Making and fitting a guard

Had the chance to do a couple of these, and did remember to take pictures. I will apologize that a few of the shots are a bit fuzzy; they were shot outside and I didn't think to use the flash.

Ok, you've got the blade finished: forged or ground, final-ground, heat-treated, polished. Now you need to make a fit a guard. On this I'm starting off with flat brass stock.












And yes, this would be faster and simpler with a mill. I don't have one, so.

First, figure out how long and wide you want it to be. If in doubt, make it a little oversize, you can always cut it down. Mark the width and length and draw the lines, using either a fine-line marker or a scribe. Then mark the centerline of the guard-to-be. Lay the blade on it so you can mark the width of the tang;

















here I'll usually mark it so the slot will be a touch less wide than where I want the guard to sit; you can use files to widen the slot, but it's a problem if you've made it too long. If I use a marker for these, I'll go back and use a scribe to cut the centerline from side-to-side of the tang, reason to be shown later.

Now to the vise and hacksaw. Cut the guard from the flat stock, I'd suggest cutting just outside the lines.




















With the guard cut,



















you need to mark it for drilling. Here I use a prick punch. Same as a centerpunch, except a much longer taper to the very sharp point.



















Use a prick punch when you want to lightly mark a spot, centerpunch for a deeper mark. Here's where the reason comes in for scribing the centerline: the fine point of the prick punch fits into the line the scribe cuts, making it easier to keep the marks all in line. With brass, you can use a pretty good whack if need be; for steel or other harder metals, only a light tap or you'll smash up that nice, sharp point. Make a series of marks, spaced as you see fit.

Now to the drill press. You can do it by hand, but use the press if you have one/can get the use of one. Measure the thickness of the blade where tang meets ricasso, and choose a bit just a touch thinner. On each hole, just ease the bit down to the punch mark and it'll help center itself, keeping everything nicely in line.




















There's a piece of fine wet/dry sandpaper handy on the table; no matter how sharp the bit it'll leave a bit of metal sticking up around the hole when it goes through, so after drilling lay the piece flat on the paper and give it a few strokes so I'll lay flat. Then on to the next hole, repeat however many times.


















Now you have to join the holes into a slot. Out with a jeweler's saw. Clamp the blade on one end, slide it through the end hole, then clamp the other end. Clamp the stock in a vise and start cutting*.




















Take it slow and very light pressure, as these blades will break easily(there's a reason they come in bundles of ten or twelve). Takes a bit of practice, but you can hold the blade right on one side of the hole and take it down to the edge of the next hole, giving a nice straight cut. You can use just two holes, one on each end, and on short slots I do, but if it's very long the holes give you places to stop and lay the saw down and rest your hand. When you reach the end you can either work the saw back up to the top, or flip the stock over and cut the other side.

The slot



















should now be a little more narrow than the tang/ricasso where it should sit, and a touch shorter than needed, so out come the files.




















Cutting out a slot this thin means thin files, sometimes hard to find. If you plan on making guards this way, plan on getting a handful of files and modifying them. Remember that belt sander I've mentioned as being so useful? You can use it to make 'safe' sides on a file(smooth sides that won't cut)**, to narrow or to thin it. I use needle files about 6" long for opening the slot up, then a couple of fine-cut regular files 6" or 8" long that've been ground to different widths and thicknesses to I can fit them in where needed. Take your time here. A sharp file will cut a lot faster than you might think, especially on a soft metal like brass, so it's easy to cut too much. Also, keep a wire brush handy to brush the filings out of the file surface, you'll get smoother and faster cutting.

Slide the tang into the slot and get an idea of how much stock you need to remove, mark with a pencil or something if need, then clamp the piece in a vise and start filing. Cut a few strokes and try the fit, cut a bit and try. There's no way to rush this that won't wind up with a slot either too wide, too long or uneven. Ideally, you want a fit that gets to just a tiny bit short of where you want the guard to sit, so you have to give it a tap or two to seat.

It may well be that you wind up with the width of the slot just right, but the slot is a bit short.

















That's fine, use the files to widen it. Here's another reason to make the slot a little shorter: you use the files at an angle here, so you widen the slot on the blade side, keeping it shorter on the tang side.

On tapping it into place, two ways. One is to narrow the jaws of the vise to just a touch wider than the tang, hold the blade***, slide the guard onto the tank and the tang into the jaws and tap. The other is to get a piece of hardwood longer than the tang and either drill a hole into it from one end(narrow tang) or cut a slot from one end back long enough to fit over the tang. Clamp the blade in the vise at the ricasso(padded or some non-marking jaws, please), put the guard on, slide the wood punch in place and tap on it.

You've now got a guard tightly fitted to the blade. Now's the time to finish the guard(shape, polish, etc.). Here I want it bent forward on both sides so I use a spacer to keep the slot from being bent and clamp it in the vise and use a hammer to tap each side forward.







































Then I'll grind the thing to final size & shape, then polish. In this case I used first 100 grit wet/dry paper(used wet) to remove the deepest marks(I slipped a couple of times), then 220 grit to clean up the 100 grit marks, and on up to 1000 grit(If you've been careful not to ding the metal up, you can often start with 220). If you're doing a flat guard this is much easier than a shape like this one. Don't forget the edges. As the final touch you can hit it on the buffing wheel to final-polish.

























Here I wanted a hammered finish, so I polished it and then proceeded to beat it up. I've got a 4oz. ball-peen hammer with the faces polished very smooth just for this kind of thing. Here I used the peen to work the entire surface, edges and all. Which means I had to do a bit more filing: when you work a piece like this it upsets some metal into the slot. Not much, just a few strokes on each side should do it. Then tap it into place, and there it is.
























You can stop here, and fit a grip and pommel to it, or take the next step and either epoxy or solder the guard in place. This does two things: First, it locks the guard in place permanently and second, it seals the space between blade and guard. No matter how carefully you work that space is there, and- especially in a working knife- moisture can get in there. Water, blood, sweat, any of it is bad.

Epoxy is simple. Make sure the surfaces are clean of any oil or buffing compound. Mix your chosen stuff according to the directions. Move the guard down a bit and put the epoxy on the tang, all the way around and up onto the shoulders and ricasso. Seat the guard in place, making sure it's exactly located. Wipe the excess on the blade side off carefully so as not to disturb the fit and set it aside to cure. After it's done, clean off the bottom and tang.

