And yet more on the 'Shock Troops' bullshit

Through Insty ran across two things. One is a different way of analyzing it, found here. Interesting read, although this pisses me off:
With 160,000 people, mostly young men, many armed, many beyond the eyes of authority, there will be some thuggery and sadism and it is doubtful that superior officers will be devoting any large amount of time and effort to finding or suppressing it.
Apparently an awful lot of people think that once troops get into combat areas, their NCOs and officers don't really care much what they do.

Other thing is here. Lots of links, and a very interesting quote from the asshat editor of NR:
The magazine granted anonymity to the writer to keep him from being punished by his military superiors and to allow him to write candidly, Mr. Foer said. He said that he had met the writer and that he knows with “near certainty” that he is, in fact, a soldier.
Got that? "Near certainty". And noted in the comments is that this has been changed: it now says "He said that he had met the writer and that he knows that he is, in fact, a soldier."

Yeah, that's real damn believable.

On a further note, Chris said in the comments to an early bit I posted on the Bradley:
The main structure and armor are relatively light aluminum; they CAN'T run though a wall as described. They'd accordion.
And what do you think would happen to the driver who did something like this in anything other than a 'no other choice' scenario?

On dealing with the possessed

Back when I was a dispatcher there was a guy working in another headquarters who was an EMT, and he'd occasionally tell a story about some run he'd made. This one made him a bit more concerned with the idea of The Devil.

They'd received a call from the local police for a mental case they needed transport for to the hospital that handled such cases. They arrived just as four slightly worse-for-wear cops had gotten the subject in question somewhat subdued, and they got him on the gurney and cuffed on both sides with no problem and headed for the hospital.

He was sitting in the back watching the guy when he turned his head, looked at the EMT and said, in a flat voice, "I am Satan".

"Ok dude, that's fine, whoever you want to be." He'd dealt with a lot of somewhat to really messed-up people by now, so no big deal.

Guy(hasn't blinked since he said that) repeated, with slight pauses to emphasize, "I.. am.. Satan." Flat voice, absolutely no emotion and still not blinking.

"That's fine, it's ok, we're almost there." Getting just a touch nervous now as the guy tried to sit up. he seemed to notice the cuffs for the first time and laid there staring at the one on his wrist closest to the EMT. Then he started flexing his arm. Not jerking, just a steady rise until he reached the end of the chain and then kept going, very slowly.

EMT was getting very nervous now because this guy was freaking him out, and, hmmm, it almost looked like the frame of the gurney where the cuff was looped was deforming just a touch, and the guy was still lifting. At this point he was sliding to the back of the ambulance where the extinguisher was and called to the driver to get ready to stop. "Why?" was answered with "Just get ready!"

Ting.

That was the sound of the cuff chain breaking. As the guy sat up and started lifting his other arm the EMT yelled "STOP!" and braced himself, driver hit the brakes, inertia surprised the subject and threw him flat, and just as they came to a stop the EMT sprayed the guy in the face, threw open the door and jumped out. Landing on the hood of the following police car that'd almost rear-ended the ambulance. He looked at two shocked faces and yelled "He broke the cuffs!" Both officers jumped out and into the back of the ambulance, he and the driver joined in and in a couple of minutes they had him secured again, this time with two cuffs on each arm. And this time one of the officers rode in back the rest of the trip, which was made with remarkable speed.

They got to the ER, took the guy inside to a room and began to relax. Until the doctor walked in, took one look and said "Take those handcuffs off him."

Chorus of "No!"

"I said take them off! I will not have a patient chained in my ER."

Lead officer took out his keys, took off the handcuff key, tossed it to the doctor and said "You do it." And both officers left. The EMTs looked at each other, and followed.

I asked him if he knew what happened after that, he said no, didn't go back to that hospital before he changed jobs a short time later. I tend to think the doctor may have had a rush of intelligence to the head and decided to sedate the guy before unlocking him; otherwise, it'd probably have been on the news when a patient remodeled the room and some of the staff.

Things do move along

I just bought a 32mb jump drive for the grand total of $5. At the checkout counter. At Target.

And Wally World has a 2 gig drive for $20.

I think it was ten years ago(maybe less) I was listening to a programmer having fits of ecstasy because he'd just found out you could now buy a 1 gigabyte hard drive for a pc for only $100.

More on the 'Shock Troops' story

Emphasis on 'story'.

Over at Q&O, found several pieces, from earliest to latest here, here, and here, and links to a Howard Kurtz article here. The response to the questions from New Republic:
"The Standard raises some important questions about the piece, and we're investigating them," New Republic Editor Franklin Foer said yesterday. "I've been in touch with several members of the author's unit who corroborate the details under question. And the author has provided compelling responses himself."

Which boils down to "We say it's true, so there. We'll have some proof at some point. When we feel like it." Which, considering the attention this is getting, would seem to mean "Crap, we need something to prove at least some of this! What'll we do? We can't get away with 'the story is true even if the facts are not' anymore!"

One thing , aside from the other BS in this, is the stuff about a Bradley driver ramming through walls, etc. I'm not an armor guy, so I'm going by what I've read. And one thing you don't do with a bloody TANK if you can avoid it is ram through concrete walls; hard on the vehicle and the people inside. Well, the Bradley is NOT a tank, it's much lighter and more lightly armored, and the consequences to the vehicle of doing such a thing would be, shall we say, 'bad'. Like damaging the gun, and the missile launcher, and the people inside... I kind of think the vehicle commander and unit commander would have some words to say to the driver who did something like this without very damn good reason. Said words probably being accompanied with the driver's ass being relocated to somewhere in the vicinity of his shoulder blades.

But, why let nasty facts get in the way of a 'true' story? Didn't stop Dan Rather.

H&H Range had Dealer's Days

on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. They've been doing this for several years now, and it's pretty nice. This year they had people from Springfield, S&W, Para-Ordnance, Kimber, Sig, Taurus, Savage, Wilson Combat, Leupold and Surefire. Way it works is if you find something you'd like to try out you buy a ticket($3, money goes to the state shooting sports assoc.) and give it to the dealer. You get the gun and(for most*) five rounds of ammo and a target to take to the range and shoot. Plus they have discounts on most things, and a lot of the dealers throw in extra mags or a holster or hat or shirt or a combination of the above if you buy.

Found a couple of things I wanted/needed, but the only thing I tried out this time was a Kimber Aegis II















Take their micro-compact .45acp, give it an alloy frame and chamber it in 9mm as a thin, light carry piece. It's a single-action with the entire hammer spur cut off(that part I'm not too sure about why), which is why you don't see it.

Very small, very light, and the one I tried had night sights, a full stainless finish and as fine a trigger as I've ever felt: short takeup and breaking light and clean. It put my five shots into a group about 2" across at 15 feet exactly at point of aim. Not a bad little pistol at all. If only it didn't cost so damn much.

