Well, gee, I wonder why I haven't heard anything about this

in all the hoohah over McChrystal?
Hastings was asked if McChrystal had perhaps gotten the whole strategy wrong, but Hastings explained it was the President that didn't know what he was really getting into.

"I think that ship had sailed last year," Hastings said. "I think once the decision was made to do a counterinsurgency strategy, they had a pretty clear idea in mind what they wanted to do and I think this is quite interesting. I think this is one of the issues Obama didn't really understand what counter-insurgency meant and when the military said they wanted to do a counterinsurgency strategy that that actually meant 150,000 troops. Obama thought he could get away with just sending 21,000 over and getting a new general."

And as Hastings explained, Obama wasn't prepared due to this miscalculation.

"That clearly - anyone who has spent anytime around the military over the past few years you know, you know how many troops they wanted in Afghanistan all along, but I think Obama was clearly caught off guard by that," Hastings said.

Later in the interview, Hastings accused Obama of not dedicating a lot of his time into putting the counterinsurgency strategy (or COIN) in place. Instead the Rolling Stone reporter said Obama was looking for a quick way to fill a campaign promise with roughly a seventh of the troops needed to successfully implement the strategy.

I wonder if the electroshock fried a few too many

brain cells?

Well, crap

Walked outside to go somewhere and discovered that sometime between yesterday and that moment the mount for the right front turn signal had decided to fail; the light was dangling by the wires.

I replaced the rear signals a couple of weeks ago, but the front pair showed no visible sign of distress; obviously they were waiting to spring this on me.

Thanks deity for aftermarket parts; getting two pair of them is going to cost a bit less than ONE pair of factory would.

A little local political stuff

I mentioned asking Johnny Roy about his stand on the 2nd(ok, I sent to his website) and not getting a response. Few days after my last request I did get a response. Said that a lot of e-mails had been dumped into their spam filter; and on the subject
Dr. Roy is a member of the NRA and Okla. Rifle Assn. and is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment.

As far as his position on restrictions, I will check with him and get back to you, but know that he is a friend of the right to arms.
That was on the 16th; I responded that I appreciated the response and was waiting to hear more. Nothing more since. I just sent asking for further, in case their server is still listing things as spam.

I hear more, I'll pass it along.

Spotted on the tailgate

of a black Ford duelly: an arrow at each lower corner pointing toward an exhaust, and between them the words 'My Carbon Footprint'.

I've got to start carrying the camera around with me.

Among the things stirring the pot

is the pension mess in many states. And 'education' spending, crap like this chart and information at Ace:
It shows the average cost to educate a kid from kindergarten through 12th grade in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars. In 1970 each child's education cost about $40,000. Today it's nearly $160,000 - nearly four times as much! And if you look at the test scores over that period, they haven't budged at all. So we're paying 4 times as much in constant dollars and getting jack shit for it. In even a poorly run company that would be enough to get people fired and auditors looking for criminal fraud.
...
And if you're wondering where all the money went, well this little tidbit will give you a clue: former Niles Township, IL school superintendent Neil Codell will receive $26 million dollars in retirement checks from the Illinois teacher pension plan which he will qualify for after just 34 years of work. Which means he'll be getting nearly a $1 million dollars a year in his pension. Now multiply that by every school district and you start to see why some states are facing bankruptcy.
I don't mind someone retiring after 34 years; I DO mind this kind of padded-up garbage. How much school supplies, how many actual teachers pay, does this represent?


If anyone doubted Obama would really use the security of the border as a pawn to push his amnesty plans,
I will say this for Mavs (I always say this): On those occasions when he finally comes down on your side, it's with great force and impact.

Krauthammer had this dynamite point: In a certain sense, it doesn't matter if Obama said this, because we know it's true either way. If he didn't say it, then all he did was succeed in preventing himself from uttering his true agenda in a naked fashion.

But either way, that is his agenda. He says so: He says he can't secure the border unless it's part of a "comprehensive" package. He just doesn't put it as nakedly as Kyl says he did in a private discussion.

However, it actually does matter if it was said -- because this puts the entire corrupt hostage-situation before the public. It makes it news, in other words, instead of policy analysis, which most people don't bother with.
Put bluntly, every American citizen living in fear along the border, every one raped or killed or robbed, car smashed by a drunk illegal alien, Obama considers them expendable chits in his pursuit of his progressive aims.


A fine example of people who've never had to 'exist on foods found in nature' pissing and moaning because someone in the jungle might buy a manufactured food. Or buy something preserved in such a way that it doesn't rot in a couple of days.


This is just freakin' insane: LA finally gets started building berms, finally gets the White House & Co. to get off their ass and approve it, and now
The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.
Also from Q&O,
Stepping back for a moment, does anyone else see the connection between the Arizona (and others) illegal immigration law, Gen. McChrystal’s insubordination, and Louisiana’s current predicament? Lacking any coherent direction, policy or plan, these people and entities are forced to take the reins over their particular situations only to be hindered by the Obama administration when they do, or worse, vilified and ridiculed. The lack of leadership creates a vacuum, and people like Jan Brewer, Gen. McChrystal, Bobby Jindal and Billy Nungesser are trying desperately to fill it. If there were ever a clear indication that Obama is an incompetent leader, this it.


Attention Steve Jobs and Apple generally: Screw you.
In an updated version of its privacy policy, the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree, Apple and unspecified “partners and licensees” may collect and store user location data.

When users attempt to download apps or media from the iTunes store, they are prompted to agree to the new terms and conditions. Until they agree, they cannot download anything through the store.

The company says the data is anonymous and does not personally identify users. Analysts have shown, however, that large, specific data sets can be used to identify people based on behavior patterns.


And from the past of Swimmer Kennedy,
However, the 2,352 pages of FBI files that cover a period ranging from 1961 to 1985 only tell a small part of the story and do not mention Kennedy's overtures to Soviet officials. These did not become known outside of Moscow until several years after Cold War tensions receded.

Kennedy's long history with the KGB is well documented, but underreported. It remains available through the writings of the now deceased Vasiliy Mitrokhin, who defected to Britain from the Soviet Union in 1992, and a separate 1983 memo addressed to then General Secretary Yuri Andropov. Kennedy's actions occurred at the expense of presidential authority and in violation of federal law, according to academics and scholars who are familiar with the documents.
...
The KGB files Mitrokhin retrieved indicate that Kennedy fixed the blame for heightened international tensions on the Carter White House, not on the Kremlin. It is important to note that Kennedy was challenging incumbent Carter for the Democratic nomination for president at that time.
...
KENNEDY ALSO OFFERED TO WORK in close concert with high level Soviet officials to sabotage President Ronald Reagan's re-election efforts and to orchestrate favorable American press coverage for Andropov and Soviet military officials, according to the 1983 KGB document.

Kennedy offered to have "representatives of the largest television companies in the U.S. contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview," KGB head Viktor Chebrikov explained in a letter to the general secretary dated May 14, 1983, the file shows. The idea here would be for the Soviet leader to make an end run around Reagan and make a direct appeal to the American people.
So Democrat or Republican President didn't matter, if they were in Kennedy's way. A very bipartisan traitor he was.


If he tries this- which wouldn't surprise me- the response needs to be a loud and very obscene "Fuck you!" from the states.


