English Cops Carry Guns into the neighborhood, because ....

The Smallest Minority:

Where they now have some cops foot-patrolling carrying honest-to-jeebus assault rifles: Playground gun law: 

In a grim portrait of modern Britain, rifle-toting police mix with children on estate plagued by gang shootings / Bedfordshire town suffers nine shootings in four month crime wave 

Police say armed patrols in place for 'foreseeable future' to deter violence / Officers with guns and dogs will also be increasing searches to find weapons / With a heavily-armed policeman guarding the playground, assault rifle at the ready, it could be the scene of a terror alert. /  In fact, this is a routine patrol just yards from a suburban primary school. 

The show of force is designed to calm residents of an estate plagued by gang shootings. In the past four months there have been nine gun-related incidents in Luton linked to the Marsh Farm and Lewsey Farm estates. In the latest, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the back early on Saturday morning. He may never walk again. The violence has left law-abiding families so terrified they welcome the patrols, even if they risk scaring children.

Oh dear, this sounds terribly familiar somehow.  Where have I heard it before?

hmmm  could it be that people in America have been saying for YEARS that ... when you guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns?

As usual, Kevin Baker is on the cusp of "What Crap Is Happening Now", and he has presented more content in less words than a team of monkeys could produce in a year of random keyboard-pounding ...... which sounds a lot like Obama's "ObamaCare" bill.

Just our luck; in America, when societal breakdown becomes a fact of life Our President is right there with a sledge hammer to pound his constituency into the Mud and the Blood and the Beer.

Fortunately, we have Great Britain to serve as a horrid example of what we can expect if "The Great One" is allowed to have his way with us.  (Can you say "bend over and smile", children?  I thought you could.)

In the meantime, it seems as if my great purpose in life is to take the example which the estimable Mr. Baker profers via hard work and dedicated research .... and push our collective faces into it until we make soap bubbles in the shit.

Yes, it's a nasty job; but somebody had to do it. And nothing says loving like saying "I Told You So".

What are YOU going to do about it?
____________________________________________

BTW .. after I completed this (atypically  SHORT blog article) I noticed that I had attached the following laels:

• Second Amendment
• Gun Control
• Brits
• Terrorism
• Bad Things

Upon reflection, this all seems terribly ... redundant.  Once you've assigned 'almost' any two of the five categories, the rest follow logically.

Which doesn't say much good for "The Brits", does it?

Notice that I have, in a momentarily admirable show of restraint, I DID manage to avoiding the temptation to add "Obama" to the list of categories.  (I'm just a little proud of this.)  A moment of silence, please, in memory of the LAST time when I resist the quite understandable urge to automatically add "OBAMA" to almost anything which includes any of the other five categories.

After all, he IS The President!  He has shown little restraint when yielding to the temptation to point this out upon the slightest provocation .. as if we could forget!

Reunion

I'm going to.. actually, I just returned from the first event of ,,my last High School Reunion.

Fifty years. FIFTY!

I remember when my mother was planning to attend her 50 year High School Reunion. I thought: "Why? They're all so old, they probably don't ever remember anybody!"

That was several decades ago. Today, I have a somewhat different perspective.

I'm old.

Damn! That's a hard one to get past.

I can do this.  I was a little excited,  a little dubious.  And  a lot apprehensive.  I was, in high-school, not a popular boy.  Got good grades, scored high in my Scholastic Achievement Tests.  (They now call them "SAT" and I suspect they're a lot different.)   But I've always been lazy, and I sure was in high school.

Reunions are a SOCIAL event, and SATs don't do a good job of measuring that.  I was so skinny that my friends use to call me "Zipper".  As in:  "Hey, Zipper!  You're standing sideways to the sun; turn around so I can see you!"  I was never popular with the girls, even though I liked them just fine.

The last time I went to a high school reunion, many of my contemporaries were fat;  I wasn't.  Not revenge, but it was sweet when the ex-cheerleaders came up to ask me how many miles I ran a day.  Yes, I did run regularly, but my body type was protecting me from criticism, not my work-out regimine.

