I Feel Like a Kid!

Well it is officially one week until Christmas. All my shopping is done, and the gifts for my wonderful wife are under the tree.

Now I am ready to find out what goodies my wife has purchased for me! The anticipation has already set in, and I am so happy that I have such a wonderful companion to spend the holiday with. I am of course hoping for some gun related gifts, as that is all I asked for. : ) I look forward to updating this blog next week with the news of any additions to my collection, and will try to get them out to the range for reports next week as well. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas!

The Clash of Supposed Civilizations

We have all been told that we are in a clash of civilizations with the Islamic world. I bought that line of reasoning for quite some time. The truth is a bit different than this now cliché phrase would have us believe. We are in a clash between civilization and non-civility. Our enemies would plunge the world back into the dark ages if they were allowed to realize their goals.

This post is not about a sudden realization on my part that Islamofascism is in fact evil. The evidence for this case is overwhelming. The myriad of hijackings, bombings, 9/11, disgusting beheadings, suicide bombings, murdering of children, and systematic torture of anyone and everyone, is more than a damning case. Only the lunatic fringe tries to excuse the tactics of the hardened terrorist. The story I read this morning about the protests in The Sudan, story, awakened me to the fact that Islam itself is in fact evil and far from anything that can be called civilized. It was not some sort of epiphany however. I have believed that Islam was a backwards despotic nightmare of a religion and political system for some time. This story just confirms that I guess.

The image of hundreds of people calling for the death of this teacher while moving about with sticks and swords in their hands is what got me. This is civilization? It is reminiscent of a band of European peasants coming after an innocent supposed witch with their wooden pitchforks, scythes, and flaming torches. "Burn her!", they scream. Well, this imams proclamation is not much different.

Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion.

The thirst of Muslims? What kind of depraved death cult are we dealing with here? They are bloodthirsty savages. This woman did nothing wrong. Her children named a damned teddy bear Mohammed, and all hell broke loose. Who gives a crap if Muslims are offended anymore? When are they not? They have offended me dozens of times. Of course I am not likely to chop off someone's head for offending me or my religion. They however knee jerk to death to the infidel at any perceived slight.

As Sir Winston would say, we are better than these people. Our western, and specifically English-speaking civilization is the greatest the world has ever known. We must defend it against these mongrel hordes of savages, and those who seek to appease them.

Islam is not a religion of peace. It is a barbaric political system that is used to concrete power for the few, by brutalizing the many.

Ultimak Scout Rail for Mini 14

This is a mod post for my Ruger Mini 14 Ranch Rifle. The parent post can be found here.

The Ultimak Scout Rail replaces the hand guard on the mini 14, and allows for the forward mounting of many different optical systems. It is attached using 6 machine screws. Two hold an apron around the barrel, and the other four attach were the upper half of the gas block assembly is located. This piece is replaced as well by the Ultimak.



The rail is of very high quality. The cheap red dot I bought for it died, so it currently does not have an optics platform mounted.

Installation should be straight forward, but it sometimes is not. In my case the screws that held on the old gas block cover were staked in place by Ruger. Thanks Bill! The heads all stripped out before I could get them loose. This cost me about $50 at the gunsmith. He drilled out the heads, and installed the rail for me. My drill press would have made easy work of this, but my shop was not set up at the time.

I plan to mount a decent red dot on this rifle at some point. Even without a sight, the Ultimak was well worth the money I spent on it. It has transformed the gun. It shoots much better than it ever did before. Whether or not this is always the case I do not know. In my gun though it made a world of difference. The mini is still not a tack driver by any means, but I would not be worried about taking chest shots on humans at 100+ yards with it now. Before the rail was installed that might have been an iffy situation.

I would reccomend this item to anyone with a Mini 14. One thing to note. The rail is only designed to work with stock profile barrels.

Merry Christmas!

The wife and I are certified Christmas geeks. We just love it so much. It is definitely our favorite holiday and time of year. The Christmas music has been playing since the 15th, and we are watching our favorite Christmas movies already. There is a new darkness that has raised it's ugly head this year however. Last weekend we purchased a fake tree! Oh, the horror! :)

It is a very nice looking fake tree. The wife has put the lights on, so decorating will commence tonight. This weekend promises to be especially treacherous for me. I am to illuminate the house. Hopefully I won't kill myself while on the ladder stringing up the C9s. These bastards suck up some juice. Three separate circuits will have to be used for what I have planned most likely. A nice quiet generator sure would be nice to have for this purpose. It isn't that I am pulling a Clark Griswald, the C9 strands just suck up the power. Only 200 lights should be used on any circuit. This leaves about 3 amps to spare on a 15 amp breaker. Of course, this assumes that nothing else is running on the circuit. The usual M.O. is to use a cord from the garage, one from the front room, and one from the back of the house. That worked last year, so it should not be a problem this time. As the strands start to crap out in the next few years, I will go with LEDs probably.

We are spending Christmas Day at home, and most likely traveling to San Antonio to see my parents for a couple of days after that. I don't want to be away from home for to long, as we really enjoy our time at home during the holidays.

New Interest

As we often do, Dad and I were discussing various things at random a few months ago, and I brought up "ham" radio. Amateur radio has always held a vague interest for me, and apparently it has for him as well. After mulling it over for a while, we decided that it would be something fun for us to do together. That was the end of the conversation, and I thought that some time in the next couple of years we would figure it out.

Apparently Dad, was VERY interested. Within the month he got his license, bought and installed a mobile 2m/70cm transceiver in his truck, and purchased a neat-as-hell handheld model. He has gone nuts on it, and is expecting me to do the same. So, while I was visiting in San Antonio this weekend, much of my time was occupied with trying to help him figure out some things. One interesting aspect that he had me figure out is something called EchoLink. This is a piece of software that uses VoIP to act as a tunnel basically for radio communication. It is a very neat concept. Our eventual plan is to use it to create a tunnel between our base stations at our homes. We should be able to talk to each other around town that way on our mobiles, since I live in Fort Worth, and he is in San Antonio. You basically hook up your base to the computer, and it acts as a link between your mobile radio, and whoever is on the other end of the VoIP link. There is quite a bit of delay, so they advise keying your mic and waiting a few seconds before broadcasting.

The technician class license allows only certain frequencies to be used. These bands are not good for long distance communication, like some of the other bands that are available to higher licensed operators. We have decided to stick to these for a while, before pursuing anything else. I am studying right now for my technician exam and hope to take it within the month. A mobile unit will probably be my first purchase as well. Hopefully we can just talk to each other on EchoLink for now, even though there will be no actual radios involved at first.

I have no idea how deep this hobby will go. Part of me thinks not very, as I have several interests that already occupy my free time. The other part can see a future of talking to exotic places and constructing homebrewed radios and antennas. We shall see were it leads. The biggest motivation is doing something with the old man. He is only in his 50s, but as I get older I become all to familiar with the concept that he will not be around forever. The most interesting thing so far, is the sheer depth of activities that are available through amateur radio. There are data networks, TV, old school Morse code stuff, bouncing signals off the moon, satellites, atmosphere, and meteor trails even. There is a whole world of stuff going on in amateur radio that I never knew existed.

This Disgusts Me

Companies in Puerto Rico are cruelly disposing of unwanted pets. They are supposed to euthanize them humanely, but instead have been throwing them off bridges, burying them alive, and other horrors.

Story

I am so disturbed by this story. These people should be hung. You don't treat animals like this.

I am no animal rights activist by any means. Stray animal population control is necessary. There are proper ways to do this however. Throwing them off a bridge were they hit branches on the way down, are crippled, and slowly die is NOT the correct way. The thought of some animal doing this makes me sick. This is an outrage and must be stopped. Poor pups. :(

More on This Later

The King of Spain, and Hugo Chavez got in a little spat recently. All the details can be found here, and I plan to comment on it in a later post.

Story

This quote is a separate issue however.

"I think the day before he had a long and intense workday," adding that he may have got tired "of hearing things, not only from me, but from Evo (Bolivian President Evo Morales) and Daniel (Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega) and other revolutionary comrades."

Why are these men in power? Am I the only one who still sees communism as a dark specter that can rise up into the nightmare it once was quite easily? Hopefully the CIA is at work to undermine these evil bastards, and we just don't know it. Unfortunately, I think that is probably not the case. Have we given up on wiping out this black mark on humanity?

It was Eighteen Years Ago

It surely does not seem that long ago. On this day in 1989 the East German govenment announced that anyone that wanted to could leave the country. Thousands did so, and over a few weeks time they tore down the greatest symbol of the Soviet's horrible oppression of millions. I was only 13 at the time, but I vividly remember sitting in my parents living room, and watching the news coverage as it happened. It was such a joyous occasion. Even at such a young age, I knew what it meant. I had heard the stories of the brave people that had tried to cross the wall to freedom, only to be gunned down.

I will never forget the raw emotion we saw acted out on our glowing televisions as the people attacked the wall. Some with sledgehammers wailed against it as the cried with joy and relief. Families that had not seen each other in decades were reunited. This was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.

