Saturday, August 26, 2006

While at the Emperors' place,

I followed a link to Sharp Knife. Hadn't been there before.

I will be back.

Once again, the "It will save us all!" act

turns out to have a, ah, slight problem

I heard a bit of this on Glenn Beck's show a couple of days ago, then ran across this post by the Emperor today. It leads us to the article Fixing the ozone hole slows efforts on global warming.

The Emperor excerpted the article and chewed on it, so I'll skip that. Now, it's been a while since I read up on this, but there are some problems with the article:
It treats it as proven fact that CFCs damage the ozone layer; as I recall that's the theory, but it was unproven. And still is.

If I remember right, there were scientists back when the Montreal Treaty was signed who said there were big problems with the approach being taken; and they were ignored by the "We have to act NOW!!!" people.

There was a bunch of 'this will be better' junk being pushed back then, and the weenies are still pushing them. Like using propane or butane as a refrigerant. Never mind that they're less efficient; never mind you couldn't/can't make a freezer worth a damn with them; never mind that if they leak your house could blow up; they're more ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY so we HAVE to use them. And so forth.

For that matter, given a chance the enviroweenies would have us using tiny little refrigerators like so much of Europe; after all, we don't need a big fridge; the nannies say so. Friend of mine was in Wales for a month a couple of years ago and the folks he was staying with- lady with two teens- had a refrigerator for their house that was the size of the unit my kids used in their dorm room in college; they were amazed that he had a fridge/freezer 'so big!'. It was a standard size here, but considered 'industrial' or 'light industrial' over there. When he told them I had a unit the same size AND a deep-freeze, they were shocked. Among other things, they're taxed over there according to size from what he was told(can't have the peasants just buying appliances because they want them, now can we?)

Remember Captain Planet? Cartoon started back in the 80's if I remember right: bunch of kids working with Captain Planet to Save The Environment from the Evil Businessmen(always men and always evil) and Uncaring Governments, etc. Piece of absolute crap, pure environweenie propaganda to catch kids. End of one episode(happened to see it by chance, NO I didn't normally watch it) in the 'save the world' bit at the end, one of the kids is having the air conditioners taken out of the cabins they lived in; not 'serviced', not 'replaced with more efficient units', getting rid of them because 'air conditioners destroy the ozone layer'. I doubt the little bastards who wrote this ever spent a summer without a/c, but that doesn't matter of course, SOMETHING will appear by magic to keep their environmentally-conscious butts from broiling in July.

Ok, I lied. I am going to take three excerpts:

Manufacturers also say they could not meet U.S. energy efficiency requirements that took effect this year if they used those chemicals. "The technology just isn't there," Yurek said.,
and
"It is true that there will be a significant growth over the next 10 years of HCFC production and consumption in the developing countries," said Lambert Kuijpers, a Dutch nuclear physicist and a lead author of the U.N. report. "This will also contribute to global warming in a so far unprecedented way, if it will occur as anticipated."
and
"You have to put it into historical perspective. Hydrocarbon technology wasn't ready. ... It was still being tested in the early 1990s. And only gradually that technology became mature and became accepted," said Sheng Hsuo Lang, the fund's deputy chief officer. "In hindsight, you can say, 'Why didn't you wait?' Or you can take action right away."

Ok, so the tech isn't available to make the damn things work with the stuff the enviroweenies want to force us to use. They're spooked because all those peasants in developing countries actually WANT ways to stay cool when it's hot and keep food fresh(not to mention electric lights, but that's a different- but connected- matter). And last, the tech wasn't there when they signed the damn treaty, and it STILL isn't, but one of the bigshots who is upset because "That is a touchy subject for supporters of the Montreal agreement. Few want to acknowledge anything could be wrong with a treaty that is on track to fix at least one major environmental problem is calling it mature and accepted technology.

Makes me wonder if these are the clowns who wrote for Captain Planet.

Campaigning vs. Voting

While walking down the street one day aUS senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. "Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning...... Today you voted."

Friday, August 25, 2006

Oh, the wonders of victim disarmament and police bureacrats

The wonder is how many more will be dead and how many more lives destroyed before/if Britain ever wakes up?

Was over at TFS Magnum and hit a link to this article in the Telegraph(I'm not linking to the post at Magnum because there's several touching on this).

The family of a young father shot dead by a teenage gang have released pictures showing the effects of a knife attack on him by the same gang seven months ago.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission yesterday launched an inquiry into the way the first investigation was handled as members of the Metropolitan Police Authority also demanded answers.


Answers? You already know the damn answers, you just don't like them.

Mr Woodhams's father, Peter, said the family had kept a plastic bag of bloodstained clothes from the first attack which had never been examined by police.

"These clothes are covered in his blood and their DNA," Mr Woodhams said. "But they have been sitting in a plastic bag in a cupboard at his house for months. They could have held the key to putting these people away and saving Peter's life."


You think maybe? But that presupposes the authorities actually WOULD put them away.

The killing came days after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said crime had dropped sufficiently in an area of inner-city London for people to leave heir doors unlocked.