Speaking of cost, the Wilson table had a couple of their full-size 1911's, a AR15 with everything and a shotgun with most things. I know you pay for handwork and don't gripe about that, and from a quality maker you get what you pay for, but damn! The less-expensive 1911 was $3200. Which puts it WAY out of what I'm willing to pay for a pistol unless I come into a big damn pile of money.

I just wish I'd had more time, there were a couple of other pistols I'd have tried out.


*For the .500 and .460 S&W Magnums, you got one round; any more than that, you had to buy.

'New Republic publishes 'Murdering Soldiers' story

Smell of bovine fertilizer in the air

I'm quite a bit behind on this. Some clown going by Scott Thomas had a piece in NR called 'Shock Troops' on the horrible, nasty people in/created by the Army. Among other things which caused a lot of people to call "Bullshit!" was this:
Someone reached down and picked a shell casing up off the ground. It was 9mm with a square back. Everything suddenly became clear. The only shell casings that look like that belong to Glocks. And the only people who use Glocks are the Iraqi police.

The technical BS in this will be obvious to most people who swing by here. If you're not familiar with firearms stuff, there is no gun made that uses a 'square back' cartridge case. Period. The second thing is that Glocks are kind of like mosquitos, they're all over the damn place. Including in Iraq.

I could go on, but there's no reason to; a lot of people with better backgrounds have taken this crap apart on various levels. So what I'm going to do is put together some links on this.

Blackfive, here and here.

Confederate Yankee here, here, here.

Michelle Malkin here, here(bottom of the post, multiple links), Hot Air here.

Ace here, here, here.

That's not nearly all that's coming out on this crap.

And just to cover the 'we support the troops' line, Ace has this and this from the Kossites.

Some Marines who could use a hand

Information here at Blackfive

Dammit, another couple of places to keep track of

A comment on the butthead reporter led to Plains Feeder, which led to People You'll See In Hell.

Warning: looking at the latter may cause side effects on the order of breaking things, boosted blood pressure and acknowledging what that comedian said some years back: "Some people just look better dead."

'Reporter and accomplice hoisted on own petard:

complains of great discomfort. Updated!

Thanks to Unix-Jedi who pointed Kevin to the previous article, we find this:
Reporter goes to another state with accomplice and intent to violate federal firearms law.
Reporter and accomplice violate law.
Reporter brags about it in column, brags about offending 'loony gun lobby'.
Reporter and accomplice get visit from ATF.
Reporter now whining This is how it works. Intimidation is the stock in trade of the National Rifle Association and all the NRA knock-offs out there. Dare to say we need fewer, not more guns in this country, dare to say we need a uniform system for monitoring gun sales in this country and you become a target to be hunted down. Democrats and Republicans have allowed themselves to be cowed by this one-issue bloc for too long.

Boo-freakin'-hoo, jackass. You deliberately broke the law, bragged about it, and now you're getting the treatment that's been given to lots of gun owners who made an honest mistake. Except, you being in the media, are being treated a lot nicer by ATF.

Update
Uncle has more, and it appears reporter is either lying now, or was lying then, and may be going through a bit of major pucker-factor ass-covering.

And our friend who escaped from MA has a look at the skewed method of looking at numbers this clown uses

"...as illegal as firing a sub-machine gun"

No, not shooting somebody. Bloody pepper spray. In Formerly-Great Britain.

Under the Firearms Act, it is ranked alongside rocket launchers in that using it carries a 10-year prison sentence.

This is what happens when God-cursed socialist nanny-state politicians and their little 'progressive' buttmonkeys get do decide your life. And the Brady/Violence Policy Center/Gun-Ban At Any Cost clowns here want things to be just the same.

At times I think I may have to stop reading Kevin; he's bad for my blood pressure.

Well, they're back to their bases

Put son & new daughter-in-law on their respective planes yesterday. Son had the much longer flight, getting there this morning; DIL was back just a few hours after leaving.

Kind of odd being a father-in-law. And I like her, so can't be too obnoxious about things(she married him, that ought to be punishment enough for a few decades).

In any case, back to long-distance contact as son will be going to a hot & sandy place in a month.

Yeah, government-run health care will work

just as well as the tax system.
A missing property tax bill for $1.63 has given Kermit and Dolores Atwood "seven years of emotional hell" in a fight to keep their home.

The bill was sent to a defunct address in 1996 and returned undelivered to the St. Tammany Parish sheriff's office. The Atwoods weren't looking for it since they had owned the four-bedroom house mortgage-free since 1968 and had been exempt from the state tax.

Which does bring up the question of, since their home was exempt, why was any bill sent? And why no further attempt? Of course, that would be calling into question the efficiency of the agency involved...

Instead, the Atwoods' home was sold at a sheriff's auction in 1997 to American Land Investments because of the delinquent bill. The couple have won several court challenges since then and hope to withstand one more appeal over the property.

The State Tax Commission eventually nullified the 1997 sale, but when the Atwoods tried to sell the house in 2002, they discovered that American Land Investments had sold the property rights to Jamie Land Co., which then sued the Atwoods.

James A. Lindsay II, the company's president, said his rights were violated when the tax commission didn't inform him of its decision.

And so on.

This kind of crap happens fairly regularly. And how many cases have been noted where the IRS made an error and screwed someone's life over? How many people have been advised to 'pay whatever they demand, because you'll go broke fighting it'?

Yeah, government-run health care will be just wonderful!

Ammo testing

James had a post a few days back on one of his 'working guns', a Star Super B. Specific note is made that this pistol "...won't feed any hollowpoint ammo at all, or at least any that I have bothered to try."

This is something I(and just about every other gunblogger) has stressed before: NEVER trust ammo for self-defense that you have not fired through your sidearm! Revolvers are much simpler here, as they'll generally digest damn near anything without problem, but a lot of semi-auto pistols can be downright finicky about what they'll digest.

I wrote a while back about trying out a Star BM (if that link doesn't work, try here and here)9mm. That little pistol was fired with CCI Blazer ball, some other brand of ball, two different bullet weights in Gold Dot hollowpoints, Remington hollowpoints and some Winchester hollowpoints as I recall and it ate all of them without a bobble; excellent performance from that beast. I've also fired some high-grade semi-autos that flat would NOT reliably cycle some particular brand of ammo. No reason we could figure, it just wouldn't.

My carry piece is a Kimber Compact, their version of the Officer's Model 1911. The only thing I've fired that it wouldn't feed well was some semi-wadcutter target ammo(a common problem for almost all 1911 pistols that don't have a barrel throated for this bullet). But I've read of other people whose Kimber was very damn picky about what it would work with.

