Mayhem in LA! Cars Must Be Banned!

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There was mass carnage yesterday on the Venice Beach boardwalk near LA when a man used his high-powered automobile to run over 12 people – killing one of them and sending the remainder to the hospital.Venice Beach boardwalk rampage

News  story here:

The black car – a menacing color typically favored by the military – was used by a young man in his 20s – probably a loner. He may have bought the car without a background check, since these are not mandatory in California.

Anyone can just go out and buy a car “under the table” – from an unlicensed seller. There are no laws requiring that high-powered cars be kept securely stored, with their ignitions disabled or locked so that unauthorized people can’t just jump in and go.Venice Beach hit & run 2 These cars have high-capacity fuel tanks – and can be driven for miles and at high speeds… . Most are fully automatic, too.

Perhaps this is why so many innocent people are harmed – and killed – by high-powered cars in the United States every year.The death toll is in the tens of thousands annually – a tsunami of blood and guts compared with the dozen or so mass shootings that have taken place during the past several years. Why, not a day goes by without children being killed by high-powered cars.

And not just high-powered cars, either. What about all those Saturday Night Specials? You know –  hoopties people buy for just a few hundred bucks?old car buying

Often, with cash?

They are prone to misfiring – or may accelerate unintentionally (this has apparently happened with new cars, too). Sometimes, they can’t stop – because the brakes aren’t working.

Strangely, there have been no calls for an immediate ban on the sale of high-powered, menacing-looking automobiles. Nor a ban on Hoopties. No calls for reasonable background checks. No demand that drivers be trained and demonstrate competence behind the wheel.

Merely that they pay a fee.

Where is Mothers Against Hemi Chryslers? Where is President Obama? Mayor Bloomberg? Diane Feinstein?

Don’t they care?

“We” need sensible car control!for the children

No?

Could it be because unlike guns – which many people (especially the people who want to ban them) don’t possess themselves – cars are a familiar tool used by just about everyone? Because it’s understood that most people handle their vehicles responsibly (or at least, not murderously) and that it would be inconvenient to ban all cars – or hamstring their use to such an extent that most people – including the suburbanites who favor “sensible” gun control – would be unable to drive themselves around or unwilling to endure the hassles involved in order to be allowed to do so?

Yet if injury/death is the criteria for banning a given tool, then cars should be at the very top of the list – and many rungs higher than firearms. The average person is far more likely to be injured or killed by a car (or a table saw, probably) than by a gun. In fact, “gun violence” continues to decrease as the number of guns in circulation continues to increase – while the opposite is true of cars.

None of this is new information. idiot moms gun control

Neither is the agenda-driven hypocrisy of the Clovers pushing for gun control – who are typically in way over their heads as far as their own abilities (and judgment) when behind the wheel of a car.

These are not principled people looking for solutions – such as expecting individual people to behave responsibly, hold them accountable when they don’t – and leave everyone else the hell alone.

They are demagogues who bank on fear – and the thoughtlessness of the boobs they manipulate. The soccer mom who blows through a red light she didn’t see because she was babbling away on her cell phone does not consider her SmooVee a dangerous implement – nor herself as someone in need of being “controlled.” But she’ll freak out if she spots a peaceful citizen who hasn’t done anything to anyone open carrying, call 911 hysterically – and write even more hysterical letters-to-the-editor demanding something be done.clover king

To someone else, of course.

To someone she doesn’t like.

Based on her feelings.

Not the actions of her intended victim.

This is characteristic of Clovers. A toxic emulsion of subjectivism, arbitrariness, group-guilting and control freakery percolated in seventh-grade emotionalism – distilled with 190 proof hysteria.Obama duck

There is no reasoning with such people.

You’d have better luck trying to out-quack a duck.

Throw it in the Woods? 

 

103 COMMENTS

  1. Mayhem in Vienna West Station topleveldomain .at

    = Cupids flying everywhere ! seizing our desires @ Young men and women # are rightly coupled $ The girl without a lover % misses out on all pleasures ^ she keeps the dark night hidden * in the depth of her heart – it is a most bitter fate +

    O Fortune)like the moon))you are changeable)))ever waxing))))and waning
    hateful life(first oppresses((and then soothes(((as fancy takes it
    poverty] and power]]it melts them like ice]]]Fate – monstrous and empty
    you whirling wheel[ you are malevolent[[well-being is vain[[[ and always fades to nothing
    shadowed}and veiled}}you plague me too}}}now through the game
    I bring my bare back{to your villainy{{Fate is against me{{{in health{{{{and virtue
    driven on/and weighted down//always enslaved///So at this hour////without delay
    pluck the vibrating strings\since Fate\\strikes down the strong man\\\everyone weep with me!

    – durstig bleiben meine Freunde!

  2. Eric, I enjoy all of your posts, and I loved this one.

    I remember reading your columns for a few months before I finally broke down and had to ask, “What is a Clover?” You were kind enough to give me a short explanation and a link to your original Clover confrontation.

    Now, I can stand it no longer: What does “Throw it in the woods?” — which you append to every column you write — mean? I can’t figure it out and it’s bugging me!

    • Hi Steve,

      Thanks!

      On “throw it in the woods” –

      It’s an expression I like. I used to know this old country dude who used it as his stock reply/advice about how to deal with anything from an old washing machine to an ex-wife:

      Throw it in the woods!

      • What did he do when the ex-wife came back? 😉
        Or did that just mean he didn’t throw her far enough into the woods? 😀

  3. Rose:
    Companies only exist because of the state. Now companies, and businesses, and organizations can exist, but specifically, the corporation is a state-created entity that has magical special rights that individuals don’t.

    Willcutts: [unaddressed objection:] You’re mistaken in regards to corporations. That’s not true. [Stephen Kinsella’s definition: Corporations are nothing more than a series of contracts enabling a large number of people to work together toward common goals.]

    Willcutt:
    2:17:00 okay, I got to tell you. The same problem exists in corporations, okay. You could have a neighbor who’s nice, who works for a corporation, and this neighbor will do terrible things for the corporation that he would never do as an individual. The question becomes, when you have these types of organizations that do these sorts of terrible things how can the average person resist them. The anarchist in a nut shell thinks the free market can do this, provide individual defense, but why doesn’t that free market exist now?
    Larken – I think the free market is what there is, the government is a lie.

    Wilcutts – Larken that is a definitional claim, that is not an empirical claim. You’re defining something for which you have provided no empirical proof [and you’re evading the issue]

    – – – – –
    Actual result of abolishing govt, if it succeeded and was sustained. Very few people will have enough resources to remain free and protect their all of their property from those who are stronger.
    Even so, in the long run, those few individuals who obtain unrestricted freedom and property could bring about great progress which would eventually become part of society through voluntary trade.
    Poorer individuals, though they may suffer from confiscations and itinerate subjugations, would also progress at a faster rate.

