Really is disappointing to see Democrats and self described progressives support racist and classist laws, rules, and restrictions.

Seems to be the primary factor in my experience. Some of the most ardent defenders of personal weapons are those who have been attacked or had loved ones who have. That is why I really prefer to teach shooting to GLBTs and women. They are most often the victims of violence and many already have suffered it.

Increasing individual rights and protecting basic liberties are liberal and progressive goals and values. Self defense is one of those. Firearms are the primary tools for that. That is why I and others call private gun ownership a progressive value. It supports the right of self defense, especially by those who could not effectively defend themselves otherwise. It is really power to the people. Gun control has racist and classist roots and remains true to them today. How a liberal or progressive could support it is beyond me. Check out PinkPistols.org, an interesting shooting group. Quite liberal but quite hardcore on the 2nd Amendment. Armed gays do not get bashed.

I am a very big guy with extensive martial arts training. It was stated that I could/should be able to defend myself without a gun. I pointed to that person's partner, who was maybe 5-1 and asked the speaker, what about her? What should she do when some one my size attacks them? I added a few more colorful comments about the risk he was taking with her safety. He got quite red, but had no effective answer because there isn't one. When you need law enforcement in seconds, they are at best minutes away. The personal safety of you and your loved ones is up to you. Do you want to face that kind of situation unarmed?

The 2nd amendment is not about hunting or sporting use. It is about defense. I do not sneer at those who choose not to arm themselves. Hopefully they will never find themselves needing a gun for self defense and not having one. However, I snarl at those who think they can take their risky decision and condescendingly impose it on the rest of us.

At a practical level the problem is:

- If your grandfather took my territory by force, do I have a claim to get the property back?
- What about if it was your great great great great grandfather?
- What if it was the former government of the territory
(West Germans reclaiming previously owned property seized by East Germany)

Jerusalem was a Jewish city for generations. Does the PA really have the right to claim it as its capital since from a long term historic view they are johnny-come-lately. Rome controlled Jerusalem continuously longer than any single group. Should it belong to Italy or the Vatican?

The Soviet Union/Russia has never returned territory seizned from Japan in WWII. Does Japan still have a legitimate claim to it?

Jerusalem and other territory was part of the state of Israel when it was originally declared. They were taken by force by neighboring nation. Israel has retaken them and held them for more years than those who originally took them. Who's claim is the more legitimate?

If the nationality/ethnicity of current residents is the driver, then the Sudetenland being ceded to Germany was legitimate and Argentina have no legitimate claim to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands

The reality is that legitimacy of historical claims is really an unsettled issue. It varies between locales in some cases and there are no solid guiding precedents. The UN has been nothing if not inconsistent. Historical wrongs were in deed done to many parties, but that does not mean that those of us alive today are responsible for them and need to make them right.

To return to the main thrust of this thread, public land needs to be used in the best public interest. Blythe is prime solar country. Not sure I would like all the contract terms, but conceptually using it for solar power it is the right thing to do.

wanted to convince. The repukes use it all the time and it comes back to bite them. Those crying about whales being hunted to extinction are doing the same dumb thing. The reality is that no nation is advocating unrestricted whaling without quotas or limits. The question I am not hearing asked is who is doing the whaling that lead to Sei whale being found in a Santa Monica restaurant last March. Presumable its being looked into, but nothing has found it way to the public.

The only viable means to end commercial whaling is education and time. Last set of seemingly reliable stats I saw for the whale meat market indicated that its mostly older people in the east and the west that consume it. They will not be educated away from it. However, literally as the demand dies out, so does whaling. Younger people try it but few acquire a taste for it and outside of the whaling nations its either illegal or very expensive. The end of commercial whaling is already in sight, no thanks to the hyperbole.

They rely on the company being around when you retire and it assumes longevity at a single employer. Neither assumption is valid today. I support a stronger defined contribution approach which means it is portable and fully funded.

To manage that kind of system on a national level, some espouse a government run approach, others prefer a 401K. I think a hybrid of some sort is called for. It has tremendous advantages to us as a nation in terms of investment capital as well.

When it comes to government pensions, the Feds in the mid 80s went to a mixed model dominated by a 401 like defined contribution approach. Its called FERS (Federal Employee Retirement System), and the Fed unions seem satisfied with it. I see no reason why something like it could not be done across all level of civil service, at least for new employees.

I have always supported that college is more than a trade school and the humanities, liberal arts, fine arts, music, foreign languages, etc are all important and important parts of a good college education. Any educator would. If things are as you say at your campus, then your institution should take a hard look at its course structure.

IIRC the overall employment rate is above 90% overall for new grads. Clearly some majors will be making more than others, but that was clear when this class started and college majors are life choices that every student gets to make.

One of the things that bothers me is the decline in women in some of the technical majors and I am far from alone in that.

I live out in the California desert, my home backs up to BLM land. It cougar and coyote country. There should be a post or two about it in my journal.

