Training Day and I Got Lit Up...

...as in shot but that is okay because I got the drop on em first. We had a Simunitions training day today covering different sorts of entries. I will not go into the details, cannot go into the details, but can say it was a good learning experience. As a matter of fact, I am hopeful that not only the 'students' got something out of it today but that the instructors did so too. You see, at the end of the day the instructors decided to show us how they would clear one of the same training houses we had worked on today. I immediately volunteered to be an armed roll player. Some of them remembered me from last time I was here and they should have immediately guessed I had something up my sleeve; heck just my volunteering as fast as I did should have given it away. When they almost decided to do it as an unarmed role play my heart was heavy. When they again announced it would be with Simunitions I was perked up again. This was not because I wanted to make someone go ouch, but rather because if my nefarious plan worked then I would, as a bad guy, impart something to some one that could help them survive a similar real life scenario. The sting of a Simunitions round makes for a very definitive and positive learning experience that one does not soon forget when you remember it could have been a real bad guy with a real live round.

Well anyway, they did their entry, and they were clearing the rooms as they would normally do, and I opened up on one of them with at least three shots from a Sig 229 with Simunitions - all three were hits. I am not going to tell you where I was hiding, if only because I don't ever want to be surprised, or have another officer surprised, by someone in that same spot (although I always check that spot myself) because I gave out the info on it. What I can say is this: After I shot the agent three times, I heard him yell out:

"Shit - there is one in the -----" (not even the correct number of dashes was just given to match the number of letters in the word, or was it the correct amount). At that point, I was discovered and I was shot at least 5 and maybe 6 times with Simunitions. One got me in the knuckle of the right index finger and I will readily admit it smarted, another got a knuckle on my left hand, a few hit protected areas. I think the instructors were somewhat surprised by my hiding spot, one even tried to say no one would ever have time to hide thee is a raid was underway, but I beg to differ having once found a guy in the very same spot. Not common to be sued as a hiding spot but definitely a spot that needs to be checked.

I was not trying to be a wise ass, although I'll admit I knew I was going beyond the norm in my selection of spots. I was trying to make this a learning experience for all involved, though to tell the truth I thought for sure I would be found out before I could shoot. The reason I figured I would be found out before being able to shoot was because as a roll player I had to do a 2 one thousand count (okay to shoot after 2 one thousand) with someone in my sights, who was unaware of me, before I could shoot. Heck I went all the way to 3 one thousand before shooting. I just thought for sure someone would see me before then. Why the time? After all this was a training exercise not the real deal and the goal is to get LEOs to learn not to just bushwhack them. Despite and extra one one thousand count though, I got off at least three, maybe 4 shots before I was shot several times, yanked from my hiding spot (with more force than I think was supposed to have been used - but folks do get fired up even when shot with only Simunitions) and brought to the floor pretty hard.

I know that from now on I am a marked man at any future training sessions with these same guys. That is okay by me if even one person learned anything from what I did, where I hid, and how I got the drop on at least one of the good guys in the exercise. If anyone learned a lesson today from it, it may just go to save that person's life somewhere down the road. Never go in thinking you know it all, or like it is routine, or even like it is just an exercise cause if you do, you are sure to be bitten in the ass or worse.

The only other thing I would say about the Simunitions is that when those rounds hit bare flesh they sure can sting. Ouch my aching knuckles.

Great group of folks, great team members, great instructors, great training, all in all an excellent day.

The only possible downside to the whole day is that my team is on call until much later tonight. Sort of ruins what amounts to our Friday night, but this is a long weekend so we will have plenty of time for fun,

All the best,
Glenn B

On The Passing of a Friend Whom I Never Met

It is amazing, at least to me, how much one person can become connected to another even though neither has ever met the other in person. It happens when people connect with one another over distances such as Pen-Pals in days of old, and by way of the Internet today. I never met Clay Bond, I did not even know his name until today. I knew him only as The Right Wing Professor of Right Wing Nation, and as of late by way of his blog Central Pennsylvania Orthodox. His last post, Glorious Nativity, was on December 26. He passed from this earth on January 7 a victim of cancer. Hopefully his blogs will remain in place for some time to come so others can enjoy his wit, his insight, his politics, his love of sports, his support for our troops and love of country, his outlook on the big and little things in life and on life itself, and the courage with which he faced impending and certain death and told us the details. If the comments sections of his blogs, and his link list (see the link list he had on his Right Wing nation blog) are any indication, then he was affected by and affected a very large number of people though his Internet connections. He was, as an old time saying goes: A Man Among Men and an honorable one at that.

