the mind of any post WWII westerner. But you see it everywhere on the streets and in the supermarkets in Taiwan. Why? Because it means, “this food is ok for vegetarians to eat.” To modern secular Chinese, that’s pretty much all it means. And you might ask how the hell it came to mean this. Well, that’s simple. Buddhists don’t eat meat and the symbol originally (and still) is a marking of luck and good will in Sanskrit origin religions. So the Buddhists who spread the faith to East Asia used it often. In fact, my primary kung fu teacher in my early years in Taiwan had a massive swastika on the back of his training uniform because of this meaning. Ok, blah blah blah, what the hell am I talking about? Essentially, I am talking about equivocations. The bitch about symbols is that they are very easy to hijack and use in ways for which they were never intended. It then becomes all too easy for human beings to make assumptions based upon the use of them. Again, a HUGE swastika on the back of his training uniform, in the style of the Nazis no less as he liked the stark red look of it (and coming from a culture that never felt the full weight of the events of WWII he never really understood what all the fuss was about), but no one ever accused him of anti-Semitic leanings. So let’s look at your second question now. Let’s work it backwards. So a “Muslim” is a practicer of Islam and a “warrior” can mean a lot of things, but here let’s say it means a solider or a career fighter in some sense (at least for a period of time). In that sense then modern terrorists present a tiny sliver of all of what the term “Muslim warrior” can mean. Just looking at present times, the allied local forces in the middle east are made up of Muslim warriors, or all the Islamic members of the US military are Muslim warriors as well. And if we expand back in time, all the fighters of all the Islamic civilizations since the beginning, or any fighter for any civilization who as individuals happen to be Muslims, they are Muslim warriors as well. So then to associate only terrorists with the term “muslim warriors” indicates a very severe case of tunnel vision and a pretty gross equivocation. And to assume others who use the term use it in the same sense is to assume also that these individuals suffer from this same tunnel vision epidemic of modern times where Islamic culture is concerned. Ok, so then what DOES Ustaz Hussien mean by Fedayeen? Now bear in mind I didn’t participate in the exchange that you are referring to in this case, so I am not exactly sure what he said there, but I can speak to the way I always understood the term to be used with him in our 5 years of very regular contact. In the Silat Sharaf sense, a fedayeen is a warrior following the path of Futawa, or classical Islamic chivalry. This is basically a set of rules of conduct based around the ideas of respect, duty, upholding the good and opposing oppression, cultivating an acceptance of your circumstances, and so on. He is a volunteer who walks this path out of personal choice and doesn’t hesitate to act when to make the world a better place. He is a humble and capable warrior seeking right action in all he does. Just because the Nazi’s stole the swastika doesn’t mean Zhang Sifu can’t use it on his jacket in its original meaning, and just because some fringe modern Islamic fundamentalists use fedayeen and “muslim warrior” to mean terrorists doesn’t mean Ustaz is not totally justified using it in the way he does. And really if we freak out about either of these things, it just represents a lack of understanding on our part. The first time I heard the ice cream truck song in Taiwan and ran outside in glee to find it was actually the garbage truck going by, I was a little put off. But the next time I knew what to expect.

First of all, I'd like to thank Nick for what is a timely and excellent response. I'm going to let this post be out in the ether for probably a week or so (maybe longer, as I believed is mentioned above I have some things going on in my personal life that are extremely disruptive) and then I will do a point by point response. If you comment, please keep it civil. Any personal attacks or behavior that could be defined as trolling will met with deletion of comment.

Hey Cool!

2010-01-22T13:56:00.001-08:00

I just got my first spammer! That screaming sound you hear? S'what I did with 'em.

A bit of a Morbid Post

2009-08-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone Dies.

It seems that most people spend a great deal of time trying to escape what is, essentially, an inescapable fact. You will eventually snuff it. A time will come, and it will be soon when stacked against the scale of this world, where the shell which you have been inhabiting will fail catastrophically....on that day You Will Die. This phenomenon will be far from unique to you, almost every member of the human race has gone through this before you. Barring some monumental medical breakthroughs every member of the human race after you will also die.

People die every day:

They die in cradles and on deathbeds.

They die during exercise and in corpulent states on couches.

They die charging for freedom and cowering in basements.

They die having realized their dreams and having done nothing with their lives.

People Die.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that some people will go to preserve something (life) that they will ultimately lose. When you are born you are afforded very few guarantees but one of those is most certainly death.

It took me almost twenty-two years to figure this out. Once I reached this realization it's pretty freeing actually.

Keluarga Aftermath

2009-02-20T20:54:00.001-08:00

My full writeup on Keluarga South will be coming tomorrow. This week has been a little packed with a new module starting at my school. I still can't believe that some sick fiend would put me in Pathology AND Oriental Modalities during the same module. These are two of the hardest classes in the entire program. I still think I can pull an A out of both of them though.

Incrementalism

2009-02-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful start to doing something that they said they wouldn't do while campaigning:

Keluarga, WooHoo!

2009-02-06T10:37:00.001-08:00

So this year I'll be going to Keluarga for the first time in.....a while....