    To me, liberty is the ultimate value, and even though I concede the risk that I personally will have less wealth and less safety, I am willing to risk this downside to have a chance at the upside of working for my own survival and enrichment without the guaranteed oppression of a vast governmental bureaucracy greatly limiting my choices and actions.

  4. I’ve long used the automobile analogy in pro-gun arguments, there are many perfect parallels, especially when the CDC reports in 2010 that 44,000 people were killed in car accidents, while 11,000 were killed by firearms, not distinguishing between murder and justifiable homicide by law enforcement or civilian. The most common rebuttal I hear when I raise the matter of automobile deaths is, “Guns only hae one purpose! To kill!” As if that makes any difference to the dead person, a death is a death, if that’s what you really care about, then you must engage the raw numbers, the true killing and maiming power. But being that their argument is emotional, sensational and rooted in an imagination stoked by the media, they don’t. Furthermore, a gun is much more useful in saving a life when threatened by violence and does so thousands (I hear hundreds of thousands) of times per year. But that never makes the news, it’s not going to help anyone get elected.

    • Hi Josh,

      On: “Guns only have one purpose! To kill!” –

      First point in reply:

      Well, sometimes, killing is necessary. A good.

      Just yesterday I used a gun to kill. A rabid animal. The wife and I were out near our chicken coop when a snarling – literally – and extremely aggressive raccoon rushed one of our chickens right in front of us and then – after I yelled at it to get it to leave the bird alone – turned on me. I used my gun like the tool that it is – to prevent a fierce and probably rabid attacking animal from getting to me. For the same reasons, I keep a gun handy in the house – to protect us from human animals who might attack us. We live in a rural area; when seconds count, cops may be 20 minutes away. A gun is an essential tool. Killing – as distinct from murder – is a legitimate action in some circumstances.

      Second point in reply:

      Guns have other purposes, too. I like to target shoot. Is that illegitimate? How so? How does collecting guns, appreciating them as machines, differ from collecting/appreciating old cars? Or antique clocks?

      Sum: The objection is both wrong on its face – and idiotic.

      • eric, I’ve noticed statements of that sort are stock and trade of those who have no connection with mother nature. Killing is part of living, the yin to the yang. Never knowing what’s in store when you open the front door leads one to have a firearm or three ready for whatever arises. Last year a man in this county was attacked by a rabid hog. Without a gun he’d be spread in the pasture as hog poop. Rattlesnakes cannot always be addressed with a snake grabber, often a load of bird shot is required to properly attend that situation. Not to mention hunting, an endeavor, I’m fain to use the word “sport” since it’s not so much that to me as harvesting food. I like venison but have never eaten a rack so I could care less if it’s an 99 pointer or a healthy doe(I’ll take the doe thanks). My shoulders aren’t much fun on a daily basis and when I’ve tried to shoot a bow I end up with soreness that may not go away for months. I’d as soon shoot my turkey. And game birds, never saw anyone take them with a bow, maybe a trap, but that’s illegal here so bird shot it is. It’s not uncommon for us to have the same problem you just had and offing varmints is high on the list of survival and stopping the damage they can do at times. I realize perforating something may not be high on the firearms “to do” list but I use them as such and avoid $500-$1,000 tree trimming costs with several well-placed shots to a high limb that needs to come down on my terms, not on my head. If you don’t have a flat-bottomed boat and don’t especially want to go out at night with a spotlight and a frog gig, a .22 is a great tool to shoot the mud under bullfrogs which knocks them out to be harvested and later offed with a knife(yum yum). As a side note, I could never get my mother to eat frog legs, even though she’s a country girl. She and my dad and another couple were in Mexico and had some at a restaurant. She raved about them. I guess she realized what she was always missing, just sever that big tendon if you want them to stay in the frying pan. I could go on and on since I like to eat the things faster, higher or further away from me than my reach mother nature put here so I could figure out how to catch them. BTW, trapping deer, turkey, quail, etc. etc. is not legal here but “catching” them with a firearm is. If you have never eaten wild turkey, you have never eaten turkey. There is a disconnect between a domestic turkey and a wild one and I don’t mean 100 proof although there is that.

    • People make emotional judgments in the moment. They do not derive from principle.

      I make the ‘dead is dead’ argument wrt driving with an arbitrarily high BAC. Take two drivers of equal incompetence. One has a high BAC the other does not. People consider the former a criminal and the later law abiding. It’s not just that they criminalize risk or want to control risk, but everything is viewed through a warped social lens. Further warped by the media and its lies and distortions.

      Thus we have this bizzaro system where an incompetent driver can kill without any real penalty, yet incompetent with a gun is another story.

  5. someone needs to ban these assault cars with high capacity engines

    cars aren’t even guaranteed in the Constitution, someone needs to do something about this, we need a hero like Nancy Pelosi to save us.

    • Other things that need to be banned: “Assault Hubcaps” and “High-Capacity Mirror Shrouds”. We can put those in the same category as muffler bearings and blinker fluid.

      • Now wait a minute. Removing passenger side mirror shrouds would take half the fun out of urban motorcycle lane splitting.

  6. Enough is Enough. When are we, as a society, FINALLY going to stand up and put a stop to the madness?? Meanwhile, kids keep dying……. I hope all you car-bangers are happy with yourselves. You must hate kids. It must be hard to sleep at night.

    • C=D, a friend sent an e of Change.org last night with TV’s parents on the front, trying to have the usual, no stand your ground laws and take law abiding people’s guns away. In the comments the third one down a woman said the same thing, when are we going to stop killing the kids as if little TV was a child who wasn’t beating the shit out of GZ. Even as we speak a friend is walking the streets of downtown Boulder with his family and here’s part of what he just sent: “On one intersection made eye contact with a young black man. He yelled “the Bible said ask and you shall receive”!!! I gave him a smile, said thank you, gave him a half wave and walked on. Not ten feet from this man was an older black man walking on the sidewalk. I made eye contact and he said “I’ll shoot you Mother Fucker!!” I just walked on from this fellow, my hand grasping the gun in my pocket….” Now this guy is mid-sixties with his family but he feels the need, rightly so, to be armed to the teeth as is his wife and kids(grown). Son carries a big old double stack 9mm. Jean, they may be hauling some fertilizer back to Texas.

