Saturday, March 07, 2009

Read these bits and see what you think of how The Obama

is handling things:
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
...
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".
...
The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." The apparent lack of attention to detail by the Obama administration is indicative of what many believe to be Mr Obama's determination to do too much too quickly
.

So he's surprised at the amount of stuff the President has to deal with, can't even 'fake an interest' in foreign policy(!!!), and has staff who seem quite willing to crap on allies.

Just bloody wonderful.

Friday, March 06, 2009

See newspaper do dumbass thing; see newspaper

protest action taken; see publisher prove he's an asshat:
"I don't want to step on the First Amendment, but this situation is more sensitive than turning loose someone's name and address," Stewart said. "It comes attached with a handgun."

But Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times, defended the newspaper's move, noting that someone's address can also be found through a variety of means, like voter registration and property tax records
.
Hey, leveritt, YOU CAN'T FIND OUT THAT SOMEONE HAS A CARRY PERMIT THROUGH THEIR VOTER CARD, OR TAX RECORDS. And you know it, you cretinous dirtbag.

"All we did was permit the public to access public records and be able to search names to see if there was someone that they needed to be concerned about," Leveritt said.
'Someone that they needed to be concerned about', thus lumping permit holders with child molesters and armed robbers and newspaper publishers and other such scumbags.

But Leveritt emphasized that it's also in the public interest to ensure that dangerous people aren't granted concealed-carry permits.
"The most important thing is to keep these permits from falling into the hands of convicted felons," Leveritt said. "And if that is what you want to do, there is nothing worse that you could do than to hide the names of the people with these permits."

Well, gee, I thought that permit process with the fingerprints and photos and background investigation was supposed to do something about that. I mean, since a convicted felon can't buy, own, possess or use firearms, that kind of disqualifies them from getting a permit(see 'fingerprints' and 'background investigation' above, jackass).

"...nothing worse that you could do..." I can think of worse things. Like you publishing that list because you either
Want to screw over the people with permits,
Want publicity even if you have to screw people over to get it,
Or you're a friggin' carbuncle on the ass of mankind.
Probably all three.

Colt Model M



more commonly known as the Pocket Hammerless. It was primarily made in .32acp, but was also produced for a few years in .380. It- and the cartridges- are more of the creations of John Moses Browning(pbuh), and it shows.

A friend picked this up a while back, and today was the day to try it out. I'd never fired one before and wasn't sure what to expect of it. Well, I expected the sights; like all pocket pistols of the time(and a lot of holster guns) they consist of a tiny front blade and a rear with a tiny slot. In dim light, unless you have perfect eyes, they're useless; at the range today, with low lighting, the front would've been invisible without the dab of orange paint the owner had applied. Controls consist of a safety lever on the left side of the frame, a grip safety that pivots at the bottom, and a mag release located on the grip heel. The latter holds an 8-round single-stack magazine.

It's called 'hammerless', but like a lot of pistols that just means the hammer is internal so it can't snag on a pocket or purse when you need it in a hurry.

I was surprised at how well it shot; clean, light trigger and a design that pointed very well. As evidence, this target shot at about 12 feet(someday I'll put a tape measure in the bag). I'll add a picture of the target later; for now let's just say I was very impressed with it. Even with the lousy sights, it points so well it was easy to place them nicely together. Recoil was almost non-existent, fast repeat shots easy.

When it came time to clean it, here's where more of the wonder of Browning's design becomes obvious. See this arrow and line at the bottom right?(couldn't zoom enough for a better image)

After you drop the mag and clear the action, you pull the slide back so the line is right at- in this case just inside- the front of the frame and turn the barrel counter-clockwise until it stops, then the whole upper slides off the frame.

Turn the barrel back to original position and it pulls out of the slide. That's it. The owner tells me all you need to detail strip it is something to push some pins out; the only screw in it is the one holding the grips.

Another friend has one in .380 he picked up a few years back in lousy condition and restored; it's his carry pistol. Now I know why.

I'm further convinced that JMB was a real genius of design. I'm also convinced of something about this remake of the beast; C&S fed some steroids to make them big and chambered them in .45acp; and I want one. Except with better sights.

Ok, James has a range day with one here, too.

Ok, that didn't take too long; here's the target
The silhouette is about 2' tall. That cluster in & around the 'X' is four magazines, 32 rounds. There are three on-around the upper '8' that were aimed, the others around it were hip-shots; yes, I'm out of practice on that.

