The Olympic Biathalon

The modern biathalon uses .22LR match ammo fired out of precision rifles at target set at 50 meters. Almost everyone is using the model 1827 Anschtz Fortner. Ultra modern skis and equipment, a shiny Olympic skinsuit, and now all you need is a world class cardiovascular system to be ready to compete. It wasn't always that way. Biathalon had it's start in military competitions. Skiing and shooting being a very useful skill in the mountains when there is a war on, the genesis of the sport was skiing with packs and shooting issue rifles. By the time it was an internationally recognized competition, the packs had been abandoned, and the U.S. team had retired the 30.06 battle rifles in favor of the Winchester Model 70 chambered in .243. They skied and shot at targets out to 250 meters. You can read about it the February 1960 edition of Guns Magazine.

Now before you start haunting old book stores and flea markets, Guns Magazine offers a downloadable PDF of the magazine that came out 50 years ago every month. So this month, it's the February 1960 edition you can download and read. Here's a direct link, although it is a large file and may take a few minutes to fully open.

The story about the biathalon starts on page 38. But there is so much more. Ads for guns at throwaway prices, articles about gunsmithing and hunting, a column by Elmer Keith, letters from readers. It is a time capsule into an America that is so completely gone it is in danger of being forgotten.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
Leslie Poles Hartley

Hampton Beach

In the midst of a winter storm, there was a fire at Hampton Beach. It took a city block. Among the other buildings, the Happy Hampton arcade is gone.

Does anyone remember pinball? Wandering in off the beach with a handful of quarters, hearing the clack and pops of the counters and bumpers. Walking along the machines looking for replays that people had walked away from. Five balls for a quarter. Finally picking a machine and settling in behind it, a pinball wizard.

Whatever begins, also ends.
--Seneca

A Time to Forgive

Last week, my wife and participated in a presentation on forgiveness. It was mostly about forgiveness between spouses, being that a group of married couples were participating. But in the sharing, she brought up how I have changed in the last decade, starting, say, with September of 2001. I think she was looking for me to say that my views were changing and that it was time to move on and forgive. Perhaps that holding on to my anger was only hurting me, and so on.

Here's what I said last week, "I'm not over it. God may forgive them. I cannot. They aren't asking for forgiveness. They are still killing Americans. They would still kill us all if it was in their power. Until they surrender, until the threat is eliminated, until the war is over, I will not forgive. I will never forget."

She is right about how I've changed, though. I am not the same person that stood and watched the 2nd plane hit the towers on a TV at work. I am the same person that watched the towers fall. I went to war in that hour. I am at war now. I will be at war until victory is declared and we have a parade down Broadway (or until I die of old age, the more likely possibility).

In late September of 2001, there were candlelight vigils and memorial services and all sorts of emails running around suggesting this color ribbon or that as an appropriate response to the Islamic attack on the United States. I remembered my response and I went looking for it and there, still in my sent mail folder, was my reply. I remember sending this out quite a few times. I will post it here unedited in it's entirety:

Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 06:19:12 -0400
To: ****@home.com
From: asm826@hotmail.com
Subject: My current reply to most e-mail

I have been getting a lot of e-mails on the theme of healing, closure, etc. One recurring thread is the idea of "lets all light a candle" or lets "all put up purple ribbons". I got one yesterday, here was my reply.
_________________________
SORRY, NOT THIS TIME! I'm not interested in mourning, grieving, or moving on. I am not interested in colored ribbons, candle light vigils, or new memorials where tall buildings once stood. I am ready for the United States to lead the world in eliminating evil people and their distorted ideas. When that job is done, then we can rebuild, and put up appropriate memorials to all the dead.

The United Islamic Jihad made a written declaration of war on the U.S. in 1999. We ignored it, to our current chagrin. Starting with the assault on the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1979, and the taking of the hostages (Remember Jimmy Carter?), I have a list of events I have thought of. The bombing of Pan Am 103, the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut (241 dead), the 1st bombing of the World Trade Towers, the bombing of the Kobar apartments in Saudi Arabia, the bombing of the 2 U.S. Embassies in Africa, and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole. There may be others, these are some that come to mind.

Ok, we are at war, with a enemy who's stated purpose is to destroy the United States. What happened 2 weeks ago is not a tragedy, it is an atrocity. Another in a series of acts of aggression that have gone unanswered and unchallenged. I think flying the flag is enough of a symbol. If you want to take action, here are some ideas.

1. Write your Congressmen and senators. Tell them you support the President's military actions. Demand that we go as far as is necessary to ensure that no one can ever attack us like this again.
2. Send a care package, snacks, homemade cookies, etc. to a serviceman or woman.
3. Befriend the family of a serviceman or woman that has been called up to active duty or sent overseas. They need our help and support.
4. Encourage young men and women of good character to join one of the Armed Services. We need the best of America in this fight.
5. Keep your outrage fresh. Don't let the media or anyone else dilute the energy. Stay focused, and be prepared for more attacks, deaths both here at home, and in battle overseas.
6. Actively resist and confront "politically correct" people sharing thoughts and ideas that wander toward the old idea of peace at any price. Peace at any price isn't peace, it's slavery.

