db1775

Wayne - I'm turning 41 this year and am on my third miserable job in financial services in the past 14 years. It is definitely better than breaking rocks or digging ditches for a living, and I am certainly thankful to even have a job. But when I was 27, I never imagined that I would merely be content to not be digging ditches. I guess that I am suffering from the inflated expectations of my youth that I had no business entertaining, given my educational and general life choices. I wasted my college years earning two near-useless History degrees. So my predicament is my own fault, and based on that experience my best advice to you is, if you want to get out of financial services, to get that degree in something inherently useful - math, science, nursing, engineering (if you have that aptitude). But given that you have a family/mortgage to consider, you probably have several years of plugging away before that is feasible. Don't do what I did and follow a path because it was open at the time. You have to have a concrete end point/vision in mind before you start. So, if you leave the desk you're at, where do you want to be? And what are the steps you are prepared to take get there?

The Gentleman Hunters I know generally come from a different generation (WWII/Post-WWII) when guys implicitly trusted law enforcement, the military and the national government. Things have changed, but they cling to this trust, it is the core of their worldview. I think I am on solid ground here, I know guy many like this and they are solidly of the opinion that "the government will protect us". Again, I'm grossly generalizing, but speaking only from personal experience. What they fail to grasp is that the Antis don't really care about guns as inanimate objects. I don't think they really care about guns at all. What they really hate is our way of life, as gun owners. They use weeping mothers and children as tools, we all know that. What they are coming for is not just our hardware, it is for our personal independence and empowerment. The Gentleman Hunters don't grasp that simple fact -- in fact, they refuse to grasp it, to believe it. It doesn't fit into their calculus on this issue. If you can get one to see the politics of the issue, you'll convert them. However, the more likely end of that conversation will be an annoying tin foil hat joke.

So. Hard. To. Resist. Trolls . . .

Dude, find another doctor that will take that rhing out. Mine ruptured back in 1988, back when medicine was still emerging from the Stone Age. Recovery tool A LONG time, even at age 16, but it is better than being dead. One thing you do NOT want to eff with is the spleen. All it is is a thinly-walled sack of blood with no critical finction. But it can kill someone easily - just about did me in. And if you are planning on going into the military, you can get a waiver for it. My advice is to: 1. Get a second surgical opinion NOW; 2. Don't try to tough this out. 3. Lay a serious guilt trip on the GF. "Let no crisis go to waste."

Dude, find another doctor that will take that rhing out. Mine ruptured back in 1988, back when medicine was still emerging from the Stone Age. Recovery tool A LONG time, even at age 16, but it is better than being dead. One thing you do NOT want to eff with is the spleen. All it is is a thinly-walled sack of blood with no critical finction. But it can kill someone easily - just about did me in. And if you are planning on going into the military, you can get a waiver for it. My advice is to: 1. Get a second surgical opinion NOW; 2. Don't try to tough this out. 3. Lay a serious guilt trip on the GF. "Let no crisis go to waste."

Yeah, nothing to see here ... Move along now .... http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8971311

WE'RE the morons??? As much as I respect the military, there is something unseemly about conducting training of this nature in the middle of American cities. Are you telling us that the government doesn't have enough spare chinese Yuan on hand to build a larger facility out in the desert somewhere? I guess there's no space out there -- yeah, that's it, or they need terrified civilians to give the evolutions a "reel feel". I seem to remember something from my grammar school history class about the Founders, veterans mostly, having a severe distaste for a standing army in America. Those guys were MUCH smarter than we are today. "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." -- John Adam THIS ^^^^^^^ is exactly what we have become -- crouched down and licking the hands which feed us, lest we be called unpatriotic, tin-foil-hatted or morons.

Addiction and drug abuse is probably as old as human history, but i don't care what anyone says, this sh*t exploded in the middle part of last century. In more ways than one, but in this way more than any other, the 1960s were a cultural timebomb that has effectively gutted the USA. We are a ZombieNation, we're still on our feet, yeah, but there's not much going on upstairs, and no pulse to be found.

