Heh

I'm not that bad..........no matter what The Wife says.

(shamelessly swiped from Mike Vanderboegh)

How's That Apology Working Out?

If, according to the president, we need to apologize to Muslims because we must accept that they have such an innate, extraordinary ardor for their religion that barbaric reactions to trivial slights are inevitable, then they should not be invited to enter a civilized country. At the very least, our immigration laws should exclude entry from Muslim-majority countries unless and until those countries expressly repeal repressive sharia laws (e.g., the death penalty for apostates) and adopt American standards of non-discrimination against, tolerance of, and protection for religious minorities.

If I could only write half so well about what I believe. There's nothing to be gained there anymore. Let them sink back into their paradise of hate, revenge, and brutishness. Our people are far too valuable to risk them for those who loathe us.

Ugly Gun Sunday

Is there anything a collapsible M4-style stock won't attach to?

Somewhere, someone is figuring out how they can mount one to a chopped flintlock.

Time For A Microscope

Could the woman have done what the police allege? Yes, she could. But it seems pretty damn unlikely. This thing needs to be reviewed in detail by an agency with nothing at stake in its relationship with local law enforcement.

I've got a feeling someone had a serious case of "respect my authority" rage, and let their feelings drive their trigger finger. We shall see (if things are done the ethical way).

(H/T to Knuckledraggin My Life Away.

Another Outbreak of Tolerance

Another fine member of the Religion of Peace demonstrating love and tolerance for those who offend him.

Some personal perspective; although I'm an atheist, I don't, and will not, attempt to insult people who have different beliefs. Until their beliefs interfere with my personal liberty, it's none of my business. Secondly, many with different beliefs who attempt to live those beliefs, make society a better place for all of us through charity, good works, and concern for their neighbors. Last, I don't like being preached to about how wrong I am, and I'm confident I'm not alone in that.

In this case, the complainants managed to break all of those standards. It was obviously offensive, although in a juvenile manner that reminds me of the OWS protests by young people with little life experience, or older individuals with arrested development. At a personal level, idiots like these leave me reluctant to say much of anything about my beliefs, as I think most people these days equate "atheist" with "obnoxious ass".

All that said, the main problem is this: an individual felt it appropriate to assault another for a difference of opinion, and a member of our legal system has place the practice of his currently practiced religion above the law:

"Then what you have done is you have completely trashed their essence, their being. They find it very very very offensive. I'm a Muslim, I find it offensive. But you have that right, but you're way outside your boundaries or first amendment rights."

This is just a taste of what's coming in the future as individual liberty is sacrificed on the altar of societal harmony as seen by the left. Islam and socialism/communism share the trait of complete intolerance for dissent. Both are making inroads into American society that would have been incomprehensible a mere twenty years ago. And it seems to be acceptable to the majority of the population, as long as there are funds for cable tv and fast food.

Give it five to ten more years, and we'll be seeing Afghanistan-style Koran riots here.

That'll Learn You to Protect Yourself

Five to one odds, multiple warnings, and on the phone with 911 dispatch when he fired a shot after the thugs retreated, then reattempted to close with him from two directions at once.

For this, he was jailed, evicted, fired, and defamed. Oh, and acquitted.

That's what happens when the masses get uppity about thinking they're allowed to protect their selves.

A tip of the hat to An NC Gun Blog; I'd try to know what's happening locally, but I'm unwilling to pay for a rag that thinks cornfield communism is the road to utopia.

Ugly Gun Sunday

Somehow, this strikes me as something that was intended for targets less than a foot away.

Ugly Gun Sunday

The previous two week had some guns that generally aren't considered tactical converted to that category. Now, we have something tactical that's definitely gone the other way.

You've Got Future In Politics, Kid

Congratulations, leftists. I think your years of infiltrating the American education system are bearing fruit:

"Look, we're teenagers," added Murray. "We can't always like think for ourselves. We need the government to do it for us."

Let me says this now: it sucks that the young lady died. I wish she'd been able to get up from that accident, brush herself off, and think about what went wrong. It didn't happen that way, and now everyone else must pay.

A bit of advice, kids. Bad decisions by one individual doesn't mean the rest of us are willing to have others make our decisions. There's far too much of that already. And if you want to make an effective argument about how laws will uniformly result in compliance, I suggest you look at your social circle. I'm willing to bet cash there's a fair number of your peers smoking weed, drinking underage, not wearing seat belts, shoplifting, and sampling prescribed meds that aren't theirs. Because I was a teenager, as well as working 20+ years in hospitals and the military. I've seen how law oriented kids are.

Laws motivate those who are afraid of punishment, and there's a fair number of you that don't seem to respond to that. If you want people to wear helmets, I suggest you try persuasion. But that's harder, isn't it. Because people still have a choice, no matter how wrong you think they are. But in the spirit of reciprocity, here's a suggestion. How about we ban all teenagers from operating personal motor vehicles? Or any wheeled transportation device? That should make things safer, and since you can't think for yourselves, you don't really need any input on it, do you?

