Evil Lighters in the Jungle; Viet Nam, 1969

Yeah, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil; for I am the evilest  son-of-a-bitch in the Valley.

There was a time in my life when men I knew bought Zippo lighters specifically to have those words engraved on it.

That was a very long time ago.

I haven't actually known many truly evil men.  A few, not many.  they had no need for engravings; what they did defined them, and that was enough for them.

Those with engraved cigarette lighters were usually frightened men, whistling in the graveyard, seeking to create their courage by assuming the trappings of "toughness".  In their essential innocence, they thought that being "tough" somehow equated to being 'strong".

These are not both physical attributes.  Strong is muscular; tough is -- mental.  Emotional, attitudinal.  Strong can be beaten;  Tough can only be killed.

("Cool Hand Luke:" was tough.  He did not win, but he was never beaten.  "Beat Up" .. yes.)


I liked those lighters.  They held a lot of lighter fluid, and they would burn forever.

 But they would leak in your pocket, and the fluid would burn the skin on your thigh, leaving a tender red patch which the rough cotton of your utility trousers would abrade as you crept through the jungle.  Life was shitty enough in those days, without wounding yourself.

"Get a good wound", they would say;   "Nothing crippling for life .. just enough for a ticket home."

Zippo Burn didn't qualify.  It was just a pain in the ass.  *(Well, no .. we didn't carry our lighters in our hip pockets.)*\


A lighter-fluid burn wasn't enough for a ticket home.  Neither was "Bamboo Poisoning", which I did get. It was merely inconvenient and uncomfortable -- unless you left it untreated so long that it became necrotic.    (Is that the term?  It's like Gangrene; infection sets in, and if left untreated the tissue literally rots in place.)  It took seven years AFTER I returned from Viet Nam for the lesions to completely heal and disappear.


Whatever the word is for "they  cut off your leg to save your life", that's the word.  I never did lose a limb, but I DID spend a couple of weeks, back in the Division Base Camp, being treated.     The medics back there in the Rear with the Gear scrubbed the dead tissue out of the lesions on my hands, arms, legs and feet with a rough, no-nonsense, efficient energy.   It took about an hour after the company Executive Officer spotted  me with my pant-legs rolled up at Pay call in the NDP ("Night Defensive Position" ... call it a Base Camp) for him to send me back to First Infantry Division Headquarters in Dian, where I immediately reported to the First Aid Depot.  They were using Hexaclorophene ... you know, that stuff that the workers in the early pizza parlors used to keep their hands clean, until the Surgeon General declared that it caused cancer?  Well, it cleaned me up pretty good, and it didn't kill me.  So I guess short-term usage was okay.

I had to scrub the dead flesh out of my sores three times a day for the period of my "Profile", which is like "doctor says the Sergeant  must keep his pants legs rolled up and wear shower shoes until further notice, and stay out of 'the field', so he can heal".  I didn't like the scrubbing ... hurts like a sonofabitch .. but I did like walking around a military base in a combat zone wearing shorts and sandals.  Field-grade officers quail at the sight of a Profile!  It's a God-like effect; you probably had to be there to appreciate the power it gave to a lowly Staff Sgt.

And there I was, in the Division Base Camp.  I wasn't allowed to keep a weapon.  But I was being guarded by a perimeter of armed soldiers too incompetent to be trusted with loaded weapons in the field, and/or too doped up on grass and narcotics (usually supplied at low prices by Vietnamese 'friendlies') to know when their shift was over.   They just slept in their bunkers and pooped in their pants.

Who says I missed out on the Sixties?

Division Base Camp, in Dian, Vietnam.  First Infantry Division.  The "Big Red One".  I loved that division.  I still have a couple of shoulder patches, a pin, and a coffee mug.

Call "Dian" (pronounced "ziahn") a village on the outskirts of Saigon.  Or call it what it was, an ulcer on the face of the earth.  Every semi-permanent Military Encampment deserves that description.  Did you know that when you had to piss, they had a military solution?  They called it a "Pissoir", after the french word for "pisser".  What it was, was .. they dug a hole in the ground, put a 4-foot long section of 6" sewer pipe in it, and then filled both the hole and the pipe with pea-gravel.  You stand in front of it, pulled out your Johnson, and pissed in the pipe.  Hence the name.

The really classy bases preserved your dignity; they hid your nether regions by putting a semi-circle of the corrugated sheet-metal around one side of the pissoir.  It kept the vietnamese civilian employees ("Bunker Babes") from being exposed to your exposure.  Big deal, they were almost all men, trollops, or old women ... with significant leakage between the three definitions.  Enough to say, they had all seen enough of American Pricks that one more was not cause for concern.  And yes, they had seen a lot of American Penises, too.

Most of the bases didn't bother with the crotch-screening measures.  And when  we showered, the civilian women workers were always present.  We decided to consider this a gift from God for them.

The alternative choice was to never pee.  That didn't last very long, individually or institutionally.

_______________________________________________________

But I digress.

Back to the Cigarette lighter.  And the necrotic flesh/bamboo poisoning:



Self abrading my tortured flesh three times a day, with a terry-cloth towel to scrub out the dead flesh?  That hurt a LOT more than those leaky Zippo Lighters did.  But I still carried a lighter.\

I admit, I did buy one of those lighters and I did have it etched with some pithy saying (darned if I remember what it said, but it was irreverent even though it didn't mention no stinking "Valley of Death"), but I didn't have it for long.


Someone stole it.

Over a period of time, someone stole everything I owned.

I'll get back to that in a few minutes.
No, I won't.   Suffice it to say that the REMFs  (Rear Echelong Mother F*ckers" were predators, and would steal anything  that we left in their keeping.  Their thought was that we were going to die anyway, so why not steal from us BEFORE we understood that we were dead?

You cannot fault their logic, but it pissed me off at the time.
Come to think of it, it still pisses me off!
I understand it, but I don't have any respect for the opportunistic MF's!

___________________

While I didn't  have a Zippo after the first one, I used a tiny little lighter the size of my thumbnails, which didn't hold much fluid but what it held, it did not leak.

I took that lighter off the body of an NVA (North Vietnamese Army) soldier who suddenly had no further use for it.  He wasn't going to be lighting any more cigarettes; he was living .. okay, not living ... proof that Lung cancer isn't the only thing that will kill you;  your political persuasion will do just fine, thank you, if you pursue it to the logical conclusion of fighting for your beliefs.  He was, instead, a testimonial to the motto that "Artillery Lends Dignity To What Would Otherwise Be An Unseemly Brawl".

[Actually, the Third Field Artillery Regiment motto is "Celeritis Et Accuratio" (Speed and Accuracy .. sound familiar?)  But we all really know what those red-striped trouser-legs REALLY think, don't we?  Eh?  Those Inglorious Bastards!  They kept firing on MY position for all the time I was in the field.  But that is a topic for a future post, so I'll let it be for now.]

Back to the body of the NVA private who had this cute little lighter on a string ... I kid you not.

I stole from him shamelessly.  He didn't need his web-belt with the red-star buckle or his "Ho Chi Minh" Sandals (made from the tread of a truck tire, and straps made from its inner-tube).  I left him his pith helmet .. his face was pretty much all f*cked up, and he looked better with his helmet over his face than off.  Besides, it was gruesome; I had enough nightmares to keep me awake for decades.

And I was in a hurry.  Clueless people were still shooting.  My men were bunkered up, but The Bad Guys didn't know that, and someone had forgotten to declare a "Cease Fire, You Guys Lost!"
 moment.

