SurpRISE SURprise! Hutchison Not Resigning.

Senatrix Hutchison says she will not be resigning, even though she said she would, after she was not picked to run for Governess of Texas this year. Raise your hand if you are surprised by this announcement. Nobody? Yeah, me neither.

Prepare to Be Offended. Like WOW.

You have to realize, before you even read the rest of this post, that I was not always the same person I am today. I did a partial undergraduate course in the School of Hard Knocks and sometimes my sense of humor can find amusement in things that are . . . not good.

The thing I am going to link below officially qualifies as Not Good. If you click the link, you will encounter text that describes a seriously Not Good situation. Very many laws were broken, and interpersonal relationships were messed with in ways that would get you shot if a gun were handy at the moment.

If you are easily offended, or at work, or at a place where the people even pretend to be civilized, do not click this link. NOT safe for work. Not for children. Seriously, it is a Bad Thing.

I was crying laughing by the denouement, but as I said, you stand a good chance of being astonished at the badness of it all.

When Worlds Collide

~or~ It's A Small World, After All.

JF, a brother in Christ and a friend, who attends the same church as I do, surprised me.

He found out he is one of my Father's clients. For years, he has been dealing with my ol' dad and going about their business. He's known my pop longer than I've known JF! How very odd!

I was pleased to hear that JF found this out when he, unassertive as he is, brought up the subject of church attendance, trying to see if he could sneak the gospel in to my dad's ears edgewise. I wish more Christians would try that sort of thing. Fortunately, my father knows my Father personally, and no introductions were necessary. It must have been a bit odd for dad also, finding out that his long-time client was an acquaintance of his son's.

Neat!

Christians, I'll pass along the admonition our pastor gives to us around Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas: The things of God are more likely to be on the backslidden Christian's and unrepentant sinner's minds at this time of year than at any other. Invite them to church. They may be more inclined to come, if invited for this weekend's services, now more than another random day.

ClimateGate Scientists Acquitted!

. . . or something. Well, it makes for a dandy headline, anyway.

Money quote from the article at Yahoo (emphasis mine):

Lawmakers stressed that their report — which was written after only a single day of oral testimony — did not cover all the issues and would not be as in-depth as the two other inquiries into the e-mail scandal that are still pending.

Willis said the lawmakers had been in a rush to publish something before Britain's next national election, which is widely expected in just over a month's time.

"Clearly we would have liked to spend more time of this," he said, before adding jokingly: "We had to get something out before we were sent packing."

Meet The New Boss . . .

Obama to allow drilling for oil off the East coast of the United States, and open up 2/3 of the off-limits areas in the Gulf of Mexico for more drilling as well.

You know, like the other guy wanted to do. That "W" fellow, whose fault everything is.

The fun part will be if he allows drilling for oil only as part of the Cap and Trade bill, and when the bill becomes law you find out (oopsy!) it doesn't allow for any actual drilling to take place.

Quote of the Day 03/30/2010

. . . maybe I'm just a white guy with a fantastic tan . . . -LTC Allen West (on the Laura Ingraham show today)

(regarding the ubiquitous-in-the-leftist-media accusation that anyone who opposes Obama's agenda must just be a racist)

For those who aren't up with the times, here is a photo of the good Colonel, in living color (that's racist!)

FDA Trying To Increase Federal Budget Deficit!

The new Socialist Healthcare law has a tax on things only white people do the use of tanning beds. This is supposed to offset the brazillion dollars Obamacare will cost if it isn't repealed.

The radio news said the FDA is looking to ban the use of tanning beds by persons under 18 years of age. Nevermind any therapeutic benefits they might derive from tanning bed use, and nevermind that your children should be out getting some sun instead of using tanning beds in the first place.

The FDA, by banning the use of tanning beds by minor persons, will be adding to the already-crushing deficits imposed on the united States by Obamacare. This is going to end up as footnote #421 in the Wikipedia entry for "unintended consequences."

Student Loan "Reform" Is A Vicious Cycle

Rewind to The Beginning. You want to have an institution of higher learning for the betterment of mankind, and to let people get closer to God* in an institutional setting. You put together the best and brightest minds of your day and charge students a fee for admission. You get more and more students, who are all paying tuition fees, and you can-and-have to hire more professors and expand your facilities. You have to have increased costs. This leads to:

College is expensive. You get a loan. Everyone else gets a loan. The college has lots of money to buy expensive stuff. They get more expensive stuff and people keep paying, so tuition goes up.

College is so expensive you need a loan you can't afford. The government will give you money (Pell grants) or guarantee your loan. Then the college will have a bigger revenue stream, buy more fancy stuff and hire more (expensive) professors, and raise tuition.

Now -as of last week- the government will be giving you more money for college (as part of the new Socialist Medicine law) and making the loans per se instead of guaranteeing them. This will lead once again to higher education costs for all.

The student loan reform is billed as a way to make college more affordable. This is a headfake, and it works because you went to government schools. If you don't want to go to the government for a loan or a private bank for a more-expensive loan, you are going to be even farther away from being able to afford "higher" education.

Fast Forward to the Socialist utopia they want, and it will be so expensive to go to college they will just rob EVERYONE at gunpoint to pay for it, as they currently do for primary and secondary school "education." Then, you see, post-secondary education will be "free."

********

*That's right, closer to God. You'd be surprised how many hudreds-of-years-old colleges and universities in the United States started off as religious or partially-religious schools. You'd be surprised because they've mostly banned God on campus anymore.

If You Can Read This, Thank A Particle Physicist

I told my wife to congratulate the German living next to me in Texas who (somehow) works on the Large Hadron Collider straddling Switzerland and France.

They fired that puppy up and smashed them some atoms real fast-like. I'm fairly certain it wasn't up to full power to-day, but they had her all the way up to 7TEV, which is 3x-ish higher-charged than the nearest competitor. That would be (particle collider enthusiasts will please excuse the simplification) something like 7,000,000,000 volts of atoms-go-fast power. Your computer is powered by just over 12 volts inside.

According to the radio news on the way home from work today, the world was not swallowed up in the black holes formed by two colliding atoms, and the stars were apparently not thrown so badly out of alignment that you would notice.

Ruger MkIII 22/45 Magazine "Safety" Delete

I still haven't decided on a .22 handgun for a training tool in my new shooter classes (see "Let Me Take You Shooting" on the right side of the page). The Ruger MkIII 22/45 is a strong contender due to a reputation for quality, combined with a price point that might see me getting one this Buy-A-Gun Day. The only problem is that it comes with a lawyer key lock in the gun itself. I don't see lots of reports of these breaking, however, so it can't be THAT bad (unlike with Taurus revolvers rendering themselves inoperable)

Anyhow, one thing I can't stand in a semi-auto arm is a magazine disconnector "safety" that prevents firing the weapon without a magazine properly installed.

Fortunately for the tinkerer who realizes gun safety lies between the ears, there is a fix. Rip out the new "safety" parts and replace them with a bushing or washers to take their place.

The elegant way to do this is to replace the MkIII hammer bushing with a MkII hammer bushing.

There are also a couple of rimfire enthusiasts who produce a replacement bushing that will work.

The cheap/free method is to use washers in place of the removed "safety" pieces, to take up the empty room so everything will still work properly. I don't understand why you would use stainless or plain steel instead of brass washers for this, but I haven't been there or done that yet.

Of course, you will need to know how to detail strip the piece, so it is handy to have instructions with lots of pictures for that while you study up on the project.

***

ETA:

It will also need a Loaded Chamber Indicator filler/replacement (also available premade if you want to pay for it).

And a blast shield is definitely in order as well.

Pre-Existing Coverage: Not So Much.

You know how those mean-ol' health insurance companies keep denying health insurance policies (and claims) based on pre-existing conditions? And you know how President Obama said he was going to make that unpossible?

Well, it turns out they will have basically the same out as they do now, even when Obamacare kicks in full-force.

The Congressional Staffers who wrote (and exempted themselves from) this law, seem to have been well and truly bought-and-paid-for by the special interest lobbyists, or else they are incompetent to a staggering degree. Obama of course never read the bill and this week is going about campaigning for it, blissfully ignorant that one of the major selling points he was trying to use, is (apparently, reportedly) completely false.

Is this the change you were hoping for?

Hutaree Is Not A Christian Code Word.

Freeman's Pro Tip: Anytime someone claiming to possess knowledge available only to a few persons of (their own) high rank/ability/position/whatever wants you to do something extremely odd, you need to consider the potential that you are dealing with a cult. This cat said there was a special language only a privileged few people know. This is known in "normal person" language as a HUGE RED FLAG. It is a definite sign that you need to get professional help or professional law enforcement officers, or both, involved with the person in question, AND get as far away from them as you can.

The Hutare were planning on hastening the Lord's return by murdering policemen and then, apparently, they planned to go out in a blaze of glory.

