There are now controls for Internet control of your heating and the government wants to control your air conditioning, refrigerators, lights, and computers so this is really just a logical extension.
It’s for the children.
Via Gus from work.
Author Archives: Joe
Quote of the day—Weerd Beard
You see the antis claim that these guns and practices would result in MORE violent crimes. Just the opposite has happened.
But they’re attempting to spin this as a victory…I guess to the legions of the VERY VERY stupid.
We are blessed to have opponents such as these!
Weerd Beard
September 19, 2011
Fails of the Antis
[As near as I can determine we have three types of opponents:
- The evil.
- The ignorant.
- The intellectually challenged.
The evil use the intellectually challenged and the ignorant to further their agenda but fortunately there are not that many evil people currently in positions of power and/or they are keeping a low profile. They have not been a significant threat in recent battles. There probably is no cure for evil except to recognize it and to remove them from positions of power.
The ignorant are less able to remain ignorant with the Internet. They are very quickly informed once they publically show their support for gun control. That they vote without becoming visible or becoming informed is probably the biggest threat they pose to us. Probably our best weapon against these people is for us to come out of the closet and to take these people to the range.
The intellectually challenged can be transformed into gifts to our cause. Every time they say something stupid we can (and do) broadcast it for others to see and point out the stupidity. Who wants to be on the same side as people who say such stupid stuff? So, yes, we are blessed to have opponents such as these!—Joe]
Quote of the day—Paul Krugman
Fortunately, physicians no longer believe that bleeding the sick will make them healthy. Unfortunately, many of the makers of economic policy still do.
Paul Krugman
September 19, 2011
Decline in manufacturing capacity is probably only the beginning of the bad new: Paul Krugman
[He is apparently oblivious to the irony as he goes on to say, even though the U.S. Government is broke, “For the time being we need more, not less, government spending, supported by aggressively expansionary policies from the Federal Reserve and its counterparts abroad.”
Krugman believes that budget austerity is the equivalent of “bleeding the patient” when sane people would recognize it as reducing the hemorrhaging. One has to wonder if Krugman is practicing doublethink, doublespeak, or both. In any case he has crap for brains if he thinks the majority of the people will believe him.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Bruce Schneier
Given the credible estimate that we’ve spent $1 trillion on anti-terrorism security (this does not include our many foreign wars), that’s $62.5 billion per life lost. Is there any other risk that we are even remotely as crazy about?
Bruce Schneier
September 15, 2011
Crypto-Gram Newsletter
[Some people are that crazy about guns. But for the most part I think Schneier has it nailed.—Joe]
Odd stuff
I was going through my projects folder on my computer and saw a number of projects I didn’t recognize. Looking at the code they were clearly my coding and comment style but I still didn’t remember many of them. Most were junk projects that appeared to be something that solved, or would have solved had they been finished, some simple problem.
There were projects like “NetConnect” which apparently was intended to pop up a dialog box of the machines visible on the network and handle assigning a drive letter to their public shares. Another project was “Wait” which wouldn’t compile because the requested version of Windows was so old. “SurveyProcess” appears to be for processing the Boomershoot participant survey results from 2006.
But the oddest project I found was “UniDecrypt”. I appears to be something to test the feasibility of a “universal decryption algorithm”. It is junk code. Something very “quick and dirty” that I apparently started working on at about midnight in late November of 2006. The time stamps of the various files continue through a little after 8:00 AM and then the last timestamp being about 1:30 AM the following day. This project probably was something that woke me up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t go back to sleep after thinking about it. That happens every once in a while. I once woke up in the wee hours of the morning and had to go find my “Modern Physics” text book (is it still considered “Modern Physics” if I took the class in 1976?) to look up why it was I had not thought up a way to travel faster than light.
Yeah, my brain is a little warped at times.
Soldiers Angels SIG SAUER 1911
Via email:
The Soldiers’ Angels engraved SIG SAUER 1911 is now up for auction.