Solder is a bit more complicated but done right it's worth it. There are some low-temperature silver solders out there that work very well for this, generally coming with a tube or bottle of flux. They're lead-free, they stay nice & shiny and they're very strong. The one I used for years is Stay Brite. I ran out of it a while back and couldn't find any, so I decided to try some I found at a local tool store, which has worked just as well. Mind you, not all of them are good. I tried one a few years back- again, couldn't find my favorite at the time- and whether it was the solder or the flux, the stuff didn't work worth a damn. My procedure is
First, make sure the guard slot and tang are absolutely clean.
Second, you can put a bit of the flux on the tang, or put the guard into place first, which is what I do. If the latter, clamp the blade in the vise, tang up, and put a drop of flux on each side of the tang just above the guard. Not much is needed, and if you use too much it will get through the joint and slide down the blade. This stuff is slightly corrosive, and in some steel can slightly etch the surface fairly quickly. Not deep, but enough to leave a nasty drip line on your nicely polished blade.
Third, cut two pieces of solder.























If you look close, you can see the solder in the gap at the edges of the tang, one piece each side. Only small pieces needed; if you've got a good tight join, it doesn't take much. Some put them on each side, I generally put the on the edges.
Fourth comes the torch. Don't use a big flame or put the flame on the solder, heat the tang about an inch above the guard, then the ends of the guard. You want to heat the metal so that first the flux migrates all around the joint, and second the metal melts the solder. This stuff flows at about 430F.

Once the solder flows, take the blade out of the vise and turn it blade up.























I've got the guard sitting on a V-shaped piece of thin steel to support it. Another way is to get a piece of pipe(NOT galvanized) two or three inches long and cut a slot in a inch or two from one end, set the solid end on the vise. Either of these holds the guard while allowing you to play the torch on the tang & guard. The scribe I'm holding(tasteful grip-enhancing tooth marks courtesy of the dog) has a fine round point and is used to 'guide' the solder. When it's flowing freely, assuming a tight and clean joint, you can put the point at the juncture of guard and blade and slide it along; capillary action pulls the solder into the joint, this mainly makes sure it flows evenly all the way around. When you're sure it's done, take the heat away and let it sit a few minutes so the solder can cool and harden. Once it does, you can use the scribe again, slide it point-first along the joint. Do it carefully, and you can shave away any excess solder, making for a neater joint. Remember that if you push too far or it slips, that steel point will gash a line into your polished brass.

Once it's cool, wash it thoroughly with soap & water to get rid of all traces of the flux, then dry thoroughly. At this point I use a dremel with a polishing wheel to shine the guard up, then use something like Metal Glo to clean off the polishing compound, then oil the blade.
























*When clamping a blade or guard in a vise, use some leather to pad the jaws, some of the non-marring inserts, just something to keep from messing up the surface.

**A file with safe sides can be a very handy tool. Grind the edges smooth and you can flatten a piece up to an angle with little worry of cutting into the angle. Grind the flats smooth and you can cut the narrow end of a slot without worrying about widening it. Files are inexpensive enough that you can set a bunch up with different combinations of safe & cutting sides.

**Make damn sure the edges are dull. If it's still sharp from the cutting testing and you don't want to dull it, then tape over the edges & point. Depending on the tape, with multiple layers. Otherwise you WILL cut yourself.

Currently trying to take over the garden,

or so it seems, is this mass of green:

















It measures a touch over three feet on the north-south axis, and a bit less on the east-west, and that is one habanero plant. 'Bush', rather. If you look real close, you can see some spots of orange; those are the ripe chilis, and there are green ones of various sizes and blossoms all over the thing.

Last year I mentioned that the plants I had produced peppers that were hot, but not the 'Andrew sullivan-proof your mouth' hot I expected, and someone in comments said they thought that too much watering could cause them to be not as hot. Well, these have had plenty of water- first from all the rains, then from the hose in the times needed- and they're hot. As in 'pick some, touch your cheek to brush off a mosquito and a minute later your eye starts watering' hot. So much for the water theory.

Ref the previous post, always remember

this quote:

“How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual… as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of.”

~Texas State Rep. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp

Change of heart for Giuliani? Somehow,

I don't think so. As Sebastian says, "Sounds like horse crap to me."

Apparently it's become the standard thing: the peasantspeople are too stupid to remember or research what you've actually said and done before(campaigning with Clinton for bans, etc.), so you can talk about your 'change of heart', etc., and expect them to believe it. Marfi, indeed.

Also, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has apparently made being an offshoot of the Joyce Foundation official. Key bit:
"We are grateful to several key staff at the Joyce Foundation; President Ellen Alberding for her leadership, passionate concern for quality of life in our communities, and particularly for her interest in partnering with the IACP to address gun violence, Program Officer Roseanna Ander for her dedication to reducing gun violence in the Great Lake States and the nation, and her relentless enthusiasm as she worked with IACP staff to make the summit a reality and Communications Director Mary O’Connell, who has aided in highlighting and supporting the vision of our summit participants through her editing, writing and consistent work to produce this report. "

So a supposed organization of law enforcement bigshots basically acknowledges they're owned by this statist gun-grabbing organization. Just wonderful.

And just in case you've forgotten, or you're new to this mess, here's a rundown of what the gun-grabbing politicians had in mind for Brady II. Including this piece of garbage:
"Brady II" redefines "firearm" to include magazines and "any part of the action" (such as pins, springs, or screws). Thus, if a person has two Colt pistols, three Remington rifles, and four magazines (of any size) for each gun, then he own an "arsenal." Or if he owned two guns, six magazines, and a box of disassembled gun parts that contained five springs, five pins, and five screws, then he would own 23 "firearms" and would have to obtain an "arsenal" license.

Got that? That box of assorted screws you bought now means you have more than 200 guns, according to these people. And let us not forget, Giuliani supported this crap.

Speaking of Hillary's mandatory insurance,

go here.

My daughter gave me a virus

Ebola, in fact.

She meant well. It was to thank me for taking care of her new dog while she & her mom went to Fen-Con(sci-fi convention). She also returned with a bumper sticker that says
"Dead men tell no tales.
Unless you're into forensics"

The things that come into your life.

If you've been hearing about the 'Jena Six' and are wondering

just what the hell did happen/is going on, two places you might check that seem to have some information I hadn't heard elsewhere. Patterico and Mostly Cajun.

Things like there was no fight: the white student was knocked cold from behind and then kicked and stomped.

Things like the 'noose in the tree' incident happened three months before, AND was part of pre-football game thing to mess with the other team. Who were the Cowboys.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it, the distaste and disgust I have for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton is almost beyond description, and their playing with this mess just makes them deeper.

Rachel Lucas Torments Dogs

Film at ten

After being directed to her site by Kevin on a different matter, I ran across this. Take note: not only does she do this, she's trying to pull her boyfriend into this horrible plot against canine dignity. Happily, the boyfriend is standing firm.

What IS it with women doing nasty things like this to dogs? It's not enough to get a poodle, it's got to have some disgusting haircut that makes it look like George Michael's date after they leave the men's room in the park. Or tie little ribbons on their head. Gah.

When I was going with what later turned into my second ex, one evening I went over to watch a movie. She had a dog that looked a lot like a husky(can't remember the breed) with long off-white fur, and every summer she'd have the fur cut short. She'd had that done the day before. I walked into the living room, looked out the window to the back yard and stopped moving. I may have stopped breathing for a moment. Fur cut short, except for the poofy ball at the tip of his tail. I think my actual words were "God, what did you do to him?"

