Gunwalker is heating up again

I just received an email from Congressman Darrel Issa’s office, containing a copy of a letter that was just sent Patrick J. Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona. The letter announces that Cunningham has just been subpoenaed for “repeated refusals to testify voluntarily” before the House Oversight Committee, concerning accusations that he relayed inaccurate and misleading information to the Justice Department in preparation for its initial response to Congress.
Translation: "Ok, so you don't want to come on your own? You'll be here or be charged." From the rest, almost get the feeling they're telling him "Your boss & Co. are setting you up to take as much of the blame as possible; are you going to go along with it? Under oath?"

By the way, who's Cunningham?
"District of Arizona Criminal Division Chief Patrick Cunningham will resign from the US Attorney’s office effective January 27. He was Burke’s #1 guy," this correspondent reported exclusively yesterday on The War on Guns blog.

"Burke" is Dennis Burke, the former United States Attorney for the District of Arizona who resigned in the wake of revelations concerning his role in the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal.


From Workman,
Cunningham’s attorney apparently agreed to accept the subpoena on his behalf, Issa’s letter stated.

“It is of paramount importance that you appear before the Committee. Given your intimate knowledge of Fast and Furious, your counsel’s offer of an attorney proffer, akin to what a defense lawyer would offer for an indicted defendant, is wholly inadequate. As a result of your recalcitrance and inflexible position, the Committee is now forced to engage in compulsory process to obtain your testimony.”—Congressman Darrell Issa

If there had been any doubt that Issa could be ignored, that has disappeared with this move.
Isn't it nice that his attorney 'agreed to accept the subpoena'?
And I wonder how Cunningham will handle the thought of a couple of US Marshalls showing up at his door if he tries to refuse to attend?

Something else from Correia

on SOPA:
As for all of the people out there on the internet having a massive freak out about the government potentially damaging something they love… WELCOME TO THE PARTY.

You think this is something new or unusual? Nope. This is just about a topic that you happen to be familiar with. If you fall into that camp, I want you to take a deep breath, step back, and examine all of the other issues in the past that you didn’t know jack squat about, but your knee jerk reaction was to say “there’s a problem, the governement has to do something!” Well guess what? The crap the federal government usually comes up with to fix these problems is similar to SOPA. In other words, the legislation addresses a perceived problem by instituting a bunch of stupid overregulation and taking away someone’s freedom.

You think people need access to affordable medical care and shouldn’t be denied coverage? Well, you got used and we got the bloated ridiculous mess that is Obamacare. You saw a news report about how big business defrauded people and said congress should do something? Well, everyone in the business world got screwed because of Enron by completely useless new arbitrary crap laws, and a few years later we got into an even bigger financial crisis which the arbitrary crap laws we spent billions conforming to did nothing to prevent. No, because that financial crisis was caused by people saying that there was this huge problem that needed to be fixed, so more people who couldn’t afford to pay mortgages could still buy houses, and the government simply had to do something to fix this problem!
RTWT, it's worth it

Favorite author has spawned!

No, that's not the best way to put it; got your attention, I'll bet.

Correia Super Duty XXL has arrived, he says all doing well.

I just heard Perry say "Gingrich has the heart

of a conservative."
My first thought was "Where do we find the rest of the body?"

What the hell is it with some cops and shooting dogs?

Around 9 p.m., a DeKalb officer went to her home on Silva Court in response to a domestic dispute call with a possibly armed person. The officer said the family’s German shepherd lunged at him, so he killed the dog. The recently rescued animal was chained in the garage when the shooting happened.

Currie’s husband, Anthony, said the officer also pointed his gun at him and told him to put his hands up.

“I said, ‘Why [did] you shoot my dog?’ And he said, ‘Well, I'll blow your brains out.’ I said, ‘Hold on a minute, you just killed my dog. Why you want to blow my brains out? My hands are up.’ I said, ‘I don't have no gun,’” Anthony Currie said.
A: idiot with badge had gone to the WRONG ADDRESS.
B: THE DOG WAS CHAINED IN THE GARAGE.
C: The first officer faces no disciplinary action, but he will have to go before the shooting review board and face an internal investigation.
Go to the wrong place, shoot a chained dog and threaten to kill the owner, no disciplinary action. Tells you what DeKalb police think of the commoners.

"So we'll allow some of your dirty Garands,

but those horrendous Carbines are a no-go!"

Screw the museums and whatnot,

between the "We only tolerate unarmed peasants" attitude and social-control stupidity like this, screw the place.


Speaking LE Behaving Badly and Getting Away With It... the theft is bad, but that clown with a badge in Florida needs to be in a cell.


You've undoubtedly heard that Obama has decided to ensure high energy prices and dependance on hostile foreign governments. Gee, it's like he actually MEANT that his plans would make energy costs skyrocket...
Over at Drudge:
Dems dispute 22,000 jobs created by 1,700-mile oil pipeline...

SF Dems say 43,000 jobs created -- by 1.7-mile subway extension!


This guy did his job; for that matter there were people on the ship, crew and entertainers, who stepped up.
"But why is someone who does his job and sticks to the rules suddenly a hero in Italy?" one Internet commentator wondered.
Not that long ago, he and the crew members, the men who made sure women and kids got on the boats first, would've been hailed as being what they were supposed to be; and you can bet a lot of them would've been embarrassed, because "This is what you're supposed to do, to be".


Speaking of idiot energy ideas...


Michael McNally, who was visiting Dallas Tuesday, said an app shouldn’t have enough power to label a community.

“It may have a high crime problem but have some great cultural, social things you can do there,” McNally said.
Ok, so let's say the app tells you "If you go here, here are the crime stats"; would that be allowable, or would that be too much?


Well, this fits: tell Iran it has nothing to fear at the same time he says "No pipeline." That's a fine combination.


Pelosi now:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday sought to distance Democrats from the left-leaning Occupy movement that’s swept the nation in recent months.

Pelosi argued that the movement is largely nonpartisan, unlike the conservative Tea Party camp, which she characterized as an extension of the GOP.

Pelosi then:
The comments are something of a departure from the Democrats’ message last year, when a number of liberal party members, including Reps. John Larson (Conn.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (Minn.), went out of their way to embrace the Occupy movement in the face of GOP criticisms.

It's like smoke-bombing the White House and various other crimes make her want some distance, or something.



Back to energy 'necessarily skyrocketing':
An Associated Press analysis has found that more than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to close because of the new, more stringent regulations. Another 36 plants are at risk of closing.

No lights will go dark. But the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 14.7 gigawatts — enough power for more than 11 million households — will be retired from the power grid in the 2014-15 period when the rules take effect. One rule curbs air pollution in states downwind from dirty power plants. Another sets first standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants from smokestacks.

The effect is greatest in the Midwest and in coal belt states such as Virginia and West Virginia, where dozens of units are likely to shut down.
I'd translate 'No lights will go dark NOW." Get a cold or hot spell where remaining generation is already at capacity...


