Sunday, December 21, 2014

Torture

You cannot be a Catholic and condone torture.  The Catholic Church teaches torture is an intrinsic evil, which means to be in any way associated with it is a sin.  To merely accept it is a sin.
“The Catholic Church firmly believes that torture is an ‘intrinsic evil’ that cannot be justified under any circumstance,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, in a statement following the report’s release.
Intrinsic evil means there is no possible justification, but I am just repeating the obvious.

The "ticking time bomb" defense of torture is an impossible scenario in real life, in spite of its constant use in drama.  None of the "if"s can be known, and are unlikely in any event.

There are nine ways you can get into the sin of torture.

I. By counsel
II. By command
III. By consent
IV. By provocation
V. By praise or flattery
VI. By concealment
VII. By partaking
VIII. By silence
IX. By defense of the ill done


You would not know that listening to almost all Catholic radio.  You'd assume otherwise.  They are quite assiduous in condemning abortion, but quite tolerant of torture.  Both abortion and torture are intrinsic evils, and not a matter of prudential judgment, say like the death penalty.

This may be because largely unbeknownst to the naifs who have radio programs, the programs with solid pro-torture hosts somehow, oddly, find an abundance of financial support.  It is known the "intelligence" agencies, pro-torture state apparati, lavishly fund media, we are only uninformed as to which programs they fund.

No one ever has to tell such hosts what to say, they have said it so many times before that they are reliable.  Just add funding, and crowd out seamless garment Catholicism.

I listened to a Catholic business commentator long ago question in all sincerity the USA attack on Iraq, and that was the last time his show was ever on the radio, as far as I could tell.  Crowded out by better funded programs, no doubt.

People of good will, uncertain on the abortion question, hear Catholic Radio defend torture, once by 1 3 5 6 and 8 above, and now 9... and knowing the intrinsic evil of torture, hearing Catholic Radio defend torture, come to doubt its perspicacity on abortion.

I listened to an interview last week of a prominent moral theologian who when asked about torture as intrinsic evil answered it is morally licit to deprive people of their liberty.  A non-sequiter, but there you have it, on the question of torture the answer, somewhat foggy, includes "morally licit."

Once upon a time the President of University of San Francisco, Pres. Lo Schiavo shut down the celebrated basketball program because it was corrupt.  Perhaps it is time to investigate the pro-torture, pro-war bent of Catholic radio, and discern if it is a net deficit for spreading the faith.

China only wants what the USA has, a Church that is subject to the State.

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Saturday, December 20, 2014

When Fast Meets Misogi

The air temperature in in the 40s F mostly, and the water temperature is 49 degrees.  I have been fasting the last week, I broke fast this morning.  No food, only clear liquids the last 7 whole days.  This morning a crab louie, lots of greens, sliced boil egg and a wee bit of crab protein.

I swam on day two, but figured I should not push swimming when I am fasting.  Age quod agis.

The challenge in fasting is not refusing food for a week, that is simply training.  The big challenges is to refuse to eat a week's worth of food within a few hours of break fast.

First your body can't process that much, second, what would be the point?  I will be three meals a day instead of my usual two for a few days.

Tomorrow I'll feel like Kong Kong, I always do as the nutrition comes running in, but then the appetite wanes and I'll be back to normal.  I'll wait til them to swim, I don't want to underestimate the weakness brought on by fasting, even though I feel fine.

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Thursday, December 4, 2014

Militarization of Cops

Here a active duty soldier compares militarized police with with cops playing soldiers.  Interesting perspective: relaxation level is the key...

http://imgur.com/gallery/fpYzl

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Monday, November 24, 2014

Control Through Feints

An excellent study of the feints of Bruce Lee:



And notice how his roundhouse comes from beyond the periphery of the opponent is his doing face time with Lee…  Lee steps in too close normally, but he has the roundhouse already in play…

Magnificent.

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Sunday, November 9, 2014

Bringing the Lake to the Mats

We are again at the point when the temperature of air and water are 10 degrees apart.  Instead 68 degree water and 78 degree air, we are at 58 degree water and 48 degree air.  The air has dropped 30 degrees, the water ten.

I want to nuance this idea of "bringing the lake to the practice" that is the experience of cold water swimming, such as it is, to inform the experience of practicing aikido.  I've spoken about the role of adrenalin in the practice of aikido.  It takes time to get to that point on the mats, and when it is there, the herculean powers must be noticed and controlled to keep the practice within bounds, and power trimmed for appropriate response.

This practice is hard to achieve, but necessary for acting in the real world, when using aikido as a martial art, when on the street and experiencing "game on."  The super powers that conflict precipitates must be already well under control, so you execute a well-timed ten-kan and not spin wildly into a face-plant.

The dive into the 58 degree water brings on the self-defense adrenalin immediately, with the entire body in response to the existential threat of water too cold to be acceptable to a system that is a tribute to a billion years of evolution, or more likely, designed by a God who loves us.  Either way, adrenalin presents.  The act of swimming is not optional, and discipline in movement is clearly advantageous in this situation.  As the body signals fight or flight to the brain, and the powder monkeys haul out adrenalin and the stack it where most handy, the spirit says "quiet down, I've got this."

That's what is going on, and it brings a small improvement to the practice.  To what degree the improvement manifests doesn't really matter, we can all use any improvement we can get.

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Monday, November 3, 2014

Misogi & Training

Misogi training is no doubt grounded in a spiritual exercise, but I've come to it simply through sports.  I began swimming in Lake Washington every day last summer, and have not quit.  The Lake water temperature is now in the 50s, the air temp is dipping into the 40s, but, obviously the air temp does not matter.  I am not dealing with air temperature, a lesson in economy of motion.  Don't respond to what is not fighting you.