She smiled and informed me that A: she thought it was cute, and (you know this is coming) B: "He likes it."

"He LIKES it?" At this point the dog heard us and looked in. And saw me looking at him. I swear, he ducked his head and looked away. "Look him! He's ashamed!" She looked out the window and saw him hiding his face, and she actually looked shocked. "Look at that!" as he turned his head enough to look, saw us and turned away again, "He's wondering just what he did to be treated this way! Just look at that face: "Mom, what did I do to deserve this?" "

Oh, that was a merry evening for a while. And yeah, that SHOULD have been a warning.

His fur grew back out and the poof on his tail disappeared, and I made sure to act like I didn't see a thing until then. But DAMN, what a thing to do to a dog.

From what I'm reading,

this situation stinks. I heard something about it yesterday, and today found this. So I looked at Blackfive for more information. I'd suggest go there and search 'sniper' and find all the posts on this mess.

This sounds an awful lot like the Haditha bullcrap, but worse(at least there's no jackass named Murtha running around braying). Here there's no question what happened, when, how and why, yet this general decides these two troops need to be tried. Just bloody amazing.

Remember the al Dura kid?

Who the palistinians and French tv claimed the Israelis killed? Well, check this out:
Many have accused the photo of young Mohammed Al Dura’s father shielding him from Israeli bullets of being a fake, but the original videotape from which this photo was drawn was hidden from view by France 2. Yesterday a French judge finally ordered the channel to produce it. PJM’s Nidra Poller was one of the few journalists witnessing this stunning turning point.

Besides the interesting look at the French system, we come to this when the judge says "We want to see the original, unedited footage":
The court recesses. (Even though an informed source has already whispered the result in my ear, I am gripped with suspense.) The judges return and report their decision on the question in suspense. The expertise. The raw footage. They want it. They will not go forward until they have seen it. Maître Amblard drops her pencil. She is sincerely stunned.

Now, us uneddicated rednecks have an observation: unless there's footage that proves that a lot of this was staged, they wouldn't mind people seeing it. But oh, boy, do they mind.

Kim's 'No Response Necessary'

post is downright interesting. Especially so since I just ran across this:
London has 10,000 crime-fighting CCTV cameras which cost £200 million, figures show today.

But an analysis of the publicly funded spy network, which is owned and controlled by local authorities and Transport for London, has cast doubt on its ability to help solve crime.

Gee, ya think maybe?

And speaking of foul beings,

Our Lady of the Thong points us to this:






May I repeat, Mahmoud is a miserable offspring of a rabid dog and a distempered pig.

What? I hadn't said that before? Ok, then
May I repeat, Mahmoud is a miserable offspring of a rabid dog and a distempered pig.

Also, Our Lady points to Gates of Vienna who point us to this:
O sultan, turkish devil and damned devil's kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are you, that can't slay a hedgehog with his naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. You will not, you son of a bitch, make subjects of Christian sons; we've no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck your mother.

You have GOT to read the whole thing.

In honor of the miserable politicians

who would even consider letting that pimple on a camel's ass go to Ground Zero(or anywhere else except a high-security cell), my own version of the Col. Bogey March:

Mahmoud has only got one ball,














Bashar has two but very small,























Moqtada has something similar


















And Osama has no balls at all











It being difficult to have balls(or anything else) when you've been converted to mulch spread all over Tora Bora.

Anyone able to make it to the Pimple's visit to NYFC, feel free to sing it to him. If I could get there, I'd do it myself.

Ammo price differences

There's a Wally World not far from my house, and a while back looked in on their ammo cabinet. Blazer Brass in .40S&W was almost $10/box, in 9mm about $8.50.

Couple of weeks ago went to Sportsmans Warehouse to get some primers, and there's a Wally nearby. I remembered it often has more movies in the discount bin than other stores, so stopped in to look, and while there I checked their ammo. Mostly to see if had any .223 for a friend. At this store, the .40S&W was $2.00 less a box, also that much less for 9mm. But the .223 they had was about a dollar higher than the other store.

Big difference for a few miles apart.

This just in: John Murtha

is still a miserable, vile pimple on the ass of the Marines.

My family expanded by more than a daughter-in-law

when son got married. Daughter-in-law's brother(does that make him a form of son-in-law?) headed back to the hot & sandy region today. He's going back for the third time.

And just to make things merry, he got married recently(yay!) and found out shortly before his ship-out date that she's pregnant(damn, that's fast, even for Airborne!)

May wear out God's ear by the time this is done.

Double rifles

Kim has a post up about a lovely CZ double, which reminded me of something seen at last years fall Wanenmacher Show up in Tulsa. It looked like this:





Holland & Holland double, in .470 Jeffries Nitro-Express. In the original case with the turnscrews, oil bottle and so forth. Obviously used, and well cared for. God, it was BEAUTIFUL. Unfortunately it also sold for a little over half the cost of my house, so it was just a bit out of reach.

But if I had the money, I'd have written a check right there.

Some general things

Dozens died in Syria-Iran missile test:
Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in Jane's Defence Weekly, which reported that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.

What do you call dozens of dead Iranian missile engineers and 15 Syrian officers? A start.

More problems at the State Department:
"Dissent within the State Department, particularly from a guy who doesn’t like the administration, who goes outside the policy and tries to put focus on himself, there’s nothing unusual about it," he said, adding that most career diplomats were Democrats. "If you don’t have dissent at the State Department, there’s probably a Democrat in office."

This should be known as 'more proof the striped-pants weenies at State think they should run the worldcountry. And should be canned.'

Gee, school choice actually works! The only problem I have is with this: The second replaced the money for public schools that was lost when a student used the vouchers. If the school is no longer responsible for teaching/caring for that student, THEY DON'T NEED THAT MONEY. But even with that crap, this is a program that's showing strong results. Good for it.

And last, Captain's Quarters notes this piece of... I'm not sure what to call it. Anything that starts with I know why I chose Columbia: the campus is magnificent, the education is top-tier, and my peers are intelligent. I could look at a stranger, tell him or her that I went to Columbia, and hear the predictable, “Wow, you must be smart.”, tells you that disconnected BS is following. In large amounts.

Come on, people, there's no way that anybody with three working brain cells to rub together CANNOT know that it's a military adademy; how could 'Naval Academy' not register? And this:
She begged me to call a naval lieutenant Monday morning to start the out-processing forms for my brother.
Yeah, I'm sure the brother was just freakin' thrilled to find out that his mom and sister tried to get him out. Without asking his thoughts on the matter, of course; after all, he chose to go there so he's obviously too stupid to know what's good for him.

