The Hickenlooper Blues

Because Chuck Said So...

Chuck Norris' top ten (or so) reasons to register to vote. Just do it.

Obama Walks Into a Bank...

This was so funny, sad and true at the same time, I couldn't help but post it.

President Obama walks into a local bank in Chicago to cash a check. He is surrounded by Secret Service agents. As he approaches the cashier he says, "Good morning Ma'am, could you please cash this check for me?"

Cashier:
"It would be my pleasure sir. Could you please show me your ID?"

Obama:
"Truthfully, I did not bring my ID with me as I didn't think there was any need to. I am President Barack Obama, the President of the United States of AMERICA !!!!"

Cashier:
"Yes sir, I know who you are, but with all the regulations and monitoring of the banks because of 9/11, impostors, forgers, money laundering, and bad mortgage underwriting not to mention requirements of the Dodd/Frank legislation, etc., I must insist on seeing ID."

Obama:
“Just ask anyone here at the bank who I am and they will tell you. Everybody knows who I am."

Cashier:
"I am sorry Mr. President but these are the bank rules and I must follow them."

Obama:
"I am urging you, please, to cash this check. I need to buy a gift for Michelle for Valentine’s Day"

Cashier:
"Look Mr. President, here is an example of what we can do. One day, Tiger Woods came into one of our bank branches without ID. To prove he was Tiger Woods he pulled out his putter and made a beautiful shot across the bank into a coffee cup. With that shot we knew him to be Tiger Woods and cashed his check.”
“Another time, Andre Agassi came into the same place without ID. He pulled out his tennis racquet and made a fabulous shot where as the tennis ball landed in a coffee cup. With that shot we cashed his check.
So, Mr. President, what can you do to prove that it is you, and only you, as the President of the United States?"

Obama:
Obama stands there thinking, and thinking, and finally says, "Honestly, my mind is a total blank...there is nothing that comes to my mind. I can't think of a single thing. I have absolutely no idea what to do and I don’t have a clue.”
Cashier:
"Will that be large or small bills, Mr. President?

The Founders' "Assault Rifle"

The 1780 Girandoni Air Gun was the Founders' version of the so-called "assault rifle."  Gun-grabbers always want to argue that the Founders could never have envisioned 30 round magazines, repeating rifles, or anything other than a muzzleloading, single shot rifle or flint-lock pistol.  Well, from the pages of history, invented in 1789, and used by the Austrian army from 1780 to 1815, here is the Founder's assault rifle.  The tubular magazine held 20 rounds of .46 caliber ball ammunition, quickly reloaded from 20 round tubes carried in a satchel.  The stock used compressed air (800 psi or so) to fire the round, which had an effective range of 150 yards.  Being air powered, the rifles were also suppressed by the standards of the day.


The rifle predated the Bill of Rights by 10 years, and Thomas Jefferson gave two rifles to the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804, who used the repeating nature of the rifle in demonstrations to the Native Americans, who naturally assumed that the whole party was outfitted with them and wisely chose to be neighborly.





It could also be argued that the Founders could not have known about radio, television, the Internet, blogs, communications satellites and fiber optics, so the First Amendment must not mean what it says either.  Why, someone might prove to everyone that progressive arguments against the Second Amendment are historically inaccurate and without merit, and then publish it for the world to see instantly and without censorship.

My Picks for the Colorado Republican Primary

Bentley Rayburn for Colorado's 5th Congressional District. I sent General Rayburn an email asking him some very pointed questions, and several designed to lead him to progressive answers, but his answers were solid Tea Party, Constitutional ideas with sound rationale. I expected a few short responses, but he took the time to elaborate on several points, including individual liberties, the proper role of the Federal Government, and the over-reach of several Federal Agencies, to name a few. I know some people in the area like sour grapes talk show host Jeff Crank are on a witch hunt, but General Rayburn is not only clearly more conservative than Lamborn, he's a lot more motivated and focused, with the ethics and leadership to get the job done.

Mike Kopp for Colorado Governor. After listening to a lot of speeches and reading a number of websites and articles, I've decided that Mike Kopp is the best choice to replace Hickenlooper. He is a solid conservative and understands the role of limited government and the importance of our civil rights, including the Second Amendment. The Democrats are wrong: Tancredo isn't too conservative, he's too libertarian. Beauprez is too establishment (really, Mitt Romney's endorsement didn't clue you in?) and doesn't even address any issues on his website, and Gessler has too many ethical skeletons in his closet. 

Mark Lowderman for El Paso County Treasurer. This is a tough race to call, mostly because the subject matter is dry as dust, but I believe Lowderman has an action plan to reduce the size and bureaucracy of the Treasurer's office and is business, veteran and retiree friendly. Duncan Bremer's campaign seems to consist of "I'll make paying your taxes less painful, heh heh heh," and some fictional idiot named "Phil" on the radio repeating his name over and over again in hopes of generating name recognition.











Get those ballots filled out and sent in ASAP! Do your homework and make educated decisions.  It's our responsibility as citizens of this great country.

