AridzonaShooter: Ramblings

Ignore my previous post. From Slashdot:

Lawrence Person writes "The attempt to require political bloggers to register as lobbyists previously reported by Slashdot has been stripped out of the lobbying reform bill. The vote was 55 to 43 to defeat the provision. All 48 Republicans, as well as 7 Democrats, voted against requiring bloggers to register; all 43 votes in favor of keeping the registration provision were by Democrats." _________________________________________________________________

Article: * http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/77787741/article.pl

This from JEP: <http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/view449.html#Thursday>

Thursday,  January 18, 2006

The End of Freedom of Speech

The Democrat Congressional Ethics scheme seeks to silence Internet comments about Congress. Anyone with more that 500 readers will have to register as a lobbyist or be fined and possibly jailed. The campaign finance laws were bad enough. Now, snuck into a Congressional Ethics -- there's an oxymoron -- act is an attempt to halt the modern equivalent of pamphleteering. Pamphleteers were precisely what the Framers intended to protect with the First Amendment. In those days there wasn't a Main Stream Media, although HM Stationary Office came close: i.e., official propaganda. What the politicos of the time sought to halt was Committees of Correspondence, and pamphlets denouncing the government.

The new "ethics" act doesn't officially try to stop people from criticizing incumbent, but like all campaign finance reforms that's the real purpose and effect. Incumbent protection is the goal of nearly every government action interference in the political process.

I don't expect this to pass. Not even the new Senate can be that stupid. Surely?

http://curmudgeonlyskeptical.blogspot.com/2007/01/barney-frank-major-asshole ..html

The VA is having a contest for military bloggers, the prize being $5000. If you read any military blogger, go here: http://www.vamortgagecenter.com/blog/ and vote.

If you're a fan of military fiction, fellow name of H. Jay Riker has a couple of series you might enjoy.

One concerns the group that started as demolitioneers, morphed into UDT and then SEALS; the other is about attack subs.

Riker isn't Clancy or Dale Brown, it's not sci-fi-ish, but sticks closer to reality. Some of his military details are slightly off, and some of the Navy details might could be, also, but I'm not a Navy guy - there's a lot of stuff I just don't know.

Anyway, they're well written stories, very good plotting and characterizations. Give him a try.

via Pournelle's site:


What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad By Ted Sampley U.S. Veteran Dispatch January 2007

Democrat Keith Ellison is now officially the first Muslim United States congressman. True to his pledge, he placed his hand on the Quran, the Muslim book of jihad and pledged his allegiance to the United States during his ceremonial swearing-in.

Capitol Hill staff said Ellison's swearing-in photo opportunity drew more media than they had ever seen in the history of the U.S. House. Ellison represents the 5th Congressional District of Minnesota.

The Quran Ellison used was no ordinary book. It once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and one of America's founding fathers. Ellison borrowed it from the Rare Book Section of the Library of Congress. It was one of the 6,500 Jefferson books archived in the library.

Ellison, who was born in Detroit and converted to Islam while in college, said he chose to use Jefferson's Quran because it showed that "a visionary like Jefferson" believed that wisdom could be gleaned from many sources.

There is no doubt Ellison was right about Jefferson believing wisdom could be "gleaned" from the Muslim Quran. At the time Jefferson owned the book, he needed to know everything possible about Muslims because he was about to advocate war against the Islamic "Barbary" states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli.

Ellison's use of Jefferson's Quran as a prop illuminates a subject once well-known in the history of the United States, but, which today, is mostly forgotten - the Muslim pirate slavers who over many centuries enslaved millions of Africans and tens of thousands of Christian Europeans and Americans in the Islamic "Barbary" states.

Over the course of 10 centuries, Muslim pirates cruised the African and Mediterranean coastline, pillaging villages and seizing slaves.

