Timestepper

Indeed!

And the spoon when somebody eats too much... It's always everyone else's fault!

Why bother? 90% of the motoring public doesn't pay any attention to intersection markings, signs or signals anyway! And they already have a false sense of security as evidenced by the fact that they jump in their cars and completely ignore what's going on around them - they don't give a damn about anything or anyone but themselves and where they are going - believe me, I drive an average of 110,000 miles a year and I witness it (and invariably have to avoid it!) every single freaking day.

Fixed that for ya'! (Unless of course you're referring to the right to go sleeveless, in which case never mind.)

Ditto.

Agreed! When I'm floating at "low-flow" I don't wear a life jacket, but I still have a couple of "throwables" in the canoe at all times. With one generator or more fired up, then my life jacket is on and fastened. And I double check the flow schedules before I go and keep in mind the approximate time the rising water will catch up with me and exactly where I'll be on the river when it does. (It caught up with us at Cold Water shoals yesterday and even though we'd stopped and left the canoe behind while we worked the shoals, we kept track and managed to meet back at the canoe at the right time to continue on unhindered - despite the faceplant I did into a hole while on the way back up to the canoe. lmao!) I also make it a point that if I have an inexperienced person in my canoe, I never ask them to paddle, preferring instead to rely solely upon my own ability to navigate, rather than take a chance that they'll do accidentally do something screwy at the wrong time that I won't have time to correct. If they want to learn the ins and outs of maneuvering a canoe, I'll be happy to teach them in shallower, calmer and warmer waters. Common sense should be the one thing you never leave behind on the Clinch and a constant awareness of your surroundings is mandatory, even on the gentlest of floating days. But, oh God how I love that river!

After further thought, I've decided that maybe I should add this warning: Floating/fishing the tail waters of Norris Lake on the Clinch River in East Tennessee is like having sex: When you finally experience it for yourself, you'll want to do it again, as often as possible, under any condition and with as many different people as will accept your offer... and if you get lucky, you'll not only be tired and satisfied, but your fingers will smell like fish when you're done!

Well, so long as they don't trip up the speed cameras, f*ck 'em!

Not at all, I'm sure Pop would be honored.

I was serving when the author of the OP was born and I thank him for his own service. I fight because, although as an individual I may not amount to much, it's the individuals of this country that make it so much more than just the total sum of it's parts. I have no children of my own to hug and hold dear, but I fight because others do have children and as fellow countrymen I believe they deserve the best that the greatest nation on earth can offer - and by that I don't mean public handouts and entitlements. I fight because I'm a contrary old fart who got that way by believing in God and Country and Family and I want every other person who aspires to someday reach old fart status to have the same opportunities along the way that I did. Mostly I fight because the greatest lesson I've learned in the course of my life is that freedom is anything but free and I don't mind paying a little extra for the privilege of living in the greatest country the world has ever known. My own actual part in service as a radio mechanic and commo guy was small, but I nonetheless served to the best of my ability and was honored to do so. Thank you JG55, for finding this piece and posting it. And I thank all those who've served for their sacrifice... You are not forgotten! :usa:

My late father was one of the greatest generation. That is to say he proudly served in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The following is a poem he wrote during that time. I post it here not only to pay tribute our fallen, but also to say, "Thanks, Dad! You make me proud and grateful to be an American and your son!" "Thanks for the Ride!" T-5 William Donald McCrary We took them aboard at Manila, They were high spirited and cocky with pride. And a young Lance Corporal grinned and said, "Hi ya, sea jockey! Thanks for the ride!" For three weeks we plowed through the South Seas Fighting the weather and pig boats night and day 'Til we came to a jungle clad island And sailed through the mines in it's bay. Through the mortar and small arms fire And our own big gun's boom and roar, They were grim-faced, silent, but eager As they landed on that bullet scarred shore. And a young Lance Corporal grinned and said, "So long, sea jockey, thanks for the ride!" Then they stormed up the beach to the jungle Where they fought and they bled and they died. We took them aboard three weeks later, After the bloody island had been won With the papers still singing the praises Of all the brave deeds they had done. Some still limping and bloody and wounded, We took them off that battle scarred shore Bearded and ragged and weary And covered with grime and gore. But they came aboard with their heads up - Their eyes shining with the fiercest of pride And a brand new sergeant with his arm in a sling Grinned and said, "Hi ya, sea jockey! Thanks for the ride!" :usa:

I've found that you can't spend time better anywhere than East Tennessee ('less maybe it's in a certain little brothel in Nevada, but that was a looooong time ago and I digress).

I'll second that emotion! (But then my wife can tell you that I'm just a big softy when it comes to stuff like this. lol)

Actually, I'm beginning to think that some of the most paranoid people in the world just happen to be gun owners.

Welcome home, Robert!

Agreed! I think they ought to do to these monsters what they did to those two poor kids! And I further think that the families of these monsters should be made to suffer in the same way the Christian and Newsome families have suffered. God, what a needless tragedy!