Now as we fight our new enemy, we can look back to our old one, and see the similarities. The Islamofascists wish simply to do as the Stalinists did. They wish to control us, and make us all conform to their will. If we allow them to overpower us, we will have the same fate as the millions that died to fight off the communists did. We will die, and leave our children beholden to evil.

This is Shocking, or Not

Apparently Pat Robertson has endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

This has to be one of the strangest things I have ever seen. As a Christian I have several severe problems with Rudy. Even leaving my religion out of the mix, Rudy just does not represent my morals and ideology as a conservative. He is for gay marriage, for government funded abortion, and is a gun grabber. These are extremely repugnant positions to me.

As a Christian I believe that God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman only. There is no wiggle room here. God's plan is for a man and woman to leave their parents, marry, become one, and reproduce. It is no coincidence that children raised in this situation are much more likely to become responsible contributing citizens, compared to those who are not. There, of course, are cases when this is not true. No serious argument that contradicts the value of traditional families is valid. This is of course a very mainstream conservative ideal. Actually, it is beyond that. Most of the laws that would ban gay marriage that have been presented to the voters, have been passed with healthy majorities all over the country. This is a mainstream issue for most Americans, regardless of party affiliation. The reason for this is quite simple. It is engineered into us by God. It is instinct to marry your spouse and pro-create.

The abortion issue is the main issue many Christians point towards when considering a candidate. The sanctity of human life is very important to us. We view all human life as sacred. Innocent babies certainly don't deserve to be killed. They deserve a chance to live and grow old. Abortion is antithema to my morals. It is the depraved murder of the unborn. The only time I see it as appropriate is if the mother's life is truly in danger. Please notice I did not say her health. That is a bogus term that leftists always throw around when they discuss limiting abortion. Any abortionist doctor can claim the woman's health is at risk. Pregnancy itself is a health risk.

Rudy is one of the most egregious attackers of the RKBA. He always has been, and always will be. It should not come as a shock to anyone that reads this blog, that I have a very serious problem with that. He has banned guns in NYC, sued gun manufacturers, and tried to take away our rights with the Brady crew. He may as well be Barbara Boxer on this issue.

These are the main reasons that I was shocked that Robertson endorsed him. Don't get me wrong here. I think Robertson is a kooky charlatan of a minister, but he claims to be a Christian. His nuttery has indeed crossed the line several times. Between his 9/11 and Katrina comments, his "word from God" about the elder Bush winning re-election, and his despicable support for Charles Taylor in Liberia, Robertson definitely does not represent me. I guess my shock at his endorsement should not come as much surprise after all of the stunts he has pulled in the past after all.

Talo Inc. Advertisement for The Last Cowboy

Apparently around 1,000 of these were made. Mine is the one with the white handles and gold markings.

Totally Unexpected

Well, I have something to admit. Something I never thought would happen, has happened. This is like a Ford lover, buying a Chevy and liking it. It's like a charcoal user embracing propane. I have become totally enamored with revolvers, especially single action revolvers. As you all know, my wife bought a nice .38 Spl LadySmith last week. Somehow her revolver lust has infected me.

My trip to get the SKS took a surprising turn of events last week. I looked at it for a while, and decided against buying it. It was missing it's bayonet. After looking around for a while, I had the helpful gun clerk show me two guns. The first was the 6" Security Six Kim had looked at, and the second was the Ruger Single Six special edition "The Last Cowboy". The Security Six was soon eliminated. It was pretty beat up. Lots of scrub marks, scratches, and the rear sight was beat to hell. This gun had been shot a whole lot, and I felt the price of $329 was just to high for it. So I held "The Last Cowboy". Oh my! What a gun this was. It was not only beautiful, it felt wonderful to hold. The grip was perfect. Pulling the hammer back, and forth felt completely natural.

I did have some trepidation about buying this gun though. First of all, I had dedicated myself to only spend the $179 that the Norinco was going to cost. This little pretty revolver was twice that cost. Hmmm, what to do? On one hand, I would be buying yet another expensive firearm that I could afford, but maybe the money would be better spent elsewhere. I also had not asked my lovely new bride about purchasing it. On the other hand, this was an exceptional piece in my mind. It handled so well. It was a somewhat rare revolver as well, and it WAS so pretty. The latter argument won out and I bought the pistol. I called Kim and told her, half expecting a mild rebuke. I got a rebuke alright, but it wasn't what was expected in the least. She said, "What are you doing buying MY gun?!?!?!?". She was mad because I beat her to it. :)

This gun was made by Ruger back in 2002 apparently. Talo Inc. got a hold of a bunch of them and gave them the special treatment. I believe it was released in 2006. I will get some pics up this weekend. There are several differences between it and a regular single six. The cylinder has a gold ring around it, the imitation ivory grips have the LC initials, and there is a little gold picture on the top of the grip of the cowboy emblem.

I bought this gun as a collector's piece. I fully intended never to fire it. That did not last long however. I found a 20 round box of the very expensive ammo it takes, and fired all twenty rounds through it. What an accurate and sweet shooting little gun this is. It is easily my new favorite. I am looking into reloading ammo for it now. This thing is a shooter, and it may be a bit unfortunate to shoot it, but I did buy it to enjoy it. Oh yeah, it also came with a nice crossdraw leather holster.

To Buy or Not to Buy...

Well, as all of us gun enthusiasts often do, I am wondering whether or not I should buy a certain gun I saw for sale at my local gun shop. It was a Norinco SKS for $179. I did not notice if it was matching numbers or not. It appeared to use the standard 10 shot SKS clip, which would be fine. I have an assload of stripper clips and quite a bit of Wolf commie ammo. The gun looked to be in good working order, and felt nice in my hands, which is more than I can say for my Yugo 59/66 that is still in pieces all over the place. It was a fairly clean looking rifle as well. Hmm...

I think I will post on the Gun Thing Forum, and see what the guys think.

Wife's First Gun

Kim spent part of our wedding gift money on her first gun Monday. She bought a very nice used Smith and Wesson LadySmith 4" in .38 Special. It is a nice little gun. The finish is some kind of satin coating I think. I will get some pics of it tonight. She loves it, and we plan to test it out this weekend at the local range. This will be her carry piece once we get our CHLs. While I had no idea, she is apparently quite the revolver fan! Before finding the one she chose, she eyeballed a Ruger Security Six 6" .357 in stainless, a Uberti .45 Long Colt, and a nice little Ruger "Last Cowboy" in .32 H&R.

Her thoughtfulness at picking out the gun she selected is quite amazing for a new gunnie really. She eliminated the Security Six because it would be nearly impossible to conceal, even though she just loved the way it handled and looked. Her big concern with the .32 was the relative lack of ammo availability and she was concerned with the finish holding up. She chose the LadySmith for it's concealability, fit to her hand, and it's durable looking finish. She is more rational than I when it comes to picking out guns! :)

Kim also let me know that she is a revolver fanatic apparently. She also is a bit of a snob, as she said she "wants to collect Smith and Wessons only". What can I say the girl has good taste! Am I a lucky guy or what?

I am a Married Man!

Kimberly and I finally tied the knot this weekend! Our ceremony was at her mother's house, and was attended by our immediate families. It was wonderful. There is no doubt that it was the happiest day of my life. The feelings I experienced during the ceremony itself are indescribable. There is something surreal about committing oneself to a life long covenant with your wife and God.

After the ceremony, cake cutting, and all of that we left for our honeymoon. We stayed at the wonderful Hideaway Ranch outside of Glenrose, TX. The owners are a family that runs longhorn cattle on the ranch. They are some of the nicest people we have ever met, and really make you feel welcome. Our cabin was named the Yellastone, and is decorated accordingly. All of their cabins are in secluded spots on the ranch, and have a hot tub on the back deck. It is a very romantic setting really. I would recommend them highly to any couple that lives close enough.

On Sunday morning we took a trip to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. This place is completely awesome. It takes about three hours to drive through the park. The various animals come up to your car, begging for a little feed. The closeness of these amazing creatures is something everyone should experience. It is quite entertaining to have an ostriche, zebra, fallow deer, and numerous other species stick their head in your car window looking for a handout. Some of them are quite aggressive about it! We even got to hand feed a giraffe! What an awesome way to see some exotic animals. They have multiple species of antelope, deer, and oryx. You can also see cheetah, bison, rhino, and ocelots. The tour was a very enjoyable excursion to be sure.

There are pictures of the animals and our cabin here.

Concealed Carry on Campus

The Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, had their national protest today and Fox News has a modicum of coverage at least. CNN appears to be ignoring it.

The Story

"You don't like the fact that you can't have a gun on your college campus? Drop out of school," said Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
When someone pulls out a gun and starts firing in a crowded environment, it's more likely that additional victims will be harmed, Hamm said.
"Let's be grateful that those holsters are empty," he said.