The taking of slaves in pre-dawn raids on unsuspecting coastal villages had a high casualty rate. It was typical of Muslim raiders to kill off as many of the "non-Muslim" older men and women as possible so the preferred "booty" of only young women and children could be collected.

Young non-Muslim women were targeted because of their value as concubines in Islamic markets. Islamic law provides for the sexual interests of Muslim men by allowing them to take as many as four wives at one time and to have as many concubines as their fortunes allow.

Boys, as young as 9 or 10 years old, were often mutilated to create eunuchs who would bring higher prices in the slave markets of the Middle East. Muslim slave traders created "eunuch stations" along major African slave routes so the necessary surgery could be performed. It was estimated that only a small number of the boys subjected to the mutilation survived after the surgery.

When American colonists rebelled against British rule in 1776, American merchant ships lost Royal Navy protection. With no American Navy for protection, American ships were attacked and their Christian crews enslaved by Muslim pirates operating under the control of the "Dey of Algiers"--an Islamist warlord ruling Algeria.

Because American commerce in the Mediterranean was being destroyed by the pirates, the Continental Congress agreed in 1784 to negotiate treaties with the four Barbary States. Congress appointed a special commission consisting of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, to oversee the negotiations.

Lacking the ability to protect its merchant ships in the Mediterranean, the new America government tried to appease the Muslim slavers by agreeing to pay tribute and ransoms in order to retrieve seized American ships and buy the freedom of enslaved sailors.

Adams argued in favor of paying tribute as the cheapest way to get American commerce in the Mediterranean moving again. Jefferson was opposed. He believed there would be no end to the demands for tribute and wanted matters settled "through the medium of war." He proposed a league of trading nations to force an end to Muslim piracy.

In 1786, Jefferson, then the American ambassador to France, and Adams, then the American ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the "Dey of Algiers" ambassador to Britain. The Americans wanted to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress' vote to appease. During the meeting Jefferson and Adams asked the Dey's ambassador why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

In a later meeting with the American Congress, the two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

For the following 15 years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. The payments in ransom and tribute amounted to 20 percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800.

Not long after Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, he dispatched a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean, and informed Congress.

Declaring that America was going to spend "millions for defense but not one cent for tribute," Jefferson pressed the issue by deploying American Marines and many of America's best warships to the Muslim Barbary Coast.

The USS Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Philadelphia, USS Chesapeake, USS Argus, USS Syren and USS Intrepid all saw action.

In 1805, American Marines marched across the dessert from Egypt into Tripolitania, forcing the surrender of Tripoli and the freeing of all American slaves.

During the Jefferson administration, the Muslim Barbary States, crumbling as a result of intense American naval bombardment and on shore raids by Marines, finally officially agreed to abandon slavery and piracy. Jefferson's victory over the Muslims lives on today in the Marine Hymn, with the line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we will fight our country's battles on the land as on the sea."

It wasn't until 1815 that the problem was fully settled by the total defeat of all the Muslim slave trading pirates.

Jefferson had been right. The "medium of war" was the only way to put and end to the Muslim problem. Mr. Ellison was right about Jefferson. He was a "visionary" wise enough to read and learn about the enemy from their own Muslim book of jihad.

Or, where are we headed? 7 January 2007

Oh, yeah.  Happy New Year, 2007.  This will be, assuming it ever gets finished, Part II of the post below, from 1st January, "A year in the life."  That was where we've been.  This will be where we're going.

We did a lot of travel the first year out.  Full-time RVers refer to this as  "vacation mode," where newbie full-timers rush about, trying to pack in a whole bunch of places they want to see.  A not uncommon phenomenon.  Yup, we qualified, although in our case it was less seeing "stuff" than seeing people.  Either way, we saw a lot of country, but we didn't see a whole lot of country, if you can see the distinction.

We've throttled back.  '07 looks to be a continuation of the second half of '06, where we spend several weeks in one locale.  We were in the Phoenix metro area for a couple of months, now we're coming up on about 6 weeks outside of Wickenburg, which is just about an hour northwest of Phoenix.

