The people that voted "blue" because of the promise of government supplied health care should be careful what they ask for. They might get it.

Katherine Murphy, spokeswoman for the Patients Association, said the huge budget deficits faced by some NHS trusts - estimated to be over £1 billion - together with the Government's obsession with targets, was leaving some hospitals with no option but to treat patients of the opposite sex together.

...

'The Government's pledge to get rid of mixed sex wards is yet another one of Tony Blair's broken promises,' Mrs Murphy said.

'We've seen more and more calls to our patient helpline from distressed women in particular who are being forced to share rooms with men.

...

Last month a review of 153 acute trusts in England revealed that, in some hospitals, two in three patients are still being having to share a room with a member of the opposite sex.

...

'Allowing trusts to simply put curtains up between patients makes no difference to them whatsoever,' Mrs Murphy added.

'It makes a mockery of the Government's targets and is simply a token gesture that is failing to get to the root of the problem.'

In 1997, the Government set its first target for closing such wards by 1999. But in January 2000 this was revised to 2002.

It was then moved again, to April 2004 – but even this target has now been missed.

Tory health minister Stephen O'Brien said: 'What further proof do we need of the value of a promise from this Labour Government than their record on mixed sex wards.

'Four years ago they said they would get rid of mixed sex wards, but four years on the increasing evidence shows the situation is getting worse not better.

'Financial deficits, caused by the Government's mismanagement of the NHS, is now leading to less trusts taking the decision to close mixed sex wards.'

And do you really want the government having ready access files on your medical records? What if those "evil homophobic Republicans" could easily find everyone that was gay? Or if the unethical Democrats exposed the Republican candidates (or their daughters or girl-friends) who had abortions when they where a teenager?

Almost lost in the article is the £1 billion deficit (not debt) of the National Health Service. Government health care is not only more expensive than private health care (ask any health care professional how much time they spend dealing with government paperwork) it's lower quality. Pay more, get less, and leaves you vulnerable to government abuse? You know it has to be the brain child of the loony left.

Update: I forgot to mention that Government Health Care fails my Jews In the Attic Test.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

Elwyn Brooks White
(1899 - 1985)
New Yorker, July 3, 1944
[White wrote both Stuart Little, published in 1945, and Charlotte's Web, published in 1952. People with children will recognize these books. He was also the author of The Elements of Style Illustrated--professional writers will instantly recognize this title.--Joe]

There is a new gun store in Moscow and so I went to check them out on Saturday after having lunch with Barb (who had to work). Prices were typical, selection was better than I expected for such a small store. The guy behind the counter said business was pretty good. There had been some talk about the election results and people were thinking about what sort of defensive buying they might do if the anti-gun bigots in congress start looking like they might get their way. But so far everyone is mostly just talking and saving up but not actually buying in response to "black Tuesday". Most people figure they will have a couple months, perhaps as much as six months, to buy full capacity magazines and ugly black rifles.

As he was closed on Sunday I did my National Ammo Day purchase on Saturday. I purchased 2000 primers (all that he had in that size) for reloading my STI Eagle with .40 S&W fodder for more Action Pistol (IPSC) and steel matches. I have so many bullets, empty cases, and powder that I just couldn't justify buying any loaded ammo. I now probably have enough primers to reload all my pistol components.

As I said in a post last week our daughter Xenia and her friend Meghan won first place at district drama competition with both of their entries. Here is The Duel, written and performed by Xenia and Meghan on November 11, 2006 at Orofino High School (when Barb and I were going to school there this particular room was where Mr. Johnson's taught U.S. History):

Video: The Duel

See also Xenia's post about the competition.

Friday night Ry posted:

My position is that the formation of the Libertarian Party did more to destroy freedom in the United States (and therefore, the world) than any event since.

He and I talked about it at time lunch on Friday. I find it hard to disagree with his reasoning. But it's a little hard to know for certain because you can't rerun the experiment to see how it would have turned out had the Libertarian Party not been formed.

The only reasonable argument I can make against his position is that the L-Party has articulated and presented a viewpoint that perhaps would have been even more muddled and lost than it is now.

