koyote

The CBP (customs and border patrol) are angling to make most pocketknives, and construction razor tools, illegal. Like, FELONY illegal.

But here we're talking about not only reducing the availability of pocketknives to persons with limited mobility, but this can remove the ability of regular people to carry BOX OPENERS for work. even carpet knives.

You may or may not carry a pocket knife daily. I do- and it's not because I'm a knifemaker (I don't make folding knives anyhow) but because I work in a shop- I *use* a knife.

Even if you don't care about the knife issue itself, the CBP is taking it upon itself- a non elected, non representative body- to make a fundamental tool illegal, bypassing congress.

So, here is a ridiculously long paste from Doug Ritter of Kniferights.org, who has an open message:

The U.S. Government Is Trying To Take Away Your Pocket Knives!

The U.S. Government is after your Pocket Knives! In a sneak attack, U.S. Customs has proposed revoking earlier rulings that assisted opening knives are not switchblades. The proposal would not only outlaw assisted opening knives, its overly broad new definition of a switchblade would also include all one-handed opening knives and most other pocket knives!

Knife Rights is geared up to help win this fight, but we cannot do it without your help, your emails, your letters. The fight can only be won if we raise enough hell that they are convinced they will not get away with this. YOU are the most effective arrow in our quiver, the most powerful cartridge in our gun.

Read on for the whole story and how you can make a difference and save your Knife Rights.

Knife Rights was formed three years ago because we knew it was only a matter of time before there would be a major attempt to take away our knives, as has occurred in England, Europe and elsewhere. Up until now, the battles have been fought at state and local legislative levels, such as the recent scare in Hawaii: < http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=29 >. It has been a battle of a million little cuts. Little did we guess that the first major battle at a national level wouldn't come head on, but with government bureaucrats trying to sneak it by everyone, avoiding a more conventional legislative battle, which they'd likely lose.

U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) just a bit over two weeks ago on May 21st proposed revoking earlier rulings that assisted opening knives are not switchblades. The proposed new rule would not only outlaw assisted opening knives, its new broad definition of a switchblade would also include one-handed opening knives and could be easily interpreted to cover most other pocket knives, even simple old-fashioned slip-joints. At this point, one-hand opening and assisted opening knives are 80% of U.S. knife sales (per AKTI industry sources). For most knife companies, they represent all or the majority of their product lines. These are the knives Americans take with them to work and to play everyday.

Note, please, that CBP's interpretation of the Federal Switchblade Act forms the basis for national, state and even local law and judicial rulings in many cases. This ruling by CBP is NOT limited to just imports. This WILL affect virtually everyone who carries a pocket knife, no matter the type!

CBP came up with this absurd proposal and then tried slipping it into their regular notices, apparently hoping nobody would become aware of until too late. They provided for only the minimum 30-day comment period, and there's no email comments allowed. Obviously, they'd just as soon not hear from us. We're intending to disappoint them in that.

CBP's proposal which would have effects far beyond that suggested in the title of the proposal, "Proposed Revocation Of Ruling Letters And Revocation Of Treatment Relating To The Admissibilty [sic] Of Certain Knives With Spring-Assisted Opening Mechanisms," which would be bad enough even if it only did that. However, this proposal would make it illegal for the estimated 40 million law-abiding Americans who own and carry pocket knives to do so. It would also cost this country dearly in destroyed businesses, lost jobs and ruined families. Thousands of jobs and billions of dollars would be lost. CBP clearly appears to not have considered the consequences of this unnecessary, inappropriate and even illegitimate action. Since CBP is not required to consider the effects of their actions, only Congress or the courts can rein them in. If left to the courts, the industry and our rights will be devastated and America will lose much, regardless of who wins the legal fight.

The definition of what is a switchblade has been clear and settled for the most part since the Federal Switchblade Act was passed in 1958 and has been reaffirmed by many years of legal decisions. The Act is very clear that a switchblade must have an activating button on the handle. Without a button, it is not a switchblade and this has been upheld by numerous cases on many levels over the years. CBP's convoluted reasoning in their proposal to reach back beyond the law and to expand their regulatory purview by rationalizing "intent" as justification for this new interpretation is a stretch, at best, and illegitimate at worst. It simply doesn't meet the common sense test.

CBP's reaching beyond the clear language of the Act in making this proposal is particularly questionable and irreconcilable because it flies in the face of virtually unanimous recent state court rulings (including several cases in California, Texas, Illinois and Michigan) where the issue of assisted-opening knives has already been decided in favor of the existing clear interpretation, that they are not a switchblade. They cherry-picked a few bizarre and untypical rulings from New York state from some years ago to provide support for their proposal, ignoring the many more recent rulings.