Ah how typical. What a snide attitude this gun grabber has. I bet if he had been scared senseless hiding behind a desk at Virginia Tech, his ignorant dismissal would have been a little different. Hamm is obviously a complete idiot. How would having a trained person with a gun in the vicinity at VT caused more deaths exactly? It would have more than likely stopped the rampage and saved lives. It is kind of hard to continue a murderous rampage when you are dead, or lying on the floor bleeding to death. This stupid rhetoric passes no common sense judgment.

Here is a nice quote from a campus police officer at Penn State.

"We think this would create more of a hazard if anyone could carry a firearm on campus," Parham said. "When you shoot the weapon, you have to be mindful of what's behind the person two miles down. What happens if you miss your target? Where does that round go?"

Link

This reminds me of the genius that shot himself in the leg, while claiming only the police are smart enough to have weapons. It shows his complete ignorance of firearms as well. His "two miles down" comment is a perfect illustration of this. These are the people protecting are young men and women on college campuses. They don't know their butts from a hole in the ground when it comes to personal defense.

The encouraging thing is that this protest will bring awareness to the problem. It is a good step in the right direction. When all you can come up with are these kind of specious arguments against concealed carry on campus, there is obviously a shortage of valid reasons not to change the policy.

Disarmed people are lambs waiting for slaughter. The murderers know exactly where to go to find loads of unarmed people to kill. It is like shooting fish in a barrel for them. Maybe less of our best and brightest would have been killed on that day at VT had some of us "responsible adults" pulled our heads out of our butts, and allowed them to defend themselves.

No More Iraqis!

This is getting ridiculous. I swear every day I hear another commutard making some idiotic claim about the number of Iraqis our boys have "murdered" in Iraq. The common figure today from the unhinged fringe seems to be 400,000. I have heard them claim 600,000, 1,200,000, and the freak that tried to attack Secretary Rice said that Condi was responsible for "murdering millions of Iraqis".

What the hell is wrong with these people? The truth is we don't have an exact number. The UN said it was around 34,000 for 2006, which was the most violent year so far. Any number of course would include all the terrorists, insurgents, innocent collateral damage numbers, Iraqi security and police force fatalities, and the biggest group of dead. This is of course the number of people that have truly been murdered. The innocents that have been killed by the terrorists and the innocents that have been killed by the various internal groups murdering their fellow countrymen.

Somehow they blame Bush for the overwhelming number of dead Muslims that have been killed by Muslims. Every time a market gets blown up and 150 people die, it is not the work of the evil fascist stormtrooper American soldiers! This is like blacks blaming the white man for black on black violence.

If we are to believe the numbers of the commutards, Iraqis should in fact be getting hard to find in Iraq. We have already killed them all!

Cheney Nods Off During Wild Fire Meeting

Make the Bad Woman Stop Mommy

There isn't many women who instantly induce bile to build up in my throat more than Hillary Clinton. Susan Estrich is, in fact, one of those women however. I can't stand her. Seriously. This woman causes my soul to wretch with agony when I hear her voice, or see her stupid smarmy face on Fox News. She is right up there with Babs, and Barbara WaWa. The only satisfaction I ever felt after seeing her was during the last POTUS election. As the bogus exit polls started proclaiming Kerry as the victor, she was beaming with joy. She was so stuck on herself and her new CIC, Lurch, that she could not contain it. She had to take the opportunity to get some snipes in on all the stupid conservatives. I don't remember her exact words, but they did irritate the hell out of me. Once we found out the truth, however, I was overjoyed at the prospect of her finding out Lurch had indeed lost.

It isn't just the fact that she is a liberal that gets to me. Her voice is about as annoying as they come. It is a gravely mixture of Stalin, and Chomsky rolled into one onerous nightmare of noise. She is also a lawyer that headed up the abysmal Dukakis campaign, and has been a professor of law at Harvard and USC. Enough said, eh?

She now has a book out deriding Ann Coulter apparently. Here is the cover. I like Ann's better.



I suppose the premise is that Ann is a meany. We all know conservative speech is really just hate speech that should be illegal.

Why is it, by the way, that libtards always have to write books about conservative books? They rip off the cover concept, and write a supposed refutation of the original work. They can't come up with anything on their own I suppose.

Senator Shmuck

“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, stressing the need to pass the Democrats’ comprehensive energy package.

Moments later, when asked by a reporter if he really believed global warming caused the fires, he appeared to back away from his comments, saying there are many factors that contributed to the disaster.

Leave it to Dingy Harry to open his mouth without thinking. What a stupid statement. I swear this guy gets dumber every time he opens his mouth. It is almost enough to make one feel sorry for the guy, but not quite.

Additionally, I have heard various Californistan officials blame the fires on Bush and the Iraq War. Let's make sure we don't mention their lunatic fringe environmental policies that make all of our forest lands giant tinder boxes.

Story

Neat Emergency Headlamp

I was perusing some camping sites and saw this little jewel.



It is the Petzl e Lite Emergency Headlamp. It is a waterproof, explosion proof, long lasting emergency headlamp. The batteries apparently last for up to 10 years in it's little storage case. Pretty versatile little gadget really. I think I will order a couple. One for the boat, and one for the SHTF bag. Of course, actually having a SHTF bag would probably be a good idea as well. :(

Edited to add: This is a french company. Here is a goofy video that describes the device. It is cooler than I thought.

Video

Fun Range Trip

The stepson and I went to the range Saturday for a little plinking fun. We took the 10/22, the new XD-45, the new Hi Point 9mm Carbine, and my Marlin 917vs. I had not taken that many guns out there in quite some time, as it tends to be a PITA. The range was surprisingly empty Saturday, so we were able to spread out comfortably and take up about 4 lanes of bench space with no worries. I, of course, would have consolidated had it gotten busy. We spent about 3 hours throwing lead downrange. Christian focused on the 10/22. He ended up shooting a whole box of Federal bulk with no problems. He also sent a couple clips through the XD and the Hi Point.

This was the first range trip for the XD, Hi Point, and the Marlin. I was pleased with all three. We shot at 30 yards all morning. The Hi Point is an ugly utilitarian weapon. It's beauty lies in it's functionality to be sure. There is nothing attractive aesthetically about this cheap carbine. It was purchased Friday night at Cheaper Than Dirt's retail store. After we figured out it was actually shooting a foot over the target, I was able to dial it in after about 20 rounds. What a crude exercise this was. The "rough" adjustment involves loosening the front post with a box wrench and sliding it up or down. I ended up moving it about an inch, and then dialed it in with the rear peep sight's screw adjustment. The sights are crude, but very serviceable. They provide a nice sight picture at just the right height. The gun's light plastic stock and giant bolt make it quite a recoil monster for it's cartridge. It actually started bothering me after about 150 rounds. I am not ashamed to admit that for whatever reason, I am quite sensitive to recoil. I don't know why that is, as I used to shoot high brass 12 gauge bird loads all day with no worries. I have not developed a flinch or anything, but it does get on my nerves after a few hours. At any rate the carbine functioned flawlessly through 200 rounds of WWB. It did smell quite bad for about the first 100 rounds or so. Probably just oil burning off. For $179 I am more than happy with this ugly little space gun. I managed to put 50+ rounds in about a 4" group freehand at 30 yards, which is about the limit of my eyes and skills.

I also put about 100 rounds through the XD. It functioned perfectly as well. I need some more practice to get back into the rhythm of shooting it. My "groups" were about 10" in size at 30 yards. That will improve with some more practice. I was routinely shooting 5" groups at this range with my previous XD before it was stolen.

The most fun of the day goes to the Marlin. After adjusting the scope, I was sniping thumbtacks at 30 yards easily. I can not wait to get this thing on the 100 yard range with a decent rest, to see what it can do. The scope is a bit eye relief sensitive at 14.5x, but not horribly so. I am happy with it so far. I only put one box of ammo through her, as I want to reserve the rest of my meager 17 HMR stockpile for longer range work. This stuff is fairly expensive.

Overall it was a great morning of shooting. I will post some detailed entries of each new gun in a few days for my "Guns That I Have" section.

Sheila Set To Return

As some of you may remember, my beloved XD-45, named Sheila, was stolen some time ago. I am finally able to purchase her replacement. Hopefully this will happen within the week. I am so excited! I loved that pistol!

Oh yeah. I got my BKL mount for the Marlin .17 this weekend as well. More on that later...

Sad Day

My sister's little Boston Terrier died last night. His name was Rock, and he was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever been around. She only had him for six years, but they went through a lot together. Rock was her child, and my parent's grandchild really. It is amazing how close we humans get to our pets. Rock was an especially good friend.

R.I.P Rock. You will be missed.

New Rig

Well, I got a new truck this weekend. New to me anyway.

I traded my Dad a set of used golf clubs for his '84 Ramcharger 2WD. I will try and get some pics up soon. It is a great truck. He has really taken care of it over the years.

