Saturday, May 04, 2013

An "APP" to help you keep from bumping into stuff while texting

Type n Walk: Type n Walk displays a transparent viewport of what's directly in front of you. This combined with your peripheral vision is just enough visual information to help you avoid obstacles -- like walking face-first into a tree! Despite the name, Type n Walk is useful while you're sitting or standing too. Use it anytime you would like to keep an eye on your surroundings while you type.
 I understand, from something that I heard on the Radio today, that there is an "app": which will help ou recognize that you are texting while walking, and will keep you from bumping into "things" during that process.

I didn't believe it .. it sounds far too bizarre to be true.

Just goes to show that I don't really understand this year's definition of "perfectly understandable" activities.

It's real.
I'm as "old school" as I can get, and still own a cell phone.  This is as .. I don't know.  Unreal?  Useless? Silly?  as can be.  But it's real, it's out there, and somebody expects to make a ton of money from it.

I spent decades working on a university campus.  I admit that there are people who are so lost in own private world (especially while they are texting) that they lose all contact with reality.

I suppose that this "App"  (WTF is that?) could provide good value for enough of the population that they would subscribe to it.

For myself?\

I think that any civilization (.. "community" .. "group of people who are so entirely out-of-touch with the "Situational Awareness")  which NEEDS this, and thinks it's worth buying ... are the "ELOI"  of our times.

   They are so out-of-touch with reality that they serve no higher purpose than to be a food source for the Morlocks!


Am I the only one who thinks that "Facebook Is The Devil"?

So ... does this make this app the Devil Incarnate?

All I know is that I don't trust it.  No .. not "not trust it to keeping my nose from bumping the Lamp Post", but " not trust it because it belittles the State Of Man".

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Ring Ring: Anyone There?

I woke up this morning at oh-dark-thirty with the most shrill ringing in my ears .... I lay in my bed thinking "Geeze, I never thought Tintinitis could be this bad!"   Finally I got up, thinking that maybe it was a blood pressure issue, or something.   One thing I knew for sure after a few minutes, it couldn't get much worse.

But it did.  I walked out of the bedroom heading for the Dark at the top of the Stairs and it got louder.
It sounded electronic, so I headed for the spare bedroom (a.k.a. "The Hell Room) where my desktop computer is stored.  It got louder, but the computer was in sleep mode.  I had already figured out that the cause was external, nothing to do with me.   The sound was coming from the floor, to the left of the roll-top desk.  There was a red light flashing in the dark ... I reached down and pushed a button: the sound stopped and the red light changed to green. 

Pushed the button again: "SHRILLLLLLLLL!"

So I turned on the lights.  The UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) unit, with it's power button, warning light, and label were there.   The label said: "Red Light: Replace Battery".

Turned the light off, unplugged everything and plugged the lines into the wall socket, and went back to bed.

Since then, I pulled the battery out of the UPS.  It's like a motorcycle batter, weighs about 3 pounds, and a liquid electrolyte battery.  Non-rechargeable, I found, when I looked up the literature.

The manufacture offers a replacement battery for $40 on their website.  Shipped from the Phillipines.

Bought a domestic replacement from Amazon for $20, including shipping.   Problem solved, it'll be here by the end of the week.

After all the problems I've had in the last six weeks (gun, computer, car) it's a relief to have something fixed so easily.  Well, I still haven't actually done the replacement but it looks simple enough, with just two leads which are pull-off/push on.   On the other hand, that's what I thought when I tried to fix my toilet 20 years ago ...

Oh, BTW ... my car?  I hadn't heard from the dealership where I had it towed for repair last Thursday.  They said "We couldn't find a problem.  We got into the car and it started right up!  Drove it around to warm it up, and every time it started right away."

They have had it for two full days and hadn't bothered to notify me.


So I explained that it happens intermittently (I know, the worst kind of problem to track down.)


