Saturday, March 14, 2009

I may be mistaken, but after all the "We will now fund

fetal stem cell research of all kinds" noise in the speech, doesn't this pretty much leave things just like the order Bush signed? If not more strict?
On Wednesday, only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicilty bans federal funding of any “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”
The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996.

The amendment says, in part: “None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for—(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”

...it also mandates that the government use an all-inclusive definition of “human embryo” that encompasses any nascent human life from the moment that life comes into being, even if created in a laboratory through cloning, in vitro fertilization or any other means
.
Which means either the "We don't have time for you to read all this!" push caused this to get through without notice, or Obama knew it was there and just used the "I'm signing" press moment to showboat, knowing this was going to keep anything from really changing.

As examples of how companies like Adidas are run by moral cretins

and fools, I would have pointed to the products Liberty Girl pointed out with which Adidas urged people to show their love for the former USSR and for Cuba.

........

It just takes a minute to wrap your head around the idiocy involved in that crap. Said crap apparently pissed off enough people who then expressed their opinion to the company, because both products show 'temporarily out of stock'. Kind of like the supply of brains at that company.

Just because I enjoyed it,

something to start the day:
Mr. Adams: You're [sic] columns are among the most insensitive I have ever read. George Will and other true conservatives must be embarrased [sic] by your rants. Have you given no thought to the needs os [sic] the many young boys who are experiencing gender identity crises?

Lauren


Hi Lauren. I agree with you that young boys experiencing gender identity confusion have special needs. I have given the matter considerable thought. I think a young boy who thinks he's a girl needs a serious ass whipping. Parents who hear a child whining that he feels like a girl trapped in a boy's body should attend to his needs by whipping his ass immediately.

As you can see, Lauren, I've given serious thought to this matter. Is there any other subject about which you wish to survey my thoughts or feelings?

Mike Adams


and

yo, wtf do you have a gun in your hand for? it's in the pic on your fromt [sic] page. I was surfing the web and found your site, having no idea what it's about I would love to know why fire arms are on your front page.

oban cameron

Dear Oban:

I have a firearm on my home page for essentially the same reason a dog licks his genitals: Because he can and he enjoys it.

Like the dog, it is best to leave me alone to enjoy doing what I enjoy doing. I hope you understand. Your opinion means a lot to me.

Mike S. Adams

Friday, March 13, 2009

Dinner's over, my sinuses are cleared

and the last of the chili's gone. You see, the other day somebody pointed to this at Brigid's place, which reminded me of how long it's been since I made fry bread, so... Fresh fry bread with chili ladled over, grated cheese thrown on and some chopped lettuce on top. I'm stuffed, and chili took care of my somewhat stopped-up nose.

By the way, tear off a bit from a piece of the still-warm bread and drip some honey on it. I dare you to not eat that whole piece.

Sigivald thought a comment had not gone through,

but it may just have been the moderation delay. A few days ago some moron started posting garbage in comments, so I enabled moderation to stop it. Hopefully can take it back off in a while.

Sigivald had a couple of things to say, one of them
Firstly, I think your interpretation is a bit flawed; an '03 or Krag is a bolt-action and thus not affected by a "semi-automatic rifle" regulation of any sort, stupid as these proposed bans are. Likewise, the "detachable magazine outside the pistol grip" referred in the previous AWB to the location of the magazine, not its length - and I see no reason why the language presented would apply to long magazines and their extension rather than location.

I'm basing the '03 and such on "there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a firearm procured for use by the United States military or any law enforcement agency is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes,"; give an AG like Holder the ability to add something to a ban at will and that line spells "Ban it all!" to me. Same for the magazine 'outside the pistol grip' line; it meant one thing in the original AWB, but if they did try to shove a new through, I have no doubt that would be used to ban any semi-auto handgun that has every had a extended mag made to fit. For that matter, the extreme gun bigots would argue that since the magazine of any pistol could be extended...

You may be right that I'm misinterpreting those parts, but I don't trust them. At all.

The Evil Party gun ban list

Friend relayed this to me, I'm just going to excerpt part of it:
The Democrats current gun-ban-list proposal (final list will be worse):
Rifles (or copies or duplicates):
M1 Carbine,
Sturm Ruger Mini-14,
AR-15,
Bushmaster XM15,
Armalite M15,
AR-10,
Thompson 1927,
Thompson M1;
AK,
AKM,
AKS,
AK-47,
AK-74,
ARM,
MAK90,
NHM 90,
NHM 91,
SA 85,
SA 93,
VEPR;
Olympic Arms PCR;
AR70,
Calico Liberty ,
Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU,
Fabrique National FN/FAL,
FN/LAR, or FNC,
Hi-Point20Carbine,
HK-91,
HK-93,
HK-94,
HK-PSG-1,
Thompson 1927 Commando,
Kel-Tec Sub Rifle;
Saiga,
SAR-8,
SAR-4800,
SKS with detachable magazine,
SLG 95,
SLR 95 or 96,
Steyr AU,
Tavor,
Uzi,
Galil and Uzi Sporter,
Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle ( Galatz ).
Pistols (or copies or duplicates):
Calico M-110,
MAC-10,
MAC-11, or MPA3,
Olympic Arms OA,
TEC-9,
TEC-DC9,
TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10,
Uzi.
Shotguns (or copies or duplicates):
Armscor 30 BG,
SPAS 12 or LAW 12,
Striker 12,
Streetsweeper. Catch-all category (for anything missed or new designs):
A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a pistol grip (which includes ANYTHING that can serve as a grip, see
below),
(iv) a forward grip; or a barrel shroud.
Any semiautomatic rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than
10 rounds (except tubular magazine .22 rim fire rifles)..
A semiautomatic pistol that has the ability to accept a
detachable magazine, and has:
(i) a second pistol grip,
(ii) a threaded barrel,
(iii) a barrel shroud or
(iv) can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip, and
(v) a semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10
rounds. Note that the
A semiautomatic shotgun with:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock,
(ii) a pistol grip (see definition below),
(iii) the ability to accept a detachable magazine or a fixed magazine capacity
of more than 5 rounds, and
(iv) a shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
Frames or receivers for the above are included, along with conversion kits.


Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will: Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any "semiautomatic rifle or shotgun originally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General."
Note that Obama's pick for this office, Eric Holder, wrote a brief in the Heller case supporting the position that you have no right to have a working firearm in your own home. In making this determination, the bill says, "there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a firearm procured for use by the United States military or any law enforcement agency is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, and a shall not be determined to be particularly suitable for sporting purposes solely because the firearm is suitable for use in a sporting event." In plain English this means that ANY firearm ever obtained by federal officers or the military is not suitable for the public.
The last part is particularly clever, stating that a firearm doesn't have a sporting purpose just because it can be used for sporting purpose -- is that devious or what? And of course, "sporting purpose" is a rights infringement with no constitutional or historical support whatsoever, invented by domestic enemies of the right to keep and bear arms to further their cause of disarming the innocent.

