Saturday, December 02, 2006

Found this about the flying jackasses

Excuse me, the flying imams. You know, the idiots who went out of their way to stir things up, and then bitched that they're 'victims of racism', etc., when people reported them?

Michelle Malkin linked to this, which also has a link to a pdf of the full police report. Short version, either they were planning something specific, or they were trying to get kicked off the plane so they could yell "I'm being oppressed!". Which, considering how worried various airline crew and passengers are about being called racist, could well have been the whole idea. Either to get publicity, or to make people fear calling the alarm in the future which would make it easier for hijackers to try to take over a plane.

And by the way, we need more news people- assuming they care more about truth than about being pc- to bluntly and loudly point out over and over that muslim is not a race, it's a religeon; and that members of any religeon who cause problems on a plane are going to get thrown off.

Right now, I'm wondering how long it'll take for the 'thrown off' to become literal. Some other jackass imam or general stupid/arrogant/plotting muslim does this stuff but takes it a step further and actually threatens people/the plane, and a bunch of passengers throw him out the door.

Which would be to loud applause, I don't doubt. Get this bit from the report: Pauline revealed to Pajamas Media that the six imams were doing things far more suspicious than praying - an Arabic-speaking passenger heard them repeatedly invoke “bin Laden,” and “terrorism,” a gate attendant told the captain that she did not want to fly with them, and that bomb-sniffing dogs were brought aboard. Other Muslim passengers were left undisturbed and later joined in a round of applause for the U.S. Airways crew. “It wasn’t that they were Muslim. It was all of the suspicious things they did,” Pauline said.

Hear hear. And a merry 'be careful how you land, you idiot' to the next ones who pull something like this.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Storm aftermath

It stopped snowing a little after 11 last night, and this morning it was between 4-6 inches on the ground, depending on what area you were in. Roads snowpacked this morning, largely clear by afternoon; between the sun being out, temps hitting low 30's and the residual heat in the roads and ground from the warm weather just before this hit.

One of the interesting things about this was that when it first started sleeting the other day, I was alerted to it by thunder. Been a long time since I was in a sleet thunderstorm.

Highest storm total was in Bartlesville, northeast OK, officially 14 inches, with totals above 10 inches thoughout northeast and north central areas. The closed several of the turnpikes, including the Turner between here and Tulsa. As I was heading to work this morning, there was a line of semis about two miles long backed up waiting for it to reopen. When it did reopen around 9, the only vehicles allowed on for a couple of hours were trucks.

So most of it in my area is melted, except for sheltered areas and drifts, and a lot of that will melt tomorrow. Could have been much worse.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Although being, oh two or three hundred miles south

or more sounds good about now, I've had no plans to got to Mexico in the near future. Places I would love to see, but for one thing there's money, and then there's this:
The men were abducted Sunday when 30 to 40 armed men stormed the La Barranca hunting ranch in Mexico near the border south of Laredo, authorities said. It's the latest incident in a violence-plagued region where there are at least 20 unresolved cases in the last two years involving kidnapped U.S. citizens.
and
In September, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza warned Americans to stay vigilant when traveling to Mexico and singled out Nuevo Laredo, across the river from Laredo, Texas, as being particularly dangerous. Garza said there were at least 20 unresolved kidnapping cases involving Americans.

So you add to this that there's a low-level insurrection going on down there(with potential to become high-level) and you have no way to carry for self-defense and the way the Mexican 'justice system' works(especially with tourists)...

It'll be a while.

It's still coming down

And since it hasn't stopped when they were predictingd("It will taper off during the evening")- hell, I don't think it's even slowed down- it may beat six inches. There's currently about four and a half in the front yard; some of that may be from blowing off the roof, but I'm not hiking out to a clear area to get another measurement.

Weather now says 'occasional snow before midnight', but I don't think constant small flakes counts as occasional. At least to me.

Well, the dogs got a good dinner and fresh water,and have a fresh thick layer of straw in the house so they'll be ok. Always have been before.

But it's gonna be a bitch getting to work tomorrow.

