the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

Tomorrow (11 November) is Veteran's Day . 

To all of those who have served their country \- my respect to you.  You did / do what most can't - or won't:  be prepared to give your everything for your people.  

...also you take it to the designated bad guys with a quickness and alacrity!

Let us also remember that the 11th of November is also known for the folly of ending a war on a cute date.  Horrible that operations continued up until the agreed on date.  Such is the folly of war.

Sincerest gratitude to the veterans of the US Military.  Thanks for everything you did, and everything you continue to do.  
 

State of the (Personal) Union: Parte Dos

The search for a new game for which to win bread is on, and it continues, albeit with little to show.  The job market is unrelentingly soft, unless, that is you are looking for part time or seasonal work.  This bodes poorly for the economy in general.  Not wanting to launch into a diatribe, but if wages continue to decline for most, the economy will continue to tank, faster and faster.  Companies are focusing so much on productivity, and keeping expenses and wages in check (as is their right as private entities) that they are squeezing ever more out of ever fewer people.  That, in conjunction with steadily expanding taxes and steepening inflation, is destroying the middle class. What solution do I have for our current system? I don't, and neither does anyone else.  More regulation?  Tried it - failed.  Less regulation?  Tried that - got corrupt, failed.  I, along with a goodly numbers of other far more qualified to opine, are coming to the opinion that the current system can't be fixed. The future will get interesting, at a faster and faster pace. 

Long story short - I am owed nothing.  I owe loyalty to only those who owe loyalty to me.  I have to do a better job of not carrying water, saving the bacon, for people who don't care about me in any other way than what water I carry or bacon I save.  If I do a job, I need to be paid.  At this point in my life, with the other opportunities that are possible, I need hourly pay, and a flexible schedule.  The salary I am currently paid?  On paper, it's great!  But, if you were to calculate what I make with all of the overtime I work, I make less than minimum wage.  I need to be able to have time to enjoy my family and not think about work all of the time.  I need to have an employer that might actually ask me how I am once (not once in a while, but my direct report, a person I was a friend to, and helped build a business hasn't had a personal conversation with me in over two years that I haven't initiated). 

There, I feel better getting that out there to you, gentle reader.  Am I whining?  Maybe a bit, sure.  But I need to get this out into the universe - to manifest my intentions - this is the mostly anonymous way i have chosen to do it. 

Not the only reason I started hashing this blog post out.  I wanted to say that the future is still a bright one.  Opportunities abound, I just have to work harder to seize them.  I also realize that I need to have the time and mental discipline to do this more.  To create, to opine, especially if no one, or a very few, ever see it.  

So there it is, that's it in a nutshell. 

Crazed American, out.

State of the (Personal) Union

Sorry for the dearth of posts, dear imaginary readers (or spambots from Russia). 

The Crazed American is coming to the realization that either I have made some serious career related mistakes, or I just need to do a better job in interviews. 

Also, my current situation is also revealing truths about the current state of the American Economy. 

Prices are up, wages are WAY down, no question.  Employers are asking for and apparently getting people to do work for way less than they used to.  I want to work for myself and want to move in the direction of self employment.   I'm old enough to admit, that I'm not an idea man, but I am one HELL of an implementer.  Therein lies the rub.

Anyone have any ideas? 

Got to keep positivity in my thoughts.  Have to keep plugging away.  Have to make a change for the better, even if the better is only the environment in which I toil.  I thank heaven for my wife and my daughter, my family near and far.  I am thankful for the BaseCamp, and the wealth I currently enjoy.  I admit, I'm whining and quibbling about details.  I want to find a new day job, one that suits me better than the one I currently have.

We'll see.  This week hopefully will bear fruit!

Mazeltov,

Crazed American, out.

So what happens...?

...  When the Syrians turn over all of their Chemical weapons?

I'm sure the Russians will be more than happy to release batch and date codes.  

Putin might just love the resultant loss of American face if the Syrian weapons are actually Iraqi, or worse, American weapons, given to the Iraqis. 

Why else is good ol' Bashar in such a hurry to get rid of his most powerful deterrent and leverage?  Could be he knows that after he "turns them ALL in". He can use them, but what if he knows that the Obama administration got backed into a corner by Kerry and Obama being rather dumb.  

This could really torpedo American credibility which is already taking on a lot of water.  

Interesting to think about the possibilities... Really wishing the Obama administration would really think before they make grand pronouncements.  

Do not construe this as me saying the Republicans would do an even remotely better job.  John McCain is a stooge who should be voted out of office.  Mitt Romney might have been "see which way the wind blows" enough to gauge the opposition to action, but who knows?

We'll see... 

Who said this?

I might have just changed two names in it.

Follows:

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.
What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income — to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear — I suffer no illusions about Bashar al Assad. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Syrian people, would be better off without him.
But I also know that Assad poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States or to his neighbors, that the Syrian economy is in shambles, that the Syrian military is a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Syria will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Syria without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaida. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

Stand now...

