Friday, June 30, 2006

The truth comes out

In case you haven't been paying attention of late, the NRA has been vehemently opposing the current so-called U.N. "conference" on small arms. The NRA warns that yes, indeedy, they're coming to take our guns away. Yeah, the NRA is pretty high-pitched, but they're right.

Naturally, the MSM sees the NRA's stance as "mistaken":

The NRA Web site is hosting a campaign that erroneously claims the conference will take place July 4 (the U.N. will be closed that day) and that it aims to take away their guns. The meeting's agenda relates only to the illegal trade in small arms.

Human rights advocates hope the conference will build momentum for a treaty to apply the "Global Principles" to trade in all weapons, including warplanes, tanks and attack helicopters.

However, they deny any grand conspiracy, saying the conference will help governments in Latin America and Asia that have no gun laws think more responsibly about the small arms trade.

The principles would be nonbinding, but would enable governments and civic groups to call violators more easily to account, said Colby Goodman, an advocate for Amnesty International USA.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/06/26/un.curbing.guns.ap/index.html

Yeah, right.

Here's a quote from Rebecca Peters, head of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), which pretty much sums up their REAL agenda:

I think American citizens should not be exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of the world. At the moment there are no rules applying to the rest of the world. That’s what we’re working for. American citizens should have guns that are suitable for the legitimate purposes that they can prove. I think that eventually Americans will realize that their obsession with arming themselves in fear, in a paranoid belief that they’re going to be able to stave off the ills of the world through owning guns, through turning every house into an arsenal, eventually Americans will go away from that. I think Americans who hunt—and who prove that they can hunt—should have single-shot rifles suitable for hunting whatever they’re hunting. I mean American citizens should be like any other citizens of the world.

In other words, you can only have the guns the government says you can have. All they have to do is declare certain (e.g. most all) guns "illegal", and that'll be that. Oh, and you Americans should disarm, bow the knee and accept the chains of slavery like the rest of us lilly-livered, limp-wristed, panty-waist "citizens of the world".

I don't think so, Scooter.

If I may quote the Geekwitha45:

Molon Labe, bitch.

h/t Kim http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/single/9491/ and the Geek http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_geekwitha45_archive.html#115167773401630735

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Failure

I'm 2 weeks into the summer term, and it looks like I'm going to be withdrawing from my College Algebra class.

Didn't see that coming.

I was in the math lab after classes today talking to someone, and I mentioned I was in the LPN program, and I was taking both Anatomy & Physiology and College Algebra, and that it was killing me.

She said, "Why are you taking College Algebra?"

Ummmmm .......

It hit me that I didn't quite know why I was taking it. So the inevitable questions started: "Why am I doing this to myself, then?" "How did I end up in this class?" "Do you realize how much better I could have done on my Anatomy & Physiology test if I had more time for that class?!?!?"

So, I came home and had the whole "you're not hearing me" discussion with Miss Fluffy, and she helped me work out 1. why I was enrolled in the first place and 2. that I can withdraw.

Basically, I had enrolled in algebra because I needed it for the RN program. The issue now is that I didn't get into the RN program. I'm in the LPN program (assuming I passed the CNA state board exam, but that's another matter entirely), and the LPN course of study doesn't require the algebra class.

In a nutshell, I'm taking the class, suffering through 3 to 4 hrs. of homework each night, and I don't have to.

Of course, since RN is my ultimate goal, I'll have to have the class eventually. But I don't have to take it now.

It's not that it's a difficult class -- it's that I'm not doing as well in it OR in A & P as I could be -- the classes are too intense for someone like me (who isn't math/science oriented) to take together in such a compressed time frame and do well.

Maybe I could hang on & push through it, but why? Why end up with 2 "C"s when I could put the math off 'till next summer and end up with "A"s in both A&P and math? And not work myself half to death to boot?

So, it looks like I'll withdraw tomorrow.

But I can't help feeling like a quitter.

I know that's silly, but it's the truth.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Wit

Today I got the chance to swing by Coal Creek Armory (http://coalcreekarmory.blogspot.com/) to pick up a few rounds of 7.62 X 39mm for HODAR's new acquisition.

Since I very nearly lose all self-control in a gun store, any questions that I might have are usually not very well thought out. This time, I was trying to get a feel for what problems HODAR might have with his WASR-10:

Me: "So, what kinds of problems might we run into with this AK? I've seen broken shell extractors for sale in a catalog -- does that tend to be a problem?"

Gun store employee: "Well, I'm not an AK shooter myself. Hey Tam --what kinds of problems might somebody tend to see with an AK?"

Tam: "Well, they tend to run out of ammo every 30 rounds or so..."


Touche, Tam (http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/).

