Happy That You Are

7.1 Timer

2012-01-04T13:58:00.009-05:00

7.1 Patch is incoming for World of Tanks.

Patch should hit at 1/5/1012 at 5 UTC and be done at 17 UTC
http://worldoftanks.com/news/933-update-v71-maintenance/

Time Until 7.1 is Live

Mandatory Training to Own or Carry a Firearm

2011-03-22T14:04:00.001-04:00

So, the Truth About Guns has a post wondering why people who carry guns are not required to take a Training Course on how to use their weapons in a self defense situation. The blogger notes the overall sloppiness of this self defense shooting here and believes that training would have been a good thing for that clerk to have under his belt. Now I'm (hiro) all for training. Training is good! Training helps people react correctly to situations that can occur in a split second and can potentially make the shoot out 'safer.' So why not have mandatory training for gun owners? Everyone should be competent with their weapon.

Seems like an innocent enough request, yes?

WRONG!!!

Mandatory training would be a regulation of gun ownership. That is less than ideal. I would have to say "no" to this. Skip to the bottom to see the short version.

Now to my rhetoric:

Now just who decides whether the class you took counts as gun training? Oh, I guess it will have to be THE GOVERNMENT.

(ARGGHHH, dis gubberment be takin' mah gunz!!!!)

The state needs to either issue these licenses or accept any form of proof of training. Either way, this proposition will be putting gun owners through a political minefield that changes every month. That's a frog and a cheese grater type of situation *scrape scrape*

How would you ensure all gun owners are trained? Who enforces this? What if you don't have the proof of training for your shotgun at home? Would you need the proof of training on your person when carrying? It's another forced form of identification. It's a restriction. Another straw on the camel's back, really. It goes from more regulation to "honey, I'm calling in sick because I'm out shootin' the government!" type of thing (no, i'm not a member of a militia)

While I would like to have all shooters well trained, I can see many ways that this can be manipulated by the folks at the Brady Campaign and other (formerly) premier gun control organizations. It's just not a good idea.

I can think of plenty of ways for this to go terribly wrong:

Only these classes taught by such and such or from the government will count as training (arbitrary restrictions)
We will charge you for these classes. If you can't afford it, too bad. (Economic factoring)
If you don't have this training, you can't buy a gun or carry it, ever. We will arrest your ass if you are carrying without proof of training. (More ways to catch gun owners with their pants down)
There's not enough interest in gun ownership, so the government will no longer issue proof of training papers. Or gun crime is too high; the government will not recognize proof training anymore. No one will be allowed to carry or purchase guns because you can't get the training for them (Oh, I guess they really were trying to ban guns!)

See. Exploitable.

Now going into a hypothetical circumstance:

There are always small subsets of individuals that buy a weapon as last minute protection. There's no denying that this happens.

So a lady just got out of an abusive relationship - she decides to buy and carry a gun while waiting for the restraining order to go through. But oh wait, she can't get a gun because she has to take training first! Even if she can get a gun and keep it in her home, she won't be able to have that blanket of security outside of the house when she is most vulnerable. Congratulations on restricting her ability to choose how to defend herself from a vengeful boyfriend.

While these folk don't form the majority of gun owners, to deny these individuals the right to defend themselves with the most effective tool is morally questionable. I would like to use the gun-controller's mantra here: "even if it only saves one person!" However, unlike the gun banners, not requiring training keeps the right to bear arms accessible to the greatest number of people while saving the life of "that one person." (oh hell, there are tons of people that could use the best chance you can give them. Why deny them it if they are law abiding citizens?)

Here's my position in brief.

Mandatory training should NEVER be implemented. Let people get their guns without training, as they will be held accountable for where each bullet lands anyways. Responsible gun owners will go and get training or at least practice at the range by themselves when they have time or the money to do so. But forcing individuals to seek training with rule of law is pushing the issue too much and is very exploitable by gun-controllers.

This counts as top news?

2011-02-04T12:13:00.001-05:00

I have a news feeds on my igoogle page that I use very heavily. The two big entities that I pull news from are CNN and BBC. The top stories from BBC involve the situation in Cairo, US joblessness, and corruption charges in the Pakistani Cricketing sport. A very nice spread of worthwhile news.

But what is CNN giving me? One good article about Pakistan's cabinet, but a crap article on a "football players are people too" and that Miley Cyrus got a fifth tattoo.

*Sigh* So this is what constitutes as your top stories, CNN? I don't know who I'm supposed to be disappointed in: the US population that push these crap articles to the top or CNN for just failing at decently reporting news.

Either way. Bye bye CNN news widget. You're taking up valuable real-estate on my igoogle dashboard.

Search String: Guns and growing up

2010-12-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

My readership has hit an all time low, probably because of the lack of content. However I am getting some interesting search strings. One of which is this:

do kids realize how powerful a gun is

Interesting. I will draw from my own experiences for this.

I wasn't raised around guns as a kid at all. They were these things that I see in cartoons. I saw starter guns, the Elmer Fudd shotgun, and I saw flashy beam guns on Power Rangers. I would make believe with guns all the time - it was the thing to kill monsters and evil bad guys. But in my mind, I never fully understood guns.

Fast forward a bit until I was in 5th grade. That was when Columbine happened. I remember all the teachers being very hush-hush about the subject; they knew that they should talk to us kids about it but words were hard to come by. The teachers assured us that we were safe in our school and to their credit, I don't remember once hearing about guns being used in the massacre. Rather, they told us that the acts were done by very disturbed people. I think this was instrumental in my development as a gun owner. It was the disturbed individuals that committed the act; not the guns. But that's something for me to write about later.

Now, I remember visiting my grandparents in Philadelphia one time with my cousins. We were running around the place like the little children we were when a rumor started spreading around that there was a gun in the house. So as curious demons, we started looking around for the thing. I wasn't the one that found it, but soon we all flocked together to look at it. I remember that the gun was an old semi-automatic. It was rusted on the inside and the slide and barrel were missing. All we found was the frame.

And thank God that the gun wasn't operable, because we were stupid children and didn't know any better. Something bad could have happened there. Because we didn't know. We were never taught.

So, going back to the search string/question. "Do kids realize how powerful a gun is?"

I would personally say "no," because no one taught me about guns and safety. I ended up learning on my own about it when I started considering gun ownership during 2009. Now if a child grew up with a father that hunted, or was raised by a responsible gun owning adult, then yes; they would probably know about the dangers of firearms. They would be safe around them.

I guess my final point is that kids will not know about the dangers of irresponsible firearms use unless they are taught about it by some guardian or another. It's in the same lines of drug and sex education. All kids will be ignorant of dangers until someone tells them about it. Since there are really no school sanctioned programs for teaching firearms safety the way there are anti-drug and sex education programs, then it's up to the parents to make sure kids know the rules around firearms.

Reading Level

2010-12-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

Google added a new search filter based on reading levels. Here are the results of several prominent gun bloggers

Here's mine.

Odd algorithm is odd. It's throwing out fairly unusual results

Friday Fun

2010-12-17T09:00:00.005-05:00

Oh look! More cats

Friday Fun

2010-12-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

I'm a cat person

Sick & My First Handgun

2010-12-08T17:08:00.000-05:00

I have fallen sick and I can't get up again! It's some kind of respiratory infection, so I'm coughing and sneezing and my nose is running everywhere. I usually don't get sick; probably only once a year I get hit hard with some type of illness. I think the road trip to visit my sister in Wisconsin was what got me immuno-compromised.

Anyways, my motivation to do anything is shot to hell as well as my energy levels. I've been sleeping on lab tables to recoup lost energy.

I clearly needed a pick me up.

So I went to Lancaster Gun Dealer LLC and bought me a Kel-Tec PF-9. This will be my first handgun! As I previously stated, I do want some other guns (gun store had a very nice Walther P22 ) but I do have to start from somewhere. They'll be shipping it to the store since they didn't have any in stock, so I'll have to wait a bit before I can get my small grubby hands on it. Hopefully I can get to a range and just have fun getting used to its ridiculously long double-action trigger and sharp recoil.

Crunch Time

2010-12-02T20:01:00.001-05:00

The semester beginning to come to a close. That means a lot of writing, studying and a whole lot of anxiety. I honestly need to make a schedule for myself because I get so easily distracted by other- oh look a pigeon! I've gotten addicted to an MMO type game too, which isn't helping anything at all. I'm going to try can cut off that addiction cold turkey. But yes, I am chugging a long, getting bits here and there done. But school is really eating up my drive to do anything other than sleep. I can't wait for this to be over and done with.

Also, I'm happy to see that my other friends' (Tecum Obeam Lubens and Thoughts of a Squandering Life) semesters are going well. And to my internet buddies: Congrats to Lucrative Pain for a semester well done despite having to deal with kids and such. I really respect someone that can balance life and school at the same time. Best of luck next semester for y'all!

TSA Linky

2010-12-01T00:42:00.000-05:00

I've always mocked the TSA and the 'job' that they do. Now that the dislike for the TSA is reaching a cusp as they start enforcing more security theater onto us, I thought would join in on the bashing. But the thing is, the topic has already been beaten to death. So here's a bunch of links that SayUncle posted.

http://www.saysuncle.com/2010/11/30/tsa-nonsense/

I would be absolutely fine if we scrapped that entire agency.

Ingenuity

2010-11-27T23:50:00.001-05:00

A lot of the anti-gun groups point to gun crime as the great ill of the human race. If only they could restrict all guns use, or ban them out of existence, our society will become safe for everyone again.

But those intentions are so misguided. All you anti-gunners are doomed to fail.

You can never get rid of guns. What got us to this point is creativity. The gun is a product of a long line of tools. First it was the stone. Then there were sharp stones. Next it was the spear, then arrow, then gun. If we invent something, we will invent it again. Sure, ban guns. get rid of all of then, but people will figure out how to make them. And they will sell them. All illegally. Good luck keeping track of every illegal activity

Look here. This Zippo gun reaffirms that. In a world without guns and gun manufacturers, you will still have these going around. Because humans are ingenious and will devise ways to kill each other.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T12:25:00.001-05:00

Happy thanksgiving.

I'm all up in Wisconsin visiting my sister. That was an eventful drive filled wall to wall with Vicious Circle. But now that I'm here with my folks, and a cat I'm allergic to, I've never been happier.

I've got family to hang out with, so there's no time to write up a list of what I'm thankful for.

Enjoy your time with family and friends. Break out the bourbon, and be hearty!

Friday Earworm

2010-11-19T19:23:00.001-05:00

After pulling several all-nighters this week, I've finally earned my freedom. I'm dead tired and probably shouldn't drive home without taking a nap lest I fall asleep at the wheel. But i digress.

So here's a song that's been stuck in my head since yesterday. But it's alright; it's a good song and fits my celebratory mood.

Hooray for content-less and frivolous Friday posts!

And I thought I was done

2010-11-17T16:48:00.001-05:00

Apparently my Dental School application was undeliverable due to me not mentioning my experience in London. I made the corrections now and sent them on their way again. Hopefully I did it right....

I'm starting to doubt whether they'll process and send my application to all the schools in time now that the December deadline is getting awfully close. I sent the first round of applications the beginning of this month, but now they've finally gotten back only not to tell me that I'm missing something.

The parents are not going to be happy about this either. If I don't make it this round into dental school, I'm going to be in limbo for a year with regards to health care and finances. Not something that I'm looking forward to and certainly something that I have not planned for.

I usually don't bring out my religious side on my blog, but I guess it wouldn't hurt in this case. I would like to ask for prayer right now. I'm currently feeling stressed near the breaking point and this situation isn't helping any either. I ask for prayer with my dental school application and that the unseen people that process it will give me the stamp of approval and mail it to the schools that I applied to before the deadline in December

Assault Weapons in Chicago

2010-11-17T16:19:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer! I will be simplifying a lot, but this blog wasn't really intended for the really heavy gunny crowd. I know that I really simplified calibers down, but it works as an illustration for non gunnies

Another example of yellow-bellied journalism!

Chicago is being flooded with assault weapons

Note: I will focus on the video in a later post. For now, it's just the bloody article

I know I've talked about assault weapons and what they really are on this blog before, but the search function is broken and I can't find that actual post.

So here: Assault weapon is a term for a non-existent object that is used to label rifles appear militaristic. It's a term that is used to obtain a knee-jerk reaction in people; it's all about appearances. The weapons that they say are assault weapons are not machine guns and they are not more powerful than other rifles freely available to hunters and most anyone over 18 years of age.

Assault weapons are classified as any semi-automatic rifle with two or more of these features:

A detachable magazine
A barrel shroud: keeps your supporting hand from getting burnt
A pistol grip: allows for a more comfortable grip
Stock: many rifles have this. It allows the shouldering of the gun so that recoil can be soaked into the body rather than just the arms.
Flash suppressor: keeps you from going blind from the muzzle flash

Note that none of these features that make for an assault weapon affect the power of the rifle or its deadliness in combat. These are all cosmetic alterations to a rifle.