I weighed 170# then; now I weigh over 200#.  Life happens, as well as retirement, age, change in life style.  Some of us, it just takes longer to catch up with us.

Not that I'm worried any more about what people think about me.  You've been reading this blog before?  You may have noticed that I Have An Opinion.  It's a double-bladed sword, Opinion.  When my own matters more than others, does it become "An Issue"?

I don't think so, I'm no longer concerned if my opinion doesn't agree with that of others; but I've had a lot of decades to evaluate myself based on experience ... a factor which was sorely lacking in high school.

Today, I'm not really worried about economic level, body fat index, or other "image" issues.

What I'm worried about is my classmates.

One of whom (JO)  has been doing a terrific job keeping track of her classmates.  She sent group notices (it's something of an "E-List") when something significant happens to a classmate, or their family.  This has been going on for about the past five years, so we kind of are still getting caught up.  She posted a list of classmates who have died .. I was appalled at the decimation of our class!  In the past six months, there have been another half dozen fatalities, mostly due to debilitating disease (heart disease, cancer .. you know the litany of "old people" diseases.  Mostly, the friends and acquaintances who are dying now are the victims of chronic illness.    Very few die due to accident, or violence.  Are we becoming more sedentary, more cautious in our lifestyle?  Or are we just becoming more mundane?

I guess the thing which pulls me back to my high-school classmates is, more than anything, curiosity.  We have been exchanging emails via the E-List for a couple of years.  One of the more creative suggestions was that we contribute a thumb-nail digest of our life . That happened a couple of years ago, and when I posted my bio I was surprised at the way my life had turned.

War, devastating illnesses lost of family and close friends and other loved ones.  Marriage, divorce, jobs won and lost, you name it.  My high school class is a window into the American Experience.

People who wouldn't talk to me in school, are now so mature that our status differences (then) have nothing to do  with today.  Old girl friends, people who were leaders and are now "just people" .. time is the great leveler.   Everybody knew who we were "then"; today, we have no idea, except .. we are survivors.

I have to say, I have a lot more respect for the people we are NOW, than I did when we were "THEN".   Myself included.  The things which were important, seem to be "not so much" now.

Physical Attraction (we're all a lot older, perhaps wiser?)  Who we associate with.  What we do?  

 Our priorities are different.  We're no longer concerned so much about status, as we are about family.  Actually, even being able to participate in this artificial group activity confers an amount of status.   To my great surprise, everyone who met everyone (even though we usually had to consult our name tags to be sure who w e are/were) were delighted to see each other again!  Funny ... the characteristics we demonstrated in high school were a reasonable indicator of who we are today.  Maybe we can talk about "The Formative Years" with a little more authority now, but we are far to polite to say so.

No, that's not quite it.  Subject to future reconsideration, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that --- we were freakin' KIDS then!  Now we still feel like kids, but everyone i met tonite had obviously Learned Something.


Yesterday and Today: two different things!
For the first few reunions, it was all about what college we attended.  Then it was .. what job we were doing, and how much money we earned.  Then we quit bragging about jobs, and money, and the cars we drove.  We started bragging about our kids.  That's when I quit going to reunions, because my children were more important to me than my friends ... my "so-called" friends.

No, I'm understating it.  Simple longevity counts more than we would ever have expected, "THEN".

Interestingly, of the people I use to hang out with in high-school, very few of them have 'publicly' suggested that they will be attending the reunion.  But the information I have is based on this select set of people who have made their email address known, so maybe it's meaningless data.

That's why I was looking forward to the reunion.  I want to see who shows up.  My college roomie .. yeah, I thought he'd be there.  He wasn't tonite  One of my other roomies didn't attend the same school.  One of them was married to a classmate .. he's dead now.

Yesterday I went out to the garage and pulled the box with my high-school and college yearbooks.  I don't have them all, but I wanted to put the names together with the faces.  Curiously, I didn't open a single yearbook;  I just packed them into a cardboard box from a liquor store and set it aside to take with me.  In case anyone is interested in matching faces "THEN" with faces now.   When I packed my car this morning, I didn't put that box in there.  It's not really about "THEN".

