INdeed.

500 people I have taught for NRA pistol classes (504 actually).

500 people who are, I hope, safer and better shooters.

At least 5 (that I know of) were liberal, anti gun people who had the guts to learn about something they had been taught to hate, and who learned that all was not as they had been told. One of them is a gun owner and a shooter.

I haven’t made any money doing this(not why I do it), but I have paid it forward. And I have paid the folks (some of whom have passed) back in part for the time that they invested in me.

I hope they’d be proud that I am passing their legacy on.

So Kurt Busch’s girlfriend has made some accusations against him….Supposedly (allegedly) the action happened in late September…..26th .

She waited until November to report it. I find that odd.  And was seen in public being very affectionate with him after the supposed abuse….several times. Again, strange. And she waited until now to make a big deal about it. Timing?

And now, he is suspended. Effectively ending his driving career.  Yet no charges have been filed…none. He has not been arrested, nor has he been charged with any crime. The most the judge has done is issue a no contact protective order (which was prudent).  Yet NASCAR has chosen to crush Mr. Bush. Not to wait for due process of law, with no presumption of innocence. Is this the post-Ray Rice world of sports?Really?

Now. I am not discounting Domestic Violence. Not one bit. And I don’t know what happened that night. Nor do you. We have 2 stories told by two different people. And Ms Driscoll isn’t some uneducated floozy who couldn’t know what to do had she been beaten and strangled. Yet somehow she took a month to decide to press charges. I find that odd. And, because she waited, made the whole incident a he-said-she-said thing, as there was no physical evidence that her story was true. All the bruises (that apparently cannot be seen on the photos presented as evidence) had had time to fade. Now, maybe she is telling the truth and he isn’t. We don’t know. Maybe she is lying and he is telling the truth….Again, we don’t know. Maybe she is just angry with him and has concocted the whole story to screw him over. She has, in the past week, made herself a HUGE media presence in the attempt to make him look bad….No press conferences or any other media presence until the week before the start of the NASCAR season.  I find that odd. Most women just want things to fade away when things like this happen. Yet she is doing her best to drive a stake through his heart. She didn’t push for a resolution until last week. Just before Daytona. Seems more like a vindictive woman that a battered one……….Women wouldn’t lie about such things….right? (stop laughing, this is no laughing matter)  This essentially came down to a judge buying her story over his. And we all know that judges aren’t ever going to take the side of women over a man, right? That they haven’t been doing that for the last….what? 50 years?

I do know that, unless there is overwhelming evidence that he did beat and strangle her, that the presumption of innocence should apply to him as well. And yet it didn’t. There wasn’t, apparently, enough evidence to charge him, yet NASCAR has found him guilty….Had he been charged, then I would ahve supported his suspension…..but he wasn’t. NASCAR’s actions were cowardly and their decision precipitous…As  was Chevrolet’s. Perhaps they know something I don’t, but I do think that if he isn’t found guilty, or at least CHARGED WITH A CRIME then he ought to be able to sue Ms Driscoll for his monetary losses, at the very least. 

I am ashamed by the actions of NASCAR. And his sponsors. I fully intend to contact them all and let ’em know that I think they are wrong. And buy accordingly.

So a question:

If yer furnace went out tonight, would you be able to keep your pipes from freezing? Do you have a backup method of heating your home, or at least keeping it from freezing?

We use 2 forms of heat here at our home. Wood (tied into the forced air system)is the primary (sorta), with natural gas as a close second. (the issue with wood heat is that when the outside temp is at or near freezing, it is hard not to overheat the house using wood. (you can build a fire only so small!). If we aren’t home to tend the fire, then the natural gas comes on to keep the temp in the house at 50 F.

We also have electric heat in a pinch….it’ll keep the pipes from freezing.

If the electricity goes out, we can still use the woodstove. It will keep the house at about 40 degrees F even with no electricity, just natural convection.

Do you have a backup heat source?

It was a directed donation, at a hospital. For a friend and classmate of my niece.

Now, I used to give blood every few months. In 30+ years, I have donated over 15 gallons to the Red Cross. But about 4 years ago, I stopped. Used to be, one could show up at a blood drive, and, if they weren’t too busy, be in and out in about an hour.

This was the case Tuesday at the hospital where I donated. Even though the first phelbotomist had issues (the second one stuck me fine and I filled the bag in just a few minutes) 3 guys went in and left in an hour, each donating a pint of blood.

Sadly, this isn’t the case anymore at the Red Cross. Their procedures have changed to the point where it takes nearly 3 hours to give blood. They don’t seem concerned that the volunteers have jobs and a life…..

So I don’t give anymore.

Plus, if you DO give, they will hound you incessantly for years trying to get you to the next blood drive, calling you daily and in the evening….and they won’t stop for a long time.

If I can give blood in a hospital and be out the door in 45 minutes, why does it take 3 hours at the Red Cross blood drive? 

Yes, it is hard to read and poorly formatted.

Nonetheless, read it.

Worth yer time

Yeah, one of my part time employees actually said that.

“He did keep the price of insurance down, just like he promised!” 

She believes that. Really. That her insurance cost is low, and NO ONE ELSE is paying more. Cheap insurance. Because Obama.

Gah. And she votes.

Just wait until she has to actually use it. She didn’t read the fine print, I did. Gonna be some surprises coming.

A crime is a crime.

Unless, of course, you are an illegal.

Then they let you go.

WTF? This is getting irksome. Laws are laws, right? For a reason, right? Supposed to be the same laws for everyone, right?

Unless, of course, you are a seriously protected class. Then, apparently, you can rob, rape and drive drunk.

I’m starting to get pissed off here.

Holidays like today shouldn’t be moveable just so that civil servants can get a 3 day weekend, but should be celebrated on a day, whenever it falls.

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