Comments on: They Are Fear-Mongering Idiots!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:55:14 +0000

Andante, I wouldn’t let them know that she might have pictures of landmarks in a scrapbook.

People are losing it.

By: andante

andante — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:14:03 +0000

Yes, I was going to add that my 91-yr-old mother does a bit of Tai-Chi at the elder care center, occasionally armed with a quad cane for balance. Homeland Security really should look into this dire threat.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:03:55 +0000

I can’t imagine that someone hasn’t seen Tai-Chi at some point in their lives. While it is a martial art originally, Tai-Chi is hardly offensive. It is one of the most popular forms of exercise for older people.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:22:37 +0000

Well…a long while back in River Forest, the principal called the police on an old man…he was doing a Tai-Chi Sword Form (with a wooden Sword) in the park in the early morning!

Sheesh…first not to recognize the sword as piece of wood might be forgivable…but not to know a Tai-Chi exercise routine (it’s almost a ballet) – she was such a DIP…but a *better-safe-than-sorry* DIP. *smirk*

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 11:40:31 +0000

The whole thing got blown out of proportion by the “terror threat”.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 04:49:19 +0000

When I was a kid, my dad had a machete for certain kinds of lawn work, and one would have to have a very, very long arm to put that blade up one’s sleeve, if by sleeve they meant part of one’s clothing… improbable. Dad also had his ceremonial sword from his Navy days; I’m rather glad that disappeared from his mother’s house long before he died.

If I were homeless in a large city, I’d want a blade, my commitment to nonviolence notwithstanding. Just showing the thing would probably prevent some assaults. And I’ve read that the shelters are often more dangerous than the streets.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 03:35:43 +0000

I assume she’s homeless and that was her self-defense weapon. Most of the homeless women have them. They probably meant sheath vice sleeve, but didn’t know how to spell it or didn’t know the proper term.

I have a couple of kitchen knives with 13-inch blades, but they are from a meat market in a store that belonged to a friend and are really high quality knives for dealing with carcasses. They sharpen really well with a steel.

By: andante

andante — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 02:56:05 +0000

I wondered about that, too. My father brought back a machete from New Guinea after WWII.

That thing never went up anyone’s sleeve.