As a student of history, I cannot view the events in Russian any other way: first, they'll come for the LGBT, there will be another group, and another, and another. When politicians and state sanctioned media outlets start talking like this, cattle cars and "camps" aren't far behind. A line must be drawn. Boycott NBC, Soichi, the IOC and any company, or person and celebrity that supports them. Stand now, or sons and daughters will stand later.

Honestly, the rights of people trump the "right" athletes have to compete. Sorry.

I'm going to use any avenue I have to stake a stand against this.

 Even the Third Reich observed the Spirit of the Olympics and let the "UnderMenchen" compete in 1936...  The Russians have stated that any Gay Athletes, supporters, or staff that show up will be imprisoned.  

 Does America have a perfect stellar record of upholding LGBT rights?  Hell, no.  Better than Russia, though.

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/gay-peoples-hearts-unsuitable-for-life-says-head-of-russias-state-controlled-tv-news/politics/2013/08/10/72922

Big day, tough day

Saw behind the veil.  Decision made.

Best commentary on the gun debate - EVER.

Cogent, thoughtful and nails just about every point I could try to make.

Go here.  

Read it, then check out the comments.  Puts a finger on the pulse of things.  Totally worth your time.

But it could never happen here!

First it was Cyprus.  Now, Ireland.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-04-23/forewarned-irish-savers-have-just-been-cyprusd-and-theres-much-more-cyprusing

It will happen here.  But here they'll start with a nationalized retirement plan.

Sickening.

Crazed American, out.

http://politicker.com/2013/04/bloomberg-says-post-boston-interpretation-of-the-constitution-will-have-to-change/

"In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday the country’s interpretation of the Constitution will “have to change” to allow for greater security to stave off future attacks.

“The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,” Mr. Bloomberg said during a press conference in Midtown. “But we live in a complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”

No

Quote of the day

I like George Takei, but I find it amazing that somebody who has been personally put into an internment camp by his government can hold the position that only the government should have guns.

Marko Kloos

Via Smallest Minority

While everyone was waiting...

... for the last of the Chechnyan / Dagistanian commandos to be killed or apprehended, this happened:

http://www.zdnet.com/cispa-passes-u-s-house-death-of-the-fourth-amendment-7000014205/

Pretty much legal cover for unfettered surveillance.

Let it be known.  The Marathon Bombings might be viewed as the historical turning point, where the gloves came off and the existing police state have begun to flex their muscles.

I will begin the process now of weaning myself off of the "voluntary tracking / intelligence gathering tag" - i.e. my smart phone.

The kimchi's getting pretty deep.  All of these coincidences are quite implausible.

Crazed American, out.

Attention: Echelon / CISPA Task Force:  Go Fuck Yourselves.

Backpedaling

A while back I posted this:  http://troaca.blogspot.com/2013/03/yep-i-crazed-american.html

It was all about my admiration for Senator Reid.

I take it all back.  Perhaps he still respects the civil rights enshrined by the Bill of Rights - and is just playing harball politics.  Too f---ing bad - I don't care.  Tired of politics.  Throughout history - imagined tyranny has had a very bad habit of cropping up as quite real tyrrany, given the room to flourish.  I don't even own any "assualt weapons"...


REID: In the 1920s, organized crime was committing murders with machine guns. So Congress dramatically limited the sale and transfer of machine guns. As a result, machine guns all but disappeared from the streets. We can and should take the same common-sense approach to safeguard Americans from modern weapons of war.

That is why I will vote for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons ban – because we must strike a better balance between the right to defend ourselves and the right of every child in America to grow up safe from gun violence. I will vote for the ban because maintaining law and order is more important than satisfying conspiracy theorists who believe in black helicopters and false flags. And I will vote for the ban because saving the lives of young police officers and innocent civilians is more important than preventing imagined tyranny.


Fuck tyrants, be they real or imagined.

Crazed American, out.

Attacked... and the usual suspects are back out

Someone or a group of someones or groups of someones are attacking the US as you read this.

Boston, attacked like so many other cities - innocent people killed and maimed.

Our leadership in Washington is under attack from Ricin laced letters.

Meanwhile people from the right and the left are out decrying the other and throwing blame around with little to no information.

We are a damaged, divided country.  G-d help us.

I weep for the pain that has been suffered, I fear for the nation I love.

I will not yield one inch of freedom, one iota of our imperfect yet noble union.

I and my fellow Americans are resolute and strong.

You can only kill us.  You cannot defeat us.

Crazed American, out.

Korea

On or about today, Son of Mr. Ronery (Ronery Jr.), has threatened to touch off a few medium range missiles and a few intercontinental ballistic missiles as well.

We'll see.

In preparation for the fireworks (hopefully all bluster), read this excellent post on Korea, from someone who was there:
http://thecluemeter.blogspot.com/2013/04/korea.html

via Tam

Giving it a try

So, since 2002 I've been writing a book.   I'm about 300 pages into it.

