Friday, October 04, 2013

“We utterly disavow idea WH doesn’t care when it ends. House should act now, no strings attached,” he added.

Reporters and bloggers were quick to note the irony of the White House press secretary rejecting a statement by a “senior administration official.”
Who was it that said "A 'gaffe' is when a politician tells the truth were you can hear it" ?


“It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation,” an angry Park Service ranger in Washington says of the harassment. “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”
I admit that one of my first thoughts is "But you don't mind doing it, do you, you bastard."

Speaking of which,
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm has already had to cancel all of its events at a loss of roughly $15,000. As the farm depends entirely on itself for survival, there is a growing likelihood that it may not survive the National Park Service’s decision to close it. The farm remained open during every single previous government spending standoff.

Eberly says that so far, the National Park Service is not even responding to her queries about the barricades. The silence does not seem to be an effect of a lack of personnel due to the shutdown, because the NPS has been very busy deploying barricades and shutting down self-sufficient parks all over the country.
And please note that it appears the NPS has no legal right to close it.  But, being feds under Obama, they did it anyway.


And next time some idiot like Harry Reid whines "What right does the House have" to say something about spending,
Federalist 58:
The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representation of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.
Thanks to Jawa Report for noting this

So that Obamacare success story

was one more pile of crap.
But in an exclusive phone interview this morning with Reason, Chad's father Bill contradicted virtually every major detail of the story the media can't get enough of. What's more, some of the details that Chad has released are also at odds with published rate schedules and how Obamacare officials say the enrollment system works.
Is there any truth in ANYTHING these people tell us?


Some interesting stuff from an interview with Rumsfeld:
Colin Powell seems not to feel the same sense of obligation. For the Rice profile, I also got to spend a little time with Powell and while I’m not saying he polishes a shiny statue of Colin Powell that he keeps by his bedside every morning, he has jealously guarded his good name, sometimes at the expense of the men he served with – an experience that he seems to feel besmirched by. So he is not necessarily the most interesting or reliable source about what actually happened, either.
...
I had to see this for myself, partly as a reporter and partly for my psychological well-being, so I went down to Washington, for maybe 3 weeks, and attended maybe 5 or 6 of his briefings at the Pentagon. I then wrote a piece for Harpers that focused on one particular briefing, in which Rumsfeld explained to the press corps the nature of conflict, which he said in its scope, intensity and duration would be analogous to the Cold War. As someone who was secretary of defense during the heart of the Cold War, this was obviously something he had thought through. This statement led the nightly news in Germany, but no American news outlet picked it up. This struck me as dangerous—we were warned that this is what policymakers had in mind. If the popular meme became that the president lied us into war, like with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that led us into Vietnam, the reality is that I saw an outspoken cabinet official who was quite specific and blunt in his description of what was coming.
...
And yet Rumsfeld says in your interview that unlike the Cold War, the administration didn’t have a very clear idea of the intellectual underpinnings of the war. “The White House,” he says, “was very nervous about even talking about religion, for fear of being seen as being against a particular religion. And yet if you don’t pin the tail on the donkey and say that the enemy is radical Islam and Islamism and people who go out and kill innocent men, women and children to try to impose their views on others, and who are fundamentally opposed to the nation-state—we weren’t willing to say that. I was. But as an administration we weren’t.” So why didn’t the administration’s strategy match Rumsfeld’s clarity? 

I think the process that Rumsfeld described – of decision-making by a camarilla, meaning by the President and a tight inner circle of trusted aides, while the heads of major departments like State and Defense are largely kept in the dark – has clearly persisted through the Obama administration. The policy results in both cases seem to be only half-baked.


Thursday, October 03, 2013

I'm beginning to think that all school principals

need to be legally required to undergo mental illness screenings focusing especially on neurosis and hoplophobia.
So says Ace; I'm thinking he's right.
A police officer who dropped off his daughter at her Phoenix elementary school was asked by the school’s principal not to wear his uniform to the school because other parents were concerned that he was carrying a gun, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.
What The Hell?

A district spokeswoman told the station that "some parents" voiced concern about seeing a fully armed police officer on the school’s campus. The spokeswoman apologized that Urkov perhaps took the discussion the wrong way.

"It was not the intent of the principal to offend him," the spokeswoman said.
You just told a cop you don't want him around the school in uniform; however could he take that the 'wrong way'?

And 'offend'?  What the hell else is it but an offense against intelligence, reason and plain friggin' common sense?