We'll be heading out within the next few days, toward the next destination, which is likely to be the general vicinity of Crystal City, TX.  We'll probably spend a month or two in that area.  The big question now is how to get there.  It could take us from three days to three weeks, depending on what we find along the way.  I'm in no particular hurry, nor do I have a particular plan, other than that I'll probably stay a few days to a week...or so...in Deming, NM.


When we started this thing, I'd had the idea that I'd spend a lot of time shooting fishing, hunting, photographing, 4-wheeling and trying to find (via 4-wheeler) ghost towns (which I'd then photograph).  Perhaps even get to attend a couple of gun camps.  I did manage to buy a pretty nice camera, or at least a camera that would satisfy what I'd like to do.  I've posted a mini review of the Nikon D50  here.

We've done some 4-wheeling.  I've done 'way, 'way too little shooting.  As for hunting and fishing, well, so far, not enough.  Come to that, I've done 'way 'way too little of all those things.  There is a budget component to that, but that's only a part of it.
 
Heck, I finally picked up the new Springfield I'd had semi-customized back in September, and so far only have about 250 "break-in" rounds through it.  I do have a variety of JHPs it will eventually get stoked with, but have yet to get back to the range to confirm reliability.

So, it seems I've just figured out what's missing in my life.  Other than loose wimmen and boozing, I've been missing many of the activities that used to keep me satisfied.  Now that I have defined the problem, I can work to solve it.

On the good side of the ledger, there are occasionally interesting, or at least enjoyable shows on the Sci-Fi channel, and we seem to be pretty well on our way to figuring out this satellite internet thingy, so when we're parked in one spot for a few days or more we have internet.  And we are no longer dependent on trying to find wifi hotspots or parks with wifi available or wifi at ridiculous prices.  That is all a very good thing.

So, the evil ones are so much more ethical than the stoopid ones:

Senate Democrats backed off promises to reform pork spending yesterday, using procedural tactics similar to ones they attacked Republicans for employing in past Congresses.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, stalled a vote on a Republican amendment that would require full disclosure of the spending provisions, also known as earmarks. The maneuver­which continued through last night and into today­gives Mr. Reid time to turn Democrats against the measure, which is similar to the ethics rules adopted with much fanfare last week by the new Democrat-led House.

Immediately before Mr. Reid stopped the amendment to the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, the Senate expressed its support for it, rejecting a bid to kill it on a 51-46 vote. The measure would require that members of Congress disclose all earmarks they request.

via Pournelle, not checked for accuracy:



Senators Dorgan, Snowe Introduce Legislation for Federal Regulation of Internet

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FreedomWorks is disappointed that a coalition of liberal Senators has started the 110th Congress with legislation designed to expand government regulation of the Internet. The so- called Internet Freedom Preservation Act is co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Barack Obama (D-IL) and would include 'net neutrality' mandates. Net neutrality would mandate specific business models and pricing for the Internet, and would mark the beginning of a new era of federal political and regulatory control over the Internet.

FreedomWorks is concerned heavy handed government regulation would stifle innovation as America falls further behind the world in this critical sector of the economy. Where the United States was once a leader in technology, we now have fallen to 11th in the world in broadband deployment.

FreedomWorks Chairman and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey commented,

"Common sense tells us that if it ain't broke don't fix it. The real problem is that there is already too much government meddling in the telecom sector. Instead of net neutrality mandates, Congress should move to pass sweeping reforms to bring greater broadband competition to America. That's the best way to ensure an open and dynamic Internet.

"The Internet has done just fine without the help of regulators and politicians. Liberal politicians and groups such as MoveOn.org are promoting the idea that active government interference is necessary to 'save' the Internet. The Internet is the modern frontier of innovation and economic development, and should remain free from regulation. Net neutrality mandates are something true small government supporters need to rally against."