What makes really testing ammo properly a problem is the price that premium self-defense ammo sells for (especially now); for instance, last time I looked Federal Hydra-Shok in .45acp was selling for $15-16. For a box of twenty. That kind of cost really hurts a lot of people. But the plain fact is you cannot short on this: you HAVE to shoot enough of the stuff you choose to make sure it will function reliably in your gun. No ifs, ands or buts.

And here's another kick in the ass for Murtha

Only metaphorically, unfortunately.
Yet another Marine has won a court victory in the investigation of the battle at Haditha – adding more doubts to the claims of a massacre. In this case, the officer conducting an Article 32 hearing (equivalent to a grand jury hearing in civilian courts) has ruled that charges should be dropped. In essence, the claims of a massacre at Haditha are now looking false.

There has GOT to be some kind of payback to both the bastards like Murtha in Congress and the equally disgusting bastards in the media who went way, WAY out of their way to railroad these Marines.

"Don't give them what they want"

Damn good information from Anarchangel

One of my favorite fictional characters(mentioned previously) is Matt Helm. A time or two he explained his actions- on and off-duty- very simply: "If someone opens the door to violence, they've got no room to complain if more than they were expecting walks through". Which pretty much matches with what Chris puts forth: if you have to act, do not stop until the fight is over. No matter what it takes.

Remember the recent Righteous Shooting report from Kim about the old man in the fast-food place? The article(link not good anymore) noted that the reformed criminal deceased dirtbag was upset the man wouldn't comply with an order to pick up his wallet and was trying to force him into the ladies room; the man knew what that meant and acted.

So according to these idiots our troops are both murderers

and can't shoot. So how come so many of the bad guys have assumed ambient temperature?

Now, I know you're thinking the same as Sebastian, "Haven't these clowns heard of 'training'?" But of course! In the original article we have this note on that concept:
Pointing out that officials say many of these bullets have been used for training purposes, he said: "What are you training for? To kill insurgents."

So ammo expended in training is the same as that actually used in combat, and our troops aren't very good shots, the Israel is controlling everything... And thus we end this episode of 'Lifestyles of the Ignorant and Bigoted'.

(Damn those eeville JOOOS; they're responsible for EVERYTHING, aren't they?)

'Cheap Red-Dot Dies:

Surprise expressed by none'

About a year ago I picked up one of the on-sale cheap 30mm red-dots Sportsman's Guide was selling, just to try out on the M1 Carbine with the forward mount I'd put together. Worked really well.

Well, I went to the range today and first fired a couple of rounds at 50 yards just to check zero; about 2" high I thought, but centered on windage. So I moved the target to 100 and fired three. None of which even came close to the paper. Fired a shot at a clay pigeon on the backstop and saw dust jump about three bloody feet low. Not good.

Just to see if it could be adjusted I wasted about 20 rounds on it. Not only would it not hold zero, the adjustments would work and then not work. POI kept shifting all over the bloody place, by feet from one shot to the next, although one time it did put two damn close on the target, then went off to God-knows-where again.

I pulled the sight and fired a group with the iron sights, and it was hitting exactly where it should(as I'd expected), so I'll take the battery out of the sight and trash it*.

Considering the thing cost the grand total of $20, a year on the carbine isn't bad. So down the road a bit(bills right now, you know) I'll find a better-quality sight for it.

Oh, the $15 red-dot I stuck on the .22 pistol? It's still working fine; I'm guessing the greater recoil of the rifle had a definite part in this.

By the way, is there a rule somewhere that if you go to the range on a hot day that the wind will disappear the moment you set up? If I hadn't gotten there early I'd not have made it long, and even drinking like a camel after the road trip I damn near overheated.


*Yes, I HAVE to trash it, otherwise I'll keep fooling with the damn thing.

Yeah, that handgun ban and 'easy on the crooks'

is really working well:
Violent crime and muggings have risen sharply in the past 12 months, despite Government pledges to crack down on the problem and increase the number of front line police officers, figures will show this week. In some rural areas, robbery offences have risen by almost 25 per cent while crimes of violence against the person have risen by almost a fifth.

They also note "The figures are expected to show that sex attacks fell by eight per cent and domestic burglary by three per cent, leading to an overall fall in crime by three per cent.", but I have to wonder if that's actually true; as The Englishman notes, "And anecdotally the rate of non reporting of crime is rising even faster, there is just no bloody point unless you need a crime number for an insurance claim," which ties in with some articles not long ago about how the crime numbers were being figured in ways that cut down on the totals.

They're also on the 'knife amnesty' kick("Bad knife! No whetstone for you! Now toddle off to bed without your oil!"), which hasn't exactly been a roaring success:
A report from the centre for crime and justice studies at King's College London accused the Government of presiding over an incoherent strategy to tackle the problem. It was also sceptical about the merits of amnesties. Although the last one produced 90,000 knives, that represented just 0.0041 per cent of the total available.

This kind of action never works, but that hasn't stopped the magical-thinking clowns over here from wanting to do the same:
“We’re going to have to take this one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily - given the political realities - going to be very modest. Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal - total control of all guns - is going to take time…..The final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition - except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs and licensed gun collectors - totally illegal.”

Because it's not really about crime control: it's about control.

The good side of the recent rains

was the lower-than-usual temps for this time of year and things being greener(though a few inches less of the wet stuff would have been just fine). The downsides include:
Now that temps are up at average, the humidity is bloody awful. It feels like the damn mosquitoes could almost lay eggs in the air.
Since it's about the only thing that usually bothers me, it must be the mold that's way, way up.
And it dews so heavy the grass doesn't dry out until afternoon. When it's hottest.

I just finished mowing about an hour ago. If I'd waited until it was mostly dry it'd have been evening, and I plan on taking son & wife to dinner. So another session of 'mow a strip, beat the caked grass out, repeat' was done. Only this time it was hot and humid enough I lost buckets of sweat- which in this humidity won't evaporate as you go- and, courtesy of the mold, had to keep blowing my nose to keep it from running down my face. Yuck, to say the least.

Going by past experience, if no rain for about a week things should dry enough to get back to 'normal' humidity for this month. Which means hot, but not 'drown in your own sweat' conditions.

Ah, normalcy.

Update on Haditha

Or, as I should say, the Haditha railroad some troops for fun and profit travesty of justice. I wrote about this a couple of times, the last here. The other day I found something which led to Blackfive(here and here), to Pundit Review(here), to Let Freedom Ring(here) and to Michelle Malkin(here).

Short version, as PR put it, "Murtha’s guilty verdict in Haditha case overturned by actual evidence". The case(such as it was) seems to have pretty much fallen apart, leaving a lot of people with questions for that slimy little politician Murtha(Pond Scum/PA). And the little bastard ducking and hiding.

