Scenic

Where I almost bought the farm. (click to enlarge)

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Oops.

A/k/a "Inattention to detail can kill you."

I almost screwed up big-time.
('Almost' my ass. I did screw up. I got lucky.)

I decided to do a little snorkeling up around the rocks at Crowdy Head...
I didn't bother to take a good hard look at the water movement patterns where I planned to dive.



Waves roll ashore on the long strech of beach outside Harrington. The water moves northeast along the beach then out to sea at the rocks at Crowdy Head...

I had no issues for th efirst 30 minutes in the water near the rocks, but as soon as I got outside the shorebreak, all of a sudden I was moving out to sea pretty fast...
Oh shit.

Ok... Remember the rules on rip currents. Don't fight against the current- swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the flow...

Swimming I have no problem with...
And I also have some really good built-in flotation.
(First time I've been happy about that...)

Ok... swim swim swim swim... swim swim swim swim... swim swim swim swim... swim swim swim swim...

I was pretty far out- probably about 500 and 600 yards in about 25 feet of water, so I could see my progress by watching the bottom and I was finally starting to make headway back to the beach. The waves were starting to carry me in, and I finally got back to shore...



A - Where I started to get into trouble 
B- Where I realized my mistake
C -  Where I finally made the turn back in to the beach
D - Where I collapsed on the beach and reflected on my screwup

Plan B was to try to round the point and come in on the other side of the peninsula, but that would have been a mile plus, and there is a pretty deep trench there, and probable some fearsome beasties...

This particular beach is not patrolled and doesn't have lifeguards...
I'm kinda happy about that now, but there were a couple moments while I was out there that I probably  would have been happy to take the humiliation of having to be "rescued".

Ok, lesson learned.

Lesson: When you're dumb, ya gotta be tough.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ

Old Habits Are Hard to Break

OldNFO is right in the comment he left here...

1. Depart my cozy little cabin for whatever trouble I am going to get into today.
2. Repeat to self "Keep left, keep left, keep left."
3. Pack stuff into topcase, make sure case is latched shut.
4. Repeat to self "Keep left, keep left, keep left."
5. Take bike through pre-ride checklist.
6. Get on and start bike.
7. Repeat to self "Keep left, keep left, keep left."
8. Depart Colonial Leisure Village and Campground
9. Pull into right lane.
10. Notice car coming toward me down the road.
11. Swerve into correct lane - Repeat to self "Keep left, keep left, keep left DUMBASS."


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

The Zen of IDS

Zen Teachings of IDS

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me for the path is narrow. In fact, just piss off and leave me alone.

2. Sex is like air. It’s not that important unless you aren’t getting any.

3. No one is listening until you fart.

4. Always remember you’re unique. Just like everyone else.

5. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

6. If you think nobody cares whether you’re alive or dead, try not submitting your TEEMS.

7. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.

8. If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.

9. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day with Jingalls.

10. If you lend someone twenty bucks and never see that person again, it was probably well worth it.

11. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

12. Some days you are the bug; some days you are the windshield.

13. Don’t worry; it only seems kinky the first time.

14. Good judgment comes from bad experience … and most of that comes from bad judgment.

15. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

16. There are two excellent theories for arguing with women. Neither one works.

17. Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving.

18. Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

19. We are born naked, wet and hungry, and get slapped on our ass … then things just keep getting worse.

20. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

I'm Off

Still in Oz...
I'm heading off on walkabout- or rather driveabout...

Updates as connectivity becomes available.
Meanwhile, a serenade for you-

I'm leavin' my fam'ly
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
My tears are salt water
And the moon's full and high

And I know Martin Eden's
Gonna be proud of me
And many before me
Who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest
Singin' my say
Shiver me Timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me, now.
So swallow me, don't follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone

So please call my missus
Gotta tell her not to cry
'Cause my goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky
Hey and nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me
So come and swallow me, follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone

And I'm leavin' my family
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
Upon a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Thinking About Having Kids?

