The Curmudgeon writes of Islam,

muslims avoiding speaking their minds and other things. Take note of this from an interview:

Rod Dreher: Do you believe that homosexuals convicted in a sharia court should be killed, or otherwise punished physically?

Mohamed Elmougy: I don’t condone homosexuality. I have a lot of friends, a lot of people who work for me, just so you know. I don’t go kill them. But, you know, I don’t condone what they do outside of work, so long as it’s something not in front of me. So do I condone the sharia? We don’t apologize for our religion. If that is what our religion says, we certainly accept it open-heartedly.

And the guy then goes on to say... hell, go read it yourself. You need the whole thing.

And Muir ROCKS

just in case you didn't know. Go see why

I know, I know, CHRIS! CHRIS Muir!

Forged vs. Cast

I got an e-mail from a Loyal Reader(shut up, I'll call him that if I want) with a question. The mail in part read:
I'm interested in purchasing an FAL rifle. My choices seem to be between
rifles built with a receiver made of a forged billet of steel, or a
receiver made through a process called "investment casting".
Is there any reason to prefer one process over the other? I recall
reading that (the new) Springfield Armory makes receivers for their rifles
by investment casting, and also reading opinions that these are far
inferior to (the real, GI) Springfield Armory Garands & M14s ground from a
billet. That is, the cast ones have bubbles and cracks and all sorts of
terrible flaws.
And now, researching the purchase of an FAL, I'm hearing the same thing.
But I'm also reading opinions that, no, there's absolutely nothing wrong
with a cast FAL receiver, and it's every bit as good as a receiver machined
from a billet.
You seem to know about metal. Where do you think the truth lies?

Ok, first a disclaimer: I am not a trained metallurgist. What I know on this subject comes from things I've done, people I know who've done things and information read.

That out of the way, here goes:

Forging is much like a knife: you take a bar of the proper steel, bring it up to the proper heat and forge it to shape. On an industrial level this usually involves a drop-forge, basically a BIG power hammer and a set of dies, sometimes one set and sometimes several. Place the bar in the die and trigger the hammer and a multi-ton strike forges it to shape. Sometimes a single die setup does the work, in some types there may be several steps. When done, the piece is given a stress-relief heat and then machined to final dimensions.(yes, Og, you may throw in commentary)

Investment casting is the same process whether you're making jewelry or rifle parts or something else. You make the part in wax, exactly as you want it to be when finished. Depending on the size/shape/material used, you may make it a bit oversize to account for shrinkage as the metal cools. The wax is then placed in a mold housing, or stuck with other parts on a central post to make a 'tree'- and covered with investment; basically a very fine-grain plaster that will take high temperatures. In a tree for some metals, it may instead be a type of ceramic for greater strength.

Note: this is the first place you can run into a problem. The wax has to be made correct in all details. Done right, you wind up with a piece that needs minimal finish machining work. Done badly, you have a piece that- at best- will need a lot more machining to finish up.

If placed in a mold, you fill the mold with the investment and then place the whole thing in a vacuum chamber and pull a vacuum. This causes any air trapped in the plaster or along the edges of the wax to bubble to the surface. When I was making jewelry years ago, the guy in charge always pulled a vacuum, then dumped it, three times. The other method involves making the tree with a number of pieces, then dipping them into a vat of investment several times to create a thick coating(I believe a similar vacuum process is used on a tree, but I've never done this method so I'm guessing).

Next comes the step that caused this to be called 'lost-wax casting'. You first let the mold dry, anywhere from a few hours to overnight, then place it in a burnout oven. Basically the same as a ceramic kiln, it melts the wax(which runs out, leaving a hollow mold), evaporates any moisture and bakes the investment hard, and heats the whole thing to the suitable temperature for the metal being cast.

When the mold is ready, you get the metal ready. In jewelry casting, this meant using a small centrifuge set up for the purpose, setup to hold the mold and a crucible on one end and a counterweight on the other. Put the silver or gold in the crucible, use a torch to melt it, then flux it to clean it. When ready, someone takes the mold out of the oven with tongs, sets it in the centrifuge and locks it in with the crucible right up at the opening where the wax drained out, then release. The centrifuge spins and throws the metal into the mold, forcing it into every space and holding it there while the mold and metal cool enough for the metal to solidify.

I saw some pictures once of Ruger techs casting receivers. They had a furnace big enough to hold a crucible containing something like ten or fifteen pounds of molten steel. When the mold and steel were ready, the mold was pulled from its furnace and set up, and two men used a lifter to pull the crucible out and pour the steel into the mold. In this case gravity and the weight of the steel was sufficient to fill the entire mold, which was set aside to cool.

In either case, once cool the investment is broken off and, if casting went well you have the pieces, whether jewelry or rifle parts, now made in steel instead of wax. Cut them off the 'sprue'- the metal leading from the mold opening to the ring, receiver, etc.- and clean them thoroughly and inspect. So far, so good, but for something like a receiver or firing pin or whatever, the next step is absolutely critical and if not done right, that perfectly cast piece is scrap.

You may remember that in forging a knife, in the final heats of forging and the heat before quenching it, you need to control the temperature carefully because when steel gets above its critical temp, the grain structure becomes enlarged, which makes it weaker. Well, steel heated to melting is WAY above that point, so the receiver has to be properly heat-treated to give it the maximum strength and wear-resistance for the alloy used. That can be as simple as heating it to a certain temp, holding it there the proper time and then letting it cool, or it could involve multiple cycles of heating to temp-cooling down, possibly with a quench to harden and a tempering heat at the end. Depends on the alloy and specific requirements of the piece. In any case, this step is not optional: when I said absolutely critical I meant it. Without this, the piece will be weak(weaker at the least) and not trustworthy, especially in a piece that's supposed to contain multiple thousands of psi a few inches from your face.

Casting and forging are both mature technologies, they've both been in use for centuries with improvements of various kinds added in as developed. Make no mistake: a cast receiver, made properly of good materials, is just about as strong and durable as a forged piece. What happened is that so many crap firearms were made in various places with cast frames/receivers(because it's cheaper than forging) made with cheap steel, bad technique, bad/lack of heat-treat or a combination that cast got a very bad reputation.

For some shapes/types of receivers, casting can produce a solid piece at less expense than forging, so you'll find all kinds of firearms with cast pieces and variations on that(MIM for instance). I didn't even know they made FALs with cast receivers, but in any case my advice would be to check thoroughly on the brand/maker of the rifle you're looking at: check back on the maker for reputation and past performance, look over the gunboards for reports on their stuff, and put up posts asking if you don't see any. If it's got problems, you'll hear about it. This is very much a caveat emptor situation, so check it out carefully.

Next time someone starts telling of the wonders brought to us

from the muslim world- medicine is usually a big one- trot out two things:
First, any 'wonderful advances' from the muslim world came, oh, about 1200 years ago.
Second, now some of the idiots can't even wash their damn hands:Dispensers containing anti-bacterial gel have been placed outside wards at hospitals all over Britain in a bid to get rid of superbugs like MRSA and PVL.

It prevents people bringing in more infections. But some Muslims refuse to use the hand cleansers on religious grounds because they contain alcohol.

This is a level of idiocy that is just amazing. There's got to be a desire to say "We're not asking you to DRINK the stuff, dammit, just wash your hands with it!"

Of course, if you did that would be considered evidence of 'islamophobia'.

Idiots.

Recoil

Complex subject, and Chris has a big post on it. With lots of technical data on it, well worth reading. Especially since he's had the chance to fire a bunch of stuff I've never been able to.

Worst handgun I ever fired in this respect was a Taurus Total Titanium Tracker in .41 Magnum. Now, I like the .41 Mag, and hope to own one someday; but I'd always fired it in steel-frame S&W revolvers. This think kicked the crap out of my hands. I don't care how good the grip is, that was just too much cartridge for that light a pistol.

My Benelli Nova shotgun is a fine firearm, but I did put one of the recoil absorbers in the butt, because buckshot and slug loads kicked me something fierce. Both the Taurus and it bring something up: the lighter and handier a firearm is, the worse(generally speaking) it'll kick when chambered in powerful cartridges. For home defense this was easy to solve, use the reduced or low-recoil loads: add those to the absorber and they're downright pleasant to fire.

Worst rifle, hands down, was a Marlin Guide Gun in .45-70*, light rifle with no recoil pad and heavy hunting loads. Beat my shoulder up worse in four rounds than forty-some-odd 7.62x54r out of a Mosin Nagant had done. Impressive rifle, at fifty yards put all four into a 1.5" group, but if I had one it'd have the best recoil pad I can find mounted.

I can fire an M1 Garand for many shots with no problem, including prone where you can't shift with it. But a 1903 or '03-A3 Springfield in the same cartridge is a whole 'nother story. Partly the Garand action takes up some of the felt recoil, partly the stock is a better design.

