Out My Window

Here is one to really make you think.

The Dept. of Homeland Security has claimed that you or your possessions have no rights under the constitution until you clear customs and this has been backed up by the Obama Administration. This means that any of your possessions can be held in limbo and searched without warrants when re-entering the United States. Under a "supervisors" authority, of course, because they are trained so well to identify threats. They are able to seize them without warrant for ANY crime. Yeah, parking tickets.

Stay with me on this because I do want to connect the dots.

Where do we draw the line on child pornography? How many of you have those embarrassing pictures of you on a woolly rug, bare-ass naked? Now think about old Aunt Clara showing those pictures to your classmates. Should she be locked up? Should the DHS rush to find the photographer and jail them?

Consider the case of Andrew Hanson who returned from vacation to South Korea in January of 2009.
When his laptop, memory cards, camera, CDs, and DVDs were searched, they found [a picture of] an adolescent girl covered with mud, standing on a beach, and not wearing any clothes. He was charged with transportation and possession of child pornography in September 2009. He has pleaded not guilty.

Customs agents also searched Hanson's laptop three times in February 2009, with the first search taking place about a week after he entered the country and turning up no evidence of child pornography. The second and third searches allegedly did.
I am certainly not taking sides here. We don't know what the last two searches came up with. More little girls playing on the beach or something horrific?

What I am asking you to think about is where do we draw lines?
I have taken pictures of my grand daughters in the sink having a bath. I'm sure I have copies at least on DVD if not on my drive. If the DHS bust in my door right now and took my computer, am I going to prison to be b*****cked for the rest of my life?

What gives some Homeland Security Agent (i.e. rent-a-cop) the authority to decide if the picture is pornographic? She might have just been a perv that really got off on seeing little naked girls. It's not like we made these people take a test. One day they were guarding cross-walks at an airport, the next they are laughing at your privates on an x-ray machine.

And lastly, how far can the DHS take this immunity to the Constitution thing?
I won't go into whether they have the authority to enforce child pornography laws or not because I think we all have the right to do that, with a gun, if need be.

The Admiral Panteleev (destroyer) swiftly swooped in on a boat and hauled in 29 men and their firearms on Tuesday at 14:12 GMT. According to the defense ministry this made it the largest pirate catch to date.

The ministry said "Seven Kalachnikov machine-guns, handguns of different calibres, equipment including satellite navigation devices and a large number of empty shells were discovered on board the boat."

I bet they won't get a free New York vacation with a lengthy trial that they can sell book rights to.
Way to go, Captain!

We are saving our change to get one of these as soon as we can.
Click the picture for more.

Out my window at the Blanco State Park. Seems that fall is in the air.
Texas is a "snowbird" state. That means that there are a lot of RVers that spend the winter here because of the mild winters. Thus, it gets harder to find a nice site without a reservation.
Of course parks with some natural attraction are the ones that fill up first but no need to panic if you are self contained. You can always find a site to camp even if it doesn't have water, electricity, or sewer hookups. We never have to give up on the what we want to enjoy because of lack of a site.
Some of the primitive camp sites can be wonderful and you don't have to put up with those grouchy old retirees. The younger crowd seems to be more into tent camping.

From our window at Lake Belton.

We had reservations a a park just a couple of miles from the place of the Ogletree Gap Heritage celebration but when we got there it was one of the ugliest places we have ever seen. It was what looked like a house trailer grave yard. I didn't know they really did that but it must be true. One whole lot was stacked about eight feet high with dead trailer parts.
So we got lucky and found this beautiful place where we spent three days with friends that met us there.

Since I don't hunt with a rifle anymore, this will do for my buck this year.