This country is not a democracy.  It’s a democratic republic.  I’m not sure that most Americans even know what that means.  In a nutshell it’s majority rule under law, which is supposed to prevent large groups from making decisions that go against our core principles (our laws, the Constitution, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, etc.).  Democracy without the republic piece would essentially just mean mob rule.  I sometimes wonder how far away we are from that happening.  Something tells me that our founding fathers would be grossly disappointed at the current state of the Union.  Both parties seem to be having a death match, and our leader has so far failed to unite.  The gap between parties seems more pronounced than ever.

I didn’t realize that having a difference of opinion, suddenly makes one an ‘obstructionist’.  Isn’t the greatest thing about this country the fact that we are allowed to challenge thoughts and ideas–to voice our opinion?  Isn’t that what happened when independent voters claimed a traditionally democratic senate seat in Massachusetts and elected a Republican?  Scott Brown’s victory was explained as an upheaval of frustration due to our last administration–that people want change.  Washington needs to save the touchy feely rhetoric and start listening.  I hope that independent voters have scared the pants off of politicians.

I’m an American.  I’m an independent.  I am fed up with special interest groups, hidden agendas, closed door sessions (most people would refer to such things as ’secret meetings’), and name calling.  This isn’t the third grade.  I wish our leaders would act like adults and stop pointing the finger.

Link to the article: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Maryland-Lawmaker-Proposes-Expanding-Gun-Rights-82687842.html

An attempt to change the law in MD to allow reciprocity with surrounding states that have carry permits.

This would necessarily imply that the citizens of MD would be allowed to have carry permits as well; good luck with that!

If not, you would have people coming over from VA, DE, and PA who have the right to carry in their home state, but would not normally be allowed to carry in MD.

MD law says you have to have “a good reason” to carry. (I’m not sure what the exact words are, but it IS something like that. I called the State Police to inquire about a carry permit once, and they basically told me if you do not own a business, transport large amounts of money, or work as a PI or something similar, you can’t get one).

Check out the article above, and get on your state representative and put the pressure on them. At this time in the country, they are a little more sensitive to the will of the people; you never know you might get some movement on this issue.

I’ve been following a story out of Texas for the last few days, about the re-writing of text books. Now why would anyone in VA care what goes into a text book in TX you might ask, well the answer is that many of the texts used in schools across the U.S. originate in Texas. Texas has a board that reviews text books every ten years, and decides what stays and what goes, and what is about to go is God and history.

Many say this is a perfect opportunity for the religious right to pack the text books full of that evil God stuff; but for the Progressives it is an opportunity to re-write the history of our country. So should we be concerned? I think the answer is yes. The success of the Progressive agenda (and if you don’t know what a Progressive is, better start boning up) is dependent on two things; eliminating God from American society, and repressing or re-writing history.

So what is going on down there? You have a small but vocal minority of Progressives screaming that by including the religious views of the Founding Fathers, and including patriotic symbols like the Liberty Bell, that we are somehow corrupting the education of our children and making them <gasp> Conservatives! Why how are they going to become progressive thinkers if we pollute their minds with things like history and God?

For too long we have allowed the Progressives in this country, and in fact the world, to re-write the history of our nation; so much so that anyone cracking open an American text book these days, would think that we are the most evil, godless nation on earth.

While the goodness of this nation is on display in places like Haiti, and Africa, and elsewhere around the world, Progressives are at work in Texas to once again destroy the legacy of our ancestors.

God (YES! I said God!) help us!

Some say I might have something to say, so I say hey!  Let’s give it a try.

I’m just trying to get the hang of the format, and then I may start the contributions, if the audience can withstand it that is.

Cam’s the name; lately, politics is the game. I am not a politician, but a Patriot.

Politics is a nasty business, but if we don’t engage now all will be lost. I did not spend the last 34 years defending the Constitution to lose now!

You may not “dig” my vernacular (showing my age?) my politics or views, but let’s debate or conspire! THAT is what makes America great.

I am a conservative 50 something retired Army Vet who works for a government contractor, if that makes a difference. I hunt, fish, and grow things, and I like guns. I brew beer, cut my own wood off my own property, and will make or build almost anything I need if I can, or have a friend who can. I have friends who are black, white, hispanic, and probably things you haven’t even considered. I believe in God and the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers, who were the smartest men who ever occupied this continent (no offense to Native Americans; They were wise and I love the way they took care of the earth, but they were no challenge for the Europeans; The Founding Fathers were).

