Rule Five

Marooned has a post up about Rule Five. A very hard rule to follow, as he points, since our instincts work against us.

His post reminded me of something that happened at the range a couple of years ago. At the end of a match a group of us were in the parking lot and one of the guys had a 1911 he was thinking of selling. Pretty, hard chromed, trigger work professionally done, frame and slide fitted, mag well installed. He got it out of his truck. We all looked at the empty chamber, observed muzzle discipline, and passed it around to fondle.

As I mentioned, it was the end of the match, we were packing up, and since we weren't carrying a stack of hundred dollar bills, once we had looked at the gun, we went back to work. I was putting things in my truck when I heard the sound of metal on gravel. We all looked over, saw a gun shaped hunk of shiny metal laying on the gravel parking lot where they were congregated and thought the worst. Expensive finish gouged, value suddenly diminished, someone buying a gun they didn't plan on.

Except, when the gun was passed to him one of the other guys had one of those big chrome staple guns in his hand. He hooked the staple gun by the handle in his trouser pocket so he could give both hands to the 1911. It was the staple gun that had bounced on the rocks. No matter how nice a staple gun it was, it's value was not sharply affected by the scratches.

Big sighs of relief all around.

Marooned is right. It's wired in to try to catch things when we fumble them. The more expensive they are, the more desperate we would be. It's bad juju to try to catch a loaded gun. But could you stop yourself?

A few strong instincts and a few plain rules suffice us.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Prediction

After all the upheaval in the Mideast shakes out, one thing is going to happen. Some country, or coalition of countries, is going to have another go at Israel. I expect it to be soon, probably before our next Presidential election. There will be buildup, excuses, cries of how Israel is the bad guy, but it will come down to an attempt to eliminate Israel as a country.

I hope I'm wrong.

I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it - not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.
--Harry S Truman

Triggers

Triggers attract things. Usually fingers. Not Always.

Precaution is better than cure.
--Edward Coke

Bulletproof

Times have changed a lot. You might not get me to stand out there while you shot that glass with a pellet rifle.

Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.
--Jeff Cooper

Now, That's True

Just when I thought the situation in the Mideast and the U.S. response could not be explained, the Obama administration made this statement. Now it all makes sense.

We don’t make decisions about questions like intervention based on consistency or precedent.
--Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser to Pr. Obama

Putting Together a Care Package

My son asked for books. Science fiction, history, anything interesting. I bought some new and some used. I'm adding some hygiene and comfort stuff. Razors and shave creme, toothpaste, gum, Starbucks Via. He hasn't really been there very long, so it's hard to tell what to send. It all goes in a box and gets mailed just about as far as something can go.

The world has changed since I last deployed. He has internet access, updates his Facebook, sends us email. But he's still a long way away, and there are people there that will kill him if they get the chance.

Semper Fidelis, Joe.

I've always been proud of being a Marine. I won't hesitate to defend the Corps.
--Jonathan Winters

On a Snowy Highway

When it heads downhill, it can happen fast. Here is a link to the dashcam video of Montana State Trooper David DeLaittre being killed during a traffic stop last December 1st.

The man who shot the officer was badly wounded in the exchange, but committed suicide rather than seek medical help.

David James DeLaittre was 23 years old. He was the youngest Montana Trooper ever killed in the line of duty.

The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Update: Edited to deal with a link change.

In The Air

I was going to call this taking a breakfall, but if what we are doing in Libya is a "kinetic military action", I guess you could call this a "kinetic planetary impact".

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
--Abraham Lincoln

Heart

I heard this on the oldies station last night. Now the song and the memories are stuck in my head.

When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot.
--Larry Lujack

Separation of Powers

I personally favor killing Kadaffi and any other people involved in the murder of civilians on Pan Am 103. It should have been done by the Reagan Administration and better late than never. The unpleasant reality, though, is that even if we are successful in removing Qaadafi from power, the rebels are not going to establish a democracy with respect for human rights, freedom of religion, and other quaint Western ideas. They will impose Sharia and set about eliminating anyone they suspect of not thinking the right way.

