To a whole bunch of homosexual activists

Especially the so very progressive ones: fuck you. And the horse you rode in on, along with every flea on it.

I personally don't care who you sleep with. And while I'd prefer it be a civil union as opposed to marriage(that word means a lot; I'd hate to see it changed), it's not something I'm going to lose sleep over.

However. Far as I'm concerned, if this garbage is your reaction to a loss at the polls, fuck you. You don't deserve to win in a legal vote if this is your reaction to this loss. You're acting like a bunch of Soviet commissars and deserve to be treated as such, you and every suckup politician involved.

Oh, and I stopped calling Jew-haters 'anti-semites' a long time ago; so you're not going to be referred to as 'gay' in this place. Not after this shit.

This just about

sums it up.

Ok, there's such a pile of stuff out there

I can be lazy and just linkbe a public servant; nay, virtually a community organizer of information, and point you eight people who read this to these things:

Lots of lawyers wonder why people don't respect them for their intrinsic worth, since they're the most important people in the country; specifically, trial lawyers:
Lawyer Gerry Spence, who was awarded the CAOC Lifetime Achievement Award, told conference attendees that legal representation is essential, even more important than health care, for people.

"We have to redefine who we are: We are the most important people in America," Spence said. "There is no other profession in America that fights for freedom, that fights for what America is about, that fights for justice for ordinary people."

To make his point, Spence -- founder of the Trial Lawyers College, which trains lawyers to be more effective in the courtroom -- said to imagine that all of the doctors and healers somehow vanished.

"I want to ask you which would be more important: If all of the doctors in the country somehow disappeared or all the trial lawyers in America somehow disappeared?" he asked. "We can live without medical care, but we cannot live without justice."
... Um. Yeah. Gd knows, first thing I think of when I get hurt or need help is calling a trial lawyer. Unless, y'know, I'm actually hurt or something, in which case a doctor sounds like a real good idea. It's after I'm not bleeding to death or something I look for someone to help me sue somebody else for my being a dumbass or something. Yeah. Them lawyers are REAL important, then.

Let's see, Memphis PD spent about $88,000 trying to find the ID of a blogger who was critical of the PD:
The legal bill for that suit has arrived, and The Commercial Appeal reports it totals about $88,000. The city’s legal department declined giving a breakdown on the legal expenses, and the police department had no comment.

When the suit was filed earlier this year, authorities said they were upset because a picture of an undercover officer was posted on the site. It was later determined, however, that the officer’s picture was also on the police department Web site.
Oh, wait, my bad; it's the people of the city who're paying almost $90k for this bullcrap. Yeah, I'm sure they think it's worth every penny.

Sen. Chris Countrywide Dodd(Fraudster-CT) is still getting a pass on his corruption, including by a lot of media:
A news-talk radio station in New Haven, Connecticut, is refusing to air a spirited interview between a conservative host and the powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd.

NBC News reports that a federal criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing by mortgage giant Countrywide Home Loans now includes scrutiny of Countrywide's VIP program that gave special mortgage deals to government officials, including Senators Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) and Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut).

Connecticut conservative radio talk-show host Tom Scott says up until now, fellow senators and the media have not questioned Dodd about his personal scandal.
Yeah, I'm going to be holding my breath until the investigation turns out to be real. And actually holds them responsible. And the media gives it the kind of coverage they did bullcrap rumors about Palin. HOLDING IT, I tell you!

This just in: Rep. Barney Fannie Mae Frank(Corrupticrat Socialist-MA) is a jackass who wants all your money:
Even more persuasive, there are tons of reasons why Fan and Fred should evanesce. Their business model--publicly subsidized but privately profited firms--yields massively leveraged portfolios, incompetent but grossly compensated management, a huge lobbying establishment and political pork galore.

Of course there was no rejoicing from one of Fan and Fred's chief cheerleaders--Congressman Barney Frank. When asked about the shrinkage of Fan and Fred's portfolios, he responded: "Good luck on that." And then went on to characterize such an idea as a "sop" to the right, not a policy possibility. Simply put: It ain't going to happen on his watch.
Which, of course, means he and his buttmonkeys sticking their hands deeper into our pockets to fuel his passion for this crap. Wasn't there once an anti-pickpocket device that was a kind of pocket guillotine?

