The Blog of Rock Cowles.

Mens' Rules

2012-02-08T13:13:00.000-05:00

Men's Rules: At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

Finally, the guys' side of the story.
( I must admit, it's pretty good.)
We always hear 'the rules'from the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered '1 '
ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports It's like the full moon
or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched..
We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say 'nothing,' We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as hunting, fishing, golfing, or something with wheels.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight.
But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -
to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them a bigger laugh.

Catching Pigs

2012-01-31T03:54:00.000-05:00

CATCHING PIGS

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the Prof noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question He asked:
"Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again.
You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn . They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America .. The government keeps pushing us toward Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

One should always remember two truths:

1) There is no such thing as a free lunch, someone is paying for it;

2) When you begin to think that having your government provide for you and make your decisions is ok, realize that you’ve also given up the freedom that goes with making your own choices.

If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to share this with your friends. I did.

My NFL Predictions

2012-01-16T03:55:00.000-05:00

I've spent more time this year watching post season NFL football games than I have NFL football games any other year. Getting to know the teams makes a world of difference. If you grow up in or around Chicago, you are a Bears fan. Period. And you HATE the Green Bay Packers. Period. The rare looney would like the Steelers, Raiders, or Cowboys, and be considered a freak, but to like, or even say anything complimentary about the Packers, was akin to making someone's mother eat poop. It was just an inconceivably traitorous act. The big giant No No, even for non-diehard fans. It was Da Bears or anybody but the Packers. Anybody.

I haven't lived in Illinois for over twenty years. I was impressed by Aaron Rogers when the Packers beat the Bears (GASP!). His State Farm commercials wee quite charismatic too. My old buddy Mammoth almost took away my Chicago Bears Card when I mentioned on facebook that I caught myself rooting for the Packers before the Giants ate their lunch. Close call! Anywho, I almost think I'm getting the gist of this whole thing and thought I'd stick my neck out and run my mouth by making some predictions.

My NFL Predictions:

Conference Championships:

AFC: New England Patriots over Baltimore Ravens by 7 points.

NFC: New York Giants over San Fransisco 49ers by 10 points.

Super Bowl: New York Giants over New England Patriots by 14 points.

Free Stuff

2011-12-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

This actually makes sense.

Class war at its best.

The folks who are getting the free stuff, don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff, can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff,

And,

The folks who are paying for the free stuff, want the free stuff to stop. And the folks who are getting the free stuff, want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!

Now... The people who are forcing the people who Pay for the free stuff, have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff, that the people who are PAYING for the free stuff, are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So... the people who are GETTING the free stuff, have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff, by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff, and giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are Now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.

Now understand this. All great democracies have committed financial suicide somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded. The reason? The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them. The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 231 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff. We have one chance to change that in 2012. Failure to change that spells the end of the United States as we know it.

ELECTION 2012 IS COMING
A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!
I'M 100% for PASSING THIS ON!!!
Let's Take a Stand!!!

Obama: Gone!
Borders: Closed!
Language: English Official
Culture: Constitution, and the Bill of Rights!
Drug Free: Mandatory Drug Screening before Welfare!
NO freebies to: Non-Citizens!

We the people are coming

SENSITIVE MAN TEST

2011-12-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

SENSITIVE MAN TEST (SHARED)

1. In the company of females, intercourse should be referred to as:
A. Lovemaking.
B. Screwing.
C. Taking the pigskin bus to tuna town.

2. You should make love to a woman for the first time only after you have both shared:
A. Your views about what you expect from a sexual relationship.
B. Your blood-test results.
C. Five tequila slammers.

3. You time your orgasm so that:
A. Your partner climaxes first.
B. You both climax simultaneously.
C. You don't miss ESPN Sports Center.

4. Passionate, spontaneous sex on the kitchen floor is:
A. Healthy, creative love-play..
B. Not the sort of thing your wife would agree to.
C. Not the sort of thing your wife needs to ever find out about.

5. Spending the whole night cuddling a woman you have just had sex with is:
A. The best part of the experience.
B. The second best part of the experience.
C. $100 extra.

6. Your wife/girlfriend says she's gained five pounds in the last month. You tell her that it is:
A. Of no influence on your affectionate feelings for her.
B. Not a problem, she can join your gym.
C. A conservative estimate.

7. You think today's sensitive, caring man is:
A. A myth.
B. An oxymoron.
C. A moron.

8. Foreplay is to sex as:
A. An appetizer is to entree.
B. Primer is to paint.
C. A long line is to an amusement park ride.

9. Which of the following are you most likely to find yourself saying at the end of a relationship?
A. I hope we can still be friends.
B. I'm not in right now, please leave a message at the beep.
C. Welcome to Dumpsville. Population, YOU.

10. A woman who is uncomfortable watching you masturbate:
A. Probably needs a little more time before she can cope with that sort of intimacy.
B. Is uptight and a waste of time.
C. Shouldn't have sat next to you on the bus in the first place.

Religious Freedom is Not Majority Rules.

2011-12-03T14:53:00.000-05:00

I recently commented on the Freedom From Religion Foundation's facebook page the following;

"Should we be subjected to Christmas music at the Post Office while we wait in line a half hour? Isn't it a government office? Am I just being a whiner if I complain about my kid having to sing religious songs at a Christmas Concert at a Public High School? (Boiling Springs, South Carolina USPS and Boiling Springs High School). Sometimes I really hate living in the Bible Belt Buckle!"

Being the page it was, all following posts were essentially in agreement.

My next post, after someone said the kids could say they did not want to participate and songs about Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer that didn't promote Christianity and such were okay, was;

"My child is a Christian and sees nothing wrong with it. I am an Agnostic Atheist. Should the kid who is an Atheist, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim, etc be put in a situation where they have to ostracize themselves and be the bad guy and say I don't want to sing that? NO!

The radio station markets itself as "The Christmas Station" from late October through Christmas. They are singing about Jesus whether it is White Christmas or Little Drummer Boy. If it is a Christmas song, it is based on the Christian religion, plain and simple.

They shouldn't even be using the watered down, PC "Happy Holidays". Its not just Christians and Jews using government facilities. Not everyone has holidays around this time of year, nor should they be made to feel inclined to do so."

Why do Believers not get it? If they were displaced and their religion was no longer a majority, I think they would feel vastly different about it!

When I was in the Army National Guard on our drill weekends we were required to muster (gather) at the Chow Hall (cafeteria) all together and the head cook would say a Christian Prayer before we were allowed to get our food and eat. I was a mild Agnostic at the time, but still felt we were violating the very Constitution we were supposed to be protecting. I went to our Commanding Officer, Captain Homer Simpson (Yes, believe it or not!) and protested. He said that if I did not want to participate, I could wait outside and come in when everyone was done praying. I said, so if I don't wish to participate in prayer, I get to eat last? Frustrated, he said, Okay, you can wait outside, and when we are done, we will all go outside and come back in together. I said, so I get to be first, since I am waiting by the door. Clearly uncomfortable, he asked me what I wanted him to do. I said abide by the Constitution. If people want to pray silently by themselves or in small groups, it is up to them. No mandatory attendance or organizational prayers. He conceded, but I never got another promotion and I've wondered if I would have suffered from "friendly fire" had I still been attached to them when they redeployed to Iraq.

Religion creates more separatism and tribalism than it does unity and brotherhood.

Scrabble

2011-11-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

I wanted to do a graphic with some Scrabble Tiles and did a Google search for "Scrabble". I don't know if I was more shocked or disappointed when most of the top results were for apps to help you cheat! Cheating at Scrabble on-line is like cheating at Solitaire! WTF?

Am I being naive, or has the whole world gone down the shitter that much? Is this what they were talking about when they said, "Some folks just need killin'."?

A History of Agnostic Groups in Alcoholics Anonymous

2011-11-10T16:51:00.000-05:00

For anyone who has ever been in or around any of the Twelve Step Programs, like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, or thier members, these articles are very interesting.

A History of Agnostic Groups in Alcoholics Anonymous: Parts 1 & 2

http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2011-11-a-history-of-agnostic-groups-in-alcoholics-anonymous

http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2011-11-a-history-of-agnostic-groups-in-alcoholics-anonymous-2

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

You Might Be A Survivalist If: (Educational AND FUNNY)

2011-10-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

Shared from: http://www.shtfmovement.com/jokes-humor/topic4685.html#ixzz1ZpcKcCwc

You Might Be A Survivalist If:

- You have emergency rations stored for your pets, and you view your pets as potential emergency rations.
- Bert from 'Tremors' is your favorite movie character.
- Your coffee table is actually a board with a table cloth over it, to disguise your food storage underneath.
- You've ever served MREs at a dinner party.
- You're planning to dig an emergency escape tunnel from your basement, to the nearest stand of trees.
- You've made bugout cargo packs for your dogs, and they also have their own gas masks.
- You know how to use a vacuum cleaner in reverse, to filter air in your designated bio-chem attack safe room.
- Your koi pond is stocked with tasty catfish.
- You view the nearest wildlife conservation area as a potential grocery store, for after SHTF.
- You know all the ways out the building where you work, and you have an escape kit stashed in your locker.
- You have enough ramien noodles stockpiled in your basement to feed your family for three years.
- You've made a range card for your neighborhood.
- Your ideal weekend consists of hauling a newly-completed cache container into the woods, and burying it.
- Your favorite 'self help' book is Nuclear War Survival Skills.
- When you go to McDonalds, you ask for one order of fries, with 25 packs of salt, ketchup, and mustard.
- You've numbered the deer romping in the yard by their order of consumption.
- You're a single male, but you have an emergency childbirth kit, in case you have to deal with that possibility.
- You have 30,000 rounds of ammo stashed away, and you consider this to be inadequate.
- You own more than one grain mill, and you have a kerosene lamp in every room.
- You have two water heaters in your basement, but one is a dummy that's been converted to a hideaway safe.
- When you hear animal calls on nature shows, it sounds to you like they're saying "Eat Me!", "Eat Me!".
- The box springs under your mattress are actually Rubber Maid storage containers, filled with rice and beans.
- Your basement walls are insulated with crates of toilet paper, from floor to ceiling, all the way around.
- Your group has detailed plans to take over a national forest, after the collapse of civilization.
- You have different grades of bug out bags, for different disaster scenarios.
- You bought your stockpile of grains (for human consumption) through your local animal feed store.
- You're still using up your Y2K supplies.
- While other people are saving for vacations, you are saving to get solar panels put on your house.
- You were excited beyond all reason when they came out with cheddar cheese in a can.
- You spend your spare time practicing making survival foods, like hardtack, jerky, pemmican, and fruit leather.
- You have better items in storage than the stuff you use everyday.
- You can't put groceries in the trunk of your car, because it's already full of first aid kits and Bug Out Bags.
- You've ever considered buying an above-ground pool for water storage purposes.
- Your significant other gave you another sleeping bag for Christmas, and it was just what you wanted.
- You must open the door to your pantry very carefully, for fear of a canned goods avalanche.
- You own so much ammo that you had to cache it underground, simply due to lack of storage space.
- You own several hassock-style portable toilets, for use in case flooding disrupts your septic system.
- You own enough army surplus equipment to open your own surplus store.
- You keep your survival info on computer CDs and jump drives, but have hardcopy printouts, 'just in case'.
- You've mapped out the best places to block the roads leading to your area.
- You have a backup hand pump on your water well, and more 55gal blue water drums than family members.
- You carry a pocket survival kit, knife, flashlight, and concealed handgun on you to church every Sunday.
- You keep sneaking into the woods to plant bamboo and other useful and edible plants, in strategic locations.
- You own a hand-operated clothes washer and a non-electric carpet sweeper.
- You have two of every size of Dutch oven (the ones with the legs on the bottom), and 20 bags of charcoal.
- You've sewn secret mini-BOBs into the bottom of your children's school backpacks.
- You have rain barrels at each corner of your house, and a Big Berkey filter to purify the water.
- You start evaluating people according to 'skill sets'.
- You know where the best defensive positions and lines of fire are on your property.
- You have space set aside in the fallout shelter for your chickens, rabbits, and miniature goats.
- You have a 'Volcano' stove, you know how to cook anything, and you cast evil glances at your neighbor's
annoying, yappy poodle, muttering "your day will come, hotdog" under your breath.
- You own tons of modern survival gear, but you know how to improvise crude replacements, just in case.
- You're so busy making preparations, that you own guns you haven't even had time to shoot yet.

