Gun Stuff

So on Saturday night I go to Gander Mtn. I'm looking to drop nearly a thousand dollars on a USP Compact.

The people in the gun department don't know how to use their computer system to find one for me. The guy says he'll take our information and call us when he has some time to work with the computer.

The next day, we decide to go back, but we decide to call first in case they dug up anything the night before. The man on the phone says they can't do any ordering (WTH?!). We go, and wind up talking to someone we've never met before. He says they CAN order stuff, and manages to find 5 USP Compact 9's, Variant 1 versions, for between $850-$950. He takes our information and says he'll call us if he finds any used versions.

An hour later, we get a call at home, he's order a new and a used. Not only do we have no obligation to buy, but he's waving the $25/gun shipping fee, because TPTB have decreed handguns may only be shipped overnight.

My USP should be here today or tomorrow.

Yay!

School Again

I'm here in school again. Sitting at yet another computer.

School's not SO bad. Business class is entertaining, because the teacher is about 80% Libertarian. You know it's going to be a fun class when she says "If you trust the government to take care of you, you end up eating stale bread on the Russian Plateau."

Economics is taught by a man who doesn't speak much English.

And Business Writing looks to be fairly easy, though it incorporates all the elements that made me hate Business Writing Intro so much. Peer review...urgh. Makes me wanna take a claw hammer to my computer.

So Here I Am...

Sitting in a another computer lab.

Waiting for class to start for the semester. One hour and eighteen minutes left.

I don't feel comfortable blogging my usual stuff in a public place. Don't know why, I'll probably get over it though.

I'd rather be working. There I get paid to put up with aggravation, and I occasionally have some fun. Here I pay to be aggravated, and there's never ANYTHING fun.

Yes, I'm in a foul mood about this.

Shooty Goodness

Well, my mom (who's been to the range approximately 2 times) said we'd go at least once this summer, before I go back to college. Given that I go back on Monday, and work a bit in between, yesterday was the last day to go.

We loaded up the Walther .22, the CZ452, CX4, and Beretta 92, and then me, she, and my brother all rode out to the range.

Woulda been a little nicer if the people one lane over hadn't been so interested in running more lead through their XD45 than went through the last 9 John Woo movies. Mom doesn't like loud bangs, especially from 5 feet away.

But, she blew the center out of the target at 25 yards with the CZ. Moved on up to the Walther, and did passable with that. Took 2 shots with the CX4, and hit a bullseye with one shot, but didn't like that. One shot with the 92, and it was time to go.

I didn't have the advantage of someone coaching me to shoot with various .22s. I went from nothing, not even airsoft to a .40S&W carry pistol, and from there to an Honest-To-God battlerifle. It didn't take me long to become accustomed to the use of a gun, but I guess it takes other people longer. Oh well. She did quite good.

I Am SO Going To See This...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMei5nctinc

Classic Michael Mann film here. Jamie Foxx, good acting, tight scripting, good camerawork, neat dialogue, great combat sequences, .308s, badguys getting their backsides handed to them...

Like a poster I saw once said: "Tell those boys with their laundry on their heads it's washday, and we're bringin' the Maytag."

What's Going On

Not a whole lot happening in Vincentdom. Lots of work. Lots of gearing up for school. Lots of running. Some shooting. The stock fell off my HDR again, I need to write ACE about fixing this. You spend +$200 on something, you expect it to work.

I finalized my financial objectives for 2008. I'm gonna have to get a start on them right after I get my USP later this month. It'll take me 1.5 years to complete 1 year's worth of financial objectives. Ah well, such is working on a deadline. Most of the stuff will probably be banned in early 2009.

Outrage

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070804/NATION/108040062/1001

I'm not going to cut and paste because it's two pages. Paraphrased, the DemCong played fast and loose with the rules, and because they did so, they passed a bill allowing criminal aliens to collect government benefits.

WHY we're having a reasonable debate on this is beyond me.

WHY we're not trying everyone on the "criminal alien" side of this debate for capital treason charges is ALSO beyond me.

Shooty Goodness

Been out to the range twice in the past 5 days.

First time went out with just the Storm and the .22. The Storm is a fantastic rifle. Low recoil, accurate, only problem is those damned American peep sights. Hate 'em. The Commies know how to make a rifle sight.

Kept all my shots on piece of printer paper at 75 feet, grouping them nicely, even in rapid-fire.

Friday we took my Sig and my dad's 1911 out, ran 100 rounds of steelcase 45 hardball between them. The Sig was mystifying. Shot left from a sandbag. Shot beautifully accurate standing the first time, and then the second time could not get 1 out of 8 on paper. The 1911 of course performed beautifully. Standing, I fired a group at 45 feet you could cover with an index card. The first three formed a nice little "V," all the sides touching. Two vertical from that, and then a final three in a nice tight group. Lovin' it.

Gun Sales Rise After Cheshire Home Invasion

Gun Sales Rise After Cheshire Home Invasion
Security Company Says Phones Ringing Off Hook
July 26, 2007
http://www.wfsb.com/news/13763446/detail.html

NEWINGTON, Conn. - State gun sales have shot up in the daysafter the wife and two daughters of a prominent Connecticutphysician were killed, according to a local gun shop owner.

Scott Hoffman runs Hoffman's Gun Center on the Berlin Turnpike. In the past few days, following the triple homicide in Cheshire,Hoffman said that people have been rushing to his store to buyguns for themselves and their homes.

"They're scared," he said. "They're scared for their own personal safety and their family's safety, their children's safety and they want a way to protect themselves."Hoffman said that the most popular weapon for both men and women looking to defend themselves is a defense-grade shotgun.

Hoffman credited the gun's popularity to the short waiting period -it can be obtained in two weeks as opposed to waiting 90 days for a pistol permit."We sell about 8,000 guns a year, and I'd say a majority of them are for self-defense," he said.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Jessica Schneider reportedthat residents questioning their sense of safety following the home invasion have also been calling companies that install security systems.

Joe Mitchell of Associated Security Corp. said his company's phones have been ringing off the hook."I had 15 phone calls on my phone by 9:30 in the morning," he said.

He said that security systems aren't meant to protect valuables anymore, that many people use them to protect their lives.
------------------------------------------------
Some people GET IT!

Note how long it takes to get a gun there though. 3 months for a handgun, 2 weeks for a shotgun. There's a label for that - I call it failure. Failure by the people to elect the right politicians, failure to strongarm them out of passing bad law, and finally, failure to punish them for grievous abridgement of the human right to self-defense.

And by punish, I'm not meaning VOTING them out of office.

"In certain...extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue...natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive, it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment."

US Senators call for universal Internet filtering

US senators today made a bipartisan call for the universal implementation of filtering and monitoring technologies on the Internet in order to protect children at the end of a Senate hearing for which civil liberties groups were not invited.

Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) both argued that Internet was a dangerous place where parents alone will not be able to protect their children.

“While filtering and monitoring technologies help parents to screen out offensive content and to monitor their child’s online activities, the use of these technologies is far from universal and may not be fool-proof in keeping kids away from adult material," Sen. Inouye said. “In that context, we must evaluate our current efforts to combat child pornography and consider what further measures may be needed to stop the spread of such illegal material over high-speed broadband connections."

"Given the increasingly important role of the Internet in education and commerce, it differs from other media like TV and cable because parents cannot prevent their children from using the Internet altogether," Sen. Stevens said. "The headlines continue to tell us of children who are victimized online. While the issues are difficult, I believe Congress has an important role to play to ensure that the protections available in other parts of our society find their way to the Internet."

The measures they are calling for include directing the Federal Communications Commission to identify industry practices "that can limit the transmission of child pornography" and requiring the Federal Trade Commission to form a working group to identify blocking and filtering technologies in use and "identify, what, if anything could be done to improve the process and better enable parents to proactively protect their children online."

"In its zeal to protect kids from predators and potentially inappropriate content, Congress must not trample the First Amendment rights of Internet users," Center for Democracy and Technology said in a statement submitted to the Committee today.

They highlighted the finding of a report prepared by diverse group of people including individuals with expertise in constitutional law, law enforcement, libraries and library science, information retrieval and representation, developmental and social psychology, Internet and other information technologies, ethics, and education found that “public policy can go far beyond the creation of statutory punishment for violating some approved canon of behavior.”

"[T]he most important finding of the committee is that developing in children and youth an ethic of responsible choice and skills for appropriate behavior is foundational for all efforts to protect them—with respect to inappropriate sexually explicit material on the Internet as well as many other dangers on the Internet and in the physical world," the Thornburgh Committee concluded.
----------------------------------------------
I'd try to fisk it, but it'd wind up turning into a Guns post instead of a Government post. If you think you should be able to "filter" the internet, you should be fired from Congress and given a one way ticket to the Soviet Union or China, which ever totalitarian state fits your personality better.

Licensing Roadblocks Generate Revenue by Seizing Cars

Licensing Roadblocks Generate Revenue by Seizing Cars
Roadblocks in California and North Carolina generated significant revenue from licensing infractions and automobile seizures.