Now that I've gotten definitions out of the way, let's take a look at the actual article.

Chicago numbers show the number of assault weapons are up 17 percent this year on city streets, and the ages of criminals using guns is getting much younger with a growing number of weapons being used at the hands teenagers.

I would personally like to see that hard data on this. Percents are really soft values that do not necessarily convey actual data. A small town with a 50% jump in murder rate isn't exactly that statistically significant. Likewise, I am willing to bet that the number of 'assault weapon' attacks were low to begin with (I personally cannot find ATF data. I personally don't get how the press gets the numbers). This 17% number is quite misleading too. 17% is the increase in number of actual rifles gathered off the street; not the number used in crimes. I cannot get the big picture at all other than what they are trying to spin it as. The article should have given more information than this or at least a link to the source of the numbers. In other words, there is no accountability in this article. They get to do whatever with the data that they want.

Also, I'll point to national trends, violent and firearm related crime have gone down across the nation (2009-2010).

Between 2000 and 2009, the rate of firearm violence declined from 2.4 incidents per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to 1.4 per 1,000 persons. Offenders used firearms in 8 percent of all violent crimes in 2009.

So there is something special about Chicago that makes it more crime ridden than the rest of the country. No surprise there. It's not the assault weapons because much of the country outside of the California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Chicago allow for assault weapon purchases. If the assault weapons were the issue, then one would expect the states that didn't ban them out of existence would have similar or worse problems than Chicago. Clearly that isn't the case. Chicago is an outlier.

Traver says the power and randomness of the heavy caliber, military-style weapons make them so dangerous not only to people, but to police. They're so powerful, body armor can't withstand a hit, and they're so difficult to control, their bullets often get sprayed beyond the intended targets, striking innocent victims even when they’re in their own homes.

I actually find this entire paragraph concerning. Andrew Traver is the man that Obama chose to head the ATF (the Government body that regulates firearms as well as other things). And what he spewed out in this section demonstrates that he is completely IGNORANT when it comes to firearms. Putting Traver as the head of the ATF is like making Paris Hilton the president of the USA. Obama is putting someone in charge that has no understanding of the issues and is already corrupted with preconceived notions about firearms that are baseless and far from the truth. I have friends that hunt and a shoot "assault weapons" that can tell you how far Traver is away from the truth. Here, let me deconstruct each and every one of his arguments.

Assault weapons:

Are heavy caliber and powerful: AK-47 and the AR-15 are essentially the rifles that they label with the term "assault weapon" because they look militaristic or are based on designs used in the military. However, the power of a rifle is not derived from its appearance or design, but rather the ammunition it fires. A standard AK-47 fires a 7.62x39mm cartridge while the AR-15 fires a 5.56x25mm cartridge. Take a good look at those numbers. The first part of the number is the width of the cartridge and the second number is its length. Usually, a bigger width indicates a larger bullet and a longer length indicates higher velocity (more velocity more power).

In comparison, many hunters use rifles chambered in .30-06 caliber. Caliber is a different unit from mm, but it converts to 7.62x63mm. It's a simple inequality equation now. 5.56x25mm < 7.62x39mm < 7.62x63mm. The hunting cartridge is at the top with a bigger bullet and more velocity and all the others. So am I implying that hunting ammo is actually heavier (or more deadly) than what both these assault weapons fire? Why yes I am! Hunting ammunition is designed to incapacitate 250 lbs of living buck in one shot; it's going to have more penetration and be all around more damaging. Also, you can get rifles that fire these SUPER POWERFUL, HIGH CALIBER hunting rounds without having to buy an assault weapon. You can just get yourself one of these.

It's not an assault weapon at all, but fires a nastier cartridge than either the AR-15 or AK-47.
can penetrate police vests: Hunting ammo, such as the .30-06 round and penetrate police vests too. Also, there are several different classes of police vest based on the amount of protection the offer. You can take a look here. I believe police are usually issued Class III-A or lower. These essentially only protect against pistol calibers such as 9mm and .40 S&W. You can shoot at them with an "assault weapon" or an old wooden hunting rifle and the shots will go right through the vest. Only Class III bullet proof vests with ceramic can stop rifle calibers up to the .30-06. So yes, those evil assault weapons can penetrate police vests that aren't classed to stop that type of round. But so can every other rifle. Traver is making a leaving out very important details either out of ignorance or maliciousness.
are difficult to control: Actually, the AR-15 is quite easy to control. The recoil travels back into the body so there is hardly any muzzle climb. If you think about it, they keep saying these are military weapons. Why would the military design a weapon that was hard to control or easy to miss with? It's nonsensical. The press keeps saying that these guns are designed for military use. Well every time I think military weapons, I think of efficiency, accuracy and reliability. That's what you would want in a weapon that soldiers would trust their lives with within a war zone. But then the press says that they are uncontrollable, random and inaccurate? TIP FOR ALL YOU REPORTERS: Please, pick one side of the argument and stick with it. You cannot play both sides like this; either these assault weapons are death dealing machines for the military or they're inaccurate-hit-innocents-on-the-street-corner random. You cannot have your argument both ways.

I am on the side that the rifles themselves are quite easy to control. That's why the Chicago police have a stock room full of "assault weapons." They are controllable, accurate, and trustworthy type of rifles. But why aren't the Police killing loads of civilians every time they take these military/SWAT styled rifles out? Well it's because they hold themselves accountable for each bullet fired. Criminals have no intention of using them responsibly because they have already broken the rule of law to obtain them. There is no honor among thieves. It's the people that are involved that make the difference. A law abiding civilian, police or not, will most likely wield a rifle more responsibly than a criminal
Bullets often get sprayed beyond the intended targets, striking innocent victims even when they’re in their own homes: Show me any gun that can't do this. This doesn't specifically apply to assault weapons. It's like pointing to drowning incidents and saying they're all caused by swimming pools. Well guess what, children drown in other bodies of water too! Once again, Traver is leaving out the details.

Also....Sprayed? I think he's talking about machine guns. The ATF has pretty much defined those as a separate entity. Assault weapons are NOT machine guns (note that in the entire ATF definition, automatic weapons were NEVER mentioned). Once again, Traver has displayed his ignorance on firearms and the laws made by the agency he is supposed to be in charge of.

Now that I have beaten Traver to a pulp, I would like to wonder why Obama would ever consider putting him as the head of the ATF when he clearly loves to leave out important details and is ignorant about firearms. Obama couldn't have picked a worse person for the job. And people wonder why I think Obama is anti-gun. The ATF shouldn't be headed by an anti-gunner or someone biased against firearms, but I digress...

Anyways, back to the article…

Starkesia's murderer, Carail Weeks, purchased the weapon from an Indiana gun dealer with a falsified ID. He was recently sentenced to 150 years behind bars.

"I don't know if people realize how powerful this weapon is," Reed said. "These types of guns, there are too many. There are way too many, and they're in the wrong hands."

The assault weapons ban expired in 2004.

Would banning assault weapons stop any of this bloodshed? Simple answer is "no". There are a lot of guns out there that can do the exact same thing. "Assault weapons" are just an easy target to latch onto and blame. The government tried to blame and ban them before, but that made no impact on crime whatsoever. The ban expired and there was no real up-tick in crime nationally (the ban was a national ban. Even though it expired, several states have held onto the ban and applied it to the state level).

But if you take a deeper look into the article, you see that it's not the assault weapon that did the crime, but rather gang violence. Carail Weeks, the murderer was trying to kill two men for whatever reason; probably for insulting his madre. It would also explain why the rest of the country's crime rate went down while isolated areas like Chicago are doing worse. I blame the thriving gang culture there on the crime; it's a culture that wants to use guns to kill rivals and obtain power. The mother of the dead innocent is right; there are too many guns in the wrong hands. Now let's take those guns away from the wrong hands, and also give the law abiding citizen a chance to obtain them.

So what do I suggest? I largely see this as a failure of the legal/criminal system. There a convicted people still walking around on Chicago streets. Most crimes are caused by people who already have a rap sheet. I say lock up the criminals and keep them in prison. Also, go find ways to stop the gangs from growing larger and obtaining more power/turf. Lastly, get the legislatures wasting time trying to blame a tool and focus on overall crime.

The current situation is like this: There is a child (gangs) running around a classroom stabbing the other children with whatever tool he can get his hands on (knives, handguns, fists, assault weapons, etc...). The teacher (press) notices this and calls the mother of the child (local government). The mother, not wanting to look like she's doing nothing about the situation tells the classroom to remove all the scissors (assault weapons/ban) because they're the scary looking things in the room and no one really needs them because the kids can just tear paper with their hands (no one really needs that anyways!). Everything goes according to plan and the classroom is scissor-less. But for some reason, the stabbings are still happening.

The child is suffering from a behavioral issue. The mom should get the child some psychiatric help and the stabbings will likely lessen. Gangs will kill each other without any regard for innocent life or the tools used to commit those acts. Chicago is still stuck in the mindset of the analogy I presented above. Everyone is still going "My son was stabbed by scissors! Why are there scissors in this classroom!?" I don't see any of the crime lessening unless they stop focusing on the tools and more on the people that are involved in these crimes. Make gang culture undesirable; starve them of recruits and I'm willing to bet the crime rate will go down without ever having to ban a type of firearm.

Grabby Octopuses

2010-11-14T22:58:00.001-05:00

The octopus we have at the lab are wild caught thingers. So they're supposed to be shy creatures, always hiding in their dens. But nooo. These buggers have actually gotten quite tame. The current two, named Vine and ZerCool have been members of the lab for about a mouth and they will actually come out of their dens and wander around in their tanks when I turn on the lights. They made the association between florescent overhead lights with food and they're not shy about displaying that understanding.

While I'm quite impressed by their rate of domestication, they still haven't figured out exactly when they will actually get the food. If I toss in a crab, Vine will go right after it. If I stick a net into his tank to fish out leftover crab bits, they will readily chase after the the net. When I use a siphon to clean out all the rubbish at the bottom, he will also give chase. And to keep him from getting caught in the siphon, and potentially getting injured, I have to cut off the water flow. Very annoying because setting up the suction for the siphon is messy and involves a lot of splashing. Also, when an octopus grabs something, they will not let go until they get bored of it.

OCTOPUS DEATHGRIP

Now, in contrast, cuttlefish actually have the opposite reaction to the fishnet and siphon. The cuttlefish will pretty change to a yellow camouflage colouration and plop down on a spot of gravel. It's almost like they are playing possum. They obviously hate the siphon. The behavior really makes my life easier because I can just siphon the gravel around them without risk of them running into the nozzle of the siphon.

I would love to train the octopuses to emulate that behavior. But as annoying as their antics are, I do like the fact they are being 'sociable.'

I'm feeling somewhat conflicted. I hate that they make lab-care a fair bit more tedious, but I still want them to remain sociable. The previous octopuses we had in the lab were sickly and would NEVER leave their dens. It's so much nicer to have these two lively octopuses that venture out. I know they are happy and healthy; that should be good enough for me

Friday Music

2010-11-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

Cowboy Bebop was perhaps one of the best anime that I've enjoyed seeing. And love the big band style music; I wish there was more of that in the current musical culture. Anyways, here's Tank! which is awesome:

See you later, space cowboy

Parenting

2010-11-10T11:11:00.001-05:00

Hey, let's devise a test for parents to see if they're good enough people to have a kid! It will be a simple drug test on the mother! And if they fail the test, we will take the kid from them because we, the government, know better than you! Never mind that our test is inaccurate and can be set off by poppy seeds. But it's for the children! We also won't give you the benefit of the doubt because the test has already shown that YOU WILL BE A BAD PARENT and will ABUSE YOUR CHILD. But really, it's for the children (because taking them from the parents and family after birth and sticking them in a foster home is so much better)! Better yet, if you want your kid back or feel that you have been cheated in the test, you get to pay us money to take your case to court.

We are the government and we are here to help!

Friday Fun

2010-11-05T12:24:00.000-04:00

I loled. In coming political joke:

Three men are out in a boat..."

Happy Meal Ban

2010-11-04T12:14:00.000-04:00

Apparently McDonald's and other fast food joints have unhealthy foods. And those evil Happy Meals are targeting children by providing toys with the meals. Of course the children should be protected from these unhealthy foods. What better way to do that than by banning Happy Meals!

Apparently Happy Meals put children at such grievous danger that San Francisco decided that banning unhealthy meals that came with toys should be on the menu. San Fran reasons that childhood obesity is a big issue and this is one of the better ways to tackle the issue.

