Friday, January 21, 2011

And, to start off your weekend early,

Deer roping
and
The Attack Squirrel

Borrowed from Borepatch

We've all seen what happens when you combine crazy gun laws with possibly politically motivated government. A bunch of folks took this kind of personally. People have been asking what they can do.

TJIC himself has been pretty gracious about the whole thing, saying that he's in good shape (so far) and recommending that people toss another sawbuck in the plate on Sunday if they want to help the world out. Fine advice for all of us.

But +5 Insightful to Top Of The Chain, who brings a wicked smaht idea:

So last night after I buycotted a graphic novel from Heavy Ink, TJIC commented on the previous post with this.

Btw, if comic books aren't your thing, I own and run a second business: SmartFlix.com.

Sign up for Combat Pistol University

http://smartflix.com/store/video/6303/Combat-Pistol-University


... or Gunsmithing University:

http://smartflix.com/store/video/6614/Gunsmithing-University

...or one of the others:

http://smartflix.com/store/universities
So instead of entertaining yourself with the latest Spiderman, Batman, etc., you can get yourself some practical knowledge from a variety of subjects.
The idea isn't a boycott, it's a buycott - support business that you like. I look and see all sorts of shooty goodness there, including this:
oday the M1 is enjoying a resurgence as a long range match rifle through the DCM program and the recent availability of imported surplus rifles. If you own a M1 Garand or it's magazine fed brother the M1A you'll want this course so that you can truly understand how your rifle functions, be able to totally strip it and reassemble it down to the last part and perform basic repairs. You will even understand how that mysterious clip feed system works and how to adjust it. Improving accuracy is also discussed. The differences and similarities internally between the M1 and the M1A are shown in detail.

This video was added to our catalog on January 01, 2000 in Firearms::M-1 / Garand.
As you see, they're helpfully tagged for your browsing convenience. Other tags include AK-47 and 1911 (by God). And there's a nifty Amazon-like Wisdom-Of-Crowds thingie, which helpfully points out:

Customers who rented this DVD also rented

So take a moment to browse over to SmartFlix. There may just be something there for you - if so, order it. Post it on your site.

And to the point of this post - let's drive so much business his way that Governor Patrick will want to break ground at the new SmartFlix World Headquarters.


The original here

Apparently Obama and the State Department are so in love

with the idea of communists taking over countries that they're STILL trying to get Zelaya back into Honduras. Like there's nothing better to worry about than pushing a small country to let a Castro wannabe back in to screw things up even more.


I think the Evil Party weenies are kind of panicked by the vote the repeal Obamacare, and it shows. I think it's not just the vote passing with a far greater margin than the vote to enact it, I think it's that a whole bunch of Stupid Party politicians actually held to their promise to have a vote and put everyone on the record; I think that scares hell out of the EP, and explains a lot of the "Thsi is just a gesture" and "It won't pass in the Senate so we won't even vote on it" noise. If Reid is so certain it won't pass and was actually worried about time, he'd just schedule the vote and get it done; if he's so confident the people actually love the bill he'd WANT the EP Senators to be on record voting for it again. That he's so solid on "I won't let it come to a vote" says he knows how ticked off people are about it and does NOT want EP Senators on the record as voting for it a second time.


Article on the revolt/revolution going on in Tunisia; one of the interesting things there is the same thing that's happened in other places, including Iran: the use of cell phones and internet to bypass the usual communication channels. You realize that we could help some revolutions go by putting some kind of phone repeater system up so the government could not cut these communications? Drive the tyrants nuts, wouldn't it?


Since the call for civility we have seen
A Democratic congressman compare republicans to Nazi’s and refuse to apologize at first then finally did.

A liberal talkshow host made oral sex jokes concerning the Republican Female Lt. gov of Wisconsin on the air.

A second lib talker fantasized on air about murdering Rush Limbaugh.

and on the Joy Behar show Sarah Palin was referred to as a Nazi and blamed her for the Tucson Massacre

We could go on but it’s kinda late as I’m writing this
.


This is just too damned icky(I know, but the word fits) to deal with right now. But between a lot of idiots pretending to be parents and celebritutes like these being looked up to by kids, what do we expect?


