EckerNet.Com

Away for Thanksgiving. Probably spending the time at my folks, who still own a dial-up connection. So rather than deal with carrier pigeons and chiseling posts into stone, I’ll just enjoy the time away. And so will you since you probably aren’t reading this until Monday anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gotta love double standards

Yesterday, Mr. Hoyer sought to play down any personal differences or ill will, noting that the two have worked together in the House Democratic leadership for many years.

“The American public have just given us a big mandate for change and taken the country in a new direction,” he said. “Nancy and I share that obligation together. That’s our objective, and we’re going to work very closely to accomplish that.”

A mandate?? You barely have control of the house, and you don’t have an overwhelming majority in the House either?? When Bush declared a mandate in 2004, you pointed out that 49% of the country voted against him therefore it wasn’t a mandate.

Please indulge my curiousity, at what percentage does this magical “mandate” begin? Or is this something only Democrats get?

And let’s not forget that virtually every conservative referendum on the ballots passed. Conservatives ideas won, some Republicans lost. Doesn’t sound like a mandate for Democrats to me. Sounds like Republicans got taken behind the wood shed for an election and you get to serve as temporary place holders until the next round.

As you most likely know, I love hunting and I love guns. I’ve hunted for years, and while I can distinctly remember my first time hunting with my father I can’t remember my age. I’ve seen hunters of all types, and admittedly some have left a sour taste in my mouth.

But it’s hunters like this asshole who just fatally shot 14-year old, Brandon Lanie, that makes me want to sit in a room with this guy and violate every single rule of firearm safety.

The charging papers said Ferguson, 45, of Maplewood, called police about 5 p.m. Saturday after discovering that he had shot Brandon after mistaking him for a deer. Ferguson said he fired twice after hearing leaves crunch and seeing something brown move through the thickets some distance from his tree stand. He said Brandon had brown hair that looked like a deer’s back.

It’s not underheard of. I’ve heard of people shooting at sounds. I’ve never met someone who does, nor would I ever hunt with them. But the fact that they may be sharing the same patch of land as myself sometimes scares the bejesus out of me. I’ve never worried about the guys I hunt with, it’s the other ones I worry about. Sometimes they don’t even have to be carrying a gun.

This story reminded me of something that happened years back. Opening morning of deer hunting, I had parked myself on a ridgeline overlooking a ravine on public land. I knew from past scouting that the deer frequently used this ravine to move from a nearby grove to a nearby cornfield. I knew it was heavily used and only a matter of time. I got out there and waited. The sun rose, and time passed, until I heard it.

Something was moving through the brush at the entrance of the ravine. Moving slowly and following the game trail I had previously noticed. There!! Through the brush, trees and assorted vines…movement. Brown movement. Finally, my patience was paying off. I lifted my shotgun from my lap, and brought it to my shoulder. I didn’t bring it up to bear on the target but I wanted it in a position where minimal motion would be necessary once the deer cleared the brush.

It stopped. The wind was in my favor, surely it hadn’t caught my scent. Had my motion spooked it already?? I didn’t think it would have been able to see the little motion I had already made. Ah! But there it continues. Here it comes. Here it comes. Here it comes. Breath, Kevin. My arms tensed as I started to move the shotgun into position, still waiting to see what emerged. And then it emerged, with a…

“Good morning!”

What?! Before me stood a man dressed in dark brown overalls and a brown Carhartt jacket. Atop his head was a camo baseball cap. I was in shock.

“Heh, I have a couple traps in here, just checking them. Mind if I wander through??”

I was so furious, I couldn’t even speak. Forget that this man had just screwed up my morning hunt, he had almost screwed up my entire life. Had I not been taught by my father at a very young age to respect the weapon I held, I might very well have shot and killed this man. And as stupid as this man was, I’m entirely certain Darwin would be giggling his ass off.

I tell this story to remind people that it’s not just those with weapons that have a responsibility to think of safety first. And I wish I could say this kid didn’t do that. Unfortunately he did everything right.

Deputies said Brandon was wearing blaze orange pants and coat and a green and brown camouflage, baseball-style cap.

