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The best of guns, animals, and other arcania.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Evolution of a language.
Follow this.
It started as: Illegal Aliens
It started as: Illegal Aliens
- Oh no, much too harsh and real. Let's soften that up and make them sound better.
- 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.
- Ahh, much better. Now they're just poor disadvantaged people striving to attain the American Dream. Only... hmm... Ooh! American Dream!
- Now, it's just a short jump till they can vote! I guess that would be Harry Reid's version of the American Dream.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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.
Not bad, for a racist fuck.
Monday, June 28, 2010
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.
Friday, June 18, 2010
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.....
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.....
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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!
New bangsticks! H'Ray!
Monday, June 14, 2010
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!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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.
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