During my Vietnam tour I spent the majority of time in the First Infantry division. We were 'in the field' all the time, and during the short periods between actual patrols, we rested in Night Defensive Positions (NDP). Most of the time, we were 'assigned' to NDP November 2.
Now, this was a more complex facility (although 'temporary') than it might sound. These were outside of 'secure areas' (read: Saigon) but they were actually large bases. NDP November 2 might actually be considered a FSB (Fire Support Base) because they had a battery 155mm Self-Propelled Guns. These were 6" cannons, mounted on tracks, and they looked like tanks except that they had BIG guns and they could elevate the barrels to engage area targets several miles away from the NDP.
The difference between a NDP and a FSB is that the NDP was actually constructed to serve as a field base for Infantry troops. (We also had elements of the Third of the Fourth Calvery/Tanks working out of the same base.)
"NDP suggests the same kind of situation which was my typical operation; we would go walk through the jungle and every night we would circle wagons and hope nobody found us in the clutter. The actual term for this small-unit Infantry technique is "Night Ambush". Also ... "Hold Your Ass 'Til Daylight". That was the status of our night-time activities, 8 days out of every ten. We would get an occasional night in an NDP, to rest and clean weapons and re-equip and resupply. Once a month we would get a night in the Division Base Camp (at Dian), where we had Filipino Dance Bands to entertain us in the NCO club where beer was ten cents a glass and drinks were a quarter .. but that's another story.
Our infantry (1/16th) battalion would be based from this NDP location. Here we could get hot meals, resupply, clean weapons, and sleep in relatively security. The base was surrounded by large bunkers, and an entire squad would be assigned to each bunker for security .. although actually it was just a place for grunts to get out of the rain and sleep without having to maintain a guard.
Because we also supplied guard for the entire camp.
One night I was designated as Sergeant of the Guard for the entire base. This my first and only experience at this task during my entire period of servitude, and I was a little apprehensive about it.
I knew the drill, because I had been trained in Non-Commissioned Officer Candidate school at Fort Benning in the early months of that same year, 1969.
We knew that the guys manning the bunkers were probably pretty high on Jungle Juice and Juju Sticks by dusk, so we had a special detail of 'volunteers' to mount a formal guard. While the guys were partying and passing out in the bunkers, this guard detail remained alert and sober, usually sitting near or on top of those same bunkers.
My job was to make the rounds and make sure that the guards were doing their job. And to rotate the watch twice a night. We would make a sort of parade of the 'ready' guard, march around the inner perimeter, and relieve each guard. One of the 'ready' guard would replace each guard; the relieved guards joined the parade and when all guards had been relieved they would be taken back to the guard shack and given a 'hot cot' to sleep. The 'resting guard', who had been sleeping in those cots, would be wakened and put in the 'ready guard' ... awake, and alert, but not actually on a guard post.
That way, everybody got a few hours of sleep and everybody served a post. When they weren't sleeping or actually guarding, they were armed and geared up, prepared to serve as a 'ready reaction force'.
My job as supervisor was to insure that the on-duty guards were very alert, and the ready guards were also kept awake and aware of what was happening.
Consequently, when I wasn't changing the guards or making my rounds, I would sit and talk with the ready guards.
No Sleep for Sgt. Geek; but I did get the next day 'excused duty', as did all the guard detail.
While I wasn't checking the line, I was talking with the ready guards. And that was the most illuminating part of the whole exercise; both for me, and apparently for the privates and specialists who made up the guard.
You know how it is when guys get talking in the dark of night. It's even more intense than the late-night bull-sessions I enjoyed in college. But at the same time, different.
I had very much the same conversations on each shift. The guys talked among themselves, but all of them wanted to talk to someone who had a different point of view from theirs.
They asked me questions about army life, army structure, army chain of command. The one point which ALWAYS came up was:
"Hey, Sarge .. you seem okay. So, why are the other sergeants so mean to us?"
I guess it's a product of our society, but American youths even way back then were unaccustomed to being given orders and being expected to carry those orders out promptly, without question, no matter what.
Mostly, we talked about "Discipline".
Discipline is generally and unofficially defined by The Drill Sergeant's Creed: "You do what I say you do!" These guys in the Smokey The Bear Hats that we all met in Basic and Advanced Infantry Training made that their mantra. Trainees (and soldiers) don't get much opportunity to ask WHY they have to do .. whatever they're told to do. They resent it. They didn't grow up that way.
(But of course, many of them did; their mamas replied to "Why?" with "Because I told you to, that's why!" The thing is, these soldiers considered themselves no longer children .. they were all over 18 years old, and thought they should have some say in how they lived their day to day lives.)
So, we talked a LOT about why Sergeants made their life miserable by insisting to immediate, unquestioning obedience to orders.
Note that none of the troops in the night-guard were in my platoon. They were semi-regular posted to the NDP, and they had all pulled guard duty before. I didn't know their names, they forgot mine immediately after I introduced myself to them at the beginning of the night, and they seemed emboldened by their relative anonymity.
Most of them were not attached to units which regularly patrolled the country; they were stuck in limbo. They pulled guard duty night after night, with no explanation 'why' and no understanding of the importance of their mission. Every night, they under the command of a different NCO, and all they knew is that they never got a good night's sleep. So, their 'ready condition' phase turned into their own private bull session.
I was as bored as they were. And almost as confused. But I did have the luxury, if you could call it that, of having spent just barely enough time in the field, and in a command position, that I knew why I had to rely on my men. And I was still enough of a civilian that I understood their confusion.
We talked about what would happen if the base camp got hit by a VC or NVA assault .. surely of larger than company size, probably battalion-sized assault force, at least. It was a big camp. IT had big problems.
I described the scenario:
All of our first-level defenses, barbed wire and sensors and external patrols and sentries and bunkers, would probably already have been neutralized by sappers before we learned we were under attack. That means, all of their friends were dead, all of their support people were dead, and we were under fire from mortars. Things were exploding all over.
Vietnamese allies had been infiltrated by NVE and VC sympathizers, so they knew every inch of the grounds. The Tactical Operations Command (TOC) bunker had been taken out first. There was no command structure beyond the man standing next to you. There was no first, second, or third Line of Defense standing. The VC were inside the wire. They were attacking the bunkers from the back door. They were running freely through the base, trying to reach every level of command and definitely targeting The Guns. And any man standing was a target.
The Ready Reaction Force was the only armed, awake, alert reliable forces available to beat back the attackers. They were confused, in shock, and slow to react. They were not accustomed to combat, and they needed Leadership to coordinate the effort which would, hopefully, beat back the assault.
Push had come to Shove, and they were the only people who were immediately prepared to SHOVE back the infiltrators.
The officers were murdered in their cots. The only command they had was Sergeant, this stranger that they had known for no more than a few hours. Unless they were prepared .. they had the Discipline ... to react immediately and effectively to his commands, they would never see another dawn.
That is why Sergeants were so mean to them. They had gone through both Basic and Advanced Infantry training specifically to learn to obey orders without question. They didn't have enough information individually to react appropriately and effectively. They had the training, they had the courage, but without Leadership they were unable to coordinate their actions to meet the most dangerous threats first.
Yes, I would direct them to protect the officers, even though their buddies in the bunkers were being slaughtered. Their friends couldn't call for outside support; they didn't know how to call in artillery, or an air strike, or call for a Ready Reaction Force from outside the NDP.
Their job was to hold the line until relieved; without the communications provided by their officers, they could not hope to defend the position against overwhelming odds.
I asked them: Do you know where the radios are? Do you know what the call signs are? Do you know how to coordinate relief efforts from Army, Navy and Air Force?
They didn't, of course. I admitted, I didn't know that either. I didn't live there, I was just a guy who was stuck on guard duty, just like they were.
The difference was that I knew what I didn't know.
The difference was that I knew how to do MY job .. which was to hold off the enemy and give Our Side time to mount resistance to an assault.
It was a lot more complicated than that, of course. We spend hours talking about what we should be doing if an attempt was made to over-run the base. We discussed what we would do, individually and as a group, in the (unlikely) even of an attack.
Some of the men had some good ideas. They were unworkable, sometimes, but they began thinking for themselves. By the end of the shift (all three shifts) they had a general idea about the tasks that needed to be done to react to an assault.
And so did I; I admit, I never told them that I hadn't thought through the problem very well. As usual, I learned as much from them as they ever learned from me.
It was strange, that all three shifts on guard duty had much the same questions, much the same responses. Combat is pretty much intuitive, given a standard problem there are standard reactions. And all the men grasped the problem quickly, after the questions had been defined. Who goes where, when and why. What are the priorities? (Alert the base, protect the leadership, resist infiltration, roaming guards through the interior, quick reaction to nodes of infiltration .. etc.)
These men were not stupid; they were just uninformed.
They viewed their duty as a personal inconvenience. They didn't see it as an End Of The World exercise. They didn't know that their personal survival, and the survival of everyone they knew within a few hundred yards radius, depended on them.
The last question came up on every shift:
"Why didn't anyone ever tell us this shit?"
I didn't have an answer to this question.
Well, I did. It had never occurred to me that these men .. privates, PFC's, Specialists, Expendables ... had never been informed of the importance of their duties.
I had been "in-country" for months, working with men who were in the bush every day for weeks at a time. I thought that every infantryman understood the principles of Duty, Honor, Courage, and fighting for their brothers.
=============
Some months after .. I had been transferred to the 25th Infantry Division ("Tropical Lightening", rather than "The Big Red One") and I was stationed "Back in the Rear with the Gear". My company "Re-Up NCO" had the obligatory chat with me in the mess hall. He offered me an immediate promotion to E-7 (Sergeant First Class) if I would only re-enlist for another four year tour.
I performed the obligatory function: I laughed in his face. There was no way I was going to serve in this army for another four years, with no hope of a promotion for the next decade. I would have already had four 'advanced promotions'; from Private First Class to Corporal to go to Non-Commissioned Officer School, then awarded Staff Sergeant rank (E-6) skipping Sergeant (E-5) as an Honor Graduate. Then I would have been jumped to SFC (E-7) by merely re-enlisting for another four years?
And I had only been in the Army for less than two years? I didn't know squat, but they were willing to make me a Senior NCO?
As Groucho Marx once famously said: "I would never join a club which would have me as a member".
Still, even while I was refusing what I considered to be a somewhat dubious honor, I was thinking back:
"Why didn't anyone ever tell us this shit?"
How the Elephant every got into my pajamas, I never knew.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Texas refuses to give back lethal drugs, proceeds with execution
Texas refuses to give back lethal drugs, proceeds with execution | Fox News:By Barnini Chakraborty
Published October 09, 2013 AP
WASHINGTON –
I don't understand the controversy. Do you?
