Nice Stuff

Today we had a visit from Dave, who bought Bridie off us back in 2002. Bridie was the very first horse that we bred and is out of my very first broodmare, Genna. Bridie has a full sister, Roxy, who lives at Kismet Farm in Tauranga and I own her half sister, Bella. Roxy's story is here.

Last week I listed something for a friend on Trade Me and Dave's partner bought it. In her email to me she said, "Bridie said to say HI !!!! We have clipped her and is now in work after weaning her foal. Thankyou for the wounderful easy going mare, she is a credit to you and your breeding.", which is all any breeder ever wants to hear from someone who has one of their homebred horses - A warm fuzzy moment for sure.

Dave brought some photos with him of the 'old baggage' so I have scanned them to put up on the blog. Bridie's foal, Stevie, is now weaned and Bridie is clipped and back in work. Bridie is a real stock horse and works stock on Dave and Christine's farm as well as proving to be a very handy trekking horse. She may even start jumping this coming season, a job I am sure she will just love!

Stevie - Bridie's foal!

Bridie and Stevie

Bridie and Baby Stevie

Bridie all grown up

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Chris Gaines

It was ten years ago that the Chris Gaines album came out. It was also ten years that the media gave itself a blackeye, by trashing one of the most incredible pieces of art in music history.

The media's treatment of this album was sickening. Garth actually had to put up with late night phone calls from Journalists asking him if he was suffering from a nervous breakdown and if he had a disorder that they were unaware of.

For some reason the media played dumb and couldn't figure out the concept. They came out with one liners, bagging the album before they ever listened to it.

If they did research, they would know Chris Gaines was given life in 1996, when Garth Brooks wrote a screen play about a fictional grunge artist from Australia who suffers a horrific car accident, according to the rumors in 1996 the plot also involved a murder the night of the grammy's with a coverup that gets uncovered by a journalist.

That was in 1996, paramount signed up to make the movie in 2000, but wanted Garth to do the soundtrack in 1999, which he did in the typical Garth way.

No stone was left unturn in the life of Chris Gaines, Chris's background, his parent background, his musical biography.

Apparently that wasn't enough for the media, they still played dumb, the reminded me of high school bullies when the geeky kids announces he's doing an experiment that they don't understand they just mock it and ask questions that are meant to embarrass.

So the album got released, there weren't actual reviews of the albums just pathetic questions directed to Garth, the album or movie didn't stand a chance, and then the screenwriter's wife was diagnosed with an aggresive form of cancer, delaying the final script, and Garth didn't want to push the man whilst his wife was ill.

(Thanks to BLL from Planet Garth for the information about the screenwriter, part of this blog post is taken from his message at the Planet Garth forums)

That was a crying shame because the music on the album was pure genius, this wasn't some ego driven project like Eminem's eight mile. The specific reason Garth made it about a Aussie grunge artist was that people couldn't say that hes making a movie about himself.

The handful of critics that actually reviewed the music, compared the style to a cross between Dylan and the Beatles. If you were handed the album and not told of the artist's name you would be blown away by the melody's, the soulfulness of the lyrics and the message, IMHO Garth's Chris Gaines's album was on a level of the best pieces of musical art in history.

I'm guessing if the Chris Gaines was thought up by Eddie Vedder or Eminem or any artist that wasn't involved in country music, it would of sweep the grammy's.

It's too bad the media hasn't grown up yet, I'm guessing they are saving all their good reviews for Britney Spears.

Meanwhile an album with such Classics as Lost in you and Drifitng Away and It don't matter to the sun is put to the back burner because the artist that created them was named Garth Brooks.

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Stimulus 2.0

This post appeared originally on the SC Liberty Blog on 7/12/09.

The madness never ends in DC.

The political class is now chattering about the need for a second stimulus. If we count the Bush stimulus from last year, this will be the third mass blowing of money in a desperate Keynesian move to counteract the laws of economics and produce wealth from nothing. Meanwhile, the deficit balloons, and the national debt grows by leaps and bounds.