So, according to the head of the black firefighters group(I refuse to associate that deity's name with these clowns), the only reason someone could not like Obama is because they're racist. Uh huh. Coombs, you're a frickin' idiot and a bigot.


More of the wonders of Obamacare.


Well, if Kagan loved the Bork hearings so much, give her the same kind of hearing.

And with that, I need to go do other things.

Who's making a blacklist?

The True Believers of AGW, that's who.

The greedy bastards in DC want a Value Added Tax

since they think they're not looting us enough now; here's how that's working out in Britain where they just announced they'll raise their VAT:
The measure will generate over £13.4 billion a year of extra revenues for the Treasury by the 2014 to 2015 tax year. "That is £13 billion we don’t have to find from extra spending cuts or income tax rises," Mr Osborne added.
As opposed to, oh, finding it by getting rid of a bunch of bullshit and letting people keep their money, which they would then save some of(making more available for banks to loan and such) and spend the rest of, thus raising the tide. Effing politicians.
Grant Thornton, using the Treasury's own forecasts, calculated that the £13 billion extra equated to an extra tax bill of £517 for each of the 26 million households in Britain. This is even higher than the figure calculated last week by Centre for Economics and Business Research on behalf of Kelkoo, the shopping website, which reckoned that it will add £425 a year to families' shopping bills.

The rise in VAT will push up the price of many basic household items, notably petrol, alcohol, clothing, toiletries, furniture and electrical items.
And, as we know, you push up the price of motor fuel you also increase the cost of every damn thing that involves motor fuel in the manufacture and/or transport of.
KPMG, the accountancy firm, warned that many retailers "teetering on the edge" following from the recession could be "pushed over the edge" by the VAT rise.

Andrew Burrell, Research Partner at King Sturge, a property consultant said: "The killer for retailers and consumers alike is clearly going to be the VAT hike. This was too big a temptation for the coalition to resist, despite the fact that consumer confidence remains extremely fragile and a sudden hike in prices could destabilise the recovery."
Because they're planning on stealing money from other people instead of actually doing something like cutting bullshit from the government; that they just can't bring themselves to do.
CEBR calculated that the poorest households pay disproportionately a higher amount of VAT. The bottom quarter of earners pay 12 per cent of their disposable income in VAT, compared with the top quarter of earners who pay just 6 per cent.
Once again, "We are going to help the poor", by screwing them even worse than they screw the better off.

And for some of the crowning idiocy,
David Buick, at City firm BGC Partners, however pointed out that the richest consumers still paid the most, if not proportionately, then certainly in actual money. "This tax could raise an extra £13 billion in a year and it is not as socially debilitating as Labour would have us believe. After all, the wealthier will spend the most and buy the most goods."
Ah, so you'll claim you're screwing the 'richest' consumers worse and that makes it all better? Mr. Buck, has it occurred to you that those 'richer' people buying things, goods and services, actually helps other people? And if you discourage them from spending, those people don't get that help?

Once again, that quote from Quint: "It's enough to piss off the Good Humor man."

I would like to point out something other than the general idiocy

of these cases in the People's Republic of Maryland:
According to state law enforcement officials, including Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Casilly, who is prosecuting Graber, not only is a cop permitted to pull a gun on you for a misdemeanor traffic offense, but the officer's privacy rights prevent you from documenting the encounter. State Police spokesman Greg Shipley defended Graber's arrest to TV station WJZ, explaining, "We are enforcing the law, and we don't make any apologies for that."
When I was taking the class for my carry permit something was pointed out repeatedly: When you draw a gun, it is considered the use of lethal force even if you do not fire a shot. That, from my understanding, is the rule in most states. So the rule in Maryland is apparently that a cop can use lethal force for a freakin' traffic offense.

So they can record you however and whenever they choose, they can use lethal force in very improper ways, but they'll jail you if you dare to record them.

I wonder of the MD State Stas-er, Police have ever even HEARD of Robert Peel's Principles?

The other day, when I wrote of all the connections

among people who stand to profit(money or power)in screwing up our energy situation, here's one of the kind of things noted:
Tony Podesta is in the news because he lobbies for BP, public enemy No. 1 in President Obama’s Washington after a BP-rented oil rig blew up and started gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico 63 days ago.

Podesta and his wife Heather aren’t just any lobbyists. Tony’s brother John — who now heads the liberal think tank Center for American Progress — led Obama’s transition team and has been dubbed the “shadow president” because of his close ties to the White House. Tony and Heather Podesta each have visited the White House seven times, according to public visitor logs.
As I recall, that think tank was either started by or is mostly funded by Soros.


I would like someone to print out a whole lot of the climate change 'You're full of crap' that's come out at Watts Up, and staple it to the foreheads of Lieberman and Kerry and a bunch of other people. As a start. Call it a preamble to the tar. These people want to destroy our economy and lives in the name of 'climate change' ideology that is bullshit.


"Does Obama want to be President?" I think he's finding it a lot less fun than he'd thought: people won't kiss his ass, they won't do whatever he proclaims(even with our in-the-tank major media, some of whom are real open about what they're doing), his Lightworker image has so much tarnish it'd need a squad with a pound of Flitz to try to shine it up... good chance he's thinking "I don't know if I want to do this anymore" about now.


The failure of Brazil’s Iranian venture does not mean that the United States does not have a Brazil, and more broadly a Latin America, problem. Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, makes no bones about who is to blame for Brazil’s diplomatic embarrassment: the Obama administration. According to Amorim, the US had encouraged Brazil’s initiative, only to slap it down when it succeeded. That is possible; it is possible that Brazilian diplomats misinterpreted the signals from the US. It is also possible that the Brazilians are reaching desperately for a fig leaf, and blaming the mess on the United States is always an appealing alternative.
It wouldn't surprise me of Obama & Co. effed this up; they seem very good at backstabbing. On the other hand it could simply be that a whole bunch of countries said something like "You WANT Iran to have nukes? Are you out of your mind?" And they realized how stupid the move was.


More information on the clowns the unions are playing with to try and screw with ships from Israel; wonderful people.
This morning’s protest was co-organized by Paul Larudee (paste this URL into a browser window: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/20/18651338.php — incoming links to Indybay are disabled), one of the very people who was on the Gaza flotilla itself, and who was given a hero’s welcome upon his return to the Bay Area from a short stint in an Israeli jail. But again, you’re not supposed to know that.
...

Meanwhile, Yasser Kashlak, a Syrian businessman of Palestinian descent who heads the “Free Palestine Organization” and is funding this boat, as well as another that is to carry journalists and parliamentarians, said over the weekend on Hizbullah’s al-Manar television station that he was more and more optimistic that one day these same boats would take “Europe’s refuse [the Jews] that came to my homeland back to their homelands.

“Gilad Schalit should go back to Paris and those murderers go back to Poland, and after that we will chase them until the ends of the earth to bring them to justice for their acts of slaughter from Deir Yassin until today.” Kashlak, a fervent Hizbullah supporter, called Israel a “rabid dog sent to the region to frighten the Arabs. He said he had a message for Israelis: ‘Get on the ships we are sending you and go back to your lands. Don’t let the moderate Arab leaders delude you, [you] cannot make peace with us. Our children will return to Palestine, you have no reason for coexistence. Even if our leaders will sign a peace agreement, we will not sign.’”

