I'm a "blogger."
Blogging, at first blush, seems easy.
Sign up to a service--like Blogger--and begin blogging. Which is what I did. Starting in 2007.
I didn't start out blogging. I started out reading others' blogs and sometimes, leaving comments. What happened was, I was leaving long responses, and found myself lurking on others' blogs waiting for replies.
I was a stalker. Or, was I a troll?
Now, in 2013, I'm pretty sure I'm not a troll.
I don't enter comment threads in order to disrupt the discourse. Disagreement isn't disruption. Disagreement is a way of finding out whether or not what one has posted is full of crap. My oldest son will tell you of an particular case of my filling a post with crap. Mathematical. Which occurred just before the launching of this site, and my abandonment of my old site.
My old site had been threatened by locals--people who knew who I was and where and what I do--who threatened to expose me and my postings against my "criminal" background.
I had two DUII's.
Given my experience on either of those two evenings, simply not coming up to speed with the idea of "criminal" behaviour. But, given the outcomes of those two evenings, critically sufficient to have these two evenings referred to as criminal. It doesn't help that I was convicted on both these charges. Driving under the influence is the worst charge that can be applied to any member of MADD.
Drinking and driving is on par with shifting under-aged girls off to Morocco as part of an White Slaver Trade Ring.
Putting someone under the control of another, in a foreign land seems reprehensible to me. Swerving on a back road on the way home?
Not so much.
What a difference two years makes.
I do, still have fears about the outcomes I face, blogging about things I believe in. My business is federally regulated. Government influence is still very important.
But during the last week, I hope that the exposure that has occurred, exposing the degree to which government employees have been willing to submit Americans that they've disagreed with to inspection of type and kind not hitherto have been occurred, that it might just be time to re-regulate my old moniker.
There are a lot of things about Oregon, our federal government, our schools, and simply about the way things are done, that require a bit of advocacy in opposition.
That's what OregonGuy attempted to be.
And hopefully, that's what OregonGuy will become.
Thanks for reading.
Ten Mile Island
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
You Can Embrace the New Normal
Adapting to a future without freedom and liberty, self-reliance, merit and honor is easy. (h/t ushanka.us.)
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Learning About Infowars
I've been working with, and training, young people for more than 40 years.
Well, for most of that time.
I let off training some ten or so years ago, when I found that what I was doing was training up young people enough to make them attractive to the corporate businesses that were re-locating into this rural market. Give me twelve to sixteen weeks, and any "box" store in the market will end up offering you an assistancy.
It has been more than ten years that I attempted to hire and train an employee.
Not that I haven't had employees.
My "right hand" for years had been a fella that I've known for around 30 years. About. Had a good base pay, and a fifty percent commission rate. How much more fair can a fella be? He always got more than I from his effort. Period.
They say that "familiarity breeds contempt." When I found that my bud was going to leave, he lied to me. The offer he told me he "had to take" was not the situation I found him in within days. That's all water under the bridge now. Just saying, that for years I relied upon another old geezer for his contribution to the revenue stream, and since his departure, I really hadn't thought of getting big, again.
Until two years ago.
With my oldest son looking at graduation from university and his imminent departure, and my youngest son drifting from the wasteland that has become the university with all of the pretensions and politically correct postures that must be adopted in order to receive the lambskin, I wanted to capture their assistance with a vision of expansion that I hadn't felt I had wanted to attempt for who knows how long?
A man's time on this earthly coil is limited. And while I really believe that I can work well into the next decade of my life--into perhaps, my seventies--it seems to me that one shouldn't plan on doing so. When one grows old, certain things become obvious to everyone except for the singular object of that aging. Declining relevance, for one. The paradigms that one has relied upon for ones life need be recast. Not that the paradigms have lost their relevance; it is the metaphors one chooses to communicate those paradigmatic truths that need to be dusted off. Language changes. New idioms are introduced. The meaning of words, and the values of inference in meaning shifts.
And if you're in an industry that relies upon communication as the product of your business, how best to communicate is an essential tool of your existence. Transitioning between the values, metaphors and word pictures of one generation to the next requires an open-mindedness that most businesses, or managers, don't need to worry about. After twenty or thirty years, you get a watch and a pension. You're done.
