Cinomed's Tower

Well it was fun while it lasted. BLOG MOVE!

2004-12-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

Blogger was simple and easy, wouldn't mind suggesting it to any that JUST wants a journal....
But Blog-City seems to support everything I like right in house, especially for someone with little HTML skills such as I.
Come come see my new ever evolving Cinomed's Tower over at Blog City's

Wow, once again Dean Esmay tosses out a surprise.

2004-12-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

Dean Esmay, for many reasons I consider this man to be much more knowledgable than I, and I lend great weight to his opinion on things.
He is the type of openminded real Liberal thinker (not a bad thing) that the Democrats should be in general.

And he is quite intertaining in his abstract thoughts sometimes.

Today he drops another bomb of abstract thought on AIDS, something I never really considered as I tend to trust the medical profession overall.

As usual Dean offers sound reasoning and linkage.

Mosul Bombing, what can you do?

2004-12-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

I wrote about the utter horror of the Mosul homicide bombing where a FREDS killed a bunch of our soldiers and contractors earlier.

Sheepdog has a post talking about what you can do to help.

Anysoldier.com is a wonderful service where you can send anything you believe will help to soldiers all over the Middle East theatre.
Now you can reach out directly to those who were there, the men and women that have had to carry on after they were spared but their own squad members were not.

A Warrior's Blessing, by Sheepdog.

2004-12-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

Sheepdog the author of "A Civilian’s Perspective" has posted another great one called "A Warrior's Blessing"

More on the Reset Button.

2004-12-24T20:23:00.000-08:00

Earlier I spoke of the "Reset Button" of the American goverment. Bluntly put, an armed uprising.
Kim posts an email from a long time reader of his, and between the two of them they eloquently state my position.
Kim's earlier post on the Fish or Man situation.

Summary,
Always try and use mailbox, then the ballot box, but if things go way way WAY to far, then the Ammo Box.

Excerpt:

That the need for such a radical course of action is not immediate does not relieve one of the responsibility for maintaining the capabilty, in physical, mental and spiritual realms, should such a need arise. It is only through understanding that we are capable of it, and that such a course involves such gravity, that we can undertake the daily toil of making sure, through use of the first two boxes, that we will not need to open the third.

Amen to that, I do not honestly want to raise my gun to ANY human, but once pushed far enough, I will.

Pet Peeve of the Day

2004-12-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

Via: Barking Moonbat Early Warning System

Quote:
In Hampton, NH the school had a “holiday dance” and all the children were invited to dress up. One young lad was sent home because his costume was “politically incorrect” according to the principal. Was the boy dressed as Jesus? Or Joseph? No, he was in a Santa Claus costume. It’s funny, but I don’t recall any mention of Santa in the Bible. Can someone help me with this. I’ll pay $1,000,000 to the first person who finds a direct reference to Santa Claus in the Bible.
End Quote

Now, this is one of my person pet peeves.

Political Correctness.

Now I am as accomidating as I can be to the next guy, girl, or mutant. I don't try to shove my beliefs down anyone's throat. I willingly share my opinion, but I don't shout down differing opinions. I will walk away if someone is such a barking moonbat that I will die of a heartattack before I get through to them, but eh, I will let them walk away as well.

But, then we have these people, either misguided, misinformed, or malicous, attacking everything that may possibly offend someone, anyone real or imagined.
They stifle free speach and expression, they teach kids they can not offend anyone, and they act like it is in the Bill of Rights or something.
Can we just get a FREAKIN clue here?!?!

A nativity scene is not going to make your child into an evangalist or a catholic anymore than seeing a mosque will make me a muslim.

If you are offended by Santa Clause, SHUT THE F*** UP!

If you are offended by the American Flag, SHUT THE F*** UP!

If you think being offended is a crime, F*** OFF AND DIE!

k, thanx.

Political Correctness will go down in history as a the Best or Worst idea in history.
Think about that movie, Demolition Man.
No Salt, No Alcohol, No Sex!
That's the future is Political Correctness wins.
In that scenerio, I am the guy Dennis Leary played.

I am hoping the backlash that we see building will smack the PC police so hard they are like the Democrats are right now, left wondering what happened.
Here is Kim talking about that exact prediction.