Ohio needs to clean up it's damned government. Or(maybe and/or) get out a lot of rope:
Kohlstrand said that the AG's office wanted access to the records so they could turn over to the national media lien information that was a public record in Lucas County. He said the national media did not have reporters in Toledo, so the attorney general's office was helping them out with public records.
These people need to be fired, and then criminally prosecuted. There is NO EXCUSE for this kind of corruption. None. And I hope Joe sues the collective ass off the people and agencies involved. Maybe, just maybe, that'll get their attention.

Ah, the tolerance of believers in The One. And this crap is going on in school?

This is one brave 14 year old girl.

Immediately, Catherine learned she was stupid for wearing a shirt with Republican John McCain's name. Not merely stupid. Very stupid.

But wait! It gets better.

"One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed," Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park.

Note the tolerance and compassion of the JHE supporters. Yeah, these are kids but at that age they get their beliefs from their parents. Ironically, they are prolly for abortion and against capital punishment but think a 14 year old should be killed for supporting McRINO.

But students weren't the only ones surprised that she wore a shirt supporting McCain.

"In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain," Catherine said.

Just friggin' amazing. I'd take three guesses what the teachers are 'teaching', but I probably wouldn't need two of them.

This is disturbing on multiple levels:
For the second time this year, a professor at the University of Iowa has taken his own life after being accused of sexual harassment
...
After Miller was arrested in August, the university announced that it would require all faculty members to undergo training about sexual harassment. That process is now going on.

Asked what the university should do following this latest incident, O’Hara said that “we have to separate the issue of sexual harassment from the issue of why a professor or anybody for that matter would commit suicide in the face of kind of public disclosure of something that is personally extremely embarrassing if not humiliating. Those are two different issues — people face criminal charges all the time and don’t commit suicide. It’s not an inevitable consequence.”

O’Hara added: “We have to continue on campus to educate ourselves and to be vigilant about sexual harassment and help everyone understand that as an academic community, these things aren’t to be tolerated.” At the same time, he said that the two deaths made him wonder about the treatment of “alleged perpetrators.” It is important to remember, he said, that “being accused doesn’t mean that something happened.”.
OK, anyone who thinks that ANY university hasn't already had 'watch out for sexual harassment classes' until everyone's sick of them is a moron. Second, what seems to be missing in the 'we don't understand' crap is recognition that an accusation of this type can ruin someones career even when proven innocent. And some people just can't face that. Were they guilty? Don't know. Do know that bullcrap accusations have been used against mainly men far too many times to ignore the possibility. And with the examples of lives and careers ruined, it's not surprising some would decide they couldn't deal with it. Don't say it's a good way to deal with it, but understand why it happens.

And, just to close this, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, as dishonest a name as a group every came up with, wants higher taxes on alcohol to save lives. And, in truth, to pump up the tax base:
”In addition to public health implications, state governments should re-examine their alcohol excise taxes on for fiscal reasons, said George Hacker, director of Alcohol Policies Project for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.”

“Given state budgets are in the toilet bowl, it's an available source of revenue that has not been looked to for a very long time," Hacker said. "The tax increases are long overdue. The product doesn't pay its way in covering economic and social costs associated with its use."
Note that progressive bullcrap: 'the product doesn't pay its way'. Kind of like the 'if you're not working and paying taxes, you won't repay the State for health care so you should die' attitude of the NHS in Britain.

I need to so something soothing, like clean guns or sharpen knives or something.

Running around in circles

may be good exercise, but it doesn't let you get a hell of a lot done. Especially on sidelines like this. Which is why not much the last couple of days.

Right now the wind is blowing out of the north behind the cold front that moved through a couple of hours ago. Since they're talking about a possible freeze tonight and a definite tomorrow night I picked everything in the garden that was ready, and I've got the necessary vents around the house covered.

One nice thing about this part of the country is there are lots of times I can ride through the winter; sometimes just a wee bit on the chilly side, but I can. Next couple of nights are not among those times. I could if I had to, but since I don't have to... Coldest I've ridden in was mid-20's, several days when didn't have a choice. And it sucked. At the time I rode a little Honda Rebel 250. I never failed to start, but that little air-cooled engine could not get up to operating temperature, so had to keep the choke on a bit. I made it there and back, but it was fairly awful.