Well, the only surprise here is it took this long; I'd imagine the investigators and prosecutors office were crapping bricks every time Dupnik opened his mouth.


BATFE once again decides to legislate. Because the Scary Black Shotgun doesn't meet someone's standard of 'sporting'.


Blackfive once wrote about his past experience with troops from different countries in bar fights, and said the Aussies were just plain bad news; that appears to be an understatement.
He was awarded a Medal for Gallantry in December 2006 for his courage under fire in Afghanistan's Chora Valley in the same battle in which Sergeant Matthew Locke, who was killed in action during 2007, won his MG. During that fight, according to comrades, "RS" tore a Taliban fighter off his back like an insect, stood on his throat and shot him dead.

By the time the battle was over about 60 Taliban lay dead from small arms fire, hand-to-hand combat and close air support
.
He's about to receive the Victoria Cross for more recent actions.


Yeah, he was screaming "You must die!" and chopping the door down because he just wanted to scare him. Yeah. In most of the US, outside of the PRs, Mr. I Want To Scare You would've assumed ambient temperature due to severe ballistic poisoning; wonder what'll happen to him if convicted? For that matter, while I believe that arms ownership is heavily regulated in Denmark, no idea what level of freedom you have to use one in self-defense; so if he'd had a firearm, would this be a (fG)British-level 'shoot the man trying to kill you and you'll go to jail' situation?


From Jay G on the situation in the PROM:
Second thought: I've actually had folks e-mail me about this same sort of scenario. "Aren't you afraid your opinions will get you in trouble in MA?" It's something I've struggled with, because as the above story shows, they can - and will - revoke your ability to legally exercise your Second Amendment rights for exercising your First Amendment rights. I expect the ACLU to be all over this case any time now - if this is not a clear and egregious example of the government infringing on this man's First (and Second) Amendment rights, then we have no rights in this country.
...
There's that "suitability" again. For any reason whatsoever, the licensing authority in your town of residence can decide that you are no longer suitable and revoke your MA LTC. You will have to surrender your firearms, handing them over to an FFL who will most likely charge you for the service until you can find suitable homes for them. At best you can apply for an FID card which will allow you to own shotguns and low-capacity long arms - those are "shall issue" - but any handguns and "high capacity" semi-automatic rifles are gone (and some folks consider the Ruger 10/22 to be a "high capacity" rifle).

They point to his blog postings as evidence that he is unsuitable - hogwash. What he wrote is distasteful to some - advocating the assassination of members of Congress immediately following a senseless shooting is in poor taste IMHO - but it's not treason. It's not inciting violence - he does not advocate the shooting of congress critters, he makes (what I assume to be) a tongue-in-cheek assessment that care needs to be taken to avoid collateral damage. It's in poor taste, that's for certain - but a threat? Hardly. There's nothing threatening involved
.


Back to the subject of abortion; was looking at other posts at Borepatch and ran into this:
So determined are they to have a girl that they recently terminated twin boys conceived through IVF. The couple said it was a traumatic decision but that continuing to have unlimited numbers of children was not an option.

If their test case fails, they said they will go to the US to conceive a girl.

The couple, who cannot be identified, conceived three boys naturally.

The woman, in her thirties, said she loved her sons but would do anything to have a daughter. She admitted she was obsessed with having a daughter and that it had become vital to her psychological health.

The man said, "After what we have been through, we are due for a bit of luck. We want to be given the opportunity to have a girl."

I'm going to pass on the other things I could say; for now I'll just note
You DID 'have the opportunity', asshole; nature and your combined genetics said "No". That you're willing to keep getting pregnant and keep aborting those nasty boys until you get what you want...


And finally, where would you think a forecast like this might come from?
Temperature
3 in 10 chance of a mild start

3 in 10 chance of an average start
4 in 10 chance of a cold start


Precipitation
3 in 10 chance of a wet start
3 in 10 chance of an average start

4 in 10 chance of a dry start


Summary
: There is an increased risk for a cold and wintry start to the winter season.

Looking further ahead beyond this assessment there are some indications of an increased risk of a mild end to the winter season.

