tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24170767671699888492024-03-13T20:12:17.886-07:00Anything You WantThis is my stream of consciousness. It is not debate space. I am the publisher here. Questions and respectful discussion are encouraged. Typical net forum and blog behavior (lack of critical thought, assumptions, deductions based on same) is not tolerated.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-72634433698965632292016-02-26T09:10:00.000-08:002016-02-26T15:27:29.994-08:00In other news: a rush in gun sales following the latest mass shooting...<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="3f8cj-0-0" style="background-color: white;">
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apparently it is news, and somehow supports some of the Gun Culture arguments, that concealed carry permits and gun sales have gone through the roof in the communities which have recently hosted the latest mass shootings.
They report this like it's news. More guns is the only way to make us safer.
Gun Culture proclaims that it is a natural reaction to violence, that people are responsible for their own protection, and that we cannot rely on laws to protect us. They are correct, in their first two points.
This is not a call for more laws. That is a different discussion.
This is pulling back of the curtain of the third argument, it is clear where the cause lies.
People aren't just buying more guns because they understand the first two arguments. They are rushing to buy even more firearms because, well, it's simple.
Because, we, as a society, refuse to do something about the killings.
Until we do, the only solution will be more guns and more death. </span></span></div>
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Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-40093606723707035242014-09-26T10:25:00.001-07:002014-09-26T10:25:38.569-07:00I've been using the Internet wrong.<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: AtlasTypewriterRegular, 'Andale Mono', Consolas, 'Lucida Console', Menlo, 'Luxi Mono', monospace; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; max-width: 48.75rem;">
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I've suspected it for a while. A recent article prompted me to think a little deeper, look more inward, on how I interact with the Web. It was a Facebook post that starts, "America has become the land of the perpetually offended," by Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station: <a href="http://www.stonekettle.com/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-transition: color 150ms ease; background: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; transition: color 150ms ease;" target="_blank">http://www.stonekettle.com/</a></div>
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I first met Jim when we were sharing posts about the mass shootings hitting the news so frequently over the last couple years. I shared my own experience as a LEO, an armed private security guard and trainer, and a mercenary in Iraq in 2004. But I digress...</div>
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Back in 1988, when I discovered the Internet, it was mostly mailing lists and USENET. There was even a BBS or two that I visited -- all via 2400 baud modem and a dumb terminal.</div>
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While there is a flood of information, the actual interactions of most Netizens hasn't changed. Actually, it's gotten worse.</div>
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While the Internet and all it contains is amazingly useful information, research, discusson and work it's also something else. It's a perpetual, ever ending, self-feeding, offended outrage machine.</div>
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I've found myself, especially over the last few years, drawn in, time and time again, over this offense, that outrage. In some cases there was clearly someone wrong on the Internet and it needed to be fixed (yeah, right). But mostly, it was outrage after outrage. My friend <a class="user-mention" href="https://ello.co/courtnee" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-transition: color 150ms ease; background: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; transition: color 150ms ease;">@courtnee</a> has mentioned this too.</div>
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I've come to the realization that, especially on places like Facebook, Google+ and potentially, new places like this, can turn into nothing more than fuel for the Outrage Machine. Are there things that truly deserve our outrage and, this is key, our attention and energy? Absolutely. It is only through sharing issues and challenges in our society, by communicating about them, that we get visibility and, hopefully, eventually, some action.</div>
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But a lot of it, a vast majority, is just information meant to poke, to prod, to entertain, and to outrage. It's toxic, I'm coming to understand, reading headline, after link-bait, after shared article, after stupid comment (I'm doing much better at not even looking at comments anymore on any newspaper article or story). Someone committed a horrific crime, someone said something stupid about equal rights, women, homosexuality, or politics.</div>
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Ick. Done with feeding at that trough for the most part. The world is vast, the challenges many, and the opportunities for useless and fruitless outrage so very, very many. But that is only if we eat, consume and contribute the never ending cycle of sharing, of promoting offense and outrage, of entertaining myself with conflict.</div>
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Don't need it. Don't want it. Time to wean off of it.</div>
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Outrage and offensensitivity does not serve my life.</div>
Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-37406954212579849402014-08-21T07:55:00.002-07:002014-08-21T07:55:37.485-07:00Enchanted Sidearms for the Police.<div style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">
Let's just assume for a moment that this man did not have a weapon in his hands. Can you go with that?</div>
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Now let me address it from that standpoint. Deadly force is not authorized, by any use of force guidelines of which I'm aware, due to a suspect acting irrationally. Just because someone may want to complete a suicide by cop doesn't mean you oblige them.</div>
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There were two officers there. Were they so untrained, so unprepared with other use of force options, that their only solution to a problem such as this is to *take the subject's life*???</div>
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What kind of incompetent, uncaring, uncompassionate LEO does that? People call the police to solve problems. Sidearms are a solution to a very small subset of the variety of problems that police face every day. As soon as they become the primary solution, this is what you get.</div>
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When I was in the academy, we were in Defensive Tactics class every single day, for two hours a day, during 6 months of training. We practiced moving from one use of force option to the next, and back again, based on the situation at hand. Yes, that included holstering your sidearm to go hands on and subdue a suspect, for our own safety -- and get this -- theirs too.</div>
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Pulling your sidearm should not limit your options. It's not like some mythical sword in some fantasy novel, where it must taste blood before it can be put away.</div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08/20/breaking-video-footage-of-st-louis-cops-gunning-down-kajiemi-powell/</span>Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-47797692809951760662014-02-07T14:12:00.002-08:002017-11-05T20:20:32.120-08:00Ending the ShameWhat is the malfunction of our society, here in America, where we treat addiction as a crime, instead of a disease or syndrome that we can treat? Why cannot we realize, even for an instant, that laws don't prevent those addicted to alcohol or drugs, from falling into the abyss of addiction? What is our malfunction, as a society, that we refuse see the tragic mistakes we make around addiction? Why do we not care?<br />
<br />
Is it because, for most of the population, addiction is a thing that they think happens to others? If that is the case, where the hell is our compassion and empathy? I can tell you where it is. It's subsumed by self-pride. You see, in our rush to hold ourselves up as stronger, better, without that particular failing, we judge those with addiction as possessing a weakness. Those people, those drunks, those addicts, those thugs, those criminals; they are flawed. And we aren't like that. Not us, as we turn towards our daily drink, or stagger home from yet another weekend party, writing a hangover check that will be cashed the next day.<br />
<br />
Are we truly that ignorant, in our hubris, in our pride, that we see this only one way; that the addict is weak and, since we are not addicted, we are not weak? We are better. More an adult. More responsible. Yes. Better. Yes. There. That makes us feel better, doesn't it?<br />
<br />
And society thinks they will never fall to addiction, as they have that second candy bar after a stressful meeting at work, or start counting the hours until that after dinner drink, or drinks.<br />
<br />
But they aren't addicted, not them. Not them.<br />
<br />
The judgement rolls on, keeping alcoholics and addicts in the dark. It prevents many who need it from seeking help, walling them off from the support of their fellow human beings. They end up trapped behind those walls, in a dark solitude, until, finally -- either they pay for this in their deaths, or finally swallow their pride and seek out help. Yet, that help is often in secret, so no one knows. No one must know. If others knew, there would be shame, judgement, possible lack of status, of employment, gone relationships, loss of status as a responsible person.<br />
<br />
"You are weak. You are an addict. You chose this. You should be ashamed. You should not have started. You should just stop."<br />
<br />
I would bet some of the people saying things like this to addicts smoke cigarettes and tried to quit but have failed. There is also a chance they are veterans of many failed diets; overweight, possibly diabetic, looking down a road that ends in completely preventable death of cardio-vascular disease. Let's not leave out the "social drinker" who has, by sheer luck, not yet been pulled over for their first well deserved DUI, who is celebrating their status as life of the party, who looks forward to the end of the day for their drink.<br />
<br />
The self-blindness of human beings is appalling, legion and pervasive.<br />
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The only way this can change is to bring light to what addiction is really about. It's not about weakness, lack of morality, or being less of a human than the blind judge. It's being all too human, but with some difference, some wiring that the Judge is fortunate enough to lack -- if in truth are not also afflicted with something they are simply blind to.<br />
<br />
The only way to bring light to it is to speak openly, saying, "fuck you" to the judges of the world, and doing what is right for us, and for our fellow man.<br />
<br />
Russell Brand had done so in light of the tragic and unexpected death of the great actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman. He has spoken powerfully and courageously of his own daily battle with addiction. As Brand has stated so eloquently, because of the media circus surrounding other actors and celebrities, we expect them to fall to this. We possibly even cheer it (they deserved it, remember?), because a media that reinforces the shame of addiction and holds up victims as flawed and weak. So, how are we are surprised by the death of Hoffman?<br />
<br />
Surprised?<br />
<br />
We are only surprised because of our sheer hubris and ignorance, not because we weren't paying attention.<br />
<br />
On October 5th of last year, I was given a tough life blow. I had a couple year relationship with a woman that I thought was based on mutual respect, honesty, compassion and, yes, on love. The outcome of that day was a feeling of being quite thoroughly and summarily dumped. I was set adrift, wondering what the hell happened. I was basically "laid off" from a relationship so neatly. What did I do, or not to, to make her decide that she didn't want me anymore?<br />
<br />
In all honesty, the woman who said she didn't want me anymore isn't the villain here. She isn't. Decisions of the heart are often hard. I knew this. Though it would have been easy to turn on her, I deliberately chose not to punish her for not being able to be straight with me. I still feel some love for her. I can't be mean -- not to her. Not really.<br />
<br />
