Couple of things to start the day: first, the man investigating the CRU e-mails & mess

brings up a big problem:
Summary: This is a long post, but the bottom line is worth the time to read it. Under oath, in front of the House of Commons Committee on Science and Technology, Lord Oxburgh testified that it is impossible to reconstruct an accurate global temperature record over the past 1,000 years. Especially one that could claim modern climate is significantly different from that seen over the last 1000 years.
It's long, and it drives the stake further through the heart of AGW.


Second, well, it's hard to summarize this bit of history.
...For several thousand years the Jewish people have been celebrating the Rosh Hashanah Holiday, which starts tonight at sundown, by blowing the Shofar. At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, the Shofar is blown one last time to signal the end of the fast. Several years ago Elder of Ziyon discovered that during the British mandate Jews were forbidden to blow the Shofar. The British reasoning should be familiar to anyone paying attention to our conflict with Islam today; Elder uses contemporary newspaper accounts to document a dynamic that continues:

Ah, now it becomes clear.

A Jew does something that is a religious requirement, that takes a couple of seconds, that disturbs nobody - and Arabs rioted in 1929.

Not just rioted, but they murdered 135 Jews, expelling Jews from communities (like Hebron) that they had lived in for centuries.

And the British blamed the Jews. Because one of the riots started in 1929 after a Jew blowed a Shofar at the Kotel.

In the bizarre logic of genteel anti-semitism, Jews must be punished for the murderous actions of Arabs. And the ironic flip-side of such an attitude is that Arabs are treated like savages who cannot be expected to control themselves.

(Christians have (re)learned that such a dynamic is not exclusive to Jewish-Muslim relations; Hindus have known this for a long time as well.)
...
This is a role that we have seen time and time again the Arabs take advantage of - they themselves have now brought up generations that believe that the Arab world has no responsibility for their actions. The gullible West, wracked with guilt over crimes of colonialism and liberal angst that favors the underdog no matter how deadly they are, do not hold them accountable for their actions.

So we have riots in 1929 that were the fault of a Jewish shofar blower, we have an intifada in 2001 that is the fault of a politician taking a walk on a Jewish holy site nearby, we have deadly demonstrations for the supposed desecration of a printed book.

And who can blame Arabs for acting this way? It has been shown to be a successful strategy! The Western fear of the mythical Arab street has fueled brain-dead decisions like the British made in the 1930s. Arabs daily threaten the West with the "power" of their people who can be whipped up into a frenzy with a single word from a sheikh. And the West slavishly decides, whoa, we cannot risk the wrath of a billion Arabs, we'd better force the Jews do make more concessions instead, because Jews are intelligent and can see reason, unlike the Arab savages whom we are scared of.

It is a winning formula. The 1921 riots, the 1929 riots, the 1936 strike and violence, the 1989 intifada, the 2001 intifada - all are cases where violence by Arabs are rewarded by the West rather than punished. And as long as terror and violence is rewarded and the victims perversely blamed, it is a formula that is guaranteed to be repeated far into the future.
And now we have everyone from the President to the general commanding in Afghanistan telling a guy in the US that he can't do something because it'll be so upsetting to muslims. Who, before he'd actually DONE anything, started rioting and burning US and Israeli flags(the Jewish state having not a damn thing to do with this, but they are Jews, after all) and the usual crap. Which does bring up another point:
One thing to say "Sir, the action you propose is crude and we don't think it's right"; another to say "You can't exercise your right to do something disturbing because the muslims will riot; we can't expect them to act like civilized human beings and respect free speech, so YOU have to not do or say what you wish."

And we have the Hamasque imam telling us "If I don't build the mosque/religious center THERE, muslims the world over will see it as an attack and(you knew it was coming) riot and attack the US and commit terrorist acts." Translation: Give us what we want or else, you foul unbelievers.

Someone put it nicely: the proper response to all those people in other countries would have beeen "This is not an act of the US government, it's an act by a private citizen which he has the right to do; stop threatening us for not bowing to your wishes, because we consider that 'freedom of speech' thing to be very important, and we're not giving it up, even when something said or done is offensive."

Why I despise what unions have become

Peggy Mashke tends to 12 children for 12 hours a day at her home, so she was surprised to get a letter welcoming her to the United Auto Workers union.

“I thought it was a joke,” said Mashke, 50, of northern Michigan’s Ogemaw County. “I work out of my home. I’m not an auto worker. How can I become a member of the UAW? I didn’t get it.”

Willing or not, Mashke and 40,000 other at-home providers are members of a labor partnership that represents people across Michigan who watch children from low-income families. Two unions receive 1.15 percent of the state subsidies granted to those providers, or more than $1 million a year.
...
A fear that the “stealth unionization” of home-based day care workers could just be the start of a bigger effort was acknowledged in court on Tuesday by a union lawyer.

Patrick Wright, senior legal counsel for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, had said months ago that doctors that accept Medicaid, grocers that take food stamps and landlords that take housing assistance could be the next groups targeted in state efforts to unionize anyone who gets state subsidies.
"We don't care if you want to be in the union, we want your money and we'll take it."

Now THIS is interesting:

Just obtained this letter from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine to members of Congress informing them that he will open up a review of the Obama administration’s selective enforcement of civil rights laws by the Voting Section office of DOJ.

Big news. Good news. Fine is a veteran IG whose meticulous work I cited in-depth in Invasion. You know how the Obama bully boys have treated IGs. Prayers for Fine would be most appropriate.
Yeah, they probably would; you know a bunch of people in DC and connected to Holder & Co. just about crapped kittens when they heard this.

Oh, I want to borrow that turret for winter

I don't like cigarettes, but I like this sign

Thanks to Fuzzy

What? A reporter gets it wrong on militias?

Whoda thunk it?

I'm going to quote a chunk of the post on the difference between a State Guard and a militia:
These are not — as you might think from reading the article — renegade “militias” organized by anyone who might want to. They are Congressionally authorized military forces, supposed to be there for use within a state if the National Guard is overwhelmed or unavailable because of foreign deployment, etc. Unfortunately, this discussion gets all mangled in the article and the distinction isn’t clear at all. So, here’s a nutshell summary:

We have the armed forces of the United States. Those include the National Guard, which — though occasionally called “the militia” — is really troops under federal control, as made clear in Perpich v. DoD, which held that National Guard units may be sent abroad over the objection of their governor. (Technically, National Guard members are enrolled in both their State’s National Guard, and the National Guard of the United States, but the latter trumps in the event of a dispute).

The State Defense Forces are troops raised by states with the consent of Congress. They’re not militias, either, but they have no dual Federal role, and can’t be “federalized” as the National Guard can.

We also have, again as recognized by both federal and state statutes, an “unorganized militia” of the states, and of the United States. This includes most male adults and — in some states — females, too.

Some folks in what remains of the “militia movement” favor the establishment or expansion of State Defense Forces in their home states. They may want to join them, too. Nonetheless, those Forces aren’t militias, any more than the membership of “militia movement” folks in police forces makes the police a militia.
He also notes that the Southern Poverty LyingLaw Center is at it again, stirring up crap about militias. Back during the weekend Insty pointed to an article I'd forgotten, from 1996, on the subject of SPLC hysteria-stirring on the subject.

I know people who'd crap bricks at the sight of daughter's house guest

Self-invited, I might add; "I opened the door to take some things out and it walked in as if I'd been expecting it"
It's spaced a ways down; if you're bothered by eight-legged critters, do NOT click to embiggen:

















All those little bumps on it's back? Full-size picture shows those are the younguns, being carried around until ready to strike out on their own.