"This only happens to me under specific circumstances. (I said.)  I'm on the freeway for a while, then I pull off at an exit into urban traffic.  I try to make a sharp turn at low speed ... like, a u-turn, or parallel parking ... and it dies.  At first it would restart in a few minutes, but this time it wouldn't start after a 40 minute wait.  I want it FIXED, even if it seems to run okay NOW."

They said they would try that.

I'm still waiting.

Damned Old Ford!







Buy View - DHS Ammunition Buy

Using a link provided by the source for a previous article ( "Why can't I find ammo in the store?"), I found myself accessing (perfectly legally) a purchase order  "FEDBID"  (offer to buy?) for "Training Ammo" from the Department of Homeland Security.

I say this is "training ammo" because of the line description,

... and because of the specified buyer:

Buyer : DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Center 

Here are the salient items:

Buy View:
Line Item(s) Item No Description Qty
 _________________________________________________________________
Unit 001 
 Commercial Leaded Training Ammo (CLTA)
Pistol Cartridge .40 caliber 165 Grain, jacketed Hollow point(Jhp)
p/n P40HSTS3G OR EQUAL. BRASS CASING
100,000 ROUNDS PRICE PER 1000 ROUNDS WILL INCLUDE DELIVERY.
 _________________________________________________________________
Unit 002
100 MX 002 Commercial Leaded Training Ammo (CLTA)
9MM 115 GRAIN JACKETED HOLLOW POINT P/N 9BP-115 GRAIN JHP OR EQUAL
BRASS CASING
100,000 ROUNDS PRICE PER 1000 ROUNDS WILL INCLUDE DELIVERY.
 _________________________________________________________________
Unit 003
100 MX 003 Commercial Leaded Training Ammo (CLTA) PISTOL CARTIDGE (sic) 9MM BALL 124 GRAIN P/N AE9AP OR EQUAL BRASS CASING 40,000 ROUNDS PRICE PER 1000 ROUNDS WILL INCLUDE DELIVEY (sic)
_________________________________________________________________

(Sorry for the awkward formatting ... I couldn't reliably post a screen-shot of the offer in legible size within the narrow format of this website.)


So .. the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to buy, in lots of (apparently .. I could be wrong) 100,000 rounds, the following:

  1. .40 S&W ammo, 165 gr JHP
  2. 9mm ammo, 115 gr JHP
  3. 9mm ammo, 124 gr ball
Note that these requisites are specifically described as TRAINING AMMO.

Note also that they are buying 100,000 rounds each of the .40 S&W165 gr JHP and 9mm 115gr JHP, but only 40,000 rounds of the 9mm 124gr BALL.  And even that line-item seems to have been added almost casually.

Now, even a cranky old curmudgeon like me knows that JHP is more expensive than BALL ammunition.  Yet, the smallest order is for the cheaper BALL Training Ammo (40k rounds), and the other two line-items are for training ammo in JHP in 100k quantities.  Given the typo in the description of that line-item, it seems to have been added hurriedly and perhaps almost as an afterthought.  And item 003 specifies "Pistol Cartridge"; are items 001 and 002 not intended for use in pistols?  If not .. what?  An MP5?

("EVIL ASSAULT WEAPON ALERT!")


Who buys JHP for "training"?

And why do each of the two line-items specify quantities 2-1/2 times the amount of BALL ammo?

I'm thinking, the BALL ammo is legitimately for training, and will be expended in that matter.

But the hollow-point ... which, by the way, is  NOT forbidden in War by the Geneva Convention (of 1949:  is referenced in Article 23 of the Hague Convention:

Article 23

Besides the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially prohibited:--

  • To employ poison or poisoned arms;

  • To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;

  • To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;

  • To declare that no quarter will be given;

  • To employ arms, projectiles, or material of a nature to cause superfluous injury;

  • To make improper use of a flag of truce, the national flag, or military ensigns and the enemy's uniform, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention;
  • To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war
 These conventions are typically understood to be legal 'rules of war' by all civilized.