Got some stuff to write about, which I hope to get posted in the next couple of days. I now return you to whatever you were doing.

As to the run on gunny stuff,

earlier today went by a local shop I hadn't been to in a while. They make AR15 rifles in various configurations and there's usually about a half-dozen on the rack. Today, there was one left-hander and that's it. Just about all the AR mags were gone, most of the AK mags gone, no surplus 7.62x54r, lots of Wolf 7.62x39 at much higher prices than before. They were busy enough they were letting the answering machine take the phone and picking up if needed; everybody was filling out paperwork, calling it in, showing guns or checking people out.

The owner said he'd told a guy yesterday(looking for an AR) "Just come in and see what's here." "When will you have more in?" "Sir, I don't know what I'll have left by the time you get here, let alone tomorrow."

Busy, busy, busy.

And some general stuff after my last depressing question

Heard from a guy who'd ordered some stuff from AIM yesterday; they told him they were about eight days behind on shipping, so his order made yesterday should ship on the 19th. And everyone else seems to be about the same. Out of curiosity I looked at Midway for AK magazines: EVERY ONE was listed as 'out of stock, backordered'. I'd imagine their AR mags are in about the same state. I wonder if the GFWs have any real idea what salesmen they are?

I halfway wish I still had kids in junior high-high school; I'd arm them with things like this and send them off to cause teachers to pull their hair out. Daughter already did that on the 2nd, this would've made it even better, and spread even more information to the other kids. Thus causing other teachers in other classes to attack their scalps.

Yeah, The Obama will be tough on terrorism, oh yeah.

Speaking of The One, take a look at this over at Clayton Cramer. Interesting. As is the absolute idiocy of this.

And at Blackfive a link to HuffPost. The post itself is sraightforward: how a bunch of troops at the sharp end reacted to the election. But the comments... "Aw, you poor stupid(fascistbastard!) soldiers, you just don't understand what's actually Good and Right, or you would worship The Obama too." I didn't read too far.

As to the last, a few months ago read a book called Deer Hunting with Jesus. Short version: sensitive, arts-loving boy grows up among the philistines, escapes to heaven(liberal large cities); comes back as an adult and writes about the stupid, unlettered, etc. people who just don't know how they're being fooled about
the war
the economy
religion
unions
and just about everything else. How they just didn't understand that if unions(run by young, progressive organizers) took over the places they work they'd be in heaven; that if the gummint took over their health care, heaven; and so on. Through it all, the tolerance(at best) to utter contempt(for the most part) he felt for the people around him was kind of amazing. Which seems to sum up the feelings of most of the commenters about the troops: "We have civilian control because you just want to kill people instead of solving the problem; you're just not smart enough to make such decisions; how dare you actually speak an opinion?; The Obama will save you, too, if you give him time." Just friggin' wonderful.

I have a serious question about trust

Specifically, trust in the system: the Justice Department, the FEC, the Congress.

Can we trust them? Should we?

I'm not talking about the normal, "We're watching you" toward Congress, I mean flatly can we trust them to have the interests of this country at heart?

We already know a lot of the weenies in House and Senate do not; if you'd had any doubts, Schumer comparing political speech he doesn't like to pornography being broadcast that needs regulation should have killed them. There are far too many in both Houses who're more concerned with personal and party power than this country; they've violated their oaths of office and, if the people back home were more worried about things like honor and truth and freedom than about "He's the Party candidate!" these clowns would've been, as my old boss used to say, kicking rocks down the road years ago. Instead, they keep voting for them. Barney Frank(Corrupticrat-MA) for instance; there's no telling how much of the loss of business and population that state is (supposedly)dealing with is directly connected to his actions, but they keep voting for him. Corrupt bastard will probably be in office until he dies. And now we add in the 'Fairness Doctrine' hammer these jerks want to use on the media that doesn't kiss their ass, which appears to be affecting what some media outlets do. But let's move on from Congress for a moment.

Is there, WILL there be, any criminal investigation of Frank? Or Sen. Chris Countrywide Dodd? Any RICO, or any other, investigation of ACORN and vote fraud, and credit card fraud in this election? Almost certainly not, which brings up "Can we, SHOULD we, trust the Justice Department?" Because if they don't have the balls or integrity to do their damn jobs in this, why should we trust them to be honest, and honorable, in doing their jobs on anything else?