I am no longer diving straight in since the lake is giving me a tiny popsicle headache at the base of my skull, so I step down the ladder off the dock plow backwards into the lake, adjust my body to the water and then let my head go under water.  Then comes the headache until I warm up in the water.

My guess is misogi training informs aikido in practice. My aikido is to a degree becoming an extension of swimming in Lake Washington.  I practiced in SF last Friday night, a brown belt was trying to resist the visitor in the techniques (I love practicing with brown belts the most, they don't hold back! And they know how to fall...) I gave him the experience of diving into cold water.  Hard to explain how that is, but I brought it to the technique, and he had the look I feel after I am swimming.  Curious, fun, scary, ouch, safe enough...

Watched a movie in which a woman in Ireland went swimming...  must have been 40 degree waters...  but it was unremarkable...  yes it is what you are used to...  Indians in Seattle were mostly naked when the Yeslers and Dennys showed up....  it is what you are used to...  (mostly...)  so this swimming in the lake is no big deal.  And I am not sure how low I can go.

But it is surprising how little it takes to pick up a new edge.

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Saturday, October 18, 2014

Bruce Lee's 1 Inch Punch

Bruce Lee did important work on punching while living in Seattle teaching and studying Gung Fu.  Over the last forty plus years it was fairly easy to practice or work with his first students, James Demile, Skip Ellsworth, Taki Kimura, Jesse Glover (who wrote a book on those years).  James Demile in particular took Lee's punch style in a fascinating direction you can still learn from Demile.

From left to right are Jesse Glover -- Bruce Lee -- Skip Ellsworth -- Tak Miyabe -- 
Jim DeMile -- LeRoy Garcia -- and Taky Kimura.
http://www.skipsbeachresort.com/about_dewelle_ferguson.htm
(Of the seven people in that picture, I've met four: Glover, Ellsworth, DeMile and Kimura.  DeMile I have trained with, and I studied log cabin building with Ellsworth.  Kimura ran a grocery store he lived above, and Glover is still teaching in Chinatown.)

While sparring Lee would not form his fist until the instant before he would strike.  Sparring with golden gloves champ Ellsworth who took the classic form with closed fists in the ready, Lee left his hands relaxed and open.  How odd. Then the match began, with each bobbing and weaving and throwing punches. The open relaxed hand gave Lee the optimum speed that can be achieved when relaxed (in aikido "relax completely")  It is a concrete expression, albeit in a fighting art, of the "relax completely" imperative.  He tagged the naturally gifted boxing champ Ellsworth before Ellsworth could react. And then of course, with undoubtedly the gift of ADD, he reversed the lesson and developed the one inch punch, wherein he just collapsed all process of a solid punch into the last one second of time and space.
Drawing upon both physical and neuro power, Lee’s devastating one-inch punch involved substantially more than arm strength. It was achieved through the fluid teamwork of every body part. It was his feet. It was hips and arms. It was even his brain. In several milliseconds, a spark of kinetic energy ignited in Lee’s feet and surged through his core to his limbs before its eventual release.
Acting as uke in demonstration for aikido hombu chief instructor ju-dan Tohei Sensei, you would find this kind of power responding to your attack.  Aikido can be lethal if the uke does not know how to fall, and part of practice is the nage controls the uke's fall to keep uke from being injured.

But it takes practice, relentless practice, over and over, fall down, get up.

And also spending time with excellent instructors.

L-R Wally Jay, James Demile, Bernie Lau Schooling Yours Truly, circa 1980.
Wally Jay taught Bruce Lee judo/jiu jitsu, James Demile is a Bruce Lee original student still teaching, Bernie Lau received his first two degrees directly from the aikido founder, and subsequent degrees from his son.  (Note Lau Sensei has trapped my foot.)

Few people know this, Bernie Lau is full blood French native, and speaks French well enough in a pinch.

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Friday, October 17, 2014

Just One More Misogi Observation

Or three...

1. As it gets colder, the water gets much clearer, I can now see the bottom of the lake, about 12 feet down from where I dive in.  They drop the level of Lake Washington in the winter a foot or two but it is clearing faster than it is dropping.

2. After the laps, while I am practicing diving, I get the same acid in my mouth that I get on say day five of a week long fast.  The acid also comes with a particularly grueling workout, which is often tough to achieve while practicing in most dojos.  A doctor told me that the body burns junk first and then gets to work on good stuff (so you can go too far.)  In any event, that acid taste is a sort of ashes of burnt junk.  Interesting I can get there in less than ten minutes by swimming in 65 degree water (I almost said "cold" but that would mean nothing.)

3. I do breathing exercises as I approach the lake, in through the nose, out through the mouth, aikido style (another thing you rarely see practiced in dojos).  Swimming the breathing tactic is exactly opposite: in through the mouth, out through the nose.  Aikido breathing will get you drowned in swimming.  Not sure what to make of the difference, but it only dawned on me today.  Perhaps someone can find significance in that.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

More Misogi

There was a fellow a few years back who swam in Lake Washington every day for 365 days.  Even when he was sick.  Worried his friends.  But in any event, he did it.

I can't because I travel too often, but I can every day I am here.  I was in SoCal Friday through Monday so I was not able to swim in lake Washington, but I did swim in the Pacific Ocean, Friday at Zuma in Malibu,  Sunday at Santa Barbara and Monday at El Segundo.  In both cases the water was warm, the air was about 80, but in El Segundo the waves were crushing and kicking up sand... so it was like getting beat up and sand blasted.  No fun.