But, the question remained; why didn't she want me anymore? I asked myself that question all the next day as I sat alone, drinking whisky. Drinking both numbed the pain and drove me deeper into self-doubt and depression. The numbness was nice, comforting, and something I thought I needed. Actually, in all honesty, I thought I was escaping the pain but, in reality I was weaving a trap, one I had made before. I did it when my mother died. I did it when my father died. I did it when my brother died. I did it when my other brother died. I did it when my partner of five years dumped me the weekend my father died. Each time, I thought I was medicating my pain but, in reality it was just me hurting myself by starting the episode with these words:<br />
<br />
"Fuck it," he says again, reaching for the bottle.<br />
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By the way, before I go on. To her, to my ex who dumped me in October: Thank you. Really.<br />
<br />
You will see why shortly.<br />
<br />
I can be mean to myself and I did just that. That night, as my loving partner returned from a day away, I was quite thoroughly drunk. Oh, I wasn't falling over, passing out, or throwing up all over our home. I was feeling no pain -- physically. She knew why I was hurting. She had seen this before and, true to her kindness, patience, and forbearance, simply let me go to bed and sleep it off.<br />
<br />
The next day, I felt like hell. I suffered at work, finally giving up and calling her into an office before I left for home.<br />
<br />
I sat down with my partner and said to the person who loves me, honestly, openly, "I don't know if I'm an alcoholic -- maybe I am -- but I want to stop drinking. I don't like the patterns I've been seeing in how I drink. I'm not present. I'm not clear enough. I'm getting too old for this cycle of drinking and not feeling well afterward. Also, I don't need it. I really don't. I have to stop. I don't ever want to drink anymore. I know I said it three months ago and four months before that. This time, I mean it. I really do."<br />
<br />
There, I said it. I said it to myself, to a person who loves me very much, and later, to a few others. <br />
<br />
To her credit, that day, she found me a program to join.<br />
<br />
By the way, the program I'm in isn't AA. If you want to know what it is, just ask. I'll share it with you. The religious overtones, the punitive nature that I perceived in how AA dealt with responsibility, how they made you reliant on another for your success didn't speak to me.<br />
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I've been in that program since the week of my birthday. I should finish it this spring. All my program is, for me, is talking, clearly stating my intent, and keeping that commitment to myself and my partner. The other members are just those that I support and who act as witnesses to my intent. That intent and commitment is simple: I will not drink again, ever. Not ever.<br />
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I've seen others in this program who I would look at and say to myself, "well, at least I'm not as bad off as that guy." Oh, in the past, I also have trotted out how I'm not a drug addict. No sir. Not me. I'm too smart for that. See?<br />
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And in that, I was doing exactly what I find so reprehensible about the judges of our society I addressed above. True, at least I didn't say it to that drunk, or that addict, but I said it to myself, and I said it to my partner. Many times I pointed out to concerned others how I never had a DUI, never lost my job because of drinking, didn't make a host of bad decisions people usually associate with alcohol. I'm responsible. That was my justification to not look honestly at myself. I refused to see that alcohol wasn't good for me, that I didn't understand what it did to me but, mostly that I didn't care if I did know.<br />
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In the end, though, I needed was to be hurt enough, angry enough, or bored enough, and I'd hurt myself with alcohol. The sheer stupidity of hurting myself like that, after someone else has already hurt me by treating me poorly -- it just boggles the mind.<br />
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Facing reality is hard sometimes. I will tell you that facing it with a clear head sure seems to work for me much better than coming out of a self-medicated fog, into a hangover, collecting myself and waiting for the next blow.<br />
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No more. My life is mine. Sometimes it's going to be wonderful and sometimes it will be an abyss of difficulty. Either way, whether in triumph or despair, alcohol will not improve it -- not one bit. Not at all.<br />
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With that said, I come back around to the shame. I've told very few people. Good friends have been told, others have guessed and, you know what?<br />
<br />
Not one has judged me that I can tell. Not one. So, what was the shame about?<br />
<br />
It's about you people. Those of you in organized religion, you in the media, you who are fortunate enough not to be addicted but also unfortunate enough to not have any damn empathy. It's you who keep those struggling in addiction there, with your Drug War laws, your gossip after holiday parties, with your unwillingness to support health (medical and mental) programs that would help our fellow citizens. It's also your inability to reach out to someone who needs it and ask, "are you OK?"<br />
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Because it's easier to judge, save a little of your precious tax money, demand that it not be spent on "those people", while you continue to operate in a empathetic void towards your fellow human beings.<br />
<br />
Well, to you I say, "Fuck you."<br />
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I stand here, unashamed for my life or my decisions. I'll stand this ground. Free by my own decisions. I'll continue here, open, caring, and willing to spend whatever time anyone needs to become free of their shame and the dark abyss of addiction.<br />
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My arms are open. Whoever you are, you will make it. Just take the step. My arms are open.<br />
<br />
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<br />Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-76116545957221175482013-03-04T08:59:00.001-08:002014-06-06T15:09:23.123-07:00Response to "My Life as a Tyrant"Response to <a href="http://chrishernandezauthor.com/2013/01/15/my-life-as-a-tyrant/comment-page-2/#comment-1129">My Life as a Tyrant</a>.<br />
<br />
Update: He hasn't posted my comment.<br />
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Having served in a metropolitan police force a decade ago and having served as private security in Iraq in 2004; I hear you. I hear you on the abuses in Kosovo (the tyranny) and on how citizens need to protect themselves. My thought is that personal firearms are for personal defense; "protecting yourself or another from grave bodily injury or death."<br />
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Like you, I have little or no problem with legal carry and ownership, especially if the person carrying is qualified (most are not) to handle those firearms for self defense. Sadly, most are not qualified, most are not trained in bring their firearms to bear in a combat situation. I'll touch on this later.<br />
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Now, what I write next may seem to disagree with you. It may be arguing for the banning of the possession of some weapons. In essence I'm not. I just has some concerns about the ramifications of saying the 2nd amendment protects us from the tyranny of ourselves (our government). As for protecting ourselves from the tyranny of our government? I don't know how that is possible or practical in any real sense.<br />
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Why? That would mean weapons of war in the hands of civilians. We are talking about AR variants in their many forms which, with the exception of one function (select fire), are basically functionally the same as the weapons you and I carried overseas. You carried weapons of war. I carried weapons of war. I'll say it again. Many of the AR variants sold today by the manufacturers and dealers are functionally the same as what you and I carried. The only thing missing is select fire.<br />
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Even with that function missing, you and I both know just how effective an AR variant is, even in single-shot mode. <br />
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Should the general population have access to weapons of war? I really don't know. I don't have an easy answer for that. We could try to ban them, as we have attempted to do in the past. It didn't work very well. It especially won't work very well when the technology exists *today* to use 3D modeling software and a 3D printer to "print" an AR lower receiver and large cap magazines. The latest version of that lower receiver shot over 600 rounds before failure. It cost almost nothing to produce. *Anyone* with the software, the plans file and a printer could have made one. <br />
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Add all the accessory components available over the internet and from local dealers and -- Bingo! Instant weapon of war.<br />
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There are more weapons in currently in the hands of civilians in this country than we have in the hands of trained military. It's not practical, nor even possible, to collect them all. I don't think it will ever be. Would you participate in the door to door search and ollection of said firearms? When, not if, but when the inevitable confrontation breaks out, would you return effective and deadly fire? That is the situation every front line solider and police officer would face. The government knows this.<br />
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Can the government convince our front line soldiers and police to try to take them away? Can they convince our front line soldiers and police to get into firefights with civilians by deeming them domestic terrorists? It's possible they can. Such confrontations always depend on the willingness of the front line enforcers to carry out the orders of their superiors. <br />
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Even in your situation, you could not stop Joe. No one would listen to you.<br />
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So we have an uneasy state of balance in this country. There are really more firearms out there already than we can every hope to take away. They are in the hands of a populace that, to a significant degree, will not turn them in. There is even another significant part of the populace that, dare I say, is actually hoping someone will try. Those are the deterrent to any real attempt to remove firearms from the populace.<br />
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But we also have a problem. Those same AR variants are falling into the hands of people who are "good guys" on paper. Those good guys are turning out to be not so good. They are mowing down innocent theater goers, children in schools, with those same weapons of war. Other "nice quiet men" (yes, they are mostly men), are using handguns to clean out coffee shops in Seattle to avenge supposed wrongs.<br />
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Now, the pat response to this from some "gun rights" advocates is to have more firearms out there, to arm more people, to arm our teachers, our firefighters, our first responders. Really?<br />
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There has to be another answer to gun violence in this country than "more guns". There has to be an answer to the Gun Culture in this country, the fear they continue to feed, the violence they continue to dismiss with rhetorical hand waving, and the hand they have in the same violence. When I say Gun Culture, I'm taking about the people who don't see weapons as a tool but as a hobby, a fetish, a multi-million dollar line of business, and a security blanket.<br />
<br />
That same Gun Culture fights, at every front, at any reasonable (yes some are quite reasonable) attempts to regulate the ownership, sale and transfer of weapons. They see *any* regulation as infringement. I am of the opinion that they are wrong and, the thing is, it helps the mentally unstable, the criminal, the "bad guys" get access to what are basically weapons of war.<br />
<br />
This United States of America has a real problem with gun violence. That problem is fed through a deadly combination of fear mongering, afraid people, opportunistic politicians and capitalists, and entertainment where violence and firearms are the stars, not the actors.<br />
<br />
I believe that we have a legal right to have the ability to effectively protect ourselves and others from the imminent threat of grave bodily injury or death. I believe that firearms are effective and reasonable tools to that end. <br />
