I’m busy editing the chapters for the Texas Method: Part II e-book and don’t have anything lifting-related for you. My friend Shawn sent me this video last week and I have saved it for a post since. The speech is about 15 minutes long and I thought it was good enough to share on the site.
In the following video General Peter van Uhm, Chief of the Netherlands Defense Staff, eloquently explains why he chose the gun, instead of the pen or the brush, to make the world a better place.
Keep in mind that his son, First Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm, was killed in a roadside bombing in Uruzgan, the southern province of Afghanistan. Some have tried to turn this into a supporting argument for the right to bear arms, but I prefer the General’s direct message.
Also, you guys are weapons free to ask questions or start discussions in the comments.
23 thoughts on “General Peter van Uhm”
You must log in to post a comment.
I have almost had my penis converted to a vagina. I am halfway through the Twilight movies. Justin, I may start asking for more posts with you in a speedo that I’ll photoshop to make you look all glittery in the sun. End me now.
I could watch Ted Talks all day. I liked the General’s accent and got what he was saying but I don’t think he really closed the loop as well as he could have in that talk. Speaking of good guns, I just bought a Savage Axis 30-06 for hunting. Not the greatest rifle on earth but the price was right and I’m confident it will serve me well. In a country with over 200 million guns, most of which are in good condition unlike his father’s, I don’t see the sense in leaving the monopoly to the state. There are too many nasty people and tasty animals for that.
Should have posted this on Monday Gunday.
Why are bar dips so much easier than bench pressing one’s bodyweight? It makes sense that the mechanics and stability concerns are different, but my max sets of dips are about 7 times the reps I can BW bench.
He is (a) part of a government, and (b) in a country different from the U.S. so I’m not surprised he has a bit different take, but I think he either missed a step or went a step too far: The secret is not the governmental monopoly of violence in a contitutional republic, but the very existance of the constitutional republic itself. In america we don’t have a government-force monopoly like in other countries, and it works better than in these other countries, specifically because WE give government the power of violence via law enforcement etc, but it is the fact that we can take it away so easily (voting instead of violent revolt) that keeps gov in check.
And on a lighter note, it IS possible to watch the twilight movies without going all glittery-speedo; Just watch the chicks, and imagine a having a girlfriend who can clean&jerk a car, never tires out… and thrives on a liquid diet.
’nuff said.
If I saw one chick in the movies that didn’t either look like a leukemia patient or a heroin addict I would agree.
Neerlands hoop in bange dagen, wat een held!
I would have to agree with the General’s position and admire that the fact that he, coming from the military, acknowedlges that the end goal is to have peace without having to reinforce it with the teh prospect of violence (although most would agree that this will never happen).
I would add, imo, that one of the key factors that lead to violence is the fear/lack of resources and the abilitly to distribute those resources relativley evenly. I’m not proposing extreme socialism but just stating that when there is a large difference between the super rich and the super poor and the masses reside within the super poor that usually bad things happen. I beleive having a democratic government in place that provides social programs, a market that rewards the hard working but also protects the less fortunate, and being able to protect its citizens both internally and from external threats seems, although probably not perfect, wouldn’t be a terrible place to live and have a family.
My 2 cents.
PR Squated 405 for 3×3.
Unrelated: I’m not some super anti-crossfit guy, but I think this video pretty well embodies everything that is wrong with crossfit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDDyxXyf6UU&feature=player_embedded&noredirect=1
3567 people agree with me.
Maslow @ track,
There is and should be a “monopoly on violence” in America that is controlled by the government. This is how every “sovereign nation” works.
Yes, you can kill someone if it’s to protect yourself or others from an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. Other than that, you can’t kill anyone.
Otherwise it’s only the government that has the authority to do stuff like execute prisoners, invade countries, use weapons of war (bombs, tanks, etc). Governments should have a monopoly on stuff like this.
I respect the fact that armies are necessary for peace but I can’t support the Bush Doctrine of foreign policy and I think it’s stupid that the Dutch wrote into their constitution that one of the tasks of their armed forces is to uphold and promote the international rule of law.
For the record, the Dutch Constitution was written in 1983. You should know that the U.S. Constitution is the oldest constitution in human history, so when you hear someone from another country say “its in our constitution” take it with a grain of salt. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dutch have another re-write down the line.
Justin,
What are your thoughts on ketogenic diets? I have been reading up on your protein intake ideas, and contrasting them to ideas about ketosis. I really have no opinion, but I’m working on a chemistry paper on ketosis, and your thoughts intrigued me.
Also, I appreciate this Dutchmen’s notions of responsibility. People lose sight of responsibility and accountability when they gain power. It’s nice to see a powerful person appreciate those sentiments.
@ tiny
The only people who go on ketogenic diets are (1) crazy people and (2) bodybuilders.
It helps some crazy people when their brain starts running on ketones instead of glucose.
Bodybuilders will only do a ketogenic diet if they need to get super lean for a bodybuilding show. They make this choice because, by consuming such a diet, their body can enter ketogenesis.
Ketogenesis is no the same way the body normally uses fat for fuel. When the body has entered a ketogenic state it is using ketones pretty much exclusively for energy. What results is that the body ends up burning only fat. If there is too much glucose in the blood then the body will be knocked out of ketogenesis. This could either happen by eating more than a very small amount of carbs or eating too much protein, since excess protein will be turned into glucose. So you can’t eat 1000g of protein a day, 200g of fat a day and expect for your body to enter Ketogenesis.
A ketogenic diet would be the worst diet you could choose for getting stronger or more muscular. It even demands that, in an effort to keep carbs to a minimum, you stop eating vegetables and get your vitamins and fiber from supplements instead. So it’s not very healthy either.
