I've been reading and listening to various people saying sometimes very stupid things about this over the last few days. For what it's worth, here's what I think:
I am in no way comfortable with the government snooping into anything in my life. I don't like having to get government approval to buy a firearm or carry, I don't like that banks have to report certain types of transactions to the feds, I don't like various agencies having the power to screw you over that they do, etc. Overall I tend to agree with Reagans' comment that the most terrifying words you can hear are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help". Overdramatizing a bit, but sometimes not by much. Sometimes not at all.
I do understand that there are reasons for some of it(sometimes idiot reasons that aren't near good enough). And sometimes the reasons are good. This is one of those cases. From what I gather, this is not some spook or clerk listening to you tell your girlfriend what you have in mind for the weekend; they're looking for calls to and from certain places and numbers and if something matches up, doing the legal stuff to look further into it.
Am I real comfortable with it? Hell no! I am NEVER real comfortable with such things, the potential for abuse is too real and constant. I've mentioned having worked with some LE databases in the past; these things are necessary and do a lot of good, but the damn things are abused constantly by people who don't think/don't care/figure "I am the Law, and I can do what I want". Same thing with programs like this. Will there be abuses? Almost certainly. The key there becomes what happens when someone's caught abusing it. Will it be like the bullshit BATFE has been caught at multiple times, where they basically walk away from it(sometimes with praise from various idiot politicians), or will the hammer come down on them the way it should?
That's to be seen. Or, considering NSA, not seen but hoped for. I understand that we are in the First Terrorist War, and things have to be done. I do NOT give a blanket exemption to law on that basis; I do understand, as I said, that things have to be done.
Yesterday I clicked onto some lefty blog I hadn't seen before, and the writer expressed the opinion that the only reasons he could see that there was not widespread outrage among all people was that a: they hadn't heard the facts about this story, b: don't understand this story, or c: don't care about their rights being trampled. Not even registering was the possibility that d:, they heard about it, understand it, care very much about their rights, and understand this is looking for the enemy, not your grocery list/girlfriends bra size or whatever. With few exceptions NOBODY likes the government snooping around(I think the people who say things like "If you're not doing anything wrong, you shouldn't mind your car/home/records being searched" are fools); lots of people DO understand that we're in a fight for our national/cultural survival here, and this is one of the tools the fighting is done with.
I'm out of time, but that about covers it anyway.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Friday, May 12, 2006
More on Britain circling the drain
Found this over at Alphecca, and it's bad enough on its own. But be sure to check out the comments for worse, including:
"Freedom of speech no longer exists. I cannot for example, legally praise the American or irish or Itallian wars of indepenance (i'd be supporting terrorism), I cannot stand up at a political meeting and say "that is untrue" as I would be protesting without permission."
"Freedom of speech no longer exists. I cannot for example, legally praise the American or irish or Itallian wars of indepenance (i'd be supporting terrorism), I cannot stand up at a political meeting and say "that is untrue" as I would be protesting without permission."
Further good news; food this time
(urp...'scuse me) Having found myself starving after a: getting off work b: mowing & edging c: finding it was now 8 p.m., I decided to try an Indian restaurant that opened not too long ago at 50th & May here. Wasn't(belch) bad at all, which is why I'm sitting here stuffed.
This brought back one of the reasons I'd have a hell of a time going on a no-carbs diet: naan. It's a flatbread, and I love it. God, I could make a meal out of a bunch of it and some butter. Or cheese.
Lamb curry and chicken something hot enough to make you sweat, good flavor, lots of other good stuff but that's what I ('scuse me again) had the most of. Soon as I can remember the name(mmmmm, good reason to swing by later) I'll add it to this.
This brought back one of the reasons I'd have a hell of a time going on a no-carbs diet: naan. It's a flatbread, and I love it. God, I could make a meal out of a bunch of it and some butter. Or cheese.
Lamb curry and chicken something hot enough to make you sweat, good flavor, lots of other good stuff but that's what I ('scuse me again) had the most of. Soon as I can remember the name(mmmmm, good reason to swing by later) I'll add it to this.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Aaron strikes back!
