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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Must I start keeping count?

Yet another reason I won't get too worked up about GOP 'needs':

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld during their long-shot bids for U.S. Senate.


It's also noted that the GOP gave Dede Scozzafava nearly a million dollars in return for endorsing the democrat in NY-23 ..... hey GOP, how's Dede's ass taste now, huh?!

Seriously, Ted-fucking-Kennedy's seat is open to a special election and the national GOP is just sitting on the sidelines? Talk about a coup if you could win that one. Hell, if the republicans had any sense, I would think they'd spend upwards of 10 million in the effort to pick that plum off of the dems tree.

Oh, wait ...........

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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Sorry

There's so much out there, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed ..... maybe tomorrow!

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

JPFO Alert

Americas, Juan and Evita?
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I like guns!

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h/t Ace of Spades



Where can I buy the album?!

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JPFO Alert

Twenty years of fighting for your freedoms.
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I'm back

Jeebus, I'm glad the holidays are (almost) over! Christmas, the parents (and in-laws), a buddy was killed in a car wreck (bummer) and the like ..... now I just have to weather the New Years'.

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Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

To all, I wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy holiday season!

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

JPFO Alert

JPFO sends birthday greetings to ABC's Diane Sawyer.Link

America is officially dead

Red State has this post on how the DemocRATs have officially killed America:

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.


So what they've done is to pass a law that changes the senate rules. But to do that, senate procedure is that you must have 67 votes, which democRATs could never get. And since no one really has a chance to actually read this shit, no one knew about it until the democRATs had already passed Reid's amendment (via bribery and graft). And when republicans found out and called the democRATs on their bullshit, they ran away, like the little whiny, arrogant pieces of shit they are.

I'm not advocating this sort of action (yet), but I'll be surprised if a D from a red state doesn't take a bullet to the head over this.


Much more at Hot Air (plus video), and Gabe at Ace has a different opinion.

Update (already!) - best retort to Gabe so far!

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AGW shenanigans

So the AGW bubbas have been putting their feet on the scales, in more than one way:

"When Connolley didn't like the subject of a certain article, he removed it – more than 500 articles of various descriptions disappeared at his hand," Solomon wrote. "When he disapproved of the arguments that others were making, he often had them barred – over 2,000 Wikipedia contributors who ran afoul of him found themselves blocked from making further contributions."


How's that for reasoned discourse, huh?

It sounds like the Wikipedia entry for global warming needs to be deleted, and let both sides have at it.

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saw this on Vox's site as well.
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JPFO Alert

Reforming a criminal congress - money and martial law.

Monday, December 21, 2009

WTF?!

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Seen at Ace's headlines sidebar, this bold fashion statement!

Those wacky Ausies! But the name is scandi. Here's something scandi that I can get behind:



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Sunday, December 20, 2009

I stand in awe

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I found this at Kevin's site, but had to pass it along because it has an uberpost that really must be read:

An 80% energy cutoff [warm-mongers' goal by 2050 - me] goes beyond any mere economic calculation. It is a punitive measure of military proportions - to which one might subject a defeated enemy nation - for the purpose of collective penal subjugation.


I've never heard the goal described quite like that, but I think it does nicely.

We are soooooo fucked.

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AGW post of the day

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I found this link at Ace of Spades, which kind of goes through the process of how to create a 'consensus':

Few people understand the real significance of Climategate, the now-famous hacking of emails from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU). Most see the contents as demonstrating some arbitrary manipulating of various climate data sources in order to fit preconceived hypotheses (true), or as stonewalling and requesting colleagues to destroy emails to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the face of potential or actual Freedom of Information requests (also true).

But there's something much, much worse going on—a silencing of climate scientists, akin to filtering what goes in the bible, that will have consequences for public policy, including the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recent categorization of carbon dioxide as a "pollutant." - from first link in post

RTWT, including the links, but especially this one by Mr Michaels. In it he details how the East Anglia cabal simply didn't like to play fair, let alone scientifically.

I hope that politicians will realize that they've been duped (some willingly) .... alas, I;m not sure enough of them are that smart.


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Hee hee hee

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Found on Hot Air's headlines:



Merry Christmas!

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Sleep aids

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My wife is spending way too much money on sleep aids.

She needs to start playing the live stream of C-SPAN's senate coverage when she goes to bed.

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Reading the bills

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I've long thought that Republicans should be jumping onto the whole parliamentary procedure bugaboo of withholding unanimous consent on reading of all bills submitted to the senate, since Obama's agenda really needs to be stopped.

But they really need to take it to another level. The need to let the Dem leadership know that they intend to withhold consent on all bills, no matter now 'needed' the bill is. And they need to fully expect to have the Dems do the same thing whenever they aren't in power any longer.

Then, they need to start governing by submitting short, concise bills (with none of that flaky 'and other purposes'), that can be read in, say 30 minutes. Bills that attack the problem, not perpetuate it. 'Cause ya know, the more we hear about this sausage factory, the less we like it.

And how about you start with a Republican alternative to this health care reform clusterfuck. Be ready to have a member of the minority to withhold consent, so that the alternative can be read.

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An AGW experiment

I'm going to show my technical ignorance here, but bear with me.

The AGW fanatics contend that a system as complex and fluid as the earth's climate can affected negatively by the increase in one substance (CO2). I propose a simple experiment.

Take 3 clear, strong boxes that can withstand a complete vacuum (at least for a few minutes). The size of the boxes is flexible, but I'd say a cube at least a yd (ok, a metre!). Provision must be made so that all three boxes can be put outside and receive the same amount of sunlight. What we're building is three identical greenhouses.

Now, pull a vacuum on each of the boxes, refilling them with, respectively, with the same amounts of: 1-normal atmosphere (air) 2-atmosphere with double the normal % of CO2 3-atmosphere with triple the normal % of CO2.

Leave in the sun for a year, monitoring the temperature with the most accurate instruments available.

I'll bet that there's no discernable difference in temp between the boxes.

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More AGW crap .....

Another climate expert says that the temperature record is hopelessly flawed:

One of the conclusions is that urbanized temperature stations are almost a waste of time in climate study:

"For the purpose of assessing climatic change, a 'rural' environment needs to be carefully defined. Climatic temperature trends can only be assessed from rural sites which have suffered no major transformations due to changes in shelter or urbanisation, or from sites for which the records have been made homogenous. Urban environments usually suffer continual modifications due to one cause or another."


Wow. The study quoted is hard to get to, being a .pdf link embedded within a .pdf, so I'll link it here.


h/t Ace of Spades' daily AGW roundup ..... you are reading it, aren't you?!


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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Gotta hand it to those Russkies!

The Russians fan the flames of schadenfreude over East Anglia's distress:

Link

Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.

The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory.


h/t Vox Day commentor zeno.

