Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I'm with Theo: in this case the Muslims have it right

Two primary schools have withdrawn storybooks about same-sex relationships after objections from Muslim parents.

Up to 90 gathered at the schools to complain about the books which are aimed at pupils as young as five.

One story, titled King & King, is a fairytale about a prince who turns down three princesses before marrying one of their brothers.

As Theo says, What he f**k are we doing teaching 5 year olds about same sex relationships!! The 3 Rs will be a bit more use.

Here's a couple of particular points from the story:
The decision was made to enable the schools to "operate safely" after parents voiced their concerns at meetings.
Translation: "We'd have told Christian or Jewish parents to sod off; however, we're afraid of Muslims.

And here you have the same kind of bullcrap that happens here:
"The main issue was there was a total lack of consultation with parents," he said.

"The schools refused to deal with the parents, and were completely authoritarian.

"The agenda was to reduce homophobic bullying and all the parents said they were not against that side of it, but families were saying to us 'our child is coming home and talking about same-sex relationships, when we haven't even talked about heterosexual relationships with them yet'.

"They don't do sex education until Year Six and at least there you have got the option of withdrawing the children.

"But here you don't have that option apparently. You can't withdraw because it is no particular lesson they are used in."


They should have been willing to listen to ANY parents who complained, no matter their religion. But they've now demonstrated two things(again):
They'll try to force their desires and opinions on the kids no matter what the parents think, EXCEPT
They'll roll over and show their belly if they actually think someone might hurt them.
I'm not accusing the parents of threatening the school; I'm saying that after all the crap that the islamist idiots have gotten away with that is what the school fears, from ANY muslim.

And in the comments there is a piece of true wisdom:
I am a homosexual by nature and do not feel discriminated against because these books have been removed. Very young children should be allowed their childhood before being loaded down with sexual matters they need not have to 'understand' until they're ready.

Your mouth to the ear of someone with the brains, integrity and courage to act on it, guy.

When they started giving the driving test in Spanish

it struck me there were two big problems with that. One was that if you're going to live and work here, you should learn English. Period. The other is, if you make accommodation for people who speak Spanish, you're going to be under pressure to do the same for a lot of other people.

Surprise, surprise:
From The Tulsa World ~ The federal government is investigating whether the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety violated the civil rights of Iranian immigrants by refusing to provide them with driver's license tests in their native Farsi language.
...
Public safety officials said Tuesday that offering state driver's license tests in Farsi could force the state to offer tests and other state documents in a host of other languages, creating new costs and administrative burdens. The written portion of Oklahoma's test is currently provided only in English and Spanish.

When they made the idiot decision to give the test in Spanish, it seriously ticked me off. And now the other shoe drops. And I'm wondering how much it'll cost taxpayers to fight this. And if the idiots in charge have the nerve to do the only real fix: test in English only.

Daniel had a good question

about corrosive ammo cleaning:
Would alcohol work? It's polar enough to dissolve many salts, but ought to be nonpolar enough to diffuse through any oily crud that might later get laid down on top of it. Besides, you can't drink ammonia or vinegar in an "emergency".
Daniel, that is a good question. The answer is, I have no idea. I've never thought to try it.

What I wish I could do is get hold of a bunch of shot-out 1911 or Tokarev barrels and use them to test. Take some milsurp ammo you know is corrosive-primed, fire ten rounds through each, then clean each a different way and let them sit a few days to see what happens. Be an interesting experiment. I say 1911 or Toks because you can change them in a couple of minutes. I guess you could use some steel pipe just large enough to fit, say, a 7.62x54r case in: polish the inside to get rid of any plating so you have bare steel, then pull the bullets from a bunch of cartridges(no, I am NOT stupid enough to put a whole cartridge in and set it off), and dump the powder, then stick them in and pop the primer. Use several on each pipe to leave the fouling on the inside, then clean. I'd much rather use some lousy barrels, as then you can shoot at a target and get double use from the ammo.

For that matter, there is some alcohol I've tried for which cleaning bores would be a better use than drinking it. I know just which I'd use for this test, too.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The test is done

and I don't remember a bit of it. Got to the office and checked in, did the last of the paperwork and they started an IV, then took me back to The Room and hooked up the monitors, shot some Demerol and something else into the IV and the next thing I remember was opening my eyes in recovery.

