This is What's Going to Start the Next Revolution

It has NOT stopped one terrorist or terrorist attempt.

It's only purpose is to make us feel "safer".

It's Security Theatre.  Period

You've got the Secretary of Homeland Security saying "The System Worked", when it totally failed.  THE GUY'S DAD WALKED IN AND TOLD US HIS SON WAS GOING TO GO JIHAD ON US!!! and we still let him on a plane and only because he screwed up and the passengers beat the snot out of him did we NOT lose another airliner.

Then we get the Porn-O-Scopes, and then the lame/false explanation of how they work and how much they can see. (Answer: Everything.) Oh, and remember that they told us they weren't going to be storing images ? They lied about that too.

Then they grope a couple of young boys AFTER they get OFF the train.  I mean WTF, O ?  Seriously WTF ?!?!  Not outraged yet.  How about groping a 6 year old girl ?  Or agents arrested for Child Porn ?


Can you say modern day Gestapo ?   Just click on some of those video's posted on Youtube. 

The outrages continue.  At some point will the American People say "ENOUGH!!!!"  ?

Another Indication That We're Winning

Remember the big deal that they anti-2A groups when Wal-Mart pulled guns and ammo from many of their stores a couple of years ago.  Turns out that was a poor business decision. 

Given what Firearm and Ammo sales have been the last few years, it only makes sense.  


And crime rates are dropping.

Go Figure.

Blogger Shoot; Need A Ride ?

Okay, here's the deal for the LuckyGunner Blogger Shoot Memorial Day Weekend.

I have made reservations at the Econo-lodge for a Friday, 27 May Check-in and Sunday, 29 May Check-out for a room with two double beds.

If anyone on the way from Chicago, through Indy to Knoxville, needs a ride and place to stay, I'm willing to split fuel and room costs.   I've got a 4 door Saab 9-3 that comfortably seats four with room for luggage and guns, and gets 30+MPG.   If there are several people interested in hitching a lift, I also offer the option of pulling my camper (sleeps three very comfortably; or seven, if some of those seven REALLY LIKE each other.)

So there are are variety of options available.  But I've basically got room for three more in the car with the option of spending the weekend in a camper at a campground near the shoot if you don't want to hotel it.

So if you are headed to the Blogger Shoot and are interested in any of the above options, send me an e-mail: scout26 at sbcglobal dot net and we can work out details.   Your chariot awaits. 

IL House of Representatives Expected to Vote Soon on Right to Carry Bill HB148!

Illinois state representatives return to Springfield Tuesday, April 26 and many believe a vote on Right to Carry bill  HB148 is imminent. It is urgent that you call your state representative and firmly but politely ask them to support your right to protect yourself and your family. Urge them to vote YES on HB148. 

 

Every single vote will be critical for passage of the bill and it is common knowledge that legislators in the northeast portion of the state tend to oppose this legislation.  If you live in the northeast part of the state, this call to action is especially important.  If you have family or friends living in that area, please call them and urge them to contact their legislator.

Need help finding your state representative? 

Go to Illinois State Board of Elections

or call 217-782-2000

 

Please join us at IllinoisCarry.com for the ongoing discussions about the bill and the support it is gaining as it makes its way through the legislative process.

Where have you been ?

Once I started clicking on states, it suddenly dawned on me that I've been to almost all of them.

Hmmm, with only 13 I've missed, I might have to look into completing the map on of these days.

You can create your own as well

H/T to Nathan and Joanna

Dinner and a Show

Got a chance today to meet up with several fellow bloggers at the Indy Blogmeet.  Since the Broad Ripple Brew Pub was closed for Easter we went over to some Mediterranean Bistro instead.    The conversation was lively and the company very enjoyable.  It's nice to put a face and voice to the words on a screen.  I felt priviledged to attend.

While we were there we looked out the windows and observed eight or so of the local/resident hippies/homeless were hanging out on the "Rainbow Bridge", we made a couple of snarky comments regarding them and returned to more pleasant conversation and our very delightful food.

A while later I look out and a squad car with some of Indianapolis Alcoholics Anonymous Metropolitan Police with flashing light has pulled up in front of our dining establishment.  My first thought was "Great, first time I open carry and I'm going to hassled by the cops."  But no,  Johnny Law had no interest in we law-abiding citizens.  Apparently one of the apparently drunk hippies had accidentally done a backwards half gainer off the bridge and either in the water or more probably onto the concrete block riffles below.   OUCH.  Soon the street had a fire truck and a ambulance or two.  There was a small crowd to watch the goings-on.  There were backboards and stretchers and I fully expected a rescue chopper at any moment. We however remained firmly seated at our table and continued our conversation.  Eventually Mr. Swandive was recovered and take by ambulance to Wishard Hospital were he will be fete'd by the good taxpayers of Indy.   