If you thought this
you'd be wrong.

A couple of state Senators had words for the COP and

councilmen on their calls for registration; including that it would be really nice if the COP worried more about catching illegal aliens, like the one who used a AR15 to shoot an officer a while back, instead of wanting to screw with honest people who own such firearms. Which sounds like a good idea.

I would also note, for Chief Citty and the Councilmen, that an illegal alien CANNOT LEGALLY BUY A FIREARM OF ANY KIND, so even if their registration idea was law it wouldn't have stopped him since he got the thing illegally anyway.

Of course, that would mean dealing with inconvenient facts that don't support what they want to do, so I doubt they'll pay attention to it.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

In the PROM*, as the commenter says,

...with Freedom and Liberty for All.*


*Offer does not apply in MA.




This is among the reasons why 'may issue' and letting the local LE head have complete say over who can and can't have(or keep) a firearms license of any kind is garbage.


*To those who may not have seen it before, People's Republic of Massachusetts . Also works for Maryland which is at least as much a hellhole for people who actually believe in those founding documents.

In which Japete demonstrates, once again, that facts

really don't matter to her. And her friends & minions.
I am just amazed that you guys are trying to rewrite commonly held American views on what happened during the awful period with the KKK and civil rights.
'Commonly held views'. She doesn't dispute the facts(I guess she's grown tired of having her ass handed to her when she does), she's seriously bent out of shape because the facts pointed out don't match up with the 'commonly held views' she wants to push.

Whole thing here, found thanks to Robb


By the way, didn't Condoleeza Rice mention her father keeping loaded guns handy to keep the night riders away? Of course, that would 'alarm' Japete horribly if you brought up

Further reason why NPR should be defunded

Borrowing from Tam's post,
As it turns out, prior to the show, a blogger of my acquaintance received the following email:

From: Matthew Baskin mdbaskin@gmail.com
To: XXXX
Sent: Fri, January 14, 2011 1:32:22 PM
Subject: NPR show On Point needing progressive gun guest

Hi Mr. Blogger,

My name is Matthew Baskin and I work for the NPR program On Point with Tom Ashbrook. I’m writing to ask if you’d be able to speak as a guest on Monday, January 17. We’re looking for a gun owner and 2nd Amendment supporter who is not opposed to the forthcoming McCarthy bill re: limiting magazine capacity. I’d be very grateful if you could put me in touch with any gun owner who is not opposed to regulation. Let me know if anyone comes to mind. Thanks very much.

Best,
Matthew Baskin


Which just goes to point out the Totally Unbiased nature of the debate.
Not looking for opposing views, not for any kind of real debate, oh no, they ONLY want a gun owner and 2nd Amendment supporter who is not opposed to the forthcoming McCarthy bill.

And, of course, no mention that it would also ban a lot of firearms, including antiques; that would not fit the narrative.

I'm wondering if the cold has frozen some brain cells(that they really can't spare)

in some people? It might explain some things. For instance,
A bit back, Congressman Steve Cohen was going on about getting a carry permit after the Tucson shooting. Now, he’s actually sponsoring the ban on standard capacity magazines. Also, he likens those that support repeal of Obamacare to Nazis. This guy’s fun to watch.
I guess he wants a carry permit but one that'll only allow substandard-capacity mags. And he didn't get the "You're not supposed to talk that way" memo, either.
Speaking of which, there needs to be a "You should not change what I actually said, especially when people actually KNOW what I said" memo:
The New York Times did this earlier, deleting Obama's line about whether incivil debate caused the Tucson shooting -- "It did not," Obama said, fairly directly, contradicting the New York Times' Narrative.
...
And now High Priestess of Advanced Dementia With Paranoid Complex Joan Walsh of Salon is pressed into the great duty of fixing her god's words so they agree with the prophecy.

Here's what Obama actually said:



Ah, MTV: no music videos except for very late night/early morning, and now this. As if another reason was needed not to watch it.


