Chronicling the depravities of the State.
Today is June 4th, which is known throughout the United States as Flag Day. In celebration I hereby wave my flag proudly:
OK, that’s not my flag, it’s actually a picture from Daily anarchist where I bought my flag that I was too lazy to photograph last night from.
Last week my Al Qaeda membership arrive. I never knew it was so easy to be a terrorist but for just a hair over $10.00 I too am officially recognized as a terrorist in the United States of America:
For those who are confused see this post from last week.
Seriously though, for $10.00 this is a pretty bloody good watch. Obviously it’s lacking in features, feels cheap, and isn’t much to look at but it tells the time and date, has a built-in stopwatch, has an alarm, and even has a little LED light so you can read the display in the dark. Unlike the old cheapie Timex Expedition I used to have way back when, the buttons on this cheap Casio are very easy to press. On top of all of that it’s water resistant and the battery will supposedly last for several years. While this isn’t a watch I’ll likely wear often it’s certainly a great example of a cheap watch that serves the intended purpose of telling time without costing anything. I would certainly have no issue taking this watch anywhere I’d feel a high likelihood of losing it existed.
You can tell it was designed in a foregone era because it’s not giga-huge-ginormous. The modern trend in wristwatches is to make them as large as possible, with 40 to 42mm being fairly common (heck, 48mm watches are becoming more common). As a guy with small wrists who isn’t looking to mount a satellite dish to his arm this is a rather annoying trend. Then again it’s obvious nobody asked me for fashion advice or there would be more guys walking around in combat boots and 5.11 Tactical mall ninja pants. Fortunately fashion trends are cyclical and small watches should be in vogue again meaning I’ll actually be “in style” for a few years.
Today is Memorial Day, a day when people are supposed to take a moment to recognize the fallen soldiers of yore. I feel we should also reflect on the fact men and women of this country are being sent overseas to die needlessly because monsters in Washington want to make resource grabs and project power in the hopes of scaring other countries into obedience.
If we really want to pay tribute to the men and women in the United States armed forces we should be doing everything we can to demand their immediate and safe return. Peoples’ lives should not be put on the line because some politicians want to kill brown people living in sandy (and more importantly, oil rich) regions.
I leave you now with a excerpt from a very wise man best known by his pen name, Mark Twain (it’s worth your time to read the entire thing):
“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
War is hell, and the state is more than willing to throw people into this hell for its own personal gains.
In case anybody is curious I just wanted to state that last night’s Sabaton concert was nothing short of awesome. The two opening bands A Sound of Thunder and Dawn of Valor were good acts (I greatly enjoyed Dawn of Valor, hopefully we’ll be seeing much more from this band in the future), which was a pleasant surprise because I’m used to the first and sometimes second opening bands to be total shit. Sabaton was amazing, easily worth the $15 entry fee.
At the peak of the concert I would estimate 150 to 200 people were attending. That sounds extremely small but it’s actually not too bad consider this is Sabaton’s first headline tour and the concert took place in St. Paul on a very nice spring day. Minnesota isn’t know for its metal scene but for the handful of us that are huge into metal we’re loud and try to ensure the bands playing are encourage by our screaming, jumping, and moshing.
Sabaton has to be one of the few bands where world flags are brought in by the audience. I saw an American flag, a Soviet Union flag (usually when I see these I shake my head and realize the holder has no grasp on history but at a Sabaton concert it actually makes sense as several of their songs are about the Soviets pushing back the Nazis), and what I believe was a Polish flag. I also met a couple of awesome metal heads there who informed me that the last time Sabaton was in St. Paul they were opening for another band but half of the people cleared out after Sabaton left the stage. That amused me to say the least.
It was a great night and I can’t wait for Sabaton to come back to St. Paul. Seeing the new members in action also left me feeling good, my previous concern about the band not being as capable as they previously were was entirely alleviated.
On an entirely unrelated side note my beater Armitron automatic watch with its cheap Chinese movement actually held up to the shock of jumping around for two hours. I’m quite impressed.
North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage yesterday and the same item will be on November’s ballot here in Minnesota. I can’t help the people of North Carolina but I can do something in my own state.