FreedomWorks will continue to advocate against government regulation of the Internet and any attempt to resuscitate net neutrality mandates in the 110th congress. FreedomWorks will continue to lead the effort to stop new Internet regulations by expanding its "call to action" to its nationwide army of volunteer activists. Volunteers all over the country will lobby their legislators on this issue through district office visits and continued calls, letters, and emails.

FreedomWorks is a grassroots organization with over 800,000 members nationwide dedicated to lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

SOURCE FreedomWorks

Fred: http://www.fredoneverything.net/WomenandAfAc.shtml

http://desertskyquilts.livejournal.com/

The 10 Jan entry.

Left North Ranch yesterday, Tuesday the 9th and overnighted in Benson, AZ. Rolled into Deming in time for lunch, then to Dream Catcher SKPs park.

I decided I didn't really look forward to wallowing through the Phoenix traffic glut, so I'd sneak around it via Gila Bend, into Casa Grande, picking up I-10, and onward.

Well. That didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Oh, yeah, I avoided Phoenix, but we surely did add some miles. Congress to Benson should have been on the order of 225 miles. Give or take. Congress to Benson via Gila Bend was about 280 miles. And the traffic I missed in Phoenix was more than made up for by hitting Tucson at drive time, and the leftover sludge from the wreck that we had to sit and wait for. Gah.

Well, now we know.

So. Deming. Haven't really decided how long we'll hang out here. Couple of things to take care of on the trailer. It's a Recreational Vehicle, not a house. Stuff breaks...

Unfortunately, mostly stuff I haven't a clue how to fix. Guess I'll learn. Sure would have been nice if stuff had broke a couple of weeks ago, while it was still under warrantee.

Well, that might not have made so much difference, the way the water heater went. We'll see if I get any money from Northwood toward those repairs. Yes, plural.

Anyway, here we are. Everything is set up and secure, other than the satellite. Got it set up and ready to go, but...not ready. Wasn't able to get a signal. Don't know, yet, what the heck that's about. Tomorrow I'll go back and check from one end to the other and see what's up.

Tonight, I'll just steal signal from La Quinta.

We'll be heading out of Congress tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Pulling the plug, it may be a few days before we re-surface.

Still at North Ranch in Congress, AZ, but it's getting on toward time to head out. To somewhere.

Actually, to somewhere in TX. General vicinity of a small town near the Nueces, Crystal City. That's likely where we'll end up, but in the meantime it's still yet to be determined when we'll leave and how we'll get there.

Stay tuned...

Oops.  Sorry.

The Lawdog Files

If you carry or own a gun, knife, stick, or any pointy object which might could be used for self-defense, you need to read the Lawdog:

Maybe the Quilter will have the opportunity to fly after all:

From last July:


Subject: DC-X is back and in Private hands!

The Jeff Bezos-funded Blue Origin private spacecraft has been announced:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060705_blue_origin.html

Charles Butler

Which is fascinating. If they start flying DC/X type vehicles, then depending on the size they can inch their way to orbit. Max Hunter always thought that kind of ship would become a Single Stage to Orbit ship with a Gross Liftoff Weight of 600 to 700 thousand pounds. It would take at least 8 engines and the plumbing and control system would have to be developed, but DC/X pretty well proved the concept, at least for sub-orbital, which is what Bezos intends here.

The announcement doesn't give the GLOW but if total thrust is 230,000 pounds then clearly the GLOW has to be in that range; and that's not enough to make orbit with any construction technology I know of. But this is a good start, and is apparently something like a 35% scale model of the 600,000 pound SSX we originally proposed to SDIO in 1988. We believed SSX wouldn't make orbit on early flights but as Max Hunter put it, we could nickel and dime it to full orbital capability.

I am no big fan of peroxide. It has both performance and operations limitations.

