In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.

Charles de Gaulle
[I'll bet Hillary Clinton uses this, or the equivalent, as a daily manta.--Joe]

Yeah.  I know my blog has been down for over 24 hours.  I don't know why.  This is the second time.  The first time was just before Boomershoot.  Both then and today I simply didn't have any time to work on figuring it out and bring it back up.  Both times it came back on it's own.  Probably something my hosting provider figured out and fixed.

Yesterday and today I was busy with graduation stuff.  My son, James, and his cousin were graduating from the University of Idaho--at different times.  Pretty much scrambled my entire day today--I hate ceremonies.  But James and I did go see Mission Impossible III tonight.  Pretty good flick.  Plot holes, of course, but still pretty good.

To get the bad customs of a country changed and new ones, though better, introduced, it is necessary first to remove the prejudices of the people, enlighten their ignorance, and convince them that their interests will be promoted by the proposed changes, and this is not the work of a day.

Benjamin Franklin
1781
[Gun rights advocates still have a lot of work to do.--Joe]

This is a war of civilizations. There is no room for negotiation. Islamofascism needs to be completely and utterly destroyed, both in the death of its adherents, and in the humiliation of a political theory that asserts it has a moral superiority that justifies being in complete control of the entire world.

Clayton Cramer
May 11, 2006
United 93
[Yes.  What he said.--Joe]

USA Today:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

Here's the story they don't tell you.  Using the simple data of who called who and the times of the calls some very interesting conclusions can be made.  Out of billions of calls individual groups as small as ten people can be identified and their organizational structure mapped.  For example they can determine who the leader is and who will take his or her place if they were removed.  This was several years ago so I imagine the results are better now.  The same sort of information can be derived from email traffic as well.

I'm not sure how I stand on this.  My inclination is that if the companies who own the data are compelled to turn it over without probable cause then I'm against it.  But if it is optional and they get paid to share the information then I'm annoyed but don't have a strong objection.

Other opinions include Michelle Malkin and Alphecca.

I could see being so nervous/overwhelmed/scared/in-awe/whatever that you have "performance problems" in real life.  But Bruce Willis refused to shoot a movie sex scene with Ms. Berry for other reasons:

Willis said: "I get all awkward. She's beautiful. It's almost like looking at an eclipse of the sun.

"You have to poke a pin through a card and look at her through that. She's so stunning you could damage your retina."

If that was the problem then I think I would just close my eyes and try to manage using Braille or something.

Very cool video of Fedex air traffic into Memphis (their hub) as a thunderstorm rolled in.

Via Periodic Journal of my wanderings.

History proves that when government holds both the sword and the purse, as Britain’s government does, it makes law serve its interests, not those of individual members of society. By following the links of cause and effect, we thereby see that Brady, whether its actions are intentional or not, favors the rights of the criminal over those of the law-abiding.

Howard Nemerov
May 11, 2006
Gun Control: Do Brady Policies Support Criminal Behavior?
[Based partly on the policies of Britain that now lets many crimes such as burglary, arson, vandalism, and sex with underage girls be "punished" with a "caution" which does not result in a court appearance, a fine, community service or jail time.--Joe]

He just can't make it much more clear:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be wiped off the map, also told a cheering crowd of students in Indonesia's capital that the Jewish state "cannot continue and one day will vanish."

Students in the crowd held up posters saying "Iran in our Hearts," and "Nuclear for Peace."

Israel will vanish?  As in a ball of fire?  Ahhhh yes...that would be a peaceful use of nuclear power.

If I were in charge of the world my inclination would be to jam all the communication coming out of Iran and all the satellites looking in (except ours which would feed directly to Israel without us getting a glimpse), and not let anything larger than a cockroach exit.  Then tell Israel they had a year and to please be careful of the wind direction if they happened to be creating any excess dust while they were cleaning house in preparation for the next inhabitants.

I haven't update the general public on the battle with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in a long time.  I needed to keep things quiet for a while.  I can give out a few hints now.