Let's recap:
Previously (and in some states, currently) execution of murderers involved hanging, firing squad, and the ever-hated Electric Chair.
[See: "The Green Mile", a Tom Hanks movie, which illustrates graphically the pain and suffering of an electrocution 'gone wrong'.]
I do agree that it's a tragedy that any government finds it necessary to execute anyone ... but in the words of somebody-or-other: "Some men just needed killing". But death by lethal injection seems relatively --- well, "benign" isn't the right word; how about "less macabre"?
Let's look at the prisoner, Michael Yowell (43):
Shot his father; that's not good.
Beat and strangled his mother; no love lost there.
Blew up his grandmother in the house; a total disregard for human life.
And Texas wanted to kill this paragon of virtue by injecting lethal drugs into his system? What's the downside here?
It turns out that the downside (other than people who are morally outraged by state executions, and I can't say I'm entirely unsympathetic to their moral position) is that ...
... the drugs were "dangerous".
Texas had the goal of killing this killer ... removing him from the gene pool ... and the issue is that the drugs used were NOT SAFE?
I blame this confusion on the authors of the article, who were Not Clear On The Concept.
A Texas man convicted of killing his parents was executed as planned Wednesday night despite a growing controversy over the drug used to carry out the punishment.
Last week, state prison officials refused a request from the compounding pharmacy that created and sold Texas the pentobarbital -- a single-dose drug used in executions -- to return the drug.
Jasper Lovoi, owner of The Woodlands Compounding Pharmacy, claims Texas authorities put him “in the middle of a firestorm” of protesters, hate calls and press requests after letting it leak that he sold eight 2.5-gram doses of pentobarbital to the state for upcoming executions. Lovoi says he had been promised anonymity by the state.
But Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the department bought the drug vials legally and won’t return them. Clark said the state has enough vials to carry out scheduled executions for the remainder of the year.
I don't understand the controversy. Do you?
Let's recap:
Previously (and in some states, currently) execution of murderers involved hanging, firing squad, and the ever-hated Electric Chair.
[See: "The Green Mile", a Tom Hanks movie, which illustrates graphically the pain and suffering of an electrocution 'gone wrong'.]
I do agree that it's a tragedy that any government finds it necessary to execute anyone ... but in the words of somebody-or-other: "Some men just needed killing". But death by lethal injection seems relatively --- well, "benign" isn't the right word; how about "less macabre"?
Let's look at the prisoner, Michael Yowell (43):
Yowell was convicted of killing his parents, Johnny and Carol Yowell, in 1998 and setting fire to their home in Lubbock, Texas. According to court records, Yowell told authorities he shot his father and then beat, strangled and killed his mother. He then blew up the house.
Yowell’s grandmother, who lived with them, was killed though Yowell was not convicted in her death.I don't know about you, but Mr. Yowell sounds like a thoroughly Bad Man to me. Texans, you see, have this strange idea that people who will kill their family will probably not hesitate to kill anyone else. Texas wishes to discourages this kind of Bad Behavior, in the strongest possible manner.
Shot his father; that's not good.
Beat and strangled his mother; no love lost there.
Blew up his grandmother in the house; a total disregard for human life.
And Texas wanted to kill this paragon of virtue by injecting lethal drugs into his system? What's the downside here?
It turns out that the downside (other than people who are morally outraged by state executions, and I can't say I'm entirely unsympathetic to their moral position) is that ...
... the drugs were "dangerous".
Compounding pharmacies allow certified specialists to mix ingredients for medicine themselves and sell them. For example, if there is only an adult-dose of a particular drug available, compounding pharmacists can manipulate the active ingredients and change the dosage or strength.Give - me - a - break.
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not vouch for the validity, safety or effectiveness of drugs made in compounding pharmacies.
Earlier this year, these new go-to drug dens came under scrutiny following a deadly meningitis outbreak that was linked to contaminated injections made at a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy.
Texas had the goal of killing this killer ... removing him from the gene pool ... and the issue is that the drugs used were NOT SAFE?
I blame this confusion on the authors of the article, who were Not Clear On The Concept.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
it's always nice to know that somebody's reading this tripe .
Zeta Woof: Friday, October 4, 2013
QOTD
Link to the original Geek Article here. The comment is near the bottom of the article.
And yes, the comment was fully "Tongue In Cheek".
We are unable to confirm the rumor that the man who set himself on fire on the National Mall was the lead programmer of the [Obamacare] website
— Jerry The Geek
LOL, as the kids say.
posted by Gordon R. Durand at 5:57 PM
Link to the original Geek Article here. The comment is near the bottom of the article.
And yes, the comment was fully "Tongue In Cheek".
NBC BAILS OUT ON SHOOTING SPORTS PROGRAMMING?
The Shooting Wire for Wednesday, October 9
NBC Sports Pulls Out of SHOT Show and Plug on "Under Wild Skies"
Citing "business reasons" NBC Sports has confirmed to Variety magazine that after several years of supporting the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trades Show (SHOT), it will not be a sponsor in 2014. An NBC Sports representative told Variety "...this January we will not be sponsoring the show because it does not make business sense for us at this time." NBC Sports execs will, however, be attending SHOT to "meet with clients." Those "clients" will not include the NRA's "Under Wild Skies" - Variety also reported the network had pulled the plug on that show after host Tony Makris shot an elephant in a September 22 episode and then compared critics of the shooting to Hitler.
I'm not sure if I understand this correctly.
Has NBC (Sports) made the determination to discontinue Shooting Sports coverage because somebody shot an elephant 'on camera'?
Grouch ("I once shot an elephant in my pajamas; how he got into my pajamas I'll never know") Marx
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Where's my $10k? Ugly!
Pentagon freezes death benefits for fallen soldiers' families | Fox News:
Okay, that's going too far.
It has become obvious that the Obama Administration has picked the most horrible and intrusive of all possible spending cuts in order to make the "Governmental Shutdown" a crisis which must be shared by the American People. A "responsible" president would do his best to make the current budgetary crisis as painless as possible to the American People. Mr. Obama, in contrast, has clearly made it as painful as possible.
And in doing so, he has revealed the absolute contempt he has for both the citizenry in general, and the military in particular. He has forced our Military to think about their families, instead of focusing on their duties. That is characteristic of a society which is familial in nature, rather than national. It is a lower form of society.
Obama clearly hates us. We are not 'his people'. Instead, we are pawns to be manipulated in his global chess game.
Any man who accepts the honor of his office would be grateful to the American People. It is only a low mean-spirited man who would take this national crisis to demonstrate his disregard for those who stand between us, and our enemies.
"The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend."
That is an aphorism which the entire world acknowledges.
"The Enemy of my Friend my Enemy."
Is that where we are now?
This goes far beyond party politics. This is just ... ugly.
American soldiers have a petty insurance policy; and BTW, there is no Life Insurance policy which pays Death Benefits as a consequence of "War or Civil Disobedience". Except for the Federal Death Benefits.
The families of a serviceman who is killed in action has only a small amount of compensation to look forward to. At the time of my military service (1968-1970), that was $10,000.
It's a little bit different, today:
It doesn't make much difference, one suspects, to the family of the Fallen Soldier.
And it doesn't make much difference to me.
All of this looks like ObamaCare, from here.
If you're not clear on the concept, think: "Hate Crime"
He who hates .. not just the Military, or its members, but their families?
He hates America.
Mr. Obama, you are NOT looking very American today.
It's another ugly symptom of the partial government shutdown -- and this time it impacts the families of soldiers who are dying for their country.
The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that, as long as the budget impasse lasts, it will not be able to pay death benefits to the families of troops who've been killed in combat.
"Unfortunately, as a result of the shutdown, we do not have the legal authority to make death gratuity payments at this time," said Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Defense Department spokesman. "However, we are keeping a close eye on those survivors who have lost loved ones serving in the Department of Defense."
House lawmakers, though, are planning to vote Wednesday on a bill to restore funding for the payments. And Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday accused the Obama administration of needlessly withholding the money.What are the economic measures Obama is taking to economize while the "Federal Shakedown" efforts are being instituted?
- Closing national parks .. okay, it costs a LOT of money to keep a park open. I'm sure it only SOUNDS petty.
- Closing national monuments ... how much does it cost to keep the WWII monument accessible from the sidewalk?
- Closing the ocean? I'm sure it takes more money to keep rangers patrolling the bay to save boaters and fishermen, than it takes to keep boaters and fishermen from going out on their boats to fish. Or ... not!
- Defunding death benefits for U.S. military families who have lost their members due to combat?
Okay, that's going too far.
It has become obvious that the Obama Administration has picked the most horrible and intrusive of all possible spending cuts in order to make the "Governmental Shutdown" a crisis which must be shared by the American People. A "responsible" president would do his best to make the current budgetary crisis as painless as possible to the American People. Mr. Obama, in contrast, has clearly made it as painful as possible.
And in doing so, he has revealed the absolute contempt he has for both the citizenry in general, and the military in particular. He has forced our Military to think about their families, instead of focusing on their duties. That is characteristic of a society which is familial in nature, rather than national. It is a lower form of society.
Obama clearly hates us. We are not 'his people'. Instead, we are pawns to be manipulated in his global chess game.
Any man who accepts the honor of his office would be grateful to the American People. It is only a low mean-spirited man who would take this national crisis to demonstrate his disregard for those who stand between us, and our enemies.
"The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend."
That is an aphorism which the entire world acknowledges.
"The Enemy of my Friend my Enemy."
Is that where we are now?
This goes far beyond party politics. This is just ... ugly.
American soldiers have a petty insurance policy; and BTW, there is no Life Insurance policy which pays Death Benefits as a consequence of "War or Civil Disobedience". Except for the Federal Death Benefits.
The families of a serviceman who is killed in action has only a small amount of compensation to look forward to. At the time of my military service (1968-1970), that was $10,000.
It's a little bit different, today:
Death Gratuity. The military "death gratuity" is aIt's not clear how extensive this cessation of death benefits extends; perhaps it's only non-Active Duty (IDT or ADT) benefits which are being curtailed.lump sum gratuitous payment made by the military to eligible beneficiaries of a member who dies on Active Duty (AD), Active Duty for Training (ADT), or Initial Duty Training (IDT), or full-time National Guard duty. Its purpose is to help the survivors in their readjustment and to aid them in meeting immediate expenses incurred. The death gratuity payment is $12,420, and is non-taxable. For those whose death is as a result of hostile actions and occurred in a designated combat operation or combat zone or while training for combat or performing hazardous duty, the payment is $100,000.
It doesn't make much difference, one suspects, to the family of the Fallen Soldier.
And it doesn't make much difference to me.
All of this looks like ObamaCare, from here.
If you're not clear on the concept, think: "Hate Crime"
He who hates .. not just the Military, or its members, but their families?
He hates America.