I don't care how far you used to walk to school,

it's cold out there. 20F. And yeah, the show actually did kick in. You saw earlier, here's current:














Little ways north of here on to the border, they've actually got blizzard warnings out. unusual around here; Kim would love it. What was that line from Dr. Fever on WKRP in Cincinnatti: "It's a balmy 17 degrees with a gentle wind wafting out of the north at about a thousand miles an hour."

Lots of little flakes coming down. At this rate it won't hit the six inch mark if it does taper off this evening, unless it gets a fair bit heavier for a while. I need to get the broom and sweep off the porch when I feed the critters; I used to have a scoop shovel but I loaned it to someone after the last snow(yeah, YOU know who you are) and it vanished. So I'll sweep a bit there and in the driveway.

Atlanta PD,

the agency that keeps on giving

And to keep the joy going,

Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes

However, the BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law. Aydarus Yusuf, 29, a youth worker from Somalia, recalled a stabbing case that was decided by an unofficial Somali "court" sitting in Woolwich, south-east London.

Now combine that with Race-hate and domestic violence targeted in pre-Christmas raids
Police have staged a series of dawn raids across London aimed at combatting domestic abuse, homophobic offences and race crimes.

An undisclosed number of people were arrested in the raids which are part of a two-week clampdown.

These people need Dumbledore to kick some people in the ass and ask "And just what do you think you are doing?"

And speaking of Global Warmering

at Tim Blair puts it, TCS has an interview with Bjorn Lomborg. An excerpt:
It clearly does. Global warming is an important issue and one which we should address. But there is no sense of proportion either in environmental terms, or indeed in terms of the other issues facing the world.

If you just take the environmental problem first, it's very clear that what causes by far the majority of deaths is lack clean drinking water and lack of sanitation. Millions of people are dying each year from this. Also taking the new WHO estimates of what really kills people, these are the huge issues.

The second biggest problem is indoor air pollution, which probably kills somewhere between 1 and 3 million people each year, basically because people are too poor to use good fuels and end up using dung or cardboard or whatever they can find. Only a very distant third comes climate change, which the WHO puts at 150,000 to die right now.

This of course ignores those people that are no longer dying from cold-related deaths. For some inexcusable reasons, I would argue, they have the idea that they will only look at things that are going to be bad and don't have to look at will be good from climate change.

One of the top climate change economists has modelled - and several papers that came out a couple of weeks ago essentially point out - that climate change will probably mean fewer deaths, not more deaths. It is estimated that climate change by about 2050 will mean about 800,000 fewer deaths.

There is a total lack of a sense of proportion about where we are in terms of the environment but also on non-environmental issues, which is of course what I am looking at now with the Copenhagen Consensus, where we try to look at what are the big issues of the world, and where can we do a lot of good, and where can we do a little good. And the bottom line is there are many problems in the world where we can do much more at much lower cost. So presumably, if our goal is to help people, then there are many other things we should do first. If our goal is to help the environment, then there are also many other things we can do first.

Still some of the Polish trainers

at MGS.

Oh, crap, look at this, too!

President Ahmadogcrap's letter to the US

Digging around today, I found the text of the letter here(link at Michelle Malkin), and after reading it I thought I'd give my response, with some selected quotes:

O, Almighty God, bestow upon humanity the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers.
"We are working to bring on the 12th Imam and the Apocalypse, so help us out here."

Were we not faced with the activities of the US administration in this part of the world and the negative ramifications of those activities on the daily lives of our peoples, coupled with the many wars and calamities caused by the US administration as well as the tragic consequences of US interference in other countries;
"If you weren't keeping us from taking over Iraq through our little friends and keeping us from taking over Lebanon and killing those pesky Jews;"
...
And if we did not share a common responsibility to promote and protect freedom and human dignity and integrity;
"If we didn't have AP and the New York Times telling you how wonderful we truly are if only you were not so bigoted as to not see it on your own;"

While Divine providence has placed Iran and the United States geographically far apart, we should be cognizant that human values and our common human spirit, which proclaim the dignity and exalted worth of all human beings, have brought our two great nations of Iran and the United States closer together.
"Except for those Jews, but then they're not actually human."

