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Monthly Archives: August 2012

Good for this small business owner!

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A Virginia business owner refused a Vice President Joe Biden campaign visit at his three month old bakery on Wednesday because of President Barack Obama’s recent “you didn’t build that” comments.

If I lived within a day’s driving distance round trip I would be patronizing your establishment as soon as possible.  Instead I hope that some of my friends who live in Virginia can pay you a visit in my stead. I applaud you for standing up for yourself and not taking the cowards way out for cheap press and letting your convictions slide.

Though I will say you’re probably getting considerably more press and coverage by telling them no, than you would have by accepting their patronage.

Now some have claimed that Obama was merely talking about infrastructure, except lets look at exactly what he said (emphasis mine):

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help,” Obama said last month. “There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.”

If I have a business, I didn’t build that.  Someone else made that happen.  In the words of Samuel L. Jackson:

He said, plain as day, “if I have a business I didn’t build that, someone else did”.  But lets humor them for a second and say it just applied to “infrastructure”.

It wasn’t the government that built the roads, no, it was small independent contractors, aka small businesses that built that.  They were paid from money collected by the federal government.  That money was collected from businesses and their employees.  They made that money by selling goods and services to other people.  So really small businesses through inter-cooperation built roads and infrastructure with the government getting involved to take a cut of the costs.

So maybe what Obama was actually talking about was money.  You see government prints the money and since it’s no longer standardized on anything they can print as much as they want.  So it was the government that built a fiat currency to use to buy all this stuff and in the end screw businesses by devaluing the currency used for transactions.  That is the only way that “If you have a business, you didn’t build that” can possibly make any sense.  That statement can only hold true if you say that government is the creator and founder of using money in exchange for goods and services.  Except you need not only use cash, you can barter or use precious metals in transactions as well.

The bottom line is the President let us look under the veil on that one.  Under that veil we saw what many of us already knew, a hard-core socialist that wants to drive private independent businesses into the ground and have a central government-run it all.  Because in that case no one would build that, it would all be “owned” by the government.  No thanks Mr. President, keep the change.

This is probably a good thing…

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So Sebastian made a post about the idiot in Sparks that decided to carry a pocket gun without a holster.  Can we all guess how that ended?  How many of you think that it went bang?

If you thought it went bang, well you were right.  This folks as Sebastian said is why you need to carry your gun in a damn holster.

I only bring that up because Nicholas Dropped a comment which I’m going to re-post here (emphasis is mine):

 Very true. We have morons at our shooting club. Who are questionably not safe. At USPSA matches they are shooting over the berm and into the hill behind it. Our berm is an aluminum sheet with rubber tire bits as a back stop. Very fine for pistol. But shooting over it is unacceptable. As well as keeping their finger on the trigger when they mag change or move to the next target. Really unsafe people. And when you bring it up to them they get all defensive. why do these people not think of being safe? It is the most paranoid thing I do at the range.

To which I replied:

Why are they not immediately DQ’d by the RO. All of those things listed there are explicitly stated in the rules as an immediate DQ.

See rule 10.5.8 and 10.5.10 explicitly on the booger hook bang switch problem while moving.

See rule 10.5.9 explicitly for the booger hook while reloading problem.

See 10.4.1 for shooting over the berm.

As for why they don’t think of being safe often it’s because this is how they have always done it and don’t see a reason to change. They do not understand or comprehend how their actions are unsafe.

If you see that happen at a match, notify the RO. At minimum they should be warned if the RO didn’t see it. If the RO did see it they need to get the boot for the rest of the match. The rules exist to protect everyone. The RO isn’t kicking them out, they kicked themselves out by breaking the rules.

Wow, all that time spent reading the USPSA rule book actually made the crap stick.  As I read his post I immediately recognized each of those instances being an immediate DQ, with explicit rules to cover every instance.  Of the rules listed above there were probably secondary rules they broke as well.

The fact is the RO needs to boot them, period.  I don’t care how you play around in your sandbox at home, but if you walk onto a range at a USPSA event those rules exist for my safety as well as everyone else at the event.

I know there are a lot of people who would hesitate to drop the axe and DQ someone.  Thankfully I haven’t had to do that, though I know one day it will come.  My biggest fear is having to drop the axe on a new shooter.  Which is why as an RO I will give verbal reminders about the booger hook if things start to look questionable with new shooters.

Kevin Imel said it best though during our RO training.