I haven't fired any of the semi-auto pistols that have a padded grip in the back, so I can't comment on how they feel. I'd think it would be a good thing, but that's just a guess.

On pistols, because the arthritis I have makes me a bit more sensitive to it than I used to be, I don't shoot heavy loads very much anymore. I can, no problem, but after about 30-50 rounds(depending on cartridge/load) my accuracy suffers. Which is one reason I handload, I can put together practice loads that I can shoot a bunch of, and use enough of the full-house defense or hunting loads to keep my hand in with them.

Had a chance to fire a Kel-Tech P3At in .380 a while back. The recoil wasn't bad at all: the way the sharply-checkered grips bit your hand as it flipped up wasn't pleasant after a magazine or two.

It's a very subjective thing.

Additional: when my son was about 11, just about his favorite rifle to fire was a #4 Mk1 Enfield. He took my rear shooting rest(filled with dried beans) and stuck it between his shoulder and the butt for a little padding, and if allowed to would have bankrupted me.


*Update: in the time since I have a new 'worst rifle': a beautiful bolt-action chambered in .416 Rigby.  That weighed seven pounds...  Lord, it was bad.

Saddam has left the gallows

and is rapidly assuming ambient temperature according to the headline both on Drudge and at Fox.

I know that it's generally considered a bad thing to celebrate the death of someone, even a loathsome being such as Saddam. But the whiskey tastes good, anyway.

I don't know how I'd consider myself, religion-wise. I've known Christians, Jews, a Moslem or two, Druids and Witches and Mormons some other folks, and I don't know as I fit properly into any of them, myself. It probably speaks of either a Good Thing about me or a weakness that I hope the murdering little monster had a bit of a 'come to Jesus' moment. I have my doubts, but I kind of hope so.

I know, doesn't seem to go too well with toasting his long drop on a short rope, but there you are.

Ok, the BBC just confirmed it, too.

Declaration of his martyrdom by some BPM in 3,2,1...

It's almost time,

and the last of my Glenfiddich Solera Reserve is waiting for the moment.

And while we're at it, somebody whack a couple of SCOTUS members with a bat engraved with this: U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction to interfere in another country's judicial process. Not only is that true, but FOREIGN COURTS DON'T RULE US, EITHER!

Heh heh heh: Al-Nueimi said U.S. authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.

But Saddam was loved! Various moonbats tell us so, Iraq was better off under him! WHO could possibly want to humiliate/mutilate him??? (/snark)

And by the way, can we call the 'peace activists'/

America haters what they are now? Which is vile scumbags unfit to breathe free air. Sorry little barfhounds who consider themselves the 'caring, wise, progressive ones' so they spew garbage like this.

Just bloody amazing, ain't it?

A further thought or two on that lying 'scientist'

who's confessed to 'overdoing' it a bit on the global warmening crap.

One of the lines I've been thinking about: But knowing the science, we knew the stakes to humanity were high and that the opposition to the truth would be fierce, so we knew we had to dig in. Something about that really bothered me. Aside from the 'have to scare the peasants' it leads into. It clicked, it's that phrase 'the Truth', and the way he uses it it does have a capital.

Remember Raiders of the Lost Ark? The scene in the classroom at the beginning, Indy says something along the lines of "We are searching for the facts. If you want the 'truth', go to the Philosophy Department." That's what was bugging me about this. The clown says 'knowing the science', then 'opposition to the truth'. Whether he realizes it yet or not, he stepped outside science and went into philosophy and politics when he decided to take part in lying and threats to push his views.

And I do mean threats, which is what brought him to realize he'd been 'overdoing' it a bit. He realized that honest researchers were afraid to say anything outside the approved-by-the-priests orthodoxy because of what would happen. Like the name calling, the abuse, and the threats to their position. Mind you, this jackass still believes that human-caused global warmering(or climate change, or however he'll put it next) is without question.

Unless he doesn't. Unless there's some niggling doubts coming to the surface but he doesn't have the balls to admit it for fear of the same threats his actions have helped bring to others.

This just pisses me off SO bad.

About my desire to see an erupting volcano,

Gerry says The best place to see an erupting volcano is on TV, at least 500 miles away. Upwind. I'm about 100 mi. from Mt.St.Helens, and it's too damn close by far. Mt. Rainier is even closer as is Mt. Baker. All are active volcanoes and can blow at any time.

Mt. Rainier is not a good one to be near when the day comes, because it's not the blast you have to worry about: it's another mudflow(lahar) like the Osceola coming down the slopes. Which would be a Bad Thing. That's what wiped out Armero in Colombia- and some other towns- in 1985. Hopefully, with the alert system and general consciousness of the danger, when the time comes people will be able to get to high ground/the hell out of the way and it won't be anywhere near the loss of life.

Though if you've got property in the way, you'll be missing it after.

That's an idea! Queer Muhammad posters!

There's a columnist at Townhall.com named Mike Adams. While back he had the idea of having the NEA avoid any accusations of state sponsorship of religion by insulting some religion other than Christianity. In the past, you’ve supported the “Piss Christ” and the “Elephant Dung Mary.” Now, I’m asking you to fund the “Queer Muhammad.”

For this painting, I want the artist to put the Prophet Muhammad in a pink bathrobe. I also want him holding a little toy poodle. Finally, I would like you to feature him reading a copy of “Playgirl” magazine. If you want to get daring, you can also feature him French-kissing Salmon Rushdie. Or better yet, feature him French-kissing Jacques Chirac

Sounds good, I think. But wait! It gets better! After outlining plans for the first bunch of posters, That will leave me with about four million “Queer Muhammad” posters for the most ambitious aspect of my plan. This involves hanging posters on the doors of every active member of the National Rifle Association. When the Islamic fascists begin hurling stones at the houses of NRA members, many of my brothers (and sisters)-in-arms will start heading for the nearest gun safe. I know I will.

Maybe a few of these violent Muslims will survive their attack on the First Amendment, after it is thwarted by the Second Amendment. If so, I have a special plan for the Islamic fascist survivors. This plan was inspired by my realization that so many members of the anti-war movement are also members of the pro-gay movement. Here it is, in all its leftist-inspired brilliance:

And for the rest, you'll have to go read it.

Ok, climate guy,

you helped start this crap, so what are you gonna do now?

Thanks to Tim Blair we have this:But knowing the science, we knew the stakes to humanity were high and that the opposition to the truth would be fierce, so we knew we had to dig in. But now they are listening. Now they do believe us. Now they say they’re ready to take action. And now we’re wondering if we didn’t create a monster.

Gee, let's see, blow a lot of smoke and scare hell out of people for years with "We're all gonna die unless we act NOW!", and now it's gotten a bit out of hand, and you're wondering of you went a bit overboard?

Read the whole damn thing here. In a way, the big quote to me is this:None of this is to say that the risk of climate change is being questioned or downplayed by our community; it's not. It is to say that I think some people feel that we've created a monster by limiting the ability of people in our community to question results that say "climate change is right here!" So this clown is relieved because the 'risk of climate change' isn't being downplayed, but is upset because the idiocy he helped start is keeping people in the 'profession' from questioning whether it's happening 'right now'. The level of 'the peasants won't do what we want' in this is amazing. And now this jerk admits that, seeing as how many of his colleagues are scared to question any of this because their career will be threatened, he thinks they may have overdone things just a bit.

We're wondering if they realize how uncertain our projections of future climate are. We wonder if we've oversold the science. We're wondering what happened to our community, that individuals caveat even the most minor questionings of barely-proven climate change evidence, lest they be tagged as "skeptics." So you spent years and years telling people 'the models show this' and 'we predict that' and 'studies of ice cores and tree rings and temperature records PROVE THIS!'; and now you wonder ...if they realize how uncertain our projections of future climate are.? You God-cursed fool.

But be not too worried, for he's changed:I don't play in the weeds of climate change anymore, I play in the weeds of how the science gets to policy makers and how the nature of policy-making gets back to the scientists. Isn't that just so freakin' wonderful that it sets your mind at ease?

I didn't think so.

Jeez, talk about all the trouble in the world!

Let's see, here's a coyote attack in Pennsylvania: ...the first attack was about 6 a.m. at the Palmer Community Pool when a man walking his dog was bitten in the stomach. and it goes on from there.

Then a possible killer bee attack in Florida: Two teenagers washing their dog at their Ft. Lauderdale backyard were attacked by what experts think might be killer bees. And you KNOW this had to be written by someone in the U.S., who else would write they suspect the bees got riled up when the teens were bathing the dog, near a cedar log where the bees had their hive. A critter control expert destroyed it.?

And I ain't going to Acapulco any time soon: have fought bloody turf battles in Acapulco in recent years, and the city has seen a series of killings, gun battles and beheadings. Who do these gangs think they are, BPMs?

