Puppy Love

I had a bitter rant that was supposed to go here, but this seems like a rather happier thing.

Most of you have probably heard from Tam or Atomic Nerds or some other party, but the Nerds have a bit of a conundrum. They breed Akitas, and one of the recent litter has a bit of a medical whoopsie to deal with.

Having three giant akitas to deal with already, the Nerds are not able to give Major the home she deserves. As such, they have been trying to find a willing, good home.

Enter Farmgirl. Having met her, I can attest to just how much she cares about her creatures. She's all gung ho to get a new critter into the house, especially one she can help with the medical upsets. However, while the enthusiasm is there, the money is not. Surgery, medicines, and transportation costs are going to cost a decent chunk of change.

Given that this is the internet, a place where I constantly wonder whether the altruism or perversion is more amazing, Farmgirl has set up a YouCaring drive to help fund this critter. I know there are a number of you out there who are always willing to help if you can, and this is a perfect way. I don't know of anyone who thinks that giving a sick puppy a good home is not a good cause.

I know times are hard and funds are tight, but if you've got a few bucks to spare, anything helps. Go here to donate.

If you can't put down the money right now, at least spread the word a little. If ten thousand people each donated a dollar, yadda yadda.

I am always stunned and humbled by the generosity and kindness of this community. Let's show it again for a good cause!

On the twenty-second day of the tenth month...

For those who follow Scribbler's scrawlings, today is a rather momentous day for the Scribbler.

Birthday. Big one, too. Scribbler is 21 today, which means he can legally drink alcohol, though he does not by personal preference. He can also exercise his second amendment rights with a handgun, a right he was denied for the first three years of his adulthood.

Having known him for a time, I can assure you that he is precisely the kind of citizen the founding fathers had in mind when drafting both the constitution and the bill of rights - for he is an ethical, intelligent, liberty loving American. I can also assure you that he is the current regime's worst nightmare, for exactly the same reasons.

Happy Birthday, Scribbler. It's been a privilege growing up with you!

-ScribblersDad.

Seen in a hipster coffee shop

When the view from the green pleather armchair in the expensive coffee shop attached to the bookstore includes this...

..you may be in Texas.

Have I mentioned how much I like this state?

Left Secret Location, Colorado yesterday after a weekend of great firearms and fabulous company. Now I need a nap.

Possum Cops

Alternative title 'WHO pulled you over?'

I am currently in a hotel room in an undisclosed location en route to an even less disclosed location for Blogorado. Despite a rather terrible cold, I picked Gay Cynic up at the airport and we drove on to meet up with everybody's favorite copper headed copper, Lawdog.

While the company alone would make it an interesting night, a pair of events on the road lent a somewhat surreal tone to the evening.

Before tonight, I had never been pulled over by the police. I am a careful, safe driver overall, and I try to stay in the good graces of the Boys in Blue.

Now I have been pulled over twice.

Earlier this week, I went to a Jiffy Lube. The guys there came in at one point looking rather confused. They had run my plate, and come up with a 2002 Nissan Maxima. While I do drive a 2002 vehicle, a Dodge Dakota does not jive well with Nissan Maxima.

Considering the newness of the truck (to me at least) I chalked it up to an old record lingering in the Jiffy Lube system and went on my merry way.

Imagine my surprise when the first cop to pull me over came up and said my license should have belonged to, you guessed it, a 2002 Nissan Maxima.

It eventually transpired that Illinois does something weird, imagine that. All personal trucks are licensed as 'B Trucks'. As such, in order to run the plate, you have to add B to the end. This is not known to anyone outside of Illinois, and isn't well known in the state either.

Illinois is weird.

The second stop came about half an hour later. Once again the red and blues go off in the rear view, and I pull over expecting the same issue again.

Up walks a guy in a green uniform, who tells me that the license plate holder is obstructing the state name on the plate. (I looked later, and about the top third of the 'I' and the very tips of the ls were covered)

Gay Cynic enquired as to which agency he worked with, to which he replied 'The Federal Forestry Service'.

Did you know the forestry service can pull people over on a state highway during a government shutdown? Apparently they can't, according to the esteemed Lawdog. He, being the gentleman and scholar he is, has done a bit of looking to see what was going on there. Apparently things are not making sense as they should. I am somewhat curious to see how that all plays out.

In the meantime, I'm on my way to blogorado and Life is Good. 

*Names will be links once I get on my computer proper.*

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Readers at this point will likely know that I am, to put it simply, no great fan of our current President.  I find him repugnant, and his policies more so in most cases.

All the same, I hold idealogical consistency to be somewhat more important than my personal feelings towards him.

He has just ordered $45M spent on the creation of 356 armed school resource officer positions, including 2 to go to Newtown.

I am not sure that he is going about it in the right way, and it does seem odd to add expenses during the shutdown, but still. I see this as a major move in the right direction worthy of respect. Not everything that comes off his desk is evil, stupid, or just plain wrong.

Just most of it.

A Ponderable

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C.S. Lewis