This week I begin the act of self publishing.

http://onceuponempire.blogspot.com/

Once Upon Empire.  A tale of conflict and the end of hegemony in the near term.

If people put eyes on it, I might just have to put an audiobook together for sale.  We'll see.

Few pages at a time.

I gotta get it out there, before it comes true.

Give it a look, won't you?

Crazed American, out.

and... we're done!!

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/08/us-wont-be-returning-to-moon-nasa-chief-says/?intcmp=features#ixzz2PszH1DHe

So NASA won't be going back to the moon.

I'm so angry right now, I could spit.

Someday, the US government will have to get to the moon.  They'll hopefully be catching a ride to the moon on a privately owned launch system.

We won't be going to asteroids or Mars either.

The Russians, Chinese, or a private company might.

NASA is a dinosaur.  Not a live, fearsome one - it's a museum piece of a failing state.

Now I'm REALLY grouchy.

Crazed American, OUT.

A letter to a friend (North Korea - gaming)

He posed a question to me:

Suppose the North Koreans (NorKs) wanted to really crimp our style in the Pacific, re: Power Projection (hitting Navy and Air Force).

They'd throw a couple of Crude atom bombs in a couple of merchant ships and get them near Guam, Diego Garcia and Yokohama, Japan.

Follow my response down the rabbit hole:


Been following that curve all the way down a very deep and dark rabbit hole.

Two DPRK subs are also unaccounted for.

Also, remember in December when they launched a satellite?  We immediately said it was tumbling, out of control. Fail, DPRK?

Not so fast...
http://n2yo.com/?s=39026

Not bad for a failed satellite, big enough to contain a significant thermonuclear warhead. Polar orbit, it passes over the US 2-3 times a day.  250- 500 kt detonated at 300 miles above Nebraska, it would result in a High-energy ElectroMagnetic Pulse event (Compton Scattering Effect - thanks physics) which would render the US power grid DEAD for months / years (would take a while to replace every transformer, relay and substation in all three of the US's electrical grids).

That, in conjunction with some timely merchant ships spontaneously fissioning in a few pacific ports, Guam, Diego Garcia and Yokohama, Japan (Home port of the USS George Washington), and an all out artillery barrage on Seoul, and the surrounding installations, SF raids on targets deeper in South Korea, you have the makings of a damn depressing 2013.

Hit the bases at Guam, Diego and Yokohama, and you pretty much negate the majority of air and naval capability for a while, at least until you can consolidate advances into SK.

But, going down the rabbit hole a little deeper: lets say that this war is the pretext of something larger, something more sinister, with strings being pulled by the greater power currently massing troops on the border of North Korea?  China wants no refugees, does not want the war to spread into the mainland of the Middle Kingdom.  What if the true goal is for the world to drastically reduce the power and power projection ability of the West (US and allies).  We're broke, in hock to them for trillions, and we'll never, ever be able to repay it.  How do they reduce the debt on their books and not have the Chinese population (Chinese save money and their savings are invested in American debt) rise up in revolt?  How to maintain the Mandate of Heaven?

I started writing a book back in 2002...  I'm about 300 and change pages into it...  deals with this very subject.

There's a bunch of ways this can go - none of them good. 10 April 2013 - the date the NorKs told the embassies all to be cleared out of Pyongyang.

I love history, but I'm realizing I hate living through the "big stuff".

We suffer the Chinese Curse:  We live in "Interesting Times"


Crazed American, out.

Rule 762 - Chinese Corrolary

Rule 762 - the Chinese will NOT allow 2-3 million desperate, starving, illiterate,cholera and dysentery laden North Korean Refugees into China proper.  They will be shunted off into internment camps, or...

Rule 762.

The 7.62x54mm Rimmed Cartridge is the Standard General Purpose Machine Gun round of the PLA.

War with South Korea and the US will cause a mass influx of starved, desperate people running into China.  The Chinese are taking steps...  

This is not going to end well.


Crazed American, out.

P.S.  Remember that "out of control", "tumbling" North Korean Satellite that they launched last month, then stopped reporting about?  

Polar Orbit, goes right over the United States a couple times a day...  Not saying it's the case, but I I were a cantankerous 20-something dictator and wanted to set the United States back a century, and kill 50-90% of the population within a year, and have my name echoed throughout history... That's what I'd do.

EMP, baby.  Not saying it's going to happen, but it might.

OMG!!! THE BLUE HELMETS ARE COMING!!!

...or how I learned to stop worrying and come to love the new Globalist Utopia.

Folks, the UN has released the final version of it's international arms trade treaty.

I have read it and I have come to the conclusion that it, and a buck, won't buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  It's the UN's version of Busywork for Bureaucrats.

I'm no legal scholar, not an expert in treaties, but the Crazed American does actually possess a piece of paper here in BaseCamp Ponderosa that indicates a certain place of higher learning in a far off, flat land conferred upon me a degree in International Affairs.  I wasn't a terribly good student, but I learned me some interesting knowledge.

