Gangster Government: Part 83

Now let’s look at what just happened there. The head of an agency that regulates the auto industry makes it clear that he could have, on a whim perhaps, made some “guidelines” obligatory. Then in the context of inferring his regulatory power, he states how he’d prefer that his regulatory subjects advertise their wares. Something that Michael Barone once said about “gangster government” resonates here. Nice little car company you have there. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to it would we? Oh, and be sure and tell your customers what a good job we’re doing keeping them safe.

While the “voluntary” guidelines issued this week are directed at manufacturers, it’s obvious that NHTSA/DOT has greater plans for their involvement in your driving. The current guidelines are only the first phase of the process.
And a suggestion:
A modern cop car is filled with all sorts of distracting electronic equipment including interactive computer screens. I’m fine with Ray LaHood disabling my nav system as long as he disables Johnny Law’s LEIN screen, at least when he’s behind the wheel. If it’s dangerous for regular folks to use cellphones, radios and computers behind the wheel, it’s just as dangerous for cops to do it.

Some information on Vitamin D

found over here. Bunch of stuff I hadn't known. Daughter got interested in the subject a while back and has been researching it; this includes some stuff she hadn't found as yet. Short version: you probably need more than you're getting, and being out in the sun isn't the horror that's been pushed for quite a while now.

Which especially caught my eye because last physical the doc advised me that I should ALWAYS use sunscreen, year-round. I started wondering if sunscreen affected the good you get from sunlight; seems it does.


The Ten New Commandments, from Hanson.


Y'know, this kind of thing might make some people nervous

(thanks to Sondra for this one)




In September of 2010, a federal district court ruled that Zaccari ignored “clearly established” law when he punished Barnes without notice or a hearing. Because of that, he could not claim the “qualified immunity” defense — which meant that he could be found personally liable for damages to Barnes. Zaccari appealed, and last week, the Eleventh Circuit upheld that removal of qualified immunity.

This finding sends a clear message to university presidents and administrators: if you violate a student’s constitutional rights, you could well pay damages out of your own pocket.
Now we need this applied to a lot of prosecutors and cops


6 painful things nobody tells you about fighting
I remember the story when Mike Tyson was swung at by a drunk one night; he decked the guy with one punch, which
Was declared proper self-defense, and
Broke a bone in his hand, causing a title match to be delayed by several weeks.
I think the line from a Drake book was "You shouldn't hit someone with your bare hand unless you're stark naked in an empty room."


During the range trip a couple of days ago I kept my eyes out for usable brass and such. I did find two Garand clips someone left behind, and a few brass; but on rifle cartridges most of what's left behind anymore is either Berdan primed or something- like .223- that a lot of people don't want to bother with reloading.

...(DHS) is still giving local law enforcement agencies military vehicles.

According to a report in The Huffington Post, a small town in New Hampshire was set to receive an armored personnel vehicle before one local resident launched a petition drive to block the acquisition.
...
A Lenco spokesman criticized some of the citizens who spoke out against his firm's vehicle, calling them "crazy" and saying, "When a Lenco Bearcat shows up at a crime scene where a suicidal killer is holding hostages, it doesn't show up with a cannon. It shows up with a negotiator. Our trucks save lives," according to the article.
Because a negotiator isn't safe traveling the public streets unless he's in an armored vehicle, probably with some cops playing 'The Infantry Squad In The Assault'.

And I wonder if they're planning on more OPM from DHS to pay for maintenance and so forth?

With all the critter stuff the past while

speaking of honey badgers,

Well, that will put the warmenists panties in a bunch

Had PBS on for background noise, a Nova episode about exploring blue holes in the Bahamas. Which led into climate change; NATURAL climate change.

Short version: dust found in a layer traced to the Sahara; the dust layers corresponded to layers in a stalagmite indicating big, fast-occurring warming, in some cases big temperature and sea-level rises in as little as 50 years. And theorizing that the droughts in Africa over the last few decades, and the dust storms, could be indication of a warming cycle about to kick off.

So my brain started spinning with some questions and thoughts:
I wonder how the past warming periods they're seeing signs of correspond to sunspot activity?
Wonder if any way to determine how long the droughts preceded the beginning of the warming period, if the theory is correct?
And, the big one,
If the theory is correct, it would be further proof that the warming of the recent past was primarily, if not completely, natural cycle, thereby shoving a stake in the heart of AGW.

Interesting thoughts

One of the same things I've learned this week:

No. Instead, I stated that the “millions of American women” phrase was hyperbole, because there are only tens of thousands of women who work for churches, but not “millions”.

I was immediately set up by her for “attacking the messenger”, something explicitly prohibited in the forum rules. She didn’t even attempt to say that maybe she had been misinformed or that she had some sort of evidence to prove her numbers.
Other things:
If you point out the hearing the Democrats tried to take over wasn't about contraception, it was about the 1st Amendment problems raised by Obama's diktat, you're a misogynist. And part of the 'boys club' that wants women to do what they're told.
And if you dare to ask "Why should the government be paying for anyones' birth control?"(don't have to mention abortion unless you really want to see people crap their pants) you will be informed that you don't want women to have health care. Yes, it has magically occurred that 'birth control' automatically means ALL health care. At least for women. Question anything about that and you hate womyn,etc.

In the past, I once told someone I'd formerly thought a reasonable sort that "If someone wants to have an abortion, I'm not stopping them; but they can damn well pay for it themselves and stop demanding I do so." I pretty much walked into their place of worship and peed on the altar; it seems that 'abortion and contraception are available' only counts if they can make someone else pay for it.

Oh, and let's not forget that no man has any interest in contraception, oh no, this is purely an interest of women...


I mentioned this before, but this level of either desperation or stupidity needs to be repeated:
Using cash for small purchases like a cup of coffee, gum and other items is a good indication that a person is trying to pass for normal without leaving the kind of paper trail created using a debit or credit card for small purchases.
Makes me think of some KGB dirtbag asking a peasan- er, 'Soviet citizen' "Why do you use cash, comrade? Why do you not make our job of monitoring your life easier? What are you up to?"


Speaking of stupidity,
Elliott Dearlove had asked a five-year-old boy in the playground whether he was ‘brown because he was from Africa’.

His mother, Hayley White, 29, said she received a phone call last month to say her son had been at the centre of a ‘racist incident’.

She was then summoned to a meeting with Elliott, his teacher and the deputy head of Griffin Primary School in Hull.
...
Ms White claimed she was asked at the meeting to read a copy of the school rules and in particular its zero-tolerance policy on racism.

‘I was told I would have to sign a form acknowledging my son had made a racist remark which would be submitted to the local education authority for further investigation,’ she said.


Also on stupidity, and general socialist bullshit, home schooling is the enemy of being progressive:
This overheated hostility toward public schools runs throughout the new literature on liberal homeschooling, and reveals what is so fundamentally illiberal about the trend: It is rooted in distrust of the public sphere, in class privilege, and in the dated presumption that children hail from two-parent families, in which at least one parent can afford (and wants) to take significant time away from paid work in order to manage a process—education—that most parents entrust to the community at-large.
So: if you're politically liberal and take your kids out of some crappy state school and teach them at home, you're an ESPECIALLY bad Enemy of the Progressive State. As opposed to conservatives or libertarians who're just plain evil anyway.


