...examined some more, cleaned, reassembled and put back into the box ready for the range. My brand spanking new Glock 26 is ready to be test fired and then broken in. I have it and 500 rounds of Speer 115 gr. Gold Dot ammunition ready for a quick trip to the range tomorrow. I had been thinking of going to the outdoor range, but since tomorrow promises to be one of those sultry summer days near 90 with lots of oppressive hum-a-didity, I figure a trip to the indoor range will be in order. I seem to remember they have A/C, but that could be my muddled middle aged memory and wishful thinking playing tricks on me. Anyhow, the indoor range is better for test firing a pistol, I can shoot when I please not needing to wait for a firing session and not needing to stop for intermittent ceasefires as at the outdoor range.
I figure 400-500 rounds through it tomorrow should pretty much let me know if there are going to be any problems. I don't anticipate any, but I think it pays for me to be on the safe side with something I may later use to protect my life. I would rather find out it is going to fail at the range, than when I need it in the clutch. Of course, putting a few hundred rounds through it at the range is no absolute guarantee that the pistol will not fail when I need it, but if those 400 rounds go through it without a problem, then chances are the pistol was made right and will be dependable. That many rounds through a new pistol is usually enough to cause any potential bugs to crawl out of the woodwork and show themselves. It is a prudent expenditure of ammunition when you consider the alternative of bringing into the field not sufficiently broken in and then having it fail when you need it. Since I get the ammo for free it is not much of an expenditure for me at all - some free ammo - but little cash - just the local range fee.Now I just need to make sure I make the time for me to get to the range. That should be on the easier side on a Sunday, but heavens know sometimes things don't turn out as we hope. I am hoping though that all will go well, and that I'll be able to come back here to post a great range report with a smile on my face.All the best,Glenn B
Yep, I said it and I truly mean it. You see, after hurricanes Andrew (remember that one), Katrina and any others to hit the USA within let's say the last 25 years, it should have become apparent - even to the mildly to moderately maybe even to severely brain dead - that hurricanes and there aftermaths are things that one should take seriously, and are things that one should respect and fear. So when ample warning is given that a big one is on it way, and when government officials decide that it is time to issue mandatory evacuation notices days before the hurricane, yet thousands of assholes decide to weather out the storm in defiance of both the evacuation order and the wrath of Mother Nature - then I say to hell with them. I mean it too, and if not literally then at least with regard to paying any attention to them at all once the storm has gotten close enough to make it dangerous for rescuers to try to remove them out of harm's way.
According to the mud slinging news broadcasting company MSNBC at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26637482?GT1=43001, there were 250,000 morons people who did not flee the path of Hurricane Ike over the past couple of days. Well, as those people were probably betting, Hurricane Ike did not hit land as a category 3 hurricane as was predicted by goobermint government officials. No sireee, thems was schmart peepels, da goobermint were wrong and dey waZ rite. Well only to an extent. You see although Ike was weaker than expected when it reached landfall, it was powerful enough to dump tons of rain, and to push lots and lots and lots of water. There has been a lot of flooding already, reportedly thousands of homes are flooded, just check the news. There are other problems too such as fires breaking out, and roads washing away. Imagine that you good citizens jerks who stayed behind - floods and fires at the same time - houses submerged, roads washed away - what were you all thinking when you stayed. I bet I can guess. You were probably thinking the government is full of assholes idiots and that once they said it would be "certain death" to remain behind, well you just had to prove them wrong. Okay, I'll agree they were wrong. It was not certain death if you stayed behind, and it never turned into a category 3 hurricane as it hit landfall as they had predicted. Now what? Who knows, maybe some buildings will be blown down, just collapse, or wash away too; maybe some of you will get yourselves killed. You see they were at least also partly correct - there has been a lot of flooding.