One more lecture from a more nuanced, smarter

'conservative':
Boy, this is getting awfully tiresome, and I'm sorry to see someone of Prof. Hanson's caliber descend into this kind of rhetoric. What is it supposed to mean to describe conservatives who have a beef with Limbaugh's views or rhetoric as "highbrow"? Are the opinions illegitimate or mistaken because they supposedly come from a vantage point of cultural sophistication? Even if that were true, which I doubt, since when do conservatives look down on sophistication itself? Since Joe the Plumber became the Whittaker Chambers of the Mongoloid* Right?

Mr. Crunchy Jackass, got news for you; it's not about someone 'having a beef with Limbaugh's views'; it's about people like you crapping on conservatives who actually believe in conservatism but didn't go to the 'right' schools, etc. And then bitch about us Mongoloids calling you on the bullshit.

Insult, incidentally, Hanson didn't intend, as the professor is obviously quite a bit more highbrow than the blogger Dreher. It is simply a descriptive term, intended to neither slander nor flatter. Dreher obviously considers himself among the cultural vanguard; Hanson is merely attempting to explain to Mr. Sophisticate what it is that his analysis misses; but Mr. Sophisticate needs no instruction on this whatsoever for, while lowbrows obviously need the guidance of highbrows, ultra-accomplished blogger elites like Dreher can learn nothing at all from the lowbrows. Their input unnecessary, as they're fucking retards anyway.
etc.

Mr. Dreher, go have intercourse with yourself.

A prize-winning description of The Obama's speechifying

skills:
Obama is a master at political karaoke.

May well have been said before, but I like it.

I also have to note, apparently 'being good friends and allies' doesn't entail having to actually, y'know, think about what you give to a foreign leader:
As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.

Because all he got was a set of DVDs. Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country, gave the Prime Minister a box set of 25 classic American films - a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.

Well, he hadn't given any real thought or effort to what he brought, after all...

The Prime Minister gave Mr Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

Mr Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

In addition, Mr Brown and his wife showered gifts on the Obama children giving Sasha and Malia an outfit each from Topshop and six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America.

In return, the Obamas gave the Browns two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John
.

One of the side effects of celebrity often seems to be

idiocy. And sometimes flat hatred:
I think rockets are being fired by your own sources, since less than ten israelis have been killed by them. You are bullshitting the world as you pocket money made from arms sales, along with bibi and your agents in Hamas. step down all men in power!
Jewtherism, Ace called it. Think she'll get the same attention for this crap that Mel Gibson got?

Sean Penn is out spreading his form of brainless idiocy and bigotrytruth to power, Val Kilmer said soldiers in Vietnam were a bunch of fools and retards, and how many other 'celebrities' have distinguished themselves with similar statements?

As a balancing point to the above, the Ohio officials who used their offices to try to find dirt on Joe Wurzelbacher are being sued:
COLUMBUS, Ohio - "Joe the Plumber" is suing three former state officials in Ohio, saying they violated his privacy when they gathered his personal information in a records search.
Depending on just what databases were searched, let alone what was done with the information, if I'm not mistaken laws were broken; are we going to see prosecutions for that? I hope so.
j

Thursday, March 05, 2009

As the man says, it's flat amazing some of these people remember

to breathe:
During the 3:00PM EST hour of MSNBC news coverage, anchor Norah O’Donnell discovered the source of sexism in the Middle East was not Islamic fundamentalism, but rather, capitalism: "And to another big story, is oil behind sexism in the Middle East? It's a provocative new theory out there today, suggesting the real culprit of the lower status of women in the Middle East is because of the region's oil wealth."

O’Donnell then turned to Sally Quinn of the Washington, who wrote about the theory on the newspaper’s On Faith blog: "This is a hot topic, Sally. Do you believe that oil is behind sexism in the Middle East?" Quinn replied: "Well, I do think that it has a lot to do with it...when you have an oil-rich country, there's much less manufacturing, so that there are fewer jobs for women. But also because the country is so rich that women don't need to work and therefore they're comfortable and they stay home."

Yes, let's ignore that in places like Saudi women aren't allowed to drive, aren't allowed to work, aren't allowed etc., under penalty of being beaten, that a womans value is actually set at half or less that of a man... no, none of that matters, it's all because of the money, you see.

Just damn.

A morning collection, before I throw up and go out to do something

to take my mind off things.

Gee, people are pissed at being robbed to pay off the unions, so they don't buy that product; who could have foreseen such a thing?(not to mention that whole "I may get laid off because every time The One opens his mouth the economy drops more, so why spend money?" thing)

What the EPA is doing to the natural gas industry, and wants to do to us all, pointed out by Kevin. Remember The Obama saying 'electricity prices will skyrocket'? This is his PLAN, people; he wants it to happen, and if nothing else will use the EPA- far too many employees of which are willing minions- to cause it.