The other interesting thing is the Obama administration's Rush to War™. Exactly what was the imminent threat that precluded Pr. Obama making his case to Congress and gaining the Constitutionally mandated approval before taking the United States into armed conflict? He could have skipped working up his March Madness brackets (no, that was too important) that last golf outing (aahh, well not that) the trip to Rio (no, no, no). How about this? He could have skipped lunch and hiked over to Capitol Hill and done just what he claimed was the right thing to do.

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.
--Barack Obama, Dec. 20, 2007

Detroit Dies a Litle More

Detroit's population dropped 237,493 between 2000 and 2010, according to data released as part of the census. This continues a trend toward the point where what was once a major American city of almost 2 million people is a ghost town without any businesses or workers paying taxes. Over 150,000 homes and buildings have been demolished, many more wait for funds to continue the work.

Here is an image I found on elRojo's Flicker page.



It was taken at the Detroit Public Schools Book Depository. I know it's just one building. I picked it as a symbol. If you like, go to Google Images and try various combinations of Detroit and decay/abandoned/ruined, you'll find all sorts of slideshows. If that is not enough, try YouTube.

Everything rises but to fall, and increases but to decay.
--Sallust

I Should Know Better

I followed a link to HuffPo (no, I won't put one here). There was an article about the possibility of Pr. Obama using executive orders to push gun control. In the comments was one post that said, "They should ban guns immediately and have the Army go collect them."

So I replied, "You could do that. There will be shooting and bloodshed, but you could do it. When you were done, I would be dead, and the men you sent would be your new masters."

Note to self: Stay off the Huffpo. Syriesly.

Disperse you rebels; damn you, throw down your arms and disperse.
--British Major John Pitcairn at Lexington, Massachusetts, 1775

Sarah Palin is in Israel

Did anyone hear about Sarah Palin going to Israel and meeting with the Prime Minister from U.S. news sources? She visited the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem. Told her guides to stop apologizing for things while expressing solidarity with Israel. She even sported jewelry that made a statement.

She got to Israel by way of India, where she gave the keynote speech at the India Today Conclave, an annual gathering of India's business and political leaders. The other primary speakers were Mohammed El Baradei, the leader of the Egyptian Opposition Party, and the Indian Prime Miinister Manmohan Singh.

It's almost like someone only wants you to see Sarah Palin if she's out in the woods. I don't know if she'd make much of a President, but I can tell you one thing for sure. If she was the Republican candidate, I would vote for her over the current President, something I cannot say about Mitt Romney.

News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
--Lord Northcliffe

Rush To War ™

Rhymes with Cars and Girls has a series of posts about the left's sudden blind acceptance of war. I would start with this one and read forward. It asks the questions that no one is asking about the Rush To War ™ in Libya.

Then jump over here and pick out an anti-Obama bumper sticker or T-shirt. This one is my favorite.


Hat tip to Borepatch for pointing out the awesomeness.

We're not going to baby sit a civil war.
--Barack Obama, commenting on the Iraq War

Ibuprofen and Ice

This was taken as we sat listening to the instructor at the end of the test. It is not my wrist. Nor is it a wrist I injured. Just one of my fellow students at the end of testing.

I passed my test for brown belt in Wadoki Aikido. It was a good day.

Instructors can impart a fraction of the teaching. It is through your own devoted practice that the mysteries of the Art of Peace are brought to life.
--Morihei Ueshiba

In the Midst of Things

Every once in a while, in the midst of blog posts about politics and current events, you stop at one of the sites you visit regularly and what you read there is so personal that it brings you up short. Guffaw in AZ is that stop today.

He has the story of his daughter Molly, and in many ways his life, I think. It is laid out in a few short paragraphs. I'm asking all of you to please go read it.

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on.
--Robert Frost

Hillary Steps Aside

Hillary Clinton has announced she will not remain Secretary of State if Pr. Obama is reelected. It seems clear that Libya was the last straw, and that her efforts to do something about the Libyan government's attacks on the rebels while Pr. Obama sat on his hands was the catalyst.

While I would not vote for Hillary Clinton, I thought she made a deal with the devil when she took the job, and I have to give her credit for her efforts to make policy on Libya. I suspect that it will now be a case of too little, too late, and Kaddafi will retain power.

In other news, the Louisville Cardinals lost to Morehead State, meaning that one of the teams Pr. Obama had picked to make the Sweet 16 has been eliminated.

