Carmichael's Position

Back to It… Part IV

I am resolved to begin writing again. 

If you’re expecting life changing prose, that’s up to you.  I have no plans to distribute Life Changing ideas here.  Might my thoughts influence you?  Could be… Again that’s up to you. 

My plan is to be more thoughtful, more elegant, more composed in my writing.  Opinion will exist here, I may be right, I may be wrong.  But I will not be shy about “putting it out there”. 

Visitors to these posts will also be treated to my love of photography.  Please enjoy… 

-JC

A Writer Writes

And a procrastinator…

I’ll get back to you on that…

Words to internet paper have been rare in these here parts. Some would say for far to long, others… not long enough.  So it must be the right time to begin writing again.

I plan to return to these pages on a hopefully more regular basis.  I, like many others, have let my Blog posts slip as I find myself posting more on other avenues like Facebook.  I still plan to post on FB, but I feel compelled to return to these pages… my pages… a place where I can share My Position on a variety of topics once again.  In more detail.

With luck I may be entertaining, thought provoking, sublime or even frivolous we’ll see… and as always quality is in the eye of the beholder so if you don’t find my prose to your liking, well… then you only have yourself to blame.

Till next time…

The Ebbing Tide of Journalistic Integrity

A good friend of mine, intelligent and well reasoned, has also had it with today’s media, especially regarding the topic so hot in our national dialog right now, Gun Control.  I am posting his well written editorial (of sorts) below in its entirety.  It is good reading, and he brings up some very valid and cogent points in the discussion.

Reasoned dialog will absolutely be accepted in the comments on this post… If it degenerates into name calling I will delete the trolls responsible.  This is an Adult forum!  I expect it to remain such!

Without further adieu, I give you “Joe’s” editorial:

________________________________________________________

19 December, 2012

To the Media At Large:

Fair and Balanced?

Not exactly.

In the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Media is engendering a national trend to allow emotion to overwhelm journalistic integrity. Over the last several days many “fair and balanced” journalistic outlets such as NPR have been producing news articles that are factually inaccurate and factually incomplete. One of the tenants of true journalistic integrity is to fully research all sides of a story before releasing it. This lapse has resulted in an overwhelming bias in the reporting on the gun control debate and is clearly putting our national media into a position of no longer being a true journalistic source, but instead as a lobby for the position of gun control.

Item one: the reporting immediately following the incident was poorly sourced. Every major news outlet misreported the shooter’s name and relationship to the school. They jumped right in, following the other news outlets with lemming-like precision to produce piece after piece containing factually incorrect information. Fortunately, no one was seriously harmed by this. However, one wonders what could have happened if an innocent individual was singled out as the perpetrator before law enforcement could intervene. This, at the very least, is shameful.

Item two: No one seems to be able to find or interview a credible advocate for gun rights or assault rifle owners. The recent interview with Malcolm Brady (Dec. 17) on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, a misnomer at best, was a farce. Although Mr. Brady is something of an expert on firearms policy, it is doubtful that coming from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that he is an objective spokesperson for the millions of private citizen gun owners in the United States, especially when it comes to assault rifles. Simply put, the reason for owning an assault rifle is for personal protection. A cursory study of human history will show that governments fail again and again to protect their citizens from disaster and internal political turmoil. The argument is often heard from those who have not considered the factual details of personal protection of life, liberty and property that there is no need for a private citizen to own a firearm for personal defense. They say there are police or the National Guard to defend us. Studying the days immediately after Katrina will show anyone that even in good times, the protection afforded by the government will break down. When the police and their families become victims of disaster, they abandon their posts just as quickly as the folks who operate shopping malls. Being prepared means that you are ready for the scenario that is improbable, and strictly mathematically speaking, which may be above most journalists, improbable means that it will definitely happen at some point. There is no region in our nation that cannot become lawless due to either man-made or natural catastrophes. Denying this or acting as if this is so unlikely as to not be considered is folly, farce, and ignorant of the simplest lessons taught by history. One of the other lessons taught by history is that societies that become reliant on the protection provided by their governments become the victims of those governments. Even a cursory examination of the events in Syria will show that an unarmed populace is ripe for victimization, and the weapon that is providing the most effective defense for that population is the assault rifle. This point wasn’t covered by Mr. Brady, the one-time soldier and apparent “expert” provided by NPR to explain the case for assault rifles. The bottom line is that in a ground based, person on person encounter, the assault rifle is the status-quo for tactical defensive engagements. Mr. Brady’s experience in the military must have skipped this basic point. In most American communities, the good guys outnumber the bad guys one hundred to one, but one bad guy with an assault rifle can easily overwhelm one hundred good guys armed with rhetoric, faith in their government and good intentions. The continuing experiment that is America relies on the ability and right of the people to provide the majority of services to themselves. Outside of providing protection beyond our borders which has been delegated, and rightly so to the military, the government should not be in a position to disarm the American populace. This is the essence of the second amendment to the constitution. This is the essence of being an American, and is why the right to own firearms that guarantee that we will be able to, in times of disaster or injustice, to protect ourselves, our families, our property and our communities must be maintained. As a free citizen of America, it is more than our right to be able to defend ourselves, it is our responsibility. The media needs to do a much better job of identifying spokespersons. In the case of Mr. Brady, it would be obvious to anyone on the side of firearm advocacy that he would not be an appropriate representative.