Thanks to our friends at SIG SAUER and Gunbroker.com, this one-of-a-kind reverse two-tone 1911 is going to help raise funds for Soldiers’ Angels.
With this donation, all of your readers can help out Project Valour-IT and purchase a true collector’s piece.
Heck, if you didn’t win a gun in Reno, here’s your chance!
The auction closes at 9 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, October 23rd. Get your bids in, share the link and good luck to everyone!
Direct link: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=251295122
This is very pretty. I could use a functional 1911 pattern gun in .45. I could shoot “Single Stack” as well as “Limited” class in USPSA but the current bid of $2075 is more than I want to pay. My birthday is coming up…
Woolrich Elite Series supports Project Valour-IT
One of the sponsors of the Gun Blogger Rendezvous was Woolrich. They are a long time clothing manufacturer that has recognized concealed carry clothing as a worthy marketing niche. They donated a “Elite for a Year” package to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous prize table. Ry won the raffle for that prize but you don’t have to be left out. I received an email announcing:
Woolrich Elite Series wants to give readers of Rendezvous bloggers a chance to help out Soldiers’ Angels – Project VALOUR-IT.
Through a partnership with one of their dealers, Woolrich Elite has created a private shopping page where fans can purchase the latest Woolrich Elite Series gear. Woolrich Elite will then donate 2% of the total sales back to Project VALOUR-IT!
“From the beginning, Woolrich has supported American servicemen and women. We’re proud to support the outstanding work of Soldiers’ Angels and their Project VALOUR-IT,” said Jerry Rinder, Woolrich Elite Series vice president.
Visit http://tacticalgear.com/woolrich-elite-clothing to see the complete selection of Woolrich Elite Series products and make your purchases to help Soldiers’ Angels.
My birthday is coming up. I wear 34×34 pants and large shirts. You can have gifts drop shipped to my address here.
Quote of the day—Charlie Beck
We are a modern civilized community, and we should work on peaceful solutions to end criminal behavior.
Charlie Beck
Los Angeles Police Chief
September 16, 2011
Gun control bill in Gov. Brown’s hands
[Since the people that work for him are on the front lines of the criminal behavior modification efforts Beck should be consistent. He should order all of his police officers to not carry firearms in public.
Other advice for Beck might include having his police officers hold hands with the criminals and sing Kumbaya.
While he is evaluating how that turns out the rest of the country will be packing heat and questioning his sanity.—Joe]
Three out of five
I just found out another one of my former co-workers at Microsoft is leaving because of our insane boss. Sometime next week is his last day.
That will make three out of five people on our team who have quit the company because of him. The three most senior people.
It’s rough on those of us leaving but perhaps the message will eventually sink in to his boss that we all tried to tell that this guy was virtually impossible to work for.
When I had my last conversation with my skip level manager about my boss he asked me, “What do you really feel about him? Do you think you can work with him?” I told him, “I feel complete contempt for him. I cannot and will not work for him any longer than I have to.” His response was, “It’s good to have clarity.”
That sealed it for me. Both of those guys should have been given jobs scrubbing toilets at minimum wage.
Quote of the day—Carrie Severino
I’m not sure exactly what these folks are pledging to do. Are they living constitutionalists pledging fealty to the Constitution on the day they sign the pledge? Or some future Constitution the exact substance of which they don’t even know when they sign the pledge? Is each person pledging to their own Constitution which just doesn’t change to them? Unless, of course, they are all pledging to a Constitution that actually has a definite, knowable, unchanging substance — in which case I look forward to joining them in celebration of Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia’s service at the next Federalist Society convention.
Carrie Severino
September 16, 2011
More on the Living Constitutionalists’ ‘Pledge’
[People who “believe in a living constitution” haven’t thought things through. Do they also believe in “living contracts” where the terms of the contract change without all parties to the contract agree to the changes or even being notified that the contract no longer means what it says? To say, “we have a living constitution” means we have no constitution.—Joe]
Quote of the day—4moreDubya
Look at it this way, do you think it’s up to the states to set their own rules on slavery? Or search and seizure?
