How's the old Chinese curse go?

May you live in interesting times.

It does seem we are. I've also been doing some interesting reading today.

I've been reading about nullification. Not the concept of Jury Nullification. But the concept and history of State Nullification. A couple of articles, one from Wikipedia and the other from Answers.com, give a good outline of the 1832 Nullification Controversy. But if you're lazy, the upshot is South Carolina, angry over some tariffs imposed by the federal government enacted a law stating that the Federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and unenforceable inside the state.

It's an interesting concept. And it's been popping up over the blogosphere more and more recently with regards to the manufactured Health Care Crisis and the bill they forced down our collective throat over Christmas.

A few quick articles.

Time to Reconsider Nullification

Health Care Nullification: Things have just gotten underway

Health Care Nullification and Interposition

It's an interesting idea for truly interesting times. Here are a couple of thoughts that occurred to me though. First, historically speaking the Nullification Crisis of 1832 was a very radical move by one of the most extreme states in the union. And it led to the Force Bill authorizing the federal government to use whatever force it deemed necessary to enforce tariffs. Which led to a precedent that states didn't have a right to secede and ultimately to the civil war.

(Yes, that's an extreme oversimplification and I'm glossing over a lot of factors, but I'm not here to talk about the Civil War of 1861 just yet.)

But anyway, since the Nullification Crisis a lot of legislation and an entire war have been fought over state powers and federal powers. Can the concept of State Nullification be argued successfully in the courts anymore? Because ultimately State Nullification is a legislative maneuver and the end of that process is the courts, whether it be state or federal courts.

Second, again historically speaking, this leads to a lot of nasty business like civil wars and other shenanigans. Are we willing to make that commitment? There are any number of people out there that are already banging on that particular drum. But there is sometimes a large chasm between talking the talk and walking the walk. And it's a deadly path to walk indeed. I'm not saying that something like that isn't needed every now and again. I'm just saying you'd better be damn sure about that decision.

Getting away from the history for a bit. We've had calls for marches on D.C., general national strikes, calls for immediate challenges to this Christmas bill in state and federal courts, not to mention the more extreme calls from fringy type peoples. Surprisingly from both the left and the right. How effective any of these will be is up to history to tell. I do think that no single attack will work. Only by effective coordinated efforts on multiple fronts will this administration, that has proven that it wont listen to the people it receives it's power from, be forced to abide by the limits that the founding fathers placed on it with the constitution.

Oh, and in case you didn't know. The rest of that supposed Chinese curse is:

May you come to the attention of those in authority (sometimes
rendered May the government be aware of you)

May you find what you are looking for

Christmas Traditions...

Mine are the traditional Christmas meal of Chinese food at the only buffet open on Christmas day and watching KungFu movies all day.

What are yours?

QOTD: Secession Primer.

*... That period during which Mr. Buchanan retained office, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, from November, 1860 to March, 1861, was that which enabled the seceding States of the South to complete their preparations for the Civil War, and the Executive Government was paralyzed.

How it's made.

Great show.

But as fascinating as it is, it's the only show on TV that is guaranteed to make me fall asleep. Can't figure that out.

Am I taking crazy pills here?

I was reading something the other day, it's not important what, the the following passage caught my attention;

The President is chosen for four years, and he may be reelected; so that the chances of a prolonged administration may inspire him with hopeful undertakings for the public good, and with the means of carrying them into execution.

Nice, huh.

The same thought might be applied to senators and representatives as well, no? That they would, with an eye on getting reelected might weigh their actions in office wisely and with care. It seems to me that the opposite is true of our current crop. They are shoving legislation down our throats, with out regard, for we people that they supposedly represent as if they don't care that they have elections coming up in 11 months. There seems to be an attitude of "Damn them all, let's get what we can, while we can."

When you ponder on the caliber of men like Jefferson, Payne, Madison, Washington, Hancock, et. al.

Have we really gone from the age of Gentlemen/Statesmen to Pirate/Politicians?

BoVLB awards, The Health Care Edition.

It's been a while since I awarded a BoVLB. Oh, there have been lots of stupid stuff flying about. But nothing really tripped my trigger so to speak to award the trophy again. This weekend though. Oh, this weekend...

I hereby award the BoVLB travelling trophy to two recipients this time. Our winners this time? Why none other than Sen. Ben Nelson (D, Nebraska) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D, Louisiana). It seems these two intrepid renegade democrats stood by they're moral and political objections to the "Universal Health Care" bill, or whatever it's called this hour. Well, stood by till the cash till rang up 100,000,000 dollars each. That's one hundred million dollars for you non-math types. Yes sir, each Senator managed to wring a little more blood out of each and every taxpayer in this country. One of the truly epic things about this is they, over one snowed in weekend in DC, managed to screw everyone in this country down to our grandchildren's and great grandchildren's generations. Take that Wilt Chamberlain.

So, for these two members of the "no pork" party, the "transparency" government, signed off on a bill that no one except select members of ONE party has seen.

Here's to you. Enjoy the trophy.

Ain't the innerwebz grand?

I hear they're putting it on computers now even!

h/t to the illustrious phlegmmy for this one.

You can now send e-postcards to the ISS teams. Cool huh. Don't forget the ground crews. Without them, it couldn't happen.

Happy Christmas everybody.

Random Musings

Apparently, the actors inside the Godzilla suit for the Japanese movies had a habit of nearly suffocating.


Whoever thought it would be a good idea to take the king sized candy bars and just stick two fun sized ones in the wrapper needs to be taken out back and shot... slowly. When I buy a king sized bar, I WANT a king sized bar. Not some under grown thing they call "fun" sized. What is that anyway? Did some team of cross-discipline scientists and engineers get together, spend millions of government research money and measure fun? I can see it now. "Yes, Senator. We've finally broken through the glee barrier and quantified fun. This is exactly one unit of fun. Now about next years funding..." And those stupid fun sized bars are smaller cross sectional than the king sized bars used to be! If I'd wanted a fun sized bar, I would have gone to the store and bought a bag of fun sized bars. Not gotten ripped off at the vending machine for two of them. You know what, shooting that asshat slowly is too good for him. He needs to be stood up before a firing squad while being drawn and quartered for life.


A team of mathematicians at MIT submitted a geometric proof today that may very well turn the universe on it's ear. It took 12 of them 5 years, but they think they've proven that there is exactly 12.421 lbs of fruitcake on the entire planet and it just keeps getting passed around from person to person. The implications are astounding. The corollary law of conservation of fruitcake is being examined by the team of physicists that first postulated the 1st Law Of Bacon: Bacon can be neither created nor destroyed it can only GET IN MY BELLAH!

Tis the season.

Okay, it's rounding out to THAT time of year again. So, as I annually do, please accept the following.

To all my liberal acquaintances;

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday(tm), practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . . and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual orientation of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion oft he wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher

And to all my conservative friends.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

In the Realm of Good News.

I've seen this article on several news sites now.

Tenn. demonstrates trend of looser guns laws in about half the states; NRA is behind the push

Go RTW as they say. The only problem I have with this is the last clause. The NRA has often times struck me as the slow witted, foot dragging Gomer of the constitutional rights crowd.

Personally, I'd really place the push on the average person being tired putting up with the "They're just misunderstood", "Give them what they want and they wont kill you... probably" crowd.