Tam find a, ah, 'interesting' special edition from SIG. From the comments:
To bad, Greece couldn’t afford this if they sold the rest of their arsenal.
Also noted in comments, some people are not happy with QC at SIG; apparently things have slipped. Maybe a lot.



Also from Tam:
Anybody notice that the very same #OCCUPY_MOM'S_BASEMENT crowd that froths at the mouth over the dangers of "corporate speech" corrupting the political process was just tickled pink to see Google change it's logo for the SOPA/PIPA protests yesterday? I'm sure that once the HuffPosers and Kossacks were done patting Google on the back for its corporate citizenship, they went back to making fun of Romney for being a "flip-flopper".
Yeah, a number of people have noted this. What, you expect consistency from these clowns?


On the SOPA bullcrap,
And while you may have not paid much attention to this story, you need to know that the “muzzle the web” legislation these sites are protesting could also affect your ability to get gun-related information on websites like GOA’s.

The reason is that S. 968 could, in its final form, allow the Brady Campaign to partially shut down our GOA website and our organization (plus many other pro-gun websites) with a series of factually accurate, but legally frivolous complaints.


He's not kidding, turn the volume DOWN. And, along with everything else, you'll notice no protective gear. At all. 'Doofus' isn't even close.

And that's about all I can take for one morning.

Just like you, only better

Now, a Denver police officer who got fired after getting caught driving 88 miles an hour over the speed limit while having a blood alcohol level above the legal limit is taking cops’ sense of entitlement to a new level. Calling his firing a violation of principles of fundamental fairness, he wants his job back and his public employee labor union, the Denver Police Protection Association, is backing him in his appeal.
...
This is not the first time that Saunders had to be disciplined. In 2009 in he was suspended from the force after he was charged in Aurora, CO, again, by a police force other than his own, with felony menacing, prohibited use of a weapon, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct, after he dropped the race card, flew into a rage and brandished his police firearm when a McDonald’s restaurant apparently took too long serving his order. Saunders was eventually acquitted of those charges.

His current appeal of his firing over the DUI arrest and conviction was made to the Denver Civil Service Commission, filed by Police Protective Association lawyers. It argues that disciplinary action against Saunders was “unfounded and/or unsupported by the facts”. His firing, the appeal claims, was “disproportionate to the offenses alleged and/or is excessive so as to be punitive rather than corrective in nature.”
Well, excuse the hell out of me, but isn't the punishment for drunk driving SUPPOSED TO BE PUNITIVE, you miserable little bleep?

One bit of anti-gun crap blocked, hopefully

in the omnibus bill:
One sentence in the 2,100-page spending bill stopped taxpayers’ money from being used for sham studies designed to make legal gun ownership seem like a public health hazard. The House GOP included a provision in the Health and Human Services appropriations bill preventing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from using any of its $30.7 billion funds to “advocate or promote gun control.”

If we don't start doing serious things on our borders,

it's going to get phenomenally nasty.
Three beheadings in two different states and they happened here in the United States, not Mexico.

Former DEA supervisor Phil Jordan says all three beheadings have cartel written all over them. They happened in Arizona and Oklahoma in the past year.
...
More than 600 miles from the border, a 19-year-old human trafficking victim was found beheaded in Oklahoma. Carina Saunders was stuffed into a bag and left in a grocery store parking lot.

“People know if they get on the wrong side of the fence, they’ll be dealt with,” says Jordan.

The police chief in the area says two men running the trafficking ring killed Saunders to send a message to the other victims. Jordan says the cartels’ calling card is all over this case. Trafficking and smuggling are their top moneymakers. Revenge is the price of doing business.

“Definitely a cartel hit,” says Jordan.

Here's where we need a real orbital-capable truck

Go up with a bunch of small boosters, and set them to push problems either into reentry to burn up, or out to a 'go away' orbit. Smaller stuff you run across, either bundle together to dump, or maybe bring back.


It occurred to me last night that between Oklahoma and Germany, the son is probably better prepared for driving in this weather than an awful lot of the people who've lived up there a long time.*


Ok, here's my "Let's talk about the molesters and fools and liars at TSA" compilation for today. First
In an about-face, the feds have admitted wrongdoing in the cases of two elderly women who say they were strip-searched at Kennedy Airport by overzealous screeners.
They seem to be hedging their bets: "We did THIS wrong but not that." Yeah, after all the previous lies, we're ready to believe that...

Then we have this:
After recent published reports accused TSA officials of not maintaining their scanner equipment and questioning just how much radiation one receives when going through those machines, the question remains: to just how much radiation are you exposed before you board an airplane?
...
“There are two types of body scanners. There is millimeter wave and that does not emit any radiation at all. Some airports you have the scanner which emits a negligible amount equivalent to two minutes in flight.”
'not emit any'? Really? Here's the real kicker:
For that reason, Chao says there really is no cause for concern. As for testing the existing machines to make sure they are operating properly, Davis says the TSA is committed to doing that.
You'll notice it doesn't say 'IS doing that', oh no, it's 'committed to doing that'; and anymore, I do not give clowns like this ANY benefit of doubt about wording like that. Especially after I ran into this the other day:
One of the most important issues is that a "Worst Case Failure" mode has not been evaluated. Because these machines are scanning mechanical/software integrated devices, with very intense pencil-like beams of X-rays, if they were to stop in the middle of a scan, there is the significant probability of a radiation burn. What are the consequences, if there were a software glitch or power, even momentary, problems? This important issue, on a machine working 24 hours a day, year in and year out, has not been studied independently and merits major efforts and extensive analysis, not just tested for failure once or twice, given the extreme consequences of a failure.

The casual nature for maintenance of these devices is alarming to us. These machines are built with components from clinical X-ray machines and are capable of delivering large X-ray doses. The actual doses are undefined by any objective tests disclosed to us or to the public. Large doses also pertain if there are errors or maintenance problems. Hospitals usually check for problems on X-ray machines daily, but we understand that TSA will only check once a year, at best, in spite of the fact that these machines are being used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you found out the machine the doctor was using on you hadn't been checked/tested/calibrated for almost a year, you'd have a fit. Rightly so. But TSA says it's not a problem, and they're 'committed' to making sure they're inspected...


Borepatch has an idea for Thursday

Check it out

I need some lunch, see you later

In today's Idiocy By Fed, we have

this. Obviously these people are either missing things that actually need work, or need their budget cut because they've got so much free time to waste.


For those who like to play 'racist' games with gun rights advocates, remind them of the real racist background of the gun bigots.


Two old ones from Anarchangel: Why I carry a gun and the followup Superiority Complex


Some recently photos from Saipan.

Holy CRAP, look at that rock!

Meanwhile, attention focused on the captain, who was spotted by Coast Guard officials and passengers fleeing the scene even as the chaotic and terrifying evacuation was under way.
. . .
A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays, told the Associated Press they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket . . . .

Coast Guard officers later spotted Schettino on land as the evacuation unfolded. The officers urged him to return to his ship and honor his duty to stay aboard until everyone was safely off the vessel, but he ignored them, Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo said.
The other day I quoted from an expert As my former captain used to say, "Rule 1 of navigation is 'look out the fucking window.'" Apparently they were either too trusting of all the electronics, or nobody bothered to actually LOOK.

About that 'antiquated' revolver

that didn't go bang:
I wrote I want to know what condition it was in. I'd bet either zero maintenance for a looong time, or really old ammo. Or both. After I wrote that I remembered something, and it turned out I still had the book. One of the chapters is 'the gun that wouldn't shoot'. Short version: old officer who'd decided "I'll never have to actually use this thing" so he didn't; no practice, maintenance, nothing. Until one night he needed it and it didn't go 'bang', and he died.
...It was very obvious it had not been fired for a long period of time.

The barrel was very dirty and clogged with lint and dust. Several flakes of rust were removed in a subsequent cleaning...

Dust, dirt and grime filled all spaces between the side plate and frame. Two of the side plate screws had to be chiseled out with a special tool.

It was very difficult to work the crane in order to open the cylinder. The extractor star was frozen to the cylinder and the extractor rod was freed only after considerable soaking in a gun solvent.

Of the six live rounds found in the gun, two were misfires. The firing pin had made a positive strike with the cartridge primer in both instances. The misfire was caused by either a faulty firing pin or old ammunition. Tests will be conducted and a supplemental report will follow. The ammunition had to be soaked and pried out in order to unload the gun.

Could be there was an actual mechanical fault in the S&W the detective carried; I tend to have doubts. I'd love to know what the investigation actually finds.


Which also reminds me, Dad told me about something that happened back when we were living in a little town in northern OK. The local sheriff had ordered himself a S&W Model 19. It came in, he picked it up, loaded it, dropped it into the holster and went to work.

Almost a month later he decided he really ought to set up a target and make sure the sights were sending the shots to the right place. Up went a target, cock, aim, squeeze,
click.
WTH?
Wait a minute, no bang, try again.
Click.
It went back to the factory, and as I recall it was some fault with the hammer block: it wasn't retracting as the action worked, preventing the firing pin from reaching the primer.
And he'd been carrying it for a month...

To pass on to AGW believers you may know:

The Myth of Settled Science


Somebody with WAY too much time on his hands


I don't think the Captain lived up to his responsibilities. Or the expectations of the captain of a ship.


And the countdown to Dallas Co. SO being sued has begun.


Hadn't seen this site before; not comfortable at all. The level of contempt/disgust/anger toward 'civilians' displayed by far too many cops is, let's just go with 'bad'. Not to mention the flat corruption.

Just to add to the above, add one case of idiocy and one case of disgusting.


We've got a lot of these drivers in OK, too. I keep saying that if OCPD wants to earn some revenue and make things safer, start watching just about any medium/high-busy intersection and start ticketing every idiot who things "It just turned red a second or two ago, so I'm still clear to go!"

A look at Gunwalker from a LE perspective

Summed up:
According to Mexico, the guns have already contributed in the deaths of over 200 Mexican citizens and also resulted in the death of one US LE Agent. As a retired law enforcement agent I can tell you that Fast & Furious makes no sense, I can tell you that for the Attorney General to testify that he didn’t approve the operation is unbelievable, if that’s true then somebody or someone’s needs to be prosecuted for violation of Mexico sovereignty and national laws, criminal malfeasance and conspiracy. If the AG didn’t know about the ATF operation, then he should resign for not knowing.
I'll add in that the 'one US LE Agent' leaves out the death of Jaime Zapata in Mexico.

Some background on the machinegun registry

and the problems thereof, another long piece borrowed from Sipsey. I'm not using the whole thing, if you can it's well worth going there and RTWT.

The requirement to register machine guns was embodied in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (known by the shorthand NFRTR). This list is the arbiter of legal machine gun ownership. If your weapon and name are on the list, you may play with your expensive toy to your heart's content. If not, you go to the graybar hotel for many years and pay an onerous fine. The errors in the NFRTR are legendary in the machine gun collecting community, which is represented, NRA-like, by the National Firearms Act Trade & Collectors Association (NFATCA). The current president of the NFATCA is John Brown. Other board members are Teresa Starnes, Jeff Folloder, Curt Wolf, Robert Landies, Dan Shea, Robert Segel and John Tibbetts. (Readers will recall that Dan Shea has appeared many times previously in the pages of Sipsey Street, most spectacularly in The True Story of the Life of "R.A. Bear": Inception & impregnation into the minds of the ATF via a highly placed snitch named Dan Shea of the NFATCA.)

These NFRTR errors were famously compounded by clerks who, over the years, would throw paperwork in the trash when their in-boxes overflowed. The ATF has previously been caught out as instructing its agents to testify that the NFRTR is "100 percent correct" even though they admit to each other within the agency that this is surely incorrect. Most recently, the Friesen case blew up in the ATF's face when it became evident that the accuracy of the NFRTR was going to be a central tenet of the defense's case. The DOJ folded and allowed Doug Friesen to essentially "pay fifty dollars and pick up the garbage" on a minor paperwork violation. The last thing the ATF/DOJ wanted was to have to defend the accuracy of the NFRTR in court, simply because it can't be done. And yet people are put in jail every week -- for long sentences with heavy fines -- based on the allegation that the weapons they are found in possession of are not listed on the NFRTR.

Such defendants can be found in the strange case of U.S. vs, Clark. Recall that U.S. vs. Clark is a Phoenix case, investigated and prosecuted by the same cast of tax-paid malefactors as Fast and Furious. An interesting motion was filed the other day in U.S. vs. Clark, with some relevant portions below:

Defendants Randolph B. Rodman, Hal Paul Goldstein, Lorren Marc Kalish and Idan C. Greenberg, by and through Counsel, respectfully move the Court for its Order authorizing disclosure of the minutes of the proceedings of the grand jury or juries returning the indictment in this case. As grounds for this motion, Counsel have a good faith belief that grand jurors were provided with erroneous and ambiguous guidance regarding the law of the case. Failure to provide accurate interpretations of the law eliminated the grand jury’s ability to return a true and fair indictment. Errors are found in the text of Count One and are set forth in more detail below. The transcripts will enable a review for context and the ability to assess the cumulative effect of the error.

Prior to indictment, this case was investigated as a conspiracy to violate Section 922(o) of Title 18. As part of the investigation and before an indictment, every machinegun identified in the indictment was submitted to the Firearms Technology Branch (FTB), the official Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) laboratory in West Virginia. There, the machineguns were examined and tested for the sole purpose of determining whether modifications made to 34 machineguns by Defendant Clark constituted new manufactures. No opinion as to the date of manufacture of any of the machineguns was rendered by any of the FTB experts who examined and tested the machineguns. The presence of substantive § 922(o) counts in the indictment means that the grand jury found probable cause without a single expert opinion.