 Oh, and we were still receiving  Friendly Fire from our own artillery ...  a fist-sized chunk of shrapnel hit [SPLAT!!!] in the mud six inches from my right boot heel ... enough cutting-edges in that flash-frozen hunk of metal to flay a thousand fish, and its impact sort of distracted me for a day or a week or a lifetime.  It was scald-your-hand hot when I picked up, and I thought for a while about keeping it as a souvenir, but it was too heavy to pack around when the alternative was to dump water, ammo, or "shrapnel'.

"Shrapnel" lost,  as a candidate for a "souvenir"; as it always does .. and should.

["Shrapnel" is a technical term, not referring to the shell casing of Artillary, but purpose-built devices, which include the current and latest American Hand Grenades.  But that's the subject of a future article.]

Getting back to the original point ....

I took the lighter off a dead NVA Soldier ... to the Victor go the spoils.  Remember that .. I'll come back to it.

I was never evil, and I was never tough.  LUCKY, perhaps ... nothing said "God Loves You, My Son" as convincingly as being shot at .. repeatedly .. and always missed.  Thank you Jesus, for putting crappy sights on an AK and scared boys behind them!

Unfortunately,, U. S. Artillarymen are much better shots than NVA or VC  grunts.  Even after all these years, I've not been able to count the number of times I've been pelted with "Shrapnel" from American Artillery.  (Or bombs .. ask me some time about the 2000 pound bombs from "Arc Lightning" ... B52 .. bombing strikes! Or don't, thank you.)

Ahhh .. I could tell you stories about close calls, and perhaps later I will.  it takes me longer than it use to, to get into the "story telling" mode.  usually it was "Pre-Emptive Bombing" or "Supportive Artillery" that ended up with shrapnel in our web gear, or our backpacks (or smashing into the ground all around us) with no greater effect than scaring the ever-loving CRAP out of us!


(One more page of the memoirs, and then I'll have it all out of my system.  Please bear with me tonite.)

"Usually we caught shrapnel (not the correct name) when we were operating as a "small unit", detached, at night.  That would be one or two squads .. less than a full platoon, call it 20 men ... going where they sent us because "RADAR REPORTED POSSIBLE ENEMY MOVEMENT IN THIS AREA!







A word about Ground Radar: 
                                   Faulty.







We often received radio warnings about "unidentified/ potentially enemy images in your immediate area, moving toward your position".

We were there, we never saw them, but "Higher Authority" invariably decided to "defend (our) tactical position" by calling in Artillery Strikes on our position.  We caught hell, and a lot of Heavy Metal ... and we never were able to convince them to NOT shell us.

Perhaps it's significant that none of my troops, in the dozen or so instances when we received Heavy Metal from Artillery or Bombings ... were hurt ... implies something about the efficacy of Artillary?

Or maybe they were just hitting far away from us to save us?

Interesting, if so, because at least twice we later determined that they were reading OUR position  (our people) as the target .. they thought we were VC. Oh gee, that policy of using black instead of brass insignia isn't working for us?  [snide alert]

Getting Down To The Wire

Frankly, as far as Artillery Barrages and Bomb Runs were concerned?
I would just as soon have declined the honor.

The attention was  flattering, but the consequences were painful, and upsetting.  That American Military Command apparently considered us to be a threat  (they shelled us much more frequently than they ever shelled true-identified units of the VC)  was much more than the Viet Cong had done;  they  (VC) found us laughable, and apparently decided that their best response was to let us alone (with occasional sniper-shots to keep us on edge). We were no threat to them; they were no threat to us.  We all , however, feared American Artillery (and with good reason!)

SUMMARY:
We in The Field always figured it (artillery) was inevitable when unexpected, and unavailable when needed.  They (American Artillery, lending dignity to this unruly squabble) were busy blowing the everlasting crap out of some OTHER unspecting (American Infantry squad) target in the Area of Operations (AO).

Which is to say .. it simply wasn't OUR turn in the barrel.

Maybe tomorrow night, maybe not

Good night, sleep well, and if perchance to dream of small pieces of iron raining down on your night defensive position ...

....  Oops!  Sorry 'bout that!

Oh, please!

Madonna Stands up for Gun Rights? - Leah Barkoukis:

It’s rare to hear someone in the Hollywood scene speak the truth about guns, but that’s exactly what Madonna did in a recent interview with ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas. 
When asked about the choice of choreography in her current tour, which drew criticism because of the first act’s heavy use of guns, the pop icon said she would have never left that part out. 
 "That would be like asking people to not have guns in action movies," she said. "I mean the thing is, guns don't kill people, people kill people. That whole first section of the show is like an action movie, and I was playing a super vixen who wanted revenge." 
Madonna even gave a statement that she does not condone violence, and that her work is art and nothing more. 
 "But I know there was several movies that delayed release because of the shootings, for example, at Sandy Hook Elementary school," Vargas said. 
"Well that's not going to change the situation," Madonna replied. "This all comes from fear and ignorance, and people not really raising their children, or not paying attention to what's going on."

Celebrity  "support" can be So detrimental for a societal or political issue!

Here, the aging "Like A Virgin" Celebrity hitches her star to the "Second Amendment" cause, about which she obviously has no affinity.  If she really cared about that issue, she would have spoken out sooner, and not in support of her own lame and dying career.

It's not even Christmas, but if I had one wish it would be that Celerity Activism would NOT muddy the waters on an issue which I consider important.

I feel embarrassed to even acknowledge  her publicity release,  except that it provided the opportunity to excoriate her ignorant self-seeking public contribution.

California finds "Perfect Storm" to drown the Second Amendment

Gun control: Cartridge ID law to take effect

Patent expires, clearing hurdle for micro-stamping technology - NRA threatens to sue

Gun control: Cartridge ID law to take effect - San Francisco Chronicle: May 18, 2013

A hotly contested gun-control law that was passed in 2007 is finally ready to be implemented, Attorney General Kamala Harris said Friday: a requirement that every new semiautomatic handgun contain "micro-stamping" technology that would allow police to trace a weapon from cartridges found at a crime scene. 

 The law, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, made California the first state to require micro-stamping, which engraves the gun's serial number on each cartridge. But the legislation specified that it would take effect only when the technology was available and all private patents had expired. 

 The gun owners' group Calguns Foundation tried to forestall the law at one point by paying a $555 fee in an attempt to extend a patent held by the inventor, who wanted it to lapse. Gun manufacturers said the technology was expensive and ineffective, and a National Rifle Association lawyer has threatened a lawsuit.

 But at a Los Angeles news conference Friday, Harris announced that micro-stamping had cleared all technological and patenting hurdles and would be required on newly sold semiautomatics, effective immediately.

 From February through July, 2008, COGITO ERGO GEEK presented a series of articles which explored the Wonderland Imaginations of "inventor" and NRA member Todd Lizotte.

(In December, 2008, I presented a summary article comparing "Microstamping" with "Encoded Ammunition" ... both proposals were dismissed as being fiscally impossible, and unreliable in terms of their stated purpose: to identify the firearm responsible for criminal assault based on 'indicia microstamped on the shell casing'.   For the full patent application, see the patent application:
"Method and apparatus for reading firearm microstamping - US 7111423 B2")

Essentially,  Lizotte envisioned a 'minor change in the production process' where-in unique identification information would be embossed on either the firing pin or the breech-face of a firearm.  (Which part of the firearm would stamp the code on what part of the cartridge case seems to be subject to interpretation; both alternatives are problematic but the current understanding seems to suggest that the FIRING PIN would stamp unique identifying numbers on the PRIMER."

