Ain't it purty?

Some of you who've been dropping in here might remember that a while back I bought a M1 Carbine receiver when SOG got some in. I've been collecting parts since, and finally put everything together.


















The barrel is an aftermarket(GI barrels in good shape are now at prices that are flat amazing in some cases), the stock- a flat beautiful piece of walnut- was obtained through the good offices of Og. Everything else is GI, from the springs to the sights to the magazine.

Most of the assembly is no big deal, but I'd never installed a barrel before; turned out not to be as bad as I'd feared. Driving the front sight on was an experience of its own(I don't think you actually need the pin to hold it in place), but everything else fitted in just like it should.

Took it to H&H right after I finished it to function-test it, and all went well. It was hitting well below point of aim, the sight blade being deliberately made high. Back home I did some fitting to tighten things up between stock and receiver/barrel, following the suggestions in this piece by the fine people at CMP. Then, after bitching and moaning about the weather and time a short delay, today I had the chance to get it to a 100-yard range and do some shooting and filing. Started off at 50 yards, shot two and filed, shot two and filed until it was a couple of inches low, then moved to 100.

To give you an idea of how much had to be taken off- and the accuracy of this thing- , please note the four shots top left:
















That's a sub-2" group using GI-spec Lake City ball. Just to compare I adjusted windage and fired two rounds of Wolf ball(shut up, Cowboy). As to the elevation, I was actually aiming at the target above this one, so they were hitting about seven inches low. After having cut the front down a bit at fifty yards.

Finally got it just right, as the baby bear said, and it sat there through the rest of the day. Just before packing it in I loaded two rounds and fired them:





















I think I'll keep it.

Shocking numbers

brought to us by The Englishman:
Illegally held guns are flooding Britain’s inner cities and a spate of fatal shootings in London has highlighted gun culture’s allure to disaffected youth. This comes despite the best efforts of the law and its enforcers to restrict the supply of guns. Yet, any man, woman or street urchin could own a gun in Victorian Britain — at least until 1870 when a licence fee was charged if they wanted to carry the weapon outside their home. And, surprisingly, there was very little gun crime.

Personally, I don't think it's surprising at all; someone checked the actual homicide rate of Tombstone, AZ back in the wild days and it was very low. And most were between gang members and general outlaw types(sound familiar?).

Well worth reading. Then go read Kim, who has some interesting comparisons and comments.

Yeah, I'm late on this. I first saw it a couple of days ago, late so I didn't post on it then. Yesterday had a couple of things I HAD to take care of, and being the the final(I hope) throes of whatever plague is going around, by the time I was done I gave up, read a bit and crashed. So I'm getting it done today.

Damn you, Goreacle!

I was expecting a visit from the Brown Truck of Happiness yesterday, bringing a package of goodies from Brownell's. But I get home and no package! No Brown Truck has come! So I turn on the computer and check the tracking and find Rescheduled in the delivery. Why?

ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS CAUSED THIS DELAY

Oh, joy. I'd planned on opening my box and checking out the goodies, hitting the grocery store, making dinner and spending the rest of the evening using my new stuff. But NOOOO.

For all the Globulist Warmering doomtalking, you'd think the damn blizzards would be over by now, or at least changed to drowning rain(got to make those sea levels rise somehow, you know). But no. The Goreacle is going to freeze the whole place if he keeps this up.

Snork...

Does about sum them up, doesn't it?

Thanks to the Emperor for this

The son has been heard from

New friends and nice things to play with
















It seems some friendlies showed up at the range while they were qualifying and, after business was taken care of, some "Can I try that?" went on. It's a G36(more on it here) and he said it's an interesting piece.

Yes, as you may be able to tell, he's doing just fine.

Cable damascus

It's what it sounds like, instead of bars or sheets of steel you take one or more pieces of cable, forge-weld them into a bar and then forge it into a blade. Makes a nice 'snakeskin' pattern when it's etched.

It has one real problem in the making that's worse than a standard pattern-welded piece: getting and keeping crap out of the pieces. With standard you can clean the bars, stack them together, heat and flux and the flux both carries out any traces of scale or whatever from between pieces and seals the surface(until you hammer it and drive the stuff out and off). When cable comes to you, brand new it'll be greasy; used, greasy and cruddy with the stuff having worked all through the wires.

Cleaning the stuff out of new isn't too bad, use a good degreaser, soak it in kerosene or whatever. Old cable, it's a bit more involved. I've read of everything from degreaser, boiling it in soapy water and pretty much anything else you can think of. What I used to do was fairly simple, since I used new cable: I burned it off. Be warned, smoky and smelly, but it works. I'd stick about six inches into a low fire and let it burn out, then push the next six in and so forth until the whole piece was done(I usually used about an eighteen inch piece). This does have the bad point of sometimes leaving some ash inside, but the fluxing seemed to take care of it nicely. Also, if you used low heat the grease tended to melt and run out before it burned, leaving the inside pretty clean. Several smiths I've read of would take a day to burn clean and flux a lot of cable, so as to have enough to keep them a while.

To flux it- I used borax- first I'd get the very end to welding heat and set the weld. Then heat a few inches to low red and unwind the section slightly(doesn't take much) and, while still good and hot, sprinkle it heavily with borax; you want the stuff to melt and flow throughout. Repeat heating and fluxing if needed, then twist it back as tight as you can. Move to the next section and repeat.

Remember, the flux does two things: it seals the surface of the steel to keep scale from forming, and it causes impurities that may be trapped between pieces to melt at a lower temperature than otherwise, which means when you hammer it the liquid flux and impurities(if any) spray out. Yes, it will burn the crap out of you, an apron and eye protection highly recommended.

To actually make the billet, I'd heat four to six inches of cable up to welding heat and hammer it from the welded end back the first pass, then turn it 90-degrees and go back up the other way; remember, this has to both set the weld and drive out the flux. When this section cooled I'd inspect, and if well set I'd do the next section.

When I had enough for the purpose, I'd fold it two or more times- usually in a 'Z' shape- then flux and weld that into one piece. Then I'd fold that once more, either in half or three and weld it again. You have to be CERTAIN that you've closed any voids between wires and driven all the flux and any impurities out.

When done, you'll have a solid bar of sufficient mass for the blade you want to make, and forge it out, heat treat and so forth as you would any other.

I haven't made any of this in a while and have no pictures, but I did find this picture at this man's site:








This is a beautiful example, with a section of cable left on to make the hilt.

You can make it as I described, or you can cut pieces of cable and wire or arc-weld them around a bar for a handle(which is the first way I read about this being done). In the latter case, one man I saw some information on took one-inch cable, cut four pieces about four inches long, arc-welded them to a handle and brought the whole mess up to heat and did the billet making with a power hammer(Damn, the times I've wished for one of those...).

Besides a different appearance, some who've used it say they've found blades made this way to be a bit more aggressive in cutting; I never tested for that so I can't say. Although if I'm able to make some more, I'll give it a shot.

That's really about it, fairly simple process. Just remember that bit from Murphy's Laws of Combat: the simple things are never easy.

What hath the GFWs wrought?

A buttload of people buying guns and ammo

Gun show this weekend, and my Dad was able to get up here for it. Small show(I'll get into that later), but busy as hell. We got there a little after it opened at 9, not too many people: by 11 when we left for lunch it was packed. Young, old, men & women, etc., and lots of buying going on; guns and ammo being carried out in large numbers.

You always have to be careful at shows, there's always some people pricing things for more than they're worth. Noticed two things on this line: more people doing this, and their prices were higher. Which, unless you have something someone is just dying for, means people buy from someone else. Some guy was selling 500-packs of 7.62x39 for $120(gack!) or $5/box. Don't think he sold much of it. Someone else was selling Mosin Nagant M44 rifles for $125.

On the other hand...

Place called Big Boy's Toys here in town had a bunch of stuff, including DPMS AR15 rifles in various configurations, including a 16 or 18" barrel carbine with collapsing stock, 2 magazines, cleaning kit and a hard case for $695; if I were in the market for one and had the cash I'd have checked that out. Some other people had good prices on things, too. Higher than in the past overall, but realistic-level higher, not "I'm gonna gouge people while they're worried" higher. Lots of used stuff, including a guy who had both a 9mm and a .45acp Marlin Camp Carbine in very nice condition for a very good price.

