Rancho Blasto

Much has happened since I lasted posted anything.  The holidays were as busy as usual.  The annual Christmas Eve family party was special this year.  Susan and I had over 40 people to witness our son Robert ask his sweetie Ashley to be his bride.  She accepted his proposal, and we look forward to her joining our family.

Robert asking Ashley to be his bride

Before the big party, I escaped for a few days to hunt waterfowl with my son Brian, my good buddy Mark, and his friend Bagel Bob.  We had a really good shoot just south of Redding California.  Shot specks, honkers, wood ducks, widgeon, and mallards.  It was a real good time.

L to R: Mark, Bagel Bob, Brian, Carl

Susan and I went to Mexico for New Years with our friends Leslie and Rafael.  I drank way too much wine.  I think it was Wednesday of the following week before my left eye opened all the way.

I started my horse riding lessons over the holidays.  I really enjoy this latest pursuit.  I also went to the annual SHOT show again.  I have been going since 1983.  I really enjoy seeing my friends and business associates.  My lodge friends also honored me with the Hiram award.  To all of them I say, “thank you”.

L to R: Ron Salda, Merritt read, Carl Cupp, Phil Collins, Ron Maxwell

Since my last post, politics have sure been interesting.  The winds of change are blowing.  Unfortunately, California is still run by morons, but it would seem the people are waking up to all the crap we are being fed.  One issue after another is being exposed.  Waste and abuse is all too common.

The global warming fanatics have had a series of setbacks.  The elites that attended the conference in Europe were mocked by many of us.  Did they think we wouldn’t notice the hypocrisy of airports jammed with private jets, or the irony of a global warming summit being held while one of the worst blizzards in history raged just outside the meeting rooms?

Now their predictions of doom appear to have been based on faulty and fraudulent data.  The earth-Nazis, and their followers, still remain undeterred in the goal of global control of our economy.  I don’t think they will be successful since there is a growing belief of many, in this country anyway, that the movement is more of a faith based religion, than a fact based science.

Obama has just finished his first year as president.  I feel a little sorry for him.  Nobody seems to want to admit to voting for him anymore.  His performance this last year has not been very good.  He has turned out to be just what I thought, a lefty in way over his head.  He has proven to be an ineffective leader for the Democrats, and as the mayor of Las Vegas put it, “a real slow learner.”

The Iranians and North Koreans are still nuts.  So are the jihadists, the Sea Shepherds, and Hugo Chavez.  With this bunch on the loose, it’s funny that to some, we in the USA are supposed to apologize to the world for our actions.

I should have much to comment on, so stick around; we can all have a few laughs.

CJ Cupp

We have all heard the stories of greed and corruption at corporate levels.  There seems to be no shortage of unethical behavior committed by executives doing whatever it takes to enrich themselves at others expense.  Those unethical practices demonstrate a disregard for investors, and our laws.  In too many cases, that disregard has cost us billions in tax payer dollars.

When the scandals are exposed, it seems an appropriate public reaction to string these bastards up.  Even when we don’t personally own stock in one of the companies affected, we want blood.  Our system of free and fair enterprise has been dishonored.

Our economy is precious to us.  Everyone should understand how financial corruption and excessive greed affect our daily lives.  Prices can go up, and jobs can be lost.  We have lost confidence that the private sector can provide us with goods and services at a fair price.  We feel cheated at the pump, and robbed at the checkout stand.

I am amazed that our righteous anger against private sector excess has not transfer over to the excesses in the public sector.  Federal, state, and local governments should be held the same standard as Enron and AIG when they cross the line.  We should never fail to remember, that unlike Enron and AIG, all of us own stock in our government.  They have shown us time and again that government is capable of the same greed and excess.

We can’t afford to be lazy anymore.  This attitude is bankrupting us when we look the other way.  Too much of our tax money goes down a rat hole that is deep and dark.  The money is not only lost through the typical waste, fraud, and abuse, but increasingly through the excessive salaries and pensions paid to those in our employ.

I do not work for the government.  With the exception of my time in the US Army, I have always worked in the private sector.  I am proud of that.  My success or failure has always depended on how well I do my job.  I don’t get tenure, and I can’t get a pay raise by running TV ads saying, “It’s for the children.”

Working in the private sector, I face competition, governmental regulations, and the threat of an economy going down the toilet.  Any one of these could close the doors for good.  Then what?  I am I suppose to get the word out, as public employee unions do, by telling you that I am supported by police and firefighters?