Meanwhile, school officials' initial reaction was to ask the officer not to wear his gun and uniform to school, they are now saying they want to turn this incident into "a teachable moment."
The only way this could be teachable would be to say "Hey, dumbasses: cops carry guns.  They're THE PEOPLE YOU CALL FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED SOMEONE WITH A GUN.  So shut the hell up and deal with it, you self-centered hoplophobic morons."

From the People's Republic of MA,

BREAKING: Mass. Police Chief Confiscates Man’s Guns and FOID Due to “Immaturity” 
To be followed by "MA Police Chief's Ass Sued Off"


If correct, then some Air Farce brass need to have their brass removed.


Anaheim Hills High School: why people are comparing public schools to a form of child abuse.
Principal Kimberly Fricker responded in an email, which said, in part, “The shirt had a gun on it, which is not allowed by school police. It’s protocol to have students change when they’re in violation of the dress code.”
'School police'?  Principal who can't spell, or a slip of information?


The real aim of 'modest gun control laws'.


Once again: we're supposed to trust these bastards why?


More troubles for the Preferred Narrative™ of globular warmering.



Some hysterical Democrat on bookface was screaming insults

and came out with 'teahadi'; apparently standing against The Obama makes you just like a terrorist blowing people up.  One thing led to another, so
So bite us, you shrieking morons



Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Because Science!

And it takes my mind off those disgusting bastards in DC, another stage of The Experiment
































Because it's never a bad time to take note of

Saint JMB


About those war memorials being closed,

The National Park service has closed facilities that are either unmanned or take no federal funding, and says that the Obama administration ordered the shutdown.
and
Government watchdog Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get to the bottom of the National Park Service’s actions at the World War II Memorial in Washington this week. The NPS has barricaded the memorial and on Tuesday tried to prevent veterans from visiting the memorial, which has no amenities and is normally open to the public at all times.


More bullshit:
The Naval Academy Athletic Association is a private organization not funded by the government. Gladchuk said the Air Force-Navy game could be held without any “appropriated funding.” Air Force recently created a similar athletic association that operates using private funds, donations and revenue from intercollegiate contests.

“We could run our entire athletics program and conduct events as we always do without any government funds,” Gladchuk said. “In talking to the Air Force athletic director, their football team could execute the trip without government funding.”

Asked why the Department of Defense was suspending intercollegiate athletic contests if government funds are not required, Gladchuk said he was told it was about “optics.”

“It’s a perception thing. Apparently it doesn’t resonate with all the other government agencies that have been shut down,” Gladchuk said.


Harry Reid is an asshole.
BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?

REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless –

BASH: I’m just asking a question.


Yet more bullshit:
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm announced on Wednesday that NPS has ordered it to suspend operations until Congress agrees to a deal to fund the federal government.

According to Anna Eberly, managing director of the farm, NPS sent law enforcement agents to the park on Tuesday evening to remove staff and volunteers from the property.

“You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they don’t have the money to pay to evict visitors from a park site that operates without costing them any money,” she said.

The park withstood prior government shutdowns, noting in a news release that the farm will be closed to the public for the first time in 40 years.

“In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm,” Eberly explained in an emailed statement.

“In all the years I have worked with the National Park Service … I have never worked with a more arrogant, arbitrary and vindictive group representing the NPS,” Eberly said.
Gee, I wonder why.



What kind of schmuck puts barricades around an open-air park

that’s normally open 24/7/365? First class.
Schmucks who want to screw things up as much as possible.
He says they are considering going ahead with the trip even if the government is still on shutdown, but when he called the parks service, he was told they would face arrest. "I said, are you kidding me? You're going to arrest a 90/91-year-old veteran from seeing his memorial? If it wasn't for them it wouldn't be there. She said, 'That's correct sir.'"

When Armstrong asked for her name, he says she did not give it to him and then promptly hung up the phone.



So this is the 'reasonable' people speaking?
Tam's comment on this idiocy: Be very careful what you wish for, hippie. Reaping whirlwinds takes a bigger scythe than the one you bought down at the organic co-op.

Only federal employees classified as “essential” can work during a government shutdown. At EPA, that means just 6.6 percent of its workforce, according to Reuters.

Of the agency’s 16,205 employees, a mere 1,069 will work through the shutdown. That means that taxpayers employ 15,136 people at the EPA who are “non-essential.”



Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Magholder review

Yes, I'm finally getting to it.  Here's my opinion:
I like it.

More details?  Ok.  Their website is here, with a video of it in use.  Which I'll steal.

WOTC reviewed it here(lots of pictures), using the 1911 version to hold a Ruger LCP magazine.  I'm using the same holder with a 1911 officer's-model magazine(Mec-Gar in this case).  I've been carrying it on the left side where I'm used to the spare being.