Mr. Obama, you are NOT looking very American today.
Monday, October 07, 2013
▶ The "Black NRA"
▶ ZoNATION The Black N.R.A.? More like the Fake N.R.-eh? - YouTube:
Published on Sep 20, 2013
Funny Or Die is a website which presents "funny" videos ... usually of professional Comedians ... which are often bawdy. I've linked to their material here before.
Saraj Silverman is a lady who has a large following of comedy lovers, and she's not afraid to offend her viewers. She is also very liberal. (In that 2008 example of one of her F.O.D. routines, she compares her "Nana" with a "Young Black Man". She's trying to convince her audience that they should vote for B.H. Obama, who she obviously admires.)
She recently contributed a comedic skit entitled "The Black NRA". I'll let you decide for yourself.
Yes, Gangs are a problem in the Inner City. Silverman's skit suggests that all young black men are gang members. Some people found her blanket characterization offensive.
"Can't You Take A Joke?"
Yes, Gangs are a problem. But not all young black men are gangsters. Not all gangsters are young black men.
Blanket characterization of a specific population segment (ethnic, race, creed, religion, etc.) is called "Profiling". Liberals think that the EVIL Republicans do this too often, and that it is wrong. When 'they' (conservatives) do it.
But when THEY (liberals) do it, it's okay. "It's a joke, get it?" Think of the most racist joke you have ever heard; was it acceptable because it was intended to be a joke?
Not all Southern Democrats are the same. Not all Liberals are the same. Not all Conservatives are the same. Not all comedians are the same.
But Liberals tend to have a blind spot. When they demonstrate their racist tendencies, they believe they should be granted a "pass" on the racism issue. The things they say are okay; but if a Conservative said the same thing, they would be labelled a Racist.
Unfortunately, too many people in this country buy into their monolithic schtick. Specificly, Black Conservatives are, in their mind, "Not Black Enough". So the Liberals don't mind if they offend Black Conservatives.
They call them "Oreos" or "Coconuts" ... black on the outside, white on the inside.
That's profiling.
But it's okay if THEY do it.
Published on Sep 20, 2013
Sarah Silverman's Funny or Die video should probably die, but not by shooting.
Funny Or Die is a website which presents "funny" videos ... usually of professional Comedians ... which are often bawdy. I've linked to their material here before.
Saraj Silverman is a lady who has a large following of comedy lovers, and she's not afraid to offend her viewers. She is also very liberal. (In that 2008 example of one of her F.O.D. routines, she compares her "Nana" with a "Young Black Man". She's trying to convince her audience that they should vote for B.H. Obama, who she obviously admires.)
She recently contributed a comedic skit entitled "The Black NRA". I'll let you decide for yourself.
Yes, Gangs are a problem in the Inner City. Silverman's skit suggests that all young black men are gang members. Some people found her blanket characterization offensive.
"Can't You Take A Joke?"
Yes, Gangs are a problem. But not all young black men are gangsters. Not all gangsters are young black men.
Blanket characterization of a specific population segment (ethnic, race, creed, religion, etc.) is called "Profiling". Liberals think that the EVIL Republicans do this too often, and that it is wrong. When 'they' (conservatives) do it.
But when THEY (liberals) do it, it's okay. "It's a joke, get it?" Think of the most racist joke you have ever heard; was it acceptable because it was intended to be a joke?
Not all Southern Democrats are the same. Not all Liberals are the same. Not all Conservatives are the same. Not all comedians are the same.
But Liberals tend to have a blind spot. When they demonstrate their racist tendencies, they believe they should be granted a "pass" on the racism issue. The things they say are okay; but if a Conservative said the same thing, they would be labelled a Racist.
Unfortunately, too many people in this country buy into their monolithic schtick. Specificly, Black Conservatives are, in their mind, "Not Black Enough". So the Liberals don't mind if they offend Black Conservatives.
They call them "Oreos" or "Coconuts" ... black on the outside, white on the inside.
That's profiling.
But it's okay if THEY do it.
Friday, October 04, 2013
Feds set repairs on glitchy health care website
Feds set repairs on glitchy health care website | Political Headlines | Comcast:
Why are we not surprised?
They had to activate the website, before they could see what it was.
We are unable to confirm the rumor that the man who set himself on fire on the National Mall was the lead programmer of the website.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bedeviled by technology glitches that frustrated millions of consumers, the Obama administration is taking down its health overhaul website for repairs this weekend. Enrollment functions of the healthcare.gov site will be unavailable during off-peak hours, the Health and Human Services Department said Friday.
The department did not release a schedule for hours of operation, but an HHS spokeswoman said the site would be taken down at 1 a.m. EDT each night for a few hours. The website will remain open for general information.
Technology problems overwhelmed the launch of new health insurance markets Tuesday, embarrassing the administration just when the health care law was supposed to be introduced to average consumers.
"Americans have seen once again that Obamacare is not ready for prime time," Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 House Republican, said in a statement. "A dysfunctional website is the least of that law's problems."
Why are we not surprised?
They had to activate the website, before they could see what it was.
We are unable to confirm the rumor that the man who set himself on fire on the National Mall was the lead programmer of the website.
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Government Shut-down
Gov't shutdown: No progress on ending stalemate | General Headlines | Comcast:
We saw this in the Clinton Administration .. we've seen it so many times before. And it's all Politics, press releases generated by the Presidency and designed to frighten us with the prospect of "essential services" curtailed.
The goal is to encourage us to talk to our congress-critters and convince them to .. well, do whatever we can to pressure the into stop pressuring our Federal Government.
Didn't happen before; won't happen again.
Here's a thought: Why don't the President, and all the Legislators and all the President's Men .... just curtail their own monthly salary?
It won't make a big difference, but it will show how dedicated they are to achieving some sort of unanimity.
Oh, they won't even do that? Okay, that is a significant indicator.
It's all politics, all the time. You know it, I know it, and they know it. It's just that none of our elected representatives (You know .. the guys whose salary we pay?) are willing to actually commit themselves to the same penalties we experience when WE can't pay OUR bills!
What a bunch of morons!
WASHINGTON (AP) —Oh, this is SO bogus!
The political stare-down on Capitol Hill shows no signs of easing, leaving federal government functions — from informational websites, to national parks, to processing veterans' claims — in limbo from coast to coast. Lawmakers in both parties ominously suggested the partial shutdown might last for weeks.
A funding cutoff for much of the government began Tuesday as a Republican effort to kill or delay the nation's health care law stalled action on a short-term, traditionally routine spending bill.
Republicans pivoted to a strategy to try to reopen the government piecemeal but were unable to immediately advance the idea in the House.
National parks like Yellowstone and Alcatraz Island were shuttered, government websites went dark and hundreds of thousands of nonessential workers reported for a half-day to fill out time cards, hand in their government cellphones and laptops, and change voicemail messages to gird for a deepening shutdown.
The Defense Department said it wasn't clear that service academies would be able to participate in sports, putting Saturday's Army vs. Boston College and Air Force vs. Navy football games on hold, with a decision to be made Thursday.
We saw this in the Clinton Administration .. we've seen it so many times before. And it's all Politics, press releases generated by the Presidency and designed to frighten us with the prospect of "essential services" curtailed.
The goal is to encourage us to talk to our congress-critters and convince them to .. well, do whatever we can to pressure the into stop pressuring our Federal Government.
Didn't happen before; won't happen again.
Here's a thought: Why don't the President, and all the Legislators and all the President's Men .... just curtail their own monthly salary?
It won't make a big difference, but it will show how dedicated they are to achieving some sort of unanimity.
Oh, they won't even do that? Okay, that is a significant indicator.
It's all politics, all the time. You know it, I know it, and they know it. It's just that none of our elected representatives (You know .. the guys whose salary we pay?) are willing to actually commit themselves to the same penalties we experience when WE can't pay OUR bills!
What a bunch of morons!
Airsoft .. BAD! No kid gets to play with them!
7th-graders suspended for playing with airsoft gun in own yard | Fox News:
They were awesome!
They had real cartridges, with a 'bullet' that was the length of the 'cartridge'.
The deal was, you pulled the 'bullet' out of the 'cartridge' and put a "cap" (percussion-initiated firing device .. okay, you had to be there to know what a "cap" was and what a "cap gun" was) between the "bullet" and the "cartridge".
Then you loaded all six into the cylinders of your cowboy gun, and you were set to shoot six caps!
This was a bit less firepower than the regular cap guns, where you loaded a roll of caps and could shoot up to 100 times with realistic sound effects. At the same time, it was more "realistic" because you were loading real ammunition!
Okay, there were no projectiles; just sound effects. But at the time I still considered it "awsome" although the term was not in common usage.
So, I'm wondering about my neighbors.
They had to see me loading cartridges into my twin six-guns, and shooting them at my friends.
Why didn't my neighbors report me to the police?
Could it be .. they were sane?
I consider myself much more fortunate in my childhood than Khalid Caraballo and Aidan Clark
Their neighbors are a bunch of Ninnys.
I only say that because I'm feeling kind, and I won't use the foul language which describes my true feelings about them. And the school board, too.
(Go to the link, see the video. These are good kids.)
____________________________________
Another example of "Zero Tolerance" policies:
7th grader suspended for small gun keychain | Fox News Video
Two seventh-grade students in Virginia Beach, Va., were handed long-term suspensions Tuesday that will last until the end of the school year for playing with an airsoft gun in one of their front yards while waiting for the school bus.I remember when I was a kid, somewhat younger than the kids cited in this article, I had a pair of cap guns.
WAVY-TV reports that 13-year-old Khalid Caraballo and Aidan Clark will face an additional hearing in January to determine if they will be expelled for "possession, handling and use of a firearm" because the guns were fired at two others playing in Caraballo's yard.
A neighbor saw Khalid shooting the airsoft gun in his yard and called 911, telling the dispatcher, "He is pointing the gun, and it looks like there's a target in a tree in his front yard," the station reported.
They were awesome!
They had real cartridges, with a 'bullet' that was the length of the 'cartridge'.
The deal was, you pulled the 'bullet' out of the 'cartridge' and put a "cap" (percussion-initiated firing device .. okay, you had to be there to know what a "cap" was and what a "cap gun" was) between the "bullet" and the "cartridge".
Then you loaded all six into the cylinders of your cowboy gun, and you were set to shoot six caps!
This was a bit less firepower than the regular cap guns, where you loaded a roll of caps and could shoot up to 100 times with realistic sound effects. At the same time, it was more "realistic" because you were loading real ammunition!
Okay, there were no projectiles; just sound effects. But at the time I still considered it "awsome" although the term was not in common usage.
So, I'm wondering about my neighbors.
They had to see me loading cartridges into my twin six-guns, and shooting them at my friends.
Why didn't my neighbors report me to the police?