Today back in Seattle, the air temp was 52 and humidity 58, and water temperature is 65, so it is abut 12 degrees warmer than the water.  For this reason, after my swim, I do a round of dives, and the water is most welcome warmth compared to the air through which I pass between dives off the board.

But the laps were difficult with on 6mph winds because the even small waves throw my stride off.  Harder work so less laps.  Also, I played hard in California, practicing aikido at a couple of excellent dojos in SB and LA.

A curious phenomenon on my walk back form the lake is my body heats up wonderfully, probably still trying to save me from exposure in the lake.  Another thing, a doctor told me long ago hot showers are detrimental, especially since the water in Seattle is so poisoned by the water authorities with chlorines and fluorides.  He said cold water is better, and to be in waterfalls and lakes and oceans give you (I cannot remember, is it positive or negative) ions which promote well-being.  Well, I am taking probably 20% of the showers I was taking before this swim regime began in early July.  (Funny to think I didn't start swimming until it "warmed up enough" in July!!!)  And my well being is better, as far as I can tell.

Misogi training is based on cold water.  is 65 cold enough to count?  Who knows, but I every night I look forward to that morning cup of coffee and a swim in the lake.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Immigration & War

We've been here before...
Austin offered Parker the opportunity to move to Nashville, Tennessee, where music was becoming big business, but for reasons unknown Parker turned him down.[9] Instead he decided to stay in Temple Terrace, Florida with his family, perhaps to avoid having to fill in paperwork that could expose his illegal status.[9] Within a year, however, he had the opportunity to become a legal citizen within the United States by way of the 1940 Alien Registration Act;[10] a bill passed by the United States Government to allow illegal aliens the chance to become US citizens in return for their promise to fight for the country during World War II, if required.[10] Parker decided against registering, possibly to prevent his previous Army record from becoming public.
A great place to find good fighters, immigrants.

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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Wink on Jesus and Nonviolence And Aikido

There is always someone bigger, stronger and faster than you.  You can try to punch it out with your superior, and hope to win, but it is unlikely.

On the other hand, you can go right at your opponent who is superior and invite a strike by crossing through the strike zone before there is a connection (or draw back beyond the strike zone, and then move in).  Either way, where your opponent had a 100% concentration of power and skill directed to your injury, you are now shoulder to shoulder with your opponent.

At this point you opponent is now down to about 50% of his capability, and you are up some given advantage since you are so close.  Who knows what is next, but the job of a martial artist is to engage immediately.  But at this point, you are shoulder to shoulder facing the same way, your opponent no longer has the initiative, and you have demonstrated you are not afraid.  The world is completely different for your opponent from just three seconds ago.  You are no longer targeted victim, you are a survivor of an attack, and you have the authority to make a creative response.

In another post I said:

It's that turn the other cheek thing, with what I suspect was it's original form, a sense of "game on."

There seems to be a natural affinity between the teachings of Jesus and aikido as a martial art, at least as exegeticized by Walter Wink.  Indeed, at one point in his book Jesus and Nonviolence, A Third Way he makes passing reference to dealing with force as in aikido.

Wink gets to three examples Jesus gives on dealing with unjust force.

1. Turn the other cheek.  Apparently the example is so specific (if struck on the right cheek) to be clearly an example of a slap a master may give a slave or other inferior in which responding may very well get you killed.  To offer other cheek, is to invite the superior to slap you as they would fight an equal (and be profoundly punished if they so disturbed the peace by hitting an equal.)  In response to being slapped, you merely present yourself as equal.  As Wink notes, you may get flogged for that, but the point is made.  It may also get you no longer slapped as in the true meaning of meek, power under control can be unnerving for masters.  The alternative, to cower under a masters slap, changes nothing, indeed reinforces the evil.  To turn the other cheek destabilizes the evil, and who knows what is next?

2. Go the extra mile.  Roman soldiers were allowed to impress passers by into service to carry their loads, but as this was a rather unpopular event, they were strictly forbidden to make anyone carry a load more than a mile.  It was humiliating aside from being unpleasant, and rather reinforced servitude of all Rome had conquered.  So extend the trip voluntarily?  Yes!  How destabilizing.  Walk the first mile quiet as an involuntary servant, and then when that is over, offer to carry the load as a friend.  The soldier at once would be astonished, then fearful that you were setting him up for punishment, the tables are reversed, he is at a disadvantage.  He very well may want your offered help, but must be careful not be seen breaking the rules.  In any event, the evil is destabilized, and who knows what is next?

3. Give up your cloak when being sued.  This had to do with the injustice of taking pledges on loans, and having to pledge your clothes (talk about down and out!) and being shown no mercy by your benefactor.  A loan is a charitable event in monotheistic ethics, but even the just rules can be abused.  So when your benefactor is squeezing you for your coat, you give up your clothes too.  What happens is the "benefactor" is exposed for his hardness, and you are making the rather sober decision to admit being at rock bottom which is a good place from which to rebuild.  In any event, the evil is destabilized, and who knows what is next?

The only effective power in the world is moral authority.  There are plenty of other kinds of power, but none of it effective.  There is Roman power.  There is authority, as in author, in which the situation you have created allows you to write what is next.  Aikido as a martial art is like that, you position yourself as an equal, not subject to their power, and you are then able to write what happens next, like an author, and authority.  You earned it.

Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way (Facets)



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Monday, October 6, 2014

Veteran's Benefits

One benefit of being a veteran is the leadership experience as an attractive resume point, nationwide jobs preference programs, massive training programs, all leading to better jobs prospects after time in the service.  Or not:
Reported unemployment rates of separating service members that are higher than national averages have brought attention to supporting issues such as expedited licensure and increased academic credit recognition to alleviate this problem. As of September 2012, 736,000 veterans were unemployed and the jobless rate for post-9/11 veterans was 9.9 percent, with young male veterans (ages 18 to 24) experiencing an unemployment rate of 18.1 percent.
How come?  There does not seem to be anything good in the poverty draft.