And I'm still waiting for the administration to suggest something to deal with the problems in AZ being caused by drug cartels and illegal aliens. And you know damn well that if it's happening there, it's happening in other border states; just not so much. At least as yet.

Well, well, tell people that the harder they work the more they'll be punished for it, and they work less. Sur-prise, sur-prise!
A Lafayette, La. Attorney told the reporter she was cutting back on her business to avoid the tax threshhold: “Why kill yourself working if you’re going to give it all away to people who aren’t working as hard? Tax hikes have consequences. Incentives matter. Only self-deluded wealth redistributors living in la-la-land believe otherwise.

Speaking of incompetence and/or desire to screw things up:
“We don’t believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don’t think that’s good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country,” Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing on the White House’s proposed budget for the 2010 spending year.

The Obama administration’s budget would levy an excise tax on oil and natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, raising $5.3 billion in revenue from 2011 to 2019
.
Either these clowns do not understand that you can't replace that oil and gas with friggin' windmills and solar panels, or they don't care. And, by the way, that's not figuring in the screaming and lawsuits from the enviroweenies when you try to take over 'x' square miles to cover with solar panels and windfarms. And that '$5.3 billion in revenue'? YOU WILL BE THE ONE PAYING IT. Because the companies cannot simply pay that out of their pocket; they'll go out of business, which means no oil and gas from the Gulf, and if you think energy problems have been seen before...

Yeesh. Assuming the wind doesn't blow me off a roof or ladder, I've got some limbs to try to cut, see you later.

I think that while various people are noting that Obama

may have intentionally worked to screw the economy, there's two things: Insty notes the old saying 'Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence', but here we may well have a twofer: Obama being both malicious AND incompetent. And I think that's it; he wants the economy screwed so as to give government a bigger hold over people, combined with, in many ways, not really knowing what he's doing.

Like a lot of people pointed out during the election, he's a thin-skinned marxist who basically has no experience at anything except playing with words and running for office; in the latter running over anyone who got in his way, including people who'd helped him earlier. Which also explains the 'Whack Rush' program; some of the people involved just hate Rush and want the Evil Party in power forever, but Obama seems to look on being criticized as lese majeste; "How dare he criticize me? How dare he reveal things about me? He must be destroyed!". And, as has also been pointed out, how would the media act if it had been the Bush administration working with major media people to cause this kind of trouble for a broadcaster or reporter? They'd have had fits and demanded investigations, various Evil Party members would give speeches calling for investigations and prosecutions(if they could figure an excuse for them) and so forth. But media people working with Obama & Co. to try to ruin somebody? Not a peep heard from those high-minded members of journalism. Because it's somebody they think of as on their side who's doing this; so much for journalistic integrity.


(title corrected: originally "I thought out that while..." I need to think and scan before hitting 'publish' in the mornings)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

I'd forgotten the Gospel

of JMB:
1 In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain."

2 "And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."

Apparently there is some debate about some parts of the Gospel:
a Several old manuscripts add the following text. "And they [also rendered as "these men"] didst chamber it for cartridges who's calibers startith with numbers less than the Holy Number 4. And lo the Lord did cause great grief amongst these men when their enemies who were struck in battle with these lesser numbers didst not fall but did continue to cause great harm."

If you've got a Thompson-Center, or any other powerful handgun,

the VPC says you're a threat to the police; and, in keeping with proper PSH, they've christened them 'vest busters':
“Big Boomers” - Handguns with rifle power capable of penetrating body armor—are growing threat to lives of law enforcement officers, according to new VPC study.

Drug traffickers are already using these “vest-busters” to kill police in Mexico

No proof, of course; just that these guns are scary and ought to be banned.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure the drug cartel people are skipping the AKs and M16s and FNs so they can pack a six-shot revolver or long-barreled single-shot pistol.

And please note the picture at the start: a Browning High Power; I guess it must be the Ultra-Big 9mm version.

Well, looks like Detroit needs to change the name to

Bigot Central:
Speakers advocating for the deal were taunted by the crowd and cut short by Council President Monica Conyers, who presided over the hearing like an angry bulldog; whites were advised by the citizens to, "Go home."

Opponents were allowed to rant and ramble on uninterrupted about "those people" who want to steal Detroit's assets and profit from the city's labors.

A pitiful Teamster official who practically crawled to the table on his knees expressing profuse respect for this disrespectful body was battered by both the crowd and the council.

