The NRA and Me

I extended my membership with the NRA today.  

I have had a bit of a love/hate relationship with them in the past, yet I've been a member for over two decades now.  I've felt that the organization was too unyielding in its past, and its use of drama for member action gets tiresome.  But with the outrageous behavior of some in the wake of the NRA's press release yesterday, I felt I needed to push back.  So I did so by cutting them a check.

What exactly did they propose that was so terrible?

• Armed security in schools - We have armed guards in armored cars protecting money.  But when kids need protection, people are up in arms.  Why?
• The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun - Uh, exactly.  Next issue.
• A person intent on mass killing will find a safe place to do it - You don't see many police stations shot up, that's for sure.

The wailing over these sensible comments show that the Left is again "never letting a good crisis go to waste" and is moving to ban guns.  It is game on.  Just ask the folks over at the Huffington Post:

A similar recap of drunk driving deaths last night or world deaths due to starvation yesterday or literally any other human malady would have more than eclipsed this list, so the story is not about saving lives.  It is about a political move to ban guns.  Period.

That is why I support the NRA.  Other reasons? Simple:

• There are absolutely people that want to ban guns.  All of them.  I personally know plenty of these people.  I need to fight back, and the NRA is my best bet.
• I demand the right to defend myself. Unlike politicians, my family lacks armed security.  Hence I need to take care of that myself.  Police?  It has been said before: When seconds count, police are minutes away.  I simply refuse to be a victim.
• I believe in Constitution, including the second amendment.  The minute one right is legislated away without Constitutional ratification is the minute when all of the other rights contained in that document come into jeopardy.  

The overreaction to Wayne LaPierre is telling.  They hyperventilation about the NRA is illuminating.  The sides square off.  And the NRA gets my check.  

First Person Shooters - Mass Murder Training

In the debate coming in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, people are looking for answers.  While the easiest appears to be just banning guns, there is at least some talk about mental health and pop culture that is entering into the discussion.

Personally, as one that has played first person shooter video games, I'm amazed there isn't a lot more discussion going on about them.  These realistic games put the player in the role of a character behind a gun, and are designed to as closely resemble "being there" as possible.  And they do a damn good job.  

However, beyond the visual realism of the "first person" type engagement, there are multiple layers add to the realistic engagement.  Some examples of things players must master to gain proficiency in these games:

• Targeting and shooting while on the move
• The value of cover
• Which types of shots inflict what kind of damage/death, and where to taget victims
• Which types of weapons are effective in different shooting scenarios
• How to reload on the move
• The importance of reloading at every break 
• The importance of knowing exactly how many rounds are left in the magazine
• The importance of getting the gun back on target as quickly as possible after the recoil of the shot
• Muzzle control
• Sniping techniques

The list goes on and on.  But I left out the big one: body count.  In every game, the goal is to rack up as many kills as is possible.

This ain't Pac-Man, folks.  This is training ground for an "active shooter" scenario.  Short of actual range time and/or training, there is no better way for our kids to learn how to efficiently kill mass numbers of people. 

Don't believe me?  Ask your nearest teen to show you.  

Given how realistic these games are, the training they provide, and their popularity, it is frankly a miracle that we have not had more issues. 

Changing Professional Goals

As I was coming up in my career, I had a very clear mindset of where I wanted to go and what paths I'd take to get me there.  While I've not achieved all that I want of my career - I would still very much like to make SVP or CMO before I'm done - I recognize that I don't want to be a CEO, and that I can stop worrying so much about the next step and fully concentrate on what I'm doing right here and now.

Hence, the strategic chess game that is the management of my career has changed.  No, not stopped, but changed.

While my aspirations for myself have tempered, new goals and objectives take their place.  However, those goals aren't solely about me anymore.  As I've matured, I've gained more and more satisfaction out of the achievements of those on my team, and have been focusing more of my energies on their success.

Beyond the fiduciary responsibilities I have to my employer, my primary objective has now shifted away from myself and to development of my people.  I have been fortunate enough to manage/coach at least two and possibly three folks that have the capacity to be CEOs some day.  In fact, one is well on her way, and will likely be leading her company within 8 years.  Hence, my goal is to arm these folks with what I can to make them as successful as they choose to be, then to sit back and smile at their achievements.