      • Why bring the fertilizer back to TX? Boulder needs fertilizing, too… 😀

        Funny thing is – most palces, we’d blame the water; In Boulder – it’s the air. Not enough oxygen in those high altitudes for some people… 😉

        • Jean, I realized I mis-spoke as I sent it. Like a guy told me yesterday about Boulder, just let the hippies who want to regulate everything have them. I guess hippies have changed a lot since the 60’s. I recall about 10 years ago somebody like CleanAir.org were sampling in Co. and found terrible pollution where Coors gets it water. The CEO, a big bud of the Shrub, nearly had a cow, wanted something to be done about sampling. Don’t fix the problem(Coors was the polluter), fix the messenger. I spect if you’ll drink a rocky mountain high though you don’t mind.

          • You have ruined Coors Light for me, forever.

            Not that it matters much – non-alcoholic beer isn’t worth much anyway. 😉

          • Jean, 3 brothers lease my place. They all drink “light” beers. Someone with them one day offered me one and one of them said Ah, he don’t want one, he’s old school drinks that regular Miller. My wife and I cracked up since one that stayed here several hours without his brand drank Miller and got drunk. He said it didn’t give him a hangover but he sure got drunk. Suck it up boys, get in the real beer drinking crowd. Having said that, if I could afford it, I’d drink nothing but ales, stouts, and porters. I’m about ready to start brewing and give up beer with gluten altogether. I’d love to see these boys knock back a few porters.

      • Eightsouthman, I hear you. I had a similar incident happen to me over the weekend. I was at a gas station, three black teenagers pulled up in an old Buick. One of them started pumping gas while the other two sat in the car. The windows were down, and they had a clear view of me. I heard them talking about “Poppin’ a cap in that mutherfukkin’ cracker over there”…. I looked over at them, they were looking at me, then they laughed. I didn’t need to start an incident…..I got in my car and left. It’s getting downright spooky around here, the shit’s beginning to get real…

    • Why does anyone need powerful muscles? Isn’t it inherently threatening to be able to squat 400 pounds? What do you intend to do with those quads?

      • Well, as an ex-bodybuilder myself, which I hope to take up again one day, I had done it in the latter part of my Army days for about 4 years.

        My weight was always a skinny, mesomorphic 160lb at 6′ tall, but by the end I got to 195lb. One bar fight taught me that the sheer depth and density of that muscle meant that no punch could penetrate anywhere, barring groin, jaw or a knife. But once I got a physical grasp of my quarry it was over. Dismembering would be quite easy to do.

        Not that I ever started fights as I just don’t care for violence, but to have that kind of protection, something akin to 1/2 inch of hardened leather all over gave me an enormous amount of confidence. Although, being that big there’s always some half-drunk moron that thinks he can take you on 😉

        • Yeah – it’s AWESOME to see the look on someone’s face when they unload all they can on you – and you stand there and look at them. Laugh. And proceed to turn them inside out. 😀

          All ya need is a Donc….

  7. Eric,

    There already is MADD (Mothers Against Dodge Durangos) so it is only a matter of time before we have MACH (Mothers Against Chrysler Hemis).

    Boothe,

    How many members are there in PITA (Pain in the @$$ ?) ? 😉 I think there are way too many here in the North East.

    EricB,

    You should see all the people pushing there vehicles due to the 1 gal capacity limit. It really contributes to massive rush hour traffic jams.

    • While that may actually be cause for optimism in DC, rest assured such things dare not apply to our betters, who either by either dejure or defacto means exempt themselves from such measures that, for once, would cause their implementation of tyranny to grind to a halt with them during rush hour…

      Also, on an unrelated note, if Obama was Trayvon 35 yrs ago, where was Zimmerman’s dad at? Could’ve spared many more victims than Zimmerman did.

      • Obama is an uber-thug.

        How many deaths can be laid directly at his feet? How many millions live in fear of his gang?

        That he is clean-cut, speaks in complete sentences and hardly ever raises his voice only makes it worse.

        I’ll take Trayvon any day.

        • Pretty poison, these pols.
          “Politicians are like diapers, they should be changed frequently – and for the same reason.” Mark Twain, IIRC.

          I think they need to be recycled, myself.

        • Dear Eric,

          Exactly.

          Ya gotta check this out.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvo-yEymNuQ

          You simply must listen to the 4 1/2 minutes between 15:30 and 21:00

          Larken Rose lays out with astonishing eloquence, the reason why uber-thugs are able to get away with their thuggery. He also explains how to rid ourselves of it.

          Hint: the solution is right under our noses, and does not require “armed revolt.”

          • Bevin, that’s huge tease. I haven’t got the bandwidth left this month to watch that video.
            I hope someone writes about it.

          • Everything Larken says is top notch. I did think Willcutts brought up some good topics that bear consideration:

            1) The US government is dysfunctional, and it’s not worth defending it or tinkering with it, it should be dismantled and replaced ASAP by a new system.

            2) Government is only a tool. A tool that has evolved over thousands of years, like a gun. Trying to ban government is like trying to ban guns.
            If you take the concentrated power of government out of the hands of the good people, there will still be lots of bad people forcibly conscripted to serve bad governments who will prey upon the now defenseless anarchists and voluntarists.

            3) Even if everyone in the world abandons the superstition of government, and they cease to exist, there will still be corporations, mafias, and mobs. The powerful people and their centralizing cartels will still exist without the puppet shows of government.

            4) Governments have protected the elites from a great many predations, take the British East Indies company for example. An entity more powerful than almost all governments.
            The flaw of government today is it only protects the elite from arbitrary rule and arbitrary wealth confiscation. The best course is a new form of government that charges fees for services, and has no forced taxation whatsoever. Income taxation is something that can be abandoned quite easily since it is such a new phenomenon.

            If I were to conclude the finding of the debates: Governments are evil. The level of their evil declines the smaller the group of people they exercise power over. There is an optimum size and extent of government that protects people with insufficient property and wealth from be enslaved by others.

            Ideally, if people become sufficiently wealthy and are able to defend their wealth, the only government needed is that which is voluntary consented to. In some cases, no government is needed at all.

          • Dear 5to1, Eric,

            Basically, this brief 5 minute segment answers the question: “Well how the hell do we rid ourselves of The Government now that we’ve got it?”

            Debates periodically flare up on this and other freedom oriented fora concerning, for lack of a better term, “immediate action vs. gradual education.”

            Larken Rose provides a pretty persuasive answer to that controversial question, one which has led to many heated debates among market anarchists.

          • LR:
            a couple quick things. corporations only exist because of the state.
            now companies and businesses and organizations can exist but but specifically the idea Corporation is a state-created entity that has magical special rights that people don’t.
            TW:
            you’re mistaken
            LR:
            you’re a lawyer, you know corporations are created under law. if you had said companies instead of
            corporations I would’ve agreed. yeah corporations can be nasty. but by law, they can have power.

            the problem does not exist in Washington DC and the solution is not doing something to that thing over there and a lot of people assume that anarchists want to go take the government and make it not
            be there. that’s not what I want.

