If you want to be competent – no, really good at something, you have to practice the skills needed for that “something.” Want to be a safe motorcycle rider? Practice riding safely. Want to be fiscally responsible? Practice fiscal responsibility. Want to be an expert shot with a handgun or rifle? Practice shooting.

I started a motorcycle skills class this evening. It runs for six weeks, about two hours per session. It does not teach you how to ride fast in a straight line. Any idiot can do that, and I’m pretty sure you’ve seen those guys zipping by you on their crotch rockets. No, this class teaches slow-speed maneuvers. Actually, it teaches the basic mechanics of slow speed maneuvers, and by combining them you can handle just about any crisis that crops up.

“But Cary” you say. “I though you already knew how to ride?”

Yes, I do. I also know how to shoot (qualified expert on the M-16 and the M-1911 whilst in the Marine Corps – I know how to shoot) and I know how to walk and I know how to draw cabinets in the quasi-CAD program called Cabinet Vision, too, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more things to learn about any of them. One of the instructors at the skills class (all the instructors are members of the Arizona Precision Motorcycle Team) has been riding for 47 years, and he says he’s still learning.

I also go target shooting when the opportunity arises. I would rather be practicing on a CQ range, but they are expensive. Another aspect of carrying a firearm that a lot of people don’t think about is 1) how to carry it without being obvious that you are carrying it and 2) keeping your mindset in the place it needs to be while you are carrying it. Anyone can strap on a hogleg and strut around. It takes a patient and thoughtful person to carry a loaded weapon at all times, knowing in their mind and in their gut that if called upon by circumstances, they will use it to defend life or property for themselves or for those around them.

Having skills and being able to use those skills are two different things. If you don’t practice your skills, they become rusty and clunky and you are not as effective as you could be. Practicing your slow-speed maneuvers is important, so the muscle memory is developed in case you need to use those maneuvers – at any speed. Shooting and carrying practice is important to develop a different kind of muscle memory, so you can appear to be an unarmed person, but can react and act in a way that will save lives. You have to constantly use skills that you learn on the computer too – or on the drafting table, or in the negotiation meeting, or operating the equipment, or you can go rusty and lose skills, lose opportunities, or lose control. Never lose control.

A piece of advice from the guy who has been riding for 47 years – “Learn the skills, and then practice them. The two best times to practice are when you are alone, and when you are with somebody.”

That goes for any skill you have, at which you want to excel.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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“It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution.”

Thomas Jefferson (1781)
The Patriot Post – Founder’s Quote Daily

Random mention of Obama(THHO), but not because I think he’s a canker or anything like that. No, really.

Two items from the world of the Second Amendment today:

Magpul Industries, formerly headquartered and manufacturing in Colorado, was not happy with the political, “feel good” decisions made by several Colorado State legislators to impose unconstitutional limits on magazine capacity. Promising to move, they announced this week that they are moving their manufacturing facilities to Wyoming and their corporate headquarters to Texas. As a side dish of “eat my votes” several of the above mentioned legislators lost their positions through nasty recall elections. Liberal Left East Coast money was poured into the losing defenses of the legislators to no avail.

I view this item with mixed feelings – good for the owner, because he is standing by his opinion. As a company, I have said before that businesses should stay out of social and public dispute. I feel OK by this one, though, because the business is moving to a place where they can continue to be profitable – which is the bottom line for businesses.

In Detroit, there’s a new chief in town. James Craig started his law enforcement career in the city of Los Angeles. There, he formed his basic opinion that an unarmed society is a safer society, in spite of evidence to the contrary. He was selected as the Chief in Portland, Maine. His first official act was to start rejecting a stack of concealed carry permit applications. He had a small epiphany and realized that the state he was in, with the large number of concealed carry permits already issued, had fewer homicides per year than any single week in Los Angeles. He stopped rejecting the applications, and started seriously considering them. Chief Craig is now the Chief of Police in … DETROIT! Last Thursday, he announced a 7% drop in violent crime in 2013, and called for the arming of more citizens. Not a bad turn-around for someone who used to think no one should be armed …

Anytime a lefty can be made to see the light, that’s a good thing. Supporting the constitution trumos “feewings” every time.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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Are you plagued by the niggling little worries like “Is the NSA reading this? Does the FBI think this is problematic? What does the Obama(THHO) administration think about this email?”

Well, worry no more. Quizikle has the solution!

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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I am responsible. As a citizen of the United States, I am responsible for the actions of this country, through the elected representatives I have allowed to inhabit the hallowed halls of government. You are, too. Each and every one of us has the duty, as citizens, to let our representatives know when we agree and when we disagree with their words, deeds, and actions. We, the People, are ultimately accountable for who is sitting in the seats of power, and what those people do while in the seats of power.

It does not matter what position a person is elected to, it is the responsibility of the electors to make sure that the electees are following the will of their constituents. Not just some of their constituents, but the majority of them. We live in a representative republic that We, the People, have allowed to degenerate into a democracy, or mob rule. Each of the electees is in a position of authority that We, the People, bestowed upon them. But our job does not end when we exit the polling places of the United States.