When he dared suggest that an improved Cobo Center would create more good-paying jobs for union workers, Conyers reminded him, "Those workers look like you; they don't look like me."
Wow, I didn't know all the union members in Detroit were white; how'd that happen?

Take a look at the picture at the top; talks about the usual suspects...

Thanks to Sondra for pointing this out.

You know, it wouldn't surprise me if the Evil Party tried to use the UN

to do the dirty work on a 'fairness doctrine'; they think the UN is wonderful, and look what it thinks of free speech:
...Having briefly offered lip service to the rights of free expression, it goes on to say that “the exercise of these rights carries with it special duties and responsibilities and may therefore be subject to limitations as are provided for by law and are necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others, protection of national security or of public order, public health or morals and respect for religions and beliefs.
Now, we know what 'religion and belief' this is aimed at, as Hitchens says: Watch what you say, because our declared intention is to criminalize opinions that differ with the one true faith. Let nobody say that they have not been warned. But take a look at that laundry list; it's like the law the Evil Party wants to pass saying an assault weapon is pretty much whatever the AG decides, and for the same reason: they want to be able to ban anything and everything they choose. In this case, "Saying that is bad for public order/health/security/the reputation of said corrupt politician in our opinion; shut up or go to jail."

Remember, these are the people Obama & Co. would love to give oversight of this country to.

On old stuff coming out of the closet

Literally.

A while back I had a couple of comments from people about some of the older firearms I’d posted on, basically “I’ve got dad’s/grandpa’s old rifle and it needs this, how can I fix it/where find parts?” and such. A few years ago, the fact that a lot of people decided to take the old family piece out of the closet and clean it up and use it helped lead to a lot of old cartridges becoming more available(demand = market = somebody deciding to fill the need); now a lot of people are fixing up an old piece that’s been around for years; gee, I wonder why? Which has often led to “Damn, this cleaned up nice! And it shoots really well!”, which are wonderful things to hear.

There was a guy at the gun show this weekend when I went back on Sunday with something interesting. I happened to wander by an ammo table as the guy was showing a cylinder to the dealer and they were trying to figure out what fit it. I stopped and asked, then looked it over; five-shot chambered for .38S&W. Dealer’s face lit up, “That’s it!”, then fell as he didn’t have any of it. I asked what the cylinder was from, and the guy pulled out the rest of a Hopkins & Allen revolver. Interesting thing: instead of top-break, or a swing-out cylinder, the barrel/topstrap turns to unlock from the frame and slides forward, and you pull the cylinder off the pivot pin to load/unload. Beautiful brown patina, no rust, what may have been a few light pits in the bore(but may well have disappeared with a good cleaning), his father had had it for nobody knew how long, and it had been wrapped up in the closet for many years. He’d decided, in the current situation, to find out what it used and try to buy some. Now, this was a guy who had no real knowledge of firearms or ammo, had to explain the difference not only between .38 Special and .38S&W, but why, even though it would fit in the chamber, it would be a BAD idea to stick some 9mm in and pull the trigger; but the current situation caused him to decide to dig this piece out and find out what to feed it.

There’s been a lot of that the last few years, and I don’t think it’ll stop. And once somebody tries out that old piece, it often makes them think of getting maybe a pistol to go with it, or a scattergun… Wonderful how that works.

Two things: first, on the rumor of the State Department

banning some ammo and firearm imports/exports; the day I heard of this I called my Rep.(Fallin) and Senator(Inhofe) to see if they'd heard about it. The lady at Fallin's office was remarkably unenthusiastic about taking a message. The man who answered at Inhofe's office transferred me to the aide who 'takes are of the 2nd Amendment work'; voicemail, and I left a message.

A few minutes ago I got a call with a DC area code, which I almost didn't answer(I don't personally know anyone in DC); I did answer and it was the aide from Inhofes' office; did I have any further information? She said they'd been checking around and can't find anything official about this, and did I know of any specific mentions from a .gov office? I said no, I'd just read about it that day and wondered if they knew of such; she said no, but they're still looking to see if can find anything hard. Nice to know they're actually checking on this.

Second, a bit more on the shortages:
While back I’d got hold of some of the plated bullets for a cartridge Dad was loading, and he really liked them for practice ammo. So he decided to order some more, and called the company. They very happily took the order, but warned “We’ve been really busy, so it may take anywhere from a a few days to a couple of weeks to ship them. If it's going to be more than a few days, we'll call and let you know.”

So not just regular jacketed bullets in reloading supplies and primers, pretty much every kind of bullet. And molds; looked through Midway a while back, and kind of amazing how many bullet molds show ‘out of stock’.

