The 2nd Advantage

While watching a documentary about Snipers the other evening I noticed an accidental vote of support for the US 2nd amendment. They were profiling the Canadian Sniper credited with making the longest recorded confirmed kill, a distance of 1.5 miles using a 50BMG sniper rifle (http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcmillan-rifles-tactical-tac-50.php). As the gentleman was discussing the area of Afghanistan where operation "Cobra" occurred. He stated that he ran out of the Canadian issued .50 ammunition and was given some American issued .50. He stated that the accuracy, projectile weight and range of the American Ammunition was far superior to the Canadian ammunition. This is where I thought of the 2nd Amendment.

 Here in the US there is a specialty sport of Long Range Bench Rest competitive shooting. The 50 BMG whether Barrett (http://www.barrett.net/firearms/model82a1) or McMillan (http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcmillan-rifles-tactical-tac-50.php) is a favorite. I have associated with these enthusiasts and they are a very competitive lot. They are constantly looking for an edge in competition. Whether it is from scopes, a barrel shroud, or ammunition. They are always tinkering to get that last little bit of an advantage from their rifle. Here is where I believe that the ammunition difference that the Canadian sniper found came from. The fact that many Americans use the .50 and compete with it influenced ammunition design. These competitors created highly accurate hand loads that were then copied by ammunition manufacturers that sometimes actually had employed people that were also Bench Rest competitors.
The US military's rifle marksmanship programs influence civilian shooting and civilian shooting influences US military's rifle marksmanship. There is a sharing of ideas and principles that just does not occur in a country with restrictive firearm ownership like Canada.  

A Sign of the times...

Saturday afternoon, I came painfully close to killing a child. I don't mean metaphorically, I mean literally. I drive a 1 ton Dodge truck with dual rear wheels. I was driving down a two lane shoulder less road not far from my home when I saw a group of boys in the 11-13 year old range riding their bikes toward me. The boy in the lead, in the act of turning to yell at his friends behind him, veered across the lane he was in directly into my path. I at the time was traveling at approximately 35 mph. He was about 2 1/2 tuck lengths ahead when I locked my brakes. Luckily he looked and stopped at that moment and I came within about 2 feet of hitting him. he then gave me a surprised look and veered back into the opposite lane, without looking. I quickly backed up, rolled down my window and inquired if the lad had might have lost his mental faculties (not quite that nicely). He response was "My Bad, I was listening to my Ipod." I informed him that it would been more than his bad with my truck on top of him.  I suggested that he not listen to his Ipod when riding his bicycle down a busy road.


 I must admit that I was not as pleasant sounding as I suggest. I do believe that my discussion with him may have frightened him more than the incident. If so, then it did what I desired. I am sure that if God forbid I would have hit him and injured or killed him I would have been at fault either in court or the court of public opinion.

  He was Black, I am white, I was driving a "red neck Cadillac" with conservative and an NRA Patron stickers. Stereotypically that makes me a racist and not caring about black children, that would be the obvious reason I didn't do more to avoid hitting him..

   That's the kind of world we live in.. With a child of any other race, I would have only been concerned with facing his parents and seeing the grief in their eyes. With this particular boy that was only a fleeting concern, I was mostly concerned with the attacks that would come my way if it would have turned out worse.

Vote No!! on Executive order 10-289!!!

Ok, so I am taking some license here. Yes Papa Doc is preparing to sign a bunch of Executive orders to get things he wants that Congress won't give him.. Like a the Committee on the deficit etc.. Funny, the Dems, MSM, and Papa Doc screamed when "W" even thought about an Executive order or a recess appointment...

Here is the "Fictional" Directive 10-289 from the Novel "Atlas Shrugged" . Mr Wesley Mouch has basically become a Dictator after being a type of Czar in the Govt. Bureaucracy.

Directive 10-289

"In the name of the general welfare," read Wesley Mouch, "to protect the people's security, to achieve full equality and total stability, it is decreed for the duration of the national emergency that--

"Point One.-  All workers, wage earners and employees of any kind whatsoever shall henceforth be attached to their jobs and shall not leave nor be dismissed nor change employment, under penalty of a term in jail.  The penalty shall be determined by the Unification Board, such Board to be appointed by the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources.  All persons reaching the age of twenty-one shall report to the Unification Board, which shall assign them to where, in its opinion, their services will best serve the interests of the nation.