Agreed, it might be far fetched, but this is the same Administration that got its EPA to classify water vapor Carbon Dioxide (I'm not a 'science guy') as a greenhouse gas. I guess they think we should all stop breathing.There is NOTHING that should be put past these people.

Precisely -- where is the balance? I know for 100% certain that it is NOT found in a dictatorial directive. This is what the legislative process is designed for, I think -- to find ways to square the circle of difficult and sensitive issues. A letter from the President is both arrogant and a complicating factor. It can only further the problem. This, undeniably, is where Family comes into play, or should. Families need to take responsibility here, backed up by doctors and as the final step, if needed, law enforcement. I guess a large part of the problem here is that the Family is pretty much gutted as a social institution. So, what fills the vacuum, the Gov't bureaucrat? That seems to be the path we're on.

I am NOT saying that truly disturbed people, with access to guns, should not be reported or monitored in some way. But I find this way of going about letting doctors know they are on the hook for it to be kind of scary. A letter from the President of the United States, in the wake of a string of terribly emotional events seems to me like an "offer they can't refuse", Chicago-style. If I were a doctor today reading these suggestions, I would feel pressured now to go overboard in reporting any kind of abnormality, however remote the possibility of a problem. Wasn't the overuse of expensive tests by doctors one of the primary reasons BHO used in his healthcare argument? They over-prescribe tests to ward off liability. they could easily fall into the same pattern of alerting authorities using the same justification of "just being thorough".

Even so, his proposals, even if "mere suggestions", now put doctors in the cross hairs, so to speak. What happens when the next psycho shoots up a theater after telling his psychologist that he had similar thoughts? That doctor is FINISHED. What doctor, after this ever so gentle and subtle a suggestion by BHO, will have the wherewithal to not sound every possible alarm at any hint of a problem, citing liability? News broke today that the psychologist who treated the Colorado theater shooter is being sued because she didn't report him quick enough.

I would love to shove this in the face of every idiot who told me in 2010 that my tinfoil hat was on way too tight when I said that Obamacare was His way of using the healthcare system to insinuate the Gov't into every facet of our lives. 16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes. 17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities. 20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover. 21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

Sgt - that is an excellent point, cogently argued. There are people that can be educated, but I do not believe they are people already predisposed to be Anti. There is always a mass of people in the middle. They can be swayed, but I do not believe that can be done by hiding the free, safe and mature exercise of our rights, which the article in question seems to indIcate. People on the fence seeing responsible gun owners out and about will do more to educate and win over than classes, i think.

I don't post often, though I have been a member for a few years and read most threads. I've noticed a distinct coarsening of the commentary on this board in the past 6-12 months, as it has grown. I make it a point NOT to insult and call out people, unless directly addressed. I find no need to do so. My ego is not wrapped up in winning Internet confrontations. Having said that . . . If I was going to insult someone I would say that "they need to learn how to read". THAT is an insult. You might want to re-evaluate the meaning of the word. To say that we, as gun owners, must feel so ashamed as to hide ourselves (as Mr. Holder has suggested we should) IS INDEED a sad commentary on the state of our Republic and the quality of the modern Citizenry. This is an issue we should not even have to ponder.

This is a truly sad commentary on the state of the Republic and the quality of the Citizenry. By attempting to assuage the feelings of soccer moms and other associated hoplophobes we are playing to the lowest common denominator, a game that we can only lose. YOU WILL NEVER CONVINCE THE AVERAGE SUBURBAN MOM IN AMERICA THAT AR-15s ARE GOOD FOR THEIR CHILDREN. I think we have to recognize that no amount of education will shake these people from their fear. They are not even cognizant enough of their own history and culture (excluding pop-culture) to understand that they are DUTY BOUND by their status as "Citizen" to fight for the God (or Nature if that offends)-given rights secured to us by others, whether they agree with it or not - the right of self-defense is non-negotiable. If they force the entire country to give that up because of their phobia, then so be it. But I would rather contest them and lose than cower in the closet, hoping that they are good and generous enough to let me keep a .22 bolt action or single shot rifle. If you believe in the notion of Natural Rights and those being the foundation of the Republic, I don't see how you can support any kind of "strategic" accommodation or compromise based on the Antis' feelings and lack of education. This is a chance to show ourselves and the rest of the world what is distinctive about being American -- or that we've become just like the rest of them. This really is an Either/Or situation.