It's a real shopping list, isn't it? The pistol 'can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip' will mean if it can hold a mag that extends beyond the grip, the pistol is banned; which means banning EVERY semi-auto pistol. Your rifle is threaded for a compensator? Banned. Pistol has a threaded barrel, or someone every made one for that model? Banned. Your old 1903 Springfield? M1 Garand? Krag? Banned. Every 1911 variant in existence? Banned. And since lots of pistols of all types have been use in military service? Banned. Because the AG decides that they don't have a 'proper sporting purpose'.

And let's take that sporting purpose crap; it means that they want to completely trash the 2nd Amendment, AND consider self-defense to be not worthy of consideration as reason for owning a firearm. After all, self-defense isn't a 'sporting purpose', now is it?

This is what they'd like to do. And, since they've proven they have no consideration for the Constitution beyond using it as toilet paper, we have to keep reminding them of the price for trying to do this.

A nice comment from somebody on the "Make wounded vets pay

for their treatment" idea:
Let’s see. The same administration that wants to give tens of billions of dollars to GM, Citigroup, AIG, and a host of other banks and manufacturers wants men and women injured in service to their country to pay for the medical care that arises from these injuries? In what universe does Shinseki and the Obama administration live, anyway?
Really, I still have no words about this. Like I said, it tells us a lot about what kind of general Shinseki was, that he'd go along with this crap.

A Russian expert is warning that we need to take the threat from Iran seriously:
Russia and the West would be making a big mistake if they ignored or underestimated the potential missile and nuclear threat coming from Iran, a Russian military expert said on Thursday.

"Iran is actively working on a missile development program. I won't say the Iranians will be able to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles in the near future, but they will most likely be able to threaten the whole of Europe," said [retired] Maj. Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin, head of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Nuclear Forces....

"Iran has long abandoned outdated missile technologies and is capable of producing sophisticated missile systems," Dvorkin said at a news conference in RIA Novosti

Considering their own troubles with islamist types, no, I don't think the Russians like the idea of Iran having both long-range missiles and nukes; not at all. And if the EUnuchs have a brain in their heads, they'll be seriously worried about it.

Congress once again promises not to make itself vote to give itself a raise; they'd rather hide behind automatic raises.

Massachusetts proves itself a bastion of free speech as long as the speech agrees with what the nutcases think; otherwise, they don't want you to be heard.

The Most Ethical Congress EVAH!
“Note that OneUnited is the same bank whose relationship with Barney Frank raised some eyebrows back in January. After receiving $12 million in bailout funds with Frank’s help, the FDIC issued a cease-and-desist order against the bank, in part related to the fact that the bank was paying for the CEO’s beach house and Porsche.”

Ace pointed out this article on just how standard-politics Mr. Hopey-Changeypants is; as he says, Not a lot you haven't read before, but a worthy effort in showing Barack Obama for what he is.

I won't go into the latest Obama appointee resignations/raids/arrests/whatever; just too many.

I read this piece from Paglia the other day, and had about the same reaction:"So everyone in the administration except Obama is screwing up, and Obama's only real sin is in not picking the right people?" An awful lot of people have a lot of personal feelings invested in "Obama is wonderful!", and they're willing to overlook an awful lot to keep that feeling; gonna be really nasty when reality crashes down on them.

And, just to make things fun as Pres. Obama is reaching out to Tehran,
An American fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone as it was flying over Iraq, U.S. military sources in Baghdad tell Danger Room.

Details of the previously-unreported shoot-down, which occurred last month, are still sketchy. But we do know that American commanders have long accused Tehran of supplying weapons and training to all sorts of Iraqi militant groups. Shi'ite militias fired Iranian rockets at U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the American military; Sunni militias allegedly used Iranian armor-piercing bombs to reduce U.S. vehicles to ribbons
.
Just wonderful, isn't it?

Back to this country, how's this for a blunt theat from Pelosi's office?
“Could you send me a hard copy of the DOD budget documents on the fy 08 request and the fy07 supplemental request?” wrote Pelosi staffer Mike Sheehy in a February 5, 2007 email to the DOD, in direct response to having the speaker’s request for a bigger, nicer plane that could take her from San Francisco to DC without having to refuel rebuffed. This was an implicit budgetary threat issued to a department Pelosi and her staff wanted something from.
So when she says
“I have never asked for any larger plane….We’ve never asked for a larger plane, this is a myth that they are talking about on the floor,” she said. “No we haven’t asked for any larger plane. …this is not my request, it is a request of the Sergeant-at-Arms…
she's lying to us. Again.

And, just as a general finish, a piece on one of the biggest diamond thefts ever. Including the idiot-level mistake that blew the whole thing.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

One last thing: Tam makes reference to the ads

with pretty ladies about to fall out of their BDU pants and expose something through the open front of their vest if they turn a little, displaying whatever New Tacticaler! thing is being sold. Which reminded me...

One of my various gripes over the years has been the people who draw the covers of sci-fi and fantasy novels. In particular, the ones with the Heroine In The Mail Bikini or something similar and/or the Hero In The Breechclout chasing/being chased through the woods. No objection whatever to pretty females in scanty attire, but DAMN, people, have some sense! The way I once expressed this, in my usual quite tones, was along the lines of "I'd like to take the jerk who drew this, dress him up this way, and run his ass through the woods for a while; then we'll see if he thinks it's a good idea. And we'll send his girlfriend along, too!" The kids, having some experience with what you run into in the Oklahoma woods, laughed like hell. Yeah, think about running into greenbriar or blackberry vines with nothing between them and your tender hide; and that's not counting the bugs and the general stickers and things. There was a reason the Indians wore leggings and long shirts, people.

Since I'm- once again- on the subject of dirtbag politicians, this time the UN

has done it again.
CAPITOL HILL, March 12 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning, ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen emerged and told the Press that Ban "used the word deadbeat when it came to describing the United States... unbelievable."

Minutes later, Ban stopped and spoke to the three reporters present, including Inner City Press, all three of whom had tape recorders running. He was asked, did you use the word 'deadbeat'? Inner City Press asked, "Ros-Lehtinen seemed to say you did."

