R.I.P. Aaron Zelman

Aaron Zelman, founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, has passed.

Zelman was an uncompromising leader of the right to own firearms.  Although I did not know him, I benefited greatly from his work, which helped to form my own opinions on the Second Amendment and the dangers posed by a government that disarms it's citizens.

May G*d welcome him with open arms.

Merry Christmas to All

I hope that everyone out there is safe and secure this Christmas season and that all are surrounded by the love of family and friends as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Random Thoughts

Inflation:  It's definitely here as far as food prices go.  Two items I recently purchased have radically increased in price were four-packs of pudding and sugar.  Those pudding packs were $0.99 within recent memory, now they are $1.49 for the store brand.  And sugar was recently about $2.99 for a five pound bag of name brand.  Now it is $3.09 for a four pound bag.  That's right, the standard size sugar bag is only 80% of what it was and it costs more.  If it weren't for my daughter wanting pudding now and me having two teaspoons of sugar in my coffee, I would do without both.

Deflation:  Some ammo prices are definitely getting more reasonable.  I was in the White Elephant (sporting goods and toy store in Spokane) the other day, and noticed that the 525 packs of .22 ammo, both Federal and CCI, were $14.99.  Blazer Brass 9mm was $10.99 and .45acp was $18.99.  Compares very favorably with what I have been seeing online.  I found a few very good deals on 9mm and .380acp online and had to stock up.  Sportsmans Guide has Federal 9BP 115 gr JHP's for $17.47 a box of 50 ($16.60 if you are a club member like I am, and an additional 2.5% off if you have the Sportsman's Guide Visa).  SG also has free shipping right now on $99+ orders.  Graf & Sons is another place I have been shopping lately.  They recently had CCI Blazer 9mm 115 FMJ for $7.99 a box, and Blazer .380 for $10.99 a box.  Right now they are also running free shipping on $50+ orders, including ammo.  I really like the Blazer at this price because I don't feel bad about not saving my brass at the range (besides the fact that the range discourages picking up one's own brass). 

Gun Show Last Weekend:   Went to this on Sunday looking for more ammo cans.  The vendor I have bought from in the past was there, but sold out of .50's.  I did see a few good deals, such as an old Stevens Favorite .22 for $75.00, but I passed on it because the extractor looked to be worn out.  There were some good deals on ammo there, but a few "scalpers" as well.  A few tables had the same boxes of bulk .22 ammo as the White Elephant, but were being hawked for $25.00.  I have noticed that there is no shortage of opportunists reselling ammo or selling used guns for more than I could get them in a retail store.

Rifle Cleaning Chores:  I had bought a Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle while Bud's Gun Shop had them for a good price.  Unlike the SKS's and Romanian AK's I had bought in the past, this Mosin had a very dark and dirty bore.  The crown looked good, as did the chamber and what I could see of the rifling.  I cleaned out the cosmoline with WD-40 (it just melts the stuff away), then scrubbed several times with Hoppe's No. 9.  Not much luck with that, so I switched to Bore Scrubber.  A little more gunk removed and more blue-gray stuff on the patches, but still a lot of crud in the bore.  After doing a little internet searching, I came across a recommendation for Butch's Bore Shine.  It was $10.99 locally for an 8oz bottle, which is about middle-of-the-road price for bore cleaner.  I soaked a patch, ran it through, and waited about ten minutes.  The next patch took out more crud than all of my previous scrubbing combined.  I have given the bore two scrubbings with Butch's so far, and while the bore is still dark I can at least clearly see the lands and grooves.  I figure I have about two more scrubbings to go.  I'm  not looking for a bright bore, just cleanly defined lands and grooves.

Cheap Shotgun Update:  The Ultra 87 shotgun I ordered from Cheaper Than Dirt arrived and I picked it up today from my local FFL dealer.   I figure that others must have also considered $145 for  a defensive 12 gauge to be a good buy, because CTD has sold out.  I will report a little later on about fit and finish, but it may be a while before I get to go try it out at a friend's property out of town.

Preps:  Despite the reported coming price increases in grains, I found 20lb bags of white rice for $6.72 at Winco Foods the other day.  Wheat berries went up a bit to $0.47 a pound, but popcorn went down to $0.58 a pound.   Bought some of all three to add to the preps, as I cannot help but think that some radical food inflation is just around the corner.

Well, I suppose that is enough for now.  Gotta get back to my day job.

Questions for WaPost Hoplophobes

I would not have noticed the blatant editorialization (as opposed to genuine news reporting) in As Mexico Drug Violence Runs Rampant, U.S. Guns Tied to Crime South of Border by Washington Post Hoplophobes James Grimaldi and Sari Horwitz, except that I found it summarized at Newsmax last night.  I notice that since David Codrea exposed Newmax's repetition of the WaPost muck at The War on Guns, Newsmax has dropped the link from its front page. Go read the WaPost editorialization here, then see if you agree that the following questions need to be answered by Grimaldi and Horwitz.

1)  They mention that certain data is confidential under a law passed by Congress in 2003.  Are they referring to the Tiahrt Amendment?  If they are, why don't they just come out and say so.  I get the feeling that these two hoplophobes are using the old journalistic trick of injecting mystery into their editorialization to attract attention.  They act as if they know something we don't, that they are privileged to know, and that we should just trust them to explain the mystery without them having to produce a source.  If these two pseudo-reporters are referring to the Tiahrt Amendment, it is the same law that provides for gun trace data to law enforcement when a gun has been  recovered in a crime investigation, but prohibits law enforcement from peeking into gun transfer records to determine what guns are owned by law-abiding citizens.  The gun trace data allowed by the Tiahrt Amendment are the likely source of information obtained by Grimaldi and Horwitz.

2)  If this information is confidential, how did Grimaldi and Horwitz obtain it?  Are they BATFE stooges?  It's not enought to say they reviewed documents and court cases.  Cite the sources, or your "reporting" is suspect.

3)  Grimaldi and Horwitz state that FFL dealer Bill Carter's Carter's Country stores are the sellers of guns found at Mexican crime scenes.  Was Carter's Country the last recorded seller or somewhere in the stream of transfers?

4)  Who were the last recorded purchasers of the guns and were the guns stolen?  What "transfers", both legal and illegal, occurred after the recorded transfers at Carter's Country?

5)  What definition are Grimaldi and Horwitz using for "high-powered"?  My understanding of the term does not include intermediate rounds such as .223 Remington/5.56x45 and 7.62 x 39.  Grimaldi and Horwitz appear to be referring to these rounds as high-powered.  Are they doing so to inflame the reader against guns chambered for these rounds?

6)  What do Grimaldi and Horwitz mean when they refer to AR-15 and AK-47 rifles as "assault rifles"?  Assault rifles in the military context are selective-fire or full-auto.  Besides mixing the apples and oranges of semi-auto AR-15's and presumably full-auto AK-47's, are Grimaldi and Horwitz simply confused or trying to confuse the reader. 

7)  Do Grimaldi and Horwitz know that AK-47's are Class III firearms and that Carter's Country was not likely licensed as a Class III dealer?  Do they even know what Carter's Country was licensed to sell?  Would they tell the reader the truth even if they did know?

8)  What is the source of Grimaldi's and Horwitz's claim that Mexican drug cartels are turning to the U.S. for their supply of guns?  Do Grimaldi and Horwitz even know that under most circumstances Mexican nationals cannot purchase firearms from FFL dealers?

9)  Are Grimaldi and Horwitz alleging that FFL dealers in Texas, and in particular Bill Carter, are selling firearms to Mexican nationals/non-U.S. citizens in violation of federal law?  What information do they have that such transactions are actually occurring?

10)  If criminal drug cartels from Mexico are obtaining firearms in the United States, what is the federal government doing to prevent Mexican criminals from entering the United States and illegally obtaining guns here?

11)  Since state-issued identification is required to purchase guns from any FFL dealer in every state in the United States, how many states are issuing state identification cards and drivers licenses to non-citizens?   How many non-citizens have used these state-issued identification cards and licenses to purchase guns from FFL dealers?  How many governmental entitities have approved purchases by non-citizens under the the mandatory (for FFL dealers) instant-check system?

12)  How many of these guns were purchased by entities or persons affiliated with the United States government?

13)  When Grimaldi and Horwitz refer to laws supported by the "gun lobby" which supposedly make prosecutions of law-breaking FFL dealers difficult, who is the "gun lobby" and what laws are they referring to?

14)  If Carter's Country is one of the largest volume firearm dealers in Texas, just what percentage of their sales are involved in crimes?  What percentage of sales are never involved in crimes?  Can Grimaldi and Horwitz actually show a causal connection between any behavior by Carter's Country and the guns found in Mexico, or just a conclusion based on innuendo?

15)  If there is no indication that any of the FFL dealers, cited as the source of guns in Mexico, did anything wrong, what is the point?  It sure does not seem to be that the government is competent at arresting Mexican drug cartel members and illegal aliens.

16)  Do Grimaldi and Horwitz even understand what a straw-purchaser is?  Have either of them ever examined the form that must be completed by a firearm purchaser?  Purchasing a firearm for one's spouse is not considered a straw purchase.  The form that must be completed by the purchaser asks if the purchaser is the actual buyer.  Obviously, lying about this is a crime.  That is where the problem lies, no pun intended.