Things you will never hear from a Southern boy

2011-09-29T22:54:00.000-04:00

My Uncle Unabomber was kind enough to send this to me. The man has a 190 IQ so it must be right. Hmmm, go figure...

31 things you will never hear from a Southern boy:

31. When I retire, I'm movin' North.
30. Oh I just couldn't. She's only sixteen.
29. I'll take Shakespeare for $1000, Alex.
28. Duct tape won't fix that.
27. Come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken.
26. We don't keep firearms in this house.
25. You can't feed that to the dog.
24. That car is too old and unsafe to drive.
23. Wrestling is fake.
22. We're vegetarians.
21. Do you think my gut is too big?
20. I'll have grapefruit and grapes instead of biscuits and gravy.
19. Honey, we don't need another dog.
18 Who gives a rat's ass who won the Civil War?
17. Give me the small bag of pork rinds.
16. Too many deer heads detract from the decor.
15. I just couldn't find a thing at Wal-Mart today.
14. Trim the fat off that steak.
13. Cappuccino tastes better than espresso.
12. The tires on that truck are too big
11. I've got it all on the C: DRIVE.
10. Unsweetened tea tastes better.
9. My fiancé, Zelda, is registered at Tiffany's.
8. I've got two cases of Zinfandel for the Super Bowl.
7. Checkmate
6. She's too young to be wearing a bikini.
5. Hey, here's an episode of "Hee Haw" we haven't seen.
4. I don't have a favorite college team.
3. You guys.
2. Becky Mae darlin', those shorts oughta be a little longer.

AND THE NUMBER ONE THANG THAT YOU WILL NEVER HEAR A SOUTHERN BOY SAY:

1. Nope, no more for me. I'm drivin'!

This could happen to you.

2011-09-25T00:09:00.001-04:00

You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows. One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.

As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble. In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless.

Yours was never registered.

Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.

When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask.

"Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.

But the next day's headline says it all:

"Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die."

The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters..
As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win.

The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges. The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk, England, killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term...

How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ? It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns..

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987.

Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane, Scotland, Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearms still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism.
Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities.

Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police
and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed.
Kind of like cars. Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA ; THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

"...It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."
--Samuel Adams

You had better wake up, because Obama is trying to do this very same thing, over here,
if he can get it done.

And there are stupid people in congress and on the street that will go right along with him.

People who have lived safe upper class lives and never had to deal firsthand with violence don't understand why anyone feels a desire to own a gun. Because the are disasters and medical problems, they wisely buy and keep insurance. Because car accidents sometimes happen, even to good drivers, they wear seat belts. But even though they acknowledge that there is violence in the world, it doesn't seem to register that the police can't be everywhere all of the time and they might one day have to defend their own life or those of their loved ones or lose them.

The case of DC vs. Heller was a step in the right direction, but if you are not willing to fight for your rights, your freedom, and your lives, you will lose them, sooner than later.

I believe...

2011-09-02T20:18:00.000-04:00

I Believe...
That just because two people argue,
It doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue,
It doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe...
That we don't have to change friends if
We understand that friends change.

I Believe....
That no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you,
every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe.....
That true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I Believe...
That you can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life.

I Believe....
That it's taking me a long time
To become the person I want to be.

I Believe...
That you should always leave loved ones with Loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe....
That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe....
That we are responsible for what
We do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe...
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe....
That heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.

I Believe....
That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing
and have the best time..

I Believe....
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're
down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe...
That sometimes when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry, but that
doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe...
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had
And what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe.....
That it isn't always enough,
to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes, you have to learn
to forgive yourself.

I Believe...
That no matter how bad
your heart is broken,
the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe....
That our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are, but,
we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...
That you shouldn't be
so eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life forever.

I Believe....
Two people can look at the exact same
Thing and see something totally different.

I Believe...
That your life can be changed
in a matter of hours
by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...
That even when you think
you have no more to give,
When a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...
That credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...
That the people you care about
most in life are taken from you too soon.

I Believe...
That you should share this with
all of the people that you believe in. I just did.
'The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything they have.

The Long Emergency

2011-08-27T04:13:00.000-04:00

http://tinyurl.com/3kum5jw

The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century by James Howard Kunstler

This is quite possibly the most terrifying read of my life. If you value your children and their future, please read this book and get ready! I don't believe Mr. Kunstler to be a pessimist or a soulless author trying to make a buck. He is offering a dire warning that most of us have ignored for far to long.

I sometimes think I need to move into a bigger house to have my room for my possessions with less clutter. The truth is I need less stuff, not more room. The world's oil consumption is much the same; we don't need more oil, we need less dependence on it. Everything we do is dependent on petroleum products which are disappearing rapidly with no viable alternative fuels in site.

We have passed the peak of oil production. It will quickly become more and more difficult and expensive to obtain more. Economies will crash, nations will go to war, and life as we know it will die. We will not return to pre-Industrial Age living because many of those skills are lost and instead of having a billion people, we have six and a half. Water will become scarce. Hygiene will be difficult or impossible. Super viruses will devastate an unprepared world.

If it sounds like Mad Max Science Fiction, its not. It will probably be much worse than that. This isn't fear mongering or paranoia. The facts are here, we have just ignored them at our own peril for far too long.

Many short term and long term man-made and natural disasters could occur. This one will, sooner than later. Read up, prove me wrong or get prepared. If you ignore the evidence and choose to hide under a rock, that is where you will most likely die.

A woman in a hot air balloon

2011-08-24T21:31:00.002-04:00

A woman in a hot air balloon

A woman in a hot-air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.
"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."
"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."
The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."

Top Ten Reasons Why Men Prefer Guns Over Women

2011-08-02T23:43:00.003-04:00

Top Ten Reasons Why Men Prefer Guns Over Women

And here we go...

#10 - You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.
#9 - You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you're on the road.
#8 - If you admire a friend's gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times.
#7 - Your primary gun doesn't mind if you keep another gun for a backup.
#6 - Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.
#5 - A gun doesn't take up a lot of closet space.
#4 - Guns function normally every day of the month.
#3 - A gun doesn't ask, "Do these new grips make me look fat?"
#2 - A gun doesn't mind if you go to sleep after you use it.

And the Number One reason
Why Men Prefer Guns over women.....

#1 - You can buy a silencer for a gun.

The Green Thing

2011-07-19T23:19:00.000-04:00

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24- hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please share this with another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

The Green Thing

US Soil

2011-07-19T01:06:00.000-04:00

I can’t think of a better word than "PRICELESS" FOR THIS. . .

picture of this Army soldier in Iraq with his tiny 'plot' of grass in front of his tent. It's heartwarming! Here is a US soldier in Iraq, stationed in a big sand box.

He asked his wife to send him dirt (U.S. soil), fertilizer, and some grass seed so that he can have the sweet aroma, and feel the grass grow beneath his feet. When the men of the squadron have a mission that they are going on, they take turns walking through the grass and the American soil -- to bring them good luck.
Of all the things he could have asked his wife to send to him from home...........he asked for American soil. WOW.

If you notice, he is even cutting the grass with a pair of scissors.. Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don't stop and think about the little things that we take for granted.

Pricing Artwork

2011-07-12T17:42:00.000-04:00

People often wonder how much they should pay an artist for custom graphics, including "simple" designs like logos. Let me share my thoughts.

There is a story about a factory manager who kept hearing a noise. After months of not being able to locate it, he called in an expert, The expert arrived, walked around for fifteen minutes, took out a hammer, and tapped a pipe. The noise stopped immediately. The manager was greatly relieved until the expert presented him with a bill for five hundred dollars! "Five hundred dollars to tap a pipe with a hammer!?", exclaimed the manager. "No." said the expert, "A dollar to hit the pipe and four hundred and ninety nine dollars to know where to hit."

We pay for a specialist's expertise. Hopefully you choose someone who is creative and knowledgeable, but remember, artists are specialists too. There is free clip art in abundance on the Internet and in books. We pay artists to create something that is uniquely our own. Simplicity is often valued more than complexity in a design, logo, or illustration. Pricing is often associated with usage as well as the artist's reputation.

Al Hirschfield, was famous for his extremely simple (looking) caricatures that graced the pages of New Yorker Magazine. Most school children can duplicate Charles Schulz Snoopy as well as the whole Peanuts Gang. The McDonald's Golden Arches, Nike Swoosh, and the MacIntosh Apple are recognized all over the world. Many of Pablo Picasso's paintings look like they were done by a drunken fourth grader until they are examined closely.

If you are looking for an artist for a project, look first at their established work and style and see if it looks like it will represent what you want. Go from there. My grandparents paid seven hundred dollars for a logo for their riding school. It was "merely" a silhouette of a horse and English rider jumping a fence. That was over thirty years ago! You can pay tens of thousands of dollars for a "simple" logo these days.

The most import thing is that it represents you and your concept and will it serve its purpose well.

The Graphic Artists Guild (www.gag.org) publishes an annual guide with pricing recommendations, but they are guidelines only.

Proposed Budget Cuts

2011-07-08T17:14:00.000-04:00

The truly amazing thing here is that US tax dollars were never intended to fund any of these programs!

http://notyourstogive.com

Proposed Budget Cuts

These are all the programs that the new Republican House have proposed cutting. Read to the end.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
Save America 's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
International Fund for Ireland . $17 million annual savings.
Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings
Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
Exchange Programs for Alaska , Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts . $9 million annual savings
Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt . $250 million annually.
U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
General Assistance to District of Columbia . $210 million annual savings.
Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings
Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings..
HUD Ph.D. Program.
Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.
TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years
My question is, what THE HELL is all this doing in the budget in the first place?

The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country.

2011-06-29T19:28:00.000-04:00

There is a great book about so called "consensual crimes" called Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country.

You can read it free online here: http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/aint/

I have a strong Libertarian bent and I think if dumbasses want to thin the gene pool, let them.

Many of society's woes are not caused by things like street drugs, but by making them illegal, expensive, unregulated, and highly profitable.

H. R. 2306 - Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011

2011-06-28T01:35:00.001-04:00

H. R. 2306
A BILL
To limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011″
SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF THE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT TO MARIHUANA.

Part A of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

SEC. 103. APPLICATION OF THIS ACT TO MARIHUANA.

PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN SHIPPING OR TRANSPORTATION. -This Act shall not apply to marihuana, except that it shall be unlawful only to ship or transport, in any manner or by any means whatsoever, marihuana, from one State, Territory, or District of the United States, or place noncontiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, into any other State, Territory, or District of the United States, or place noncontiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or from any foreign country into any State, Territory, or District of the United States, or place noncontiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, when such marihuana is intended, by any person interested therein, to be received, possessed, sold, or in any manner used, either in the original package or otherwise, in violation of any law of such State, Territory, or District of the United States, or place noncontiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
PENALTY. -Whoever knowingly violates sub-section (a) shall be fined under title 18, United States 26 Code, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”

SEC. 3. DEREGULATION OF MARIHUANA.

REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES. -Schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) is amended—
by striking “marihuana”; and
by striking “tetrahydrocannabinols”.
REMOVAL OF PROHIBITION ON IMPORT AND EXPORT. -Section 1010 of the Controlled Substances Importand Export Act (21 U.S.C. 960) is amended—
by striking subparagraph (G) of subsection(b)(1);
by striking subparagraph (G) of subsection(b)(2); and
by striking paragraph (4) of subsection (b).

SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.

Section 102(44) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(44)) is amended by striking “marihuana”.
Part D of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841 et seq.) is amended as follows:
In section 401—
by striking subsection (b)(1)(A)(vii);
by striking subsection (b)(1)(B)(vii);
by striking subsection (b)(1)(D); and
by striking subsection (b)(4).
In section 402(c)(2)(B), by striking “marihuana”
In section 403(d)(1), by striking “marihuana”
In section 418(a), by striking the last sentence
In section 419(a), by striking the last sentence
In section 422(d), in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “marijuana”.
In section 422(d)(5), by striking “, such as a marihuana cigarette,”

SEC. 5. CONSTRUCTION.

No provision of this Act shall be construed to affect Federal drug testing policies, and each Federal agency shall conduct a review of its drug testing policies not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act to ensure that the language of any such policy is in accordance with this section.

Please visit The Marijuana Policy Project's web site and let your representatives know where you stand!

formspring.me

2011-06-27T02:47:00.001-04:00

Should Marijuana be legalized in The United States? Why?

White Pride?

