What's the speed limit again?

The ability for life to change at such a rate as to leave one literally shaking is astounding.

More when I can.

Merry Christmas

Just in case I don't get a chance to wish you all the best tomorrow, I wanted to tell you all now.

And for those of my friends who have loved ones or friends in the hospital, you have my prayers as well.

Jim

Today, in history

Today is the anniversary of the original Tea Party. Yes, the one on Boston. Wow, has Massachusetts changed.

I swear to God...

This guy really asked this.

Allow me to quote. This is unedited and as I got it.

"i really dont know what the type is but you see gang members use them like on the street there called oozy's with a bannanna clip do you have these?"

How do you respond to this? Srsly.

Just some thoughts from a long drive.

The outgoing speaker of the house, based on her tactics and shenanigans, would have been one the the greatest Soviet Premiers of all time. All the dirty tricks and underhanded dealings and outright threats and corruption would have made Stalin proud. All she needs is a national gulag system to make her complete.... oh wait....

The tax compromise that was maybe almost reached this week. IT'S NOT A TAX CUT! In fact, it's worse than that, it's a 2 year temporary reprieve. Taxes are not going down, they're staying the same, so the situation that's existed for the last two years that's made this mess we're in, IT'S STILL HERE! On top of that we can't run on a temporary economy, that's what this "compromise" has created. Businesses are not going to expand or spend or whatever if they're staring at being in the pickle barrel in two years. And on top of that, 2 years is nothing in terms of business plans. They look at 5 and 10 year business models. I seriously doubt that any smart business will do anything if they know that just as they're getting started, they'll get slapped down with extortionate tax burdens. Looking at individuals, this equates to less than what most of us spend on car insurance per year. You think people are going to look at that 500 dollars and go all spendy crazy? Hell, no. Especially with the government printing money like it's going out of style and devaluing it in job lots. So, all that will happen is in 2 years when the next election cycle rolls around, is the dems will get to shout "SEE, LOWERING TAXES DIDN'T WORK!" Which is complete and utter bull shit. But if you say the lie often enough and loud enough it becomes the truth. The dems have proved that over and over the last few years.

The liberal mindset that will insist on demonizing the item and ignore the fact that it took a person to put that item to an evil purpose, is the same liberal mindset that's running DHS and TSA. They have time and time again refused to look at the people, under the guise of "Oh we can't profile, that's evil.", and demonized the fingernail clippers and bottle of shampoo that you have. We will not be be safe, we will not be anything other than a joke, till we change the mindset that runs these agencies. Listen, some people are bad. That's just the shit of life. And what's even shittier is some people do evil things for what they believe are good reasons. That's just the way it is. The sooner we get over this stupid notion that somehow box cutters are intrinsically evil and realize that it was the fucking nutjob jihadist wielding it that was evil, the sooner we'll actually start making things safer.

And don't get me started on the porno-scanners.

STOP THE PRESSES! We have definitively located the epi-center of fug bucking nuts crazy: http://www.my9tv.com/dpp/my9_news/Berkeley-Mulls-Resolution-to-Honor-Army-Private-Accused-of-Passing-Secret-Info-to-WikiLeaks_49833953 Yes, that's right. These moonbats sitting on the door step to our outgoing speaker of the house's home district have that warped a view of the world. It does go a long way to explaining why Pelosi is the way she is. No?

English is a dying language.

This is the sort of emails I have do deal with day to day. And I quote:

"If You Have Larger Once Let Me Now The Price Of Them."

He actually capitalized the first letter of every word! And still blew the English language out of the water. Talk about working harder not smarter.

Om nom nom

Meat is murder.... Tasty tasty murder.....


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My Christmas List

This:

Just went on my Zombiepocolypse Christmas list. How kewl is that!

Birthers resurface.

Just read an article by Anthony G. Martin. It seems the supremes have agreed to confer on a lawsuit on Presidential Eligibility.

SCOTUS confers on Presidential Eligibility

What does this mean? Probably nothing. IF they rule that the case has merit, and IF they can find a court to hear it, and IF they win that case, do you really think the ruling class will let us even contemplate trying to unravel all the damage they've managed to wreck on our liberties or take away the power they've gathered?




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Speaking of dancing...

Seems we will continue to dance to the tune Osama plays till we find the scum filth peace loving islamic extremeist terrorist shithead person.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, Somali-born US teen with Al Qaeda links, arrested.

What pisses me off most is now we will have to strip our Christmas trees when we go through the airports.

I lol'd at work...

A Necessary List of Quotes.

First a h/t to Old_NFO for emailing this out today.

"The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose."
- James Earl Jones


"There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period."
- Ted Nugent

"To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."
- Ted Nugent


"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
- Sigmund Freud

"An armed society is a polite society."
- Robert Heinlein


"There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous men."
- Robert A. Heinlein

"Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised."
- Charlton Heston quoting Machiavelli, from The Prince.


"We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns... When I was a kid it was a controlled atmosphere, we weren't shooting at humans... we were shooting at cans and bottles mostly. I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice."
- Johnny Depp

"But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you ... it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."
- Dalai Lama


"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders."
- Larry Elder

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
- G. K. Chesterton


" ... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law."
- Martin Luther King

"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."
- George Orwell


"It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it."
- Christian Slater

"A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca


"I will teach my children weapons and warfare, so they might teach their children science and law, so they might teach their children art and literature."
- Unknown Greek

"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
- Pericles


"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
- Thucydides

"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine


"A free people ought to be armed."
- George Washington

"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."
- George Washington


"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
- George Washington

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin


"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
- Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
- Thomas Jefferson


"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."
- Thomas Jefferson


"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
- Thomas Jefferson

This one is a personal favorite. Lord knows, I've had to pound on this everytime one of the liberal constitutional revisionists starts speaking.
"On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense."
- John Adams

"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them."
- George Mason

"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."
- George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and The Virginia Declaration of Rights)


"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority ... the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Noah Webster


"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."
- Noah Webster

"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace."
- James Madison


"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms."
- James Madison

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country."
- James Madison


"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt


"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
- Richard Henry Lee

"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and include all men capable of bearing arms."
- Richard Henry Lee


"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun."
- Patrick Henry

"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."
- St. George Tucker


"... arms ... discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.... Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them."
- Thomas Paine

"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
- Samual Adams


"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."
- Joseph Story

"What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts


" ... for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion."
- Alexander Hamilton

"A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of Society? ... The Scriptures tell us "righteousness exalteth a Nation."
- Abigail Adams


"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
- John Adams

"The thing that separates the American Christian from every other person on earth is the fact that he would rather die on his feet, than live on his knees!"
- George Washington