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Christmas Tree Meme

OldNFO, Rev. Paul and Stephen did it... Guess I'll follow along...


My Christmas Tree here in Sydney... (Where it's 85 degrees today..)



Bah Humbug moment: There is a SWT, one of the office staff, that has Christmas music playing on her iPod... I was working on a printer in the tournament office and "I'll be home for Christmas" came up on her playlist.
SWT: "So, Big Guy, are you heading home from Christmas?"
TBG: "Sadly, no. 1 day to get home and 3 days to get back for work on the 26th? Thanks for reminding me of that... Want to give that knife another twist for me? Maybe a little salt for the wound?"

She was profoundly embarrassed for mentioning it. I think she though I was an Expat living in Melbourne, since that is where most of the temp staff is from.

Yeah- I like to kick puppies too... 

TBG-a/k/a Heartless Bastard

Break Time.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.



TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

No Possible Reason!

At the steak joint just down the block from the hotel there is an excellent example of conspicuous consumption*...



That's right baby- 2.2 pounds of red meat, fat and gristle, just waiting to clog your arteries and make that morning trip to the loo a nightmare.
There is no possible reason on God's green Earth that ANYONE needs a steak that big. That's just foolishness! It's downright immoral, unethical and esthetically unpleasant.
Pieces of meat this size should be legislated out of existence, or at least access to cuts of steak this size should be limited to larger jungle carnivores and ogres.

Here's your steak dinner- It's our new cut- The Bloomberg.

Shut up and eat.  Bon appetit!

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
*They call it Man-O-War because it's roughly the same size as the racehorse of the same name.

Welcome to Chicago

Condition White on the El...

A woman assaulted on the CTA Blue Line in Oak Park last week told police another passenger struck her in the face with a sock filled with human excrement.

I keep telling y'all to stay awake on the train...

“The guy got on with me at (the) Oak Park (station),” the victim said, requesting anonymity. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

She sat down and started texting on her phone.

“Next stop (at Austin), he throws something in my face.”

I'm wondering if he had it with him the whole time, or did he fill it up just prior to the assault...
You could probably do it... No one is paying attention anyway.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Justification Sought?

The last thing I heard this morning before I shut the idjit box off and walked out the door was a teaser on a news program regarding the CT shooter's mother and her motivations.
"Authorities are looking into why A___ L___'s mother had this gun." showing a Bushmaster AR.

Why? Hell, why not?

I must have missed something- Are we now having to justify to the authorities the purchase of any  legal item?

Why can anyone buy a Ferrari? They are only made to break speed laws...
That's the only possible reason to have one of those things...

Why can any honest and moral person have a Dodge Earthfucker pickup?
The only possible function of that vehicle is to waste gas and destroy the environment...

Anything else fit into this category?

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Hmm. I'm Not Sure...

I wonder about the wisdom of opening a "Walking Dead"-themed hotel.



Mmmm. Looks restful.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Unpossible!

...but-but-but... The EBIL GUNZ are outlawed here in merrie ol' Land of Oz.

I was sure surprised to hear about this yesterday afternoon...

Drive-by shooters strike again as Milperra home targeted overnight - another shooting in Cherrybrook

Police are at the scene of a drive-by shooting in Cherrybrook, in Sydney's north-west, after a number of bullet holes were discovered in the Franklin Rd duplex home about 7.20am this morning.

Numerous bullet holes were located in a motor vehicle and the front of a duplex premises.

There were occupants in the home at the time, however they were uninjured.

A resident, who did not wish to be named, said he heard a motorbike drive up to the Cherrybrook house around 5.30am.

"It came idling up, shot half a dozen rounds in a second and then took off at high speed," he said.

Damn. A half-dozen rounds in only one second.
Must be a machine gun.


But, isn't Australia a Gun-Free zone?
Sure is, bucko... Except when some enterprising businessman buys Glocks in Germany and sends them down via the POST OFFICE.

And the cops find out about it by ACCIDENT?
Cracker, please.


