Saturday, November 12, 2005

I HAVE to make note of this

If you've not gone by Steve's place, you have no idea what you're missing. Recipes, thoughts on virginity and sex and women and men and, under the heading 'How to Annoy a Muslim' you find this:
"Tell me I'm not wonderful. I'm sitting by the pool with my Koran, half in the bag, smoking tobacco, drinking beer, cooking swine, and listening to a Jew play the piano."

Go there. You'll regret it if you don't.
(C'mon, all the cool kids are doing it...)

Friday, November 11, 2005

Range report: Enfield Trainer

You ready for this, Og?

I had a chance to take this rifle to the range where I could give it a proper try. Wednesday a front came in, so it was a chilly and windy morning. The wind was blowing downrange, however(mostly), so it wasn't too bad. And I needed to sight in my .308 in case I have a chance to go out after deer.

Here's the star of the day:

Along with all the other crap on my bench and the one next to it. Ammo used was Eley Sport and Federal Lightning. Started off at 50 yards with the Ross aperture sight flipped up, and at the lowest position:


Then with the open rear sight. You can remove the Ross from the mounting bracket by pulling one screw, so it's easy to get it out of the way. This is with the sight at the lowest setting(200 yards):

The #1 rear sight has a straight-sided notch; this one has the notch widened out to a 'V' because with the aperture all the way down(which put it just a touch high at 50) the notch would be in the way. It's a little bit in the way as is.

The Federal shot about the same size groups, but about 3/4" higher. So after sighting in the deer rifle, I set up some targets at 100 yards. No, I don't have those targets. Did I mention it was a bit windy? 'Nuff said. I was getting 3-4" groups with both brands, and considering the light, the wind and my eyes I thought that was pretty good. The sights aren't up to the Parker-Hale match sights on the Martini, but this rifle still shot quite well. I'll note that I shot at 100 with both rear sights, and the widened notch on the open sight didn't help matters, but it still did a quite respectable job for a 91 year old rifle. I'll also note that recoil, as expected is almost non-existent; with the weight of a rifle designed for .303 plus the extra weight in the barrel from the smaller bore, it shifts the piece- slightly- when you fire. The trigger is the standard two-stage military, kind of heavy on the break; I've got a Enfield trigger, so I think I'll do a bit of careful polishing and fitting and see how it comes out.

Especially after this, I'm damn glad that Ross sight caught my eye. I'm going to enjoy being the caretaker for this piece for a while.

As a side note, the .308 I was sighting in was the Savage Scout. After the last time I shot it I found that the scope mount was loose, so I needed to make sure it was shooting where it was supposed to. Damn good thing I checked; it was off. Shooting this rifle is a pleasure, it's got a wonderful trigger and the three-point sling setup is great for steadying your aim. If I am able to go out, and get a shot, all my excuses are gone.

Law enforcement problems in Merry Olde England, too

I'm still stewing about the lastest information about the OKC Bombing coverup, and today the Gun Guy linked to this and this about conditions between police and citazens(or is it still 'subjects of the Crown'?) in Britain. It seems like lots of bureaucrats and politicians(with and without badges) are doing all they can to make relations between the cops and commoners as bad as possible.

A couple of years ago at a gun show I heard a couple of guys talking about the new uniforms some agency was going to. They'd decided to go from dry-clean only wool to a cotton/poly that could be washed(good) in a dark color. What color? Dark green or blue or something? Hell no, it had to be black. One of the guys was recounting telling a local officer that that cost them his respect; his words were something like "there's enough idiots in black uniforms and masks running around without you adding to it". And I see his point; the uniform does affect attitude in all too many cases, on both sides. We've got enough trouble with the militarization of law enforcement without adding to it. How many cases have we heard of in the last decade or so where, on an anonymous tip or just bad information, the local tactical team blew into someone's house in a no-knock raid and killed some innocent? And then nothing happened to them because 'they followed proper procedure'? Do these idiots think that this crap doesn't affect how people deal with them? How about the pull someone over on a traffic stop and then pressure them for 'consent' to search? And making someone sit by the side of the road for however long while waiting for a drug dog becuase the cop is mad that the driver won't be intimidated into 'consenting'? That does NOT leave members of the public with any great willingness to cooperate with the next badge-holder that they come in contact with.

The crap in England and the frenzied attempts of the feds to cover up their screwups in the OKC Bombing case are related: "We need to be able to do whatever we want whenever we want and not be held accountable; how else can we do our jobs?" How many people reading about this crap, especially family & friends of the dead and wounded, have any great desire to trust the FBI and ATF?

And why should they?