I think it's a lot more comfortable than a vertical mag holder, which always manages to rub on my ribs, or press on them when I sit down.  It's very positive on retention, no worry about the mag falling out(more on that in a bit).  It's a very solid unit, no concern with it cracking or breaking unless you stomp on it.  And I think it'd take a pretty hard stomp.

It is a different motion to draw, and that means training to get the new motion into your reflexes.  And it has to have a belt loop or something to brace against or it'll slide along the belt until it reaches one; that could be a problem for some pants or kilts.

On that retention thing: when I first got it it was so damn positive it was hard to pull it out with one hand holding it in place; tried it with both Mec-Gar and McCormick mags, same thing.  Problem or wears-in?  I wrote to ask, and got this reply:
The fit of the 1911 will change over the next 3-4 days with a magazine inserted. The 1911 is a different animal than the rest, mostly due to the many different makers and the dimensional variations encountered. To accommodate that, the material we use is different (14% glass reinforcement v. 30% in the M&P) to allow it to "creep" more than the other models.

Also, the tabs might retain the magazine catch very tightly the first time or two the mag is removed from the MagHolder.  Before shipping, two different mags are inserted and removed, but the dimensional variations sometimes allow the customer's mag to get hung up still.

If you don't mind, give it a few days and let me know what you think after the polymer creeps a bit and your mags have settled in.  If there is still concern, let me know and we will take care of it for sure
.
Which makes sense; everybody and their grandma has made mags for 1911s over the years, and there is a lot of variation.  So I left a mag in it for a week, working it in & out a few times, and it did indeed ease up.  On the Mec-Gar it's still fairly tight, but does slide out with a positive pull; with the McCormick it comes out more easily, but still no worries about the mag falling out(if I can hold the thing butt-down and shake hell out of it and the mag stays in, it's not going to fall out while I'm walking or running around).

And, as a further point, the horizontal position seems to make it less noticeable.  As an experiment I had my shirt tucked over my pistol(love that tuckable holster) but the Magholder in plain sight on the left while going about the day: stores, restaurants, wherever, and I doubt most people even saw it; anyone who did apparently thought glasses case or something(the MG magazines being blued helps).

As I said, I like it. 

Oh, and if anyone from the FTC see this: I bought it with my own money, so piss off

The gun bigots in Canada are unhappy

that CA hasn't signed on to the "Let the UN control all arms" treaty.  Sounds like their PM & Co. care more about Canada than Kerry and Obama care about the US.


What?  Anybody expected truth out of these people?
From at least June 26, 2013 to as recently as September 15, under the topic, "Where can I get free or low-cost care in my community?" the following statement appeared: "If you can't afford any health plan, you can get free or low-cost health and dental care at a nearby community health center."
...
However, sometime between September 16 and September 23, the reference to "free" care was dropped. The title of the topic was changed as well, and now reads: "Where can I get low-cost care in my community?"


"Because we've got one and they have to do something to justify the cost(besides, they like kicking doors)!"
An Arlington spokeswoman said the raid was perfectly legal and appropriate. "The purpose was to improve the quality of life, to resolve safety issues within neighborhoods and to hold the property owner responsible for creating blight conditions on their property," she stated, not really explaining how this or even marijuana cultivation requires a SWAT team.


If this is true, then every Marine involved needs to lose his commission.


A little more of the Obamacare future:
But when he attended King George Surgery in Stevenage, his GP said he could not have the minor operation – which doctors often do under local anaesthetic in their own consulting rooms.

Mr Merrett, 46, said: ‘I was told, in no uncertain terms, that unless I gave up smoking or signed up to a quitting clinic they would refuse to treat me. I was gobsmacked.’
He claims the doctor told him: ‘These directions are not mine. It’s not me refusing this treatment,  it’s the NHS trust.’
And let me remind you of the words of the man chosen to help run Obamacare:
The decision is not whether or not we will ration care—the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly. ... 
...any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must, MUST redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is, by definition, redistributional."
They really like that word, don't they?




Monday, September 30, 2013

Interesting news from the CMP link repaired

Over the years, many Civilian Marksmanship Program firearms purchasers have asked if the CMP would consider offering reliable, reasonably-priced and prompt maintenance, repair and upgrade of USGI-issue rifles. The CMP has responded and the answer is "YES" we will.



Effective October 1, 2013, the CMP Custom Shop will open for business, providing a wide variety of repair, upgrade and custom services for a wide range of U.S. Military rifles, specifically those issued in early eras.