Having read the firestorm of fear and paranoia coming out of the pro-gun press (of which I count myself part of, BTW), and having read the entire text of the treaty (twice), allow me to distill what I know about what this treaty means to anyone:

JACK-F---ING-S#!+

It has no teeth, can do nothing.  Even if it did authorize the UN to build a force to go into the USofA and confiscate all of it's scary weapons, what would be the result?  This will have zero effect on the global arms trade - legal or illegal.  It merely creates a new avenue for bribes from arms merchants to bureaucrats!  What do you think could happen? Some Belgian Blue-Hats would pour off of landing craft on the Atlantic Coast, and...?  What could they do?

We (pro-2A media) all need to take a deep breath on this.  This UN treaty is about the inter-State (national governments) transfer of arms.  Even if G-d Himself blessed the NGO bureaucrats with a window of non-corrupt and efficient thinking, how the h-ll could they accomplish such a thing?  They can't even come up with effective sanctions against Iran and North Korea.  Peacekeeping in Africa? Israeli / Arab relations? The UN is utterly incompetent, and above all, powerless.

As Star Trek fans (again, I count myself as one) will tell you:  we just ain't ready for global governance.   The Federation wasn't set up as a galactic government - it was a Federation of allied worlds that agreed on specific, terms and guaranteed specific freedoms.  As long as member worlds agree to protect the specific freedoms and play nice with the other members, they could do their own thing.

Some of you out there will wonder - What if they use the language of this treaty to further take away our Creator-Endowed Rights?  My response - what, like our own clowns in Washington construing the Constitution to allow drone flights and military operations and surveillance domestically?  Or the due-process-less incarceration of American Citizens?  Or the targeted assassination of American Citizens?Those things could never happen because we have a piece of paper, right?

All this treaty does is set up a bureaucracy none of the member states can afford.  So, they won't support it.  They'll pay it some lip service, they'll extract some fines from some violators - but nothing will happen.  It does not provide any mechanism, unless our own government does it, to restrict American's right to keep and bear arms.  The only people who can take our guns away is:  US.  Not the UN, not scared teenagers from Europe wearing fetching sky-blue helmets.

The Constitution, Articles of Federation, UN Charter, treaties of all sorts - they're all pieces of paper - social contracts - codified agreements between people.  They, like the people who sign them and the ideas they embody are not permanent, not immutable.

They all have to be renegotiated.  Those negotiations can either be nice and civil...  or bloody and terrible.

There is a foul portent of the future, of the "civilized" world.  This treaty ain't anything to worry about.
There's much bigger fish to fry,

MOLON LABE,

Crazed American, Out.

Yep, I, the Crazed American...

...am a fan of Senator Harry Reid.

If the legions of loyal Crazed American readers will recall:
http://troaca.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-law-of-unintended-consequences-of.html

Now:  The travesty that was Senator Feinstein's patently un-Constitutional gun-grab is pretty much, as promised DOA - it can be reintroduced as an amendment.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2013/0319/Assault-weapons-ban-now-unlikely-to-pass.-What-happened

I stated that Senator Reid ain't such a bad guy.  He has a solid record of defending the Second Amendment.  Before I have stated that I disagree with 99% of everything he does. No longer true - we'll call it 75% (and that would go to 50% if he could get the Senate to start pushing to pass a budget).  He is between a rock and a hard place.  He is a politician, so there is that.  I'll not say a bad thing about him and will now defend him in front of my "less than open minded" associates.

Today is a good day,

Crazed American, out.

UPDATE!!

I take it all back.  He's an idiot.  Throughout history - imagined tyranny has had a very bad habit of cropping up as quite real tyrrany, given the room to flourish.

REID: In the 1920s, organized crime was committing murders with machine guns. So Congress dramatically limited the sale and transfer of machine guns. As a result, machine guns all but disappeared from the streets. We can and should take the same common-sense approach to safeguard Americans from modern weapons of war.

That is why I will vote for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons ban – because we must strike a better balance between the right to defend ourselves and the right of every child in America to grow up safe from gun violence. I will vote for the ban because maintaining law and order is more important than satisfying conspiracy theorists who believe in black helicopters and false flags. And I will vote for the ban because saving the lives of young police officers and innocent civilians is more important than preventing imagined tyranny.

Yesterday, Cypress...

Today:  NEW ZEALAND

I'm telling you, folks.  If you don't have tangibles, then physical cash becomes king.

They're talking that they can't figure out the mechanism to sidestep standard FDIC-style banking rules and insurance.  Deposits under EUR 100,000 are safe, supposedly...  For now.  So the rich, investor class is going to get hit for 10% (at least, for now).

Someone want to clue me in on how 1) this helps, or 2) it ever gets better before complete default?

It ain't all us, Americans.  As bad as we think we have it, the rest of the world is worse.

Ay Caramba.

Crazed American, out.

Thread-bare...