            I want people to stop believing the gang of crooks in DC has any right to do anything because if you look at the Mafia, nobody imagines they have the right to rule and that usually restricts the amount
            of violence they can do.
            mostly the Mafia makes its money off of government created black markets – prostitution, gambling, drugs, alcohol, when that was illegal because you can’t run a gigantic extortion racket if your victims don’t believe you have the right to do it.

            the mafia, they have guns. now in the case of the government, the problem is not that there’s this big nasty gang, it’s that the vast majority of the victims of this big nasty gang imagine an obligation to obey it because they imagine it to be authority.

            nobody imagines mafia to be authority. they’re big they’re scary. they have the ability to hurt people, the ability to scare people and take your stuff but nobody thinks it’s right, just, legitimate, nobody calls them government.

            the problem with government is not in that it’s an organizational tool. it is by definition an entity that has the right to do things that mortals don’t have the right to do. such as steal and they call that taxation. such as initiating violence and they call it law enforcement. such as committing murder and they call it national defense. the problem is not that there’s this gang over there that we need to fix. the problem is that people are imagining the gang to have the right to do the things it does.

            things that human beings don’t have the right to do such as initiate violence and I would use the example when people say: if there wasn’t a government some other big angry group would spring up.

            imagine putting yourself in a position where you’re the bad guy and you have about 200,000 people and only two thousand of them are armed and it’s your job to rob a hundred million people of half their earnings, but you only have two thousand
            armed agents and then a bunch of paper pushers.

            how would you rob a hundred million people? there is only one way you can do it. call yourself government and dupe your victims into imagining that handing over their money is paying their fair share for the good of society and call your gang the IRS.

            if the victims of the IRS stopped imagining law and authority and government to be real just recognize them as a gang of thugs, they could ignore the IRS overnight because the victims outnumber the perpetrators a gazillion to one. it is only the belief in the legitimacy of the ruling class. the belief that we are obligated to obey it because its authority and it has the right to rule, we have the obligation to obey.

            that belief is a lie. in that belief is the entire problem and when that belief is gone, and sooner or later it will be, when that belief is gone you don’t have to do anything to government. you don’t have to go abolish it. you don’t have to have a revolution, the people simply ignore it, and we could because we outnumber it. it is outgunned by a huge margin, but mostly the victims imagine an obligation to obey the gang of crooks in DC.

            with that change the world changes, until then revolutions and knocking over one regime will only lead to them putting up another one. as long as people still believe that government can be legitimate. as long as they all bicker over who should sit on the throne and what kind of throne it should be: parliament, congress, or whatever, as long as they believe in authority, they will set up a new God and it will step on them and oppress them to varying
            degrees.

            I’ll be happy if I ever get people to give up belief that one man can ever have the right to rule another. if that ends then the superstition ends forever.

            – – – –
            Youtube subtitles tool – (just change the 11 char after v= for another video)

            http://www.serpsite.com/transcript.php?videoid=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYbpICtfFwo

          • What is government?
            The monopoly on legal violence.
            That’s the problem. Without that we have ‘the board of managers of the roads’ and similiar things for these common functions.

            Stripped of this power government is less dangerous than an HOA.

  8. “A toxic emulsion of subjectivism, arbitrariness, group-guilting and control freakery percolated in seventh-grade emotionalism – distilled with 190 proof hysteria.”

    Wow..love it…nuf said

  9. People freak out about semi auto firearms. But most of these high powered assault cars are fully automatic!

    And Boothe, unless you have an animosity against a certain kind of flat bread, I suspect that the “true believers” you are referring to are actually members of “PETA.” 😉

    • I thought he meant just generally Pain In The Ass people, which includes PETA.

      As opposed to People Eating Tasty Animals.

    • AND they have high-capacity fuel tanks! There’s no reasonable need for more than 10 gallons.*

      * CA, CO, CT, DC, HI, MD, MA, NJ, NY models are limited to a non-refillable 1 gallon tank.

    • Mike Pizzo – Although I have no animosity towards pita, I certainly consider that “other” PETA to be a real PITA (Mith and DSF5to1 got it). I personally eschew bread of all types. But if you wish to consume grain based foods, even unleavened, I consider it that be your right. So just like smoking, drinking or even shooting up, feel free to consume pita if it agrees with your system. Just don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your medical care due to the diabetes, obesity, systemic inflammation and even celiac disease that may result from the excessive consumption of carbohydrates.

      Now, I’ve been a member of the “real” PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals) since I was weaned. I consider that to be the “real” PETA because we were here long before the “others” commandeered the acronym. As a dear friend of mine told some Seventh Day Adventists when they were explaining their vegetarian bent: “See these? [pointing to his eyeteeth] These are canines. God gave them to us for ripping meat!” Amen. As a member of the “real” PETA, I have not only consumed numerous tasty animals (OMG!), but have even slaughtered and butchered many of them (Gasp!) before (usually) cooking them. Which from the “other” PETA’s perspective would make me a “PITA” too I suppose.

      Then there is the cannibal’s perspective. What of consuming members of the “other” PETA? A quandary arises: They are arguably made of meat, so PETA should be healthier for one than pita would be. But OTOH, one should consider eating PETA be a violation of the NAP. However, the physical consumption of PETA could also been seen as a service to the rest of us. You know, that whole good of the many outweighing the needs of the few deal….

      So it turns out that this PETA vs. pita vs. PETA debate is a real PITA in and of itself. 😉

      • T-shirt with 2 bears and a PETA sign – one says, “I figured it stood for Please Eat The Activist, so I did.”

    • PETA: People for the edible treatment of animals. 😀

      The weapons i’d LIKE to have at my disposal?
      GAU-8A (From a Warthog)
      Minigun (Dunno if there are variations, but faster cyclic rate of fire and lower caliber would be preferred. 😀 )
      Small arms, a Barret .50, a 30.06, a full-auto shotgun @ 12 gauge, a Steyr AUG, FAL-9 (Semi preferred – IIRC, the full-auto doesn’t do anything BUT auto), a Mauser w/rifle stock, Uzi pistol, Tommy gun (Prefer Drum mag), Ma Deuce, M-16 w/M-89, and to round it out, an AK. 😀

      Add in a few various handguns, including a Governor, 1911 clone, and a DEagle .50 … Dunno what else. There’s a pistol I heard about recently that’s got a .50 cal bullet, but I don’t recall the name. Neighbor’s got one, I’ll learn what i’m actually capable of BEFORE I buy anything.

