"Change your ways, filthy peasants, and save Mother Gaia! Ignore the hypocritical boobspeople behind the curtain! Get rid of your car and motorcycle, burn the neighbor's truck! And live like we tell you to, not like we doin the proper way!"

Pretty much seems to cover the attitude of the arrogant, self-righteous boobs in the political and entertainment industries. Not all of them, of course:
Matt Bellamy, front man of the rock band Muse, has dubbed it 'private jets for climate change'.
Which is hugely outweighed balanced by:
A Daily Mail investigation has revealed that far from saving the planet, the extravaganza will generate a huge fuel bill, acres of garbage, thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, and a mileage total equal to the movement of an army.

The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists' and spectators' travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.

But they will take care of such niggling little matters by buying indulgencescarbon credits by the friggin' railcar-load:
John Rego, the environmental director of Live Earth, says he expects to purchase at least 3,000 tonnes of carbon credits to off-set the event. It is believed the organisers will spend in excess of £1million on carbon offsetting to counter criticism.

Rego explains: "All the events are carbon neutral. We have chosen a reforestation and reagricultural project in Mozambique. It is a credible certifiable carbon-diffused project. We are in the process of purchasing a carbon offset."

"See! We are doing a PC and Socially-Approved Thing, so shut up about us using private planes and big cars and motorcycles, you bloody peasants! Do what you're told! And don't eat meat, either!"

Just as a side point, ignoring the diet deficiencies vegans and 'no animal product' vegetarians tend to suffer, have these clowns ever checked the numbers on how much land would have to be put under the plow to feed everyone if they could force us to go vegan? I know the bastards want to kill off most of the human race, but since they can't pull that off I'd think they'd be willing to trade people eating meat for a bleepload of square miles of forest and prarie and mosquito and leech-infested swamp wetlands. But apparently not.

If I had time, I think I'd take both the muzzloaders to the range and proceed to create clouds of stinkyaromatic, carbon-laden smoke.

After all, it's the thought that counts.

Two more things for this day

First, a damn good essay from Kim.

And found through Kim, a video on citizen preparedness

It's a bit humbling at times

to find out what a firearm you own is capable of when your clumsy self is taken out of the equation.

This is the first handgun I owned, a Ruger













New Model Super Single-Six(yes, all this really is the model) . .22- caliber single-action revolver that came with both a .22LR and .22 Magnum cylinder. Adjustable sights, and- this being the 'New Model'- the hammer block so you can carry it fully loaded. I've had a lot of fun with this over the years, and it was the first pistol my kids fired.

As part of my celebration of the 4th, one thing I did today was sit down at a bench with a solid rest and fire this at 25 yards. Had the frame solidly placed on the rest to remove as much error as possible, and it did this:


















That is six rounds of Federal Champion .22LR, the inexpensive stuff I usually buy at Academy. I promise you, I have never in my life been able to shoot a group approaching that offhand no matter how carefully I tried. Even from a rest it's rare that I can group them like this, but the pistol seems to be able to do it with no problem.

It's a standard saying that many- maybe most- firearms are capable of greater accuracy than most people are capable of getting from them. Not just a saying, folks.

My Independance Day

has consisted of reading the Declaration and going to the range. No fireworks for me, have to work tonight. God, I used to go through enough flash powder in various configurations to fuel a infantry skirmish in muzzleloader days.

A little load testing, otherwise just enjoying a day at the range. 'Course, since it just stopped monsooning a couple of days ago and the clouds cleared off shortly before I got there that meant 'bright sun shining into an area that magically avoids all but gale-strength winds and has humidity equal to Louisiana in the bayou'. I had a butterfly sitting on my hat for about five minutes, right at the band, drinking sweat. I actually took my hat off to see if the shadow was what I thought it was and the little bugger just sat there, looking at me and waving his wings.