I don't know if it's possible for the Marines he called murderers to take him to court for it; I hope they can. Because with Pelosi in charge of the house, the chances of the censure he deserves(at a minimum) are just about zero.

As to that personal business,

my son was home on leave, and took care of some business while here. Meet the daughter-in-law























and son in his dress uniform.

Nice ceremony, family & friends from around the state and a sister(she has several) from out of state.

I've got one more thing to post tonight, then I'm done. It's been a busy day.

Been a bit busy

with a personal matter, so not much to write the past while. Should have something to put up either later today or tomorrow, but for now:
Dumbass union people, sucking up to Hillary Clinton.

Traitor convicted for trying to get al Qaeda help to attack this country. Wasn't convicted of treason, unfortunately, though what he was doing damn well qualifies as such.

It's discovered that if you look around you can find all kinds of useful things right on the shelf. And if you tell people "We need this", they can build it. Without spending a few billion on committees and so forth.

Kucinich proves he's a friggin' idiot(as if further proof was needed) by trusting Edwards.

Drug gangs threaten journalists. But of COURSE these people will be stopped by a 'virtual' fence.

The Brits just can't seem to help themselves about flushing their country down the toilet.

Speaking of flushing, demonstration of why Kim calls Republicans the 'Stupid Party'.

Tim Blair notes some things about Globular Warmering:
But climate change is like Michael Moore's tracksuit - it can fit anyone. In 2005, Greenpeace rep Steven Guilbeault helpfully explained: "Global warming can mean colder, it can mean drier, it can mean wetter, that's what we're dealing with."

What we're dealing with, apparently, is weather.

Ah, but what weather it is!

If you remember the Los Angeles riot in 1992,

you'll be familiar with a lot of the crap that happened. If you're not, you especially need to read these three posts about My Hollywood Gun:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

And to those who say 'the police can/will protect you', I suggest you point them to this line in Part 3:
We have learned that the Los Angeles Police Department has been "pulled back for their own safety."

It notes the point made time after time: it doesn't matter how good your local LE agency is, or how hard they work, it's just not possible for them to be there all the time to protect you. Which means, especially when things go completely to hell like in LA, you're on your own.

It's not a fun thing, but it's fact.

Canada's gun registry is both expensive

and a flop.
Canada's homicide rate and number of
gang-related murders has increased since the federal government's firearms
registry and licensing program was implemented, an indication that the program has failed to improve public safety, according to Hubris in the North, The Canadian Firearms Registry, a new report from independent research organization The Fraser Institute.

Gee, ya think?

"In 1995, the government promised Canadians that the gun registry would reduce total criminal violence, suicide and domestic abuse, not just gun violence," said Gary Mauser, author of the report, senior fellow with The Fraser Institute, and a professor at Simon Fraser University. "But the legislation has failed to do that, primarily because it relies upon public-health research to justify a moralistic approach to firearms that exaggerates the danger of citizens owning firearms through pseudoscientific research methods."

Tell me more!

The gun registry and its supporting legislation were introduced in 1995 by the Liberal government. Justice Minister Allan Rock said at the time that registering guns and licensing their owners would save lives by reducing criminal violence, domestic violence, suicide, and firearm accidents.

But Mauser's analysis shows that public safety has not improved. He finds that overall criminal violence and suicide rates have continued their long-term decline with the violent crime rate falling by about four per cent. Yet the homicide rate has actually increased by nine per cent since the registry was implemented. No persuasive link could be found between the firearm registry and these changes.(bold mine)

Doesn't look good for the program.

"I don't think you can credit the gun registry for the decline in criminal violence because the data indicate the drop began well before firearms registration was introduced," Mauser said. "Moreover, homicide and criminal violence in general have fallen more in the United States during the same time period than in Canada, so it's hard to imagine the gun registry having a measurable impact in this environment."(bold mine)

No! Do tell!

One of the most striking findings is that gang-related homicides and homicides involving handguns have increased substantially.

"Gang violence typically involves handguns and although handguns have been registered since the 1930s, this has not reduced the level of their criminal misuse," Mauser said. "The gun registry had no effect on homicide rates and was particularly ineffective against gang activity."

Hmmm, gangs don't obey the law... Whoda thunk it? Which brings up, just how did this piece of expensive crap get passed? Pay attention now:
The report suggests that the rational for the registry program is based on faulty research.

"The government's approach to public safety relied on an analysis of firearms and violence that greatly exaggerated the dangers of firearm ownership," Mauser said.

"This misrepresentation stemmed from public-health researchers who ignored basic scientific principles in favour of advocacy. These activists drew conclusions that were not supported by their research studies and they compounded their errors by recommending legislative solutions that fell outside the boundaries of their research. Such studies are not properly
scientific but use the scientific trappings of research to prove claims rather than testing hypotheses."

Invalid conclusions, junk science, done by advocates instead of researchers. As Jamie says on Mythbusters, "Well, THERE'S your problem!"

And a key bit that relates to firearms and a whole lot of other things:
"We lose much of our inherited democratic freedoms if we treat mature citizens as if they were helpless patients rather than responsible adults," Mauser said.
And that's a key to the problem with a lot of the nanny-state crap we're putting up with.

Their final conclusion:
Despite its estimated $2 billion cost to date, the firearms registry remains notably incomplete and has an error rate that remains embarrassingly high. As a result of its many failures, particularly its failure to reduce gang violence or stop senseless killings such as the recent occurrences at Dawson College and Mayerthorpe, Alberta, the firearms registry has not been
able to win the trust of either the public or the police.

Mauser pointed out that Auditor General Sheila Fraser complained that she could not get all of the necessary financial information during an audit of the registry and summarized her review of the books by saying the registry had one of the largest cost overruns her office had ever seen.

"Clearly, the evidence shows that the registry has failed Canadians. It has failed to reduce gang violence or stop senseless killings. So why then, should we trust it, and why should we continue to fund it?" Mauser said.

Why indeed? Directly relating to the efforts by the GFW gun banners here("This database will be complete, accurate and secure", etc.) are the bits about being 'notably incomplete' and 'an error rate that remains embarrassingly high. Also note that the freakin' Auditor General was not able to get all the costs information from the people running this mess(can you say 'bureaucrats hiding their mess/incompetence/corruption?') Which would be exactly what would happen here. Uncle has noted in the past that the NFA database is horribly incomplete and inaccurate, and that's on guns and other pieces that you have to go through a background check and pay transfer tax, etc., before you can take possession, run by a federal agency that's not exactly been shy of support and money. The only way these people can actually believe that any system in the future would be wonderful would be the 'magical thinking' Kevin writes of. Which is not exactly something you should base a government on.

Article found at RNS

It's hard to believe we actually have these clowns in our government

People like Sen. Reid(SurrenderMonkey/NV) who say things like
























Problem being, the 'intended result' for him and his buttmonkeys is us losing. Whereas the surge appears to be having real effect.