So that this is very clear: the Bible condones death for various crimes, and even (in circumstances no longer met anywhere in the world) revenge killings by the family of a slain person. It specifically enjoins Christians against cold-blooded murder which is what these people where planning. Just like with the Spanish Inquisition, if you do something and claim it's because you're a Christian, but it goes against the teachings of Christ himself, you're acting on your own initiative.

These cats are not a "Christian Militia." They are CRAZY PEOPLE.

********

P.S. if you plan to kill people for no good reason, you might want to make sure one of your co-conspirators is not an FBI plant.

Russia Attacked (again) By the Religion Of Peace

Yahoo/AP spins it thusly, and the Faithful agree:

Russia was arresting the worst of the worst, leaders of the islamic militancy in Russia. They deserved to have two women blow themselves up in the subway under the old KGB headquarters. They had it coming to them for attacking the Religion of Peace, don't you see? It's only payback!

Well, okay maybe they don't come right out and phrase it that way, but that's the perpetual excuse. It's not the islamists' fault, it's always a payback for some perceived wrong done to them. You know, in the 20-ish places where there are shooting wars in the world. It's the neighbors' fault, not the muslims'!

Please join in my prayer that Russia will have the political will to do it hard to the muslims in Russia, unlike the tooooolerant treatment they get in the West.

Why Texans Have A Constitutional Right To Kill Trespassers:

A rancher who was repeatedly harassed and threatened on his own land by illegal aliens crossing the border over his property has been found dead (murdered). His dog was shot dead as well.

Every once in a while, the thought occurs to me to wonder, how many illegal aliens trying to come across to a better life, have been put into shallow graves as a preventative measure by ranchers and farmers along the Rio Grande.

WHA-AAAAAT!!!!??!?!?!!

Consider the choice that years of malignant neglect of the law of the land, combined with ridiculous immigration policy, have forced on some of the best people in the country (border farmers and ranchers):

Years of court battles, the loss of your life's savings, and the eventual forfeiture of your family's ranch to some non-Americans who were haraaaaaased by you, as you detained them for the ineffectual Federal law enforcement agencies involved (yes, this actually happened)

or

TANG! TANG! TANG! (dead men tell no tales)

Economic Berlin Wall Erected Without Notice!

As part of the most recent "stimulus" package recently signed into law, there is a quiet little provision that places controls on the expatriation of money from the USA.

Neal Boortz predicted that this was coming many, many months ago. He called it an Economic Berlin Wall. If you click through to the Moonbattery article and can't understand why Boortz would call it that, you probably went to a government school in the United States. Sorry about that.

If he had made it a horrible place to do business FIRST this would have got some attention. As it is, there are going to be a lot of businessmen caught well off their guards when this bit of Communism comes knocking on their tax returns and bank accounts, I'm sure.

DIY: How To Convert a Ruger 10/22 to Automatic Operation

No, I will not help you.

Until the laws and applicable regulations are changed, a combination of:

proof that you know how to do it (plans, books, email correspondence, etc)

possession of the means to do it (a file and a screwdriver, or a machine shop, whatever, not necessarily even the RIGHT tools!)

possession of the weapon
can be (has been!) used in court to show that you are a filthy disgusting evil person who was waiting for the BATFE to turn their backs for 5 minutes just so's you could make you a MACHINE GUN!!!!!!1!!

Besides which, I picked the Marlin Model 60 as my .22 rifle of choice. I haven't a 10/22 in the arsenal and I don't intend to buy one. I couldn't detail strip one without the aid of Mr. Google nearby.

Sorry.

How It Will Work:

Your family will have the choice between a $16,000 annual premium for medical insurance, or a $2,000 fine. You will be guaranteed insurance coverage even if you have a pre-existing condition. You will drop your insurance coverage.

The number of uninsured persons is about to skyrocket.

You will pay a doctor cash to see you (this is why Hillarycare made it a crime to pay your doctor without using Hillarycare by the way) and then you will be diagnosed with something expensive. THEN you get yourself signed up for insurance. They will pay $$$,$$$.$$ to treat you while you pay them $$$ for coverage. When you get well, you drop the coverage.

This will completely destroy the private insurance market, which is the whole idea. Just remember you saw it coming. The next step for the Socialists is "see? insurance is so expensive nobody has it, you should all just be on the government plan!"

(The current interim measure is to have your computer reminding you to jog regularly and eat your vegetables. Also remember to show up on time to your doctors' visits! There is no "or else" yet, but going forward that will depend largely on how active you are during the 2010 election cycle. I will make so bold as to predict criminal penalties and jail time if you skip your scheduled check-ups, but only if the Democrats retain their hold on the reins of power.)

Recess Appointments: The Difference:

President Bush made recess appointments to fill vacant seats at the head of Federal agencies because the Democrats would not allow his candidates an up-or-down vote. The Democrats knew the Senate would approve the nominees, as they tended to be generally well-qualified.

President Obama has made several appointments of TERRIBLY bad candidates, and when they come up, they are granted an up/down vote and some go down in flames. If they don't come up, it tends to be because they withdraw themselves from nomination, because their communist/humanist/downright criminal insanity comes to light. Because they wouldn't be approved, Obama wields the blunt instrument of recess appointments, once again skirting the will of the people as expressed by their elected representatives.

The most controversial is already a known quantity: a union boss for the labor relations board. No possible hint of partiality with that person eh? Nevermind that the up-or-down vote had Democrats voting against Becker, appoint him anyway! Because card-check can't pass the legislature, we'll just load the labor relations board and force it through by regulation instead of law! Just remember: when someone starts talking about union elections where you work, there is NO TIME TO WASTE. Talk to EVERYONE you can, even print flyers to put on their windshields. Also refuse to be intimidated, and park where your car is on camera to catch the vandalism that will be coming to it (so you can press criminal charges).

Also be on the look out for news about the other people appointed (quietly on the slowest news day of the week) last Saturday. They are sure to be real pieces of work each one of them. Remember not to be surprised at anything that happens after a Marxist is elected to the Presidency of the USA.

What Is A Thousand Yard Stare?

Often written about and (these days) rarely encountered by civilized people, is an expression found only in the eyes, and generally only in the eyes of Badass Mofo/Criminal types or Badass Mofo/Operator types: "The Thousand Yard Stare"

Okay, but what is it?

The eyes: The thousand yard stare, a person looking through or beyond you is a clear sign something abnormal is going on. Whether the person is thinking and putting a plan together, to run, escape, give up, or to assault, is being considered. That look into nowhere is a look inside the individuals mind. He is running through options.

(Emphasis mine) This is the best definition I have seen to date. If you are looking at a particularly hard-looking individual, and he points his face at you and looks right through you, even when speaking to you, he has quite probably been through the School of Hard Knocks. An Operator is deciding whether or not he needs to slit your throat or leave you alone. A murderer is deciding whether he needs to slit your throat or leave you alone. If there are more of them than you, this is possibly a Very Bad Thing for you. If there are more of you than them, it is a sign things might be getting a little ugly, soon.

But not necessarily.

It is also a habit. A habit ingrained in persons habitually aware of the dangers surrounding them. If someone points a Thousand Yard Stare at you, it's time to go from Condition Yellow to Condition Orange. Usually, it's not a sign of imminent trouble. Usually.

The definition is part of a much larger article by Fred Leland about spotting potential threats/criminal activity, which I found linked up at The Things Worth Believing In.

Eyeglasses: This Process Is A Hassle.

We have the money for new specs and we're lookin' to buy.

Off to the maul, and we went to Giant Chain Eyeglasses Place to stand around for 15 minutes until one of the associates could finish with their customer. They told us to go next door to the Optometrists. Next door they had a customer type lady who had come in for a scheduled appointment. Her appointment was a half-hour behind schedule, and the clerk wanted us to hang out until a doctor was available. Not so much. They also said they are packing up and leaving town this week, and gave me a number to call to set up an appointment at the new place.

Off we went to the OTHER Giant Chain Eyeglasses Place in the Maul, and they had a prominently marked Optometrist next door. These optometrists take walk-ins, but they're booked solid today. We booked an appointment for next weekend. Next door, I walked in and someone addressed me like a human had just entered a business and then answered all my questions despite an obvious bad day/headache vibe he had going on.

Guess which store we'll be patronizing next week.

It's Time To Go? So Soon? We Just Got Here!

Or, as my rather colorful brother-in-law said:

"LINCOLN NEVER TOOK TEXAS BOYS!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!"*

If we leave the Union, we are automatically exempted from Obamacare. If we just say we're exempted, and lose the fight over that, we're screwed to the wall still.

Things aren't exactly looking up for the USA. Is it time to start talking secession yet, or do you wait for the lawsuits to be lost?

********

F*ck. Man I hate being in shooting wars on my own soil. This is going to suck.

*beer may have been involved. Also guns, but they were firing blanks. My Mexican relatives say white people are crazy.

What You Didn't See On The 9:00 News Tonight:

Fidel Castro, Communist dictator, murdering thug, and president over a nation with (arguably) the world's WORST health care system, endorses Obamacare.