I don't write much on the subject of abortion. Whatever way you think on it, it should be a basic standard that clinics and doctors that perform them have to meet the standards for conduct, cleanliness, etc.; apparently PA didn't really care about those things:
The only exception to this live-and-let-die policy was supposed to be for complaints dumped directly on the department’s doorstep. Those, at least, could be investigated. Except that there were complaints about Gosnell, repeatedly. Several different attorneys, representing women injured by Gosnell, contacted the department. A doctor from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia hand-delivered a complaint, advising the department that numerous patients he had referred for abortions came back from Gosnell with the same venereal disease. The medical examiner of Delaware County informed the department that Gosnell had performed an illegal abortion on a 14-year-old girl carrying a 30-week-old baby. And the department received official notice that a woman named Karnamaya Mongar had died at Gosnell’s hands.

Yet not one of these alarm bells – not even Mrs. Mongar’s death – prompted the department to look at Gosnell or the Women’s Medical Society. Only after the raid occurred, and the story hit the press, did the department choose to act. Suddenly there were no administrative, legal, or policy barriers; within weeks an order was issued to close the clinic. And as this grand jury investigation widened, department officials “lawyered up,” hiring a high-priced law firm to represent them at taxpayer expense. Had they spent as much effort on inspection as they did on attorneys, none of this would have happened to begin with
.
This is disgusting stuff.


Speaking of disgusting, Rep. McCarthy's new gun/magazine ban bill includes some little surprises, like

We have the final language of the McCarthy Bill, as introduced in Congress. A key aspect to this proposed law, which I have not touched on before, is perhaps the most important aspect of it:

(v)(1)(A)(i) Except as provided in clause (ii), it shall be unlawful for a person to transfer or possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device.

The law begins with the default presumption that it is illegal to possess a “large capacity ammunition feeding device.” That you possessed the magazine prior to the ban would be an affirmative defense to the charge in court that you possessed a magazine with 11 rounds or more. You could be arrested and charged for possessing one, and be forced to prove in court that you owned it prior to the ban.
...
Remember when they call for “common ground,” and “common sense,” they want you in prison. They are at the height of their disingenuousness when they use this kind of language in the debate. If I were a lawyer, and I was your lawyer, I’d suggest the safe thing to do is throw all your magazines that hold 11 rounds or more in a river, along with your Henry Rifles, if you wanted to be completely safe from prosecution persecution in the even this bill were, God forbid, to actually pass.
And I've no doubt McCarthy would love to see people in prison simply for not being able to double-solid-swear-PROVE they owned a magazine before this piece of crap went through.

And please note that yes, this would ban a lot of rifles such as the Henry(the originals as well as reproductions), which is- from the gun bigot point of view- an 'improvement' on the Clinton AWB.


Ah, the wonders of the People's Republic of MA: the COP can suspend your firearms license because
Police Captain Robert Bongiorno said that Corcoran’s firearms license was suspended on the grounds of “suitability,’’ pending the results of an investigation into whether a comment Corcoran allegedly made online was intended as a threat in reference to the Jan. 8 shooting in Arizona that left six people dead and 13 wounded.


Eeek. This is a nasty flaw indeed, Kel-Tec better fix it fast.


More later, I need food.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Well, bleep

This will be at the level of the Maunder Minimum of 1675 -1715.

This would NOT be good

Awww, it's so cute

when they have babies

Oh HELL yes

Well, if Rep. Jackson Lee isn't the dumbest,

she's definitely in the running. Jeez, what a load of fertilizer.

However you stand on the Obama birth certificate stuff,

this does not help matters.
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.

Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star Advertiser he was searching within the Hawaii Department of Health to find definitive vital records that would prove Obama was born in Hawaii, because the continuing eligibility controversy could hurt the president's chances of re-election in 2012.

Donalyn Dela Cruz, Abercrombie's spokeswoman in Honolulu, ignored again today another in a series of repeated requests made by WND for an interview with the governor.
As I recall, Abercrombie said a while back that he'd seen the original birth certificate; now this?

About that 'more friendly language' in politics,

would help if these clowns actually believed in it.
That photoshopped image ran in a Hispanic newspaper in Georgia and depicts our newly elected governor as Hitler. Of course the governor is Republican and the article quotes a Democrat state lawmaker. Seems they ain't too happy with Mr Deal's position on illegal immigrants.