When this happens... you're pretty much f---ed.   Writing is officially on the wall.

All people in Western countries take note.  When your government gets broke enough, you will be on the hook for the butcher's bill.

So understand what it means.  The Cypriots are so broke, that in order for the other nations of the EU to continue to prop up their floundering economy, the banks in Cyprus have to impose a 10% "tax" on all bank holdings.  That's right, if you had any money in the bank, gathering a criminally small amount of interest, over the weekend, the government ordered the banks to pony up a 10% haircut on all of it.

Hey, fellow Americans - before you get that Smuggy McSmuggerSmug look on your face, know this - when they do it here (and they will do it) they won't hit bank accounts first.  They'll hit investments and especially 401K's and IRA's.  Look for there to be an announcement of a new Federal 401K / IRA like plan to be announced shortly.

Me?  I got out of the market and cashed out the 401K long ago - 2007, before the crash...  best decision I ever made.  Cash ain't bad.  Old fashioned devices like CD's ain't bad.

Stay frosty, friends.  This is not a good development.

Crazed American, OUT.

Intolerable Acts

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/fl-helium-balloon-environmental-crime-20130222,0,3220328.story

This man released a dozen or so Helium ballons as an act of love.  He has been charged with a FELONY act.

At what point, do we as a liberty-loving people say: ENOUGH!

In early American History Indentured Servants had to give between 10-25% of their income to their master.

What's your nominal tax rate?

It is said that every American adult commits an average of three felonies a day.

Yet we need more laws?

Real Change is needed.

The system is working!...?

This Crazed American, spawned in the beautiful, rolling, oppressed lands of the upstate area formerly known as the Can-tu-Kee (Everything West of the Hudson River), but currently known as Upstate New York, is happy to witness opposition to an ill-conceived and rushed series of edicts rubber-stamped by the New York Assembly.

http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/legislature-poised-call-repeal-cuomos-gun-control-law/36188

Genessee County, and the majority of New York Counties - GOOD ON YOU.

This is how the system is supposed to work, no matter the issue.  State and Federal Governments should not be able to run rough-shod all over the will of the people. The New York SAFE Act was rammed through the process - to the point that, in the race to be "FIRST!!"  Gov. Cuomo's legislation didn't even take into account that the law didn't even provide exemptions for law enforcement officers.  If the New York SAFE act served one purpose, perhaps it was getting the people of New York (not City, that's it's own world)to realize, that hey, we have county governments and we might be able to remind people who seem to think themselves more enlightened and our betters, that we do have a voice.  Also, people might realize that maybe, just maybe, we don't need all of this "sterling" "leadership".

So let's see how this goes.

Crazed American, out.

So, there's this...

 http://www.universetoday.com/99890/scientist-explains-the-weird-shiny-thing-on-mars/

The article is interesting.  Comments are where the gold is:  people calling out NASA for being at best obtuse, at worst covering up.

I love how the article shows examples "similar" on earth that are not remotely similar...

 Why not get the rover over to it and take some damn samples?!?

AAAHHHH!!! I AM TIRED OF THEM TREATING US LIKE IDIOTS.

If it's nothing, take the damn "Curiosity" over to it and, oh, I don't know, be CURIOUS!!  Prove to me that it's nothing.  Or, we'll just treat it like every other "Light and Shadow" anomaly that might be something.  

It's called science for a reason.  You have the most capable autonomic device in history RIGHT FUCKING THERE!! Go over to it, look at it with the chem cam, get right up next to it.  

If you don't then the conspiracy theories abound.  Kill a few of the theories, please.  Prove us wrong.

Unless you can't and that's the whole point. 

Crazed American.  Out.

Hypothetical Mind Exercise - The American Schism

***  NOTE: THE FOLLOWING DOES NOT CALL FOR ANY OF THE MEASURES SET FORTH, RE: THE POLITICAL DISSOLUTION OF THE AREA FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  IT IS MERELY THE MUSINGS OF AN AMERICAN CITIZEN AND SHOULD FIND PROTECTION UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. ***

Vis a vis, the 1st Amendment says that I can also just say:  fuck you Echelon or whatever you're called now-a-days (algorithm on a server in Bluffdale, UT) - that's why.

OK kids, time to bring this up the topic of what comes after, again, and it's looking more and more reasonable every G-d-damned day.  I know this is not the first time I've brought this up, so I'll refund you what you paid to read this... that's right, nothing.

No one can deny this formerly United States of ours is beginning to fray a bit about the edges.  In every locale there are those who want to tell other how to live.  I am struck by this.  I want to tell no one how to live.  Friends of mine, people I respect, are showing STUNNING levels of hypocrisy.  A proudly gay man that I know and am happy to call my friend, is stridently for the equal rights for all (as am I), but in the same breath tells those of us who own firearms: you should be registered like sex offenders.