A South Korean ship "unexpectedly" develops a gaping hole at the aft end, sinking the boat and killing perhaps as many as 40 crewmen. After North Korea warned the South to be on the lookout for "unpredictable strikes." Recall please that North Korea has already broken the 1953 Armistice we forced them to sign, having whooped up on them for a few years.

Last but not least, the bullet that struck the offices of an Obamacare opponent was apparently random gunfire, not targted (like the brick through Slaughter's window).

********

Is it really any wonder that Fox is getting as many viewers as all the other news channels combined these days?

What the hell good is the rest of the press, if they won't report the news?

********

Okay smarty-blogger, why won't they report these stories then?

Everybody knows Cuba's healthcare sucks, aside from the kookiest members of the dailykos staff. It makes Obamacare (and therefore Obama) look even WORSE if everybody knows Castro likes it. Hillary, Obama's (bad) choice for Secretary (that's sexist) of State, arranged peace talks between North and South Korea. This is ANOTHER failure of the Obama administration. Then, if you think there is violence all over the place on healthcare, maybe you won't consider that there is an actual reason to get violent over Obamacare.

They won't report this stuff because it makes their "sort of a god" lose face. Reporting be damned.

Go Read Somewhere Else

Family takes precedence, and tonight that means no original content at VFD.

If you want to learn something new anyway, go spend a week reading about The Battle of the Bulge with some insight you won't find anywhere but the History Channel, if even there.

Poison Pills: One More

The Republicans have, as I hoped, introduced an amendment to the fix-it bill to require the Congress, the Senate, and even the staffers who wrote the Senate Obamacare bill and exempted themselves from it, to be covered under the new Obamacare law.

If it passes into law, that amendment will be repealed in a few years when the worse parts of Obamacare start to kick in (conveniently AFTER the next TWO elections). If the Democrats vote AGAIN to exempt themselves from Obamacare, every single Republican running for office will have yet one more arrow in the "Repeal and Replace" quiver.

This is a huge lose-lose for the Democrat party. I hope the Republicans have the sense to make proper use of it, but with people like Steele at the helm, I'm not holding my breath.

Exposure To Celebrity Mercury is Hazardous . . .

The Celebrity (cruise lines ocean liner named) Mercury is out for another tour. The last three cruises of this ship saw people getting a nasty case of the sh*ts Norovirus with a supposedly-thorough cleaning between cruises. They cleaned it again and now she's underway with a fresh load of victims passengers.

I just realised: the passengers have been getting sick from too much exposure to mercury

It's a joke. Relax.

(Just don't relax on the Celebrity Mercury until they find out where the norovirus is hanging out. . .)

The EU Was Supposed To Be Stable.

Those nations granted admission as EU Member States were not supposed to be on such shaky financial ground as to require a bailout. The European Union was not designed to survive a failed member-nation. That's why they're "frantic" trying to come up with ways to rob some nations to bail out others.

In the USA, when the central government proved too weak we came up with a whole new Constitution with much-enhanced Federal powers. The colonies had (mostly) never been nations per se before the Confederation was formed. The EU is full of nations with thousand-year histories of being their own peoples. It would surprise me to see the EU come out with a tighter grip on its members after this crisis is past. It would not surprise me to see the EU broken up.

It will surprise the newscasters' teleprompter writers, though, so remember you heard it was coming.

The Window War Begins.

Will it continue?

Mike Vanderboegh, once again, made a call before I would have deemed it to be the proper time. He called on the liberty-loving people of the United States to throw bricks before throwing bullets becomes necessary. He called it before the healthcare bill vote. One brick was thrown, and it was through Louise Slaughter's office window.

In the days immediately after the attack (on America, not on Slaughter's office), there was an answer. I immediately thought of Sipsey Street Irregulars when I read the first line of a Yahoo/AP story: Bricks have been hurled through Democrats' windows . . .

There are also reports of death threats being leveled at your Elected Heroes.

Good.

They bleeding well SHOULD be afraid for their lives. The tyrants on Capitol Hill are pushing us down the path that leads to 50,000,000 dead US Americans. I very much hope that they greatly fear the potential for us pushing back. Their lust for power over mens' lives is only checked by their fear for their own lives. The founders of our country (and I) wholeheartedly endorsed this type of fear.

To be clear: I do not condone killing people without a trial. That includes slimy socialist types Democrat Congressmen. However, if things continue the way it looks as if they are going, don't be surprised if a very large number of them catch a hot one for what they did this past Sunday. In france, they used the guillotine. Here, I'm guessing it'll be something in the .30 caliber range.

Look for gun control measures to come up soon, if the pressure on the tyrants continues. Look for a couple of dead tyrants if gun control measures start looking like they might pass.

Not calling for it. I'm just saying, is all.

Because You Will Not See It On Tonight's News:

Chairman Obama will allow himself to be photographed smiling and embracing terrorist murderer thug SOCIALIST DICTATOR Hugo Chavez . . .

. . . but not with the PM of Israel, the only free country and our only true ally in the Middle East.

What was that old saying? Something about the company you keep?

Ironic Names!

Patrick Molesti stands accused of trying to buy a child in Atlanta (well, Woodstock). He had child porn on his computer.

French or not, some names you ditch when you turn 18.

A Regular Rogue's Gallery

They pre-empted the show I was listening to for the socialized medicine bill signing ceremony. What a juicy target that would have made. Tyranny could have been staved off . . . but we don't do that here.

To quote the President, just before he signed away your liberty: "Here in this country, we shape our own destiny, that is what we do, that is who we are, that is what makes us the USA"

That is, we (meaning I, your Dear Leader) tell you what you MUST buy or I will KILL YOU. Not that you, you know, actually shape your own destiny per se.

Obama: Chronic LIAR.

Is it even worth mentioning that Obama has broken yet another promise? Three days after the 'healthcare' bill was passed in the House of Representatives, it was signed into law. Candidate Obama said (on camera) it would be five days. It would have cost him exactly NOTHING to live up to this campaign pledge, and he could even have hammed it up for the cameras that he had done so. But he broke his word on a topic where it would literally cost him noting.

If only there were a handy phrase to describe someone like this . . .

In his defense, you have to know something is false to be lying about it. If you don't know it at all (true OR false) because you just read it off a TelePrompTer, can you be held responsible for the content of your own speech? (hint: the answer is yes)

Seriously? Who DIDN'T See This Coming?

Google reroutes traffic to (free) Hong Kong

Then the Communists block people on the mainland from using the Hong Kong version. SHOCKING!!!1!

Where did I put my surprised face mask again?

Bizarro America

Queen Pelosi calls it a "great act of patriotism" and says it gives you the "liberty to persue your own happiness." President Obama says "your voice was finally heard" as if the people on the Capital grounds outside were cheering him on. Al Sharpton says Obama's socialized medicine is the will of the people because they elected him on the (poor) basis of promised 'change' and should have been able to see it coming when they voted for him.

Well, the people that voted for him saw something dark coming but I don't think it was Socialism. If you think that's a racist statement, you're government-educated and not to be blamed for it.

Bachman Introduces 'Healthcare' Repeal bill

pro for·ma (prō fôr'mə)
adj.

1. Done as a formality; perfunctory.

[New Latin prō fōrmā : prō, for the sake of + fōrmā, ablative of fōrma, form.]
-The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Ms. Bachman has introduced a bill to repeal the "healthcare" bill that just (barely) passed the House of Representatives. Getting her bill to the floor of the House will never happen with Queen Pelosi as speaker, but at least Michelle Bachman is making a nice gesture. Gonna have to wait till after next January, though, to see any actual debate on it.

Google Shuts Off Chinese Search Engine

Google shuts off their search engine in China, rerouting traffic to Hong Kong. Conveniently forgetting their own institutional human rights abuses, China is quick to cry foul. Like all leftists everywhere, when someone stands up to them for being evil, they try to make the standers-up into the Bad Guy.

Nice try China. Go cry yourself a river. And try not to dump too many old computer monitors in it as part of your "recycling" program okay?

Sky Blue, Water Wet, Meat Not Causing Global Warming

In case you were losing sleep over it, your eating meat isn't causing global warming. Nothing else is, either, but that's beside the point.

. . . And It Was In The Red From Day One.

Please remember to put on your "surprised" face when Obama goes full steam ahead with his socialist medical system, even though it is now officially adding to the national deficit right from Day Zero.

. . . well, he did say ONE dime. He didn't say anything about a trillion dimes, did he? It's not a lie!

Sure. Now don't bother me, I've got to go work on the Secession papers for a while . . .

Day Zero.

~or~ The Hope Grows Yet More Dim.

There is still hope for America. It is fainter now than it was yesterday. Fox can make fun all they like, but this may very well have been the turning point for the late, great America.

You'll know for sure this November. If it does NOT go from Filibuster-proof Democrat majority to Veto-proof Republican majority on capitol hill, we're probably screwed. Stock up on guns and ammo, and I don't mean the magazine.