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The real problem with health care

Stolen from Kevin's site, this gem from Zombie Time:

Eccentricities aside, Dr. Sunderhaus has spoken the unspeakable, and by so doing has changed the frame of the health-care debate.

Because millions of Americans are secretly thinking the exact same thing as Dr. Sunderhaus and I: Why should we be forced to pay for the costs of other people’s irresponsibility?

Indeed.

My wife just mentioned that her mom was shopping for a supplemental Medicare policy. She got a packet from AARP and couldn't make heads or tails out of it.

Not anything like, oh, just paying your doctor bill?!

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Garbage in, garbage out ....

it doesn't help when you throw it into a garbage disposal. Via Hot Air, comes this video about the computer code the CRU used:



Shocking, no?

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A good, provacative post ....

Found at Robb's (Sharp as a Marble), this post:

Anyone convicted of a felony or convicted of misdemeanor domestic abuse or assault is not allowed freedom of speech or religion and must rely on the government to provide speech and religion for them.
(1968 gun control act)

Any speech or religions that are done in a scary tone or feel are banned. Any assembly that looks scary is banned.
(1994 Federal Assault Weapon Ban that went after mostly cosmetic features)

It's really pathetic that firearms owners are so discriminated against.


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Very cool .....

Saw this at Alan's site ..... a 1911 animation, that includes building the pistol:



Enjoy!

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Thread winner!

I'm not much of a football fan ...... I only really pay attention to college ball. So the BCS is a source of constant consternation to me.

But I saw a comment on Ace's blog that takes the cake!
Isn't the BCS that system where they take a bunch of polls and run them through CRU's global warming computers to determine who plays who?

You're welcome!

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I'm glad I steal from read other blogs

Borrowed (!) from Breda's blog:



Because, ya know, this is all a librarian has to do all day!

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JPFO Alert

An open letter to America's enemies.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Another AGW post from

Ace has really been tearin' it up on the AGW debacle:
Here's a lengthy excerpt, but my real suggestion is just to read the thing, and take a gander at the charts, where the Warmists attempted to quite literally "hide the decline" by covering/masking the tree-ring data showing plunging temperatures with other trend lines, so you simply could not see the tree-ring line, and they could claim, "Oh dear, oh dear, of course that green line was included, but darnitall, it just seems to have been printed behind some other lines. Sorry."

RTWT .... really! There's much more.

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

JPFO Alert

How ObamaCare will destroy the 2nd amendment.

How to make your own hockey stick

Iowahawk as an amazing post about how hockey sticks are created:
Long story, but I do know a little bit about statistical data modeling -- the principle approach used by the main cast of characters in Climategate -- and have a decent understanding of their basic research paradigm. The goal here is to share that understanding with interested laypeople. I'm also a big believer in learning by doing; if you really want to know how a carburetor works, nothing beats taking one apart and rebuilding it. That same rule applies to climate models. And so I decided to put together this simple step-by-step rebuilder's manual.
And it's a great post! Now I have a simple understanding (Affliction not withstanding) of how the 'hockey stick' came about.

Also, Steve McIntyre at climateaudit.org, has the CRU emails in context, and that context is not too good for Mr Jones.

Plus, Anthony Watts shows how 'homogenizing' can be, uh, misused!

I would be remiss if I didn't give credit to Ace of Spades HQ for most all of these posts ...... you should be checking them out daily for their 'The state of Climategate Today' posts.

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

It's not denial

For the record, I agree that the earth is gradually getting warmer, recent temperature declines not withstanding.

So I am not a Global Warming denier, I am an Anthropogenic Global Warming skeptic.

Yes, the difference is subtle, yet distinct.

Now, if I were to try to figure out why the earth is warming, I might start with that big fireball in the sky that actually provides the earth with it's warmth. I'm just sayin' .......

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AGW scienceyists could learn from these guys

Found at WND is this Big Government post:
There is ample reason to believe that this photograph supplied to news
organizations by the Associated Press has been substantially
color-enhanced, perhaps to convey a false impression of pollution
coming from a smoke stack from a purported coal-fueled power plant in
Kansas. Here is a detailed description of the evidence that the
original photo was either a black-and-white image, or a color image
which was converted to black-and-white, and then colorized for dramatic
effect.


This by a man who's job is to retouch photos. But there's more!
The evidence that this photo was originally a grayscale or black-and-white
image was arrived at with a simple Photoshop process. We encourage other
Photoshop enthusiasts and experts to recreate our work. (Here is the largest version of the image we could find)

1) Add a Hue/Sat adjustment layer directly above the original jpeg.
2) Drop the saturation percentage for both the Yellows and Reds Edit
category down to zero. Note how the image is now a perfectly even
balance of the Red Green and Blue. This is easily viewable in the Info
palette as you move the cursor over the image.

This is only possible if the original image is black-and-white or grayscale.

In a normal full-color image, there WILL be variances in the tone of the
blues and greens. The desaturating of the Yellows and Reds would not touch
the cooler colors. The other colors are not there.

This leads me to believe that this is a black and white image that has been
colorized!

Do you see what he did there?! He had a theory; did some
observation and experiments; published his results; invited peer-review,
and went through his methodology. Like real science!

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Reason #214

David Codrea has a forseeable response from the NRA:

NRA certainly has the right to decide which legal strategies it perceives as advantageous and eligible for their support, and in this case, it's helpful to know that if we get in trouble, they don't want us to come running to them to fix it.

RTWT

Sounds about right.

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Just a sign of the times

From Hot Air, I see this indication of more hopey-changey:
Except for some tax breaks that Republicans pressured Democrats into including — while loudly objecting to them — almost the entirety of the $787 billion package went to either these kind of politically-connected recipients, states looking to paper over bad budgeting, temp jobs, or economic interventions like Cash for Clunkers.
I think I'd rather they just put a match to all that money ..... might save some in the long run.

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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

Apologies

Feeling side-effecty today ..... maybe tomorrow.

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Saturday, December 5, 2009

A great AGW treatise!

Via Kevin at Smallest Minority, comes this awesome post by Borepatch about Shenanigate©:
More than anything, Science relies on data. The most elegant theory is empty, if the data contradict it. The old saying is true: The Scientist proposes and Nature disposes.
Then goes on to in plain, easy-to-understand language, what the deficiencies are in the AGW camp.

A must read!

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Indeed!

Vox Day has the real skinny on current events:
What really happened is that Elin discovered text messages between Tiger and Amanda Knox proving that he had been involved with Knox, who had killed Kercher in a fit of jealousy over Kercher's parallel affair with Woods.
Of course, the really important news is glossed over (to date, none of the big 3 networks have said word one about ClimateGate).

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JPFO Alert

Would Ben Franklin have wanted to know you?

Friday, December 4, 2009

This is sad

A 21 year old man loses his life playing with a firearm:
“It was almost like a toy to them,” Sonya Cockrell said. “We both lectured him over and over about it. We just felt they didn’t have respect for it the way we felt like they should have respect for it. ... They were playing with a gun.”