Something on "Treat kids like everybody used to, and you're a criminal."


Withdrawal symptoms: they can be a problem


Also from the Doc, and I'm stealing the whole thing:
As my readers know, I'm running for President this year.

Now, admittedly, my entire campaign thus far is based on one issue, but yesterday while attending a 9-year-old girl's birthday party with my kids, I came up with a second point.

While I strongly support freedom of expression, I also believe some times are better than others to express your beliefs.

So, if elected President, I promise you this:

Any father who shows up at his 9-year daughter's birthday party wearing a T-shirt that says "IT AIN'T GONNA SUCK ITSELF" with an arrow pointing downwards, will be immediately castrated by specially trained fashion police.

Vote Grumpy, 2012!

9-1-1- is a notification service,

not a crime stopping service.


Boss, life is trouble; only death is not! To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble!
(from Zorba the Greek)


Just a couple of quotes I like.
And I need to work on that second one

Assuming it actually happened as the weenies say,

the obvious question comes up: What caliber for drone?

Romney campaign says "I am your friend!"

Nothing else, really, just that.

You believe him?

I poke something with a fruit logo

and enough computing power to run the entire 1960's NASA program with an index finger.

"Do you have a smart phone that's been sitting in the corner and eating paint chips?"
Go. Now.

"Why are so many anti-gun types so violent?" is the usual question;

a corollary could be "Why are they such slimeballs?"

Ultimak Garand mount, second test

A while back I mentioned getting a Ultimak mount for my M1; first tryout here. It being a fine day for the range*, today it got a tryout on the 50 and 100-yard ranges. Total of 48 rounds of cast-bullet loads at 50(accuracy test) and 32 rounds of Korean PS ball split between 50 and 100.

I like this mount. Didn't shift, move, squiggle, nothing, just sat there solidly in place, the way it's supposed to. It's an overcast, cool day, and the mount got a touch warm; I can see how firing a bunch on a hot day could get it hot, but unless you're actually touching it with your forward hand, shouldn't be any big deal. And that aluminum cools down fast.

I'd have to say 'Recommend'. Solid, nice-looking. And having an optic takes some of the guesswork out of testing loads. I do need to find some lower rings, I'd like a better cheek weld on the stock, but if you had a scope with a large bell you'd need a bit higher rings; you could always make/buy a cheekrest if need be. Or if you're not worried about a original stock or something, put a wood one on top of the comb like that used on the #4 Enfield snipers.

Speaking of loads, I had three variations of cast-bullet loads and none of them will set the world on fire. Great for the indoor range, but not good for 100 yards or beyond.

Also took something I hadn't fired in a long time, my muzzleloader. It's a Lyman Plains Rifle, .54 caliber; I'd forgotten the fun of working with it. And with some of the stuff available now, cleaning up after is a lot less mess.

Noticed a guy with a S&W 15-22 and a red-dot sight and asked about it: it's this one from Primary Arms. He said he's had it about four months with zero problems.

I shall now get stuff out of the truck before it rains, and get ready: my goddaughter has the same birthday, and I'm going to her party tonight.


*Defined as "I'm not at work, it's not raining, and the clouds prevent glare"

A civil rights victory in Canada

as Insty put it:
OTTAWA — The Harper government’s controversial bill to end the long-gun registry has passed the House of Commons, marking the end of a long political battle over one of the most controversial law enforcement measures in recent memory.

The bill passed easily, by a margin of 159 to 130, as the Conservatives used their majority in the House secure passage of the bill, which now goes to the Senate where the Conservatives also have a majority.
With the usual suspects whining and calling names, etc.


And here, the kind of fargin' idiot we have in Congress:
Birth control “is not a male issue, it’s a female issue. I’ve never met a man that had the need for birth control.”
I will leave the dissection of that flat stupid statement to you.


Obama likes high gas prices? What was your first clue?
And Chu should be in line for a special dose of tar and feathers.


Yes, I double-checked the calendar: this actually IS the 'another year' day



There are museums and such in NYEffingCity I'd love to see; but not while this kind of crap is still going on. A: you can't carry, B: I just don't want to put money in the pockets of that government.


Bigoted and cowardly fools running schools; they'd never have allowed some Christian song, if a Jewish cantor had wanted to sing I very much doubt they'd have allowed him; but a song praising Allah? No problem!


And now, I think I shall mark the day with a trip to the range.

I have to note an interesting thing:

Had to go by Wally World for something(couldn't find it elsewhere) and in the pharmacy area found packages of Quikclot.
This discovery will shortly be followed by a DHS warning that people buying this may be militia/terrorist suspects. Except if they pay with cash, then they ARE suspects.


Power tools and gun cleaning is a combination that tends to freak people out(with good reason), but one way you can use them:
my K-22 has some of the problem Tam has mentioned: combine match chambers with lots of .22 ammo, and you get sticky ejection and loading. Had some stubborn spots in a couple of chambers, so got a brush that would be snug in the chamber, chucked it into the power driver, added a little solvent and- spinning it SLOWLY- worked it into the chamber, then back & forth a few times. Next chamber, repeat. Let it sit a few minutes and wiped them out: not a trace of fouling left.

Did the same thing on the .32 Hand Ejector; saves a lot of back & forth scrubbing.



So, CNN ran another piece about the Administration's proposal for a single internet identity for everybody, to circumvent all those pesky passwords and logins you have to remember right now.

This may be the stupidest idea to come out of Washington since the creation of the TSA.
And at least equally ripe for abuse.


By the way, the dollar stores around here carry a 'LA'a Totally Awesome' Cleaner/Degreaser', dilute as needed and so forth. I tried it straight on where chain lube had fouled the chain guards on the bike; this stuff works pretty damn well. Masked the chain with plastic, sprayed, hardly had to brush it dissolved the stuff so well, then rinsed right off.

And now, I shall do some of the cleaning I've been putting off.

Another year older,

but at least no more in debt than I was before.

Added: I can't even keep days straight, I'm one ahead. Damn

This doesn't sound like a 'serious mistake' to me;

it sounds like premeditated misconduct.

And yeah, he damn well should be personally liable for this

Among the reasons I dislike politics and often despise

politicians: unless you know the guy personally, you can't tell if they're actually working toward something, or gaming with other politicians. Case in point:
On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.

In a Jan. 31 letter, Issa had threatened Holder with such a move if he failed to provide all the subpoenaed documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal by Feb. 9. That deadline has come and gone, and Holder’s Department of Justice still hasn’t provided most of those documents. Issa’s subpoena dates back to Oct. 12, 2011.

