Day 2 In The Woods

Once again we were back in the woods at 0630. Just my SIL and I this time and we were hunting in an area behind the homes of some friends of his. Still a little swampy but nothing like yeaterday. It was colder and it was snowing heavily. I had no idea where we were once we got off the main road.

And it didn't matter a bit because neither one of us saw a deer for two and a half hours. But I did notice that my new scope had been installed 90 degrees out of whack. So yesterday as I put 25 rounds through it trying to dial it in at 50 yards, whenever I tried to raise the recticle, I was actually moving it to the left. And when I moved it to the right, I was moving it down. I was thinking as the shots moved to the right when I dialed it up that I was a complete idiot. *sigh*

We left at about 0915 and drove to Lysander for some breakfast. We each had a big, thick slab of breakfast pizza (really, it was 3/4" thick with eggs, ham, sausage and corn) and coffee. The bill came to $6.45 for the both of us. Ahhhhhhh, Upstate New York.




On the way back home we stopped here to hunt. We were right behind the house in the lower left corner of the picture (Google map). Once you get past the rear yard where it is flat and green, there is a ridge line. From there the property drops down sharply about fifty feet into a valley. See the first green blob of treetop closest to the back yard? I was about 75 feet from there. My SIL went around the scrub to the left, up and back around and tried to drive something over.

Nada. Not a thing except an overcaffeinated squirrel bouncing off the trees. After an hour we left.

As soon as I got home I headed back to the gun shop. The guy was just a little embarassed. He reset the scope and bore sighted it again. We had a laugh over it and I got a free replacement box of sabots. I stopped home to pickup my range pass, sat down for a few minutes and fell asleep. So much for the range.

This is where we were yesterday.

That faint oval was my approximate location. This is NYS DEC managed property on Kellogg Rd. Rob was about 3/4 inch to my left. My SIL entered the woods above the top right corner of the picture on Smokey Hollow Rd. The lighter colored area above the oval is the swamp/wetlands.

Bambi Redux

Bambi chickened out - he never showed up.

We all had a good time nonetheless. We dropped my SIL off on the east side of the woods around 0630 and he started walking southwest to drive the deer towards us (hopefully). We got into the woods at dawn and trudged probably over a quarter mile into the State hunting grounds. The morning was cold and damp so we decided to walk into a half-frozen swamp. Rob and I took positions about 100 yards apart just short of the swamp. We stayed there almost two hours.

Rob saw a single doe but couldn't get a shot off. Neither I nor my SIL saw a deer. Rob had to get home so we were outta there at 0930.

I really enjoyed myself but I realized that my Remmy 1100 is basically a pheasant gun and after not shooting it for about 25 years it now hammers the living daylights out of my not so young shoulder. So I went over to my favorite gun shop and asked to see what they had in a used slug gun.

I first looked at a used Weatherby but it was a smooth bore. Out next popped a Mossie 500 with a ventilated, cantilevered, rifled slug barrel. I picked out a Barska 1.25 x 4.5 to sit on top and we were done.

Next trip was to the range where I put 25 rounds through it. This gun was made for sabot rounds.

The recoil is very comfortable because of the ventilated barrel and a nice thick butt pad. My shoulder killed me after 5 rounds with the 1100. After 25 rounds with the Mossie my shoulder did not hurt at all.

I got it to fire a 4" group at 50 yards.

My SIL and I are going back into the woods tomorow morning again.

Give Thanks

There is so much to be thankful for. And it isn't about the food.

I thank God for everything He has provided, the good and the bad. The good because He reveals His wonderful nature; the bad because it reveals myself to me and how far I have yet to go.

Thanksgiving And Deer Hunting

Tomorrow we are having our Thanksgiving meal at my daughter's house. We have been baking pies for two days and my wife is making the stuffing tonight. We will have two turkeys, one roasted and the other deep fried. I just can't get used to the taste of fried turkey and prefer roasted. We'll miss our daughter in the Army but that is tempered by the fact that she is flying in on December 19th and will stay with us through New Year's before returning to DLI.

She reported a few days ago that there were protestors outside DLI - the idiots thought that DLI was giving instruction to Army personnel on how to waterboard terrorists. The fools don't realize that waterboarding is a third semester course; waterboarding comes after the second semester fingernail pulling, testicle pounding and colon water cannon classes.