It truly was a pleasure to finally meet Tam, Roberta, Nathan and Brigid in person.  There were three other people there, but there names have escaped me at the moment.   I did thoroughly enjoy myself and will have to time my trips to visit my parents here to coincide with the Blogmeet, as it was like coming to meet new friends that you have known for years.   

Illinois Concealed Carry - Where do the CPD rank and files stand ?

Second City Cop makes an excellent point over on his blog.

My guess is that the Chicago FOP is scared to do and then publish a poll on RTC/CCW.   Why ?  Because it would show the same thing that SCC points out.  The rank and file support the right of the people to keep and bear arms.  Cops know they have nothing to fear from honest law-abiding citizens carrying to protect themselves and their loved ones.

49 other states can't be wrong.

OH HELL YES !!!!

I just got the e-mail.  I'm confirmed for the LuckyGunner Blogger shoot !!! Memorial Day Weekend.

WOOOHOOOOO !!!!

A final chance to flip the "Fun Switch" to Rock and Roll and light the place up !!!!

So I'll be swinging through Indy Memorial Day Weekend and spending a couple of days in Knoxville.  Now the question is hotel it or pull the camper.  I'll be at the Indy Blogger Meet-up on Sunday.  If somebody wants to ride along and split gas, a room or grab a bunk in the camper, I'm game.

Also time to get serious and crank out some .45ACP ammo.   

To quote Flounder at the end of Animal House, "Oh, boy!!!  Is This Great ."

Atlas Shrugged, Part I

Went and saw it today.  (I know I was supposed to go last Friday, but due to a variety of reasons didn't make it.)

Going to see a movie at 11AM on a Wednesday insures that you pretty much have your choice of seats.   I stopped at the concession stand and grabbed a bag of popcorn and a "medium" Pepsi before the, $12.50!!!  TWELVE DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS for 20 cents worth of syrup and 50 cents worth of Orville Reddenbacker??  You GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!   So yeah, I can see the guys point when it gets down to brass-tacks after Dinner and a Movie.

Where was I ? Oh yeah, the actual movie.

At first I thought I might get a private screening, but there were about 20 people that came to join me, which meant that I wasn't the only one that cheered at the end.

So how was it ?

INCREDIBLE, MAGNIFICENT, AWE INSPIRING !!!

They did a great job "compressing" the book.  The casting is great, except Mathew Marsden as Jim Taggart, Ayn described him as somewhat overweight, IIRC but that's the only "bad chioce" here.

Go see it.  and if you haven't yet:  Read the Book.

I can't wait for Part II

It's About Rights.

 Not a bad debate.  I know Greg and he's passionate, like me.  But we have to control our emotions in this debate.  They are wrong and losing and they know it.

And just a quick point.
The science is in, the studies have been done.  John Lott's work has been peer-reviewed and re analyzed more then any other research work done in modern history.

More guns do mean less crime.
If it didn't then why are are more states moving toward expanded freedom when it comes to gun laws.  Go look, I''l wait.  

Do you really think that if if did not work the states would be expanding gun rights ?

At last count there were FIVE states that had legislation pending to get rid of their permit systems (SC, NH, UT, MT, and ID).

It's not some "industry lobby" that's done this.  It's been everyday people. I've talked with, shot with and march with them.  We average over 5,000 people every second Tuesday in March.  We get together and got to Springfield for IGOLD. 

That's not any industry, that's "We the People." and our rights shall not be infringed.

What I Decided

Sorry I haven't been a very diligent poster the last week or so.  Lots of things have been going on and not much time to write about it. 

I've been writing grants to a wide variety of organizations to get money for the Aurora Sportsmen's Club, doing my *#$^%(#&^ taxes, and working with Robert on his Webelos advancements.

So I took in what everyone said.  I got a bunch of input from my dear friends at APS along with some other friends and family that I spoke with in person and on the phone.

I more or less announced my decision and the reasons why here.

I really do thank everyone who offered they advice and opinions.  It means a lot to me.   

Atlas Shrugged

If you haven't read the book, you should.  If you haven't seen the movie, that's okay, because it comes out this Friday.