On Tuesday in a seven-page letter, Issa revealed that Deputy Attorney General James Cole begged Congress to extend the Feb. 9 deadline. Issa wrote that the request was “ironic” and “ignores the reality that the Department has unreasonably delayed producing these documents to the Committee.”

“On its face, the requested extension demonstrates a lack of good faith,” Issa wrote to Holder.(Really? What was the tip-off?) “With one exception, the Department has only produced documents responsive to the subpoena on the eve of congressional hearings in which senior Department officials testified. The Department appears to be more concerned with protecting its image through spin control than actually cooperating with Congress.”
Few days ago I was yelling about this story that Issa had given them the extension; now we get this. Problems: the subpoena was issued last October; the deadline was(supposedly) last Thursday; and they're 'taking a major step' by sending another letter now? Why wasn't the contempt proceeding started the day after the deadline? Interference from Boehner? The FBI playing games like it did under Hoover? We don't know.

I really don't like jumping on top of people and yelling over things like this when I don't know- CAN'T know- if they're actually bending over, but if you don't yell at them when it appears so, you'll never yell at all. Which I think greatly increases the chances of a lot of them bending and making deals.

I hate this crap because
You really can't know who to trust(if anyone),
We're seeing a contempt for the law and for life from the people supposedly in charge of protecting them.
We've been seeing politicians actively trying to protect the bad guys in government from being held responsible for what they did, and it's purely for political reasons: "Screw the law, screw who's dead, we need to protect these people because if they fall it damages my party, and damages the gun-control stuff I like." If you had any remaining respect for these clowns, that kills it.
And you have that dread that, once again, the people responsible for this will not suffer any real punishment; that they'll walk away from it.

I've been using that line from Jaws more and more: it's enough to piss off the Good Humor man.

Good God, what the hell is WRONG with these people?

A veteran Orange County sheriff’s deputy feared for the safety of two young girls sitting in a parked car when he shot and killed a Marine sergeant in a dark parking lot near San Clemente High School, authorities said Friday.

Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr. was shot early Tuesday as he started to get into the SUV where his two daughters -- 9 and 14 -- were sitting, authorities said. Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the department, said the deputy was fearful that Loggins -- who he said appeared to be acting irrationally -- was about to drive off with the girls.
There'd better be a damned good something beyond "I didn't like the way he was acting." Especially with this:
A former commanding officer said Loggins routinely went to the school with his daughters during the early-morning hours to walk the track and read the Bible.

Amormino said Loggins was not armed and that it doesn’t appear the incident was alcohol- or drug-related.

Added: Loggins wife is pregnant.

Feral's right:

this is funny:

Speaking of 'hypocritical progressive dirtbags', Anita Dunn

has reared back into the public eye:
After attacking hedge funds and their managers during her tenure in the Obama administration, Anita Dunn is now working as a public relations consultant to improve the industry’s image, according to a secret proposal obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Dunn, formerly the interim White House communications director for the Obama administration and currently a managing director at the Democratic consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker (SKDK), is being promoted by the public relations firm McLean/Clark LLC as a director of “paid media” for a pro-hedge-fund campaign. The project is described by promotional material as a “comprehensive public affairs operation” to “raise awareness about the positive role hedge funds play in the American economy” and to “eliminate the need for politicians to take aim at hedge funds.”
...
An industry outsider who was pitched on Dunn’s proposal told the Washington Free Beacon that he was surprised to see the former Obama official involved in the effort. “First we see Dunn attack us on television,” he said, “and then she tells us to hire her to head off the exact attacks that she herself is hurling at us. The entire thing begins to stink like a protection racket.”
You expect integrity from someone who considers one of the worst mass-murderers of the last century to be one of her favorite philosophers?

Ah, the dancing-in-the-blood 'faith community', the NGVAC

Tam notes their boycott of Starbucks is Epic-Level Fail^tm; and points to one of their "SEE WHAT ALMOST HAPPENED?!?" talking points:
This past December, a 17-year-old dropped her purse in a Cheyenne (Wyoming) Starbucks and the gun inside went off, the bullet missing a customer’s head by twelve inches. Will it take a death to convince Starbucks to ban guns?
Let's see... a minor who can't legally buy OR carry a handgun... this is their "See why you should ban them!" point? Really?

And you get slapped once again with their version of reality: it's only 'gun violence' victims that truly count. Bunch of- well, I was going to say 'effing weasels', but I have nothing against weasels; how about 'nanny-state gun-bigot fools'?

As my part in the Starbucks buycott,

I find that they serve a mug of very good Earl Grey.

Bite me, CSGV

Jeff Rosen's a fine example of what a 'journalist' is nowadays:

slant and lie to push a political viewpoint, and screw truth.



Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime has used chemical warfare in order to ease its entrance into Homs, said Awad Al-Razak, an officer who defected from the Syrian armed forces.

Al-Razak, who served in the chemical warfare department of the Syrian military, told the Al-Arabiya network that the government used nerve gas under the supervision of Russian and Iranian scientists, and intends to do so again in other parts of the country.
Gee, I wonder where he might have obtained some of that stuff...
'Course, if the Iranians and Russians are involved, they may have given them the stuff; but I do have to wonder if some of it is, ah, 'previously obtained'.



As the threat of invasion loomed and the terror of Nazi bombs continued, Yale University sent a letter to both Oxford and Cambridge universities, offering children of their fellows and dons evacuation refuge in the U.S.

Calling itself the Yale Faculty Committee for Receiving Oxford and Cambridge University Children, 125 Oxford children and 35 mothers took up the offer, boarding the SS Antonia from Liverpool to New Haven, Connecticut on 8 July 1940.
...
Dr John Fulton of Yale Medical School was a driving force behind the rescue and said the committee 'hoped to save some of the children of intellectuals before the storm breaks.'
So we have either 'Let's try to save some children of proper type', or 'Screw the general populace, us university types have to stick together.'


Back to leftist media 'journalists', Daily Caller has a whole string of reports on what has come out about Media Matters coordinating with the Obama administration, trying to destroy Fox News and so forth. And it includes
Brock, the head of the liberal nonprofit Media Matters for America, had told friends and co-workers that he feared he was in imminent danger from right-wing assassins and needed a security team to keep him safe.

The threat he faced while smoking on his roof? “Snipers,” a former co-worker recalled.

“He had more security than a Third World dictator,” one employee said, explaining that Brock’s bodyguards would rarely leave his side, even accompanying him to his home in an affluent Washington neighborhood each night where they “stood post” to protect him. “What movement leader has a detail?” asked someone who saw it.
Well, that would include, under that old saw 'people tend to think other people think the same way', movement leaders trying to destroy other people probably think their targets might act the way the 'movement leader' does.


But Eric Holder knew NOTHING about it. Right....

Next time someone I know starts whining about Faux News

and bitching about 'fairness', I'm going to send them some links about Media Matters & Co.

Reminds me of all the bitching about 'nasty conservatives/Republicans and their hate speech, we need more civil discourse!', right up until someone called for Walker to be killed. Or attacked one of the Palin kids; THAT was 'free speech', etc.

