Militia

I've discussed this before, and am doing so again for two reasons. First, it is something that I feel strongly about. Second, it has come back into the forefront of the news and it is again being handled irresponsibly by the media. I'll start with this:

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.



This is a very powerful right. We, as free citizens of this nation, have the Constitutional right to maintain a well regulated militia and have the right to responsibly own guns. The intention of these rights was to allow the People the ability to protect themselves from foreign or domestic threats.

Scenario #1: Think about this, a boat lands on the North Carolina coast in the middle of the night. 1500 foreign troops quietly move into the sleepy little town of Duck. They take control of the town and use it as a staging point for an all out attack on American soil. Far fetched, yes, but possible. On September 9th, 2001, how likely was it that people could hijack 4 planes and fly them into buildings?

Scenario #2: President Obama pulls out his birth certificate and it's Malaysian. At that same moment he declares himself all powerful Dictator B. Hussein Obama, and his loyal troops move into Congress and massacre the elected officials.

Scenario #3: Scenario #1 or #2 play out. The American People take up their arms and take their country back. That is why we have militias at the ready at all times. They are not proactive assholes waiting to attack a representative of the American government. One more time for my Hutaree readers...A MILITIA IS NOT PROACTIVE, it is defensive. If it was proactive, why didn't Dick Cheney and Karl Rove employ them as a means to keep the office for the Evil Empire they had worked so hard on?

Terrorist organizations like Hutaree have ruined the perception of what a militia is or should be. Many American look at militias as dangerous, scary hillbillies playing dueling banjos
, the truth is a militia is just a group of red blooded Americans that enjoy their freedoms enough to be ready to defend them at times of distress.



As a gun owning (see photo, 4 more not pictured), freedom loving, government questioning, blue collar, rednecked, American...all I ask is that you educate yourself about the true meaning of a militia (not an extremist "christian" militia) before you judge. And I'll promise you the same!

-JB

The Brain Scanner!!!

When I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, “Self, it’s going to be a sunny day. Maybe not warm, but sunny.” Then I rolled over and looked at the clock with its bright evil red numbers glaring at me; almost in sync with my realization what the numbers meant, it began to scream! Loud, long shrieks of terror…I had hit snooze, twice.

I struggled to get out of the bed, stumbled to the kitchen and wolfed down a bowl of cereal as if I hadn’t eaten in months. I took the kind of shower I assume you take in prison; very quickly, clutching the soap for dear life. As I was running out the door it suddenly hit me that I had forgotten something; I paused and looked down the hall into my apartment. Standing there in the living room, her ears folded in, head held low and tail tucked up high beneath her hips. In my rush to get out the door, I had forgotten to take Dakota out for a walk and feed here. As I hesitated at the door, slowly her tail came out and it very cautiously began to wag. “Ok, I’ll take a cab to the office today. Let’s go, but just around the block.”

That’s how my day started. It’s gotten better. I found out that none of my loans will go through a formal audit by the FDIC (pure luck that has nothing to do with the quality of the credit facilities). I really have nothing exciting or interesting to write about today. I could go off on a rant about the people opposing the health care bill who have not proposed a viable alternative to the new law. And how you have a right to protest and oppose any bill or law, but you should be more than a squeaky wheel, be a part of the solution; educate yourself and come up with something. It’s like trying to go on a road trip with friends and one of them shoots down all your ideas, but never make any suggestions of their own. Or having that daily conversation with your significant other that goes like this: “Hey, did you want to go out for sushi tonight?” “No, not in the mood for sushi.” “Ok, what do you want?” “I don’t know; what about you?”; “Well…I want sushi.” “Yeah, not tonight.”

So, I got kind of bust and put this aside for a few. During that time I came up with something cool to write about! I have been given the responsibility of selling off a piece of collateral we had "returned" to us. ITS A BRAIN SCANNER!!! Well, not really. It's a surgical imaging devise that can be used in neurosurgery.

If you know anyone that needs it, I can work out a great price. It's functional and I've learned how to use it as evidenced by this photo:




That's me performing a lobotomy on my boss. Yeah, I know...I'm awesome!

But seriously, if you know someone that wants to buy this or the $350,000 of cell phone accessories I need to move, let me know!



Johnny 5 is alive!!

Shit we don't need.

Ok, so my last few posts have been a bit deeper than I normally get, for good reason. My mood has been a bit off and unlike many, I don't drink when I get down; I get pensive. My posts become introspective. However, as a generally happy individual with three major stress points in my life, I am in a stellar mood today. No, it's not the "holiday", my mood is rooted in the fact that I am a happy person, and I am really working on changing the things in my life that don't work. And working toward fixing things makes me happy. So since I am in a good mood, I had a few whiskey's before dinner...