For CBP to ignore this overwhelming existing body of law is inexcusably arrogant and borders on a reckless abuse of their power. For them to suddenly do an about face is akin to moving the goalposts after starting the game, and then completely changing the rules of the game besides, making every play ever devised illegal.

Beyond that, their significantly expanded interpretation of gravity and inertia knives, also included in the Act, would clearly make one-hand opening pocket knives illegal and according to industry sources, 80% of pocket knives sold today are one-hand or assisted openers. Beyond even that clearly excessively broad seizure of authority, we know from past unfortunate experience in many cases over the years that this sort of misinterpretation leads to potential abuse by law enforcement where even the most simple and innocuous Boy Scout folding pocket knife can be opened one-handed by use of dangerous and unsafe tricks, so that these too would be covered under this expanded federal definition. This ruling would therefore make almost all pocket knives subject to being considered switchblades.

The impact of this CBP ruling would go far beyond just imported knives because this "agency determination" will be used by domestic courts and law enforcement to determine what is a "switchblade" under both federal and state laws. Many states do not themselves define switchblades and simply rely on the federal definition and interpretation, which is only found in rulings by CBP. Since interstate commerce in switchblades is prohibited, except under very limited conditions, simply driving across a state line with a pocket knife in their possession would make someone a federal felon.

Knifemaking in the U.S. has enjoyed a renaissance in the past decade or two as the genius and innovation of American knifemakers, designers and manufacturers has created a booming and vital American industry with thousands of exciting new knife designs that improve the function, utility and safety of the lowly pocket knife, one of man's oldest and most useful tools. Millions of Americans have responded to this innovation, creating a vibrant industry. For the most part these are family owned businesses that are American success stories, the core of America's economic strength. This proposal by CBP would destroy all that for no good reason. They don't need a bailout; they just need to be left alone to prosper.

The knife industry tells us they employ nearly 24,000 Americans and have a nearly 6 billion dollar annual impact on our nation’s economy. If this proposed ruling is allowed to stand, thousands of jobs will be lost at the direct cost of billions of dollars. That doesn't even begin to cover the enormous cost to the country of those that would become unemployed, the ruined businesses, foreclosed homes, years of litigation by both industry against CBP and who knows how many criminal trials and appeals as law-abiding Americans fight this abusive attempt to take away their knives, as well as many other devastating unforeseen effects of this ill-considered proposal. Thousands of American citizens’ lives would be ruined. Millions of Americans would be impacted. The cost would be tragically huge, more so because it is neither necessary, nor desired by the vast majority of Americans.

We are in for the fight of our lives to save our Pocket Knives and our essential Knife Rights. We can only win if you do your part. You have to write!

Our first step is to convince CBP that we deserve more time to respond. Knife Rights has sent a letter to CBP requesting an extension to the ridiculously short 30-day comment period:

http://www.kniferights.org/CBP-extention_request_FINAL.pdf

We need your help to make an impression on CBP. They figured that they could slip this by everyone with little notice. We need to let CBP know that they are not going to get away with it; that we noticed and we are not happy and that we will not stand by while they take away our pocket knives.

We need you to write CBP NOW! Their 30 day deadline is fast approaching and these letters must go via postal mail (or Fedex/UPS). Click below for a Model Letter you can send to CBP. You MUST write TODAY!

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=29

or

http://tinyurl.com/q7w8tm

However, the reality is that CBP isn't required to listen to our demands, but they do have to answer to Congress. After you send a letter to CBP, giving them notice they are not going to sneak this by us, the next step is to inundate Congress with emails and letters.

If you want to be free to carry your pocket knives in the future, you need to write your Senators and Representative TODAY! Click below for a Model Letter you can send to Members of Congress. Only your efforts will stop this and save our Knife Rights!

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=78&Itemid=29

or

http://tinyurl.com/qqvmns

We have prepared a Communicating with Congress page that includes tips to maximize the effect of your letters. This page was developed after consultation with experts who understand exactly how to get your message across to Members of Congress. We have also included easy links to find your Representatives, if you don't know who they are or the best way to reach them. How much of an impact your communication has can be significantly impacted by how and what you write. Our aim is to help maximize your impact so your Members of Congress actually listen and do something. PLEASE, click the link below and take a few minutes to review our Communicating with Congress page BEFORE you act.