Roadblocks in California and North Carolina generated significant revenue from licensing infractions and automobile seizures this week. North Carolina state police have begun experimenting with short-term "safety checkpoints" that contrast with the more traditional approach used in California.

Troopers in Rocky Mount, North Carolina set up a roadblock on Riverside Drive that lasted just thirty-minutes. Joined by the city police, the troopers were able to issue $75 tickets to anyone neglecting or choosing not to wear a seatbelt. Forgetting a driver's license at home yielded $160 citations. The intention behind the short-term roadblocks was preventing motorists from using cell phones to warn friends and family to avoid the road and its inconvenience. According to police, the location of each roadblock spreads quickly.
So basically they're trolling for minor, victimless infractions. Rocky Mount NC PD, meet the 4th Amendment. And while you're at it, a discussion of the intent of the 2nd might be in order too...you know, why they wrote it, that sort of thing.

Traditional four and six hour roadblocks in California this week allowed two police departments to seize 119 vehicles likely to yield $140,000 in fines and fees. In Gardena, 1489 motorists traveling on Redondo Beach and Crenshaw Boulevards between 10am and 2pm yesterday were stopped and ordered to show their paperwork. The effort yielded 62 vehicles seized over licensing violations each of which will likely net $1200 in towing and storage fees. Officers were able to issue another 34 tickets for seatbelt and window tinting issues. No drunk drivers were identified.
The whole purpose of these checkpoints was originally to catch drunk drivers, no? I can't see where this gets called a success. They inconvenience nearly 2,000 drivers, seize dozens of vehicles over minor infractions (do they call a cab for you if they impound your vehicle, or do you walk?), and they can't even claim it was a success according to their original intent.

"We were only there for four hours and under 2,000 cars went through the checkpoint," Gardena Police Officer Carl Freeman told the Los Angeles Daily Breeze newspaper. "That means almost 2,000 drivers got educated."
Of course those drivers got educated you self-righteous pig with delusions of adequacy. They got educated as to abuses of power, they got educated as to what it feels like to hear "Papers, please" inside American borders, and they got educated as to abridgement of their God-given, Constitutionally-guaranteed rights. Mr. Freeman (irony there is strong, isn't it), should be tossed in prison, IN uniform.

The city yesterday received a $468,445 grant of state and federal gas tax money from the California Office of Traffic Safety to conduct additional DUI roadblocks.
State and federal gas tax money. So now I'M helping to pay for unconstitutional behavior by the NC police department. Beautiful. Do they have a 5 year plan for checkpoints as well?

In the city of Bakersfield, another 1300 motorists were subjected to a search at at Chester Avenue and 40th Street allowing police to collect 57 cars. The roadblock, funded by state and federal gas tax money, lasted from 7am to 1pm. Only one suspected drunk driver was identified.
Well, at least this one was a success. 6 hours, 1300 motorists' rights abridged, one drunk driving SUSPECT caught. Notice how the police were "allowed" to collect 57 cars. I don't think there was any deniable permitting going on there.

There's What Is...

The gasoline price-hike gives me hope that this time nothing will change. Deep down I know that it will, but what happened last time gives me hope.

When the price of gasoline rose quickly through the three dollar level, and into the fours, do you remember what happened?

Not a whole lot.

We had a lot of people whining and complaining on TV and on the radio, and in print. The oil companies are gouging us! Save us from eeevvvviiilll big OOOIIILLL! But nobody actually went out and did anything. Sure, Toyota is in the process of converting ALL their vehicles over to hybrid, but that’s nothing new. When gas climbed into the $4.20 range, Americans didn’t cut their driving at all. The auto manufacturers didn’t go out and invent fifteen new electric or hybrid cars. Detroit is still trying to convince the average American man that he needs a truck capable of hauling the Statue Of Liberty. The soccer moms are still rolling in their $30,000 SUVs. With the exception of a handful more Priuses on the road, nothing’s changed.

This was the public shaming of the “Bush Went To War For Oil” crowd, but nobody showed up. Too bad.

And that’s what gives me hope. When prices rose last time, NOTHING happened. I fear this time will be different.

Today the federal minimum wage gets a hike up to $5.85 per hour, an increase of $.70, or a little more than one seventh. For a full-time minimum-wage employee, if this first wage-hike were the last, they would be receiving an extra $1,456 per year. In another six months, minimum wage gets bumped up to $6.55. Another $.70 increase. Another $1,456 per year.

In exactly 365 days, business owners will be forced, upon threat of jail or violence, to pay their minimum-wage employees roughly 27% percent MORE do to exactly the SAME work they were doing yesterday. Whereas before your standard minimum wage laborer earns roughly $10,700 before taxes now, they will soon be earning nearly $14,000.

But this is a good thing, right? Right?

For the first time in history, single mothers will no longer have to choose between baby formula and electricity. Families will become self-sufficient. Poverty in America will end. No child will go to bed hungry again.

This is a good thing, right? Right?

No. Because there’s what is, and then there’s what others think should be. There’s the ideal, and then there’s reality. There’s the way it’s supposed to be done, and then there’s what actually happens.

Do you really think there are not going to be consequences for each full-time minimum wage employee being paid an extra $3000 dollars per year? Do you think that every business in American can soak up an extra $3000 loss per minimum wage employee?

This is where I fear the gas-price hike was an abnormality.

Because this time, there will be an effect following the cause.

As businesses are forced (at pain of jail or violence) to pay roughly 1/3 more for exactly the same work, since a business cannot long operate like the federal government and run at a deficit, they will have one of two choices. First, they can pass that new loss onto the customer. Prices have already been rising across the board for the past year. In order to stay in business, companies are going to have to jack their prices up EVEN further, just to make ends meet. They’re still carrying the same product, but now they’ve got an increased overhead. This will hit the retail sector especially hard, as retailers generally run on an incredibly tight budget. In order to survive financially, prices WILL have to rise. Will consumers continue paying, say, a third more for the same product? Of course not. Absolutely not. Hopefully they will, as they did during the gas price hike, or companies are going to face even MORE dire financial straits.

The second course of action is to lay off employees. Imagine, in your place of work, if all the salaries were doubled. Do you really believe all of you would be there a year from now, all earning twice as much for the same work? Of course not. Absolutely not. At some point the market will not bear the price increase and the only way to stabilize the financing is to let some of the employees go. So, in order to support the wage hikes, we’re going to lose some of our minimum wage employees, who will then be unemployed, and because of the wage hike all over, they will find far less work than before.

Meanwhile those employees who were earning MORE than minimum wage will have to pick up the slack of losing some of those minimum wage employees. The same work still has to get done, but now there are less people to do it. Would YOU stay with your current job if they eliminated a quarter of the employees and added their duties to yours, WITHOUT a corresponding increase in YOUR wages? Of course not. Absolutely not.

That’s because there’s what is, and then there’s what others think should be.

If government could tinker with wages as much as they would like, what is unreasonable about setting the minimum wage at $10 per hour? (Wait, Donkey candidate John Edwards wants to do just that!) How about $20 per hour? Why not $50? Why not just give everyone $100,000 every year? That’d be a novel solution to trying to end poverty.

Or, if we’re in the business of discussing moronic government interference, we could, as Donkey candidate Barak Huessein Obama suggests, link the minimum wage to price increases.

This is much like what will happen soon, only his idea involves a continual escalation. As retailers jack up their prices to account for the increased overhead of their employees being paid a third again as much for the same work, the buying power of the minimum wage employee will remain the same. Say they get their 27% more money – if prices rise at a similar rate, what has changed? What. Has. Changed?

This is all incredibly ironic of course, because the Democratic party has two other favorite economic drums that it likes to bang without rhythm. The first is immigration. The recently-killed amnesty bill would’ve legalized 12 million criminal aliens. These newly pardoned, newly minted citizens would thereby be eligible for the minimum wage, becoming as employable as the American citizens their employers favored them over. The whole reason there IS a problem with criminal aliens in this country is because American employers don’t have to pay them as much as non-criminals. Between paying a Mexican $3 to work the fields, or raising their wages to attract Americans, the standard farming organization would rather pay the Mexican. It’s absolutely logical business: What is financially better? Paying your employees $3, or paying your employees $9. What will keep your prices low, and you in business for longer?

The Democratic party wants to make 12 million new citizens, and immediately put them out of work.

The second hobby horse of the Democratic party is the shipping of American jobs overseas. American businesses don’t do this because they like having Pakistanis who don’t speak English running their phone-tech-support services, they do this to save money. They’d rather pay foreign wages to Americans – but American wages are cost prohibitive. So, we run into the problems outlined above: Raising prices, cutting services, firing employees, or closing the doors and turning out the lights. For the second time, a business is not like the federal government – they cannot run forever on a deficit, and when a private individual prints money like it’s going out of style it’s not called devaluing the currency, it’s called counterfeiting.

These are facts. You can raise the minimum wage, but in doing so you’re going to kill businesses, put employees out of work, and raise prices for consumers (who will respond by spending even less of their money). You can ignore the consequences and play havoc with the market over a fuzzy, feel-good idea, but eventually that train will run you over.