      Meantime, I’m getting back to the gym myself, and I’ll get back to practicing with my blades… Need to go get some disposable ceramics and research how they’ll do with scanners of various sorts. (Got frickin’ scanners and detectors everywhere these days.) We’ll need to either sneak things in, or be able to bull our way through by force.
      If it comes to force… I’d better add RPGs, LAWs, grenades, napalm-B, C4…. Flamethrowers… An F-22 and M1-A2 Abrams… 😉

      • Nice collection if you could have it Jean. As for me, of course I’d like the entire armoury but these 2 are my faves, the Bren gun:

        http://world.guns.ru/machine/brit/bren-e.html

        and the Colt M203:

        http://www.gunslot.com/pictures/colt-m4-m203-gernade-launcher-right

        Although the Bren’s only got a 30 round 7.62mm mag, it’s super accurate. At the 150m range, every shot/bounce of the weapon on full auto almost perfectly put each round into the same hole. Probably why the Oz Army got rid of it as its beating zone isn’t random/wide enough. But then you don’t have to worry about dragging a 200 round belt through the dirt and then into the barrel.

        The M203 I liked very much for the 40mm grenade launcher. Just imagine a few white-phos rounds lobbed at the cops at 300m. Awesome. I remember a few of my Army mates holding this the wrong way when they fired it and almost busted their hands. The flatter trajectory and speed of the 5.56mm round is useful for either sniping or spreading the love on full auto.

        • Rev, while I know the Bren gun is a dandy, round after round in the same whole on full auto? or with any mode? Gun manufacturers are making lots of quarter minute of angle guns now but that’ doesn’t translate into rounds going into the same hole. I have had rifles, bolt actions, that would put rounds touching each other at 100 yds. and that’s considered well above the mark for anything. I used to shoot turkey heads at 100yds at shoots with my SP-1 Colt but that’s a far cry from putting rounds through the same hole, in fact, I don’t know a gun right off-hand that would do that nor any people who could accomplish it with any gun.

          • I said “almost” Eight. But the grouping was FAR tighter than the MAG-58 and M60. Reason being it was far better balanced than the other 2. Length of the barrel and weight of the reloading mechanisms meant that every time it finished its recoil and settled, it fired another shot. The other 2 were pretty much all over the place, only useful for spreading the love. But for drilling multiple holes in the enemy’s head at 300m, the Bren is my first choice.

        • Rev, your words “every shot/bounce of the weapon on full auto almost perfectly put each round into the same hole.” Not sure what “almost perfectly” means but if I take your meaning as you’d have it afterward, at one time I was “almost perfectly” suited to be an F-1 champion. Besides, the key word there is “bounce”.

        • I always thought that would be a keeper. Upon their arrival it was said a football field covered with one square foot pieces of paper would have a hole in each one for 30 seconds of fire. That’ll do it. I’m not sure I have a big enough trailer to haul the ammo though. Of course with puff on hand, you could fairly much “requisition” what you needed, including ammo.

        • Which one? Vietnam era, or current?
          Can’t quite decide, myself. The original had mofre guns, the modern is a beast in flight… but it DOES have a pretty little howitzer on board, which is great for delivering approval ratings to places like 1600 Pennsy Ave. 😀

          Can you hear me now?

        • Puff was a DC-3 (AC-47D) with three mini-guns on it and it was alright for its day. But I worked on Spectre (AC130H) and there is no comparison. Although the H model still had the capability to mount mini-guns, we ran 20mm Vulcans, a 40mm Bofors automatic cannon and a 105mm howitzer all hanging out the port side. If you ever look up in the theatre of combat and see Spectre (or Spookie or Ghostrider) circling counter-clockwise overhead and you’re in the middle of that circle here’s what you probably need to do:

          1) Sit down on the ground, with your knees up.
          2) Make peace with your Creator.
          3) Bend over far enough to kiss your @$$ goodbye.

          Remember kids, this massively destructive hardware is sponsored by your tax money. When the SHTF, this hardware can and will be used against you and there will be no court of law standing in the way. Remember Waco and have a nice day.

          • Jean, Boothe, a friend flew one of these. It was a hold on and try to keep it on course flying sideways sort of thing. When it stopped pushing you knew it was over, well, that and the shit hitting the aircraft itself. I never thought much about anything as far as cannons go but the Bofors is right down my alley. It’s just what the fools on the hill called for and hopefully will receive. I once had some TOW’s offered me @$1500/each. AT the time, I couldn’t see the need although I thought long and hard about it. I was sorta put off by their seismic signature, not any more.

          • together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail. Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail. Noble kings and princes would bow when’er they came, Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name. But now they have these drone things so high that you can’t tell and won’t be aware they’re even there till you’re blasted all to hell. Oh….

          • I had an uncle that flew the Puff in Nam, he also served in Korea. Considering that he had some relative comparison between two worthless wars, I think he said the entropy best when he said that he thought they were trying to kill him for his pension in Nam. Its seems government just more careless with men’s lives each knew dictator in chief that came along. He told stories that the north vietcong would be shooting out the multiple engines one by one, and that most missions they nearly made it back on one last engine. Though like you said the enemy knew once they lit up that they were dead meat, so they became excellent marksmans taking out the engines.

            The worlds a strange and small place who knows maybe you knew the uncle over there. And then again probably not.

            HR

          • Overall I feel sorry for service men of this country. Considering I came from the same dumb down public school indoctrination, I see how easy it would be to enter in the military really believing the political BS. You got that and the forced enslavement of men against their will (draft) to kill for these political scumbags and politicians. I do understand why libertarians denounce the military, because they know that anything else will continue the carnage by giving admiration to an evil institution.
            But I don’t know that I can frown on it, maybe just maybe because I know in a parallel universe I’d been snookered at 18 as the pawn of rich men. They had me high saluting the flag after all, pledging allegiance to the beast. Had it not been for divine intervention and my luck and circumstance I could easily see being under the ground dying for a lie. I just got an email from a Gary Kohl today about the men who dropped the A-bomb on a Nagasaki Christian church. Ground zero was the only and biggest church of Japanese Christians 7000 perished instantly, and so did Christianity in Japan with that bomb load. Most people don’t know how so called intelligence in WWII decimated the young lambs of Christ and why conversion of other Buddhist to Christians was destroyed by that fateful drop. Add to this the fact that Japan was already wanting to surrender, well thats Military for you, the inverse of what Jesus taught us about not returning an eye for an eye.

            Even if a man doesn’t become a softie in old age I think he should acknowledge that young men are pawns to evil old one in the military. The spokeperson of the evil government empire told what he exactly thought of the military when he said, – “Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy”. I pray that men wake up to these assholes like Kissinger. Maybe there will be wars, but at least no man should go to war for an evil man or evil cause. The later 100 years of American Military is all about the latter.

