I seem to remember, a few years back, a bunch of the Usual Suspects

asking "Why do we need to waste all this money on tanks and rockets and stuff? Why don't we just make a lot more of these 'special forces' teams do play army? Then we could use the savings on (fill in the blank-effing)social programs!"

They didn't like the answers as to just how much it costs and how long it takes to train these operators; and they REALLY don't like having it pointed out just how few people, no matter how willing, are capable of working at those levels(it conflicts with those "We are ALL special!!" beliefs they're stuck in). Then you add in that the average span one of these guys in- for instance- one of the SEAL teams can stay operational isn't that long, so even without battle injuries people have to be replaced at fairly regular intervals; that kind of stress, not just on operations but in training, simply wears bodies out.

We lost a bunch of these people the other day; SEALS and some Afghans who must've been pretty damn good(I'd think) or they wouldn't have been there, the flight crew, even the dog; every one specially trained and equipped and hard to replace. Thank God there are those who'll step up for it.


I got started on this train of thought by this post on those lovely idiots in our major media; I wonder if those microcephalic hairspray-headed cretin whose entire world outside of Manhattan cocktail parties consisted of nothing but an endless globe-spanning daisy chain of identical luxury hotel rooms joined by a pressurized tube of first-class airliner cabins and the back seats of Cadillacs types- excuse me, 'professional journalists'- have any idea?

Back from the gun show

No new boomsticks, alas, but a couple of things I can use. And some ammo, always useful(I can't afford gold, I can copper and tin and lead). So, since it's still damn hot outside, I'm looking at the news and find
Norwegian newspapers apparently follow the same 'fake but accurate' bullshit methods as a lot of US journalists.
By the way, to the commenter who wrote this:
One of the milder letters asserted that I was completely wrong because Hamas is not a terrorist organization and that an attack on an Israeli or American summer camp could be justified because those countries use violence.
Fuck you, you miserable little enabler of terrorists. With an unsanded dowel.


So the Postal Service has used our money to put out ads that are flat lies; anybody surprised?


Why do people think bad things about lawyers? In some cases, because of the shit that comes from law schools:
The continuing saga of Lawrence Connell, who "was vindicated on a wide range of charges," but found to have violated a policy against "retaliation" for the way he responded to the accusations that had been made against him — for defending himself. The remedy sought by Widener Law School Dean Linda Ammons?

Professor Connell will undergo a psychological evaluation by a psychiatrist or psychologist of his choice selected from a list of four individuals provided to him by the University.

"You can choose your shrink, but only from OUR list." and that's just the start. I wonder if Dean AssholeAmmons has any understanding of the concept of 'Getting your ass sued off'? Or, for that matter, 'You're making this school look like crap'?


The left and 'civil discourse'. Kind of related to Reasoned Discourse^tm


I guess this is part of the Change!!
This story began four months ago, when then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates told troops in Iraq that the US would keep a troop presence there if requested to do so by the Iraqi government — which contradicted an avalanche of campaign pledges from Barack Obama. Over the last few months, it became clear that the US wasn’t just open to considering a request, but actively trying to get the Iraqis to make one. Yesterday, the Obama administration got its wish — by applying lots of pressure to get that request:

Under intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi leaders announced early Wednesday they had agreed to start negotiations on keeping some American soldiers in the country after the current Dec. 31 deadline for all U.S. troops to have left Iraq.

The polar bear is NOT your fuzzy friend.


Well, well, well,

Reporting from Washington—

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration has acknowledged to congressional investigators that her agency provided a supporting role in the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious run by the group's counterparts at the ATF.
Looks kind of like they're saying "Yes, we were involved, but not a whole lot, so please don't come after us full-tilt, please?"


Want a shirt other than a Gunwalker that'll annoy the right people? Here's some.


And that's it for now.

Hey, Rep. Joe Armstrong(Jackass-Knoxville), here's a free-market way

to say "Bite me, you bastard."

So by being a heavy-handed jerk, you've given those cans a boost in sales they'd never have reached otherwise.

Idiot.

If you're the praying sort,

give one for the families of these guys.

Just because

Hey, Wisconsin: when your Mayor says thugs will be arrested

and prosecuted and feels the need to say there would be no tolerance for violence at festivals and that perpetrators will be prosecuted -- regardless of race, that tells me you damn well know where the problem is coming from; it also tells me that for some idiot(pc) reason you've been playing games around that, which helped it get this bad.

Barrett didn't indicate if he believed the events were racially charged.
Oh, of course not; telling the truth would be insensitive and non-pc and actually pointing out the problem; can't have that, can we?

