While reading this article over at SailorCurt’s, it hit me.
We don’t see many “low powered rifles” … not many “medium powered rifles”. How about “extra-high powered”? Â “medium-high powered”? “medium-low”? “extreme high powered”?
Of course, would the main-stream-media and hoplophobes know the difference?
Went out this morning for a bit. A bunch of little things came up that aren’t worth a whole blog post, but I wanted to put down somewhere. Make one big post. 🙂
I opted to do a little snubby shopping this morning. I think I’ve settled on something like a Smith & Wesson 640: J-frame (or the like), all steel, chambered in .357 Magnum, fully enclosed hammer. Note that while I would like it to be chambered in .357, I don’t think I’d ever really want to shoot .357 out of it; probably just shoot .38 Special +P. I just think it’d be ideal to have it chambered in .357 so I could shoot it if that was needed; for instance, I needed that extra oomph, maybe that’s the only ammo I could find and would be better than nothing, etc..  The versatility and options from the chambering would be nice, but not required; I would be happy with just .38 +P.
Went to McBrides to see what they have. They had some stuff, but nothing like I wanted. In fact, on the drive home I also stopped into a pawn shop and a sporting goods store. Basically what seems to be carried has at least some aspect of what I don’t want. First, the predominant models are lightweight models, which I’m not sold on wanting. The all-steel models aren’t much heavier (tho I was amazed at just how lightweight that S&W M&P 340 felt, and I did like that U-ramp rear sight) and will be nicer to shoot. Then if they had a steel model it would have an exposed hammer. Or one third thing might be laser grips, which I don’t want. So, nothing in stock that I’d want, either new or used. But I do think that going used would be a way to go, if I can find it.Â
At many intersections here in Austin you’ll find people begging for money, food, pot (yes, I’ve seen requests for this on their signs), various other things. Oh yeah, they’re also disabled vets, anything helps, God bless. I’m not insensitive to the plight of the homeless, but the vast majority of the folks I see do this as their chosen way of life. I’ve seen them at various intersections around town over the years. If they’re truly someone in need of help, Austin is loaded with help; instead of walking up and down the intersection for a few hours and spending any money they get on booze, they could walk to the help facilities or buy a bus ticket or any manner of things to help themselves. But they don’t, because they don’t want to; they don’t want help. These folks are just freeloaders and parasites and I refuse to support that with my hard-earned money.
So then I see kids out there with signs saying they’re fund raising for their baseball team’s trip, or to help the basketball team reach the finals. Or some such thing. While that seems a more noble cause — and how can you place kids in the same boat — I have to question the tactics. That some adult leader of that group thought that begging for money would be a good way to raise funds, and that the rest of the adult leaders in the group went along with it and said yeah that’s a good idea. What a wonderful thing to teach the children, eh?
Do you know what a motorcycle parking space is? The same spaces that cars park in, unless a specific motorcycle parking space is designated (I’ve seen such things).
What isn’t a motorcycle parking space? Sidewalks, crosswalks, the walkway in front of a business door (that’s under the awning and out of the rain, but certainly isn’t a place for vehicles), handicapped walkways. I’m a motorcycle rider myself, but I just cannot stand when other motorcycle riders think that because they’re on a bike, because they’re afraid of getting their bike tipped over or rained on or merely because they’re small enough to fit in some spot (or maybe they’re just arrogant or lazy riders), that they can park wherever they want to. Sorry, no, you can’t.
At the sporting good store, a Moto Guzzi was parked in the handicapped area. You know how those spaces can be set up in the parking lot, with a wide space then lots of paint bordering things, leading into the middle, then through the median as a “cross-walk” so that people with wheelchairs can safely get around. Well, Mr. Moto Guzzi parked his bike right in the median break; no chance of a wheelchair getting through. Why does this bug me? Because I have a nephew in a wheelchair. I’ve had times when we’ve gone out and his van couldn’t be parked in a handicapped space because of people abusing handicapped parking hang-tags. Or in a case like this, the only way for a wheelchair bound person to get around would be to navigate through the parking lot instead of the designated lane. Not a safe and sound thing.
If you ride a motorcycle, don’t be an asshole. Park your bike in a proper parking spot. If you want special motorcycle-only parking, lobby for it.
Wife: (Calls Youngest to come downstairs).
Youngest: (Eventually shows up).
Wife: Where were you?
Youngest: I was in my hamper.
Wife: You mean your clothes hamper? You were inside your hamper?
Youngest: Yes. I was sitting in it, clothes piled on top of me.
Wife: Â Why were you doing that?
Youngest: I don’t know. It was comfy.
I’m not even going to try to understand it. I’m just going to chalk it up to some random cuteness. I later found out he decorated his hamper to look like a monster, so when you open the lid to put in your clothes it’s as if the monster is eating your clothing. Fair enough. 🙂
Some group wants any movie with smoking in it to be rated R.
Reasoning?
“Won’t someone think of the children.”
Gosh, if you never want your children to see someone smoking, I hope you keep them locked up in the house and that no one in the house smokes.
But I’ve got a better idea. If you think the movies are so horrible because of what they depict, then don’t go see them. Stop telling others how to conduct themselves.
Some AR-15 uppers and ammo were found in a dumpster in Austin. Howard Nemerov provides some analysis of how the local Austin media covered the story.
I’m pretty sure it was someone dumping stolen goods… but man, I can’t help but shed a tear at the wasted goods, especially that ammo. 🙂
I would hope that a wise white man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina female who hasn’t lived that life.