Maybe I should pick up some more wheelweights…

Oh, I love all three of these

"The lie is, if we would just surrender more of our Second Amendment, Mexican drug cartels wouldn't be able to get the guns they use to terrorize that country. The idea that criminals of any nationality obey gun bans. They're criminals! . . . The proud people of Mexico need their gun rights back. They need their own meaningful Second Amendment to protect their homes, their lives, and their families."

(I'm fascinated by the Obama administration's mentality that the fact that violent Mexican drug cartels are raising hell just over the border doesn't justify additional border security or a fence, but it does justify making it harder for American citizens to own a gun.)

Another LaPierre line: "I don't care if it makes their butts pucker from here to the Potomac, the Founding Fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules."

Another resemblance to Jimmy Carter

Obama's faith in words is, I believe, a function of his life experiences. His faciility with words, both oral and written, is extraordinary -- and it accounts almost entirely for his astonishing success in life. Obama has never run anything substantial other than a political campaign, so he has not yet confronted the limits of his words. He has dabbled in lawyering, where words can take on a disproportionate significance, and in teaching law, where words are the be-all and end-all.
Somebody referred to Carter a few years ago as the first 'process President'; he's one of those people who seem to think that as long as the process is correct(in his view) then it doesn't really matter what the outcome is. Or that the outcome will, eventually, be what he wants because he had the right process.*

Obama's faith in his words, and use of them, seems directly related: "If I say the right words the right way, the PFM** will occur and all will be well and the Rainbow Unicorn will crap $20 gold pieces on Firehand's front porch in the morning." And now he's running into the fact that his words(especially when he doesn't have a teleprompter to prop him up) just don't make the world change rotational speed; in fact, they seem to be causing the anally-produced organic matter to strike the air movement device. And he either doesn't believe it, or can't understand why, or doesn't care.(and let's not forget his faith in- and counting on- symbols)

*Which reminded me of a friend who thought he was one of our finest Presidents because 'he signed all those international agreements'. Didn't seem to matter that the Soviets and the Norks were breaking them while signing; the fact that the agreements were signed seemed to outweigh everything.

*Pure Effing Magic.

It appears that Michael Steele may not be simply sucking up

to the entertainers and libs; he may be an actual friggin' moron.
Limbaugh is an “entertainer,” Steele scoffed — on a CNN political show hosted by a comedian, I might note.
Which we all know, he doesn't exactly make a secret of it, you idiot. And this is the winner:
One more thing: When liberals sit there and accuse the GOP convention of looking like “Nazi Germany,” you might not want to sit there, nodding your head, and respond, “I agree.”

Update: With a hat tip to John Hawkins, I re-listened to the exchange. It’s even worse than I noted. After Hughley rants about “Nazi Germany,” Steele says…”You’re right.”
This is just effing amazing; the head of the Stupid Party National Committee agreeing that a bunch of conservatives 'look like Nazis'.

Mr. Steele, you just demonstrated one of the reasons the Stupid Party has that name, and why it's been tanking. And let me point something out: many of those people you insulted probably grew up in a family with one or more members who spent some years of their life dealing with the Nazi problem, some very personally; may well have heard some stories from those family memebers about what they went through; people who have themselves served or who have family in the military; they do not like being called Nazis. Especially by a east-coast jackass who's supposed to be head of the R party.

The NRA is still whipping boy for a bunch of liberal GFWs even when

it don't actually do anything.
There was no official call to arms, nothing on the NRA website, no alerts floating around. Just speculation among Democrats and Republicans that the NRA would make a procedural vote on legislation that would give the District of Columbia a voting member of Congress a “test vote.”

That means that if centrist Democrats voted with their leadership, they could lose their prized “A-ratings” from the NRA, which many consider essential to keeping their jobs in rural, Southern and Western districts.
So the D.C. Voting Rights Act was pulled from consideration for Wednesday. Aides stressed that negotiations are continuing and it could be brought back soon
.
which led to garbage like this:
“The D.C. vote bill needs to pass,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), a Blue Dog gun-rights supporter who sits on the House Rules Committee. “I would have concerns about any group who would tell us how to run our House.”
Well, Mr. Cardoza, screw you. Fearing that somebody might rate something you do isn't telling you how to run 'your House', as you put it; you apparently just don't like the idea of attention being called to what you do. And by they way, it's not 'your' House, you arrogant bastard, it's OURS.