Semper Fidelis,

asm_826@hotmail.com

I think it holds up pretty well for the writing of a very outraged American in September of '01. I still agree with it. There is a time for forgiveness, and a time to withhold forgiving. There is a time for peace, and a time for war.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
--Ecclesiastes 3:1

Cost/Benefit

Via OldNFO, I found a slideshow of pictures from WWII, a lot of good airplane photos, and some that remind me what my freedom cost. The one that really gave me pause was this one, a picture of the 5th Marine Division's cemetery on Iwo Jima. Nothing I have done in my life is worth what these guys paid for me.

Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.
--Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

Thinking More About My Last Post

Say I'm walking home in the evening and coming toward me is a group of four young men. As often happens, there is no one else around and no traffic. Since I have just come from the campus, and I try to abide by all laws, I am unarmed. As we meet on the sidewalk, they spread out and stop. The obvious leader demands my wallet.

Common sense, as usually defined, would suggest I comply with all demands and hope to walk away uninjured. I have been wondering what I would actually do. Because I don't think I have enough give left in me to just surrender. I think I'm going irimi. But I'll never really know unless it happens.

Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.
--Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak, USMC

Where do You Find Wolves?

You find wolves where the sheep are. The crime at the link occurred last night. How terrifying would it be? Walking across campus, perhaps from the library which is open late, and attacked by 4 or 5 assailants and robbed.

The concealed carry law in our state makes bad guys nervous. So some decide, being smarter than the average criminal, that they want to go someplace everyone they meet is unarmed. Heading up onto the college campus makes it likelier you'll get to live to enjoy the fruits of your evening's labor. Tthe school campus is not part of the United States, because the Constitution does not apply there, and everyone has been prevented from the keeping and bearing of arms. Works out nicely for those who believe in income redistribution by force.

Students for Concealed Carry are working to regain their Constitutionally recognized right of self-defense. One of the more interesting pages on their site includes a review of campus crime for the years 2005-2007. It is more interesting if you add the crime that occurs in the vicinity of campus, since obviously anyone coming to or going from the campus is also disarmed. That would more clearly show the added risk people are subjected to.

Here's a website called U Crime where you can select the University you want to view, the time period you are interested in, and the types of crimes you want to see. It overlays the reported crimes and locations on a Google map.

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
--Alexander Hamilton

The Chip on Your Hip

It's been a long standing joke that paranoid people think the government is tracking them via a chip implanted in their backside. Now we find out that everyone carrying a cell phone is providing the government with that chip. They can track your position by pinging the built in GPS in the phone in many cases. In others, the cell towers you are using can be used to triangulate your location.

Without warrants, without informing the victims of this intrusion, cell phone companies are providing this position data to both federal and local law enforcement. Here's Newsweek's take on the story.

Maybe there are legitimate uses, but unfettered access to any sort of intrusive tracking is a situation ripe for abuse.

Big Brother is watching you.
--George Orwell

Following the Herd

One of the leading arguments I keep hearing about global warming is that lots of people believe it so it must be true. To paraphrase my mother, "If lots of your friends were jumping off a bridge, I suppose you'd think it was a good idea to jump, too."

That's probably a lousy example, because as I told her then, "Ma, if my friends were jumping off a bridge, I would already be in the water yelling for them to quit wussing around and jump." But I would have looked at the possibilities and decided on my own.

Here's a picture that might help. Somewhere along the line, this Mensa candidate saw someone wearing their hat backwards and decided it looked cool. Take the time to consider what you've been told. Look the evidence that is coming out about how the "climate scientists" manipulated both the data and the discussion. Ask yourself who stands to benefit from more regulation. Turn your hat around, step back from the bridge and think for yourself.

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
--Oscar Wilde

What's Your Level of Awareness?

An article from Police One raises some interesting questions. A lot of the content is restricted to LEOs that have registered for the site, but this one was, at least when I read it, open to the public.

The title is Winning in Combat. It is a critical look at a couple of real world events, and the differences in the outcome. The second scenario is the one that caught my attention, because it really had nothing to do with her being a police officer. She was ambushed.

The author has some interesting observations about the event, and then offers these tips:

AWARENESS
1. Know what’s going on around you at all times. “Don’t just check your six, check your 360,” Spaulding advises. “Depending on the environment, that may involve checking up and down, as well as all around.”

2. Know the environment in which you work and live. “When you’re observant on your beat and at home, you know what’s normal and what’s not. You develop a sixth sense that can signal you when something’s not right. Listen to it.”

3. Guard against vigilance slippage. “Periodically check yourself against the color codes or some other symbolic reminder to make sure you haven’t drifted out of the level of alertness you should be in.”