It's probably not important to me who the were "THEN".  I'm more interested in who they are "NOW".  It's not that I didn't like them, in high school.  It's that .. I suspect we are not the same people.  Photos are only interesting in retrospect;  they don't even begin to meter "potential".

There are a scant half-dozen people I'm really anxious to meet again (for the first time).  The rest are total strangers who shared only a small number of important experiences.  I met most of them tonite, and I was absolutely delighted to find them warm and welcoming. Some of them even actually knew me!  Well, not until they read the name tag.  In these events, it's a disadvantage to be TALL:  Short People can read the names without being obvious about it;  they don't have to stoop to identify.

------------


Oh, well.    This is pretty much a trip down memory lane, so far.  I'm looking forward to going back.  (Even though according to Thomas Wolfe we "can never go home" .. because home isn't there, any more.)

TOMORROW, the first event is a mile walk down main street, followed by a general meeting at "The Rainbow" (apparently a cafe ... I haven't spent an hour in this town for the past 20 years and it has changed considerably!).  Most of the people at the First-Night Get-Together ( I certainly didn't get my $15 worth of wine .. but it wasn't what I was there for) generally agreed, in whispered private conversations, that "Eight AM and I've got to walk for a mile down Main Street?  No way!  I'll see you for breakfast."

Damn!  

They're not only older , but they're smarter too!

Suicide

Sheriff: Ex-NASCAR driver Dick Trickle dead at 71 | Comcast:

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — There is that lasting image of Dick Trickle in the Winston 500 lighting up a cigarette while driving his stock car with his knees during a caution lap. He places the cigarette through a hole he carved in his helmet for a quick toke and exhales. The green flag hits and out the window goes the cigarette butt and back to racing goes Trickle. ``Dick always had a cigarette lighter in his car,'' said fellow NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine. 

Trickle was a unique driver with a unique name who found cult-like status before his death Thursday. 

Trickle, whose larger-than-life personality and penchant for fun won him legions of fans despite a lack of success beyond the nation's small tracks, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. He was 71. 

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said authorities received a call believed to be from Trickle, who said ``there would be a dead body and it would be his.'' Authorities tried to call the number back, but no one answered. 

Trickle's body was found near his pickup truck at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City, N.C., about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte. Sheriff's Lieutenant Tim Johnson said foul play was not suspected.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I hate suicides!

Not just the act: the people who commit it.

Suicide is the most selfish, uncaring act one person can commit.  It goes directly against the people who care about the person.  In a way, it's worst than rape, treason, murder --- because the suicide cannot be punished more than he punishes himself .. and his victims.

Suicide. "Self Murder", to be precise, supposes that the suicide is the only victim.  That's not true.  Anyone who cared, even tangentially,  is affected.  I've known people who killed themselves, and I've see the effect on family and friends, and friends of family, and families of friends ... oh, it's too much like the "six degrees of separation" to define.

It's complicated.

I do understand that sometimes a suicide is a person who has learned that they have contracted an inoperable disease leading to a painful and ignominious end.  I get that.  And I also know what it's like to watch a loved one die slowly; that person, at the end, has nothing left at all, not even dignity.

Nothing, except integrity.

The family understands, the family eventually accepts, and the family has this last slender thread to help them eventually accept:  "He went down fighting, right to the end."  Or "... he never gave up."   Or "... anyone can live, anyone can die when it's easy; he showed us what courage is all about".

I had an uncle, the meanest man in the world, who never gave a damn for anyone else.  He was a bully, a brute, an abusive husband and father.  A drunkard, a liar, and a cheat.  He would say anything to anyone, and laugh loudest when his crude remarks hurt his victim the most.

But when he was diagnosed with Cancer, he went through the thirty months without a complain.  No, he was not cheerful; he was no less abusive, or unkind, or cruel.  But he never whined. He could have ended his life easily, but he refused to take the "easy out".

