Whee! Random things about me!

I don't hold my eating utensils the proper way.  I never could do it correctly.

When I'm holding a glass, beer bottle etc. I'll often find myself holding it with my pinky sticking out, which just looks plain ridiculous.

When eating something like steak with a knife & fork I will cut up the whole thing rather than cutting one piece, savoring the nommy goodness, cutting, and then continuing on like that.  I also switch hands since I have quite a bit of trouble cutting with my right hand.

So there ya go.  Today you get some mundane facts about me that I'm sure you dear readers have always wanted to know.  Why you ask?  Because these are the kinds of odd things that wander into my noggin' when I'm hungry.

Slow Ride

Because I really needed a laugh and don't feel like writing....... A Lemur riding tortoises.

Even funnier would be a lyger riding this big guy.

Meh, Blargh, Harumph

June has come to an end and y'know, I've had a distinct lack of enthusiasm for blogging for a good portion of the month.  Maybe it's because I've been sick the entire back half of the month, who knows?

What I do know is that it's been a struggle to actually get content up this month and I think you see that reflected in the quality of the content I have put out.  Rather than an enthusiastic "Oh hey! Cool! I need to go blog that!" it's been more of a "Sigh, guess I should try and get something up on the blog today" and really, who wants to read posts written with that level of punch behind them?

Maybe I just need to take a break, maybe this blog has finally run its course, or maybe I need to hit the reset button on my brain.  Hell if I know right now.

Instead of listening to my BS complaining I suggest reading the post below this and buying a holster from Dragon Leatherworks.  Read my archives, or better yet, any of the great blogs over on my right hand sidebar.

Dragon Leatherworks Talon

While sitting in Newbius' hotel room at the NRA convention, in between spurts of Laura's gigglesnorts, I mentioned to Dennis of Dragon Leatherworks that I'd recently bought my first 1911 and needed an open carry holster for it  He graciously offered to make me a left-handed one of his Talon OWB holsters for my Dan Wesson.

Let me start off this review by saying that this is my first leather holster as well as my first custom / handmade holster.  The multitude of different options Dennis offers for the Talon was dizzying for this neophyte.  I went back and forth about getting a design, pattern, or any kind of color and ultimately the minimalist in me went with plain black.  I think that was the right choice, as the holster compliments the Heritage well without distracting from it.

 While I have nothing similar to compare the Talon to I was unbelievably impressed with the quality and workmanship that went into making my holster.    As someone who has previously used kydex one of the first things that jumped out at me was the weight.  I was expecting something that weighed significantly more than a Serpa holster and was pleasantly surprised by how featherweight the Talon was.  The last thing you want when carrying a Government sized 1911 on your hip is more weight.  In this regard the Talon does not disappoint.  It distributes the weight well on the belt, is supremely comfortable to wear all day long, and the holster body is exceptionally rigid despite the light weight.

Having carried my 1911 in Dennis' Talon holster quite a bit for the past three weeks I can enthusiastically say I endorse his product. The Talon is an OWB holster obviously meant for open carry, yet it could easily be used for CCW if needed.  I could conceal the 1911 in it under a polo shirt far better than I could do so with a Sig P220ST in a Serpa holster.  That said, I'm not sure why you'd want to conceal such a gorgeous gun and gorgeous holster unless you were forced to.

On a customer service note, Dennis stayed in constant contact with me throughout the holster making process, even going so far as to rush things and priority mail me the Talon so I'd have it to wear in time for Open Carry Day on June 5th.  That shows a dedication to his customers which is above and beyond what I expected.

Why by one of a million cookie cutter mass produced 1911 holsters?  This is the 100 year anniversary of the 1911, so put yours in a Dragon Leatherworks Talon and carry in style.  You won't be disappointed.*  John Moses Browning (PBUH) would approve!  I know I do!

*Beware that the holster maybe tight when you first get it. This is normal. I gave myself wedgies the night I got my Talon the retention was so tight.  After wearing the gun around the house and a few dozen practice draws the Talon allows for smooth draws while providing excellent retention, a must for someone like myself who open carries.

I purposefully overexposed this shot to show the stitching.

Those Evil Rich Folk!

Screw the rich right?  I mean hell, they're giving $1 million dollar donations to my hospital* to help kids with cerebral palsy.

*When I say "my hospital" I mean the hospital I went to my whole life for treatment, PT / OT, and for all of my surgeries.

Things not to do on your lunch break....

Look at the photo galleries on Dogfish Head's website.  Sure, it's safe for work, yet not safe for working.

Quote of the day - liberty costs

"The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression."


- W. E. B. Du Bois
 
Unfortunately many folks are happy to be repressed.  Repression is their "normal" and liberty and its attendant costs are seen as abnormal and dangerous.

Monday on a Tuesday

After a relaxing four day weekend at the beach where someone CCW'd for her first time ever, I am dragging more than a little bit this morning.

There's a good reason for that however, as I was at the hospital last night and now have a niece!  They named her Scarlett, yet despite my suggestion they wouldn't go for Johansson as a middle name.  I predict at least one of my nephews will try to call her "Scar," probably in a very piratey voice while wearing an eye patch.

Guns in Bars - the bloody aftermath

I'm sure you all remember the anti-gun hysteria last year when Tennesee passed their "Guns in bars" law. There was all kinds of "shootout at the OK Corral" fearmongering from the anti-gun bigots and they fought the law change tooth & nail.

As is always the case with the anti-gunners, reality has proven them wrong. One year later and Tennessee has had no issues with CCW holders being able to pack heat in places that serve alcohol. Imagine that!

Someone alert violent anti-gun bigots like Southern Beale.

Insane Democrats

Democrats and Republicans are holding debt ceiling talks and what is it the Democrats want?  More stimulus spending and tax increases! Are you kidding me?  Are they crazy or just plain stupid?

