Wish-List Addendum

Really, it warrants no explanation beyond "DO WANT".

It's not sexism, it's "differently empowered"

Giving new teeth to the phrase "electric leash":

Sheriff's spokeswoman Elise Schaffer said Cody J. Redenius, 20, is under a domestic abuse restraining order that prohibits him from possessing a firearm.

His ex--girlfriend told investigators she found a picture of Redenius holding the shotgun on his Facebook account. The picture was posted Wednesday. It's unclear who posted it.

What's the real story here? Is it that one can be busted over a social-networking site for alleged wrong-doing, or that a restraining order (not, mind you, a conviction by a jury of peers) invalidates numerous Constitutionally-protected rights?

Brought to you by Joe "Foot-in-Mouth" Biden via the VAWA of 1994: remember, this man is one heart-beat away from the Football...

Marriage, the Church, and the State

After further hashing-out some thoughts trapped in my head following a post at Vox Popoli, the subsequent fast-and-furious commentary by the Dread Ilk, and a related story regarding the ongoing failure of marriage in the United Kingdom at Elusive Wapiti (with additional examination at Code-Monkey Ramblings), I stumbled into an insightful op-ed piece at the New York Times, of all places, that had a surprisingly libertarian bent to it. (Broken clocks, nes pa?)

In particular, the op-ed confirms a previously-held opinion of mine: marriage determines the pecking-order of "rights" in the eyes of the State, and if one (or two, or many) want a reservation at the teat of the taxpayer, then one must adhere to the State's prevailing opinion of marriage. And so, fundamentally, marriage becomes a vehicle for convenience and comfortable living in this post-modern dystopia, and thus a mechanism for control.

What brought my attention to the op-ed, however, was a salient point revealed in ensuing discussion regarding the fuster-cluck of modern marriage: the Church refuses to stand up for the rights of its male congregation in the arena of family-law. I'm not suggesting the establishment of an organization of Legal Templars (however interesting the idea sounds), but the movement to reclaim marriage as the sole jurisdiction of the Church must be made in order to strengthen itself at the expense of the State, which has steadily usurped power to dictate restrictions according to its own satisfaction and aims. This alone should underline the danger in attempting to follow in the footsteps of the Social Gospelers in their attempts to unravel our civil-liberties, but if we have learned anything in our history, it is that we constantly demonstrate an ability to promptly forget (or determinedly ignore) our mistakes.

Incidentally, this is the primary reason I've not been to a brick-and-mortar church in years: my last visit to a "Christian" service with my then-girlfriend was so inclusive in scope that it was outright apostasy, and in hindsight, I should have ended the relationship then and there (she was employed by the clergy). Fortunately, it ended for other reasons some time later, and I thank the Almighty that it did.

To believe is one thing, and to not believe is another, but don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining when it comes to my responsibility to enslave myself to the State via a secularly-focused wife under the color of Scripture, because I won't have it.

The Manliness in Usefulness

While scrambling at full-speed around the 'Net, I skidded into a Popular Mechanics article from last September entitled "25 Skills Every Man Should Know". Suffice to say, after I had read the list, I was ready to scrap it and scramble on, but I felt that it was broken enough that the list deserved a thorough renovation into something, well, shinier.

The list had to conform to some degree of utility, so I weighted skills by potential usefulness based on frequency of use, the potential to make or break the situation, application of knowledge versus the use of items/tools/specialized equipment, and the relative intuitiveness of the skill in question. Here are the keepers from the Popular Mechanics article:

7. Build a campfire
9. Navigate with a map and compass
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter

Unsurprisingly, these reminded me of the advancement requirements in my old Boy Scout Handbook. So, in order to completely cover the bases, I not only reviewed and noted the advancement requirements for a Boy Scout, but the requirements for advancement to Eagle Scout, plus a few elective badges for the rank.

In the end, I had a list of 15 skills that everyone should know, not just men. If a skill is truly important, everyone should learn how to do it, without exception or excuse. To wit:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

- Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love

However, some, if not most, traditionally fall within the sphere of the man's responsibilities. So, without further noise on my part or presuming as much eloquence as Heinlein, here they are (in no particular order):

- Firearm use and maintenance
- Orienteering
- Operating a car with a manual transmission
- Building a fire without matches or lighter
- Basic open-fire cooking
- CPR / AED operation
- Basic first-aid application
- Basic rope use
- Swimming
- Hunting, fishing and trapping
- Basic use of woods-tools
- Basic automotive maintenance
- Familiarity with the US Constitution and Amendments
- Shelter construction
- Living beneath one's means

Some of these are general skill-sets; this is partly due to the large number of constituent skills involved, and to condense the list into something of manageable size. I will be posting individual entries for each item on the list, much like the original article, except with a greater eye to detail, since I'm not on the clock and otherwise occupying advertising area in a print-magazine.

Furthermore, many of the above skills relate to some measure of self-sufficiency; with the decline of the economy as of late, wars in various parts of the world and civil unrest, I maintain that in a society so structured for global interdependence that it is not only prudent but necessary to exercise self-sufficiency when possible as a method of risk mitigation. Remember, protecting your family, providing leadership and putting meat on the table are the primary manly responsibilities, and it's overlooked much too frequently for my tastes.