An experiment Updated

Couple of days ago was over at James' place reading this post on the Walther PP, PPK and the .32acp cartridge. One of the commenters left this link on loads for the .32acp to make it better for small game(light carry pistol when hiking/hunting) and self-defense. Which got me to thinking...

I've got a Lee mold to cast 93-grain roundnose bullets for my .32 Hand Ejector; they work quite well(they come out closer to 95 with the mongrel lead I use). The Lee mold for a .32 semi-wadcutter has a fairly narrow nose; the Saeco and RCBS molds for that style have a much wider nose, but I don't really want to lay out that much to try the idea out. So, came the experiment:

Take a drill press vise, and some lubed bullets. Hold the vise vertically, place a bullet on the lower jaw, turn the screw down until it just touches, and from there crank it down. A little experimentation showed that a half-turn just flattened the nose a touch, 1.5 turns squished the bullet too much, and one turn gave a nice, wide flat nose without expanding the body too much.

Take those bullets to the Lee sizer
Lee makes these in a lot of diameters: the sizing die screws into the press, the ram fits into the shellholder slot, and the tub goes on top to catch the bullets; place the bullet on the ram and stroke the lever, you get a nicely sized bullet. It'll also seat gas checks. This one is .311", I use it for .303 cast bullets, and since .311" is also the nominal diameter of the .32 bore, I ran these bullets through. They'd been upset enough that the mouth of the die actually shaved a tiny bit off the sides. After they were all sized they were dosed with Lee Liquid Alox and left overnight. Here's an original on the left, reformed on the right
The tiny ring the die shaved off is TINY; the as-cast and lubed bullets run between 94.5 and 94.8 grains, the reformed 94.3 to 94.7 by my little electronic scale. I know they'll work in the .32S&W; I'm going to load some in .32acp and try them in friends' Pocket Hammerless for function, and when the weather allows try them from both on water jugs for penetration.

I've been thinking: if you wanted to reform bullets like this while eliminating the sizing die step, you could take a steel slug, bore a hole and polish it to .311 or .312 with a nice finish, and turn a ram for a proper fit. Drop in a bullet, set it on the vise jaw, drop the ram in and form. It would come out the proper diameter, needing only a second dose of lube*.

Or, yeah, you could find suitable cast bullets somewhere and buy them. I'll see how these work before taking such a drastic step.


*Lee specifies to lube bullets before pressing them through the die, otherwise you will get lead fouling on the walls that you'll have to clean out. I also took the precaution of treating my die with Microlon, and so far no fouling problems at all.

Update:
Windy in comments was right; just to try them out I loaded two bullets into cases and tried them in that .32; the slide will barely go into battery as the ogive engages the rifling enough to nicely engrave the bullet. And not knowing what that might do to pressure, not to mention others possibly not letting it get quite there, more thought is called for. First thing that comes to mind would be the die and punch idea above, but turn the end of the punch so it gives the nose a semi-wadcutter shape with that wide, flat nose. If I can get a problem with my little lathe figured out, I'm going to have to try that.

On the other hand, I loaded twelve into .32 S&W Long cases and tried them in the Hand Ejector: worked perfectly, and cut nice, clean holes in the target.

A couple of inches of snow, but temps high enough

that the roads are just slushy here. So I'm perusing the 'net, and finding things like this:
There are two possible conflicts on the table in Washington. One is with Iran and the other with Syria. The Iran conflict is the one that Washington doesn’t want. Its most likely trigger at this stage is an Israeli assault on Iran’s nuclear program. Like most of the wars centering around Israel, this one is existential and of no interest to the philosopher kings in D.C. who wage wars with the grand purpose of making the world a better place.

Washington does not particularly care whether Iran gets nukes or doesn’t get nukes. It cares about History. With a capital “H.” Libya got bombed because it was on the wrong side of history. Syria is about to get bombed because it’s on the wrong side of history. There are people in the administration like Samantha Power who would like to bomb Israel for being on the wrong side of history, but they don’t think that even J Street and Peter Beinart could spin that as a pro-Israel move.
...
Washington needs the Syrian war to happen, and it needs to keep a conflict with Iran from happening. The great diplomatic problem of Israel has always been that its leader insist on viewing conflicts in practical terms. Israel does not fight wars to make the world safe for democracy, it fights wars because there’s someone shooting missiles as it. This is an unacceptable reason for a war in a postmodern world where wars are fought to preserve the international order, protect civilization, make the world safe for democracy and prove that human rights violations will be punished by the duly constituted body of international jurisprudence.
Which does indeed sound like what's been coming out of Sodom-on-the-Potomac.


Thanks to Rodger I read this: a man honest enough to look at both sides of a situation, and stubborn enough to not back off from telling the story. And getting mugged by former friends for daring to do so.

And with that, screw the news; that's about all the Hopey-Changey!!! I can take this morning.

When the police run out of tear gas,

I think you can count that as a severe situation.


So grossly-oversized fake boobs are good for something besides back trouble!


Whitney Houston died. Way she looked last time I saw pictures, I'm surprised she made it this long. Gorgeous woman, beautiful voice...
One of the things that used to annoy me about some of Spider Robinsons' stories was that he liked to hit on the idea 'what kind of world have we created, that so many creative people have to drug themselves to get through it?'; my reply was "What the hell is wrong with so many creative people that they screw themselves up with drugs?" Houston's a good example: what the hell happened to her that she did this to herself?


I'm going to have to learn some of these: being able to call someone 'a baboon's asshole' in Mandarin might come in handy.


So if Congress can't steal your retirement account now, they want to steal what they can if you die and leave what's left to your kids. Have I mentioned how I'm on the edge of actually hating these thieving bastards?


Purple squirrels?


That's it from me. Cold outside all day, and the snow's just starting to reach the ground here. I spent the day inside, loaded some ammo, did a bit of cooking and cleaning. I think I shall now clean myself up and retire to a bit of rum and a video I borrowed from the library.

Anyone want to bet that one of their hearts' desires

is banning all private ownership of arms? After all, armed peasants might not do what their UN masters order.
Its members see Rio as the springboard for consolidation of an expanding U.N. agenda for years ahead, driven by still more U.N.-sponsored global summits that would, as one participant put it, “ensure that the U.N. connected with the roots of the current level of global discontent.”

Citing a CEB high-level committee report entitled Moving towards a fairer, greener, and more sustainable globalization, a top CEB staffer, Elliot Harris, told the gathering that the issue was not to reverse globalization, “but rather to harness it to generate better outcomes.”

Anyone else get the feeling we need to work on becoming as close to Operatives as possible?

...I'm sure that Ron Paul is a very fine fellow,

for a politician. If held on my knees with an RPG to my head and forced to cast a vote, I'd vote for Ron Paul without hesitation.

If that sounds like I'm saying I'd prefer to be infested with mosquitoes than with ringworm, you caught me.

Definitely snork-worthy material

Chris has lost his mother

After a long illness, the time came.