Firearms are not toys, they're tools. It's sad that a man had to lose his life to drive the point home.

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More shilling for gun control

The NY Daily News has more FUD about weapons:
Manhattan prosecutors announced criminal charges against seven men who are accused of dealing cocaine, Ecstasy and 27 high-powered weapons, including assault rifles and semi-automatic pistols near Public School 98 on W. 212th St. The firearms ranged in price from $750 for a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver to $1,750 for a MAK-90 assault rifle.
I see what they did there! So a .38 caliber revolver is now a 'high-powered' weapon.

This is really getting ridiculous. I realize that it's NY, but sometime you need to be held accountable for your reporting. I can only hope that the NYDN is one of the first to fold in the MSM's decline.

I also note another interesting part of the story:

Authorities declined to reveal the origin of the guns.

"They were definitely used street guns," said Sgt. Patrick Mulcahy of the NYPD's firearms investigation unit.

You can bet that if they were from a dealer, or a gun show, they'd be crowing that to the heavens.

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Concealed carry win?! Updated!

Wow ..... university administrators are completely flummoxed by student attitudes:

“I honestly thought students would be against guns on campus, and we just haven’t heard that,” Strauch said. “The majority of the comments we’ve received from students is that they are in support of having concealed-carry remain permitted on campus.”

How about that, Mr Dumbass?!

Update!

The student leadership has spoken:

Author of the bill, CSU Junior Cooper Anderson said, "We wrote this bill because we felt that a student should have the right to self defense on campus. We don't believe that crime stops at a campus' borders."

(First off, be careful with that name!) Cooper, students have that right as a function of being alive .... it's only the government who wants to take it away.

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You mean criminals break the law?

A city councilman in Missouri has proposed letting citizens with CCW's carry in city buildings:
Raymore City Council member Jeff Cox is sponsoring an ordinance that would allow people with concealed carry permits to bring their weapons inside city owned and operated buildings. Currently the State of Missouri allows people with permits to carry concealed weapons inside city buildings as long as city ordinance doesn't specifically prohibit them.

The move comes after a February, 2008, shooting in Kirkwood, Missouri, when five people were gunned down during a city council meeting. Cox says that if others in the meeting had concealed weapons, the outcome may have been different.
Makes sense to me. The councilman correctly notes that the 'No Weapons' sign had no effect on the murderous bastard.

Yoo hoo ...... representatives ...... criminals don't care what laws you pass.

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Might have to start reading him

h/t Smallest Minority-

I've not been keeping up with things financial, since I don't really have any finances, and I'm waiting to hear from the disability people right now, but in the big picture I do feel that it's us against them. Karl Denninger makes it official:

The fact is that I can no longer, with a straight face, tell people they should "live to their obligations if they are able."

Not any more.

That implied part of the social contract only works when both sides of the bargain are acting in good faith in the main, and it is the rare exception to the rule when someone is behaving badly.

We need to wake up.

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Wonder when they'll learn. Updated!

Another Taser-use-gone-wrong tale, this time a citizen coming out of the hospital:
Police say while they were trying to put Buckner in the van, he got combative with Erlanger and Hamilton County corrections officers. They wound up shocking him with a Taser. Once they subdued him, officers then loaded the 53-year-old into the van.

But when they got to Moccasin Bend, Buckner was unresponsive. Officers drove him back to Erlanger. He was pronounced dead.

I gotta wonder about the training of the corrections officers, as well as the hospital security involved.

One thing's for sure ..... someone needs to make the authorities know that less-lethal is still lethal. I just hope it's not an expensive lesson.

Update: A witness comes forward, and disputes the narrative:

The witness tells us she was at the hospital that day, waiting on family member who was receiving treatment, when she saw a man being escorted out of the west wing door by a man and a woman.

The witness says she saw Buckner fall to his knees and the woman holding him began asking him, "Why are you doing this?"

More details come out, including the identity of one of the officers, and how he was on a hospital police force in the first place:

NewsChannel 9 has learned that Webb was fired from the Chattanooga Police Department in 2005 after he stunned a suspect in handcuffs.

I'm seeing this more than usual, since it's sorta in my area - stay tuned!

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wow ..... just, wow

Just had to get this post from Ace reposted, because it's so awesome:

Primary Documents: Mike Huckabee's Letter to Prosecutor Objecting to His Easy-Breezy Clemencies: LOL, Dude

—Ace

No, seriously. LOL.

The objection by the prosecutor.

Huck's response -- or rather the response from his Deputy Legal Counsel, indicating Huck "laughed out loud" at the prosecutor's letter.

I'm glad that Huckabee is finished on the national stage ..... I was getting tired of his pandering to those who don't think about the fact that he's a former Baptist preacher turned politician.

See you soon!

Mike, I hope you're back in action soon!

I need to get my copy of Absolved!!

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Health care reform .... market edition

h/t Hot Air

Health care reform is a pretty big issue these days, but not because of the actual health care, but because of how it's paid for:
Instead of pursuing more third-party interventions, we should be removing third parties and reintroducing normal price signals for the health-care market. That would not only reduce costs, but it would also increase supply and make demand more rational:
I've embedded the video here, since I think it's a good one. Read the link for a look at how else this argument can be framed!



I tried to make many of these arguments to a newspaper reporterette who interviewed me a few months ago about the health care debate, but of course, my views didn't really 'fit' the narrative so I just got mentioned as a libertarian who thought the government should stay out. I'd actually be a bit more radical than the Reason piece would be.

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Gun control activists at it again

The gun control cabal reared their pointy heads to disrespect veterans:
Legislation allowing veterans classified as "mentally defective" to buy firearms is drawing sharp criticism from gun-control advocates, but proponents argue that it is not as risky as it may sound.
Yeah, it's not risky at all, considering the VA just sends names to the NICS bubbas without, you know, adjudicating anything.

The question on the 4473 is 'have you been adjudicated a mental defective'; I'm not sure I'd trust the VA with a call like that. What this bill would mandate is a judicial hearing, in front of an actual judge, where actual evidence is presented.

If I had to rely on someone's opinion of my sanity, I might not do so well!

And good on Sen Burr for calling that bitch Helmke out about the Ft Hood shooting.

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IF you don't mind, it don't matter

WWII vet in PA has a bit of a run-in with a sneaky home invader:
A World War II veteran says a woman who pretended her car had broken down so she could get into his Pennsylvania home grabbed two guns from his collection and engaged him in a shootout before jumping out a window with the weapons.
The report says Mr Kaighn wasn't badly hurt, though it doesn't say anyone was shot.

And trying to invade the home of a WWII vet? Victim selection FAIL!

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The Only Ones® defense

A Florida man has been arrested for pretending to be a police officer:
Claiming to be a police officer, a Davie man pointed a BB gun at a neighbor's face and threatened to blow his brains out, officials said.
I guess he thought his excuse would get him out of his scrape.

