Joey fell asleep yesterday after a long a meaningful life. I am constantly amazed how God graces our planet with such wonderful animals that can improve the human condition. Looking back over the years I can’t help but smile about all of the funny things he did, jokes he played on us and love that he gave us. Truly an amazing bird that has graced my wife and my life.
You will be missed. We’ll see you soon in God’s time.
HPK
Some may wind up wondering why I would blog about the passing of Dusty Rhodes yesterday. For many he was a boisterous overweight wrestler from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
As a child, I was fortunate enough to have family members that knew him and thus on several occasions I had the opportunity to spend time some time with him. As a 10-12 year old boy that was HUGE seeing and talking to the good guy you always pulled for on Saturday morning TV or watching him wrestle at Miami Beach Convention center growing up.
The thing I will always remember about Dusty is him talking about the “American Dream” when interviewed. Hard work and dedication gets you ahead in life. Preaching this message weekly on TV in lockstep with my parent’s message of the same.
Looking back, I can’t help wonder how his message affected people in a positive way that didn’t have a great family structure? I’m sure there were thousands upon thousands.
So Dusty………Thanks for all the Bionic Elbows, Figure Four Leglocks, and putting the bad guys in their place! Most of all that’s for the positive impact on my life.
You will be missed.
The picture below was taken in 1978 at the Houston Airport. I’m the short guy in the picture and my mother is on the left.
There’s a lot of confusion running around about what happened at the Bundy Ranch this past week. Let’s face it Cliven Bundy did loose twice in court and was told to move his cattle elsewhere, the law is on the government’s side here but the actions of the BLM are not.
The concept of deploying a SWAT team to remove 300 cows is surely worthy of a Southpark episode and will surely make it there. I think the BLM sniper teams were the final straw for many.
Increasingly more and more law enforcement agencies are incorporating military equipment into their organizations. Let’s face it….if you’re in to guns and tanks this stuff is flat out cool. Believe me it’s ego boosting to head out to the range with your latest exotic toy and have the other shooters standing around staring at you, wondering if you’ll invite them to take 3 shots downrange. This happens frequently in firearms circles.
Here’s what is not cool, military equipment and tactics are meant to do one thing, kill people and render the opponent impotent with overwhelming force (sound familiar?). More and more law enforcement agencies use tactics and equipment as a giant show at tell as if to say mine d*ck is bigger than yours. Thus is the case with the Bundy Ranch. In this case the militia and protestors were the overwhelming force.
For many anti-gun people, what you saw exercised at the Bundy Ranch what that pesky little “Well regulated Militia” clause in the Constitution. Our Forefathers put it there to prevent overreach by existing Government and Law enforcement agencies.
The militias that showed up during that ranch standoff we’re more than likely triggered by pictures of BLM snipers being in place at the ranch. Think about it this way, let’s say you got evicted from a rental property due to non payment, you had a dispute with the landlord and he brings a military unit to evict you (compete with snipers) while you carry out your furniture.
Bottom line, is that many in this country see a continual stream of Government overreach. Most everybody sees it, many are unhappy with it and some are willing to stand up against it.
This is where we are, and I hope the higher ups realize what can potentially happen when issues arise like this.
Many have seen the articles about out Government buying a couple of billions rounds of ammo here for domestic use. Has everyone ever wondered how much ammo the American public bought in response to this?
HK
The free men of the world are watching and waiting how the world plans to stand against this tyranny. My hopes are not high for your outcome but history will not forget you like your Western Allies seem to be doing now. Take inspiration from the letter below, record and document everything for future generations to see.
Our Prayer are with you
February 26th, 1836
Commandancy of the Alamo
Bejar, Feby. 24, 1836To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World
Fellow citizens & compatriots
I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country VICTORY OR DEATH.
William Barret Travis,
Lt. Col. comdt.
P.S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves. Travis
HK
Amazingly on one for the largest Christian Holidays of the year, yahoo news chooses to promote movie stars and sports over a Christian message. I use Yahoo less and less as a news source and it’s becoming a website similar to TMZ. Amazing how major news outlets are becoming less and less aware of what’s really important. Here are the stories in order
1. Mariah Carey goes without makeup
2.Giant Waves
3. Dry your laundry faster
4. Actress cuts off hair
5. North Korea readies for war
6. Tom Cruise Story
7. Osaba Bid Laden story
8. Tabbloid Star article
9. Digital Currency Article
10. Zuckerburg Taxes
11. .65m apartment
12. Desert crop circle
13.Man Lives without money
14. Sport commentator Gaff
15.Tornado
16 Gay Marriage and the list goes on and on
Pope came in somewhere in the 30’s
HK
One of the more difficult life experiences comes with the passing of a beloved pet. Such is the case today for our family, with the loss of our 5 year old Black Cap Conure Jedi.
I have owned dogs, cats, turtles and fish over the course of my 48 years. But by far the best pet ownership experience I’ve had is with birds. I’m sure may people prefer one type of animal over another but for me it has these birds.
Today long story short, Jedi’s beak was broken today and due to it’ poor positioning could not be saved. My wife and I both sat down and wept while the bird was put down. He now occupied the small Pet Cemetary in the front yard.
The thing about birds is that, they speak. And additionally their personalities continue to evolve over time.