If you think what happened today was a Good Thing, you are a government-educated fool and you deserve what is coming to you within the next few years. My children and I will either be freshly (re)minted Texians, or somewhere English isn't the native language of the country. You fools will be finding out what Socialism tastes like while we will be shaking our heads from across at least one border.

Reality: Pesky Stuff, That.

Super-dooper powerful Indian mystic man (dots, not feathers) claims mystical powers to kill somebody without . . . you know, doing the regular killy sorts of things.

Skeptic calls his bluff. On national television. Turns out, it was a bluff. With video.

Online Government for EVERYTHING. What Could POSSIBLY Go Wrong?

The government of UK wants every citizen subject to have an individualized web page, through which to have all interactions with their tyrants government. Because there is no possibility of a security breach of any sort, this is a wonderful way to save money. It also lends that personal touch to government.

. . . oh, wait.

You'll Smile And LIKE It!

Protester in Congress is hauled off by security. For saying what 3/4+ of the country feels, and something half the Congress stood and cheered.

"Kill the bill. The people don't want this."

You people are supposed to keep proper decorum in the Gallery in the House. Yes, even when we are trying to crush your beloved country and steal your liberty as well as your health. Sure he broke the rules. That's just the beginning of what's coming if (God forbid, keep praying) they manage to cram Obamacare through.

Soveriegn Nation Allows Construction In Capital City: CRISIS!!!!

Why?

Because the nation's neighbors deny it has the right to exist. We are talking of course about Israel allowing construction in Jerusalem.

Why not? Because they refuse to submit is why not. If everybody in Israel converted to islam, there would be Peace. You know, between the children of Israel and the Religion of Peace.

I'm still not sure why this is our business, aside from the blessing that falls on those who help Irael, and the curse on those who work against Israel . . .

March Madness!

The Democrats seem to have gone mad or hopefully their vote counters are broken. They are talking about dropping the "deem and pass" method and just straight-up voting on the Senate bill, THEN voting on the fix-it bill that used to have deem-and-pass as part of it. The Senate bill that was so unpopular, they are going to try for a straight up/down vote on it! In addition, there will be no deal for preventing YOUR tax dollars going to pay for abortions.

To rephrase, the special kickbacks, bribes, and individual state preferential treatments are going up for a vote. THEN a separate bill to remove them goes for a vote, and will then have to pass the Senate that put them there to begin with.

They are STILL working around the normal conference committee meetings to get healthcare approved. Keep praying that they won't get ANYTHING done this weekend, or ever, to pass socialist medical care into law!

Attic Radiant Barrier Installation Update

I spent 6 hours in my attic getting a full-body workout, and learning a few things.

God is very kind to have provided a cool, breezy day for me to do the work

Working in a prefab truss type attic over high vaulted ceilings pretty much sucks. There is NO room to maneuver in some places, much less do any work. Photos will be coming soon

The guys who do this for a job EARN their money.

The heavyweight/high strength atticfoil barrier material is SUPER easy to work with. You are NOT going to rip this stuff putting it up. I pulled the weave apart a little bit when one staple was supporting 20 feet of foil under pretty strong "get it all tight" tension. Otherwise, it holds up like a champ.

I spent 6 hours up there and only got half of what will get done, done. It's a third of the original intention, but there's a third of the roof I just can't get to without laying down in a way that would prevent working. I did plenty of laying, sitting, and squatting on 2x4s but the corners are just too narrow. Fortunately I was able to reach the parts that matter most: the southern exposure and the side parts that catch the most sun.

Also . . .

I have a BROKEN stud in one of the roof trusses. I'm pretty sure it's not under any stress, because the ends are pulled apart by ~3mm. That needs a bit of reinforcing eventually.

My roof trusses (made by Timber Tech in 1986) are, almost 100% of them, VERY ugly pieces of lumber. If there is a whole truss made of grade A 2x4s I'd be surprised. Fastening is staples in stud plates. Badly-installed staples, very many of them.

The previous owners got robbed when they paid someone to replace the old 80's grey plastic a/c ducting with the new sort with radiant barrier on the outside. The 2x hardest-to-access ducts were still there, and the plastic is split and the insulation fallen-away. Bare thin plastic ducting carrying climate control air. Gee, I wonder why that side of the house didn't heat/cool properly? I put some insulation on top of the ducts and (for now) laid some scrap atticfoil over the ducts. It's not leakproof, but at least it'll be better.

A long time ago, there was a minor carpenter ant infestation. The tunneling I found in (only, thankfully) one piece of wood was full of dust and fiberglass. Of course, in light of the quality of the rest of the lumber up there, it could have been like that when they installed it. :(

Man, if I did this for a living I'd be hard as a rock. As it is, tomorrow I'll be sore as a . . . thing that's really sore.

Abortofascists Stand In The Gap

Neal Boorts refuses to allow discussion of abortion on the air on his show. He refers to the (mostly men) people whose main political issue is 'abortion rights' as "abortofascists" and the term is used derisively.

Right now, the only thing standing between the United States and the Fascisti who would like to cram 'healthcare' through Congress are the people who are derided as abortofascists.

I wonder if Neal still wishes they would go away and shut up about abortion.

Germany to EU & Greece: Tough.

Germany is refusing to shoot themselves in the foot for the benefit of other nations who got themselves in a pile of sh*t with wrong-headed economic policy. Mish's take: " . . . the global recovery is toast. When this matters to the stock market is anyone's guess."

Gong On A Ride-Along

I put in a request to go for a ride-along with the local P.D. We'll see how it goes. If, after Wednesday, I suddenly stop posting, I'm probably in a freezer somewhere. Or else I got a call to go work in Peru again.

Madness @ Work

I listed a thing for sale and put it on the outgoing (to the inventory warehouse) rack. It went away. A couple of weeks later, a suspiciously-similar item showed up in NLB's area to list for sale. He was all about testing it and getting it listed. Fast forward two or three DAYS to this afternoon. NLB, LB, WM, and MM are ALL looking at LB's computer trying to look this thing up. I figured out what they were trying to do, and extricated myself from the action because I barely knew enough to write a bare-bones ad about the stupid thing in the first place.

In a vain attempt to spread the blame around, WM tried to pass it off as my failure, when finally one of them looked at the box this thing was in and saw my inventory sticker on it. They were putzing around with the thing I had just listed. The very same thing I had listed, for DAYS they were messing with it. I had thought it was awfully strange that the thing was so similar to another thing I had just listed, which is a rare type of thing indeed, but it sometimes happens.

So I waited. It was a clue-bomb and it finally went off.

I LOL'd.

How Laws Are NOT Supposed To Be Made:

It is unclear that the 'reconciliation' bill, fixing the Senate version, which the House is currently considering, will be able to pass the Senate without substantial changes. That is, this is a bill that the Senate would have to pass in exactly the same form, in order for it to become law, and they might not want to just sign off on all the changes from the House. Then it would have to go back to the House, and that is probably going to be after Easter break when the Congress will have retired for the holiday and was told in no uncertain terms that they would be fireD if Obamacare got to the President's desk.

So the Senate is not likely to pass a bill that may pass the house, that modifies a bill that the Senate passed and then deems it passed without passing it, reconciling the Senate and House bills, which should normally be done in a conference committee but the House can't get a bill passed that the Senate would agree with.

Right.

Healthcare Not Dead Yet. Keep Praying.

You would think by reading this Yahoo/AP piece that it was business as usual and there were just a few is to cross and ts to dot, to get the healthcare system destruction bill through.

There are hundreds of billions of dollars' differences that need to be ironed out

They still need to decide whether or not to murder innocent people with taxpayer dollars

They are trying to carve out exemptions for groups sympathetic to the President, without doing so

and those are only THREE of the hardly-worth-mentioning problems facing Obamacare in the House. Fortunately, someone snuck in there a rule to make the bill available 3 days (only 1,000 pages/day to read) before they would vote on it, so the President may not get to Asia for his daughters' Spring Break vacation after all.

No Pigeons This Year?

It looks like a blue bird has taken up residence in the tree over my car. Maybe I won't have to go hunting at all this year. I've seen exactly ONE flying rat on my driveway to date, and it was on the ground. I LOVE that blue bird!

Fact-Checking: Try BEFORE Publishing?

If you are going to relate a sob story in an attempt to pass hugely unpopular legislation, you might at least check to see that your story holds water. Or else you might be called out in front of God & everybody.

Just sayin'.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

NLB is short. The 3" rule means he is not technically responsible for knowing that I have a nose or eyes, much less a hat on top of my head 'way up by the ceiling. Still, when you give someone a pinch on Saint Patrick's Day for not wearing green, you might at least give them a good once-over first, to be on the safe side.

I stuck him right on his shoulder and he wasn't braced for it, so he was amusingly thrown back a couple of feet into a door. THEN I asked him what color my hat was.

:-D

I'm not a catholic, and I don't do St. Patrick's day. If I hadn't been wearing green I'd still have poked him but I would have followed it with "I'm not Catholic, jerky!" Still, it was a fine celebration of a day nobody knows anything about anymore, except that a Saint liked green beer. Or something.