First fights are said to have been a bunch of dumbasses fighting each other, then
Officials could not say what started what witnesses said was a series of racially charged incidents that apparently began as early as 7 p.m. in the midway. The midway is located just east of the Pettit National Ice Center and adjacent to the Hank Aaron State Trail.

Milwaukee police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair as the fair was closing down. The fair closes at 11 p.m.

A State Fair official said most of those arrested were cited for disorderly conduct.
Disorderly effing conduct... oh, that's really going to scare them, isn't it?
And, of course, we have some of the usual suspects:
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn scheduled a news conference later Friday afternoon to discuss the incidents and his department's involvement. He is expected to be joined by officials of the NAACP and the Historic Third Ward Association, which is sponsoring Saturday's Historic Third Ward Jazz Festival.
The discussion of the departments involvement should be little more than "Anybody starts this again, their ass is going to jail. Period. End of discussion." But it won't be.

One somewhat bright spot:
Alds. Bob Donovan and Joe Dudzik issued a joint statement in reaction to the violence: "Let's face it, it also has much to do with a deteriorating African American culture in our city. Are large groups of Hispanics or Hmong going out in large mobs and viciously attacking whites? No."
I wonder if the NAACP & Co. have started calling them racists or Uncle Toms or such yet?

Oh yeah, Holder & Co. knew NOTHINK! until a couple of weeks

before the hearing, sure...
By Feb. 27, 2010, Lanny Breuer, the head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., was allegedly told that the ATF had successfully helped sell 1,026 weapons worth more than $650,000 to members of the Sinaloa cartel. The briefing included all top ATF officials, including the agents in charge in Los Angeles and Houston, as well as a half dozen top Justice Department attorneys.
C'mon, Holder, tell us that you knew nothing, and do it under oath; you'll be either committing perjury or admitting you're so incompetent you never had any business holding that position.

And I suppose Sen. Kerry(Tax-Dodging Hypocrite-MA) has some ideas who

will decide what counts as 'legitimate' ideas that the media should report.
My personal thought is this bastard is one of the politicians who should be thrown out of office for violation of his oath.


I tend to think Texas will inform the EPA that it can kiss the collective redneck ass; this is just effing idiotic.


A S&W revolver does not 'accidentally go off' without a trigger being pulled; I think the officer screwed up bigtime.


I think a few of the disenchanted youths getting blown away by someone they're trying to drag out of a car would slow this crap down considerably.


In (formerly Great)Britain, the numbers required for 'arsenal' aren't very high, are they?
Remember when they collectively crapped their pants over someone finding a .22 cartridge?
And remember: this is on a freaking ISLAND, and they can't keep guns from being smuggled in by wholesale lots.


I guess Assad, unlike his father, wants Hama somewhat less damaged while he kills the opposition.


God damn these morons at TSA. Sooner or later someone is going to wind up crippled or dead because of them, and all they'll have to say is "We were following procedures" followed by “We are sensitive to the concerns of passengers". Which will, I'm sure, be very comforting to the family of the deceased.


Another fine example of a prosecutor and a judge who both need to find new employment. As soon as they can be thrown the hell out of their offices.
For some freakin' CARTOONS? Really? Shawn Arthur and James Cayce, you should be ashamed of yourselves.



At least he's not as smart as Sheldon; if he were, he'd have made it work. Really, guy, a reactor in your kitchen?


Not only did He design it, he did it REALLY well:
Bonner said this is the first major change to the M2 weapon system since the machine gun was fielded in the 1930s.
Son used this arm a lot his first time in Iraq; he loved it. He obviously has good taste in weapons.


Teachers Unions: Screw your kids, we want money and power.
American Federation of Teachers officials have disavowed an internal report after it was posted on the union's website following its annual conference, embedded on each of its 19 pages with the union's logo and signed by a union official.

The report, titled "How Connecticut Defused the Parent Trigger," was replaced on AFT's website with a note saying "we have received complaints about these materials and have removed them because they do not represent AFT's position."

"What? You're actually asking QUESTIONS? Don't you know your place, journalist?"


You know what it's like riding a motorcycle at, oh, 102 to 106? It kind of sucks.

No, the coverup isn't worse than Gunwalker:

nobody's died(yet, anyway) in the coverup, but a lot of people are dead in Gunwalker.

But, having spent so much time trying to ignore Gunwalker entirely, and then trying to excuse ATF & Co. due to 'lack of funds' and 'not enough laws', I guess this is the next step in the 'Protect Obama!' march.

More to the point, Operation Fast and Furious would not have been possible without the direct cooperation and informed consent of the DOJ, ICE, FBI, CIA, DEA, DHS, State Department and White House. That cannot be forgotten: ATF was in the front of this, but all those other agencies were involved, too. And can't be allowed to slide on this.