Because there’s what is, and then there’s what others think there should be. There’s the ideal, and then there’s reality. There’s the way it’s supposed to be done, and then there’s what actually happens.

There’s what IS, and then there’s what others think should be.

The Brave One

http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/05/31/brave-one-trailer/

Go. Watch the trailer.

Gives me the warm-and-fuzzies.

Harry Potter

The final book of that poorly written and repetitive series is out tonight. I had to work.

I cannot comprehend the mental retardation that leads someone to stand for an hour out in a parking lot waiting for a kids book, this book especially. It's like the Star Wars fans who'd camp out for 72 hours before the movies.

The one saving grace of the night: teenage GIRL WIZARDS. Short skirts, button-up shirts, sweatervests, and capes. Damn. We should do this more often.

Recent Movies

Seraphim Falls

Good movie, with a psychedelic ending. Seriously, I thought the ending was going to show that both characters were on drugs or in hell or something, it was that messed up. Don't bother renting it. Liam Neeson was cool though.

Live Free Or Die Hard

Excellent movie. Almost as good as the original. Saw a 10pm showing the same day I went to the range. Not enough swearing though. That's what Die Hard is - a barefoot smart-alec running around swearing and killing people.

John McClane didn't chicken out about hitting the woman though, which is different for an action movie. Shows that someone on the writing staff has some guts.

I'll probably go see it again.

Shooty Goodness

Sorry for the lack of updates. I came in at a breath under 40 hours last week, and will be again this week. At least I update more than the GeekWithA.45.

Got some trigger-time with my dad and a friend on Monday. HDR, 1911, and most importantly, 2 shotguns, a Remington 870 and a Browning Light 12.

Had a few double feeds with my HDR, but it ran flawlessly with some of the new ammo I picked up, so another case of that will be ordered shortly. Grouped very well, if a hint low. Which is not a problem. Bad guys wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The shotguns were incredible. We were shooting lowbrass #8 birdshot, and the Light 12 felt like there was no recoil. It was interesting shooting and seeing the wooden target stand just erupt with splinters. The pump was a lot more fun. I could work it quickly and accurately, and there's something primitively satisfying about a pump shotgun. Sort of like sitting around a fire at night, or smelling cooking meat. It feels natural. On the other hand, I didn't have it shouldered properly, and my arm now feels like someone's playing Inna-Gotta-Da-Vida on it with a tire iron, and this is two days later.

But, shotguns don't scare me anymore.

I'm going to try and find a Saiga 12, and there's $350 Benelli home-defense gun at Gander that I want to look more closely at.

It was a good day at the range.

You Cannot Negociate With Gravity

It's a line used in the Miami Vice movie to describe fighting the odds, and how the eventually catch up. It also happens to be God's honest truth.

I fell off an attic staircase yesterday. Between losing my balance and getting firmly reacquainted with the concrete, I bounced off a car and a couple of garbage cans. The claw hammer in my hand left a nice dent in the hood. I also managed to sprain my right hand, twist the ankle I fractured in April, and wrench my back, which was healing from last week's demolition in the basement.

I feel like John McClane.

Brian McFadden - Demons

Have you ever been lost in a different world?
Where everything you once knew is gone
And you, find yourself powerless
With everything that exists
You’re numb

Will I ever break free?

I search my world but I can’t find you
You’re standing there but I can’t touch you
Try to talk but the words are just not there
I can feel a sense of danger
You stare at me like I’m a stranger
Paralyzed and you don’t seem to care
The Demons in my dreams

If you become a nobody
Blind, to your family
Who would you be?
And life has gone into reverse
Re-living every hurt along the way

Everything that you fear
Is calling you and drawing near

I search my world but I can’t find you
You’re standing there but I can’t touch you
I try to talk but the words are just not there
I can feel a sense of danger
You stare at me like I’m a stranger
Paralyzed and you don’t seem to care
The Demons in my dreams

Wake me up and let’s go
I’m about to explode

I search my world but I can’t find you
You’re standing there but I can’t touch you
I try to talk but the words are just not there
I can feel a sense of danger
You stare at me like I’m a stranger
Paralyzed and you don’t seem to care
The Demons in my dreams


The real video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSeHmAUt9Rc
The Lost video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YtkX4FUrJQ

Love this song. Very atmospheric. An interesting communication of the feeling of missing someone.

So As I Don't Go Forgetting 7/6/07

"If it wasn't for that damn scarf, Jenny might not have been alone that night. And neither would Tommy. That was one of Tommy's proudest moments - goin' to Reilly to fight for Jenny. What he didn't realize was...there was nothing left to fight for. Thing about blood, family, it's always there...you can hate each other, you can want to kill each other...but you never stop lovin' each other. But 'love' love, damn, that's a whole other thing."

Yes, We Can Know

I try to write a new essay for each major holiday commemorating the ongoing fight for freedom, specifically Independence Day and April 19th, Patriot’s day. Usually my essays center on the experience of the men and women who committed their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to that fight, or the reasons for such a commitment.

With three days until Independence Day, doing a cut and paste of an old topic seems a little…old, maybe? Unworthy of such a holiday? While one of my goals in life is to make people appreciate the bravery and ideals of those who choose to risk everything for the freedom of themselves and their fellow man, it seems a little trite to do the same thing, over and over and over, and expect it to carry the same impact.

So, I’m going to ask you, instead of envisioning yourself as a warrior of the first American revolution, or the second, or a warrior of the Warsaw ghetto, or as a Branch Davidian, to imagine your reaction to a series of events.

What would be your reaction upon being told that someone was going to kill you?

What would be your reaction upon being told that someone was going to imprison you for ten years?

What would be your reaction upon being told that someone was going to take one fifth of all the money you would ever make?

I think I can speak for everyone when I saw that the first thought through any normal person’s head, for each of those three scenarios would be “That’s not fair.” “That’s wrong.” “They can’t do that.”

The reason those thoughts would be universal is because each one of those scenarios is evil. And this exposes a fundamental truth of the universe – no matter your culture, no matter your religious affiliation, no matter your upbringing, we all know what is right, and what is wrong. Beneath this lurks an even more basic truth – there is such a thing as right, and such a thing as wrong.

Good and evil are solid, concrete concepts, and they are applicable to all areas of human behavior. Yes, we CAN know if an action is good or bad.

I’m not talking about right and wrong as religious concepts here, I’m talking about them as human concepts. Good and evil are too important to be burdened with labeling the wearing of clothing of two separate threads, or women covering their hair. Right and wrong, good and evil are not about exerting capricious control over human interaction, but rather give worth to human interaction.

Imagine a universe where killing a man on a whim carried the same moral weight as defending one’s family. Where imprisoning a man for ten years on a whim carried the same moral weight as devoting one’s life to the cause of fighting fires. Where stealing a person’s money carried the same moral weight as giving your own money to charity. What a sad world that would be. What a horrible place to live. Can you imagine anyone electing, of their own free will, to live in such a world?

I can’t. Good and evil are separate. Without the necessary distinction between the two, there is nothing about life that is worth living. There is nothing worthy or valuable about humanity if not for the distinction between right and wrong.

It would likely be true to propose that the mere absence of such a distinction would be evil as well, for evil is always possible, in fact it is usually easier than good. It is the CHOOSING of good over evil that is admirable and worthwhile in human interaction.

So how can we tell if an action is good or evil, right or wrong?

Go back to those three questions I asked you. How would you feel about being killed for no reason? Imprisoned for no reason? Having your property taken for no reason?

The answer here is ownership.

We all own our own bodies. This is the most basic law of human existence: My life is my property. No one else has any rightful claim over it. No one has any right to dictate what I do with it. If I own nothing else in the world, I own the body my consciousness inhabits, and it is evil to take that from me, unless doing so will prevent me from visiting evil upon another. It is simply wrong, in all instances, to kill the innocent, to take life from anyone in any circumstance where they are not actively perpetrating evil. Every culture worthy of the title has recognized this since humans first organized themselves into groups. The TAKING of innocent life is always wrong.

If I own my body, I own my time on earth. There’s only so much of it, unfortunately, and each precious second can only be lived once. This is only a shade of difference away from owning my own life. If it is wrong to take innocent life, it is also equally wrong to take a person’s time. I may trade my time, voluntarily, for things that I need, there’s nothing wrong with that. Food, clothing, shelter, whatever luxuries and pleasures make life enjoyable. Other people have decided its worth their brief time on earth to create such things and trade them for things they want or need, and they believe this trade is worth that time. I believe the trade is worth my time as well. And here we recognize a similar form of evil to that of destroying innocent life – the taking of an innocent person’s time. Society has a word for this, and that is slavery. It may be a worse evil, as it can only be perpetrated upon threat of death.

Similarly, if I own my life, and the time it is on earth, I own the objects, items, and services I trade my valuable time for. In taking the property I’ve traded my time for, I’m being denied the fruits of my life. Taking my property is no different than forcing me to trade my precious time for…nothing. It’s exactly the same as taking that time, that energy. Government and the thief have the same modus operandi here – the taking of property can only be accomplished through the threat of force.