 In fact, this is the document which requires enemy soldiers to  be identifiable as soldiers, to fight under a flag and at the behest of a recognized legal authority (a nation), and to carry arms openly.  This is why the United States treats terrorists as .. well, not soldiers and therefore not eligible for honorable treatment as a soldier.

Article 1
The laws, rights, and duties of war apply not only to armies, but also to militia and volunteer corps, fulfilling the following conditions:
To be commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
To have a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance;
To carry arms openly; and
To conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
In countries where militia or volunteer corps constitute the army, or form part of it, they are included under the denomination "army."
 (Sorry ... that's another digression, isn't it?)

The question remains, that if the United Stated policy is to abide by the Hague Convention, why are they purchasing huge quantities of Hollow Point Bullets?  DHS has said that they are buying huge lots of ammunition to save money, but buying the more expensive bullet (for "training") would not be expected to save money; rather, it is  a conspicuous extra expense.  There is no advantage in either cost-effective training, reliability of function, or accuracy when using JHP rather than BALL ammo for "training".

However, JHP bullets are much more effective than BALL ammo for combat.  They provide a greatly enlarged wound cavity, and therefore tend to cause more serious injuries.

Who is DHS going to shoot with hollow-point bullets?  Paper targets?  They make the same size hole.
Why do they need five times as much more JHP ammunition than BALL ammunition for "Training"?

Just asking .....

Monday, April 29, 2013

OBAMA APPEARING PISSED OVER GUN CONTROL FAIL

OBAMA APPEARING PISSED OVER GUN CONTROL FAIL - YouTube:
Published on Apr 17, 2013 http://thecount.com

OBAMA SAID, "All in all a shameful day for congress.." hummm... REALLY? Not what my friends are saying..
This is a bit dated, but I haven't seen the clip (below) before today.  I found a shorter version, but it's just too short.  It's the preamble before he gets to the main points ... the first couple of minutes ... where he shows his petulance.

I'm wondering, where's the civility?   You DO remember how the "progressives" blamed gun violence on conservative incivility, don't you?  After Gabby Gifford was shot in Arizona?    Now Obama is calling pro-second amendment advocates "liars", saying that they lied about the Obama Gun Control Bill.  Actually, in this video He shows Himself to be a consummate liar, as He misrepresents the provisions of the bill.

Is it any wonder He had trouble passing legislation?  We've come to know Him far too well over the past four-and-a-half years;  we don't trust Himto be open with us when He discusses the content and the purpose of His bills.   Even if it's less than a thousand pages long, we know the there are hidden agendas there;  there always are.

The thing is ... well, actually there are two things

(1) He made promises (such as giving Congress time to study bills before voting) which He clearly had no intention of keeping.

(2) You can tell He's a Democrat just like Al Gore; 
                      a Sore Loser.







 I'm not going to count the number of times He misrepresented the bill, nor the times He sounded like a petulant child because he didn't have His way..

but I AM going to comment on poor old Unhappy Joe, in the background of this video.

Does he remind you of any one?   Could it be ......  WALTER?




It's April Again, and the "Dialogue" has not changed

Cogito Ergo Geek: April Massacre: Virginia Tech:

The Lars Larson featured an interview with Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. While careful not to suggest that any restrictions should be applied to "lawful citizens", he carefully made the point that "... maybe we should make it harder for individuals to get some of these guns in the first place. Not you, but people like the shooter today". He was unable to present a cogent argument differentiating between the radio talk-show host, and "the shooter today" except "We don't have any information on exactly where he got the gun or how he got the gun, but I think, you know, part of the solution is not just shooting the bad guy when he started but trying to keep it ... make it harder for the bad guy to get these guns in the first place."

This is a link to my April 16, 2007 article based on the Virginia Tech shootings.

Go ahead and read the original article, if you wish.  According to my stats counter log, this was one of my most 'popular' articles in the past week.  I can only assume that Virginia Tech (and other mass shootings) are of great interest to readers today.