2011-06-15T17:26:00.000-04:00

I received this e-mail about White Pride. It contained some *racial slurs and had a lot of rhetoric in it, but it did make many valid points. I cleaned it up some, but the heart is still there. I personally think pride is overrated. I'll never be ashamed of who I am, although I might occasionally be ashamed of what I do. I did nothing to deserve, good or bad, to be born white. Why should I be proud of it? Historically it did offer advantages, but not nearly so much anymore. We have created reverse discrimination instead of equality. I'm interested in others' intelligent opinions about this, so I am posting it.
- Rock

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I have been wondering why Whites are racists, and no other race is......

Proud to be White

"There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me 'White boy,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman'... and that's OK. But if I use a *racial slur, You call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you... so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah. You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP. You have BET.... If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.

If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.

If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?

A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US . Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, red, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.

Minorities can rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.

I am proud..... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists?"

There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on. I sadly don't think many will. That's why we have LOST most of OUR RIGHTS in this country. We won't stand up for ourselves!
BE PROUD TO BE WHITE!
It's not a crime YET... but getting very close!

Paraprosdokian Sentences

2011-06-13T14:53:00.000-04:00

Paraprosdokian Sentences

A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect.

* I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
* Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
* I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
* Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
* The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.
* Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
* I could agreed with you, but then we'd both be wrong.
* We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
* War does not determine who is right -- only who is left.
* Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
* The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
* Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.
* To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
* A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
* How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire*
* Some people are like Slinkies ... not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.
* Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.
* I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted paychecks.
* A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
* Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "If an emergency, notify:"I put "DOCTOR."
* I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
* I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it... So I said "Implants*"
* Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
* Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut and still think they are sexy.
* Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?
* Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.
* A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
* You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
* The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!
* Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.
* A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.
* Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.
* Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
* I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.
* Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.
* There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
* I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.
* I always take life with a grain of salt... plus a slice of lemon... and a shot of tequila.
* When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.
* You're never too old to learn something stupid.
* To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
* Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
* A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.
* If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?
* Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

10 Rules for a Gunfight

2011-06-01T00:29:00.001-04:00

This is one of my absolute all time favorite T-shirts. I thought I'd share.

10 Rules for a Gunfight

1) Bring a gun. Preferably bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.

2) If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

3) Have a back-up plan because the first one won't work.

4) Always cheat. Always win. The only unfair gunfight is the one you lose.

5) Someday someone may kill you with your own gun but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

6) Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap, life is expensive.

7) In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

8) Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

9) Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

10) Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In Glock we trust. Everyone else keep your hands where I can see them).

Forum Etiquette

2011-04-09T12:26:00.000-04:00

I'm a big fan of forums. I like having an opportunity to discuss things with folks I might not run into otherwise on a regular basis. Similar interests doesn't necessarily mean like minds though. A forum with atheists and Christians is a lot more lively than one with just atheists or just Christians!

I participate, or have participated regularly in the past, on forums for caricaturists, Knife Aficionados, graphic artists, Mensans, cyclists, atheists, web masters, as well as others.

We lose a lot when we try to communicate anonymously with no body language. Especially when we are dealing with people with unlikely names such as SpaceMonkey101, BluBolz68, and JCreanimator2012.

Not knowing if someone is really an angry pimply-faced thirteen year old troll or a Brazilian supermodel throws a lot of social norms out the window too.

How do we treat each other in on-line forums that are filled with trolls, fanatics, perverts, pedophiles, cyber-bullies, and other miscreants?

Robert Heinlein said, "An armed society is a polite society." On some forums the Liberals have won and its' citizens are all disarmed and castrated. The only modicum of power is held by the moderators. Its not like real life where people who actually have common sense realize making certain statements will get them a quick shot in the chops. There the Socialist Collective allows the bullies to run rampant for the good of the whole. If someone is rude but sneaky and profanity-free, they have nearly complete immunity. If someone is being a douche and you directly and politically incorrectly suggest they perform anatomically improbable acts with themselves, you will most likely be chastised and ostracized.

"Political Correctness is tyranny with manners." - Charlton Heston

With genuine problem children, we can run and tell forum moderators, use readily available software to get people's IP numbers and run and tell their ISPs, or get our hacker buddy to ruin their dog's credit. And lastly, we can realize forums aren't mandatory, walk away, have a beer, and go outside and play.

Mark Twain's God

2011-03-16T22:39:00.002-04:00

Mark Twain has always been one of my favorite authors. I recently found a long page of quotes and thought I would share one and the link to the rest. I hope you enjoy them!

If I were to construct a God I would furnish Him with some way and qualities and characteristics which the Present lacks. He would not stoop to ask for any man's compliments, praises, flatteries; and He would be far above exacting them. I would have Him as self-respecting as the better sort of man in these regards.

He would not be a merchant, a trader. He would not buy these things. He would not sell, or offer to sell, temporary benefits of the joys of eternity for the product called worship. I would have Him as dignified as the better sort of man in this regard.

He would value no love but the love born of kindnesses conferred; not that born of benevolences contracted for. Repentance in a man's heart for a wrong done would cancel and annul that sin; and no verbal prayers for forgiveness be required or desired or expected of that man.

In His Bible there would be no Unforgivable Sin. He would recognize in Himself the Author and Inventor of Sin and Author and Inventor of the Vehicle and Appliances for its commission; and would place the whole responsibility where it would of right belong: upon Himself, the only Sinner.

He would not be a jealous God -- a trait so small that even men despise it in each other.

He would not boast.

He would keep private His admiration of Himself; He would regard self-praise as unbecoming the dignity of his position.

He would not have the spirit of vengeance in His heart. Then it would not issue from His lips.

There would not be any hell -- except the one we live in from the cradle to the grave.

There would not be any heaven -- the kind described in the world's Bibles.

He would spend some of His eternities in trying to forgive Himself for making man unhappy when he could have made him happy with the same effort and he would spend the rest of them in studying astronomy.

-- Mark Twain, Notebook

More Mark Twain Quotes HERE

Some Worthy Quotes - Mine & Others

2011-03-14T15:30:00.006-04:00

"An armed society is a polite society." - Robert A. Heinlein

"Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." - Terry Pratchett.

'If a person offends you, do not resort to extremes, simply watch for your chance and hit him with a brick.' - Mark Twain

"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear" - Thomas Jefferson

"Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it." - author unknown

“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.” - Mark Twain, 1904 notebook

"Political correctness is tyranny with manners." - Charlton Heston

"Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein

During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to Plato's writings, pointed out that dissent, like the tiny (relative to the size of a horse) gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high. "If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me," because his role was that of a gadfly, "to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth."

"I believe." he thought. "I have faith."
"Faith in what?" he asked himself, adrift in limbo.
"Faith in faith." he answered himself. "It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief."
(Gully Foyle: The Stars My Destination) - Alfred Bester

'If a person offends you, do not resort to extremes, simply watch for your chance and hit him with a brick.' - Mark Twain
"Absence of proof isn't proof of absence." - Robert Buettner

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” – Herbert Spencer

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help?" - Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan

"It is easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission." - Grace Hopper

"By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher." - Socrates

"For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation will suffice." - Joseph Dunninger, Mentalist

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." - Lao Tzu

"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty!" - Thomas Jefferson

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein

"Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief, and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!" - Bob Marley

"No generalization is worth a damn, including this one." - Author unknown

Just a karmic reminder to play nice: "Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate." - Thomas Jones

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is." - Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut

"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking." - Dorothy L. Sayers

"In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends."
— John Churton Collins

"I cannot help but notice that there is no problem between us that cannot be solved by your departure." - Mark Twain

Many times opportunity is not recognized because it dresses up in work clothes - Henry Ford

"Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. If you look at it to admire it, you are lost." - Samuel Butler

Quotes from the mind of Rock Cowles

"Inside every fat person is a thin person struggling to get out. Sometimes as many as two or three." - Rock Cowles

"Religion is indeed the opiate of the masses. Except for Islam, its more like Crystal Meth." - Rock Cowles

"No good deed goes unpunished." - Rock Cowles

"I didn't make you look fat, not pushing yourself away from the table made you look fat." - Rock Cowles, Caricaturist.

Why is it easier for some people to believe their ancestors were a clump of mud and a cannibalized body part, than apes? - Rock Cowles

"If you can't afford to give something away, you don't own it, it owns you. If you can't afford to sell it, its probably an important organ." - Rock Cowles

"If the Lottery is tax for people who are bad at math, is tithing tax for those who are bad at reasoning?" - Rock Cowles

"Do Atheists believe in Devils' Advocates?" - Rock Cowles

"Friends don't let friends be Packers Fans... EVER! (I don't care how much paint your mother huffed during her pregnancy!)" - Rock Cowles

"I know enough to know that I don't know what I don't know." - Rock Cowles

"No greater invention was ever devised for creating the delusion of productivity than the personal computer." - Rock Cowles

"Instant gratification isn't worth the wait." - Rock Cowles

"If it looks too good to be true its usually me!" - Rock Cowles

I'm not really a Christian, I just play one at church. (True Things Nobody Says: Rock Cowles)

"Never, ever, ever call a lady cop "Fatboy"." - Rock Cowles

"I am grateful for the friends in my life and the life in my friends." - Rock Cowles
"People treat you exactly the way you teach them to." -Rock Cowles

"I haven't killed anyone all day. Gimme a cookie. Now." - Rock Cowles

"I tried Viagra and all it did was make me taller." - Rock Cowles

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't push him in." - Rock Cowles

"Be still my throbbing pants!" - Rock Cowles

"Its all about the ride. If I can enjoy myself, bring some degree of happiness to others, and leave things a little better than when I got here, it wasn't a wasted trip." - Rock Cowles

"You get your cards, place your bets, and play the best game you can. The House always wins." - Rock Cowles

"We cease to exist every time we go to sleep. That break in awareness includes self-awareness. If you aren't there, you won't know what you are missing." - Rock Cowles

Is God Responsible for His Creations Ruination?

2011-03-12T13:03:00.001-05:00

Reflections: Is God Responsible for His Creations Ruination?
©2007 Rock Cowles

The Bible tells us that God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere, all at once). God created the Heavens and the earth, as well as all of His angels, including Lucifer, AKA Satan. Christians say that God cannot tolerate sin, that He cannot even have it in His "pure" presence. Oops. "Can't" means not all powerful. "Outside of His presence means not omnipresent. If He can't get over this, because He does not know how, He is not all knowing. Ouch. With these curiosities in mind, let's investigate further.

God created Satan. He was Lucifer, God's favorite, and His choir director. Lucifer "conspired" against God, in God's presence! Duh-huh. Of course, all-knowing God knew this little tiff would occur, before He even created Satan, right? But, God in His infinite mercy, banished him anyway. La de da.

If sin is defined (as it is in Greek) as missing the mark, an archer's term, did Satan sin when he was just as God created him, but not as God wanted him? How can that be? It looks to me like God missed the mark or sinned first. If God created everything how can anything, including sin, be present that was not created by Him? A real no brainer here. It can't. Which means, either God created sin or God is not the sole creator.

Back to Genesis. Adam was not born, nor was Eve. God created Adam from the clay of the earth, then when He saw/realized Adam was lonely (He didn't see this coming?), He took Adam's rib and created Eve. Here these two innocents were (they were not born into sin) and they had God to thank for this perfect Utopia and their existence. No pain, no sickness, no hunger, no unfulfilled desires. If you had never had a want or a need that went unmet long enough for you to realize you had a want or a need, would you recognize one when you did? How could you when you had no experience (our greatest teacher) to learn from?

Now God said, you can do anything you want, have anything you want, and stay here (In the Garden of Eden) forever and will never die, as long as you do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. ACCCK! Lots of tough questions here! We have already established that if you don't know what a want or need is, it is not something you can conceptualize, just as you would be unable to fathom loss if you had never lost anything. Now if you had never been anywhere but "here", not ever heard of, seen pictures of, or met anyone from anywhere but "here", then "here" is as good and as bad as it gets, and not being able to be "here" would be a punishment vague beyond any cerebral means of retrieval. Okay, crappy darn, here comes another tough aspect. Never in your life have you done without, suffered a loss, made a mistake, felt pain, been punished or seen anyone punished. How could anyone expect you to understand the concepts of obedience or punishment without seeing disobedience first or having to earn something?