          • Hot Rod, this guy’s name was Graham. He thought little of Bush 1 losing his mate, said he never lost a man due to his bringing his plane in no matter the landing, they all walked or were carried away. He used to keep an .06 round on the dash of his farm truck, a Caddy sedan he drove the fields in. He also alerted me way back in the early nineties of what big brother could do when he locked his keys in his car and called GM. They unlocked his car without ever showing up. Sound familiar? They were keeping track of those cars long before it was known or advertised. He ended up working for the CIA but split with them for reasons he wouldn’t say. They later tried to kill him with a set of bad tractors tires that blew up on mounting. He went the whole nine yards with Firestone and found out of a run of 5,000 of those tires, only the two that blew up on him had ever done this. He didn’t believe it was happenstance and I don’t either since the 3 people I know who worked for the CIA were either killed by nefarious means or almost as in this guy’s case. He sustained severe head trauma from simply mounting and airing up those tires. The last I knew he was in Iowa at the old family farm, sold completely out of Texas land.

          • The article I think you guys already read on LR about how the Christians of Nagasaki were nuked and annihilated by the U.S. military:

            http://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/08/gary-g-kohls/the-atomic-murder-of-nagasaki/

            When I think of admiration of the death machines and my uncle that flew some of them, I instantly and sombered by the victims and the evil men perpetrating such evil in the name of “Good”. Its then I feel ashamed for ever thinking of such devices and instruments as cool.

            HR

          • Eightsouthman – If I recall correctly the AC130H kicked 6 feet sideways every time the 105 fired. There was a hulk sitting on a sand bar 28 miles out in the gulf they would fire on. We’d ride our bikes down to the beach at Way Side Park and watch their night ops live fire missions. You’d see the tracers raining down and then a few seconds later hear the roar of the 20mm. Brrrrraaaaack! It sounded like a big 2-stroke motorcycle engine. Then you’d see five consecutive flashes and after a pause hear ba-wump, ba-wump, ba-wump, ba-wump, ba-wump as they dumped a clip through the Bofors. I can’t describe the 105, you just had to be there.

            HotRod – I understand how you feel. I had to repent of thinking all this was cool. As long as it was just target shooting it was cool. But when you send this massive destructive device into someone else’s neighborhood and start “spreading the love” as ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N put, well, that’s a sin. Big time. The gunship should only be used as a general deterrent to invasion not as a “big club” to cow the neighbors into doing what the elite want. This country is SO coming under judgement for living by the sword and the flag wavers just can’t see it. We really are living in interesting times.

          • Boothe, you bring to mind an old favorite:
            Live by the sword,
            Trip and fall on your sword,
            Die by the sword.

            OK, the person saying it was a little tetched – but I DO like the, “Give them enough rope to hang themselves” meme.
            My concern is that our army will really turn PRO, and they’ll take over as law enforcement (subsuming police), and become pure mercenaries.

            I’d suggest we rethink the “Rules” here, as Colonials had to do so long ago. As an example: TARGET OFFICERS. Forget the Junior Enlisted – go for the comissioned officers, using ambush and assassination techniques. Cut off the head of the snake.

            Bear in mind, I’ve read that there are more officers tha enlisted these days – for example, the AIR FORCE has more Generals than the ARMY. So, best bet is to trim the dead wood up top, and screw with the supply / communications lines. Interrupt payroll a few times, the rank-and-file will sell out to whomever can supply food. They have families to take care of, too. That’s the Private’s / Corporal’s / Sergeant’s focus: Feed family, keep his men (buddies) alive.

            Navy won’t mean much on shore, except as bodies. Air force, aside from drones – well, planes need fuel and parts, runway. Rotary vehicles are soemwhat delicate, slow, and limited in range. Drones more effective, harder to detect for civillians… Makes a REAL Orwellian example easy: The “Safe Driver Chase” commercial I forget who’s doing that crap – but it endorses TWO THINGS that most people wo’t even l;ook at: 1, all driving is to be monitored, and you’ll be under surveillance all the time. 2, Cloverite behavior is to be rewarded.

            It will be accepted subconsciously via “repeating the big lie enough”.

            Yeah – We need to hijack a few Specters, or start making small-run IEDs. Make it with stable materials (How long does C4 last on the shelf?) and just be ready to strip local sites of material and supplies. Hit the fuel depo at the local base, in and out without being caught. Drones might work well….. And could even be rigged to drop necessary ordnance and be recovered. No injuries, just – no gas for the motorpool. Got 500 tanks that can’t move until the next fuel shipment…

            Move on to next base, electrify their fence….
            Next base, EMP the radar…

            Etc.
            Even better options exist if we have a few brats here and there.

            As to loving the weapons: I DO love them, BECAUSE there is an awesome beauty in destruction. No mistake – it’s a horriffic beauty, but beauty none the less.
            And, as with BAC – Dead is Dead. The beauty of a Grecian leaf-point spear was lost on the point-recipient, too. No different than an atomic bomb, save in scale. (And we didn’t have ROE then, either: everyone could be a target. Oftwen were, or were taken as spoils: women raped, children sold into slavery, both murdered outright. So the amount of effort is what has changed the most, not the beauty or horror. We do what we must do – nothing more, nothing less. When they stop twitiching, they can no longer aggress against you. Until then, anyone is a target – despite our disgust at the LEO community for their “non-stadard targets” including children, women, old folks in their homes – it’s a valid concern if TSHTF. Which is why we should start locating all pig gathering places and home locations. Asymmetrical warfare works both ways, Bacon Bits: Forget your oath to uphold “the law”, or be reduced to ash. Either way, I’m happy. I think that sentiment will become widespread, which is the BEST we can hope for; It would be far worse if the common man’s sentiment was, kill ’em all. Bad situation, but getting worse.
            And just so everyone’s aware: IT. HAPPENED. BEFORE. The class warfare of Elites vs. everyone else is nothing new. Russia. Rome. Britian/Colonies. France.
            We just need to get our shit together before “they” decide it’s all set, or we’re being brainwashed – like that commerical – or outright chipped, likely from birth as an “immunization.”

            We’re overdue – so unleash the dogs of war, enjoy the horror, and record the history – hopefully it won’t happen again, ever.

            Hey, a man can dream…
            But meantime, we do what we need to, and make it FINAL. One shot to the head, or one knife in an aorta – and move on. Make sure you don’t need to shoot/stab twice.

            And yes, there’s a special place for people like me in Hell. Such is life. Put on your big girl panties and deal, or you’ll be bending over the rest of your life.
            ABS. Warrantless search. NSA domestic spying. Limitless income tax. Klepto-corporatocracy.