One of these days, I may snap and start trying to give people a REAL reason to be offended.

Sheepdog went and got himself a real blog!

2004-12-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

http://sheepdog.blog-city.com/

Adding to Blog Roll now.

Blog-Cities looks nice.......

Some advice from Steve H. at Hog on Ice and SayUncle.

2004-12-22T11:57:00.000-08:00

This pertains to the "Fish or Man" situation I discussed here.

SayUncle links to Hog on Ice and adds a little to it.

Summary?
Don't Argue with cops.
Don't say ANYTHING unless you absolutly have to.
Be courteous.

None of this is said to belittle the plight of Fish or Man, nor lessen the responsibility of those that have wronged him.
Just a "Time and a Place" for everything suggestion.

MASCAL (Mass Casualty), THe Mosul Suicide Bombing.

2004-12-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

Once again,
We are faced with the horrors of war.
We are faced with the grim reality of our fight.
We are faced with the undeniable face of Evil.
and most importantly,
We are faced with wondering where they find these people, who can serve in such a valiant way.

In this case I am talking about Chaplain Lewis.
This man has a first hand account of the aftermath of this attack, and the motars that followed.
This man is there, he is comforting the dying and doing what God and USA have called him to do.

There is no limit to the respect I have for the common soldier in the Armed Services of the United States of America, but someone like this man, they show me I did not actually have enough respect.
I now have more.

Go read his first hand account, but I warn you, be prepared to cry, a lot.
If you read it and do not cry, well God have mercy on your soul.

Notice:
Someone was confused earlier, for the record:
I am not in the Armed Services nor have I ever been.
I do not have any close family serving in the military at this time, but I feel they are all my kin.
I am just a blogger, having read blogs for about a year, I found this to be a way to vent, rant, and share without annoying my lovely wife, as she does not like to drag herself through the dark side of our world.

Link via Dean Esmay

Preach it Foamy!

2004-12-21T11:45:00.000-08:00

Via: Santa
Foamy has had it with the folks killing Christmas Spirit.

Preach on Foamy!

Can I get an AMEN??!?!

SayUncle, on the founding documents.

2004-12-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

SayUncle is talking about the founding documents and the efforts used to protect the paper vs the ideals.
Good Stuff.

It Can Happen Here.

2004-12-21T05:54:00.000-08:00

Via: SayUncle comes a link to a lefty looking site AntiWar.com

It seems a Republican Congressman from Texas has written a warning article on the looming police state of America.

Here is an excerpt.

We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer – always at the expense of our liberty.

Now the last thing I want to say here is ANYTHING “AntiWar”, but as out Main Stream Media won’t pick up a story like this people like Ron Paul have to pursue other outlets.

That being said, I agree with Ron a lot, we are slowly but surely being coaxed into a situation where Liberty and Safety are at the opposite ends of the see-saw, and the balance it tipping.

I do not believe Safety requires we lose our Liberty, but to be honest here, if push comes to shove I am not sure I would be all that resistant to more lose of liberty as I believe we have gone too far.

Until society as a group realizes where we are and that it is profoundly the wrong place to be, simple resistance by a single person or small group lacking millions of dollars is a wasted effort.

It will begin with a trip to jail and possibly end with your life being ruined.

This is the reason I am not an NRA member, they are Gun Control Apologists.

This is the reason I am not all gung-ho “Anti Gay Marriage”, Sorry folks it’s to late to “Save Marriage” as something sacred, lets work on them “No Fault Divorces”.

This is the reason I had to vote for Bush with some trepidation, he was by far the only option, but he is no Conservative, and no Libertarian by any means.

Liberty or Freedom, should we even have to make that choice?

Second Amendment Horror Story

2004-12-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

Via, Kim, SayUncle, Mad Ogre, and several other Pro-2A bloggers.
This is a horror story.

With the checkered past I have had, I have run into a few police officers that believe they are better than the citizens, that only they should have guns, and that they can not be impugned upon by said citizens.
Looks like Fish Or Man ran into all of the above.

