Better Than Voting
I just made a donation to Ron Paul’s campaign for 2010. Over 90% of Ron Paul’s contributions are from common folk who donate less than $50. You can donate as little as $10 or $50.
I encourage all readers of this blog to do so.
The site accepts Paypal as well which is super-convenient.
Ron Paul is the Obi-Wan of congressman. He has been the sole “Nay” vote many times against government expansion. He is a man of principle.
Also keep your eye on Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Pete Schiff (Connecticut).
Other people are not going to step up and make the sacrifice. YOU, yes YOU must make it happen.
Privacy
I came across this pathetic article in a local paper.
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_7244c6fd-9bcf-55eb-841f-6c6776cbee55.html
Congressman Chaffetz is doing the right thing by curbing the expansion of government. That requires a lot of NO votes. This is exactly what I want him to do. As for the author of this article, I wonder where he would draw the line. Where would you, o reader, say “enough is enough”? If you were stopped at a random checkpoint on the highway and asked to pass through a full-body scanner, would you do it?
The Constitution (and I say God Himself) gives you certain rights that can’t be taken away by government. They are inalienable. One of those is to be secure in your person, possessions and papers. A government agent cannot search you except on a warrant issued on probable cause. I resent airport searches. It is a misallocation of resources. There is no reason to search me. If the Feds wanted to keep us safe they should “declare war” on drunk drivers or cancer, real threats. There are no TSA agents outside of bars with breathalyzers. How is that? I would feel differently if it were the airlines themselves conducting the searches. There are good reasons to limit the power of a central government As for Jason Chaffetz, he can count on my vote and my donations come election time. He is a Champion of Liberty, humble and unpolished though he may be.
PS- this is an undeveloped train of thought, I realize.
Xanadu
[I can’t believe my good fortune to stumble across this picture. It’s a double-set of waterfalls in Lithia Park in Ashland Oregon that was destroyed in a flood about fifteen years ago. This was a favorite watering hole when I was growing up. There were nooks with deep water behind each of these falls.]
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From grades 6-11 I lived in Ashland in a two-bedroom home, about 800 square feet. My father and his friend built it. They welded together a wood stove that sat in the living room on a bed of bricks. That place will live forever in my memory as a blessed home.
The house was cream-colored with brown trim. In the front yard was an enormous black walnut tree. I put in a few boards and spent many a summer afternoon reading books up there. In the back yard were three cherry trees of varying sorts.
We had a cat named Paul. An old lazy patriarch with soft black fur and white patches.
There was no air conditioning and only the stove for heat. In the winter I would get up at 4am, build a fire and fall back asleep on the living room floor to the huffing of the air intake and the patter of rain on the windows. One by one the cats would come in and fall asleep near me.
In the summer I would put up the tent in the back yard and sleep on a military cot out there. Since there were four of us (and sometimes strays) in just two bedrooms it was a great way to get my own space. For a while there I had to sleep in the living room on the couch, converting it back every morning. When it was particularly hot we’d have a kiddie pool in the living room and we’d all strip down to our skivvs and soak our feet in water run in with the garden hose.
We owned a red subaru. A stick. I learned to drive in that car in a nearby dirt lot. I used to back it down the driveway, then back in, over and over. Once I scraped the house. I jumped out of the car to find the scrape not so noticeable so I didn’t say anything. A few days later mom noticed a red mark on the side of the house. The jig was up!
After school I’d come home and make myself two fried eggs on toast covered with maple syrup. Or cinnamon toast with extra extra butter. Swilled down with Tang.
I have a scar on the back of my left hand. My sister (?) locked me out of the house so I punched one of the windows to get in. Didn’t think that through so well. Fist going in is not the problem, it’s fist coming out.
And D&D. We played D&D all the time in the living room after school. Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Vault of the Drow, White Plume Mountain. My mom once came home to find me making annotations in a D&D module while my friends were busy doing my various chores.
“Why are they doing your chores?”
“I told them I would level up all their characters if they did my work.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Making the adventure harder.”
Once I hooked a roll of quarters from mom’s closet and spent them at the arcade. They were Susan B. Anthonys (dollar coins now out of production). She was fit to be tied. But as I recall she quickly forgave. My mom was very quick to overlook the foibles of youth. I had near unfettered freedom to come and go as I pleased. I knew every fence, trail, train-track, and ditch in town; from the farmland plains north to the towering mountains south.
There was a tribe of feral cats living in a giant pile of scrap wood next door. I decided that I was going to make one of them my pet. So, I rigged a rabbit cage and put in some meat as bait. That paid off in the form of a snarling orange creature, rippling with lean muscle. As I extracted it from the cage, his body stiffened and his whole torso thrummed with a menacing cat-moan. Surely a little love and tenderness would soothe this savage creature! As he gulped down the raw meat I brought him gently to my neck in a careful embrace. It was at this point that with cleat-like talons he crawled on to my back and dug in with all ten claws. I ran into the house howling, crying for help. My mom and sister beat the mini-bobcat off with a broom and it scattered out the back door. Lesson learned. Leave them wild cats alone to their wood pile!