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=29

or

http://tinyurl.com/opbyt2

Help us stop this ill-conceived effort by CBP before it puts thousands of more Americans out of work and destroys one of America’s oldest industries, causing great harm to our nation and many American families. Help us stop these faceless, heartless bureaucrats from destroying our essential American freedoms. This nation has many more important issues that need our attention and energy in this time of crisis.

NOW IS THE TIME WE MUST DO BATTLE! WE HAVE NO TIME TO WASTE.

GET ON YOUR COMPUTERS AND SEND THESE LETTERS and EMAILS.

Write Customs & Border Patrol NOW!

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=29

or

http://tinyurl.com/q7w8tm

Write your Senators and Representative TODAY!

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=78&Itemid=29

or

http://tinyurl.com/qqvmns

Join Knife Rights and help support the fight to keep your Knife Rights!

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_acctexp&task=register

or

http://tinyurl.com/qnu988

DO IT NOW! DO IT TODAY! DON'T WAIT!

Thank you very much for your support!

Doug Ritter
dritter@KnifeRights.org

http://www.low-carb-diet-recipes.com/low_carb_vegan.htm


I'll paste some of it, just for fun

"


More and more people are becoming conscious about the food that they take in. If ever they want to go the healthy way, then being a vegetarian is one of their options. By being a vegetarian, you can stay away from most of the carb enriched foods that people would love to indulge in. Dairy products are not consumed by vegetarians, thus enabling them to stay away from those annoying carbohydrates that most of us live by. However, this does not save the vegetarians from the fact that some of the things that they consume still contain a high amount of carbohydrates which may be a big problem once he decides to undergo a low carb diet. Having too much serving of bread can be a dilemma for vegetarians who opt for a low carb diet. Low carb diets involve a hearty serving of meat in most of the meals, and vegetarians consider this off their diet boundaries.
How to Maintain Low Carb Diet for Vegetarian?
If you want to settle for a low carb diet as a vegetarian, then you must take in more of eggs, tofu and cheeses. Limiting yourself to these choices may not be able to provide you with the satisfaction you need when it comes to having yourself have a good, full, meal. The limited choices when it comes to taking in food may cause you to starve more, therefore, enabling you not to strictly form the low carb diet plan which you intended to have in the first place. However, some low carb diets only restrict the intake of bread and similar products only during the first phase of the diet, when it is critical. Later on, these servings may be reintroduced again gradually.
Tips for Low Carb Vegetarian
Another way to keep yourself as a low carb vegetarian is consuming foods with complex carbs only. Those foods with complex carbs include barley, brown rice and whole wheat bread. Fresh vegetables and fruits may also be a great way to maintain a low carb diet. These choices are certainly healthier than most of the other offers in the market, and they would surely lower your carb intake in no time. You may also focus on having a good intake of protein, replacing those which are rich in carbohydrates. You may consume a hefty amount of tofu and pasta for a change........."

Oh hell, so many things wrong with this just *factually* that is makes me want to yell- from confusing vegan and vegetarian to reccomending MORE CHEESE to a diet you JUST STATED shuns dairy.

And then, apparently, low carb only means "no refined sugar". WTF?

Thing is, it is possible to be a "low carb" vegetarian- I'm not going to recommend it, but a combination of the fermented and sprouted foods from a macrobiotic regimen with a vegetarian grain free Mediterranean regime would work out fairly well. With or without cheeses and eggs- though I'd probably go for the cheeses, yogurts, and eggs in that diet.

Recently, we ran into an acquaintance from our local unitarian
universalist church. When asked what we did during the week, the
answer involved my making of knives and my sheathmaker's making of
sheaths.

The acquaintance proceeded to express her dismay at my sheathmaker,
Sierra, that she would make sheaths and "support knives." Our lady in
question here explained that she was "against knives" and didn't think
they should be allowed.

My natural response is to call her an idiotic sheep and make jokes
about using rocks to eat watermelon and such. Seriously, this is
stupid to the point of asininity- I seriously doubt she refuses to use
knives int he kitchen or eat with friends who have knives in their
kitchens.


But... as hard as it is, perhaps another response is warranted. See, I
have met people in the custom knife world who did at one point think
of knives as weapons of criminals exclusively. (yes, this means that
carrying a knife MAKES one into a criminal. Bizarre, but true.) These
people took different routes to wisdom- construction jobs, restaurant
training, even just having someone demonstrate how a really sharp
knife worked in the kitchen. Suddenly, knives are tool sand possibly
important enough as tools to learn about and get Really Good Ones.