I'm going to do something I haven't done since Blackhawk Down came out.

I'm going to see a movie in a theather.
I usually check out a movie from the library, but mostly what are considered "Classics".  Meaning Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracey, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Steve McQueen and, of course, John Wayne.  

So Hollyweird doesn't get much of my money.

However, in this case.  The producers will get my dollar "vote".

And I can't wait to see the following part(s).

Thank you, thank you, very much.

Chicago's attorney creates an opening that every pro-2A lawsuit should use from here one out.  He equates how the 1A works as a comparasion to the 2A.   I can't wait to see how this case turns out.

Alan Gura, of Heller and MacDonald fame is seeking an injunction in  Ezell v Chicago against the Chicago law that simultaneously requires live fire training to obtain a firearm license while banning the operation of public gun ranges inside the city of Chicago. After Gura's opening argument, the three judges in the case proceed to completely demolish the Chicago attorney's argument, leaving him blabbering and pretty much unable to make a coherent argument..

The 2A is on a roll, I sure hope TPTB in Springfield are listening.  Right to Carry is coming.  Either they can craft a law that we all agree on, or we'll have the courts shove one down their throats, and they sure won't like it.

Our Nation is much less today.

COL Robert L. Howard, the most decorated man in modern history.  Cancer did what enemy fire couldn't.  Rest in Peace Sir, and Thank You.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HMTSfRe8b4

And from Brian Williams and NBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8qyrPErF9Q

Who are these Feather Merchants ?

Seriously.... What are you smoking.....I mean..... What the....Do you even have a pair......

Feather Merchants

Look "guys", and I really use that term loosely

We go out and kill things for our tribe to eat.

We make fire to cook said dead things on.

We go and defend those weaker then us.

To our Death, if necessary.

When the ship is sinking we ensure that Women and Children get in the lifeboats first.  If there is not enough room then we die like men.  Get it ?

Apparently not.

*Sigh*

I haven't made past 1 minute and I'm ready to choke 'em out and stuff them in a locker. 

h/t to Breda for "exposing" these morons...

Playing with Fire (and Guns) !!

"Just tell your mom that 'eyebrows grow back'."  and with those words a weekend of living dangerously began.

Saturday we worked on building a couple of Jam Jar Jets and some Penny Stoves.  We also futzed around with the Cystal Radio and the Foxhole Radio trying to get those to work.  They are proving to be a challenge to get to work, but we haven't given up hope.  I'll work on them and see if I can learn the secret, get them to work and then guide Robert.

We also went to Home Depot Saturday morning for their Kids Workshops, if you have young kids, especially boys, this a great opportunity to let learn to use hand tools and build something neat for mom.  They hold them the first Saturday of each month.  If you have Cub Scouts this can complete some of the requirements for the different levels. Oh, did I mention that they're free.

Anyway Saturday night after dinner we tested the Jam Jar Jets and Penny Stoves.  Yes, our Jam Jar Jet broke also.  It was really cool for the 40 seconds it worked before the heat made it crack.  We learned quite a bit as we had a couple of different designs for each, so next time we'll build some with tweaked designs and these we'll use these toward his Webelos' Craftsman badge.  However, in the continued Pussification/Nerfication of this country, he won't be allowed to actually use his Penny Stove while at any Boy Scout event.   Don't get me started on that.  Pretty soon they'll take away pocket knives and just let them play with rubber knives.

Sunday was more fire.  Well more Firepower.  Pheasant hunting at Rock Hollow Hunt Club.  Once a month during the season, Brendan and Mary have "Kids Hunt Free"  (Notice a trend here ?)  Yep, a guided hunt over dogs for Pheasants.  While Robert and his friend Conner gave their Rossi Single Shot 20ga shotguns a good work out (Robert fired 6 times and Conner 3), the pheasants won again, as none fell.    However upon getting back to the clubhouse, the boys were drawn to the truck with about 20 dead hen pheasants sitting on it's tailgate. (Hens are legal to take at Preserve or "Put and Take" operations).  They had been taken in one of the guided shoots that morning and the hunters had taken the cock pheasants while leaving the hens for club.  One of the guides came over and had the boys mesmerized as he demonstrated how to clean one.  Brendan then told the boys that they could take home some of those birds if the parents allowed.

Robert, of course picked the two largest hens.  We stopped and got ice and since it was late when we got home, they got put in the garage fridge, still on ice.