My SIL finally talked me into going deer hunting with him. Friday morning at oh-dark hundred we will enter the woods and practice our deadly trade. I will be sporting my new Remington camo orange hat as I carry my trusty 1100.

So I am going out again. This time I will bag and tag the elusive Bambi.

I gave up deer hunting years ago because I am such a lousy deer hunter. I don't have the patience.

I dug out the last NYS big game permit I bought; it was for the 1977-78 season. Crikey.

Bambi should be a lot older and slower now.
I'll get my shot when he takes off running in the woods and breaks a hip.
I just hope I don't have to stop and pee when he does that.

Friday could be a loooooong morning.

Santa's Special Delivery

I found this at over at Jawa and had to "borrow" it.

Don't worry, I'll give it back as soon as you're done with it.

You Already Know Why

The local paper reports that a A 20 month old girl was beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend. The 20 year old sperm donor father of the infant has this to say:

"I just want to know why," said Imani's father, Lee Jennings Jr., 20, of 607
Park St.

He said he had admonished Cherron Patterson in the summer of 2007 for slapping their daughter in the head to discipline her.

"She would slap her, pop her in the forehead, like no ordinary slap," Jennings said. "She went beyond a disciplinarian."

But after he stopped dating Cherron a year ago, he never suspected that she or Weakfall was abusing the toddler, Jennings said.

"I had no idea," Jennings said.

Now bear this in mind - this psychopath was smacking her 20 month old daughter over a year ago. She was "popping" a six or seven month old infant. In the head. And the idiot baby daddy never suspected that anything was wrong, "I had no idea". This kid's nuts should be cut off and buried in the back yard until either he grows up or the squirrels find them.

What did all the other adults in baby Imani's life do to protect her? Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

On Sunday, relatives said they wished they had done more to protect 20-month-old Imani Jennings.

Patterson's boyfriend, Anthony Weakfall Jr., was charged in the beating death of the child.

"I saw (Weakfall) spanking the baby (in the past)," said Amy Patterson, Cherron's mother and Imani's maternal grandmother. "Any place where Imani had bare skin, they'd smack her.

They'd smack her till she screamed and then tell her to shut up. I told Cherron that he (Weakfall) has no business putting his hands on that baby. It's not his child."

Still, she never thought her granddaughter's story would end like this.

Well, not exactly nothing....

On Sunday, Imani Jennings' relatives and members of Mothers Against Gun Violence held a candlelight vigil outside the 124 Fage Ave. home where Syracuse police said Weakfall beat the girl to death over a potty-training accident.

They held a candlelight vigil. How sweet; how caring.
Nothing like a vigil to ease a guilty conscience. Then you can go right back to doing exactly nothing again because you have shown everyone just how much you care. You cared enough to spend two hours holding a candle in front of the house where the child was murdered. Unfortunately you didn't care enough to intervene before the child was killed. Not even an anonymous phone call... That's how much you cared.

The answer to Jenning's question "I just want to know why?" is self evident. Imani is dead because those who supposedly loved her did nothing to protect her. No one called the police or Child Protective to report this behavior. But, Oh, Praise God they held a vigil.

Police said Weakfall spent nearly an hour Friday beating the toddler with a metal rod, a cable cord, bedsprings and his fists. He then left to attend Corcoran High School.

Weakfall -- who was charged Saturday with murder -- was being held Sunday in Hillbrook Detention Center.

Cherron Patterson, a Fowler High student, was not home when her daughter was killed, police said. But police charged the woman with assault and endangering the welfare of her child in a prior incident involving Imani.

The more you read this article, the more you want to scream; Cherron is six months pregnant. It is unknown at this time who the sperm donor is.

Weakfall is being held at Hillbrook Detention because he is a juvenile. The murderous son of a bitch is fifteen years old.

When the culture glamorizes sex and violence, why are people surprised when babies turn up dead? Bill Cosby has tried to address this with little success. Lyrics to degenerate rap songs like "Gimme That Nut" or "Play" are common fare for teens. I don't dare put the lyrics on this blog. The BBC has a list of violent rap songs one of which was written by Snoop Doog, a media darling now. People are rewarded richly for writing this crap that kids listen to.

Is rap music the cause of the viciousness? No, it is symptomatic of a moral collapse that allows such vileness to exist. Add to this the irresponsible behavior of alleged adults who refuse to address a potentially deadly situation and the answer to Jennings question is simple: it happened because you all stood by and did nothing. You all betrayed this child. There's your answer idiot.