I have not, however, met ANYONE who has gone through a real education
on knives- needing them for jobs or to complete tasks, thinking about
them, learning HOW to use them safely- who has come out of the
experiences "against knives" (whatever that means).

So I'm thinking, as much as it will pain me and as hard as it will be
to control my snarkiness, perhaps I should educate and inform and
offer myself as a teacher, instead of just passing off this person as
an idiot not worth speaking to. After all, this person is, in her
current set of beliefs, willing to vote to ban ALL knives EVERYWHERE
and remove my rights and ability to run my shop.

But damn, it's hard- the attitude she is expressing is ludicrous and
offensive enough that I have a REALLY hard time not being angry at her.


In the gun community there is a tendency to respond to people this way- with anger and dismay at *any* disagreement, let alone the extreme of a case like this one. And this response, one of education and understanding, is one that is definitely missing.

How Tipis measured spirit.


One day, in 2009, a man saw that the Whole earth festival time was
coming. This man had a lot of spirit and an open soul and thought to
himself-

I will make two tipis for the Whole Earth Festival, so that people can
enjoy their shade and learn about different People


This man communicated his desire to the tribe of the Whole Earth
Festival, those that call themselves the Weffies. And the Weffies
said-

Bring us your tipis, and we will place one in the children's area so
that children may sit in the shade of a tipi and learn the stories of
all the world's Peoples.

Bring us another tipi so that we can set it up in the crafts
area. That way people can sit in the shade of a tipi and learn to make
crafts and have things of beauty in their lives that come from their
own hands instead of China.

And so that man, who was full of heart and spirit, made two tipis and
painted them with symbols that people could learn about stories of the
various People. And he set them up at the Whole Earth Festival, with
the full respect for the rising sun, and the directions and habits of
various People.

And the children were happy, and excited, and full of wonder at having
a tipi to sit in an learn the Storied of all the world's People.

And people came from all over the region, to see the tipis. Some of
the people had made plans to come just for the tipis.

And then, at the Childrens' area, where the Weffies were arranging
stories to be told next in the tipi, came those who have inherited the
spirits of the Conquistadors.

A group of People came- all persons who were Native American and who
studies Native American Things at the University (nas.ucdavis.edu) and
these people had shriveled spirits and souls who had turned from the
light, so that all they could see was legalistic words on paper.

And these People of the shriveled spirits and darkened souls saw the
tipis. And these people of the NASG (Native American Studies Group)
saw that people with big spirits and open souls were using the tipi to
learn the stories of all the world's Peoples and they were struck with
anger.

For these people, having shriveled spirits and with souls that had
turned away from the light- they could not feel the heart of another,
nor sense the intention or spirit of a place.

And not being able to sense these things, they had devised papers and
tests and written rules for themselves that determined if a group of
people or a person was permitted to do a thing, have a thing, or even
to SEE a thing. And since the tipi was used by some Native Americans,
they had decided that all tipis were their property and that they had
the right to say who could build one, who could sit in one, and even
who could see one.

And, having shriveled spirits and darkened souls, these people were
jealous of others.

And these people, the NASG said-

We have seen this tipi, and we have seen children using the tipi to
sit in its shade while hearing the stories of all the world's
People. And we have noticed that no one asked us permission to use a
tipi, which we have decided we have the right to control. And we have
noticed that there are people using this tipi who do not carry special
papers that we have devised that say they have enough red blood to use
a tipi. And we are angry!

The man with heart who had built the tipis was very sad when he heard
this and had a pain in his heart. And some Weffies heard and had pain
in their heart. But the Weffies who heard, who had big hearts and open
spirits, had not grown strength to defend from shriveled-soul-people
the people who came to the Whole Earth Festival. And so the Weffies
let the shriveled-soul-people hurt the man who made the tipis until he
decided to remove them.

And so the children did not sit in the shade of a tipi and listen to
the stories of all the World's People.

Because The people of the shriveled spirits and darkened souls, who
had inherited and cherished the spiritual attitudes of the
Conquistadors for many hundreds of years, decided that the children of
the Whole Earth Festival were not worthy to see or know about tipis,
and that they were of bad blood, not having the special papers of
lineage of the members of the NAS

Current Mood: angry

Here's an article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/an-invention-that-could-change-the-internet-for-ever-1678109.html

Basic idea- Wolfram has developed a 'smart' search tool that uses 'natural language' and is aimed at professionals. wow, this hasn't been done before....

comment on the article:

****
What the experts say

"For those of us tired of hundreds of pages of results that do not really have a lot to do with what we are trying to find out, Wolfram Alpha may be what we have been waiting for."