It seems there's a dance group called Fatally Unique

which has serious case of "We're artists, you can't hold us to rules!" attitude.

That's ok; lots of people have a "We're sick of dancing monkeys who forget what they're there for" attitude. And who have a "We're ARTISTS!!" attitude.

First, if this story isn't true,

it should be.


There are several problems with this campaign. For starters, the American Lung Association suffers from a huge conflict of interest. The point of the ad is to protect the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate under the Clean Air Act. Left unmentioned by the narrator is the fact that the EPA is a major funder of the ALA, having delivered more than $20 million over the last ten years. As my colleague Myron Ebell noted, “So the EPA pays the American Lung Association, which in turn lobbies against a bill that would rein in EPA.” Many Americans labor under the misapprehension that the ALA is staffed by disinterested MDs in white coats; in fact, it employs partisan shills.


So someone was still being issued #4Mk1 rifles? And the big reason stated for changing was parts availability? Wow.



Shouldn't the dog wait for a command, or a threat, before attacking? Even if the coveralls look familiar?



Maggie Daley charity got $6.5-mil. city contract 4 days before Mayor Daley left office


And if DoD had done a project to make the thing, they'd cost $5 million each.
Chris Fessenden said he had loaned the truck to a group of fellow soldiers, who used it to check the road ahead of them on a patrol. It got tangled in a trip wire connected to what Fessenden guesses could have been 500 lbs. of explosives. The bomb went off. The six soldiers controlling the truck from their Humvee were unhurt.


So while one group of feds was helping smuggle guns to the cartels, another was helping a cartel smuggle cocaine into the US... Can we just (at the least) fire all these bastards?


"We have a good department full of good individuals," he said. "We've made more than half-a-million law enforcement contacts over the past 4.5 years ... This is the only instance of this kind that's happened."
Got news for you, Goodrich: this one is too damn many. They beat a guy to death, and this is your response? You see, Goodrich, the thing that goes through peoples' minds is "If this case was witnessed and caught on video, how many haven't been? Because something like this is never really a 'one-off' thing.


Hey, Algore: George Soros. I'm sick to death of bastards like you throwing out 'right-wing billionaire' crap while you studiously ignore Soros and his ill throwing money into your groups.


Maloney and Schumer & Co., one and all: fuck you.


On a less upsetting note, remember the AK vs. AR vs. MN list? Here's some MAS and Arisaka additions.

Dear Obama Administration and FDA:

Ref the comment period on your proposed 'voluntary'/required restrictions on cereal and such, the only proper response to your proposals is "Piss off, and leave our food alone, you nanny-state bastards."
Put forward by an interagency working group, the guidelines will establish nutritional standards that most cereals flunk—and not just those of the “Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs” variety. Corn Flakes will not be advertisable to children, along with Raisin Bran, Special K, Rice Krispies, and Wheaties. Plain Cheerios squeak by the proposed 2016 rules but fall foul of the “ultimate goal” for sodium effective in 2021. While cereals are the most obvious targets of the guidelines, all foods marketed to children will have to meet the proposed nutritional standards. Many don’t. Peanut butter (both smooth and crunchy) has too much saturated fat. Jelly has too much sugar. Forget about apple-cinnamon instant oatmeal and Mott’s apple sauce.
There's a quote over on the sidebar from C.S. Lewis, it applies very well.

Next, Mr. Damon, go fuck yourself. I have yet to hear of one of you self-righteous "I know what's good!" celebrity assholes actually start writing checks to the government to increase what YOU'RE paying; oh no, you won't do that.
Oh, and damn right we're intransigent; we have to be with morons like you on the other side.


From Oleg Volk: one picture, two captions


Once again, a bunch of asshole bureaucrats want to use the Commerce Clause as their way to force people to get licenses and permits and anything else the bastards can dream up.
Regulators are suggesting that all wheat shipments be considered interstate, even when farmers making short hauls to local grain elevators aren't crossing state lines. The change would make commercial driver's licenses — and all the log books and medical requirements that go with them — a necessity for farmers. Some might not qualify.


Mark Steyn on the media ignoring Libya, and other people taking lessons from it. Lessons that are not good for us, or a lot of other people either.

Plant ID Fail

Daughter just sent me this:
Ant B is an artist on Etsy who is also a member of April’s Army. This is a story she posted in the Regretsy forums a few days ago.

I was heading out to the backyard this morning, when I saw the neighbor that lives in the house behind ours in my yard. He was putting leaves from one of my plants in a shopping bag. I yelled, “Hey!” and he grabbed another plant and stripped it up, taking all the leaves off. By the time I got outside, he had done two more plants and shoved all the leaves into his bag. By the time I got halfway to him, he ran off, carrying the bag.