As if the gorillas didn't have enough problems, ebola has shown up: An outbreak of Ebola virus in northwestern Republic of Congo has killed 5 000 gorillas, helping to push the threatened species even closer to extinction, says a study. And here's something I'd not heard about: ...-last year, three species of African fruit bat were fingered as an Ebola source -...

And St. Helens is erupting. This, by the way, is something I want to see, an erupting volcano. Preferably just a 'routine' eruption: I don't particularly like the idea of fleeing for my life as a pyroclastic flow or a 150mph landslide heads my way.

Heh heh heh heh

Remember a few months ago, the stories about the two bigshot Democrat politicians who went to Iraq to talk to the troops? Word was, when the talked to the guys from their districts they got a serious earful of "What the hell is wrong with you?" thoughts. Of course, when they came back all we heard was "The Senator/Rep(can't remember which, though I think one was Kennedy) had some very good conversations with the men", etc.

Well, John Kerry(Insufferable D/MA), finishing his suckup visit to Egypt, went to lay his hands upon the troops, and they weren't having any of it:
Hey, I just came from a meeting where they were trying to get some commander, any commander, in the Green Zone, to host Jawn Carri.

Swear to God, the CG is saying, "You can't tell me you ALL have things going on at that time! Come on!"

And when he ate at the chow hall? Normally when a Senator/Representative visits, he is joined by a contingent of soldiers/Marines/airmen from his home state. Despite the fact that the MP unit responsible for Green Zone security is an Army Reserve unit from Massachusetts, not a single soldier went to sit with him.

I was thinking that in that last picture he looks not real happy, and you could almost feel sorry for him. On second thought, I think he doesn't look unhappy enough, and for his words and actions that have harmed the troops it's too bad they couldn't like up to each give him a kick in the ass.

Merry Christmas,

and despite it being such a nice day, I have to put these up before I forget them.

Tim Blair linked to a piece noting something I'd not heard of: In 1902, the Los Angeles Times reported that the great glaciers were undergoing "their final annihilation" due to rising temperatures. But by 1923, it was the ice that was doing the annihilating: "Scientist says Arctic ice will wipe out Canada," the Chicago Tribune declared on Page 1.

A guy at Kim's forum pointed to this:BAGHDAD, Dec. 24 — The American military is holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including men the Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in a pair of raids late last week aimed at people suspected of conducting attacks on Iraqi security forces, according to senior Iraqi and American officials in Baghdad and Washington.
May I suggest serious questioning, followed by a firing squad or a rope, whichever seems most appropriate? Followed by the same for a bunch of BPMs in Iran.

And one more from Blair, on a pure bs piece from an enviroweenie on disappearing islands.

Spent the day at my folks, my daughter and son and son's girlfriend were there, too. May be their last time together for a while: not only is he shipping out shortly, she's in AIT and will wind up God knows where when she graduates. I got a shot of them with that '47 Jeep he started restoring












which will be stored until he winds up back here in the USA. At which time he can finish rebuilding the motor and do the wiring. Wiring's figured out, just hadn't had time to do it.

'Scuse me

Back, I damn near burned the cornbread, but though it's more brown on top than I'd wanted it'll go quite well with the leftover stew tomorrow at work. Where was I? Oh yeah, he knows what he needs for the motor- tranny is already rebuilt- so it'll just have to wait a while.

Had to do something I don't like to do: give my daughter cash for her present. Some of the things she wanted would have needed ordering(certain uncertainties there) and the main thing locally available the bloody stores that had it stopped carrying it. Which the bastards will probably have it back tomorrow, in which case she can pick it up herself.

Enough. I need to stretch out after all the driving and sitting, and a lunch that has kept me from needing any dinner. 'Night, folks.

Christmas Eve

and I hope you all have a happy one. And thanks for the suggestions for my son, helped me decide on/find some things.

On this night, I shall find a DVD I haven't watched in a while(since my Benny Hill collection won't be here till next week), make a drink involving something hot and soothing early, and northern British and even more soothing later, and relax. Going down to see my folks tomorrow, son and daughter are already down there. Son towed his jeep today, Dad said can store it there so he won't have to pay storage charges on it, so I'll need to help them move it into the back yard. Had to work today, and have to come back tomorrow night because I work Tuesday, but should be a good day anyway: besides the usual, since it'll be son/grandson's last Christmas here for a year or two I think Grandma has gone all-out on the food. I may need to be dollied out to the truck so I can drive home.

And for those interested, son has found out his first duty station is in a place famous for beer, some types of sausage and busty women.

If I were younger, I'd join up and hope to go there myself.

I am full of the Christmas Eve spirit

Except for these dickheads

Yesterday I ran across this piece of Crap(yes, it does deserve a capital 'C'):U.S. Hispanic groups and activists on Thursday called for a moratorium on workplace raids to round up illegal immigrants, saying they were reminiscent of Nazi crackdowns on Jews in the 1930s.

"Oooh, we're VICTIMS! You people are NAZIS for trying to enforce your EVIL immigration laws!" Etc.

I just love it, and people of Jewish descent must just absolutely freakin' love it when every bunch of chickenshit 'activists' claims that things like 'they want us to obey the law!' somehow morphs into 'This is just like the mass murder of Jews and others!' "This unfortunately reminds me of when Hitler began rounding up the Jews for no reason and locking them up," Democratic Party activist Carla Vela said. "Now they're coming for the Latinos, who will they come for next?" Got news for you, you sorry little bitch: I don't care what the skin color is, I hope they actually start rounding up every damn illegal they can catch and kicking their ass back across whatever border.

I will say this in simple words, just in case one of these clowns actually reads this: illegal aliens are breaking the law. That makes you a criminal, and the law- in force for many years- says to kick your lawbreaking ass back to where it came from. Simple, isn't it? You're not a martyr, you're not a 'victim', you are a criminal. And the idiots like Vela are enablers of people breaking our law, and should be treated as such.

The other group of dickheads in question is the 9/11 conspiracy nuts, like this one, and here's a study of one of the 'Truthers'; very educational as to brain size, etc. It's amazing, ain't it? They think the gummint is so all-powerful it can somehow work a crew of a couple of hundred in a building, doing demolition and setting charges and hijack some airplanes and mess with all the video shot on 9/11, and yet nobody involved ever talks? And most of these clowns think the gummint would be just fine after this if the 'right people', progressive thinkers(i.e. castro/che worshipping idiots) were in charge. Kind of like the people who say the government is corrupt, untrustworthy and needs to be destroyed and rebuilt, BUT only the government minions should be allowed to own arms...

Merry damn Christmas Eve to y'all

More on Jimmy(Dhimmi) Carter

and his latest book. If you can call this load of fertilizer a book.

From Instapundit followed a link to this opinion on the matter. I just love this part:
A former president whose legacy has rested on bringing about peace between Arabs and Jews has turned his back on that to become a partisan. A man whose Christian values made him see both sides in a tragic conflict has become blind to one side's suffering. A man who walked in paths of peace has now become an obstacle to peace.

For me, it means the loss of one of my greatest heroes. I have never allowed a snide remark about Jimmy Carter's "failed" presidency to pass without contradicting it. I have said countless times that he is the greatest former president, setting a new standard for that role.

I don't recognize Carter any more. I am afraid of him now, for myself and for my children. He has not just turned his back on the balance and fairness that all peacemaking depends on. He has become a spokesman for the enemies of my people. He has become an apologist for terrorists.

This clown has been sucking up to dictators and crapping on Israel for a long damn time, but after THIS book,"I don't recognize Carter any more. I am afraid of him now, for myself and for my children. Snort. Amazing what it takes to finally turn on the light.

Possibly a real problem from the Administration

according to David Codrea. Take a look, and see what you think. And yell as you think and at who you think appropriate.

How not to get customers to come back

Office Depot had a Toshiba laptop on sale for a really good price in the last ad, so I went by this evening to look at it. None there, not even a 'sold out' space. Then it took about five minutes to catch someone to ask.

So she calls to the manager(I think) up front, 'do we have any?', and he says "I don't think so". Without looking up, mind you. Girl says "It's worth checking, at least." So he leaves off whatever the hell he's doing, walks over to the ad posted on the wall, looks at it and says "No, we're sold out." Doesn't check stock, nothing. I say thank you and head for the door, and he suddenly ups with "Do you want us to check the other stores?" I say no, and leave.

And won't go back. Hell with them if they can't even bother to post a 'sold out' in the laptop section, and don't want to bother looking for one.

Ref the Duke 'rape' case,

the chickenshit little excuse for a D.A. has dropped the rape charges. However, he has kept a bunch of others.

I think one of Barber's commenters is right: he's hoping to use pressure from them to keep the actual victims of this mess from suing his ass off for all he now or ever will own. I hope their lawyers ram that right up his ass, and then push every way possible to have Nifong prosecuted for everything possible. And I hope the Justice Department racks his ass, too. This contemptible little canker on the ass of Madame Justice needs to be excised from the system. Permanently.

