Bought another safe two days ago. Put it in my closet. After an unfortunate incident involving some out of control rage by a certain family member, all extra guns got locked up downstairs. I keep a 9mm in my desk for carry and for my nightstand gun, and various other family members do the same, but all the serious hardware is downstairs.
Ever since, it's bugged me that I don't have anything close at hand for serious social situations.
Now I do. Plus I now have a place to put my other safe (the one filled with investment info and precious metals). One of the best Benjamins I ever spent.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thompson Is Out
It's been a while since I've blogged - life's what happens when you're busy making plans - but I wanted to say something about this.
It is absolutely insane to me that Clinton, McCain, Edwards, Guiliani, Obama, Romney, or Huckabee will be our next president. They. ALL. SUCK.
Thompson was the last great electable conservative, and he betrayed his conservative principles by dropping out, by not DOING MORE. When a republic is at stake, there's NOTHING you don't do to save it.
Looking at that list of candidates, I'm reminded of the tagline from the horrible movie Alien Vs Predator.
Whoever wins...we lose.
It is absolutely insane to me that Clinton, McCain, Edwards, Guiliani, Obama, Romney, or Huckabee will be our next president. They. ALL. SUCK.
Thompson was the last great electable conservative, and he betrayed his conservative principles by dropping out, by not DOING MORE. When a republic is at stake, there's NOTHING you don't do to save it.
Looking at that list of candidates, I'm reminded of the tagline from the horrible movie Alien Vs Predator.
Whoever wins...we lose.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
God's Gift To Shooters
Took my 2 newest rifles, Barak Huessein Osama and Rudy Guiliani out to the range on Wednesday. Never had fired them before, and I had a new piece of equipment I wanted to test while I was out there, a pair of Radians electronic earmuffs. The amplify the sounds around you and deaden gunfire, or so I'd been told when I got them as a Christmas gift.
I was scared to fire the rifles with the earmuffs on. I've had a 25-06 go off pretty much right next to my ear w/o hearing protection, and I really didn't wanna hear a 30cal amplified. I manned up and pulled the trigger. I can't imagine how I shot without them. They fade out the gunshot, and it ends up sounding like a video game. Awesome device. I never want to go shooting without them again. They are God's Gift To Shooters.
Oh yeah and, the rifles shot minute-of-paperplate at 25 yards. Next week, 50 yards!
I was scared to fire the rifles with the earmuffs on. I've had a 25-06 go off pretty much right next to my ear w/o hearing protection, and I really didn't wanna hear a 30cal amplified. I manned up and pulled the trigger. I can't imagine how I shot without them. They fade out the gunshot, and it ends up sounding like a video game. Awesome device. I never want to go shooting without them again. They are God's Gift To Shooters.
Oh yeah and, the rifles shot minute-of-paperplate at 25 yards. Next week, 50 yards!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Death Sentence
It's the movie The Punisher should've been.
Very simple plot too. Happy family man Kevin Bacon's son is brutally murdered in a gang initiation rite. Kevin Bacon then commences kicking @$$.
Actually a little more complex than that. He kills the first of the gang somewhat accidentally. They come looking for him, and he kills the next one very intentionally, in a rather terrific brawl that involves seatbelts, a car door, and a hockey stick.
They come looking for him again and kill the rest of his family.
Kevin Bacon says "Screw this law and order crap," loads up on rather mediocre weapons, and whacks the remaining 9 gangbangers in an abandoned mental institution.
Why you'd go into that situation with a revolver, a 1911 (OK, maybe if you were a diehard 1911 fan), and a SIDE BY SIDE SHOTGUN is completely beyond me. Bacon handles the guns fairly well, and it's rather educational to watch someone who's obviously not well trained blunder his way through a fight against a bunch of guys who hold their guns sideways. Shotguns are employed on both sides to great effect - but blowing people 12 feet backwards...completely unrealistic.
The best part of the movie is watching Kevin Bacon morph from an ordinary guy into someone who really doesn't care. About anything. Law, right, wrong...there's a point at the end where we expect much hand-wringing and liberal-lesson-imparting to occur, and it just...doesn't. It's an emotionally AND physically brutal movie, and I like that. I'm putting it on my must own list.
Very simple plot too. Happy family man Kevin Bacon's son is brutally murdered in a gang initiation rite. Kevin Bacon then commences kicking @$$.
Actually a little more complex than that. He kills the first of the gang somewhat accidentally. They come looking for him, and he kills the next one very intentionally, in a rather terrific brawl that involves seatbelts, a car door, and a hockey stick.
They come looking for him again and kill the rest of his family.
Kevin Bacon says "Screw this law and order crap," loads up on rather mediocre weapons, and whacks the remaining 9 gangbangers in an abandoned mental institution.
Why you'd go into that situation with a revolver, a 1911 (OK, maybe if you were a diehard 1911 fan), and a SIDE BY SIDE SHOTGUN is completely beyond me. Bacon handles the guns fairly well, and it's rather educational to watch someone who's obviously not well trained blunder his way through a fight against a bunch of guys who hold their guns sideways. Shotguns are employed on both sides to great effect - but blowing people 12 feet backwards...completely unrealistic.
The best part of the movie is watching Kevin Bacon morph from an ordinary guy into someone who really doesn't care. About anything. Law, right, wrong...there's a point at the end where we expect much hand-wringing and liberal-lesson-imparting to occur, and it just...doesn't. It's an emotionally AND physically brutal movie, and I like that. I'm putting it on my must own list.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
I saw one of their last '07 shows recently.
Much more relaxed than they usually do before Christmas. They'd break off in the middle of a Christmas song to let Clark and Pitrelli dual guitars, and the theatrics during Old City Bar were comical rather than dramatic. Far less professional, but they really looked like they were having a good time. That band enjoys what they do.
The second half of the show they just let loose. Started off with Proud Mary and detoured all over their discography.
I thought it was cool that they worked in some of their less-well-known songs into the Christmas half of the show. Siberian Sleigh Ride, Wish Liszt, a whole bunch of others that rarely get played. I do so wish they'd do a Christmas Attic concert.
Well worth the $75 per seat fee. Probably worth double that.
Much more relaxed than they usually do before Christmas. They'd break off in the middle of a Christmas song to let Clark and Pitrelli dual guitars, and the theatrics during Old City Bar were comical rather than dramatic. Far less professional, but they really looked like they were having a good time. That band enjoys what they do.
The second half of the show they just let loose. Started off with Proud Mary and detoured all over their discography.
I thought it was cool that they worked in some of their less-well-known songs into the Christmas half of the show. Siberian Sleigh Ride, Wish Liszt, a whole bunch of others that rarely get played. I do so wish they'd do a Christmas Attic concert.
Well worth the $75 per seat fee. Probably worth double that.
3:10 To Yuma
Christian Bale once again shows why he's the best actor around. The last scene he has with his wife, where he explains why he's going is perfect. I'd love to see him do a movie with Michael Mann.
It's basically a reverse of The Fugitive, set in the Olde West. Outlaw is being escorted to jail, his crew tries to break him out.
Russell Crowe plays the main baddie, a man of few words who seems to see to the heart of everyone around him. He has a strange purity - he knows he's evil, and he's content with that.
Christian Bale plays a one-legged farmer who hires on to help escort Crowe to the 3:10 to Yuma train, which will take him away to be hanged. The "reveal" for why he joins up with the posse comes later in the movie, and is rather...wrenching.
Violent and appropriately bloody, with a dragged out gunfight at the end that wants to be Open Range but just isn't.
It's basically a reverse of The Fugitive, set in the Olde West. Outlaw is being escorted to jail, his crew tries to break him out.
Russell Crowe plays the main baddie, a man of few words who seems to see to the heart of everyone around him. He has a strange purity - he knows he's evil, and he's content with that.
Christian Bale plays a one-legged farmer who hires on to help escort Crowe to the 3:10 to Yuma train, which will take him away to be hanged. The "reveal" for why he joins up with the posse comes later in the movie, and is rather...wrenching.
Violent and appropriately bloody, with a dragged out gunfight at the end that wants to be Open Range but just isn't.
I Am Legend
Saw it recently. Decent movie. I like how they portrayed Will Smith as slowly going crazy. The atmosphere was well done, giving the impression that he really was the last man on earth...and the tension of night kept viewers on their toes.
The ending felt like a cop-out though.
And I take much pride in the fact that I'm fairly better armed than Robert Neville.
The ending felt like a cop-out though.
And I take much pride in the fact that I'm fairly better armed than Robert Neville.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
New Year's Eve
Didn't think anything would come of it this year. Sure, I'd tried to set up a bowling meet with some people from work. Didn't get much of a confirmation from anyone, and none at all from one in particular.
Got to the lanes late, thought all my friends woulda packed up and ambled on home. Nope. Everybody who'd said they might come, and then some.
Bowled the second best out of my group. Listened to horrible rap dreck, and 5 good songs, most of which came from the 80s. Made ascerbic comments on the state of society with my best friend. Watched a bunch of gangstas freak-dance next to us, and made ascerbic comments about them. Nearly puked on a cheese curd.
One of the best times of my life.
Then I get home.
It appears the other shoe is falling.
Every silver lining needs a cloud to appear behind.
But I still had one hell of a good time. Thanks guys. At the risk of sounding cliched, y'all saved my life last night. I thought I was alone in this, and then I come to find I got friends and more of 'em than I expected. I'm eternally grateful.
Got to the lanes late, thought all my friends woulda packed up and ambled on home. Nope. Everybody who'd said they might come, and then some.
Bowled the second best out of my group. Listened to horrible rap dreck, and 5 good songs, most of which came from the 80s. Made ascerbic comments on the state of society with my best friend. Watched a bunch of gangstas freak-dance next to us, and made ascerbic comments about them. Nearly puked on a cheese curd.
One of the best times of my life.
Then I get home.
It appears the other shoe is falling.
Every silver lining needs a cloud to appear behind.
But I still had one hell of a good time. Thanks guys. At the risk of sounding cliched, y'all saved my life last night. I thought I was alone in this, and then I come to find I got friends and more of 'em than I expected. I'm eternally grateful.
Jericho
Forget for a moment that it's produced by the Commie Broadcasting System, and that many of the situations the characters find themselves in are completely unrealistic, and that the end of the world would look much bleaker and the people much less well-coiffed than they appear.
This is dang good TV.
This show contains everything that is good about America.
~Resisting the trampling of civil liberties
~Self-reliance
~Good people pitching in to help one another
~A community led by strong men
~Preparedness
~The positive portrayal of firearms ownership
Hawkins's daughter asked him what he had a competition 1911 for and his reply was "Shooting." He then told her that it was high time she learned. She asked why, and he said "So you can defend yourself." Then there's the line I have written on my white board, about 2 feet away from where I sit right now "Every able-bodied person needs a gun. Sixteen years of age or older. Line up."
The fact that they portray the heads of the community as strong, human men is incredible as well. I thought males had been reduced to bumbling, out-of-touch, insensitive, lecherous lugs or out-of-control grown-up adolescents on TV. Gray Anderson, Johnston Green, Stanley, Jake Green...they think and act logically, and with a strong sense of character.
It's no wonder this show was canceled. This was anathema to everything offered on TV at the time. For all it's flaws, this is dang good programming.
This is dang good TV.
This show contains everything that is good about America.
~Resisting the trampling of civil liberties
~Self-reliance
~Good people pitching in to help one another
~A community led by strong men
~Preparedness
~The positive portrayal of firearms ownership
Hawkins's daughter asked him what he had a competition 1911 for and his reply was "Shooting." He then told her that it was high time she learned. She asked why, and he said "So you can defend yourself." Then there's the line I have written on my white board, about 2 feet away from where I sit right now "Every able-bodied person needs a gun. Sixteen years of age or older. Line up."
The fact that they portray the heads of the community as strong, human men is incredible as well. I thought males had been reduced to bumbling, out-of-touch, insensitive, lecherous lugs or out-of-control grown-up adolescents on TV. Gray Anderson, Johnston Green, Stanley, Jake Green...they think and act logically, and with a strong sense of character.
It's no wonder this show was canceled. This was anathema to everything offered on TV at the time. For all it's flaws, this is dang good programming.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
The Kingdom
Got this movie for Christmas. I'd seen it twice in 2 days beforehand.
This may be one of the most important movies of the past five years. It opens with an absolutely stomach churning scene of Jihadists gunning down and blowing up innocent civilians in rather graphic fashion. Stuff like this needs to be thrown in people's faces on a daily basis - all we hear is the "it's OUR fault" chorus.
The scenes of the actual investigation are pretty boring, but again, what stands out is the repeated slamming home of the point that the Islamic culture, and especially the culture of the Islamofascists is as different from ours as night and day.
It "ends" on kind of a downer...they get a small cell, .gov calls it a victory and recalls them...and then on the way to the airport they're attacked. More bashing people over the head that Islamofascists are evil pigs - in the middle of a gunfight they take time out to try and behead Jason Bateman on film.
The real ending is much better. Jamie Foxx kicking some Islamofascist behind with a G3. And then an underfolding AK. Jennifer Garner greasing a guy with a folding knife. Everything a good movie needs, except perhaps a ten minute monologue on the evils of Communism and Hillary Clinton.
This may be one of the most important movies of the past five years. It opens with an absolutely stomach churning scene of Jihadists gunning down and blowing up innocent civilians in rather graphic fashion. Stuff like this needs to be thrown in people's faces on a daily basis - all we hear is the "it's OUR fault" chorus.
The scenes of the actual investigation are pretty boring, but again, what stands out is the repeated slamming home of the point that the Islamic culture, and especially the culture of the Islamofascists is as different from ours as night and day.
It "ends" on kind of a downer...they get a small cell, .gov calls it a victory and recalls them...and then on the way to the airport they're attacked. More bashing people over the head that Islamofascists are evil pigs - in the middle of a gunfight they take time out to try and behead Jason Bateman on film.
The real ending is much better. Jamie Foxx kicking some Islamofascist behind with a G3. And then an underfolding AK. Jennifer Garner greasing a guy with a folding knife. Everything a good movie needs, except perhaps a ten minute monologue on the evils of Communism and Hillary Clinton.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The End Of The Lightbulb As We Know It
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2007/12/19/faq-the-end-of-the-light-bulb-as-we-know-it.html
Congress banned regular lightbulbs. As of 2014, you won't be able to choose, in a supposedly free market, what kind of lightbulbs you want to buy.
The reason we have to put up with this crap now is because we didn't line the people who started it in the 20s, 30s, and 40s up against a wall and shoot them.
It's not just lightbulbs. It's freedom to choose in an unrestricted market. I want my America back, dammit.
Congress banned regular lightbulbs. As of 2014, you won't be able to choose, in a supposedly free market, what kind of lightbulbs you want to buy.
The reason we have to put up with this crap now is because we didn't line the people who started it in the 20s, 30s, and 40s up against a wall and shoot them.
It's not just lightbulbs. It's freedom to choose in an unrestricted market. I want my America back, dammit.
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Deer Hunter
Got The Deer Hunter from the library the other day. I've always heard what a fantastic movie it is, and figured I needed to see it.
De Niro did a decent job with the material he was given. Overall though, the movie sucked. They spent too much effort trying to make it "real life" that they completely forgot there was supposed to be a fantastic epic in there somewhere. It could've been a great movie, but everybody (excepting De Niro) phones in their performances, and there's very little drama in the writing.
Plus it was way, way too long. Exactly 3 hours. You could've cut the first 45 minutes and not missed a thing.
Too bad, this movie had a lot going for it on paper.
De Niro did a decent job with the material he was given. Overall though, the movie sucked. They spent too much effort trying to make it "real life" that they completely forgot there was supposed to be a fantastic epic in there somewhere. It could've been a great movie, but everybody (excepting De Niro) phones in their performances, and there's very little drama in the writing.
Plus it was way, way too long. Exactly 3 hours. You could've cut the first 45 minutes and not missed a thing.
Too bad, this movie had a lot going for it on paper.
Frustration
I feel like I'm getting stabbed in the back at work. Often I'm the closing employee, which means I'm responsible for the department from 3 until 11pm, which encompasses our busiest time.
Saturday, 2 people called off sick, leaving me the only person in the department from 7:30 until close. This is the second to last Saturday before Christmas. It was BUSY. Instead of sending me a cashier to work the register, or someone who actually knows my department, they sent me a woman who's never even BEEN in my department as a customer, much less an employee. And then they pull her out, randomly.
Yesterday, the second to last Sunday before Christmas, the manager walks into the department, sees that we're between rushes and says "*redacted*, you can go home, we need to save on hours." This was at 3.
*Redacted* was supposed to be there until 6. Ok, so one quarter of our employees goes home. From 4 until 6 we did 60% of our business. We had 2 people from other departments working with us for 45 minutes, and we still weren't able to do effective customer service.
Because I am a man, I dealt with it. Didn't like it, but I did my best.
On a brighter note, I'm thinking about buying a stock of Nyquil, and handing it out free - with a measuring cup - to any parent with a child under ten, when they enter my department. It would cut down on my stress level.
Saturday, 2 people called off sick, leaving me the only person in the department from 7:30 until close. This is the second to last Saturday before Christmas. It was BUSY. Instead of sending me a cashier to work the register, or someone who actually knows my department, they sent me a woman who's never even BEEN in my department as a customer, much less an employee. And then they pull her out, randomly.
Yesterday, the second to last Sunday before Christmas, the manager walks into the department, sees that we're between rushes and says "*redacted*, you can go home, we need to save on hours." This was at 3.
*Redacted* was supposed to be there until 6. Ok, so one quarter of our employees goes home. From 4 until 6 we did 60% of our business. We had 2 people from other departments working with us for 45 minutes, and we still weren't able to do effective customer service.
Because I am a man, I dealt with it. Didn't like it, but I did my best.
On a brighter note, I'm thinking about buying a stock of Nyquil, and handing it out free - with a measuring cup - to any parent with a child under ten, when they enter my department. It would cut down on my stress level.
Ammo Prices On The Drop
Dunhams dropped 7.62x39 to $4.19. Gander Mtn. dropped it to $4.99. Fleet Farm dropped 5.56x45 to $3.99.
It's not $2.50 per 20 like I saw 2 years ago, but it's not $7.99 per 20 like I saw 3 months ago.
Makes me happy, it does.
It's not $2.50 per 20 like I saw 2 years ago, but it's not $7.99 per 20 like I saw 3 months ago.
Makes me happy, it does.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Snow Came Down
A railway station
On a long forgotten line
No destination
But it always leaves on time
He buys his ticket
As the train prepares to leave
Don't want to miss it
On this night Christmas Eve
He stared into the night
No expectations
He watched the world go by
Without a sound
He saw the city lights
Arrive and fade away
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
No conversation
As the snow fell from the sky
His consolation
That the world is well disguised
He stared into the night
No expectations
He watched the world go by
Without a sound
He saw the city lights
Arrive and fade away
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
He stared into the night
No expectations
But in his heart he wanted to believe
That somehow someone would be waiting there
Upon this Christmas Eve
And when his train it pulled into that station
He saw there was a single pair of tracks
Within the snow and leading to that Station door
And he followed those steps back
And on this night of our salvation
Where dreams that have been lost
Can there be found
They walked away together
On that Christmas Eve
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
--------------------------------------------------
The song is about a lonely rich man who's been set up to meet his old girlfriend at a trainstation. He doesn't know this, he just knows to be there at a certain time. His train arrives at he sees her footprints in the snow, and they are reunited on Christmas Eve.
I love this song. The anguish with which the singer describes the man's journey is heart-wrenching. The instrumentation is incredible, little musical...I can only describe them as bookmarks...are hidden throughout the song, little repetitions that are so cool to find. And the writing is superb - I love how the end of the song is just the chorus rewritten multiple times. TSO has always had a way with words, going back to their Savatage days. They're some of the best wordsmiths in music.
December 10th has a very special meaning for me. Something that changed my life - sort of - happened on December 10th 2 years ago. This very day, 2 years ago. I've written it up, maybe someday I'll get around to telling y'all about it.
Last year, I believe it was on this date (but if it wasn't, I beg your forgiveness, I suck at remembering dates), a similar scene happened with me as described in the song. Falling snow, Christmas music, waiting to see Her.
Unlike the song though, She wasn't there.
On a long forgotten line
No destination
But it always leaves on time
He buys his ticket
As the train prepares to leave
Don't want to miss it
On this night Christmas Eve
He stared into the night
No expectations
He watched the world go by
Without a sound
He saw the city lights
Arrive and fade away
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
No conversation
As the snow fell from the sky
His consolation
That the world is well disguised
He stared into the night
No expectations
He watched the world go by
Without a sound
He saw the city lights
Arrive and fade away
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
He stared into the night
No expectations
But in his heart he wanted to believe
That somehow someone would be waiting there
Upon this Christmas Eve
And when his train it pulled into that station
He saw there was a single pair of tracks
Within the snow and leading to that Station door
And he followed those steps back
And on this night of our salvation
Where dreams that have been lost
Can there be found
They walked away together
On that Christmas Eve
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
--------------------------------------------------
The song is about a lonely rich man who's been set up to meet his old girlfriend at a trainstation. He doesn't know this, he just knows to be there at a certain time. His train arrives at he sees her footprints in the snow, and they are reunited on Christmas Eve.
I love this song. The anguish with which the singer describes the man's journey is heart-wrenching. The instrumentation is incredible, little musical...I can only describe them as bookmarks...are hidden throughout the song, little repetitions that are so cool to find. And the writing is superb - I love how the end of the song is just the chorus rewritten multiple times. TSO has always had a way with words, going back to their Savatage days. They're some of the best wordsmiths in music.
December 10th has a very special meaning for me. Something that changed my life - sort of - happened on December 10th 2 years ago. This very day, 2 years ago. I've written it up, maybe someday I'll get around to telling y'all about it.
Last year, I believe it was on this date (but if it wasn't, I beg your forgiveness, I suck at remembering dates), a similar scene happened with me as described in the song. Falling snow, Christmas music, waiting to see Her.
Unlike the song though, She wasn't there.
I Love My Job
You know that scene in The 3 Musketeers where Porthos knocks a guy out with a Bolo from like a hundred yards away and then says "God, I love my job"?
Yeah. It's like that.
Moron in class today gives us a presentation on how we should have socialized healthcare. Then plays some of Sicko for us, which was entertaining only for the scene of Hillary being burned in effigy. You heard my "YES!" throughout the class.
Teacher asks at the end if we have any questions for the speaker.
I raise my hand.
"Vincent?"
"Please explain to me why it is you think you're entitled to have the government take my money?"
Stammers about socialized police forces, fire departments, prison systems.
"I can't incarcerate Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey in my home. I pay the government to remove them from society because we don't want to be around them. I can pay for my own healthcare. Why should I be forced to pay for yours?"
"I'll be forced to pay for yours as well, you'll be taking my money too."
"I don't want your money. I want MY money. I earned it. It's not yours."
Teacher breaks up the argument.
I figure he has a 5% chance of figuring out he's an imbecile. That's 5 percentage points more than he had this morning.
Yeah. It's like that.
Moron in class today gives us a presentation on how we should have socialized healthcare. Then plays some of Sicko for us, which was entertaining only for the scene of Hillary being burned in effigy. You heard my "YES!" throughout the class.
Teacher asks at the end if we have any questions for the speaker.
I raise my hand.
"Vincent?"
"Please explain to me why it is you think you're entitled to have the government take my money?"
Stammers about socialized police forces, fire departments, prison systems.
"I can't incarcerate Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey in my home. I pay the government to remove them from society because we don't want to be around them. I can pay for my own healthcare. Why should I be forced to pay for yours?"
"I'll be forced to pay for yours as well, you'll be taking my money too."
"I don't want your money. I want MY money. I earned it. It's not yours."
Teacher breaks up the argument.
I figure he has a 5% chance of figuring out he's an imbecile. That's 5 percentage points more than he had this morning.
CSI: Miami...or...
...this crap kills brain cells faster than alcohol or asphyxiation.
Plot is thus: A private security firm filled w/ Blackwater types uses a prototype caseless rifle to kill three weapons smugglers. The head of the firm is then killed by his lieutenant and the previous head of the firm, and they sell this rifle to...unknown highest bidders.
The caseless rifle is actually based on real technology. It fires bullets electronically, and the weapon degrades during use. Not on TV. It's the size of a dog kennel, but at the beginning, it's employed by one person against three men in rapid succession. It "vaporizes" people...which was actually a funny animation. One moment they're here, the next they're jumping into a transition into a red stain.
The CSI team is able to track the firm's head's killer as he remotely erases the man's laptop. Looks like something from Star Trek.
Then there's the requisite showdown between Caine and the evildoer...Caine shows up right in time for the bad guy to make some ridiculously lame announcement about a suitable demonstration of the weapons power. Caine swerves his H2 and the back end explodes - it should've been shorn right off. The weapon is used again, and this time the Hummer is completely incinerated...Caine has escaped, and is now standing before this dog-kennel sized cannon. The badguy makes a lame quip about its power, and Caine shoots him in the head, then one-hit-kills a few other badguys at about fifty feet while holding his Sig 229 one-handed.
He then makes his own lame quip about using just one bullet, and the screen fades to black.
Watching CSI:Miami is like an intellectual I Am Legend. You feel like the last smart person on the planet. I've seen drooling Down-Syndrome patients with an insatiable lust for mashed potatoes who could pen better fiction.
I need to go watch some House clips on Youtube, get this bad taste out of my mouth.
Plot is thus: A private security firm filled w/ Blackwater types uses a prototype caseless rifle to kill three weapons smugglers. The head of the firm is then killed by his lieutenant and the previous head of the firm, and they sell this rifle to...unknown highest bidders.
The caseless rifle is actually based on real technology. It fires bullets electronically, and the weapon degrades during use. Not on TV. It's the size of a dog kennel, but at the beginning, it's employed by one person against three men in rapid succession. It "vaporizes" people...which was actually a funny animation. One moment they're here, the next they're jumping into a transition into a red stain.
The CSI team is able to track the firm's head's killer as he remotely erases the man's laptop. Looks like something from Star Trek.
Then there's the requisite showdown between Caine and the evildoer...Caine shows up right in time for the bad guy to make some ridiculously lame announcement about a suitable demonstration of the weapons power. Caine swerves his H2 and the back end explodes - it should've been shorn right off. The weapon is used again, and this time the Hummer is completely incinerated...Caine has escaped, and is now standing before this dog-kennel sized cannon. The badguy makes a lame quip about its power, and Caine shoots him in the head, then one-hit-kills a few other badguys at about fifty feet while holding his Sig 229 one-handed.
He then makes his own lame quip about using just one bullet, and the screen fades to black.
Watching CSI:Miami is like an intellectual I Am Legend. You feel like the last smart person on the planet. I've seen drooling Down-Syndrome patients with an insatiable lust for mashed potatoes who could pen better fiction.
I need to go watch some House clips on Youtube, get this bad taste out of my mouth.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The Greatest TV Quote Ever
Hello, sick people and their loved ones! In the interest of saving time and avoiding a lot of boring chitchat later, I'm Doctor Gregory House; you can call me "Greg." I'm one of three doctors staffing this clinic this morning.
This ray of sunshine is Doctor Lisa Cuddy. Doctor Cuddy runs this whole hospital, so unfortunately she's much too busy to deal with you. I am a bored... certified diagnostician with a double specialty of infectious disease and nephrology. I am also the only doctor currently employed at this hospital who is forced to be here against his will.
That is true, isn't it?
But not to worry, because for most of you, this job could be done by a monkey with a bottle of Motrin. Speaking of which, if you're particularly annoying, you may see me reach for this: this is Vicodin. It's mine! You can't have any! And no, I do not have a pain management problem, I have a pain problem... but who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm too stoned to tell. So, who wants me?
And who would rather wait for one of the other two guys?
Okay, well, I'll be in Exam Room One if you change your mind.
This ray of sunshine is Doctor Lisa Cuddy. Doctor Cuddy runs this whole hospital, so unfortunately she's much too busy to deal with you. I am a bored... certified diagnostician with a double specialty of infectious disease and nephrology. I am also the only doctor currently employed at this hospital who is forced to be here against his will.
That is true, isn't it?
But not to worry, because for most of you, this job could be done by a monkey with a bottle of Motrin. Speaking of which, if you're particularly annoying, you may see me reach for this: this is Vicodin. It's mine! You can't have any! And no, I do not have a pain management problem, I have a pain problem... but who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm too stoned to tell. So, who wants me?
And who would rather wait for one of the other two guys?
Okay, well, I'll be in Exam Room One if you change your mind.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Edwards: Garnish Wages If Needed to Cover All
Edwards: Garnish Wages If Needed to Cover All
ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is hoping to stand-out from rivals on health care by portraying the plan of rival Barack Obama as leaving 15 million uninsured and portraying Hillary Clinton as lacking the candor needed to get to universal coverage.
"Barack Obama's plan leaves out 15 million people," said Edwards. "The truth is that some people will choose not to buy insurance even though it's affordable, knowing that the rest of us will pay for their emergency room visits."Listen to this moron. Some people will CHOOSE NOT TO BUY INSURANCE. Paying for their emergency room visits is just the same as paying for their insurance. And who is he to say that people shouldn't be able to REFUSE insurance if they don't want it?
"But it is just as bad to say that everyone will have insurance without a plan to get there," he continued. "Hillary Clinton says her plan will cover everyone through a 'mandate' but does not provide even the most rudimentary idea much less a detailed plan of how this 'mandate' would work."
Like Clinton (and unlike Obama), Edwards' health-care plan would require every American to have health insurance. Require insurance. We're not talking about "giving" everyone insurance (which will ultimately be the same thing) we're now just coming out and saying "Every American is going to have insurance at gunpoint." Does it make me a bad man to want to drag Edwards into the street and kick him?
But unlike Clinton, Edwards is now detailing how he would enforce his mandate.
Under the Edwards plan, when Americans file their income taxes, they would be required to submit a letter from an insurance provider confirming coverage for themselves and their dependents. Once again, the IRS gets involved. Remember, they were only supposed to tax the upper 1-5%. Guess not anymore!
If someone did not submit proof of coverage, the Internal Revenue Service would notify a newly established regional or state-based health-care agency (which Edwards has dubbed a Health Care Market). Market. Market! A place where people buy and sell things. A market isn't a damned government agency you dip**** with delusions of adequacy!
Those regional agencies would then evaluate whether the uninsured individual was eligible for Medicare (which covers those over 65), Medicaid (which covers the indigent), or S-CHIP (the State Children's Health Insurance Program which targets the working poor).
If the individual was not eligible for either of those existing public programs, the regional-health care agency would enroll the individual into the lowest cost health-care plan available in that area. The lowest-cost option could be a new Medicare-like public option or a private insurance plan. Well thank God private insurance companies aren't going to be put out of business.
The newly covered individual would not only have access to health benefits but would also be responsible for making monthly payments with the help of a tax credit.Let me get this straight. They're going to put a gun to his head and take his money, force him to pay for insurance upon threat of going to jail, and then they're going to give him a tax break. In what kind of crazy, screwed up moonbat world does that even begin to approach making sense?
The exact size of the financial obligation would vary according to a person's income (lower-income Americans would receive larger tax credits). Yet more punish the industrious economics. The nerve of those fellows...working!...and expecting to keep the fruit of their labor. I seriously question their compassion.
If a person did not meet his or her monthly financial obligation for a set period of time (perhaps a year, perhaps longer) the Edwards plan would empower the federal government to garnish an individual's wages for purposes of collecting "back premiums with interest and collection costs."More gunplay by the feds. If a person doesn't want health care and refuses to play ball, the federal government is simply going to rip their money away, reaching into their future paychecks to take payments for health care they didn't receive. And just how IN THE HELL is that going to affect their ability to pay for healthcare and other necessities in the present?
The process, according to the Edwards campaign, would resemble the process used to collect money from Americans who are delinquent on federal student loans or child support payments.
The Edwards campaign has not put a dollar figure on the amount that would be garnished from wages because the cost of the lowest-priced plan in that region could vary and is not yet known.
While raising the specter of wage garnishment could expose Edwards to the criticism that he favors a bigger, more intrusive government, he is hoping that Democrats will reward him for offering a plan that is bolder than Obama's and more candid than Clinton's.Reward him for proposing theft. For those who didn't catch it the first time, he thinks they'll reward him for THEFT! Man walks into my place of work, mouthing off about what he wants to steal, I'm going to call the POLICE!
"To get fundamental change in our health care system, we need a fundamental change in our politics," said Edwards. "That starts with being clear and direct about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it."Sure is a fundamental change you arrogant ****, and it's not a change for the better.
I read this and for some reason I think of Neil McCauly and Waingro in a hotel room. It's like a Rorshach ink-blot test.
ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is hoping to stand-out from rivals on health care by portraying the plan of rival Barack Obama as leaving 15 million uninsured and portraying Hillary Clinton as lacking the candor needed to get to universal coverage.
"Barack Obama's plan leaves out 15 million people," said Edwards. "The truth is that some people will choose not to buy insurance even though it's affordable, knowing that the rest of us will pay for their emergency room visits."Listen to this moron. Some people will CHOOSE NOT TO BUY INSURANCE. Paying for their emergency room visits is just the same as paying for their insurance. And who is he to say that people shouldn't be able to REFUSE insurance if they don't want it?
"But it is just as bad to say that everyone will have insurance without a plan to get there," he continued. "Hillary Clinton says her plan will cover everyone through a 'mandate' but does not provide even the most rudimentary idea much less a detailed plan of how this 'mandate' would work."
Like Clinton (and unlike Obama), Edwards' health-care plan would require every American to have health insurance. Require insurance. We're not talking about "giving" everyone insurance (which will ultimately be the same thing) we're now just coming out and saying "Every American is going to have insurance at gunpoint." Does it make me a bad man to want to drag Edwards into the street and kick him?
But unlike Clinton, Edwards is now detailing how he would enforce his mandate.
Under the Edwards plan, when Americans file their income taxes, they would be required to submit a letter from an insurance provider confirming coverage for themselves and their dependents. Once again, the IRS gets involved. Remember, they were only supposed to tax the upper 1-5%. Guess not anymore!
If someone did not submit proof of coverage, the Internal Revenue Service would notify a newly established regional or state-based health-care agency (which Edwards has dubbed a Health Care Market). Market. Market! A place where people buy and sell things. A market isn't a damned government agency you dip**** with delusions of adequacy!
Those regional agencies would then evaluate whether the uninsured individual was eligible for Medicare (which covers those over 65), Medicaid (which covers the indigent), or S-CHIP (the State Children's Health Insurance Program which targets the working poor).
If the individual was not eligible for either of those existing public programs, the regional-health care agency would enroll the individual into the lowest cost health-care plan available in that area. The lowest-cost option could be a new Medicare-like public option or a private insurance plan. Well thank God private insurance companies aren't going to be put out of business.
The newly covered individual would not only have access to health benefits but would also be responsible for making monthly payments with the help of a tax credit.Let me get this straight. They're going to put a gun to his head and take his money, force him to pay for insurance upon threat of going to jail, and then they're going to give him a tax break. In what kind of crazy, screwed up moonbat world does that even begin to approach making sense?
The exact size of the financial obligation would vary according to a person's income (lower-income Americans would receive larger tax credits). Yet more punish the industrious economics. The nerve of those fellows...working!...and expecting to keep the fruit of their labor. I seriously question their compassion.
If a person did not meet his or her monthly financial obligation for a set period of time (perhaps a year, perhaps longer) the Edwards plan would empower the federal government to garnish an individual's wages for purposes of collecting "back premiums with interest and collection costs."More gunplay by the feds. If a person doesn't want health care and refuses to play ball, the federal government is simply going to rip their money away, reaching into their future paychecks to take payments for health care they didn't receive. And just how IN THE HELL is that going to affect their ability to pay for healthcare and other necessities in the present?
The process, according to the Edwards campaign, would resemble the process used to collect money from Americans who are delinquent on federal student loans or child support payments.
The Edwards campaign has not put a dollar figure on the amount that would be garnished from wages because the cost of the lowest-priced plan in that region could vary and is not yet known.
While raising the specter of wage garnishment could expose Edwards to the criticism that he favors a bigger, more intrusive government, he is hoping that Democrats will reward him for offering a plan that is bolder than Obama's and more candid than Clinton's.Reward him for proposing theft. For those who didn't catch it the first time, he thinks they'll reward him for THEFT! Man walks into my place of work, mouthing off about what he wants to steal, I'm going to call the POLICE!
"To get fundamental change in our health care system, we need a fundamental change in our politics," said Edwards. "That starts with being clear and direct about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it."Sure is a fundamental change you arrogant ****, and it's not a change for the better.
I read this and for some reason I think of Neil McCauly and Waingro in a hotel room. It's like a Rorshach ink-blot test.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
...And They're Home!
The Barak Huessein Osama and Rudy Guiliani Commemorative Assault Rifles followed me home tonight. I broke them down (I love being able to do adjustments with a hammer!) and they're sitting in pieces on my workbench waiting for me to come downstairs tomorrow with a CD player and clean them for 5 hours.
Lessee here, assault rifle cleaning music...it'll either be:
~Scott Stapp
~Creed
~Nickelback/Hinder
~Theory Of A Deadman
Only in a free country do you have to make such choices.
Lessee here, assault rifle cleaning music...it'll either be:
~Scott Stapp
~Creed
~Nickelback/Hinder
~Theory Of A Deadman
Only in a free country do you have to make such choices.
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