Keluarga is an annual gathering of practitioners of the silat style Pencak Silat Pertempuran where we celebrate training, family, and the oppurtunity to beat the crap out of each other. To be honest I can't wait. The event will be held next weekend (instead of wasting my time on some sort of valentine's day pursuits), hopefully I'll be able to get some bloggings done while I'm there.

The Vote Reaper and Macho Sauce Productions

2008-12-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Recently the awesome offerings of Macho Sauce Productions have come to my attention. Nice to hear someone with a brain again:

Check out the guys website too:

www.machosauceproductions.com

That is all.

Rolling Around

2008-09-21T16:46:00.001-07:00

Rolling Around

Hey Guys (all 5 of you who read this blog),

I've got a few articles rolling around the old brain but every time I sit down to write them they always roll right back to wherever they came from. It's frustrating. Really. The Duty Fulfilled stuff is still in the ol' noggin vault but moving ahead with it is like pulling teeth. I've also been thinking of writing some fiction but haven't had the time to sit down and map out the stories. Which is really frustrated because I have 3 (I think, might be more) seperate stories and snatches of dialogue and description keep floating into my brain at random times like:

"Doc settled into his chair with a glass of something that smelled like seedy bar bathrooms and hangovers."

or:

"He had read in some old science fiction book that happiness consisted of getting enough sleep, nothing more or less. Tam hadn't realized how true that little snippet had been until he joined and got sent out to the front. It was a test among the old timers to see whether someone had been out or not the question would be posed: "Is a ten minute nap worth taking?". REMF's would always spew out some bravado about how they could "sleep when they were dead", anybody who had been out for more than a week would offer a vital piece of anatomy for 10 comatose minutes. "

and my favorite:

"As Chogala fell to the ground with a cracked windpipe he remembered his tour of the neighborhood from the Heads. Chogala remembered walking around and being introduced to the residents of the sector and told who was golden and who would cause trouble, who to make an example out of and who would be late with their payments. Being given charge of his own turf had put his head in the clouds though instead of listening to the one piece of advice that would have saved his life 30 secs ago: Leave the old men in C Building alone."

These little things just seem to walk right into my consciousness at the most inopportune times, like when I'm giving a massage or I'm in the middle of a phone call at work. Never when I can write 'em down (and the images that they evoke).

Which reminds me, I've got about the attention span of a ferret on pixie sticks these days between school and work. 25 Hours a week working at my school on the federal work study program, 16 Hours of schooling and in between there enough down time to do laundry and partake of the sacraments of the Cult of the Open Bottle. Oh, and I moved in with Dear Old Dad. Big Change in lifestyle from living where I was. It's only for about another 14 months. Give or take, but who's counting?

I do enjoy the work study job though, the pay is fairly low but the work is not onerous at all and I'm inside an air conditioned building. Let me re-iterate that once more, it's SUMMER in FLORIDA and I am in the air conditioning! Previous summers of mine have been spent building cabinets or frolicking about in ACU's in the Georgia heat. It's under circumstances like those that you come to understand that whoever invented the blessed Central Air Unit was one of the more important people to walk the face of the earth, right up there with the guy who invented the Flush Toilet. And I think (since I'm working on Saturday's and it's intermiably slow) I'll be able to get a bit more writing done on this fancy work computer.

Time Less than Well Spent

2008-08-06T19:39:00.003-07:00

My whole life I have always tried to spend my time doing something productive. Sometimes I settle for things that are just vaguely amusing but I try to avoid feeling as if I have squandered valuable moments of my life. Most of the time it works. I have relatively few regrets about the last 21 years.

Sadly, I realize that as I lay on my deathbed I will look back and remember certain moments as having been complete and utter wastes. I will wish I had that time back, to spend it differently. Yesterday morning was one of those times.

I've recently started school for my license in Massage Therapy. Massage has always been quite interesting to me from the time I was a child. I don't quite know why I chose massage. I probably made the choice for a combination of reasons including an interest in the human body in general, being a "touchy" kinda guy (not to be confused with touchy-feely), oh, and did I mention I'll probably be starting out for about 4x what I could make currently. Anyway, I'm getting off point here. Sorry for rambling, dear reader. In Massage School and associated subcultures you tend to run into "flakes, fruit loops and honest to god WHACKO'S". Most of these "alternative" types are well meaning folks who are just, well, "out there". And I manage, I think, to put up with it all with a certain....erm....patience?....restraint?.....soul crushing discipline?..... Nah, to be honest my greatest claim to fame is that I don't completely explode more than once a day and vomit caustic sarcasm all over the nearest flakazoid. Well, until yesterday that is. You see, yesterday, we were introduced to "The Secret"! <cue dramatic muzac>

Are you impressed yet? Not yet? What's wrong with you? All right, all right, kill the muzac. I see you are still possesed of a brain. For those of you who have yet to be introduced to "The bestest thing ever! Better than peanut butter, sliced bread, and red-heads bearing whisky in one hand and Guinness in the other!" "The Secret"! is a movie about the Law of Attraction. Great stuff really. According to this hour and a half (it may have been more, I walked out several times during the brain washing session) of drivel, YOU, the gentle reader control your own reality. Everything around you responds to the "vibes" that you put out. By concentrating on what you want and and thinking and wanting really, really, really hard you'll get it.....eventually.....if you want it enough. Now although they don't come out and say it in the movie the visual message is that you just concentrate on whatever your bright and shiny want is and you get it. It's all mental. Hard work and personal sacrifice, self evaluation and personal change have nothing to do with it. It's all about what you visualize in your head.