I wish my wit were sharper than a spoon.

Perspective

The "news" media has no interest in putting "torture" into perspective.

LawDog has, once again, hit the nail on the head.

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2006/06/mike-luckovich-can-pack-his-bum-with.html

Friday, June 23, 2006

Mags

These mags are going into the garbage right after I finish this post.



Here's why.



Any of us who shoot semi-automatic weapons - be they rifles or pistols - have most likely heard something along the lines of, "your weapon is only as reliable as the magazines you use."

I'm here to tell 'ya that's totally, utterly and completely true.

The 2 rounds on the left were double-fed into the chamber. All of these mags do the same thing, actually -- they spit the last round or 2 into the chamber together. I assume the lips of the mag opening don't do a sufficient job of holding that last round in. Anyway, you can see the big dents in the casings (made by either the bolt or the gas tube when it came forward and impacted on the casing).

The round on the right was the one that scared the crap out of me (as you can probably imagine). This was also a double-feed, but this round never made it far up enough for the bullet to get fed into the chamber -- it evidently got hit by the bolt coming forward while the bullet was pushed up against the surface of the chamber ramp. The other round must have held it wedged there, and the bolt hit it hard enough to force the bullet back into the casing.

Dang.

I don't know if that could have caused the round to explode. If so, not only could it have seriously hurt (or even killed) me, but - at the very least - it could have damaged or destroyed a rifle that - with the scope, light, bells, whistles and everything on it - would set me back about $2500.

Dang.

So, if you shoot an AR-15, don't use mags that don't have green followers. Personally, I now use Bushmaster's proprietary mags exclusively: http://www.bushmaster.com/shopping/magazines/8448670.asp

I know at least 2 of my friends who own (or who will own) an AK-47 variant and a Mini-14 (or Mini-30 .... dang, now I've forgotten). I don't know what to tell you about your mags. Ask around, do some research, and buy the best ones you can afford.

The same goes for pistols. Good mags are worth their weight in gold.

At best, a lousy mag will cause malfunctions and will be irritating. At worst, it could cause your firearm to be destroyed, or you could get really, really hurt.

Considering what a new pistol or rifle costs - and what you'd pay for reconstructive surgery to reattach your hand - good mags are cheap by comparison.

Some Good News...

... courtesy of America's 1st Freedom magazine, July 2006 edition. From an article entitled, "This Train Keeps A-Rollin' -- Castle Doctrine Sweeps America" page 43:

Kentucky: Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed Castle Doctrine legislation into law in that state after it passed overwhelmingly in both the House and the Senate (in fact, there was only one vote against the measure in the Senate).

"Calling 9-1-1 is sometimes, instead of a rescue project, it becomes a recovery project if you're not able to use force", Kentucky Senate President David Williams told the Louisville Courier-Journal when discussing Castle Doctrine legislation. Brett Hall, the governor's pokesman, told the paper, "This legislation ratifies Kentucky case law that affirms the age-old rule of law that a person has the right to protect themselves and family members from an unwanted intruder who means to do them harm."

Not much I can add to that, folks.

Day Off

Fridays are my day off -- sort of. My classes this term are Monday thru Thursday.

That doesn't necessarily entail all R&R today, mind you. Today, I'm going to indulge myself in some blogging this morning while the sun shines enough to dry the grass, then I'll do yard work until sometime this afternoon. After that, I'll clean my neglected AR-15 (I shot on Sunday and STILL haven't had time to clean it -- it's giving me fits). Then I'll have to do homework and study, since I have a math test on Monday and an Anatomy & Physiology test on Tuesday.

Hopefully I'll be able to stay on top of everything so next weekend can be low-maintenance. The Greyhound and HODAR will be coming up to visit over the pre-4th of July weekend. You can bet your bottom dollar we'll have some fireworks.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Buh-bye!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/20/television.news.rather.ap/index.html

Dan Rather is - officially - leaving CBS News.

Good riddance.

According to the CNN report, he signed off as anchor on March 9, 2005 with the "admonition 'courage'".

That's probably how he likes to see himself.

"Self-absorbed and arrogant" would have been more accurate descriptions. He was one of the figureheads of the "media-as-sole-bearer-and-deliverer-of-the-only-truth" egocentrism that has rotted what little soul the news media may have had to begin with.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Danny boy.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

After MONTHS of waiting...

... Bill Whittle has finally posted a new essay, entitled "Rafts".

If you don't usually click the links I post, indulge me this one time and click this one. Whittle's essays are long (thus "essays" rather than "posts"), but they're worth it. He does an excellent job of putting things into perspective.

Just a snippet:

Hindsight is 20/20. We can always look back at our wake and see where we have been; the challenge is to know where we are going. Predictive value would be nice. So here’s a better example of how we can use this kind of mental rigor to cut through competing maps of what is happening out in the real world.