I inspected the damage. He had stripped or broken off all my okra plants. They hadn’t started producing yet.

I think he thought they were ….not okra.

UPDATE 1:

An undercover cop just stopped by. He took my report. He was going to tell the neighbor to stay off my property but no one answered the door. He said that there was no proof he took the leaves, and that there was no value to them so there was no way to charge him. But we both had a good laugh over it, and he took photos and said he was sure his fellow officers would laugh too.

UPDATE 2:

Just got a knock on the door. A police office stopped by to let me know that my neighbor was arrested trying to trade a baggie of chopped green leaves for a case of beer at a liquor store a few blocks away. According to the store owner, the guy told him the leaves are high-quality home grown marijuana, and when he was arrested, he claimed he stole them from my garden, where I had them hidden in a flower bed.

The police officer that came by was a different one than from earlier, but had already heard the story about the okra thief. He went out with a flashlight, looked at the okra, took more pictures, laughed a lot.

He asked if he could have some okra leaves to take with him, and a tomato from the garden for his dinner. I complied with the police officer’s request.

In which I tell Fender to kiss my ass

About 11 years ago, I bought a guitar: a Tacoma six-string cutaway. Loved it, still do; wonderful sound, nice action. I couldn’t play it for quite a while due to some hand/elbow trouble, so I slacked off the strings and cased it for a while.

Recently took it out to see if could start playing again, and discovered the finish is coming off the body, bubbles and strips lifting off. Now, one reason I bought this was the lifetime warranty(yeah, you see where this is going), so I took it to a Tacoma rep nearby, where the conversation went like this:
“Did you buy it new?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have the receipt?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent, you’re covered!”
So, I thought all was well. Especially since he told me this was not an uncommon problem(so they ought to be ready to deal with such, right?) Until.

He called the other day to inform me he finally got hold of Fender(who handles this) and they informed him “Oh, we don’t fix that anymore.” They offered to
Exchange it for another guitar(brand & model I don’t remember, guitar guy said he did NOT recommend this) or
They’d buy it from me. As he said “It’s just the finish that’s a problem so if you like it, personally I wouldn’t do that either.”

So, since the ‘lifetime warranty’ doesn’t mean squat anymore, I’m going to have to either find someone locally or get some careful advice on how to refinish it myself.

And Fender Guitars? You can kiss my ass.

Put a lot of western(but particularly American) troops in a place,

and if there are dogs around...
The dogs were beaten and malnourished. One of them was pregnant and the Marines named her Sandy; the other dog was small and frail, and the Marines fittingly named him Scraggles. The company adopted the two dogs, who accepted the Marines as family. Sandy soon had her litter of puppies, one of which would be named Willy Pete. All the puppies went to local residents to protect their farms and herd livestock, but Willy had a different opportunity – he went to the Marines of Company D for companionship.
...
The veteran dog usually takes the lead when the Marines go on patrol now. He stays in front until the Marines pass through the bazaar outside the combat outpost. Local residents often look up in recognition of the dog, who seems to fancy himself a Marine. Willy relocates to a new position once he establishes a clear path for the Marines and begins moving from one side of the patrol to the other, warning Marines of anyone’s approach with a quick bark or a low growl.

To borrow something from Lawdog, Oh sweet Vishnu

on a pogo stick...
The second indicator that this was noy your standard range was the fact that we had every weapon in our arms room on the same firing line. Normally we break up weapons systems into different ranges here in the U.S. The M16 has it’s own range, the M9 has a smaller one, and the M-60 has a longer one. Not in Korea. Realistic training is the name of the game there because hey…in combat would you split up your weapons into different zones? Hell no. So we had everything rocking at the same time, which was perfectly legal at this point. Major Good Ideafairy’s guidance was clearly being met – “Don’t come home with a single round of ammo.”

In hindsight, he was an idiot to tell me this because inexperienced Lieutenants don’t know how to interpret orders, just follow them. So I did exactly what he said to do. There was no way I was bringing a round home.

A fine illustration of both how stupidly complicated gun laws are,

and how much a mistake it is to let an agency change the law by changing its mind.

You know how weird the weather is?

A: Oklahoma had the hottest July on record, by a full degree.
B: Son's going to the National Training Center for a while. You know, basically next door to Death Valley? It's ten degrees cooler there than it is in Oklahoma.

Since Dust Bowl is already taken, got a friend who's referring to this as the Fire Bowl; everything's so dry you wouldn't need a dropped cigarette, we've had fires started from sparks from a dragging chain and such.