Now besides God, the animals, and each other, Adam and Eve had never met anyone. They must have been bored crazy. Along comes Satan, disguised as a serpent, looking like just another of God's creations (which he was, only disguised). Satan teaches them. Did he create the Tree? No. Did he give them lives of entitlement where they could not conceive of the "punishment" God threatened? No. Did Satan threaten them with banishment and death if they failed their first test ever with the world's worst learning curve (One question, "Can you obey?", and if you get it wrong you die (even though you don't really understand death))!? No. And what's funny, in an eternal damnation kind of way, is even if Satan did any of those things, didn't God create Satan just as he was, with complete foreknowledge of the things Satan would do, despite "so called free will"? Satan offered them something God had not, plain and simple. Vision. Knowledge. Enlightenment. He did not tempt them or created the temptation, God did.

It all falls apart. If I told my child, if you ever see a fire (temptation), even though you will have no idea what it is, having never seen one before, don't touch it or you could get burned and die, would I be considered a good parent if the first time my child gazed in wide wonder at a campfire and got close enough to feel the heat on his face I pushed him in? Hell no!

Let's jump to the New Testament and Salvation. You were born into sin. Adam and Eve failed the test, everyone gets punished. However, if we admit we screwed up by getting born, (Bad Mother Teresa! BAD!) and we admit that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, died on the cross and rose again three days later, we get to go to Heaven, because His blood covers us and washes away our sin. Now some people buy this. Hey! I know Him! Pick me! Pick me! I want to go to Heaven! Don't make me burn in Hell forever for being born! I'm sorry! They are called Christians.

Now the folks that God hasn't succeeded in making feel bad that they were ever born are called heathens, pagans, non-believers, and sometimes even sinners, because they don't have Jesus' blood on their hands. God gave them free will to admit that they lost before they ever opened the starting gate and they refused. God said, "I am going to make you burn in Hell for all eternity if you do not love and worship me.", yet they still refuse. God, being omniscient and omnipotent, made them perfect, with this flaw, knowing they would not take His offer. This is called predestination, meaning some will be saved (the sheep who return to their shepherd), and some will burn in Hell because God created them with minds that work and rebel against tyranny, cruelty, and senseless oppression.

I am agnostic. If, when I was born, someone saturated me with gasoline that would never come off, then followed me around with a lit match my entire life, He would not be my first choice in friends. Even if the Christian bible were inerrant (HA!), there is no God worthy of love and worship in it.

I see Christian faith as being like flying on a glass airplane with no landing gear. You might think you have been chosen and are higher than everyone else and going higher still, but if you looked out all around you, you'd see the real world and realize its not very likely that its going to be pretty when your plane lands.

A Strange Old Tool

2011-03-01T01:04:00.000-05:00

A Strange Old Tool . . . Do you know what it is?

Look below, read and learn.

This old tool has been reintroduced in Washington DC .

by the Obama Administration.

It will be part of the New Health Care Program.

Googlified

2011-02-26T16:11:00.008-05:00

Its 2011. Next year according to the Mayan calendar, the world will end. That means if you want to have fun and get things done, you'd better get on the stick right quick!

Unless some sadistic tree hating Bozo has printed this out, you are reading it on-line, just like the other guy who accidentally stumbled across it (not to be confused with StumbleUpon, but that is a post of another day). I've had numerous (4) people ask me, "How do I subscribe to your entertaining, enlightening, educating, and inspiring blogs, Rock?"

All I can say is that if you are on-line and you don't have a FREE Google account, you are probably braindead or at least severely retarded. Really really Effing seriously severely retarded.

A Google account will get you an iGoogle Homepage and a Gmail account (which is awesome and transfers no matter where you live or how many times you change ISPs (Internet Service Providers). It offers Google AdSense, which is one of the leading ways to make money off of your web sites or blogs. It can be used to create an account on Blogger and to log in.

Google Voice gives you a free local phone number that you can forward and make calls or send text messages with from your PC.

It offers Buzz as a social network, chat, calendar, translator, and much much more.

Google Reader is a great utility for subscribing to blogs, checking web sites, and more.

And let us never forget the super fast, simple, and reliable Google Chrome browser that works on PCs, Macs, and Linux systems.

The more productive you can be on-line, the less time you need to spend on-line, and the more time you will have to do all of those great things that you read about on-line! (Like not watching TV!).

Did I mention almost everything was FREE?

Its the Twenty First Century, follow the advice I give my wife; Get our from under your Rock and go outside and play. Have a life!

Dieting sucks, but the alternative is worse.

2011-02-23T20:07:00.001-05:00

Okay, so the 4 Hour Body program was not meant to be fun. Its designed to lose weight fast and in a healthy manner. You can eat anything you want as long as it is meat, beans or vegetables (but not white ones like corn or potatoes).

I've been on it for three days already and I am sick of it. Maybe I need to be more creative. I'm a bit spoiled and lazy. I tend to eat out or eat out of a box or a bag. If its not ready on the fly or under three minutes its not worth bothering with. This is an adjustment, kind of like being crucified. There is no comfortable position. Its just something you gotta grin and bear.

Well after riding my new bike a mere tortuous mile on hilly curvy roads and eating shitty chili, beans, bland chicken, beans, nuked sausage, beans, raw mushrooms, beans, fried eggs, beans, and beans, I was feeling a bit cranky and sorry for myself. Then I saw this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXRrfcEUNT4

I don't want to be this guy! I mean I'm happy he's happy and I don't want to judge, but this is not good.

Pass the effing beans.

Rock on a Giant Boulder

2011-02-22T15:19:00.006-05:00

At the end of last year I designed a web site for my friend, Mike Henley's new bike shop, Mike's Got Wheels, in Gaffney, South Carolina. Last time I owned a bike I had a lot of trouble with my legs and thought my bike riding days were behind me. I test rode a few recumbent trikes and had no leg pain! I thought Hallelujah! I have a hundred pounds to lose, here is my answer. I was all set to get a recumbent trike when I rode several upright diamond frame bikes on a whim. No leg pain! Wahg! Mass confusion set it before I learned that the problem was most likely a poor fit on my previous bike than my legs.

So after learning a ton about recumbent trikes and even setting up a recumbent bike web site, BentNuts.com, I decided I liked the upright position, agility, and better vision and visibility of a traditional bike. I visited eleven bike shops and manufacturers, dozens and dozens of web sites, read books and magazines, and finally created a list of the things I wanted on my perfect bike that I would love and ride forever.

It had to have; the recommended medium sized aluminum frame, 29" or 700c wheels, a rigid fork or a fork with a mechanical lockout, disc brakes, double walled rims, trigger (not twist) shifter, low enough gears to handle all of the nasty curvy hills in SC, and a fairly wide tire in case I had to ride on the shoulder of the road. I narrowed it down to four that met my "needs", all of which ran right at around six hundred dollars; Felt Trail 9, Trek PDX, Giant Roam 1, or Giant Seek 2.

Today I bought a new 2010 Giant Boulder. It has a large Cro-moly (steel) frame, 26" tires, caliper brakes, single wall rims, trigger shifters with a 14 - 34 teeth cassette, and 26 x 2.10" Kenda K-Rad tires. The bike cost $299.00. I enjoyed the test ride on it more than some $1,200.00 bikes I rode. The Shimano components shifted flawlessly.

The steel frame absorbs vibration much better than an aluminum one. I like the "improper" fit of the large frame much better than the cramped feel of the recommended medium sized frames. The 26" wheels are a bit more agile and since I am riding for enjoyment and exercise, not speed or transportation, I didn't need the bigger 29" wheels. Double walled rims are really for off road riding or riding on really crappy roads with lots of potholes. Disc brakes are a nice option, but unless I am riding Cyclocross, have a bent or out of true rim, or ride in the rain a lot, they are really just a luxury.

It came down to getting a dependable, solid bike that I would enjoy riding and that would last me for a good long while. Most of my wish list was frills, not necessities. I can't see a need to upgrade anytime soon. Sometimes the saying "You get what you pay for" just isn't true. A lot of it is just marketing and brand recognition. Nobody is going to convince me that a ten thousand dollar bike has eight thousand dollars more value than a two thousand dollar bike. Take off the price tags and labels and it comes down to which ride feels the best. I'd guess less than 2% of riders can see any difference!

I got a bike I love for half the price of the bikes I "wanted" by shaking off the advertising (and some of the experts), and trusting my body and my intelligence.

Should a Rock ride on a Giant Boulder? My answer is definitely yes.

Thanks to Mike Henley and the guys at BikeWorx, The Great Escape, Sunrift Adventures, Carolina Triathlon, TTR Bikes, Sunshine Bikes, Ride On Bikes, Gusto Cycles, and others for their patience with my endless questions.

Mensa Fitness Challenge

2011-02-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

I've been in Mensa, the so called high IQ Society, off and on for over twenty years. My belief has long been that intelligence is a gift. I didn't do anything to earn it or to give me a reason to be proud of it. Having it is not as important as what I do with it, like any other talent or gift.

I was thinking earlier today that Mensa might just be one of the greatest groups of underachievers anywhere. We obviously have some bright shining stars, but as a whole, we seem to be average in most categories. I think we totally bomb the fitness group, reinforcing the nerd geek stereotype.

I think everyone in Mensa has been asked at least one question that started with. "If you are so smart, then why do/don't, are/aren't you _____(Fill in the blank). Most of the answers ring hollow, whether the blank is rich, in charge, famous, highly successful, perfect, happy, or other.

I'm digging around in Timothy Ferriss' new book, "The 4 Hour Body" and wondering if we had a Mensa Fitness Challenge how we would do compared to the average Joe. I shudder to think.

What mark will you leave? What have you contributed to the human race and your great grandchildren's future? What have you done with your gift? Its like the parable of the talents.

Can we, the brightest minds, devise a workable fitness plan for the masses and ourselves?

Nine Trail - Felt Bicycles

2011-02-05T15:15:00.001-05:00

Nine Trail - Felt Bicycles

I think this will be my new bike. 29" tires, disc brakes, front shock with mechanical lockout, aluminum frame, all for under $600.

Its more versatile than a hybrid bike.

I believe I will swap out the tires for a set of Drifters with a reversed tread also.

Kowulz Urban Fury II flipper prototype for sale!

2011-01-22T13:26:00.001-05:00

Kowulz Urban Fury II flipper prototype. 1/8" thick titanium frames with custom water jet cut patterns,and a 3/16" CPM-154 blade riding on IKBS. OAL of 9.75". Closed length is nearly 6" with a cutting edge of 4.25". Custom lowrider pocket clip and 2-tone blade finish. One of two made by Curtiss Knives based on Rock Cowles' design.

$600.00 USD PayPal, shipped CONUS. Posted in several spots. First I'll take it posted OVERALL with e-mail to kowulz[@]gmail.com sent gets it.

Thanks for looking!

You can't take what with you?

2011-01-16T15:50:00.000-05:00

2010 was a strange year for me. One of my best friends was diagnosed with brain cancer at the tender age of 38. I had quite a few financial setbacks and had to relearn how to live on a good bit less money. Once the initial panic and resistance subsided, the less money thing turned out to have a Zen-like quality to it.

I started to look at how much work I put into having stuff I didn't even need or use. Unread books, unwatched movies, duplicate clothing, fleeting hobbies, custom t-shirts, knives, and decals. When I look at my overflowing bookshelves and accept that I won't reread ninety percent of my books, that I had to work to earn money to buy instead of getting free from the library, it gives me a hollow feeling.

My friend with cancer, Jimmy, has two young daughters. He doesn't care about power, prestige, bank accounts, or Lamborghinis. He wants another day with his children. He wants the exhilaration of a good bike ride. He wants the mastery of a near perfect volleyball serve. He wants to play the guitar and sing poorly with good friends.

You can't take it with you isn't talking about possessions. Its talking about life. Life today. Precious time fleeting by, gone in the blink of the mind's eye.

I think about the good, hardworking folks who own some of the local Asian food markets and restaurants who work seven days a week to own Mercedes and Lexuses. They drive to and from work and the homes that they sleep at for those few hours a day that they aren't working and I wonder why.

When that final curtain closes, will you wish you could have made another million dollars, played another hour of Farmville on your PC, or will you discover what was truly important only after you have lost it forever?

I know that I can't take joy and happiness with me when I go, but I can leave them behind. I can have the clarity and peace of mind that comes from knowing I lived and I loved. There might never have been enough days, but I lived the ones I had.

Time is a wastin'.

Five Minutes of Your Time

2011-01-03T15:53:00.001-05:00

My lovely wife recently tried to convince me I should start making our bed all of the time when I am the last one up. HA! Fat flipping chance. I'm just going to unmake it to get back in it. Who are we trying to impress, each other? You're probably thinking "What's the big deal, Douchebag?". Please, just give me five minutes of your time to explain myself...

