Remembering the Alamo

So this Thanksgiving weekend we did took a day trip down to San Antonio to visit the Alamo. On the way down we stopped at Buc-ee's Gas Station just outside of Temple, Texas. To say it's a Texas sized gas station is still not describing how big it really is. If you get to Texas, make sure to stop in.

After an hour inside, I finally convinced the girls to get back inside the SUV and get back on the road. Pro-tip, if you're traveling from the DFW area, to San Antonio, pay the toll and avoid driving through Austin. Ask. Me. How. I. Know.

180 years later people are still remembering the Alamo. I hope the men who gave their lives there in the cause of Texas independence know their sacrifice has become a beacon to the world I heard a half dozen languages being spoken, and from the looks of the folks I saw, another half dozen more were touring the grounds of fallen heroes. The Ideal that is Texas has always been one of the most powerful ideas to inspire Liberty, outside of the Revolution by the Founding Fathers. Being at the epicenter of it was humbling.

I tell my kids all the time that death is not to be feared, as we all die, what matters is how we lived. Treading that hallowed ground made that more real to me.

If you get a chance, go visit. The Riverwalk is a few short blocks away, and really is one of the most awesome downtowns you'll ever see.

The Impotence of Government

Yes, this too could be your Driver's License Photo

I worked as a CDL examiner for about a year in Oregon. It was an education on how oppressive Government, at any level can be. I saw rules followed simply to irritate or give a sense of power to the person behind the counter, versus taking care of the person who paid my salary. Don't get me wrong, I worked with really decent, good people in my office, but they were human.

It was most apparent in my training class in Salem. The instructor there told us if the final score on the test was within 5 points of passing, to deduct another 5 points just to make sure the test taker didn't push back on the score. Having a hatred of bad referees, and an overly active sense of fair play, I pushed back and told the instructor there was no way I was going to do this.

She told me I would, or that there'd be consequences for me. My time at the VA left me jaded to ominous threats, so I responded where in the regulations this directive was to be found, and that unless it was codified, the score the test taker earned was the score they'd be given. She left arrogantly, telling me that she'd get it in writing and insinuating that I could tow the line or be let go during the training if I didn't acquiesce. Having been looking for a job when I found that one, I resigned myself to my fate. She returned after lunch and without looking at anyone said that we were all free to give any score the test taker earned to them.

So why spend all this time relating this story under the picture of a lady with a colander on her head? I'm glad you asked. I have a good friend that recommended I read Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" and after reading it I realized how good the Left has become at forcing everyone else to play by the Rules, even when it seems ridiculous, case in point, after granting religious exemption to head garb in DMV photos, the Pastafarians sued for legal standing to do the same thing.

More and more folks on the right/libertarian/liberty factions are beginning to embrace this rebellion through rule following. I don't think my friends on the left understand what they've started in binding up multiple arenas of government. You're seeing the fruit of this with police officers who understand they can't be fired for writing reports, but can be fired for interacting with minorities, so to feed their families they're getting more and more content to use the rules to protect themselves, even as cities burn.

Combine the hamstringing of police (versus the call for a demilitarization, they're two very different things) with shrinking budgets do to growing costs and fading revenues and I think we're going to see more and more disparity in police outcomes (ie crime stats) in SJW cities (New York New Orleans, Baltimore, Chicago, etc), versus traditionally strong law and order cities (think Red South, mid-West, and intermountain West). This will lead to a hastening of productive citizens from those cities, decreased tax base, more crime, until you have more and more Detroit like failures of those cities.

Anytime you see your city, county, municipality, or even the Feds doing something silly, don't get mad, make them get into the weeds doing what their regulations say...

Letter to My Unborn Child

So a guy from the 1058th GTC loaded this video today: https://www.facebook.com/mbest11x/videos/764067707070232/

Even though I don't know if I'll ever meet you I just wanted to write my thoughts down. This message could also go to Jameson Maser and Mason Rynearson, since I love both of you boys like nephews.

Life changes after any time in a war zone. I came home questioning everything. For longer than I'd like to admit I was angry, adrift, and aimless other than basketball. Basketball had always been my sanctuary, and in a lot of ways it became my confession box and my temple. I threw myself into coaching.

By chance, if not Providence, I ended up at The College of Idaho. Coaching women's basketball was like learning to walk on your hands. Similar to what I'd always done, but completely different. I was never a very good X and O guy, but you were never going to outwork me. I recruited my butt off. I got lucky from time to time as well.