Let me remind you, this is in the midst of talks about raising the debt ceiling so that we can continue to spend and borrow even more and the Democrats want more stimulus spending as part of raising the ceiling!  What the hell good is a debt ceiling if we spend wildly and out of control at a rate never before seen in history and then remove our "credit limit" to continue the insane, self-destructive behavior?    Could you imagine what your personal finances would look like if you gave your 16 year old shopaholic daughter your credit card and she could treat it like this, spending like mad and then raising her credit limit every time she maxed out the card?

How can a rational person look at what the Democrats are doing and see anything but outright insanity?*

*and to be fair, the cuts most Republicans are proposing simply aren't enough to address the problem, but at least they're a start.  In order to get yourself out of a hole you've first got to stop digging.

Quote of the Day - PDB

..."this administration has mumble mouthed and prevaricated about the reasons for engagement, dodged its statutory requirements to Congress and engaged the enemy in a timid, irresolute manner that only serves to maximize both the risk to our forces and the unintended consequences on the ground by needlessly prolonging the hostilities."

- PDB

C'mon!  Did we really expect anything else from our current President, who is both a waffling empty suit and a narcissistic pussy of the highest order?  Did we really expect good things to happen when we armed Lybian rebels whom we really knew nothing about?  I mean hell, arming rebels or "the other side" has worked out swimmingly for the U.S. throughout history, right?....

I disagreed with former President Bush more often than I agreed with him.  That said, at least he was capable of being decisive, sticking to his guns, and then taking heat for his decisions without lashing out in narcissistic rage. 

If Sarah Palin were President right now and had involved us in a 3rd U.S. war at least she'd be able to explain what the hell we're doing.  Obama never even laid out a set goal for Libya.

Also, can someone please explain to me what the fuck "kinetic military action" is?

Hanging it up

Sadly, Eric Shelton of Handgun Podcast is going off the air.  Eric's show is one of the few podcasts I've regularly listened to over the past few years.  I've had the pleasure of meeting Eric in person.  I can honestly say he's a great person, an asset to the promotion of gun rights and individual liberty. His voice will be missed and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

On a more self-serving note, Eric has sent a ton of traffic my way over the past three years.  If people actually read this blog I'd be really worried about the inevitable drop in traffic. ;)

Could it be the guns?

The BBC highlights 10 reasons why crime rates have plummetted over the last 2+ decades here in the U.S.  They trot out all kinds of crazy theories.  Absent from their list is the fact that gun laws have been loosened greatly during that period and we now have CCW in most of the country.

Then again the BBC would never report on the fact that more people owning and carrying guns coincided with dropping crime rates nationwide.  That wouldn't fit the anti-gun narrative.

As an aside, I loved the idea that young black males chose to simply forgo a life of crime upon seeing Obama get elected.  Ah yes, the Messiah walked into the spotlight, all was right in the world, and young black men magically decided to stop killing eachother.  Yeah, that sounds plausible....

Bionic Dog!

If you've been reading this blog for any extended period of time you know how much I like feel good stories.

Well the story of Naki'O* certainly fits that bill.  The video is just heartwarming!  Happy dog!

*also, what kind of sick people abandon a 5 week old puppy in the middle of winter!?

Quote of the day - stating the obvious

"Liberals tend to want to constrain your freedom in all areas.”

- Boston Herald article discussing the study of personal liberty from the Mercatus Center at GMU

Liberals want to constrain my freedom?  Inconceivable!

As for the bottom 5 states, we see that they're all liberal strongholds.  New York, New Jersey, California, Hawaii and Massachusettes.  All very "progressive" states, where "progress" as usual, means the loss of individual freedom.

H/T to hotair

Poppop

My poppop is 88 years old, and I really should start recording / writing down many of the things he tells me.  Many people know all of the details of their parents / grandparents military service, yet I only know bits and pieces.

Poppop went to school in Chile for Electrical Engineering, but by the time he'd finished school World War II was in full swing.  Instead of going to college like his friends he decided to join the Chilean Navy, worried the Germans might come to Chile next.  After Pearl Harbor he decided he could achieve that goal better by joining the U.S. military, so he emigrated to the U.S. and entered the USAF, where he was an Aeronautical Engineer for many years, serving from WWII until the end of the Vietnam War, where he served in both Da Nang and Saigon.  I really need to start picking his brain and recording / writing down his responses.

Interestingly enough, I ran across his certificate of fitness from the U.S. selective service just recently and it had his name completely wrong.  They'd listed his first name as "Jose"

Random gimp thought

Someone left an ad for male strippers on my car this morning.  My mind, being odd, thought, "I wonder if there's a market for gimp male strippers?"

 I mean if you're a male stripper you're already at a handicap, right, so why not pile on for the niche market?

Texas pushing back

It looks like Governor Perry has brought back the TSA groping bill that died last month in the Texas legislature.  I'd like to get all gung-ho over this, but it's hard.  Does anyone think it'd be more than symbolistic should it pass?  The Feds will just say "TSA trumps state law" and will ignore Texas law.  Texas will eventually balk.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Perry has brought it back up in the legislature.  This is an important issue which needs to stay in the forefront.  It's also a huge state sovereignty issue, but I'm simply not optimistic.  It seems anytime the states tell the Feds to "fuck off" these days there's little or no teeth behind the threat.

Also, I can't help but get a kick out of all the liberals at the Huffpo link defending the TSA.  It's not a surprise really.  If there's a tool that will control the populace liberals will always support it, especially if it makes them "feel safe."  Liberals, by and large, do not really respect any Constitutional rights in this country (save maybe abortion rights)

Deal Alert - SP2022

SigPro SP2022's on sale at Palmetto State Armory for $389 shipped.