Currently, a year and a half after indictment, there is good reason to believe that Count One will be prosecuted as a conspiracy to violate § 922(o) of Title 18. Count One is the keystone of this 106 count prosecution. Without conviction on Count One, very few of the remaining substantive counts survive. Access to the transcripts will permit timely and thoroughly briefed objections to the Conspiracy and substantive § 922(o) counts. Dismissal of an indictment is appropriate where violations of grand jury procedures “substantially influenced the grand jury’s decision to indict,” or raised a “grave doubt as to whether it had such an effect.”

What?!? Lying by omission or commission to a grand jury? Say it ain't so, Rick Vasquez! There is, according to my sources, an internal investigation of Mr. Vasquez and his relationships with confidential informants John Brown and Dan Shea. There is a larger investigation of the question of whether those two worthies transferred automatic weapons to employees of of the ATF in return for favors. Thus, I was more than a little interesting is this portion of the motion:

THE ATF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

The origin of the criminal investigation was unusual. In contrast to the opening of most investigations, it was ATF employees of the NFA Branch and the FTB lab (government employees not authorized to conduct criminal investigations) who first became suspicious of the existence of a possible violations of law. After the performance of several investigatory tasks (5), the matter was referred first to the Washington DC (Falls Church) Criminal Division and later to the Phoenix ATF Criminal Division for criminal investigation.

The matter was referred to the Phoenix Special Agent in Charge by way of a memorandum dated November 16, 2006 from an ATF Deputy Assistant Director at ATF Headquarters (The Office of Enforcement Programs and Services) (6). Prior thereto, faceless and nameless ATF employees of the NFA Branch and the Firearms Technology Branch had already interviewed ATF employees about the matter, had numerous contacts with the person in possession of SN A6042075, a suspected contraband machinegun; they had conducted an alleged laboratory test of the suspect gun; and had also returned the gun to the registrant after determining it was contraband and was illegal to possess. All this took place before the formal referral for criminal investigation on November 16, 2006.

The referral memo of the Deputy Assistant Director included the following points

_________________________________

5 The significance of this is that such conduct violates ATF internal procedures. When persons unfamiliar with criminal procedures conduct interviews or handle property in a criminal matter there is risk that evidence will contaminated. ATF employees other than Special Agents, are not authorized, trained or otherwise qualified to conduct criminal interviews of suspects, seize property, receive abandoned property, collect and preserve evidence, or submit property for a determination of its potential evidentiary value, etc.

6 This position, despite its title, is a regulatory function that oversees the programs and Services that support the main functions of ATF, including such service providers as the NFA Branch and the FTB Branch supra., and others. MOTION USGJ TRANSCRIPTS FINAL 011012.wpd Page 12 of 18

supporting the need for a criminal investigation in Phoenix:

1. George Clark, a Special Occupational Taxpayer in Arizona since 1993, converted MAC Models 10 and 11 machineguns into Browning Model 1919 machineguns;

2. Applications (7) to transfer the converted guns from Clark to various parties were found to have constant make and model designations but the caliber, barrel and overall lengths were at variance with descriptions in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR);

3. One of the suspected machineguns, SN A6042075, caliber 9mm/45 cal., barrel lengths 5.57 inches and overall length 11 inches was then registered to a Virginia FFL, John Brown, DBA Battlefield Sports and that Mr. Brown transported this machinegun to the FTB lab in West Virginia for examination;

4. Significantly, the memo failed to disclose that prior to being in possession of SN A6042075, Brown had bought and sold at least two other M1919 machineguns and was a party in eight (8) applications to transfer models 1919 that had been converted from MAC models by Clark. It was also learned in review of discovery material that Brown was an ATF Confidential Informant;

5. The examination and testing of SN A6042075 was alleged to have been performed on October 31, 2006 by Richard Vasquez, the Deputy Chief of FTB; and

6. Vasquez concluded that the MAC Model 10 machinegun had been destroyed in the conversion process and that the Model 1919 was a new manufacture which triggered a requirement for Clark to file a Form 2 (notice of manufacture of a new machinegun). Since the Model 1919 was not registered, it was a contraband unregistered machinegun.

There are major problems with statements in the referral memo:

1. The memo cites neither to a statute, a regulation, a ruling nor any case law for the principle that the conversion of an NFA registered machinegun to another model constitutes the manufacture of a new machinegun and therefore requires a new registration. The conversion process described in the memo is a zero sum game. The MAC Model 10 machinegun that was converted was one machinegun lawfully registered and possessed before the conversion. Following the conversion, it was the same one machinegun albeit in a different configuration but nevertheless still one machinegun. The NFA is a tax statute and assesses tax on “machineguns,” per se, not models. The tax assessed and collected on every make, model, design, configuration of machinegun is set at the same uniform rate – $200.00 to register and $200.00 to transfer;

2. The Report of an Official Examination and Testing of SN A6042075 on October 31, 2006 is a canard, a complete, from whole cloth fabrication. Like a unicorn,

__________________________

7 At the time, 11/16/06, Ms. Stucko reported that 22 such suspect applications to transfer had been identified from a search of the NFRTR. The actual number charged in the indictment is 34 as others were discovered through investigation.

because it is impossible to find, it does not exist. The ATF FTB Laboratory has no record of receiving SN A6042075 for testing and examination on or about October 31, 2006. There is no report of such an examination in the FTB official system of records. The non-existence of A6042075's receipt in the FTB evidence log on October 31 and the non-existence of an FTB lab report was concealed from defendants throughout the discovery period. It was discovered only after Counsel’s specific requests for disclosure of the report were ignored for over a year. Finally, in October, 2011, Defendants received definitive proof that FTB has no record of receipt of that machinegun on or about that date. That fact was made known in response to a request for collateral items, i.e., for the pages of FTB’s evidence logs for October 31, 2006 and for any other entries in the FTB’s system of records. An agency capable of persisting in such deceit, patently false statements in a criminal investigation by top level ATF Headquarters Executives, is capable of much worse. (8)

THE ATF TECHNICAL EXAMINATIONS AND LAB REPORTS

Every machinegun in the indictment (approximately 80) was sent to the FTB lab for testing. Each was found to be a machinegun. However, they had been submitted to the lab for a determination whether they were manufactured after May 19, 1986. Such a finding is the ultimate proof at issue for a violation of § 922(o). The state of the government’s scientific evidence at the time of indictment was that it did not possess a single expert opinion about any machinegun submitted to FTB for testing (approximately 400) as to the date of manufacture, the place of manufacture and the identity of the manufacturer.

