08:16 – With Christmas so near, kit orders have tapered off a lot. We shipped only three kits yesterday and have only one outstanding order so far today. Orders should pick up again the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, presumably because people have Christmas money to spend. Last December we did about 25% of the month’s business in that period. Meanwhile, we have a bit of a breather.
10:11 – It’s been a bad week for bigots. On Thursday, gay marriage became legal in New Mexico, and on Friday it became legal in Utah. Gay marriage is now legal in a third of the states. I suspect it’ll be legal in all states by the end of 2014. Let’s hope so, anyway.
That’s something that I should add to the religion I form: second only to the tenet of self-reliance is the tenet of mind your own business.
One thing that I like about the USA: One man’s bigot is another man’s hero.
I hope you’re not talking about that duck guy.
Who else?
You consider this bigoted buffoon to be a hero?
It amuses me that the right-wing media are trying to turn this into a First Amendment matter. The First Amendment prohibits the government from interfering with freedom of speech; it does not prohibit employers from firing bigoted buffoons. I think any reasonable person will agree that this duck guy had the absolute right to say what he said, just as any reasonable person will agree that A&E had the absolute right to fire his bigoted buffoonish ass for saying it.
How is Lynn in the wrong here? He’s completely correct. There will be some people in the USA who will approve of what the bigoted buffoon said. Lynn didn’t say that he thought he was a hero.
Some people = http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/12/20/president-obama-loves-duck-dynasty
The right wing media would have gone ballistic if he had made anti-Christian statements and not been fired. The right is as much into political correctness as the left. Anybody who has to call themselves “Fair and Balanced” isn’t. It’s sort of like a restaurant that has to proclaim that they serve “Good Food”.
We used to have a local business called “Fairly Honest Don’s Machine Gun Parlor” (http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2002/04/01/story4.html?page=all). That was truth in advertising.
Rick in Portland
I still think I should be able to buy an M-60 or a case of grenades on Amazon.
And $1,100 is ridiculous for an MP5.
Yes. Phil Robertson is very, very, very plain spoken to the point of painfulness. In fact, he was actually quoting the Bible when he was quoted. BTW, I am the same Christian religion as the Robertsons, Church of Christ. He is a highly respected elder in the church. Each one of our churches is autonomous but we all have a very strong belief in the Bible. In fact, my church asked a lesbian couple to leave several year ago because they were openly homosexual. And would do so again.
A&E has a tough decision to make. The rest of the family has announced that they are not going to show up if Phil is banned from the show. The show will then be dead.
http://www.eonline.com/news/492909/duck-dynasty-family-very-serious-about-leaving-the-show
I suspect that A&E hopes that this will blow over. Apparently the season starting in a couple of weeks is already in the can. The question is, what are the advertisers going to do? Many of them have already stated that they are hanging in there.
Also, GLAAD is taking a hit on this. They have used inflammatory talk on people and institutions for years without major repercussions and now this is coming back on them. They are complaining about all the people calling them:
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/duck-dynasty-fallout-glaad-reeling-biggest-backlash-years-010050637.html
BTW2, I suspect that you are correct about gay marriage being legalized by SCOTUS soon. However, the Utah decision is not final and will be appealed and probably stayed. As OFD might put it, just another elitist judicial decision pushing the USA into division and possible civil war(s).
I am amazed that no one is talking about the statements that he made about Blacks. I have some of the same experience as him but do not have the same opinion.
Yes, I think that Phil Robertson is a hero. He is hero for leaving behind his life of sin (drunkenness, drugs, womanizing, brawling, etc…) and foreswearing all that to return to God and his family. Phil is a highly educated man with a Master’s degree in Education from Louisiana Tech. He was a school teacher for many years before getting fired for drunkenness. He then ran a bar and beat up the owner severely one night. He repented from that and turned back to God.
However, Phil Robertson is still a sinner. He is not perfect and realizes that. But he is a good man. Last Wednesday night as the news people were talking about him, he and the other Elders of their church were visiting a woman in the Hospital with cancer, praying over her as the Bible commands that they do.
The first does not follow from the second. In fact, I suspect a negative correlation.
It wouldn’t bother me if the state just got out of the marriage business altogether. Man-woman, gay, straight, in between, mono, plural, bigamy, polygamy, trigamy ….. why should they bother with any of it.
Same deal with household animals ….. why do they only recognize, tax and license dogs. Why do they exclude domesticated cats, goldfish, canaries, ….. ?
It wouldn’t bother me if the state just got out of the marriage business altogether.
We, as a society, have chosen to subsidize marriage in the USA. Taxes (income and inheritance), etc, etc. We also have Social Security benefits for non-working spouses. A lot of the European countries now do not recognize marriage in their tax systems and make everyone file single. No property transfer without taxation between spouses.
I don’t care if you marry your dog. I just don’t think that you should be subsidized by the rest of us if you do. And I have serious kid questions for the impending polygamy marriages that will also be legalized soon after. We have a real problem with that here in The Great State of Texas. 50 year old guys “marrying” 12 year old girls – not good.
I still think I should be able to buy an M-60 or a case of grenades on Amazon.
My son wants a M2. He told me the other day that he is sure that he put 5,000 rounds through one in the USMC, maybe 10,000 rounds. Freaking awesome weapon according to him. Cartridges are $3 each in bulk if you can get them, but hey, who is counting?