It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.
--Thomas Huxley

Japanese Death Toll

The estimate of the number of deaths keeps rising. Currently it's 25,000. Ignoring the nuclear meltdown in progress, there are hundreds of thousands of people displaced from destroyed homes, lacking shelter, food, and other basic necessities. Whole stretches of the coastline where no usable buildings still stand. The scale of this disaster defies description.

Pr. Barack Obama mentions it in this video before he goes on to more important things. This was filmed in the Map Room of the White House, the room where Pr. Frankin Roosevelt oversaw WWII.

I'm picking Kansas. just because I think they're deeper. I think Kansas has more firepower. This (Ohio State)is a great top six, but after their first six, they've got problems. So, any kind of foul trouble, Salinger gets in trouble, try to go to the Morris brothers, they're going to be in a tough spot.
--Pr. Barack Obama, in a televised appearance discussing his picks for a college basketball tournament 5 days after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan.

While Rome Burns

Pr. Obama is going to RIO! Take lots of pictures, okay? Because the rest of us aren't ever going to go there, so maybe you could come back on TV and do a slideshow about your vacation.

What Washington needs is adult supervision.
--Barack Obama, Oct. 2006

March Madness

Japan is destroyed trying to grapple with damage caused by the largest earthquake and tsunami in it's the country's history.

As a result of that event, several nuclear reactors are damaged, are now venting radiation, and may yet melt down resulting in large releases of highly radioactive material.

The Mideast is in turmoil, with revolutions overturning governments and Libya using it's own military to attack the rebels involved in an uprising against Kadaffi.

The U.S. government is facing an unimaginable debt and caught between opposing groups in Congress, running on continuing resolutions and unable to cut spending enough to make any effective changes.

In the midst of all of this, the President of the United States is scheduled to make a televised address. On ESPN. To discuss his picks for the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

‘Bread and Circuses’ is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.
--Robert A. Heinlein

Update: First line edited for hyperbole removal and clarity. Original text left in place under strike throughs. This is what happens when you write without an editor. Thanks to commenter Robert for pointing out what needed to change.

Windows Upgrades, All of Them

Starting with DOS 5 and Windows 1.0, the creator of this video installs every version of Windows on top of the previous. Epic geekery.

640K ought to be enough for anybody.
--Bill Gates

A Movie Review

Went to see Battle: Los Angeles. I liked it. There's plenty of flaws in it, but it was, start to finish, an adrenaline ride. I liked the Marines. I'm not spoiling it by saying anything about the plot, but those Marines were as close to the real thing as you could expect a movie to provide. Good escapist fun.

I don't take the movies seriously, and anyone who does is in for a headache.
--Bette Davis

Look, a Brand New Blogger!

His "Hello World" post was on March the 5th. So go welcome Armed and Laughing and leave him a comment to encourage him.

I'm a divorced, child of the 50's. libertarian, medically retired. I've been a certified firearms trainer, a private investigator, and worked for a major credit card company for almost 22 years.
--Guffaw in AZ's tagline

A Basic Explanation

If you're interested in what actually causes earthquakes, the New York Times put up an interactive slide show that has a basic explanation. It even incorporates how plate movement causes tsunamis.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.
--Martin H. Fischer

One Cause for All Things

Religious zealots of all types share one thing in common. They hold the object of their devotion to be all powerful. This results in them believing that their god is the source of all things. This can be fairly benign, resulting in prayer and fasting, or it can turn dark, and result in a society that sacrifices their own children to Moloch to placate what they believe are the evil whims of their god.

True believers in Global Warming have decided that all things come from the One True Cause.

Hurricane? Global Warming.
Drought? Global Warming.
Snowstorms? Global Warming.
A mild winter with little snow? Global Warming.
A decrease in a bird species population? Global Warming.
And so on.

The believers in Global Warming are as fanatical as the Westboro Baptists. You know, the people who protest at military funerals and believe that every bad thing is god's punishment for homosexuality. At the moment, the Globalwarmingists® might be worse. Because they have blamed the earthquake and resulting tsunami on Global Warming. The Westboro Baptists have not (yet) blamed the earthquake on Japanese homosexuality. If they do, I would like to see it debated on MSNBC, and the winner of the debate could win the 2011 Bat-Shit Insane Award. Previous winners include Osama Bin Ladin and Charles Manson, so whoever comes out top will be in good company.