Overall, it proved something someone said a few years back: the GFW politicians are a businessman's best friend in one way: every time they open their mouth and start making threats and demands, business goes up.

On the small size, you've got three groups that have been doing shows in town. One of them does two shows a year, spring and fall- sometimes one or two more during the year- and they're always good sized with lots of dealers. The other two seem to alternate doing a show every 2-3 weeks, and because of that they're almost always small. Guy that did this weeks show for example: every so often one of his is big and busy, but most are like today, not too many vendors. I really wish they'd start just doing one a month or something.

In any case, this one was a: small like I'd feared(when Dad has a chance to come up for one, I hope it'll be a good one), but b: busy as hell because of the political climate. Overall, had a good visit. And ran him to Sportsman's Warehouse to get some reloading stuff he needed since there wasn't any at the show.

Oh, and the only things I saw for .30 Carbine were three magazines(two 30's and a 15), two bayonets and some ammo.

I got the 30's.

New book out

Hogboy got it done, it's actually published and everything.

Now if he'll get the damn second cookbook done...

Just bloody freakin' wonderful

I’m not doing justice to the story, but, if not an attempt on the cockpit, this was a serious probe.

I get the money and time together to go to Britain/Europe or Australia, I think I'm going to take some close-combat training before I go. I didn't doubt it, this just points out that the bastards are still working at it.


Found thanks to Sondra

I gave up on TV news too, Jeff

Jeff notes his reasons(some of them) here. Mine... Didn't have a particular one incident, but there was a trigger to saying "Screw you!" and flipping the bird to the major media.

After my '2x4 to the head' moment of realizing there were a bunch of people who'd never let me go shooting or hunting with my Dad again, I got more and more sick of the news: I concentrated on the bullcrap they always threw out about firearms, but that also led to being far more critical about what they put out about anything. Then came the day...

This was during the O.J. Simpson trial. At the time, as I recall, the media was playing up everything possible(so it seemed to me) to justify us jumping into the Balkans. On this day, the first time in about two weeks that people in one city had been able to go to market, somebody dropped a couple of mortar shells into the marketplace. Lots of bodies and blood. And 'The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather' started: "Horror in the Balkans as a marketplace is bombed, many dead and more wounded;" and at that point his voice shifted and became almost a touch, cheery, "but first, in the O.J. Simpson trial"-

Which was as far as I got. Happily there were no heavy objects handy to throw or I'd have had to get money together for a new tv. As it was, I was on my feet screaming at the screen and that jackass Rather just exactly what I thought of him and his network and his 'news' reporting. And I don't think I've paid attention to their broadcasts(or trusted 60 Minutes after the Alar bullshit) since. Or much else of the major media. Local news, in particular for weather, but the rest from reading and from this here innernet.

No-knock progress in Georgia

Too bad it took an old lady being killed to do it.

ATLANTA (AP) -- A group of lawmakers wants to make it harder for police to use "no-knock" warrants in the wake of a shootout that left an elderly woman dead after plainclothes officers stormed her home unannounced in a search for drugs.

The measure would allow judges to grant the warrants only if officers can prove a "significant and imminent danger to human life."

and near the end:
"Every citizen ought to be safe and secure in their homes," Fort said. "A no-knock warrant should be a special warrant, not a standard. And that's what it's evolved into."

This last is the key: these warrants are only supposed to be used in cases of actual need: not because someone likes them, or likes breaking in doors, or whatever. They're like tactical teams, a very useful tool that's been overused, and too often for crap where a hammer is not called for.

From The Englishman,

we get a link to this article, well worth reading: Gun law and common sense:

More rubbish is written about 'gun control' than about almost any other subject. Allegedly 'tough' gun and knife laws are the liberal substitute for the death penalty, the left's way of trying to stop criminals from killing.

Like most 'liberal' solutions, they don't work against their intended target, and they attack freedom. It helps a great deal to be liberal about this if you a) don't think about it and b) know no history at all. Until 1920, Britain's gun laws made Texas look effeminate. There was no effective restriction at all on owning a firearm. Yet there was virtually no gun crime. Now we have some of the most restrictive anti-gun laws in the world, and gun crime is a serious and growing problem. Interestingly, the laws came first, the problem afterwards, and the recent ban on handguns was a completely logic-free response to the Dunblane mass-murder which preceded it.

On the subject of owning one himself, we get a touch of the 'I don't want the responsibility' attitude:
Actually, I don't want us to become a gun-carrying, gun-owning society at all. I have absolutely no desire to own a gun or have one in my house. They are even more dangerous (which is saying something) than motor cars, which I - likewise - don’t much like using because of the heavy responsibility of being in control of such powerfully lethal machinery. And any burglar who arrives at my house will be given a cup of tea (choice of Indian, China or herbal) and a biscuit, and asked to sign a release form stating that he has not been harmed, intimidated or upset in any way. I understand the liberal criminal law well enough to know that this is the only sensible approach for a British burglary victim, who doesn't want to be handcuffed and put in the cells.

Note that he does NOT say "I don't like them! Ban everything!", just that he doesn't want one. Which would be a fine thing, if he actually had the choice; but the government has made the 'choice' for him. And he full well understands that as things sit now, defending himself from a burglar could get him more time in jail than the burglar will get. Which is absolutely insane. And he'd better hope the burglar will settle for tea, cookies, and walking out with anything valuable.

And I also think that strict gun laws are wholly ineffective against their targets. The guns used in crime are hardly ever legally obtained. The people who use them almost invariably have criminal convictions, which would disqualify them from legal gun ownership anyway. So you can pass as many laws against gun ownership as you like. It will have precisely no effect on the level of gun crime. In which case, why do it?

Well, partly to keep the dim liberals happy, of course, which is important these days. But could there be another reason? If the state and the people broadly agree, about most matters, then the state can license the people to do such things as defend themselves, make citizen's arrests, thump burglars, even keep weapons. (Every Swiss home contains arms and ammunition, and the Swiss crime problem is minor, to put it mildly).

But if the state believes that criminals are to be pitied and treated, while the people believe that criminals need to be punished, then the state cannot trust the people any longer.

And there you get it: the state cannot trust the people. Which, of course, means the people need to be restricted in every way possible, and their lives controlled in every way possible. Like deciding that they need to be licensed to defend themselves, make citizen's arrests, thump burglars, even keep weapons. Mr. Hitchens seems to hold to the view that, even if things were loosened up, you should still have to get a license from the government to own arms, which- especially with a government like that which the British state has become- is too much; it allows the government to deny you for whatever reason they choose, or jerk your license 'just because we want to'. Like Bloomberg in NYFC* ordered the police to cut the number of licenses, just because he said so because he doesn't like them. And you have no recourse. In any case:

And the people, likewise, cannot trust the state, which is becoming - increasingly - a tyranny which watches, dockets, snoops and generally pries into our lives, and grants us smaller and smaller limits within which we may live if we wish to avoid being interfered with by its agencies.

Say it, brother!

Yet the one thing that will bring a rapid and powerful police response to a phone call is a claim that guns are being used by private citizens. And the one offence the courts will always punish severely is the one they call 'taking the law into your own hands'. Why? Because they are much more worried about their monopoly of force than they are about protecting us. Is that a good sign?

Actually, I object strongly to the expression 'taking the law into your own hands'. The law is ours and we made it for ourselves, to protect us and govern us, as a free people. Our freedom to defend ourselves against criminal violence is part of our general freedom to live our lives lawfully. We hire the police to help us enforce the law, not to tell us that we cannot do so. Sadly, the modern British law is not our law, but an elite law, based on ideas which most of us do not share. And the modern police are the elite's police, not ours, which is one of the reasons why they have vanished from the streets, where we want them to be. The disarming of the people, and the cancellation of all their rights to defend themselves, are bad signs.

I do have my disagreements with him, like here:
I don't want my neighbours to own guns, either. It shouldn't be necessary in a properly law-governed country.