I guess I'm still a bit naive about this crap, because it's really hard to understand why someone in our own government would want us to LOSE a war. Pretty damned disgusting, it is.

Picture stolenborrowed from Hugh Hewitt

"Change your ways, filthy peasants, and save Mother Gaia! Ignore the hypocritical boobspeople behind the curtain! Get rid of your car and motorcycle, burn the neighbor's truck! And live like we tell you to, not like we doin the proper way!"

Pretty much seems to cover the attitude of the arrogant, self-righteous boobs in the political and entertainment industries. Not all of them, of course:
Matt Bellamy, front man of the rock band Muse, has dubbed it 'private jets for climate change'.
Which is hugely outweighed balanced by:
A Daily Mail investigation has revealed that far from saving the planet, the extravaganza will generate a huge fuel bill, acres of garbage, thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, and a mileage total equal to the movement of an army.

The most conservative assessment of the flights being taken by its superstars is that they are flying an extraordinary 222,623.63 miles between them to get to the various concerts - nearly nine times the circumference of the world. The true environmental cost, as they transport their technicians, dancers and support staff, is likely to be far higher.

The total carbon footprint of the event, taking into account the artists' and spectators' travel to the concert, and the energy consumption on the day, is likely to be at least 31,500 tonnes of carbon emissions, according to John Buckley of Carbonfootprint.com, who specialises in such calculations.

But they will take care of such niggling little matters by buying indulgencescarbon credits by the friggin' railcar-load:
John Rego, the environmental director of Live Earth, says he expects to purchase at least 3,000 tonnes of carbon credits to off-set the event. It is believed the organisers will spend in excess of £1million on carbon offsetting to counter criticism.

Rego explains: "All the events are carbon neutral. We have chosen a reforestation and reagricultural project in Mozambique. It is a credible certifiable carbon-diffused project. We are in the process of purchasing a carbon offset."

"See! We are doing a PC and Socially-Approved Thing, so shut up about us using private planes and big cars and motorcycles, you bloody peasants! Do what you're told! And don't eat meat, either!"

Just as a side point, ignoring the diet deficiencies vegans and 'no animal product' vegetarians tend to suffer, have these clowns ever checked the numbers on how much land would have to be put under the plow to feed everyone if they could force us to go vegan? I know the bastards want to kill off most of the human race, but since they can't pull that off I'd think they'd be willing to trade people eating meat for a bleepload of square miles of forest and prarie and mosquito and leech-infested swamp wetlands. But apparently not.

If I had time, I think I'd take both the muzzloaders to the range and proceed to create clouds of stinkyaromatic, carbon-laden smoke.

After all, it's the thought that counts.

Two more things for this day

First, a damn good essay from Kim.

And found through Kim, a video on citizen preparedness

It's a bit humbling at times

to find out what a firearm you own is capable of when your clumsy self is taken out of the equation.

This is the first handgun I owned, a Ruger













New Model Super Single-Six(yes, all this really is the model) . .22- caliber single-action revolver that came with both a .22LR and .22 Magnum cylinder. Adjustable sights, and- this being the 'New Model'- the hammer block so you can carry it fully loaded. I've had a lot of fun with this over the years, and it was the first pistol my kids fired.

As part of my celebration of the 4th, one thing I did today was sit down at a bench with a solid rest and fire this at 25 yards. Had the frame solidly placed on the rest to remove as much error as possible, and it did this:


















That is six rounds of Federal Champion .22LR, the inexpensive stuff I usually buy at Academy. I promise you, I have never in my life been able to shoot a group approaching that offhand no matter how carefully I tried. Even from a rest it's rare that I can group them like this, but the pistol seems to be able to do it with no problem.

It's a standard saying that many- maybe most- firearms are capable of greater accuracy than most people are capable of getting from them. Not just a saying, folks.

My Independance Day

has consisted of reading the Declaration and going to the range. No fireworks for me, have to work tonight. God, I used to go through enough flash powder in various configurations to fuel a infantry skirmish in muzzleloader days.

A little load testing, otherwise just enjoying a day at the range. 'Course, since it just stopped monsooning a couple of days ago and the clouds cleared off shortly before I got there that meant 'bright sun shining into an area that magically avoids all but gale-strength winds and has humidity equal to Louisiana in the bayou'. I had a butterfly sitting on my hat for about five minutes, right at the band, drinking sweat. I actually took my hat off to see if the shadow was what I thought it was and the little bugger just sat there, looking at me and waving his wings.

So let's count up the points for the day:
Reading that document and considering what it means,
Day at the range, with a number of people all making noise and punching holes in targets,
Driving there in my Goreacle-defying pickup(which I may start referring to as the Carbon-Producing Transport System),
And stopping at Sonic for lunch to ingest a double-cheeseburger for which a cow had to assume ambient temperature.

Good day.

Because I don't think this can be posted too many times today

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. — The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

John Hancock

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
Geo. Walton

Wm. Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thos. Heyward, Junr.
Thomas Lynch, Junr.
Arthur Middleton

Samuel Chase
Wm. Paca
Thos. Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Th. Jefferson
Benja. Harrison
Thos. Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Robt. Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benja. Franklin
John Morton
Geo. Clymer
Jas. Smith
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross
Caesar Rodney
Geo. Read
Tho. Mckean

Wm. Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Frans. Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richd. Stockton
Jno. Witherspoon
Fras. Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra. Clark

Josiah Bartlett
Wm. Whipple
Saml. Adams
John Adams
Robt. Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Step. Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Wm. Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton

Oh yes, let us follow England

Right down the drain.
Gun and knife killings are getting out of control as six Londoners were murdered over the past week and one child is stabbed to death each week, anti-crime campaigners warned.

Local communities were being blighted by run-away violence as gang members who believe they are "untouchable" carry guns and weapons as a matter of routine to carry out crimes and to settle scores.

Let's see, handguns banned, rifles & shotguns regulated to an extreme, you can lose your firearms certificate for as little as the local chief cop deciding to cut down on the number of certificates in his area... Pretty close to what the GFWs want here. Doesn't seem to work well, does it?

At least not for crime control. To control the honest people, lot more successful.

He added although government figures show a small reduction in gun related crime, it is under reported and has to be viewed against "unprecedented" high levels of knife and gun crime over the last five years.

Although the Trust welcomed the fact the majority of murders leads to an arrest and conviction, prevention is a better cure it said.

Mr Brennan said: "There are currently 270 recorded firearm related offences committed on the streets of Britain every week."

Britain is an island, and relatively small. If they can't keep the bad guys from getting arms there, just how the hell do the politicians expect to do so here? Oh, that's right, they'll just pass one more law, and everything will be puppies and kittens and everyone will be singing Imagine in the streets.

