It's been months since I went to an IPSC match.  The stars just wouldn't align themselves to allow it with the Boomershoot, troubles at work and home life all contributing factors.  Finally there is nothing holding me back except a gun that is filled with lint and dust from being carried so much without use or cleaning and virtually no practice during that time.  I'll clean it when I get to the range.  The match itself will be "practice".  I'm hoping I'll be in the top half of the competitors.

When they took the fourth amendment,
I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs.

When they took the sixth amendment,
I was quiet because I was innocent.

When they took the second amendment,
I was quiet because I didn't own a gun.

Now they've taken the first amendment,
and I can say nothing about it.

yento@scn.org

An armed republic submits less easily to the rule of one of its citizens than a republic armed by foreign forces. Rome and Sparta were for many centuries well-armed and free. The Swiss are well-armed and enjoy great freedom. Among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible. It is not reasonable to suppose that one who is armed will obey willingly one who is unarmed; or that any unarmed man will remain safe among armed servants.

Machiavelli
The Prince; Chapter 17

I've been watching the log for my PNNL info site and noticed there were a fair number of referrals coming in from search engines.  I did my own searches and came up with interesting results:

• Google for PNNL: my site comes in at number seven.
• MSN Search for PNNL: my site comes in at number five.
• MSN Search for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: my site comes in at number three.

The other search engines appear to be a little behind but they don't matter nearly as much.

Thanks to everyone for linking to the site as per my suggestions on this page.  That helped make the above happen.

I'm in the process of making some more changes that should boost the visibility even more.  And since I've been seeing the Google bot traverse the website recently that can only be good news.

Barb and I made it back home tonight and as I was going through my piles of email I found this gem from Alan Korwin, author of numerous books on gun laws:

18 USC 241. If two or more people conspire to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured under the Constitution or laws of the United States, they shall be fined, or imprisoned up to ten years, or both.

I wonder... Does firing someone from their job meet the legal definition of "injure" or "oppress"?  I'm not sure--but you can be certain I will be finding out soon.

You can't shoot somebody just because they are a scumbag.  They have to have the ability, opportunity, and have put an innocent person in imminent jeopardy of life or serious bodily harm.  If you are looking to just shoot somebody go to some other country and buy a tag.

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms in order to have a "well-regulated militia."  People with little understanding interpret that as meaning the National Guard or some other government organization.  But here's how George Mason, one of our unsung framers, responded to the question, "I ask, sir, what is a militia?"  Mason answered, "It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."  James Madison said, "Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion...in private self-defense."

George Washington said, "When firearms go, all else goes...we need them every hour."  The framers of our Constitution knew well that an armed citizenry was the ultimate defense against government tyranny.  As for crime, Thomas Paine said, "The peaceable part of mankind will be overrun by the vile and abandoned while they neglect the means of self-defense...(but) arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe....Horid mischief would ensue were the good deprived of the use of them."

-Walter Williams-
Periodical
Colorado Springs Gazette
4/24/94

And Miss (Attorney General Janet) Reno, I say to you: If you send your jackbooted, baby-burning bushwackers to confiscate my guns, pack them a lunch.  It will be a damned long day.  The Branch Davidians were amateurs.  

I'm a professional.

Harry Thomas
NRA Board Member

Most people are grass-eaters with their heads down on the ground.  The jackals and lions know this and think of them as that.  Hold your head up and walk like you are the biggest, badest lion that walks.  The jackals and lions will notice and leave you alone because they don't want to get hurt.  Don't challenge them because they might feel they have to respond to it. All you want is their respect, not their dignity.

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

[T]he government of the United States, under Lyndon Johnson, proposes to concern itself over the quality of American life. And this is something very new in the political theory of free nations.  The quality of life has heretofore depended on the quality of the human beings who gave tone to that life, and they were its priests and its poets, not its bureaucrats.

William F. Buckley, Jr.
Periodical
National Review, August 7, 1965

Who can protest an injustice but does not is an accomplice in the act.

The Talmud

Barb and I have been home for a few hours now and we are about to leave again for a few more days of vacation.  Earlier this week we visited Washington State (Benton City), Oregon (Madras and Mt. Hood), Nevada (McDermitt, Virginia City, and Tahoe), and California (Carmichael).

Barb asked why I talk about the "compound" and my "arsenal" in previous posts about leaving home with the kids in charge.  It's because back in the late 90's when I worked at Microsoft every time some gun owner would get arrested the police would pile all his guns and ammo on the front lawn for the media to take pictures of.  And the news people would talk about his "arsenal".  If the guy was in a little bit of a rural area and had a few outbuildings then they would say he had a "compound".  It became a joke with the Microsoft Gun Club.  The media was choosing words to demonize gun owners.  We adapted the words and made fun of them.  I am just continuing in that fashion.  Just like the "Red-necked, knuckle dragging, Neanderthal" subtitle.  You neutralize the people who attempt to demonize you buy adopting words prior to them using them on you.  So...

