Best Joke I've Heard in a While

Best Joke I've Heard in a While

What's the difference between a golf ball and a Cadillac Escalade?

Tiger Woods can drive a golf ball 400 yards.

I Miss Michael Crichton

I Miss Michael Crichton


He was a very rare voice of intelligence and reason.

Found at Theo Spark.

I Can Haz M14

I Can Haz M14!

Cue the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus! Just over a year ago I sent a substantial check to Ted Brown at the recommendation of my readers, and I waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

I finally got good news. My LRB M25 rear-lugged receiver shipped last Wednesday and should be at Ted's shop no later than the end of this week. My rifle is next in line for assembly!

I already have a scope (the Leupold Mk 4 LR/T I had on the Remington) and 11 magazines. The receiver comes with a built-in Weaver base:


All I need to get is some LaRue QD rings, I think, and load up some ammo.

I shouldn't have to wait more than another month or so . . .

AZ Blogmeet & Range Trip - Update

AZ Blogmeet & Range Trip - Update

OK, Saturday December 12 is the agreed-upon date by the majority of respondents. I've had one (1) recommendation for the after-range gathering, Ochoa's in Casa Grande on Cottonwood lane, between Pinal Ave and Trekell Rd. Since the range is just off Trekell, finding it shouldn't be hard. The description was as follows:

Family owned and family recipies. They have been a Casa Grande institution for decades. The hot sauce is hot, the enchilada sauce is smooth and the Green Chile is the best! They have tables in the back room for large groups.

Next question is: how large? How many people are planning to attend the range trip and noshing? Here's a new poll:


The poll only allows one vote per computer, so if you're bringing family/friends, please let me know in the comments.

Again, the range opens at 07:00, and I figure we'll shoot until about 1:00PM, then go eat, drink, and be merry for a couple of hours at least.

So who's in?

ZING!

Reader Russ linked to this:


All of the above?

UPDATE: The original creator of the artwork is Borepatch, Another gunblogger! Credit where credit is due!

This Made Me LOL

This Made Me LOL


I'm such a Geek.

(That's today's Argyle Sweater cartoon.)

McDonald v. Chicago

McDonald v. Chicago

Via email this evening:

The U.S. Supreme Court just notified us today that oral arguments are scheduled for March 2, 2010.

Glad to hear it. Now I just have to scrape up some money to send along to the Second Amendment Foundation.

Quote of the Day - "Health Care Reform" Edition

The health-care debate presents the kind of sharp ideological contrast that makes it hard for unprincipled politicians to seek shelter in the mushy bog of the middle ground. Over the weekend, the libertarian Cato Institute calculated that the true cost of ObamaCare would exceed $6 trillion, after the various deceits used to make it seem close to revenue-neutral are stripped away. How much does real estate in the “middle ground” of such outrageous spending cost? Three trillion? When a radical program of such massive size is proposed, anything less than determined opposition is equivalent to submission.

-- Dr. Zero, The Consent of the Governed

My Take on WarmerGate

My Take on WarmerGate

Van der Leun points to an excellent piece at Chicago Boyz, Scientists Are Not Software Engineers, which contains an outstanding visual representation of the issue, which I will reproduce here:

It’s hard to explain to non-programmers just how bad the code is but I will try. Suppose the code was a motorcycle. Based on the repeated statements that Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming was “settled science” you would expect that the computer code that helped settle the science would look like this…


…when in reality it looks like this:

Do read the whole piece.

I am reminded of this Sidney Harris cartoon from (I believe) the late 1960's that I have had hanging on my office wall for literally years:

(Note: cartoon pulled due to requested $35 honorarium by artist. It can be seen here. It's the "Then A Miracle Occurs" cartoon.)
As many have said, we're supposed to rein in the entire economies of all the Western nations, cutting fossil fuel use by huge percentages and adversely affecting the standard of living of billions of people based on this? Man adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, "Then a miracle occurs!" and irreversible global warming kills us all?