MICRO-STAMPING ON THE PRIMER:

MICRO-STAMPING ON THE CARTRIDGE BASE:

In 2007, "Arnold, the Governator" actually got the California State Assembly (?) to pass a bill requiring that this technology be included in every semautomatic firearm sold in California.  There was one provisio, however, which addressed Inventor Lizzotte's patent.  Since the inventor stood to make millions in patent rights, the law would not come into effect until the patent had expired.

The patent has now expired.  Lizotte, for his sins, stands to make no more than 'chump change' from his Grand Idea ... if that.  As a consequence, the California law is automatically enacted.

California has found the perfect end-run on the Second Amendment.

Citizens on California will no longer be able to buy new semi-automatic pistols at 'reasonable prices', which hurts all but the most affluent of Californians. 

Yes, this law is directly targeted to discomfort all but the very rich.

PRODUCTION NOTES: INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS

Henry Ford became one of the richest men in America early in the 20th Century when he proved the benefits of Mass Production.  Make every part identical to every other part, and assemblers may build the most complex machinery by just dipping a hand into a bucket of each part.  The parts are all made to the same specification, so they will all fit perfectly.

Before, machines were made mostly by hand, with each part hand-fitted (filed until it fit) to match the abutting parts.  This was hand-labor, and Ford successfully replaced it with machine-labor.

Lizotte's brainstorm, however, takes us back to the cottage industry era where 'some' individual parts must legally be matched with 'other' individual parts.  In this case, there are two alternatives of unique parts which must match.

FIRST UNIQUE PART:
The Serial Number of each firearm is typically stamped, embossed or engraved on the receiver of each firearm.  In a pistol, that is the Frame.  All other parts may be replaced without need for registration or AFT tracking, but The Frame is The Gun.

Until this time, both manufacturers and repairmen (gunsmiths) could interchange any other individual parts with the Frame, and it would remain the same firearm.

SECOND UNIQUE PART:
With the new California, there is another Unique Part:  Depending on the wording of the law, either the Firing Pin or the Breach Block (eg: the breech face of the slide, in most semi-automatic pistols) must be be constructed so that when the firearm is fired, the unique coding number is impressed by the force of recoil on some part of the cartridge.   That is to say, the unique code is MICROSTAMPED on the cartridge.

For the sake of discussion, let us assume that the unique code is part of the firing pin, rather than the breech face of the slide.

When the pistol is fired, the slide retracts and at the same time the initial striking force of the firing pin is magnified by the action/reaction effect.  This provides sufficient energy to emboss that code on the firing pin.  The cartridge is ejected, and if it is left at the scene of a crime it may be examined to determine the make, model and serial number of the pistol which fired it.

This information would allow Crime Scene Investigators to access a DataBase which matches each unique identifier ... that information may not actually be embossed on the cartridge primer ... which would lead to federal records identifying the original purchaser of the firearm.   Which, logically, would identify the perpetrator of the crime.  This is the "Logic of Lizzotte".

Alternatively, if the unique identifier were engraved on the breech face of the slide, then the unique identifier would be embossed (micro-stamped) on the base of the cartridge, with essentially the same effect; it would be possible to identify the firearm which ejected the cartridge, and therefore to track the owner of the firearm.

PROBLEMS WITH THE LOGIC:

1. If the firing pin or the slide must match the serial number of the frame, then that second part must also become an inventory item; it must be recorded.
2. If the recorded part must be hand-fitted to the frame, it can no longer be randomly plucked from a bucket of identical parts.  This takes the manufacturing process from the "interchangeable parts" process of modern industry to the "hand fitted" cottage industry of the 19th century ... and that is very, very expensive.
3. Firearms, like all machinery, are subject to wear and destruction during their usage.   If a slide or a firing pin must be replaced, it is currently a relatively minor process easily performed by any competent gunsmith -- or often by the gun-owner at a relatively small cost.  However, if the replacement part must contain the micro-stamping element, each part must be individually made.  Firing pins are a few dollars each; slides are several hundred dollars each.
4. Matching the encoding on a serialized frame requires special and unique manufacturing processes.  It also requires governmental oversight to ensure that the replacement part encoding matches the serial number on the frame.  This is, again, "cottage industry" processing.
5. The government must provide oversight to ensure that the parts match.  It must also maintain a registry of original parts, plus replacement parts, along with a mechanism for tracking.  This is tantamount to registration.  It is also very expensive.
6. Parts might be available from foreign sources, which are not required to accommodate the laws of a single state, or those of a single country.  It would be easy to buy these parts.  Yes, they would be more expensive (market demand) but less expensive than those which are controlled by the government.
7. Skipping the next two or more logical objections;  this is a concept which has so many procedural loop-holes that it would be impossible to control the production, importation and replacement of parts which are suppose to be damaged or broken.

Honest people might try to accommodate the legal requirements, but it would be a hugely expensive process in terms of time, effort and money.  Dishonest people would find a way around it: file off  or fill the Micro-Stamping on the firing pin, or the slide breech face; find parts which do not carry the Micro-Stamping features.

In fact, in sheer frustration, even honest people would be inclined to substitute (for example) a $3 firing pin of no pedigree whatever for a $300 firing pin with the legally required Micro-Stamping.

SUMMARY:

This law, this process, this concept ... is not a 'crime stopping' measure at all.  It is merely one more lame (albeit elegant) method by which local entities might logically impose draconian regulations on firearms ownership.

1. These state-wide legal requirements would be so expensive for firearms manufacturers that no large-scale manufacturer would attempt to meet them.  It would increase the consumer cost from twice to ten-fold, or better, for each firearm.  It constitutes an embargo on the purchase of new firearms.
2. This would accelerate  the Black Market of  'new' firearms, which would be purchased out-of-state and sold as "used" ... which would make criminals of honest citizens who only want to receive a reasonable value for their money; and at the drastically inflated of 'legitimate' new firearms, illegal firearms would become more attractive.
3. The expense of supporting this quasi-registration would be disastrously expensive for the government.
4. .. and it wouldn't be 'quasi-registration'; this would be impossible to support without REAL registration of firearms, which is contrary to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.  (But an exceedingly Liberal state, such as California, would probably get away with it!)
5. .. which leads directly to Confiscation.  Does anyone doubt it?
6. Governmental controls of replacement parts would required an entirely new level of Governmental Regulation and Control ... and that's expensive to every taxpayer in the state!
7. It wouldn't work.   Stolen brass, stolen guns, stolen parts ... criminals intent on firearms violence would easily obfuscate law-enforcement efforts by leaving false clues.  Only Honest Citizens would be hampered by this new law.

Surely, someone in the state of California must realize that this is a 'feel good' law which will only serve the cause of Gun Control, not of Crime Detection.

Oh, wait!  I forgot .. this is California.

Never  mind.  In California, they aren't concerned with citizen's rights if the word "gun" is involved

Sympathy For The Devil

Afghan doctor stoned for examining female patient without chaperone | Fox News:

A doctor was reportedly thrown from a balcony and stoned by an angry mob in Afghanistan for treating a female patient in an examining room without a chaperone. It’s not clear whether Dr. Ajmeer Hashimi was killed or severely injured and sent out of Afghanistan for medical attention, Afghan officials told the New York Times.
The female patient is reportedly in good condition at a women’s shelter. The assault occurred in Sar-i-Pul, a government-held town in the northern part of Afghanistan.
There are conflicting reports on the incident, but the provincial police chief, Abdul Raouf Taj told the Times that local villagers stormed a private clinic when they heard the doctor was treating the woman-- a midwife named Mahboba-- alone in his exam room.
Police arrived to escort the doctor and patient out of the office but while the woman was protected from serious attack, Hashimi was thrown from a second-floor balcony into the outraged crowd below and stoned, according to Nabila Rahimi, a local legal affairs official.
In many parts of Afghanistan women are customarily not allowed to be examined by male doctors unless a close male family member is present. Stoning is the punishment for adultery under Shariah law.
Taj said there was no indication that the victims’ relationship was anything other than professional.