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I also believe that the firearm ownership in this country is an effective deterrent to outright government tyranny.<br />
<br />
But I also believe we have a serious problem with gun violence in this country that cannot be solved with more guns and less regulations.<br />
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So, what are we going to do about it?<br />
<br />
By the way, thanks for trying to stand up for what was right in Kosovo. I ran into similar situations when I was in Iraq, and when I was a LEO. It's sometimes hard to balance your career/safety/paycheck against your desire to do the right thing. That balancing act isn't always easy. Thanks for trying.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-32031690971133080342013-01-25T09:09:00.000-08:002013-01-25T09:11:01.935-08:00Weapons of War<br />
There is no sane reason to own weapons of war for sporting purposes. The AR variants sold to the public *are* weapons of war for all intents and purposes with just one function removed. The Assault Weapons Ban does not describe cosmetic characteristics but actual functionality. They describe weapons that are directly pattered, if not exactly the same, in all respects but one (select fire), of actual weapons of war issued to our troops and used in theaters of war.<br />
<br />
Calling an AR variant a "sport rifle" is like calling a F1 race car with street tires a family car. It's still a weapon of war, just like the street-tire-shod F1 race car is *still* a race car. Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-52551286234264906622013-01-04T14:09:00.001-08:002017-11-05T20:19:44.130-08:00Get a better argument because this one is stupid.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qoF6J1oLu1Ahz_mjekSFT_Ra4KzRv3zXYQ-14gRLoWrnyUK7NukXnXUVICz3ExUOxtvWauiZ6ziYIRiPsrFNmBVwKGjo5UcZetqSVSkteUA407AX51VSNZrwRvWJxe3PXEQsfWzcroS6/s1600/assault_hammer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qoF6J1oLu1Ahz_mjekSFT_Ra4KzRv3zXYQ-14gRLoWrnyUK7NukXnXUVICz3ExUOxtvWauiZ6ziYIRiPsrFNmBVwKGjo5UcZetqSVSkteUA407AX51VSNZrwRvWJxe3PXEQsfWzcroS6/s400/assault_hammer.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are you amused by this diversion from the actual discussion of a real problem?</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">This would be somewhat funny, sortof, were it not for the children they just finished burying in Newtown.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Show me the article where someone killed that may people in a "hammering spree" so easily and it might have a point.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The sheer stupi</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">dity of an argument like this is so old and useless for any real work it should be sitting on a porch, rocking in a chair, and telling kids to get off it's lawn.<br /><br />Yes, people can die from the effects of cars, clubs, bombs, or strangling.<br /><br />However, nothing, I mean nothing (and I know) beats the efficiency of a firearm. That is why they are used in wars -- to kill the enemy. Of all the classes of firearms, nothing, I mean nothing (or it would be used instead) beats some version/variant of the military assault (yes that is a real term) rifle.<br /><br />You can have a car, a club, a knife or your strong manly hands all you want.<br /><br />You wouldn't stand a chance against a reasonable skilled person who was pointing an AR variant at you. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Like this one...</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="Posted Image" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlywdKZKAbi9ZQoWx752TFE57tZLGv-_-CUVxF77_TdKOp82t82t1JWJw-h7SZqP9IvxSnEoCKYNUAsyrpe4Rwj4qakwlBDN3O09Q7hJmql4AeLymub0juMIVc_GwnOwcSILUPVeBJEvdp/s640/005.jpg" width="480" /><br /><br />It can have a high capacity magazine in it, capable of carrying up to 30 rounds.<br /><br />If I stagger tape a few together, I have an uninterrupted rate of fire until I go through just a little over 100 rounds. That means I can pull one round a second at a target for almost two minutes, before I have to drop this mag and slot another (call that five seconds).<br /><br />It has an effective (lethal and useful) open-sights range of about 500 yards. Within 100 yards it's very deadly.<br /><br />Put a 4 power mil-dot scope on one and the person wielding it is even more effective and at longer ranges too.<br /><br />So make all the comparisons of the lethal nature of cars, clubs, knives, or even 747 aircraft all you want. That doesn't make those comparisons credible.<br /><br />Almost nothing beats the effectiveness of one of these weapons for killing other human beings.<br /><br />That's why the military uses them. That's why I carried one in Iraq.<br /><br />Go find another argument to defend your fears of losing your military toys.<br /><br />Your current one is stupid.</span>Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-84607795144745795932012-12-14T14:08:00.002-08:002012-12-14T14:12:19.319-08:00Death to...Gun Culture.<img src="http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/14/National-Enterprise/Images/Connecticut_School_Shooting_03cbd.jpg" /><br />
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<br />
It happened again today. An armed gunman killed multiple people, many of them children. He walked into a school and started shooting. Children. He started shooting children with what appears to be a civilian version of a military semi-automatic rifle.<br />
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I've written about this before. I wish I had not.<br />
<br />
When the gun-nuts, yes I will use that term, spoke out that more guns were necessary. They said that if everyone had a firearm, or at least, if more people had them, then the shooter in the movie theater could have been stopped. <br />
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In "<a href="http://yes-anything-you-want.blogspot.com/2012/05/if-only-someone-else-had-gun.html">If only someone else had a gun</a>" I addressed the sheer lunacy of that argument for *more* guns.<br />
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In "<a href="http://yes-anything-you-want.blogspot.com/2012/07/violence-in-movies-and-gun-nuts.html">Violence in the Movies and Gun Nuts</a>" I explored why we, as a society, need to keep entertaining ourselves with violence and why we do so.<br />
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Then, in "<a href="http://yes-anything-you-want.blogspot.com/2012/07/if-you-want-peace.html">If you want peace...</a>" we got to consider the people who really, really, really like guns and how they are the impediment to peace in this country.<br />
<br />
And it happened again today. <br />
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Here is what I will predict will happen next -- besides the next killing I mean. <br />
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Outraged people will cry, "Enough!" and demand the banning of firearms in this country. They are perfectly in their right to make that statement. I completely understand their outrage.<br />
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On the other hand...<br />
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People who are gun-nuts, the other end of the spectrum, the ones who really really really like their guns, the ones with the "I love Coffee and Guns" faux Starbucks stickers on their pick-em-up trucks, will become what they mostly already are; afraid.<br />
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They will be afraid of losing their guns.<br />
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Yes, they will be afraid. They will cry about their Second Amendment rights. They will re-frame the exact words in that amendment, ignoring the first few, in their justification for little or no effective controls on the massive distribution of firearms in this country.<br />
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Here are the two ways it appears historically:<br />
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.185184478759766px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As passed by the Congress:</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.185184478759766px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<span style="line-height: 19.185184478759766px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.185184478759766px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.185184478759766px;">"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."</span> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you guess which four words they insist on ignoring?</span><br />
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Here are some reported facts that they will also choose to ignore and ignore and ignore. <br />
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They are taken from this <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/">Washington Post</a> article.<br />
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They will do everything to ignore the fact that, s<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">ince 1982, there have been at least 61 mass murders carried out with firearms across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii. In most of those cases, the killers had obtained their weapons legally Legally. That's Legally.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then there is the fact that "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eleven of the 20 worst mass shootings in the last 50 years took place in the United States."</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are other interesting bits of data in that article that, I'm sure they will ignore, obfuscate, or dismiss with Second Amendment rights hand waving.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">And there is something else they will do. They will shake their heads, talk about personal </span></span><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">responsibility</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">, and how the gun laws in Washington D.C. and Chicago prove that effective controls don't work.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">They will also parrot that wonderful meme, so often heard, so easy to slide off the </span></span><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">tongue</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">, "Guns don't kill people. People kill people," all the while ignoring that, while a person did the killing, they were holding a readily available gun to do so.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">They will argue that a killer can use a knife, a rock, a car or a club, demonstrating their intellectual dishonesty as they ignore the ease at which a firearm dispatches a human life compared to their weak examples.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">And it's all to defend their abject insecurity and fear.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">Now, some may be insulted by this and try to distract us. They may cry out, "I'm not afraid! I'm exercising my rights! You can't regulate my rights! They are </span></span><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">immutable</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.5px;">!"</span></span></span><br />
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And they will ignore that many other rights and privileges in our society are regulated to one extent or another.<br />
<br />
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The last magnificent manipulation they will attempt is to ask us not to have this conversation now, to not 'politicize' the deaths of children by wanting to talk about what to do about this. <br />
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So, if now is not the time, just when would be good for you? Would next week be OK? How about in January. Would that be a good time to talk about the ease with which someone can slaughter innocent citizens in this country? Would that be a good time to discuss the Gun Culture (it sure does exist, yes it does) and how to change that?<br />
<br />
<br />
But basically it comes down to a very vocal and angry/afraid subset of this population that really really really likes their guns. They really do. They don't want any regulation on the possession of their guns. They see this as an infringement of their rights. They see everything as a slippery slope to losing their guns.<br />
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And that makes them afraid. It makes them afraid enough that they forget their much vaunted "personal responsibility." What do I mean by this? I mean that, they are so enamored of their guns and so afraid that someone will take them away, so selfish in their desire to be armed, to have these magnificent, loud, destructive toys, that they would rather see children gunned down in schools than agree to any reasonable controls on firearms.<br />
