UPDATED Told You So!

See Thag. See Thag's knee jerk. Jerk, Thag, jerk.

This article is a year old. I saw it reported as new news without noting the date. Sorry.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6960824&page=1

I am Cassandra.

Molon Labe.

Image stolen from The Jawa Report.

If you agree, post this image to your LJ, Blog, MySpace, Facebook, whatever...

Comments:

Pics For Tam

Just in case the URL I left in comments don't work, here are the pics I attempted to link to in her comments section.

Charlotte is a clone of a transitional Navy M16 with a full fence lower and three-prong flash-hider. Please note, the A2 guards are mounted here for demonstration purposes, period correct triangular handguards are her normal furniture.

The M16A2 handguards were designed to use the same triangular cap as the M16 and M16A1 and are thus backwards compatible with guns that shipped the the triangular handguards. This is good because the original handguards are a tad fragile and come in distinct 'left' and 'right' versions. The A2 guards are identical, top and bottom.

Israeli has used the A2 style handguard as a replacement on their A1's as they wear out.

Armed Man

Today an armed man was infuriated three separate times.

No shots were fired, no weapons were drawn.

Note:

Congress: I am a clever monkey. I can adapt to almost any condition and thrive. What I need you to do is to leave the conditions alone so that I can adapt to them.

Found Something Out

I give President Reagan a lot of credit for putting the US military back together after it had been destroyed by the post-Vietnam era. I won't even point fingers at who destroyed it.

I was talking about Ronnie's general hawkishness and was confronted with, "What about Beruit? One explosion and he put his tail between his legs and ran."

I did some digging. I am sure that someone like Weinberger whispered in his ear, "Sir, our military is in no shape to stay and fight."

In 1983, it wasn't. By 1985 it had recovered. I had several sergeants who talked about the bad old days.

Look at the timelines a bit. Reagan took office in January 1981. By October '83 there was no way the changes he'd called for to have started to happen.

I joined the Army in late 1987. I saw for myself the tail end of the bad days. If you root around a bit you'll see that the military replaced a lot of weapons in the Reagan era. Like the M-1911A1 with the M9. I trained on both in Basic and did not see a single issue one before I left in 1990. Like the M1A1 Abrams; the unit I joined had M60A3s when I got there and received 105mm M1(IP)s just after. The M1 had been in service, officially, since 1979, but line units stationed in Germany were only just getting them in 1987! How about the AH-64A Apache? The 1st Infantry Division (Forward) was still using Cobras in 1989.

And just a very short time after I left the Army, it won against Iraq in less than two weeks of ground combat.

Weinberger was correct when he advised Reagan to not go to Beruit. My libtard "friend" is correct, we did cut and run; he's wrong that it was an act of cowardice that was inconsistent with the persona of Mr Reagan. To stay would just have gotten men killed for no reason other than his pride, and it was a rational decision to leave. It was also the last time we backed down during his presidency. Notice what happened in 1985 with the hijackers of the Achille Lauro (and thanks for nothing Italy). Notice Operation Praying Mantis (aka Sink-Ex 88). Notice the response to the "Line of Death".

Sun Tzu has advice that was apparently taken here.

Something Their Marketing Department Missed

Bushmaster seems to have priced their ACR against the FN SCAR.

What they are missing is they are competing with ALL semi-auto 5.56 rifles on the market and not just the FN.

The ACR is not in service with any force or agency, so they cannot brag about that.

Bushmaster doesn't have a stellar reputation for quality going back over 100 years, so they cannot brag about that.

They have to present this thing on its objective merits.

So far, those merits are not compelling.

All I have, so far, is that I like the looks of it better and it's Made in the USA.

I should also add that the $2,300 to $3,000 that vendors are getting for the FN SCAR is too rich for my blood as well. The thing is that FN never promised their offering for $1,500 for the last three years and has not been secretive about the features; and FN is known for being an expensive product.