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Friday, October 3, 2014

Paul V Cheney

Genesis, from historian Rozeff, Motivation -
“God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers. But after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed — when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. 6th Fleet.
“In those difficult moments, many emotions came over me that are hard to describe, but that produced an overwhelming feeling to reject injustice and a strong determination to punish the unjust.
“As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust the same way [and] to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and stop killing our children and women.”

Then the first attack on the WTC, then the second, 9-11.

“We believe bin Laden when he takes credit for an attack on the West, & we believe him when he warns us of an impending attack. But we refuse to listen to his explanations of why he & his allies are at war with us.
“Bin Laden’s claims are straightforward The US defiles Islam with military bases on holy land in Saudi Arabia, its initiation of war against Iraq, and its dollars and weapons being used against the Palestinians as the Palestinian territory shrinks and Israel’s occupation expands. There will be no peace for the next 50 years or longer if we refuse to believe why those who are attacking are doing it.
“To dismiss terrorism as the result of Muslims hating us because we’re free is one of the greatest foreign-policy frauds ever perpetuated. Because the media and government have restated it so many times, the majority now accept it at face value. And the administration gets the political cover it needs to pursue a holy war for democracy against the infidels who hate us for our goodness.”

Dick Cheney:

In 2011, Cheney wrote
“The president and I were determined to do all we could to prevent another attack, and our resolution was made stronger by the awareness that a future attack could be even more devastating. The terrorists of 9/11 were armed with airplane tickets and box cutters. The next wave might bring chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.
“When we looked around the world in those first months after 9/11, there was no place more likely to be a nexus between terrorism and WMD capability than Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. With the benefit of hindsight–even taking into account that some of the intelligence we received was wrong–that assessment still holds true. We could not ignore the threat or wish it away, hoping naively that the crumbling sanctions regime would contain Saddam. The security of our nation and of our friends and allies required that we act. And so we did.”

And in 2014 Iraq still is a nexus of terror and WMD, USA provisioned.  Or we could have pulled out, like the Reagan did, and have 20 years of peace instead of 20 years of war. How are our policies working out? Why not ask why we are being attacked? Do we not want to know it is a counter-attack? When you are doing something wrong, first, just stop.

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Thursday, October 2, 2014

Scottish Elections Stolen

This video tells us nothing.  A fellow in a truck is showing us pieces of paper and making a rather large claim.  If we don't have who, what, where, when and usually why, there is no story.



There are too many problems with the story:

1. They may be real, counted, and lost after counting.

2. They may be fake.

3. They may have been fraudulently uncounted, but those 200 ballots are the extent of it, and make no difference anyway.

Now what if they proved, forensically to be real? and stolen?  There should be the voters' fingerprints and the counters' fingerprints.  Election fraud people would wear gloves.  The counter whose fingerprints are on the ballots can be tracked and time accounted for.  Too easy one way or another to sort this out.

But what if it is proven they were stolen, and in fact the entire election stolen?  (Usually too big of a job to discern by proper investigative techniques).  The you know the election was stolen.  So what?

Have another election.  Or not.  Just know the bad guys steal elections.  OK, if so, then...  operate knowing full well that is part of the mix, the milieu in which you live.

Never look to violence to change things.  the regime by definition is propped up by violence, and to go violent yourself is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline.

Cool down, think, know you can always outsmart people whose existence depends on violence.  Not only do they have to sleep sometime, they also have to blink.  For people who depend on violence, a blink is far too long to have your eyes closed.

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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Charlie Rangel Calls for a Draft

Rep. Rangel knows we have a poverty draft in the USA, the poor and minorities will continue to bear the brunt of our whimsical, pretend conflicts.  He also knows there is no resisting the military-industrial complex.  But, a draft creates an anti-war movement, and that is better than nothing:
Reinstating the draft and imposing the war tax will ensure that our safety is sustainable, our financial engagements abroad are not borrowed, and that all Americans have a role in defending and protecting our nation.
So yes, this will cause Americans to think about the wars for which theya re responsible, once they actually have to pay for them.  We will in time, but the sooner the better.

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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Misogi Training & Aikido As A Martial Art

Fasting is something I've covered here from time to time as a part of training, and recently I've begun misogi training.  As the term suggests it involves water, and as I am not called to Shintoism, I do not approach it religiously.

I do the breathing exercises naturally enough, and a wee bit of shaking the torso before I dive in, and Speedo even has their version of the ritual fundoshi.  After a couple of laps between buoys, employing side stroke, back stroke and I then do some cycles on the diving board, using the ozzie crawl.

In my version, I have been swimming in Lake Washington every morning, which since I began in July, is not much in the way of training.  But now that the weather has dipped to 55 degrees F it is getting interesting.  The water is no colder than it was in July of course, that will take time to lower, so it is just a matter of being warm on the 3 blocks to the water and warm back, especially when it rains.

In the morning chill air walk to the beach my pores open, no doubt backing up my breathing trying to heat up my body against the cold.  I speak clinically about this because if I thought "o no, cold" I would turn back home.  And when I dive in, certainly the pores open up.

What I notice is like fasting almost all is psychological conditioning.  A kid waiting for his ride to school 2 weeks ago was agog I was heading for the dock.  The kid was swimming in the same water three days ago.  Back to school, the lake is not an option any more.  The people running their dogs in the adjacent park, dressed for the arctic, are astonished at someone swimming when it is not sunny.  Walking back the occasional pedestrian sees from my towel, etc that I've been swimming and wonders at it.  I simply say the water temperature is the same.