This is the essence of rights, distilled. All rights flow from property. From ownership. I own my body. I own the time I spend on earth. I own the fruit of my labor; that which I create with my own hands, or trade my time and labor for.

From the ownership of self and property come all the rights we presently enjoy. Religion, press, defense, jury trials, everything.

I have the right to worship any god, or no god.
I have the right to speak my mind.
I have the right to print whatever I wish.
I have the right to gather together with other people.
I have the right to defend all other rights against anyone who’d practice evil.
I have the right to keep my property from being used without my consent.
I have the right to keep my property from being searched without reason.
I have the right to a public trial.
I have the right to not be tried twice for the same offense.
I have the right to refuse to testify against myself.
I have the right to keep my property from being taken without my consent.
I have the right to a quick trial.
I have the right to have a jury trial.
I have the right to know any crimes with which I am charged.
I have the right to face my accuser.
I have the right to present witnesses in my own defense.
I have the right to an attorney.
I have the right to fair bail.
I have the right to not be tortured.
Any other rights, not listed belong to me as well.

Those are the rights listed in the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, otherwise commonly known as the Bill Of Rights. There is an important distinction to be made here – these rights are not GRANTED by the Bill Of Rights. They are listed, ENUMERATED, in the language of the day.

This is not a national matter. This is not a federal matter. This is not a state matter, or a county matter, nor a city matter. These are human rights, belonging to every person on the planet.

The violation, of any of these rights, performed against an innocent person, is ALWAYS evil. The Founders of America believed this, recognized this, and they fought a long and bloody war against their own government to defend these rights. And they passed on this belief in the form of the Fifth Amendment in the Bill Of Rights: “nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” This is a fact. Ironclad.

Those 13 words validated the fact behind the United States Constitution, the highest law of the land – that government is the biggest violator of human rights, EVER. Those 13 words justified severe limitations placed upon the United States government – the only government in history defined more by what it could not do than what it could. Those 13 words, acting in conjunction with the remaining 9 amendments guarantee the free exercise of all human rights.

We can know what is right, and what is wrong, at all times. Good and evil can always be ascertained simply by looking at whose property it effects.

Or you can look at the inviolate human rights listed in the ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Same thing, really.

John Lennon - Imagine

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
-------------------------------------------------
John Lennon was one sick puppy. Pretty song, but this is like that dreadful 60s tune Share The Land, except that this is one of the most influential songs of all time. I offer it as proof positive that John Lennon was either a depraved individual or whacked out of his head on some really fun medications.

An absolutely hateful song. I wish it had never been written.

Front Sight Training

Front Sight combat ranch is offering a free training class - ANY training class, at any time in the future - for any blogger who puts Front Sight links up for 3 years. I'm not sure if the ones below count, but I also wore out my fingers putting a whole new Front Sight Links widget over on the right. Go visit 'em. Here they are again, covering my bases.

• Front Sight Firearms Training
• Ignatius Piazza - founder of Front Sight
• Ignatius Piazza Blog
• Ignatius Piazza - in Las Vegas Mercury
• Front Sight - in The Mail on Sunday Review
• Ignatius Piazza - in Times Democrat
• Front Sight - on CNN
• Ignatius Piazza - in National Enquirer
• Front Sight - in Icon Magazine
• Ignatius Piazza - in Chicago Tribune
• Ignatius Piazza - in Gun World
• Ignatius Piazza - in San Francisco Chronicle
• Ignatius Piazza - in Fort Worth Star Telegram
• Front Sight - in Financial Times
• Front Sight - on BBC News
• Front Sight - in Gun Web
• Front Sight - in New York Times
• Ignatius Piazza - in Small Arms Review
• Front Sight - in Sierra Times
• Ignatius Piazza - in Forbes Magazine
• Ignatius Piazza - on World Net Daily
• Front Sight - in Guns & Ammo
• Front Sight - on USA Today
• Front Sight - in Santa Cruz Sentinel
• Ignatius Piazza - in Handvapen Guiden
• Ignatius Piazza - in Las Vegas Sun
• Ignatius Piazza - in Las Vegas Life
• Front Sight - in US News & World Report
• Front Sight - in London Times
• Ignatius Piazza - in Washington Post
• Front Sight - in El Pais Seminal
• Front Sight - in Pajaronian Register
• Front Sight - in Black Belt Magazine
• Front Sight - in Cybercast News Service
• Ignatius Piazza - in El Mercurio
• Front Sight - in Los Angeles Times
• Ignatius Piazza - in Playboy
• My Experience at Front Sight
• Ignatius Piazza - on Reform America

French Government Choosing Baby Names

What's In a Name: Judge Blocks Parents' Choice
Search For 'Different' Names Result In Interesting Choices

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow named her baby after a fruit, Apple. Comedian Penn Jillette chose Moxie Crimefighter for his spunky daughter.

And while unusual names may be a Hollywood staple, some believe it may cross the line in the real world.

One New Zealand judge even blocked one family from using the name it chose. The judge said the name was unfair to the child.

"Initially, the reaction is, 'Are you for real?'" said Pat Wheaton, the New Zealand father who was blocked from naming his son 4Real.

Wheaton said the idea for the name came when the couple saw the first scan of the child."We started thinking 'Jeez, he is for real?'" Wheaton said.

The couple's idea came naturally, but many parents are feeling the pressure to be different.

Baby naming is big business today. Some parents are turning to professional consultants, computer programs, polls and even numerologists to achieve the perfect moniker for their bundle of joy.

"Parents think that if they give their child a unique and special name, the child will become unique and special," said Bruce Lansky, author of "100,000 Baby Names.

"Nevaeh, which heaven spelled backwards, has become one of the world's most popular names. But others don't always pass the societal test.

Two boys, one in Michigan and the other in Texas, bear the name ESPN. They were named after the sports network.

In some countries, names are illegal -- like Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden in Germany.

And French parents must choose from an approved list. The laws are designed to prevent teasing.

In America, almost anything goes."You can't use a four letter word that I wouldn't use in this interview anyway, and other than that you're free to do what you want," said New York University Sociology Department Chairman Dalton Conley. "That's part of the first amendment right to free speech here in America."Only as the children grow up will people learn if these interesting names will be the source of ridicule.
------------------------------------------------
Emphasis added, feel free to make fun of the French.

Bon Jovi - Lost Highway Review

Here it is, track by track. Might as well get it in before the deluge of reviews comes in the next few weeks.

1.Lost Highway
Never liked starting a CD with a title track. Don't know why. Not sure why I don't like this song very much. It's very cheesy country, and the "plastic dashboard jesus" line irritates me as much as everyone else. Seems Jon and Co. gathered up all the country cliches they could find and crammed them all into this song. Kinda catchy though. Good solo. 5/10

2.Summertime
I don't understand why people hate this song. Yeah yeah, cliched, uninspired lyrics...but it's fun. Not everything has to be Hey God or TAALS. There's nothing TRULY cringe-worthy in the words, and it has a fun, warm-weather vibe to it. 7/10

3.(You Want To)Make A Memory
A very emotion-filled song. It really feels like he's singing from the heart. It seems to be a love song, and not a song between friends, which makes me wonder if there's a little Bryan Adams-adultery theme in here with the "Your phone is ringing I don't wanna ask" line. Was there a solo...I must've missed it. I'd say one of the more powerful songs on the album. Maybe not a good choice for a first single (BJ is already known as a ballad band, I think), but a good song nonetheless. 8/10

4.Whole Lot Of Leavin'
Reminds me of a song from the box set. Last Chance Train maybe? Fun sound to it, and a mature discussion of a mature topic. Seems like there's a story in here somewhere, and I wish they had've done without the happy ending to it. I like the guitar (especially the solo), but they should've left it as a pop rock song instead of trying to work in the country feel. 7/10

5.We Got It Going On
Hate to say it, but I like this song. A lot. It's stupid. It's got lyrics that I'd cut myself before writing. But it's fun. Like One Wild Night, except not as intelligently written. It's a big dumb rocker, and unapologetic about that fact. It does not try to redeem itself at all, and I like that. 7/10

6.Any Other Day
Might just be the best song on the CD. Powerful, everyman style lyrics that manage to be positive and negative at the same time. I can't decide whether I like the verses or choruses more. Good solos, that really contribute to the feel of the song. Finally, a pop rock tune that doesn't try to fake the country edge. But yet, it's so much more. This one really resonates with me right now. I'll update this review when I figure out what this song reminds me of. 10/10

7.Seat Next To You
Sounds like it should've been on Destination Anywhere, but DA songs were actually good. I'll give the verses props though. Worthy of skipping, and that's the last I'll say. 3/10

8.Everybody's Broken
I had such high hopes for this song, and it didn't live up to them. Yeah, the verses are strong, but we've got that country affectation to deal with, and the chorus isn't nearly as good as it should've been. It's really quite bad, actually. I kept waiting for some rock, with those almost Bad-Horsie guitar sounds at the beginning and end of the chorus, but no dice. A nice, strong solo raises its score. 5/10