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

JPFO Alert

Are you guarding the guardian?

What?

A man in AR was arrested, for being a 'certain' person?
Cotter authorities arrested Kenneth Gordon Elder, 22, on a charge of possession of firearms by a certain person, according to a Marion County Sheriff's Office news release.
A certain person - must have different rules in Arkansas.

Oh, that's right - they do. They elect governors who commute sentences of people who are serving 95 years after only 10, to have them continue their crime, and even execute 4 police officers.

But I'm not bitter or anything.

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Felons aren't supposed to have guns!

Down in Florida, a man is arrested because he used a firearm to defend himself:
The sheriff’s office was later contacted by Xavier Tyrone Moore, 34 of Pensacola, who stated that while standing in his front yard he was approached by the occupants of the Chevrolet Impala which lead to a verbal argument over drugs and threats were made to kill Moore. The argument escalated to gunfire and Moore admitted to defending himself with a firearm. Moore, who is a convicted felon, was still in possession of the gun.
I know the reason politicians and law enforcement give for disarming convicted felons, but srsly, why are felons disallowed from having firearms? Especially since firearms are so readily available on the black market? And felons get guns whether we want them to or not.

Does Moore give up the right to defend himself as a convicted felon? Because that's the message that we send to the felons who are actually trying to make a go of it in society.

Like David says, if you can't be trusted with a gun .......

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Monday, November 30, 2009

More rubble .....

I saw this on Kevin's site, and thought I needed to spread it around:
As far as I can tell, none of the software on which the entire concept of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) is based has been examined, reviewed or tested by anyone save the people who wrote the code in the first place. This is a staggering omission of scientific oversight and correction. Nothing like it has happened in the history of science. [emphasis added]
Money quote!

Nobody checked the computer software to make sure it was accurate. And I can't see that it'd do any good.

You have a theory about AGW, but you can't prove it, so you write a computer program to simulate what you think happens with CO2, but you have to tell the computer that CO2 causes AGW (assuming the theory is true), of course you do such a shitty job with the program that no one can check the program because you're not a programmer you're a fucking scientist, dammit and lo and behold when you run the program, you get AGW!

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

We are so fucked.

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Why does the FBI need a 20mm supressed rifle?

This is worse than those .50 cal rifles that all the worst criminals are using (says the Brady bunch) h/t thefirearmblog:



And the really good part? They make explosive tipped rounds for these (since they're from a Vulcan Cannon!).

Does anybody think this is a good idea?

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The rubble starts to pile up

CRU has decided to release all the data they have left on their AGW studies (h/t Ace):
"These guys called climate scientists have not done any more physics or chemistry than I did. A lifetime in engineering gives you a very good antenna. It also cures people of any self belief they cannot be wrong. You clear up a lot of messes during a lifetime in engineering. I could be wrong on global warming – I know that – but the guys on the other side don't believe they can ever be wrong."
Hmmm, sounds like someone's incredulous. It is interesting that AGW seems to be some nebulous kind of science, while engineering is hard as hell (like the difference between Wall Street and Main Street, but I digress).

The link also mentions that we need to learn something from this escapade in order that the money spent wasn't a waste. My theory is we (that is, the politicians) won't learn anything, and no matter what, the money was wasted.

Utterly wasted.

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Viva la difference!

It's interesting how the media treats firearms:
Quintin T. Pride, 1517 18th St. NE, had a fully automatic gun and a bag of crack was found near him, the report said.
Here's a report about an actual machine gun (probably a sub-machine gun, but I digress), and there's nothing more said about it.

Hmmmm ......

I wonder if an SKS would be reported as an evil assault weapon?

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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Spreading the word.

David has a new post up at Gun Rights Examiner ...... go look, cuz there's a cool pic by Oleg!

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And the hits keep on comin'. Updated!

More from Vox's site, the Europeans start to realize the gravity of Climategate:
Our hopelessly compromised scientific establishment cannot be allowed to get away with a whitewash of what has become the greatest scientific scandal of our age.
And there's more at the links.

And this major kerfluffle only makes sense with regards to the science and the government.

Drug companies, if they want to sell their wares in this country, must prove their wares are safe, and show their work. Why shouldn't global warming climate change socialism activists who hide behind Science be held to the same standard when it comes to so much more of our economy?
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Update: This found at Hot Air:

Zorita’s point is well taken. The bullying atmosphere in Academia on AGW has ruined the credibility of the effort — and not just at the University of East Anglia. Any PhD student in the field would have known on which side the bread would be buttered, and would be unlikely to commit career suicide by producing contradictory data. The actions of the IPCC authors created an atmosphere of groupthink, paranoia, and toadyism, not science or truth. Any results coming from this arena have to be entirely suspect.

The AGW movement has been exposed as a religious belief and a political cash cow, not science.

Does the NRA really want to help?

So here's the deal. All kinds of crap flowing about the Tiarht amendment that 'caused' the Ft Hood shootings, or 'prevented' the FBI from properly investigating that goat fucker Maj Hasan, or any number of OMG scenarios that allowed a suspected terrorist to buy a firearm. !!eleventy1!! I and many other bloggers have detailed the fallacies to the arguments.

Anyway, I noticed in a Christian Science Monitor piece about the Ear Worm Bloomberg that Rep Pete King (R-NY) seems to support Bloomberg's contentions about letting terrorists buy guns (!!1eleventy!1!!), and I noticed that Rep King is the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security.

So I thought to myself, how is the best way to communicate with Rep King about this while being not his constituent? I could contact a rep on the committee who is from my state (GA, but not my rep), or I could contact my rep and have him talk to the other GA rep to have him talk to Rep King (which might take care of three birds with a single stone), but I thought that to be too uncertain.

So I tried to find out what Rep King's NRA rating is, and I found out - it's a members' only area! WTF?!

I can find out a Gun Owners of America rating without being a member, why not the NRA?

Because they suck, and they don't really care about all firearm owners, just the ones whose fights the NRA thinks they can win.

Sad, really ... the premiere gun rights' organization isn't really doing anything but raking in more money with which to raise more money.

If I were the NRA, as soon as I saw such crap in print from Rep King, I'd be visiting his office, explaining things to him. And if I can set out a convincing case on why the Tiarht amendment didn't cause or prevent anything, shouldn't the NRA be able to do better?

This is reason #213 why I'll not be joining the NRA.

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Ok, this isn't too bad!

Found at Ace's place:



Sweet, huh?!

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Heh .... ya don't day?!

We knew it all along, but nice to see it pointed out:

The Baltimore Sun lambasted Sen. Richard Burr's (R-NC) proposed S. 669 -- Veterans' Second Amendment Protection Act -- in an editorial called "Guns and the mentally ill" published on Nov. 16.