Swimming warms you up in the water, and surely when I do the diving routine I am warm when I get out and do not feel the cold until I dive back in.  After getting out of the water, the 55 degrees is fine.  Indeed, I towel off and let the air dry me a bit as I walk off the dock, before putting on my sweatshirt.  Walking home my back heats up.  I find at home I like to air dry so I work naked for a half hour or so, perfectly warm, and oddly, only begin to feel chilled after I dress.  So physiologically something is going on which is defensive.  Probably a good workout.

The Indians around here before the pale face showed up generally wore only a loose hide smock, and were other wise naked nearly year round.  It's what you are used too.  I am not saying we can go naked in the arctic, but we err way too much on overprotection.  If you are working outside, you know you can do with less.

Another thing I find, I was for the first half of the year eating two simple meals a day and rarely anything else, but now I need a third.  A daughter visited from Paris and exclaimed that I was so skinny.  Maybe, but I don't think I've ever been healthier.

In aikido as a martial art you are going to get hurt, and it is important not to worry about it.  Pain is information, not imperative.  Note it, assess it, and then proceed accordingly with what you still have.

Update: Next day, 55 degrees fahrenheit, 60% AH, cloudy.  Lake calm.  Walking toward the lake, looking forward to diving into the warmer water

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Training With Adrenalin

When the fear hits you and your reflexes explode and your pores open to suck in as much oxygen to burn as possible in support of your lungs doing the same, and the hi-performance adrenalin come pouring into your system, you see the untrained flailing about, swinging wildly, tripping, doing as much injury to self as others.

A part of training is to work at that level.  Get to the point where the adrenalin is flowing and you can maintain your moves and balance.  Let the adrenalin be a matter of joy, not fear, where you are doing your best work because of the threat, not out of control because of the threat.

I listened to Chrissie Hynd talk about playing to the guy doing the goofy dance on the balcony or the other musicians watching them play closely, that is the shared joy of it all.  All violent encounters need to be met with all that power and joy brought to the idea of "game on!"


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Monday, September 15, 2014

Theocon Murders Mount

Here is a pro-war movie from WWII that opens with the Japanese bombing a wedding...  what could be so low?



Catholic Warvangelical Theocons George Weigel and Michael Novak have worked very hard to distort Catholic teaching on just cause and just war to include lie-based pre-emptive strikes as acts of charity.  They both have the temerity to claim to be backed by various popes, but cannot support their claims.  They have done extremely well financially for this service to the war profiteers.

One central claim of the Theocons is surgical strikes make war more acceptable.  Since they have made that claim, like the Japanese bad guys in the movies, USA has murdered hundreds in drone attacks on weddings alone. They continue to this day.

Stop it.


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Sunday, September 7, 2014

Taninzugake

This is far less technical than attitude…  he makes lots off mistakes, shoulders high, leaning too far back, but his attitude wins.

He not only has the opponents worried, he has the 500 people in the room defeated.  At 1:55 he let the let guy come to him…  should have gotten away form the crowd by going to the last guy…

Aikido as a martial art…


I hear you… so where are my videos…?

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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Live By the Sword...

Die by the sword...

It is not uncommon for the powers that be to 'take care" of extreme elements before striking a peace deal.
The trail of ISIS terror leads painfully, inexorably and unmistakably back to the United States and its allies. ISIS was a creation of the West and its failed policy decisions. Now ISIS is being used as the excuse for further military adventurism in the Middle East.
David sent Uriah into battle to get rid of him, and thus it will ever be...
Theoretically, these battles are good for the Militia, as the Junta spends reserves there quite aimlessly.  That has made the punitive battalions (volunteer units made up of activists/neo-nazis/released criminals) suspect that the Junta command deliberately drives the southern battlegroup into a meat grinder. (That is one version – that they are agents of the Kremlin – another, because that is how Poroshenko gets rid of radical elements). 
Then comes this... an American with the ironic name of Douglas MacArthur McCain gets killed fighting for ISIS this week.

When the Soviets were assured of victory in the east, they advised the Polish underground to rise up against the nazis, in anticipation of the Soviet liberation of Poland.  The cream of Polish talent and leadership rose up against the nazis, and the Soviets sent no help.  The Soviets never had any intention of doing so.  The nazis wiped out the cream of Polish talent, couple of hundred thousand people, and finally came in a year later, to a country devoid of leadership.

Die by the sword.  Violence never works, whether in making change, or in making government.

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Friday, August 22, 2014

Isoyama in Gothenberg

Isoyama Sensei offering a seminar in Gothenberg...  good stuff... looks familiar... the last 3 minutes is especially good...



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Friday, August 8, 2014

Ebola is the New Tuskegee

Well into the 1970s, the USA Centers for Disease control and its predecessor ran curule and harmful experiments on people of African heritage in the USA.  Now it appears they are back at it, this time in Africa itself, with ebola experiments.

Since no one was punished for the crimes in the USA, people feel free to do it again.

We need truth commissions to reveal what is going on.


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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Initiative is Always With You

Aikido as a martial art is the kinetic expression of a response to an attack. You watch just about any aikido video and see nothing is going on until well within the ma-ai which is fine for some particular technical practice.  The "grab my wrist" practice is fine, but it leaves out about 90% of the action in a particular expression of the art.

Easily 90% of the art is done outside of the ma ai, with the art 90% complete as nage crosses into uke's territory to deal with whatever.   In every instance the initiative is always with you (even if you decide to remain still, in your deciding you took the initiative.)