Looking at the very short quote above, it's clear that the issues haven't changed.  At least, from the point of view of the Gun Control Lobby.  They want to impose MORE draconian laws against purchase of firearms by .. everyone.  It's a "shotgun" approach (if you will excuse the expression);  a wide-ranging legal attempt to keep guns out of the hands of EVERYONE, not just those who are most likely to misuse firearms.

This is so typical.

I understand that 'these people' cannot imagine why anyone who is a "law abiding citizen" would want to own a firearm.  Their mantra is that guns are for killing people.  Period.  And there is no justifiable reason why a civilized person would want to kill people.  Certainly THEY would not want to shoot someone, and so they judge the rest of the world based on their on (highly protected) lifestyle.

The term "Law Abiding" is just noise to them;  if you have a gun, you should go to jail.

Or to be more succinct, in the words of Rosie O'Donnell:  “you are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you should go to prison.” 

(Please, do NOT ask me to show you the youtube of that quote; I just spent two hours watching the woman's youtube videos, and that quote does no appear anywhere.  Have they all been deleted at the request of "The Queen Of Nice"?    I don't know and at this point I don't care.  The quote has been documented elsewhere, and it has never been denied by O'Donnell or her associates.  Just .. please, don't ask me to EVER view another Rosie O'Donnell show.  Okay?  Enough that she ambushed Tom Selleck in 1999 on gun control issues, and years later the reprehensible Lawrence O'Donnell .. any relation? .. spent ten minutes lambasting Selleck for his perceived pro-gun representation.)

(All links open in a new window)

Okay, I admit it; I digress.   And I'm going to digress from the initial topic even more, now.  In fact, I'm not going to talk about "gun control" at all.   Instead, I intend to talk about "Mass Murders", in the past 300 years.  Not ALL of them .. there have been so many, it goes beyond the scope of what you are willing to read!

Let's just talk about the mass murders which have occurred in the month of April .. which is apparently fertile ground (speaking in terms of the calendar) for the madmen among us.