"Yes I did, I did," Ban replied, and then smiled impishly. His spokesperson, who also tape recorded the exchange, then said Ban had to go. He rushed away down the hallway surrounded by aides
.
Ah, but he has an explanation, you see:
At least two stories were written. Then, past midnight, Ban's Spokesperson's office issued a midnight "clarification" --

Subj: To clarify any misunderstanding about the Secretary General
From: unspokesperson-donotreply@un.org
To: Inner City Press [et al.]
Sent: 3/12/2009 12:19:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time

The Secretary-General said: "The United States generously supports the work of the UN , both in assessed and voluntary contributions".

The Secretary-General also added that while the United States is the most generous contributor to the United Nations, it is also the largest debtor, with more than one billion dollars of arrears owed to the organization
. Etc.
So, let's see; we put more money into that conglomeration of tyrants and leeches than any other country, we're not giving them ENOUGH, so we're deadbeats.
........
Mr. Secretary-General, there's already an awful lot of us sick to bloody death of paying you clowns to screw people- sometimes literally, considering the number of UN people involved in running brothels and child porn and other abuses- the world over. We're tired of(at the tsunami zone, for instance) being either first or among the first there, working our asses off, contributing billions, and having your delicate little flowers show up and try to take over and claim credit for everything done, and then insulting us.

And you call us deadbeats because we don't give you enough of what we work for. So you can use it to prop up more dictators, and insult us more, and abuse more people, and insist people being murdered and enslaved should just sit and take it until the Holy UN comes in(probably after they're all dead) and does something.

Screw you, Mr. Secretary-General, and every deadbeat, thieving little socialist jackass under you. We ought to stop funding your organization AT ALL and tell you to move the hell out of our country. You're so fond of dictators, go to Cuba; I'm sure the Castro regime would love to have you there.

And if I hear anything about how wonderful unions are,

I'll think of this:
...In this release, Teamster president Hoffa praised the House and Senate sponsors of card check and asked, “Since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?”

Well, gee, you worthless, corrupt piece of crap, for quite a long damned time. And that you can say such a thing tells me all I need to know about you and what you're pushing. And the dirtbags in Congress pushing it for you.

I wonder, what did their integrity cost? Probably went pretty cheap, I'd guess.

I would not have believed I would have to say Pres. Obama is worse

than I'd thought and feared; but this miserable canker on the ass of this country is.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.
...
No official proposal to create such a program has been announced publicly, but veterans groups wrote a pre-emptive letter last week to President Obama voicing their opposition to the idea after hearing the plan was under consideration.

The groups also cited an increase in "third-party collections" estimated in the 2010 budget proposal -- something they said could be achieved only if the Veterans Administration started billing for service-related injuries.

Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said
.

I have no words. There's just no proper way to describe this shit. And that Shinseki, who used to be a general, is part of it...

Miserable, chickenshit, cowardly, disgusting...

Thanks to Sondra for helping get word of this atrocity around

Helmke, of the Brady Group To Ban Guns, is a flat-out

damned liar:

McLendon fired more than 200 rounds from his military-style semiautomatic assault weapons....Assault weapons were banned under federal law until four years ago....

"This man needed the firepower of assault weapons to execute his plan of mass carnage. Alabama, and our nation, must take action to make it harder for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign.



I'll pass on the other bullcrap; the simple fact is these firearms were not banned 'until four years ago'. Which means, once again, the Brady Group To Ban Guns either doesn't know what it's talking about, or is a bunch of damned liars.

On the subject of the care and feeding of the Garand

Rustmeister noted in comments Modern 30.06 loads are hotter than what the Garand was designed for and can damage your baby. Which is something to consider.

Remember a while back I wrote on pressure, and when it comes in, and why military arms are generally designed specifically around a cartridge? That's very much in my mind, and I plan to be careful about it. Generally, jacketed bullets from 150 to 170 grains weight can be safely used when loaded to pressures that will both give accuracy and cycle the action properly; heavier bullets, no. Lighter jacketed often no, because the powder type and charge that works best for them often does not play well with the operating system of the Garand.

Cast bullets as heavy as 200 grains, sometimes with a slower-burning powder than IMR4895, have been used successfully in the Garand due to the fact that a cast or cast and gas-checked bullet has a lot less friction in the bore than a jacketed bullet with that hard copper-alloy coat; but you do have to watch pressures to make sure you stay in the range.

I've been told the Federal American Eagle .30-06 with 150-grain FMJ bullet matches up to military M2 ball specs, but haven't checked that out for myself; I do know that one local range that regularly runs service rifle shoots sells that ammo for the matches with that as the reason.

Speaking of the Garand, after shooting it to check it out, when time allows I'll use some stuff to clean the old oil and grease(happily, doesn't look like much) out of the wood and refinish it carefully(so as not to damage the stock markings). Right now it's 30-something and damp outside, and I ain't gonna do it. I did a few years back in similar weather, because the rifle in question was really greasy and I just couldn't wait, but I about froze doing it. My hands get stiffer in the cold than they used to, so I'll wait for things to warm up a bit.

Ok, you people who voted Hopey-Changey to end the war

and bring the troops home? In case you haven't figured it out yet, President Hopey-Changey lied to you, too.
President Obama, apparently seeking to keep the anti-war left firmly under his spell, announced that he was drawing down American forces in Iraq, and was instead diverting forces who had trained specifically for an Iraqi deployment to Afghanistan.

Less than a month later, another unit's scheduled deployment to Iraq is sped up, in order to keep the same number of Stryker brigades in Iraq as there would have been if he hadn't shipped the other unit to Afghanistan.

The President ordered a unit that had trained for ten months specifically for the Iraqi mission to another part of the world that speaks a different language and has entirely different cultures. There is no easy way to determine on a Sunday night how many tens of millions of training dollars and man-hours Obama wasted by shifting this Stryker brigade, but if the Iraqi theater really didn't need them, it at least could have been understandable.

But the Iraqi theater clearly did need a Stryker brigade, and he planned on sending one all along.

We know this because just as soon as the Obama White House sold the drawdown story to the media and the anti-war left, he immediately and quietly ordered that another Stryker brigade—one that is no doubt capable, but one that didn't have the specific, intensive training of the unit diverted to Afghanistan— rushed to Iraq months ahead of schedule in order to keep the same number of Stryker brigades (two) as there has been the entire time
.
So what President B. Cartman Obama really meant was "I will bring the troops home(while I send others over there, but don't pay attention to that part)!"

People taken away from their families prematurely, without the training that would really help, so Obama could play at keeping a campaign promise. Just effing wonderful.

True, true...



Thanks to RNC for the toon

The Sportsman's Warehouse here is closing

Just heard about it today. There goes one of the places I got reloading stuff locally.