Even that wasn’t enough to save his life, when he crossed paths with a stupid asshole who had no business carrying a firearm. His excuse that Brandon had brown hair would be laughable, if not so tragic, considering said brown hair was located literally inches from a blaze orange coat.

Steven J. Ferguson, you just took an innocent kids life and cast a dark shadow on all responsible hunters. I hope you rot in jail and become Bubba’s new bitch. Admittedly it’s not what you deserve. It doesn’t even come close.

And people claim that college kids can't think for themselves anymore. That the entrepreneural fire has gone out in our young people. That they can't creatively solve problems anymore. Well then explain this ad!

NOTE : Yeah yeah yeah, now before you call me a pig for applauding frat guys looking for an easy hookup, I'd like to point out one important detail. The owners of those email addresses and that phone number are Mikaela Alyce Ebitz and Katherine Elizabeth Janca, respectively. So you may more correctly label me a pig for applauding two college women looking for an easy hookup…..which is completely different, and perfectly appropriate. Just ask a feminist.

As you may have noticed we’ve been idle lately….that’s because I was away with most of the rest of the MN Militia on yet another hunting trip to South Dakota. We built upon our previous scouting trip and managed to improve our results quite a bit, but still wasn’t satisfactory for our tastes. Really what we’re aiming for is to fill out by noon, be drunk at the bar by 3, stuffed at a steakhouse by 6, and drunk at the bar again by 9. While all but the first were accomplished, not nearly on the timeframe we were hoping for. So if anyone has any suggestions/tips/etc on pheasant hunting in South Dakota, by all means please feel free to leave them in the comments or else drop me an email.

Regardless it was alot of fun. There was beer. Spent the time with friends and family. I had a loaded firearm in my hands a majority of the time. Some progress was made in the quest to turn my dog into a good hunting dog. Beer, did I mention that? Oh and I was completely isolated from the outside world.

It’s easy to forget that there are places in the world that aren’t very nice when you are walking amongst fields of grass that extend to the horizon and are occasionally broken up by farmsteads. It’s easy to forget about politics when you are walking in a seemingless endless field of cattails over your head when you realize you haven’t seen your dog in several minutes. It’s easy to forget that I have a blog when the most frequent example I see of human technology is the occasional broken down farm truck abandoned decades ago in a field.

After all the activity that election time brings to someone who is interested and active in politics, it was a nice break. A chance to reconnect with what is really important and the reason why I still blog after almost 5 years of doing it. It was also a chance in introduce two potential new members of the MN Militia.

Dumbasses RNC,

I’ve had a day to think over the selection of Martinez as the RNC Chair. I’ve thought it over and I’ve come to a couple conclusions. As you are no doubt aware, I’ve been withholding further donations to the RNC until you get real on the immigration issue. In fact every letter you’ve sent me in the last years I’ve returned with one of these, in place of the donation.

If this is the course of action you’ve determined to take you may as well remove me permanantly from your list of financial supporters. Hell, remove me from your list of supporters. Any spare time or money I have obviously would be better invested in spanish lessons.

What really bothers me is that this is just one more in a long list of boneheaded decisions at all levels of the Republican Party. You could fill an online encylopedia with all of Bush’s. Corruption and earmarks for anything appears to be the rule at the Congressional level. Mismanagement of finances seems to be the norm at the state level. Ignoring conservative principles in general seems to be the guideline at all levels.

All I ask is you give me something I can latch onto. Give me something so that I can at least fool myself into believing you care even a tiny bit what I think. Alas, you apparently care nothing for what the base thinks.

If the GOP is intent on moving away from it’s base, that’s certainly their right to make that decision. However, let it be known that, you will move without your base. We’re sick of being taken for granted….again, and again, and again. The 2006 Elections were our “2-week notice”.

Sincerely,

A Formerly Proud Republican

Note even this rousing speech is enough to get me on my feet.

Wow….just wow. It’s almost as if Howard Dean is scripting the GOPs every move. The RNC has just chosen Senator Mel Martinez as it’s Chair. [H/T to Malkin for the link].

A few days back I summarized a few things that Republicans needed to do to win back their base. That has obviously been bluntly ignored, because one of the biggest items was immigration, and Martinez was one of the leading Senators in pushing amnesty for anyone and everyone. Ah, hell, it’s not just my advice that is being ignored, it’s the entire conservative base.