I’m a granddad who is looking out for his grandkids as well as his children, and I am not much for the current administration, or the current state of affairs in Congress.

So  Hey!  Let’s have some fun!

I’ll try to check back regularly; but no promises!

Cam (some of my friends call me SGT Cajones, you can too)

When I relaunched fervor.net back in September, I thought I could come up with enough Libertarian and freedom oriented postings to keep me going for a while. While I probably could, I quickly realized something I hadn’t considered before: what if I don’t want to? Maybe I suffer from adult attention deficit disorder (quick, give me a ritalin prescription!), but I just cannot remain that narrowly focused on the topics at hand. Yes, I still believe in the cause, and I encourage all our writers to post their Libertarian rants and diatribes here whenever they feel like it. For me though, I just feel the need to write about other things too.

With that said, fervor.net is now open to any topic under the sun. If you want to talk about politics, go for it. If you’d like to go on a rant about the latest Tony Hawk skateboarding game, the floor is yours. If you feel the need to talk about Chicago vs. New York pizza,  by all means do so. You getting the drift yet? If you feel a passion about it, you now have a place to write about it. No porn obviously, and no leftist crap either. Not that either of these will be a problem for our crackerjack team of fervor.net writers, but I figure I should say it anyways. if you have a poster of Keith Olberman in your bedroom, and dream of writing his copy at MSNBC, send them a resume. Don’t post it here. Other than that though, write on.

And with that, fervor.net goes to bed for the rest of the year. As Hank Williams would have said, if the good Lord’s a willin and the creek don’t rise, we’ll see you all in 2010.

So what happened to fervor.net you ask? Let’s just say it’s been one hell of an end to 2009.

The last few months have made me realize that our culture’s perception of death is all wrong. He’s not the Grim Reaper, a hooded figure roaming the countryside with a scythe in his hand, just waiting to poison the salmon mousse. Recent experiences have taught me that he’s more of a court jester, a joker like character with a sick sense of humor. I can see him in my mind, giggling as that car load of high schoolers fails to make that last hairpin turn, mere hours after receiving their diplomas. I can also see him in the hospital room of the Alzheimer’s’ patient who no longer remembers her own name. He could end her suffering whenever he wants, but in this case, he’s in no. Why should he be, when he has babies to drown in their bathwater, children to suffocate on plastic bags, and young adults to overdose on their first experimentations? He mocks our fears of the inevitable, but is equally bemused by our misunderstandings and reconciliations with our own demise. It doesn’t matter what your faith is, or how strong your family ties are, he’s going to get under your skin sooner or later. Before it’s all said and done, he’ll get you in more ways than one.

I learned that the hard way this last November when my Sister Janine passed away at the age of 62, a week after her retirement party. In all honesty, I cannot say her death was a surprise. She’s had heart problems for almost 20 years, and had made some poor decisions in response to those issues. It was a matter of time before the doctors couldn’t bring her back, and her time came on November 7th, 2009. What I didn’t know is that knowing all of this didn’t really mean a thing when it happened. You can repeat it like a mantra to yourself over and over again, but it doesn’t do you any good. All the bracing in the world can’t prepare you for when it actually happens. The shockwave is simply overpowering, and brings the joker an immeasurable amount of glee.

But we all move on, and I thought I had until about a month ago when my Mom had a mini stroke. Fortunately, when I say mini, I really do mean mini. Other than a little persistent numbness in her leg and arm, she seems pretty much no worse for wear. She can talk, get around as well as she could before, and is otherwise doing pretty well. About that point though, things started to go south for me. Suddenly it seemed like everything that had happened in the last couple of months had caught up with me in a big way. I found myself incredibly short tempered, snapping at coworkers for little or no reason. It didn’t take much to set me off into a crying jag either. Whatever stable ground I thought I’d found was gone, and my world became a very turbulent place. My existence was reduced to sleeping, eating junk food, drinking Guinness, and playing PS3. Other than that, I wasn’t into it. Entire weekends would pass where I’d only venture out to get more junk food or to bring the dog back in. No photography outings, no holiday parties, no nothing. Of course, that’s how our friend the joker wanted it too. I am sure his big, toothy grin glowed like a full moon on an icy field of snow.