I won't call him a man, but I will give him credit for having the backbone to die as he lived; he fought often, he didn't win all or even most of his fights, but he never gave up.

I watched my father die.  I watched my lover die.  Often confused, usually in pain, and it hurt like hell when they died.  We all, family and friends, breathed a private sigh when they finally died.  Nobody said anything of the sort, but we knew that it was a blessing that they didn't have to suffer any more.

And we had respect for them. Our love for them remains untarnished by any last minute of ignominy.

You  can live a life of perfect harmony, and blow it in the last second.

I'm no a Catholic, and I do not agree with many of the tenets of that religion.  But I understand that the Catholic church does not countenance suicide, to the point that they will not allow a suicide to be buried on sacred ground.  I think I understand that. (Am I wrong?  Has the Catholic church changed its policy?  If so, I think it was/would have been a wrong move.  Suicide is Murder.)

There's  also another version of  "suicide".   When, for example, a soldier gives up his life to save his companions.  (I said it was complicated!)  Selfless actions may be 'suicidal', but noble at the same time.   We all recognize this, and know the difference.

One is noble, one is craven.  Even a suicidal person knows the difference.  The difference is in caring more for others than for oneself.

Animals don't suicide; they fight for life unto the very end   Suicides are less than animals.

Lotto Mania in "The State of Fruits and Nuts"

California fuels $550 million Powerball jackpot | General Headlines | Comcast:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The numbers sum up the frenzy that has taken over the Golden State since it became the newest in the nation to join the madness over Powerball, which saw its jackpot soar Thursday to $550 million.

California has sold $83 million worth of Powerball tickets since it started selling them in April and overall has accounted for 11 percent of the game's sales in the country, fueling such fast-growing mega-jackpots like the latest one that has the potential to be a record-breaker.

The state expects to generate well above the originally estimated $50 million for public education, California lottery director Robert O'Neill told The Associated Press.

 There are only two things one can say about this:

1. This is what happens when too many people consider the State Lottery as "My Pension Play";
2. Note the odds of winning are approximately the same if you don't play.

... and that's all I have need to say about it.

It's an I-Pad World. Not!

The Paperless Future - "Emma":

A TV spot from France takes up the debate between 'all digital' and the die-hard defenders of paper.




"The job isn't over until the paper work's done."

(Thanks, & a hat-top to The G-Man)

Why I cancelled my subscription to Time Magazine 25 years ago

A Time for Impassioned Politics - TIME:

    (By Joe Klein Monday, May 13, 2013 ... I know, it's now Saturday, May 11, 2013, but that's the dateline.  Chalk it up to the fact that Time can't even tell the truth about the date, let alone about the TIME)

During the chaotic week of the Boston bomb attacks, Barack Obama finally did something a lot of people had been waiting for: He got angry. In public. In the Rose Garden. It happened after the Senate had shamefully failed to pass a bill, favored by the overwhelming majority of Americans, requiring background checks for gun purchasers. "The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill," he said. "They claimed that it would create some sort of Big Brother gun registry even though the bill did the opposite ... Those lies upset an intense minority of gun owners, and that in turn intimidated a lot of Senators." 

Assorted Republicans were put off by Obama's passion. The conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer falsely claimed that the President had falsely claimed that the background-checks bill would have prevented the Newtown massacre. Krauthammer also said that helping the victims' families lobby for the law was "emotional blackmail." The conservative pundit and former Bush functionary Pete Wehner--who occasionally professes a desire for moderation but just can't help himself when it comes to the President--called Obama's behavior "demagoguery" and described it as a "Lear-like" rage.

 [emphasis added]

 THERE WAS A TIME when I subscribe to both TIME and NEWSWEEK magazines.  I was young, and ignorant/naive, and living in an apartment house in Oakland, California.  (Thank goodness the "Three Strikes Law" doesn't apply to non-felons!)  Besides, my neighbors stole my magazines from the mailbox so frequently, I didn't get to read most of the magazines I had paid for.