The motor, tranny, and front end only have 42,000 miles on them! They were completely rebuilt. He also painted the truck himself at the same time. This thing is a grandpa truck for sure. It needs very little TLC really. I am already driving it daily.

I plan to put a new intake, carb, and exhaust on it. It is going to serve tow rig duty for my bass boat, and 4 wheeler. The upgrades should make it a good little tow truck. It already has tall gears and a limited slip diff.

I Can't Hardly Wait!

Brought to you by Rich-Jerks.com

My Head is About to Explode

So as I usually do I hit up Drudge to peruse the headlines and I read two that instantly made the pressure in my head skyrocket.

The first:

John Edwards: 'Pretty Soon' All Young African-American Men Will Be Dead or in Prison...

The second:

A BOND IN EVERY BASSINET: HILLARY PROPOSES $5,000 FOR EVERY U.S. BABY

Hillary was talking to a black group of course. Without even clicking the links these things just make me insane. Check out the Edwards link. His overwhelming stupidity is illustrated so concisely and professionally that I can add nothing to it.

Hillary's asinine idea is the real kicker for me. Where the hell are we going to get the money to pay for these bonds? I mean you would think even the stupidest socialist would see what a ridiculous ponzi scheme this would be. First of all she uses the word bonds. This is of course commutard-speak for, we will pay for it later. It is SSI with no funding, for the perfectly able bodied. The fact that a lot of Americans actually consider her a real candidate for President is beyond frightening. This class/racial warfare is going to be our undoing.

Here is a cluepon. Maybe, just maybe working American families could save up some money if you damn communists would quit taxing them to death. Maybe they could pay for college if they weren't having to subsidize all the illegal alien's in state tuition, and the myriad of asshated classes our esteemed academiticians come up with.

Between this hair-brained scheme, Hillarycare 2.0, and the myriad of other socialist programs the hyperwench has stored up in that addled brain of hers, we may as well all just quit working now. Why work when the government can pay you to sit on your butt?

Edited to add: Holy CRAP! I forgot to include this gem.

"I think it's a wonderful idea," said Rep. Stephanie Stubbs Jones, an Ohio Democrat who attended the event and has already endorsed Clinton. "Every child born in the United States today owes $27,000 on the national debt, why not let them come get $5,000 to grow until their 18?"

Come get? What? This is like some unintelligible morse code that I just don't comprehend! So they owe $27,000, which is a questionable statement to begin with, so let's saddle them with $5,000 more, oh yeah, plus interest! Oh the horror.

What a completely stupid idea! Whoever at Time came up with this should be fired immediately, or better yet beaten with rolled up newspapers about the head.

Marlin 917vs

Man, what a wait. This gun has been nearly three years in the making, and I am finally going to be able to shoot it in a couple weeks. It is ridiculous really. My beloved fiancée bought me this rifle for Christmas '05. It is a beautiful gun really. Nice stainless bull barrel, and green laminate stock. It shoots the .17 HMR round. I have been wanting to try this round out since I first heard of it's release, and I will finally be able to.

The rifle has no sights on it. This is the main reason I have not fired it. I really wanted to put together a nice affordable shooter with this one. Kim bought me a Mueller APV for it last Christmas. This is a nice affordable scope. The users at Rimfire Central helped design it. I have heard nothing but great things about it. Kim also said their customer service was excellent.

So I have had the scope for nearly a year now. I finally found the perfect mount for it I think. A BKL 261. This piece should be shipping today, and I will hopefully get it next week. I am busy next weekend (dang it!), but I WILL be taking it out to the range the following weekend.

From everything I have seen and heard over the last couple of years, this setup ought to be one heck of a shooter for the price. I plan to hit up the 100 yard range to see what I can do with it. Undoubtedly it will outshoot me, so hopefully I can get some respectable groups going. Look for a range report in a couple of weeks.

Manufacturer's Website:
Marlin Firearms

Pics:


Mods:
Mueller APV
BKL 261 Scope Mount

Links:
Fun Range Trip

Specs:
Caliber: 17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire
Capacity: 4-shot and 7-shot clip included
Action: Bolt action; thumb safety; red-cocking indicator.
Stock: Monte Carlo laminated gray / black hardwood with nickel-plated sling swivel studs; full pistol grip; rubber rifle butt pad; tough Mar-Shield® finish.
Barrel: Heavy 22" stainless steel (4 grooves)
Twist Rate: 1:9" r.h.
Sights: No sights provided, but receiver is grooved for scope mount; drilled and tapped for scope bases (scope bases included).
Overall Length: 41"
Weight: 7 lbs.

Poor Rube

Well we have a soldier that has decided to return his medals to Donald Rumsfeld. I guess it is better than throwing someone else's medals over a fence, but why be picky?

I never served and I still regret it. Having said that, this guy apparently was an ammo clerk that never fired his weapon in anger. He also got booted out of the Army for doing drugs.

If he wants to return his medals, that is fine with me of course. He earned them. The fact that he was an insubordinate, dope head, ammo clerk kind of lessens the protest me thinks. This poor guy knowingly or not is being used as a pawn by the internal enemies of our country.

The Story

HatTip: Drudge

Internal Enemy

While this story does not surprise me in the least, it should serve as a wakeup call for all of us.

The Story

So good ol' rich white guy turned commie George Soros funded the NASA "whistleblower" global warming guy to the tune of over $700,000. He also sponsored the supposed grass roots immigration rallies last year, and has been the funder of a lot of terrorist helping lawyers. Geez. This guy makes the Rosenberg's look downright patriotic.

Soros' "shaping public policies," as OSI calls it, is not illegal. But it's a problem for democracy because it drives issues with cash and then only lets the public know about it after it's old news.
That means the public makes decisions about issues without understanding the special agendas of groups behind them.

Without more transparency, it amounts to political manipulation. This leads to cynicism. As word of these short-term covert ops gets out, the public grows to distrust what it hears and tunes out.

The irony here is that Soros claims to be an advocate of an "open society." His OSI does just the legal minimum to disclose its activities. The public shouldn't have to wait until an annual report is out before the light is flipped on about the Open Society's political action.

This is a damn shame. I wonder if our wonderful unbiased media will report on any of this.

HatTip: Drudge

Ruger Mark II 22/45 Bull Barrel

This is actually Kim's pistol. She loves it! I bought it for her as a starter pistol, so she could learn to shoot a 1911. Unfortunately she can't stand the kick of my 1911, so she is sticking with the 22/45 for now.

The gun itself functions flawlessly with CCI Mini-Mags. You can shoot it all day long with no problems. It is also a very accurate pistol. It just hits were you aim. I personally like the traditional Mark I/II/III grip angle better, but this one does simulate the 1911 very well. The plastic grip is kind of subpar IMO, but it does not affect the functioning of the pistol at all. The bull barrel, undoubtedly contributes to the accuracy, as well as making the gun a pleasure to point.

Overall I would buy it again for her. At some point I will buy a Mark II Hunter for myself.

Manufacturers Website:
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.

Pics:


Links:

Specs:
Caliber:.22 LR
Capacity:10 Rounds
Finish:Blued
Grip:Black Synthetic
Barrel Length:5 1/2"
Groove:6
Twist:1:16" RH
Overall Length:9 1/2"
Weight:2 lbs
California Approved:Yes
Massachusetts Approved:Yes
Front Sight(s):Fixed
Rear Sight(s):Adjustable

Winchester 1200

This gun means more to me than all the rest combined. It is my Grandfather's shotgun. What else needs to be said? My Pa is living in a nursing home now. I took his shotgun from his house for safekeeping, and took my Remington 870 up there so my Dad, who is staying at the house would have a shotgun around. The Wal Mart special 870 would not be a great loss. The 1200 would kill me.

I remember this gun from childhood. Back when Pa could get around and had his little farm it was a fixture. He used it to "hunt" with. I believe all he ever killed while hunting was an unfortunate jackrabbit that hopped into his path. He brought it home and told my Grandma, "Dot look! It blew it's head clean off!". Another memory involved a tarantula on the front porch. He somehow managed to miss the tarantula on the first shot, blowing a big hole in the porch. I remember yelling, "How you gonna miss from 10 feet away with a shotgun?!". A few seconds later another hole appeared where the tarantula had been. While he accomplished his goal, I think he thought better of it when he was replacing those boards on the porch and repainting the whole thing.

I was allowed to use the gun for a few rabbit/dove/shooting objects in the pond excursions once in a while when I turned 15. I must have put 30 boxes of shells through it in a couple months.

This old shotgun is nothing special. It has a decent wood stock and forearm with a few scratches. The bluing is in great shape except for a couple of small dings, and their was a few small rust spots on the barrel which I took care of. Honestly though, it may as well be a fine European model as far as I am concerned. The memories of Pa and his land, that he later lost, are some of the best of my childhood. I wish Grandma would not have had that heart attack that bankrupted him at the time. I would have loved it if he could have spent some more years out there on his beloved patch of North Texas. He had 25 acres, but to us kids it may as well have been 5,000. We roamed it, along with most of the adjacent larger properties for years. Several deer were even taken out there. None by Pa though. He was always to worried about hitting some non-existent person a mile away if he took the shot. Either that, or he just couldn't bring himself to destroy what he saw as God's creative beauty at work.