And I wonder if he's considered if this, along with the confession of his accomplice in hiding information from the defense, is going to cause some of his previous cases to be reviewed?

The latest on Haditha

It's been in the news(over and over and over) about the murder charges being filed on four Marines, and four officers being charged for "failing to investigate and report the deaths properly". Earlier I went over to BlackFive to see what he had to say. Along with the current, he's got links to two earlier pieces on the mess.

Here's the part of his post that really, truly pisses me off:Back to those officers, none of whom was a shooter. They are ultimately responsible for the actions of the enlisted men they lead. That responsibility sometimes leads to accountability, and charging four of them leaves plenty of sacrificial lambs and scapegoats. I would bet the case against Wuterich and the other three is too weak for comfort and the officers are charged to make sure somebody fries. We shall see what a trial brings.

What pisses me off about it is that I have the sick feeling he's right.

The problems for the accused are two, I think: lots of political heat pushing for some kind of punishment for somebody no matter what, and lots of politicians in uniform willing to do that. I realize that's a fairly drastic thing to say, but I think it's true. Combine that with the services being infested with lawyers who too often don't seem to know their ass from a hole in the ground, and it means big problems for the people at the sharp end. Remember the idiot who decided the match ammo being used by the sniper teams violated the Geneva Convention and ordered use of it stopped? Even though various people pointed out that it had already been cleared? And going quite a ways further back, during the invasion of Panama a group not in uniform attacked a position a squad from the Army held. The sergeant put them down, and wound up charged with murder. He was cleared, but the point is he never should have had to go through that bullshit.

So I- unhappily- think BlackFive is right: the lawyers and politicians in uniform who care more for process and making various brass hats happy than about what they're doing to the troops, are trying to set this up so they can convict SOMEBODY of SOMETHING. Especially considering the reports of how these men were being treated for months after they were pulled from their units. Remember that? Isolated, in chains when allowed out of their cells, etc., all before there were even any charges. After that I think a bunch of clowns are desperate as Nifong to find somebody guilty to deflect from what they did, and to appease various politicians.

Please understand, I very much wish to be proven wrong on this. But considering the past, I'm not hopeful.

The AP demonstrates how collectively full of crap it is

With Michelle Malkin and several others over there looking for their 'reliable source' and finding no sign of him, Malkin sent to AP three questions, to two people. One responded:
Michelle-

I have no additional information for you at this time.

Linda

That's it. No burned down mosques, nobody saw anybody dragged out and burned alive, nobody can find the source for a BUNCH of AP stories, and the one AP official who responded says 'got nothing for you'.

I'll let people like Malkin and Powerline and so forth do the actual damage noting, I'll just say that AP cannot be trusted.

Further evidence of idiocy

is brought to us tonight by Bruce, who's in the act of escaping from the PRM*:
The snake was still strangling Dres when deputies arrived, and the officers had to work with members of an animal protection group to remove the reptile, the sheriff's office said.

Probably too obvious a question but I'd like an answer anyway: if a LE officer arrives to find a big friggin' snake wrapped around somebody, why the HELL was he worrying about idiots from a 'animal protection group' instead of either cutting off the snakes head or shooting the damn thing?

I need a drink.

I started to simply say "Britain circling the drain",

and it's true, but too many people want us to follow the same damn path.
It was the second time this week that immigrants who had been allowed to remain in Britain despite committing a string of offences were found guilty of a brutal killing.

On Tuesday, a court heard how two Somali men involved in the shooting of Pc Sharon Beshenivksy had been spared deportation because their homeland was judged too dangerous for them.

At the Old Bailey yesterday, Diamond Babamuboni, 17, his brother Timy, 15, and Jude Odigie, 16, all from Nigeria, were convicted of the manslaughter of Zainab Kalokoh, 31, a married mother of two children from war-ravaged Sierra Leone.

And what did these worthless bastards(who some God-cursed judge wouldn't allow to be kicked out of the country) do?
As the gang rushed into the hall, Mrs Kalokoh was holding her niece, who had been christened, in her arms.

"She was shot while she cradled the baby," said Mr Altman. ''The effect of the shot to her head caused Mrs Kalokoh to collapse to the floor still with the baby in her arms. Although covered in Mrs Kalokoh's blood the baby was mercifully unharmed."

As the woman lay dying, the gang stole money and valuables from the guests, carrying the spoils in bin bags.

A witness said that as the gang returned home, they were arguing about who had shot Mrs Kalokoh.

Mind you, that was just the latest and biggest offence:
they carried on a life of crime with apparent impunity other than occasional court appearances. They were meant to attend courses run by local youth offender teams but shunned any interventions.

Oh, poor boys, they apparently just couldn't take the stress of 'interventions', I guess. Couldn't possibly be that they're murdering assholes who don't care about the law, now could it?

Please note: A fourth, who cannot be named, was found guilty of her murder at the party in Peckam, south London, in August last year.
and
The Babamubonis and Odigie were cleared of murder but convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm at the time of committing an offence. The fourth defendant was also convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm.
My question here is, why the HELL don't the Brits give up on this multi-culti bullshit and hang the bastards? All four of them? 'Manslaughter' my ass.

Also note that they seem to have had no problem getting firearms, despite all the laws and bans in force on those islands.

Our problem is similar: a bunch of idiots- some of them wearing black robes- who are more protective of a bunch of illegal immigrants than they are of the victims of said illegals.

Jingle freakin' bells, y'all

And we mustn't forget the dumbass troops in the Balkans,

as Sondra reminds us.












Hmmm, and wasn't there something about their being sent there back in the Clinton the 1st reign(Hillary hopes) about, oh, 'only there a year' or something? 'Course, according to Rangel and Kerry & Co., they're probably too dumb to know how long we've had troops there.

I know people with legal qualifications have/will write about this,

I just have two simple questions: why isn't that sorry little bastard Sandy Berger not in prison, and how the hell did the judge manage to justify not putting him there?

And by the way, the people working at the Archives shouldn't give a rats ass about who it is or being 'uncertain' about things; when they've got classified documents missing after someone handled them, or see 'suspicious' activity while someone is looking at them, the idiots are supposed to report it, not dither around because "One employee "did not believe there was enough information to confront someone of Mr. Berger's stature" and delayed acting as a result... So why aren't these people either being fired or demoted or something for worrying more about this jerks 'stature' than about the security of the documents?

A protest about lawbreakers from the Mexican government

is like a roach bitching about sanitary conditions

Which observation was brought to mind by this post at Hogboy's place. I just love it: a country that will throw you in jail if they find a single fired .22 case in your vehicle and keep you there until you're bled dry, a country that openly shelters murderers and rapists who make it across the border, which bitches and whines that Mexicans should be able to cross our border at will and that we should all switch to speaking Spanish to make them feel at home, has fits because someone dared to arrest a multiple rapist who, because of now being in a U.S. prison, cannot keep paying off the local authorities and whatever Mexican national official was also getting his pocket filled to let him stay there.

The new President of Mexico wants to better his relationship with the U.S., he can start by arresting every dirtbag criminal who ran across the border to escape arrest and sending them back in chains.

Although in some cases we will accept seeing them stood against a wall and shot, just for the sake of saving money on the trial and appeals. Not to mention the entertainment value.

Kim for UN Ambassador!

An idea whose time has come.
# Every time some crappy Third World country starts a speech asking for aid, I’ll take off my headphones and start playing cards with the UK ambassador.
# All countries and cities will be referred to by their names circa 1935: Burma, Southern Rhodesia, Bombay, Tangyanika, Tsingtao, Borneo, etc.
# All Communist countries will be referred to as “those Commie rats from...”
# Issue all U.S. diplomatic staff at the U.N. with Tasers, and instructions to use them at will.
# Speeches addressed to the Usual Suspects will begin: “When your country has paid all their parking tickets and other traffic fines, we’ll consider your proposal. Otherwise, forget about it.”

And for his confirmation hearing:
# Any question put to me by Sens. Leahy, Kennedy or Schumer will be answered with: “Did your masters in Moscow or Peking tell you to ask me that?”
# Any comments from a Democrat senator about my lack of diplomatic experience will be met with: “Well, you talk about climate stuff, economics and morality, don’t you?”
# If asked what my qualifications for the job are, I’ll answer: “I don’t trust foreigners. Any of them.”

I promise, if he gets the nomination I will take annual leave so I can go to D.C. and attend the hearing.

Are YOU a sensitive man?

10 Question - Male Sensitivity Test
(Scoring Protocol is at End of Test)

1. In the company of females, intercourse should be referred to as:
A. Lovemaking.
B. Screwing.
C. Driving Mr. Sausage to Tuna Town.