Socialist intellectuals will tell you that Cuba is a model nation: universal free health care, near total literacy, and essentially no gap whatsoever between the rich and the poor. They call it an island paradise where brotherhood and compassion reign in stark contrast to the brutal inequalities of the heartless and racist capitalist monster to the North, ruled by it’s Imperial Nazi King, who is the devious mastermind of all manner of Conspiratorial Wheels and also a moron.

Capitalist intellectuals -– and there are not many, since most of these people have jobs -– argue that Cuba is a squalid, corrupt, poverty-ridden basket case, a land of oppression and secret police and torture chambers run by a megalomaniac who practices the most idiotic, inhuman and degrading economic system ever invented.

So here we sit in the chartroom, with our competing maps. What to think?

And anyone who can jab Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, Noam Chomsky and Fidel Castro in the course of one essay - and keep it coherent - deserves a read.

Go thou and believe:

http://www.ejectejecteject.com/

Saturday, June 17, 2006

... and Vulcan smiles...

Ring the bells -- my most excellent friend HODAR is about to join the ranks of the modern riflemen. He just put an AK-47 variant on lay-away!

I'll pause now for applause and roaring cheers of approval ...

___________________

He plans to pay it off & bring it when he comes up for the weekend before July 4. Needless to say, it's gonna sound like I'm running my own guerilla war in my little valley all weekend.

I hope they'll be able to hear the reports echoing up at the UN ...

But I digress.

Soon - very soon - he'll probably have that rifle tricked-out and tuned-up to be the absolute ultimate self-defense tool, and it'll be a thing of beauty.

Much like this:


(See this image and other really cool rifle accessories at http://ultimak.com/.)

If I could, I'd sell my own blood plasma to make a donation, strictly out of principle. I've promised to kick in 40 rounds of ammo. Hey - I'm a poor college student - but it's the least I can do.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Ah, Kim

Sic 'em!

Heard about the wacky ways in which your tax dollars - which were intended to help victims of Hurricane Katrina - have been spent?

LawDog says what we're all feeling:

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-much.html

He also gave one of the more entertaining run-downs of the news from earlier in the week:

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2006/06/man-i-wish-i-couldve-gotten.html

Weekly?

This may turn into a weekly blog. At least until the Fall term.

Dang.

This was my first week of classes in the Summer session. I'm taking College Algebra and Anatomy & Physiology. Algebra is killing me. I haven't had a math class since ... let's see ....

1992.

Thank God Miss Fluffy luuuuuuuuuvs math, or I'd be sunk. I'm serious.

It's not that I'm lazy -- I read the material (multiple times), attend class, take notes -- the whole nine yards. But once the homework problems move away from carbon-copies of the examples given in the text, I dumb out. Miss Fluffy has been nudging me in the right direction (and occasionally working all the way through problems to help me figure things out). I may have to give a backrub.

At any rate, I've been doing about 4 hours of math homework a night. Just math. My A&P reading has been pushed back, and will get done this weekend. Along with more math.

At least I think I aced the quiz we had today. I don't dare speculate on whether or not I can keep that up until August...

So, until then, blogging will be light. Probably more often than once a week, but don't bet the farm on it.

Come to think of it, I don't remember the last time I pulled a trigger.

Double dang.

We'll have to rectify that this weekend.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Late start

Miss Fluffy & I didn't get up 'till nearly noon today ... but there's good reason for that.

I finally managed to get into a "CPR for Healthcare Professionals" class which met yesterday (the class is a prerequisite for the LPN program this fall, so I had to have it, and I'd been having a terrible time finding an open slot). The class was slated to run from 8am to 6pm. Since the class is limited to 6 students, though, we got out by 12:30.

Since I'm finding that I've contracted a terminal case of test-anxiety (where did that come from?!??), I was beat when I got home. I ate lunch, and took a 20-minute nap.

And that did it for my relaxation for the next 12 hours.

At 2pm, people showed up here at the house to get ready for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/par/content/PAR_1_Relay_For_Life.asp). I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get stuff together so we could get set up. Setup took the rest of the afternoon, and the event started at 6pm.

Miss Fluffy had worked her butt off with the local community college team (of which I was a member) and had done the ACS newsletter for the town. Looks like her efforts paid off -- despite very little help from half the "team". We ended up with the award for the best activity of the evening (our Womanless Beauty pageant -- "Man, I Feel Like a Woman") -- though I should get the credit for putting on a dress and walking around in high heels for about an hour collecting money. We also sold food, with proceeds going to the ACS.