The jihadi weenies have hit him again, so to keep them entertained, he created this!
Mwahahahahahahahaha!
Mwahahahahahahahaha!
The red-dot strikes!
Or something like that. Over the last while I've taken notice of the shooting Mr. Completely does with red-dot sights, and wondered if they might be worth trying. However, being cheap conservative with money, never got around to it.
Last time I was at the range, there was a man there with two Beretta Neo pistols with new red-dots he was sighting in. I asked how he liked them and he handed me a couple of loaded magazines, pointed to one and said "Try it". Don't you just love gunny people? So I put two mags through, and it was great. And I've got the Trailside which has a 3/8" dovetail on the barrel... So, remembering Mr. having mentioned some inexpensive sights at Sportsmans Guide I checked them out and bought this one. It's a Barska 25mm, 11 brightness settings, comes with rings and a battery for fifteen bucks. Of course the rings that come with it are for a standard Weaver-type rail so I needed rings, so off to Midway and browse around. Yes! 30mm rings for a .22 receiver for a good price! 'Course while I was there I remembered something else I needed to check on, and one other thing(report later)... So rings were on the way. And it being from Midway, three days later they arrived. So the sight was mounted on the pistol:
Took it to the range tonight to sight in & try it out. It has click adjustments for windage & elevation like a scope, and just took a little shoot & adjust to center it, after which I tried it at ranges from about ten yards to 20.
And it's nice. Very quick to line up, doesn't add much weight and unlike iron sights the dot doesn't get fuzzy when my eyes get tired. I put a little over a hundred rounds through, and shot very well with it. I didn't run the target out to 25 yards because the targets I was using have a 2" bull, and at 20 the dot completely covered it. At ten you could place the dot in the center of the bull and squeeze off, at 20 hide the bull with the dot and fire.
Ok, I'm a believer. Now I want to get a forward mount rigged for a rifle and try it out on that; if it's as handy as this is- and I believe it will be- I'll be a very happy gunny.
Last time I was at the range, there was a man there with two Beretta Neo pistols with new red-dots he was sighting in. I asked how he liked them and he handed me a couple of loaded magazines, pointed to one and said "Try it". Don't you just love gunny people? So I put two mags through, and it was great. And I've got the Trailside which has a 3/8" dovetail on the barrel... So, remembering Mr. having mentioned some inexpensive sights at Sportsmans Guide I checked them out and bought this one. It's a Barska 25mm, 11 brightness settings, comes with rings and a battery for fifteen bucks. Of course the rings that come with it are for a standard Weaver-type rail so I needed rings, so off to Midway and browse around. Yes! 30mm rings for a .22 receiver for a good price! 'Course while I was there I remembered something else I needed to check on, and one other thing(report later)... So rings were on the way. And it being from Midway, three days later they arrived. So the sight was mounted on the pistol:
Took it to the range tonight to sight in & try it out. It has click adjustments for windage & elevation like a scope, and just took a little shoot & adjust to center it, after which I tried it at ranges from about ten yards to 20.
And it's nice. Very quick to line up, doesn't add much weight and unlike iron sights the dot doesn't get fuzzy when my eyes get tired. I put a little over a hundred rounds through, and shot very well with it. I didn't run the target out to 25 yards because the targets I was using have a 2" bull, and at 20 the dot completely covered it. At ten you could place the dot in the center of the bull and squeeze off, at 20 hide the bull with the dot and fire.
Ok, I'm a believer. Now I want to get a forward mount rigged for a rifle and try it out on that; if it's as handy as this is- and I believe it will be- I'll be a very happy gunny.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Wonderful! Another good reason to buy a gun!
Looked over at Mr. Completely and found this: Blogger-Buy-A-Gun-Anniversary.
Although my anniversary is months away... but what if I can't find The Thing then?...("Remember the budget, Luke")... how about?...
Dammit, like I needed this.
Although my anniversary is months away... but what if I can't find The Thing then?...("Remember the budget, Luke")... how about?...
Dammit, like I needed this.