"Point Two.-  All industrial, commercial, manufacturing and business establishments of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth remain in operation, and the owners of such establishments shall not quit nor leave nor retire, nor close, sell or transfer their business, under pentalty of the nationalization of their establishment and of any and all of their property.

"Point Three.-  All patents and copyrights, pertaining to any devices, inventions, formulas, processes and works of any nature whatsoever, shall be turned over to the nation as a patriotic emergency gift by means of Gift Certificates to be signed voluntarily by the owners of all such patents and copyrights.  The Unification Board shall then license the use of such patents and copyrights to all applicants, equally and without discrimination, for the purpose of eliminating monopolistic practices, discarding obsolete products and making the best available to the whole nation.  No trademarks, brand names or copyrighted titles shall be used.  Every formerly patented product shall be known by a new name and sold by all manufacturers under the same name, such name to be selected by the Unification Board.  All private trademarks and brand names are hereby abolished.

"Point Four.-  No new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever, not now on the market, shall be produced, invented, manufacturerd or sold afer the date of this directive.  The Office of Patents and Copyrights is hereby suspended.

"Point Five.-  Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as it, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more and no less.  The year to be known as the Basic or Yardstick Year is to be the year ending on the date of this directive.  Over or under production shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.

"Point Six. -  Every person of any age, sex, class or income, shall henceforth spend the same amount of money on the purchase of goods per year as he or she spent during the Basic Year, no more and no less.  Over or under purchasing shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.

"Point Seven. - All wages, prices, salaries, dividends, profits, interest rates and forms of income of any nature whatsoever, shall be frozen at their present figures, as of the date of this directive
.
"Point Eight.-  All cases arising from and rules not specifically provided for in this directive, shall be settled and determined by the Unification Board, whose decisionswill be final."

It can never happen here.. Can it?  In 1949, 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989,  or 1999, did you ever think it possible that the US Govt would Nationalize GM and give it to the UAW? I would have never even considered it Possible with Chrysler let alone GM, once the world's largest and most profitable corporation...

Global Warming strikes again

As you may know from reading some of my posts and tweets. I am not exactly a big fan of the "Theory Global Warming". I personally think that it is a plan for a world wide "Share The Wealth" scheme. If  CO2 were really destroying the environment, why allow its production at all? Why allow those evil corporations and evil capitalist countries to buy allowances or as the Catholic church used to do, buy absolution?
When the evidence didn't support the theory, it became "Climate Change". Therefore not matter what the weather it could be used to explain "Climate Change". Supposedly when there is an imbalance according to the "Climate Change" theory it is "balanced" by equally unusual weather somewhere else.. When a area experienced unusually dry weather, another experienced unusually wet weather. This also worked for cold/warm. The only issue I can see with this is that while the area I live in, in the mid-Atlantic US is experiencing an unusually cold winter. There is no place on earth that is experiencing unusually warm weather. There have been thousands of records set/broken this winter for cold and snow accumulation all over North America and many other regions of the world.  Here is the current situation here in Virginia.. 

Borrowed from Rich Galen's "Mullings"

• At 10:00 last night this was the official language from the National Weather Service winter storm warning:

  A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect from 10 AM Friday to 10 PM EST Saturday. Precipitation type: Heavy snow.
  Accumulations: Storm total accumulations of 18 to 24 inches.

• Now, I know those of my many readers who live in Antarctica or along Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic consider this a mere dusting. But, for those of us who live in normally habitable climes this is a lot of snow!
• In Your Nation's Capital and its environs we consider 2-4 inches of snow grounds for schools closing for at least two days, invoking "liberal leave" policies in Federal, state, and local government offices; and gathering up enough bread, milk, eggs, and toilet paper to last the 82nd Airborne Division three weeks; a good three weeks. 
• The good news about this storm is it is coming over a weekend, just as the 16.4 inches of snow we got from the storm in mid-December. The bad news about this storm is that even at the low end of the NWS' estimate - 18 inches - it would qualify as the third or fourth heaviest snow in DC history.
• The top snowstorms have been:

  1 - 28" Jan 1922 2 - 20" Feb 1899
  3 - 18.7" Feb 1979
  4 - 17.3" Jan 1996
  5 - 16.6" Feb 1983
  6 - 16.4" Dec 2009 & 16.4" Feb 2003

• If this storm comes anywhere near what is being forecast, plus the four inches we got earlier this week the snowfall for the winter of '09-'10 will total over 38 inches. That is somewhat higher than the average of 15.2 inches for Washington.