And that concludes my efforts for the morning.

After the entertainment, we will move to

Doug's Recovery Plan:
Phase 1: Throw the bastards out 11/10.
Phase 2: Four to six years of corruption trials, impeachments, tribunals, deportations, tarrings & featherings, shootings of traitors and spies, mass firings of civil servants, blanket repealing of laws, dismantling of bureaus, dismantling and reconstitution of federal courts, sales of government property, burning of regulations, reductions in taxes, razings of IRS offices, construction of border defenses, demolition of UN HQ, &c. &c.
Phase 3: Constitutional republic restored (What? Yeah, okay, Phase 2 may need a little more thought, perhaps, but just a little.)
Although parts of Phase 2 sound downright entertaining on their own...

Ran across two things at Ace that bring back the question:

Is Obama just flat effing stupid, or actively malicious?
A major reason so many have fallen out of the program is the Obama administration initially pressured banks to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.
Telling a bank to not bother checking on a borrowers income BEFORE you actually sign papers...

Followed by
President Obama will likely discuss setting caps on the utility sector when he meets with senators this week, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
A: This is bullshit to start with.
B: Even if it wasn't bullshit, it will slam the economy. Remember Californicated a few years back? Price controls on energy? Blackouts and brownouts and a recalled governor? Think of that idiocy on a national scale.

Personally, at this point I see it as actively trying to damage or destroy the economy so they can try to rebuild things on their Progressive Model. And they have no damned care at all for the people who'll be destroyed, or their oath of office, because those things get in their way.

Kind of an interesting choice: tar, feathers and rail or just move straight on to the noose?

If this is true and correct, Officer Officious

needs a serious talking to. And all the charges dropped.

Said 'talking to' should include retraining in attempting to use whatever common sense he may have.

Another LE agency that obviously has too much free time,

since they've got time for this crap:
Investigators bought switchblades and gravity knives - prohibited in the state - at 14 locations, including big-name retailers Home Depot, Paragon and Eastern Mountain Sports.
Fine, those knives are illegal; you've got murders and rapes and robberies and so forth so under control that you can spend all this time on this?
The stores - and four others - have already agreed to stop selling them, relinquish their inventories, turn over all profits from selling the illegal blades over the past four years and contribute to a public awareness campaign.
Ah, so they're making money off it! Explains some, doesn't it?
And now we come to the real bullshit:
"What makes these knives so dangerous is the ease with which they can be concealed and brandished," Manhattan district Attorney Cy Vance said Thursday.
Absolute and utter bullshit. But I guess that sells well in NYEffin'C.

The Survivalist Blog is having another giveaway

M.D. Creekmore at The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – with articles on bug out bag contents, survival knife choices and a wealth of other survival information is giving away a 1,000 round case of 9mm – 124 Grain FMJ (a $200 value – donated by LuckyGunner)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.

Yeah, I do believe there's a message there

Insty has noted, several times, that by some of their actions the left has set an example and opened the door to some serious badness; they'd be screaming bloody murder if it had been done to them. Well,

But remember kids, we can't actually field an army or shoot the bastards.... yet. So long as the ballot box remains viable the cartridge box is out of bounds. SEIU, ACORN, etc. Note the exception being noted and take heed.

...
After reading Mr. Morris' comment, though, I have to wonder if at least part of my anger over this is motivated by fear. Fear that should enough Americans lose their faith in the honesty of elections, they just might turn from the soapbox and the ballot box to the ammo box.
...
In New Hampshire in 2002, the state GOP jammed the Democrats' "get out the vote" phones for 45 minutes on election day. As a consequence, four men went to jail and the state party paid a fine (to the New Hampshire Democratic Party) of $125,000. And I think that was too little.

On election day in 2008, members of the New Black Panther Party's "militia" stationed themselves outside a Philadelphia polling station, weapons at hand, and proclaimed that Whitey's day was over, that we were going to be governed by a black man, and whiteys better get used to it. As a consequence, one of them was forbidden to bring a weapon to a polling place until 2012.

I can't wait to see who shows up at polling stations in 2012. And what sorts of weapons they bring. After all, the door's been opened. Anyone can just walk in.

There's a saying that Before you pass a law, you should imagine it being in effect while your worst enemy is in power; the corollary is Before you screw with elections, you REALLY ought to consider the possible long-term consequences. They may be much different and much worse than you are currently expecting.

Oh, and about that "The Experts want a moratorium" line?

Not so much:
Then there is Obama's decision to impose a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the gulf. This penalizes companies with better safety records than BP's and will result in many advanced drilling rigs being sent to offshore oil fields abroad.

The justification offered was an Interior Department report supposedly "peer reviewed" by "experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering." But it turned out the drafts the experts saw didn't include any recommendation for a moratorium. Eight of the cited experts have said they oppose the moratorium as more economically devastating than the oil spill and "counterproductive" to safety.
Once again, Obama & Co. have flat-out lied in order to push their agenda. Which, it turns out, includes big benefits to George Soros. Had the radio on to Glenn Beck this morning, and he had some interesting connections to note:
Soros is basically in charge of a progressive lobbying group that Obama seems at times to take orders from.
Said group has been preaching we need to stop ALL drilling for oil.
We get a moratorium on drilling offshore because- among other things- "That's too-deep water to be drilling in."
Brazil wants to drill in water even deeper.
If the moratorium holds, lots of deep-water drilling rigs will be going to Brazil.
Remember Obama was wanting to loan Brazil a LOT of money to assist in THEIR drilling?
And who has damn near a billion dollars in shares of the Brazilian national oil company? Soros.
No, don't have a transcript available. It does seem to fit very well; Soros, besides being a bastard in general, has demonstrated he's willing to wreck a nations' economy if it'll make him money and/or give him more influence.

I'll go with what Riehl says: the GOP needs to grow a spine

and back people when they speak the truth, even in a drastic manner.
They'd damn well better remember we're just as capable of throwing THEM out of those offices as we are National Socialist Democrats; they'd better give us some reason to vote FOR them.

Oh, this is freakin WONDERFUL!!!

I mentioned the lady who won the Democrat nomination earlier?
Unlike South Carolina’s Greene, Rogers ran a high profile campaign, staking out a corner on a major intersection in the district to appear almost daily with a large sign: “Save NASA. Impeach Obama.” She garnered 7,467 votes, 53% of the vote, in a three way race that included a local information systems analyst Doug Blatt, who gained endorsements from local Democratic clubs and labor groups, and Freddie John Weider Jr., a preacher and onetime Libertarian candidate; Blatt came in second with 28% of the vote and Weider won 20%.
So the Democrats can't claim the voters didn't know what she thinks.
But wait! There's MORE!!
Now Democrats have refused to provide her any support, Time reports, accusing her of racism because of her connection to the LaRouche movement — which is an interesting allegation, considering that Rogers is African-American. Maybe someone should have looked at her picture before leaping immediately to the race-baiting smear. They would have been better off questioning her sanity.
I'm not sure, but this may be the first time the Democrats have accused a black woman of being prejudiced against The Black President...

Which does bring up the question, DID they know she was black before they said this?

