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Monthly Archives: October 2012

Quote of the Day–Adam Kline (10/3/2012)

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The NRA thrives on weak challenges; it sees them as fundraising opportunities. Its supporters are ready to believe that any gun bill — no matter how rational its purpose or how minor its scope — is a threat to God-given and constitutionally protected rights, and will contribute generously, giving the organization not only the psychological momentum of a win, but likely a surplus as well. It is up to us to choose our battles wisely.

(Emphasis mine)

Adam Kline – Sen. Kline: Democrats haven’t wimped out on guns

October 2, 2012

[h/t to Joe for the article. First, side rant. Adam Kline also said the following:

The way it works in this democracy is that we legislators represent our constituents. We can get a majority of our colleagues on an issue when enough of us sense that the people are there, or almost there, or at least going there, and that we may have to push them there, but at the end of the day our risk will not have been wasted. The work of moving public opinion on an issue cannot be done by legislators alone, whose work makes us generalists, but must be done by the activists who care particularly about that issue.

We don’t live in a democracy Mr. Kline.  We live in a constitutional republic.  I realize though that a majority of those who now work in the legislative bodies are ignorant of how the system was actually designed to work and prefer to twist and manipulate it to destroy the rights of the minority.  For you see a democracy is nothing more than mob-rule.  If the mob wants to take your property, they can.  If the mob wants to kill you, they can.  If the mob decides they would rather bleed you dry like a slave, they can.  The point of a constitutional republic is that both the majority and minority are protected equally.

Now back to the quote at hand, more specifically the part emphasized.  There is a reason we view it as a threat to a natural and enumerated right.  Because it IS! I grew up in the age of the 1994 assault weapons ban.  I remember it quite well and it’s goal was down right obvious.  Don’t believe me?  The most popular rifle in America would still be banned if it wasn’t for the expiration of the AWB.

That was claimed by supporters as being rational and the only way to curb gun violence.  The thing is, statistically gun control has been proven to be ineffective over and over again.  Further when you compare nations with strong gun controls it becomes obvious it creates a world that is less safe for the law abiding. 

That is the crux Mr. Kline.  The American public no longer likes being criminalized by the government for merely having and effective tool of self defense.  The American public sees what you’re doing and claiming for exactly what it is.  You’re issue is that you can no longer control the narrative.  Not only can you not control the narrative but you’re upset because the people on your side of the debate are crazy and violent.  Because of this your side of the debate is left standing still every time you attempt to infringe on that natural and enumerated right.

It is however unsurprising that you find your home the Peoples Republic of Puget Sound and you feel your “majority” other wise known merely as Seattle is a right for you to dictate life throughout the rest of the state.  I doubt this will make any difference given the 37th Legislative district is the equivalent of Communist China, but if you live there, please send that tyrant home.

So in closing Mr. Kline, in the words of Melvin Udall, “Where did they teach you to talk like this, some Panama City sailor wanna hump hump bar, or is this get-a-way day and your last shot at his whiskey, sell crazy some place else, we’re all stocked up here.”  -B]

Ear Worm Wednesday – 10/3/2012

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Trapt-Stand Up

When a bunch of us finally stand up, it’s going to be ugly, nasty, and at a minimum it will look like Atlas shrugging.  I’m tired of supporting people like this (just watch the video below, it’s got a response tied to it I fully agree with).

So if the government will buy me a phone, why am I working to pay for my own phone and service? Seriously where do we draw the line?  I am staring at the fact that my tax burden is about to increase by enough that I’ll be making the same I did last year after Uncle Sam is done with me.

You read that right, I get promoted and a raise and my Uncle Sam comes along and say’s, “You don’t need that, this woman over here needs an ‘Obama Phone’.”  All I have to say is vote out the incumbents; every last one of the corrupt little turds, even if you don’t think they’re a problem.

Pardon me while I go off and do something else before this becomes a full-fledged rant.

Two Questions…

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One, where can I recreate this.  I don’t think that Joe’s neighbors would appreciate it.

Two, is Ry willing to arrange the fireball for it.

I love seeing the shockwave roll across the sand, that’s just awesome.  I came across this one too:

The raining phosphorus at the end was down right neat, though I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near it when it went off.

Handling of Firearms During a Cease Fire…

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via Ry I came across this thread at ARFcom. 

I’m at a cease fire at the range and we have a few guys changing their targets.
One guy finished shooting and decided to case his rie and take it to his car, handling it while people are down range.
The rules of the club are if the range is cold no one touches the guns
There is no range officer as this is members only hours. I didn’t say anything to him but am wishing I had politey reminded him of the rules.
What would you have done?

