Quote of the Day - Don't Confuse 'Em With Facts Edition

So let me get this right. The Canadian Oil is supposedly worse for the environment, so stopping this pipeline will help the planet.

So instead of moving the oil in a safe way and be processed in US refineries operating under EPA regulations, the oil will now be transported across the Canadian Rockies where it will be loaded onto giant tankers and shipped across the Pacific where it will be refined in Chinese operations that have far fewer, if any, regulations in place.

Please let me know how the Chinese alternative is better for the Earth. Because no matter what, this Canadian oil is going to be sold.

Paul Strasser

The Killer Must've Been a Tea-Partier Opposed to Obamacare

ABC reports:

Iranian Student Activist Shot to Death in Texas

A Texas medical student well-known in her community as an Iranian activist was mysteriously shot and killed in her car, just yards from her home

Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was driving through her Houston townhouse complex around midnight on Monday when she was shot dead through her car window.

"When officers arrived, they found a vehicle had run into a garage door at that location with the engine running and tires spinning on the pavement. Ms. Bagherzadeh was found slumped over in the driver's seat," the Houston Police Department said in a statement.

Authorities said nothing appeared to have been stolen from her car. Her cell phone and purse were found inside.

"Homicide investigators responded to the scene and were told by witnesses that several gunshots were heard, a crash and then tires squealing," the statement said.

Police told ABC News' Houston affiliate KTRK that the last person to speak to Bagherzadeh was her close friend and ex-boyfriend who was on the phone with her when she was shot.

"[The boyfriend] heard a loud thud. He doesn't recall hearing any gunshots, but a loud thud and then a screeching noise," Richard Bolton of the Houston Police Department Homicide unit told KTRK.

Bagherzadeh was of Iranian descent and was outspoken in promoting Iranian women's rights and criticizing the Iranian government, according to interviews she had done with the Houston Chronicle.

I'm sure the police are looking for a middle-aged white guy as the prime suspect.

Damn, You DO Like Recoil!

The post about the .950JDJ is well on its way to becoming has become my most popular post (by linkage and traffic) ever.

SayUncle linked it.  And Weer'd. Then lgstarr. (New to me.)

But in the last few days, it hit the message boards. Hard:

Accurate Reloading

Texas Riders (a motorcycle board.)

Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club (another motorcycle board, membership required to view.)

Aprilla Forum (ANOTHER motorcycle board that requires membership)

Forum.Saiga-12.com

MarlinOwners.com

TexasKayakFisherman.com (?!?!)

AR15.com

Kel-Tec Owner's Group (That one I can kinda understand.)

Texas Predator Posse 

Pennock's Fiero Forum

Sportsmansnews.com

Forums.GunsandAmmo.com

tngunowners.com

texasgunforum.com

AirgunBBS.com (members only)

UK Varminting

WoodworkingTalk.com

GlockForum

Damn Locals 4X4 Club

PAFOA Forums

Taxidermy.net Forum (members only.)

New England Hunter's Network

Freedom Sledder Forum

NoslerReloading.com

The Stalking Directory

Delaware Open Carry

And about 200 600 hits from emails and Facebook.

I think there's a couple more I've missed that came from across the pond. I'll keep updating this as new ones show up in the referrer logs.

That one post has had (as I write this) 2,577 4,630 8,019 12,087 hits since it went up, according to Google Analytics; viewed by 2,367 4,232 7,354 11,066 unique IP addresses.

This is just amazing. Who knew?

Ameritopia

I'm going to have to get a copy of Levin's latest book, Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America.

Go watch an interview with Levin on the book.

I Am TJIC

And Borepatch has a damned fine idea to commemorate the first anniversary of his violation by the Democratic People's Republic of Massachussetts. (Motto: "Live Free or Here.")

Go. Read.

Holy Go Se!

Barron Barnett emails with an interesting link. It seems like Adam Baldwin has read (and approved) of my überpost What We Got Here is...Failure to Communicate. (I wondered where all those Twitter hits were coming from!) He especially liked the Serenity quote at the end.

Yes, that Adam Baldwin - Jayne from Firefly.

Hey U.S. Citizen! Seems like Summer Glau is going to pass on the offer, how about we invite Adam Baldwin to the next Gun Blogger Rendezvous? I mean, how can you not like a man who has this picture on his Twitter feed?