9.Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore
I hate to use the word adult, because that brings to mind teens standing in the magazine aisle snickering, but this is a very adult song. It's a conversation between two people falling in love, for either the first or second time. Usually BJ duets don't work out well, but Leann Rimes does a passable job here. And I like that they broke away from the conventional song structure. 7/10

10.The Last Night
If I'm still alone tomorrow night, can I sue for false advertising? In all seriousness, this is tied with Any Other Day for best song of the album. Sure there's no solo, but it doesn't need one. It's just a short, sweet, powerful and inspiring song. I love it. 10/10

11.One Step Closer
Wasn't this supposed to rock Dry County's socks off? It tries, but not very well. Stands ok on its own though. Good song about someone deciding to try living again. I will say this, BJ should try out some depression rock like on These Days, I think this more adult style of writing could work well with that. 6/10

12.I Love This Town
Some fun guitar, but corny lyrics. I can't decide if he's talking about the small-hometown type city, or like, a ghetto area. Worth skipping. 4/10

13.Walk Like A Man
Love this song. Reminds me, thematically, of Cat Stevens's Cats In The Cradle. One man's understanding of what it's like to be both father and son. Not the be all and end all that people are making it out to be, but a solid, touching country rock song. One of the few country rockers they pulled off right. 7/10

Overall:Decent album. Doesn't compare to the brilliance of KTF or TD, but then, what does? For a spur of the moment "Hey this worked once, let's try it again" type album inspired by WSYCGH, it's pretty good. Would've been better without the faux-country affectation. Then it probably would've been the next Destination Anywhere...which it is already, but it would've been even closer. It's a very grown-up album that solidly cements Bon Jovi's reputation as a grown-up band. And, the writing's a step in the right direction. Compared to Crush or even Bounce (which I do so dearly love), this shows downright brilliant songwriting in places. I'll be listening to this CD for a while.

Fun Times Pt. 5.5

So the night that this whackjob tells me to watch my back, the management cuts me loose early because otherwise I'll go overtime.

The night crew gets ready to leave at 12am, and they find he's been waiting outside for them, for an hour. Does the pounding on the door, demanding to be let in routine. Cops are called, they detain him while the employees leave, then the cops cut him loose after about 20 minutes.

Given that he threatened me, and then was waiting outside when I would've been exiting the building, I am taking his threats very seriously. I filed a police report, and the police will be talking to him presently. I'm in the process of trying to decide whether or not to buy a restraining order. He's already been banned, by management, from my place of employment.

The nut's name is Jonathan Miles Hensel. He lives at 820 Reed, Manitowoc, WI, 54220. He has 13 priors. Twice picked up for driving w/ suspended license. Multiple speeding/bad driving tickets. Two divorces, a restraining order, one Misdemeanor A for obstructing an officer, and a felony charge of torturing an animal to death. A regular freakin' choirboy. I'm also willing to bet he's spent more than his fair share of time as an inmate of The Enchanted Kingdom, aka The Hoo-Hoo Hotel, aka The Rubber Room, aka the looneybin.

Updates to follow. Fortunately or unfortunately, life is not like The Black Donnellys. You cannot drag a guy into the road and kick him into a coma, whether you have a good reason or not.

Fun Times Pt.5

Long story short, a certifiable loonytoon got fed up with my customer service today and told me that I need to watch my back really, really closely. Ordinarily, I'd laugh off the threats of some punk. This guy's as old as my father, and he hung around the store and b*tch*d at employees for 6 hours. The manager on duty at the time downplayed the incident and told me to make sure I didn't upset any future customers by letting my disdain for them creep into my body language. Letters of complaint will be requested from both the store and assistant manager, and a police report will be filed. If the guy whacks me, at least there's be a papertrail.

The lights in my house have been going on and off (and staying off permanently) without reason or warning.

The gent who was checking out our house at 2pm a week ago returned last night. Parked a car in front of the neighbor's, didn't get out, didn't do anything but just sit and look at my house and the house across the street. Then he drove down the street, turned around, and parked & watched again.

For the first time in my life, I'm going to bed with Paul Nelson within reach - with a round in the chamber. I feel like I've been awake for days. Doesn't help it's boiling hot here too.

Good night.

Bought A Safe

Finally.

Got it home this afternoon. Just a locking-tin-can type. Nothing too fancy. Sort of a stopgap measure until we can pick up a decent firesafe.

Two stacks of rifle mags on the top shelf, all the way to the ceiling. A few more hooked between the wall and the shelf. A couple piles of Beretta magazines, and then the Walther .22 and my Beretta 92 on the top shelf. I look in and see all the rifles leaning against the walls, see the mags on the shelf and I can't help but think: "I need more."

Picking it up at Dunhams, I asked if they had any WASR3s in. The idea of an AK in 5.56x45 interests/amuses me. The gun guy brings out their two newest AKs, WASRs 2 and 3. I look down the sights of both.

MONKEYS! DRUNK!

Front sight on the 3 goes left, back sight on the 2 goes right. I don't know how you let such a product our of your factory. It's almost criminal.

I'll look again when they have a hi-cap version of the WASR3. Interesting concept there. I love the AR platform, but I don't like the thought of having to don a surgical gown to clean the dang thing.

You Know You've Run Far...

...when you stop every few yards to look at your shoes, convinced you've stepped in something. Then you get home, pull your shirt off before stepping into the shower, and think "Hey wait...that was me!"

Stick A Fork In It, It's Done

Unsafe at Any Swing

By Hal G.P. Colebatch

Published 6/11/2007 12:06:48 AM

Just as you think Britain's local authorities have reached the edge of the envelope in vacuous, bullying stupidity, that they can go no further in their efforts to create a society of politically correct sheep, they excel themselves once again.

It's old news now that at Seagry in Wiltshire, children were banned from playing on a veteran steamroller which had stood in the school's playground without accident since 1964. It was deemed "not proper playground equipment" and "failed to meet any required standards whatsoever."

Something -- actually a quasi-official national body -- called "Sports England" proposed eliminating games like sack races, three-legged races and egg-and-spoon races from kindergartens and nursery schools in order to prevent children learning a competitive ethos, proposing problem-solving exercises instead. The government also supports banning games of musical chairs at nursery schools because they may lead to aggression.

At the village of Great Somerford, Wiltshire, playground swings were ordered demolished for being too tall. A charity kite-flying contest for children was banned by a Lancashire council on the grounds that they did not have health and safety insurance.

At Torbay, palm trees were condemned by the council because "they have very sharp leaves." Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Charlwood is reported to have said, in what sounds like dialogue from The Day of the Triffids: "what if one of those leaves caught a child in the eye for example. It's a little bit like keeping tigers - they are beautiful to look at, but you wouldn't want them wandering the streets." These are trees they are talking about!

Children at one primary school were prohibited from making daisy-chains in case they picked up germs from the flowers. Another school stopped children making hanging flower-baskets for the same reason. Playground pursuits like handstands, tag, yo-yos, tree-climbing and skipping have also been banned in various places.

Children at Cummersdale Primary School, Carlisle, were allowed to play conkers (an immemorially old English game involving breaking chestnuts) as long as they wore safety-goggles. Children's ball games and bicycle-riding (!) were also banned by some authorities. Outdoor activities with a bit of adventure and initiative attached to them, such as canoeing, rock-climbing, archery and sailing are all in decline, according to David Bell, the Chief Inspector of Schools. At Fairway Middle School in Norwich it was announced that children who wished to throw snowballs at other children would have to obtain their targets' permission first, making the whole exercise rather pointless (What would Calvin and Hobbes say?). Tim Gill, a director of the Children's Play Council, said: "There is no one person or body to blame. What is at fault is our culture of caution." (Huh? There is a Children's Play Council?)

NOT ONLY ARE CHILDREN'S LIVES and growth being stunted by authorities apparently hell-bent on depriving them of the slightest experience of adventure and achievement: adults too are being protected beyond the bounds of sanity.

A garden gnome wearing a policeman's helmet was banned because neighbors were offended or possibly intimidated, and a lady's display of china pigs in a window was also banned, lest any passing Muslims were offended.

As the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar approached, an actor playing Lord Nelson, Britain's greatest Naval hero, who scorned danger in storms and battle, was forced to wear a lifejacket over his Naval uniform while transferring from one boat to another in the calm waters of the Thames at Tower Bridge.

But, as I say, all this is old hat. The latest is that a skull-and-crossbones flag has been banned from a 6-year-old boy's pirate party as being "unneighborly."

Town hall planners told the parents of Morgan Smith that they must apply for planning permission to fly the flag, at a cost to them of $150. It was reported that an assessment of the 5ft by 4ft flag's "impact" on the surrounding area will be undertaken before a decision is made as to whether the flag would be permitted for the party or not. The family have flown a Union Jack or a St. George's flag without a problem, but a neighbor complained to the council about the Jolly Roger and they were ordered to remove it.