My ultimate goal - and while it is a long-term one it is one nonetheless - is to eventually be asked to go to work for one of the people that used to work "for" me.  I can think of no better achievement or compliment that could be bestowed upon me as a leader.  

Here's hoping it happens some day.   

Snowmageddon

This morning in Green Bay the snow is coming down heavy, and the predictions on the day are for about a foot and a half of the white stuff, with winds gusting up to 40 MPH.  That means near white-out conditions.  

For a town that prides itself on its ability to handle what winter dishes out, folks are worried.  Schools are all closed, the governor has called a state of emergency, and people are deciding if they're going to work or not.

Me?  While I have a 4-wheel drive vehicle and new tires, I'm not going anywhere.  The beauty of a career in ecommerce is that it is all electronic.  I can basically work anywhere.  And today, with the snow falling heavily outside, the Christmas tree lit in the darkness, and the coffee pot full, I'm not going anywhere.

Call me a sissy.  But I bet I still get more done today than you do...

The XX Rocks "Last Christmas"

"Last Christmas" by Wham! is perhaps the worst Christmas song ever recorded.  It is horrible, and the stations that play it every year should be penalized by the FCC for attempting to injure their listeners.  

Leave it to the great XX (see my concert review of The XX here) to take such a horrid sound and make it something incredible:

Working the Grill Again

For a recent fundraising activity for our company's United Way efforts, the company department that achieved a specific fundraising goal first would be served a pancake breakfast by our senior executives.  

On the appointed morning I got there extra early to assure myself of the job I wanted, and that was working the grill.  One of my first jobs in junior high was working the grill at our local A&W root beer stand, and while it was tough, hot work, it was fun and provided enough funds to keep me able to buy new music and go on dates.

Despite my age and the manual labor involved, I always took my job at the grill seriously.  I wanted to make things for people that I'd want to eat myself, and, as such, I developed a couple of independent processes and procedures above what I had been taught.  A couple were adopted by my boss, and who knows, maybe are still at play today.

So when I got to the grill to make pancakes for our United Way winners, I was very much at home.  The normal restaurant crew that works our company cafeteria was there to offer help and instruction, but once I was armed with batter, I didn't need much of either.  I just went to cranking it out.

I worked for nearly an hour behind the grill.  I had forgotten how much heat they kicked out, and I had a pretty good sweat going.  The cafeteria crew was quick to compliment me on my productivity and quality.  It was fun, hard work.

What wasn't fun, though, were some of the comments made by my peers and others during the process.  "Hey, Yellowdog, you're doing a great job!  You got yourself a career if this whole Ecommerce thing doesn't work out!"

I didn't mind hearing it.  I minded like hell that it was said in front of folks that actually do that as THEIR career.  

It was elitist and insensitive.  While I was able to step in and make some pancakes, that didn't mean the job was easy.  In fact, if the kitchen were open that morning and the normal rush of breakfast order had come it, it would have been impossible for me to keep up.  Likewise, while I worked hard to get to my existing position, I recognize that had some bad breaks befallen me throughout my life, a career behind a grill might have been my path.  

Hard, honest work - be it behind a hot grill or a cluttered desk - is not a thing to be patronized.  It is a thing to be recognized and celebrated.  

Regardless of who is doing the work.

Sandy Hook Massacre and Next Steps

Bodies weren't even cold when pundits, politicians, and website comments filled the media that "something" needed to be done to prevent another Sandy Hook.  The loudest message is around some type of gun restrictions, bans, or outlawing.  

There's one problem: America is awash in guns.  Approximately 300 million guns exist in the hands of her 311 citizens.  The barn door has been left open, and the cow is no longer in the barn.  