The next day, it was forced to post a retraction. Actually, the paper's editorialists didn't write the retraction, Burr did in a blistering point-by-point rebuke that, essentially, exposed The Sun's opinion-mongers' as being heavy on the opinion, but light on the facts.
It's amazing that the media has been reporting all these years on gun-related issues, yet knows nothing about them or the laws governing them.

Typical.

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Are hey tiring of the 5.56mm?

Saw this on my morning news feed:
Well, the BullDog 762 just went operational, and Defense Review is going to keep an eye on it to see how it performs in the U.S. military Special Operations (SpecOps) arena against hostile enemy personnel. Hopefully, it will assist its operator in his dynamic ballistic problem solving processes.
'Ballistic problem solving processes' - wonder what that means?!

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About the Cooper QotD

I've noticed that the Cooper quotes I've been running are for personal use, not for publication. For this reason, I will discontinue the Cooper quotes.

I invite you to get them yourself (link at left sidebar) and study them .... there is wisdom for the ages there.

Mea culpa

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Saturday, November 28, 2009

Cooper QotD

In a recent paper, we listed a number of reasons for which men fight. One reader took exception to us in that we did not list liberty as a primary motive. As in all philosophic discussion, much depends upon semantics, so I suppose the first thing to do here is to define "liberty" so that we can examine our position. In my view, liberty is that condition which exists when men make their own laws, either directly or indirectly, and are protected from bureaucracy or despotism by unbreakable rules.

Now then, I have fought through a couple wars and a larger number of fighting situations and I have never yet encountered a man who felt that he was fighting for liberty. That doesn't mean that this cannot be a motive, but I did not list it because it seemed so very unlikely to me. I think we could say that the colonists at Bunker Hill were indeed fighting for liberty. I think the Boers in South Africa were fighting for liberty, but I don't see anyone doing it now. Singhalese are not fighting for liberty. The Iranians are not fighting for liberty. The Somalis are not fighting for liberty. The Serbians are not fighting for liberty. Moreover, no American I ran across in the Pacific war nor in Korea felt he was fighting for liberty, and I don't think that anybody on either side in the Vietnamese affair thought that he was.

Thus it is that I do not regard the idea of liberty as a primary motivating force in man's history of combat.

I did leave out one major consideration and I will hasten to insert it now. That motive is hatred. Hatred is a big one, and it appears more often than the rabbit people would like to admit. In my own limited experience in the Pacific war, hatred was the primary motivating emotion of the American forces.
- Jeff Cooper

Friday, November 27, 2009

More supports being knocked out

I got this from a commenter at Vox's site, and it's a great read:
Following an extensive theoretical analysis, two German physicists have determined that the term greenhouse gas is a misnomer and that the greenhouse effect appears to violate basic laws of physics.

Wow, I thought that the global warming cultists had all the science down?!

So after reading this, I came up with an experiment. Get an Arizona university to build 3 greenhouses in a solar-neutral site, fill one with regular air, and the other two with more, or less than the 'normal' amount of CO2 ...... see how temperatures differ.

Science is so simple ........

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I've got this ear worm ....

And his name is Michael Bloomberg:
A federal law repeatedly supported by Congress interfered with the FBI's ability to find out about Hasan's purchase of a handgun. Knowledge of that purchase might -- and should -- have triggered great scrutiny. And it could have saved lives.
Oh my God! If I hear this crap about the Tiahrt amendment preventing the feds from finding out about Nidal Malik Hasan one more time, I believe I'll shit myself.

Currently, a holder of a Federal Firearms License (FFL) is the only person who is required to run a background check on an individual wanting to purchase a firearm.

Private individuals wanting to sell weapons out of their collections don't have to (even at a gun show).

Criminals don't have to (even though that's illegal).

FFL's only. They have to run the purchaser against the NICS database, which is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Please note that this is a check for criminal status.

The NICS checks the purchaser for deficiencies to owning a firearm - the FFL will have the purchaser fill out form 4473 (pdf), answering questions 1-15 (including 12a-l, and 13) personally. The NICS checks this information. If it comes back clear, the NICS gives a transaction code and some other information for the FFL to record on the form, and the sale goes through. FFL and firearms purchaser are happy, the government doesn't keep any information they don't need, and God bless America.

Please note that the FFL is not required to run a check against the FBI Terrorist Watch List, or the State Department List of Terrorist Nations, or the Richard Nixon Hit List, or the Organizing for America Good Cookie List.

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System. And this is where the FFL learns if the purchaser is eligible to purchase the firearm, because his crimes will be listed there (hopefully .... garbage in, garbage out). Not his accusations, or his might-do-something-bad-one-day, or his he's-had-a-bad-hair-day-three-days-in-a-row, or she-voted-Green-Party-so-let's-watch-her.

A crime ..... a disqualifying crime. This is why you don't see very many criminals trying to buy from an FFL.

Now, Bloomberg can make somewhat of a point by pointing out that the FBI used to have access to firearms purchase information for 180 days after the sale. So what if Hasan had bought the weapons 190 days prior? Yes?!

The Tiahrt amendment denied access to gun purchase data because there's no real reason that they would need that. In order to be productive, then the FBI would have to be allerted by the FBI everytime an FFL ran a NICS check from the FBI on someone buying a firearm. Notice that the FBI is the first stop in this convoluted process.

Now, since there are only three answers that NICS can give a FFL dealer, the proper flow of imformation might be helpful. An FFL can be told that the sale is approved, denied, or delayed. If the answer is delayed, the FFL can wait 3 business days, and if he gets no more information, then the sale can go through.

That's where the FBI should be sharing the information that they have. If they've got someone on their watch list, the terrorist bubbas need to be having the NICS boys put some kind of placeholder in the NICS database, letting the firearms bubbas know to alert someone if the subject tries to purchase a firearm .... at least they'd have 3 days to either shit or get off the pot. If the relevant information is properly shared, then everyone at least has a chance to get things straightened out. But understand, if the FFL doesn't hear something in the 3 days, then the sale goes through.

The problem isn't that the NICS boys aren't sharing with the other kids, it's that the other kids aren't telling the NICS boys to be looking.

Of course, our FBI had Hasan under investigation, but didn't think he was violent .... so a fat lot of good this system would have done for the soldiers (and the one civie doctor) at Ft Hood.

Bloomberg, you're a fucking idiot.

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Ok, I can understand the drugs ....

If you're going to have something in your house, it needs to not be drugs:
Further investigation revealed shotguns, rifles and crack cocain [sic] were in an area accessible to the children.
Yeah, I get the drugs ...... and it is New York, so there are likely pretty stupid gun laws.

But interestingly, I had this same conversation with my wife recently. Since I don't have a gun safe, I store my big rifle on a high shelf (unleaded), my .22 in the closet (with no bolt), and if I'm not wearing my Hi-power, it's in the nightstand or my desk drawer. So it is accessible to my 5 year old sometimes.