Ran dori needs to be practiced much more, to include that other 90%, the closing of the space in which the uke sets up what will happen to the nage.  I was surprised to see this video of a young Steven Seagal hanging back in ran dori instead of moving forward.  It must have been back when he was a beginner. (He went straight in instead of to the side and then largely stood still as attackers took the initiative.  I imagine that has been schooled out of him since then.)


Much better to have the initiative at all times especially when confronted with multiple attackers.

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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Country Joe

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Friday, July 25, 2014

Poland & Torture

Civilized countries do not maintain concentration camps or torture camps, so Nazi Germany claimed to be free of those.  Their solution was to have such facilities in other countries.  Of course inside nazi Germany there were plenty of abominable camps, usually transitory or special purpose, but those do not account in a nazi self-assessment. The real nasty places of WWII lore were in countries other than Germany, such as Poland.

The USA today maintains such places around the world and in Guatanamo, to maintain the fiction that no such places exist in USA, an echo of the nazi conceit.  What is odd to day is countries that willingly cooperate with USA crimes.  Whereas poland once claimed the concentration camps, the torture that occurred in their country was while under occupation, what explanation do they have today?
 The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday found “beyond reasonable doubt” that two current prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, were transferred from Thailand to Poland by the CIA and tortured there.
Now, the USA should hold truth commissions to come to an understanding how this came to pass.  As to Poland, they may want to do the same, and discover why their lands are so amenable to visitors torturing visitors.

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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Conspiracy Theory

Last 8 March, when a Malaysian Air 777 disappeared without a trace, conspiracy theorists claimed it had been hijacked to be used again later.

Last week, July 17, an identical jet is blown up over the Ukraine.

Is it identical, or the same jet?
Boeing 777-200ER
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Monday, July 21, 2014

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Honoring Hitler's Assassin's

Here is the news, but there is one problem with this...
In a somber ceremony, President Joachim Gauck called the July 20, 1944, bombing of Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters in Eastern Prussia a "significant day in German history" for showing the world that there were Germans who opposed the Nazi regime.
As of July of 1944 the defeat of Germany was an inevitability.  Where were these people in 38, 29, 40, 41, 42? The reason for assassinating Hitler had to do with Germany losing rather the war than any particular dislike of Nazi-ism.  And as these things go, having survived the murder attempt, Hitler was convinced fate has preserved him to bring about total victory.  In fact, he brought about total defeat, and after the war was far harder ton Germans than the war itself, bad as it was.

Canaris early on hated Nazi-ism and plotted to murder Hitler, back in the late 30s, but held off expressly because Hitler was winning, and thus very popular.  Winning can be a very bad thing.

People say "Geo Bush is Hitler" or "Barack Obama is Hitler" but the problem is not whether some politician is any different from Hitler, but whether the American people are any different than the German people.  So far, no difference.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Women on Violence

It has long occurred to me that in centuries to come people will speak of this era as one most marked for men having abandoned women and children in law and culture.  Comes now women who address this from their perspective -
Those currently invoking “women’s health” in an attempt to shout down anyone who disagrees with forcing religious institutions or individuals to violate deeply held beliefs are more than a little mistaken, and more than a little dishonest. Even setting aside their simplistic equation of “costless” birth control with “equality,” note that they have never responded to the large body of scholarly research indicating that many forms of contraception have serious side effects, or that some forms act at some times to destroy embryos, or that government contraceptive programs inevitably change the sex, dating and marriage markets in ways that lead to more empty sex, more non-marital births and more abortions. It is women who suffer disproportionately when these things happen.
We need to hear more about this...

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Sunday, July 6, 2014

War Costs


In World War I. Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, it will certainly be repeated throughout the year that about 120,00 U.S. soldiers died in the conflict. Although true, that is not the whole story. From Thomas Fleming’s The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I (p. 307) we read:
The Americans had been in combat two hundred days—approximately six months. In that time, 50,300 doughboys were killed. Another 198,059 Americans were wounded in action. Another 62,668 died of disease—an appalling 38,815 of these in training camps in the United States. Another 4,503 were killed in accidents. Almost 1,000 committed suicide. Adding in minor causes, the total deaths were 120,139. In 1930, the Veterans Bureau estimated that war-related diseases, wounds and other kinds of trauma inflicted on the Western Front had raised the total cost to 460,000 deaths. Men disabled by gas attacks were particularly prone to die young. More than 41,000 doughboys were shell-shock victims, listed as pyschiatrically disabled. Many of these men were hospitalized for the rest of their lives.
But even if “only” 120,000 American soldiers died in World War I, that is still too many. In fact, even if just one American soldier died in World War I, that is one too many. The United States needed a foreign policy of nonintervention then and needs a foreign policy of nonintervention now. The best policy to save our young men: noninterventionism.


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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Be All You Can Be...

Goes the USA Military advertising pitch...
A former member of SEAL Team 6 has become the poster girl for a Pentagon effort to include transgenders — people who have undergone sex-change operations — in the ranks.
Kristin Beck, formerly Senior Chief Petty Officer Christopher Beck, spoke recently at several high-profile events at intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to promote the integration of transgenders.
And this..

A legendary Special Forces commander was quietly forced to leave the U.S. Army after he admitted to a love affair with a Washington Post war correspondent, who quit her job to secretly live with him for almost a year in one of the most dangerous combat outposts in Afghanistan.
...
His commanders charged in confidential files that he had "indulged in a self-created fantasy world" of booze, pain pills and sex in a tribal village deep in Taliban and al Qaeda country with his "wife," journalist Ann Scott Tyson.