Should this be a parenting issue though? Why is the government mandating this? If your kid wants a happy meal but you think it's too unhealthy, there is a quick two letter word for that, "NO". Sure the kid might throw a tantrum, but honestly, the kid will have to deal with rejection and not getting what it wants. Also. Obesity in older people. It's their choice to buy stuff. If you as a parent failed to instill healthy eating habits into your kids while they were young, then you're to blame in part for their current lack of control. But they are individuals. Now granted, I have not had any children, but i was raised by very stern Asian parents. They put the fear of God in me when it came to eating. They are good parents and they would never have thought that they needed the government's help to raise me.

Are we the people children who are supposed to be lead by the hand? We have our own personal choices. Make the right ones. These types of policies are raising up a generation of childish adults and children that won't take responsibility for their actions. I'm afraid of what the has in store.

Voting Day, Yesterday

2010-11-03T01:00:00.000-04:00

I voted today.

You can guess which party line I voted for (I technically voted anti-incumbent but the new guys just very well happened to be on the Republican side).

This is why: the other party doesn't seem to understand us. the GOP doesn't really understand the people either, but at least they haven't outright slander us.

How can these people represent us if they (as a party and the media is largely representative of that) cannot and are not willing to understand us.

I had urged others to vote too. I told them that I didn't care about their political affiliation; everyone can have their beliefs and vote for whoever they want. Go vote even if you know your favored party will lose, because each vote is an affirmation of our belief that this political system still works. Each vote says that we still believe it is still a representative system.

As Alan said:

Because when people no longer have faith in the integrity of the elections, that’s when the shooting starts.

Progress!

2010-11-01T10:47:00.000-04:00

I bought myself some ammo cans! Now, all I need is to purchase some (or at least one) handguns and an ammo to stick into them...

Filler

2010-10-29T17:48:00.001-04:00

I feel guilty about not providing actual updates, so I'm going to toss some old crap up in the mean time.

I used to draw a lot. I hated art class, but I LOVED the attention my drawings got. I hardly draw now because the effort is hardly worth the attention I got. Yeah, I'm that lazy and narcissistic. Anyways, here we go:

Short hiatus

2010-10-27T12:28:00.000-04:00

School takes precedence over personal life.

Friday Fun

2010-10-22T13:15:00.002-04:00

Ever notice that fun usually rubs right up alongside against crazy? Well this looks like one of those kinds of fun.

Bike jumping seems cool, but you do see a nasty gash on someone's leg at one point. Ouch... Lucky it wasn't someone's noggin.

A Molecular Lab Summary

2010-10-20T15:49:00.002-04:00

A 50 µl aliquot of competent DH5α E. coli cells were thawed on ice. We added 2 µl of last week's ligation reaction which contained EcoRI-digested vectors and the 2.6 kilobase (kb) fragments. After gentle mixing, we incubated the cells in ice for 25 minutes and then quickly placed the tube into a 37 ºC water bath for exactly 20 seconds to heat shock the cells. We then added LB to the cells which we incubated at 37 ºC for one hour. The cells were pelleted, and all but 100 µl of the supernatant was removed. We added X-gal and IPTG to the cells and placed the mixture onto the LB plates containing ampicillin (LB+amp). Using glass beads, the cells were spread evenly on the surface. The LB+amp plates were incubated at 27 ºC overnight and then placed into the refrigerator. The goal was to selectively grow transformed E. coli colonies containing the 2.6 kb insert. We will isolate the insert and map it using restriction enzymes. The isolated insert will also be labeled for use as a probe for a genomic Southern blot.

Also in the lab, genomic DNA which was isolated from two types of fruit flies, the Canton-S (CS) wild type and the mutant strain, dusky⁷³ (dy⁷³), was digested with several enzymes. Each reaction contained appropriate buffer and the enzyme. The reaction buffer was mixed, placed into a 37 ºC bath for 6 hours, and terminated with EDTA. In the next few weeks, the digested DNA will be size separated through gel electrophoreses and then transferred onto a Southern blot. The Southern blot will be probed with labeled DNA from the 2.6 kb insert. If the dy⁷³ mutation occurs within our genomic digest, then the Southern blot will display restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) between the CS and dy⁷³ flies.

Wish List

2010-10-19T10:47:00.001-04:00

I'm a new gunnut. There's no doubt about that since I actually did not have an actual interest in rifles and handguns until the Obama election. I am currently an owner of a ratty Mosin Nagant and about 50 rounds of 7.62x54r. Not much of a collection; I'm certainly looking forward to getting a few handguns.

I'm lusting after a Bulgarian Makarov ($200 price range) and a cheap Hungarian PA-63 ($150 price range) since if I get one 9x18, I might as well get another. Getting a Nagant revolver for my planned collection wouldn't hurt either ($100). I just have a desire for C&R items for some reason.

I do need a carry gun too, holsters and all. The Px4 storm subcompact ($500) that I liked is too big for my frame but it is fun to shoot so I want that. I'll probably have to go for a pocket pistol of some type. I prefer semi-autos over revolvers but I still don't know which one to get.

What's really delaying me in obtaining my "arsenal" however are two things, money and safety. I'm an undergraduate student, so money isn't exactly plentiful. I'll be applying for loans to get through dental school and I'm sure they don't appreciate me using loan money to get myself some guns. I'll also probably end up moving into an apartment or something and their gun policies might not be all too friendly.

Also, safety. I currently have my Mosin Nagant in my room propped against the wall. The ammunition is in a cabinet nearby, but is unsecured. This setup is fine because the gun is heavy and has a ridiculous trigger pull; it won't go running around shooting folk negligently. My home doesn't get visitors either; it's pretty much just my parents and me. However, I'm not comfortable with having handguns and ammo lying around my room like that. I'll need a gun safe before I start buying more stuff. Like my desire for a carry gun, I'm not sure what to get either. The small box safes aren't all that secure because someone can just pick it up and take it, but the larger ones are prohibitively expensive.

I'll probably wait for Buy a Gun Day to actually get a handgun. Sooner ifs preferable since the price of Makarovs keep on going up :/

Compliance

2010-10-18T12:56:00.000-04:00

Odd bank robbery here. It's a short article and nor really worth briefing here. I would like to note that the man did not want people around while he committed the robbery and that he handed the teller a note without displaying a weapon. I have a suspicion that this robber was bluffing. But he still got all the money. Why?

Apparently, tellers are told to not resist and comply with any demands. Well that's nice to hear. Honestly, I would rather find a new job than have policy restrict me into letting a criminal have his way with the establishment. Compliance gives the criminal power over the victim; it does not really increase chances of survival. "Oh, you've been such a good hostage, I won't kill you because of that." In this case, no one was hurt because the robber was bluffing; however a large sum of money was lost.

Why should you listen to a criminal and their promises when they have already broken the rule of law. If law means nothing to them, then their work is crap anyways. Fight back, and fight back hard with whatever tool you have (wit, fists, or a gun).

Friday Fun: Asteroids?

2010-10-15T18:13:00.001-04:00

It's Friday once again, so I want to bring something cool out for y'all.

I has an Asteroids Javascript bookmark. It essentially runs a script that lets you play asteroids and you get to blow up all the HTML elements. There's even a little score bar for you indicating the number of elements you blew up.

Now I have two issues with this thing:

sometimes it runs really slow (it's javascript based game in a browser with constantly changing HTML elements. what did you expect?)
Then there are some HTML elements (divs and whatnot) that simply become too small to destroy. Now that really annoys the completist in me because I want to clear the entire bloody screen and get the highest score possible.

Anyways, to give it a go on my blog, Click Here

Directions

Steer with the arrow-keys.

Shoot with space.

To activate click the bookmark once on your webpage of choice.

Can't see your remaining enemies? Then press and hold B

Press Esc to close

The post for Today

2010-10-13T12:01:00.001-04:00

Unless you want to read a lab summary for Molecular Biology, I'm afraid that I'm drawing a blank on things to rant about. Maybe I'll have something for tomorrow.

Maryland Dental School

2010-10-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

I went to Baltimore, MD with the mum to visit their dental school. I have to say, the drive to that city is so much more pleasant than I expected: the drive to Philly is always long, trafficked and arduous, while the trip to Baltimore has neither tolls nor tons of traffic. The placement of the building a fair distance from the main street, so it's actually quite quiet. I really hate cities as a rule.

Now, at the dental school, mum and I were not allowed to go tour the campus, annoyingly enough. Temple and Pitt schools gladly gave us a faculty or a student guided tour of the facilities upon arrival at admissions; not so with Baltimore Dental School. We got a flat out "No" from the security (I noted that they did not have handguns) and also got a "You will be able to tour the building once you get accepted" from the Admissions Office (a very Nancy Pelosi type of "Vote for it to see what's in it" type of deal.)

Anyways, since we weren't able to tour the facility, my mother decided to corner folk in the school's cafeteria to get their opinions on the school. I can't tell you how glad I am that she was that bold; I'm fairly shy when I'm in an unknown setting and would only go around talking to strangers only if I had a serious issue. If she didn't take initiative, the trip probably would have been a complete waste of time. However once mum got me introduced, I was more than at ease to continue the conversation.

Everyone seemed good natured at the dental school and we actually got lots of information and advice from a pair of fellows idling in the cafeteria.

This facility is definitely on my list of desired schools now. If I get accepted into both Temple and Baltimore, I will have a long and hard decision to make. Wish me luck!

An Average day at the Lab

2010-10-08T14:48:00.004-04:00

So I'm sitting in the cephlapod lab right now eating a sandwich for lunch. The experimental octopus however is going nuts, trying to get out of its tank. It wants sammich; oh yes it does.

I just want to eat my sandwich, ZerCool. It's not for you.

Now I'm trying to train one of them to consume food from the food hopper (magazine). But the training doesn't seem to be taking. He seems to think that every time I near the tank, he's going to get food from me and not the magazine. Typically, an octopus would stay in its flower pot (den) and only go out when it sees food (a fiddler crab) within reach. The magazine is set in a place where it's in the direct line of sight of the octopus. Ever since magazine training started, the octopus has picked up on the fact that it will get food. However he doesn't seem to realize the food will be coming from the magazine.

The bugger would leave the den the instant I enter the lab and crawl around the sides of the tank waiting for food even though the magazine is placed on the bottom of the tank. He's zipping around under full lighting waiting for food. This isn't how it's supposed to be.

Why can't he be a normal octopus and stay on the bottom? Even now, he's looking over at me, stealing glances at my sandwich, longing for my delicious grilled chicken slathered in mayo

THIS SANDWICH IS MINE, ZERCOOL (I named the octopus after this guy. Hope he doesn't mind)! AND I WILL EAT IT! OM NOM NOM NOM!

Hopefully I can get this behavior corrected because my research really needs him to stay in his den. If he associates me with food and not the magazine then I will have a lot of issues getting other behavior patterns on top of that. Curse you, cephlapods. I just wanted to eat my sandwich in peace

Friday Fun: Musical Edition

2010-10-08T10:46:00.001-04:00

I always wanted to become a dentist and now that I have my application in, I might be on my way to becoming one. One of my big motivations for becoming a dentist was the musical, Little Shot of Horrors. When I heard this song, I knew that I chose the correct path.

I'm sure i'll fit right in.

Narcissism

2010-10-07T11:12:00.003-04:00

I VISIT MY OWN WEBSITE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE. MWAHAHAHA!

Now why do I still feel empty inside?

Tactical in New Holland

2010-10-07T10:45:00.000-04:00

I live in Amish country, basically. The lower half of PA is largely rural and we really don't have a lot of crime outside of Harrisburg and Philly. New Holland is a peaceable area too. So why are giving police tactical S.W.A.T gear?

They're giving the police department lightweight ballistic shields, basically a modernized version of the shields riot police use. Their reason? Because there's a perceived uptick in workplace violence and school attacks. Pardon me, but it's a bloody small town with no real history of crime that would require a tactical police team. Here's a crime map. Most crimes are thefts; there's nothing the police can do about that; not even tactical police. I say the tax money spent on those shields would be better spent by giving the police additional training.

"We need every tool available to protect victims and officers. The new shield increases that protection," said New Holland police Detective Jonathan Heisse.

Now that's what I call the 'need a other tool in the toolbox' excuse; and it's a dangerous one. You don't go buying tools that you will never use. This tactical shield will never get any use simply because nothing ever happens here. But if you buy enough exotic tools, you'll start wanting to use them for things they AREN'T supposed to be used for; by adding more tactical equipment to the police force, the more likely they will want to act tactical and do things that they were not trained to do.

It's better to have trained police than to have police with fancy equipment that will never get used. Because then you might end up with something like this: The police doing a tactical response to long grass

Renewable Energy for the Military

2010-10-06T13:30:00.001-04:00

The military seems to be getting fed up with having to send massive amounts of gas over to war zones in vulnerable trucks. NYTimes makes it seem like they're completely going green, shunning the evil carbon belching fossil fuels.