Take a minute today and call/write your Senators and Rep

and ask them to look into what Codrea has been calling Project Gunwalker. I've mentioned it before, but the problem is greater now(as if' that's possible) because at least some of the Senators contacted just don't seem too interested, which is disgusting.

More at Sipsey Street, where Senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Charles Grassley of Iowa are specifically named as being contacted, and, well,
Folks, this has been a frustrating morning. Senate staffers who have been completely briefed on the Project Gunwalker scandal over the last few weeks are deliberately not answering their phones. Others, including Charlie Harmon, the chief of staff of Saxby Chambliss, the U.S. Senator from Georgia, told one of his constituents, "We're on it." Yet, when pressed about the urgency of the matter, said "these guys need to get a lawyer."

No, Charlie, right now they need a Senator with a spine and a pair to do his damn job. The agents need a Senator to COME TO THEM. There are ongoing investigations, the main thrust of which, in my opinion, is to cover up the circumstances of Project Gunwalker and the death of Border Patrol agent Terry. To volunteer to go to the press during an ongoing investigation can end their careers or put them in jail themselves. Yet some are willing to do so, if forced by the inaction of your elected senators and representatives. The tools that the agency, Main Justice and the White House have at their disposal to shut these agents up are many and powerful. These guys need whistleblower protection NOW.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

So Kevin had words with a socialist(who probably calls herself

a good liberal) and conversation ensues. Go read. I'll just point to one particular bit:
We elect the people whom we believe to be the most competent, people who are supposed to have our best interests in mind (ideally), and we elect them so that they may govern the masses.
?
Bleep.
Lady, Deity-DAMNED if I've ever voted for someone to 'govern the masses'; I elect someone who's supposed to represent me. People who want to govern in that way want to rule us, and us nasty conservative/libertarian types do not hold with that. It makes us think of tar, feathers and ropes.

Have you noticed that wen an awful lot of liberals defend Sarah

Palin, they can't simply say "What you're doing is wrong" or something of the sort? Nooo, they have to throw in all kinds of caveats and "She's stupid and a Republican" crap to note just what good liberals or progressives or whatever they are, but they're above the nastiness enough to defend her anyway.

I'd have a lot more respect for them if they could simply say "Hey, blaming her for 'X' is incorrect, and idiotic and just wrong" and stop there.

What's that line somebody came up with, "Palin isn't a politician, she's a Rorschach blot"?

I'm going to start this with one of the more pisses-me-off things

I've seen in a while: at the MLK Day observance, the NAACP just had to show its contemptThat's George Washington they couldn't stand to look at.


Don't know about you, but I don't generally drink that much whiskey at a time; I have this problem with unconsciousness and alcohol poisoning.


Besides the fact that NOBODY should hold an office for that long, one of the changes I want to see is a bill proposed to end all pensions for members of the House and Senate, and no pension for the President; you want to stay in office, you should not forever get a pension paid for by the public for having stayed there.


Theo had this posted:
Ever seen anything like that before?


Well, Mumbles, got news for you: 'fine young man' and 'poor judgement' do not go together with 'dealing drugs while working for the Mayor'.


Damn. Hope somebody takes the critter in.


No. NO. HELL NO.
Federalized security screening at airports has been such a success that President Obama wants to apply the same government "expertise" to the realm of online commerce and commentary. The White House cybersecurity adviser joined Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Jan. 7 to announce what amounts to a national ID card for the Internet.
A: Anybody who says the TSA and airport screening is a sales recommendation is a moron.
B: I want the GOVERNMENT to control my access?
C: The chances for abuse are scary as hell.


And last, a slightly different viewpoint on 'fascism' vs. 'communism':
Comrades! This cat was troubled for a while by the question of why do we, the Progressives, despise Fascism, even though it is so similar to Communism. True, many of the rank-and-file members of our glorious community are too busy raising awareness to educate themselves on the details of what they are denouncing. But the community organizers ought to know — and yet, Fascism is recognized as an evil regime. This seemed unfair until suddenly I understood...

Fascism is evil — a "cheap imitation" — because it does not go far enough. Indeed, although not a free marKKKet, it still leaves much industry and commerce in the private hands (even if those are the hands of government cronies). This makes it nicely inefficient economically (and thus producing less light- and noise-pollution), but nowhere near as great as Communism.