Could it be .. they were sane?
I consider myself much more fortunate in my childhood than Khalid Caraballo and Aidan Clark
Their neighbors are a bunch of Ninnys.
I only say that because I'm feeling kind, and I won't use the foul language which describes my true feelings about them. And the school board, too.
(Go to the link, see the video. These are good kids.)
____________________________________
Another example of "Zero Tolerance" policies:
7th grader suspended for small gun keychain | Fox News Video
Another Northern California county votes to secede from state
Another Northern California county votes to secede from state | Fox News:
We're just saying that some people are "voting with their feet".
And that's a good thing --- isn't it? Was this country not founded on the principle of "Principled Dissent"?
(No, I'm not going to move to Jefferson County. At least, not this week.)
\
A second far Northern California county has voted to secede from the state after Modoc County supervisors voted 4-0 in favor of secession.We're not saying that this decision by otherwise 'normal people' was influenced by Secretary of State (and "Unfit To Lead") John Kerry's signing the United Nation's International Arms Control Treaty.
The vote on Friday comes just weeks after neighboring Siskiyou County voted for secession, according to the Record Searchlight of Redding.
Modoc County Board Chairwoman Geri Byrne tells the Record Searchlight that she put the secession measure forward after hearing support for the idea from people in her district.
"We're not saying we're seceding today, we're saying let's look into it," Byrne said.
The goal is to form a separate state called Jefferson that would also include parts of Southern Oregon. The idea for the state goes back to the 19th century.
Many of the residents of the rural counties along the Oregon-California border have long felt that those in the urban halls of power in both states ignore their needs.
We're just saying that some people are "voting with their feet".
And that's a good thing --- isn't it? Was this country not founded on the principle of "Principled Dissent"?
(No, I'm not going to move to Jefferson County. At least, not this week.)
\
Kerry signs UN arms treaty
Kerry signs UN arms treaty, senators threaten to block it | Fox News:
And, I think, they are right.
The Constitution imposes some limits on treaties. Specifically, any treaty which infringes on American Constitutional Rights is compared to the rights of American, and in any contest between treaty and Constitution, the Constitution wins.
What is ignored in the discussion is that Congress and the Supreme Court can join to determine that or any governmental activity selected by Federal, or even State government, do not necessarily enjoy the protection of the Constitution.
Witness the seizure of private property in recent years to build shopping malls. The Constitution states that confiscation of private property requires several tests to be met, including appropriate compensation and that the property be used for the "public good". But events have shown that the expropriation of private property sometimes benefits developers more than "the public good", and compensation rarely leaves property owners in a state of equilibrium; more often, home-owners are left relatively destitute, with insufficient compensation to purchase an equitable property elsewhere.
At the risk of sounding alarmist, it seems to me that a corresponding risk is involved in this nonsensical treaty.
Our government has signed what is essentially an "agreement in principle".
Essentially, this means (in this limited case) that America agrees that the sale of arms is 'a bad thing', and has here agreed to strictly limit the international sale of arms. The terms have not necessarily been defined, but essentially the American Government has agreed to need to limit the importation of arms.
Thank God for Smyrna!
Yes, you will still be able to buy your Glock, because has probably been manufactured in America. But any firearm which is manufactured outside the Continental United States of America is subject to a legal Blockade.
Why?
Because America has just agreed that foreign interests will be allowed to interdict sales to Americans from firearms manufactured outside the country.
Mister Kettle, PLEASE stop criticizing Mister Pot!
From this point on, it is entirely possible that law-abiding firearms owners in America will be proscribed from buying firearms manufactured outside the country (imports).
Why?
Because YOU, Mister or Miss Legal Firearms Owner, have just been (internationally) equated to Mass Murderers in Durfur. Or machete wielders in Rwanda. Or any other radical group which uses massacres to achieve their political or religious goals .. which are with increasing frequency achieved by genocide.
Of course, nobody is suggesting that this is a federal effort to support Mr. Obama's "Gun Control" agenda. And nobody is saying that imported firearms have ever been identified as a contributing factor to mass slayings in schools, churches, or shopping malls .. which, incidentally, are notoriously identified as "Gun Free Zones"
It just .. seemed like The Right Thing To Do.
Everyone is doing it. Why shouldn't we?
Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday signed a controversial U.N. treaty on arms regulation, riling U.S. lawmakers who vow the Senate will not ratify the agreement.The nation's press rushes to assures America that this will not infringe upon the Second Amendment.
As he signed the document, Kerry called the treaty a "significant step" in addressing illegal gun sales, while claiming it would also protect gun rights.
"This is about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue actors. This is about reducing the risk of international transfers of conventional arms that will be used to carry out the world's worst crimes. This is about keeping Americans safe and keeping America strong," he said. "This treaty will not diminish anyone's freedom. In fact, the treaty recognizes the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legitimate purposes."
U.S. lawmakers, though, have long claimed the treaty could lead to new gun control measures. They note the U.S. Senate has final say on whether to approve the agreement.
And, I think, they are right.
The Constitution imposes some limits on treaties. Specifically, any treaty which infringes on American Constitutional Rights is compared to the rights of American, and in any contest between treaty and Constitution, the Constitution wins.
What is ignored in the discussion is that Congress and the Supreme Court can join to determine that or any governmental activity selected by Federal, or even State government, do not necessarily enjoy the protection of the Constitution.
Witness the seizure of private property in recent years to build shopping malls. The Constitution states that confiscation of private property requires several tests to be met, including appropriate compensation and that the property be used for the "public good". But events have shown that the expropriation of private property sometimes benefits developers more than "the public good", and compensation rarely leaves property owners in a state of equilibrium; more often, home-owners are left relatively destitute, with insufficient compensation to purchase an equitable property elsewhere.
At the risk of sounding alarmist, it seems to me that a corresponding risk is involved in this nonsensical treaty.
Our government has signed what is essentially an "agreement in principle".
Essentially, this means (in this limited case) that America agrees that the sale of arms is 'a bad thing', and has here agreed to strictly limit the international sale of arms. The terms have not necessarily been defined, but essentially the American Government has agreed to need to limit the importation of arms.
Thank God for Smyrna!
Yes, you will still be able to buy your Glock, because has probably been manufactured in America. But any firearm which is manufactured outside the Continental United States of America is subject to a legal Blockade.
Why?
Because America has just agreed that foreign interests will be allowed to interdict sales to Americans from firearms manufactured outside the country.
Mister Kettle, PLEASE stop criticizing Mister Pot!
From this point on, it is entirely possible that law-abiding firearms owners in America will be proscribed from buying firearms manufactured outside the country (imports).
Why?
Because YOU, Mister or Miss Legal Firearms Owner, have just been (internationally) equated to Mass Murderers in Durfur. Or machete wielders in Rwanda. Or any other radical group which uses massacres to achieve their political or religious goals .. which are with increasing frequency achieved by genocide.
Of course, nobody is suggesting that this is a federal effort to support Mr. Obama's "Gun Control" agenda. And nobody is saying that imported firearms have ever been identified as a contributing factor to mass slayings in schools, churches, or shopping malls .. which, incidentally, are notoriously identified as "Gun Free Zones"
It just .. seemed like The Right Thing To Do.
Everyone is doing it. Why shouldn't we?
Saturday, September 28, 2013
▶ Penn & Teller Fool Us S01 E02 - YouTube
▶ Penn & Teller Fool Us S01 E02 - YouTube: Published on Jul 3, 2013 This is Episode 2 of Series 1 of the UK series "Fool us!" featuring the great Penn & Teller. Hosted by Jonathon Ross, a broad range of the finest magicians, illusionists & sleight of hand artists in Europe perform in front of the two great men of magic. The main aim is to perform a trick which Penn & Teller (sitting in the front row) cannot work out on the spot. Naturally this is a big ask, given Penn & Teller's encyclopaedic knowledge, so some performers instead try to do a world beating variation of a known trick.
Yes, this is a filler. I've been a lover of prestidigitation for years, and I've decided to fool you much as they have been been fooling me for years.
My first "fool me" was in a bar in San Francisco in 1975, where a table magician made cards appear and disappear in mysterious ways. I never figured him out.
Now it's your turn to be fooled.
Or .. not.
( 45 minutes)
And, Episode Three:
AND ... Episode Four:
These are officially "Time Wasters", so if you have no time to waste, don't look at these 45 minute episodes.
Yes, this is a filler. I've been a lover of prestidigitation for years, and I've decided to fool you much as they have been been fooling me for years.
My first "fool me" was in a bar in San Francisco in 1975, where a table magician made cards appear and disappear in mysterious ways. I never figured him out.
Now it's your turn to be fooled.
Or .. not.
( 45 minutes)
And, Episode Three:
AND ... Episode Four:
These are officially "Time Wasters", so if you have no time to waste, don't look at these 45 minute episodes.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Which is the more dangerous sport?
Florida high school basketball player, 18, dies after collapsing during practice | Fox News:
"IPSC competition is safer than high-school football."
Perhaps I should widen that comment; perhaps I should say "safer than high-school athletic sports."
I've never seen anyone die on the Playing Fields of IPSC.
Which is more than we can say about Florida High-School Basketball.
An 18-year-old Florida high school basketball player died on Saturday after collapsing at practice a day earlier, one of his former coaches says.When I respond to people who want to sign up for my "Introduction to USPSA" class, I include the following boilerplate text:
"IPSC competition is safer than high-school football."
Perhaps I should widen that comment; perhaps I should say "safer than high-school athletic sports."
I've never seen anyone die on the Playing Fields of IPSC.
Which is more than we can say about Florida High-School Basketball.
Doctor Strangelove
Report: US came close nuclear disaster in 1961 | General Headlines | Comcast:
And we thought the Bay of Pigs was scary!
LONDON (AP) — A U.S. hydrogen bomb nearly detonated on the nation's east coast, with a single switch averting a blast which would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that flattened Hiroshima, a newly published book says.
In a recently declassified document, reported in a new book by Eric Schlosser, the supervisor of the nuclear weapons safety department at Sandia national laboratories said that one simple, vulnerable switch prevented nuclear catastrophe.
The Guardian newspaper published the document on Saturday.
Two hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on Jan. 24, 1961 after a B-52 bomber broke up in flight. One of the bombs apparently acted as if it was being armed and fired — its parachute opened and trigger mechanisms engaged. Parker F. Jones at the Sandia National Laboratories analyzed the accident in a document headed "How I learned to mistrust the H-Bomb."
"The MK39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne-alert role in the B-52," he wrote. When the B-52 disintegrates in the air it is likely to release the bombs in "a near normal fashion," he wrote, calling the safety mechanisms to prevent accidental arming "not complex enough."
And we thought the Bay of Pigs was scary!