Well, that's really not what's happening at all. They're simply looking for cheaper alternatives to using gas generators for electricity because fuel transport costs are enormous. The military will still need loads of fuel trucks to power the tanks and vehicles in the military. Gas will be the best way to power big heavy things until technology gives us the portable nuclear fuel cell. Perhaps going to non-gasoline based generators would be nice so that more of the fuel can be sent to the vehicles that need it, but the green angle that NYScienceTimes tries to make is quite a reach.

Also, the article mentions biofuels as an alternative. That leaves me less than impressed. Remember why the military wants to switch off of gas generators? Oh, because the fuel costs too much and the trucks that transport it tend to get blown up by insurgents. Switching over to biofuel will make things worse: biofuel is more expensive than gasoline, it's less efficient (ethanol burns faster), and it doesn't resolve any of the transport costs anyways. There's no point in making a case for biofuels other than it makes all the greenies and ecosystem obsessed folk feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The military is looking for a solution for an energy problem; it's not trying to make itself more eco-friendly at all. Even if the solution would be what people consider 'eco,' it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. You cannot force anything to become greener. The military is doing this for its own benefit in saving costs and it's allowing green companies to compete in trying to sell their product. It's a capitalistic venture and warms my cockles. This is how the green movement should be: provide a good product that performs better than the current ones and we'll buy it; otherwise, don't guilt us (or get others to force us) into purchasing that over-priced brand named junk.

Acorn Condom Surprise

2010-10-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

Sounds interesting, yes? Here's the link. Magisterial District Judge Isaac H. Stoltzfus has a habit of carrying around acorns with condoms stuffed into them. However instead of just playing with his little fruit, he decides that it would be a good idea to run up to women and make them take one of his modified nuts.

Apparently the women that got accosted by this nutcase aren't all too happy about the 'prank' and decided to file complaints against the man. The District is refusing to comment on situation and the ACLU decided to offer their opinions, saying that the man is free to do what he wants because of free speech.

Here are my opinions.:

Yes, we have freedom to do things that might offend other people. If offending people were a crime, then everyone is a criminal. However, I think this is slightly different from a simple matter of offending people with images or signs. People have the freedom to do such things like burning flags, burning Korans, and stuff which I believe is permissible but tasteless. However, this guy is actively involved in making one particular individual uncomfortable. That is harassment and NOT freedom of speech. He is actively pushing into an individual's personal space to get what he wants.

Here's an illustration of the difference: Abortion protesters with images of dead fetuses on large signs decide to parade through university campus. Pro-choicers are offended, but freedom of speech protects the anti-abortionists and their demonstration. However one of the protesters decided to run up to a student screaming and waving his/her sign. The protester went from someone practicing his/her rights into an aggressor. That is inexcusable.

The guy is a tool. A person with a professional job like being a freaking judge should have better impulse control than what he's displaying. If he's looking for cheap thrills from harassing women, then he shouldn't be a purveyor of the law. If anyone of us common folk did this, we wouldn't be getting off this easy.

Also, why is he only doing this to women? Obviously because if he does this to a guy, he'll get smashed in the face; he is selectively pranking women because he knows that they won't fight back. He is being predatory. It's like picking on a handicapped child because you know he can't really hurt you when you push him too far. I hope the next woman he accosts will pepper spray him in the face.

The Beginning

2010-10-04T11:11:00.002-04:00

I am finally beginning my lab research! Now I have to write my proposal for it. Since for I tend to ramble and create impressive word counts when blogging about the most minuscule topic, maybe that would extend to my other writings. Now there are a number of wonderful little stories I would love to tell about the cephlapods in the lab, but first I should do the more professional thing and getting the actual introduction to the research done.

Rough Draft
In my research, I am exploring the cognitive abilities of Octopus bimaculoides and its capacity for causal reasoning. My experiment is heavily based off the work of Aaron Blaisdell Et. Al. in the research article Causal Reasoning in Rats. Their research on rats and methodology gave me a framework for testing causal reasoning in other animals. I hope to modify their experimental procedure and conduct similar tests on octopuses. In order for this experiment to be successful, the octopuses must be able to demonstrate the correct behavioral responses in the experimental setting as well as give similar results to those reported in Blaisdell's Causal Reasoning in Rats. Due to time constraints, I aim to find whether my modified experimental procedure can be used to test Octopus but will not actually test for causal reasoning ability. With this research, I hope to establish a framework for further experimentation in this direction in the future.

More on the Texas Shooting

2010-09-30T10:30:00.001-04:00

Yes, I'm beating it like a dead horse. Here's an opinion article over at Fox. I personally like this quote

The debate over concealed handguns has been similar, raising the question of whether guns should be limited to people's homes. Fears about accidents and rampages by permit holders, and blood running in the streets however never materialized where concealed carry has been allowed. Individuals who have gone through the process to get a permit have turned out to be extremely law-abiding, losing their permits for firearm violations at just hundredths or even thousandths of one percent. Refereed academic studies by economists and criminologists alike have consistently demonstrated that these predictions never occurred for crime either.

The gun banners always used anecdotal evidence to support their claims. Time and time again they have been proven wrong or demonstrated to be outright liars, but they continue to tripe on and on about gun crimes and gun death. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. There will always be a criminal element in anything, but it is not right to demonize everyone because of that. There are legal, alw-abiding gun owners, and then there are criminals. It's like saying all blacks are gang folk because of their color. That's not just wrong, it's bigoted.

-A hat tip to Joe Huffman

Patterns

2010-09-29T15:50:00.001-04:00

It seems that once I post an excuse type post, I seem to find something interesting that I just HAVE to post or start writing more because I feel guilty. And since I'm a molecular biology major and computer science minor, I feel this insane urge to document this discovery. This is my doccumentation. Now back to writting my application essay...

Texas Shooting

2010-09-29T15:45:00.000-04:00

I expect more to come from the woodwork, but here's what CNN has so far

This should be a quick post, I hope because classes start in about 10 minute and I feel like raging a little bit right now.

Anyways, allegedly quiet student decided to run around Texas Uni campus with a semi-auto AK. He got chased by police on campus and then decided to take his own life inside the library. That's the bare bones story.

Now, since I'm a masochist (but a well adjusted one), I decided to read through the comments. Lo and behold: there were cries for more gun control, people saying that no one should own AK-47 machine guns (idiots), and general hass-attery.

I would like to point out something: there are laws in place to keep stuff like this from happening, There's the anti-murder laws, the university gun-free zone, the don't brandish your friggen gun law. Those didn't help at all. He happily ignored them. You can't fix stupid, and the same follows for stupid thinking that leads to stupid actions like that.

Even in the comments at CNN, they admit that crazy (and I am only interested in the violent type) sometimes happens in people. It is rare and unpredictable; Any gun owner can become mad ass a hatter and start shooting people at random. But the numbers say that it rarely happens (pictorial presentation, yay!). In addition, no law, gun registry, gun ban is going to prevent someone from becoming irrationally violent. If a person choses to be violent, she/she will use the best tool possible, whether it is a gun (VT shooting), or a bomb (Oklahoma City Bombing), or a knife (London, UK every night). Banning guns isn't going to help prevent any of that.

But what stopped the student was the threat of violence against him. He gave up when he was chased by men with guns. Doesn't matter if it was the police or not. The student probably expected to reign supreme over the quivering unarmed population on the campus (for whatever reason) since he was the only armed person. But the police with their own guns shifted power away from him.

This is getting long and I need to head to class now. Also, I'm betting that narcissism was involved in this shooting somehow.

Oh hey! Why is that blog all alone in the corner

2010-09-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

I'm working on finishing up my Dental School applications. Hopefully they will get me somewhere. It would also explain my lack of posts. I also have about 300 things in the blaggerqueue to read over too.

Friday Fun: High Speed Photography

2010-09-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

One thing I don't get about reality TV shows that revolve around competition is that there are always those folk that are banking so hard on winning that they pretty much have no other hope. Shows like American Idol or America's Got Talent are two shows that I cannot stand watching because it pains me to see hopes dashed to pieces.

Yeah, real life does that regularly, but I don't like watching it as a form of personal entertainment. It seems cruel in a way.

But inanimate object getting blown up? Yes please!. Sometimes destruction is beautiful. Plus, unlike the people that have so much hope in those shows, I feel no sympathy for these inanimate objects.

Link stolen from Every Day, No Days Off

Because I really don't want to get shot

2010-09-23T19:00:00.007-04:00

A lot of people think of gun owners as people looking for a fight and are itching to spill some blood. To be honest, getting shot or shooting someone is not in my list of things I really want to do. I just want peace and quiet with a way to make sure that I don't die when things go southbound.

One of my greatest fears about concealed carrying is the potential reactions of people around me if hey somehow notice a firearm on me (through accidentally catching my shirt on something or from having the handgun print). Even if I act nice and unconfrontational, others may still be so weirded out by the fact that there is a gun present that I might end up getting killed by the police in the end, like this guy (that shooting will need to be discussed later because there's a whole lot of crap going on in there). I already addressed this fear of mine once in a previous blog post, but that Costco Shooting put it back on the front burner of my mind.

How can I deescalate a situation like that?

Please don't say "don't carry a gun," because it's a personal choice I've made and to be honest, people really should not take issue with that. I carry a knife with me all the time and it has caused no problems so far. Why should a LEGALLY concealed firearm be treated so differently? I will carry, but what should i do when people do not understand or are too bigoted to realize that I really mean them no harm?

Only Guns and Money has a few ideas, and I think they are fairly good ones. I haven't had the time to listen to Downrange TV (a link provided in that post) but I look forward to figuring out what I can do if a situation starts to go out of control because someone decided they didn't like me carrying around them.

School Shooting Averted?

2010-09-22T08:13:00.004-04:00

School shooting prevented? But what if it's only a symptom of a bigger problem?

A 14 year old decides to shoot up a school. What is wrong with kids (these days)? 14 is a mighty young age for serious shenanigans like this; I can't imagine someone that age ever trying to kill other kids on purpose. This is ten flavors of effed up.

Now, the fact that he had pipe bombs in the school also indicates that he had been planning to do this for a while. It wasn't like he got his hands on a gun and decided to do a mass shooting. He planned it and built the devices he desired, placing them in the facility with purpose. The reason why I point this out is because a lot of people point to the gun and say that was the evil thing that allowed the shooting to happen. Well I say it wasn't. It's all about the individual that picks it up. The gun can't do anything by itself; it's not like the kid picked up the gun and was filled with thoughts to kill fellow students and what-not. The gun is a tool, and that gun and the pipe bombs were used with the intent to hurt others. The kid was disturbed and possibly evil. He was looking to kill folk. Everything rests upon the fact that this individual decided to act out in the worst way possible. Turning on the metal detectors will not change any of that messed up mindset.

We got people going into "bullied child" excuse. I don't buy it. I've been bullied in middle school because I was a minority. Life was hell sometimes, but I don't hold that against anyone; it's just how life is sometimes. There are ways to cope; parents can usually pick up on the emotions of their child. But deciding and planning to wreak destruction upon an entire school? There is nothing to excuse that type of thinking. It's that thinking pattern which is deadly, not the tools involved. Stop the thinking. The tools/weapons are not part of the equation.

He wanted to kill someone and he found a way to carry that plan out. Pipe bombs are illegal, killing is illegal, unsupervised handgun use beneath the age of 18 is illegal. ALL the metal detectors in the world, all the laws on God's green earth will never change the way that kid was thinking. Keeping him from getting the gun will not change the way he's thinking. He might not be able to do a school shooting without the gun, but letting him carry that mindset into a professional job when he grows up is not an acceptable option either. That's what leads to workplace violence.

This is not an issue about guns or bombs, but it's about mindset. We need to treat the ills that plague the public school system whether it's bulling or harassment. The kid is ill and turning on the metal detector will not fix that. Turning on the metal detector is what you do instead of something. It's smoke and mirrors; it's all appearance.

Those Ups and Downs

2010-09-20T16:00:00.001-04:00

Life has its ups and downs. Interestingly enough, those ups and downs can have absolutely no bearing on actual reality. I think I'm currently stuck in one of those downs (yay, self diagnosis). I've been irritable, anxious, and just feeling gosh darned lonely right now. I can't seem to find joy in the little things. Even politics has lost its ability to make me rage. I just have an overwhelming urge just to drink from my stash of vodka in the basement.

But these are just feelings; just a chemical imbalance in my brain. But holy crap, it's making it so hard for me to get enough motivation to do anything. This short blog post was written over a period of two days. It's also testing week at the uni too; this rut isn't helping any.

Hopefully I get back into the groove of things again and start being productive.

Blog posting might be light this week until mental health improves.

Friday Fun

2010-09-17T16:31:00.005-04:00

Ever have a sudden need to do a rim-shot, or play the "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" Darth Vader scream? Have you ever left like you needed to become more like Alan , but don't want to put up with getting a soundboard for your iPhone? Well here is your chance to annoy the living crap out of everyone!