The comments in that thread make me weep.  You do not handle firearms during a cease fire.  Period, end of discussion.  Now how would I react?  I have been in that exact situation.  Sadly the video of said situation the audio is washed out by the wind.  But here is a break down of what happened.

At the high intensity event 2010 the first wave shot their targets and the range was called safe.  All rifles were unloaded and shown clear.  They were instructed to ground their weapons and let them cool, or case them if they felt their rifles were cool enough to do so.  At this point we had everyone step back from their weapons, or walk off with their case.  Staff then proceeded to go down range to set up for the second wave of shooters.  I stayed behind to talk to Oleg and act as a RSO.  While talking to Oleg I see someone pick up an uncased firearm and sweep the staff down range as well as the other shooting line before bringing it vertical.  As he started to pick up the weapon I promptly started yelling to put the weapon down.  I was very vocal but evidently he couldn’t hear me.  He continued and when I finally got on top of him he realized I was yelling at him.  He continued to say he hadn’t done anything wrong or against the rules, and then attempted to claim we had given conflicting commands.  Except just prior to him shooting he had to recite the following:

    • Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
    • Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
    • Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
    • Always keep the gun in its case unless the muzzle is pointed downrange and within two feet of the shooting line.

So he walked off the shooting line with an uncased rifle.  He was handling the weapon during a ceasefire, and in so doing had muzzled a bunch of the staff.  I handed the issue over to one of the “jacketed” ROs to deal with because he seemed to think I wasn’t someone he should be listening to.

The bottom line is that the rule of not handling firearms during a cease fire is to ensure that no one is muzzled and that there is a zero possibility of human caused discharge while people are down range.  If you’re so impatient that you need to be careless about safety, get the hell off my range and don’t come back.  In the incident above, I have not seen even the friends of this individual return.  Evidently it did cause a bit of a black eye.  You know what would have been worse, just ignoring it. 

Safety is a culture and if you don’t cultivate it and make sure people are thinking about it, especially in an event like Boomershoot, the next thing we know the event is no longer happening because someone was careless.

Seriously folks, is this that difficult to understand?  For any of those of you who recently started reading my blog, these types of things make me VERY angry.

Darwin Needs No Further Restraint

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Yet another falling incident:

Police said 22-year-old Jonathan Meyer had been drinking with a friend Friday night when he tried to drop to a second-story balcony and missed.

To give you an idea of the current record for this year already:

This is the third alcohol-related fall at WSU and the University of Idaho in the past month. A 19-year-old WSU student was injured in a three-story fall Sept. 14 at a fraternity. A 21-year-old University of Idaho student was injured in a two-story fall Sept. 12 at his fraternity.

Not to mention the August incidents that they didn’t bother reporting.  Remember these are the “best and brightest” that we send to college.  No, I don’t think so anymore.   A good majority of those who go to college I think go because they’re too dumb to do anything else.

They go to college racking up debt to get degrees in things that will never earn them enough money to pay it back.  Again, remember what I was saying about them not really being the best and brightest.  Then you have other incidents where someone claims that College is a right and that everyone should go.

Everyone has the right to attempt to obtain a college education.  However just because you can attempt it, doesn’t mean you can afford it or that you will be admitted.  It is up to the person to perform well enough to be admitted as well as find a way to finance their schooling.  You do not have a right to force someone else to pay for your education.  You do not have a right to be automatically admitted.  You merely have a right to seek education, you do not have a right to have it handed to you.

Besides, you know what’s great about the internet, which you can use at your local library, and it’s also cheaper than going to college, you can self educate.  There are piles upon piles of information out there if you’re willing to go find it and read it.  The MIT Open Courseware is the best example of available information.  I have gone through many of the courses trying to improve my knowledge on different subjects as well as supplementing what I already know.

The point of college at this point is to provide a little sheet of paper and certification that you are educated about “X”.  The thing is, that certification is an investment and you had better invest wisely.  My wife got two degrees, both in the sciences, however it was an actual certification that finally got her a job.  All you get out of college now days is a piece of paper, most of them are worthless, a few are gold.  If you’re paying for that piece of paper, I suggest making sure it’s gold and not pyrite.

SSCC #418 – New Orleans

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Former New Orleans police officer, Roger Jones, 38, has resigned after being arrested — again — on hit-and-run charges. The 15-year veteran, who was already on desk duty pending investigation of a 2011 hit-and-run, confessed to hitting a car, leaving the scene of the accident, parking his police cruiser at another location, then reporting it stolen.