ONE of the men arrested after yesterday's raid at a south Sydney post office is alleged to have illegally imported and sold 150 glock pistols, court documents reveal.

The seizure of a pistol used in Sydney's drive-by shooting epidemic led police to uncover a global firearms trafficking syndicate operating out of a suburban Sydney post office, it will be alleged.

In a joint police operation yesterday, officers converged on the Sylvania Waters post office - arresting the franchisee. Police will allege the post office was the final destination for shipments of Glock handguns - favoured by both Australian police and criminals - which were manufactured in Austria and sent to Australia via Germany.
The investigation, led by the NSW Firearms and Organised Crime Squad, culminated yesterday with the arrest of three people after several more shipments of weapons were covertly traced back to Sydney by NSW police.
Twelve properties, including the post office, were raided as part of the investigation.
Up to four search warrants were also executed by German authorities and a NSW police officer in the town of Remscheid, through which the guns were allegedly sent to gangs in Australia.
The syndicate's activities were allegedly uncovered by NSW police inadvertently, following the seizure of a Glock pistol in Sydney's southwest in January and the arrest of its alleged owner.
The pistol - which was allegedly fired at a Sydney couple's Wiley Park home - was one of the first guns taken off the streets by police during Sydney's spate of drive-by shootings over the Christmas holiday period.

My favorite part was this graphic:

...Where it talks about parts being "entirely interchangeable with other models of Glocks"...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Lack Of Imagination

I was in Orlando a couple weeks ago and I came across a food truck...
Now, in addition to 'Location, location, location", a food truck needs to have a catchy name...

Shut Up and Eat

The Shrimp Pimp

Greasy Weiner

Great Balls on Tires

And my personal favorite:
Me So Hungry

But- this joint in O-Town...


Someone should kick the snot out of anyone who names a food truck "Restaurant on Wheels".
He couldn't spend 10 minutes on the interweb and come up with something a little more catchy?


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

You Chose Poorly.

Honey. Soy. Chicken. Chips.

Hmmm... I like all four... How bad could it possibly be?


Wow.
Welcome to Disappointment City, population: Me.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Vampires Are All The Rage Today...

Hey Baby...

I'm Edward Cullen.



Ain't I hawt?

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
(Go visit Maddie's page... She's soooo cool..)

This Is Going To End In Tears, I Just Know It.

Hi ho, hi ho,
It's off to work I roll...


Yours Truly, getting treated for road rash in 3....2....

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

New Gun Control Bill, Mental Health and Political Stupidity

Just a few notes from Down Under...

Fortunately I'm in an environment populated with complete strangers.
I'v never met any of these people before and none of them know about my position on guns and gun control.

I had at least 6 people ask my opinion of the Newtown tragedy and have I tried to be non-committal about it, preferring not to argue about guns, mental health issues or politics.

I do, however want to make a point...

Of course there will be a knee-jerk reaction to the tragedy.
(Of course, that's what we do! That's why we have the TSA... And look how that is working out.)
Feinstein will introduce her new "assault weapon" ban, which, in order to make politicians feel good about themselves, might actually pass regardless of overwhelming popular opinion.
(Remember Obamacare?)

It's the nose of the camel, yall....


First, no new machine guns... they were banned in '68.
Next new "assault weapon" transfers...
(Oh no...it's not about confiscation! You can keep your existing guns. Quote Feinstein: "It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively.")
This is complete and utter bullshit. Feinstein is not about gun control, she's about people control.

Then, when some individual with untreated/ignored mental health issues sources a pre-ban weapon and "clips" and shoots up ANOTHER gun-free zone, the hand wringing will begin again...
ZOMG! DO SOMETHING!
Ban ALL semi-automatic rifles. Actually, let's "regulate" all semiautomatic weapons into non-existence.
Next - all military designed weapons... (Remember those 5-shot bolt-action Mosins? Guess what they are?)
Now let's regulate any concealable weapon...

Mass murder by gunfire will continue... So the next hue and cry will be confiscation.
Take them all away.

