More on 'Buy Danish'

Michelle Malkin has a bunch of links to Danish products to look for. Also tasteful photos of gentle, tolerant Islamist jerks burning flags and pictures of Bush because their feelings are hurt that they cannot command the world.

This should get interesting.

Oh yeah, it was Bush and the Fed's fault

those people died and were stranded in NO. Never mind people in other areas getting along, never mind anything but IT WAS BUSH'S FAULT!!!

Except...

Over at Wuzzadem, there's this interesting piece. Remember the people who drowned in that nursing home? " A ranking Louisiana health official turned down federal offers to help move or evacuate patients as Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans, a newly released document shows. ... Two days before the Aug. 29 storm, HHS was told by the state's health emergency preparedness director that the help was not needed, according to an e-mail released Monday by a Senate panel investigating the government's response to Katrina."

So, let's see, a mayor who ignored his own damn emergency plan, a governor so busy playing games she couldn't make a decision, a police chief so apparently crooked and stupid he couldn't get the job done, an offer to evacuate people on the last train out of town turned down, and now we find the incompetent bastards turned down an offer to evacuate patients two freakin' days before the storm hit. And the lies and ass-covering and rights violations and bullcrap since...

At this point, unless the people down there throw every one of these clowns out of office(I'm hoping the folks who had their arms stolen, especially the lady, get their ten pounds of flesh from every jackass involved, from the mayor and chief down to the officers and National Guardsmen who helped), screw sending money down there to rebuild. I'm sick of this crap coming out and the vile people involved still standing there with their damn hands out.

Yeah, I'm pissed. People died, often miserably, and these bastards just keep playing games.

Jeez, like I need another reason to buy those cookies.

The Danish butter cookies. They're good. And now, buy getting a can(or two) I can help to piss of Wahabi BPMs by screwing with their boycott of Danish goods.

Short version if you haven't heard about this crap, some Danish cartoonists did cartoons of Muhammad and a Dane newspaper printed them. Queue up the outraged screaming of Islamist weenies all over, demanding the cartoons destroyed, the cartoonists and editor and Danes in general fired, destroyed, etc., for having the temerity to not do what they're told by their Islamist masters. So some countries have announced boycotts of Danish goods, so some folks have said, "Let's buy Danish!". Which sounds like a fine idea on several levels.

To get the idea across to these clowns: People? There's this thing called 'freedom of speech' in much of the western world. It exists to various levels, and some PC-minded idiots are constantly trying to limit it in the interests of 'fairness' and 'sensitivity'(by their standards), but it is a good thing. Whether the Koran allows for it or not. You don't like it, and we don't care. Freedom of Speech includes, HAS to include, people you don't like and ideas you don't agree with or it isn't. The most of us like it. We put up with assholes who call themselves artists putting a crucifix in a glass of urine and founders of this country being insulted and denegrated; and WE can point out- loudly- that Che' was a murdering cowardly buttmonkey to castro and that Islamist rule is a blight on mankind and that said artists ARE assholes.

And, no matter how much you scream, it means we do NOT have to live by your rules. Lair can do 'Ask Mohammed' to his hearts' content, Chris can do Team Infidel and Steve can say "Tell me I'm not wonderful. I'm sitting by the pool with my Koran, half in the bag, smoking tobacco, drinking beer, cooking swine, and listening to a Jew play the piano." and wonder about the level of wife-beating appropriate- according to the Koran- for burned toast. Anyone who doesn't like it is free to say "That's not nice or sensitive!" and they're free to reply "Bite me".

And it's been pointed out before, every time you call for nukes in D.C. or smallpox in Kansas City, you really, really don't know what you're messing with. This First Terrorist War has been played with great restraint on our side. Piss us off enough, and 'restraint' will become "Well, we don't have to kill all of them". And while you may think we wouldn't use, for instance, nukes in any case(I think you're wrong), do you really, actually believe that people like Putin and Chirac won't? They've proven in the past what they'll do if it'll maintain their power and prestige; they will wipe a city and then demand their foot be kissed for acting 'as necessary'. Iran has actually caused Chirac to speak of how France can and will use their nukes 'if needed', you think a former KGB bigshot would be any less willing?

