Winter, I’ve just had it with you…
Normally I look forward to winter every year. Cooler temperatures, various hunting seasons, trapping, fall fly fishing to hungry trout that were laying low just weeks before….it’s probably my favorite time of year.
That said, I have just had it with winter this year. We have burned five cords of split oak firewood, which says something about how cold it was, and I am just tired of hauling wood.
Wearing wool keeps me warm and wool clothing usually comes in colors and tartans that you won’t find in other fabrics. Even when I am not out hunting, wool clothing reminds me of the season and is just so doggone warm. And now, I don’t want to see another wool shirt for a long, long time…
Snow in late March? OK, I recall casting a fly on the mid-April opening day of trout season about 28 years ago in Centre County, amid a snow squall that impeded view of the Royal Coachman that was so visible to the trout below. And my own wedding in March of 1993 happened on “the storm of the century,” which kept many of our guests and family from reaching the proceedings.
Those two events aside, I cannot think of another drawn out winter like this. Old Man Winter, I will not miss you.
Take a kid fishing
Trout season is upon us, and if you want future generations to appreciate natural resources, then teach them early on how natural resources function. For example, take a kid fishing and teach him or her about how trout and the bugs they eat need clean water.
Conservation isn’t always serious stuff. It can be fun!
The local kids-only trout fishing hot spot is on Clark’s Creek, run by DCAC: http://dauphincountyanglers.com/
Rum and Coke Friday, in honor of liquor store privatization
Pennsylvania is about to join the 20th century (yes, the 20th) with liquor privatization. Only PA and Utah have state stores…the Quakers and the Mormons….
Is it a core function of government to sell liquor? Uh…no.
So I am having a rum and Coke to toast the Corbett Administration and the state representatives and senators who they worked closely with to achieve this necessary milestone. Thanks!
Of Molotov cocktails and fishing expedition gaffes
It has been an interesting day today, at home and abroad.
Obama gave a bizarre speech in Israel, and Biden made yet another unbelievable gaffe. Who knew that an empty bottle and a fishing tool could become weapons, but here you have it.
Obama loaded his Jerusalem audience with ultra-leftists, most or all of whom did not stand to applaud when Obama stated that Israel has a right to exist. Throwing his second Molotov cocktail into the Middle East (the first one in Cairo that set off the Arab Winter), he declared that the bigoted Arabs bombing Israel are just like Canada next door to the US. Who knows what bizarre actions will follow. If the unrest across the Arab world is any indication, it’ll be ugly, violent.
Across the ocean and then back home, Joe Biden is still spending gobs of taxpayer money traveling about like an itinerant salesman, preaching gun confiscation, contrary to the US Constitution. Earlier, Biden spent over a million taxpayer dollars for just a night in Paris and a night in London. Apparently he thinks he is some sort of royalty, living the high life. Today, Biden said that former US Congresswoman Gabby Giffords had been “mortally wounded.” This is the same woman who is now advocating gun confiscation. Wounded terribly, awfully, tragically, yes. Mortally? Obviously not.
And that’s the problem with the Obama folks. What is obvious to so many other people is invisible to them. And the consequences of being wrong are enormous. But what me worry?
If you have a college degree, you’d better be registered to vote
Dawned on me today that there are lots of citizens with college degrees who are not registered to vote.
What? All that money and effort so you can’t directly participate in our nation’s affairs?
If you have a degree, and you’re not a voter, then you just wasted your entire education up until you begin voting.
“Obama Cop” Tom Hyers Has Some Explaining to Do
Nick-named the “Obama Cop” because of his recent role in promoting gun control with US VP Joe Biden, York County, Springettsbury Township police chief Tom Hyers now has some big-time explaining to do.
I met Chief Hyers when we debated gun control at the WITF studio last month. Hyers was quick to promote gun control, quick to dismiss armed citizens and teachers, and quick to draw imaginary images of heroic rapid response police who bust down doors and shoot bad guys.
Strangely, Chief Hyers called my observation that, when seconds count the police are only minutes away, a “smoke screen.” It’s no smoke screen; it is a fact that the laws of physics cannot overcome. After our debate, we spent some time off camera chatting, getting to know one another, and exchanging views on gun control and culture.
Now, Chief Hyers has police officers on his force accused of using wildly excessive force. One of the officers is accused in at least two different incidents. The incidents are all on camera, and they explicitly show men in uniform out of control, sadistically hurting the defenseless citizens they are sworn to protect.
My own takeaway from this is that policemen like Hyers are super into their jobs, and we both support them and cast a wary eye. On the one hand, we admire men and women who put their lives on the line to bring order to our society, who confront dangerous humans and risk their health to do a job. On the other hand, Hyers believes too much in the power of police. He practically worships it, to the point of dismissing the effectiveness of armed citizens, a silly thing to do. When I mentioned during our debate that concealed carry holders are extremely safe and have been observed to have a lower accident rate than uniformed police, Hyers bristled and demanded to know where such ‘outrageous claims’ came from.
No wonder Chief Hyers loves gun control so much. He also knowingly employs cops who beat the heck out of innocent citizens and face no internal corrective action. Police deserve our respect, and their power deserves watchfulness. Chief Hyers is very much the face of gun control. He is a man to watch, all right…watch out, America!
PA Turnpike’s Bi-Partisan Crookedness
Reports emanating from the criminal investigation of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and prosecution of many of its top officials show a culture of corruption.
By both major political parties, that is.
Whichever political party was in power at the time (Governor’s office, PA legislature) got the lion’s share, 60%, of the Turnpike contracts steered to the private contracting companies of its choice. The “minority” party had to settle for 40%. That was the arrangement for decades between the party leaders.