Now that's a security system

Speaking of problems with law enforcement,

if the information in the document Codrea links to is correct, there's at least five deputies in that agency who need their ass handed to them.

So the cartoon is actually a real-life picture

Go to this thread at Cleanup ATF and scroll down to the entry by onesparkz, on july 30 11:17 PM. Understand that McMahon was the supervisor overseeing Phoenix during Operation Gunwalker, and now he'll be second in command of the agency internal affairs unit, i.e., in a position to punish dissident agents. Here's the take of one agent commenter:

"Here's my analysis on McMahon. He was essentially in charge of the western region (ipso facto maravilloso, in charge of Gunwalker). Main Justice knows it, and consented to his promotion.

The promotion itself was a message that DoJ intends to charge full speed ahead on its defense-slash-deflection of Gunwalker.

But it's also the sound of a shotgun chambering a round for street agents: One of the men directly culpable for this project is now in a position to slit their throats (a la OPR). They seem to be telling their agents to be very careful what they say, and to whom."

So it appears the Touching Special Areas people

either got tired of being called on molesting people and possibly irradiating people with dangerous levels; or maybe somebody finally got the idea that A: This crap isn't working and B: sooner or later, some husband/parent is going to start stomping the asshole molesting their child, so maybe they should start doing something that might actually work.

Bitching and whining from the usual suspects:
Civil libertarians argue the screening is TSA showmanship — coming just weeks before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — and could quickly devolve into profiling.

“It’s an ineffective waste of taxpayer dollars that has the potential and the reality of leading to profiling based on race and ethnicity,” said Massachusetts ACLU executive director Carol Rose, who dismissed SPOT as “security theater.”
Whether you like it or not, Rose, when the major threat comes from certain groups of people it behooves us to pay a bit more attention to people in those groups. Deal with it.

Biggest problem? How many TSA weenies actually have the mentality that can make this work? Especially worrisome when I read this:
At Logan, about 70 agents — all with college degrees — are undergoing training by an international consulting firm that includes a four-day classroom course and 24 hours of on-the-job experience, said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis.
Yes, because have a degree(you'll note they don't say in what) automatically means that four-day class and 24 hours will render them experts in this. Yeah. They'd probably be better off hiring a bunch of successful retired cops with high-school educations who have a good record of catching bad guys. Assuming their brass would have the brains to figure that out.

Why yes, I am a bit cynical nowadays.

Dear VP Biden: (updated)

Screw you, you miserable little man.

You and Rep. Doyle can both go to hell. Do not pass 'GO', do not collect any more of our damned money, you thieving, corrupt, vile bastards.

Sincerely, etc.


Dear Sen. McCain:
Sucking up to us now will not make us forget what YOU'VE done, either. Piss off.

Sincerely, etc.


Update: Biden denies he said it, BUT:

Update: Remember, Politico cited “several sources” — Democratic sources — for the quote. Here’s the obligatory denial:

“I did not use the terrorism word,” Biden told CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley…

“What happened was there were some people who said they felt like they were being held hostage by terrorists,” he said. “I never said that they were terrorists or weren’t terrorists, I just let them vent.”

Added Biden: “I said even if that were the case, what’s been happening when you now have taken and paid the debt and move that down so we can now discuss, the nuclear weapon’s been taken out of anyone’s hands.”

"I didn't say it. And if I did, that's over so stop paying attention to it."

How you know Peter Bienart is either blind, stupid

or a friggin' liar: when he ends his first paragraph with Simple; this is what American politics looks like when there’s no left-wing movement and no war.
That's all you really need to read to have his whole article. Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya("Where?" he asks) don't actually exist. And there's no left-wing action at all. Nope. None. And the sky is green in his world and the grass blue...

Get this:
But it’s not just the absence of a mass left-wing movement that explains last night’s deal. It’s the end of the war on terror. From 9/11 until George W. Bush left office, the “war on terror” defined the Republican Party. That meant massive increases in defense and homeland security spending, but it also meant increases in domestic spending—such as the 2004 prescription drug bill—aimed at ensuring that Bush got reelected, so he could perpetuate the war on terror. In that way, “war on terror” politics resembled cold war politics, in which the right’s desire for guns and the left’s desire for butter usually combined to ensure that all forms of government spending went up.

The Tea Party, by contrast, is a post-war on terror phenomenon. Many of the newly-elected Republicans are indifferent, if not hostile, to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They’re happy to cut the defense budget, especially since cutting the defense budget makes it easier to persuade Democrats to swallow larger cuts in domestic spending. It’s the reverse of the cold war dynamic. During the cold war—especially in the Nixon and Reagan years--conservatives accepted that overall spending would go up in order to ensure that some that increase went to defense. Today, conservatives accept defense cuts in order to ensure that overall spending goes down.
Mr. Bienart, as someone said about someone else, you better hope Obamacare pays for whatever you're ingesting.

