Search Results for: node/SSCC Seattle

Why I Hate the City…

So Joe recently lamented about how he much prefers life on the Palouse as opposed to life in Seattle. Today I was reminded by my news ticker why I didn’t rush back to where I grew up after college.

The incident happened about 10:30 a.m. while three women were waiting at a bus stop on Southeast 316th Street just west of 124th Street Southeast, Capt. Mike Hirman said.

The robbers, who were black and in their early 20s, were armed with a handgun and pepper spray. The man was about 6 foot with a skinny build. He was wearing a dark jacket and jeans. The woman was 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-5 wearing a black jacket and Mickey Mouse pajama bottoms.

Broad daylight on a moderately busy street, 1 mile (seriously by street) from where I grew up.  When I go back and visit family and friends, I remember it’s nowhere near like when I grew up there.  It’s much less forgiving and much more dangerous.

Frankly, I like the town I live in where I trust my neighbors and they trust me.  We know that should the excrement hit the fan, we are more than willing to help each other out.

Yeah, there’s a lot to be said for living out here.

A Response from a Representative…

So as mentioned previously my wife sent a pretty direct letter to our federal representatives.  Patty Murray responded today.

Dear Mrs. TMW:

Thank you for contacting me regarding your thoughts on new gun control legislation. I appreciate having the benefit of your views on this matter.

The views of Washingtonians are very important to my work. I will keep your thoughts in mind, and I encourage you to stay in touch. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my weekly updates at http://murray.senate.gov/updates. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

Sincerely,

Patty Murray
United States Senator

TMW’s comment to me when forwarding it was a perfect descriptor:

She answered with a non answer.  Way to talk around the issue.

Murray however gave a much different response to a friend of mine:

Dear Mr. Willington:

Thank you for writing me regarding the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It was good to hear from you.

As a mother, grandmother, and former preschool teacher I was shocked by the tragedy that unfolded in Newtown. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the victims whose loss is difficult to comprehend.

Unfortunately, this horrific tragedy was another in a long line of gun violence episodes that have ranged from places like Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Aurora to coffee shops in Lakewood to the corner of South Byron Street and McClintock Ave South in Seattle. These episodes have plagued our cities, our schools, and our shared sense of security. This cannot go on. As a society we need to come together to begin a real conversation on all the factors contributing to those horrific instances of gun violence, but we also need to take specific action to bolster our current gun safety laws.

There is no question that we can and should limit access to the assault style weapons of war that are on our streets and that are too often being used to kill innocent people indiscriminately. I have repeatedly voted for an assault weapons ban and will do so again as soon as we can get a bill to the Senate floor.

But preventing tragedies like the one in Newtown will take more than just common-sense gun policies and enforcement. It will also take a renewed commitment to understanding and dealing with the root causes that lead isolated individuals to carry out these atrocities. At this moment, everything needs to be on the table for scrutiny.

Our nation is at a crossroads moment, and we must take the path that protects future generations from re-living these gun violence tragedies over and over again. It will take the courage of people with opposing views but a common purpose sitting down with one another and agreeing that the status quo is unacceptable.

Please be assured I will keep your views in mind as I work with my colleagues and please feel free to share with me your ideas on how to address this crisis. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my updates at http://murrav.senate.gov/updates. Thank you for contacting me, and please do not hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator

We haven’t gotten a response from Cantwell regarding her specific letter though here is her response to my letter:

Dear Mr. TMW,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

All Washingtonians – and all Americans – offer our deepest condolences to the families of the 20 children and six school staff members who were killed in this senseless attack. Our thoughts and prayers are with the community of Newtown, as its residents heal from this incomprehensible tragedy.

This horrific attack highlights several issues that must be addressed promptly in order to better protect against such inexplicable violence.    We need to get powerful assault weapons off our streets.  And we need to strengthen services for the mentally ill and their families.

In the past, I supported the original Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady Bill, as well as the Youth Handgun Safety Act of 1993, which prohibits juveniles from possessing or receiving handguns. I look forward to work with my colleagues in the Senate to strengthen responsible legislation to rein in gun violence. We need to work to close the loopholes in existing laws that allow criminals and children to gain access to firearms contrary to the law’s intention. One example is the well-known “gun-show loophole” which allows people to purchase firearms at gun-shows without undergoing the background check required when guns are bought from licensed dealers. Lastly, I believe we must support increased gun-safety and gun-use education.