The visitor has been returned to the outdoors where she- they- belong.

A different style of language, but just as good at it as Tam

That is exceptional fuckwittery. That’s making an exhibition arsehole of yourself. And there is a reasonable chance the only thing found would be an arsehole that would have to be DNA tested because holding a fucking hand grenade to your head to hear if it was ticking (after fucking with it) would mean dental records would be of limited use because that bastard would scatter your teeth over three counties.

Dear mother of all the sweetest fuck!

And that is why he is twat of the month. Because that is the most twatulent thing I have heard of in donks.

Have I ever mentioned how I despise RWPP dirtbags like David Dinkins?

Mayor David Dinkins encouraged voters to embrace a state Senate candidate because he looks "more like us."

"It's important, it is so very important, particularly for the people of this district who vote on Tuesday to recognize how important it is to understand that the city is changing," Dinkins said in his endorsement of state Senate candidate Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat on Thursday.

"Most people in the city are going to look more like us than others and that's just a fact," Dinkins said.
A: Standard Note: If a Republican or tea party member said something like this people like Dinkins would be screaming "RACISM!!!", etc.
B: That's FORMER mayor, you idiots.

You trust the Holder DOJ to fairly uphold the law?

Why?
It is 2008 all over again. Today the Department of Justice effectively rewrote the 2009 MOVE Act designed to protect military voters. In a settlement reached with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, the Holder Justice Department allowed Wisconsin to mail ballots to overseas military voters only 32 days before the election, instead of the statutorily mandated 45 days. Once again, it is no accident this embarrassing settlement is being released on a Friday, so fewer might notice.

The Pentagon had denied Wisconsin’s application for a waiver from the 45-day requirement: “The states granted waivers presented thorough and comprehensive plans to protect the voting opportunities for military and overseas voters,” Bob Carey, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, said in a statement. Wisconsin’s waiver application didn’t even come close to compliance with the MOVE Act. They wanted to send ballots only 29 days before the election. The folks at the Pentagon rightfully denied the waiver request. The victory for military voters was short-lived.
Holder needs to knock off his 'race coward' bullshit and worry about enforcing the law- ALL of it- fairly and correctly, instead of using his position for political games.

Hehehehe

President Obama and Nancy Pelosi must be Republican Secret Agents, no one in the history of the United States have destroyed the Democratic Party fast then these action Heros. Even Jefferson Davis lasted longer!!!

Despite what XKCD thinks

the perfect sound depends on the situation...

I wondered when it started why the freakin' insanity

of the left against Sarah Palin; this might indeed explain some of it.
No, the best explanation for the left’s bizarre Palin obsession is status-anxiety. Status-anxiety occurs when a person believes that their position in a real or imagined social hierarchy is threatened. Leftists react emotionally to Palin because of the threat she poses to their own individual sense of status. All their other arguments are just put forth to rationalize that emotional reaction.

In short, it is not the ideas she puts forth, its that someone like her is significant at all.
I'll add what's been said before: she energized a LOT of people, a lot of the left considered that a big threat and tried to destroy her and her family for it. People who demanded THEIR politicians families be off-limits went after hers with a truly disgusting venom, and then defended their doing it, which is probably connected to Love's idea.


The President got started on his serious word games over Obamacare the other day, and that feeds into the suppression of speech and threats of his minion Sebelius(which really ought to be investigated; a Presidential bigshot threatens people for saying something she doesn't like? Bullshit).


By the way, Obama should take not that even Friends of Hugo are getting sick of his crap.


Well, this is fun; about an hour ago I checked the weather, it being all overcast, and it showed 'becoming sunny', etc. I looked out a few minutes ago and saw some really dark clouds to the west and checked again; it's now become 80% chance of thunderstorms and it's raining. Just can't slip anything past the weatherman, can you?


The dirtbag Moore has weighed in on the Hamasque, about the way you'd expect. As to his 'the haters have stolen your religion' crap...

I need to close some windows. And might as well start thinking about lunch.

A bit of history on the Vulcan

since it's with a new owner. Back then I'd had a Honda Rebel 250 for several years*, and decided I wanted a bigger bike. Both for general size reasons and because I wanted a bike I could take trips on. So looked around and found the Vulcan at a local dealer. It was a '93 with 3,000 miles; it was '96. I tried it out, did some arguing on price and bought it.

Never regretted it. It took me around town, to work, to the store and library and the occasional trips out of town with no problems. Up until this recent trouble, I'd had exactly one mechanical problem(I don't count things like fork seals and battery and such, those fall under maintenance) with it: Kawasaki decided to stick a switch on their bikes that, if you're riding and the low beam burns out automatically switches to high; problem was that after I replaced the lamp the damn thing wouldn't let you to back to low, so had to fix that. PITA set-up because it's apparently asking too much that people throw the switch themselves.

Besides reliability, the thing had size going for it: it was big and stable enough for highway but not so big it was hard to use in town, easy to park and so forth. If Kawasaki still made it, I'd have been sorely tempted to get another and switch the seat and such over, it was that good a bike. Unfortunately, they now go from the 500 to the 900; the 500 not quite what I want, the 900 definitely not(I don't like the handlebars, uncomfortable angle for the hands).

A digression: who the hell designs bikes the last couple of years? Seems like their idea of 'cruiser' tends to be "Let's make it big and bulky-looking and heavy, and people will LOVE them!"

Second digression: who the hell designs the seats? They're asking you to pay thousands for their product, and all too often the seat is an afterthought you have to replace. That was the one thing on the Vulcan I HAD to replace, as whoever designed it didn't like the customers; it sucked around town and was flat awful on trips. The Mustang I put on was worth every penny.

Overall, it was a fine bike that did the job of getting me around, you could ease it through traffic and it would lope down the highway at 75 or 80 without strain.


*I'd wanted/desired a bike again back in the 'married with little kids and no money' days, and wife talked me into buying it; found it used at a local dealer. It worked wonderfully; do the maintenance and it ran and ran and ran; to work, to the store, all around town. If you know someone who wants to start riding, especially if they're physically smaller, tell them to try one.

A Muslim- who builds mosques, yet- has some questions

for the Hamasque imam:
I must ask Imam Rauf: For what do you stand--what's best for Americans overall, or for what you think is best for Islam? What have you said and argued to Muslim-majority nations to address their need for reform? You have said that Islam does not need reform, despite the stoning of women in Muslim countries, death sentences for apostates, and oppression of reformist Muslims and non-Muslims.
...
You now lecture Americans that WTC mosque protests are "politically motivated" and "go against the American principle of church and state." Yet you ignore the wide global prevalence of far more dangerous theo-political groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and all of its violent and nonviolent offshoots.

In your book, "What's Right With Islam," you cite the Brotherhood's radical longtime spiritual leader Imam Yusuf Qaradawi as a "moderate." Reformist American Muslims are not afraid to name Mr. Qaradawi and his ilk as radical. We Muslims should first separate mosque and state before lecturing Americans about church and state.

A very important phrase from a politician in Canuckistan:

It has been brought to my attention that you are organizing a rally/protest outside our constituency office tomorrow. I think we can agree that free speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege and a cornerstone of our democracy. I am sending you this note to ensure you aware of the concerns of our neighbours.
'Privilege'. That's how he sees it.

Glad I don't live under this clown.

Well, I took the stupid test

and scored 81/400. And I agree with Curt, they way they phrased some of the questions was not good for honest answers.

Old friend headed down the road

The Vulcan has sold. Guy who bought it picked it up with friend who looked like the 'old biker who can fix anything' image came from him.