When the day comes when a competitor is DQ’d under your watch, you didn’t DQ him, he did that to himself.

He’s right.  Because honestly it benefits neither the club, nor the shooter to just let him get by with the mistake.  Some mistakes have to be punished in such a way that you NEVER want to repeat them again.  Telling you to pack up your guns for the rest of the day is a good way to do exactly that.

If you see unsafe gun handling, STOP it immediately.  Even if the RO didn’t see it.  The RO’s word is final and it’s his choice to issue the DQ, but at a minimum the issue needs to be brought to his attention.*

*For the most part other observers cannot really see what’s going on so this is mute.  If you are the RO running the shooter your eyes should be focused on that gun and his gun handling.  If you’re looking where he’s shooting you’re looking in the wrong spot.  Your score keeper should also be helping to look for penalties as well.

Letting people get away with unsafe gun handling is bad juju.  Especially if they take it to an area match.  Saying “Well I do it all the time back home,” isn’t going to cut it as an excuse.

So as I was saying, it’s probably a good thing they made me damn near memorize that rule book.  It’s also a good thing Kevin gave that speech saying drop the axe if it happens.

SSCC #387 – Lincoln

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Krawetz was in the middle of a hearing in to determine whether he should be fired.

Interesting, maybe he isn’t one that should be destined for the count.  There was obviously a reason for his resignation.

Kraewitz was found guilty in January of felony assault on a handcuffed woman outside the Twin River slot parlor.

It took a hearing and he was possibly going to retain his job after being convicted of felony assault?  Well at least he was convicted though I do find the following interesting:

Krawetz has been suspended without pay but still receives health benefits and “other benefits” according to Ragosta.

Not to mention:

He was convicted of felony battery by Judge Edward Clifton who decided against jail time. Krawetz was ordered to undergo counseling and given a 10-year suspended sentence.

The anointed are special compared to you and I and it’s best to be remembered.  I didn’t see anything about his law enforcement certificate being revoked so it is possible he can seek employment at a different department.

What boggles my mind is that he received no punishment and that he wasn’t fired immediately upon his conviction.  Instead they continued to pay him while he actually didn’t perform any duty to earn his pay check.

In this case, there may be a conviction but the system still stinks to high heaven.

State Sponsored Criminal #387: Edward Krawetz

Because when someone is handcuffed and sitting on the curb it is acceptable to kick them in the head.  Never mind that honestly that can be considered lethal force as it was to the head and not the body or limbs.

Why statements to create FUD aren’t an argument…

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First for those who don’t know, FUD, is Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.  It is significant because honestly it is the only thing our opponents in the gun control debate can argue with.  Facts and statistics are not on their side and we know it by the rants about “blood in the streets” that never actually seem to happen.

The thing is, guns are by no means the only place where Puritans use FUD to attempt to destroy freedom and liberty.  The best recent example was I-1183 which privatized liquor sales in the state of Washington.

This was a giant exaggeration. The initiative limited new licenses to stores of at least 10,000 square feet unless there are only smaller stores in a trade area. It left “trade area” to be defined by the Washington State Liquor Control Board, which has not yet done it. As a result, no store of less than 10,000 square feet has been given a new license, though some of the stores grandfathered from the old system are minimart-sized. There may be some new minimarts licensed to sell spirits, but not 1,000 of them.

The No on 1183 campaign argued the state was better at verifying that buyers are old enough to buy alcohol. Before liquor privatization, state stores had a tested compliance rate of 94 percent, while private stores selling beer and wine had a rate in the 70s. But the liquor board has just tested the new retailers, and the compliance rate in July was 92 percent.

He continues to point out that the statements made by the pro-side have held true.  Most importantly was this quote from a distiller within the state:

At the state’s oldest craft distiller, Dry Fly Distilling in Spokane, co-owner Kent Fleischmann says, “Our production is way up.”

Imagine that, you get the government out of something and sales go up, creating jobs, and wealth.  Isn’t it amazing what happens when people finally get over the FUD and the government is forced to get the hell out-of-the-way?

Here’s a tip, if someone’s main argument is the equivalent of “think of the children”, “I feel ‘x'”, or any variance like it and they are arguing that government involvement is the cure tell them to go screw off.  Move on and don’t bother arguing because they are currently suffering from PSH and are irrational.  Further their only argument is to attempt to pluck your emotional heart-strings, yeah I feel empathy, but what about the empathy for the innocent person whose rights you’re violating to make yourself feel better?

