ww_watcher

I don't want the government to solve this problem. They can't even run themselves properly. The only ones qualified to fix this is us. We have to take back control of our society. It's the only way if we want to remain a free society.

This happened in Norway (or was it Sweden) a few years back. Anyway, neither of those countries ban guns. I assert that their society has a lot to do with the lack of violence...unless you count the immigrant problem. As there are a few here from Texas I can tell you that when I was in grade school in South Houston, the average truck in the parking lot had a shotgun or .22 rifle in the gun rack. And because it was bloody hot during much of the school year the windows were left cracked open. There was no gun violence on campus. What we did have was a strict dress code and corporal punishment usually accompanied by re-enforcement by the parents. Since then guns have been banned from campus but the violence has grown anyway. The guns didn't change, nor did their availability, what changed was society. Parent don't discipline their kids as much; they have in fact allowed their children to disrespect there elders and that has festered into what we have today. I guarantee that if the parents would take back effective control of their households and enforce strict discipline of respect and responsibility for their kids' actions (of course the parents would have to do the same with themselves) you would see a considerable change in our society as a whole.

Lookin' out the west side of your house, as the sun rises, and seeing the devastatingly beautiful orange glow of the sun glinting off the bare granite face of the mountain 3 miles away. Who cares if it was 35F and rained like hell about 2hrs later? Yep, I no longer live in Texas.

I drive a 37' 1995 Newmar Dutch Star and presently live near Highlands, North Carolina. We may decide to stay.

In honor of my triple bypass surgery, last December, I brewed a Tripel Bypass Ale flavored with Italian Blood Orange soda. I tapped the keg earlier this month when the beer was 7 months old and it was gone within a week. This last weekend, while packing the contents of my wife's closet (after 61 years as a Texan, we're moving to western North Carolina at the end of this month) I discovered she had sneakily filled a 2 liter bottle of the beer back in April, while it was still in the second stage fermenter, just before I racked it to the keg for storage. Firstly I had no idea she knew how to do that and secondly that she did it without making a mess or contaminating the beer makes me so proud. Now we have a way of toasting the next stage of our new life. I guess I should have known since she does this with my Green Goddess too.

last I heard she was on younow under the name ninoska.harlyquinera. Haven't seen her in a while.

About a decade back we rented a moving van. It was an Isuzu cab-over 25ft diesel. We made two round trip ...trips... and the silly vehicle got almost 25 mpg. That was an average and it was empty half the time. I rented a 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 to move a bunch of fencing material about 150 miles. It got an average of 20mpg fully loaded (half the time) with a 15ft trailer. My 2005 Lexus Rx300 barely gets 17mpg in the city and 21 on the highway. I used to drive 75 Chevy Laguna S3 with a 400HP 350ci engine. I could manage ~22mpg on the highway but 10-12mpg between stoplights...LOL. Parent's VW TDI gets about 50mpg. Daughter's Subaru Crosstrek gets about 25-30mpg. I have to agree with Kale on why Detroit died. When you rebuild two defeated nations (Germany and Japan) from scratch, you generally try and use up-to-date tooling and materials. Detroit failed to recognize the wisdom in retooling for the future and produced cars inferior to those produced by the rebuilt nations. However, the best way to reduce emissions is not to raise costs, that's just stupid and doesn't address the issue, but to build more efficient machines. The Japanese taught us that lessen. The Germans became too proud of their stuff which is why they cost so much to buy and to maintain. The Japanese have a better product than the Europeans. They last longer and are much less expensive to maintain. I disagree, a little bit, with Maxfactor about NAs and CO2 emissions, although I do fall into the category of "don't drive much" my vehicles have always been well maintained because a smoking, poorly running vehicle is an embarrassment. Most farmers and ranchers rely on well maintained equipment. So, maybe it's the city folk who don't care.

Now Foamy T. As long as there are folks like you and others here on CC and elsewhere, and we are a large number, America is going to be just fine. Oh there will be scraped knees, black eyes, and torn shirts but we Americans, who still remember our "can-do" attitude, are coming back out of the wood-work to retake our country.

Speaking of Ole Maggie Mae. I wish I knew where Michelle Obama's bedroom window was so I could project videos of Margaret Thatcher on it at night. Barack gets videos of some of Churchill's more famous speeches with loud speakers.