Update on earlier post on the murdering dirtbags
the lefties and socialists want to win. Found a link to it at Michelle Malkin, here's the actual update at The Jawa Report.
"A gruesome beheading video delivered to the Sunday Times purporting to be of slain journalist Atwar Bahjat is a hoax. On Sunday, May 7th, the Times reported that they had received a low-quality video of Atwar Bahjat being slowly beheaded. That video is now being circulated on the internet as the "Atwar Bahjat" beheading video. The Jawa Report can reveal that the Times and Halal Jabar, the author of the article, are victims of a hoax. The video actually shows the gruesome murder of a Nepalese man by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq from August of 2004. The man was one of 12 victims executed by the terrorist organization--the other 11 were shot"
"The Army of Ansar al-Sunna has murdered dozens of civilians in Iraq. The organization is an offshoot of the Army of Ansar al-Islam--a Kurdish Islamist organization. The group routinely murders those suspected of collaborating with the U.S. and Iraqi governments. Before the group murders their hostages they accuse them of 'apostasy', a crime punishable by death under Islamic law. They therefore justify their murders as 'executions' for 'crimes' committed against Islam."
The lady in question appears to have been shot by the terrorists, and for some reason the dirtbags used a copy of this hostage murder to say they had cut her head off on film.
I have a question: does any of this make what the murderers did any less repulsive?
I didn't think so.
"A gruesome beheading video delivered to the Sunday Times purporting to be of slain journalist Atwar Bahjat is a hoax. On Sunday, May 7th, the Times reported that they had received a low-quality video of Atwar Bahjat being slowly beheaded. That video is now being circulated on the internet as the "Atwar Bahjat" beheading video. The Jawa Report can reveal that the Times and Halal Jabar, the author of the article, are victims of a hoax. The video actually shows the gruesome murder of a Nepalese man by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq from August of 2004. The man was one of 12 victims executed by the terrorist organization--the other 11 were shot"
"The Army of Ansar al-Sunna has murdered dozens of civilians in Iraq. The organization is an offshoot of the Army of Ansar al-Islam--a Kurdish Islamist organization. The group routinely murders those suspected of collaborating with the U.S. and Iraqi governments. Before the group murders their hostages they accuse them of 'apostasy', a crime punishable by death under Islamic law. They therefore justify their murders as 'executions' for 'crimes' committed against Islam."
The lady in question appears to have been shot by the terrorists, and for some reason the dirtbags used a copy of this hostage murder to say they had cut her head off on film.
I have a question: does any of this make what the murderers did any less repulsive?
I didn't think so.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Just to spoil your good mood
Assuming you have one. JPFO sent me a link to this transcript of a radio interview with Len Savage, a guy who's been going 'round & 'round with BATFE. Interesting reading.
One quote to whet your appetite:
Len: We now have some things documented that I would like to share with you. #1 We now know, and it is in writing, that the ATF is above the law. We have always asserted that they acted that way, but now they assert that they are. On April 4th an assistant director wrote me a piece of correspondence and specifically stated that the employees of the ATF are statutorily exempted from having to follow the NFA or GCA.
Check it out
One quote to whet your appetite:
Len: We now have some things documented that I would like to share with you. #1 We now know, and it is in writing, that the ATF is above the law. We have always asserted that they acted that way, but now they assert that they are. On April 4th an assistant director wrote me a piece of correspondence and specifically stated that the employees of the ATF are statutorily exempted from having to follow the NFA or GCA.
Check it out
This is why we have to stomp these shits NOW
Go to Mudville Gazette and read this. The account of the torture and murder of a woman- by slowly cutting her head off- by the semi-human assholes that the moonbats and socialists and leftists want to win.
And if the combined assholes have their way, these BPMs will be doing this in Europe, and in Britain, and finally here.
Do the letters 'FFC' mean anything to you, you shits?
And if the combined assholes have their way, these BPMs will be doing this in Europe, and in Britain, and finally here.
Do the letters 'FFC' mean anything to you, you shits?
