Slice of Life: Ravens Win!

How 'bout dem Cowboys.  Err, well, they lost.  How 'bout dem Bungles.  Err, well, they lost as well.  How about those Charm City Ravens?  ATTA BOY!

Yes, there is a part of me that enjoys the fine things in life, of which beer, wings and football are one of them.  Better still, thank the good lord that my wife is also a homegrown, hometown Ravens fan (and kudos to her sports minded, mind that understands the game even)!

While I dislike Monday Night Football for my team, the national attention, the fanfare, and tradition are always nice to take in, even if it was from the couch in front of my TV.  There is just something about the added trash talking, smash-mouth, buckle up yo chin strap football that is on display.  So, for 60 football minutes, I was able to ignore politics, ignore economics, ignore everything except yelling at the TV to say "HOLD ON TO THE BALL," which my black-birds did everything in their power to ignore.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more scoring by Baltimore, but fortunately, you don't get style points for rankings in the NFL.  U-G-L-Y wins are still wins.

Points to take away from the game?

• Flacco had one glaring mistake, and didn't exactly set the world on fire, hopefully he settles in with a "normal" Sunday routine for the remainder of the season
• Defense was pretty stout against the run, and the pass rush was better thus far.  
• Blitzing:  B-more D-cord still is adverse to the blitz, but did get after it a few times which hurried a young QB.  I hope we see more of that as the season progresses
• Receivers:  We've got a bunch of gems finally!  
• Progress:  Week 1 to Week 2 you should see the most improvement, hopefully limiting the miscues will be the biggest area Baltimore fans will see.  

As the ESPN commercial goes, is it Sunday yet?

Blogging is Activism UPDATE: Assateague Island Letter

Yesterday, I posted a letter written to the refuge manager of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge regarding the beach parking that has been there for decades.  This morning the Eastern Shore Post's coverage wound up in my inbox.  (Hat tip to my mother). 

From the Shore Post's story, it appears that I am not the only one who does not want to see the beach parking and access be moved from it's traditional place on Assateague Island.  Magically, the unintended consequences that bureaucrats and politicians don't foresee, are very easy for the non-elite public to contemplate. 

I will let the Shore Post's coverage speak for itself, but the general consensus amongst community members and visitors is that the shore and beach access provided by the parking on Assateague island is important to the local economies and traditions of the park and Chincoteague Island.  Hopefully, it won't be forgotten in the name of environmentalism. 

Blogging is Activism: Assateague Island Letter

As mentioned in previous posts, I've been enjoying the use of the Virginia shore this summer.  A lovely place and certainly a slower pace of life, but with a good thing, it seems that it is never meant to last.  This is especially true when it comes to accessing our public lands and parks where the environment always seems to be the battle cry for proposing limitations.  Thus it comes as no major shock that a change has been proposed that would ultimately limit access to the Virginia portion of Assateague Island's National Seashore.

It has been proposed that instead of allowing for visitors to park near the beach, a practice that has been done without many problems for decades, the parking will be vacated from the beach and moved to neighboring Chincoteague Island, where patrons will be bussed to the national park.  As a user of the park, I certainly have no issues paying the $30 a year fee to access the natural beauty of the park but damnit, why change something that works?  Yes, the near beach parking has erosion problems, but that's natural.  Yes, they monitor the number of vehicles and people that enter the area so as not to have too much detrimental impact.  So, why is that where man and nature have been able to coexist for decades, a change is needed?  Certainly it can't be a cost savings to construct and maintain new parking lots, maintain buses, pay bus drivers, and increase the liability insurance? 

Needless to say, the only way to make your voice heard is to offer input during the public comment period and I did just that on Friday.  I have yet to receive any reply from the refuge manager, the Congressman for the Congressional area of Virginia, or even my Congressman.  We shall see what they say and if the public outcry out weights the lunacy of what will surly have unintended consequences. 

September 10, 2009


Mr. Lou Hinds, Refuge Manager:
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge  
P.O. Box 62
Chincoteague Island, VA  23336 


Mr. Hinds: 

I hope this letter finds you well this day proceeding Patriots Day.  I am writing to you to discuss the proposed changes to Assateague Island's Virginia beach and refuge access. 

It is my understanding that a study is being conducted that would potentially change the way that refuge patrons access the park.  Instead of providing parking for personal vehicles, patrons will be bused to the shore areas and allowed to roam about the park on foot.  While I understand that this might decrease the environmental impact that personal vehicles have on the refuge itself, I have to question whether the unintended consequences have been considered. 