May she him as good a service as she gave me.

By the way: to every PC moron and 'sensitive' soul

who couldn't stand the thought of just rebuilding the WTC; to every enviroweenie jerk involved in preventing rebuilding, every bureaucrat sticking their thumb in, to every jackass who didn't WANT anything actually done at the site:
Screw You.

No, I won't forget this (added)

And won't forgive those who did it, and all those who helped.

And I won't forget people like this.


Added:
Thanks to Sondra

Want to know why I'm not particularly upset by all the 'We Must Not Inflame

The Situation' noise over the threatened Koran burning?

Here's a pretty good rundown.

We've seen members of the Religion of Submission riot and commit arson and murder over the most idiotic things imaginable; the ONLY way to be sure of 'not causing upset' and thus 'threatening the troops' would be to submit to them.

And I'm not going to.

Just to annoy some people,

a picture from visiting friend gunsmith the other night: son holding the Webley-FosberyHe's just shy of six feet, which gives you an idea of the size of the piece. Please ignore the "Awright, take the damn picure!" expression.

And yes, he has been iffy on shaving while on leave.

Well, the brain cells finally jarred out of neutral, so I'll write a bit

Starting with this:
“A recent study from the Department of Justice estimated that 25 percent of college women will be victims of rape or attempted rape before they graduate within a four-year college period.”
Which sounds flat horrible. Except
Indeed, nearly 50 percent of the “rape victims” referred to in the report said they had not been raped.

The document in question, “Acquaintance Rape of College Students,” by attorney Rana Sampson, is not a study but rather a report combining and relying on several studies — the largest of which remains problematic.
'Problematic'?
According to Gilbert, the SVCW study results found a rate of rape that was 10 times higher than when the methodology for the National Crime Victimization Study (NCVS) was used. Namely, “the National Crime Victimization study had a check to make sure that the codes [or definitions of rape, force, etc.] of responses reflected the interviewees precise description. The SVCW study did not use this type of control on coding,” Gilbert explained.

In the SVCW study, researchers asked subjects to explain what happened to them and then decided, using their own definitions, what was and was not rape. The study defined rape in exceptionally wide terms: “Forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion as well as physical force. Forced sexual intercourse means vaginal, anal or oral penetration by the offender(s). This category also includes incidents where the penetration is from a foreign object such as a bottle. Includes attempted rapes, male as well as female victims, and both heterosexual and homosexual rape. Attempted rape includes verbal threats of rape.”

The inclusion of the phrase “psychological coercion” as part of the definition greatly increased the number of “victims.”
If you're thinking this sounds like the nutcase-feminist crap that's been heard before, you're right:
In an interview with TheDC, Sampson made no distinction between violent rape and regret after seduction. “Rape is rape is rape,” she said. “I think that the kind of harm that one experiences during rape is not something we want to belittle.”
So this boob rates "I had a lot to drink/a few tokes/was horny last night, and I wish I hadn't slept with him" same as actual forcible rape. Which is absolute crap, but the standard 'feminist' line the past years(can't tell a female "Then don't be stupid in the future", after all): Men Bad, Women Victims Always.


Hmmm. "We'll show muslims burning bibles and American flags, but we will NOT show someone burning a Koran."


If these people are guilty, hang them.
The information charges that Bristol Alloys supplied metal and components to a Northrop-Grumman Shipbuilding subcontractor that didn't meet Navy specifications from 2004 or earlier through about October 2009. The materials included metal for pipe flanges and piston tailrods. Bristol Alloys and Bullick are accused of altering test reports to falsely show the materials met specificiations


At this point, screw Philadelphia and their sorry police department.
A week ago, Stephanie Farr of the Philadelphia Daily News reported: “In the last two years, Philadelphia police have confiscated guns from at least nine men — including four security guards — who were carrying them legally, and only one of the guns has been returned, according to interviews with the men. Eight of the men said that they were detained by police — two for 18 hours each. Two were hospitalized for diabetic issues while in custody, one of whom was handcuffed to a bed. Charges were filed against three of the men, only to be withdrawn by the District Attorney’s Office.”
And their excuse for this?
Lieutenant Fran Healy, special adviser to the police commissioner, told the newspaper that the police “err on the side of caution” in confiscating weapons and arresting people who are duly licensed.

From Lieutenant Fran Healy: “Officers’ safety comes first, and not infringing on people’s rights comes second.”
Sue them. This is one of the cases that may be the only thing that will inform these bastards that they're not free to do whatever the hell they want. Sue their and the city's ass off.
The newspaper profiled each man’s version of the story. From Oliver, 42, came this: “Last year, Oliver, who had nonresident permits from three states and an Act 235 license, was driving to his job as a security guard when police pulled over his car for allegedly running a stop sign in West Philadelphia. He said that police did not honor any of his permits and held him in custody for 18 hours, forcing him to stand outside for four hours in winter and denying him his diabetes medication.

“His ordeal eventually landed him in Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, at 54th Street and Larchwood Avenue, in West Philadelphia, before he was booked on firearms charges and held on $15,000 bail, according to court records. In less than a month, his case was withdrawn by the District Attorney’s Office, and a week later his gun was returned on a judge’s order.

“Later, Oliver obtained a Philadelphia permit to carry. As owner of the Parapet Group, a protection-and-security company, Oliver continues to teach the safety courses. Although the charges were withdrawn, they’re still visible on Oliver’s online court record. He said that the city offered him a $7,500 settlement, which he rejected.”
Hell yes, take them bastards to court and nail their ass.


And it looks like Turkey is working to go down the islamist rathole. Wonderful.


Hey, Congressional Black Caucus: the reason so many of your members are being investigated is because they're such dirtbags.
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) awarded three scholarships from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to his stepdaughter and wife’s niece between 2003 and 2005, according to records from the non-profit group.

Bishop is the second Democrat found to have funneled Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarship funds to relatives, threatening to turn the program into a larger political problem for the party. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) recently paid back $31,000 to the foundation for scholarships that she improperly awarded to various relatives and children of a top staffer.


Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta will receive the Medal of Honor. And for the first time in years the recipient is alive.


I've known some witches over the years; maybe we should see about them having words with Congress?
Nah, most of those I've known were so far left they walked lopsided; those would just to the standard liberal "Don't tax me, tax THE RICH!" crap.


No, the founders and our early Presidents weren't very fond of Islam; hey, when someone tells you "God says it's our right to rob and enslave and demand tribute of you", that's not going to make you like them.

Enough for now.

On the subject of taxes, any Rep or Senator or Cabinet member

who's part of this group should be fired. Any member of their staff, the same(I will make exception for someone who's in argument with the IRS on the matter; but if they're just not paying, they're out).
Privacy laws prevent release of individual tax delinquent's names. But we do know that as of the end of 2009, 41 people inside Obama's very own White House owe the government they're allegedly running a total of $831,055 in back taxes. That would cover a lot of special chocolate desserts in the White House Mess.

In the House of Representatives, 421 people owe a total $6,524,892. In the Senate, 217 owe $2,774,836. In the IRS's parent department, Treasury, 1,204 owe $7,670,814. At the Labor Dept., where Secy. Hilda Solis' husband had some backtax problems before her confirmation, 463 owe $7,481,463. Eighty-one workers for the Federal Reserve System's board of governors owe $1,076,733.

Over at the Justice Department, which is so busy enforcing other laws and suing Arizona, 1,971 employees still owe $14,350,152 in overdue taxes.