Item three: the incidence of mass shooting is not increasing. Again with the bad math. Reporter after reporter has made the statement or insinuated that the incidence of mass shootings is increasing. In fact, we have been experiencing a lull. This occurs in statistics and is seen in many bodies of data where events occur sporadically. There are groupings of events and they occur at an average or standard rate. Since we are currently experiencing a grouping, this would appear over the last 2-3 years to be an increase in the overall rate of these incidences. Considered over a period of time going back say 30 years, it is likely from a mathematical standpoint that the rate of these incidences is not going up. The emotion involved makes us say that this seems to be an increase, but this is where that journalistic integrity thing comes in. Do a better job. Take a statistics class.

Item four: hunting is not the only credible reason for owning a firearm. A recently broadcast editorial by Frank Deford was consistent with the apparent overall stance by journalists that the only reasonable case that anyone would own a firearm is to hunt with it. Target shooting with what are sensationally referred to as “high power rifles” is one example of another use. (There is no standard for this, by the way. Any rifle could be considered to be “high power”, or low power depending on how it is compared.) Also, many firearm sporting enthusiasts shoot at targets using semi-automatic firearms. These are never intended to be used for hunting or self-defense. Many organizations offer college scholarships for students who are marksmen, and the firearms they operate are clearly designed and intended to be used for target shooting of one type or another. Mr. Deford’s columns are opinion pieces for sure, but as NPR’s resident sporting expert, he could have done a little more research.

News reporting requires more than just reporting on what is easy to find, it requires burrowing down to find all sides of a story. Preventing emotion from interfering with this process is one reason why I have been, even as a staunchly conservative individual, a supporter of NPR’s program. This year, based on this apparent lapse of journalistic integrity, I will be contributing the money I normally give to NPR elsewhere, most likely to the NRA. We have now become an embattled organization, not mainly due to the recent tragedy, but more due to the continuing loss of journalistic integrity by news organizations that used to provide facts and unbiased reporting while taking into account all perspectives that utilized view points from actual subject matter experts. Reporting on the emotion behind this tragedy is certainly news worthy, using it to grind an axe is not.

Very Truly Yours,

~Joe

We’re from the Government, and we’re here to help!

Action is afoot in the Legislative Branch of the Federal Government that is dangerous in its nature…

Several Democratic lawmakers called for a new push for U.S. gun restrictions on Sunday, including a ban on military-style assault weapons, in the wake of the Connecticut massacre in which 20 children and six adults were gunned down in a school.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the author of an assault-weapons ban that lapsed in 2004, said she would introduce new legislation this week. Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said lawmakers would hold hearings on gun control, and several others said they would devote new attention to the long-ignored issue.

"I think we could be at a tipping point ... where we might get something done," Senator Charles Schumer, another top Senate Democrat…

Never let a Crisis go to waste huh?

[Senator Diane] Feinstein said her planned legislation would outlaw the high-capacity magazines and military-style assault rifles that have factored in many recent mass shootings, including Friday's massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. People who own such weapons now would not be required to give them up, Feinstein said.

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes...

No... I am not going to sit idly by on this one.  I simply would like to voice a request for restraint and caution in turning an extremely vile event into a catalysis for whatever agenda you find association with. 

For you who want desperately for the 100% disarming of Americans... I have little use for you and even less to say to you (it is not like you would listen anyway) you will always live in that desire with the hopelessly smug attitude that you are always right when tragic events include the unlawful, and disturbed use of a firearm.  Yet amazingly absent in your philosophical disposition is any instance where a life was traded for the better good.  (Meaning a perpetrator of evil and ill-will was summarily dispatched (by a person wielding a firearm) before more chaos could ensue)  You seldom acknowledge that Good or Bad lies in the intent of the person wielding the weapon, not in the weapon itself.