Anyone who thinks Global Warming causes earthquakes has an understanding of plate tectonics that matches their understanding of climatology. But none of that matters, for they are true believers, and they are willing to sacrifice everything from light bulbs to our country's economy to their god.

In comparing religious belief to science, I try to remember that science is belief also.
--Robert Brault

SkyNews Video

I know everyone has heard about the earthquake off the coast of Japan a few hours ago, this video brings home the scale of the damage.

Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Humbled

For the past four years I have be a student at an Aikido dojo. An Aikidoka, if you will. I started late in life, I was almost 50. I would not claim to be very good at it, but I have been persistent. It has been a life changing experience.

Aikido is a difficult martial art, full of blending turns and throws. It challenges me every time I step onto the mat. It carries a philosophy of compassion that forces me to reevaluate my own ideas of what a proper response to a threat is.

But from the beginning, it intrigued me, led me in, and confounded me. It took me months to do a shoulder roll. I still don't do them as well as I would like. The blending techniques and throws require thousands of repetitions to master. Perfection is elusive, even basic competence might take a lifetime.

My test for Nikyu, brown belt, is a week from Sunday. I do not think I deserve it, and would be happy to study another year, but testing is a funny thing. You cannot ask for it, conversely, if called out to test, you cannot refuse. So I will face this as I faced many things. Somehow it has become part of the path my life has taken.

A good stance and posture reflect a proper state of mind.
--Morihei Ueshiba

42 Years Later

HM2 Dennis Noah did his job on September 10th, 1967. Forty-two years later, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James T. Conway and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, were in the audience to see him finally recognized.

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Hospital Corpsman Second Class Dennis L. Noah, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as the Senior Corpsman of Company H, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Rein.), FMF, in the Republic of Vietnam, on 10 September 1967. During Operation SWIFT, the First Platoon of Company H, with Petty Officer Noah attached, conducted a security patrol separated from the company by 1,000 meters. The platoon came under heavy close range small arms, machine gun, and mortar fire from a numerically superior enemy and was temporarily pinned down. Without hesitation, Petty Officer Noah, with total disregard for his life, crawled among the dead and wounded Marines on the field of fire to render aid to many severely wounded Marines within 10 meters of the entrenched enemy. Although he was painfully wounded, he repeatedly crawled from one wounded Marine to another and administered medical aid while shielding each Marine from enemy fire with his own body. Petty Officer Noah remained in an exposed position for more than four hours, dragging bodies of dead Marines in front of the wounded to give them cover. After his medical supplies were depleted, he packed open wounds and fashioned tourniquets with pieces of utility uniforms. When one enemy soldier crawled forward and attempted to capture a wounded Marine, Petty Officer Noah shot him in the face at close range. Upon the arrival and attack by the remainder of Company H, while still under direct enemy fire and within 40 meters of impacting friendly fire, he and others evacuated all wounded Marines to relative safety. He then immediately organized a casualty collection point, prioritized the wounded, and arranged for emergency helicopter evacuation of the casualties. By his bold initiative, undaunted courage, and unwavering dedication to duty, Petty Officer Noah reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
--From HM2 Dennis Noah's citation for the Silver Star.

Marooned Makes a Core Values Comment

Marooned points out a TV executive that was convicted of murdering his wife. Here's the money quote:

Together, the Hassans started the Muslim-oriented Bridges TV network as a way to counter negative media images of Muslims after 9/11 and build cultural understanding.

Yes sir. I've got me some cultural understanding from that relationship. I'm not sure if it supposed to be a negative image or not. Guess it depends on your core values.

He stabbed her 40 times and then cut off his wife's head with a hunting knife because she wanted a divorce. Not all value systems are the same.

We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.
--Aristotle

Core Values, Ours and Theirs

If you haven't heard of Bill Whittle, this video will be a great introduction.

Change has come to America.
--Barack Obama

Into Harm's Way

Not me, but one of my own. As he unnecessarily warned me, most of the rest of it is covered by OPSEC. He did post the picture below on his Facebook page.

Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.
--Gen. A. M. Gray, Commandant, USMC

How Democracy Ends

Michael Moore says America is not broke. His idea is that there are plenty of rich people to tax steal the money from. Here's the face and the promise of the Democratic Party. I don't know how much of this you can stand, but jump to about 9 min. 20 secs. in and try to watch enough to understand the horror of what is being proposed. Then read America's epitaph in today's quote.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
--Thomas Jefferson

Newly Released Video

Police helicopter video from 9/11 right as the towers fall.

Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.
--George W. Bush

In Harm's Way

Camp Leatherneck, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

As you go about your daily routine, take a moment to think about the Marines out there on the frontier today.

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

Borepatch Says Good-Bye

Borepatch has a post up entitled Rest in Peace, Dad. Here's the opening:

Ernest Hemingway once said that you can tell a story in six words. "For sale, baby shoes. Never worn." I'm no Hemingway, but I want to tell some stories about my father, and what he meant to me. Because I'm no Hemingway, I need seven words to tell these stories.
Dad came to all my track meets.

And that's just the warmup. In the midst of his loss, Borepatch took the time to share the story of his relationship with his dad. You will not read anything today that has more love in it than this ephemeral blog post.

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."
--Harmon Killebrew

Project Gunrunner Makes the MSM

CBS News reports the story of an ATF agent admitting he was ordered to allow rifles to be purchased and taken over the border into Mexico.

Not going to be any easy way to make this go away. It's not just a few online bloggers reporting this anymore. It's CBS News comparing it to Ruby Ridge and Waco.

Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.
--W. Clement Stone

And There It Is

The shooter in Germany I mentioned a couple of posts down? Here's what he was shouting while he murdered the U.S. soldiers.

Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also.
--Billy Wilder

Why Women Should Own Guns and be Shooters

Not from Borepatch, from Mrs. Borepatch, on the occasion of buying her first pistol.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
--Anais Nin

If I Was a Betting Man...

Two U.S. servicemen shot dead by a shouting gunman from Kosovo. No details, no comments yet on what motivated the killer or what he was shouting.

Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time.
--Susan Cheever

From Marooned -- A Meme

Tipped by Marooned for a meme called The Stylish Blogger, here is my effort. Rules first.

List seven things about yourself that other people might not know. Then pass the award to 15 other bloggers.

1. I voted for Clinton. Twice.

2. While I had already moved toward conservatism, my transition to the Dark Side was completed before lunch time on September 11th, 2001. I worked in a tech Video/videoconferencing dep't at the time, and we had satellite feeds. We watch it unfold on multiple monitors, with the raw feeds as well as what the networks were putting on. I'm not over it.

3. I study Aikido. Having said this openly, I promise some posts on the topic in the near future.

4. I went back to school in 2003. If I continue on my current pace, I will have a college degree in computer networking next spring.

5. I like sentimental music, folk songs, etc. I'm not even going to embarrass myself by naming artists, let alone song titles.

6. I always wanted to go into space. That was the dream. The Moon, Mars, even Earth orbit. When I was a boy, I watched all the launches I could. I thought we would have permanent bases on the Moon by the time I was an adult and I would go there and work.

7. I still hope. There'd really be no point in blogging if I didn't. I hope for America, the world, and my family. I still think this country is the best effort man has ever made at self government. For all the flaws and the evil committed in the past and with all the issues before us today I just don't think anyone ever has done any better. I love my wife and my sons and I hope.

And 15 16 of you I think have style of your own:

* 3 Boxes of B.S.
* Adaptive Curmudgeon
* Between Two Rivers
* Bloviating Zeppelin
* Lagniappe's Lair
* Daddy Bear's Den
* Dead Man Dance
* Eyes Never Closed
* Nobody Asked Me
* Old Lightning
* Silent No More Majority
* Silicon Graybeard
* SnarkyBytes
* Trainwreck in Maxwell
* Voice from the Noise
* Wilsonblog

Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
Benjamin Franklin

Chipping Away

The Supreme Court steps away from the 6th Amendment clause that protects your right to face your accusers. It happened in a decision that was reported yesterday in the New York Times.

For all I know, Bryant has received his just desserts. But he surely has not received them pursuant to the procedures that our Constitution requires. And what has been taken away from him has been taken away from all of us.
--Justice Scalia, writing in his dissent