When I hear people talk of hyperinflation and 20% unemployment, I tend to take those predictions with a grain of salt. Not anymore. I think those people are correct. This madness known as Obamanomics can only lead to higher taxes, higher unemployment, and higher inflation. The US economy has gone beyond being in the shitter and is headed straight for the septic tank.

I have to wonder what the fools who voted for Obama must be thinking now. At some point, it will become apparent to everyone that Barack Hussein Obama is a profoundly stupid individual, and anyone who voted for him or believed his lies is a shit-for-brains deluded fucknut.

Fixing this mess is relatively straightforward. Cut spending. Cut taxes. Abandon cap-and-trade. Audit the Fed. Ease up on regs. There is a lot DC can do, but they won't do it. They are like Krugman with his unfalsifiable thinking where failure only means we need to increase the madness.

The madness will stop. It will happen in 2010 when the American public becomes dissatisfied and votes in a massive Republican wave to Congress to act as a check on the Obama fools. This may explain the urgency on Obama's part to ram his policies through Congress. His window for tomfuckery is closing. For my part, it can't close soon enough.

The blame is starting to rest on Obama now. His approval ratings are starting to slide. This is not Bush's shitpile now. It is Obama's. He is going to own it, and he is going to pay. This is why they call it Stimulus 2.0 when it really is 3.0. People have forgotten Bush. This is all Obama now.

Now is the time for Republicans to rally and fight, but they are mostly like a wounded animal. Ron Paul is the only guy who hasn't shot himself in the foot, and the movement he started is gathering steam. It gets no MSM recognition, but it will.

As for Mark Sanford, that tepid rally of foes should bolster his spirits quite a bit. As I said, people aren't going to care. Resignation should be off the table. Sanford does a good job with his veto, and we need it esp. when Stimulus 2.0 comes.

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Putting an End to the War on Drugs

Originally published on the SC Liberty Blog on 4/11/09.

I am heartened by recent developments such as Eric Holder's decision to leave his hands off medical marijuana in California and Ron Paul's legislation to legalize hemp that is gaining support in Congress. But these are drops in the bucket compared to what is going on down in Mexico. Drug cartels have enormous power now and growing by the day. As it stands, those cartels exert more political and economic control than al-Qaeda and are gaining a higher body count. If anyone thinks that the answer to this problem is tighter enforcement of drug laws, they are deluded.

The cartels derive their power and muscle directly from the black market in drugs. Like mobsters during Prohibition, these criminals thrive in what amounts to a government created and protected racket. By outlawing drugs, the government assures that only the most violent outlaws will go into this business. The winners are the ones who are the most ruthless. Now, you have cartels assassinating police officers and political leaders and posting the videos on YouTube. Corruption rules the government in Mexico. Either through bribery or extortion, the drug cartels run the show in Mexico.

When will this madness end? I suspect it will happen when we see it cross the border into America in a big and public way. When DEA agents start getting bought off or whacked, American opinion of the drug war will change. It took the St. Valentine's Day Massacre to bring about the end of Prohibition, and that was just seven people.

Defenders of the drug war make all sorts of ludicrous claims in defense of their position. They say drugs will be everywhere if we legalize. I say that this has already happened. They say people will die of drug overdoses. Maybe, but do we really give a rip if fools get what they deserve? Better a druggie dying from his own habits than a citizen getting gunned down for the sake of a YouTube video.

The question I ask is this. Who are we fighting this war for? Who are we trying to save? Ultimately, the answer is that we are trying to save the lives of drug addicts and potential drug addicts. There are a large number of habitual and recreational drug users in this country whose insatiable demand is what is fueling the rise of these murderous cartels. This should make us stop and think a minute. Why do we spend so much money fighting the drug war in Colombia and Mexico when the problem is clearly a domestic issue? I have the answer to that.