I went up to take a look around, not expecting much. When a shipment of ammo, powder, primers or bullets came in, unless you happened to come by within two days it was all gone, so, as I expected, not much on the shelves. Did have some powder, shotgun primers and some bullets in stock, very little in the way of ammo. Not just handgun or whatever; if you counted up everything, maybe two cases on the shelves, and that was going away.

They have a wall behind the gun counter that has most of the handguns on it, with some of the more special stuff in the counter; it would've been easier to list what was there than what wasn't, by far. A fair number of bolt rifles and shotguns left, but they're going, too.

I'll miss the place.

A couple of pieces on the major media trying to avoid noticing

the tax protests.
If a revolution happens and no reporters cover it, will it make a sound? That's a good question because an anti-tax revolution as American as they come is under way, and the country's top newsmen could care less.

Anti-tax protests have been sprouting like spring flowers from sea to shining sea the past couple of weeks. Inspired by the "Chicago Tea Party" rant of CNBC business analyst Rick Santelli, taxpayers have rallied in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, among other locales. A national "Tax Day Tea Party" of coordinated rallies is planned for April 15.

But if you only get your news from the mainstream media, you probably wouldn't know the protests ever happened. Most major news outlets have provided zero coverage of any of the individual events or the grassroots movement as a whole. The conservative-leaning Internet startup Pajamas TV is the only outlet consistently covering the protests, which totaled nearly 30 by PJTV's count after last weekend.


and
DOES THE L.A. TIMES COVER RALLIES? YOU BET IT DOES! And they don’t have to have 15,000 people, either — as long as the issue is one near and dear to the hearts of Times editors.
Again, the major media shows hellish bias, would rather die than admit it and try to fix it, and then bitches about their markets going down the toilet.

"But THESE earmarks are IMPORTANT; and they

put the Kennedy name on more things."

Sick to death of arrogant politicians who want to spend more of other peoples money so they can polish their own image, sick to death of politicians who claim something is important but don't want to be bothered with actually arguing their point and trying to legitimately get funding; oh no, much easier to do this.

I guess the Kennedy family wants to be like Byrd in WV; they think their name ought to be on every damn thing around.

So these are the wonderful people running the

whole damn mess:
Bryan described himself as an Obama supporter who derived “intellectual satisfaction” from the president’s healthcare, education and climate proposals. But he questioned whether most people connected such complicated issues to the plunging values of their retirement accounts or to soaring unemployment.

Pervasive voter uncertainty means Obama needs to emphasize short-term measures to fix the economy, Bryan said. “If there’s not a sense that we’ve reached bottom and there’s a sense of uncertainty, I think the president’s support will erode fairly rapidly,” he added.
Yeah, we're too unintellectual to connect Obama wanting to trash the coal industry and prevent drilling and shove cap & trade down our throats and warning us that electricity costs will 'skyrocket' to the economy. Uh huh. Or maybe we just don't have Mr. Bryan's 'intellectual satisfaction' in Pres. B. Cartman Obama wanting to 'remake the country' in an Alinsky image.

The whole piece is interesting, with it seeming to boil down to this: doesn't seem to matter to these clowns if things actually improve, what matters is if they can make voters think things are better so they can hold onto majorities.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

It may not be Tam's preferred

flying predator, but it's a fine example of a stealth attack craft saying "TURN OFF THAT LIGHT! I'M TRYING TO HUNT!!"

Have you ever seen the claws on those birds?

About that shortage of ammo,

as I pointed out before, it ain't just the finished stuff.

The guy that owns the pretty Colt Hammerless couldn't find ANY .32acp in town. So he went online; very little there, either, and the price on stuff like Blazer is ridiculous. So I did a bit of browsing...

Checking Midway and Grafs, most .32 bullets show sold out. Neither place has .32acp dies in stock when I looked. Checked a couple of other places and things, and all kinds of bullets from .32 on up, lots of dies, even many bullet molds for .32 and .380 and 9mm and so forth are sold out.

It seems people distrust the gummint enough, and are bothered by the cost of things and worry about future availability enough, that they're stocking up on things to roll their own; wonder how many of them are people who've started handloading in the last few months?

You know, there's got to be a bunch of nervous stomachs among the people in DC over this.

My personal stimulus package, and contribution to the

re-arming of America going on.

When all the fun started back around last October, I started thinking about a EBR. Question was, what? I'm just not that fond of the AR15, they're expensive and were rapidly becoming more so, and ammo... jeez, have you looked at .223 lately? Plus son is not that fond of it*; he recommended that if I did, get a piston upper in 7.62x39; can you say 'even more pricey'?

I've always liked the idea of a M1A, but they're more expensive than most AR15s I've seen. Then I had a thought(shut up, Og, it happens). I checked the site and they still showed them, so I put the paperwork together and mailed it off. '30 to 60 days' turned to 90, to 120, and then I got an e-mail: 'processing your order'! Which was a real surprise, as I'd been afraid they'd run out. Then a couple of days ago the White Truck of Happiness brought the box from CMP:
M1 Garand in the grand old .30-06 cartridge, this one made by Harrington & Richardson. After disassembly and a thorough cleaning, it's in quite good condition; the bore looks very nice indeed, the muzzle shows little wear, the action's tight and the trigger not bad at all; I'm guessing about 5 pound with no creep or drag. The stock has a lot of little 'carried around a lot' dings, and appears to be original to the rifle.

I've got a bunch of -06 brass, and you can use any 150- to 170-grain bullet to feed it, so ammo won't be a big problem. May see about ordering some more of the HXP ammo CMP has; I've fired it before, it's good stuff. And I think the cast bullets will work out to make very nice practice loads.

True, it doesn't have the pistol grip or detachable magazine that causes such pants-wetting among the Brady Group To Ban Guns and their associates; and the handguard is wood instead of being a horrifying 'thing that folds up' barrel shroud. But it does have a bayonet lug(got a sticker for it), and you can stick a grenade launcher on it, and it is on the list those GFW dirtbags drew up as 'Evil Assault Weapons That Make Us Foul Our Diapers That Peasants Should Not Own' , so it'll do for that part. Helmke, that arms expert who said that guns capable of shooting more than 100 yards should not be allowed for hunting, should go into PSH at the thought of a 150-grain bullet at almost 2900fps("Why, it'll go MUCH more than 100 yards!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!") And, though no detachable mag, those 8-round clips go in pretty quickly, so I guess that counts for it, also.

The stimulus part? I used my tax refund to pay for it, and it'll stimulate interest at the range, pleasure for me in further cleaning and use, and "Crap, where'd you get it?" questions at the range.