Mr. Smith said: "When the lady from the council came to see me she said that it was no problem flying any of the other flags, it was the Jolly Roger that was of concern."She took some pictures and said that we would have to take it down from now on. I've put in a planning application but I shouldn't have to go to all this trouble."

This is not the first time officialdom has intervened to protect people large and small from the sight of the Jolly Roger. When, in commemoration of Princess Diana, a "replica" of a pirate ship was built in Kensington Gardens in March 2000, for children to play on, hearkening back to Peter Pan's adventures with Captain Hook (Peter Pan's earliest adventures were in Kensington Gardens), it was decreed it would be without violent imagery such as cannon, walking the plank or the Jolly Roger.

Still, if children are deprived of adventure and excitement in one way, they will often find it in another: All this care lest children be exposed to the tiniest conflict coexists with some of the highest rates for juvenile crime, drug abuse, underage sex, sexually transmitted disease, and underage drunkenness in Europe. (Russia, a byword for dangerous, drunken chaos, has a rate of juvenile and teenage alcohol abuse a fraction of Britain's, according to a recent survey.)

Beverly Hughes, the new Children's Minister, said in May 2005 that the government could do no more to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancy, which was out of control. Britain's teenage pregnancy rate was five times that of the Netherlands, three times that of France, and double that of Germany. In 2004, the Department of Education and Skills released figures showing that more than 10 children were expelled every day from English state schools for assaulting either staff of fellow pupils, and another 280 a day were suspended for similar attacks. Millions of people now claim to be in fear of gangs of marauding teenagers.

H. G. Wells's story The Time Machine depicted a distant future in which the human race had divided into the helpless, sheeplike Eloi and the brutal Morlocks. Present British policies appear aimed at creating future citizens who are Eloi and Morlock in one.

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This "Point And Laugh At The Benighted Kingdom Post" has been brought to you by the Department For The Humiliation Of Commies. Laugh amongst yourselves.

Freefall Or Something Like It

^^^To riff on Dave Barry, that'd make a good name for a rockband. Or a song title.

It is now time for this blog to take a disturbingly emo-ish detour into the Vincent confessional. My mind requires that I write these things down, and dropping them into an anonymous .txt somewhere won't work.

I drove home from my job tonight. Not too unique, but the last time I was behind the wheel was more than a year and a half ago, and on that unfortunate occasion, I looked left when I should've looked left and right, and nearly killed myself and my father turning into traffic. I stepped away from driving for a long time because of that.

On another topic, circumstances are pushing me inexorably towards a collision of another kind. This afternoon I looked into an abyss and saw something I desperately want. I also saw that what I want can devestate me like I've not been hurt before. Like, stake through the heart kinda hurt. I don't know if I'm in the middle of the running start, or if I've actually taken the swandive.

We'll see where I land.

So I Don't Go Forgetting What I Want To Remember

Vincent: Look in the mirror. Paper towels, clean cab. Limo company some day. How much you got saved?
Max: That ain't any of your business.
Vincent: Someday? Someday my dream will come? One night you will wake up and discover it never happened. It's all turned around on you. It never will. Suddenly you are old. Didn't happen, and it never will, because you were never going to do it anyway. You'll push it into memory and then zone out in your barcalounger, being hypnotized by daytime TV for the rest of your life. Don't you talk to me about murder. All it ever took was a down payment on a Lincoln town car. That girl,you can't even call that girl. What the **** are you still doing driving a cab?

Halfway there.

Fun Times Pt. 4.5

We're having a bonfire in the driveway last night, when around 8:30, a yellow cab pulls up between our house and the duplex next door. A hispanic man gets out and walks down the block, disappearing around the corner.

Half an hour later, he comes back the same way he left, approaches the cab in a wide angle, and says "Are you waiting for someone?" After some trifling conversation, he gets in the cab, and the cab speeds away. There's another hispanic man in the back seat who didn't get out, and who was sitting there with the driver for the full half hour.

At two this morning, a car pulled up far down the block, and a man got out and walked down to our house. He stood in the street in front of our house, and moved back and forth, examining our house, and the house across from us.

He did this again, twenty minutes later, parking much closer.

In the last two months, someone's shot something through our window capable of hurting us (and with the intent, no doubt), someone's prankcalled our house for 2 weeks, and has also lobbed a mudball at our front window.

With all that having happened recently, and with unidentified men scoping our house at zero dark hundred, I feel slightly less paranoid about having a Sig 220 within arms reach all night, and an assault rifle close at hand.

I will say this: If trouble comes, let it come here. I know my neighbors are unarmed. I would hate myself if someone attacked the elderly immigrant couple, or the single mom and her daughter, when two doors down there's a family who's prepared for an attack. Like the saying goes: If war comes, let it come in my lifetime, so my children will know peace.

I don't relish the thought of home invasions, or shooting at someone, but better our family than someone who can't fight back.

Not A Lot Going On

I've been fairly busy recently, and that's why there's a lack of blogging. We've got 4 people in the department, me included, who are working 40 hours a week. 3 of us aren't supposed to be getting more than 32 hours. I'm usually working the closing shift, which is about 3-11:30. Kinda puts a damper on the writing I wish I was doing. Oh well. The checks are good.

Rudy Hates Ferrets

Rudy doesn't want us to have ferrets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqrEw901KXE&mode=related&search=

My dad's right. Sometimes, the only appropriate response is "F*** you."

F*** you, Rudy.

Hannibal Rising

Over my two day holiday from work, I've watched two good movies and one decent one. Decent movie being Shaun Of The Dead, and the good ones being The Proposition and Hannibal Rising.

SOTD wasn't funny enough to sustain its length, but a few good moments redeemed it from being just plain bad.

The Proposition was a long, bloody, depressing slog through the twilight shades of human nature. There was nothing good or enjoyable about it. It was worth watching only for the tortured performances of its actors and the fantastic scenery.

Hannibal Rising was enjoyable. It's still too new in my mind to comment much on it, but I will say this:I liked that when given a chance to walk away, to redeem himself, Hannibal chose to continue on his path of vengence. No happy Hollywood "Throw down your gun in disgust" ending here. Hannibal looked into the abyss, saw the monster, and did a swandive. I liked that.

Shooty goodness

A friend I see maybe twice a year is in town this past week, and this afternoon we went shooting. Initially I was a little skeptical, even though it was my idea. How would a Navy man (from Cali, San Fransisco no less) feel about shooting a civilian owned battlerifle with an admittedly evil pedigree?

We took John Kerry, my 9mm Storm, and Beretta 9mm. After brief operating instructions on range etiquette and weapons functions, we proceeded to ventilate some targets.

I shouldn't have worried. My friend loved the battlerifle, called the Storm "slick" and we ran probably 150-200 rounds through the Beretta 92. The Storm shot right of center, John Kerry shot low, and the Beretta shot where we wanted it.

My friend thanked me multiple times on the way home and at one point said how proud he was of me for doing this and taking it so seriously.

As a side note, I should point out that he and I shot with roughly the same accuracy. We weren't punching them all through the same hole, but a soldier and a civilian ran pretty much neck and neck in the accuracy department. That's reassuring to me. I'm as good as a soldier. And I'll just keep getting better.

I couldn't have asked for a better day. Well, yes, a few things could've made it better, but I won't complain.

Bryan Adams - Never Let Go

Can you lay your life down
So a stranger can live
Can you take what you need
But take less than you give
Could you close every day
Without the glory and fame
Could you hold your head high
When no one knows your name

That's how legends are made
At least that's what they say

We say goodbye
But never let go
We live, we die
Cause you can't save every soul
Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go

Can you lose everything
You ever had planned
Can you sit down again
And play another hand
Could you risk everything
For the chance of being alone
Under pressure find the grace
Or would you come undone

That's how legends are made
At least that's what they say

We say goodbye
But never let go
We live, we die
Cause you can't save every soul
Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go

Never Let Go
Never Let Go
Never Let Go

Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And never let go
We say goodbye
But Never Let Go
We live, we die
Cause you can't save every soul
Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go
Never Let Go
-------------------------------------------------
The song's from the movie The Guardian. Top Gun in water. Kevin Costner is a Coast Guard rescue diver who's entire team got killed on a mission. He himself has a House-like injury to his arm for holding a rescued sailor for 3 hours.
Costner is canned, and sent to instruct the next generation of divers. Whereupon he meets Ashton Kutcher, who's also got a "everybody died around me" story. The two butt heads, because, stereotypically, the teacher is a jerk and so is his student. Everything gets better and better, and they become fast friends.... The ending hinges on Kutcher's dedication, the way his life is replicating Costner's. "I'll never let go!" "I know that."

3 great lines from the song, and I've got them written on the whiteboard in my room:

Never look back
Never look down
Never Let Go

Don't regret, don't be scared, don't give up. Funny how words to live your life by can come from a pop song.

I Love This Time Of Night

I really do. Where I'm sitting, the window's open, and I can feel some cool breezes, smell the night air. My rats are playful in their cage next to the computer, and if I stick a finger in, they'll lick it and let me pet them.