Sounds pretty racist and bigoted, perhaps a little misogynistic, doesn’t it?
Here’s the original quote:
I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.
Hopefully you’re paying attention and can see what I did there, just swapping the gender and racial terms around. Now that latter statement is considered a proud and good statement, one acceptable to utter. By the way, that original statement was said by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for the next SCOTUS Justice.
Can someone please enlighten me as to why the latter statement is acceptable and the former is not?
Why is “black power/pride” good and “white power/pride” bad?
As far as I can tell, they’re the same thing. They’re saying that one person or group is superior to another due to race. I thought that was the very definition of racism.
What happened to the cries for equality? To being blind to people’s racial and gender and other differences (religious, sexual preference, etc.)? I swore this sort of thing was what the Democrats/Liberals all wanted in this world. So why do they go so far out of their way to always make such a big deal out of their race and gender? I mean, if you want people to stop caring about race and gender and those such things well… then you need to stop caring about race and gender and those such things. So long as you keep making a big deal out of your race and your gender, then well… it’s always going to remain a big deal.Â
Linoge shares his thoughts on Judge Sontomayor.
So, does this mean Obama is selecting a racist? Gosh… and in those days after his election all people kept saying was how his election was proof that we’re no longer a racist country. Change you can believe in?
Updated: Richard A. Epstein @ Forbes weighs in.
Updated 2: Breda, who I think has a vagina, is thus partially qualified to speak here.
About a year ago the city of Austin started to install red light cameras at certain intersections. Driving around town a couple days ago I went through one of those intersections and commented to Wife about them.
Red light cameras are touted as being about saving lives. Bullshit. It’s about one thing: revenue. Time and time again it’s demonstrated that red-light cameras do not save lives and in fact tend to cause more accidents. It’s also been demonstrated that the revenue is awesome:
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is pushing to expand the District’s use of automated enforcement even as the city is on pace to collect a record amount of revenue from its red-light-camera network and the second-highest total ever from its speed-camera program.
Through the first seven months of fiscal 2009, the city had issued 53,094 citations from its 49 red-light-camera locations and brought in $4.3 million in fine revenue, putting the District on pace to rake in $7.4 million by the end of September.
Since the program’s inception in 1999, the highest total brought in by the devices in a fiscal year was $7.2 million in 2000, Metropolitan Police Department statistics show.
Meanwhile, the District’s network of photo-radar cameras is on pace to bring in $30 million of revenue this fiscal year – second only to the $32.9 million brought in during fiscal 2006.
My comment?
If this really was about saving lives, then let’s change the penalty. No fines whatsoever. What should the penalty be? Well, anything that isn’t about money. Put “points” on the driver’s license. Require the driver to attend traffic safety school. Just nothing that generates revenue for the folks wanting to install the cameras (the city, county, whomever). Propose that. See what the legislators say. Reveal their true intentions.
Of course, another solution is for people to improve their driving skills. Frankly, I think some education may do more to help that than a simple fine. But the point here is to find what the politicians truly care about (as if we don’t already know).
A friend of mine lives in California, but he’s not your stereotypical Californian.
This morning we were chatting and he was telling me all about California’s current financial clusterfuck. His summary:
California is the demonstration of unchecked liberal good intentions.
He refers to this article by George Will.
And you would think the folks in Washington might want to pay attention and learn, but you know that won’t happen.
While driving to Houston the other day I heard a commercial on the radio that was going on about “free”.
You know what folks? Nothing is truly free these days. For this, I’m talking “free” as in beer (not as in speech).
Breda recounts her experience getting through airport “security”.
So let’s see… anger, humiliation, degeneration… but hey, it’s all to make us feel safe, right? Don’t you feel safe? I sure feel safe. And that’s all that really matters: that we feel safe. Doesn’t matter that we also feel humiliated. It’s a small price to pay, else you’re not a patriot, right?
Yeah… we’re all presumed guilty until proven innocent. You pass through airport “security” and you are a suspect, until the beeping stops and the TSA folk deem you not to be… maybe. How American.
Somewhere a Founding Father or two continue to roll over in their graves.
*sigh*
Updated: Courtesy of Joe Huffman, a great article on Penn & Teller and how they mix their magic and their politics to make quite a good point.
Updated 2:Â Breda’s tale continues. Part II, and Part III. Gosh, I hope you’re feeling safe now folks. “Feeling” safe being the operative word.
Updated 3: Even more stories of safety, this time from Michael Bane.
… doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
So they’re thinking about taxing soda and sugary drinks to pay for The chOsen One’s proposed healthcare legislation. (h/t to The Volokh Conspiracy)
Not only this is just asinine in and of itself, it’s going down a familiar road.
We need to pay for something. I know, we’ll tax something that we think is evil… which will fund our pet project and have the side-effect of making the evil thing less affordable and appealing to people, which will save people from the evil (aren’t we so altruistic!). But then, when people are saved from the evil, we won’t have any more funding for our project… so we’ll have to find something new to tax.
And so on we go… spiraling down the toilet.
But of course, it’s all in our best interests… we can’t make our own choices, we can’t be responsible for ourselves, we need someone to make every decision for us. We’re not even allowed to be responsible for our bad decisions no… we must be saved before we can make them. Thank God for the folks in Washington. I wouldn’t know how to wipe my ass without them… oh, and probably be taxed for that too.
</sarcasm>
Stuff From Hsoi 