Clips. More clips... And wheelweights.


*He told me that he's never seen one, properly maintained(i.e. 'scrubbed within an inch of its life daily') fail to function in combat; he does say they can be a pain in the ass to thoroughly clean after much use, and he's not fond of the cartridge for fighting.

Back to the 'Most Ethical Congress

EVAH!
Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided in November as part of a federal criminal probe.

Founded in 1999 as a joint enterprise run by Penn State and the Office of Naval Research, the EOC promotes electronic research needed for state-of-the-art military equipment.

But sources familiar with the EOC’s operations say Murtha has used the center as a “front” for PMA and other lobbyists and contractors with ties to the Pennsylvania Democrat.

At least 10 PMA lobbying clients have received funding via the EOC, officials at the center acknowledged. Sources familiar with the EOC’s operations said the total that went to PMA clients ran into the “tens of millions of dollars.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Murtha has received $2.38 million in campaign contributions from PMA and its clients over the past 10 years.

“Welcome to the ‘earmark factory,’” said a person familiar with the EOC’s internal operations.

Insty noted Some Democratic spokespeople are saying that earmarks don’t matter because the amount of money is small compared to the total budget. If that’s true, then outright bribes wouldn’t matter, either, because there’s not all that much difference . . . .
Yesterday, I think on Hannity(listen occasionally) some Evil Party mouthpiece, I think Beckel, was noting exactly that: "It's only a small part of the bill so why get upset about it?" How about BECAUSE IT'S OUR MONEY YOU'RE WASTING, YOU BASTARD! Real easy to be careless with other people's money, isn't it?

He also made the statement that 'health care is a right' and needed to be socialized. Hannity asked where in the Constitution or any of the founding documents it said that it's a right, and Beckel replied "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. So, according to the Evil Party and the socialists, those seven words mean that you have a right to have to government rob other people to pay your doctor bills. Kind of like the Interstate Commerce Clause means the feds can regulate ANYTHING in their view; all for our own good, of course.

Rat bastards.

Those wonderful Saudi enforcers of the

religion of peace:
A 75-year-old widow has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison in Saudi Arabia for mingling with two young men who were reportedly bringing her bread.
...
The two men, including one who was Mrs Sawadi's late husband's nephew, were also found guilty and sentenced to prison terms and lashes.

The elderly woman met the two 24-year-old men last April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported.

The men - identified by Al-Watan as the nephew, Fahd al-Anzi, and his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein - went to Mrs Sawadi's home in the city of al-Chamil, north of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. After delivering the bread, the two men were arrested by a one of the religious police, Al-Watan reported
.
Just frikkin' wonderful.

The creation of the AC130,

thanks to Blackfive:
...but we think it went something like this in 1967:

Drunk engineer 1: So...dude...let's take a cargo plane and trick it out with every weapon we can find!

Drunk engineer 2: I don't know man...a cargo plane?

Drunk engineer 1: Come on!

Drunk engineer 2: Well...can we add a 25mm gatling gun and a 40mm cannon?

Drunk engineer 1: Shit yeah, man! We can even add a 105mm Howitzer cannon!

Drunk enginner 2: Really? Well in that case - I'm in!

Theo had a piece about what sons teach you,

including
1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq.... ft. house 4 inches deep.

2! .) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
and other interesting things. Sent it to a friend, and she contributed these:
Do not pull down on handles on walls in public buildings. The fire alarm is very loud and little boys can not out-run the sound.
Boys who love splashing in puddles will seek out water. When Mom says to get out of the pond/lake/creek or river, the little boy will immediately find the hole or drop off, going in over his head and necessitating a rescue. (This has happened twice; once in a pond and once in a river. Luckily I was only a few yards away.)
Little boys should not be left in parked cars when the motor is running, even for thirty seconds. They can put the car into drive. Yes, Grandmas can run fast enough to catch up and stop the car before it reaches the fence.

I'll throw in, "They can't remember being told to pick up the damned toys, but they can remember every one of your special words for fixing the car."

Question: Does Pres. B. Cartman Obama just not pay attention

to the problems with nominees, or did he think he could just shove them through anyway?
...The allegations against Freeman included claims that he was insensitive to the cause of Tibetan independence, having described Tibetan independence efforts as “race riots.” He described “Israeli violence against Palestinians” as the barrier to peace in the Middle East without acknowledging Palestinian violence against Israelis. Freeman’s stance on these issues may come as no surprise given that he was part of an institute that was funded by Saudi money and sat on the board of a Chinese state-owned oil company.
Including this marvelous comment he made:
For myself, I side on this — if not on numerous other issues — with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans’ “Bonus Army” or a “student uprising” on behalf of “the goddess of democracy” should expect to be displaced with despatch from the ground they occupy. I cannot conceive of any American government behaving with the ill-conceived restraint that the Zhao Ziyang administration did in China, allowing students to occupy zones that are the equivalent of the Washington National Mall and Times Square, combined. while shutting down much of the Chinese government’s normal operations. I thus share the hope of the majority in China that no Chinese government will repeat the mistakes of Zhao Ziyang’s dilatory tactics of appeasement in dealing with domestic protesters in China.

Wow. That's just... amazing. And Obama, with all the stuff hanging off this guy, thought he could be run through with no big problem. Like all the tax-cheats and other assorted dirtbags he wanted in high position.

So did he just think his powers could loft them through the process anyway, or did he and his staff just not pay attention?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Back to the subject of insulting allies,

these are some of the people President B. Cartman Obama wants to use a bargaining chip with the Soviet bastardsRussians:
WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's army is changing its tactics in Afghanistan -- going on the offense in military operations in view of more likely attacks on coalition forces, Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said.

Klich, who is paying a visit to Afghanistan, said that Poland's likely involvement in offensive military operations in Afghanistan is linked to the forthcoming presidential elections there and the end of winter, a time when rebel attacks are hindered. Intensification of U.S. operations in neighbouring provinces is another reason.

"Taking this into account we decided to change our tactics in Afghanistan and cooperate as closely as possible with U.S. troops," Poland's defence minister said
.
I remember reading that the Polics specops people who were involved in the invasion and after were considered first-class people, very nice to have on your side; nice to know they're still carrying their end. Now if we could get the other NATO 'allied' governments to let their troops do the same...

Man reads headline "Madam arrested for keeping a disorderly house";

Wife says "They arrested Pelosi?"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly requested military aircraft to shuttle her and her colleagues and family around the country, according to a new report from a conservative watchdog group.