I support the Second Amendment and the rights of law-abiding Washingtonians who own guns.  I also remain focused on addressing the deeply troubling violence in this country and making our state and our country as safe as possible for all people, including our most vulnerable citizens, our children. I believe both of these goals are important and can be simultaneously accomplished through common-sense gun laws and stricter enforcement of existing laws.

Along with addressing gun violence, making services for the mentally ill and their families more accessible will encourage those suffering from mental illness to seek needed care and support. Mental health care is a critical component of our healthcare system and an individual’s overall health status. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately one in 17 Americans suffers from a seriously debilitating mental illness. I care deeply about mental health care and understand the important role behavioral health services play in the lives of both those who suffer from mental illness and their family and loved ones.

Thank you again for contacting me to share your thoughts on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Maria Cantwell
United States Senator

If you live in the state of Washington.  Light up their phones and crank up the heat.  I am liking the idea Robb had, especially since the local gun shows draw from both Idaho and Washington so we’d get a decent set of calls into multiple districts.  Combine that with methods for people to send letters to congress critters it could be quite effective.  Especially if you had people there who could help them personalize them instead of form letters.

As you will notice on the right hand side, I’ve added a Join the NRA link.  I know some aren’t too happy with the NRA, I’m one of them.  As Sebastian said though, we have the NRA we’re going into this fight with, it’s not going to change and you’re not going to wish up an alternative.  Do what you can, voice your opinion to the NRA, they have a better record of listening than congress, and get active.  If all you do is bitch in the corner about how they don’t represent you, of course they won’t.  You haven’t lifted a finger to guide them in representing you.

I’ve also added a quick box to aid people in contacting their legislators.  Do it if you haven’t already.  There is nothing to loose by doing so and you have everything to gain.  As you can see folks, this is going to be an up hill battle and this is one we can not loose.  A quote worth remembering of which I was reminded of it by a friend of mine:

“Never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never Yield to a force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
― Winston S. Churchill

We must stand and fight.  We must not waiver, we must not flinch.  We must come out on top, our very culture depends on it.

I am not alone!

Came across a nice article on concealed carry that says yet again what has been said so many times.

Concealed carry could save your life

Every time I read about a school massacre or other shooting by criminals or crazies, when someone mentions giving the right to carry a concealed weapon on or off campus, I wonder why so many oppose this solution….

Spotsylvania

It’s good to know I’m not the only one; especially with all the B.S. in Seattle.

-B

Quote of the Day – Sebastian (2/18/2013)

New gun restrictions there, even modest ones, is a much bigger deal than in the states anti-gun forces have already largely won. Any victory there will provide a template that will be repeated in other traditionally pro-gun swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, you name it. Once the dominoes start to fall, it’s going to be extremely difficult to stop. This is why they cannot be allowed to score any wins at all. This isn’t about reasonableness. This isn’t about people coming together to solve problems. Politics is not either of those things: it is about power, and nothing else, and the side that is more effective at wielding power is the one that goes home victorious, and the other beaten up and bloodied in ways that couldn’t have been imagined when you went in thinking they were going to be reasonable. There is no reasonableness in the political process, there is only victory and defeat.

SebastianHow the Tide Turns
February 18, 2013


[First go read the whole thing.  Between that paragraph and the last paragraph it was a tie.

The law’s main purpose is simple, “to keep those who have the money and the power with the money and the power.”  Anyone who thinks differently is merely an ideologue who hasn’t discovered reality yet.

Right now our opponents are fighting tooth and nail to find a way to keep us out of the fight.  It is the only way they can hide their weakness and convince legislators to commit Seppuku.  Sebastian is right on another front, we must punish every last one of these tyrants come the next election.  We need to ensure those who attack our rights, even if unsuccessful pay the political price.

Those three sponsors for the Washington AWB are now saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t realize this was going to trample on more civil rights than just your right to arms.”  The three sponsors of that particular bill all belong to the Greater Peoples Republic of Seattle and I don’t see any of those paying for their crimes.  There are however plenty of people betraying gun owners over other bills such SB 5711.  We need to teach a very valuable lesson on all fronts.  We need to throw any legislator out who supported these bills.