Sah'tea

I hesitate to even call this Dogfish brew "beer" as it more or less tastes like cold, carbonated, spicy Chai tea that's 9% ABV. It's good, just a very, very odd duck.





As for blogging, well I have a few post ideas in the works which you handful of readers may or may not find interesting. That said, I find that despite having the Eee and wireless I'm particularly disinclined to blog while at the beach. (plus the kiddos run me ragged, especially when I'm sick)

I'll be down for four days at the tailend of next week with some good company for part of it, so blogging will be light. Sitemeter is showing that my lack of good content means very little traffic. Good thing I blog for me not you, eh?

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Father's Day

I hope you all are spending time with Dad today!  For those of you whose Dad has passed, know that he is looking down on you, beaming and proud of the person you've become.

Transformation

Given that Jennifer has started the "how did you become a gunnie?"* meme I thought this article by Katherine Von Tour was a good read.  I know it's old but I'd never read it before.

It's always interesting to see exactly what triggers a persons transformation into a gunnie (and often a liberty-minded individual at the same time)  For Von Tour the biggest trigger seemed to be the L.A. Riots.  For some there's a specific event that triggers the change, while for others it's simply a change in mindset.

*I intend to write my story soon, though I'm not sure how interesting it'll be.

Quote of the day - normalization

"If you want guns normalized, you have to get them in the hands of women because as long as women think guns are a guy thing they won't thing twice about banning them."

-Alan

This is absolutely true.  While women shooters and women gun owners are growing in number, women (at least in my experience) tend to be anti-gun moreso than men.  This is mostly due to a lack of exposure to guns and the gun culture, specifically because guns are seen as a "guy thing."  I can't tell you how many gun owners I know whose wives have no exposure to guns at all.   It is imperative that we make the shooting sports more welcoming to women and that companies consider their marketing approach in light of that huge, untapped market.

Weiner gone limp!

Looks like Weiner's gone limp.  Just look at him.  He's all sad looking now and his ego is shriveled.

Blargh

You know what's worse than being sick?  Being at work, being sick, and having my legs bitch at me for no good reason. (and having computer issues to boot)

When I damn near fell down the steps this morning leaving my apartment that should've been a sign to just turn around and pack it in.

I need some pizza, a beer, and a nap.

Guns in bars sanity in Ohio

Ohio passed their guns in bars legislation, meaning folks like Breda will be able to carry if they want to stop by the brewery for some iced tea and a bite to eat.  This is a sane, common-sense change in the law, since a CCW holder doesn't magically become homicidal the moment they enter an establishment that sells beer.

I love the "guns in bars" topic specifically because it sends anti-gunners into a tissy and because they are so unbelievably wrong about it.  You can carry in places that serve alcohol in most of the U.S., and yet CCW holders and OC'ers carrying into such locations is simply no big deal.  Hell, I carried into the brewery earlier this month and I didn't leave Newark awash in blood despite being able to legally pack and have a beer.

The fact of the matter is, as the article points out, that Ohio's new law is still extremely restrictive.  In Delaware I can carry and have a drink legally yet it's not an issue.  Ohio's new law makes carrying your piece and having a 2 oz. beer sampler a felony!

Think about the places you tend to frequent when you go out to eat.  What percentage of those places also serve alcohol, whether they're a bar, sub shop or pizza place?  I'd be willing to bet the majority of them serve alcohol.  I know the majority of my favorite restaurants do.

I'm happy to see that my fellow gunnies in Ohio will be able to enjoy one of the small freedoms we enjoy here in Delaware.  It's a small step, but still a step in the right direction.

H/T to breda

Sweet, maybe too sweet?

A little birdy told me that Dogfish Head starts bottling 120 Minute IPA today.  Guess who happens to be going to the beach this weekend and the following weekend?

I'm going to drop by the Brewpub and hope they actually have some for sale. (at ~$8 bottle) This could be difficult, as the last time my sister tried to get some they were out because some guy had just bought an entire case of the stuff.

Frankly, while the 120 was good it was quite sweet, not at all what I was expecting for a beer with such a high IBU rating.  My understanding of the 120 is that it lends itself to aging, so maybe I should buy some and store it for a while.  From what I've read it also seems to vary quite a bit in taste from batch to batch, so maybe what I had was sweeter than usual? 120 Minute is very much a "once in a while" beer.  I couldn't imagine buying a case of the stuff at a time.

Also, this may sound crazy, but I'm wondering how the 120 would taste if you ran it through Dogfish's Randal hopping machine to cut some of the sweetness?

If I had to render a final verdict on the 120 Minute it would be this.  Interesting idea, but too sweet.  I'll stick to my 90 Minute IPA and Burton Baton.  Still, I'm a stubborn bastard and want to try it again.

As an aside, I also tried the Festina Peche while visiting the Brewpub.  While it's not necessarily my cup of tea I could see it being good while sitting out on the beach on a hot day.  The tartness makes it different than any beer I've ever tried.  They even make Festina Peche lipbalm.

Stay tuned

I feel like absolute crap today due to a sinus headache and allergies suddenly gone haywire, so for now you're just getting some pics of my wonderful pup!

I'm sure you're very excited to see The Big Blob. (all half dozen regular readers)

I woke him up from a nap when I took these. He was not amused.

Carter off the hook

I like these, though in the interest of full disclosure I'll say I wasn't alive to see how much Carter sucked.  Was he actually worse than Obama?

To Reiterate

It seems as though some nutjob running for office in California is calling for (among other things) repeal of the 2nd Amendment.

Though I'm not sure he could understand the concepts contained herein, I have one thing to say to such a proposal.

Repealing the 2nd Amendment doesn’t make it go away anymore than repealing the rest of the Bill of Rights would allow the government to kick in my door and rob, beat, imprison and torture me with impunity. The 2nd Amendment is inherent and inalienable just like the rest of the Bill of Rights. Words on ink & parchment don't "grant" me the right to keep & bear arms, they merely codify a pre-existing right. My rights, all of them, exist independent of the Constitution.