Not the independent businessman. When you built it, its yours. Just like a baby, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring, your business is your business. And like a lot of my friends, there is an issue of what to do with a business that you might have thought would attract your children. And now I find that my children don't want to be a part of what I've built. Which is okay.
Rilly.
My sons are traveling their own roads, just as I decided to do, years ago.
All this, being said, brings me to my latest employee.
First, I'm not going to be writing about this employee. Any similarities are simply coincidental. What has happened is, that all of the fears I've been aware of about the state of employment, and the conditions of social stature enjoyed by young men has been fairly well affirmed. And it isn't all good, even when young men find themselves in successful careers, or on track to become successful. There are some significant attitudes and beliefs held by our young men that are frankly frightening to me. I'm not the first to find that looking in the eyes of a young man is like looking into the eyes of Patrick Bateman.
By generation was the product of WWII. "Never Again" meant something to us. Our parents dealt with Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini. Why would we ever want to give rise to such serious menace again?
We dealt with Uncle Joe, but when the Iron Curtain came down, we joined hands with our allies to resist totalitarian regimes in Europe, and as a result of our history of liberty and freedom as Americans. After two world wars, it seemed simple to address the problem of authoritarian regimes; simply replace them with political-economic systems that mimicked the political-economic system that we had adopted, as Americans. The Marxist paradigm required one thing; central control.
The Marxist credo, "From each according to his abilities, to each, according to his needs," was the single most disastrous statement uttered from a religious movement that sought to remove a god from the universe, and replace a god with human intent. What humans intend is more important than what a mythological, unprovably existent God could ever advance. God is dead. Only the intent of men is the useful guidon for human endeavour.
So now, when I look into the eyes of young men, I see Patrick Bateman. They've been taught there is no God. They've been taught that the only society that makes any sense is one where we celebrate diversity, provide social justice, and make sure that corporations and banks are servants of the people, rather than free to wreck havoc over those without means, talent or advantage. And those without means, talent or advantage are, all of us.
Corporations have become the new Jews. Banks have become the new Jews. Headlines talk about things such as "locavores." Headlines talk about "too large to fail," or, as was offered today, "too large to jail." Try to find a reference to "too large to jail" before this week. Headlines are moving the conversation, but there is nothing behind the conversation beyond the headline. Headlines, moving faster than thought, discussion or reason. Moving at the speed of cable news, advancing the notion that you and I are without meants, the talent, or the advantage to put at rest these impending threats.
Headlines driving opinion.
Why not?
When was the last time you had an in-depth conversation about anything? And, more importantly, when was the last time any person under the age of 25 had an in-depth conversation, at all?
Maybe you've seen it yourself, four kids at a basketball game, watching their phones and texting each other. What a country.
We don't talk to each other. We have no conversation. And I don't know if that's because we don't want to listen, or don't want to talk. Parents aren't talking to their children, brothers and sisters don't talk, teachers don't converse with students. Teachers talk to students. They don't converse with students. There's a huge difference.
Thirty years ago, economists were talking about the leakage due to the underground economy. What occurs when political systems drive economic activity underground. Looking back, maybe we should have been looking at other important social trends, when political systems drive other activities underground.
I had a glimpse of that outcome when I came across the first edition of a magazine called "Infowars."
What I'm trying to understand is why my heart sank as deeply as it did. This "Infowars" isn't bringing increased understanding of the complex issues that face free, independent adults. It is creating new "headlines" of concern, that require reaction, rather than response.
For a generation that has never been taught the art of conversation, it is frightening to me that a generation of young men, accustomed to being ignored by the political systems they've confronted in their schools and in their families, are finally being recognized by publications like this, that are just as devoid of conversation as were the state of their lives before these publications existed. And we're doing nothing about it.
I have a copy of Volume 1, Issue 7 in my hands. It is disturbing.
But as a conservative, as a libertarian, as an anarchist, what have you done to help bring these young men into an examination of truth, belief and conviction that advances the values of freedom, liberty and independence? Too little, I've found. We don't talk about freedom, liberty and independence.
These conversations have been pushed off the screen. We simply don't talk about these things.
So, how are our young men supposed to learn?
Well, for most of that time.
I let off training some ten or so years ago, when I found that what I was doing was training up young people enough to make them attractive to the corporate businesses that were re-locating into this rural market. Give me twelve to sixteen weeks, and any "box" store in the market will end up offering you an assistancy.