Carnival of Cordite #38

Up at Gullyborg. .223's, .45's, the mess in San Francisco and(to wash the bad taste of the last out of your mouth) this week saw the Birthday of the U.S. Marines and Veteran's Day.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

The French riots are 'overblown' according to some,

and reports of fewer cars being burned are supposedly one indication. However, the Captain points out "The rioters in these areas have begun targeting the French infrastructure instead of just parked cars." That could mean that they're not burning as many cars because a: the weenies who took it as a chance to just destroy things are tired or scared now and b: they're saving their stuff up now for serious targets. Not good.

And Little Green Footballs notes something for us to worry about here: the MEChA assholes are expressing their admiration for the riots and predict(more look forward to) the same here. Oh joy, the BPMs and MEChA weenies all wanting to riot together. I know about AZ, but you folks in CA have some ammunition laid by? You may need it.

Found it! Article on OKC Bombing Updated

KTOK has it on their site today here, and at the bottom is a link to the original article by the McCurtain County Gazette. I don't have much time right now, basically it notes that:
ATF had informants in a neo-Nazi compound.
One informant told ATF about the threat to bomb federal buildings in OKC.
The judge in an informants trial(and that's a messy damn story by itself) ordered the information not made available to lawyers in the McVeigh trial 'so it wouldn't affect the trial'.

More later. I'm already disgusted as well as mad about this.

Ok, with more time to read the article, it's summed up in the first two paragraphs:
Unearthed by a Salt Lake City, Utah, attorney, statements made by a Tulsa Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) agent in a federal courtroom confirm that a confidential informant did warn the agency of plans to bomb federal buildings before the attack in Okla­homa City that left 168 dead and hundreds more injured.

Moreover, a federal judge in Oklahoma ordered that the infor­mation be kept sealed because of its potential impact on the trial of bomber Timothy McVeigh, records show.

That covers it pretty well. Despite all the denials, despite all the crap, federal agents knew there were specific threats to federal buildings in OKC. They even saw the buildings: "Howe was de­briefed and then taken to Oklahoma City to show Graham the areas she visited with the individuals who were part of a wide-ranging terror­ist investigation that was receiving substantial funding and attention in Washington, D.C." And while some of those who testified in court or gave statements may not have known, others did. And they lied about it, under oath. They gave sworn statements in which they lied. They testified in court, and lied.

And then, just to make this really, truly wonderful, the judge in the case had this exchange with a federal prosecutor(Burrage is the judge):
Burrage: "With that McVeigh trial going on, I don't want any­thing getting out of here that would compromise that trial in any way."
Brewster: "What do you mean by 'compromise?' Do you mean snared with McVeigh's law­yers?"
Burrage: "Yes, or something that would come up - you know, we have got evidence that the ATF took a trip with somebody that said buildings were going to be blown up in Oklahoma City before it was blown up or some­thing of that nature, and try to connect it to McVeigh in some­way or something."
Brewster: "That would be up to their representation of the cli­ent in some regard, Your Honor. If you are asking me not to share any documentation from these files with those lawyers, then I won't."

So, let's see, federal agents and lawyers lying under oath, a judge witholding information from defense lawyers that had bearing on the case... and before all that, hundreds of people dead and injured in a bombing the feds had been warned about.

People, we're talking about perjury by agents and lawyers, we're talking about a judge breaking law. People should be prosecuted for this, lawyers should be disbarred for life for this. And you could probably make a good case for negligent homicide cases against those who knew of the warnings and didn't, from the sound of it, do squat about it.

Think any of that'll happen? Me neither. And crap like this is why I despair for my country.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Ref the OKC Bombing

This is pissing me off on several levels, not least that I heard about this on the radio, but KTOK doesn't have anything on their web site about it. So I looked around and found this on the site for the McCurtain Daily Gazette, only the damn link is broken and the whole article won't come up. Full text of what does come up is:
Judge sealed testimony that ATF was warned before bombing

11/9/2005

Copyright 2005,
McCurtain Daily Gazette

By J.D. Cash
Unearthed by a Salt Lake City, Utah, attorney, statements made by a Tulsa Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) agent in a federal courtroom confirm that a confidential informant did warn the agency of plans to bomb...

and when you try to bring up the rest of the article you get a blank. And I can't find the damn thing anywhere else. If I can find anything from wherever it's been hidden, I'll add it in.

Update:
I still can't find the complete article, but KTOK just had an interview with the McCurtain Daily Gazette reporter who did the story. Basically, an BATF agent admitted in a trial that they'd been warned of bomb threats against federal buildings in OKC. They judge decided didn't want the information to get to the Timothy McVeigh's lawyers because it would show there was a wider conspiracy than the governments' case said, so he sealed the record. Think about that. My understanding is that it's unethical at least and, in at least some cases, illegal to keep information of this type from a defense attorney, yet the judge sealed the record of this testimony so the defense couldn't get hold of it.