Oh, and Molon Labe.  It always amazes me those who call for repeal of a portion of the Bill of Rights.  Do they really think my rights can be voted away?  Do they really think millions of armed Americans would just sit back and say "yes master?"  A Bill of Rights was a necessary condition for the ratification of the entire Constitution.  Would the repeal of one (or more) of them mean the dissolution of the entire document?

I honestly don't believe they think at all.  They're stupid, irrational and outright crazy.  Normal thought processes do not applyy to them.  They don't consider whether repeal would be Constitutional, or what the implications of it would be.  No, they don't think about anything beyond "guns are icky, let's get rid of that pesky 2nd Amendment.  That is the depth of their capacity for rational thought.

I'm not surprised Mr. Barkley is from California.  That level of batshit insane could only come from the liberal, ass backward state of California, where the the persistent failures of liberal policies are lauded and celebrated.

h/t to breda via e-mail.

Quote of the day - Nothing changed

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite."

- Thomas Jefferson

Given that the political class see themselves as a small ruling elite in this country and plenty of citizens see politicians as "leaders" I think we're still struggling with this question.  The one major difference is that, regrettably, Liberalism / Collectivism has gained a foothold in America in the past 200+ years.

The anti-Breda

I met a lady over the weekend named Breda.  Yes, there's more than one of them! She was like the anti-Breda.  Tall / lanky, blonde hair, no butt, kind of uptight, and an owner of two dogs.  She wasn't smelly by any means, but she gave off a hippie vibe rather than a "I crush hippies under my tiny midget boot, pal!" vibe.

She seemed genuinely surprised that anyone else shared her first name, even though she spelled it wrong.

Also, I still don't like Philadelphia.

__________ Pron

My roommate is a little "off" in the head, in a TD sort of way.  He'll sometimes come up with the most bizarre, explicitly inappropriate scenarios presented to me in a sort of "what would you do?" format.  Most of them are not fit for this blog (more VC material really) but they'll leave both of us in fits of laughter.

The other day he asked if I'd be in pron for six figures.  The first question is obviously to specify that he's not referring to gay pron, the 2nd is to determine what end of "six figures" we're talking about.

I mean really, would you care that much that you were on film if it meant you could say "I'm rich bitch!" and mean it?  Besides, you could always wear a mask or a brown paper bag.  Hell, you'd even have enough money to pay for the inevitable counseling your family members would need should they ever stumble upon your "acting" on the intertubes.

Really, I just wrote this post for the title, because I'm odd like that.

Why I like Sarah Palin

Aside from the fact that she gets the liberal media's panties in a bunch no matter what she does or says, I like her because she regularly hands them their asses when they get all high & mighty and try to call her "stupid."

Every liberal in the world made fun of Sarah Palin's Paul Revere statements last week.  Turns out she was right.  This happens fairly often with Palin, since the media is more interested in smearing her by any means necessary than they are checking to see if they're accurate.  Then again they are Liberals.  When have facts, historical accuracy or truth in reporting ever mattered to the Left?

Even better, the media salivates over Palin's e-mails, yet even they have to begrudgingly admit that she was an engaged, competent Governor who actually did her job!  And Palin distrustful of the media?  Say it ain't so!  This was the media who attacked her personally, was openly mysogynistic, attacked her family at every chance, consistently called her stupid, while repeating bullshit that she never said like "I can see Russia from my house."  Boy!  I can't imagine why Palin might distrust them!

Quote of the day - words to live by

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

- William Shakespeare


no, I'm not going to start quoting Shakespeare here often, but I like this one. It's good life advice.

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No blog

At my uncles wedding, eating arugula, bacon, crab cakes & drinking Guinness. Channeling Obama.

Might blog tomorrow, but I've got stuff to do.


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Weekend adventures

I was visiting my Poppop recently and he somehow managed to misplace the keys to his Cadillac.  We spent a few hours digging through his house looking for his car keys without any luck. Thankfully my aunt had a spare set.

What I did find was the leather binder for his World War II Honorable Discharge papers......empty.  When I asked him he didn't know where they were and didn't really care.   It's funny, the man has a stack of old Penthouse magazines from the 1960's or 1970's and knows where they are but doesn't have his WWII discharge.

Friday Funny Feats!

Lissa has a post up about those goofy foot attachements women sometimes wear to make themselves taller than pocket sized, or in Nancy's case, 7 feet tall!  You women folk are a silly lot, but we love ya anyway! :P Go read, you will laugh!

On a more serious note, just stop it ladies!  We don't need you to wear heels and take it from me, they will fubar your feet something fierce.  No, I'm not a cross-dresser, although I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night......err, go out as a hot girl for Halloween once in college.  (boobs, plaid skirt, wig, the whole shebang.  I was quite the catch ;) )

I am one of what is probably a vanishingly small number of men who've had a bunionectomy.  It's no fun! They don't just lop off the protruding bone, they've got to straighten your toe out again too. *You will get arthritis in your big toes, your feet will get misshapen, and as those big toes turn in they'll pushing against the middle knuckle of your 2nd toe, causing yet more pain.  When your feet get cold & wet in the winter the stabbing pain in your toe(s) will make you want to force a smelly hippie through a TSA groping and then punch him in the junk repeatedly just for being a smelly hippie.

* I admit, it is pretty cool when the doc takes your cast off, gives you the all clear and then yanks the paperclip looking pin protruding out of the front of your big toe straight on out and you think "WTF dude!? That didn't hurt at all!"

Short, tall, bubblebutted!, we don't care!  We just don't want to see you go through needless pain, so wear flat shoes ladies.