Of course, in Britain it doesn't help that defending yourself can get you in trouble. Sometimes more trouble than the dirtbag who attacked you.
Jacob Smyth chased three youths out of his hardware shop in Penzance, Cornwall, when he was set upon. When he was kicked in the groin by one of the hooded youths who had stolen cans of spray paint Mr Smyth hit back.

Police issued fixed penalty tickets to the shoplifters but charged Mr Smyth and a colleague with assault.

Just bloody wonderful.

Added: well, hell, Kevin has already taken note of this, along with some 'slight' problems with Brit crime numbers:
An extra two million violent crimes a year are committed in Britain than previously thought because of a bizarre distortion in the Government's flagship crime figures, it was claimed yesterday.

A former Home Office research expert said that across all types of crime, three million offences a year are excluded from the British Crime Survey (BCS).

The poll caps the number of times a victim can be targeted by an offender at five incidents a year.

If anyone interviewed for the survey says they have been targeted more than five times a year, the sixth incident and beyond are not included in the BCS.
The authors of a report by think-tank Civitas said the five-crimes limit is " truly bizarre" and "misleading".

'Misleading'. Gee, ya think?

About all those layers of editors...

Here's a good rundown of the Story of the Mass-Beheading That Didn't Happen, and the trust(loss thereof, I'd say) involved.

And while the major media is playing games like this, stories like this are pretty much ignored. Gee, I wonder why...

As regular as the tides

are the plaintive cries of the family: "He was a GOOD boy, they didn't have to kill him! Why aren't THEY in jail?" In this case noted by Munchkin Wrangler specifically,
But Gadson's grandmother, Rosa Jones, said: "He ain't no hero. He is a murderer and God will serve justice."

She and her husband, Ivory Jones, pastor of a Fort Lauderdale church, sat on their front porch in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday wondering how a man could shoot two people and not go to jail.

Uh, because your grandson was committing armed robbery? Because the man thought your angelic offspring was about to murder him? This may be a new concept to you, but... Oh, never mind. Not a chance of them reading this and I'm tired of this crap. Nobody shot and/or killed while committing rape/robbery/attempted murder/kidnapping ever actually did anything bad, they never were any real threat to anyone, and that person who killed them ought to be in jail! Regular at the tides, only with no useful purpose.

Have a friend who's a teacher. He's bloody sick to death of, when some little monster is sent to the office for causing problems, the first reaction of the parent who shows up is to bitch at him for daring to do anything to/about their little darling. No matter what the kid did, no matter how many times they've been told about problems. It never seems to occur to them, or they don't care, that if they keep defending the little bastard when they do this crap they're setting them up for bigger trouble down the line; oh no, their little angel never does anything wrong...

Well, damn, it didn't rain last night!

or if it did, it was pretty light, just enough to keep things damp. Which means the ground can drain a bit more, things dry out just a touch.

I was able to mow the front yard by the procedure of
Make a pass
Bump the mower up & down to knock loose the wet grass caked on the deck
Repeat
which produced enough clippings when raked up to fill a 5-gallon bucket(wet, packed clippings mind you) which went on the compost heap. Right on top of the mushrooms that were standing almost six inches high on the top. I can't even think about the back yard until it's had at least a couple of no-rain days; the mower would clog up every 15-20 feet. And my rose bushes are losing leaves, looks like bloody fall under them. I raked those up, too.

Just looked at the situation up northeast near Bartlesville and found this on Lake Hula:

Hulah Lake is  34.0 feet ABOVE  normal and falling.
 The average discharge will be  44341 cubic feet per second.
 Flood control pool utilizatioin is at 100.1%.

I think 34 feet above normal qualifies as a "Holy Crap!" situation.

A group Down-Under you ought to check out

The Midnight Sun

Thanks to Stephen for recommending them.

Someone you should be aware of

Just found this place thanks to Kevin.

From a post on Jesse Jackson:
As far as I can tell, the black community spent a minimum of 231 years fighting for the right to have those guns available to them.

As far as I can tell, the black community spent a further 93 years fighting to enforce that right after it was granted to them in 1871,

As far as I can tell, the black community has only had enforcement of that right for less than 43 years.

As far as I can tell, Jesse Jackson has not mentioned that to the black community he serves.

Wouldn't you think, by this time,

the major media would be more interested in accuracy than pushing either sensationalism or their personal desires?

Must be the wonderful work of those layers of editors we heard of.

Speaking of major media BS, check out this at Blackfive

Why the hell didn't Blair say this

a couple of years ago? Good God, he's been making excuses for muslims and being the PC chief for years, but starting a little before his leaving office, all of a sudden we hear sense on the matter? One reason I despise most politicians: even when there're literal life and death matters involved they wet that finger and stick it in the wind before they'll say anything. And all too often they don't give a crap about the wind from most people, only from the 'elites' they want to suck up to.

Which brings up, was he lying about his beliefs then? Or has he recently had a change of heart on some matters? Right now I don't bloody care.

Check out Malkin's piece, has links on the attacks in Britain. Including one on the on-the-other-side mayor of London, whose mind I don't want to understand.

It's really been amazing the snotty comments from some along the lines of "They didn't actually hurt anyone, so it couldn't really be classed as terrorism, so why are we worried? We should be worried about the fascists calling it terrorism", etc. Absolutely bloody insane. It's like telling a woman "Well, he didn't actually rape you, so why are you so upset?" when her attacker was chased off. Damn, these people are gonna get us all killed.

I wonder if Blair is going to have another personal revelation and start speaking positively about the right to self-defense, even if you have to whack the robber/rapist/murderer breaking into your house? Or is that still too un-PC for him?

Speaking of floods and arks and such,

here's the current situation in one part of northeast OK:
HULA LAKE IS TAKING IN 2X THE AMOUNT OF WATER IT IS LETTING OUT. THEFLOOD GATES ARE OPEN TO APPROXIMATELY 2.5 FEET (AMOUNT OF FLOW). THE LAKE IS AT APPROXIMATELY 106% CAPACITY AND INCREASING 1% PER HOUR.

COPAN DAM/LAKE IS AT CAPACITY AND CONTINUING TO RISE. THE FLOOD GATES ON COPAN WILL BE OPENED ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY.

BOTH COPAN AND DEWEY ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE CRITICAL FLOODING, AS WELL ASPOSSIBLY IN BARTLESVILLE. FLOOD STAGE IS AT 22 FEET. IF FLOOD STAGE (ONTHE CANEY RIVER) IS EXCEEDED, WASHINGTON COUNTY (BARTLESVILLE) MAY LOOSEIT'S 911/DISPATCH CENTER. ADDITIONALLY, BARTLESVILLE WILL BE CUT IN HALF.