Our small, easily-policed and largely urban society is deeply unlike the USA, where many people live hours from the nearest police station and can expect no immediate help if they are in dire trouble

"...shouldn't be necessary..." should have NOTHING to do with whether a citizen owns arms or not. It is a Right of free men, period. And he's noted a problem that is the same here or there: it doesn't matter if you live next door to the police station or miles away, if the police cannot or will not be there when you are in danger, you are on your own. And as has been pointed out by many, the best single method of self-defense, especially if you have any kind of physical handicap, is a gun. Like it or not.

Overall, a very good piece of thinking by Mr. Hitchens. Which will- predictably- cause the nanny-staters to scream and hold their breath.


*NYFC: New York Effin' City, per Kim
Speaking of which, The other day on Glenn Beck's radio show he had the former NYFC police chief on, interviewing him about- among other things- Rudy Giuliani, and asked about ownership of guns, specifically how difficult(as in 'damn near impossible') it is in NYFC for someone to get a permit. And he got the same song and dance that Giuliani has given: NYFC is 'special', like places like LA, Rudy was actually 'very friendly' to gun owners, and that- the real kicker- you had to make sure that only the 'right people' could own guns. Which in NYFC has meant, especially for carry permits, people with lots of money/fame/influence, and screw everybody else. As Beck put it, "I don't remember reading anything in the Constitution about only the 'right people' getting to have guns".

As Esmay, having gone over the edge, proves gravity

by continuing downhill.

I haven't read his stuff since the basically unhinged mess I wrote about last year. Finding the stuff linked above makes me glad I haven't gone back. That he either ignores or refuses to acknowledge that there are a bunch of muslims out there, in this country and out, who really ARE the enemy precisely because they do believe in islam as written in the Koran and hadiths...

Damn.

If momma-to-be ain't happy,

ain't nobody gonna be happy

The dangers of the 'hunting vs. other' guns arguments

well illustrated in this from the Geek. I'm going to qoute a passage from his piece:

From THR member Daniel of Australia:
-----------------------
I've been following this entire incident with interest, because what has happened closely mirrors something that happened here. In the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when there was intense debate about proposals for tightening gun laws, a spokesperson for a group called the Professional Hunters Association said words to the effect of "Anyone who needed a semi-automatic to kill animals was a 'City Boy', who shouldn't be out there with a gun in the first place!"

This was extremely damaging to arguments against wholesale bans on semi-automatic firearms, and was trumpeted loudly in the media: here were professional hunters, giving the lie to any legitimate reason or need to own these evil weapons, and it came up repeatedly in the media and in parliamentary debates on the proposed legislation. How could our position be maintained in light of this comment from within, from professionals?

Rebecca Peters is still using this quote too, eleven years later, as she tries to sell the same story internationally. The huge irony is that in fact professional shooters always did use semi-automatic longarms, particularly in control shooting of ferals (pigs, buffalo etc) from choppers - and they ended up being one of the few groups who still can own them

Personally I think the damage done by this sort of thing, from within the firearms community - in fact from people in the role of spokesmen - is incalculable.


As we've seen, not counting the bullshit between groups who shoot different firearms/styles, the Brady Gun-Ban Group and Violence Policy Center types are just waiting and looking for stuff like this to use against us. At this point, anybody who thinks 'MY guns will be fine' is a fool; the banners are after ALL of them.

Og asked what critters those were in the 'Spring' post,

Kiki the ferret and Bun-Bun the(Glock & switchblade packin') mini-lop. Of Sluggy fame.

Ever finish the backlog, Cowboy?

Medieval Fair is coming up,

and thinking about that made me think about smithing, and how I got started in this mess.

Partly I was always fascinated with the idea of actually making things. And then I found out my grandfather on Dad's side had been a smith for many years, and his father. Which brought that specific way of making things very much into my mind. No idea what to do about it, but it was a wonderful thought. Then I got a taste of doing it.

Back when, Dad was working part-time at a local salvage yard to pull in some extra money. Once day, after I'd said something about wanting to try forging, he brought home a round, bowl-shaped piece of cast iron with a smaller bowl in the bottom which had a hole in the side for grease. He thought it was some kind of cover for a shaft end on some machinery, and it ought to work for a forge bowl. So we propped it up on some bricks, took the refrigerator compressor he had from somewhere(I don't remember what he'd used it for) and ran the output line into the grease hole, broke up some charcoal briquets and lit it off. Not much air flow, but enough to get small pieces hot.

Understand, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and Dad didn't know much; by the time he was born Grandpa had started working at a different job and didn't do much forging anymore. No books, either. So I just fooled around with it, burning up more charcoal than was really affordable, with the only real product I remember being a small javelin head I made out of a screwdriver shaft.

A little while after that we moved, and it was years before I had the chance or inclination to try it again. By that time I was grown(physically, at least), married and had- if anything- even less money free for crap like that. Then-wife and I were playing around in the SCA(had been when we met, so that was nothing new) and a guy we knew was interested in smithing, too. And he had the money and time to collect tools and had put a forge together. So when opportunity allowed I'd go over to his girlfriend's house(his stuff was in the yard) and we'd hammer on things. And by that time there were actually some books out on the subject, and from looking at objects in history and craft books we figured out some things, and it went from there.

I wound up with my own forge, made of some steel framing holding a cast iron sink; I cut a hole in the bottom and set in a brake drum for a firepot, and rigged up a squirrel-cage blower to that. And I actually started getting good at it.

The feeling of figuring out how to make something correctly, and then creating it... it's wonderful. And amazing. The first time of making something, or figuring out a way to make something better(in both senses), it's just indescribable. The first time I hardened and tempered a blade, and it WORKED! The first time I actually forge-welded two pieced together and they didn't fall apart under stress!

Another part of that is taking some rusty scrap you picked up off the street, or from a salvage yard, and making something. Then you wire-brush it, and oil it or polish it or however you finished it off. And you display it and people say "Oh my God, that's wonderful! How can you do that?!?" It's actually kind of addictive.

My favorite thing to make is blades. Knives, chisels, axes, swords. Taking some spring steel and making a chef's knife that holds an edge better than anything the owner had ever had before. Making a chandelier for either candles or oil lamps that you find out has the place of honor in someone's home. It makes you want to make more, and better. I started making pattern-welded blades- also called 'damascus'- because I just had to do it myself. And then you can manipulate the pattern in the blade.

And tools. Need an oddball wrench? A punch? Odd-shaped or sized screwdriver? Light the fire and make it. Need a specially-shaped hammer? You can make it. A spring you can't find a replacement for? Tricky at times, but you can create it.

There is just no other feeling like it.

That's one reason- other than the general- that I bitch about my hands and elbow and shoulder. I flat cannot work like I used to, and I miss it.

But, to quote somebody, "I'm not dead yet!" So I still fire the forge and hammer when I can work it..

Damn, I wish there were blacksmith groupies.

Don't you just love the idea of living under sharia law?

"I must tell my brothers and sisters that finding a cure (vaccination) for an epidemic before its outbreak is not allowed in Sharia ," said Maulana Fazlullah during a Friday sermon in Mam Dherai village where he is building a madrassa with local funds.

Yes, MUCH better to have your kids dying of or being crippled by polio than use a vaccine, right? Because then the kids will be martyrs.

Ignorant, hate-filled, bigoted, freaking barbarians. Maulana Fazlullah suspects the intentions of foreign agencies involved in funding drives against fatal diseases: “I don’t understand why foreigners would think of our well-being when we see that they are killing Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.” He cited the example of a companion of the Prophet who, he said, was ‘martyred’ during an epidemic.
Maybe because the ones being killed are murdering terrorists, and here people are trying to keep your kids safe from a nasty disease? Maybe because we actually care about life as opposed to your worship of death, you God-cursed idiot? And you ARE an idiot. Saleem accidentally sets off his bomb and dies, "He's a martyr!" Abdul crashes into a tree and "The jooos caused it, he's a martyr!" You ever think that, just maybe, if you stopped blaming everybody else for your problems and stopped excusing every damn thing by naming someone a 'martyr' you might actually accomplish something? Besides getting people killed, at least?

Dammit, this crap is enough to ruin your good mood.

Don't forget the Nation of Riflemen

First National Shooting Festival and Conference.

I'm not going to know if I can get the time until April. God, I want to go.