I ended up with some small town girls with hearts and motors that wouldn't stop. They made me learn how to communicate instead of yell. I was a broken man, and they loved me anyway. I let me ego lead instead of my heart when I left. Learn to not do that.

Even though it was time to go, I often wished I could have stayed, but it was time to put into action what I'd learned from them. I hope Libby will someday understand why I danced like no one was watching, because I know every kid who didn't come home was dancing his ass off with me. There's not a day that goes by that I don't smile because of them.

I coached men for a year as a head coach. I did it my way, with only one regret, keeping a kid I shouldn't have - but in giving him a chance he ended his career and left me free of my debt to the game. I've never once regretted leaving coaching men behind. It was time. My assistant coaches will never know how much they mean to me.

I spent the next three years paying back other veterans, as a County Service Officer and a Rater for the VA. I paid back a small portion of my debt to those who'd helped me when I came home. I suspect I'll be repaying that debt until my last day.

But I digress, what advice do I give to you.

Love with your whole heart. If they don't love you back, let them go their own way. I wasted so much time with unrequited love. It's better to be alone than experience the heartache of spending one day pining for anyone who doesn't reciprocate.

Love fiercely your friends. Those who we get to make of our tribe, or accept us into theirs, are owed your loyalty and respect.

Loyalty, honor, duty. These things matter more than life itself if the cause is just.

Liberty, once ensconced in your heart, soul, and mind, cannot be taken from you. I've know free convicts and imprisoned millionaires. Each person's right to live their life as they see fit, as long as it doesn't harm another is one of the bedrock principles of humanity. Help free people, not imprison them.

Family. It is our only hope of immortality on this plane. Nurture your children, nurture your neighbor, nurture your lands. Leave all you meet better than you found it.

Ride for the brand. Whether an itinerant cowboy, enlisted man, or titan of industry, be honest and loyal to whoever is scratching you a check. When it's time to leave, if you've lived and worked with integrity, you can go home again.

Laugh at yourself. No matter how bad of a man you are, there's someone who can end you. Be humble in victory, gracious in defeat. Life, if you're lucky, will give you equal parts of both. Dance like no one's watching when your heart is full.

Be kind. I've had to nurture this, as I'm a selfish person in nature. Work on your weaknesses and refine your strengths. Learn to be honest with yourself about both.

Never stop learning. Read the books wise men cite. Strive to make a better life for your children. Tell them you're sorry when you were wrong. Admit when you're wrong. Hold them to high standards. Try to not let them see how it breaks your heart when they cry. Let them see you cry.

Harvest game with them. Tell them that never once did you kill an animal without a pang of regret. Let them hear your thankfulness in the life of that animal feeding your tribe. Learn to shoot. Learn some men need to be killed. Know some men will never be able to pull that trigger. Pray you never have to.

Don't be afraid to fail. If I never get to meet you I hope someone from our tribe will tell you stories of my adventures. I lived all over America. I found honorable, wise men and women everywhere I went. You'll find whatever it is your heart seeks. Listen. God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Learn to tell a great story. As humans we honor story tellers in our DNA, for each of us that draws a breath, lives to learn to love, suffer, mourn, and celebrate is a survivor. Treat each person you meet as such.

Know that the way you view your conquests affects your life's path. You'll never regret making love to a person you care about, but to use another is an anchor your soul carries. Never let regret keep you from loving or being loved.

Tell your friends you love them. When you lose them, your heart will take solace or misery in this. Tell stories of your friends and tribe who left this plane before you. As long as stories are told we are immortal.

Use moderation in things that alter your consciousness. Forsake anything as soon as you feel a need for it.

Recognize the beauty of the world around you. Listen to the classics. Read Shakespeare. Go to plays, attend an opera, see a ballet, Visit other countries that your country isn't in the process of invading.

Get to know yourself. Know that noble honorable blood flows in your veins. Advance your family name in honor.

Team D Versus Team R

Honestly, I have no idea who reads the tripe I post, but to whoever you are thanks.

I've had the privilege to live in a lot of different places, and interact with a lot of different people. I've lived with a Russian from Siberia, a capitalist Swede, an indigenous Mexican, an Australian that made his holiday money snatching ostrich eggs, a Wiccan from east Texas, a Chinese kung fu student, a couple of stoners, and a first generation American via Haiti. The list is far longer, but I learned and grew much from knowing each.