Making a bed properly, without rushing, takes about five minutes. That is 1/288th of your day. Whoop de doo. Now if you make your bed everyday for forty years thats 72, 800 minutes or fifty days, almost two solid months! Over four months of workdays! If you died today and got wherever and were given two months to go back and take care of unfinished business or enjoy whatever earthly pleasures you could, would you want to be making your effing bed?

Everyone knows that time is relative. Five minutes can be the blink of an eye or an eternity. Good days whiz by, bad days drag on forever.

Its amazing what can be achieved in five minutes. Olympic records broken, presidents assassinated, dreams smashed, virginitys lost, babies born, wars declared, heroes made, promises kept, and opportunities missed.

When I was a kid, they had a a religious television program way too early in the morning called "Five Minutes To Live By". It was supposed to provide all of the food for thought and inspiration you needed for the day. I wonder how many people it actually carried through breakfast.

I vividly recall hearing about these old guys getting recognized for not missing a church service for over seventy years and thinking to myself, "WTF!? Yea, you win a Jesus cookie! Does that get you a special seat closer to The Throne when you get to Heaven?"

Its like the teacher that taught math for thirty years versus the teacher who taught math for a year, thirty times. Are we changing, evolving, living each day in the now? Someone once said, "Live each day as if it were your last, because some day it will." Turn off the Zombie mode and live.

Would you be eating Moonpies, slamming Mountain Dews, and spending ten hours a day typing one handed in front of your computer if you knew you would unmake your bed, get in it and never arise?

Five minutes matter, as does every minute. Get on you ass and ride a bike. Hug your kid. Run for office. Start a business. Write a short story. Take a class. Pick up a musical instrument. Learn another language. Put your watch and cellphone in a drawer and go for a walk.

Get off the computer for a while and go live life.

Sand in my shoes

2010-12-15T06:06:00.000-05:00

I just returned from a great visit to the Chicago area. The main reason for my trip was to spend some time with my friend, Jim Wilson, who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. Seeing all of my friends and family was great, but the week with Jim was really special.

Here is some of the casual fun that has been one of the cornerstones of our relationship. If anyone deserves to live forever, its Jimmy.

Jimbo Wilson & The Cowles Brothers, Mickey Bob & Rock, Chicagoland, December 9th, 2010.

All of you nonconformists look alike...

2010-11-07T13:16:00.000-05:00

Biker. Anarchist. Thug. Hippie. Artist. Beatnik. Dope Fiend. Gangsta. Rebel. Wigger. Tattoo Junkie. Redneck. Goth. Skinhead. Hacker. Activist. Punk Rocker. Emo. Survivalist. Everyone of these "nonconformists" has an immediately identifiable stereotype that must be conformed to to be included.

"Look at me! I'm different. I'm terminally unique. Stand in awe. Be afraid. Tell your friends about me. Leave me alone!"

Yeah, I'm unique, just like everyone else. The system is broken, so I'm going to fight it by ostracizing myself into a smaller broken group. Makes total sense. Uh, what was I rebelling against again? A life of quiet desperation? The Machine? The System? The omnipotent "They"? Hey, lets smoke, party, overeat, and drink just to spit in the eye of those who foolishly believe in self preservation and the sanctity of life. We'll show them dumb bitches!

Who is the Ultimate Non-conformist? The Gray Man. The Survivalist's protagonist who blends in with the crowd and is both unnoticed and unmemorable. He who draws no attention to himself while going his own way. The guy who never makes a target out of himself while covertly working under the radar. The one who no one realizes is armed and dangerous (literally or figuratively) until its much much much too late.

There are two types of motivation in life; moving towards something or moving away from something. Both are goals, but if your goal is only to move away from something, you'll often find yourself lost. If you don't know where you are going you will probably wind up some place else.

I was recently wondering how many Doctorates I would have if I had applied to my education all of the time, energy, and money that I had put into smoking for over thirty years. Not that a formal education is worth more than 20% of what you invest in it. Who looks more ridiculous, the eight year old smoking a cigarette because it he thinks it makes him look cool and grown up, or the forty year old smoker who still thinks it makes him look cool and all grown up? FIIKLFO.

Well so much for today's meandering rant. I'm going to go play with my Barbies now.

Bent Nuts - A Resource for RecumBENT Bike & RecumBENT Trike Riders, Enthusists, & Fanatics. - HOME

2010-10-31T15:54:00.000-04:00

Bent Nuts - A Resource for RecumBENT Bike & RecumBENT Trike Riders, Enthusists, & Fanatics. - HOME

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

2010-10-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

Today is Day Seven without a cigarette. That will be 10,080 minutes when day is done. Great, only 82 gazillion and three to go. How did I find myself stumble down this path?

Should I blame my Uncle Sam who made smoking both a reward and a symbol that at least momentarily we were safe with the utterance, "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em."? I remember feeling sorry for the poor dumbasses who didn't smoke. They had nothing to look forward to! Actually I started swiping my grandmothers Trues when I was eight. (She later died of ovarian cancer years after she quit smoking). By the time I entered the Navy at age seventeen, I was smoking three to four packs a day of Camel non-filtered cigarettes. I wouldn't leave the house without at least two unopened packs on my person.

I got hypnotized in 2001 and quit smoking for three and a half years. I gained seventy pounds. I then lost seventy pounds and in 2005 started smoking again. I've put fifty of those extra pounds back on. I didn't need any of them.

Everyone wanted me to quit again, but the weight bothered me too much. A bit over a week ago, one of my best friends was diagnosed with stage 2 brain cancer (Gliamotses Cerebri). He's thirty eight, quit smoking three years ago, and has a nine year old and a two year old. That was what made me finally want to quit, rather than feeling like I should or had to.

Every day my friend has left is a precious gift. Well duh huh. Every day any of us has left is a precious gift! Why don't we get that until we see the gift taken away from others? I don't want to throw anymore of my gift away. Even if smoking didn't kill me, I have wasted so much time being unproductive, adversely affected my daily health, and easily blown a nice car payment each month.

The time is now. I don't think I'll need to be told again.

Not Yours To Give

2010-08-10T01:54:00.001-04:00

I wish it was required for every political candidate in America to memorize this before they were allowed to run for office!

Not Yours To Give

Col. David Crockett
US Representative from Tennessee

Originally published in "The Life of Colonel David Crockett,"

by Edward Sylvester Ellis

One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it.

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I ever heard that the government was in arrears to him.

"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly.

"I began: 'Well friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates and---

"Yes I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine, I shall not vote for you again."

"This was a sockdolger...I begged him tell me what was the matter.

"Well Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting you or wounding you.'

"I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.

But an understanding of the constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the honest he is.'

"I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake. Though I live in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by fire in Georgetown. Is that true?

"Well my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just the same as I did.'

"It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.

What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000.

If you have the right to give at all; and as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.'

"'Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this country as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have Thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.'

"The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from necessity of giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.'

"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'

"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'

"He laughingly replied; 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.'

"If I don't, said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'

"No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. 'This Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.

"'Well I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your name."

"'My name is Bunce.'

"'Not Horatio Bunce?'

"'Yes

"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'

"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence, and for a heart brim-full and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him, before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.

"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before."

"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not the word - I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all knew me.

"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

"Fellow-citizens - I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only."

"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

"And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.

"It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.'

"He came up to the stand and said:

"Fellow-citizens - it affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'

"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.'

"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.'

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday. "There is one thing which I will call your attention, "you remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $20,000 when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

Not Yours To Give

Fattitude

2010-07-28T16:19:00.002-04:00

"Inside every fat person is a thin person struggling to get out. Sometimes as many as two or three." - Dave Cowles

This little observation I wrote in 2003 was printed in a local paper and a Mensa bulletin. I am proud to say it was also used by a high school English teacher to demonstrate how to write a good article! Its still fun food for thought.

Fattitude.
©2003 Dave Cowles, All Rights Reserved.

I am stout, good sized, bigger than a breadbox; Ok, female Grizzly Bears bat their eyelashes at me! I am a fat guy. Actually, I am pretty new to it. You see, I wasn't born this way. I have had almost twenty surgeries in recent years that have lead to a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Since I quit smoking back in early '01, I have also put nearly everything that was unfortunate enough to get within arms reach of me that would fit in my mouth in it. I think I am finally getting the hang of this fat business.

I never realized how many conspiracies there were against fat people. Restaurants, movie theaters, churches, doctors offices, and of course the furniture and automobile industries; they are all in on it! They have made seats smaller and taught them to attack and cling to fat people. Upon standing, I have had numerous chairs latch on to me and refuse to let go.

I think the worst perpetrator is Wal-Mart. Fat people just love Wal-mart. Visit any of them, night or day and you will see them bursting at the seams with us rollie pollies. Like flocks of Emperor Penguins we waddle from aisle to aisle, deal to deal, searching for instant gratification and more and more, now now now! You would think they would cater to us, being their biggest customers and all, but NOOOOOOOO! Totter over to the Men's Clothing Department and on a typical shirt rack you might see ten or twenty each of small, medium, large, and extra large shirts. 2XL? 3XL? If I am lucky there is one or maybe even two and usually the ugliest thing some drunk who spent too much time at Mardi Gras could come up with. Also, now this is really annoying, they charge us more for being chunky! Usually about two bucks a pop. Now why are they allowed to discriminate like that? Surely a small uses a lot less fabric versus an XL, than an XL does compared to a XXL. Do they really expect us to believe it is some giant inconvenience to set the machines up "special" to make the big ones? They are mass produced just like the rest. I guess they figure if we were so smart we wouldn't be so fat.

I've tried dieting. Currently, I am eating the Jenny Craig stuff. And the Weight Watchers stuff. Plus a SlimFast a few times a day. And some Atkins stuff around meal time.

There is an old saying; Inside every fat person is a thin one trying to get out. In my case it might be two or three. I dislike the Internet personals' recently popular phrase; BBW: Big Beautiful Woman. It's not really an oxymoron, but it's few people's preference either. Being fat is not a reason for condemnation, but it is no reason to dance either. On second thought…

For All US Veterans

2010-03-04T12:18:00.005-05:00

For All US Veterans

Below are web-sites that provide information on Veterans benefits and how to file/ask for them. Accordingly, there are many sites that explain how to obtain books, military/medical records, information and how to appeal a denied claim with the VA. Please pass this information on to every Veteran you know. Nearly 100% of this information is free and available for all veterans, the only catch is: you have to ask for it, because they won't tell you about a specific benefit unless you ask for it. You need to know what questions to ask so the right doors open for you -- and then be ready to have an advocate who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press for your rights and your best interests.

Appeals http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/...part1/ch05.doc

Board of Veteran's Appeals http://www.va.gov/vbs/bva/

CARES Commission http://www.va.gov/vbs/bva/

CARES Draft National Plan http://www1.va.gov/cares/page.cfm?pg=105

Center for Minority Veterans http://www1.va.gov/centerforminorityveterans/

Center for Veterans Enterprise http://www.vetbiz.gov/default2.htm

Center for Women Veterans http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/

Clarification on the changes in VA healthcare for Gulf War Veterans http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000016.html

Classified Records - American Gulf War Veterans Assoc http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000011.html

Compensation for Disabilities Associated with the Gulf War Service http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/...t6%20/ch07.doc

Compensation Rate Tables, 12-1-03 http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Rates/comp01.htm

Department of Veterans Affairs Home Page http://www.va.gov/

Directory of Veterans Service Organizations http://www1.va.gov/vso/index.cfm?template=view

Disability Examination Worksheets Index, Comp http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Benefits/exams/index.htm

Due Process http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/...part1/ch02.doc

Duty to Assist http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/...part1/ch01.doc

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ecfr/

Emergency, Non-emergency, and Fee Basis Care http://www1.va.gov/opa/vadocs/fedben.pdf

Environmental Agents http://www1.va.gov/environagents/

Environmental Agents M10 http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1002

Establishing Combat Veteran Eligibility http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...asp?pub_ID=315

EVALUATION PROTOCOL FOR GULF WAR AND IRAQI FREEDOM VETERANS WITH POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/DUHa...1303122304.DOC and http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1158

See also, Depleted Uranium Fact Sheet http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/Depl...umFAQSheet.doc

EVALUATION PROTOCOL FOR NON-GULF WAR VETERANS WITH POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/DUHA...W130340304.DOC