In any case it's sobering to think about and it causes me to wonder about other applications of the same thinking. What of Gun Owners of America, The Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right To Keep and Bear Arms, and JPFO? There I think the case is less clear. One can be a member of not just one but any and all of the organizations. With a political party your candidate either wins or loses. There is no middle ground or somewhat diminished influence when your most favored candidate looses a battle for political office.

Only a ghost can exist without material property; only a slave can work with no right to the product of his effort. The doctrine that 'human rights' are superior to 'property rights' simply means that some human beings have the right to make property out of others; since the competent have nothing to gain from the incompetent, it means the right of the incompetent to own their betters and to use them as productive cattle. Whoever regards this as human and right, has no right to the title of 'human.'

John Galt
A character in the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
[How fortuitous that I should be listening to this particular portion of Atlas Shrugged within minutes of getting a pointer from Phil to the article about the Massachusetts Health Insurance Plan costing $151 million more than expected. Universal health care is NOT a right. It is the taking of one man's property at the point of a gun and giving it to another who did not earn it. In other words it is a form of slavery.--Joe]

There was a car fire the night before I arrived in Reno for the Gun Bloggers Rendezvous in October. As I wasn't there at the time I disavow any involvement with it.

On the way home from the Seattle area last night I arrived slightly before the police did, but not before several other witnesses, to this car fire on Highway 26:

I also did not have anything to do with this fire. My chemistry set is safely locked up in the Taj Mahal.

The GPS coordinates were 46^o 47' 36" N 118^o 49' 19"W. The car was west bound on Highway 26 about 50 yards east of the junction with Lind-Hatton Road.  I arrived about 21:35. I left about 15 minutes later by which time there were at least three police cars and a fire truck there. East bound traffic was diverted on Lind-Hatton Road to Highway 395. To the best of my knowledge no one was hurt.

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?

Thomas Jefferson
Notes on the State of Virginia
1781
[Although this is widely attributed to Jefferson and this particular set of documents I have been unable to find it here.--Joe]

Yeah, I'm really late on this. I'm a procrastinator (Xenia! That doesn't give you an excuse--do as I say, not as I do!). Buy early and often. Read more here.

The Georgia State Supreme Court was most vigorous in taking the Second Amendment literally rather than trying to twist the words to mean something other than what it actually says:

[When] did any legislative body in the Union have the right to deny to its citizens the privilege of keeping and bearing arms in defence of themselves and their country?

. . . [T]his is one of the fundamental principles, upon which rests the great fabric of civil liberty, reared by the fathers of the Revolution and of the country. And the Constitution of the United States, in declaring that the right of the people to keep and bear arms, should not be infringed, only reiterated a truth announced a century before, in the act of 1689, "to extend and secure the rights and liberties of English subjects"--Whether living 3,000 or 300 miles from the royal palace.

...

The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State. Our opinion is, that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right, originally belonging to our forefathers, trampled under foot by Charles I. and his two wicked sons and successors, re-established by the revolution of 1688, conveyed to this land of liberty by the colonists, and finally incorporated conspicuously in our own Magna Charta! And Lexington, Concord, Camden, River Raisin, Sandusky, and the laurel-crowned field of New Orleans plead eloquently for this interpretation!

Unfortunately this was a 1846 case which makes it difficult to find and quote in present day cases and likely to be disregarded even though the Second Amendment hasn't changed in the past two centuries.

Found via Gun Law News.

Again (yesterday I reported on this one) from the Second Amendment Foundation. Some libraries are blocking access to gun related materials such as Women and Guns magazine. SAF is joining forces with the ACLU on this one. Here is the actual complaint.

From the press release:

SAF and its co-plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionality of the library district's policy of using internet filters on publicly -- available computer terminals to block access to constitutionally -- protected speech, including publications such as Women & Guns magazine, which is owned by SAF. The library refuses to unblock such access even at the request of the plaintiffs

"The NCRL's policy of refusing to disable its Internet filters upon request is restricting the ability of speakers, content providers and patrons of the NCRL's public library branches to access the contemporary marketplace of ideas," the lawsuit states.

"We entered this lawsuit because citizens are being denied access to our website and information about our organization and publication," said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. "That clearly violates both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Washington State Constitution."