Further if the state supports it, to show sincerity, get them recalled.  I’ve been contemplating for a while leading a charge to recall a couple of tyrants from Washington.  It will be exceedingly difficult, however there is always the possibility given the rapid change in the political climate of the past two months.  Washingtonians are pissed and many of them are becoming active again after being dormant for a long time.  I’m not kidding either, I know a few people who had even given up on voting after the King Dome/Safeco Field fiasco getting back into the ball game again.

What I don’t want to do though is make a bad move which is why I’m trying to talk with those who have a better aerial view of the political battlefield.

Make no mistake folks, we are seeing the final moves of a long played chess game.  How quickly it ends is anyone’s guess.  I can tell you if our opponents fail in their current plays, they will have exhausted themselves into defeat.  While we will still need to remain vigilant their relevancy politically will join the likes of the Aryan Nations and the KKK.  Let’s do everything we can to ensure their plays fail and anyplace they do gain an inch they pay politically by loosing a mile. -B]

Quote of the Day–Random Little Girl (9/26/2012)

Grandma, why is that guy wearing a skirt?

Grand daughter of the dearly departed…

September 26th, 2012


[Yeah, today wasn’t the happiest day for our family.  Late last week we found out a member of TMW’s family, who was quite close, passed away unexpectedly.  TMW’s parents stayed with them while we were in the hospital after the car wreck.

Initially we didn’t think we’d be able to make the funeral thinking it would be back in Minnesota, except nope it was close by in Spokane.  Sunday my wife found out the funeral was today so I took the day off work and my in-laws drove out from the west side.

Shortly after the wife found out she asked me, what are you going to wear to the funeral?  My response without thinking was, a kilt of course, what else!  The wife didn’t argue but many constantly tried to get me to justify this through some logical means mainly because they couldn’t come up with a justification of why I shouldn’t.  The naysayers even included my own mother.

You know what, every last one of them was wrong.  You want to know how wrong they were, every time the widow saw me she smiled.  The granddaughter asking that question made her laugh.  When I walked up to give my regards she rapidly became more up beat and said, “I love the kilt!”

IMAG0385

My only regret is I wish I had known she would have liked to have a piper.  It’s often difficult to find one mainly because it’s not something you can just look up in the yellow pages.  It’s something where you need to know people, well I happen to know exactly the right people as my mom is involved with the Seattle Scottish Highland Games every year and could have certainly given me names and numbers.  Alas it’s too late now, and at least for me it was a good thing because whenever I hear this since 2003 I have to just go off by myself.  Doubly so if I hear it in person.

Goodbye Mike, you will be missed, and thank you for all you did.

64221753

-B]

My First Car

Since JayG started it
and I actually have a story to tell, here goes nothing.

So here’s the meme. Long answers or short.
1. What was your first car?
Model, year, color, condition?
2. What adventures did you have in it, good or
bad?
3. What happened to it, what’s the end of the story?

My first car, bought from my cousin by my parents, was a 2002 Hyundai Accent
much like what is pictured here.

It was stick shift and the low profile model.  It also was the bare minimum
on any extras as in no cruise control.  My parents bought it for me after I
moved into an apartment from the dorms.  Since I had previously lived on campus, I didn’t need
a car and my parents said they didn’t want me driving home every weekend.  I
didn’t have a car in high school, didn’t need one and I didn’t get my license
till after I graduated, I didn’t have a use for it.  At the time, I felt school
was more important than driving.

My first urban driving experience with this car was in Seattle.  I was driving up
James St., which happens to be very steep, and had to stop in the middle of the
hill for a red light.  As I was still fairly new at driving a stick I conked the
engine when the light turned green.  After that, I quickly learned how to play
the clutch on hills which came in handy for the WSU campus.  If need be, I could
easily let it roll more than normal to warn other drivers that were on my tail.

That car was a good little car.  That is, until it became known as the coffin
on wheels.  A car that small up against a fuel tanker carrying 11,000 gallons of
fuel, head on, is not a fair fight.  The car, to say the least, did not
survive.

*Notes below are from TMM, I do not remember the accident or 5 days after the accident.  My condition was the same as Drew Barrymore’s character in 50 First Dates.* Pictures below could be considered by some to be of a graphic nature. Click read more for pictures.

Random Pictures 387

Random Pictures 387

I [TMM] was driving at the time of the accident.  My legs actually came out from under the steering wheel and I was laying at about a 45 degree angle with my legs laying against the dash.  After regaining consiousness and taking care of other issues *discussed in a minute* I set the compound fracture in my left leg.  It was bent about 75-80 degrees, with my foot turned in about 60-70 degrees as well. I won’t describe how I did it, a guy outside the car was disturbed by my actions.  I splinted and wedged it in place on the dash board until the cavalry arrived.