Using incidents like Newton killings for politically self riotous agenda building is easily the most repugnant act of opportunistic political ambulance chasers ever perpetrated!

Where should we be focused?  How about repealing the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution?  Because, this so called "Free Press" we have? Is obviously a threat to our lives, as free thinking, free associating, used to be intelligent beings! I am sick of being "sensationalized" to death!  Our media relentlessly bombards us with sanctimonious platitudes, not to better educate us of the facts of a matter, but rather in a continuous attempt to indoctrinate us on HOW we should think or "Feel" about a subject".  Everything is Right or Left now... No longer is anything Right or Wrong.  So what's the next logical step?  Well obviously these fools can't be trusted with as pervasive a Right as free speech!  Nor can we, for we are offending too many people!  

Seriously, sounds like I've gone like a loon into the abyss?  Really...? Is it because I brought up the untouchable third rail of Freedom of Speech? and that ONE Amendment is oh so much more protected than any of the others of the US Constitution?

Exactly my point... no one of any intellect would dare suggest that the First Amendment in the United States Bill of Rights should be repealed.  No matter how offensive speech is, it is to be protected!  Question for you, why would "inoffensive speech" ever need such protection?

But yet the Second Amendment, the Right (THAT'S a "RIGHT" not a conditional permission!) of the People of the United States to bear arms, is allowed to be ignored or dismissed, or manupulated simply because in the Neon Bulb of sensationalistic opportunism declares it offensive?

That is a slippery slope folks, please be careful where we tread!  These Rights are there for a reason, and must be protected.

Am I a gun nut?  No, I don't think so... I am however a concerned American, and I am... A Constitution Nut!  Anytime the Government proposes to do something for our greater good we need to be weary... Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes... Still holds true today, but fortunately we are all educated by the Media and would have no earthly clue what that means... now would we?

When September Ends…

You’d think I’d lost the keys to Carmichael’s Position with the scarcity of posts…

Actually it is simply a function of having been exceptionally busy these past few weeks.  September was a blur!

NYC- Early in September, I was back in Manhattan (Brooklyn, Queens, Newburg, Staten Island, Poughkeepsie, and White Plains) New York for my customary business meetings.  I happened to be there September 11.  So I took the opportunity to head down to Jersey City, directly across the Hudson from the Manhattan “Financial District” to snap a few images of the “Missing Towers” commemorative lights.  It was quite impactful.

Looking north, I was afforded a spectacular view of Mid-Town as well.

I spent a couple of hours along the walkway just absorbing the enormity of what took place eleven years ago, and what has transpired since.

The next day I had a couple of meetings on Staten Island, and while usually I drive to the island, this day’s schedule precluded any chance of that.  So I had to take the Staten Island Ferry.  Fortunately, unlike my last adventure with the Ferry, this day was beautiful, and… there was not a herd of misunderstood youth thugs boisterously bragging about their female conquests, and pugilistic accomplishments.  (I was thankful).  The views afforded of New York Harbor were spectacular.

 

I recommend, if you find yourself in Manhattan with a couple of hours to spare, head down to the southern tip of the island and jump a ferry ride.  It’s FREE!!! By the way!  Seriously it is easily the best ticket in town for views of the harbor.  (On a clear day… that is…).

The Oven - Upon my return to Casa de Carmichael, I was treated to a new oven!  Ya see whist I was off in NYC doing my part to Bring Home the Bacon… my lovely bride was doing her part to insure we could cook the bacon!  Our (came with the house) nearly 20 year old oven decided to give up the ghost!  So Ginger went and acquired a fancy-schmancy stainless steel glass top job.  Hey, as long as it gets used… I ‘m good with it.  And considering, Ginger cooks an average of 5 nights a week, it’s getting a workout.

Golf League - The weekend of my return from NYC, we also played in our Golf League’s year end tournament.  I played poorly in the tourney, BUT!… I did come in first in the league.  What was a little awkward was we had a side competition in the league where each player submitted an entry stating who you thought would win the league and what you thought that person’s final cumulative score would be… Eh…er… uhm… I won that too… Very fun tourney and banquet never the less, and a great group of people!  I am already looking forward to next May when we crank it up again.

Airshow - And finally, the weekend of the 21-23 I found myself in Grand Junction, Colorado for the (not often enough) Grand Junction Airshow and Tailhook get-together.  More on that in the next article… It’s a bit involved…

SPECOPS is Pissed About Lack of Obama’s OPSEC

Translation… Special Operations Forces are very not thrilled with “The Administration’s” universal lack of respect for Operational Security. 