The power steering on my wife's car went yesterday and the vehicle was towed to the dealer for warranty work. We drove to the dealer today to pick it up and on our way home we passed the mall where some people were out in traffic with buckets trying to collect money. On the bucket it said "For Needy Children." Talk about trying to capitalize on an outrage.

I got a clue for all you idiot do gooders.

All the stinking buckets in the world chock full of cash won't help "needy" children if you don't get up off your asses, accept some responsibility and do the right thing.

44 B.C.

It's been about 2,050 years since the demise of the Roman Republic. I am starting to think I understand how some Romans felt when they heard that Julius Caesar was appointed dictator (dictator perpetuo - prior to 44 B.C. he was only a temp, a dictator interregnum).

While Bush Derangement Syndrome is still out of control we haven't had a chance to take a breath before Obama Orgasmic Syndrome takes hold.

The latest example of a BDS outbreak is documented in the Belmont Club:

Gail Collins of the NYT makes what she thinks is is a clever proposal: she wants President Bush and Dick Cheney to resign so that Barack Obama can take over right away. The Gateway Pundit has video of Chris Matthews proposing essentially the same thing.

Thanksgiving is next week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning. Seriously. We have an economy that’s crashing and a vacuum at the top. Bush — who is currently on a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks — hasn’t got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world’s most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.

Putting Barack Obama in charge immediately isn’t impossible. Dick Cheney, obviously, would have to quit as well as Bush. In fact, just to be on the safe side, the vice president ought to turn in his resignation first. (We’re desperate, but not crazy.) Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become president until Jan. 20. Obviously, she’d defer to her party’s incoming chief executive, and Barack Obama could begin governing.

Obama Orgasmic Syndrome is manifesting itself in in a different pattern, a dinner service pattern that is, as documented at Six Meat Buffet:

Once upon a time collecting hummels, Precious Moments dolls, and faberge eggs used to be all the Certificate of Authenticity you needed to grant you involuntary incarceration to a padded cell of your legal guardian’s choosing.

But for those who’ve never soared the heights of the hummelian, the passport from your emotional ghetto is just a phone call and $19.95 away. You never thought it would happen but it did.

Awww gee. My wife has three shelves of Hummels from her mom...

For some reason I don't think we'll see any collectors scrambling like mad to order the latest Obama Commerative Winchester Model 1892 .30-30 caliber lever-action carbines or any Barack Bowie Knives.

COPS: Mean Streets Of The Sorry Ass End Of The Galaxy

Serendipity

Ser⋅en⋅dip⋅i⋅ty   
1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for.
Sometimes good fortune not only smiles on you, but invites you in, shines your shoes, cooks you a meal and tries to get you to marry her daugher.

From New Science:

Material slicker than Teflon discovered by accident

A superhard substance that is more slippery than Teflon could protect mechanical parts from wear and tear, and boost energy efficiency by reducing friction.

The "ceramic alloy" is created by combining a metal alloy of boron, aluminium and magnesium (AlMgB14) with titanium boride (TiB2). It is the hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride.

BAM, as the material is called, was discovered at the US Department of Energy Ames Laboratory in Iowa in 199, during attempts to develop a substance to generate electricity when heated.

BAM didn't do that, but was found to have other desirable characteristics. "Its hardness was discovered by accident. We had a terrible time cutting it, grinding it, or polishing it," says Alan Russell, a materials scientist at Iowa State University in
Ames.

Those chance findings have now developed into a $3-million programme at the Ames Lab to develop the BAM into a kind of eternal lubricant, a coating for moving parts to boost energy efficiency and longevity by reducing friction.

BAM is much slipperier than Teflon, with a coefficient of friction of .02 compared to .05. Lubricated steel has a friction coefficient of 0.16.

One way to exploit this slipperiness is to coat the rotor blades in everyday pumps used in everything from heating systems to aircraft, says Russel. A slick BAM coating of just 2 microns could reduce friction between the blades and their housing, meaning less power is needed to produce the same pumping power.

Combat Tortoise

This tortoise is relentless. It's like he's on a mission or something.

More On The El Paso Police Pinata

The El Paso Police Pinata thread has received a lot of attention for some reason. I only posted four photographs as I am not a gore merchant. I am a retired police officer and a certified evidence technician - I processed crime scenes for seven years. I'll go into some more detail now as I believe it is warranted, particularly from some of the reponse from Gunbroker.com and XD Talk (hi guys!).