"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."
- Daniel Webster

"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine


"Without doubt one is allowed to resist against the unjust aggressor to one's life, one's goods or one's physical integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor’s death.... In fact, this act is aimed at preserving one’s life or one’s goods and to make the aggressor powerless. Thus, it is a good act, which is the right of the victim."
- Thomas Aquinas

"When the law disallows both the means and moral authority to defend one's self and property, crime and violence fill the void between common sense and the hoped for utopia."
- JD Filkins

"Keeping and bearing arms is not only a fundamental right; it is a fundamental duty upon which all liberty and sovereignty is based."
- Donald L. Cline


"A shoot-out is better than a massacre!"
- David M. Bennett

"It is a lesson of history that it is ethically, morally, and philosophically impossible to have too many personal weapons, whether they be edged, impact or projectile."
- David W. Loeffler


"Nothing puts the dignity in personal dignity (or the freedom in personal freedom) like the self in self-rule."
- John Longenecker

"Those gun control activists advocating exchanging a liberty for safety should recall that the safest place on earth is solitary confinement at Leavenworth."
- Rand T. Lennox


"The gun control extremist has at least two things in common with the Islamic extremist. He has a willingness to die for his fundamental beliefs. And he has the sanctimony to demand that others go with him."
- Dr. Mike Adams

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Daniel Webster


"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

"The philosophy of gun control: Teenagers are roaring through town at 90MPH, where the speed limit is 25. Your solution is to lower the speed limit to 20."
- Sam Cohen (inventor of the neutron bomb)


"The tragic history of civilian disarmament cries a warning against any systematic attempts to render innocent citizens ill-equipped to defend themselves from tyrant terrorists, despots or oppressive majorities,"
- Daniel Schmutter

"If the constitutional right to keep and bear arms is to mean anything, it must, as a general matter, permit a person to possess, carry and sometimes conceal arms to maintain the security of his private residence or privately operated business."
- David Prosser (Wisconsin Supreme Court justice)


"If you've got to resist, you're chances of being hurt are less the more lethal your weapon. If that were my wife, would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand? Yeah."
- Dr. Arthur Kellerman (famous gun grabber) (this is just one example of the unashamed hypocricy of those who think they're somehow our betters)

"If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying -- that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 -- establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime."
- Senator Orrin Hatch


"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. ... the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible."
- Sen. Hubert Humphrey

"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
- John F. Kennedy


"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important."
- John F. Kennedy

"Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers."
- Attorney General John Ashcroft


"There's no question that weapons in the hands of the public have prevented acts of terror or stopped them."
- Israeli Police Inspector General Shlomo Aharonisky

"The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!"
– President Theodore Roosevelt


"The ruling class doesn't care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake."
- Sen. Malcolm Wallop

"One of the arguments that had been made against gun control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn't prevail against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn't true. Repelling an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face, but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly unthinkable. One of the sequellae of Vietnam was the rise of the Khmer Rouge and slaughter of perhaps a million Cambodian citizens. Those citizens, like the Jews in Germany or the Armenians in Turkey, were unarmed and thus utterly and completely defenseless against police and paramilitary. An armed minority was able to kill and terrorize unarmed victims with total impunity."
– Paul Hagar


"Make good scouts of yourselves, become good rifle shots so that if it becomes necessary that you defend your families and your country that you can do it."
- Lord Baden-Powell, Scouting For Boys

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
- Mahatma Gandhi


"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and passed on ... or we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was like in the United States when men were free."
– Ronald Reagan

"I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within."
– General Douglas MacArthur


"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie."
– Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
- Unknown

TSA Motto:

"TSA, what is best in life?"

"To crush your passengers, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

h/t to Daniel

The Looter Religion

I was watching The Weather Channel of all things this morning. They were doing a "news" blurb on the big snow fall up in Minneapolis. They were getting sound bites from some of the people who'd had their cars towed because of the snow emergency. One lady said "Towing my car in the middle of the night is a SIN!", not wrong, not unfair, not mean, not even petty. A Sin.

and of course, this got me thinking.

This may be what's so hard for me to understand about that mindset. They've worked so hard to remove religion of any kind from their lives or the lives of anyone remotely near them. Only to replace it with this weird sort of quasi-religious belief that they are some sort of deity. Anything done that hurts/angers/inconveniences them violates the prime commandment of their religion: Thou Shalt Not Not Cater to My Whims.

Interesting religion indeed.

If I understand what happened, and I doubt that I really do, in order to remove one god they had to elevate someone or thing into it's place. Why they thought this would be the best course, I couldn't fathom. But there it is. The most convenient idol at hand was their own ego. I guess it makes sense. Sort of, if you squint really hard and hold your nose.

Mind you, I'm not saying everyone did this, some took on the religion of The Green, or the religion of The Nanny State, or the religion of whatever the talking head tells them the current One True Religion is. But the one commandment still holds true.

The situation is as bad or worse than jihadists and other religious extremists. No matter what you say or how you say it, unless you're in lock step with them and their religion, whatever that may be, you're breaking The Commandment. And The Commandment is the ultimate in personalization.

This is why there can't be anything like reasoned discourse with them. Everything is personal, everything is too emotionally invested for them to talk about anything but the feelings associated with the issue. Everything is self-centric. When you're the god of your universe you don't need to explain why something is, it just is.

November 11th.

Happy Veterans Day.

November 10th.

Happy Birthday US Marine Corps! Is the Navy gonna drive you to the party like they always do? :D

Useless Gun Trivia # 346

I've had a lot of people ask me this question over the last few month. "Who makes the best AR receivers?" Well, a better question would be who actually makes the receivers. I've found a couple of places that list who and for the record and to make it easier for me to answer this question in the future, here's the most accurate one to my knowledge.

Lewis Machine & Tool

• LMT
• Lauer
• DS Arms
• PWA
• Eagle
• Armalite
• Knights Armament
• Barrett

Continental Machine Tool

• Stag
• Rock River Arms
• High Standard
• Noveske
• Century (New)
• Global Tactical
• CLE
• S&W
• MGI
• Wilson Tactical
• Grenadier Precision
• Colt

LAR Manufacturing

• LAR
• Bushmaster
• Ameetec
• DPMS
• CMMG
• Double Star
• Fulton Armory
• Spike's Tactical

JVP

• Double Star
• LRB
• Charles Daly

Mega Machine Shop

• Mega
• GSE
• Dalphon
• POF
• Alexander Arms

Olympic

• Olympic
• SGW
• Tromix
• Palmetto
• Dalphon
• Frankford
• Century (Old)

Sun Devil

• Sun Devil forged billet receivers

Superior

• Superior Arms
• Lauer (New)

Aero Precision

• Aero Precision

I hope this helps.