From what I've heard, if you have ever flown,

you'll appreciate this:
"Wait, what? TSA employees are picketing? That's like being picketed by your own body lice. If we just refuse their demands will they go on strike forever? Please?

I've seen some of these people: There's nothing but a pair of blue nitrile gloves between them and a lifetime of permanent frycookery and mop jockeying. They should be thankful that the government has dreamed up a bogus makework program for them that pays them far better for probulating their fellow citizens than they'd ever make puzzling out the pictograms on the french fry machine in the service of which they were otherwise destined to spend their days.

And they have the unmitigated gall to ask for more? Look, I don't want them here in the first place. They need to just shut up and get back to "work"."

So if Terrorist Ayers thinks Obama is

“moderate,” “pragmatic,” and “compromising,” what does that tell us about what Ayers still wants?


The kind of crap that caused union membership to drop. And why so many think unions suck: when they stopped worrying about safe working conditions and fair pay and went into politics and some into Jew hatred, they brought it on themselves.
Update: Somehow it figures that the idiots got the wrong ship.

Awww, some people like Peggy Noonan are saying Obama hasn't lived up to their expectations... Sympathy is not to be found.


Oh, this woman is going to stir things up.


If your kids or grandkids are in Detroit schools, you ought to grab them and run.


This can't be good for your carbon footprint:
(found at Theo's)


Why Kagan has no place on the Supremes:
It has become clear that Elena Kagan, Obama’s most recent Supreme Court nominee, is no friend of gun rights, to say the least. While clerking for Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall in 1987, she wrote the judge that she was “not sympathetic” to a Second Amendment–based challenge to the D.C. gun ban. While serving in the Clinton administration, she wrote a memo that “paved the way for an executive order banning dozens of semiautomatic weapons,” according to the L.A. Times.

And National Review has learned that in 1996, Kagan apparently tied the NRA to the KKK — yes, the KKK — while debating the Clinton administration’s position on a bill.


Dunphy says LAPD brass apparently didn't learn the lessons from last year, but I'd settle for a bunch of fans figuring out they don't need to trash the neighborhood, win or lose, over the damned game.


I'm now going to try to get some things done before it gets hot.

Ok, I have to post this tonight, ref the Helen Thomas truth moment

She didn't say that the blockade was unjust, or that aid was not getting to Gaza, or that there was a massacre on the high seas, or that East Jerusalem is occupied, or that the settlements are immoral . . . and get out and go back to West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Eilat. No. This was not the two-state solution. This was get the hell out and go back to the places of the final solution, Poland and Germany. The Jew has no connection with the land of Israel.

And why? Because, as Thomas went on to explain to me, "I'm from Arab descent." That's it? That's all you got? Do we all travel with only our parents' stereotypes to guide us, never going beyond them to get to a peaceful destination?

In the past weeks I have relived this moment over and over, on television and radio, in newspapers and blogs. I've listened to a constant stream of commentary. And my sharpest impression is this: Where before I saw a foggy anti-Israel, anti-Jewish link, it's now clear. This feeling is not about statehood. It's about an ingrown, organic hate. It's a sentiment that bears no connection to history, dates, passages or verses. Erase the facts, the dates and the lore. Erase the Jew. Incredibly, even the Nazis said to the Jews, "Go home to Palestine." But Thomas and a babbling stream in our world and country dictate to Jewish people to "go home to Poland and Germany." Yeah, I said "oooh."

Well, the weekend stuff is taken care of,

and I'm back at it. Somewhat. For tonight, I'm only posting this:

Really nasty starts at 3:39.
If this is true and correct, then Obama and his buttmonkeys should all be hanged by the short & curlies.

Thanks to Sondra for pointing to this

Got some stuff planned that'll keep bloggage to a minimum

the next couple of days, so I'll try to give a fair pile of stuff now. Starting with
Arizona is spending $1.25 million to build bridges for 250 rare red squirrels so they won’t get hit by cars crossing the rural road. The money is being spent, officials said, because cars kill about five of these squirrels each year.
Federal grant money. Which means the feds take it from us for crap like this.


While the feds are too busy to actually DO anything about illegal aliens, like enforce our borders, they're busy spending our money on this:
ICE chief John Morton — the same man who signaled last month that he may refuse to process illegal aliens sent to him by Arizona law enforcement officials — has already eliminated 50 detention facilities. This despite a DHS inspector general report released last spring exposing the federal government’s bipartisan failure to expand detention space capacity to end the dangerous game of illegal alien “catch and release.”

Instead, among the p.c. makeover measures under consideration or about to be made by Obama’s ICE agency in the next 30 days:

– “Softening” the physical appearance of privately contracted detention facilities with “hanging plants.”

- Giving illegal alien detainees e-mail access and free Internet-based phone service.

- Abandoning lockdowns, lights-out, visitor screening and detention uniform requirements.

- Serving fresh veggies and continental breakfast and providing Bingo sessions, arts and crafts classes, and, yes, movie nights.
They're planning to sue Arizona for enforcing federal laws, but they think this crap is important...


The Coast Guard does a good job of search and rescue; but it is a government bureaucracy, which leads to crap like this:
Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.

So why stop now?

"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.
Apparently the idea of sending someone to look on the barges for extinguishers and vests didn't occur to the Coasties.


Well, that's interesting:
Police use the onset of summer to issue fines to women found wearing make-up and nail polish, or figure-hugging clothes. Veils are tightened to stop showing so much hair, with light, nearly transparent head-coverings a particular target. Men deemed to be 'harassing' women while driving are also stopped.

In a television interview marking the anniversary of his re-election, Mr Ahmadinejad said he did not approve, and that the police actions were "designed to create tumult".

"The government does not agree with this behaviour and will respond to and control it as much as it can," he said. "It is an insult to ask a man and woman walking on the steet about their relation to each other. Nobody has the right to ask such questions."
First thought: things are getting so ready to blow completely that Ahmadogcrap wants to lower the tension, and thinks this will help.


Ann Coulter on the SC Senate primary:
They're hopping mad, these liberals, but it's not clear what their theory of the crime is. Before accusing Republicans of committing a dirty trick, apparently no one asked the question: "OK, but what was the trick?"

The key to Greene's victory, you see, is that he got more votes. How do liberals imagine Republicans pulled that off? Mesmerize the Democrats into voting for an idiot? If Republicans could do that, John McCain would be president.


This time I'll send you directly to Theo for the cartoons. Note: parts of his site may be NSFW.


Why does this not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling?
Seventeen Afghan military officers and enlistees have gone AWOL from a Lackland AFB language school over the past 18 months, the Air Force said Thursday.

Just what happened to the foreign troops isn't clear. The Air Force said the cases were given to the Department of Homeland Security once the officers and enlistees disappeared.


Why aren't they going to court? Because it would make trouble for Obama, and most of our major media is in the tank for him. That's why.


I'll say it again: 'zero-tolerance for weapons' isn't about safety, it's about covering the ass of bureaucrats. And giving them even more control over the kids and their families.
These were those miniature, 1 inch plastic soldiers of which some number usually come poised in various shooting positions. And THAT violated the school's weapons ban? How insane is that?
Not insane at all, if your aim is to protect the education bureaucrats from having to think, and give them more control over people.


And finally,
And now, I must get to it.