And she's mad because he couldn't call mommy and her more than occasionally. Hey, lady, when my son was in Army Basic, barring emergency(real ones, not freaked-out relatives), no calls. Period. Letters you could write and receive, but no phones or e-mail. So shut the hell up and let your brother get what really is a top-class education as well as Navy training.

God, some of these people...

They never, learn, after the first report is TOO LATE!

"That said, the first Peruvian cannibal story I hear, I’m loading up on canned goods and firearms."

Dammit, people, that's waiting too long. After the reports come out is when the run on arms, ammo and supplies have started.

Stock up now, avoid the rush!

When the title of the sympathetic reporter's story is "We're ****ed",

I think the weenies have a problem.
An hour into the event, a woman passed me with a disappointed look on her face and said, “This is pitiful.”

And it was. “We are not insignificant,” a speaker read from his prepared speech, but the numbers assembled before him gave lie to his words. And the repeated references to the will of the people seemed pointedly indifferent to the fact of the rather listless group that milled around, carrying the same sorts of banners and placards that might have been seen a couple of generations ago in much larger and much younger gatherings.

A very sympathetic journalist, who gives the expected "the war has become deeply unpopular, and the disgust with Bush policies in Iraq is high.", and the 'nasty Texas president, etc. Who is honest enough to point out what a sorry mess this protest was.

MOAB is good, but

the daughter is right: the Chinese had some good names for ordnance.

Something to check on old .22 rifles

I mentioned in this post that the rifle appeared to be entirely a stranger to lubrication. Rifles like this are often like that, people bought them and used them and never did anything except load and fire them.

Which eventually led to function problems, which leads to them being sold. Sometimes downright cheap, as in this case. The previous owner looked amazed when the current owner performed the amazing feat of pulling the bolt to look down the bore; he not only had never done it, he didn't know how.

So if you find an interesting old .22 but things don't seem to work right, check it out as carefully as you can. It may be perfectly sound mechanically but needs lube desperately. Or- especially in repeaters- just has fouling and dust built up to the point it won't work right.

On the subject of Mo cartoons,

this guy in Sweden has balls. Amnesty(for thugs) International and the ACLU & Co. do not.

Also, ref the post on the Day by Day cartoon, Chris Muir said There are none. Zero. Nada. Zip.

The impression out there is it's dangerous, and it's not. There are more of us than them.

I admit to being surprised. Seems like there's an awful lot of islamists and their PC buttmonkeys always ready to have screaming fits, it's amazing they haven't been calling for death and destruction on this. Hell, I don't think I've heard anything from Islamic Rage Boy having a cow, even.

And Chris Muir started getting threats

in how many seconds?

'Fat children seized by government'

Make more bureaucrats, and they'll find something to do. All for the public good, of course.
According to a BBC investigation, at least 20 child protection cases this past year have involved a child’s weight. Details on most of these children’s situations and their fates are unavailable.

"Oh, it's because we CARE, you see!"

Dr. Capehorn appears to be on a tireless mission to lock up fat children, but there’s more behind his interests in promoting fears of fat and threatening such dire consequences for those failing to be slim. The Independent made a brief mention that he “runs an obesity clinic in Rotherham, South Yorkshire” in a story last summer. But he isn’t your ordinary weight loss doctor.

But there is some hope:
Growing numbers of parents aren't buying it, as they see their naturally fat children eating and active and just as healthy as other kids. Hysterical headlines driven by vested interests cannot change reality, create a nonexistent crisis, or make sound healthcare policies.

How much good it'll do depends, of course, on if they can get their nanny-state government to listen to them.

Sometimes I'm especially glad some of my ancestors

left Britain.
SIR Menzies Campbell yesterday pledged to "hammer" households earning more than £70,000 with higher taxes.
The Liberal Democrat leader said the rich have done "too well" under Labour and agreed the wealthiest 10 per cent should pay more taxes.
...
The Lib Dems want to reduce the basic rate of income tax by 4p in the pound by environmental taxes and changes to capital gains tax relief on investments and pensions, which are currently skewed in favour of those in the higher tax bracket.
In calling for higher taxes on the wealthy, the Lib Dems are following growing concern about income inequality. There was public uproar when a private equity boss recently boasted in front of MPs that he paid less tax than his cleaner.

Idiots make the tax system rediculous, and then get mad when people find the ways to avoid taxes which are only there because the idiots made the mess. And then they want to rip pockets open because "I don't like what you did!" Listen, dumbass, they could only do it because of you.

Oh, and why 70k pounds as 'anyone above that I'll hammer'?
The Lib Dem leader's salary - the £60,227 paid to any backbench MP - would not make him liable for greater tax.
Oh, of COURSE not.

"There is genuine disgust at some of the tax dodging ... and a large majority share our wish to see a crackdown," he said.

'Tax dodging', just like John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry, who pay a lower percentage of income in taxes than I do because of the bullshit, complicated tax code. Simplify the mess, and knock off this 'the rich should pay a higher percentage' crap.

Scotland, now Socialist Paradise. Crap.

Found through The Englishman. Which somehow seems appropriate.

More on the threat to our kids

Few days ago I posted on possible 'what then?' actions if the terrorists do manage an attack on our kids in school. JR has a post I just found(got to get by there more often) on the same subject, with a bunch of links.

Beware Og:

Him bad for mental health

Note to self: next time Og says "Make it", do two things:
1. Ignore him.
2. Drive up to wherever the hell it is he lives and shoot him.

This being brought on by a project. I wrote a while back of having picked up a Sistema, the Argentine 1911A1. This one has a mismatched slide & frame numbers, so I decided to do some work on it. New sights, trigger job, flare the mouth of the mag well a bit, refinish with either bluing or something like Duracoat. And a new barrel. This one has some pitting in the grooves, shoots quite well with jacketed bullets but fouls fast and bad with cast.

I mentioned this to Og. I've lightened the trigger a bit(needs more work) and used wet/dry 220grit paper to clean up the finish, such as it was.


















The first thing it needs is better sights. Better for me, at least, that thin, rounded front blade is a pain to see in all but bright light. I asked Og for opinions on a set, and he suggested making a wider front blade and keeping the original rear. Which sounded like a fine idea, me being one of those idiotshandy people who likes to do things himself. Which is what led to my considering violence.

The original design of the 1911, in the slide is a slot with a hole in the bottom. The sight thins where it meets the barrel so the base fits in the slot and a tenon on the bottom goes through the hole. You set things in place, then set the slide upside down on something solid and use a special chisel to upset the tenon to fill the hole, locking the sight in place. Taking it out means cutting some of the tenon out(I used a dremel with a small ball-end diamond bit) and then grabbing the blade and pulling it out. So far, so good.

Making the new blade... This was one time I really wished I had access to a milling machine. Let's just say that with a hacksaw and files, it took two tries, then had to make a tool to set the tenon. By the time this was done, I was saying unkind things about Og and wondering about having a machinist cut a dovetail in the slide. But it got done, and I fired it today. 50 rounds through, and it's still there, no sign of loosening.
