So let's count up the points for the day:
Reading that document and considering what it means,
Day at the range, with a number of people all making noise and punching holes in targets,
Driving there in my Goreacle-defying pickup(which I may start referring to as the Carbon-Producing Transport System),
And stopping at Sonic for lunch to ingest a double-cheeseburger for which a cow had to assume ambient temperature.

Good day.

Because I don't think this can be posted too many times today

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. — The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

John Hancock

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
Geo. Walton

Wm. Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thos. Heyward, Junr.
Thomas Lynch, Junr.
Arthur Middleton

Samuel Chase
Wm. Paca
Thos. Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Th. Jefferson
Benja. Harrison
Thos. Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Robt. Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benja. Franklin
John Morton
Geo. Clymer
Jas. Smith
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross
Caesar Rodney
Geo. Read
Tho. Mckean

Wm. Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Frans. Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richd. Stockton
Jno. Witherspoon
Fras. Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra. Clark

Josiah Bartlett
Wm. Whipple
Saml. Adams
John Adams
Robt. Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Step. Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Wm. Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton

Oh yes, let us follow England

Right down the drain.
Gun and knife killings are getting out of control as six Londoners were murdered over the past week and one child is stabbed to death each week, anti-crime campaigners warned.

Local communities were being blighted by run-away violence as gang members who believe they are "untouchable" carry guns and weapons as a matter of routine to carry out crimes and to settle scores.

Let's see, handguns banned, rifles & shotguns regulated to an extreme, you can lose your firearms certificate for as little as the local chief cop deciding to cut down on the number of certificates in his area... Pretty close to what the GFWs want here. Doesn't seem to work well, does it?

At least not for crime control. To control the honest people, lot more successful.

He added although government figures show a small reduction in gun related crime, it is under reported and has to be viewed against "unprecedented" high levels of knife and gun crime over the last five years.

Although the Trust welcomed the fact the majority of murders leads to an arrest and conviction, prevention is a better cure it said.

Mr Brennan said: "There are currently 270 recorded firearm related offences committed on the streets of Britain every week."

Britain is an island, and relatively small. If they can't keep the bad guys from getting arms there, just how the hell do the politicians expect to do so here? Oh, that's right, they'll just pass one more law, and everything will be puppies and kittens and everyone will be singing Imagine in the streets.

Of course, in Britain it doesn't help that defending yourself can get you in trouble. Sometimes more trouble than the dirtbag who attacked you.
Jacob Smyth chased three youths out of his hardware shop in Penzance, Cornwall, when he was set upon. When he was kicked in the groin by one of the hooded youths who had stolen cans of spray paint Mr Smyth hit back.

Police issued fixed penalty tickets to the shoplifters but charged Mr Smyth and a colleague with assault.

Just bloody wonderful.

Added: well, hell, Kevin has already taken note of this, along with some 'slight' problems with Brit crime numbers:
An extra two million violent crimes a year are committed in Britain than previously thought because of a bizarre distortion in the Government's flagship crime figures, it was claimed yesterday.

A former Home Office research expert said that across all types of crime, three million offences a year are excluded from the British Crime Survey (BCS).

The poll caps the number of times a victim can be targeted by an offender at five incidents a year.

If anyone interviewed for the survey says they have been targeted more than five times a year, the sixth incident and beyond are not included in the BCS.
The authors of a report by think-tank Civitas said the five-crimes limit is " truly bizarre" and "misleading".

'Misleading'. Gee, ya think?

About all those layers of editors...

Here's a good rundown of the Story of the Mass-Beheading That Didn't Happen, and the trust(loss thereof, I'd say) involved.

And while the major media is playing games like this, stories like this are pretty much ignored. Gee, I wonder why...

As regular as the tides

are the plaintive cries of the family: "He was a GOOD boy, they didn't have to kill him! Why aren't THEY in jail?" In this case noted by Munchkin Wrangler specifically,
But Gadson's grandmother, Rosa Jones, said: "He ain't no hero. He is a murderer and God will serve justice."