Interesting times indeed.

I saw this over at Breda's place this morning.

Tea Party tops GOP on Three-Way Generic Ballot

The money paragraph for me was:

For this survey, the respondents were asked to assume that the Tea Party movement organized as a new political party. In practical terms, it is unlikely that a true third-party option would perform as well as the polling data indicates. The rules of the election process—written by Republicans and Democrats--provide substantial advantages for the two established major parties. The more conventional route in the United States is for a potential third-party force to overtake one of the existing parties.

(Emphasis mine)

Sort of like how the socialists took over the democratic party?

Shenanigate revisited.

Just a quick linky-no thinky post today.

UN Climate Chief: hacked e-mails are damaging.

The part I love is right in the first paragraph. "... but said evidence of a global warming is solid."

Um, Baghdad-bob, the emails and code pretty much prove that the evidence is a vapor.

(By the way, this post is just to see if my troll will come back out of his hidey hole again. If we're very still we might see him again.)

Experts on foreign affairs.

Okay, now that the furor has died down about the latest leg of the presidential world apology tour (tm).

Sure, he bowed to foreign dignitaries and leaders again. Sure, he shouldn't do that. He's supposedly the leader of nominally the most powerful nation in the world. No presidents have bowed or scraped to other leaders before, or at least not in the last 100 years or so. I'll give you all that.

Here's what bothers me so much.

The first time he did this, to the Leader of Saudi Arabia I believe, the amount of stink that raised went on for weeks. You would have figured that the handlers he surrounded himself with would have learned from that mistake. And don't think for a minute that it wasn't a mistake. He may have done it on purpose, but it was a mistake and on an international scale to boot.

Then, he does it again. The same mistake over again.

Let's ignore for a second that he was touted as some sort of expert on foreign relations. Disregard the fact that the second round of bows weren't the proper short from the waist ones that national leaders might be expect to do. They were the exact same sort of bows that were such the mistakes the last time.

Folks, what bothers me is the fact that this administration ISN'T learning from it's mistakes. That's the sobering thought for tonight. What other sorts of mistakes are we gonna see this lot make AND REPEAT?

Today...

I made a bacon bacon bacon and cheese sandwich for lunch.

Life is good.

About Last Night...

Or Why I Carry a Gun, Reason 1157.

So, last night. Let's see. At about 1:15 a.m. I was woken up by the dulcet sounds of gunfire.

First off, I'm not exactly the lightest of sleepers. I snore. I enjoy my sleeping. I don't want it interrupted. But none the less, there I am, jarred awake by the sounds of gunfire loud enough to do that. It was close. And I'm not talking about a stray shot or a couple of firecrackers. I'm awake enough to remember a few strings of shots, like pow powpow... pow pow pow powpow... powpowpow..., so I know there had to be at least a few shots before that before I was conscious enough to start recording.

So, just like in the Christmas Carol, I sprang from my bed. And made sure I had my 1911 loaded with a spare mag by my head and then I went and got the two loaded mags I had for my M14, loaded the rifle and set it and the spare mag by my bed. And then I waited. No screeching tires, no sirens, no investigating police. I finally fell back asleep around 3:30.

It's nice to know my neighbors care. Tonight, I'll have my AR with the EOTech sight set for low light ready.

And screw you Chad, there's no way in hell I'm going out "hunting" like you suggested.

It's a tough job....

Who else knows that the great 0 has played more rounds of golf in the past 10 months than the previous occupant did his entire 8 years in office?

Quick show of hands.

But seriously, what with the economy tanking, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran and N. Korea, Losing the Olympics for Chicago, Losing 2 gubernatorial races for his party... The man has a lot to do. It's nice to see his priorities are in the right place.

Pipe Dreams

Since they'd never willingly do this themselves and even the ones who promise to, end up breaking that promise. I think the only way to get those idiots out of D.C. is to make them. So, dear readers, pass the word around. Each state should, in my humble opinion, enact it's own laws that limit their senators and representatives to no more than 2 terms in office, total.

Of course, the hereditary seats in Massachusetts and San Fransisco will have problems, but I'm sure they can hash those out.

But don't worry, I'm not gonna hold my breath on this one.

Normal? Compared to what?

Okay, now that the bredalanche, Snarkylanche and everyotherblogger-alanche has subsided and my daily visits counter has stopped spinning like a demon-possessed fan. I can return to my usual inane commenting on all things... inane.

Blogorado: The depression.

Okay, I'm not going to give a play by play of the weekend. Others more eloquent or just plain better at ranting have done that.

I want to say, simply even, thank you.

Thanks to FarmGirl, FarmDad, FarmMom, and Mamaw for hosting us, cooking for us, providing land for a range and things to shoot at, for by far the best chicken fried steak I've had, for putting up with us cantankerous, independently minded blog-type folks. I may have moaned about missing the riding to set up the range, but setting it up was a blast too. You all are the best.

Thanks to you, The Breda, for coming. You took time off from GunNuts:TNG and took the chance on meeting a slew of people you've never seen before, for stepping up and shooting everything we put in your hands, even when I gave you bad advice on shooting stances, but mostly for just being you. You may not admit it, or even understand it, but you're an incredible person and having the chance to meet you in person was truly an honor.

Christina, thanks for coming as well. I know you were worried about being "a total n00b" shooter and, I don't know, embarrassing yourself or something. What you missed is that, one, we all started as new shooters as some point, and two, we're the sort of group that loves coaching people. Give us a new shooter and we were falling all over ourselves to help you have fun and learn about all the different types of guns out there. I hope you had as much fun learning and shooting as we had teaching and demonstrating. And the massages were a great treat.

Alan, what can I say. Great knees. Seriously, it was great seeing you again. You've got one sweet long range AR set up and letting me shoot the M-11 even though I didn't bring any 9mm to speak of was a treat.

Stingray and LabRat, it was really neat to finally meet you both. I could gush about your blog and epic rants, but I wont. I do want to say the real people are so much better than the internet blog. And your beer is worth a loveblog all its own. And watching LabRat do an entire movie with KatyBeth was a highlight of the evening for me.

Speaking of, Ambulance Driver and KatyBeth. It was great seeing you again. And KatyBeth is such a little darling. I am ready to declare that she must accompany you on any blog meets we attend together. And we need to get together more often. Once every 8 months is just not right, dude. I hope the venison is good. That deer gave his all for your taste buds.

Sal, I'm sorry you had to leave early. I hope the kids are better. Next time, all I can say is next time. Don't forget to drop me an email with your contact details either. Don't make me go through FarmGirl to get them. Don't think I wont. And believe me, it won't be pretty if I have to.

Old_NFO. Thanks for swinging by and hauling my big butt and all my junk to the meet. And thanks for bringing some of the most awesome rifles I've ever had the privilege to handle, much less shoot. Next time, we're confiscating your wallet and we'll treat you.

Snarky, you are a hoot! Being a "n00b" shooter didn't stop you from being full of energy and fun. Do not forget to stay in touch. And next time, maybe the munchkin can come along.

Phlegmmy and LawDog. Oh. My. God. When you two showed up and were in the same area as Breda, my head went 'splody. No, srsly! You guys are awesome and just thinking of you two makes my grin go from ear to ear to meeting around the back side of my head.