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Does this mean I'm joining the ranks of those who, on completely understandable outrage, cry, "Enough! Ban all firearms! Enough!"<br />
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No, it does not. I don't think it's practical or feasible to do so.<br />
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Twenty-seven people died today. Twenty-seven people. Of that, at least 18 were *children*. Children.<br />
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The only thing that needs to die is the Gun Culture in this country.<br />
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I'm calling out the gun-nuts, the NRA, the gun-lovers, the gun-rights-advocates, to step up and help do something about this problem.<br />
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I'm not expecting an answer any time soon.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-65940344551996540592012-07-24T07:49:00.002-07:002012-07-24T08:37:54.737-07:00If you want peace...<br />
"If you want peace (less violence in our society), work for justice."<br />
<br />
Now this isn't a platitude or an attempt to be flippant. I don't assume to know the solution to gun violence in our country but I'm confident I know the nature of the problem. It's only thought debate and discussion that we can find effective solutions. <br />
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Why so much gun violence in this country?<br />
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The reason why weapons are out there is people are afraid. They are afraid of many things. It's reasonable, at some time in your life, to fear violence from someone (crazy neighbor that you can't move away from, stalking ex partner, drug addled relative, or just a high crime neighborhood like the Central District). At those times, it makes sense to be able to protect yourself in the most reasonable way for you possible.<br />
<br />
Now, there are plenty of professionals and civilians out there who have a measured, serious, and objective relationship with firearms. To this person, they are tools. They are not objects of affection or delight. They are necessary parts of a larger picture, be that picture serious and necessary hunting for food, actual sport, or the use of weapons to defend someone from imminent threat of grave bodily injury or death (generally in the hands and the responsibility of law enforcement.) These people look at firearms one way; they are to be respected, but not loved.<br />
<br />
But the problem is, most of the people who really really like guns, the people who collect, the ones who are strident NRA members have a different kind of fear. They are afraid someone will take their shiny toys away. They are afraid of being mugged in Bellevue Square Mall. They are afraid of the Muslims (hell, all brown people). They are afraid of -- someone, anyone who will take way their security.<br />
<br />
And on top of this...<br />
<br />
They really, really, really like guns. They like them in a way that surpasses the normal fetish for anything else. <span style="background-color: white;"> I've met people who like motorcycles, power tools, bake ware but I have rarely met watch-nuts who loves their watches like some gun-nuts love their guns. I've been around these people. I've worked with them, served with them and, for the most part, had to work with them. Some of them are nice people. Some of them I trust. But I have seen some of the most idiotic and disturbing behavior around firearms from the very people that claim to be "responsible gun owners." Their affection for firearms clouds their judgment way too often and, the problem is, they either don't know it, or ignore you when you point it out.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Like the so called "security professional" who thought it was funny to turn weapons "off safe" in the weapons rack of the security control point (our office) in Iraq.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Or the two "security professionals" who decided to get into a yelling and shoving match, including the chest bumping, while carrying sidearms.</span><br />
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And that's that problem. It's so emotional. We are up against a group of people that love guns. They love them in movies. They love collections of them. They love cowboys. They love violent video games. And yes, some of them sleep with them under their pillow. Seriously. It's a deep deep culture of fear and violence and it's built on good guys vs bad guys, protecting yourself from perceived threats (some not at all real), and a machismo that poisons our society. Half of them are afraid and insecure and the other half have a inflates sense of self-described Walter Mitty heroism that is undeserving of the true meaning of the word "hero". <br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Hence my thought of, "If you want peace, work for justice."</span><br />
<br />
It's only when our society is just, where people are truly free, where the income inequity is gone, where the police treat all equally, where justice is equal to all, no matter their station, that we will eliminate fear and violence from our society. It's only by eliminating the necessity for so many firearms in our country that we can whittle down their numbers to the fetishists and, hopefully, train them to love something else, or simply wait them out and breed them out of our society.<br />
<br />
But like I said, the solution is not obvious. It can be found, though. The solution to any human created problem can be solved by humans. But it's only by admitting there is a problem, by looking it square in the face, that we can take the next step. That step is being willing to discuss and debate the issue openly and honestly. <br />
<br />
That is the only path out of the woods and into a society where firearms are irrelevant.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-20279747841404947882012-07-23T11:49:00.001-07:002014-06-06T15:18:24.516-07:00Violence in the Movies and Gun Nuts<br />
In the wake of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado, I'm starting to reconsider how useful it is to support any movie that plays so much on gun violence. That is: why see them in the first place? <br />
<br />
As someone who used to despise what I called the "cowardice of the gun loving culture", where violence was easy and less risky to the person wielding handguns I have to look back at my journey. In short, I felt that handguns make violence *easy* for the aggressor. They are at much less risk than, say, using a knife, a club, or your bare hands. True, a handgun can be used to defend yourself from the imminent threat of grave bodily injury or death (grandmother against 200lb rapist). I have no problem whatsoever in their use to equalize force and for defensive means. Everyone, no matter who you are, has the right, the responsibility even, to defend themselves from violence.<br />
<br />
I never was drawn to violence. I was a target of it many times in my youth. I became a skilled martial artist for many reasons, the first one being my own survival. As my journey continued I became more and more competent at many types of non-firearm weapons.<br />
<br />
It was during this time that I disliked guns intensely, though I was quite capable in their use from a layman's perspective.<br />
<br />
Then I started thinking about defending others at being, dare I say it, a "professional" at it. I became a police officer. That meant I had to carry a firearm. It was part of my profession. I thought I'd make a good officer. Actually, I did make a good officer. At the same time, the corruption in my department was too much to bear. I left.<br />
<br />
Later, I brought those hard won skills to bear as a private security consultant (mercenary) in Iraq. My job was to protect others from violence at the hands of insurgents. If I could keep the bad guys away from the warehouses where all the trip flares, mortars, mines and grenades were stored, I might stop a few IED's from killing people. I did a good job there too, before returning home.<br />
<br />
But all through this journey, learning the way of competence with a firearm, I was never a gun nut. I inherited my father's collection and, over the years, slowly disposed of it. In retrospect, I should just have destroyed the things instead of selling them.<br />
<br />
So, back to gun violence in our culture and specifically in the movies.<br />
<br />
I see trailers for gun violent movies all the time and I've become less and less enamored of them. Sure, there are movies where guns are part of the story but, here's the rub; they aren't the main character.<br />
<br />
I think that I may start avoiding movies where firearms are basically the main characters, or main supporting characters. I've done that with video games. Why not movies?<br />
<br />
I'm not a gun nut and never wanted to be. They are tools to me -- nothing more; used for specific purposes and situations. I've never really 'liked' guns and I will confess to not totally understanding those that do.<br />
<br />
And I'm OK with that.<br />
<br />
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<br />Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-77867178283107936172012-05-31T11:02:00.001-07:002018-02-27T21:34:48.873-08:00If only someone else had a gun...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This article has been updated on July 23rd, 2012, due to a secondary event that is relevant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On May 30th, 2012, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Ian L. Stawicki, walked into to Cafe Racer about 11 AM. and opened fire with two semi-automatic handguns.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> Six people died that day, including Stawicki, who turned a gun on himself as police cornered him in West Seattle. He lived long enough to be transported to the hospital, where he later died.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">On Friday, July 20, 2012, James Holmes, dressed in body armor, and carrying multiple weapons, ambushed a crowd in a movie theater. He killed many -- shot many more. He gave himself up to the police shortly after.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">After both tragic incidents, when many are asking, "How could this happen? How can we make sure it can't happen again?," I hear the different sentiment too.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">"What if someone else would have had a gun? They could have stopped the killer."</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">This article will not address the violence in our society, our cowboy culture, our ongoing affair with the firearm, it's popularity in the movies, gun control, gun banning, or how guns provide us with 2nd amendment solutions when things don't go our way at the voting box.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">I'm not wading into the RKBA, the 2nd Amendment, or Gun Control. I'm not going to do it. That path lies a morass of madness, insecurity, and defensiveness.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">I'll address one thing, just one thing. It's something I've heard time and again, on Facebook, in comments to articles in the paper, by talking heads on the so called news programs, ever since these shootings. I've heard it said different ways but, the meaning is the same. Whenever any shooting happens, I hear this statement, usually in defense of legal concealed carry. It's always the same statement. It's always misplaced. It's wrong and I'll tell you why.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">"If someone with a concealed weapon was there, they could have stopped this man."</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">I know that it has been said that the media never reports on the incidents where someone uses firearms successfully in self defense (actually they do from time to time). It's been said we never hear about it. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">What I'm going to address here is the supposed hypothetical heroic actions of an ordinary citizen (even with some training), when faced with a incident where a mad gunman walks into a coffee shop/bar/restaurant/theater/et-al and starts shooting people.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">On what is my opinion based?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Lets start with my credentials: I have been a sworn officer of the law, a former member of a combat communications squadron in the United States Air Force, and served in a professional security capacity (mercenary) in Iraq in 2004. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> I've been shot near and shot at. I've heard bullets whizzing by merely feet away -- yes, you can hear them.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">I have extensive defensive tactics training, always scored in the highest brackets in firearms marksmanship tests, and always performed very very well in simunitions (simulated ammunition that really really hurts when you are shot with it) and mock scene exercises. I've been the hunter, the hunted, the surpriser and the very so very surprised. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">I've "won" and I've "lost".</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">I can tell you, the losses are quite humbling. I have hundreds of hours of training plus hundreds of hours of exercises and practice. I used to carry all the time -- I mean all the time. I'm practiced at it. In short, if I am armed, and facing someone in a battle, I stand a pretty good chance of prevailing. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Put it another way, one of mindset, one that speaks of intent, "I will prevail."</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Now let's address the subject more directly as if a person were talking about themselves with, </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">"If I were there with a concealed weapon, I could have stopped this man."</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Yes, I've heard this. Want to know my answer? The one I sometimes share with the speaker?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">My answer to them would be, "I doubt it."</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">They always look at me with the most puzzled, sometimes hurt, expression.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Why did I say that? Am I trying to provoke a confrontation? Am I trying to demonstrate some superiority on my part, or some deficiency in theirs? Why is that my response? This is why.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">It's simple. Unless I'm provided evidence to the contrary, I doubt the person who is making the statement has the training and the experience to engage an armed assailant in a crowded, chaotic, environment. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Why do I doubt it? I'll address these three simple points. So...</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">You're That Good, are You?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">If you have spent any time training, it's shooting at paper targets at the local range. It's highly unlikely you have participated in any actual combat training. This means training where you are moving, finding cover, acquiring targets, and shooting accurately. Sometimes, during that training you are being shot at, it's dark, maybe an instructor is screaming at you. Sometimes you have to shoot with your left hand instead of your right. Shooting paper targets, even those that have nice cartoon characters of thugs holding guns, at a gun range is very different than a live moving person. Let's not even talk about a person who is actually armed and may be returning fire. That's returning fire at you. You. How is your shot grouping now?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">You're Always On?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Are you really always on guard? Really? You always sit with your back to wall, your face towards the door, and your head on a swivel? You now where all the exits are. You have identified concealment and cover because you know the difference between the two. You never turn your back to anyone, not even for an instant? Because that is how long it takes a determined and planned assailant to draw and fire. You are always carrying and always in a manner where your firearm is available? You never carry anything in your gun hand? Ever? You have actually practiced drawing from your concealed carry method and have engaged targets at a range? By the way, most ranges prohibit this behavior and for good reason. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">You are Ready to Stop an Attack (that usually equals killing someone)?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">You are really thought about this? Really? You have sat there, and gone through the mental exercises of killing another person. You've walked through the preparation, the actual act, and the aftermath? I say this because, if you aren't prepared, you will likely fail in engaging the assailant or, even worse, put others at risk with your firing. I've seen this happen, first hand, in simunitions training, where recruit police officers failed to engage and were "killed" by our helpful volunteers from the department SWAT team.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">I can tell you this is not easy. Should I tell you about the dreams I had where I was in a life and death situation, facing another gun, and my dream brain would not let my gun go off? I'd pull the trigger in the dram and it would just "click". Nothing. It took about a year before it went "BANG" and I saw the effect of me actually pulling the trigger in dream space.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">So you have thought about this. You have thought about killing another human being. How do you feel about that? Seriously. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Let's say all these points are true. Let's say you are good, you are always on, and you are prepared and you have wrestled with the ethical dilemma of taking a human life. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">You think you are that good, huh?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">In 2009, in Parkland, Washington, Maurice Clemmons, a convicted felon, walked into a coffee shop and gunned down four armed and experienced police officers. Would you even begin to think of an argument where you claim they weren't good, weren't on and prepared? Would you argue that you, on your way to work, standing at the counter, paying for your coffee, would be better prepared to face someone like Clemmons or Stawicki? How about if you were sitting in a dark movie theater with a fist full of popcorn in your gun hand while Holmes, dressed in body armor, starts killing people around you?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">So no, I doubt a single armed would be citizen hero would have made much difference in this scenario. I doubt even two, sitting at a table, sipping coffee, talking about the weather could have responded in any way that mattered when Stawicki walked in and opened fire. I doubt even a few in that movie theater would have mattered.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Who would be shooting at who, in the darkness or the chaos?</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">This isn't the movies. You/they (the so called Good Guy With The Gun) aren't some action hero. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Does this say that one should'nt try to stop an attacker? I'm not arguing that one should not. I'm pointing out that you need to have an honest assessment of yourself and your abilities before opening your mouth on this issue. Should someone try to stop a killer? Sure. I know I'd try my best. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">I don't know where the answer to this problem lies. I hear all kinds of intellectually weak and dishonest arguments on both sides of the fence regarding gun violence in our society. What I do know is that we have to change the culture of violence in this country, the worship (literally) of the gun, and the ability of dangerous people to access and use weapons against our fellow citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">Based on my experience, my training and my examination of the issues, I do know this. The statement that all we needed was a lone hero, a legally carrying individual added to the equation and all would have been well is not based in any objective reality. I know that argument is based on many things but I don't see how it is based on any real facts.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">"If someone with a concealed weapon was there, they could have stopped this man."</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">No, you have it all wrong wrong. The problem is not that there should have been more firearms at Cafe Racer or in Aurora, Colorado. The problem is that </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Stawicki and Holmes had them.</span></div>
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Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-44552335082686596942012-05-27T11:42:00.001-07:002012-06-01T22:30:31.574-07:00National BBQ Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't know the source of this picture. It was being passed around a social network site, with the included caption. I had to look up the information on who this was. I didn't know James John Regan. Someone did and it seems that she loved him and misses him very, very much. <br />
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I see article after article on site after site about the best things to do on the holiday. Which events to go to, which parks are open, which shows to see, what sales are happening, and which BBQ sauce is best on your prize ribs. <br />
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I hear Budweiser is on sale too, with a special deal on full racks.<br />
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So, as you go about your holiday on Monday, or if you don't read this until you get back from your vacation, I ask you not for any real sacrifice. You see, no sacrifice you can make, no observation, no flag flying (even if you fly it correctly and store it correctly afterward), will approach one fraction of what James John Regan paid and what she pays in this picture. However, you can do something.<br />
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Saying, "thank you for your service," is nice, but it isn't really enough and it isn't what I'm asking you to do.<br />
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This is what I'm asking you to do. <br />
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As you go about your weekend, in the most powerful country in the world, looking for the best deal on the lastest iPod, picking up that new living room set at Ikea, or cutting that awesome deal on the new car, or even just a full rack of Bud on sale, do one thing.<br />
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If you have not lost a friend or family member in these wars I ask you to consider something. Think about why Sgt. Regan was where he was. Why did we (you and I, through our proxies in the government) send him to Iraq and Afghanistan? Think about why his life had to be taken by an IED. Spend a minute or two thinking of what was going through Mary McHugh's soul as she lay on James' grave at Arlington National Cemetery. </div>
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We go through our busy lives, working, paying our taxes, complaining about our taxes, fighting over politics, raising children, consuming what the corporations tell us to consume. I wonder what our country would be like if we all considered the questions above. I wonder if we would be quick to go back to shopping when we hear of another death of an American citizen in a foreign land. Would we stop and think, "is this enough? Is this too much?"</div>
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Would we?</div>
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If not, why not?</div>
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Now, where is that BBQ sauce I picked up at the QFC sale on Tuesday?</div>
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<br /></div>Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-28508489676187887802011-02-24T11:27:00.000-08:002011-02-24T15:36:12.227-08:00Getting the police department you deserve.Simply put, the command staff of the department is really messed up. There are bad officers out there. The guild is being irresponsible with the President talking about de-policing.<br />
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What needs to happen is that the guild, and the rank and file, need to get off their asses and speak out about bad cops. It is very unlikely to happen because no one wants to be next. But it has to happen. The Guild doesn't protect rookie officers on FTO from abuse, but they protect bad cops from investigation and punishment. Until that changes it will be the command against the rank and file and nothing will change.<br />
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Someone put a fake Seattle Times front page with a message from the Seattle police. It said, "We are trying to kill everyone." In various forums, people said it was cool, that they liked it, that it was awesome and funny.<br />
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My point about the political and protest statement that people think is so cool, is it will cause a great majority of the officers (who are good officers by the way) to entrench even more. You don't want your officers to feel like they are targets for violence (Monfort ring a bell and the calls for "well, they deserved it?") any more than you want your citizens to become targets for violence.<br />
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The only way for this ugly situation to stop is for three things to happen:<br />