It actually looks better than this, I'd just filed it down a bit and hadn't wiped the filings off.

I widened the notch in the rear sight to match up with the wider blade, and it works pretty well. Down the road I might get a set of white-dot sights, though if I do that I will have a dovetail cut so I have a wider selection available.

A while back Xavier pointed me to a site with some 'how to fit a barrel' information, so when that time comes I've got a good idea of how. The mag well I know how to do, and I can either blue it or Duracoat it with no problem. I'll dig out the trigger job instructions I found at M1911.org and go the whole route next, the trigger breaks clean but is heavier than I want.

One of these days I'll finish this thing. I think it'll work out pretty well.

Store brands

One thing you run into when you start looking at older firearms, rifles and shotguns in particular, is the 'store brand'. Some company wanted to carry a firearm with their name or their brand on it but didn't want to build it themselves. So they'd contract with some gunmaker to produce one or more of their firearms- sometimes with small differences, sometimes pretty much identical- with the store's name on it.

Montgomery Ward was one. My dad has a shotgun marked with their name, that was actually made by Winchester. Sears & Roebuck did this a lot. I remember going to the bigger Sears stores and roaming the sporting goods while my parents looked at whatever. Rifles and shotguns, many with the 'Ted Williams' brand marked on them, others simply marked 'Sears'.

Here's one:












This is a Sears single-shot .22 rifle. This one was actually made by Marlin, with the Sears name and model number on the barrel. Lots and lots of people bought these both as a kid's first rifle and as a 'get the varmints out of the garden and squirrels out of the pecan tree' rifle. About as simple as you can get: open the bolt, drop in a cartridge, close, pull the cocking piece back, fire.

A guy found this one a while back, with electrical tape wrapped around the wrist(no idea why, no cracks or breaks) and the buttplate broken. You had to brace the butt on your hip and pull to get the bolt open, and he got it cheap. It gave the impression of never having been oiled in its life, lots of light rust on the barrel & receiver. But the bore, thanks to the wonders of .22 ammo, was spotless. At least after a oiled patch had been pushed through. Stripping and oiling took care of the stiff bolt and cleaned the rust off, and it had a trip to the range today. It's actually got a damn good trigger, breaking at about three pounds with no creep or drag. With better sights or a scope(the receiver is grooved) I think it might do really well; with the front bead and rear notch on a somewhat dim range at 30 yards it gave about 1" groups. He's going to refinish the stock and hit the metal with cold blue to improve the finish. What there is of it.

Next time you see an old .22 with a store name on it, going cheap, give it a close look; it might be worth a lot more as a shooter than they're asking.

Bad cops

The one getting the most attention right now is this clown, St. George Missouri Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein. And he deserves every damn bit of it. Xavier later links to The Northern Muckraker who has some things to say in response to a post at Officer.com(scroll around at Muckraker, he's got a lot of interesting stuff on this).

I hate this crap. I hate that a law enforcement agency not only keeps a jerk like this on the force, he makes Sergeant. Which means God knows how long he's been doing crap like this to people.

I hate it when someone has been messed over by an agency so badly that they feel the need to put cameras in their own car. And in this case, glad he did. As has been pointed out, does anyone think this would have ended any way other than the guy going to jail- probably after having the crap beat out of him- if Kuehnlein hadn't realized he was being recorded? And in a way he couldn't destroy?

I hate it when brass, instead of saying "Wrong was done and we're gonna take care of it", tries to excuse and cover up. This crap from the chief:
Chief Uhrig states that Sgt. Kuehnlein told him that the recorder had a "glitch" on the night in question, but the chief told KMOX radio in an interview:
"During the meeting Darrow asked to see the videotape from Kuehnlein's police car. But according to Uhrig, that footage, inexplicably, is nowhere to be found."
...
"Apparently the recording device was not working properly. Well, I in turn have checked the recording device, the in-car camera system, and it is functioning properly."
First, there is NO excuse for supervisors hiding or destroying a recording like this. Second, there is NO excuse for a Chief of Police having anything to do with such. If the Chief did indeed have anything to do with it, he should be fired. That includes not doing anything about a tape 'going missing' or 'becoming unusable' in an investigation. I'm sick to death of excuses.

There is a comment on the Officer.com post that sums up a real problem. After ranting about the usual stuff("We're not treated right, we're not respected, " and so on, we get this:
Most departments are desparate to hire officers that little consideration is given to these peoples ability to defend themselves much less the public at large. Now we have to deal with idiots setting us up when they have nothing better to do?? I hope all of you Douglas Hesters and Joel Rosenbergs out there are the ones that reap what you sow. I hope it’s the most vulnerable members of family tjhat are violated by the little punks that the police are to scared to stomp a 6 foot mud hole in their heads when they obviously desrve it. I hope the next time you call for help the police don’t show… maybe some little hethern with a video camera will come plug the holes some gang bangers shot in your torso…but I hope not.

That apparently comes from a police officer. Got a question: you want to work with this guy? Maybe he's mostly blowing off steam here, but still... It's like nothing this officer did counts, "He was set up", and so on. Which is exactly how departments get this bad. The people abusing authority, abusing the public, in many cases flatly committing crimes, are protected by other officers because "He's one of US." So other officers who come on the force do the same crap. If this guy wants to know a big reason so many do not respect the police anymore, it's because of bad cops doing crap like this, and other cops protecting them.

Dammit, this leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.

Well, Rodger just couldn't stay away

so he's still there.

A combination of things

that other people have noted, but I just can't pass up.

This kind of crap is why people don't trust the schools and teachers:
"The lesson being taught in class was that the U.S. kidnaps innocent people and takes them to Cuba, where they are kept indefinitely and tortured," Hill said he learned through his daughter.

When Hill asked her if Brooks mentioned Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. imprisons terrorist suspects, he said his daughter replied "yes."

He said his daughter broke into tears when she talked about Brooks mentioning illegal wiretaps and other surveillance directed against innocent people.

"I think I was more irritated by the classroom discussion than the letter," he said.

I would think 'Seriously pissed off' more than 'irritated'. But the principal says ...she doesn't believe Brooks has any political agenda to advance. Oh, no, of course not.

Syria has been naughty, and the Israeli Air Force administered a serious kick in the ass.
At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.
I wonder if that miserably little bugger in Damascus may have gotten the idea that people are tired of playing games with him? Also, ought to check out Tigerhawk's thoughts on this.

Rush Limbaugh said the other day that we may have to win the war without Democrats. Sounds a bit strong, but after the absolute marfi thrown at Gen. Petraeus, before, during and after his report, I tend to agree. Especially with crap like this:
“No one wants to call [Gen. David Petraeus] a liar on national TV,” noted one Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. “The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.”
Chickenshit little bastards.

Directly connected to the above, read this: Defeat at Any Price.