I think my arms are about an inch and a half longer

because of ALL THE BOOKS I JUST BOUGHT!

Library book sale this weekend, and somebody gave me a ticket so I was able to go to the Friday night opening. Damn, it was packed, and with the mild weather hot as hell in that building. But I got a stack of stuff.

May go back tomorrow, as they're refill the empty spots tonight.

Good thing it's about the end of the month.

A note for those planning to buy a M1 Carbine

Whether from CMP or anyone else:

Buy the bolt tool.

Taking the Carbine bolt apart without it isn't too big a deal; putting it back together without one is a first-class pain in the ass.

I know it isn't actually, but

Damn, it was nice today!

Gresham gets it

Smallest Minority pointed to this post by Gresham which pretty much covers it.

One thing he points out is the end result the Brady Gun-Ban Group and the Violence Policy Center Gun Ban Organization(my name for the bastards) desire:
To gun banners, there is no such thing as a good gun. They want them all. When Tom Diaz, of the Violence Policy Center, was on Gun Talk, I forced him to admit that he would like to ban all guns. What about the police, I asked. Once we get all the other guns, he said, the police won't need their guns, either.

So if you're a cop, in their world you'll have a nightstick and a can of Mace, and that's it. Becuase "We banned guns, so you don't need to carry one anymore".

And we all know the criminals will turn theirs in. Right?

If any question remained about the intentions of the Brady Bunch,

check this out at Uncle. Somebody else noted the same thing, probably several somebodies, but I'm not going to search around for them now.

According to the Brady people, if you have a scope on a rifle or shotgun or handgun, you have a sniper rifle that should be banned. You should not be allowed to hunt unless you can do it with iron sights. There's never a need to shoot at game more than 100 meters away.

I said it before, they'll take anything you can think of about a firearm and that'll become a reason to ban it. Your hunting rifle has a scope, or is capable of shooting 'too accurately', it's a sniper rifle: ban it. How long do you think it'll take them to decide that anything other than buckhorn rear sights are 'unnecessary' for hunting accuracy and should be banned?

Like Uncle said before, they're the Brady Gun-Ban Group. Period. That's their entire aim. And people like Zumbo give them ammunition to shoot all gun owners- including Zumbo- in the back.

Amazing what comes out of the change machine sometimes

This quarter looks really worn, so I flipped it over to check the date



















1935. I've found pre-1964 quarters a couple of times before, but never one this old.

Well, well, well, enough yelling about the truth

and even bureaucrats listen.
The Executive Branch, through the Department of Justice, interprets the Second Amendment as securing a right of individuals to keep and bear arms. (See Memorandum for the Attorney General from Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, et al., Re: Whether The Second Amendment Secures An Individual Right (Aug. 24, 2004), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/olcsecondoamendment2.pdf ). In light of this interpretation, the FAA is withdrawing the statement made in the final rule.

I personally don't like that 'interprets' bit, but the basic problem with the original FAA rule is pretty much cleared with this.

And, right on time, the Brady Gun Ban group jumps in

and makes hay with the words of Zumbo. Just like you knew they would.

I hadn't said anything about this idiot before, because everyone from Uncle to Tam to Jed had been very capably tap-dancing on his head. But I had to mention this.

Naw, the Brady's & Co. don't want your hunting gun

Unless they can get it

A guy found this on the Brady blog and posted it:
The tragic proliferation of Sniper Rifles

I would like to take a moment to comment on the proliferation of Sniper Rifles.
Sniper Rifles are typically equipped with a high-powered scope, and every single one of them can blow through the body armor cops wear. They can even penetrate multiple police cars. Does the Second Amendment protect cop-killer Sniper Rifles? The NRA certainly thinks so, along with the powerful gun lobby that wants your children and your law enforcement officers to be at risk from these weapons of mass destruction.

So, your scoped hunting rifle or target rifle is now a 'weapon of mass destruction' that puts all the kiddies and cops at risk.

Some of these Sniper Rifles can even penetrate ballistic or armored glass, lightly armored vehicles, and armored limousines. Senator Ted Kennedy attempted to solve this with an important bill that would have banned armor piercing ammunition and protected lawful firearm commerce:

"Another rifle caliber, the 30.30 caliber, was responsible for penetrating three officers' armor and killing them in 1993, 1996, and 2002. This ammunition is also capable of puncturing light-armored vehicles, ballistic or armored glass, armored limousines, even a 600-pound safe with 600 pounds of safe armor plating.....

..It is outrageous and unconscionable that such ammunition continues to be sold in the United States of America.."

Yes, that would be the old .30-30, or .30WCF as it was originally know when it came out so recently. In 1894. That must be some kind of deer rifle ol' Swimmer tested; only way I can see a .30-30 puncturing 'light-armored vehicles...even a 600-pound safe' would be if you gave it a depeleted uranium core and boosted it to about 6000fps. 'Course, that would turn the rifle in to shrapnel, but maybe Swimmer(Drunk-Hypocrite, MA) is a bit fuzzy on facts.


Should our elected officials live under the threat of reprisal on their lives from disgruntled constituents? The Gun Lobby seems to think so. We disagree.

Considering some of the crap they come up with, some elected officials should live under the threat of something; it might make them connect back to reality.

Sniper Rifles can be equipped with precision optics above even what the Military uses, allowing a sniper to deliver rounds within millimeters of accuracy - enabling them to engage targets at distances of well over one hundred meters. Is there a pressing need to be able to kill with accuracy at that distance? It is too far to justify as self defense. It is too far for hunting. It is only useful for those who wish to murder from afar.

Hehehehehe, 'within millimeters', 'well over one hundred meters'. God, these people are amazing! I'd point out to them that lots of matches are shot at far over that range, and shots at some game are often over 'one hundred meters', but I think he probably knows that, and just doesn't care to interrupt his tirade about 'sniper rifles' with facts.

Large caliber Sniper Rifles such as the .50 Browning Machine Gun can derail freight cars, shoot down aircraft and helicopters, damage vital ground equipment such as power substations, fuel tanks, and air traffic control, and cause complete chaos. For more information on why large caliber machine-gun rounds must be banned, visit http://www.50caliberterror.com. A shipment of large caliber machine-gun round sniper rifles made by Steyr turned up in Iran, and are being used on our own soldiers, as the .50 bullets easily defeat their body armor, their up-armored humvees, and even APCs.

Now THAT is a new one, a .50 can 'derail a freight car! This must be using one of those Type C Sub-Molecular Explosive Bullets(assuming they existed).
You'll notice that an enemy country using them against our troops is reason to ban them from us revolting(in both senses) peasants.

Many forward thinking, progressive politicians such as Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama have voted against Center-Fire Rifle Ammunition of types for Sniper Rifles, but due to the pressure and massive financial resources of the gun industry, the necessary steps to protect our homes and lives have not been attained.

Ah yes, forward thinking 'progressives', who seem to think stomping the peasants into line and banning anything that makes them wet their pants is a Good Thing. I guess it is, if you think the same kind of socialist crap that's fallen flat everywhere in the world will work here("We'll do it again, only more and harder!*). Note also that it's apparently ALL centerfire ammo, as I've never seen a box labeled 'for Sniper Rifles'.

Sniper Rifles have been used by murderers and spree killers for years, with notable incidents such as the Beltway Snipers, the Clocktower Sniper, and more.

ANY rifle configured and equipped as a sniper rifle has no sporting purpose especially as a hunting rifle. They are too big and heavy to take to the field. Designed for distance shooting, they are useless for the ranges at which game animals are normally shot, and when used on sporting sized game at range they often just wound the animal, inhumanely forcing it to die slowly while the would-be hunter tracks it to finish it off. Most Sniper Rifles fire atypically large cartridges and ultra high velocity ammunition that can travel much greater distances that standard ammunition. The danger imposed from missed shots and ricochetes from these specialty rounds is unreasonable.

You'll note he's not too specific about 'configured as a sniper rifle' other than 'it has a scope and will reach out more than 100 meters'. And this is downright idiotic: they're 'designed for distance shooting', but 'useless for the ranges' of hunting(remember, that's less than 100 meters); super powerful, but can't cleanly kill an animal. Flat amazing.

