Just In Case...

...some of you have actual, y'know, lives and won't be online tomorrow, have a safe, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving holiday. Eat turkey by the pound, have a second slice of pie (I know I will), and enjoy the company of those with whom you celebrate the day. Remember to give thanks for the things in life that mean something to you; remember those before you who have made it all possible; and think of those who may be thankful someday for what you are doing now.

Above all, have a great Thanksgiving - or as I like to call it, "Got the hell outta England" Day...

That is all.

Well, Well, Well...

Police: Census worker made death look like homicide to get money

FRANKFORT — A part-time U.S. Census worker found dead near a secluded Clay County cemetery killed himself but tried to make the death look like a murder, authorities have concluded.

Bill Sparkman, 51, of London, apparently was trying to preserve payments under life insurance policies he had taken out, one as recently as May, which paid benefits if he died as a result of murder or accident, but not suicide or natural causes, police said.

Remember this story? Some on the left were convinced that this was eeeevil right wingers - either Tea Party associates or militias or both - that lynched a poor census worker just trying to do his job. Certainly this was well within the capabilities of those knuckle-dragging bitter clingers, right? Because they protest against certain aspects of governmental excess, that means they're vicious psychotic killers, right?

Don't worry - I'll get the carbons for your written apologies...

That is all.

What's In A Name?

Jeanette from GunHolsters.com* e-mails me with the following story:

One Man, 36 Gun Nicknames

Last week, we gave you some of the craziest gun nicknames that have appeared throughout history. This week we offer up 36 original nicknames that all come right out of one man’s arsenal.

The gentleman, who decided it was best to remain anonymous, was kind enough to let us take a peek at his gun collection. Not only was he kind enough, he was thorough enough to remember why he gave his guns pet names like Baby Nasty and Frankenlove.

Go take a read - it's pretty interesting to see the thought that goes into some of the names.

I've never gotten into the whole naming of guns. Oh, I understand why people do it, don't get me wrong; I just don't get that involved with my hardware... I've tried, certainly - I've named cars I've owned in the past (1985 GMC Jimmy was "Lurch" for the way it cornered; the Ram I'm driving now is "Brunhilda"...); why not rifles? Well, it just doesn't seem to stick for me - I've tried referring to my Mosin-Nagant 91/30 as "Olga", but 99 times out of a 100 I'll just say "Mosin Nagant 91/30" - the name just doesn't stick for me.

So... To name or not to name, that is the question...

That is all.

*mental note: add to blogroll

The Possibilities Are (Nearly) Limitless

Pa. university students upset about fitness class

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.

Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community.

They need to be at a certain weight to graduate. Interesting. Now, if they signed on to the college knowing this, then shame on them. If it's something that the college put into place after they had already started classes, then not so much. The college isn't requiring the kids to lose weight or lower their BMI, just to take a gym class.

While I'm uncomfortable with the slippery slope this represents - there's a whole host of unhealthy lifestyle choices they could set their sights on - I think we could expand this to be useful. If they're doing this under the pretense of "Why have a college degree if you're going to drop dead of heart disease at 35?", there's a bunch of other skills college students should have before they graduate.

Maybe they should have to be able to:

• Shoot an IDPA course.
• Field-strip an AR.
• Dress a deer.
• Spot a zombie outbreak
• Change a flat tire.
• Survive a week in the woods.
• Show proficiency in swimming.
• Negotiate a used car sale.
• Show independent thought (okay, that might be too far-fetched).

Or any other number of useful life skills that don't normally get taught in higher education. Heck, just allowing opposing (conservative) viewpoints on campus would go a long way towards showing the college is trying to prepare the kids for real life...

All I know is, I'm damn glad there wasn't a weight requirement for graduation when *I* was in school...

That is all.

Gunnie Stuff I Don't Get...

I'll start off with a disclaimer: "Because it's cool", "Because I don't have one", "Because it scares the crap out of Sarah Brady/Chuck Schumer/Diane Feinstein/etc.", "For the hell of it", "Because I can", or "why the hell not" are perfectly valid reasons for getting an accessory/modifying a firearm/buying an obscure caliber.

I have nothing against the following items; I just don't understand them.

---

• Pistol caliber carbines with short barrels. Okay, why? Why on earth would you take a perfectly valid PCC and then pay extra money in the form of the ATF stamp to SBR it when you could, oh, buy the freakin' pistol?


