I'm going to start with that possible poisoning case

at Fort Jackson: this just incites all kinds of confidence, doesn't it?


Oh, crap, that last one... and I just ate!


Well, on this I have to wonder: will the Labour Party hacks who swooned over Obama be even more shocked at him crapping on Britain? Or will this fit into their 'Britain must become no more than an EU cog' plans?
What, they expected better out of him?


The Brits have had a bunch of troops injured and killed because of equipment problems(not enough, issued crap); to me one of the key parts of this story isn't the vehicle, it's this:
SAS soldiers were given no instruction on using metal detectors during pre-deployment training and went without them for four months in Helmand because of an equipment shortage, the inquest in Trowbridge, Wilts was told.

Asked what they used instead Soldier O replied: “We visually scanned the ground.” He also added that they picked up training “on the job”.
That is just friggin' disgusting.

I have to add my applause for Major Morley; I fully understand the reluctance of a good officer to resign, but if you can't do anything else to get attention to the problem, it's an option.


The Southern Poverty BullshitLaw Center keeps it up; and Mr. Vanderboegh tells Mother Jones they're full of crap. Or deluded. Maybe both.


"Get accused, be stuck on the list forever 'cause we're too effing stupid to figure out how to take you off. Even after the court orders us to." The people in Californicated really are- well, fornicated.


Ok, that's enough for one morning. Got a project to work on.

So, besides general "We've got to take care of a member of the club" bullcrap,

Rangel was also buying goodwill from other politicians. And it seems it worked, up till now. Really still is; he got his hand slapped, and that's it; we'll see if these clowns decide they should start acting like they actually care about ethics and all that crap.

Or, in the case of Pelosi for instance, pretending she cares about ethics; she's helped- insisted on- keeping his corrupt ass in that position for a long time, but he's just getting too much press now(wonder if Gore foresaw things like this when he invented the innertubes?) for her to keep insisting, no matter how much help he is.

The other day the FBI announced "This is the guilty party" in the anthrax attacks

Kevin posted on the announcement, and then got some information from a commenter that pointed to this article at the WSJ; said article seeming to blow the FBI case up.

Interestinger and interestinger...

Little earlier I was thinking "Damn, less than a month to tornado season"

and I just read this:
For the first time ever recorded by NOAA, there has been no tornadoes in February. This news is from the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, the world’s leading experts in tornado research. While it doesn’t tell us anything about the rest of the 2010 season, it is consistent with the lower numbers seen in 2009, which is below the average of recent years.

Especially with things like the May 3, 1999 tornado in memory, fewer of them is generally to be considered a Good Thing; if it's a matter of trading them for blizzards... have to think about that.

Ref the post earlier on Dr. Jones lying,

here, I just ran across this at Watts Up, a statement from the Institute of Physics on Climaquiddick. Remember Jones'
And he claimed it was not 'standard practice' to release data and computer models so other scientists could check and challenge research.
statement? Point 2 of the IOP statement:
2. The CRU e-mails as published on the internet provide prima facie evidence of determined and co-ordinated refusals to comply with honourable scientific traditions and freedom of information law. The principle that scientists should be willing to expose their ideas and results to independent testing and replication by others, which requires the open exchange of data, procedures and materials, is vital. The lack of compliance has been confirmed by the findings of the Information Commissioner. This extends well beyond the CRU itself – most of the e-mails were exchanged with researchers in a number of other international institutions who are also involved in the formulation of the IPCC’s conclusions on climate change.
I repeat: Mr. Jones, you're a liar.

And I have to also borrow point 7:
7. Fundamentally, we consider it should be inappropriate for the verification of the integrity of the scientific process to depend on appeals to Freedom of Information legislation. Nevertheless, the right to such appeals has been shown to be necessary. The e-mails illustrate the possibility of networks of like-minded researchers effectively excluding newcomers. Requiring data to be electronically accessible to all, at the time of publication, would remove this possibility.
Translation: "The peer review process does not work when the system is gamed to prevent people with different views from being heard."

Remember the screwed-up SWAT raid where they shot the mayor's dogs?

And still say it was the right thing to do?
As a result of this colossal yet not-unprecedented screw-up, plus Calvo's notoriety and persistence, last year Maryland became the first state in the country to make every one of its police departments issue a report on how often and for what purpose they use their SWAT teams. The first reports from the legislation are in, and the results are disturbing.

Over the last six months of 2009, SWAT teams were deployed 804 times in the state of Maryland, or about 4.5 times per day. In Prince George's County alone, with its 850,000 residents, a SWAT team was deployed about once per day. According to a Baltimore Sun analysis, 94 percent of the state's SWAT deployments were used to serve search or arrest warrants, leaving just 6 percent in response to the kinds of barricades, bank robberies, hostage takings, and emergency situations for which SWAT teams were originally intended.

Worse even than those dreary numbers is the fact that more than half of the county’s SWAT deployments were for misdemeanors and nonserious felonies. That means more than 100 times last year Prince George’s County brought state-sanctioned violence to confront people suspected of nonviolent crimes.

And- as usual- the cops in the area don't like this law, and really don't like the idea of not being allowed to use SWAT teams in the case of misdemeanor offenses. Considering the crap that's come out about Sheriff Michael Jackson- who ought to be thrown out of that office and forever banned from wearing a badge- and some of the other idiocy, that's the least of the restrictions that should be implemented.

So the Brooklyn DA is corrupt;

wonderful law enforcement you have there, folks.
Today it was announced that ACORN will not face prosecution in Brooklyn.

“On Sept. 15, 2009, my office began an investigation into possible criminality on the part of three ACORN employees,” Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said in a one-paragraph statement issued Monday afternoon.

Should anyone be surprised? The Brooklyn DA is a member of the ACORN/Working Families Party. That means he signed their pledge, and worked for their endorsement.

Just saying.

Further information on the Chile quake

Including why the tsunami turned out to be not nearly as bad as feared.
Tim Henstock of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton, UK, speculates that the reason might be that Saturday's earthquake ruptured a relatively small segment of fault – around 350 kilometres. The length of fault rupture determines the distance at which a tsunami begins to lose energy. By comparison, the magnitude-9.1 earthquake that generated the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami ruptured around 1600 kilometres of fault.
I'd wondered about that; I remembered the 2004 quake had shifted a huge length of fault, and wondered if this one might have been a shorter distance, or possibly more a lateral shift than vertical. Looks like it was a much shorter distance.

I'll note, somebody mentioned that Chile has pretty good building standards due to the quake threat; that there's only about 700 confirmed dead at this point would indicate their standards work pretty well.

If you're in Oklahoma City, remember that today you get to vote for a new mayor,

or sit there and be part of leaving Cornett in office.

Why yes, I am voting against him

In defending himself, Phil Jones has just declared himself a liar

Last month, the Information Commissioner ruled the CRU had broken Freedom of Information rules by refusing to hand over raw data.

But yesterday Professor Jones - in his first public appearance since the scandal broke - denied manipulating the figures.

Looking pale and clasping his shaking hands in front of him, he told MPs: 'I have obviously written some pretty awful emails.'

He admitted withholding data about global temperatures but said the information was publicly available from American websites.

And he claimed it was not 'standard practice' to release data and computer models so other scientists could check and challenge research.

'I don't think there is anything in those emails that really supports any view that I, or the CRU, have been trying to pervert the peer review process in any way,' he said.
A: Getting data from other sources is NOT the same as getting what Jones & Co. used, so it can be reviewed.
B: Not standard practice? Since when, you corrupt bastard? That's one of THE standards of the scientific method.
C: In those e-mails you and your friends are talking about HOW to damage other people who dare to question, how to prevent them being published in peer-review publications; how the HELL are those things not perverting the process?

