Now, I’m a born romantic. I cannot help it. After such a touching remark communicating my overall appreciation of her beauty even in her present unkempt state, I figured she would swoon into my arms, and favor me with a kiss. Instead, I got an icy stare and a cold shoulder. by Smokey Briggs    more »

To make a long story short, it turns out he decided to buy a couple of the new gasoline cans, found a supplier on the Internet, and ordered them – only to receive an email informing him that the company could not legally sell him the cans because they were not CARB compliant, and Texas was now a CARB state. What is CARB? by Smokey Briggs    more »

And then we found it. The bus is a 1968 International Harvester and is nearly mint. Much to my great joy, it was already nicely converted much as we had planned to do, and even better, it was four-wheel-drive. Now, that is just cool (and will probably save me no small amount of digging in the future). Driving a bus is not at the top of the cool ladder, but driving a four-wheel-drive bus… The bus lived in Idaho. by Smokey Briggs    more »

Somehow, it has become bad style to talk about revolting against your government in a country that has a whole day set aside to revere a document that simply states “people have a right to revolt against their government and start a new government that suits their needs more better.” This is where the hypocrisy starts getting deep – because Mr. Jefferson’s words are a lot like being pregnant. You either is, or you ain’t. Either you really do revere the ideas he wrote down, or you do not. If you do, then canning the whole federal government and starting something else, federal or not, is not a very startling thought. It is something that free men and women can do and have a right to do. by Smokey Briggs    more »

It was about six months ago. I was sitting at my desk going through my list of things to worry about when I found myself worrying about retirement. Now, I know that at 41, retirement is not too close, but you know the hype – if you are not saving for retirement when you are 13, you’ll probably spend your golden years robbing dumpsters and mooching off your kids. by Smokey Briggs    more »

When you read the accounts of people who lived under (survived) such oppressive regimes you find the march to slavery always takes the same route. The oppression never happened all at once – the final tyranny was the end result of a slow loss of freedom. The slow loss of freedom was always justified in the name of keeping the people safe – safe from Jews, safe from capitalists, safe from religion, safe from starvation, safe from barbarians, safe from themselves. by Smokey Briggs    more »

My personal solution would be to disband our system of government down to the last brick and allow people to associate with whomever they wish so long as it was on their own property. Want to invite the Hernandez from Brazil to come live at your place? Go for it. Want to hire Helmut Svetlandersturm from Sweden? Go ahead. It is your business and whom you hire is your business, and yours alone. Don’t like your neighbors? Move. by Smokey Briggs    more »

pretty soon, I had the little train clickety-clacking around the tree much to Ruby and Carson’s delight. Ruby is not quite eight and Carson Mae is five and both are of the age when children fall in love with trains. At two months, Dixie Jo was not all that impressed. Maybe next year.... While they engineered, I retrieved my box and began to unwrap 1972 editions of a North Carolina newspaper from around much-battered locomotives and rolling stock. And so it began. by Smokey Briggs    more »

Judge Alito, I hope you are confirmed. And I hope you manage to turn back the volumes of ridiculous law the federal courts have created, starting with the National Firearms Act of 1934. I know that I might as well hope that the sky turns a nice shade of green as well, but shoot, hope springs eternal. by Smokey Briggs    more »

More particularly, I am amazed that I have survived the past 8.5 months. As many of you know, mom is set to domino with our third child in about two weeks. While I am amazed to have made it this far, I have no illusions of surviving the coming weeks. by Smokey Briggs    more »

A four-year-old’s screeching propelled me out the back door. Carson was sprinting under full military power, and screaming, “Skunk. Skunk. Skunk.” by Smokey Briggs    more »

As far as I am concerned Abe Lincoln is nothing more than a political hack who ordered the murder of 600,000 of his countrymen to preserve his tax base. by Smokey Briggs    more »

Poke. I open one very sore eye. “Daddy, are you awake?” It is the sound of my youngest daughter’s voice. Carson Mae is four. “Yes,” I say through the tears. Then she climbs over me, knifes into the covers like an Olympic diver and makes herself at home. Why we have to go through the eye-poking ritual is beyond me. I usually get up and look for a drink of water and some eye drops. by Smokey Briggs    more »

Unfortunately, we have created a winner-takes-all system of sorts – at least the winner takes all for the next four or so years.If the people I consider the real loonies in either party ever really got control the consequences would be intolerable to many of us. The consequences of intolerable legislation are war or secession. by Smokey Briggs    more »