But I've also taught my daughter about weapons, and she knows to come and get me if she finds one. I'll also show her any of my weapons whenever she wants to see them.

Much to my chagrin, she's not interested!

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Cooper QotD

"Fear of death will not prevent dying − but it may prevent living."
Anonymous

passed along by - Jeff Cooper

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Take this time to be thankful for family and friends, as I am for mine.

Be careful and safe!

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PS - Here's a video about what really happened hat first Thanksgiving!

Cooper QotD

We talked recently with Karin van Graan at Engonyameni in the Eastern Transvaal. She told us she couldn't put Danie on the phone at the time because he was out with a party of pistol hunters. They had tagged a blue wildebeest (which is a very hard animal) four days previously with a 44 Magnum and they were still on his trail. Pistol hunting is certainly a worthy pastime, but obviously not for everyone. The fact that you can row across the Atlantic (with a certain amount of luck) doesn't make rowing across the Atlantic a good idea.
- Jeff Cooper

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

JPFO Alert


What would Thanksgiving be without our veterans?

Truth gets spoken

NJ Atty Gen has started looking at 'less-lethal' force via committee:
The idea is that stun guns will give police an option other than bullets and will therefore save lives. But it's important to note - as Milgram did - that these are "less lethal" weapons, not "non-lethal." Stun guns can kill or cause severe injuries.
So someone in authority is noticing that a stun gun is pretty dangerous - good for her.

BTW, isn't 'less-lethal' sorta like 'less-pregnant'?!

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Cooper QotD

It was interesting to observe the Attorney General coming forth to "accept full responsibility" for the atrocity at Waco. One wonders what that means. When one accepts responsibility, one accepts appropriate punishment for one's transgression. The Japanese have a long tradition of the proper means of accepting responsibility. It is conducted by means of a short, sharp knife. I have such a piece in my armory and I would be glad to part with it in a good cause, such as appropriate use by the Attorney General. - Jeff Cooper

Hee hee hee .....



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Is there anything on the scale worse than 'fraud'?

Vox Day has a good post (among a lot of them out there) on one of the worst of the stories coming out of the global warming kerfluffle:
As bad as they are, the hacked CRU emails are actually turning out to be less damning than the comments made by the unfortunate programmer who was saddled with the responsibility for trying to transform the morass of data collected by the climatologists into something that was actually coherent and usable.
I had a discussion with my son the other day about AGW, and he asked me if I thought the earth wasn't getting warmer? I told him I agree that the earth was getting warmer, I just didn't think humans had anything to do with it.

After thinking about it for a minute, he agreed.

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

JPFO Alert

What are you doing December 15th?

Great .... here we go again

Mick Bloomberg has hisself another boogey-man:
... Ryan Woodard, 22, was peddling guns out of his girlfriend's apartment on Hendricks Avenue, on the same block as a day-care center.

Cooper QotD

In that connection, let us turn back the clock a bit. In the year 1369, Edward III, one of England's truly great monarchs, issued the following order:
"Cause public proclamation to be made, that everyone strong in body at leisure time on holidays use in his recreation the bow and arrow and learn and exercise the art of shooting − forbidding all and singular on our behalf that they do not after any manner apply themselves to the throwing of stones, wood, iron, handball, football, bandyball, cambuck, or cock fighting; nor to other such like vain plays which have no profit in them, under pain of imprisonment."
Edward Rex, Westminster, 12th day of June

After observing the public hysteria which seized the media here in Arizona in connection with the recent basketball season, I can't but think we have been going backwards for quite a long time. - Jeff Cooper

Monday, November 23, 2009

Cooper QotD

Things do not promise well in the land of the Magna Carta. The new policy in British jurisprudence is to assess fines on the basis of the wealth or income of the offender. Thus a reasonably successful man may be punished severely for an offense which would draw no more than a token fine from a proletarian. Truly the
class system is alive and well in Socialist Britain. - Jeff Cooper

Ah, the surety of a protective order (updated)

Bumped .... update below.

Lawdog has a very good post on the value of a protective order. Perhaps Mrs Moore in Des Moines should have read about it:
Polk County Judge Karen Romano ordered Randall Moore, 38, to hand over any guns to county law enforcement by Oct. 26 and to have no contact with his wife. Moore signed the document, agreeing to abide by the order.

On Wednesday, Moore is accused of killing his wife, TereseAnn Lynch Moore, with a shotgun and injuring Des Moines police officer Todd Roland.
Lawdog's point is that paper makes lousy armour.

He's right ..... it's pretty lousy against someone who's intent on doing harm. Better that you have the tools to protect yourself - now it doesn't matter how well the paper does at armouring.

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Update: The family has decided that the popo need to enforce the law better-
The family of a Des Moines woman allegedly shot to death by her estranged husband has issued an open letter asking for better enforcement of laws for domestic violence victims.
Gee, I seem to remember the perp signing the order and agreeing to abide by it. Huh.

I suppose we'll be handing out scarlet letter tattoos next.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Feeding trolls

I'll admit to being an internet novice, but I had always heard 'Don't feed the trolls!'.

Never worked ..... there was always someone there to throw them some chum.

Now I've noticed that some gun bloggers are going to start deleting comments from one of the more virulent trolls. I always thought that our tolerance of someone espousing their views was one of our strong points.

If a troll cries wolf and no one listens, how much harm has he done?

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Link

Cooper QotD

I have had a chance now to look at the Auto Ordnance double−column slimliner, and it looks good. The bulk is surprisingly low for a double−column pistol, and if this piece stands up to hard usage it may actually be the preferred personal defense weapon of the future. - Jeff Cooper

Naturally

Knoxville libraries have done the typical panty-wetter thing to do:
After a patron wore a holstered guns into its Fountain City branch, the Knox County Public Library system has posted signs prohibiting handguns and any weapon at all its branches.
Despite their protestations, of course they allow weapons. Weapons like ....

Pocket knives
Pens and pencils
Keychains
Studded belts
Combat boots
Canes

And that small list doesn't count what you can get behind the librarian's desk.

Breda can fill you in on how one might need a weapon at a library.

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Well, it does happen

Ok .... it does happen, but not like they say:
A Houston windshield repairman has admitted to helping manage a part of a broader conspiracy to traffic more than 300 military-style weapons across the border, part of a plea deal requiring him to tell federal agents about the ring that supplied weapons to Mexico's fearsome Zetas drug cartel.
Now, I've got a few bones to pick about all this Zeta crap. The true Zetas were soldiers from Mexico, and were specially trained at Ft Bragg(?) at the College of the Americas. They went back to Mejico and some went to the highest bidder - drug cartels. So all the 'Zetas' aren't really Zetas.

But the ones who are Zetas can surely get hold of real weaponry - select-fire rifles, light and heavy machine guns, even explosives.