WILLINGNESS
1. Be willing to train, even at your own expense. “The will to win paired with the skill to win that is steadily reinforced and supplemented is the combination that will allow you to be victorious. Realistically, you probably know in your heart that what your agency provides may not be enough.”

2. Be willing to buy your own equipment, if necessary. “If you’re issued vital equipment that doesn’t fit you, get what does. If you can’t draw properly from your holster, it’s you who will perish, not your procurement officer or your chief.”

3. Be willing to stay abreast of what’s new. “That doesn’t mean automatically glomming onto the latest new ‘magic bullet’ cop fad, but it does mean being curious and investigating new information and new technology that can legitimately enhance your capabilities.”

4. Be willing to do whatever it takes to win. “This is a decision you have to make before your life in on the line. You can’t wait until you’re in the fight to decide how much you care about winning. Your responses will be a direct result of what your thoughts and programming have been beforehand.”

That's not just advice for cops. That's advice for all of us. We all want to go home at the end of the day. In fact, some of it is better advice for us, because I am buying my own equipment, I am paying for my own training, and I am having to make all the compromises that the laws in my state put on me.

A concealed carry permit is only a start. How often do you practice? How realistic is your practice? What sort of fitness regimen are you following? What's your situational awareness throughout the day? How prepared are you for a sudden attack?

Here is a security camera capture of an attack on a subway platform. Ask yourself, what would you differently than this victim?

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
--Sun Tzu

Full of Win

Real Change is coming. The kind of sweeping change that no one could have foreseen when the internet first came online. Borepatch talks about change in the way music is distributed, and extrapolates it into the way information is distributed. It explains why "climate science" is having such a hard time burying the evidence that refutes global warming, why the Tea Party movement is such a phenomenon, why you are reading blogs rather than watching CNN, and then makes a prediction for the future.

There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.
--Winston Churchill

Blue Angels

F-4 Phantoms
A-4 Skyhawks
F-18 Hornets

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Time for a New Perspective

Democrats VS. Republicans doesn't work anymore. There's plenty of evidence of that. A choice between Barack Obama and John McCain was no choice at all. And not just McCain, there are a lot of Republicans that are just as invested in a big federal government, centralized control, and high taxes as any of the Democrats.

It's time to draw the lines differently. I may not have the right names figured out, but I know what the important division is. It's between Statists and Libertarians.

The Statists believe that more control is needed. They believe government needs to control health care, it needs to control the economy, it needs to control the citizens. Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were Statist, even when the professed ideology was markedly different. They even achieved the same results, total crushing government control and intrusion leading to the deaths of tens of millions happened in both countries.

Libertarians, or if you like, Constitutionalists, believe in the rights and freedoms of the individual. They look to government to provide certain necessary functions and want to limit the government's power. They prefer the least possible government.
This leads to interesting outcomes on individual issues.

Gun control? What gun control means is control. The government has more power. The people have less. Complete gun control just means complete control. Ask the Jews.

Government intervention in the economy? It means government control of markets. Corporations are considered "too big to fail" and given tax money that they could not earn through the sales of their products. Then later, when the businesses go on doing business, they have bureaucrats deciding what sort of business can be undertaken. Ask GM.

Government taxation and government regulations? Whether in the name of raising revenue, or in protecting the environment, or ensuring workplace safety, or worker's rights, every tax and regulation is a drag on the economy. It is rules that requires paperwork, record keeping, proof of compliance, submission of payments. It is an ever growing weight the functioning part of the economy must drag along. Even when there was the best of intention at the outset, the result is sand in the gears of what was once the engine that ran the world economy.

This goes on and on. When you stop looking at things from the traditional conservative/liberal, Democrat/Republican perspective it becomes possible to reconsider the country the Founders were trying to create and move toward it.

This fall, when you consider the candidates, ask the question: "Is the foremost priority of this candidate for office the preservation of my individual liberties?" It is the question that should always be asked. Get this question before the candidates, make it such a issue they have to answer it. Vote accordingly. Everything else will fall in place.

Perfect freedom is as necessary to the health and vigor of commerce as it is to the health and vigor of citizenship.
--Patrick Henry

Light and Shadow

I came out early this morning to find the sunlight bright across the interior wall of the dining room. It can only do this when the trees are bare, and then it only lasts a few fleeting moments as the sun rises. I took several pictures and watched as the light shifted, moving toward the floor and disappearing as the sun rose. Click to biggify.

Sunlight is painting.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne

Late February

This has been a cold winter. The wood pile disappeared fast. I had already started on next year's pile, but the two truckloads of green wood are not much good now. The remaining dry wood was in one stack. Less than a face cord remained.

Saturday morning was mild and sunny. With help from a friend, I cut a truckload of dead, dry wood and added it to the wood pile. I think we're set, but if not, I have a decent saw and some sharp chains.