Both greatly value and readily embrace the promotion of human ideals such as compassion, empathy, respect for the rights of human beings, securing justice and equity, and defending the innocent and the weak against oppressors and bullies.
"Which means we should both be stomping the evil Zionist state."

We all deplore injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings.
"So we kill homosexuals, and hang teenage girls with bad attitudes, because it would not be just to let them live."

We all detest darkness, deceit, lies and distortion, and seek and admire salvation, enlightenment, sincerity and honesty.
"So we tell all muslims to kill anybody who dares to speak of Islam in other than glowing terms. Or draws cartoons we don't like, or any of that other stuff."

Our nation has always extended its hand of friendship to all other nations of the world.

Hundreds of thousands of my Iranian compatriots are living amongst you in friendship and peace, and are contributing positively to your society. Our people have been in contact with you over the past many years and have maintained these contacts despite the unnecessary restrictions of US authorities.

"We tell all countries that if they abase themselves before Islam, we won't destroy them. Until we get around to killing everyone who doesn't worship as we say, of course.

"And lots of our best people have gotten out of the country and gone to your unbelieving hellhole, and we want control of them again. How dare they say they want freedom?"

We, like you, are aggrieved by the ever-worsening pain and misery of the Palestinian people. Persistent aggressions by the Zionists are making life more and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of Palestine. In broad day-light, in front of cameras and before the eyes of the world, they are bombarding innocent defenseless civilians, bulldozing houses, firing machine guns at students in the streets and alleys, and subjecting their families to endless grief.

No day goes by without a new crime.


"Those damn Jews are causing ALL the problems! Don't you see it?!?"

For 60 years, the Zionist regime has driven millions of the inhabitants of Palestine out of their homes. Many of these refugees have died in the Diaspora and in refugee camps. Their children have spent their youth in these camps and are aging while still in the hope of returning to homeland.

"The monkeys and pigs refuse to lay down and let us kill them as Allah orders. Which means we have to keep the muslims who got out of the Zionist State in camps. Houses? We give them houses to live in, we lose photo opportunities!"

Governments are there to serve their own people. No people wants to side with or support any oppressors. But regrettably, the US administration disregards even its own public opinion and remains in the forefront of supporting the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people.
"Except us! Side with us! Stop keeping us from wiping out the Jews!"

Let's take a look at Iraq. Since the commencement of the US military presence in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, maimed or displaced. Terrorism in Iraq has grown exponentially. With the presence of the US military in Iraq, nothing has been done to rebuild the ruins, to restore the infrastructure or to alleviate poverty. The US Government used the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but later it became clear that that was just a lie and a deception.
"Of course, most of them are from the terrori- excuse me, freedom fighters we support. And ignore the schools and power plants and whatever you've built, because THEY DON'T COUNT! And ignore those nerve gas shells you keep finding buried, they don't count either."

In Iraq, about one hundred and fifty thousand American soldiers, separated from their families and loved ones, are operating under the command of the current US administration. A substantial number of them have been killed or wounded and their presence in Iraq has tarnished the image of the American people and government.
"Mostly killed by bombs, many of which we smuggle to the ter- freedom fighters, but who can blame us?"

You have heard that the US administration is kidnapping its presumed opponents from across the globe and arbitrarily holding them without trial or any international supervision in horrendous prisons that it has established in various parts of the world. God knows who these detainees actually are, and what terrible fate awaits them.
"Forget that 'captured in battle' stuff, they were KIDNAPPED, I tell you! And how dare you not let us mail them some Semtex, or a pistol or two!"

The US administration's illegal and immoral behavior is not even confined to outside its borders. You are witnessing daily that under the pretext of "the war on terror," civil liberties in the United States are being increasingly curtailed. Even the privacy of individuals is fast losing its meaning. Judicial due process and fundamental rights are trampled upon. Private phones are tapped, suspects are arbitrarily arrested, sometimes beaten in the streets, or even shot to death.
"You are not nearly as up to speed on stomping dissidents as we. But your authorities are being a serious pain to our comrades who want only to bring jihad to your land."

