MAVS ADVANCE TO THE NBA FINALS!

This is unbelievable. The Mavs second round of the playoffs against the Spurs was some of the best basketball I have ever had the pleasure to watch. The series with the Sun's had me riveted. Now the Mavericks will take on Shaq and the Heat in the NBA Finals. I can't wait!

Here is a great picture of Dirk making Tim Thomas his bitch.

Your tax dollars at work

As we enter yet another horrifying hurricane season (anyone panicked yet??!!), here's a little tale about a victim from Katrina last year, living on your (and mine) tax dollars...

After being flown here for free back in September, Johnson's been at the Holiday Inn since Super Bowl Sunday. On April 21, the hotel served Johnson with three notices of occupancy termination, saying that it would begin court proceedings if he wasn't out by May 9.

And poor Mr. Johnson has also received, in addition to free lodging and food, $9,000.

He's been broke for over a month now. fema sent him $9,000 in housing aid, but he spent it all on booze, cigarettes, some clothes, and food-partying, mostly.
"I spent my money just the way I wanted, and I think [fema] should send me some more," he says.

It gets better. The Holiday Inn, proving that no good deed goes unpunished, will likely end up PAYING Mr. Johnson to leave. The article speculates somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200.

So, to recap - our federal government flew (at no cost to Mr. Johnson) this scumbag to New York City. Put him up in a series of hotels, etc from the time of the hurricane in August last year till May. Fed him. Gave him 9K in spending money. Offered to fly him back home at no charge. He refused, using tenant law to continue to freeload off the Holiday Inn until they will eventually PAY him to leave.

You know, some people are just oxygen thieves.

Judge: It's Unconstitutional To Make Students Stand For Pledge

Wow, and people wonder why teachers are quitting the industry in droves? I can tell you this - it's why I'm not a teacher, and I actually went to college with every intention to get a job teaching when I got out...

"Cameron Frazier, then a 17-year-old junior, was told by teacher Cynthia Alexandre that he was "so ungrateful and so un-American" after he twice refused to stand for the pledge in her classroom Nov. 8, the lawsuit said."

Sounds to me like the teacher was doing a damn good job. Too bad the days of taking young Cameron outside to have his ass whipped are long gone.

And again, our dear friends in the ACLU continue to take steps to destroy this country.

Show some freaking respect people. We've got men and women fighting and dying right now for your right to stand up and recite the pledge every morning. The least you could do is honor their sacrifice by pledging your allegiance to the country that allows you to be such a dumbass.

And please, repeat after me, with feeling!

I pledge allegiance
to the Flag of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands:
One Nation Under God, indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.

Muslim terrorists? Not here!

In yet another case of shoddy reporting, we find out about a group of:

"Canadian teenagers and young men in their 20s, accused by police of being members of a suspected homegrown terrorist cell...."

Now, when you read that, just who do you picture in your mind's eye? I picture a group of white, anglo (or french) Canadians.

It's not till you get 4/5ths of the way down the article do you find out that islam is involved.

Heaven forbid we get a headline or lead paragraph that goes something like "Today, a group of islamic men were arrested for ties to terrorism." I'd hate to implicate that muslims have anything to do with terrorism or something like that (because we all know that islam is THE religion of peace) but hey, let's not let the facts help us to make up our own minds or anything like that.

And the news media wonders why their ratings and sales continue to decline. Whatever happened to just reporting the facts?

I am also curious as to how within days of each other, we have seen reports of large terror-related investigations in England - our closest ally in the Long War - and Canada - our neighbor to the north; but as of today, nothing brewing here in the good ole US of A. There have been large scale, and sweeping arrests in both countries - does this mean there's nothing going on stateside, or we just haven't caught 'em yet?

As Bill and Ted so eloquently stated, something's strange afoot at the Circle K.

Shatner Singing to Lucas

My nerd is showing, but this might well be one of the most awkward/funny things I've seen in a while.

Seniors and STD's

I think this is what they call the law of unintended consequences..... Mix in a little viagra with a retirement community and look what happens!!

Gun rags

We've joked here from time to time that there's never been a gun writer that met a gun he didn't like....

Get the inside story on how gun articles come together by clicking on the link.

Memorial Day

From a page on Memorial Day History:

"Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.... It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all."

Surfing the web over the weekend, I couldn't find anything more fitting a tribute than what I found on Outlaw 13's blog. If you have a chance, give him a read - very thoughtful, well written, and he has some great pics posted online.