There are so many buttons. God, I love buttons! You are welcome.

Coherence and Situational Awareness

2010-09-16T18:20:00.004-04:00

COHERENCE. HIRO NO CAN HAS

I have started about 3 different attempts at making a blog post, but I can't seem to keep my thoughts together for long enough to get a complete post out. And there is no way I am going to post a half written post up just so I can feel good about posting something every day. That would just cheapen my blog.

NOW ONTO THE GUN STUFF!

Anyways, here's a blurb from the local news (Since that's easier than writing a post about Workplace Violence or some complex social topic). 3 Men rob an individual outside of University Campus. I would like to note that there are two pro-gun comments already in there. I found that a bit pretentious of them, and thankfully, neither of the posts were posted by me. The reason I would like to point those comments out to you because they are lamenting the inability for college students to carry firearms (I believe there is a Uni in Colorado that allows for guns on campus, not really sure.) Now I believe that people should be able to carry a firearm with them to protect themselves if need be. However a gun is not a talisman that will prevent anything bad from happening to a person. This crime pretty much would have happened; gun or no gun.

Here's my reason: this happened at 12 city and gets attacked from behind. He got completely surprised by the attackers from behind. A gun would not have helped him because he was missing a very critical weapon: situational awareness.

. A thing that many folk in the self-defense culture always like to expound on is situational awareness. In fact, I hold situational awareness as more important than carrying a gun. He can carry pepper spray if he can’t carry a gun. Maybe a knife if he can’t carry pepper spray. A gun would be the ultimate in self-defense, but all of these tools I listed are USELESS if the victim lacks situational awareness. A person with their head stuck in a cell phone texting will get robbed just the same with or without a gun. It pays to pay attention; a gun is not going to change that if you have your head up your arse.

So, what can this guy do? Well, he can stop walking around at night for one thing. If he can’t help but to walk around at night, then I suggest that he should avoid known trouble areas, give dark alleys wide clearance, and be prepared to run if he senses footsteps behind him. These simple steps could have gone a long way for him.

Carry your guns people, but more importantly, keep your eyes and ears open

Edit: darn it, the post got long again!

What WMDs?

2010-09-14T19:35:00.003-04:00

Hey remember that war we went to because of WMDs, but we never found any?

That's because we already knew about them from the first war, so those didn't count.

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy.

So why we're we not told about this by the news? Why wasn't this widely disseminated information? For years, everyone painted George W. Bush as a fool for going to war for no reason. We instead were treated with people who shouted "There are no WMD, we went there only for oil!"

Now granted, yellowcake isn't weaponized uranium, but it is still a cause for concern. Where's the nuclear plant for the yellowcake? Osirak got bombed to bits during the first war.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic. These Media are not telling the whole truth and can shut out bits and pieces that might be important in allowing us, the readers, to see the big picture. Information like this give credibility to the existance of WMD, but keeping it under wraps or not reporting it makes an administration look bad. There is a direct connection between the media and the administration. The media has the oportunity to make the administration look inept or look God-like.

The devil is in the details, and the Media sure likes playing the part of the devil

Islamization of France

2010-09-13T15:00:00.002-04:00

Not exactly the most reputable source ever (Christian Bible Network), but it may have merit. So I'll link to it anyways. View it in with your own perspective and judge it for yourself. I'm not going to put my skin on the line here to say whether Islamization is a credible threat or not. Either way, it's not bad to be somewhat critical of any certain mass movement, real or not.

"We were expecting Islam to adapt to France and it is France adapting to Islam," Robin said.

well that's odd

2010-09-11T16:45:00.004-04:00

I was going through the stats page today and noticed something. Someone found my blog with the search string

"ugly naked girls"

*insert shocked face here*

Here, let me help straighten this issue out. I am not an ugly naked girl; rather, I am actually a very handsome man. I would also like to note that this blog has no commentary or pictures of ugly naked girls. I also do not have any links to sites containing ugly naked girls

So, If you got to this blog while searching for ugly naked girls and were disappointed by the lack of them here, then I apologize for the confusion.

Never Forget

2010-09-11T12:05:00.004-04:00

Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbours. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.
The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.
A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.
America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.
Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America -- with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbours who came to give blood and help in any way they could.
Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts.
Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured, and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks.
The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight, and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business, as well.
The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them.
I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance.
America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight, I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."
This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.

- 9/11 Speech by George Bush

Image from ABC image archive

Friday Fun

2010-09-10T14:33:00.002-04:00

BRUUUUUAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

I love the movie, Inception, by the way. If you haven't seen it, it's worth your time to watch.

Please Try Again Later

2010-09-07T23:08:00.002-04:00

Life caught up with me. Please stand by while I try and iron some stuff out. Life before blog.

More fun Friday

2010-09-03T12:45:00.004-04:00

So many things today! Hooray for VERY disposable income. iPad vs Shotfun (no, that is not a typo)

Hat tip to SayUncle

More Control is Needed?

2010-09-03T11:25:00.003-04:00

What makes the government think that it can stop a specific class of crime (such as gun or knife crime. or anything really) when in a very controlled prison environment, they can't stop the 90K rapes that occur semi-annually (I love this blogger!).

A prison has a lot more control over people living within its walls than the government can ever have over the people of its state. They got cameras everywhere. They got security that has disarmed everyone. They got the personal histories of everyone living in the facility. And yet, with all this in place, they can't stop the individuals there from destroying themselves.

What them think that they can micro-manage people who are free in society? Complete government control over individuals (though I admit a prison population is not at all similar to the typical American city population) will not stop out any of the evil that can and will be committed by the moon-bats in society.

I'm not posting a solution though, because there isn't one. I'm simply a naysayer. Government control will not solve human social issues, EVER. But as a prudent human being, you can do your best to take care of yourself when whatever government attempts to 'protect you' inevitably fails.

Friday Fun

2010-09-03T10:24:00.004-04:00

Since it is relatively easy to find a link that hasn't been posted in all the other gun blogs (OH THE MARVELS OF THE INTERNET), I guess this will become a regular feature on my blog.

So what I have here is the History of the USSR/Russia to the theme of tetris. This should give y'all nerds and history buffs eargasms

What? Again?

2010-09-02T12:13:00.003-04:00

CNN is reporting that a rig has exploded in the Gulf....again.

While I can understand one rig (Deepwater Horizon) exploding due to blowback pressures and skimping on some safety regs; another one going down seems too coincidental since the rigs probably would have tried straightening up when DWH went down. Two possible reasons for this, either there are MASSIVE failures to observe safety regulations in the Gulf rigs, or there may be an act of sabotage. Whatever the reason, I expect a very strong push by environmentalists and greenies to ban drilling for oil all together (like the Obama's oil drilling moratorium that was almost made permanent).

A case for knife carry

2010-09-01T08:57:00.004-04:00

I carry a knife with me pretty much wherever I go. The uni allows me to carry it, and I will take full advantage of that fact. However, I do get some questions as to why I carry a knife with me. I don't carry it because it's cool or makes me seem threatening, but because I use it for a lot of things. It's a tool. My lab requires me to open a lot of boxes and bags of salt to dump into the system and keep the salinity OK. It's inconvenient to have to go to the tool cabinet to grab scissors or a utility knife for the task when I can carry a personal pocket knife. Opening packages of gun cleaning parts I get in the mail is also a nice use. Cutting string, prying open a jammed door... Tons of uses!

However, I believe that I found the best reason for carrying a knife yesterday.

Personal Hygiene Story!

As a typical guy, I find the need to shave. The issue isn't that I have a lot of hair growing on my face, but because I have so little hair that grows into odd, long haired patches before I realize I need to shave again. Usually during these grooming sessions, I trim my nose hair with scissors (because I'm disgusting like that).

Anyways, after one of these shaving and trimming sessions, I was driving to the uni when I noticed an odd tickling sensation on my upper lip. After some rubbing and stritching at the spot with my hand, I concluded that the sensation wasn't some insect browsing around. whatever it was was still up there poking away at my lip.

At the nearest traffic stop, I adjusted my rear view mirror so I could look at my face and find the source of the offending sensation. Upon examination, I realized that I had one very long hair sticking out of my nostril. Clearly, I must have missed it when I was rushing to get to school on time and now was making me VERY aware that it didn't appreciate me mowing down his fellow nose hair siblings.

While the sensation was bad enough, the realization that other people at the uni might see Mr. Nosehair was too much. I had to find some way to get rid of it before I reached campus. Sure I could push him back into my nasal cavity, but one sharp exhale would cause him to sproing back out; I needed a solution. I had to get rid of him.

Since I was running against the clock to reach the uni on time, I couldn't spare a stop at a convenience store for a nose hair trimmer. I had to pluck the bastard.

Has anyone tried plucking a nose hair before? It is gawd-awfully painful. It's probably the most sensitive hair on the human body. So there I was, driving to uni, trying to pluck this evil hair with my eyes tearing from the pain. It must have been a sad sight. No matter how I tried, I couldn't actually get Mr. Nosehair out. He was steadfastly clinging to the inside of my nose, gleefully jerking at my nerve endings with a vengeance.

Discouraged by my pain and the failed attempts at getting rid of my arch nemesis, I gave up on the idea of extracting him. I was nearing the uni by now. Time was running out.

BUT AMAZINGLY, two of my smarter braincells rubbed together at that moment and said "Dude, you carry a knife! Use it, you stupid bloke." So at the next traffic stop, out comes my knight in shining "made in America", stainless steel bladed sharpness to rescue me. It was a glorious moment in history, and I shall remember it always. With one hand death gripping my enemy of the day, I descended upon him with my knife to finish him off. Mr. Nosehair was no more, thanks to my knife.

My victory celebration was cut short, as the traffic light turned green and the cars started moving again. The rest of the day was pretty average after that.

The moral of this story: carry your knives, people, because you might have missed a nose hair and it probably would need killin'

Majorly White

2010-08-29T23:31:00.005-04:00

HEY GUESS WHAT?! AMERICA HAS A LOT OF WHITE PEOPLE. AND IN CASE CAPSLOCK ISN'T ENOUGH TO GET YOU TO NOTICE THAT FACT, I WILL POST A LINK WITH DATA. OH SNAP, 79% OF PEOPLE IN AMERICA IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS BEING WHITE!

Now that I got this fact snippet out of the way, i would like to point out that Main Stream Media is overly obsessed with this fact. Mention the words Tea Party, Palin, Glenn Beck and then suddenly white people are the hot topic. It's almost as if they're trying to imply something...

So, is Glenn Beck rally a "white people" event or is it the media trying to spin a story? Well judging from the Journolist conspiracy, the media's history of race baiting, and the fact that AMERICA IS LARGELY WHITE, I would go with the latter.

Shooting to Stop

2010-08-27T12:51:00.001-04:00

This is follow up post on Shooting with Charity. As previously discussed, a handgun is a form a lethal force when used in self defense. Actions with a handgun will be judged harshly; so one should not aim to merely wound the attacking individual. That would be playing with your life.

However, my argument against shooting with charity brings out the other extreme; should an individual shoot to kill an attacker? "Well, if you shouldn't shoot an arm or a leg to disable an attacker, then that means you have to kill them!" goes the train of thought.

I would like to say "no". It is not alright to shoot to purely kill. To illustrate why, I will use a clip from Collateral:

When faced with a deadly situation, such as that faced by Tom Cruise, he quickly shoots down the two attackers with very good gun handling skills to regain possession of his briefcase. This is a no-nonsense type of situation (up until 0:10 in the clip) and he would likely get scot free out of court (though it does depend on the state. Let's assume that it's a free and reasonable one).

I mean, gosh! Will you look at that?

Nice clean shots to center mass to put an attacker down. What would have made this better would have been Tom Cruise dialing 911 on his cell to report to the police what had happened and to get a report. Sadly, it's a movie clip, and not real life.

Note that none of his shots were done to maim or disable the attackers. He didn't shoot for a leg, because there's really not enough time to do that. But what he did was shoot for center mass; it might not kill the person, but it has a very good chance of making them instantly stop whatever lethal action they were doing against him. What he did was stop the illegal activity the most effective way possible.

But shooting to kill? The clip above also demonstrates that. One of the attackers is still alive and Mr. Cruise shoots him in the noggin at around 0:13.

THAT IS BAD. IT WILL LAND YOUR BLOOMIN' ARSE IN JAIL.

That one extra shot illustrates the difference between shooting to stop and shooting to kill. He shot to stop the men, and they were stopped. He then shoots to kill even though the men were no longer a threat to him. It went from an act of self defense to murder. What is Mr. Cruise’s reason for shooting the attacker in the head once he is no longer a threat? (I don’t care about the reason in the movie; I’m judging his actions as a gunnie.) It is not defensible in front of a jury. The intent for self defense is not to kill the bad guy (and I will keep emphasizing this point). That is the wrong way to focus on the situation. Rather, the focus should be on preserving your wellbeing and preventing/stopping lethal force from being used on you or people you love.