Ipiratemedia. I apologize for being rather harsh. While I am not religious, I am spiritual. It is sheer coincidence that our conversation here happened on a day when I had just had another frustrating conversation with an old high school buddy and little league baseball team-mate turned flat-earther. Not a good excuse but still my excuse. I used to admire his ability to make good grades with little effort. Even in our calculus and physics classes. He was sometimes a lab partner too, although he was a bit dangerous when left unattended...chuckle-chuckle. He is retired Army and although he hasn't ever seen combat he was stationed in Europe, mostly along the Eastern German borders, and had to fly to get there...and back...several times. So, I couldn't understand why he would buy into the flat earth theory. His explanation was that the curvature of the horizon was due to the lensing of the glass in the window of the aircraft. He then proceeded to send me scripture references and links to proof of a flat earth. and told me that if God wanted us to know such things he would have revealed them to us in the Bible. Holy Eric von Daniken Batman! He truly believed this. I asked him what he thought of all the pictures from the Hubble space telescope, for example, and his answer was that NASA had been lying to us for a long time. So was Euclid, Copernicus, and Newton. I was so flabergasted by the apparent lapse in (or was that "collapse of") his cognitive abilities that I had to step back and look to see if he was just yanking my chain. He wasn't. I knew ignorance was becoming more and more rampant these days, but not my friends I had known all my life. Now, I am no scientist, but I have slept in a Holiday Inn Express more than once so I know a thing or three about stuff and this had no logical basis. Yet... Anyway, I am knowledgeable of the bible, but no expert, but I do know that, from a creationist point of view, God wouldn't have revealed that stuff to us "in the beginning" because he would have known full well that we had no experience with which to understand it and no ability to make tools with which to study it. What He did give us was spiritualism. That, more than anything else, would allow us to learn enough to comprehend our own world. No other animals on earth would be able to achieve what we can without outside intervention.

"The U.S. have always been reluctant to participate in international conventions, especially if the U.N. is behind them, starting from the Human Rights Declaration." Balderdash! Who do you think was the primary mover to establish the UN? Who ceded a portion of American soil for it? Who guards it? Not the UN troops. Has there ever been an attack on any foreign embassy in the US? If you want to know why we have backed away from participating so much look to see what they have actually accomplished over the last 4 decades. Not a damn thing. They stand for nothing. They defend nothing without proper monetary contributions from the US. You are as misguided as the liberal lefties in the US. Has any other country in the world given as much aid to the world, including former enemies like Japan and Germany. No! Certainly no Scandinavian country you're from. No other country has put as much into the defence of the world as America. You are as ungrateful, and blind as the average welfare recipient in this country. You are so busy looking for reasons to find fault you can't see what Trump, or anyone for that matter, is actually doing; bad or good. Ever noticed that while not all who voted for Obama are rioters and looters, ALL of those, who do that, voted for him. Most of the Obama supporters have wrecked their own communities and now they want more. Most of the members countries of the UN are like every other welfare leech in the world, suck America, the richest country in the world, dry so we don't have to pay. Just like the line in that old Ten Years After song, "I'd love to change the world". "Tax the rich, feed the poor, tax them till they ain't rich no more." Then what, you moron? No more rich to tax, no more suckling pig at the teat of the world. The teat has been sucked dry. It's time to put up or shut up! Kalevipoeg, although you probably don't care, my estimation of you just bottomed out.