Pretty cool, huh? I mean, I could really digg this! Gone would be the sucky early mornings, the working to eat or pay bills, and the studying until late hours of the night! None of this would be necessary, I would simply roll out of bed (never earlier than noon) look at my "goals board" (composed of magazine ads or pictures from wherever seems appropriate and shiny) and visualize whatever my little heart desired. It's important to remember, however, that the Law of Attraction does have a little lag time on its delivery. You can't just instantly manifest whatever you want, which is kind of cool according to the little skit in the movie involving an elephant apparating in some poor schmucks living room.

Well, if someone ever figures out a way to make this for sure please lemme know. Seriously folks, I'm tired of working for my beer money.

I Own Firearms Because... - Warrior Talk Forums

2008-07-29T11:18:00.001-07:00

This might have been on here before, if so forgive me... It is from Freedom Watch.
I like the quote at the end.

I OWN FIREARMS BECAUSE...

I Own Firearms Because A Bunch Of Old, Dead, White Folks Said I Should:

1) \"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.\" ~ Thomas Jefferson.

2) \"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.\" ~ Alexander Hamilton.

3) \"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.\" ~ Thomas Paine.

4) \"Americans need not fear the federal government because they enjoy the advantage of being armed, which you possess over the people of almost every other nation.\" ~ James Madison.

5) \"The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference; they deserve a place of honor with all that\'s good.\" ~ George Washington.

6) \"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun.\"~ Patrick Henry.

7) \"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes\" ~
Thomas Jefferson quoting Cesare Beccaria.

8) \"To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.\" ~ George Mason.

9) \"The said Constitution be never construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.\" ~ Samuel Adams.

10) \"But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.\" ~ Hubert Humphrey.

11) \"I carried it (a revolver) religiously and during the summer I asked a friend, a man who had been one of Franklin\'s bodyguards in New York State, to give me some practice in target shooting so that if the need arose I would know how to use the gun.\" ~ Eleanore Roosevelt.

12) \"By calling attention to \'a well regulated militia\', the \'security\' of the nation, and the right of each citizen \'to keep and bear arms\', our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic
civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.\" ~ John F. Kennedy.

I Own Firearms Because History Says I Should:

13) 1911: Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

14) 1929: Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 40-60 million citizens, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated or starved to death.

15) 1935: China established gun control. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

16) 1938: Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, 13 million Jews, Catholics and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.

17) 1956: Cambodia established gun control. From 1975 to 1977, one million \'educated\' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.\"

18) 1964: Guatemala established gun control. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

19) 1966-1976: China still has gun control. Another 50-100 million civilians, unable to defend themselves, were killed in Mao Tse Tung\'s \"Cultural Revolution\".

20) 1970: Uganda established gun control. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

21) 1990s: Rwanda established gun control. In a span of 100 days in April 1994, 800,000 people who were unable to defend themselves were massacred to death - most by machetes. How many dead, hacked-up bodies do you think were found holding a loaded gun? (answer is less than one)

22) 1992: Los Angeles California, USA. For three days police stood by and watched, unable to stop the rioting, arson and destruction of whole neighborhoods. Yet many Korean stores were virtually untouched - protected by their well-armed storeowners who exercised their right to self-defense through their right to keep and bear arms and who did for themselves what the police were unwilling or unable to do.

23) Late 1990s: Great Britain established total gun control. Robberies, burglaries and assaults have skyrocketed making London\'s violent crime rate now higher than anywhere in America.

24) \"Every good communist should know that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.\" ~ Mao Tse Tung

25) \"Ordinary citizens don\'t need guns, as their having guns doesn\'t serve the State.\" ~ Heinrich Himmler.

I Own Firearms Because It Is My God-Given Right To Self-Defense:

26) \"If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.\" ~ Exodus 22:2

27) \"...he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.\" ~ Luke 22:36

28) \"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.\" ~ Luke 11:21

29) \"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\" ~ Declaration of Independence

I Own Firearms Because I Have Common Sense:

30) A gun-owner his far more likely to be killed in a car accident or by drowning in a swimming pool or by a physician\'s mistakes than from owning a gun.

31) Criminals fear victims holding guns, not victims holding phones.

32) 2 million times a year, private citizens successfully use guns to defend themselves.

I Own Firearms Because There Are Those With Power Who, If Given The Chance, Would Force Me To Relinquish Them:

33) \"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of Americans to feel safe.\" ~ Sen. Diane Feinstein D-CA, quoted by AP, 11/18/93.

34) \"We\'re going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We\'re going to beat guns into submission!\" ~ Rep. Charles Schumer D-NY, quoted on NBC, 12/8/93

35) \"For target shooting, that\'s okay. Get a license and go to the range. For defense of the home, that\'s why we have police departments.\" ~ James Brady. (police are useless in preventing crime, they get involved AFTER the crime has been committed.)

36) \"The sale of guns must stop. Halfway measures are not enough.\" ~ Sarah Brady.

37) \"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal.\" ~
Former Attorney General Janet Reno.