My Pa is the best man I have ever known. I have never heard him cuss, drink, or smoke. He has served God as well as he could since he was a teenager, and worked hard selling auto parts for a long time to support his family. He has a youthful innocence and sense of humor that makes me weep when I think about losing him. This old shotgun ain't much, but it is worth the world to me.

Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle

Ah, the gun that started it all. This is the first gun I ever bought. That is excepting a 10/22 I got at 18 that was promptly stolen. I have had a love/hate relationship with this gun. It was purchased from a former roommate's father for $450. The price, I would find out, was probably a bit high, but it did come with extra mags, all of which were complete crap.

The rifle was a dirty, inaccurate, and a jamming PITA.

I learned how to take it apart and gave it a thorough cleaning. This took care of the first problem. It was the only easy fix.

I shot it once or twice, and could barely hit the target at 50 yards. Admittedly some of this was my poor marksmanship, but most of it was the gun. The "adjustable" peep sight was loose for one thing. Duh! So I tried to tighten it up and one of the screw's head split while I was tightening it and fell off. Doh! After a couple of months I got the screws replaced and got it adjusted. At this point I was able to put most rounds on a 12" target at fifty yards. Better, but still horrible. My latest endeavor was installing an Ultimak rail and a cheap red dot. This vastly improved the rifle's accuracy. Check out the mod section for more info on this little project. Let's just say, it followed the M.O. for the rest of the rifle.

As for jamming, it doesn't jam anymore. I quit using all the crappy mags it came with, and found a couple Ruger factory 30 rounders. These have functioned flawlessly.

The gun is now a fun gun to shoot. It is not as accurate as my AR, but it is acceptable. The Boy prefers the Mini to the AR. Go figure!

I have more in this gun than it is worth, so it will always be mine. Right now it is serving SHTF duty at the lake house.

Manufacturer's Website:
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.

Pics:

Mods:
Ultimak Scout Rail

Links:
Perfect Union Mini 14/30 Forum

Specs:
Caliber: .223 Rem
Capacity: 5 Rounds (up to 30 with other mags)
Finish: Blued
Stock: Hardwood
Barrel Length: 18 1/2"
Groove: 6
Twist: 1:9" RH
Overall Length: 37 1/4"
Weight: 6 3/4 lbs
California Approved: N/A
Massachusetts Approved: N/A
Front Sight(s): Protected Blade
Rear Sight(s): Ghost Ring Adjustable Aperture
Other Features: Garand-Type Safety

Henry H003TM

This gun is just flat out fun to shoot! I am a big fan of Henry's rifles. They are a family-owned company that makes some good quality guns at pretty affordable prices. This octagon-barreled beauty was a gift from my dear fiancée for Christmas 2006. It was an accidental purchase. I asked for a lever action .22 Mag, and Wal Mart shipped this gun instead. She must have ordered it, as it costs about $200 more than their bottom of the line lever WMR gun.

She was so upset when she realized it was not the right gun Christmas morning. We discussed taking it back, and decided to. I spent the rest of the day looking at the gun and handling it. Man this little guy sure does point nice! The short stroke on the pump is a bit weird, but it sure is comfortable! That octagon barrel, nice sights, and pretty wood sure are neat! After fondling it all day, I decided to keep it. I am so glad I did. It is a joy to plink around with.

The gun is more accurate than I am. I am fairly certain that it would do some really nice groups at 100 yards or more with a scope on it. I will never put one on it though.

Henry rifles are not fine bespoke guns by any means. They are affordable reminders of our past history however. The company has captured the nostalgia of the old American west so many of us are infatuated with. You can get into a standard lever action .22 from them for less than $250. The action they have created is incredibly smooth for the price. This is not a Marlin Golden 39a, but it is in my opinion the next best thing. My pump WMR will not be the last gun I purchase from Henry.

The company's customer service is second to none. Emails from the company president are not uncommon, and I hear he answers the phone quite a bit as well. They seem to go out of their way to make sure the customer is happy with their purchase.

Henry's trifecta of good quality, good value, and good service make them a winner.

Manufacturer's Website:
Henry Repeating Arms

Pics:


Links:

Specs:
Model: H003TM
Action Type: Pump
Caliber: .22 Magnum
Capacity: 12 rounds
Barrel Length: 20 1/2"
Length: 38 1/2" Overall
Weight: 6 lbs.
Stock: American Walnut
Sights: Fully adjustable rear, beaded front
Receiver: Grooved for scope mount
Finish: Blued barrel and receiver

Bushmaster XM15 Heavy Barrel Carbine

This is my first Guns That I Own post. I can't think of a better subject than my first (for now only) black rifle. I LOVE this gun. I have put about 1,000 rounds through it so far, and have not had a single hiccup. She just throws ammo downrange in a quick and accurate manner.

The heavy barrel on this gun works great. I like the additional heft. It is easier for me to aim accurately than a lighter gun.

Manufacturer's Website:
Bushmaster Firearms

Pics:


Links:
The Wonderful Evil Black Rifle

Specs:
A rugged, telescoping buttstock adds to the versatility of this .223 Remington caliber carbine, and the ribbed handguards keep swing weight to a minimum. Its handguards, pistol grip and "tele" stock are molded of hard thermoset polymer composite. The heavy barrel, with chrome lined bore and chamber, offers exceptional accuracy for its length and is externally manganese phosphate finished for complete protection against corrosion and rust - as are all steel parts of the weapon.
The barrel incorporates a "birdcage" style flash suppressor/compensator with closed bottom to eliminate dust signature when firing in the prone position. The M16A2 sight system, with two flip-up apertures designed for either short range shots at moving targets or long distance accuracy, offers adjustment for windage and elevation. The elevation adjustments are graduated from 300 to 800 meters and automatically compensate for bullet drop. Forged, lightweight 7075T6 aircraft quality aluminum receivers have all M16A2 design improvements including cartridge case deflector, last round bolt hold-open and raised ridges for magazine release button protection.
The A3 Type differs in that it's Upper Receiver is "flat-top" style with an integral Picatinny rail to offer a variety of sight, scope or night vision mounting options. A 1/2 M.o.A. rear sight is incorporated into the Removable Carrying Handle.The carbine is shipped complete with 30 round magazine, instructional manual and carrying sling, all in a hard plastic shipping case..

More Guns Dang It!

This is after all supposed to be a gun blog!

I am going to start two new series of posts. These will be titled Guns I Have and Guns I Want. Unfortunately the second list will probably much longer than the first.

Guns I Have will obviously deal with current guns that are in my arsenal, details of any modifications I have done, as well as my thoughts about the firearm.

Guns I Want will serve as a wish list of sorts. I think I will change the category on these posts as I obtain new firearms.

I love talking about my guns, so each one I own will have a link in a special Guns I have link section on the right side of my blog. These links will take you dear readers (mainly myself) to an index post for each gun. All posts having to do with that gun will be linked there.

Your humble writer realizes you probably don't care about any of this, but it will give me something to blog about that has a dedicated purpose.

Fred is Talking Right on RKBA!

I may be the last person on the blogosphere to notice this, but I found this today on Fred's site.

I strongly support the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. Gun control is touted as a major crime-control measure. But some of the places with the strictest gun-control laws also have high violent-crime rates. Disarming law-abiding citizens does not prevent crime. The answer to violent crime is smart, effective, and aggressive law enforcement. The real effect of these gun-control measures is to place onerous restrictions on law-abiding citizens who use firearms for such legal activities as self-defense, sport-shooting, hunting, and collecting. I am committed to:
Strictly enforcing existing laws and severely punishing violent criminals.
Protecting the rights individual Americans enjoy under the Second Amendment.

Hello Mr. President!

Dinner Jacket Wants to Visit Ground Zero

This is completely unbelievable.

In a move that has stunned New York, the Bloomberg administration is in discussions to escort the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ground zero during his visit to New York next week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said today.

The Story

I am nearly speechless. The nerve of this demonic sub-human is unbelievable. If Bloomberg allows this to happen he should be run out of town, never to return. The thought of Ahmadinejad being allowed anywhere around Ground Zero is sickening. This man is our enemy. We should be taking his ass out, not letting him gloat around this sacred ground. This must not happen.

HatTip: Drudge

Obama Acting Like He's a Cracka

Apparently Obama is a Uncle Tom according to funny baby fan Jesse Jackson.

Jackson sharply criticized presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for “acting like he’s white” in what Jackson said has been a tepid response to six black juveniles’ arrest on attempted-murder charges in Jena, La. Jackson, who also lives in Illinois, endorsed Obama in March, according to The Associated Press.
“If I were a candidate, I’d be all over Jena,” Jackson said after an hour-long speech at Columbia’s historically black Benedict College.

