Boomershoot Picture of the Day

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Alaska

From Peter N. Biddle. Looks like this might be his rifle for Boomershoot 2009?

Posted in Boomershoot | 2 Comments

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Phil Kadath

American Mercenary is a great guy. I met him and lovely his wife at a brunch shindig put together by the Gay Cynic @ NW Freethinker last year. He also happens to be a member of the officer corps stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington.

Right now he has a bit of a conundrum: He has a commander who has not read the US Constitution.

I don’t understand how the Commanding General of Ft. Lewis can write a policy requiring soldiers assigned to Ft. Lewis who have firearms stored within 100 miles of Fort Lewis can REQUIRE them to register their firearms with post on a form that says “disclosure is VOLUNTARY”.

As an officer they can’t give me an article 15, but they can reassign me to a crap job or court martial me, sink my career with a letter of reprimand.

Anyone think that the NRA or Second Amendment Foundation is big enough to take on I Corps?

I understand that their bodies are property of the US Army.

I don’t understand how their private property gets included in the deal.

The man in question is Lt. General Charles Jacoby Jr. and according to AM in his comments he did the exact same move during his stint in Alaska.

Seeing as how Joe rightly equates the stomping of the civil rights of firearms owners with the stomping of sexual and racial civil rights, I would like to pass on to the good General that he should have known better than to ask and I sincerely hope that AM decides to not tell.

Posted in Heroes, Comrades and Brothers | 5 Comments

Kill It With Fire

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Now, before it breeds! (pdf)

CBO anticipates that the current recession, which started in December 2007, will last until the second half of 2009, making it the longest recession since World War II.

This recession, however, may not result in the highest unemployment rate. That rate, in CBO’s forecast, rises to 9.2 percent by early 2010 (up from a low of 4.4 percent at the end of 2006) but is still below the 10.8 percent rate seen near the end of the 1981–1982 recession.

In preparing its economic forecast, CBO assumes that current laws and policies governing federal spending and taxes do not change. This forecast, therefore, does not include the effects of a possible fiscal stimulus package.

On that basis, CBO anticipates that real GDP will drop by 2.2 percent in calendar year 2009, a steep decline.

CBO expects the economy to begin a slow recovery in the second half of 2009 and to grow by a modest 1.5 percent in 2010.

(Emphasis mine)

I’d support a tax cuts only bill that would speed up the CBO findings, but that will never happen, so…..

Kill it With Fire Aliens.jpg

Call. Call. Call. Call. Call!

Link to CBO report found via Confederate Yankee

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Don’t be cold hearted

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Craig at MTPolitics will be quite cold enough, thank you very much.

I am participating in the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics here in Montana.

If you have a dollar or two to spare, you can pledge here.

Anything helps, and everything is appreciated.

His pain is their gain.

Posted in Heroes, Comrades and Brothers | 1 Comment

Gerrymander R Us

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Phil Kadath

It seems that our new Chief Executive is attempting to count you out by taking over the Constitutionally mandated US Census.

Samizdata poster, Midwesterner, drops the low down on just how illegal this is.

Remember all that money for ACORN in the Stimulapalooza bill?

I think we know what he wants them to use it for.

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 2 Comments

Drunk or Stupid

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Phil Kadath

A man of man talents, Mr. Completely lays down an excellent argument against Washington Governor Christine Gregiore’s plan to open more state owned liquor stores.

The Governoress says this move will raise revenue for the state, but as Mr. C so deftly shows, it will end up being a loser.

If she really wanted to raise more money for the state, she’d get some legislators to draft a bill ditching the state’s monoploy on liquor sales. But that would take away some of the state’s power, and cut the number of state union members, so it’ll never happen.

Posted in Dare To Be Stupid | Leave a comment

Boomershoot Picture of the Day

Posted on February 8, 2009 by Alaska

You don’t need a precision rifle to have fun at Boomershoot. The folks at this position were having fun plinking at boomers at the 385-yard line with this VEPR with a Scout scope.

Posted in Boomershoot | 2 Comments

Funny for the weekend

Posted on February 7, 2009 by Phil Kadath

From an email sent by my wife’s mother

It’s late fall and the Indians on a remote reservation in South Dakota asked their new chief if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was a chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky, he couldn’t tell what the winter was going to be like. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.

But, being a practical leader, after several days, he got an idea. He called the National Weather Service and asked, “Is the coming winter going to be cold?”

“It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold,” the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more firewood in order to be prepared.

A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. “Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?”

“Yes,” the man at National Weather Service again replied, “it’s going to be a very cold winter.” The chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.

Two weeks later, the chief called the National Weather Service again. “Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?”

“Absolutely,” the man replied. “It’s looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters we’ve ever seen.”

“How can you be so sure?” the chief asked.”

The weatherman replied, “The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy.”

Always remember this whenever you get advice from a government official!

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | 1 Comment

A Marine’s Gun

Posted on February 7, 2009 by Alaska

I bought this Smith & Wesson Model 1917 revolver in .45 ACP several years back. It had been reblued at some point and the rebluing was wearing off in places. Eventually I replaced the original grips with the Pearlites ’cause I like the look.

While doing so, I was surprised to notice that someone had stippled some writing along the backstrap. I’m sure it was once very obvious to the naked eye, but a LOT of use over the years seems to have faded the marks:

It reads “O.A. Bierkle, USMC.” (Originally I didn’t even notice the “O.”)

It had been over a year since I bought the gun on consignment, but when I brought it back to the gun shop they didn’t remember who’d brought it in, and I stupidly forgot that they’d have the info buried in their paperwork, so I counted that as a dead end.

A few more years went by, and then a few days ago I halfheartedly posted an inquiry on Calguns in the C&R forum. Imagine my astonishment when in mere minutes a Calgunner responded with

Turned up this. From the Korean War.Easy Co 2d Bn 7th Marines / ORVILLE A. BIERKLE

So now I get to contact the unit historian to see if I can find out more about this Marine. It’s an honor already to own and care for his gun. It will be even more exciting and meaningful when I’ve learned some of the history of the man himself.

Very Kewl!

UPDATE A YEAR LATER: OMG!

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel, Heroes, Comrades and Brothers | 2 Comments

Apologizing for having told the truth

Posted on February 7, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Poor Jeremy Clarkson. Speakers of the truth always get the worst treatment.

Clarkson, 48, was speaking in Sydney, Australia where he is hosting Top Gear Live, a stage version of the popular BBC show.

During a discussion on the economy, he compared Mr Brown unfavourably with Kevin Rudd, the Australia prime minister, who had addressed his country on the scale of the financial downturn.

“He genuinely looked terrified. Poor man, he’s actually seen the books,” Clarkson said of Mr Rudd.

“We have this one-eyed Scottish idiot who keeps telling us everything’s fine and he’s saved the world and we know he’s lying, but he’s smooth at telling us.”

Lesley-Anne Alexander, chief executive of the RNIB, said: “Mr Clarkson’s description of Prime Minister Brown is offensive. Any suggestion that equates disability with incompetence is totally unacceptable. We would be happy to help Mr Clarkson understand the positive contribution people with sight loss make to society.”

I guess the Royal National Institute for Blind People couldn’t see the humor in his statement.

And yes, that last sentence sounds like a vaguely euphemistic description of a re-education camp to me too.

Posted in Dare To Be Stupid | Leave a comment