So much crap ..... so little time.

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Dear God, will they never stop?!

Scotland has decided that airguns need to be banned:
Powers allowing airguns to be banned in Scotland are expected to be handed to Holyrood, it has emerged.
I agree that even one death is tragic, but airguns?

Adherence to the 4 Rules cures just about every firearms eventuality - what Scotland, and just about everywhere else, needs is a blow to the head with the fucking common sense stick.

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

I hate to say you were told, but ...... you were told.

David Codrea's latest Gun Rights Examiner column:
Today's Gun Rights Examiner column once more talks about something that not only won't the "Authorized Journalists" tell us about, but what they actively sneer at as unfounded paranoia.
LinkYeah, I know ......

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I might smell a lawsuit

A high school student in Kalifornia is expelled for having unloaded hunting shotguns in his truck:
The Willows Unified School District board of trustees has expelled a 16-year-old for having unloaded shotguns in his pickup parked just off the Willows High School campus.
Not on school property?!

They make a fair case of the schtupid 1000' radius around schools, but as soon as they voted to expel my kid, I'd be filing suit the next day.

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Cooper QotD

When money becomes the objective, truth is abandoned.
The Guru - Jeff Cooper

So much to talk about

In Saratoga Springs, a couple of retail recreational drug distributors were arrested with 2 legal weapons:
While both weapons are legal under state penal code, law enforcement agencies noted this week that possession of weapons by criminals known to be dealing drugs is cause for concern, as the weapons could be used to defend a drug-dealing business from rival dealers.
Or from police busting in the front door with a battering ram.

The article is written such that it looks like the reporter was trying to be more objective on how the firearms were portrayed, and they did a good job until the district attorney piped up and said 'assault weapon'.

Give the link a read ..... see what you think.

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Friday, November 20, 2009

Man with NFA items arrested

A Missouri man was just arrested after a call to police for stalking, but he had an interesting array of weapons:
.... Smith and Wesson air weight .357 revolvers and a loaded speed loader and four loose .357 rounds.

Police also found a loaded Walther P22 pistol with a silencer, a partial box of 90 rounds of CCI subsonic .22 long rifle ammunition, three knives, including a switchblade, Sig Sauer P250 .9mm with silencer, 9mm ammunition for the Sig Sauer pistol, and a M6A2 5.56mm self loading rifle with a silencer and a magazine containing 30 rounds of ammunition for the rifle

Police found an envelope in the glove box containing licenses for all the firearms.

I think it's interesting that there seems to be such a focus on the number of rounds he had ..... not that many at all by enthusiast standards.

But it is interesting that he had some NFA items (three suppressors), and licenses for the weapons. No word on whether the suppressors were legal or not.

Also note that the AR type weapon was called a 'self-loading rifle', not an assault weapon ...... progress?

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JPFO Alert

I think I'll post these email alerts as I get them - got this one today.

JPFO alert.

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Cooper QotD

The recent marketing attempts to sell laser pointers for pistols should be viewed askance. We tested such devices here at the Ranch some years ago when they were much more expensive than they are now, and we discovered that the principle disadvantage of the laser is that it is slow. When you present a pistol properly and pick up the flash sight−picture, you do it in one smooth stroke. When, on the other hand, you present a laser−equipped pistol you must hunt around for that orange dot on the target, which takes more time than the
acquisition of the flash sight picture. The time increment between the two systems is admittedly slight, but one wonders why one should install an expensive gadget in order to create a slight disadvantage. - Jeff Cooper

Thursday, November 19, 2009

This is what's wrong with the justice system

This is why the justice system is so screwed up.

Why do we as a society find it necessary to add all sorts of ancilliary charges to the one that counts - he shot a woman.

Common sense would dictate that he used a - gun?! Charge and punish him for the act against another human being.

'Ah, but pm, we have to take him off the street for a long time.'

Then make the punishment for the crime (of shooting someone) sufficient.

I've long thought that the classifications for murder should be streamlined; murder should be murder, or the intentional taking of another human life. There shouldn't be an 'aggravated' murder, of 'felony' murder, or 'especially wicked' murder ....... murder is murder. And I feel the punishment for murder should be death. Period.

But don't get me started ......

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I think I threw up a little in my mouth

For your edification, an example of how the leftards try to frame the issue.

I know it'll hurt ......

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Cooper QotD

In that connection, I notice a rebirth of shooting sticks in both Africa and Europe. I have a pair I whittled out when in junior high school, but never found to be of much use in the woods. Carrying a rifle has always been enough of a chore in itself without carrying awkward accessories. In unforested, high grass country, the portable rest may have some use. I have never hunted such terrain, but
the high grass of what is now called Namibia did call for the repeated use of the tree rest when I was there last.

All these matters will be fully considered in "The Art of the Rifle" at such time as I get around to writing it. - Jeff Cooper

Feminism rulz!

Seems like the Brits have the 'right' idea about women and firearms:
According to the 2008-09 figures, of the 144 women caught, 88 were cautioned, 47 were charged and five were handed youth reprimands.
'Now madame, you must be mindful of those nasty guns ..... they can bring you no peace.'

Of course, since they consider pepper sprays and the like as firearms, we can't be sure of how many actual firearms violations we're talking about.

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NFA shenanigans

Found an interesting document from the BATFE while doing something else this morning, and it made me think about an earlier post.

So the ATF has always told us the purpose of the National Firearms Act is to raise revenue, but here we have their own document stating the purpose is to
limit the availability of machine guns, short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, sound suppressors (silencers), and other similar weapons that were often used by criminals during the Prohibition Era.
Not what we were told? Unpossible.

And of course, they then admit that the NFA was expanded in 1986 to cover even more weapons.

Doesn't limit sound something like infringe?

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This one's strange

A retired college professor is killed during a home invasion robbery:
The retired Brigham Young University professor who died Monday in a home invasion collected high-powered firearms, some of which may have been automatic, a neighbor said.
Link
What is not specifically mentioned is that any of these weapons were actually stolen.
As for missing NFA weapons, wouldn't the BATFE be able to determine whether any of his registered collection are missing? Oh that's right .... the NFRTR hasn't been that accurate.

Need input .....

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This sounds like a good idea

South Carolina makes up for electing Lindsay Graham:

South Carolina shoppers will get a second chance to buy tax-free guns.

The state Revenue Department sent out a reminder Wednesday of the upcoming "Second Amendment Weekend."

The 48-hour tax break begins just after midnight the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Now that's a stimulus I can get behind!


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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Oops! (with Update)

Victim selection FAIL:

The employee was able to confiscate the guns during the fight, and both men ran away.

Nice to hear!