Pax River Flooded

Those of us who served in the US Armed forces know it as Pax River, home to quite a few of our brothers-in-arms. You might have heard of it as Patuxent River, Maryland. At any rate, it's flooded. The radio news keeps playing a sound byte from a homeowneress who is complaining that they will be losing everything to the floodwaters, for the second time in 5 years.

MOVE THEN, you DUMB MASS!

Pop quiz: If, during your lifetime, the place you chose to move to floods and you lose everything you own, it is __________ that it will ever happen again:
A) More than likely
B) Not very likely
C) Impossible

Duh? Is it really so bad to take a loss on your house that you are willing to LOSE it altogether, AGAIN? WTH people?!

Deem and Pass: Liberty FAIL.

Yesterday at 22:30hrs, a shell was approved by the House Budget committee. Approaching 2,300 pages of bill that is moving so fast it doesn't have a number yet. Don't worry about reading it though, because today probably after you are asleep, it will be replaced. Thousands of pages will be put in place of the thousands of pages already approved. This chicanery is a required first step to force an extremely unpopular bill (the healthcare system destruction bill) through Congress with as few votes in favor of it as possible. The rules committee will have ONE HOUR to review the several thousands of pages of changes. Because they want to be sure it's free of pork and corruption, and that it protects your rights and favors your health care they will have one hour to read several thousand pages. After that extensive period of review, the rules committee will vote on and probably pass the bill into the house, where they will vote on it.

They will technically be voting on some fixes to the Senate version of the healthcare system destruction bill with the Slaughter Rule included. If that rule passes, they are going to "DEEM" that the Senate bill passed. They will pass it, without having voted on it. Because they are so courageous, and so convinced that you need this bill they are completely unwilling to try a straight up/down vote on the floor of the house.

They think you're stupid. And they think your Elected Hero is stupid, and shouldn't have a say in what happens to several tens of trillions of dollars of your own and your childrens' money. Arrogance and contempt for the desires and rights of the American populace on a truly breathtaking scale, that's what it is. Tyranny, is what it is.

Then the Democrats who end up voting for this rather obvious ploy will go back to their useful-idiot constituents and say "no, I voted to FIX it not FOR it. I voted for the part that fixed the abortion language. I voted for the part that got rid of the special deals for individual states (cornhusker kickback, louisiana purchase, handout montana, university yukon etc.)." Then the useful idiots will (it is hoped) vote for them again, even though they have destroyed the Republic.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Your phone still works, doesn't it?

Fun facts: As of yesterday, Section 343 completely eliminated the private student loan market. Want to give your nephew a loan? How about your parishoners? How about the students at your own university? Tough. How is that related to health care? Shut up, that's how!

Also fun: in 2005 the Democrats were standing in the way of the Republican-led Deficit Reduction act of 2005, which the Republicans used the Deem and Pass method to get through. That act was to reduce the deficit by raising the debt cieling. :( Ralph Nader's people brought suit because different versions were passed by the different houses of Congress. Nanci Pelosi and Louise Slaughter filed amicus briefs to SCOTS saying they didn't like this sort of shenanigans. This isn't the first time your courageous Elected Heroes have pulled this stunt. This sort of bad politics has been going on since at least 1933.

Radiant Barrier Here I Come.

Income tax "return" time is finally here, and the money is just laying around burning a hole in my pocket. Before I get myself a barbecue gun, there are a few things to do around the house:

Replace the crumbling back fence. Literally small-child sized holes appeared over the winter.

Shelves for the garage to allow access to the 3 feet of flooring closest to every wall

Frikken for crying out loud do it before the summer attic radiant barrier!

Four Years Of Double Health Insurance Payments: Sure Why Not?

Because apparently, everyone can afford to pay twice as much for health insurance for four years. . .

More news you may haven't heard about already: With the current bill they're trying to jam down your Representative's throat (the Senate-passed version) you will be getting bills for your Obamacare insurance plan for the next ten years. Your Obamacare insurance COVERAGE will start in year FIVE. That would be four years of paying for "defecit neutrality" and you still have to get your health care paid for somehow.

Immediate payments, but coverage starts in 4 years. That's why you're hearing it's reducing the deficit in 1st 10 years. This plan will cost a metric boatload of cash, but because they won't be paying out ANYTHING for the first four years, only taking in funds, it is deficit-neutral. You are not to ask about the next ten years of red ink, or the next, or the next . . .

You will still need to have health insurance for those first 4 years.

Will that be free?

NO.

By the way, the money you will be paying in for Obamacare? Yeah, that's going to current beneficiaries in the current government health care system. They are spending more money than they take in to pay Medicare bills. See? Deficit neutral. For ten years. By only providing 6 years of benefits. GENIUS!

Boortz has a fun analogy:
You go to lease a car for 10 years. The first place says they'll lease it to you for $40,000 The second place says they'll only charge you $36,000. But you'll only get the car at the beginning of the FIFTH year. And you'll have to pay for something else to drive in the mean time.

Aaaaand Obama is backing off his call to not make any special deals for individual States as required to get individual Representatives to vote for the bill. In case you also missed that little gem.

What are you going to do about it?

Madness @ Work!

NLB just found out his wife is expecting a child, she's < 2months along. He went to the Dr. with her for an ultrasound this morning. BYM came up a little while after NLB got in and rushed into NLB's station. . .

BYM: Whathappenedwhathappened?
NLB: I'm not telling what happened (fooling with phone)
BYM: Whathappenedwhathappened?
NLB (holds up his phone with a photo of an ultrasound machine's display showing what is ostensibly a baby)
BYM: So where's the penis?
NLB: It's too small.
VFD, BYM, then eventually NLB: LOL . . .

Americans to Israel: Welcome to the Party, Pal!

Israel conquered some land in a war. They had the chutzpa to try to settle on it. That would be the same land promised by God to them, which they got kicked out of for not holding up their end of the promises.

They have personally insulted The Obama now. The full wrath of the United States in the form of sternly worded letters and very-cross-indeed facial expressions is now lowering on Israel. Israel is apologizing and their apology is being ignored because Obama doesn't like Israel AND they insulted him, pesonally because they are screwing up his try at arranging peace between Israel and their neighbors that want Israel wiped off the map as a religious principle.

Yeah, so um, good luck with that.

Now THAT's A Nice Time.

After church, we came home to food already prepared and had a picnic in the back yard. Aside from having to kill a few wasps (showing off madd wasp spray marksmanship skilz yo! ) it was entirely pleasant. Sun not too bright, temps about 75º, blue sky, gentle breeze. Very nice. Thanks Jesus!

Sight Gags: Funny!

My Glock 22 was in its usual place (holster on my hip) this morning. I was unloading the dishwasher. My Darling Wife came in to the kitchen and said to me "Oh yes, would you unload and reload?"

Happy to oblige, I drew my weapon, removed the magazine, reinserted the magazine, and holstered the weapon.

Through her laughter, she explained that I was supposed to be unloading and reloading the dishwasher.

:-D

Feel Free To Build Me One . . .

Here is a clipping from one of Colonel Cooper's Commentaries. I wish I knew where I could find an Apitir locally. If I ever get a few square miles of land, I'll have to build one, and y'all can come shoot it up.

The faithful continue to ask us about the design and construction of the Apitir, which was originated here at Gunsite but turned down by the interim management. This is a good device and should be more generally appreciated. It consists of a double running steel target, which is actuated by the shooter and releases two 10-inch steel disks running in opposite directions from the centerline, powered by gravity. The shooter releases the two disks simultaneously with his shooting hand and tries to knock each off its runner before the end of the passage, which is a matter of 10 meters each way. He starts the exercise at the 5 meter line, and each time he cleans the exercise he replaces the steels at the centerline and starts over again at a greater distance. This is a nifty exercise but, of course, it involves only one shooter at a time and is limited in operations involving a great many shooters. It is easy to build, however, and should be set up on a semi-permanent basis at any major shooting facility.

Col. Cooper On Violence

"One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.' I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure - and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy."
-Jeff Cooper, "Cooper vs. Terrorism", Guns & Ammo Annual, 1975

Texas Should Cede Southern TX to Mexico.

By the same logic, Israel should abandon the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Golan. Is it a coincidence that Hillary Clinton is looking awfully Aryan these days, or is it just me?

Don't You Believe It!

If you are the phone-calling type, keep calling
If you are the letter=writing type, keep writing
If you are a Christian, keep praying.

"Healthcare" is on the ropes and its knees are looking wobbly. Don't give up.

The leftist news organizations are making my supper not sit well. It's all rah-rah we're almost to the point of a vote on Obamacare and it's gonna pass 4 sho!

BS

Obama is putting off his daughters' spring break trip to Asia for 3 days so he can try to twist enough arms to get a bill through the House with his own party in the majority. The know this is a very, very heavy lift indeed.