Why should government employees, elected and otherwise, enjoy pay and benefits far in excess of what we in the private sector enjoy?  They receive pensions of 80-90% of their highest annual pay after only 20-25 years service.  In addition to monthly cash payments, these benefits often include generous healthcare plans, all at tax payer expense.

Those of us in the private sector must work 40-45 years before we can even think of retiring.  That retirement is most often paid for by the individual worker, or through a combination of employee and employer investments.  Not by increased tax rates and pension bonds.  Private retirement plans comes with a risk.  Mismanagement of our plans, or a down turn in the economy could threaten every dime.  Government pensions are essentially, guaranteed, whether we can afford it or not.

A further abuse of our system is that government employees, in many cases, are allowed to take a second government job after retiring from the first.  After all, at about age 50, they are still young. So while drawing a pension for the first job, and a paycheck for the second, they are earning a second pension.  Double dipping as it is called.  What a scam.

These generous benefits are often handed to our civil servants through union contracts.  What really pisses me off is that those elected officials charged with negotiating these contracts for us taxpayers, often receive money from the very unions they negotiate with.  They tell us the funds are used for legitimate purposes, you know, none of our business.  And we think the oil companies are stealing from us.

Contract negotiations with government employees should only be handled by those truly looking out for the tax payer.  If the negotiators, or their political party, receive funds or endorsements from any union in negotiations, they should be required by law to recues themselves from the process.  For the same reasons a politician can’t take money or hookers from a corporation competing for a big government contract.

I don’t want to suggest that government employees not get fair pay and benefits.  I just see no reason why those benefits should be one dime better than the average in the private sector.  Its bullshit that some 50 year old bureaucrat is living the good life, when I have 20 years to go before I can even think of retiring on a fraction of what that guy will get.

Like fair trade, benefits and hardships should be equally shared and on the same level.  Here in California, the hardship of this recession has been almost completely borne on the backs of the private sector.  Our government employees have been spared most of the pain.  Some unions have even secured deals guaranteeing no layoffs.  If we complain, elected officials threaten to cut off fire and police protection unless we agree to tax hikes.  These people have no shame.

With so many working for the various government agencies, we all know someone on the public payroll.  It seems like half the country is on the government payroll.  We know all about the good deals they get.  So we must sit and grit our teeth.  To keep peace, we are supposed to ignore that we are being hosed.

So, to all my friends and family that work for the government, know that we love you, but were getting angry.  I will let you in on a little secret.  We are talking behind your backs, and it’s getting louder.

CJ Cupp

What is going on?  I am witnessing a meltdown?  I don’t even know where to start.  Joe Wilson, the Healthcare protests, Van Jones, ACORN, and even Jimmy Carter are really derailing this administration.  Most of the lefty pundits are losing their collective minds trying to spin this.  I actually feel sorry for the president.

All the knuckleheads on his side of the aisle, have taken the debate away from him.  Obama can’t sit down and discuss his initiatives without addressing the crap that his allies have laid on his front lawn.  He is supposed to try this weekend, so we will see.

ACORN is a big problem that is not going away soon.  Lots of light is showing under that rock, and the president is a little too close.  The various government agencies charged with policing corruption will have no choice but to move forward with investigations.  The congress has already begun to remove funding, and those that gained power with the help of ACORN soldiers, will be increasingly distant.  No cavalry riding to the rescue.

The big rally in Washington last weekend has also caused the president serious trouble.  First off, the media is playing catch up, having missed this story coming.  They were really surprised by the numbers, and the anger.  As I watched the cable shows, Democratic pundits waved their arms in disbelief, decrying that people actually referred to the president as Hitler.  James Carville referred to the marchers as neo-confederates.  Wow!  It’s a clever shot, but it’s going to piss a whole lot of people off.

We all know what it was like when Bush was running things.  No mercy.  The left was relentless, disrespectful, and brutal.   I didn’t like it much then, and I am not keen on it now, but they did start it.  They made it acceptable to degrade the president.  Now that there guy is getting a little heat, all they can do is whine.

The left has no idea on how to handle all the troubles erupting at once.  In order to defend their guy, their programs, and their activist groups, they have fallen back on a tried and true tactic.  You know; call’em racists.  Problem is, they started calling so many people racists, they are unable to coordinate the hate.  It has all started running together, so they just painted with a really broad brush.

How stupid are they?  This is pouring gasoline on a forest fire.  You can call one man racist, you can call a police department racist, and you can call a corporation racist, it’s always worked in the past.  But calling more than half the country racist?  It ain’t gonna work this time guys.  Remember, you play the race card, you don’t throw the whole deck.