Jones, by your own words you have shown yourself a liar and a dirtbag of the first order; your hands ought to be shaking from the guilt you carry and the weight of the lies.

'Green' fuels have a problem?

Really?
Using fossil fuel in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times.

The findings show that the Department for Transport’s target for raising the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations. The study, likely to force a review of the target, concludes that some of the most commonly-used biofuel crops fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission.

This doesn't really surprise anyone who looked at this stuff with non-Believer eyes; it's like the question about electric cars, "Where's the greater generating capacity going to come from?" that a lot of people don't like. However, there's a bit in this story that makes me think of the Climaquiddick mess, in that there's money involved- quite a bit- in not telling the truth:
The EC has conducted its own research, but is refusing to publish the results. A leaked internal memo from the EC’s agriculture directorate reveals its concern that Europe’s entire biofuels industry, which receives almost £3 billion a year in subsidies, would be jeopardised if indirect changes in land use were included in sustainability standards. A senior official added to the memo in handwriting: “An unguided use of ILUC [indirect land use change] would kill biofuels in the EU.”
So, they're deliberately holding back information- facts- because they would endanger an industry that they WANT to keep giving billions of dollars of other peoples' money to, because the industry in question is PC and beloved of the True Believers. And to keep that money flowing, they'll do shit that actually harms the cause of AGW that they claim to truly believe in.

LOTS of lampposts in Europe, aren't there? Enough for all the crooked bureaucrats?

India has a boomer

India’s first nuclear submarine, ‘INS Arihant’, has gone to the high-seas for an extended trial, indicating that the boomer is on course to be inducted by the Navy by 2011.

And I love the quote Ghost ends with:
May your weapons be strong to drive away the attackers,
may your arms be powerful enough to check the foes,
let your army be glorious, not the evil-doer.
- Rig Veda 1-39:2

Well, it's basic,

but I kind of like it

I wonder how Obama would like it if this crap was being pushed on his kids?

At the same time, despite the runaway federal spending and record budget deficits, Barack Obama is including $410 million in the 2011 budget for his “safe schools” czar Kevin Jennings. This is an increase of $45 million over last year’s budget. Obviously, some things are more important than others. These funds ought to buy a whole mess of fisting kits, leather bar guides and child porn books. And, the money will come in handy for the sexual indoctrination of teens and pre-teens.
Citizen Link Blog reported:

So want does Jennings intend to do with this money?

For starters, he says he’s going to make “school climate” measurement a top priority—and, in fact, he’d love for “school climate” to eventually be made part of the “Common Core” national standards movement! He plans to begin with “a new grant program coming out of this department where we’ll be providing possibly as much as $70 million for investments in school climate projects.” (He revealed all this and much more in this month’s Phi Delta Kappan magazine. Scroll down to the “Safe at School” title.)

So at this point, you might be wondering, What on earth does “school climate” really mean? I think it’s best to take that definition from Kevin Jennings–based on his record as the longtime founder and leader of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network).

Under Jennings’ leadership, GLSEN has provided students with a “school climate” continuum measurement tool. This tool reveals a lot about Jennings’ true goals: A positively rated “inclusive school,” for instance, is defined as one where “LGBT themes are fully integrated into curricula across a variety of subject areas and grade levels.”

Chavez: he actually cares for the people! And he shows it by plotting murder

of the heads of other countries.
The Chavez government assisted Marxist FARC and ETA terrorist groups in a plot to murder popular Columbian President Alvaro Uribe.

The BBC reported:

A Spanish judge has accused the Venezuelan government of assisting two rebel groups which plotted to kill Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe.

Judge Eloy Velasco charged six members of Basque separatist group Eta and seven members of Colombian rebel group Farc with various offences.

He said he believed Farc had asked for Eta’s help in a plot to kill Colombian officials in Spain, including Mr Uribe.

He said the two groups benefited from “Venezuelan government co-operation”.

In a 26-page indictment Mr Velasco said an investigation launched in 2008 has turned up evidence “that demonstrates Venezuelan governmental co-operation in the illicit collaboration between Farc and Eta”.

Of course, it's not like murder and working with terrorists is new to him:
Particularly shocking is the commission’s account of the role that violence and murder have played in Mr. Chávez’s concentration of power. The report documents killings of journalists, opposition protesters and farmers; it says that 173 trade union leaders and members were slain between 1997 and 2009 “in the context of trade union violence, with contract killings being the most common method for attacking union leaders.” The report says that in 2008 Venezuela’s human rights ombudsman recorded 134 complaints of arbitrary killings by security forces, 87 allegations of torture and 33 cases of forced disappearance. It also asserts that radical groups allied with Mr. Chávez “are perpetrating acts of violence with the involvement or acquiescence of state agents.”
After all, he's a Hero of the Peoples, like that murdering little shit Che.

Two more things: first, "We can't fly that flag because- well,

we'll come up with a reason."

And the other,
AN INTERNAL German army report has revealed serious deficiencies in the European-designed helicopter that will replace Australia's military helicopter fleet in a $4.2 billion deal.

The damning 103-page report recommends using alternative aircraft whenever possible in military operations.

The report says clearance is so limited in the MRH-90 helicopters that soldiers have trouble getting in and out.

The rear ramp is too weak to support fully equipped soldiers and its floor is so sensitive that it can be cracked by boots.

The report by the German army's Airborne Operations and Air Transport School says the helicopter's limited interior space means there is no room for a defensive machine gunner, or a full infantry unit wearing weapons and armour or a combined troop and cargo load.

And it says heavy infantry weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles, cannot be transported.

I've heard of inventory control problems,

but not on this level:
About 100 modern Russian tanks have been discovered abandoned on the side of a road in the country's Ural mountains, footage published on Saturday by websites showed.

Video clips from the E1.ru website that were rebroadcast on Russian television showed local people clambering over some of the unguarded T-80 tanks that were parked in long rows in Kamishlovsk, about 100 km from the Ural city of Yekaterinburg.


Pointed to by Theo

Monday, cloudy and chilly

and I've got a bunch of limbs to haul around front for the big trash pickup. In the meantime, something amazing has happened: even the New York Effing Times has decided Rep. Charles Rangel(So Corrupt Even They Can't Stand Him-NY) needs to be removed from his chair:
Congressman Charles Rangel was far from humbled after the ethics committee admonished him for taking corporate-paid Caribbean junkets in violation of the House ethics code. Rather, the New York Democrat berated the panel’s leaders on the House floor.

The moment was characteristic of Mr. Rangel’s arrogance throughout the investigation, which continues into more serious allegations about his official behavior. It is one more reason why Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who championed ethics reform — should stop protecting him and relieve him of his crucial role as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
First, they act like Pelosi actually meant it; second, they expected anything else from Rangel? He's been allowed to get away with this crap for so long, it must've really pissed him off to actually be told "You've been naughty." Not that the 'Ethics' Committee is being real consistent now, either:
The affair remains something of a tangled ethics web. All five junketeers were ordered to repay the costs of about $11,800, yet only Mr. Rangel was criticized. And a former counsel to the ethics committee was found to have leaked panel secrets to Carib News charity officials during the inquiry. The committee said “false and misleading” testimony from charity workers would be referred to the Department of Justice.
Yeah, we'll see if Holder actually does anything about that.


V.D. Hanson on Obama fatigue, including
3) Laureate Warmaking: Utopians cannot get away with quadrupling the number of targeted killings in Pakistan and Waziristan against suspected terrorists and their wives. Twangy Texans who believe that we are at “war” against non-uniformed enemy combatants logically order Predators assassinations against what they see as a ruthless, bloodthirsty radical Islamic “enemy” in a “them or us” fight to the finish. But, again, not so Nobel Peace laureates, who want terrorists to be Mirandized, the architects of 9/11 to be tried in civilian courts in New York, and CIA interrogators to be investigated for waterboarding known mass murderers.
Also note is taken of the fact that being considered a 'magnificent speaker' while using a teleprompter for everything hasn't worn well; surprise!