But that's off the subject, which is "We can say/speak/write/draw what we want, and if you don't like it that's too bad. We'll keep doing it, and if you think a few casual beheadings and torturings will stop it... well, there are some who'll wimp out, but in the end there's an awful lot of people who'll come after you. And won't stop.

So you can kiss our collective ass, grow up, and act as civilized beings, which means understanding that everyone isn't going to live the way you tell them to. No matter what Mohammed wrote.

Remember the bunny-huggers the bear ate a while back?

Was over at The High Road and found this post on the finding of the bodies, and the killing of the bear. Interesting reading.

One thing that catches me is the fact that the bear, which almost got the pilot who reported the incident and went after the rangers, did not put on any threat display or warnings; he was moving quietly and fast. He was hunting, not showing. As someone said, an animal that's putting on a show doesn't want to fight; one that's not intends to kill. And with the rangers, four men on alert for trouble, the damn thing got to within 20 feet before one happened to spot him; three guesses what would have happened if that guy hadn't looked back?

Guy I used to work with spent time in Alaska at an Air Force base out in the boonies, I can't remember the base name. He told me there were two big rules about going outside the fence: first, in winter it was a court martial offense to go outside the fence alone, since if you got hurt you'd probably be dead before anyone found you and second, in every group that went out at least one man would be armed. The bears never forgot they're the apex predator up there. While he was there, two guys went camping and never came back. Turned out they'd pitched camp near a bear trail without realizing it. They found the camp torn up, but never found either of the men. Never found the bear/s, either.

More tool box

Range box, this time. This is the basic; contents added to as necessary:


















Set of files
2oz. hammer
brass & steel punch set
screwdriver w/assorted bits
breakdown cleaning rod
precision screwdrivers(also known as damn little ones)
set of hex keys(not visible, under the files)

The rod is part of a Swiss cleaning kit for .30 cal machineguns


















Rod w/jag end, handle, bore brush, chamber brush, bottle of good oil, extra bottle for grease or whatever, and a small mirror. Picked it up from (I think) Cheaper Than Dirt for about $5.

With this I can file a sight, drift a sight for windage, loosen/tighten screws, which for the most part is all I try to do at the range. If I'm shooting corrosive-primed ammo, I add in a bottle of GI bore cleaner and a bag of patches; that way I can run a couple of wet patches through the bore while it's still warm, then dry and oil it.

Ideally, I'd have a good full-length cleaning rod along instead of a jointed, and when I don't forget it I do, but this way I've always got one along. And the hex keys were added after the previously mentioned M1 sight incident.

Like I said, the basic kit, contents vary according to what's on the schedule at the time.

Armor update

While back I wrote a bit on modern body armor. Remembered something I'd read about an updated version of scale, found it here at Anarchangel.

Neat stuff

The carnival I didn't mention

because of the company and general busyness, I present

The Carnival of Cordite (entirely) .45 Caliber Version!

General thoughts

Week or so ago was on my way back from the range and was listening to the Sean Hannity show. Not my favorite, but sometimes interesting. Had James Carville on, interviewing him about a book he just had published; basically "How Democrats Can Take Over Again", whatever the actual title was. Now, I have never, never liked Carville. He's always struck me as an abusive, insulting bully who treats anyone who either disagrees with him or won't be driven guided by him as being too stupid to pour water out of a boot. Listening to him, two thoughts occurred: first, I still don't like him and second, I felt a certain amount of pity. At the risk of sounding like Rush, he kept hammering, over and over, that the Democrat party just isn't getting the message out, isn't staying on the message, isn't actually making people understand what they think. Hannity asked if it was just possible that people did understand those things and didn't like them? and Oh, no, couldn't possibly be that.