17)  Considering that BATFE routinely harasses FFL holders, including threats of revoking licenses (and actually succeeding) for minor paperwork errors, why should anyone believe that BATFE lacks the ability to investigate and prosecute FFL dealers who violate the law?  For instances of abusive and extralegal conduct by the BATFE in its investigations, consider the fates of the General Store in Spokane, Washington and Red's Trading Post in Idaho.  If anyone still doubts the power of the federal government to investigate illegal firearm transfers, consider what happened in Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1993.

18)  Grimaldi and Horwitz imply that FFL dealers are the problem.  To what degree did they investigate the failure of the U.S. government to enforce the immigration laws and the border with Mexico?  It seems that preventing illegal aliens from entering the U.S. and having tough border controls would prevent a substantial amount of the supposed gun trafficking.  It could reasonably argued that a substantial amount of the blame could be placed squarely on the U.S. government, and Janet Napolitano in particularly, for the utter failure to prevent illegal aliens from freely crossing the border, with and without guns.

19)  Why is there little mention of the extensive corruption throughout the Mexican government, including the complicity of Mexican police in drug and weapons trafficking?  It seems that Mexican President Calderon could clean house, enforce its side of the border, and take on the drug cartels.  Mexico is loudly attacking a symptom of a larger problem that it has the power to control, but lacks the will to do much more than complain to the U.S.

20)  Why do Mexicans not have the right to possess firearms for self-defense?  Is there government of the side of the people or the drug cartels.  Denying citizens the ability to defend themselves against organized crime indicates which side the Mexican goverment is on.

There are many other questions I have after reading the work of Grimaldi and Horwitz, but I figure that 20 questions is enough.  My point is that every trumped-up account of guns found in Mexico tries to lay the blame on FFL dealers who are stringently regulated and have no more control over the end use of the product than a sporting goods store does over a Louisville Slugger.  So-called reporters rarely seem to turn the scrutiny back on to their government sources, for whom these "reporters" are often nothing more than sycophants.

Of course, the aforementioned commentary consists of my opinion.  Many years ago I had some training in journalism and I work in the legal profession, so I am not making any claim to objectivity.  Nor am I making a claim to being a Washington Post news reporter.

Quote of the Day

"With me, abortion is not a problem of religion, it's a problem of the Constitution.  I believe that until and unless someone can establish that the unborn child is not a living human being, then that child is already protected by the Constitution, which guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all of us."

Ronald Reagan

Paging Winston Smith

Press Office
U.S. Ministry of Truth
Dec. 6, 2010

WASHINGTON -- Commissariat of Repeated Airport Perversions (CRAP) Reichsfuhrer Janet Napolitano today announced the expansion of the Commissariat's national “If You See it Twitch, Be A Snitch” campaign to hundreds of ChinaMart stores across the country—launching a new partnership between CRAP and ChinaMart to help distribute brown shirts and Orwellian lingo to the American public.

“Government intrusion starts with hometown snitchery, and each of us plays a critical role in turning against our friends and neighbors for the benefit of the government,” said the owlish, big-assed, Reichsfuhrer Napolitano. “I applaud ChinaMart for joining the ‘If You See it Twitch, Be a Snitch’ campaign. This partnership will help millions of government-dependent Obamacare recipients across the nation identify and report indicators of unacceptable exercises of free-thinking, liberty, and Constitutional rights.”

The “If You See it Twitch, Be a Snitch” campaign—originally implemented by Bloomberggrad's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and funded, in part, by $13 million from CRAP’s Transit Security Grant Program—is a simple and effective  mass mind-control exercise for the proles and key ChinaMart drones to identify and report unacceptable exercises of free-thinking, liberty, and Constitutional rights.

More than 230 ChinaMart stores nationwide launched the “If You See it Twitch, Be a Snitch” campaign today, with a total of 588 ChinaMart stores in 27 states joining in the coming weeks. A short video message, available here, will play at select checkout locations to remind buyers of cheap crud to snitch on their friends and neighbors to the Commissariat of Repeated Airport Perversions.

Over the past five months, CRAP has worked with its federal gestapo, state stormtroopers, local paramilitary black-pajama thugs, and private sector collaborators, as well as the Ministry of Fairness, to expand the “If You See it Twitch, Be a Snitch” campaign and Nationwide GROPE (Get Raunchy On PeoplE) Initiative to communes throughout the country—including the recent state-wide expansions of the “If You See it Twitch, Be a Snitch” campaign across Frankensota and New Lautenberg. Partners include the Mall of China, the American Hope & Change Association, ScAmtrak, FEMA camps, state penitentiaries, the department of motor vehicles, and state and local "fusion" centers across the country.

In the coming months, CRAP will continue to expand the “If You See it Twitch, Be a Snitch” campaign nationally with public re-education materials and visits from black-pajama clad thugs designed to help America’s businesses, communities and citizens keep on snitching for Reichsfuhrer Napolitano.

The actual press release is here.

Defense Shotgun on the Cheap

Cheaper Than Dirt has an almost unbelievable deal on a defense shotgun, the Ultra 87 by Century International Arms.  I don't know how long they will last, but for now they are selling for $145.77. Item 70782.

At this price, there is good and bad, of course.

The good:
Based on Remington 870 design, with improved safety on tang like Mossberg.
Is drilled and tapper for weaver rail, which is included.
Has sights mounted to barrel, including a fiber optic front sight.
Comes with sling swivels mounted.
Black synthetic furniture and 19" barrel.  Others have reported that barrel is chrome-lined.
Inexpensive, including no credit card surcharge by CTD and $7.99 shipping (same amount for two shotguns).

The bad:
Made in China.
Some Century products have not been well-crafted.  Some owners have reported the front sight to come loose.
Apparently these shotguns do not have a durable finish and some owners have reported rust problems.
Future parts availability may not be there.
No guaranteed compatibility of parts with Remington or even similar Chinese shotguns.

It appears that Century has been marketing this shotgun in one form or another for several years.  From my own internet search, the owners' reviews have been mixed.  About 75% seem to be happy with the shotgun, despite its shortcomings.  Some others have said that the shotgun is poorly made.

If this turns out to be a serviceable shotgun, it may be a good, inexpensive home defense or truck gun, especially considering the included swivels, sights, and rail.  I think it would be handy to have as a "handout" defense gun for friends and relatives who show up unarmed when SHTF. 

I bought one for myself and will report back on it when it arrives at my FFL dealer. 

Mail a Dirty TSA Exam Glove

I just thought of an interesting idea to get the attention of legislators and executives of the major airlines as a protest against TSA (team sexual assault?) screening procedures.

Remember when citizens were pissed off at the government and mailed tea bags to them?  I had an alternate idea to mail a bag of cheap pork rinds to my legislators.  A little more expensive than a tea bag, at $1.00 per bag of pork rinds plus $1.38 postage.

How about mailing a dirty blue exam glove to each of our federal legislators and to the board members of each major airline?  By dirty I mean having had contact with dirt or dust sufficient to appear used.  I would not suggest dipping the glove in urine, animal feces, or any other dangerous substance.  The blue nitrile gloves are fairly inexpensive and available at Harbor Freight Tools and other home improvement, hardware, and auto parts stores.  I have a box of them in the garage for when I paint things or work on the cars.

Of course, to make the message more effective it might help to write "TSA" on the glove with a sharpie and enclose/attach an "instruction card" reading something like:  "Official TSA exam glove for Senator (blank).  Please bring with you to the TSA security station at the airport for use in your security screening process."   I don't believe in sending anything anonymously through the mail, so I would also enclose a letter explaining the purpose of the dirty exam glove.  I could be something as simple as:  "Dear Senator:  I urge you to defund the Transportation Security Administration for its heavy-handed, unsanitary, pornographic, and unnecessary assault on American citizens at the gates of America's airports."

If thousands of citizens sent a dirty blue exam glove to his federal legislators and to the executives of the major airlines, could those symbolic acts drum up even more attention against TSA?  Maybe inspire airlines to put pressure on legislators to defund TSA?  Maybe even inspire my lazy, corrupt senators to push for defunding TSA? 

For those of you taking the time to read this:  Is this an idea that could get traction?  How about improvements or some kind of standardization (such as blue glove, instruction card, suggested language for the letter)?   Is anyone with a high traffic site interested in putting this idea out there? 

Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts about this idea.

Giving Thanks

Even as cranky as I have been recently, I have a lot to be thankful for.  Good health, loving and supportive family, job is still there, haven't had to touch my preps, and I still have a roof over my head.  As a bonus, neither Reichsfuhrer Napolitano nor her Gropenfuhrers have touched my junk.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and God Bless!

Coward-In-Chief Obama Abandons Japan and South Korea While Reichsfuhrer Napolitano Promises to Violate More Women and Children

The disgusting bunch of bastards that comprises the Obama administration is at it again.  Abandoning our allies while violating the citizens at home.  Even the original Nazis didn't act this fast.