Remember the cast-bullet loads I tried in the M1 Garand?

Last time went to the outdoor range I finally remembered to take the tripod and set up the Chrony: in my rifle, 35.0 grains of IMR4895 over a 150-grain gas-check bullets equals an average 1950fps. No function problems, and the only sign of lead fouling I've ever found was a couple of specks on the piston face.

I'm going to keep messing with this over time, see if tweaking it will tighten groups a bit. But for what I started this for, a light load for when I can only get to the indoor range, it works fine.

One piece of good news

DISCLOSE has been yanked, at least for now
Following a rebellion by two important factions of rank-and-file House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has pulled a campaign-finance bill opposed by a broad coalition of special interest groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Not saying this lightly: God-damn these nannies,

there's not one damned thing they won't screw with. All for your own good, of course.
But increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend?
...
“I think it is kids’ preference to pair up and have that one best friend. As adults — teachers and counselors — we try to encourage them not to do that,” said Christine Laycob, director of counseling at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis. “We try to talk to kids and work with them to get them to have big groups of friends and not be so possessive about friends.”

“Parents sometimes say Johnny needs that one special friend,” she continued. “We say he doesn’t need a best friend.”
I declare that, in the name of diversity and progress, we should line these bastards up, yank out every other one and hang them.

It's all for the public good. Truly, in this case.

Yeah, seems that when Obama speaks of 'bipartisan' and 'open',

he means "Do what I want and it's bipartisan" and " 'Open' means you'll find out about it eventually."
PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer said she was stunned and angered to learn during an Ecuadorean television interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Obama Administration had decided to sue Arizona over its recently passed anti-illegal immigration law, SB1070. Video of the interview can be seen at Governor Brewer’s Arizona Border Security Information website:
www.azgovernor.gov/AZBorderSecurity.asp

Secretary Clinton announced during the interview on June 8th that President Obama has directed the U.S. Justice Department to “bring a lawsuit against the Arizona law.”

“This is no way to treat the people of Arizona,” said Governor Brewer. “To learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the Secretary of State is just outrageous. If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation.”

This after her meeting a couple of weeks ago where
Brewer said Obama agreed to send staffers to Arizona “in a couple of weeks” to discuss using more federal resources to tighten the border, including allocating 1,200 National Guard troops and $500 million more in funds for border protection and law enforcement.

“He assured us that the majority of those resources would be coming to Arizona,” Brewer said.

She added, “I am encouraged there is going to be much better dialogue between the federal government and the state of Arizona. I hope that that’s not wishful thinking; I hope that that’s positive thinking.”
Apparently when Obama says "I'll send staffers to discuss matters" he means "I'll talk to lawyers about suing you."

ANYBODY who trusts ANYTHING Obama says anymore is either a fool or foolishly optimistic.

On the 'surveillance cameras to check insurance(and gather

information on you for mining/sale) mess, the Speaker of the House doesn't want to talk about it:
House Speaker Chris Benge has refused to answer questions posed by The McCarville Report Online about Governor Henry's plan to install highway traffic cameras to catch vehicle owners without the required insurance.

Benge's spokeswoman, Jennifer Monies, responded to TMRO's repeated questions today with, "I am sorry, but the Speaker does not have a comment on either question."
Well, he damn well needs to have some; he's supposed to be a public servant, not a private citizen talking about personal matters.

Further note on the crap going on here, here. In the second we find this:
"Brad Henry is not even involved in this," Switzer told The Oklahoman's Randy Ellis despite the fact that the entire purpose of the Meacham meeting was for Switzer and others to advocate the InsureNet system to spot vehicle insurance scofflaws for inclusion in Henry's budget. It was included as a revenue measure by Henry after Meacham's meeting with Switzer; bids have been taken by the Department of Central Services but a contract has not yet been awarded.
In a pig's backside the governor wasn't involved; he had to know something about it to 'include it as a revenue measure'.

Before I head out to do some stuff before it gets melt-hot,

I bring you:
Pandering:
Bags are to be put over scores of surveillance cameras in parts of Birmingham with large Muslim populations, after local objections.

Safer Birmingham Partnerships (SBP) said 216 cameras were put up, including hidden ones, mainly in the Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook districts.

The cameras were financed through a counter-terrorism fund, but the SBP said they would tackle all crime.

Councillor Salma Yaqoob said people had lost faith in the authorities.
A lot of people have had problems with cameras everywhere for years; but a majority-muslim district gripes, and "Oh, we'll cover them up!"


A bit more fiddling with history:
Jean-Pierre Azéma, a respected author of more than a dozen works, said he was concerned that inconvenient truths about France's wartime past were being played down amid a surge of patriotism around de Gaulle's June 18, 1940 appeal from London.

He said the fervour around the anniversary risked talking up de Gaulle's achievements when the real man of the hour was Winston Churchill.
Speaking of de Gaulle, from what I've read he made himself such a pain in the ass, and actual threat in some cases, that Churchill later wanted him to have a fatal accident.


From what I've read, Playboy actually has a decent article here. Kind of amazing.


One more example of Obama minions who cannot understand the difference between 'act of war' and 'criminal act'.


The parts that jump out at me:
Another World is Possible, Another US is Necessary.
and
And I am thinking of how the US needs to change in order to make that world possible.
"The world should change, but the US HAS TO CHANGE", etc. Always what it comes down to with these people, isn't it?


As Tea Party protests pop up in places like Moscow, Tel Aviv and the Hague, Americans may question whether the Tea Party platform can cross international and cultural borders. For activists outside the U.S., the answer is a resounding “yes.”

“I think the message of the American Revolution is global. The message of natural, unalienable rights, the message of opposition to tyrannical government — that’s not just well-known, that’s universal,” Boris Karpa, organizer of the Israeli Tea Party, told The Daily Caller in an e-mail. “As you know well, many countries have based their founding documents on the U.S. Declaration of Independence or other American documents.”

Although several international organizers had never even heard of the Boston Tea Party until U.S. protests brought the events of 1773 back into the spotlight, they now wear the Tea Party badge proudly as an example of American exceptionalism worth emulating.

“This [Tea Party] title is ideal for Russia,” Max Kronos, organizer of the Moscow Tea Party, told The Daily Caller in an e-mail. “This event has forever gone down in history — in Russia, such events have not happened.”


I'm so very glad I never jumped on the Lieberman bandwagon.
The federal government would have “absolute power” to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative “kill switch” to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive.

Lieberman has been pushing for government regulation of the Internet for years under the guise of cybersecurity, but this new bill goes even further in handing emergency powers over to the feds which could be used to silence free speech under the pretext of a national emergency.


I don't care if he was stoned, anybody stupid enough to do this needs to be removed from the gene pool.