And even if they actually TRY to do that (and good luck and getting that effort underway...)
Guess what...
Now you still have mentally ill individuals and criminals roaming the streets- most likely still armed, and law abiding folks will have no way to protect themselves.

McThag has some excellent points:
(Go RTWT)

So, Charles, Dianne, Mike...  Your ideas and policies murdered those children.  How do you feel about that?  Are you proud?  Will you brag about the laws in Connecticut that were identical to the '94-'04 AWB?  Will you point out, with pride, how a not-even-ephemeral line on the ground banned firearms from entering the school?

Will you mention that, "Connecticut statutes contain provision that allow law enforcement officials to pre-emptively seize a person's firearms without a warrant or court order, when they have probable cause that the person may either be mentally unstable or intends to use the weapons to commit a crime."?  Y'all are normally thrilled to violate people's 4th Amendment rights, where were you?

Making things illegal (or MORE illegal) doesn't really solve the problem...
If that was the case, then once we pass laws outlawing (some) narcotics for recreational use, we shouldn't have a drug problem. There sure as hell should be a "war on drugs" since we made them illegal and all...
We should be exceptionally safe on the highways, since DUI is illegal and excessively careless operation (speeding, aggressive driving) is against the law too.

Hell.. Why do we even have police?
Once you outlaw something- doesn't the problem go away?

SayUncle breaks it down:

A 20 year-old had a couple of handguns (illegal). And, depending on the press report, had an assault weapon (illegal), automatic rifle (illegal), or machine gun (illegal). Shot his mom in the face (illegal). Stole his mom’s vehicle (illegal). Transported the gun in the vehicle (illegal) within 1,000 feet of a school (illegal). Carried it onto school property (illegal). Broke and entered (illegal). Carried a gun in a school (illegal). Discharged a firearm (illegal). Shot at people (illegal). Killed some people (illegal). Killed himself (not sure if illegal).

Look- the problem is Progressives who have destroyed the family, education, cultural and social mores in their efforts to control the population, and to make us a compliant Socialist nation. Attacking the symptoms is easy. Attacking the root causes of these killings is very difficult. Effective solutions would require setting limits and boundaries in a child's life, supporting families, helping people become self sufficient, and a complete cessation of efforts to blame everything on inanimate objects!
What about the issue with the mentally ill?
That's something they ignore/avoid as all costs.
 From the Gateway Pundit:

Connecticut is one of only SIX states in the U.S. that doesn’t have a type of “assisted outpatient treatment” (AOT) law (sometimes referred to as “involuntary outpatient treatment”). There’s no one standard for these types of laws, but (roughly speaking) these are laws that allow for people with mental illness to be forcibly treated BEFORE they commit a serious crime. Whereas previous legal standards held that the mentally ill cannot be institutionalized or medicated until they harm someone or themselves, or until they express an immediate intent to do so, AOT laws (again, roughly speaking) allow for preventative institutionalization or forced medication (I highly recommend reading the data cited in the link I provided in this paragraph, especially regarding what is known as “first episode psychosis”).
AOT laws vary state-by-state, and often bear the name of a person murdered by an untreated mentally ill person (“Kendra’s Law” in New York, “Laura’s Law” in California, etc.).
Earlier this year, Connecticut considered passing an AOT law (and a weak one, at that), and it failed, due to protests from “civil liberties” groups.

Have you read what the perpetrator's Mom was going through with this kid?

Have you read this woman's story? Thinking the Unthinkable - A/K/A I am A__m L___a's Mother
Sure sounds like another Tuscon/Aurora/Newtown in the works...

Oh well...
Most of you won't read all the way through this, but I needed to write it anyway...
I needed to vent, and if I did it at the event site, I would probably be home by Christmas.
Hmmmm...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Inspiration

It takes some effort to come up with timely, relevant, entertaining and worthwhile content on a regular basis. I really don't know how some 'bloggers do it.


For about the last 6 to 8 months, my muse has pretty much abandoned me...

I''m thinking about trying to get a new one...