Gay_Cynic, thanks for travelling from literally, the corner of the US to see us. Putting up with the hassle that is TSA to bring guns means a lot to me. Other people would have looked at that and decided it wasn't worth the trouble or the risk. You grinned and bared it just for the chance to meet us. That means a lot to me. It was an honor and a pleasure and whether you like it or not, I'm including you amongst my friends.

Matt and Johnny. When people say "A giant among men", I want you to know that it's not just your physical height that they're referring too. You are great people and those who don't get the opportunity to meet you are just that much the less for not having that chance.

Finally, to the town of FarmFam. For a little town that resides in a county that doesn't have a stoplight, you allowed us in, made us welcome and didn't bat an eyelash at a bunch of nutty outsiders OC'ing all over the place. That's the way it should be and I thank you for showing us how this country should be.

I wish the weekend could have gone on forever. And everyone I've talked to seems to be as sad about that as I am. I'm calling it post-blogorado depression. I'm afraid the only cure will be to meet again as soon as possible.

November 11th.

Thanks for serving. It's guys like us that allow hippies like them the freedom to spit on guys like us.


Also, did you know it's punch a hippie day too?

Blogorado: The Epic Butt Post

So, I'm sure if you've read everyone else on my blogroll you know that Blogorado was not only a huge success, but just barrels and barrels and buckets and tubs of fun.

In attendance were FarmGirl, BredaFallacy, Salamander, Gay_Cynic, Stingray, LabRat, JPG, Better and Better, Old_NFO, Me, Ambulance Driver (with the adorable Katybeth), Snarky, FarmMom, FarmDad, Mamaw, Snarkybytes, Lucrative Pain, LawDog, Phlegm Fatale, and a run'd over deer, and I know I'm forgetting someone. Please leave a comment on who I forgot.

But anyway, here's pics of everyone there. Bonus points if you can match the person to the... umm... pic. :D

Bonus bonus points if you can find the pic that started it all.

Just for scale, this is Breda standing next to one of the midgets from the circus that passed through Sunday.

I did get a pic of Sal's butt, but the knee-beards were soooo much better.

Blogorado: Shooting Day One

Quick post. I'm beat and we're gonna do it all again tomorrow.

(W00t!)

Today was a GOOD day. We started by gathering for breakfast and then sort of ambled over to Mamaw's place and launched from there.

Went straight to the range and after a couple of hours of final set up we buckled down to some of the really fun stuff. We had guns a plenty. In fact you could say we had a plethora of guns... and ammo.

I shot everything I could get my hands on, Old_NFO has some REALLY nice sniper rifles. We'd set up a half standard size target at 250 yards and people (Breda) were hitting it consistently. That's the equivalent of a 500 yard shot up an incline. Not an easy feat.

On a related side note, Breda may truly be the world's most dangerous librarian. You'll be innocently walking across an empty parking lot and BAM! Then from a long distance away you'll hear as the lights fade out, "2 weeks overdue"....

We blew up a couple of pounds of tannerite among other fun stuff. Then went back to mamaw's and had some of the best chicken fried steak EVAH!

It really was one of those days that you wish would never end. And we get to do it tomorrow!

Oh, I have pics of everyone I'll post them when I get a chance.

Blogorado: The initial meeting.

I have to admit, when Breda first walked up to Mamaw's garage I went a little shy fanboi. But as promised...

Will you get a load of that.... holster. :D

(She is sooo gonna kill me.)

The Gathering

has begun.

Snarkybytes started first. He hooked through Oklahoma City on his way to pick up Breda Fallacy and then spend a couple of days with the Atomic Nerds. They should show up at the gathering Thursday with beer!

Old_NFO is meeting me here today and we'll continue on to FarmGirls on Thursday.

Lucrative Pain is linking up with super secret guest and will be driving in on Thursday as well.

Snarktastic will be flying in and then being picked up Thursday.

Ambulance driver and spawn should be showing up around then too.

In fact for a blog meet that doesn't start till saturday, the party seems to be rolling in early. That's a win in my book.

LawDog and Phlegm Fatal hopefully will get in Saturday with a couple of others from the Texas Contingent.

Bayou Renaisaunce Man and Wing will be joining us via the wonders of the innertubez. Get well soon, ol' chap.

I'll post pics as I can. But don't be surprised if it's mostly girls asses.... :D

Sugar Coma

Happy Holloween everyone!

Today was a good day.

I took my favorite rifle, the M14, to the range today and reached out 100 and 200 meters to ping steal. It was nice.

I still need to decide on a scope and mount though.

A loss...

FarmGirl over at TractorTracks just lost one of her horses today. She was getting old and they were expecting it, but it's still a hard weight to bear. Please go over and drop her a note or send her your condolences. Let her know that we all feel her loss as well.

Thanks guys.

9 Days...

To Blogorado!!!!!!

That is all.

Seen over on Michele Malkin's site.

In the comment thread about the "vapor bill" that the thugs inside the beltway just past...

One person pondered "If we are a nation of laws..."

To which someone else replied "That was the old America. The new America is a nation of flaws."

Snerk, snorfle... It's funny because it's true.

You know...

I have nothing to say. Go away. GET OFF MY LAWN!

A banner day for the stockmarket

Today as I was driving the voices on my talkradio box broke into the regularly scheduled program to announce that the DOW had just peaked above 10,000.

H'Ray....

Except that not 3 minutes later they had sound bites from various economists about what this meant. Now, for my local station to get all the way from Midwest US to NY and DC and back with interviews and everything...

It makes me think that this little market spike was orchestrated by the news-idjits to give them something positive to report.

It doesn't really matter that the Dow barely topped 10,000 and then immediately dropped back down. It doesn't matter that if you had blinked you would have missed the 10,000. What matters is that THEY say something good happened.

Okay, I'm no economist, I don't play one on TV and I didn't stay at a HIExpress hotel last night. But it seems to me that for there to be a REAL recovery in our economy, the job loss rate needs to turn into a job creation rate. So long as more people are losing jobs then are getting them, no amount of pie in the sky happy unicorn rainbow farts are going to turn the economy around.

Just my two cents.

Columbus Day

Happy Columbus Day all.

Why I'm a caliber snob.

So, we're closing up at the range the other day. Making sure everything is set for the next day and the range is cold. Of course, we've got a couple of magizines each of just plinking ammo. Seeing as how we had the place to ourselves we decided to have a quick shoot at the elite bay. It's filled with steel plates and texas stars other fun things to shoot at.

There's this hostage tree. Basically it's a series of plates mounted so that when you shoot them, they swing to the other side of the stand and are ready to shoot again. There's about 6 of them on this one tree.

The coworker has a 2011 in .40S&W and he plinks away finishing up on the hostage tree. Ping, ping, ping. Now it's my turn. I figure I'll finish the hostage tree so they're all on one side and try my luck at the texas star. Out comes the 1911, steady grip, sight picture, squeeze, bang. I hit a plate about midway down the tree. It swings around, thunk, and the entire tree falls over dead.

The .45ACP. So awesome even inanimate objects will lay down and play dead at the sight of it.

No More Hitler/Obama Comparisons...

Enough is enough. We must stop this incessant Hitler/Obama comparison.

After all, Hitler actually got the Olympics.

H/T to Unix Jedi.