• Folding stock kits for SKSs. SRSLY. Get an AK. Even now they're back under $500; you're gonna drop $300 for the SKS and $150 for the stock, so for $50 savings you miss out on the detachable mag?


• Assault rifle pistols. I'm sorry, this has GOT to be the dumbest thing on the market. The AR-15 is a little more understandable, although I've got to wonder what kind of accuracy loss is endured from a 9" barrel. The AK-47 pistols make ZERO sense IMHO.


• Obscure pistol calibers. I mean, really... .45 GAP? .32 Guardian? Even .357 Sig - slightly more powerful than .40 S&W, three times as hard to find and twice the price. The whole idea of having a handgun is that you have something portable you can carry with you for protection - when the ammo for a range session costs nearly as much as another pistol, how often are you going to practice with it? And when you can't find .45 ACP on the shelves, what's the likelihood of finding .50 Heffalump or .45 SOMPC*


• Belt-fed semi-automatic rifles. Yeah, I know, in 99% of the cases it's someone who'd really like to have the full auto version but can't afford the ten$ of thou$and$ they cost. I'm sympathetic in this regard. Kinda like the folks that buy the semi-auto Mac-10s. $300 it's a fun plinker. $3K for the fun switch and it's just too damned expensive. You've got to admit, though, a belt-fed rifle with a semi-auto receiver is a lot like a Ferarri with a three speed automatic transmission...


• Rifle caliber handguns. I'm the guy that has the Snubbie from Hell™, and even I can't see the appeal in a .308 Winchester handgun. What's the point? Unless you're training for an Iron Man competition, I fail to see why someone would volunteer for premature carpal tunnel syndrome...


• Accessory rails on pistols. Really. Look, I can grok the whole "having a light on your home defense gun". Sure, there are applications where having a hand free(r) is a good thing. But that's the thing - if you've got a pistol, you've already got a hand free. That hand can operate a separate flashlight at a tiny fraction of the cost of a rail-mounted unit. As far as mounting a laser, please - you're going to drop that kind of cake on a gun with a rail and then skimp on the aiming system? Mall ninja, please.


• Drum magazines on semi-automatic rifles. This one perplexes me to no end. If you don't have the fun switch, why on G-d's Green Earth would you drop $100 and up for a 75 round drum when you can spend $30 for three 30 round magazines? It makes no financial sense whatsoever. Heck, even in FA mode, you put 75 - 100 rounds through an AK and the handguard's gonna burst into flames...


• Fake suppressors. I really don't understand the point of a fake can. "Look at me! I'm too cheap for the real thing!" I mean, you're not fooling anyone, especially when you pull the bang switch and are rewarded with a full volume report. Spend the $200. Get the stamp. Get the real thing. Save your hearing.


• $100+ flashlights as part of daily gear. My $10 warehouse special is only half as bright, sure, but if it falls out of my pocket when I reach for change for the vending machine I'm not going to miss it. I just don't get spending that kind of money on what is, for all intents and purposes, a disposable item. Pocketknives too - I tend to lose a pocketknife about once a year or two - I can't see spending more than $30-$40 on a decent EDC knife, yet there are folks out there dropping $200+...

*Some Other Manufacturer's Proprietary Cartridge.

---

Once again, to reiterate: I don't want any of these items banned. I don't think they shouldn't exist, or be permitted, or require any special permits/licenses/taxes/etc. They're just not my particular cup 'o' tea as a general rule, and what floats my boat might just make others scratch their heads in amazement as well. These are the things that I just don't get, whether because I'm not HSLD enough or because I live behind the Red Curtain in the Volksrepublik...

What gunnie things don't you get?

That is all.

Tuesday Humor...

Obviously I'm a racist...

That is all.

(Found here at Northeastshooters forum posted by "6hold")

Stick to Egg Rolls...

Preliminary reports link Chinese drywall, corrosion in U.S. homes

(CNN) -- The suspected link between Chinese drywall and toxic effects reported by thousands of U.S. homeowners was strengthened Monday by three preliminary reports issued by the federal government. The strongest link came from an analysis of air sampled inside dozens of homes containing drywall made in China.

"While the study of 51 homes detected hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde ... at concentrations below irritant levels, it is possible that the additive or synergistic effects of these and other compounds in the subject homes could cause irritant effects," the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in its executive summary of the study.

Hmmm.

Lead in toys.
Contaminated pet and baby food.
And now sheetrock with H₂S and formaldehyde???