The US administration does not accept accountability before any organization, institution or council. The US administration has undermined the credibility of international organizations, particularly the United Nations and its Security Council. But, I do not intend to address all the challenges and calamities in this message.
"Of course, we just use the UN as it was meant to be used: to cover up what we do, and protect our preparations for bombing the Zionists from you doing something nasty about it. But YOU actually have that nasty ambassador telling the UN how useless it is; why are you so uncivilized?"

The legitimacy, power and influence of a government do not emanate from its arsenals of tanks, fighter aircrafts, missiles or nuclear weapons. Legitimacy and influence reside in sound logic, quest for justice and compassion and empathy for all humanity. The global position of the United States is in all probability weakened because the administration has continued to resort to force, to conceal the truth, and to mislead the American people about its policies and practices.
"It emanates from killing the unbelievers(religeous or not obeying the government) and tormenting their families! Haven't you learned anything? And when you keep causing problems, it upsets the Europeans who don't want to admit what we're doing."

Etc., etc., etc.

And finally,
"But those who repent, have faith and do good may receive Salvation. Your Lord, alone, creates and chooses as He will, and others have no part in His choice; Glorified is God and Exalted above any partners they ascribe to Him." (28:67-68)
"Either fall before us and embrace Islam, or else!"

It's pretty much the standard crap. I think I need to send him a response. Let's see...

Dear Mahmoud;

No.

We won't convert to Islam, and we won't just let you take over.

We've got problems with Israel(just try, you can say it without bursting into flames), but since they are a civilized nation that doesn't want to kill all non-Jews, we can work with them. So you ain't getting a clear shot at them.

We do have some civil problems over here, but I prefer our version to yours. Over here homosexuals are mad because in most states they can't marry, as opposed to being executed in places you control. And we've got lots of teenage girls with bad attitudes, but we'd rather give them a kick in the ass and some teaching to get over it, as opposed to hanging them.

We know you're sneaking bombs to the terrorists, and sooner or later there'll be a payback for that.

I could say a lot of things, but I think this will sum it up:








Regards,
Us

Where's the snow?

So far, less than an inch of sleet. Which is enough to mess up travel, but not nearly the 'major weather event' predicted in near-horrified/near-delighted tones














They're now saying 3 to 6 inches by tonight. Maybe, but it'll have to start snowing like a mini-blizzard to get there.

Amazingly, my days off coincided with this, so instead of slip-sliding to work, I fed and watered the dogs and am now ditting here doing this. And unless I find some cooking item I absolutely HAVE to have, I ain't going out except to check on the critters. There's some of the pot of chili and the rest of the cornbread I made last night, so I think I'll mess with a piece of wood I'm practicing checkering on, screw around on this here innernut and stay warm.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

It's definately coming down now

Sleet & freezing rain for the last couple of hours; roads aren't bad right now, it's been warm enough the last few days to keep them wet. That'll be over by morning, skating lanes for rush hour.

At this point they're saying up to a half-inch of ice and/or sleet by morning, changing over to snow early morning and continuing through the day. Current prediction 5-8" by the time it's over.

That's not much for a lot of places, Og's territory for instance, but around here eight inches of snow is a lot. Since it doesn't happen often, not much in the way of removal equipment, so they mount box blades on the sand trucks and so forth. Snow's really not much of a problem, but a layer of glaze ice is a bitch.

Especially with the idiots who think they can inch their way up a hill and get stuck partway up, and wind up sideways across two lanes. I think someday I want to mount a 20mm cannon in a turret on top of the truck: that way when some idiot starts slowing down as he approaches a slope I can blow the idiot out of the way.

Well, that was fast

Those Polish trainers? They're gone already

Further reason not to trust the 'global warming' predictions

Last night they were predicting some freezing rain this evening, then snow tonight & part of tomorrow, maybe an inch accumulation.

This morning they changed that to rain/freezing rain by evening, then changing to snow through tomorrow with up to 6 inches.