Fee Basis, PRIORITY FOR OUTPATIENT MEDICAL SERVICES AND INPATIENT HOSPITAL CARE http://www1.va..gov/vhapublications/...asp?pub_ID=206 Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependants 2005 http://www1.va.gov/opa/vadocs/fedben.pdf OR, http://www1.va..gov/opa/vadocs/current_benefits.htm

Forms and Records Request http://www.va.gov/vaforms/

General Compensation Provisions http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/tit...haptervi_.html

Geriatrics and Extended Care http://www1.va.gov/geriatricsshg/

Guideline for Chronic Pain and Fatigue MUS-CPG http://www.oqp.med.va.gov/cpg/cpgn/mus/mus_base.htm

Guide to Gulf War Veteran's Health http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/VHIgulfwar.pdf

Gulf War Subject Index http://www1.va.gov/GulfWar/page.cfm?...=main&letter=A

Gulf War Veteran's Illnesses Q&As http://www1.va.gov/gulfwar/docs/GWIl...ndAsIB1041.pdf

Hearings

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/...part1/ch04.doc

Homeless Veterans http://www1.va.gov/homeless/

HSR&D Home http://www.hsrd.research.va.gov/

Index to Disability Examination Worksheets C&P exams http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/exams/index.htm

Ionizing Radiation http://www1.va.gov/irad/

Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom Veterans VBA http://www.vba.va.gov/EFIF/

M 10 for spouses and children < http://www1..va.gov/vhapublications/...sp?pub_ID=1007

M10 Part III Change 1 http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1008

M21-1 Table of Contents http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/M21_1.html

Mental Disorders, Schedule of Ratings http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/regs/38C...RT4/S4_130.DOC

Mental Health Program Guidelin es http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1094

Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers http://www.mirecc.med.va.gov/

MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Centers of Excellence http://www.va.gov/ms/about.asp

My Health e Vet http://www.myhealth.va.gov/

NASDVA.COM http://nasdva.com/

National Association of State Directors http://www.nasdva.com/

National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention http://www.nchpdp.med.va.gov/postdeploymentlinks.asp

Neurological Conditions and Convulsive Disorders, Schedule of Ratings http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/regs/38c.../s4%5F124a.doc

OMI (Office of Medical Inspector) http://www.omi.cio.med.va.gov/

Online VA Form 10-10EZ https://www.1010ez..med.va.gov/sec/vha/1010ez/

Parkinson's Disease and Related Neurodegenerative Disorders http://www1.va.gov/resdev/funding/so...parkinsons.pdf

and, http://www1.va.gov/padrecc/

Peacetime Disability Compensation http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...ite:+38USC1131

Pension for Non-Service-Connected Disability or Death http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/tit...chapteri_.html and,http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/tit...hapterii_.html

and, http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/tit...apteriii_.html

Persian Gulf Registry http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1003

This program is now referred to as Gulf War Registry Program (to include Operation Iraqi Freedom) as of March 7, 2005: http://www1..va.gov/vhapublications/...sp?pub_ID=1232

Persian Gulf Registry Referral Centers http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1006

Persian Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Research 1999, Annual Report To Congress http://www1.va.gov/resdev/1999_Gulf_...Appendices.doc Persian Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Research 2002, Annual Report To Congress http://www1.va.gov/resdev/prt/gulf_w...lfWarRpt02.pdf

Phase I PGR http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1004

Phase II PGR http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...sp?pub_ID=1005

Policy Manual Index http://www.va.gov/publ/direc/eds/edsmps.htm

Power of Attorney http://www.warms.vba..va.gov/admin21...part1/ch03.doc Project 112 (Including Project SHAD) http://www1.va.gov/shad/

Prosthetics Eligibility http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/V...asp?pub_ID=337

Public Health and Environmental Hazards Home Page http://www.vethealth.cio.med.va.gov/

Public Health/SARS http://www..publichealth.va.gov/SARS/

Publications Manuals http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/p...ions.cfm?Pub=4

Publications and Reports http://www1.va.gov/resdev/prt/pubs_i...e=gulf_war.htm

Records Center and Vault Homepage http://www.aac.va.gov/vault/default.html

Records Center and Vault Site Map http://www.aac.va.gov/vault/sitemap.html

REQUEST FOR AND CONSENT TO RELEASE OF INFORMATION FROM CLAIMANT'S RECORDS http://www.forms.va.gov/va/Internet/...=3288-form.xft

Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses April 11, 2002 http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/Min...pril112002.doc

Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses

http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/Rep...tions_2004.pdf

Research and Development http://www.appc1.va.gov/resdev/progr...l_programs.cfm

Survivor's and Dependents' Educational Assistance http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/tit...hapter35_.html

Title 38 Index Parts 0-17

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text...38cfrv1_02.tpl

Part 18

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text...38cfrv2_02.tpl

Title 38 Part 3 Adjudication Subpart AAcAc,A!"Pension, Compensation, and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text...r3_main_02.tpl

Title 38 Pensions, Bonuses & Veterans Relief (also A,A 3.317 Compensation for certain disabilities due to undiagnosed illnesses found here) http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text...r3_main_02.tpl Title 38 PART 4--SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES Subpart B--DISABILITY RATINGS

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text....1.5.2&idno=38

Title 38 A,A 4.16 Total disability ratings for compensation based on unemployability of the individual. PART 4AcAc,A!"SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES Subpart AAcAc,A!"General Policy in Rating http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text....96.11&idno=38

U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims http://www.vetapp.gov/

VA Best Practice Manual for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) http://www.avapl.org/pub/PTSD%20Manual%20final%206.pdf

VA Fact Sheet http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/gwfs.html

VA Health Care Eligibility http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/home/hecmain.asp

VA INSTITUTING GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF FUNCTION (GAF) http://www.avapl.org/gaf/gaf.html

VA Life Insurance Handbook AcAc,A!" Chapter 3 http://www.insurance.va.gov/inForceG...letch3.htm#310

VA Loan Lending Limits and Jumbo Loans http://valoans.com/va_facts_limits.cfm

VA MS Research http://www.va.gov/ms/about.asp

VA National Hepatitis C Program http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/

VA Office of Research and Development http://www1.va.gov/resdev/

VA Trainee Pocket Card on Gulf War http://www.va.gov/OAA/pocketcard/gulfwar.asp

VA WMD EMSHG http://www1.va.gov/emshg/

VA WRIISC-DC http://www.va.gov/WRIISC-DC/

VAOIG Hotline Telephone Number and Address http://www.va..gov/oig/hotline/hotline3.htm

Vet Center Eligibility - Readjustment Counseling Service http://www.va.gov/rcs/Eligibility.htm

Veterans Benefits Administration Main Web Page http://www.vba.va.gov/

Veterans Legal and Benefits Information http://valaw.org/

VHA Forms, Publications, Manuals http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/

VHA Programs - Clinical Programs & Initiatives http://www1.va.gov/health_benefits/page.cfm?pg=13 http://webmaila.juno.com/webmail/new/UrlBlockedError.aspx>

VHA Public Health Strategic Health Care Group Home Page http: // www.publichealth.va.gov/

VHI Guide to Gulf War VeteransAcAc,A!(tm) Health http://www1.va.gov/vhi_ind_study/gul...tudy/index.asp

Vocational Rehabilitation http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/

Vocational Rehabilitation Subsistence http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/InterSubsistencefy04.doc

VONAPP online http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/main.asp

WARMS - 38 CFR Book C http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/bookc.html

Wartime Di sability Compensation http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...ite:+38USC1110

War-Related Illness and Injury Study Center - New Jersey http://www.wri.med.va.gov/

Welcome to the GI Bill Web Site http://www.gibill.va.gov/

What VA Social Workers Do http://www1.va.gov/socialwork/page.cfm?pg=3

WRIISC Patient Eligibility http://www.illegion.org/va1.html

RSS feed of kowulz's tweets

2010-03-01T02:39:00.000-05:00

RSS feed of kowulz's tweets

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

2009-11-16T14:03:00.001-05:00

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. . .

From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

In 1911, Turkey established gun control.

From 1915 to 1917, 1..5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945,

a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
China established gun control in 1935.

From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Guatemala established gun control in 1964.

From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Uganda established gun control in 1970.

From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated
------------------------------

Cambodia established gun control in 1956.

From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
-----------------------------

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
-----------------------------

You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens .

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson.

With guns, we are 'citizens.' Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!

If you value your freedom, please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.

The purpose of fighting is to win.

There is no possible victory in defense.

The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either.

The final weapon is the brain.

All else is supplemental.

SWITZERLAND ISSUES EVERY HOUSEHOLD A GUN!

SWITZERLAND'S GOVERNMENT TRAINS EVERY ADULT

THEY ISSUE A RIFLE.

SWITZERLAND HAS THE LOWEST GUN RELATED CRIME RATE OF ANY

CIVILIZED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!

IT'S A NO BRAINER!

DON'T LET OUR GOVERNMENT WASTE MILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS

IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS AN EASY TARGET.

I'm a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment! If you are too, please pass this on.

Learn from history.

Troubled Waters

2009-11-02T13:41:00.002-05:00

Some good friends of mine were recently going through some difficult marital problems and not talking to each other. I sent the following e-mail to them. It doesn't have all of the answers, but it does have some great tools that have helped me immensely over the years with life and relationships.

I hope you can take something useful away from it.

I know you guys have been having some trouble and it breaks my heart. I want your marriage to succeed, not just for the kids, but for each of you. Things can always get worse, but they can always get better too. I am not by any means trying to pry or seem superior. I just want to see you guys make it and be happy. You have a good thing going and it would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I read a great book called "A New Pair of Glasses" by Chuck C. about twenty five years ago and it had some great stuff in it. The thing that stuck with me the most was this, he said, "Love is not a 50/50 venture, it is 100%/100%. If you expect to be appreciated, it isn't love, its barter."

Another fantastic book, is "To Love is to be Happy With" by Barry Neil Kaufman. He talks about what he calls "The Cardinal Rule of Love"; "If you loved me you would/wouldn't..." We are taught from childhood to use love and guilt interchangeably as weapons. An example is, my mother might say, "If you loved me you would take out the trash without being asked." This is a fallacy. Whether or not I love my mother has nothing to do with how I feel about taking out the trash or checking on its priority in my life. This line of thinking can turn around and bite you in the ass too. I might end up saying, "Well maybe she's right. I hate taking out the trash, so I must not love her!"

There is an old saying that familiarity breeds contempt. Once we get past the facade, masks, make-up, and good behavior, we see the other person's warts, quirks, and flaws. We all have them, but it is not where our focus should be.

I used to get much more upset or argue over petty, insignificant things or perceived slights. I had a counselor ask me, "Would I rather be right or if I would rather be happy?". That question had a huge impact on my thinking and helped me to let go of a lot of the little things. I learned that pet peeves are those things that we choose to get worked up and pissed off about. Most of them mean nothing.

We get angry and we dig in. We become as un-Christ-like as possible. We withhold the very forgiveness we crave. We become petty and weak in our desire for power or control instead of letting go and trusting what we saw in the person we loved so much.

Tony Robbins, who wrote Unlimited Power, said, "The easiest thing in the world to do is to fall in love with someone, just focus on everything you like about them. Unfortunately, the second easiest thing to do is to fall out of love with soneone by just focusing on the things we don't like!"

Refusing to communicate is the ultimate betrayal of trust and the opposite of love. It sends the message my emotions are more important than you are (not what you have done), and you are not worth discussing it. St. Augustine said, "Hate the sin, but love the sinner." We all screw up. When was the last time you said, "What can I do for you?" or "What can I do to make things better?"

My dad told me a story once when he saw me playing with my wife in a bit of a teasing manner. His friends, the Teachmans had been married nearly thirty years. The wife had decided to leave the husband and had told him. Due to finances she hadn't moved out yet when once day the newspaper boy came to collect for the newspaper. Mr. Teachman politely and courteously asked the paperboy about his day and his family and promptly paid him. When the paperboy left, Mrs. Teachman said, "You know, if you had treated me half as nicely as you did the paperboy, this would never have happened!". This was a great eyeopener for me, as I still have a bit of a warped sense of humor and like to play the most with the people I like the most. Sometimes I fail to see the effect. It gets old having someone fart repeatedly in the car and lock the power windows closed! I can say I just want to have fun, but if it happens too much, I am just a dick. Later, when I am alone, I can spend lots of time asking myself if it was worth driving away the people I love just to stick to my guns and demand my right to have fun. Once again, did I give anywhere near 100% to this person or family that I professed to love more than all others?