Today...

Gun Pr0n, Surprise Edition

Saw this today at the fun store;

Yes, it's a glock. But before you say, "Wow, another glock..." and roll your eyes. Look closely.

Yeap. It's a G18. I giggled, I handled, I flipped the go faster fun switch.

I didn't get to shoot it. :(

TOTD.

The only thing a bureaucracy does quickly is grow.

Too much time to think and the First

Had to do a lot of driving today and as such got to listen to a lot of talk radio. Never a good thing. It seems there's a bit of a kerfuffle about a question asked by a conservative of a liberal. Specifically the question was; what five freedoms are enumerated in the First Amendment.

The short answer is freedom of:

• Religion
• Speech
• Press
• Assembly
• Redress

But that's not what the to do is about. It seems the libs think that the first spells out separation of church and state. And the "radical right wing nuts" say it doesn't. Okay.... Let's look at the First Amendment as it's actually written.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Lots of commas and semi-colons.

The first clause. "...make no law respecting AN establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise THEREOF;" (emphasis mine)

The highlighted "thereof" is where most people point and say "See, freedom of religion" and libs say "See, freedom FROM religion". I blogged about this before, complete with Websters and Oxfords definition of "thereof". I don't feel like repeating myself, so go dig through my archives. The upshot? The founding fathers meant, and they expounded on this in the Federalists Papers among other places, you're free to practice, don't practice, whatever, pray, don't pray, God, Ghu, Nature, Glaciers (The Great Pumpkin help us), Trees... well you get my drift. If you want to dance naked around trees on the summer solstice and that's how you worship whatever you worship that was honky-dory with our founding fathers.

The "an" on the other hand. You see, the libs, and this is just my guess, look at "establishment" as a verb. The "an" on the other hand sort of forces "establishment" to be a noun. And therein lies the rub. The libs read that and say "Look! Separation of church and state! See, you stupid conservative bible banging idiots.", and then laugh in a condescending and superior way.

Which is ironic.

Because the "an" is sitting there right in front of "establishment". The noun establishment is a different beast and sort of makes the libs wrong. Which means they're... well, the idiots in this case and even dumber for laughing at the conservatives about it.

At the time the First Amendment was drafted, most, if not all, of the 13 states had official state religions. So, the founding fathers were limiting the federal government from stepping on what they saw as the purview of the states. Which is what the first 10 amendments are all about. Limiting the power of the federal government.

So, "establishment of religion" was meant to be a fancy way of saying churches. Or any organized religious body. (The sticky bit here is that read that way, it makes all those laws exempting churches from taxes unconstitutional)

On a side note, the complaint is if churches had to pay taxes they'd be paying things that were against their beliefs, like abortions and civil union marriages, etc. I'd counter with two arguments. Show me where in the constitution abortions are enumerated. Or for that matter where does it say ANYWHERE that the government has any business in marriages?
Secondly, the government has it's fingers in places that would make the founding fathers flip their powdered wigs. Things like soup kitchens, housing the indigent, orphanages, etc were originally funded in a secular manner by the churches and local charity organizations. If they were put back in their hands the churches wouldn't have to pay taxes for things that were against their beliefs. And besides, I have to pay taxes that go for A LOT of thing I don't want to pay for, why should they be any different.

But I digress.

So, when you look at the word establishment as a noun, you sort of make the concept of separation of church and state vanish from the first amendment. But as it was never there in the first place, that's not that amazing.

People have an astonishing penchant for reading the constitution using modern definitions. Which is boggling when you consider that the people writing the stupid thing could have no way of knowing how the definitions would evolve. They wrote using words with definitions that were valid for their time. We should read the constitution using those definitions, NOT ours.

Today is a banner day.

This is a model 1918 BAR made in April 1919. And I just got to shoot it! Squee!!!!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Tulsa,United States

Frustration Level.... 7.9

Interesting conversation today. Well, interesting in a pull-whats-left-of-my-hair-out sort of way. And interesting considering where I work and the type of people that frequent the place.

I met someone who doesn't vote.

"Okay", thinks I. "Why not?"

"I don't care to." hmmm.....

When pressed, she finally gave me these reasons (in no particular order);

1. I don't want to learn about all that stuff.
2. None of it is relevant to me.
3. My opinion doesn't count for that much. (Yes, she said opinion.)

Wow. Since I couldn't tell her what I thought of those reasons to her face, I get to take the chicken way and blog about them. I know, lucky you.

Here goes.

Reason one: Wow, how unimaginably lazy of you. Don't want to learn about all that stuff. Great, so... you just want someone to tell you which lever to pull and thats good enough for you. Congratulations! YOU ARE THE REASON WE'RE IN THE MESS WE'RE IN NOW! Thanks for playing, we have some nice parting gifts for you off stage.

Reason Two: She expanded on this reason by saying she happy living in her little corner and everyone can leave her alone since she's not bugging anyone else. Really, you think none of this is relevant to you? You want to know how not relevant it is to you? Look at your paycheck. See all that withholding? You realize you're working till late May every year just to pay for the DIRECT taxes that the government takes out? If the Bush "tax cuts" are allowed to expire, you'll be working till the end of June. Literally 50% of your pay will be taken by the government. Tell me how that's not relevant to you?

You know what? All this talk about flat rate or fair or just plain tax reform. Throw it out the window. What I want is a law that says the government can no long do withholding and everyone must write a check every month for what they have to pay in taxes. That more than anything else will bring about tax reform. The second people start actually seeing how much their losing they'll get pissed. Trust me.

Reason Three: Your vote doesn't really count for that much. That has got to be the most self-centered, egotistical, narcissistic thing I've heard since the last presidential address. You wont vote because your opinion doesn't count for that much. Guess what Princess Lookatme, your "opinion" counts for just as much as MY opinion. I wouldn't want it any other way. No, that's not entirely true, I want my opinion to count for more than yours, but that opens up the door for all sorts of political shenanigans and we don't want that. If you think your opinion is so fucking important that it should really REALLY count for more... Guess what, fuck you. I don't want you voting. We've got way to many narcissists in politics now.

Ultimately though, voting is a privilege. Everyone is free to not exercise that privilege if they so choose. But if you don't vote, don't bitch to me about what life hands you.

QoTD: Old Man Edition.

Overheard today:

That reminds me of a comment my grandfather, who was a pilot during the dubya
dubya tew, in regards to how downed pilots were expected to arm themselves in
enemy territory.