Borrowing from GFZ,

I am gonna coin a term here: Legis Magicae. And it will be defined at that supposedly magical legislation that will force criminals to do the right thing or stops them from doing the wrong thing. It is a legal incantation approved by the Harry Potters of a legislative body and once signed by the Sorcerer in Chief of the State, it creates a magical force field on each criminal controlling his actions.

More from the same article:

Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, said the bill could result in dangerous situations for police officers, who regularly enter homes without permission.

So in Minnesota, search warrants and Probable Cause are ignored in a regular basis? Is the Constitution known in the State or is it something vague & vapid?

Dayton said when lawmakers were debating the bill last year, he was “concerned because law enforcement in Minnesota was mostly opposed to it, felt that it gave citizens more freedoms and rights than they had.“

Mother of Mary! Is it really that bad up there?

I rarely go to 'liberal'/progressive sites,

and things like this is why:
Just to be clear, I’m proceeding from the position that much of organized evangelical Christianity in the U.S. is closely linked to traditional sensibilities of white supremacy. In other words, Mormon > Negro.
And everyone there agrees. Them Christians are all racists and bigots and stupid and Romney being Mormon means the most of them hate him, on and on ad effing nauseum. NOTHING matters but if he's 'Christian and white' enough...

Oh, and the Democrat party is pretty much without flaw except for not going left far and fast enough

Californicated: if you own a politically-incorrect firearm,

that of itself is a crime of 'moral turpitude'. And all those AR clones and SKS and Garand rifles used for target shooting and hunting? Well, they aren't actually used for those things, the judge says so!("Don't believe your lying eyes, believe what the court tells you.")


Here's our current "What to expect tonight and tomorrow" weather map:
Snow and sleet, big deal(except for the idiots who think anti-lock brakes or 4WD/AWD means they can drive like normal); just keep the glazing away from me, please.


Alphecca has some thoughts on investments. Including
In an aside, I’ve always been a late-night radio listener and for — how many years? 30-years or more? — I’ve heard the ads and advice for buying gold. Of course, never having any money, I never did. When I think of all those years where gold sold for $35 dollars an ounce and I shrugged my shoulders . . .
I know the feeling. Tempered by the knowledge that when gold was at those prices I could have beggared myself and bought some, but that didn't seem like a good idea. When it was $80/ounce I'd have had to stop eating and/or stop feeding the kids if I wanted to buy some(it is a nice dream, to send back the knowledge "Hey, if you can hide away enough to buy an ounce or two a year, in twenty years and more it'll be worth a FORTUNE!"). For that matter, if I'd had any idea at the time, when I was 19 or 20 I'd have raided the store south of Lawton every month or two and made another selection from the big rack of greasy old Mausers of various origins that sold for $35-40 bucks. Left them in the grease and just stored them away...



The BBC now stands accused of covering up the allegations, which were detailed in The Oldie magazine, because senior executives did not want the corporation’s reputation to be tarnished.

A BBC News source said: “The extreme nature of the claims about Savile meant that the Newsnight report was going to seriously compromise the lavish BBC tributes scheduled to run later the same month.

“And second, the allegations directly involved the BBC, in that the woman who gave the interview said that she and others were abused by Savile on BBC premises.”


Well, I'd guess a combination of "We know what's best for your children" combined with "If the farmers and ranchers' kids can't work, they'll have to hire someone! and we'll make sure they're union employees!!"
Can you imagine the local sheriff being told "Here's a warrant for Farmer Jones and Rancher Smith; they're letting their kids do illegal labor, so go arrest them."? Or does the plan consider an enforcement arm so they can send their own SWAT teams out to arrest people?


Interpol: anyone who trusts these clowns, especially after this, is a fool.
Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities.


Want. Badly.


I would flat love to see the current mayor of Chicago put under oath and asked about Gunwalker(and questioned by people with the balls to not back off). Take a look at what he wants his subjects to be slapped with:
Illinois handgun owners would be required to register their weapons with the state — and pay a $65-per-gun registration fee — under a mayoral plan proposed Thursday to arm police with the information they need to solve crimes and reduce illegal firearm transfers.
...
His proposal would require all handgun owners to obtain a certificate of registration from the State Police for every handgun they own — at a cost of $65-per-weapon — and to renew that registration every five years.

They would be required to provide: their name, address and telephone number; the manufacturer of the gun, its model type and serial number; and the date and source of the purchase.

Whenever a handgun is sold, the seller would be required to report the sale to the State Police “no less than 48 hours prior to delivery.” Handgun buyers would have 20 days to file for a new certificate of registration. Anyone caught carrying or possessing an unregistered handgun would face a Class 2 felony.
It's all for the public good, of course; and of COURSE, in Illinois, none of the many millions of dollars extorted from the citizens(the honest ones) would POSSIBLY be misused, or disappeared into pockets...


So one big reason The Lightworker needs to trash religious freedom is to save us from global warmening...
On The Lightworkers' current "You churches will do what you're told, your conscience means nothing to me or The Government I Decree:
One of the more memorable occasions of my finding out what a uncaring bastard I am was when I informed some people that they could get an abortion if they wanted "but stop demanding that I pay for it." I could have strolled into a church on Sunday and pissed on the altar and had a less hateful reaction.

That was when it truly struck me that, for a lot of these people, abortion and contraception and such aren't actually 'available' to women unless the women using them don't have to pay for them. And, simply by disagreeing with that, I was classed as a misogynist, christianist, fascist who wanted womyn to DIE!!! etc. rinse repeat.

So: Obama says "You will provide this, or else." A bunch of religious people say "Screw you, start throwing us in jail, we won't do it." So he 'compromises' with "Ok, so YOU won't have to provide it, you'll just be forced to pay the insurance company to provide it, so all is well." Which is such utter bullshit that I can't believe he can throw that out without first painting his face like the Joker.

So, we'll see which churchmen actually believe what they preach, and have the balls to stand by it, and which are the kind who gave that Kennedy annulment of his first marriage- kids and all- so he could have a full church wedding with the second("Well, belief is all nice and good, but you can't expect us to cause a problem for that family! And nobody will take this seriously, and they're friends of mine, so...").


Daughter informed me yesterday that there's a Starbucks in the nearby Barnes & Noble bookstore; and it carries various munchies and tea as well as coffee; this is going to make the Buycott even better.


Teacher's unions; just so concerned for the kids...

I can say this about George Lucas without feeling Updated

a bit of pain: the man is a friggin' moron. And a lecturing little nanny.

As I recall he's also a contributor to various gun bigot groups; reading this, you can see the tie-ins.

Update:
So Han was drawing his gun and expecting that Greedo would miss, then he'd pull the trigger? Even law enforcement shoots when they get the chance if a gun is being waved in their face, and I'm pretty sure that Solo is about as far from a cop as you can get without giving him a Thompson in a violin case.