Representatives for Judicial Watch, which obtained e-mails and other documents from a Freedom of Information request, said the correspondence shows Pelosi has abused the system in place to accommodate congressional leaders and treated the Air Force as her "personal airline."

Pelosi's office disputed the claim, pointing to White House policy enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks allowing for the House speaker to travel to his or her congressional district via military aircraft whenever possible for security reasons. Her office said she typically uses the same kind of aircraft used by her predecessor, Dennis Hastert
.
One of the important things here: 'whenever possible'. That's not supposed to include "I want an airplane and I want it now!"
In one e-mail, aide Kay King complained to the military that they had not made available any aircraft the House speaker wanted for Memorial Day recess.

"It is my understanding there are NO G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable ... The Speaker will want to know where the planes are," King wrote.

In another, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King wrote: "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset Speaker."

And if that last isn't a threat, what is it? Please note, not "Is there a flight we can get on?" or "Is there a plane available?", but "The Speaker wants a G5!"

Most Ethical Congress EVAH!!!

Gee, there are bad things hidden in the Rob Your Grandkids

Spending Bill? Damn, ain't that something?
Some issues that inflamed Democrats in previous years have yet to even register, including the proposal in Obama's budget plan to "means-test" the Medicare drug benefit as a way to pay for health-care reform. Doling out entitlement benefits based on income has long been anathema to most Democrats.
I will, for now, pass on commenting on the 'entitlement' crap; the important thing here is this was being snuck in without even most Evil Party members being aware of it.

Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama's approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.

"The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide," the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue
.
Well, something should put that piece of crap in jeopardy, before it ruins us all.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Yeah, well, I'd like to trace my ancestry back to Conan,

but that don't make it so.
The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.
Very conveniently passing over all those monarchies and dictatorships and socialist 'people's republics' that watered the ground with blood for centuries*... Guess what, bozos? Our republic IS older than your somewhat free governments. Which are becoming steadily less free as your socialist governments keep moving toward fascism.

As to Clinton?
Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering was effusive in his praise, saying that with the new administration, the United States and Europe once again "share the same values."

"What you said mostly could have been said by a European," he told Clinton after she fielded questions ranging from climate change to energy security and aid to Africa and one on gay rights from a participant wearing an "I love Hillary" t-shirt
.
Snork. Snuffle. "...said by a European" Personally I find that to be something of damning with faint praise, if not a flat-out insult. I don't doubt Hillary Clinton shares your socialist('progressive' if you prefer) viewpoint; you should get along famously, but don't expect the same from an awful lot of us.

*Yes, Greece began democracy; hasn't been a straight shot for it all these years.

No wonder President The Obama didn't want Churchill

looking at him:
"There is no such thing as a good tax."

"Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon."

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

"We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy."

"You ask, What is our policy? I will say; “It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.” You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival".

And on to the borders and illegal aliens

and the damage they're doing:
But in a case of mistaken identity, Jose Perez ended up dead. The intended target — the Houston-based head of a Mexican drug cartel cell pumping millions of dollars of cocaine into the city — walked away.

Perez, 27, was just a working guy, out getting dinner late on a Friday with his wife and young children at Chilos, a seafood restaurant on the Gulf Freeway.
...
“It is here and it has been here, but people don’t want to listen,” Rick Moreno, a Houston police homicide investigator working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI, said of the cartels’ presence in Houston. "It is so far-reaching>"

Washington is taking notice, even if the toll on U.S. streets is nowhere near as pervasive as in Mexico, where cartels are locked in a war against one another and with the government
.
A: A lot of us have been taking notice of this kind of garbage for years.
B: DC 'taking notice' has all too often been of the 'amnesty for illegals' variety. Except when they can use it as a club to whack at the 2nd Amendment(see 'illegal US guns to Mexico bullcrap).

“International drug trafficking organizations pose a sustained, serious threat to the safety and security of our communities,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said. “We can provide our communities the safety and the security that they deserve only by confronting these dangerous cartels head-on without reservation,” he said.
Well, isn't that nice. You know, AG Holder, it might help if there were a bit more control over the borders; you know, a fence or something? Or is that too simple-minded an idea to suit you?

And on another corrupt politician, Rep. Barney Frank

(Stealing Your Grandkid's Piggybank Bastard-MA), the Nuclear guy pointed to this:
In 1991, Barney Frank received an official reprimand for reflecting "discredit upon the House." The reprimand came as a result of his relationship with a man named Steve Gobi, a male prostitute whom Frank initially paid $80 for sex. Frank later took Gobi to live with him in his home, making him a personal aide. He paid him $20,000 in compensation (unreported to the IRS) and let him use his car. Subsequent investigation revealed that in the course of their relationship, Frank used his congressional office and stationary to fix Gobi's 33 parking fines. Frank also used his congressional letterhead to write a reference letter to Gobi's probation officer -- Gobi was under court supervision as a convicted felon with a prison record -- in which he gave false information. Most damningly, the investigation found that Gobi ran a prostitution ring from Frank's home. In his defense, Frank asserted he knew nothing of Gobi's illicit enterprise.
...
After Gobi, Barney Frank become involved in another questionable -- and possibly criminally tainted -- relationship with a man called Herb Moses. Moses, whom Frank called his "spouse," was a high-level executive at Fannie Mae from 1991 until 1998. Dubbed a "mortgage guru" by the National Mortgage News, Moses boasted that he helped develop "many of Fannie Mae's affordable housing and home improvement lending programs." It was, of course, these kinds of programs that ultimately led to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that wiped out trillions dollars from the economy and produced the economic turmoil that we now face. Even though there were those warning against the precarious nature of the enterprise, Barney Frank -- whose committee oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- kept resisting reforms and besmirching those voicing concerns
.
Etc. Etc. Etc. Let us note that this man considered a 'civil rights hawk' has never met a gun/ammo ban, licensing scheme or other restriction he didn't vote for.

And you morons in MA put him back in the House. Immediately after the mortgage market mess blew up, with his fingerprints all over it.

An absolutely prime example of an arrogant politician

who figures he can get away with anything: Rep. Charles Rangel(Tax cheat- Evil Party-NY)
Charlie Rangel’s message for Jason - and for all you bothersome taxpayers wondering about his shady rental property deals, publicly-subsidized Cadillac, and unpaid taxes:

“Why don’t you mind your goddamned business?”

Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're a corrupt politician who's screwing our lives around? You want to force us to obey laws you ignore? Which means it IS our damned business, you miserable bastard?

In case anybody wonders why people like me make statements like "C'mon, just one little meteor into DC, please..."