With my luck, this is the one I'd wind up with.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

The View

...from my hotel room window:

(click to see it much better...)

OldNFO and Borepatch have offered some great diversions...
Alas, I am hell-and-gone from the CBD.

By the time I get off for the day I'm beat to hell.
And I haven't had the best of luck getting out and away...
Ah well... Soon there will be an opportunity...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

What the Fuck is Wrong With People*?

In the wake of the tragedy in Newtown CT yesterday, we have begun to hear cries for gun control legislation…

But...
Repeating firearms have been around for 160 years…
Why didn’t these kinds of massacres happen way back when those guns were first available?
Why didn’t these kinds of massacres take place when fully automatic weapons were available to the general public?
What has changed in recent years to cause these tragic events?

Hint: Its not the availability of guns.What we have a is a degradation of common sense and decency and the devaluation of human life. Movies and violent games are not the problem either. What we have are weak minded people and people that have serious emotional and mental problems, who have no sense of right and wrong. (Personally, I blame the weakening of the basically family unit, and an unwillingness on the part of today's parents to instill a sense of responsibility and morals in today's youth. But I digress.)

These crimes do not represent a majority of law-abiding citizens that own firearms, who never have or will commit a gun-related crime..
I have watched plenty of violent movies and I have played my fair share of first person shooters but that does not mean I am going to go out and do that in real life.

As we hear these impassioned pleas for “sane gun laws” ruminate on the words of William S. Burroughs:

"After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it.
I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military."


(But we’d also do well to remember that Mr. Burroughs shot & killed his wife Joan Vollmer by being exceptionally stupid.)

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
*And by 'people' I mean anyone who is so mentally off-center that they would commit a crime like this, and the people who would not let any crisis go to waste- your basic blood dancer-types, and anyone in the entertainment industry that thinks that by the virtue of their celebrity their opinion regarding Second Amendment means diddly-squat to the basic/normal/sane remainder of the US population.

The Site - Australian Open Series - Sydney

Here's the site...

Nice stadium- kinda looks like a concrete UFO.


The Sydney Olympic Park International Tennis Center is located at the bottom of the hill that bisects the Sydney Olympic Park...




My hotel is up at the top of this hill...

Going home sucks- it's a long walk uphill after a long day.

Heading to work in the AM is a little better-

I picked up this jewel from the pawn shop before coming over...


I had no idea that just riding downhill would be such a workout.
I make wide sweeping turns all the way down the hill- by the time I get to the site my shins & calves are on fire...

I see a spectacular fall and an acute case of road rash in my future...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Wow, That Was a Mistake....

I left the site a little later than I expected last night…

My hotel is directly across from the ANZ Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park, and last night was a big cricket match*.

In addition to a billion extra people staying at the hotel, (it seemed like) most of Sydney was milling about in the streets between the hotel and the stadium.

And of course, with the huge influx of people heading to the game, the wait at all the local restaurants was 60 to 90 minutes…

Screw it, I thought, and hopped on the subway and headed to Lidcombe…

I left the station and my dogs were howling, so I figured I stop at the first place that caught my eye…

Just around the corner from the station on Joseph St. was a small Chinese place…
You know the kind- so small they have 2 or 3 tables and no real sign or name- just “that little Chinese place on Joseph St”.

I should have looked around a little more…

About 5:30 this morning the cramps hit me hard and by 6:30 everything that wasn’t original equipment had been ejected...

Forcibly.

(Yeah, I know, TMI)

Dry toast for breakfast…

Note to self:

No more shithole Chinese places for dinner.

 

*(I briefly contemplated going to the match, but I was tired and sore from a long hot day. There is another one next week. Maybe I’ll hit that one…)


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Didn't Think It'd Be So Difficult...

Well, I made it to Sydney.

No sign of Olivia yet... Dammit.

