HikeArizona.COM

Hi All,

I was on a beautiful hike this past saturday morning on the Bluffs Springs Trail in the Sups. The Temperature cooperated, the sun was behind clouds, there was a nice breeze and of course anyone who's been out there knows the scenery is increadible.

The only weird thing about the hike was on the way back to the trailhead at the end of my hike probably within a half mile of the peralta trailhead, I ran into these two guys that were all suited up for war games or something. Camo, Knives strapped to gear suspenders, a pistol at the older man's side who had so much facial hair, you could barely see his face.

As I passed them with my hiking poles out the older guy said to me all suprised, "Ski Poles?!!!" I quickly explained they helped the old knees on the way down after I noticed he had a gun at his side. I pretty much smiled and nodded then continued on my way.

Now I'm all for everyone's right to bear arms and all, but seeing this kind of freaked me out. I know it's legal to carry handguns in Arizona and that's fine, but I was thinking there isn't a very large reason to carry a gun out there, especially if you are with another full grown adult male.

I have no idea what their reason would be for bringing those types of weopons out there, and the whole incident was a bit disturbing. I was glad that I encountered these yahoo's close to the trailhead. Anyone else run into any of these gun toting militia type weirdo's?

Paul

Not in my home

Wiz wrote:The only thing I would disagree with you on would be the depth of learning of the founding fathers.... Those men were true natural philosophers, men whose interests and areas of learning spanned many disciplines. Show me even one person in public life today who can think at the level of a Thomas Jefferson or a Benjamin Franklin....People today do not possess the clarity of thought necessary to write it!

Also: that is a really cute kid in your picture. Yours?

That was exactly my point. They were exceptional in their ability to apply the learning they had - they were imbibed with wisdom far greater than we could dare appreciate today.

Their learning did span the depth and breadth of the learning of the time. They were intellectual giants of their day, but the amount of knowledge AVAILABLE to us today is far greater. Some would say that, logically, with more information available, we should be able to make better decisions. Well, I ain't seein' it.

These men studied their whole lives and were able to keep abreast of most developments in most fields of learning. That isn't possible today - but there are many individuals who have a very deep and broad set of intellectual persuits. But do they posess the wisdome and moral clarity of those fine men? If so, those individuals are rare indeed, and I don't know any of them. Although I do know some very fine individuals.

Oh, and YES - that is my boy - Caleb. He just turned 2 and is fully capable of destroying our house in a matter of minutes. Active, strong, intelligent (far more clever than I am anyway), and EXTREMELY strong willed and independent. Stuborn as a mule too. Although I have no idea where he gets that from (certainly not me - has to be my wife...)

olesma wrote: Stuborn as a mule too. Although I have no idea where he gets that from (certainly not me - has to be my wife...)

May we have MRS. olesma's opinion on that?

Hey does anybody know who this gun totin scruffy is?

http://www.extremezone.com/~kurth/guntotin.jpg

First one to post the correct answer gets a gold star :!:

Wiz wrote: You're absolutely right in saying it couldn't be written today. People today do not possess the clarity of thought necessary to write it!

I agree that it couldn't be written today, but not because of a lack of people with the clarity of thought necessary, but rather because in todays society, it is not a specific enough document. It lacks the legal minutia necessary in todays world. When the constitution was written major deals could be made on little more than a handshake...today you can't buy a freezer Best Buy without signing your name several times and reading tons of fine print...how about buying a car. Different time, different perspectives, different needs.

Olesma, with your permission I'd like to use some of your previous text with some of my classes. You articulated quite clearly something that is difficult for my students (learning disabled) to comprehend. Thank you!

azhiker96 wrote:Irresponsible drinkers cause more deaths every year than irresponsible gun owners. Unfortunately, we have not found an effective way to address that larger problem. .

I think I read on Fark the other day about a judge who ordered some moron with a few DUIs to install a device that would require him to blow into a breathalizer before allowing the car to start...I liked that idea.

kurthzone wrote:So, all that being said, does anyone think legal commercial marijuana (cannabis) is going to be a part of our future?