"You'd have a nine'een eleven with 5 bullets and whatever rifle was carried by the first dumbass that had the misfortune of finding you..." He told me that German rations tasted funny, but they had solid gear.

Education and WTF?

I was pointed to this news article today at http://www.msn.com/.

University Undead? Students Study Zombies in New Course.

The payoff is farther down the article when they give examples of other courses offered by universities around the country.

And in a larger context, Blumberg’s zombie class aligns well with a spate of other offbeat courses at universities across the country. At Georgetown University, students have the option of enrolling in the “Philosophy and Star Trek” course. Students at Bowdoin College in Maine can take classes called “The Souls of Animals” and “Tolkien’s Middle Ages.”

In 2007, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s comparative media studies program began offering a course titled “American Pro Wrestling.” The same department also offered a course in 2008 exploring American soap operas.

Srsly?!?! They get to study the philosophy of Star Trek? Soap Operas? Don't get me wrong, I will admit to spending more than one night of my geekdom on Star Trek. But I did it for the sheer enjoyment of it and not for college credit. I think that was very magnanimous of me.

Hey, I've got some ideas for college classes. How about....

Your life and Reality.

Determining Relevance to Life

What color is the sky in your world?

or for Masters Level work

You know all those stupid courses on Oprah and Soap Operas you took? They won't help you now.

ITLAPD!!!

Aaarrr Me Matey's....

It be that season again. Batten down yer hatches, shiver yer timbers... and clean up that parrot dookie will ya?!?

It's...

INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

Gratuitous knife pr0n

We did a big order from Ka-Bar and the box-o-fun came in today. These are what I got as well as a neck knife that I'm wearing.





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Location:Tulsa,United States

burning books

Today I burned a copy of the Koran.

Yeap, I found a .pdf version and burned it to CD.

I'm waiting for the Imam's to declare a fatwah against me. (or would that be for me?)

9/11

Never forget.





And fuck you Obmama administration. It's is NOT a day of service. If anything it should be a day of rage.

Ossum doggeh ear pro

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Who's a better Christian.

Apparently that question is flying around the news and blogosphere. Who's a better Christian, our president or Glenn Beck.

Interesting.

Okay, for the record Glenn Beck is a Mormon. And none of the recognized Christian religions like Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc. recognise Mormons as Christian. So, Glenn Beck is disqualified for that.

And also for the record, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being Mormon. Its just that's the way it is.

Also, in my opinion the Great 0 is disqualified as well. He's really too narcissistic to have any god other than himself. So, he's out.

So for that great question, who's a better Christian, Glenn Beck or BObmama? Neither.

Now if you were to ask who was more religious, that's a tougher one. I'd go with Obmama, because he spends all day every day worshiping at the altar that is himself. No one can beat that.

Ripples in a pond.

Yesterday, evening to be more specific, after the place I work at closed, the owner took his own life.

He suffocated himself in his car behind one of the 100m carbine bays.

No one can make sense of what happened. I suspect that no one will.

We gathered today to discuss what happened and what little facts were available.

It is not for me to make judgements or conjecture about the act or the reasons behind it. My thoughts and prayers go out to those he left behind, both at home and at work.

Cool thing of the day

Todays cool thing


Colt .22 Ace. First service issue, serial number 996.

Colt .45 1911. First government issue, serial number 997.

Both US Navy issued in 1912.

People bring in the coolest things.

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Location:Tulsa,United States

Hear Hear....

Jen hits one out of the park.

Srsly. Well said!

Air... I need air!!!!

As beautiful as this country is, just walking up the stairs is kicking my butt. Field elevation 6634. Most of the atmosphere is down the bottom of the mountain.



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Tehee....

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Politics vs. the Rule of Law

With all the rhetoric and arguments over the mosque at ground zero issue. One thing kept popping up in the back of my mind. Snarkybytes, I think, brought it up. Placing the mosque at that location is a political move. Granted the Imam fronting it may just be a convenient fool, but his mysterious backers with the hundreds of millions to fund it may not. For them, the mosque is a political move that has no lose to it. If it's built, the Islamic world will look on it as commemorating a tremendous victory over the infidels. If it's denied, it's a victory for them by showing how the "US devils persecute the poor Muslims of the world". Win/win.

Okay, like it or not as the case may be, we have constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion. Go look it up. It's actually the first amendment to the constitution. That's how important the founding fathers thought it was.

So, for all of you who want the mosque banned. Sorry. The rule of law that this country is supposed to be founded on and following precludes that.

But, this is a political thing. So, we should be able to go to someone we've elected to handle political matters for help in this. Shouldn't we? Except the one we elected, for better or worse, to be our advocate on the international political stage is, for some strange reason, not on our side. This was the man that was chosen to represent us to the world. And when the majority of us want one thing, he always seems to be on the opposite side. Srsly, WTF?

I guess his transition staff was right when she said they would be ready to rule. Because this administration sure as shit ain't about representing us.

Another day, another....

Piece of trivial.

Today I learned that Ka-Bar stands for Knife attachment - Browning Automatic Rifle.

It seems the acronym comes from a US Army request for a bayonet for the end of the BAR's. I thought that was pretty cool.

This is almost a twist worthy of M. Knight Shambala

In it's usual Bus/scapegoat/toss methodology. The White House today made an announcement that something that someone said was wrong and all their fault and not the WH's. Except that this time that someone was the boss.

President Obama's PR Blunder Is "Purely" His Own Fault Says...White House Official?

The money quote and big hat tip go to Snarkybytes and his post here.

This kicked over my giggle box.

I'm lucky enough to be on Old_NFO's friday email list. When he can, he sends out jokes for the weekend. This bit really had me laughing out loud.

GED Test

Can the below possibly be true?

The following questions were set in last year's GED examination
These are genuine answers (from 16 year old's)............and they WILL breed.

Q. Name the four seasons
A. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar

Q. Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink
A. Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists

Q. How is dew formed
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire

Q. What causes the tides in the oceans
A. The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins the fight

Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on
A. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed

Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections
A. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election

Q. What are steroids
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs (Shoot yourself now , there is little hope)

Q.. What happens to your body as you age
A. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty
A. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery (So true)

Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes
A. Premature death

Q. What is artificial insemination
A. When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour
A. Keep it in the cow (Simple, but brilliant)

Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g. The abdomen)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A, E, I,O,U.. (wtf!)