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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

USA and Iraq

My confirmation the USA was lying about the reasons for invading Iraq was when Colin Powell made his presentation to the United nations.  He led the lying about the My Lai massacre, where he was first noticed  as reliable, and then later about "no POWS left behind in Vietnam when in fact some were actually getting out into the 1980s, and so when he was trotted out to make the case, it was rock solid USA was lying.

The title of Powell's autobiography is "It Worked For Me."  No kidding.



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Monday, June 23, 2014

Why God Flooded the Earth

The preacher man was talking about men beating up their wives, and whether women should endure it, absolutely not, since everyone, especially a wife, is to part ways with those who practice evil.  He cited Genesis 6 on this point, which he claimed specifically stated God destroyed the world for its violence.

I grabbed a Bible and the version I had said no such thing, saying "lawlessness."  So I got on the net, starting checking other versions, and sure enough, the KJV says:

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

And the New International Version:
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible says:

11 Ha’aretz also was corrupt before HaElohim, and ha’aretz was filled with chamas.12 And Elohim looked upon ha’aretz, and, hinei, it was corrupt; for kol basar had corrupted his derech upon ha’aretz.13 And Elohim said unto Noach, The ketz (end) of kol basar is come before Me; for ha’aretz is filled with chamas because of them; and, hineni, I will destroy them with ha’aretz.

Of course the Orthodox version is in Hebrew, so the above is a mish mash, and I'll need help with that, so I find
B'reisheet (Genesis) 6:11: "The earth was ruined to the face of Elohim, and the earth was filled with chamas: violence."  וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ, לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים; וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ, חָמָס
Yes, indeed, in the original, the word is violence.  Odd point, the arch-enemy of Israel today is Hamas, pronounced Chamas.

The flood story is recorded on all continents and referring to the same time period.  The archeological record supports the story.  Violence angers God.

(I won't mention who put out the poorly translated version I first had in hand...)

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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Dorothy Day on Work

From 1953...
There may be talk of better standards of living, every worker with his car, and owning his own home, but still this comfort depends on a wage, a boss, on War. Our whole modern economy is based on preparation for war and that is one of the great modern arguments for poverty. If the comfort one has gained has resulted in the death of thousands in Korea and other parts of the world, then that comfort will be have to be atoned for. the argument now is that there is no civilian population, that all are involved in the war (misnamed defense) effort. If you work in a textile mill making cloth, or in a factory making dungarees or blankets, it is still tied up with war. If one raises food or irrigates to raise food, one may be feeding troops or liberating others to serve as troops. If you ride a bus you are paying taxes. Whatever you buy is taxed so you are supporting the state in the war which is "the health of the state."
Nothing has changed...

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Thursday, June 19, 2014

I Am Atemi

Bernie Lau often quotes OSensei as saying aikido is 80% atemi.  I'd like to see a citation, because I doubt it.  It is either a bad translation or apocryphal.  Aikido comes from kendo, and even the kendo dudes say striking is 1/3rd of kendo (the sword has three business sides to be used in equal measure).

Of course atemi is a settled part of aikido, but how does a conscientious objector practice atemi-free aikido?  How to have a martial art in which there is not atemi?

As I was listening to John Kanetomi instruct on atemi this morning, he noted that you have to "sell" the strike, convince the opponent he will get hit, even if you do not.  That is one way.  There is another that I like, and that is to be the atemi.

You must make your opponent believe they will connect, hit you.  So there is a strike, but it is their strike.  And the more energy with which they strike, the harder they fall.  Now, a good atemi saps energy from the opponent, part of the point, and to not zap energy first with atemi is to assure the opponent hits the ground all the harder. And since few know how to fall or roll properly, the fact is atemi-less aikido may in fact be more dangerous for the opponent.

To avoid this, you practice after throwing to not let go, pulling in, and hard slamming your opponent to save the opponent from injury or death.    It will hurt very much, and disincline an opponent for another ride.  Aikido without atemi.

You are not sapping their energy at the beginning when they are attacking you and you are striking them, you are sapping their energy at the end when you are saving them.  If you strike an opponent, you use up some of your energy.  If your opponent hits the ground, the rotation of the earth will sap the energy of the attacker.  When an opponent meets the energy of the earth's rotation, he realizes there is a whole lot more where that came from.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Shoji Seki Sensei, 8th Dan

More aikido as a martial art, this sensei has that Tohei hop and extension you do not see taught very often...  very nice stuff...

 

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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Window Cleaner ... Who Was In a Bad Mood That Day...

A bank robber gets challenged by a pissed-off window cleaner...

http://bcove.me/d6ca4ubv

The gun was fake, but the report says the robber got life for armed robbery.  The gun was fake, so it wasn't armed robbery. I dunno...  seems harsh...

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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Security Theatre

I get searched when I travel.  Every single blog post, email, web search and what I type is recorded by the USA Stasi.  For my security.

Those responsible for security missed:

1. A crazed kid who announced and executed a half dozen others at UCSB.

2. Two malcontents so odious they were even thrown off the Bundy Ranch, who in turn executed two cops.

3. The Fall of Mosul and Tikrit.

All a surprise.  But they know all about me.

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Friday, June 13, 2014

Irony v Coincidence

People often misuse the term irony when they are referring to mere coincidence, a sort of grade inflation as to experiences.

Now this may seem like a coincidence, an ad and an article, but the ads are pushed to article content, so take a look.  We have an article about the USA defeat in Iraq, the beneficiaries of ten years of USA training and equipping running away and leaving the military equipment, such as humvees, behind.

And what ad is served up on this article... ?  Why Lockheed offering Humvees, to be recommended in the pursuit of national defense, putatively.