The president has made an attempt to calm the situation.  He came out with a statement saying there was no racism in the Van Jones affair, and that he accepted Joe Wilson’s apology.  Good idea, but it was a week too late, and pretty much ignored.  The left and the news media are moving way too fast for you.  They are on board the racism express, and stopping in everyone’s home town.

Obama has got to start taking charge here.  He has to begin by regaining control of the news cycle.  He needs a bold move, one that is sure to make everyone pay attention.  He must remind Americans he is in control of the agenda.  I would like to offer an idea that is sure to help the president.

Go punch Jimmy Carter in the mouth.

Trust me.  You’ll make lots of friends.

CJ Cupp

I decided late to run out for the last weekend of dove shooting.  Mark had his girls, Al came from Texas, and Rob had the rest of the gang.  Rob had already been there a couple days, and had found the spot, limits around.

The spot had the birds alright, but it was a shit hole.  It was a dump area for damaged cantaloupe, next to large manure piles.  The 100 plus degree days had created an unbelievably nasty smell, rotten and shitty sweet.  The melons were scattered next to a dirt road for at least a ¼ mile, and maybe 100 yards wide.  There were cattle standing in the middle of it, gorging on the rotting melon.  Along with them were ravens, doves, and millions of flies.

The flies appeared to be one gigantic swarm over the whole area.  It was ugly.  Mark and I were the only ones brave enough to challenge the flies this morning.  When we asked Rob if he would come with us, he said, “Fuck the flies!”  He had been there the day before.  He had enough.  He and the others went to hunt the creosote to our north.  Now by ourselves, Mark and I loaded up, and slid into a line of low cat claw bushes north of the road, and watched the sky.

As the sun got higher, you could actually see the cloud of flies, faintly black and higher than the manure piles.  They were relentless.  Bug spray didn’t work, and swatting at them was pointless.  I cussed at myself for wearing short sleeves.  Standing still, all we could hear was the constant buzzing.  But the dove were also buzzing.  Wads of Mourning dove from behind us in the creosote were coming over our heads and landing in the melon.

Our first couple shots scattered the cattle and they moved off, but not the flies.  My hands, arms, and legs were covered.  They were on my face, and I had to constantly work to keep them out of my nose and eyes.  Mark told me later he had ate at least three that crawled into his mouth.

It was so bad, I remarked to my good buddy that we looked like Ethiopian refugees, and that at any moment, Bono would step out of the bushes and offer us a bowl of rice.  Mark laughed and suggested Sally Struthers instead of Bono.  He said at least we could ask her to show us her tits.  That’s what I love about hunting with Mark, he always thinking of me.

Each time we shot, the flies would lift off of us for a second, then land again.  It was all a bit much, but the shooting was great.  Our bird counts were going up steadily.  Mark and I lit up a couple cigars and started talking about politics between the birds.  The flies paid no attention.

Mark was fired up about Joe Wilson.  He is the South Carolina congressman who called president Obama a liar during his speech on health care.  The president had said that the proposed plan would not cover illegal aliens.  At that moment, Wilson yelled out the now famous quote;”you lie!”  This outburst momentarily silenced Obama and drew a look from Nancy Pelosi that would turn any man to stone.

For calling the president on his crap, Wilson was a hero to Mark.  He argued with me that he didn’t care about decorum, he was just happy someone finally called Obama on his bullshit.  I agreed with Mark.  He is pretty good at making his point, especially since he had more birds then me.

We all know how the game is played.  We have all been played by politicians for a long time.  The president has no intention of keeping illegal aliens from getting benefits.  He may state that the illegals are not entitled, but it’s all bullshit.  Regardless of what it says in the bill, Obama and the Democrats have no desire to enforce any such provision.  That’s why they defeated enforcement amendments twice.

Wilson’s outburst, no matter how disrespectful of the occasion, changed the game.  It put the Democrats in a tough spot.  They have to back off their current insincere game plan, and quickly switch to a new one.  Like the flies, they back off only when you disturb them, and in a second, they land on us again.

You can’t deny this game our politicians play.  They will do what they have to in order to get what they want.  If not all at once then incrementally.  In this case, Joe Wilson has made sure they are stuck denying health care benefits to illegal aliens.  So they just have to make sure there are no illegal’s anymore.  Problem solved!  Amnesty will now be paramount.

As I stuffed my last bird into my vest, I said “Let’s get the hell out here”.  Mark already had his limit.  I have been chasing him and that damn model 12 for years.   We packed up quickly, and went to look for Rob.  As we drove out, I looked out the window and thought it funny how much this spot was like Washington.  Keep your eyes open, and remember most politicians are like the flies, they eat shit and bother people.

CJ Cupp