Q. What is the fibula?
A. A small lie

Q. What does 'varicose' mean?
A. Nearby

Q. What is the most common form of birth control
A. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium (That would work)

Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'
A. The caesarean section is a district in Rome

Q. What is a seizure?
A. A Roman Emperor. (Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit)

Q. What is a terminal illness
A. When you are sick at the airport. (Irrefutable)

Q. Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A. Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas

Q. Use the word 'judicious' in a sentence to show you understand its meaning
A. Hands that judicious can be soft as your face. (OMG)

Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?
A. Benign is what you will be after you be eight (brilliant)

Q. What is a turbine?
A. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head

Guess where.

Guess where the 0bmama world apology tour is headed now.

Yeap, Japan.

You see, 65 years ago on August 6th and 9th, the US dropped two Atomic bombs. These finally forced the Emperor himself to bring Japan to the peace tables and thus ended WW2. On a side note, this brought the Emperor within a whisker of being assassinated by the Japanese military class so they could continue to wage war.

But while everyone is all up in arms about Michelle's European Vacation, Barry is slipping an ambassador off to Japan to say sorry and other grovelling sounds. And the self-loathing liberals are loving it. In fact some leftist talk shows are calling the bombings equivalent to a holocaust.

Okay I blogged about this before, but the bombings actually saved lives. You see the US military planners ran the numbers and figured that there would be anywhere from 500,000 to 1,000,000 casualties if the US was forced to invade mainland Japan. And military planners being the efficient souls they are, they went ahead and ordered enough purple hearts to cover the expected casualties. The result being that every purple heart awarded from August 1945 through to today has come from this one order. That includes Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

You get that. That was the expected US casualties. That does not include the Japanese military and civilian casualties.

You see, when the US invaded Okinawa, which most saw as a practice for the invasion of the mainland, the US faced 155,000 Japanese military and 500,000 civilians. Of these, more than 150,000 would eventually become casualties. Or a third of all Japanese on the island. So, run those numbers for mainland Japan, and you're looking at 1/3 of approximately 70,000,000. Or about something like 20,000,000 Japanese casualties.

So, half a million US casualties plus twenty million Japanese casualties. Compare that to the estimated 250,000 casualties the bombings cost.

Was it a holocaust? In my opinion, no. If we had invaded Japan, that would have been a holocaust. To both countries.

But we still owe them reparations you say. Well, to that I would point you to the reconstruction of Japan after WW2 through the 60's. The US shipped food, material, expertise, and men to the island and loaned (some of which were forgiven and erased) or outright gave millions to Japan to get them back on their feet.

Yes, the cold war and Japan's proximity to China and the USSR had a lot to do with that. But we could have just declared it the 49th state (Alaska and Hawaii weren't states in 1945), put bases there anyway and not bothered with all those factories and farms.

I said before that some generals like Patton understood that spending the blood up front saves lives and trying to be too protective will just cost you more in lives in the long run. Would you rather have racked another 25,000,000 onto the rolls for WW2, bled both Japan and the US white with that generation or would you have lives saved, yes SAVED, on both sides.

Thank God it wasn't our current regimes choice.

What's old is new again.

It seems that the dems are going to try to run on what worked for them in the past, namely Bush Bashing.

Okay, yes in the last election the democratic party won on a platform that basically read "Ebil Bush McHitlerburton is evil and you should vote for us because we're not."

But here's a news flash for ya. You have had the vast majority of both houses and the white house for more than 18 months now. Anything wrong with this country is YOUR FAULT. Got that? Your policies and agendas have had more than enough time to cause whatever good you wanted. They've also had plenty of time to screw things up, if that's what they were gonna do. Guess what? nearly 10% unemployment, tax revenues taking a dive for the basement, a national debt that chews up most of what taxes do bring in, it's all due to your handiwork in DC.

I was gonna say that the American people are not dumb enough to fall for the same song and dance twice. But honestly, so long as the bread and circuses continue, the majority of them probably will. Yes Alan, I'm a pessimist it seems.

It's sad that 2 years after the fact, the dems are still running against Bush, the younger. Honestly, I don't think he was that good of a president. Granted I think he's exponentially better than the current one, but he's no Reagan either.

What's will be even more sad is in 2012 or 2016 when they continue to run against Bush II. My advice is if you want to run against a ghost. How about Reagan or Lincoln or, hell, how about Washington or even Tyler. Hey, let's go classic, how about the ghost of Banquo from MacBeth.

Gratuitous Gun Pr0n

So, today I got to disassemble, clean and reassemble a Sterling "Sten" SMG. I mean, it was only fair. I got to shoot it too...

I think it's Murphy's law or something.

As soon as I say there's nothing to write about, something pops up.

Today, very quietly, the great zero and his regime changed the sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine (possession, used or distribution). They lowered them to be the same as regular cocaine. Are you ready for the reason? I love this chain of illogic... Crack cocaine is a drug predominately used by lower economic classes (read blacks, African Americans, whatever) and the people being hit hardest by these tougher sentences are the same people living in those neighborhoods. Which means that those tougher sentences are being imposed on the minorities (read blacks, etc. again) and that makes them racist.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the original idea behind making the crack cocaine sentences harsher was because it was a drug "preying on the poor and disenfranchised or our great land" (again read Afri.... oh, you get the drill). And the tougher sentences were supposed to "stamp out this plague of our inner cities"

So, the drug was racist and the sentencing guidelines are racists and the -0 isn't not racists and I'm racists for even daring to think about the great anointed one because he's not racist for being something that I can't possibly understand because I'm not a wise Latina woman and therefore genetically inferior even though we were taught that the Nazi's said that and they were wrong, so wrong for calling anyone inferior to anyone else, but it's okay for the democrats to say that because they're liberal and therefore more enlightened and superior to us flyover hicks but they would never say that out loud or at least where anyone who is a wrong_thinker might overhear and is this mic on?

Maybe....

it's a slow news cycle. Or maybe my ability to blog has suffered heat stroke in the 100+ degree days. Maybe I'm just out of sorts. Sorry about the lack of content.

Honestly, I just can't be arsed to write anything.

Stray thought of the day

No matter how much you're fighting with your loved ones right now. Remember, wood chippers are forever.


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Oklahoma Primaries

Yesterday Oklahomans set a bit of history. For the first time in state history the ballot for the governor will be between 2 women. From what I understand it is also only the third time something like this has happened in US history.

Before you get all happy dancy, our choice for governor come november will be between a liberal and a RINO. :-/

Awesomeness debuts tonight!

All hands to your Internets! Tonight marks the debut of the media empire that will be...

B B & Guns!

6pm Eastern, be there or be a regular 4 sided polygonal shape.

Edit: The .mp3 is now available. Just go to this link.

Typical of the regime...

I was handed an article today from an old campaigner that came out to the range. Just a short 3 paragraph blurb buried in the back of The American Legion Magazine. I was unable to find a link to the article so I'm reproducing it here. Again this is from the August 2010 issue of The American Legion Magazine and is their sole copyright.