            Most of us here, though only recently waking up – accepted it in part. We therefore ACCEPTED THE PREMISE – and laid the groundwork for the ugliness yet to come.

            Remember that. It’s not just the boomers… The Pols… Etc. It’s US. So now we do the hard tasks, or sit back, kick the can down the road, and the next generation(s) pay a higher price still.

            Specter isn’t enough firepower. Bring the rain, put the fear of god into those SOBs, and write it down for history. Only option left: Genie ain’t going back in the bottle, ever. They’ll never back off, never step back, never even question. We can only treat them the same.)

  10. I think you’re on to something here Eric. *Ban all cars and restrict individual travel to mopeds, bicycles and Shank’s mare (all properly taxed by the mile). If you can show a legitimate need to travel at speeds higher than 35 MPH, then with the proper background check, finger printing, DNA data and iris scans, all documented on your REAL ID (i.e. internal passport) and compared to the master database of course, then you will be allowed to use public transportation…but only after undergoing a body cavity search each trip, each way. This will have the added benefit of reducing medical care costs though, because pap smears, prostate checks and colonoscopies can be integrated into your travel arrangements, thereby saving your fellow taxpayers money. Just think, we could knock out mass vehicular homicide, colon cancer, yeast infections, drug smuggling, global warming and terrorism, along with a whole host of other human problems, is one fell swoop. What a wonderful rainbow Utopia of happy and compliant people all serving each other in pursuit of a greater good and total equality that would be, huh? I can hardly wait until the mass consciousness awakens to this glorious truth (gag).

    *Warning: This post contains extreme sarcasm and satire that some “true believers” may find offensive. If you are a member of PITA, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the AMA, MADD or similar organizations, please point your browser to the Huffington Post or Mother Jones immediately.

      • That’s why you mix arsenic with the sugar.

        Or give them “liquid sweeteners” based on antifreeze…

        They make good fertilizer, and there’s plenty more like that.

    • 35mph? No 15mph or 5mph. 35mph is fast enough to kill pedestrians.

      Of course every time I suggest that those who say speed kills say that’s ‘too slow’. well that’s where speed stops killing… *shrug*

      • My argument, BrentP, remains that pedestrians shouldn’t prop in front of cars in order to be run over anyway. But we know what they’re like. Thumb in bum, mind in neutral.

        The “speed kills” mentality is a simple-minded ideal from those who can’t think laterally or haven’t a clue how to formulate cause and effect. If it’s not the sudden stop that kills, it’s the slow squishing effect of more than a ton of sharp car/truck underside turning the pedestrian into a blob of crushed bone and plasticine.

      • BrentP, for those who say 35mph is too slow, just have them look at accident records along with the photos. I used to see it every day on the news and it would be city intersections where speed limits and speeds also were low. Often you could barely tell even what sort of vehicle(s) were involved. I noticed another thing, the frequency of fire in these wrecks too, often reducing the vehicle to nearly nothing. I have been in a low speed accident that sounded like a bomb going off. I was braced for impact and watched it slow-mo. It was probably no more than 15mph but the other two vehicles were stopped. One Chevy pickup hitting another from behind that hit another in front. The center pickup had every light in front hanging out by the wires. Everybody walked away but went to the hospital to get checked out being stunned and banged up. The events leading to it were caused by a young guy and girlfriend in a tiny car pulling out in front of a big pickup doing about 40mph. Big pickup swerves into the other lane where traffic is backed up, barely missing the small car whose occupants, for certain the driver, would have been killed by that t-bone and not stopping to avoid the traffic. There was plenty of room to stop for a vehicle with brakes but the anti-lock brakes malfunctioned and wouldn’t allow any stopping pressure on the brakes, like slamming on the brakes on ice. If you want to see a good example of low speed bad accident watch No Country for Old Men where the car runs a red and t-bones another, neither doing more than 30mph. That will get your attention. Too bad cops never make videos available of these wrecks where some convenience store or other entity was filming with sound. That would get people’s attention.

        • That’s something Clover doesn’t understand Eight, that “failure to yield or give way” causes by far the most crashes globally. Not speeding, lane-swapping/hogging, failure to indicate or any number of those mediocre things she has conniptics over. The only reason the cops don’t concentrate on it is because it’s too hard to police. Then again, we all know that whatever Clover gets in her head is the right one and everyone else – including the actual law – is wrong 🙂

        • Over on CloverCam I have a few videos of asshats pulling out in front of me forcing me to take evasive action to avoid them. Our dear Clover insists they did nothing wrong while chastising me for getting too close to them when they pulled out directly in front of me and then did not accelerate.

          But I know what they are doing and know what Clover is defending. I used to live near CHA high and low rise projects. I tried not to drive past the projects, not so much because of stray bullets but because the residents ’empowered’ themselves by walking slowly out in front of moving traffic. However, they’d wait for the driver to flinch first. They weren’t going to step out if the driver truly didn’t see them because well they’d get flattened dead instead of having empowerment or a lawsuit.

          Most drivers who pull out are encouraged to do so when someone sees them and starts slowing. Just like the project folks were.

          • The folks in Detroit do that as well. They will walk right in front of traffic and get people to stop or merge lanes. All I do is coast up on them until I am sure they see me then I floor it. When they hear the engine kick in they get their asses of the street like no tomorrow.

            It is also kind of funny to see a bunch of ‘gangstas’ running for their lives as well. All that being said I am sure there is something seriously wrong with me.

          • On a motorcycle, I found it made sense not to make eye contact so as not to let car drivers know I’d seen them or they’d assume they could push in regardless and just bully me out of the way. If they thought I was a dangerous idiot who hadn’t seen them, they were less likely to try it.

          • Makes sense. Most of my driving technique is derived from bicycling, and part of bicycling is acting so as not to be bullied.

          • The main gain came when car drivers tried to overtake. Most of them thought they could do it easily with just a few inches of clearance, because it never occurred to them that motorcycles might swerve from unrelated bumps or gusts (the legal principle that “the cyclist is entitled to his wobble”) and they didn’t know that suction from passing close pulls motorcycles closer anyway (“canal boat effect”). Pretending not to see the car drivers made them try to overtake where I actually was rather than where they thought they could force me – and then, just as they came up, I could veer away and give them more space than they thought they needed.