After the Court ordered deadline for completion of discovery had passed, on October 13, 2011, the government disclosed an undated report labeled “Supplemental Report of FTB 2008-514-KEM/FTB 2009-114-KEM.” (Supplemental Report). This report was prepared by Richard Vasquez, the government’s designated Firearms Expert Witness and purports (9) to supplement the time, these statements support an inference that government attorneys and witnesses polluted the grand jury process by the entry of erroneous statements of law. Taken at best, these remarks represent a profound misunderstanding of the rights and privileges, duties and obligations of a person in the status of a licensed manufacturer of firearms and a Special Occupational Taxpayer.

_______________________________

8 For more than a year, Defendants have requested confirmation of the existence of an internal investigation of ATF employees and regulated persons involved in this case and/or disclosure of the report of that investigation.(the ATF Office of Internal Affairs or Office of Professional Responsibility) Unlike a unicorn, the report of such an investigation does exist and it can be found.

9 The timing, authenticity and certification of this Report has not yet been challenged nor has the government provided any reasoning or authority for shifting lab reports. This is a Mr. Vasquez’s third modification of the official reports of another and bears no indicia that it is an official record of the ATF Firearms Technology Branch. The earlier official versions of the two reports contain no opinion that the conversions constituted a new manufacture.firearms expert. (One of the supplemented reports had been amended in February of 2011). Further, the report is not dated and bears no indicia that it is an official record of the ATF Firearms Technology Branch. The earlier official versions of the two reports contain no opinion that the conversions constituted a new manufacture.

Vasquez is in "a heap o' trouble," according to our sources. So, too, is the ATF. Insiders predict that the Clark case will go the way of the Friesen case, with all serious charges dismissed, afters years of investigation time and millions of dollars spent. A member of the Coalition of Willing Lilliputians, Alvin Wombat, provides this analysis:

I did a bit of serious nosing and reliably determined the following:

There is, absolutely, a sub rosa agenda by SOME people at ATF (I am not using a broad brush here) to systematically remove all of the registered/existing machine guns from civilians. The interpretation by SOME at ATF, fostered equally by ATF Counsel and SOME ATF Special Agents, is that the law was not enacted to preserve ownership of these existing machine guns, but instead to forcibly reduce the existing supply of transferable machine guns until it reaches zero.

There is some genuine sympathy developing for what Len terms ATF's "enforcement by ambush," i.e., concocting interpretations of what constitute violations of law; not publishing them or otherwise making them known; and "announcing" them by arresting people for serious felony (there is no other kind) violations of the NFA. David T. Hardy's recent observation in a blog on his site that ATF ought to, at a minimum based on the Administrative Procedures Act, make all of its pertinent Letter Rulings available to the public, including putting copies of them in a public Reading Room. The fact that ATF has issued many contradictory Letter Rulings is raising troubling legal issues.

It would be worth thumping Congressional washtubs to get the Congressional Research Service to once again address the Letter Ruling issue, in context of H.R. 126 (Fairness in Firearms Testing Act), because that would constitute a legislative approach to the issue/problem. The key to getting THAT done, in addition to the washtub thumping, is (A) getting some action on H.R. 126, and (B) getting somebody on the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security to take an interest in these aspects of enforcement.

I recognize that an important agenda is for the Congress to address the serious mismanagement of ATF from the top down, particularly the jacking around of ATF personnel---the retaliation, the increasingly crazy/contradictory enforcement. The "enforcement by ambush" aspect is just another example of ATF Counsel and top management abuse and failure to professionally administer the law.

5. In reading some of the Clark materials, it is impossible to conclude that the U.S. Attorney understands the law, and that ATF (through ATF Counsel) is not deliberately misrepresenting the law. The fact that this involves machine guns makes it politically dicey.

6. An angle to mess with this may be to put the ATF Letter Rulings in context with the Fairness in Firearms Testing Act; in particular, the practice of ATF to concoct standards to bring certain firearms into NFA status; like the re-testing in the Olofson case; and the crazy prosecution of Friesen (which revolved around what amounted to a firearm description).

Alvin Wombat.

I read this about Sweden,

and have a question:
Considering the problems Sweden is having with 'unassimilated immigrants of North African origin', I wonder if any of this leniency is due to "Let's not make them mad" concerns?


So Sen. Orrin Hatch is being primaried; good. Damn good. I hope they kick his ass out.


Insty points to some history of the Sullivan Act that Bloomberg so loves:
Sullivan knew the gangs would flout the law, but appearances were more important than results. Young toughs took to sewing the pockets of their coats shut, so that cops couldn’t plant firearms on them, and many gangsters stashed their weapons inside their girlfriends’ “bird cages” — wire-mesh fashion contraptions around which women would wind their hair.

Ordinary citizens, on the other hand, were disarmed, which solved another problem: Gangsters had been bitterly complaining to Tammany that their victims sometimes shot back at them.


Irish citizens get some of their right of self-defense back: gun bigots and socialists scandalized. In particular because it violates the EUnuch sensitivities:
“The law encourages people to use lethal force to defend their property and is at odds with Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights which obliges the state to ensure that lethal force can only be used if absolutely necessary and strictly proportionate in all the circumstances.”
To be crude about it, fuck that, fuck the EU, and fuck the gun bigots who have hysterics at the idea of a subj- ah, citizen being able to use lethal force, if necessary, to protect their lives and homes.


My response would be "Why is Andrew Sullivan such a freaking nutcase? And has he stopped fixating on Sarah Palin's uterus?"


If you went to Trailers right now, and read 'Revisiting failure' and the four posts below it, you'd get an idea of what a bunch of clowns, liars and dirtbags are running the gun bigot groups.


PA Gunblog has a post on Romney & guns; not as bad as what I'd heard before. Problem is, I just don't really trust him.
Link found at Only Guns & Money. Who also pointed to a place I'd seen before, but had dropped off my radar: Black Man with a Gun


Denver PD needs to clean house. Badly. And, by the way, isn't lying on a sworn incident report something like, say, perjury?


Why yes, it IS a double standard. The bastards.


Well, considering what's happened to the ideals of chivalry, of courage and manners, what do you expect? Added: an alternate view, "It's the Italians"


Miss Wasson, I've got news for you: you look like crap in that outfit. Less is NOT always better.
And get something to eat.
And it's no surprise Morena Baccarin looks good enough to stop traffic.


A Californicated State Bank. Oh, there's a GREAT idea. If you're a socialist moron, at least.


So I came back to sit down and upload photos and video and check my e-mail, and there was an e-mail informing me that the Daily Beast has done a story about Mrs. Santorum’s ex-boyfriend from nearly 30 years ago, before she met her husband.
Maybe they should rename to the Daily Bestiality; it's closer to their mindset.


'Antiquated revolver' my ass; I want to know what condition it was in. I'd bet either zero maintenance for a looong time, or really old ammo. Or both.

