Hell No We Won't Go

I've been seeing reports on the local news today that some people on Galveston Island continue to hold out and do not want to leave. At this point, the Governor is looking into declaring martial law in order to try and force them out.

On the one hand, I can certainly sympathize with the holdouts. Despite the best efforts of the government, it seems that after disasters that looters always manage to get in. The worst part, is that sometimes the looters are the government themselves. The only way one can be secure in their property in a situation like this is to guard that property themselves. So long as the government doesn't decide to declare martial law and go on a gun confiscation spree that is.

On the other hand, most of the hold outs are not prepared for an extended period in a primitive environment. They are requiring the government to maintain and stock aid stations for them, which, I'll admit, does take up manpower that may (and I emphasize may - do you really think a FEMA truck driver can actually work to restore power or water to a neighborhood?) be used to restore basic services to the area. Ok, perhaps I'm not being fair. Those FEMA guys could run a chainsaw and clear up some trees too. However, that said, why not get tools to the hold-outs to clear their own immediate areas. They've got to be getting bored by now.

That does bring up another issue though. I'm sure there are many residents that would love to be helping in the recovery themselves. Are there any efforts being made to allow them to participate and help in cleaning up? Seems to me that would be a very cost effective way to speed things up rather than sitting on your butt in a hotel room somewhere on our dime.

At ultimate issue is that there is, I understand, no electricity or water available on the island at the moment. Stop for a moment and look around your home. Do you have non-perishable food and water on hand? Not the water that comes out of the tap mind you, but actual stored water? Sure, a few water bottles here and there, but gallons of water enough to last for weeks? How about Months? Some way to dispose of your own waste (ok, poo for you snickerers out there)? Food you don't need to cook for the same period of time? Food for your dog/cat/other pets? How about any meds or other special needs that you may have? If you're a diabetic, what will you do if you can't keep your insulin in usable condition?

So there we have a conundrum. I don't believe those people should be forced to leave. Heck, some of them likely don't have the finances to leave - aid money or not. I also don't believe that they should expect the government to supply their needs if they stay. After all, they defied a mandatory evacuation order to start with! Unfortunately, I think common sense in this case may require a notice to hold-outs that all aid will stop within a few days, and transportation provided to safety for those that aren't able to be self sufficient. Those that are supplied well enough to hold out for a few weeks, I say more power to 'em!

By the way, there is apparently pet tigers and lions are loose on the island. We've all talked about zombie rifles - do you have your tiger rifle just in case??

The "Art" of Politics

So what do you do when you're running a magazine and need a photo of a Candidate for Presidential Office? Naturally, you call a known freelance photographer to head out to the candidate's location and shoot them.

What happens, though, when you choose someone who is known for a very vocal and left leaning slant to shoot a right winger? Well, were we talking about your normal freelance photographer, who knows a little something about professionalism and earning the money they're trying to make, there wouldn't be a problem. Instead, this week, the Atlantic Monthly contracted Jill Greenberg.

Jill is an avowed Democrat, and shot an image of McCain for the magazine just like she normally would. However, she then proceeded to start shooting additional, differently lit portraits for her own means. The resulting images ended up on her site. The one I have posted here is the best of them. In one, McCain has a gaping maw, red eyes, and sharp, pointed teeth, and apparent blood dripping out from around his mouth and onto his shirt. There are a few more with side lighting and other attempts to make him look unsavory and vicious.

As a part-time photographer, I understand one thing very implicitly. In portrait photography, the relationship between a photog and the person they are shooting has to be one of implicit trust and good will. You don't go into a portrait session with an eye towards humiliating your subject, or casting them in a bad light (pardon the pun). You most certainly don't then go on to crow to others about how you just pulled a giant coup and showed the world who your subject "really" is. A more unprofessional attitude, representative of someone I certainly wouldn't want to hire to photograph my worst enemy, I can't imagine. To the Atlantic Monthly's credit, they have posted an editorial response to Ms. Greenberg's childish actions.