With so many in the major media and the liberals and progressives trying- fairly desperately- to tie Stack to the tea party movement, this has some interesting bits about the past of the liberals and progressives I'd not heard before. For instance,
As Kennedy began [to speak at Kansas State U.], his voice cracked, and those near the stage noticed his hands trembling and his right leg shaking.After praising [Al] Landon’s distinguished career, he said, “I am also glad to come to the home state of another great Kansan, who wrote, ‘If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all their youthful vision and vigor then there is something wrong with our colleges. The more riots that come on college campuses, the better the world for tomorrow.’ ” …

At first he seemed tentative and wooden, stammering and repeating himself, too nervous to punctuate his sentences with gestures. But with each round of applause he became more animated. Soon he was pounding the lectern with his right fist, and shouting out his words.
...
After I had argued that the war was clearly winnable even toward the end if we had changed our strategy, the 1972 presidential candidate who had offered to go to Hanoi on his knees commented, “What you don’t understand is that I didn’t want us to win that war.” Mr. McGovern was not alone. He was part of a small but extremely influential minority who eventually had their way.


Ace points out just how full of crap Al Gore's defense of AGW is; and boy, is that pile starting to stink. I'm just going to go with one of the nuggets:
Similarly, even though climate deniers have speciously argued for several years that there has been no warming in the last decade, scientists confirmed last month that the last 10 years were the hottest decade since modern records have been kept.
Uh, Al? Jones, one of the biggest AGW pushers of all, admitted in an interview a week or so ago that there was no global warming over the last fifteen years; you just forgetting that, or trying to shove it down the memory hole? And, as to your 'more and stronger hurricanes, not so much. As to Jones, "What a difference 20 years makes."


More wonders from Pelosiland: Die for Me and It's bi-partisan even without votes from the other side.


I knew an awful lot of people were signing on in favor of McDonald v. Chicago, but A: hadn't heard of this guy and his reason and B: it's hard to believe he believes this:
Amar told The Wall Street Journal. “The 13th Amendment frees the slaves and there’s no compensation. It’s the biggest redistribution of property in history.” Under this interpretation, the privileges or immunities of citizenship might include the right to health care, to a living wage, or to some other welfare right fancied by today’s progressive activists.
What the Hell? Freeing slaves was 'redistribution of PROPERTY'? Is THAT how 'progressives' see this? If it truly is, then they're even bigger fools than I could have thought.


Liar, liar, progressive pants on fire. Again.


Damn. Go read this, soon as you can. The site's title isn't SFW a lot of places, rest of the site sure isn't, the article is.
Denis Avey, even at the age of 91, cuts a formidable figure. More than 6ft tall, with a severe short back and sides and a piercing glare, he combines the pan-ache of Errol Flynn with the dignity of age. This is the former Desert Rat, who, in 1944, broke into — yes, into — Auschwitz, and he looks exactly as I expected. He removes his monocle for the camera, and one of his pupils slips sideways before realigning. It is a glass eye. I ask him about it. He tells me that in 1944, he cursed an SS officer who was beating a Jew in the camp. He received a blow with a pistol butt and his eye was knocked in.


Other day I left a comment for Daniel Johnson on his 'terrorized by the Constitution' and 'America is the most violent' bull; it appears that Reasoned Discourse did indeed break out. Yesterday it showed 'pending moderator review' but today there's nothing.



And last: Damn. Double damn. I want to see the place.

In our next installment of "Law enforcement: Sorry Excuse For"

we have this crap.

I've come to the conclusion that an awful lot of these clowns in ninja suits- usually with automatic weapons- make Barney Fife look like a goal to strive for; because they don't seem to be able to reach his level of competence.

I guess it's down to "Is there ANYTHING the Brit government

doesn't want to control?" And the answer is 'No'.
Every dog owner will have to take a costly ‘competence test’ to prove they can handle their pets, under new Government proposals designed to curb dangerous dogs.
...
But the document admits the cost of setting up such a scheme to cover Britain’s six million dog owners ‘is likely to be prohibitive’, and would have to be met by either charging for the test or by imposing a dog licence fee. Moreover, the officials concede that there were disagreements over what would constitute competence in looking after and controlling a dog.

Like Codrea says, is this ATF ignorance and/or stupidity, or malice?

A local business owner is flabbergasted after a shipment of 30 toy guns for his store was confiscated by ATF agents in Tacoma.

It gets more flabbergasting:

Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said the toys can be easily retro-fitted into dangerous weapons.

"With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun," Crenshaw said.
Except, among the 'minimal work' needed would be
The WE TTI M4’s lack any sort of functional gas tube which is integral to an AR15’s operation

The upper receiver of an AR15 fits onto the lower of the WE TTI M4
The stock trigger pack in the WE TTI cannot strike the firing pin of a AR15 bolt

The body of the WE TTI lower is several mils thinner than an AR15 lower, and shims would be needed for any AR trigger pack to work

The trigger pack of an AR15 appears to be able to fit onto the lower receiver of a WE TTI M4, one of the AR15 trigger pack retaining pins is impossible to insert without major modification, and the hammer isn’t operable with the WE TTI lower.

So essentially these Airsoft replicas cannot even operate an AR15 trigger pack without heavy modification with a precise tooling system operated by someone who knows the specific measurements to drill and tap the WE TTI lower receiver.

And, getting even better,
It gets better. The business owners victimized by this have been told they need to file a Freedom of Information Act request in order to see the procedures ATF used to determine these toys are readily convertible. And as noted in this YouTube video, ATF's "expert" authority on the matter initially tries to insert a magazine backwards! Seriously!

Mr. Completely has his first postal match for the year

up, info and target here

Y'know, I don't feel terrorized by the Constitution

or the Bill of Rights; maybe that's just a GFW Canadian asshat thing?
Guns in bars. No background checks at gun shows. No permits to carry required. No restrictions on how many guns a person may buy (in some cases now it’s one per month).

What Americans don’t seem to understand is how crazy they look to most of the rest of the world. The reason they don’t understand is because of their one-thought tyranny.

Americans are tyrannized by 1776, The Second Amendment, The Bill of Rights, The Constitution and other colonial-era artifacts. They have been brainwashed into believing that those are the only thoughts there are. This is not freedom. Freedom means having a choice. If they could accept that there are other ways of thinking then they would have a choice! That’s what freedom is about and what many, if not most, Americans don’t understand.

Got news for you, asshat: I've got lots of choices. You just don't like the ones I make. And since it appears you've been deleting comments you don't like, you don't care much for actual argument, do you?

I just left a comment, pointing out that- among other things- your declaration of the US as 'one of the most violent countries' doesn't hold up real well; we'll see if you have the integrity to publish it.

I don't much care for Mitt Romney; there are several reasons

I would not want to see him in the Oval Office. And today someone reminded me of something I'd forgotten from the 2002 Olympics:
Even before September 11 the IOC was concerned that the SLOC might incorporate too much patriotism into the opening ceremony, a criticism levelled by some at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta summer games.

"Around the world it was like, 'Boy, those Americans, always beating their chests,'" said Romney. "This is not our time to talk about how great America is."

Well, Mr. Romney, just when WOULD be a time to talk about how great America is? Did you have some place and time in mind, when such words would not be upsetting to the socialists and nannies and tyrants who rule so much of the world? Or would you prefer we just shut up about such things entirely(except when you're running for office and want to excuse yourself waving a flag)?