38) \"The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people\" ~ Former President Bill Clinton, interview on MTV 1993

39) \"I don\'t care about crime. I just want to get the guns.\" ~ Former Senator Howard Metzenbaum, D-OH during Brady Bill debates.

40) \"If someone is so fearful that, that they\'re going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all!\" ~ Rep. Henry Waxman, D-CA, 5/2001 MSNBC report on .50BMG rifles.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

You Gotta Love The Irish - Warrior Talk Forums

2008-07-25T07:57:00.001-07:00

An e-mail from Ireland to all of their brethren in the States...a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:

\'We, in Ireland, can\'t figure out why you people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.

On one side, you have a pants-wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer who can\'t seem to keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is married to yet another lawyer, who doesn\'t even like the country her husband wants to run.

Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate Mc terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.

What in Lord’s name are you lads thinking over there in the colonies?!!\'

Low and Slow

2008-07-13T15:09:00.001-07:00

Unlike most guys around my age and generation I enjoy cooking.

Alot.

It's kind of funny actually. I think a love of cooking runs in the men on my Mom's side. Most of them just flat out enjoy spending time in the kitchen. It's been passed on to me some how and I'm definitely glad for it everytime I stumble around in the kitchen.

Today I'm screwing around in the kitchen with Ribeye. We bought a wholesale rib from Sam's and for the first time I enjoyed carving out my own steaks. I stopped cooking with recipes several years ago so most of what I make falls under the category of day dreams that sound like they might taste decent. Unfortunately when I make the food the red heads from the day dreams don't just miraculously appear. Have to work on that. Anyway, we picked up some rub from a local barbeque joint. The company that makes the rub is called Dizzy Pig and the specific rub I am using is called "Shakin' the Tree". Think of lemon pepper with a sweet twist. It's pretty good stuff. So I took the Dizzy Pig stuff and mixed it with this stuff called "Meat Seasoning" that the Ice Queen brought back from Jamaica.

I ended up setting the ribeye on a broiling tray and pouring a little wine over the whole mess. I've sprinkled a bit more of the Dizzy Pig and poured a little wine over it a couple of times. Slow roasted at 250F for about three hours it should come out pretty well, no?

It's times linke this that I wish I had a camera.

What Kind of a Western Badass Are You?

2008-07-13T11:46:00.001-07:00

What Kind of a Western Bad-Ass are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as John Wayne

You a classic all American cowboy who does the right thing. When you're sober. Which means occasionally. You like horses, the outdoors, whiskey, hot tempered women, whiskey, and bourbon.

John Wayne

100%

Clint Eastwood

75%

Charles Bronson

63%

Lee Marvin

50%

Lee Van Cleef

50%

Duty Fulfilled Pre-Intro

2008-04-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

I've started researching the concept of Duty as it pertains to the Christian Male lately. Specifically I'm researching the Duty of the Christian Male to defend himself and his family. Originally I had planned to write a monster article which would put paid to a lot of the things that really bug me about mainstream Christianity in this area. When I started outlining the article I realized it would be a better series than one monster read that chow down on hours of time all at once. The first Volume (or whatever ya wanna call it) is going to be on the Copouts of Modern Society. I expect these articles to go through several Refinements (re: me going through them with a blow torch and an axe) and edits. Sorry for all the rust on my writing skills guys. Hopefully my style will get better as it goes along.

I haven't really been writing much lately (with the exception of the post that precedes this one) so we'll see how keeping to a schedule and banging out a series goes.

Happy Things

2008-04-16T07:07:00.001-07:00

It occured to me when looking over the last few posts that I've been doing a dis-proportionate amount of whining. So here're a few happy things that have happened recently:

I've started Playing Silat again. It's a blast and with a decent training partner (finally) things are proceeding very fast indeed. I've almost got the last of the rust off of my old skills and am getting new stuff from PSP (Pencak Silat Pertempuran) ever time I train. We've also been blessed with having a guy named Anthony move down from Oregon. Anthony was involved with some Serak (Sera? don't wanna start another flame war) stuff up there and I'm getting exposed to a new art which I'd been interested in for some time. I'm looking to be testing probably the first weekend in May for my level three. A move ahead that's taken way too long.

On another front we've had a breakthrough in our Home today. We had been having some family drama and snarls with the landlord, %100 of which was miscommunication and fear. We were on our way to the House of Prayer today and waiting outside our house was the Landlord. We got to sit down and talk to him and clear up pretty much all the friction that's been plaguing us recently. This may sound like a small thing guys but honestly, I can't even tell you how much of a blessing that was. My head started spinning afterwards and has not stopped. The Lord is very good, especially today.

In recent days, weeks and months I've also been revisiting my relationship with God. This is probably my biggest Happy Thing. For awhile I had fallen deeply into cynicism and depression when it came to Him. Slogging through all the crap that my family and I have gone through I tended towards blaming Him. I blamed God for failed relationships, my Back trouble and the abortion that my military career had turned into. But recently I started looking back at what exactly has happened during those two years. I think about how much I've grown in maturity and experience and I've come to realize I wouldn't trade any of it. And now that I've come the point where I'm seeking God again I've started seeing good advancements in the problem areas of my life. These advancements are even bizarre to the point that nothing but the Divine could be at work. And they continue every day.