I’m now an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church Monastery. When my credentials arrive I’m going to apply for my permit to perform marriages in Minnesota. Why am I doing this? Because the state has decided it has a right to define voluntary association and it’s about time some civil disobedience was done to give the state a giant middle finger.
I will perform straight, gay, polygamous, supernatural, and even self marriages (who could possibly love you more than you). Furthermore I am willing to observe and religious tradition you choose including christianity, judaism, islam, paganism, neo-paganism, asatru, or a complete lack of religious connotations if you so desire. Once married I leave it up to you to file your taxes under the status of “married.” If any questions are asked I’ll gladly vouch for the validity of your marriage.
Just because a larger group votes in favor of banning a form of voluntary association than the group that voted against banning it doesn’t mean the ban should be obeyed. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” If Minnesota votes to prohibit gay marriage give me a call and I’ll perform the ceremony for free. On the other hand if the state doesn’t vote to prohibit gay marriage I’ll still perform the ceremony and those wanting prohibited forms of marriage can still call me for a free ceremony.
It’s not often that I’m honored deeply by a compliment I’ve received but one of my friends on Facebook said the following about me:
Yeah, I mean, she’s [Ayn Rand] practically a socialist compared to you. (-:
That’s right, compared to me Ayn Rand is practically a socialist. I’m doing something right!
I’m sorry but the free ice cream machine is running a little low today. I participated in my local basic political organizational unit (BPOU) convention last night and now I’m filled with dread, hopelessness, and rage. Needless to say I can’t find the energy to write anything at the moment so you’ll just have to check back later.
Let me say this: what I witnessed last night was something I’d expect to find in a kindergarten classroom. The people who go to political conventions are children, they show up to fight amongst one another for scraps from the power table of the higher ups, they want a piece of the power and don’t give two shits about anybody else. There will probably be a long rant explaining my sheer distain for political conventions and the people who attend them but I’ll have to wait to write it, the feeling of hopelessness for the future of humanity is just too great right now.
Say what you will about the Ford Range; it’s not fuel efficient, it’s not fast, and it certainly isn’t big; but it is easy to change the oil on without the assistance of a hoist. I live in an apartment complex so my access to actual equipment needed in the repair and maintenance of automobiles is fairly limited. My father does own an autoshop but lives three hours away meaning I’m either in for six hours of driving every time I want to change my oil or I can get on my back and do it myself. Thankfully my Ranger is tall enough that doing the latter is actually very easy.
I did experiment with taking my truck to an oil change place but they merely put the wrong filter on (thankfully it was big enough to seal and thus no damage occurred). Needless to say if you want something done right do it yourself.
When I finished reading Robert Buettner’s Oprah series I couldn’t wait for his next works to come out. Eventually Overkill was released but no Kindle format was to be found, leaving me wanting (an e-book version).
Some time ago I learned that the e-book version of Overkill was available on Baen Books and I have to way they’re working hard on winning. Namely when you buy an e-book from Baen you can download it in any DRM-free format your heart desires (at the time of this writing Overkill is made available in Mobi, ePub, HTML, Microsoft Reader, Sony Reader, rich text format, and some obscure format I’ve never heard of called Rocket). You read correctly, DRM-free.
I don’t know how a publisher could do much better. Obviously I grabbed the Mobi format so I could read it on my Kindle but I also grabbed the ePub format just to test it out (works fine as expected). More publishers need to learn from Baen’s example, hand me DRM-free files and I’ll love you forever.
Most of you have probably figured out the extent of my anti-statist tendencies. I hate the state with as much passion as anybody could really muster. This hatred drives me to oppose the state in whatever manner I can without initiating violence and therefore I’m a huge fan of mutual aid and like to practice it when opportunities arise. Low and behold I’ve found a gunny in need via Walls of the City.
A gun blogger I’ve not previously heard of (but likely gets more hits on her page and I do), Erin, is looking to purchase a handgun for carry. Unfortunately she’s strapped for cash and has asked for help. She’s looking for donations to help in her quest to obtain a Glock 19 and a carry permit in her home state of Florida.
Fortunately for her gunnies are generally generous individuals as she’s witnessed. So if you have some spare change lying around I’d say you could certainly do well in sending it her away. Arming a person in need is as good of a cause as any other around in my opinion.