There are twelve crime scene pictures that my brother sent me. I will now include all of them and comment where I see something relevant.

Photo #1

The first four photographs are the only ones that show the placement of a single helmet. From his proximity to the suspect closest to the plainclothes officer (we'll call him Officer #1 and the suspect is Suspect #1) and the helmet. He appears to have lost consciousness or has expired. If you look closely at the rearmost suspect (farthest away from the police officer, we'll tag him Suspect #3) you will see a very small object near his right knee. When blown up, it resembles a cartridge casing. While onlookers appear to keep their distance, there is no real attempt to secure the scene. It is a cloudy day and thus no sharp shadows; however, look at the apparent shadow thrown by the white pick up truck bed, the helmet and the officer's feet. It appears to be a very short shadow so it may be that these photos were taken around noon time.

You will also notice something in this and in all the other photos that is conspicuous by its absense - there are no emergency medical workers in attendence. The motorcycle cop in the back (if that's what he is - he's wearing a helmet) we'll call Officer #2. There appears to be another officer (dark pants and dark t-shirt) next to the motorcycle cop, we'll call him Officer #3 because it seems that he is wearing some kind of equipment around his waist. Next to Officer #3 is a man in a white t-shirt. Behind him is a man dressed in matching blue pants and shirt and he has something shiny on his belt. We'll call him Officer #4.

The suspect in the middle, Suspect #2, apparently has a gunshot wound to his left arm and is lying on his right side.

There appears to be a line of some kind of cobblestone to the right of the suspects' motorcycle. It could be a false curb marking where parking is allowed.

Photo #2

This photograph is taken from the same aspect. Suspect #2, the one still alive, has moved and Suspect #1 has been rolled on his back. Suspect #1 also has his left leg splayed out away from the motorcycle and his right arm has moved lower to his body, away from Officer #1. To the left of Suspect #2 is another police officer wearing mustard colored shorts and carrying handcuffs. We'll tag him as Officer #5. Behind Officer #5 is a man wearing a white long sleeved shirt and blue with some kind of identication tag around his neck. I will not tag him as a cop right now.

Next to Officer #2 (motorcycle cop) is a man with a big gut wearing a horizontally striped shirt and blue shorts. To the right of him is a man wearing a striped shirt and jeans. It looks like he is holding a cell phone and there is something in his right hand. Look above his right hand; apparently he is wearing a holster as his shirt is bloused out over it. Tag him Officer #6.

Look at Suspect #1's right thigh. There is a blood stain on his pants but no blood underneath his leg. This smear was caused by someone dragging Suspect #2 over his leg. This action probably caused the movement of Suspect#1 as detailed in the above paragraph. I will blame Officer #5 for this as he looks like a chump. He may be considering whether or not it is necessary to 'cuff Suspect #2.

Suspect#3 has not moved. There is still a small object near his right knee. You can now see the motorcycle on the right side of the photo. There is a small object on the lane paint stripe just to the left of the motorcycle's rear tire. Perhaps it is a lane reflector. Officer #3 is talking on a cell phone and seems to have his right hand on his holster.

The suspects' motorcycle still has its headlight on. There doesn't appear to be any spilled gas on the road.

Photo #3

Officer #1 has moved to the left side of the photograph. He is still holding his pistol. Officer #3 appears to be motioning for people to stay away from the scene, you can see the holster on his right thigh more clearly now. The motorcyle cop hasn't budged, perhaps he is posing. Mustard shorts is out of the picture as well as the guy with the big gut.

Photo #4

The photographer has moved behind the cobblestone line. Officer #1 is still holding his pistol and he is dancing over the stream of blood. The suspect's headlight is still on. Suspect #2 has his head up from the pavement. Either he is waiting to see if the cops are going to kill him outright or someone is talking to him. He is not using his arms to support himself. He may also have a chest wound, but since he was originally laying on his right side, the blood on his t-shirt could be from the gunshot wound to his arm.

There is a mark on the side of the suspects' motorcycle gas tank shroud. I can't tell if it is a bullethole, the headlight is still on.

Suspect #1 looks like he has bled out. I have seen far, far more blood than that on a bleed out. Suspect #3 still has his head up. There may be blood on the right side of the black full cover helmet. I call Suspect #1 as the driver as I think he was wearing the helmet. There is blood on his right hand corresponding to the blood on the helmet.