Most of these rifles carry multiple rounds, with either an automatic mechanism, or a quick toggle action to rapidly move another bullet into the breech, ready to fire into another victim. In most states, they are nearly unrestricted. Anyone over the age of 18 can buy one. If they can't pass a background check, they skirt the NCIS system by going to a gunshow, or finding a private sale in the newspaper. A murderer camped at a distance from a public gathering could quickly turn it into a massacre dwarfing anything we have seen before in the United States, if they had a Sniper Rifle. If they adopted hit and run tactics, entire portions of our country could be shut down.

Actually, sir, an 'automatic' mechanism is strictly regulated. Or do you mean 'semi-automatic'? They're not quite the same, you see. And apparently my old Model 94 is screwed, scope or not, as lever-actions are the only 'quick toggle action' I've ever heard of. John Wayne or The Rifleman and a loop lever, anyone?

And apparently this asshat somehow thinks that a terrorist planning mass murder would be stopped cold by 'A New And Improved Gun Ban Law'. Doesn't stop day-to-day dirtbags, but maybe terrorists will be more accommodating to his ideals.

Sniper Rifles shoot a high powered bullet that is almost always fatal. They are designed for one thing- delivering powerful overkill with deadly precision. You don't need the kind of power and accuracy that can kill a man at five hundred yards for hunting rabbits or defending your house.

But it can't kill a deer at whatever the hell range this guy has decided(for this paragraph at least) is 'normal' hunting range. I repeat, amazing.

We should also give commendations to France because many years ago they designated any firearm capable of shooting military ammunition as a military arm, illegal to posess without a special permit and unlawful to use for hunting. The 223, 308, 7mm mauser, 30-06, and 6.5x55 have no place in the hunting fields of France. Firearms shooting these calibers are military weapons only designed for killing PEOPLE and should be kept out of the hands of the general population. Because they have no hunting purpose, there is no reason for civilians to own them.

Somehow, I knew he'd work the Wonders of France into this. Not familiar with French firearms law, but I have a certain feeling he's full of crap. Among other things, considering the old .30-06 is still one of the most popular hunting cartridges in the world his saying it has 'no hunting purpose' is insane. Same for the others.

Every state in the USA has hunting equipment rules that limit the caliber of firearm used to take game. They also limit the types of rifles, length, magazine capacity, etc. States should amend these hunting regulations to restrict the use of "sniper" rifles, specialty "sniper" cartridges, and "sniper" ammunition. Limits on weight, barrel length, bipods and tripods, thumbhole stocks and pistol grips, night vision type scopes, scopes of excessive magnification, super magnum and high velocity ammunition, and military slings should be imposed. They have no place in the hunting fields of America and hunting usage should not be used as an argument for civilians to own such firearms and weapons. There are more than ample hunting rifles, cartridges, and rounds of ammunition to choose from without them.

Hate to tell you this(not really, but go long here) but the reason they regulate the caliber is generally to make sure you're using a cartridge that has plenty of power for the game in question, not to make you use a smaller one. And what the hell is a 'scope of excessive magnification'? That depends on what you're hunting or the range your target is at. A 'military sling' does not a damn thing except give a way to carry the rifle, again he seems to think low-powered ammo is all you need to hunt with... etc., etc. I take it back, this isn't amazing, it's bloody pathetic.

Let us hope that in a safer, saner America, we will succeed in our efforts to restrict the deadly spread of long distance murder rifles."

In other words, 'Let's name every possible feature that might be found on a rifle and say that makes it a sniper rifle, so we can ban them all!" Kind of like Kerry & Co. going through a catalog to find the features that made them loose bladder control and decreeing that two or more of them make a firearm a 'assault weapon'.

But they don't want to ban your 'legitimate hunting gun', oh no....

Demo #832 that the damned PC mindset is going to get us all killed

Updated

Remember the jerk who started shooting people at the Empire State Building ten years ago? Guess what the authorities didn't mention:
After insisting it wasn't a political attack for ten years, now his family admits that it was indeed an attack in service of the jihad against Israel.
...
"A Palestinian Authority official advised us to say the attack was not for political reasons because that would harm the peace agreement with Israel," she told The News on Friday. "We didn't know that he was martyred for patriotic motivations, so we repeated what we were told to do."

Here's where the PC mindset comes in:
But three days after the shootings, Kamal's family got a copy of a letter that was found on his body, they said. The letter said he planned the violence as a political statement, his daughter said.

"When we wanted to clarify that to the media, nobody listened to us," she said. "His goal was patriotic. He wanted to take revenge from the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis."

This means that the NYFC PD had this letter, and the FBI damn sure knew of it, and the family told the media he did it for political/islamic reason and none of the bastards thought fit to mention it to us peasants.

Please also note this at the end of the Jihad Watch post:
"He wrote that after he raised his children and made sure that his family was all right he decided to avenge in the highest building in America to make sure they get his message," said Linda, who works for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees....

So this sorry little bastard brings his family here, to Great Satan HQ, to 'raise his children and make sure the family is all right', and then murders people here in the name of Allah 'to avenge'. And his daughter works(why am I not surprised?) at the effin' UN.

And not a law enforcement agency or the God-cursed major media we're supposed to trust thought his doing it to 'martyr' himself was worth mentioning.

Multiple layers of editors my ass, more like multiple layers of censors.


Update: I'd forgotten this about good ol' 2nd Amendment Supporting Giuliani:
At City Hall, Mayor Giuliani attempted to shift the focus toward gun control. He was accompanied by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed and son wounded in the 1993 shootings on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train that killed six people and wounded 17.

How safe is a 1911 cocked & locked?

Pretty safe.

Somebody posted this a while back from this thread at High Road, and I thought it's worth looking at again.

John Browning did a nice job on this.

If there were any question that many Democrats want us to lose,

this crap would clear the matter up.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would be “relentless.”

“There will be resolution after resolution, amendment after amendment . . . just like in the days of Vietnam,” Schumer said. “The pressure will mount, the president will find he has no strategy, he will have to change his strategy and the vast majority of our troops will be taken out of harm’s way and come home.”

(Mind you, this comes from a Democrat who hasn't seen a gun ban/registration scheme/tax/licensing plan he didn't vote for, who thinks the idea of concealed carry is a horror, who-Suh-prize, Su-prize![/gomer]- turns out to have a NYFC license to carry. Sorry little gun-grabbing bastard)

And let us not forget the sorry little bastards(can't call them crapweasels, as I like ferrets) who 'crossed the isle' to vote against winning:
Republicans Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, John Warner of Virginia, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania sided with Democrats in calling for debate to begin, as did the two Republicans already on board, Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Scrapes and cuts and breaks:

the world doesn't end.

Kevin had this post on reasons as to why so many kids are violent- and conscienceless- to the level they are. One of the things touched on was so many kids being taped into bubble wrap:

Kids often get hurt playing tag, said Sharon Roland, the nurse at Jack L. Kuban School in southwest Phoenix and vice president of the School Nurses Organization of Arizona.

They split their chins, scrape their noses and graze their knees, the expected injuries of childhood. But they also knock out teeth and fracture bones.

E'Lisa Harrison's son, Grant, was 8 when he was pushed and fell during a game of tag at Kyrene de la Estrella Elementary School in Phoenix. It was an accident, but Grant spent weeks with a cast on his arm, missing out on a season of baseball.

While growing up, my sister broke her wrist. My brother broke an ankle and a collar bone in separate incidents. I broke a toe. Hovever I cracked my head a number of times (requiring stitches - which may explain my current personality), and even did a serious face-plant on the sidewalk once. Most of the kids I grew up with got injured - from cuts requiring stitches to one that was hospitalized after being hit by a car. We were active - and we learned that stupid hurts, pain is temporary, and chicks dig scars. I don't think a lot of our yoots learn much of that today.

I don't like pain. Not even in small amounts. However, back in the Devonian Age when I was a kid it was accepted that you would get scraped and you would get cut and bruised and-

So what? The world doesn't end, you don't die, and it'll go away. It was expected that you'd learn to deal with stuff like this, and most parents wouldn't put up with the level of whining- from kids and adults- current on the subject.

