Well, is that any worse than 50 Senators and Congressmen gathering in front of the Whitehouse and applauding Bill Clinton after the vote for impeachment after purgery and other crimes? Had I, as a Government employee and manager been caught diddeling a female employee on goverment property, I would have had to arrange for someone to mail me sunlight and air to my cell! But, apparently, once they're elevated to little Gods and given the perks they feel they should be entitled, nothing removes the golden mantel they receive when elected. Frankly, I was surprised when Randy Cunningham was sentenced to prison. There must have been a lot of stuff not revealed in his case.

You gotta remember with Government and Military Staff….image is paramount.

This fact was impressed upon me by a USAF major when I questioned how a captain needing to make major was put into the training shop. An exceedingly odd move since this captain who was pleasant enough chap never could get a handle on the weapon system. In short, he screwed up by the numbers.

When I brought this fact up, the major replied, “Yes, but he looks good doing it.”

This is something I always keep in the back of my mind when I deal with staff and bureaucrats, especially presently watching our great and glorious leaders running shit-ass scared. It behooves my fellow blogger-mouths to remember that major’s reply also with economic-socio-political-ecological collapse looming for 2009.

Dickgun:
I kinda figured that. I just think that I would vote for ANYONE who writes here before Frankin. I really don't like him! I'm glad you're around, though. How do you cook wolf?
YooperJack

Yoop,
I have found that an AR 15 on rock and roll does a real nice job of preparing a wolf.

The whole thing with Stevens was sad. The man spent most of his life in service for his country, and all they got him on was a contractor doing free remodeling to his home. What they should have done is have some one contact him, and ask him to not run for re-election.With all of the massive really dirty corruption in government, they could have done that. the guy is 84 years old, but no they made this a mess, the democrats got another senator, and watch, he will more than likely win his appeal.

Happy Thanksgiving folks. Don't forget (not that anyone here would) why and to whom we give thanks.

Now let's see...

Kiss the dog,
scratch the wife,
count blessings,
subtract tribulations, and....

...well, at least it's a positive number. Could be worse.

There's a ham that's been cooking since last night in the oven making everyone's mouth water and the biggest Butterball Turkey I could find thawing for tomorrow. My wife is now making cakes and pies and cookies etc... Blondie's chewing on my feet as I type and there are three kids playing in the living room the house is full of love. I have so much to be thankful for I can't even begin to express it in words. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

When I bow my head tomorrow I will make sure to include Ted Stevens because of his raw deal (in my opinion and with only a small amount of information available in the last half hour on the net and because if he's a friend of dickgun he's a friend of mine) and exclude each and every political leader trying to drive my future into the ground. We shall overcome. I know I will, been doing it for half a century.

.88Mag:
No, I'm a wannabe. I hunt deer in NE Iron County, and Grouse throughout the U.P. I love the Keweenaw best because of the massive bucks. Also, because of the relative scarcity of deer there, you can actually track deer, assumming you have snow.

Everyone:
Happy Thanksgiving! We've all got much more than we truly deserve. Especially those of us that call ourselves Americans!
YooperJack

Ralph & fellow deer chasers.

Just back ,. touh season up to know ,.. in fact the first season in ,many many years I have no meat on the ground before Thanks Giving.

It's earn a buck where I hunted ,.in WI.
And of course you just know ( 1,2,3,4) just like clockwork.
Had a 10 point an 8 point a 6 point and the fatest forkhorn I ever saw ,.walk by so close I could hear them breathing,. but no does ,.can't shoot a buck until I whack a doe ,.. its maddening ,. but its hunting,.. and I love it.
Also one hell of an excersize in self control,.. cause the 8 point
was something special

And this ,.. end of the day on Monday after a snow fall previous night,..wind was tough,.. I was colder than a St Louis maddam's heart and stiff as pillar beded action when i started out of the woods ,..
Then with no chance for a shot at 125 yds ( I know the distance) accross a corn field, against a hill side ,. I saw the biggest deer ( in body) I ever hope to witness. Too far,. to thick and too dark to make out rack size ,.. but when I first saw it ,.I truly thought someones balck angus got loose ,..Then it dawned on me I was watching a deer move through the undergrowth.
It was so dam big it didnt even move like a normal deer
Simply amazing ,.. we all hope to see one of those ,.. but never expect to much les shoot one as I beleive that "ilk" to be totally nocturnal,..
Still as it stands I have counting this one seen two like that,
One was not far from the Badger Ammunition plant in southern WI many moons ago
( Barabou bluff area) and this one,.. location to remain sealed for now.
I mean fellas this thing ( deer ) was so big even at that distance,..it simply dwarfed the three deer near it which were of average size. 135 - 150 lbs.
To qualify this a little so I don't sound like Ive been into the cooking cherry I've been chasing the wily white tail ( this of course being no reference to a causacion house of ill repute) with some vigor now for about 40 years . So Im passed the bug eyed exaduration stage of younger hunters.
The sheer mass of the dam thing just stopped me in my tracks.
So,.. as cold and in need of hot drink as I was.Looking back on that moment it now appears to have posibbly been some kind of sign post ,.. certainly sureal and maybe,. possibly a moment of spirtualty ,..What ever it was it was something I will never forget.
There are things that mean something and then there is the rest ,. this I think was a sighn.Wait to see about what ,..
By the way I belive in signs would be pushing Daisies for sure if i didnt.