Then, we come to the Department of Homeland Security, which is run by Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona who preferred to call terrorist acts "man-caused disasters." ...Within that department, there reside 4,856 people who owe the tax agency a whopping total of $37,012,174.
And let us never forget
And then we learned this guy Tim Geithner owed something like $42,000 in back taxes and penalties to the IRS, which is one of the agencies that he'd be in charge of as secretary of the United States Treasury. The fine fellow who's supposed to know about handling everyone else's money. In the end this was excused by Washington's bipartisan CYA culture as one of those inadvertent accidental oversights that somehow never seem to happen on the side of paying too much taxes.
I mentioned once before that second ex worked for a large US Government agency; she told me one day that they were posting notices around the offices that basically said "People, just because you work for the government doesn't mean you don't have to file your taxes!". It was enough of a problem with enough people that they were putting up notices about it, in that and other agencies; she personally knew two people who weren't just 'iffy' on the matter, one hadn't filed a return in several years as I recall and didn't plan to start.

The IRS better remember what's been said before: the reason our tax system works is people generally see it as impartial and fair; crap like this makes people see it as partial and UNfair, and that increases the number of people playing games and cheating. For that matter it means lots of people saying flat-out "You want to screw with me? After them, you bastards(remember all the people after Geithner's mess came out demanding the same level of 'No Big Deal' he got?)"

Oh yeah, this is a GREAT idea...

Sheriffs in North Carolina want access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances.
Emphasis mine.

I don't care how good they claim their intentions are, NO.

You know the right people are winning primaries when RINOs like Boehlert

are saying things like this:
But for Republican moderates(i.e. RINO compromisers of everything), the Rand Pauls and Sharron Angles of the world are disconcerting. Some express fear that what they perceive as the candidates’ “radical” views will prove a political liability for the Republican Party.

Angle is “just out of sight with her crazy claims,” said former New York Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a moderate who now works to push the GOP leftward on environmental issues.

One moderate GOP House aide was more blunt in an interview with TheDC. “Dude, I’m terrified. These people are f***ing nuts,” he said.
Well, I guess it might seem that way to jerks like you.
For Boehlert, his concern is that some of the candidates likely to win in November may be averse to compromise. “I believe it’s going to be a much closer division” in the number of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, Bohlert said, “and that would require more cooperation if they’re going to accomplish anything.”
Since you've defined 'compromise' as kissing up to Democrats and crapping on what Republican is supposed to stand for, hell YES they're going to resist that; that's why people are voting for them, you jerk. Which brings us to this:
“There is a role for the gadfly — to question everything. You get a lot of press coverage but very little influence in the Senate. Most will prefer to accomplish something. They can remain true to their principles, hold out for everything, then compromise to get something,” Sabato said.
Once more: 'compromise' is not supposed to mean 'give up on what you believe to make the Party happy'. If that's what you want, then you're one of the enemy.
“Deep gridlock is the likeliest outcome, though maybe Obama and Congress can make common cause on one or two items — though I am hard pressed to think what they are,” Sabato added.
Well, tell you what: if your idea of 'compromise' and 'cooperation' is to do "What's good for the Party" as opposed to what the voters want, then screw you; gridlock it is.

A lot of this says the Stupid Party leadership is still playing the standard games and scared to death of the idea of people who don't care about the standard games getting elected.

More on the Senate Committee on 'firearms in commerce' Updated twice

The politicians don't want to talk about it.
You can see the Committee members here. So far there is no word about this on Chairman Patrick Leahy's website. Nor on Ranking Member Jeff Sessions'. Nor in "Committee Resources" documents and reports.

So I started going down the list of press contacts and making calls, identifying myself, and that I wanted to find out what will be covered by the hearing so I could write about it. Leahy's press secretary is on jury duty today and can only be reached by email. Sessions' press secretary and deputy press secretary are tied up right now and can best be reached by email. I decided to try Orrin Hatch, since he has an established record that he at least understands the Second Amendment's purpose, and actually got his press secretary on the phone.

He referred me to the person I should be talking to and gave me her email address. He says she checks her Blackberry and he's sure she'll get back to me.
And on and on and 'round and 'round. "You need to talk to THIS person, not me!" and "You really need to talk to-" and "We can't really talk about this right now" bullcrap. And this:
And this comment was just left at WarOnGuns:

"After calling Cornyn, Hutchinson, and the NRA/ILA offices, I called Jeff Sessions office since he is the ranking member. I spoke to a young woman named Ivy who told me that, 'It will be about how the ATF is going to regulate FFL's.' When I asked for more details, I was instantly asked who I was with in a very aggressive tone. I told her simply a citizen whose issue is the 2nd. She offered no further details."
These people REALLY don't want us to know what they're up to, do they?

Update
Uncle finds information that it's about the ATF Reform Act; my question is why didn't anyone want to talk about it if that's all it is? Quite possible, a lot of these clowns don't like anyone to know what they're up to even when it's something good.

Second update, from Codrea:
"This hearing is intended to examine the BATFE's practices for enforcing Federal laws against federally licensed firearms sellers and proposed legislation to make reforms and improvements to that system.

"The hearing will look at S.941, legislation proposed by Senator Mike Crapo, of which Senator Leahy is a cosponsor along with a bipartisan group of 34 other Senators. The legislation is intended to improve the regulatory process for federally licensed dealers by, among other provisions, instituting a graduated penalty system, providing expanded administrative and judicial review of agency sanctions and revocations, and directing the Attorney General to produce investigative guidelines for the BATFE. "
Now, maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but we're talking judicial review and guidelines from the HOLDER Justice department, which does not exactly give a warm & fuzzy feeling. And I still wonder why Codrea got such a runaround if it's just a Reform Bill hearing.

I guess Obama's 'discussions' with the Iranians didn't work so well

Iran is paying Taliban fighters $1,000 for each U.S. soldier they kill in Afghanistan, according to a report in a British newspaper.

The Sunday Times described how a man it said was a "Taliban treasurer" had gone to collect $18,000 from an Iranian firm in Kabul, a reward it said was for an attack in July which killed several Afghan government troops and destroyed an American armored vehicle.
...
In addition to the $1,000 bounty on U.S. troops, the unnamed man said Iran paid $6,000 for the destruction of a U.S. military vehicle.
And, of COURSE, there's still 'mystery' of who committed the 9/11 attacks:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned the accepted narrative of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, saying it was still not clear who was behind them.

"Something happened in New York and still nobody knows who the main perpetrators of that act were," Ahmadinejad told diplomats and newspaper editors late on Sunday while on a brief visit to Qatar.
Maybe Obambi needs to use some more feeling, some bigger words, perhaps?

A belt-fed .22 automatic

Found at Uncle

More on the Korean M1 Garands and Carbines

The Washington Times ran an editorial on Friday that referred to the blocked Korean Garands as “Obama’s backdoor gun ban.” The paper confirmed with the State Department that the rifles’ importation was being blocked and that they were looking at alternative options. As the paper notes, during the Clinton administration, “alternative options” meant melting down surplus rifles. The end result of that fiasco is that it left the U.S. Army scraping the barrel when it came to finding M-14s for their Designated Marksmen.

The Washington Times further accused Obama of doing this to appease the “gun grabbers.”

Therefore, the best way for Mr. Obama to appease the gun-grabbing fringe is to take actions that won’t bring too much attention to what he’s doing. As long as the destruction of these rifles stays under the public radar screen, he will have achieved his goal.

"Asked why the M1s pose a threat, the State Department spokesman referred questions to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF representatives said they would look into the question Monday afternoon, but on Wednesday they referred questions to the Justice Department. DOJ spokesman Dean Boyd referred questions back to the State Department."