Photo #5

Still not sure about that round mark on the tank shroud. Suspect#3 appears to have some blood under his head, he is clutching a baseball cap in his left hand - obviously he wasn't wearing the helmet. That small object is still near his right knee. The motorcycle cop still hasn't moved. He is the only one with shiny shoes. Suspect #3 now has his head down, right side towards the pavement.

Photo #6

Suspect #3 moved his head to the other side. Officer #1 still has his pistol in his hand. The motorcycle cop has moved ever so slightly away from his two wheeler. The suspects' motorcycle's drive chain needs a good lube. That object near Suspect #3's knee is still there.

Photo #7

Officer #1 has had his pistol surgically attached to his hand. The cop expects Suspect #2 to jump up at any time and assault him, possibly with deadly shards of bone from his left arm. This and the next photograph show how badly that arm has been hit.

Photo #8

Officer #1 may be questioning Suspect #2. Still no medical personnel on the scene, but these photos could have been taken within five minutes or less. In a third world city it probably is unfair to expect an ambulance within minutes.

Photo #9

There is a black line just above Officer #1's belt. It may be a holster. Officer #1 is either going to holster his pistol or is preparing to shoot and then urinate on Suspect #2. The man in the background wearing jeans and a gray shirt looks like he is taking a picture.

Photo #10The pistol is now holstered and Suspect #2 can't believe that he hasn't been shot or pissed on. It looks like someone wearing uniform shoes is squatting just to his right,

Photo #11It does not look like Suspect #1 took a GSW to the chest. Perhaps a gut shot severed a major artery.

Photo #12

Last photo. I can't tell if this was a police photographer taking these shots or not. If it was, he is not very good.

It seems like the photographer tried to capture the scene from all four sides (that is an absolute minimum - I would go through a dozen rolls easy at a scene like this), but he missed shooting from the side of the road where the police motorcycle was parked, or else those photos were not included in the original emails.

No Bail

Mitt Romney has written a piece for the NY Slimes about the automotive industry bail out. I am surprised they printed it.

If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I never knew that his father was once the CEO for Ford.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

Guess what the first recommendation is? Starts with a "U", ends with a whimper as the auto giants go bankrupt from jacked up wages demanding more pay for less work. At the same time, the company executives also need an ass kicking. The fact that the three major automotive CEO's flew their private $36 million corporate jets to Washington, DC, at an estimated cost of $20,000 for each flight is a travesty. They need their egos trimmed and their golden parachutes deflated.

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.

Isn't it funny how the other American automotive manufacturers like Toyota and Honda are not asking for bail outs? And please don't bother with the ridiculous argument that these companies are foreign owned and supported and yad yada yada. The Big Three blew it big time. And how is that?

The domestic manufacturers squandered their dominant position in the U.S. market en masse because they were consistently the highest-cost, lowest-quality producer in a game that the Japanese had single-handedly redefined to be one of lowest cost, highest quality. And now we are well into the second generation of buyers who, thanks to the Toyotas of the world, have never owned a domestic brand of car or truck.

But back to Romney. I think he wanders off the reservation here. He is alluding to some kind of a restructuring of the corporate structure and labor contracts. I don't think that is going to happen. The industry has been grabbing its ankles for far too long for the unions to let up now.

Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.

The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.

Unfortunately he is referring to his father's generation, a generation that knew hardship, sacrifice - and leadership. Those people are almost all gone now. The "me" generation is now in charge and I have little confidence in its ability to turn this situation around without first milking it for all it's worth, just as they have been doing for quite some time.

But except for the federal guarantees, I do agree with Romney's call that bankruptcy is the only salvation for these companies. Let them use this to reorganize they way they do business.

The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

Remember all those computer companies that were around in the late 1980's? How any of them went under? Tons.

I remember we had a large Wang optical disk document storage system in our department and we were concerned about the company being bought out. Then the company that bought it out was bought out. Eventually what was left of Wang ended up with Bull, Inc. Our tech guy nailed it almost twenty years ago - there were just too many systems around for someone not to pick them up and maintain them. There was too much money to be made.

The same applies to the Big Three. Let the market determine what will happen to the US automotive industry and not congressmen nestling in someone's back pocket.