The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure.
--Francoise de Motteville

Make Mine Moxie

It's an New England thing. An old soft drink. Doesn't taste like cola, or Dr. Pepper. Mostly it tastes like Moxie.

Tonight it tasted like childhood. It brought back a forgotten summer cookout under the big maple trees at my grandparent's house. I can see the old folding chairs, my dad cooking at the grill, and Moxie in glass bottles in an old round cooler.

Those of you that have been reading this blog the last few days can guess how I happened to have a bottle of Moxie in the house.

Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things.
--Pierce Harris

Jim Land

Jim Land was the guest speaker at our club meeting tonight. I am gobsmacked. Yes, that Jim Land. Major E.J. Land, the officer that revitalized the Marine Corps Scout Sniper program just before and during the VietNam War. He talked about the program, about Gunny Hathcock, about shooting, and about the rifles he had on display. He brought a representative example of every rifle that Marine snipers have used from the '03 Springfield to the current M40A3. Springfields, Garands, Remington 700s, all topped with the scopes that matched the rifles. Told the story of the evolution from scope topped battle rifles to the specialized sub minute of angle rifles in use today.

A great speaker, knowledgeable and interesting. More importantly, he was unpretentious. Easy to speak with. If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, make the time to go. He'll be in Charlotte for the NRA convention, but he'll be busy. He's the current secretary of the NRA.

The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.
--Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, U.S. Army

Jeremiah Workman, Sgt. USMC

When Borepatch came to visit, he brought me a book. This isn't a fun read. It isn't an easy book or a lighthearted topic. It's the story of a United States Marine that has an afternoon in hell, loses three of his squadmates, and has his life altered by PTSD.

It's also a story of continuing his fight. He's not whining, or sugar coating anything. He's fighting for his life, to love his wife and son, to live with PTSD and not be destroyed by it, to honor his friends, his Corps, and his Country with what he does with his life.

The Corps thought enough of his actions that day to award him the Navy Cross. I think he might have deserved the Medal of Honor. He thinks he didn't do enough.

The lesson of this book, and of the combat experience of millions of servicemen, is that everyone is vulnerable to the stress of combat. Every man we send will be changed by his experience, many will be badly injured even when they show no scars.
If you're interested, it's available from Amazon at this link.

Semper Fidelis, Marine.

Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.
--Ned Dolan

Ed's Red

I am going to preface this post with Borepatch's Standard Disclaimer:

I'm not any kind of gun or shooting expert. I like shooting, and shoot a fair number of different guns, but I'm really a dilettante. I am not a chemist, I am not a gunsmith. You are reading this on the Internet. Any information you get here is worth what you paid me for it. Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited, do not remove tag under penalty of law.

Now that's out of the way, on with the post. Borepatch insisted on being present for the ceremonial cleaning of the guns that took place just after our aforementioned mini micro picoBloggershoot. So, to the mancave we retired, firearms in hand.

Gun cleaning is an unappreciated art form, and every shooter has his own methods, his own pet solvents, and his own opinions about how much or how little needs to be done. Since Borepatch was politely deferring to me in my own cave, my procedure carried the day.

Step 1. Check the gun. Yes, you checked it twice when you cased the gun at the range. Check the gun. The magic.bullet.from.hell™ lurks and it will find the chamber of your gun.
Step 2. Check the gun again. See Step 1 if you have questions. You are going to act in some ways like the gun is unloaded in the coming steps. Make sure you are willing to bet your life on it. For example, to disassemble a Glock, you have to pull the trigger while pulling down on the slide release with the other hand. (Of course, you would do this while pointed in a safe direction, but still, do you want it to go boom in the house?) There are a lot of situations in cleaning where you do not treat a firearm as loaded. Best to keep that firmly in mind.
Step 3. Do whatever you do to clean the gun. Disassemble, swab, brush, use your favorite magic super gun butter, mutter the incantations, lube, and reassemble.

Now, in the middle of step 3, I was using an unlabeled can of something as a solvent for cleaning all the parts, including the barrels, slides, trigger groups, inside of the slide and receiver, etc. Borepatch asked what the stuff was. Ed's Red, I replied.

Ed's Red is a homemade mix of stuff based on a modern rethinking of an old military solvent mix. The old stuff might be better, but sperm whale oil isn't readily available at Lowe's, and I only have experience with the newer concoction. If you're interested in the history and development, hit the link. It also has mixing instructions and cautions, along with ideas about how to best use it.

Ed's Red works as good as any solvent I have tried for removing carbon fouling and build up. I wet the barrel with it first thing, and let it sit while I work on the other parts, then come back and run a bronze brush followed by wet and dry patches through the bore. The thing that makes Ed's Red superior is price.

When you are in your local Gun Emporium and Sanctuary, the solvents come in tiny bottles like perfume, priced $10.00 for 4 oz. and up, sometimes way up. Ed's Red is mixed up a gallon at a time, for about $20.00.