"The White House referred questions on the issue to the Pentagon, which referred questions to the U.S. Embassy in South Korea, which deferred back to the State Department."
They want to screw with gun owners as much as possible, but don't have the balls or integrity to do it openly; and none of the bastards want to actually take responsibility for this.

Naw, the Democrats don't want to mess with gun owners;

that's just propaganda!

Oops.
From the announcement:

“Firearms in Commerce: Assessing the Need for Reform in the Federal Regulatory Process”
Senate Judiciary Committee
Full Committee
View a webcast of this hearing
DATE: September 14, 2010
TIME: 10:00 AM
ROOM: Dirksen-226

Does ANYBODY trust the Democrats and some RINOs not to screw things up? Maybe wanting to screw us before November, or set up for lame-duck bullshit after?

One of the general rules of a society is that if people truly believe

that enforcement of the law will be unbiased and fair, they'll put up with an awful lot; if they know it won't be, well, then they lose a lot of incentive to obey the law.

Like the man says, can make our opinion of this known in several ways, including throwing a BUNCH of people out of taxpayer-supplied offices come November.

Ah, New Effing York; threatened by a gang, run them off,

go to jail. 'Reckless endangerment' my ass.

Two things: Yes, generally the rule is 'No Warning Shots: if the threat is that bad, you shoot the person'. There are exceptions to all rules, and I'd tend to lean in his favor. Second, in Oklahoma and some other states(according to the officers who taught my SDA class) a group, gang or mob has different rules than facing a single person: a gang or mob IS considered the equivalent of being threatened with a lethal weapon. Threatened by a single person, no weapon in sight, you can't use deadly force; threatened by a gang or mob, you can. If it's not that way in NY, it should be.

I know, 'should be' doesn't count; it's still a bullshit arrest.

My one comment on the planned Koran burning

The same people screaming(again) and threatening death and destruction(again) because they're so offended(again) want to
kill every Jew in the world,
make every unbeliever(in their religion/social system) converted, dhimmi or dead,
commit outrages in Christian and Jewish cemetaries, etc.
and as to the crap someone put out that 'the Bible and Torah are mentioned in the Koran and thus sacred and will not be harmed', really?
so I really can't get too damn worked up over their 'outrage'.

And to the PC morons in this country having fits over it,
where were you when a clown 'artist' put a crucifix in a beaker of piss and called it art?
Where were you when an 'artist' took a picture of the Virgin Mary and put animal shit all over it?
Where were you when Jewish cemeteries were being trashed and graves despoiled by palisimians?
Where's your outrage when palisimians teach their children the greatest thing they can do is die while killing Jews?
So fuck you.

Shot the Webley Mark VI for the first time in a while,

and discovered the grips I’d made had apparently either dried a bit or I’d gotten a touch sloppy on the holes; they’re shifting a bit under pressure. Here’s my fix. Note: I started this before son gave a hand with the bike and we discovered The Awful Truth; I shall finish this before I start drinking.

In this case it’s easy. The grip frame is flat on the sides, so no inletting;
instead there are two pins sticking out on each side and corresponding holes in the grips. So we move to our old friend JB Weld.
(Yes, I know; both the damn caps cracked and leaked)
It’s a two-part epoxy that’s very handy for a whole lot of things. I’ve seen it used to bed a receiver into a stock, repair wood and plastic and -as here- tighten up the fit of grips that are worn, damaged or not made quite right.

Preparation
Make sure the grips are clean and dry, no oil or grease in the areas the JB will go. The frame, on the other hand, you don’t have to be picky as you very much do NOT want the stuff to grab there. What I usually use for resist is paste wax. Yeah, the old furniture polish(Johnson in this case, as I still have most of a can). Wipe the frame clean, then wipe a light coat of wax onto the pins and the area immediately around them. Don’t worry about getting it spread too far; it’ll clean off later and better too much area covered than too little.

When the wax has dried, mix up the JB. For something like this I like to let it sit a few minutes to thicken up. Unless you use the fast-set stuff, you’ve got at least 15 minutes before it starts setting enough to be a problem(it does depend on temperature, if it’s warm it cures faster). Mix 50/50, close as you can, then while it’s sitting make damn sure you have wax over all frame surfaces it might get on*, then put a dab in the holes on the grips; it doesn't take much for this. I used a toothpick to load it in.

Then carefully press the grips into place, snug down the grip screw, and leave it alone for about four to six hours(again, time varies with temp). At that point you should be able to pull the screw, then carefully lift the grips off without messing up the fit. All looks well, put them back on and leave overnight to fully cure, and that’s it.


*If you do not have wax on the areas needed, or you use too much JB and it spreads out, you have a problem. That’s one reason for pulling the grips at 4-6 hours, if the stuff is grabbing where you don’t want it to you may be able to break the connection then. If you leave it and it fully cures, you’d better like the fit because the grips aren’t coming off.
Yes, there are a couple of ways to get them off; they stand a fair(near certain) chance of damaging the grips, so best not to have to try.

By the way, if you mix epoxy and such a lot, you might consider getting some of these:
You mix the epoxy on the top sheet, do your stuff and then just tear the top sheet off, leaving a clean surface for the next mix. I’m on the last pad of a set I bought years ago.

Son just showed me this:

Hotel Camp Fallujah

Well, bleep. The real problem on the bike is found.

And it's not good. The rectifier is good, the stator in the charging system is screwed, and it's screwed because that oil leak isn't a bad gasket; the seal on the crankshaft is shot, which is leaking oil(badly) into the outer side cover which is what screwed the stator. Which means instead of a PITA job but not horrible, you're talking about having to dismantle the whole motor to open the cases to fix it.

Which means I'll be looking for a new bike. Dammit.

Like/agree with him or not, Mike Adams

comes up with some good lines.
Before anyone gets too upset with my proposals and tries to behead me for my remarks on Islam, please remember two things:

1) I am writing this column with a loaded double barrel shotgun to my right and a loaded .357 magnum to my left. If you are a sword-wielding jihadist, please don’t bother. You’ll only annoy me and make me spill my coffee.


There’s nothing more annoying than getting a complaint about my gun collection from a feminist with a tattoo on her lower back. I don’t let anyone irresponsible get near my guns so that no one gets killed. When the feminist lets irresponsible men near her tattoos there’s a better chance that someone’s getting aborted.
...
...Lobbying Congress for a limit on the number of guns I can own will cause me to retaliate by a) Lobbying Congress for a limit on the number of abortions a woman can have, and b) Lobbying Congress for a limit on the number of tattoos a person can have.

If you want a war, I’ll give you a war.

I need some time at the range

Just generally, haven't been in a while. Son's off catching up with friends, so don't know when he'll drop in. So this morning, browsing through the news, I find
Obama & Co. want to start a government bank:
Alert readers will recognize that this sounds alarmingly similar to the predicament of the federally sponsored lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when their earnings failed to cover debt costs, thereby necessitating a taxpayer bailout that now totals $126 billion.[1] Oddly, such apparent parallels were acknowledged by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D–CT), sponsor of current infrastructure bank legislation, when she noted that her bank would be “an innovative public-private partnership like Fannie Mae.”
Yeah that's a real recommendation.


Sen. Schumer just can't stop trying to control everything possible:
So these countries enact policies to benefit themselves yet here we have this meddling twerp telling them how to do business. Our economy is in shambles, his party is facing massive losses in November due to their economic ineptitude and this idiot is out there whining about coffee prices.