FN has also not charged state and local sales taxes on internet orders. That alone has me looking to alternate vendors for the next AR parts purchase. A quick check at the tax collector's office told me the "penny for Pasco" they collected did not get submitted to Pasco. Bushmaster is breaking the law and pocketing the state and local taxes while lying to us about being required to collect it. They are claiming it's because of their ownership by Cerebus and being part of the Freedom Group. Problem with this lie is DPMS and Remington are also owned by the Freedom Group and don't collect those taxes.

But What About?

I've recently read a couple of blog posts objecting to the second amendment being just a restriction on the federal government to pass gun control.

I hate to say it, but; the 2nd is just a restriction on the federal government and has no power over the states to forbid them from passing infringements on the right to keep and bear arms.

Let's leave aside how the 14th amendment affects the Bill of Rights for a moment.

Let's talk about 2nd amendment type language in the state constitutions. Those most certainly have power of the state they are written for.

44 states seem to have such language. Dead SAF.org link

Florida, for example: Florida Constitution Article I, Section 8(a)

The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed, except that the manner of bearing arms may be regulated by law.

Florida has very few restrictions on firearm ownership, and its CCW permits are obviously constitutional because of the last part of that phrase.

How many states with restrictive gun control have such language in their state constitutions?

Illinois has a KaBA clause; Illinois Constitution Article I, Section 22

Subject only to the police power, the right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

What's "police power"?

California doesn't have such a clause...

Even if the 14th amendment doesn't extend the 2nd's restrictions to the state governments, it seems that many are in violation of their own constitutions.

My New Desktop Image

From left to right, M-1903A3, M1 Garand, Romat, M16 (R604), XM177E2, XM177E3, VKb.07.

Quote Of The Random Interval

From: Auto Show!

"I will beat you until you learn!” In her best Ren Hoek voice, “And if you don’t learn, you will die stupid!!"

Avatar Thought

I spent time among a primitive people.

I was not overwhelmed by a desire to throw off my heritage and become one of the tribe. I could not wait to get back to flush toilets, air conditioning and hot showers.

Camping is only fun if it's not your whole lifestyle.

Comment

The New Rules For Biathlon Are HARSH!

hat tip: http://www.gregandbeth.com/blog/

Quote Of The Random Interval

"At what point did you helmet wearing short bus window licking morons lose your Goddamned minds?"

Read the whole, short, thing: An open letter to the leftwits.

Same Sex Marriage

In general, I am not opposed to the idea. If two men find love in each other and want to share each other's life in a relationship, then by all means let them get married.

My principle objection to gay marriage is the government defining marriage part.

I think that marriage is between you, your spouse (or spouses) and your God (or Gods) and that is all.

You're a guy in love with a guy, find a pastor who thinks that God doesn't mind and have them hitch you.

Think you're man enough to handle three wives? Same same.

Just about the only place I think the gubmint should stick it's teeny head in here is for taxes. Couples should make kids so that our native culture is cultivated and passed on. Tax incentives for children are A-OK for me. I don't give two shits if the child has two mommies or three mommies and two daddies; as long as the parents rear a healthy, productive, tax-paying adult.

So, count me as opposed to a law allowed same-sex marriage and supportive of "It's none of the government's business who I love and choose to share my life with."

I would replace marriage law with marriage contracts. Real contracts with teeth and you can put whatever you want in there. We could start with what most people consider a traditional marriage, and for most that will do really. Having to go through the details of what happens if you are caught cheating, for example, might cause a few folks to decide that they don't really want to get married, and that might just be beneficial. We could also predefine what happens to property and children, including things like child support.

What about insurance you ask? Why don't the insurance companies offer family plans to same-sex couples now? Is there a law forbidding them? With all the clout the homosexual organizations have, why don't they start their own insurance company offering plans to the people they claim to want to help?

