My personal stimulus package, and contribution to the

re-arming of America going on.

When all the fun started back around last October, I started thinking about a EBR. Question was, what? I'm just not that fond of the AR15, they're expensive and were rapidly becoming more so, and ammo... jeez, have you looked at .223 lately? Plus son is not that fond of it*; he recommended that if I did, get a piston upper in 7.62x39; can you say 'even more pricey'?

I've always liked the idea of a M1A, but they're more expensive than most AR15s I've seen. Then I had a thought(shut up, Og, it happens). I checked the site and they still showed them, so I put the paperwork together and mailed it off. '30 to 60 days' turned to 90, to 120, and then I got an e-mail: 'processing your order'! Which was a real surprise, as I'd been afraid they'd run out. Then a couple of days ago the White Truck of Happiness brought the box from CMP:
M1 Garand in the grand old .30-06 cartridge, this one made by Harrington & Richardson. After disassembly and a thorough cleaning, it's in quite good condition; the bore looks very nice indeed, the muzzle shows little wear, the action's tight and the trigger not bad at all; I'm guessing about 5 pound with no creep or drag. The stock has a lot of little 'carried around a lot' dings, and appears to be original to the rifle.

I've got a bunch of -06 brass, and you can use any 150- to 170-grain bullet to feed it, so ammo won't be a big problem. May see about ordering some more of the HXP ammo CMP has; I've fired it before, it's good stuff. And I think the cast bullets will work out to make very nice practice loads.

True, it doesn't have the pistol grip or detachable magazine that causes such pants-wetting among the Brady Group To Ban Guns and their associates; and the handguard is wood instead of being a horrifying 'thing that folds up' barrel shroud. But it does have a bayonet lug(got a sticker for it), and you can stick a grenade launcher on it, and it is on the list those GFW dirtbags drew up as 'Evil Assault Weapons That Make Us Foul Our Diapers That Peasants Should Not Own' , so it'll do for that part. Helmke, that arms expert who said that guns capable of shooting more than 100 yards should not be allowed for hunting, should go into PSH at the thought of a 150-grain bullet at almost 2900fps("Why, it'll go MUCH more than 100 yards!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!") And, though no detachable mag, those 8-round clips go in pretty quickly, so I guess that counts for it, also.

The stimulus part? I used my tax refund to pay for it, and it'll stimulate interest at the range, pleasure for me in further cleaning and use, and "Crap, where'd you get it?" questions at the range.

Clips. More clips... And wheelweights.


*He told me that he's never seen one, properly maintained(i.e. 'scrubbed within an inch of its life daily') fail to function in combat; he does say they can be a pain in the ass to thoroughly clean after much use, and he's not fond of the cartridge for fighting.

Back to the 'Most Ethical Congress

EVAH!
Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided in November as part of a federal criminal probe.

Founded in 1999 as a joint enterprise run by Penn State and the Office of Naval Research, the EOC promotes electronic research needed for state-of-the-art military equipment.

But sources familiar with the EOC’s operations say Murtha has used the center as a “front” for PMA and other lobbyists and contractors with ties to the Pennsylvania Democrat.

At least 10 PMA lobbying clients have received funding via the EOC, officials at the center acknowledged. Sources familiar with the EOC’s operations said the total that went to PMA clients ran into the “tens of millions of dollars.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Murtha has received $2.38 million in campaign contributions from PMA and its clients over the past 10 years.

“Welcome to the ‘earmark factory,’” said a person familiar with the EOC’s internal operations.

Insty noted Some Democratic spokespeople are saying that earmarks don’t matter because the amount of money is small compared to the total budget. If that’s true, then outright bribes wouldn’t matter, either, because there’s not all that much difference . . . .
Yesterday, I think on Hannity(listen occasionally) some Evil Party mouthpiece, I think Beckel, was noting exactly that: "It's only a small part of the bill so why get upset about it?" How about BECAUSE IT'S OUR MONEY YOU'RE WASTING, YOU BASTARD! Real easy to be careless with other people's money, isn't it?

He also made the statement that 'health care is a right' and needed to be socialized. Hannity asked where in the Constitution or any of the founding documents it said that it's a right, and Beckel replied "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. So, according to the Evil Party and the socialists, those seven words mean that you have a right to have to government rob other people to pay your doctor bills. Kind of like the Interstate Commerce Clause means the feds can regulate ANYTHING in their view; all for our own good, of course.

Rat bastards.

Those wonderful Saudi enforcers of the

religion of peace:
A 75-year-old widow has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison in Saudi Arabia for mingling with two young men who were reportedly bringing her bread.
...
The two men, including one who was Mrs Sawadi's late husband's nephew, were also found guilty and sentenced to prison terms and lashes.

The elderly woman met the two 24-year-old men last April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported.

The men - identified by Al-Watan as the nephew, Fahd al-Anzi, and his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein - went to Mrs Sawadi's home in the city of al-Chamil, north of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. After delivering the bread, the two men were arrested by a one of the religious police, Al-Watan reported.
Just frikkin' wonderful.

The creation of the AC130,

thanks to Blackfive:
...but we think it went something like this in 1967:

Drunk engineer 1: So...dude...let's take a cargo plane and trick it out with every weapon we can find!

Drunk engineer 2: I don't know man...a cargo plane?

Drunk engineer 1: Come on!

Drunk engineer 2: Well...can we add a 25mm gatling gun and a 40mm cannon?

Drunk engineer 1: Shit yeah, man! We can even add a 105mm Howitzer cannon!

Drunk enginner 2: Really? Well in that case - I'm in!

Theo had a piece about what sons teach you,

including
1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq.... ft. house 4 inches deep.

2! .) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
and other interesting things. Sent it to a friend, and she contributed these:

Do not pull down on handles on walls in public buildings. The fire alarm is very loud and little boys can not out-run the sound.

Boys who love splashing in puddles will seek out water. When Mom says to get out of the pond/lake/creek or river, the little boy will immediately find the hole or drop off, going in over his head and necessitating a rescue. (This has happened twice; once in a pond and once in a river. Luckily I was only a few yards away.)

Little boys should not be left in parked cars when the motor is running, even for thirty seconds. They can put the car into drive. Yes, Grandmas can run fast enough to catch up and stop the car before it reaches the fence.

I'll throw in, "They can't remember being told to pick up the damned toys, but they can remember every one of your special words for fixing the car."

Question: Does Pres. B. Cartman Obama just not pay attention

to the problems with nominees, or did he think he could just shove them through anyway?
...The allegations against Freeman included claims that he was insensitive to the cause of Tibetan independence, having described Tibetan independence efforts as “race riots.” He described “Israeli violence against Palestinians” as the barrier to peace in the Middle East without acknowledging Palestinian violence against Israelis. Freeman’s stance on these issues may come as no surprise given that he was part of an institute that was funded by Saudi money and sat on the board of a Chinese state-owned oil company.
Including this marvelous comment he made:
For myself, I side on this — if not on numerous other issues — with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans’ “Bonus Army” or a “student uprising” on behalf of “the goddess of democracy” should expect to be displaced with despatch from the ground they occupy. I cannot conceive of any American government behaving with the ill-conceived restraint that the Zhao Ziyang administration did in China, allowing students to occupy zones that are the equivalent of the Washington National Mall and Times Square, combined. while shutting down much of the Chinese government’s normal operations. I thus share the hope of the majority in China that no Chinese government will repeat the mistakes of Zhao Ziyang’s dilatory tactics of appeasement in dealing with domestic protesters in China.

Wow. That's just... amazing. And Obama, with all the stuff hanging off this guy, thought he could be run through with no big problem. Like all the tax-cheats and other assorted dirtbags he wanted in high position.

So did he just think his powers could loft them through the process anyway, or did he and his staff just not pay attention?

Back to the subject of insulting allies,

these are some of the people President B. Cartman Obama wants to use a bargaining chip with the Soviet bastardsRussians:
WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's army is changing its tactics in Afghanistan -- going on the offense in military operations in view of more likely attacks on coalition forces, Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said.