After first divorce, one day my ex called and told me son had fallen and scraped the hell out of his arm, and did I have enough gauze or something to cover it? Stuck away in a corner I had an honest-to-God U.S. Army field dressing, the kind that covers a big area and has cotton cloth on the back(OD Green, of course) with arms on the sides to tie it on. I grabbed that and some antibiotic and ran it over. BIG scrape, sure enough, about 2/3 the length of this forearm and all across one side. He was not happy, but wasn't yelling or crying, just said "It hurts" when I asked how he was. "Well, I'd guess so" I replied. Ex had already cleaned it of course, and put some a/b on, so I tore open the package, displayed this gen-u-wine Army Field Dressing and wrapped his arm up.

And- of course- it still hurt, but he didn't really care anymore. It was taken care of, and he had this really neat bandage to show off, so the problem was solved. He never slowed down- neither did his sister after similar mishaps- and they both 'learned that stupid hurts, and pain is temporary', and that they'd heal.

When the kid gets hurt, you give them comfort and dry the tears, of course; but you don't let them think- or make them think, as happens too often now- that it's a big deal demanding bubble wrap and protective custody. I'm fairly tired of some kid falling, and instead of the needed tear-drying and comfort leading to "That's enough, get over it", the "Oh my God, this is terrible!" just keeps on, which keeps the kid going, which leads to the kid thinking any injury is something terrible that DEMANDS serious attention.

Personally, I think this is connected to the parents who get a call about their kid causing problems in school and instead of finding the facts and chewing the ass of the kid when called for, they show up and threaten the teacher and the principal and whoever else comes to mind for DARING to hold their kid responsible to the rules. In both cases the kids get the idea that they're never supposed to be inconvenienced, that any scratch on their precious body is a horror demanding special attention, and that the whole damn world revolves around them.

Comparisons between Britain and here

Saw this article the other day and started to write about it, but the more I wrote the more frustrated I got, and I gave up. Happily, Kevin took on the task and gives us this take on it.

Today, I found a comment from JR in my response to Elmer, and since I hadn't looked at his place for a while I clicked over and found- among other things- this post with a couple of good links. Went to the one at Classically Liberal and, along with other good information, this quote from Professor Joyce Malcolm on the contrast in homicide numbers:
“The murder rates of the U.S. and U.K. are also affected by differences in the way each counts homicides. The FBI asks police to list every homicide as murder, even if the case isn't subsequently prosecuted or proceeds on a lesser charge, making the U.S. numbers as high as possible. By contrast, the English police "massage down" the homicide statistics, tracking each case through the courts and removing it if it is reduced to a lesser charge or determined to be an accident or self-defense, making the English numbers as low as possible.”

There's been an ongoing problem here in the U.S. in which someone yells about the number of homicides involving firearms here compared to other places, but ignores the total number of homicides(apparently being beaten to death or stabbed doesn't count) in order to say "We need more gun-ban laws!" This quote points out that along with total numbers, you've got to look at how the homicide numbers are figured; if someone is slanting the way of counting deaths to cut down the number counted as murders, you can't trust their figures for the truth. Which makes it harder to argue the point, because sometimes you can't find the actual(true) numbers.

This is much like someone only counting use of a firearm in self-defense as 'real' if the victim shoots: it ignores the huge percentage of cases where the bad guy either finding out the intended victim is armed or having the arm aimed at him sends him away. So by counting it this way they can say "There are very few cases of self-defense with a gun". Dishonest as hell, but they use it anyway.

No particular point in this, just blowing off steam. I'm tired of reading Brit commenters saying they just haven't passed strict enough laws and the police don't have enough power over people and that's why things are bad, and calling us cowboys and vigilantes because we hold that the right of self-defense includes the right to use a weapon if needed.

The Dresden Files

If you haven't seen it and plan to, Spoilers Ahead. Though not in detail.

Finally had time to watch it, and I was disappointed. Harry doesn't live in the basement, no problems with phones, etc., Bob always has a human image when talking, Murphy is different, HE DOESN'T DRIVE THE BLUE BUG, DAMMIT!

They've changed his past history, instead of the White Council there's the High Council, and so on. Unless the other episodes are different they've made a 'evil monster or evil wizard of the week' show. And screwed it up.

You know what they could have done? Take the first book, Storm Front, and make it the season. You could tell the story one episode at a time and have a damn good show(assuming you don't screw with the characters, etc.) Apparently that just wasn't doable, or maybe it's what someone told me once about editors("They don't like the soup until they've peed in it") that somehow forced them to screw with it.

It wasn't terrible, mind you, just much less than I'd hoped.

Bleah.

Ooh, Elmer has nasty words for me!

After I was so bold as to make my opinion known of Murtha and Pelosi & Co., Elmer left this in comments:

hey! i'm a coward and a traitor too!

Well, nice to have it out of the way

when i'm indicted and arrested for treason, do i get to wear my old army uniform from the vietnam war? with the medals?

You can wear whatever you want. I really don't give a rats ass. Funny thing, though, speaking your mind isn't treason. Acting to damage this country for personal/party gain, to me, is.

murtha will probably wear his full-dress officer's Marine uniform with the vietnam combat decorations.

Oooh, he's a vet, you'd better not criticize anything he says or does!
Sounds like the kind of shit he'd do.

uhhhh have you served in uniform, brave patriotic person? just curious.

Well, at least he didn't come out and call me a chickenhawk. This has been covered before, but I'll do it again: there's this strange thing in this country called the 1st Amendment, which notes my right to speak my piece. Doesn't require me to be in or have been in uniform. The "Have you been uniform?" stuff and calling people chickenhawk is an attempt to shut them up. So fuck you.

when you sling these words around, and apply them to elected officials, you cheapen them and you insult the voters who elected them, because clearly Pelosi and Murtha are doing what they believe their voters and constituents want them to do in Congress about the Iraq War -- and the Iran War Bush is cooking up.

I do indeed insult the idiots who elected these clowns to office. And I wonder about how much they really care about what the people back home think, as long as they can suck up enough to stay in office. In Pelosi's case, she probably is pleasing her voters, which is one reason I think they're idiots.

So Murtha and Pelosi are traitors who represent voter majorities, in California and Pennsylvania, who want them to commit treason for them in the House of Representatives.

Ref their majorities, see above.

I'm a Cut and Run guy myself. We got to bail from this loser scoundrel's liars war. 3200 of my neighbors' children dead already, and Victory -- not achievable, unavailable, not ever going to happen.

My, you live in a big neighborhood. '..this lose scoundrel's liars war', hmm? You mean the one that all those people in the House and Senate voted to authorize? They all liars and scoundrels? Or just the ones now throwing out that "If I had known then..." bullshit?

Bring our soldiers and marines home this week.

Even if they'd rather stay there and win. No matter the bloodshed that would follow. Great idea!

So like ... what's the punishment for treason?

Depends on the country. Hanging, drawing and quartering sounds good.

U.S. Army 1969-1971
SP5 drafted
Massachusetts

Ok, assuming this is all true, for serving in the defense of this country, I thank you. No ifs, ands or buts there. Just like, for their time in uniform I thank Murtha and McCain. But guess what? That does not give them a pass for what they've done since. McCain carried himself as a hero in the truest sense in the Marines; doesn't change that some of his acts as a senator have earned him my contempt and anger, and if I'm not giving him a pass I'm sure as hell not giving Murtha one. Especially after such acts as declaring Marines guilty of murder before any indictment, trial or anything else just so he could blame it on BushMcChimplerBurton.

I think that Murtha and Pelosi & Co. are doing a lot of this shit because A: they hate George Bush so much they can't stand the idea of this succeeding during his watch, and B: they want to use it to try to lock their party into power. Both are disgusting reasons to act. Both speak of a lack of integrity and more concern for their political fortunes than for the country.

If they actually believed the war was wrong, and it should be ended now, AND if they actually had integrity and some balls, they wouldn't be voting on some non-binding resolution: they'd be voting on something with teeth and to hell with political consequences for themselves and their party.

If they don't actually believe it, but they're willing to use it- and the lives of our troops- as pawns to damage this president and to (again) try to lock their party into power, that speaks of a breathtaking lack of integrity and- again- more concern for their party than for the nation.