Why, it's almost like China has no regard for safety in their manufacturing processes! Imagine that - a country where all aspects of life are controlled by the central government continues to poison the rest of the world with her tainted goods. It's almost like... the government... doesn't care! ZOMG! A ginormous bureaucracy with the force of the Army behind it doesn't care about the havoc it wreaks at home or abroad. While the US might be the "Great Satan", we've never put out poisoned baby food...

I don't know what's worse - that China continues to put out significantly inferior products, or that we in our rush to save a buck continue to buy said products...

That is all.

Why Yes, Even MORE MA Miracles...

State Spends Millions On Empty Parking Spaces

An I-Team investigation found that millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted not on excess salaries or over-budget projects, but on empty parking spaces.

Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve found that the state spends almost $3 million on leasing spaces that are not only a questionable perk but actually often empty.

Nice, huh? In these days of tightening belts, budget cuts, layoffs, etc. the state of Massachusetts -which just raised its sales tax from 5% to 6.5% claiming it needed more funds - is dropping millions of taxpayer dollars on parking spots that go unused.

Freakin' GREAT.

And, as always, private industry cannot hold a candle to government in the "wasting money like there's no tomorrow" department:

For more than a decade, the state highway department has paid more than $30 million to lease 950 spaces. The I-Team's undercover camera visited the garage on three recent occasions during the work week. And every time the garage was nearly empty.

$3 mil a year for one garage for ten years that sits empty. Why, you ask?

To cut down on pollution, in 1995 Massachusetts signed an iron-clad 15-year deal leasing four floors. The idea: encourage commuters to use the "T" by offering affordable parking rates.

Obviously the rates aren't "affordable" if the garage is sitting nearly empty. But what else would you expect from a state found to be the most liberal in America? Massachusetts is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars to "cut down on pollution". I'd wager the people being laid off from their jobs will cut down on pollution as well, as they no longer have that pesky drive to work in which to burn fossil fuels. Maybe that can be MA's new slogan?

MA: Lessening our carbon footprint one layoff at a time.

That is all.

Manufactured Outrage...

So, let me get this straight. There was some sort of controversial performance at some awards ceremony that upset a bunch of people. Theoretically it involved some sort of TV 15 minuter and his antics at said award show. Apparently this is what passes for news these days.

*shrug*

I don't miss television in the least.

That is all.

Say What Say What?

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces 37 ethics charges

(CNN) -- The South Carolina Ethics Commission has charged Gov. Mark Sanford with 37 counts of violating state ethics laws, according to a complaint released by the commission on Monday.

The complaint follows a three-month investigation into Sanford's use of taxpayer money.

Sanford is accused of using tax money to buy business-class airfare on domestic and international flights, flying on a state-owned aircraft to political gatherings or events "which involved no official business," and spending campaign funds for personal use such as buying a ticket to attend President Obama's inauguration in January.

Okay. He's accused of using state money for personal gain. While I'm certain he's not the first politician to ever do that, if it's against the laws of his state, he needs to be punished for it. I'm not going to defend him just because he's a Republican - if he's guilty of breaking the law, thrown the damn book at him. This kind of violation of public trust is exactly why people hate politicians.

What jumped out at me was this:

State Rep. Greg Delleney, a Republican and one of the sponsors of the impeachment resolution, said he expects the subcommittee to look over the ethics commission results during the Thanksgiving holiday and decide whether to adjust the measure to include material from the ethics complaint.

Delleney said he thinks Monday's report will give new momentum to the impeachment push.

Sandford is also a Republican. Please note that he's being impeached by his own party. Quick, someone remind me who sponsored the impeachment proceedings against William Jefferson. Hell, speaking of William Jefferson, someone show me a copy of that "strongly worded censure" that the Democrats said should take the place of impeaching Bill Clinton...

Don't worry - I won't hold my breath waiting...

That is all.

Girl Gunnie Goodness...

Lissa gets her Range Report on. Go. Read. Now.

New female MA gunnie. Sarah Brady has had her shoelaces and belt taken away...

That is all.

Guess The Globe Didn't Get The Memo...

You know, the memo about the release of data, albeit through circuitous channels, of the "science" behind global warming? The one that talked about how they falsified data on a grand scale? Yeah, they missed it, because their big "science" story of the day is this one:

Effects of warming have worsened since Kyoto

WASHINGTON - Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated, beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made then.

As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages have opened through the once frozen summer sea ice of the Arctic. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons of ice. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa have been shrinking faster than before.