Michael W Jones, Tech.blorge.com
*****

Because, like, you know, actually- if you can't think clearly enough to structure a search query for google and refine it, then, dude, totally- honestly, like, fuzzy search engine will magically interpret, like, what you *meant* to say, for reals.

excerpt:

National Health Care Spending

* In 2008, health care spending in the United States reached $2.4 trillion, and was projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012.1 Health care spending is projected to reach $4.3 trillion by 2016.1
* Health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.3
* In 2008, the United States will spend 17 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care. It is projected that the percentage will reach 20 percent by 2017.1
* Although nearly 46 million Americans are uninsured, the United States spends more on health care than other industrialized nations, and those countries provide health insurance to all their citizens.3
* Health care spending accounted for 10.9 percent of the GDP in Switzerland, 10.7 percent in Germany, 9.7 percent in Canada and 9.5 percent in France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.4


Employer and Employee Health Insurance Costs

* Premiums for employer-based health insurance rose by 5.0 percent in 2008. In 2007, small employers saw their premiums, on average, increase 5.5 percent. Firms with less than 24 workers, experienced an increase of 6.8 percent.2
* The annual premium that a health insurer charges an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $12,700 in 2008. Workers contributed nearly $3,400, or 12 percent more than they did in 2007.2 The annual premiums for family coverage significantly eclipsed the gross earnings for a full-time, minimum-wage worker ($10,712).
* Workers are now paying $1,600 more in premiums annually for family coverage than they did in 1999.2
* Since 1999, employment-based health insurance premiums have increased 120 percent, compared to cumulative inflation of 44 percent and cumulative wage growth of 29 percent during the same period.2
* Health insurance expenses are the fastest growing cost component for employers. Unless something changes dramatically, health insurance costs will overtake profits by the end of 2008.5
* According to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States have been rising four times faster on average than workers’ earnings since 1999.2
* The average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 120 percent since 2000. Average out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, and co-insurance for physician and hospital visits rose 115 percent during the same period.6
* The percentage of Americans under age 65 whose family-level, out-of-pocket spending for health care, including health insurance, that exceeds $2,000 a year, rose from 37.3 percent in 1996 to 43.1 percent in 2003 – a 16 percent increase.7


The Impact of Rising Health Care Costs

* National surveys show that the primary reason people are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage.2
* Economists have found that rising health care costs correlate to drops in health insurance coverage.8
* A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. The study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses.9 Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.
* A new survey shows that more than 25 percent said that housing problems resulted from medical debt, including the inability to make rent or mortgage payments and the development of bad credit ratings.10
* About 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs. 11
* A survey of Iowa consumers found that in order to cope with rising health insurance costs, 86 percent said they had cut back on how much they could save, and 44 percent said that they have cut back on food and heating expenses.12
* Retiring elderly couples will need $250,000 in savings just to pay for the most basic medical coverage.13 Many experts believe that this figure is conservative and that $300,000 may be a more realistic number.
* According to a recent report, the United States has $480 billion in excess spending each year in comparison to Western European nations that have universal health insurance coverage. The costs are mainly associated with excess administrative costs and poorer quality of care.14
* The United States spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health care system than its peer Western European nations.14

from http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml

The Spanish Dirk is at the same time, predecessor of the chef's knife and the Bowie. It's been one of the most prolific and widely varied fighting knives of America, and I have always had a dream to start making them.

Here's my first one.

http://www.koyoteknives.com/knives/136-1.jpg
http://www.koyoteknives.com/knives/136-2.jpg
http://www.koyoteknives.com/knives/136-3.jpg
http://www.koyoteknives.com/knives/136-4.jpg

Overall, the beast is 18 and 3/8 inches long, with a 12.5 inch blade. The steel is 8760M, which is one of those little known highly durable carbon steels you find in high wear application such as mill saws. The blade has a full convex (apple seed) grind to zero thickness at the edge. Spine is about 3/16 at the tang.

The handle is curly maple.

This billet actually started out destined to be a gladius! Then I realized, forging it out, that I had way too much metal- and this wicked front clip was forming, so I ran with it.

1084 steel, "easy" forged (every part has been hit with a hammer, but nothing much beyond thinning the blade edge out except for forge drawing and shaping the front bit.)

Full convex zero grind, with thickest part about 1/3 of the way down from the spine. Sharpened reverse edge along the clip.

18 inch blade, 24 inches OAL. 1 pound 10 ounces.