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1) The populace decides to support the good cops instead of spouting all the hateful and often misleading rhetoric about how their jobs aren't that dangerous, how they are fat and sit around and eat donuts every day, how they look for excuses and opportunities to use violence against us, how all cops are murders, and on and on. To stop taking out your bad mood about getting a speeding ticket you damn deserved, because you were speeding, out on the officers who you ask to control traffic. To get between the little anarchist thugs and the cops who are trying to protect you and your property and who, by the way, would like to go home at night to their families, just like you.<br />
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2) The officers to demand, of their command staff and their union to do what is right to *get rid* of substandard cops, to demand higher standards and higher pay to go along with it (and we should pay it if they meet those standards), to push for professionalism in their ranks, to reach out to the populace, drop the officiousness and defensiveness and serve the community. They also need to tell their union to stop the political whining in the guardian about having to learn about cultures other than those created by straight, white, men.<br />
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3) The command staff needs to stop playing politics with police jobs, support their good officers, give the substandard officers a chance to come up to standards, get rid of the officers who don't and challenge the union to work with them to do the same.<br />
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Then, we get the police department we deserve, and police get the support and respect they deserve.<br />
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Until then, attacking the police as if they were one single organism reinforces the problem. You want a jumpy, entrenched police force who, struggling with the demands of the job and wanting to make it home at the end of the night alive, errs on the side of their fears and uses force too quickly or goes too far?<br />
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Keep celebrating events like the actions of Monfort, and saying the police are all drunks and murderers.<br />
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You just might create a self-fulfilling prophecy.<br />
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And you will deserve what you get.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-27018643989220578972011-02-14T09:43:00.000-08:002011-02-14T09:56:21.104-08:00On Valentines DayToday is Valentines Day. I'm not playing. I'll tell you why. I may sound cynical at first. I may seem that I'm passing judgment on others. I am not. Bear with me as I explain what "not playing" means.<br />
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In the past, I've had more than one love. I am, by nature, polyamorous. I've sometimes had more than one intimate friend aside from those loves. Some I called loves because we saw each other that way and some I didn't because we didn't feel the word is appropriate yet, if ever. The distinction isn't really that important. What is important is what being poly taught me about this holiday and what love means to me.<br />
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So...Love and Valentines Day. <br />
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The labels, the expectations, the baggage that comes with using the L word aren't really necessary to express a relationship. I don't need to say "I love you" for my partner to know I do. Oh, I still say it. It's fun and beautiful to say. The thing is, I don't need to. They don't need me to. Why? To me, love is not expressed through words. It is expressed through my actions, though my attention, caring, closeness. Anyone who has ever watched a silent couple, clearly in love, understands this concept.<br />
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Words aren't love. They are merely the wrapping and bows on the true gift of our affection.<br />
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And a 'holiday' built around Love feeds on those expectations around speech. In our monogamous society, where Love is everything, Love rules our expectations, Love is misunderstood, Love is misused, Love is a hammer to some, Valentines Day points out the inherent problems with speech (I'm equating shallow actions as speech too) *as* Love.<br />
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And this is me, poet and songwriter, who has written poetry for love and learned to play the guitar so I could sing my poems of love. Speech is not love. Physical gifts are not love.<br />
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While words are indeed nice, they cannot make my actions what they are not. A crappy present all dressed up in pretty bows and paper is still a crappy present. I could not make up for 364 days of inattention, not keeping commitments, not being focused, not being involved, not being present, with a triple heart diamond ring from the Shane company that has been stuffed up the butt of a cheap teddy bear. That is what we are told we are supposed to do. There are news stories for weeks about the perfect gift, which chocolate is better, why gold is better than silver, which flowers are best, how you have to get your order for flowers in right now, before it's too late...and so on. Hurry, before it's too late.<br />
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There is such a big commercial deal made of Valentines day. It's business.<br />
<br />
There are Valentines days sales at jewelers, florists, *car dealerships*, everywhere. We are supposed to consume to express our Love, as some sign, some validation of our relationship. One year I did that for three of my partners and after it was complete, I recognized the trap. You see, if you have one love, you buy them their gift. Since you are giving this special gift to no other, as you are supposed to with your heart, no comparison can be made in either. You are supposed to have one valentine -- one love. However, if you have more than one, and if you follow the monogamy model of the 'holiday', you buy separate gifts for each. As I was shopping, in the almost Christmas crowds, I realized that these gifts, however appropriate, were not my love. So, what the hell was I doing? Why was I playing the "I'm proving that I love you and don't love another more than I love you by giving you a special gift" monogamy game? <br />
<br />
Many years have passed since that day. My relationships have changed somewhat, as is my energy and outlook towards being able to expend my emotional energy much beyond my Kerry. My outlook on this holiday has not changed and I'm very fortunate indeed to have a partner who understands what love is truly about.<br />
<br />
Kerry and I are not playing today. No flowers, candy, diamonds, cars, or presents. We agreed on this without being asked. I figure that, the best present I can give her, as my good friend Ted posted, is to love her today no more than I do any other day.<br />
<br />
So I'm left standing here, watching the monogamy game play itself out, with people rushing about for their various reasons. I'm also watching my single friends, some feeling left out, some rebelling in their singleness against the onslaught of Valentines Day-ness. Of those participating, some of them are simply using this special day to acknowledge their love and I think that's a great thing. Others are using it to validate their relationship, or make up for neglecting their partner, or assure their partner that they aren't cheating, or aren't cheating anymore. Yes, that thought occurs to me. How many people are giving a partner a gift that promises monogamy and are currently cheating on their partner? But I digress.. <br />
<br />
My relationships are what they are. A single date in February, a charge on a credit card, a UPS shipping number for my gift on the way, the pretty wrappings around a bauble, do not those relationships make. My relationships with people I care about are made though my actions, expressed in my attention, my caring, my mentorship, sacrifice, dedication throughout the year -- including today. Today is no different.<br />
<br />
This is not a Hallmark moment. <br />
<br />
This is my life.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-51668284294878096182011-01-18T09:35:00.000-08:002011-01-18T09:35:25.318-08:00But, but, political rhetoric has always been violent...Those of you on the political part of the spectrum who say, "Well, political discourse has always been nasty, so what's the big deal?" and go on to cite examples, are rationalizing, excuse wielding fools who don't understand the bigger picture and the desire of rational people to get beyond such inhumanity. There. I. Said. It.<br />
<br />
I won't let such excuses pass by without offering the strongest dismissal and disdain for such intellectual laziness. Really? You really want to support, justify, excuse, rationalize in order to support whatever political beliefs you have?<br />
<br />
You think shunning those that spout violent speech is censorship? You don't understand what censorship is. You think that treating those that whip up the crazy in society, with their violent rhetoric are innocent of their contribution to the actions of the crazy, is somehow unfair? <br />
<br />
Too bad, I say. Too bad.<br />
<br />
You are wrong. Those that spout rhetoric like this, and let the crazies do their dirty work are covered in blood just as well.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-14058045346091696692011-01-10T19:34:00.000-08:002012-07-23T20:36:49.774-07:00Opening our hands, opening our hearts, stopping the violence.I sit here, thinking about the link I just posted, about <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5726667/the-agonizing-last-words-of-bill-zeller">Bill Zeller</a>, who recently committed suicide instead of facing the "darkness" as he called it. I sit here remembering a time, long ago, when I felt lost, when I wondered if it were easier to just stop. Just. Stop. <br />
<br />
I lived though a long dark time. It wasn't sexual abuse, nothing that Bill had to endure. My own personal hell was one of continuous, brutal, unrelenting, physical abuse, both at the hands of my mother and, because of the victim that was born out of that, the hands of the various bullies that populated my life. She created, in me, a fearful, jumpy, shy, cringing little coward. From when I could remember, until I turned about 13, I gave up. I didn't fight back anymore. You see, when you are that small, you learn early that everyone is bigger and stronger than you and -- you cannot win. <br />
<br />
First you lost to her anger, her brutality, her rationalization, the manifestation of her own history of physical abuse at the hands of her alcoholic father and sadistic brother. Your memories at five, six, seven and eight, are of constant beatings at the hands of an angry harpie, swooping down upon you for some transgression (manufactured or real), to deliver unto you some punishment for your crime. <br />
<br />
Sometimes that crime was not being able to quiet down. A six year old boy being loud. Who would have thought of it? <br />
<br />
I just noted here that the language I use said, "your crime" and "swooping down upon you." Odd that. It didn't happen to you. It happened to me. No, it was my crime that I owned and it was her swooping down upon me; and it changed me. Even when I tried to fight back and defend myself when cornered at school, in the third grade, at eight years of age, I was beaten for fighting when I got home. <br />
<br />
And in the sixth grade, a girl, a girl, backs you (see I did it again -- not you, it was me) into a corner and takes my lunch money. She wasn't larger than me. She didn't even have to hit me. The coward that I was just handed over all the change I had and chose going hungry over what I imagined she would do to me if I didn't give her fifty cents.<br />
<br />
I despised myself.<br />
<br />
So I escaped into books, into getting off at the wrong bus stop, living with my heart in my throat at school bus stops in the mornings, hoping they wouldn't get bored and notice me; hoping for invisibility.<br />
<br />
Then it I started thinking about it. I went down that road at about 11 years of age. I started feelings so worthless, so unloved, so much a target, with no alternatives, no one to really help me escape the bullying, that I started planning. I would walk in front of a speeding car. I would ride my bike off an overpass. Maybe I'd swim out farther than I could return? Would someone miss me then? Would someone love me then? Would she feel bad? I really wondered these things. I wondered if I'd show them, leave a note, and they would finally know what they did to me. I tried talking myself into it, into ending my torment. Obviously, I talked myself out of it instead; hence you are reading this.<br />
<br />