Obama essentially abandons Japan and South Korea after act of war by North Korea.  Read it here.  Way to go, Barry.  Now the Chinese, who are likely behind the whole thing, know what you are made of.  Or more accurately, full of.  Shit.  Same goes for your abandonment of Lebanon, which has dropped the UN trials for the assassination of Rafiq Hariri.  Not to mention your telegraphing your exit strategy to the Taliban in Afghanistan, your unreasonable demands on Israel, and your continued spinelessness in dealing with Iran.  No, Barry, 'ole Ahmadijihadi is not charmed by your very presence.  Leadership is not the same as a Justin Bieber concert; when leading a country, a bunch of screaming, fainting girls indicates that you are a vapid twit, Barry.

Meanwhile, Sektion Sicherheit-Vaterland Reichsfuhrer Napolitano announced that the violation of women and children by her Gropenfuhrers may extend to other forms of public transportation, such as trains, boats, and buses.  Story here.  The Gropenfuhrers apparently put their own security first, as numerous anectdotal accounts have surfaced of  SS-V troops using the same gloves for groping the private parts of multiple passengers.  Story here.   Adding insult to injury, SS-V Reichsfuhrer Napolitano exempts from these "security procedures" the persons who have caused more harm to this country than all of the known and suspected terrorists to date:  government officials including Timmy "Turbo Taxfraud" Geithner, Robert "I'm hunting tewwowists" Mueller, and the Reichsfuhrer herself.  Story here.

And if you object, dear reader, to the tender ministrations of the Gropenfuhrers?  You will be labelled a domestic extremist.  Story here.  Submit to the gate-rape by the Gropenfuhrers or face the fury of the Reich.

What the f*** happened to my country?

Bullshit Quote of the Day

“We don’t know much. If you were to try and devise a template about what connects this terrorist to this terrorist and how they were raised and what schools they went to and their socioeconomic status, or this or that, it’s all over the map. I think there’s some important work that’s being done on that but … the Secretary of Homeland Security cannot wait for that.”

Janet Incompetano Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security

Gee, Janet, even I know the answer to this one. Can I get paid a six figure salary like you for giving you the answer?

No?  OK, I'll give you the answer anyway.

Chances are, your suspected terrorist attended a madrassa, can recite the Quran, prays five times a day, cowers in fear from a slice of bacon, won't pet your dog, calls you a kaffir, wants to build a mosque near the site where 3,000 innocent persons died on September 11, 2001, and treats women like dirt.

Instead of recognizing the obvious, you and your perverted sociopathic employees choose to molest women and children with porno scanners and dirty exam gloves.  What a pathetic bunch of Nazi scum you all are.

-Nairb

EyeWitless News: Poopy Package for Principal

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!

Nice to know that the city of Sanford, Florida is solvent enough to send police officers and a hazmat team to investigate a poopy letter mailed to a school principal. The case has been turned over to investigators.  I can only wonder if the crime lab will be able to trace the corn kernels back to the school cafeteria.

Note to self:  Don't eat corn prior to mailing letters to Senator Patty Moron Murray.

Read about the principal's letter here.

Retarded Politician of the Week: Michael Wolfensohn

New Castle, New York Councilman Michael Wolfensohn is the Retarded Politician of the Week.

Who else but a retarded politician would call the police on two teenagers selling cupcakes for a dollar each in a public park?  That's just what Wolfensohn did.  Read about it here.

Who cares if they did not have a permit!  Aren't there better things for fat-ass politicians to be doing on the public's dime?    Is the budget balanced in New Castle?  Is the public of New Castle getting its moneys worth out of its turd for a councilman?  Do New Castle residents have the balls to recall this piece of crap?  These are questions that need to be answered.  Leave the kids alone.

Then there is the waste of the police officers' time.  An incident like this shows that New Castle could save money by hiring police officers who arrest real criminals.

Back to Wolfensohn:  Is his next official act going to be pissing in some little girl's lemonade pitcher?

New Castle voters should piss on Wolfensohn's future electability.

Quote of the Day

"I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness. Amazing. My conservative friends look at me and say, 'Welcome to the club. What took you so long?' Well that's what it took and I think it's worth recording."

Christopher Hitchens, in this article.

Veteran's Day

Thanks to all the veterans out there who have sacrificed for our freedoms.  Today I remember the veterans in my family:  Dad (WWII), Grandpa (WWII and Korea), Grandpa Charles (WWI), and brother Gary (Vietnam).

Yesterday I went to a school assembly organized by the new music teacher at my daughter's school.  All of the grades were represented and sang patriotic songs in honor of our veterans.  Veterans from as far back as WWII were in attendance, and there was an honor guard from Fairchild Air Force Base to present the U.S. and state flags.  It had to be the best student assembly I have seen in the four and a half years that my daughter has been going to this school.  Each class of children, from the kindergarten throught the sixth grade, had rehearsed their songs and really put their hearts into it.  I don't know why, but I get kind of choked up when I hear kids singing "God Bless America", "America the Beautiful", "The Star Spangled Banner" and "You're a Grand Old Flag."  Makes me think that there is hope for this country, yet.

What floored me, though, was when the sixth grade class sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  I guess the ACLU must have been frightened off by the M14 rifles carried by the FAFB honor guard and thus weren't around to protest the "Glory Hallelujahs" and mentions of the Lord.  Nice to know that the religion haters haven't succeeded in banning all mentions of our Creator.

Again, thank you, Veterans. 

Worst Person in the World Suspended for Komrade Kontributions

I just about fell out of my chair when I read that the Worst Person in the World (his own label is perfect to stick on him) Keith Olbermann has been suspended for making political contributions to fellow collectivists Jack Conway, Raul Grijalva, and Gabrielle Giffords.  The suspension is indefinite and without pay.  Probably good for MSNBC as it may be a good excuse for them to get rid of his low-rated hatefest.

The parent company, NBC News, has tried to hide its own obvious bias towards collectivists by banning political contributions from its employees without prior approval of the network president.  On the surface the rule seems laudable, but it actually saves NBC the embarrassment of having public records of political contributions proving that NBC journalists are overwhelmingly collectivist. 

Olbermann, not content to embarrass only himself, has succeeded in embarrassing NBC News by confirming the bias that NBC had tried to dispel with its no-political-contribution rule.

And speaking of embarrassments, what kind of plastic is Olbermann's hair made of?

Hopefully Rachel Madcow is next.

MSNBC's own story on Olbermann is here.

Get Ready to Ride the QE2

And I'm not referring to the luxury liner.  A better analogy would be a garbage scow.

Helicopter Ben Bernanke has officially announced Quantitative Easing, Part 2, as of yesterday.  I noticed that stocks are up this morning.  No reason not to expect that with a bunch of free money being thrown out willy-nilly.  The tomorrow of paying the bill will never come, they think.  Just pump that market up, up, and away.

Looks like not everyone is buying it.  The Dow is up 1.92% and S&P is up 1.91% as I write this.  Nice for those hypertraders still in the market and the insiders trying to pump up prices before they take their money and run.  And run they will.

The real story is in the price of gold and silver.  Gold is up over 6% from yesterday's low and silver is up a similar amount from yesterday's low.  That spells confidence.

Looks like I had better use my federal reserve notes to buy more toilet paper or else I will have to use federal reserve notes when I have to take a number QE2.

On another note, a tangibles acquiring opportunity is coming up this weekend at the Spokane Gun Show, which runs from Friday to Sunday at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds.  At the last one I picked up a handful of .50 ammo cans for $5.00 each.  Very little rust and like-new (if not new) seals.  If that vendor is at the show, I will buy a dozen this time.

Keep preppin', 'cause this show ain't over.

Eyewitless News: Halloween Reveler Dressed as Breathalyzer Arrested for DUI

A Halloween reveler in Nebraska was arrested for drunk driving while dressed up as a breathalyzer machine.  The arresting officer's administration of a breath test was probably redundant, as the reading on the costume's "meter" was pretty accurate.  Read the story and see the accompanying photo here.

Quote of the Day

I would tell you to GO TO HELL....but I work there and I don't want to see you every day.

bumper sticker I observed while on my way to work this morning.

Have You Voted?

If you have voted, thank you.  Here in Washington, most ballots should be in by now, since about 99% of Washington votes by mail-in ballot.  The exception is a portion of Pierce County that still has polling stations.

If you have not voted, please get off your a** and do your civic duty.

That is all.

Top Ten Reasons I am Voting Democratic

Stolen from Jim Shy Wolf:

10) I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

9)I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

8) I voted Democrat because Freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

7). I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

6) I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits.

5) I voted Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the democrats see fit.

4) I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

3) I voted Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

2)I voted Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies through abortion so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

And the Number One reason to vote Democrat...

1)I voted Democrat because my head is so firmly planted up my ass that it is unlikely that I'll ever have another point of view.


Thanks, Jim.

TEOTWAWKI in the MSM? EMP story in USA Today

Interesting article in USA Today about the threat posed by Electromagnetic Pulse.  Not what I would expect from the brain-dead establishment media, as it does not scream for government action.  It is a bit sparse on real information.  Read it here.