So that's finished. And barring a serious threat or being held at gunpoint, ain't doing it again.

Some notes on corrosive-primed ammo

One of the things I picked up at the show the other day was some ammo, and- like almost all surplus 7.62x54r- it’s corrosive primed. This stuff has been covered by people before, but I still run into a lot of people who’re worried about using it in their firearms, so I’m going to say my bit about it again.

First, the stuff isn’t actually corrosive. When some of the chemicals used in the priming burn, they produce trace amounts of salts. Those traces are deposited in the bore and if not cleaned out do what salt does: attract moisture. Which causes rust. Some ammo, if not cleaned after properly in a humid environment, can cause rust in less than a day. Most aren’t that bad, but they will cause rust.

The real problem comes in because many of the standard cleaners used today will not dissolve and remove those salts, and if you don’t know that and oil the bore and put it away, it’ll rust under the oil.

There are a number of things you can use to clean this fouling out, and if you want to start an argument at a gun board post something about it: in short order you’ll be told
That works.
No it doesn’t, but this does.
That’s crap, you’ll ruin your gun.
Just clean normally, no problem.
You need ammonia!
No, you need vinegar!
No you DON’T!
Etc.
The most basic way is hot water with a touch of soap. Use a swab or brush to flush this through the bore, then dry it and oil it, just like a lot of people do with muzzleloaders. Personally, I don’t like flushing soapy water through my Mauser/MN/Tokarev/whatever*, but a lot of people use this method quite happily. I’ve seen a lot of people use Windex(spray it down the bore after shooting, wet patches then dry and oil). The two stuffs I’ve personally used that seem to work very well are a mix of one part sudsy ammonia to four-to-six parts water, and Ballistol mixed 1-to-10 with water. I prefer the Ballistol mix, it doesn’t smell nearly as bad.

With either of those, I take a small bottle of it, some patches, oil and a cleaning rod to the range. After I’m done shooting the rifle, preferably while the barrel is still warm, I pull the bolt, wet a patch with the mix(wet, doesn’t have to be dripping) and push it through. Wet a second, run it to the muzzle, then back, then out. Use a damp patch to wipe off the bolt face, then dry it. Run a couple of dry patches through the bore, then an oily one, wipe the bolt face with oil. That’s it. I usually do a ‘regular’ cleaning at home as this doesn’t get rid of copper fouling, plus I like to wipe out the action with my usual cleaner no matter what ammo I’ve used. And doing this should keep things safe if you can't clean that day; just to check I’ve cleaned a rifle at the range this way and left it for several days(checking it very carefully each day) with no rust, but Oklahoma isn’t generally too humid(generally, I said, there’re days it feels like you could wring the air and get drips); in a more humid area I’d do the regular cleaning soon as I could after getting home.
Please note: if you’re firing a gas-operated semi-auto, or for you lucky folks a select-fire or auto, you also have to clean out the gas system: a rusted-shut gas port or stuck piston is a Bad Thing. Very.

This has worked very well for me for years. Sometimes I’ve forgotten the rod or something and had to put off cleaning until I get home, in which case I first wipe out the bore with the mix, then standard cleaning.

I have also(again, checking very carefully for days after) tried just using a good copper solvent cleaner when I get home(Sweet’s 7.62 for one), and had no problems. The only thing you have to have is something that will cut loose or dissolve the salt traces so you can flush them out. In the case of a semi-auto, I used a big patch(or small rag) wet with suitable cleaner to wipe off the piston, out the tube, bolt carrier, etc.

In the case of a semi-auto pistol, I field-strip it at home and after cleaning out the barrel take some patches or a rag and wipe down the inside of the slide, the feed ramp and anywhere else I think some of the fouling might have snuck on- or into, then the normal cleaning and oiling. May not be necessary, but I do NOT want to rack the slide one day and find little communities of rust growing. Or a slide that won’t move.


*When I first started shooting milsurp rifles, I once cleaned a Mauser-first one I owned- by the hot water method: flushed it out, brushed, flushed, dried and oiled. Damn good thing I pulled it out about a day later just to check, as there was rust growing the bore. This caused a severely sick feeling in my stomach and a prolonged session of language practice as I grabbed the rod, brush, etc. and proceeded to give it the scrubbing of its life. By some miracle I caught it early enough that there’s no visible pitting, but it seriously pissed me off. And I haven’t trusted the water method since.