There are businesses (Cingular that I know of) that block Boomershoot.org and tell their employees it is because of "Criminal Skills". I'm annoyed but it's a business and as long as they just block access to their employees while at work I don't have any grounds to complain about it. A public library blocking access is a completely different story. They need to be slapped down--hard. Go get 'em.

Via Say Uncle.

So I sit and write and ponder, while the house is deaf and dumb,
Seeing visions "over yonder" of the war I know must come.
In the corner - not a vision - but a sign for coming days
Stand a box of ammunition and a rifle in green baize.
And in this, the living present, let the word go through the land,
Every tradesman, clerk and peasant should have these two things at hand.

No - no ranting song is needed, and no meeting, flag or fuss -
In the future, still unheeded, shall the spirit come to us!
Without feathers, drum or riot on the day that is to be,
We shall march down, very quiet, to our stations by the sea.
While the bitter parties stifle every voice that warns of war,
Every man should own a rifle and have cartridges in store!

Henry Lawson
Every Man Should have a Rifle
[As applicable here and now as it was there and then (Australia in 1907). Found via posts by Say Uncle and Alphecca.--Joe]

As I suggested the other day Phil now has some tunage for your gPod. He doesn't keep these files up for very long because of the disk space requirements and potential for using up a lot more bandwidth. If you read his post late you can still enjoy his selection by buying a copy of the CD here -- tracks six and nine.

For years I didn't understand why someone didn't just take a case all the way to the supreme court and overthrow all the anti-gun laws in the country. After all, what part of "...shall not be infringed" didn't they understand? And the 14th Amendment made the 2nd Amendment apply to the states and all the lesser political jurisdictions as well. But that was thinking rationally and I didn't understand that neither people nor law are rational. It was explained to me that the Supreme Court would never rule such that thousands and thousands of laws were suddenly null and void after being enforced for decades. We have to get out of this mess the same way we got into it--one step at a time. It was Joe Waldron that explained that to me. I was skeptical and didn't really understand--it wasn't rational. The law said, "shall not be infringed". Therefore that is the way they have to rule, right? Wrong.

I started reading some of the ruling from the courts and then I understood. Just look at how the various courts have interpreted U.S. versus Miller (see also the short version from JPFO) and you'll understand too. They used the most tortured 'logic' to arrive at conclusions that no rational person could support. This happened in case after case until a the weight of those precedents became a sturdy brick wall even though Miller lost his case by the slimmest of margins and defense errors (the defense attorneys didn't show up in court and did not present any case) and the lower courts extrapolated from this over the horizon into never-never land. I am no longer skeptical. I now believe.

Yesterday the Second Amendment Foundation announced they are taking one of those necessarily tiny steps in the courts to regain our gun rights. The press release is here. The complaint filed in court is here. I wish them well.

The company where I work matches my tax deductible donations to 501(C)(3) organizations. My sole donation beneficiary for next year is the Second Amendment Foundation.

MAN: A biodegradable but nonrecyclable animal blessed with opposable thumbs capable of grasping at straws.

Bernard Rosenberg

I might have done some good today without even knowing it. While I was busy riding the exercise bike at the health club and listening to Atlas Shrugged I received three pieces of email from a 12 year-old kid. It could be that he just didn't want to end up on one of my "Bomb Help" web pages but maybe he was telling the truth too. Always the optimist I prefer to believe the latter. You can decide:

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 7:45 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

dear joe,
hows it going? i was wondering if you could give me some info on how to make bombs.
( i know what you are thinking) no i DO NOT WANT  TO USE THIS BOMB TO HURT ANYONE!!!
i am going to be streight-out and honest with you.
i am 12.
i love bombs!( well its sorta a hobby of mine) after i made what i call a yeast bomb (yeast and flower and suger water)( the stuff reacts to make
C02 which eventuly exspands so much the bottle literly exsplodes.) noat this was in my bedroom at 12:00 or later at night.
i decided to look at bombs.
well.....i have also decided i want to be an exsplosives exspert when i grow up.
i was just wondering if you could give me some simple bomb recipes.
well.....if you think i may use the info for something  bad ( that seriously freaky school bomb threts or some thing) i want to tell you that I WILL NOT!!!! i am not a little syco and stuff.
well if you do think its ok to tell me some please only send 1. smaller things please for i do not want to hurt anyone.
2. safe to do without killing anyone or damiging unwanted targets and 3.
make it simple.
thank you for your time and if you do think im to young to poses such info i understand.( im still a bit angey but with all the horrid things going on i can relate) sighned jaron leavitt p.s. if you need to email me back [deleted email address]

 

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 7:48 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

i am srry i just read your last email on the page that you dont help people make bombs.
i didnt see that and please disreguard my last statement/email i understand im sorry for wasting your time and will seek bomb making instructions else where once again i am srry jaron

 

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 8:27 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

um......ugh.
after seeing your little page of other peoples little accidents um.....i dont think i want  to "toy"
around with exsplosive substances anymore.
i would like to greatly thank you for you have caused me to see how badly i or others may be hurt.
i still plan to be an exsplosives worker or pyrotechnition but i do not think i will be paling with anymore bombs untill i go to collage and know what the hell i am doing thank you with all gratitude jaron

The site he must of found the link to was (Warning! EXTREMELY graphic content) this one.

Even though I could legally own a machine gun in Idaho I haven't ever had the interest. They do have their application however. This video shows a plausible application. After I get my own helicopter I'll reevaluate the bias I have against machine guns.

Video: GPMG vs Gattling

A good read. Some excerpts:

This also leads to the phenomenon that academics don't know much about how markets work, since they have so little experience with them, living as they do in their subsidized ivory towers and protected by academic tenure. As Joseph Schumpeter explained in Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, it is "the absence of direct responsibility for practical affairs" that distinguishes the academic intellectual from others "who wield the power of the spoken and the written word." This absence of direct responsibility leads to a corresponding absence of first-hand knowledge of practical affairs.

...we must realize first that academics receive many direct benefits from the welfare state, and that these benefits have increased over time.

Excluding student financial aid, public universities receive about 50 percent of their funding from federal and state governments, dwarfing the 18 percent they receive from tuition and fees. Even "private" universities like Stanford or Harvard receive around 20 percent of their budgets from federal grants and contracts.[4]  If you include student financial aid, that figure rises to almost 50 percent. According to the US Department of Education, about a third of all students at public, 4-year colleges and universities, and half the students at private colleges and universities, receive financial aid from the federal government.

In this sense, the most dramatic example of "corporate welfare" in the US is the GI Bill, which subsidized the academic sector, bloating it far beyond the level the market would have provided. The GI Bill, signed by President Roosevelt in 1944 to send returning soldiers to colleges and universities, cost taxpayers $14.5 billion between 1944 and 1956.[5]  Federal spending on the latest version, the Montgomery GI Bill, is projected at $3.2 billion in 2006 alone.

...

The current crises in higher education and the media are probably good things, in the long run, if they force a rethinking of educational and intellectual goals and objectives, and take power away from the establishment institutions. Then, and only then, we may see a rebirth of genuine scholarship, communication, and education.

Last night I finished up the processing of the Boomershoot 2006 survey. I removed the personally identifiable information from the comments and put the results up here in an Excel spreadsheet.

There weren't any big surprises. I was a little surprised at how popular the opening fireball is. 37 out of 39 agreed that it is an important part of the event.

I was pleased that the question "Boomershoot safety met my expectations." had the highest level of agreement with 31 out of 39 strongly agreeing and the remaining 8 agreeing. There was one person that had some comments about ways to improvement and I'll think about it.

Some of the more interesting comments were:

I would like to see better and cheaper food and drink there.  Also strippers.

a night shoot would be way fun if the neighbors wouldn't be too bothered.  Keep it really small for safety's sake but the fireballs would be best at night, and it's hard to find a place to shoot distance with NV. [I'm working on the details for this. If you have the money, perhaps in the $300 to $500 range, this might happen this year.--Joe]

We need to fix the weather, You should build a giant umbrella.. No a huge kibbi dome over the field!!!  Even better lets get some of those greek weather gods to work for us, and they could push the clouds away. [My family will immediately know who wrote this comment. He didn't leave his name but I can hear his voice in my head say the words above.--Joe]

I like watching angsty geeks with guns sweat

Bring Stephanie back. [As if I need to drag her out of the garage and throw her in the back of the van. Stephanie knows her way and is always welcome to attend.--Joe]

All gun owners should be shot. [You're welcome to do the honors. I'll even supply the shotgun and give you your own very special shooting position. It will be a trench about two feet wide, seven feet long and five feet deep at the 380 yard line. Please wait for the start signal.--Joe]

On the price:

You could charge more-My son and I would still attend

It's expensive, but I understand why.