2. You should make love to a woman for the first time only after you've both shared:
A. Your views on what you expect from a sexual relationship.
B. Your blood-test results.
C. Five tequila slammers.

3. You should time your orgasm so that:
A. Your partner climaxes first.
B. You climax simultaneously.
C. You don't miss ESPN Sports Center.

4. Passionate, spontaneous sex on the kitchen floor is:
A. Healthy, creative love-play.
B. Not the sort of thing your w ife/girlfriend would agree to.
C. Not the sort of thing your wife/girlfriend ever needs to find out about.

5. Spending the whole night cuddling a woman you've just had sex with is:
A. The best part of the experience.
B. The second best part of the experience.
C. $100 extra.

6. Your wife/girlfriend says she's gained five pounds in the last month. You tell her:
A. That does not diminish your affectionate feelings for her.
B. Not a problem ... she can join your gym.
C. A conservative estimate.

7. You think today's sensitive, caring man is:
A. A myth.
B. An oxymoron.
C. A moron.

8. Foreplay is to sex as:
A. An appetizer is to an entree.
B. Primer is to paint.
C. A long line is to an amusement park ride.

9. Which of the following are you most likely to find yourself saying at the end of a relationship?
A. "I hope we can still be friends."
B. "I'm not in right now, please leave a message at the beep."
C. " Welcome to Dumpsville. Population 1 -- You!"

10. A woman who is uncomfortable watching you masturbate:
A. Probably needs a little more time before she can cope with that sort of intimacy.
B. Is uptight and a waste of time.
C. Shouldn't have sat next to you on the bus in the first place.

SCORING PROTOCOL

If you answered "A" more than 7 times, check
your pants to make sure you really are a man.

If you answered "B" more than 7 times, check
into therapy. You're a little confused.

If you answered "C" more than 7 times,
"You Da Man!"


Sent to me, by the way, by a female friend.

Back to December weather

We had a few days with temps in the 60's & 70's; now it's 40-something, foggy and raining. Go about 50-60 miles west or northwest and it's snowing and light freezing rain. Supposed to be wet here till late tomorrow, then clearing but still cold.

And I don't care if it's -5 wherever the hell up north you are, 30's and 40's and wet here is cold. So say my joints

We've got that bastard McCain trashing amendments

in the Senate, and now- as part of her 'cleaning up the place', of course- we have that bitch Pelosi working in the House to trash them. In this case, the 1st specifically. As Kim says, remove breakables before reading this crap.

Drugs, War On, and associated things

Yesterday at Anarchangel I read his piece on this misbegotten adventure. Which made me think on the current attention on no-knock raids as part of the WoD and all the waste that has involved over the years. Waste of time, waste of effort, waste of money, waste of lives.

My general view is simple: if you're an adult and want to take something and screw yourself up, go 'head. I refuse to put a large part of society and our legacy to the future in the can in order to save someone too stupid to live. When the subject of drug legalization comes up, I say fine, but I have two caveats:
First, anyone who sells or gives drugs to a kid gets either a minimum ten years at hard labor(real Hard Labor) or a long drop at the end of a short rope.
Second, there has to be passed a law that if you mess yourself up, your health is shot and you're broke and you can't get/hold a job and have no place to live, well, tough shit. You have NO call on the public purse for one damned penny. If a charity or church wants to help you, that's fine, but NOT ONE PENNY gets taken out of other peoples' pockets to take care of you.

Which is where it falls apart, because most of the legalizers insist we have to set up treatment centers and provide medical care and food and on and bloody on. I say no, you can't have both, either you say it's a personal matter only, or it's not. And if it's personal, the aforementioned druggie can straighten up or die on his own.

And please, nobody tell me that 'victimless crime' crap. This is no such thing, and you damn well know it. Friends and relatives are victims of the dumbass: sometimes just from watching them destroy themselves, sometimes robbed, and sometimes the dumbass decides he doesn't have the guts to kill himself or just die so he winds up taking someone with him.

All this comes up because I'm remembering something that happened at Med Fair. There's a girl I've known since she was a little kid. She's about a year older than my daughter, and they used to play at Scottish gatherings. I've only seen her once or twice a year for the last seven or eight: she's had problems, but I thought it was general stuff for a kid her age.

She showed up at the fair, not in garb, just visiting. She looked good at first glance: she'd lost some weight, seemed very up. After a few minutes talking while I worked on a piece I noticed she seemed a little too bright-eyed, a touch too up, but nothing I could really put a finger on. She mentioned somewhere in this she'd been working at/hanging around biker places, and that put a chill through me. Most bikers I've known were good folks, but some are nowhere near 'good', and I knew which she'd been hanging around.

We talked a bit, then someone asked a question and she went over to the table to look at the stuff on display. Friend of my daughter was helping watch the place and he talked to her a bit while I was hammering and talking. She finally said bye, she'd be back later and left. I'd finished the piece I was working on, the current crowd had moved on, and when she was a ways off in the crowd he looked over and said "She's on meth". No question in the voice, just flat statement. I had that flat 'part of your guts just fell out' feeling and asked how he knew? Daughter said that a couple of their friends had messed themselves up on it and he listed the points of note, including one I had never heard of: scratching. She'd been kind of aimlessly scratching herself as we talked but I'd not known it meant anything. Until I now got the explanation.

I didn't look after her, she was too far into the crowd, and I didn't know if I dared to. I just stood there for a minute listening to the information and diagnosis and feeling that dread. She was an adult- I've not seen her since, and don't know if she's still alive or not- and could screw herself up as she chose. But I'll tell you something:

If the one who started her on that shit stood in front of me and said "Yeah, I sold it to her", I'd shoot them and never miss a beat or lose a moments sleep over it.

I've written about how much better things are from the past

in so many way, before: well, Kim just noted this post by the Mrs. on the subject of 'poverty'. Read it. All the way through.

And remember, without all that nasty industrialization and progress the 'progressives' like to spit on, we'd ALL still be living this way.

Would you give the local PD your serial numbers?

Just to keep on file? I've gotta say, Hell NO! Not on my car, not on my firearm, not on my pc or my stereo.

I've got a list of all that tucked away in a safe place, and if needed I can get them. But to just turn said list over to the PD? I'm not happy that to get a C&R license you have to send a copy of the app to the chief's office, so why would I give them this information?

Also, found this article on the good news from Ohio. I just love this part:
"It's really arrogant for them to just ignore the will of the people," said Toby Hoover, executive director of one of Ohio’s anti-gun organizations. "It shows they just don't have any respect for us at all. We're terribly disappointed. It's a pretty determined bunch of people in favor of the gun lobby."
A: yeah, we're determined. And B: Whether you like it or not, this WAS the will of the people: House Bill 347 originally passed a Senate committee, the Senate floor, and the House floor with overwhelming numbers on the same afternoon! It then survived a veto override that is very hard to achieve. Heck… it hasn’t been done since 1977. How was all of this possible? The people wanted it.

courtesy of Keyboard and a .45

And on the subject of legal problems,

if you haven't been following the 'rape' case at Duke U., check out Durham In Wonderland. With the latest revelations of either stupidity, criminal activity, arrogance or some combination of all.

One more no-knock mess

in Georgia, early news article here, later followup here(courtesy of Publicola). This has been bouncing around some gunboards and blogs the last couple of days, with the various reactions you would expect.

I'm not going to say much about it, there's still a lot of uncertainty in the 'who & when'. I will note a couple of things. From the first article:
“They knocked and announced their presence,” Jackson said. After they entered the apartment, he said, “they were met with gunfire from within the residence.” Which sounds nice. But later we read:
Edward said he received a phone call from a neighbor saying, “Someone’s kicking in your door.” He said the neighbor screamed and told him, “Somebody’s shooting.”
'Knocked, announced and entered' sounds not too bad; neighbor's report doesn't sound nearly so nice.

And from the second article, from the 'informant':
“I’m confused,” Reed said. “They came to me out the blue, to my parents house, asking me questions about what was supposed to have happened with the gun, and I was frightened. I told the truth about what I knew, but I was scared into telling them.”

Reed says she told the ATF a different story than what they used to issue the warrant.

“No, I never told them that he stole the gun from me, because he stayed at the same house. They implied that someone had got killed with one of the guns, is what they said. They wouldn’t tell me which one, basically saying he stole the first one, trying to say he still had it.”
Which does not sound good at all. If accurate, it means a couple of agents basically intimidated this woman into telling them something they could use, and may have lied about what she said in getting the warrant.

Happily, nobody's dead. Unhappily, without the kind of noise and attention generated by a death, I very much doubt the full truth of all this will every be known.

Yeah, I have become cynical about things like this.

Santa's Bad Day

Courtesy of Sluggy

If I knew it'd be done right,

I'd almost get cable just to watch it. Just found out the Sci-Fi channel is going to have a series starting in January called The Dresden Files. It's based on the books by Jim Butcher(#1 of the series here) .

Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire in Chicago. Advertising in the Yellow Pages and all. The White Council is pissed at him for (among other things) going public, he gets called a phony a lot, and he's made some serious enemies.

It kind of straddles the line between sci-fi and fantasy: there's magic, but it works in predictable ways, there's an actual system to it. Pretty good stories.

By the way, anybody else remember a tv show called Special Unit 2? It was in Chicago, too(and I wish the two seasons were on video, I want them). One of the best exchanges in it was when the lead character(officer in SU2 of Chicago PD) was sent to an anger management class: "So I chased the little troll down an alley, hung him from a light fixture and beat him like a pinata." "That's so insensitive! Not only abusing that poor person but calling him a troll!"
"What if he really WAS a troll?"
"Now you're just being silly!"
Smile.

For the picking-up-babes-challenged among us

Can't remember where I first heard of this, but: How To Pick Up A Really Hot Babe

Fire works

Fuel-wise, that is. If all you're needing heat for is hardening/tempering, there are some very nice electric furnaces out there for the purpose, but if you're planning on forging, you're looking at one of three fuels: gas, coal, and charcoal.

Gas
Natural or LPG. You can buy a gas-fired forge, or there are a lot of plans out there to build one. It costs about the same as running a coal forge from what I'm told. It burns clean(very nice in any case, especially if you're in a city), it's fairly easy to set a heat and keep it there, anywhere from low forging heat to welding. The one real problem with it is that once it's lit, you have to keep it going; you can't turn off the blower for a while and then pump the fire back up later, it's either on or off. You can turn it down, but that's it.

Coal
Probably the most used fuel. It's plentiful, it's Traditional, and it works. Once the fire is going you can keep the draft going a long time, just pushing fresh coal in from the edges of the fire; if you turn the blower off, the fire dies down but will take a long time to go out. Increase the air blast and you get more heat, reduce it and it cools down. You can make a forge that has a relatively small fire for most work, and there are ways to add in a different air grate to make a much wider or longer, more narrow fire.

Coal definately has drawbacks. You need to get good low-sulphur coal both for reducing smoke and because sulpur in a fire where you work steel is bad. You need to break it up to small pieces before adding it in. And it's dirty(spend a while breaking up/shoveling/whatever coal and see what your hands and arms look like).

Charcoal
Probably the earliest fuel, and definately the most favored for many centuries. It burns fairly clean(little smoke, no sulphur), and will do anything a fire with coal can.

Drawbacks to charcoal are two: cost and availability. You can use commercial charcoal briquets, but it's a mess; the binder they use to hold the powdered charcoal in that nice shape causes the fire to produce a lot of ash, and it clogs up the fire grate. And it can blow out of the fire like a pyroclastic flow in miniature when you bump up the blast. Raw charcoal works very nicely, but finding it in quantity- which is also the only way to get it at a decent price- is not easy. And it takes more charcoal to get the same amount of heat as a given amount of coal.

Let me deal with one other thing here. It's kind of folklore that working steel in a charcoal fire will make it better. Not true. This came from people thinking that 'charcoal is carbon, and carbon added to steel is good, so a charcoal fire will add carbon to the steel'. But it doesn't work that way.

When you heat steel to the critical temperature, that needed for forging medium and high-carbon stuff, the crystilline structure changes, it 'opens up' and the carbon atoms that were locked in the matrix can move around. Not only inside the metal, but those on the surface, and moving to the surface, combine with oxygen in the air and go away*. Which means that every heat you do, you lose carbon from the surface. It's also a factor in scale formation, which causes you to actually lose metal from the bar with every heat.

You can reduce this in a couple of ways. One is to keep the fire going so that the area where you actually place the steel has a 'reducing' atmosphere, i.e. most of the oxygen burned out(though you still lose a bit when you pull it out to hammer/punch/twist/whatever). The other is to use something to coat the steel. This is one of the things flux does when used in welding: it both lowers the melting temperature of scale or other impurities that may have gotten between layers to it'll melt and be forced out when you set the weld, and it coats the surface and keeps oxygen off. It works, but it's not really practical for general use.

So, back to the main subject. I've used coal(still do) and charcoal. If I could find charcoal at a good price I'd use a lot more of it, especially for hardening blades. I haven't used a gas forge, so I have to go by reports from people I know and what I've read, which are enough to make me want to build one in the future if I can keep doing enough forging to make it worth it.

So take your pick, they all work, and find the one you like.

*Case-hardening does often use charcoal as one element in a sealed atmosphere to increase the carbon content of steel. 'Sealed atmosphere' being the key, because you have to have the metal surrounded by the carbon-bearing material and sealed away from the air. In the old days that generally meant inside a clay crucible or chest with a lid sealed on. Although for small pieces you can wrap them with thin pieces of leather, maybe put some other stuff on or in the wrap, then coat it with clay to seal it. Then the whole thing is placed in a fire or furnace and brought up to heat and kept it there a while. There's enough carbon around the steel or iron that some migrates into the surface, I seem to remember reading either 1/64 or 1/32" per hour. You can keep it going long enough to convert a bar of iron to steel all the way through, though if you're not careful it tends to be of uneven quality from end to end(which is one reason laminated or pattern-welded steel was developed).

People are really weird at times

in how they make distinctions between things. I have a lady neighbor who was pretty forthright on about any subject she had any interest in, including the opposite sex. But a mutual friend had some(I thought) very nice nude paintings in his house, and they offended her greatly; she thought they were obscene.

What brought this to mind was a print I have, which I rather like. I was looking at it- and reminding myself once again that I need to get a frame for it- and thought of Candy. It's the Tequila Fairy



















by Alain Viesca(website here). My daughter got a piece of his a couple of years ago, and a while later I ran across him at a fair and bought a copy of this; one of my favorite things. It would probably have pissed Candy off if she'd ever seen it.

But I like it.

Well, here's another reason not to buy at Target

The little jerks are using castro buttmonkey Che' as a sales item. What makes it even more stupid is his image adorned with earbuds, when the little swine sent teenagers to camps when they were caught listening to rock and other nasty capitalist music.

Since I'm thinking of soldiers right now,

Behold I am a soldier bold,
I'm only twenty-five years old,
a finer warrior never was seen
from Inverness tae Gretna Green.
When I was young my father said
he would put me to a decent trade,
I didn'a like that job a'tall
so I went and I joined the Forty-Twa*

The wind may blow, the cold may crawl,
the rain may rain and the storm may storm
but you willna frighten' John MacGraw,
the stoutest man in the Forty-Twa

The corporal who enlisted me
he slapped my back, and then says he,
"A man like you so strong and tall
could never be kilt by a cannon ball.
The colonel then when he came roond,
he looked me up and he looked me doon,
and then says he "I'll take a guess,
ye must be the beastie of Loch Ness."

Chorus

To a great battle across the sea
the general he sent after me.
When I got there wi' my big gun
the battle was as good as won.
'Cause the enemy they all ran awa'
when the saw the size of Big MacGraw.
A man like me so big and neat, ye
ken yourself ye can never be beat.

Chorus

The King then held a grand review,
Ha! We numbered a thousand and fifty-two
the Forty-Twa came marchin' past,
and John Macgraw came a marchin' last.
The royal party grabbed their specs
and all began to stretch their necks;
said the King to the Colonel, "Upon my soul!
I took that lad for a telegraph pole!"

Chorus twice.

*The Forty-Second Highlanders

What's a good gift

for someone who'll be deploying soon?

Son just had his birthday, and will be going to his first duty station in Europe soon. So what do you give someone who's not going to have much baggage room and will be gone for quite a while? Birthday was a good CRKT folder, so what for Christmas? Something small and light, and which will not cause his sergeant or above to have conniptions.

No, I will not accept suggestions such as a copy of The Guide To The Better Brothels In Western Europe.

To the idiot in the blue Concord

on the way to work this morning(and what the hell kind of name for a car is that, anyway?). The one who was driving 25 in a 35 zone because "the school zone is only three blocks away". Who then dropped to 18-20 in the school zone. Who then drove 25 after exiting the zone until "Intersection!", at which time idiot slowed to 18-20 again, then got back to to maybe 25 before I was able to get around you.

Your day will come, jackass. And it will be baaaaaaaad.

Have I mentioned that the people we're fighting

are a bunch of bloody-handed murdering barbarians?

I know it's been mentioned by others, but this needs to be mentioned again.
There can be no doubt that the children were the target as the car that was attacked was only ever used to drive them to and from the Greek Orthodox School in Gaza City and was never used to drive their father.

But we're supposed to believe it's the Joooos who are the troublemakers and evildoers.