There is no shame in getting counseling. None of us have all of the answers and it offers us fresh perspective, mediation, and new tools. That person you loved and married is still there.

Its never too late to have a happy childhood.

Reading

2009-10-22T14:35:00.002-04:00

I just reread Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It inspired this cartoon.

Any Thoughts?

A Brief List of People Who Have Smoke Marijuana

2009-10-02T16:12:00.000-04:00

Self CPR

2009-09-27T13:44:00.000-04:00

What are you to do if you have a heart attack

While you are alone.

If you've already received this,

It means people care about you.

The Johnson City Medical Center staff actually

Discovered this and did an in-depth study

On it in our ICU.

The two individuals that discovered this then did

An article on it, had it published and have had it incorporated into ACLS and CPR classes.

It is very true and has and does work.

It is called cough CPR.

A cardiologist says it's the truth

If everyone who gets this sends it to 10 people,

You can bet that we'll save at least one life.

It could save your life!

Let's say it's 6:15 p.m. And you're driving home

(alone of course), after an usually hard day on the job.

You're really tired, upset and frustrated.

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain

In your chest that starts to radiate out

Into your arm and up into your jaw.

You are only about five miles from the hospital

Nearest your home.

Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be

Able to make it that far.

What can you do?

You've been trained in CPR

But the guy that taught the course didn't tell

You what to do if it happened to yourself.

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seemed to be in order.

Without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint,

Has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.

A deep breath should be taken before each

Cough, and the cough must be deep

And prolonged, as when producing sputum

From deep inside the chest.

A breath and a cough must be repeated

About every two seconds without let up

Until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and

Keep the blood circulating.

The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!

From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240s newsletter 'AND THE BEAT GOES ON '

(reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. Publication, Heart Response)

BE A FRIEND AND PLEASE SEND

THIS ARTICLE

TO AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE

And you thought you were having a bad day!?

2009-09-24T11:43:00.002-04:00

And you thought you were having a bad day!?

Extra Tickets

2009-09-18T09:45:00.001-04:00

I have four extra tickets for the Robbie Knievel (son of Evil Knievel) Event at the Ford Center next weekend in Beaumont, Texas, if anybody wants them.

Robbie is going to try to jump over 1,000 Obama supporters with a Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer.

Blind Carbon Copy: BCC

2009-09-07T09:56:00.000-04:00

I send a variation of this e-mail out every so often. Its a good educator for folks who don't work as professionals (and some that do) that helps reduce SPAM and wasted bandwidth.

Hi,

I have always found this helpful:

Please address group e-mails BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). What this does is hide the recipients e-mail addresses from each other. This way all of the recipients don't get each others' e-mail addresses and they don't end up getting sold and spammed out of existence. Most people will appreciate it if you do this. Some mail software makes you put at least one e-mail address in the regular mail to. If that's the case, I just put mine there since everyone I am mailing will have my eddress anyway.

I usually take a second to delete any other e-mail addresses that might be in an e-mail sent to me before passing it on also. This is easy to do by copying and pasting the e-mail contents to word pad. I remove FWD & FW from the subject line too. I feel if it isn't worth showing that much respect to the people I send it to, why should they bother to spend their time reading it?

Hope this is of help to you and you will pass it on, Blind Carbon Copy!

Posting it on facebook and MySpace is a great idea too!

Rock

Fat Dazey

2009-07-27T11:32:00.002-04:00

Today I did one of the toughest things I have ever done. I took our dog, Dazey, to be euthanized. Raeny went with me and we are both still crying as is Marecho. We were truly blessed to have had Dazey sharing our lives for over ten years. She recently developed health problems that were getting progressively worse as well as opening doors for more health problems. She was a shell of her former self and was finally having more bad days than good days. Out of deep love and mercy we made this hard decision.

Dazey, the dog formerly known as Fat Dazey, was adopted from the Spartanburg Humane Society in 1999 the day before she was to be put down. She had had a litter of puppies and been abandoned. During her time with us, Dazey killed eight possums, one raccoon, and fought a rabid fox. She had her steel cable struck by lightning and burned
in half, was given rat poison by a now deceased neighbor with a drug problem, and got chewed up by a Pit Bull one Christmas day when she went in its yard. She was blessed with many lives and she blessed all of our lives.

When I die, I want to go where Dazey went.

Thank you for my life, Good Dazey. You will always be missed.

Comments

2009-07-17T22:49:00.003-04:00

I appreciate feedback. I know some people blog daily, but my life is a bit busier than that. Is it my content or my irregularity that is keeping people from commenting? Or, are they just lazy voyeurs?

I try not to prattle on if I don't have anything to say. That being said...

My rendition of the Oscar Mayer Bologna Song as if performed by a four year old.

2009-07-10T19:26:00.007-04:00

My rendition of the Oscar Mayer Bologna Song as if performed by a four year old.

©2009 Dave Cowles,
All Rights Reserved.

Not Yours to Give

2009-07-04T23:47:00.002-04:00

Not Yours To Give

Col. David Crockett
US Representative from Tennessee

Originally published in "The Life of Colonel David Crockett,"

by Edward Sylvester Ellis

One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it.

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I ever heard that the government was in arrears to him.

"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly.

"I began: 'Well friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates and---

"Yes I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine, I shall not vote for you again."

"This was a sockdolger...I begged him tell me what was the matter.

"Well Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting you or wounding you.'

"I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.

But an understanding of the constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the honest he is.'

"I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake. Though I live in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by fire in Georgetown. Is that true?

"Well my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just the same as I did.'

"It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.

What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000.

If you have the right to give at all; and as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.'

"'Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this country as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have Thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.'

"The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from necessity of giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.'

"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'

"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'

"He laughingly replied; 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.'

"If I don't, said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'

"No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. 'This Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.

"'Well I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your name."

"'My name is Bunce.'

"'Not Horatio Bunce?'

"'Yes

"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'

"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence, and for a heart brim-full and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him, before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.

"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before."

"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not the word - I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all knew me.

"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

"Fellow-citizens - I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only."

"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

"And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.

"It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.'

"He came up to the stand and said:

"Fellow-citizens - it affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'

"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.'

"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.'

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday. "There is one thing which I will call your attention, "you remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $20,000 when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

Knife Rights

2009-06-04T20:59:00.003-04:00

As many of you may know, my father, Don Cowles, is a custom knife maker. His site is CowlesKnives.com. Each year my wife, my daughter, and myself join him in Atlanta, Georgia for the world's largest knife show, appropriately named The Blade Show. I have been going for about eleven years now. The craftsmanship, innovation, and art is phenomenal. Sure you have the para-military types and psycho geeks, but the majority of makers and collectors are every day people who appreciate fine tools and value their rights to defend themselves and their loved ones. Most will tell you don't take JUST a knife to a gun fight!

I received the following e-mail and am deeply concerned. I hope you will be also and will ACT on that concern!

Knife Rights < www.KnifeRights.org> Chairman Doug Ritter will be Tom Gresham's guest this Sunday on Tom's nationally syndicated Gun Talk radio show. The topic will be Customs' proposal to rescind earlier rulings that Assisted Opening Pocketknives are not Switchblades. This new interpretation is so broadly crafted as to endanger almost any folding pocketknife. Doug will explain the 63-page document, discuss the potential ramifications for law-abiding knife owners in the U.S., as well as how you can help Knife Rights defeat this over-reaching by Customs. Note that this is not just an issue for imported knives, and Doug will explain how that works. This is very serious attempt to limit your right to own and carry the pocketknife of your choice. If allowed to stand, it would endanger the entire knife industry. Join over 250,000 listeners and tune in to Doug and Tom on Sunday to learn more. Doug will appear as the first guest, starting at 1:00 PM Central Time. Some stations, including Sirius/XM satellite, carry the show on a delayed basis.

Check at www.GunTalk.com for times and stations.

Additional information on this Customs ruling can be found at www.KnifeRights.org

Doug Ritter

Have you signed up? Go to: www.KnifeRights.org

To Tweet or Not to Tweet...

2009-06-04T00:51:00.002-04:00

It seems Twitter is one of those love it or hate it applications. I'm still not sure where I fall into the mess. I'm not much of an exhibitionist or voyeur and I really value privacy. My entrepreneur friends and family say it is an invaluable tool. I don't get it. Somebody 'splain me, PLEASE!

Here's mine; https://twitter.com/kowulz

Feel free to add me and I promise I won't share any marathon internal monologues debating life changing dilemmas over the decision to make pancakes or waffles!

I have recently started to use Friend Feed, which seems to merge the social networks together. Kind of handy if I need to be here.

Til next time,

Rock

Updated ISCA Firing Squad Slide Show

2009-05-24T12:00:00.001-04:00

Play Free Poker Online with the Ink Link Tattoos Poker Club!

2009-05-23T19:58:00.000-04:00

2009-05-14T18:07:00.001-04:00

Tinsel Teeth and Adversity

2009-05-13T11:48:00.006-04:00

My twelve year old daughter recently got braces. I told her to be prepared to hear crap like, "Tinsel Teeth" and ""Metal Mouth" when she went back to school. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked what I was talking about. Flabbergasted, I shared this with a friend in his early twenties and he said you don't hear that kind of stuff in school anymore. According to him and another friend who joined in the conversation, the schools will expel students for name calling on the basis of emotional suffering! Holy Mother of God!

No one in their right mind likes a bully or ignorant lout, but adversity builds character. I had severe asthma, military glasses, a crew cut, and a speech problem as a kid. I was a prime target for all of the idiot children. I didn't enjoy it a bit, but I learned to choose my battles well, to fight back when necessary, and to stand up for myself and others. My parents and teachers didn't save me and I did not expect them to. You can't teach street smarts or common sense. Both have to be developed by trial and error. If children can't learn them in a controlled environment like school, the world will eat them alive!

I remember the urban legend about recruits in basic training being issued stress cards. If the Drill Instructor was being too tough the recruit presents their stress card and the DI has to back off! Would that work in battle too? If it just gets too tough we quit and the compassionate enemy merely meanders off? Scary that it was based on an actual experiment!

When I was in boot camp at the tender age of seventeen, I understood that they would make or break recruits. Better to weed out the crybabies, wimps, and whiners early on than have them crack under stress and jeopardize many, many lives.

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved” – Helen Keller.

My friend, Puff, has a tattoo that says, "Stitches for Snitches." I was a cop for five years, but I still say learn to fight your own battles. Have some pride, dignity, and honor, that you have earned, not that some pantywaist flake tried to bestow upon you!

Thank you bleeding heart spineless Liberals for further emasculating our children to make up for your own failures. Dumb asses.

My Favorite Business Book

2009-04-26T14:31:00.001-04:00

Carolina's Caricaturists Get Together

2009-03-26T11:49:00.002-04:00

Several of my fellow National Caricaturist Network members and myself will be getting together again for fun, fellowship, drawing, and pizza on April 9th, 1:30pm at Sidestreet Pizza in Tryon, NC.

There is no cost other than what you eat or drink. Please let me know if you are interested in attending.

We had five talented caricaturists and two lovely guests last time we did this.

After you are gone

2009-03-16T10:06:00.001-04:00

Its said that W. C. Fields left large amounts of money in various bank accounts around the country using aliases. These were lost when he died.

I recently had some severe chest pains that turned out to be a hiatal hernia. It makes you think though. My wife and others close to me are not privy to all of my online activities or aware of all of my friendships here and on other sites.

What happens to all of your internet connections, accounts, web sites, on-line friends, and passwords if you die unexpectedly? I have wondered and worried about this. Because of that, I have tried to let my clients be as autonomous as possible, having them register their own domain names and use their own hosting.

Putting all of your account information and passwords on a jump drive and leaving it in a safe deposit box or with a spouse or trusted friend is one alternative.

These might be other viable solutions.

http://www.deathswitch.com/

https://www.slightlymorbid.com/

This was a good article on the subject:

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090316/ap_on_hi_te/tec_death_online

The 4 Hour Work Week

2009-03-02T15:29:00.001-05:00

I love to read, but have not ran across any books lately that I HAVE TO RECOMMEND as much as this one!

Timothy Ferris' The 4 Hour Work Week is both brilliant and practical!

25 things Jason Elder probably doesn't know about me.

2009-02-02T20:19:00.004-05:00

My ex-stepson, Jeremy Morgan, had a friend named Jason Elder. Jason and I have recently gotten back in touch on Facebook. Jason posted a piece called "25 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me." I decided to reciprocate. Since I don't find nearly enough time to write, I decided to repost it here.