There's a nasty little feeling inside when I read those words from Romney. Similar to what I felt when he first defended the personal disarmament laws he pushed when governor, then turned around, joined the NRA and said what a fan of the 2nd he was when running for President; that feeling that we ought to add some carpet tacks to the tar before we apply it and the feathers to him.

Back when the DC was shut down due to snow?

Not everyone.

Pointed to by Linoge

It's unrelated to the current Toyota mess,

or the Audi mess back when, but I do have a car story:
Back when, Dad was one of the people who taught Emergency Vehicle Operation at his agency. When anti-lock brakes came out, overall they seemed to be a pretty good thing. Until.

Imagine this: car with four people in it, two in back, driver, and instructor on the right. Coming into a curve at high speed the driver does it just right: comes in outside, then hits the brake to scrub off speed to make the turn, except that the car didn't slow down. At freakin' all. Happily the driver didn't try to make the turn at that speed, and there was nothing to run into except the plowed field through the fence, so nobody hurt.

First question, of course, was "Are you sure you were on the brake?" Driver said yes, instructor said flatly "YES. I looked, she had the pedal stomped all the way down and the brakes weren't braking." But when they got it back on pavement, they worked fine. So some experiments were done.

The road into that turn was slightly washboardy; not enough to jar your teeth, but enough to feel. It seems that in the speed range they went into the turn at, the tires were coming up enough for the brakes to grab slightly more than when the tires were solidly on the ground, which caused the computer chip in the anti-lock system to think the brakes were locking, so it released the brakes; thus, pedal stomped down with no effect as the car went through the fence.

As I recall, a phone call was made to the manufacturer where some 'customer service' type said "That can't happen." With predictable response, including an offer to glue him to the hood while they demonstrated. Finally got through to an engineer who listed and said "Oh bleep." And it got fixed.

Bleep! If this is accurate,

that's a wave around 130 feet high... I can't get the link to load right now, found it and a bunch of others at Tim Blair.

Damn, an 8.8 in Chile

That's one big, nasty quake.

If Steve Jobs knocked on my door right now,

I'd put him out of everybody's misery.

Friend gave me their old iPod Shuffle, which was nice. Loaded iTunes*, and the damn thing would NOT show any music loaded. Uninstalled, reinstalled, restored, etc. iTunes showed the player connected, all's well, but would NOT put music on it.

Dug around a bit, and found that apparently there's some bug in the versions later than 7 that will not work with the Shuffle. Very effing nice of Apple, isn't it? And from what I can tell, the damned problem has been around a while, Apple just hasn't bothered to fix it.

Yeah, whacking Jobs would make Bill Gates happy; I don't care.


*iEverything my ass

Goodwin Liu, Obama appointee to the 9th Circuit, on the 2nd

Gee, I wonder what else he thinks Congress should be able to do no matter what?

I had a chance to try out a pistol a few days ago,

and if I hadn't already it would have made me understood why Tam & others so like these older firearms: in this case a S&W K-38 Target Masterpiece
The one I fired had much more finish wear; it had been fired a lot over time. Which took nothing away from the accuracy potential and may only have smoothed the action a touch more.

I had some .38 wadcutter loads using Berry's plated double-ended wadcutters, and some using a 162-grain gas-check semi-wadcutter; both shot beautifully. The trigger was a thing of wonder, absolutely clean and with no perceptible movement after the break, and double-action was very smooth. Personally I'd prefer some larger grips, but that's a personal preference not touching on the revolver itself. The way I describe a gun like this is "It even helps ME shoot well." I've still got the last target somewhere; at about ten-twelve yards, six rounds two-handed and six one-handed in a group less than 2" across except for one flyer that opened it up to about 2.5". And for me to put one-handed shots that tight is not real common; excellent sights and that trigger really help.

Yes, I want. Badly.


Now if they can just get that damned 15-22 to work nearly as well....

Interesting stuff across the pond

on the subject of possible elections.

I read the article

Codrea links to, and yeah, this passage is bad:
The bill is also a slap in the face to Wyoming law enforcement. By joining Vermont and Alaska as the only states in the nation to allow conceal-carry without a permit, Wyoming lawmakers would effectively remove the ability of officers to quickly determine if someone who is carrying a weapon is legally entitled to.
It's that phrase 'legally entitled to' that bothers me; it pisses me off that an honest citizen has to jump through a whole set of hoops and pay to be allowed to carry, and it seems to be his concern that nobody should be allowed to without permission from the state. And if you object, well, you don't care about the cops.

Bullcrap.

The fact is that Wyoming residents who meet the reasonable requirements of the state -- including that they have not been convicted of felonies or been adjudicated mentally ill -- have no trouble at all obtaining permits. (The House removed the requirement of proof of firearms training, which Oedekoven said should be restored.)
Uh, guy? If you've got a felony conviction(in some states ANY felony) or are adjudicated mentally ill, it's illegal for you to so much as pick up a gun and look at it, let alone carry it; are you not familiar with this? Or was it just a way to say "See, our restrictions on you are only reasonable? We're only keeping the unworthy from carrying?" Bullcrap that sounds good?

Same attitude in "If we allow just anyone to carry without a permit, criminals will come here!" Oh, please; you don't have laws about robbery and rape and such? You actually think Will they flock to Wyoming to take advantage of the state's looser gun laws? when those laws would mean more of their potential victims would be armed?

Make sure the law notes that if you're drunk or drugged(which you can already be jailed for) it's illegal to carry, make it a rule that when stopped by an officer you have to advise them if you're carrying and simply enforce the laws on anyone acting s illegally. Apparently it'll be a surprise for these folks, but I have a large amount of concern for LE; I've known too many and know just what an often-times miserable job it is. And I get really pissed when it's implied that "If you don't go along with what we say, it means you don't care if cops get killed" line.

Oh, and the reason NRA and other groups helped push so hard for 'shall issue' laws? Because it was the only way to get it through without, I fear I must say, officials like you having the power to prevent someone getting a permit; and in most states the only way to get through the BS and get honest citizens a way to carry for self-defense without winding up in jail. That doesn't mean it should be the end of it; I'd much rather it be "Any honest citizen with no legal matters that would prevent can carry for self-defense, no permit required."

An indictment of the Justice Department and a lot of universities

using the language to play with the law and peoples' lives for what amounts to personal reasons.
In New England, "harassment" has included, within recent times, jokes and ways of telling stories, "experienced by others as harassing" (Bowdoin College); "verbal behavior" that produces "feelings of impotence," "anger," or "disenfranchisement," whether "intentional or unintentional" (Brown University); speech that causes loss of "self-esteem [or] a vague sense of danger" (Colby College); or even "inappropriately directed laughter," "inconsiderate jokes," and "stereotyping" (University of Connecticut). The student code of the University of Vermont demands that its students not only not offend each other, but that they appreciate each other: "Each of us must assume responsibility for becoming educated about racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia/heterosexism, and other forms of oppression so that we may respond to other community members in an understanding and appreciative manner."
(people are paying HOW MUCH a year to put up with this crap?)

Central to this potential movement should be its nonpartisan aims. The abuses described in Three Felonies a Day have been steadily worsening under every administration, Democrat and Republican, since the 1980s. (The current Justice Department shows little hope of reversing course.) While the statute books have expanded, and the statutory language remains hopelessly malleable, every aspect of civil society---doctors, artists, activists, and businessmen, to name a few---has been unfairly targeted. Even the feds' pursuit of supposedly corrupt politicians, almost always met with applause from the press corps and the political opposition, cuts across ideological bounds.
Which once again brings us back to "Are there enough lampposts and trees in DC for the politicians and bureaucrats both?"

While back, heard of the CleanUpATF.org site,

I think at War on Guns; basically a bunch of ATF agents/personnel tired of the bad things and wanting to do something about it. Might be worth your time to take a look, just hit some of the links and see what they have to say.