Personal background note:

When I was sixteen, I dated a 15 year-old girl named Sheryl.  We were driving up and down main street ("Dragging The Gut") in my Daddy's 1962 Plymouth (ugliest car since the 1949 Studebaker!) and talking, when I mentioned something about "everybody has the right to go to hell in their own handbasket".

She shrilled:  "ARE you telling me to go to Hell!?"

She was just 15, I was 16, and I already knew there was no good answer to that question.

Two minutes later she told me she was dating another boy, George, who was driving his daddy's 1963 Plymouth (much prettier) and that she wanted me to marry her, because George had said he wanted to marry her but she liked me better.

I quite distinctly recall thinking at that moment:   WHY AM I HERE?

I took Sheryl home, and never saw here again.  (I later learned that she married George and they typically celebrated Saturday Nights by loud drunken fights, which sometimes included Sheryl throwing knives at George while he cowered behind a cutting board.)

George is, as far as I know, still trying to help Sheryl get over her Bi-Polar tendencies.

Psychologists call that "being an enabler".

Now, I just read this article about an Afghan being stoned for trying to help a patient.  I'm thinking about culture, you see, and how the culture that I consider reasonable isn't always shared by others, no matter how charming or friendly they may seem "most of the time some of the time when it suits their purpose".

I'm thinking about the American men and women serving their country in Afghanistan, and I realized I have the same question I first had in 1962:

WHY ARE WE THERE?

They are crazy people, they are offended if anyone calls them on their insanity, and the more we try to support them, the more they feel justified in treating us as if we are interlopers.

I was lucky that I got out of Sheryl's life early.  We've been in Afghan for how long?  And we're still trying to be "helpful"?

Psychologists call that "being an enabler".

Maybe we should just call it "being useful idiots".

They have an app for WHAT?

Durex creates vibrating underwear you can control via smartphone apps | VentureBeat:

Set aside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s offer to reinvent the condom; Durex is conducting its own research and development — for underwear. 
The condom manufacturer unveiled its new “Fundawear” product yesterday, which is basically a set of undergarments (bras, panties, briefs, and such) that will vibrate whenever your partner decides you need some sexual attention. 
Oh, and you can control it from your smartphone — this sort of brings new meaning to the definition of “phone sex.” According to the demo video, the vibration sensors are supposed to mimic real human touch. You use the smartphone app to specify the portions of your partners body you’d like to stimulate, which are represented through circles on those body parts. When you touch those circles, it activates the underwear’s vibration sensors.

That does it: I'm turning in my new smartphone next week!

In the meantime, my phone number is ......

Cleveland police 137 rounds COF score: "2 mikes, 2 mikes ..."

Cleveland police punish 12 officers in deadly chase that ended in 137 rounds of gunfire | Fox News:

Cleveland police fired a sergeant and meted out demotions and suspensions Tuesday for a car chase last year that involved five dozen cruisers, 137 rounds of ammunition fired by 13 officers, and the death of two people who, it turned out, were probably unarmed.

A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants got suspensions ranging from one day to 30 days. They and the fired sergeant will appeal their punishment, according to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8, which represents police supervisors.

Dozens of cruisers became involved in the chase without permission from superiors and with little direction, according to a state report released earlier in the year. The episode damaged the department's relationship with residents and must be repaired, Chief Michael McGrath said at a news conference Tuesday.

Wow!  That sounds .... well, actually it sounds terribly familiar.

But first, more info on THIS story:

...  13 officers who fired their weapons as the chase ended in a blocked-off school parking lot in East Cleveland face a county grand jury investigating possible criminal wrongdoing.

The chase began around 10:30 p.m. when an officer thought he heard a gunshot from a car speeding by the police and courts complex in downtown Cleveland. A parking lot attendant thought it might have been a car backfire, a theory endorsed by the driver's family.
The officer jumped into his patrol car, made a U-turn and radioed for help.
The chase went through crowded residential neighborhoods, then reversed course, headed east onto busy Interstate 90 and through parts of Cleveland, and eventually into East Cleveland.

Then the gunfire erupted, 137 rounds. Driver Timothy Russell, 43, was shot 23 times and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, was shot 24 times.
The union has said the shootings were justified because the driver tried to ram an officer. No weapon or shell casings were found in the fleeing car.
Of the 276 officers on duty that evening, 104 were involved in some way in the chase. Sixty police cars were involved.

So let me see if I understand this:

In Cleveland (the city where both the river and the mayor's hair both caught fire in the 1980's) .. a cop THOUGHT he heard a shot, chased a fire and called for backup.  A total of 104 cops in 60 cop cars were involved.  "... 13 officers who fired their weapons as the chase ended in a blocked-off school parking lot in East Cleveland face a county grand jury investigating possible criminal wrongdoing."

Why?

Because both people in the car were killed: not just the driver who reportedly 'tried to ram an officer', but also the passenger who was obviously not involved in that reported assault on a police officer.  (She suffered one more hit than the Driver, apparently in the ".. and one to grow on ..." spirit of a Birthday Spanking; or maybe she just had her seat belt fastened and didn't fall down fast enough?)

Then the gunfire erupted, 137 rounds. Driver Timothy Russell, 43, was shot 23 times and passenger Malissa Williams, 30, was shot 24 times.
The union has said the shootings were justified because the driver tried to ram an officer. No weapon or shell casings were found in the fleeing car.

Emphasis added.  As if the police were not sufficiently emphatic.

Sounds a lot like  "Bonnie and Clyde" to me. 

Do the math: 23 + 24 =47 hits out of 137 shots fired .... all by the police, who were not under fire.

(What happened to the other 90 rounds?)

I'm afraid I cannot stand in support of Cleveland's "Boys in Blue";  I think these boys need to grow up before they swagger down the mean streets of Cleveland wearing a badge and a gun.

___________________

But wait ... there's more!

I said this sounded familiar, so I searched my own blog using the search argument "blue on blue", and I found this article I wrote in May 15, 2005:

120 rounds

That described a similar police debacle in which we reported:

On May 9, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) in Compton attempted to shoot Moby Dick (a white SUV) which had been chased "at speeds approaching 35 mph", driven by a man who they considered a suspect in an earlier drive-by shooting. When the SUV appeared to be menacing the 10 patrolmen, they fired as many as 120 handgun rounds (according to early reports) at the Evil SUV. The results were:

• the SUV was well and thoroughly ventilated.
• the driver of the SUV was hit four times, in 'the extremities' (hand, arm, shoulder)
• One deputy was hit by a bullet and knocked down; fortunately the bullet failed to penetrate his bullet-proof vest
• several rounds hit houses in the immediate vicinity
• Neighborhood residents stated "it sounded like a war!"
• An investigation is being conducted to determine whether the police over-reacted.