Klich, who is paying a visit to Afghanistan, said that Poland's likely involvement in offensive military operations in Afghanistan is linked to the forthcoming presidential elections there and the end of winter, a time when rebel attacks are hindered. Intensification of U.S. operations in neighbouring provinces is another reason.

"Taking this into account we decided to change our tactics in Afghanistan and cooperate as closely as possible with U.S. troops," Poland's defence minister said.
I remember reading that the Polics specops people who were involved in the invasion and after were considered first-class people, very nice to have on your side; nice to know they're still carrying their end. Now if we could get the other NATO 'allied' governments to let their troops do the same...

Man reads headline "Madam arrested for keeping a disorderly house";

Wife says "They arrested Pelosi?"
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly requested military aircraft to shuttle her and her colleagues and family around the country, according to a new report from a conservative watchdog group.

Representatives for Judicial Watch, which obtained e-mails and other documents from a Freedom of Information request, said the correspondence shows Pelosi has abused the system in place to accommodate congressional leaders and treated the Air Force as her "personal airline."

Pelosi's office disputed the claim, pointing to White House policy enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks allowing for the House speaker to travel to his or her congressional district via military aircraft whenever possible for security reasons. Her office said she typically uses the same kind of aircraft used by her predecessor, Dennis Hastert.
One of the important things here: 'whenever possible'. That's not supposed to include "I want an airplane and I want it now!"
In one e-mail, aide Kay King complained to the military that they had not made available any aircraft the House speaker wanted for Memorial Day recess.

"It is my understanding there are NO G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable ... The Speaker will want to know where the planes are," King wrote.

In another, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King wrote: "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset Speaker."
And if that last isn't a threat, what is it? Please note, not "Is there a flight we can get on?" or "Is there a plane available?", but "The Speaker wants a G5!"

Most Ethical Congress EVAH!!!

Gee, there are bad things hidden in the Rob Your Grandkids

Spending Bill? Damn, ain't that something?
Some issues that inflamed Democrats in previous years have yet to even register, including the proposal in Obama's budget plan to "means-test" the Medicare drug benefit as a way to pay for health-care reform. Doling out entitlement benefits based on income has long been anathema to most Democrats.
I will, for now, pass on commenting on the 'entitlement' crap; the important thing here is this was being snuck in without even most Evil Party members being aware of it.

Menendez knew that his hard-line approach to Cuba was a minority view within his party, and that it was at odds with Obama's approach. But he did not expect to discover a significant policy change embedded in the text on an appropriations bill. His policy aides came across the language when the legislation was posted on a congressional Web site.

"The process by which these changes have been forced upon this body is so deeply offensive to me, and so deeply undemocratic, that it puts the omnibus appropriations package in jeopardy, in spite of all the other tremendously important funding that this bill would provide," the enraged son of Cuban immigrants said last week on the Senate floor. Menendez even slapped a hold on a pair of Obama nominees to draw attention to the issue.
Well, something should put that piece of crap in jeopardy, before it ruins us all.

Yeah, well, I'd like to trace my ancestry back to Conan,

but that don't make it so.
The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.
Very conveniently passing over all those monarchies and dictatorships and socialist 'people's republics' that watered the ground with blood for centuries*... Guess what, bozos? Our republic IS older than your somewhat free governments. Which are becoming steadily less free as your socialist governments keep moving toward fascism.

As to Clinton?
Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering was effusive in his praise, saying that with the new administration, the United States and Europe once again "share the same values."

"What you said mostly could have been said by a European," he told Clinton after she fielded questions ranging from climate change to energy security and aid to Africa and one on gay rights from a participant wearing an "I love Hillary" t-shirt.
Snork. Snuffle. "...said by a European" Personally I find that to be something of damning with faint praise, if not a flat-out insult. I don't doubt Hillary Clinton shares your socialist('progressive' if you prefer) viewpoint; you should get along famously, but don't expect the same from an awful lot of us.

*Yes, Greece began democracy; hasn't been a straight shot for it all these years.

No wonder President The Obama didn't want Churchill

looking at him:
"There is no such thing as a good tax."

"Some see private enterprise as a predatory target to be shot, others as a cow to be milked, but few are those who see it as a sturdy horse pulling the wagon."

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

"We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy."

"You ask, What is our policy? I will say; “It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.” You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory—victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival".

And on to the borders and illegal aliens

and the damage they're doing:
But in a case of mistaken identity, Jose Perez ended up dead. The intended target — the Houston-based head of a Mexican drug cartel cell pumping millions of dollars of cocaine into the city — walked away.

Perez, 27, was just a working guy, out getting dinner late on a Friday with his wife and young children at Chilos, a seafood restaurant on the Gulf Freeway.
...
“It is here and it has been here, but people don’t want to listen,” Rick Moreno, a Houston police homicide investigator working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI, said of the cartels’ presence in Houston. "It is so far-reaching>"

Washington is taking notice, even if the toll on U.S. streets is nowhere near as pervasive as in Mexico, where cartels are locked in a war against one another and with the government.
A: A lot of us have been taking notice of this kind of garbage for years.
B: DC 'taking notice' has all too often been of the 'amnesty for illegals' variety. Except when they can use it as a club to whack at the 2nd Amendment(see 'illegal US guns to Mexico bullcrap).

“International drug trafficking organizations pose a sustained, serious threat to the safety and security of our communities,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said. “We can provide our communities the safety and the security that they deserve only by confronting these dangerous cartels head-on without reservation,” he said.
Well, isn't that nice. You know, AG Holder, it might help if there were a bit more control over the borders; you know, a fence or something? Or is that too simple-minded an idea to suit you?

And on another corrupt politician, Rep. Barney Frank

(Stealing Your Grandkid's Piggybank Bastard-MA), the Nuclear guy pointed to this:
In 1991, Barney Frank received an official reprimand for reflecting "discredit upon the House." The reprimand came as a result of his relationship with a man named Steve Gobi, a male prostitute whom Frank initially paid $80 for sex. Frank later took Gobi to live with him in his home, making him a personal aide. He paid him $20,000 in compensation (unreported to the IRS) and let him use his car. Subsequent investigation revealed that in the course of their relationship, Frank used his congressional office and stationary to fix Gobi's 33 parking fines. Frank also used his congressional letterhead to write a reference letter to Gobi's probation officer -- Gobi was under court supervision as a convicted felon with a prison record -- in which he gave false information. Most damningly, the investigation found that Gobi ran a prostitution ring from Frank's home. In his defense, Frank asserted he knew nothing of Gobi's illicit enterprise.
...
After Gobi, Barney Frank become involved in another questionable -- and possibly criminally tainted -- relationship with a man called Herb Moses. Moses, whom Frank called his "spouse," was a high-level executive at Fannie Mae from 1991 until 1998. Dubbed a "mortgage guru" by the National Mortgage News, Moses boasted that he helped develop "many of Fannie Mae's affordable housing and home improvement lending programs." It was, of course, these kinds of programs that ultimately led to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that wiped out trillions dollars from the economy and produced the economic turmoil that we now face. Even though there were those warning against the precarious nature of the enterprise, Barney Frank -- whose committee oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- kept resisting reforms and besmirching those voicing concerns.
Etc. Etc. Etc. Let us note that this man considered a 'civil rights hawk' has never met a gun/ammo ban, licensing scheme or other restriction he didn't vote for.

And you morons in MA put him back in the House. Immediately after the mortgage market mess blew up, with his fingerprints all over it.

An absolutely prime example of an arrogant politician

who figures he can get away with anything: Rep. Charles Rangel(Tax cheat- Evil Party-NY)
Charlie Rangel’s message for Jason - and for all you bothersome taxpayers wondering about his shady rental property deals, publicly-subsidized Cadillac, and unpaid taxes:

“Why don’t you mind your goddamned business?”
Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're a corrupt politician who's screwing our lives around? You want to force us to obey laws you ignore? Which means it IS our damned business, you miserable bastard?

In case anybody wonders why people like me make statements like "C'mon, just one little meteor into DC, please..."

You really need to read this

It is a rare person who does not attach some sort of value or emotion to some physical object or to an event. A home becomes more than a building. A statue of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix, a flag or a song, or even a photograph can stir emotions greater than the value of the material item.