Eventually, though, even the highly filtered contend I DID read got through to me.  I realized that the things they were saying in their articles were not "factual reporting" but "emotional reporting".  In a word every political article was slanted ... slanted in a way which was directly opposite of my own personal convictions.

Today, I don't even have my television hooked up to cable, and I get the same or more 'content' from the Internet .. as my access to this article demonstrates.

There's a saying that "no cops are Democrats"; and I suspect the same is true of Military, both active and past-service.  This article is a sterling example why those of us who have put our lives on the line for our community, or for our nation, have rejected the Liberal/Progressive/Democratic party line.

Looking back at the article (scroll back, or check the link), you'll notice that I've high-lighted some of the comments in the original article in red.

Okay, here's the point:

I don't have an issue about the President getting angry, or about TIME applauding his lack of perspective.

Okay, maybe I do, but I get angry all the time and I seem to always be able to justify it, at least in my own mind.  I'm not the President of the greatest nation in the free world, though, so maybe I'm a little bit peeved that the President can't control his own emotions, and couch his expressions in a more civilized manner than a guy in a sloppy home-office in Oregon.

I find it disconcerting that our political leader cannot say that he's unhappy that he hasn't universal approval from his subjects the citizen of his nation without accusing them of lying.

Going back to the original quote, when a media source which is internationally recognized for its integrity uses such phrases as ".... the Senate had shamefully failed to pass a bill   ...", that's a sure sign that this media source has renounced its claim not only to impartial reporting, but to integrity itself.

And when the President claims publicly that some of the media constituents " ... willfully lied ... ", that goes beyond the gentile bounds of public discourse.

The TIMES article goes on to throw the phrase "Shamefully" at least once more.  Where's the Civility?  Where's the Impartiality?  Where's the journalistic integrity?

Gone, in sixty seconds,  like a 1971 Mustang Fastback.

I'm not surprised that TIME magazine could throw its integrity under the bus ... and not even all that surprised that the President would do the same thing.   I'm just really disappointed.

Ike wouldn't have done that.  Nor would even Nixen or Carter.  Or Reagan.  Okay, maybe Clinton; maybe even Ford .. we will never know ... but not Truman or ...

Get the picture?  It's not PRESIDENTIAL!  It's Presidential.

I don't like it when I have to evince respect for a President who seemingly makes every effort to undermine my respect for the office.  I've already given up respect for the man, but I'm loath to give up respect for The Office.

What is going on, when I think about meeting the leader of our nation, and I'm appalled by the prospect that I might actually be expected to shake his hand .. and smile?  There was a time when I thought it would be the greatest honor of my life.

I've given up my dream of going to our nation's capital, to visit The Wall and honor my fallen comrades.  The odds are slim, but still possible, that I might actually meet the President.

It's no longer a dream;

It's a nightmare.

I'm sorry for the demagoguery, but I  just can't help (myself) when it comes to the President.


(Thanx to TIME MAGAZINE for the quote.)

Moving Target, controlled remotely

Shooting Wire:

The Target Is Moving (T.I.M.™) line of electronic target systems features a compact, portable target base which features an interlocking cardboard target. The T.I.M. system offers several operating modes with adjustable speeds and can operate in a 360 degree fashion. With the optional remote control users can control a single target or multitude of targets wirelessly. The system runs for hours on rechargeable AA batteries for ease of use and maximum uptime. Because the target surfaces are cardboard the system is safe to operate at indoor ranges as well as outdoor. T.I.M. can also be deployed in the classroom as a dry fire training or instruction tool.

The T.I.M. target looks good for an indoor training aid.  The target system comes with light-weight cardboard targets on a LOOOOOOOONG arm.  I noticed that in their demonstration video  they have an IPSC "Metric" target propped up in the background.  This suggests that the system WILL handle the bulk and weight of the large cardboard target ... but even though it looks like a fun addition to the variety of shooting challenges presented in IPSC matches, I'm unconvinced that such a small unit can be useful in a competitive environment.

Picture sixty or more competitors running through the stage in a few hours in a hot Summer day.  Worse, during rainy weather (and we have enough of them here) will it function even when wet?