Again the kids, dogs, and cat are in charge of the "arsenal" and the "compound" while we are gone.  Xenia will post the Quote of the Day until I get Internet access again.

We ask that the government undertake the obligation above all of providing citizens with adequate opportunity for employment and earning a living. The activities of the individual must not be allowed to clash with the interests of the community, but must take place within its confines and be for the good of all. Therefore, we demand: . . . and end to the power of the financial interests. We demand profit sharing in big business. We demand a broad extension of care for the aged. We demand  . . . the greatest possible consideration  of small business in the purchases of national, state, and municipal governments. In order to make possible to every capable and industrious [citizen] the attainment of higher education and thus the achievement of a post of leadership, the government must provide an all-around enlargement of our entire system of public education . . . . We demand the education at government expense of gifted children of poor parents . . .

The government must undertake the improvement of public health - by protecting mother and child, by prohibiting child labor . .  by the greatest possible support for all clubs concerned with the physical education of youth. We combat the  . . .  materialistic spirit within and without us, and are convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only proceed from within on the foundation of the common good before the individual good.

 

Excerpts from the political program of the Nazi Party, adopted in Munich, on Feb 24, 1920 - source- DER NATIONALSOZIALISMUS DOKUMENTE 1933-1945 , edited by Walther Hofer, Frankfurt am Mein: Fischer Bucherei, 1957 pp 29-31

A few days ago I posted that a magazine wanted to interview me about being fired as a result of my blogging.  The email was sent on Sunday morning and I didn't receive it until very late on Sunday night when I came into civilization and an Internet connection.  It turns out I didn't get back in touch with them in time to meet their deadline--so no interview.

It was People Magazine.

Kim du Toit posted about both his and my adverse experiences because of our websites.  Kim made a comment about PNNL being "a company of skunks".  I posted a comment in response and I think the same posting here is justified.  I fixed a few typos and grammar errors but otherwise the following posting is the same as my comment there:

My "model" for what happened to me was that there were a few people that had big anti-gun biases and no checks and balances for the power they held.  None of my co-workers, my project manager, nor none of the people in the projects I managed were ever asked anything about me.  Some of them first found out I had been fired, after not being able to make contact with me for a couple weeks, by reading my blog!  I suspect "Safeguards and Security" gets raises based on how many people they get fired or disciplined.  In that situation they look for whoever has the highest "profile"--me in this case.  And the process apparently doesn't allow for presentation of the evidence to the accused and a chance for the accused to present evidence or witnesses in their favor.  For example: They asked me if there was any Official Use Only (OUO) material on a laptop when my wife and daughter used it.  I said no, I didn't think so.  A few days later I remembered there were some documents that were marked OUO.  But those documents were old.  All the OUO restrictions had been removed but the documents on the computer had not been updated and the OUO markings removed.  They did not ask me or any one that might have known that.  I suspect, but can't say for certain, that is one instance of how they claimed I violated policy.  There were numerous other things that I suspect they may have discovered that at first glance looked bad but had innocent or even praiseworthy justification.  They never asked anyone who would have known the truth.

So... my summation of the situation is: The Process is Broken.  For the most part I believe the lab and the people there are doing a decent job and are decent people.  Some of the projects really should be done in the private sector rather than on taxpayer money but that isn't the fault of the lab.  That is the fault of our congress critters.

In my particular case management is in a tough position.  A couple of jerks screwed me over.  I suspect management has done their own investigation by now and know my case has at least some merit.  Now what do they do?  Their main function is the make the company money.  If they fire the jerks, as they should be, then I can use that against them in my wrongful termination suit--costing the company money.  If they come to me and say, "We have a couple of bad eggs and a bad process, we want to make it right with you."  then they put themselves in the position of giving away money they didn't have to.   What they have to do, in my opinion, is wait for me to file my lawsuit then evaluate their chances of winning and the cost of doing so versus settling with me.  Throw in the bad publicity they will have to deal with while the event is going on and afterwords, if I win, and come up what gives them the best odds financially.  One cannot expect them to "do the right thing".  It would be unethical from the standpoint of the company finances.   They must be forced to do the right thing.

So... I tend to disagree with Kim's assessment.

My "job" at this point is to help them realize the truth coming out will be more financially painful than fixing the problems a bad process and a couple of "bad eggs" created.  The FOIA requests, the Privacy Act Information Requests, and the publicity around my experience will be a festering boil for them.  The lawsuit will just be the lance that forces it to drain and heal with as little scaring as possible--for everyone except the couple of jerks.  Those people need to be held personally responsible and there is a fair chance I may be able to accomplish that.