He warned you: put your

bullshit filter on 11:
MIAMI (AP) - The spray of bullets that killed a police officer and hurt three others this week came from something increasingly common on this city's streets: a high-powered assault weapon, fast becoming the gun of choice for gang members and violent criminals.

Read it.

Some thoughts on Glenn Beck's 'Perfect Day'

If you haven't heard about this, he's been covering two points. First, that various terrorist groups are planning on making a series of big attacks in the U.S., with schools being preferred targets, and urging lots of muslims to, when the attacks happen, make their own attacks: cab drivers running over infidels, and so on. Second, he figures they hope for people here to react by burning mosques, attacking muslims, calls for internment, etc., so they can use that as propaganda to say "See! It's a war on Islam by the unbelievers!".

I don't doubt the first. On the second, I see two problems with how 'we must act with great restraint to avoid giving them a propaganda victory'. First, it really doesn't matter what we do, it'll be painted by the things as 'war on Islam'. If a bunch of terrorists attacked a school and fled into a mosque, and burned it down while fighting the police, it'd be painted as "See! The crusaders burn our holy places!" If the police caught them, they got a fair trial and received a proper islamic punishment(say, beheading the public square*), they'd still scream that our killing the terrorists means "We are victims of the war on Islam! Death to the infidels!"

Second is the mindset of the things and the muslims around the world who support them, and there's a lot of them. Let's say the things attack our schools, and we act with great restraint. They'll paint it as a demonstration of weakness on our part, and lots of muslims will believe it. "See, we rape and kill their children and the crusaders still do not have th courage to deal with us!"

So this may well be a 'lose-lose' scenario so far as many of the muslims around the world. Doesn't matter what we do or how we act, they'll still claim victimhood and justification for horrible acts.

And by the way: there are a lot of mosques in this country that are actively working with and for the terrorists. They gather money for them, preach in support of them, actively aid them: that makes the people in those mosques the enemy. That's putting it bluntly, and will undoubtedly cause various amounts of pants-wetting and hysteria, but there it is. If you actively work to assist the enemy, you ARE the enemy. And the fact that we don't act decisively against those doing this, is seen as another sign of weakness on our part. And they're right.


*I would add 'and buried in pig crap' to the sentance.

Here's a response for the truthers:

When I hear conspiracists talk about 4,000 Jews staying home from work on 9/11, I like to tell them "And they know where you live."

And some other good thoughts.

Damn, if my budget wasn't blown

I'd buy one!

I know I tend to head articles in Britain with 'swirling down the toilet'

a lot, but when you read things like this, it's hard not to.
So, I became exasperated and said ‘Is there no-one working here who speaks English? This is Paddington - this is still a London neighbourhood.’

A well-dressed man came over and said ‘I speak English.’ I thought he was going to intervene on my behalf but instead came out with this astonishing observation:

‘You are a racist! You are a racist ape! Look at you-- you are an ape!’

I was dumbfounded. I came to London thirty-two years ago to soak up the culture of Dr Johnson and Chaucer and Milton, and in the autumn of my life am called an ape by a man from, well, perhaps Egypt, perhaps Palestine, perhaps Saudi Arabia..

Shocked, I glared at him, but he had to finish things off : ‘You want them to speak Hebrew, don’t you?’

And at the end:
I wandered over to the flower shop and found myself commiserating with what seemed to be two Englishwomen who lived in a permanent state of fear in a neighbourhood they had called their own for generations. They told me I must have been mad going into that shop, as ‘all the establishments in Edgware Road are off-limits to us now.’ They told me there was one small café that was safe for a western woman.

"...safe for a western woman." In London.

In light of the crap thrown at Gen. Petraeus the last couple of days,

If you're in the market for an M39,

check these out.

As I recall, it's pretty much the same here today

as six years ago, fair skies and cool. Maybe I'll write something else on that day later. Not now.

At least in some cases, the UN is being told to take their blue hats

and shove them where the sun don't shine.

With the United Nations continuing its efforts to enact draconian, transnational gun control laws in countries around the world, yesterday the U.S. Senate passed the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which included an amendment by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) that seeks to address the U.N.’s ongoing international gun ban efforts.

By an overwhelming 81-10 vote, the Senate passed Sen. Vitter’s amendment to prevent any funding to foreign organizations that infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of lawful American citizens. Any organization that adopts a policy anathema to the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment would no longer be eligible for U.S. financial assistance—including the U.N.

Found thanks to Sebastian

What happens if the terrorists do attack our schools?

Was listening to Glenn Beck earlier today, hearing things I didn't like and reflecting- again- on the long-term consequences if it does indeed happen.

Specifically, he was talking about the plans of some of the nutcase islamic groups- plans hell, the burning desire- to pull a Beslan-style attack in the U.S. Preferably in multiple schools on the same day. Had information I'd not heard before. That there were training tapes found in Afghanistan on making attacks on businesses or offices or schools I knew: that they found, in Iraq, building plans for a half-dozen American elementary schools I did not. Elementary because they want to hit a place where the boys(girls don't count, of course) aren't old enough/big enough to be a threat. He's going to do a show, several episodes during the week, on CNN talking about this, including naming the schools the plans were for.

I have no doubt of this. I'm certain there are a bunch of nutcase islamists out there- who'd get lots of support from millions of 'moderate' muslims- who desperately want, and plan, to do this. They want to get into one of our schools and torture and rape, and in the end kill, every child they can. These- I'll use 'things', as my command of language isn't quite good enough to truly demonstrate what I think of these beings- things would happily die doing this, seeing it as a wonderful demonstration of devotion to their god. As to what will follow if they make such an attack-a serious attempt, let alone a successful attack, they either don't believe what we will do, or they don't care.

A lot of people have written about this before, that these things just don't understand what this country is capable of if pushed to it. Fact is, if the God-cursed lawyers and politicians weren't in the way so much, the situation in Iraq would have been a lot more settled two years ago; among other things, there would have been patrols, ground and air, killing every Iranian who came across the border, followed by press conferences showing the stuff they were smuggling in. I think it was Armed Liberal at Winds of Change who wrote that 'he feared what we would do if struck by such an act'. You know something? I don't fear it. It'll be messy and nasty as hell, but I don't fear it. What I fear is that the likelihood of this happening has been greatly increased by the 'fight when/how will make the critics happy' bullshit. Every time the enemy found they could hide in a mosque and shoot at our troops and get away with it, every time the news announced a lawyer wouldn't let an air strike take out a bunch of the enemy because they were at a friggin' funeral... every time something like this happens, the enemy takes it as proof that we will give up. That we don't have the balls to do what's needed. It encourages them, it makes them believe that they can beat us.