After planning on not doing much of anything on Christmas Day, I had a change of heart and caught a plane for the Midwest. My Mom, who usually goes waaay off the deep end when it comes to Christmas decorations, had barely done a thing. She said she just wasn’t into it this year, and hadn’t bothered to put much out. While I could understand not being into decorating this year, having a stroke and all, I was a little more concerned about some of the other Christmas traditions that looked like they might be going by the wayside.

Before her passing, Janine had always made our family’s Christmas Eve dinner: a tray of lasagna. This year though, it sounded like no one wanted to step up and cook anything. In fact, they were even talking about getting some sort of deli tray. A deli tray? At Christmas? I’m sorry, but that wasn’t going to happen on my watch. I called my niece Jana when I hear about this, and she agreed to help me make our traditional Christmas dinner. We went to the grocery store and got everything we needed, set up shop in my mom’s kitchen, and began the process of making lasagna.  It might not have been exactly faithful to Janine’s recipe (she hated Italian sausage), but it seemed to be pretty well received. All in all, I think Sis would have been proud of us.

While I never would have thought it possible, I think something in that kitchen helped me a lot. Maybe it was being around all those familiar objects, doing something Janine had done for as long as I could remember. Whatever it was, it felt good to make dinner for the family, using the same bowls and pans we’ve used all my life. Maybe its corny to say this, but making that dinner felt sort of like we were helping to keep her spirit alive. And maybe that’s what it’s all about? She may be gone, but she lives on in all of us and the things she gave us. Whether it be teaching me how to ride a horse when I was six, taking me for my 1st driving lesson when I was 14, or teaching me the family lasagna recipe, I have a lot of memories of her that will stay with me forever.

Our friend the Joker has moved on to other targets, inflicting his peculiar brand of misery on other people and other families. I know he will be back though. I hope it is later than sooner, but he will be back nonetheless to watch as we struggle through our grief. I can’t worry about that right now though. I have my own life to live, and I plan on living it to the best of my ability. I know the joker is smiling somewhere, but that’s ok. Right now, I am too, and that’s all we can really ask for.

Rest in peace, Sis. I love you.

Sometimes you see a clip or read a passage made long before you were born and think how appropriate their words are for the situation we find ourselves in today. This is one of those cases.

My apologies for not being able to embed this into the blog itself. Looks like there might be a couple of technical difficulties yet to be worked out in this matter. Nevertheless, do yourself a favor and follow this link to Youtube. It’s just more proof that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

A year ago, with the election of President Obama looming on the horizon, the price of firearms shot through the roof. Ammunition, magazines, parts kits, and complete firearms all skyrocketed immediately before the election and afterwards, with complete AR-15s going up somewhere around 40%, if you could find them that is. Waiting lists and backorders of up to a year were common as the gun industry scrambled to meet the demands of a panic stricken market.

What a difference a year makes.

As demand finally begins to diminish, we find ourselves in an over saturated market where too many goods are chasing too few dollars. That tricked out M-4gery that might as well have been made of “unobtainium” last November is now just another garden variety AR. They’re not quite a dime a dozen just yet, but they cost a lot less than they did not too long ago.

Here, let’s see how little it will cost us to put together a garden variety AR carbine after just five minutes of web surfing. For our purposes, we’re going to stick with complete lowers and uppers. This is not to discourage anyone from buying a stripped lower and building your own though. Building an AR from the ground up will not only give you the satisfaction of owning a rifle you assembled with your own two hands, you will also have the final say over all the parts inside that rifle as well. That’s a good thing if it’s your ass that’s on the line. For our purposes though, I am keeping this one simple. I want to get an upper and  a lower, put them together, and start acquiring targets, so only complete uppers and lowers apply.

Lowers

A quick search for ar15 lowers brings me to Lone Star Wholesale, a company with lots of gun parts for the AR in stock. They have a wide selection of lowers to choose from, including Rock River Arms (RRA) lowers complete with the six position collapsible stock for $235. The RRA receiver is manufactured by a company called CMT, the same people who manufacture receivers for a whole slew of companies, including Wilson, Colt, and Stag Arms. At $235, I think it’s a bargain as well. If you want to save $10, the DPMS lower goes for $225, but I like the idea of getting a “Colt” for a bargain price.

Uppers

Since we’re looking to make a basic AR here on a budget, I am looking for the best deal I can get on a complete upper receiver, including the bolt carrier, charging handle, and carrying handle. Not that I am particularly attached to the charging handle mind you, but it does have a complete rear sight built into it, so it’s pretty useful after all.  If you have an extra bolt carrier and charging handle lying around (like I do), I’d consider picking up a DS Arms upper for $275. At that price they’re pretty much a steal, but they are missing those key parts, which takes them off of our list.