Bomb Proof Tires

I have always been fascinated by military technology. As a 12 yo kid I used to write to the various Secretaries of the armed services asking for information on their various eapons. I would always get a very nice letter from some undersecretary along with a thick packet of wonderful stuff showing tanks, planes, ships, etc.
Now that my kid is in the Army, my interest in innovative technology towards life saving military applications is even keener. This CNET News article is welcome news for anyone with a loved one who goes in harm's way.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Wausau, Wis., company have come up with a 37-inch, bullet- and a bomb-proof Humvee tire based on a polymeric web so cool looking there's no need for hub caps.

This is hawt.

Resilient Technologies and Wisconsin-Madison's Polymer Engineering Center are creating a "non-pneumatic tire" (no air required) that will support the weight of add-on armor, survive an IED attack, and still make a 50 mph getaway. It's basically a round honeycomb wrapped with a thick, black tread.

The military wants an alternative to the current Humvee "run flat" tires, which despite the name, still need a minimal amount of air pressure to roll and can leave troops stranded after being shot or blown out.

There will have to be a trial or shakedown period, of course; but I hope that this goes out to the troops ASAP.

Beware The Kool Aid

The invitation extended by various bloggers and commentors to "drink the Kool-Aid" has been used so often that it has lost it's potency. I well remember the Guyana mass suicide and the shock I felt when I first became aware of it. It made no sense at all. How could people act like this? How could supposedly intelligent people let themselves be talked into something like this? Nearly a thousand lives snuffed out for the sake of .... what? Some suicidal nutjob preacher? How could he possibly talk these many adults into murdering their children? And we think that we and others like us are not susceptible to this type of manipulation.

Since then, events have conspired to dilute our sensitivity to tragedy; we are not as easily moved as we once were; we are not quite as innocent. Nevertheless, the admonition against drinking the Kool-Aid is still operative - a warning against complacency. We need to carefully examine our belief systems, for it is the ultimate foundation for our actions. And like any system it is built upon information, information passed on by reliable sources - like our parents and teachers.

Bruce Walker has written an insightful article at the American Thinker that deals with the abandonment of our traditional belief system - God, Country and Family - for something else.

We are drifting into the sort of horrific future he described. Too many of us for comfort or solace have become just like the denizens of Jonestown: Orwell's children -- a new generation of creature enraged into constant militancy against eternal enemies, oblivious to the notion of a Blessed Creator, melded into the consciousness of the party hive, divorced from history, hypnotized by images, inoculated against reason, stripped of family, and existing only to serve the cause.

[...]What are the characteristics of the Orwellian state?

Start with God. He must go. The great Russian novelists knew this: "Without God, everything is permitted." In Oceania, God simply does not exist. The Nazis bragged that they would raise a generation "...without ever having heard of the Sermon on the Mount or the Golden Rule, to say nothing of the Ten Commandments." The Soviet persecuted anyone who followed the God of Jews and Christians. God is hounded in our world today. A generation of Orwell's Children are growing up without thinking about God at all or thinking that God is a silly idea cherished by sillier old fogies.

Truth must go too. Nazis embraced the "Big Lie." Soviets denied that honesty, per se, mattered. In Orwell's Oceania, the Inner Party members learn to even lie to themselves and to hold utterly contradictory beliefs at the same time. Truth and honesty have little meaning to Orwell's Children in our world. All truth is relative, all honesty a sham.

Have many Americans drank deeply of the liberal Kool-aid? Are we as a nation committing cultural suicide? Orwell's darkly prophetic book, 1984, describes how a totalitarian government assumes power and control.

Orwell even told us, by name, the professionals who would lead us into the nightmare of 1984: "sociologists," "teachers," "bureaucrats," "journalists," "professional politicians," "scientists," "trade union organizers," "publicity experts," and "technicians." (The term "community organizer" was unknown to him.) Those who enslave were those who taught students, who created the news, who sat in the halls of government power, and who defined official "truth" (at least truth de jour.)

But we can only be enslaved if we choose so. This is why our belief system is so important. We elect those who make the laws. We chose how we want the governemnt to act.

Orwell's Children live among us now, not in tiny numbers in weird Marxist cults like Jim Jones' People Temple, but as leaders of Congress, as the establishment of academia, as the producers of news and entertainment, as the administrators of public schools, as the "experts" in a thousand myriad and odd fields of putative "expertise." They infatuate our bored children with the only reality and the only diversion that many can find. They wait for the rest of us to grow older and to die.