I am truly worried about my country

There's a variety of reasons, and I'll go into others later. Right now, I'm concentrating on people working hard to trash the Constitution because it doesn't agree with what they want to do. Specifically, on the 2nd Amendment.
(note: this is going to be a bit long for me, and I'm not as good as pieces like this as Kevin or the Curmudgeon for instance; but here goes)

From Kim:“We interpret the Second Amendment in military terms,” said Todd Kim, the District’s solicitor general, who told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that the city would also have had the authority to ban all weapons.

So this mucksucking lawyer says, in essence, that in the middle of a bunch of noted Rights of Free Men, the founders of this country threw in a amendment to protect the MILITARY having arms, and says he and the other Superior Beings can ban ALL firearms if they choose.

From the Geek:
Silberman and Judge Thomas B. Griffith seemed to wrestle, however, with the meaning of the amendment's language about militias. If a well-regulated militia is no longer needed, they asked, is the right to bear arms still necessary?

"That's quite a task for any court to decide that a right is no longer necessary," Alan Gura, an attorney for the plaintiffs, replied. "If we decide that it's no longer necessary, can we erase any part of the Constitution?"
Think about that. Despite there being clear instructions in the Constitution itself about how this highest law of the land can be changed, here's some God-cursed judges and other lawyers asking 'can we erase any part of the Constitution?' if they decide it's unneeded? Unless you're a lawyer or judge with delusions of grandeur the answer is obviously NO! But if you're not one of those things, what do you know?

It's been said before, the Judicial branch of the government needs a big, swift, serious kick in the ass. Too many judges for too long have decided that THEY are the arbiters of everything, that no other branch of the government can tell them "No", and that whatever they say, goes. And they've been getting away with it- at least partly- because A: a bunch of other judges like having that level of power and help them along and B: too many cowardly/statist/fill-in-the-blank politicians find them useful to push what they want, bypassing the Constitution that they swore to protect and defend.

And every member of the perpetually offended out there loves it: because if they can't get people to vote the way they want, they can get some idiot judge somewhere to order what they want. Screw the people, screw the law, the JUDGE has spoken and that's all that counts.

And it's a big part of what's pulling this country apart. This current bullshit is just one aspect, but it's a big one. Kim said:
"It does not matter what the Supreme Court decides.

Our Bill of Rights enumerate our Constitutional freedoms as individuals, and that’s the beginning, and end of it.

So let the blackbirds chirp all they may, and whatever they decide, it’s irrelevant. We know what the Second means, and the legal opinions of some appointed civil servants don’t matter.

Cold. Dead. Hands."

I agree. The Constitution does not mean what a bunch of black robes say, it means what those words on parchment say. Problem is all those Superior Beings who think it should mean what they say it does, therefore they can say what they want and- ta daa!- that's it. Which has already meant various levels of trouble, and in this could mean Big Trouble. Because- not only in this case- if the people decide that the Constitution no longer means anything except what some judge says, and it(finally) becomes obvious enough that too many politicians like it that way, it basically means that there no longer is a United States, there's just a rule by government fiat in all ways. We're too damn close to that for comfort now; if we step over the edge, I flat hate to think about it.

Over at Uncle's he's got this post, with various comments. You can go to most any gunboard and find similar threads, all boiling down to "What happens if some court says 'you can't own guns, turn them in' and various LE types start knocking on doors saying 'We're here to take them'?" (Note that Uncle asks "The right to self defense is considered in almost all societies as sacrosanct. How could any court rule in a way that would put citizens at the mercy of criminals that have no regard for the rule of law?" The answer, unfortunately, is 'with great ease of mind'. Just like courts have ruled that the police have no duty to protect you, just to protect 'society', and at the same time will rule to hang you for using what amounts to 'unapproved means' to protect yourself.)

Two things to note here. One is the fact that most gun owners are not only honest citizens, they don't want to hurt anybody. Many having been in the military and/or LE themselves, they do not want to find themselves looking over sights at one of those uniforms. But they remember that oath, to protect and defend the Constitution, that they took; and that the people who'd be knocking on their door took but seem unwilling to uphold("The chief/commissioner/mayor/governor gave me an order, I HAVE to obey it"); and some of them will fight. All the others, they've had a lifetime of respect for the law and those who enforce it, and that would be hard to break through. But for at least some, they'd be a law-abiding citazen who's now been told by government "You can't be trusted with/don't need/shouldn't have guns, and we're taking them" and now finds the minions of government, armed and prepared to arrest or kill, beating on their door. And some will say to themselves "I cannot tolerate this", and it will get very, very nasty from there.

Second thing you will have in this mess is the LE community(which it has unfortunately become) and the military types who will become involved if this happens. Part of the 'go to hell' process is the attitude of too many LE personnel, "I've got my orders and that's that. I have to carry them out whether I like them or not, and if that means shooting or jailing you so I can go home tonight, then that's what I'll do." It's been pointed out that some- maybe many- LE and military will refuse to carry out such an order, and some will. The rest, even those who don't like it, will do it. And the moment there's resistance, the 'us vs. them' kicks in, the "We can't let anyone defy this, let alone fight it, because that is Defiance Of Authority which we cannot tolerate: it causes problems and reduces our authority if we do. So we will stomp all over you".

And that means that after the first report of someone fighting, it'll go from 'we intended this to be an orderly process with consideration for peoples' rights' to 'just kick in the door and go!'. Which will get bad almost beyond belief. You think we have a problem with wrong-door raids and people being wrongly shot now? Think what'll happen then. And if wives/kids/neighbors get in the way or have 'something resembling a weapon in their hand' or are just in the wrong place when bullets start flying, well, it will obviously be the fault of the gun nuts. Which will be used as 'proof that private citazens should never have been allowed to own these dangerous weapons', etc. After 9/11 every government agency out there dragged out their wish list of 'things we need enacted/powers we need for security'; think it'll be any different if/when this starts?

And the alternative possibly sucks even more. It means the whole population saying "Well, we can't fight the government" and meekly handing their arms over. Which will be followed at some point with handing pretty much everything else over because those who want this will not be satisfied with taking our guns. They will, sooner or later, want pretty much total control over all parts of our lives.

You want to know what we'd become? Look at England. Taxed to death, told how you're allowed to speak and write and think, few firearms allowed to the peasants and their government wants to ban them all, you use 'too much force' or a weapon in self-defense, even against an attacker in your own damned home, and you stand at least as much chance of going to prison as your attacker. And on and on, including the government planning to supvervise your life down to and including how you read fairy tales(the approved ones, of course) to your kids.

One of the nasty things I've been contemplating on in this is that if I'm not already, I will be on a list of 'these are the people we need to get first'. No, I do not think I'm so prominent, so publicly known and popular that I'm a particular threat. It's simply that(I think Kevin's the first one I heard say it) what I do here, and things connected with it, will put me there. We buy guns, we write about them, we post on gunboards, we bitch at the gummint and LE when we think they do something badly or just flat wrong and we encourage others to do the same. Which means that if we're not already on some alphabet-agency list, if this crap in DC goes through and various agencies and politicians start rubbing their hands together in glee, we will be. I'd imagine I'd be way down on the list compared to a lot of other people, but I'd be there(in generally good company I'd say). Which is a sobering thought.

Generally speaking, I cannot imagine it actually going through. Among other things we have the this from Ohio, and this from Washington, both of which give hope. So we wait and see, and hope the SCOTUS hasn't completely lost its collective mind.

And I keep worrying for my country.

A piece from Britain,

courtesy of a gentleman who sent it to Kim. About lots of honest Subjects of the Crown saying to hell with it and buying or smuggling in guns for self-defense.

Owning a weapon is becoming a habit for rural homeowners who feel unprotected now that so many police stations have closed.

I have never seen a police car in my village and violent crime in the county, of course, is up. Baseball bats, swords, machetes, Mace and firearms are kept beneath the bed or close to hand by many people.

In a post the other day Uncle wrote "The right to self defense is considered in almost all societies as sacrosanct. How could any court rule in a way that would put citizens at the mercy of criminals that have no regard for the rule of law?" They answer is 'easily', as they've done it in country after country. And the results have generally been pretty plain to see. And this is one of the consequences: honest people who the government has essentially abandoned buying weapons illegally because, to borrow the old saying, "It is better to be judged by twelve than carried by six"(of course, in Tony Blair's Britain you don't even get twelve in many cases anymore, just one of the God-cursed judges who think they've taken Gods' place, but still).

It's going to be interesting over there one of these days, when the peasants tell Parliament to kiss their collective ass.

And yet more on the flying jackasses

and all their associations

To me, no question these BPMs were looking at a test run, a publicity opportunity, or a way to ease the way for some real hijackers. Or a combination of these.

And hooray to US Airways for standing behind the crew.

One more thing courtesy of Tim Blair,

how those eeevillle Joooos have hurt the poor Arab/muslim feelings:
Q: Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?

A: I think so.

Q: Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?

A: The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.

Q: In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?

A: Exactly. It’s because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego.