Update: That one's not as bad as this one! h/t Say Uncle

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Cooper QotD

On a recent and delightful visit to Finn and Berit Aagaard in Texas I discovered that the Clifton bipod showed up well at the recent Keneyathlon at the Whittington Center. I have never had occasion to use a bipod on a live target, there being nearly always too much grass or intervening vegetation to permit firing from a position that low; however, I have taken several field shots from the prone position, and if you can use prone you can use a bipod, especially one that vanishes when not in use. - Jeff Cooper

Yeah, police!

Georgia law enforcement is getting the rough criminals off the street:
The hearing on the charges against a West Point, Ga., city councilwoman who authorities allege illegally served alcoholic beverages at a bridal shop she owns in Columbus was postponed Tuesday for a second time.
Wow .... mimosas served a a bridal shop! Ruralown is safe!

And the woman maintains that the clerk at the courthouse said she didn't need a license to serve.

I agree - serving a mimosa in a bridal shop sounds normal, even celebratory (and we know that as far as weddings go, the groom is the last piece of the puzzle!).

And as far as needing state permission to serve alcohol, that's something the state came up with.

It's my opinion that the entities involved here should drop the matter as quickly and quietly as possible.

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Militia and teenagers

My last post got me thinking.

Why could a parent not challenge a student's suspension on the basis that the right to firearms is an individual right (in light of Heller), that there is ample evidence of teens as young as 16 being in the military, and the student had the parents' permission to have the firearms, and they were safely locked in the vehicle?

Just a thought ....

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Zero tolerance crap

Another example of how schools are completely losing touch with reality:
Administrators searched the 17-year-old student’s car about 1:30 p.m. after receiving information from another student about the location of the guns.

A rifle, a pistol and ammunition were found in the vehicle. The guns were not loaded at the time. The student had left the guns in the car after going shooting during the weekend.
And this was in Alaska?! St Sarah, save us!

Seriously, in a state with as self-reliant a culture as Alaska, this should not be happening. But school policies are designed so as not to have to exercise judgement, simply follow the 'policy'.

Zero tolerance - last refuge of trained monkeys.*

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*apologies to trained monkeys

The non-lethal less-lethal not-as-lethal Taser use-of-force

Michigan police have demonstrated what a crutch crock Tasers are:
Bolick then ran into his house with that officer and a second officer, who had arrived separately, in pursuit. After a struggle in which the officers fired their stun guns two or three more times, they took Bolick into custody, Herald said.

Although an ambulance crew was on the scene, Bolick died at the house around 9:45 p.m.
To me, it sounds like the guy was probably on some kind of drug, prescribed or otherwise, and that could have set the stage for the death. But I have no doubt it was the use of the two Tasers 'two or three more times' that did it.

I realize the dilemma that officers face on the streets; but I also know that if I punch a law enforcement officer in the face, the consequences here in Ruraltown won't be pleasant for me.

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Citizens get it

A citizen writes a short letter to an editor:
A military base being a "Gun Free Zone" is preposterous. We arm our soldiers and send them into battle, but they can't defend themselves on their own bases!
I would be nice of the next president had enough sense of freedom to get rid of this schtupid rule.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Some people want to deny human nature

Coming from the Baltimore Sun, this should be no surprise:
That's why it's somewhat bizarre that North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr is standing behind legislation he introduced last March that would restore gun ownership rights to veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Justice as "mentally incapacitated" or "mentally incompetent."
On the 4473 form, the question is 'have you been adjudicated a mental defective', not 'someone says you're crazy'.

So the Baltimore Sun would deny the right to arms to the very people who have fought for the right? Scary, not to mention exceedingly stupid. If you're that fucked in the head to not be able to handle a firearm, you shouldn't be running around in public.

They also have these insane statements to make:
If, however, the nation wants to honor those who died at Fort Hood, they could scarcely do better than to stand behind gun purchase background checks that can help spare their families' lives
Yoo hoo, fucksticks! Maj Hasan bought both firearms recovered legally, undergoing an instant background check ..... just in case the Baltimore Sun doesn't realize, a Major in the armed forces is exactly who is demonstrably qualified under the nations' byzantine gun laws to purchase and own a firearm. If he weren't, he probably wouldn't be an officer, now would he.
As another tragedy, the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech that took the lives of 32 innocent people, also demonstrated, a ban on gun purchases by the mentally ill can't be effective if authorities are not made aware of who they are.
Mr Cho also bought his weapons legally, also undergoing an instant background check (instant background checks advocated by the Brady bunch, btw) - it's not his fault that the 'authorities' weren't sharing the necessary information in which to make an informed decision.

Fucksticks one and all ....... my head hurts.

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Cooper QotD

July is not one of the better months − too hot in the northern hemisphere and too cold in the southern. It also is the month when the wilderness areas are at their worst clutter, with city people scampering around throwing pop cans in all directions. Nonetheless, it is the month in which we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which it was set forth unmistakably for posterity that human rights are not granted by man but rather by God, and that when any government or institution threatens those rights it is the duty of the people to abolish it. That is an idea especially pungent at this stage of America's political devolution. - Jeff Cooper

Let the scrumming begin

Looks like the pile-on has started:
The former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called Monday for the U.S. to reinstitute the ban on assault weapons and take other measures to rein in the war between Mexico and its drug cartels
Everyone is getting in on the action. I suppose it's a good thing that Democrat leaders admit they don't have the votes to pass this garbage.

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Wow .... hi-tech really hits

FN Herstal has apparently made a significant advance in firearms:
Firearms manufacturer FN Herstal has designed and built a Black Box that, when attached to a weapon, counts rounds fired, measures burst rate, and detects stoppages--information it then stores to facilitate more effective maintenance.
This could be interesting as it concerns weapons trials with the military, especially if a manufacturer can show how much better their weapon is.

Stay tuned ....

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Cooper QotD

I have never been taken with the idea of selling a gun. When you possess a firearm, you possess something of importance. If you trade it for cash, you have lost it − and the cash in your hand will soon be gone. Sell something else!
- Jeff Cooper

Unpossible!

Police are the Only Ones® qualified to have these weapons, aren't they?
That's changed since one of the guns was stolen from an officer's car last month.
What?! Surely not?!

So now there's a police-supplied fully automatic weapon in the hands of a criminal. Seems like civilian owners of these weapons take better care of their heavy weaponry.

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Hollywood learns?

Jessica Biel has this to say about her new role in 'The A-team':
"I haven't done a lot of M4 machine gun shooting in my life and I'm doing that now a lot, it's amazing to understand how to run those weapons."
Because the M4 was developed after the '86 machine gun ban, so real M4's are restricted to military and law enforcement (which is not to say you couldn't build one on a transferable receiver).

She also has this to say:
I'm getting to understand those weapons a little bit better, it's always challenging.
Not so challenging as to be impossible - good on ya for at least being open-minded about it.

Now, this begs the question - is she amazed about how to 'run the gun' or about how much FUD the Hollywood elite has dispensed over the years?

And you're using an M4 assault rifle, not a generic assault weapon. Just to clear that up for you!

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