The United States has developed a unique schizophrenia. We decry the very things we enjoy. We demonize obesity but eat our Big Macs. We despise smoking but continue to puff away. We feel guilty over having a beer. We have sermonizing preachers who decry the evils of sex and drug abuse, yet they indulge in those things as often as they can. Our champion against the sex trade was felled by his own demand for high dollar call girls.

Drugs are illegal in America because Americans can't own their actions and the consequences. They want the pleasures of these illicit activities, but they want others to bear the costs and responsibilities of these habits. In short, citizens die, and governments are corrupted to appease the guilt of the American people for having a good time. This is some sad shit.

The madness has to stop. The killing has to stop. We need to regain trust in our police officers. We need to admit that we like our drugs and take responsibility for our own actions. I see a few glimmers of hope on this, but I suspect that the body count has to get much higher and become more domestic before we decide to end this foolish war.

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The End of the SC Liberty Blog

I had an experiment in purely political blogging called the SC Liberty Blog that was the failed project that I mentioned abandoning with an earlier question. When should you end a project? Christa on Facebook had the classic reply "When you ask this question."

I am simplifying, and this project is one I can live without. It has no readership, and the information there becomes stale rapidly because it has to be timely. I think I can safely nuke the site.

The best stuff I had there will be reposted here.

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Simplicity

I have been on a simplifying trip lately. This is linked to my recent decision to quit watching televised sports. I have a lot of thoughts on this topic, and they won't be in any particular order.

I think spending money on sports equipment, boats, exercise equipment, etc. to engage in activities you don't actually do is a waste of money and time. The best example of this would be my brother who works all the time to pay off a boat he doesn't have time to use because he is working all the time to pay for stuff like that damn boat. (He will probably read this and kick my ass. But considering he doesn't work out with the deluxe weight set he owns, I think I can take him.)

I'm no different than my brother except I don't actually spend money on stuff like this. Most of my bullshit stops with just good intentions because I am broke. Ironically, I don't have a lot of stuff to deal with, and this results in a much simpler lifestyle.

I think people should spend money on big TV's, DVD players, laptop computers, videogames, and iPods. The reason is because those things will actually get used as opposed to that clothing rack people call the Bowflex. Gyms and infomercials prey on your good intentions, but the secret to getting in shape is that it costs very little. We just don't like doing it and buying expensive shit is an action that makes us feel good momentarily. But we are still going to spend the bulk of our leisure time with appliances with screens on them.

The same is true of outdoor activities. At various times, I have been interested in sea kayaking, bowhunting, hiking, surfing, and snowboarding. But all these things take money, and I know I will only do them a couple of times before I drop them. Why waste the time and money on this shit? But I had no problem dropping $300 for my new iPod Touch.

The rule on this shit is simple. Only buy shit you will actually use. I can also tell you that all those fun outdoorsy activities are overrated. This is why all those outdoorsy people bring their iPods and other gadgets with them. That shit is boring.

I don't believe in getting rid of everything in your life and living like some Buddhist monk. I do believe in getting rid of the extraneous and keeping the essential. Think of it as editing your life. Also, don't inflict upon yourself the buyer's remorse that comes from considering all the options you could have taken with your time and money. They really are limitless, but few are better than the ones you chose. Some dead BASE jumpers probably wished they had stayed home and surfed the internet the moment before they became one with the planet.

In other areas of my life, I am trying to tame my email which overflows constantly. I realize I am never going to read all of that shit. I have also overhauled the blog here (again) with an easier to read typeface and eliminating the YouTube videos from the blog that is under second party control. I hate clicking on dead vids, and they are filler anyway.

Simplicity is a way of life, and I am learning from the example of Steve Jobs in his design philosophy and Tim Ferris when it comes to lifestyle. You just want to scrape off the shit and leave the good stuff. This is simplicity.

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Resign?

This game remind me of the Oilers versus the Bills playoff match in the early 90's. No team should lose being 32-6 ahead. Heads must roll.

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