Florida Has Its Advantages

Mr Stone Think About This

"Now, the culture: in Oliver Stone’s film JFK—nominated for Best Picture Oscar in 1991—Kennedy is a peaceful lefty contemplating a withdrawal from Vietnam. He’s assassinated by a vast right-wing cabal that includes every single person in America except for Oliver Stone."

From: http://www.city-journal.org/2010/eon0205ak.html

If the entire nation (or even just the powerful cabal implied in the film), had, indeed, conspired to assassinate President Kennedy, it would be insanely brave of Mr Stone to reveal the conspiracy. I gather that be believes that he is brave because he showed The Truth™.

Or there was no conspiracy and it's completely safe to make such a "revelation" because there's no cabal of powerful people who conspired to kill the president.

Occam's Razor: Does it make sense for such a powerful group of people to stand idly by while their conspiracy is revealed to the general public? Or does the lack of response from such a group more likely denote there is no such group?

Comment:

Everything Is Online

Dead Link

According to this, Anvil Arms made a whopping total of 60 rifles. It's no wonder they went under. Interestingly, there's a 4484 range to the serial numbers I have.

2008: 0 rifles.
2007: 42 rifles.
2006: 18 rifles.
2005: 0 rifles.
2004: 0 rifles.

By way of comparison; NoDak-Spud, the boutique maker of the retro AR lowers produced 726 rifles in 2007, 0 in 2008.

Boneheaded Move

Bushmaster has just released the specs for their ACR.

Dead Link Because Cerebus Bought Bushmaster

And pricing. Basic version MSRP is $2,685. Enhanced version MSRP is $3,061. Dealer pricing is about $500 less.

A little perspective on this might help. The prices above have no optics or accessories.

My 6.8 gun totaled $2,486, including a $736 Aimpoint optic and $200 weapon light. The basic gun was only $1,550. This is significant because the oddball caliber makes a few parts essentially prototype priced. A non .223 AR is the most expensive way to do it, and this is the most expensive AR I own. Because I have a collapsible stock and a 4-rail handguard, it's more comparable feature-wise with the enhanced model.

It gets better, the ACR weighs in at 8.2 lbs without a magazine; 9.2 loaded. My 6.8 is 9.6 lbs loaded WITH an optic and light; not to mention that it's firing ammo that's 70% heavier!

Since the world is awash in AR-15 parts for dirt cheap, perhaps I am not being fair. Perhaps I should give them some slack because it's a completely new design. OK, how does the competition in "all new gun" stack up?

Robinson Arms is a boutique manufacturer in Utah. They make a gun called the XCR. Their gun is aluminum forgings instead of polymer (more expensive to make) and they manage an MSRP of $1,955.99 for a gun that's equivalent to the enhanced version. Empty weight is 7.5 lbs, which should give a loaded weight of 8.3 lbs. Dead Link Because Robinson Arms

FN-Herstal makes a competing product, the SCAR 16S. It's equivalent to the enhanced and has an MSRP of $2,696.56. FN is known for being a tad expensive, but this gun's full-auto version is the winner of the Army's SCAR competition and is being procured on a limited basis. 7.25 lbs empty for 8 loaded. Dead Link Because FN

SIG-Sauer's SIG 556 has many of the same features, they are known for being expensive as well. The 556 is noted for being heavy in several reviews and the Classic SWAT (equivalent to the enhanced version) tips the scales at 8.3 lbs without a mag or 9.3 lbs loaded. It's an old fashioned Swiss-way-of-doing-things gun and it's mostly steel with some aluminum and polymer. MSRP is $2,399. This gun is an M16 mag version of the SIG 550 which is current issue for Swiss troops.
Dead Link Because SIG

Even more fun, DSA makes a semi-version of the FN FAL. The SA58 Standard is 10.4 lbs loaded, and cost just under $2,000 ($1,700 MSRP) when I got it during the Obama panic. Just a pound heavier than the ACR and chambered in a far more effective caliber with the 50+ years of proven reliability under adverse conditions being used by "troops" that make an ad-hoc militia seem like the Swiss Guard. EDIT It should be pointed out that the FAL is notorious for being difficult and time consuming to machine, and there's hardly a part on one that isn't milled from a solid block. The FAL is the old school way, if the ACR is expensive because machining is expensive, why is the FAL cheaper? Dead Link Because DSA

