Dreams...

     I had two separate TERRIBLE dreams the other night.  The next night, as is my regular habit, I go to sleep trying to think of things I want.  Cool things.  Some big, lifelong goals.  Some small, that are easily within reach, but I don't have…

First is a cabin in the woods.  It doesn't have to be like the one in the picture…but near a lake would be nice, definitely secluded...

I like this, it looks like a retired Jedi lives there.

Maybe like this one...

Near trails...

…for this.

A barn is a must.  Mrs. Bannon says so…

…with space for a gym

…more like this.

A home library would be nice...

…with hidden room…




…and we will want to travel...

…nothing too fancy

Subtle….

I saw one like this for sale….but it had black racing stripes...

Finally…this one I have. But I want another one.

Fit for Duty...

The US Department of Justice is suing the State of Pennsylvania (…or 'Commonwealth' as they like to call themselves) because the physical fitness standards test discriminates against women.

They (the Federal Government) determined this because a higher percentage of male applicants passed the test than did female applicants.

Duh. It is a physical fitness test.  I'm just saying'…  However, check out the standards that the
Department of Justice requires below.  The point is that once again the Federal Government uses statistics to determine "discrimination," and once again the Federal Government does not compare against its own tests.

I will say this - the federal government lowered the standards for females, and all are not happy - Chicago FBI Analyst Sues FBI, Saying Fitness Test Biased Against Men.

PA Trooper Fitness Test (link):

Vertical Jump - 14 inches, 3 attempts
Agility Run - 23.5 seconds, 2 attempts
300 Meter Run - 77 seconds
Push-ups - 13 repetitions (no time limit)
1.5 Mile Run - 17 minutes, 48 seconds


Federal Government Fitness Test:

DEA (link)

Pull-ups - female minimum 10 (female pull-ups)
Sit-ups - female minimum 51 in two minutes
Push-ups  - female minimum 14 in two minutes
Shuttle Run - 28.1 
2 Mile Run - 17 minutes 56 seconds

* - You get ONE attempt, and you must do MORE than the minimum in several events to pass

FBI (link)

Sit-ups - female minimum 35 in one minute
300 Meter Run - female minimum 64.9 seconds
Push-ups - female minimum 14
1.5 Mile Run - female minimum 13 minutes, 59 seconds

* - You get ONE attempt, and you must do MORE than the minimum in several events to pass


Why would a PA Trooper need to be in good physical shape?

Free Gym Membership

Free Lunch...

From the Daily Kos:

"The good Obamacare news just doesn't stop rolling in…"

Is there any further evidence that they live in their own world, where the truth is what you want to believe?  They are touting the fact that allowing a "child" to stay on their parent's health insurance until age 30, is beneficial to the child in many ways.  I was going write quotes from the article, but they can pretty much be summarized as follows: Not paying for insurance saves you money, and having more money is good.

I will not mention the idiocy of having a "study" to prove that having more money will give you more "options."  Okay, I mentioned it.  I was once asked, "Dad, did you ever pay for something you didn't want to pay for?"  I wanted to put him on his short bus and send him away…but it was very profound.  I think I will ask this of people, and find out just which thing they were happy to part with their money the most?  Insurance is one of those things.  Health insurance is an easy decision…when you are in you 40's.  But at 23, I'm pretty sure I was indestructible.  (BTW, the first thing that I had to pay for that I really didn't want to was a dryer.  My first one came with the house - replacing it seemed VERY unfair.  I remember considering adding clothes lines in the back yard…)

Is it not clear to the Daily Kos that the price of the insurance coverage is not made up by insurance fairies, that the evil insurance company has bills to pay too, just like the Daily Kos does?  That the price of the insurance will go up enough to cover the added costs?

Then there is this tidbit:

"Then there's what the researchers call the "compensating differential theory," which basically says that employer based health insurance holds down wages, because benefits are considered part of compensation, younger people will have the opportunity to get into jobs that offer higher wages but not health insurance. They found, based on the states they reviewed, that women see a gain of about 3.1 percent in their wages from this effect while they have access to their parents' health insurance, and that increase continues even after they age out of that coverage. The increase for men is about 1.6 percent."

That was a study based on States that passed these laws.  Doesn't Obamacare CANCEL THAT OUT!?  An employer is not ALLOWED BY LAW to not offer health insurance!  Were they not listening to Nancy Pelosi?  They passed it, and they are ignoring what's in it!

I Wish...