“They leak more than the Titanic!”

Apparently some Special Ops Guys have had it with leaking Operational Secrets in the name of Political Grandstanding, Showboating or Gasconade. "Spiking the football" and sharing too much with your NYT reporter buddy have serious consequences for National Security and more importantly, in my view... the lives of those 'Boots on the Ground' who have to first execute these highly dangerous missions and then have to suffer through a Political Narcissist's Braggadocio at their expense!

The organization they have created is called OPSEC.  In addition to the video they have produced (below) they also effectively outlined their frustrations in this presentation [LINK].

Granted, the focus and the catalyst of this message can be construed as political in nature, as the target of the angst shared by these Special Forces operators is directed at the current Administration, calling out President Obama specifically... and as CNN was fast to point out...

"...shares offices with two Republican political consulting firms in Alexandria, Virginia. Its spokesman Chad Kolton worked for the Bush administration as a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence..."

(… Hmm, sure wish more news organizations including CNN! would divulge who shares offices with who and who worked for who...)

But the message is one that transcends Administrations and needs to be learned and applied by all Administrations, current and future!  I know a number of Special Ops guys (many retired and some still active) and the feelings on this matter are indeed universal. "Shut the F*ck Up!"

There is NOTHING to gain from sharing methods! Those on active duty cannot (by law) speak their mind publicly regarding their opinion of their chain of command, all the way up to the President. But I can assure you, the "Snake Eaters"?... they are not fans of politicians of any ilk... but they especially loathe the guy in the chair now. Not (as many of his political class would like you to believe) because of his Race, his Religion, or even his political party affiliation... it is simply because "He Doesn't Get It!"

Annular Eclipse as seen from Casa de Carmichael

Tonight, as the sun set over the Rockies, the moon got in the way.  Voila’ an eclipse!  But as the moon is at apogee (the farthest away from the earth in it’s elliptical orbit) it is unable to block the body of the sun in it’s entirety, thus we see an “Annular Eclipse” instead of the more famous “Total Eclipse”.  An Annular Eclipse at it’s peak will form a ring of fire, as the moon forms the hole of a Sun Doughnut.

We here in Colorado were just outside the shadow line of a full Annular Eclipse, that privilege was reserved for our neighbors further to our west in Utah, and New Mexico.  Didn’t mean I didn’t go out and take my best shot at capturing the partial Eclipse.  Here is my result…

This was a fun challenge to photograph.  Hope you enjoy…

Shuttle Enterprise fly-by and Pneumonia

Just two highlights of an interesting week in New York.

I was in NYC for the past week taking care of my client obligations… Y’know the usual work gig.  This week however had a couple of added twists.  I already wrote about my trials in simply getting to the Big Apple… It only got more challenging from there.  On day two, I started to notice the onset of what I initially thought was a sinus infection… Upon my return to Denver and subsequent doctor’s visit I learned that nope… I have pneumonia.

One of the real highlights however of the past week, outside of some genuinely successful and rewarding client visits was that I had the opportunity to witness the last flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.  Although using the adjective “Space” in her naming is a bit of a stretch considering “Enterprise” never experienced space travel.  “Enterprise” was the designated test article of the shuttle program, specifically built to test the glide and landing characteristics of the new vehicle.  But still a cool piece of hardware associated with a now bygone era in America’s declining dominance in Space exploration.

Originally Enterprise was scheduled to fly from Dulles where she had previously resided as a major attraction at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Part of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Complex) on Monday of this past week, however due to the same storm front that forced my unexpected stop in Philadelphia the transport was delayed until Friday.  Enterprise was being flown to New York as the first step in transferring her from the Smithsonian to her new home onboard the USS Intrepid Museum.  The Smithsonian had received the Shuttle Discovery the week before and was swapping exhibits.

So on Friday morning I identified the flight route the Shuttle and Shuttle Transporter (a modified Boeing 747) were to fly and realized that she would be coming right up the Hudson River doing a U-turn around the Tappan-Zee bridge, about 4 miles from our office.  So there was a good chance I would be able to see this historic flight for myself if I was able to attain a good vantage point.

As the time approached, I stepped into my Boss’s office (the CEO of our company) and said, “Hey, y’wanna go see the shuttle fly by?”  To which, my slightly confused boss said “Sure!”