Obama says fight for gun laws 'ought to obsess us'
Obama says fight for gun laws 'ought to obsess us' | Political Headlines | Comcast:
Apologies for the extended quote. I kept reading and couldn't find a place to quit quoting the article.
It is just that all, ALL, of this quote completely ignores the fact that mass shootings are not restricted to American shopping malls, as my last article demonstrates.
In America, we are inflicted by the odd single evil idiot (Jerk? Ass-hat?) who decides that a crowded public "Gun Free Zone" (school, church, shopping mall .. whatever) is the perfect place to "go out in a blaze of glory".
In other places in this sad world, the evil idiot brings his friends along, too. It's not individual dementia; it's massive political/social/religious dementia which causes the murder of innocents.
Evil is as Evil does. We will never get rid of Evil.
Politicians may make fart noises noises about The Evil Gun, but deep inside they know that the mere passage of guns will not change societal ills. Changing Society ... might. And they have the power to change society, but not the will.
It's easy to pass laws against Evil. Everybody does it, and too the same lame effect. Which is to say, passing laws against guns is ineffective at best. Chicago knows it, but they still try to legislate against guns instead of gangs:
Yes, that's the Same Chicago where Raum Emmanuel went to be elected Mayor .. and even he isn't smart enough to fix the problems!
And .. the Governor of Illinois isn't smart enough to figure it out, either:
SO:
The MAYOR of Chicago, the CHIEF OF POLICE of Chicago, and the GOVERNOR of Illinois ... have no idea why innocents in Chicago keep getting shot, and they're really nervous because it makes them look bad.
Let's look at this in just a slightly different way: Chicago has perhaps the most repressive anti-gun laws in the greatest/most free country in the world, and they don't know why their citizens keep getting shot! Why do they have one of the highest murder rates in the country?
Hmmm .. guns are illegal. Gangs are illegal. Gangs have guns. Honest citizens don't have guns.
Nope. I give up, too. I can't see any logical connection.
After all, it's illegal to have guns because "y'all might hurt yourself". The only people with guns are cops and crooks. Why are 3-year old children being murdered in Chicago?
Makes no sense to me.
Obama says that the fight for gun laws "ought to obsess us"?
Seems like it does.
______________________________________________
There are a few people who are looking closer at "people control" than at "Gun Control", however:
"Get Homicidal Maniacs Off The Streets"
The question is too complicated for a mere few to force changes in society ... which is much more difficult than passing new Gun Control laws: .... Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the co-author of a bill to expand background checks to more gun purchasers, acknowledged the bill remains stalled in the Senate. He told CBS he has no intention of renewing his effort to pass the measure in light of the Navy Yard shootings unless he seems movement on the part of the opponents of the bill.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Sunday memorialized the victims of the Washington Navy Yard shooting by urging Americans not to give up on a transformation in gun laws that he argued are to blame for an epidemic of violence. "There is nothing inevitable about it — it comes about because of decisions we make or fail to make," Obama said. Reprising his role of the nation's consolerin chief after yet another mass shooting, Obama issued a call to action on gun control measures that failed to pass earlier this year [emphasis added] and show no new momentum in the wake of last week's rampage at a military installation just blocks from the Capitol.
"Our tears are not enough," Obama told thousands gathered to mourn at the Marine Barracks. "Our words and our prayers are not enough. If we really want to honor these 12 men and women, if we really want to be a country where we can go to work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, then we're going to have to change."
Obama said when such senseless deaths strike in America, "it ought to be a shock to all of us, it ought to obsess us [emphasis added]. It ought to lead to some sort of transformation."...
But, Obama said, "nothing happens. Alongside the anguish of these American families, alongside the accumulated outrage so many of us feel, sometimes I fear there is a creeping resignation that these tragedies are just somehow the way it is, that this is somehow the new normal. We cannot accept this. As Americans bound in grief and love, we must insist here today there is nothing normal about innocent men and women being gunned down where they work."
He said no other advanced nation endures the kind of gun violence seen in the United States, and blamed mass shootings in America on laws that fail "to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people."
"What's different in America is it's easy to get your hands on a gun," he said. He acknowledged "the politics are difficult," a lesson he learned after failing to get expanded background checks for gun buyers through the Democratic-controlled Senate this spring. Obama had proposed the measure after the shooting at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School killed 20 first-graders and six staff.
Apologies for the extended quote. I kept reading and couldn't find a place to quit quoting the article.
It is just that all, ALL, of this quote completely ignores the fact that mass shootings are not restricted to American shopping malls, as my last article demonstrates.
In America, we are inflicted by the odd single evil idiot (Jerk? Ass-hat?) who decides that a crowded public "Gun Free Zone" (school, church, shopping mall .. whatever) is the perfect place to "go out in a blaze of glory".
In other places in this sad world, the evil idiot brings his friends along, too. It's not individual dementia; it's massive political/social/religious dementia which causes the murder of innocents.
Evil is as Evil does. We will never get rid of Evil.
Politicians may make fart noises noises about The Evil Gun, but deep inside they know that the mere passage of guns will not change societal ills. Changing Society ... might. And they have the power to change society, but not the will.
It's easy to pass laws against Evil. Everybody does it, and too the same lame effect. Which is to say, passing laws against guns is ineffective at best. Chicago knows it, but they still try to legislate against guns instead of gangs:
Chicago Police Chief Calls for Nationwide Assault Weapon and High-Capacity Magazine Ban
On Thursday, 13 people were shot and injured in a park in Chicago. The shootings were carried out by an “assault style rifle” with a high-capacity magazine, both of which are already banned in the city of Chicago. Nevertheless, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy has called for a nationwide ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“Illegal guns drive violence. Military-type weapons, like the one we believe to have been used in this shooting, belong on a battlefield, not on a street or in a corner or in a park.”Chicago was named the murder capital of the United States by the FBI on Thursday, and has had more homicides this month than several states yearly total for 2011.
And .. the Governor of Illinois isn't smart enough to figure it out, either:
CBS) – Gov. Pat Quinn says he would consider using state resources to help combat Chicago street violence.
Speaking about this week’s mass shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, Quinn says he’s open to talking with Mayor Emanuel or Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy about supplementing Chicago law enforcement with state police or the Illinois National Guard.
He said he’s had no specific conversations but noted state police are helping patrol in East St. Louis, another city that has its challenges with violent crime
SO:
The MAYOR of Chicago, the CHIEF OF POLICE of Chicago, and the GOVERNOR of Illinois ... have no idea why innocents in Chicago keep getting shot, and they're really nervous because it makes them look bad.
Let's look at this in just a slightly different way: Chicago has perhaps the most repressive anti-gun laws in the greatest/most free country in the world, and they don't know why their citizens keep getting shot! Why do they have one of the highest murder rates in the country?
Hmmm .. guns are illegal. Gangs are illegal. Gangs have guns. Honest citizens don't have guns.
Nope. I give up, too. I can't see any logical connection.
After all, it's illegal to have guns because "y'all might hurt yourself". The only people with guns are cops and crooks. Why are 3-year old children being murdered in Chicago?
Makes no sense to me.
Obama says that the fight for gun laws "ought to obsess us"?
Seems like it does.
______________________________________________
There are a few people who are looking closer at "people control" than at "Gun Control", however:
"Get Homicidal Maniacs Off The Streets"
The nation's mental health system is "in complete breakdown," resulting in not enough of the mentally ill being committed to psychiatric hospitals, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told NBC's "Meet the Press."
"If we leave these homicidal maniacs on the street ... they're going to kill," he said. "They need to be committed is what they need to be. If they are committed, they're not at the Naval Yard."
The question is too complicated for a mere few to force changes in society ... which is much more difficult than passing new Gun Control laws: .... Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the co-author of a bill to expand background checks to more gun purchasers, acknowledged the bill remains stalled in the Senate. He told CBS he has no intention of renewing his effort to pass the measure in light of the Navy Yard shootings unless he seems movement on the part of the opponents of the bill.
"I'm not going to go out there and just beat the drum for the sake of beating the drum," he said. "There has to be people willing to move off the position they've taken, and they've got to come to that conclusion themselves."Makes no sense to me.
I Agree with John Kerry!
Terrorist Attack at Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya:
How refreshing it is that America's Premier Idiot (save "The One") has acknowledged that these mass shootings are the logical consequence of Evil People doing Evil, rather than the preposterous example of guns driving good people into a killing frenzy.
Is it possible that John Kerry has been driven sane by a shopping mall slaughter committed on somebody else's soil?
No, I don't think so either. It's all just more Politics
Today's terrorist massacre of so many innocents is a heartbreaking reminder that there exists unspeakable evil in our world which can destroy life in a senseless instant. I want to express my deepest condolences - and the condolences of our entire nation - to the families and friends of the victims in Nairobi today. While the casualty count is still to be determined, we know already that there are at least 30 innocent men, women, and children dead and 60 injured, including several American citizens. We have offered our assistance to the Government of Kenya and stand ready to help in any way we can.[emphasis added]
How refreshing it is that America's Premier Idiot (save "The One") has acknowledged that these mass shootings are the logical consequence of Evil People doing Evil, rather than the preposterous example of guns driving good people into a killing frenzy.
Is it possible that John Kerry has been driven sane by a shopping mall slaughter committed on somebody else's soil?
No, I don't think so either. It's all just more Politics
Saturday, September 14, 2013
ARPC Match; September, 2013
The 2013 IPSC season is winding down in Oregon ... kind of ... but you couldn't tell it by the September match at Albany. There were 66 competitors at the match. For reasons too complex and boring to go into, I didn't compete but I did show up toward the end of the match to watch a couple of people shoot. Also, I had a half-dozen people in the last couple of month's "Introduction to USPSA" class who I had hoped will complete their certification, and I wanted to see how they did.
In the actual event, only 2 of the recent class participants actually competed. Note that this is the final phase of Certification Training; each participant must complete a scheduled match without incurring a Match Disqualification (violation of a Safety Rule) before the training is deemed to have been successfully completed.
The two class members were "Hodgins" (because he looks so much like the Bug&Slime Guy on the television show"BONES") and his partner, Kelsey. A young couple, they were typical of the people who show up for class: enthusiastic, gun-savvy, and with great gun-handling skills. (More on this later.) I didn't get to watch "Hodgins" shoot, but Kelsey looked like she had been doing IPSC matches for years on the one stage I witnessed. It was a six-target stage with movement between shooting positions ... looked like a Classifier, although I can't name it right now. Her last two shots were snake-eye A-zone hits, and she wasn't wasting a lot of time; she was focusing on accuracy, which is exactly what she was suppose to be doing. I was impressed by her no-nonsense "Get It Done" attitude. No nervousness, just having fun and being safe. The accuracy was a pleasant bonus. (She seemed more nervous during the class than at the match!)