In an attempt to shut up people like us and shut down

protests, some ivory tower/leftist clowns have diagnosed 'anti-government phobia'. Part of a reply:
A rational reaction to the scientific analysis of historically-proven patterns is not a "phobia" any more than being tired when you work the night shift is a "disorder," you fucking quacks. There is no such thing as "Shift Work Disorder." If you're up all night, you'll get tired. It's not a 'disorder,' it's how the human body works. And there is no such thing as "Anti-Government Phobia." It's not a 'phobia,' it's the natural instinct of self-preservation.

Why is it that a dumb truck driver knows more about how life works than a bunch of Ivy-League graduates? Oh, yeah--because I live in the real world. Must be nice up in that ivory tower, but I'll take reality any day of the week...

...because, in the end, I really have no choice. And you don't, either.

So is he the Appeaser in Chief, or simply

a traitor?
President Barack Obama, in a bid to reconcile with the
Teheran regime, has blocked legislation that would hold Iran accountable for
the Hizbullah bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines in 1983.

A survivors group has asserted that the administration is pressuring
Democrats in Congress not to support a bill that would enforce massive
judgements against Iran by the families of the Marines. In 2007, a U.S.
federal district court judge found Iran liable for the Beirut bombing and
ordered Teheran to pay $2.65 billion in damages.
...
Ms. Derbyshire, whose brother Marine Capt. Vincent Smith was killed in the 1983 bombing, said survivors and their families were urging Congress to support amendments to the Iran Sanctions Bill, scheduled for mark-up in the Senate Banking Committee on Feb. 2.

But they said committee members were being pressed by the White House not to vote for amendments that would hold Teheran responsible for the 1983 attack and transfer the $2.65 billion awarded in 2007. The Iran Sanctions Bill would enable U.S. sanctions on foreign companies that purchase or ship oil through the Iranian government or sell telecommunications equipment to Teheran.
And, lest they feel left out, let's remember the appeasing little shits in the State Department:
Over the last decade, the families of Iranian-sponsored attacks have won
billions of dollars in suits against the Teheran regime. But the federal
government, particularly the State Department, has blocked access to Iranian
assets or funds in the United States.

Found over here

AHHH! IT HURTS!

It burns!!!

A "DID YOU ACTUALLY SEND THIS?!?" moment

Nearly 2,000 people received a vulgar e-mail from the Oklahoma Insurance Department. The e-mail was intended to announce an awards ceremony for notable Oklahomans, but one award was going to the girl with the biggest breasts. To add insult to injury, the word breast wasn't actually used.

Without going into details,

this does sum up my current attitude toward sons' unit and their current effed-up movement preparations

Tried to go to the range this morning

'Tried' being the operative word. 10am on a cold Friday in February, and there was a 30-45 minute wait for a lane.

I do believe the firearms industries are doing some business lately. And lots of people are making loud noises and holes in targets.

Why, what are you afraid of, Michael Luo?

Why are you so bothered by someone seeing your data?

My first thought is "Well, Issa caved

and the Stupid Party has struck again." And Holder gets to keep playing wall, and the criminals in the upper reaches of government are another step closer to getting away with it all.

So; is Issa taking orders from someone, being blackmailed with something, or just unwilling to take the next step?

Something to offend everyone

Professor Henry Brubaker said: "Deciding who's cleverest between left and right is like deciding which tube of Smarties would make the best Pope.

"On one side you have people who think capitalism is a great idea but hasn't been done properly yet and on the other you have people who think the forced redistribution of wealth is a great idea but hasn't been done properly yet. It's not exactly a Mensa toga party.

"But right wingers are at least intelligent enough to assume that everyone is a potential enemy. Especially those who give hugs instead of handshakes.

"And while racism, homophobia and insisting climatology is a pyramid sales scam are all a bit dense, so is standing on top of a pile of skulls and shouting, 'let's try it again'."

As to Justice Ginsburgs' idiot statements

about ignoring our Constitution in favor of others, from someone who's dealt with the results of one of her recommendations,
As it happens, I have been on the receiving end of the “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” a characteristically modish piece of Trudeaupiana foisted on the country in the early Eighties. As I wrote here:

Since this magazine and I were ensnared in the “human rights” machinery, I’ve come to regard Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms as—what’s the legal term?—oh, yeah, a worthless piece of crap.

Few days back Tam had a history post on Pompeii

which reminded me of something I've read: after a whole bunch of eruptions/disasters in various places, one of the things you read is some variation of "The locals didn't know the mountain was a volcano." Little or no record keeping other than verbal, and that apparently not touching on nastiness like "The last time the hill over there caught fire".

Which caused me to look for some more volcano stuff at the library, which led to a dvd about Mount Nyiragongo. Which the locals damn well DO know is an active volcano, but which doesn't prevent a bunch of them from starting to rebuild homes on top of the lava from the eruption the ran like hell from not long before. Even after they were warned that there is the possibility of very fast-moving lava rising up from crevices that run underneath the freaking town.

Which brings me to the reason for this whole mess: carbon dioxide. The stuff seeps up from lava degassing in many volcanoes; sometimes it seeps into a lake and, when things get disturbed, surges up out of solution, flows downhill and kills things. Nyiragongo is doing the same charging to Lake Kivu(right next to a big city, of course), but the stuff is also seeping up over large areas of the countryside and gathering in low spots. And killing people.

Ma Nature; she's got lots and lots of ways of turning you into fertilizer.

Anti-nuke hysteria, greenie idiocy, and what do you get?

"Turn on those coal-fired plants before we freeze!"

I wonder what they think is going to happen when they shut down all the other nuke plants?

'Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable'

my ass.
To maintain the illusion that they are part of some kind of radical underground, intellectuals must practise a deceit. They can never admit to their audience that fear of violent reprisals, ostracism or crippling financial penalties keeps them away from subjects that ought to concern them - and their fellow citizens.

Although it is impossible to count the books authors have abandoned, radical Islam is probably the greatest cause of self-censorship in the West today. When Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed a fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989, censorship took the form of outright bans. Frightened publishers would not touch David Caute's novel satirising the Islamist reaction to The Satanic Verses, for instance. They ran away from histories and plays about the crisis as well because they did not want a repeat of the terror Rushdie and his publishers at Penguin had experienced.
...
Most of the censorship religious violence inspires, however, is self-censorship. Writers put down their pens and turn to other subjects rather than risk a confrontation. So thoroughgoing is the evasion that when Grayson Perry, who produced what Catholics would consider to be blasphemous images of the Virgin Mary, said what everyone knew to be true in 2007, the media treated his candour as news. 'The reason I have not gone all out attacking Islamism in my art,' said Perry, 'is because I feel real fear that someone will slit my throat.'
It should be noted that these are also some of the people who practically wet their pants in indignation when someone points out that a lot of muslims really ARE violent bigots and racists who do these things.


I'd point this out to people I know, but considering you have to show pictures before they'll admit their compatriots DID call Bush a nazi and threaten murder and such, they'll just- if they deign to take notice at all- say something like "He hasn't been as strong on civil rights as I'd like." The fact that they want to give terrorists and enemy troops the same rights as someone busted for petty theft in this country is disgusting on its own part.