You guys are both pigeon holing and denigrating the respondents to this thread and obfuscating the initial issue which was speed cameras in a specific municipality. I don't recall saying anywhere that I'm in favor of speed cameras (or drones or more regulations). Or that the aforementioned cameras have anything to do safety. I've said, if you don't want to get a speeding ticket, DON'T SPEED! And as much as I don't want to speak for the other posters here it seems like that has been the general consensus. bkelm18 even mentioned a great way to get rid of them: Slow down and abide by traffic laws and negate the revenue that they produce! All that seems pretty simple and straight forward (at least to me). But according to you guys, if we're not dead set against them or fearing for our lives and liberty then we must all be mindless sheeple in favor of more government intrusions who will in fact welcome the coming of the Big Brother state. To that I respond: BULLCRAP! You keep advocating personal rights without ever taking into account that YOU don't have the RIGHT - or the personal individual knowledge of each of us - to make that assumption. How dare you presume to tell me what I'm thinking or in favor of?!! Talk about a Big Brother mentality! You make the wrongful assumption that If we don't think the way YOU think - that is to say if we don't readily adopt your Chicken Little mentality and decry the very existence of speed cameras and all of the evil you claim they represent - then we're wrong and naive and somehow don't believe in the things that made this country great. And to that I say: BULLFEATHERS! Talk about intrusiveness! You're intruding into my head and telling me what to think! And I somehow find myself resenting that more than some stupid camera nailed to a pole with a sign below it warning you that it's there! You want a cop to write the ticket? Great! Speed past one. I'm sure he or she will be happy to oblige. But the same people who slow down for speed cameras and then speed up again will slow down when they see a cop and then speed right back up as soon as they perceive themselves out the "danger zone." I see it every day! And how is a cop who "hides" any less an intrusion than a speed camera that sits there in plain sight? As to the TSA - do they have speed cameras? No? Then what the hell are they doing in a thread about speed cameras? Oh, that's right! It's a correlation to somehow prove that we're all sheeple and too dumb to know the sky is falling. Give me a freakin' break! Next thing you'll be telling me is that there was a speed camera on the grassy knoll or that the guy on the grassy knoll invented speed cameras to bring about the downfall of modern society by turning us into... Jesus, I can't even go on, this is so asinine! Don't want a speeding ticket? DON'T SPEED!!! Don't want speed cameras? Negate the revenue by NOT SPEEDING and convince everyone else in your municipality not to speed. Want to repeal some of the laws and regulations that are in place to protect the idiots who refuse to take personal responsibility for their actions? Start advocating the use of common sense and common courtesy. But stay out of my head and quit telling me what you think I think because you assume I disagree with you! Jesus, talk about the thought police! Later! ...TS...

So buy one! You can get a darned good canoe for less than you'd pay for good pistol. I gave $300.00 for mine about 9 years ago and you can pick up a decent 16 footer nowadays for about $400.00, give or take. I've used and abused mine from East Tennessee to the Western mountains and it's been one of the best investments I ever made!

Spots could tell you better than I could, but I will tell you that pretty much all of East Tennessee is a sportsman's/fisherman's paradise. Got a feeling that once you get used to all the hills and trees, you'll love it over here.

Don't know what to tell you, Dave, 'cept come on over! Oh, FWIW, on the 9th of June I'll be canoeing the Nolichuckey with <John's best friend> Bob Rebmann and we'll be tossing the smallmouth jigs you sent me. We will indeed tie one on for John! (And I'll try to get some pics for YOU.) ...Don....

Reminds me of an ol' boy up home who got tired of teenagers stealing his watermelons so he put up a sign that read: ONE OF THESE MELONS HAS BEEN INJECTED WITH CYANIDE - YOU GUESS WHICH ONE! A few days later he went out to his watermelon patch to discover that someone had added at the bottom of the sign in pencil: Now there are two!

They'll get wrapped in foil with a little dilled garlic, some rosemary and a piece of bacon in the body cavity, then grilled on hot coals until the skin peels off when you unwrap the foil... MMMmmmmm!

Have yet to find a Tabasco product I didn't like and I'm especially fond of Tabasco Garlic (yeah, I know - Tabasco is for lightweights who'd rather drink vinegar than have real flavor, but I like it anyway). Tapatio runs a close second for me. Not a big fan of red pepper - or even black pepper for that matter - but I do like fresh chili peppers. Years ago, down in Polomas, Old Mexico, there was a little cafe I used to frequent that served some kind of homemade green sauce. I still don't know what was in it and I'd still give two weeks pay for the recipe, but it started off tasting almost like sweet relish and the heat gradually crept in - almost unnoticed - until you were sitting there sweating and with tears running down your cheeks and you just couldn't quit eating the damn stuff! The main course would come - usually a steak that would've cost forty bucks in the states, but ran about three ninety-five down there - and in between bites of steak, you'd still be dipping homemade tortilla chips in this amazing green sauce. God, that was the hottest stuff I've ever eaten - I'd suffer for hours afterwards - and I'd give my right arm to have a gallon jug of it right now!

Well, we sure didn't get skunked! All in all an absolutely beautiful day on the Clinch! Yepper, just a fantastic day (my faceplant into a deep pool while trying to get back to the canoe before it floated off, notwithstanding!) Thanks, Lord! You sure made a goodun' today!

Blaming traffic cameras for speeding tickets and accidents is kinda' like blaming the spoon because you're fat. Don't wanna' be fat? Don't eat so freakin' much! Don't wanna' get ticketed by a speed camera? Don't speed! Don't wanna' have an accident? Turn the stereo off, throw your gawd-damned cell phone out the window and PAY SOME FREAKIN' ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING WITH YOUR 2,000 POUND PERSONAL MISSILE!!! :wall: "But I got a ticket I didn't deserve!" :cry: Bull####! You let your attention lapse and got caught doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time! "But cameras are an invasion of my privacy!" :cry: So don't do anything in private that you shouldn't do in public and you won't have to worry about it! Come on people! I know it's politically incorrect, but grow some balls and start taking some personal responsibility! Your sucky life is not the world's fault, it's YOUR fault! Don't like it? Pull up your big girl panties and change it! Or leave it the way it is, but quit blaming everyone and everything because you lack the back bone to exercise some personal pride and initiative!!! Ok, rant off.