Today's blogroll additions

Accept the Challenge - Chief Instructors blog about firearms, personal safety, emergency preps and training. It's a good read, give it a look.

Daily Pundit - I don't think Bill Quick (or the other contributors) holds many targets as off limits, another interesting read. By the way, they're skewering me in comments over there, if you need a laugh.

There Ought To Be A Law contest

My California Assembly member is Jerry Hill. He has an annual contest where his constituents can submit to him suggestions for new laws, repeals and changes. He then picks a winner and submits it as a bill. My thoughts on this notwithstanding, I submitted the following.

Dear Assemblyman Hill,
I submit the following dozen ideas for your contest.

1. Repeal the Assault Weapons Ban.
2. Repeal the "safe gun" approval by the state requirement.
3. Reform Concealed Carry Weapon laws to be "shall issue" or just repeal them entirely, like Alaska and Vermont.
4. Repeal the gun free school zone of 1500 ft around school property.
5. Repeal the .50 BMG caliber ammo ban.
6. Repeal the recently enacted ammo sales bans and registration law.
7. Repeal the "open carry" of a firearm restrictions to allow (once again) open carrying of a loaded sidearm.
8. Change the "use a gun during commission of a crime" law that penalizes different guns with different penalties. They should all be the same.
9. Repeal the tracer ammunition ban.
10. Repeal the exploding ammunition ban.
11. Repeal the firearm safe storage laws.
12. Repeal the 10 day "cooling off" period after you buy a gun. Once the NICS has cleared someone they should be able to take possession of their property.

Assembly member Hill wants submission sent in by snail mail (???) and he hides his assembly email address, forcing you to use a "comment" box on the website. This comment box won't accept your comments unless you fill in all the data mining boxes. I don't like that, so I figured out the assembly email pattern and just emailed suggestions to:

Assemblymember.Hill@assembly.ca.gov

Don't hold your breath, but I'll let you know when he submits any of my suggestions.

Why no one ratted out Maj. Nidal Hasan

I've read the FBI had this guy on their radar, but didn't tell the Army. The CIA had some concerns, but didn't tell the FBI. The Army had it's own issues, but didn't quite investigate. The medical and psychiatric community within the military knew they guy was dangerous and possibly nuts, Walter Reed Medical Center had meetings about this bastard in 2008, yet no one said anything.

Was it fear of being tarred a racist or Islamophobe? Or fear Hasan would find out they talked?

I can understand those fears, I've been there myself. But in this time of world wide terrorism concerns and vast anonymous communications possibilities, I'd have though someone would have said something.

Are there no back channels in the vast federal law enforcement, intelligence and military communities anymore?

Million dollar business idea - Car Wash Special

You know those self-serve car washes where you drive into a stall and can steam clean your ride? Something just like that, but with a car lift so you can clean the underside.

Yeah, I can't figure out the liability issue either.

Baby strollers recalled,12 kids lose fingertips

Oh crap, our kids have one of these things.

Hazardous baby carriage maker Maclaren USA is recalling about 1 million strollers.

Who: Maclaren USA

What: The baby carriage maker is recalling about 1 million umbrella strollers after receiving reports of 12 American children who had their fingertips amputated by the side hinges in the past 10 years. Injuries increased during the past two years. (Gee, glad they got right on that. RF)

Detail: The hazardous strollers are made in China and have been sold since 1999 at retailers such as Babies “R” Us and Target, where they cost between $130 and $315.

What's being done: Maclaren will send all owners protective covers to prevent kids from sticking their fingers into the side hinges. Meanwhile, parents should keep children away from the carriages when opening and closing the canopies.

I swear the Chinese are trying to kill our kids. What's next, lead in toys? Oh, wait...Contaminated baby formula? Oh, wait...Toxic drywall? Oh, wait...

h/t San Francisco Examiner

Now playing in hell

I'm generally against the death penalty. Mostly, I don't think we should authorize the govt to do things we won't allow ourselves to do. It usually isn't necessary to protect us from the perp. In states like Cali, it costs more to kill them than to keep them. Plus, I tend to agree with Tam and Unc on this issue.

That said, purging society of the J.A. Muhammad's is a good thing.

Contra Costa Collectible Firearms raided

CA DOJ has raided and closed the Contra Costa Collectible Firearms store. All inventory has been confiscated. If you have an outstanding purchase under the California mandatory waiting period or any guns were there on consignment, you now have a problem.

If you had any unregistered guns there, you just lost them. It's the California Way.

via War on Guns

P.S. Odd I have to go to Ohio to find out what's going on in the Bay Area. There is nothing in the news.

Rebranding

Red has renamed "What the hell?" as Self Sufficient Slacker. Same URL. Plus, he lost his blog roll. You might remind him of your existence. Heh.