I even turned towards a potential rapist during this time. Ed was a family friend who took me on camping trips. When everyone was beating the shit out of me, when I was friendless and alone, Ed was my friend. We went to Gettysburg together, Washington D.C., camping in Pennsylvania, in the backwoods of New Jersey, and a host of other places. I didn't know what Ed was doing until one night, alone camping in his truck he asked if I wanted a "hand" as it were. He said many boys did it, when they were out camping. It was a normal thing. I turned him down. Ed was supposed to feel safe for this 13 year old. I turned him down and he never spoke of it again. <br />
<br />
He's now serving a 25 year prison term for raping multiple young boys. Some of whom I knew back in 1973 or so. And to think, to be driven into the arms of a rapist, just because I felt no one else loved me. I dodged that bullet and continued my ordeal.<br />
<br />
Then, one day, at 14, as I sat there on the floor of the junior high school hallway, after taking a shove or two, and a fist in the mouth, from one of the local bullies, someone chose to care. Someone chose to offer me a hand, offer me love, offer me an out. As Eric loomed over me, as I expected another beating, I was -- disappointed? All I saw were his shoes. I heard him saying something, something that, translated in my fear addled brain as anything other than what he said, "hey, are you ok?"<br />
<br />
He had to repeat himself more than once, with me cringing through the tears, spitting the blood on my shirt, to finally notice his hand. His hand was open. It was open.<br />
<br />
Shaking in fear, I took it. I don't know why, but I trusted it.<br />
<br />
Helping me up, brushing me off, wiping the blood from my face he asked, "are you tired of this?" <br />
<br />
"Y...yes," I stuttered. I stuttered a lot then.<br />
<br />
"Come hang out with me in the library," he said. "It's safe there. I want to talk to you."<br />
<br />
You see, at just 16 years old, Eric was a brown belt in Judo and, at six feet tall, wasn't a target for anything but respect from anyone. <br />
<br />
So I sat with him, still afraid, but listening. I listened to him as he gave me another alternative to what I had been thinking. He gave me an alternative to killing myself with the 12 gauge shotgun I had gotten as a birthday present -- some of my family were hunters. He gave me his hand, his time, and his guidance. I spent weeks with him, learning, gaining confidence, gaining strength. I hid next to Eric, at lunch, in the halls, on the way home from school. He was my guardian and my friend. He was my sensei.<br />
<br />
Six months later, during a particularly brutal beating for some minor infraction, I stood up, took the belt from my enraged mothers hands, pulled my pants up, and said, "You aren't hitting me anymore." The only time I recall her looking smaller, more afraid, was a couple weeks before her death, as stood next to her in the hospital, my hand on her forehead, telling her I loved her.<br />
<br />
Within a week, I was the target of a bully again. I heard the words, saw the fist coming, and executed a pretty effective shoulder throw, putting the bully against the lockers and onto his head. People started leaving me alone after that. When I moved to California at 14, no one bothered me at all. Maybe the only thing that needed to die, needed to walk into that traffic, was the coward within me.<br />
<br />
My life has gone many places since that time. I carried various forms of that fear for decades, showing anger where it wasn't appropriate, fearing where it wasn't necessary, manifesting a host of behaviors that don't make a very good human being. It took decades to stop sabotaging myself, to let that scared little boy learn he didn't have to fear, not really, no really, you don't have to fear, anymore.<br />
<br />
So when I read of the despair of someone like Bill Zeller, of not being able to escape the darkness, I wish that someone, somewhere had held out a hand to him that could have trusted. I wish he didn't have to make the choice he made, a choice that I tried to talk myself into and, thankfully, found a reason to talk myself out of. People won't have understood if I had taken that road. People won't understand why Bill did what he did. That doesn't change where I was, where Bill went.<br />
<br />
We need to stop the violence in our society, be it physical violence, sexual violence, or violent rhetoric. We need to excise violence as a necessary thing, as an alternative, from our families, our society, our world. <br />
<br />
Hands closed into fists need to be opened so people like Bill don't think that the choice they made is the only way out.<br />
<br />
Thank you, Eric. For your open hand.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-41321573480026887602010-04-26T10:16:00.000-07:002010-04-26T13:09:15.390-07:00Three Years Ago TodayI was watching my father die. It would be his last day with us. <br />
<br />
It was, without a doubt, the most difficult time of my life. In the weeks preceding the 27th of April, 2007, I watched him stop eating. He slept for hours a day. He soiled himself and was humiliated by the failure and betrayal of his body. <br />
<br />
Three years ago today, I sat in his bedroom, singing to him, playing *his* guitar, while he barely smiled. Still, I could tell he was happy, even if I could not complete any song without losing my voice. But no matter how poorly I sang, every time I looked over, he was smiling. <br />
<br />
I struggled with his earnest request to "help him" to give him enough morphine so that he could "go". I remember, heartbroken, telling him I'd look into it, even though he was asking me to kill him. I agonized for days as I researched how much a dosage he would need to be done, to do for him the last thing he asked of me. And, in the end, he saved me from that decision. The next morning, he made his own decision. He saved me from having to kill him. Thank you for that, my father.<br />
<br />
Like I said, it was the hardest time in my life.<br />
<br />
So, I'd like to thank some people who were there for me in ways only they could help.<br />
<br />
Denise, my wife. You gave me immeasurable support during this time. You were there for him in so many ways, which meant you were there for me. I don't think I can thank you enough. Thank you for loving me, for loving him, and being there.<br />
<br />
Jessica and Sarah, my daughters. You each were there for me in ways, not so much substantial but with a presence that reassured me during this difficult time. It was so important to me.<br />
<br />
Kerry, my present wife and partner. Though you never got to meet him, and were thrown into the after-drama of his death, you accepted it with a grace and purpose that cemented my love for you.<br />
<br />
Jack, good and trusted friend. Thank you for talking me through the myriad questions of what Dad wanted and helping me figure out if I could give him what he wanted, even though I didn't have to. I don't think I could have had that conversation with anyone else.<br />
<br />
Marla, my good friend and confidant. You helped me through an aftermath of his death that no one should ever endure. Your patience and validation was everything I needed. Thank you.<br />
<br />
So that is today. I have no idea what tomorrow will be like. At 8:30 in the morning tomorrow I have a conference call. I will be at work, so I figured it would be better to get this out today.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-34841446172913698042010-04-13T10:56:00.001-07:002012-07-23T20:37:21.935-07:00Soldier SuicidesIt has been reported that more soldiers have committed suicide than have died in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. This might be a good time to post this:<br />
<br />
Mars On Love and War v3<br />
<br />
Copyright 4/8/2007<br />
<br />
Revised 6/10/2009<br />
<br />
Donn Christianson<br />
<br />
This is a spoken piece, best presented by a single speaker. A monologue.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I come to you – Mars; God of war, warrior’s Father.<br />
<br />
Under my watchful eye, your men, and now women, carry shields, and wield weapons dire, in foreign lands. <br />
<br />
Not in my name but in yours.<br />
<br />
And yet, what is it that you do?<br />
<br />
You send loved ones off to my realm.<br />
<br />
They leave behind the peace and beauty of your arms, the bliss of your beds – and for what?<br />
<br />
It matters not. To warriors, it matters not why you send them. It matters not why you allow your countries to send them.<br />
<br />
They go. They swore an oath, so they go.<br />
<br />
I will not send them all home.<br />
<br />
I will not send them all home whole.<br />
<br />
They shall not return to you unchanged.<br />
<br />
Yet, when I do, when I return them to you…<br />
<br />
Love them. Broken though they may be; love them.<br />
<br />
Embrace your warriors, for they need you in their next darkest hour – that of returning home.<br />
<br />
Accept them. Love them, just as they are, just as I have returned them to you.<br />
<br />
Hold them, if they stay silent.<br />
<br />
Stand by them if they speak of whence the came and what they saw.<br />
<br />
Calm each sleepless night with your loving embrace.<br />
<br />
Soothe their nightmares.<br />
<br />
Kiss away their loneliness.<br />
<br />
Bathe them in your love and cleanse their souls.<br />
<br />
Only then, only after you do this, only after you accept my warriors, your warriors -- as you have sent them and as they have been returned.<br />
<br />
Then and only then, consider sending them back to me, Mars.<br />
<br />
<br />
Once more.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-61540069977876355052010-04-07T16:44:00.001-07:002010-04-07T16:44:30.262-07:00I am not things...What is all this stuff I have, the possessions, the weight of things.<br />
What is the need to have and to hold, to gather, hoard and keep.<br />
I am not my things and they are not me.<br />
They will be nothing when I last sleep.<br />
<br />
This heaviness on my shoulders and the weight upon my back.<br />
Of things bought, traded and collected along the way.<br />
Carried through my days in boxes, trunks and bags.<br />
What do things mean to me today?<br />
<br />
I came into this world with nothing.<br />
I will leave with nothing still.<br />
I am not things and they not me.<br />
I will not be remembered for the things I leave.<br />
<br />
It will be my acts, my deeds.<br />
My faults and strengths.<br />
How I loved and failed.<br />
How I loved and soared.<br />
<br />
It will be memories raised though the days<br />
of the people who knew me well.<br />
That will make them smile and remember.<br />
That I mattered to them in some small way.<br />
<br />
I am not things and things not me.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-49598841876785711512010-04-06T09:40:00.000-07:002010-04-07T10:48:06.616-07:00Murder or War and are they different?A friend posted this link on facebook. If the link does not work, suffice as to say that it shows military personnel responding to a perceived threat and causing collateral deaths and injuries to adults and children. It's raw and difficult to watch, especially for those that have not been there and don't understand the dynamics of the situation.<br />
<h3 class="GenericStory_Message" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collateralmurder.com%2F&h=73441e01ef1f3f4a09afdf84e6455ff5" onmousedown="UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), "73441e01ef1f3f4a09afdf84e6455ff5", event)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.collateralmurder.com</a></h3>This is sad, unfortunate and, from my point of view, not surprising. Having been in Iraq, worked with soldiers (both good and bad), and watching the video closely, I can completely understand how and why this happened. This doesn't make the deaths of the apparently unarmed people any less tragic but, consider this:<br />
<br />
<li>If you are in a war zone, with armed helicopters flying above, maybe it isn't a good idea to walk around with large black items slung over your shoulder.</li><br />
<br />
<li>If you are in a war zone, with armed helicopters flying above, maybe it isn't a good idea to furtively crouch behind the cover of a wall with a long lens jutting around the corner. As the soldiers said, it looked like an RPG, which have killed many soldiers in Iraq.<br />
</li><br />
<br />
<li>If you are in a war zone, with armed helicopters flying above, which have engaged a group of men, killing many and wounding others, maybe it's a monumentally stupid (though heroic at the same time) idea to drive into the battle zone in a vehicle to rescue them.<br />
</li><br />
<br />
<li>If you are in a war zone, with armed helicopters flying above, which have engaged a group of men, killing many and wounding others, why in the hell would you drive the aforementioned van into the battle zone with children in the vehicle? Why?<br />
<br />