In Mormon cosmology there is a spirit world, like a different dimension that co-exists with the mortal world. I believe there is a “spirit Ashland” created by those who lived there in the same epoch that I did. And that is where I will go to live for a while after I pass on. A Paradise, a Xanadu, to rest for a season. I will walk to it down Siskiyou boulevard in the shade of massive trees, and then a bend in the road and a gentle slope down to the Plaza.
Spikey Steel Boots
How do you like that Ork Nob? This is part of a set recently completed. I really like how it turned out. So much that I thought I would give the Ork Nob list a try. It goes something like this:
Step 1
Gather the following:
Three units of ten Nobz on foot.
Two Warbosses on foot (this makes two of the three Nobz units Troops).
Three Battlewagons.
(it has recently come to my attention that this is not a legal list due to max 1 Warboss per army; well even better, mix in one unit of grotz as a distraction, add a Mekboy with kustom force field, and the army is even better)
Just to let you know, two warbosses are legal. It was the previous codex where they were not.
Step 2
Take giant spiked boot and crush heads.
Three battle wagons is a tough nut to crack with AV13. Since they are open-topped the Nobz can jump out and charge on turn 2. They can take a hit and keep coming from A) wound allocation shenanigans, B) a Painboy that gives Feel No Pain.
As for hitting power, the Nobz have a tremendous amount of specialization with combi-weapons, flamers, power klaws and so forth.
All this stuff is on order and should be completely done and ready to roll in a few weeks.
Would you like a Nobz Army? I’ve got it on special for $850 (35 models listed that total over 2000 pts) everything included. This includes conversion work and some magnetization. Limited qty and time offer. If you put down the $425 deposit by this Friday I can guarantee completion by January 30 ($50 penalty if not).
Nurgle Army for 40K on the Block
Cost for Deathguard army: $1650 can be ready to ship (two-day delivery approx. in US, can ship overseas). Contact bluetablepainting@gmail.com with questions and/or to check availability. Limit: one.
Pics:
Gallery One
Gallery Two
Gallery Three
Here’s what’s included:
1x Custom fitted case
1x Winged Nurgle Daemon Prince
2x Defilers
1x Land Raider
1x Blight Drone (FW)
3x Nurgle Dreadnoughts (FW)
4x Rhinos
3x Obliterators
28x Plague Marines as follows—
16x regular weaponry
4x meltagun
4x flamer
4x power fist
You can also get 11x possessed (one of which could easily be a Chaos Lord) and/or a Chaos Space Marines army book at no extra charge on request. OR you can get a $100 credit towards an expansion on the army.
This is a solid competitive force with plenty of unique conversions. It will be thoroughly inspected, repaired and touched up before shipment.
I highly recommend this army. It’s a good deal.
Pirate Cove
Yesterday morning (Saturday) I spent a lazy morning with the family. There was french toast left over from Paint Fest so we ate that. I cooked breakfast with K. The boys came up forthwith and we all ate together then played some Wii.
I headed to the studio with J. for a half-day of work. I got mostly caught up. That’ll be nice for a more relaxed Monday. We’re still underbooked for January. Ready to set up anything!
Saturday evening we went to this pirate-themed restaurant called Pirate Island. It was amazing. The whole place was done up like a pirate cove complete with caves, a bayou (?), a pirate ship (huge), and a twelve foot tall stone skull with flames in the eyes. That kind of stuff. There was a moment where I was alone at the table eating with Willow in peace. That baby is so mild and happy. She just slouched way down in her stroller and chomped away happily on anything I gave her.
Our server looked just like Heath Ledger.
Fringe
I was watching the Rachel Maddow Show this morning* (yeah, you heard me) and she referred to the Tea Party as a “fringe group within the Republican Party”. She cast them as ultra-ultra-conservatives way out in left field. I want to respond to that.
The Republicans in Congress for the last 8-10 years have strayed from conservative principles. Notably A) limited government, and B) fiscal responsibility (fiscal conservatism). What is called moderate now is actually on the fringe when held up to that test.
The Republican Party is being reborn from within. What is perceived by the lack-luster bone-head congressman who will soon be out of a job (or are already out of a job) as fringe elements are actually core elements. They betrayed their Republican principles and now it’s time for them to be shed like a thick, gray cocoon. They are dead skin.
As they leave, they will take parting shots at what they consider to be traitors within the party. It is they who are the traitors. They’re going to be ridden out of town on a rail. Just like the ex-chairman of the Florida GOP Jim Greer who termed the Tea Party movement “…shredding and tearing the fabric of the republican party.”
This has already happened in Utah. My congressman, Jason Chaffetz, trounced the incumbent by a significant margin. That sorry excuse for a conservative voted for spending like you wouldn’t believe. He was pathetic. I was glad to see him go. And that won’t be the end.
* I am politically omnivorous. I watch all sorts of stuff to get different perspectives and ideas. It’s uncomfortable but ultimately rewarding. I consider radio and TV to be the lowest and least nutritious of thought-food. Books are the highest in mind-nutrition.
Greatswords for Hire
Got these Greatswords on the block. Check here for more pics.
They have metal plates on the bottoms of the bases. We can provide a magnetized flush movement tray at no charge.
Elmore Babe
Some may remember the art of Larry Elmore from Dragon magazine in the 80s. Ah, good times.
Check out this diorama we made from miniatures from Dark Sword. They carry a lot of Elmore-type stuff.
Beastmen are out in February
Oooooh baby!