I am definitely signing up with GOA, especially after Mr. Pratt's performance in shutting down Piers Morgan on his show. I am just a bit shaky on the NRA though right now -- for some reason I have the sinking suspicion that they are going to cave or try to compromise with people who refuse to be compromised with (as exhibited in the fiscal cliff talks). I am going to wait until I hear what they have to say and their tone on Friday. It would be a shame if they go soft - all I want to see is them standing firm. I thought their Facebook posting yesterday was a good first step.

I don't believe that BHO would do this, yet. They have been trying their level best over the past two years since that fake "Summer of Recovery" to paint in the very best possible light every one of their skewed labor, GDP and econometric measures, even in the face of common sense. They've so far as to suggest that a drop from 8.1% unemployment to 7.9% was a game changer and cause for re-election! No, to confiscate private retirement savings in this fashion would be too plain an admission of the defeat. However, I just don't get the "It-CAN'T-happen-here" mentality. Especially when it already has happened here -- Executive Order 6102. In 1933 FDR signed an order outlawing the "hoarding" of monetary gold and ordered all privately held gold, with some exceptions, to be surrendered to the Federal Reserve System. People got paid some money for it, but not the spot price. That is theft in my book. Just because the law says one thing today, do not think it cannot or will not be ignored tomorrow. We are not the heirs to 1775, people will lay down for anything now (and in 1933).

Yeah, and we all know what great parents they are who spoil their kids rotten, as in your example above. Spoil them and you get the children you deserve. But that is EXACTLY the point of the opposition to Obama over the past several years and this renewed interest in Nullification and Secession. If the government is giving you a check, you can rest assured that they will feel not only justified but OBLIGATED to participate in that "long train of abuses" rattled off above and insinuate themselves into every facet of your life: Patriot Act; TSA abuses; NDAA; Warrantless wire tapping; Obamacare and all of the mandates an consequences listed therein; Sen. Patrick Leahy's new bill proposed yesterday allowing law enforcement to read your e-mail WITHOUT WARRANT - look it up: The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) Amendments Act -- he's already backed off of it, but this is what they want; [*]etc & etc. Maybe these "podunk" states have finally awoken to the damage the government fiscal heroin has had on their local economies and societies. As a former resident of Mississippi, I (we) really loathe that typical northeastern condescension of "we pay for you", while you also seem to conveniently forget that the Old Confederacy continues to populate the Army disproportionate to the participation of other, richer and more populous regions. The last study I read on this was from 2008 -- in 2007 the South provided 42% of the Army's enlisted recruits that year, the NE a paltry 13%. ROTC commissions in the same year? South had 46%, the NE under 17%. (Who Serves in the U.S. Military? Demographic Characteristics of Enlisted Troops and Officers Shanea J. Watkins, Ph.D., and James Sherk, August 2008) So, whatever welfare you so graciously give us is repaid in blood, in spades.

I used to travel to India for work often, and I remember trying to explain Hitler and the entire Second World War to a managerial colleague from over there. He was well educated and traveled, and he had never heard of Hitler. Then again, there is probably an overwhelming majority of Americans who have never heard of Pol Pot or Mao. Veering off topic . . . (apologies) Yeah, I don't believe those Christian evangelists and social conservatives you find to be so stupid succeeded in adding Intelligent Design to the Texas curriculum: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/07/texas-school-board-sidesteps-int.html In fact, while they controlled the board, they did not even shove it down anyone's throat. All they did was make discussion of it possible - GASP!! This would be in stark contrast to the diktat of Obamacare tactics. The Texas conservatives were not trying to eradicate the opposing view (unlike the aim of the Leftists on the board, and everywhere). They merely wanted to offer a competing theory. It is that sort of one-sidedness in the education system that enables people to grow up never having learned of Hitler.