And from Theo, just because I like them:

I have got to get by CCIZ more often

"Terry Pratchett is an elegant, witty author whose works reference, well everything. That his books are multi-layered enough to be enjoyed by kids but also by adults is the reason he is a great writer. Of course because Pratchett has created a fantasy world he’s an intellectual light-weight to the scribbling classes but fuck them! Pratchett will be seen as one of the great writers of the C20th and beyond (make us an Igor quick Dr Venter!). I’m sure he is not studied much in English Lit departments but then they do study James Joyce who was an obscurantist bollocks artist. They also study that utter cunt D H Lawrence. I once flicked through “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. I got more of a stiffy with the Argos catalogue."
This was brought on by a piece of idiocy by a idiot named Rod Liddle which starts
Here is one of life’s little conundrums: what is the correct procedure to follow when you see a grown-up reading the work of JK Rowling or Terry Pratchett on a train? I usually end up kicking them surreptiotiously under the table, then apologising profusely, or “accidentally” smacking them in the head with my luggage.
The gentleman opines that he would have about the same reaction as I would to this jackass:
...and if I was assaulted for that “crime” by Mr Liddle there would be a hoicking up the bracket and indeed elsewise that would make me the stuff of CCTV legend. Liddle would wind-up dictating his mindless drivel by blinking Morse Code from a care-home for the chronically spackered.

Reminds me of some of the idiocies I read years ago from 'thinkers' about Robert Heinlein's works.

Gee, law schools play word games to screw people over

for money; whoda thunk it?
The law graduates posting on these sites know the score. They know that law schools pad their employment figures—96% employed—by counting as “employed” any job at all, legal or non-legal, including part time jobs, including unemployed graduates hired by the school as research assistants (or by excluding unemployed graduates “not currently seeking” a job, or by excluding graduates who do not supply employment information). They know that the gaudy salary numbers advertised on the career services page—“average starting salary $125,000 private full time employment”—are actually calculated based upon only about 25% of the graduating class (although you can’t easily figure this out from the information provided by the schools). They know all this because they know of too many classmates who didn’t get jobs or who got low paying jobs—the numbers don’t jibe with their first hand knowledge.

They know the score now. But they didn’t know it when they first applied to law school. They bought into the numbers provided by law schools. The mission of these sites is to educate, to warn away, the incoming crop of prospective law students—to save them from becoming victims of the law school scam.

A testimony to the P-51

A flying threesome of P-51D's locked wingtip-to-wingtip, looping and spiralling and turning and flat-hatting it over the airfield. If you have never had a trio of Merlins in full song come roaring only a couple hundred feet over your head, you don't know what you're missing. If I found out that the only way for me to keep those 1650 cubic-inch V-12s running was to drive down to the Gulf and hand-paint pelicans with crude oil using a bucket and a brush, I'd do it.

Obviously some Aussie police departments have taken care of all real crime

and have far too much time on their hands; time to cut the budget.

Idiocy pointed to by Theo

Such a start to the day....

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating eight lawmakers who held fundraisers within 48 hours of a major House vote on a Wall Street reform bill or received substantial donations from business people with a financial stake in the bill, according to congressional sources and letters.
A: Guys, we don't give a rats ass what party you belong to; you do crap like this, we want you out.
B: Considering what Charles Rangel has gotten away with- for one example- the OCE isn't a real impressive group.


I keep hearing praise of Gov. Christie of NJ, and on financial matters he sounds good. But all the current "I want to see him running for President!" noise, I got curious about his stand on the 2nd Amendment, and could find damned little; I may just be looking in the wrong places. Found this:
Hannity: “Should every citizen in your state be allowed to get a licensed weapon if they want one?”

Christie: “In New Jersey, that’s not going to happen, Sean.”

Hannity: “Why?”

Christie: “Listen, with the Democratic Legislature that we have, there is no way those type of things –”

Hannity: “Would you support it?”

Christie: “Listen, at the end of the day, what I support are common sense laws that will allow people to protect themselves. But I also am very concerned about the safety of our police officers on the streets. Very concerned. And I want to make sure that we don’t have an abundance of guns out there.” He then finally extricated himself from the issue and turned the focus back to the economy.
This on Wiki(yeah, I know, but it's among what I could find):
Christie has said that he supports strict and aggressive enforcement of the state's current gun laws.[44] He however supports the Second Amendment's right to bear arms.
Anyone know of specifics of his stand on the matter? What I've been able to find is NOT encouraging; that 'abundance of guns' quote is very troubling, and how you can square supporting NJ gun laws with 'supporting' the 2nd, I'm not real sure.


Mentioned before, I don't generally watch political speeches; sounds like I didn't miss much last night.


So a former governor of OK, about as corrupt as they come, is getting rich working with Pakistan. Just bloody wonderful.


Lynne Stewart is a traitor, and should be in that cell for the rest of her life.


This crap is not the Hope! and Change!! we're looking for, dammit.

Now that the little birds have flown, I need to try to clean the sparrow nests out of the carport drains; see you later.

Further reason, if you needed it, to dump PayPal

I mentioned them being on the other side here; here's the followup:
On Monday, after what Geller says was a storm of protest, PayPal backed down.

Geller said she received a phone call from PayPal early Monday morning informing her it had all been a “misunderstanding.”

“They called me back and said it was a misunderstanding and we’re all good,” Geller said. “They obviously received an overwhelming response.”

“I have a pretty big soap box, but what are the little guys supposed to do?”
Especially when EBay and PayPal seem to have no problem with supporting islamists who call for murder and hate(the real thing):
In the meantime, as PJM’s Richard Fernandez reported earlier, Revolution Muslim was still being served by PayPal. Revolution Muslim is a site which, among other things, called for the murder of South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit and has a picture of President Barak Obama as Adolf Hitler.

“I got called a hate site and yet Revolution Muslim threatens death to the Comedy Central producers and they still take PayPal,” she said. Geller added that the DVDs of Imam Anwar al Awlaki, a jihadist cleric who has been linked to Major Nidal Hasan, the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, are for sale on eBay and can be purchased using PayPal.

So, PayPal came crawling back because of all the publicity; Geller has gone to GPal anyway. Good for her; damned if I'll use PayPal again after this.


PJM made repeated requests for comment to PayPal which were not returned. In fact, we were given a non-working phone number as the number for a spokesperson.

PJM also made multiple attempts to contact former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who is running on the Republican ticket for governor of California. PayPal is owned by eBay.
Hey, Whitman, you'd better go ahead and talk to them; we want answers, and we're not going to go away.

So the PC Police and anti-smoking weenies have struck again

And taken a tip from Stalin to do it.
The face is instantly familiar, the two-fingered salute unmistakable.

But are these actually the same photograph of Sir Winston Churchill?

In the original photograph the war leader has his cigar gripped firmly in the corner of his mouth.

But in the other image - currently greeting visitors to a London museum - his favourite smoke has been digitally extinguished.
And- of course- NOBODY knows who was responsible, oh no!

Some more rain during the night,

and the sun's peeking through now. Hopefully allowing some drying out today.

In other news, some people in government may finally be getting the hint that the PRC isn't our friend.
And last month, at the Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, a Chinese flag officer launched a three-minute rant that stunned the 65 or so American officials in the audience. Everything that is right with U.S. relations with China is due to China, said Rear Admiral Guan Youfei. Everything that is wrong is Washington’s fault. According to Guan, the United States sees China as an enemy.
...
“Admiral Guan was representing what all of us think about the United States in our hearts,” a senior Chinese official told the Washington Post. “It may not have been politically correct, but it wasn’t an accident.” Chinese flag officers do not launch into polemical speeches at tightly scripted events, such as the once-a-year Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and it was reckless for American officials to assume, despite everything, that Admiral Guan was speaking only for himself.