From a performance standpoint Hydrogen and LOX are great stuff, but working with hydrogen turns out to be an operational nightmare. It escapes easily (after all, that's one tiny molecule), the tanks have to be large, and it needs fairly extreme cryogenics. Max Hunter always thought propane and LOX would be what we'd finally settle on. There are many proponents for methane and LOX, which has similar characteristics and exhaust velocity. Operationally, methane and propane are considerably easier to work with, and you get some compensation for the lower exhaust velocities with the higher density of the fuel and the smaller tankage.

The Heinlein prize this year goes to Peter Dimandis for his X Prize work. When Bezos gets this flying, he will certainly qualify...

Yesterday's announcement:

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is asking engineers to join his fledgling and secretive private aerospace business, breaking a long silence about his operation in a remote section of West Texas by posting photos and videos on the company's Web site of a test launch of a reusable spacecraft.

"We're working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system," Bezos said on the Web page of his space venture, Blue Origin. "Accomplishing this mission will take a long time, and we're working on it methodically."

The posting, with Bezos' message dated Tuesday, shows a cone-shaped vehicle with four metal legs, reminiscent of the clunky models in 1950s science fiction movies, launching in a cloud of smoke, reaching an altitude of about
285 feet, according to Blue Origin, then landing on its legs.

"Slow and steady is the way to achieve results, and we do not kid ourselves into thinking this will get easier as we go along," Bezos said. "Smaller, more frequent steps drive a faster rate of learning, help us maintain focus, and give each of us an opportunity to see our latest work fly sooner."

He said the development vehicle, named Goddard and launched Nov. 13 from a site in Culberson County, about 120 miles east of El Paso, is the first step in a project that will end with New Shepard, "a vertical takeoff, vertical-landing vehicle designed to take a small number of astronauts on a suborbital journey into space."<snip>  Blue Origin: http://www.blueorigin.com

(Both via Pournelle)

The Frogs have gone insane:

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1799


Last week, the Paris police issued a prohibition on the distribution to the homeless of soup containing pork meat or fat. According to the police authorities – the same ones who are incapable of restoring law and order in the Paris suburbs – distributing soup containing pork or lard is a racist offence since some people in need might be Muslim and hence not allowed to eat pork. Yesterday, however, an administrative court of first instance in Paris ruled that distributing pork soup is not racist. Today Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, told the Paris police to appeal the court ruling.

Pork has been on the European menu since time immemorial. In the winter of 2004 Solidarité des Français (SdF), a charity organization running a soup kitchen, began to distribute “soupe au cochon” (pork soup). SdF is a private organization and is said to be closely allied with “islamophobic” groups. According to critics it put pork soup on the menu to exclude Muslims. The organization says that the soup is a traditional French recipe with origins dating back to Gallic times. Even Asterix and Obelix ate pork soup.

On 28 December the Paris police prefecture issued a prohibition on the distribution of the soup, denouncing the “xenophobic character of a charity that excludes people of Jewish and Muslim confessions.” Paris police officers had to enforce the prohibition. This time the policemen did not need to enter certain Paris suburbs because the ruling sharia authorities in those no-go areas ensure that no pork soup is served there.

Yesterday’s court ruling, which again allowed the serving of pork soup, was criticized by Bertrand Delanoë. The Paris mayor said he was “astonished” to learn that the court tolerates an initiative which “knowingly excludes Jews and Muslims.” “Confronted with this xenophobic initiative, I want to express again that the city denounces and opposes every form of discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism,” the mayor said. He asked the police prefecture to appeal the verdict.

Frédéric Pichon, the lawyer of SdF said: “There has never been any discrimination. No-one has been denied the offer of soup on the basis of his clothes, appearance, religion or race.”

Mayor Delanoë is a Socialist and an outspoken homosexual. Religious Muslims oppose homosexuality at least as much as they oppose pork soup. If the mayor considers it a racist hate crime for a private organization to offer the homeless pork soup when some of the homeless might be Muslims, he may ponder the question whether it is not a racist hate crime for a city to have a gay mayor when some of the city’s citizens are Muslims.