Driving home, the night was warm, and the sky was sort of a plum-ish black, lightened by the city lights in the distance and the orange halos of the streetlights. There were no cars, or what cars there were, were silent. The movement of the car let a nice eddy of air in, nice and cool.

I love this time of night. It is peaceful beyond belief.

Introspective

You ever run into those individuals with whom interaction is like pushing two N poles of a magnet together? They have a repulsive aura?

I knew a guy like that.

I'll call him Pat, but only because I refuse to use the name I really call him.

He made my first semester of college nearly unbearable. He was a complete and utter idiot, who was convinced he was knowledgeable on every subject. He talked loudly and at length about nothing worth the breath, and by the time the semester ended, he was known to the class as "The ****-head." Running into him from time to time since then, he's flaunted his great success in the computer world, despite the fact that he looks like a dirty drunk (and I'm convinced that he is), and his clothes are a monument to dirt and sweat stains.

There's a girl who frequents the bookshelves directly behind my department. She is, honest to God, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I can walk through all our music and movies and not pick out anyone more attractive on any of the covers.

Not making any statements regarding my own state of mind here, just putting out there an objective, observable fact. She's far and away more good looking than anyone I've ever dated (or tried to), and that's kinda hard, IMHO.

I see and hear she's getting talked up by some guy tonight.

Heck, I'll let you make the inference here.

Pat.

Listening to their conversation, I was amazed. She's of of his league by like, 42 levels, and he was perfectly at ease. He picked a complete stranger who was out of his league, and by the time they parted company, he'd come away with her address, email, and place of work.

He picked at her weaknesses, got her kinda sad, tried several different angles into the conversation (religion, and when that didn't work, New-Ageism, which did), changed his language and behavior to match hers...he completely and utterly manipulated her.

I know this guy's a jack***. Everyone else who's met him does too. But...dang. I was impressed.

And then I got to thinking. That ain't a good thing.

If Pat, who's a jack*** can do this, why can't I? What I mean by that is, if someone truly obnoxious and repulsive can talk up anyone far above their station in life with ease, can be totally comfortable where any sane person should be embarrassed, why aren't I able to? Why do I struggle with certain human interactions? How come I, who have far better people skills, am unable to manipulate people like that?

I often joke to my friends that I need to re-evaluate my life.

I think I do.

Hillary Endorses Communism

Or socialism, or progressivism, or the democratic party...in other news, water is wet, right?

BTW, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working full time, and it's been 5 days on, 1 off, 5 on. I have to go spend the majority of one of my next days off (next Tuesday or Wednesday) sitting at the DMV to renew my temps. Oh happy day.) On to the story.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070529/clinton_economy.html?.v=1

Selected quotes:

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society. I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

"There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed. Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."

First John Edwards endorses the draft. Then Hillary Clinton endorses communism. What does it say about a country when, with one exception, the entire set of presidential candidates, from both major parties, could be legitimately hung for treason?

Apprehensive

So you all know some sick **** blew a hole in our front window a month ago with a 3/8 inch ball bearing. Either he was a really good shot or nearly really lucky, because he managed to put the ball through the space where heads would've been if we hadn't have been up for a commerical break.

Between then and now, someone's been prankcalling the house. They'll call once a day, and the answering machine will pick up either the sound of breathing, swallowing, or hanging up. It's been going on about 2 weeks now.

Yesterday morning, someone woke my mom up at 5 in the morning by slinging a mudball at our front window.

There is of course the possibility that all these things just happened to converge in the same frame of time. There's also the possibility that someone is or a collection of someones are trying to screw with us, and that has me slightly worried.

We've got deadbolts on the doors, motion lights, one hell of an alarm system in the form of our parrot, and lots of things close at hand that go boom. Unless you're the 68th Airborne, or Shiek Amadadoodie And The 101 Self-Immolating Neolithic Goatherders, getting in is going to be hard, and getting out is going to be harder and messier.

I still feel like I'm waiting for the other end of the hammer to drop though. I hope I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, I really do.

John Edwards Calls For A Draft

"One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America — not just the poor kids who get sent to war — are serving this country."

When asked to clarify, he said he did not mean that only the poor should serve their country. What he really meant was that EVERYONE should be forced at gunpoint to serve their country.

I cannot adequately express my rage right now. I will just say that more and more, politicians bring to mind the Mozambique Drill.

Bon Jovi - Story Of My Life

Yesterday’s a memory
Another page of history
You sell yourself on hopes and dreams
That leaves you feeling sideways
Tripping over my own feet
Trying to walk to my own beat
Another car out on the street
Trying to find the highway yeah
Are you going my way

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright
But I feel ok cause
Anything can, everything can happen
That’s the Story Of My Life

(guitar solo)

I gonna write the melody
That’s gonna make history
And when I paint my masterpiece
I swear I’ll show you first
There just ain’t a way to see
Who and why or what will be
Till now is then
It’s a mystery
It’s a blessing and a curse
Or something worse

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright
But I feel ok cause
Anything can, everything can
I been thinking and baby
You can help me write the Story Of My Life
What do you say?

(guitar solo)

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
And I hope you're by my side
When I’m writing the last page

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright
But I feel ok cause
Anything can, everything can
I been thinking baby we can…
This is the Story Of My Life
The Story Of My Life
The Story Of My Life
This is the Story Of My Life
The Story Of My Life
This is the Story Of My Life
-------------------------------------------------
I love this song. It's a reflection on the collection of good and bad that make up a person's life. The lines "I know that no I’m not alright/But I feel ok" are especially telling - the narrator isn't particularly pleased about the direction his life has taken, but he's gonna roll with it anyway.

This song should've been a single.

Home Invasions Proposed By SanFran DA

(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO -- On Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a new round of gun control measures.

The announcement comes nearly one year after a judge struck down a law banning handgun possession in San Francisco.

"In the last 24 months, just to give you perspective, we've taken more guns off the street than we have in the last decade," Newsom said.

A total of 2,262 guns since the crackdown began. One part of the measure bans guns from any city owned property, not only in buildings like city hall, but also city parks.

Guns are already banned at some city buildings, such as schools. Mayor Newsom hopes to extend the ban to public housing complexes, but federal laws make that complicated.

The proposed legislation would also require people who commit crimes with guns to sign up with the police department, then probation officers could keep better tabs on them.

Another aspect would require all gun owners to store their arms with a trigger lock or in a lock box. Authorities say lock boxes would help to keep legal guns from being stolen and then later used illegally.

The idea is to remind legal gun owners how to behave.

"Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible and safe in the way that you conduct your affairs," District Attorney Kamala Harris said.

San Francisco's only gun shop is also a target. The proposed legislation would require it and any future gun shop to send the authorities a gun sales list every six months.

Even though criminals already don't follow the law, the mayor believes any gun crackdown makes the city safer.

"It is fair to say that a majority of gun crime is committed with illegal guns," Harris said.
-------------------------------------------------
Emphasis mine.

As I've said before:
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge
Stupidity is a lack of intelligence
Ignorance is cured by education
Stupidity is cured by a funeral

Where does active malice fit in there?

More From Jim Doyle

From our dear governor comes a bill proposing that cities be given the power to enact gun laws stricter than state law. No provision of course for reducing the absurd number of gun laws down to their appropriate level of 0, of course.

I remember, with much fondness what happened to a similar governor in Unintended Consequences. Governor, Taser, pictures of minors, heroin "overdose", some assembly required. *sigh* If only good men were willing to do such things today...

I'm kind of ambivalent about this law. It's all bad of course, no doubt about it. But alderman are a lot easier to strongarm than state senators. It's a lot easier to, say, find a pro-victim-disarmament alderman's address and pitch a brick through his window than it is to slash a senator's tires. At least this would put our enemies within striking distance.

I refuse to comply with laws that mandate my disarmament. I will never, under any circumstances, surrender the weapons I own. Ever. I will be driven from this state before I will give up my right to self-defense.

Jim Doyle can kiss mine.

Never Thought I'd See The Day...

...when Steve Kagen was the voice of conservatism and reason. He shocked me the other day by standing against his socialist ilk and voicing his opposition to the renewal of the "assault weapons" ban.

Today he appears in the local paper saying that he opposes criminal immigration, amnesty for already-arrived criminals, and that any criminal who's already crossed the border illegally should be deported.

WOW.

That is a break in the ranks of the Democrat party.

I'm starting to like this guy. He's still a bloody commie when it comes to finances, but where else are you going to find a Democrat who's, uh, liberal, on guns, and tough on the border?

Assault Weapons Ban Letter From Steve Kagen

Dear Vincent,

Thank you for allowing me to listen to your concerns regarding H.R. 1022, the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007. I appreciate you sharing your views on this important issue.

I support the Second Amendment, and therefore, I am opposed to H.R. 1022. We do not need any additional regulations on gun ownership. This bill would impose unnecessary restrictions on certain guns and rifles. I understand how sensitive an area this is for many people, and I will work hard to protect the Wisconsin heritage of hunting, fishing and out door recreation.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me. By working together, we will build a better future for everyone.