I have a piece of paper showing I served in the military until I was discharged honorably. But, oh, the memories that piece of paper conjures up. The friends, the fun times. The bad times. The times when we were bound closer to strangers than to our own families and, in frightening chaos, our lives hung by a thread.

Many of our friends died far from home. Ask us about the feeling of "American soil" upon returning to the land we loved. Ask those returning soldiers about America.

Remember the old, faintly humorous band of American Legionnaires, wearing out-dated military uniforms straining at the buttons. But, God how proudly they marched. Grinning, waving to friends and families, and always, always "The Flag!" Ask them if the flag is mere cloth, I dare you.

See the elderly lady sitting in a lawn chair watching the fourth of July parade. Three flags carefully folded some forty years ago into triangles now rest in her lap - one for each lost son. Ask her if those flags are mere cloth, I dare you.

Look at the old man quietly crying, leaning against the Iwo Jiima Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. As he turns to you, smiles with some embarrassment, and says in a choked whisper, "I was there." Ask him, "Is it just metal and clay?" Ask him. I dare you.

The Wall. My God, the Wall. See the young man lightly tracing the name of his father there inscribed. Ask him if its just rock. Ask him. I dare you.
...
Metal and wood were the means by which we won our freedom.

Metal and wood were the means by which we kept our freedom.

Metal and wood may be the means by which we regain our freedom.

Metal and wood are the final power of the people. Take away the metal and wood and the people become powerless - they can only beg, they supplicate for favors.

Read it all. And I wish I could remember where I found the link, so I could thank whoever pointed it out.

There is not enough time

Medieval Fair is first weekend of April, so I was going to get a couple of things done toward that the last couple of days.

Yesterday? Squat. By the time took care of all that needed doing, it was too late to mess with the stuff. 'Doing' included oil & filter on the truck, air filter, and new plugs. Which required a trip back to the shop because the parts guy gave me the wrong plugs. The numbers have changed from what was originally on this vehicle, so that didn't tell me; but when I pulled the first plug and looked at the new one... just not right. So back to the shop in a wind that had already given me a headache, then home, then the plugs.

Today, went to the store this morning and as I returned realized I needed to clean the drain channels on the carport. They're covered, and not only do leaves and such get caught, but the damned sparrows like to squeeze in and build nests there. And before doing that I needed to prune one of the hollies.

The house has two big holly trees(they're as tall as the house, they ain't bushes) and one was overhanging the port. So ladder and clippers and gloves, get that trimmed and remove what had fallen over the winter, then get to opening the cleanout holes I'd made and hooking all the accumulated leaves, dirt, old nests and such out, then use one of the gutter blaster hose attachments to wash them out. After that was done, clean up the mess, and the driveway, and now it's 7 pm; and I still need to put some crap away.

That's not counting, by the way, phone calls I have to make from work tomorrow in my spare time(I laugh) to take care of some papers I got in the mail a couple of days ago. Assuming there's time to.

Blah. Sometimes I work harder(differently, more physical stuff) on my days off than I do at work. And I don't plan it that way.

New stock market & investing terms

CEO - Chief Embezzlement Officer
CFO - Corporate Fraud Officer
BULL MARKET - A random market movement causing an investor to mistake
himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET - A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the
wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING - The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO - The percentage of investors wetting themselves as the
market keeps crashing.
BROKER - What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR - Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST - Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT - When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally
between them.
FINANCIAL PLANNER - A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION - The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW - The movement your money makes as it disappears down the
toilet.
YAHOO - What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS - What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @
$240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR - Past year investor who's now locked in nuthouse.
PROFIT - An archaic word no longer in use.

Here's somebody and a case that deserves support

Basically a retired Marine was legally carrying a pistol while attending Western Oregon University. He was suspended for a year for exercising his rights and "In addition to his unlawful discipline, WOU humiliated the 30 year old, veteran Marine by mandating that he receive psychiatric evaluation and write a ten page paper on civil obedience before his readmission into the university."

I regret to say that Gullyborg sent me something on this a few days back, and in the middle of some stuff I lost track of it.

And yeah, I hope they sue the ass off the school and the people involved.

One of the reasons for questioning the 'guns smuggled from the US

to Mexico' bullcrap is, very simply, if a dealer were selling piles of firearms to straw man buyers here, and they were being smuggled into Mexico and used by the drug gangs, why wasn't ATF and the FBI nailing the dealers? I mean, they seem to have no problem screwing with people because a customer- gasp!horror!!- abbreviated a city or street name on a form, so why wouldn't they loudly and publicly go after the dealers?

The reporter clearly discussed the difference between automatic weapons and the semiautomatics that Holder wants to ban. Lou Dobbs says that the Mexican government won't provide the serial numbers of guns supposedly smuggled in from the U.S.--which suggests that they were actually obtained from the Mexican Army.
Indeed. If they were being smuggled from the US from those non-existent dealers selling select-fire weapons and RPGs over the counter, why would they not provide the serial numbers? Why, because the claim is a pile of crap, that's why.

"This system is broken."

No bleep?
After two homicide victims were sent to funeral homes as natural deaths within two years, Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin on Monday called the system for investigating unattended home deaths “broken.”

“Everyone is deferring to someone else,” he said. “Somebody is going to have to take responsibility so this doesn’t happen again.”

Last month a 49-year-old man died and was sent to a funeral home as a natural death despite having three bullet holes, including two in his head.

In September 2007, a 77-year-old woman was sent to a funeral home as a natural death even though her jaw was broken and her throat slashed.
Years ago, I remember dad saying that they weren't allowed to say someone was 'dead' over the radio even if their head was over here and their body over there; "You're not a doctor, so you can't pronounce that!" That in no way prevented them from taking note of things like, oh, knife or bullet wounds.

Jackson County’s medical examiner, Mary Dudley, would not speak specifically about the two cases while addressing the Jackson County Legislature on Monday.

She said police and paramedics perform an “initial investigation” and police call to report the situation to her office. If the death is reported as natural, her office declines jurisdiction.

“We would not have to go to the scene,” she said, adding that if her office had to send investigators to every natural death, she would need to triple her staff and boost her budget by millions of dollars.

County Legislator James Tindall called the recent misclassified deaths “a real slipup” but not the fault of the medical examiner’s office. He said the fault lay with “whoever responded.”
However,
Police and MAST officials later Monday told a Kansas City Star reporter they did not agree with Dudley’s description of the process and did not accept Tindall’s blame.

Police said patrol officers are not experts in determining causes of death, have limited training in such matters and aren’t in a position to disrobe, move and inspect bodies.

“Our officers did nothing wrong,” Corwin said. “They followed a broken system that needs to be fixed. I’m not going to let them be thrown under the bus for something that’s been going on for years.”
Snork. How much training does it take to decide that multiple gunshot wounds in the head, or stabs and a cut throat, just might indicate a crime was committed?
White said paramedics are trained to treat each death as a possible crime scene and to limit their contact with the victim. Paramedics then turn the scene over to a patrol officer, who calls a homicide detective.

The detective usually asks the patrol officer several questions, including whether there were signs of forced entry, whether anything appeared missing or in disarray, and when the victim was last seen alive.

If the patrol officer doesn’t suspect foul play, the detective logs the call and the patrol officer calls the medical examiner.

Missouri statutes say the medical examiner “shall make a determination if further investigation is necessary, based on information provided.”

Ain't it just wonderful? Makes you wonder how many other possible homicides were never investigated because the PD provides 'limited training in such matters'?

Thanks to Clayton Cramer for taking note of this.

Ah, some academics have given their blessing to National ID Cards,

because our opposition, in their view, is due to ...the sources of hostility to National ID Cards in common law countries. It traces that hostility in the United States to a romantic vision of free movement and in England to an equally romantic vision of the 'rights of Englishmen'.

'Romantic vision'. Ideals that people fought and died for, ideals that people in other countries have died trying to establish, and died trying to get here to be part of and enjoy, are 'romantic visions'.

Any wonder why 'academics' has become used as an insult by so many people?

D for "I shall deal with you as you deserve!"

Couple of nights ago saw part of V for Vengeance. Last night took daughter to dinner and on the way said about the movie "We've got a lot of people pissed at the politicians and the government, but we don't have Guy Fawkes; who would people wear a mask of?"