[...]We are all anchored in belief, but it is what we believe that matters. We can believe in the lies of Big Brother, which change each day with the needs of the party or we can believe in the truth of a living God. We can become the children of Orwell or the special creatures of God. Everything -- our nation, our world, our families, our communities -- flows from that choice.

We will not be condemned because we did not educate our children.

We will be condemned for not passing on our beliefs to them.
We will be condemned for not protecting our cultural heritage - our freedoms.
We will be condemned for not helping them resist the lure of the Kool-Aid.

Senator Butterworth

It's scary....

Useless, Simply Useless

In this picture you see the news media protecting the public interest by interviewing and vetting Barack Obama during the election. This is probably the leg tingle that Chris "MSNBC's Golden Retriever" Matthews was referring to.

Now all of a sudden the media is reporting that unrepentent terrorist Ayers actually was a family friend of Obama and that Obama faithfully attended the church services of Rev. "God Damn America" Wright for twenty years.

So ... Obama throws these two under a bus, and the media resurrects them .... more than a week after the election is over.

What wasn't an issue is now an issue? What's changed? Oh, he's gonna be the President.

H/T to Protein Wisdom and Rotti Emperor Misha

El Paso Police Pinata

Three armed perps tried to rob an El Paso Special Operations police officer and then get away on a stolen motorcycle.
Bad idea. The cop used a .40 cal. stick to bust them open.
Two dead and the one perp survivor shot in both arms.
The pics are pretty graphic so if you have a weak stomach (sight of blood), you may want to pass this by.
Pics are below.
H/T to my brother Bob.

UPDATE: I have tried to find mention of this story somewhere, anywhere in a newspaper, snopes, or other media offering other than a blog and have not been successful. I find it unbelieveable that a cop could off three armed perps in this country and not have it splayed all over the place.

I did find a story from Cebu City, Philipines, where three armed men were shot to death on an overloaded motorcycle. Apparently they also were not wearing helmets. They apparently were suspects in an armed robbery and refused to stop for a police road block on or about 2 NOV 08 as reported here.

The three men refused to stop when flagged at a checkpoint and one of them, who was riding behind the driver, even pulled out a gun and fired prompting the police to retaliate.

The three were identified by relatives at the morgue of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills.

SPO2 Rey Cuyos of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) identified the three dead as Abran Gabato, 28, single, and a resident of sitio Sandayong, Guadalupe; Wilner Ponce alias “Botong”, 31, of Lower Kalunasan, Guadalupe; and Totong Cabajar, of sitio Sandayong of the same barangay.

Gabato was reportedly the driver of the motorcycle with plate number GU1664.
The relatives of the fatalities, who the police believe were motorcycle robbers, said that they only learned of the incident from the media yesterday.

PO2 Michael Codaste of the Homicide Section said that the three sustained several gunshot wounds in their head and other parts of the body. Ponce was hit six times while both Gabato and Cabajar were hit four times.

UPDATE: I did a major review of all twelve photos here.

Put A Sock On It Flipper

First there was the movie "Jaws."

Now there's something else. From now on you may want to to swim with a cork.

Don't ever let your daughter date a dolphin. They're maniacs. I almost wish that dolphins saw us as food instead of this.

Is that a sardine in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

In as much as the object of Flipper's passion in this video is a man, I'm wondering if we should rename that fish Barney and put him in charge of, oh, I dunno, banks?

You can blame BisW (for the introduction) and Cracked.com for this travesty.

Ohhhhhhhh Cookie, you and your Navy buds like to talk about your experience in submarines where the dolphin insignia as worn a uniform breast pin. Are there any other underwater "experiences" you want to share, hmmmmm Cookie? Hee Hee

That reminds me of the COB and the coffee urn, huh Cookie? Now that's a classic.

Congrats To The Corps

Happy Birthday Marines! November 10, 1775.

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY MESSAGE - 10 NOVEMBER 2008

Sweet God, Please No

The idiot who helped set up the intelligence debacle that led to 9/11, the mouth breathing ignoramus who helped set up the sub prime disaster as Vice Chairman of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) from 1997 to 2003 is now being considered for the position of Attorney General of the United States.

The one and only Jaime Gorelick.
We are so screwed. You might as well torch the Constitution with this loon at the DOJ wheel.