25 things Jason Elder probably doesn't know about me.

1. I was born a poor black child. No, wait, I think that was Steve Martin.

2. I started smoking when I was eight years old.

3. I have lived in Michigan, Illinois, Oklahoma, California, Washington State, Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Venezuela.

4. I'm allergic to cats and they think I'm their meow.

5. I was a fairly accomplished equestrian before the age of fourteen.

6. I attended five high schools in three years.

7. I enlisted in the Navy three weeks after I turned seventeen.

8. I was raised Unitarian. I became a Christian when I was seventeen, then agnostic, then Christian again in 1999, then agnostic again about 2005. Still haven't figured it out.

9. I have had over two dozen surgeries.

10. I have been a student at four different colleges, Army and Navy technical schools, a photography school, and never got a degree. I did graduate from the police academy.

11. I have been an ordained minister since 1993.

12. I have taken viola, piano, guitar, and drum lessons and don't play any instruments.

13. I read about 100 - 150 books a year.

14. When I got out of the Navy I was seriously considering going to Ringling Brothers Clown College. I went to AA instead.

15. I have never killed a man with a cheese grater.

16. My mother converted to Judaism while I was in the Navy.

17. I'd trust most dogs more than I trust most people.

18. My first car was a 1967 Ford Falcon. I have had sixteen cars and trucks since.

19. I have Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Asians, and Gays in my family. I love them all.

20. I was in the Army between the two Golf Wars.

21. I used to be able to walk on my hands from one end of a basketball court to the other and back.

22. My daughter's middle name, Kasidy, is after a black character on Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

23. I have been to South America, Canada, Israel, France, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Crete, Antigua, and the Philippines.

24. When I was a wee lad I wanted to do cartoon voice-overs. I still talk in funny voices.

25. I have too many dead friends.

ARRRGH!

2009-01-16T22:26:00.001-05:00

Santa Claus pooped down our chimney and we don't even have a fireplace!

Looking for rental house/double-wide or rent to own. 2-4 BDRM/1.5+ BATH, 1,000 SQ FT or more. No trailer parks, crack neighborhoods, or high crime areas. Must allow one small housebroken and well behaved house dog. Need by February first. $600.00 or less. Spartanburg / Boiling Springs / Moore areas.

Hi All,

Things have been looking up lately. I scraped together a few pennies to get some broken teeth fixed and with some web site work had a Border Terrier puppy on the way at the end of the month! Alas, God said, "Uh uh, Buddy." The man who owns the land my trailer is on called me yesterday morning as I was having the serpentine belt, both tensioners, and coolant jug replaced on my Taurus after they went out the day before. He told me he had sold all fourteen acres of his land, including the one my trailer is on. I knew this was a possibility, but he said I would have six months notice. Nope. Yesterday he told me we have thirty days to find a place and be moved out! ARRRGH! Fortunately, he said he would buy the trailer back for a whopping five hundred dollars, so we don't have to pay to move it.

Unfortunately, we don't know where we are going to move. We'd like to stay in Spartanburg County since its where Marecho works and most of our friends are. We are trying to find something decent with the rent at or under $600.00 a month if at all possible (I rented my land, with water, for $100 a month, so that's a big jump!).
If anyone knows of any rental properties in a decent neighborhood or out in the country, or of anyone who might have some, please e-mail or call me ASAP!

We have two small dogs and Fat Dazey needs to go with us. I don't think Big Pink would adjust well to communal living. She barks at cars (we don't get many at the end of a deadend street in the country, is not fond of cats, and is a tad rowdy. She is housebroken and plays well with other dogs. She is also very sweet. The best guess I can manage is that she is a Basset Hound/Lab/terrier mix, about two or three years old, and she weighs about thirty pounds. She needs a good home ASAP, preferably with a fenced yard or someone home most of the time. We have a crate and doghouse for her too. Please call if you can help.

Its not the end of the world. The trailer is falling apart and cluttered. Its entirely possible we are being blessed rather than cursed.
We'll see when the dust settles!

2008-12-27T10:41:00.003-05:00

I am always a little impressed by GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons. The GoDaddy girls are hot too. Here is a recent sagely piece of advice for businesses in these difficult economic times.

Have a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Big Three Bail Out; NOT!

2008-12-14T10:01:00.002-05:00

Hi all. I'm going to step away from talk about caricature for a moment and talk about the proposed bail-out of the Big Three. I am glad the Senate knocked it down. I have nothing against Michigan or it's people. As a matter of fact, Detroit is my birthplace.

A bailout should never have even been proposed. It is illegal and unconstitutional and any elected official who voted for it should be impeached. Period. The same goes for the Fannie Mae/Bank bail out.

Visit www.notyourstogive.org. It is a phenomenal piece by Col. David Crockett that will help anyone understand why this is a misappropriation of funds, illegal, and absolutely wrong.

It closes with the following quotation;

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."

The above was penned by Professor Alexander Tytler over 200 years ago while we were still a British colony.

I hope you will take the time to read and study that piece and then contact your local news media and elected officials.

Rock

Rock's Really Lame Motivational Posters

2008-11-15T23:34:00.005-05:00

I was putting some pictures on PhotoBucket, I stumbled across some of these pseudo motivational posters. Some really lame, offensive, pseudo motivational posters! I though to myself, "HEY! I can do that!", and the rest, God help me, is history. Some con pictures, some friends and family, and a few others.

Before I am a caricaturist, I am an editorial cartoonist at heart. Sometimes I just have to make a point, even if it isn't a good one. I hope enough of you will share my warped sense of humor that this was a worthwhile endeavor.

Please feel free to laugh and retaliate!

Everything I need to know about life I learned at the NCN Convention

2008-11-09T00:40:00.005-05:00

Everything I need to know about life I learned at the NCN Convention

Compare your work to your work, not to others. There will always be somebody better than you.

Good is often the worst enemy of best.

To have a friend, be a friend.

You reap what you sow.

What goes around comes around.

Just because someone looks different than you doesn't mean they don't speak English. ARRGH!

The Irish are all nancy boys or disco queens.

If you love doing something, it stops being work. If you hate doing something, it is worse than work.

Be prepared.

Asian chicks dig me.

Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Roger Hurtado isn't a megalomaniac. He's just really good. Well, maybe he is, but a hell of a nice one!

Keep moving or the world will pass you by.

With the possible exception of Adam Pate, most people are a hell of a lot taller than their avatars.

It hurts falling off your pedestal if you have clay feet.

Sean Gardner has a really pointy nose.

Sketch.

Asian men and women both look good from behind unless you are Mike Giblin and you get there after Joe Bluhm is done!

Rock and Roll is still king.

Its a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

Macs crash too!

Sleep is overrated.

Kidney stones still suck.

Everybody likes Barenjager.

Adam English is an awesome caricaturist as well as musician.

Great caricature doesn't have to be brutal.

The only person who can make you feel second class is you.

Tad wants to talk about sex when he drinks.

Start at the beginning.

The truly great caricaturists are all people people.

The Japanese bring their own Paparazzi to conventions.

Caricature can be a lucrative business as well as a joy.

The NCN is about people.

Busy week or so

2008-10-29T13:38:00.004-04:00

My wife, Marecho, is visiting the Philippines and I miss her a lot. Its to be expected. Its been a hell of a ten days since she left. Our dog Dazey was in a lot of pain and having trouble breathing Tuesday due to some extremely swollen lymph nodes in her throat. Once again the good vets at Pine Street Animal Hospital saved her fuzzy rump.

Saturday I received a phone call letting me know that my friend, Chavin Kendrick, had been shot and killed in a club in Gastonia, North Carolina.

Donations will be accepted at any Ink Link Tattoos (NC), Tattooing U (Charlotte, NC), Belmont Tattoo Studio (Belmont, NC), and Tattoo Wearhouse (Spartanburg, SC).

I am trying to get ready for the 2009 National Caricaturist Network's Annual Convention in Raleigh and keep running into unexpected expenses to slim down my already thin budget, piddly car troubles, kidney stones, and other not so peachy surprises. Fortunately, unless God really hates me, I'll still make it okay!

I am looking forward to meeting so many great people and inspirational artists/caricaturists. There will be folks from all over the USA, Japan, England, Ireland, Belgium, China, Australia, the Netherlands, and who knows where else! I am quite jazzed about the whole thing. Regrettably, not all of the fantastic NCNers from the Forum can make it and many will be sorely missed.

I'll be posting a lot of pictures after the Convention. Check back soon!

A few great caricatures of me!

2008-10-20T16:09:00.005-04:00

Everyone loves a caricature. These are some of my recent favorites done of me so far by some exceptionally talented folks!

By Jean-Marc Borot (France)

By Chris Wahl (Australia)

By Niall O'Loughlin (Ireland)

By Paul Moyse (England)

By Sean Gardner (Florida, USA)

I am going to the National Caricaturist Network's Annual Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina during the first week of November. I am SOOOO excited too!

My First 3/4 profile 3D Caricature

2008-09-18T03:03:00.003-04:00

Prior to my joining the NCN, a lot of my art was fairly stagnant (I realize now). One of the things I didn't do was side or 3/4 views on my 3D Caricatures, because the images would fragment if I tried to add a bevel. I learned how to get around that, piecemeal, but never got around to challenging myself to do one. I have been stretching myself a lot here, and took several risks with a caricature I owed a friend. For one thing he is almost at a 3/4 view. For another, he is doing something other than standing there and maybe holding something. I thought I'd share it. I'm pretty jazzed.

Thanks for letting me share,

Rock

Knotty Headz

2008-09-16T13:22:00.004-04:00

I am finishing redoing a web site for Knotty Headz Tattoo Factory in Columbia, South Carolina. I included 3D Caricatures of the owners, Christian and Sabine. Great folks, very nice clean shop with some talented artists!

Thought I'd post them.

Claiborne and Carla Revised

2008-09-12T14:54:00.003-04:00

I ran this caricature by a few NCN members and they made some good points. THe changes are subtle, but I think they made for a much better caricature!

Thanks, Niall, Adam, and Bat!

Claiborne & Carla

2008-09-12T00:42:00.004-04:00

I have been working my butt off on a recent web design project, but did manage to finally finish this commission.

More, sooner rather than later, I hope!

Carolina or South Eastern NCN Chapter Forming?

2008-09-05T12:45:00.003-04:00

Rock, Brian, Pag, Bat, Lindsey, Marecho, and Bill.
Side Street Pizza, Tryon, North Carolina, Sept. 4, 2008

A group of five NCN Caricaturists, a wife, and a girlfriend got together at Side Street Pizza in Tryon, North Carolina yesterday for lunch, fellowship, some caricaturing, and to discuss the possibility of forming a Carolina or South Eastern Chapter of the National Caricaturist Network. Present were Brian Vasilik, Mike Paglia, Bill LaRocque, Bat Hilliard, Bat's lady, Lindsey, my glorious wife, Marecho, and me, Rock Cowles.

We split two exceptional pizzas, got to know each other a bit, and whipped out the drawing supplies! Everyone got drawn by everyone except the two ladies, who aren't caricaturists, but were eye candy with great senses of humor!

Nothing got resolved, other than chapter or not, we'd like to try to do this on an monthly or bi-monthly basis. We decided to find out what forming a chapter takes, and see about doing a little recruiting or at least find out how many interested parties we might have, at this year's NCN Annual Convention being held this November in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I was like a fish out of water drawing live caricature, but everyone (but me) seemed happy with my live caricatures. Long way to go!

Please let me know if you're interested in the possibility of starting a Chapter with us. If you haven't already checked out the NCN and have an interest in caricature, visit the National Caricaturist Network at: www.caricature.org

Thanks for sharing your time with me!

Rock

Caricaturize.com

2008-08-06T02:10:00.003-04:00

I have added www.caricaturize.com to my domains and sites. I will be keeping www.3DCaricatures.com. RedhandedCaricatures.com will pretty much be a mirror site at this time.

My Slide Show also shows a lot of the newer caricatures I have done.

Why I am here...

2008-07-22T02:24:00.004-04:00

Hi All.

Thanks for stopping by. As some of you might know, I recently joined the National Caricaturist Network, I am working on developing my skills with other forms of caricature, beyond my infamous 3D Caricatures.

I recently registered RedhandedCaricatures.com and have been posting a lot of my new work there. Most of the caricatures there are of fellow caricaturists from the NCN's Firing Squad.

I will try to make this blog worthwhile by posting here also.

I appreciate your patience!

Dave "Rock" Cowles

July 22, 2008