If the attacker is down on the ground and drowning in his own blood, then he is not longer a threat to you. If he is running away with his back turned towards you, he is not longer a threat to you and the best bet is to call police. If he surrenders after breaking into your house and you corner him, he is no longer a threat; but keep your gun trained on center mass at a safe distance incase he does turn violent.

So there you have it. At one extreme, we have shooting with charity, like the clip below....

And you have "shooting to kill" in the clip with Mr. Cruise.

Both are (legally and perhaps morally) incorrect ways for handling a deadly situation; both of them are illustrations of extremes and engaging a situation with either mindset should be avoided.

For all my Cephlapod fans out there

2010-08-27T10:27:00.004-04:00

A Japanese man has been arrested for allegedly created a virus (for computer, obviously) that replaces all the files on a person's computer with home-made manga images of squid, octopuses and sea urchins.

Now that's pretty funny right there (other than losing your files, which is not that funny). I'm not sure why "sea urchins" is included in the image set because it's totally on the other side of the tree of species; it isn't even a protostome!

But beyond the sheer ridiculousness of the article, I think the best quote is at the end:

"I [evil virus writer] wanted to see how much my computer programming skills had improved since the last time I was arrested."

a good lesson that this article teaches is that you should always virus scan your pirated music downloads. Also, you probably back up your stuff every so often.

Totally was not expecting this

2010-08-27T10:12:00.004-04:00

So...remember that Garand thinger with the importation and stuff? Apparently the new reason why they can't be imported is because they're ours.

Huh. This begs the question why the first few reasons the administration handed out to the Koreans were total bull to begin with. Someone should look into that.

And now that we found out that they're gov't property, hopefully they don't do anything stupid like destroy the rifles rather than selling them to the private market

Funny Link Friday

2010-08-25T21:25:00.004-04:00

I got a good kick out of the imaged hosted here.

Half of it is probably bull and made up; But still, It's funny and enjoyable.

Meeting Cops while Carrying

2010-08-25T10:07:00.003-04:00

What should you do when you are stopped by a Copper while packing heat?

There have been many scary stories about the way police handle people who carry firearms. You have situations like Melanie Hain, This guy, this other guy, and there are numerous other cases where law enforcement displays an unreasonable distrust for the concealed carrier (even when shown the license). Many times, an illegal search and seizure are involved too

So that leaves me with a concern, should I carry because facing police harassment (due to ignorance of my rights or whatever malice they might have against gun owners) happens quite often?

While my desire for self preservation is fairly strong, this story gives me some hope. There are some cops that appreciate and understand that it is OK for civilians outside of the police force to carry weapons to defend themselves. If people stop carrying their guns simply because the police are ignorant of the law, then it will be very easy in the future for them to strip that right out from under us. Consider it a form of persecution, but it is best to be reasonable about it. The guy that wrote the post on Extremetolerance sets a good example on how to handle oneself with a firearm. The more exposure the police get to courteous concealed carriers, the less likely there will be incidents with police in the future for all law abiding citizens considering firearms as a form of self-defense

Blogging License

2010-08-23T10:50:00.005-04:00

Interesting. I would expect something like this to come from Philadelphia.

Anyways, here's the deal. Philly is starving for money like any good blue city and looking for more ways to get money rather than giving the majors and unions pay cuts. They probably are getting desperate, so they're eying bloggers

This is how I think it went down:

"Hey! That might just be it!" Joe Gov yells out while drinking from his martini in his 10x10 foot work office. The last few weeks have been hard for him because the deficit his job security. The higher ups even suggested him to take a pay cut.
Posh! They are so unreasonable; I am not to be subjected to the rules of economics! He thought. I don't see why they don't just lay off some more firefighters or police. But with the treat of a pay cut looming over his head, he was stuck in the office having to work and figuring how to secure his pay raise.
"Well, blogs have ads on them and some of the money goes to the Bloggers! That's taxable income!" Joe actually felt proud of himself for such an idea. He knew he would get to keep his pay raise once he tells his boss.
But then, reality kicked in for once. Joe realized that bloggers often don't make that much money. There's not a lot of money to be taken from $50 of ad income on a reasonably successful blog. Joe sits down as the realization sinks in and mulls over other possible ways to make money off of the evil bloggers that won't give the state money that is rightfully his.
Once again, an idea strikes our friend, Joe Gov. "Our brothers in Portland found out that they can charge lemonade stands run by little girls $120 for health inspections...." Joe lets tries to see how something like this could apply to bloggers with ads.
It finally clicks, "If bloggers make money, then they should be considered businesses."
The idea of an unregulated business starts to boil Joe's blood. He hates unregulated business; unregulated lemonade stands, unregulated bloggers....There needs to be more government intrusion!
"We will charge them $300 to get a business license! There are so many bloggers; we can get tons of state money by doing this."
Clearly satisfied with himself, Joe Gov goes back to his drink hoping he gets a pay raise for the idea. A smile settles upon his face as he plans his next attack the under-regulated market.
To Be Continued....

Drama and straw man attacks aside, I would like to point out that the idea is messed up. A blog is not a business in the same way that a restaurant is a business. While there are blogs that make a lot of money off of ads or by selling products, those are the minority. If a blog is making a profit, but an individual cannot live on the blog income alone, then it shouldn't be considered a business and be safe from a license requirement.

However, income is income, so it can be taxed. No reporting blog income along with your other funds in a tax report probably open up a huge can of worms if the IRS finds out.

Edit

Important post on the license here. Apparently this $300 license has applied to other small, low income ventures. The reason this made headlines was because this is the first time bloggers have been targeted by it.

Hope is not lost though. There is a bill that may be introduced to reduce the license fee for small business owners such as blogs. The safest bet though is to move out of Philly or stop getting money from the blog.

Backed up

2010-08-21T18:19:00.002-04:00

I have two blog posts in the queue. Both need to be read through and edited. One is a reply on what is the difference between the War in Afghanistan and Terrorism, while the other is one on Shooting to Kill. Both are touchy subjects, so I was a bit slow in writing them. At least y'all will know what to expect.

The venerable M1 and The Administration

2010-08-19T19:06:00.004-04:00

The Obama administration decides to ban the importation and sale of over 100,000 rifles; namely the M1 Garand. Most gunnies and World War II junkies would know this already, but here's the history of the rifle.

The M1 Garand is a venerable rifle used in World War II and even into the Vietnam war. Very awesome gun that was one of the first semi-automatics to be used en-masse on the battlefield. It was a revolutionary gun used using America's shining moment. It's old enough to be considered a curios and relic (C&R: it's old enough to be considered a collectors item). A serviceable M1 would cost $2000 and upwards to purchase; and who wouldn't want a great piece of working American history to shoot? Gran Torino would have looked like a wimp if he were holding any other rifle. By allowing Korea to export the remaining stocks of M1s to us would have helped a lot of collectors or recreational shooters get one at a more reasonable price. But no, they blocked it; and they did it with the lamest excuse ever:

According to a South Korean official, "The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents. It was also worried the weapons could be smuggled to terrorists, gangs or other people with bad intentions."
- volokh conspiracy

Huh?

Ok. The first bit about firearm accidents...maybe. I can imagine an old rusted chamber exploding, but if an old gun is that messed up, only a fool would have tried to fire it anyways. One does not simply buy a C&R firearm without checking over it first to make sure it is serviceable. If they meant firearm accidents where people are shot rather than there being a mechanical failure of the firearm, the that's total bull. Here's why

In 1948 there were .36 guns per person. (That is, about one gun for every three Americans.) By 2004, there was nearly one gun for every American. In 1948, there were 1.6 fatal gun accidents per 100,000 persons. By 2004, the rate had fallen by 86%, so that there were .22 fatal accidents per 100,000 persons.
- volokh conspiracy

Hey, look! Numbers! And they were used to help in a Supreme Court case. Validated numbers. I didn't pull this one out of my ass. Also, if safety is a concern, then why crucify this gun over others? It's a big arse rifle. It's hard to commit suicide with a rifle. It's way too heavy for a child to pick up and handle the trigger. If the Obama administration is concerned about safety, why not block the sale of Glock pistols because they don't have a 'real' safety (not that I'd ever be fine with them banning those guns either....). There are other 'less safe' guns out there, so why the M1?

The last reason is also bollocks. Oh, the gangs will get them and oh no! Think about this one for a bit. What do gangs usually use? The answer is pistols. Now think really hard and try and imagine why. It's because pistols are concealable, light, and fairly cheap. DO THESE APPLY TO THE M1? HELL NO. If a gang is going to use a rifle, they'll most likely go for an AK47 or an AR15 because those a plentiful, carry a lot of street cred, can fire 30 cartridges before reloading, weigh quite little, and are smaller than the M1. What about terrorists? Well they use automatic machine guns. Clearly a step up from the M1 Garand which is only semi-auto.

As you can see, these reasons all seem really contrived. So what is the real reason why Obama’s administration is so adamant about blocking the sale of these pieces of American history? Is it because they hate America that much? Is it the start of his attempts to ban firearms? If M1 Garands are too dangerous and cause accidents, well clearly Glocks should go, and then all the scary looking firearms, and then….

We have been through something like this before, The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. We might actually be seeing the first phase of Obama’s anti-gun agenda

DATs

2010-08-18T22:24:00.002-04:00

It's over now. I am almost $300 poorer with a mediocre result. Gun blogging will commence after I nap and recover the rest of my faculties.

Future Now

2010-08-17T22:42:00.003-04:00

I will be taking the DATs tomorrow. This score is going to decide whether I'm smart. It's a standardized test lasting 5.5 hours, so for y'all that think that SATs were bad, you have no idea. I'm feeling quite confident in the perception and biology section. However I do have my doubts about my ability to chemistry and metal math quickly. It will be an uphill battle to get the score of 30; but dammit if I don't at least give it a good shot.

I'm back

2010-08-16T22:51:00.001-04:00

Exactly what it says on the tin

New GOP Ad

2010-08-16T22:46:00.003-04:00

I got turned on by this ad.

Anyways. Good ad. I'm not a full hearted GOP supporter, but I can support this one message.

No post for a Little

2010-08-06T23:36:00.000-04:00

I was getting into the rhythm of posting once again, but gah! I will have to stop for a while because I'll be visiting my sister. Sadly, the internet is quite spotty in these cheap hotels, so no updates for now.

In all Fairness....

2010-08-05T11:27:00.002-04:00

If you know me, I am not a big fan of affirmative action. Yes, I do know that there exist ceilings that need to be shattered, but government intervention is not the way to do it. Forcing the hands of people is not the way to break it. It just makes the ceiling that much more unbreakable because it was the people of higher power that let them break it.

It's mostly benign when it doesn't affect other people other than the disadvantaged. However when the idea of making things fair blossoms and spreads like an algal bloom, people start suffering and choking.

You end up with situations like this.

This article is a bloody minefield of rage. All following block quotes are from the linked article. I'm too lazy to summarize it myself so I'll be quoting and then interjecting with some thoughts.

Justice Department threatened several universities with legal action because they took part in an experimental program to allow students to use the Amazon Kindle for textbooks?

Now why would they do that? It's an experimental program. It's voluntary and one can opt out. Clearly there must be some really rational reason behind this!

The Civil Rights Division informed the schools they were under investigation. In subsequent talks, the Justice Department demanded the universities stop distributing the Kindle; if blind students couldn't use the device, then nobody could. The Federation made the same demand in a separate lawsuit against Arizona State.

Wow. Is it me, or is it almost like Harrison Bergeron except in REAL LIFE! Make everything fair and life will just be peachy. Let's not mind the fact there weren't any blind students enrolled in the course and they could have made accommodations for the blind student. The guy spearheading this operation is named Perez.

That's not Perez's way. To him, keeping the Kindle out of sighted students' hands underscored "the importance of full and equal educational opportunities for everyone."

Well, now if Perez isn't the greatest bastion of reason I've ever seen.... "Let's make things fair by not letting people do shit." I'm feeling we should not do that. Thankfully, I'm not the only one that feels this way...

It's an approach that bothers some civil rights experts. "As a blind person, I would never want to be associated with any movement that punished sighted students, particularly for nothing they had ever done," says Russell Redenbaugh, a California investor who lost his sight in a childhood accident and later served for 15 years on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. "It's a gross injustice to disadvantage one group, and it's a bad policy that breeds resentment, not compassion."

And there you have it. Perez is a bloody idiot. It seems that every once in a while, a person starts thinking himself as the incarnation of Robin Hood. "Oh, I'm going to steal from the privileged and give to the poor! Everyone will love me and hug me forever because I'm so great and fair. Look at those people! They are so helpless and can't do anything for themselves! They need MY help." It's narcissism, plain and simple. The people he thinks he is helping are beneath him; he feels that they don't have the faculties to realize how underprivileged they are. So of course he thinks he has to step in and help these backwards people and give them a standing chance in a world with real people.