1 part Dexron II, IIe or III ATF, GM Spec. D-20265 or later.

1 part Kerosene - deodorized, K1

1 part Aliphatic Mineral Spirits, Fed. Spec. TT-T-2981F, CAS
#64741-49-9, or may substitute "Stoddard Solvent", CAS #8052-41-3, or equivalent, (aka "Varsol")

1 part Acetone, CAS #67-64-1.

(Optional up to 1 lb. of Lanolin, Anhydrous, USP per gallon, OK to substitute Lanolin, Modified, Topical Lubricant, from the drug store)

I made mine without the lanolin, although when it warms up, I may mix a quart of it with the lanolin to use as a final lube as I reassemble and wipe down. Anyway, I keep it in a well marked container, and pour a few ounces at a time into a squirt bottle. I hope I live long enough and shoot enough to need to make another gallon.

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
--Benjamin Franklin

Range Day in February

Borepatch came to visit today. The specific purpose was to spend some time at the range. It was a great afternoon. A mini micro North-South Bloggershoot. Being the two of us, along with his son. I fear the fabled Mrs. Borepatch will be less than pleased with me, having left them both with a deep desire to go forth and purchase 1911s, M-1 Garands, and Ar-15s. Along with magazines, ammo, cleaning supplies and a gun safe.

I tried to pick out a picture that told the tale, but I had to pick three. As always, click to biggify. Here we see Borepatch handling a 30 round magazine. Just because he can. Now we have Borepatch unloading the magazine in the approved fashion. Last, but not least, here is his 100 yard target.

I really picked these three as representative of the big cheesey grin he wore all afternoon. This is the first post on this shoot and our day together. I sent him the pictures, so I expect he will post something about his awesome performance shooting a Garand from the prone position in the next day or so.

Beware the hobby that eats.
--Benjamin Franklin

Remembering What Has Been Lost

One of the people killed during the shooting at UA Huntsville was Dr. Adriel Johnson. He was 52. He was an associate biology professor working in cell biology. But there is another part of his life I want to share.

Dr. Johnson was a Boy Scout Leader. He had two sons. He volunteered with Troop 102 at the First Missionary Baptist Church. Among other awards, he had received the Silver Beaver, Scouting highest award for an adult leader. They don't just hand those out. He had been making a serious contribution for a number of years.

I wanted to take a moment to remember a fellow Scouter who was taken before his time. To his family, his church, and his Troop, it must be incomprehensible.

He was dedicated to the Scouts of Madison County, and his passing is a tremendous loss to all of them.
--Bill McCoy, District Committee for Advancement.

Epic Fail

When you make a rule that disarms everyone, you really only get to make a rule that disarms people that follow rules.

The University of Alabama proved it again. The shooter got to kill as many people as she liked, then someone called 911 and as a witness said in the article "I waited, and then the cops came in with the guns".

The woman that committed this act is fully responsible for the murders and attempted murders. The school and the state government are culpable for disarming anyone who might have had an opportunity to stop her.

The law of unintended consequences pushes us ceaselessly through the years, permitting no pause for perspective.
--Richard Schickel

Playing with a Loaded Gun

The author of this story went from being an active duty Army soldier to an instant paraplegic fighting for his life in one pull of the trigger because his friend and fellow soldier was playing with a loaded gun. Of course the other soldier thought he had unloaded it, so he put it on the author's chest and pulled the trigger, just because it would be funny. One 9mm Speer Gold Dot later and all the funny leaked right out. The bullet managed to hit lung, pericardium, aorta, liver, spleen, diaphragm, stomach, and finally his spine. No telling what the medical costs were, but the remainder of his lifetime will be spent in a wheelchair.

LET'S PAUSE FOR JUST A MOMENT AND THINK ABOUT THIS. HE TOOK A GLOCK 17 AND PRESSED IT TO HIS FRIEND'S CHEST AND PULLED THE TRIGGER IN AN ATTEMPT TO BE FUNNY.

Keep breaking the four rules and sooner or later this will be the outcome. Break all four at once and move the date up to now. Carteach0 has the story from the shootee's point of view. I hope he gets a follow-up from the shooter. Hell of a thing to live with every day.

One last observation, the story refers to an accident. I don't have any idea what they could be talking about, because the one and only cause of these injuries was negligence.

Never let the muzzle cover anything you're not willing to destroy.
--Col. Cooper

No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

This is a little complicated, but read the article. Essentially, the government used cell phone location information gathered from cell phone usage to catch a couple of bank robbers. Bad guys that deserved to be in jail, to be sure. The men were caught and convicted. Since there was no warrant, the information gleaned just from cell call logs raised some questions about the right to privacy and the use of computer databases. The government's position is summed up in this quote:

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Lovely. If your car has OnStar, or you use a mobile communications device like a cell phone, Blackberry, or IPhone, the information that puts you in a specific location is open for the government to use. This positioning data is good to about 50 yards, almost as accurate as a GPS. If they have a warrant, a reason to be searching you, then this is justified. To be able to just sift that information is going to be too tempting, though. They'll tell us it it protects us against terrorism and crime.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
--The 4th Amendment to the Constitution

No Snow, Lots of Snow, It's all Global Warming!