I did, however, find a complete A2 upper over at weaponparts.com that fits our criteria quite well. Made by CMT, it comes complete with  a carry handle, Wilson heavy barrel, charging handle, and bolt carrier group for $475. For that price, I’d say we have a winner.

So, throw in shipping, FFL transfer fees and the like, and you have an AR for somewhere around $760. That’s about $100 to $200 off what a comparable, complete AR would cost you at a show or gun store, and a screaming bargain compared to what it would have ran you last December. In other words, you don’t have any excuses left. They’re back in stock, the prices are coming down, and you know you need one.

Do something to piss Nancy Pelosi off today, and look into buying an AR15.

This last weekend, I took the plunge and went cold turkey on caffeine. No more deliciously intoxicating Diet Mountain Dew fixes, or silver label Diet Coke pick me ups, just a weekend of roaring headaches, pain pills, and low grade nausea. In between naps and college football games, I did a lot of web surfing, and found a couple of articles that almost sent me over the edge into an apoplectic fit. Just when I think I’ve found the limits of human stupidity, they just go out and manufacture a better idiot.

Today’s better living through stupidity award goes to Mike and Lynn Gorfinkle, who lives outside of Fairfield, Connecticut. Recently, a bow hunter shot a deer on public land and trailed it to a spot about 40 yards from their back deck. When the hunter asked for permission to get the deer, Mike Gorfinkle denied him access, and told him to ‘leave without your dead deer.’ Ms. Gorfinkle, who is also the CEO of Animal Rights Alliance in Redding, then took photos of the dead deer, declaring it, in her opinion, to be a crime scene.

She’s right you know, it is a crime scene. It’s a crime that deer had to die for nothing because of some moon bat animal rights activist. Instead of being harvested by the hunter who shot it, this animal will go to waste because she thinks hunting is inhumane. You ever see a deer that’s starved to death? Now THAT is inhumane. The last predator in the state of Connecticut big enough to bring down a white tail deer is man, pure and simple. If we don’t, disease and starvation will.

Meanwhile, the Gorfinkles have left this dead deer where it fell. It hasn’t been hauled off, or buried somewhere, they just left it there in hopes that other animals would eat its remains. Man, the neighbors have got to LOVE this couple. Can you imagine what your average dog is going to smell like after its spent an hour rolling around in a two week old deer carcass? My eyes are watering just thinking about that possibility! If my dog got out and found this treasure, I’d be bringing him over to the Gorfinkles house for a bath. No way in hell is he getting in my tub smelling like that.

To be fair to the Gorfinkles, I know what it is like to have hunters trespass on your land. I remember seeing hunters come up behind our house with shotguns in hand only to get chased away by my Mom, and I’ve seen deer come up by our house after being chased through a field by four wheel drive pickups with search lights. Trespassers and poachers both deserve a hot place in hell, and I hope the devil himself is stoking the fires awaiting their arrival. But the Gorfinkles don’t get it. They say they want natural predators to thin out the deer, but do they really? What happens when their city dog Muffy gets mauled by a mountain lion, or tore to shreds by a pack of wolves? My wager is on them rethinking their attitude very quickly. But hey, at least they won’t have any hunters in their back yard anymore right?

Oh, and while I am no expert on hunting in the state of Connecticut, I imagine that the hunter who shot that deer will be able to bag another deer in its place. Congratulations, Lynn and Mike. You just caused the death of another animal you claim to be so eager to protect.

This last Sunday, fellow fervor.net contributor Officer Friendly and I went out for a day of photography. The idea was to try and catch some of the fall colors around Harper’s Ferry, and maybe capture a few more shots of that amazing church up on the hill. Unfortunately, we completely struck out on both accounts. Not only wasn’t there a lot of fall color to the trees, the steeple of the church is covered by scaffolding. Since Eric had never photographed the Antietam battlefield before, and I had a few shots I wanted a do over on, we did what General A.P. Hill would have done and headed northeast to Sharpsburg, Maryland. here are the results.

While mother nature may not have come through with the fall colors we were looking for, she came through with some fantastic skies.

As always, you can buy prints of these photos at redbubble.com, where one of my other Antietam shots is now a featured photograph. Sweet huh?

You can see all of the keepers at pbase.com/bowman1