What say we look at this from a hypothetical standpoint.  I, as stated before, am an American without a political party.  I feel unrepresented.  I am a liberty minded, equal rights proponent who believes in small government, small taxes, and maximum freedom.  I believe that if I want to drive my gas guzzling truck to a 7-11 and buy a 64 oz soda, I should be allowed to.   Also, if my doctor decides that painkillers are what I need, they should not be rationed by non-medical bureaucrats.  I think government should no be involved in the marriage business. I KNOW I am not alone in my political feelings.

I believe in due process of law.  I feel the law should be enforced equally to all people.  If something is illegal, then the criminal that performs said act, no matter their position or political standing (NBC's David Gregory and his DC Illegal 30 Round AR15 Magazine) should ever receive an exemption.  There can be no exemptions from law.  If a law requires an exemption, it is a bad law, and should be stricken.  If there are exemptions to laws, then selective enforcement is automatic.  Selective enforcement of law is TYRANNICAL by nature.  Those in power will selectively allow the law to be applied for political gain.  In modern America this happens all too often.

Currently, the two political parties are simply Pro-Statist. There is no difference between the two of them, except one is Anti-Gun, and the other is anti-Abortion and anti-gay.  Both want to limit choice and limit freedom.  Both are about the exertion of control over the population.  Fuck 'em both, I say, in the common vernacular.

What about those of us out there who just want to be left alone?  What if these political issues are insurmountable  and the controls some want to put into law are intolerable to some of us.  How do we go our own way?  Put us in KZ and reservations?  What if we tried to split up amicably?

I see it happening that the USA will, over the next few years, unless acted upon by some natural or unforeseen geo-political calamity, dissolve into 3 or more disparate units.  I see the USA continuing on, in the blue state model, of New England, NewYork, New Jersey, Maryland, and parts of Eastern Pennsylvania.  They'll be along the statist, semi / soft socialism model that currently permeates those governments.  New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine "might" eke out it's own existence, since they are more liberty and accountable government minded, but the proximity to the more (currently) economically powerful states like MA and CT might keep them in check.  the great Lakes states, to include Michigan and Illinois will also be part of this coalition.  Their Constitution will be the original document with it's modern interpretation.  They will be for higher taxes and more government services and safety nets.  (Which in the interest of full disclosure, I find rationally unsustainable).

The next major block I see forming is the new Texas Federation, following along greatly within the former states of the Confederacy (Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana).  Also adding into his block will be Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, the inter-mountain states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Idaho, portions of Colorado (West of the City-Sate of Denver).  Areas of Eastern Oregon, Washington and Northern California will be added quickly.  Norther provinces of Mexico might petition for entry into the Federation.  It would not be outside the realm of possibility to see the Western Canadian provinces to petition membership.   Based solely on current and near term economic projections, the States in my proposed Federation, will continue to be the economic powerhouse that they currently are.  The Constitution of the Federation will be a more literally interpreted US Constitution.  They, according to current rhetoric and political atmosphere, will be more a proponent of liberty, with smaller taxes, and fewer services.

The mid-Atlantic states are the toss-up.  Ohio, Kentucky, the Carolinas, the Virginia  even into the Missouri and even eastern Colorado.  They represent a good deal of resources (tax-base) and agricultural wealth to whatever country they end up being a part of.

I would hope that the schism could be reached amicably. Why shouldn't it - as the debt load we are assuming eventually will cause a default anyway?  Each of the new countries would create a new currency, the basis of a new economy.  Those enlightened new founding fathers and mothers hopefully would forgo the influence of the modern international banking cartel, but who knows... those bastards have more than a little responsibility in the mess we are currently in.  Each of the former states of the union assume all of the infrastructure and military assets contained within their borders.  Of course, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas could become the most powerful nation on Earth, when you takes the missile fields into account.

hahahahaha...  I really crack myself up sometimes...  It won't be amicable, it won't be nice.  Object lesson of the 1860's provided in many history books for you.

My point is this, this country as we know it is only here for a limited time.  It, like every other creation of man has a finite life.  What comes next?  When?  To assume the Experiment of the USA would continue into the infinite, especially in it's current, corrupt form, is illogical at best, delusional at worst.

I still believe in American Exceptionalism  but America has never been perfect.  Slavery and resultant racism was a blight for the majority of our history.  Various groups put down by the evil majority of democracy (I believe pure democracy is just as evil, if not more, than other forms of government, 'cause in a pure democracy, the majority - ethnic, religious, economic - always rules).

So I ask you, dear reader...  Even if it involved moving, where would you like to live?  The Free City-State of Miami? The Democratic Republic of Los Angeles?  The Republic of Deseret, of the Texas Federation?  The Duchy Of Duluth?

Just some musings on a Thursday night and a Friday morning...

More to follow...

Business in the XXIst Century, Part III

Well, I had a good long post all sketched out...  then I saw an incredible piece in Forbes.