If You Aren't Votin', Quit Bitchin'

Without naming names, I have read plenty of commentators stating that they do not vote in elections.  Excuses range from "What does it matter?" to "I won't give legitimacy to this government."  Most I have read are supporters of restoring this country to its Constitutional foundation, a worthy goal.

Refusing to vote, however, is inconsistent with restoring this country to its Constitutional foundation.  The Constitution established our Republic, a representative democracy where voters participate in the government by electing representatives.  Constitutionally, this was by direct election of Congressmen and indirect election of Senators through state government.  Our central government and most, if not all, of our state governments are thoroughly corrupt and operating extracontstitutionally, and this has occurred by the voters' choice of representatives and apparent continuing consent through election after election.

The way to begin the change we need is to exercise our right to vote in representatives who will restore Constitutional government.  Yes, before change will occur the government does have to be so bad that even your average idiot voter is persuaded to vote against the collectivists.  In the meantime, supporters of Constitutional government will continue to be a minority, having to vote for some establishment politicians, vote for "fringe" candidates, or taking it upon ourselves to run for office.  The key here is that, if we believe in Constitutional government, by its very definition it requires us to participate.  That means voting.

I am disturbed by the prospect of Constitution-loving individuals who refuse to vote.  If they will not participate in the process now, when the Republic most needs individuals to participate and steer the country back to its Constitutional foundation, when will they participate?

Will it be when voters like me have finally participated and persuaded enough that voters will have elected a government that returns to Constitutional principles?  Or will it be after the "revolution" that some say will be necessary to end the increasing tyranny as the government further deviates from the Constitution?

I have to admit, I get nervous when someone refuses to participate in Constitutional government at the same time he or she is demanding a return to it.  It seems like some will only vote when they get the government they want.  Sometimes I am afraid to ask exactly what that is.

I have already voted this year.  Although I will likely continue to dislike the government that I will get, I will respect the Constitution and participate.  If there is a need to change the government due to its continuing down the road of tyranny, I will respect the Constitution and participate.  In between, I will continue to be critical of government that oversteps its Constitutional bounds.

This is my personal feeling about those who do not participate:  If you aren't votin', quit bitchin'.

Quote of the Day

"The plain fact is that the American people are too morally degenerate to be capable of effective self-government."

David Deming, Associate Professor of Arts & Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, in America Is Gone.

Quote of the Day

"Democrats hate Democrats most of all. Witness the policies that Democrats have inflicted on their core constituencies, resulting in vile schools, lawless slums, economic stagnation, and social immobility. Democrats will do anything to make sure that Democratic voters stay helpless and hopeless enough to vote for Democrats."

P.J. O'Rourke, in They Hate Our Guts (And They're Drunk on Power).

Worth a read for it's insights, none of which surprise your humble correspondent.

A Foot in Each World?

Everyday life feels increasingly complicated.  I have a business to run and decisions to make about it's (and my) future.  Although I feel that something is terribly wrong in this country that will make business and personal decisions about the future irrelevant, I have to operate on the assumption that I will still be in business a year from now, three years from now, and even ten years from now.

By the same token, I know that this country has been through numerous crises in the past and that it is quite likely that I will still be driving my desk for the foreseeable future.  Still, there are signs that civilization as we know it could end any time (for whatever reason:  war, EMP, other natural disaster, economic collapse, etc.).  I do not believe in not having preparations, nor do I believe that the government will take care of everyone come TEOTWAWKI.

It sure feels odd, renewing an advertising contract for another year, taking on a three year telecommunications contract, and scheduling my continuing education into the future at the same time that I am putting away additional food stocks, equipment, ammo, and other preps.  Most of the oddness stems from budgeting for two lives:  the one I live every day and the one that I fear I may be living in the not-too-distant future.  It is like having a foot in each world, watching for the time that I will have to pick up one foot and plant it firmly with the other. 

I suppose if I were wealthy it might be different.  Then I could have my fully stocked bunker out in the hinterlands while I entertained clients at my cosmopolitan McMansion without a worry in the world.  Nah, I was raised too blue-collar for that.  I would have a fully stocked bunker in the hinterlands, but I would have friends over to my enormous pole-barn shop to drink beer and talk about guns.

Meanwhile, the limited budget keeps me searching for prep bargains.  Here is one:  16 ounce jars of coconut oil for cooking and other uses, suitable for long term storage.  $4.50 at http://www.vitacost.com/  10% discount through October 31, 2010 with code BWOCT, and flat $4.99 shipping cost.  I learned about coconut oil as a healthy cooking oil and its suitability for long term storage from Miss Kellene at Preparedness Pro.

That's all for now.

Random Thoughts

Juan Williams.  I've always liked Juan because he added an air of rationality and dignity to the liberal side.  Something that Alan Colmes always strived for but never could attain.  I repeatedly disagreed with Juan's positions, but he was the type you could disagree with at the same time you had a beer with him.  Very, very rare among liberals.  Juan found out what happens when you dance with the devils:  you get burned.  You associate with irrational bigots, and eventually you are associated with them.  The irony is that the bigots were calling Juan a bigot.  Of course, this close to the election, the shrill, closed-minded, hysterical, emotional, illogical "progressive" left is exposed for what it is at a time less than beneficial for their cause.  Thank you, Juan, and good luck at your new/old job at Fox. 

Patty Murray.  My tirade against Washington's Asshat Extraordinaire Senator Patty Murray might be getting a little old, but I will not relent until that ignorant, marxist twit is gone.  Latest Dino Rossi ad reminded me of something incredibly relevant, more relevant that Patty Moron's belief that abundant abortions are essential to the functioning of society.  Dino's latest ad has audio of Patty Murray claiming that she not only read the Obamacare bill, but that she helped write it.  Go to that link. Should we all presume that Asshat Patty also read and helped write the $800,000,000,000.00 Porkulus bill that created no jobs?  I think it is safe to give her credit for that.   Rossi is within range of taking out this wart on America's ass, but Murray has the illegal aliens out in force to scare up votes (the dead people move too slow, the imprisoned have other commitments, and the insane just won't follow directions.).

Preps.  I had been looking for a rifle with a longer range than 7.62x39 and 5.56x45 are capable of.  Problem is, I did not want to spend a lot of money, wanted something simple, wanted something with iron sights, and wanted something where ammo was currently plentiful and cheap.  After checking around a bit I finally settled on the Mosin-Nagant.  I bought a specimen in excellent refinished condition for under $100.00 (I know that I missed the boat from when even Big 5 was selling them for $69.00.  I will pay more attention to surplus rifles in the future.)  I bought a spam can of 440 rounds for about $85.00, and will probably buy another mosin and a few cans of ammo before the end of the year if the economy holds up (self-employment can suck sometimes).  I got an added bonus when I went to pick up my mosin.  The store owner asked me if I wanted to buy an SKS.  I asked how much.  He said $150.00.  I was interested, and ended up walking out with a beautifully maintained Norinco SKS, missing only the bayonet and cleaning rod.

Other News.  Somthing Glenn Beck said the other night caught my attention.  The national debt ceiling, which was raised by over $1,000,000,000,000.00 by democrats to something like $14,200,000,000,000.00, will have to be raised again sometime in February or March of 2011.  This was purposefully set up by democrats.  The dilemma for Republicans, if they control congress, will be to add further sanction to the willy-nilly printing of money to cover the national debt and appear to have no principles, or to adhere to principles and refuse to raise the debt ceiling which might have the effect of causing panic/collapse in the markets and pandemonium in the streets.  Interesting.  Could that be the galvanizing event?  We'll have to see.

Patty Murray the Coathanger Queen

This post concerns abortion and due process of law.  If you have a problem with my pro-life, pro-due process opinions, stop reading now.

I saw another political spot on TV this morning for and approved by Patty Murray.  Actually, the spot was another pack of lies attempting to defame Dino Rossi, but it says volumes about Murray.  In the ad, Rossi is portrayed as a relic of a better-forgotten era when abortion was disfavored and illegal.  Of course, liberals never say they are in favor of abortion, they say that they favor "a woman's right to choose".  By stating that Dino Rossi is against "a woman's right to choose" and portraying that as a bad thing, Patty Murray has essentially stated that she is pro-abortion.

A fetus is a living human being not yet born.  It is a life, and no matter how the libtards try to frame an unborn baby's existence, I believe that the unborn human has a right to life.  Jurisprudence has not quite caught up to this, but it will as soon as the politics are taken out of the analysis.  The political roadblock to the ethically and scientifically sound reasoning that a living unborn human being has the right to life is the liberal position that the "woman's right to choose" is superior to the living unborn child's right to life.  Thus the liberals have been successful in denying the living unborn child's right to due process of law before it's right to life is terminated.

We readily acknowledge that a person accused of a capital crime has the right to due process of law before his right to life is taken away by the state.  We actually allow the judicial system to become the world's longest running circus once the accused has been found guilty and sentenced to the termination of his or her life.  Although many of us express displeasure at the numerous and lengthy appeals that follow in most cases where a death sentence is imposed, we respect the judicial system we have with its standards of innocence until proven guilty, no cruel and unusual punishments, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to due process of law prior to deprivation of rights.

