I have decided to take an hiatus from firearms for a year or so (no this has nothing to do with Virginia Tech). I sold my Ruger GP100 revolver and my Remington 870 shotgun yesterday, and made a tidy sum that was about 85-90% of my investment.

I took my wife out to Red Lobster at her behest. I bought a target bag for my oldest son’s new bow and arrow, and my wife and I picked out a new Browning Discovery bow at Two Bears Custom Archery in Springfield Illinois. The Browning Discovery is a beginners bow, and has a very low draw weight from about 15lbs to 30lbs on the unit we picked out.

We also got half a dozen carbon arrows each. They are cut to a custom fit which means that my arrows are about 5″ longer than Jodi’s. In addition we each got an archery glove so that we would look like pros. We spent and hour at the range after our purchase and had an absolute blast. I’ve never been able to get my wife involved with target shooting, but apparently she loves to shoot arrows. I had to buy a red bow for goodness sake!

Of course this doesn’t mean I won’t still post about firearms and The Second Amendment, but I will be posting more about archery. highcaliberbows?

There is an interesting debate available for download from Ravi Zacharias’ website. The debate took place between Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, and Alister McGrath, author of The Dawkins Delusion.

Download The Debate

This is an email response that was received by an acquaintance of mine from Scotts. He wrote telling them he would no longer be using their products because of their insane smoking policy. I’ve added a few remarks in order to make the letter easier for the naive readers to understand.

Thank you for contacting us concerning Scotts products. [Please don't trouble me with your complaints again.] As always, it is our goal to make sure that our customers are completely satisfied with our products and services. [But in this case you can go get bent.]

We appreciate you letting us know about your concern with our new no-smoking policy. Please rest assured that we will pass your comments on to Senior Management. [I've already deleted your message.]

I am sorry to hear that you will no longer be using our products. [We couldn't care less if you quit using our products.] It certainly was not the intent of our company to alienate our customers. [We couldn't care less if you quit using our products.] Our primary motivation for doing this is an effort to control escalating health care costs while improving the long term quality of life for our associates. [Our primary motivation for doing this is an effort to control OUR escalating health care costs, and to control the everyday activities of our employees if we believe those activities will cost us money in the long run.]

You may not be aware, [You personal freedom people are really getting on my nerves!] but the smoking policy is only one component of a significant investment we are making in improving our associates’ health. [We are spending a lot of money on these people, and we don't want to lose it!] These include free doctor care, access to a low cost fitness facility, access to dieticians, [So if I eat a Big Mac, will I get fired?] free generic prescription drugs, and of course, free smoking cessation programs. [Of course.]

I certainly hope you will reconsider your decision to use our products. [I still don't care if you use our products.] Our goal is simply to improve our associates’ health and reduce health care costs. [Our goal is simply to improve out associates' health IN ORDER TO reduce OUR health care costs.]

Again, thank you for taking the time to let us know of your concerns. [I'm really tired of explaining this to you "democracy" people.] Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any additional help to you. [I'd be glad to delete any further comments you may have.]

Sharon Newell
Consumer Service Representative
The Scotts Company and Subsidiaries
14111 Scottslawn Road
Marysville, OH 43041

It blew my mind to discover that Scotts, makers of Miracle Grow, has a no smoking policy. Not a no smoking policy for employees at work, but a no smoking policy for employees period. That’s right, if Scotts finds out you are smoking on your free time, you can be terminated. In fact, Scotts is facing at least one lawsuit by a terminated employee. I think this has been discussed on The Sitter Downers before, but for some reason it just really sunk in today. This is absolute insanity!