Now that you can see your options, Bushmaster has posted this: Dead Link Because Cerebus thread on Arfcom (read the whole thing) attempting to do damage control on this. It should also be noted that FN and SIG have sterling reputations for quality, Bushmaster does not. Bushmaster also has a noted tendency to bring oddities to market and quietly dump them, like their M17S Bullpup.

The ACR started out life as the Magpul Masada. Magpul sold the rights to Bushmaster to avoid having to tool up a gun manufacturing capability from scratch. Magpul's representatives have maintained for three years the MSRP would be in the $1,500 range and the gun would use standard AR fire control parts and off-the-shelf barrels. Bushmaster managed none of that.

Considering that the street price for an FN SCAR 16S is running about $2,350...

Abortion

I will concede that it's murder if, in turn, we are allowed to teach the kids in detail how to avoid getting pregnant in the first place. Once they are biologically capable of making babies, they tend to try.

Don't Ask Don't Tell

I've ranted about it before, but I have had some errant thoughts after reading Weerd's post.

The reason that men and women are billeted separately is to keep them from being ogled and having sex.

Homosexuals are impossible to billet this way. A gay man billeted with the women will be ogled by them, for example.

But I wonder if most of the heat and fury about this issue is more along the lines of "Why ISN'T my junk being ogled?"

I, for one, think if we allow homosexuals to serve openly, we end all segregated billeting. Everyone will get a chance to ogle and be ogled equally. I'm also not too concerned about sexual relationships in the ranks as long as we don't get kids from it. Homosexuals have a huge advantage here, don't they?

Car Stuff

It's been a banner week for doing some stuff I have been putting off on the Vette.

First I plunked down the $20 for a new mount for the radar detector. The one that came with it is just a bent pieces of sheet metal with two suction cups; and it falls off a lot. New mount is more like the kind that comes with GPS units with a lever that creates more vacuum under the cup and holds things more solidly.

Next I took the heater controls apart to clean up the sticky from a spilled bottle of NOS Energy Drink. The cute little bottle that looks like a nitrous tank doesn't fit in the cup holder well enough to withstand the deceleration load of the brakes.

While I had the center console all taken apart, I relocated the microphone for the hands-free function of the vette's stereo. I had it by my right knee because the wiring was easy. Today I moved to the right of the instrument cluster and people can now hear me when I talk. Bluetooth finally works the way it was intended.

The Religion Thing

It's an empty tooth socket I can't keep my tongue out of.

There's a wrongness about what some of the atheist groups and the ACLU are achieving. I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like less freedom when the goal is more.

It might be as simple as me hating the tyranny of the minority.

UPDATE:

I think I have figured out what's been bugging me about this. The Militant Atheists, despite not believing in God, ARE religious about non-religion. They are attempting to impose their religion on everyone by using the 1st Amendment as a weapon; not because they truly believe in the freedom of religion.

I feel better, and I think I can drop this.

On McCain-Feingold

There's two main prongs that are touched on in several other blogs; I'd link but I forgot exactly what and where I read the germs to this.

Government is too influenced by corporate money.

There are two things here.

One: Corporations need to be able to influence the government to prevent government from ruining them.

Two: Corporations see government as a means to stifle competition.

The solution to both is simple in concept: Eliminate the government's ability to meddle with business. If they cannot stifle competition, the corporations will not be able to pay them to do so. If government cannot ruin a business, then corporations have no need to pay government to prevent it.

The Constitution is really quite simple and it's not written in legalese. It means what it says in plain english and there's hardly any hidden meanings or things that are not explicitly stated.