Daughter thought a moment, then said "Andrew Jackson."

"Yeah..."

"I started to say one of the founders, but they probably wouldn't blow up Congress with them inside."

"But Jackson just might."

"Yeah."

A Historical Pride Parade with a whole lot of people dressed as President Andrew Jackson. Possibly carrying torches. In someplace other than DC I'd say swords and pistols, but the Jackson masks and general sentiment would probably cause enough pants wetting; even dull swords and unloaded flintlocks would have Schumer and Frank & Co. running for cameras as fast as their full diapers would let them to warn of the 'terrorists and bigots threatening the government', etc. Which, actually, might be worth watching.

Since the time change started the day bad,

let's take a bad-tempered look at two of the people who've A: helped create the financial mess we're in and B: want their hands on your money and mine to 'fix' it by screwing things up even more.

First up, Sen. Chris Countrywide Irish Cottage Dodd:
It takes considerable political skill for a U.S. senator to win a presidential pardon for a friend without the traditional review by the Justice Department. Sen. Christopher Dodd moved the furtive levers of power in 2001 for Edward R. Downe, convicted of tax and securities fraud eight years before. A man will do a lot for a former real estate partner.

It was reported here two weeks ago that Downe's real estate development partner, William "Bucky" Kessinger of Kansas City, Mo., purchased a 1,700-square-foot home in Ireland with Dodd in 1994 for $160,000. Downe's name appeared on the transfer document filed in the Irish Land Registry as the witness to Kessinger's signature. Kessinger owned two-thirds of the property, Dodd one-third.

Dodd's spokesman told The Courant in 2001 that the senator and Downe, who pleaded guilty to insider trading in 1993, had been friends for many years. No one mentioned that Dodd and Downe together purchased a condominium in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Dodd bought Downe's share 3 1/2 years later.
And so on.
Dodd was never required to name Kessinger (on Senate disclosures) as the co-owner of their house on 10 acres of waterfront property on the west coast of Ireland for the eight years they owned it together. As with the condominium, the public doesn't know who paid the expenses associated with it when Kessinger owned two-thirds of it.
...
In 2002, long into a historic Irish property value boom and the year after Dodd got Downe pardoned, Kessinger sold Dodd his share in the lair for only $15,000 more than the $107,000 he'd paid in 1994. Two years after the bubble exploded, homes smaller than Dodd's and on smaller pieces of property than his are on the market for several times the maximum $250,000 Dodd has declared his is worth each year on his Senate disclosure formssince 2002.

Waterfront properties on the "Irish Riviera" don't often come on the market. In today's dire real estate market, a 750-square-foot, two-bedroom townhouse in nearby Roundstone is for sale for $750,000. A 900-square foot, three-bedroom semi-detached house, boasting of a view of Inishnee, the island where Dodd's house stands high above Bertaghboy Bay, is offered for $700,000.
...
A presidential pardon is a rare possession, especially when the man pardoned, Downe, still owed millions to the Securities and Exchange Commission for his violations.

Rarer still, however, is the real estate developer, like Kessinger, who appears to have left hundreds of thousands of dollars in appreciated value on the table for his minority-share partner. Dodd appears to have latched onto one — and, on paper, has turned a profit like the Wall Street pirates he once loved but now disdains.
Let us note, he now 'disdains' because he needs to blame them for the mess and is desperately trying to cover up/wash off his own handprints(lot more than fingerprints there, folks).

And now to the other, Rep. Barney Fannie Mae Frank:
“We’re going to have a hearing with the attorney general, and the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank regulators, the representatives of the state attorneys general and the state securities administrators, and we have a question that they are being asked now – what are your plans to prosecute those people whose irresponsible and in some cases criminal actions help bring about this crisis that will be both criminal and civil?”
Awww, doesn't that sound inspiring? It might, except
Would that include your ex-boyfriend, Herb Moses, who was an Executive at Fannie Mae. You gonna slap the cuffs on him? Again, I mean.

And will you be investigating your role in the crisis, Elmer Fudd? After all, Elmer Fudd was Congress’s most stalwart opponent against reform and oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s dubious loan operations, the very ones that led to the current economic crisis.

* According to an article in the Oct. 8, 2003, Washington Post, Frank opposed giving the Bush administration the right to approve or disapprove business activities that “could pose risk to the taxpayers.”
* He told The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2003, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s problems were “exaggerated.” “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” Elmer Fudd wanted to make sure loan decisions were based on politics, not sound economics a gross miscalculation some five years later with costs in the hundreds of billions.
* According a front page story in the Sept. 19, 2008, Investor’s Business Daily, Elmer Fudd has received $40,100 in campaign cash from Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac.

I was listening to somebody on Friday, may have been Rush, who said "I do not know how Dodd and Frank can look at themselves in a mirror, I really don't."

Read these bits and see what you think of how The Obama

is handling things:
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
...
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama's inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to "even fake an interest in foreign policy".
...
The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." The apparent lack of attention to detail by the Obama administration is indicative of what many believe to be Mr Obama's determination to do too much too quickly.

So he's surprised at the amount of stuff the President has to deal with, can't even 'fake an interest' in foreign policy(!!!), and has staff who seem quite willing to crap on allies.

Just bloody wonderful.

See newspaper do dumbass thing; see newspaper

protest action taken; see publisher prove he's an asshat:
"I don't want to step on the First Amendment, but this situation is more sensitive than turning loose someone's name and address," Stewart said. "It comes attached with a handgun."

But Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times, defended the newspaper's move, noting that someone's address can also be found through a variety of means, like voter registration and property tax records.
Hey, leveritt, YOU CAN'T FIND OUT THAT SOMEONE HAS A CARRY PERMIT THROUGH THEIR VOTER CARD, OR TAX RECORDS. And you know it, you cretinous dirtbag.

"All we did was permit the public to access public records and be able to search names to see if there was someone that they needed to be concerned about," Leveritt said.
'Someone that they needed to be concerned about', thus lumping permit holders with child molesters and armed robbers and newspaper publishers and other such scumbags.

But Leveritt emphasized that it's also in the public interest to ensure that dangerous people aren't granted concealed-carry permits.
"The most important thing is to keep these permits from falling into the hands of convicted felons," Leveritt said. "And if that is what you want to do, there is nothing worse that you could do than to hide the names of the people with these permits."
Well, gee, I thought that permit process with the fingerprints and photos and background investigation was supposed to do something about that. I mean, since a convicted felon can't buy, own, possess or use firearms, that kind of disqualifies them from getting a permit(see 'fingerprints' and 'background investigation' above, jackass).

"...nothing worse that you could do..." I can think of worse things. Like you publishing that list because you either
Want to screw over the people with permits,
Want publicity even if you have to screw people over to get it,
Or you're a friggin' carbuncle on the ass of mankind.
Probably all three.

Colt Model M

more commonly known as the Pocket Hammerless. It was primarily made in .32acp, but was also produced for a few years in .380. It- and the cartridges- are more of the creations of John Moses Browning(pbuh), and it shows.

A friend picked this up a while back, and today was the day to try it out. I'd never fired one before and wasn't sure what to expect of it. Well, I expected the sights; like all pocket pistols of the time(and a lot of holster guns) they consist of a tiny front blade and a rear with a tiny slot. In dim light, unless you have perfect eyes, they're useless; at the range today, with low lighting, the front would've been invisible without the dab of orange paint the owner had applied. Controls consist of a safety lever on the left side of the frame, a grip safety that pivots at the bottom, and a mag release located on the grip heel. The latter holds an 8-round single-stack magazine.

It's called 'hammerless', but like a lot of pistols that just means the hammer is internal so it can't snag on a pocket or purse when you need it in a hurry.

I was surprised at how well it shot; clean, light trigger and a design that pointed very well. As evidence, this target shot at about 12 feet(someday I'll put a tape measure in the bag). I'll add a picture of the target later; for now let's just say I was very impressed with it. Even with the lousy sights, it points so well it was easy to place them nicely together. Recoil was almost non-existent, fast repeat shots easy.