Worries? No Worries. Aftermath

Just so you all know. The cost of flying Air force One to Europe so the great 0 could get kicked with a reality boot and not get the "Chicago corruption machine"(TM) the Olympics was $900,000 dollars... US... But he'll just print more. So no worries.

Oh and that's just the 747, not the 2 C-17's or ancillary planes and vehicles. How long was he there? 50 minutes?

Remember the economy? It's still tanking. Or Afghanistan? Still fighting going on there. What else did he promise? I guess you can name it and safely say he didn't keep that either.

But on the topic of Afghanistan. This last week he said he needed a few weeks to evaluate the situation and formulate a strategy. W! T! F! He's had nearly a year since he was elected. Even longer if you take it from the time in the campaign when he first stated his platform on the matter. He's just now looking into it?

Hey 0! You're the president. You don't get to hand in assignments late. There's no partial credit in that job. Do your G... D... homework BEFORE it's too late.

Douche.

{rant off}

Worries? No Worries.

Iran and N. Korea are going nuke with delivery systems that can threaten Israel, Europe, Alaska and Hawaii...

Afghanistan, Iraq, record unemployment, plummeting approval ratings...

Cabinet members who are batty, completely on the fringe or just outright crazy...

But what's at the top of the agenda? Making sure that Chicago get the Olympics.

Way to be commander in chief. Well really he's more like the organizer in over his head.

Czars, Czars, Everyone's a Czar.

Aside from the fact that this administration has more Czars than any other previous. (It's at 33 right now, with a planned 45.) The big difference between this administration and previous ones is most of these have had NO NADA NONE ZIP NIL NYET ZERO congressional confirmation hearings. Which is funny in a scary sort of way when you figure that then Sen. J. Biden (Ol' Foot-in-Mouth hisself) made a big storm out of that fact under Bush the latter, and even nixed a czar back then because of it. Now he's sort of silent on that fact.

Another example of holding your opponents to a rule book that you can conveniently ignore when it comes your turn. What was that called when we were kids?

ITLAPD!!!

Yaaarrr, ye scurvy wags. We be knowing the way the seas be blowin on this day. Tighten up ye mainsail, load ye main guns. It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! There's plunder out there, me buckkos!

Moments in History

This week, the senate defined what language it's members can use against or about other members of that body or the administration.

Gather your kids around you. Make note of this date in history. We are witnessing the death of free speech in this country. You'll be able to sit in your rocking chair and tell the youngin's you remember when this country was the land of the free.

The Race Card

You know, I thought they said that electing the anointed one would silence all the calls that we were a racist society. That really didn't work out the way they said did it.

But aside from that.

Over and over again in the news I hear the call that anyone who opposes anything proposed by this administration is racist. But when asked what is bigoted about their opposition, the accusers point to the president and say, "See, he's black (or 'of color', or African American, or whatever) therefore you're being racists.

So, what is being said is that because he is considered a minority, any time we're not in lockstep with him we're being racist. The accusors can't actually point out anything about the people they're accusing as being racist. They, in fact, have to point to outside criteria and then equate that with the accused. Hey, an example of Reductio Ad Absurdum.

Folks, I've talked about false logic and fallacious arguments before. Can you guess what kind of logic flaw this argument is?

This is a classic example of Ad Hominem (Argument To The Man). Rather than try to support your ideas or attack the others ideas. You instead attack the person. Since, if that person is bad or sick then his/her arguments must be bad or sick as well.

We could turn the argument around for example. As recent polls have shown, 55% of the American people don't like the president's health reform bill. The president is black, therefore 55% of the American people don't like the president and are racists. Put that way, the logic just isn't there. This then becomes an example of Affirming The Consequent. Another fallacious argument. Simply put "if P then Q" is turned around to "Q therefore P". For example, "All people whose surname begins with Mac are of Scottish ancestry. Dougal is of Scottish ancestry. Therefore his surname begins with Mac." But actually his name is Campbell.

The upshot is just because we don't like something that the president has done, is doing or is trying to do, doesn't make us racists.

And for a bit of fun, I could argue that because you're always agreeing with what the president is doing, and you think that anyone who disagrees with him is racist, that you're afraid of disagreeing with him and being thought of as racists, therefore you are racist.

But that's a fallacious argument for a later date.

In honor of 9/11

Please take a minute to remember all the men and women who died on this day 8 years ago. In the towers, the pentagon and on the planes. The firemen and police caught in the collapse after responding. The ordinary people who just happened to work in the towers or needed to fly somewhere that day. Everyone.

Let us NOT call this a "Day of Service" as one man would like. Let us NOT belittle the ultimate sacrifice of those who died on that day and after to keep us free just so one man can have his Marxist dream state.

As a great man from Illinois said:

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

To attempt to distract us from what happened on this day and try to use our feelings for this day as a way to forget that we are a FREE nation, a FREE people is reprehensible. To attempt to say that this day we should sympathise with those who would do us harm is, quite frankly, insane. We should remember what brought us together as one people.

But I shouldn't be surprised. The party in power has shown over the last 4 and a half years that they will stop at nothing to further their agenda. They have proved and will prove over and over that nothing is beneath them. For them that Machiavelli's statement that the ends justify the means really is the party maxim.

This is a day to remember brave men and women. A day like November 11th, December 7th, the last Monday in May, or July 4th. Or like the excerpt from the speech above, November 19th, 1863.

Sorry.

For the non-posting on this blog. I've been entranced by the 0's administration melting down. Seriously. A president's approval rating hasn't fallen this fast since Clinton (the Y Chromosomed one) tried to introduce Hillary-care. Hmm, coincidence?

Connected

Yeah! I can haz innerwebz again!

The Passing of a Long Time Politician.

Within the last 24 hours the Honorable Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, passed away. My sympathies go out to the Kennedy/Shriver family.

But that's not what I want to talk about.

What boggles me the most is the fact that also within the last 23 hours 59 minutes the political left has been using his death to make political hay. There's calls that HE really wanted this, and we should rename the Health Care Reform Bull Bill, the Kennedy HCR Bill. HE was a great man and HE worked for this all his life. etc. etc. You get the idea.

What's that other thing that feeds off of corpses? Oh yeah, Vultures.

They could not wait for the corpse to even cool off before they dove in to rend the political capital from the bones of the man. How inhuman, how utterly callous do you have to be to do something like that. Great bouncing Buddhas, they could have at least waited till after the family held the funeral. A week maybe? But when your motto is "Let no crisis go to waste." You can justify just about any action. No matter how reprehensible.

But I guess it's only fair. I mean when Reagan died, the conservatives were right in there saying we should push the war on terror because that's what he would have wanted and he'd spent his whole life... err... umm... They didn't do that did they. Never mind.

All kidding aside, when Reagan passed, the country honored the memory of the man. We eulogized his life and works. We respectfully allowed his family their time to mourn. We didn't use his death to further some agenda that the majority of Americans don't want. We didn't cheapen the man or his deeds by slapping his name on something in the hopes that it will pass by the American public's notice.

The ironic part of this is that they want to put the Kennedy name on the HCR Bill. But this man didn't have to sit before any "End of Life" death panels. His family wasn't told to feed him a pain pill and let him go. No, he fought tooth and nail to live as long as possible. He was given every treatment available to modern medicine, both through his insurance and privately paid for.