With that as the backdrop, here are some of what is being proposed:

• Total ban on guns.  See the above!  The government may know that a specific citizen has a specific gun via the National Instant Criminal Background Check instituted in the '90's.  But that person might have given the gun as a gift, as my Dad did for me.  Or that person may have lost the gun, as my hunting partner did when his boat overturned.  Or that person may have had his ex-wife sell them in a nasty divorce, as what happened to my buddy.  Hence, the ONLY way we'll be able to ban all guns is via house-to-house search.  And with the numbers listed above, that means EVERY house.  Good luck with that; not only from a Constitutional standpoint, but also from an execution standpoint.
• Ban on "automatic" weapons, large magazines, etc.  Let's make something very clear: automatic weapons (one that fires multiple rounds with a pull of the trigger) are already banned.  There are very few owned by private collectors, and the application process to own these is stringent.  Semi-automatic weapons (one where just one round is fired with each pull of the trigger) are legal, and have been since their invention in the late 1800's.  As for limiting magazines, there's that whole cow/barn thing as well as it pertains to magazines.  There are millions of high capacity magazines already in circulation.  Finally, the killer in the latest tragedy used guns that had 15 and 17 round magazines.  
• Register guns with a forensic footprint so they can be tracked.  It is true that every gun has it's own "fingerprint" that gets left on the bullet it is firing.  And a person with about two minutes and a small file can forever alter that fingerprint in such a way as to make the whole process moot.
• Tax guns and ammunition at an excessive rate.  While that will prevent future guns and ammunition to be sold, there's that troubling issue with the 300 million guns already in society.  As for ammunition, there are likely HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of rounds already in private hands.  Likewise, with reloading activity (the private construction of bullets and shotgun shells done by thousands if not millions of people), folks will be able to continue to crank out the production of ammunition, and subsequently launch a lucrative black market career, once factory manufactured ammunition is taxed to oblivion.  
• Hold someone fiscally "accountable" for the shooting.  While this worked great against "big tobacco," how will it exactly work against firearms?  Is the gun manufacturer punished?  The ammunition manufacturer?  The retailer that sold the gun and/or the ammunition?  And once that is put into place, and all of those companies are driven out of business, what happens to that cow that is already outside of the barn?  Likewise, once this legislation passed, will we then be able to sue Apple for folks texting or talking while driving and get into an accident?  Ditto "big alcohol" and drunk drivers?  Once that camel's nose gets under the tent, where does it stop?

Want to crack down on gun shows?  Fine.  Want to limit magazine size?  Knock yourself out.  However, the bottom line to all of this is regardless of what gets done, it cannot address the amount of guns, magazines, and ammunition already in our society.

So what do we do?  

Let's start and end with a hard look at mental illness in this country.  The most vulnerable of us are going untreated, and are being plied by the most unsavory of communications.  From first person shooter video games that actively train mass murder techniques to hate sites that actively encourage mayhem from their readers, instead of getting help our mentally ill are just getting pushed toward explosion.  

The bottom line in all of these massacres is that they were not committed by sane individuals.  No sane person could commit mass murder, especially against children of all people.  Insanity is the common denominator in these massacres.  Not guns.

But guns are such an easy scapegoat!  To non-gun owners, they're scary, and only hillbillies, rednecks, preppers, and teabaggers own them.  Just "get rid of them" and things will be OK.  What folks don't want to do is address the real issue - mental illness - and look under the rugs of things like privacy, medial history, family issues, substance abuse, media consumption, free speech rights and the myriad other things that go along with it.  That's too hard.

So "doing something" about guns will continue to be demagogued up until, during, and after the next massacre committed by a mentally unstable individual.  And when they interview those who knew that individual, another chorus of "I'm not surprised," will crop up.  And so on...

Anyone with any solutions, please post up.   

   

Paul McCartney and Nirvana Video

As part of the Hurricane Sandy relief concert, the surviving members of Nirvana got together with the biggest still-living name in recording history and kicked out a little jam:




Some thoughts:

• This sounded damn good.  Shades of "Helter Skelter"
• Paul still has "it."  The guy is 70 years old, but looked the full part of a rock star with a group that could have been his children.  Hope I'm doing something that active when I'm 70.
• What class for McCartney to play guitar, and leave Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic his instrument.  For perhaps the most iconic bassist in music history to opt for a different instrument (played very well, mind you) was classy.

This will be a sure download when it shows up on iTunes on the 18th.  In the meantime, enjoy this video.