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Why the term 'ivory-tower intellectual' is an insult
Over at Wizbang there's a post on a symposium held at Swarthmore College, 'symposium' being a place where intellectuals superior to all others(they'll tell you so) gather to decide just how the world should be run by either themselves or someone they select. Here's the quote that inspired my title:
"At the conclusion of the first session, after a rousing discussion focused on promoting hardcore redistribution of wealth in the world, Mr. Barber opined:
"At the conclusion of the first session, after a rousing discussion focused on promoting hardcore redistribution of wealth in the world, Mr. Barber opined:
The last point I want to make for now has to do with the nature of the discussion we've been having and what might be the political viability of the debates that we so-called "public intellectuals"engage in. When I try to imagine an African-American, unemployed guy from Detroit or Arkansas, an out of work (what did Howard Dean call him?) confederate guy with a shotgun in his pick-up truck, sitting here and listening to us talk, I realize that a number of the things we say in good faith and with impressive intellectual clarity and historical perspective are nevertheless politically unviable as ways of talking about the world. We haven't yet found a language that takes the vitally important, moral, philosophical and historical points we're making here and translates them into a language that ordinary Americans will understand."
I'll let that speak for itself, straight from the world of overeducated fools.Saturday, May 06, 2006
Touching back on the 'Commies for Illegals' day,
mASS BACKWARDS has a note on just what the nation of Mexico required from an American living in Mexico to get a work visa:
"During that six months our Mexican and US Attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in addition to my US passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara's was the same except hers did not permit her to work.
To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies) of my:
1. Birth certificates for Barbara and me.
2. Marriage certificate.
3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.
4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation.
5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at least one year.
6. A letter from The St. Louis Chief of Police indicating I had no arrest record in the US and no outstanding warrants and was "a citizen in good standing."
7. Finally; I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico. We called it our "I am the greatest person on earth" letter. It was fun to write. All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side and Spanish on the right."
But Fox & Co. are demanding that Mexicans be allowed to enter the U.S. and work at will with no restrictions.
I repeat, Fox & Co. can kiss my ass. And if our government doesn't get real serious about stopping this crap, then all of them- R's and D's both- need to be kicked the hell out of those offices and replaced with someone who will.
"During that six months our Mexican and US Attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in addition to my US passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara's was the same except hers did not permit her to work.
To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies) of my:
1. Birth certificates for Barbara and me.
2. Marriage certificate.
3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.
4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation.
5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at least one year.
6. A letter from The St. Louis Chief of Police indicating I had no arrest record in the US and no outstanding warrants and was "a citizen in good standing."
7. Finally; I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico. We called it our "I am the greatest person on earth" letter. It was fun to write. All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side and Spanish on the right."
But Fox & Co. are demanding that Mexicans be allowed to enter the U.S. and work at will with no restrictions.
I repeat, Fox & Co. can kiss my ass. And if our government doesn't get real serious about stopping this crap, then all of them- R's and D's both- need to be kicked the hell out of those offices and replaced with someone who will.
This is one of those "I heard it at the shop" things
Went into a local store (Outdoor Outfitters if you must know; nice place and nice people) and, having discovered they carry the Hornady TAP 12guage I wanted, wound up in the conversation with a gentleman looking at a pistol. He was looking for something for in the home and had little handgun experience, and was looking at a- to put it bluntly- POS semi-auto in .380 because it was inexpensive cheap. Talk went round about different pistols and I finally asked if he'd considered a good revolver? Talk turned to the good points of one and the counter guy pulled out a S&W hammerless .38 Special. Which the guy really liked. He was still looking around and didn't buy today, but I think he had a better perspective on what to look for.
During the course of all this the salesman mentioned what they'd been hearing about a "certain female politician" who, if winning the White House, had a New Brady Bill planned(he didn't say where the info came from and I didn't ask). Included in the plans were:
Any firearm with a muzzle velocity of more than 2200fps restricted to law enforcement & military only.
Any firearm with a magazine capacity of more than six rounds, LE and military only, handgun AND rifle.
If you wanted to keep your firearms at home you would have to have a government-approved(i.e. expensive and heavy) safe properly installed and inspected; and if this passed you can bet there'd be a note that the authorities could enter your home any time to 'inspect' your home for 'safe storage and compliance'.