Hoping to win more hearts and minds in Afghanistan, the United States and its NATO allies are planning a commendation to recognize "courageous restraint" among troops in the field. According to a NATO statement, the goal would be to "celebrate the troops who exhibit extraordinary courage and self-control by not using their weapons."

The notion that there needs to be a commendation for restraint seems to be based on the false and faulty premise that U.S. forces haven't used restraint to date. In fact, they comprise the most lethal force in history, which makes their restraint all the more impressive.

Plus, the people who know best - those who have served - worry about the unintended consequences of rewarding and thereby encouraging "courageous restraint." As American Legion National Commander Clarence Hill Observes, "Too much restraint will get our own people killed ... The proposal to award medals for holding fire is troubling because it is symptomatic of a growing culture in the military that will punish troops making split-second decisions while they are expected to defend themselves and their comrades."

Or as one of the former marines here put it, "UN-fucking-believable".

The only question that I have is the comment about "unintended consequences". The consequences are there for anyone to see. This system will only cause more deaths of our troops while serving to encourage and embolden the "peace loving" muslim terrorists. I honestly believe whoever thought this grand scheme up fully realizes what he or she is doing and what it will cost on blood and suffering to our side.

Two posts in one day....

I know! How did you get so lucky.

Let's see, oil spill, floods, Afghanistan, Nukes in Iran and N. Korea. Massive, MASSIVE government overspending and debt for decades...

But what is CNN doing a news special on tonight? Yeap, that hard hitting, oh so important, Lindsey Lohan jail time. (psst, she's only doing 2 weeks, not 90 days.) Although, I think the news cycle will last the full 90 with no time off for good behavior.

I guess CNN stands for Celebrity Network News.

Way to keep ensuring you're not relevant anymore Ted.

Lest we forget this.

On March 23, 2010 one of the greatest crimes against this country was perpetrated by a select group of people that has long ago ceased to listen to the people they were supposed to represent.

On that black day, the mis-named, so called, Health Care Reform Bill was passed by a corrupt and despotic regime.

We need to remember now and in November and in 2012 and beyond. None of them should be allowed to forget that to cross us, the American people, has dire consequences. I would be completely okay with the lot of them having to live in exile for the rest of their lives.

REPEAL

THE

BILL

Thoughts to Ponder

(Shamelessly stolen from Snig's e-mail)

Good health is merely the slowest possible
Rate at which one can die.

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day,
Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Some people are like a Slinky ...
Not really good for anything, but you
Still can't help but smile when
You shove them down the stairs.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday,
Lying in hospitals, dying of nothing.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather.
It pays no attention to criticism.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200.00,
And a substantial tax cut saves you $30.00?

I guess I'm with LawDog on this one.

Depending on the day, subject, phase of the moon, I don't know, etc. I write like

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
J. D. Salinger

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

These are my last 5 or so posts, in no particular order.

Molly minute.

Look!!! Molly minute.


And the mom-fantastic.

How do people look so chipper at 6:30 in the morning?

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Talk about your Awesomellama!!!!

The most awesome show on the interwebz starts next week!

Hosted by two of the best gun chicks on the web even!

The best of guns, animals, and other arcania.

New Additions.

Yesterday, I met her.

She's out to shoot the ProAm Nationals this weekend.

Pretty cool, huh. She's a pretty cool shooter too.

She's been duly added to my blogroll, check her out.

Evolution of a language.

Follow this.

It started as: Illegal Aliens

Oh no, much too harsh and real. Let's soften that up and make them sound better.

It morphed to: Undocumented Aliens

Better. See, now people will think they've just lost their paperwork in the mail. Damn postal workers! They're racist! But still, "aliens", that conjures up images of big bug eyed monsters and lasers. Too scary.

It evolved to: Undocumented Workers

Ahh, much better. Now they're just poor disadvantaged people striving to attain the American Dream. Only... hmm... Ooh! American Dream!

Harry Reid calls them: Undocumented Americans

Now, it's just a short jump till they can vote! I guess that would be Harry Reid's version of the American Dream.

Nice how that works out for them, isn't it.

Okay, it happened....

The Feds finally got around to filing suit against the state of Arizona.

(the link goes to the .pdf file of the actual court document)

It was bound to happen. The feds, by some accounts, have been falling down on the job of border protections for well over a two decades now. But that's not the point. The point is borders are in the federal sandbox and they don't want anyone playing there except themselves.

Although, it seems to me that they've sort of been absent from that sandbox for a long time and the toys are just sitting there going to waste and all the other kids are getting kinda angry about it.

But I do have a point here. The Arizona law does not enact any new laws. It only allows local law enforcement to enforce those federal laws that the federal government has failed to enforce. And here's where I get confused. See, it used to be that the federal government didn't have any enforcement branches. Any laws it passed had to rely on the states for enforcement. I doubt any of you are old enough remember, but when the FBI was originally established they weren't allowed to carry guns. Why? Because they were only supposed to be an investigative aid to local law enforcement. When the FBI was first established most people still looked to local and state governments for most things, and a federal anti-crime agency was looked on with suspicion.

So, why do the feds have a problem now with Arizona stepping up to enforce laws the feds have passed?

Well in the last 100 years since the FBI was founded, we've allowed the federal government to enact, or create whole gigantic enforcment agencies or just plain usurp whole areas of law enforcement. We've got the FBI, DEA, NEA, CIA, ATF (or BATFE or whatever), plus a whole slew of others. Hell, even the U.S. Dept. of Education has an enforcement branch with armed agents. Puts a whole new light on truant officers doesn't it. And we even have federal laws that state that if it's a federal agency, it's people can be armed. H'Ray for National Endowment for the Arts and it's jackbooted armed thugs... wait...

So, more and more power in the form of law enforcement has been transferred from local and state authority to federal authority. Which in the short term looked great. The local governments didn't have to pay for that anymore. (They neglected to realize that the feds now pay for it and the money still comes from the taxpayers, but that's a different rant.) At first it was "please, let us do this. It'll be easier on you and you won't have to worry your pretty little head about it." Now it's, "How dare you try to take authority for this. We'll show you in court that it's ours!" How far away can we be from, "That's ours, and this gun pointed at you proves it."

The path from freedom to tyranny is sometimes hard to see, till hindsight kicks in.

I know this post isn't all that clear or well written. Fact is, the idea behind it is still sort of misty and amorphous in my mind. The idea is there though. We, as a people, got complacent and lazy and allowed the start of our falling away from freedom and democracy, we fast approaching the time when even if we pull the ripcord on the parachute we'll still slam into the ground of tyranny and oppression.