We've got the word that the FEC is probably going to give The Obama's campaign a pass on an audit, while McCain's will definitely face an audit. The FEC has been a group of politically-motivated jerks for years, we already know they're not trustworthy. This just makes it worse, in-your-face "We do EVERYTHING to suit our personal politics" bad.

We had the examples after 9/11 of the FBI and Justice(?) failing to do their damn jobs for political reasons, and it's worse now with the crap that's come out. Add in the way so many people have been screwed over for bullcrap 'violations' for the sake of padding the agencies' numbers and making the politicians who control their budgets happy, and how can I trust any of these agencies? Or the people who work there? On anything?

Australian Etiquette

WEDDINGS
1.. Livestock is a poor choice for a wedding gift.
2.. Kissing the bride for more than five seconds may cause a drop in your popularity. (Excessive use of the tongue is also considered out of place)
3.. For the groom, at least, rent a tux. A tracksuit with a cummerbund and a clean football jumper can create a tacky appearance.
4.. Though uncomfortable, say "yes" to socks and shoes for the occasion.

DRIVING ETIQUETTE
1.. Dim your headlights for approaching vehicles, even if your gun is loaded and the roo is in your rifle sight.
2.. When entering a roundabout, the vehicle with the largest roo bar doesn't always have the right of way.
3.. Never tow another car using panty hose and duct tape.
4.. When sending your wife down the road with a petrol can, it's impolite to ask her to bring back beer too.

More over at Theo's

Sights: to use or not to use?

Depends on the situation.

Found thanks to James

Show report

Ok, first: big show. BIG show. Somewhere between 3-4000 tables of just about every kind of goodness you can think of related to firearms, though not a lot of reloading gear; a number of places with powder and primers, a couple with a bunch of dies, and the usual scatter of people with a few die sets put out.

Second: ammo. My favorite ammo guy was there, but he had no individual boxes of any cartridge; cases only. Bunch of other dealers had boxes, and lots of cases. And my God how they moved. Especially the usual suspects: 7.62x39, 7.62x54r, .308, .223*, 9mm and- to a lesser extent- .45acp. As in my ammo guy had several empty pallets when we left Sunday, and so did the other dealers**. And a place called Blue Star that sells mostly brass and bullets(some powder and primers) was doing a brisk business open to close; they always do, but more people seemed to be buying large amounts.

Third: magazines. Damn. Every dealer specializing in them was busy, again open to close. One guy had a crate- as in wood crate about 2x2x4’- of AK mags, and it was almost empty by 5pm Saturday. Every dealer didn’t sell out of them, but they sold a LOT. Also of the other ‘big demand’ item, AR15 mags. A lot of standard-capacity pistol mags of the type the GFWs call ‘high-capacity’ were selling a lot, too. Hell, everything was selling well, just those more so than others.

Fourth: if anything, the tendency of some people to overprice firearms was worse. I mean, a Inland M1 Carbine, all late features, isn’t worth $2000. Period. Kind of amazing what some people were asking for things. Collectable Winchester rifles and such I can understand, but some of the stuff… Couple of times I had the desire to ask how they’d managed to hide the thick gold plating that would be the only reason that thing would be worth what they were asking.

I’d hoped to find some of the Remington Eley .22 ammo to feed the Enfield trainer, but no luck. And no, I did not buy the brick of Lapua Midas to try out(I don’t buy ammo to try out when it’s in a brick that runs more than a hundred dollars). And I just realized I forgot to check Blue Star for 7.62x54r and 7.5x55 brass. Dammit. I hope I’ve still got their card. Last year there was a guy with a powder measure he’d designed to handle stick powders without the problem most measures have; wasn’t there this time, and I’d hoped to get one. Have to check around and see if he’s advertising.

And it's not gunny related, but the concessions at the show? The drinks were horribly overpriced, but the food wasn't; and it was pretty good. They've got a barbeque sandwich and a philly beef that's damn good.

All in all, a damn good show, everything from Class III stuff(make a deposit and go do the paperwork) to plinkers to big-game rifles to antiques(including the brass-barrel blunderbuss my daughter would love), bayonets to pocketknives to swords, targets to (some) loading gear.