Funny Stories:
No-Shoot Targets are Penalty Targets. We all know that they are introduced into a stage design in order to force the competitors to tighten up on their accuracy. Almost invariably, the no-shoots (or "WHITE targets ... the backside of IPSC targets are colored white, as opposed to the 'shoot targets' which are brown in color found on the front side) are strategically placed so they they overlay at least a portion of one or more 'shoot targets'.
This confuses and confounds many of us 'average shooters' because we have to slow WAY down to focus on accuracy. The better shooters shrug it off, because they ALWAYS shoot accurately. In fact, at this club the top shooter is often Gene, with second place being the real race. There are a half-dozen very good shooters (usually Master class) who really have to fight it out amongst them. This race is complicated by the division in which they choose to compete at any given match. A few stick with Open gun, while a few have chosen the more 'challenging' divisions; on example was Bill the Elder who chose to compete in Single-Stack Division shooting a 9mm (Minor Power) pistol. No surprise that Bill won Single-Stack, because he is just that good.
But in this case, Trevor -- who is always working hard at everything he does -- allowed himself to get distracted by the White Target on one side of his final stage. He ended up with a "D-hit" and a Miss, but as he told me later "... at least I didn't get a No-Shoot!"
That was sufficient to put him down a slot; Yawn got 2nd Place and predictably Gene won the match "overall".
On the other hand, my old friend Whitefish (so nicknamed for his penchant of selecting white-target-seeking bullets) actually shot a clean match! No misses, no penalties! It's not QUITE as unusual for him to shoot a clean match than it is for me, but rare enough that it's worthy of notice.
Unfortunately, he did have on single little .... incident.
You know those new magnetic magazine carriers which are guaranteed not to drop a mag until you SLIDE it off the surface? He had positioned one on his gear belt a bit too close to his holster. Apparently, it had not occurred to him that this was problematic, until he drew on one stage and caught the muzzle-brake (or forward end of the slide ... not clear in the telling) on the magnet. He tugged and tugged, he could tell that he had cleared the holster, but he could not raise the pistol!
Finally, he looked down and saw that it was stuck on the magnet. It was no great chore to then 'slide' the gun off the magnet and commence shooting, but he lost several seconds of stage time trying to resolve the UNIQUE problem.
When he told me this story after the match, I asked him to please photograph his equipment belt when he got home and send me the photo. He demurred, saying: "I moved the magnet to the back of my belt, and that's where it's going to stay!"
Then he and I and Mike the Revolver Guy swapped stories about using race-gun holsters and failing to unlock the gun before drawing. Think: grown men swearing while pulling their holsters (and underwear) toward their armpits. No, it's not a pretty picture.
Gun-Handling Skills:
At the pre-match "Introduction to USPSA"class conducted the weekend preceding the class, there was one young woman who had a very limited amount of experience with shooting, especially with a pistol. She participated in the Classroom Discussion and demonstrated a good understanding of the rules and procedures, but Classroom work is all intellectual; it doesn't test actually physical skills, nor does it necessarily lead to safe shooting practices.
Due to limitations of time and resources, there was no way she could be incorporated into the class without taking away from the other participants, all of whom were experienced So she graciously sat through the entire 3-hour class while waiting for her friends to finish ... including the guy who owned the car that was going to take her home.
I advised them then to register her into the "Basic Handgun" class offered by the club on a monthly basis. And for myself, I will alter my 'boilerplate' instructions to New Students to emphasize that the "Introduction to USPSA" is an ADVANCED class, and only open to participants who have sufficient experience and expertise to meet the minimum requirements.
Until a while ago, I had expected that the applicants for the class would go through the Discipline Director first, and he would ascertain their experience and qualification. Essentially, he would question the people who wished to take the class, and if they were not qualified he would direct them toward the training which more accurately built their skill-sets. The club has re-organized, and we haven't got all of the "vetting process" resolved. Since this young woman was an adolescent (17) I had required that she be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian .. and so she was. I explained to her and her attendant parent that I could not allow a tyro to participate in the Live Fire Exercise, so she was relegated to the Peanut Gallery while she watched others (including her drive) shoot.
No, IPSC is not a Spectator Sport. She was very patient, but had it been me I would have been quietly fuming. She had to watch everybody else have fun shooting, and she didn't even get to gear up!
This business of training shooters is an iterative process, and often the instructors learn as much as do the students. For every potential student (those who express an interest by the process of contacting me to register for the class) I send a several-page "Boilerplate". This supposedly covers all the questions and requirements which may be helpful to the students.
Unfortunately, I have not yet thought to revise it to specify that the class was available only to "EXPERIENCED" pistol shooters. Nor have I identified the class as an "ADVANCED CLASS".
I shall revise the Boilerplate to emphasize that requirement, and I do hope that this will serve to avoid disappointment to future attendees.
There's always something that can be improved in every course of instruction. The trick is to identify it before discovering that one has just disenchanting a prospective Competitor,
In the actual event, only 2 of the recent class participants actually competed. Note that this is the final phase of Certification Training; each participant must complete a scheduled match without incurring a Match Disqualification (violation of a Safety Rule) before the training is deemed to have been successfully completed.
The two class members were "Hodgins" (because he looks so much like the Bug&Slime Guy on the television show"BONES") and his partner, Kelsey. A young couple, they were typical of the people who show up for class: enthusiastic, gun-savvy, and with great gun-handling skills. (More on this later.) I didn't get to watch "Hodgins" shoot, but Kelsey looked like she had been doing IPSC matches for years on the one stage I witnessed. It was a six-target stage with movement between shooting positions ... looked like a Classifier, although I can't name it right now. Her last two shots were snake-eye A-zone hits, and she wasn't wasting a lot of time; she was focusing on accuracy, which is exactly what she was suppose to be doing. I was impressed by her no-nonsense "Get It Done" attitude. No nervousness, just having fun and being safe. The accuracy was a pleasant bonus. (She seemed more nervous during the class than at the match!)
Funny Stories:
No-Shoot Targets are Penalty Targets. We all know that they are introduced into a stage design in order to force the competitors to tighten up on their accuracy. Almost invariably, the no-shoots (or "WHITE targets ... the backside of IPSC targets are colored white, as opposed to the 'shoot targets' which are brown in color found on the front side) are strategically placed so they they overlay at least a portion of one or more 'shoot targets'.
This confuses and confounds many of us 'average shooters' because we have to slow WAY down to focus on accuracy. The better shooters shrug it off, because they ALWAYS shoot accurately. In fact, at this club the top shooter is often Gene, with second place being the real race. There are a half-dozen very good shooters (usually Master class) who really have to fight it out amongst them. This race is complicated by the division in which they choose to compete at any given match. A few stick with Open gun, while a few have chosen the more 'challenging' divisions; on example was Bill the Elder who chose to compete in Single-Stack Division shooting a 9mm (Minor Power) pistol. No surprise that Bill won Single-Stack, because he is just that good.
But in this case, Trevor -- who is always working hard at everything he does -- allowed himself to get distracted by the White Target on one side of his final stage. He ended up with a "D-hit" and a Miss, but as he told me later "... at least I didn't get a No-Shoot!"
That was sufficient to put him down a slot; Yawn got 2nd Place and predictably Gene won the match "overall".
On the other hand, my old friend Whitefish (so nicknamed for his penchant of selecting white-target-seeking bullets) actually shot a clean match! No misses, no penalties! It's not QUITE as unusual for him to shoot a clean match than it is for me, but rare enough that it's worthy of notice.
Unfortunately, he did have on single little .... incident.
You know those new magnetic magazine carriers which are guaranteed not to drop a mag until you SLIDE it off the surface? He had positioned one on his gear belt a bit too close to his holster. Apparently, it had not occurred to him that this was problematic, until he drew on one stage and caught the muzzle-brake (or forward end of the slide ... not clear in the telling) on the magnet. He tugged and tugged, he could tell that he had cleared the holster, but he could not raise the pistol!
Finally, he looked down and saw that it was stuck on the magnet. It was no great chore to then 'slide' the gun off the magnet and commence shooting, but he lost several seconds of stage time trying to resolve the UNIQUE problem.
When he told me this story after the match, I asked him to please photograph his equipment belt when he got home and send me the photo. He demurred, saying: "I moved the magnet to the back of my belt, and that's where it's going to stay!"
Then he and I and Mike the Revolver Guy swapped stories about using race-gun holsters and failing to unlock the gun before drawing. Think: grown men swearing while pulling their holsters (and underwear) toward their armpits. No, it's not a pretty picture.
Gun-Handling Skills:
At the pre-match "Introduction to USPSA"class conducted the weekend preceding the class, there was one young woman who had a very limited amount of experience with shooting, especially with a pistol. She participated in the Classroom Discussion and demonstrated a good understanding of the rules and procedures, but Classroom work is all intellectual; it doesn't test actually physical skills, nor does it necessarily lead to safe shooting practices.
Due to limitations of time and resources, there was no way she could be incorporated into the class without taking away from the other participants, all of whom were experienced So she graciously sat through the entire 3-hour class while waiting for her friends to finish ... including the guy who owned the car that was going to take her home.
I advised them then to register her into the "Basic Handgun" class offered by the club on a monthly basis. And for myself, I will alter my 'boilerplate' instructions to New Students to emphasize that the "Introduction to USPSA" is an ADVANCED class, and only open to participants who have sufficient experience and expertise to meet the minimum requirements.
Until a while ago, I had expected that the applicants for the class would go through the Discipline Director first, and he would ascertain their experience and qualification. Essentially, he would question the people who wished to take the class, and if they were not qualified he would direct them toward the training which more accurately built their skill-sets. The club has re-organized, and we haven't got all of the "vetting process" resolved. Since this young woman was an adolescent (17) I had required that she be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian .. and so she was. I explained to her and her attendant parent that I could not allow a tyro to participate in the Live Fire Exercise, so she was relegated to the Peanut Gallery while she watched others (including her drive) shoot.
No, IPSC is not a Spectator Sport. She was very patient, but had it been me I would have been quietly fuming. She had to watch everybody else have fun shooting, and she didn't even get to gear up!
This business of training shooters is an iterative process, and often the instructors learn as much as do the students. For every potential student (those who express an interest by the process of contacting me to register for the class) I send a several-page "Boilerplate". This supposedly covers all the questions and requirements which may be helpful to the students.
Unfortunately, I have not yet thought to revise it to specify that the class was available only to "EXPERIENCED" pistol shooters. Nor have I identified the class as an "ADVANCED CLASS".
I shall revise the Boilerplate to emphasize that requirement, and I do hope that this will serve to avoid disappointment to future attendees.
There's always something that can be improved in every course of instruction. The trick is to identify it before discovering that one has just disenchanting a prospective Competitor,
Thursday, September 12, 2013
911 Blogmeat ( a little late, I know)
911
I'm still mad as hell!