And
“Members are reacting in knee-jerk fashion to the NRA,” Norton said. “This is Democratic members doing something to kill a basic civil rights bill.”
Snork. Bozos are trying to completely ignore the Constitution they swore to protect and uphold, and try to cover up by calling it a 'basic civil rights bill'. Basic bullshit by crooked politicians trying to slant the House would be the more correct description.

But that got complicated when word spread in the House that the NRA would “score” the procedural vote (called a “rule”) used to bring up the Voting Rights Act if it didn’t allow for a vote on the gun language. That means that voting to bring the bill to the floor would be considered a vote against gun rights.
Translation from the politicians' bullcrap-speak: "What?!? They'll actually hold us responsible for how we vote on this? Those bastards!"

I've been ticked at the NRA many times over the years, but the fact is the organization does good work on a bunch of points. And the fact that so many politicians get so nervous that the NRA 'might' rank them on this vote is a Good Thing.

The number one reason I've come to think term limits should be passed

Dodd, whose father also represented Connecticut in Congress, came to Washington in 1974 as part of the reform-minded, post-Watergate class.
This clown has been in DC for 34 years. He thinks that office belongs to him. And plays games like this:
Just 18 months ago, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd slowed efforts to hike taxes on a portion of Wall Street bonuses, saying he was “concerned about the potential adverse effects” on investment and employment.

Now, as unemployment rises and credit markets freeze, Dodd is hunting for Wall Street blood
.
Etc.

This from Countrywide Dodd, who thinks getting a different mortgage now makes up for the sweetheart deals he got from a company he had a hand in regulating. Who's still trying to make that just go away. And there's other things, like his Irish 'cottage':
As Rennie outlines, Dodd became part owner of the 10-acre Galway property in 1994 along with Missouri businessman William Kessinger, whom Dodd knew through investor Edward R. Downe Jnr, who had pleaded guilty the previous year to insider trading charges. The mortgage was listed as "between $100,001 and $250,000". Downe was a witness to Kessinger's purchase.

In 2001, Dodd circumvented the US Justice Department to help get his pal Downe a full pardon on President Bill Clinton's last day in office. The following year, Dodd bought off Kessinger's two-thirds share of the "cottage" for, Dodd said, $127,000.

Ever since then, Dodd has continued to list the value of the property as "between $100,001 and $250,000".
Wow, such a deal, huh? But no increase in value?
The nearby village of Roundstone is a celebrity hangout. When he's there, the Sunday Times reported in 2007, he's likely to "rub shoulders with [RTE's] Pat Kenny, Bill Whelan of Riverdance, Lochlann Quinn, the former AIB chairman, and the singer Brian Kennedy".

Given the Irish property boom, a conservative estimate would be that the house would be worth approaching $1 million, and very possibly much more than that.

So why hasn't Dodd declared a more realistic true value of the property? No doubt he didn't want to highlight the fact that he had a third splendid pile, to go along with his residences in DC and Connecticut, as he sought the presidency (remember how all those homes harmed John McCain?). Maybe he knew it would mean further scrutiny of his connection with the pardoned crook Downe
.

Even those who go there clean, and stay year after year, too many become corrupted; far too many are already corrupted by the time they get there. Two Senate, three House terms max. Period. Get them the hell out before they get too tied into "I'll vote the way you want if you put me on that committee" and "Help me deal with this problem and get reelected and I'll help you with that".

And actually turn the Justice Department loose on Dodd. Stop screwing with chemotherapy patients smoking grass, stop screwing with FFL holders for bullcrap like abbreviating a state or city name on a form, and go after the corrupt politicians and their crooked associates. Would make a world of difference.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

As has been said, no wonder so many high-ranking Democrats

don't mind shoving through tax increases; since they don't plan to pay them.
Mr. Kirk has agreed to pay almost $10,000 in additional taxes for, among other things, wrongly deducting $17,000 for season tickets to the NBA Dallas Mavericks and wrongly taking charitable deductions for contributions of honoraria from speaking fees from Austin College even though he had not included the honoraria in his income.
And, like the dirtbags saying "Well, I'll take how much money I was given by a lobbyist and give it to charity(now that I've been caught)" is supposed to make having been bought no problem, he 'agrees' to pay ten grand and that's supposed to make it right.

And Insty had this, apparently Playboy is playing games for the Evil Party(big surprise). A key point:
3) The accusation against Santelli is potentially libelous, which is, I assume, why the article disappeared this morning. If I were Santelli, I'd sue. Aside from the fact that I have absolutely no reason to question Santelli's sincerity, I find it pretty hard to believe that any private group would be willing to front enough money to make it worth a television correspondent's while to risk all his future salary payments.
Amazing what some people seem willing to do to crap on anyone who stands against The Obama's Reign, isn't it?