These things may not meet the legal definition of treason, but they damn sure qualify to me. With the 'slow bleed' strategy Murtha seems so proud of- and the stupidity of using that when we've got troops actually bleeding in combat is breathtaking- they've made it pretty plain that they're willing to see troops die from lack of reinforcements and equipment. Which makes them traitors.

As described by participants, the goal is crafted to circumvent the biggest political vulnerability of the anti-war movement — the accusation that it is willing to abandon troops in the field. That fear is why many Democrats have remained timid in challenging Bush, even as public support for the president and his Iraq policies have plunged.

I repeat: if they actually believed the crap they're saying, they would actually be trying to stop the war because that would be more important to them than staying in office. That everything they do is crafted around staying in office- no matter the price- they're traitorous shits.

And not to be too picky, but have you ever heard of using capital letters?

Well, the bleeps in the House did it.

Image from the Victory Caucus

I have GOT to make it to Australia,

where people drink and attack sharks:
"He's just thrashing around in the water but then he was starting to turn around and try to bite me and I thought 'Well, it's amazing what vodka does'." Kerkhof emerged from the fray unscathed, although his jeans were ripped by the shark's razor-sharp teeth. "It's not something I'd recommend to do. When I sobered up I thought about it and I said, 'I'm a bit of an idiot doing it'," he said.

On treason and general cowardice

Specifically, that of Pelosi and Murtha and all their little flying buttmonkeys.

There flat are no words for the rage I feel over this. I'm not even going to try to put it down, I'll just point you to Cold Fury and his words on the subject.

Cowards and traitors. Traitors for what they plan to do to the military and to this country; cowards because they don't have the balls to do it openly. Oh no, they'll screw over the people on the sharp end and hope- HOPE, Goddammit!- that everything falls apart, while saying "I support the troops" and screaming "Don't question my patriotism!" at anyone who points out what they're doing and what they are.

More here and here.

It has come to my attention

that some people are not aware of the proper way to say the name of my state.

Pay attention, now: First you say "Okla-




















and then "-homa", with a properly reverent tone.

Simple, isn't it?

So the Democrat Party had given up on gun banning, huh?

Doesn't look like it. And the buttmonkey, RINO, 'moderate' Republicans will fall all over themselves signing on to it.

I don't give a rat's ass if they're 'just doing this to pay off the nutroots supporters', THEY'RE DOING IT. Which means they still want to do it, and still want anyone who disagrees painted as 'neo-nazi and white supremacist' types; because, after all, if we weren't we'd agree with them, wouldn't we?

I was waiting for my tax refunds to come back before I did any shopping, but I may have to look around now because the past has shown that every time the politicians start this, the prices go up and supplies of some things run short. Which is another reason to consider them troublemaking dirtbags.

On a side issue, the House is debating their non-binding resolution(also known as the "We don't have the balls to actually do anything, but we'll do this!" Resolution) today and KTOK reported that a freshman OK Rep named Boren is supporting it. The only good thing about this sorry excuse for a man is that he's not from my district so I don't have to take responsibility for voting him into office. He's another clown doing one of two things: actually willing to damage the troops and the war effort because he believes it, or doing it to suck up to Pelosi & Co. In either case, he sucks.

Happy Valentines Day

Nagin and Riley held in contempt

Legally held in contempt, by a U.S. District Judge.
Judge Carl J. Barbier issued a blistering rebuke to New Orleans’ defense counsel for conduct that is “wholly unprofessional” and warned that it “shall not be condoned.” Judge Barbier ordered defense counsel to reimburse SAF’s attorney $1,365. SAF is joined in the lawsuit by the National Rifle Association.

In his ruling, Judge Barbier noted, “Defense counsel has caused time and money to be wasted by Plaintiffs’ counsel and further admits that he has ‘no good reason’ to explain his behavior.”

This definitely counts as a Good Thing. Now if he'd just add in some leg irons...

Found through Michelle Malkin

Darwin's concept in action

pouring chlorine in the gene pool.

Authorities believe Aerts, a regular visitor to the zoo, hid in the park late Sunday until it closed and managed to find the keys to the cheetah cage.

And for a further candidate: "Karen loved animals. Unfortunately the cheetahs betrayed her trust," Libot said.

Repeat after me, children: "Cheetahs are wild animals, even if they are in a zoo, and they will act as such. And people who think they are pets are too stupid to be out without a keeper."

And speaking of stupid: Animal rights group GAIA called for the immediate closure of the zoo, located 55 miles northeast of Brussels, saying it was unsafe for both visitors and the cats.

Let's see, someone deliberately hides in the zoo and does something incredibly stupid, and that makes the zoo 'unsafe for both visitors and the cats'. No, it makes you a friggin' idiot of the enviroweenie kind.

You know, if we still lived 'closer to Nature' as these clowns wish, a good many of them would be converted to fertilizer and we wouldn't have to listen to this crap.

More on the Compean and Ramos railroading

I do not use that term loosely. What I'd read before said this case stinks like dead fish in the July sun. Just how, went through this post at Pamibe which rounds up a whole lot of general information and a LOT of connections between the smuggler and various people at DHS and their connections to other people.

This sucks, people. Like a shop-vac with a clean filter. These guys deserve- at the least- a new trial that's actually fair and by the law.

And some people at DHS and in the Justice Department should be in jail.

note: found Pamibe thanks to Sondra

The scene of the crime,

as Kim puts it. The aftermath of a suicide. And the prologue, sometimes.

Used to know a lady. Had met her when married to first wife, had seen her on and off over the years; we messed around in the SCA at the time, and that was her big recreation. She was a nurse, and married at the time.

Then she went through a somewhat messy divorce. Didn't see her for a while, but- this was after my wife had moved out- she called occasionally to talk. Second or third time she started asking me what I thought about the best way to commit suicide. Which freaked me out no small amount, because it was obvious she wasn't just curious, she was seriously thinking about it. I truly did not know I could dance like that, working my way around the subject and being as discouraging as possible.

Didn't hear from her for a while, then she called one night sounding like she was about to collapse. I wound up going over to her house and spent about two hours there. She really freaked me out, being at once mostly very calm about things but having that quivering edge showing through. But I thought she'd calmed down quite a bit, and I felt like I'd done something good there.

That lasted until she called about two months later. She'd moved to Norman in that time, and I'd heard nothing from or about her. That night she called about 0130, just after I'd got home from work, and the first thing she said was "Hi, this is -. If you had a .32 automatic, how would you kill yourself with it?"

I never knew my brain could both freeze up and run in circles so fast, either.

I spent about ten minutes trying to tell her "I wouldn't" while dressing it up in 'that might not work well' crap to both give myself time to think of what to do. I'd been a dispatcher for four years and handled all kinds of stuff but I'd never had a suicide call, and the agency I worked for had no training for such; we never got calls like that, they always went to the PD or the SO. So I was flying on my own there. That ten minutes ended when she- pissed I wouldn't give her solid suggestions("I will NOT help you kill yourself")- hung up. She'd sounded so firm on it that I, figuring they were likely to find the body, called the PD, told them what'd happened. Then I sat around for half an hour hoping they'd been able to cross-check the phone number- I didn't have her address- until they called back. Officer had found her home with a friend, with "no idea what you're talking about, officer" on the subect of the visit. He told his dispatcher he thought she was covering up so he'd swing by a few times over his shift. Quiet the rest of the night.

Next day I got hold of my ex and told her about it, as she knew some people in Norman who were friends with the lady and I thought someone close to her ought to know about it. Then, that night when I got home I had a message: "I don't appreciate you calling the police on me, and I don't appreciate you telling people about me. I'll make a deal with you: I won't call you anymore, and you won't send the police to my house, ok?"

Couple of days later ex called with the word: the friends in Norman knew about her suicide talk, this was just another incident, and they figured "Don't worry, as long as she's talking about it she won't do anything". Well, bullshit, I'd heard her voice and she wasn't just thinking, she was planning. But I couldn't think of anything else to do, and the fact was she was an adult and could do whatever she pleased.

It was about a month after that as I recall that the ex called and informed me that she'd done it. The note said that she'd decided that if she reached this birthday without being married and- preferably- being pregnant, she didn't want to go on living. So the night before she'd borrowed a gun from a friend to go target shooting(which she'd done before), and on the day she'd put on a nightgown, sat down on her bed and shot herself in the head.