One thing is for sure about the 'now what' question I just asked. Many of you who remained behind have added to the flood problem by wetting your pants and by crying. You, the big bunch of macho meatheads, who made a conscious decision to defy the evacuation order, are now frantically calling for help. Yep, maybe it was not as bad as those idiotic goobermint officials told you it would be, but it sure was a heck of a lot worse than many of you self proclaimed meteorologists thought it was going to be - wasn't it! If not, then why are so many of you flooding the telephone lines and airwaves (in the case of cell phones) with your frantic calls for help. Why are you looking to be rescued. Why are you, who were so absolutely foolish in the first place as to have remained within the path of the storm, now 100 percent prepared place the lives of rescue workers in danger to save your own sorry behinds? There is no sound reason within the realm of logic that these rescue workers should come to your aid before the storm has subsided completely. While there is no such reason at all, you can bet they will come. Most of them will be from that very same government who's call to evacuate you did not heed, that very same government that you believe to be full of idiots, that very same government you loathe and detest and mistrust. Yet my bet is: that until they come you will cry for help again and again; once they arrive you will scream "here I am, here I am, save me, save me" while you ignore others who need help too; and after they save you and bring you to safety and give you food, water and shelter - you will curse them as if there is no tomorrow for what you will claim to be their incompetence, their sloth in rescuing you, their racism in deciding whom to rescue, their floundering in overall organization, and whatever else of which you can think with which to slam them; and you and the mud slinging media will do so in a harmony that could rival the majesty of any choir with voices loud enough to be heard in heaven.
If I were in charge though things would be different. There would be no rescues; and I mean that. At least no rescues while there was any remaining threat from the storm to the rescuers. Once that threat had subsided, then a roundup could begin. Yes I said a roundup, and I do not mean it as a rescue as much as a mass arrest. Sure, those injured or in need of medical treatment would be rescued. All others would also be taken out of the area. Then all of them would be arrested to face any applicable criminal or administrative charges. Time and time again, it has been assholes people like those who defy such evacuation orders who cause other lives to be put at jeopardy. There is no reason that any first responder should have his or her life jeopardized because of another person's consensual, preplanned, defiance of proper government authority. Now don't get me wrong. Yes I work for the government, but I am no advocate of big government, nor of government sticking its nose where it does not belong. I do however believe that one of the main purposes of government is to protect the people. In that regard government builds up and maintains the military, and they also build up and maintain rescue forces such as the Coast Guard, police departments, fire departments, ambulance corps, search and rescue teams and so on. In that way, the government is 100% justified and right in issuing evacuation orders when the evidence suggests a major natural catastrophe is about to befall its citizenry. If you do not heed the government at times like that, well then you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The truly sad thing though is that the government is not likely to prosecute you unless you rape, rob, pillage or plunder during or after the storm. Even then, prosecution seems unlikely because those in government apparently have 250,000 defiant assholes citizens with which to deal. Officials will send out rescuers, yes even into still stormed upon areas, to seek out those in need; those who placed themselves into a situation, and now pull others into a situation, that presents a major threat of death or serious bodily injury. What a friggin shame. And do you know why politicians and other government officials will send in rescuers? They will do so because they are afraid of the yammering that will take place if they don't. You knew that, and that is one of the things that consciously or unconsciously swayed many of you to stay behind - that is you bastards uncaring as to consequence of your actions types.
You also knew that if told to do so, the rescuers would come for you. With the rescuers though, for the great part at least, they do not come because they are afraid of the yammering. You see, they realize that you will yammer, bitch, moan, and complain no matter what, so if they do a good job or a poor job they will still face your wrath after the rescue. They know that most of you will in some way hold them, at least in part, responsible for your self induced ills. They know that the politicians and other officials who ordered them into harm's way are just a bunch of old windbags themselves, and that the windbags will wag tongues at them too. Yes, they know all of this, but yet they come for you. They come for you the defiant, you the moronic, you the foolish, you the complainers, you who put their lives at risk in the first place. They will come because they are brave, because they are ethical, because they are moral, because they are good, because they for some reason, beyond the grasp of most ordinary men and women, see you as being worth the effort, worth the sweat, worth the risk even though it was you who put them at risk in the first place by your own choice. Can even you imagine why they come for you since it was by your decision to remain in the path of the storm and to defy the evacuation order that they will be put at risk.