Work beckons, so until I get my head above water and figure out where I am and why I'm in this damned handbasket, yáll are going to have to wait just a little bit longer for a substantial update...
Sorry.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Decision Making Assistance

Hey! Slacker!
Let me help you out...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

The Cat Is Apparently Out Of The Bag

I got some disappointing "food" from a local Chinese takeaway tonight.
Checking out the prognostication provided in the obligatory fortune cookie and I am bemused...
Man... I hope the poor bastids that are locked in the basement of the Dah Sing Noodle Company in Stone Mountain Ga have the inside track on the next 64 hours of my life...

Tomorrow:
Jax - Houston - 2.5 Hours    (Sorry KX59&Belle...Short layover- See you in February?)
Houston - LAX - 3.75 Hours
LAX - Sydney -  14.5 Hours

Somehow, the term "pleasant journey" doesn't really come to mind when I am going to be shoehorned into a steerage-class seat with 227 other slack-jawed mouthbreathers stacked around me like lumpy bags of wet cement, breathing my oxygen and spreading bacteria and virii willy-nilly through the sealed environment.

Well.... They got the "far away" right...

(I wonder how they found out?)


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Dodging a Bullet

-or-
With friends like this, who needs enemas?

Back on the first week on November, a friend called and asked if I could help me out with "a little problem he was having" down south...

Now, I've know this guy since 1981... He and I have been through some, um, interesting times together.
As a rule, he is a shitmagnet of the first order.
And as is common for high-order shitmagnets, he has the knowledge, skills, ability and contacts to extricate himself (and most of those around him) from said shit.

I spent the better part of a year with him in Panama and other Central American shitholes, and over the last 30 years we chat on a semi-regular basis...
One thing I find interesting is that he doesn't embrace Internet technology...At all.
No email, no Skype, no SMS...And he really doesn't have a good reason, just doesn't like computers and high-tech stuff. Weird.

Anyway- as usual, about once every five years I get a call...
"Hey- can you give me a hand with something?"
And the 'somethings' are usually either horribly mundane things in strange places, or stressful/dangerous shitstorms in downright stupid environments.

(Fact- I have never emerged from one of his 'somethings' without some type of physical injury... and it wasn't necessarily due to the task involved.)

Now, I'm not under any obligations to him, nor is it a quid pro quo; he calls, I go.
I guess I'm collecting all those chips for when the shit really hits the fan and I need a hammer-
Then it will be my turn to call, and he will be on the doorstep with bells on. No doubt.

So- Early November, and I get a call.
"Can you help?" - as per usual, no defined location, no specifics on what he wants/needs to do, no personnel info, just the question - am I in?
"Sure- where do you need me?"

"Don't know yet. Call you tomorrow and let you know. (click)"
Two days later the call comes. Not even a hello-how-you-doing....
"I need you on the 19th or 20th. There's a town called Dangriga in Belize. Fly into Belize City or Belmopan and get down to Dangriga. There's a guest house on Howard St. I'll see you there on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, latest."
-(writing frantically-Belize Dangriga, Howard St., Tuesday/Wednesday) "Anything special I need to bring?"
"God no! Travel light. Inconspicuous. Eco-Touristy."
"Cool. See you then."

Huh.
Belize. Haven't been there since 1978? 79?
And Eco-Touristy? Wow.
Well.. been wanting to go down there for a while now, check out the possibilities for a bug-out location... And airfare to Belize City is in the $300 range...

Quick research shows several possibilities for getting from BC to Dangriga. Probably take the bus.
It will make that 20 hour HK-Shanghai train trip look positively luxurious.

The clock is ticking- I'm just killing time waiting for my departure date to roll aound...
The phone rings at 8:45am on Friday (the 16th)
As my man Pete says "Man, when the phones rings that early it's always bad. Good news always sleeps until noon."
Its my man down south.
"Dude, shits on. Don't come down. (click)."
"Huh?"
Hmmmm.
-Google-
-News-
Search - belize dangriga trouble US citizen expat
(chug chug chug goes the internet - Ding! - we have a winner!)

McAfee.

