Was a bit out of pocket the last couple of days. And, believe it or not, I kind of enjoyed it.
Besides the general hiding out we're getting some rain. Last year, I've mentioned, was damned dry, and even after all the ice and wet through the winter we've still got a lot of lakes, ponds and reservoirs 'way below where they should be. My folks said Lawton had received about 1.5" as of early this evening, with more coming. Haven't looked at my rain guage- no, I'm NOT going out with a flashlight- but got some earlier today and more just started coming down now. Nice change.
Now, as to the bitching:
One of the standard warnings, not just for gun owners, is that the lawbooks have become so full of crap that it's damn near impossible to avoid breaking some law. Often without knowing it. As the FBI agent was quoted as saying "If I want to arrest you all I've got to do is follow you around for three days: you'll break some law". Where this specifically affects gunnies of all types is politicians wanting to make virtually ANY violation a disqualification of your right to arms. To illustrate, just found this in the comments from Keith:
...a friend's son had been re-newing his shotgun cert, and the cop who came to visit him asked if he had a criminal recrd, to which he replied "no", and the cop arrested him.
Him and his dad had been prossecuted a couple of years earlier for having a dead sheep that they had not buried (now it would even be illegal to bury it).
Anyway, he's been to court for "giving false information in order to obtain a shotgun certificate"
£500 fine, six month prison sentance suspended for 12 months, and I'm unsure whether it was to help his case along, but he has also surrendered his shotgun certificate.
This is the kind of crap we want to stop cold. This cop obviously either knew of this bullshit offense or went digging for something of the sort specifically to set the guy up for this. "Ah ha! You have lied to me! You should not be allowed to touch guns! Off to jail with you!" It NEEDS to be stomped on hard, and every minion of the law who uses crap like this. Remember Martha Stewart? She was prosecuted and jailed for 'lying'- in an informal interview and not under oath- to a federal investigator about a crime they couldn't prove she committed. From what I've been reading about the Scooter Libby case, he was pretty much convicted of lying about a crime that didn't actually happen because something he said at one time didn't match up exactly to what he said on another occasion.
Do not mistake me: if he actually, knowingly lied under oath, and they can prove it, that's that. But... I dare say that there's not one of us who could not be prosecuted for the same 'offense' if some prosecutor decided it was worth his time(for whatever reason) to do it. This kind of bullshit erodes(further) respect for the law and those who enforce it, and it's worth stopping simply to end that.
Next, for the most part I think my Loyal Readers are not the type to have been causing any of the heartburn, but some jackasses have been giving Kim & Family crap they really don't need.
I can sympathize with the financial trouble. I haven't been at the same level of debt, but when you owe far more than you have, or can hope to pay back, it pretty much works out the same. Mine happened with the following sequence:
A. First wife had very troubled pregnancy(our daughter), lots of bills, pretty much got that cleaned up.
B. She developed cancer, and we had no insurance on her at the time.
C. With chemotherapy and fighting like hell she beat the cancer back from, were getting the bills hammered out(we actually had a credit counseler look at our situation and recommend we file bankruptcy) when- despite the doctor saying it couldn't happen- she became pregnant again(our son). Even more-troubled pregnancy, he spent a week or so in neonatal ICU and if you think that doesn't add up...
Between the cancer and the second pregnancy, when we finally received the bill from the hospital(and the bastards actually sicced a collection agency on us before they even sent the God-cursed bill!) we found ourselves the proud owners of damn near a quarter-million dollars in debt. Which there was not a chance in hell of us being able to pay, so we (literally) robbed the Snoopy bank to pay the attorney his retainer and filed bankruptcy. Which I still hate the memory of.
I'd fully intended to pay the bill if I had to make payments for the next twenty years. Until we received the damn thing. It wasn't just the amount, it was the specifics of it. For instance:
The one thing I clearly remember as we stood there going over page after page of the bill was one line. For premature Pampers. Ever see them? Not much bigger than a playing card. After we got the son home we'd found a local store that carried them, they kept a couple of boxes and, when somebody needed them, ordered more. Came in a box of sixty for just under four dollars. That line was noting that they were charging us just under twenty-nine dollars a box for a box a day. I read that and my resolve to pay them, whatever it took, took wings and went south forever. That we'd been getting nasty calls from the God-damned collection agency for more than a week before the bill even arrived had somewhat eroded my resolve I admit, but this hammered a stake through the heart and stuffed garlic in the mouth.
Not the same situation as Kim & Family, but I know the feeling of being so far over your head you need a decompression chamber to attempt respiration. So to my Loyal Readers: if any of you, in a moment of upset or something, left a comment over there that was upsetting to them, send them a nice apology. If you deliberately sent them a shitty comment or otherwise crapped on them, then go away. Not just from there, from here. Last thing they need is snotty fools giving them static, and if you're the kind to crap on them in times like this I don't really want you reading my stuff, either.
I'm to bed now, having both blown off steam(I'm STILL pissed at the hospital) and ingested a bit of whisky. 'Night, all.
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