You know what. They're right. Everyone should have access to the same level of care that Sen. Kennedy had.

But I digress.

My point. I hope everyone out there is as disgusted as I am with the people who couldn't wait to exploit the passing of this man. I hope that anything that they try to attach his name to turns into a pariah. Not because of his name, but because of the callous way that they're using his name to turn political profit. I hope that some day they wake up and experience the pain that they're causing the family and loved ones of this man by their actions.

But I fear that I hope to much. And that's all I have to say about that.

Pwnd

H/T to LD for this one.

Quip of the day.

Saw this in one of the comments over at LawDog's blog.

0bama: A man who hasn't seen a line in the constitution yet that he doesn't HOPE to CHANGE.

Gun Show Recap.

Spent the weekend at the Grand National. Things seem to have calmed down from the post election panic. But that could be just the fact that it wasn't Wannenmacher's. We'll see.

Ammo prices are coming back down and I was finding .380ACP on the tables again. I picked up 50 rounds of tracer for my M14 at a pretty good price.

Sold all the .45ACP brass that I had collected. Well, all the brass aside from what I plan on reloading. All in all, I came out ahead this time around. Even after the mandatory beef jerky and salsa. So, WIN!

I had fun. How was your weekend?

Sign-o-the-times

While picking up batteries today, I noticed that the fun sized candy bars had gotten smaller.

Sign of the times or are people just more easily amused?

Best email I've written all month!

Just now I sent an email to flag-at-white house -dot- gov. Here is the text:

Hi,

I would like to flag myself, {aepilotjim} as opposed to the Obama Adminstration's Health Insurance Reform Bill.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely
{aepilotjim}

Real name redacted for this blog.

I see this kind of tactic by the current administration as a blatant attempt to try to silence the American public by intimidation. This sort of strong arm Chicago politics will not now, nor ever, sit quietly with me. I call out to all of you to flag yourself.

Adventures in Customer Service.

I needed to make an international call today. After several failed attempts at randomly punching numbers to get to the right country, I called customer service. Much to my surprise, rather than get connected to someone in India named Ralph, I got to talk to Ernestine...

Town Hall Meetings and the Democratic Leadership

Okay, reading de Tocqueville again and came across this passage that had a surprising relevance to today's news and events.

Municipal freedom is not a fruit of human device; it is rarely created; but it is, as it were, secretly and spontaneously engendered in the midst of a semi-barbarous state of society. The constant action of the laws and the national habits, peculiar circumstances, and above all time, may consolidate it; but there is certainly no nation on the continent of Europe which has experienced its advantages. Nevertheless local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty. The transient passions and the interests of an hour, or the chance of circumstances, may have created the external forms of independence; but the despotic tendency which has been repelled will, sooner or later, inevitably reappear on the surface.

(emphasis mine)

It seems the democrats (National Socialists) with their socialized medicine agenda are learning what the power of town-meetings are. They're finding out that, despite the force of the governmental propaganda machine and state controlled media outlets, the voice of the people will be heard. They're realizing that the voices they've been listening to in DC are NOT speaking for the majority of the citizens of this country. They go out expecting a cowed populace to meekly swallow what they've decided is best for the uneducated masses and instead run full force into an increasingly discontented constituency. They are finding out that the attitude they've had that they rule over people is a fleeting fantasy of theirs. The fact that they merely are the representative those same people is dashing that fantasy to pieces.

So, much like despotic government throughout history, they are resorting to the same tactics that have worked so well in the past, namely thuggery and intimidation a la the Chicago political machine.

Too bad most Americans are brave enough that that kind of brown shirt politics just makes them madder and louder.

They've also tried to label the opposition as "astroturf" and called them paid political agitators. First off, they are very familiar with astroturfing, having used and abused that tactic for a while now. One only needs to look at the Joyce Foundation, or ACORN to see that. Secondly, to try to demonize and marginalize what is happening all over the country will only succeed in deepening the rift developing between the people and their congresscritters.

They may find their reelection campaigns running on flat tires.

Which brings up a thought I had a while back. I was listening to the radio at work and the voices were talking about blue dog democrats. I forget what the topic of the rift was between them and the DNC, but the commentator made the point that even though they were opposed to what the party was trying, ultimately their loyalty rested with that party. Which made me sit up and want to shout. Their loyalty better be resting with the people they supposedly represent. If the loyalties of the politico's in DC are to a party and not the people, we've lost our republic. Great phrases like; "of the people, by the people, for the people..." have no meaning then, and we're looking at just another form of autocracy like any other despotic nation on this planet.

A rose by any other name....

Much like Global Warming (TM, Al Gore) became Global Climate Change (TM, Al Gore) after the science just wouldn't hold up to the light of scrutiny.

The 0's Health Care Reform(TM) has become Health Insurance Reform(TM).

Do you think that they're figuring out that the lies just aren't being swallowed as easily as the campaign promises were?

My thoughts on Cash For Clunkers

Everybody is buying cars! The economy is SAVED! They saved us!

Yeah. Really quickly, over half the cars purchased under this program are foreign. And some reports go as high as 80% foreign. Not so good for Detroit. But then the auto unions made that bed.

So, for the cost of 10 dollars (so far) out of the pocket of every man, woman, and child in this country. A few people get to drive around in brand new cars. And we get to get these old clunkers off the streets.

Old clunkers off the streets...

Everybody does know that these trade ins are REQUIRED to be destroyed? No salvaging serviceable spare parts from them. No reselling on the used car lot. But that's a good thing right?
Lets see. Yesterday we had; a new car, 4500 dollars and a used car. Today we have; a new car and 4500 dollars. Wait, what happened to the asset that was the used car. Oh right, it's been destroyed. Our government is forcing us to destroy our assets. This smacks of our government forcing us to be poorer and maybe even more dependent on them. Socialism anyone?

Also, has anybody looked at the used car price index in the last few weeks? That's right, skyrocketing upwards.

And this destroying something to stimulate the economy kept poking me on the shoulder, trying to tell me something. Finally, I remembered. Lucky you, because now I get to show you. Yeah, it's like slide shows of family vacations! Only more boring and even more unsettling.

The Broken Window Parable

By Frédéric Bastiat

Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"

Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.

Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.

But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."

It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented


Henry Hazlitt in his book Economics in One Lesson does a much better job at explaining this corollary to The Law of Unintended Consequences. Go read it.

This is exactly what the Clash For Clunkers program is doing. It's destroying one thing and trumpeting it as a success because it had to be replaced. Never mind that if that thing, a car in this case, hadn't been destroyed the money could have been used somewhere else, to buy something else. Never mind that most of the benefits are going to help overseas car manufacturers. The 0bama administration can point and say "We DID SOMETHING."

We've created a new government program. Of course this one is temporary. As temporary as the TVA. That's all that this has done really. Any bets on whether or not the funding becomes a standard line item on next years budget proposal?

What if instead of $4500 for every clunker, the government had given the auto manufacturers just a $450 dollar tax break for every new car produced? What would have happened then? We'd still have that used car around to resell. The auto companies would have had that much more money to hire more people, buy more modern or just plain more equipment to build cars. Those new jobs would have generated all sorts of spending by the people in them. The MSRP of those new cars would have been lowered because now the cost to produce them would be lower. Lower new car prices makes them more affordable and to a greater portion of the populous. Used car lots aren't starved for inventory and they stay open. The possibilities... Feel free to add other reactions to that action in the comments, please.