"Well, no, those glaciers are NOT melting; but don't worry, other things will melt and we'll still all drown!"


Know someone who believes that "Romney isn't paying his fair share!" crap? Show this to them. Borrowing a part:
When you invest in something, you are gambling with the money you already have. There is no guarantee that you will make a profit, and in fact you may lose everything. Risk is the greatest disincentive to investment. The only reason we have investment is because the potential rewards outweigh the risks. As you lower the incentives to invest, you lower the amount that will be invested. The second biggest disincentive is that even if you make $100 on that stock you bought, you’re going to give the government $15. Raise that to $35 and you just made risky investing look even less interesting. Make it not worth it, and people quit investing their money at all and sit on it instead. Then watch the economy implode.

“But fair share! FAIR SHARE!” sob sob whine blather.

Because half of us not paying anything in income taxes at all isn’t fair enough? Okay, so raising the capital gains tax is stupid, but you still want to stick it to those pesky rich people. I know! Let’s raise the corporate income tax! Rich people own corporations! That’ll show them!

(for the record, do you have a 401K? Then you own corporations too)

Despite already having one of the highest corporate tax rates in the functioning world, let’s go ahead and jack that sucker up! Except that corporations look at taxes as another expense. If you tax them more, they simply pass that along in the cost of their product to the consumer, as in you and me. If the expense becomes too much of a burden and causes their prices to rise to the point that they are noncompetitive, they either go out of business and you lose your job, or they move to another country that doesn’t molest them as much, and you still lose your job. They exist to make a profit for their stockholders, not to pay for your good time.

See why class warfare sucks?
Bold is mine; because it's amazing to me how many people seem to have no bloody idea how some of this "Tax the rich!" stuff winds up biting THEM in the ass.

My personal customer service moment

brought to mind by some stuff at Doc Grumpy:
Friday evening, about 5:30. Phone rings.
"This is 'X', and I have a printer issue'

Me:What's the problem?*

Describes problem, I do troubleshooting. During which it comes out that it's been acting up 'for a couple of days'. "Yeah, looks like it's dead. I'll make out a trouble ticket. They should get out there Monday; might be Tuesday, but probably Monday."
Budget matters, etc., printers don't get a 'Fix it now' status unless there's some kind of actual emergency.

"But we have 'Y' going on this weekend! It's going to be busy, we need it!"

Me: I'm sorry, we don't make priority 1 tickets for a printer(especially when the damn thing's been 'acting up' for two days and you wait until 1730 on a Friday evening to call).

"Look, we need this running." Definite irritation and "You need to take care of us" in the voice.

This chased 'round for a minute or two, him demanding I send someone out there RIGHT NOW, me pointing out "We don't do that on this kind of problem." Finally,
"I Want This Fixed Tonight."

Me: I want my hair back, but that's not likely to happen either.

Long pause, then 'click' as he hangs up.

I figured I'd be answering some "Why did you do that?" the next week, but never heard a word about it.


*I despise the overuse of 'issue'. If your printer just died, if your monitor just smoked, you don't have a 'issue' you have a damned PROBLEM

Because I'm too lazy to dig for follower numbers,

and Drawn Cutlass gave me this

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award.
3. Pick our five favorite blogs with fewer than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

So I'll throw in
Doc Grumpy
Annie: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Annie."

Mr. Payne: "Yeah, the pill the doctor gave me makes me nauseous."

Annie: "Okay... In looking through your chart, I don't see that he prescribed any meds. In fact, you haven't been here in almost a year."

Mr. Payne: "My other doctor gave it to me last week."

Annie: "Then you need to call the doctor who prescribed it."

Mr. Payne: "What does that have to do with it?"


Og, for things like
Is it really so wrong

to have, as your hearts desire, a soul-filling need to gather herds of midgets dressed as lawn gnomes to storm the lawns of public officials, thereby confirming in their own minds that they have gone insane? Would it further be wrong to arm them with bags of rotting produce? Is it so wrong to want to see them cavorting, oiled and naked through the rose garden?


The Feral Irishman, for coming up with things like

"You hit one of Michelle's flying monkeys!"

The Everlasting Phelps
R. Kelly pees on a live 14 year old naked cousin on video, and he gets acquitted.

A couple of marines pee on a dead terrorist on video, and people want them sent to prison.

Does that seem right to you?


Two--Four
Down the small street, I came across a park, tucked into the shadow of the Tokyo Tower. It was circled around a soccer-pitch bordered with a few park benches. On two of them, apart, sat two teen-aged girls, practicing their French horns. Walking across this round space, I was approaching one of them obliquely, about thirty degrees off my course to the left. Hoping to soothe any apprehension of her nerves on the approach of this six-foot-three white man in a cowboy hat and mis-matched Nikes, I gave her an eye-contact moment of quiet applause. She nodded at me, never stopping her work.

The sounds of their horns next to this indescribably lovely little park impeccably kept, were exquisite counterpoint to the humanly-artifactual nature of the place: the trees were majestic and I wish you could have whiffed their fragrance in the springing air. This was human life at some of its most delicate beauty and purpose, in a place diligently kept for reminder of our stewardship of beauty in its original manifestation: mankind, in nature.
He doesn't post often, but when he does...

"Why would you want to have a gun in a national park?"

Taking all the recommended precautions wasn't enough to keep a mountain lion from snatching a 6-year-old Leander boy from his mother's hand and clamping its jaws on his face at Big Bend National Park on Sunday night.
...
"This attack did not happen on a trail. We were not hiking," Harris said. "We were on a paved walkway in between a restaurant and a hotel, and this cat grabbed my child from me."
Yeah, I think I'd rather have something .35-caliber or up rather than trust to a pocketknife.

And here's a wonderful bit of wording for you:
Park spokesman David Elkowitz said it is very unusual for a mountain lion to attack someone so close to a building.
Tempting to add "Usually the attacks are out on a trail" to that.

Have a friend who insists "Obama hasn't done anything to attack gun ownership,

so why is the NRA always scaring people about Obama? It's just to raise money!" Pointing out Obama's past words and actions apparently doesn't count because "He hasn't actually DONE anything on this as President", etc. Except
In a rash attempt to deflect attention away from himself and his own irresponsibility, Holder let Congress know that the Obama administration is still working toward the day when it can reinstate former President Bill Clinton’s so-called “assault weapons” ban. According to Holder:

This administration has consistently favored the reinstitution of the assault weapons ban. It is something that we think was useful in the past with regard to the reduction that we’ve seen in crime, and certainly would have a positive impact on our relationship and the crime situation in Mexico.

It’s difficult to follow Holder’s logic here, but it goes something like this …
Sent this to the friend; wondering how he'll respond.


The CSGV also dances in the blood of attackers, if they think they can twist it to make the actual victim look like a bad guy.


A .380 revolver? Something new to check out.


Across the pond: "You don't want your daughter being injected with this contraceptive device? Too bad, we think it's a good idea so screw you."