Wasn't anywhere near the shock of Kim's friend Danny; we hadn't been that close, and she'd definitely made it clear what was coming. It was two things to me:
The first was saddening, because here was a lovely, intelligent, capable woman who'd taken her own life.
The second, I was pissed. I mentioned she was a nurse, so she had access to any kind of drug you can think of and could simply have taken a bottle. But no, couldn't do that. I can't remember if it was in the note or something she'd said before, she didn't like the idea of drugs because of the possibility of someone finding her before she was dead and a med team keeping her alive. I think that was bullshit. I think she wanted to leave a mess behind, so she did it in a way that would screw over the friend she borrowed the gun from and make a nice mess on the bed.

Kim wrote "But I think that when you throw your life away, you only get a free pass when you’re over the age of seventy, and living in circumstances of extreme physical pain. Before that time, and before you become old and have fulfilled all your obligations, you have a responsibility to others to keep on living. You are not entitled to become a coke addict at age thirty-five, or have sex with five thousand homosexual partners, or screw some poxy street tart on a business trip, or any of that bullshit." I'll throw something else in: if you decide to off yourself, you are not entitled to do it in a way guaranteed to cause grief to as many people as possible and to hurt a friend as much as possible.

And if you do that, screw you.

Just read something about Windows Vista

here; it makes this appropriate:

Take a look, do you know what this is?

It's here at Michael Yon's site. Instapundit and Michelle Malkin both had links to this, it's something found in a bunch of Iranian weapons supplied to the dirtbags in Iraq. I've got no idea, other than it looks like some kind of missile launcher. If you've got any information, post it in his comments.

Think about having to get special legislative permission

for Olympic shooter to keep their pistols at home. No ammo. And you could only fire it at a "Registered regional shooting club". This kind of bullshit is what Clinton and Obama & Co. want here. And let's not forget Giuliani wouldn't mind it, either.

Also, check this out on gun-ban groups methods of speech:
In his 1988 "report on assault weapons," gun prohibitionist Josh Sugarmann wrote: "The weapon’s menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons – anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun – can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these guns." In other words, Sugarmann expected public support for a ban on "semi-automatic assault weapons," because that public was completely uninformed about the guns so labeled. And he expected the public to stay uninformed about these guns, because, as he candidly acknowledged, the media the public looks to for information were equally uninformed about them

Both found through the good offices of Uncle.

There ARE priorities, after all...

Two deer hunters were standing on a ridge near a highway in rural Minnesota on the opening day of deer season. They both saw a trophy-class buck meandering towards them. As the one hunter raised his gun to shoot, a funeral procession came slowly by.

The hunter lowered his gun, took off his hat, and stood with his head bowed until the procession was past. Of course by then, the deer was long gone.

The other hunter exclaimed "Wow! That was the most sportsmanlike act I've ever seen! You allowed this trophy buck to escape while showing such compassion and kindness toward someone's dearly departed. You are a great humanitarian and a shining example to sportsmen throughout the world!"

The first hunter nodded and said; "Well, we were married for 42 years".


Thanks to Mr. Completely

And there was great rejoicing!

Yay!

The magic box is back in full service.

Local shop had a 430w power supply, just finished installing it and everything seems to work as it should. Quieter, too. I can't remember if the old supply got louder over time, or if this is just a better unit. I think it's the better unit.

Old supply was a '300 watt max'. This gives a whole lot more leeway, and if I wanted to I've now got enough cables & connectors to add pretty much anything that might come to mind.

And I don't have to worry about this thing melting down anymore, either.


Oh, and I did not at any time develop a resemblance to a fluorescent light bulb. So there.

Do you worry about stuff?

I don't mean "The damn refrigerator just died" or solid 'something is wrong' things like that, I mean about crap that hasn't happened? And may not, but you worry about it anyway?

I tend to. Damn tired of it, too.

Once upon a time, didn't do it. Then various things happened(marriage, kids, etc.) and I'd start thinking "What if ..." 'If' being the car breaking, house breaking, illness or injury. And if you get started, it's hard to break it. And what makes it worse, is it's generally little crap, or something that- if it did happen- wouldn't be a world-ending thing.

'Course, at the time I started, an awful lot seemed like a near-world-ending thing. When there's a serious illness, new kids, a combination of the above and etc., anything can seem a lot worse than it really is. Problem is, if you get started in the worry habit, it's hard to stop.

It's gotten better over the years, but I still tend to do it; when I'm stressed in particular. And it still sucks.

A nice thing about some sites,

like Random Nuclear Strikes, is the sayings they keep track of. Such as

Explaining the pleasure of collecting excellent condition examples of the astonishing engineering feats that are the firearms of the 19th and early 20th centuries, each with a story to tell, many having miraculously survived actual combat, to the gunhater would be like trying to explain the pleasure of accumulating a complete set of autographed first editions of your favorite author to an illiterate savage, incapable of viewing their pages as anything but toilet paper or kindling.

Vin Suprynowicz – Send in the Waco Killers - pp 366

Has nice things like this regularly. Not to mention posts from Professor Booty...

Ever been to an open mike night?

Lots of bars & clubs have them. One or two nights a week they open the stage to whoever wants to perform, you get(most of the time) a mike, an amp and an audience.

After divorce #2 I started practicing with my guitar a lot, and one night a friend told me I ought to hit a place she went to; she went there for karoke two or three times a week(shut up), but on Tuesday nights they had open mike. So I finally went.

Lady named Melanie was the host, she'd do two or three songs, then have someone come up and do one or two, sometimes three, then she'd do a couple more. Met some nice people, heard some good performers and generally was just the place I'd needed to find.

One night I was talking to someone(maybe Melanie, but I don't remember) and they said I ought to bring my guitar and give it a try. I said I didn't think so, I wasn't that good, and they snorted and said "Hell, nobody cares, we're all just here to have fun." Which sounded nice, so I started practicing a bit more. And one night I did it.

Badly.

Actually, that doesn't even begin to describe how it went. First, I'm not the best speaker in front of people(unless I'm pissed, then I can sometimes damn near channel Churchill). Second, my guitar had no pickup, so had the mike halfway between face and guitar(every tried to play, let alone play AND sing, while hunched over? Bleah). Couldn't get my fingers to go to the right places, couldn't get my voice to sound normal...

I cut it short, cased the guitar and got a beer. And while I was sitting wondering why the hell I'd talked myself into this, a guy named Randy came by. He was a damn good performer, almost always playing slide, mostly blues. I said something about 'that was bloody awful' and he said "First time always is. It'll be better next time"

"Next time my ass!"

"Give it another time, it'll be better."

So a couple of weeks later I gave it another try, and amazingly, it was better. Not a lot, but I actually got through three songs in half-decent manner, and felt much better afterward.

So I started hitting the place almost every Tuesday, sometimes performing, sometimes just listening(there really were some damn good musicians who showed up there). I found a pickup that fit in the sound hole, which helped. And I found I really enjoyed it.

Later on started going to another place called Galileo's in the Paseo district. The 'artsy' part of town, if you will. Their open mike was on Thursdays. Having a much bigger crowd, met some nice people, including a guitar maker who put a real pickup in for me and- the big hazard- some of the bleepin' worst musicians/performers you'd ever hope not to see. Not nervous like I was at first: bad. BAD. Like the guy who had a Strat and his own amp, with the volume and distortion turned ALL the way up, with a heavy hand and even less talent than I, who really and truly believed he was Heaven's gift to music. Which caused Brit- who ran the thing- to cut him off early, because people were actually leaving. But there were others who made up for it. Like the 17-year old who had a voice like young Patsy Cline, the aforementioned guitar maker who was a very accomplished classical player, and others.

Between time and other things, finally stopped going. The first place had gone downhill, the lady had started doing one song, then having other people perform for as much of the time as possible; just didn't seem to want to do it right anymore. Galileo was still pretty good, but I just didn't have time anymore, and it'd gotten so packed that I could never get a slot to play, so stopped going there. One of these days I'll have to make time to find another place, maybe give it another try.