That article was quickly  followed up on June 9, 2005 in an article called:

120 rounds, Part II

In an article titled: 13 L.A. sheriff's deputies to be punished for wild assault on car

(.... a follow-up on the earlier article, see 120 rounds)

1:56 p.m. June 9, 2005

COMPTON – The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will discipline 13 deputies for firing about 120 shots at an unarmed driver here last month, Sheriff Lee Baca announced Thursday. One deputy will be suspended for 15 days, others will be off duty for lesser periods and some will receive written reprimands, Baca said at a news conference at Compton City Hall.
The sheriff also praised the deputies, saying they "are dedicated and have great passion and concern for the people of Compton."
The announcement drew a mixed reaction.
Activist Morris Griffin hugged Baca after the news conference. "We never expected the police to police themselves," Griffin said.
But Lolitha Jones, who held a sign protesting the shooting, said deputies should have faced tougher measures.
"An ordinary citizen going down the street on a rampage like that would have gone straight to jail," she said.
Winston Hayes, 44, and a deputy were wounded in the May 9 shooting, which was captured on videotape. Deputies opened fire as Hayes's sport utility vehicle lurched forward and struck a patrol car. That followed a brief pursuit of Hayes, who deputies suspected of involvement in a previous shooting. It was later determined that he was not involved in the attack.
Hayes was hospitalized for about two weeks after being hit by four bullets and now faces charges of evading police and driving under the influence of drugs.
The deputy was hit by a round but only bruised.
The shooting spurred anger in the community, where bullets smashed through windows and hit house walls. Some deputies held a news conference to apologize.

(See the original SignOnSanDiego article for details)

Do we see a trend here?

When a lone gunman enters a shopping mall and shoots a couple of people, we call it a "Massacre" and immediately begin to propose new Gun Control Legislation.  There is no need for anyone to own a pistol;   if you feel you are in danger, just call the police.  They are trained law-enforcement officials and they alone can be trusted to responsibly carry a firearm.

You, the private citizen, would not have the training and experience to responsible carry a firearm.  If anything, you would probably panic in ... like ... a "Road Rage" citizen and end up shooting innocent people whose only crime was bad driving!

The evidence is clear: only policemen can be expected to responsibly carry a firearm ...

Unless they are gathered in groups of 13 or more.

... In my GOOGLE-full Balloon

Google launches Internet-beaming balloons | General Headlines | Comcast:

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) —

Wrinkled and skinny at first, the translucent, jellyfish-shaped balloons that Google released this week from a frozen field in the heart of New Zealand's South Island hardened into shiny pumpkins as they rose into the blue winter skies above Lake Tekapo, passing the first big test of a lofty goal to get the entire planet online. 

 It was the culmination of 18 months' work on what Google calls Project Loon, in recognition of how whacky the idea may sound. Developed in the secretive X lab that came up with a driverless car and web-surfing eyeglasses, the flimsy helium-filled inflatables beam the Internet down to earth as they sail past on the wind. 

 Still in their experimental stage, the balloons were the first of thousands that Google's leaders eventually hope to launch 20 kilometers (12 miles) into the stratosphere in order to bridge the gaping digital divide between the world's 4.8 billion unwired people and their 2.2 billion plugged-in counterparts. 

 If successful, the technology might allow countries to leapfrog the expense of laying fiber cable, dramatically increasing Internet usage in places such as Africa and Southeast Asia.

 It may never replace Cable Connections, and who knows what the data transfer speed is, but ...
WOW!  What a concept!

Cable Internet connections are expensive even if we live in a major metropolitan area.  But if you are a sheep-herder in New Zealand (for example), that's an option which may not be available.

Now Internet Giant GOOGLE is experimenting with a way to bring internet connectivity to the mosr remote regions on earth.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  It rather depends on how many Pigmy Bantus establish Facebook pages, I guess.

One thing is for sure .. even though it's a "concept project", nobody will be able to say that it will never get off the ground.

Step aside, Wright Brothers; you've just been pwned.

Roll Call Vote: UN Treaty on Small Arms Limitations

U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113th Congress - 1st Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question:
On the Amendment (Inhofe Amdt. No. 139 )
Vote Number: 91 Vote Date: March 23, 2013, 04:30 AM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result:
Amendment Agreed to Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 139 to S.Con.Res. 8 (No short title on file)

Statement of Purpose: To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

Vote Counts: YEAs 53 NAYs 46 Not Voting 1
____________________________________________________
The motion was defeated: 46 senators voted to undermine the Second Amendment.   Curiously, the single non-voting vote was Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ).


Here's the list of (46) senators who voted AGAINST supporting the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (from this view of the vote):

Baldwin (D-WI) Baucus (D-MT) Bennet (D-CO) Blumenthal (D-CT) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Coons (D-DE) Cowan (D-MA) Durbin (D-IL) Feinstein (D-CA) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY)

Harkin (D-IA) Hirono (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kaine (D-VA) King (I-ME) Klobuchar (D-MN) Landrieu (D-LA) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murphy (D-CT) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL)

Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schatz (D-HI) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Stabenow (D-MI) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Warner (D-VA) Warren (D-MA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

Please note that these are ALL Democratic senators, with the exception of the two Independent senators.

On the other hand, these are the 53 (majority) senators to voted FOR the Second Amendment:

Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Barrasso (R-WY) Begich (D-AK) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coats (R-IN) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) Cruz (R-TX) Donnelly (D-IN) Enzi (R-WY)

Fischer (R-NE) Flake (R-AZ) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hagan (D-NC) Hatch (R-UT) Heinrich (D-NM) Heitkamp (D-ND) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Kirk (R-IL) Lee (R-UT) Manchin (D-WV) McCain (R-AZ)

McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK) Paul (R-KY) Portman (R-OH) Pryor (D-AR) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rubio (R-FL) Scott (R-SC) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Tester (D-MT) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS)

Ignoring the fact that both of my Oregon (democratic) senators voted on the wrong side ... well, I never voted for THEM, so why should they vote for MY rights ... I don't see ANY Independent votes on the AYE side.

Which is to say, if you support the Constitution the Independents are not your friends.

It was almost a straight-up party vote, in that no Republicans voted against the Constitution.  Curiously, however, there were a few Democrats who also voted to support the Constitution.

This data is almost three months out of date. But this is the first time I have seen the actual detail results.

(NOTE: although I have recently castigate ex-Representative Ron Paul (R-Tx) for his ludicrous public statements,  I note that Rand Paul (Junior senator from Kentucky) voted FOR the Constitution.)

Ron Paul: Fear Snowden Could Be Target of Drone Assassination

Ron Paul: Fear Snowden Could Be Target of Drone Assassination:

Former GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul insisted on Tuesday that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is not a traitor, but he fears the U.S. government may send drones or a cruise missile to kill the 29-year-old, who has fled the United States. “I don’t think for a minute that he’s a traitor,” Paul told Fox Business’ Melissa Francis.

This is the most stupid public statement I have ever seen!

Well, outside of The Usual Suspects in the democratic party ... but we've come to expect stupid public statements from them

For the record, I never voted for Ron Paul and I most assuredly never well vote for him now.


There's an old adage about the way to evaluate military officers, which compares the virtues/faults of "Incompetent" or "Competent" versus "Lazy" or "Energetic"..

Here's how it goes, generally:

Competent/Energetic:  Fine officer; promote frequently as he is an asset to be encouraged.

Competent/Lazy: An average officer who won't be of great use, but won't do much harm, either; allow him to progress to his limitations and retire at at a low rank.

Incompetent/Lazy: Absolutely worthless, but he's too lazy to do much harm.  If you can find a place for him, fine.  If not .. that's fine also.

Incompetent/Energetic: A danger to his men, his unit, and his country.  He will attempt the most unreasonable alterations to the unit and will not stop until everyone dies.  Get rid of this officer at your earliest opportunity.

That's an oversimplification, and you should go to the link to examine a more thorough (and well-written) evaluation.

I think Ron Paul has just transitioned from "Competent/Lazy" to "Incompetent/Energetic".  Perhaps he has always fit in this category, but he hasn't made the effort to show his true colors until now.

Google opposes NSA requests for information

(This link may not be available to all users.)

Google has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and also to FBI Directer Mueller ... asking for permission to be able to publicize  National Security Requests that Google gets.    Google in the letter saying that "... assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests give the U.S. Government unfettered access to our users' data ... are simply untrue.  ..... we therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our transparency report aggregate numbers of National Security requests including FISA (?) disclosures in terms of numbers received and their scope."