I think that not many folks realize that Trump has been dealing with Russian businessfolk for a good bit of his adult life. He owns businesses in that country. I am sure he has had to deal with Putin, off and on, for much of that time; even while Putin was a KGB operative. Over the last couple of months I have seen Trump begin to shed the naivete of thinking of the US as a big company; although it is hard to tell because of the background noise of those trying to overthrow our government from within. It is hard to get the straight poop about what he is doing, because of our media, but if you look at some outside indicators, you can see that Putin is now tentatively working with Trump to solve the Syrian problem. He never would have done that with President Obama. He overtly considered both Obamas to be Monkeys-In-a-Suit and ignored them. He thoroughly detested Michelle for the same reason as most Americans, she was an absolutely contemptible person. I agree with you on China. Europe tends to ignore things they don't want to deal with, to their detriment. Germany being a prime example...twice. I don't know if even the average American is aware of it but China controls the Panama Canal, that we built and Jimmy Carter gave back to them. Why is this a problem? I am glad you asked. Panama had no resources, money or otherwise, to deal with the maintenance of the canal nor were they capable of managing it or defending it. They were loath to ask for our help because of the Manuel Noriega issue, etc, so they turned to China who was only to glad to gain control of the single most important trade route between two oceans. Do you think that China will remain the benevolent(?) benefactor that we were? The Jihadis are ex-president Obama's main legacy to the world. I suppose the KKK, as BB pointed out, could be compared to them in a small way but not only do Christians abhor them they are quite vocal about it, while the average Muslim remains silent about their problems. We will actually go after them if they step out of line as the Jihadis do. The average Muslim becomes docile in their presence. It is cultural fear; something the average American would actively squash under their heels. Think Mexican hat dance on la cucaracha (cockroach). Gun Control in Europe is another issue that may bite them in their socialist behinds (I know the UK is a psuedo monarchy so no offence intended). One of the reasons we are so vehemently guarding our right to arm ourselves is that most of us know we will be needing them shortly. And, although we know there is small chance of reciprocation on the same level, we are quite comfy with using them in defense of our Atlantic side neighbors.

Cat-herding. Gotta be one of the toughest jobs on the planet.

2005 Lexus RX300. Basically a Toyota with niceties. Replacement parts are toyota parts so reasonably cheap ... at least when they do break.

One of the issues I see is the failure of maintaining a robust infrastructure. That is, when a tax base is hindered by to many tax exemption incentives for large companies and subsidized lives of those who unnecessarily live on the dole, then the governing entity has to raise taxes on the rest to compensate. Eventually the cycle forces those who work for a living to leave the city because they can't afford to live there. Only the wealthy can afford to stay. Since they don't pay taxes as we do, the tax base is further stunted and eventually the money, for the repairs, is reduced. At the same time the quality of work goes down so repairs don't last as long...The spiral continues until a city implodes on itself. Austin, Texas, which was among the coolest places to live in the country, is going through this right now (which is why I am leaving by the end of Aug.) Cities like Chicago have made the mistake of re-electing a Mayor, mainly because he was a "bro", who hasn't a clue about governing himself much less a city. Even if he wanted to make things better he doesn't know how, and pride, paycheck, and posse keep him from stepping aside for more competent leadership. Another issue is those who have entered and work in this country illegally do not pay taxes, and are being given a monthly stipend (dole), health care (mo' money), and education for their children (even mo' money). Where does the monies, paid to them under the table go? Back to the parts of their families still in their country of origin. This worsens the financial plight of the city (or country, if you will) even further. However, those migrant workers don't tend to trash their own environments as thoroughly as the others who are on the dole. I almost got trounced one time when I had the gall to suggest that it costs nothing to keep your home neat. That if those protesting their treatment at the hands of the white folk would take care of their communities and each other instead of always protesting to get what they didn't earn and then trashing the place when they don't get what they want, then their plight probably would not exist; or at least not be nearly as bad. I'll admit it, I am a firebrand. I gained an odd perspective of things while I still lived in Houston, many moons ago. It was about the time the Viet Nam war was winding down and the boat people were flooding in. In high school they were known as curve busters because their family structures very much centered on getting good grades. I didn't feel the effects much because I didn't, nor did many of my friends or family, rely on a curve to pass my courses. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. I photographed houses for the Multiple Listing Service (for our out of country friends it was for the real estate companies) and it took me into some areas I considered 3rd world. Before you all make hasty judgements, the boat people lived in some of those areas...with a big difference. They didn't try and ransack your car (or each other) while you weren't looking AND they kept their neighborhoods neat and tidy. They also watched out for each other in a way they could never do in their own country. Instead of trashed-out, overgrown, empty lots, you would see a community garden. No one knew who owned that lot but who cared, it fed their community. Our folks of color never tried to do that as a social organism. Instead of "looking to the stars" we tweet. We have started to cater to the "less fortunate" when they are not even trying to pull their own weight; rather than requiring they meet us at our level. So, if you want to know why we appear to be going downhill, ask yourself this. Why have we as a society begun to emulate the dregs of society in our speech pattern, our mode of dress, and attitude toward excellence.