And a little while later:
HULA LAKE IS CURRENTLY AT 108% AND TAKING IN 2X MORE THAN IT IS LETTING
OUT. THE CANEY RIVER IS EXPECTED TO CREST AT 22.8 FEET ON WEDNESDAY, IF
COPAN LAKE FLOOD GATES ARE NOT OPEN BEFORE THEN.

I'm really surprised we haven't lost a damn somewhere before now, considering the amount of rain the last month. Even if the rain stopped right now, runoff will continue for days; some of this flooding is going to be really nasty.

If your system can take the shock,

this would explain a lot about Bill & Hillary...

I don't know whether to thank Theo for this, or ban him from my keyboard.

The God-cursed politicians keep opening their yaps

and crapping on real heroes, but it seems people are getting a mite testy about it.
This lunatic judgment reduced first hundreds, then thousands of ARRSE-posters to gibbering outrage. The next day, a post popped up from Kieran O'Rourke of Howe & Co, saying they were Mr Pun's solicitors, working pro bono and preparing to appeal the Home Office decision. They'd set up an online campaign: www.vchero.co.uk, which you should look up; it reduced me to choked snuffles.

Amazing, isn't it? The same politicians who make excuses for and find reasons not to deport islamists who call for mass murder turn right around and dump on people who've bled for the country. Happily, at least sometimes, enough outrage can make a difference. Next step:
Howe & Co's next campaign is for L/Cpl Gyanendra Rai, who fought and nearly died at Bluff Cove in the Falklands. He was saved by British Army doctors, who grafted skin from a British soldier on to his appalling wounds. He still suffers from his wounds, but gets no pension at all, having been invalided out before he finished his 15 years. Look him up: his story will make you howl.

Here's hoping Kim's right about the day Stout Bulldogs hang the bastards responsible for these decisions. If they agree, comes The Day, we can make room on a long gallows for some of the idiots in positions of power over here, too. Maybe find an island in the Atlantic for all of them, where the smell as the bodies rot won't disturb the neighbors.

So how does Hamas deal with the Disney problem?

Martyr the rat, of course.
A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children’s television program was beaten to death in the show’s final episode Friday.

In the final skit, “Farfour” was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour’s land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a “terrorist."

I guess they think this is a two-fer solution: "My brothers, in this manner we both get the infidel Disney lawyers(may they burn in hellfire!) to leave us alone, and paint the evil Joooos as murderers of the character children love; therefore, the children will burn with desire to blow themselves up trying to kill Jooos in the name of Allah."

Yeah, these people need their own country. As long as there's a wall and minefield around the damn place to keep them in.

One thing I DON'T like about Australia

is the Brit-inspired GFW laws, as example:
The would-be intruders had thrown rocks through the front window and cut the home's power supply before trying to jemmy open the front door.

They fled after the man, who was inside with a woman and young girl, opened fire.

Police recovered the rifle and charged the man with conduct endangering life and firearm offences.

'Endangering life and firearm offences' my ass. He should get something of a "You didn't finish the bloody job, mate" for not whacking at least one of the bastards, and otherwise be praised for protecting home & those inside, not charged with anything.

Dammit, in every other way I really want to visit that country...


Found at Tim Blair

Just how wet is is around here?

My parents live in Lawton, about 85 miles southwest of here. Dad has a small weather station set up on the roof where there's no interference from trees or anything. Since May 1, they've received 35.8" of rain, which is more than is received in an average year.

And I don't think we're far behind.

Just in case you were in doubt about the enviroweenies

and their minions, the gentleman at Random Nuclear Strikes has been collecting some quotes from the freakin' morons.

And their socialist nanny brethren.

They're sure-hell not on our side.

And a week before the anniversary of the 7/7 bombs Updated

in London, it appears the BPMs are trying it again.

I just had one of my occasional chances to see cable, and Fox is saying the police have confirmed it was a 'massive' explosive device inside a car, including both explosives and nails, found after "bouncers from a nearby night club had reported that someone had crashed a blue Mercedes sedan into garbage bins and ran away."

Sounds like someone had an owie on the way to wherever and ran; no word as to whether the vehicle was disabled by the crash or the jerk just panicked and ran. Which does bring up the questions as to where they planned to use it and when.

You think that maybe, just maybe, this might be enough to kick some of the pc-at-any-cost politicians into maybe doing something about the BPMs? At the least, ought to get the potentialplanned victims to have some words about it.


Update: Well, so much for first reports.

A second car bomb was found. According to the latest stuff I've seen(here and here), the first one was spotted by an ambulance crew saw 'smoke' coming from a car parked in front of a nightclub. The second?
The second was in a car that was illegally parked nearby and towed to the Park Lane car pound.

Staff there alerted police because "it smelled of gas."
Think about that. And think about the tow truck driver wondering why he didn't get blown up when he hooked it up.

Stepping way outside my pay grade, I'm going to make some guesses. First, the bombers didn't know their business very well. Neither went off(in the case of the first, if something was 'smoking' they may have tried to trigger it; the second 'smelled of gas' so either a bottle was leaking or the detonator didn't work or both), and neither had anti-tamper devices added in(which is also why the police officer who decided to defuse the first didn't get blown to hell).

Second, trying to set off two car bombs in crowded streets, this was no 'let's scare some people' idea, they wanted massive casualties. Which does bring up a side question: was the second supposed to go off about the same time, or were they planning to set it off when the rescue/recovery effort was going on?

Third, you'd think, after hearing about something like the first bomb, people checking abandoned or illegally parked cars nearby would, oh, be looking inside for anything suspicious(gas bottles for instance) before towing it. Either the possibility of another bomb never entered their mind or this attitude is very prevalent: "Sure, it's disturbing, and obviously it reminds everyone of 7/7," said Ian Hiskos, 32, eating at a cafe across the block from the police cordon on Haymarket. "I try not to think about these things." Which is a very damned dumb attitude in anyone, even more so in people checking cars.

Last, this idiotic claim: Police believe they have foiled a major terror attack and said if the Haymarket bomb had gone off it could have caused "significant injury or loss of life". No, they didn't foil the plot: the terrorists were incompetent. And they can't count on that.

Neither can we.

Looks like the IIABAN bill is dead

And one of the people who switched his vote? Senator "I can't be intimidated" Voinovich, the slimy little bastard. Along with a number of others.

Gee, you let these clowns know in blunt terms that you're going to kick their fat ass out of that office they think belongs to them, and their hearing improves immeasurably. Which means they need to be kicked out, preferably with a recall so we don't have to wait for the next election.

These clowns have gotten use to being members of 'the world's most exclusive club'; all too often they've done nothing else in their lives but (for many) inherit money and play politics and they think they're the boss. Time and past time for a serious house-cleaning.

Webbed paws my ass,

I think the dog is trying to build a raft.