He will, however, be 100% sure to be out of D.C. by the 21st, because the illegals are having a rally that day (!) and it just wouldn't do for him to appear sympathetic to illegals before he pushes for amnesty. Or something.

Busy, Busy Little Worker Bee

06:30 hit the mental snooze button
Work all day
Cash paycheck
Mow lawn
Another coat of paint on the boys' bookshelf
Make brackets to hold curtain rods. Said brackets 257% stronger than mil-spec and screwed directly into studs of window frame . . . in boys' room.
22:24 finally time to relax

AAAaaaaaaaahhhhh to relax. Thank God I don't have to work 2 full time jobs.

NATIONAL K-12 School Curriculum!? YGTBKM!

The news says the Obama administration is now going to start pushing for a NATIONAL curriculum plan for kindergarteners through the twelfth grade. Same curricula, same textbooks, for every child. You know, because standardized testing is so great we need standardized teaching also.

Finland stomped America (and every other nation) into the ground in the latest survey of academic achievement. They allow every teacher in every classroom to decide what and how to teach. They place the expectation for learning on the students, not the teachers.

But VFD, how else can we ensure the children learn the right things in school?

Right as defined by whom?

Parents?

Teachers?

The local independent School District?

State politicians?

The Federal Government currently led by a Socialist with a "Safe School Czar" in favor of teaching "love" between adults and your children?

Is THIS the change you were hoping for?

Do you STILL think Congress hasn't gone too far with this whole "interstate commerce clause cancer," tying education funding to highway funding? Do you still think your state needs to send money to Washington DC to have it sent back to pay for highways with strings like this attached? Really?

Slaughter Your Chances At Re-Election!

The Senate passed an Obamacare bill that is now a political third rail. Nobody wants to pass it as-is, including, ostensibly, the President.

A universal healthcare reform scheme is a legislative idea whose time has come and gone in the House. With a Democrat majority, they can't get it passed because some of your Elected Heroes know it is political suicide AND a bad idea.

The President wants f-cking SOMETHING passed because, as Comrade Lenin said, "Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism." Obama really Really REALLY wants socialist medical insurance in America, and he knows he will have NO chance of getting it after the next mid-term election.

What to do?

The House would take for-e-ver to work up a new bill, and it probably wouldn't go far enough. The best they can hope for in the house is some of the Republicans' incremental ideas, not a whole-hog reform bill. This is unacceptable. You guys HAVE TO pass a universal bill. The only way to get one passed is to reconcile the vastly different Senate and House bills. Too bad, the House will never come to agree with the Senate on a compromise bill.

What to do?

RECONCILIATION! We'll pretend that it's legal to use the reconciliation process to pass a bill with 10 years of taxes for 6 years of "benefits!"

Can't get the votes for reconciliation. Not gonna fly. What to do?

Change the rules.

.

.

.

Literally. The so-called Slaughter rule goes like this: The house votes to accept a rule change. The rule change says, "we DEEM the Senate bill to have passed, if we can get a bill passed that fixes the Senate bill." Shazam! Nobody has to vote to accept the flawed Senate bill!

This is probably illegal, but they will try it.

This IS a vote on the Senate bill but they think you are too stupid to see that.

What are you going to do about it?

One Purpose Only Needs One Question

The local radio news anchor dude put out a PSA in favor of people filling out the census forms they get in the mail. He mentioned that there is a "short" form with only 10 questions. The punchline to this was when he said "The Census' only task is to count every one person, once.

Excuse me for noticing, but why then is the SHORT form 10 questions long?

Healthcare Not Dead Yet. Keep Praying.

Queen Pelosi postponed all House committee meetings today so all the demicans would have a chance to show up to an arm-twisting session.

So?

So they are pitching an excuse, both for their upcoming defeat in November, and for going HARDER to the political Left the next time they get power after that.

Wait, what?

They are saying that the Democrats in Congress who are on the fence about voting for this particular bill (not the concept in general, THIS bill) will demoralize the Democrat voting base if the bill fails. The reason, you see, that they will have lost this November is that they were not far enough to the left. Not that the people hate the idea of turning their health over to a demonstrably incompetent government. Not that the people don't want the .gov to FORCE them to buy a shitty, too-expensive health care insurance plan from the government, no. They were demoralized when you didn't vote for the bill. So vote for it already!

Seriously? Recreational FISHING Ban in USA?

President Obama is under pressure from radical environmentalist religous groups whackos lobbyists to sign a new executive order. An order, issued BEFORE the governmental rulemaking body has a chance to issue their official recommendations. An order whose effect will could be to ban recreational fishing on coastal, sea, lake, river, and other inland bodies of water in and around the United States, because of

. . .

the environment. You people are bad for it.

Nevermind the million jobs in the industry (in a time of high unemployment) and the billion(s) of dollars spent in the US economy that go toward recreational fishing.

Austin Community College Mascot?

Current mascot: a pink bunny

Future mascot: students are supposed to vote on something to replace the current mascot.

How about a crushed-out cigarette butt? You know, to represent the losers who think they should have pride in a community junior college. If the HIGHEST degree you can get from there is a baccalaureate, you don't get a mascot. Sorry.

Yes, I am making fun of people who go to community colleges. Note that I am a student at ACC ("very part time") and I think the whole idea is stupid.

Quote of The Day 03/10/2010

" . . . the ignorant motoring Public" -Sgt. Sam Cox

This was hugely funny, if you happened to be listening to the Morning Show on 590AM this AM.

The local transit agency is planning to hire off-duty Austin policemen, private security guards, AND put their own employees out there, to see that the people comply with the law.

What law, VFD?

The one that says you shouldn't park on railroad tracks.

Yes, seriously. The trains are FINALLY (years late) going to start running, so people in a narrow north/south corridor can commute to hopefully-convenient parts of Austin. They are hoping to NOT knock Houston out of the position of "City with the Highest Number of Car/Train Collisions per Annum." The commuters in cars have a nasty habit of going around guard arms and "oopsy" getting caught in line at a light and stopping on the trax.

The bums passing out drunk on the tracks & getting run over, you can't do much about but that problem sort of takes care of itself anyway, so . . .

Quote of The Day 03/09/2010

Congress has to

" . . . pass the bill so you can find out what's in it, away from the fog of controversy." -Nancy Pelosi

That would be properly interpreted: You people are too stupid to read a 3,000 page bill (when it is written, AFTER we agree to pass whatever it is) without getting all bound up in controversy. . . . so Congress should just pass it and you'll see what you get AFTER they pass it.

Why Not Do JUST This?

President Obama is now going around telling everyone they should be for his great plan to fight fraud in government-provided health care.

But

Only as part of his socialist medical system destruction bill.

Hello?

Why not do JUST this? Medicare on steroids would have a whole heckuva lot more appeal if Medicare weren't rife with fraud, waste, and abuse. Clean up your own house, maybe we'll invite you to clean ours eh.

A Sinkhole AND A Wreck!?

Dessau Lane at Parmer Lane is a BUSY part of town in East Austin. Unfortunately for several tens of thousands of people, a water line under the street broke and a huge sinkhole opened up right in the street. Four lanes of traffic that normally back up for miles both ways were reduced to two lanes.

Then, this morning, the radio news said there was a wreck there, as well.

Immediately afterward, I imagine looking any direction from that intersection, you would see something like this:

Austin Man Carjacked, Shot.

A delivery driver in Austin caught a few hot ones to the chest this morning. He saw two people approaching, at least one with a gun. At that point is when I would have been drawing my own gun and/or laying down a strip of rubber, red lights and oncoming traffic be damned.

Carry your guns, people. And remember: you probably won't get jacked if you run a light to get away from an assailant OR if you get in a wreck trying to get away.

Toyota Catches A Lucky Break

A Toyota Prius had an uncontrolled acceleration problem the other day. This is a HUGE stroke of good news for Toyota, if they play it right. The car has been turned over to the manufacturer and everyone in the country has heard by now that they are going to be investigating a known-confirmed recent runaway acceleration problem-car.

IF they come out with an "AHA it was THIS that we can fix on your car!" announcement, they will be golden. If they try to say it was a sticky linkage or some other thing that smells of CYA BS, they will be screwed for a decade or more.

This is pretty obviously a systemic problem with a large variety of recent models and I would put down money that a whole LOT of Japanese electronics engineers are working on coffee and nicotine until they figure out which corroded connector or failed microchip is f-cking up all these cars. The list of common parts has to be pretty short and I'm sure they're hot on the case. Toyota need only appear to no longer be poo-poohing this problem and they could come out of it smelling like a rose.

Why Are Gun Bloggers So Fat?

I just saw a picture of another gun blogger I read sometimes, that I didn't know what he looks like. Head round like an apple, body to suit. People who theoretically know that they may have occasion to use the only weapon they have available 24/7 anywhere, and they keep it in poor condition. It just seems wrong somehow.

Then again they are US Americans, and we love us some being fat and out of shape so I guess it's 'normal' these days. Not good, but probably normal.

:(

Street Racing is Supid.