Sunday, March 08, 2009

You really need to read this

It is a rare person who does not attach some sort of value or emotion to some physical object or to an event. A home becomes more than a building. A statue of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix, a flag or a song, or even a photograph can stir emotions greater than the value of the material item.

I have a piece of paper showing I served in the military until I was discharged honorably. But, oh, the memories that piece of paper conjures up. The friends, the fun times. The bad times. The times when we were bound closer to strangers than to our own families and, in frightening chaos, our lives hung by a thread.

Many of our friends died far from home. Ask us about the feeling of "American soil" upon returning to the land we loved. Ask those returning soldiers about America.

Remember the old, faintly humorous band of American Legionnaires, wearing out-dated military uniforms straining at the buttons. But, God how proudly they marched. Grinning, waving to friends and families, and always, always "The Flag!" Ask them if the flag is mere cloth, I dare you.

See the elderly lady sitting in a lawn chair watching the fourth of July parade. Three flags carefully folded some forty years ago into triangles now rest in her lap - one for each lost son. Ask her if those flags are mere cloth, I dare you.

Look at the old man quietly crying, leaning against the Iwo Jiima Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. As he turns to you, smiles with some embarrassment, and says in a choked whisper, "I was there." Ask him, "Is it just metal and clay?" Ask him. I dare you.

The Wall. My God, the Wall. See the young man lightly tracing the name of his father there inscribed. Ask him if its just rock. Ask him. I dare you.
...
Metal and wood were the means by which we won our freedom.

Metal and wood were the means by which we kept our freedom.

Metal and wood may be the means by which we regain our freedom.

Metal and wood are the final power of the people. Take away the metal and wood and the people become powerless - they can only beg, they supplicate for favors.


Read it all. And I wish I could remember where I found the link, so I could thank whoever pointed it out.

There is not enough time

Medieval Fair is first weekend of April, so I was going to get a couple of things done toward that the last couple of days.

Yesterday? Squat. By the time took care of all that needed doing, it was too late to mess with the stuff. 'Doing' included oil & filter on the truck, air filter, and new plugs. Which required a trip back to the shop because the parts guy gave me the wrong plugs. The numbers have changed from what was originally on this vehicle, so that didn't tell me; but when I pulled the first plug and looked at the new one... just not right. So back to the shop in a wind that had already given me a headache, then home, then the plugs.

Today, went to the store this morning and as I returned realized I needed to clean the drain channels on the carport. They're covered, and not only do leaves and such get caught, but the damned sparrows like to squeeze in and build nests there. And before doing that I needed to prune one of the hollies.

The house has two big holly trees(they're as tall as the house, they ain't bushes) and one was overhanging the port. So ladder and clippers and gloves, get that trimmed and remove what had fallen over the winter, then get to opening the cleanout holes I'd made and hooking all the accumulated leaves, dirt, old nests and such out, then use one of the gutter blaster hose attachments to wash them out. After that was done, clean up the mess, and the driveway, and now it's 7 pm; and I still need to put some crap away.

That's not counting, by the way, phone calls I have to make from work tomorrow in my spare time(I laugh) to take care of some papers I got in the mail a couple of days ago. Assuming there's time to.

Blah. Sometimes I work harder(differently, more physical stuff) on my days off than I do at work. And I don't plan it that way.

New stock market & investing terms

CEO - Chief Embezzlement Officer
CFO - Corporate Fraud Officer
BULL MARKET - A random market movement causing an investor to mistake
himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET - A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the
wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING - The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO - The percentage of investors wetting themselves as the
market keeps crashing.
BROKER - What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR - Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST - Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT - When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally
between them.
FINANCIAL PLANNER - A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION - The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW - The movement your money makes as it disappears down the
toilet.
YAHOO - What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS - What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @
$240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR - Past year investor who's now locked in nuthouse.
PROFIT - An archaic word no longer in use.

Here's somebody and a case that deserves support

Basically a retired Marine was legally carrying a pistol while attending Western Oregon University. He was suspended for a year for exercising his rights and "In addition to his unlawful discipline, WOU humiliated the 30 year old, veteran Marine by mandating that he receive psychiatric evaluation and write a ten page paper on civil obedience before his readmission into the university."

I regret to say that Gullyborg sent me something on this a few days back, and in the middle of some stuff I lost track of it.

And yeah, I hope they sue the ass off the school and the people involved.

One of the reasons for questioning the 'guns smuggled from the US

to Mexico' bullcrap is, very simply, if a dealer were selling piles of firearms to straw man buyers here, and they were being smuggled into Mexico and used by the drug gangs, why wasn't ATF and the FBI nailing the dealers? I mean, they seem to have no problem screwing with people because a customer- gasp!horror!!- abbreviated a city or street name on a form, so why wouldn't they loudly and publicly go after the dealers?

The reporter clearly discussed the difference between automatic weapons and the semiautomatics that Holder wants to ban. Lou Dobbs says that the Mexican government won't provide the serial numbers of guns supposedly smuggled in from the U.S.--which suggests that they were actually obtained from the Mexican Army.
Indeed. If they were being smuggled from the US from those non-existent dealers selling select-fire weapons and RPGs over the counter, why would they not provide the serial numbers? Why, because the claim is a pile of crap, that's why.

"This system is broken."

No bleep?
After two homicide victims were sent to funeral homes as natural deaths within two years, Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin on Monday called the system for investigating unattended home deaths “broken.”

“Everyone is deferring to someone else,” he said. “Somebody is going to have to take responsibility so this doesn’t happen again.”

Last month a 49-year-old man died and was sent to a funeral home as a natural death despite having three bullet holes, including two in his head.

In September 2007, a 77-year-old woman was sent to a funeral home as a natural death even though her jaw was broken and her throat slashed
.
Years ago, I remember dad saying that they weren't allowed to say someone was 'dead' over the radio even if their head was over here and their body over there; "You're not a doctor, so you can't pronounce that!" That in no way prevented them from taking note of things like, oh, knife or bullet wounds.

Jackson County’s medical examiner, Mary Dudley, would not speak specifically about the two cases while addressing the Jackson County Legislature on Monday.

She said police and paramedics perform an “initial investigation” and police call to report the situation to her office. If the death is reported as natural, her office declines jurisdiction.

“We would not have to go to the scene,” she said, adding that if her office had to send investigators to every natural death, she would need to triple her staff and boost her budget by millions of dollars.

County Legislator James Tindall called the recent misclassified deaths “a real slipup” but not the fault of the medical examiner’s office. He said the fault lay with “whoever responded.”

However,
Police and MAST officials later Monday told a Kansas City Star reporter they did not agree with Dudley’s description of the process and did not accept Tindall’s blame.

