Do It

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Alaska

Details here. I haven’t looked at the actual GPS track, but am I right that it looks like he passed through Lewiston and Orofino for the middle of the ‘E’? Maybe he’s a Boomershoot attendee….

Posted in Boomershoot, Kewel! | Leave a comment

Why, yes, they did just say that.

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Phil Kadath

Tim Cavanaugh reads through some recent reports from the International Monetary Fund and wonders: Did the IMF say the USA is DOA?

You should RTWT.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | Leave a comment

RNS Quote of the Day: 08/13/10

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Phil Kadath

I guess I just don’t “care” enough.

With a firm renunciation of reason sitting in your corner, it makes perfect sense to argue, as Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli does, that his state’s anti-Obamacare lawsuit is “more about liberty than it is about health care.”

It is the quintessence of callousness for Cuccinelli and others like him to pit an academic definition of freedom against the well-being of the 1 million (or 15.1 percent) non-elderly Virginians who don’t have health insurance.

Katrina vanden Heuvel

“An academic definition of freedom”?

Is that all she thinks of the idea of “liberty”? Really?

The idea that the government can’t go around demanding that I buy something or otherwise get fined (which is simply a tax punishment).

I wonder what her reaction would be to the government demanding that she exercise her 2nd Amendment rights and purchase a firearm and attend regular, yearly firearms training classes? After all, it would save the nation money if they only had to send the meatwagon out to pick up criminals and didn’t have to spend so much on policing and investigating.

Would she see that as “excessive governmental demands”?

Would she accuse the government of colluding with firearms manufacturers and firearms training facilities?

Would she even be able to resist complaining about how this new governmental demand had increased the cost of firearms, ammunition and training?

Because that is all I and AG Cuccinelli are doing about the health insurance mandate.

Posted in Quote of the Day | Leave a comment

They’re not just bigger

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Phil Kadath

They’ve actually gone to Texas

Illinois has lost out to Texas in a bid for a new Caterpillar plant.

Caterpillar Inc. said Thursday it chose Victoria, Texas, as the site for the new factory, which will make a line of excavating equipment, including some currently built in Aurora.

The new plant will employ about 500 when it opens in mid-2012. Aurora isn’t expected to lose jobs, however, because of Caterpillar’s recently announced plans to build hydraulic mining shovels there.

It’s the second time Caterpillar has shuffled some work from Illinois to Texas.

And will the bureaucrats in Illinois use this as a lesson on WHY large companies are choosing to manufacture their products outside of their state this time around?

Probably not.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment

What is it with these people

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Phil Kadath

As with last week, I was again almost killed at work last night. This time by Karoli of the Crooks and Liars blog.

Her weapon of choice was this line in a post about the disparity of the wage compensation between the public and private sector.

Isn’t it amazing that the federal government has managed to keep pay rates and benefit levels competitive for their employees without breaking the bank?

And she is being completely serious.

Apparently, she missed the day in civics class where they explained that there is no competition for government.

Now that these numbers are starting to reach more and more American taxpayers and the simmer jogs up towards a boil, watching the leftosphere try and defend these princely sums is becoming more and more entertaining. After quickly running over the old “public servant” canards they switched to a new one I’ll paraphrase as “The racist right is attacking unions because minorities use government employment to move up!”

And now they’re just admitting that they think these wages are completely deserved. I predict that this will be transform into “these are Living Wages” by this weekend.

Posted in The Left is Never Right, Too Stupid to Live, Useful Idiots | Leave a comment

RNS Quote of the Day: 08/11/10

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Phil Kadath

In case you missed it yesterday, Tam won the internets.

Look, school bullying has been going on since Sargon wouldn’t stop poking Lugal in the ribs with his reed stylus during third period math, and the only reason it wasn’t going on earlier than that is there weren’t any schools, so it was just plain bullying. If you backtrack those footprints at Laetoli, you’ll see where one of the australopithecines was giving the other a noogie. This isn’t some fancy new American invention, and you’re as likely to stop it as you are to stop sex, war, or eating.

Posted in Quote of the Day | 1 Comment

David Update

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Alaska

A few quick notes, each of which deserves its own post, but that must happen later — too busy!

1) I’m going to Gunblogger Rendezvous V in Reno. Sign up, folks! You don’t want to miss this one if at all possible!

2) I’m going to be at the Gun Rights Policy Conference. If you will too, shoot me an email and let’s meet!

3) I’ve started running in the mornings, both in my continuing quest for a 29″ waist (like Hawk in the Spenser novels), as well as in training for this bizarre event. I’ll be running in the same flight as the Packing Rat. Should be a blast! Currently I’m at a pathetic ten-minutes- per-mile pace, but it’s only been two days, so that should improve.

4) We’re a Nielsen family! They seem particularly interested in households where at least one member speaks Spanish part of the time or more. I suspect they’re bemused by our programming choices, but more on that later.

Posted in Kewel! | 1 Comment

Busy Day

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Alaska

So tomorrow I have a whole bunch of stuff to get out the door before noon, because after noon I’ve been press-ganged (I didn’t protest too hard, I admit) into going to TargetMasters in Milpitas to shoot with some of my boss’ cousins from Singapore. They’re apparently fascinated by firearms, can’t own any in their home country (even toy guns), and have been pestering my boss with gun questions he can’t answer. So I’m The Answer Man for tomorrow.

After that I squeeze in an appearance at a Board meeting before rushing to Oakland for my flight (gotta get there early to check my firearm).

Thursday’s no better — an early-morning court appearance followed by me driving from one end of LA to the other for meetings before flying home that night. No time to shoot, so the Milpitas range day will have to suffice for my rule of going to a shooting range whenever I fly somewhere.

My wife always envies me my business trips, but she shouldn’t. As Joe Huffman said in a different context (organizing and running Boomershoot) it may be rewarding but it’s not fun.

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | Leave a comment

Opiate of the Masses

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Oscar Gordon

This is just sad, and that is coming from a devout militant apathetic agnostic.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Close to home

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Phil Kadath

Not my home. I don’t live in San Francisco.

But this woman does

Crooks picked the wrong gal to rob in The City early Thursday morning — an armed agent with the Internal Revenue Service, police said.

One of several suspected thieves was shot around midnight after mistaking an IRS agent who was packing heat for a regular Jane in the 100 block of Marlin Court in the Bayview district, police said.

The agent, who was on-duty at the time of the shooting, is with the IRS Criminal Investigations division, IRS spokeswoman Arlette Lee said.

One unlucky robber was shot in the torso, police said, while at least one other got away. Cops have detained one other person for questioning and are searching for more crooks, police Sgt. Troy Dangerfield said.

It was not immediately clear if the suspects were armed, police said. The robbers reportedly demanded money and got lead instead, police said.

Bill Quick also lives in San Francisco

This occurred on a court a couple from my own, in the same condo complex. The neighbors who filled me in say that the bad guy lived in the same complex, and the cops tracked the blood trail to his house.

Yes, I stay alert at all times, answer the doorbell from a second floor window, and take, um, other precautions. BTW, the crook was black, and my black neighbors were all cheering what happened – except for one guy, who said the only problem was that the IRS agent didn’t kill him stone dead.

Make sure you hit the link and read his very pointed, and very correct, update.

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | 1 Comment