I don't fucking think so. We've played this "mankind kills Mother Gaia" game before, and the point of it is and has always been "Give up your rights or we all DIE!!"

No. They've gotten farther with this scam than any before, but NO. Not this time either.

No Blog For You

No Blog For You!

I had plans for an Überpost weekend, but alas, that didn't happen. Sorry about that. Normal blogging resumes Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!


What the hell are you doing on the computer/netbook/PDA/Smartphone anyway?

(Image stolen from Danielle Corsetto's webcomic Girls with Slingshots.)

Your Moment of Zen

14.7 Pounds Per Square Inch

... and Don't You Forget It!



Found at AR15.com

I bet that was LOUD.

Well, I'm Honored I Guess

Well, I'm Honored I Guess

I'm more a small-"L" libertarian than a Conservative, but the blog Bombs and Dollars has named TSM to its Top 133 Conservative Blogs list. We're #102.

I don't know by what criteria the rankings were made, but I see a lot of blogs further down the list that I would say are more conservative than I am.

Quote of the Day - Global Warming Edition

Quote of the Day - Global Warming Edition

They clearly have some history of massaging the data — hell, practically water-boarding the data — to get it to fit their other results. Results they can no longer even replicate on their own systems.

-- Charlie Martin, Pajamas Media: Climategate Computer Codes Are the Real Story

I Wonder What Dr. Richard Lindzen Thinks of the CRU Hack

I Wonder What Dr. Richard Lindzen Thinks of the CRU Hack?

Ben of Carnaby Fudge linked to an EXCELLENT six-part YouTube series, the Competitive Enterprise Institute seminar on Global Warming alarmism. It was recorded recently, but before the hacked emails, data, and models were released on the web. Dr. Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT and has held that chair since 1983. In most circles that would make him a "primary source."


Watch all six parts.

The Christian Science Monitor Piles On

The Christian Science Monitor Piles On

Senate health care bill: the five paragraphs you must read

1. Mandatory insurance

Bill text: "Sec. 1501. Requirement to Maintain Minimum Essential Coverage.... An applicable individual shall for each month beginning after 2013 ensure that the individual, and any dependent of the individual who is an applicable individual, is covered under minimum essential coverage for such month."

Translation: Uncle Sam will now serve as your national insurance agent and force you to buy "minimum essential coverage" – or else you'll have to pay an annual fine.

However, what Congress considers "minimum essential coverage" and "essential health benefits requirements" includes comprehensive coverage that many neither need nor want. Plus, those who prefer to carry catastrophic-only coverage won't have a free range of options for such coverage.

Bottom line: In a free society, the government should not force citizens to buy any product nor should the government mandate citizens' level of health-insurance coverage.

--

2. Electronic data exchanges

Bill text: "Sec. 1104. Administrative Simplification…. (h) Compliance. – (1) Health Plan Certification. – (A) Eligibility for a Health Plan, Health Claim Status, Electronic Funds Transfers, Health Care Payment and Remittance Advice. – Not later than December 31, 2013, a health plan shall file a statement with the Secretary, in such form as the Secretary may require, certifying that the data and information systems for such plan are in compliance with any applicable standards (as described under paragraph (7) of section 1171) and associated operating rules (as described under paragraph (9) of such section) for electronic funds transfers, eligibility for a health plan, health claim status, and health care payment and remittance advice, respectively."

Translation: Requiring everyone to buy federally sanctioned health insurance, and then forcing qualified plans to comply with Administrative Simplification requirements, provides the government and health industry with power they would not be able to exercise in a free market.

Administrative Simplification rules are a product of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. They lay the foundation for a nationally linked database of personal health information.

Read the rest. Call your Congresscritters. Tell them you're not kidding. Feathers, tar, rail - some assembly required.

Thanks to reader juris_imprudent for the pointer.