Hell, that made my day, and it's not even 7:00AM yet!

UPDATE: And he did it!

First Guffaw,

...now Joe Huffman?

Apparently Joe's blog is not available.  The Boomershoot site is still up, as is Joehuffman.org, but not The View from North Central Idaho. WTF?

UPDATE:  Aaaand now it's back.  Weird.

Quote of the Week - Detroit Edition

Detroit is North Korea … with the Unions holding the same pride of place as the North Korean Army—keep them happy and they keep the kleptocracy in power. No matter who else starves. -- Tom Jones in a quote at Via Meadia

I Had No Idea

Worth the time to watch:

(h/t Jim Burnett, fellow pin-shooter)

Now That I Know That I Share His Opinion

...I may have to reconsider.

Bill Maher says:

"If they were real Taliban, if they were people who burn down girls' schools you know, and do honor rapes, threw acid in people's faces, I'm not that upset about pissing on them, dead or alive."

No, that's about right.  But I'm sure he said some other stuff I disagree wildly with.

So You Like RECOIL, Do You?

The posts about the .700WTF and the .950JDJ drew a LOT of hits, so apparently this is a popular topic. On that last post, one commenter said:

Can we get a 1.000 OMG? Going once… going twice…

Which was followed by:

Screw round numbers.

Make it the 1.001 OMG just to break the barrier firmly.

Already been done, boys, in a rifle you actually fire from the shoulder, not off a bench. The 4-Bore double-rifle:

According to Wikipedia:

The name derives out of an old English practice of bore measurements in gunmaking, meaning a perfectly round pure lead ball that exactly fits the bore of the weapon would weigh 1/4 lb -- that is, 0.25 lb (0.11 kg) (see gauge). The 4 bore was made to fire roundballs of 1/4 pound lead, or approximately 1750 grains (1750 gr.) and approximately 1-inch (25 mm) calibre (more precisely, 1.053-inch (26.7 mm), when shooting pure lead bullets). This varied greatly as in muzzle loader days shotgun gauges were custom made and often differed from the actual bore measurements. Commonly, 4 gauges were closer to .935-.955 calibre, pertaining to a 1400 gr. alloyed lead ball and closer to 5 gauge.

So it's hard to say without actually examining a 4-bore, but it could indeed be 1" or greater. Continuing:

The cartridge brass case was around 4 inches (100 mm) long, and contained three types of loads: light at 12 drams, 14 drams at regular, and 16 drams of powder at heavy load. (Note: 1 dram = 27.34375 grains in the avoirdupois system, since 256 drams = 7000 grains = 1 pound of powder. Shotgun shells are still rated in terms of the same archaic dram measurements, relative to their equivalence of smokeless powder load to a blackpowder load weighed in drams.) John "Pondoro" Taylor mentioned in his book African Rifles and Cartridges that the 12 drams (328 gr., 3/4 oz.) charge would propel the projectile at around 1,330 ft/s (410 m/s). A double barreled rifle that would fire such a calibre would weight around 22-24 lb bare, while the single-barreled version would be around 17-18 lb.

John Ross, the author of Unintended Consequences has one of these beasts. Here's a sample ballistics table:

With a "heavy" load of 440 grains of black powder under a 1743 grain projectile, the free recoil energy of 262ft-lbs. is very much in the same class as the .950JDJ, only the JDJ rifles weigh between 50 and 110 pounds and are fired off a bench. The 4-bore doubles weigh about 25 pounds and are fired standing, from the shoulder.

OUCH.

I Guess this Proves We Don't Teach Civics

Seen at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical, the Independence Day Quiz, a test of knowledge about American history and government. Rodger's site says:

Supposedly 96% of all High School Seniors FAILED this test ... AND if that's not bad enough, 50+% of all individuals over 50 did too!!

I missed one.

Quote of the Day - Sean Sorrentino

I like to watch the Bravo series Inside the Actor's Studio. Near the end of each show, host James Lipton asks his guests a list of 10 questions, the last of which is always "If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?"

Sean Sorrentino just gave me the perfect answer:

When I reach the Pearly Gates, I want the first thing I will hear to be "Unload and show clear."