For too long, the representatives we have been sending to the Hill over and over again have been turning their backs on us once they have promised us the moon and delivered dust. For too long, we have allowed them to treat the position of governance as their own personal piggy banks for themselves and their deep-pocketed backers. For much, much too long we have been getting the government we have asked for, instead of the government we as a nation need.

It does not matter if the electee holds the position of dogcatcher or president – the People who allowed the electees to assume those positions are responsible for the actions of that office. It does not matter WHO the People placed in the office, either through direct action or indirect inaction. We are all responsible, each one of us, for the actions of that representative.

What does this mean? It means that We, the People, must communicate our feelings, thoughts, and options – yes, even alternative solutions to problems we as a nation face – to these electees. When was the last time you smacked yourself in the forehead and said “I can’t believe that representative just did that! That’s not why I voted for them!” (alternatively, “See? This is why I didn’t vote for that person!”)? Is that where it ended? Or did you, like most citizens today, shrug your shoulders, say “Whaddya gonna do?” and walk away? Did you commiserate with your like-minded friends about the sad state of affairs in the nations capitol (or the city council chambers), or did you communicate with your representative?

Too many of us are shrugging our shoulders. Too many of us are drowning our worries and concerns in the next round of beverages, or turning the channel to a mindless pseudo-reality show and distracting ourselves from what we should be concerned about – the State of This Union. Don’t like the fact that the fees were raised at the pound? Letters to the Council would get your point across much more effectively than griping to your bar buddy. Concerned about your state allowing illegal immigrants to practice law at the State level? Letters to the Governor and the State Senators are more effective than flipping over to “American X Factor Dances on the North Shore with Ducks”. Indignant that the Office of the President has effectively funded the very groups that are mad at the United States and wish to do us harm, using money and weapons that we supplied to them? Letters and phone calls to the Office of the President and your Congressperson(s) carry more weight than a shrug of the shoulders.

Since the mid 70s, the effective turnout at the polls has been dropping precipitously each election cycle. That means that more and more of the decision as to who is representing us is being decided by fewer and fewer of the people that are affected. Meanwhile, more and more of the professional politicians are promising more and more largess to those who will vote for them, while fewer and fewer of the people who make that largess possible (through the paying of taxes) are available to make those tax payments – mostly through job losses brought about by economic downturns that lead to industries reducing their workforces. Economic downturns come from many factors, most of which are a direct result of legislation or decisions by the elected leaders of this country.

See the connection there? I’m not trying to beat you to death with obvious statements, but people who make a living by promising the moon to sectors of the populace just to curry favor with them and win their vote (“buying” votes, as it were) so they can continue to dip into the public funds are not concerned with long range results – they want theirs, and they want it now. And it is YOUR decision, to either vote or not vote, to either tell the person who represents your interests at a local, state, or federal level or ignore them, to either get involved or wonder what happened, YOUR decision that allows that behavior to continue. Problem is, if enough of you decide to abdicate your responsibility, then the whole country gets to suffer the consequences. We are seeing that right now, with the results of the last few administrations starting to pile up, one on the other, to create a whole landslide of unintended consequences.

It comes down to this – if you do not involve yourself in the politics and governance of this country, you are not going to like the end results. When ALL the people are heard, then the country will head in the right direction. It will not happen overnight – it may not happen for a couple of election cycles – but it must happen. The people who are elected to represent us must hold the Constitution above all else as the guidance and direction of this country. The amount of governance must be reduced. The business of politics must be removed, and serving the country must be returned to a duty, an obligation, and a short term of service. We as a nation must get to where the phrase “career politician” is banished and “statesman” can be used for former representatives once again.

It has been a long while since I was last … “inspired” is too lofty … uhm, motivated … to write an essay like you just read. I think I’m getting my blogging wind back, and I can see which direction it’s headed. I hope you will stick around for this long ride I see in my future.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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Evidence of the title can be found in his year-end column (sorry, it’s a Washington Post link), dedicated to a review of the news in 2013:

“(in October) … the federal government, in an unthinkable development that we cannot even think about, partially shuts down. The result is a catastrophe of near-sequester proportions. Within hours wolves are roaming the streets of major U.S. cities, and bacteria the size of mature salmon are openly cavorting in the nation’s water supply. In the Midwest, thousands of cows, no longer supervised by the Department of Agriculture, spontaneously explode. Yellowstone National Park — ALL of it — is stolen. In some areas gravity stops working altogether, forcing people to tie themselves to trees so they won’t float away. With the nation virtually defenseless, the Bermudan army invades the East Coast, within hours capturing Delaware and most of New Jersey.

By day 17, the situation has become so dire that Congress, resorting to desperate measures, decides to actually do something. It passes, and the president signs, a law raising the debt ceiling, thereby ensuring that the federal government can continue spending spectacular quantities of money that it does not have until the next major totally unforeseeable government financial crisis, scheduled for February 2014.”

Go ahead and read the whole thing – that’s just funny right there.

Chat ya later…

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

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