Hmmmm

I wonder what'd happen if I blew up this picture and hung it in my office at work.....  There are a lot of liberals working here.

More "Gun Show Loophole" nonsense in Delaware

True to their word, anti-gunners never stop trying to infringe upon the rights of law-abiding American citizens.  Case in point,  Jack Markell and the Delaware Legislature are once again trying to "close the gun-show loophole."

SB39 is not an outright private sale ban like so many of these so-called "gun show loophole" bills.   Instead it would ban private sales only at gun show venues and on the premisis.  So, do your private sale in the gun show parking lot and it's a crime, but walk across the street to another parking lot and you're in the clear.  It's pretty clear that this is nothing more than "feel good" legislation that'll do nothing but infringe upon the rights of Delaware gun owners.

 If anti's have shown us one thing it's that they won't stop here. Jack Markell nor the gun-grabbers sponsoring this bill have presented any evidence that this is a problem in need of fixing.  They've shown no evidence that DE's violent criminals are getting guns at our gunshows, nor have they shown proof that such a proposal would do anything beyond making it more difficult for you and I to buy/sell lawfully owned property.

The entire state has two small gun shows per year.  Were this law to pass it would have no impact on crime in Wilmington and next we'd hear how we need to ban the dangerous "private sale" loophole throughout the state.

A liberal Democrat pushing gun control?  This is my shocked face :O

"You'll never walk"

This is an absolutely heartwarming story.  It's also a perfect example of why government healthcare must be stopped in the U.S. 

"Debra, 34, and husband Peter, 31, were told by doctors that Sophie had spastic diplegia, meaning she would never move without a walker and would spend most of her life in a wheelchair.....Doctors told us that she would never stand without a walker and would, as she got older, always need her wheelchair to get around."

Doctors routinely say "he/she will never do X," parents, don't listen to them!   I have spastic diplegia as well, and when I was born the docs said I'd probably never walk unassisted.  They were wrong.  Thanks to medical innovation in the U.S. they were wrong in this case too.

Also, neurosurgery to combat spastic diplegia?  That is just so goddamn cool!  The government rationing board of course put the nix on that idea, which is why she had to come to the U.S. and pay cash to have the procedure.  Now a little girl is dancing and leading a more normal life.

If the smile in that second picture doesn't warm your heart I don't know what will.  This story made my day.

Building Security

I work at a law firm and as you might imagine we have building "security."  There's security in the lobby and we all have access passes both to get to the elevators and to get into our respective suite / office building.  The security officers are either old men or one of a handful of overweight women.  They're all unarmed of course.

Basically there's a security desk where people without access cards can sign in to be let through the turnstyles that lead to the elevators.  It's a trivial matter to simply hop the turnstyle or piggyback off of someone with a pass.  You don't need your pass to enter our office suite during normal business hours, naturally.

The idea that these folks, or the badges or turnstyle would actually stop anyone intent on doing harm is just laughable.  Some crazy person could walk in, kill the security (or just go past them) hop the turnstyle and go to whatever office he wanted to commit mayhem.  There would be no one to stop him.

I carry a bag to and from the office that has my protein powder and my dress shoes in it.  In the nearly 4 years I've been here not once have I or any other employee ever been stopped and our person and bags searched.  Were I willing to break the law & company policy I could have carried to work in my bag every single day.  Even if searches started (which wouldn't happen for obvious reasons) it'd be trivial for some homicidal maniac to sew a hidden pocket somewhere in order to sneak a weapon in.

Despite this, if I were to talk to people in the building they'd inevitably say they "feel safer" because of the "security."  It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not even stop to consider "what if's."  I'm sure every company in the building has a "no weapons" policy, which does nothing to increase the safety of anyone in the building, and doesn't apply to LEO's.  (I've been in the elevator with armed plainclothes cops)

So tell me again why we have this "security?"  Oh right.  To placate the sheep.  Baaah.

A matter of class

By now I'm sure anyone reading this knows that a certain classless blogger stole a picture of the worlds most dangerous librarian and used it in a rude, classless and defamatory manner as a cheap means of scoring blog hits.

One of the things I love about the gun blogosphere is that it is full of good people.  People with class, people whom I respect and whose opinions I value, even when we disagree.  I've said before that an armed society is a polite society, even on the internet.  Respect is earned, and people like this individual do not deserve my respect. (or anyone else's for that matter)

Rather than hash out a long post on this matter I'm simply going to publish what I sent to this disreputable individual.  It's something I rarely do, but the whole situation really struck a nerve with me, both because Breda is my friend and because I couldn't help but think of this attention whoring asshat with say, a picture of one of my younger sisters.

Dear Gunmart,

I've known Breda for years now and consider her a good friend, so I'm not even going to get into the rude, classless nature of your post. Frankly, that your post was unacceptable behavior should have been obvious to you and should not need to be pointed out to anyone who understands the concept of common decency.

I will, however, say this. When you steal someone's copyrighted material and use it without their permission that is low. When you then ignore repeated polite requests to remove said content that is beyond low. You then tarnished your character (or what was left of it) by acting like a spineless coward and deleting her husband Mike's reasonable, polite comment to your post.

This is something that should have been a simple matter between you and Breda. You made a mistake and could have rectified it like a responsible adult in a matter of minutes. Instead you've decided to act like a child. Your behavior (and copyright infringment) is what I've come to expect from anti-gunners, not from people who are supposed to be on my side.


As for this brouhaha you've needlessly gotten yourself into by acting like a complete jerk, let me just say two things. One, you clearly don't know Breda and have no idea who you're dealing with. Two, I'll be happily writing to your advertisers. Actions like yours have consequences and given your attitude I'll be more than happy to see you lose money as a result of this.

Have a nice day,
 
-Mike W.
 