FUD is a huge red flag in any argument and it should be drug out into the middle of the square and exposed as such.  It’s good to see all the horror predictions fall down so that those who were against I-1183 can become the modern social pariah equivalent of:

Earworm Wednesday – 8/15/2012

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Limp Bizkit – Shotgun

Umm, no sparky…

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So Mr. Biden went out today and said the following:

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: They’ve said it. Every Republican’s voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they’re proposing. Romney wants to let the—he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules–unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains. He’s said he’s going to do nothing about stopping the practice of outsourcing…

Ok sparky, I know you’re a little slow so I’ll try and make this patently obvious.

You and your buddies are the ones putting us in chains.

Let’s get something straight, the definition of slavery involves an involuntary relationship.  IE the government taking more taxes out of its citizenry.  I am free to enter or not enter into business with banks or other institutions.  Likewise I wish that you meddling monkeys would keep your nose out of it and let the companies that are more promiscuous than that of a whore in a whore house fall flat on their face when their VD finally catches up with them.

The fact is numb nut, it is you and your buddy Fearless Leader which have laid chains upon us by forcing us enter into business with merchants.  In so doing you have also engineered the system into failing so that in the end, Our Enemy the State will be our master.

You see I am forced to pay taxes at gun point, even if you waste and squander money in ways I consider frivolous.  I am now forced to buy health care as well, and failure to do so results in me further paying my Uncle that has absolutely no fiscal sense.

I can make my choice of who I take a loan from.  In so doing it is my responsibility to understand the terms and conditions of that loan.  If a moron runs out and buys a house he can’t afford, well that’s his damn problem.  He placed himself in those chains voluntarily.

You however Mr. Vice President have worked with your friend the President to lay upon us a very heavy set of chains.  Frankly sir, I wish the two of you would do us both a favor and Fuck Off.  I didn’t ask for any of this bull shit yet I’m being stuck with the bill.

As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to you and President Shithook, you both are nothing more than forcefully enslaving the working middle class.  Go to hell you pretentious dick.

The Minuteman

P.S. I don’t like the alternative any better, but the one upshot is with Romney the media will finally do it’s damn job again.

P.P.S. You have no room to talk about Ryan’s budget because at least the fucker had one.  You and your cohorts haven’t had a budget in 3 years.  You know why?  Because you’re worse than a sailor on liberty in a whore house!

</end rant> Shit I need a beer.

SSCC #386 – Opa-locka

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A suspended Florida police officer—who’s been fired six times over the years for alleged misconduct, only to be reinstated—says he’s the victim of a “witch hunt” and wants to go back to work, even though he’s being paid $60,000 a year to stay home.

At least they have sent his ass home, but $60k a year still?  Not to mention that under the statement, “once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three or more times is enemy action,” what is six incidents?

Who knows maybe they were incidents that in the grand scheme aren’t actually that bad…

Bosque—who has been accused of “cracking the head of a handcuffed suspect, beating juveniles, hiding drugs in his police car, stealing from suspects, defying direct orders and lying and falsifying police reports”—was suspended with pay in May after he allowed a newspaper reporter to ride along in his patrol car without permission. (During the ride-along, Bosque told the reporter, “I’m an excellent police officer, but I break the rules.”)

He admits to breaking the rules, yet he continues to be paid for nothing and wants his job back.  This is why many people are loosing their faith in law enforcement professionals.  While not all are like this individual, their willingness to not expel him from their ranks taints them all.

State Sponsored Criminal #386: German Bosque

Because rules are for the little guy.  Why? Because if you want to make an omelette you’re gonna need to break a few eggs.

SSCC #385–St. Paul

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A St. Paul, Minnesota family claims in a lawsuit that police officers who conducted a wrong-door raid on their home shot their dog, and then forced their three handcuffed children to sit near the dead pet while officers ransacked the home.

Words fail to express my rage.  I shall do as Weer’d said and let it speak for itself.

State Sponsored Criminal #385: The St. Paul Minnesota SWAT Team

Because you need to teach little Timmy and Tiffany to obey their perverted Uncle Sam at an early age, and if you plug their dog and make them lay next to it, the next time Pedo-bear TSA agent molest them they’ll ignore it because they don’t want their new Sparky to take a bullet.

h/t Popehat