When it came time to clean it, here's where more of the wonder of Browning's design becomes obvious. See this arrow and line at the bottom right?(couldn't zoom enough for a better image)

After you drop the mag and clear the action, you pull the slide back so the line is right at- in this case just inside- the front of the frame and turn the barrel counter-clockwise until it stops, then the whole upper slides off the frame.

Turn the barrel back to original position and it pulls out of the slide. That's it. The owner tells me all you need to detail strip it is something to push some pins out; the only screw in it is the one holding the grips.

Another friend has one in .380 he picked up a few years back in lousy condition and restored; it's his carry pistol. Now I know why.

I'm further convinced that JMB was a real genius of design. I'm also convinced of something about this remake of the beast; C&S fed some steroids to make them big and chambered them in .45acp; and I want one. Except with better sights.

Ok, James has a range day with one here, too.

Ok, that didn't take too long; here's the target
The silhouette is about 2' tall. That cluster in & around the 'X' is four magazines, 32 rounds. There are three on-around the upper '8' that were aimed, the others around it were hip-shots; yes, I'm out of practice on that.

One more lecture from a more nuanced, smarter

'conservative':
Boy, this is getting awfully tiresome, and I'm sorry to see someone of Prof. Hanson's caliber descend into this kind of rhetoric. What is it supposed to mean to describe conservatives who have a beef with Limbaugh's views or rhetoric as "highbrow"? Are the opinions illegitimate or mistaken because they supposedly come from a vantage point of cultural sophistication? Even if that were true, which I doubt, since when do conservatives look down on sophistication itself? Since Joe the Plumber became the Whittaker Chambers of the Mongoloid* Right?

Mr. Crunchy Jackass, got news for you; it's not about someone 'having a beef with Limbaugh's views'; it's about people like you crapping on conservatives who actually believe in conservatism but didn't go to the 'right' schools, etc. And then bitch about us Mongoloids calling you on the bullshit.

Insult, incidentally, Hanson didn't intend, as the professor is obviously quite a bit more highbrow than the blogger Dreher. It is simply a descriptive term, intended to neither slander nor flatter. Dreher obviously considers himself among the cultural vanguard; Hanson is merely attempting to explain to Mr. Sophisticate what it is that his analysis misses; but Mr. Sophisticate needs no instruction on this whatsoever for, while lowbrows obviously need the guidance of highbrows, ultra-accomplished blogger elites like Dreher can learn nothing at all from the lowbrows. Their input unnecessary, as they're fucking retards anyway.
etc.

Mr. Dreher, go have intercourse with yourself.

A prize-winning description of The Obama's speechifying

skills:
Obama is a master at political karaoke.

May well have been said before, but I like it.

I also have to note, apparently 'being good friends and allies' doesn't entail having to actually, y'know, think about what you give to a foreign leader:
As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.

Because all he got was a set of DVDs. Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country, gave the Prime Minister a box set of 25 classic American films - a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.

Well, he hadn't given any real thought or effort to what he brought, after all...

The Prime Minister gave Mr Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

Mr Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

In addition, Mr Brown and his wife showered gifts on the Obama children giving Sasha and Malia an outfit each from Topshop and six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America.

In return, the Obamas gave the Browns two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John.

One of the side effects of celebrity often seems to be

idiocy. And sometimes flat hatred:
I think rockets are being fired by your own sources, since less than ten israelis have been killed by them. You are bullshitting the world as you pocket money made from arms sales, along with bibi and your agents in Hamas. step down all men in power!
Jewtherism, Ace called it. Think she'll get the same attention for this crap that Mel Gibson got?

Sean Penn is out spreading his form of brainless idiocy and bigotrytruth to power, Val Kilmer said soldiers in Vietnam were a bunch of fools and retards, and how many other 'celebrities' have distinguished themselves with similar statements?

As a balancing point to the above, the Ohio officials who used their offices to try to find dirt on Joe Wurzelbacher are being sued:
COLUMBUS, Ohio - "Joe the Plumber" is suing three former state officials in Ohio, saying they violated his privacy when they gathered his personal information in a records search.
Depending on just what databases were searched, let alone what was done with the information, if I'm not mistaken laws were broken; are we going to see prosecutions for that? I hope so.
j

As the man says, it's flat amazing some of these people remember

to breathe:
During the 3:00PM EST hour of MSNBC news coverage, anchor Norah O’Donnell discovered the source of sexism in the Middle East was not Islamic fundamentalism, but rather, capitalism: "And to another big story, is oil behind sexism in the Middle East? It's a provocative new theory out there today, suggesting the real culprit of the lower status of women in the Middle East is because of the region's oil wealth."

O’Donnell then turned to Sally Quinn of the Washington, who wrote about the theory on the newspaper’s On Faith blog: "This is a hot topic, Sally. Do you believe that oil is behind sexism in the Middle East?" Quinn replied: "Well, I do think that it has a lot to do with it...when you have an oil-rich country, there's much less manufacturing, so that there are fewer jobs for women. But also because the country is so rich that women don't need to work and therefore they're comfortable and they stay home."
Yes, let's ignore that in places like Saudi women aren't allowed to drive, aren't allowed to work, aren't allowed etc., under penalty of being beaten, that a womans value is actually set at half or less that of a man... no, none of that matters, it's all because of the money, you see.

Just damn.

A morning collection, before I throw up and go out to do something

to take my mind off things.

Gee, people are pissed at being robbed to pay off the unions, so they don't buy that product; who could have foreseen such a thing?(not to mention that whole "I may get laid off because every time The One opens his mouth the economy drops more, so why spend money?" thing)

What the EPA is doing to the natural gas industry, and wants to do to us all, pointed out by Kevin. Remember The Obama saying 'electricity prices will skyrocket'? This is his PLAN, people; he wants it to happen, and if nothing else will use the EPA- far too many employees of which are willing minions- to cause it.

And I'm still waiting for the administration to suggest something to deal with the problems in AZ being caused by drug cartels and illegal aliens. And you know damn well that if it's happening there, it's happening in other border states; just not so much. At least as yet.

Well, well, tell people that the harder they work the more they'll be punished for it, and they work less. Sur-prise, sur-prise!
A Lafayette, La. Attorney told the reporter she was cutting back on her business to avoid the tax threshhold: “Why kill yourself working if you’re going to give it all away to people who aren’t working as hard? Tax hikes have consequences. Incentives matter. Only self-deluded wealth redistributors living in la-la-land believe otherwise.

Speaking of incompetence and/or desire to screw things up:
“We don’t believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don’t think that’s good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country,” Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing on the White House’s proposed budget for the 2010 spending year.

The Obama administration’s budget would levy an excise tax on oil and natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, raising $5.3 billion in revenue from 2011 to 2019.
Either these clowns do not understand that you can't replace that oil and gas with friggin' windmills and solar panels, or they don't care. And, by the way, that's not figuring in the screaming and lawsuits from the enviroweenies when you try to take over 'x' square miles to cover with solar panels and windfarms. And that '$5.3 billion in revenue'? YOU WILL BE THE ONE PAYING IT. Because the companies cannot simply pay that out of their pocket; they'll go out of business, which means no oil and gas from the Gulf, and if you think energy problems have been seen before...

Yeesh. Assuming the wind doesn't blow me off a roof or ladder, I've got some limbs to try to cut, see you later.

I think that while various people are noting that Obama

may have intentionally worked to screw the economy, there's two things: Insty notes the old saying 'Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence', but here we may well have a twofer: Obama being both malicious AND incompetent. And I think that's it; he wants the economy screwed so as to give government a bigger hold over people, combined with, in many ways, not really knowing what he's doing.

Like a lot of people pointed out during the election, he's a thin-skinned marxist who basically has no experience at anything except playing with words and running for office; in the latter running over anyone who got in his way, including people who'd helped him earlier. Which also explains the 'Whack Rush' program; some of the people involved just hate Rush and want the Evil Party in power forever, but Obama seems to look on being criticized as lese majeste; "How dare he criticize me? How dare he reveal things about me? He must be destroyed!". And, as has also been pointed out, how would the media act if it had been the Bush administration working with major media people to cause this kind of trouble for a broadcaster or reporter? They'd have had fits and demanded investigations, various Evil Party members would give speeches calling for investigations and prosecutions(if they could figure an excuse for them) and so forth. But media people working with Obama & Co. to try to ruin somebody? Not a peep heard from those high-minded members of journalism. Because it's somebody they think of as on their side who's doing this; so much for journalistic integrity.