Here are his thoughts about today:

Some Names I'll Always Remember

CW2 Paul Timmer; CW3 Rex Kenyon; CW3 Chuck Fortenberry; As I'm sure you know it's Memorial Day weekend. And I'm sure we'll see gallons of ink spilled and entire forests decimated in the quest to tell us how we should all feel about the sacrifice of people like Paul, Rex and Chuck. If we are honest with ourselves those articles accomplish nothing, the people who really need those words will never read them and if they did the meaning of them would escape their grasp. If you are reading this the odds are good that you already appreciate the sacrifice of our soldiers in the cause of freedom... So I am in some respects preaching to the converted.What I intend to address is the issue of how we honor and remember the sacrifice of these and other soldiers. Having known these three guys pretty well I can say that they really wouldn't be going to any parades, wreath laying or any other type ceremony unless you forced them to... so I think the best way to honor these guys would be to do the things they would be doing if they were here today. At your BBQ have another Shiner Bock for Chuck, a burger for Paul and some chicken for Rex. See a ball game, go water skiing, go slow in the fast lane on the interstate. It's all these things (even things that piss you and me off) that these guys died to protect... if you want to honor them have some fun and when you get a second or two have a drink on Paul, Rex and Chuck.

I'll be hoisting a beer at 3pm - our National hour of remembrance. I hope you'll be joining me.

Bonds Passes Babe With Home Run No. 715

This really makes me sick. I blame Major League Baseball as much as I blame bonds. They let this go way too long without doing something about it. Before you know it, he will be passing Hank Aaron. Aaron weighed a whopping 159 pounds and didn't use any performance enhancing drugs. He was an honest man and a pure hitter who should not have his record broken by someone who is not only a cheater, but one of the sorriest pieces of shit in professional sports. It has been proven he cheated, so ban his sorry ass. If you aren't convinced just take a look at the two pictures below. One is a recent photo, the other is his rookie card.

A Puppy Update

Well, we've had a new puppy in the house for about 2 weeks now. Not too many messes just yet, although today she did manage to chew through my keyboard cable....

She's definitely more of an alpha female than she showed us when we picked her from her litter. She has our 2 year old Boston Terrier absolutely terrified, and over the weekend while visiting relatives, she bullied a male lab pup who was a week older than her without mercy.

I'm using Richard Wolter's outstanding guides on training working dogs. At 8 weeks plus 2 days, she's sitting on command 85% of the time, and has been doing very short, 3-5 feet retrieves with probably 99% success. I've introduced her to water, in the form of a shallow creek behind JR's house, and she's finally accepting her confinement in her crate without endless crying and whining. Wolter's work was revolutionary 30 years ago or so, and it continues to be the standard. Long story short, bring the pup into your family as early as possible, and give the pup lots and lots of love and attention. For the next 3+ weeks, she'll be in what Wolters calls "pre school", with lots of learning involved revolving around the basic commands you'll use later. Very little discipline is involved, other than with the pup learning what "NO" means - but right now it's all fun and games. At 12 weeks, "school" starts for real with actual consequences for bad behavior and when the real learning starts.

I think next week we'll work on sit/stay and get her back into some deeper water where she'll have to actually swim, rather than just wallow around in it!

And of course, what would a talk about a puppy be without a picture??

Where was this beer can?

Felony Chicken

One whole chicken.

One can of beer - see above pic.

Garlic, limes, poultry seasoning.

Your favorite BBQ rub.

Take your chicken. Make sure it's defrosted, and the giblets are removed.

Fire up your BBQ grill, drink 1/2 of a beer. Rub the outside of the chicken generously with your BBQ rub. Sprinkle poultry seasoning on the inside of the birds.

Crush and dump one clove of garlic into each can. It's going to fizz, it's okay.

Split your lime into quarters and place two quarters on top of the can of beer.

Grease the outside of your beer can, and insert your chicken onto the beer can, so that the two legs of the chicken form a tripod with the beer can being the third leg.

Carefully place the upright chickens on the grill, close the lid and cook until the juice runs clear at the joints.

Carefully remove the chicken and can from the grill and very carefully un-violate the chicken. Slice and serve.

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I found this splendid little recipie on the Law Dog's page I made a couple of minor changes - I made up a little basting sauce of olive oil, Cabela's Kansas City Rub, a pinch or two of chipotle ground red pepper and brushed that on at the beginning, and then about every 30 minutes while it was cooking.

Cooked it in my smoker at between 175 and 250 degrees, depending on when I went out to check on the smoker. About 4.5 hours was just perrrrrfect.