It’s good to be back home.   July was a month spent on the road.  June 30th I pulled out of North Carolina and headed west.  I basically made a loop between here and Utah via I-70 and I-80, up to Rochester New York and then back down to home.   I went through a lot of states and stopped to talk with a lot of good folks along the way.   And I learned a few things.

FACT:  AMERICA is AWESOME.
At none of the border crossings was I stopped and asked for papers or travel permits.  I just got in my car, and drove.  A lot.  Freedom.

FACT:  AMERICA’s Colors are Red White and Blue.
I was pleased to find that even in more “Liberal” areas, people are Patriotic and we love our Nation.  I saw the American flag flying in every State.   I saw it on the backs of trucks and cars.  Proudly over businesses.   And I even saw it inked as a few tattoos.

FACT:   AMERICA has a pathetic Government.
Everywhere I went, Americans have a great love for our Nation, but none for our Government.  Obama is just not popular at all anywhere I travelled…   No where did I hear anything about Skin Color.  It’s all about Policy and no one I talked to had anything good to say about it.

FACT:  AMERICA is BEAUTIFUL.   Even crossing Kansas and Nebraska – two states that normally cause me to flail simply due to the expanse of them… I have to say I found stunning beauty in them on this trip.   Tennessee was breathtaking.   Looking at the expanse of the Great Lakes.  The absolute majesty of the Rocky Mountains.    American is Gorgeous.   PA really surprised me with it’s soft hills and wide fields… beautiful little towns.   Western side of New York is even beautiful.   The Niagara Falls would have been more so if it wasn’t so bloody commercialized.   I’d have loved to have seen it 50 years ago.

Overall, America is one amazing Nation.  And I truly love it.  And I know I am not the only one, who would stand proudly in it’s defense.  I only find it mournful that it’s our Government that we need to defend against.   Bureaucrats with their Policies… CANCER!   And not just on the Federal Level, but on the State and Local.   We need to keep an eye on them.

As you guys know, I’m a Mormon.  I’ve said before that you guys should not look at me as an example of what a Mormon is, as I am not a very good one.   I’m trying to be better.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has always been a part of my life – even when I’ve not been active.  Even when I was far from Active I’ve always had a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I believe in God.  I believe Jesus was the Son of God.  I also believe when Jesus said in The Bible, in John 10:16:

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

I believe he was talking about the people in the Americas, and that Jesus visited these people.   I believe The Book Of Mormon is a record of these people.

The LDS Church started out in Palmyra, NY.  This is where I am right now as I write this.  When I went out to Utah to visit family there and attend a wedding… we decided we wanted to back-track the Mormon Trail.  We went across Nebraska, and stopped at Winter Quarters.  We went from there to Nauvoo, where my wife and I went through the Temple there.  We took my boys to the blacksmith shop there in Nauvoo where John Browning did Blacksmithing and Gunsmithing.  John Browning was the Father of John Moses Browning, the father of Modern Small Arms.  (I am a descendant of Browning through the Stark line)  I wanted to give the Tour Guide a Tour… his illuminations on Browning was filled with incorrectness… but that’s beside the point.  The point is I and We have connection with Nauvoo that’s tangible.  At the Pageant there was a number of Scottish Bagpipers and drummers.  Listening to them stirred my soul.  My wife and I loved it so much… So did my boys.
From Nauvoo, we came to Palmyra and toured the Joseph Smith farm, the sacred grove, and of course the Hill Cumorah pageant.   The sacred grove is an amazing place.  It feels truly sacred in the same way it feels in the Temple.  It’s like an outdoor temple.   There’s a reverence that one should hold there.  It’s not for rowdy kids and loud voices… normal tourists with normal tourist behavior should not go there.   But if one can be respectful… then it’s worth the trip.  Because you can feel the sacred nature of the place.  It was tangible.   I know a lot of people that would do well to spend some time there.

This Journey was a special thing for me… to really get back in touch with LDS History… With MY history.  Because my History is LDS History.  And I am proud of that.   I’ve never denied that and I have never denied the Church.  Though I have had many issues with people in it.   Which is the main reason for past inactivity.

But then a fellow said something to me.  Travis, my Manager at Basin Sports, said “If someone is between you and God… Who’s closer?”  I dismissed the statement as soon as he finished saying it… but it didn’t go away.  It gnawed at me.  It haunted me.  Because it’s Truth.   With a great many implications that are not easy to deal with.  Statements like that are always easy to say but hard to swallow.    Getting back into the Church as an active member after being inactive for so long is… kinda like quitting smoking.   It sounds easy as if it’s just a choice… but it gnaws on your mind… the habits.  The thoughtless ritual of things that go into Smoking and make it difficult to stop.   Same with being inactive.   But I think this journey has really helped me.