I'm ... not sure.  So I answered their "Contact Us" website page and asked for more information on these and other questions.

At $500 per unit (including remote controller), they're going to have to prove that they're reliable AND durable before any club is going to risk the expense ... even though they do have a free "loaner' program for certified instructors.

My best guess?

The mechanism looks pretty good for indoor training ... but who (other than, perhaps, LEO trainers) is going to put up that kind of money for a pretty toy?

Despite my pessimism, it may be that the manufacturers could use this question to advance development of something that IS applicable to competition.

The first thing is .. we build a very strong shield so I can't hit the motor!

Here's the video:

Gun Crime is DOWN? Who knew?

Have you seen this yet?  Posted TODAY (May 7, 2013), from Allahpundit @ HOT AIR:

 Two new studies: Gun crime has dropped dramatically over last 20 years — and most Americans have no idea � Hot Air: Despite national attention to the issue of firearm violence, most Americans are unaware that gun crime is lower today than it was two decades ago. According to a new Pew Research Center survey, today 56% of Americans believe gun crime is higher than 20 years ago and only 12% think it is lower.

 The article goes on to comment:

And yet, per Pew, just 12 percent of the public has any clue about the dramatic decline in gun crime. On the contrary, a clear majority thinks it’s gone up — despite dutiful news reports whenever the FBI releases its crime data, despite endless (and justified) coverage of the “broken windows” theory and NYC’s celebrated turnaround in crime under Giuliani and Bill Bratton

We talked here about the Broken Windows theory, exactly three months ago today; that was mainly in reference to the slaughter of innocents in Chicago.  You and I are obviously not the only ones who are aware of the theory, and how it has been supported by good results upon its application my municipal authorities.

It's not that there aren't answers to Gun Violence; it's just some people would rather compromise our civil and constitutional rights, than to do something that has been shown to work?

Why is this?  Other than that our "leadership" is arrogant and arbitrary?

The answer is that it's a lot easier to pass more laws than it is to do an honest day's work, for some people.

When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Is your life better now than it was in 2008?

Dillon Precision: Reloaders, Reloading Equipment, Bullet Reloading, Bullet Reloaders


We keep hearing that the demand for firearms, ammunition, reloading supplies is due to 'normal' market pressure.

(click on the image to view it full size)

I've never seen anything like this on Dillon's website before, not even in 2008, when Obama was first elected.

Not that it matters much, since we can't get brass, powder, primer or bullets lately ....

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".

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 .....

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:

"One Death is a tragedy; a Million Deaths is a statistic."

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?

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?

Forbes (March 11, 2013) reports:

"... 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!

Gun Suicide

Oregon gun store owner tried to block troubled woman from buying gun | OregonLive.com:

The woman at the counter of Keith's Sporting Goods wanted a handgun. She wasn't interested in price, quality or how to use it safely. She spoke slowly that day in June as she made one request: Would the clerk load it? 

Maria Ward doesn't judge her customers. Americans have a right to buy firearms, after all. But this woman seemed traumatized. Ward worried she planned to hurt someone. "I'm sorry," Ward told her. "I'm not going to sell you a firearm." Ward, who owns the Gresham gun store with her husband, then did something she'd never done before. She warned the Oregon State Police not to allow anyone else to sell Brenda Nyhof Dunn a gun. 

But the agency, which performs background checks for most gun sales in Oregon, told Ward there was nothing it could do under the law. 

The next day, Nyhof Dunn drove to Dick's Sporting Goods in Gresham. She bought a rifle and ammunition, according to the police report, which included a receipt from the transaction. She paid $10 to have the Oregon State Police perform a background check, which she easily passed. 

Hours later, she fatally shot herself. She was 36.

...

In the movie "Jurassic Park",  the character Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) famously stated: "Life will find a way".

In real life, it is true also that death will find a way.

In America, gun control advocates famously proffer statistics such as "xx.x% of people who kill themselves use a gun", usually phrased to imply that guns are the root cause of many suicides.