My wife and I will surely miss his “Come here” comment when he wanted attention. Or the common “Pretty Bird” when he was happy. “What are you doing?” or “owe” when he played too hard and you told him that.
We’ll both miss his morning orange juice, which he drank out of expresso cups, or his snuggling on your chest late at night. If you walked out to et a drink of water he was always there looking at you until you went to bed.
So many other memories I’m too sad or too tired to remember at the moment.
Thanks Jedi for the sunshine to brought to this world and the people you made happy. There were a lot of them.
HK and PK
1. President Obama and the head of the NRA film a television commercial together urging gun owners to keep their guns under lock and key to prevent accidental shootings.
2. Make Biometric Gun safes tax deductible up to $500
3. Close the gunshow loophole of no background checks, including all the deals going on in the parking lot.
4. When you buy a gun from a legitimate dealer, have that dealer offer NRA certified training on the use of that gun.
5. Just like a bartender serving alcohol, gun shops should send anybody on their way that acts like they should be own a gun. Guns kill people, they are not ego enhancers.
6. School kids should be taken to a police practice range and hear the sound of one gunshot without hearing protection. Guns are loud and they don’t sound anything like they are in the video games.
7. The video game industry needs to self regulate itself really. What’s up with the shooting everything up?
8. Make it illegal to have 30 round magazines loaded in an automobile. If you get stopped $500 fine. It’s ok to have them but really they are easy enough to load at the range.
9. Why is everybody missing the correlation between anti-depressants and mass shootings? There is a high very correlation between these two points. If you are on SSRI’s no guns, sorry.
10. Law abiding citizens are not going to give up their guns, they will refuse to be treated like criminals, people that are for gun seizure need to report to remedial world history specifically covering Nazi Germany and the rise on communism.
HK
Below is a is a picture set as an example of exactly what happens when our enemies are emboldened by lack of leadership and perceived US weakness. If you are not familiar with this photo it was taken in 1979 when Islamic Fundamentalists took over the US embassy in Iran. Barry Rosen is the US hostage and the person standing to the right is the current President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
As you can see Carter was perceived as weak and so is Barrack Obama.
Iran’s march to the A-bomb continues
HK
This movie is perhaps the most intense movie I have seen since Midnight Express that was made in the 70’s. The direction, acting, historical accuracy are all top notch however the cinematography was by far the best. Film was shot with a heavy grain that made you feel like you were in the late 70’s.
Generally speaking anybody that’s under 40 years of age might want to bone up on the history of the crisis. Here is the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis
Everybody that is going to vote in this years Presidential Election should see this movie as a lesson in what happens when the United States is perceived as weak.
I found myself choking back tears as the, in the movie, the US embassy in Iran was overrun. Imagining what Embassy works must have gone through before perishing in Libya.
The Middle East is in its worst shape in years following the Arab Spring and the Presidential Apology tour. I’m sure the next elected President will deal with these issue from a position of strength rather than weakness.
Never forget our enemies watch all the news channel we watch and see us as a divided nation that is divided and weak in the last 4 years
HK
Once again the UN allowed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stand up in front of the world and tell everyone that Israel will be eliminated. It seems that so many of our leaders never really studied Hitler’s rise to power……will somebody please send President Obama a copy of “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”? It he’s too busy to read the 1000+ pages, will someone tweet him the youtube link?
If you have never seen the movie here it is: http://youtu.be/PUa5-8fhzCQ
Unlike other bloviating leaders in Banana Republics like Hugo Chavez, whose military couldn’t fold up a paper airplane and fly it into the next cubicle. Iran is quite a different story.
First off Iran in a first world country, its population is highly educated and values education ( an entirely different topic), and many of the wealthy elite that live in Iran have been educated at the worlds best universities. Iran has a large core workforce of scientists, physicists, and engineers that rival some of the world best technologists. Secondly, Iran has a large amount of Oil and Gold wealth. In case you have not been following along, Iran is doing its oil deals in trade for gold bullion to destabilize the dollar as the worlds reserve currency (that’s another story to). Third: Iran has the money to buy top weapons technology from Russia, China, and North Korea’s Military industrial complex.
So are they really building a military arsenal? One would think yes, due to the recent development of pinpoint accurate medium range missiles. Do they have the technology to manufacture weapons grade nuclear material? They are proving that now.
Do they have ability to deliver a nuclear weapon via highly advanced stealth drone??????? Seemingly in one of the biggest military bungles of this century, the Iranian military was able to remotely take over a US made stealth drone (our most advanced drone) and land it safely. I’ll bet anybody a $100 that they are fast at work copying these drone to be used and an offensive weapon.
If you think this is one conspiratorial theory, just remember that in the Mid 1930’s the Germans built and few the very first flying wing. In 1944 they built a jet powered flying wing called the Horten IX and knew that it had a much lower radar cross section. It wasn’t until the end of WW2 when the US allowed German Scientists on immigrate into the US that Jack Northrop built his first two flying wings with the third production model being the B2 Spirit bomber being flown today. Here is a link to flying wing info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_229
I surmise that in the even of a new gulf war that this stealth technology will be the ace up Iran’s sleeve if nothing is done soon.
HK
everythinghk 