It has been more than ten years that I attempted to hire and train an employee.
Not that I haven't had employees.
My "right hand" for years had been a fella that I've known for around 30 years. About. Had a good base pay, and a fifty percent commission rate. How much more fair can a fella be? He always got more than I from his effort. Period.
They say that "familiarity breeds contempt." When I found that my bud was going to leave, he lied to me. The offer he told me he "had to take" was not the situation I found him in within days. That's all water under the bridge now. Just saying, that for years I relied upon another old geezer for his contribution to the revenue stream, and since his departure, I really hadn't thought of getting big, again.
Until two years ago.
With my oldest son looking at graduation from university and his imminent departure, and my youngest son drifting from the wasteland that has become the university with all of the pretensions and politically correct postures that must be adopted in order to receive the lambskin, I wanted to capture their assistance with a vision of expansion that I hadn't felt I had wanted to attempt for who knows how long?
A man's time on this earthly coil is limited. And while I really believe that I can work well into the next decade of my life--into perhaps, my seventies--it seems to me that one shouldn't plan on doing so. When one grows old, certain things become obvious to everyone except for the singular object of that aging. Declining relevance, for one. The paradigms that one has relied upon for ones life need be recast. Not that the paradigms have lost their relevance; it is the metaphors one chooses to communicate those paradigmatic truths that need to be dusted off. Language changes. New idioms are introduced. The meaning of words, and the values of inference in meaning shifts.
And if you're in an industry that relies upon communication as the product of your business, how best to communicate is an essential tool of your existence. Transitioning between the values, metaphors and word pictures of one generation to the next requires an open-mindedness that most businesses, or managers, don't need to worry about. After twenty or thirty years, you get a watch and a pension. You're done.
Not the independent businessman. When you built it, its yours. Just like a baby, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring, your business is your business. And like a lot of my friends, there is an issue of what to do with a business that you might have thought would attract your children. And now I find that my children don't want to be a part of what I've built. Which is okay.
Rilly.
My sons are traveling their own roads, just as I decided to do, years ago.
All this, being said, brings me to my latest employee.
First, I'm not going to be writing about this employee. Any similarities are simply coincidental. What has happened is, that all of the fears I've been aware of about the state of employment, and the conditions of social stature enjoyed by young men has been fairly well affirmed. And it isn't all good, even when young men find themselves in successful careers, or on track to become successful. There are some significant attitudes and beliefs held by our young men that are frankly frightening to me. I'm not the first to find that looking in the eyes of a young man is like looking into the eyes of Patrick Bateman.
By generation was the product of WWII. "Never Again" meant something to us. Our parents dealt with Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini. Why would we ever want to give rise to such serious menace again?
We dealt with Uncle Joe, but when the Iron Curtain came down, we joined hands with our allies to resist totalitarian regimes in Europe, and as a result of our history of liberty and freedom as Americans. After two world wars, it seemed simple to address the problem of authoritarian regimes; simply replace them with political-economic systems that mimicked the political-economic system that we had adopted, as Americans. The Marxist paradigm required one thing; central control.
The Marxist credo, "From each according to his abilities, to each, according to his needs," was the single most disastrous statement uttered from a religious movement that sought to remove a god from the universe, and replace a god with human intent. What humans intend is more important than what a mythological, unprovably existent God could ever advance. God is dead. Only the intent of men is the useful guidon for human endeavour.
So now, when I look into the eyes of young men, I see Patrick Bateman. They've been taught there is no God. They've been taught that the only society that makes any sense is one where we celebrate diversity, provide social justice, and make sure that corporations and banks are servants of the people, rather than free to wreck havoc over those without means, talent or advantage. And those without means, talent or advantage are, all of us.
Corporations have become the new Jews. Banks have become the new Jews. Headlines talk about things such as "locavores." Headlines talk about "too large to fail," or, as was offered today, "too large to jail." Try to find a reference to "too large to jail" before this week. Headlines are moving the conversation, but there is nothing behind the conversation beyond the headline. Headlines, moving faster than thought, discussion or reason. Moving at the speed of cable news, advancing the notion that you and I are without meants, the talent, or the advantage to put at rest these impending threats.
Headlines driving opinion.
Why not?