The President is trying to buy people into going in the hole for him:
President Obama, in one of his most dramatic gestures to business, will propose that companies be allowed to write off 100 percent of their new investment in plant and equipment through 2011, a plan that White House economists say would cut business taxes by nearly $200 billion over two years.
So, as a temporary repair to all the damage his tax increases and regulation increases have done he wants to give a tax break- for a little over a year- to business. And expects them, apparently to just jump for joy and go to it. They're STILL finding new little taxes and regulations in that idiot Obamacare bill the Congress passed without reading, the Bush tax cuts are still to end, Obama wants ANOTHER $50 BILLION in 'stimulus' spending, and this temporary break is supposed to make it all right?


Al Sharpton's group is as corrupt as he is:
An accounting firm hired by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network found the civil-rights group in such financial disarray that it flunked its record-keeping — and may not even survive, The Post has learned.

The scathing critique was spelled out in a hard-hitting internal audit of NAN’s books, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
...
In 2008, federal prosecutors decided to drop a criminal probe into the finances of Sharpton and NAN. But Sharpton — who also has a lucrative syndicated radio show and a speech-making and consulting business — agreed to pay back more than $2 million in overdue personal and NAN taxes.

The audit said NAN still owed $1.348 million in delinquent city, state and federal taxes and penalties at the end of 2008. The IRS has filed dozens of liens against NAN over the past decade, including one as recently as April of this year.

Last year, the Federal Elections Commission slapped Sharpton with $285,000 fine, in part for illegally using NAN funds to cover the costs of his 2004 presidential campaign.


Naw, no possible crookedness there, huh?
Former IAEA Director General Mohamed El-Baradei called Israel the “number one threat to the Middle East” because of its nuclear capabilities, during a meeting with Iran President Ahmadinejad in October 2009. (Right Perspective)

Egyptian news reported this week that the Iranian regime donated $7 million to Mohamed El-Baradei’s presidential campaign.


People who put together malware scams like this need to be dragged out and shot. Horsewhipped at the least.


President Obama broke from the teleprompter to throw out 'They talk about me like a dog!' Well, your little friends and ass-kissers spent eight years calling Bush a monkey and a nazi; so- assuming there's a word of truth in your statement- cowboy up and act like a man, you little socialist bastard.


From Time: Those Jews, as long as they're making money everything is GREAT!


Back in the 1980's there was a huge spike in 'child abuse' prosecutions, a lot of it involving 'repressed memories' being brought out; a lot of innocent people had their lives destroyed and a lot went to prison over this bullshit. It was pointed out at the time that a therapist or interviewer could- especially with kids- cause the 'victim' to believe crap that never happened. There's more research now pointing to 'repressed memories' being garbage.


I'd heard some about a film called Machete; looks like the unease the promos caused me were on the target.


Few more earthquakes here in Oklahoma.


And from Californicated:
At $578 million—or about $140,000 per student—the 24-acre Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex in mid-Wilshire is the most expensive school ever constructed in U.S. history. To put the price in context, this city's Staples sports and entertainment center cost $375 million. To put it in a more important context, the school district is currently running a $640 million deficit and has had to lay off 3,000 teachers in the last two years. It also has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country and some of the worst test scores.

The K-12 complex isn't merely an overwrought paean to the nation's most celebrated liberal political family. It's a jarring reminder that money doesn't guarantee success—though it certainly beautifies failure.

And with that, I'm off.

I went back over to Bookworm Room and looked back over

the Death Tax post and the comments. And got mad as hell.

Again.

"Name a more fair tax", "Name a tax to make up for what the government doesn't get if we kill this", etc. ad bullshit.

I have yet to hear an actual reason why it's 'fair' for the government to tax the hell out of what you worked and sweated for JUST BECAUSE YOU DIED. God-DAMN every miserable little bureaucrat and politician who pushes this shit.

You pay income tax on what you earn, you pay sales taxes on what you buy, you pay taxes on interest earned on the savings the bastards insist you must have, every damned penny you get is multiply-taxed, and now we're supposed to fall in line with "Now that you're dead, the Government gets a big bite of your estate; it's only fair, after all, and we'll spend it better than you will."

Fuck you, Mr. Whoeverthehell pushes this. Try real hard to understand this: IT IS NOT YOUR DAMNED MONEY. YOU did not earn it, YOU have taken bites of it year after year, and now you want to steal another big chunk? FUCK YOU.

Oh, and anybody who says "Well, there are ways around it if you bother to find them", Fuck You Twice. People are supposed to play effing games to keep their lifes work from being looted? You remind me of the God-cursed politicians like Swimmer Kennedy who say "The Estate Tax is only fair!" while they've got accountants finding shelters and investment to protect THEIR estate from it.

The Death Tax if theft, not pure and simple. You want me to actually believe there's anything fair about it? Require that EVERY politician has to face it: no shelters, no investments, no nothing, their estate HAS to be fully taxed on it. They won't do it, but they'll insist others pay it. So screw you and your 'fair' bullshit.

Why yes, my language does deteriorate some when I'm this pissed off.

Why sharks circle before attacking

Two great white sharks swimming in the ocean spied survivors of a sunken ship.

“Follow me son” the father shark said to the son shark and they swam to the mass of people. “First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing.” And they did.

“Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few times with all of our fins showing.” And they did. “Now we eat everybody.” And they did.

When they were both gorged, the son asked, “Dad, why didn’t we just eat them all at first? Why did we swim around and around them?”

His wise father replied, “Because they taste better without the shit inside!”


Thanks to Mostly Cajun

Ok, even for the most non-professional small-town PD or SO this would be disgusting,

from the EffingBI there are no words:
"A former special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI office said he tried to fire Carlos Ortiz 18 years ago after the troubled agent was involved in a seven-hour armed standoff with SWAT team members," Jason Trahan of The Dallas Morning News informs us.

What? Wouldn't you and I be in prison for doing that, providing we survived the experience? What's this "tried to fire" business? How could the guy still be walking the streets, let alone being provided a badge and a gun?

"Ortiz, who is currently accused of plotting to kill his wife and his former boss, was deemed fit for duty by psychiatrists."
...

And then there's this:

"Ortiz remained an FBI special agent for nearly two more decades after that, despite initiating a second armed standoff in 2004 when, authorities say, he took his own child hostage."

Aha! Got him this time, right? No?

"Again, Ortiz passed a mental evaluation and returned to duty."
You or I would probably still be in prison from the first hostage-taking; this clown STAYED A VERY SPECIAL EFFINGBI AGENT. EVEN AFTER THE SECOND TIME.

When a piece contains lines like this:

(Wait reader: you ask, well, smarty-pants Mr. Hanson, how exactly did a supposedly inept professor learn how to chain saw someone’s head off? I confess, I wonder about that still.)
you've just got to read it: We Are Ruled by Professors

Among the questions the Brit government should be asking itself

is "If we keep shitting on the troops, what happens when they all say "Screw you" and stop protecting us?"
Around 5,000 troops who are medically unfit for combat duties, including those injured in Afghanistan and Iraq, are to be ousted by the Ministry of Defence, it was reported yesterday.
...
Many have been found office jobs, but the ever-increasing toll of fighting in Afghanistan has forced the top brass to act.

However, doing so will be seen as reneging on promises that the wounded could stay in the Forces if they wished.

The leaked document, Management of Army Personnel who are Medically Unfit for Service, says 5 per cent of the Army is no longer fit for combat. It says the least able 1,500 will go first, with another 750 a year following.