One comes home, the hard way

(UNION TOWNSHIP, OH) -- Keith Maupin confirmed this afternoon that the remains of his son, Matt Maupin, have been identified by the army in Iraq.

In a statement Keith said "We are proud of the continued efforts of the military and the army to return Matt to us. We must now work on efforts to return Matt.'

"Please keep the military and our family in your prayers."

Carolyn Maupin, Matt's mother said, "Thanks to everyone for their prayers and continued strength of the family."

You can sign the guestbook here.

To find this on his camaign site

ought to, at the least, cause demands for some answers:
The three World Trade Center buildings were demolished by professionals, not by a motley crew of 19 Arabs under the direction of one Osama bin Laden who was dying if not already dead in the Middle East at the time (9/11/01). The real question is “Who are these professionals who demolished the buildings and who paid them?” It was an inside job, folks. Ya think Hillary or McCain will chase them down?
Considering his past associations, and their opinions of this country, this shouldn't be surprising. But I have to admit that it is, a bit.

And just to be an equal-opportunity offender, Sondra also found this:
The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes.

Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised the work of 27-year-old Hillary Rodham on the committee. Hillary got a job working on the investigation at the behest of her former law professor, Burke Marshall, who was also Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel in the Chappaquiddick affair. When the investigation was over, Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.
That's powerful stuff, folks.

Speaking of things coming out the backside,

take a look at this piece of oral copulation for Obama that Insty found. Here's two samples:
When I have supported white people, it was because I thought them the best to do the job. If Obama were in any sense mediocre, he would be forgotten by now. He is, in fact, a remarkable human being, not perfect but humanly stunning, like King was and like Mandela is. He is the change America has been trying desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change it must have if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other than our (white) selves.
***
I want a grown-up attitude to Cuba, for instance, a country and people I love. I want an end to the war immediately, and I want the soldiers to be encouraged to destroy their weapons and drive themselves out of Iraq. I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behaviour to the Palestinians, and I want the people of the US to cease acting as if they don't understand what is going on. But most of all I want someone with the confidence to talk to anyone, "enemy" or "friend", and this Obama has shown he can do.

Just amazing. I'll note, anytime someone puts 'enemy' or 'friend' in quotes in such a way, they've got rocks in their head.

Monday, March 31, 2008

At this point, if the doctor ever again says she want me to take this test,

the answer will be "Hell NO!" unless the words "or you'll die" are part of her request.

And then I might have to think about it.

How do I dislike this? Let me count the ways:
The meds taste bad at the start, and by the time they're gone it's bloody awful.
After each set the rumbles & uneasiness start.
Then you find yourself running for the tiled reading room at frequent intervals.
Upon arriving there, you find that everything you've had to eat for approximately the last two weeks begins exiting your body. In liquid form, and at a velocity that seems almost enough to provide thrust.
The only good thing about the meds is that after you start taking them, the fact that you've had nothing but some broth to eat today no longer captures your attention. Because your system is so busy bobbling around inside from whatever-the-hell it is you drank, that you aren't really worried about food.

And, by the way, 'clear liquids' my ass: no whiskey or beer allowed.

Once again, Ronnie Barrett shows where he stands

with no mincing of words:
Be aware there are more companies that will respect this position. If Hawaii or any state bans the sale of the .50-caliber rifle, we will immediately stop the sale and service of all Barrett products to that state’s government agencies. We will also welcome all small arms manufacturers to take the same action.

Damn, if I had the money, I'd buy one just to support the company.

Rustmeister points out one(among others) instance of attitude trouble,

and Xavier another.

Rusty first. He collected a bunch of wailing and whining from news weenies about a bill that would cause concealed-carry permit records to be sealed. To me, the prize of the collection is this:
This newspaper strongly believes that certain public records should be open, and that includes conceal-and-carry gun permits. If a citizen does not want anyone to know that he or she has such a permit from the state, that person should do without such a weapon.

That just flat amazes me. Don't want a violent ex, a stalker, an enemy finding you thanks to some grandstanding fool with the job title 'journlist' publishing your name and address(which did indeed happen in another state)? Then stay unarmed when you leave the house. So says the all-wise people at the Tennessean. Arrogant morons that they are.