Is there any possible way that anyone could NOT understand their message? What, they haven't called for impeachment and filibustered and threatened and insulted enough, maybe? If the image of John 'effin Kerry calling for a filibuster on the Alito vote, from a bloody resort town in Switzerland doesn't get the message across, what will?

Connected to that, remember the Dixie Chics and the crapstorm they pulled down on themselves? Thought you would. I wonder if it ever occurred to those geniuses that if they'd made their statements here in the U.S., before a local audience, that the reaction wouldn't have been as bad? People would still have been pissed, but not the way they were by these twits waiting until they were in a foreign country with a presumably sympathetic audience to mouth off. 'Course, then they got to pose naked on a magazine cover and whine about how they were having their freedom of speech abused, so maybe they really didn't care.

Og is a lucky man. He doesn't just have back trouble, he gets a chance to be hurt in a more interesting way while having it worked on.

He's got a post up on his Dad, and how he misses him. Reading it made me think of mine. I'm lucky, both parents still kicking and showing signs of continuing to do so for a good while. I'll read something like this, and think- again- of just how damned easy I've had it compared to him. Grew up in a small town in southeast OK with his sister(she's still around, too). Woodburning stove in the kitchen which was his job to light winter mornings before he did his chores(and if he hadn't cut and prepared the wood the night before, he had to do it now), chores, clean up and breakfast, then school. Then afternoon chores and a job when he got older. You wanted to go somewhere you walked or- if lucky and had one- rode a bicycle or maybe caught a ride from someone with a car or truck who was going the right way. He's worked damn hard all his life, and earned every bit of whatever he & mom have. Yeah, I've had some nasty crap over the years; what really pisses me off when I think about it is how, when I actually did have it so much better in so many ways, I didn't take advantage of the chances I had. Sometimes it brings up the hope that someday your kids don't come up with something like "Just how did you mess up so bad?" or something. Overall they've turned out well, but it's hard to compare some of what I've done and not done with his life and not feel I've really messed up in some ways.

In any case, he & Mom are still around, and we can still talk and work on things, and for this I'm damn glad.

Speaking of tool boxes, which Og and others have been, I've almost always had some tools in the vehicle. For quite a while it was a small metal box, about 5x5x12". I'd wire-brushed it and painted it to get rid of the rust, and had some loose wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, a roll of electrical tape and a battery terminal cleaner. This last item in particular came in very handy over time, sometimes for myself and sometimes for others. When second child was on the way we had my Ford Courier pickup for transport, and needed bigger. Guy we knew had a Pinto station wagon in the driveway that wasn't running be which he swore would run, and offered to swap it for some help with yardwork around his house. Trade done. He towed it to our house, I got it running, and it mostly kept up for about two years(worth a post all its' own). The one thing it kept doing was, for some reason, the battery cables would crud up just enough that you'd come out, turn the key, and it wouldn't start. Out came the box and ten minutes later you're moving.
Fast forward some years. I was divorced, we were both in better vehicles, and I only put the box in the truck when I was taking a trip. Until one day on the way to work I stopped at the store, and when I came out it wouldn't start. I'd come back from out of state two days before and the box was, happily, still in, and it was dirty posts, so I made it to work on time. From that day, there has always been a toolbox in the vehicle. Now it's one of the low, arch-top ones about 15" long by 8" wide by 4" high. Right now I'm not going outside to dig through it, but as I recall it contains:
pair of Vise Grips
wire cutters
electrical tape
mixed cable ties
screwdriver with multiple bits
shorty screwdriver with reversible phillips/straight bit
tire valve tool
spark plug gapper
12" thin-wall steel pipe for extra leverage
battery terminal cleaner
pocket knife
roll of flux-core solder(just got left in there)
set of standard and metric combination wrenches.
And yes, it's stuffed. Right next to it is a flat box containing a 3/8" ratchet, 1/4" ratchet and a mix of standard and metric sockets, most on socket holders with a few small ones loose. You know, the odd sizes that on rare occasions are the only damn things that fit? And fitted in under them is a four-way lug wrench.
Crap, lest I forget, a set of hex keys. So far the only time I've actually needed these was at the range, when it turned out that none of the bits in my screwdriver set fit the lockscrew on my M1 front sight. Very glad to have them.
Not nearly as complete as what a lot of folks carry, but it's taken care of a lot of problems over time, my own and relatives and folks I've found broken down for some minor thing. Sometimes I have to take something out of the truck box to use, but it goes right back in there. Which is why when a guy in the Wal-Mart parking lot couldn't get his battery out(buggered screws for the side-connecting battery) I had the Vise Grips that could get a grip on the head and break them loose.