The DC Blizzard: More Proof of Global Warming!

A theory that is considered confirmed by whatever happens, no matter what happens, is not a scientific theory at all.
--Robert Book

Bill Whittle

Bill Whittle has started posting the text of his video presentations on his website. Here's the latest on the Tea party movement, why it's important, and how the Democrats have helped fuel it.

I personally like the video presentations on PJTV, but you do have to register to see them. Either way, Bill Whittle is worth every minute. Here's one small quote from the most recent presentation:

But they — I mean, we — are angry. We have a right to be angry. As a matter of fact, we not only have a right but in fact have an obligation to be angry. The spending orgy in Washington brought on by the Democratic control of both houses of Congress and the election of the most liberal member of the Senate to the office of the Presidency is taking the country off the edge of a cliff and everybody knows it.

This spending is so monumental, so out of control and so beyond the pale that huge numbers of what were honest, decent, hard-working and unassuming citizens no longer feel like taxpayers but rather like host organisms: we find ourselves staggering around in shock, like victims of a plane crash or some natural disaster, looking around at the destruction of the work ethic that gave five percent of the population an economy four times the size of its nearest competitor. We watch, horrified, at the government takeover not of businesses or industries but entire sectors of the free market. That’s why there’s a Tea Party.

I would vote for Bill Whittle in any election he chose to run in.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
--Thomas Paine

The Iran Anniversary 'punch'

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. I'd like to think that if they did that, we would respond with such overwhelming force that elderly Japanese veterans would say, "Ohhh, see, that's the United States I remember!"

America is the great Satan, the wounded snake.
--Ayatollah Khomeini

Here's a Question from CNBC

Will 80 Million Baby Boomers bankrupt Social Security? Of course it will. You can't pay that much money out when there are not more people paying in. The system depends on current workers paying for the current retirees. Even an old Marine can do that math.

It has been from the beginning a socialist plan. What will eventually happen is what always happens to socialism. It will collapse under it's own weight, unable to pay out to anyone what was promised to everyone. Here's a report from the Washington Post in May 2009. It doesn't have anything good to say about the future solvency of Medicare, either.

2016 is now the predicted tipping point, the year when Social Security pays out more than it takes in. It will be bankrupt twenty years after that.

The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.
--Karl Marx

Super Bowl Ad

Green police. Heh.
What was Audi thinking when they developed this ad? Made me want to go outside and burn a barrel of diesel oil and Styrofoam.

No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny.
--Edward Abbey

From Breda and Mike

Breda posted, via Mike, a family recipe for a casserole. . I liked the look of it, and made it tonight. I got out the big dutch oven I use for camping, followed the recipe as close as I could. Five kinds of beans, hot sausage, bacon, sauce, and spices. The recommendation was to cut the brown sugar to 1/2 a cup, and I think that is the right amount. This is comfort food. Since I made dinner, she made corn bread to go with it. We ate in the living room by the woodstove while we watched the first half of the Super Bowl.

You can say what you will about computers, but this is one of those moments that makes me stop and realize what the internet can be. From a nearly lost family recipe, posted on a website I found and usually read as a gun blog, comes a recipe that will be added to the collection of printed pages at the back of our cookbook.

Thank you, Mike and Breda, and thanks to your Mom, too.

Memories fade, photos get lost, and the universe is relentless in pushing the past aside to make way for the future, but the taste on the tongue remembers.
--Mike, writing on The Breda Fallacy

If it happens in Washington, it's News

But if it happens on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, not so much. They've already had two blizzards, and now an massive ice storm. They are cut off from the outside world, and suffering without heat or electricity. Three thousand power poles are down. This is the forecast for the coming week. Chairman of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has declared a State of Emergency in central South Dakota on the Indian reservation, an area approximately the size of Connecticut with nearly 15,000 Tribal members. The Tribe is still awaiting a Presidential disaster declaration.

The Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota is mounting an effort to help, but they are a fairly poor organization and are unable to really meet the need. The matter of fact way they presented the situation told me a lot about what daily life is really like on the reservation.

...St. Peter's is the only church in the area with plumbing, he said. He said that the reservation has an estimated 70 percent unemployment rate and an average annual household income of $7,000. The average male life expectancy is 46 years of age...(emphasis mine)
"People here live at the margins and have been marginalized in every way, shape and form," he said. "On the one hand, they're pretty flexible and resilient. On the other hand, something like this, for a family that's struggling, can prove to be the straw that breaks the camel's back."...
Barnhardt said that the situation feels "very bleak," especially with another storm expected...