If you couldn't afford/didn't want the above, you could only store your arms at a licensed gun club.
That's what they'd been hearing from people. I assume that also included in this would be some federal licensing scheme for gun owners(expensive and difficult as possible) and federal restrictions on concealed carry. Unless, of course, you're like Schumer and Feinstein and Boxer and company and are more important than common citazens and need a special permit to carry and keep at your home without the safe, etc.
I tend to believe it; it sounds like the kind of crap Clinton & Co. would like to ram down our throats. It also brings us something I was thinking about after this, which connects to the 'what is your trigger?' question. Lots of people have planned to have some no-paperwork firearms and ammo hidden away for dire emergency. I only have one problem with that outside of natural disaster/terrorist attack scenarios; if you're doing is so you'll still have a gun after a government ban? If you have a firearm or two hidden away but you're not able to shoot it or let anyone else know about it because the minions of government will show up with a SWAT team, then we're screwed. Not just gun owners, everybody. If it hits that point of control & intrusiveness, then the 4th Amendment as well as the 2nd and probably the 1st- at minimum- will have been trashed, and EVERYBODY is screwed. And we're into the real serious "Not is it too soon to shoot the bastards, but too late?" question.
And it will get very, very messy and nasty.
During the course of all this the salesman mentioned what they'd been hearing about a "certain female politician" who, if winning the White House, had a New Brady Bill planned(he didn't say where the info came from and I didn't ask). Included in the plans were:
Any firearm with a muzzle velocity of more than 2200fps restricted to law enforcement & military only.
Any firearm with a magazine capacity of more than six rounds, LE and military only, handgun AND rifle.
If you wanted to keep your firearms at home you would have to have a government-approved(i.e. expensive and heavy) safe properly installed and inspected; and if this passed you can bet there'd be a note that the authorities could enter your home any time to 'inspect' your home for 'safe storage and compliance'.
If you couldn't afford/didn't want the above, you could only store your arms at a licensed gun club.
That's what they'd been hearing from people. I assume that also included in this would be some federal licensing scheme for gun owners(expensive and difficult as possible) and federal restrictions on concealed carry. Unless, of course, you're like Schumer and Feinstein and Boxer and company and are more important than common citazens and need a special permit to carry and keep at your home without the safe, etc.
I tend to believe it; it sounds like the kind of crap Clinton & Co. would like to ram down our throats. It also brings us something I was thinking about after this, which connects to the 'what is your trigger?' question. Lots of people have planned to have some no-paperwork firearms and ammo hidden away for dire emergency. I only have one problem with that outside of natural disaster/terrorist attack scenarios; if you're doing is so you'll still have a gun after a government ban? If you have a firearm or two hidden away but you're not able to shoot it or let anyone else know about it because the minions of government will show up with a SWAT team, then we're screwed. Not just gun owners, everybody. If it hits that point of control & intrusiveness, then the 4th Amendment as well as the 2nd and probably the 1st- at minimum- will have been trashed, and EVERYBODY is screwed. And we're into the real serious "Not is it too soon to shoot the bastards, but too late?" question.
And it will get very, very messy and nasty.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
And some good news on 'Stand Your Ground'
This bill has been passed by the state Senate and is on the Governors' desk.
Had you heard about the miners trapped in Tasmania?
Tim Blair has been following this. Apparently when an earthquake caused a cave-in, these two were somewhat protected by a cage. They've drilled a hole to get food and water to them(and Ipods for entertainment) and they now have a boring machine cutting a rescue tunnel.
Deep-hole mining; that's a job I don't know if I could do, even without the threat of earthquakes.
Deep-hole mining; that's a job I don't know if I could do, even without the threat of earthquakes.
A friend sent me this,
and now I've seen it various places(curses, they beat me to it!)
As the friend said, "Look at his hat!"
