Friday, May 20, 2005

So much to do, so little time

Life has been very busy lately. I'm behind in my mail lists, behind in reading other blogs I like to read and behind in just about everything professional & personal. Lately it has seemed that for every 1 item I cross off my to-do list, 2 (or more) get added. Thankfully it's Friday, maybe I will be able to use the weekend to get caught up!

Friday, May 13, 2005

Coposaurus-Rex

Coposaurus-Rex. That's how Masaad Ayoob refers to the old time cops (and not in a derogatory manner) who prefer their old service revolvers over the autoloaders in the May/June 2005 issue of American Handgunner. After reading his article, I began to wonder if those old line cops still view the rest of us with respect, not with the "you're just a criminal who hasn't been caught yet" attitude of so many contemporary cops today. One can only hope.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Home again

I'm back home. As much as I enjoyed my trip and spending some time with my lovely lady, getting home after being gone for 2 weeks is always nice.

My trip started with a fiasco. I had a room reserved at the Fairfield Inn (part of Marriott) at the north end of the DFW Airport. A smoking room. My reservation even said "smoking room guaranteed." In return for my "guaranteed room" I had to guarantee the fact that I would show up with a credit card.

Fast forward to my arrival. The desk clerk informed me that there were no smoking rooms. The general manager informed me that the whole smoking floor was being renovated and I was out of luck. When I called Marriott's Customer Service Department the rep I spoke to was adamant that I should get my room, even if they had to allow me to smoke in a non-smoking room. The GM of the Fairfield was just as adamant that they were not going to allow me to smoke in any room. Now we know that the Fairfield Inn at DFW doesn't stand behind room guarantees, even though they expect you to guarantee performance on your part.

A letter is going out to Marriott today, I'll post their response when I get it.

For those that think this is a "smoker vs non-smoker" issue, it's not. It's about providing what you had guaranteed.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Still on the Road

I'm still traveling and will eventually get around to putting some of my experiences here on my blog. It looks like a busy weekend ahead, so I want to say "Happy Mother's Day" to all you Mom's and that we appreciate the way you've handled the world's most important job!

Monday, May 02, 2005

A New Eye In The Sky

There's a new "Eye in the Sky" to watch over you & I. The Charles County, MD. Sheriff's Office used a small robot plane to watch over a biker gathering on 4/17/2005. LT Chris Decker, the agency's commander of homeland security and intelligence said "I liked what I saw". If he's like most cops I know that means he focused on some bodacious biker babe baring boobs. In addition, Decker said "I was quite impressed with how easy it was to launch and how well it monitored the area. Besides crowd and traffic control, I see law enforcement using the CyberBug in a multitude of applications especially when it comes to crime fighting and homeland security."

It seems like only yesterday that infringements on our rights were done "for the children". I guess "Homeland Security" is the buzzword of today.

Full article here.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

How To Destroy America

I've been on the road the past week and I will have some comments on that coming up. In the meantime I'm going to post an email to me that is supposedly the comments of Dick Lamm, former Governor of Colorado. I've checked a couple "urban legend" sites I know of, and didn't get anything pro or con, so for now I will assume these comments are actually attributable to him. A good read:

We all know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor named Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal - was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said:

First to destroy America, "Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. "The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces d ifficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."

Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'" Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure th at we have various cultural subgroups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rath er than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to over come two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'unum,' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits ~ make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate." "Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause . A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Every discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.'

American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength." Governor Lamm, walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.