They make this statement to advance their thesis; guns are only to kill people, and without guns fewer people would be killed.  Or, fewer would kill themselves.

A February 12, 2013 article in "Psychology Today" offers a different set of statistics:

Japan has averaged over 30,000 suicides annually for the past 14 years. That’s almost 24 suicides per 100,000 people. In America the rate is 12 per 100,000 people, half that of Japan.
Japanese who decide to end their life chose jumping in front of a train, hanging, medication overdose, leaping off a high building or the latest craze -- using common household products to create the poisonous gas hydrogen sulfide.
Statistically most completed suicides in the US are indeed by firearms, simply because they're lethal and readily available. But if they were not, someone who was determined to end his life would find a way to do it, à la Japan.

(This, in spite of the fact that according to a 1993 article published by the Asia Pacific Law Review by Dave Kopel, labeled "Japanese Gun Control"  "... (gun) control in Japan is the most stringent in the Democratic world").

And this beautiful, vital young woman was determined to end her life.

It was her choice.   Was it wrong?  I think so.  I've known more than one person who committed suicide  using a gun.  I've seen the damage it does to their families. Suicide is the most selfish act one person can commit without directly involving another victim.  Some religions consider suicide a mortal sin; which I've always considered  "after the fact judgementalism" but that doesn't necessarily make them wrong.

Brenda Nyhof Dunn was so disappointed in her life, and so eager to end her existence, that nobody could help her.  She had been married, and when that union failed she lapsed into depression.  Her belief in God did not provide the stability she needed.  Her family was as supportive as possible, but she found no solace there, either.   She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but medications and treatment didn't help.  She had committed herself to voluntary hospitalization several times.

Nothing helped.

So she went "gun store" shopping.

The first place she went, the licensed firearm dealer recognized that she had severe emotional problems and refused to sell her a firearm.

Apparently, she learned to modify her dialogue and finally she was able to present herself as a "normal person" when legally purchasing a firearm.

Her determination to end her life was recognized by both mental health professionals and her family and friends, but her name never entered the system which was designed to prevent exactly this kind of tragedy.

The Gun Control Advocates would characterize this story as representing a failure of "The System".  And they would be right.

But they would rectify the situation by imposing more laws.  More restrictions.  More impositions on legal, responsible, SANE gun owners.

Where does it stop?

We cannot stop a determined person from taking her own life.  Existing laws didn't stop Brenda Nyhof Dunn any more than it has stopped criminals from illegally acquiring firearms.

Brenda Nyhof Dunn was a criminal, in the sense that she deliberately broke the law in order to achieve an end which she considered desirable.  And criminals are defined as ... that sort of person.  I mean no disrespect to Brenda Nyhof Dunn or to her friends and family and other people who tried to help her.  It's a definition, not a characterization.


   
More laws are not the answer.  The problem is not one of legality, but of society.

Suicide is illegal in America, as it is in Japan;  but here, there and everywhere it's the one law which mandates punishment only for unsuccessful attempts.   The solution is not to regulate objects, but to provide societal solutions to the most difficult problems imaginable.

I don't have any answers here.   All I know is that legislators have a single hammer .. enacting laws; and to them, every problem looks like a nail.

We've gone about as far as we can with legislation, counseling, and even the love of a family.

Yes, perhaps we can "save just ONE child", but we can't save ALL of the children.

That sounds cold, but today the world seems colder than we can bear.

DIY

"Do It Yourself" (DIY) is probably good advice for "normal" people.  On the other hand, I don't know that many normal people.  Among those fine folks, I do not consider myself a member of that unique and much to be envied confederation.

I don't "DO"  DIY.  I once fell in love with a woman who admired me for my sensitivity.  She explained that for her entire adult life, every time she mentioned that there was a "problem", the men in her life rushed to fix it for her.  She said that I was the first man she ever met who didn't automatically assume that a casual mention of a problem was a challenge to my masculine expertise in fixing her problems for her.

In a rare moment of sanity, I didn't bother to explain that the reason I didn't feel congenitally obligated to "fix things" was because I was incompetent.