But what do I know, I'm just an guy with a degree in aerospace engineering, the training to be a professional pilot and the ability to analyze whats happening to this country and weep.

Wow, that just scary.

Big brother IS watching and apparently hacking you too. How can this be legal?

Beer Diplomacy

Today, we witnessed the dawning of a new era in politics.

Well, not really. What we saw was the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES engaging two men from a relatively small community in a conversation. You'd think the man in charge of the most powerful (so far) nation on earth would have something better to do. Like, um, run the country?

Here's my take on this. The "0" is in over his head, he's realizing it, so he's going back to what he has experience in. Namely, community activism.

Here's a man who spent less than 200 days in his senate seat voting "present" before he started running for the oval office. Prior to that the biggest bullet point on his resume was as a community organizer in Chicago.

He's figured out he's over his head. His handlers know that to, so to try to give him some sort of victory in office, no matter how small, they've orchestrated this minor news blurb in a Cambridge Police Blotter into a national news item/photo op.

Okay, let's get constitutional for a bit here. The Constitution (you remember that bit of paper) pretty clearly defines the powers and duties of the office of the president of this country. I just reread that section. I didn't see community organizer there anywhere. But don't take my word for it, read it for yourself. I'll wait.

Done? Good.

And even if the incident had required a response from the White House, don't you think that it could have been handled at a lower pay grade than this one? It has that stench of micro-management to me. But I guess will all the czars that the 0 has appointed to run all the other aspects of the golem that we've created that is the federal government, he's pretty much only got this on his honey-do's list.

The paranoid hind-brain of mine keeps knocking me with this little idea too.

If 0bama's press conferences are heavily scripted. And if the media is so in the tank for him that they wouldn't deviate from the script. Who let that question be asked and what are they trying to distract us from?

New Job...

I think I've figured it out. Tell me if I'm close. ahem....

My fellow Americans.

I don't want to run (insert industry here)

I inherited (insert mess here) from the previous administration.

It's not about me. It's about (insert current legacy media darlings here)

And to DO SOMETHING about it I plan to (insert socialist agenda here)

Because:

Emotionally based reason

Emotionally based reason

...

Emotionally based reason

Then ramble for a bit without really explaining anything or understanding anything.

I wonder if I can get a job working for the teleprompter?

Food for thought

Yesterday, almost unremarked, passed the anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. Truly a momentous thing. I was 4 when it happened. But I still have hazy memories of sitting in the basement of my house watching our black and white TV.

It saddens me to think that December 11th will mark the anniversary of the last time man has set foot on another body in this solar system. In fact, it will mark the last time that man has left low earth orbit.

We reached for and caught the stars. Realized our triumph and courage, only to recoil back in fear

Stumper of the day.

Can anyone identify this holster. I picked it up today at the Surplus store. It fits my 1911a1 like a dream, but I can't find anything that looks like it on the web. I'm trying to identify era and/or theater.

Thanks

By the way, I picked it up for $15 including the web belt.

A little thing we like to call the Constitution.

Did anyone else notice that when the big 0 signed the arms limitations treaty with Russia, he violated the Constitution? Specifically Article 2 Section 2. But allow me to quote.

2.2 He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

(Emphasis mine)

But don't take my word, look it up yourself.

My Reading Desk.

I think I've mentioned before whats on my reading desk. Usually it's a pile of paperbacks, science fiction or fantasy mostly, waiting to be read or reread. I have a bunch of standards that I like that I try to reread every year or two.

Right now, I've thrown away my always read from the top of the pile rule and started in on Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. The title is two volumes detailing what this Frenchman found on examining the democratic and republican practices in 1830's America. He came over to this side of the Atlantic ostensibly to study the American penal system. But instead he published a series of books that examined the state of the system of government that our founding fathers had established and had grown over 50 years of peaceful development.

Our country had yet to be tested by the Civil War or any of the world wars that were to follow. Many at the time wondered if this form government and rule of law was strong enough to survive a trial of that magnitude.

Anyway, I'm just starting on these volumes, but one thing caught my attention from his foreword. De Tocqueville writes:

"Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive."

I'm finding in many ways that de Tocqueville's thought and opinions are sort of a precursor to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. He, much like Ms. Rand, thought that democracy can only last until the people start voting themselves largess's from the government treasury.

Something else that he wrote about in his foreword. He advanced the theory that democracy is the form of governance that all societies move towards. He took France and England from the 11th century through the modern era as his examples. Stating that gradual adoption of the principles of democracy into local and town governments were the natural course.

I'm left wondering, based upon today's societies both here in America and around the world if de Tocqueville might have been a little optimistic there. I see a tendency towards Absolutism rather than democracy as the unpiloted course. And yes, I'm looking at society here in the states.

These are just my initial thoughts on the first few chapters of Alexis de Tocquevill's books. I'll try to update you on what I read and what I think about it as I get farther into them.

Not for nuthin'

North Korea and Iran ARE going nuclear. And 0bama wants to dismantle our missle defense.

Not for nuthin'

But I've cleaned over 700 rounds of .45ACP brass.

and I still don't have any large pistol primers or CCI #34 primers for my rifle.

Happy Independance Day everyone!

We the people of the United States,

in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The 0bama Legacy (part 1)

Czars for everything.

I was going to do one big post for all the things I've seen in the government under the current administration. But it just got to be such a big thing that I'm going to have to split it up. So, here's the first part. I'm not going to say how many parts there are since the groups keep changing as I dig deeper.

There's over 20 positions that have been referred to as czars by the news, or the congresscritters or the executive branch. These are the ones I found, and I didn't have to search that hard. The parenthesis indicate which administration they were created under. Although not necessarily at the request of the then sitting president.

Drug Czar (Nixon) - Gil Kerlikowske
Energy Czar (Nixon) - Carol Browner

U.S. Border Czar (Clinton) - Alan Bersin
WMD Czar (Clinton) - Jean D. Reed

War Czar (Bush) - Lieutenant General Douglas Lute
Intel Czar (Bush) - Dennis Blair
Iran Czar (Bush)- Dennis Ross
Middle East Czar (Bush)- George Mitchell
Af-Pak Czar (for Afghanistan and Pakistan) (Bush)- Richard Holbrooke

Pay Czar (0bama) - Kenneth Feinberg
Car Czar (0bama)- Edward B. Montgomery
Culture Czar (0bama) - Kareem Dale
Bank Bailout Czar (0bama) - Herb Allison
Urban Czar (0bama)- Adolpho Carrion, Jr
Regulatory Czar (0bama) - Cass Sunstein
Stimulus Accountability Czar (0bama) - G. Edward DeSeve
Cyber-Security Czar (0bama) - Congressman Tom Davis
e-Government Czar (0bama) - Vivek Kundra

When did Czars become a good thing? The Russian Tsars or (Czars) were despotic enough that they were revolted against, violently deposed and the entire family was executed out in the woods.

The definition of Czar is a person having great power. That and NONE of them were elected. And as such, don't have any accountability to the people. Ours are appointed to the position by the president and only need to answer to him. Does anyone else see something wrong here?