Emphasis mine.  Note he was arrested for the same thing.  As usual he was left to resign instead of being fired less that black mark follow him where ever he goes.

State Sponsored Criminal #418: Roger Jones

Because hit and run is perfectly acceptable when you’re a cop.  They’re anointed so it’s cool.

Thank You Captain Obvious…

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DSC_7521_tonemappedSo I stumbled across the following today which while isn’t news to me may be news to others, and even more so may be discounted or considered untrue.  I initially wanted to cover this as I went through the my “Power Series” posts and I touched on it on an episode of Vicious Circle but I think it’s time for me to write it all out.

President Obama has made so-called “green energy” policies a key part of his economic agenda, but as a new book argues, they actually disproportionately hurt the poor by boosting the cost of energy.

This is considered just common knowledge to those within the utility industry.  The reason being is because our legislators are ignoring not just the laws of economics but also the laws of physics.

For the purpose of this example I am going to talk specifically about the Pacific North West, more specifically Washington.

In the mid-2000’s Governor Gregiore decided that hydro-electric dams are not a renewable resource and that by 2020, 20% of the state’s electricity will be “renewable”, read that as wind power.  As an FYI for those out of the area, we pay approximately 4-5 cents per KWh for hydro up here.  Hydro is cheap and plentiful here in the Pacific North West, so much so we ship a good chunk of it to California.

To further encourage the construction of wind farms beyond the mandate the operating costs are subsidized by the state.  The cost even subsidized for a wind farm in the area is approximately 15-17 cents per KWh.  Yes you read that right, 3 times as much even with the state subsidizing it’s operation.

Except wind is not as “Green” as everyone makes it out to be.  You see wind can quickly come and go.  This means generation can quickly come and go offline merely based on what the weather does.  This is a problem because power is consumed on an on-demand basis.  You don’t want your lights turning on in the middle of the night right?  Just the same you don’t like the power going out while you’re working on your computer writing up that report for work.  Part of the whole “smart house” push is so that the utilities can control the load as well such as your refrigerator, dryer, etc., to shed load when necessary.

It makes sense and it sounds good, but ultimately I’m paying for a service and you can either provide it or you cannot.  Well the biggest problem with wind is how quickly it can disappear.  Generators don’t start instantly and other generation in the system doesn’t instantly spin up to supply power to the load.  There is inertia involved and to increase the power means you need to increase the torque etc.  The sudden decline in power being supplied while the load remains constant can cause system instability.

The solution to this problem is to have an onsite generator(s) at a wind farm that idles while the wind farm is producing power.  Usually this takes the form of a Natural Gas Turbine generator.  As the wind dies off the generator spools up to take the load.  Then the generator slowly spools back down to let the rest of the grid slowly absorb the power load.  So in other words your wind generator is burning fuel in a turbine, running as inefficiently as possible so it can pick up the load in event of a rapid loss of wind.

Out here in the Pacific North West this becomes very apparent in the spring with the high spring run off as well as peak winds through the area.  This past year the utilities were forced by the state to buy power from the wind farms while shutting down the dams.

Yes you read that right, the utilities were forced to buy more expensive power and leave cheaper power idle.  Not only were the dams forced to be idle, but because it occurred during peak run off, they were forced to dump water over the spillway and waste it.  Instead of following the laws of economics, they were tossed to the side and instead of the wind, the more expensive power providing the back fill for what hydro couldn’t provide, the roles were reversed, and for what?

Ultimately this does nothing but increase the rates for energy consumption.  Doubly so since the dam has increased costs because instead of it producing power, it’s forced to be shutdown, despite it being the more efficient and cheaper power producer.

This is what happens when politicians get involved in economics and start regulating business.  Instead of the consumer getting a better deal, they get a more expensive product and overall crappier service due to the power swings that come with the fluctuations in wind.

Then again, the goals of our politicians could be much more sinister.

SSCC #417-TSA

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A convicted TSA security officer says he was part of a “culture” of indifference that allowed corrupt employees to prey on passengers’ luggage and personal belongings with impunity, thanks to lax oversight and tip-offs from TSA colleagues.

“It was very commonplace, very,” said Pythias Brown, a former TSA officer at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey who admits he stole more than $800,000 worth of items from luggage and security checkpoints over a four-year period.

What is most disturbing though is even in light of this information people continue to defend the TSA.  Ignoring that it is merely a theater that allows criminals to prey upon the citizenry with the aid of the state.

State Sponsored Criminal #417: Pythias Brown

Because the American public is merely an ATM for those who work for the government.