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
May 3rd, seven years later
May 3, 1999, we had a bloody awful tornado outbreak. If I remember right there were seventy-some tornados in Oklahoma that day & evening with several big ones. The one that got the most attention, and still does, is the one that started near Chickasha in southwest OK, came northeast and just about wiped a couple of towns, turned east just south of Oklahoma City, went through Moore, then northeast again through(mainly) Midwest City, continued through a town called Stroud and finally broke up and went away.
One of the things that made it famous was it was the first time the National Weather Service stormchasers were able to get their doppler radar trucks(two of them) in position to get windspeed readings on a F5 tornado. Official reading 319mph. Of course they said there's a seven mph error factor, so it could have been as low as 312 or as high as 326. In any case, it was bad.
My family and acquaintances came through ok. Couple of people I know at work lived in the Midwest City area and took home damage; I and the ex and kids live in the northwest side and it missed us completely. I'd been at the forge most of the day, and in the afternoon I finally stepped back, stretched, got a drink and for the first time that day actually looked at the sky and felt the air. And decided I should put the fire out and turn on something to check the weather. Cut the fire off, put what I could away- some stuff had to cool off- washed up, turned on the tv and got a drink. I came out of the kitchen about ten seconds before the broadcast showed the monster touching down. Wasn't that big at first, but it grew. And grew. I called the kids to make sure they were ready just in case, and watched it progress. One of the things that made this much less lethal than it could have been was the fact that both on the ground and in the air the NWS and at least three tv stations and a radio station or two had chasers following the thing from the time it touched ground almost until it disappeared.
So people could listen to and watch the progress, and head for their holes or in the case of drivers get the hell out of the way. It was heading for southwest OKC when I called a friend who lived down there to make sure she was aware; she was, and getting her closet ready to hide in. Now, a regular closet wasn't going to mean a damn thing to this beast, but seeing as she was already worked up I didn't say that. I did tell her that I didn't think it'd hit her area; big funnels often make a right turn at some point, and I thought it might(my crystal ball was working that day). It skirted about 1.5-2 miles south of her- too damn close, she later told me in as close to profanity as I ever heard her get- and headed for Moore. Note: one of my forecasting aids was the dogs. They were scared to death of severe storms, and either hid or, if you were outside, stuck to your legs and wouldn't move away, but today they were in the middle of the yard playing.
So we watched it move along, video from ground and air both(one news chopper had been following it so long they had to land and refuel) as it got bigger. To give you an idea, at its' widest on the ground it was right at one mile across; on doppler radar the circulation in the storm creating it was six miles across. And the choppers followed it as it went through the cities like a vacuum through a dirt spill on the floor. Block after block of houses became clean foundation slabs surrounded by rubble, and right in the middle of this I got a phone call that I at first thought was a guy from work. Went like this:
"Are you ok?"
me "Yeah, I'm fine"
pause. " I think I got the wrong number. Where are you?"
"I'm northwest OKC"
"What's it doing there?"
"Little wind, little rain, that's about it."
"Well, I'm in Midwest City in the storm cellar with eight neighbors and three dogs, and it sounds like hell outside."
We talked a minute, then he said he had to call the one he'd intended to and hung up.
So it stomped and tore its' way through and left the metro area. Further out, a couple of guys from a radio station were in a hurry to get home; a wind gust blew them into the drainage ditch along the turnpike and both saved their lives and gave them a ringside seat as the thing destroyed the Stroud mall. And then it went away.
We lost some people, only a few; wasn't that long ago there would have been hundreds from a beast like this. Lots of property damage and lots of property destroyed. Bear safe company dealer had a picture he used for quite a while of a foundation swept clean except for the safe standing there; the owner had bolted it down properly and it hadn't budged. But most everything else in the path just went away.
And everybody came out. People looking for neighbors, people for miles around coming to help. People loaded injured in their trucks and took them to the nearest hospital, often on four flat tires from all the metal and glass in the streets. Very little in the way of looting reported, probably because the scum that would think of it realized that if they got caught the least they could expect was a royal ass-kicking.
About two weeks after I had to drive through the area on NE 10th street, and what it looked a lot like was some pictures I've seen of an area after either a major bombing attack or an artillery barrage that walked through; they damn sure couldn't have done any more damage.