For My Convenience

2008-03-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

I've added the Stuff White People Like blog to my list of links.

Oh, Oh, Oh God!

2008-03-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't laughed this much in many, many, MANY years. I gotta admit though, can't stand most hippies.

Edit: There's something wrong with the embed code so here's the URL:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=163653&title=marines-in-berkeley

An interesting Blog

2008-02-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

Women in MMA, a subject that fascinates me:

Old at 20?

2008-02-16T19:21:00.001-08:00

The last four days have been a wee bit difficult. I was doing so good with the workout schedule.

And then all my old man aches and pains started to bubble up. Every one has a story behind it. Maybe they've all gotten together to remind me of the past a little for the last few days.

A rib that pops into and out of cartilage on the front of my rib cage that contributes to painful pops between my right shoulder blade and spine. A legacy of not guarding my chest when sparing Nelson. I was so sure he would never throw a punch since all he had done on two seperate occasions and during multiple rounds each time was spazzy kick combos. What a surprise when the haymaker flies in from the rear field. Getting slammed in the chest. The rib still pops in and out when I lift something heavy or move wrong. I learned to guard that area and haven't been caught off guard in my upper chest since that day. Apparently that guarding is what contributes to that spot to the left of my right shoulder blade popping.

The lower left side of my back that has an almost constant dull pain which flares to a point where I can barely move sometimes. Picked it up during 30 days at Ft. Benning's reception (30th AG). 30 Days of cooling my heels and learning the ins and outs of a different world. The funny thing about it is that I can do an entire night of wrestling and not feel a thing, but then I can pickup a piece of paper wrong or stand up just right and not be able to move much for 6 hours a so. So far the ultimate medicine for this one has been Glen Livet.

A Shoulder that dislocates itself so many times a day that it's no big deal anymore, or it might be absolutely fine for two weeks. Dunno where this one comes from. Dunno what triggers it. Quite funny when you think about it and something that I've occasionally used it to freak people out when grappling. They stop when they feel the *squish/pop* of the cap popping out of the socket, I don't.

A bunch of other little ones that I've had so long that I have to consciously think about them to notice them anymore: pinkies that look a little "crooked" because they've been broken so many times they tend to lock up during inopurtune times, knees caps that float around...dunno where those are from but they may be a family trait, others that I can't remember even when I think about them. Just too used to ignoring the littlest stuff I guess.

All these things have conspired to make me act and feel a lil' like a slug over the last few days. I can feel some of them ebbing a little now. Time to hit it hard again in the morning and stop being a whiner.

Still Swimming....

2008-01-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

....and the water's getting a little warmer.

The amount of stress my family has been under this last week or so has been astronomical, as with any close family, some has leaked out onto me. Everything has seemed to pile on top of each previous event to create something that could almost be called a "perfect storm".

My Cousin's trial has taken an unexpected turn (for the second time in as many weeks) leading to more wasted time and trips over to the other side of the state. He's definitely worth it though. The strides in personal development and familial development he's made during his incarceration have been astronomical. We are all so proud of him and continue to pray for the outcome of his trial.

Last Thursday (24 January 2008) we were dropping my little brother's dog off at the home of the his "surrogate grandparent's" when he dashed out of the car door the minute it opened. Those readers who have had a puppy (or ankle biter of any sort) know how fast young things can streak away. Anyway, Skittles (the little pup's name) had seen a cat sitting right by the nearby road and like any puppy he dashed right out to chase it. The cat bounded off and made it across the road....the dog did not. Skittles was dead from a broken neck on impact. Fortunately he did not suffer, unfortunately that fact was the last mercy of the night. I was left with the job of helping comfort a heart broken 11-year old. Fortunately my little brother's "Surrogate Grand-dad" volunteered to buy him a new puppy when he was ready. So now, as of Sunday, our family are the proud owners of a new Mini-Daushund named Chloe. Who's chewing on damned everything!

The two examples above are just a few of many things that have come up in just the last week. I'm telling ya this stuff has just been nuts!

Christmas is Over....

2007-12-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

....and we're on the downhill slide for the rest of the holidays! The last big hurdle is New Years (which I've ended up planning like usual).

Silat training should be starting up again soon, right now I'm contenting myself with the challenge posted on the Desa.

That's all for now, I've got to go help my Uncle shampoo his carpet and get ready for a lil' party tonight.

Getting A Little Behind

2007-12-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is coming and it seems like the closer we get the more hectic things become. With all the parties, get togethers and people who "just wanna hang a bit" before Christmas everything just seems to be getting stretched very thin. I am enjoying getting to see folks that I haven't gotten a chance to see in a while though.

All these commitments have put me a little behind on training though. Hopefully that will be changing today. This is the first time that I've gotten a chance to come up for air in two days.

Hey! I cooked!

2007-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's nice to get to cook a whole meal again. Usually when I cook it's just for me but tonight we had some company in from out of town so I took the oppurtunity to show off. Cooked the whole meal by my self (except desert, somehow we wound up at The Cheese Cake Factory for that....not that I'm complaining mind you).

I did broiled steak (with doctored up Montreal for a rub), marinated potato and carrot wedges (reduced the marinade to make a decent lil' sauce) and mushrooms sauteed in butter with soy and cajun seasoning. All in all it wasn't bad and I helped 3 porky folks (myself included) get a little porkier.