NASA says around 2013 the sun is going to give us a whack. They think a bad one.
Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.


They've found huge mineral deposits in Afghanistan; the left predicts doom because this is a horrible thing.


Two Somali football fans have been killed by Islamic militants after being caught watching World Cup matches.
...
A spokesman for the group, Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros, said the rest of Somalia should respect their ban on the World Cup – the first to be hosted in Africa – and focus instead on "pursuing holy jihad".


The chick who claimed she was fired for being hot... You've blown it, dumbass.
She griped that Lorenzana has been "ridiculed and attacked . . . by media pundits."

But "pundit" Peyser was more than happy to hear of Allred's rant.

"I'm flattered that my words were sufficient to draw Gloria Allred, like a truffle-sniffing pig, out from California to represent this lady," Peyser said.

"I'm getting an avalanche of mes sages, e-mails, voicemails from people who are saying, 'Bravo!' and that this woman [Lorenzana] is a publicity whore."
I didn't buy this in the first place; a bank is going to fire a woman because of her looks? In this day of "You discriminated against me!!!" lawsuits?


Couple of dumbass teachers just had to crap on some kids who decided to join the military; problems ensue.


This is a strange one:
A armed couple was arrested tonight after they tried to enter Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base in an SUV full of weapons and ammo.


Gov. Jindal got tired of waiting for Obama and the EPA to make a decision:
Eight weeks into the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of the Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has told the National Guard that there’s no time left to wait for BP, so they’re taking matters into their own hands.

In Fort Jackson, La., Jindal has ordered the Guard to start building barrier walls right in the middle of the ocean. The barriers, built nine miles off shore, are intended to keep the oil from reaching the coast by filling the gaps between barrier islands.
Well, since The Lightworker & Co. would rather talk and play games than make a decision...

I think the first lifestyle change that should occur

is throwing every nanny-state socialist bastard in the White House and Congress out the door. More preferably a window.

Most preferably after the tar and feathers are applied.

And let it not be forgotten that the bastard signing this is still smoking.

About the days weather,

Marty pointed to this picture.

You can see where the storms were developing southwest of here, one after another, and training over the same ground. For hours. One area northeast of me a few miles got a measured 11"; my area about 7-8". Still sprinkling off & on, but- very happily- the stuff ran off fairly quickly in most areas.

I stand corrected: now it's raining fairly hard.

Long time ago, when dad was stationed in northern OK, I remember a day & night that has the same feel as this. I remember Mom was worried as hell because Dad was out in it doing search & rescue work. The National Guard had brought a bunch of deuce-and-a-halfs out for assistance, but some of the roads even those couldn't get through; a lot of farm families spent the night in the upper story of the house, or on the roof or in the loft in the barn.

The heavy stuff has currently stopped, though I still hear thunder.

Dad was worried about the sheriff; he had a bad habit of finding out someone was in trouble and diving in without thinking through the risks, and in this case that might be 'diving in' literally and fatally. But they got through the night with nobody dead. Couple of people wound up spending the night in a tree after they tried to drive across a flooded bridge, but nobody dead as I recall. That was the first time I got a lesson about what moving water could do; a guy tried to drive a semi over a bridge with about 18" or so of fast-moving water over it and it washed the tractor and trailer off; can't remember if he was one who spent the night on top of the vehicle when it got stuck, or if he's one that made it into a tree.

In any case, this day was quite wet enough for anybody.

Sometimes the NRA really ticks me off

This is one of those times

Added: yes, I know they're a single-issue organization; still annoys me

And, by the way,

Happy Birthday, Army

235 years

Hehehehehe......

About Democrat Rep. Bob Etheridge's apology,

Moe Lane sees it as an "I got caught so I'm sorry" type. There's also this bit:
No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response. I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse."
Ahem. THEY ASKED YOU A FREAKIN' QUESTION, YOU BASTARD; just a bloody question. And you have to throw this 'intrusive and partisan' crap in to try to excuse yourself.

Some of the lefty blogs and news weenies are making a big deal out of the guy saying "We're just students!" while being assaulted by Etheridge; guess what, guys? Some jerk's acting like that, I'm not giving him my name either; and this guy sounded scared to death. He asked a representative a question and gets assaulted, he was probably scared what would happen later if he gave his name. And bloody shocked that Etheridge would act this way.

For a while there I was wondering how long a cubit is...

Between about 0430-0445 this morning and noon some areas in central OK got 11" of rain. Flooding, flash-flooding and general misery. If I remember correctly, at one point some parts of every interstate highway in the central OK area was closed due to high water.

After noon, in this area at least, it broke down to sprinkles to light rain(like the light rain right now, dammit), giving the water some time to run off. My garden is made of an area outlined with concrete blocks and filled in to raise and level it; there was so much water at one point this morning it pushed three of the blocks over. I was able to set them back up, and after it'd stopped for a while scoop up some of the dirt that washed out, but I'm still going to have to get a couple of pickup loads of topsoil to fill in what could not be saved.

The Brits aren't the only ones with these problems

...While the British have upgraded their standard issue assault rifle, the SA80, and their squad automatic weapon, the L86A2, and other infantry weapons over the course of the last 50 years, little to no attention has been paid to either finding a new sidearm or purchasing newer versions of the L9A1. Meanwhile, the companies that produce the L9A1 offer upgraded, more modern Hi-Power models. Thus, aside from a few special ops units, the majority of British officers are stuck using well-worn, beat-up 9mms that are not aging well. Reliable weapon though it may be, a 30 year-old pistol that has been issued to, and used by, dozens of officers, and spent a lot of time outdoors, is not going to be as reliable as a newer sidearm. Troops are often wary of using such equipment, knowing that a malfunction or a jam in an old handgun could very well cost them their lives in combat.
Back in the 1970's, when I lived in Lawton, knew several people at Fort Sill. One told me one evening that ALL the 1911A1 pistols in their armory, with the sole exception of those used by the shooting teams, were so old, worn and loose that they rattled like maracas if you shook them; some had barrels so shot-out they couldn't hold a bucket-size group at twenty feet.* Money was tight enough that replacing/renovating sidearms had a very low priority.


Pointed to by the gentleman in the handbasket.

*Mind you, despite having many years- in some cases forty- total use with all-too-often lousy care, every one of them would go bang when the trigger was pulled; he still loved them for that.

Ok, this goes all the way into assault

by a congressman, Democrat Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina, against people who dared to ask him a reasonable question. Whacking the camera, laying hands on the guy asking the question...

I'd have called 911 and reported him. And seen if I could file charges; there is NO EXCUSE for this kind of crap.

Added: here's the view from both cameras.

It just flat sucks outside

It started raining- heavily- around 0500 here, and hasn't stopped. Flooding all over the area, lots of road closings. From the radar, it looks like the storms keep forming a little southwest of here and rolling northeast, dumping all over as they go. Depending on what area you're in, anywhere from 2-6" in

I live on a high area, and there's standing water in spots in my back yard, which I think I've seen once before.

First-class mess. Flash-flood and flood warnings over a big swath of the state running from southwest to northeast, and the panhandle. Street flooding and all that fun stuff; I'd hate to see what the river looks like through the downtown area right now.