I have to note that while the way Toyota is being whacked on

by a bunch of Government Motors bigshots is fairly disgusting, Toyota has some crap in the corporate background that makes them not too pleasing, either.

I have to admit to being very pleasantly surprised: a bunch of Stupid Party members

actually stood up to The One and both pissed him off enormously and refuted a lot of the arguments pushing the socialized medicine bill. I'd expected this to be another of the "We must be bipartisan when dealing the the President no matter what he says" displays of caving in; and I'm very happy to say I'm surprised.

Ace noted some of the stacking-the-deck rules Obama came up with to try to control this:
1. Democrats get more time because "I'm the President."

2. Republicans may not criticise my bill. They can only talk about things on which we agree.

3. Republicans may not use the word "Washington" because it tips the scales.

4. Republicans may not use or reference an actual copy of the Senate bill. That's a "prop" and it's unfair.

And add to that 5. We're not in "campaign mode anymore," by which he means McCain cannot mention his dirty dealings.
They didn't let that keep them from making points, and the stuff I've heard has been pretty good. Even better was Obama sitting there looking VERY pissed that "I actually have to listen to these people! I have to let the peasants here them! And I don't like it."

The M&P15-22 is now at S&W,

officially delivered. Now we'll see what happens.

Ok, calm semi-restored, so:

Max Blumenthal is still a nasty little boil on the national anus.


The appropriately named Rep. Anthony Weiner(Two-Faced Dick-NY) sets the tone.


Yeah, Californicated really is screwed.


So it's not just computers being lost and/or stolen:
...Meanwhile, the lost, stolen and damaged report for ICE shows 13 vehicles classified as "lost" or "not found during physical inventory."
...
The ICE inventory shows a loss of approximately 435 computers. Numerous vehicles were sold in which no documentation of the sale could be located. Three computer switchers worth $92,354 each were lost. An "international harvester vehicle truck" valued at $116,349 apparently could not be located during physical inventory.

Neither inventory includes any mention of any kind of munition, armaments, or ammunitions. A recent report by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General showed that DHS and all component agencies lost 289 firearms from fiscal years 2006 to 2008.



A woman who made a false rape charge goes to jail for it; good. Needs to happen every time there's a provably false accusation. Rape is a horrible crime and needs to be punished appropriately; falsely accusing someone of it is also a horrible crime, and needs to be punished appropriately. And note this:
Gonzalez, 27, had recanted her story last year after new DNA evidence proved she'd been lying and a priest to whom she'd confessed urged her to come clean.
followed by
He insisted that Gonzalez suffered horrible abandonment and sexual abuse as a young teen, and has now had "a spiritual awakening."

"She is not the same person as the one who committed this crime at age 22," Callan said.

The lawyer said that at their first meeting, she'd told him, "I don't care what happens to me. You have to get Mr. McCaffrey out of jail."
I wonder, did this awakening happen after she heard about the DNA test results?


I repeat what I said before: if the House and Senate pass this abortion of a 'health care' bill, lots and lots of them need, at the least, an introduction to tar & feathers, and some of them to a rope.


A bit more on the Governor of New York and the mess the New York State Police took part in to cover up what an aide did. It's disgusting to say, but we've come to expect this kind of crap from politicians(which doesn't mean we shouldn't deal with them appropriately), but even more disgusting is the lack of surprise at a law enforcement agency acting like the friggin' Praetorian Guard for said politicians instead of like actual LE officers.


George Lopez, you suck. On multiple levels.

Blargh. Time to go do something constructive.

Cloudy, chilly and windy, and snow expected tonight;

'Yuck' about sums it up. In other news, ran across this the other day on the subject of eminent domain:
A bill that would require agencies to declare unused land surplus after 10 years and offer to resell it to the original owner cleared a House committee Tuesday. House Bill 3053 also would strengthen notification requirements when using eminent domain to seize property.
From what I heard, if the state/county/city seized someone's property under e.d., and didn't use it for ten years, the original owner could buy it back at the same price he was paid for it, and if the government then decides "But we're going to use it now!", they can use e.d. to take it back but have to pay the current market value for the land. Which sounds good to me; if they're going to take land under this power, it needs to be for some use, not just so they have it.


"Yes, we have a lot more money and the schools have improved physically, but, well, test scores still aren't what they should be; maybe we need to work on that." Gee, ya think maybe? This is in the Oklahoma City district, and the article includes such gems as
Nine years ago, when voters approved a $700 million sales tax to renovate or rebuild many of Oklahoma City’s school buildings, a task force also developed a set of recommendations aimed at improving the quality of education that would take place within the buildings.

"We haven’t achieved what we hoped to when this initiative came about in 2001,” said Dave Lopez, chairman of The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools’ board.

The report found the district was "unsatisfactory” or "needed improvement” in 17 areas of improvement that were established in 2001.
...
Among the findings in the report was that the district still needed to improve early learning programs, despite progress that includes 100 percent of students now attending full-day kindergarten.
Uh, maybe all kids don't NEED to be in all-day kindergarten? Huh?
...
The report also noted that 45 curriculum programs are in place throughout the district and that school officials weren’t certain which programs are being used at which schools.

"Many of these programs are important, but there still appears to be an excessively large number — perhaps still subject to the criticism of simply being the ‘flavor of the month,’” the report noted.
Translation: "We're doing all kinds of neat PC crap along with actual 'learning' stuff, but we actually don't know what the hell all we're doing." So maybe some of the people in charge of this mess ought to be fired and someone who'll actually pay attention take over? Huh?
...
And of course, "Poverty!!!" Part of the problem in Oklahoma City is the high level of poverty in the district, with almost 90 percent of Oklahoma City students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the report noted.
People have pointed out before that kids whose families are nowhere near being in 'poverty' qualify for free lunches; using that to cry "Poverty! We must DO SOMETHING, and this is why things are failing!" is bullshit, and I suspect a step in the process of "We need to take more money from people so we can help them!"

"It’s going to take a lot of us helping the kids to make sure they get what they need out of the classroom, so when they get into the classroom they are ready to learn,” foundation Executive Director Lori Dickinson said.
Isn't that just a freakin' WONDERFUL sentence? I mean, think about that wording; isn't it amazing?

And this wonderful bit from the KTOK story: ...and a sharp jump in the number of students who see English as their second language. Chairman of the committee, Dave Lopez says it's an indication the district faces the same issues as urban school districts in larger cities such as Houston, Dallas and Chicago.
Translation: "Lots of kids of illegal aliens, many of whose parents don't think they should have to learn English." This would actually be an easy fix: English-only classes, learn it or flunk. Anybody think these people have the integrity or balls to do that?

Me neither.

I'll look at other news later, this has downright disturbed my calm.

Few days ago I posted on a piece of Microsoft BS

in which Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft, that an equivalent of a “driver’s licence” should be introduced for access to the web. Bad.

More bad:
Microsoft has managed to do what a roomful of secretive, three-letter government agencies have wanted to do for years: get the whistleblowing, government-document sharing site Cryptome shut down.

Microsoft dropped a DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement on Cryptome’s proprietor John Young on Tuesday after he posted a Microsoft surveillance compliance document that the company gives to law enforcement agents seeking information on Microsoft users. Young filed a counterclaim on Wednesday — arguing he had a fair use to publishing the document, a full day before the Thursday deadline set by his hosting provider, Network Solutions.

Regardless, Cryptome was shut down by Network Solutions and its domain name locked on Wednesday — shuttering a site that thumbed its nose at the government since 1996 — posting thousands of documents that the feds would prefer never saw the light of day.