Why does this matter? Everyone sees the world through the lens of their experiences. Living with folks who see the world differently than you and are willing to intelligently discuss their point of view forces growth. Early on in the internet I remember folks being excited about the international, border-less, censor-less exchange of ideas. Instead we got Facebook and the cacophony of like minded echo chambers or the vitriolic name calling found in the internet comment section. (In the interest of full disclosure, I would at some point like to be crowned King of the Internet Comments...)

We have 150 channels available, yet so rare is the good show we settle for background noise rather than interacting with friends, family, or literature. My friends on the Right are so up in arms over the Wildlife Refuge building takeover that many actually support this knuckle heads regardless of the facts. Any attempt at engagement or conversation with either my friends on the Right about this topic, or my friends on the Left about the #BLM movement immediately escalates to either Government Oppression or Governmental Oppression because race... Yet they'd never see anything in common with the other side.

As a geobachelor chilling on a farm I'm detached, and as such I see so much similarities from both sides. Poor people in America feel disenfranchised. Whether intuitively or consciously the middle class and poor in America know they game is rigged against them. The folks acting the fool in Harney County are outsiders, just like the folks in Ferguson and Baltimore. The anger of being dependent on Federal largess, and the shame that comes with subsidies, be they food stamps or grazing is real. Knowing that you could be on the street based on nothing more than the dictates of a faceless bureaucrat who doesn't answer to you or your community makes folks feel powerless.

Lawlessness is lawlessness. The gentlemen who took over the Refuge Center should be arrested and charged with criminal trespass, just as should the folks who took over public parks during the Occupy movement, just as students who take over college buildings, or loot CVS. I understand the frustration felt by each group, but to keep a Republic functioning it must be a nation of laws and not men. Right now we're headed towards a schism, best case the states just stop paying attention to federal laws they disagree with, worst case you get full blown civil war.

Interesting times.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

The trending hashtag on Twitter this morning was #OregonUnderAttack. Immediately my friends on the left began to make it about race. If those guys weren't white... Send in the SWAT teams... If they were Muslims they'd all already be dead (ask Hasan Nidal)... It was a pretty vitriolic topic.

In fairness I'd like to point out that as far as I remember the SWAT teams in both Ferguson and Baltimore weren't arresting anyone. They were acting the fool in Ferguson with bad tactics and worse made for TV sound bite optics, but busting heads and shackling folks they were not. Ferguson burned. Baltimore burned. I doubt the morons who've taken over a remote federal building in Harney County have burned a single building or looted any stores in Burns, most likely because they would have been shot immediately by the locals. For the record the Morons are not at all local, but I digress.

Lawlessness increases by the far right and left, yet overall crime rates continue to drop. Both sides of the political spectrum just see the misbehavior of their adversaries. Taking over the dean's office at Yale is no less a criminal act than taking over a federal building in the middle of nowhere. Having a rifle slung on your back should increase your punishment for said act, by the way, but all participants should be punished similarly. A civil society rests on the consent of the governed, as soon as the fringe on either side figures out they can do what they want, havoc will follow.

All three areas are poor (Baltimore, Ferguson, Burns). Abandoned by industry, though Burns feels as though the logging industry was destroyed by the EPA's Spotted Owl policy.  All three areas feel disenfranchised. What my friends on the left don't seem to realize is the same feelings of mistrust that spurred the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore can be seen in Harney County as well. The numbers I found listed the median income for a family in Harney County at around $38,000. What my friends on the left fail to realize is that if you take away the BLM/Forest Service/USDA (name your federal boogie man) employees and State Employees I'd bet that median salary goes down by at least 25%.

I've spent a fair amount of time in Harney County. It's a hard place to make a living. Hell, it's a hard place to stay alive 8 months out of the year. The weather is extreme, cold and windy in the winter, hot and dry in the summer with not much time in between seasons. High desert, dry, desolate. Your best and brightest leave and never look back. The ones left behind feel themselves under the thumb of the folks in Salem or worse yet, DC. For anyone being told how to live, or what you can or can't do on your property is infuriating. When it's someone who doesn't understand you or your home, looking down their nose at your poverty and lack of education it exacerbates the resentment of local ranchers, loggers, and outdoorsmen.

I think this must have been how the 1850's felt like. My friends on both sides of the political spectrum are getting more and more polarized towards one another. Both see the other as simply Other, Enemy, Less. After my time living all over the US I don't know how the Republic holds, short of a police state, from Balkanization. Interesting times my friends. Interesting times.