Let's see... costs same as a Volt, gets 50 mpg, 0 to 60 in 4.5? Damn, I want to see one of these!


Loud bang on a window just now; happily, unlike that dove a few years back, this bird didn't crash through the damn thing.




Crap, this sounds like something out of Hot Fuzz:
As the probationary officer from Sussex Police searched for suspects, the camera operator radioed that he had seen someone “acting suspiciously” in the area.

But he failed to realise that it was actually the plain-clothed officer he was watching on the screen, according to details leaked to an industry magazine.

The operator directed the officer, who was on foot patrol, as he followed the "suspect" on camera last month, telling his colleague on the ground that he was "hot on his heels".

The officer spent around 20 minutes giving chase before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room, recognised the “suspect” and laughed hysterically at the mistake.


Oh, for bleep's sake...




You may already be a member!


When I start seeing machinegun nests at the local bank and Blackwater teams around ATM's, THEN I'll start taking Anti's claims of 'spiraling gun violence' seriously. I have no plan, however, to let myself be as vulnerable as the Mexican people though.


Dave Perry: a gun bigot who hits ALL the talking points.
And Perry? Fuck you.


You might remember all the 'food pyramid' crap over the years, with it becoming, a couple of decades ago, 'Stop eating meat and eat lots of carbs', etc. Now... The excuse for the change is "There's too much salt", not a word about what so much carbs does to a lot of people.

Henderson, NV PD: and what will you do for an encore?

It may be reasonable for police officers to assume that someone weaving through lanes and driving erratically at 4 a.m. could be intoxicated. This is just what Nevada law enforcement assumed when they pulled over Adam Greene, forced him out of his vehicle when he wouldn’t move and beat him until his body would submit to allowing them to put on handcuffs.

But Greene, of Henderson, Nev., wasn’t intoxicated. He was in diabetic shock, a condition that results from low blood sugar.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal explains officers believed Greene to be resisting arrest, so they put their knees into his back to yank his arms upward, cracking one of his ribs in the process, and kicked him in the face. Officers from both the Henderson Police Department and Nevada Highway Patrol were present, although it is reported that state troopers did not beat Greene.
Get rid of qualified immunity. These bastards ought to have to pay this award out of their own pockets.

You want to know what will open your eyes? One day, years back, I was sitting in a car full of long-time(15, 20, 25 years) LE officers listening to them bitching about the attitude problems of a lot of the younger officers; if they have a problem, what do you think those younger officers are like to the average citizen they deal with?

So this guy- former Border Patrol agent- says

the mess at the borders is due to the intentions of a bunch of people in government. I have to ask a question, or borrow one from Kevin speaking of some of the crap going on: Again, if Obama is out to destroy America, would he be doing anything differently?
The comparison is apt, I think: assume that the borders mess isn't by design; if it were, would they be doing anything differently?

One of the things that annoys me? Let's say I pass the above article at Blaze on to some others I know: I know a goodly number who'll dismiss it out-of-hand simply because it's on Blaze. They do the same for something from Fox News just because it's Fox: "You can't believe ANYTHING Faux news puts out!" Challenge them to show where the report is false or inaccurate, they ignore you; by definition(to them) it being from that source automatically means they can dismiss anything there.


Totally unrelated, it's Kalashnikitty time! If nothing else, I can guarantee from personal experience that these shirts do a fine job of pissing off some liberal types.

So the new head of the Brady Campaign seems to actually believe

in the Triangle of Death crap; but doesn't seem to mention some other things:
From his bio at the Brady Campaign:

Dan founded CPYV after his brother was severely wounded in a shooting at the Empire State Building in February 1997.
...
In that same article, Gross goes on to call the NRA "immoral":

Daniel Gross, 30, homed in on the National Rifle Association and called the politicians who accept its support and do its bidding ''immoral.''

''There is an element to the gun violence epidemic that is far more insidious than any medical epidemic,'' Mr. Gross an advertising executive, said. ''It may sound like a bad movie, but there are actually evil people working to spread the virus, including people in our government.

''They generate a smokescreen of flawed and deceptive arguments to hide their true concern, which is not the physical health of the American people but the financial health of the gun and ammunition industry.''
Which is where the Triangle Of Death comes in. However, along with all the accusations and victimology, something gets left out about the terrorist who committed the attack that day:
The story put out at the time was that Abu Kamal had been ruined financially and was depressed over it.
Except
But in a stunning admission, Kamal's 48-year-old daughter Linda told the Daily News that her dad wanted to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel - and revealed her mom's 1997 account was a cover story crafted by the Palestinian Authority. "A Palestinian Authority official advised us to say the attack was not for political reasons because that would harm the peace agreement with Israel," she told The News on Friday. "We didn't know that he was martyred for patriotic motivations, so we repeated what we were told to do."

But three days after the shootings, Kamal's family got a copy of a letter that was found on his body, they said. The letter said he planned the violence as a political statement, his daughter said. "When we wanted to clarify that to the media, nobody listened to us," she said. "His goal was patriotic. He wanted to take revenge from the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis."

She said the family became certain that he carried out the attack for political reasons after reading his diary. "He wrote that after he raised his children and made sure that his family was all right he decided to avenge in the highest building in America to make sure they get his message," said Linda, who works for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. She said her mom burned the diary, fearing that it would cause the family trouble.
So, we're supposed to believe that a guy planning a terrorist attack, intending mass murder, could not have gotten a weapon except for the Immoral NRA, etc. Really?

I wonder: if he'd used a bomb would he still have been a 'lost his savings' victim, or would the media have dug a bit more? Probably not;an awful lot of the media really doesn't want to report actual palistinian terrorist attacks here in the US.

Oh, you've got to check this out!

I think this is also something a female doctor could get away with, that a guy couldn't (which is interesting, because you interviewed a female doc, but had a picture of a male one). Let's face it: Take away the medical atmosphere, and you've got 2 people in leather seats who've just hugged, one has bought the other a drink, and now wants to talk to the others genitals.

Obviously, I don't have a vagina. But, let's say I went to a doctor: He puts me in a comfy chair, offers me a Diet Coke, tries to hug me (I don't think that's going to happen) and then says, "So, Ibee, if your penis could talk, what would it say?" (Does that sound like a pick-up line from a gay bar?).

My mouth (not my winkie) would likely say "Get away from me!" grab my pants, and be grateful he hadn't gotten to the turn-your-head-and-cough part. Tell me this- if a male urologist asked guys that, would you feature it in an article about good medical practice?
And to whoever the hell it was that pointed me there, thank you

And one more, from Codrea

Here's the thing: If the federal "intelligence" apparatus is so finely tuned they can swoop down on a British tourist tweeting jokes from "Family Guy," what do you think the odds are they would be oblivious to an unfolding story that threatens to reach into the top levels of the administration? And how is it some guy in Alabama and another one in Ohio were getting and documenting all kinds of continually-corroborated information--for months--while the subjects of their reports remained blissfully unaware?


And indications that Traver, who Obama & Co. want as head of ATF, was probably in the know about Gunwalker.