Our government is a 9000 pound run away train bearing down one our individual freedoms.
I once read an article on the possibility of a "Government Reset" needing to be done in the next 50 years. (Government Reset = Armed revolution)

I used to scoff at this notion, now I dread it.
I have an 18-month old daughter, and if I am forced to fight my Government so she can have the freedoms we were promised
That is not something I even want to contemplate, but as a reformed law breaker, I really dont want to go back.

We may be faced with a day where we at least need a Million Armed Man March in DC to remind them that We The People are the ones that should be running the show.

Warning, tear jerker, in a good way...

2004-12-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

Posted by Blackfive comes a story from Marine Gunnery Sergeant in Iraq, about a patrol.

Simply MUST READ.

It's short, so read it all.

"A Civilian's Perspective"

2004-12-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

A Civilians Perspective

There are many Americans like us that are proud of the sacrifice and dedication of their armed forces. We are the thankful majority who know that freedom is only for those willing to make a stand for it, regardless of the sacrifice.

But there is a small portion that either do not support you enough or at all. Some of them would say what you’re doing is wrong, or even a crime. Some of these hateful, disgraceful “Americans” even encourage attacks against you.

In my opinion these people don’t know what freedom really is and don’t deserve it.

Sacrifice isn’t just dying for your country…

Sacrifice is leaving friends, a spouse and child you love to go fight in a strange, inhospitable land.

Sacrifice is getting a cold shower once a week and eating MREs for months straight.

Sacrifice is going months without news or getting a letter from home.

Sacrifice is working around media who belittle your work and paint you as invaders or worse.

Sacrifice is backbreaking work, digging pits for a FOB in 120 heat or –40 below cold.

Sacrifice is living in the now 24/7, 365 days a year, trying to live another day.

Sacrifice is suiting up each morning knowing well it might be your last.

Sacrifice is putting yourself in harms way, not knowing if one of those your sent to protect might be a suicide bomber.

Sacrifice is seeing a buddy die by some enemy trick that would get you hanged.

Sacrifice is an officer making a tough call that puts these fine men and women under fire.

And finally sacrifice is trading someone you love for a neatly folded flag.

Sacrifice isn’t just paid by pilots, riflemen, and tank crews.

Its quartermasters, maintenance crews, fuel transporters, file clerks, and corpsmen.

Its all the jobs no one wants to do but have to be done, regardless of circumstances or danger.

It’s the officers that went to West Point so they could defend the freedom of those that call them criminals.

It’s the families of those people that have to live without those they love, possibly forever.

You are the best trained, best supplied, and best skilled military in the world.

This task again has fallen on you as it has our forefathers many times in the past.

Know that we have the utmost faith and confidence in that you will triumph as they did.

We are truly grateful beyond measure for doing what few have the courage or will to do.

We will not let anyone, not the media or armchair generals, drown out our support and respect for you.

Be safe friends and make it home to see a heroes welcome and those you left behind.

May God lift the sorrow off your hearts and the hearts of your loved ones back home.

And open your eyes to future you offer another generation here and there.

God bless you and all of America, the beautiful and free.

by Sheepdog

This is a letter than Sheepdog wrote to some soldier in Afganistan, and includes in the packages to them.
Sheepdog gave me permission to post it here, if anyone wants to repost or publish this please contact Sheepdog.

I Suck at this, really.

2004-12-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

So I called 99.5 The Wolf to request American Soldier be played at noon today as per one if the last requests for a fallen soldier, Specialist David Mahlenbrock.

After about 5 minutes of ringing I got through to the on air personality of Amy B, known for being a “Redneck” on air you know slightly foul mouth and brash.

Well she attempted to get a clip from me, dedicating the song and telling the story of David. I would assume this would be played before the song.

The issue here, I was not expecting this, and worse yet I have terrible, TERRIBLE stage fright.
I know if seems pathetic, but I am only good for a comment, or possibly some off air questions, when I call a radio station. I start trembling at the time that the ringing stops and someone picks up the phone, once I actually KNOW I am going on the air I become useless. I would usually not even bother trying to record something, but I really tried due to the obvious gravity of this particular situation.

I failed.