When was the last time you had an in-depth conversation about anything? And, more importantly, when was the last time any person under the age of 25 had an in-depth conversation, at all?
Maybe you've seen it yourself, four kids at a basketball game, watching their phones and texting each other. What a country.
We don't talk to each other. We have no conversation. And I don't know if that's because we don't want to listen, or don't want to talk. Parents aren't talking to their children, brothers and sisters don't talk, teachers don't converse with students. Teachers talk to students. They don't converse with students. There's a huge difference.
Thirty years ago, economists were talking about the leakage due to the underground economy. What occurs when political systems drive economic activity underground. Looking back, maybe we should have been looking at other important social trends, when political systems drive other activities underground.
I had a glimpse of that outcome when I came across the first edition of a magazine called "Infowars."
What I'm trying to understand is why my heart sank as deeply as it did. This "Infowars" isn't bringing increased understanding of the complex issues that face free, independent adults. It is creating new "headlines" of concern, that require reaction, rather than response.
For a generation that has never been taught the art of conversation, it is frightening to me that a generation of young men, accustomed to being ignored by the political systems they've confronted in their schools and in their families, are finally being recognized by publications like this, that are just as devoid of conversation as were the state of their lives before these publications existed. And we're doing nothing about it.
I have a copy of Volume 1, Issue 7 in my hands. It is disturbing.
But as a conservative, as a libertarian, as an anarchist, what have you done to help bring these young men into an examination of truth, belief and conviction that advances the values of freedom, liberty and independence? Too little, I've found. We don't talk about freedom, liberty and independence.
These conversations have been pushed off the screen. We simply don't talk about these things.
So, how are our young men supposed to learn?
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Pearl Harbor
You've got to love the professionalism exhibited by this photo.Of eleven aircraft carriers, five are sitting together at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
What could possibly go wrong?
h/t TW
at Naval Station Norfolk,
Va.
at Naval Station Norfolk,
Va.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Killing Babies
An old friend offered "MI-5" as a television show worth watching. Engaging theater is engaging theater. Well done, etc.
And this old friend, good Catholic, living in Maryland, admits that the show gets better as it gets along.
But the first episode of "MI-5" deals with a group of American anti-abortion radicals. Radicals that kill for their conviction. Life is precious. And now, a slippery slope.
When is it okay to take someone else's life?
If you try to force your way into my home, my understanding is, that I'm well within my rights to use deadly force in order to thwart your invasion threat.
Killing a baby. Thwarting an invasion threat.
Which is the clearer declaration of intent? A hoodlum, intent upon gathering enough loot to afford himself his daily dose of whatever, may not have expected to commit murder as a tactic in gathering said boodle. On the hunt for boodle, this miscreant enters someone's, anyone's, domicile. This entry creates enough supposition of wrong-doing that aggresive defense of ones home is an accepted outcome.
I find, increasingly, that few people dare to utter the significance between sufficient and necessary in terms of actions and outcomes. Is it necessary that one walks into an ocean in order for that person to become wet? No. But it is sufficient.
What is the greatest responsibility of any government?
Innovative energy policies?
And this old friend, good Catholic, living in Maryland, admits that the show gets better as it gets along.
But the first episode of "MI-5" deals with a group of American anti-abortion radicals. Radicals that kill for their conviction. Life is precious. And now, a slippery slope.
When is it okay to take someone else's life?
If you try to force your way into my home, my understanding is, that I'm well within my rights to use deadly force in order to thwart your invasion threat.
Killing a baby. Thwarting an invasion threat.
Which is the clearer declaration of intent? A hoodlum, intent upon gathering enough loot to afford himself his daily dose of whatever, may not have expected to commit murder as a tactic in gathering said boodle. On the hunt for boodle, this miscreant enters someone's, anyone's, domicile. This entry creates enough supposition of wrong-doing that aggresive defense of ones home is an accepted outcome.
I find, increasingly, that few people dare to utter the significance between sufficient and necessary in terms of actions and outcomes. Is it necessary that one walks into an ocean in order for that person to become wet? No. But it is sufficient.
What is the greatest responsibility of any government?
Innovative energy policies?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Need Your Input
Someone I know owns a radio station, and has given me the text of a public service message that he is proposing to place on-air.