The CMP Custom Shop will be able to perform virtually any normal upgrading, accurizing, customizing and refinishing (not to mention regular repairs and troubleshooting) to the types of rifles that we are currently selling or have sold in the recent past

More information at the link. 

Added: tried fixing the link, Blogger bloggered it again.  So moved it, seems good now

That's one way to reduce the number of cancers:

call them something else.

And if they're not cancer, why, then you can steer people away from those expensive cancer treatments and such, and isn't that wonderful?


Private company launch of supplies to the ISS.  Successfully.



Sunday, September 29, 2013

This does NOT make Taurus

look like a quality builder.  Oh my no.

When people like Larkin say 'common sense',

this is the only proper response:


Well, if you leave off tarring and feathering and such, it's the only proper one.

Ah more delightful actions from associates of the terrorists

our President wants to give arms to.
Suspected Islamist gunmen have attacked a college in north-eastern Nigeria, killing up to 50 students. 

The students were shot dead as they slept in their dormitory at the College of Agriculture in Yobe state. 

North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency amid an Islamist insurgency by the Boko Haram group.
Just wonderful God-damned people, aren't they?

In June, Boko Haram carried out two attacks on schools in the region.
At least nine children were killed in a school on the outskirts of Maiduguri, while 13 students and teachers were killed in a school in Damaturu.
Map
In July in the village of Mamudo in Yobe state, Islamist militants attacked a school's dormitories with guns and explosives, killing at least 42 people, mostly students.

Boko Haram regards schools as a symbol of Western culture. The group's name translates as "Western education is forbidden".

I really don't want to say more about this, as it would get a bit intemperate.

Did YOU know Sir Isaac was Warden of the Mint?

And chased down counterfeiters?

Damn, the things you learn.

The Brass Catcher, Part II

Because I tried the one I made for the Carbine, and it worked.  Reasonably.  But it needed to be a bit bigger to work well on the Garand.  So:

Started with the same stuff, 1/16" spring wire*.  Used the same basic design as the Carbine catcher: the box is longer, and the arms are longer and fit further down on the forend.
The wire, shaped
 How it looks naked
 After lacing some netting to it

Using one piece of wide velcro over the legs to stabilize them, and two velcro straps to hold it in place; worked well on the both rifles so far, and with the longer arms on this one(more distance between straps) should be more stable.

Actually, looking at things, I could probably make the Carbine version with the box a little shorter.  However, right now I'm not going to mess with it.  And hopefully can try the Garand version out soon.


*Back when I was smithing I picked up a number of ten-foot pieces of this stuff from my favorite salvage yard; it's been handy for a whole lot of things.  Springs, awls, small screwdrivers and so on.

Not appetizing,

especially for a Sunday morning, but what happens when you get careless:
Found at RS McCain

And no, no idea what the sniper used.


Yeah, interesting map.  With the usual PC crap added.
The next largest grouping of people in the United States by ancestry are those who claim to be English-American.
Predominantly found in the Northwest and West, the number of people directly claiming to be English-American has dropped by 20 million since the 1980 U.S. Census because more citizens have started to identify themselves as American.
With another dose of that:
The surprising number of people across the nation claiming to have American ancestry is due to them making a political statement, or because they are simply uncertain about their direct descendants. Indeed, this is a particularly common feature in the south of the nation, where political tensions between those who consider themselves original settlers and those who are more recent exist.
Translation: "If you don't call yourself a '-American', you're making a political statement or don't know where you came from."
Reply: 'Screw you, Jerreat, you PC-brained bigoted twit.'
Let's see, what hyphenated-American should I call myself?  The Cherokee, or Scot, or English, or Irish?  Answer is, I don't:  I AM American.  And you can kiss my ass.

You'll notice there's not listing for Scots, either. 


On September 18 USA Today, in a front page story, reported the following: "Newly uncovered IRS documents show the agency flagged political groups based on the content of their literature, raising concerns specifically about 'anti-Obama rhetoric,' inflammatory language and 'emotional' statements made by non-profits seeking tax-exempt status."
Not only have ABC, CBS and NBC not reported this story they've flat out stopped covering the IRS scandal on their evening and morning shows. It's been 85 days since ABC last touched the story on June 26. NBC hasn't done a report for 84 days and CBS last mentioned the IRS scandal 56 days ago on July 24.
But we're supposed to trust
This agency, and the ones who won't do anything about this, and
The news media that don't bother with reporting this.


I repeat: our President and John Effing Kerry want to give arms and air support to the associates of these people.


Are .gov schools a form of child abuse?  Looks like it.


A racially-inspired islam-connected attempted mass murder... not exactly big news to the major media, is it?

And that's all I've got for now.