Yesterday I hosted a potluck for about 100 people. Interesting combination that went from BBQ ribs to vegan dishes. I made sure that it ended before dark and what trash remained was fully secured. When I mentioned cougars a few were astonished. I assured them I was quite serious. There were cougar tracks in my front yard this AM all around the trash bins. I took some pictures and put them up on my mobile FB to show the doubters. Some were still skeptical since it was beyond their reckoning.

A while back I was having problems with OHV users camping on my property. In this case I came home one day and found a 5-wheel toy hauler not far from my house. I normally got somewhat bellicose when that happened, but the mother was there alone starting dinner. I was clear to her that they would have to leave. The husband came by later, apologized that he did not realize it was private land and would move in the AM. About 10:00 PM they pounded on my door. Their dog had gone missing after dinner. It had barked and then ran into the night. They were frantic and needed lights so they could go searching for it. I was most emphatic that they not go looking until the AM. It took some convincing but finally I got the dad to agree. We found the dog less that 50 yards from the 5th wheel, a cougar had gotten him. The wife was hysterical and blamed me for having dangerous animals around.

Another time, similar situation, I got home to find a multi-family camp set up. It was already dark. I spoke to the adults. A couple were already pretty well lit, but the sober ones agreed to move in the AM. I asked where they were sleeping and they pointed to bedrolls on tarps. I got a spotlight from the house and looked at the nearby scrub until I spotted a pair of eyes reflecting back. I pointed it out to them explaining it was cougar and it was hunting...them. Fortunately there were enough sober ones left to get them to a motel down the road and nobody was hurt. The next day they asked me why I did not shoot it. I pointed out that it was its home too, and it was also illegal to kill them in California.

My guests yesterday like the campers are typical city people. They have no idea what it is like "living with nature". For that and other reasons it gets annoying when they start preaching to those of us who do it on a daily basis. So when marmar from Detroit starts talking about "capping a bear", whats not to ridicule? Its wannabe at so many levels.

However, many liberal arts degrees have limited marketability. That does not mean that they should not be pursued, just that those who make that choice need to be accountable for their decisions, including any debt they incur in the process. In other words, choices have consequences and the young adults making them need to own up to that.

All of the graduating students that I advise have jobs waiting for them.

I fully believe that students should be able to take such classes and graduate with degrees in same, but only if they sign a no whining pledge. Its their choice and choice has consequences. If you get a degree in a field with no market value, that is your choice but please do not complain about your lack of employment opportunities and the debt you took on afterward.

Yes many graduates have poor job prospects, but that is their choice in terms of majors. Same with thesis topics. However, not everyone goes to college to increase their potential marketability. I see it as the student's choice, but remind them of their choices when they whine about lack of jobs. This also has serious gender impacts that many ignore. Women flock to the poorly paid fields while men continue to dominate the better paid and more sought after technical areas.

I agree about expensive artwork...I would rather see student projects highlighted rather than paid outside work. I feel the same way about architecturally significant buildings that are more expensive than good looking functional buildings would be. There too I feel the college should leverage students and staff and not go outside at higher costs.

I believe one of the best things a college can do is to involved the students in areas appropriate to their areas of study. Internships, CO-OP programs etc are excellent ways for students to see the real world, how what they are doing relates to it, and even determine if this is what they want to do in the long term. Its one of the better investments a college can make.

Profs are a very mixed group. I retired from the *real world* and returned to academia when my wife has rising in her career. As a result I have taught and lectured all over the world. When we returned to the US, I continued to teach as a way to keep busy. I am intentionally not tenure track and turned down a tenured appointment recently at another school. However, I am yet to see the level of conceit or laziness that you describe. Though some of my colleagues are odd (to say the least), all of them care about their field and their students. The flakes and fakes are rare.

Its becoming clearer to more and more people that the industrial/assembly line model for compensation and retention is not working in education. That is not surprising, since it is designed for assembly line workers not white collar, intellect focused jobs. Not all teachers at the same education and seniority level in a district perform at the same level. To pay them the same is madness. The vast majority of professionals get individual reviews and are compensated based on them. To say that can not be done with teachers is specious.

The reality is that some from of merit pay based on a mix of evaluations and student performance is coming. The NEA and other education organizations need to get out front on this or teachers will get steam rolled forcing some Arne Duncan approved approach. The current defend the status quo at all costs rear guard action will fail in the long run. If the teaching professionals do not come up with an answer, one will be imposed upon us.

You may consider it a hair split, but in my experience it is significant. It’s a concept many do not look at, but is critical in this debate. IMO being violent is an attitude and mayhem is damage that occurs.

I am a martial artist. I have been since I was single digit years old. It includes the complete suite of the martial arts; weapons including firearms, tactics, logistics and not just hand to hand stuff in a dojo. I am quite capable of a great deal of carnage and mayhem. Over the years I have used my skills when I believed the situation called for it. Does that make me violent? I think not since it has never been my intent to use mayhem to further my political, professional, or personal goals.