4moreDubya
September 14, 2011
Comment to House Weighs Bill to Make Gun Permits Valid Across State Lines
[States have powers to set their own tax rates, build (or not build) roads, license businesses, and many other things. States have not been given the power to infringe upon specific enumerated or natural rights. Some people just don’t grasp the difference between exercising powers granted to them and infringing upon rights specifically protected. Some people just aren’t very bright.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Daniel Sitarz
AGENDA 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by every person on earth… Effective execution of AGENDA 21 will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced — a major shift in the priorities of both governments and individuals and an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources.
Daniel Sitarz
1992
Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save our Planet
[This sounds like something out of a dystopian novel.
If they try to “reorient” me they might succeed in a manner in which they had not intended.
I wonder how many people he is willing to kill to accomplish his goals. I know how many I am willing to kill to stop them if they choose that method of “reorientation”.
As. Many. As. It. Takes.—Joe]
I second that
What he said. Referring to someone that another blogger recently described as, “Seldom wrong and never in doubt.”
Quote of the day—Alan Gura
Give money to SAF and take people to the range.
Alan Gura
September 10, 2011
Gun Blogger Rendezvous
In response to the question he posed, “What can you do to help?”
[SAF is the main funding source for the lawsuits Gura has been engaged in. Taking people to the range, particularly new shooters, decreases the odds they will vote for an anti-gun politician or donate money to anti-gun organizations. And, most importantly, it makes Sarah Brady, Josh Sugarmann, and Michael Beard cry.—Joe]
Quote of the day—James Verini
Let’s start with the obscenely irresponsible laws that cover gun sales in America. For instance, anyone without a criminal record can legally purchase as many rifles and other long guns as they want in the United States. You read that correctly. If you have no criminal record, you can walk into a gun dealer and buy 100 AR-15 rifles, 200 AK-47s, the store’s entire inventory of shotguns, or a .50-caliber sniper rifle that can take down a low-flying aircraft — as long as you have the cash.
James Verini
August 30, 2011
Mexican Roulette
[And anyone, regardless of their criminal record, can purchase as many copies of the Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, and Korans as they want in the United States. Anyone can also purchase as much gasoline, road flares, and matches as you want. Or you can purchase as many baseball bats, hammers, and knives as you want. What you can’t legally do is deliberate or carelessly harm other people.
As seen in this light that you have to pass a government mandated background check to exercise a specific enumerated right demonstrates that firearms are over regulated.
It’s time for Verini to grow up. The government is not, cannot, and should not be his mother or anyone else’s.
H/T to Col. Milquetoast for the link.—Joe]
If it were teenage drinking instead of guns
Ry and I were talking about operation “Fast and Furious” on the drive back from the range yesterday. The synopsis is, suppose operation “Fast and Furious” were about teenage drinking instead of guns. Law enforcement would have given $70,000 to several underage people and told them to go buy alcohol at particular stores where law enforcement would tell the stores to not check the IDs of the people they gave the money too.
Law enforcement would then find receipts from those purchases at drunk driving accidents. The executive branch would then claim more laws are required to register people who want to buy more than one six pack of beer or one bottle of hard liquor at a time. The news media would enthusiastically support this proposal until it was discovered that a law enforcement officer was killed by one of the drunk teenagers. Then both the news media and the government officials would say they aren’t going to admit any wrong doing and the proposed laws are a good idea even if enforcement of the existing laws would have prevented the problems they used as justification for the new laws.
As Kevin and I discussed last night the entire scandal was only exposed when people who stomp kittens to death as part of their regular job found it too immoral to continue with the operation.
Quote of the day—Ry Jones
Yeah…. And I want to f*** supermodels tomorrow. Both have about an equal chance of success.
Ry Jones
September 10, 2011
This was in response to the Brady Campaign’s search for a new president who will be given the “Programmatic Objective” of “Build the movement to insure that all guns in our nation are childproofed by 2015.”
[Sebastian and Kaveman have more comments.