The document, written by Belinda Vern, a senior civil servant, admits it will be seen as the 'MoD discarding those who have sacrificed much on our behalf'.
Here's a really key bit of wording:
'Difficult decisions will inevitably need to be made about individuals who already have a significant media profile,' she writes. 'These will require careful handling.'

The document states the cull should take place before the public becomes aware of the 'sheer numbers of seriously injured personnel'.
Translation from the bitch: "We need to dump these people before the public finds out all about this. And the ones people already know about need to be dumped very carefully so as to protect our image."

So George Soros is going after the tea party movement

using the usual suspects; let's remember some of what Soros is:
How does Soros feel about what he did as a teenager? Has it kept him up at night?

Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes asked him that. Was it difficult? “Not at all,” Soros answered.

“No feeling of guilt?” asked Kroft. “No,” said Soros. “There was no sense that I shouldn’t be there. If I wasn’t doing it, somebody else would be taking it away anyhow. Whether I was there or not. So I had no sense of guilt.”

A Nazi would steal the Jews’ property anyways. So why not him?

That moral hollowness has shaped Soros’ life. He’s a rabid critic of capitalism, but in 1992 when he saw a chance, he speculated against the British pound, causing it to crash, devastating retirement savings for millions of Britons. Soros pocketed $1.1 billion for himself. If he didn’t do it, someone else would, right?

In 2002, Soros was convicted of insider trading in France, and fined millions of dollars. He admitted buying the shares, but denied it was a crime.

Last year, when he made $3.3 billion off the banking collapse, he called the world’s financial crisis “the culmination of my life’s work.”

This is a man who boasted he offered to help his mother commit suicide. Apparently he didn’t see enough death in Hungary.

Soros is a sociopath. But he’s a sociopath with $14 billion, and he likes to spend it on politics.

I've mentioned that I'm currently retired,

thanks to a system that worked damn hard to stay solvent and keep politicians fingers out of it(added: yes, every member contributes, out of every paycheck). I keep reading about public employees in some places- like the city manager and police chief in Bell, California- and wonder just how the hell they got into that position? Did the people who set it up just not CARE what trouble they were setting up for the future? Or did they somehow think they could always take enough from other people to keep it going?

For that matter, on a lot of workers just how the hell did they wind up with paychecks so much above what a similar worker in private industry gets? Positions I was in, it was a major accomplishment to get within close reach of private industry for similar work. Screwed up as it is in some ways, seems Oklahoma was a lot better organized on such.

I mentioned politicians fingers; the state teacher retirement system was/is royally screwed up for precisely that reason; the teachers unions spent so much time sucking up to (Democrat)politicians, in many cases by letting them raid the retirement system("Hey, they'll pay us back! And we're gaining influence with them!!") that they, some years back, found themselves deeply in the hole(lots of people had warned of it for years, but...). And then the bastards basically expected the state to step in with other people's money and fix it. Fat chance; there was enough knowledge of the problem and how it came to be that the "You raise my taxes to fix their problem- especially when you crooks plan on keeping using their plan as a slush fund- and I'll lend a hand on the rope!" response stopped that. They tried to wiggle it in, but it didn't work. Despite all the "Teachers are IMPORTANT! Teachers should be helped!" pleading/threatening.

Unrelated to the above, I've notice two things over the past year: one is that an amazing number of people seem to think that 'retired from this job' means you're wealthy; not here, not me. The other is a lot of people seem really upset that you actually have some free time to do what you want, or need; and they want to find things to fill up your time, whether you're wild about it or not.

On the subject of the Hamasque at Ground Zero,

the other day someone pointed to an article well worth reading. Couple of excerpts:
But we Israelis have learned from our experience that matters are more complicated. One need not be racist or Islamophobic to be concerned about the mosque. For life in our region has taught us that the first necessary step to defending yourself is acknowledging that someone else is out to destroy you.
...
THE UNITED States’ future is under attack, but Americans resist admitting it. President Barack Obama has sent 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but he has also said that he intends to pull them out by July. Can we imagine FDR declaring war on Germany, but then adding that the war had to be over in a year, or in two? It would have been laughable. And America would have lost. The US has to decide – is it committed to destroying those who wish it ill, or is it willing to be destroyed by them? Those, sadly, are its only two alternatives.

When my parents were teenagers, they watched as evil took hold of Europe. But then they saw America turn itself into an unprecedented, enormous military machine. For America’s leaders understood that if the Nazis won, the world as we knew it would be over; we could either destroy Nazism, or have no reason to go on.

But when my children were teenagers, a different evil took root across their eastern horizon. This time, though, the world has feigned impotence.
...
We, like Americans, would much prefer that our children went to college at 18, and not to years of military service. But we’ve learned that anything short of absolute clear-sightedness and honesty – coupled with extraordinary sacrifice – could destroy us.

The same is true for America. The truly important question that the “Islamophobia” accusation raises is not what will transpire with a proposed building, but what will happen with a worldview.

It still remains to be seen if America will do what it must if it is to guarantee the survival of the very values it is now debating. America can remain the “land of the free,” but only if it is also the “home of the brave.”

Made me think of a argument I got into on Facebook that started when a guy mentioned how disgusted he was by people wearing '9/11: Never Forget' shirts. "Oh yeah," I said, "Disgusting that these people won't forget a massive terror attack." Which led on to the Hamasque, which finally led to the lady who'd started the thing accusing me of bigotry and spreading conspiracy theories and 'accusing all muslims in America of being terrorists'. Bigotry because I'd pointed out a lot of people really didn't want a mosque built at that spot; conspiracy theory because I'd pointed out some very shady things in the imam's past; and apparently just doing those two things meant I was accusing all Muslims of being terrorists... Just amazing from someone I'd though of as somewhat immune to that kind of PC bullshit.

You know, an awful lot of people jost do not remember, or do not really conceive, what we can do when pushed to the wall. The stuff above reminded me of something I'd once read from Winston Churchill right after Pearl Harbor:
In two or three minutes Mr. Roosevelt came through. "Mr. President, what's this about Japan? "It's quite true," he replied. "They have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now."

No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. I could not foretell the course of events. I do not pretend to have measured accurately the martial might of Japan, but now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!

Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France; after the horrible episode of Oran; after the threat of invasion, when, apart from the Air and the Navy, we were an almost unarmed people; after the deadly struggle of the U-boat war - the first Battle of the Atlantic, gained by a hand's-breath; after seventeen months of lonely fighting and nineteen months of my responsibility in dire stress. We had won the war. England would live; Britain would live; the Commonwealth of Nations and the Empire would live.

How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care. Once again in our long Island history we should emerge, however mauled or mutilated, safe and victorious. We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end. We might not even have to die as individuals. Hitler's fate was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.
And, in the piece I originally read, he said that that night he slept soundly for the first time in months. Because he knew exactly what we were capable of doing when we decided it had to be done. One of the real risks of the PC bullshit is that it keeps pushing things back, keeps hard action from being taken when it would take something relatively small; which means when the trigger event occurs not only will much greater action be needed, but... when the time comes, just what will we do? I think we've been so restrained so long that the enemy either doesn't believe ANYTHING will make us truly go to war, or doesn't believe what we're capable of.

I'm not looking forward to the world being reminded.

Thinking of tech advances, roughly 20 years ago

I remember a programmer at work being seriously excited because you could buy a 1 gigabyte hard drive for your pc! And it only cost a hundred bucks!! Really big deal.

It's been years since you got a pc or laptop that had less than a 100G drive- 200 or more the last few- and I just saw an ad on Amazon for a 2 TERABYTE external hard drive for $110.