Patty Murray has demonstrated that, at the most benign interpretation of her actions, she does not understand the concept of due process of law.  She supports granting of rights to causes she favors, but does not support due process of law for rights she does not favor.  Her active support for the denial of due process of law to living unborn human beings prior to the termination of their lives tells me volumes about Ms. Murray having no respect for the right to life when it does not match up with her political beliefs.  A person who has respect for the right to life and the concept of due process of law prior to the termination of the right to life supports these concepts regardless of his or her political beliefs.  Ms. Murray's disrespect for the right to life and due process of law is why I referred to her as the Coathanger Queen.

Murray's disrespect for due process of law is apparent in other areas as well.  At a time when mortgage-holding banks are trespassing on private property and changing locks on homes prior to completing foreclosure proceedings, where is Patty Murray?  Should she not be stepping up and standing up for the the common man against the big banks when they act without due process of law?  She will not because she is in the pocket of the big banks and does not care about individual homeowners.  Murray supported bailing out the big banks with taxpayer money and supported the "financial reform" that was a giveaway to the big banks.

When Obama care had not yet passed and the Democrats were angling to shove an unconstitutional mandate to purchase insurance down our throats, where was Patty Murray?  Oh, that's right, she was voting in favor of shoving this unconstitutional mandate down our throats.

When Chrysler Corporation was being shoved through bankruptcy proceedings and parties who had a contractual and legal right to be paid from the bankruptcy estate were cast aside in favor of the United Auto Workers Union and Libyan-owned Fiat Motors, where was Patty Murray?  Certainly not standing up for the common man who had money invested in Chrysler.  She was busy backing the union that contributed to her campaigns.

It is disturbing when a politician has no respect for the Constitution and for due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution regarding the ordinary affairs of Americans, such as choosing health insurance and investing money.  It is downright appalling when a politician seeks to supplant the right to life, guaranteed by the Constitution and by our Creator, with an invented right not appearing in the Constitution and which appears downright silly when juxtaposed with the supplanted right.  Which do you want, the right to live or the right to choose.

If I follow Murray's position to the logical extreme and decide that due process of law is no longer necessary when its application interferes with one's political principles, there would be no end to the carnage that would ensue.  I don't like politicians that vote for Marxist policies and enact taxes upon me that I am unwilling to pay.  My right to choose what works for me supplants the right of that politician to live.  Hmmm, just where do libtards like Murray think that one would end?  Especially if we call it the "right-to-choose-later-on", rather than the ugly truthful term retroactive abortion.

As tempting as it would be to adopt liberal principles in that scenario, I'll stick with supporting the right to life and the concept of due process of law.


Remember in November.

Obamacare: It Ain't Over Yet, Commie Bastards!

Alternate Titles: 

Just Try It; I'll Give You a Proctology Exam With Your Obamacare and

Obamacare Causes Increase in Hot Lead Injections to Lyin' Liberal Swine

As frustrating as the decision by George Caram Steeh III is upholding Obamacare, it ain't over yet.  I believe that Steeh, a lowly U.S. District Court Judge in Michigan, issued a poorly reasoned and unconstitutional decision in upholding Obamacare.  Some things have to be kept in perspective.

U.S. District Court judges are generally political hacks.  They have generally been aligned with one political party or another throughout their legal career.  Most judges started out as private attorneys or working for some organization.  They got involved with various political causes to get noticed.  Often some political entity, such as the governor, picks them to fill a judicial vacancy of some sort.  Just as often a local judge will retire and the opportunistic lawyer will run for the seat.  It is somewhat rare for a sitting judge to be defeated at election time, and my observation is that sitting judges are rarely replaced by challenge in the election.

Steeh was appointed by Bill Clinton.  Consider the source.  Sleaziest, most disrespectful to the office president in modern history appoints constitutionally illiterate judge (likely a political hack) to be a U.S. District Court Judge in Michigan.  Like appointer, like appointee.

It is natural that with a marxist administration seeking to add legitimacy to one of its marxist agendas, the first judicial decision upholding the marxist agenda would come from a marxist political hack appointed by a sleazebag member of the marxist president's political party.  I can only wonder what political and other pressure was applied to ensure that Steeh's decision was the first one on Obamacare.

U.S. District Court judges are the lowest level of the judiciary.  They are the equivalent of the Superior Court or District Court judges in Washington.  In Washington we have the Courts of Appeals above Superior and District Court, then the Supreme Court of Washington.  If it weren't for boneheaded decisions by judges at the Superior Court and District Court level, we would not have most of the appellate court and supreme court decisions we rely upon every day.  The same is true in the federal courts.  Steeh is a bonehead judge who made a bonehead decision that will be reviewed.  The Court of Appeals for that circuit might not be any brighter than Steeh, but the U.S. Supreme Court is where I am looking for the decision, as a Supremes decision will be the law of the land, not requiring any reconciliation among the federal circuits.

Obamacare will be like Heller and McDonald, having to weave its way through the federal courts of appeals to have the U.S. Supreme Court make the final determination, only in the case of Obamacare that it is an unconstitutional mandate.  In the meantime, I will hold onto my stainless steel insurance policy and my prescription of 230 grain copper capsules.


To Washington voters:  If you do not want the marxist agenda of government health care shoved down your throat, and would instead like to shove it back up Obama's ass, vote Dino Rossi for U.S. Senate on November 2.

Unemployment Steady at 9.6%, and A Bet

On my way to work this morning the news announced that unemployment for September 2010 held steady at 9.6%.  Of course it did.  No administration whose party controls the white house and congress would admit to an increase less than a month before a national election.  If unemployment went down, you can be sure that the Obamanation himself would be trumpeting it from the rooftops.  As it is, the mainstream/lamestream media had to make sure that I, registered voter, got the message.  The news item opened with the announcement that unemployment held at 9.6% and ended with the prominent announcement that unemployment had held steady at 9.6%.

I am willing to bet $100.00* that within a week after the election on November 2, 2010 that the unemployment figures will be revised upward.

*Terms:  If I win, I get paid in U.S. dollars.  If I lose, I will pay in Zimbabwe dollars.  If the winner does not have change for a $1,000,000,000,000.00 Zimbabwe bill, I reserve the right to pay in monopoly money.  If Democrats retain control of both houses of congress, they will all have the same value.

To Washington voters:  If you like high unemployment, increased taxes, increased home foreclosures, strangulation of small businesses, favoritism for public employee unions, citizen disarmament, and a host of other poxes on this great country, please remember to vote for Patty Murray on November 2.

I Stand Corrected, and Quote of the Day

In my last post regarding Asshat Extraordinaire Patty Murray I made an error.  In the interest of fairness I will correct my misstatement.

Patty Murray was elected to the senate in 1992, not 1994 as I had stated.

I was feeling sheepish about this error until I read this whopper from Patty Murray herself, uttered shortly after 9/11/2001, about Osama Bin Laden:

"He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. He's made their lives better."

Thanks to Ann Coulter, who reminded me of the Retarded Senator's statement.  Read the rest at Townhall.

Patty Murray: Asshat Extraordinaire

This morning I got up a bit early.  I turned on the TV and put on the coffee, but soon had to restrain myself from throwing my coffee mug at the TV.  What would inspire such a reaction?

My Asshat Senator, Patty "Moron in Tennis Shoes" Murray.

Her latest campaign ad is voiced over in an ominous tone about "Jobs lost", "Homes Foreclosed" and "Big Banks being bailed out by taxpayers".  I just cannot believe the chutzpah of this dimwitted, shit-for-brains, commie, libtard, Obama-ass-kissing piece of trash we have for a senator.  Yes, I am still referring to Patty Murray, who has served three terms as senator and is running for a fourth.

Patty Murray has presided over the lost jobs, homes foreclosed, and big bank theft.  She has supported every single Obama agenda item.  And before Obama, she supported every Chris Dodd and Barney Frank scheme to defraud the taxpayers, including the Community Reinvestment Act and refusing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which directly contributed to the housing bubble and bust.  Patty Murray voted for TARP and every stimulus plan proposed by the Obama administration, lining the pockets of the big banks at taxpayer expense.  She voted for Obamacare, supports cap and trade, and supports letting the Bush tax cuts expire, all of which contribute to continued high unemployment.

Patty Murray is such a dishonest asshat that she not only runs away from her own record, but tries to pin the results of her substandard service in the senate on her opponent, who has not held public office since 2003, and only in the state legislature at that.

Voters of Washington State should pay attention to the disaster that Patty Murray has been for this state since she was elected in 1994, and particularly to her record since 2008 when the Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and Presidency.  

I want change I can believe in.  That's why I am voting to kick Patty Murray to the curb this November.

Yes on Initiative 1069

Ballot Initiative Number 1069, for consideration by the voters of the State of Washington:

Section 2, RCW 1.20.080 is amended to read as follows:
The Seal of the State of Washington shall be a seal encircled with the words:  Committed to sucking the lifeblood out of each and every taxpayer," with the vignette of a tapeworm dressed in a three piece suit attached to the lower intestine of the taxpayer as a central figure.