Monday afternoon after school, Robert got the chance to clean "his" pheasants.  He was impressed at the size of the heart of pheasant (He wouldn't eat one raw.) and wasn't happy about getting "pheasant poop" on his hands when he accidentally squeezed the intestines and didn't quite get all the entrails out on his first pheasant.  He was also amazed at the amount of blood that was on his hand when he finished.  I pointed out that those birds were living, breathing creatures and deserved out respect and thanks.  I told him how each time I take a animal when out hunting I quietly say a prayer to thank it for giving it's life to sustain mine and that of those near and dear to me.  He looked at me and said "That's cool, dad".  He then asked when we'll have Pheasant Bake and I replied "Soon, Robert, very soon."

Illinois Right to Carry Needs Your Help.

House Bill 148, " The Family and Personal protection Safety Act" (right to carry) is up for the 3^rd Reading in the House.

It now has 38 co-sponsors and it appears that there are more than 71 committed votes. "71" is important because that is the super majority that is required to make the Bill veto proof and also prevents the City of Chicago from suing to eliminatethe "no exemptions" clause which prevents home rule communities from passing an ordinance barring concealed carry.

All of us that are involved in pushing this through, need your help.

This is not the time to sit on the sidelines and say "it's never going to happen, why bother?"

The fact is we are close. very close.

If you have ever been at the scene of a great tragedy, car wreck, house fire, or maybe a tornado, there are always people who rush in and do what is necessary to help the victims until help arrives.

There are others who stand on the sidelines watching in stoic silence while still others wring their hands in anguish and ask why no one is doing anything.

That's the situation that we are in right now.

Each of you needs to decide who you are and what role you are going to take.

If you believe in the 2^nd Amendment guaranteed right to keep and bear arms, now is the time to come to our aid.

We need you to stop standing on the sidelines and stop wishing for someone to do something.

Call your State Representative and State Senator and tell them that you want to them to co-sponsor House Bill 148 and vote in favor of it.

If you do not know who your Representative or Senator is, follow this link:

http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx

Forward this to as many of your friends who live in Illinois as possible.

Why the Leftist must be Stopped.

My friend Boris (a Russian Jew, now living in Israel) nails it in this post over at APS when we were discussing Earth Hour :

Environmentalism has long stopped being about the environment.

It has become a vehicle for anti-capitalist (not even leftist, just anti-capitalist).

For the last two centuries, capitalism, scientific and economic progress had - instead of coming to pieces in ever-expanding economical crises, like Marx predicted - made everybody in the world incredibly wealthy.

Economists estimate that the per-capita GDP in the United States in 1820 - already then one of the wealthiest countries in the world - stood at $1,257 per capita when translated into modern money. Today, the inhabitants of Lesotho are wealthier than this. The average Russian, Mexican, Kazakhstani is now orders of magnitude wealthier than the average American in the 1820's. The average per-capita income on the planet, according to the IMF, is $10,725.

And this is not even including wealth that cannot properly be measured with money. I am likely to live longer than the Americans of the Founding era. Thomas Jefferson, the most brilliant man on the North American continent in his lifetime, had owned 6700 books and donated them to the Library of Congress. There are now people who carry more books on their person. Next week I will go to Ireland. I will arrive within 8 hours, a time which includes spending 2 hours in Istanbul. I will travel in comfort that would be completely unimaginable even to the wealthiest men of 1820.

In short, capitalism in the general sense – the process of people buying and selling goods and engaging in the process of trade via the institutions of private property, investment, and banking – has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of economists. Any sensible economist, even a Keynesian, believes now that the best way to ensure the greatest wealth and prosperity for the greatest number is to preserve this process at least in the general sense.

In a greater sense, Ayn Rand and Herbert Spencer were right. It turns out that the economy is not a zero-sum game. Money and resources are not re-allocated, they are made.

Neither did – like leftists predicted – capitalism lead to an intolerant, sexually-conservative bourgeois society. Nevada, San Francisco, Amsterdam are all products of capitalism and private property. Capitalism has led to the greatest liberalization of attitudes towards sex, political views, personal freedom known to the world.

But there are still people – mostly in the academic and para-academic world – that feel an inherent loathing of the capitalist system. They hate consumerism, they hate prosperity, they hate commercialization. They hate it for a variety of reasons – because a consumer can choose a book that the English Studies professor thinks is primitive, and his vote counts as much as the English studies professor's, because a consumer may reject the Film Studies' major's pathetic little student movie, because they've been taught by their environment to do so. There are great reasons they do it – but they all don't matter. Mises 'Anti-Capitalist Mentality' is the best document to read on this.