“Jena is a defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment,” said the iconic civil rights figure, who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1965 Selma civil rights movement and was with King at his 1968 assassination.

Later, Jackson said he did not recall making the “acting like he’s white” comment about Obama, stressing he only wanted to point out the candidates had not seized on an opportunity to highlight the disproportionate criminal punishments black youths too often face.

Jackson also said Obama, who consistently has placed second in state and national polls behind New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, must be “bolder” in his political positions if he is to erase Clinton’s lead.

The Story

I wish this race-baiting hypocrite would just go away. Obama's statement about Jena was appropriate. For those not in the know, the so-called "Jena 6" are a group of young black men accused of beating a white guy. They seem to have been totally overcharged in the case. I actually agree with the concern that is being generated in this case, but Selma it is not.

The fact that I am defending Obama should be a good illustration as to how wrong this is. This whole "acting white" canard is a blight on all blacks. In many areas if a black kid speaks decent English and gets good grades in school, he is "acting white". It is a dangerous ridiculous argument that should not be perpetuated by so-called leaders such as Jackson.

Racism obviously still exists, and the Jena case seems to be a sad example of that. This kind of pathetic rhetoric just perpetuates the problem unfortunately.

HatTip: Drudge

The Moonbats are Coming, The Moonbats are Coming!

I swear they are invading my beloved Cowtown! This morning I saw two of these foreign creatures. The first looked like he was about 20. He had several bumper stickers on his '95 Chevy Cavalier. These included jewels like "Impeach Bush", "End the Warfare State", and "9/11 was an Inside Job". So this guy was both a moonbat and a truther! A fine example indeed.

The other example was driving a Subaru Forester. That of course was a warning sign. As I got closer I noticed the plethora of inane bumper stickers including "Free Tibet", some rainbow crap, and other various slogans. The real prize here was the driver. A shaved-headed lesbian.

Two fine nutter examples to be sure. This species is not supposed to be here however. They are supposed to remain confined in Austin dang it!

Dishonest Media Strikes Again

Well, well, well. I knew the hysteria over Greenspan's supposed opposition to the war in Iraq was crap. For anyone that missed it, the MSM was basically reporting that he was of the opinion that it was just a "war for oil", which of course they assume everyone agrees would be a bad motive. All the leftards got excited and ran with the ball.

Unfortunately for them Greenspan has clarified his stance. He suggested that protecting the worlds oil supplies was a great reason to get rid of Saddam, and saw no other option based on that reasoning alone. This of course was a fine reason which I agree with, but as Greenspan himself is now saying, the Bush administration pretty much rejected it. Ouch! Sorry lying communists. Guess that is one canard you can't use anymore.

Oh what am I thinking. They will still revert to it as part of their pre-programming groupspeak when they can't win an argument as usual. It is right up there with:

You're a racist!
You're a homophobe!

and

You want poor babies to starve!

The Story

Hopefully They Will Get Their Revenge

Abu Risha, the Sunni sheik that President Bush met with last week was killed earlier this week. His funeral took place today. The mourners are vowing revenge on Al Qaeda. Hopefully the work Abu Risha did will not die with him. If the Iraqis can join together against Al Qaeda, who they are clearly getting tired of, maybe some of the sectarian violence will dimenish, and we can get on our way to get our men and women home. Hopefully the model Abu Risha used will work in other places in Iraq. According to the article the military is looking at implementing it elsewhere.

The big question to me is whether or not the Shia will get in line. I still think Muqtada needs a 500 pound bomb dropped on his head.

The Story

Poor Harry

I just ran across this on YouTube and thought it was greatness.

This "Officer" is a Disgrace

Check out this video.

Link

So this officer threatens to take this 20 year old to jail for no reason just to show him how powerful he is. The poor guy obviously knows his rights, and tried to stick up for himself. This is a perfect example of why people don't trust the police. I am not a cop hater by any means. I respect the police and appreciate the job they do. I have only once ever run into an officer with this kind of incompetent, criminal, attitude.

We conservative types generally respect law enforcement, and teach our children to as well. Cops like these ruin that. They have a duty to remain professional and curious to the people they are supposed to protect and serve. This kid did nothing wrong. All he asked the officer for was why he had been stopped. This is a perfectly reasonable request, and a lawful one.

This particular officer should be fired. He has no business wearing the uniform.

There is an Answer!

After posting my previous entry I got back to work and started listening to some music, and I realized that no matter what happens in this world my Savior loves me. Some of you that read this may not be believers, and that is your choice of course. I as a Christian, hope that you all end up experiencing this wonderful walk, but I am not judging any of you for your beliefs. Our religious freedom is a pillar of our society and I would not have it an other way. If their are any atheists among you, you probably think I am a simple-minded fool for believing. That too is your right. I just want you all to know that I believe Jesus is the ultimate answer to all of our problems.

Matthew 11:28-30 (New International Version)

28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

We Will Not Forget

At least some of us won't. Six years after my most life changing day, I still remember. I can't forget it. I won't forget. This morning Fox News showed some of their coverage from that day, and all those feelings came rushing back as they do every year. The horrible crime perpetrated on our country and our citizens is in my thoughts at least every couple of weeks even now, but of course is more so today than usual. It has not crippled my existence, but it has definitely changed me.

I have learned that there is true evil in the world, and it's current incarnation is manifested in radical Islam. The understanding that the Islamofacists live to kill me and my family is rock solid in my mind. This is hard to type. The anger and pain I still feel is hard to deal with sometimes. My innocence was taken on that day. My stupid eyes were opened to the truth. For so long we ignored their repeated threats and their attacks. For 20 years we saw their attacks on the TV and chose to not take them seriously. They got my attention, and at the time it seemed they got all of our attention.

Unfortunately it was short lived. All but the lunatic fringe were united to defeat those that inflicted this pain on us. We were ready to sacrifice to do so. We were united in purpose. What happened? We lost sight of our goal. The fact that the majority of the country is willing to leave Iraq and probably Afghanistan in the hands of the very people that attacked us is so disheartening. How can we be so short-sighted? I don't understand how this event can happen and less than a decade later, the country has forgotten all about it.

I guess the sad truth is that worse will have to happen before we get it. How many of our civilians will have to be incinerated, or irradiated before we decide that, yes, we must defeat the terrorists?

I Thought She Retired!

Aaah, it was to good to be true. Cindy Sheehan's supposed retirement didn't last nearly long enough. I had hoped I would never have to hear of her pathetic lunacy again. Alas, I was wrong.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Monday in or near the hearing room where Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are testifying on the situation in Iraq, according to the U.S. Capitol Police.

Four anti-war protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct. One of them, who was not named, is being taken to George Washington Hospital “due to complaint of injury” and is also charged with assault on a police officer.

According to the information from the Capitol Police, Sheehan and the other three were shouting in a hallway.

Sheehan was the face of the anti-war movement before saying in May of this year that she would “retire” from the cause. Shortly thereafter, she announced that she would seek the congressional seat of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

From The Hill via Drudge

Global Fry Monster Hates Polar Bears

I wish I could say this surprises me. It unfortunately does not.

The Story

So our SUVs are going to wipe out all the polar bears who can't hunt on land, but live on land already, and they should be put on the endangered species list, even though they are not endangered. OK, thanks for the heads up scientists!

I knew that this was more of the same omgz you evil Americans are killings the cuddly polar bears canard. Let's revisit this little gem of an article once again.

The Real Story

While it is not shocking that a national UK paper would shill for the global warming slugs, it continues to disappoint me. They could at least include some facts from the opposing viewpoint.

On further review of the original article this made me lol.

Some team members fear the outlook is even bleaker for the bears than their report says.

Boy that is scientific. They think it is even worse, although they have no evidence to support this conclusion. Woohoo! The scientific method at work!

They say the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere in the world and much faster than their computers had been forecasting.

These are the same computer models that they use to come up with their theory to begin with. They sound highly reliable.

Satellite observations have revealed that the ice has shrunk to an all-time low.

It is expected to retreat further this month, raising fears that it has reached a "tipping point" when melting will become irreversible.

Raising fears? Who is actually afraid? What is the evidence of this tipping point?

Dr Mark Serreze, of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre, said: "The ice is in a death spiral. Two years ago I expected the Arctic to lose all its ice by the end of the century. Now I think it will be gone by 2030."

I bet his computer models are reeling with this new insight!

Osama Speaks!

Here is a supposed transcript of his latest video.

Link

The thing I always find intriguing about his speeches and Zawahiri's is their remarkable resemblance to libtard propaganda. Read the transcript, the similarities are pretty frightening really. It shouldn't shock anyone though. Look at all the faux-terroristas at any anti-war rally.

Kucinich Hangs out with Bashar

US Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich, on a Mideast visit that included a stop in Syria, said the country lambasted by the Bush administration deserves credit for taking in more than a million Iraqi refugees.

Kucinich, a strong anti-war opponent who trails far in the US presidential polls, also said he won't visit Iraq on his trip to the region because he considers the US military deployment there illegal.