Sums it up.  You also know you're in trouble when you find yourself and the majority of your coworkers in this list.  Leadership and Loyalty are absolutely a two way street.  You cannot have loyalty unless a good leader inspires it.  You cannot have effective leadership, unless you have loyal followers, willing and able to be led.  You can lead through fear, shaming and  intimidation, but only for a short while.  Your people will either rise up and quit, in the case of the modern workplace, or set you up for humiliating failure.

Personal anecdote:  It is never a good sign when pointing out the disparity between two operating groups of the company to joke that the entrance door to where the downtrodden toil should be ensconced with the words, "Arbeit Macht Frei", and the Human Resources Director, after inquiring what it translates into (Work Makes You Free), has to be explained as to why that's not a good idea...

Oh, historical context...

Then I notice another stellar article in Forbes, this one dealing failures and misconceptions in leadership.

Then this one that talks about the 7 most common habits of ineffective corporate "Leaders".  This one sticks with me because it's astounding that the companies I have worked for that eventually failed, all failed when their "leaders" started crossing these off as "accomplished"...
Read up folks...

Crazed American, out!

Change of pace - still outrage, though...

THIS IS WRONG.

Sums it up.  So you want to clone an Neanderthal? Great.

This child, when born, will be literally a science project.  They will always be at the beck and call of scientists.  They will never truly understand freedom.  He or she will have thoughts, feelings, a life.  He or she will grow up at a rate we have no concept of.  They will be able to speak.  They will be able to want - what if they are wired to find us ugly?  Will they be able to live freely, own a house, a car?

What fucking right do we have to do this?  They won't be a person, will they, what being a different species and all...  Hate to get all Jurassic Park preachy, but this is a BAD, BAD thing.  Let's say the child is born, shows incredible intelligence and superb physical ability.  Why not grow a couple thousand more and equip them to fight America's wars.  Drones are one thing, but Cloned Neanderthal?  Still not actual people doing our killing for us.  Awesome.

Stop the world, I wanna get the fuck off.

Pissed,

Crazed American, out.

Mark your calendars

“Make no mistake about it, everyone. I repeat, make no mistake about it, the  number of gun deaths in New York State will decrease because of the bold actions we take today,” Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) said.

Okey-dokey.  Actual facts.

I am sad that the Government of the State of New York decided to do this - in the dead of night.  If it's so important, if it's so critical, why not take your time, why not persuade us?

It ain't about guns.  It's all about control.

Interesting times.

Crazed American, out.

The law of unintended consequences... of law?

CNN Video here

Schadenfreude?  Pelosi: We have to pass the bill to find out what's in it.

ObamaCare forbids firearms registration?!

Senate amendment 3276, Sec. 2716, part c.  

"‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON DATA COLLECTION.—None of the
authorities provided to the Secretary under the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act or an amendment made by that
Act shall be construed to authorize or may be used for the
collection of any information relating to—

‘‘(A) the lawful ownership or possession of a firearm
or ammunition;
‘‘(B) the lawful use of a firearm or ammunition; or
‘‘(C) the lawful storage of a firearm or ammunition."

Thinking Harry Reid ain't such a bad guy - I mean I disagree with 99% of him otherwise... What else is in that damn law?

So the next time you are in a doctor's office and they ask you about guns in your home, unless you know them personally and they are trying to buy an early Mauser from your collection, you can refer them to the above statue, or tell them that you have no evil, icky guns.

Senator Harry Reid, whether or not his position has changed, did us a solid by putting that little nugget of an amendment in there.  

CRAZED AMERICAN, out. 

Dictation

The Vice President, has stated that the administration can and will take unilateral action on a Constitutionally protected, FUNDAMENTAL right.

This would be bypassing Congress, and spitting in the face of the third branch of government, the Supreme Court, which has ruled TWICE to uphold the individual right to keep and bear arms.

Some readers (if I had any) might say, "hey Crazed American, they're just going to ban certain kinds of weapons and magazines.  They won't do away with all of them!"

Why in the name of G-d would I ever trust this government to stop there, if they are going to unilaterally decree that legally owned, possessed and licensed things are illegal???  Also, please see NDAA, Patriot Act, illegal detentions, the Drone War, etc.

Also, they'll figure out that a .223 AR-15 is shit compared to a .264, .270, .308, .30-30, .30-06, etc...

I'd be equally mad if they just decided one day to outlaw gays, abortions, Jews, veterans, or **insert name of group or activity not 100% loved by everyone**, BY UNILATERAL DECREE.

As a law-abiding citizen, presented with a law passed by the Congress and our nominally-representative officials, that's one thing.  I will rail, I will spew invective, I will work to get an unjust law overturned.

But obey a decree by the Executive Branch, that bypasses the Congress, AND the Supreme Court?  That comes from outside the system, and ignores our very governmental process.

Some would say that the Administration is no longer governing, they are literally RULING BY DECREE.

That is an illegal, and immoral action.  It cannot be obeyed.

Dangerous ground, folks.

CRAZED AMERICAN, out.

Tri-cornered hats on standby...