Now that is irony.

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Thursday, June 12, 2014

Viet Nam and Iraq

Now that the adversaries of the USGovernnent are sweeping down from the North even, can anyone name a single way in which Iraq differs from Viet Nam in genesis, duration and denouement?

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Monday, May 26, 2014

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Racial Hypersensitivty

When in High School, after the civil rights legislation was promulgated, coaches and history teachers all resorted to a stock speech along the lines of "I don't care if you are white, black, yellow, red, green purple (always purple), it's not your color it's the content of your character."

And in so doing, "color" was always highlighted.  Rules reveal our weaknesses, and to keep stressing that something does not matter is to reiterate it matters very much.

Color does matter very much, to the State.  The State wants to know your race, because states must exercise divide and conquer, and by keeping tabs on condition of any race is to maintain the proper divisions for the desired outcome.

The desired outcome is grounded in the teachings of Malthus and Darwin.  Malthus taught population will outstrip supply, leading to starvation, and Darwin taught that minorities were inevitably heading to extermination (Darwin's word).  So give the problem, and the inevitable solution, the ubermensch can help the process along to its natural conclusion.

Now Hitler and others rather wrecked the plain narrative, so a cover story is now in place, "climate change."  Same goals, new cover.  Two things you cannot get out of school in USA without, and that is being grounded in Malthusianism and Darwinism.  Get that down or no GED.

Two landmark events in USA are Brown v Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In both education and civil rights, the conditions of most people of some African heritage has greatly deteriorated in USA.  Leftists bristle at this, but one need only go down the carefully enumerated statistics and see it is true.  Mission proceeding as planned.

There is above the line and below the line.  No judging a man for wanting to be above the line, if he can, but there is an alternative: no line.

I diasgree with this fellow:



I understand her completely.  The penny dropped during the lecture.  Her responsibility is to die, in a system designed for her to fail:


If we truly do not want race to matter, then stop counting it, measuring it.  And stop making self-actualization unlikely for some "colors."

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Monday, May 19, 2014

Offense V Defense

One can see plainly enough that offense needs room and defense prefers constriction.  Think of the castle, where resources are concentrated for defense.  In boxing the attacker left jab jab right punch while circling the defender.  The defender is "keeping his hands up" to protect his head.  An attacker will circle around while a defender will back up against a wall.

In judo the easiest place to defend from is on the ground, on your back.

Aikido as a martial art continues to confound:  it is in defending where the room is needed and where an attack, an atemi, that all is constricted, but for the briefest moment.  While the attacker is preparing, we are moving into position.  Although almost all aikido practice starts from a static position, almost all self-defense should be from a dynamic position.

Aikido uses the opponents power, usually to either unwind the force and redirect, or merely redirect.  This takes room, more room usually than the attacker is using.

As to atemi, in response to an attack,  it is usually one focussed strike within an overall movement.


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Saturday, May 17, 2014

It Ain't The Hand You Are Dealt...

It's how you play the cards.  And there is no judging a man on how he plays his cards.  But when the politician, the corporate titan, the general or anyone else who drinks the Kool-aid expects others to believe their schtick, then they are being insulting.  Sure, be a paid fireman instead of the proper volunteer fireman, take the money and run.  No judging that. But don't pretend you are doing us a favor, and expect adulation.  That's going too far.

Ultimately such self-delusion, believing your own PR, leads to your own disgrace.

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Sunday, May 4, 2014

Technique 22 and Udeosae

Jim Graves out of LA is showing some aikido as a martial art.  You rarely see this taught... the whole video is good but check out the technique to which I refer out 7:05...



Good on him.

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Monday, April 28, 2014

qui tacet consentire videtur

He who is silent is taken to agree.

Conscientious objectors seem unwilling to keep quiet about things one may merely observe and conscientiously object.  Why not just shut up and let it go?  Because silence implies agreement, and to speak up and out is to be what you are, a conscientious objector.

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Friday, April 25, 2014

Guns!

There were loaded guns around the house I grew up in, readily accessible but somewhat hidden.  If I had to come out blasting after hiding in a closet, well no problem, big surprise for a bad guy.

I knew the book on the shelf hollowed out with a 38 Police Special inside.  I shot enough guns in my youth with the family in the mountains to have no problem opening the book, taking the safety off and blasting away.

Not all of us get called to conscientious objection, and I have no complaint about those who in "invincible ignorance" have no problem killing others who present a threat.  I believe those with invincible ignorance are what is necessary and sufficient to keep the rest of us safe from the bad guys.

I am not talking about me being a "free rider", I am talking about the natural disposition is distribution of people.  Crows clean up crap from streets.  That does not make me a "free rider."

"How come you killed that guy?"

"He needed killing.  He killed this other guy.  He was talking killing some more."

"But you know the rule is "thou shalt not kill.""

"That's right."

"But you emptied your Glock into his head!"

"He needed killing.  He killed this other guy.  He was talking killing some more."

That is invincible ignorance.

Speaking of Glock, they have an ad campaign.


You can check out their Oscar-quality vignettes.  I am all for anyone who wants a gun to have one, and no one else needs to know.  It keeps us all safe when no one, especially cops, knows who is armed.  I like that Glock is advertising guns in the context of training.  Good on Glock!  No one should carry a  gun who is not trained.

But my problem here is twofold - "confidence to live your life?"  That is projecting way too much benefit on a gun, and presumes a Glock is necessary and sufficient to "love your life."

The other is the ads smolder with manly man manliness.  I would not be surprised if the director of these films usually films gay porn, because he has sure hit the spot on man as sex object.  A gun does not make you a man.  Again, Glock goes to far.

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