I am affraid to admit this, it was a bargain.

Cheaper is always better.

should be $4000 [You can have a private event any day of the year for this price. You have my phone number. Call me any time of the day or night with your credit card number.--Joe]

In the category of "Done":

Shooting a 50 cal and feeling everyone elses rounds being fired really wears on a person.  Having a spot to go shoot the big gun and then being able to return to a normal slot would be nice. [Position 12 is reserved for this.--Joe]

I would like a lane where you can check your sighting in before you shoot at targets.  Perhaps from 6 to 7 a.m.?  Or do you folks need that time to set up?  Either that or the previous afternoon? [Early morning is out. The range is covered with people setting out boomers. See Field Fire shooters for another option.--Joe]

In the category of "No":

Of course if I were to have one wish (just behind winning the lottery), I'd like to see 100 pound boomers!

Permanent lounge structure.  Bigger explosions-- of course. [No permanent structures. This is farm land and I want to be able to revert it with a few hours of work with a bull dozer. The explosions are already at the limit. The neighbors have double pane windows that have lost their seals and have had stuff fall off the walls.--Joe]

I was thinking of more comfort oriented things-- concrete, covered shooting positions, coffee/beverage waitresses, et al. [No. It's not going to happen. Although I won't go as far as Ry suggests, bring in fresh dirt and water it down for the shooting positions, I am inclined to encourage a more 'natural' shooting environment.--Joe]

In the category of "You're welcome":

thank you and your family for performing this valuable service to mankind.

Joe, if I didn't tell you before, let me tell you now: 2006 was an absolute BLAST!!! Thank you so much for a great event! After the last couple of years, where getting a boomer to boom was a very difficult proposition, you made it all work great this year. I still get a smile, every time I think of it! Thanks, again!

This is a great shooting event. Please keep it going. I enjoy the photos on your web page very much.

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.

Gore Vidal
In A View from the Diner’s Club (1991)
Gods and Greens
Observer (London, Aug. 27, 1989)

Heavy sigh.... I can't say that I'm happy about it. Sort of sad and nervous about it. But DAMN, they are beautiful as well as smart and talented.

Update: The picture in the wedding dresses had to come down. Some people were not supposed to see that one. This picture was taken the same day just a couple hours earlier.

Honorable: Afflicted with an impediment in one's reach.  In legislative bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, "the honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur."

Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary

Where we have enjoyed a pretty solid 25 to 30 vote majority, we must now get by with a somewhat less reliable 11 to 16 vote advantage – keeping in mind that we’re talking about politicians so they’re unpredictable and require constant supervision.

Jeff Knox
Director of Operations
The Firearms Coalition
November 13, 2006
Analysis and Action Plan
fcalerts-list -- News from The Firearms Coalition

After an eight hour commute home Friday night, arriving at 00:30 Saturday morning I got up and was off to Orofino before 07:00. I was supposed to be in Orofino by 08:00. I cut close to ten minutes off the usual travel time and arrived a few minutes after 08:00. I arrived only shortly after Xenia and Meghan so everything was cool. I took the pictures you see here. My favorite is the following where Xenia started levitating after the announcement that she and Meghan placed first in both drama categories (ensemble pantomime and ensemble humorous) they entered in. It's off to State competition for them now.

Oh, I almost forgot. This is the second year in a row they won first place at the District competition in both categories they entered. They are very, very good.

Putting makeup on her is like putting makeup on a super model.

LaffeeTaffee @ xyzmail.com (email address disguised to prevent spam)
November 12, 2006
Macy's in the Spokane Valley Mall
[While doing a "makeover" on our daughter Kim.--Joe]