You know what's also handy to have along? Paper towels. A roll of them. Don't leave home without. And baby wipes. Especially if there's a baby around, but even without.

I think I'm done for now

More on Britain

From Say Uncle went to here, which led to here and here. Another of Uncle's posts led to here. Put it all together, and you remember that big fork sticking out of the island?

Short version, with all handguns and most shotguns and rifles banned, those not banned highly restricted, the crime rates in Britain, including gun crimes, are still going up. "As much as 50 percent" in some areas. Right now I'm taking their 'reduction' in gun deaths with a large grain of salt; couple of years ago, as I recall, a reporter had to basically sue the government to get the true numbers of how bad it was(they were saying "things are improving" then, too). And one thing that came out recently- can't remember where I read it- is that they still play with the numbers; for instance, if somebody is killed but it's plea-bargained down to manslaughter or something, it doesn't go on the books as a 'murder', and so forth. So someone explain to me again just why the example of Britain is a good thing to follow?

And remember this from Alphecca's post when someone talks about 'safe storage laws':
"Hargreaves admits to being "devastated by the news" that the gun had been involved in a homicide and almost as devastated by the fact there is now a warrant out for his arrest for unsafe storage of those weapons -- despite the fact they were stored in a 771-kilo concrete-and-steel safe and that it took the industrious thieves two days using blowtorches and sledge hammers to gain access to it.

"I went far and beyond what was legally required," said Hargreaves, indicating the vault was so heavy "that the elevator dropped 15 cm when the safe was loaded on."

"It was hardly unsafe storage," he said."
Except to the Canadian police. If a vault like that cannot be considered 'safe storage', what do you think Schumer and Feinstein and the VPC would like to force you to buy? With surprise inspections to make sure you're using it right, of course. Wankers.

And be sure to check out the street prices for guns over in 'gun-free Britain'. If I'm remembering the conversion right, you'd be damn happy to find prices like that on legal guns over here on some of them. Except that I thought those weren't allowed in peaceful Britain? At all? A pump shotgun for less than $50?

Add it all up, and it just points it out again; if you let the government disarm the honest people, and make the few arms you're allowed to keep be restricted this way, and the government takes over all power over your safety... this kind of crap is what you get.

Update: Over at Kim's, I found a link to this piece of crap. It's enough to sicken you; the hoods have taken over the place, and "Despite plenty of witnesses, and evidence, no arrests were made because the police wanted to catch the suspects in the act."
The obvious question would be "THEN WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHILE THIS WAS GOING ON, YOU USELESS BASTARDS?!?" Good God, I bet since no arrests were made this counts as some of the 'better news' from the British government. Or something. I'm afraid of the answer, but my question is just how bad is it going to get before the good people tell the government to fuck off and do something about it themselves? And what happens then?

Well, crap

The white ferret of the bloodthirsty duo I posted on the other night died this morning. From what my daughter says, it was simple age; she'd been weakening the last few weeks and losing weight, but no sign of sickness.

They buried her with a small bottle of Ferretone, because she loved the stuff. She was a good critter, and she'll be missed.

Proof a big fork is sticking out of Britain

Check this out from Kim. From the last Olympics held there: "Shooters were escorted from Heathrow under armed guard and their guns were taken in an armoured vehicle to the national shooting centre at Bisley. Spectators had to watch events behind screens, and shooters were guarded by armed officers even during training.