I had never seen anything about him and/or Belize prior to this, and though I have no specifics about what I was going to be asked to do, I had no doubt it involved him.
(And man, the shit has definitely hit the fan with him since that first call...)

Oddly enough, The Bug, who apparently has one finely-tuned antennae to the ground, when I told him I wouldn't be available for a meeting during that week, that I would be down in Belize, he says "Oh, you going down to look for McAfee?" He had apparently caught a news report that McAfee had gone fugitive.

Amazing that he pulled that one out of his ass...

And now- McAfee was picked up in Guatamala for making an illegal border crossing...



I watched the video to see if my guy was in the area. Didn't see him anywhere, and based on the 'interview' McAfee gave, I'm pretty sure my guy saw what a pompous ass this dude is and decided that it was a no-win situation and to GTFO...

Man... I'm really glad my guy pulled the plug on this one...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Morning Routine

Y'know how you like to have that cup of java and run through your RSS feed or other must-reads of the day?

Well, at the rate they are adding to our regulations and executive orders, you better add this one to you daily reads, since it's up to YOU to stay current with the laws you are breaking...




The media sure ain't gonna tell you that our Benevolent Gummint has enacted some new reg or legislation that makes some previously okay activity into a felony...

Really? 5000+ new regulations in the last 90 days alone?

We are well and truly screwed.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Noodling the Events of Nov 6 and after

I keep hearing on the TV and reading on the Interwebs about the alleged voting irregularities that occurred that are becoming more and more obvious as time goes on...
What is also becoming apparent is that nothing is going to be done about it.
And if you enable a behavior, it will continue... So get ready to enjoy your bread and circuses Obamacare, Obamaphones and all the other Entitlements that people are voting for themselves rather than working for on their own.

 “The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a ‘warm body’ democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens… which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens.
What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it… which for the majority translates as ‘Bread and Circuses.’

‘Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.”

- Robert A Heinlein (emphasis mine- tbg)

Some left-leaning intellectuals (and a good number of pragmatists on the right) tell us that even without fraud Obama would have won the 2012 election. This is hardly any consolation- it only indicated to me that we have drifted so far off the path that we are beyond self-rectification. It will require heroic measures to do a course correction at this point.

And we do not have the will or the mechanics to implement a solution.
We don't have the elected officials with the political will to do it.
We don't have a majority of the voting populace willing to work to provide for themselves or their families.
We have too many people that are willing to defraud others to their own ends.
(Government assistance fraud [including unemployment benefits], insurance fraud, spurious lawsuits, et cetera ad nauseum.)

We have a media that feeds on sensationalism and is driven by a biased agenda.
We have a segment of our political sphere that regard dirty tricks as justifiable and proper, and the polar opposite on the other side that have no way to defend against such attacks.
(If gun control is the third rail of Democrats, then abortion is the Republican's land mine. But left-leaning media have no problem pressing conservatives about birth control, rape and abortion until they get the soundbite that can be appropriately taken out of context or misconstrued. You'll never see the media beating a Democrat regarding gun control issues, though.)


It truly seems that anyone with a decent work ethic and a willingness to abide by proper social behavior is well and truly screwed.

So... What can we do?

Hell if I know.

I have no idea what WE can do... But I know what I can do...
Secure the perimeter, maintain necessary hardware, keep working, live frugally, stay out of debt as much as possible, keep my head down and off the radar as much as possible.
And have a plan in place in case when the defecation hits the ventilation.




TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Avoidance is not the same as Denial...

I've been trying to avoid making political statements lately...
(Hell, I haven't been making any statements lately. Sue me.)

But...
I overheard the most interesting exchange this morning- about how horrible it was that the Syrian government shut down Internet access to the populace, in order to keep the people from organizing via twitter/facebook/whathaveyou and to stop them from posting inflammatory pics on YouTube and Instagram...

Where the fuck was your attention last July when Obama issued an EXECUTIVE ORDER that gave him control over YOUR Internet access in times of "emergency"...

The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations. Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience.

 Fucked, we are.


Hope you're prepared...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE