NOW It Gets INTERESTING

Via Of Arms and the Law, SCOTUS has granted certiorari on the Chicago gun ban /14^th Amendment incorporation case.

Alan Gura is the lead attorney on the case selected for hearing:

The Court had three cases from which to choose on the Second Amendment issue — two cases involving a Chicago gun ban, and one case on a New York ban on a martial-arts weapon. It chose one of the Chicago cases — McDonald v. Chicago (08-1521) — a case brought to it by Alan Gura, the Alexandria, VA. lawyer who won the 2008 decision for the first time recognizing a constitutional right to have a gun for personal use, at least in self-defense in the home (District of Columbia v. Heller).

This is the suit that was filed (IIRC) fifteen minutes after the Supreme Court handed down its Heller decision.

I'm going to have to send a contribution to the Second Amendment Foundation.

Just Over Two Weeks Away

Just Over Two Weeks Away

The next Big Sandy machine gun shoot is October 16-18:


I'm going up on Saturday, at least.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

This is why "gun control" won't work. It is the culture that people are raised in that matters more th(a)n the tool.

No knives and no guns were used in Thursday’s fight. Just fists, feet and boards.

This is why "gun control" won’t work, because when people want to commit violence they will.

There are two types of violence or cultures of violence in this case.

There is the one displayed here: the culture of predatory violence. The strong take from the weak, might makes right.

Then there is the culture of protectionary violence. The use of violence to stop crime or greater violence from occurring.

When gun control laws –victim disarmament laws– are implemented all that is left is the culture of predatory violence. There will always be a stronger person, more th(a)n one person can handle IF the law abiding is deprived of effective tools.

Chicago shows what happens when decades of victim disarmament laws have been in place.

-- 3 Boxes of BS, Does this look like your town?

Sound familiar?

I Knew They Couldn't Stay Away

I Knew They Couldn't Stay Away

A while back Kim and Connie du Toit stopped blogging, about ten months ago, in fact. At the time I knew that they'd not stay away long - they had too much to say, and too big a fan base to abandon.

Well, they're back, but in a slightly different medium. Via email:

From the "Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Roam The Internet" department:

Connie and I have decided to explore this strange new technology called "radio." Starting on Saturday October 3rd, we will begin a weekend Internet radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com.

The show will run on Saturday and Sunday evenings, at 7pm Eastern/6pm Central. You can find a BlogTalkRadio widget to listen to our "preview" show at our new site: www.kimandconnie.com.

I expect their new show to be as interesting, provoking, and fascinating as their blogs were.

The UNFISKED Version

. . . of this is being shown to our kids in the classroom.

Weer'd Beard posted the fisked version, and I found it through Robb Allen.

If your kids are exposed to "The Story of Stuff," make sure they see the fisked version, and you discuss it with them.

They should be angry about being lied to. And they should know why they're being lied to.

UPDATE: Nothing to see here, move along.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

All the same, that the dollar's reign as the world's dominant currency is drawing to a close is no longer in doubt.
- Jeremy Warner, The Telegraph, The dollar is dead, long live the renminbi

It's not that bad.

Yet.

The Yuan is heavily tied to China's ownership of America's debt. If When the value of the dollar plummets, China will be hard hit, and they own so much of our debt that dumping it hurts them as much (or more) that it would hurt us.

Still, our doubling of the money supply will (must) eventually have an effect, and it won't be good. And it makes me wonder how much longer oil will be valued in dollars versus another currency, such as the Euro.

Recipe Blogging

Recipe Blogging

It seems to be all the rage among other gunbloggers. I'm actually a fairly enthusiastic cook, but I don't do anything really fancy. For my initial foray into recipe blogging, I will give you the simplest bread recipe I know: Beer bread.

Now I don't drink, but I will use alcoholic beverages in recipes (white wine in my chicken & wild rice; red in salisbury bourguignon; beer in both marinades and in this recipe).

Ingredients:

3C Self-rising flour (must use self-rising, not all-purpose)
3Tbs sugar
12 oz beer - use something you'd otherwise be willing to drink.

1 regular size bread pan is required.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Mix the flour and the sugar in the bread pan. Pour in the beer, and stir until all of the dry components are thorougly mixed. The result should be a thick batter. Scrape down the sides of the bread pan so the batter is uniform across the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350º for one hour.

No kneading, no rising, not much to clean up, just bread. It's heavy, but damned tasty. Last night I picked up a 2lb package of self-rising and a 24 oz. Bud. I also got three of those little disposable bread pans you use for banana bread and the like. Two lbs. of flour is right at six cups. I doubled the batch and it made three perfect mini-loaves. One was dinner last night. This morning I toasted some under the broiler in the oven. Give it a try.

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter Hammerbach, you CAN use all-purpose flour, just add 1-½ tsp of baking powder (not baking soda) and ½ tsp of salt to each cup of all-purpose flour to make it self-rising. Mix thoroughly before adding wet ingredients.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government. - Dave Barry

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

Fear ANYONE promoting a more stable global economy. Poverty is the only stable economic condition. All others impart some form of risk. - Hunter Cressall

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

During the Bush years, we constantly heard the refrain, pushed especially by Paul Krugman, that the government was doing incompetent and corrupt things because conservative Republicans "don't believe in" government. Put the government in the hands of true-believing liberal Democrats, and incompetence and corruption will virtually disappear.

This always struck me as foolish, in part because the problems with government competence and integrity are structural, not individual, and in part because it required one to believe Krugman's fantasy that the Republican elite during the Bush years was dominated by wild-eyed libertarians intent on drowning the government in a bathtub, or something like that.

--

It's amusing to get accused of anti-Democrat "partisanship" in the comments for a post whose theme is that when given power the Democrats are just as corrupt and incompetent as the Republicans.

- David Bernstein, The Volokh Conspiracy, Because the Democrats "Believe In" Government

Remind you of anyone?

Bueller?

I Love Me My Bloom County

I Love Me My Bloom County


I still have a copy of "Night of the Mary Kay Commandos". And PVP is one of my daily reads now.

THAT'S RACIST!

THAT'S RACIST!

And while we're hammering on banks (and the "RACIST!" canard), Black & Right points us to this (*ahem*) rather insensitive credit card application:


(Click to embiggen)
Someone wasn't thinking, I suspect.

Or maybe they were . . . ;-)

As Promised

As Promised

Here are some pictures of my new (20 year old) Pony. (Look! A pony! ;-)










It's originally an El Paso car, but it ended up in Surprise, AZ a few years ago, made a short trip to Missouri, and then came back to Arizona for me to buy. Like I said, not bad from twenty feet away, but it needs a lot of stuff both inside and out. Should be fun!

"You are evil thieving bastards."

"You are evil thieving bastards."

Dvorak (mentioned below) also had this video posted (he's not a complete jerk), and I'm going to help spread it around:


If I recall correctly, RobertaX has been having similar problems with BofA and her mortgage, too.

It's about time BofA got their asses handed to them.

Tit-for-Tat

For those unfamiliar, John C. Dvorak is a tech-head writer, a contributor to PC Magazine (which is where I first found him) and according to Wikipedia:

Dvorak has been a columnist for Boardwatch, Forbes, Forbes.com, MacUser, MicroTimes, PC/Computing, Barron's Magazine, Smart Business, and Vancouver Sun. (The MicroTimes column ran under the banner Dvorak's Last Column.) He has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, MacMania Networks, International Herald Tribune, San Francisco Examiner and The Philadelphia Inquirer among numerous other publications.

I occasionally check his blog, and I did today, finding two posts interestingly juxtaposed. The first one I came to was this one: School kids taught to praise Obama (Video). Apparently he found it a bit . . . disturbing, as he commented:

Expect this to show up on Beck, O’Reilly and the other right-wingers. Hmm… could this have been staged by them?

The next post in line was the story of the Census taker in Kentucky found hanging from a tree (I would say "hanged" but we don't know yet if that was the cause of death, or just display). That piece he entitled Murdering federal workers still an acceptable all-American sport? and commented:

Census work wasn’t Sparkman’s full-time job. He also was a substitute teacher and an Eagle Scout who volunteered for the Boy Scouts.

Obviously part of the Socialist Conspiracy.

I have to ask, tit-for-tat, could this have been perpetrated by Leftist ACORN workers (but I repeat myself) to impugn the Right and draw off some of the attention they've been getting recently? After all, ACORN workers were going to be doing census work until the scandals broke.

I mean, it only seems logical to ask, given Dvorak's first suggestion.

Oh, I forgot - only the RIGHT WING does character-assassination and real murder! Silly me!

What Caliber Do You Use?

What Caliber Do You Use?


XKCD strikes again!

The Media's Opposition Flowchart

The Media's Opposition Flowchart


That about covers it.

Found here.

I Feel Better Now

I Feel Better Now

Almost a year ago I sold my '67 Mustang. I'd had it almost eleven years, and it had been sitting, collecting dust in my garage for the last five of those years. It was time to pass it on to someone who would run her and enjoy her. I was too worried about wrecking her, or some other disaster to really enjoy her.

But I love Mustangs. My first one was a 1988 LX 5.0 that I bought in '88 with about 5,000 miles on the clock - a repo, I'm pretty sure. I drove it until 1999 when I traded it in, with about 130,000 miles on it, for a brand-new Ford Ranger pickup. But I already had the '67 in the garage.

So, in the midst of my mid-life crisis, I decided I needed another Mustang. I searched for a couple of months on eBay, Craigslist and local auto-trader magazines, and didn't come up with much. For one thing, Kelly Blue Book goes out the window on Mustangs. Either that, or people are freaking crazy when it comes to what they think their pony is worth.

But I found a 1989 GT just South of town in fair shape, 193k miles, still runs pretty strong, though it needs a lot of work. It's going to be my project car for the next four or five years. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow - it's black, and I didn't get it home until almost dusk. It looks pretty good from 20 feet away, but it's definitely a car that's seen almost 200,000 miles. Plus it got a Maaco paint job a couple of years ago, and it's not the best. It needs lots and lots of little things, and a few big ones, but that's half the fun.

Damn, it feels good to have a Mustang again.

"Deputies believe alcohol was involved."

"Deputies believe alcohol was involved."

No, really? And Darwin. Definitely Darwin:

An Imperial man is dead after accidentally shooting himself in the head while teaching his girlfriend firearms safety.

Sheriff Glenn Boyer said that on Friday, deputies responded to 4307 Rock Valley Court in Imperial for a shooting. Investigators found 40-year-old James Looney with a gunshot wound to the head.

According to witnesses, Looney was demonstrating how to use the different safety mechanisms on several guns to his girlfriend. The witnesses said Looney would put the guns to his head, and before pulling the trigger, would ask her if she thought the gun would go off. With the first two guns, the safety mechanisms worked. The third gun fired.

Looney was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next morning.

According to witnesses, Looney was going to take his girlfriend to the shooting range the next day, but insisted on the lesson on firearm safety the day before.

Deputies believe alcohol was involved.

- KSDK, St. Louis, MO

I keep hearing "Hold my beer and watch THIS!"

At least the idiot died in this incident.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

Seen at AR15.com:

If Michael Moore thinks capitalism is evil
Why does he charge you to see his films?
Damned fine question.

Moron PayPal™

Moron PayPal™

Yes, that's a clever (*cough*) wordplay on "more on."

I received an interesting email today from Michael Brendzel, the President of Zel Custom Manufacturing about how to raffle off something for a charity. I gave him the quick and dirty on the PayPal fiasco, and he related this little tidbit, and gave me permission to quote it:

I had a terrible experience with PayPal. I applied to use PayPal for my product, which is technically an accessory. Not only did they reject my application, but they then also closed my personal account. They said they were concerned that I would try an end-around. All pretty extreme considering I had not actually violated the terms of service, I simply asked if my intended use would be within their terms of service.

Yeah. PayPal is just trying to cover their own a**es. Sure. I believe that.

So where is GearPay again?

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

As far as I'm concerned, Democrats haven't even considered the need to wash away the stain of FDR's legacy of Constitutional corruption, never mind even made a down payment on the sponge rental. - The Geek with a .45

Good rant! (Post more and post more often, Geek!)

GBR IV Update

GBR IV Update

Well, the numbers have been crunched, and here's what Mr. C has to say:

...after sorting it all out, and adding in all money received from

• On line raffle ticket sales
• GBR-IV Registrations
• Donations
• Raffle Tickets sold at GBR-IV

We cleared a grand total of

$8243.80

and we had a ball doing so!

I should also mention that National Shooting Sports Foundation (AKA NSSF) at the last minute donated an additional $1,000 to Project Valour-IT. This is in addition to their buying us pizza on Saturday night! If you would like to thank them for their generosity, an email to

info@nssf.org

should do the job!

That's about four times what was raised last year! And about half of that total came from the GI Expert / Front Site Certificate online raffle ticket sales! Thanks again to all of you who bought tickets!

The winner of the Para GI Expert received his prize today, and (given the sterling efficiency of the Post Office) I expect the winner of the Front Site certificate to receive his prize tomorrow, since I mailed it out Certified Mail, Signature Required on Tuesday.

Here's hoping GBR V will be even better!

That Was Quick!

That Was Quick!


Via AR15.com.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

Unfortunately, along with all its good effects, the web brings together people who should be isolated and gives a voice to those who really should remain voiceless. - S.M. Stirling

Every technology has its downside . . .

Light Posting

Light Posting

There've been some changes at work recently. My boss has left the company for a really terrific opportunity, and as a result a lot more responsibility has landed in my lap. We're still light on work, but what we do have is on a tight deadline. I'm still a little wiped out from last weekend, too.

A lot has been going on in both the gun world and in politics, but I just can't seem to work up the enthusiasm necessary to write about it. And, of course, I was waiting for a response from Joe Rothstein "after the holiday," but it would appear that I've dropped off his journalistic radar.

Odd, that.

If I can muster some gumption, I might vivisect his original piece and send it to him for commentary, but for some reason that idea just doesn't appeal at the moment.

Oh well. The nicest thing about being a blogger (besides posting from your mother's basement in your pajamas) is that if you don't want to write, you don't have to write.

More later.

Maybe.

Raffle Prize Update

Raffle Prize Update

OK, I got the Front Sight training certificate sent off Certified Mail yesterday afternoon, and today I dropped off the Para USA GI Expert at my local gun shop for shipment to the winner's FFL of choice. Unfortunately, they're still so busy they weren't able to contact that shop before they closed today, but hopefully it'll be going out tomorrow UPS Red for delivery on Friday. ($51 for the freight! Ouch!) Murphy's was nice enough not to charge me a transfer fee since they knew this was a raffle gun. If you're ever in Tucson, make sure you drop by Murphy's - 3235 N Country Club Rd., Tucson, AZ 85716-1351. Ask for Dave. Tell him I sent you.

And thanks to Sean and Scott and everybody else who bought tickets. I have yet to see a grand total, but I believe we were over $6k this year in donations to Project Valour IT, and you can't beat that with a big stick.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

I'm a fake journalist, and I'm embarrassed these guys scooped me. - Jon Stewart - The Audacity of Hos

The Audacity of Hos

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

When Jon Stewart starts pointing out the absence of the MSM on this, it's a story with legs.

Tuesday's Post, and Your Moment of Zen

Tuesday's Post, and Your Moment of Zen



Bay of Bothnia, Finland

OMG! A Brit With a Gun!

I started him off with my 10/22.


I wish I'd taken a video - it was fascinating watching the muscle-memory kick in. After every shot his hand automatically moved to cycle the bolt, but he was shooting a semi-auto. It took about ten rounds before he finally overcame the urge. I then moved him up to the Para GI Expert.


Until Friday, he'd never even seen a real 1911. He ran three or four mags through this one. He was the first to shoot it (after me, of course), but not the last. We put about a hundred rounds of hardball through it Friday without a single hiccup. (Thanks to The Packing Rat for the photo. Derek's a pro.)

Then I moved him up a bit on the power level:



He must've liked it. He went on to shoot The Packing Rat's California-compliant Saiga.


(Photo credit to Derek.)

On Saturday we shot a couple of stages of Steel Challenge. Our "recruited native asset" with a Ruger 22/45:


It looks like he knows what he's doing, doesn't it? He said afterward he plans to set up a Steel Challenge match in London using AirSoft pistols.

I think he's serious!

13 Hours, 45 Minutes, Redux

After an enjoyable evening in good company, I retired at about 11:00PM last night so I could get a reasonably early start this morning well-rested.

So much for that plan! About 2:45AM the ringing of my hotel phone woke me, but when I finally got the receiver to my ear, there was only a dial tone. I tried to go back to sleep, but just a few minutes later came a knock on my door. Maj. Zeigenfuss was in need of his backpack, which had disappeared from the unlocked Hospitality room, and since I was the only attendee he knew both the first and last names of, I was obviously the place to start! It only took a few minutes (and waking a few more people) before the backpack was found, but the interruption meant that the alarm clock was NOT a welcome sound this morning!

I hit the road at 8:30AM, and walked in the door of Casa Minority at 10:20PM after three refueling stops, one stop at McD's for a breakfast sandwich in Carson City, and a stop at a Rite-Aid for some aspirin at one wide spot in the road or another. I had fun! Worth every minute, and I'm looking forward already to GBR-V!

Thankfully, I took tomorrow off too, so I have a day to recover.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

One of the greatest threats to mankind today is that the world may be choked by an explosively pervading but well camouflaged bureaucracy. - Norman Borlaug

Rest in peace, sir. If anyone has earned that, you have.

That's Unpossible!

That's Unpossible!

Anti-abortion activists murdered!

Only abortion doctors are killed, and by right-wing gun nuts! What's the world coming to?

And the Winners Are . . .

The $2,000 Front Sight training certificate: Scott Warren of Mississippi

The Para GI Expert: Sean Brzozowzski of Minnesota

Congratulations! Emails outbound!

(And Robb Alan Allen [sorry Robb - I was damned tired last night] and Thirdpower should be kicking themselves for not attending. There was another Para being given away.)

Ron. . . Ran. . . Run. . . Gathering

Apparently more than a few people have a hard time with the word "Rendezvous" (damned Froggies):


That's the sign the hotel put up outside our hospitality room.

We thought we'd struck gold Friday night when we found out who had the rooms just two doors down:


"NorCal Lefties!" We can walk next door, introduce ourselves and our very presence will make them cry!

But no, it was deceptive advertising. They were all left-handed, not politically Leftist.

Here we are Friday morning heading out to breakfast before the range session:


And I'd like to introduce you to the winner of the "traveled the farthest to get to GBR" award, reader and commenter Phil R., who came all the way from London.

Yes, the one in England:


He's studying for a PhD in Linguistics at Oxford, and until yesterday had never shot a handgun.

We fixed that.

Here are some of the guns we brought to the funshoot this year:


Mr. C's race guns.


The obligatory EBRs

Some Boomershoot long-range pistols.


SayUncle's 6.8SPC AR. He sells those, you know.


The Byrne and O'Connor Spring '09 Handgun Collection
And there was some Old School stuff as well that I'll post when I get some more time, plus some videos that don't want to upload for some reason.

Here's a shot down the firing line at the end we occupied:


Good turnout!

The raffle dinner is later this evening, and I'll try to liveblog it. I'll also try to get more photos, including some of Alan Gura, who is much younger than I imagined.

I'll post about this again, but last night SayUncle asked a question about donating toward the legal fight for our rights, mentioning that he'd received emails from people saying they'd tried to donate during the Parker/Heller litigation and had been refused. Alan said that there had been a deliberate decision to take that case all the way without outside aid of any kind, which is why offers of assistance had been politely but firmly declined. However, all the current litigation, such as the Chicago incorporation suit and many others, are being paid for by the Second Amendment Foundation and CalGuns. If you want to help now, that's where your money needs to go. I've been receiving solicitations from SAF for a while, but i did not know that they were the financiers of these efforts. They'll be receiving donations from me in the future, and I hope from you as well.

It's almost 4:00PM as I write this, so it's time to head downstairs for dinner and the raffle. More blogging later, I hope.

Quote of the Day

I still don't know what "the shoulder thing that goes up" is. - Alan Gura

Still too busy to blog. It's closing in on Midnight, and I have to get up at 7AM. Alan Gura gave about a 45 minute talk tonight beginning about 8:30, and then started taking questions. He may still be at it.

I'm glad he's on our side. I have a lot more to say, but I have no idea when I'll ba able to do it. Maybe Monday, from the looks of things.

Good night.

9/11

9/11

Everything I said in 2006 still holds.

I'm off to the range.

Too Busy to Blog

It looks like about half of us have arrived, and I'm already meeting new people, like Cap'n Bob and the Damsel, the crew from Reasonablenut, D.W. Drang of The Clue Meter, and the guy who runs the official Cheaper Than Dirt blog - imagine that, getting paid to blog.

Today the early arrivals took a guided tour of Scheels in Sparks. It opened about this time last year. Essentially it has everything that Cabela's had in our tour last year, plus two HUGE aquariums - one freshwater, one salt, and a 60' Ferris Wheel in the middle of the store. Cabela's would fit inside this place with room to spare.

And they had AMMO! AND powder! (But no primers.) Pretty impressive place. Reno must be an outdoor recreation mecca to support both a Cabela's and Scheels.

About 16 of us went to dinner more-or-less together at the Buffet in the El Dorado casino. They tried to seat us close together, but there was a limit on what they could accomplish. Afterward we retired to the hospitality room and joined up with those who had gone gambling and the new arrivals. I'll try to get photos posted tomorrow, but it'll be late, since we'll be at the range most of the day.

It's 10:30 as I write this, so I'm going to call it a night.

In Honor of My Drive Through the PRC

A repeat of last year's post:

Do you know what happened this week back in 1850, 159 years ago?

California became a state!

The State had no electricity.

The State had no money.

Almost everyone spoke Spanish.

There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically, it was just like it is today, except the women had real breasts and the men didn't hold hands.

I think maybe I ought to drive home through Nevada.

13 Hours, 45 Minutes and 845 Miles Later . . .

I'm in my room at the Silver Legacy. Departed Tucson at 4:45AM, walked in the door of my room at 19:00 on the button.

Long day.

Now to see if anyone else is here. No emails yet.

I'm SO Glad Ford Didn't Take "Bailout" Money

I'm SO Glad Ford Didn't Take "Bailout" Money


They made this a couple of years ago, but this is the first time I've been able to download a copy for myself. I thought I'd share.

For Stingray

For Stingray:

From Mostly Cajun's "Random Thoughts":

51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Back to loading . . .

Idio-Seconds and Darwin Awards

Idio-Seconds and Darwin Awards

Gerard reports via Exurban League. Wincingly humorous.

Prepping for GBRIV

The Rendezvous starts in two (2) days. I'm leaving tomorrow morning at O-Dark-Thirty AM, and I plan on driving straight through. That should put me in Reno between 9 and 10 PM. I've decided to travel through Mordor California this year, at least on the way up. It should (I emphasize should) save me about an hour, and hopefully the scenery will be better than the sun-blasted landscape of Nevada has been these last three years.

On-line ticket sales for the Para GI Expert / Front Sight training certificate ended Saturday at midnight, or close to it. Total ticket sales, both at Soldiers' Angels before PayPal went asshat, and after LuckyGunner.com was kind enough to pick up the gauntlet, came to (drumroll please): 449! After the 3% credit card processing fee (and PayPal's cut), that means y'all have donated $4,355 to Project Valour IT. Thank you! With what we'll add at the Rendezvous, Project Valour IT should be able to pick up several new systems!

The weather this year looks to be perfect, with daily highs of about 90 and evening lows in the upper 50's. Perfect T-shirt weather, rather than the snow we got last year. And I own so many offensive, politically-incorrect T-shirts, it makes choosing which ones to take very difficult.

Speaking of choice, I'm still trying to decide what boomsticks to take with me. The Remington 700 5R (now with a NightForce scope in place of the Leupold) is a given, and one of the ARs, I think. The Garand, and I believe I'll bring Baby Blue, too. (No .30 Carbine ammo to be had in Tucson. Oops. Perhaps I'll bring Conan the Borg instead. It's been a while since that one's been out of the safe, and I have .22 ammo.) I'll have to buy some ammo for her, though. I haven't had a chance to reload for .30 Carbine yet. But I've got this new (to me) P14 Enfield I've yet to put a round through . . .

For handguns, my full-size Kimber upper is out getting the slide Gunkoted and some tritium night-sights installed. I hoped to have it back in time for the Rendezvous, but no. I think I'll bring my S&W 25-13 Mountain Gun and some .45LC for it, but I'll be leaving the companion Winchester 94 here. I might bring the Hi-Power, since I have the better part of a case of 124gr. NATO-spec Europellets. Of course, I'll bring the Para Gun Blog 45, and the GI Expert I'm giving away. And last but not least, I think I'll bring my Boomershoot pistol.

Anyway, I've got to do some running around, pick up some ammo, load some ammo, pack everything up, and then get to bed early. No posting tomorrow, probably - at least not until I get to Reno, and even then I'll probably be too wiped to post more than "I'm here!" If you're coming, I look forward to seeing you! If you're not, shame on you! But stay tuned - we'll be liveblogging a lot of it!

Here's the updated schedule of events.

I LOL'd (again)

From a link in LabRat's Parasite memes and monkeyspheres, David Wong's Cracked.com piece What is the Monkeysphere?:

(S)ome people in the distant past naively thought they could sit all of the millions of monkeys down and say, "Okay, everybody go pick the bananas, then bring them here, and we'll distribute them with a complex formula determining banana need! Now go gather bananas for the good of society!" For the monkeys it was a confused, comical, tree-humping disaster.

Later, a far more realistic man sat the monkeys down and said, "You want bananas? Each of you go get your own. I'm taking a nap." That man, of course, was German philosopher Hans Capitalism.

As long as everybody gets their own bananas and shares with the few in their Monkeysphere, the system will thrive even though nobody is even trying to make the system thrive. This is perhaps how Ayn Rand would have put it, had she not been such a hateful bitch.

The Things Worth Believing In

The Things Worth Believing In

In relation to my two recent posts, Restoring the Lost Constitution and Entropy Happens, I was reminded of an überpost I wrote almost three years ago, The United Federation of Planets. That post begins with a quote from a movie. Here it is on YouTube:


You might find that old post interesting in relation to the two new ones . . .

I Wonder

I Wonder . . .

Would Markadelphia pass the test?

Para GI Expert Ticket Sales End Saturday

Luckygunner.com will be terminating the on-line ticket sales for the Para USA GI Expert pistol and the $2,000 value training certificate to Front Sight Saturday night, September 5, at midnight. So far just a bit over 250 tickets have sold, so your odds of winning a $600 MSRP pistol for $10 are still pretty good! Get your orders in soon, and remember, it's a tax-deductible donation to a great cause!

Entropy Happens

Monday's scoop of free ice cream has drawn some traffic, some links, and some comments, and last night's gun blogger roundtable at Gun Nuts Radio has provided another spark of inspiration. Unfortunately, twelve-hour days and 2:30AM cat fights in the kitchen are conspiring to smother that spark, so I'm afraid this piece isn't going to be quite the quality I'd prefer, but I want to keep up with Rule of Blogging #1 as best I can.

One of the comments left at Restoring the Lost Constitution was this one:

"Thus perish all compromise with tyranny!"

(William Lloyd Garrison, setting fire to the constitution on Framingham Green, Massachusetts, July 4, 1854)

Word.
Billy Beck

Immediately followed by this one:

The Necronstitution.

Why try to restore a thing so instrumental in the death of America?

"The American Revolution in fact died with the ratification of the US Constitution."

http://tinyurl.com/n6xyo5

It was only a matter of time to arrive at this point. That was clear before the ink was even dry on that thing.
Matt

Obviously neither Beck nor Matt are particular fans of the Constitution, but the fact of the matter remains that there are a significant number of us who want what we believe that document promised us restored. We far outnumber those of the Anarchist bent, but (as I have been cataloging here at TSM for the last six years) we're both overrun by people who have been fed Rousseau (the overwhelming majority unknowingly) for their entire lives.

And that feeding has been deliberate. I strongly recommend you watch Bill Whittle's 13 minute piece on "The Great Liberal Narrative". As commenter "jb" put it in his linking post,

Gramsci saw it correctly, although he was a minor marxist of his time. Jailbirds rarely get recognition.

"Gramsci rejected the state-worship that results from identifying political society with civil society, as was done by the Jacobins and Fascists. He believes the proletariat’s historical task is to create a 'regulated society' and defines the 'withering away of the state' as the full development of civil society’s ability to regulate itself." (Wikipedia)

He was a communist's communist–he kept the end goal in sight at all times. Lenin and Stalin were more deadly, but Gramsci was more consistent. Give the proletariat the essentials of life, or even a bit better and they (the proletariat) will let the marxist masters do what they wish.

So what about that inspiration from the Roundtable discussion last night? Hold on just a bit longer.

Back in October of 2006 I wrote an überpost, hoping to conclude my series on "What is a Right?" entitled The United Federation of Planets. If you've got an hour or two, you might want to go peruse that piece, but the key relating to this post is that what people believe drives the cultures they live in. At one time, the vast majority of this society believed that the Constitution protected our rights and our property. Many of us want that protection back. Apparently most people think they do, but honestly don't understand that what they're agitating for is its exact opposite. Those who do understand it are (IMHO) evil.

Last night, one of the questions we bloggers were asked was "what was our favorite or most popular post?" LabRat said one of hers was Parasite memes and monkeyspheres. It's one of my favorites as well, and it starts out with this:

It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. — Terry Pratchett, from Feet of Clay

She goes on to argue a convincing case that human evolution prewires us to hate rich people, and embrace "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

Read it.

So if LabRat is even half right, it's not really surprising that socialism is so seductive to so much of the population, and that the ideology laid down in the Declaration of Independence very well may have had the seeds of its destruction sown with the ratification of the Constitution of the United States.

Entropy happens, and it generally only goes one way without a huge influx of carefully directed power from outside the observed system: downhill. Our Constitutionally-oriented belief system has survived, mostly intact, for over 200 years - which is a pretty damned good run, historically. What the people of this nation have accomplished in that period is more than exceptional, it's quite literally so extraordinary as to seem almost impossible.

But it's not enough, apparently, to overcome the siren song of "we'll take care of you!"

That major design flaw, it seems, is catching up to us.

Good night. I hope you sleep better than I probably will.