Microsoft did not return a call for comment by press time.
Gee, I wonder why. Maybe not wanting questions about things like
For instance, Xbox Live records every IP address you ever use to login and stores them for perpetuity.

Thanks to Marty for pointing to this

And Robert Wright is a sorry excuse for a journalist;

but then, he DOES work at the New York Effing Times.

I introduce to you todays Sorry Excuse for a Lawman,

New York State Police Superintendent Harry J. Corbitt.
According to the story the woman was rather adament about persuing the order of protection until Paterson's call and the "counseling" of the State Police.

The head of the state police actually claims this a service they often offer people in cases they have nothing to do with. No word on whether he managed to keep a straight face while saying this.

The State Police superintendent, Harry J. Corbitt, said he was told of the episode within 24 hours after it occurred. He confirmed that a state police officer had met with the woman, even though the episode occurred in the jurisdiction of the New York Police Department. He said the visit was made only to tell the woman of her options, including seeking counseling.

“We never pressured her, at least what I was advised; we never pressured her not to press charges,” said Mr. Corbitt, whom the governor appointed. “We just gave her options.”

Well, Mr. Corbitt, you should be fired. And prevented from every again wearing a badge. And every jackass in a position of authority in that agency who's had a hand in this bullshit should be treated the same.

Effing New York.

A cleaning tip I don't think I've mentioned before

On semi-auto pistols, take a popsicle stick- sold in bundles as craft sticks- and cut one end off square. You can wet a patch with solvent or CLP, fold it double and then fold it around the square end and use it to reach inside the frame and slide rails to clean them.

Then you can use the other round end the same way to clean the lugs in the slide the barrel locks to..

Also good for cleaning the breech face.

Actually, instead of 'science fiction' I'd describe the IPCC as

fraudulent.
This is the essence of the IPCC Assessment Report 4 (WG1 chapter 3) executive summary on hurricanes:

Intense tropical cyclone activity has increased since about 1970. … Globally, estimates of the potential destructiveness of hurricanes show a significant upward trend since the mid-1970s, with a trend towards longer lifetimes and greater storm intensity. … These relationships have been reinforced by findings of a large increase in numbers and proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 and 5 globally. … numbers of hurricanes in the North Atlantic have also been above normal (based on 1981–2000 averages) in 9 of the last 11 years, culminating in the record-breaking 2005 season.

In reality, hurricanes, in both strength and in frequency, have been decreasing over the past four years. Ryan Maue of the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS) at Florida State University, a hurricane researcher, has shown that “global and Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone activity remains near 30-year historical lows — three years in a row now of considerably below-average activity globally.”

The decrease is not only in the number of hurricanes, but also in the total energy (ACE) of hurricanes, both in the Atlantic and worldwide, as a graph of hurricane energy vs. time shows:

Go check it out, some real interesting charts on the data

Couple more things to point to

Yeah, not only threaten a talk-show guy AND leave a recording; if this is a demonstration of the smarts of the LE clowns there, no wonder things are so screwed up.


Isn't it wonderful how these morons seem to idolize dictators and Presidents-for-life who'd throw said moron in jail for what they write? If not just have them executed?


'The power of academic culture'. Jeez, go look at some of this; I can't finish it all right now


Now off to process the brass. And renew my Dl, glad I caught that before the end

Oh, for God's sake, is there ANYTHING this narcissist

and his minions don't want to mark?

And yeah, I noticed the crescent and star, too

Well, hell, if they have to try to PAY you to eat it,

that should be warning enough, larry.

Couple of quick range notes

Midway put these mag loaders on sale, and they're still on through the 28th; I'd suggest getting one. I've tried it now on 1911, Browning Hi-Power, Makarov, Star BM and Colt model M mags(.380) and it's worked well on all. I have a lot less dings on my thumb from mag lips now. And it makes loading a 13 or 15-round magazine a lot easier on those last few.

The 9mm loads with Titegroup worked well.

And if I can do decent draw & fire drills with some fingers on my left hand half-numb, then I'm doing better than I'd thought

Before I head out, a few things to point to

John Yoo gets to point out- loudly- what a jerk AG Holder is, and what a pile of crap the OPR is.


“At a meeting on Monday of about 150 climate scientists in the quiet Turkish seaside resort of Antalya, representatives of the weather office (known in Britain as the Met Office) quietly proposed that the world’s climate scientists start all over again on a ‘grand challenge’ to produce a new, common trove of global temperature data that is open to public scrutiny and ‘rigorous peer review,” Fox News reported.
He. Snork. HAHAHAHAHAHA! And you'll notice the bastard flew to a seaside resort in Turkey rather than a telecomm meeting or something; apparently they're not worried about their carbon emissions.


As Insty says, what is it about these people and not paying taxes?


Michelle Malkin has more on AG Holder(Corrupt Politician & Lawyer-DC(God help us)) and his terrorist-supporting lawyers in the Justice Department.


Reciting the Pledge, yeah, that's funny as hell, isn't it?


Off to the range now; I hope this load works.

I mentioned a couple of years ago picking up a Dillon Square Deal B

press; still got it, and it's still working well. I just wish the conversions for different cartridges didn't cost so much.

Anyway, the powder measure on it has the same problem with some powders(like Bullseye and Unique) my Hornady measure does; that stuff doesn't flow through very well, which sometimes causes light charges. Yes, they're good for failure drills; they're also a pain in the ass. With .45acp, I'd originally been using Hodgedon Clays, same problem, so tried AA#5; feeds much more smoothly. With 9mm(unfortunately) Bullseye was one of the most recommended powders, until I got the newer Lyman #49 manual, which also showed Titegroup.* Titegroup is a ball powder, and having tried it in another cartridge I'd found it metered very nicely, so now I've got a box of 9mm loaded with it to try out today; if it works out well, I'll load a couple of hundred rounds for future use.

Ah, will the drudgery never end?


*New manual comes out, get it; it'll have new powders and bullets listed.

Oh, I've got to take note of this before bed: Ma'am Boxer

& Co., as he says, throw the IPCC under the bus.

Something about a lot of 60's civil rights workers

you don't generally hear about.

"It is a federal offense," said John F. Kennedy,

"to offer any man a federal job in return for a favor."
This could get downright interesting.

Premier Danny Williams says "Canadian healthcare is the best;

it just wasn't good enough for me...
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."


Found thanks to Sondra

A bit more on the Lower Merion School District's outbreak of criminal-level

stupidity. Including this:
AP reports the FBI is investigating the school district's webcam program, and district spokesman Doug Young suggests without claiming that Harriton High School student Blake J. Robbins' webcam was activated only because the laptop had been reported stolen -- in accordance with an established policy. The boy was charged with an undisclosed infraction based on an image the school picked up from his webcam. District superintendent Christopher W. McGinley, in an orotund statement, defends the program while canceling it. And just to make clear that we're still in high school, Master Robbins appears to have gotten in trouble when he was photographed eating Mike and Ikes.

Robbins' attorney says the reported-stolen claim is bogus. The Wiki page is the best place to follow the unfolding story.
Links to all kinds of stuff at Reason.

If you have a .455 Webley with a cut cylinder,

friend gunsmith has worked out a way to restore the cutaway section of the back, so you can fire .455 ammo in it again. Contact info at the link; says should be able to start the work within the next week.

Whether you like open-carry or not, this is an example

of a sorry excuse for lawman. And fairly stupid from the sound of it; put something like that on Facebook and expect it not to get around?

I think I posted something on Chief Ed Flynn of Milwaukee before; he fits the definition as well.

From Dennis, a different point of view

on Andrew Stack. Short version: arrogant tax cheat who wanted to go out in a blaze and be seen as other than what he was.

How 'bout this?