And I do now have a new pc; much faster than the old. And looks like I had the important stuff backed up(yay!) and what wasn't won't be too much of a pain to put back together.

River rescue as sex toy ditches rider

That got your attention, didn't it?
A bizarre decision to ride an inflatable doll down a flood-swollen Yarra River blew up in a woman's face yesterday when she lost her latex playmate in a rough patch.

The incident prompted a warning from police that blow-up sex toys are "not recognised flotation devices''.
Ya think maybe?

Bleep.

Bleeping bleep-of-a-bleep.

Go read. And Sergeant Blanton? We ever meet, I'll buy drinks.

City Councilmen Sam Bowman and Pete White: proof that gun bigots

reside in Oklahoma, too:
Oklahoma City councilman Sam Bowman made it clear at Tuesday's city council meeting where he stands on gun control. He favors it. Especially when it comes to assault rifles like the kind used last summer in an ambush that wounded city police officer Katie Lawson.

Bowman's stance and applause for Police Chief Bill Citty's call for registration of assault rifles got councilman Brian Walters standing up for the 2nd amendment. "I wanta commend our chief for not only the courage to step forward on this but to make such a statement," proclaimed Bowman who called them knock off military M-16 type rapid fire assault guns. "There's no place for that kind of weapon in our civil communities."

By the way, Chief Citty is the clown who announced a couple of years ago that he wants tighter rules and regulations on the sale of firearms and the registration of those firearms," Citty said.

Oh, but it's not an attack on the 2nd, oh no:
Bowman contended he's not attacking the 2nd amendment. "I would hope this would have nothing to do with the argument about 2nd amendment rights to bear arms. It's not about the right to own a weapon to protect your own home."
I'm very sure you HOPE it's not seen as the attack it is, but we see what you're doing and saying. And note the new goalpost: the right to own a weapon to protect your own home. "No, it's not an attack on the 2nd Amendment, it's just wanting to change what it means."

As to White,
City Councilman Pete White supported Bowman and Chief Citty. "Chief Citty needs to be complimented for the courage that it took to even bring that up," he said in referring to Citty's weekend comments calling for registration of such assault rifles.
So we've got a police chief and two councilmen who're first-class gun bigots who don't think we should be allowed to own guns that scare them, but will settle(for now) for registration.

I think we need a new COP and some new councilmen at the next election.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Speech and anti-gun astroturf, all in one post

First, words for all the lefties decrying nasty speech:
Last week, the left quickly blamed the right for the national tragedy of a shooting spree by a madman who never watched Fox News, never listened to Rush Limbaugh and likely did not know who Sarah Palin is.

Fortunately, the American public rejected out of hand that idiotic notion that the right was responsible.

Rather than apologize, the left wants to change the tone of the political debate.

The left suddenly wants civil discourse.

Bite me.

The left wants to play games of semantics.

Bite me.

The left wants us to be civil — after being so uncivil for a decade.

Bite me.
...
Lefties were too busy celebrating the 2008 election to listen.

When people protested lefties made vulgar remarks about tea-bagging and giggled.

So screw you and your civil discourse.

I don’t want to hear it.

I have been screamed at for 10 years.

It’s my turn now. I am not going to scream back. But I refuse to allow anyone to dictate what I say or how I say it. I refuse to allow the same foul-mouthed, foul-spirited foul people who dumped on me to now try to tell me what I may or may not say.

My free speech matters more than the feelings of anyone on the left. You don’t like what I say? Tough.
As they say, read the whole thing.


As to the astroturf, remember the American Hunters and Shooters Assn.? That was a front group for Helmke & Co.?
The answer, would obviously be this person is not an unknown blogger, but a false flag; someone flying under the banner of being pro-Second Amendment while in truth being no such thing. Google shows the truth:

So it would seem that Tracee Larson is previously associated with the false flag operation American Hunters and Shooters Association. This woman has no credibility as a pro-gun spokesman, and it’s quite likely the NPR interviewers are aware of that. It’s also likely that perhaps Helmke either got to pick his opponents here, or it was arranged to be softball interview. What better people to use on the pro-gun side than Bob Levy, who endorses magazine restrictions, and Tracee Larson, who is an AHSA shill flying a false flag.