Thanks Penn. I’m not on a ketogenic diet, or planning on going on one. I just kind of cut off carbohydrate intake after the first half of the day.
I guess what got my attention is the post about Dr. Pasquale, spelling sorry, and his recommendations on protein intake. I looked into some of his papers and saw a post on some body building site that he authored. Basically it was his reasoning on why carbs post workout is counter productive.
I know “ketogenic diets” are used to control epilepsy, and I read a little bit about a diet prescribed by Dr. Eades, and I’ve read, heard, that people like John Welbourn try to maintain a quasi ketogenic state. I guess it is probably cyclic or “relative low carb”
Finally, I was glossing over PPFST, and SS and saw that the recommendation is to stay above maintenance, and the where those calories came from was inconsequential, I could be wrong on this.
Thanks for the answer dude, and sorry for my lengthy rebuttal, it all fascinates me.
@ tiny,
I didn’t want to add more to my wall of text, but in order to be on a proper Ketogenic diet you’re gonna have to be below maintenance. If calories are above a maintenance level you’d fall out of ketogenisis. Or you’d have to eat so much fat that you’d make yourself sick.
And as far as I know, there’s not really a quasi-ketogenic state. It’s an on/off deal. It’s a state that takes several days to get into. You really need a very small amount of glucose floating around in you for it to work.
If you’re really interested in diet stuff any eBooks written by Shelby Starnes or Justin Harris that you can find at elitefts.com are more interesting than any trademarked diet like “The Anabolic Diet,” “The Zone Diet,” or “The Paleo Diet.” If you can sift through the crap that is just trying to sell you supplements, the best information about altering your diet for muscle gain or fat loss is going to come from bodybuilders. In the end Bodybuilding is largely “Competitive Dieting.” Those guys essentially step on stage to win a competition of who has stuck to the hardest to their diet of force-feeding themselves for months then depleting themselves for months.
@ Penn,
Thanks man. Admittedly, most of my diet knowledge comes from “The Paleo Solution”, “Zone” etc, and some general chemistry stuff.
I guess my thought process is that protein is used to produced some amount of glucose when carbs are kept “relatively” low. I’ll look into your recommendations. Thanks for dropping some knowledge on me. Always willing to learn.
So my goal for the end of the year was to hit 300 x 1 in the bench and 170 1 x 5 in the press. I just did 165 1 x 5 on Friday so I feel as though the press goal is going to fall. I am due to do 255 1 x 5 on bench Friday. Here is my question, on the TM is it okay to simply do a couple weeks back to back of not alternating bench and press in the short term? I think if I knock out 3 weeks of intensity and volume benches I might be in the ballpark to take a shot at 300 x 1. Thoughts?
@Maslow: WHOA. Wait just a goddamn minute here. What the FUCK is going on in that video?
“Why is this so hard?”
“Because it’s a PR!” Hahahahahahahaha
@track
‘…In america we don’t have a government-force monopoly like in other countries, and it works better than in these other countries…’
Proof? Apart from mythologised self image?
@Maslow
I dunno, looks like some n00bs learning how to clean a fat bar to me. Yeah, it looks uncoordinated and the weights probably could have been a little lower, but I’d say most of it is just first-time awkwardness.
@Penn
While the U.S. Constitution was written way before the Dutch constitution, the interpretations of pretty much every single meaningful constitutional amendment has changed pretty significantly. For example, the commerce clause, which might provide the justification for allowing the federal healthcare mandate, has undergone several drastic reinterpretations (pretty much rewritten) through the early 1800s, early 1900s, 1930s-50s, then again in the 90s. On a practical level, our constitution is probably the same age as that of the Dutch and has been “rewritten” multiple times. Not to mention, its so old that judges can’t even decide on a dictionary to use to interpret it. So yea, just cause its old doesn’t mean its better.
@Penn, A third category of folks do ketogenic diets: fat guys trying to drop weight and preserve LBM. I’m one of those guys. I found the diet difficult to stick to long-term but you can certainly eat above maintenance calories and gain weight on a ketogenic diet same as any diet. The low carb intake will take its toll on your training but there are ways around this, such as the cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) where carb-up meals are used to replace glycogen or the targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) where 20-50 g of simple carbs such as dextrose are consumed immediately pre-workout to help you grind through.
Reddit has an excellent Keto board, and though it’s permeated by a ton of people freaking out at losing 10 pounds of water weight and never checking in again, there’s a lot of really good resources for people who are interested. They’re also friendly to folks who train. I recently ditched Keto for PSMF to better support my specific goals, which is essentially a ketogenic low-carb diet that is much lower in dietary fat and higher in protein.
@thunderhorse:
Proof? How ’bout the fact that we have however many private, non-government owned firearms in this country… and unlike many countries that prohibit private guns, WE do not have roving warlords controlling small towns and we don’t have goverment forces exterminating religous groups or protestors (and no, pepper-spraying a few OWS squatters is not the same as running over them with tanks), so I’d say our system is working out pretty well.
@penn – the reason I state that we do not have a government monopoly on force is that other countries that TRY to have such a monopoly by disarming their people eventually fail and one of two things happens; Those who break the monopoly either use the weapons on the people as in Mexico or areas of Africa where warlords rule areas through force, or the weapons are used against the government itself.
Here, the government (at least for now) does not even attempt a full monopoly. Force, and almost more importantly the means of using force, are in the hands of government AND the hands of the people. Besides private gun ownership, government has no more “right of force” than the people. The government is only allowed to use force in people-approved roles, just as is force by the people. A cop, a soldier, a senator or president, have no more “right” to kill someone than you or I do.
Pingback: » Q&A – 9