You may not know this, but the Federal Communications Commission requires that broadcast stations--television and radio--air programming in "the public interest," and that this programming relates to issues of interest as determined by the management of the broadcast station.
The gentleman in question had determined that one of the issues of local interest is the lack of good entry level jobs, and the increased sentiment that this lack of purposeful employment can be overcome through the application of social justice; that is, the re-distribution of wealth.
There is, there seems, no interest in criticising either state or federal officials for creating an economic environment where few, if any, are willing to create new jobs.
This gentleman wishes to propose to his youthful listeners, that there is a course of sense, and common sense, available to them. That the emphasis on "social justice" is just as strange, and foreign to us, as it is to them.
Children know when their parents are just filling space. When they are exposed to teachers that are just filling space, they can begin to doubt their purpose in life. How many losers must one have to be beholden to, until one becomes a loser ones self?
Children aren't idiots. They just don't have a lot of allies.
From the PSA:
A message in the public interest, from ...
The question is, is my friend on track, too radical, too conservative?
Let me know what you think. And I'll carry the message forward.
You may not know this, but the Federal Communications Commission requires that broadcast stations--television and radio--air programming in "the public interest," and that this programming relates to issues of interest as determined by the management of the broadcast station.
The gentleman in question had determined that one of the issues of local interest is the lack of good entry level jobs, and the increased sentiment that this lack of purposeful employment can be overcome through the application of social justice; that is, the re-distribution of wealth.
There is, there seems, no interest in criticising either state or federal officials for creating an economic environment where few, if any, are willing to create new jobs.
This gentleman wishes to propose to his youthful listeners, that there is a course of sense, and common sense, available to them. That the emphasis on "social justice" is just as strange, and foreign to us, as it is to them.
Children know when their parents are just filling space. When they are exposed to teachers that are just filling space, they can begin to doubt their purpose in life. How many losers must one have to be beholden to, until one becomes a loser ones self?
Children aren't idiots. They just don't have a lot of allies.
From the PSA:
Life, between the ages of 13
and 18, can be difficult.
You watch your parents. You
listen to your teachers. You want to learn how to take care of yourself.
And then, in learning how to
take care of yourself, you would learn how to take care of the most important
people in your life, your family.
You are learning how to take
responsibility. You need to learn how to pay your bills, learn the skills that
will earn money that puts food on your table. And, if you have children, learn how
to budget so that your daughter, Suzy, and your son, Billy, have new clothes
for back-to-school.
Learning to take
responsibility for paying bills, putting food on the table, juggling the family
budget so that Suzy and Bill have new clothes for back-to school, all of these
are abilities you need to learn, so that you grow up to be an adult, even if
your mother or father couldn’t learn to take care of the bills, and provide you
with the clothes you needed for back-to-school.
A lot of moms and dads can’t
take care of themselves, or their families, and don’t care whether or not there
are jobs. They want to have the things that successful moms and dads have, for
themselves, and for their children, for you, whether, or not, they have jobs.
Whether, or not, they earned them.
You know who these moms and
dads are. And you’re not alone.
Our coastal economy needs
jobs.
Right now, there are too many
people without jobs.
Social justice, and simply
giving people money, doesn’t create jobs.
The question is, is my friend on track, too radical, too conservative?
Let me know what you think. And I'll carry the message forward.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
bad aunts and good aunts
"It is no use telling me there are bad aunts and good aunts. At the core, they are all alike. Sooner or later, out pops the cloven hoof."
The Code of the Woosters (1938)
The Code of the Woosters (1938)
They Just Newtowned the Super Bowl
Hope the kids are/were precious.
Shameless. At least the next few commercials will have lower ratings.
Shame on the NFL.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
West Coast Style and Andrew Luck
If you want to help one of the top PAC-12 quarterbacks in his new home, make sure you go here and vote.
And, if you're a fan of Blackfive, make sure you scroll down and vote for Kaiti C.
And, if you're a fan of Blackfive, make sure you scroll down and vote for Kaiti C.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Charles Durning
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Send Michael Ten Bucks
Michael Totten
P.O. Box 312
Portland, OR 97207-0312
If you've never read Michael's stuff before, do so now.
"Game of Thrones."
P.O. Box 312
Portland, OR 97207-0312
If you've never read Michael's stuff before, do so now.
"Game of Thrones."
(Michael five years ago.)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
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