(title corrected: originally "I thought out that while..." I need to think and scan before hitting 'publish' in the mornings)

I'd forgotten the Gospel

of JMB:
1 In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain."

2 "And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."

Apparently there is some debate about some parts of the Gospel:
^a Several old manuscripts add the following text. "And they [also rendered as "these men"] didst chamber it for cartridges who's calibers startith with numbers less than the Holy Number 4. And lo the Lord did cause great grief amongst these men when their enemies who were struck in battle with these lesser numbers didst not fall but did continue to cause great harm."

If you've got a Thompson-Center, or any other powerful handgun,

the VPC says you're a threat to the police; and, in keeping with proper PSH, they've christened them 'vest busters':
“Big Boomers” - Handguns with rifle power capable of penetrating body armor—are growing threat to lives of law enforcement officers, according to new VPC study.

Drug traffickers are already using these “vest-busters” to kill police in Mexico
No proof, of course; just that these guns are scary and ought to be banned.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure the drug cartel people are skipping the AKs and M16s and FNs so they can pack a six-shot revolver or long-barreled single-shot pistol.

And please note the picture at the start: a Browning High Power; I guess it must be the Ultra-Big 9mm version.

Well, looks like Detroit needs to change the name to

Bigot Central:
Speakers advocating for the deal were taunted by the crowd and cut short by Council President Monica Conyers, who presided over the hearing like an angry bulldog; whites were advised by the citizens to, "Go home."

Opponents were allowed to rant and ramble on uninterrupted about "those people" who want to steal Detroit's assets and profit from the city's labors.

A pitiful Teamster official who practically crawled to the table on his knees expressing profuse respect for this disrespectful body was battered by both the crowd and the council.

When he dared suggest that an improved Cobo Center would create more good-paying jobs for union workers, Conyers reminded him, "Those workers look like you; they don't look like me."
Wow, I didn't know all the union members in Detroit were white; how'd that happen?

Take a look at the picture at the top; talks about the usual suspects...

Thanks to Sondra for pointing this out.

You know, it wouldn't surprise me if the Evil Party tried to use the UN

to do the dirty work on a 'fairness doctrine'; they think the UN is wonderful, and look what it thinks of free speech:
...Having briefly offered lip service to the rights of free expression, it goes on to say that “the exercise of these rights carries with it special duties and responsibilities and may therefore be subject to limitations as are provided for by law and are necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others, protection of national security or of public order, public health or morals and respect for religions and beliefs.”
Now, we know what 'religion and belief' this is aimed at, as Hitchens says: Watch what you say, because our declared intention is to criminalize opinions that differ with the one true faith. Let nobody say that they have not been warned. But take a look at that laundry list; it's like the law the Evil Party wants to pass saying an assault weapon is pretty much whatever the AG decides, and for the same reason: they want to be able to ban anything and everything they choose. In this case, "Saying that is bad for public order/health/security/the reputation of said corrupt politician in our opinion; shut up or go to jail."

Remember, these are the people Obama & Co. would love to give oversight of this country to.

On old stuff coming out of the closet

Literally.

A while back I had a couple of comments from people about some of the older firearms I’d posted on, basically “I’ve got dad’s/grandpa’s old rifle and it needs this, how can I fix it/where find parts?” and such. A few years ago, the fact that a lot of people decided to take the old family piece out of the closet and clean it up and use it helped lead to a lot of old cartridges becoming more available(demand = market = somebody deciding to fill the need); now a lot of people are fixing up an old piece that’s been around for years; gee, I wonder why? Which has often led to “Damn, this cleaned up nice! And it shoots really well!”, which are wonderful things to hear.

There was a guy at the gun show this weekend when I went back on Sunday with something interesting. I happened to wander by an ammo table as the guy was showing a cylinder to the dealer and they were trying to figure out what fit it. I stopped and asked, then looked it over; five-shot chambered for .38S&W. Dealer’s face lit up, “That’s it!”, then fell as he didn’t have any of it. I asked what the cylinder was from, and the guy pulled out the rest of a Hopkins & Allen revolver. Interesting thing: instead of top-break, or a swing-out cylinder, the barrel/topstrap turns to unlock from the frame and slides forward, and you pull the cylinder off the pivot pin to load/unload. Beautiful brown patina, no rust, what may have been a few light pits in the bore(but may well have disappeared with a good cleaning), his father had had it for nobody knew how long, and it had been wrapped up in the closet for many years. He’d decided, in the current situation, to find out what it used and try to buy some. Now, this was a guy who had no real knowledge of firearms or ammo, had to explain the difference not only between .38 Special and .38S&W, but why, even though it would fit in the chamber, it would be a BAD idea to stick some 9mm in and pull the trigger; but the current situation caused him to decide to dig this piece out and find out what to feed it.

There’s been a lot of that the last few years, and I don’t think it’ll stop. And once somebody tries out that old piece, it often makes them think of getting maybe a pistol to go with it, or a scattergun… Wonderful how that works.

Two things: first, on the rumor of the State Department

banning some ammo and firearm imports/exports; the day I heard of this I called my Rep.(Fallin) and Senator(Inhofe) to see if they'd heard about it. The lady at Fallin's office was remarkably unenthusiastic about taking a message. The man who answered at Inhofe's office transferred me to the aide who 'takes are of the 2nd Amendment work'; voicemail, and I left a message.

A few minutes ago I got a call with a DC area code, which I almost didn't answer(I don't personally know anyone in DC); I did answer and it was the aide from Inhofes' office; did I have any further information? She said they'd been checking around and can't find anything official about this, and did I know of any specific mentions from a .gov office? I said no, I'd just read about it that day and wondered if they knew of such; she said no, but they're still looking to see if can find anything hard. Nice to know they're actually checking on this.

Second, a bit more on the shortages:
While back I’d got hold of some of the plated bullets for a cartridge Dad was loading, and he really liked them for practice ammo. So he decided to order some more, and called the company. They very happily took the order, but warned “We’ve been really busy, so it may take anywhere from a a few days to a couple of weeks to ship them. If it's going to be more than a few days, we'll call and let you know.”

So not just regular jacketed bullets in reloading supplies and primers, pretty much every kind of bullet. And molds; looked through Midway a while back, and kind of amazing how many bullet molds show ‘out of stock’.

Maybe I should pick up some more wheelweights…

Oh, I love all three of these

"The lie is, if we would just surrender more of our Second Amendment, Mexican drug cartels wouldn't be able to get the guns they use to terrorize that country. The idea that criminals of any nationality obey gun bans. They're criminals! . . . The proud people of Mexico need their gun rights back. They need their own meaningful Second Amendment to protect their homes, their lives, and their families."

(I'm fascinated by the Obama administration's mentality that the fact that violent Mexican drug cartels are raising hell just over the border doesn't justify additional border security or a fence, but it does justify making it harder for American citizens to own a gun.)

Another LaPierre line: "I don't care if it makes their butts pucker from here to the Potomac, the Founding Fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules."

Another resemblance to Jimmy Carter

Obama's faith in words is, I believe, a function of his life experiences. His faciility with words, both oral and written, is extraordinary -- and it accounts almost entirely for his astonishing success in life. Obama has never run anything substantial other than a political campaign, so he has not yet confronted the limits of his words. He has dabbled in lawyering, where words can take on a disproportionate significance, and in teaching law, where words are the be-all and end-all.
Somebody referred to Carter a few years ago as the first 'process President'; he's one of those people who seem to think that as long as the process is correct(in his view) then it doesn't really matter what the outcome is. Or that the outcome will, eventually, be what he wants because he had the right process.*

Obama's faith in his words, and use of them, seems directly related: "If I say the right words the right way, the PFM** will occur and all will be well and the Rainbow Unicorn will crap $20 gold pieces on Firehand's front porch in the morning." And now he's running into the fact that his words(especially when he doesn't have a teleprompter to prop him up) just don't make the world change rotational speed; in fact, they seem to be causing the anally-produced organic matter to strike the air movement device. And he either doesn't believe it, or can't understand why, or doesn't care.(and let's not forget his faith in- and counting on- symbols)

*Which reminded me of a friend who thought he was one of our finest Presidents because 'he signed all those international agreements'. Didn't seem to matter that the Soviets and the Norks were breaking them while signing; the fact that the agreements were signed seemed to outweigh everything.