The important thing to realize that the radical leftist hates you – and the modern radical leftist is worse than the Communist of the 1930's. The Communists at least believed in science, progress, dams, and medicine. They built DNEPROGES, they invented nuclear power and sent men to space.
The radical leftist is not – whatever he claims – a liberal. Having abandoned religion, he has required a justification for his belief that everything around him is morally wrong. Since it is now clear to anybody who cares to look that capitalism in the broad sense leads to more wealth and freedom for everyone, it only remains to hate wealth and freedom.

This does not mean that the scientists who propose the theory of AGW are wrong. I don't know and I don't care. It's not relevant to what I am talking about.

The ideology of the warmist as it is promoted in the media and environmentalist organizations has little to do with the science of global warming.

The warmist contends not only that AGW is true. He contends also that the only legitimate solution to it is his solution. In the warmist's universe, nuclear power is evil. Adjusting to the (Actually very limited) effects of warming is irresponsible. Geoengineering is morally wrong.

So what is left? Only the deliberate slashing of emissions and accepting a reduced standard of living for all. If you do not want to do this – if you don't want the government to ban the vehicles you like, or tax the food you like, or raise the price of electric power deliberately so you will consume less – then you are evil.

Never mind the monstrous implications. Reducing the standard of living for a European means a 24-inch TV and not a 32-inch TV. Reducing the standard of living for the African or Indian who made the TV means starvation. But who cares?

The person who believes in this chain of ideas – that not only is global warming coming, but that it is our duty to reduce our standard of living – is a complete moral monster. He is opposed to your right to the pursuit of happiness and this person Hates. Your. Freedom.

The warmist is a monster. He is a well-dressed, tie-wearing monster who has managed to work himself into the respected echelons of society. He is the sort of person who will look at you and say: “Yeah, sure, in the modern world Indian children may feel happy that less of them are starving, but...”

This is why it is morally right to burn tires just to piss off these people. Because these people are monsters.

Eat the Rich

The Iowahawk blog is a daily must read.   In this post, and with help from Bill Whittle, he shows what would happen if we truly did go "down the rabbit hole" of leftist thinking and allowed Michael Moore to realize his dream of "Eat the Rich".

Slash/Hack/Cut -STOP the Spending NOW !!!!

Happy April Fools' Day

The absolute best "Gotcha" was when I was working for Outer Circle Products.  And it was Valentine's Day not April Fools.

My boss came in with a inventory sheet and said something about "The system shows a whole bunch of the stuff in the warehouse, but we can't find it and production needs it NOW NOW NOW"   "Bullcookies," said I, "If it's in the computer.  It's in the warehouse."  Needless to say, the location for this stuff was all the way in the far back ass end of our 650,000 sq ft warehouse.  Someone had taken the golf cart so I had to hoof it from the offices in front end of the warehouse.

I finally get back there and sure enough there's the stuff.  Funny, it was back here because we hadn't used that product in years.  Maybe Charlie finally found a buyer for this close-out crap.  Okay, all I need to do now is find one of my forklift drivers and have him start hauling the pallets to production.

I walk back to the main aisle and hmmmm, don't see any forklifts moving around.  Head back closer and there's no one on the docks loading or unloading trailers and containers.     Get closer to the offices and I see forklifts parked all over the place.  Now, I'm ticked.  We've got a ton of work to do and everyone's decided to take break at the same time.  Somebody better whip out a pad of "Hurt Feeling Reports" because I'm going to chew a whole bunch of ass.

I walk into the break/lunch room ready to rip off heads, when I get big hug from "STUPID CUPID".  Some poofda is in a diaper with fairy wings and cupid bow, trying to give me a kiss.  He almost got punched, but once I saw everyone in the room, I managed to slip away from him with some of my dignity.   

My admin assistant had teamed up with a local radio station to have "STUPID CUPID" come visit your company and surprise your boss.  Several pictures of me (and other bosses) got put up on the station's website and the taped shenanigans were played on the radio.   Everyone took pictures and utterly delighted in my being totally red-faced and embarrassed.   I'm glad I gave everyone a laugh and congratulated my boss and my admin assistant (along with everyone else) for having got me but good.

So Tracey, if you're reading this.  I still owe you for that.......