Yeah, I've seen these people, too

I ask because the ridership down here seems divided very sharply. People who seem to know what they're doing and riding defensively and people whose heads are so far up their asses they open their mouths to see. Gives new meaning to the term "eye tooth".

Some more responses to 'Only Gun Victims' Peterson

Minuteman

McThag

Something else from Weer'd:
Joan is claiming certain victims as “her own” and other victims as not only the result of cynicism, but her words “Try to Find” when their names and stories are all there for everybody to see, claims that they are in themselves somehow invalid.

And this is where we get the term “Blood Dancing”, they only respect the lives lost that are useful to them. Also you’ll note that while Joan takes offense to me pointing out that she invokes the name of her dead sister for any number of irrelevant laws that played ZERO part in her sister’s death, but she makes no effort to refute it.

There were no “High Capacity Magazines” at the scene of her sister’s murder, but you have invoked Barbara’s name for magazine bans.

There were no “Assault Weapons” at the scene of her sister’s murder, but she has invoked Barbara’s name for “Assault Weapons” bans.

Conceal Carry was illegal in the state of Minnesota at the time of the murder, but she has invoked Barbara’s name for restrictions on Conceal carry.

None of the weapons found at the scene were bought through private sale, nor were any legally posessed because Russell Lund was the subject to a restraining order, but she has invoked Barbara’s name for the private sale of firearms, and universal background checks.

She has also claimed that Russell Lund was not a criminal until he pulled the trigger murdering her sister and her friend, but Mr. Lund was in and out of court, and in and out of mental facilities, as well as a known abusive man with a harsh temper.

She won’t refute these facts because they are true.
Yeah, true, but inconvenient.
She's got a habit of saying "They were not criminals until-" Someone could be a violent con(illegal to pick up a gun) and under a permanent restraining order(illegal to pick up a gun) and in possession of a firearm(worth a number of years in a federal prison, not counting state laws) and she still insists he's not a criminal until he kills/rapes/assaults someone. I really can't tell if she's just that dishonest, or that unwilling to understand.


UCV

One last thing for tonight, on Globular Warmering and nasty 'deniers'

Robb had a post a while back and the comments got interesting. At the least.

Some of this reminds me of a friend I got into a disagreement with. Turned out she's a True Believer^tm and I made the mistake of tripping that switch. She'd said something about AGW, to which I replied 'Bullshit', or something equally polite, and went on to note that when I was 14 or so I was reading about how Globular Cooling was going to
cause crop failures,
spread diseases,
trash the oceans,
destroy developed countries and
"Cats and dogs LIVING TOGETHER!"
etc. And that an awful lot of the same people pushing that are now pushing Globular Warminering/Climate Change. Turned out that it shocked her immensely that I was a Denier(a word that truly pisses me off) and I got the whole routine: all REAL scientists believe, all denier scientists either aren't REAL scientists or are bought off, etc. ad nauseum ad fuckitall.

And another who, when I pointed to the flat scientific frauds, the character assassination, the lies revealed in the CRU e-mails, the response was "And all that will be found in them is that the world is warming up and the deniers are fools", and so on. Scientific fraud? Ignore it. Trying to destroy other scientists for asking questions? Unimportant. Lies? Don't count.

It's been kind of amazing.

Speaking of 'You suck', Joan Peterson and Ladd Everitt

are definitely in the category. In multiple ways and cases
These clowns are just freakin' desperate to find something to call 'treason' about, aren't they?


Awright, dammit, where's my free stuff then?
More. Just scroll down a bit, you'll find it


Jennifer has words for Japete.
And some earlier ones.


Some words about Globular Warmering


There are some truly stupid people running public schools


Oh, for Bleep's sake,
The core of the response is this: the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, United States Special Operations Command, and the Department of the Navy all had their records searched. Nothing. Admiral Mike Mullen's email was scanned. Nothing. The Pentagon claims not a single person aboard the USS Carl Vinson, where Bin Laden's remains were disposed of, took a single picture. Not a single email from the ship makes reference to photo or video. Essentially: nobody in the military has evidence. So did these things ever exist?


Thoughts on the cruise ship mess from a mariner. I love this line:
As my former captain used to say, "Rule 1 of navigation is 'look out the fucking window.'"


And, thanks to the Irishman, I found two things. One reminds me of the 2nd wife:
And the other, well, wish I'd seen this in time for Christmas

Found here; much like Irish, often NSFW

Well, Brady Center, you really suck

I mean, you can't even get your damned paperwork done on time?

Home remedies,

but I don't think I'll try them.

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES:

1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO
HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.

2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.

3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.

4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.

5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.

6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.

7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.

Damn. If you're in Denver, and have any contact with police,

make sure you can make THEM sure who you are.

This is just friggin' bloody awful, and I hope the suit nails everyone involved to the wall.

Something to watch out for at the range or show

POSTSCRIPT: I can't verify the veracity of the following, but yesterday I received a mass emailing from a good friend explaining how street gangs are 'tagging' cars in parking lots at gun stores, shooting ranges and gun shows. Then when the automobile, after tagging, is driven to another part of the area and left empty it is broken into and the weapons and gear stolen.

Supposedly, a number of expensive shotguns were stolen from vehicles this past summer at an event held near San Antonio, Texas and law enforcement feels this was the technique that identified the vehicles in each case. It also appears the same technique was used recently in Denver, Colorado.

A small adhesive dot is place on the bumper or the license plate to 'mark' the vehicle, when empty, as a target for thieves specializing in weapons theft.

So be aware and watch for anything 'strange' being put on your vehicle whenever you leave a 'Fun-Show' or shooting range...
Thanks to Farmer Frank for the warning. Hadn't heard of this before, but it doesn't surprise me.

That's all very nice, but WHERE ARE THE LASERS?

I want dolphins with lasers, dammit!

Looked over at Insty and found this on the Marine

pissing incident; pretty good. Hell, even that slimy little bastard Maher is in agreement.
But I'll comment on one thing:
What the Marines did was wrong–and possibly a symptom of problems in unit leadership–but let’s keep some perspective as punishment is weighed.
As to 'leadership', that would include a President negotiating with a Taliban bigshot for our virtual surrender, and some ROE that seem at times tailormade to get our guys killed; I guarantee that crap is not helping matters. Add into that hearing- while you're being shot at- that the President and a bunch of other clowns want to cut your numbers, and there are still 'can we cut their health care or pay?' questions being quietly passed around(heard that from the son), and, well...

So, I asked him, if I’m a crime victim

trying to protect my property in Massachusetts, is the state on my side?

“Absolutely not.”
To those who live in the PROM, you have my sympathies. And I'm NEVER going to live there. For that matter, I don't even want to visit the damn place anymore.


Now, that dog knows whose side he's on.
“He got a bite out of the guy’s leg,” Elizabeth said of the burglar, who had already cut the phone and cable line to their house. “He ripped his pants and tried to tug him down. But the guy got away.”
Good dog, have a bone!