Make Up Your Damn Mind

Do not tell me that there's nothing we can do about Islam while you attempt to eradicate all mention of Christianity from any place not actually owned by a Christian church.

Anti-Theism is not the same thing as Atheism.

Do not preach to me about the horrors of Christianity while ignoring those of Islam. Especially when the Christian horrors are no longer in living memory and there's video of the Islamic.

A nativity scene is not equivalent to an honor killing.

I am also becoming increasingly convinced that despite the 1st amendment, the founders clearly intended the USA to be Christian and for the most part it still is. I am also becoming convinced that our Christian based culture can tolerate a certain, but finite and small, number of who are not. Atheists, like me, are essentially free-riding on the cultural norms that are generated by Christianity. Because we are free-riding we should accord them a bit more respect and a tad more latitude than the organized anti-theism groups have been showing. Those same groups need to start confronting other religions too, and I don't care if it's Islam, Judaism, Hindu or Buddhism.

Americans need to start asserting our culture on those who come to live here from a different culture.

American culture might be founded in Christianity, but it includes things like titty bars. Christians would be well advised to remember that. We are christian based, but not a theocracy. If you don't like strip joints, convince your daughters it's a bad idea to work there and don't patronize it. And that's all you get to do.

Atheists; if they leave the titty bar alone, you should let the nativity scene on the court steps alone.

Deal?

I just hate when people ignore history.

The culture in the US is based on Christianity. I've noticed, for the most part, that Christians are extremely tolerant of those of us who are not. Eliminating their influence from every aspect of our culture seems a mistake and since nature abhors a vacuum; something else will rise to fill it in. Atheists don't bring a culture to the table. They, in fact, actively reject the culture that spawned them and it's going to hurt the US.

I mentioned that our culture can handle a small, finite number of people who are members of this culture without being part of the actual religion.

I am an Atheist. I am not threatened by a creche on the court house lawn. I have never felt that such a display was a State endorsement of religion. Especially since such displays are completely funded by the people who construct them, all the city or county is contributing is space.

I think you are right in there would be fewer militant atheists if there were fewer militant Christians. I know that FuzzyGeff and I were defined about faith in a lot of ways because of the efforts of Boke Desmond. He felt that he should be saving us sinning D&D players. He was also an idiot; making us wonder if all people of faith were also idiots.

My point is the culture that made this nation great is Christian. To eliminate Christianity completely from it will also destroy it. I don't believe the culture that would replace it will be near so tolerant of non-believers.

Need

"Nobody needs a machinegun."

"I don't need it; but I want it, I can afford it, I'll get it," is a core component of personal freedom. A parallel core is "What's mine is mine," or personal property rights.

Too damn many laws are affronts to those two core principles.

Turns Of Phrase

The first place I heard this was on an episode of Babylon 5; and I don't think it originated there.

"If you cannot say what you mean, you cannot mean what you say."

No matter if you are forbidden or just inarticulate.

Some things require precision and language is no exception. When what you mean matters, you must be precise in what you say. If you are not, you will be misunderstood. These misunderstanding can, and have, gotten people's lives ruined and sometimes even killed.

It is also interesting that the bluntest way of saying something is also often the most precise. Be wary of people being overly verbose. If it takes them a paragraph to say what a sentence can express, they are not expressing what that sentence would say.

Never, ever, trust someone who drafts language that greatly affects others lives who is imprecise and sloppy with their language when it does not matter.

Interesting Story

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794&page=3

I really don't care if someone I intend to shoot is offended by my beliefs, once I am to the point of shooting someone, I their opinion on everything no longer matters.

I cannot help but to think that if there was a PBUH on the optic there would not be a single news story covering it even if the owners of Trijicon bought full page ads bragging about it.

I also don't think this is a separation of church and state issue. This is part of the ongoing "We must eliminate all mention of Christianity while ignoring mention of all others in the process of making Atheism the State Church."