I don't know if this initiative will actually be on the ballot, but if it is I will be voting for it.  I just wish that the patriot sponsoring the initiative, Mr. James E. Vaughn, would have added that the head of the tapeworm be of the current governor of the State of Washington.  Our current governor, Christine Gregoire, has all the parasitic qualities of a tapeworm.  Since it is unlikely that her face would adorn the tapeworm anytime soon, I guess the reverse will have to do.

That's all for now.

Retarded Politician of the Week: Lisa Murkowski

Note to Lisa:  The State of Alaska is NOT owned by the Murkowski family.

Retarded Politician of the Week honors go to soon-not-to-be Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.  The twit thinks that the senate seat her daddy gave to her belongs to her forever and ever and ever.  I was born and raised in Alaska and consider myself to be a real Alaskan, rather than the Cheechakos who moved in later when the state was booming.  Thus, I feel qualified to pass judgment on Ms. Murkowski.

When Lisa's daddy, Frank, was the sitting senator from Alaska, he decided to run for governor.  This was back in 2002.  When Frank was elected governor, his new job included filling the unexpired term of his senate seat.  After looking far and wide across the vast stretches of tundra and mountain ranges, Frank could find only one qualified person among the 600,000 plus residents of Alaska:  his own daughter, Lisa.  People howled at the blatant nepotism, but Frank was generally well-liked at the time and things settled down.

In 2004, the Murkowski name was still somewhat respected in Alaska, and Lisa was elected to a full senate term of her own.

In 2006, the people had figured out what a careerist, cronyist, nepotist politician Frank really was and replaced him in the Republican primary with Sarah Palin, who had run as a reform candidate.  Sarah delivered the reform she promised, going after corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in both parties. 

Fast-forward to 2010.  Nepotist Frank had been taken down by the Palin machine.  Lisa has become a career D.C. politician, out of touch with her constituents.  Charismatic candidate Joe Miller challenges her in the primary, promising reform.  Reformist Sarah backs Joe.  Lisa loses primary.

Lisa does not like being spurned by her subjects.  First she tries to hijack the Libertarian Party by negotiating with the Libertarian candidate to allow her the Libertarian party ballot spot.  She is turned down.

What to do?  What to do?  It appears that the only option left is to conclude that the electorate of her state is a bunch of idiots who have made a terrible mistake in voting for a real conservative instead of dear Lisa.  So she pulls out the Joe Lieberman playbook and decides to run a write-in campaign as an independent.

(Note:  The Republican party should have never helped Joe Lieberman against crazy dipshit Ned Lamont in 2006.  If the Republicans had any prinicples they would have exploited the split in the liberal electorate caused by Lieberman/Lamont to elect a Republican)

Lisa, Princess of Murkowskiland, please pack up your crap and just go home.  The people have spoken, and they don't want you anymore.  Sorry, but this is true.  Don't insult the great people of the great State of Alaska by forcing yourself upon them with your write-in campaign.  Don't insult Republicans and consevatives by helped another Democrat to be elected.  Just keep your chin up and go home.

I know that Princess Lisa will not listen to this.  Instead, feeling that she is the rightful heir to the senate throne her daddy left to her, she will work hard to maintain the divine Murkowski righ to that seat.  When all she accomplishes is to elect a companion for Mark Begich to join the Obama gay circle-jerk with, she will join her father, Frank, in the political and actual wilderness of Alaska.

After reading Princess Lisa's tale, I am sure you will agree that she is divinely qualified to be Retarded Politician of the Week.

EyeWitless News: Lawyer Smokes Pages from Koran and Bible

An Australian lawyer smoked pages from both the Koran and the Bible.  Story here.  He reportedly wanted to find out which burns best.  The story doesn't reveal the answer, but I'd bet he found that one of them tasted like an unfiltered camel.

Remember 9/11

Never forget what the followers of the moon god did in the name of their religion on September 11, 2001.  Those bastards don't even qualify to be called animals.

Religion of Peace, my ass. 

Incinerating Book of Moon God to Cause Man-Made Disasters

By now we all know about the plans of Dove World Outreach Center to burn a Koran on September 11, 2010 and all of the controversy surrounding it.  The Moon God followers, including the one in the White House and his minion in charge of the Afghanistan war, are going bananas.  Jeez, I had been brainwashed by the liberals to believe that burning flags and holy books and pissing on Jesus was my Constitutional right.  Now they are telling me that burning the Mohammedan holy book is a terrible think that should be forbidden.  If I have to put up with idiots desecrating my beliefs, the idiots should have to put up with desecration of theirs and that of their strange Mohammedan bedfellows.

I just finished reading the Effa Bee Eye Jacksonville Division Intelligence Bulletin regarding the Koran burning.  The Effa Bee Eye describes Dove as "a New Testament Church with a controversial past".  Why in the hell does this matter?  Dove, its leaders, and its parishioners have a Constitutional right to burn Korans every day of the week if they want to.  It is interesting that the Effa Bee Eye uses the label "New Testament" rather than say that Dove is full of Christians.   Next, they will be a "man-made, non-man observing congregational institution".

The Effa Bee Eye is worried about the Dove World Outreach Center event because it has "high confidence that, as with past incidents perceived as acts of desecration against Islam, extremist actors will continue to threaten or attempt to harm the leaders, organizers, or attendees (of) the event".  The Effa Bee Eye identifies two such threats, derived from open source intelligence (means they looked it up on the internet):  Two online threats posted on known extremist Web site “al-Faloja”.  One threat exposes a desire by the poster to detonate himself in the Dove church.  The other, by Abu Aulayman al-Nasir, threatens to kill "tens of you in place of every letter in the book of Allah".

Instead of fretting over one church's exercise of its Constitutional right of free expression, why doesn't the Effa Bee Eye track down the persons making those threats?  I have not seen or heard of any news coverage indicating the Effa Bee Eye is investigating any of these threats.  In my mind, the threats of a bunch of inflamed Moon God worshippers is less of a worry than the government's negative attitude toward a Christian church exercising its right to freedom of expression, and the message sent to Mohammedans that their threats of violence against non-Mohammedans is warranted, expected, and tolerated.

Instead of playing the worrywart over the threatened actions of insane jihadists and slandering a church exercising its Constitutional rights, the Effa Bee Eye should be a defender of freedom.  The Effa Bee Eye should turn its predilection towards disproportionate use of force against Americans onto those who threaten the freedoms of Americans.  Then the jihadists might begin to understand that we will not submit to their assault on our God-given rights.

"I Believe in Miracles..."

...and unicorns named Barack.  Or so the stock market investors seem to be saying today, if you believe the following story:

Stocks Rise Ahead of Obama Speech.

Obama is apparently promising $180,000,000,000.00 in tax cuts and infrastructure spending.  Whoo Hoo!

Will this offset the additional taxes in Obamacare and the rise in taxes when Obama refuses to extend the "Bush tax cuts"?  Will this result in no net increase in taxes?  Will this cost businesses substantial increases in accounting and compliance costs?  Has anyone with a brain analyzed this proposal before applauding it?

Regarding infrastructure spending, has anyone checked to see what the state contribution is to these projects?  Often federal grants have a required state contribution.  Where is this money going to come from when many states are furloughing employees, cutting back hours of service, and cannot afford to pay unemployment compensation costs?  Is this a giveaway to the unions?

Remember Clinton's policing grants back in the 1990's?  These declined over time to where the locality was left with the full salary, benefits, and equipment costs of these new officers, who were more than likely members of the police union.  Once hired, hard to fire.

Seems like the idiots on Wall Street will jump at anything thrown to them, and will believe that unicorns named Barack can perform miracles. 

I guess they might as well believe in miracles, as the unicorn has yet to perform.

EyeWitless News: Revrun' Jesse meets Karma

Thugs have given Jesse Jackson's ride the same treatment that Ol' Revrun' Jesse has given to racial harmony in this country:  his Cadillac Escalade was stolen and stripped.

Read it here.

Nice to see that God appreciates irony.

Pringles as Survival Food?

My camping trip a few weeks ago gave me the chance to use and evaluate a few newer pieces of equipment, which I still need to write about.  However, I think I made a discovery (at least for me) about a possible survival comfort food.  For those of you who hate Pringles potato crisps, you can stop reading now.

In September 2008 I went on a family camping trip.  As I usually do, I packed some comfort foods to snack on.  Part of the snack supply was two cans of Pringles.  One regular chips, the other cheddar cheese flavor.

I have been taking my time cleaning out the camper after the last trip, and last weekend I discovered the two cans of Pringles in a cabinet behind a bunch of plastic plates and cups we really don't use.  After sitting in the camper through two Eastern Washington winters and two summers, I had my doubts that they would be edible.  The expiration dates were in November 2009, but I don't pay a lot of attention to these.  I was more concerned about the extremes in weather and the possibility of the oils turning rancid and moisture working its way into the containers.

Not to fear.  I have opened both cans of Pringles and both taste just fine.  I have been snacking on the regular chips for a couple of days now and I am having the cheese flavor with my sandwich for lunch.

If Pringles can survive two years of the weather extremes out in the camper, I wonder how long they will last inside the house, where the temperature never gets above 75 degrees.  Rotated on a first in, first out basis, it appears that Pringles would make a good survival comfort food.