Another MAIG criminal
Violent one.


This is not a surprise. At all.
He must have known why I was calling.

Asked the same question again. This time the reply I got this time was different: “Senator Schumer is in favor of censoring the internet.”

….whhhhhhat? Up until now, most of the statements from congresspeople have done that neat thing politicians do where they say words but don’t actually answer the question. They do the “censorship” dance very well – never say it out loud, but vote for the bill nonetheless. From what I can tell “anti-piracy” and “pro-censorship” are actually the same thing here, though politicians usually argue the former so as not to seem anti-first-amendment. No one has been brazen enough to drop the C-word without hesitation. But this dude apparently had no problem with it. I said again: “So you’re saying Senator Schumer is in favor of censoring the internet?”

“Yes.” He then backpedaled a bit, and mentioned that Schumer is in favor of censoring illegal activities on the internet. But still, the C-word.


Yes, the assholes and haters of the military are in charge.
Just to pick on one: Karzai. Let's see, in his country
Little girls of 7 can be married to adult males and the marriage consummatedlegally raped at 9,
Little boys are used as sex toys,
Raped women can be condemned to death for 'illegal sex', but may have the sentence commuted if they marry the rapist,
The Taliban teaches teenage boys to behead a live human being and considers it good parenting,
The routinely mutilate our troops bodies if they can, and booby-trap them,
and that miserable, corrupt little bastard calls us names? Fuck him. With a splintery shovel handle.


And Obama's official campaign vehicle

May have to change the name to 'Gunwalkers...

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that yet another gun trafficking sting operation mounted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives called “White Gun” possibly allowed guns to “get away” into Mexico.

The Times notes that White Gun had been “previously unreported.” It appears to have been on a much smaller scale, and the newspaper says there were three arrests.

Reportedly mounted at the same time as Operation Fast and Furious, the White Gun investigation is on the radar screen of congressional investigators who have been working on the Fast & Furious scandal. Some familiar names surface right up front, according to the L.A. Times:

In the late summer of 2010, the ATF agent leading the failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation in Arizona flew to Mexico City to help coordinate cross-border investigations of U.S. weapons used by Mexican drug cartels.
Hope A. MacAllister wanted access to police and military vaults for American weapons recovered by Mexican authorities in raids and at crime scenes. She especially was interested in firearms from another ATF investigation, code-named White Gun, that she was running…

… MacAllister was the lead agent. Her supervisor, David J. Voth, was head of the ATF's Group VII field office in Phoenix. His boss was William D. Newell, then the special agent in charge in Phoenix.-Los Angeles Times

'I don't want to take pictures with any more soldiers'

You expect anything else from him?

When he made his little Presidential trip to Iraq, remember the basketball game? Son knew a guy there; said Obama played maybe five minutes to get pictures and left, never saying a word to any of the troops.

There's reasons why Kim used to call it New York Effing City

and this kind of garbage is a big one:
Strangely, now that the case against me is over, the authorities refuse to return my firearm. There is no law that allows them to confiscate a weapon in this manner. They simply say “no” when you ask for your weapon back. This is apparently their “policy.” It is done regularly in New York. This is government robbery. Not only is New York City anti-Second Amendment rights, but they are depriving citizens of their legally owned property. My lawyer has advised me that I can attempt to pursue the return of my firearm, but that to do so would cost me more than the firearm is worth. I am not alone in facing this tyranny. It has happened to hundreds of people in the New York metro area. My lawyer, Brian Stapleton, has handled over 400 of these cases himself, so he is an expert on the subject.
"We're New York Effing City, and we don't have to obey laws we don't like. And we can steal your property and you can't afford to do anything about it." Theft under color of law- well, no, you can't call it that because there's no law for them to hide this theft behind; it's just theft because the thieves can get away with it.

What do do, when there are two protected species

involved?

Hail to the King, baby

Rodger, the RKOF, that is.

He had this recipe a while back.

I just took the roast out of the crock pot.

Oh, it made me regret the pepper poppers I ate earlier to hold me over. If I hadn't had them, I could eat another sandwich

Some good "If you have to draw, what happens after?"

advice

The letters say nothing about compensating gun owners for the seizures

Well, why should they? It's only your private property they're stealing under the excuse of "It looks scary"; so why should they give a damn about you?

Registration: it ALWAYS leads to at least some level of confiscation

A DGU that won't be on the 'official' records

since he didn't have to pull the trigger. No matter where you are, keep your eyes open, all the way around.


On the subject of DGU and the gun bigot reaction to Weer'd's project. You know, that's about the most polite way of saying 'Piss off' I think I've ever read.


By the way, remember former Officer Harless?
Yes, 'former'.

Yeek! Stay OUT of the bleepin' water in

New Guinea!

Also, from the Irishman,




Thanks to the True King of France
Note: both sites may be somewhat NSFW


I think that, especially with public money funding it, all this research SHOULD be available to the public.


Oh yeah, this is a GREAT idea...


But the tea party is full of 'terrorists'... yeah.


"Use a product that doesn't exist for you to buy, or you'll pay a fine!" Every politician and bureaucrat involved in pushing this should be horsewhipped. Which reminds me:
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kinds of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of lawbreakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."


And last, it appears that the Progressive Gun Bigots are all butthurt by Weer'd's candle idea. Ever notice that their 'thoughts' are much like the mess in Dr. Who? "Don't try to protect yourself, don't have a weapon, you must wait for The Power or Someone Official to save you." As Kevin says, Fuck That.

Rep. Schultz: with great feeling I must say

fuck you, you lying little sack of crap.

Somebody with Photoshop or something needs to put a German helmet on her: between the name and her know-nothing mind, it would fit nicely.


The Turks blame The JOOOS! Which reminds me of something:
..."It seems if you are Vorkosigan enough, you can even get away with murder."
...Instead, he stared up unblinkingly, and breathed, "So if you truly believe that, why are you standing in my way?"*

Which reminds me of how, if the various slanderers had actually believed Bush was a dictator, murderer, etc., they'd have been in hiding because not one of them would've had the balls to pull the crap they did.


Heard something about this the other day, the Italians have declared that paying cash for anything of more than €1000 is illegal; I wonder when they'll propose making it illegal to pay for ANYTHING with cash? Or when someone else somewhere else will call for it?


I really don't want to hear some UN clown calling for us to be sanctioned for 'crimes against humanity' and such until the bastards do something about their raping 'peacekeepers'.


Yeah, we're supposed to trust these professional journalisters- er, journalists- to decide what we need to know...







*A Civil Campaign

Among the reasons the EPA should either be disbanded

or- if left in existence- put on a VERY short leash.
At issue is the EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Water Act through so-called administrative compliance orders, which are government commands that allow the agency to control the use of private property without the annoyance of having to subject its actions to judicial review.