Random Pictures 387

The cavalry had to peel the car open in order to pull me out.  That is quite seriously the most pain I have ever felt in my life.  My right femur was broken right at the Lesser Trochanter.  At the time we actually thought I had broken my pelvis.  That combined with the damage to my left leg, it was excruciatingly painful as they pulled me onto the back board because they basically had to drag my legs over the non-smooth interior.  When they finally got my leg in traction in the hospital it was the most refreshing feeling in the world.  Seriously it ranked right up there with sex just because of how fast it went from pain, to no pain.  It was like flipping a switch.  Which was also the switch were I finally checked out, as they did that, they also started an IV and giving me pain meds.  I have seen my signature on documents I don’t remember signing.  I gave a statement to the police evidently as well.

Random Pictures 390

Random Pictures 391

My first concern on regaining consciousness and realizing what had happened was for TMW.  She was unconscious slumped down in her seat.  Her breathing was obviously labored and when I looked towards her it was obvious that her seat belt was holding her head up by her neck.  She was being choked by the seat belt.  I instructed some people at the scene to cut the seat belt.  An argument insued with them whining about a possible neck injury.  I asked what experience they had in first aid.  To which they responded, “We’re both RN’s.”  At which point I was a bit furthered upset and said, “Well didn’t they teach you anything about the importance of the airway in stabilizing a trauma victim?  If she can’t breath, everything else is null and void.”  They promptly cut the seat belt.  Which was doubly good because she had 6 broken ribs on her right side and as a result her lungs partially collapsed.  That stress coupled with a restricted airway could have easily killed her.

They removed her from the car first, and lets just say that was the most disturbing blood curdling sound I’ve ever heard in my life.  Due to her injuries she was unconscious but aware.  I could hear her quite well as they pulled her from the car.

Once we were both extricated from the car we were airlifted by helicopter to Spokane.  So I remember the ride on the angel of mercy, the wife however does not.  We both went through long surgeries that night to deal with our injuries.  After which I spent 24 hours in the ICU and TMW spent 48 while recovering.

So there’s the story and pictures (after the car was moved to the wrecking yard) of the Hyundai.  If we can find the packet of accident scene photos we’ll try and post some scans of them.

WSU Hate-Crimes and Forced Victimization

This morning on the radio it was announced that recently there have been hate crimes on the WSU campus. What I heard was “Forced disarmament ensures victims for hate crimes!” Many would look at the geographic location and figure that it’s because we’re “rural” and don’t like people who are different. The fact is though, this is actually pretty far off and one hell of a stereotype. The same crap happened while I was at UW in Seattle. This same stereotype is often used against gun owners. This is even more of a slap since many gun owners view firearms as a line of self defense that EVERYONE has a right to. It is the universal leveler than ANYONE can use to defend themselves.

The fact that the University forces everyone, including those who want and have more need than normal to provide for their own personal defense, to be disarmed is disconcerting.

“I would never have thought this would happen on our campus and I think it shocks the overwhelming majority of campus,” Scheller said.”

While I most certainly agree that it is shocking, as well as saddening. The idea that she believed that it couldn’t happen on the WSU campus was her first mistake.

“We are disturbed and saddened by the recent events,” she said. “Of course we want all our students to feel safe, secure and respected.”

What people do not realize is that the biggest reason for concealed carry is not to “shoot” but to provide a deterrent. No attacker wants to end up in the hospital at the hands of his “victim”. Disarmament serves as an illusion of safety and security. However, when you are attacked while disarmed, how can you effectively fight back, especially when outnumbered or over powered? Besides, these people already are breaking the law, what’s to stop them from using weapons? Another disturbing fact however, is the fact that it appears that the attackers are casing their victims by finding them at the GLBTA sponsored events.

“Hogan, a junior French and Spanish major, said he didn’t recognize the man, but the man recognized him from an event sponsored by the GLBTQ community.”

This shows premeditation in their actions and is quite disturbing.

For those at the University of Idaho or at Washington State University that feel affected by this, please feel free to contact the Palouse Pink Pistols, or myself or anyone else. No one has to live in fear, and no one should!