On the passing of a long serving reigning Senator

This week we mark the passing of the longest sitting senator in DC. Sen. Byrd passed away. I'd like to take a moment to put down my thoughts about this man.

Not bad, for a racist fuck.

Moderation in all things

Because there is some dicknose out there posting chinese ad links in my comments I have turned on moderation for the forseeable future. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Parable of the Liberal

You remember how people went about trying to achieve powered flight. They didn't begin with an understanding of the laws of aerodynamics. They didn't begin with a theory based on research and carefully planned experimentation. They just built contraptions, pushed them off the sides of cliffs, and hoped for the best.

All right. I want to follow one of those early trials in detail. Let's suppose that this trial is being made in one of those wonderful pedal-driven contraptions with flapping wings, based on a mistaken understanding of avian flight.

As the flight begins, all is well. Our would-be airman has been pushed off the edge of the cliff and is pedaling away, and the wings of his craft are flapping like crazy. He's feeling wonderful, ecstatic. He's experiencing the freedom of the air. What he doesn't realize, however, is that this craft is aerodynamically incapable of flight. It simply isn't in compliance with the laws that make flight possible-but he would laugh if you told him this. He's never heard of such laws, knows nothing about them. He would point at those flapping wings and say, `See? Just like a bird!' Nevertheless, whatever he thinks, he's not in flight. He's an unsupported object falling toward the center of the earth. He's not in flight, he's in free fall. Are you with me so far?

Fortunately-or, rather, unfortunately for our airman-he chose a very high cliff to launch his craft from. His disillusionment is a long way off in time and space. There he is in free fall, feeling wonderful and congratulating himself on his triumph He's like the man in the joke who jumps out of a ninetieth-floor window on a bet. As he passes the tenth floor, he says to himself, `Well, so far so good!

There he is in free fall, experiencing the exhilaration of what he takes to be flight. From his great height he can see for miles around, and one thing he sees puzzles him: The floor of the valley is dotted with craft just like his-not crashed, simply abandoned. `Why,' he wonders, aren't these craft in the air instead of sitting on the ground? What sort of fools would abandon their aircraft when they could be enjoying the freedom of the air?' Ah well, the behavioral quirks of less talented, earthbound mortals are none of his concern. However, looking down into the valley has brought something else to his attention. He doesn't seem to be maintaining his altitude. In fact, the earth seems to be rising up toward him. Well, he's not very worried about that. After all, his flight has been a complete success up to now, and there's no reason why it shouldn't go on being a success. He just has to pedal a little harder, that's all.

So far so good. He thinks with amusement of those predicted that his flight would end in disaster, broken bones, and death. Here he is, he's come all this way, and he hasn't even gotten a bruise, much less a broken bone. But then he looks down again, and what he sees really disturbs him. The law of gravity is catching up to him at the rate of thirty-two feet per second per second-at an accelerating rate. The ground is now rushing up toward him in an alarming way. He's disturbed but far from desperate. `My craft has brought me this far in safety,' he tells himself. I just have to keep going.' And so he starts pedaling with all his might. Which of course does him no good at all, because his craft simply isn't in accord with the laws of aerodynamics. Even if he had the power of a thousand men in his legs-ten thousand, a million-that craft is not going to achieve flight. That craft is doomed-and so is he unless he abandons it.

"Right. I see what you're saying, but I don't see the connection with what we're talking about here."

sigh.....

Oh, by the way...

Yesterday, I sold the last of the brass I needed to by me a new Mossberg 590A1 Shotgun.

New bangsticks! H'Ray!

Scary thought today.

About a week ago the Wall Street Journal did a survey of 5000 adults on 8 basic economics questions. The survey ask 8 simple questions like "Mandatory licensing of professional services increases the prices for those services" and the person had 5 choices; Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. The interesting thing is the survey only counted those answers that were incorrect. And then they broke the respondents into political groups. Conservative, Libertarian, Moderate, Progressive and Liberal.

Not surprisingly those adults who classed themselves as Progressive and Liberal couldn't get 3 out of the 8 questions correct.

I remember reading about the survey last week and it wasn't till today that the scary thought hit me.

These types who can't figure out 8 simple economic relationships are the people who are running our economy right now!

Range Report: Belated Edition

Sunday was my recoil therapy day. No pic unfortunately.

Sunday morning was the local steel challenge match which I shot with my Ruger .22/45. Note to self, never use Winchester Xtreme in it again. But I still had fun. I shoot competitions for the fun and camaraderie anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Sunday afternoon on the other hand was the long awaited M1 Garand initial range shoot. I had 25 rounds of some unidentifiable milsurp that was pretty ugly even after I tumbled it for an hour just to see if it would clean up. I met up with a friend of mine, JeffP, at a 100m carbine range and we set everything up. Jeff has got a Springfield Garand with serial number sub-250,000. Really nice rifle and great looking too. He had some Korean .30-06 he wanted to finish off.

My plan was not to do any zeroing Sunday. I just wanted to verify that it operated and nothing was seriously wrong with it.

Boy, did I exceed my expectations! We got situated on the shooting benches and I sighted in on a torso steel target 100m away. BANG... ping! Okay, even a blind squirrel (SQUIRREL!) can find an acorn once in a while. BANG... ping. Really? The next 6 shots went pretty much the same way. As did the rest of the 25 rounds.

My bulls eye rate dropped down to around 75% when I went standing offhand and reacquiring the sight picture when I tried a rapid fire clip (tehee, I get to say clip now, and be right) was a bit harder than on my M14. But that may have more to do with the Trijicon front sight I have on the M14 than anything else.

Oh, and the best part was when I finished that first clip of 8 rounds and heard that unmistakable ping of the clip ejecting. That is something that I will always remember.

It was a very good birthday present to myself.

Birthdays

Today was once my birthday...

But it is now owned by someone much much more awesomer then me. Let's all go over and wish the Bredalucion a happy anniversary! I, with grace and poise, cede this day to her.

Never Forget

A little fun.

Friday I had a little fun at the range.

Pretty well sums it up.

This link:

Obama Administration and Democrats Kowtow to Other Countries While Scorning Those Who Have Died For Ours

Says better than I ever will how angry I was at those douche bags in DC when they stood up and applauded the Mexican presidents chastising Arizona for having the sheer audacity to stand up and say that the US is a sovereign nation and our borders should be inviolate.

I'm buying from Arizona to show my support. Hell, if I could buy their power, I'd snap it up and let LA sit in the dark.

B.O.B. Fail

No, not that kind of BOB.