.303 British fans might like this

My .303 never looked that happy (NSFW).

Thank you for your service, Veterans

Taking a Veteran to lunch today would be a nice gesture. Really, it's the least you could do.

Updated to add: Want to do more? There's always Project Valour-IT and this list of charities to specifically help out the victims and families of the massacre at Ft. Hood.

How we won the Cold War

On this weeks anniversary of the Berlin Wall being breached forever, there has been a fair amount of BS in the news about how we won the Cold War. In my opinion, in hundreds of ways, the Soviet Empire collapsed because it couldn't compete with western military technology and they bankrupted themselves trying to keep up.

This is the story of just one incident that gobsmacked Ivan. It happened in the 1980's and to this day isn't talked about much. It has always impressed me as an incident heralding the defeat of the Soviet Navy.

American submarine technology had reached a new zenith. Our boomers (missile launchers) and attack boats (anti-submarine submarines) were now able to run quieter than the ocean background noise. They were literally a sound hole in the water. Running silent, Russian submarines could not detect American submarines. We'd gone totally stealth.

At the same time, Russian subs couldn't operate without American subs being able to hear them. I can't comment on all the ways our boats could "hear" theirs, but the take home point is, we just could.

It was time to send a message.

Every Soviet submarine operating any where in the world outside Soviet territorial waters (and maybe inside as well?) was silently being followed by an American attack boat. At precisely the same second, every single one of the Soviet subs was pinged with one blast of active sonar. Just once, but everywhere at the same moment.

Can you imagine the pandemonium in the Kremlin when word of this got back to them? Can you imagine what the admirals of the Soviet submarine forces were thinking?

In true American cowboy tradition, we'd just told the Ruskies, "Gotcha".

Offensive? I got your offensive right here

Via FatWhiteMan, it seems wearing an American flag button is now so offensive to some you can get fired from Home Despot for wearing it. How in the hell it's come to this I don't know.

Some time ago (let's see, Ford was President, I think) I was invited to a party being thrown by F Troop. F Troop was (is?) a motorcycle club a few friends were either members of or were friends of the club. So I rode on over there and parked in the yard amongst all (and I do mean all) the Milwaukee iron my Kawasaki H1 Triple. That got me some pretty harsh looks, as a lot of Harley centric clubs were hanging on to tradition and hating "Jap" bikes.

I figured if they can't take a joke then f*ck 'em, and walked right in. For whatever reason, no harm came of it.

I'm pouring myself a beer from the keg (that surprised you, right?) and a voice from behind said "Hurry the f*ck up" and he pushed on my shoulder for emphasis. I whirled around to face this punk...and I'm looking this guy right in his lower sternum. Serious, 7 foot plus of very large black man, no shirt, black leather vest.

I tried not to pause and said something to the effect of "You touch me again and I'll pop your face inside out."

In the following moment of silence, where the crowd summed us up, and we summed each other up, I noticed he had a big swastika tatt on one side of his chest and an equally large hammer and sickle on the other.

He must have seen my frown, because he said "You got a problem with that?"

You know, I did have a problem with that. It was very offensive, but it was meant to be. That was part of the whole point. He was well within his rights and daring me to call him on it.

I think I said "Everybody is entitled to their opinion" and I poured him a beer. We didn't have any further trouble. But if people are going to start, or already are, having a problem with seeing the American flag because it offends them, there most certainly is going to be trouble.

Speaking only for myself, that is a type of offensive I have a problem with.

Random thoughts & observations

• From April 1, 2000 through June 30, 2007, an average of 3,247 more people moved out of California than into it every week, according to the Census Bureau. That is net loss of 1,220,872 people per year. Faster please.

• Not just Cali, it seems, there is a blue state exodus gaining steam.

• Bar-Sto, a maker of auto pistol barrels, will relocate its operations from Twentynine Palms, Calif., to Sturgis, South Dakota in the first half of 2010. They have a great party once a year in Sturgis, too. And nope, I've never attended.
  

• Unexpected consequences - Burglaries fall as unemployment rises across the nation. Miscellany
  

Ammo sale - only five days left

Via AmmoLand - LuckyGunner.com has a limited time offer for $20 off a $200 ammo order.

Enter coupon code “LuckyGlockTalker” when you’re at the checkout page on LuckyGunner.com to get the discount. Hurry.

What a difference a day makes

In the garage last night, I made some candles for the wifey. Apple flower aroma still lingered today.

See post below, the smell of burnt gear oil totally overwhelms all lesser scents. Ahh, burnt gear oil. Smells like fast hooliganism. Makes my heart go pitter patter.

A gremlin maybe?