Much later in our relationship, I related this story to her:

Once I had a problem with my toilet.  The rod from the flush-handle to the float bowl had corroded to the point where it broke.  It was a two-dollar part, so I bought the replacement part and attempted to remove the flush-handle from the toilet tank.

I turned the nut the wrong way, and thinking it was just stuck I applied a little extra Masculine Muscle to it.

The ceramic tank cracked.  I couldn't replace the tank, because the toilet in the rental house was too old, and no parts were available.  I ended up spending $250 for a new toilet, plus another $*** to hire a plumber to replace it.

(The woman who I was then sharing the house with chided me, saying "why didn't you tell me?  I could have fixed it for you.")

I have never attempted to 'repair' anything more expensive than a kitchen timer since then.  Come to think of it, that repair consisted of tearing apart the old kitchen timer, then throwing away the parts and buying a new kitchen timer.

So for those well-meaning readers who suggest (or think) that I should have applied the DIY solution to my broken car:  thanks, but no thanks.  Experience has proven to my satisfaction that it is ultimately MUCH cheaper for me to hire competent labor, than to break a mechanical object far beyond the original damage and ultimately hire the same person to not only fix the original 'broken-ness'  AND also to repair the damage which I incurred in a misguided attempt to "save money".

I spent 30 years fixing computer software;  but when it comes to mechanical stuff ... I've learned my lesson.

Non-invasive surgery: not next century, but next year?

The Operating Room of the Future - InSightec - Dr. Kobi Vortman Technion Alumnus - YouTube

    (Hat Tip to "The G-Man")

I don't know if this is legitimate, or even 'nearly possible' today.

It's a subject which is very important to me, personally.  If this technology had been available only a few years earlier, and it worked on cancer tumors of the lungs, then my SWMBO would still be joining me at monthly pistol matches.

This is legitimately within the "... if it saves just one child ..." realm of importnace.

Third Time Is The Charm

On March fourth (which is, incidentally, the only date which is a "military command" ... sorry, I can't resist bad puns) I blew up my gun.   See "Geek KaBOOM!"   The gunsmith is still waiting for parts and a 10mm 'reamer', but that looks like it's going to run me around $700.

A couple of weeks later my desktop computer just ... stopped working.  No 'KaBOOM' moment, it was merely a quiet vampire-byte of self-destruction.  It cost exactly $695 to replace it.  And the new computer is not as fast as the one it replaced.

I have been talking (not always here) about how bad luck ALWAYS comes in threes. (Last year it was my dishwasher, my clothes washer, and my clothes drier which all self-destructed in a short time period;  I was lucky, my landlord paid for and installed a used dishwasher at no cost to me.)   In the course of these discussions, I postulated that the third Bad Luck moment would probably be the failure of some expensive mechanical 'thing' which I always take for granted.  Such as, for example, my car.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.  I went to the State Capital this afternoon for a "GRENZ RAY" treatment on my hands (which, incidentally, is working pretty good) and on my way back home I pulled off into a parking lot in Albany to take a cell phone call.   Then I tried to do a 3-point turn to get back onto the street.  My car, the "Damned Old Ford" (DOF) stuttered, and died.

 I spent 40 minutes trying to restart it ... it acted like an ignition problem, or a fuel-pump problem, or maybe electronics.  I don't know, we've already established that I am a deadly force of destruction when it comes to Mechanical Objects (including Light Bulbs).

Finally, I called Triple A.  They sent a tow truck, which carted The DOF and The Geek back home to Wilson Motors.  The Wilson Boys took my name, phone number, and told me to give them two hundred dollars for diagnosis and they would call me in the morning.

Question for the audience:  How much do you think this is going to cost me?

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As an aside, apropos of nothing at all, Colonel Jeff Cooper (in his "Gargantuan Gunsite Gossip" collections, either #1 or #2) had a favorite saying which I am reminded of in moments like this:

There ain't nothing that you can't fix

With seven-hundred dollars and a 30-06

Yes, I have a .30-06.  I'm just tired of having to pony up the $700 every time I turn around.