Two pieces of LE idiocy,

one from here:
A retired military translator who served in Iraq says he was treated like a criminal when agents from the DEA barreled into his Detroit home just after 2 a.m. Tuesday morning,
Why?
According to the report, the DEA was executing a search warrant for Tossa’s landlord’s son, who apparently uses Tossa’s one-story house’s address for mailing.
You know, considering all the possible ways for such a raid to go wrong, I think I'd want to know more than "He seems to get mail here" BEFORE I decided to put on my ninja suit and start kicking on doors.
"As soon as I opened the door, somebody grabbed me and took me outside and put me on the grass," Ramsey Tossa said. “The first thing I thought was they were terrorists who want to kill me because I served in Iraq.

The other from Down Under:
You can’t put anything over on the cops in Western Australia. They heard about the Norway massacre. They read that Breivik shot at a local gun range (gasp). So using unassailable logic and their years of crime fighting experience, they came up with a foolproof strategy to make sure nothing like that happens on their watch. They’re going to harass gun owners at the 231 registered gun clubs throughout WA…

WA Police will conduct random audits at gun clubs and shooting ranges across WA to catch unlicensed firearm owners. The move comes after the recent Norway massacre in which a lone madman killed 77 people, shooting 69 in cold blood.

Which makes a nice-sounding excuse for trying to fix their own screwup:
Of course, the effort may have other goals besides finding the next Breivik or Loughner. The shootings in Norway may be just a pretext for ass-covering and fee collection.

“Auditing of clubs and their members will ensure compliance and identify those persons who may be in breach, and as a consequence may be open to prosecution or the revocation of their licence,” a spokeswoman for Police Minister Rob Johnson said.

In March, The Sunday Times revealed that WA Police had lost track of thousands of guns and the firearms licensing system was in disarray.

Police admitted that the firearms infringement registry, which alerts police to unpaid gun licence renewals, had been deactivated in mid-2008 because of technical issues.

The admission came 18 months after a review by Auditor-General Colin Murphy found WA Police did not adequately monitor the possession, use and dealing of firearms in the community.

"Hey, if we start screwing with people on this excuse, maybe we can get our records caught up!"
Bleep.

"Oh WHY would anybody want to be armed on campus?!?"

“Recently, an extremist animal activist group known as “Negotiation is Over” has been sighted on our campus. In spite of having received trespass warnings, they were recently sighted handing out fliers offering $100 bounties on the photographs and personal information of students who, like myself, conduct animal research. They have already posted on their website the name, address, home telephone number, and license plate number of a researcher in our department.
Gee, and why would they want pictures and such?
“’Every time a vivisector’s car or home — and, eventually, the abuser him/herself — blows up, flames of liberation light up the sky.’
and,
“’Students also need to understand that making the wrong choice will result in a lifetime of grief. Aspiring scientists envision curing cancer at the Mayo Clinic. We need to impart a new vision: car bombs, 24/7 security cameras, embarrassing home demonstrations, threats, injuries, and fear. And, of course, these students need to realize that any personal risk they are willing to assume will also be visited upon their parents, children, and nearest & dearest loved ones. The time to reconsider is now.’
Well, there's a pretty damn good reason there to be armed.

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise these people? And the clowns who think you're safe from them because "You're on the campus now!"

That's interesting, I just got a answer from Chiappa

After reading their response to people who had a problem with their firearm being chipped, I wrote and pointed out- politely- that their comment about wrapping things in foil and watching conspiracy movies did not go over well. I just found this in my inbox:
I appreciate your response to the barcode chip Release that was sent out last week, I am handling each one of the few responses we received individually, I feel if you took the time to contact me and express yourself I should extend the courtesy of responding to you.

I agree 100% with your observation that the “tin foil” comment sounded and read like we were uncaring pompous asses who did not care about the customers we market to, I like to try to put some humor in all of my releases and the shooting press seems to find it a nice departure from the mundane who-what-where-when contained in most the releases they get, however the intent of the “humor” came thru in a totally different “feel”-(yes we forgot the whole internet thing about how you can’t read inflection or feelings)

I also try to let all of our releases “sleep” over night and come back in the next day with fresh eyes and take a look at it …unfortunately I did not with this one.

My family has been in the firearms business since 1953 and I have owned MKS for the last 28 years, always supporting the firearms industry and supporting the preservation of our constitutional rights and being on the watch for erosion of such.