Well, tell you what, Ahmed: stop whining, stop blaming the Jooos for all your damn problems and start acting like a damned Man! you sorry little bastard. Maybe reflect on just WHY that little country keeps kicking your collective ass, and actually produces people who make the world a better place. Doctors, researchers, writers, musicians, men and women who actually care about life, you know, people like that.

You've just admitted that your poor, tender feelings mean more to you than anything else, including the lives of your offspring. You've basically admitted that the 'Palistinians'- who your countries could have taken in and given homes after YOU told them to get out of Israel("Stay out of the way while we annhilate the Jooos!")- are more useful as a bunch of sodding death-worshipping barbarians to focus your feelings on than they are as human beings.

And by the way:
Mr. Sheikh, as the Editor in Chief of Al-Jazeera, you are one of the most important opinion-makers in the Arab world. What do you call suicide bombers?

For what is happening in Palestine, we never use the expression “suicide bombing.”

What do you call it then?

In English, I would describe it as “bombings.”

And in Arabic?

Literally translated, we would speak of “commando attacks.” In our culture, it is precisely not suicide.

But instead a praiseworthy act?

When the country is occupied and the people are being killed by the enemy, everyone must take action, even if he sacrifices himself in so doing.

Even if in so doing he kills innocent civilians?

That is not a Palestinian problem, but a problem of the Israelis.

This little part of the exchange tells us you don't have any fucking idea of the concept of honor; again, you're just a bunch of whining little homicidal brats who need someone to blame for their lack of self-discipline and continual pants-crapping. As the guy once said, "Dude! You suck!"

Along with your whole murdering, goat-humping tribe. Like Dennis Miller said:
No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course --that's where the real fun is -- but mostly they want Israel.

Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it -- for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they're the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you've ever been around God's Earth, you know that's really saying something.

You know, Golda Meir was right, with one addition: she said there wouldn't be peace until you idiots loved your children more than you hated Jews. Guess what? Until you manage that not only will there not be peace, you will remain a bunch of child-raping, hating, murderous savages.

And by the way, you sodding jackass, while you make happy faces about mothers murdering other women and children while killing themselves, THESE are the kind of women we admire.

Yes, I am a wee bit pissed. How can you tell?

Welcome on Oklahoma in springtime,

Mr. Blair. Yeah, them there whirlywinds can be a bit disturbing to the neighborhood, can't they? But hey, it was just a lousy F2 at worst, so not too bad.

What's that? More per square mile there than here? I'll have to say I have my doubts about that, but it's not something I'll get too upset over. Hmm, lookee here:• One of the most destructive tornadoes in the UK struck Birmingham on July 28 last year when hundreds of buildings were damaged by 135mph winds. Gotta tell you, Mr. Blair, if a lousy F2 is 'one of the most destructive' then you folks have gotten off light. An F5 would flat curl your hair.

Well, I'll stop talkin' at you for now, you've got a bit of cleanin' up to do. Catch you later.

Proving once again that Jimmy Carter sucks,

take a look over here:
[CLIFT:] You're obviously aware of your main critic, Mr. Stein, who used to be with the Carter Center.

[CARTER:] Thirteen years ago! He hasn't been associated with the Carter Center for 13 years.

When we were originally sent Professor Stein's letter explaining his resignation from the Carter Center last week, I looked Professor Stein up on the Carter Center's site. Professor Stein's Carter Center page is here, describing Professor Stein as the "Carter Center fellow for Middle East affairs since 1983."

If you really need to be ticked off this evening,

go over to Jihad Watch and read this on Forced Islamisation:
THE person speaking had lived through it all. He was from the Moluccas - the Spice Islands of legend - and had been there most of his adult life. He was a Catholic and spoke from experience of people and events known to him at first hand. The tale he told of friends and communities betrayed, and innocents tortured and murdered without qualm or mercy, was heart-rending. All the more so because it need never have happened; and because it reflected badly on those who were obliged to prevent it: the Indonesian government and the International Community, especially the UN and its International Court of Justice.

Read it. It's enough to run you out of your last blood pressure prescription. And it contains something else. I've read the bit about 'there is no compulsion in Islam and how that means real moslems would NEVER try to force someone to convert. There's a very careful note on the background of it, and I'm going to put up a long excerpt:
"Popularly it is translated ‘There is no compulsion in Islam’. But the verse reads din ‘religion,’ not Islam. Also it should be noted [though this is never usually stated when the verse is used as a proof of the peacefulness of Islam] that Sura 2,256 is addressed to Muslims, not non-Muslims. It warns Muslims not to dally with ‘unbelief,’ and implies that belief is easy which is what the reference to ‘no force’ seems to suggest.

The following verse - usually never quoted - is the one that deserves attention. It applies to non-Muslims whom it warns in unambiguous language of the dire consequences of not embracing Islam: ‘[you] are the inmates of hell, and shall dwell there’. There is intimidation and coercion in this verse [Sura 2, 257] and perceptive Muslims would realise that if you can threaten unbelievers with hell fire if they don’t become Muslims, then a fortiori you can use physical force to make them embrace Islam.

There is an even more cogent argument against the ‘tolerance,’ and lack of coercion allegedly preached by Sura 2,256: the behaviour of Muhammad.

‘Then the Apostle [Muhammad] sent Khalid bin al-Walid … to the tribe of Beni Haritha bin Ka‘b in Najran and ordered him to wait three days before attacking them, after inviting them to embrace Islam.. If they agreed then he was to accept their submission from them; and if they refused he was to fight them. So Khalid set out and came to them and sent out riders in all directions inviting the people to Islam saying “If you accept Islam you will save your life.” They embraced Islam because of the threat. ….. When they came to the Apostle [Muhammad] and he saw them he asked “Who are these people who look like people from India?” and they replied, “These people are the Beni al-Haritha bin Ka‘b. … The Apostle [Muhammad] said to them: “'Had Khalid not written to me that you had accepted Islam and not resisted, I would have tossed your heads beneath your feet”.’ [13]

Despite denial by modern-day Islamic spokesmen, according to Ibn Hisham his biographer, Muhammad not only approved, but commanded the use of force in religion. And Islamic Law, especially the Qur’an, explicitly approves the use of such force.

Some Muslim scholars may grudgingly admit this privately when pushed, but publicly attest the opposite, claiming against all evidence to the contrary that the Qur’an opposes the use of force in spreading Islam.

Sura 2,256 is a trap for unwary non-Muslims. It cannot be taken at face value. The final blow to its credibility comes from the fact that whatever it may originally have meant, informed Muslims consider it to have been abrogated. [14] The abrogating verse is Sura 9:73 : 'O Prophet, struggle with the unbelievers and hypocrites, and be thou harsh with them’."

Interesting reading. If you can keep your head from exploding in the earlier part.

Do some of the Global Warmeners have any freakin' idea

just how stupid they sound?

Or are?

Looked over at Tim Blair, and he notes this marvelous little piece from a down-under looney named George Monbiot. Basically, 'any sport that brings lots of fans in should be stopped to save the Earth', etc. Here's the line that really stands out to me:
To avert it, the latest figures suggest, we need a 90 per cent cut in carbon emissions from every economic sector in the rich world by 2030.

Think about that. Does this clown have any idea what would be required to cut 90-freaking-percent of carbon emissions?!? And the next question would be, just how many people is he willing to see die for it? Most of the world population, apparently. Obviously, he will see that HIS fat ass stays in a nice, comfortable lifestyle, but how many people is he willing to see starve/die of thirst/die of disease/die of exposure/etc. to take care of that troublesome 90% cut?

And please note that 'in the rich world' bit. No carbon cuts from China or India or Africa or any other protected species part of the world, oh no. 'Course, he may well classify India as a 'rich world' place because they're working with us and expanding their economy, etc., which probably removes them from protected species status.

And while I'm at Blair's site, let me point out this wonderful piece of crap on 'leave no environmental footprint' day:
On Friday December 8 at 8pm, turn off your house electricity. Switch off your gas hot water heater. Put your car keys away. Switch off your mobile and any other battery-powered devices, and unplug your landline phones. Don’t step foot into any powered site, shop, house or building. You can, however, use public transport, buy ice and use beeswax or soy candles, which aren’t made from petroleum.

If you’re working that weekend, see if your employer will join The Big Switch Off.

(Oh Lord, I thank thee for providing such a dumbass to laugh at)

Where to start, oh dear. If you're in a cold climate freeze your pipes, in any climate maybe ruin food in the fridge/freezer, and huddle in the dark. Becuase, you morons, public transport USES ENERGY! And it took energy to produce the bloody candles which give off pollutants when you BURN THEM! And it took energy to PRODUCE AND KEEP THE ICE! for your pure, Gaia-loving, putrid soul. And, as Amos said in the comments, "Your employer might not wish to join the big Switch Off, but they may wish to include you in the big ‘You’re Fired, Asshole’."