Assault madness

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The madness is letting the ban on assault weapons lapse.

I have relatives that own guns – no problem. They are sensible about them, keep them under lock and key, have taken gun safety courses. We’ve discussed guns and I have no problem with folks owning or keeping guns. But Assault Weapons are not in the same category.

How can a President expect ANYONE to take him seriously when he claims to support law Enforcement then he lets a law end that banned automatic weapons like the AK-47, AR-15, MAC-10,Uzi, Tec-9.
What does this say to the average cop when the lawmakers allow bad guys can go out and buy this kind of military technology?
C’mon, does ANYONE think a sportsman is going hunting with an assault weapon – that kind of gun would shred game. Why does a private citizen buy a gun like this?

Other than the “kick” of owning a gun that can pulverize anything you might aim it at (cinderblocks, trees, cars, etc…), the only answer I come up with is as protection against others who might have similar weapons – to prevent finding yourself at the wrong end of a self-defense gap! What can you do when you find a burglar in your home with a gun – why, you simply HAVE to empty your tommy-gun into the blighter, just to teach him a right-proper lesson!

See http://www2.stopthenra.com/

Thanks to
Eat Your Vegetables for inspiration!

Protest signs seen

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Protest slogans seen at Deluth News tribune website (among other places)

“Draft the Bush daughters.”

“Evict Bush from public housing.”

“Fellow Christians, We Are Called to “Love Our Enemies” – Jesus Wasn’t Kidding

“Halliburton thanks you for supporting the war.”

“How Many Hijackers Came From Iraq?”

“If We’re Spreading Democracy to Iraq, Let’s Start With Florida”

“Remember when presidents were smart and bombs were dumb?”

“Sacrifice SUVs, not children.”

“Stop mad cowboy disease.”

“The Pro-Life President Can’t Wait to Start Killing.”

“Vote Bush off the island.”

“W stands for Wrong.”

“War begins with Dubya.”

“War is not an energy policy.”

Legendary?

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Two rides are better than one
Click to enlarge
Update on my 1970 Triumph 500 Project

I had some time to work on the bike today, And the plan was to try and cure a hard-to-start problem. Although I had gotten the motorcycle to run last fall, starting it wasn’t easy.

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Pets but not partners?

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from a
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Press Release posted on Yahoo
– Weds Sept 1, 5:44 pm ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ — The Human Rights Campaign today condemned Home Depot, Sprint, Ecolab and Waste Management — all Fortune 500 companies — for offering their employees pet insurance but not domestic partner health insurance.

“Paying for a parrot’s but not a person’s hospital stay is absurd,” said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. “This is no joke. Employees deserve better from these companies.”

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MCC Ordination Service

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I just got back from a weekend in Richmond, Virginia. After 5 years of work, study and practice, my partner Emma was ordained as a Reverend in the Metropolitan Community Church.

It was a very significant weekend for me, my dad expressed an interest in seeing her service, and by going to Richmond, he’d get a chance to meet Emma’s parents as well, who he’s never met, due to their poor health and inabilty to travel.

One of the neat things is that Emma’s dad had been a Methodist Minister most of his life – he retired a few years ago after preaching for 50 years. Her uncle is also a retired Methodist Minister, so Emma going into the ministry was following in a family tradition. (Yeah – she’s a PK – Preacher’s Kid)…


Bagpiper on the steps on MCC Ricmond
Click to enlarge
Considering that Emma’s family is of Scottish descent,
what kind of a service would it be without a piper?

Continue on for picture highlights …

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Beginning a new Journey

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My partner Emma has reached the end of her training and waiting – on August 28th, on her birthday, she becomes ordained as a full Reverend in the Metropolitan Community Church. Its a real big deal to both of us, and to her family, who are travelling for the occasion. We’re also having some MCC pastors and elders travelling in from a distance. Rev Elder Darlene Garner (who was the pastor when we joined MCC NoVA back in 1996) is flying in from Monterrey Mexico, and some other surprises are expected. Even my Dad is coming to see the service, and he’s not regular church-going folks!

As you might imagine, I’ll be away from the computer most of the weekend. My hands will be busy with family and guests and such – – but I’ll post pictures once I have them.

Non-geek time!

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photo of our backyard July 17, 2000     photo of same backyard Aug 9, 2004

Backyard July 17, 2000 | Backyard Aug 9, 2004
Click either picture to enlarge

If you consider that my recent posts here have all been about
pushing the range of an Apple Airport Express adapter, you might think I spend all my time indoors at a computer screen. But in truth, its just part of the things that keep me busy …

Of course, we have the backyard pond to maintain, and about 18 very tall trees … recently reduced by one. Thats the problem with living among old tall trees – the shade is wonderful, but even with regular watering and deep root feeding, they only live for so long. And in the 4 years we’ve lived in this home, we’ve had 4 large trees cut down. Its troubling, but on each occasion we found a huge amount of decay hidden within the trunk, so its actually a blessing to take the trees down gently at our pace, instead of waiting for them to crash down in winter, loaded with ice.

As you can see from the pictures, the last homeowner let the yard go to seed – so I’ve spent a lot of time clearing weeds and undregrowth from a lot of the yard. Somebody in the past had even filled in the little pond years ago – but I show how I got the pond set up in pictures and pages here

Its a lot of work, but its very pleasant to go sit in the chairs on a sunday morning with a nice cup of coffee and watch the birds play in the trees. Very soothing – like a vacation in our own backyard.