This election should have taught Republicans that they need to pay more attention to the base. If we’re not happy, we don’t contribute cash. We don’t contribute time. And we might just not even leave the couch on Election Day. You thought there was discontent amongst the base in 2006?? Just wait till you keep pulling yet another 2 years of this type of crap.

If the Republicans aren’t willing to help themselves, certainly we conservatives can’t do anything for them. Is it time to start shopping around?

NOTE : And if the name Martinez sounds familiar to those of you who don’t eat and sleep politics, yes you do recognize it. He’s the dumbass who penned the memo highlighting how Republicans could turn the Terry Schiavo case to their advantage.

UPDATE : If you think I’m exaggerating just look at what the response from the conservative base has been so far.

Despite their claims to the contrary, I think we all well know that it’s only a matter of time before the Democrats attempt to impeach President Bush. I’ve already explained why the Democrats wasting time on a futile impeachment attempt may work in the Republicans favor. Let’s all remember that Clinton has already taught us how to delay and impede investigations. He held off impeachment for over two f-ing years through procedural hoops and judicial hurdles. Republicans still have enough strength in Congress to delay an actual hearing until Bush’s biggest worry is how to wipe out an infestation of noxious weeds on the south fenceline of his Texas ranch.

So Democrats will attempt to impeach President Bush as soon as they take power. Republicans have the strength and the roadplan to stall. But should they? It occurs to me that maybe letting the Democrats have their way on this one might not be an entirely bad thing.

Think about it.

Bush has already demonstrated he’s more than willing to roll over on command for whatever a Democratic Congress throws his way. Mass amnesty for anyone that wants in the country? No problem. Big Government?? How big you want it? Tax increases?? How high? Pretty much anything domestic? Whatever you want. These final two years of his administration are going to be a nightmare.

Now if Bush is gone, as I understand it, Cheney takes over. While he’s not perfect, he at least has a spine, if not a fully functional heart. Although he’s an actual conservative so it was a fake heart anyway right? Democrats, that was called a joke. More than likely he’d take a stronger stance against Democrats. And we could still trust him not to fuck up the war on terror and Iraq.

Now I don’t think Bush deserves impeachment, but then against conservatives haven’t deserved Bush screwing us over on every domestic policy issue the last two years. I’d hate giving in to the Democrats and I’d certainly be concerned over possible factions within the Republican Party, but at the same time I’m already very concerned with just how much Bush is going to let the Democrats walk all over him.

It’s a thought I’ve entertained for about a week now, and I’m not certain that it’s entirely a bad idea.

Just Released - Agenda for the Democratic National Convention for 2008:

7:00 P.M. Opening flag burning.
7:15 P.M. Pledge of allegiance to U.N. and opening song by the Dixie Chicks
7:30 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

7:30 till 8:00 P.M.- Nonreligious prayer and worship. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.

8:00 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:05 P.M. Ceremonial tree hugging and Cat show

8:15- 8:30 P.M. Gay Wedding - Barney Frank, presiding.

8:30 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:35 P.M. Free Saddam Rally. Cindy Sheehan &Susan Sarandon.
9:00 P.M. Keynote speech. The proper etiquette for surrender - French President Jacques Chirac
9:15 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
9:20 P.M. Collection to benefit Osama Bin Laden kidney transplant fund.
9:30 P.M. Unveiling of plan to free freedom fighters from Guantanamo Bay - Sean Penn.
9:40 P.M. Why I hate the Military - a short talk by William Jefferson Clinton.
9:45 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
9:50 P.M. Dan Rather presents Truth in Broadcasting award by Michael Moore.
9:55 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
10:00 P.M. How George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld brought down the World Trade Center Towers by Howard Dean.
10:30 P.M. Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
11:00 P.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
11:05 P.M. Al Gore reinvents the Internet.
11:15 P.M. Our Troops are War Criminals - John Kerry.
11:30 P.M. Coronation of Mrs. Rodham Clinton.
12:00 A.M. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
12:05 A.M. Bill asks Ted to drive Hillary home.