Remembering the Heroes of Normandy

70 years ago today, heroes from the United States and other Allied nations made the first push to take back Europe from a socialist tyrant determined to take over the world. We remember their courage, and commit ourselves to their belief that freedom is never free, that liberty is worth any sacrifice, and that tyrants only fear men and women who understand those truths.

This was a great story, about a 93 year old paratrooper, Jim Martin, who made another parachute jump over Normandy today.

2014 UT Commencement Speech - Navy Seal

A Navy Seal, Admiral William H. McRaven, the Commander of the US Special Operations Command, gave this year's University of Texas commencement speech, and it's very worth 20 minutes of your life:

Now, go change the world.

Socialized Medicine in the Veterans Administration

I have been following the Veterans Administration scandal with disgust and anger, but not with surprise.  I served in the Air Force and have friends who are retired or disabled vets.  I have experienced, witnessed and heard about the socialized medicine that the military provides our active duty, retired and disabled veterans.  I have also known active duty doctors and nurses who have shared firsthand what goes on in hospitals and clinics.  They were all wonderful professionals who did their best to take care of our people in spite of a fundamentally broken system.  When I separated from the Air Force, I had issues for which I could have pursued disability, but chose instead to entrust my health to the open market.  It has undoubtedly cost me more, but I am more than satisfied with my choice.

If I or my family members need an appointment, I call my doctor's office (that I like) and never have to wait more than a day or two to be seen.  Most of the time it is no later than noon the first day.  If I want to see a specialist, it takes a little longer - maybe a week or two, and with my plan (that I like) I don't have to ask my "primary physician's" permission.  If I have a minor emergency, I go to Urgent Care which is literally 3 minutes from my house.  If I have a major emergency, I go to the ER or call an ambulance.  I pay attention to what doctors and facilities are in my network, but I still have plenty of choices.  It's not quite a free market (since I am limited to my insurance provider's contracts), but it's not bad, and I am very free to go to an out of network doctor if I want to.

In the overwhelmed and understaffed VA system, patients have to wait days, weeks and sometimes months for care.  We have heard horrific stories from Arizona where veterans died waiting for treatment.  Doctors, nurses and receptionists have been blowing whistles all over the place that wait times are being falsified, that patients are given an appointment date, but not given a choice, and that records are falsified that the patient chose the date.  We are hearing that care is substandard, patients have little say in how they are treated, and the whole thing is a mess.

I was disgusted to hear the news, but not at all surprised.  Back when Obamacare was being pushed, I read that some Democrats were holding up the VA as a successful example of what they wanted to accomplish with the Affordable Care Act.  I couldn't help but laugh.  I, like so many other veterans, knew exactly where they were heading - and it is a disaster.  Remember, Obamacare isn't the end goal - the progressives' real goal is a single payer, government run system just like the VA. 

The VA is the perfect example of government run, single payer, socialized health care, and it's a complete disaster that needs to be replaced with a subsidized free market system, with veterans given vouchers for private insurance and private doctors.  Privatize the VA hospitals and clinics and reduce the VA to an organization that simply administers the voucher program.

Furthermore, Obamacare needs to be scrapped.  Medicare and Medicaid need to be drastically overhauled and replaced with a similar voucher program, and the rest of us should be allowed to purchase insurance on the open market and across state lines.  A properly functioning Medicare program could provide a safety net for people with chronic or terminal illnesses, and employer and groups purchasing insurance together than ensure further protections for the consumer.

The VA is a disaster that has been festering for a very long time - before Obama, before Bush, before Clinton, in fact, all the way back to World War I.  Its has been fundamentally flawed from the beginning, just like Obamacare.  The only viable solution is replacement, not finger pointing, firing people and pretending to be surprised.

Good Riddance

I must've been living in a hole somewhere, because I just learned about Grumpy Cat.  How a sour-faced puss can make you smile so much is beyond me, but his Garfield like attitude is wonderful.  It sounds like in real life he's actually just a lovable kitty with a form of dwarfism, and his family is pretty protective of him, making sure he has a normal private life.  It's pretty heartwarming to read about him.

Oh, and Piers Morgan is off the air.  Maybe he'll move back to Great Britain where he can argue for banning knives and claw hammers.  I'm sure he'll be just as irrelevant there.

How many rounds are enough?

How many rounds do you need to defend yourself, your family, or other innocents?  The bottom line is, you don't know.  You can't predict whether you will be assaulted by one bad guy who runs when you draw your weapon or a gang amped up on who knows what drugs who need 3 or 4 rounds each to stop the threat.  You don't know if it will be at home, at work, at church, on the street or anywhere else.  You don't know if you'll have enough warning to arm yourself and barricade yourself and your loved ones in a room, or if it comes out of nowhere within bad-breath distance with no time to draw a gun requiring hand-to-hand, hand-to-knife or hand-to-gun skills.

NRA news just produced this great video on the topic.


If you don't know, neither do the politicians in Denver. It's time to repeal the idiotic gun laws our overlord Democrat legislature and governor rammed down our throats last year.  While were at it, it's time for Udall, Hickenlooper, and a pile of Democrat legislators to be fired as well.