My cellphone was supplied by my employer.  A certain component of my work (including my pay) requires that I am on-call 24/7/365.  However, there has been a cultural shift wherein the cellphone has created the belief that ANYBODY should be able to contact you ANYTIME.  And you have to answer, whether its a call, a text, an email - nobody believes that you do not have your phone with you.

In 2001 I dumped my cellphone.  I actually received a plaque from my co-workers in 2006 acknowledging my inability to call them back immediately. But technology caught up with me.

I have a growing list of answers to the question, "I called you, you didn't answer…", which is really not a question.

 - I was out for a run…
 - I was in the gym…
 - I was in the shower…

It really starts to fade after that.  You are expected to answer while driving, in a meeting, while eating - anytime it beeps, chirps or rings.  If you asked my co-workers, I am the fittest, cleanest person they know.

For people that don't work with me, they don't know, I could be shooting it out with Russian backed separatists in Ukraine, or undercover as a guy pumping his own gas in a state where you can't pump your own gas…I don't know…but they don't know either.

I am ready to check out.  I mean, I love my iPad - I streamed a sporting event last night on to my TV (thanks to a GREAT Father's Day present), but I am done with the cellphone.

This video does not quite hit it, but I post this for F, and her daughter P, and her daughter M, and F's other daughter H, and her daughter B…and all the rest to come:





….PS - this will all be covered over several chapters in my manifesto…due out in 13.5 years...

It Has Started...

If you haven't seen World War Z, see it…

Three More Cases of Rare Human Plague Found in Colorado

Patient Zero is a dog!  Or wait, how did the dog get it?  Please, remember, finger straight along the frame until you have made the decision to shoot…

Justice for Justice...

Let it be known that I am against the legalization of marijuana in all current forms.  However, more than that, I am against the Federal Government mis-using the Constitution...


In GONZALES V. RAICH (2005), the Supreme Court ruled that the United States Congress can prohibit the use of marijuana by the citizen of a State, even if that marijuana was not for sale, was never intended to be sold, never left the State, and was never intended to leave the State.  If you know little about law enforcement you might say, "Yes, the Federal Government can make that illegal." It is more complicated than that.  But, at the same time, it is simple.  The Federal Government is constrained by the Constitution.  It is a limited government, with certain enumerated powers.

This is why we currently have several states legalizing possession and use of marijuana for recreation…in violation of Federal Law.

Back to RAICH…the Supreme Court ruled that somebody growing marijuana in their own residence, for personal use, was a violation of Federal Law, because of the Commerce Clause.

Remember your history?  One of the main reasons we have a Constitution is because the States were fighting each other, with no supreme law.  So Congress shall have the power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."

But remember, what if the Marijuana was never part of commerce, and was not between two States?  No matter.

Justice

"…Raich use[d] marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana.  If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything - and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers..."

"…This is no less the case if Congress ties its power to the Necessary and Proper Clause rather than the Commerce Clause.  When agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided Monson's home, they seized six cannabis plants.  If the Federal Government can regulate growing a half-dozen cannabis plants for personal consumption, then Congress' Article I powers-as expanded by the Necessary and Proper Clause-have no meaningful limits..."

 - Clarence Thomas, in his dissent

5th of July...

Hurricane Arthur postponed our fireworks yesterday, so we worked-out instead...

Lt Michael P. Murphy USN

We had watched Lone Survivor the night before, so we did "Murph."  A Crossfit workout named after Michael Murphy, who was killed in action, and later awarded the Medal of Honor.  They call them Hero workouts, and they are usually very hard.  When you are in pain, and don't think you can go on anymore, its easy to get motivated by thinking of the sacrifice made by the Hero.

Murph:

Run 1 mile

100 pull-ups

200 push-ups

300 squats

Run 1 mile

(You are supposed to do it with a weighted vest…it was raining, so I used the excuse that I didn't want to get my vest wet.  It sounded like a good excuse.)

It was raining and windy, which actually added to the fun.  Somewhere in the 30s, I couldn't do more than 2 pull-ups at a time.  But somewhere in the 60s, I was back up to sets of 4, then 5.  Same as the push-ups.  I was down to sets of 4.  Then near 120, I was back up to sets of 8.  

My workout partners were much younger than me, 20+ years younger.  So I relied on my cunning and conniving, and did the squats slow and steady without rest.  When I finished the 300th, I said, "So long suckers…" and took off for the mile run.  Only, my legs didn't work very well, and I must have looked like an idiot, running as if my legs were tied together at the knee.