Friday, May 31, 2013

Is Your Wife Hot?

Barnabas Piper doesn't think you should call your wife "hot".

Hahaha! I think someone has got some severe emotional/maturity problems.  While I never use the term “hot” with anyone but my wife when referring to her, for a guy to make a big deal about this with respect to his friends/acquaintances indicates that he is probably one of those males that the rest of us real men refer to as “gamma rabbits”.

This is what real men do.  They show pride in the things that matter to them.  They might call their automobile “cool” or their AR15 “badass”.  If a guy wants to call his wife “hot” in front of me, even if I don’t think she is, I am very happy for him and share in his pride over his wife.  I might not think his car is cool or his AR15 is badass, but I am not going to make an issue of it, because it is a personal preference based on his choices and abilities.  I may not know what all the criteria are, so I cannot fault his judgement.  And judgement is what Barnabas and his friend are engaging in doing here.

The converse is even more worrying.  Do you have any idea what happens to a man when he quits having pride in his wife?

Like I said, I don’t use that term with respect to my wife with anyone.  However, I do brag on both her inner and outer beauty in more subtle terms.  That’s what Real Men do.  Like in the Song of Solomon.

Monday, May 20, 2013

No Longer A Nation of Laws

The former acting chief of the US Internal Revenue Service sees nothing wrong with harrassing conservative advocacy groups.
First, they came for the Tea Partyers,
And I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Tea Partyer.

Then they came for the conservatives,
And I didn't speak out because I wasn't a conservative.

Then they came for the taxpayers,
And I didn't speak out because I wasn't a taxpayer.

Then they came for me,
And there was no one left to speak out for me.
"Absolutely not illegal", indeed. 
 

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Eat Bugs!

I have been working 18 hour days for the last couple of weeks and have not had a chance to write.  But last night, at around 1AM , I took a little while to catch up on my reading, and I ran into this article, where the United Nations wants us to quit engaging in animal husbandry and turn to eating insects.

I can pretty much guarantee that the fat cat bureaucrats on the East River won't have caterpillar casserole or beetle soufflé on the menu.

For justification, the unelected wannabe world rulers cite advantages such as raising insects takes less water per unit of protein, and insects can be fed human waste, and that this could be the solution to world hunger.  Unfortunately, such a strategy does not address the causes of world hunger, which for the most part is caused by government interference in local economies through taxes, duties, fees, and regulation, which work in concert to hamper the free flow of food and money.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Cops are not your friends

Every year, police officers die in the line of duty.  It goes with the job.  Much of the time, police officers deal with sociopaths, scum, drunk, and drug-fueled miscreants.

But, every year, police kill many more people than are killed in the line of duty.  Many more, but we don't know exactly how many because no one is keeping that statistic.

Since the beginning of the "war on drugs", which by any measure was lost long ago, police have become more militaristic, more aggressive, and much less flexible when it comes to dealing with the public in general, and tense situations in particular.  The conduct of the New Orleans P.D. in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the recent Keystone Cops episode in Boston following the Marathon Bombing are good examples.

One of the more troubling trends in police departments across the nation is their tendency to rally round their own bad apples.  It appears that in the Miami area (Opa-Locka, to be precise), we have a police sergeant who is about to be fired for the ninth (yes, that's right, the ninth) time.

Now, considering that police unions are relatively strong, you might assume that he was not fired for minor infractions.  You'd be right. The list includes:

  • busting the skull of a handcuffed suspect
  • beating juveniles
  • having dope and booze in his squad car
  • ripping off suspects
  • falsifying reports
  • participating in an unauthorized chase where four people were killed
  • calling in sick … from Cancun
So, you might ask, why is this guy able to work in law enforcement at any level?  The answer is provided by the officer's union provided attorney:  "It’s allegations. Allegations are not convictions."

Uh-huh.  And who did the investigations?  Other cops, of course.

It is any wonder that public trust of police officers is plummeting?



Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Terrapin may be slow, but he knows how to hop!


After a tough day at work and even tougher day at home, I took the old lady out for a late bite at our local tavern. I tried another beer that I had not had before – Terrapin Hopsecutioner. I have mentioned before that I like hoppy beers, and this one was not a disappointment.

Terrapin Brewery is located in Athens, Georgia, which also happens to be the home of the University of Georgia, a beer-drinking town if there ever was one, even if about half the beer drinkers are not of legal age.

Terrapin Beer Company was started in 2002 by two men, Spike and John, who were both working for a microbrewery in Atlanta. They figured they could do better, so they moved to Athens and struck out on their own. Their first beer, Terrapin Rye, won a prestigious award, and they were off and running.

Terrapin describes their Hopsecutioner like this:
You love hops, you ask for hops and this killer IPA delivers! Hopsecutioner earns its name by using six different types of hops giving it a fresh citrus and pine hop nose with a beautifully bitter finish. A strong malt back bone keeps this aggressive IPA well balanced. This IPA is made for hop lovers a you may lose your hop head over this one!
Hopsecutioner is an India Pale Ale style beer. It's made with 6 different hops for a delightful blend. It has a very hoppy odor, but the taste is not overwhelmingly hoppy.


STYLE:  IPA
ALCOHOL BY VOLUME: 7.3%
COLOR (0-2): Amber. 2
AROMA (0-2): Hoppy smell. 2
HEAD (0-2): Pale color. Persistent medium volume. 2
TASTE (0-5): Excellent hop and malt blend.  Medium body, bordering on light on the tongue. 4
AFTERTASTE (0-2): Good follow through. 2
OVERALL (0-6): A good dringking beer; the kind you would like after a hot day in the sun or when eating a heavy meal, like steak. 5
TOTAL SCORE (0-19): 17