It has been that way on the reservations for a long time. Out of sight and essentially forgotten, the descendants of the tribal remnants the United States left alive still struggle to survive. But a snowstorm on the East Coast, now that's news.

The more Indians we can kill this year the fewer we will need to kill the next, because the more I see of the Indians the more convinced I become that they must either all be killed or be maintained as a species of pauper. Their attempts at civilization is ridiculous.
--Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

Prediction

Toyota is going to find out that the real problem with "sudden acceleration" is related to to the electronics. They having been call it a "sticking accelerator" problem, but that does not describe the symptoms people are reporting. I know they really want it to be something simple in the pedal, carpets, worn parts, etc. , but the throttle in these cars is ultimately electronically controlled. I think it's going to require a software/hardware fix.

If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.
--From Murphy's Laws of Technology

Snowmaggedon

It's just north of us. Looks like all we will get is cold rain. For the people in and around Washington D.C. that are True Believers in the Church of the Global Warming, what they are about to experience is called a clue.

This report is from WUSA-TV:

"A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the entire DC Metro Area effective through Saturday 10 PM...we are going to have our second historic snowstorm in the same winter...snow accumulations will be between 20" - 30" in the Metro Area with less to the south of town and up to and possibly beyond 30" in the Shenandoah Valley."

When asked for comment, the Patriarch of the Assembly offered this cogent rebuttal.

So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending.
-- J.R.R. Tolkien

New To My Blogroll

I have corrected an oversight and added Tam of View from the Porch to the blogroll. She also authors The Arms Room. If you need some fine old firearms to drool over, that site has 'em. I'd say more, but I'm going to let her profile picture speak for itself. Kind of tells you a fair amount about her, doesn't it? I have had her in my bookmarks for a long time, and both her sites are always worth a visit.

What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. --Logan Pearsall Smith

University of Miami Haiti Relief Update

From my friend at U of Miami:

I returned Tuesday am from a 5-day stint at our University of Miami/Project Medishare field hospital at the Port Au Prince Airport. I'll follow up with more details, pictures, and video, but I wanted to share a few quick thoughts/observations:

There are some really amazing people working on the Haiti relief effort. The hospital is run by volunteer MD's, nurses, logisticians, laborers who are working 20 hours/day for days on end in very difficult conditions. The private sector - both corporations and individual donors - was absolutely critical to getting the hospital up and running through donations of planes, fuel, equipment, supplies, and money. The US military have played a key role in assisting with logistics, air transportation, security, medevac, and medical care.

One of my favorite moments was when we met a Mexican search-and-rescue team who visited the camp (see photo). They retold an interesting story. Their team and a team from Brazil met at a collapsed building where they anticipated many trapped victims. The Brazilian team was highly technical in their approach, and they left the scene to get their heavy equipment to methodically remove the debris to get to the victims. After the Brazilian team left the scene to get their equipment, the Mexican team proceeded to enter the rubble, digging with shovels and crawling on their elbows. When they were tired, they slept right where they were in the debris. When the Brazilian team returned with their heavy equipment 5 days later, the Mexican team had already made 13 rescues and recovered many more dead. The Mexican team's leader told us that the Brazilian team was ticked off because the final score was Mexico 13, Brazil 0.

One more thing -- if you're looking to make a donation that directly contributes to our efforts, please consider donating to the CI Foundation. CI's Sam Perales has been working tirelessly as an IT volunteer to assist us in our efforts. He is willing to stay long term, but needs to start paying the bills. His foundation does other cool stuff like refurbishing donated PC's and reusing them in data centers in Haiti (before the quake). You can donate to his foundation online:

Communication Integration (CI) Foundation

http://www.communicationintegration.org/donate-now

I offer this as an impression from someone who has been there in the last few days. It is the entire contents of his email to me. It's important to remember that the real work continues long after the media coverage has moved on.

Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.
--Dalai Lama

Square in my Sights

Kobe Bryant recently made a new Nike commercial that has offended, among others, the NBA. His quote, to show how tough he is, said this, "I'll do whatever it takes to win games. I don't leave anything in the chamber."

Oooohh. He said chamber. It's a violent reference to guns!!11EVEVENTY1!! Let's go ballistic!

What I am about to do here is like shooting fish in a barrel. I think the NBA is going off half-cocked on this one. Hopefully it will be just a flash in pan and they won't keep Kobe under the gun. I think they would get more bang for their buck focusing on criminal behavior by basketball players. That would be their best shot at making a difference. When they dropped the hammer on Kobe, I don't think they were on target. He looked like an easy mark, I'm sure, and I hate to be the one to drop a bombshell on them, but the reality is our language is loaded with gun related metaphors.

I'm just trying to be a straight shooter and when I viewed the commercials I did not see anything that resembled a smoking gun. I think the NBA has swallowed the anti-gun agenda lock, stock, and barrel. They should have kept their powder dry until something more important was in their crosshairs.