Presently, my family and I use the park for a variety of reasons including summer ocean access, fall surf fishing, and of course, year round photography.  All of these activities involve moving a significant amount of personal belongings to take full advantage of the environment and our hobbies.  Additionally, these outdoor activity items are heavy at best and bulky at worst.  We are able to use the refuge during it's convenient operating hours and we rarely have to wait for a parking spot to access our favorite spot on the beach.  Nor have we been inconvenienced by your maintenance staff's ability to repair the parking lots after events such as Earl.  (Many kudos and thanks to their timely and efficient operations as were witnessed this past weekend). 

I am concerned that with a public transportation system to access the refuge and shore, personal items such as surfboards, coolers, surf fishing rods, and umbrellas will be prohibited from buses.  If these items are prohibited from being transported on the public transportation system, it would effectively limit my reasons from coming to Assateague Island and enjoying the investments made in outdoor adventure gear.  Should a policy be implemented that still allows for the use and carry of these items, it will most certainly cut down on the number of people per transport and directly limit public usability.  As the Commissioners of Accomack County have also expressed, moving vast amounts of people and personal effects posses a great risk in any adverse weather event.  I would certainly hope that such a condition would not ultimately limit public access to the refuge as a mitigation for liability. 

Finally, I believe this policy will discourage pack in pack out doctrine.  I am aware that the refuge does provide some trash service, but my family and I do our best to minimize our footprint and environmental impact but packing in our food, and more importantly, packing out all of our refuse.  Being conservationist minded, I can foresee a higher amount of litter because people will not want to carry the weight back to bus lines after a long day on the beach or to the refuse containers near by.

Assateague Island and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge are a great asset to the community of the Virginia shore.  Considering my parents just finished a house local to the area, I have immensely enjoyed reacquainting myself with the natural beauty found here.  While I have fond memories of the refuge as a child, I hope to develop fonder memories with my wife and future children.  I hope that you find these comments helpful in weighting upon the decision to be made with regards to the change in parking.  Should you wish to discuss my concerns personally, I welcome the opportunity and maybe reached via mail above or in email reply.  Additionally, I may be reached any time via cellular phone.

Thank you again for the consideration of this input.



Sincerely,

FightinBluHen51

America Not Immune to Hyper-Inflationary Risk

As usual, Zero Hedge has a great article shared off their site today.  Derailed Capitalism's "How Hyper-Inflation Will Happen," is a must read for everyone if you're concerned about dollar risk and potential economic / US Treasury bond meltdown. 

Agonizingly well thought out and mind blowing in terms of the "scary" level, if you are still skeptical as to how hyper-inflation will occur in the USA, this will get you off the fence and into prep-mode.  Take a good 15 minutes to read and digest this piece, it's highly worth it.

9/11 Tribute: Shinning Beacon of Freedom Still Lives Within American Souls

One part of the date:  Nine years.  Nine years since the most dastardly, underhanded, devilish attack against the homeland of the United States of America.  A cheap shot would be a good term if it had been a bar fight.  But the infamous date of 9/11 wasn't just a sucker punch in a bar fight.  It wasn't even David smacking Goliath.  It was a strike at the heart of freedom, and freedom struck back harder than the little arrogant jihadists had anticipated. 

September 11, 2001.  A sentence unto itself.  One that will always exist and never change.  A day when far too many innocent people from all over the vast earth perished at hands of a few disgustingly perverted young men who's minds had been brainwashed by their equally disgusting and perverted political leaders.  That date reminded us that even in the absence of the cold war, peace was more dangerous for your enemies were not as discernible.  Accurately put, the hate mongers we Americans are blamed to be now nine years later, are not the ones who changed the landscape of hate in the world. 

Three thousand.  Another sentence unto itself.  It represents the number of Americans, including people of Muslim faith, that died for the advancement for a theocratic political experiment without borders.  One that hates not our impirical meddling, but our alliances with good.  One that hates our freedom and economic engine.  One that hates that we discredit their metaphysical qualities simply because we are non-believers.

NO.  The lives that were taken in that disgusting act of cowardise were not taken in vain, simply because their spirit was released to that of a higher power and to a far freer society.  In death, the victims of 9/11 acheived an ultimate freedom that islamofascists will never be able to acheive, not even in life.  The spirit of individual freedom, freedom from mind control, and from the backward ways that left the people of the earth nearly 200 centuries ago, was beset upon the victims that day.  No longer can they feel the pain from chains of bondage given to them by their assaultants, and they can certainly be at easy because of the eye for an eye punishment that both God and the USA have inflicted upon their "borthers in jihad." 

No outside force will ever criple our great nation.  No matter how much disagreement occures between our people, we certainly will not allow our nation to be attacked from those outside.  Our open society, the envy of the world's ruling class for our success, is the model most fit for then inovative nature of the human spirit.  So as is this 9th anniversary of the 9/11 jihad attack, let us pray for the saving of our fallen citizens, our troops in harms way, and the end to such propsterous and nonsensical attacks by radical islamofascists.  Let those who wish to do us much harm for our way of life remember this, ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (come and take it)!