*Yes, I know, in military it’s 7.62x51 and 5.56x45; bite me, I call it .308 and .223
**See Lawdog’s post on the local situation in his neck of the woods. And the Seagull's post on the show

Show over

Back home after two days of being submerged in lots of gunny goodness. Miniguns and gatling guns and rifles and pistols and scatterguns and knives and parts and....and... damn, it was nice.

Home, tired, more in-depth report later.

Yeah, he's the President Elect;

That doesn't mean we have to let him have his way, or go along with him. Or not tell the truth about him and his minions. We're going to have to be a big chunk of that; those in the major media who aren't still running around with their nose up the Obamessiah's backside are scared of him and minions; they're afraid, in part, that if they 'criticize' him(which will include "You told a truth we didn't want out!") they'll be added to the hit list on the 'Fairness Doctrine'.

And that includes contacting your congresscritters and telling them to oppose the crap he's going to try to shove down our throats. Especially in the first while after the inauguration; the media suckups will be once again calling anyone who doesn't want to roll over a racist, bigot or whatever and a lot of politicians, being the weenies they are, need to be reminded we can do more than call them names: we can work to throw their ass out of that office.

Of course, a lot of Obamites will be getting disturbing news in the near future, too.

Ah, New York Effin' City,

you asked for it, and you've got it.
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to cut the city work force by 3,000, but that's just the beginning of the pain New Yorkers will feel as part of the fiscal crisis. A slew of new taxes are also on the agenda.

There will be 1,000 fewer cops, but the city will hire 200 more traffic agents to give out $60 million a year in new block-the-box tickets.
You might not be able to get a cop in an emergency, but you can get a parking ticket! Woohoo, revenue for the city!

The spending cuts mean reducing the city work force. The revenue increases mean taxes -- lots of taxes.

In the current fiscal year there's the 7 percent property tax hike that starts in January -- and the plan to renege on a promised $400 property tax rebate.

"I think the people of the city are going to be enraged," City Councilman Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, said. "They've been told the check is in the mail on the rebate."
Yeah, well, they stuck Bloomberg back in office, so tough. You actually thought he'd give you any of your money back?

The mayor proposed raising the income tax by either 7.5 percent or 15 percent.
Of course he did; it's what is currently called a 'liberal' always does when they have a chance.

But not everyone thinks the tax hikes will help the city's finances.

"Increasing the personal income tax would be a disaster for the city," said Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute. "It's hard to overestimate that fact. We've already got the highest local personal income tax in the nation."
Well, let's see, Massachusetts has been bleeding population and jobs due to their taxes(among other things), yet they decided against a tax cut; think the people in NYEffin'C are any smarter? Considering who they just stuck back in the mayor's office, I doubt it.

The mayor said he thought his proposals would generate some lively discussion with the City Council.
Yes, discussion which Mayor For Life Bloomberg will silence if it doesn't go his way. Ah, Comrades, you asked for it.

Happier subject: BIG gun show

The Wanenmacher Show in Tulsa this weekend. Should get there early Saturday for two days of gunny stuff. Parts and guns and ammo and knives and books and loading stuff. Screw politics for a couple of days. Although, at any show, you're going to run into it with the marxist slated to move into the Oval Office and his stated hostility to the 2nd Amendment. Which reminds me, need to contact the congressvarmints again.

Further reasons to name it the Stupid Party

Bunch of morons trying to blame Palin for the loss, with assorted insults and bullcrap thrown at her.

Bunch of effing idiots. McCain ran a lousy campaign, put off-limits legitimate subjects on which Obama could have been gone after; add to that that he'd spent years peeing on conservatives and stabbing them in the back so that their support was lukewarm at best, but she's to blame. Yeah.

I still think that McCain has bought into that 'most exclusive club in the world' crap, and one doesn't just 'go after' another member of the club, now does one? Add that to seeming to enjoy crapping on people who count on him, and it didn't exactly add up to a barn-burner candidate. But it's her fault. Yeah.

Republican party? You want me to support the party after all this and more? Screw you.

Had some weather move through last night

and during it I saw this come out. I think there's a slight problem in definition here:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK COVERS NORTHERN...WESTERN...
CENTRAL...AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA...AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT...

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK...
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT OVER PORTIONS
OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA.