I would have liked to have met him in person, he lived in Pennsylvania, it could have been a day trip to meet at a range, or maybe for a coffee or a beer somewhere. I guess that opportunity is lost to me. If you get such an opportunity, to meet someone you want to meet, jump at it or face the prospect of waking up one day and finding out it is too late. He will be missed.

My condolences to his family, loved ones and friends.

All the best,
Glenn B

Phoenix - 2nd Impressions - Getting Better

Well, I stand by my first impressions of the City of Phoenix at least with regard to it not having what I would consider a centralized heart of the city kind of a thing. It makes for a sterile or cold feeling (even though the temps have been quite warm compared to what I am used to in January). That may all be because I am used to the hustle and bustle of more densely populated areas, or maybe because Phoenix is really spread out even where sort of centralized.

I also stand by my assessment of some of the drivers in the state of AZ. It seems there are a group of them who go out of their way to be jerks and who instead of giving other drivers a break try to screw them. The amount of drivers like that seems inordinate compared to all the rest of the drivers here and in other places where I have driven - even NYC.

So what is there on which to dwell any further in my assessment of this city. Well, there is the people of Phoenix and the surrounding areas. The cultural mix is one made up mostly of Western Europeans, Hispanics, American Indians, and African Americans. So far, my dealings with almost anyone I have met have been pleasant. People I have dealt with in businesses such as restaurants, supermarkets, other retail stores are all pretty polite or have been so to me. That does a good amount to make up for the small group of psycho drivers (and they are a small group compared to all of the drivers here, just rather large when compared to their own kind elsewhere) and to make up for the lack of a soul of the city caused by all of the urban sprawl without any apparent (or very few apparent) neighborhood centers (other than shopping centers or malls).

Some of the places to which I have been to date should get some special recognition for one thing or another. I wish I could remember all of the names of the restaurants in which I have eaten but I don't. I'll take better care I the future so I can report on them here. I will mention a couple of bars I have visited. As usual, they are often the warmest places one can visit when in a city that is foreign to the traveler; they can also be the harshest of places to visit. Lucky for me, the former was the case with each I have enjoyed to date.

I highly recommend The Turf Restaurant & Pub on 1st Street in the downtown area (or maybe its on the edge of the down town area). It is run, if I got it right, by an Irish American gentleman. They have a pretty good selection of beers, ales and ciders, and a good selection of hard liquor. They have more scotches and Irish Whiskeys than you normally see at 5 bars combined but alas no Knappogue Castle Single Malt Irish Whiskey (my favorite hard spirit). When I asked about it the bartender wrote down the name of it to ask the owner if he could get it. That would be a treat for me as I am trying to keep beer, ales and ciders to a minimum now that I have started a diet. Whiskey does not contain any carbohydrates, it can go well with dieting so long as you do not drink to excess thereby losing your inhibitions and then stuffing yourself with bar food. As far as their food goes, I have not tried it yet. I am working late and think the kitchen has been closed when I have arrived there. So far the best bartender I have met in Phoenix works at this place, a hat tip to Aaron - he pours decent to excellent pint of Guinness although I'd rather be, and had been, drinking the Magner's Cider or the Franziskaner Hefe Weisse Bier (but alas the diet so it has to be limited from now on and whiskey may be the required spirit for the duration with a break now and then for a pint of something heavier).

I also hit up another Irish pub, Seamus McCaffrey's Irish Pub & Restaurant, this one in central downtown on Monroe Street. I paid more attention to the Scotch selection in this bar and think they may have the edge over The Turf, that even though I was told they are owned by the same publican. It too has a restaurant which I did not yet have the chance to enjoy, and also had a good selection of beers, ales, ciders and harder spirits. Looks like a good place to spend part of a Friday night, so long as the other part is spent at The Turf .

As far as eating out goes, I did some so far but have been eating my own cooking too. for the My own cooking has consisted of things like a pork roast & chicken thigh combo with 3 or 4 different kinds of onions, 3 different kinds of mini-potatoes (including one with black skin and purple flesh) and a few seasonings (garlic powder, salt, pepper and cinnamon powder) all slow roasted in a pot (or should I say stewed). Mmmmm - good. Like I said, as far as restaurants go, I cannot remember the names, but I will post about them when they do come to mind or after I visit them again and remember to ask for a business card from each. So far the best by far has been a Vietnamese Restaurant where some coworkers and I enjoyed for lunch one day. Funny, I work in and live close to NYC with its wide variety of restaurants and do not remember ever eating in a Vietnamese restaurant before despite always having meant to do so. I'll tell you more about my experience there when i get the name of the place. Pretty much good news on a Thai restaurant in which we had lunch; a good experience in both.