If it was up to me you would cry for help until the flood waters subsided, until the winds died away, and until the sun had been shining for at least a couple of days. You see, in my opinion, you, and I mean all 250,000 of you combined, are not worth one life of one rescuer or first responder. You are not even worth a single drop of blood that one of them may shed due to a scratch received in the effort to save you. Yet I, and thousands of others no doubt, have already volunteered to come if needed. Why? Well because it is not up to me, at least not up to the purely logical side of me. No, there will be no one forcing me to come if I am needed, as I said I volunteered. Yet as I said, it is not up to me. You see, I live by something called a moral code, and ethical lifestyle, a belief that it is worthwhile to save my fellow Americans of all creeds, etnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, political parties and leanings and so forth. Heck I'll even save, without hesitation, those who are not Americans. Yet those same beliefs make it a gut wrenching experience anytime that I see even one rescuer lose his or her life or get injured while trying to save someone who made a determined and conscious effort to keep themselves within harm's way and just be an out and out asshole trouble maker.
Yes, if it was up to the more logical side of me, the first responders would not be coming for you today, and probably not tomorrow either. It would probably not be until the next day that you would have a chance of being rescued. You see, we would all be better off if the rescue was withheld until there was minimal danger presented to the rescuers. We would be better off if you had to wait days for saving, possibly even a day or two without food and clean water. We would be better off if you suffered for your sins transgressions against logic, law and authority. We would be better off because if the politicians had the balls temerity to do so, well you might just learn a lesson this time around. Then maybe the next time you, and others like you, would not be so ready to put others at risk to save your sorry asses people like you who don't think about the consequences of your actions or who just don't care about those consequences. If so much as one rescuer loses his or her life during the sure to come rescue operations, well then all of you should be held accountable. It is a shame there are people like you out there, and more shameful yet that there are those who bend over backward to kiss your asses bottom ends, and most shameful of all is that someone will be put at risk may lose a life or be seriously injured trying to save YOU. Yet they will come, you know it and I know it; and they will save lives, lives that foolishly put themselves and others at risk. It is one of the great ironies of our times. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves so much so that you never purposely do anything as foolish again, but again we both know it, that is we both you will not be shamed into a change of your ways. Isn't it ironic! You can bet it is.
With hope for the best,
Glenn B
...examined some more, cleaned, reassembled and put back into the box ready for the range. My brand spanking new Glock 26 is ready to be test fired and then broken in. I have it and 500 rounds of Speer 115 gr. Gold Dot ammunition ready for a quick trip to the range tomorrow. I had been thinking of going to the outdoor range, but since tomorrow promises to be one of those sultry summer days near 90 with lots of oppressive hum-a-didity, I figure a trip to the indoor range will be in order. I seem to remember they have A/C, but that could be my muddled middle aged memory and wishful thinking playing tricks on me. Anyhow, the indoor range is better for test firing a pistol, I can shoot when I please not needing to wait for a firing session and not needing to stop for intermittent ceasefires as at the outdoor range.
I figure 400-500 rounds through it tomorrow should pretty much let me know if there are going to be any problems. I don't anticipate any, but I think it pays for me to be on the safe side with something I may later use to protect my life. I would rather find out it is going to fail at the range, than when I need it in the clutch. Of course, putting a few hundred rounds through it at the range is no absolute guarantee that the pistol will not fail when I need it, but if those 400 rounds go through it without a problem, then chances are the pistol was made right and will be dependable. That many rounds through a new pistol is usually enough to cause any potential bugs to crawl out of the woodwork and show themselves. It is a prudent expenditure of ammunition when you consider the alternative of bringing into the field not sufficiently broken in and then having it fail when you need it. Since I get the ammo for free it is not much of an expenditure for me at all - some free ammo - but little cash - just the local range fee.