He also likes grenades but he prefers the thermite grenade. He got to use one of those on a trashed vehicle and he and his buds watched it go through the hood and the engine block and hit the ground.
I’ve been on a trade blog for years… The question was; What is happening to American Industry… I kicked-off the site “FOREVER”… Bob
Stent #1 after a “scraping”… All started out by getting a ENT Dr. examine a “Tickle” in my throat… Doc sent me to get a x-ray and called me to come pick-up the film and take it to my primary doc… Miracle??? I had 95% blockage in left carotid artery… A walking stroke!!! Well, scraping was not that successful and a little over a year went by and had my first TIA… Doc said we will keep a eye on this… You can imagine my response to; “we’ll keep a eye on it”… Immediately got the stent… Bob
I’ve been in business most of my life… When EPA knocks at the door, ut-oh… When the workers comp inspectors knock at the door, ut-oh… When the fair labor board knocks at the door, ut-oh, etc, etc, etc… NOT one time has the Government knocked at my door and congratulating me for employing and baby sitting approximately 100 employees on 3 shifts… Or congratulating me(family) for doing all the paper work for the government and are in employ from my tax dollar… If there was a “Odd” person in my employ, I never gave it one thought that he/she left our employ because of a bigot… Bob
[snip] In fact, my church asked a lesbian couple to leave several year ago because they were openly homosexual. And would do so again. [snip]
Has your church forced out any open adulterers? Or alcoholics? Or wife beaters? And does anyone doubt that an honest census of your parish would
reveal more of the latter three than homosexuals? I’m not trying to question your church’s theology per se, but it seems to me that the Christian dictate ‘Love One Another’ wasn’t evenly applied.
I can attest that there are nearly no Alcoholic Anonymous meetings in Baptist Churches… Except recently the Baptists have claimed that the 12 steps came from the Bible… The Catholics were the first to “Open Their Doors To The Alcoholic”…
that came about from the very first Catholic Priest, that sobered-up in AA in 1941, 6 years after the formation of AA… Google/Bing “Father John Doe” for a good read…Bob
Actually, I don’t see why anyone particular cares about the guy’s view of homosexuals. It has zilch, zippo, nada to do with his job. Lots of actors and stars are weird in their own, unique ways.
Who was the blond bimbo who advertised for years for aussie sheepskin boots, and was then shocked to discover that producing sheepskin boots involved killing the sheep? Tom Cruise the Scientologist. Amy Winehouse the hopelessly addicted? Justin Bieber the generally clueless? All of these people were/are kept and coddled by the entertainment industry. Why is this case any different?
Has your church forced out any open adulterers?
Yes. And others also.
So, do you cast stones at them, or what?
Goodness, no. In a church with 2,000 people, there will be problems. Shoot, there are problems in churches with 2 members. And once those problems go public, things cannot continue as they are. The problems need to be resolved, one way or another. Sadly, not everyone is willing to change and need to go elsewhere. There are many many churches, worldwide, where someone can fit in.
Lynn, there are problems when there is only one member…
“Lynn, there are problems when there is only one member…”
Too true. Sometimes I argue with myself…
It gets worse. Sometimes I lose arguments with myself…
What’s worse is ending up having the same argument with yourself, only arguing the other side and you still lose!
Hey, where’s OFD these days?
Always get a chuckle from reading comments here. RBT’s joke
“It gets worse. Sometimes I lose arguments with myself…”
made my morning.
I figured either that OFD’s clearance came through and he’s been working his ass off at work, or his wife came back from her various trips and set him to a thousand-task honey-do list, or Champ ate him. Or perhaps the second followed by voluntary third.
OFD is still posting on facebook. Here is his latest:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/mac-slavo/where-are-you-on-this-map/
“The core of our grid – what makes it tick – are the transformers that pass power from one node to the next. These often weigh in the hundreds of tons. Most are no longer produced in the United States, so any damage would require the importation of parts or complete units from China. If one or two go down, the outage is manageable. But a cascading collapse resulting from extreme electrical surges across our power lines, such as those originating from an EMP attack or solar flare, could result in scores of transformers being put out of service simultaneously.”
and
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/fred-reed/without-men/
““So now that women don’t need men to reproduce and refinance, the question is, will we keep you around? And the answer is, ‘You know we need you in the way we need ice cream….you’ll be more ornamental.””
Janet Napolitano, in a letter to her successor, advised that “a massive and serious cyber attack” on the US Homeland is imminent and that a “natural disaster — the likes of which the nation has never seen — is also likely on its way.” Riiiight. Evidence of a major cyber attack? None. She’s in on Mother Nature’s planning? Sure she is. That’s not to say that the power grid isn’t fragile and out-dated. It is, of course. But Janet Napolitano is just playing the usual government “panic” card.
As for Fred, how politically incorrect to point out that most technology was invented by men. We are not allowed to even think that, much less say it. That’s one of those simple truths that is impossible for radical feminists to counter in any meaningful way.
This reminds me of the DOL report on the fields where women are underrepresented. There is nothing at all surprising about this report. We see the fields that are supposed to be problems (engineers, CEOs), but somehow we never see women clamoring to be loggers, masons, dishwashers or butchers. It is also telling that there seems to be no equivalent report for jobs where men are underrepresented.
I once annoyed two Christian feminist young ladies by wondering aloud why, if it was okay to refer to God as “she”, why it was not okay to refer to the devil as “she”.
I got an outraged “owwww!” from both of them… 🙂