Yesterday was an anniversary

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Dave says How many of you are old enough to remember when you thought "he's insane"?

On June 12, 1987 I was 27 years old. And I thought Reagan was bonkers, with this speech.
I was 29, and I thought something along the lines of 'Bleep-DAMN, I'm glad I voted for him!' And it amazed me how many people had the same reaction as Dave; I wondered "How can you say you believe in freedom, in the individual, and NOT want that damned wall down?"

I still don't have a real answer to that. And I'm still glad I voted for him.

Both times.

Wow, I wonder why they'd do that...

Late Wednesday night, the FAA created a "no-fly zone" over a large area in the Gulf in order to, uhm, secure the safety of cleanup workers or something.
and add to that,
Update: In the comments, GulfCoastBamaFan observes that the GIS (Geographical Information System) data related to the spill is now unavailable:

Damn, almost like they don't want people to know about something

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Found here.

And how much you want to be he won't try it at some point?

Tam had a post on movies,

and I commented on some books they could make into movies that would be effing WONDERFUL if they actually stuck to the story. She said
"Oh, pleez jeezus, I would spend all my money for a ticket.

Are you *%($#ing listening, Hollywood? I would murder people in their beds to see a good big-screen adaptation of Counting The Cost."

Hell, yeah. I'd buy a ticket for me, my daughter, my friend the gunsmith and son. And buy the disc. Maybe two, one for a gift.

But it wouldn't win at Cannes, or be praised by the usual suspects, so the chances of someone in Hollyweird actually having the brains and determination to do it... low. Very low.

Saga of the 15-22

Nothing bad to report. Either they had a lot of bugs in the early ones and I got one of the buggiest, or it was simply a lemon. In either case, I've now got about a thousand rounds through this one and the only failures to function I can blame on either not having the top round in the magazine in proper position(round popped to vertical instead of feeding), or a couple of brands not having quite enough oomph or something to cycle the action. Odd, that; it's fired Eley Sport and some other subsonic stuff with no problem, but a couple of brands this one just won't work with.

Remember the Remington Golden Bullet problem? I found a box of old stuff, between 2-3 years old, buried under some other stuff and tried some of it; functioned perfectly in this rifle. But the stuff made since? Not so much.

When I got this rifle I wiped out the bore with Eezox, and wiped the bolt and rails clean with it, left it open to dry and haven't touched it since. It's been roughly a thousand rounds through, so today I opened it up. Bolt face:Inside the receiver:
Fairly filthy with .22 fouling, most of which wiped off with a damp patch(trying Strike Hold this time). Not nearly as dirty as this AR15*, but standard 'not cleaned in a while' .22-level.

I found a BSA .22 scope stuck in a corner(found on sale somewhere) and stuck it on for testing ammo. Now I need a calm day at the outdoor range so I can try this at 50 and(hopefully) 100 yards. Want to try the Fed Auto Match in the Martini, too, see if the promise of that one group holds up.


*That's the dirtiest I've ever seen. The second-dirtiest firearm for me was a Marlin model 75 sold cheap because it wouldn't function. Reason it wouldn't was, from the looks of it, whenever it started getting sticky they'd just spritzed some oil- motor oil, from the smell- in and kept going. That's the only .22 I've ever had to actually soak the works in solvent to clean: grey sludge caked on/in EVERYTHING inside the receiver. Kind of wish it was still mine, as after cleaning it was a very reliable and very accurate little rifle.

I have to note that this scope kind of sucks. Big problem is that it's VERY picky about eye relief: get just a touch too far back and everything outside the center of field gets blurry. REAL blurry. But it holds zero, so I'll give it a try for this.

On this voter intimidation case, the fix is in;

problem is, thanks to the new media, people are actually finding out about it. Crap like this:
After sending the response, Coates and Robert Popper met with Rosenbaum and the then acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, Loretta King. People familiar with the discussions describe “two days of shouting.” The trial team now knew that DoJ political appointees were serious about undermining the case by using whatever arguments they could dream up, including First Amendment concerns. The team prepared a detailed memo dated May 6 explaining the factual and legal basis for the case. In 13 pages, the attorneys meticulously analyzed the law and the facts and rebutted any notion that the First Amendment could insulate the Panthers. The memo made clear that Rosenbaum’s and King’s arguments for dismissing the case were spurious. Rosenbaum and King, for example, argued that legal precedent involving protestors at abortion clinics would undermine the case. The trial team pointed out, however, that these cases were either inapplicable or actually supported the issuance of an injunction when there was a significant government interest (such as the protection of voting rights) at stake.
...
The arguments continued after the May 6 memo was submitted. During one meeting in a conference room on the 5th floor of the Main Justice building, Coates became so exasperated he threw the memo at Rosenbaum who had admitted not reading the trial team’s detailed briefing on the issues.
Basically, "I don't have to read your brief, I don't want to be confused with facts!"
Really ought to read it all, this crap is important.

From Mark Steyn, two politicisns who deserve each other

Anyway, a couple of years back, Michael Ignatieff, a professor at Harvard and previously a BBC late-night intellectual telly host, returned to his native land of Canada in order to become prime minister, and to that end got himself elected as leader of the Liberal party. And, as is the fashion nowadays, he cranked out a quickie tome laying out his political “vision.” Having spent his entire adult life abroad, he was aware that some of the natives were uncertain about his commitment to the land of his birth. So he was careful to issue a sort of pledge of a kind of allegiance, explaining that writing a book about Canada had “deepened my attachment to the place on earth that, if I needed one, I would call home.”

Gee, that’s awfully big of you. As John Robson commented in the Ottawa Citizen: “I’m worried that a man so postmodern he doesn’t need a home wants to lead my country. Why? Is it quaint? An interesting sociological experiment?”

Indeed. But there’s a lot of it about. Many Americans are beginning to pick up the strange vibe that, for Barack Obama, governing America is “an interesting sociological experiment,” too. He would doubtless agree that the United States is “the place on earth that, if I needed one, I would call home.” But he doesn’t, not really: It is hard to imagine Obama wandering along to watch a Memorial Day or Fourth of July parade until the job required him to. That’s not to say he’s un-American or anti-American, but merely that he’s beyond all that. Way beyond. He’s the first president to give off the pronounced whiff that he’s condescending to the job — that it’s really too small for him and he’s just killing time until something more commensurate with his stature comes along.
Read it all.

And I'm beginning to think that we should interpret 'professor at Harvard' or 'Harvard grad' as meaning something along the lines of 'wants to destroy the country' or 'the enemy'.

Hey, Moron O'Donnell, if you need more convincing,

Turns out, the Jews in Israel are already there.

JEWS were expelled from what is now Israel in roughly the sixth century BC and again in the second century AD. Though the population scattered to all corners of the globe, a religious and traditional connection to Israel remained in the Diaspora.

But skeptics have long questioned whether the people who daven in Brooklyn have any real ancestral link to those early Jewish people.

The studies, then, are like a genetic coat of arms.

“It seems that most Jewish populations, and therefore most Jewish individuals, are closer to each other [at the genetic level], and closer to the Middle Eastern populations, than to their traditional host population in the Diaspora,” Israeli geneticist Doron Behar, author of the Nature study, told the BBC.

This was already known from histories, but here's you some actual genetic evidence. So shut the hell up.