In this country, several things will happen. One- regrettably- is that every mosque that has put out "Yes, terrorism is terrible, but-" statements is liable to go up in flames. In a way I have to admit that wouldn't bother me too much, but other mosques will be attacked, also. Accompanied by other attacks on moslems. Probably not a lot, but in the rage following such an attack, all bets are off. Another is that almost any politician, except those in the most moonbat-infested districts, who says "We must show restraint", or in public says "We're gonna get 'em!" but in private acts to prevent it, is going to pay the price. Preferably only in recalls/losing elections/etc., but I seriously fear some of them might be killed. I think some of these people truly do not understand the level of rage that will come in after such an attack, or else think 'the masses can be controlled'. These 'things' attack a school and kill a bunch of kids, even without the flourishes, and there will be demands for blood. For telling the troops "The gloves are off: find the bastards and kill them, wherever they are." 'Demands' as in "You do this, or we'll drag your ass out of that chair and put somebody in it who will."

As to specifics to various moslem nations, I don't know. That's going to vary. I can see Iran, if their prints are found on it, being- if not having their nuclear program smashed- being cut off: no refined oil products, no anything that can be turned back. Pakistan, Musharraf being told, whether in public or not, "You take out a lot of these people in the tribal areas, or we will. You'll like it better if you do it." Syria, Hamas, Hizballah: can you say 'stomped on'?

I think there are those among the things who don't want this attack to happen: not because of any unwillingness to kill our children, but because they do know what will happen after. And they don't like the idea of being converted to mulch. But they've got an uphill fight against the things who want to spill blood. Preferably on camera to demonstrate their faith.

Somthing else I think will happen in the aftermath of such an attack, is some European countries will cut loose. We'll hear the usual socialists and communists and America-haters basically saying we 'deserved it', but I think it would be the last straw for a lot of people, and it would give some governments the opening they need to stomp on their problems. Of course, it's possible the things would try to include some European schools in the day of terror, in which case... let's just say that a lot of moslems will find out how a lot of these people's ancestors got the reputations they did.


As a side note, I remember when he was putting together a 'man-caused global warming is bs' show, he talked about the huge amount of crap, the lies and roadblocks thrown up by CNN officials and employees to try and prevent it. If not for the crap we've seen out of the major media over the last couple of decades in particular, I wouldn't have believed such a mess would be done. As he put it today, 'if the facts weren't there, if the sources weren't there, if EVERYTHING weren't there, there's not a chance you could get this show through the PC attitudes at CNN'. Need to see if a friend can tape it for me.

I forgot to mention Charles Schumer

in my earlier post. Which actually works out ok because that little turd- to borrow Kim's spot-on description- deserves his own mention. Especially after this:
Newsbusters noticed that the speech posted on his website is not the same disgusting speech that Schumer gave to the US Senate. It has been changed.

Which is about par for the course for that vile, lying, cowardly, disgusting little camera-chasing excuse for a man.

Let's not forget hypocrite, too; after all, this little GFW has never seen a firearms ban, tax, licensing scheme, taxing scheme or other restriction that he didn't latch onto while we found out a while back that the chickenshit has a gun license there in NYFC. The kind of license that actually allows him to carry concealed. You know, the kind of thing he says should be banned? Except for him and his little friends, of course.

A nice article in the Times of London:

Wouldn't you feel safer with a gun?
...
The short answer is that “gun controls” do not work: they are indeed generally perverse in their effects. Virginia Tech, where 32 students were shot in April, had a strict gun ban policy and only last year successfully resisted a legal challenge that would have allowed the carrying of licensed defensive weapons on campus. It is with a measure of bitter irony that we recall Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia, recording the words of Cesare Beccaria: “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

Article well worth reading. And, of course, you have one of the standard replies, included in the first comment:
If the present restrictions prevent another such tragedy then they are worthwhile.
Let's say you grant that: that somehow the 'ban almost everything and license & restrict everything else' laws prevent another such horrible crime. The followup question is, How many people have been robbed/raped/tortured/crippled/murdered because they had no means of self-defense that the bad guys are afraid of?

Because every time someone pops out with that "If it saves only one life, it's worth it" line, they're in essence saying "I do not care how many people get hurt because they don't have a gun; that does not concern me." And it's too bad it doesn't bother them, because the list of victims is long and growing longer by the day.

Just to cover matters: Harry Reid, Dick(Turban) Durbin

Rahm Emanuel and Dennis Kucinich are vile, slandering, disgusting pieces of work.

That is all.

For now.

Millett red dot update

Took my daughter to the range the other evening, first time we've been able to go in a while. Fun was had and our carbon footprints suitably enlarged. I took the Carbine along just to check zero.

And why is that, you ask, since I'd only zeroed it about a week ago? Because I had it leaned in what I THOUGHT was a secure position a couple of days ago(always had been before, dammit) and it slid off and fell. Right on the Millett. Which I think caused some of the paint to blister a touch from my language.

If the thing shifted at all, I couldn't tell. It put the rounds right where I was aiming. I'm liking this sight more and more.

More Carbine stuff
The CMP M1 Carbine page has links to two good articles, one on Carbine shooting with accuracy (covers fitting barrel/receiver to stock & barrel band, ammo and such) and- if you're looking for some- THE article on the Carbine 30-round magazine.

The ammo pouches for the older 20-round M16 magazines will very nicely hold four of the 30-round Carbine magazines.

And now, I'm to bed. Night, all.

'Osama's' newest press release

Translated.

Farouk, Cave Affairs correspondent, CBC (Cave Broadcasting Service):

Thank you, Your Eminence. Mr. Sheikh, you have praised Allah and his “law of retaliation … eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, the killer is killed … ” And yet the resilient infidels have been martyring our righteous militants at a rate of better than 5 to 1, conservatively. How do you explain the tooth deficit of your current strategy?

"I said no, no, no!"

Go. Watch.

Thanks, Theo

Maneaters

Saw a show on the subject of 'maneaters', specifically about lions. The first segment was about a lion in the Rufiji River area in Tanzania the locals named Osama. Killed and ate 50 people in the area before a game ranger was able to put him down. This was in 2002, in an area alive with game of all kinds; it's just that, as one researcher put it, "We're so much easier to kill than buffalo and zebra."

Two things about this: one is that, when they put those numbers down, I always wonder how many might not be known of. Jim Corbett, who hunted a bunch of man-eating tigers and leopards in India, knew of many kills by some of them than were not on the 'official' list for various reasons. Last I heard the average daily kills of people by crocodiles in Africa, Asia and Australia runs about ten. Again, that we know of. There's an official number of people killed by sharks each year, but if some swimmer or fisherman just disappears...

Second, they interviewed the ranger who put paid to Osama, by setting up in the high grass around the last two victims- both killed in the same night- to catch him when he came back to feed on what was left. Pictures of Osama showed two holes in his forehead: one to put him down, and one to make sure. The rifle the ranger uses?

#4 Mk1 Enfield, with the forend cut back. Good things still work.

Chicks with guns!

Thanks to Theo

remember the 'useful items' son said added to the weight?