Che:
Still displaying morbidity

I don't like cigarettes; even less do I like the nannies who want to run our lives

to suit them.
Anti-smoking nanny-state bitchesadvocates are expressing support for legislation that would eliminate smoking rooms in restaurants.
"It would improve health", etc.
But Padgett says the bill doesn't go far enough. Coalition members also want to include bars in the statewide smoking ban and give cities the ability to ban smoking in restaurants and bars within the city limits.
"You have a separate room for smokers? NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR US!" "You have customers who like to smoke? WE DON'T CARE, THROW THEM OUT!" "I don't care if you have a whole separate air system, IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO SUIT US!"

I'm beginning to think a modern scold's bridle would be a good idea for these people.

Ok, I've got SEVEN robins in the front yard

Never seen that many at one time before. I think they're pigging-out on the berries in the holly trees.

Which is fine; but the return deposits... yuck.

I can't remember where first read the line "Jews are the canaries in the coal mine"

a few years back; it would appear the atmosphere in the mine is getting really bad.
There were more anti-Semitic incidents in 2009 than any other year since World War II. There were two murders linked with anti-Semitism in the United States in 2009.


In 2009, a chapel serving the city's 700-strong Jewish community was set ablaze. Jewish cemeteries were repeatedly desecrated, worshippers were abused on their way home from prayer, and "Hitler" was mockingly chanted in the streets by masked men.

"I never thought I would see this hatred again in my lifetime, not in Sweden anyway," Mrs Popinski told The Sunday Telegraph.

"This new hatred comes from Muslim immigrants. The Jewish people are afraid now."
...
The worst incident was last year during Israel's brief war in Gaza, when a small demonstration in favour of Israel was attacked by a screaming mob of Arabs and Swedish leftists, who threw bottles and firecrackers as the police looked on.


Jewish residents in Malmo are furious after the Swedish town's mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, equated Zionism to anti-Semitism in an interview published on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

During the interview with Skanska Dagbladet newspaper, Reepalu was asked whether he considered a public condemnation of anti-Semitism in Malmo. The mayor responded that "Malmo does not accept anti-Semitism and does not accept Zionism," charging that both adopt extreme positions towards certain groups.

Reepalu added that local Jews bear some responsibility for the attitude towards them, noting that "they have the possibility to affect the way they are seen by society." The mayor then urged Malmo's Jewish community to "distance itself" from Israeli attacks on Gaza's civilian population.
The last post notes the bullcrap "The Jews are stealing our organs!" story that a Swedish newspaper pushed, falling right into the blood-libel garbage that's a staple of the palistinians.

Jumping around a bit, second story notes one of the problems, the "No, I'm just against Israel, it's Israels' fault" excuse.
Mr Reepalu,(mayor of the city) who is blamed for lax policing, is at the centre of a growing controversy for saying that what the Jews perceive as naked anti-Semitism is in fact just a sad, but understandable consequence of Israeli policy in the Middle East.
"See? It's nothing against Jews, it's that nasty Israel!" Etc. ad bullshit.

One of the things that caught my eye was this:
Hate crimes, mainly directed against Jews, doubled last year with Malmo's police recording 79 incidents and admitting that far more probably went unreported. As of yet, no direct attacks on people have been recorded but many Jews believe it is only a matter of time in the current climate.
Remember all the crap that came out in Britain over the last few years, serious crimes that didn't count in the official numbers because they weren't 'recorded'? Often for the purpose of keeping the numbers down? I have to wonder if the same couldn't be true here. If the chickenshit Mayor Reepalu has police basically standing around with their thumb up their collective backside while Jews are attacked, it wouldn't surprise me.

I'm going to have to call this 'Line of the day':

In all seriousness, this is a very bad photo. Anyone who knows gun knows this is a PR setup, and anyone who doesn't know guns is likely to be wetting themself in the corner at the sight of a Democrat holding one. You would think this photo would be bad enough from a newspaper that refuses to give any bad press to Carnahan, but it gets worse.
Various arguments in comments about points, but I love the 'wetting in the corner' line.

Now this has to be making some people very nervous

Israel’s air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.

The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel’s military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.
'Diverse payloads'. I would imagine.

That bit I wrote earlier about AMERICAblog?

Seems they were more full of crap than I thought.

Remember the bitching about the Air Force ground controllers in Haiti

'not doing their job right'? Especially on the Doctors Without Borders portable hospital? Go here. This from the comments:
...Planes arrived without having asked for clearance. Planes arrived with loads that would take six or more hours to unload. Planes arrived when there was no room on the ground for them. Planes arrived without fuel to take off. Every single one of these problems were handled by the Air Force and the Haitians that they were working with.

One aircraft that landed the first day took six hours to fuel with the primitive facilities the airport had. The Air Force squeezed planes in for landings where they had bare feet on either wingtip.

According to the Air Force, the field hospital arrived without clearance and unloading it would have taken the airport out of service for hours.
Kind of puts a new angle on all the bitching, doesn't it?

The title of the post is "Our mission is finally accomplished....

anyone care?" I'm going to post a long excerpt:
What we achieved in the face of an implacable enemy, overcoming many in our own government willfully ignorant of our struggle, is what I believe to be the defining moment of my generation. The veteran today is the embodiment of what it means to be an American. Even when our valor was used for political sport, we continued to serve quietly.

This is truly without precedent.
...
The bullets are flying.

My squad runs through the searing heat and forms a wall of flesh and Kevlar between the incoming fire and the citizens standing in line behind us. They’ve turned out in their finest clothes to wait for the opportunity to cast a vote. For most, this moment is a defining one in their lives. They’ve never had a voice before. This means something to them, and they have used the moment as an object lesson for their children. They appear nervous and take photos. The kids stand with them in line, viewing first hand this revolution in Iraqi civics.

As they came to line up earlier that morning, the men thanked us and clasped their hands over their heads, striking a triumphant pose. Some of the women cried. The kids were on their best behavior.

The gunfire began that afternoon. Insurgents started to shoot them. My unit ran to the road and formed a protective position between the killers and the citizens going to the polls. As we scanned the palm grove in front of us, bullets cracked and whined, then mortars start thumping around us. My squad pushed into the palm grove. I stayed on the road, overseeing their movement and coordinating the heavy fire from the Bradleys.

The firefight ebbs. The mortar fire ceases. A few last stray rounds streak past. A cry from behind causes me to turn. Lying in the road is a young Iraqi woman. I run over to help. She’s caught a round just below her temple. Her stunning beauty has been ruined forever.

She cries, “Paper! Paper” over and over until the ambulance arrives to take her away. An old lady emerges from the schoolhouse-turned voting site, sheets of blue paper in hand. She gives one to the wounded girl, who clutches it to her like a prized possession even as the ambulance carries her away.

The ballot was her voice. All she wanted was a chance to exercise it, just once, before she died.

The old woman returns to the school house, but drops another ballot along the way. It drifts in a gentle breeze across the bloodstained asphalt. I stoop down and pick it up. It is all in Arabic, and I have no idea what each set of candidates advocate. That’s not my place, and it doesn’t really matter. I helped make this day happen. This ballot represents the reason why we’re here, why my friends had to die.

Carefully, I fold the ballot up and put it in my pocket. Even though I was 29 at the time , I’d only voted once.

I had taken something so precious for granted for far too long.
...
I came home in search of that woman’s spirit in the hearts of my fellow Americans. I came home expecting to find the sacrifice of these brave patriots revered at every turn by those who overwhelmingly sent us to war from Washington.

I’m still looking.

If you can’t bring yourself to give the living the sense of accomplishment for winning a war that many claimed was endless, at least humor the dead. Allow them to rest knowing that the war that took their lives was won because of their sacrifice.