Following immediately (as it does) on the tail of my last commentary, I find it interesting that the communications magnates which have been tapped by the Federal Government to provide data on their customer contacts has generated public concern on this, at least the first Internet Provider who is anxious to cry: "Hey!  It's not US, it's THEM!" At least, there are some places you can go finger-pointing:

________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: SAME DAY

ACLU sues Obama administration over NSA surveillance

National Security Agency surveillance programs came under more scrutiny Tuesday as the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit and a prominent senator and Internet giant Google called on the Obama administration to disclose more information.
In its lawsuit, the ACLU said an NSA program that harvests phone calls violates the rights of all Americans.
"The program goes far beyond even the permissive limits set by the Patriot Act and represents a gross infringement of the freedom of association and the right to privacy," said Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU's deputy legal director.

 The ACLU is a "Croquet Balls to Prison Walls" legal defense group which takes its defense of Civil Liberties (read: "The Constitution") to extreme measures.  You probably don't always agree with them, but sooner or later they're going to say something which you (perhaps reluctantly) agree with.   They piss me off frequently with their civil action suits, but I have a sneaking admiration for them all the time, even when I don't like their assumed position in interpreting the Constitution.  They are the ONE group in the world which is NEVER going to ignore the foundation of civil law in America.

So when they talk .. it's the fool who doesn't at least listen to what they say, and think carefully, before he goes ahead and curses them "anyway".

The article continues:

... Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters she has asked Gen. Keith Alexander — the head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command — to declassify more information about its phone and Internet surveillance programs.
The goal is "so that we can talk about them, because I think they're really helpful," she said.

 Even Di-Fi has her moments ... which proves the adage that the wise man can even learn from fools.

In its lawsuit — which deals just with the phone call program — the ACLU said that the NSA collection system violates rights of free speech and privacy. The ACLU noted it is a customer of Verizon Business Network Services, the recipient of a secret court order published by The Guardian last week. The order requires Verizon to turn over all phone call details, including who places them, who receives them and when and where they are made.
"The crux of the government's justification for the program is the chilling logic that it can collect everyone's data now and ask questions later," said Alex Abdo, a staff attorney for the ACLU's National Security Project. 

[emphasis added]

I don't know if they're right, or if they're wrong.  All I know is that there is someone asking questions, and they have the weight to demand that the Federal Government not arbitrarily dismiss their questions.

If the ACLU never performs another public service, it is sufficient in that it has called for an  accounting of the acts of our Federal Government, and they will not be ignored.

Where's the Treason, John?

John Bolton to Newsmax: Snowden Traitor Who 'Committed Act of War Against United States':

Edward Snowden is a "traitor" who has "committed an act of war against the United States," former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax. The self-confessed leaker of top-secret documents detailing the National Security Agency's phone- and Internet-surveillance programs is a "deceitful and dishonest man" who violated oaths he undertook to keep secret classified information about a program approved by all three branches of the government to protect Americans, Bolton added. 

 "Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution and it talks about waging war against the United States -- which this is -- and giving aid and comfort to our enemies, and God knows they've gotten a lot of aid and comfort from this release," Bolton said in the interview with Newsmax TV. "Let me ask, who died and made him king? Who gave him the authority to endanger 300 million Americans? That's not the way it works, and if he thinks he can get away with that, he's got another think coming."

As much as I admire the work of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations, he has spoken too emotionally, and too precipitously ... before he was in possession of the facts.

My information is that this information on NSA access to 'communications records' was published in WIRE Magazine in the March issue (2012 or 2013?).

The only thing that SNOWDEN did was to make the information about NSA DataMining more widely publicized ... and nobody can deny that he accomplished that goal.

(Edward Snowden self-outed last weekend.  There is some speculation that, since he made his announcement from Hong Kong, he "may be under Chinese control".)

Since the essentials of the information had already been published,  Snowden offered neither comfort nor aid to the enemy.   What he DID, however, is to violate a Confidentiality Agreement which he signed.  For this he will probably be prosecuted, and rightly so.

He violated a contract, he broke a federal law, and he made a public spectacle of himself.  (Depending on your own personal political views, he may have also made a public hero of him self:  See "The Pentagon Papers" the outing of which made Daniel Ellsberg into a similar icon of either "courage of convictions"  or "cowardly treason" opinions.)

We're all aware of the famous Franklin opion:

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Whether Snowden (or for that matter, Ellsberg ... but as a Vietnam Veteran I will NOT go there!) are dupes or fools, heroes or villains, I'm not prepared to defend my own opinion.

 I recall spending a great deal of time during my college days (1964 -1968) discussing the thesis: "MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG!" 

I argued against the thesis.  I thought that my country should always be right, and if my country was wrong, we should try to be better.  But I still chose to go to Viet Nam in 1969, rather than go to Canada in 1968.  Even though I may not agree with "my government", it's still "my country".

I still would prefer that my country be right, all the time; I'm aware that my country is always populated and led by fallible sinners, and will from time to time do wrong.   We "live in interesting times", our challenges are exceptional,  and we are lead by a man who promised "the Most Transparent" administration. 

It would appear that Mr. Obama is being held to his promise.
At least, I hope so.

[Columnist Mark Thiessen insists in  a video interview that the data mining only connects "known terrorists from outside the United States" with people he connects with ... which allows NSA to track contacts to find other terrorists.  It's confusing to me, but I accept that they are not actually, for example, examining the CONTENT of your emails.  His protestations are that this "... should not outrage anybody ...", but it's not clear why, if this data mining process is so innocuous, the government would have major objections to announcing that it is occurring.]

FOOTNOTE:
For an interesting read, also SEE HERE.

BUI

The Real Erin Brockovich Busted for Boating While Intoxicated | Celebrity Cutous:

Though lots of attention followed her after she inspired the hit 2000 movie, Erin Brockovich may be cursing fame as we now know about her boating while intoxicated arrest on Friday (June 7). After clumsily trying to dock her boat at the Las Vegas Boat Harbor in Lake Mead, Nevada, the environmental activist was taken into custody. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, she failed a sobriety test and blew “significantly” higher than the legal limit of .08 on the breathalyzer. Posting $1,000 bail, Ms. Brockovich was released from jail. Back in 2001, Julia Roberts won a Best Actress Oscar for portraying the fiery legal assistant and single mother.

 BUI .. Boating While Intoxicated

I don't know much about "celebrities" (except that they are sometimes dispicable people with duct-tape personalities and political views which disagree with mine), but it kinda drifts into my head that the life of a Celebrity is not an entire bed of roses.

Poor sweet them, the eyes of the world are upon them.

Rather than to give a rant about how her lawsuit against PGE may perhaps not been entirely justified,  I merely offer the suggestion that being a "Celebrity" is not all it's cracked up to be.

And also ... Sunday is often a "Slow News Day".

Could be worse; she could have been abducted by a UFO and subjected to unspeakable abuse.

Well ... Sunday isn't over yet.  It could happen.

(Ptahhhh!)

The High Price of Gun Control in Colorado

Recall looms for Colorado lawmaker who supported gun control bill | Fox News:

A group of gun-rights activists seeking to oust a top Democratic state lawmaker in Colorado over the passage of strict gun control legislation on Monday turned in double the signatures needed to force a recall election. KDVR reports the group turned in over 16,000 signatures, more than double the 7,178 valid signatures needed, to the Colorado Secretary of State's office in the effort to recall Colorado Senate President John Morse.
 “This sends a strong message,” Rob Harris, who delivered three boxes full of petitions to the office, told KDVR. “We’ve obtained enough signatures to recall a state legislator for the first time in the history of Colorado.” 
The Secretary of State’s office now has 15 days to determine whether enough of the signatures are valid, and then Morse's office has another 15 days to contest the validity of the signatures. Morse tells KDVR he is going to fight the recall effort.