SYRIA
Volunteerism ... not my job.
COLORADO
Good for you (voting out the leftests) Bad for you (flooding)
Is there a connection? I hope not. God IS on 'our side'. I know, because He told me so!
God controls floods, and we can do little about it;
Citizens control Government. Learn this, shady left-leaning power-mad bottom-feeding arrogant politicians!
Okay, it's clear that Democrats are more interested in form than in substance. Or, stated another way ... they don't care if they support the will of the public, all they want to do is to RULE, and they're willing to risk their careers in the mad pursuit of power!
(Of course, Republican Politicians are no better.)
" ...the vast array of obstacles that special interests threw in the way of voters for the purpose of reversing the will of the legislature and the people."?
Perhaps Colorado requires the voters provide proof of Citizenship and Identity"?
Well, yes, I agree; that would provide a major obstacle for 'many"
would-be voters in Colorado.
For a candid view from a Colorado resident, check out the entirely unbiased comments of Michael Bane:
x
I'm still mad as hell!
SYRIA
Volunteerism ... not my job.
COLORADO
Good for you (voting out the leftests) Bad for you (flooding)
Is there a connection? I hope not. God IS on 'our side'. I know, because He told me so!
God controls floods, and we can do little about it;
Citizens control Government. Learn this, shady left-leaning power-mad bottom-feeding arrogant politicians!
WASHINGTON – The historic Colorado recall election that resulted this week in two Democratic lawmakers being ousted from office was seen by many as a rebuke to their support of gun control legislation. The head of the Democratic Party had a different take.
"This was voter suppression, pure and simple," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement.
Schultz claimed the elections in Colorado on Tuesday "were defined by the vast array of obstacles that special interests threw in the way of voters for the purpose of reversing the will of the legislature and the people."
But Republicans says that's nonsense. And they sharply dispute the claim that if more people were able to vote, the Democrats would have survived the recall.
Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted: “Dems lose BOTH seats in CO.. cue@DWStweets sore loser rhetoric" -- a reference to Schultz' comments.
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler's office also questioned Schultz' argument.
"When you look at the results of this recall election, when more people showed up, Democrats got crushed," he told Politico. "So why she has any credibility whatsoever just blows me away when she says stuff that's just completely contradicted by facts on the ground."
On Tuesday, voters in Colorado successfully recalled Senate President John Morse, by 51 percent to 49 percent, and Sen. Angela Giron of Pueble, Colo., by 56 percent to 44 percent.
Okay, it's clear that Democrats are more interested in form than in substance. Or, stated another way ... they don't care if they support the will of the public, all they want to do is to RULE, and they're willing to risk their careers in the mad pursuit of power!
(Of course, Republican Politicians are no better.)
" ...the vast array of obstacles that special interests threw in the way of voters for the purpose of reversing the will of the legislature and the people."?
Perhaps Colorado requires the voters provide proof of Citizenship and Identity"?
Well, yes, I agree; that would provide a major obstacle for 'many"
would-be voters in Colorado.
For a candid view from a Colorado resident, check out the entirely unbiased comments of Michael Bane:
x
Saturday, September 07, 2013
Blogmeat: September 7, 2013
I had the most AMAZING week this week!
For the past several weeks, I have been fighting a cold. A Summer Cold .. which (as we all know) is the Very Worst Kind.
It started out with a cold sore on the lips, and that's not a good sign. The cold sore went away after a week, but I still kept coughing, sneezing, and I felt like crap ("Ague") Yes, my nose was runny and it never seemed to stop. Hard to get any sleep at night with all of that going on.
In fact, it lasted for six weeks!
I finally decided, in concert with my personal physician, that it might be a Allergies, rather than a cold, which was causing my distress.
Then .. Thursday .. it rained!
No more runny nose. No more coughing, and strangely enough no more rash or red skin!
So .. okay, it's all about Allergies. Pollen, or dust in the air? Who knows. The thing is, the rain knocked it all down so I could breathe (and sleep!) again.
THEN I got a call from an old Army Buddy whom I haven't seen for a while. He's got two shot-up legs and walks 5 miles a day; I never got a scratch in Viet Nam (if you don't count Bamboo Poisoning, which took 5 years to clear up) and I love to rehash our mutual experiences. The good part? He had it MUCH worse than I did! The bad part? I spent the whole year Over There; he spend like 15 days.
Well .. but he spent a few years in the hospital, and went through a lot of operations. Each one made it better, though, and he seems to move pretty good now, within limits.
Also, I got a recommendation from my landlord for a WiFi Router, which I got a good price on at Amazon, and I installed it today; it works just fine, and I can use my Laptop while I'm watching TV without incurring charges on my StupidPhone.
I got to renew my vehicle registration online .. no waiting in line. That's always A Good Thing, isn't it? I thought so
Finally ... I taught my Introduction to USPSA class today. Four students ( a couple didn't show, which I have come to expect .. they best know how to schedule their personal time). Most of the folks who attended were 'savvy', had good gun-handling skills. They were smart, personable, and nobody EVER made 'a bad move'.
Some classes, there is at least one person who is just not 'clear on the concept'. Not today. I tend to do faux "DQ" calls when a student violates a Safety Rule. (I don't really send them home, but I announce it loudly, so they face the chagrin of their fellow students; it's a "difficult" training technique, but if new students don't get a negative feedback they don't know how bad it is to be unsafe when you're "Runnin' & Gunnin'".) It didn't happen today; everyone was entirely safe, entirely aware, and entirely aware of where the muzzle and trigger are.
There are classes when I feel as if the best I can do is to correct major deficiencies, and hope the accept the lessons. This class, I didn't feel that I had to use 'superlatives' to reward them. Simply pointing out the positives was enough to keep them going; they didn't have safety issues at ALL.
Unfortunately, one of the five students was a 17 year-old young woman who, as it turned out, didnt;' have any significant experience shooting a pistol. I had to disallow her to take part in the Live Fire Exercise. No choice; it would have taken too much time trying to teach her Basic Hand-gunning Skills, and this is an Advanced Class. I wasn't aware until we all met that she didn't know how to shoot a pistol, so I couldn't let her shoot. Her Mom and her Mom's Boyfriend were there, but they hadn't realized that she couldn't learn gun-handling skills in a 3-hour class. So she patiently sat through the classroom segment, and participated; but she couldn't actually touch a gun, and I'm sure the last two hours were completely boring to her. This is NOT a Spectator Sport!
Fortunately, she got to watch other people, with various levels of skill, try to deal with increasingly challenging tests, so perhaps she (and her mother, and the BF) got to see why the "Introduction to USPSA" class requires a basic minimum of experience that she just didn't have.
Then my Saturday was over. I came home, showered, rested .. and then I installed my new Wi-Fi Router. I can use my Laptop again, and don't have to worry about the slow response of the Hotspot from my Stupid phone!
Okay, that's all pretty boring for you. But I'm jazzed that everything that happened to me this week worked out well.
Is it just me? Am I the only one who rates my life on a week-to-week basis instead of Day-by-Day?
You get happiness where you find it. For me, it was in the final bit of Schadenfreude I uncovered this morning.
The local "Streets Program" has workers fixing sewers and storm drains, and repaving streets in the summer. I'm fairly well resolved to accepting the Alternate Routes when the streets & intersections are closed for repairs .. which never last less than 3 days.
But it rained, Thursday!
When I drove through that major intersection Friday, I found it was closed.
The heavy rain Thursday had flooded the intersection. The repairs to the storm-drain system apparently failed, as it has never failed before. The intersection was closed .. I had to take a bypass-route.
The shovel-leaners spent 3 days 'fixing' the storm drains .. and it didn't survive the first thunderstorm?
Yes! Score one for the folks whose taxes pay their wages!
Sometimes, you just KNOW that these guys with the shovels and the "street closed" signs are entirely clueless.
Okay, it WAS "Shadenfreude"!
For the past several weeks, I have been fighting a cold. A Summer Cold .. which (as we all know) is the Very Worst Kind.
It started out with a cold sore on the lips, and that's not a good sign. The cold sore went away after a week, but I still kept coughing, sneezing, and I felt like crap ("Ague") Yes, my nose was runny and it never seemed to stop. Hard to get any sleep at night with all of that going on.
In fact, it lasted for six weeks!
I finally decided, in concert with my personal physician, that it might be a Allergies, rather than a cold, which was causing my distress.
Then .. Thursday .. it rained!
No more runny nose. No more coughing, and strangely enough no more rash or red skin!
So .. okay, it's all about Allergies. Pollen, or dust in the air? Who knows. The thing is, the rain knocked it all down so I could breathe (and sleep!) again.
THEN I got a call from an old Army Buddy whom I haven't seen for a while. He's got two shot-up legs and walks 5 miles a day; I never got a scratch in Viet Nam (if you don't count Bamboo Poisoning, which took 5 years to clear up) and I love to rehash our mutual experiences. The good part? He had it MUCH worse than I did! The bad part? I spent the whole year Over There; he spend like 15 days.
Well .. but he spent a few years in the hospital, and went through a lot of operations. Each one made it better, though, and he seems to move pretty good now, within limits.
Also, I got a recommendation from my landlord for a WiFi Router, which I got a good price on at Amazon, and I installed it today; it works just fine, and I can use my Laptop while I'm watching TV without incurring charges on my StupidPhone.
I got to renew my vehicle registration online .. no waiting in line. That's always A Good Thing, isn't it? I thought so
Finally ... I taught my Introduction to USPSA class today. Four students ( a couple didn't show, which I have come to expect .. they best know how to schedule their personal time). Most of the folks who attended were 'savvy', had good gun-handling skills. They were smart, personable, and nobody EVER made 'a bad move'.
Some classes, there is at least one person who is just not 'clear on the concept'. Not today. I tend to do faux "DQ" calls when a student violates a Safety Rule. (I don't really send them home, but I announce it loudly, so they face the chagrin of their fellow students; it's a "difficult" training technique, but if new students don't get a negative feedback they don't know how bad it is to be unsafe when you're "Runnin' & Gunnin'".) It didn't happen today; everyone was entirely safe, entirely aware, and entirely aware of where the muzzle and trigger are.
There are classes when I feel as if the best I can do is to correct major deficiencies, and hope the accept the lessons. This class, I didn't feel that I had to use 'superlatives' to reward them. Simply pointing out the positives was enough to keep them going; they didn't have safety issues at ALL.