Workday EDC

Monday through Friday I play the part of the urban professional, and I have had to adjust my everyday carry in consideration of the office environment and the likelihood of going through metal detectors and being subject to security restrictions several times a day.

The above photo shows my everyday carry items during the workweek, from left to right:

My keys, with my travel/motor club registration and a P38 can opener.

My trusty pen, mightier than the sword during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

MXDL AAA LED twisty flashlight.

BIC lighter.  For my smokes, burning off stray threads, many other uses.

Large and small paperclips that I keep in my wallet, handy for a lot of uses including opening a stuck CD-ROM drive.

Small sewing kit that I keep in my wallet for sewing on buttons, mending tears in clothing.

Zenolite 2x2016 LED flashlight.

Minichamp Swiss Army knife.

Thumbdrive (will vary depending upon what cases I'm working on).

Pocket flosser/toothpick.  Not just for teeth.  The pick end is handy for cleaning small items.

Not shown:  I invariably have a paper towel wadded up in my pocket.

On the weekends and other days off I add a few more items, such as a larger knife, a multi-tool, my pistol, and a spare magazine.

A Little Prep Shopping Yesterday

I make a point of buying some prep items a couple of times a month. Mostly long term food storage. I have purchased from Emergency Essentials and Honeyville Grain on a semi-regular basis, but I try to limit those purchases to things that are not readily available in my area.

For example, I have not found an economical source for freeze-dried foods. So I have purchased freeze dried fruits and vegetables from Emergency Essentials and Honeyville. Same with flavored textured vegetable protein.

Some dehydrated foods and dry foods I have been able to find locally. Split peas, beans, and rice are the obvious dry foods available locally. I have also noticed that some supermarkets are expanding their bulk foods areas, and that some of the bulk foods are dehydrated and dry foods ideal for prep storage.

I was at Fred Meyer (division of Kroger) the other day and looked at the bulk foods. Normally I only go near this area to get a bag of mixed nuts or macadamias. I noticed that Freddy's had hard red wheat berries for 92 cents a pound. This compared favorably to the price from some online sources, which is $1.00 a pound, and up. 92 cents a pound for wheat berries still seemed a little much to me, especially when compared to the price of flour at less than 50 cents a pound.

The Spokane area has at least half a dozen grocery store chains, including Safeway, Albertsons, Yoke's, Rosauers, Super One, Fred Meyer, Walmart, and Winco. Winco is a relative newcomer to our area, and has stores in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and California. It is like grocery shopping in a warehouse. The prices are usually better than other stores, but one must suffer the inconvenience of the cattle-call mentality and bagging one's own groceries. I limit myself to one trip or so per month to avoid the aggravation.

Winco has a large bulk foods section. I found hard red wheat berries for 42 cents a pound. Thirty pounds plus the bucket and mylar bag runs about 19 dollars. Yellow popcorn was 64 cents a pound, so thirty pounds and the bucket/bag runs about 26 dollars. Winco also has about three kinds of dehydrated potatoes, five or more kinds of rice, a variety of other grains, and peas, beans, and pastas. They also have bulk sauce mixes, seasonings, and spices, for which my smaller mylar bags and plastic coffee cans will be ideal.

One interesting find was dried tomatoes. These are not dried in the sense of dehydrated to a near crisp, but are more like sun dried tomatoes. I figure that they are too gooey to put into long-term storage, but are treated for spoilage with sulfur dioxide. I bought a pound (at $3.90 a pound) to try drying out in the dehydrator and putting into storage. If this works I will buy more, as tomatoes are a necessity for pasta sauces, chili, and soups.

If the tomatoes are successful I may try this with dried fruits like pineapple, apples, strawberries, and cherries.

Slowly but steadily I am working towards having my year supply of food for the family, with enough variety to eat decently and avoid appetite fatigue.

Calm Before the Storm?

Things seem to be too quiet out in the world right now, given what is going on. Could this period in time be the calm before the storm?

War between Israel and Iran/Syria/Hezbollah-Lebanon/Turkey has not erupted over the Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran, despite predictions that Israel's window of opportunity closed on August 21. The Obama administration has supposedly assured Israel that Iran would need 12 months to actually fuel and arm a nuke, but who actually believes anything that comes out of the Obama administration? All parties to this in the middle east are still preparing for the possibility of war. The only wild card in my mind is what our apostate president does or does not do. The announcement that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are imminent is nothing but a diversion.

The Fed has committed to another round of quantitative easing, or monetization of federal debt. That the Fed continues to play its last weapon against economic collapse tells me that they are only buying time until the collapse. They know it is coming, we know it is coming, they are only buying enough time for their friends on Wall Street to take their money and head for the exits.

The DJIA, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 have essentially been flat all summer long. The close today is right about where it was on June 10. Sure, there have been minor ups and downs, but there is not any real movement. Not that there would be "real" movement anyways, as I have read that the stock market is pretty much driven by high frequency trading at big investment banks and that individual investors and a lot of institutional investors have fled the market. And not that the stock market is a reliable indicator of the economy in general. It might be when it finally takes the big dump, but that will be when the big boys are taking their money and checking their passports, which will be too late for any preparedness measures.

Unemployment continues to be bad news. I read that big business is essentially refusing to add employees until consumers start spending again. In a nutshell, there is nothing left to spend. Small businesses are afraid to hire, even if they could, due to uncertainty over Obamacare provisions and uncertainty in the tax code. The "Bush tax cuts" are likely to expire and a tax-hungry collectivist/redistributionist central government is hungrily eyeing the only remaining productive consitituency without representation in the White House: small business owners. No small business owner in his right mind would add to the payroll now. Looks like 10%+ official unemployment may be with us for quite a while.

Food shortages are rumored to be on the horizon. The Russians will reportedly not have sufficient harvest to feed their people. The Ugandan wheat rust has not been reported on lately, but at last report there was no known immune wheat strain and the fungus was on the move. The U.S. has no strategic wheat reserve anymore. There have also been rumors of reduced wheat harvests in parts of the U.S. and South America, and of coming rice shortages in Asia. Add to this the unknown effects of the chemicals used in the GoM oil spill upon crops in the gulf states, and the natural and government-imposed droughts in California.

There are already reports of food inflation. Jim Rawles has added a new feature on SurvivalBlog to monitor inflation, and the anectdotal reports indicate a rise in food prices. Could be inflation, could be increasing scarcity, same effect to the consumer. GrandPappy, at grandpappy.info, has kept track of inflation on food preps since early 2008, based on WalMart prices. He reports on a month-to-month basis.

Diversions are everywhere. The Obamas are on vacation number six. There may still be oil in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Gay marriage will be legal again in California. Muslims plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero. Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters are crooks. Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate us. Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and any number of celebrities have diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain. Two of these are worth paying attention to, but should not distract us from our preparations.

I don't know if the end is near, a few months away, or years away. I don't even know if "the end" as in TEOTWAWKI will result in a Mad Max existence or just a permanently reduced standard of living. Will there be revolution or continued subservience to the central government? Don't know. M.D. Creekmore has a great debate going on regarding the meaning of TEOTWAWKI. The comments are closed, but run the gamut and are well worth reading for what others are thinking.

Despite all the signs of impending doom, there is a strange calm that pervades. If my father or grandfather were still alive, I would ask them how it felt in late summer 1939, or around Thanksgiving in 1941. Did they feel then as I do now? I wish I knew.

Mo'flappuh

Sorry, couldn't think of a good title. My significant other uses "mo'flappuh" as a punctuation word like some use "motherf****r". Keeps floating around in my head, so I thought I would use it. More or less just post-mini-vacation random thoughts.

I got back last night from a four day camping trip into the wilds of the Panhandle National Forest in North Idaho. Beautiful area. Not pristine, but somewhat removed from civilization. The only amenity at the campsite area is a concrete outhouse. I love the serenity of the place, and the fact that there is no cell phone reception for miles around.

I have been out of the loop for the better part of a week, as I quit keeping up on things a few days before we left on our trip. The preparation for a family camping trip is something else. I do most of the packing and preparation for the family. I tend to overpack, as I will not leave the campsite and drive back to the nearest town just because I forgot something. I also prepare for the possibility that we may be there for a couple of extra days in case something happens.

I took the opportunity to test a couple of new pieces of equipment. A lot of my preps consist of camping-type gear, stuff that can be used when there is no power, running water, etc. I will post my own reviews of these things in the next few days.

Scanning some of the news and blogs this morning, I see that the s**t keeps gradually getting deeper, while King Soetoro and the royal family keep mugging for the camera while mugging the populace. My friend in the intelligence community says that something is likely to happen prior to the "election". Looks like he may be right.

Time to get back to work. Stuff piles up around here when I am gone.

2010 Obama Stimulus Package Arrived

Just got an email from my mother-in-law:

"Check Your Mail

Just wanted to let you know - today I received my 2010 Obama Stimulus Package. It contained two watermelon seeds, cornbread mix, two dozen "Get Out of Jail Free" cards and 10 coupons to KFC. The directions were in Spanish.

Hope you get yours soon."