LOCATION...
THE SLIGHT RISK IS LOCATED EAST OF A LINE FROM STILLWATER...TO
MUSTANG...TO WAURIKA OKLAHOMA.

TIMING...
THE MOST LIKELY TIME FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE FROM 9 PM
THROUGH 2 AM.

IMPACTS...
LARGE HAIL UP TO ONE AND ONE HALF INCHES IN DIAMETER...CAPABLE OF
DAMAGING AUTOMOBILES...VEGETATION...AND THE ROOFTOPS AND WINDOWS OF
STRUCTURES.

DAMAGING WIND GUSTS OF 65 TO 70 MPH.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD PLAN
FOR SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS TONIGHT...LASTING UNTIL EARLY
THURSDAY MORNING IN SOME EASTERN LOCATIONS.

DISCUSSION...
A STRONG UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO IMPACT THE SOUTHERN
PLAINS TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO FORM NEAR AND TO THE
SOUTHEAST OF A COLD FRONT. STRONG DEEP LAYER WIND SHEAR...INCLUDING
THE PRESENCE OF A SOUTHWESTERLY LOW LEVEL JET OVER THE SLIGHT RISK
AREA...WILL RESULT IN SOME STORMS BECOMING STRONG TO SEVERE. STRONG
WINDS THROUGHOUT THE DEPTH OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL YIELD FAST MOVING
STORMS...SOME GREATER THAN 45 MPH...AND THIS WILL ENHANCE THE
POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL DIMINISH OVERNIGHT AS THE FRONT
BRINGS COOLER...STABLE AIR INTO THE REGION.

PROBABILITY TABLE...
VALID THROUGH 700 AM CST THURSDAY NOV 6.
PROBABILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRING IN THE
NWS NORMAN COUNTY WARNING AREA...100 PERCENT.
PROBABILITY OF SEVERE STORMS IF STORMS OCCUR...90 PERCENT.

OTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER...
AN URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1045 PM
ACROSS PORTIONS OF LOGAN AND PAYNE COUNTIES RECEIVING BETWEEN ONE
AND THREE INCHES OF RAIN THIS AFTERNOON. SEE THE ADVISORY FOR
DETAILS.

I'd like to know what they define as a 'high' risk.

Dear Leader will

change the world! With illustrations!

As Kevin says, that's funny right there.

A new economic indicator

On the way home a couple of days ago, heard a dj say “Here’s a new sign of economic problems: sales of sexy underwear are down. Essentially, the bottom has fallen out of thongs.”

In the comments on the 'two sides' post the other day

a guy said “Some of us are too old to be worried about unintended consequences.”*

That might well be a clue to how it might pop: someone older, no family or family all grown and gone, who decides “I’ve loved this country all my life, and I’m not simply handing it over to the bastards,” and meets them head-on.


*There’s a book titled ‘Unintended Consequences’ in which a low-grade version of the rebellion happens; people start sabotaging federal agencies and equipment, and killing feds. FBI, ATF, EPA, FAA, all kinds of people who’ve used their power and authority to screw people over. Because it’s not a full-out, open battle-type rebellion, it manages to stay short of the ‘burn down the house’ level. Would it work? God knows. And I’d hate like hell to have to find out. Warts and all, this is my country, and the unintended consequences of such actions, there’s no telling what level and direction it could cause things to go. Considering the number of people who’ve revealed themselves lately as hardly being able to wait for their secular Saviour to take care of them, there’s an awful lot of people who’d say “Freedom? The Constitution? How can I worry about that if I won’t have my mortgage paid for, or I have to buy my own gas?” and would practically beg for the collar.

The wheel is back on the bike

This time said mechanics not involving any blood loss. Except in my pocket; you know what a good bike tire costs nowadays?

One interesting thing, until I looked at the tread on the new one, I didn't realize how much wear there'd been on the old tire. Not enough that it needed replacing yet(minus the hole, that is), but more than I'd thought.

These are Avon Venom tires, which I had put on two or three years ago(can't find the receipt). The shop I generally go to recommends them, and I have to say their opinion was good: the bike has quicker handling with them.

In case you're unaware of this, bike shops charge more to change a tire if you drive the bike in than if you just bring the wheels, which is one reason why I took the wheel off and hauled it in.

No riding this afternoon, though; high winds, strong gusts and a fair chance of rain, so truck to work again tonight.