Sincerely,

Steve Kagen, MD

Member of Congress

------------------------------------------------
My opinion of Steve Kagen has been raised approximately one degree out of the negative. He's still a bloody commie when it comes to financing and redistribution of wealth, and let us not forget, he did not respond at all to any comments and concerns I emailed him about prior to his election...but, this letter is a good thing. The only true test however is whether or not he'll roll with this position when it gets down to voting.

More Government, YIPPEE!

I got to ask one of my teachers today for a letter of recommendation, and he tells me to go get the approval form from Student Services. I say "What?" He says it's a federal crime to give out letters of recommendation without an approval form.

So I mosey on over to Student Services. They say go to Student Employment. I think WTH and go across to Student Employment.

They say the only way they can release the forms to me is if I sign up for this State job-notification program. Basically, I can only receive Letter Of Recommendation Approval forms is if I declare I'm going to graduate within the next three years, and give the State-sponsored college permission to mail me job offers and keep track of me.

All I want are 2 ****ing letters of recommendation, and I have to give up my student ID, name, SSN, home address, phone number, and email to the state.

This is RETARDED!

I'm going to the range tomorrow.

James Schrader

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=594868
At Gander Mtn. today, I learned of this from a friend of James Schrader.

James buys old guns. Lots of them. Like, more than I'll ever even imagine owning, and in the words of Han Solo, I can imagine quite a bit.

To support his antique-gun-buying habit, he buys more than he wants, and sells the ones he doesn't want at a profit. Occasionally sets up a table or two at a gunshow, sells of some vintage Winchesters, gets the money to keep on buying. He's 61, and active in his church. Stand up guy.

At one of the gunshows, a dealer he knew approached his table, handed him an AR15. Sold it to him and mentioned in passing that it "might be full auto." Schrader says he'll check to see when he gets home, make sure it's not broken or anything. A few hours later, this dealer comes back, says "Hey, I've got a buyer, you still have that rifle?" Schrader did, and sold it to the buyer.

What Jimmy Schrader didn't know was that the dealer he'd known for 10 years had recently agreed to become an informant for the BATFE. He knowningly sold Jimmy an illegal rifle (buying and possession charges) and then got him to sell the rifle to another BATFE agent (transfer charges).

Jimmy was arrested on all of the above charges when leaving the gunshow. The guns he had were confiscated, as was his vehicle and cash. He was booked for the purchase, possession, and transfer of a Class 3 firearm without a license. Upon paying bail, he went back home and found that his house had been raided. 350 guns taken along with a substantial amount of cash.

At this point, Jimmy's waiting to be charged with a crime, and is spending his life savings trying to stay out of jail.

I don't know how to speak about my feelings on this without resorting to violent or profane language.

Another thing I don't know is how a person of decent upbringing manages to go out and of their own volition trick innocent people into committing multiple crimes, specifically to put them in prison. I don't know how you live with that, I don't know how you justify it to yourself and God, I don't know how you don't do it for the first time and then go home and put your gun in your mouth.

Anyone who does that is SCUM. They are as low as murderers. They deserve a swift trial, where their own actions can be brought against them as evidence and the excuse of "just following orders" is not allowed, and a date with the executioner 2 days later. In the 48 hour interregnum, they deserve the opportunity to file one appeal. Also in that time, they should be placed in prison, in general population, wearing jumpsuits identifying them as police officers.

After 48 hours, they should be drug out to a field, made to dig a ditch, and then they should be shot, once in the head. Kick 'em into the ditch, and forget the stain they left on the planet in their living years.

Gods I'm mad right now.

Tales From Retail Pt.10

10.Of all the things I’ve seen in 2 years and change working retail, this next one takes the cake.

In walks a mother and 3 kids. One’s a boy about 10 years old. The other is, I assume, his sister – about 15, and dressed in an unholy convergence between goth and emo. The final kid is a little older, maybe 17 or 18, and he looks normal too. I assume it’s a family.

I ask if I can help, then resume doing odds and ends behind the counter. The counter is along the wall, perpendicular to the browsers. This means I can look down one entire aisle, and though your body would be blocked to me, I can see every head in the store.

To my left, in the aisle along the wall, the only one of which I have an unobstructed view, I see in my peripheral vision, an enormously fat person. He’s like…two people wide.

I turn my head, realize I just observed an intimate moment, and guiltily stare straight in the opposite direction. Then I look again. It’s like watching a train crash in slow motion, Technicolor. The goth girl and the ten-year old are…ahem…facially bonding…at a subatomic level. Nothing obscene…yet…and I’m here to tell you it could’ve gone that way quickly. Frisky does not begin to cover it.

Meanwhile, the mother of one or possibly both of these little twits, and one of their siblings are standing next to them, whilst calmly discussing DVDs, completely aware that one or both of their children, one of which is barely out of diapers are…uh…doing a function check on the human anatomy in front of them.

Finally the family makes their selection, comes up to the register, and then the oldest boy darts off, exclaiming about forgetting something. He returns a few seconds later with a marijuana poster in hand. Whereupon, the mother informs the two star-crossed lovers that they should each get one too.

Some people remark upon my dim view of human nature from time to time. I think this could be part of the explanation.

Didn't Expect To Hear From These Idjits Again

Didn't hear much from the Queen-of-the-ding-a-lings Sarah Brady after my last letter. I suspect it burned through the screen of whichever monitor was unfortunate enough to display it. Today I got another letter from them. Here's my response.


Hello:

Given your organization's nature, I understand it might be difficult for you to comprehend certain things. Crime rates, natural rights, and logic all seem to be outside your grasp. Now it appears simple requests for the removal a name from your subscription are as well.
Perhaps I'm arguing with an automated system, maybe not. If there's a person reading this: Get me the HELL off your subscription list. I don't want to receive any updates from you, I get all I can take of your repulsive and moronic agenda from the news media. I don't want to hear from you ever again, understand?

If I have any interaction with your group whatsoever, it will be in the form of trying to counteract, subvert, and in any way screw with your plans and agenda, or in some other way attempting to irritate you. In the meantime, quit soiling my inbox with your deluded, impossibly stupid missives.

As I said before, I hope this letter depresses which self-centered, filled-with-delusions-of-adequacy, ignorant troll reads it.

A Sight I'll Never Forget...

Finished Lost last night (loved it by the way, maybe the best of the season), and watched the news after. Big mistake.

Seems the thin blue line hereabouts is starting a 4 month program to clean up my city's north end. Two man patrols in police vans, ticketing people for any and all violations. I will never forget the sight of the man being led away in cuffs for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street.

Last year they handed out 3000 tickets due to this little initiative. Figure a min. of $100 per, that's nearly half a mil right there. Seems someone figures there's a bit of money to be made harrassing people over victimless crimes. Another example of the power corrupts motto...

They put the cuffs on him for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street!

Best solution - every time one of these two man teams goes out, they get hit with Tazers, their gear gets stolen, and they wake up in their undies with the their van gutted. Everybody goes home in one pieces, gets the message across.

I'm steaming furious right now.

I Love Screwing With The Bradys

http://www.ifcdata.com/clients/brady/english.asp

Apparently they're giving away free packs of anti-gun posters and pamphlets. I've got a hundred of each, in both languages coming to my house. No shipping either. If I get these, I'll order 200 next time.

Perfect way to fuel a bonfire, and I need targets.

The Most Fun I've Had In School All Year...

The top two fears people have are death and public speaking, and not in that order.

I've known what it's like to be shot at, and recently, so I figure giving my hour long public speech today should be a cake-walk. It is. I kicked some Basic Excel Class hinder.

Touching on the Merge And Center button, I said "I like to use this to create headings, column descriptions, that sort of thing. It takes many cells and combines them into one. Kind of like communism, only useful, and, you know, not evil."

Got a laugh out of the class, even the teacher.

The next presenter, a friend of mine, gets up to do his speech. He starts off by saying he resents my anti-Communist statement. In fact he is one, and it's working well in China.

Vincent's response:"Maybe. But they had to whack twenty million people to get there. That doesn't scream progress benchmark to me."

So. His presentation is on harrassment. Trots out the usual statistics, the vast majority of cases go unrecorded, 15,000 cases go before the court every year (and climbing), harrassment rates are climbing, 1 in 3 people will be harrassed, harrassment can be just about anything, etc and so forth.

Vincent is scribbling notes furiously. At a pause, I raise my hand. He calls on me.

"So, if harrassment can be any action that offends people, and the vast majority of cases go unrecorded, how do we know that said harrassment is taking place, could it non-existant, or could it be people making it up?"

He says that yes, that's a possibility.

"Also, harrassment convictions are what matter. If fifteen thousand cases go before the courts every year, increasing, and the number that get tossed out increase right along with them, that isn't exactly a rising tide of a problem."

"My site was kind of...biased..."

I don't remember exactly what I said next, but it was something similar to: "So what your basically telling me is that harrassment is sort of like divorce court. You can make crap up without consequences, and the guy always gets screwed?"

I'm one of those few individuals who is blessed enough to love my work.