I grew up on a farm and we had a few head of cattle at various times.  And sometimes I helped my nearby uncles with there many head of cattle.  When you are herding them often they don't want to go where you want them to go.  You could be herding them to the corral for branding, castration, and slaughter.  Or you could just be herding them to greener pastures.  Most of the time they don't know what your intentions are but sometimes you are pretty sure they know it isn't greener pastures because they really resist going where you want them too.  In these cases you have to give them some "encouragement" in the form of a dog nipping at their heels, a switch, or even just yelling at them.  It's rare that anything more than this is necessary.  It's pretty amazing when you think about it.  You can yell at them and they will willingly walk into the corral where they have no escape from your branding iron and your knife.  They simply can't think that far ahead.  The short term discomfort of dealing with a dog nipping at their heels or the sting of a switch on their rump is sufficient to persuade them to commit to their own undoing.

It was just over 11 months ago that I began the journey that I knew then would last years.  I didn't really know how or if I would reach my desired destination and to a certain extent I still don't.  What I do know is that they just stepped into my corral.  It two weeks ago, just before Boomershoot, that I picked up the first of the letters from one of my attorneys from my P.O. Box.  I picked up the second one last Sunday.  And then yesterday I discovered some information that nearly made me go dancing in the street (this is from someone that despises most dancing).  If you were to read the letters you would think there was no good news about my quest for justice in those letters but you would be wrong in thinking that.  Just as you would be wrong if you thought the cow I just tried hit with my switch jumped and ran away, toward the corral, without my switch touching her escaped my intentions.  Yes, using the metaphor, repeatedly switching the felons at PNNL would bring a certain amount of pleasure.  But that's not the real goal--I want them branded, castrated, and slaughtered.  They might still break out of the corral, but their lawyers, dancing out of the reach of my switch, put them within reach of my branding iron and knife.  It will be different lawyers of theirs that will have to deal with my branding iron and knife and that will curse the lawyers just doing their job who only knew about the sharp teeth of the snapping dog and the sting of my switch.  The new lawyers didn't get involved until the corral gate was shut behind them.

In an abstract sort of way I feel sorry for someone that could have gotten away if they only had played their game a little differently. If only they could have seen far enough ahead and had communicated better with others.  If only they had known I wasn't their ordinary adversary and they hadn't been so careless in their felonious assault against me they almost for certain would have gotten away with it.

It may be that I have a mild form of Aspergers Syndrome and this probably contributed to my downfall at PNNL but it also gives me the incredible focus, persistence, and intensity they, almost for certain, have never dealt with before.  This isn't something abstract for me and I don't feel genuine pity about them not getting away with their crimes.  It's not only very personal but it has tremendous potential to affect the entire gun rights movement.  This isn't just about compensation for the nearly catastrophic impact on my life and my family.  If I play my game correctly it could easily affect every gun owner in the state of Washington and possibly every gun owner in the U.S.  Thinking they were striking a blow against one gun owner, political activist, and N.R.A. firearms instructor they may have given us an opportunity to make unimaginable gains.

There are still years of work ahead of me in this roundup but I can now start heating my branding iron and sharping my knife.  In my minds eye I can now see the smoke and steam boiling off my branding iron as it sears their flesh, I can see their bloody testicles in my bucket, and I can see their hides drying on the wall of the barn.  All just as I did so many years ago when helping my uncles with their cattle.

I'm sleeping better than I have in a long time.

...the beauty of Boomershoot is not just about the big bangs, big booms, or big guys with their big guns. The true beauty of Boomershoot is the daylong happiness you see, everywhere you look. From down range to up range, there’s more laughter and happiness on Boomershoot Day than there is in any comedy club in L.A.

Ms. Cyborg
Post-Boomershoot thoughts from Ms. Cyborg...
May 9, 2006

Michael Howard is "Home Secretary" of the U.K., sort of a national chief of police. In his words, "Gun ownership is a privilege, not a right, and the use of firearms in self-defense is not acceptable for civilians in this country" (presumably it is okay for a soldier). So much for The Land of Hope and Glory! Die if you must but do not shoot back. 
   
Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper's Commentaries
Vol. 4, No. 13
November 1996
[Brought to mind by reading this.  A woman in England gets five years in jail for a non-functional, blank-firing gun stored in her home by her boyfriend.  Guns and their owners are treated like Jews in Nazi Germany.  This woman was guilty of hiding a Jew.--Joe]

They don't even try to hide it.  They just come right out and say it, Children need to be protected:

Constitutional issues aside, consider youths: In Seattle, firearms are the leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. In King County, an estimated 32,000 children live in homes with unlocked firearms; about 7,000 of them live in homes with loaded firearms and about 2,000 in homes where guns are stored loaded and unlocked. Does this make sense? Don't children deserve to live in a community where guns are safely stored, their purchase closely regulated and weapons clearly intended for maximum damage banned?

As one commenter said, "The phrase in this article that I find the most chilling 'Constitutional issues aside...'".  Constitutional issues are just dismissed by invoking "youths".  And ignoring the fact that more children have been killed because of gun control (start by counting the number of kids killed by the Nazis) rather than in spite of it.  In the comments I asked them my usual, Just One Question.  No response yet.  I don't expect one either.  It's not about logic or safety.  It's "for the children."

Ain't freedom beautiful?

Michael Burrows
April 30, 2006
At Boomershoot after launching an anvil 100 feet into the air.

From Scripps Howard News Service:

The test scheduled for June 2 will be of a 700-ton conventional bomb. The research could aid in development of so-called bunker-buster weapons, including small-scale nuclear devices, according to the federal official overseeing the test, Doug Bruder, director of counter-weapons of mass destruction technology for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

As near as I can tell the maximum takeoff weight any 747 is about 910,000 pounds which is only 455 tons and that includes the weight of the plane and fuel.  A semi truck is much smaller.  The only remaining thing I can think of is a train and that is rather problematic for a number of reasons.

So this "demonstration", as some are calling it, of a 700-ton bomb ammonium nitrate (Boomershoot uses AN as the main ingredient) and fuel oil bomb will be more "interesting" than just a big pile of AN detonating.  And although there may be some fuel oil in it my guess is there will be aluminum powder as well as other stuff much more interesting that just fuel oil.  This guy is openly calling it a tactical nuke instead of a conventional bomb.  Tactical nuke?  Sure, that makes sense.  You can deliver those with artillery shells as well as cruise missiles and conventional air dropped bombs.

Iran is virtually begging for someone to attack.  The Israelis claim Iran is only about a year away from having their own nuclear bomb.  Others claim more time is needed, but regardless the Mideast is a very interesting place these days.  Regardless, for us to claim there is too much sand and not enough glass in Iran before we take another hit will be a tough situation politically.  But for us to wait might mean the near total destruction of Israel.  And if we take a nuclear hit on north American soil my bet is that our retaliation will not be so "surgical" as dropping a few tactical nukes as we would prior to taking a hit.  My guess is we would turn not only massive portions of Iran into glass but Medina and few other areas as well.  Mecca would probably have a few bombers in permanent "orbit" around it for several years--just daring any Muslim extremist to set off a pipe bomb in some pizza joint on our turf.

Interesting times ahead...

Update: If you follow the links in Ry's comments (and here) you will find the people I based my post on were totally clueless.  Which means I was totally clueless when I made the post.  Idiots.  And they made me look like an idiot.

Xenia posted a little bit about her Boomershoot experience.  It includes pictures by and of Sara and Lexi.

In the 1840s Americans still thought Manifest Destiny was really cool and got the president to fight a war to get more land from Mexico including Texas and California. Texas said it was already free, but Mexico didn’t think so until after America kicked their butt.

Xenia Joy Huffman-Scott
4:00 AM, May 1, 2006
On the day the history project was due.
[There is other great stuff in her timeline of American history too, check it out.--Joe]

I liken Boomershoot to the state of mind when one is doing yoga. It's very peaceful.

Stephanie Sailor
April 30, 2006
While at Boomershoot.