Police said patrol officers are not experts in determining causes of death, have limited training in such matters and aren’t in a position to disrobe, move and inspect bodies.

“Our officers did nothing wrong,” Corwin said. “They followed a broken system that needs to be fixed. I’m not going to let them be thrown under the bus for something that’s been going on for years.”

Snork. How much training does it take to decide that multiple gunshot wounds in the head, or stabs and a cut throat, just might indicate a crime was committed?
White said paramedics are trained to treat each death as a possible crime scene and to limit their contact with the victim. Paramedics then turn the scene over to a patrol officer, who calls a homicide detective.

The detective usually asks the patrol officer several questions, including whether there were signs of forced entry, whether anything appeared missing or in disarray, and when the victim was last seen alive.

If the patrol officer doesn’t suspect foul play, the detective logs the call and the patrol officer calls the medical examiner.

Missouri statutes say the medical examiner “shall make a determination if further investigation is necessary, based on information provided.”


Ain't it just wonderful? Makes you wonder how many other possible homicides were never investigated because the PD provides 'limited training in such matters'?

Thanks to Clayton Cramer for taking note of this.

Ah, some academics have given their blessing to National ID Cards,

because our opposition, in their view, is due to ...the sources of hostility to National ID Cards in common law countries. It traces that hostility in the United States to a romantic vision of free movement and in England to an equally romantic vision of the 'rights of Englishmen'.

'Romantic vision'. Ideals that people fought and died for, ideals that people in other countries have died trying to establish, and died trying to get here to be part of and enjoy, are 'romantic visions'.

Any wonder why 'academics' has become used as an insult by so many people?

D for "I shall deal with you as you deserve!"

Couple of nights ago saw part of V for Vengeance. Last night took daughter to dinner and on the way said about the movie "We've got a lot of people pissed at the politicians and the government, but we don't have Guy Fawkes; who would people wear a mask of?"

Daughter thought a moment, then said "Andrew Jackson."

"Yeah..."

"I started to say one of the founders, but they probably wouldn't blow up Congress with them inside."

"But Jackson just might."

"Yeah."

A Historical Pride Parade with a whole lot of people dressed as President Andrew Jackson. Possibly carrying torches. In someplace other than DC I'd say swords and pistols, but the Jackson masks and general sentiment would probably cause enough pants wetting; even dull swords and unloaded flintlocks would have Schumer and Frank & Co. running for cameras as fast as their full diapers would let them to warn of the 'terrorists and bigots threatening the government', etc. Which, actually, might be worth watching.

Since the time change started the day bad,

let's take a bad-tempered look at two of the people who've A: helped create the financial mess we're in and B: want their hands on your money and mine to 'fix' it by screwing things up even more.

First up, Sen. Chris Countrywide Irish Cottage Dodd:
It takes considerable political skill for a U.S. senator to win a presidential pardon for a friend without the traditional review by the Justice Department. Sen. Christopher Dodd moved the furtive levers of power in 2001 for Edward R. Downe, convicted of tax and securities fraud eight years before. A man will do a lot for a former real estate partner.

It was reported here two weeks ago that Downe's real estate development partner, William "Bucky" Kessinger of Kansas City, Mo., purchased a 1,700-square-foot home in Ireland with Dodd in 1994 for $160,000. Downe's name appeared on the transfer document filed in the Irish Land Registry as the witness to Kessinger's signature. Kessinger owned two-thirds of the property, Dodd one-third.

Dodd's spokesman told The Courant in 2001 that the senator and Downe, who pleaded guilty to insider trading in 1993, had been friends for many years. No one mentioned that Dodd and Downe together purchased a condominium in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Dodd bought Downe's share 3 1/2 years later
.
And so on.
Dodd was never required to name Kessinger (on Senate disclosures) as the co-owner of their house on 10 acres of waterfront property on the west coast of Ireland for the eight years they owned it together. As with the condominium, the public doesn't know who paid the expenses associated with it when Kessinger owned two-thirds of it.
...
In 2002, long into a historic Irish property value boom and the year after Dodd got Downe pardoned, Kessinger sold Dodd his share in the lair for only $15,000 more than the $107,000 he'd paid in 1994. Two years after the bubble exploded, homes smaller than Dodd's and on smaller pieces of property than his are on the market for several times the maximum $250,000 Dodd has declared his is worth each year on his Senate disclosure formssince 2002.

Waterfront properties on the "Irish Riviera" don't often come on the market. In today's dire real estate market, a 750-square-foot, two-bedroom townhouse in nearby Roundstone is for sale for $750,000. A 900-square foot, three-bedroom semi-detached house, boasting of a view of Inishnee, the island where Dodd's house stands high above Bertaghboy Bay, is offered for $700,000.
...
A presidential pardon is a rare possession, especially when the man pardoned, Downe, still owed millions to the Securities and Exchange Commission for his violations.

Rarer still, however, is the real estate developer, like Kessinger, who appears to have left hundreds of thousands of dollars in appreciated value on the table for his minority-share partner. Dodd appears to have latched onto one — and, on paper, has turned a profit like the Wall Street pirates he once loved but now disdains
.
Let us note, he now 'disdains' because he needs to blame them for the mess and is desperately trying to cover up/wash off his own handprints(lot more than fingerprints there, folks).

And now to the other, Rep. Barney Fannie Mae Frank:
“We’re going to have a hearing with the attorney general, and the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank regulators, the representatives of the state attorneys general and the state securities administrators, and we have a question that they are being asked now – what are your plans to prosecute those people whose irresponsible and in some cases criminal actions help bring about this crisis that will be both criminal and civil?”
Awww, doesn't that sound inspiring? It might, except
Would that include your ex-boyfriend, Herb Moses, who was an Executive at Fannie Mae. You gonna slap the cuffs on him? Again, I mean.

And will you be investigating your role in the crisis, Elmer Fudd? After all, Elmer Fudd was Congress’s most stalwart opponent against reform and oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s dubious loan operations, the very ones that led to the current economic crisis.

* According to an article in the Oct. 8, 2003, Washington Post, Frank opposed giving the Bush administration the right to approve or disapprove business activities that “could pose risk to the taxpayers.”
* He told The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s problems were “exaggerated.” “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” Elmer Fudd wanted to make sure loan decisions were based on politics, not sound economics a gross miscalculation some five years later with costs in the hundreds of billions.
* According a front page story in the Sept. 19, 2008, Investor’s Business Daily, Elmer Fudd has received $40,100 in campaign cash from Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac
.

I was listening to somebody on Friday, may have been Rush, who said "I do not know how Dodd and Frank can look at themselves in a mirror, I really don't."