HEAVY, but still pretty fast on the pell. (that's a padding and leather wrapped beating tree. which needs new leather now)

Okay, what good is this without pics: (handle is gluing up right now)

http://www.koyoteknives.com/swords

My veteran's day just got turned around. I'm used to people talking about my sacrifice, and doing the oh so serious sad thing over the day. And I appreciate what little recognition we get (since most of Veteran's Day seems to be furniture sales)- And the thankyous DO mean a lot.

But my son, my five year old son. Now, he's not figured out that it's all somber and such. He's making me cookies to celebrate my veteran's day. I like this plan, I must say.

So, dammit, celebrate. It's not always pretty, and some percentage of us are all messed up with skin, hearing, lung, joint disorders. We give or gave a lot out of our lives and we have some intense memories, for good or bad.

But I'm getting a bit tired of it being the victim day where a few people acknowledge our disabilities and no one celebrates our.....whatever you call it- duty, tenacity, ass whoopingness. Patriotism. So I am going to have a friggin cookie, and make someone buy me a beer later on.

Happy Veteran's Day, hats off to the rest of ye, and celebrate what is arguably something well worth celebrating.

Oh and please, please, don't buy a new futon/car today- no matter how good the sale

So, in our mixed up co-op household, we celebrate a lot of holidays. Most of the christian ones, jewish ones, and a whole slew of traditional european ones.

We've developed this cool tradition, which I initially stole out of a book called Hawkmistress. It is fairly agnostic, you can do as much or as little paganish stuff as you want in it. From a simple libation to the house spirits to a full panoply.

What we do, in the most basic sense, is give out baskets. Actually, we all have baskets, we fill them with stuff for each other. Goodies and little presents. It gives us a set of 8 or so family holidays each year that are growing more important and are far less commercial than the mainstream ones.

Of course, there are oddities- today is samhain, traditionally a death of the earth for winter kinda thing (I'm not going to get all into the details if you don't care to hear about religions not your own). But here, it's PLANTING season. This is Davis, this is the prime part of the year for planting truck- greens, peas, taters, onions.

Whatever, happy basket day and go give your loved ones a little basket of fun.

Two of our family friends are a lesbian couple that got married in June. One of them is a school teacher and takes our 5 year old, Leif, out on farm and park trips. She gave us a "no on 8" sign for our yard, which we put up.

Leif asked what the sign meant a few days later. I explained that there was an election coming up where grownups would vote on things. One group of people wants to make it so Dawn and Sharon can't be married anymore. We want to vote no on that part, and the sign is so people can think about it.

Leif, in his 5 year old simplicity, proceeed to head indoors, then return with his crayons and paper. He explained that he wanted to make more signs to give to "everybody" so that they would know that dawn and sharon should be able to stay married.

So now there are a bunch of 5 year old drawn no on 8 posters around...

from an article this morning:

"Proposition 8 on Tuesday's ballot would change the California Constitution to eliminate the right, limiting marriage to male-female couples.

Since the court decision, tens of millions of dollars have flowed into California as liberals and conservatives wage battle over the ballot issue."

WTF? Which side is liberal? Which side conservative? Has theocratic rule become THE DEFINITION of conservatism? Has "liberalism" become the provenance of the promotion of individual liberty? (actually, was it ever not?)

Many of my friends who describe themselves as conservative are not religious, or are fanatically faithful to atheism, and define their conservatism in bahaviour primarily by an ardent support of firearm ownership rights and 'frontier rules' individual liberty. While I may disagree to some extent with the scarcity enforcement of the frontier rules, I find them to be much more in keeping with the type of conservatism I grew up with.

OTOH, the definition of liberal as it existed in my family when I was growing up included civil rights activism, a desire for a less heavy handed legal system, and a desire to see a social abundance.

NEITHER of these groups would have any thought of voting yes on Prop 8 after any amount of thought.

Perhaps we have come so far, perhaps the pocket Scudders* really have turned things so much that one can't be credibly accepted as a conservative without goosestepping to the right wing Dominionist beat. Perhaps one can't be accepted as a real Christian without an abandonment of compassion in favor of bigoted hate.



(*Note that I don't think the rue Nehemiah Scudder scenario is plausible, I think that the top figures in the theocratic movement prefer to directly lead crusading congregants and "advise" politicians. Ever so much more refined, yknow)

"Palin says Obama infomercial short on specifics"

So reads the headline.

politics!

I'm fairly agnostic on party lines. As with many people, I wish dearly we had a viable third through fifth party in the US. And I often vote even for candidates i disagree with specifically for that purpose.

