Moral dilemma of a civilized society

Where is the moral dilemma of a civilized society when dealing with uncivilized people? I was reading about this story of a human monster that tricked a 10 year old girl into his apartment. He then smacked her on the head and smothered her [to death]. He almost cut her head off in some cannibalistic fantasy.

So how do we handle something like this. My first reaction......I would have blown the motherfvcker away with the shotgun. But that got me thinking, is that civilized. Oh I know that people will say what this guy did was monstrous and uncivilized so he should get what he deserved. But then THAT go me thinking. Is acting like a monster and killing him for killing someone else the right thing to do.

Oh don't get me wrong! Emotionally I would feel muuuuuuuuuch better! Fo Sho! But in the terms of actually not lowering ourselves to the standard of those that we stand before a trail of the tribe...what do we do? We have the right to life, its right there in our founding documents but do we need to stuff this guy into a cell where he has cable TV, a library, a job punching license plates, and lovin' from his cell buddy? Do we torture him? Lobotomize him? Or my favorite, stick him in a tub of piranhas?

How do you handle the scourge? Thoughts people, lets here what you have to say.

The HCB City

Well we broke a new record yesterday! I think like ten people moved into HCB city! That is an all time record! We have FOUR paved streets, an apartment building thing, and now two nice houses [double wides?]!

Happenings around El Rancho de Braco

Well winter has a real way of turning a buzzing neighborhood into a barren landscape. See we Texans, or Texians depending how old school you want to get, are warm blooded critters. We are accustom to temperatures of 85f to 112f. To have it be 38f outside is a guarantee that the streets will be barren of children playing and the lawn mowers locked in the sheds.

This winder season we have been kind of lucky. We did get breaks of warm weather which was a sure bet that the riding lawn mower would again be a street obstacle again. The only exciting thing was our new trespasser who also doubles as my neighbor. He managed to get the bejesus scared out of him when he was aimlessly (and should I add carelessly) walking around. He apparently forgot where he was and I was very happy to remind him whose property he currently occupied with his physical mass.... with the Browning firmly in my paw. He of course wants to talk about where his property ends and where my begins....survey flags didn't explain it enough to his liking.

So with the cold weather and crotchety old men wandering about I think I have taken a shining to the idea of building a fence. I would first like to build a stone fence in the front of the property. It connects to the street and the local youngster enjoy a good drag racing. I am not a huge fan of it and I would like the noise to stop. Hence building a stone wall in the front of the property. On the side I am planning a wood fence, mainly due to the easement with the public utility district. Oh I am not worried that they are going to be putting in any new power lines in solid lime stone anytime soon but why risk it. On the back of the property I am going to make a cedar fence. The back part of the property over looks the cliff and the rest of the hill country (remember I live on top of a hill). I have been saving all the straight trunks and thick branches in preparation of building a cedar fence. So all that goes on the back of the property.

So that is the planning part. As of late I have been clearing the property lines of shrubs, trees, large rocks, small children and the sort. I have mason line running down the property lines and now I am getting to the point where I need to start digging post holes. So goes being a property owner.....

My MiniCity

Thank you to everyone that has been clicking on the link (to the top left) for my minicity. It's a cute little game that basically is another ego meter. Per one click per day that you get, it adds a citizen to your city. The Hill Country Blogger City is up to 24 peeps! We even had a paved road now and some sort of apt. building thingy.

So again, thank you for clicking and I hope to get many more clicks from you in the future. Together we can change the future....change we can believe in.....for the children.

Drinking buddies

As of late I don’t seem to be getting many visitors out to El Rancho De Braco. Moni is always traveling, Toby is always waiting on Elvin, Elvin is waiting to slash the mother dragon with his +4 dragon slayer sword of dragon death, Steve is doing whatever Steve does, Celeste is waiting on Steve, etc. You get the idea!

Well I got a new friend! In fact my new friend is so cool that we instantly became drinking buddies!

Found this little bastard when I almost drank him

Baby showers! catch'em before they hit the ground!

We packed up the family on Saturday and headed out to the baby shower of my friend Mikela and Brandon. They are having their first child together (Brandon has one from a previous marriage)! So that is going to be fun to wat......I mean good for them.

The baby shower was the house of a friends of Mikela's. It was off by Slaughter lane I think. For your out of towners like myself, that is in south south Austin.

Wow, I can see that the city is going some tax dollars to that area. Talk about a total refacing of south side! High end strip malls, High end shopping centers, High end office buildings, and High end standard of living. Wonder how that sits with the poor folk that gave tax dollars to only have that turned around to develop their area? Wonder if they think about all that when they pay their property taxes.

Anywho, it was a nice shower and our host was very gracious. She also was very enthusiastic with showing her cleavage. Also which her 18+ old daughter was most happy to keep the tradition alive. Not that I mind... :)

M & B got the average baby swag! Baby bath, poo hankies, poo wipes, diaper back, etc etc. You know, from experience I can say that a big baby shower is such a big help. I think in both cases with my children, it was the baby shower that gave us our first six months worth of supplies that was just a huge help. Maybe when you go to your next baby shower you might want to keep that in mind.

Really, how often to you think about your gift at a baby shower? You get something, most likely, not thinking to hard about. Yeah, some pacifiers or whatnot......but coming from a daddy....when you are standing at the crib at 3:36 am and are frantically looking for one it helps to have all those extra ones.

So here is some closing advice for a baby shower gift for those that want to up show everyone else. Get Two infant BOXES of diapers from Sams. Three BOXES of unscented baby wipes. Three packages of pacifiers. And a round trip airfare for the grandparents to come and baby sit so the parents can rent a hotel for a night to catch up on sleep.