The "man" in question has since dug himself an even deeper hole in comments sections by "playing the victim" claiming we're being mean to him, and claiming Breda is somehow to blame for this dustup.  The adult thing to do is to simply man up, publicly apologize, and remove or amend the offending post.  The fact that he has still obstensibly failed to amend the post as asked speaks volumes as to his lack of character & outright lack of respect for women and his fellow gunbloggers.  His attitude and subsequent actions after the fact actually irk me more than the initial incident.
 
Case in point, here's his response to my above e-mail.  It reads like a short "form response" in which he fails to take any responsibility for his actions.
 

"Like I said, she jumped off the deep end and started a bunch of drama that I refuse to play along with. I dont respond to yelling and screaming demands nor is my blog run by mob rule. She is on this silly picture thing now because she thinks it has more traction then her original complaint of the wording of the blog post title.
This is silly and I know she is having fun with it, but I'm not gonna play her little game.
 
Have a good day."

 
If anything, his actions remind me of what we routinely see from garden variety anti-gun bloggers, right down to the deleting of comments and then turning them off completely to avoid criticism.  I'm glad to see he's been ostracized.  I won't post my response to his reply, since it was, shall we say, a little less polite than my usual.  I think this tone deaf moron is the only one who thinks Breda is "having fun" and "playing games."  We don't need jerks like this in the gunnie community.  I can't help but wonder if he has a wife, girlfriend or sisters.

Hooray Beer

While visiting the Dogfish Head brewpub I picked up this nifty sniffer glass. This is what they served the 120 Minute IPA in.

Here's mine with a bottle of 90. A very snooty way to drink good beer!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shoot like a girl

I'm all for "shooting like a girl" as long as no one's trying to do this to me!

Some lady gunbloggers  can do this and then some, no stinkin' t-shirt needed!

Making Sarah Brady cry

On OC day I went a bit out of my comfort zone.  I open carried into a bar, but more importantly I carried somewhere where I'd previously been very reluctant to do so.  I carried on a college campus.

Despite carrying on Main Street of a college campus on a beautiful weekend afternoon and going into an absolutely packed bar, nothing happened.  My mother had expressed concern a few weeks prior about how people are likely to react to a person OC'ing on University of Delaware's campus. (the discussion had nothing to do with OC day)

The more I think about things the more I smile.  I carried onto a major college campus, down Main Street, and into a bar where I could've ordered a beer if I wanted to.  I did this is Sarah Brady's home state.  Just knowing that I'm free to do so in a bigot like Sarah Brady's home state puts a huge smile on my face.  My actions put an emphasis on just how little clout and grassroots support anti-gun bigots really have these days.  Using freedom to give anti-rights bigots the finger should make all Americans smile!

A Reminder - The TSA Are Incompetent

Hey look, I was mining drafts and found an old post I decided to update and post now.

With everything that's going on with the TSA right now and Napolitano decreeing how important airport screening is to national security (please...) I thought it best to remind readers just how utterly incompetent the TSA is.

Fellow gunblogger Breda flew to the NRA convention in Phoenix in May 09', forgetting her Gerber Mini Paraframe in her carry-on during both legs of the trip. The TSA missed it. They groped her, humiliated her, and were of course concerned about her dangerous prosthesis, yet they missed a knife in her carry-on. The TSA is a massive, expensive, bureaucratic nightmare. Like most government bureaucracies, they are utterly incompetent.

The TSA misses things like knives in carry-on's with some regularity. Oh, and fake bombs too.

The Feds of course downplay all of this, with Napolitano saying the scanners are safe and pat-downs discreet. Bullshit. Discreet? Nothing about Breda's experiences was discreet and she is not alone.  We also know that the scanners put out far more radiation than the government claims.

Even if the TSA were 100% effective at catching anything that could conceivably be used as a weapon on board a flight the blatant 4th Amendment violations would not be worth it. I will not trade my rights for the illusion of security. Unfortunately it seems many of my fellow Americans are eager to do exactly that.

It seems the TSA is becoming even more power hungry and is telling the State of Texas "Let us grope your women & children or else!"  And as if they couldn't get worse than groping librarians and young girls, they've now upped the ante and started groping babies.  When will this bullshit end?  When will people grow some balls, stand up and say "Enough!?" Why are my fellow Americans putting up with it?

Quote of the day - essential bottoms

"The essence of life is the smile of round female bottoms, under the shadow of cosmic boredom."


- Guy de Maupassant
 
Anyone who says big round butts are the essence of life is cool in my book!  I hear the big man upstairs is a fan of Honkeus Donkeus too.  And the lord said unto them, "may your Monday be full of wonder and happiness and may round female bottoms smile upon you!"

A Non-eventful Open Carry non-event

Today was Open Carry Day.  The entire purpose of today was for people to open carry, go about their business like normal and show that hey, nothing happened!  Open carry is no big deal.

I can happily report that I open carried all day and nothing happened. (for the most part)

I left the apartment this morning around 11AM to pickup a carry-out order from Pizza Hut since they're doing a $10 large one topping deal.  So I strapped on the 1911, changed clothes after spilling grease on my grey shirt, packed a few things to head to my parents house and went down Kirkwood Highway to Pizza Hut. I stopped at Speedy gas.  No one there said a word about the Dan Wesson.  I got further down Kirkwood Highway and realized "shit! I can't carry into Pizza Hut!"  You see, Anna P. Mote school is right behind Pizza Hut. (I should know, I went to school there.) So, I had to pullover, disarm, stow the gun in the trunk and pickup my pizza with an empty holster.  How dumb is that?