MKS was one of the charter members of the Heritage fund that has pledged 1% of all of our sales to go toward fighting for our firearms rights, I am an NRA life member and support with cash and donations, thru MKS numerous events, friends of NRA, first shots programs, NSSF, US Sportsman’s alliance..in the 90’s we were one of the first to send donations of cash to the organizations in California fighting for our firearms rights. ect.

I am hoping that our ACTIONS of the past and future will show through and one comment that was supposed to produce a chuckle (unfortunately made us look like Jackasses) won’t forever hurt the way we are viewed. I guess I should have just re-stated that the glued in easy to find Barcode chip can be easily removed and left it at that.

Humbly and respectfully yours
Charles Brown
Well, maybe someone there remembered what happened to S&W after all. It took years for them to recover from that; looks like these people don't want to go through that.

Under the heading of "I just learned how to text!"

Sent from a cop I know

And Mexico once again plays the race card

Aguayo went further, saying the operation revealed "underlying racism."

"U.S. society and the U.S. government don't care about Mexican lives," he said. "I have studied U.S. foreign policy. One American life is worth more than 50,000 Mexican lives. This case is another ingredient in a cultural attitude of contempt toward Mexicans."
Aguayo, the only reason we have 'contempt' for Mexicans is the attitude most seem to have that our laws and borders mean nothing; that kind of ticks us off.

Second, got news for you: the clowns in charge of Gunwalker don't care about ANYONE'S lives except their own; if some honest agents hadn't blown the whistle on this, the deaths of a couple of US law enforcement people wouldn't have meant any more to these clowns than the deaths of Mexican LE and military, or civilians.

We've told you, and told you...

Hey, Courage to Resist: your bullshit is showing

An antiwar group calling itself Courage to Resist started a legal defense fund for Pfc. Naser Abdo, the Muslim soldier arrested Wednesday who reportedly admitted planning to launch a terror attack on Fort Hood’s army base, KleinOnline has learned.

The organization last year also featured Abdo in its newsletter, branding him a “Muslim peacemaker.”
To borrow: 'They're not peace protesters, they're on the other side.'

Number One: Damn Obama for throwing this garbage

out at troops in the field. Number Two: Admiral, if you're doing this for him to put pressure on the Congress, you should lose those stars.

Of course, beyond August* will require Obama to actually lead(or try), which isn't likely, and maybe he's considering that. It'll also require Democrats to consider something besides "Republicans want you to DIE!!!" as their only statements.

*“There’s plenty of money in the month of August to take care of the bondholders, to make sure Social Security recipients get their checks, and to make sure our men and women who wear the uniforms, who protect us, who will defend our country, our troops get paid.” Jordan said. “After that, of course, the president will have to make some choices — he would have to lead — he would have to make some decisions about what else gets paid in what order. But there’s plenty of money in the month of August to take care of those three things.”

Not related to anything important: what the hell happened to shorts?

Had some that were wearing out, so started looking for replacements. Only to find that in most places what are now referred to as 'shorts' are more properly defined as ' pants that shrunk in length'.

Note to lower-body covering makers: if I want to wear pants, I wear pants; if I want shorts, I want something that does not end six inches below my knees. I don't give a crap how many extra pockets you sew on.

Inspectors Clouseau and Newell

are hot on the trail, I'm sure.
The Moral Of The Story? Lose 27 rifles, and all Hell lets out for lunch. Lose more than two thousand, and it’s just another year on the job for the ATFE.

A little kilted history

Have some friends who run a perambulating bookstore, mostly working Renaissance fairs and celtic festivals and such. One of his early spots was a booth at Scarborough Faire south of Dallas. A few times, when work allowed, I'd go down for a weekend and lend a hand, which also got me a chance to wander around the fair.

Memorial Day weekend. I'd taken two shirts, figuring I could rinse one out Sunday evening and have it to wear Monday. Slight problem: I hadn't taken into account the fact that not only was it June in central Texas, but the humidity was bloody awful; come Monday morning that shirt wasn't just still 'damp', it was so wet you could almost wring water out of it. Brian's helpful suggestion: "Skip the shirt, nobody'll care." So I did.

I did pass on his suggestion that I go to the face painter and have her do some knotwork on my chest and back, and good thing, because I'd have had that design light among the tan for the rest of the year.

Anyway, I'm taking a break from the shop and wandering around, and happen by the Pecan Grove just as the daily parade is starting(referred to by the players company as the Death March in such weather). I knew a bunch of people, several said "Come march with us!" No, thank you, I'll just wander a bit under the nice shady trees. Until, just as they reached the first turn, the Queen of Scotland comes running up looking frantic. She spots me. "Oh, M, can you help me?"
"Certainly!" Hey, she's the queen. Yes, I should have said 'No'.
"My page is missing, can you carry my parasol in the parade?"