We all know DK is a complete moonbat, but isn't hanging out with the enemy a bit much? Come on Denny. You aren't Jane Fonda, you are an elected representative of real life American citizens.

Kucinich, who accused the Bush administration of policies that have destabilized the Mideast, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad during his visit to Damascus. He said Assad was receptive to his ideas of "strength through peace."

Say it ain't so! Our enemies are receptive to us not doing a damn thing to stop them? What a revelation. Let's all break out the bongs and Cheetos.

The Story

Head Explodes!

This is just so completely typical. It is the perfect illustration of the Democrats unending desire to throw the country under the bus for their own power, and is concrete evidence of their complete and total dedication to defeat in Iraq.

The Story

Fred '08

Well, well. Fred Thompson has thrown his hat in the ring. Thank God! Maybe he can rescue us from Hizzhonor. Don't get me wrong I would love to hang out with Rudy at a Yankees game, but he just can't be my choice for President. He is just to damn liberal.

Since my favorite Huckabee has about as much chance to get the nomination as I do, Fred seems to be the man. I eagerly await to hear his position on RKBA matters, as well as everything else that we need to know about. So far so good though.

Working on the Beater

Well I finally decided to work on the beater SKS a bit. I bought it months ago, and cleaned all the cosmoline off of everything but the stock. The stock itself was carved up by some commie soldier named Marko at some point. This thing is a turd really. I am not all to sure it will even fire. The trigger is a bit wonky. I could not get it to drop when it was coated in cosmo, but hope it will once it is reassembled.

So anyway, I chose a harsh method to clean the stock. Acetone and a steel brush! I am sure this would make many run screaming, but it seemed to work well. The wood grain is a little loose, but some sanding should cure that. I plan to use some hard core wood filler I found to fill the carvings, sand the whole thing, and paint it with some lightly textured paint I found. It should look fairly tacticool when it is done.

Even if the gun is a total loss, this will have been a decent learning experience. I can always use this as a parts gun for other Yugos. I plan to have 3-5 of them ready to roll at some point. You can't get a much cheaper assault rifle to give someone in a TEOTWAWKI situation. Let's not forget that they share ammo with the AK, and I want a couple of those as well. :)

Back!

Wow, it has been a while. I am sure anyone that did read my little blog has left. Ha!

Well maybe the few of you that did will come back once I get going again. I have had some wonderful things happen in my life in the last few months. I returned to Christ firstly. After being saved and dedicating my life to Jesus as a teenager I fell away from Him for some 12 years or so.

I also asked the dear girlfriend to marry me and she said yes. We will be getting married at our new church in February.

These two events have made me the happiest I have been in my entire life. I am ready to get back to my gun and fun blogging a bit as well. I am sure some talk about my Savior will be will be thrown in the mix as well.

Sharpton Gets it Right?!?!

Wow! I actually agree with Al Sharpton for once. This is a disgrace!

Story

Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, and one of the country's foremost leaders for civil rights, is blasting the justice system for what appears to be favoritism in the early release of Paris Hilton.

"Though I have nothing but empathy for Ms. Hilton whom I have met and appeared with on Saturday Night Live the night I hosted in 2003, this early release gives all of the appearances of economic and racial favoritism that is constantly cited by poor people and people of color. There are any number of cases of people who handle being incarcerated badly and even have health conditions that are not released.

I have served several sentences for civil rights and civil disobedience actions and I even fasted which caused health concerns to prison authorities who paid for a doctor to come see me daily rather than release me. This act smacks of the double standards that many of us raise

They Should be Hung!

Apparently some commutard bastards vandalized soldiers graves in Washington state for Memorial Day. They burned the flags the American Legion had placed on the soldiers tombs, and replaced them with Swastikas. I am sure many of these heroes actually fought against the Nazis. No one should expect leftist moonbats to get the irony of their stupid stunt. They are a disgrace, and I can only pray they get caught.

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HatTip: Drudge

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Waisted Faith

I received one of those chain emails about God saving us from ourselves today. The sentiment was nice, and correct to a certain extent. I think that a person's faith can see them through some very difficult times. It is correct as a believer to believe that God will provide you a path to pull yourself out of whatever pit you are in. He may even intercede in some cases.

Having faith in God to rescue you from financial stupidity is not the best idea. I don't think the Creator should be seen as a bankruptcy court for the irresponsible. Unfortunately you see this all the time. The TV shyster preachers claim that if you send them your money, your financial miracle is going to come any day now. They prey on the weak-minded folks that got themselves in a bad financial situation to begin with. Sending the TV preacher with the nice hair your last $200 instead of paying your electric bill will end up with you sitting in the dark. It most likely isn't what God would have you do either.

Yes there is a common component of giving to receive blessings in most religions. Call it karma, reaping what you sow, or whatever. Giving is good for the soul period. Helping others is a rewarding thing to do. It should not be your financial plan though. That is just silly. Trusting God to ward off the repo man, on the car you haven't made a payment on in six months, is most likely not going to work well.

I feel like the leaders of the Church, the individual everyday minister, need to focus on one's personal responsibility more. Yes you should trust God to show you the path, but don't rely on him to bail you out when you have been irresponsible. Like any good parent, He will let you learn things the hard way.

For to long people have used their Faith as a crutch to convince themselves that their irresponsibility is OK because the man with the plan upstairs is going to jump in and intercede at any moment. Most of the time they are disappointed with the results. The TV preacher tells them that all they need is faith, and when it fails to deliver the pile of cash they want, they lose what faith they had, and end up worse off than they were.

As I said, I think faith can help you through difficult times. Say the man of the house loses his job due to him being injured. A family's faith/hope, friends, and church can all help them overcome the difficulty. Sitting on the front lawn waiting for the refrigerator to mysteriously get filled up is not the answer.

Air America Relaunch Includes Bloomberg Interview

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Anti-gun mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to appear on Air America when the network is relaunched next week. That isn't to big of a surprise. Bloomberg is a NY Republican after all. He is about as conservative as Noam Chomsky. For any that don't know Bloomberg has been chided by the federal government for overstepping his authority. He was running 'stings' designed to trick out of state gun dealers into illegally selling guns to the Mayor's investigators. So as mayor of a city, he not only tried to enforce laws outside of the city, but also outside of his state. For some reason Mr. Bloomberg thinks he is King apparently.

One interesting note in this article is the media's insistence that he is on the verge of announcing a bid for the Republican Presidential nomination. This of course is media lunacy at it's finest. Bloomberg would have about as much chance as Ron Paul does, in winning the nomination. The media's favorite RINO McCain has imploded within the party, so they are looking for another poster boy to tout. I guess liberal candidate Rudy Giuliani is out because he actually wants to protect America from the terrorists. He has no problem with killing babies and disarming law abiding citizens, but 2 out of 3 must not be enough for the progressive press.

The men running Air America now claim they want to run it "as a business". What a novel concept. The libtards must have thought the American tax payer funded all their radio stations, not just NPR. Here's to hoping that the new Air America is the abject failure the previous incarnation was.

Fishing in an Actual Tournament Tomorrow

Yep, me and the Beautiful Conservative, are fishing in a tournament on Lake Bridgeport tomorrow. Supposedly lots of numbers of smaller bass are being caught. We should be able to easily bring in a small limit to weigh in. Of course we have heard this before and not caught a damn thing.

We have to get up at 4:00 AM and head to the lake for the take off at safe light. I am really looking forward to it. I always have a good time at the tournaments whether I catch anything or not. We only fish our club tournaments. We are members of the Bass Club of Fort Worth. It is a great little club, that is very family oriented.

Caffeine and Sugar Only Go So Far

Well, as many of you may have guessed, I have been a busy beaver this week. There has been no time to blog at all. I am codemonkey! It has been some time since my body has sat in front of a computer screen for more than 12 hours straight writing God-forsaken Java code. It hasn't been long enough unfortunately.

It all started Wednesday or so. My Overlords decided that all the changes I had left for a project that has been ongoing for over a year, just had to be done this week. Their way of expressing authority I guess. Typical manager move really. They have no clue what it takes to make this stuff, so they just guess, or don't care.

Anyway so I look at what is left and figure it is probably a weeks worth of work. I have three days. OK, this sucks, but it is doable. Unfortunately the users of this application have been sitting on their asses instead of testing it, so up until yesterday at 4:30, the project coordinator was still recieving modification requests.

My wonderful manager decides Thursday that we will accept all modification through Friday, and "You will just have to work this weekend a little." She said she would see me here this morning! LOL! I got a call from her at 6:00 PM from her soccer game she was watching. Typical.

Anyway so I have been coding at least 12 hours a day since Wednesday and it sucks. I am to old for this bullshit. Other people's lazyness should not result in me being the only schmoe working all weekend.

Oh well, I am a coder, and it comes with the territory. Just needed to whine for a couple minutes.

Big Shock!

Carbon credits are largely bullshit. Shocking, I know. The Financial Times has an interesting article about this.