I turned to head the back way to my parents and then realized that'd take me straight through a school zone, so I turned around and backtracked to their house.  Again, thank you stupid gun laws.  On the way I stopped at Charcoal Pit for a milkshake, where it was completely dead.  The waitress did the whole "bug eyes" thing and kept her eyes glued to my hip but otherwise said and did nothing.  I spent most of my afternoon landscaping and mulching at my parents house since I'd promised them I'd get that done.  No neighbors freaked out and called the cops over my Stainless 1911 glistening in the sun.

Later in the afternoon my mother, poppop, and both of my younger sisters headed to Newark to grab lunch and check out my youngest sisters brand new apartment.  I passed a few people in her building who either didn't notice or didn't care.  Either way it was uneventful.

We then headed down Main Street & had lunch at one of my all-time favorite spots, Iron Hill Brewery.  Laura & Chris can attest to how awesome Iron Hill is.  It was a nice day so folks were eating outside.  As I walked in I heard someone eating outside say to his buddy "that guy has a gun" to which his buddy responded "yeah, that's a nice 1911."  That's the only comment anyone made all day about the gun, at it wasn't even directed at me.  I did notice a few stares, which obviously comes with the territory.  For all I know they could've been staring at my limp.

A man open carried a full-sized stainless 1911 in dress pants and a polo shirt and nothing happened, which is exactly as it should be.

This was my 1st time OC'ing at Iron Hill and my first time OC'ing in Newark.  It's a college town, where University of Delaware campus is.  I was in a very liberal enclave of a blue state where the university only recently allowed campus police to open carry, and yet still nothing happened.  I was a nice day and I was happy to get to hangout with my poppop again.*

*Poppop mentioned that my 1911 is much, much nicer than the one he was issued during his service in WWII.. :)

Looks like the two awesome ladies who contacted me to get this non-event going had nice, non-eventful days open carrying today too.  Glad to see it!

Open Carry Day

Today is June 5th.  It's Open Carry day, so go about your daily business OC'ing today and make it a non-event!

New Carry Rig!

Dennis from Dragon Leatherworks made me this beautiful custom OC rig for my Dan Wesson 1911.  I will be wearing this one for tomorrow's Open Carry Non-event.  A review will be forthcoming after I've worn it for more than a few minutes. This is a quality holster.  Pictures just do not do it justice.

Quote of the day - Tyranny

"Tyranny in little bite sized pieces is still tyranny."

-Jennifer commenting at Weer'd's.

Yup, but then Tyranny shoved down your throat all at once is harder to swallow than little pieces at a time.  Also, it gets the populace accustomed to being force fed without choking.

The Cute

Because it's Friday and we just got done talking about T&A here's a cute picture of a pussy. Y'know, if kittens didn't become cats and I wasn't mildly allergic I might consider having one. They are pretty darn cute, I'm just more of a dog person.

T&A and guns, oh my!

I like T&A as much as the next guy (emphasis on the latter) but personally, I consider a company trying to hawk their product to me by way of flashing skantilly clad women in my face to be an insult to my intelligence.  It's also a poor marketing strategy if you want the business of the fairer sex, which I think is the point Breda was trying get across.

Let's look at another business.  Hooters. Hooters entire business model is based upon T&A.  Hooters knows they're losing out on the women market and they're entirely OK with that. The food is atrocious.  It is so bad that there's literally no reason to go to a Hooters.  I also find the entire business of ogling women working at such establishments to be kind of sleazy.  It's like Hooters is saying "Our product sucks, but we're going to dangle some skin in front of you so you'll buy our crap, you dumb neanderthal." 

That doesn't work on me, but judging by Hooters continued success it obviously works on plenty of poor saps. You can dangle a perfect bubblebutt in front of me and I'm still going to be lucid enough to know that your food tastes like the hairy graying cook with old balls lathered it in jock strap juice.  Thanks but no thanks.

I'm generally not a fan of the dolled-up, eye candy "booth babe" concept.  Sticking ass in my face is nice and all, but it's not going to make we want to buy your product.  I can recall the eye candy booth babe being a fixture in the car scene when I was younger as well.  I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. This may surprise some readers, but I actually find it more annoying than anything.  If we were talking about personable, enthusiastic, intelligent, knowledgeable sales reps who just happen to be attractive instead of just girls put there to be eye candy I'd be more supportive of the practice.

Apparently I'm in the in the minority here as a young, straight male consumer because evidence says throwing T&A in our face does work.  Hell, maybe it even works on me, subconsciously, at a base level. That said, women are the fastest growing consumer demographic in the shooting sports.  It might just be a good idea to employ marketing strategies that make them comfortable and attempt to bring them into what has been traditionally male dominated crowd  I don't think randomly throwing young eye candy who like rule 3 violations into the mix is the way to accomplish that.

Who knows though, maybe having events with a bunch of shirtless Jason Statham and Gerard Butler look-a-likes carrying 1911's and big, long barrett 50 cal.'s will fight the "boys club" stereotype and provide the impetus for more women to get involved in the gun culture?  Maybe they need shirtless Robert Pattinson look-a-likes instead?*

*totally off-topic, but a videogame where you play as a scantily clad Buffy or Willow and run around dispatching pale, effeminate, sparkly-studded vampires by all manner of gory & imaginative means would be awesome!  I'd stake his life on that idea!

Oh Pooh

Oh Pooh, I might just have to eat you.... with a little honey.  Yum.

H/T to Nerdalicious

Quote of the day - Thomas Paine

"Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing. "

-Thomas Paine - Rights of Man

My life with Cerebral Palsy Pt. 2 - Working out

When I started my New Year's Resolution back in January one of the first things my roommate asked me was what limitations I had.  He seemed genuinely concerned that there'd be things I couldn't do or that I might get hurt.  You get this a lot when you've got any kind of physical disability.  I had to continually tell DP not to worry about it.  "Treat me like any other person, and we'll find a way to work around any issues that might pop up," I said.