Out the door we went, looking for a good vantage to a westerly view.  The top level of the Parking garage at the White Plains Train Station was the perfect spot, if we couldn’t see her from there, we wouldn’t see her from anywhere in the town. We hustled on over and got to the top level right on time, we were up there only a couple of minutes when from the south approached the mated pair, Shuttle and 747.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my Big 300mm lens attached, but I did the best I could with the 200mm I had.  This first image gives you an idea about our general view…

Then with the zoom capabilities I did have I captured these…

And then as she began her final turn back to the south and her eventual home in Manhattan…

I was glad I had the opportunity to witness this first hand, yet saddened by the fact that the United States appears resigned to no longer leading the way in Space and Science exploration…

At the arrival of the Shuttle Discovery at Dulles last week, a young child asked a current NASA astronaut what he should study in school in bettering his chances of one day becoming an astronaut… the Current Astronaut simply replied “Study Russian”.

Ouch… Truth hurts…

Maybe it is about race!

This whole Trayvon Martin™ thing has me more than a little queasy lately.

If viewed from a higher Macrosocioracial point of view, a few observations are taken from this whole disgusting incident.

Never let a Racial Crisis go to waste!  Or in this case… Damn, the economy is in the tank, our foreign policy is a fools errand, we need something to polarize Americans immediately!!!  Something that shows how truly compassionate we in the media and government are in relation to Race Issues!  Y’know, because those Republicans are racist, we all know it.

Hey, there's this case in Florida where this Neighborhood Watch Nazi shot an innocent black teen… simply walking in a neighborhood before he was to help elderly folks across the road!

What?… Whaddya mean the shooter identifies himself as Hispanic?  Oh… Damn… Wait!  His dad was white!  That makes him WHITE!  and a RACIST!

What?… Whaddya mean Zimmerman a registered Democrat?… Hmmm that’s a bit inconvenient… He’s still white right?  Ok, he’s a token Democrat!  Racist!

What?… Whaddya mean Zimmerman has physical wounds indicating he was assaulted, punched, and had his head being bounced on the ground?… Before he shot Trayvon™?   Hmmm, well that’s because he assaulted Trayvon™ first by observing him and asking what he was up to in a neighborhood where he had not been seen before!  Racist stereotyper!

What?… Whaddya mean witnesses account that Zimmerman was heading back to his SUV after being advised by the Police Dispatcher not to continue following the suspicious character when he was then assaulted by Trayvon™? … Hmmmm… damn… Zimmerman is still WHITE right?  He’s a liar then!

This unfortunately seems to be the message being perpetuated by the Media and the Administration… “If I had a son he’d look like Trayvon™!”  --- Really??? Would he also have the attitude and vocabulary Trayvon™ apparently possessed? [Link to Trayvon’s™ tweets under the handle “No Limit Nigga” (his words not mine…)] ---

Granted Zimmerman had no knowledge of these character traits of this particular youth, but honestly I don’t think George Zimmerman gave a rat’s ass about this kid’s past as he lay on his back, bleeding from his nose, having his head pounded on the pavement.  He didn’t know the kid’s past, but was well aware of Trayvon’s™ “present” and in a decisive moment was about to determine the kid’s future.

Had the outcome been different and George Zimmerman been the one remaining on the ground in a pool of his own blood, what would the headline read? “Profiled Persecuted Warm Hearted African American Youth Kills Oppressor in Self Defense”?

Without having all the facts in yet, I may be leaping to conclusions… but why are my leaps (based on pretty substantial circumstantial evidence) any more heinous than the leaps being made by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, The New Black Panther Party, MSNBC and to a degree the sitting administration and water carriers in congress?

This whole incident seems nothing more that racial opportunists run amok! The more time passes the more it is beginning to look like the facts do not support the claims by the emotionalism excelling to the point of lunacy!

The point is, investigations are continuing and now that we have meandered so far down this dirty road, what is to be the outcome when Eric Holder and his Feds are left with no choice based on REAL evidence to declare that, no civil liberties were violated, no racial motivation was present, and it is indeed under the law, a case of self defense! 

But then again, maybe that would be the best outcome… Only Nixon could go to China.

That Ain’t Good, Cuz Those Ain’t Clouds!

Looked out across the backyard this evening and a significant cloud deck to the south caught my eye.  Only a mere second or two passed when I realized, “Damn!  That’s not a cloud!  That’s Smoke!”

That ain’t good!  Especially considering we have a relative humidity somewhere near 15% and a sustained wind in the 50 knots neighborhood here today!  Gunna be a long night for residents in the Rocky Mountain Foothills here tonight.  Not to mention fire fighters!

God bless ‘em all!  Thoughts and prayers are with my fellow Coloradans tonight.