"I say it is safe, so it is safe! Do not trouble me with facts!"

Canning Town has such a crime rate that the couriers DHL have refused to deliver in the area. Two weeks ago a man was stabbed to death streets away from where Mr Woodhams died.

The Newham borough commander, Chief Supt Michael Johnson, said six anti-social behaviour orders had been handed out in the street where the confrontation took place along with dispersal notices to stop youths congregating.


Well, by God that'll take care of it! Just hand out some more Behaviour Orders!

Police believe that in the attack on Monday, the gang set out to kill Mr Woodhams as he tried to fend them off.

No!

And from an earlier report:


The spokeswoman said: “Following the tragic murder of Peter Woodhams, officers from the Specialist Crime Directorate were made aware of a serious stabbing incident involving the victim in January 2006. Officers from the SCD have been liaising with the senior officers from Newham borough to establish the outcome of this incident; as a result a full review is currently being conducted to ensure correct standards of police procedure were initially taken.”

I realize this is not a nuanced approach to the matter, and not very good at feeling the pain of the disadvantaged types who committed the crimes, but, just maybe, if you worthless uniform-wearing clowns had taken the trouble to INVESTIGATE the stabbing and CATCH the bastards and PUT THEM IN JAIL, then just maybe they wouldn't have been walking the streets to commit MORE CRIMES.

I realize this isn't the only factor, the Brits are also dealing with judges and various political bigshots who'd rather turn a rapist and murderer loose than a: have the prison crowded or b: have to acknowledge that their touchy-feely approach hasn't worked. So what was the Emperor saying about rope, lampposts and politicians?

Few years back I listened to a guy speechifying about how our big problem was our form of government, and if we had a system more like Britain and the various European governments things would be all better. I didn't like the idea then, and having seen what comes out of Parliament and the PMs' office over there, if anyone tried to change our system to be like that it'd be time for pitchforks and torches.

Which is what the Brits have needed for some time now, only at this point I don't know if it's too late or not.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Shotgun-mounted light test

Was able to hit the range this morning before it started heating up(hot again the next couple of days, then another front and chance of rain). On the most basic factor, the light did not fail: it didn't break, burn out or otherwise fail to operate. The cord didn't come unplugged and the switch operated as designed with no problems.

Had one problem; the bracket will indeed fit it to most any barrel or round magazine tube, but the inside is smooth, and after about ten rounds of assorted buckshot I noticed the light had slipped forward under recoil, and another two or three rounds would probably have slid it out of the bracket














You'll notice that only the tailcap is now the only part in the mount, not a good thing. If you planned on sticking the thing on and not taking it off unless work were needed, you could dose it with threadlocker. I think I'll get the dremel out and a cutoff wheel and cut some grooves into the sides of the mount where they contact the light; they'll catch with the knurling on the barrel and should hold it in place. Yeah, something with a Picatinny rail on the barrel or forend would be best; it would also be considerably more expensive. If you need/are willing to pay for that, you'll get no argument from me, quality always costs. For general home/homestead defense where you don't need or want a full LE/military-grade tactical light setup, this isn't bad at all.

Back at the last gun show I'd picked up some shotgun ammo I wanted to try, so did that today too. These were fired offhand at 25-30 feet. First up was some Winchester Ranger low-recoil 00 buck:














This load has a full nine pellets, and when they say low-recoil they're not kidding, noticeably lighter recoil than standard loads. That's two rounds, the big holes in center left and left arm are from the wad. Group about 3.5x4", not bad at all.

Next up was some Federal Tactical #4 buck, 27 pellets per shell














Again, two shots. Group about 6x6", recoil like any other standard buckshot load.

Last, some plain old Winchester Super-X 00 buck, 9 pellets per shell














This time I fired five rounds. This was roughly 5x5" for the groups tighter than any other standard buckshot load I've tried and MUCH tighter than the S&B 00 buck. Note that the wads moved a lot further from the shot than the other ammo.

So the light is a good deal, and the slipping in the bracket can be fixed. For home defense, from what I've tried now personally I'll go with either the Hornady TAP I tested before or the Ranger 00: less power than standard loads and with the Hornady one less pellet, but faster recovery and, face it, if a solid hit or two from these at home/yard ranges won't stop somebody, you've got BIG problems.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

This is pretty cool

As Tim Blair puts it, "A whole world of trouble"

It's been out there before, but it's worth repeating

A fleeing al Qaeda guerrilla, desperate for water, was plodding through the Iraqi desert when he saw something far off in the distance. Hoping to find water, he walked toward the object, only to find a little old Jewish man at a small stand selling neckties.

The terrorist asked, "Do you have water?"

The Jewish man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy a tie? They are only 5 American dollars."

The terrorist shouted, "Idiot Jew! Israel should not exist! I do not need an overpriced tie. I need water! I will kill you, but I must find water first."

"OK," said the old Jew, "it does not matter that you do not want to buy a tie and that you hate me. I will show you that I am bigger than that. If you continue over that hill to the east for about two miles, you will find a lovely restaurant. It has all the water you need. Shalom."