Amy B, I apologize, I really wanted to tell the story, and I can only assume you did not get any other live callers that could help you out.
Amy B, I thank you, cause you did in fact play American Soldier at the proper time as requested by “30000 emails”. (Her words)

Specialist David Mahlenbrock, I apologize, I failed you and your memory.
You sacrificed your life, to protect my way of life, and introduce our way of life to others, all I had to do was coherently tell your story for a 20 second spot on the radio.

Just as I am not worthy of the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, I am not worthy of the sacrifice of our troops, yet they still do their job, diligently, bravely, and with Honor.

American Soldier, by Toby Keith
I'm just trying to be a father,
Raise a daughter and a son,
Be a lover to their mother,
Everything to everyone.
Up and at 'em bright and early,
I'm all in my business suit,
Yeah, I'm dressed for success from my head down to my boots,
I don't do it for money, there's still bills that I can't pay,
I don't do it for the glory, I just do it anyway,
Providing for our future's my responsibility,
Yeah I'm real good under pressure, being all that I can be,
And I can't call in sick on Mondays when the weekends been to strong,
I just work straight through the holidays,
And sometimes all night long.
You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door,
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey I'm true down to the core,
And I will always do my duty, no matter what the price,
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice,
Oh, and I don't want to die for you,
But if dyin's asked of me,
I'll bear that cross with an honor,
'Cause freedom don't come free.
I'm an American soldier, an American,
Beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand,
When liberty's in jeopardy I will always do what's right,
I'm out here on the front lines, sleep in peace tonight.
American soldier, I'm an American,
An American,
An American Soldier

Oh, By the way, 99.5 The Wolf was the only DFW based Country station to play American Soldier at noon, after my pittiful fit, I did not feel up to calling the other two stations, and assumed they had gotten emails as well.

Trivia Tip:
Toby Keith is a registered Democrat, and a superb American

So after a hard day at work and some Bud Ice...

2004-12-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

I thought I was Santa Clause!

Glenn Beck Gloatfest 2004! The video

2004-12-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

Anyone who listened to Glenn Beck on Novembner 3rd 2004 knows, it was a wonderful wonderful day to be a Glenn Beck listener.
The show was so popular, Glenn is selling it on CS on his site are www.glennbeck.com

But that's not what we are talking about right now.

Some Genius has put about 78 minutes of the show to video, and it is WONDERFUL!

Watch it, love it, download it!

Hot Topics

2004-12-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

No not that oh so trendy pseudo goth store in the mall, but Hot Topic Issues of the day.

First off we have “Up Armored HUMVEE’s”
This is getting a lot of airplay since we had a soldier actually ask Donald H. Rumsfeld about the situation. Now we have people on the Left and the Right screaming that we need to make this top priority, as well as supporting their own agendas some, if they are really partisan.

“SEE, Bush and cronies don’t care about the soldier’s lives” screams some on the left

“SEE, Voted for the 87 billion before I voted against it boy?!?! You shoulda voted for it, and our boys would have their armored up Hummers!” screams some on the right

Both sides are missing the real point, as several more military taught people have mentioned, the HUMVEE is not an APC.
I will be the first to admit we are trying to flex current equipment into different roles, but even an up-armored HUMVEE will not survive a RPG hit or a standard land mine.
Now I am not advocating saving money here, I am just trying to say is if they need APCs, they should use some APCs, not HUMVEE “JEEPS”

See: Mad Ogre (No direct links to topics, scroll and look for Speaking of Military issues...)

Second Topic:
Kim brings up a British Psychologist’s suggestions to victims of crime.
Summary: “Cower like a little girl, just don’t wimper as it may incite the attacker to additional violence”
Kim’s attitude? Excerpts:
“For some reason, people expected me to have the typical RCOB moment, but I didn't … But most psychologists are girly-men, in the same way that most male hairdressers are gay, most diplomats are Democrats, and most Democrats are total fuckwits … I'm going to shoot the fucking goblin in the heart, at least twice, with a .45 pistol.”