You Have GOT to be Fv*%ing Kidding Me

You Have GOT to be Fv*%ing Kidding Me

Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

Tuesday, November 24, 2009
By Rowan Scarborough

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

There's more, but these guys are being charged because this asshole had a boo-boo on his lip?

So it Wasn't Government-hatin' Inbred Redneck Gun-clinging Bible-Thumping

So it Wasn't Government-hatin,' Inbred, Redneck, Gun-clinging Bible-Thumping Meth-heads?

Investigators: Ky. census worker committed suicide

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Authorities are saying a Kentucky census worker found hanging from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his chest committed suicide and staged his death to look like a homicide.

A news release from Kentucky State Police said Tuesday that Bill Sparkman died at the same location where his body was found Sept. 12 near a cemetery in a heavily wooded area of southeastern Kentucky.

A man who found the body in the Daniel Boone National Forest said the 51-year-old was bound with duct tape, gagged and had an identification badge taped to his neck.

Investigators say Sparkman acted alone in manipulating the scene to conceal the suicide.

The news release says Sparkman had recently taken out two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide.

Damn, the Lefties must be so disappointed.

My condolences to his family, though. Losing a loved one sucks. To find out that he committed suicide in an effort to try to leave them something must hurt worse.

Congressional Legerdemain

Congressional Legerdemain

Michael Barone points out an article in the New York Post by Jefferey H. Anderson that illustrates just how much the Senate's proposed Health Care bill will really cost, as opposed to what they're trying to sell us.

It's like they think the Great Unwashed can't understand mortgages with variable interest rates and balloon payments, or something.

They tell us that the first ten years of this wonderful plan will cost only (only!) $849 billion over the first ten years.

Nazzo fast, Guido.

Here's a chart that shows how they get that number (click to embiggen):


Anderson says in his piece:

As the CBO analysis indicates, the bill's real 10-year costs would start in 2014. And in its true first decade (2014 to 2023), the CBO projects the bill's costs to be $1.8 trillion -- double the price Reid is advertising.

And that's even though the CBO optimistically assumes the government-run "public option" wouldn't cost a cent.

Over this same 10-year span, the bill would hike taxes and fines by $892 billion -- more than the alleged price of the bill.

On top of this, Anderson expands:

Just as problematic are the bill's effects on entitlement spending and deficits. Medicare is already teetering on the edge of insolvency. This year's Medicare Trustees Report (signed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius) warns that the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund -- the main funding channel for the largest part of Medicare -- will become insolvent in 2017.

Worse, nearly four people are now paying into Medicare for every beneficiary. But with the baby boomers' retirement fast approaching, that number will drop over the next 20 years to about 2½. Fewer and fewer people will be paying higher and higher costs.

Yet, as the CBO notes, in its real first decade, the bill would siphon $802 billion from Medicare to spend elsewhere. With its financial outlook already beyond bleak, Medicare is the last place to look to for "free" money.

Among the $802 billion that Reid would divert from Medicare is $431 billion in cuts in doctors' pay (far more than the misleading figure for 2010-19). The bill says it would cut payments to doctors for services to Medicare patients by 23 percent in 2011 -- and never raise them back up, ever.

No one who's been in Washington for more than five minutes actually expects this reduction to occur -- and if it doesn't, then the Senate health bill would increase our deficits by $286 billion in its true first decade, according to CBO projections.

Read the whole thing.

In comments yesterday, Markadelphia asked:

(W)hy does the government want to get into health care? Several answers suggest themselves. With Medicare, Medicaid, S-Chip and state run health care, they already are fairly involved. But what is their motivation for this current push for historic legislation?

"Historic." Yeah, there's an appropriate adjective. "Little Boy" was an historic bomb in the same way this legislation is "historic." I want to attribute good intentions to our elected overseers, I really do. But if you wanted to destroy the American health care system and the American economy, I find it difficult to believe that you wouldn't see this bill as a means to that end. Same for Cap and Trade.

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.