You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.
--Al Capone

Psst -- Here's a Secret

Pr. Obama announced he was going to do away with the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays serving in the military. I don't know what his motivation is for doing this at this time. It may be a way to do something that doesn't cost money, plays to one of the groups that voted for him, and takes the media's attention off his other failures. It doesn't matter. The current policy was put into place by another Democratic President and is not worth defending.

"Don't ask, don't tell" was a Clinton era fiasco. Unable to stand up to the heat from the military when he tried to change the U.S. military policy on gays, Pr. Clinton came up with a lousy compromise policy. Gays could serve, but only in secret.

Well, here's your secret. There are gays in the military. Lots of them. Probably in excess to their distribution in the larger society. They serve like everyone else, some are outstanding, most are average to good, and some are lousy. I even have a theory about one of the reasons they join, here it is:

Say I'm a teenager in a small town in middle America. For the last two or three years it has become increasingly clear to me that I am different. Horribly different. All the crude jokes about gays burn when I hear them, because that's me. That's who I am and I am not going to be able to change, no matter how I pray, or try to like girls. My dad is a big, good hearted man, but I can't tell him. I know what he thinks, and I'd rather die than tell him what I am. So what do I do?

I go talk to a recruiter. Then I come home and say, "Hey dad, I've been thinking, and with the opportunities around here like they are, I think I'd like to join the Navy after high school." Dad claps me on the back, and says the most important words he can say, "Son, I'm proud of you." So I get out of the small town, I join the Navy (or the Marines, or the Air Force, or the Army) and when I come to visit, no one has to know, or even suspect.

The military leadership may pretend to not know, but we knew, back 30 years ago. There were gays in my outfit in the 1970s. Now, if you got caught, you got kicked out with an admin discharge, but they were there. I didn't know how many there were until I was a Sergeant and got assigned to a two man room. The other man assigned to the room was gay. Everyone knew it, I took a lot of jokes about it from all the ranks. Think about that for a moment. Everyone knew, officers, senior NCOs, his own shopmates, and they all chose not to act on that knowledge.

We roomed together for 6 months and it was my first time being friends with someone who was, for the most part, openly gay. He introduced me to new music, turned me on to U2 before anyone had heard of them. Told me his life story and why he had joined (see above). I found out who some of the more well camouflaged gays in the outfit were, and was surprised. He laughed at my naivete.

When he left the Corps, we held his getting out party at my house. It was the last time I saw him. He planned to go to New York and become a writer. It was 1983, and he had been through a series of odd illnesses, lost a lot of weight. He was hoping to figure out what was going on with his health and then get the novel he had been writing published. I doubt that ever happened.

So, here I am, in 2010, taking a stand for individual freedom. I am a libertarian. The rights of the individual are paramount. Laws and rules should serve to protect those rights and freedoms. Sexual orientation should not matter in the workplace or the military. Behavior should. Everyone should do their job and follow the same guidelines in regards to personal relationships and fraternization.

If there are people that are so opposed to homosexuality that they create a hostile environment, or even use violence or threats of violence against others, those people are the ones with a problem.

For all of you reading this, don't let this become an issue. If Pr. Obama is doing this to make conservatives appear petty and mean-spirited, surprise him. Even if your beliefs differ sharply and you think what they are doing is morally wrong, keep to your beliefs and let others tend to theirs. We have enough real issues to concern ourselves with, issues worth the energy and effort. The right to free expression, the right to self-defense, the right to pursue happiness as I see it. To defend all my freedoms, I have to be willing to defend the freedoms of others.

This post is for my long ago roommate, and all the people, past and present, that put on the uniform and served with honor, even when the country didn't want them.

Semper Fidelis, Randy.

The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.
--Thucydides

The Crusaders of VMFA-122

The Trijicon scope crisis that occurred a few weeks ago got to thinking about the Crusaders. No, not the guys in armor suits freeing the Holy Land. The United States Marines of VMFA-122, an F-18 Squadron of genuine USMC pilots and machines. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the shield on the tail and the sword on the external fuel tank.

Crusaders they were, with the shield and the cross as their logo. A name they wore from 1957 onward, when they were the first Marine unit to fly F-8's. Here's the Unit History from the Marines.mil website. I don't know who noticed, or at what level the decision was made, but their name was changed in 2008 and now they are the Werewolves of VMFA-122. A perfectly good nickname for a fighter squadron, if you were looking for one. Still, if I was sending a group of Marine fighters to war, and I wanted to have the maximum impact of the current selection of enemies, I think I would have kept the old name. I don't think the new one will have the same meaning.

I didn't know the name had been changed until I went looking for an official image for this post. My original intent had been to ask why the Trijicon markings were a big deal when there was a Marine Corps Fighter Squadron called the Crusaders. Now that's not a question any more. The Crusaders are gone.

A country without a memory is a country of madmen.
--George Santayana