So, somewhere out there are pictures of the Scottish Court in all its glory, and right behind the Queen is a shirtless, hairy-chested, kilted guy holding the Queen's tiny parasol to shade Her Highness from the sun.



No, this isn't the Queen, I just like the shot. Maria, you are a lovely thing.

So in India it's an actual crime to stare at a woman

for more than 30 seconds?


A Las Vegas police officer under investigation for the videotaped beating of a man in March violated several Metropolitan Police Department policies, an internal investigation found.

Mitchell Crooks' complaint about officer Derek Colling's excessive force was sustained, Deputy Chief Gary Schofield said Friday.
Well, that's a nice first step; question now is what punishment he gets?
In case you've forgotten what started this particular mess,
On the night of March 20, Crooks, 36, was in his driveway, near East Desert Inn Road and South Maryland Parkway, videotaping police as they investigated a burglary report across the street. Crooks said that when he refused to stop filming, Colling arrested and beat him, with much of the altercation recorded by the camera.
An awful lot of agencies need to pound it into the heads of their officers that someone shooting video of them at work does NOT give the officer cause to arrest and/or beat on them. Or write them a damned ticket, for that matter.


Naser Abdo's family history is kind of, well, nasty. Which seems to fit in with him planning mass murder and all.


Some thoughts on why some nations won't/don't prepare for the earthquakes they know are coming.


AP has finally decided to really cover Gunwalker.


Sipsey Street notes a European Intellectual who has decided that all firearms ownership should be banned except
...for all but properly constituted, trained and controlled agencies of governments, provided of course that the governments in question are themselves properly constituted and controlled by democratic means in a society where the rule of law obtains.
Three guesses what kind of properly constituted and controlled by democratic means government he considers suitable. Part of the response:
If you wish the privately-held arms of the United States to be confiscated, I invite you to come and take them. Please bring the UN with you. They will no doubt be of as much help as the UN "peacekeepers" were to the Bosnian Muslims when they stood by impotently and watched as the Serbian government forces slaughtered them in the thousands at Srebrenica. Besides, blue helmets make such convenient target markers.
He do have a way with words, do he not?
I will add that the guy seems fixated on firearms; he seems to make no note of the fact that the mess in Norway started with a bomb. And he seems to think the only options available to the dirtbag for killing were either guns or a club. Apparently the idea of more bombs, or chemical weapons, just never occurred. There have been terrorist attacks using chemical weapons(the sarin attack in Japan, for example), but either he's too fixated on guns to remember, or doesn't care.


Here's an idea:
Just because they might be federal employees or even federal law enforcement officials, they do not have any kind of immunity for violations of the state criminal code.

I urge you to look closely at the conduct of ATF within Arizona, and investigate whether or not that conduct violated state criminal laws, And if you find the conduct of the ATF senior management did indeed violate state law, please hold those ATF officials accountable to the people of Arizona.
Problem is, the feds worked hard to keep Horiuchi from local prosecution; anybody doubt they'd work even harder to protect these bastards?




Oh, boy, Assad must be just jumping for joy over this:
A Syrian Major-General has deserted Assad’s army along with a group of other officers and joined the rebels.

In an Arabic video clip posted on Youtube on July 29, 2011, the officer, Major-General Riad El As’ad is seen in the company of other officers, announcing the establishment of the “Free Syrian Army whose main goal will be to fight the army of oppression headed by President Bashar Assad”.

As’ad accused the Assad regime of crimes against the Syrian people and called on the officers and soldiers in the Syrian army not to aim their weapons at the people. He further called on them to join the Free Syrian Army.
Can you say 'full-on civil war'?


And to end this on a lighter note,

I'd say NSFW due to language

Damn, I didn't know there were muslims attacked

in Norway. Oh, wait, they weren't.
After seeking comments from Muslims in Saskatoon, Calvin To says “In the wake of these events, this seeming lack of hostilities here at home is a relief to many.” To narrates that “Racial tensions are unlikely to happen here as a backlash.” Major Gen. Lewis McKenzie (ret) asks “What are we going to do? Run around and attack blond-haired, blue-eyed Norwegians. That would be pretty stupid as they are some of our best friends. To attack the Muslim population or point fingers would be even more unfair because they are the victims in this.” Seriously.
...
Our grief overrides the concern for any future negative acts against Muslims in the wake of this heinous act. This is a time for all Muslims to think of themselves as proud Canadians with unwavering support for multiculturalism, and not as a fearful minority seeking protection.
Bloody fucking hell. "Muslims are ALWAYS victims!" continues.