Why I think the founders made a mistake in not putting term limits in the Constitution:
In some ways, Visclosky’s story tells a generic tale of corruption that apply to more than a few of our elected Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill. He sits on the most powerful committee, Appropriations, which lays out the budget for the entire federal government. His vote on budgetary matters has much more influence on spending than others, which allows Visclosky to champion or kill projects at whim — and donors know it. That makes Visclosky the same as every other member of Appropriations, including the Republicans.
If the bastards who either start crooked or turn once they're in office were not able to stay there so damn long, they wouldn't be able to corrupt things so badly.

Yeah. Wonderful start to the day.

Monday, March 02, 2009

A pistol postal match is up

at Mr. Completely.

One of the reasons I stopped calling myself a Stupid Party

member a long time ago:
In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele’s criticism made him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host, and prompted a furious counter-assault by Limbaugh on his show Monday afternoon in which he told the locquacious RNC chair to pipe down and recognize that he's not a "talking head media star."
This was a really dumb thing to do, on multiple levels. The most basic was that it's a further demonstration of why the Stupid Party brass have tended to go more toward the Moron Party level: a lot of the conservative base doesn't worship Rush; they do like a lot of what he says, and feel he does a good job of articulating what they think on a number of things. And, as a bonus, he causes a lot of lefties to virtually blow their eyeballs out in outrage on a regular basis. Steele just proved that he's more worried about sucking up to various media and DC people than he is speaking for the people the R party used to depend on(and started losing big when they started pissing on those people).

I'd argue that what I heard today wasn't a 'furious counter-assault'; it was more along the lines of "Dumbass, you just proved you're just one more inside-the-beltway politician who cares more for what the flying monkeys there think than you do for what this party is supposed to be about."

“The feud between radio host Rush Limbaugh and Rahm Emanuel makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington. RNC Chairman Michael Steele and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats’ problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by Congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi.”
I don't think there's a 'feud'; Emanuel is a nasty, vicious socialist bastard who hates Rush with a passion; Rush considers him a carbuncle on the ass of this country who's trying to cause blood poisoning. And that line about 'focused on fighting for reform' would mean more if you didn't have some Stupid Party members betraying that to suck up pork and suck up to Pelosi & Co.

It says Steele told POLITICO he moved to stop the feud Monday afternoon with a phone call to Limbaugh. Which basically means Steele decided after the fact that he might have said a stupid thing and wanted to head off being called on it. Which didn't work. I think it's another symptom of someone steeped in the DC culture of 'make a deal, even if you have to give up what you used to value to do it'; "I'll say nasty things about you, then call you to apologize and you'll say it's ok; isn't that a good way to do it?" No, Mr. Steele, it's not; it's chickenshit.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.”
You meant no offense? Bullcrap; you don't call someone and their show 'ugly' when you mean 'no offense'.
Asked if he planned to apologize, Steele said: “I wasn’t trying to offend anybody. So, yeah, if he’s offended, I’d say: Look, I’m not in the business of hurting people’s feelings here. … My job is to try to bring us all together.”
Hell of a way to 'bring people together', dumbass. I think a lot of the 'paint Rush as the face of the Stupid Party' crap from Evil Party minions is simple; they know he actually does speak for a lot of people, and it's part of a way to put pressure on Stupid Party politicians: "If you want to be part of the cool kids, you won't want to hang around with him." And a disgusting number of them are worried enough about being part of the in-crowd who gets invited to the parties with the 'right people', they'll basically betray the people back home in order to get the invites; and the jerks don't like it when someone calls them on it, especially on a very widely-heard radio show.

My, my, my, look at all the fingers in this

pie:
Senators Chris Dodd (Chairman, Senate Banking Committee, $27,500), Bill Nelson ($45,900), John McCain ($28,150), and even President Barack Obama ($4,600, but $31,750 firmwide) have all announced that they will be donating the money that Stanford gave them to charity. On the House side, Representative Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and who sponsored legislation that limited IRS audits in the Caribbean – where Stanford was having $100 million IRS back-taxes problems — said he would be donating the $10,800 he received to charity.
Gee, limiting audits in the Caribbean... isn't that where a lot of Rangel's tax-dodging occurred? Hmmm, sucking up to Stanford and limiting future damage for himself; there's a twofer!