*Pure Effing Magic.

It appears that Michael Steele may not be simply sucking up

to the entertainers and libs; he may be an actual friggin' moron.
Limbaugh is an “entertainer,” Steele scoffed — on a CNN political show hosted by a comedian, I might note.
Which we all know, he doesn't exactly make a secret of it, you idiot. And this is the winner:
One more thing: When liberals sit there and accuse the GOP convention of looking like “Nazi Germany,” you might not want to sit there, nodding your head, and respond, “I agree.”

Update: With a hat tip to John Hawkins, I re-listened to the exchange. It’s even worse than I noted. After Hughley rants about “Nazi Germany,” Steele says…”You’re right.”
This is just effing amazing; the head of the Stupid Party National Committee agreeing that a bunch of conservatives 'look like Nazis'.

Mr. Steele, you just demonstrated one of the reasons the Stupid Party has that name, and why it's been tanking. And let me point something out: many of those people you insulted probably grew up in a family with one or more members who spent some years of their life dealing with the Nazi problem, some very personally; may well have heard some stories from those family memebers about what they went through; people who have themselves served or who have family in the military; they do not like being called Nazis. Especially by a east-coast jackass who's supposed to be head of the R party.

The NRA is still whipping boy for a bunch of liberal GFWs even when

it don't actually do anything.
There was no official call to arms, nothing on the NRA website, no alerts floating around. Just speculation among Democrats and Republicans that the NRA would make a procedural vote on legislation that would give the District of Columbia a voting member of Congress a “test vote.”

That means that if centrist Democrats voted with their leadership, they could lose their prized “A-ratings” from the NRA, which many consider essential to keeping their jobs in rural, Southern and Western districts.
So the D.C. Voting Rights Act was pulled from consideration for Wednesday. Aides stressed that negotiations are continuing and it could be brought back soon.
which led to garbage like this:
“The D.C. vote bill needs to pass,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), a Blue Dog gun-rights supporter who sits on the House Rules Committee. “I would have concerns about any group who would tell us how to run our House.”
Well, Mr. Cardoza, screw you. Fearing that somebody might rate something you do isn't telling you how to run 'your House', as you put it; you apparently just don't like the idea of attention being called to what you do. And by they way, it's not 'your' House, you arrogant bastard, it's OURS.

And
“Members are reacting in knee-jerk fashion to the NRA,” Norton said. “This is Democratic members doing something to kill a basic civil rights bill.”
Snork. Bozos are trying to completely ignore the Constitution they swore to protect and uphold, and try to cover up by calling it a 'basic civil rights bill'. Basic bullshit by crooked politicians trying to slant the House would be the more correct description.

But that got complicated when word spread in the House that the NRA would “score” the procedural vote (called a “rule”) used to bring up the Voting Rights Act if it didn’t allow for a vote on the gun language. That means that voting to bring the bill to the floor would be considered a vote against gun rights.
Translation from the politicians' bullcrap-speak: "What?!? They'll actually hold us responsible for how we vote on this? Those bastards!"

I've been ticked at the NRA many times over the years, but the fact is the organization does good work on a bunch of points. And the fact that so many politicians get so nervous that the NRA 'might' rank them on this vote is a Good Thing.

The number one reason I've come to think term limits should be passed

Dodd, whose father also represented Connecticut in Congress, came to Washington in 1974 as part of the reform-minded, post-Watergate class.
This clown has been in DC for 34 years. He thinks that office belongs to him. And plays games like this:
Just 18 months ago, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd slowed efforts to hike taxes on a portion of Wall Street bonuses, saying he was “concerned about the potential adverse effects” on investment and employment.

Now, as unemployment rises and credit markets freeze, Dodd is hunting for Wall Street blood.
Etc.

This from Countrywide Dodd, who thinks getting a different mortgage now makes up for the sweetheart deals he got from a company he had a hand in regulating. Who's still trying to make that just go away. And there's other things, like his Irish 'cottage':
As Rennie outlines, Dodd became part owner of the 10-acre Galway property in 1994 along with Missouri businessman William Kessinger, whom Dodd knew through investor Edward R. Downe Jnr, who had pleaded guilty the previous year to insider trading charges. The mortgage was listed as "between $100,001 and $250,000". Downe was a witness to Kessinger's purchase.

In 2001, Dodd circumvented the US Justice Department to help get his pal Downe a full pardon on President Bill Clinton's last day in office. The following year, Dodd bought off Kessinger's two-thirds share of the "cottage" for, Dodd said, $127,000.

Ever since then, Dodd has continued to list the value of the property as "between $100,001 and $250,000".
Wow, such a deal, huh? But no increase in value?
The nearby village of Roundstone is a celebrity hangout. When he's there, the Sunday Times reported in 2007, he's likely to "rub shoulders with [RTE's] Pat Kenny, Bill Whelan of Riverdance, Lochlann Quinn, the former AIB chairman, and the singer Brian Kennedy".

Given the Irish property boom, a conservative estimate would be that the house would be worth approaching $1 million, and very possibly much more than that.

So why hasn't Dodd declared a more realistic true value of the property? No doubt he didn't want to highlight the fact that he had a third splendid pile, to go along with his residences in DC and Connecticut, as he sought the presidency (remember how all those homes harmed John McCain?). Maybe he knew it would mean further scrutiny of his connection with the pardoned crook Downe.

Even those who go there clean, and stay year after year, too many become corrupted; far too many are already corrupted by the time they get there. Two Senate, three House terms max. Period. Get them the hell out before they get too tied into "I'll vote the way you want if you put me on that committee" and "Help me deal with this problem and get reelected and I'll help you with that".

And actually turn the Justice Department loose on Dodd. Stop screwing with chemotherapy patients smoking grass, stop screwing with FFL holders for bullcrap like abbreviating a state or city name on a form, and go after the corrupt politicians and their crooked associates. Would make a world of difference.

As has been said, no wonder so many high-ranking Democrats

don't mind shoving through tax increases; since they don't plan to pay them.
Mr. Kirk has agreed to pay almost $10,000 in additional taxes for, among other things, wrongly deducting $17,000 for season tickets to the NBA Dallas Mavericks and wrongly taking charitable deductions for contributions of honoraria from speaking fees from Austin College even though he had not included the honoraria in his income.
And, like the dirtbags saying "Well, I'll take how much money I was given by a lobbyist and give it to charity(now that I've been caught)" is supposed to make having been bought no problem, he 'agrees' to pay ten grand and that's supposed to make it right.

And Insty had this, apparently Playboy is playing games for the Evil Party(big surprise). A key point:
3) The accusation against Santelli is potentially libelous, which is, I assume, why the article disappeared this morning. If I were Santelli, I'd sue. Aside from the fact that I have absolutely no reason to question Santelli's sincerity, I find it pretty hard to believe that any private group would be willing to front enough money to make it worth a television correspondent's while to risk all his future salary payments.
Amazing what some people seem willing to do to crap on anyone who stands against The Obama's Reign, isn't it?

Why I think the founders made a mistake in not putting term limits in the Constitution:
In some ways, Visclosky’s story tells a generic tale of corruption that apply to more than a few of our elected Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill. He sits on the most powerful committee, Appropriations, which lays out the budget for the entire federal government. His vote on budgetary matters has much more influence on spending than others, which allows Visclosky to champion or kill projects at whim — and donors know it. That makes Visclosky the same as every other member of Appropriations, including the Republicans.
If the bastards who either start crooked or turn once they're in office were not able to stay there so damn long, they wouldn't be able to corrupt things so badly.

Yeah. Wonderful start to the day.

A pistol postal match is up

at Mr. Completely.