I don’t preach on MadOgre.com.   And I don’t argue religion here either.  I will not Bible Bash on the Internet.  (ThoughI have and will Bible Bash in person, face to face.  I was a Missionary for my Church once.)  I only ask that you Respect my Faith as I Respect yours.  Capital R on Respect for a reason.  Capital F for Faith for the same reason.    Mutual Respect is important for civil conversation.   If you disagree with Mormon Doctrine, that is your choice.  If you want to talk about Mormon Doctrine, that’s fine too.  I will send a couple Missionaries to meet with you to discuss those things with you.   However if you want to pull out your Anti-Mormon biggotry and hate – I’ll just delete it with a simple click of the mouse.  Because I’ve heard it all before.  You will not say anything new or interesting or bring up matters that I’ve not considered before.   So don’t waste your time posting it, only to have me delete it offhand.  The LDS Church has asked us not to engage the protestors that stand outside of our Conference Hall and Temples and here at the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  So I walk by them…  I don’t have to put up with it here.  It’s not that I don’t like those people… I support anyone’s right to Free Speech.   But it’s just that I really really want to punch those guys right in their teeth.  I have to actively keep myself from throwing them a savage beating.  You see, I am still not a good Mormon… my instinct is to wreck them instead of forgive them.   Break them instead of bless them.   I have to Try Hard to not hurt them…  I fear that one day I will not try hard enough and one of those guys will get knocked to the dirt with a broken jaw.   Of course I know that such action is playing into their hand… They are like Palestinians.  Knowing that helps keep me from actually lashing out.    But they do so offend me.  The people in Nauvoo and Palmyra… the Non-Members who drove the Mormons out of their homes and businesses in the past are now profiting from Mormons who come back to visit…. Hotels and Cafes and everything else… They are making fortunes now, because of Mormons.   They once Tarred and Feathered us… Literally brought out the Torches and Pitchforks…   Now they roll out the welcome mats because of all the money that floods into the communities…

Anyways…

This journey has made me want to be a better Mormon.  It’s strengthened me and my faith.   It’s been a good thing.

1. Complicated Doors.
Doesn’t matter if it’s Ancient, Magic, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Alien, Vampires or whatever – the door to something important or even not important… is a complicated fecking mechanism of some sort that opens from the center with improbably numerous pieces and parts that have to move out of the way to unlock and thus allow the door parts to move away in any number of interesting and complicated ways.    Or barring that, they are just Ginsu Blade Fast and Scary… How come they can’t just be freaking doors?  What’s wrong with a regular damn door?  I bet if there really were Aliens out there, interior doors in their homes would be simple doors or maybe a bead-curtain. Not some mechanical device that rivals the workings of a Swiss Watch.  Because Aliens wouldn’t have a Complicated Door Fetish.  They would probably want efficiency… like a latch on one side and a couple sturdy hinges on the other.  The alternative to the Complicated Door is the massively oversized door out of impossibly heavy material and construction.   If the movie is really trying to hard, you will have a Massively Oversized Overly Complicated Door.

2. Crouching Slides that tear up the floor.
Any Boss-Fight anymore has this.  The Hero gets knocked back, but instead of sprawling like he just got smacked down, he slides away from the adversary in a Hero-Crouch Pose that’s solid as a rock, and as he’s sliding, he’s ripping up the ground.  Concrete, Marble, Tiled Floor – whatever it is – it’s getting ripped up in that power-slide.

2.5.  Exaggerated Action Crouching.

3. Oversized Bladed Weapons.
This was once just Anime stuff, but it’s starting to pop up in other places – such as Tom Cruise’s new Sci-Fi remake of Groundhog Day.  The Hero Chick had a Sword worthy of a Japanese Cartoon.  Let’s leave them in Japanese Cartoons.

4.  Massive Collateral Damage to Private or Civic Property.
Superman.  Batman.  Pacific Rim.  Star Trek.  Avengers.  Lately it’s not safe to park a car or be in a building or even just in a city where a Super Hero is.  Because he’s going to use it like a Wiffleball Bat or get slammed through it like a missile, or he’ll just throw it.  Whatever it is you have – screw it.  It’s Collateral Damage in the great war against evil.  Geico doesn’t have Giant Monster/Hero policies… but maybe they should.  Because The Man Of Steel doesn’t give a damn you just dropped ink on a 450 dollar a month Car Note for that new Mercedes.   Hero is going to use it to smack the Bad Guy into your Office Building and then toss your sweet new ride you have a 72 Month Loan on.

This report pissed me off.  I grew up reading Guns & Ammo.  Jeff Cooper and a lot of the prior generation writers were guys I looked up to in the Gun Community.  I wanted to live like how those guys lived.    So when I read this report I was filled disappointment and anger and a feeling of betrayal.
Okay, maybe not betrayal… G&A has had some pretty crappy reviews the last… Oh I don’t know… 10 years or so?  They’ve been taking the pigs to the lipstick for awhile.

Now, last year Dick Metcalf came out in support of gun restrictions.  Did so in an article that was published and the readers quickly raised a ruckus about it, and Dick was rather quickly fired.  Many people question why or how G & A went and published that.  This explains that.  This also explains why Dick felt perfectly confident writing that.  And then not apologizing for it, and in fact, insultingly, doubled down on his statements.   I bet Dick was rather shocked he was let go.  This was worse than Recoil Magazine’s SNAFU, because Recoil apologized and made efforts to Un-FUBAR themselves.    G & A pretty much just “we’re sorry you were upset” and brushed it off.  Sure, they let Dick go… but they were obviously not sorry about this.  They were only sorry people got upset.

Well, G & A and Sportsman’s Channel being in bed with the likes of George Soros… SCREW THEM.  I will never look at G & A or Sportsman’s again.