Many of the articles I've read about the current crop of .gov czars talks about the need for them to help the 0 handle the, as one article put it, sprawling size of the government. Well, maybe that should be the clue that the government needs to shrink a bit, or a lot. The constitution sets out the responsibilities of the federal government in a very clear way. Go read it, I'll wait.

Can you point to the anywhere in Articles I, II or III or any of the amendments that say we should have a Pay Czar or a Car Czar or a Bank Bailout Czar? No.

And what about the law of unintended consequences? We've got all these Czars. What's going to stop them from elbowing each other, jockeying for greater positions, more power, etc. When the original supposed need for them goes away, will the position/cabinet/office go away as well. We should ask the TVA about that.

All these Czar really do is create another level of bureaucracy and paperwork and a bigger government. A bigger government not serving the people of this country as our founders intended, but serving one man as any autocracy has.

As a rule of thumb, if every time someone tells the 0 that we need another czar for some problem or issue, he asks which agency already covers it, maybe we could see this gollum that was once our representative government not turn. But who am I kidding, he hasn't seen a new government bureaucracy he didn't like.

Maybe he meant that the 600,000 jobs he would create would be in the government sector.

On a side note, the term was first coined by then Sen. Joe Biden (ol' footinmouth himself) back in 1982. Is there a certain amount of circularity emerging?

Thoughts on the "messiah"

All this talk of the "0" being the second coming or the new messiah. I do want to say this.

The "0" and God do have one thing in common. God doesn't have a birth certificate either.

h/t to Rush.

blog ideas

I have this blog rattling around in my head. I just need to organize it. BBL.

Quick Question.

Does any one know of Letterman ever apologised to Palin's daughter for his "comments" about her?

I'm hard pressed to not go off on how tasteless and completely reprehensible what he calls a joke was. So, I'm going to leave it at that.

An evil sadistic bastard

So, this weekend, the 2009 Pro/Am Shooting competition was going on at USSA Shooting Range. Having a bit of extra time, I volunteered to help the range personal cope with the weekend. The work wasn't too hard and I got to see a fair bit of the competition. To give you an idea of what it was like, this is one of the stages.




I know it's hard to see, but the guy in the red t-shirt wwwwaaaayyy down there is standing next to 4 targets, The man in the blue shirt is standing in front of a table with an ammo can on it. And the 4 blue barrels on the right side of the pic are behind the shooting station at that end. The course goes like this. To the left of the 2 near barrels is a shooting box. From this box you shoot at the 4 targets down by the man in red, they are worth 5 points each. That's 55 yards. Then you run down the 35 yard alley denoted by the yellow tape, picking up the ammo can as you go, to the second shooting box where you have 19 more steel poppers to shoot, 3 rows of 6 and a little one on the ground in the middle. There's a table down there to set the ammo can on. No limit on shots or reloads. You just have 17 seconds to do the thing. If the ammo can falls off the table, it's a 5 point penalty, every popper you shoot after time runs out is a 1 point penalty.

The rest of the stages are more of the same kind of evil sadistic fun.

The best I saw was 30 points total and someone said they saw someone get 33 points.

How fast can you run 35 yards?

The Official GunNuts:TNG Radio show drinking rules, Breda edition.

Since those hosts are getting sneaky on us and trading off hosting duties to try to foil our Tuesday night drunk. I'm going to now put up the rules for when the lovely Breda has the cam.

1. If Breda says or types "ack", everybody drink.
2. If she flips her hair, drink.
3. If she uses lipgloss, drink.
4. If she touches her sexay sexay librarian glasses, we drink... and drool a bit.
5. If she drinks, we drink
6. If one of her cats does a walk-on on the cam, we drink.
7. If the cat sniffs or licks the cam, that's a slam.
8. If she displays a gun that give us a case of firearm envy, we drink

That should do it. Oh, and if Mike dances around topless behind Breda, well you can do what you want, but I doubt we'll ever get that image out of our minds.

Link roundup.

Well, just a couple really.

I was going to mention David Carradine's passing, but Squeaky and Ahab beat me to it. I will send my sympathies to his family and friends. He was a good and respected actor.

And something everyone should read. Joe Huffman has a quick post up on "reasonable restrictions". That dog just wont hunt, as they say around these parts.

Today I spent the morning helping a friend set up his new reloading and brass supply business. He's also got an air rifle range in his shop. That's just a hoot and a half. He's a dealer for Lyman, RCBS, Lee, as well as most air rifle manufacturers.

Too much.

Okay, Sotomayor, "Pro-life" nutjob murders doc in KS, what looks to be a 4 way war over who will be the rabid drooling GOP spokesman-of-doom for the dailykos'ers to rail over, the strange corelation of Clinton supporters and closings of GM dealerships. There's a lot going on out there. What got me this week was....

are you ready?....

The big 0 and his wife going to dinner and a play.

What?, you say.

Well, let's think about this. After the 0 accidentally the whole economy, he's done what?

Flown a pizza maker and his partner by private jet to meet him in a third city to make around 10-15 pies for him and his staff.

Completely freaked out 80% of the city of New York because the pic of Airforce One flying over Mt. Rushmore wasn't to his liking. You know Mt. Rushmore. That's the sculpture that has a bust of the other famous president from IL. (That may have been a sly move to bolster the psychiatric and psychological practices in the city.)

In his defense, he did scrap the proposed replacement to Marine One. That's the presidential helicopter. That'll save a couple of million... I'd hope.

No, this time the President took Airforce One and went to JFK airport so he and his wife could enjoy a nice 4 star dinner and then catch a play.

(No I will not make a crack about the Ford Theater here.)

In case none of you got that, he flew into JFK. One of the busiest airports in the country. Also a major hub for international flights to Europe. So, standard security practice says that they shut down the airspace around the airport during the approach and arrival as well as departure of the big blue bird. Let's say they did it for the minimum I've ever seen. That would be 15 minutes PRIOR to the start of the arrival and would extend to 15 minutes after departure. Let's assume that JFK is like the other top 20 busiest airports and does an arrival every 2 minutes or so with departures in between. Okay, quick math, 30 minutes plus the let's call it 15 for the arrival, plus another 6 for the approach, plus a quick 5 for departure. That's roughly an hour of time that flights can't use the airport. That means just for the time Airforce One is in the area no less than 30 large jets had to be diverted or hold. Plus while the Prez. is on the property no one is allowed outside. Basically the people on the airport are on lock down. So, no planes are getting serviced. Thus no airplanes are departing. Just thinking about the jet fuel burned at 6 bucks a gallon by holding jumbo jets gets pricey. Stay classy 0.

And the fact that JFK is in the densest Class B airspace in the nation with no less than JFK, La Guardia, Tetterboro, Newark, Farmingday and Linden inside the standard 30 mile prohibited zone that goes up around an airport with Airforce One flying into it. That's 6 airports serving international, commercial, cargo, charter, corporate and general aviation that have operations disrupted because the 0 has been working so hard and wants a break. Spending 3 trillion in only 100 days is rough folks. Let me tell you.

Then let's factor in the cost of Airforce One, and the C-5 that goes with it (someone has to carry the bullet proof Suburbans), plus the chartered jet carrying all the press.

And thats just the tip of the iceberg. There were vettings and security sweeps going on for days before the actual trip. Plus, the great pumpkin know what else.