R.I.P. Ted Stevens (1923-2010)

The Lord has taken Ted Stevens home. The Honorable Senator Stevens represented the great State of Alaska for the vast majority of my lifetime. He died in a small plane crash in southwest Alaska while on a fishing trip. He will be sorely missed by Alaskans.

Second Fat Marxist Sow Appointed to Supreme Court

Another sad chapter in history as another Marxist obtains a lifetime license to shred the Constitution. This fat, marxist sow, Elena Kagan, can't even name the God-given rights recognized by the Declaration of Independence. Figures, since marxists are large(ly) Godless statist whores.

The following Republican senaturds should be tied to stakes and set afire with the same Constitution that they set fire to today:

Senaturd Susan Collins, R(ino)-Maine
Senaturd Lindsey "Grahamnesty" Graham, R(ino)-South Carolina
Senaturd Judd Gregg, R(ino)-New Hampshire
Senaturd Richard Lugar, R(ino)-Indiana
Senaturd Olympia Snowe(flake), R(ino)-Maine

The following Democrat senaturd should be ashamed of himself for betraying the freedom-loving, gun-toting citizens of his state:

Senaturd Mark Begich, Marxist Pig Democrat-Alaska

I mention this particular Democrat as a particularly disappointing waste of skin because my home state is Alaska. Alaskans should boil his traitorous ass in oil before lighting him up with the Constitution he set fire to. Former Senator Ted Stevens may have been corrupt, but he NEVER would have voted for a marxist sow like Kagan or the retarded Latina.

My own Senaturds, Patty "Moron in Tennis Shoes" Murray and Maria Cant(do anything)well, voted as expected, as they are stupid marxist sows themselves and are too busy giving Obama rimjobs to actually think about anything they are voting on. They don't have too much to worry about, either, since the majority of their voters are dead, undocumented, fictional, retarded, or AFSCME members (sorry, I repeated myself).

Kudos to:

Senator Scott Brown, R-MA, who managed to exorcise the demon spirit of Ted Kennedy long enough to vote "NO" on Kagan.

Senator Ben Nelson, D-NE, for taking a field trip from his special education class long enough to be the only Democrat able to pour the excrement out of his head and vote "NO" on Kagan.

To Supreme Court Justices Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and, conditionally, Kennedy: Live long and prosper. This country needs you now more than ever.

Random Thoughts

Coffee Cans for Storage. The plastic kind that just about every coffee brand has switched to in the past few years. There are a number of food items that I do not want to store in glass canning jars or five gallon buckets. Glass jars get nixed because of the potential for breakage when moving, and buckets get nixed because I do not want to buy such a quantity of that I can fill a five gallon bucket. The solution I have found is to buy the one gallon mylar food grade bags and pack them inside plastic coffee cans that I would otherwise discard. Between home and office I get about two of these each month. An added bonus is that six of the cans fit into the same size box as six number 10 cans. This size of storage container is ideal for spices, seasoning/gravy/sauce packets, and drink mixes such as Kool Aid. Once full and the mylar bag is sealed, pop on the lid and seal with 100% silicone.

Test Your Tools and Equipment. I bought a sight adjustment tool for one of my rifles a few months ago and filed it away with my other gear. I assumed that when I needed it, it would serve its intended purpose. Big mistake. The other day I was boresighting the rifle and needed to make a sight adjustment, so I dug out the adjustment tool. The tool has a hole through which the sight is supposed to drift under pressure from a thumbscrew. The hole was not big enough. This would have been a major problem in the field, but luckily enough I was sighting in at home. I got out my set of drills and enlarged the hole. From now on I will test every tool and piece of equipment as I acquire it.

Thoughts on Plumbing. Most preppers have a plan for providing water and eliminating waste during a grid down situation. The specifics don't really matter, as situations vary for acquisition of potable water and elimination of human waste, and each must plan according to his or her needs and what resources are available. For those of us on public systems, more preparation may be needed than immediately comes to mind. When the grid goes down and public water pressure drops, it is a simple matter to isolate one's plumbing system from public water: just shut off the main water valve coming into the building or onto the property. But what about sewage? Even with the public water supply being off, people can still pour water down the drain and flush their toilets. And if the grid is down, the pumps that move the sewage through the public system and/or process the waste are likely to be down as well. If one is at the top of a hill, I suppose there may be no problems. However, sewage might back up in other areas. Aside from the water traps in the drains, how does one shut off the sewer system that is connected to the house? I am thinking that one answer may be to have drain seals ready to install in each sink, bathtub, laundry room, toilet, and floor drain in the house. If anyone has any other ideas on this, let me know.

Politics. I am thinking about this week's Retarded Politician of the week. Congressman Fortney "Pete" Stark has come up with a hare-brained scheme to tax the exchange of currencies, so that everyone who trades a U.S. dollar for a Canadian one would pay a tax of 0.005% on the transaction. I am not making the next part up: It's for the children. Oh, and to provide health care in other countries, and to fight climate change. On the other hand, Senator Lindsey Graham has pretty much stated that he will vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because Obama won the election and is entitled to have his choice provided Kagan is "qualified." Does this idiot remember Robert Bork? He was qualified, but shot down by the Demojackals because he is a conservative. At least Stark is consistent with the "progressive" whack-jobs in his party. Thus I am leaning towards Senator Grahamnesty for a repeat. Who knows, maybe some other elected shithead will catch my attention.

Is it too late for Tom Vilsack to try and get his job back as Iowa governor? It appears that with all the hullabaloo from the racist camps of Jesse Jackson and the NAACP that Vilsack may soon be unemployed for firing Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod. Through her own statements at a NAACP gathering Ms. Sherrod cast the USDA in a bad light, which should be grounds enough for firing. It is in the private employment sector. Gub'mint business is different, somehow, especially when race is involved.

Thank You, Senator Jeff Sessions

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama deserves a hearty thank you for his articulate explanation of his opposition to the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read it here, at USA Today.

Senator Sessions lays it out straight, "The American people want judges who impartially follow the text of the Constitution. They reject judges who use their power to impose their own political views — liberal or conservative — on the nation.

Throughout her career, Ms. Kagan has placed her politics above the law."

Thank you, Senator.

I recall that Kagan, when asked if she was prepared to uphold the rights recognized by the Declaration of Independence, could only answer that she would follow the Constitution. Either Kagan is about as bright as a three watt bulb, or is lying her fat ass off.

Judging by the company she keeps, both are likely.

Jeers to Senator Lindsey "Grahamnesty" Graham, R(INO)-SC for voting with the Democrapheads on the Judiciary Committee to send Kagan's nomination to the full senate. The former Retarded Politician of the Week provided additional evidence of his "specialness" when he said, "What's in Elena Kagan's heart is that of a good person who adopts a philosophy I disagree with," Graham said. "She will serve this nation honorably, and it would not have been someone I would have chosen, but the person who did choose, President Obama, I think chose wisely."

Anniversary of a Leftist Massacre

Yesterday marked the 16th anniversary of the massacre of 43 innocent men, women, and children fleeing the totalitarian regime of Cuba's Fidel Castro in a tugboat bound for freedom in the United States. Originally there were 72 men, women, and children, but Cuban patrol boats rammed the tug and mowed down the civilians with a water cannon, sending all but 29 to a watery grave. Only through the intervention of a passing Greek freighter were there any survivors. The survivors were captured and punished by the Castro regime.

Read Humberto Fontova's story here.

Remember that the Castro regime is idolized by liberals. This is an example of what liberals find to be acceptable behavior from a leftist government. This is what you will get if you allow the Marxist Obamacrats to remain in power.

You were warned.

Retarded Politician of the Week

Retarded Politician of the Week honors go to Senator Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska. Nelson announced today that he would support the finance reform bill which is awaiting a vote in the senate. In announcing his support, Nelson said, “I will support the Wall Street reform bill to end bailouts, add commonsense consumer protections and make sure that Nebraska Main Street businesses are not adversely affected as we rein in recklessness on Wall Street."
Let's see, bailouts of all those Wall Street firms occurred because the House of Representatives and Senate proposed and then approved laws that used taxpayer funds to bail out those firms. Then the House and Senate discovered that their poorly written bailout package allowed Wall Street firms to earn obscene profits from taxpayer funds. Then the House and Senate propose a law which would prevent the House and Senate from future bailouts of Wall Street firms with taxpayer funds, which is misnamed the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010.

In essence, Senator Nelson is in favor of a law which would prevent him and his Komrades from passing a law giving taxpayer funds to Wall Street firms.

It's like saying: I voted for a terrible law, so I will support a law that would prevent me from approving of another such terrible law in the future.

How retarded. Nelson proves that you cannot legislate common sense.

Runners up: Senator Olympia Snowe, R(INO)-Maine and Senator Scott Brown, R(INO)-Massachusetts for betraying their principles and supporting such a deeply flawed piece of legislation. Snowe has a long history of colluding with libtards. I had high hopes for Brown, who now appears to be channeling the demon spirit of Ted Kennedy. Nobody who is not an Obootlicker should be voting for a financial "reform" bill drafted/sponsored by the severely ethically compromised Wall Street toady soon-to-be-former-Senator Christopher Dodd. See his list of contributors here.