About 1300 it was the same, except '3 to 7 inches' possible here.

Right now it's cold and windy, with not a drop of anything falling, and the weather weenie on the radio said "It's not coming in as fast as they thought earlier, they don't know why, maybe something is blocking it or slowing it down". Etc.

Which means it'll either do a few spits by tomorrow night, or it'll be the next best thing to a blizzard.

'Major weather event' we're told, and they can't predict it less than 24 hours in advance. But we're supposed to trust a bunch of computer models that say what the weather will do in 20-100 years.

Can I have a chorus of "Bullshit!"?

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Hey, remember that Polish training rifle?

AIM Surplus has some of them now

The fecal matter has hit the rotating air-moving device

in that mess in Atlanta. Found the original link on this at Instapundit, then stuff at Reason, both with links to articles. Short version, the informant the raid was based on says that the police lied about what he told them, and that an officer specifically asked him to lie when he was interviewed.

I can't say it any better than in the Reason article: Attack the informant's credibility and you admit that you conducted a high-risk, forced-entry raid based entirely on a tip from an informant you now say is unreliable. You admit you did no corroborating investigation. You admit you didn't even send an officer to check to see if the informant was right about, for example, an external surveillance system. And all of this ineptitude led to the death of an innocent woman, not to mention to three officers getting wounded.

And if the guy's telling the truth? Well, now you're talking about a major-league shit storm. If this guy's telling the truth, not only did the officers originally investigating this case lie on the warrant, but the officers investigating after the shooting then lied again to cover it up. That means you not only have corruption problems with your narcotics officers, but you have problems with your internal affairs unit, the cops who are charged with investigating the abuses of other police officers.


Two of the articles here and here.

This is such a damn mess. On multiple levels.

About that shot I didn't take

It occurred to me that the were two reasons, and for those who aren't familiar with one of them, it might be good to mention it.

The first I think everybody knows: unless it's a life & death situation, you do not shoot toward/near another person. Period. What if the game/target or the other person moves as you fire?

The second is a bit more involved, that being the amazing ability of just a touch by something to deflect a bullet. Remember that a bullet is not only moving forward at high velocity, it's rotating at very high velocity, and when the two are combined with even a slight touch of a twig/branch or whatever, it can cause the bullet to go places you never intended.

I've known two people who fired a shot at deer in brush and missed. Relatively short range, so they were checking very carefully for blood, hair or anything else that would show they'd hit, and they found where the bullet had clipped a branch or twig they hadn't seen.

A few years back I read an article in a magazine where a guy decided to test this out. He built a frame and stuck 1/4" and 3/8" dowels in it running vertically and spaced around so a shot fired through it would have a good chance of hitting one. Then he set a target about five or six feet behind it, backed off a ways and fired a number of shots. Every one that hit a stick, even just brushing it, was deflected off target. Some actually missed the paper entirely, as I recall. I can't remember the proper scientific explanation, but it does happen.

Now, there was no brush between me and the deer, it was an absolutely clear shot. But the deer itself has muscle and bone. The 8mm load I worked up would, at that range, completely penetrate the deer, no question it'd lose a lot of velocity, but it would go through; and if any of the bone it passed through deflected the path...

May not have actually been a problem, but the risk was one I just wasn't willing to take.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

I repeat: DAMMIT, I'm tired of this crap

Looked over at Balko's sight and found this. Go ahead and take a look. Especially note this: But the search warrant deputies gave Silva lists an entirely different address -- not Silva's house or the house next door. Silva said deputies gave her the search warrant several hours after the initial raid.

Pazin said deputies may have transposed numbers in the address on the warrant, but that law enforcement acted in good faith when they entered Silva's house.


'Good faith'. Get the wrong address, raid a home occupied by an old lady, but you did it in 'good faith' so we're supposed to say "Oh well, no big deal".

Got news for you, guys: it IS a big damn deal. If this lady had had a remote or something in her had, she could well be dead.