Muttering, the terrorist staggered away over the hill.

Several hours later he crawled back, near collapse. "Your brother won't let me in without a tie."

Further word from Basic

Got a letter from my son today, catching me up on things at boot camp. Lots of stuff, but two things in particular I thought I'd mention.

First: "Ok, so I only wish something like the gas chamber on my worst enemies" followed by a graphic description. As far as experiences to go through, I think I'll skip this one. Yuck.

Second: "The M-16s issued out are the A2 version and it looks like they haven't been oiled in a long time", and later "Cleaned the M-16 today. That sucker was dirty as hell. Dry patches came out black. I had to run a brush down it and then about 10 patches before it actually started to come clean.
"It was bad, and the cleaning stuff they gave us had no solvent. So all there was was oil, patches and brushes. So I made that sucker shine on the inside by the time I got all the fouling out."

Sniff. My boy did pay attention at times, and to important stuff at that! Now if a truck runs over me tomorrow, I'll know I passed something on other than "Just because the vehicle is capable of doing something, doesn't mean YOU are". Which I think he listened to. I hope.

More updates as they come in. I've got a letter to write.

this is a test

Monday, August 21, 2006

Flea market report

Both a good thing and a bad. Last Saturday went out and (good thing) found a copy of The Black Book of Communism and one of Carnage and Culture, and got both for $2.

Bad thing: was walking down an aisle and ran across a #4 Mk1 Enfield that had been 'sporterized'. At first look, not bad; handguard gone, forend cut back to sporter length and not badly finished. Then noticed four things:
There was a new rear sight mounted on the barrel. Not badly done, but still...
The charger bridge had been cut off, not that great a job.
The original rear sight was completely gone, base and all.
And for some idiot reason, whoever had done all this had added some metal into the slot that
allows you to tip the bolt head up so you can pull the bolt out; which narrowed the slot so that you couldn't take the bolt out.
And the guy wanted $130 for it.
Enough to make you cry.

Ref the situation in Britain; you REALLY should read this

no matter how disgusting it is: Real Crime, Fake Justice by Theodore Dalrymple.

Britain and the U.S. were on the same track in the 70's on this, but we jumped the track; Britain stayed on it and is now bogged to the chassis and sinking.

Remember Bill Clinton thought gun control

cost the Democrats Congress in '96? And cost Gore the 2000 election?

Judicial Watch has been digging up information on Clinton's 'behind the scenes' pushing of various schemes during his presidency. If you had any doubts as to Clinton's victim-disarmament desires, check it out. Pushing various lawsuits, bullying the firearms industry, etc.

And Hillary would be the same, only more open about it.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

And just because I like it







Borrowed from Bruce

Speaking of global warming

which, at this point, seems to be an overreaction to the gas coming out of Ray Nagin's butt(that where his head is, after all), Steve had a link in a comment to 'Professor Bongwater's Guide to Global Warming'(I don't know how to put in the little trademark dealy). Which has a nice little sign for the times:









Catchy, wouldn't you say?

As a side issue, partly because it's always good to take note of the perfidy of the French, the Coalition takes due note of the French A: demanding a cease-fire, B. promising a couple of thousand troops, C. actually now offering a couple of hundred engineers and then only if there's no chance of anybody shooting at them AND they "objected to troops coming under U.N. control -- another provision Paris had insisted on to meet Lebanese demands, BUT they still want to be in charge. Past experience being a guide, probably so they can cut deals with the hezzies and Syrians and Iranians under the table. The French ambassador
















is said to be greatly upset at the insinuations, and at UN bigshot Molloch Brown saying"We had hoped -- we make no secret of it -- that there would be a stronger French contribution," .

(ambassadorial portrait swiped fromborrowed from the Coalition)

Further proof that Ray Nagin is an incompetent hustler

As if any more was needed

It seems that the good mayor has taken it upon himself to blame
racism and government bureaucracy for hamstringing his city's ability to weather Hurricane Katrina and recovery. Which was followed by :
"And I, to this day, believe that if that would have happened in Orange County, California, if that would have happened in South Beach, Miami, it would have been a different response,".

When I first heard this, I thought that even for someone as demonstratedly capable of sticking a big foot in his oversize mouth as Nagin, this was amazing. Everything from people opening their doors to refugees to opening their pockets to give money and materials, to going to bloody NO to work on the recovery, and this asshole- who has NEVER YET admitted to any shortfall or wrongdoing on his own part in this- not only blames the feds for not saving him and everyone else from himself and the end product of decades of corruption, he flatly says that if the country wasn't so damn racist, ALL WOULD BE WELL!

I've been thinking about the proper response to this crap. Other than tar, feathers and a ride on a rail. I will, however, leave it to the folks at Coalition of the Swilling, who begin with a great big "Fuck you", proceeds to "You're a miserable excuse of a elected "leader" and gets better from there.

I guess this officially moves Nagin into Denny's category of Race Warlord Poverty Pimp, RWPP for short.