Also, for two people waiting for a bus in Austin yesterday, street racing proved fatal. Witnesses put this freshly-minted Felon's speed at between 2 and 3 times the posted limit, during the morning commute time, in the heart of downtown Austin. On twisting streets. Lost control and smooshed two women to death.

Sure showed that other car's driver who had the biggest swinging dick there, didn't ya Mr. Moreno?

You Can Overcome Your "Culture"

Regardless of what the other punks from the hood do, you can overcome your ethnic "cultural" upbringing. This is good news for hundreds of thousands of black and mexican kids, because their parents did a piss-poor job of rearing them. Until the kids become adults and figure out they need to straighten up and fly right, these poor poor pitiful poor minority students will be getting in trouble at school more often than 'white' children because they CAUSE more trouble than white children.

This, of course, is Racist. So the President announces he'll be looking into a few dozen schools this year. Just like his predecessor did. And NOT pushing cultural reform to the ghetto. Just like his predecessor did. Is this the change you were hoping for?

Screwed.

Man convicted in DUI case because he was not allowed to present physical evidence. Make that, evidence based in 100% proven science, relating to his own body. Ouch.

Via 2-4, seen at Uncle's

US Company To Make US Military Jets. Good.

Northrop/AEDS drops out of the competition to build the next midair refueling jet for the USA. Boeing wins by default. Apparently we're not quite to the point of buying our bullets from China just yet.

********

In related news, I am amused at all the surprised-faces the politicians put on when their favorite ox is gored, at the fact (alleeeeeegedly) that the US DOD would write a specification with only one product capable of meeting it.

Obamacare Still Not Dead. Keep Praying.

The President has a new, highly intellectual argument that he's pushing on your Elected Heroes: Trust me, it's all going to be OK.

Muslims Slaughtering Christians In Nigeria. Still.

Yet another argument for the private ownership of smallarms:

Hundreds of Christians KILLED for not converting to islam. This is not an isolated incident.

Note that those people were murdered by muslims with machetes. How many of those Christians would have died, if a few of them had AK-47s and were willing to use them?

Iranian Cruise Missile, What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Iran is working up a short-range cruise missile. . . .

So? Let Israel worry about Iran! We're all the way around the planet, WAY out of range!

. . . which they plan on being able to deploy from a ship or a submarine. Are you 2,000 miles or less from the nearest ocean? If so, why are you not demanding pre-emptive strikes on Iran?

Their nuclear fuel enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, VFD!

Right. That's why they are trying to get 90% enriched uranium. For peace. Just please be aware, for islamists, peace can only come AFTER you are dead or converted to islam. Also remember it is called The ISLAMIC Republic of Iran . . .

No Blogging Today.

Familying today. No blogging. Please come back tomorrow.

Is The FDIC Brewing Its Own Bank Closure Storm?

Rumblings from the banking industry seem to indicate that the FDIC is getting ready to put the screws to banks. As a direct result of the actions of this federal government entity, private banks are refusing to lend, even to well-qualified clients.

. . . raise your hand if you remember President Obama saying he wanted banks to lend more money out. Keep your hand up if you think, when the public becomes more aware of this new phenomenon, Obama will blame the banks and try to move us even closer to a system where the .fed is the lender of only resort.

Who would want to be a banker, if the "time for profits" is "not now" for the forseeable future? Who can run a lending institution at a perpetual net loss? Hint: both answers are the same, and it rhymes with "hover meant."

You know who else nationalized the banking industry?

Photography: Shiny (mirror-bright) Cylinders With Text On Them

As always, click any image to see it full size.

I had to photograph this object for work so that the text was easily legible, and it took me a couple of minutes to figure it out.



This page is so that you can store the technique in your memory banks so you don't have to waste time during a photo shoot. My problem was complicated by the lovely stainless shooting table I was using. A white or grey work surface would be great, but it would get all scratched and filthy in short order, with the other stuff I have to shoot that is . . . not as clean as this switch. Any colored tabletop surface will throw color into your image which is not necessarily a bad thing. A softbox for lighting would make this easier, but not everyone has one. My setup has horizontal overhead fluorescent lighting.

You have to play with some photographic subjects to get a proper image. This page describes what I did before finding a quick, easy, and zero-dollar solution to the problem of a glare-free, in-focus picture of a long reflective cylinder with text wrapped around it.

To begin with, this is the acceptably-shot final image:



It could use a bit less saturation, or at least less yellow saturation, but it will do for this article.

Just laying it on the table



. . . gets you glare AND shadows when you shoot it straight-on.



Put the camera at an angle to the subject and the glare and shadows mostly go away. They are replaced by loss of focus due to the depth of field. You want the whole thing to be in focus? I hope your area is very brightly lit, because you're going to be WAY up there on the F stop adjustment. This is at F5-ish if I recall correctly



If this is good enough for you, be pleased that you are easy to please. This is a very fast solution. Tilt the camera and BAM . . . done! But look carefully. One end of the cylinder is in sharp focus. The other end is plainly legible, but the focus is soft. If this cylinder were any longer I'd be in trouble.

The main solution I use for shooting (blued) gun barrels is to hang the subject vertically. The glare from the overhead lights is greatly reduced.



That's great for a black subject with embossed text. This subject is a mirror with etched text (no 3D structure for contrast). It takes away the glare like a champ, and adds shadow so you can't make out one of the four lines of text. If the whole room were white, this wouldn't be a problem. You would get a little sliver of color from your own reflection, but it would be okay. The room behind me is full of stuff. This is unacceptable.



Another technique is to gently shade *some* of the light hitting the object on a table. This is the perfect application for a small soft box. I don't have a soft box, I have a hand. This works quite well for some subjects, but not in this case. You could also use a sheet of plain white paper slightly higher than where my hand is, and that might be all you need. I didn't have a big-enough stiff-enough sheet of white paper immediately accessible. I had this white paper towel which is all I needed (but we're skipping ahead).



Glare is greatly reduced but now we're dealing with hand-colored reflection and shadowing.



Almost good enough, but not quite.

Then I hit upon the solution. The paper towel won't reflect glare and casts no colors or shadows. Upend the object and tilt it toward the paper towel. All the light you are collecting is effectively coming off a diffuser. For longer objects, a white bed sheet or a clean concrete surface may be in order. If you have a larger white (or neutral) table top, you can put a little less angle on it. You can use a lower F stop and faster shutter (which really helps if your camera has no image stabilization!) with this setup. This is at F3-ish and 1/60 second exposure. Yes, my shooting area is much less bright than I would like.



The final result is quite satisfactory.

Madness @ Work!

There was a tree-climbing contest at work today. On company property. LB won. He's twice as old as the youngest man in the contest. He came back inside twirling his nunchaku and saying "YES! I'm still 12 years old!

According to the recent study which shows perceived age is more important than chronological age (Boortz has been talking about it recently anyway) LB will live to be 120 years old.

Pentagon Shooter Was A Pothead, Not A Right Winger!

A man shot and wounded two guards at the Pentagon yesterday. He, as one would hope,got his shit-for-brains spread out all over the ground with return fire.

The article says he hated the government, and wanted "justice" as defined by him. The article goes on to mention that he had a 2006 case against him having to do with marijuana.

The leftist media is sure to paint this nut job as a "right winger" today and all this weekend. Don't you believe it. He was a crazy, just like Stack. He was possibly a crazy because he was a pot-head. Just a couple of days ago, Savage mentioned this:

Not a week ago, Savage pointed out that Early cannabis users three times more likely to have psychotic symptoms according to a recent study by the University of Queensland. Don't let the dialog become about guns or right wing thought. Push it towards the dangers of pot instead. Call the shows that get it wrong and correct them, mmkay?

At Least Stark Can Put It On His C.V.

"Former Chairman, Ways and Means Committee, U.S. House of Representatives*"

*For less than a day. It did not help that this Democrat, just like the one he replaced, is also a tax cheat! You know, in addition to the tendency to say outrageous things when behind a microphone.

“Under the circumstances, I could not think of anyone who could serve the country, the Congress and our committee better than Sandy Levin” -Charles Rangel

^ and that right there is enough to recommend a random person from the phone book instead of Sandy Levin as Ways and Means chairman. If Rangel approves, you can bet this is yet another terrible choice.

Quote of The Day 03/03/2010

"We've got a few unhappy faces about that, but this is a good thing." -Michelle Obama

She was talking about taking away tasty food from children and replacing it with fruits & vegetables as a part of her new health kick for the nation. This made quote of the day, however, because it is a snapshot of the entirety of the difference between Socialism/Communism/Facism/Marxism/Leninism/Statism etc. and Liberty:

The leftist does not respect your rights as an individual. The individual is subordinate to the State. You want to keep your land without paying taxes? You want to have a cookie after your school lunch? How does it feel to want?

The proponent of liberty takes the opposite view: the State is an agent of the People. When the People's rights come into conflict with the State, the State can just sit down and STFU.