This is exceeded only by the crap in Japan. Every gun had to be locked in a vault as soon as the event was over(no time for cleaning, etc), was only allowed to be checked out just before an event, and each competitor had to find and turn in every fired cartridge case. Apparently the idiots thought some yakuza would find them and reload them. Oh, that's right, the bandits just use guns smuggled in. Never mind, they couldn't let those evil bits of brass lay around where some innocent might find them! Etc.

I wouldn't even be able to remember what sport was on...

If all meds worked this well,

I wouldn't be so picky about the damn things. Started the stuff the doctor prescribed yesterday afternoon, and my back is better than it's been in almost two weeks. And the elbow I banged up before that is better, too.

It's a anti-inflammatory and a steroid. I read the warnings and 'watch out for this' stuff, and between those and the 'possible' side-effects, it's enough to scare you off taking anything. So far no bad signs, though. And the steroid has a warning that you CANNOT(yes, they emphasize it) just stop; you have to taper off. The directions are 4/day for three days, then 3/day for three days, then 2/day for two days, then one the last day.

Only bad thing is the anti-inflammatory has this sticker on the bottle: Do NOT drink alcoholic beverages when taking this medication. So I'm on the wagon for a bit. Don't drink that much anyway, but it's still annoying. But if it works this well, it's worth it.

One more reason to hate lawyers

Found a link to this earlier today:
"An Army judge advocate general (JAG) temporarily banned Army and Marine Corps snipers from using a highly accurate open-tip bullet. "

You're probably aware that the Geneva Convention or some other agreement we never signed on to forbids the use of bullets designed to mushroom or upset upon impact. Well, a long time ago Sierra bullets started making a match grade that has a small hollow point. Not for expansion; if you read the box, it specifically says NOT to use this bullet for hunting as it will NOT upset. These bullets are specifically allowed for military use because of that. Part of their manufacturing process uses a small rod to hold the bullet for part of the shaping, when the rod is removed it leaves a hollow. What happened here is some JAG lawyer heard 'hollow tip' or 'hollow point' and had a fit without bothering to find out what they were talking about.

There ought to be some kind of regulation that before some REMF(to borrow a phrase) can make a ruling on equipment/actions, they have to run it past somebody who actually knows their ass from a hole in the ground. Won't happen, but it should. And please note in the article that the sniper who blew the whistle was screwed over for making noise, even though it corrected a real problem. Idiot bureaucrats in uniform are still idiot bureaucrats.

On a side note, I read years ago that when the U.S. first began using the .223 cartridge in the M16(ok, 5.56x45mm if you're going to be picky and metric) Sweden had diplomatic fits because the little 55-grain bullet will sometimes, if velocity is high enough, not only yaw and tumble after impact but break apart at the cannelure(the grooved band running around the waist of some bullets), thus causing worse wounds. Turned out that while they were bitching at us, the .30 caliber machinegun ammo they were making for their forces was specifically designed to do just that.

The JAG lawyer had the same attitude that kept many police departments from using hollowpoints for many years; screw whether it stops the bad guy better, we think they're mean. Difference being that the cops were wanting actual designed-to-mushroom ammo; the snipers were using already approved ammo that this idiot couldn't bother to find out about before taking fingers to keyboard.

Just because I'm tired, and the new meds are working,

I give you a friend's imprisoned predator pack:



















Not the glinty eyes, the barely visible tips of the flesh-tearing fangs... Scary little beasts, aren't they? I'm told they answer the Vashka and Puck. The third of the pack is sleeping off the effects of the kill napping. Sneaky little beasts, they manage to escape from damn near everything except this high-tech holding facility.

'Fluffy Bunny' syndrome

I can't remember where I first heard that, but it does cover it; Peter Capstick called it 'Disney syndrome' as I recall. 'It' being the "the nice animals won't hurt you if you're nice to them", "the bear will happily graze and not hurt you/the other animals unless provoked" type attitude.

