Livin' in the 70s - Run Joe Run

The following story originally appeared on my first website, jwilsonsworld, on 4/20/2007.

Run Joe Run: David Janssen's The Fugitive recast as a dog. "Wanted: male German shepherd, black and tan, answers to the name of Joe. Accused of attacking his trainer Sergeant Will Corey, a crime he did not commit. Only Corey can prove him innocent, but he must find Joe before his pursuers track him down."

Brilliant simply brilliant. This would have to be my absolute favorite Saturday morning tv show ever. I can't recall ever missing an episode, even in reruns. Yes the storylines were simple (even for a children's show) but to my eight year-old mind this little morality play was completely engrossing. I loved dogs in general but particularly German shepherds so when this riveting live-action tale about a shepherd that was wrongfully accused and on the run from the authorities hit the airwaves I was hooked right away. My favorite part of the show was always when Joe, often in a difficult situation, would have a flashback to his old Army training days. The camera would close in with an extreme Sergio Leone type close-up on Joe's eyes while special "Joe thinking" sound effects would play. Suddenly Joe would remember something that had occurred during his training that would help him in the situation that he currently found himself, very smart dog indeed! Joe could do anything from turn on a water faucet, to help a lost blind girl find her way home (and anything in between). And much like the original Fugitive Joe would often selflessly help others without any consideration for himself. Why? Because he was an innocent dog accused of something he didn't do, and only an innocent dog would think of others. And have no doubt that he was completely innocent, the show's snappy intro let us know that fact right up front when it set up the entire premise for us (and in less than a minute too). Unlike the original Fugitive, Joe was never exonerated of his crimes and to this day is still on the run in badly worn bootleg copies of his adventures. But perhaps someday he will find some peace, or at the very least be released on DVD so that all of his old fans can enjoy his story all over again.

My Black Rifle

This is my AR-15. There are many more like it but this one is mine. Mine isn't a pure breed, it's a mutt. I purchased the completed lower (a S&W) the day after our current White House resident was elected to office and just a few hours before the price gouging started. For a few months after that I searched for a reasonably priced upper to complete the gun, but for a long while there was no finding any at all, let alone "reasonably" priced ones. After some months looking I set it aside for other projects. Since then the lower has been in my gun safe collecting dust. A few days ago I finally got around to buying the rest of the rifle which is made by Bushmaster. My "Bush & Wesson" is a 16-inch, A3 upper with the detachable carry handle. Right now it's just your basic "black rifle" but I intend to do some customization in the coming months, which will probably include an optical sight. But of course that is only after I make sure that the rifle is completely functional and good to go with the iron sights.

This is the fourth AR that I have owned over the years. The best being a Colt Match HBAR that would cut one hole groups at 100 yards. I never shot any of them that much. I would usually shoot one a few times, lose interest and then trade it in on something else. I don't guess that I'm much of a "Rifleman". I've owned some rifles over the years, and still own a few now, but my main interest has always been in handguns and concealed carry. Maybe I need to change that.

Gun haters have managed to label these guns "assault rifles" which they are not. But I will give them credit; they and their media sycophants have managed to make the label stick. I have even heard (ignorant) gun owners refer to them as such. Wish I could own an assault rifle, but they are hard to come by, their cost would make a nice down payment on a house and then there is or course all of the legal hoops to jump through to own one. I don't own an assault rifle I own a semi-automatic copy. It might look like one but functionally it is the same as a Ruger Mini-14. But the Mini-14 looks more like a "rifle" so I guess it's not quite as "evil" as an AR-15. All of this is irrelevant anyway as our enemies on the gun issue would prefer that all of them be destroyed.

I don't intend to sell this one ever. Now I understand a little better the need for such rifles. This current president and his friends helped educate me on why civilians like myself need them. If for no other reason than they don't think we should have guns at all, particularly these, which are somehow extra "evil"...

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY AMERICA!

To everyone reading this, have a safe and happy holiday!

Me like free ammo

M.D. Creekmore over at The Survivalist Blog is giving away 1000 rounds of 9mm ammunition (courtesy of LuckyGunner.com). All you have to do to enter is have your own web site or blog and write a post about the contest. So I do and I did. Now I'm entered to win a case of free 9X19. A 1000 rounds of ammo is always a good thing to have - FREE is even better!

Livin' in the 70s - The After School Special

The following story originally appeared on my first website, jwilsonsworld, on 3/11/2007.

ABC's After School Special: Bite-sized life lessons for young people. In the 1970s one show that I absolutely could not miss was the ABC Television Network's After School Special, that program would come to teach me a lot about life and the world around me. The After School Special would often times take on difficult subjects, subjects that I might be too afraid to approach my parents with, and brought them out in the open for discussion. The After School Special took on those subjects and also made them understandable at a child's level while at the same time never talking down to us. Subject matter like divorce, alcohol and drug abuse, school bullies and death were all topics that were tackled and handled in a very effective and honest manner. And unlike most television programming for children they didn't always take the easy way out, just like in real life every story didn't have a happy ending and we were shown that to. In the After School Special we had a program that was designed to talk to us kids about the more serious problems and concerns that we might have in our young lives, and most importantly it did it in way we could understand. The After School Special would continue educating and entertaining young people for nearly two decades until finally it was done in by the very tv stations that had once championed it. With the rise of the afternoon talk show, intelligent, educational children's programming was no longer profitable. But long before that I had already stopped watching. By the early 1980s I no longer needed the wisdom of the After School Special, I had by then reached my early teens and like every other teenager since the beginning of time I suddenly knew everything. Looking back, I do miss those times when the world was simpler and all it took was a one-hour tv special to make you feel better about the world and your place in it.