This is tragic beyond words but I'm not surprised that it happened. Soldiers are pretty determined to survive their missions and to protect their fellow soldiers during said missions. They will engage people they perceive to be a threat and they will eliminate that threat as quickly and as efficiently as they can. When engaging those you perceive to be hostile, you only have so much time to determine if that is the case. You try to make the best decisions you can and only shoot the bad guys. You want to go home and you want your friends to come home too.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, people who are acting like bad guys (carrying items that look like weapons from that distance, hiding behind walls carrying items that look like objects, pointing said objects around walls -- all the things that photographer was doing) but aren't hostiles, will be treated like bad guys.<br />
<br />
That is the tragedy that happened here.<br />
<br />
When I was in Iraq I faced multiple instances where people who were acting as threats barely escaped with their lives. Here is one example.<br />
<br />
Just outside the perimeter of our base, the perimeter that was breached by people intent on stealing munitions which they used to manufacture IEDs, was a farmer's field. There were signs all along the perimeter, in English and Arabic, warning people to stay away at least 100 yards from the perimeter. That sign said that deadly force was authorized.<br />
<br />
It was near sundown. We got a call that there was a pickup truck about 30 yards from the fence. There were two men digging behind the body of the truck, hidden from the view of the Iraqi guards in the overlooking security tower. The guards were nervous as they had been shot at before from near this location. I arrived to find the truck where they said it was and two men crouching down behind it.<br />
<br />
Now they could have been fixing a flat, tying their shoes, readying an RPG to fire at the tower or setting up a mortar/rocket launch (this had happened just a week before on the south side of camp).<br />
<br />
From behind the cover of the tower, I engaged them with an interpreter. As he ordered them to stand and raise their hands, I opened the covers on the scope of my M16-A2 rifle and tried to see what they were doing.<br />
<br />
One man raised his hands and stepped from outside the truck. He started arguing with the interpreter about something while I looked for the other man. Suddenly the other man stood up and started arguing too. Then he lunged into the cab of the truck. My weapon went from safe to burst fire as my cross hairs followed his shape. As I trained my sights on his dark shape, as my finger lay on the trigger of the rifle, he emerged with a long object in his hands. My sights steadied on his center of mass. I started taking up the slack in the trigger. His buddy and the interpreter were yelling at each other.<br />
<br />
The object was long, dark and glinted of metal in the setting sun.<br />
<br />
He raised it out over the roof of the truck and brandished a *shovel* at me.<br />
<br />
A shovel.<br />
<br />
A goddamn shovel.<br />
<br />
My finger came off the trigger and I put the rifle back on safe. <br />
<br />
Fortunately for him and his friend, I spent $300.00 on a scope for my rifle before went to Iraq. Fortunately for him I was the one who was dispatched there (I was the only one with a 4x scope) instead of one of my colleagues. At that distance, it would have been harder to see the details with the naked eye. Fortunatly for him, I wasn't in a hurry to kill anyone but also wasn't going to break the promise I made to Denise, Jessica and Sarah that I'd come home.<br />
<br />
In that situation, he and his friend could very well have died at my hands that day. Like the cameraman and journalist, they may have been found to be unarmed. They may have been just digging a hole to plant some melons in an areas we told them they couuld not. But they placed themselves in a dangerous sutiation, didn't comply with orders and acted in a manner that could easily be taken as threatening.<br />
<br />
So, tragic that the deaths of the journalists may be, I understand why the soldiers in the video engaged those people. I understand their congratulating each other on what they thought was a good shoot. I completely get them protecting the soldiers on the ground.<br />
<br />
Let's not forget. Even if you don't personally support the war, we, as a country, sent them there.<br />
<br />
We sent them there to deal with life and death, to deal out death if need be so they could come home alive to their families.<br />
<br />
We did that.<br />
<br />
We did.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</li>Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-16562976821137261392010-04-01T10:46:00.001-07:002010-04-01T10:46:37.638-07:00On being a performerMy friend, Courtnee, shared this:<br />
<br />
"Listen to the stage manager and get on stage when they tell you to. No one has time for the rock star act. None of the techs backstage care if you’re David Bowie or the milkman. When you act like a jerk, they are completely unimpressed with the infantile display that you might think comes with your dubious status. They were there hours before you building the stage, and they will be there hours after you leave tearing it down. They should get your salary, and you should get theirs.<br />
— Henry Rollins, Black Coffee Blues"Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-72968760556449905432010-03-24T11:35:00.000-07:002010-03-24T11:41:15.668-07:00My inside voice"Yes, I clicked on the logout button. I'm sure I want to log out."<br /><br />"No, I will not take $375 sight unseen for my $500 item just because you spent all that energy sending me an email in response to my craigslist ad."<br /><br />"No, you cannot use my photograph on your web page for your show, which you are charging tickets for, without asking my permission."<br /><br />"Your logic is impeccable but the problem is here; your first assumption was that 1 + 1 = 3."<br /><br />"Why yes, I'd love you send me a phony cashiers check for the motorcycle I have for sale. I'd like nothing more than to waste as much of your time as possible so you don't hook some unsuspecting loon into your false shipping scheme."Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-82681992459941351562010-02-24T11:19:00.000-08:002010-02-24T11:28:46.839-08:00How to do business<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3FaM8HaYWTUcEa97wWqOIndaiKTW4NRS2wudEIApb_STL2JfWuMJDdYTiupM6CKdHoHUgtc3Zod2da_GiVOnQnqCsnTqH65_AzzwftAk2gPFdFbtTmpxnNl34vgbGwmlEEFnEU4qFcbs/s1600-h/DSCF2951.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3FaM8HaYWTUcEa97wWqOIndaiKTW4NRS2wudEIApb_STL2JfWuMJDdYTiupM6CKdHoHUgtc3Zod2da_GiVOnQnqCsnTqH65_AzzwftAk2gPFdFbtTmpxnNl34vgbGwmlEEFnEU4qFcbs/s400/DSCF2951.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441894159931129138" border="0" /></a><br />So I have this guitar for sale on Craigslist. It used to be my father's. It has some sentimental value but, that isn't what is determining the price.<br /><br />It's an older guitar (made in the late thirties), likely a Harmony, per the two professionals who have played and worked on it. Both of them said it was worth "around a grand" to a collector, based on how it plays and the condition.<br /><br />Based on what they said about the guitar, I put it up for sale at a starting price that I think is reasonable. I'm open to in person reasonable offers on the guitar. I don't expect to get my asking price, but I'll listen to what folks are willing to pay when they play it.<br /><br />I get this email from a guy who who claims to be the owner of a local used music store.<br /><br />...here are a few excerpts:<br /><br />"your guitar is worth $350-400 no matter what it means to you personally<br /><br />you should keep it<br /><br />only a fool would pay even half what you ae asking. Its cool, you just clearly are clueless about its value"<br /><br />Not a good opening...badmouthing the price (a common tactic) and calling me clueless. But then...<br /><br />"Also, this guitar was not made in the 30s but rather the mid to late 40s or early 50s.<br /><br />Your ad is dishonest sicne Harmony was not even a company then"<br /><br />Accusing me of dishonesty. I'm not being dishonest. I'm going on what I was told about the guitar by experts and what I could find in research.<br /><br />It may not be a Harmony -- it's what the luthiers thought it likely was.<br /><br />But wait, there's more..<br /><br />"hahahah<br /><br />youll see. bring it down to my store.<br /><br />I own Trading Musician. I have dozens of your guitar<br />"<br /><br />So, a person who calls himself the owner of Trading Musician wants an idiot to bring a guitar down to his store so he can...wait for it...wait for it...see the end.<br /><br />"You are one ignorant bitch<br /><br />some people you just cant reach<br /><br />put it on ebay and watch what happens big man<br /><br />you just have no clue.<br /><br />noone in their right mind told you that guitar was worth $1100<br /><br />It was sold by Sears and Roebuck in the 50s"<br /><br />Readers may note that my father owned this guitar when he was 13, during WWII.<br /><br />"It is a cheapass guitar that doesnt even have a trussrod to adjust the neck<br /><br />you will be lucky to get $400<br /><br />slow learner. again, bring it to my store.<br /><br />I will give you $300 cash"<br /><br />wait for it...<br /><br />Offer me $300 cash.<br /><br />What a business man. Why, I think I'll run right down there today, just because I've been browbeaten into selling it.<br /><br />Here's the thing. The guitar may not be worth what I was told it was. I'm trying to represent it as best I can. The price may be too high but I'm completely open to offers from people with respect and manners. If someone comes and plays it, loves it, and even offers me half of what I'm asking, I just might sell for that amount. Respect and manners go a long way.<br /><br />I will admit that I did not respond kindly to this tactic in email but, hey, I'm not the one trolling Craigslist and insulting sellers to get a good deal.<br /><br />So, if the owner of the music store does business like this, people should know about it and take it into account.<br /><br />Hence the Yelp review. :)Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-63436042892034096012010-02-10T22:35:00.001-08:002010-02-11T14:15:32.061-08:00The Plan -- and a change.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FsRPauBY5-57C5rxbNEzzt_9n3Be7in04xoOQk7Y8K3nEQpyoUu7QFYHCkJz5SIMQtoi4N32P5O8ASf8bNYLBN1HVpmw-5UzW6Lshq7oWPaMy_QmT5R6jtVpRV5r1jzSdygXN7NpGLcP/s1600-h/2087141_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FsRPauBY5-57C5rxbNEzzt_9n3Be7in04xoOQk7Y8K3nEQpyoUu7QFYHCkJz5SIMQtoi4N32P5O8ASf8bNYLBN1HVpmw-5UzW6Lshq7oWPaMy_QmT5R6jtVpRV5r1jzSdygXN7NpGLcP/s400/2087141_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437026601376788498" border="0" /></a><br />It's good to have a plan, to figure things out, to plot, conspire, until you have just the right path to take to, dare I say it, rule the world?<br /><br />Well, my world, at least.<br /><br />I've been thinking about stuff, and lost dreams.<br /><br />I've been thinking of all the plans I made (be an architect, a photographer, a writer, a pilot, a cop) that didn't come to fruition, for whatever reason. Everyone has false starts, dreams that never come true once you wake up and have to go commute an hour to the job that pays the bills that keeps your lovely wife and beautiful children in a home, with good health care, in a good school system, in a community 40 miles from where you really want to live.<br /><br />And now they are gone, grown, out on their own, and you have a chance to live the life you dreamed of, you read about, you drew up plans for that never got executed because the needs of other people came first above your own. I'm a Daddy - it's my job.<br /><br />But, it's not my job anymore. I am answerable to myself and my new wife.<br /><br />So...<br /><br />What now?<br /><br />Well, the house is for sale.<br /><br />My guitars, my books, my bicycles, my motorcycles, my bar, my tools, my furniture, guns, gun safe, ballistic vest (interesting life, no?), the movies, the records, the stereo, computer, not the art -- it goes in storage, the stuff I don't need to carry anymore -- it's all for sale.<br /><br />And, we are moving, after the house sells.<br /><br />Where?<br /><br />To a yacht, on Lake Union, the Ship Canal, or Shilshole Bay, to live simply, in a small space, that is a sailboat.<br /><br />And when the muse strikes us, to slip lines, raise a bridge or two with a sixty foot mast, and take our hearts and our souls to the open water; living an adventure under sail, on the water, with the clouds as our shade, and the wind as our horses.<br /><br />Wait till you see the chariot.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2417076767169988849.post-88457995233641663542010-02-04T23:00:00.000-08:002010-02-04T23:03:29.142-08:00stuffGeorge Carlin (bless his departed soul -- wait, he didn't believe in God), once said, "you need a place for your stuff. Then you get more stuff. Then you need a bigger place for your stuff. Then you get more stuff..."<br /><br />To that, I ask, "what if you got rid of your stuff?"<br /><br />What if you got a place so small you can't get more stuff.<br /><br />Would that free you from stuff?<br /><br />It just may.Donn Christiansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04265903775692067280noreply@blogger.com1