The organizers seemed really pleased with Miss Fluffy's team, considering this was their first time participating -- and they raised the third most money of any team. They seemed especially pleased with the newsletter she did.

I got the award for the youngest survivor at the event. Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't get the award for having survived the most kinds of cancer (can you believe somebody has had more cancer than I have?!?!?)

Anyway, the event ended at midnight, and we didn't get into bed until 2am. We'd had it.

I skipped IDPA today. I thought I'd be all hardcore about it & go, but my Summer II classes start on Monday, and since I'm taking College Algebra and Anatomy & Physiology, I need to be at the top of my game. I'll make up for it by doing some homespun scenarios here at the homestead range. Hey - when shooting here, I can do my own private 3-gun match! Hmmmmm .... there's an idea.... Maybe Sunday....

So, today it's hot and muggy, and I'm still tired. Since I'm wearing a kilt - and nothing more - maybe we should turn the AC on (finally) so I can take a nap.

Ah, the kilt. AC for men...

Lever action

There were a few things I thought I knew about lever-action rifle cartridges.

http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/single/9426/

I stand corrected. I knew next to nothing about 'em.

Note to self: a .30-30 isn't like a handgun cartridge, you idiot.

Note to Hodar: take any gun advice from me with a big 'ol grain of salt. Because...

... my memory sucks.

h/t to Kim for the education at www.theothersideofkim.com

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Good riddance

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/iraq.al.zarqawi/index.html

Al-Zarqawi is dead. That brightened my morning somewhat.

There are some down-sides to this development, though:

This doesn't really mean much in the overall context of our problems in Iraq. Zarqawi was probably a significant leader, but his death hardly means the insurgency will disintegrate. Someone will take his place. The same can be said if we manage to kill Bin Laden -- we'll get a warm-fuzzy feeling for a while, but the problem won't magically go away. We'll have created a martyr to boot.

The other thing is the way in which he was killed. Not like I care all that much (he's just as dead regardless of the method used), but he deserved to see it coming. When a 500-lb bomb is delivered - with impressive precision, BTW - courtesy of the USAF, you don't get any warning. This sweaty turd didn't deserve to die so painlessly. He deserved to have the bad breath of some sweaty, unshaven, pissed-off American Marine in his face as his last conscious memory.

A more violent end would have been more fitting for a man who cut off the heads of bound, innocent people and filmed it for propaganda.

My only hope is that he'll get his deserved punishment for eternity in hell -- decapitation - over and over - forever - with a spoon. A dull one. On camera. I hope the demon given the task has Nick Berg's face.

So -- Roast in hell for eternity, you son of a bitch. We'll send Osama down with our regards to keep you company soon enough.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Balls


Today is D-Day. On June 6, 1944, the Allies stormed the beaches at Normandy, beginning the liberation of Europe.

The Allies suffered somewhere around 10,000 casualties on D-Day, including about 2500 killed (from http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm).

I wonder -- did the American "news" media (and the rest of the world media, for that matter) keep a record of the number of casualties each day in the news during WWII?

Did they recognize "liberation" when they saw it, or had they already begun to question the ethics of "occupation"?

How would America handle 10,000 casualties in Iraq and/or Afghanistan today? Do we still have the stomach for it? How would the American "news" media present it? How would the BBC? Or NPR?

Given the comparison, modern war is sterile. Nevertheless, Americans still go into battle - into the hellstorm of enemy bullets, grenades - or IEDs - with no hesitiation. It's still war. People still die. It's still ugly. Calling it "bravery" is probably an insulting understatement, especially coming from the keyboard of some college-educated snot like me who has never before seen combat.

In time, will we still honor our soldiers' sacrifices? Are we still capable of recognizing liberation when we see it? Or has it become too easy to sneer in our short-sighted sarcasm along with Jon Stewart? Are we still capable of putting casualties into context? Are we encouraged - in any way, shape, or form - to do so by the "news" media?

Would - could - America have won World War II if it were fought today? Do we still have the balls?

Friday, June 02, 2006

It's 7:00 pm ...

... on Friday night ...

... and I'm drinking coffee.

That's the kind of week it's been.

After a working weekend, I came home with a cold. Not that a cold's all that bad, but cold medicine does a number on me -- it reduces my already dismal IQ by about half.

So, after being sick through the first half of the week, I had to cram for my Nurse Aide state exam on Thursday -- when my good friend SRC showed up from Milwaukee for a visit. Dang. I had missed him last time he was here, and I wasn't going to tell him this wasn't a good time. He was a good sport about it all, but I hardly got to spend any time hanging out with him.

Now the exam is finished (I won't find out my scores for 2 weeks at best). The in-laws will be here this weekend. There's a Highland festival at a nearby town this weekend, too, but I'm not sure I'll go -- too tired, too poor.