And they're donating the money somewhere, aww, ain't that nice? As Insty put it, And as I’ve mentioned before, returning the money doesn’t mean you weren’t in bed with them, it’s just laundering the sheets, after. And these crooked bastards seem to do a lot of laundry.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Awright, you dumbasses like me who pay

your bills on time, and bought a house you could afford: we've got our orders to shut up.
For many months now, I have been writing about how the national mortgage crisis has affected at-risk borrowers like myself. Lured in by devious plus-size lenders like Linda Mustaine, with their promises of low interest ARMs and free Igloo coolers, millions of us were tricked into purchasing houses we obviously could not afford. Worse, when the market turned south, we faced the nightmarish prospect of being relocated to homes that we arguably could afford.

But through all of it, some of us persevered. We made the hard economic choices. We fought off eviction by keeping Linda Mustaine juiced up with mai tais at Applebee's happy hour. We sheltered our dirtbike assets in Kyle's shed, under a tarp, to stave off the repo men. We spent countless hours applying for the credit cards that would see us through. We made the wise economic decision to stop paying our stupid mortgages -- because we calculated that when the rainy day came, Washington would come to its senses and clear up the tab
.
Etc. It would be far more funny if it didn't seem to actually sum up the way an awful lot of people are thinking.

So this is what passes for critical thought and intelligent 'concern'

at our universities:
On October 3, 2008, Wahlberg and two other classmates prepared to give an oral presentation for a Communication 140 class that was required to discuss a “relevant issue in the media”. Wahlberg and his group chose to discuss school violence due to recent events such as the Virginia Tech shootings that occurred in 2007.

Shortly after his professor, Paula Anderson, filed a complaint with the CCSU Police against her student. During the presentation Wahlberg made the point that if students were permitted to conceal carry guns on campus, the violence could have been stopped earlier in many of these cases. He also touched on the controversial idea of free gun zones on college campuses
.
Ain't it wonderful?
They told Wahlberg that they had received a complaint from his professor that his presentation was making students feel “scared and uncomfortable”.

“I was a bit nervous when I walked into the police station,” Wahlberg said, “but I felt a general sense of disbelief once the officer actually began to list the firearms registered in my name. I was never worried however, because as a law-abiding gun owner, I have a thorough understanding of state gun laws as well as unwavering safety practices.”

He should have been scared. Or at least worried; an awful lot of people have had their lives screwed up by professors and university brass and LE people pushing an agenda. And it doesn't do much good to be cleared in the end after the damage has been done.
Professor Anderson refused to comment directly on the situation and deferred further comment.
Anybody surprised by that?
“It is also my responsibility as a teacher to protect the well being of our students, and the campus community at all times,” she wrote in a statement submitted to The Recorder. “As such, when deemed necessary because of any perceived risks, I seek guidance and consultation from the Chair of my Department, the Dean and any relevant University officials.”
Apparently 'anything that's non-PC and/or makes me and the other boobs wet our pants' threatens the 'well being' of the student body. 'Perceived risks' my ass; one of her students refused to be a nice little drone so she sicced the cops on him for, let's have that quote from the police again, "...his presentation was making students feel “scared and uncomfortable.” ".

I wonder how much these students are being robbed of to pay for this education?

Less than four years, victory declared and the troops are leaving

New Orleans:
Three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard is pulling the last of its troops out of New Orleans this weekend, leaving behind a city still desperate and dangerous.

Residents long distrustful of the city’s police force are worried they will have to fend for themselves.

“I don’t know if crime will go up after these guys leave. But I know a lot more of us will be packing our own pieces now to make sure we’re protected,” said Calvin Stewart, owner of a restaurant and store
.
I don't blame him; if I lived there I'd have had a gun in my pocket, and something more substantial within reach at all times.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said his rebuilt police department is up to the job of protecting the city. "I think we're ready to handle things," he said.
Show of hands: considering his past record, how many people trust what Riley says? That's what I thought.
"We don't have enough cops. It's not that they're bad, it's just that there's not enough of them. These guys are Johnny-on-the-spot when you need them," said 57-year-old Tom Hightower, who is still trying to get the mold out of his house. He added: "This is still a spooky place after dark."
Which brings us back to 'something substantial within reach'.

My daughter's planning a trip to NO later this year. She has a friend down there who's been briefing the "This area is pretty safe, and don't you DARE go beyond this street or into this area" situation. No, I'm not overly fond of her going down there, but she's smart enough to pay attention to the warnings and to what's going on around her. Don't you just love it that this place, here in the US, after a natural disaster had to beg for NG troops because the city authorities couldn't take care of the place? A city that still hasn't returned a lot of stolen guns(stolen by the city, let us not forget) to their owners because, after said natural disaster, the owners can't produce paperwork the city demands? Just bloody wonderful, isn't it?