It's Been A While

Due to a deployment, then being back in school while working, and another deployment, it's been some time since I've done much handloading. I believe it's time to inventory the loading room, and do some reorganizing, as there are items that have been on the benches where I left them over three years ago.

One of the reasons I started handloads was my area of interest. I like old military rifles. If you've been around a number of years, you'll know that that some calibers like 30-06 or 8mm Mauser can be plentiful and cheap for years, then next to impossible to find or unpleasantly expensive later (think surplus .303 British- I remember when it was dirt cheap). But there's an area of old rifles and ammunition where handloads are the only practical way to go. Look up the price of factory .43 Spanish, for an extreme example. Even more modern rounds like 6.5 x 55 Swedish or .30-40 Krag, although more available, are relatively expensive as they're generally new manufacture hunting loads. When you get to 6.5 Japanese or 7.62 x 45mm Czech, you can recover your loading equipment costs in a short number of rounds. Granted, a lot of these relatively modern but obscure rounds don't offer anything unique in performance. But without them, an otherwise functional gun is just a wall decoration.

So for the next week or so, I'll be digging out the books and gear to start producing 7.5 French rounds for the MAS 49/56 I dug out the vault. I believe it's been shot once since I bought it back when they were on the surplus market; time to get the grease off it and put it back to use.

Ugly Gun Sunday

The companion piece to last week's Ugly Gun. Now, I can see where in some locales where restrictions are just short of complete bans, that this would make sense. If all you can have is a break-open shotgun, then having a place for a flashlight and red dot scope makes some sense. But it's hard to make it look like it all goes together.

As an aside, swap out those smooth bored barrels for rifled, and you'd have something for spotlighting African big game.

Say Again?

As my coworkers know, I've some hearing loss, along with moderate tinnitus. So frequently when they speak to me quickly, I have to process what it sounds like I heard into what was probably said. So when I was typing an e-mail today, a coworker asked what I was working on. I replied that I was trying to send information on a medical system being taken down for an upgrade, but my typing (I'm old; even on a computer, it's typing to me) was giving me problems. And the response I heard, before I was able to process it, was this:

"Well, I'm-a huntin' pecker"

That stopped my typing. Until my usual process kicked in, and turned it into "Well, I'm a "hunt and pecker" (typist)".

End result, it's apparent I have a filthy mind, and my female colleague will never use that particular phrase again.

Another Year Paid For

Just got back from the annual paying of dues and policy brief the local gun club. $85 per year for a range with up to 300 yards of distance available, covered shooting areas, electricity, and potable water. NRA membership is required. Not a bad price, compared to what I've seen for dues at many ranges that have webpages.

It also seems that new members are showing up in greater numbers than I've seen in the last fifteen years. It's great seeing new people spending more time shooting. Unfortunately, it makes going to the range interesting in ways I'd rather avoid. Like young people who can't understand why I'm bitchy about fingers out of the trigger guard when they're not actively shooting (and especially when combined with pointing that pistol laterally down the firing line while squinting at that target downrange). Or wandering around behind the firing line with weapon in hand doing 360 degree sweeps while chatting with friends. Or my personal favorite, the experienced shooter/hunter who sits at the bench fiddling with his unloaded (just ask him!) rifle pointed downrange while others service their targets. All of which are specifically forbidden in the range rule handbook.

Aside from maybe five members I've known for years, I'm starting to feel safer behind the firing line when I go to the range. Hell, I'm actually to the point where I like how the Army runs firing ranges.

Armchair Physicians

Medicine has no guarantees when it comes to improvement. Many procedures will improve most patient's health, but not all. More often, procedures will improve the patients condition compared to when the patient originally presented, but not to the patient's, or patient's family, satisfaction.

Why? Because the sheer complexity of the human body, and it's interaction with the environment, surpass current capability to identify all factors that cause or aggravate illness. That's why you can have a technically successful procedure, and still have an outcome that isn't completely successful.

So, should you have a family member who has had a stent (not a "stench"; we don't place stenches, although I've worked with a few people who've brought their own with them) placed in artery, your family member may come back needing more work in that same area at a later date. Because some people build plaque in their arteries no matter what they do or take for meds. Thus, implying that the doctor who worked on it the first time is incompetent isn't helpful. In other words, saying "fix it right this time" tends to make staff think that the individual speaking is an ignorant ass unable to appreciate that their relative would likely have had only one foot at this point, if it weren't for the first repair we did.

As an aside, we did fix it right. Again. And that patient will be back with the same problem. Because there's only one cure for aging, and things have to get pretty bad before most people are willing to experience it.