A large part of this is the fact that, deep down on the inside, the leftist knows that she is smarter than all you yokels out there. If you people would only listen and obey, everything would work out just fine! This time, she means. Not like all those other times that killed over 100,000,000 people who did nothing wrong. No, she's smarter than the ones that tried it before, too. Now if only someone would could "make them agree. Someone wise, and powerful."

Naked Snow Lady zOMG The CHILDREN!!!1!

Seriously? We can't have a nude snow sculpture of a woman on public display? "You people you got no cultcha!"

Hat tip: Uncle

McDonald v. Chicago Oral Arguments Summary

Very funny paraphrase/summary of the oral arguments in a hugely important case before the supreme Court. Funny if you can read pottymouth language. Otherwise not. I was ROFL

Hat tip to Uncle

Dang, I Heard It Again.

As I lay in bed this morning around 5:40 (the clock, as I mentioned previously, being for general reference vs. absolute knowledge in my house) I was awakened. By the same Adhan I heard before. My windows do a surprisingly good job filtering out road and wind noise, as well as the babbling brook right behind the house. The whiny, nasal voice saying 'my god is better than your God' carries straight through. Once again it was a cold, wet morning air mass that carried the sound so well.

I went outside in my drawers and turned my head. It was coming from seemingly straight across the river. Boo.

I've been waking up nearly daily at approximately the right time for it, but that proves nothing. I wish I had some super secret squirrel spy recording gear so I could get it on tape for evidence.

Quick Hits:

Coffee is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy healthy.

Toyota cars with "fixed" gas pedals but broken brains are still not fixed!

Rangel "Temporarily" Steps Down

A Democrat with a fun history of defaulting on huge personal debts was the chair of the House Ways & Means Committee. He wrote tax laws for the nation. Come to find out, he is also a pretty big tax cheat. So Charlie Rangel avoided being forced out of the committee chair by temporarily resigning. "Temporarily," in the same way that Social Security contributions are "voluntary."

Now we have a new committee chair. If you like Vice President Biden's habit of sticking both feet in his mouth whenever he speaks, you'll just love Pete Stark as the new HNIC writing tax laws.

Take Your Kid To Work Day, Air Traffic Control Edition!

You are a commercial airline pilot. Your job is a mind-numbing routine. You are half asleep making routine calls to the Air Traffic Control towers along the way to your destination. Then you hear one ATC voice that sounds like a little kid in your headphones. You snap wide-awake-but-right-now and pay attention to whatever is happening around you. Then you smile and laugh because the kid is obviously somebody in the tower's version of bring your kid to work day.

The call was 100% appropriate language, with good pronunciation. Radio communications protocols were observed because the child was repeating verbatim what the father said to say. The pilots apparently all got a big kick out of it.

The union realizes that the child is not a union member, however, and the controller/father and his supervisor are both suspended. We just can't have non-union labor in a union shop! Next they'll be talking about cutting wages! JERK THAT UNION BOSS KNEE!

Need to Go to Bed

Staying up late to get my headlines read and messages checked is bad for being awake early enough to do my Bible study. :(

You Thought Your Finances Were Bad?

President Obama's home state of Illinois has:

a $13bn hole in a $28bn budget.

. . . Ouch.

Joseph McCarthy, Popularly Vilified, Was ALSO Right.

Congresswoman Sue Myrick is trying to sound the alarm. She is warning her nation about the dangers of islam. She is getting hammered by the press for it. Good for her.

Throttle Should Be A Cable.

In automobiles:

Throttle should be a cable or a linkage.

Brakes should be hydraulic.

Steering should be mechanical.

Shifters should be a cable or a linkage.

Lights should be wires and relays.

The radio should have a dedicated volume knob.

Always. Anything beyond these is a step into the Realm of Bad Ideas.

oh, and one more:

The default failure mode when sh*t goes haywire should NOT be "Uncontrolled Full-Throttle Acceleration You Can't Do Anything About No Matter What You Try Including Turning Off The Ignition, Shifting to Reverse, and Standing on the Brakes.

********

I always thought that drive-by-wire was a [deleted] stupid idea. When I heard of commercial passenger aircraft going to fly-by-wire instead of direct hydraulic controls, I got a case of the creeping willies. Airplanes go through ridonculous amounts of safety testing. Cars are, by comparison, a very slapdash affair. Just ask this guy, who used to design Fords, and would never buy one.

McDonald v. Chicago Arguments Were Today

While we're on the subject of praying, how about praying that justices@SCOTUS.com lean more heavily toward "shall not be infringed" than we have any reason to hope.

Prayers for Chile

Don't forget that there are people still trapped in rubble, and millions of people are homeless down there. Take a minute to say a prayer for them.

Happy Texas Independence Day!

If you don't like it because you're brown, feel free to go back wherever your color and your politics match.

Quotes Of The Day 03/02/2010

"he is actually forcing them to talk about spending, and he's getting hammered for it" -Laura Ingraham (referring to Sen. Bunning)

"Today we have a clear-cut example to show the American people just what's wrong with Washington, D.C. That is because today one single Republican senator is standing in the way of the unemployment benefits of 400,000 Americans." Sen. Patty Murray

Senator Jim Bunning was trying to insist that "we" take money from the unspent TARP funds to pay for this $10B stopgap measure. TARP has already been raided by the Obamunists to do things that will/did not help the economy. Bunning was upfront that he was FOR extending the unemployment beneifits of all these folks out of a job, just he didn't want to borrow from his grandchildren to do it.

The Democrats would have none of it, and finally Bunning caved. I'm guessing the number of Senators that ever had to pay down a big personal debt while 'doing without' is approximately ZERO. I wonder if the next American revolution will start when we finally have to enforce austerity measures just like Greece is doing now.

Bipartisan, A New Definition.

The supreme Court says that NOT buying/selling wheat on your farm influences interstate commerce, so Congress can regulate it (yes, really).

So why is it a surprise to learn that the mentally-broken Speaker Pelosi thinks "bipartisan" means "you didn't just let us pass whatever we wanted so you are part of the process, even if nobody on your side votes for our bill?"

Boy Kills Brother With Father's Carelessness

If you leave a charged Glock in a car, and you have children capable of accessing the car, no matter how much you protest to the contrary, you are careless. If one of your children finds the gun and blows his brother's brains out all over the inside of your truck, you damn well SHOULD beat yourself up over it for the rest of your life.

Note that this very likely would not have happened if a law-abiding citizen had not complied with a useless "gun free zone" law. The law says no guns at the post office. The father left his Glock (in Condition Zero) in the car, and neglected to remove it when they get home. The rest is history.

Sad, sad, sad. A young life tossed out, a brother with a spoiled innocence, and a formerly-gun-safe man branded forever as a danger, even if only in his own mind. Be sure the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership Violence will be dancing in this child's blood soon, if they aren't already, trying to use it as an excuse for more anti-gun legislation.

Hat tip to Uncle
********

I know we should never say "never" but this would never happen at my home. If I leave a gun in a place where the children have even a remote chance of laying hands on it, it is not ready to fire. Period. I N.E.V.E.R. let my arms out of my direct control without putting them into Condition Four. Also, my children know that to touch my guns when there is no 'bad guy' present will result in Very Big Spankings, and they know that I am psychic (shhhhh. . . .). Also the ones old enough to talk have received n lectures on gun safety, and between the two of them, they can recite the Four Rules on command. THIS is careful. Leaving a Glock laying around in a house with children is not. Sorry.

You Aren't The Only One Who Hates President Obama.

His doctors, on the occasion of a routine checkup, recommended (again) that he quit smoking.

The man knows it is a fatally poisonous thing to do, but he does it anyway. What does that tell you?

61 Dead Children Is NOT A Reason For New Laws

You can't make the world 100% safe. Period, end of discussion*

*except for the following:

Be sure that every story you read will have a sob story in it. A sob story does not constitute a reason for doing ANYTHING. The American Academy of Pediatrics is currently dancing in the blood of the children of ignoramus parents who don't know how to do the Heimlich Maneuver, trying to get warning labels (make that BIGGER warning labels) put on food. No, not that you should be eating raw fruit instead of hot dogs. No, they want warning labels that say a small thing can get stuck in a small hole. This is a grave danger and Something Must Be DONE!

SRSLY? 61 kids probably got shocked to death by lightning last year. 61 kids probably died from falling on ice during the recent winter storms. You're worried enough to go on radio, TV, and the intarwebz, and tell parents to chop up hot dogs into bits? 39,000-ish people died in car wrecks last year. Hell this is a DOCTOR's group making a fuss, how about 500 people dying from "medical misadventures?" You can't go out and say to drive careful, you have to tell us to chop up hot dogs? How about the 61 people who died of kidney failure from all the sodium nitrate in the hot dogs they safely chopped up before eating? Sure it's a noble cause but 61 deaths out of a population of 300,000,000 gives your kid approximately 2x10^-7 odds of choking to death on a hot dog. Don't feed your kids hot dogs that turned green from "age" and keep living your life already.

Safety goons: get a life.