I want to parlay this post off my previous, more serious conversation. I spoke a lot about minimalizing my life and reducing the clutter; I think the work I created was, 'Decluterfy'. Reducing the stuff that wastes physical, emotional and mental space in my life. Tonight I want to look at the things that we really don't need as a society and culture.

1) Pages Intentionally Left Blank: We've all seen it, you're scrolling through a document, page after page of .pdf and out of nowhere, mid-document there it is. Page 34 of 76, it declares in bold capital letters..."THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. On some level I get it, you wanted to insert a blank page for some unknown reason, but didn't want the reader to think they were missing anything. But the damn page is not blank!!! In fact it's nothing more than a lie!!! It was intentionally printed on. Either leave the damn thing out or put THIS PAGE INCLUDES NO RELEVANT INFORMATION FOR A REASON. Or, just don't waste my f'ing paper and printer ink.



2) ATM Fee Notification: How many times a month do you go to an ATM? 3, 4, 10? I know I use the thing at least once a week. And for probably 10 years now every single time I used an ATM I was charged a fee. And every time I go to an ATM I am asked if I approve of the fee. NO, I DON'T APPROVE OF THE FEE...but for crying out loud, I know it's coming. I know you are going to charge me $3 (the price of a bottle of Charles Shaw Red Wine or two cans of PBR at the Rail). Quit wasting my precious seconds by asking me if it's ok to charge me. Am I at an ATM? As a salesman, I think it would be a better tactic to notify me when you WEREN'T charging me a fee. Then I might actually consider switching to your bank.



3)Surgeon General Warnings: Ok, found on cigarettes and booze. All I really need to say is, "If you can't tell that the cigarettes you are smoking have had a negative impact on you ability to BREATHE, than maybe you deserve to die of lung cancer". It was different in the early days; in the 40's and 50's 9 out of 10 doctors smoked Camel Brand. It was a healthy, social thing to do. The WWII and early boomers were taught it was safe and socially acceptable to smoke. IF YOU STILL BELIEVE THERE ARE NO NEGATIVE EFFECTS TO CIGARETTE SMOKE YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GET!!!!! And there are enough products out there, that cost the same or less than cigs, to aide quitting. If you really want to quit the little warning label won't help, nor will it deter future smokers.



4) The Chia Pet: If you want a plant, get a plant. If you want a statue, buy a statue. You have room for both.

5) The Clapper: No...not the Clap. If you want the lights off, get your lazy ass out of be and turn off the damn lights. Quit being lazy.

6) Bottled Water: Ok, aside from the environmental impact of buying bottled water there is the personal financial effect. Turn on the tap...even if you pay for city water it's going to cost you 90% less than buying your water at the store. Get over the "taste". You should drink 64 ounces of water per day minimum; that translates to nearly $12 per day if you buy bottled water. Even if you paid $100 per month for your home water bill (which is ridiculously high) you're still about $200 less than you'd pay to drink 64 ounces of bottled water per day over the course of a month.




This list could go on forever, but I'm going to stop here because, well, that's all I have tonight.

-JB

Decluterfy

I am going to decluterfy my life. I am going to eliminate all the clutter, both tangible and electronic that has taken its mental and organizational toll on me. It seems like the more we are "connected" the less we get done, and there is a point where we just have too much stuff.

By the end of April I intend to have eliminated anything I haven't used or don't intend on using for at least 6 months (I'm keeping my golf clubs and guns so don't ask for them). Some things will be sold, others thrown out and donated. Many of my online accounts will be deactivated (Facebook is up for debate at this point). The intent is to refocus my energy and find a more efficient use for my space and time.

I realized a few days ago that I have something like 75 apps on my iPhone, many I have never even used that provide information I can find just as quickly using a good old fashion Google search. I have two of every kitchen utensil and clothing I have never worn. I have 10 place settings of my everyday dinner stuff, but have never had more than 4 people over for dinner when the nice china wasn't used. I see no reason to have stuff "just in case". In case what? In case we need to give 50 gifts and Target and every other store runs out of gift bags?

I have a lot of goals and things I want to get done in my life, I don't need all the distractions that impede my ability to get things done. I don't need a Twitter account, I don't really care to tell the world what bars and restaurants I'm "Mayor" of via Foursquare, and I'm really not interested in reading random people's thoughts. If I'm interested hearing what you have to say, I'll call or we can grab lunch or a beer. The idea is to simplify my life, take the little rocks out of the jar so the big ones can fit.

I'm not anti-social, I'm not looking to distance myself. I'm looking to add value to my relationships and increase my time spent obtaining my personal and professional goals.

It starts today. I'm done with all the crap.

-JB