Unfortunately, one of the five students was a 17 year-old young woman who, as it turned out, didnt;' have any significant experience shooting a pistol. I had to disallow her to take part in the Live Fire Exercise. No choice; it would have taken too much time trying to teach her Basic Hand-gunning Skills, and this is an Advanced Class. I wasn't aware until we all met that she didn't know how to shoot a pistol, so I couldn't let her shoot. Her Mom and her Mom's Boyfriend were there, but they hadn't realized that she couldn't learn gun-handling skills in a 3-hour class. So she patiently sat through the classroom segment, and participated; but she couldn't actually touch a gun, and I'm sure the last two hours were completely boring to her. This is NOT a Spectator Sport!
Fortunately, she got to watch other people, with various levels of skill, try to deal with increasingly challenging tests, so perhaps she (and her mother, and the BF) got to see why the "Introduction to USPSA" class requires a basic minimum of experience that she just didn't have.
Then my Saturday was over. I came home, showered, rested .. and then I installed my new Wi-Fi Router. I can use my Laptop again, and don't have to worry about the slow response of the Hotspot from my Stupid phone!
Okay, that's all pretty boring for you. But I'm jazzed that everything that happened to me this week worked out well.
Is it just me? Am I the only one who rates my life on a week-to-week basis instead of Day-by-Day?
You get happiness where you find it. For me, it was in the final bit of Schadenfreude I uncovered this morning.
The local "Streets Program" has workers fixing sewers and storm drains, and repaving streets in the summer. I'm fairly well resolved to accepting the Alternate Routes when the streets & intersections are closed for repairs .. which never last less than 3 days.
But it rained, Thursday!
When I drove through that major intersection Friday, I found it was closed.
The heavy rain Thursday had flooded the intersection. The repairs to the storm-drain system apparently failed, as it has never failed before. The intersection was closed .. I had to take a bypass-route.
The shovel-leaners spent 3 days 'fixing' the storm drains .. and it didn't survive the first thunderstorm?
Yes! Score one for the folks whose taxes pay their wages!
Sometimes, you just KNOW that these guys with the shovels and the "street closed" signs are entirely clueless.
Okay, it WAS "Shadenfreude"!
Assault Weapon Ban: nothing new here, except ....
Deconstructing the “Assault Weapon Ban” Fiction of the American Political Science Review:
... except the only thing here is that which all of us who were affected by the Assault Weapons Ban is that it didn't accomplish a thing!
Most of us have quit wondering "Why did they even bother?" The entire Political Fiasco was nothing more than 'feel-good' legislation intended to make it appear that lazy politicians were actually "DOING SOMETHING!"
Politicians are like Summer Colds: annoying, apparantly veering from low-key presence to sneezes and sniffles and maybe you miss a couple days of work. Then you shrug your shoulders and go on with your life, knowing that next year you'll go through the same thing for no reason and no permanent change in your life.
And .. there's no cure for Politicians, either.
This article, self-described as a deconstruction, worked just fine. Hard tell how many of us read it, though, then shrugged and went on with our life.
ITEM: The Assault Weapon Ban had no clear-cut goal, except the announced one of reducing violent crime by removing murder-guns from public hands.
RESULT: No murder rates were affected by removing murder guns from public hands. In fact, most of the guns which were most 'restricted' were not previously involved in violent crime, and so .. what did they expect would happen, after the interveiws were over? Oh, the authors would get re-elected?
CONCLUSION: Nobody every lost any money by underestimating the intelligence of the American Voting Public.
ITEM: Manufacturers noted that specific firearms were identified by brand/model name and/or specific 'deadly' features.
RESULT: Manufacturers either changed the model name, or changed/deleted the named cosmetic features, and continued to sell the same firearm for the same price
CONCLUSION: Two parts: First, Politicians are naive; Second, Politicians never look at the consequences OR the result of the laws they pass, they only look at their press clippings. Here's a possible third conclusion: the negative press clippings never make it into their scrap-books, so they believe there were no negative press clippings.
ITEM: Main Stream Media sources (AKA: "Useful Idiots") are so busy sucking up to politicians, they tend not to evaluate their performance.
RESULT: MSM to this day thinks that the reason why the Assault Weapons Ban was repealed after ten years is because of the Evil Conservatives with try to the Evil Capitalists who brought us "Assault Weapons" (and refrigerators and typewriters) instead of acknowledging that the only reason the AWB was passed was because Conservative demanded that if the Liberals couldn't prove an improvement in ten years, the Law would be "Sundowned".
CONCLUSION: MSM and Politicians (and here we're specifically talking about Liberal Feel-Good Politicians) don't really care whether their high-profile issues negatively affect honest law-abiding citizens more than people who are going to break the law 'anyway', they just want to be seen as trying to "Do Something". Because they believe it will look good on their resume. And the sad fact is, it does! These same Maroons are getting re-elected, and the same sycophantic civilians are still writing op-ed pieces for the New York Times.
So, What's It All Mean, Dean?
It doesn't mean nothing. Politicians imposed a ten-year moratorium on such inconsequential "Assault Weapon"n features as bayonette lugs, flash hiders, magazines with a capacity of over ten rounds, pistol grips on rifles ... etc ad nauseum. All arbitrary, all obviously non-sensical, but because some IDIOTS had elected other IDIOTS to National Office, honest and law-abiding citizens had to put up with "work arounds"
During this period (1994 - 2004), I personally came into possession of a number of magazines with a capacity of over ten rounds ... including 25-round pistol magazines. It was entirely legal, and I never misrepresented myself. Nobody ever asked me if I had a criminal record because even if I HAD been a criminal, it would have been legal for me to buy them.
I used these Nefarious Tools of Crime to miss both cardboard and steel targets with ease, laughing all the time because even though I was forced to admit that I can't hit the broadside of the barn with a pistol, I was still defying the law of the land! I HAD EM! AND IT WAS LEGAL!
A slap in the face for Clintons (one and all), Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, and McKinnea and all of their Alphabetically Ordered/Politically Correct/Clue-less Ilk!
These political hacks couldn't write a sound law if their lives depended on it. We all knew it. We grumbled, we complained (some of us whined; most of us whined and did it anyway) because we resented feeling like criminals for doing something which was legal .. but still proscribed.
The nice thing about this very late article is that someone is publishing a non-blogger article that says what we have been saying for decades:
What a bunch of maroons!
POST SCRIPT:
Bwa-hah-hah-hah-hah!
Oh, dear. It seems that the American Political Science Review did a lousy job of refereeing a pseudo-academic study, Cross-Border Spillover: U.S. Gun Laws and Violence in Mexico.
The study was brought to us by Joshua Keating from Slate, which is merely guilty of being a hack e-zine.
Keating’s article is primarily the result of an uninformed reporter assuming that academics in soft social sciences actually engage in more than bias-reinforcing navel-gazing. Put bluntly, he doesn’t have the background to write intelligently about the subject, which is sadly a common truth for most journalists. Keating’s inability to do more than parrot what he’d like to believe is merely exacerbated by the inflammatory image chosen to accompany the article.
... except the only thing here is that which all of us who were affected by the Assault Weapons Ban is that it didn't accomplish a thing!
Most of us have quit wondering "Why did they even bother?" The entire Political Fiasco was nothing more than 'feel-good' legislation intended to make it appear that lazy politicians were actually "DOING SOMETHING!"
Politicians are like Summer Colds: annoying, apparantly veering from low-key presence to sneezes and sniffles and maybe you miss a couple days of work. Then you shrug your shoulders and go on with your life, knowing that next year you'll go through the same thing for no reason and no permanent change in your life.
And .. there's no cure for Politicians, either.
This article, self-described as a deconstruction, worked just fine. Hard tell how many of us read it, though, then shrugged and went on with our life.
ITEM: The Assault Weapon Ban had no clear-cut goal, except the announced one of reducing violent crime by removing murder-guns from public hands.
RESULT: No murder rates were affected by removing murder guns from public hands. In fact, most of the guns which were most 'restricted' were not previously involved in violent crime, and so .. what did they expect would happen, after the interveiws were over? Oh, the authors would get re-elected?
CONCLUSION: Nobody every lost any money by underestimating the intelligence of the American Voting Public.
ITEM: Manufacturers noted that specific firearms were identified by brand/model name and/or specific 'deadly' features.
RESULT: Manufacturers either changed the model name, or changed/deleted the named cosmetic features, and continued to sell the same firearm for the same price
CONCLUSION: Two parts: First, Politicians are naive; Second, Politicians never look at the consequences OR the result of the laws they pass, they only look at their press clippings. Here's a possible third conclusion: the negative press clippings never make it into their scrap-books, so they believe there were no negative press clippings.
ITEM: Main Stream Media sources (AKA: "Useful Idiots") are so busy sucking up to politicians, they tend not to evaluate their performance.
RESULT: MSM to this day thinks that the reason why the Assault Weapons Ban was repealed after ten years is because of the Evil Conservatives with try to the Evil Capitalists who brought us "Assault Weapons" (and refrigerators and typewriters) instead of acknowledging that the only reason the AWB was passed was because Conservative demanded that if the Liberals couldn't prove an improvement in ten years, the Law would be "Sundowned".
CONCLUSION: MSM and Politicians (and here we're specifically talking about Liberal Feel-Good Politicians) don't really care whether their high-profile issues negatively affect honest law-abiding citizens more than people who are going to break the law 'anyway', they just want to be seen as trying to "Do Something". Because they believe it will look good on their resume. And the sad fact is, it does! These same Maroons are getting re-elected, and the same sycophantic civilians are still writing op-ed pieces for the New York Times.
So, What's It All Mean, Dean?
It doesn't mean nothing. Politicians imposed a ten-year moratorium on such inconsequential "Assault Weapon"n features as bayonette lugs, flash hiders, magazines with a capacity of over ten rounds, pistol grips on rifles ... etc ad nauseum. All arbitrary, all obviously non-sensical, but because some IDIOTS had elected other IDIOTS to National Office, honest and law-abiding citizens had to put up with "work arounds"
During this period (1994 - 2004), I personally came into possession of a number of magazines with a capacity of over ten rounds ... including 25-round pistol magazines. It was entirely legal, and I never misrepresented myself. Nobody ever asked me if I had a criminal record because even if I HAD been a criminal, it would have been legal for me to buy them.
I used these Nefarious Tools of Crime to miss both cardboard and steel targets with ease, laughing all the time because even though I was forced to admit that I can't hit the broadside of the barn with a pistol, I was still defying the law of the land! I HAD EM! AND IT WAS LEGAL!
A slap in the face for Clintons (one and all), Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, and McKinnea and all of their Alphabetically Ordered/Politically Correct/Clue-less Ilk!
These political hacks couldn't write a sound law if their lives depended on it. We all knew it. We grumbled, we complained (some of us whined; most of us whined and did it anyway) because we resented feeling like criminals for doing something which was legal .. but still proscribed.
The nice thing about this very late article is that someone is publishing a non-blogger article that says what we have been saying for decades:
What a bunch of maroons!
POST SCRIPT:
Bwa-hah-hah-hah-hah!
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