Moore's Law marches on.

Especially if you happen to be in Britain, I'd like you to read this

and think of all the violations of what a law enforcement officer should do and be. And wonder what the hell ever happened to Peel's Nine Principals; do they even remember them anymore?

Or care about them?

Once more, Israel and Jews in general are supposed to 'make peace'

with this?
A senior Iranian cleric, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, dismissed the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II as a new "superstition" for the West, media reported on Saturday.

"The Holocaust is nothing but superstition, but Zionists say that people of the world should be forced to accept this," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

"Americans and Westerners are affected by newly appeared superstitions such as the Holocaust," he said according to ISNA news agency.



Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son.

In an interview published on the website of the French magazine La Regle du Jeu and the blog Dentelles et Tchador, Mohammadi-Ashtiani's son Sajjad said they learned of the new punishment from released inmates.


A vocal female human rights activist and journalist went on trial in Iran Saturday on charges including "warring against God," which is punishable by death, her lawyer was reported as saying.

Shiva Nazar-Ahari, 26, went on trial "on charges of Moharebeh (warring against God), conspiring and gathering to commit a crime, propaganda against the regime and harming public order," lawyer Mohammad Sharif told ILNA news agency.

For that matter, how's ANYBODY who cares in the least for actual free speech, for individual freedom, supposed to make peace with these bastards?

Couple of odd bits of news

First, you can't even trust the damn hay bales anymore:
Mike Edwards, 62, who played cello for the band for three years, died when the giant bale weighing 50 stone crashed down on top of his van.

Mr Edwards died instantly in the accident after the bale careered down the hill, and flipped over a hedge.

The circular bale is believed to have been in a steeply sloping field beside the road when it somehow rolled and jumped 15ft into traffic.
Thanks to Dick for the pointer


Second, proof that most fashion designers are idiots and/or hate women with curves:
But then the reality of the fashion world rises up and smacks us in the face. Last week, 35-year-old actress Christina Hendricks - the curvaceous, wasp-waisted star of hit U.S. TV series Mad Men - was reported as saying she was struggling to find a designer who would dress her for the red carpet at the Emmys.

'Not one designer will loan me a dress,' she told a Scottish newspaper. 'They only lend out a size zero or a size 2. So I'm still struggling for someone to give me a darn dress!'
Apparently putting a dress together for someone with this shape
is either too difficult for the jerks, or else they just don't like curves and would rather make dresses more suitable for skinny twits like Knightley. To further demonstrate this crap,
When I was editor of Marie Claire, I had secured a cover shoot with Liv Tyler. She was the hottest actress on the planet at the time and was easily the most beautiful: feline eyes, perfect milky skin and jet-black hair.

'There is a problem,' my fashion editor said a few days before the shoot. 'Liv is a size 12.'

We approached every designer we could think of, and though they all loved Liv, not one had a dress that would fit.

'She will spoil the line,' one Italian designer told me when I said I wanted to put her in something from his autumn collection. We had to cancel our cover.
Like that? "If we make something to fit her, it'll spoil the whole line" my ass. Here's the defense later in the article:
'There is good reason for the small sample sizes. It comes down to business and logistics. The wonderful thing about women is their curves - but the bigger the size, the more curves, and the less easy it is to fit them in a way that's flattering to the clothes, which ultimately you're trying to sell.'
Yeah, you're trying to sell dresses; is there some mystery behind the idea that making this or that actress a dress that looks good on her brings more attention to the designers name? Personally, I get the feeling that a lot of these clowns are offended that all women won't starve or surgery themselves as needed just so they'll fit into what the designer WANTS to make.

Morons.

Son is on leave and in town

Dinner was had at Zorba's, and it was good.

We took a look at the Vulcan; does look like the rectifier is shot. He ran the tests(I DID have the meter set right!) and got the same results. It looks like the stator is good, happily, as that sucker's expensive.

When we pulled the rectifier found what may have done it: the top has a strip of some compound that seals the internals off from the elements, and there's a tiny crack along one edge where it doesn't seal anymore.

I think I'll start looking for a new(new to me, at least) bike, but at least this should get the Vulcan going again; I miss riding.

Just saw this for the first time

Give it a listen.

And by the way: Garafalo, you're a miserable, hate-filled little bigot. Normally I'd say 'kiss my ass', but I'd rather not have a skank like you that close to my body.

I submit another agency that has so much free cash and time

that their budget needs to be drastically cut. Or the agency done away with entirely.
FTC Suspects Chuck E. Cheese of Marketing to Children
The eagle-eyed regulators at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have a sneaking suspicion that a company offering disgusting pizza, animatronic human-sized mice, and a ball pit may be trying to appeal to children. Or rather, their marketing (the slogan was “Chuck E. Cheese: Where a Kid Can Be a Kid!” last time I checked) may inappropriately appeal to children.
How about an alternate headline: "FTC Suspected Of Insane Power Grab", or "These Effing Bureaucrats Need To Be Hanged"?

From RNS, what is possible

with a slingshot

I'm going to start this with a piece of prime idiocy

Serious questions are being asked about a cover-up by commanders in Helmand after the 59 Minimi machine guns were not reported missing for almost a year. The theft was revealed only when American forces recovered two of the guns following a battle with the Taliban.
...
The light machine guns, which can fire 1,000 rounds a minute, were flown from Britain to Camp Bastion in Helmand last October. They were then transported overland to British forces operating at Kandahar airfield but it is believed the convoy was either ambushed or the weapons were illegally sold.(Note that 'they think, they don't know which) No one realised or reported that they had gone missing until last month, when American forces operating in southern Afghanistan discovered two of the guns, whose serial numbers matched those stolen. Defence sources have described the incident as a “terrible embarrassment for British forces”.
Just effing wonderful, isn't it?


That outreach to Iran is working really well, huh?
Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today launched an angry attack on “doomed” US-brokered Middle East peace talks and urged the Palestinians to continue armed resistance to Israel.(Translation: "Kill more Jews, all you can")

Ahmadinejad used the annual al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally in Tehran to scorn the Obama administration’s efforts in launching the first Arab-Israeli negotiations in nearly two years.

“What do they want to negotiate about? Who are they representing? What are they going to talk about?” the hardline Iranian leader said of the Palestinian negotiating team in Washington.

“Who gave them the right to sell a piece of Palestinian land? The people of Palestine and the people of the region will not allow them to sell even an inch of Palestinian soil to the enemy. The negotiations are stillborn and doomed.”
Please note that according to this slimeball there IS no 'Israel', just palisimian land the Jews happen to be squatting on. Until they're all killed by the glorious forces of the Religion of Submission.


Here's a fine example of the zero-tolerance idiocy in power in our schools.


I'll close for now with this:

Why yes, we could.

Looking at the charging problem on the bike,

either I've not got the VOM meter set right, or the rectifier is fried. Completely.

If it's that, I hope it's ONLY that, as if any other electrical stuff is gone, that gets expensive fast.

Read this

Now go read the whole thing

Know what's the real difference between racist crap Al Sharpton has spouted

in the past and now? Nowdays, it doesn't get simply non-reported or glossed over, people actually hear about it. And a lot of the crap he's said in the past gets around.
...Further, he said that he was asked about Shabazz’s comments at a news conference after the event. Sharpton said he did not remember hearing Shabazz’s “caskets” comments....
Maybe this is where Obama got his "I never heard the Reverend Wright say any of that!" defense?

Oh, and Sharpton? That seat belongs to the people, ALL of them; no particular race or religion or sex, they can vote whoever they want in whether you like it or not, you bastard.