Most guys think cooking is somehow unmanly or not a good skill to have. I call bull on that one, being able to cook has gotten me dates and helped me salvage quite a few evenings that would have been ruined by crappy food.

The Tueller Drill (Kinda)

2007-12-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

The Tueller Drill is when 2 men line face each other from about 21 feet away. One man is armed with a knife and the other a gun (in holster or whatever carry method he usually utilizes). At the signal the man with the knife rushes the man armed with the gun and attempts to stab him with getting shot. The man with the gun attempts to draw and fire without getting stabbed. This rarely goes well for the man with the gun unless he utilizes explosive movement. I've been trying to find the video of it and until now have been unsuccessful. Finally found a version of it in this Pekiti Tirsia video although they don't appear to be spaced out the full 21 feet.

This Week in Silat and School Mumblings....

2007-11-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

Last week I was doing so good in Silat, at least as far as getting training time in. I had averaged about 3 days a week for several weeks consecutively. Then this week comes, with some crazy school demands and some spiffy little other surprises (like my Uncle being admitted to the Hospital with Chest pains tonight and car trouble for me etc.). That doesn't even mentioned the stuff my training partner has been going through.

Finally turned in that Damned Paper. I don't think I've ever in my life had that much trouble actually writing a paper once I get started. Freaking pain is what that was. Oh well, it's all down hill from here. We don't really have a final to speak of for this class so all I have to do is keep showing up and get my A. That will be the first grade I have received on anything academic since I was 17.

A Little Break, and Post-Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

Well I am up at this insanely late hour writing a college paper about self-defense...

Which I thought would be insanely easy...

But is turning out to be quite difficult. I think I'm too close to the subject and losing my edge a little. Some things I take so much for granted that my reasons for believing them become a little murky and I can't as quickly call to mine the facts that I base my belief on. I think one of the stops down that road is fanaticism so I decided to write the paper to revisit one of my beliefs and make sure everything is still properly gelled and hopefully avoid getting that far. Maybe taking this little blogging break will help a bit.

This last Thanksgiving was the first time in years (probably 10 of them) when it was JUST our family. Traditionally we invite freaking everyone, and I do mean everyone. Last year we had 28 people and only about 15 of those were family. It's nice to have a break once in a while but hey, next year we're already planning on outsiders to invite, and that's as it should be.

Pre-Thanksgiving....

2007-11-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

...And other ramblings.

The Job hunt continues. I really don't wanna go back to "paper or plastic?" or go to "would you like fries with that?" but it may end up happing soon. Definitely not getting into sales again.

College goes well though. I have an A so far in my one lonely class but it's good for now. I'm going to try to take some more stuff next semester. Which reminds me, I've got a paper due that I should start on after this. Think I'm going to try to persuade people to learn how to defend themselves. In previous papers I've compared and contrasted female personalities by hair color and descriptively written about parties I've been at. I'm very glad my professor has a sense of humor or my current grade would be far below the passing level.

PSP proceeds well, I'm averaging about three 1-2 hour nights per week. Mostly doing the lower level stuff with my buddy Morgan. I think he's ready to move to level two as soon as he goes down to St. Cloud to see Guru Stark. With the Holidays and money situation though, timing has been difficult. I'm glad I'm having to not only work the lower level stuff but teach it, as a result I'm knocking the considerable rust from my skills. They needed it badly.

Turkey Day, my favorite holiday! I can't wait! In my family Turkey Day is approached with the level of preparation that went into Iwo Jima or D-Day. We've scaled back this year and are only doing one ham and one turkey. Oh well, Christmas is just around the corner.

Another few jobs, one day I'll find.....

2007-11-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

....a decent one to stay with.

Quit the job with DCSI and then got a job selling Verizon FIOS, didn't make any sales at either one so I'm outta sales for a little while. I'm putting in an application at the Hard Rock today for Guest Relations/Security. We'll see how that goes. I'm also putting in some apps for some of the places that are hiring on extra Holiday staff.

A new Job

2007-10-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

Well I got a new job with DCSI Systems. I'm part of their promotions team, out there doing door to door security system promotions (see how I avoided the word "Sales" in there? My boss would be proud). It's comissions based so we'll see how it goes but I'm optimistic. The people that currently work there are not very motivated at all but they make decent money so I think I should do alright.

Well that went well!

2007-09-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started Silat there have been two great blocks to my training, the main one being lack of training partners. Over the years I've done quite a bit to try and find someone who was interested in training on a regular basis (going into other schools, working out in parks, and generally asking folks I knew if they were remotely interested). The other block was my being a little lazy and letting life get in the way....but we won't dwell on that since tonight is a happy night :)

Anyway, several people I know had expressed an interest in training so tonight we finally went out into a park worked through Ales 1-4 and (Guru am I getting the Grammar right on this?) Pukulan-Pukulan Sterlak, Pamur, Belakang and Tukul. Everyone seemed quite enthusiastic and we're getting together again tomorrow.

We'll see how this all ends up going, but I'm optimistic (like always).

Damnit

2007-08-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well, the job at EduTech didn't end up coming in. Amazing levels of incompetence in HR, Truly amazing.