It's a good thing I'm not stupidstitious, or I'd shopping for an exorcist or witch doctor. I swear every time I fix something on my old Vette, something else goes wrong. Like all I'm doing is chasing a gremlin from one part of the car to another.

Cleaning up some problems with the drive train, I installed four new universal joints, two new camber rods, a host of rubber goodies, changed the differential oil and double checked the brakes while I had every thing apart.

I finally get it all back together and aligned (close enough for government work anyway) today. I take her out for a test ride and the instrument lights have gone out. It's not the switch, fuse or fuse box. Sheesh.

On top of that, now there's a fuse and a fuse puller tool down in the lower air vent. I can't even see them with a dental mirror and I just know they're going to rattle.

Blaming the FN Herstal Five-SeveN pistol

Confederate Yankee has a good article in PM on how the Brady's and the MSM have come to blame the weapon for the Ft. Hood massacre. Of course, they always blame something other than the perpetrator.

The MSM people in general and the Brady's in particular know they can't be trusted, so neither can you. This kind of projection is not only disingenuous it's dangerous.

Then again, if they can't figure out what caliber means (if they read Captain of a Crew of One they would) they'll never understand ballistics.

Politically correct murder and mayhem

U.S. Army Major Hassan seems to have ended his career as a traitor, but I have to wonder how bad he could have gotten before the Army decided to do something about him.

He seemed to be advocating for the enemy (voicing support for suicide bombers), was opposed to the war (and agitating against it), tried very hard to avoid overseas deployment and God only knows what he said to his psychiatric patients. At what point does the Army call "disloyal" and strip someone of their commission?

Jerry Pournelle - "The politically correct spin is coming like a tidal wave. He is a crazy guy who happens to be a Muslim. All of that misses the point: he was disloyal to the United States, and said so openly and many times; yet he remained a commissioned officer of the United States. That is the point that is being overlooked. Whether the disloyalty is due to a psychotic episode or some other cause is not important."

In hindsight, I could sort of see Army policy keeping the average soldier disarmed in public, but surely they trust the non-comms and officers to be armed? But no. Does the Army trust colonels and up?

Then again, whatever forces conspired and succeeded to make U.S. Army bases into gun free zones shows that even exceptionally criminally stupid ideas can worm their way into policy. If shooting 43 U.S. soldiers on an Army base on American home ground doesn't kill these ridiculous PC rules I don't know what will. Maybe shooting 43 generals?

Emergency maintenance vs. blogging

EM wins. It doesn't matter how nice a cage you drive, if it doesn't have brakes, it's a paperweight.

Added to Commanderess' long list of exceptional talents is:

Brake Bleeders Team Member

That gal can pump, but I knew she could. Thanks babe!

My troublesome neighbors

I've blogged in the past about my problem neighbors. The people next door (I called them The Banzai, plural of Bonzo) , and the father (I refer to him as Bonzo) in particular, were a real bitch. Late night parties all the time, trespassing, threatening my wife, shining lights in the bedroom window at 0300, etc.

I was getting so good at ruining their lifestyle though, they moved away. Win!

But then Bonzo rented his house to the A**hole family. More winners, but we finally got them more or less under control.

So yesterday a nice looking woman of, oh say, early sixties pulls up in a new Prius. After scoping out Bonzo's house, she parks and walks up to the house. I'm standing out front letting the dog we're dog sitting do his business and she stops to admire him and said something nice.

Then she asks me if Mr. Bonzo lives here. I don't know why but I mind farted and said yes. After no one answers the door she took several pictures of the house and left. It was only then that I remembered she asked for Mr. Bonzo, not Mr. A**hole.

But that's OK because someone will be back looking for Bonzo. Skip tracer, bounty hunter, private detective, somebody will come looking for Bonzo. I hope they ask me about him so I can explain my mistake and sell them Bonzos address in the East Bay. If they won't pay, just giving it to them will make my day.

And that is today's lesson in civility. Even someone dumber than a chimp can be civil. People that are always mean and hurting others always get their comeuppance. It may take some time, you may never find out about it, but they'll get it. They always do.

Promoting open carry

This mode of open carry is allowed on the Ride Fast Campus, even though it may be NSFW. No, really, they're open carrying.

New way to support my activities, GunPal

A new alternative to PayPal is GunPal. Unlike PayPal, GunPal can be used to purchase any legal product. As you probably know, PayPal discriminates against gun owners, gun sellers, gun buyers and anyone who has anything to do with guns.

If you would like to contribute to my pro-RKBA activities, or donate just because, hit the link or the button up top and in the right side bar. Thanks.

How bright is my interwebz star?

This guy posts nothing and even says "ignore this post". He gets more comments than I usually do.

Maybe I should re-brand this blog as a first person hit-woman contractor hired out of Corleone, Sicily and working in Tennessee. Maybe then you'd comment. Heh.