I have to think that another consideration of this judge is that this would show how ATF and FBI fell down on the job, and he didn't want that coming out. May be wrong about this, but I tend to believe it.

Ok, I can live with this!


Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
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I've already got the kilts

The Captain calls it Falluja-sur-Seine

and points out that it's now spread to over 300 towns and cities in France. This is not just some 'disaffected youth' acting out their frustrations, this is a serious, widespread action. Clive Davis thinks that calling it an Islamist uprising is incorrect; other people state that at center that's exactly what it is. In either case, it's a bloody mess that's getting worse with every night.

I think it's, depending on where it's coming from, either dishonest or hoping for the best to discount the islamist roots of this. And barring the French government finally saying "enough" and turning the army and security services loose... Not just France, but a lot of Europe is in real trouble with this.

To borrow from Wizbang,

it's time for the 'anti-war' crowd to sit down and STFU

I could remember some bits and pieces of nuclear and chemical weapons and/or materials found in Iraq, but Jay Tea has this link to Summary of WMDs and WMD material found in Iraq after the invasion

Isn't it just wonderful how the 'news media' has ignored or downplayed every bit of this?

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

A new term of reference for ragheads!

Little Green Footballs pointed to this article by Mark Steyn which contains this marvelous passage: "They look like LA gangsters, not beturbaned prophet-monkeys."

This is a good week. I got my first "it's all Bushs' fault"(thank you Robert), and now a wonderful term for the islamist butt-monkeys among us. From now on, they shall be 'beturbaned prophet-monkeys', or BPM for short.

On the bad side, this close from Steyn:
"If the insurgents emerge emboldened, what next? In five years' time, there will be even more of them, and even less resolve on the part of the French state. That, in turn, is likely to accelerate the demographic decline. Europe could face a continent-wide version of the "white flight" phenomenon seen in crime-ridden American cities during the 1970s, as Danes and Dutch scram to America, Australia or anywhere else that will have them."

Oh, lots of places will have them. Far better would be for the people of these and other countries a: tell their governments to get off the multi-culti bs and DO SOMETHING, b: add a 2nd Amendment to their constitutions and c: make sure it's in law that self-defense, including lethal force when necessary, is recognized as a basic human right no matter what the 'elites' think of it. You know, the 'elites'? The ones with lots of money and condescending attitudes toward the peasants, and armed security guards all 'round? Screw 'em- metaphorically, of course, God knows what diseases besides idiocy some of them carry.

Speaking of self-defense and muslim corsairs, I've been thinking about the 'what weapons on your boat' question. It partly depends on what you have room to hide; after all, doesn't do any good to have a legal BAR or something if the Coast Guard boards you on a drug search and confiscates it because the captain doesn't think your paperwork is good enough. So...

If you have the room, some type of machinegun. Not a sub-gun, the real thing. Mention was made of an M2 Browning, but I think a .30 Browning would work quite well instead, and be easier to move. If there's a small pirate craft that can withstand mixed ball, incindiary and AP they should sell the design to the Navy. I'd say nay on a Barrett; long-range precision shooting ain't gonna work on a boat. Or one of the other good GPMG's should do.

Shotgun. Definately a shotgun. Mixed load of buckshot and slugs, probably leaning toward buck. One of the Mossberg or Remington or Winchester stainless jobs would do nicely. 12 guage of course, and if someone else in the crew has trouble with a 12 go with a 16 or 20. Yeah, 16 guage ammo would be hard to find many places, but restock isn't really going to be a problem here.

Handguns. Plural. What you're best with, and practice reloads under non-ideal conditions. Ammo that'll punch through light armor and damage boats. Lots of ammo.

And, if you have the space/money/connection, a few grenades would be rather nice. Just the thing to toss into the pirates' craft as they close, don't you know?

And, oh hell, if you're going all the way, a good compound bow and some arrows with either explosive or incindiary heads, or something suitable taped to the shaft up front. Again, long-range accuracy isn't a factor hear; blowing a hole/starting a fire in the other boat is. Just the thing for toasting BPMs.

Opinions?

(no, I don't care how cool it looks, parrots and cutlasses are a last resort. You really want to clean up after a seasick bird?)

Ref the Trentadue case

I couldn't find anything more recent than this at World Net Daily. Yeah, I know, but it seems to mesh with what I'd heard on the radio about this. I found this, too; it's a couple of years old, but does summarize a good bit of what's turned up, including harassment of witnesses.

I keep coming back to why this isn't more of a story. You've got someone almost certainly murdered while in federal custody; you've got evidence destroyed; you've got a medical examiner harassed into testifying how the authorities in charge wanted him to; you have a quite possible connection to what was at that time the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil; and you have evidence that various federal agents/officials may well have known an attack was going to take place and have covered up and lied about it since. All the kinds of things screenwriters go to rediculous lengths to put into a script, all happening in real life. And nobody wants to cover it or talk about it, other than some blogs and some OK news agencies.