April has historically been the month when the "worst of the worst" massacres have occurred in our great country.  I've suggested that this was because Adolf Hitler's birthday was in April (April 20, l889) and crazy people seem to gravitate to this date as their choice for "the best month to kill a lot of people".  There is no evidence to support this assumption, except that .. well, you do the math;  here is a google search of "massacres in April"., presented in no particular order:
  • (01) Waco (Tx)  (ended April 19, 1993)  American "religious community", in a "compound" are besieged by American local law enforcement, Federal agencies (including ATF), and American Army units after a contretemps involving purportedly illegal firearms transfers.  The siege lasted from 2/28 thri 5/19, 1993.The group was suspected of weapons violations and a search and arrest warrant was obtained. The incident began when the (ATF) attempted to raid the ranch. An intense gun battle erupted, resulting in the deaths of four agents and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's failure to raid the compound, a siege was initiated by the (FBI), the standoff lasting 51 days. Eventually, the FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out. During the attack, a fire engulfed Mount Carmel Center and 76 men, women, and children,including David Koresh, died.   Controversy ensued over the origin of the fire; a government investigation concluded in 2000 that sect members themselves had started the fire at the time of the attack.   Timothy McVeigh cited the Waco incident as a primary motivation for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
  • (02) Columbine (Co) (Littleton, Colorado: April 20, 1999 ) In what now is known as the Columbine Massacre, 13 are killed and 22 wounded by two gunmen.
  • (03) Virginia Tech (Va) (April 16, 2007) A student gunman killed 33 in dorms and a nearby classroom building. He then killed himself.)
  • (04) San Diego, Ca (April 15, 1995) A 36-year-old graduate engineering student kills three professors while defending his thesis before a faculty committee 
  • (05) Keyesville, Ca (April 19, 1863) The Keyesville Massacre occurred... in Tulare County (now Kern County, California) during the Owens Valley Indian War. White settlers ... killed 35 .. (indians) men, "about ten miles from Keysville [sic], upon the right bank of Kern River".
  • (06) Ludlow (Colorado) (April 20, 1914) Colorado coal mine strike results in an attack on workers by company guards; "several men", two women and children were killed.  Total dead estimated at between 19 and 25 people 2 women and 11 children were reportedly "... asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent." The deaths occurred after a daylong fight between militia and camp guards against striking workers. Ludlow was the deadliest single incident in the southern Colorado Coal Strike, lasting from September 1913 through December 1914
  • (07) Erfurt, Germany (April 26, 2002) A former student kills 18, including himself at a school in eastern Germany.
  • (08) Kibeho (Rwanda)  (April 17 - 22, 1995)  "About 4200" ethnic Hutus were killed in refugee camps by soldiers of the ethnic "Tutsi" tribes.  (Body count unreliable; generally assumed undercounted)
  • (09) Jeju (Korea)  (April 8, 1948) "... against a background of an ongoing ideological struggle for control of Korea and a variety of grievances held by (a disparate group) against the local authorities, the many communist sympathizers on the island attacked police stations and government offices. The brutal and often indiscriminate suppression of the leftist rebellion resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of both villagers and communist radicals and the imprisonment of thousands more in internment camps."
  • (10) Deir Yassin (Palestine) (April 9, 1948) "Around 107 villagers were killed during and after the battle for the village, including women and children—some were shot, while others died when hand grenades were thrown into their homes" 
  • (11) Shanghai, China (April 12-13, 1927) During the Chinese revolution, Chiang (Kai-shek) ordered the Communist party members and "union members"to be disarmed: more than 300 people (were) killed and wounded. At a later protest,soldiers opened fire, killing 100 and wounding many more. Over 1000 Communists were arrested, some 300 were officially executed and more than 5,000 "went missing".
  • (12) Thalit (Algeria) (April 3-4, 1997) "The Thalit massacre took place in Thalit village some 70 km from Algiers.. 52 out of the 53 inhabitants were killed by slitting their throats. The homes of the villagers were burned down after. The attack was blamed on Islamist guerrillas. (Note extensive list of "Algerian Massacres here.)
  • (13) Rwanda (April 5, 1994 thru mid July, 1994 ) "The Rwandan Genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of the Tutsis by the Hutus that took place in 1994. Over the course of approximately 100 days (from April 6 through mid-July) over 500,000 people were killed...  Estimates...have ranged from 500,000–1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country's total population. 
  • (14) Jallianwalla (India) (April 13, 1919) British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ... hearing that a meeting of 15,000 to 20,000 people including women, children and the elderly had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh, ... went with fifty Gurkha riflemen to a raised bank and ordered them to shoot at the crowd. Dyer continued the firing for about ten minutes, until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted; Dyer stated that 1,650 rounds had been fired... Official ... sources gave a figure of 379 identified dead, with approximately 1,100 wounded. The casualty number estimated by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 dead.
  • (15) Syria (April 12, 2013) Some 19 people (were) killed in fighting across Syria ... according to the opposition group  (....  a political committee.) Twelve of those were in Aleppo, in the north-west, and six in Damascus and its suburbs, according to the group. The LCCs said that 149 people were killed in the civil war yesterday, 41 of them in Homs (a town), 36 in Aleppo, and 33 in the capital. Another activist group ...  said 125 had been killed, 40 of them in Homs, 33 in Aleppo, and 19 in Damascus and its suburbs. These groups’ reports cannot be verified because media access to Syria is limited.
  • (16) Armenia (April, 1915) "In April, the Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic decimation of its Armenian population. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist... The Armenian population was estimated at about two million in 1915.  An estimated one million had perished by 1918....   By 1923 virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared."
  • (17) Haiti (18 April 1804) a (black) Haitian General, Jean Jacques Dessalines, after the fall of the French Empire, decreed that all white people should be killed.  He traveled through Haiti ensuring the slaughter.  In April, in the town of Port Au Prince, he directed that all white people be killed. Over 1700 were subsequently slaughtered, often under the most brutal of applications.  The total number of people killed in Haiti under his direction is estimated to be between 3000 to 5000 by the end of April,1804.
  • (18) Guatemala (April 3, 1982) Guatemalan soldiers shot, and hacked to death with machetes, entire villages.
Remember .. these were ONLY massacres which occurred in April.