Next weekend, I will probably do another review of bars and restaurants that I visit during the upcoming week and tell you more about the feel I have developed for the city of Phoenix. I also hope to get out and about to some other not too distant berg and the local countryside to see what I can see, enjoy what I can enjoy, and just get to know more of what I can get to know. Once I know about it, I;ll let you know too. Hopefully I'll find a nice Hofbrau Haus to tell you all about.

All the best,
Glenn B

Shock and Awe - Part 2...

...or is it just going to be shock. The White House is telling us that there is an imminent announcement to be made that will shock all Americans concerning the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the Northwest Airline's flight From Nigeria-Amsterdam to Detroit. Well, not much would shock me on the subject although I will admit a few shocking possibilities do come to mind:

For example, I would be shocked to hear:

The president say that a U.S. Government official was complicit in the bombing attempt and then actually have real unadulterated evidence to back-up his allegations.

That the government is going to profile Islamic men and women from now on in order to safeguard Americans.

That the U.S. will go full force in the Global War on Terrorism (heck even that they admit there is such a thing would be amazing).

I would also be shocked to learn that Janet Napolitano has resigned because of admitted incompetence.

Furthermore I would be shocked to learn that Attorney General Eric Holder has also admitted that he is incompetent and has resigned.

That the National Security Advisor James Jones has stepped down because of admitted incompetence.

In addition, I would be shocked to learn that President Obama has admitted that all or anyone, of the above are/is incompetent (least shocking would be for him to oust Napalitano).

About the only other thing that would shock me would be if President Obama announces that he is going to retire because he is incompetent and note I am not commenting on whether or not I believe him incompetent but as to whether or not he will admit it and then retire.

Things that would not shock me would be:

I would not be shocked to learn:

That a U.S. Government official, foreign government official, or airline employee has been thrown to the wolves as a scapegoat based on trumped up charges.

That gross incompetence on the part of a government employee, his boss, that bosses superiors, all the way up the chain caused this screw up and led to this terrorist being allowed to fly (but it would shock me to hear the president actually admit this, especially the part about incompetence going to the top).

That a few other terrorists had been arrested on the same day before being allowed to board other flights to the USA.

That the guy was loaded with the Ebola virus and now has infected others in the U.S..

That Nancy Pelosi blames George W. Bush for this.

That the Republicans blame the Democrats or that the Democrats blame the Republicans.

That the terrorist got the explosives on the aircraft and did not bring them on with him.

That passengers will have to go through a full strip search and body cavity search each and every time they fly.

That the presidential administration says the terrorist was innocent and that the guy who prevented him from blowing up the plane was the real bad guy in the administration's viewpoint.

Of course, there are lots of other possibilities that would not shock me. I suppose there also are a couple of other things that might shock me. One would be that Osama bin Laden has turned himself in because this last event made him feel awful. No I was just wrong, there are not a couple of other things that come to mind that would shock me, just that one last thing completed the list but it ain't gonna happen.

All the best,
Glenn B

Phoenix - First Impressions This Trip

I've been here in Phoenix for a week now. I have been here before too, at least4 or 5 other times. Each time I visit, I gt the same feeling - I much prefer Tucson. Phoenix is a pretty big city. It has a big downtown area that is surrounded by a lot of urban sprawl. Despite all of the sprawl, and all of the cars in the parking lots all around town, which would mean there are a lot of people here, downtown often gives the impression, at least to me, of a large post-apocalyptic wasteland city. I find it cold and lacking soul, and I guess that is best evidenced in the fact that you rarely see anyone walking on the streets. Even in the middle of a business day, when the streets of cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, or Washington DC would be thronged with people both people who work in them and who are visiting them) the streets of Phoenix are pretty much empty - soulless. Of course there are a few folks out and about. I would estimate that about 75% of the handful I have seen each day are driving. Mind you, even though the percentage I just mentioned seems a high one it is only in relation to the few people who are actually out and about. There is no traffic within the downtown area of Phoenix after 0900. Heck, there is not much during the traditional rush hour either. As for the other 25% of the folks I see who are on the streets of Phoenix during a work day, well let me just say that about 80% of that 25% are less than desirable. Oh let me just say it - to me they look like bums, indigents, homeless dirtbags. They are what they are. Phoenix seems overrun by homeless at least when you compare the number that you see of them to the number of regular working folks you see out and about.