Anyway, back to the Job Hunt while I do cabinets in the meantime to support myself.

In other news I will be attending my first College Class on Wednesday. Gotta admit I'm a little mixed up about it. On the one hand I was sworn to not come back to the class rooms after the debacle that was my Early Education, on the other hand getting an I R Smart degree seems to be one of those steps on the road to becoming obscenely wealthy.....or at the very least keeping myself in satisfactory amounts of Guinness Draught.

A Quick Post

2007-07-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well I got a job at the nearby EduTech Centers, and if all goes well I will be starting Wednesday. I'll be doing their admissions headhunting. Which is alot better than building Cabinets outside in the Florida Summer. More to come later.

Legal Immigration?

2007-06-27T10:29:00.001-07:00

I'm all for legal immigrants, our nation was built on immigration...but when it comes to something like this I become a little annoyed:

I know how to kill the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill and the illusions that inspire it. We need every citizen to spend a day at John and Pat King's Anvil Ranch in southern Arizona. The experience would create an overnight revolution in America's view of this domestic crisis.

The Kings live every day with barking dogs, vandalism, guns at their bedside, trash on their land, and most tragically, human remains. The bodies of seven illegals were found on the 50,000-acre Anvil last year.

"Can you imagine dying of heat prostration out there?" says Pat King, a 62-year-old former nurse. "It has got to be the most awful thing. I wish the two countries would get together and stop this. In this whole 50-mile area, there is no law. It's a frontier."

I visited the Anvil a week ago Sunday. The night before, the Minutemen had wrapped up a month-long watch at the ranch, and the nationwide demonstrations to demand rights for illegal immigrants would begin the next morning.

I've visited many Arizona ranches, and it always surprises me how quickly I can travel from Tucson to a combat zone. It takes 50 minutes to reach Anvil's headquarters in heavily-crossed Altar Valley, located to the southwest of the city. Even with that proximity, most people in Tucson-to say nothing of Maine or Washington, D.C.-live in blissful ignorance of the worsening situation here.

When Pat discusses the problem with friends, they say, "Don't you think you're exaggerating?" No one would ask that if they saw the 40 bicycles stacked against one of the Anvil's out-buildings. They're the favored means of transportation for drug smugglers, who pack their cargo onto saddlebags and pedal across our border, then abandon the bikes.

As for vandalism, Pat describes what they experience today as "wanton,"-water troughs filled with garbage, pipes cut, valves hammered to pieces. She jokes that they're thinking of putting a tetherball by the troughs to occupy the illegals so they aren't so destructive.

"You have to understand, we're under siege here," she says. "Every day my son and husband check water and fences and redo the damage they've done. Not to get on with our work, but to undo the damage. Every. Day."

Micaela McGibbon, Pat's daughter, took me on a ranch tour, and in one mile we crossed 30 smuggling trails. In a wash, we inspected sophisticated brush huts in which illegals rest during trips north.

But this nightmare comes right to the Kings' doorstep. Imagine living under permanent stakeout. The Kings do. They removed mesquite trees from around their house because illegals would hide underneath them and wait for the house to empty.

For nine years, the family has been unable to leave home unless someone stays to guard against burglars. They celebrate Christmas in shifts. On Christmas Eve, Pat's son and daughter-in-law go to Tucson to visit family, and when they return John and Pat go on Christmas morning.

Micaela can no longer do chores unless accompanied by her father or a brother, and taking her 4-year-old daughter out on horseback is forbidden. "We can't go anywhere without an escort," Micaela says.

The Kings have complained to politicians and law enforcement for years. "They talk this rule of law stuff, but it doesn't mean a thing," Pat says. "When you realize nothing's going to happen, you have to do self-protection."

During their April watch, Minutemen spotted 1,501 illegals on the Anvil, and of these the Border Patrol arrested 500. But it turned into a circus. ACLU volunteers showed up every day to monitor and harass the Minutemen, at times sounding car horns and flashing lights to alert the illegals that the Border Patrol was coming.

This is the border crisis in microcosm-confused Americans rush to defend lawbreakers while ignoring, even demonizing, law-abiding citizens who suffer daily affronts to basic liberties on land their family has tended for 115 years.

The Anvil's location, 38 miles north of the border, means that by the time illegals arrive there, they've been walking for days and are sometimes in desperate shape.

Between May and August last year, cowboy Jason Cathcart found four sets of human remains. He came to dread spotting what looked like little white balls in the distance. Those "balls" turned out to be human skulls.

In March, a man arrived at the Anvil's front gate so distraught that he ran into the yard and tried to impale himself on a pitchfork. Later he took up a bale hook and used the pointed end to slash his throat.

"This is what life is like in the Altar Valley," says Pat.

Certainly the McCain-Kennedy bill will do nothing to change life here. Pat likens the bill, with its plan for amnesty, a guest-worker program, and negligible enforcement, to swatting flies in your house with the doors and windows wide open.

Ask yourself: Would the Altar Valley be a war zone if McCain lived here? If Kennedy's Hyannis Port compound were magically transplanted to southern Arizona, how long do you think it'd be before he rewrote his bill? The first time Kennedy saw 30 illegals dashing across his property, he'd trip over his Guatemalan lawn guy rushing to the Senate floor to demand enforcement.