As the storms rolled through my city tonight. I was up at the range watching them on the big Teewee and talking to my favorite cat lady on the phone. She casually asked where my bug out bag was. I said it was at home in the closet... right underneath that tornado like radar return... a long ways away from me. At which point she made me aware of how much all my BOB planning was made of fail at that point.

Yeah, but you see... I've got it there and..... If it was in the car.... But what happens if....

*headdesk*
I had nothing.

Why don't they understand...

It's not about what you're banning. It's about who get's to choose how I live my life.

I vote me, and your vote doesn't count.

You know what?

I just decided I spend too much time jumping to conclusions.

Latest Projects

Guess what arrived today. A bunch of us went in on a group buy from Aero Precision. I got two lowers. One for now, one for later kinda thing, and an upper.

My immediate project is a Carbine length flat top with a piston conversion kit from Adam's Arms and a Trijicon ACOG. I'm getting the barrel from Bravo Company. They have a good cold forge hammered barrel for not a bad price. Rock River's NM two stage trigger and parts kits will finish out the rifle.

The other receiver, I don't know yet. I'm toying with the idea of doing a classic 20" A2. But then Magpul is supposed to be doing a rifle length hand guard and I'd like to do the furniture that way.

Sigh

Decisions, decisions.

Edit: Unix Jedi reminded me of something. This current AR project is all about "because I can". So, before you go all mall ninja on me about "ZOMG! The piston is the shiznitz!", or "Son, that gun was killing commie pinkos with direct impingement when you were still in diapers." Remember, the AR is arguable one of the most customizable rifles on the planet. And this rifle will be customized. So there!

Within your means.

Or learning what gubmint cheese really tastes like.

I'm listening to morning talk radio and there's a kerfuffle ensuing over the most recent budget proposal by our elitist illustrious mayor.

You see with the economy in the tank, people are spending less and not surprisingly business revenue is down and as a result tax revenue is down. And now the city finds itself in the increasingly common position of not having enough money. Funny how that works.

What's our statist mayor's answer to this dilemma? Why raise taxes of course. It's worked so well before, right? Umm... yeah... And this from the guy who ran on "No New Taxes". I'm beginning to think that when a politician says that he means that everything has had a tax on it at some point in the past and they couldn't think up any new tax ideas. Sort of like movies in Hollywood, or shows on TV.

The new budget is rife with "revenue enhancements". Which is PC speak for tax increases. There's a rant about PC speak, but that's for another time.

Anyway, they've been getting the reactions from many of the city councilors and for the most part they have not been... happy, would be one way to put it.

What's got me going is one of the councilors supporting the budget had a wonderful quote. He said something to the effect that he's all for the revenue enhancements because "... the city has to have a way to pay for the things that the people want".

Umm... No.

Government should be there to arrange those things that individuals can't arrange for themselves, like roads, crime deterrence, fire fighting, water, sewer, basically those things we like to call essential services.

Government is not there to act like the kindly grandma that spoils the kids while the parents are away.

Just because "the people" want it, doesn't mean the government is required to provide it.

Hell, I want a personal 19 year old Swedish massage therapist with at least one Nobel Prize in a hard science. I'm not picky, physics, astronomy, math, any one of those.

The government, in general I think, has lost the plot on what is essential services and what isn't. And as a result we end up with a city that has a city hall budget that tripled between last year and this and at the same time laid off over 200 police and fire. But hey, when your house is burning down, you can rest easy knowing that the Mayor's assistant deputy aide to the floral adjunct designer has his own secretary office manager.

As unpopular as this may sound to those of you with pet government projects, part of the job of a responsible, adult governing body is to know when something isn't affordable or even should be provided by them. This idea should apply to any level of government, from federal down to that Home Owners Association Nazi down the block.

But then I guess people being the way they are, we all love our little empire building.

In happier news....

Oklahoma's legislature passed the Open Carry bill with a wide enough margin to make it veto proof.

So, there's a w00t...

New Additions.

So, today. I ran up to my local gun shop to drop off the last of the brass I had ready and put a bit more cash down on the rifle I put on layaway oh so long ago. Anyway, while I was there one of the guys there makes me an offer on the brass I have for sale. Long story short, he bought all I had which immediately went to the rifle.

I brought her home today! Squee!

Springfield M1 Garand. Feb 1943 manufacture according to the serial number. Rebarreled with a Danish barrel and brought back in the 50's by the CMP. All matching serial numbers except for the barrel of course. Even the wood has matching numbers to the rest of the rifle. Very nice. I likey. Now to stock up on it's feed.

Edit: According to Fulton's Serial number list, it's a Dec. '42 manufacture.

Talking heads, talking drivel

So, I'm listening to talk radio on Sunday. It's the usual panel on political commentary that they air. Same time, same stuff. Then they got on to talking about the Tea Party and the tax day Tea Party events. At which point one of the talking voices stated that the Tea Party was mostly made up of "working class people". He went on in this vein for a bit all the while managing to make that label sound like "uneducated, uninformed redneck hick".

Fuck you, idiot radio voice guy.

You know what? I support the Tea Party and it's ideals. I'm for smaller government. I'm for making the "representatives" in DC actually listen to what the vast majority of the people in this country are saying. I'm for getting the government OUT of what it has no right being in in the first place like health care.

You know what else? I have a degree from an institution of "higher" learning. In fact I've got a degree in aerospace engineering. You know what that makes me? Yeap, I'm a fucking rocket scientist, you elitist douche bag! How's that for uneducated, you small minded uninformed hack?

You know what this rocket scientist thinks? I think that what differentiates the Tea Party movement from the rest of the country is the fact that we can fucking think for ourselves. We, unlike what appears to be the majority of the main stream media these days, can take an independent look at the FACTS and come to OUR OWN fucking opinions. We don't need to have an opinion force fed to us. In fact, try to force feed us your opinions and see what happens. I've got a friend in Massachusetts that loves to talk about tar and feathers. Just sayin'. Go on try it, you intellectually stunted radio pol.

So, fuck you talking voice, keep spouting your drivel. You know what the guy on the program immediately after you said, he claimed that the average Tea Partier was college educated, high income, and thus disconnected with what "true" Americans think. Fuck him too. The actual Tea Partier is pretty much any true American, be he or she any race, color, religion, education level, income level, or sexual orientation that believes the fucking government should get the hell out of our lives. Because I can damn sure bet you that we can run our own lives one hell of a lot better then the government thinks it can.

You know what else us Tea Partiers have in common that your "true" Americans don't?

97% of us VOTE!

You fucking addle brained, hydro-cephalic, koolaid drinking, sold out mouth piece for a corrupt regime.