Quote of the Day - Vanderleun Edition

...I went and signed up for gun training. After the training I felt I would be qualified to get a gun.  I would get it because it was my right to get it. I would get it because I could. I would get it because Washington, no matter how deeply mired in denial and dementia Seattle may become, Washington itself is still a "must issue" state. And how long that would last in the demented rush to disarm and make all citizens effective wards of the state for their "protection" was anybody's guess.

Tracking the killings of over 30 unarmed, effectively disarmed and therefore helpless students, at Virginia Tech [in 2007] confirmed me in my decision. It took many bullets for this tragedy to unfold. It would have taken just one going the other way to stop it. That and the training to know what the situation was and how to react.

Unless you are morally, spiritually, and politically blind to human reality, you know that this is the truth. -- American Digest, The Gun School

As the saying goes, RTWT™. It's from 2007, but still fresh as a daisy!

Just Lay Back and Think of England

The fallout of Weer'd's "Do More Than Just Light a Candle" counterprotest is still pattering down all around. One piece I ran across today comes from the Florida Progressive Coalition Blog, Gun Free Zone Blog Celebrates Gun Violence.

No, I don't think so.

I left a comment there, but it hasn't been approved, nor do I expect it to be, but I do want to comment publicly on one point made by the author, Kenneth Quinnell. He is attempting to fisk the post I Lit My Candle For... from the blog Gun Free Zone. Here's the particular portion I want to highlight from the whole thing:

Quote of the Day by Brigid: "but tomorrow is the day the Brady Bunch plan a light a candle to stop gun violence (that’s what I'm going to pull out when some potential gangbanger rapist confronts me in a parking lot, a f'ing candle.")

First off, the chances of a "gangbanger rapist" attacking Brigid are almost nonexistent. Second off, pulling out the gun might help her, but statistically it's more likely to increase her chances of dying.

Now the comment I attempted to leave was along the lines of '...pulling out the gun might help her, but statistically it's more likely to increase her chances of dying." Really? Got a citation to back that up? With a URL? Because I do and it disagrees with your assertion.

But the point I want to make here is a bit stronger.

Mr. Qusling, er, Quinnell blithely asserts that Brigid - and by extension, any woman - is statistically more likely to die if she attempts to defend herself from a rapist with a firearm.

The inference being that she should instead "lay back and think of England," and she might not get killed.

A more textbook example of 

"Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound."

could not be found.

Let's let Oleg Volk have a say:

And finally:

To quote AGirlandHerGun from Monday:

You, you who hate guns, you gave me nothing.

No hope.

No tools.

All that was offered me was a life of fear, of resentment, of bitterness, of dependance...

The gun community has offered me hope and strength, and courage.

They have taught me to have belief in myself.

Lie back and think of England?

Fuck THAT!

Let the Howling, Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth Commence!

I've covered the Tucson Unified School District's "Ethnic Studies" program here before, in Balkanization, from May of 2008, Balkanization Pushback the following June, Why I Keep Marxadelphia Around in February of 2010, THAT'S RACIST in May of that year, More Balkanization in January of last year, A Failure of Critical Pedagogy in May, and An Example of Critical Pedagogy just a couple of days later.

Well, now the excrement has well and truly hit the rotating air-movement device:

TUSD board shuts down Mex. American Studies

The TUSD Governing Board voted to dismantle the contentious Mexican American Studies program in an effort to avoid losing millions in state funding.

Tuesday's 4-1 vote came amid name calling in the boardroom and an angry overflow crowd chanting outside TUSD headquarters, "We will not comply!"

Board President Mark Stegeman, board Clerk Michael Hicks and members Alexandre Sugiyama and Miguel Cuevas voted to drop the program.

All supported revamping either the program or some classes so they are more comprehensive and include the contributions of all ethnicities.

Member Adelita Grijalva voted against the decision, calling instead for the district to continue to defend the program through a court appeal and to challenge the constitutionality of the law, which she called racist.

"I feel like this community has faced such a battle over the last year and a half, it's almost exhausting," Grijalva said. "You see it in the tears and pleas from the students. … I feel that this board doesn't understand the impact beyond our TUSD community.

"This is an issue that is not going to go away by this vote. When bad laws are written, they are usually picked up by other states. This is an opportunity to fight a bad law," she said.