 Let's recap.

Colorado .. which is, after all, a "Western" state, has recently enacted strict gun-control laws against the wishes of a significant percentage of its citizens (leaving out Boulder and Denver which one understands to be bastions of liberal think-speak).

Denver being the capital, and Boulder being .. well, Boulder.  These are two of the biggest three cities in Colorado.

And in Colorado, when you've got two of the three major cities watching your back, you've got most of the liberal population on your side.  Which is to say ... Democrats and Welfare Recipients.

State Senate President Morse is confident, if not complacent.  According to KDVR TV in Denver, Morse intends to challenge the recall proposal:

“We’ll go through these signatures with a fine-toothed comb,” Morse told FOX31 Denver Monday afternoon. “And we’ll file some protests with the Secretary of State’s office because we know a lot of these signatures were gathered based on misinformation and lies.”
...
“This is a hill worth dying on,” Morse said. “This is a fight worth having; it’s a fight we’ve already had on the floor of the Senate; it’s a fight worth winning.”

 Yes .. well ....

Apparently the Democratic State Senate Leader intends to fight the recall on the basis of the legitimacy of the petition signers, rather than on the merits of the measure which lead to this unique citizen's rebellion.   It's important to recognize the unique character of Colorado voters, who have never before become so outraged at a state law that they have made the effort to remove from the senatorial throne the man who is the leader of the state senate, if not the author of the bill.

To this writer, Morse's determination to examine the petition signatures rather than his own obligation to his constituency is typical of the hubris which characterizes politicians who know best what is right for the citizens of his state.    That is to say ... they know what's right, even if the hoi-polloi are too stupid to know what's good for them.

They forget that they are essentially a rural state.  T

The United States House of representatives is based on geographic and population demographics, which makes a farmer easily as important as a welfare recipient;  unlike the U.S. Senate, which accords two senators to each state (making them more attuned to population centers ... major cities .. where the votes are).

State senates tend to be a product of gerrymandering, which allows the senator from a population center to be MORE powerful than a U.S. Representative from a rural counties, in terms of real power on purely state legislation.  And Morse is a product of that political background:  Think ... Tammany Hall, and the Pendergast influence on Western Missouri in the early 1950's.

So, a State Senator in a Rural State may tend to reflect the interests of population centers ... which is  not necessarily the interests of the majority of the "wealth-producing" population of the state.  This is especially true of the 'more powerful' State Senators, such as the President of the Senate.

We can extrapolate (with a bit of finger-puppet magic) the politics of the rural population of Colorado by looking at the web blog of Michael Bane, who has been (a) an influential citizen of Colorado, living in a rural region, for the past then years, and (b) an outspoken opponent to these gun laws for the past few months.

Even though the country mice (to mix metaphors) have a political bent much different from the city mice .. they have not the power to influence events in the State Senate.


As this writer lives in a similarly Democratic state (with conservative rural population) for several decades, this dichotomy is not difficult to understand.   The Grasshoppers (even more mixed metaphors) in The City elect the leading politicians while living on the welfare bread-and-circuses, and the Ants in the rest of the state support them financially.  If not politically.

Getting back to the Colorado Political scene, my guess is that Morse will retain his position after slandering the majority of the Colorado Ants  (The Country Mice) in petition challenges.

And the Grasshoppers (who have no concept of citizenship) will cheer in support of The Golden Rule:

"He who has the Gold, gets to make the Rules".

And that's just the way it is.

New York Times Disses Prez: Nation shocked, SHOCKED!

New York Times editorial board says administration has 'lost all credibility' | Fox News:

The New York Times editorial board, which twice endorsed President Obama and has championed many planks of his agenda, on Thursday turned on the president over the government's mass collection of phone data -- saying the administration has "lost all credibility." 

The grey lady's editorial section lately has shown frustration with the administration's civil liberties record. It has criticized the escalation of the lethal drone program, and it lashed out after the Justice Department acknowledged seizing reporters' phone records last month. 

The report that the National Security Agency has been collecting phone records from millions of Verizon subscribers appeared to be the last straw.

An editorial published late Thursday said the administration was using the "same platitude" it uses in every case of overreach -- that "terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us." 

The editorial continued: "Those reassurances have never been persuasive -- whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency's phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism -- especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability. The administration has now lost all credibility." 

The New York Times, overnight, amended the last line to say: "The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue." 

The editorial board claimed Obama "is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it." 

[emphasis added]

Well, I wanna tell ya, Pilgrim -- the day the Old Grey Lady claims a socialist president has lost credibility is darn sure big news to this cowboy.

This announcement is tantamount to a 50-year-old hooker who decides that street-walking is NOT a good way to pay the rent on her brownstone when she discovers that she caught a social disease. 

We already knew she was a whore, but we never expected her to admit it ... let alone turn her back< on her best client. (Umm ... sorry; an unfortunate choice of words.)

What's the definition of "Premeditated"

Chief says Santa Monica Killings were Premeditated - Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - The gunman who went on a chaotic rampage killing four people before being fatally shot by police at a college campus planned the attack and was capable of firing 1,300 rounds of ammunition, the police chief said Saturday. 
 "Any time someone puts on a vest, of some sort, comes out with a bag full of loaded magazines, has an extra receiver, has a handgun and has a semi-automatic rifle, carjacks folks, goes to a college, kills more people and has to be neutralized at the hands of the police, I would say that that's premeditated," said Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks.

OH.   Okay, since you put it that way ....would anyone be offended if I said that makes a weird sort of sense?

It sort of sounds like Dirty Harry's description of how he determined that the naked man he shot "had intentions of rape".

That's it.  That's the "weird sort of sense" I meant.

Does that make the Santa Monica Police Chief "Dirty Jacqui"?

(PS: No, I'm not going to comment on the "just another spree murder" thingie.  If I sound dismissive, it's because  "The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect and he was shot and killed on the scene,"  and that's the way it should have ended.   Just ... earlier.

Omigawd!

Best of Web 4 - HD - Zapatou - YouTube: Best of Web 4 - HD - Zapatou

My friend The G-Man spends an inordinate part of his time searching for and finding "amazing stuff" on The Web.   He shares these finds with his friends, almost every day.

THIS (full-screen, opens in a new window) is one of the most amazing finds he has sent out lately.

Or you can watch it here, on a much smaller format. It's a Ten Minute melange of clips short enough that NOBODY can get bored no matter how short their attention span.

It's Explosive!

El Presidente

During the past year of teaching an "Introduction to USPSA" class at the Albany (Oregon) Rifle and Pistol Club,  we've re-designed our program to emphasize four priorities:

1. SAFETY!
2. Teach the rules, including the Seven Deadly Sins of IPSC (see below)
3. Provide familiarity with Processes, Procedures, and Range Commands
4. Make it fun!

The first two parts are logically connected, because if you don't know the rules, you don't know what USPSA considers to be an "Unsafe Act".   We teach this in the Classroom Instruction phase of the class.  Although the classroom phase was originally intended to consume only one hour of the three hour class, it has been my experience that it's nearly impossible to adequately cover all of the material in such a short time.   During the longer days of Spring, Summer and Fall I can 'cheat the schedule' by spending more time in the classroom, and still provide the shooters a good two hours in the Live Fire segment.  (In winter .. we're much too hurried.)