I see each day the effect of what people consider a "mild" drug, pot, has on the thinking ability of teenagers. It scares me that people think it's harmless. I have students who watch their parents smoke up, or worse yet, smoke with their parents. You cannot comprehend the damage it does to the kids ability to comprehend and more specifically retain knowledge.

Here's my analogy on this one using cigarrette smokers.....non-smokers can smell a smoker a mile away...if you don't smoke, you can tell quickly if the person next does....but if you ask the smoker, they don't think they smell, nor do they smell other smokers

Pot smokers can't "smell" the damage they are doing to themselves.

OK, pretty sure I didn't make alot of friends with this one...please remember, just my opinion...

kurthzone wrote:Hey does anybody know who this gun totin scruffy is?

http://www.extremezone.com/~kurth/guntotin.jpg

First one to post the correct answer gets a gold star :!:

Hey come on guys, doesn't anyone recognize this guy? If I give you any clues you'll get it right away. I think.

OK, I'll give you one. He's from Michigan.

He's a dead ringer for my buddy Ryan. However I'm thinking this is an old person thing like a senator or such.

Also resembles Merle the Pearl!

lol... heck I don't wanna get it right, I'll lose my five diamonds for one gold star!!

Ted Nugent.



GTG

AAHHH

mother...

teva wrote:He's a dead ringer for my buddy Ryan. However I'm thinking this is an old person thing like a senator or such.

Also resembles Merle the Pearl!

lol... heck I don't wanna get it right, I'll lose my five diamonds for one gold star!!

I'm goin to let this hang for awhile and see if anyone gets it, cause I'm sure there are many here on the forum who know who this dude is.


Think the opposite of politician.

Who is Merle the Pearl?

I'm editing this post because while I was writing it the first time GTG was posting the correct answer. You get the gold star! You guys are too quick for me.

OK five gold stars

ck1 wrote:Olesma, with your permission I'd like to use some of your previous text with some of my classes. You articulated quite clearly something that is difficult for my students (learning disabled) to comprehend. Thank you!

Well, I'm not totally sure which parts of my text you're talking about - but sure, go ahead. I don't claim intellectual rights to it at all. In fact I'm fairly sure that my intellect can be considered "wrong" most of the time anyway....

Wow Olesma, a simultaneous post. That's the first I've seen, but I beat you by a nano

kurthzone wrote:Wow Olesma, a simultaneous post. That's the first I've seen, but I beat you by a nano

I checked the database
1029479234
1029479236

that mean's you beat him by 2 SECONDS

wowzer!

GTG wrote:Ted Nugent.



GTG

You must be a fan of the Motor City Mad Man. You do indeed when the gold star

Ah, the life we lead - posting a couple of seconds ahead of someone else bring instant joy and gratification.

An look at the time....

You'd think I had something better to do with my late evenings, like sleep or something.

Here's the site where I grabbed the pic. I sort of edited it cause I didn't want to show the little dead critters all lined up at the bottom of the photo.

http://www.tednugent.com/

To briefly leave the topic of pot and dead critters and return to the founding fathers, the discussion brings several things to mind. I agree with Olesma the amount of information available today is exponentially greater than it was in their day. But I still maintain that were those men among us today, they would still be giants. It's a quality of the person, not of the tools available. But, I think we're basically all saying the same thing.

As far as the Constitution not being specific enough, I guess you're right, Ck1. This also connects to the "who owns the mountains" thread, and the gun ownership thread. The structure of our society today does not promote personal responsibility. Examples: "I have lung cancer - it must be the tobacco company's fault." I don't know any smokers that subscribe to that view, but the courts are sure encouraging it. Same with lawsuits against gun manufacturers. And with you getting sued if someone does something stupid and hurts themselves while trespassing on your property. What about all the stories where someone injures a burgler who was trying to harm them, and gets successfully sued by the burgler.

OK, OK, I'm ranting now. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, so please forgive me if I vent. You guys all seem to be thoughtful intelligent people, so I feel OK about expressing myself.

Not sure if this is widely known, but Ted has never drank or took drugs, he isn't recovering, he just never did them.