What is it that I like about guns? Nothing specific. Good gear is good gear. It’s no more about the guns than dancing is about shoes, or dutiful service is about collecting ribbons on your blouse. My dad inherited three rifles and four shotguns from his father. Grandpa was a longtime hunter and fisherman in … [more]
Cheating the Taxman
22-March-2013 by 1 Comment
It was sad when the big cherry fell, but not scary. What was scary was how it fell: straight through Jaminaz’s garage roof, cleaving it like an axe all the way down to about three feet above the floor at the spot where he’d been standing, working on a cylinder head, forty minutes before the … [more]
So according to the VA…
21-March-2013 by Leave a Comment
… a veteran of the U.S. armed forces kills him (or her!) self every 80 minutes, ’round the clock, all day long, every day except Christmas — when the rates go up. A last call every 80 minutes means 18 veterans dead by their own hand, every. single. day. The great State of Wyoming recently … [more]
Math is hard
14-March-2013 by 6 Comments
…but sequestration is easy. Sequestration avoids all that hard stuff about negotiation, compromise, and putting things into adult perspective. You know: the things we pay our leaders to do. Therefore, citizen, do not ask where the meat axe falls. It falls on you. All four military services plus the Coast Guard have cancelled their education … [more]
A brief manifesto of things that shouldn’t need repeating
1-February-2013 by 3 Comments
I have the right: To enjoy my life with minimal interference. To say what I mean, out loud and in public. To rely on the security of my home. To negotiate for myself, or in association with others. To risk my safety. To access the best available data. To ignore social norms of low … [more]
Band Aid
17-January-2013 by 6 Comments
If you’re new around here, you may want to read this first: http://www.jaxworx.com/musings/rain-dog/ Context is where you find it, but sometimes a guide is useful. Twenty-two years ago, I bought a black armband. It was a ridiculous frilly thing, a garter actually. Every 17th of January, I wore it above my left elbow. People … [more]
Stop shooting at my flag
9-January-2013 by 1 Comment
Y’know, it’s just not that damned complicated. If someone wants to smoke pot — or nutmeg, or botanical orchid paste, or Cuban cigars — go ahead and let them, because that grass? Not your lawn. If someone wants to rub their bits on someone of whom you don’t approve, so what? They’re not your bits, … [more]
One for the twins
5-January-2013 by 1 Comment
It’s just a little thing, passed around and loaned down the years. Once upon a time, it belonged to a boy. His dad was Chuck and his mom was Susan. Chuck is a Vietnam vet and Susan has been his sweetheart since seventh grade. In their garage sleeps an R60 BMW. Chuck inherited it from … [more]
"Jack Lewis takes the overall literary crown with his new book...there’s a lot more to Lewis’s work than what it feels like to ride motorcycles.” — Ultimate Motorcycling
"Insightful and from the heart ... a driven and much recommended look into the mind and conflict of the next generation of war veterans. " — Midwest Book Review (Reviewer's Choice)