As Molière said: “Je vis de bonne soupe et non de beau langage” (I live on good soup, not on fine words).

I've not yet followed the links.  But.  To the extent this is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it's anything but, this just plain sucks.  Maybe it's time to hang a couple of these bastards.

Go, read:

Via http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/view447.html#Wednesday

===================

from http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/
atlas_shrugs/2007/01/democrats_to_am.html

UPDATE Another FU.  More on the new fascism in America. This from a commenter at the Puff Ho (!) here via Jon;

Here's a luscious tidbit that Auntie Nancy wants to ram down your throat. Forget about grass roots lobbying or encouraging members of your organization to call or email your representatives in Congress. Doing so might cause an IRS audit or some government agents breaking down the door to your offices and confiscating your computers.

___

Some controversial features of the bill:

# It makes changes to the legal definition of "grassroots lobbying" and requires any organization that encourages 500 or more members of the general public to contact their elected representatives to file a report with detailed information about their organization to the government on a quarterly basis.

# Such report (above) would require, among other things, the detailing of the organization's expenditures, the issues focused on and the members of Congress and other federal officials who are targeted. A separate report must address each policy issue the group is advocating.

Causing additional heartburn among the critics is a broad exemption they say is wholly unfair and unbalanced. Significantly, the reporting requirement spelled out above would not apply to messages targeted at an organization's members, employees, officers or shareholders. In effect, this would let most corporations, trade associations and unions off the reporting hook.

William J. Olson, the co-counsel for the Free Speech Coalition, summarized his impression of how the unfairness would operate:

"The Public Citizen/Pelosi bill would allow corporations, unions and even foreign interests to spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars mobilizing their shareholders, officers, employees and members, yet hide those expenditures," Olson opined.

"On the flipside, their bill would require real citizen associations to essentially obtain Congress's consent to communicate about important policy matters that impact on them. It's not just the imbalance that is wrong; it's a frontal attack on the First Amendment and political speech," Olson concluded.

UPDATE: Jon did a little checking and provides these links for more  info on this issue: Shadow Monkey on Pelosi's attack on Grass Root group here. More from Human Events here and Forbes here.

We'll see...

We're still parked at North Ranch. http://www.escapees.com/parkpages/North%20Ranch/park13.asp

Yesterday we headed into town. I visited Duane at the gun shop I used to work at, and the guns he has stored for me. Went to the storg room and exchanged some stuff for...other stuff. Ran a couple of errands, the Quilter got her finger- and toe-nails sharpened, and back we flew, outta the urban glut. Ick.

Every time I go there I try to figure out a way to never go back. Surely would be nice. I've gotten to where anything more than about 870 folks in one place is just too many.

Today we went out into the desert and got lost. Not lost, lost, but kinda sorta turned around-ish lost. Dang map sure looks as if there should be a turn off, and there was an article in AZ Highways about the road we were trying to find, but we sure didn't find anything that appeared to be a road. At some time in the future maybe we'll look for it again, but it wasn't anything special, so I tend to doubt it.

We did, after giving up on finding the road we were looking for, get back to the highway and took the marked road to an old ghost town, Stanton. Mining folk and ghost town hunters will know of it. We passed through Stanton and traveled up the old road up the mountain to the small town of Yarnell, where we've been having mail general delivered. Deliveried. Sent.

All in all, a pleasant drive in the dusty ole desert after a boring drive to the stinky ole city...

Recently read this one and thought it was worth passing along. I feel better educated already....