Wordpress

hey folks, as I mentioned in some post that I .....well...post before today, I mention that I was going to move to word press. Then everyone banded together and vowed to roast my twig and berries. Another group of you were happy that I was going to move. So I said I would be on both Blog Spot and Wordpress.

Just a little update that on that. First, I hate both of you. Its cutting into my Ma-Jong time at work. Second) I added a link at the top right for some of you (MOTHER!) that cannot seem to type in a web address.

That will be all

The Krav kick my maga

Woooooo....so I have been holed up at El Rancho De Braco for the last day. I have been exusted, sore all over, and severally dehydrated. No, I don't have the Flu. I had my first Krav Maga class on Monday and it kick my arse. I want to apologize to all the other practishioners of martial arts....no warm up I have done in martial arts comes close to what I did on Monday.

In the first five minutes of class I was worn out and I had the rest of the hour to go. Running, punching, side glides, punching and running, running and punching, running and kicking, sit ups, push ups, fighting, levitating.... I mean this was non-stop high effort for an entire hour. I think I fought just as hard to keep my eye from rolling back into my head than I did to punch that g-d d-mn bag.

But now that it is over.....I LOVE IT. The first day of class I learned some really great fighting techniques. The stuff makes sense, is easy to pull off, and is very effective. No stupid high flying kicks, no horse stance double arm blocks to the side, no telegraphing your moves!

I also like the training in terms that you wear street clothes. The thought is you are more likely to fight in blue jeans and a t-shirt. Odds are you are not going to get attacked wearing your karate gi. On top of that we are not only training in the gym but also in the fields at day and at night. In the parking lot at day and night. In a ditch at day and night. Between cars in a parking lot at day and night. And just to pass the first skill level its like a two our three out exam.

So if you read about me passing the first skill level then it means I can fight in a lot of urban environments for about two or three hours straight while being simultaneously being attack from several people with weapons - OR - if I stop blogging all together it means I am dead at the hands of my body giving out.

Figures

So there I am cleaning the bar from all the junk and clutter that gathers there. Its unsightly and hard to find stuff in the house when things are a mess. I dread looking for a piece of mail or something, knowing its in that pile on the bar. I am sure to spend ten minutes trying to keep the shifting mountain from falling all over the floor.

SO.....in a rare display of fairness I decided to clean......the bar. It was actually kind of easy and in the end I just managed to shift the mess to the dining room table. It had become my "staging area" to short out where all the junk was going to go to.

So there I am, like Sir Edmond Hillary, knocking this mountain down when I see an envelope addressed to me. "Great! Another lost bill" I say and I start to open it. Its right about then that my wife, who is making dinner, yelps and comes at me with knife in hand. My reaction..... I scream like a little girl and throw my hands in the air as the card goes flying into the ceiling. Shes looking at me, the kids are looking at me, little ceiling popcorn come floating down and a soft slap of the envelope hitting the kitchen floor.

Apparently it was my Valentines card and my wife learned that I am absolutely no help in a crisis situation.

The Hill Country Ninja

My son has recently started to take Karate classes. Its probably one of the few things my ex-wife has done that I actually agree with. In all fairness though it was her mothers idea so its really hard to praise my ex when it was her mommy that suggested it and pays for it. But in the end, my son is a white belt in Karate.

I am also personally excited about this since I am a former Kung-Fu student. I know they are technically different and anyone would be hard pressed to get me to admit that Kung-Fu is better than X. Or that Y is better than Z and such. When it comes down to it, all martial arts are well suited for different types of combat. I reserve Krav maga for the truly relevant combat martial arts.

Well my son is starting to get to the point that all youngsters get to. He wants to stop doing martial arts because "it's to hard". Unfortunately most of his frustration comes from his last session where his mother left the class half way through so she could go home with her boyfriend. His was almost at tears and just wanted to give up.

So I am going to try to add some incentive to his Karate efforts. I am going to try and join a martial arts gym so that he can see me doing it also. I hope that this provides some sort of example and feeling that he is not going it alone.

So far I have it narrowed down to Krav Maga and Tae Kwon Do..........OK OK! I'll admit Karate is a bit lame! I pretty much crossed Karate off my list from the get go. I see that it is chalked full of wasted moves and pointless defenses that often leave you in a worse position....unless you are doing it for sport. When I take a class, I take it to learn how to fight better not to be a better "sportsman". So I lied, not all martial arts are equal.

Tae Kwon Do is lethal and unforgiving. If you choose to incapacitate someone then its a sure bet that its going to leave a lasting impression on your attacker on his or her folly in choosing you as a target. On the plus side its effective and efficient, on the negative its based on ancient philosophy that your attacker is a sword wielding, armor clad boogie man attacking you from the front. Some moves are based on "sense" that you are about to be attacked from the back but even those have moves that involve you wearing a sword. It does translate to empty hand but.....still.

Krav Maga is a constantly evolving martial arts that assumes your attacker is 1) wearing clothes 2) attacking you from the front, side, or back 3) is using a short range weapon or firearm. It is pretty much combat fighting that is constantly tested in modern combat. Its negative side is that it is still fairly rare to find a Krav Maga gym and if you do find one it is usually g-dly expensive to join.

So in the end I am looking for a Krav Maga gym. The ones I found refused to tell me the price until I try their free classes. Undoubtedly to get me hooked and then tell me the monster price. As a word around I put two leading books on Krav Maga on my Amazon wish list. One of the nice things about Krav Maga is that all the moves are based on natural movement and reactions, that none of the moves are thought to you ONLY at segmented ranks, and that your advancement in Krav Maga is based on your physical ability to execute moves quickly and powerfully. Basically all the moves you learn, you learn at the beginning [more or less] and that you advance by practice, practice, practice!