One of the reasons I stopped calling myself a Stupid Party

member a long time ago:
In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele’s criticism made him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host, and prompted a furious counter-assault by Limbaugh on his show Monday afternoon in which he told the locquacious RNC chair to pipe down and recognize that he's not a "talking head media star."
This was a really dumb thing to do, on multiple levels. The most basic was that it's a further demonstration of why the Stupid Party brass have tended to go more toward the Moron Party level: a lot of the conservative base doesn't worship Rush; they do like a lot of what he says, and feel he does a good job of articulating what they think on a number of things. And, as a bonus, he causes a lot of lefties to virtually blow their eyeballs out in outrage on a regular basis. Steele just proved that he's more worried about sucking up to various media and DC people than he is speaking for the people the R party used to depend on(and started losing big when they started pissing on those people).

I'd argue that what I heard today wasn't a 'furious counter-assault'; it was more along the lines of "Dumbass, you just proved you're just one more inside-the-beltway politician who cares more for what the flying monkeys there think than you do for what this party is supposed to be about."

“The feud between radio host Rush Limbaugh and Rahm Emanuel makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington. RNC Chairman Michael Steele and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats’ problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by Congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi.”
I don't think there's a 'feud'; Emanuel is a nasty, vicious socialist bastard who hates Rush with a passion; Rush considers him a carbuncle on the ass of this country who's trying to cause blood poisoning. And that line about 'focused on fighting for reform' would mean more if you didn't have some Stupid Party members betraying that to suck up pork and suck up to Pelosi & Co.

It says Steele told POLITICO he moved to stop the feud Monday afternoon with a phone call to Limbaugh. Which basically means Steele decided after the fact that he might have said a stupid thing and wanted to head off being called on it. Which didn't work. I think it's another symptom of someone steeped in the DC culture of 'make a deal, even if you have to give up what you used to value to do it'; "I'll say nasty things about you, then call you to apologize and you'll say it's ok; isn't that a good way to do it?" No, Mr. Steele, it's not; it's chickenshit.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.” You meant no offense? Bullcrap; you don't call someone and their show 'ugly' when you mean 'no offense'.
Asked if he planned to apologize, Steele said: “I wasn’t trying to offend anybody. So, yeah, if he’s offended, I’d say: Look, I’m not in the business of hurting people’s feelings here. … My job is to try to bring us all together.”
Hell of a way to 'bring people together', dumbass. I think a lot of the 'paint Rush as the face of the Stupid Party' crap from Evil Party minions is simple; they know he actually does speak for a lot of people, and it's part of a way to put pressure on Stupid Party politicians: "If you want to be part of the cool kids, you won't want to hang around with him." And a disgusting number of them are worried enough about being part of the in-crowd who gets invited to the parties with the 'right people', they'll basically betray the people back home in order to get the invites; and the jerks don't like it when someone calls them on it, especially on a very widely-heard radio show.

My, my, my, look at all the fingers in this

pie:
Senators Chris Dodd (Chairman, Senate Banking Committee, $27,500), Bill Nelson ($45,900), John McCain ($28,150), and even President Barack Obama ($4,600, but $31,750 firmwide) have all announced that they will be donating the money that Stanford gave them to charity. On the House side, Representative Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and who sponsored legislation that limited IRS audits in the Caribbean – where Stanford was having $100 million IRS back-taxes problems — said he would be donating the $10,800 he received to charity.
Gee, limiting audits in the Caribbean... isn't that where a lot of Rangel's tax-dodging occurred? Hmmm, sucking up to Stanford and limiting future damage for himself; there's a twofer!

And they're donating the money somewhere, aww, ain't that nice? As Insty put it, And as I’ve mentioned before, returning the money doesn’t mean you weren’t in bed with them, it’s just laundering the sheets, after. And these crooked bastards seem to do a lot of laundry.

Awright, you dumbasses like me who pay

your bills on time, and bought a house you could afford: we've got our orders to shut up.
For many months now, I have been writing about how the national mortgage crisis has affected at-risk borrowers like myself. Lured in by devious plus-size lenders like Linda Mustaine, with their promises of low interest ARMs and free Igloo coolers, millions of us were tricked into purchasing houses we obviously could not afford. Worse, when the market turned south, we faced the nightmarish prospect of being relocated to homes that we arguably could afford.

But through all of it, some of us persevered. We made the hard economic choices. We fought off eviction by keeping Linda Mustaine juiced up with mai tais at Applebee's happy hour. We sheltered our dirtbike assets in Kyle's shed, under a tarp, to stave off the repo men. We spent countless hours applying for the credit cards that would see us through. We made the wise economic decision to stop paying our stupid mortgages -- because we calculated that when the rainy day came, Washington would come to its senses and clear up the tab.
Etc. It would be far more funny if it didn't seem to actually sum up the way an awful lot of people are thinking.

So this is what passes for critical thought and intelligent 'concern'

at our universities:
On October 3, 2008, Wahlberg and two other classmates prepared to give an oral presentation for a Communication 140 class that was required to discuss a “relevant issue in the media”. Wahlberg and his group chose to discuss school violence due to recent events such as the Virginia Tech shootings that occurred in 2007.

Shortly after his professor, Paula Anderson, filed a complaint with the CCSU Police against her student. During the presentation Wahlberg made the point that if students were permitted to conceal carry guns on campus, the violence could have been stopped earlier in many of these cases. He also touched on the controversial idea of free gun zones on college campuses.
Ain't it wonderful?
They told Wahlberg that they had received a complaint from his professor that his presentation was making students feel “scared and uncomfortable”.

“I was a bit nervous when I walked into the police station,” Wahlberg said, “but I felt a general sense of disbelief once the officer actually began to list the firearms registered in my name. I was never worried however, because as a law-abiding gun owner, I have a thorough understanding of state gun laws as well as unwavering safety practices.”
He should have been scared. Or at least worried; an awful lot of people have had their lives screwed up by professors and university brass and LE people pushing an agenda. And it doesn't do much good to be cleared in the end after the damage has been done.
Professor Anderson refused to comment directly on the situation and deferred further comment.
Anybody surprised by that?
“It is also my responsibility as a teacher to protect the well being of our students, and the campus community at all times,” she wrote in a statement submitted to The Recorder. “As such, when deemed necessary because of any perceived risks, I seek guidance and consultation from the Chair of my Department, the Dean and any relevant University officials.”
Apparently 'anything that's non-PC and/or makes me and the other boobs wet our pants' threatens the 'well being' of the student body. 'Perceived risks' my ass; one of her students refused to be a nice little drone so she sicced the cops on him for, let's have that quote from the police again, "...his presentation was making students feel “scared and uncomfortable.” ".

I wonder how much these students are being robbed of to pay for this education?

Less than four years, victory declared and the troops are leaving

New Orleans:
Three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard is pulling the last of its troops out of New Orleans this weekend, leaving behind a city still desperate and dangerous.

Residents long distrustful of the city’s police force are worried they will have to fend for themselves.

“I don’t know if crime will go up after these guys leave. But I know a lot more of us will be packing our own pieces now to make sure we’re protected,” said Calvin Stewart, owner of a restaurant and store.
I don't blame him; if I lived there I'd have had a gun in my pocket, and something more substantial within reach at all times.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said his rebuilt police department is up to the job of protecting the city. "I think we're ready to handle things," he said.
Show of hands: considering his past record, how many people trust what Riley says? That's what I thought.
"We don't have enough cops. It's not that they're bad, it's just that there's not enough of them. These guys are Johnny-on-the-spot when you need them," said 57-year-old Tom Hightower, who is still trying to get the mold out of his house. He added: "This is still a spooky place after dark."
Which brings us back to 'something substantial within reach'.

My daughter's planning a trip to NO later this year. She has a friend down there who's been briefing the "This area is pretty safe, and don't you DARE go beyond this street or into this area" situation. No, I'm not overly fond of her going down there, but she's smart enough to pay attention to the warnings and to what's going on around her. Don't you just love it that this place, here in the US, after a natural disaster had to beg for NG troops because the city authorities couldn't take care of the place? A city that still hasn't returned a lot of stolen guns(stolen by the city, let us not forget) to their owners because, after said natural disaster, the owners can't produce paperwork the city demands? Just bloody wonderful, isn't it?