Now, had this happened to Obama, I certainly wouldn't have blogged about it. I'll admit that. Would I have approved of her doing something similar there? I absolutely would not. That kind of behavior is, to quote a good friend of mine, the very epitomy of bush league incompetance.

One would hope that Jill's other clients will see this, and wonder if perhaps they're next. I do hope, for her sake, that she wakes up and realizes that if there is one real rule of business, it's keep your politics out of your business. I think most of us who work for ourselves or consult in any profession realize that it is folly to drive customers off by foisting your own political or religious beliefs on them. It's hard enough to attract and keep good clients as it is.

H/T to Michelle Malkin for additional info about Greenberg. Michelle has an excellent (and much better stated) writeup about this on her site as well at that link.

Federal Workers Giving IRS the Slip.

Federal Workers Owe Billions in Delinquent Taxes

Ooops! Looks like Federal Workers seem to think they're above paying taxes - to the tune of $3.5 billion. The worst offenders seem to be those folks at the Post Office.

Wonder if we'll see some of them "go postal" over having to pay up??

$70 Rifle!

Russian Model 91/30 - Mosin Nagant Bolt Action Rifle

Yes, she's a bolt action. Yes, she uses ammunition that isn't always all that easy to find at places like WalMart (though admittedly, you can get 7.62x54mm pretty easily through surplus sites), but this bolt action rifle won World War II for the Russians. And we all know just how screwed they were for a while.

The Mosin Nagant played a legendary role in the world, and in my opinion its time is not yet passed. Where else are you going to get an excellent, good quality, historical bolt action rifle for $70?? Heck, where else are you going to get a functional longarm for that price?

You'll need to work with an FFL to get it sent to you (this usually costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 for a transfer), but act fast if you need something with a little range and don't have a lot of scratch.

And no, I don't get any commissions for this. ;)

The Iraq War Without the Media Bias

Some of you may have noticed The LawDog Files blog link on the left nav.  This guy has an excellent sense of humor and an excellent blog.

He posted today a video someone had sent him from YouTube regarding the campaign and the Iraq war.  I really hope you'll watch it.

The link to the post is here: http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2008/09/simple-is-often-powerful.html

Here is the video if you're too lazy to cleeeeck:

The End is Nigh!

'Big Bang' machine to start up Wednesday

Well folks, it's been a great run, but here we are at the end of the world. On Wednesday, scientists will fire up the greatest particle accelerator ever built. Lead atoms will be smashed together somewhere near the speed of light, and according to alarmists and skeptics, will likely create a cluster of micro black holes that will form a pulsar in the middle of the planet. In a few days, we'll see a strange light coming out of the Indian Ocean, followed by tidal waves, dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!



Alright. I don't claim to know anything about particle physics. Heck, I don't know anything about physics much at all...well....except for gravity choosing inopportune moments to exert itself by slamming me into the ground. But how often do you hear these folks come out of the woodwork with a great portent of doom and gloom and they're wrong? (Hint: The answer is "just about always".)

Oh well, I figure if they're right, and we do see light coming out of the Indian Ocean in a few days, I'll light into the Single Malt and have a helluva party to greet the world's destruction.

At least we don't have to worry about Global Warming any more. *snort*

The Gun Show

With all the talk of Politics lately, and a growing fear amongst gun owners and potential gun owners that an Obama Presidency would wreak havoc on honest, law-abiding American's gun rights, I decided that I'd head on down to the gun show and take a look around.

One nice thing about Dallas is that it seems like there is a gun show just about every other weekend. If not that, certainly at least once per month. Today's show was put on by Classic Shows, and was about the size of what you'd see in my native Tucson.

The importance of Gun Shows in our Nation are that they provide a forum for people who enjoy shooting sports to gather and talk shop. A Gun Show is no different than a Car Show, or a Rodeo, or even a Quilting Bee. The only difference between all of those activities listed are the subjects discussed and the goods available to the attendees.