Is that too much to ask for?
No, it's not. Every damn one of you deserves the highest respect for what you've done. And every two-faced, lying, back-stabbing bastard like Reid and Pelosi and Obama deserve the greatest contempt, deserve to be despised for what they've done to you and toward you.

I confess I'm having a hard time keeping this clean. Every time I think of Reid saying "The war is lost" while the troops were in battle, every time I think of Pelosi and Biden and, yes, Obama trying to make us lose I get mad enough to set the whipping post up myself. Buy some rope.

These people betrayed our troops while they were in battle with the enemy. They encouraged the enemy. They tried to make us LOSE.

Enough. Mr. Bellavia, we care. Very much. Despite the vile beings noted above and their little minions and their treachery, we do.

Oh for God's sake, does this idiot actually think this defense

is going to fly?
Miller said Bishop's failure to obtain tenure at the University of Alabama in Huntsville was likely a key to the shootings. Bishop, who has a doctorate from Harvard University and has taught at the University of Alabama in Huntsville since 2003, apparently was incensed that a lesser-known school rejected her for what amounted to a lifetime job.

"Obviously she was very distraught and concerned over that tenure," Miller said. "It insulted her and slapped her in the face, and it's probably tied in with the Harvard mentality. She brooded and brooded and brooded over it, and then, 'bingo.'"

Just think about that for a moment, and think about trying to sell it to a Alabama jury: "This HARVARD Doctorate didn't get tenure at a crappy Alabama university, and it pushed her over the edge! Don't you understand how stressful that was?"
Hell, a jury about anywhere(except the PROM*); I can imagine a juror slipping and asking "Are you shitting me? THAT'S your defense?"


*People's Republic of MA

Speaking of bigots and fools,

...our data indicate that although many of them reported a "strong" familiarity with the NRA, most NRA disidentifiers in our focus groups had little personal exposure to the organizations with which they disidentified
(e.g., none had ever met an NRA member), and gained most of their information from media reports portraying the organization in a negative light. As one informant noted: "I don't know them, and I don't want to. I don't want to legitimate their existence by even acknowledging them. We are so far apart, we probably can't even communicate."

The Brady Campaign to Ban guns has given Oklahoma an A+

We only got 2 points on their 'Confiscation is the only thing good enough' scoring.
I just love some of the bullshit they rate by:
The state government doesn't ban private sales? "You allow the Gun Show LOOPHOLE!"
You don't make people keep records when ammo is bought? "You don't care about the CHILDREEENNNN!"
Only authorized users are able to operate new handguns, which means "You don't require technology that doesn't exist? "You REALLY DON'T CARE about the CHILDDREEENNNN!"
And on, and on, and on.

Not from Uncle's place:
Bitter puts the rankings in context of grades:

There is no right to own arms in Massachusetts. That is still not good enough for the Paul Helmke. What is good enough? Confiscation?

Why yes, that IS the only thing that would actually make them happy. Especially when you consider the kind of politician the Brady bunch gives an A+ to.

Well, here's somebody who decided to literally

let the bank have it just as it started.

Why I'm still telling the Scottish and British governments to kiss my ass

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, no longer receives hospital treatment after ending the course of chemotherapy that he had been given after returning to his homeland last August.

Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be "difficult" for the families of the 270 victims of the attack.
...
Megrahi, is now living in a spacious two-storey villa with his wife and their five grown-up children in a prosperous suburb of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

The property has a spacious garden and an area where the family erects a large tent to entertain visitors for celebrations.

The property has a security gate and there is often a uniformed police officer sitting on a white chair outside.

The Megrahis, who are part of a prominent tribe, are well off and it is understood that his family was paid substantial compensation by the Libyan Government after he was jailed for life.
Miserable little backstabbing socialist bastards like Kenny MacAskill and Brown let him go for the sake of trying to buy favor from Libya on oil deals. And maybe they just wanted to suck up to a third-world dictator as well.

This crap is going to get a lot of troops killed in the end

Back at their base, with the benefit of hindsight, most of the soldiers agreed with the decision to refrain from firing the Hellfire. The group of fighters had been routed without a single shot being fired: a success, they said.

But the BRF commander regretted the decision. “I should have given the order,” he admitted later. “We had them.”
Please note the wording: 'routed without a single shot', which translates to "They got away so they can try to kill us tomorrow."

Somebody on Facebook had a link to some group called Americablog

or something(no, no link) basically saying "The tea party teabagger scum are calling the guy who attacked the IRS building a hero!"

Number one, bullshit; various people some flat nuts, are saying that. Number two, they make it pretty plain they don't give a damn about changing minds, they just want to slander people(what is is this fixation these clowns have with other peoples' testicles? 'Teabaggers' etc. every time they write). Number three, how much you want to bet that a lot of said clowns still defend Obama's domestic terrorist friends?

Hell with all of them.

Not nearly enough sleep, so just some general

goings-on this morning.

Next time some lefty bitches and yells what amounts to 'Teabaggers with torches and pitchforks!', tell him to kiss your ass; and note that it's his side that's actually done that, therefore if we do it- well, we're more to the point of tar & feathers, actually.


One of the problems with calling people 'racist' when you're full of crap: sooner or later, you'll get called on it. Added: I don't know if his thought is correct, though it's probably a part of it: I think that a lot of liberals got in the habit of yelling "RACIST!" at anybody who disagreed, and it worked for so long at shutting people up that they can't stop. Even when they know damn well it's a lie, and they'll be called on it.


This bullshit has come up before: I say the same thing now, they start stealing peoples retirement funds and there'll be strange fruit on the trees in D.C. And I think some of these clowns are smart enough to realize it. Powerline points out the lawyers will be unhappy if they try, but unhappy lawyers have nothing on pissed-off people who decide to clean house.


About one of those terrorist supporters Obama has in his group, here's part 2 on Rashad Hussain.


Oooh, the Anglo-Saxons are coming! And it's 'unpatriotic' to criticize, etc.
Since then, the Zapatero government has worked assiduously to pin the blame for Spain’s economic difficulties on outside forces. The industry minister said Spain was facing an “imported problem.” The deputy prime minister blamed Spain’s problems on “radical liberalism,” which in euro-speak means the free market. The labor minister blamed “the neo-conservative thinking preached by U.S. President George W Bush, which has resulted in capitalism without ethical limits.” Zapatero himself blamed “the neo-conservative model based on capitalism without borders nor limits nor ethics.”

At the same time, Zapatero said: “Criticizing the economy is unpatriotic.” He accused those who are worried about the economy of “demagoguery” and “exaggeration.” He also advised: “Let’s not turn economic forecasting into a fetish.”
Well, before the current version screwed up what 'liberal' meant, the free market WAS a liberal thing: but to hear these socialist morons throwing this crap out... Taking lessons from Obama, "It's ALL Bush's fault!"


"Yes, I will raise your taxes; but it wasn't my decision, so don't blame me!"


Ref the 'Justice' Department clearing Yoo and Bybee the other day: two pieces on it, here and here. The Department needs a serious housecleaning, and considering the crap he's involved in it needs to start with Holder.


Oh, there's still some folks with balls over in Europe


And last, what I saw last night:
Zorba's has belly dancers on Saturday nights, flamenco on Fridays. And the food's good.

It's not anywhere near 50 feet long,

but that's one damn big snake.

To all you Garand shooters:

MORE .30-06 HXP AMMO SOON: Our most recent purchase of HXP ammunition began arriving on Feb 17, 2010. It will take another 4-5 weeks before the full shipment is received. Until we actually receive the entire shipment, we will not know what packaging configurations will be available or the amount of each configuration. We do not yet know what our final cost will be. We do know that the quantity is large enough to satisfy our customer needs for several years. We will not accept any pre-orders or establish a waiting list. Thanks for your support and patience. We expect to again begin accepting orders by the end of March, 2010.