Of those 18 April Massacres, six occurred in America ....

(1) Waco ( Government attack on  'religious stronghold' by American police, Federal agents, Army); 
(2) Columbine (Student assault on a high-school by disenfranchised students);
(3) Virginia Tech (Student assault on a college by a single disenfranchised student);
(4) San Diego (College Graduate Student kills thesis testers);
(5) Keysville (white settlers attempt to wipe out native americans)
(6) Ludlow (Coal miners strike: strike-breakers attempt to wipe out strikers)


The six American 'incidents'  were .. varied.  It's tempting to say that they were the product of disgruntled citizens (often students) striking out at their "Masters" .. if in inappropriate manners. 

As for the 12 'non-national' (Non-American) incidents ... did you notice a pattern?  They all fell into one of three different categories:
  1. Governments attacking their citizens to prevent the overthrow of the national leadership;
  2. Non-governmental groups within a nation attacking their rivals, in a bid for ascendancy;
  3. Non-governmental groups within a nation attacking people for no discernible motive other than sheer detestation of their respective tenet, race, creed or religion.
And often, these differential boundaries overlap until you can't tell who is killing whom for what reason!  Almost universally, the target groups were identified by political, racial, religious, or tribal affiliations.

SUMMARY:

We have heard so much of late, about how Americans are killing each other en mass.  It seems that this is a new phenomena, something which is unheard of in America or in the world.

In truth, though, it's just the same old "man's inhumanity toward man" which we have seen so frequently over the years.  We're accustomed to hearing how the white settlers massacred the 'indians' in the drive toward the white "manifest destiny", and we have become inured to the tragedies imposed for the sake of "Lebensraum". 

Except that now it's not governments or organizations massacring people; it's individuals doing the same thing, and on a smaller scale.  Isn't it odd that when Groups (including Governments) massacre tens or thousands of people, it's just "History"; but when individuals transcend the barrier between Government and Individual, we are outraged that one lone madman would shoot up a dozen people?  Where was the outrage when, for example, Dyer  directed the slaughter of a thousand Indians?

Stalin said:


When I first read that, I was appalled.  Now, it seems that we are so focused on the 'tragedy' that we forget the 'statistics'.

Have we become so inured by the governmental murder of their people that we have lost our perspective?

Here is some perspective for you:

Oh, and lest we forget:
Bath, Michigan: (May 18, 1927)
By far the worst school massacre in US history took place in the tiny town of Bath, Michigan in 1927. There, an angry school board member named Andrew Kehoe blew up the town’s school, killing 45 and wounding 58. Most of the victims were kindergarten through sixth grade students. A secondary explosion killed Kehoe and the school Superintendent. 
No "Assault Weapons" were used in the commission of this crime.
It was sort of like the Boston Massacre .. but then, we tended to overlook this kind of thing, until just recently.  Didn't we?

Oh.  I meant the 2013 version, not the 1770 version of the Boston Massacre.  In 1770, the Brits shot our citizens for civil disobedience; in 2013, religious fanatics blew up our citizens because they were .. well .. "our citizens".

The more things change, the more they stay the same.   Only, 'different'.

"Nobody Wants to Take Your Guns"

The Smallest Minority: "Nobody Wants to Take Your Guns"

Okay .... we've reached The Tipping Point:

Whaddya looking at me for?   Go see what Kevin Baker just said!

Not one, but TWO videos demonstrating the mindless support of the Left for Voluntary Servitude.

(Or should that be "Serf-itude"?)

Even the (usually) mild-manner Guru of Gun Rights is getting testy.  I can't remember when he last dropped the F-bomb.   Makes me proud to be an American, the way we 'get to' rely on our First Amendment Rights to defend the Second Amendment!