This mindset disgusts me. Society can do away with people like Perez. Not only his actions are destructive to individuals that do not fit into the underprivileged mold, but also help keep the underprivileged in their "I'm a victim of society" mold rather than breaking the cycle.

Vigilantism and Some Terms

2010-08-05T10:06:00.002-04:00

FarmDad posted a nice little link that made me feel a bit fuzzy inside. Armed citizens capture a violent criminal

Don't mind the title of the actual article. It tries to make you feel bad for the homeless guy. "Why would 3 people with guns pick on a homeless guy? WELL, sure the guy was homeless, but there's a slight difference between a simple bum and a bum with a shotgun that had broken and injured an innocent woman. It's like saying a rapist is a sexual harasser. Sure, they are part of the same set of scumbags, but one is VERY different from the other. I thought I would take the time to spell it out you.

Anyways, here's a quick summary: Homeless bum breaks into an elderly woman's house (illegal) armed with a sawed off shotgun (a felon with illegal possession of a modified firearm) and steals stuff (I think that's illegal too unless you're a politician). The woman of the house didn't like that and gets hospitalized for her troubles. Anyways, the police sniff out the place and find some of her stuff around the area where the bum lives. They know the bum has done other burglaries, but due to funding cuts, they don't care. The lady's neighbors, not to let a violent and known felon wander around breaking into places, gather up their arms and do a citizen's arrest. Now the police will have to deal with him and there is one less scumbag on the streets.

Now! On to vigilantism. I guess this can be classified as that, but this is what happens when the police are not doing their job. Funding cuts or not, the police are there to protect and serve. If they are unable to do that, then the lower tier will have to carry the mantle. The police can use all the help they can get and sometimes, the citizens are more aware of what the laws are than the police. If police refuse to allow some form of citizen aid, then there is a deep trust issue. This article's case may be a bit extreme, but with the police force not doing their job, then what else can be done?

Next topic from this article. And it will be a short one.

Kusar said the citizens who surrounded the trailer armed themselves with a pistol, assault rifle [sic] and 30/ 30 [sic] rifle. The guns were not fired, but Kusar said the men were serious about protecting themselves if Nash came out shooting.

Ok. 30/30. No one says that. What is this, a vision test? The correct way to say this is .30-30. It's a caliber and not a ratio that can be simplified to 1.

The use of the assault rifle term is what really got me though. Here's a video clip of an assault rifle firing. Please note how it goes BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM! Now for comparison, here is your typical sporting rifle. How does it sound compared to the previous video? BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Now the article says on guy had an assault rifle. I doubt that. Even though they're legal, they're expensive; a low end one can easily run you $5000 or more and take a lot of paperwork too. No one is willing to risk it being confiscated by the police over something like capturing a homeless guy. It's like taking your Chevy C5 to a demolition derby. So either the article used an incorrect term, or this guy is a lucky son of a bitch, being able to afford such a kickass gun and not having it get taken away by the police.

A NOTE TO ALL YOU JOURNALISTS: If you use assault as an adjective, you are most likely WRONG.

Chinese Mass Murder

2010-08-04T20:45:00.003-04:00

You don't need a gun to kill a massive amount of people. It's something that the gun controllers fail to mention. "Oh, you don't need guns," they all say, "If people could just give up their control of firearms, mass killings would never happen!"

Now look at this situation in China. The government has more control over the people than any other place in the world. Control over guns, lifestyle, land or whatever. And for all this trouble and loss of freedom, everything is still the same. Banning a tool like a gun or a knife is not going to stop the crazies from killing people. Controlling the crazies (making sure the violent ones are kept outside of society) or having people around that can minimize the damage (armed citizens anyone?) is the best and least government intrusive solution.

Guns and Civil Rights

2010-08-03T23:41:00.000-04:00

The Decision of Chicago vs McDonald should be hailed as a great victory for civil rights. Who is there to protect you if you are a marginalized member of society? Imagine back when slavery was abolished but the Union and the former Confederacy were still hesitant to embrace people African-American (AA) heritage into society. Jim Crow laws, the Black Codes and such ensured that the police were not on their side, so who can they count on? Themselves and maybe the unorganized militia

Copied from Pileus

As an American, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to many, many people who have risked and given their lives to defend our liberty. But as I reflect on the recent Supreme Court decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago, I thought I should take a moment to mention four Americans who have made a relatively uncelebrated contribution to the freedom I cherish and enjoy. I owe a special debt to four black men, and one gun.
The most important of these men, to me, was my father. When I was a boy, he and my mother moved our family of six from the Terrace Village public housing projects in Pittsburgh’s Hill District to a predominantly white neighborhood. While many of our neighbors welcomed us, we were not welcomed by all. I recall a brick through the front window, and other incidents. But burned into my memory is the Sunday evening when my father was beaten with a tire iron on the street in front of our home, and in front of us, his four little children. Those three young white men were never caught.
When my father, with his surgically reconstructed eye socket and jaw, was released from the hospital, he did something he never once considered when we lived in the projects. He bought a gun.
Every evening after that, before going to bed, I and my siblings would go out onto the front porch to say goodnight to my father as he sat in his chair, shotgun across his lap, with its black barrel glistening under the porch light. I never once felt unsafe. I never once had trouble sleeping. My sense of security did not come from the Pittsburgh Police, or from the law. My sense of security came from my father, and his gun.
There were no more incidents, at least not any that I can recall, after my father exercised his Second Amendment right. It was his contribution to “non-violence” in our neighborhood.

Indeed, the white man feared an armed black man and did their best to disarm them through reasonable regulations. Adding a fee for the registration of firearms was enough to keep the destitute black farmers from purchasing. Banning cheaper weapons were a favorite tactic; they were called "Saturday Night specials," and were typically the only things that the newly freed AAs could afford. People using the term today usually aren't aware of its racist origins.

Anyways. Gun control, it's Racist. Which is why the outcome of Chicago vs McDonald is such a good win for civil rights. But for some reason, everyone glosses over the victory of the people and say that it's all a ploy by the gun manufacturers. It's a shame really. I guess any court case involving the freedom of speech is all about more money for newspapers and state run media.

Demon Toy

2010-08-02T12:46:00.005-04:00

I just rediscovered something that made me cry. It was the crying type of laughter where your body seems to forget how to breathe. It's a good laugh that would kill anyone with a heart condition. I thought I'd share it with y'all.

Back when I was in Europe, I had a lot of time on my hands. I was on youtube a lot just looking at stuff. There's not really anything noteworthy about that, except that I stumbled upon something that terrified me.

I remember getting scared by the Tickle-me Elmos in the mall. There was just something about them spasmodically bending over and laughing in an insane voice that roughly translates to "I containeth the fires of Hell and now I shall consume your SOUL!" I hated them. My sister did too when the thing started shaking on the shelf and promptly vaulted off to attack her.

Anyways, while looking through youtube, I found this video below. I have no idea what search string I put in, or what topic I was focused on when I got to this. But holy crap...

I knew those toys were powered by the devil. Freaking devil, demon toys.

A Demoralized Country

2010-08-02T08:13:00.001-04:00

I'm starting to feel that we are doomed. Smallest Minority has a very objective and educated take on it. I've seen the video posted on that site a while ago and actually shared it with a friend. She didn't believe it but I did feel that there was merit to the interview. Yes, I know it makes me look like a conspiracy theorist, but I do think there is merit to the process. This guy was an active part in the American Communist propaganda machine. I just feel that the process of destroying America does not require an evil mastermind; instead there are patterns that simply rise out of the woodwork, similar to the way fat bubbles to the top during a vodka/bacon infusion. However it is a self perpetuating cycle. Now there are tons of ideas floating around on how to break this cycle. I already have my ideas, but I'm not sharing them. the tin-foil hat tells me not to!

Anyways, read the linked post. It's well worth it even if you don't believe in a single word it says.

Bit Slow

2010-07-30T10:10:00.005-04:00

I have about 5 posts that are half complete hovering in my drafts folder. I just can't seem to wrap up my thoughts on them because they're just big topics. There's so much going on with them and I want to pick apart the details. Sadly, life is a bit taxing currently and I just run out of steam. Maybe they'll be posted sometime soon once I get a chance to finish them; until then, here's something that i worked on that suffered from "loss of steam" syndrome

I take it as a complement

2010-07-27T22:44:00.002-04:00

You are 6% hippie.

Ok, you conservative soul. Do you even believe in global warming? Loosen that necktie a little, and try some organic food. It actually does taste better. And go to a farmer's market--they're fun.

Are you a hippie?
Take More Quizzes

I do live in Amish country though. Farmer's markets are pretty fun as well as the fresh food. But it's not really a lifestyle I would seek out. I just take whatever culture comes my way.

Edit..seems like there's something off about my Div's and P's on the blog. The P's seem to float up over the Div's. I'll have to look into that

Music these days

2010-07-26T09:54:00.004-04:00

So, I was listening to pop radio for the first time in ages a little while ago. Now a lot of the songs sounded like crap, but one song stuck out because it was pretty catchy, especially the chorus. I didn't catch the name of it or even remember the lyrics because they were so shoddy. But at least the tune was interesting.

So for the next day or so, I was stuck with this tune in my head with no lyrics or name attached to it. It was a bearable experience, but I really needed something to define the melody floating in my head other than the tune itself. So I decided to go look for the song online. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it because I didn't know any of the lyrics and had no where to start from.

Thankfully it started fading from memory and I almost totally forgot about it. That was until a friend on Facebook linked a parody video, "Pennsylvannia Boys," on someone else's wall. All of the sudden my mind clicked back to a few days ago and screamed "OH MY GOD, THAT IS THE TUNE!!!!11!" So apparently the song was called "California Girls" (I refuse to engage in bad intentional spelling). I was somewhat revolted by the name because I have a rather mild dislike for the West Coast and the liberal paradise over there. But at least I found the name of the tune that had been plaguing me. I was elated and began looking for the original song on iTunes (because I'm a masochist and wanted to play this song on demand).

But before I bought it, I made either the worst or the best decision of my life. I went to YouTube and looked up the music video. Immediately, my desire to buy the song went from 99.9% to 0%.

This was my reaction upon watching it: "JESUS BLOODY CHRIST, WHAT THE HELL!?" There was a goddamned candy land in MY song with cupcake boobs and ugly naked girls on cotton candy clouds. And just like I remembered, the lyrics were indeed HORRID but the images; Oh god, the IMAGES.

I refuse to listen to the music on the radio now. Unless the radio station is playing country, there's no redemption.

CNN vs Bloggers

2010-07-24T13:10:00.003-04:00

Well...I'm sure you know how I feel about this already so I'll just save my breath

http://www.breitbart.tv/cnn-anchors-call-for-crackdown-on-bloggers/

It's ironic because CNN was influenced by the Journolist and refuses to report on their own biased nature. It's not like they are a bastion of truth and objectivity. Bloggers and new media can be inaccurate, but if you think about it, it's the same old poison just in a newer form.

The JournOlist

2010-07-24T10:58:00.002-04:00

There hasn't been a lot of reporting about The Journolist in the news media even though it's a pretty big thing. The video below the fold pretty much explains it all. The reason why the main stream media isn't reporting it is because it strikes at the heart of what they thought they were all along. They thought they were objective and unbiased. Every once in awhile, WaPo publishes an editorial basically saying "Yes, we are all liberals here, but we are objective" The Journolist tosses that all in the rubbish bin. Not only are they biased, they are self-delusional too. They think that they know what is best for the common folk and feel that engaging in collusion to achieve their goal. To them, this is not biased because they isolated themselves in an echo chamber. 400 people who think the same way and separated from outside objectivity create their own reality. It's the same mechanic that allows anti-government militias to survive.

But here's the thing that scares me the most: their plan worked. A lot of people were led around by the nose by the media circuit. How many lies have been told to us? How many truths have been hidden? The main sources of news such as CNN and The NY Times have been overflowing with bias even though they refuse to acknowledge it. Let me point out FOX News for a moment. They report news without bias. they tell the story and give the details and let you decide for yourself. Now I know some of you hate FOX because of their opinion people. But look at the tin, They're OPINION PEOPLE! Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are not part of their news team, but separate entities that on hosted on FOX. Their news people are reporters and they are good about that. The liberal media can't understand that because they are too wrapped up in themselves to tell what's what is objective and what isn't. CNN does not have reporters, they have journalists that infuse slant with every press release.

Here's the video

It's just not fair

2010-07-23T08:08:00.004-04:00

Once upon a time there was a blog called The Armed Citizen. It was a good blog and minded its own business. The Schick of this blog was that it posted links and quotes to published news articles about individuals successfully defending themselves from crimes. Stories of how an 80 year old woman fended off a bugler, or how a wheelchair-bound man was able to kill an drunken attacker with a concealed pistol were commonplace on the blog. It actually highlighted real life cases that demonstrated that firearms were useful tools when in the hands of law abiding citizens.

