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.
Author Archives: Joe
One tiny step at a time
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.
Quote of the day–Bernard Rosenberg
MAN: A biodegradable but nonrecyclable animal blessed with opposable thumbs capable of grasping at straws.
Bernard Rosenberg
Maybe, just maybe
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.
They do have their application
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.
Why intellectuals still support socialism
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.
Boomershoot 2006 survey results
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.
Quote of the day–Gore Vidal
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)
Our girls are getting married
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.
Quote of the day–Ambrose Bierce
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
Quote of the day–Jeff Knox
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
It’s off to State for Xenia
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.
Quote of the day–Laffee Taffee
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]
Quote of the day–William O. Douglas
At the constitutional level where we work, 90 percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections.
William O. Douglas
[A lawyer recently told me something very similar. But it was perhaps a bit more cynical–or was it simply more truthful?–Joe]
Good books
Via Tam: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within. Audible doesn’t have it yet so it’s going to have to wait. My backlog of dead tree format books is rather large.
I’m about halfway through Atlas Shrugged on my iPod Nano. With all the driving I have to do this weekend, plus the slow going over Snoqualmie Pass (I’m ready with good snow tires, tire chains, food, water, heavy coat, extra socks, work boots, extra gas, tarp, gloves, etc.) will probably mean I nearly finish it this weekend. I’m so pleased to “read” this book again. Thanks James for the birthday present.
Next on my Audible books list is Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!
MI5 on UK Muslim terrorists
If the UK has this many plots in progress I wonder how many are active in the U.S.
Muslim extremists are plotting at least 30 major terrorist attacks in Britain and the threats may involve chemical and nuclear devices, the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency said.
Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of intelligence agency MI5, said young British Muslims were being groomed to become suicide bombers and her agents were tracking some 1,600 suspects, most of whom were British-born and linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan.
“We are aware of numerous plots to kill people and damage our economy. What do I mean by numerous? Five? Ten? No, nearer 30 … that we know of,” Manningham-Buller said in a speech to a specially invited audience in London on Thursday evening.
I wonder what the Democrats response to a chemical or nuclear attack in the U.S. or the even the U.K. will be. If they suggest negotiation their celebration of power will be short lived.
Holding firm in Canada
I’m a little bit surprised but very pleased with how firm the Prime Minister and cabinet are holding on to their intention to scrap the gun registry in Canada. If they can reverse the repression there it will help us to prevent it here:
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day paid a visit to Dawson College yesterday to discuss Canada’s gun control laws with the mother of Anastasia De Sousa, the student killed in the Sept. 13 shooting, and wounded student Hayder Kadhim.
Members of the Dawson Gun Control Committee were also present.
Kadhim, 17, had originally asked to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper to debate the Conservative government’s intention to abolish the long-gun registry, but Harper sent Day in his place.
Calling the meeting “productive,” Day seemed not to have changed his mind on the gun registry issue after the discussion at Dawson.
He said Canada should be investing its resources in cracking down on gangs and gun trafficking, and in tightening gun-licensing rules.
Day’s press aide said yesterday’s meeting was part of an extensive series of countrywide discussions with stakeholders over the gun-control issue.
Quote of the day–Wayne LaPierre
It’s an ominous day: The enemy has occupied headquarters, control has fallen into their hands, and freedom is once again calling for her defenders.
Wayne LaPierre
November 9, 2006
http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=61
[A little over the top perhaps but I can’t see that it hurts to mobilize the troops.–Joe]
Pictures from the pistol match
I said that I was at a pistol match last Sunday. Here are some pictures from that match. Yeah, I know it’s really painful for people with dial-up. I have 3 MBPS downloads and I think you should too.
Adam’s STI .40 S&W is in full recoil with a piece of brass just a few inches from the gun.
Don’s .45 is in full recoil with his nickel plated brass in the air above the ejection port.
Don is playing Peek-a-Boo with his .45. Yes, that is a piece of nickel plated brass in front of his head.
Mike is winning the stage (and the match) Both Sides Now #1.
This last stage is the one that I was so pleased with my results on. An average of under five seconds to draw and shoot each of the six brown targets. Mike had slightly better time and was more accurate than me.
Reframing expectations
Progressive Gun Control: Tushnet v. Cornell:
Both scholars agreed that the actual impact of any realistically achievable gun control policy would not have the sweeping effect on reducing gun violence that most would be hoping for. However, while Tushnet saw this as one reason to not waste effort on the issue, Cornell maintained that reframing expectations about the impact of gun control policy could be part of developing a credible, progressive argument in favor of regulations.
“Credible”? Notice it not a “rational” or “persuasive” or “convincing” argument. It’s a “credible” argument. In other words it doesn’t matter if an improvement in crime rates can be measured. It’s a good thing merely because regulation is what “progressives” do and they should feel good about doing it. “Progressives” regulate–it’s in their nature. This is what I do–it’s my nature and my arguments can be “forceful”. Perhaps Mr. Cornell should further “reframe his expectations”.