I AM REFERRING, of course, to the fight to defend our rights.  Not the Useful Idiots who insist that, when our Federal Government goes rogue (not that Our President would ever allow, that, of course) we can reclaim our individual independents by talking them to death.

Geez, those dorks nice people just want to be left alone, right?   Fear Not Loyal Subjects!   Your Government, under the proud leadership of President "A Trillion Here, A Trillion There ... pretty soon you're talking Big Money!" Obama will take care of you from the cradle to the grave.


But don't expect Him to allow you to take care of yourself.  Did I mention that I can't find ammunition in the store?

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Why can't I find ammo in the store?

Reps challenge DHS ammo buys, say agency using 1,000 more rounds per person than Army | Fox News:  (Friday, April 26, 2013)
Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is using roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition more per person than the U.S. Army, as he and other lawmakers sharply questioned DHS officials on their "massive" bullet buys. 

"It is entirely ... inexplicable why the Department of Homeland Security needs so much ammunition," Chaffetz, R-Utah, said at a hearing. 

The hearing itself was unusual, as questions about the department's ammunition purchases until recently had bubbled largely under the radar -- on blogs and in the occasional news article. But as the Department of Homeland Security found itself publicly defending the purchases, lawmakers gradually showed more interest in the issue. 

Democratic Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., at the opening of the hearing, ridiculed the concerns as "conspiracy theories" which have "no place" in the committee room. But Republicans said the purchases raise "serious" questions about waste and accountability.
Here's a Conspiracy Theory for you:

The Department of Public Security has a mission statement:

The Core Missions

There are five homeland security missions:
  1. Prevent terrorism and enhancing security;
  2. Secure and manage our borders;
  3. Enforce and administer our immigration laws;
  4. Safeguard and secure cyberspace;
  5. Ensure resilience to disasters;
In addition, we must specifically focus on maturing and strengthening the homeland security enterprise itself.


Excuse me?  "... strengthening the homeland security enterprise itself ... "?

This sounds suspiciously like "Hey, Dude!  We're going to protect our ass first!"

Which would, y'know, explain the Billions of rounds of ammunition (according to this article from the Denver Post)  that they plan to buy in the immediate future.
They don't need it to "prevent terrorism and [enhance] security.
They don't need it to protect our borders .. the Border Patrol does this, and they are historically underfunded.
They don't need it to do the immigration laws thingie; Obama has already opened our borders like a cheap hooker.
They for SURE don't need it to "safeguard and secure cybperspace" .. I'm already using "virtual ammunition" to train new USPSA shooters!
And as far as Disaster resilience?  We've seen that the worst Hurricane stories were about cops shooting homeless citizens of New Orleans.

So why do they need all this ammor ... which WE can't get?

It's a two part policy.
Part I: Training!   The same reason we want ammo, so we can maintain our skills.  These guys use more ammo for training than the U.S. Army, which is our "Go To" resource for war.  As in, the Army fights wars, not DHS.
Part II: Conspiracy Theory Alert!   If they have all the ammo, we don't have it.  Is this a not-so-subtle way for a single government agency to impose limitations on American citizens to protect themselves?  I thought that we, the American People, were the final line of defense, not DHS.   At least, that's what Admiral Yamamoto said when the Japanese Empire's warlords were plotting the full-scale military attack on America.

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass.”
Somebody's going a little crazy here.  I hope it's just me.

In the meantime, DHS says that it's just a 'strategic buying policy'.  They can get ammunition cheaper by buying in bulk.

This is the only department in the federal government which is practicing Fiscal Economy?


"... the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.  As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month.  Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years.  In America."
Someone is going a little crazy here.  Since I'm not also "... (acquiring) ... heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of operation...", but DHS is, I don't think it's me.

WHO are they going to use this ammunition against?

We cannot rely on the 2nd amendment to protect ourselves against a rogue government, when the government has already bought up all of the ammunition.

Crank up your Dillon 650's folks; the South shall rise up again.

Oh.  I forgot.  My XL650 doesn't work any more.  Damn!