The third part is a little complicated, because that mostly develops with drill. Fortunately, we can provide practical experience during the Live Fire segment.  We run it under full-dress USPSA rules of gun handling, and we "mock-DQ" any student to violates a safety rule.  This is embarrassing to the student.   Those lessons are usually learned well .. but not always.

The fourth part ... well, by the time we get to the end of a class, the students are either enervated or they're physically bushed.  They're not disinterested, though, because it's during the Live Fire that they get to shoot!   And that's what we're all there for, ultimately.   The remaining tasks are; (a) to teach them how the scoring system works, and to show them that Practical Pistol competition is fun.   Actually, the expression most commonly used is "What A RUSH!"

Last year (2012) I decided to combine a couple of the technical elements of instruction with a fun wrap-up.

We've been designing teaching stages with three IPSC (Metric) targets set at ten yards away from the shooting box, and two steel targets set at fifteen to twenty yards from the shooting box .. in varying combinations as the exercises become increasingly complicated.  Each stage involves more shots fired, more targets engaged.  The distances vary, and we add the complexities of mandatory reloads, different starting positions, movement, and (time allowing) Strong Hand Only and Weak Hand Only shooting.

All along, we've been teaching students that they must be working for accuracy.  Yes, they have to shoot accurately "quickly", but we assure them that the  "speed will come".  By forcing the students to shoot for A-zone hits, we can help them focus on accurate shooting habits. (Also, can analyze their hit-patterns and suggest ways for them to develop more accurate shooting skills.)

Unfortunately, shooting for A-zone hits is boring.  It seems too much like bullseye-shooting, and usually (if they are experienced shooters and have competed in Shooting Sports) they have already 
"Been There, Done That".  They're looking for something more .. sexy.

All the students see is the raw score minus penalties.  EVERY time they try to push the envelope, they must still meet the accuracy standards or they are reminded (loudly) of "The Most Common Mistake Shooters Make".   That is: shooting too fast.

So for the last exercise of the day, we move the three Metric Targets to Seven Yards, and combine everything they have learned to present:

El Presidente!

In case you forget the exact parameters of the (Classifier 99-11) stage, you can review the USPSA version here.

It's a Virginia Count Stage, three IPSC targets presented 10 yards downrange of the shooter.  Starting position is facing up-range, wrist above shoulders.  On the start signal, turn, draw, and engage each of the three targets with two rounds each.  Make a mandatory reload, and engage each of the three targets with two rounds each.

It's a fast 'n furious speed-shooting stage ... and to make it more rewarding, we move the targets to within seven (7) yards rather than to have them engage them at the ten (10) yards they have become accustomed to, while shooting the cardboard.  That gives them a higher hit factor ...

... but they don't know what hit factor is!

THAT is the other point of the exercise.

They get to "let the dogs out" (they are actively encouraged to see how fast they go, but they are given a practical upper-limit of their stage time of 11 seconds;  if we have a demonstrator, they have the opportunity to observe how he/she shoots it in that time period or less, so they suddenly grasp that time goes slower than perceptions would have you to believe when the targets are so close and fat!)

Not only that, but for the first time in the class we record the points, and the time, for each student.  AND for the Demonstrator.

After all of the students have completed the  final "El Presidente" course of fire, and we have recorded their scores (raw - penalties), we divide each score by their time so we have their hit factor.

Usually, there's a hush on the range when they comprehend where we're going with this.

There's a question on the test:  "Does the fastest shooter win the stage?"  The "by the book" answer is: "NO".  My comment, when we're going through the test questions for discussion, is: "... sometimes the fastest shooter wins!"

They may feel a little betrayed, since they have been castigated for "shooting too fast" and not getting good first-shot hitsm especially when they are shooting at Pepper Poppers and US Poppers for the last three learning stages.  That has introduced them to the reason why shooting fast isn't always the best way to engage a distant, small target.

Now, after they have been convinced that they need to get good hits,  they see that in this kind of stage (when the targets are close and fat) they can get all Alpha-hits and still lose the stage .. dismally!

And the one guy in the class who has been shooting "Spray and Pray" all along?  He often wins the stage.

They go home thinking about this.

This is A Good Thing!

________________________________________________________________________

One of the few difficulties about using "El Presidente" is that there needs to be a final demonstration about just how QUICKLY it can be shot.  If I'm the demonstrator, or if the demonstrator is experienced, the bar is usually set as something around the seven-second mark.  (Even with the occasional MISS, the Hit Factor might look good.)

Tonite I surfed YouTube looking for a good example of El Presidente, and I found this video of Todd Jarrett demonstrating El Presente to a class. He stated that he was trying to beat his best time of 3.71 seconds (with all Alpha hits, one presumes), but whatever, he needed to get a hit on the steel plates he was using for targets.  He ends up, on the third try, with a time of 3.50 with no misses.  An impressive score!

Todd Jarrett Shooting Record (El Presidente) - YouTube: Category Sports License Standard YouTube License



It's an impressive performance, with one slight exception.

Jarrett doesn't shoot the stage in the prescribed Classifier configuration.

His starting position is "hands naturally at sides".   The CM99-11 starting position is " ... wrists above respective shoulders".

No, I couldn't shoot the stage "clean" in under four seconds; my best time is over 2.5 seconds slower, and that with a miss.  So I'm not criticizing the man who is arguably one of the greatest enduring IPSC Champions in the world.

I'm just saying that I can't use that video to demonstrate "How To Shoot El Presente" to my class.  Which is regrettable, of course, but when I'm teaching a class I have no intention of comparing it to how Todd Jarrett teaches a class.

(I teach for free; Jarret charges hundreds of dollars per day; I know the relative value of our experience and expertise, and if Jarrett had every heard of me, he would also know the relative value of our comparative experience and expertise.. )

(On the other hand, he does provide a very important object lesson.  He talks about how  ".. on the second shot, my eyes are already moving to the next target ..." and emphasizes that this A Bad Thing.  ALL experienced shooters have dealt with this, and the better ones have developed a  determination to NOT let their bodies drive the gun against their will.   It's a common failing in IPSC competitors, and would probably serve as an example show that even the best IPSC shooters in the world must constantly work on their technique to reinforce "good habits".)




...

NONE of that takes away from the fun my students have, or the lessons they have learned.  It's not about me; it's about them.

They've learned that ever one wants them to succeed, and to shoot SAFELY, and accurately.  They've also learned that there are times when they need to let it all hang out. And they're the only one in the world who can judge how best to shoot a stage based on their personal skill set.

This lesson may not gestate quickly, but they've been given the seed of doubt.

What they do with it is up to them.

_____________________________________________________________

The Seven Deadly Sins of IPSC

1. MUZZLE (breaking the "180")
2. FINGER (off the trigger when loading, reloading, clearing a malfunction, and when moving except when actually engaging a target)
3. SWEEPING (passing the muzzle of your gun so that it covers a portion of your body)
4. DROPPED GUN (when shooting a stage, a DQ; otherwise, no penalty unless you TOUCH the gun)
5. D&D ("Drunk and Disorderly"; being  under the influence of narcotic, debilitating or intoxicating substances, aggressive behavior which may bring disrepute to the sport)
6. OVER THE HILL (firing a round over the berm, or too close to your self, etc.)
7. CHEATING (any deliberate violation of the rules, especially to gain a competitive advantage, or any other behavior which may bring disrepute to the sport)

Today is SWMBO's Birthday

She would have been 65 years old.

Lest we forget

______________________________________________________________________

.... And lest we forget that she played gun games because they're fun:

three extra videos from 2007:


The Average Joe and Jill


Under Pressure (Three Fat Old Men and One Slender Lady)



SWMBO Takes The Poppers