So Ralph,.. sorry to hear of the portfolio blood bath. Still
as you know I can't advise ,..
Solicited or un-solicited no formal relationship,.. no risk profile etc. And by now for many its kinda too late. Just hope the next guy in the white house has the brains and balls to get us back on track,. I would however (and have personally ) be looking to weed out bad erformers.
I typically track em for three quarters if under performing replace,. also loss selling before year end ,..
guess I can say that without shooting myslef in the foot.

Off topic as they say i saw this coming 6 years ago ,.. but there was nothing to indicate it through mormal channels in the secrities business.No one but insiders knew about the credit loss swap scam until recently. Or better put until our economy was ( and is by the way ) balanced on the cliiff edge of horrible depression
However as I still own a small real estate apraisal concern ,..
It was soon clear to me the lending practises i was whitnesing starting in 2002 were at best irresponsible and at the worst preditory and criminal

A whole boat laod of mortgage backed securities (billions) were being sold globally on the premise that they were of a GSE nature ( government sponsored enterprise)
when they were not,.. and that the US housing market would never go down.
Please ,.. you me or the next guy does not need a PHD to know sooner o later every market cycles. IE:NOTHING goes up for ever ,.. not even slick willies willie.

Congressional deregulation in 1999 and 2000 by a republican congress under Clinton was when we let the monster off the leash,..

With Oil prices being what they were. manipulated (in my humble opinion) under the guise of increased demand from china and other venues including the Invisible Kingdom of big oil Causing the beginning of core inflation and eminent resession as I saw in Feb of 2007
I saw no other course as of Nove 2007 but to start moving to stable value accouts,.. which is what I did. I was caught with some bank stock ,..( small banks ) that tanked too quickly so gotta ride that out,.. but on the whole I and clients who would listen missed the tremendous ass whuppin delt by the mutts presently in office. And I dont mwan congress ,. I mean essentially the main ocupant of 1600 Pennsylvana Ave viewd now by most of the rest of the world as the Bush sand box.

I have however begun to buy ,..
as i believe the there are some very goods deals especially in the "quality large cap markets"

So on the eve of my favorite holiday and what I also refer to as the "feeding frenzy" about to takle place ,..
Let us remember and offer short prayer for,..those who can't aford to hunt,..
for those who dont have a warm house and bird in the oven and nice glass of wine ( or my case 4 oz of Gods liqid,.. the being Scotch whiskey) ,. for the troops away from home,.. for the fallen and for the forlorn,.. They are amoung us,.. the invisible,..the homeless the
poor and the destitute ,.
for those who's dignity an self confidence has been stripped by the greedy in the name of profit and progress.
For all the people,..who with just a little help (hopefully through a new leader) will be sooner than later paying for groceries and rent and buying a car an sooner or later a home ,..
To all,.. not just the hunting brethren who are special to me ,.. but to all
God bless you and Happy Holiday

The blind naivety of people who dont realize the deep corruption which has long rotted Alaskan politics(corruption is pretty deep everywhere but Alaska is awful) is unfortunate.

To Lost My Zero: Thank you for the kind words. Maybe this is the place to add a few things that I couldn't get into Outdoor Life.

In 1976, Jim invited me to go prairie dog hunting. Since then, just about every year, I've gone varmint shooting with him, and on all those hunts he has never taken a shot. Not one. If you are his guest, you get to shoot, not Jim.

Second: There are no schools where you go to be a gun writer (and, thank God, no exams), so you have to do it more or less by feel, and some are more successful than others. Jim got into the business long before I did, and early in my career, I had him as an example. He was a two-legged poster for how much you had to know and what was expected if you wanted to be any good at it.
When the full truth dawned on me, I thought, "Oh boy, I got some work to do." And so that tribute was my way of saying thanks in public, and I owe Todd Smith, who is editor of OL, a big thank you for the opportunity.

Dave,
I agree with all your comments about Jim Carmichael. I first met him in Prescott,AZ in the very early '70s. Dave Wolfe, (Wolfe Publishing) whom I had met when he was still in Illinos, had recently moved to Prescott and was in the process of starting his Publishing Co. At that time Neal Knox was working for Dave and Jim was there, I guess, because Prescott was/is a hotbed for 'gun nuts.' If I remember right that was before he went with O/L but maybe not. Anyway, I then saw him often at major hunt shows, although I rarely see him anymore. He was always kind, helpful and a good guy to know. He never hunted AK with me to my disappointment.
Perhaps the fact that you do not see his name plastered on every publicity media out there, nowadays, tell us all a lot about the REAL JC.