Both parties treated public taxpayer money there as nothing more than a slush fund for party use. No Republican watchdogs here, folks.
This culture of corruption was mirrored in Harrisburg, where both Democrats and Republicans ate up hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money in a bi-partisan orgy of self interest. Now, it is difficult to get law enforcers from either party, whether it is Dauphin County DA Ed Marsico or PA AG Kathleen Kane, to investigate the Harrisburg mess. Each one has allegiances to their respective party, each of which has well-known members involved in the criminal corruption there.
All the more need, then, for greater activism on the fringes of the party system. Republicans who are not part of the Republican party system hold the greatest promise for reforming this sickness. Principle must triumph over profit.
Where is Admiral Gauoette?
SOS at CPAC: “Where’s Admiral Gaouette?” and the “Benghazi CBA”
New organization of former US Special Ops officers issues distress calls about urgent high-profile questions.
By Mark Langfan, at CPAC
3/16/13
“SOS” is a naval emergency distress call meaning “Save our Ship”, but at the CPAC, (Conservative Political Action Committee) convention, “SOS” stands for SpecialOperationsSpeaks.com, a new organization of former US Special Ops officers who are issuing distress calls about urgent high-profile questions, and critical unanswered mysteries about the 2012 Obama Benghazi debacle.
CAPT Larry Bailey, USN (Ret.), a former senior SEAL commander and co-founder of Special Operation Speaks, demands to know, “Where the heck is Admiral Gaouette?” ADM Gaouette was the commander of the USS Stennis Carrier Strike Group on station in the Persian Gulf area who was mysteriously summarily stripped of his command during the attack in Benghazi, Libya, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered.
Several days afterward, it was reported that ADM Gaouette was summarily relieved of his command during a major operational contingency event during the Benghazi attacks for the alleged claim of “inappropriate leadership judgment.” ADM Gaouette’s detention and total disappearance weeks before the November 2012 presidential election was a story that CAPT Bailey says “disappeared into a black hole of silence.”
CAPT Bailey, as a “Brother-in-the-Navy” of ADM Gaouette, has some urgent and vital questions:
Where is ADM Gaouette now, and where has he been for over 4 months?
Why hasn’t Congress called ADM Gaouette to testify about the 2012 Benghazi fiasco, when he clearly was a key operational senior commander in-theater?
If ADM Gaouette is under some type of detention, what does “inappropriate leadership judgment” mean, what is he specifically charged with, and does he have proper legal counsel?
CAPT Bailey urges anyone who heard or saw anything, or has even the smallest most innocuous piece of the puzzle, to tell them what that piece is. He says, “The more questions SOS asks, the bigger the black hole of silence becomes.”
Col. Richard F. (Dick) Brauer, Jr, USAF (Ret.), SOS Air Commando Coordinator co-Founder of SOS, has a slightly different, but still vital question: “Where was President Obama’s CBA (Cross Border Authority) for the Benghazi ‘rescue’ attempt when US Defense Secretary Panetta claimed Obama told him, ‘Do whatever you gotta do to save American life.’?”
Col. Brauer explains that an insertion of any US forces into Benghazi, Libya, or across any international border into a country where US forces were not deployed, would have required a special US Presidential CBA authorization to be issued. So, in effect, Obama’s telling Secretary Panetta to “Do whatever you gotta do” without simultaneously issuing a specific CBA enabling such action is like “telling a fire station to extinguish a 5-alarm blaze while the firemen were not legally allowed to even leave the fire house, go to the fire, or douse the burning building.”
So, Col. Brauer’s point is that President Obama may have known that verbally telling Secretary Panetta to “do whatever you gotta do” without his also issuing the legally necessary CBA was “passively ordering USSECDEF Panetta to ‘do nothing.’”
Col. Brauer says his group is considering filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all the documents and emails surrounding the ADM Gaouette and “missing” CBA questions.
Stay tuned; these soldier sailors have never left a man in the field, and they will never leave Admiral Gaouette in the field. They see the Admiral as a “man down,” and are doing everything they can to help a fellow sailor who may be in trouble.
From: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/166278#.UUZ56Vdo6sQ
The tonic of wilderness
Reading just about any wilderness outdoors report by hikers or wilderness advocates, you’ll have a tough time not meeting up with the well-worn phrase “the tonic of wilderness.”
All my life I’ve been a wilderness hound, and I don’t know what that phrase means. Whether day hiking, fishing, or camping with a rifle next to me many miles from the nearest road, my feelings about wilderness have zero association with the word tonic.
Euphoria, and drug-induced narcotic stupor are more accurate for my take-aways. That Cloud Nine feeling can stay with me for weeks after returning to human settlement. Getting older only makes it better, because so many layers are filtering the experience now. Water, stands of old conifers, some far off hill that sees one or two people a year, or a decade, these now are the templates upon which each new excursion is planned. Studying a topographic map now yields concrete images of what to expect in my mind, accurate or not.
Since last year I’ve taken to marching about with a heavy pack loaded with 50-65 pounds of steel as a means of getting back into some sort of decent condition. Sometimes I am fortunate enough to hike a local park for 30-60 minutes. Usually, it’s just my neighborhood that I’m tromping through in my rugged hunting boots. Concrete isn’t pretty to see, and my mind once again helps out. As the minutes tick by, a quiet euphoria overtakes the senses, and my eyes see trees, distant horizons, and unbroken scenery. My hand instinctively grips an imaginary rifle, and oblivious to cars whipping past, I wander unnamed marshes somewhere else.
If someone wants to call this the tonic of wilderness, OK. It makes no sense. But if that’s now the by-word, I’ll accept it. Just so long as I can get more, soon