I have known people on both sides of the political spectrum that call for violence and mayhem. Most who declared their desire to do mayhem on behalf of their cause in my presence have tended to be young and inexperienced, a malevolent form of misdirected youthful energy. It also tends to be on left since young people tend to be more left wing and get more conservative or at least more practical as they get older. They are not intrinsically violent, but misguided, thinking that mayhem will change things. They are wrong and some have paid a stiff price. While some will disagree on the split, it valid in my experience.

Being violent is an attitude of the soul. It’s the willingness to harm another for gain whether it is personal or political. It’s the ultimate ends justify the means. No side has a monopoly on it. Both sides rationalize it. Neither is right. The good news is that those who are violent are often ill equipment to do all that much mayhem.

Left wing organizations such as the Black Panthers, Weather Underground, SLA, ALF, ELF, etc, have been fairly impotent in their attempts at violence and revolution. Rife with traitors and lousy at operational security, they tend to do little and get caught. Their only left wing successes (in terms of mayhem) have been riots. I will not claim any specific riot was caused by a left wing group, but certainly some have cheered and claimed validation via them. Regardless of origin, riots and even mass demonstrations are not effective as motivators for change in the US. Smaller events, mostly property damage, for which credit is claimed and due, are similarly ineffective in motivating change and often result in a backlash.

Right wing violence is much the same. The vast majority of the time it is just as ineffective and their groups are as full of infiltrators as the left. However, with McVeigh being the best example, sometimes the righties get things right and do a fair amount of mayhem. IMO their success is based on their maturity, their knowledge of effective techniques, and better OPSEC, not numbers, ideology or fervor.

However in the end it is well nigh impossible to really create a calculus that allows us to adequately compare relative violence across the political spectrum. Body count, $$$ in property damage, kind of events, time in history all make those kinds of comparisons specious and destined for failure. More over being violent is an attitude and and willingness, and that is even harder to measure.

I live out in the twigs (that is well past the sticks) on significant acreage backed up on BLM land.. Out here, guns are tools and the loons are the ones who come out here without them, especially in snake season. Its not the wild west, we don't shoot at each other, but they are a necessity. Recently a neighbor had one of their dogs bit by a rattlesnake, inside their garage. The dog survived (it wasn't a Mohave Green) the snake was dispatched with a 44.mag shot shell by one of their daughters.

Because we are out in the twigs, we are notionally 30 minutes response time from the nearest cop shop (county sheriff in our case). If there is a problem, be it an animal or a person we are on our own. I haven't had much in the way of people problems since I put up the mother of all security gates and the local MC shops quit telling people that my property was BLM land.

Depending on what is going on, I have a 44.magnum with a selection of different cartridges types handy. I have a scabbard for a lever action on the ATV. So yes I carry at home outside of my domicile, but its clearly an exceptional situation.

I do have a combat firearms as well (scoped mini-14 and semi auto handguns) but they are locked up.

The term "bubba" is not baby talk, its American idiom. In this context it means your typical solider on the ground. Its gender neutral and inclusive of both sexes, though occasionally one will hear "bubbettes" as in female bubbas. Its a more PC and generalized version of the term "Grunt". There are many other synonyms, but bubba seems to be about as neutral as they come.

In living in different countries for a number of years I have found that English is spoken just about everywhere, but American is not, despite the penetration of American TV. It leads to occasional hilarity. Bubbas is a case in point. We had a local guide one day after hearing it used within a group we were with turned to my wife and asked "Who is Bubba, they are not on my list". Once we stopped laughing and explained it her, it was great and she used it for the rest of her time with us. At times I think there is more American Idiom than there is standard English.

What I said was that in the absolutist view, violations would be found on both sides, but in the ground fighting during OCL it would be a harder to make that call from the perspective that matters, that of the bubbas on either side. That neither absolves nor accuses anyone.

I am far from the only one pointing out that Goldstone's tone appears as much a whine as anything else. He is really is not being taken seriously in the US, and not much more Internationally from what I and my colleagues have seen. Honduras is getting the most column inches.

I have given numerous examples, and Goldstone's own words are prima facie evidence themselves that he did not have access to required data.

I have limited acronym use since it seems to confuse some, though it would be quite easier and clearer in many cases.

Bubba is not an acronym. REMF and Pogue are.

it can not be determined to be illegal or not. In the rebuttal WP is addressed obliquely as smoke screens (page 14, 1st full paragraph near the bottom), a legitimate use of WP and a classic case of Goldstone using hindsight not the bubba on the ground perspective. Its not a prima facie thing like rocketing civilians in Sederot.

Not all opinions are equal in validity. There are some people out there who still believe all the extra terrestrial pictures be they from satellites, landers or people are fake. When it comes to space technology, should their opinions be considered with equal weight with others who perhaps were there or participated in getting them there? I think not.