And from Xavier, we find out about this clown:
Yet on a recent Friday evening, two years after the discovery, Maddox stood inside artist John Ricker's San Francisco studio, ready to smash the gun flat with a sledgehammer. "My uncle wanted to keep it in the family," said Maddox, a planner in the city's transportation agency, before he delivered the first blow. "But I knew about John and what he does with guns. ... I wanted it destroyed."

"If you have a gun, you have to envision who you're going to kill," Ricker said. "I want people to think about who they think it's OK to shoot, and where that puts them morally."
Oh yes, I'm sure Mr. Ricker is in a fine position to judge the moral standing of everyone else.

You know, at times it gets very hard to not use a lot of profanity to speak of some of these wankers.

Well, our wonderful legislature killed the campus concealed-carry bill

by the senate not allowing it to be heard.

Please note that the current version had a very restricted number of people who'd be allowed to carry:
The House today easily passed a weakened bill that would allow military veterans and trained law enforcement personnel to carry concealed weapons onto college campuses.
So being an adult who's passed all the background checks and so forth didn't count, ONLY vets and LE personnel would have been allowed to carry; and even that was too scary for the weenies who've been suffering the vapors ever since the bill was introduced.

A conversation at the post office

Standing at the counter shipping something off to son when New PO Worker has a question for older worker:
Her: If the tornado sirens sound, where do we go?
Me: This is Oklahoma, you go outside and look for it.

Nobody disagreed, by the way

This is the end of March

Just to note the variety, the purple in the southwest is red-flag fire warning due to dry and high winds,
the yellow is tornado watch, orange is severe thunderstorm warning and the greens are flooding and flash-flood watch.

When I replied to the people calling me names

for daring to note some of the Obamessiah's connection, I told one of them that I hold him to be dangerous to this country based on his views. I should have noted that's his views when you actually find what they are.
During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.

Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire.

They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize(d) his position.”

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago non-profit group that issued it. And it found that Obama – the day after sitting for the interview – filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes adding to one answer.


I dislike politicians in general, but some very much more than others. The ones I dislike the most are those who
Plan to make a lifetime career out of sitting in an elected position and
Lie to you about what they actually believe in order to get there.*
And Obama fits both these points. Very well. Just like Hillary Clinton. And- never mind, the list is too long. I'll also note this further along in the article:
“I always believed those to be his views,” she said, adding some members of the board argued Obama’s 1996 answers were “what he really believes in and he’s tailoring it now to make himself more palatable as a nationwide candidate.”
Translation: he's either lying about or denying some of what he actually believes so as to get into office, after which he'll go back to the positions he actually holds.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Mr. Completely's current postal match

closes midnight tomorrow. Due to various things, I wasn't able to shoot it(made it to range, forgot the *!)#$& targets, etc.); those of you who did shoot, make sure you get your stuff in.

There are reasons they're sometimes called 'gun rags'

Usually it comes in reference to some review of a firearm that makes everything about it seem a bit of gunsmithing or design mastery, or something of the like. But this time I’m specifically referring to the editorial by Richard Venola in the April ’08 issue of Guns & Ammo which I saw a few days ago.

It is an introduction to their review of the Kimber SIS 1911 pistol, and it starts off with the author listing the military/special ops/mujaheddin units he’s served with/trained with, etc., and how he “…was never scared of the men I was with,” followed by “But the nice detectives of the LAPD’s SIS scared the hell out of me.” He’s paying big compliments to the unit, fine, no problem. It’s what’s at the start of the fourth paragraph that pissed me off:
In the U.S. military, entry into most elite units is simply based on the ability to run long distances. But the SIS is an elite force of judgement and maturity. Etc.
***
W.T.F.?
***
I have to admit, I don’t really have the proper words to state just how badly that pisses me off, maybe one of you folks out there can do it. Apparently, qualifying for Rangers or Force Recon or Special Forces or SEALs or whoever just means you can run. Real well. For a long ways. Or maybe one or two of those actually requires ‘judgement and maturity’ and so forth, and the others only require running ability to get in. At least according to this wanker.

I have to stop writing now, you all can take it from here.