The Sacketts contend that the compliance order was issued erroneously and they would like the opportunity to make their case in court. Yet according to the terms of the Clean Water Act, they may not challenge the order until the EPA first seeks judicial enforcement of it, a process that could take years. In the meantime, the Sacketts risk $32,500 in fines per day if they fail to comply. And complying doesn’t just mean they have to stop building; they must also return the lot to its original condition at their own expense.
You'll love this:
For its part, the EPA argues that old-fashioned judicial review would simply get in the way. As the agency states in the brief it submitted to the Supreme Court, “A rule that broadly authorized immediate judicial review of such agency communications would ultimately disserve the interests of both the government and regulated parties, by discouraging interactive processes that can obviate the need for judicial action.”
Translation: "You want us to actually be answerable? In court? We don't want to!"

More on the hearing here: including
So far, all the lower courts that have reviewed such claims agree with the government that the agency’s compliance orders are not subject to judicial review. They have said that because the EPA must prove a violation to a judge for the court to levy fines, that is the proper time for the courts to get involved.

The Sacketts counter that the compliance order is mandatory; they say it requires action to avoid the potential of ruinous fines. Even the prospect of waiting to see whether the EPA will go to court — it has years to make the decision — deprives the couple of their land and leaves them “to the mercy and whim of EPA.”
So the lower court judges say "We shouldn't let judges get involved(we shouldn't let the peasants challenge EPA in court) until EPA actually 'proves a violation'. So it's just fine for EPA to ruin you with fines and fees and take your land away from you so long as they haven't actually gone to a judge themselves." Which is such a level of bullshit that if it were all piled in one place the EPA would order you to clean it up or be fined a million bucks a day.

A letter to gun bigots

Damn.

Ultimak Garand mount, first test

Took it to the range yesterday with 32 rounds of my cast-bullet loads to sight-in and generally try it out.

I like it. Even with the somewhat-high rings, no problem keeping a solid sight picture, and nothing shifted/twisted/loosened. True, these loads are lighter than ball; still, I don't foresee any problems with the mount not staying where it should. Looking forward to weather and time so I can take this to the 100-yard range for some more work. And everyone who saw it really liked the appearance, as well as the ability to put a optic right over the bore.


While I'm thinking about it, thought I'd pass this along on the Rock Island 1911 pistols. A while back son decided he wanted a .45, and he wanted a 1911. He and his sister both have really good research abilities: give them something they want/need to find out about and they'll find everything. Everything he found on these said 'they're solid, they work, and if you are one who has a problem they fix things fast'. Plus, he wanted something he could try his hand on a modification/tuning without worrying that he might screw up a expensive pistol, so he got one of their Officer's Model size. That was a year or so ago, and he's had zero problems, ball and hollowpoints both.

Sen. Schumer has found another aspect of other peoples' lives

that he needs control over.

So, we need two things:
Meddling politicians thrown out of office, and
DEA canned for screwing with people with chronic pain.

Aussie gun bigots wet pants:

film at (what time zone are they in?) whenever the hell.
The Australian media, being mostly urban and easily scared, is generally hopeless when reporting on firearms. This piece is a classic example. Note the seamless linkage between gang-related events in Melbourne’s northwest suburbs and legal gun ownership in such places as Harrow – a small rural town nearly 400 kilometres from the Victorian capital.

Note also the prominence given to the gun control lobby’s claim that more guns lead to more crime. This should be easy to verify. Simply review the crime statistics for those gun “hot spots” identified by the Herald Sun. At least the paper did some basic checking in Swifts Creek:

Welcome to Swifts Creek, home to about 278 people, 774 guns and a tank.

Firearms outnumber the local population more than two to one, but there has not been a single shooting - accidental or otherwise - in recent memory.

They’ll no doubt have found a similar situation in Harrow, had they inquired. According to these figures, the area is massively below state averages for homicide, rape, robbery, arson, burglary and theft.

Ultimak Garand mount

I added these shots to the original post, thought I'd toss them up in an individual post as well.

Rifle with mount installed and scope mounted:

A closer look


Here's the underside, with the two clamps pointed to
The mount blends in very well, and nowhere does it come close to interfering with free movement of the oprod. On the forward end it butts against the rear ferrule, so it can't shift forward under recoil. The screws for the clamps go in from the top, and have large hex-key heads for adjusting. And there's plenty of clearance to put on a scope with a big objective, just pick suitable rings. These are high enough that I'll get some lower ones later on.

Really looking forward to sighting this in. Among other things, when I test those cast-bullet loads this will remove some of the 'load or my aim at fault?' question.

"The country must cut back, all of us!

Except for my parties and vacations, of course."


Yeah, they probably are helping push for a ban; also probably trying to help distract from Gunwalker.


Some, ah, problems with the Obama Chop The Military plan. Aside from the fact that he and minions would rather just chop the forces up than actually try to get rid of waste or duplication.


I'm going to try to get some pictures of the Garand with mount today; good chance of rain later but the sun is pushing through the clouds right now.

So, I wonder if she can sue Bloomberg for lying

about her?

Another lethal SWAT raid,

this time lethal for a cop. And others wounded. Jeez, what a mess.

If nothing else were a problem with Santorum,

this crap would be.

At this point I'm thinking 'Hold our noses and get Obama out of office, then it's third-party time.'

Light a Candle, says We'erd

Here's mine
Reusing my original saying, 'Tis better to light a candle and carry a sidearm than to be unarmed in the dark.

Something that's going to get a range test as soon (updated with pics)

as I can get to it: been working a lot of hours lately*, so as a late Christmas present to myself I got something I've been looking at for quite a while: a Ultimak mount for my Garand.

Pictures later, when I can set up in better light. For now, installation was pretty straightforward: remove the action/barrel group from the stock(if you're unfamiliar, go here and choose Field Stripping); remove the rear handguard; remove op rod and spring; put mount in place and install the two clamps, just snug the screws; roughly level; install op rod and spring, replace barrel unit in stock. Then level the mount and tighten the screws.
Here's how it looks on mine:

That may be your rifle; MINE had to argue about it. Specifically, the 'remove rear handguard' instructions didn't work, as the spring was so bloody tight you could not pop it off that way; I had to detail strip the barrel(remove gas tube/sight unit, remove front handguard, pull pin and remove ferrule) to get the thing off; the mount, however, went on exactly as listed. I used a level to compare the mount to the receiver and true it up.

Except for the rail on top, at first glance you could think it's a black-stained wood guard, it fits in that well.

The two clamps that fit around the barrel seem perfectly machined,
there's zero slop in the fit. The iron sights are not obstructed by the rail. Right now I've got a LER 2x scope mounted, and the rings are a little high(only ones I had); down the road I think I'll need some lower ones, but these will do to try it out.

*Friend: "I thought you were retired from that place?"
Me: "Me, too."
My real thought: If I'm one of those rich retired people, why aren't I on a beach somewhere with Sandra Bullock?