I probably shouldn't be surprised. When the 're-enactment' of the last day of the Branch Davidian mess at Waco was done, they did it at a different time of day, different weather conditions, different ammo, etc., and the major media didn't mention that that I ever heard. Not to mention the other things that, if ever, were mentioned once and then forgotten.

Of course, lately they're real busy talking about the mess in France in the most neutral way possible with little or no mention of the fact that it's primarily Moslems burning things, breaking things, shooting at police and setting people on fire. Mustn't say anything offensive to the little bastards, you know.

General roundup

Been busy and, being lazy, haven't anything wonderfully interesting to write about. But, assuming all three of you haven't already seen this stuff, here's some things to check out:

Ace of Spades has a bit on the New York Times telling the family and girlfriend of the late Corporal Starr to basically screw themselves. Aren't they just a wonderful buch of people at the worn-out whore--excuse me, Grey Lady? Best paper around, they insist so themselves.

He also has this on the wonderful tolerance of the left in academia for speech they don't like. Which means if you don't agree with them they'll cry and stamp their feet and try to ruin your life. After all, they're better than everyone else, and you know it, you dirty right-wing fascists! And don't confuse things with the actual fascists being socialists, you're just trying to twist things!

And this covers a variety of stuff, CIA leaks and CIA working against this administration and- oh hell, just check it out.

Captain's Quarter's has a roundup of the mess in France, and the terrorist arrests in Australia and the possible links between them. Just start at the top. By the way, a state of emergency and curfew(?!?) was declared. After twelve nights of this? Where the hell was this declaration the first night?

I need some powder and .30 cal bullets. Not news, just reminding myself.

Smallest Minority has a lot of stuff recently. It's another start at the top and work down, beginning with(you ready for this?) DU with a guns forum. No, I'm not looking there, I haven't eaten yet. I won't look later, because I will have eaten recently; there's only so much my fagile psyche can take.

There was a link somewhere to some good info on the French mess- no, the current one-, and if I can find it I'll add it in.

There's been some new stuff on the Trentadue case recently, but it's been hard to find stuff to link to. A couple of weeks ago KTOK said that the judge had finally been given(I'm tempted to say 'allowed to read') the unredacted documents to study, but by the time I got home that evening I couldn't find anything on their site. I remain amazed that the national media seems to be pretty much ignoring this case, and I'm still wondering why? I'm not big on conspiracy theories; it could well be that, for some reason, it just doesn't fit their collective template of 'what people should hear'. In any case, I'll keep looking for the new stuff.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

'Category 7'; oh yeah, no bias here...

Year or so ago there was a disaster movie about weather going to hell. It was bad enough I forgot the name, and I'm not going to waste time looking it up. Well, the next installment has its' first half on tonight, called Category 7: The End Of The World. On, where else?, See-BS.

Huge and extremely powerful storms, all over the world. Global warming causing part of it but 'something else' making it spin up to the extremes. Put-upon FEMA director fighting the government. Put-upon scientist whose theory seems to be working out, but can't get funding from the eeeevil government(his current grant is from Greenpeace). Wicked presidential chief of staff who's mean, nasty, and loves the energy industry. Wicked evangelists using disaster to call for money. Add in a rain of poison frogs and a plague of flies and a member of the evangelists staff talking about bringing more things about(plagues of Egypt, anyone?). Oh, and tornados in Egypt destroying the Great Pyramid.

I will eat a large bite of my favorite hat if this doesn't turn out to be the evil bible-thumpers behind the mysterious something making the weather worse.

UPDATE! My hat is safe, the prediction has just been proven true.

Oh, and an SR-71 being used as a weather-chasing plane. Yeah, real likely.

Ok, this is, if anything, a bigger piece of crap than the one before, with bias showing through every seam. Add in a lot(a LOT) of jerky, stop-action photography that's supposed to add to the drama but just makes for irritation, and you have a tv event that should be missed at all costs. If I were into self-abuse I'd go to check out the Kos kids and DUmmies later; I'm sure they're wetting their pants over the way this piece of crap 'speaks truth to power' and so forth. Understand, I like disaster movies, but when the movie is primarily a propaganda piece, and not even believable, with every evil-government and etc. you can think of thrown in, forget it.

Ok, they just had a Cat 5 hurricane pop up out of nowhere, with some news weenie in the winds playing Dan Rather and saying "It's a definate category 5! Winds are gusting to 150 miles per hour! If there's a hell on earth, this is it!!" I can't take anymore, the tv's going off.