But all that is over now because a news company decided to sue them for copyright infringement

The Armed Citizen has been excerpting articles from newspaper, TV station, and radio station websites for a number of years without a single complaint or infringement notice. If any copyright holders decided that The Armed Citizen had exceeded fair use, they only needed to send us an email. (Indeed, on the YouTube channel for The Armed Citizen, multiple news outlets have acknowledged copyright, yet chosen to let the content stay active for mutual benefit.)
-The Armed Citizen

I refuse to link to Las Vegas Newspaper as it would igve them potential hits. They are suing a number of blogs, not just The Armed Citizen. The Armed Citizen itself was charged with plagiarizing 6 articles out of the hundreds posted on the blog. It's clearly an attempt at intimidation and perhaps a grab for money. Either way, it's messed up.

It's not fair that a media giant gets to crush a privately run blog over something so frivolous. Clearly the world wants me to die from high blood pressure. Read more on this at Rob Allen's including the comments.

This is the Future

2010-07-22T13:33:00.003-04:00

I'm currently trying to apply to dental school. Yes, dentistry is my chosen profession. And if I do well enough in school, perhaps I may go further and specialize in orthodontics. I'm shadowing my dentist currently and I really enjoy watching him work on people. There's a lot of talking between him and the patients while he works on their teeth. I can certainly see myself performing his job. While I may not be the biggest chatterbox ever, I do get a long with people very well and I'm good with my hands. That's the most anyone can ask for, right?

But before I can get involved in dentistry, I need to apply to a few dental schools; I have not done this step yet. The clock is ticking on this one and I feel so lost in the process. There are so many little issues currently. DATs are coming up soon and I don't feel confident enough, there's an essay for admissions, and I need to figure out how I'm going to graduate on time.

This year is going to suck.

Coexist

2010-07-21T19:45:00.004-04:00

The message is so simple. Coexist. Yet some reason it irks me to no end seeing the bumper stickers on cars in the parking lot. For http://www.blogger.com/one, it's ugly. I hate bumper stickers as a rule. But there is a deeper reason to my annoyance.

It's because Coexisting is naive.

Note: I will ignore the LGBT community. Their issue with is not deeply ingrained in history the way religious conflicts are.

The biggest mistake of Coexist is that it's a LIE. Coexistence isn't a message of peace. It's about making you superior to the knuckle draggers around you that aren't Coexisting enough. What if this Coexist sticker is of an environmental message instead of religion? Imagine a sticker that says "Green house gasses and Green Earth Together!" Would that resolve anything if the Greenies go drive their electric cars and hold hands with coal power plants that cause "anthropomorphic global warming?" The industry is about profit motive as well as engaging in the American Dream (and God bless them for that) while the Greenies put the state of ecology over that of human standards of living. It is naive to believe that they can Coexist because it IGNORES the history behind the conflict.

Also, Coexist is a message tailored to us Americans. Can you imagine Coexist stickers on a car in Israel or maybe even a Palestinian car in Gaza? The answer should be "No" because they're busy grinding each other into a pulp over land, history, and religion. A Coexist sticker isn't going to fix that. In fact, a Coexist sticker is entirely inapplicable to them. If one side adopts Coexist, then the other side is certain to DESTROY them. While that may not happen, the desire for self-preservation overrides any desire for 'political correctness'

That's why I firmly believe that Coexist is only for Americans. And the only reason why this sticker is relevant is because we DO coexist with other perspectives in this nation. In, it's useless here too.

Coexist is only a way to keep a smug sense of superiority over those you feel are not as advanced on you in their thinking. Its a way to narcissisticly preach to other people about how YOU GET THE MESSAGE and that they don't.

On an individual level, thinking like this is benign. But when legions of people with power start buying into this elitist lie, then all hell will break loose. Consider our relations with Israel. If we tell them to Coexist, it is likely they will not follow it and the conflict will continue. But what happens if, in the face of mounting international pressure, Israel opens its borders and stops fighting? Will everything be peachy and things turn out alright? Hell no. It is statistically improbable. And yet this is how the US administration and the UN are going about the issue. "Well, Israel's the problem because they're smart, but not smart enough to Coexist," they say while keeping their noses pointed high into the air. "So we'll make them Coexist and everything will be good and there will be peace in the Middle East"

Now there is nothing wrong with coexisting. America has been a well integrated country. While we do have the KKK, the McCarthy Era, Japanese internment, and the NAACP as part of our flawed history, the country is still intact. While venom pops up often, we do not riot as much as Europe. There is a balance of ideas. For each NRA, you have Brady Campaign, Each KKK has a ACLU. Each Main Stream Media Outlet can be balanced by a blog or Fox News. We may hate each other but we have not gone into a shooting war. And isn't that what tolerance is about anyways?

coexistence: the state of two or more things existing together, usually in a temporal or spacial sense, with or without mutual interaction

The short answer is "Yes".

Testing Testing

2010-07-20T23:37:00.002-04:00

Did I post something today? Guess I didn't. My bad. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Here's a picture of a bunny to make it up to you.

Az Immigration: Gay guys from Chicago

2010-07-19T22:17:00.003-04:00

Because I can't be too invested in politics due to life, these very nice guys from Chicago went out of their way to get to know the naturalized immigrants in their city. If you want perspective, you go to these guys. These Hillbuzz guys are used to discrimination because of their sexual orientation. While I'm not a big fan of their lifestyle (or the genetics involved), they are very good folks and they have very well formulated opinions on political topics. Consider this another blog pimp by me.

Anyways. Here's the round up of what they and some of their naturalize immigrant colleagues think about AZ Immigration. It's interesting, and very stright-to-the-point

Now, remember that these are indeed opinions, but sometimes the opinions of one side needs to be voiced...especially when the media fails to give a fair presentation of the debate.

That is all

Blog Pimping

2010-07-19T08:55:00.004-04:00

I found myself a blog that is simply hilarious. hyperboleandahalf Actually, I didn't find it. It was posted in #gunblogger_conspiracy and I just stole it.

Now I know that this blog pimp means nothing since no one reads this blog; but that doesn't change the fact that Hyperbole and a Half is an awesome blog. The little caricatures absolutely make the blog as well as the blogger's story telling ability. Go read it!

Obama Bumper Sticker Remover

2010-07-17T12:05:00.003-04:00

HA HA HA

"Satisfaction is not guaranteed, because, well, you've already proven that you don't make very good decisions."

Obama vs al Queda

2010-07-17T00:20:00.001-04:00

So much for a break. This was too good to pass up.

Apparently the Obama Administration finally realized something about al Queda. They are racists. There are some pieces of gold to be found here

President Obama disparaged al Qaeda and affiliated groups' willingness to kill Africans in a manner that White House aides say was an argument that the terrorist groups are racist.

[...]

"In short," the official said, "al Qaeda is a racist organization that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life."

WOW. Well they've been bombing Arabs and Israelis for decades now. But that's OK. It's their social grievances. They're poor, uneducated, and need to be reached out to by the wealthier nations. It would be improper bto call them anti-arab because the Tea Party already holds that title and the Holocaust never happend so there's not such thing as anti-Semitism....(according to Obama's mentor Jerimiah Wright)

But HOLY SHIT they bombed the Ugandans! They're racists now. We must stop them and their social injustices!!!!111111

This is just so nearsighted. It's obvious that al Queda disregards the value of life. They indoctrinate children to not value life, but to give it away in a fire explosion of jihad. The race card doesn't need to be played here, but the administration still used it on a TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. It's a meaningless gesture.

Now, if only Obama would show equal passion when it comes to Al Qaeda blowing up people who aren't his color.

New Flash!

2010-07-17T00:16:00.001-04:00

So much for a break. This was too good to pass up.

Apparently the Obama Administration finally realized something about Al Queda. They are racists. There are some pieces of gold to be found here

I facepalmed when I saw this. It just seemed so sad

President Obama disparaged al Qaeda and affiliated groups' willingness to kill Africans in a manner that White House aides say was an argument that the terrorist groups are racist.

"In short," the official said, "al Qaeda is a racist organization that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life."

Break

2010-07-13T16:00:00.001-04:00

I'm busy getting some off time to work out and get stress levels under control. Big things are happening in my personal life and I'm taking some steps to secure my future. Blogging will resume by Saturday

The Myth of a Gun Free Europe

2010-07-09T21:51:00.004-04:00

Think Tough Gun Laws Keep Europeans Safe? Think Again...Think Tough Gun Laws Keep Europeans Safe? Think Again...

not much to say here other than this is a pretty straightforward essay on the topic. I heartily suggest this read if you believe that gun bans are the cure for mass shootings in the US. The article points out that the fairly strict nature of gun control in Europe keeps them on par with us. Gun control does not equal less crime; it doesn't even coorelate with less crime overall.

Blood pressure...rising.....pop!

2010-07-08T12:08:00.004-04:00

So much for trying to not get pissed off or annoyed today. I got a link to a blog here at Sharp as a Marble. Go read about it there because honestly, I would probably have an aneurysm before I finish describing how messed up this case is.

This image totally fits my mood right now.

Why are the persons involved in the crime going scot-free? Why do the citizens have to pay tax money for his court case? I mean, sure it's a media article and it's not as clean cut as they present it; but how can it explain the reasoning behind all of this.

Why are the attempted robbers innocent? Why is the white old man a bigger target of the blame? This is the only explaination that works:

hiro: yes. we have an 80 year old calling illegal immigrants to his house to pay them to move the thinger. but instead, he really just wants to shoot at them. And the vitims [sic] are really just those illegal immigrants unable to make money in the US due to racism and have to steal cars and disrupt the peace. But it's not their fault so they go free
hiro: occams razor. and i will cut you with it
Gorb: DO YOU HEAR ME
Gorb: I WILL CUT YOU, BITCH
-irc.hwcommunity.com #art

I mean, come on! This is wrong. We have self defense laws here, unlike in Europe. And yet this looks like a mirror image of this case. I can't think of any logical reason why the court would want to pursue something like this.

I need a pick-me-up

2010-07-08T08:35:00.004-04:00

There's so much crap out there that is simply killing me. I'm going to bust an artery soon; politics is not good for the blood-pressure. Maybe those rss feeds to CNN, Fox, and BBC weren't a good idea. I'm taking some time off. and youtubing crap until I feel better

Jeez!

2010-07-06T16:39:00.003-04:00

So after I published the post about the US/Mexican border security and how the Feds should at least secure it before they attack AZ on the immigration law, i find out that the Feds will sue the state first. The AZ bill is a symptom of the crime and fear that's boiling in the south. It's not about White people wanting to stomp on Hispanics, but it's about people being scared of the drug war that's seeping across the river Grand. Stomping on AZ Law while providing little alternative is not productive at all. It just shows that the government has no concept of priority. AZ is trying to do the job the Feds refuse to do, secure the border. Hell, even the AZ illegal immigration law is a copy of federal law. So why is the administration so adamant about keeping their hands off the border? Are they afraid of losing the Hispanic vote? There must be something deeper going on.

Border Issues

2010-07-06T12:10:00.004-04:00

Obama thinks the border is as safe as it's ever been. It actually took a lot of hair pulling to get the National Guard down there to begin with, but it doesn't look like the problem will go away. The AZ Illegal Immigration Law doesn't really address the border crime issue directly, but at least it finally got the administration to acknowledge that there is a problem. There are innocent Americans, Hispanic or White in origin, are living at the border and they're getting kidnapped at an alarming rate. The crime down there knows no color or nationality.

AZ lashed out to stop the influx of people and crime because of federal inaction. Heck, it's gotten so bad, the State basically had to give up American soil along the border. It might not address this issue directly and it might not be considered 'fair' to everyone involved, but it's still an attempt. The ferderalis seems more hellbent on maintaining political correctness instead of addressing the actual problem. Message to the administration: now is not the time to say AZ was wrong for the immigration bill. Now is not the time to propose amnesty for the illegals that are already in the land of hopes and dreams. Rather, the federal government should stop this border issue that is killing OUR PEOPLE.

How a Pro-gun Law Gets Applied

2010-07-05T16:39:00.004-04:00

Read this blog post here

There seems to be a pattern in the way people react to pro-gun laws.

Oblivious to the legislation involved
Once the media learns of it, lots of screaming
Political cartoons on the topic and slander against gun owners
The law passes
Predictions of mass shootings and blood running the the streets by reporters
When reality shows the contrary, the media completely forgets about it and moves on

Give that link a read and take a look at it more in depth. You will see how crazy and biased the old media can be. The same process has been unfolding in the McDonald vs Chicago fiasco. And if history is any hint, we'll win in the end