          • No Matt, there’s nothing wrong with you. You sir are an educator. Back in the late seventies a good friend of mine bought a house right on the edge of the “bad side” of Ft. Walton Beach. Once when I was en route to his house, there were several “boys from da’ hood” walking down the road toward me taking up both lanes. When they saw me approaching on my venerable old TS400 Suzuki, they joined hands to form a human chain as I slowed down for “pedestrians.” Whereupon I realized I was about to get rolled and turned that big single 2-stroke loose, wheelying right at the biggest meanest looking one fully intending to use him for a jump. They scattered like the pack of cowardly thugs that they were. That’s how some folks have to “git their learnin.” I have also seen the mere presence of a 12 ga. pump gun restore sanity to the mentally infirm and immediately impart civility and decorum to trespassing recalcitrants. Conventional methods of imparting etiquette, civility and manners just don’t seem to work with some folks.

          • Boothe, you might have to qualify that list by giving an exception to the fairer sex. I can think of a couple times pulling a gun on one would just have resulted in eating it unless you’d have used it quickly. When they’re so mad their eyes aren’t focused it’s time to point “them” in another direction if possible. Scary they are.

    • Eric,
      Got a major problem with the snark / sarcasm in your comment:
      See roarofwolverine.com for more information – someone who – because of a botched colonoscopy – had to have a full viscera transplant.

      The problems are endemic, and I fear the sheep don’t care. Until the butcher’s knife is in their neck…

      The woman likes a new show, “The Newsroom.” I’m sitting here explaining to her why the show is depicting events the way it is – for example, the 4th estate is IN on the fix – and she just shakes her head. Just [Jean’s] crazy conspiracy theory…

      Yet conspiracy isn’t needed – just useful idiots and someone to call a shot. ONE, A shot.

        • Oy, looks like it posted to the wrong page! LOL – started it last night, got detained and never posted. So – It was about the prostate exams, colonoscopies, etc being integrated with the travel plans.
          On review, it looks like I should’ve addressed Boothe.

          The guy who created RoarofWolverine.com went in for a colonoscopy.
          He didn’t feel great afterwards, but they sent him home, IIRC. He went back to the hospital, they sent him home again, the doctor wouldn’t even check on him.
          He went in again, to the ER, almost dead – turned out he had a punctured colon and was septic. And they had to remove most of his intestinal tract and colon. He had like 4-6″ of small intestine, that was IT.
          So he’s had a viscera transplant and is doing pretty well, considering. Better than the ones who followed the advice of the doctor – most of them are overweight, dead, or in and out of the hospital.

          Makes for a good (graphic) read.

          • Reminds me that we should ban doctors, going by the hundreds of thousands that die every year through botched surgery or prescriptions.

          • Rev, in a free and open marketplace, those doctors would in effect, be banned. I have a friend who works ER, has to cover for incompetents regularly. Hard to believe he’s had to come in to perform a tracheal intubation, something I could do on a cow and some ER doctors can’t perform on people, a very basic, life-saving procedure. Many doctors are just good at bookwork, have no real talent for “monkey-see, monkey-do” things that save lives. I really don’t think many people on this site could not learn to do that procedure. It ain’t rocket science.

          • We had a good friend who was a retired doctor. She’d been with the CDC. As an octogenarian she refused to go to the doctor and just took vitamins and a few herbal supplements; no “scrips” whatsoever. She went out to check on her cattle, got out of the truck to open the gate and dropped dead from an aneurism. She loved tending her cattle and died doing what she loved at 88 years old. Her advice to my family and me was “Stay away from doctors. They’ll kill you.” I suppose not much has really changed since the “leeches” essentially bled George Washington to death. I wish Methylamine would weigh in on this subject.

            • When you break a leg or require surgery for a gunshot wound, a doctor is a life-saver. But, leaving aside physical trauma, I take the position that most of what ails people relates to factors under their control; i.e., what they eat and how they live.

              I mentioned a few days ago our neighbor – the guy who is in his 40s but appears to be in his mid-’60s. His chief problem is he’s at least 100 pounds overweight – the result of eating too much of the wrong foods and being sedentary. He could self-treat by losing the weight and reforming his eating habits. Instead, he goes to a doctor who treats the symptoms that attend being morbidly obese – high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. – but does nothing to cure the underlying disease process.

              My mother-in-law is another example. She’s had to have both knees replaced. Could her being 50-70 pounds heavy for the past 30 years have anything to do with this?

              I look around me when I go out and find that probably half the people I encounter are at least 20 pounds heavy – and probably a third are clinically obese.

              I go to the grocery store and marvel at the unedibles. There is almost no food there. Just heavily processed, nutrition-free, HFC-suffused filler that will kill you – albeit over a period of decades – if you’re dumb enough to eat it regularly.

              Most of this stuff is obvious.

              But then, most people are asleep….

    • Hilarious post. Except for one thing: I think you meant PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) unless you were referring to that special Greek flat bread which tastes so good when cuddling a few slices of nicely roasted lamb.

        • Thank you DownshiftFast5to1 – My point exactly. But gee whiz, see if I try another play on a popular acronym (although I must confess it did stir up a lot of fun crap). I love this site. Thanks again Eric for giving us this venue!

        • Downshift, what’s wrong with it more than being wheat is it’s being a hybridized wheat that’s basically not as healthy as long grain wheat. Having said that though, there are about 6 types of wheat grown in this country and they have widely varying degrees of protein. The durum type is most often seen and used for flat bread. Not everyone responds to wheat the same way but more and more as wheat has continually been hybridized into a semi-dwarf type, we see a food staple capable of sustaining life of people but not nearly as nutritious as we’d like but it produces even up to twice the yields of other long stem varieties. Now I get to the bottom line. I’m allergic as hell to wheat of any sort and so are many other people and while it can keep us from starving when conditions are bad, it’s something we should try to avoid when we can. Yes, you can have a slice of bread now and again, but know it’s fattening(and often inflammation producing) as hell, not a big deal when you’re starving but a very real deal for those who are just filling their guts with what’s at hand and don’t really need the nutrition. I like pita bread, love it in fact, it just doesn’t love me.

          • Oh yes, a Gyro is like a beautiful whore acting friendly while she has a knife behind her back and an eye on your wallet. She smells so delicious and taste good too. Hard to resist, for some.

            The UberGovernment is kind of like the Gyro whore too:

            http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/2013/08/06/americas-ubergovernment-and-the-rest-of-us/

            The, “are talking last straws” link there was kind of uplifting to see too. It was in line with that Larken Rose video topic. …And kind of like a pretty and honest woman with a platter of steak walking your way.

          • Oh, to be consistent I guess I should have ended it with, “a pretty and honest woman with a platter of steak, a naked baked sweet potato, some sauteed kale with zucchini, or an acorn squash with butter. …With glasses of water and shots of tequila, walking your way.”

            (Don’t shake your head. If you’ve never had it made right, you’re missing out. …I never used to think I’d like it either.)
            I guess that’s also a bit like what Hot Rod was talking about with the soldiers and ‘patriotism’.

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