Took place - January of last year:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/05/us-shooting-utah-idUSTRE8040FO20120105

One pot-using and asleep criminal (who was also a veteran of the US Army) vs. Narco-Strike Force

I am of the mind that resistance to gun seizures would overwhelm and stop measures to seize guns. The government knows this.

This was ONE vet, who was illegally growing (and using) pot - no value call - those things are illegal.  He had a Beretta 92F (for the uninformed - a 15 shot 9mm self loading pistol - standard issue pistol of the US military).

No-knock warrant was served, by a law enforcement anti-narcotics "Strike Force".  They were all kitted up (body armor)and had massive fire superiority (M4's true, select fire assault rifles, shotguns and .40 cal Glocks - more powerful than the 9mm at least objectively).  

The criminal (and he is a criminal - I do not excuse his conduct, just using it as an example - he was growing for distribution and using a illegal drug), was awoken from sleep by the police smashing his door in.  

Skip to the end?  Five officers seriously wounded and one dead.  

One vet, non-combat arms MOS, one pistol - think he was Signal Corps.  No insult intended to SC - the SC guys I knew were good soldiers and communicators - just that most of them spent their time playing video games and calling their girlfriends in their air conditioned Humvees... They didn't get a lot of range time, and no advanced pistol training was given to SC soldiers (or anyone else for that matter).  Most soldiers, sailors, Marines and Airmen are not hard-charging killing machines.  Most of them are technicians, doing things that do not require guns.  A very few veterans have any meaningful "killing skills".  Even fewer know anything about CQB and MOUT.    There are more civilians out there with more meaningful "combat", "non-permissive, disruptive environment" training out there, than one cares to contemplate.  Assuming you could get everyone working (from Green Beret to Office Manager to landscaper to dog catcher) for the .gov to drop their office job, and pick up an M4 to raid the homes of law-abiding gun owners, after a handful of instances with results like these, you'd get a lot of resignations.  

Understand that a goodly percentage of .gov employees are law-abiding gun owners.  A not-unsubstantial number of those people would refuse the unconstitutional, unlawful, and immoral orders.  

Point is:  the Government has to think that registering / confiscating the weapons of people (combat vets or just armed citizens) might be a fools errand.  Imagine sending a Strike Force like that against someone with a touch of training and an M1A?  168 Grain FMJ vs. body armor at 10-20 feet?  The .gov has to take that into account!

I'm hopeful that reason will prevail.  

Contact your representatives.  Contact the White House.  Make noise.  Let your voice (no matter where you stand on the issue) be heard.  

My favorite Englishman...

...Jeremy Clarkson.

...apparently broke his finger punching my least favorite Britisher in the face.

Some say he downshifts only when he's near a Prius to watch them cry for Gaia.

I love that guy.

The Economy Sucks in Argentina?!

Then it must be time to rattle some sabers!!

By way of the Telegraph, this link speaks on a subject I do know something about...

So the economy sucks, future is bleak in Argentina, so what does Madame Kirchener decide?  Let's take back islands that haven't been ours in a couple of centuries, and we fought a short, and bloody war for back in the early 1980's.  Rattle sabers!

Granted, the nation Formerly Known as Great Britain, is in no shape to defend her possessions   There is a squadron of British fighters on the island, but the none-to-shabby Argentine Air Force and Naval Aviation, if done with a touch of the old commando style small unit airfield raid, get air dominance damn quick.

The Argentine's are no dummies.  They have a decent military, and I'm sure no one in Flag level positions in the Argentine chain of command didn't sit the 1982 war out.  Long story short, if the Argentines are willing to risk a bit, they could have those islands back, pretty damn quick.

The US President has also, through his use of the term Malvinas, and well known distaste for the British, indicated just where his administration stands.  Aside from it's submarines and a few surface ships, the UK can't project power.  No more carriers, no more carrier aircraft.

Unlike in 82, when Reagan helped out a bit, they shouldn't count on much from us, this time, NATO obligations included.

Interesting times, we'll see what happens...

Crazed American, out.

Business in the XXIst Century, Part II

This one is a quick one - but it's pithy.

If you cannot sum up your business idea in a single, simple sentence, it's too complicated.  Corollary = change is not always good, even when it's unavoidable - it should be MANAGED intelligently, never diluting the core business plan.

Practical example:  I have worked for a few companies that could, when I started with them, sum up their entire business plan in a single, clear sentence.  Over time, scope and mission creep began to set in, as the brains of the operations began to expand into other niches. Different niches translated into different requirements, which translated into more overhead and more payroll and people.

One business expanded their way into arrogant extravagance and ultimately bankruptcy, the other one "took it to the next level" which saw payroll expand by a factor of 2.6 and saw it's brand diluted and revenue drop by 10%.

Change has to be managed, especially in the current economic times.  It is going to get more and more expensive to have employees in the future, and the constant / infinite growth paradigm is being shown to be a falsehood, born by a very specific set of non-repeatable factors.

Next up, Loyalty: a two way street...

Crazed American, OUT