Every time I think about this I remember that phone call.
Oh, and there's a severe thunderstorm watch area over most of western OK. It's that time of year.
One of the things that made it famous was it was the first time the National Weather Service stormchasers were able to get their doppler radar trucks(two of them) in position to get windspeed readings on a F5 tornado. Official reading 319mph. Of course they said there's a seven mph error factor, so it could have been as low as 312 or as high as 326. In any case, it was bad.
My family and acquaintances came through ok. Couple of people I know at work lived in the Midwest City area and took home damage; I and the ex and kids live in the northwest side and it missed us completely. I'd been at the forge most of the day, and in the afternoon I finally stepped back, stretched, got a drink and for the first time that day actually looked at the sky and felt the air. And decided I should put the fire out and turn on something to check the weather. Cut the fire off, put what I could away- some stuff had to cool off- washed up, turned on the tv and got a drink. I came out of the kitchen about ten seconds before the broadcast showed the monster touching down. Wasn't that big at first, but it grew. And grew. I called the kids to make sure they were ready just in case, and watched it progress. One of the things that made this much less lethal than it could have been was the fact that both on the ground and in the air the NWS and at least three tv stations and a radio station or two had chasers following the thing from the time it touched ground almost until it disappeared.
So people could listen to and watch the progress, and head for their holes or in the case of drivers get the hell out of the way. It was heading for southwest OKC when I called a friend who lived down there to make sure she was aware; she was, and getting her closet ready to hide in. Now, a regular closet wasn't going to mean a damn thing to this beast, but seeing as she was already worked up I didn't say that. I did tell her that I didn't think it'd hit her area; big funnels often make a right turn at some point, and I thought it might(my crystal ball was working that day). It skirted about 1.5-2 miles south of her- too damn close, she later told me in as close to profanity as I ever heard her get- and headed for Moore. Note: one of my forecasting aids was the dogs. They were scared to death of severe storms, and either hid or, if you were outside, stuck to your legs and wouldn't move away, but today they were in the middle of the yard playing.
So we watched it move along, video from ground and air both(one news chopper had been following it so long they had to land and refuel) as it got bigger. To give you an idea, at its' widest on the ground it was right at one mile across; on doppler radar the circulation in the storm creating it was six miles across. And the choppers followed it as it went through the cities like a vacuum through a dirt spill on the floor. Block after block of houses became clean foundation slabs surrounded by rubble, and right in the middle of this I got a phone call that I at first thought was a guy from work. Went like this:
"Are you ok?"
me "Yeah, I'm fine"
pause. " I think I got the wrong number. Where are you?"
"I'm northwest OKC"
"What's it doing there?"
"Little wind, little rain, that's about it."
"Well, I'm in Midwest City in the storm cellar with eight neighbors and three dogs, and it sounds like hell outside."
We talked a minute, then he said he had to call the one he'd intended to and hung up.
So it stomped and tore its' way through and left the metro area. Further out, a couple of guys from a radio station were in a hurry to get home; a wind gust blew them into the drainage ditch along the turnpike and both saved their lives and gave them a ringside seat as the thing destroyed the Stroud mall. And then it went away.
We lost some people, only a few; wasn't that long ago there would have been hundreds from a beast like this. Lots of property damage and lots of property destroyed. Bear safe company dealer had a picture he used for quite a while of a foundation swept clean except for the safe standing there; the owner had bolted it down properly and it hadn't budged. But most everything else in the path just went away.
And everybody came out. People looking for neighbors, people for miles around coming to help. People loaded injured in their trucks and took them to the nearest hospital, often on four flat tires from all the metal and glass in the streets. Very little in the way of looting reported, probably because the scum that would think of it realized that if they got caught the least they could expect was a royal ass-kicking.
About two weeks after I had to drive through the area on NE 10th street, and what it looked a lot like was some pictures I've seen of an area after either a major bombing attack or an artillery barrage that walked through; they damn sure couldn't have done any more damage.
Every time I think about this I remember that phone call.
Oh, and there's a severe thunderstorm watch area over most of western OK. It's that time of year.
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