Asked him about them, and got the following:

Camelback attached to the back, starts out the day with 6lbs of ice and 2 liters of water; lasts about four hours, then back to the water bottles.
Gerber multi-tool
550 cord
camera
candy for the local kids
carabiner
lighter
spare lenses for the goggles
a cloth
gaiter to pull up and filter out some of the dust.
Plus:
Add about 3lbs for the helmet and 8 for the m4, plus whatever else you carry like a flashlight, machine gun ammo, etc. and the weight jumps up there quick.

And it's been averaging 120-125F for the days high temp.

The Sci-Fi Channel needs to go back to class

At least on a few things. Particularly, they need two classes:
Firearms, General Characteristics and Operation
Firearms And Their Effects On Animals, Large And Small

Over time I've seen a few of their 'made for Sci-Fi' movies, and they tend to display absolutely incredible ignorance on the above. For instance, today saw parts of Curse of the Komodo and Attack of the Sabretooth, and in the past various 'giant Komodo dragon' or 'attacking dinosaur' movies. Various things apply to these:
A 1911 only holds seven rounds in a standard magazine, eight in a higher capacity that doesn't stick out the bottom of the grip: that does NOT translate to '35 rounds without reloading!'

EVERY gun runs out of ammo, even if it's belt-fed. Which means you do have to reload, like it or not.

You cannot get semi-auto fire out of a bolt-action rifle.

I don't care if it's a giant mutated Komodo dragon or a velociraptor, if you shoot it? IT WILL NOTICE. If you miss it completely, it'll notice the noise; if you hit it, it'll notice because high-velocity projectiles impacting will cause pain, which all animals seem to notice for some reason. Stop having four to six people shooting off their never-ending ammo supply(quantum pockets in the mag well, perhaps?) at said giant lizard and it not even looking around. Or ever bleeding.

And connected with the above: I don't care how big the damn thing is, you put thirty or so rifle bullets and fifty or more handgun bullets in it, two mysterious things will happen: it will bleed, and- sooner or later- IT'S GONNA DIE.

Maybe I should write them?

Two nice things to check out

I've read some bits about Robyn Ringler at Smallest Minority and Say Uncle, never went to her site. If you've heard the name and wondered what it's all about, The Armed Scholar will explain it. Very well:
But she soon hit a few bumps in the road. For one thing, American gun owners seemed to be strangely resistant to "compromise." It was almost as if they wanted to get something in return for giving something up, but any good gun control activist knows that just isn't the way compromise works.

And if you haven't been there before, take a look at the Pro-Gun Progressive. Found the above through him.

Just an interesting column:

The Year the Global Warming Hoax Died, found through Freedom Sight.

Speaking of which, I'm just wondering- just a little bit, mind you- how the people who claim they can forecast the whole bloody climate in 50 to 100 years can blow 24-hour forecasts so bad. Day before yesterday and yesterday we were informed that OK was to expect heavy rains, many areas getting 4-5 inches, from Friday evening through Saturday. We in OKC are right in the middle of the "You Will Receive Heavy Rain" area. Little bit overnight, just enough to wet the plants, and the '100% probability of rain Saturday' has become 50% tonight. We'll see.

Goreacle, you've failed your believers! We're all NOT gonna die!

Have 20/20 on,

and John Stossel just ripped Mikey Moore's ass off on the 'wonderful' health care in Cuba. Wonderful to behold.

And he promises more next week.

Remember the two dumbass cops who shot at the snake

and killed the kid? Word from the D.A.'s office today:
Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn announced Friday afternoon that the officers who accidentally shot and killed a 5-year-old Noble boy will face charges of 2nd degree manslaughter.
Mashburn says Brad Rogers and Shawn Richardson acted negligently when they fired at a non-poisonous snake last month.

It's still kind of hard to believe they were dumb enough to do that.

I was checking comments on the 'let the peasants take care of it'

post, and found this by Dirtcrashr:
I grew up watching men use these - it's like they were tethered to the device - water your crop or die, but while watering you cannot tend the crops...

When I did the post, I just excerpted a couple of bits and let it go. Something didn't feel right, but had other things to do. Then I read that comment, and thought about it, and got pissed. Not mad, not upset, PISSED.

While back read about a dam project in Africa(can't remember the book, or where the project was) that was scuttled because of pressure from enviroweenies on the government. Some of it was the standard 'keep Gaia's river in its Natural State', etc. But the part that really set me off was the comments. One was, as I recall, that jackass Ed Begley Jr., who basically said 'they can put solar cells on the roof of the hut to run a laptop or radio, and that's renewable energy(one of the sacraments), it won't change the environment. The other was some Friends of the Earth or whatever clown who said that the villages were still in their more pristine state, which would be ruined if they got electricity: 'they're happy in their village life, and radios and tv and computers would ruin that social existence'. Change a few words and you've got a slave owner saying "Them darkies is happy in their houses I give them, why you want to mess with their life?"

I didn't write much about that the other day because the more I think about it, the more pissed I get. These clowns who fly around the world, Begley with his electric cars and 'earth-friendly' house, the computers and clean water and all the other modern conveniences, but the wogsnative peoples shouldn't have those things. Oh, give them some solar panels, and treadle pumps for water(but no way to treat it), but no more: you'll mess up the primitive ambiance they find so attractive. Screw the natives who want electricity and clean water and power tools, if they get those they'll advance, into modern life! Which is not to be tolerated, it offends me!(listen closely, you can hear Ted Kennedy saying "But that's where I sail!") Besides everything else, if you can't buy 'credits' that force them to do without, how will you hold your head up before all the other Gaia-worshipping assholes?

Damn, I need to rinse the bad taste out of my mouth.

Kid's camping books

Instapundit links to this one, but I've got another suggestion. It's not in print, unfortunately, but if you can find a copy, Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip, by Patrick McManus. Funny, and a lot of good stuff in it.

Yes, Mr. Beck, I AM going to mention this part

first. Beck had Rudy Giuliani on his show right after it opened, and the big thing(to me at least, and probably a lot of others) was what Giuliani said about illegal immigrants.

He interrupted something Beck was saying on the subject to inform him that illegal immigrants are 'not criminals', that illegal immigration is 'not a crime'. And when specifically asked if it SHOULD be a crime, he said no.

Even if I weren't already against voting for him because of his work trashing the 2nd Amendment, this would be a big strike against him.

Speaking of his anti-gun ownership activities, a few months ago, not long after he announced he was running for President, he was interviewed by Beck, and on that day Beck really hit him on this matter. He finally flatly asked "Should people be able to carry a gun for self-defense?" It was both painful and disgusting to listen to the answer: he brought out a 'depending on local laws, blah-blah-blah' line, and you could hear it in his voice that he didn't want to say it.

But now he wants votes and he 'supports' the 2nd. Oh, sure, and I can carry my son's field load on a 20-mile run and not break a sweat.