The manufacturer puts those little coded messages on the scopes. The military didn't demand they be there. This is not the government demanding that we worship a Christian God. This is a waste of time worrying about tangential religious affiliation while ignoring the active recruitment of terrorist within the ranks of our own military. Whisky Tango Foxtrot Over.

This is as close to the US Government creating a Christian Theocracy as allowing government funded roads to lead to churches. Or is the ACLU against public funding of roadways that are adjacent to churches?

Wow

Massachusetts (if I have spelled that right) has elected Scott Brown to fill in the for the remainder of Ted "Crash-Dive" Kennedy's term.

Not only does this kill the filibuster proof majority in the Senate, it is the first time in over thirty years there's been a republican senator from Massachusetts.

Criminal Behavior

Libtard Lenny is a criminal.

He and the company he works for have defrauded the unemployment compensation people for the last six months. It's called double dipping.

It turns out he's also a pot dealer, which bothers me far less, but still.

I am really getting sick and tired of having my life legal and above board and being fucked while assholes like Lenny break the laws with impunity and get ahead.

The police aren't interested. The unemployment people can't do anything unless I have his SSN.

Explain to me, again, why going vigilante is a bad thing for society.

Something Else...

If my house is ever flattened by a hurricane, I am 100% certain that there will be zero aid from Haiti coming.

Considering all the money that has disappeared into that wretched place over the years, why don't we just let them deal with it on their own this time?

There Are Videos At The Link Worth Your Time

The Making of the Military’s Standard Arms, Part II

In the first video it's an early M4A1 with the lighter contour barrel. I would like everyone to notice that it only had one stoppage in 535 rounds fired at Player Character™ rate-of-fire. 1 minute 51 seconds of sustained fire to burst the barrel under the handguards.

The second video is a later M4A1 with the heavier barrel the spec-forces dudes demanded. It keeps up the PCRoF for 911 rounds and starts being a straight-pull bolt action when the gas tube melts. 4 minutes 47 seconds of sustained fire to burst the gas tube.

I want to see a test with an M4 and see how many rounds it takes to do this with the 3-round burst instead of full-auto.

Interesting Dilemma

The entire point of punishing someone for breaking the law is to encourage people to obey the law and follow the rules.

When the government decides that following those rules made you too successful, and punishes you for that success, where is the incentive to follow those rules in the first place? Especially since the success garnered by breaking the law is by and large untaxed.

I Am A Callous Bastard

I don't care that bunches of people died in Haiti.

I just don't.

It's full of folks I don't know or care about.

On the other hand, I also would not care if something great happened to them.

It's not a case of wishing them ill will.

Comments

My Global Warmering Is Broken

This is ICE!!!

Our birdbath has become a bird rink.

I don't think I even OWN an ice scraper anymore.

A Dread

I fear that I have been wasting my time with the soap and ballot boxes.

Only one box left.

My conviction that the last box will work is only reinforced by the Islamists using it and getting the government to be afraid to say boo to them.

Rumination

I wonder how far a 13th Amendment defense would fly for refusal to pay taxes.

The people on welfare aren't working.

The taxpayers are.

If the taxpayers stop paying taxes, the government punishes them.

Sounds like the taxpayers are enslaved by the welfare types and the government is playing the roll of overseer.

Comments:

Go To The Link Watch The Vid

Anagnorisis and Peripeteia

Other Than The Ticket...

"There was no single piece of intelligence that said, 'this guy is going to get on a plane.'" John Brennan, White House Aide, top counterterrorism expert.

SEALs In 1/35 Update

Remember this guy? Ensign Carl Dietrich?

He's painted now!

How About A Nice Hot Cup Of STFU

I have decided that if someone is going to call me a racist for saying a minority is incompetent, then their opinion is meaningless on all things. I am not calling that guy a CENSORED, I am saying he's not doing his job and you would agree if he wasn't black; which is far more racist than what I actually said.

Dead Trees

One brilliant thing about having real, printed, books is you know that they have not been altered should a fact, thought or idea contained within become politically incorrect.