ZOMG! We're all gonna die! Global Climate change is going to render the planet uninhabitable in five years um ten years err 20 years some indeterminate point in the future! Hockey Stick! Science is settled! Kyoto!

I loved this line:

When the US Senate balked at the Kyoto Protocol and President George W. Bush withdrew from it, that meant that the top three carbon polluters - the United States, China, and India - were not part of the pact’s emission reductions.

See what they did there? They very conveniently left out the fact that the US Senate "balked" - the vote was, what, 97-0 against signing Kyoto - in 1997, nearly four years before George Bush took office. Interesting, is it not?

If the stakes weren't so high, I'd have to laugh at how comical this is. In the wake of the single biggest scandal to rock the anthropogenic global warming community, there's nary a word on the dissemination of the "data" and the GIANT GAPING HOLES and OUTRIGHT FRAUD engaged therein. Cherrypicking data that doesn't fit, eliminating discussions that don't produce the right results, basically ignoring the entire scientific method to get the results they want.

And they want to kneecap the US industrial and commercial engine based on this junk science? I don't theenk so...

That is all.

Very Interesting...

Bishop bars Patrick Kennedy from Communion over abortion

Washington (CNN) -- Rhode Island's top Roman Catholic leader has asked Rep. Patrick Kennedy to stop taking Communion over his support for abortion rights, the diocese said Sunday.

In a statement issued Sunday, Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin said he told Kennedy in February 2007 that it would be "inappropriate" for him to continue receiving the fundamental Catholic sacrament, "and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so."

What's interesting is that groups are comparing this to the Taliban and other theocracies, insofar as denying a willing participant a sacrament in light of their constant insistence on breaking with Church doctrine is exactly the same as stoning homosexuals to death. Let's have a little perspective, folks. Kennedy's been towing the strict progressive line his entire career, trying to walk in Uncle Teddy's shadow of sticking his finger in the eye of the Church he leans on to prop up his many failings.

What's really interesting is that Teddy had to die before the Catholic Church would dare attempt this.

That is all.

So This Is How It Begins...

It's funny how things happen sometimes, isn't it? I was thumbing through a past issue of Guns 'R' A Big Business magazine and saw a blurb for the LaserLyte laser sight that replaces the rear sight on many popular auto-loaders. It struck me as an interesting way of putting a laser sight on a firearm, particularly polymer-framed models that don't have removable grip panels to which to attach new laser grips, etc.

I posted about it last Wednesday, and made an offer:

If anyone from LaserLyte, Crimson Trace, or LaserMax happen to stumble across this entry, I'm completely open to the idea of getting a unit(s) for testing/comparison...

Well, later that day, I received an e-mail from Aaron Moore, the Vice President of LaserLyte, who simply asked:

Give me your address and I will send you a free demo unit for your blog.

Well, I wasn't about to pass on this opportunity! Friday night I get home from work to find a good sized box on my front porch. I opened it up to find these:

Holy Schwag Batman!

Two laser sights and the latest in accessory rail bayonets - note the Rambo-esque serrations for cutting down trees with your rail-equipped handgun... I was impressed that Aaron had picked up on the love of bayonets shown here at MArooned. I was somewhat puzzled by the Springfield XD sights, though - I don't think I even know someone with an XD - and couldn't quite figure out why it was in the box.

Until I turned the package over...

OH! Cool!

That impressed me even more - he had picked up that I had a Sig P226 in the armory as well, and sent a sight for the Sig for me to try out. Good thinking - a sub-compact, polymer-framed .45 ACP and a full-sized, metal-framed 9mm are about as far apart on the spectrum of handheld autoloaders as one is about to find... I'm hoping to have the sights installed over the Thanksgiving weekend, and maybe even have a "first impressions" post next week. I'd like the review to include multiple outings, with higher and higher round counts, to really put these sights to the test.

I'm thankful to LaserLyte for this opportunity - this will be the first in what I hope will be many MArooned Product Reviews of commercial products.

That is all.

PS: A pistol bayonet with serrations. I'm still geeking out over that!

Good News...

More than 30 top militants killed, detained, NATO force says

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Security forces in Afghanistan have killed or captured more than 30 high-level militants, including many accused of participating in roadside bomb attacks, military officials said.

Twenty-six militants have been captured, and eight have been killed, with most of them senior leaders in the Taliban and the Haqqani network, according to a news release issued by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

There. Doesn't that put a smile on your face this early in the morning?

That is all.