That's one of the American tragedies at play here, the abandonment of ordinary citizens by our country's elites, and most strikingly, the abandonment of the very laws they themselves have written.

The resulting invasion has driven legal Arizona residents from their land, including John King's aunt. She lived south of the Anvil for more than 40 years, but sold out rather than keep fighting a battle the federal government has no intention of winning.

Pat thinks the street demonstrators-she calls them cowards-need to show their bravery by returning to Mexico and changing that country, not ours.

"We did that with the Boston Tea Party," she says. "We were taxed without representation and we rose up and changed it. I think the students in the streets and these young ACLU individuals here are being used. When you talk to them you realize it's all emotion. There's no logic. They don't have a clue."

When it comes to what's really happening on our southern border, neither does the rest of the country. But that would change if every American spent a day at the Anvil.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...RhMGY5MjBkN2Y=

The Weapon is Civilization

2007-06-18T07:54:00.001-07:00

WHY THE GUN IS CIVILIZATION
By Marko Kloos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and
force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of
either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding
under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those
two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact
through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social
interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is
the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use
reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your
threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon
that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger,
a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger,
and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys
with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical
strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a
defender.

There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad
force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more
civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm
makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course,
is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed
either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most
of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People who argue for the
banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and
the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A
mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a
society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal
that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is
fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are
won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on
the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't
constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings
and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun
makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker
defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is
level. The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an
octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply
wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal
and easily employable.

When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight,
but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means
that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm
afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the
actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the
actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the
equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

Edited to cite true source of article.

And Again.....we Post!

2007-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Well this last year has had some interesting turns and twists:

I'm still in the National Guard although it looks like I'll be doing the 24 Month contract time out since we can't seem to get my back straightened out.

I won't be attending Keluarga this year unless something drastic changes. Just don't have the finances for it this time.

It's looking like I'll finally be making the long trek to college.....who'dve thought that I would end up being one of those college kid types I useta make fun of?

And I'm finally having stuff settle down enough that I can start training again in the Martial Arts (specifically PSP, I've got some serious rust to knock off my skills).

My Back still hurts all day, every day but I'm learning to manage the pain a little better. It's been a while since it put me down flat like it used to. Thank God for the Small Miracles.

All in all life is looking up and I can't wait to see whats around the corner.

Hard Decisions

2006-12-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

I've got some hard decisions coming up and I'd appreciate the prayers of anyone who reads this blog.

-Aaron

Update on the Back.....

2006-11-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well I went to Ft. Benning, Georgia to pursue my goal of joining the Military (which I did in April of this year). Somehow I ended up injuring my back in reception of all places! I have no idea how this happened!! There was no time which I felt a discernible tear or rip or anything of that nature but I am stuck with this nagging pain in my lower back that just gets worse with almost any prolonged physical activity.

So fast-foward a few months, and here I am. I can't do anything physically demanding for long periods of time (i.e. one day of excercise and then I'm pretty much shot for 3 days-1 week). Currently I am trying different methods of treatment: Some stretches that a physical therapist gave me up at benning, going to start some dietary stuff, and I'm getting ready to go back on a machine that my doctor has that is supposed to help tissue regenerate....We'll see if anything works.

Cradle Blow to the Throat

2006-11-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Nice to see a cop strike instead of trying some esoteric Aikido move.

Reviving the Blog

2006-06-03T01:36:00.000-07:00

Well after a brief flirtation with MySpace (ok, it consumed my life for several months), I've decided to revive this blog in the weeks between now and bootcamp. Look for more posts soon.

Heading North to the Land of Bitter Barbeque

2005-11-21T01:10:00.000-08:00

Well I am heading to North Carolina to spend my Thanksgiving with some business folks that my Mom knows. This will be the first Thanksgiving in MANY years that I haven't spent with my Mom's side of the family, I expected to feel more sentimental about that but I find that I'm looking foward to the change in routine. Drop me a line here as I'm interested to see if anybody is reading this.

-Aaron

A Religion of Peace?

2005-11-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=73171&d=14&m=11&y=2005

I will be posting more on this subject later.

-Aaron

2005-11-11T01:17:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Wow, First Post on a new blog! I had a whole post that I had all typed up nice and purty but getting used to this cantankerous new software caused me to lose it. Anyway I just wanted to start out with a couple of the reasons that I created this blog:

>Sometimes people ask me how life's going.....at which point my eyes either glaze over or I
deliver some pat answer like "Good, and you?". This blog will serve as an extra brain for me
and also help me chronicle my experiences.

>Because of the amount that I travel I tend to have friends (reasonably good friends even)
in places like Kansas City, Argentina, Belize, Mexico, Georgia and God only Knows where else.
Hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch with my far flung friends a little better this way.

>Lastly, I set this Blog up for debate and to help me in my Search for truth. That's where the
name comes from (No it doesn't refer to getting hammered and messing with sharp objects!).
As I associate more and more with my Christian brothers I seem to have debates on those two
subjects more than anything else. This will be a place where I can organize my thoughts and
make (hopefully) intelligent points for general view and comments.

Well that seems like enough for a first post so I think I'll sign off for a bit. I'll be posting some photos soon so please check back.