Yep, all really weird stuff. Most of it can be heard daily on the Alex Jones Show. But i still didn't see an explicit and specific threat. The most violent imagery that has so far been divulged were lyrics from a song. So a guy or several that he served with in Iraq were disturbed by some comments. His mother and family say there is nothing out of the ordinary here - who do we trust to make the judgement call as to commitment? All that i am seeing from these articles is that the police and FBI arrested/comitted a veteran who was saying some weird stuff post-Aurora, about which some old friends were complaining. I hope my old friends on FB don't find me weird or I am in trouble.

I can't open the link to that topic.

I'd like to hear some opinions on this former Marine's situation: http://washington.cb...facebook-posts/ Based on the relatively scant details in this article, it looks like this guy made the mistake of oversharing on FB and got tagged for it by the police and Feds. The offending post they cited in the article is, I think, borderline - kinda weird phraseology, but nowhere near specific enough to be that troubling. I have seen worse. Having said that, here's what I think: 1) The guy has some downright kooky ideas about 9/11 that are usually a conversation-ender for me. I don't fall in for that Truther stuff; 2) He's prone to some flowery anti-gov't/obviously pro-revolutionary rhetoric. But again, I am sure we've all seen that kind of post. What he posted did not necessarily set off alarm bells to me; 3) He made the mistake of being much too frank on FB, which also kind of scares me that we have to filter our thoughts, politically speaking; 4) The authorities cited the rash of recent incidents, like in Aurora, as a pretext for taking him. That kind of pre-crime-like process, minus the overt specificity in the posts, disturbs me in a way I cannot fully articulate yet. I get that there may be more to the posts and the psychological profile that we haven't seen yet -- then again, there may not be more. There haven't been any additional details beyond this that I have seen in the reporting either. So, how does the forum feel about an extremely passionate person being civilly committed for political speech? Did the gov't use the Aurora/Wisconsin incidents correctly here as pretext for arrest? From a LEO perspective, I'd like to particularly hear the Forum on whether this was an "arrest" or not. The authorities say it is not because he was not charged with anything. He was handcuffed though, because he resisted their taking him into custody - because they did not have a warrant. And THIS is the most troubling aspect -- will they use this resistance as further proof of his violent tendencies, even though his resistance was lawful? And what do we think this kind of action will portend for people posting things on forums like this? As I recall, there are some Truthers or sympathizers among us. And finally, if his FB post quoted in the article was evidence enough of some instability, what of those stream of uber-violent anti-government and racist comments by the New Black Panther Party that we heard over the past couple of weeks? Double-standard? I know, that's a ton of questions, but this incident has struck a nerve with me.

At first read, I thought the "Post Nazi" quip was kinda funny too. But then I thought about how I have noticed a distinct change in tone on the forum since I joined over two years ago. I don't post much, but I read most of the threads here and I think over the past 6-12 months there is a different undertone to many comments and discussions. I could be wrong, but it seems like the forum is beginning to trend towards a lot of other gun forums where people flame each other incessantly over minutiae. I really like this forum because people are generally courteous and, as a relatively new shooter, it is nice to be able to ask questions without getting laughed at. And that is a general statement I thought I'd offer seeing how the issue of etiquette was brought up, not an attack on any specific comment above. Having said that, I have no opinion on the 1911. I don't own one and am not really interested in them.

Man, the really sad part is that this crew accomplishes the impossible feat of making C. Thomas Howell look hardcore. This looks like a metrosexual insurgency to me.