I also laughed at this one:
Develop strategies to determine and promote evidence-based arguments for public policies, which are grounded in research and support common sense efforts at reducing gun violence.
As a scientist I would be persona non-gratia in most scientific circles if I advocated for something like that. You don’t look for evidence to support your preconceived notions. Furthermore an abundance of evidence exists which supports the conclusion that the Brady Campaign is on the wrong side of the data.
And finally since they are looking for justification to infringe upon a specific enumerated right this goal is like the KKK looking for evidence to justify racial segregation and discrimination. Even if it exists they have no business attempting to use the force of government to achieve their objectives.—Joe]
Author of “Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun”
Paul M. Barrett, the author of Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun, showed up at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. We have been pushing him a little bit for some of the things he has written in the past. While he is someone I would characterize as mildly anti-gun* I don’t think I need to put on my tin-foil hat. With the limited information DirtCrashr had his suspicion was reasonable. But I’ve spent many hours with him now and I think he is probably being straight with us when he says he thinks we will like his book. I have agreed to read it and write a review of it. I expect I will get a preliminary version in a few days. My expectation is that I will find it an interesting read and will suggest it to others.
He went shooting with us yesterday and he shot a variety of guns and said he had a great time. He also said he tried to buy a handgun but going through the paperwork required by New York City had a rather chilling effect, “The police have no business knowing all the information they requested.” That was a very good sign to me.
In case you are wondering; after I showed him the video I made he showed me the video he made. We had a nice discussion afterward and (I believe this is correct) his position is that there might be some instances where the banning of possession of magazines greater than eight or ten rounds would save a few lives. He concedes there might be cases where such a ban would cost a few lives. In any case that’s not something worth investing political capital in. He put that in there mostly to point out that the 1994 “assault weapon” ban was totally worthless. The only thing that would have a chance of making people safer is a ban that would prohibit possession as well as manufacture and sale. But again the political difficulty of passing such legislation is not worth the effort.
The bigger story, again paraphrasing my discussions with Barrett, is that the anti-gun people biggest successes were the seeds of their failure. The Glock supposedly being “invisible to X-rays” got it unwanted attention by the Federal Legislature. But this increased its public profile and sales. The same with the 1994 ban on magazine capacity greater than 10 rounds. The irony is fascinating to him and he explores this in his book. This is part of what makes the book a very good read.
I’ll let you know after I read it but for now he has me about 90% sold when he says it is a good book that gun owners will enjoy.
*Update: After reading his comment I think that instead of “mildly anti-gun” it would be more accurate to say he is accepting of more gun regulation than I am comfortable with to call him pro-gun. And in any case as I have said before finding something to disagree with him on, which I could find many, is not the way you recruit people to your cause. Find the things that you agree on and work together on those issues. If necessary the points of disagreement can be revisited when you have accomplished everything you can as a team.
Quote of the day—Jennifer
There is only ONE purpose for a gun and that is to kill. Knives have other purposes but the only thing a gun is good for is killing.
Jennifer
September 7, 2011
GOP’s gun raffle in gabrielle giffords county
[With about 10 billion rounds of ammunition sold in the U.S. each year one has to wonder where all the bodies are being piled. And I find it odd that I went through about 200 rounds yesterday and I don’t recall killing anybody or anything.
I have to conclude that either my gun or Jennifer’s brain malfunctioned. I’m going to gather some more data today but for now I’m going with Jennifer has crap for brains.—Joe]
An opportunity
Paul M. Barrett is at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. I talked to him for a couple hours last night.
Barrett is the author of this article which includes:
The rise of the Glock and other semiautomatic handguns cannot be linked to variations in overall crime rates. But that doesn’t mean it would be pointless to take small steps to reduce mayhem, such as restricting magazine capacity. One lesson of Tucson is that there is a difference between a 33-round clip and an 8- or 10-round clip.
If I get another chance to talk with him I’m going to show him this video:
Then I will bring up the constitutional issues.
He just sat down by me. Time to get busy….