I think it's basic human nature for most people to want to limit you from the start out of a genuine sense of caution and concern.  I'm really not the least bit offended by this unless they're persistent and / or rude about it.  Hell, I know I've been guilty of it myself with others.  I honestly think it's a result of the other person being somewhat uninformed about your particular disability and / or overly concerned with your well-being.  Had my father gotten his way I'd never have played organized basketball growing up because I might get hurt.  He wouldn't have had any luck keeping me off a basketball court, and ironically my two concussions were suffered in inpromptu pickup games.

I'm usually at the gym 4-5 times a week and if I happen to skip on a particular day I'll alternate several different triceps & biceps exercises with pushups (100 minimum - total) followed by abs.

Truth be told there have been some issues that have cropped up as things have progressed. Because of poor balance I have to be extra careful when picking up / putting down weight.  My bum right ankle gives me issues doing squats, and arthritis in my joints, particularly my knees, hands and wrists is a constant source of frustration.  Since my right side is tighter I have problems getting into the correct position or getting proper full extension with my right arm.  Grip strength in that hand remains an issue. In short, sometimes my muscles just won't do what I want them to do. I work through those issues and adapt, just like I've always had to do.

 That said, I'm in pain regularly as it is, only now at least I'm getting something out of the pain. There are some exercises that I haven't tried yet because I'd rather not get hurt and my CP makes that more likely. I don't do any free standing squats with weights for example, since given my balance issues that'd be a great way to injure myself.  For the most part though, I've been able to do whatever exercises we've tried provided they didn't require significant balance.

Two of the major components of CP are muscle fatigue and weakness.  I'm simply starting from a point where I'm weaker than I'd be if I were a completely able-bodied 25 year old man.  My muscles are also going to fatigue faster when I push them.  I can't help that, all I can do is push my body past the point where it gives up and cries "uncle."  If there's one thing I know well it's pain, so pain from kicking my own ass doesn't bother me.  Mind over matter, if you will.

I'll admit, I tend to get frustrated about not seeing results to the extent I expect.  I think sometimes I give myself unrealistic expectations. I've gained about 15 pounds so far, and while I wanted to gain 25-30 by now 15 is still a lot of weight for me. The fact of the matter is that muscle growth depends on the stretching / contracting and breakdown / rebuilding of muscle tissue.  Since CP directly impacts the ability of the muscles to do such things it makes gaining muscle more difficult.  Since my right side is impacted to a greater extent and is already behind it becomes a real challenge to try to even things out.

I suppose I just need to stop being so damn critical of myself and instead just work my ass off and let my body respond however it's going to respond.  My goals coming into this were to get stronger, feel better, and gain weight.  I've accomplished all three of those to at least some extent.  If my chest is a little uneven or my left calf is twice the size of my right then fuck it.  I'm probably hypercritical of myself anyway.

Hey, if I can go from concentration camp victim skinny to actually having muscles in the span of 5 months then so can you, so quit making excuses and start kicking your own ass today!  You'll feel better once you do.  Trust me!

*This is a series of posts.  See part 1 here.

Recovery?

If you listen to the media or the Obama Administration you'd be sure we are in a "recovery"  Funny, because I don't think most average American's feel that way, especiallly when you look at consumer confidence.

 Imagine that, people are worried about jobs, income, and....rising prices.  Sure sounds like a "recovery" to me, and yet what does the Obama Administration want to do?  Oh, just raise the debt ceiling again so we can continue to ramp up government spending and drive the country over a cliff. Luckily that failed.  Is it just me or do Liberals see government spending as the default solution to everything, no matter the circumstances or the harm it causes?

I shall return

Somehow I went to the beach last weekend, visited Dogfish Head in Rehoboth Beach, but missed out on this!  The Ice Cream Store has bacon ice cream and yet I walked right past the place.  I'll have to try it when I'm down later this month.

Disarm the cops

Posting this one from drafts.... I guess I forgot to publish it.

Minnesota is pushing a bill that would remove the onus on homeowners should they be in the unfortunate situtation where they have to shoot someone breaking into their homes.  The usual suspects are trotting out the usual unsubstantiated crap about "shoot first" laws and how dangerous the law change would be.  All the law does it make sure that the legal system does not burden the homeowner should he have to use force to defend his home in self-defense.  It's not a "shoot first" law nor a "license to murder" no matter how much the lying anti-gunners claim it is.  If someone breaks into your home they're not their to sit down and have milk & cookies.

Minnesota Police Chief Tim Dolan is parrotting anti-gun talking points.  He opened his mouth and spewed forth a steady stream of crap  This kind of crap has been spewed by Police Chiefs and anti-gunners nationwide anytime gun laws are eased or carry is made easier.  Each and everytime their fearmongering is shown to be without merit.  None of what they whine about ever happens, however crime does go down.

To quote Chief Dolan,

"The presumption that someone who carries a gun is safer is false. A study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine* found that those without guns are four times safer than those with guns when confronted by an armed assailant......Please do not be naïve about guns. If you are extremely not well trained and capable of retraining a weapon while under physical assault, you are much more likely to be shot or killed by the very gun you carry."

Ok Chief Dolan, if those without guns are 4 times safer when confronted by an armed assailant than those with guns, then I expect you to direct all members of the Minnesota Police Department to turn in their guns immediately.   I mean, since you obviously believe carrying a gun makes a person less safe than being unarmed.  We all know that "study" is bunk. Also, he's talking about carry outside of the home, which is completely irrelevant to the Castle Doctrine law.

As usual we see anti-gunners in positions of authority spouting bullshit fearmongering that isn't backed up by facts or reality.  I wonder, what would Chief Dolan do if some degenerate broke into his home at 2AM one night?  Somehow I think he might have his duty pistol on him in such an event.

*Upenn is on the Joyce Foundation payroll, so it goes without saying that any "study" they do is going to be anti-gun