But within the reality of presidential elections, there's still a choice to be made. And I find myself basing my choice less on individual plans for key issues- economy, health care, Iraq- and more with flavor.

First, a president ain't a king, yo. Despite the advance of the unitary power theory over the past 8 years, a president still has to act WITH the other two branches of government. Which is as it should be. So you have to look at what a potential president want sot accomplish more than HOW they want to accomplish it- because there's a whole set of machinery in there.

I don't believe Obama is a marxist, destined to force us all onto collective farms, as is ranted around often enough. Nor do I believe that McCain is a war criminal, or some such.

I *do* believe that a democratic president and congress would be good for a while- at first I wanted McCain (or whoever) to win simply based on my general feeling that it's generally preferable to have a polarity between congress and the executive branch. But in light of the ... gains made by the unitary power side, I'd like to see more cooperation between congress and the president. Given the extremely polarized state of things, i don't think that's likely with another republican president and a democrat led congress.

Which brings up an interesting point- polarization. I realize that both parties have whackos, and mudslingers, and there are fringe groups in both parties who would like to see the 'opposite' party destroyed. But I feel that even among the Democratic fringe (and please, don't equate the wobblies with democrats) there is a certain restraint. They may feel voting republican is stupid and that being a republican means yer of substandard intelligence. Which is actually something the republicans have promoted to some extent.

But the republican fringe has been, for over a decade and a half, pushing an idea that being a Democrat in office- any office- is Unamaerican. Even treasonous. At first this was the "limbaugh" radicals, but the idea has apparently taken root. So much so that the Republican vice presidential candidate can now imply a sense of anti-patriotism in just BEING a democrat- not in office, just as a citizen. This is one hellishly dangerous downward spiral.

Let me be really clear on this. I hate to bandy words about such as fascism, nazi Germany, Maoist, Orwellian. But this is dangerous. One of the five widely recognized signs of a fascist trend in a nation is the movement towards prejudice and eventual outlawing of any party except The Party. (With preference and nepotism for Party Members). Many totalitarian regimes have used this idea of anti-patriotism.

By itself, this would clinch my vote- regardless of other merits, I can't bear to see a party that considers friends of mine to be unamerican simply because of their voter registration!

Now, add in Palin - not only the new mainstream voice of "only us" patriotism, but a ridiculously unqualified person. She lacks understanding of the role of the executive and legislative branches, she lacks any real grasp of international politics, global economy, or constitutional issues. All of which can be remedied- but she GLORIES in her ignorance, making claims that it is somehow better to be stupid.

As we used to say in uniform- "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over"

McCain has, or has had, a good record. I am fond of the man as a senator, and have been greatly pissed off at some of the things that have been done to block projects he has championed. But I feel that he's sold out every single stand he's made in this campaign- except the one that is killing him. (election financing, and even that could be simple strategy- if you lack the supporters to raise the money, best to attack the notion of raising money)

Obama has run a moderately clean campaign, with a fairly restrained hand. He has raised an awful lot of money, but most of that seems to have come from perfectly acceptable small personal donations. He talks about what he considers to be a more fair tax structure, but has lamed out on health care somewhat. Most of all, he is willing to listen to people, and has chosen as his shadow- his chief advisor, his partner, Joe Biden, who has a ton of experience and intelligence.

Oh, I don't care for the lack of firmness obama has on some constitutional issues, and a demorat leaching the 2nd amendment scares me all the more because of the probable right wing, theocratic, fascist backlash removing ever more rights once we've been proven unable to defend ourselves.

Nonetheless, I hope Obama wins. I say this as a veteran patriot, who values the freedoms we have to choose- our political party not least of all.

Not like Ringo does with his incessant need to have the US nuke itself in his novels to prove that "liberals" are wimps, no.

And in general I like Stephen's writing. He's a GOOD writer, and his materials and scenarios are often really interesting. Oh, his penchant for torture is a bit much at times but in general he does well. And the General series was fantastic.

But this Change series!(emberverse for yall literal snobs) He's doing fantastically well with his portrayal of the pagan side, character development, and pure adventure. But-

I've been pissed off since book one with his writing off of the ENTIRE STATE of California as a death zone- ridiculous especially coming on the heels of the Conquistador novel. He should come spend some time on an organic farm and read Octavia Butler's Parable books. Just for starters.

But in a more general sense he's fallen into a fantasy writer trap that he really shouldn't have. Lots of detail and small nations in Oregon and large huge McMasses of poorly defined stuff the further you get from corvallis, mixed with multistate spans of "death zones"... It just loses credibility sometimes.