She and her husband, Ivory Jones, pastor of a Fort Lauderdale church, sat on their front porch in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday wondering how a man could shoot two people and not go to jail.

Uh, because your grandson was committing armed robbery? Because the man thought your angelic offspring was about to murder him? This may be a new concept to you, but... Oh, never mind. Not a chance of them reading this and I'm tired of this crap. Nobody shot and/or killed while committing rape/robbery/attempted murder/kidnapping ever actually did anything bad, they never were any real threat to anyone, and that person who killed them ought to be in jail! Regular at the tides, only with no useful purpose.

Have a friend who's a teacher. He's bloody sick to death of, when some little monster is sent to the office for causing problems, the first reaction of the parent who shows up is to bitch at him for daring to do anything to/about their little darling. No matter what the kid did, no matter how many times they've been told about problems. It never seems to occur to them, or they don't care, that if they keep defending the little bastard when they do this crap they're setting them up for bigger trouble down the line; oh no, their little angel never does anything wrong...

Well, damn, it didn't rain last night!

or if it did, it was pretty light, just enough to keep things damp. Which means the ground can drain a bit more, things dry out just a touch.

I was able to mow the front yard by the procedure of
Make a pass
Bump the mower up & down to knock loose the wet grass caked on the deck
Repeat
which produced enough clippings when raked up to fill a 5-gallon bucket(wet, packed clippings mind you) which went on the compost heap. Right on top of the mushrooms that were standing almost six inches high on the top. I can't even think about the back yard until it's had at least a couple of no-rain days; the mower would clog up every 15-20 feet. And my rose bushes are losing leaves, looks like bloody fall under them. I raked those up, too.

Just looked at the situation up northeast near Bartlesville and found this on Lake Hula:

Hulah Lake is  34.0 feet ABOVE  normal and falling.
 The average discharge will be  44341 cubic feet per second.
 Flood control pool utilizatioin is at 100.1%.

I think 34 feet above normal qualifies as a "Holy Crap!" situation.

A group Down-Under you ought to check out

The Midnight Sun

Thanks to Stephen for recommending them.

Someone you should be aware of

Just found this place thanks to Kevin.

From a post on Jesse Jackson:
As far as I can tell, the black community spent a minimum of 231 years fighting for the right to have those guns available to them.

As far as I can tell, the black community spent a further 93 years fighting to enforce that right after it was granted to them in 1871,

As far as I can tell, the black community has only had enforcement of that right for less than 43 years.

As far as I can tell, Jesse Jackson has not mentioned that to the black community he serves.

Wouldn't you think, by this time,

the major media would be more interested in accuracy than pushing either sensationalism or their personal desires?

Must be the wonderful work of those layers of editors we heard of.

Speaking of major media BS, check out this at Blackfive

Why the hell didn't Blair say this

a couple of years ago? Good God, he's been making excuses for muslims and being the PC chief for years, but starting a little before his leaving office, all of a sudden we hear sense on the matter? One reason I despise most politicians: even when there're literal life and death matters involved they wet that finger and stick it in the wind before they'll say anything. And all too often they don't give a crap about the wind from most people, only from the 'elites' they want to suck up to.

Which brings up, was he lying about his beliefs then? Or has he recently had a change of heart on some matters? Right now I don't bloody care.

Check out Malkin's piece, has links on the attacks in Britain. Including one on the on-the-other-side mayor of London, whose mind I don't want to understand.

It's really been amazing the snotty comments from some along the lines of "They didn't actually hurt anyone, so it couldn't really be classed as terrorism, so why are we worried? We should be worried about the fascists calling it terrorism", etc. Absolutely bloody insane. It's like telling a woman "Well, he didn't actually rape you, so why are you so upset?" when her attacker was chased off. Damn, these people are gonna get us all killed.

I wonder if Blair is going to have another personal revelation and start speaking positively about the right to self-defense, even if you have to whack the robber/rapist/murderer breaking into your house? Or is that still too un-PC for him?