Oil Field Math

Just received this via email from a friend...

Oilfield Math


Sad but true:


Working in the oilfield with others such as myself and a wealth of
combined experience we understand the accuracy of the following.


Think of it this way:
A clunker that travels 12,000 miles a year at 15 mpg uses 800 gallons of
gas a year.
A vehicle that travels 12,000 miles a year at 25 mpg uses 480 gallons a year.
So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline
consumption by 320 gallons per year.
They claim 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year.
That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.
5 million barrels is about 5 hours worth of US consumption.
More importantly, 5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about
$350 million dollars
So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.
We spent $8.57 for every dollar we saved.
I'm pretty sure they will do a great job with our health care, though.

Mr. Tiger... (not Woods)

There used to be a thought among other citizens of the world that Americans were arrogant. That when we visited other nations we thought ourselves superior. To me, that would be like a caged tiger complaining that the free tiger walking by is arrogant. In other words we carried (yes I am using the past tense) our selves differently because we were free(yes, again, I am using the past tense). We have lost most if not quite all of that freedom over the past 30 or so years.
That was the premise behind American Exceptionalism. It is not that we are a different, more superior race of man. We have the same genes, same abilities and the same short comings as people everywhere. The difference was that we were free. Only here did it not matter whom your parents were, if they were rich or had connections. None of these mattered. What really mattered is what you achieved. That is what made us unique. We were the first and only place that was a meritocracy and we were proud of it.
The current crop of Progressive Politicians trade in Class warfare. They sell victimhood to the ignorant and they have been since the early 20th century. The sales job went into overtime in the 1960s. What they haven't been telling their stooges is what is contained in the fine print of the contract. When they are done with the establishment of their "Classless" society, yes there will be no "Rich" or "Wealthy". There will still be classes, just as there was in the Soviet Union, as there is in Cuba or any other Communist or Socialist society. The Masses and the Ruling Elite. The Ruling Elite will bestow favors upon the connected. The irony of the Communists/Socialists is that they originated in order to overthrow the Monarchies of Europe. They merely renamed the system and do not allow a merchant class. In the Communist system there are only Serfs/peasants (masses) and the Nobility (Ruling Elite). Depending on the abilities of the General Secretary (Monarch), the position can be hereditary (North Korea, Cuba) otherwise, like some of the old European Monarchies, which were mostly oligarchies of several powerful families, a select group of the Elite (politburo) select the General Secretary from their own ranks.


 The Chinese have modified their society to allow a merchant class as did England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Like England that conquered the less free world, they are now conquering the formerly free world. Including the U.S.. They are beating us at a game we invented. Not unlike our inability to win world competitions in Baseball.

 I find it ironic that the system which finally freed human kind from thousands upon thousands of years of subjugation is being demonized as subjugation.
No Mr. Tiger, you aren't really free because you have to hunt for your food. If you have bad luck or get hurt you can starve to death. Come into this pen and be safe. You will be provided with food and shelter. Then and only then, you can really be free.

 I would rather starve...

Little Johnny and His Barrakness...

A teacher asked her 3rd grade class how many of them were Obama fans.. Not really knowing what a Obama fan was, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny. The teacher asked Little Johnny why he decided to be different... again.. Little Johnny said, 'Because I'm not a Obama fan.'    

The teacher said, 'Why aren't you an Obama fan?' Little Johnny said, 'Because I'm a Republican.' The teacher asked why was he a Republican.. Little Johnny answered, 'Well, my Mom's a Republican and my Dad's a Republican, so I'm a Republican.'

The teacher asks, 'If your Mom was a moron and your Dad was an idiot, what would that make you?'

With a big smile, Little Johnny  replied, 'That would make me an Obama fan.'

I always liked Little Johnny