If you don' t understand the Democrats ' version of tax refunds, maybe this will help explain it:

50,000 people go to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund was then due. The team was about to mail refunds when a group of Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out the ticket refunds based on the Democrat National Committee's interpretation of fairness. Originally the refunds were to be paid based on the price each person had paid for the tickets. Unfortunately that meant most of the refund money would be going to the ticket holders that had purchased the most expensive tickets. This, according to the DNC, is considered totally unfair. A decision was then made to pay out the refunds in this manner: People in the $10 seats will get back $15. After all, they have less money to spend on tickets to begin with. Call it an "Earned Income Ticket Credit." Persons "earn" it by having few skills, poor work habits, and low ambition, thus keeping them at entry-level wages. People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because it "seems fair." People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don ' t need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, they must not be paying enough taxes. People in the $75 luxury box seats will each have to pay an additional $25 because it's the "right thing to do." People walking past the stadium that couldn't afford to buy a ticket for the game each will get a $10 refund, even though they didn' t pay anything for the tickets. They need the most help. Sometimes this is known as Affirmative Action.

Now do you understand?

If not, contact Representative Nancy Pelosi, Senator Ted Kennedy or Senator Hillary Clinton for assistance

(Thanks, Mike)

More correctly, a year and a half in the life of two old, retired, homeless and unemployed folks living a vagabond existence in a house on wheels, aka an RV.

Or, how we've managed to live in a house of less than 400 square feet, and still have no extra holes in either of our bodies.  Amazingly, the Quilter has refrained from sticking me with pointy objects or using me for target practice.  How can this be, one might ask?  Perhaps I've not been trying hard enough, although she says I've been very trying, at times.

Since we're rapidly approaching the end of a year, my thoughts turned toward what the new one may bring, and what I'd like to do, see, accomplish and visit.  What have I enjoyed, and what would I like to change?

To recap.  Just about two years ago we found what we thought would be our perfect, or at least best choice, RV.  We'd made the decision a few years previous that we'd like to try living full-time in a recreational vehicle and travel to places that we'd either not yet visited or wanted to spend more time seeing.  We spent about six months getting the house ready to sell, loading up the trailer, and generally preparing to drive away from Phoenix, off to a new adventure.  The 27th of May, 2005 was the last day of school, and the Quilter's last day of work as a teacher.  We'd left keys to the house with the buyer previously, hooked the trailer to the pick-up and headed out. 

We made 45 miles that first afternoon, all the way across Phoenix.  After a brief stop in Apache Junction for a couple of days of decompression we headed for Texas.  Went to Abilene, looked at some property, did a few touristy kinda things, headed back to Phoenix.  The Quilter had a date in California, so she picked up her car and headed to that...place, while I headed up through Utah and Idaho to Oregon for a stop at the manufacturer's plant to have a couple of issues tended to.  Then on to Washington, where we met up again and had a visit with one of her friends from the Phoenix area who'd previously moved there after retiring.

We then drifted across Washington, Idaho, Montana, bought some (small piece of) property and established domicile in SD.  We then drifted down through CO and into NM, hanging around in Chama for a month, then into AZ.  New Year's found us in Tucson. 

We then traveled via the Escapees RV park, Dream Catcher in Deming, NM and into the lower Rio Grande valley, where we stayed for a month.  Thence to Livingston, TX, to the Escapees mecca, Rainbow's End.  After a brief stay, it was off to Auburn, AL, to enjoy an evening of torrential rain and threatening tornadoes, then on to stops in TN, VA and into PA.  After a visit there we headed westward, through WV and a visit there, then on to the property in SD, where we sat for about 4 months of summer.

Summer came to a close and we were once more headed down the highway.  Pretty much direct to Chama, NM for a stay of about a month, then back down to the Phoenix metro area.  Had some work done on the truck, the Quilter's teeth, and bought a tripod satellite internet system.  The Quilter spent the last week of the year in Lake Havasu City with Fran, her California buddy.  We're at North Ranch, the Escapees rv park in Congress, AZ.  Got here late November, and we'll be heading out towards TX within the next few days.  After shop, trip to the storage room, fingernail sharpening (the Quilter's, not mine) and some other odds and ends.

Which brings us to...