It's been a wet year. Very wet. Bunch of ice and sleet in winter, rains in March(about average I believe), lot of rain in April and May. June alone has dropped more rain than the state received all last year.

Yesterday evening I checked my rain gauge: an even three inches over the previous 24-36 hours, most of it within the last twelve. And it's rained(lightly) off and on all day; not enough to start puddling again but enough to keep things from having a chance to dry any. And there's a flash flood watch for this area up into Thursday morning. A low pressure system just keeps sitting where it pumps moisture up into the region, which keeps feeding the rains.
















Dark green in flood watch, lighter green is flood warnings and statements. One county was telling people not to try driving on county roads because A: they hadn't been able to get around enough to survey where was flooded and bridge/road damage, and B: they were out of 'road closed' signs. Some of which had been washed away.

Lots of roads with water running over them, dangerous as hell; no matter what's happened before or how often you tell them, some people think you can drive through this stuff. A foot of running water can push a car off the road, eighteen inches can take a truck or bus.

Damn, this has equaled, maybe passed, the wettest month I remember before this. I've got leaves falling off the rose bushes from being too wet for too long. It's gotta break sometime. I hope.

Just to note we've not a monopoly on idiot politicians and bureaucrats

as to people coming into the country, take a look at this:
A decorated Gurkha who fought in the Falklands War has been banned from entering Britain to get treatment for injuries sustained in the conflict.

Why, you ask, would they do such a thing?

LCpl Rai, 51, recently tried to come to Britain to get NHS treatment for his injuries as he cannot afford the necessary medication in his home country of Nepal.

But Government officials rejected the father-of-five's application fearing he would stay here and claiming he had insufficient links to justify a visa.

Their decision means he also missed events in Britain to mark the 25th anniversary of the victory of the conflict, which took place yesterday, and has caused outrage.

Apparently the bureaucrats and politicians don't consider bleeding for the country a 'sufficient link' to give him a visa.

Lamppost, rope, etc.

Some really good cleaning brushes

One problem with cast bullets is that they can leave lead fouling in the bore. And sometimes it's a pain to get out. Aside from hooking up the FoulOut the best lead cleaner I've found is Blue Wonder and a good bronze brush, but even with it can take a while and a lot of scrubbing.

Week or two ago I was looking through the Brownell's site and ran across their Double-Tuff bore brushes(#084-142-144 for .45 caliber). They're a thicker, stiffer brush for heavy fouling. Since I was getting some other stuff I added a three-pack to the order.

Just tried them out. Took the Kimber .45 and the .455 Webley out to shoot, and the Kimber had the usual amount of fouling from the cast bullets. Process with Blue Wonder is to saturate a brush and run it through the bore five or six times, add more cleaner and repeat, let sit about ten minutes, brush, then use patches to clean the bore. It usually takes several repeats of this to get the fouling out; with this brush it took one. There may have been traces left, but they were not visible. This brush really did make a difference.

Webley shot as well as usual. The new grips really are better than the originals(to my hands, at least); bit more work at it and I should be able to checker well enough to keep things better aligned. One of the things I ordered was some replacement cutters for the tools, the originals having dulled with use. For some things, if you did this a lot, the carbide cutters would be well worth it.

Somebody put locoweed juice in the Senate water supply

At least that's as good an explanation for the idiocy going on there as I can think of. Not going to link to anything as there's enough stuff out there that you can't miss it. Happily, my state's two senators are voting against this IIABAN* bill, so I don't have to do a lot of yelling at them. But a lot of others...

Had Sean Hannity's show on while sitting here cleaning boomsticks and just listened to his interview of Sen. George Voinovich(Weasel-OH). Somebody talked to him the other day(may have been Hannity) and he explained his vote for cloture as 'I want there to be more debate, and we have another vote for cloture coming so this one doesn't really count'. Which is absolute marfi. Today he went on a tear about 'people are trying to intimidate me, and I've been in this business 40 years and I DON'T INTIMIDATE', which roughly translates to "The peasants are really annoying me. They act like I'm supposed to listen to them instead of doing what I want, and I'm getting mad!" He the proceeded to do the standard politician two-step of trying to avoid answering questions by talking around them and trying to talk over Hannity when he called him on it. And finally(tried to do it earlier but Hannity did manage to keep him on) said he wasn't getting anything but ignorance, etc., and wasn't going to waste any more time and hung up.

Ohio, I don't know a lot about his previous record. That being said, if this is an indication of how he sees his relation to the voters, you need to kick him the hell out of that office: he thinks he's your boss and shouldn't be questioned, and seems to think he owns that office.

*Illegal Immigrant Amnesty By Another Name

I think it'll hold true here also:

licensing and registration will be followed by confiscation.
Kilt wearers could face prosecution if they do not have a licence for their sporran under new legislation which has been introduced in Scotland.

The land of some of my ancestors has turned into enviroweenie and GFW central.

Another liberal discovers guns as tools,

instead of something to be terrified of.

More of those old cartridges

Starting off with some pistol fodder











#1 is the old .45 Colt
#2 .44 Colt
#3 .38WCF(Winchester Center Fire) Also known as .38-40
#4 .38 Colt NP(New Police)
#5 .32 Colt NP
#6 is a .38 S&W blank

Case heads:










#1 is WRA Co.(Winchester Repeating Arms)
#2 is UMC(Union Metallic Cartridge)
#3 is Rem-UMC
#4 and #5 are WRA Co.
#6 is R-P(Remington-Peters)


Now to the rifle fodder












#1 is .40-82WCF
#2 9.5x57, a variation on the 8x57mm Mauser cartridge
#3 .25-35 Win
#4 .25 Remington
#5 .401 SL(Self-Loading)
#6 .351 SLR(Self-Loading Rifle)
#7 .25-20

Case heads










#1 W.R.A Co.
#2 PS on top, a six-pointed star left & right, then the 9.5x57 at the bottom
#3 Super-X
#4 REM-UMC
#5 WRA
#6 REM-UMC
#7 Western


Rimfire and odd stuff











The first two are the paper-case 9mm shotshell I posted before next to a metal-case of the same.
Second is a pinfire. The bullet at the case mouth is .44" and it's .944" oal.
Third is an unfired rimfire case. The case mouth inside is about .41", 1.52" long.
Fourth is a lead bullet .68" diameter and .89" long. My loading scale goes up to 500 grains, and won't begin to lift this; I'm guessing about 700 grains.
The last is (I think) a Winchester .22 Rimfire

Case heads on these










On the two shotshells, the paper-case is W, the metal looks almost like a stylized GF but I can't quite make it out.
The big empty case is U, so is the .22
The pinfire(not shown until I can manage a better picture) has PSH at the top, FGA7PIA at the bottom; there's a line in front of the F that may be an 'I' but I can't really tell.

Some interesting stuff coming out of that box.