GeekWithA.45 weighs in on this with some statistics from Gun Facts.
Quote:
---------------
Myth: You are more likely to be injured or killed using a
gun for self-defense

Fact: You are far more likely to survive a violent assault if you defend yourself with a
gun. In episodes where a robbery victim was injured, the injury/defense rates were:

Resisting with a gun 6%
Did nothing at all 25%
Resisted with a knife 40%
Non-violent resistance 45%
----------
Then in the comments at GeekWithA.45, Jake makes a profound statement.

Quote:
-------------
I think the first fallacy of the 'submit like a coward' school is that 'the money in your pocket isn't worth your life'.
On face value, this is true. Especially if your wallet is as empty as mine tends to be. :(
However, it misses the point that I'm not FIGHTING for my wallet (which, being empty, isn't worth fighting over).
I'm FIGHTING against the imposition of an 'ad hoc social contract' which allows any jerk with a broomstick to deprive me of my freedom and liberty (however briefly) in exchange for not hurting me.
I'm not fighting petty theft, I'm fighting EVIL.
And that IS worth my life.

Jake

(who sadly must fight evil with primitive weapons because Nanny doesn't like the competition)
-------------

I agree with the above opinions 99%.

Our soldiers need the absolute best equipment we can get them.
Retrofitting a tool to a secondary task is usually a Bad Thing.

Self Defense and the practice thereof is fundamental, if you do not practice Self Defense when given the opportunity, you are just waiting to pass away.
I am not saying you should ALWAYS stand your ground, foolishly throwing yourself into harms way to “Be a MAN”, but surrendering or fleeing should not be your FIRST reaction either.

SO freakin MAD I could spit.

2004-12-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

Via The Smallest Minority

A texas town is raffleing off two rifles to raise money to install a fence around the local school.

MSM (Main Stream Media) twists and potrays this as "giving children guns" even in the face of a Texas Congresswoman Susanna Hupp.

You know her, she is the Texas lawmaker that was in THE Luby's that got shot up an Killeen. She had left her gun in the car, due to the lack of CHL's here in Texas at the time, and her parents were shot.
She now carries a gun, everywhere. She is also a HUGE Second Amendment activist.

Read this, watch this, but please remove throwable and breakable objectrs from your area first.

This has been a RCOB moment.

Links

2004-12-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

I will flesh this out later today.

http://asmallvictory.net/archives/007852.html

http://www.thesakeofargument.com/archives/000923.html

http://www.thespoonsexperience.com/archives/003426.php#003426

Gun Facts v4

2004-12-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

Via: GeekWithA.45
Gun Facts by Guy Smith

Absolutely positively the best reference I have seen for debunking the GFW's out there.

PSA: Careful where you put that Laptop!

2004-12-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

Via: The Moderate Voice

Men who use laptop computers could be unwittingly damaging their fertility, experts believe.

Balancing it on the lap increases the temperature of the scrotum which is known to have a negative effect on sperm production, researchers found.

Freaking EEEEEK!
Click for full story

Wisconsin Shooting Overview

2004-12-09T06:33:00.000-08:00

Say Uncle shows us a link to a pretty complete story as to what is known about Chang Vang and the shooting he did in Wisconsin.
Lady Liberty

Excerpt:

But on this year's opening weekend for gun deer hunting season in Wisconsin, the unthinkable happened: one hunter deliberately shot and killed several other hunters. And that has, if you'll pardon the pun, given real ammo for the first time to gun control groups which have not been able to adequately counter the notion that Americans love their firearms because Americans love to hunt (perhaps even more of us appreciate the ability to defend ourselves as well, but hunters have truly stood up for their Second Amendment rights steadfastly, consistently, and in large numbers, and they deserve the credit for having done so).

Sad day for Metal. RESPECT! (Updated Title)

2004-12-09T04:19:00.000-08:00

Man apparently angry over Pantera breakup shot Dimebag Darrel, members of the band and the crowd last night in Columbus, Ohio.

Breaking News.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/09/nightclub.shooting/index.html

http://asmallvictory.net/archives/007847.html

This is NOT what the Second Amendment is about, but just like the First Amendment, we are not supposed to make people lose rights because of the actions of disturbed individuals, look at Michael Moore's abuse of the Freedom of Speech.

Condolences to the families of the dead and wounded, no one should ever have to go through this.