Had a chance to shoot a new something today

a Marlin 39A lever-action .22. Similar to this picture of the new production


Differences:
Owner believes is is a 1950's production
No checkering
Missing front sight hood
And at some point a previous owner installed a Lyman receiver sight, one with target adjustment knobs.
Ok, just found a much more similar picture:
This one had most of its bluing intact, and from the marks either wasn't used much or was very well-cared-for; the action was actually a touch tight still. That long barrel & mag tube would probably make Rep. McCarthy soil her undies, as it holds, as I recall 18 .22lr cartridges; that's a lot of levering to empty it. And see that knob on the side of the receiver? Unscrew it and the rifle separates, the action coming apart in left & right sides(left holds the bolt, right holds the lever & trigger & stock). Very tight lockup, no wiggle at all.

This was indoors at H&H this morning, so not the most helpful of rest & lighting for trying to check grouping, but if I did my part it kept all of two magazines worth in a 3" bull at 30 yards, what it'll do from a solid rest with better light would be interesting. I love aperture sights, and I become more fond of them with every passing year, the one on this was a compact unit that didn't spoil the lines and gave a very nice way to aim.

I would love to grab it and run like hell borrow such for further testing; maybe I'll get the chance later. A fine old rifle, it was.

The electric car future?

In its obsessive desire to promote the virtues of electric cars, the BBC proudly showed us last week how its reporter Brian Milligan was able to drive an electric Mini from London to Edinburgh in a mere four days – with nine stops of up to 10 hours to recharge the batteries (with electricity from fossil fuels).
I'll let you read the piece for the 1830's tech that beats that time; my own comment is:
I checked, and London to Edinburgh is 332 miles, roughly the distance from my house to a friend's house in Waco, TX. In my truck, doing a little over 60 for best mileage, I can make that trip in 5-6 hours(depending on how often I stop to get rid of excess liquid or if I stop at Cabela's on the way). So the electric Mini took FOUR FREAKIN' DAYS, with NINE refueling stops... And let's note that the vaunted windmill 'green' energy isn't much available(especially when it's really cold) so they're still dependant on coal, oil, gas or nuke plants for electricity; but they still think these battery-powered roller skates are the future?

I've said it before, I'd love to find some fuel or form of energy generation that would make the oil ticks once again the lords of nothing more than the world's biggest litter box, but we ain't got it yet. And windmills and other 'green' energy(since the eco-jerks refuse to even consider nukes green) won't make up what we need, whether they like to admit it or not.

Bleah. I've got to go computer shopping, among other things. In a vehicle that uses gas but won't need refueling during the running around.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Attention Guardian: the only possible response

is 'No. HELL no. And screw you.'
Free speech can’t exist unchained. US politics needs the tonic of order<>
Didn’t guys named “Benito” and “Adolph” say much the same thing in the last century?
Why yes, they did. I think Lenin and Stalin & Co. were big on it, too.

You want some really good EUnuch values?
Foreigners are always surprised by the US's capacity to speak right but somehow not do it. Washington must contain more wisdom and talent than anywhere on earth, yet it contrives the disaster zone that is American foreign policy. This is normally put down to such impediments as the US constitution, the silent majority, sheer bigness and freedom of speech.

Today's culprit is freedom of speech, or at least the speech of the American right and its broadcast cheerleaders
.
Let's put it more bluntly: fuck you, you statist asshole. That Constitution you hold in such low regard, we're rather fond of it and part of the reason is the restrictions it places on the government, which is why we- unlike you- still have actual freedom of speech. Of course, YOU consider that a bug, not a feature.

Free speech is a Hobbesian jungle. It requires a marketplace where the trade in information, ideas and opinion has a framework of rules, including rules that maintain fair and open competition. Most will be voluntary, but others need enforcement.
Translation: we should, like the Brits, have government censors telling us what speech is allowable.

I repeat: Screw you, Jenkins, and your little dreams of government control of speech.