Story

The FT investigation found:

• Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions.


• Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.


• Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.


• A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.


• Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts.

I guess the Goracle's house may not be carbon neutral after all.

Kucinich to Introduce Impeachment Articles

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Read the story for the details. I am more interesting in discussing this.

"One, they misled the nation into war, an aggressive and illegal war that has obviously been catastrophic," Park said. "They are currently violating the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act" by ordering wiretap warrants without FISA court approval and they are committing torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
"Very few people will deny those charges whether they support impeachment or not," Park said.

I just can't believe the leftists are still beating these drums. As we know there is still zero evidence that "Bush lied, people died". There just isn't. Not a single shred of proof that Bush, or Cheney for that matter, knowingly misled the public in the run-up to the war.

The second bit about "an aggressive and illegal war that has obviously been catastrophic" is kind of funny. War by definition is aggressive, or at least it should be. This war isn't aggressive enough. Had it been from the beginning it may very well have been over by now. The illegal war treatise is just mind-boggling. Illegal to who? The legislature gave the President authorization to use force. Now if you want to bring the UN into this thing, lets just go ahead and send Bush and our fighting men to The Hague, so they can be prosecuted by the international kangaroo court of socialism. We should go ahead and surrender our sovereignty as well. I am sure the blue helmets will take care of us well.

Has the war been catastrophic? It has been ill-waged at times that is certain. It has been a boondoggle for the Bush administration as well. Our fighting men's lives and our treasure has been sacrificed for the war. I am not so sure that makes it a catastrophe though. The leftists will always call war a catastrophe. As we have discussed before, they try to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

If the wiretap issue is such a problem, write some legislation to end it. Then you can take it to SCOTUS and see who wins.

The torture allegation is where this circus dies. We are not torturing people. Again let's see some proof. Of course torture to these people seems to include a stern voice.

Overall this is the same rhetoric the left has been spouting for years. I guess Kucinich is just trying to get some more votes out of the moonbat constituency that will follow him.

One Square Only

Her Excellency Sheryl Crow has decided we should only use one square of asswipe per sitting. This will of course save the world from the Goracle's global frying monster. She does concede that 2 or 3 squares would be OK occasionally, but only if necessary. Personally, I would rather just go commando with my hand, rather than use one square. What is one square gonna do for ya? Is double ply OK for use, or do we have to try to split the layers?

Her and Laurie David are riding a bio-diesel bus across the country to heighten awareness about global warming. Apparently they are blogging as well. This is when Sheryl floated the finger poking through plan. The response so far has been fairly predictable. Most people laugh, and call her names, while others show the typical hypocrisy displayed by the Disciples of the Goracle, by examining her tour bus fleet, etc.

Laurie David penned a gem, when she complained of having to jog in 'forty degree freezing weather' while in Dallas in April. She decided that since it was 70 in January, and 40 in April, global warming was the cause. We Texans chuckle at such fool-speak of course. The cool snap she referred to is actually known as an Easter Snap here in Texas, and has occurred quite often as long as anyone can remember.

UPDATE: I did not realize Laurie David was such a superstar in the Ecoloon community. She apparently produced the Goracle's Powerpoint presentation. Maybe they used the same kind of research in it as she did on her jogging expedition.

Reid is a Tool

A tool of the enemy apparently. The deer in the headlights look has returned once again to Sen. Harry Reid. He proclaimed yesterday that the war in Iraq is lost. Well thanks for letting us all know that Senator. I did not realize that you were privy to such information, seeing as how the Commander in Chief, The Pentagon, nor the men and women fighting on the ground have figured that out yet.

Yes, Harry is a silly politician. There are several things wrong with his statement, not only the fact that it is a lie.

First, and foremost, this will get more of our soldiers injured and killed. That is right, I am proclaiming that Harry Reid, now known as 'Bagdad Harry', is responsible for putting our soldier lives in more danger. The enemy uses these political stunts to recruit new members, and embolden those who may have been deciding that maybe living in a free country beats getting blown away by the US military after all. Reid must know that these kinds of statements play into our enemy's hands. If he does not he is a complete fool. Surely a Senator with as much experience as Reid isn't playing with a short deck. This means he intends to harm our troops and hopes that we lose in Iraq. All so he and his party can gain more power.

He apparently doesn't care about this country or her fighting men. He would say that he wants to support the troops by bringing them home. That is a nice emotional argument, but what happens when they have to go over there again and re-fight the same war in five years? Does anyone think Iraq will be safer when the terrorists are allowed to take over and make it their primary base for years? What does it say to their sacrifice? Sorry boys, good on ya, but you aren't good enough to beat those people, and you have sacrificed everything for nothing. That is something I want to see.

The other part of this that bothers me is it's intellectual dishonesty. The surge has been happening slowly for a couple months now. No fair person expected it to work this quickly. The dividends it has shown have actually been pretty amazing. Bagdad Harry, sees one bad day of terrorist attacks and proclaims it a failure, before it has been given a chance to work. This is a prime example of inductive reasoning. It is based on emotion and the desire to consolidate power, instead of fact and logic. This is how liberals think unfortunately.

This is their playbook. They did the same thing during Vietnam. They took Tet, in which the Viet Cong got virtually wiped out, and proclaimed it a defeat. Shortly after that they defunded the war, causing America to retreat in shame, and allowing millions to be slaughtered because America backed out of her commitments and did not protect them like we promised.

This time will be different. If the communist filth making up the Democrat party is allowed to pull the same defeatist stunt, the jihadis will follow us home.

One last thing. We are not defeated until we surrender.

Suzanne Hupp - RKBA in a Nutshell

Watch this video. I have heard her story before. It makes me tear up every time I hear it again. She is responsible for getting CHL's legalized in Texas, and has the unfortunate credibility of speaking as a victim of one of these lunatic murderers.



So Say We All!

First Fishing Trip in Over a Year!

I took last Friday and Monday off for some much needed R&R. We went out to our cabin at Possum Kingdom Lake Saturday, and stayed until Sunday.

As usual I picked the worst weekend possible to vacation. Friday, major tornado-producing thunderstorms rolled through the area. This prevented us from leaving for the lake Friday evening. So we get down there Saturday, and three foot rollers are coming off the lake. No fishing on Saturday! Sunday morning we mess around at the cabin for a while and get on the lake at about 10:30 AM.

We launched the boat for the first time in over a year and all went well. It ran like a top. We decided to fish an area known as Neely Slough. The lake has had a lot of golden algae problems over the last 5 years or so, and this area was supposed to be doing rather well.

After fishing for about four hours we had no bass in the boat. It was not to surprising. We are out of practice, and several factors were working against us. For starters, that front came through. The fish are also mostly in the post spawn phase at the moment, so they aren't that easy to find. We did however catch 11 sand bass in about twenty minutes in one spot. That is a good sign! Last year we didn't get a bite on the lake at all!

Overall I was pleased with the trip. The boat checked out, and is thankfully ready to roll.

Monday the FIL and I fished Lake Worth. We got started about 7:30, and immediately he caught a decent keeper bass. We started fishing around an island of loose cattails, and really thought we were going to have a good day. We caught two more nice keepers, and a few small fish. At this point we decided to head to a nearby bank for some cranking action. This proved to be a mistake. We committed the cardinal sin of bass fishing. Never leave fish to find fish. After that we caught a couple fat crappie and I believe one more small bass all day long. We didn't catch another fish after 10:15 or so. The wind picked up so we couldn't really fish the area with the cattails very well.

It was a great trip though. Beautiful day, and we caught some fish. What more can you ask for really? I am hoping to fish either Lake Weatherford, or Worth again this weekend sometime.

Gun Control Kills

The horrible events at Virginia Tech are evidence of the abject failure of gun control policies. The poor souls that died were failed by their government. They should have been able to defend themselves from this monster, but instead they were shot like fish in a barrel.

Virginia Tech was a supposed Gun Free Zone. Someone forgot to tell the maniac on campus this apparently. The fallacy of gun control legislation continues to be very, very simple. Only the law-abiding obey laws. Criminals and depraved murderers do not. It really is that simple.

By proclaiming victory against gun rights, those that recently decided that VT students and faculty were not allowed to carry their perfectly legal concealed self defense tools on campus, may have doomed many of the people to their unfortunate deaths. We are talking about licensed individuals that are 21 years old or older. These people have been trained and deemed to be worthy of carrying the responsibility a concealed handgun comes with.

The knowledge that people may be armed is a very strong deterrent. These nuts are less likely to attack a place that may contained armed citizens with the training necessary to take them out. The gun free zone is like a license to kill. The deranged lunatic knows that his authority will not be challenged, and that he will be free to do whatever he wants.

We need to take a serious look at this issue, instead of enacting knee jerk, feel good legislation, that would make us all more defenseless to these monsters.

Newt Drinks the Kool Aid

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Well, looks like Newty Newt is drinking from the Well of the Goracle now.

HatTip: Drudge