In my case, I needed an extra ammo-can to store random boxes of ammunition, and a crush washer for the flash-hider on my evil black rifle. I'd also been having a nagging feeling, somewhere deep down, that I needed to grab another black rifle. And I'll say, there is an urgency to that feeling that has pierced through that little filter we have all applied to keep us from impulsively doing anything that comes to mind. I couldn't quite articulate it, but something drove me to get in the car and make the 45 minute (one way) drive down to Mesquite.

What I found was very interesting. I left earlier than I had hoped to, and ended up arriving about 15 minutes before the doors opened. Anyone who is a Gun Show enthusiast will tell you to arrive right as the doors open so that you can get in on any major deals (often supplied by private sellers that may not quite know what their deceased relative's guns are worth) that may be about before someone else does. This gave me some time to talk to a few folks in line. By and large, all of them were worried about new bans and just about every one of them in line had been having the same urges that I had.

Here is what scares me. Obama voted in 2004 for a bill in Illinois that would not only have banned most semi-automatic rifles, most shotguns, and most black powder rifles in the State of Illinois, but the bill would have authorized law enforcement officials to forcibly enter private homes to confiscate [the] newly banned firearms. (Illinois State Rifle Association Press Release)

Folks, this goes beyond just being a leftist and trying to ban things. This shakes the Constitution down to its very core. Aside from obvious 2nd Amendment RKBA and 4th Amendment Search and Seizure violations, this would basically create an Ex Post Facto situation, forcing people to turn over their heretofore legal property with no recourse and no compensation (not that compensation would make it any more legal mind you). And whether or not you turn it over, your neighborhood Officer Friendly and his .50 caliber machine gun wielding APC will be by to help you find that gun you "lost". And the best part is, that bill seemed perfectly reasonable to Obama. This is not what we need in charge of this country. We're having enough problems with the Republicans shredding the Constitution, we don't need to add more Liberals who couldn't find it with a flashlight, let alone read it.

As I strolled around, I spyed an FFL dealer that was offering Rock River Arms uppers, lowers, and assembled rifles. Being a huge RRA fan, I immediately stopped and browsed. After striking up a conversation about the Smith Industries Vortex Flash Hider, I mentioned that I had been thinking of a new rifle purchase. The dealer pointed over to the half dozen someodd uppers and lowers and said "I haven't been able to keep these in stock. People have been buying them faster than I can order them." Wow, that's huge.

This isn't the ubiquitous SKS or AK knockoff, $150 or so - favorite of college kids and folks that just don't have a huge amount of money to blow on fine firearms (not that I'm denigrating the noble AK47 mind you - not at all, they are amazing weapons systems!) - these are rifles that can run you anywhere from $800 to whatever you can get out of your home equity. And folks are snapping them up like they're going out of style. Something to be said about our perceived (or perhaps real) situation there if you ask me.

At this point, I'm recommending that anyone who has been thinking of picking up a semi-automatic rifle of any sort do so before the next election. Do it sooner rather than later, as I suspect supplies will diminsh greatly leading up to the election. Don't have $700? Fine, get a Ruger Mini-14 or an SKS/AK47 clone. Get enough ammunition to run it for a while! I'm talking 1000rds for a rifle at least. If we get McCain, unless he goes rogue again and does something stupid, everything will be well and you'll be better armed that you are now. If we get Obama, likely they'll be banned shortly afterwards, and you might just need your rifle to get your butt out of a crashing economy and rioting masses looking for their Government provided free bread and circuses. If nothing else, those standard capacity magazines and that rifle you bought will be worth a heck of a lot more after a ban.

"So," you may ask, "what became of that urge to get yourself a black rifle?" I settled on getting a nice Smith Vortex flash hider, and an A2 Carry Handle sight to add to my existing rifle to keep it running in the event batteries aren't available for the EOTech Holosight, along with some extra standard capacity 30rd magazines. Those of you thinking properly know what I mean about any situation in which you can't get batteries.


Stay frosty.