I repeat what I wrote before: the fact is that there is no margin for error in a raid like this. Not for a wrong address, not for using an assault when not needed. When everybody is lucky and nobody dies, people have still had their home damaged and their lives twisted around. When everybody is NOT lucky, there is at least one body to carry out. And then excuses to make.

Speaking of people not being lucky, remember the case of the guy wanted for gambling charges? Who was talking to an officer when a member of the tactical team(and I still want to know what the HELL was a tactical team doing involved in this in the first place?) running up had a negligent discharge and killed him? I give you two points of the current situation, also found through Balko:
First,Apparently, the recommendation handed down by the internal police investigation is that the officer who shot and killed Culosi be given three weeks of unpaid suspension, and that he be removed from the SWAT team. Oh, gee, ain't that awful? Kill a guy with your negligence and you get three weeks on the ground without pay, and you don't get to play with the SWAT team anymore. God, such punishment!.

Which, oddly enough, is the viewpoint of the officers on the department: The punishment recommended for Officer Deval V. Bullock in the shooting, which occurred in January, has outraged fellow officers, who said it is too harsh, and Culosi's family, who said Bullock should never again be employed in law enforcement.

[...]

Thielen, union attorney Edward J. Nuttall and numerous officers said an oral or written reprimand is typically given when a Fairfax officer accidentally shoots someone.


Words cannot express what I feel when I read 'is typically given when a Fairfax officer accidentally shoots someone. TYPICALLY? How the HELL often do these clowns 'ACCIDENTALLY SHOOT SOMEONE?!?

Screw it, I don't think I can take writing about this anymore tonight.

May I write once more of Rangel, Jerk/NYC?

Back here I took note of why I've decided he's not just a jerk, he's an asshole. Further evidence is found in the actual words out of his face:
I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.

Isn't that just so, so special? To me, the key line is "No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. Just think about exactly what he's saying here. Nobody joins up to do something so stupid as, say, defend their country. Not because they think there's a need, oh no. It's because of a 'bonus' and 'educational benefits'. Uh huh.

And of COURSE he brings out that tired bullshit about 'they can't get real jobs, so they join the military'. Over and over and fucking over again.

This is, of course, coming from someone who also thinks any place in the country other than New York Effin' City(thanks for that, Kim) doesn't count, and wants to take over the title of Biggest Pickpocket In Congress from Robert Byrd(Thief/WV) so he can loot the rest of the country and drag the money back to NYE'C.

I'm just too pissed to say any more.

It's amazing what you see

when the season is closed

I had a chance to go out this weekend and pursue the elusive whitetail. No, Bambi has not left the forest, at least not through my efforts.

Saturday had a beautiful shot at a big doe, broadside at about 60-65 yards. Slight problem: the guy I was hunting with was about 40 yards the other side and not nearly far enough out of the line of fire for me to be comfortable taking the shot. And as soon as it- and the smaller one facing the other guy- saw him move, they were gone. That afternoon, nothing four-legged to be seen.

This morning I set up at a beautiful stand, there before light in a place where- according to the land caretaker- more deer have been taken than from any other spot. And I saw one small doe, in brush/grass high enough on the body and far enough away that I wouldn't have risked a wound instead of a clean kill.

And about half an hour after the doe wandered her way, a flock of wild turkey came by. Big tom in the lead, total of thirteen I counted, walking along in single file and eating as they went. Good news: if THEY didn't see/hear/smell me, the deer weren't either. Bad news: turkey season is closed. Whole bloody flock of them no more than 50 yards away, me with a solid shooting position, AND THE BLOODY SEASON IS CLOSED!

Dammit.

One thing I didn't see, unfortunately, is the four local celebrity critters. This area of western OK is currently home to one male cougar(black, yet!), one female and- with the female- two cubs. This is not opinion or guess, they've been seen by multiple people including the game warden. And there are BIG kitty tracks all around the area, sometimes paired with small kitty tracks. God knows my efforts didn't cut down on the food supply(there really are a hell of a lot of deer), and the people who own land in the area are very protective of them.

I'm hoping to maybe get out again before deer season closes, but I doubt it'll work.