And now back to reading, I just keep losing my ability to get into the story at times due to this.

Or I could dig out my Heinlein library and work more on the "heinlein as a social democrat" essay....

A few days ago some friends an I were tossing out ideas because the congress-crustaceans were putting out such silly shite. Almost as a joke I suggested the US Federal government pay something like 5% to 20% of the principal (that's important, pay attention) on all primary residence home loans in the Us made before, say, today.

Turns out it isn't such a joke-

1: it gives the homeowners equity, reducing mortgage debt (and payments), adding some security, and some of them will use it to refinance more favorably, some will make that equity liquid and invest or spend it, etc.

2: it shores up the banking industry FAIRLY. they get a pile of assets, but lose future value on the loans. That's fine, it's not FREE money going to them without doing anything for the people who make up the economy (us)

Think about it.

(I also advocated a $1000 per person and $1500 per person NO MINIMUM INCOME one time check and a $5000 per student college grant- any fulltime student under any circumstances)

First up- the election. Up until recently I was fairly ambivalent about the election. On the one hand, Obama would be nice in so many ways. On the other hand, A democratic congress and president isn't going to be any better than a republican domination of the executive AND legislative branches (except possibly in a pull back on that idiotic unitary executive theory) in the end. On the gripping hand, Obama and McCain both will in different ways have to deal with the Bush legacy. Ayiiii! Where's Teddy when you need him?

Then came Palin. I can't even begin to imagine the horror of her as a VP, let alone as a presidential successor. Sheeeeeeeeeit. We're not a half assed bannana republic. Or are we?

And then came the racism. This weekend I've read reports on the GOP having ministers pray to God on the air telling the gaseuous vertebrate that McC better win or else "they" will think "their" god is more powerful! William Tango Foxtrot. And then the Fannie Mae "tie" - they found a black dude with no real ties to Obama just so they could plaster a black face all over. And the Weathermen shit is just.... shit. NO black republican governors or congressjellyfish have been elected in recent memory, there aren't any black people at any reasonable level in the GOP campaign, and the race card is being played- subtly or not, by the party of Lincoln. Yay, Republicans. And on top of that, the rally chants of "Kill the traitor" are WAY WAY beyond the pale. This is looking like any number of old 80s and 90s SciFi stories about fascist or dominionist takeover of the US (not Nehemiah Scudder scenario, i think the dominionists are happy to rule through others.)

Not that Obama is my dream president by any stretch, but the choices are getting ugly.

And let's not forget Palin. Holy crap. I cannot believe she got elected in AK- except I used to live in AZ and I know how lame "frontier" state politics can get. I wonder if she's related to Evan Meecham....



Finance- So, what are you actually noticing here? in the US or abroad? What's really impacting you- not the temporary loss of value in your mutual funds, but what's really hitting you? Steel is through the roof, and tools have noticeably gone up in price. Food for us is an odd situation since we have several non-consumerist methods of obtaining food. But flour is way up. Maple syrup is reaching precious metals prices. A lot of stuff that's not local is insane. (Of course, in the Central Valley, a LOT of stuff is local. We grow amazing varieties of foodstuff). On, of course, corn has skyrocketed due to someone's silly idea that using oil to grow corn for processing into fuel makes sense.

But what are you actually noticing? What's going on?


And why are we not oil independent? Dammit, even Sweden is 10 years behind where they SHOULD be and they are 50 years ahead of us!

off to the gun show in reno tomorrow morning. So busy getting ready.

Looks like 26 knives with sheaths, 1 or 2 available without sheaths, 4 heat treated and finished blades for the DIY crowd, and a half dozen NFS.

Everyone wish me luck- Selling out of stock is the golden dream

165 km biking, 20km hiking. Not NEARLY enough yet, but time becomes an issue.

Knife shop is going well. Got three orders I'm working on, and enough stock for the show in a couple weeks is coming along.

I could probably work a bit faster, but I'm emotionally a bit roller-coastered the past week and a half.

The heat is not bugging me much. a: burned off a bunch of fat (while watching some others pack it on this year, which is a strange sort of incentive to get more fit) b: Doing Stuff means you adapt. I don't have the option of working in air conditioning, so I just have gotten used to it, I guess.

Or, my knives did.


easy to see posting on the RAT forums
http://www.jungletraining.com/forums/showthread.php?p=36858#post36858

if you are a bladeforums member, or possibly you can see it if not, there's comments and discussion there.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=565352

it's also on knifeforums and ramanon, maybe a few others.