The comments, 284 at the time of this posting, are running overwhelmingly in favor of the vote.

Adelita Grijalva is the daughter of Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

I've just begun reading Paul Kengor's Dupes: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century. In the preface, he hammers the point that Marx and Lenin both understood and stated repeatedly that Communism and Capitalism could not co-exist, that one must inevitably defeat the other, and for Communism to win it would be necessary to actively pursue the destruction of Capitalist governments by any means possible. The preferred method was destruction from the inside by infiltration and subversion. His book is a detailed examination of that subversion.

The battle isn't over just because the Soviet Union fell. The True Believers and their dupes are still out there working away. They fooled the American public into electing Obama, after all...

That's not Recoil, THIS is RECOIL

I thought the .700WTF was the biggest shoulder-fired rifle out there short of a 20mm, but no! Apparently the .950JDJ is:

2400 gr bullet @ 2100fps! 277fp of free recoil. The average 30-06 has around 28-30fp of recoil. 
The .577 T-Rex? Pfffft. Please. (*Owwww!!!!*)

Oh, and BTW - .950" is 24mm.

ETA: For the literally tens hundreds of thousands of you visiting from various bulletin boards and email pointers, don't miss you've missed the opportunity to get yourself or your significant other a Kalashnikitty T-shirt!

Looks Like Someone Else has a Spunky Parent

Scott Kurtz, the creator of the web cartoon Player vs. Player (one of my daily reads) relates this story:

In case anyone was worried Dad’s stroke had affected his sense of humor…

We’re sitting in his den, and I’m showing him how Siri works on my iPhone. To demonstrate I composed a text to my wife, pronouncing the punctuation.

Me: Send Angela a text.

Siri: Okay, what would you like to say to Angela Kurtz?

Me: Love you. Period. Miss you a lot. Period. Can’t wait to see you tonight. Period.

Dad: I hope your not on your period. Period.

I Wonder if PayPal Will Pull the Plug on THIS Raffle

Remember back in 2009 when I donated a brand-spanking new Para USA GI Expert to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous for a raffle to help raise money for Soldiers' Angel's Project Valour IT?  The ticket sales were through the Soldiers' Angels website, and they used PayPal for online payment.  Until Paypal shut down all contributions to their site until they yanked the icky gun raffle.  Now the organization InterFace is holding a similar raffle: 

InterFACE is a volunteer group of plastic and other reconstructive surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, pediatricians, and psychosocial workers, as well as other devoted volunteers, who give their time and expertise to offer reconstructive surgery to children in Mexico.  We currently travel to 5 different sites for periods of 2 to 5 days, visiting some sites twice a year.  The number of surgeries performed ranges from 10 to 75 per trip.  Our primary focus is cleft lip an palate repair, but we also perform correction of hand and ear deformities, burn reconstruction, and other congenital and acquired deformities.

In each of our locations where we work, we are sponsored by the Secretary of Health for that state and work with the local plastic surgeon or pediatric surgeon.  Our team members vary each trip, as we have a devoted talent bank of over 200 volunteers who travel with us at various times.

The prize is a custom-built 1911, and the cost for a chance at it is a mere $20.

Why a raffle?

InterFACE recently lost one of their key sponsors, and their program is in danger of being cut drastically.  We offered to donate magazine space to a raffle of a custom 1911 to help out, and renowned custom pistolsmith Terry Tussy of Tussey Custom quickly jumped on board, volunteering to build a gun.  Springfield Armory graciously supplied a stainless steel 1911, several makers supplied parts, and Terry supplied many parts from his own inventory.

All proceeds of this amazing raffle opportunity will go to directly support the doctors and nurses who travel on their own time to perform the healing surgery on these children.  Tickets will only be sold for a limited time (through March 30, 2012) so act quickly to benefit this great cause -- and for the opportunity to win this stunning 1911!

Here's the kicker:

You can enter by going to www.interfacekids.org/raffle.  They'll accept PayPal, and most charge cards.  You may also send a check, and make sure to include a phone number and e-mail address if you have one.

(My emphasis.)  Well, we know that PayPal hates firearms more than they care for wounded soldiers.  I wonder if they hate them more than Mexican children?

Quote of the Day - Thomas Sowell Edition

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. - Thomas Sowell