Little earlier this evening was watching a Nature episode on PBS about the Monteray Bay aquarium having kept a small Great White shark for some months. Of itself, a neat thing, and a lot of people got to see it. But the narration and the attitude was annoying. They kept hitting on "will it stay calm or will it start hunting/killing other fish in the tank?". Finally, after it had attacked two other sharks, killing the second, and was 'actively hunting/stalking' other animals in the tank, they decided they couldn't risk it and released it at sea.

Question for you; if you had the apex predator of the sea in a tank, why would you be surprised when it started hunting? Why would you not expect it to? If these biologists actually thought that having it in a tank and feeding it would keep the base instincts from ever coming out, they're not as smart as they're made out to be.

It's like what happens when a bear whacks somebody, and especially if it eats them. Animal lovers come out of the woodwork telling how it must be the fault of the digested, they must have done something to provoke it, etc. Well, bullshit. Bears are big, powerful, omnivorous predators that will eat pretty much anything they can find or kill; sometimes that turns out to be some human. Doesn't make the bear evil, it's just being a bear. Same with cougars, when they don't have any fear of humans some are going to notice that these two-legs are easier to catch than deer. A book that came out a couple of years ago, The Beast in the Garden, covered it nicely. It's about the buildup to the first modern maneating by a cougar in CO. When the cats started coming into town, and eating pets, things got split between the "Shouldn't we make them scared of us so they'll leave us alone?" people and the "The cougars were here first! You don't like it, then leave!" people. These Aquarium people were apparently hoping the hunting instinct wouldn't come out in the shark; to quote Jayne from Firefly, "Nice move, dumbass".

Side note: after California banned hunting of cougars, the game department wound up killing more 'nuisance' cougars than were killed by hunters. The screaming when this was pointed out and some asked why not allow hunting again? told everything; the screamers didn't care how many they game department had to kill, they just didn't want anybody hunting them.

Other side note: in the year they had this shark(roughly 8 month old female), it grew by something like 17" and 100 pounds. Impressive, I'd say.

And while you're at it,

go congratulate Jawa for his part in getting a bin Laden buttmonkey thrown out of the country.

Don't you just love how this stuff works? I started at

Curmudgeonly & Skeptical, which led to Mean Mr. Mustard which led to Relapsed Catholic which led to this place from which I found the Mark Steyn piece that started it all. Damn, by the time the year's out I should be back in fine fettle as a tracker.

Basically, Steyn points out that feminism should be very damn interested in the war on terror as it has freed a hell of a lot of women to do something other than either wear a tent and be escorted to go to the market or be easy prey to be dragged to a rape room. Doing so with his usual humor causes Murney to have a bad case case of the vapors; it seems that Steyn made mock of holy Feminism and was downright racist to boot. As someone once said(or should have) "If this be misogynism and racism, kick it up a notch, boy!"

Said vapors leading to statements such as "It is obvious that Steyn is a misogynist, and hates feminism, which means he opposes gender equality. How barbaric.", and, referring to the 'torrent of hate' directed at feminists, "That hate will climax when the United States Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade, which will likely be in the not too distant future."

Never mind that if Roe vs. Wade is thrown out, that will not outlaw abortion; it will put the issue back in the individual states. That's not putting a matter into the hands of the state's voters, it's 'hatred for feminists'. To quote the Catholic, "This man actually publicizes the fact that he's a Women's Studies minor at the University of Regina (insert Beevis "heh") and has something called a Certificate of Administration in Continuing Education Development.

Meet the future of Canada, folks.

And the kicker: He calls himself a Libertarian. Kids, you can have 'im. Kate, I insist that you distance yourself from this Saskatchewan libertarian!"

No more need be said.

Carnival of Cordite #44

Up over at Gullyborg.

The bin Laden tape

Assuming it's him and not dummied up(I'm still wondering why, if he's still in operation, no video?), lets see... You're not hurting us, we're gonna get you, we're winning but we'll offer a truce to rebuild Iraq.

Translation: "We're getting stomped, every time we come out to play you kill us, we haven't been able to pull off a real operation in America in years, so please accept our 'truce' offer and stop killing us. Don't you know you unbelievers are supposed to LOSE?"