It's no surprise that the White House press secretary doesn't want to say how much the cost of the 0's little jaunt cost... well, us really. It's taxpayer's money after all. I mean, the 0 wouldn't never dream of taking money out of HIS pocket for anything. They're too deep into ours anyway.

And the press secretary's little comment that the 0 would have loved to have taken a commercial shuttle. Well, I'm pretty sure he was told in no uncertain terms that something like that would never happen while he was in office back in January. And, my personal opinion, he probably never even had that thought cross anywhere near his mind.

Again, opinion here, I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of his date didn't run well into the 6 or 7 figures. But hey, that's not even a drop in the bucket of the trillions (that's millions with a 't') he's spending on his supporters, oops I mean, economic stimulus.

Dinner and a play. It's the little things, really.

Playing catchup.

I just spent 4 hours getting caught up on my daily blog reads. Now I can get back to not posting any content worthwhile with a clear conscience.

Hot-lanta, baby

I've been in ATL for the last few days. And when the lightning strike took out the phone and DSL here at the farm, out of contact too. But I should be home tomorrow and the fun shall be related then.

Drama, o noes! We have it.

And I'm sick of it. It was manufactured as far as I can see. It was blown up with a blacksmiths bellows rather than let quietly burn out. The communication was NOT between the offended parties, but third persons. Then when one of the nicest ladies I know offers to pick up the torch and relieve the stress from this person after she's basically announced that there will be no more get togethers arranged by her, she's rudely rebuked and told the name is copyrighted and to pick something else.

That was the proverbial straw. I don't care how mad you are, how offended you are, when you treated someone who was not involved in the drama llama and only chimed in out of the kindness of her heart to help with next years the way you did, you gave up any chance at sympathy on my part.

I'm done with the whole fiasco. And I'm going to recommed my friend rescind her offer to help.

It's spawning a life of it's own.

A few days ago I posted the immortal (or should that be immoral) Dancing Alan. It seems to be taking on a life now. Go on over to FreeThinker and see what's happening.

By the way, stick around when you do and read some more.

Edit to add: And here at The Real Gun Guys too.

OMG! And here at The World of Newtonism too!

The Official Ahab/GunNuts:TNG Radio show drinking rules.

Okay, we've been doing this online for the show for a while now with no hard and fast rules to go by. So, to try to stave off the slew of alcohol poisonings that I know are coming here are the rules, such as they are and subject to additions as the BAC rises

1. He changes hats - drink
2. He mentions para, lda, or blackhawk serpa - drink
3. He stands or sits - drink
4. He gestures wildly - drink
5. He talks about frangible bullets - drink
6. Whenever he talks over the caller or guest - drink
7. He asks breda something - 2 drinks
8. He ambushes Breda with an unknown topic, you slam the rest of the drink
9. But if you post drink to the chat room first, you don't have to drink and everyone else does.

Any additions?

Jennifer brings up a good point.

10. If you misspell "drink" - drink.

Edit: After the show, I think we need to define wild gesture better. A wild gesture will by any time his hand move outside of shoulder width apart. Must be both hands. Either seperate or together. I don't have enough alcohol otherwise.

Random Thoughts

On a gunboard I frequent on IRC we were discussing the availability or lack thereof of ammo. One of the regulars was whining about hoarders and blah blah blah.

I had to say the definition of hoarding anything is:

If someone buys it before I can, it's hoarding.
If I buy it first, it's just stockpiling.

Simple, no?

Offpilot

is off.

There's a park southeast of me that I want to check out. It has a nice hiking loop.

I'm home for a bit.

It's been a tough week of flying. So, in the vein of linky no thinky I give you Steven Crowder.

A Night in the Day in the Life of a Charter Pilot.

Okay, fun day Saturday. Saturday night/Sunday morning... not so much.

But first let me give you a basic lesson in meteorology. And believe me, any lessons from me will be about as basic as you get.

The life cycle of a thunderstorm, as we pilots learn, can be characterized into 3 stages. (This comes from AC 00-6A rev.1975)


LIFE CYCLE
A thunderstorm cell during its life cycle progresses through three stages - (1) the cumulus, (2) the mature, and (3) the dissipating.

The key feature of the cumulus stage is an updraft. The updraft varies in strength and extends from very near the surface to the cloud top. Growth rate of the cloud may exceed 3,000 feet per minute.

Precipitation beginning to fall from the cloud base is your signal that a downdraft has developed and a cell has entered the mature stage. Meanwhile, updrafts reach a maximum with speeds possibly exceeding 6,000 feet per minute. Updrafts and down drafts in close proximity create strong vertical shear and a very turbulent environment. All thunderstorm hazards reach their greatest intensity during the mature stage.

Downdrafts characterize the dissipating stage of the thunderstorm cell and the storm dies rapidly.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with my flight Saturday night? Well, let me tell you about my day.

Saturday started pretty early. I'd promised a friend that I would help him set up a table at the gun show and help out where I could. The gun show was fun and I got home around 6:30. I'd barely gotten seated to eat dinner when the phone call happened. Ah, the dreaded phone call. There's a pop up trip to Tampa Bay.

On a side note. When the weather is as bad as it was in Texas this last weekend, you can bet we'll get pop up trips. You see, the airlines won't be able to get in somewhere because the weather is too bad and the people who get bumped from the flight will invariably call the charter outfits to get them where they want to go. Because when the weather is so bad that a jumbo jet can't get through them, the much smaller corporate jets will... Umm, you see it's like this. A massive thunderstorm will take a larger passenger jet and really shake it up, so to speak, but a jet that's only a 10th the size of an airliner when it penetrates the storm will.... Okay, think about it this way. The turbulence in a large thunderstorm that's producing tornadoes will affect a small relatively light corporate jet differently than a larger airliner because... the small jet is safer because...

Yeah, I don't get it either. People, listen carefully. If the airlines can't make it somewhere because of the weather. There's a VERY good reason they can't. I can guaren-damn-tee you that that corporate jet is no safer. Some charter outfits will take your money and the loss of the airplane, the crew, you and your loved ones are just the price of doing business. Yes, it can be that cynical and cold with some of the outfits out there.

Anyway, we load up the guy, his wife and kids and plot a route that looks to be the safest and away we go.

We'd filed for 41,000 ft and we were slowly clawing our way up there. At about 39,000 ft, that's about 7 and a half miles straight up, we hit one of those updrafts I mentioned above. The vertical speed indicator shoots through 6000 ft/min and hits the peg. We blast through our assigned altitude and through the next thousand feet. We topped the updraft, or flew through it, around 42,500 feet and then the downdraft took over. We got sucked back down to under 40,000 feet with us doing everything we could to NOT get sucked into the thunderstorm proper. Ignitors on, throttles to max temp... We get 5 minutes of max temp before "bad" things happen to the engines, or at least that's what the engine manufacturer says. We get a block altitude of 39,000 to 43,000 feet and got our airspeed under control and continued on.

You see, we're experienced Lear pilots and we weren't scared at all. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, and 43,000 feet wasn't enough to get over the storms. It was just all that plane could do.

The rest of the trip was... uneventful. Till we got back from Tampa and had to descend through that shit again.

Fun times... fun times.

And I finally hit my pillow just after 5am.