Of course, and what else would you expect, the apartment complex that my government employer has forced me to reside in for my 3 month stay in Phoenix is on the edge of downtown and right smack in the middle of an area that seems to be overrun by homeless or at least by bums ad dirtbags. I am kind of surprised that no one has tried to break into my ground floor apartment as of yet. If the do try while I am inside of it - well then - they will get a surprise. If they do try while I am at work, then they will not find much. I have already been approached by a few looking for handouts. I have see one guy, in virtual rags, walk into the outside smoking or patio area of a bar/restaurant and start scrounging on tables at which people were sitting. Not one person at those tables said a word to him. Had he walked up to my table and put his filthy gloved hands on my food, there would have been one heck of a commotion is I will say.

The other thing that bugs me about Phoenix, is that despite having a large downtown area, and despite having a university or three, there are no truly well defined areas that cater to drinkers and diners. Everything is spread out and everything or almost everything seems to be set helter-skelter as if mushrooms popping up in damp doody that was excreted at random intervals in the woods. What can I say, not a pretty picture but it is the way it seems to me. What I mean is this - there is no theater district, no restaurant row, no area with a lot of bars within a few blocks, and so forth - at least none that I have encountered within the past week. Yeah, there is an area on the east side of downtown where there are a few to several bars. I walked over there on new year's Eve. Two bars looked packed to the rafters. About three others I saw had a grand total of about 30 patrons betwixt them. Folks, this was at about 0:30 to 11:00PM - a time when the partiers and revelers should have been out in force. Where are all the people of phoenix. Why does walking the streets of Phoenix at night, or even at mid-day, give me the feeling I am in a city in which the zombies have already eaten the great majority of he population, so much so that they have moved on to other feeding grounds because the pickings here are too slim?

My assessment of Phoenix may not make me any friends among they who live and or work here, but that is the impression I get. I would really rather be in Tucson. At least in Tucson, there are areas that seem devoted to certain themes. For example there are one or two antiques areas with many antiques stores, if not within a short walk of each other at least within a short drive of one another. There is a university area that looks as if there is a university with some off campus life around it. For example there are many restaurants and bars near the university along with a few clothing boutiques, coffee shops, and bookstores. While much of Tucson is spread out - there are islands or clusters of businesses that seem geared toward a particular theme for the area in which they exist. I don't just mean at malls either, hell there are lots of malls in Tucson as well as in Phoenix. I tend to shun them when looking for place to enjoy my day, preferring areas where I can take a walk outside. What Tucson has that Phoenix seems to lack are neighborhood centers of activity.

Now mind you, there are some areas like this near Phoenix. For example there is Tempe. Wow!. What a nice little town. It is not as sprawling as either Tucson or Phoenix, is much smaller in size and population than either I would imagine, but it offers much more than Phoenix seems to offer with regard to nice little shops, restaurants and bars all centrally located. I was there a couple of days ago, I think on Sunday, and there were literally thousands of people out and walking about. Obviously there was some special event taking place, but folks I was in downtown Phoenix and the surround areas on another night of a special event, New year's Eve, and Phoenix seemed like a ghost town at best. Thankfully Phoenix has a rapid transit system with rail service to Tempe. I will be using it on my weekends.

Now to be fair, I have been here only a week - so this is sort of my first impression. I say sort of because as I mentioned earlier on in this piece, I have been here before. It is virtually the same impression I get each time I visit. I can understand that in the heat of the summer, no one wants to be out and about. The thing is though, right now it has been in the 60s and 70s each day. The weather has been perfect. Perfect for what? Well for getting out and walking in the streets of what other that its apparent empty feeling is a fine looking and pretty amazingly clean city. The buildings are nice, if you like big city buildings with a modern flair, and I do. The streets are clean, no trash swirling in the breeze, no aromatic sewers, no wafting of the odor of doggie doody, no honking of horns from a madhouse of congested streets, but I have to say that does not make up for the soulless feeling I get here when I go for a walk here. It is, as far as the feel of the city itself goes, simply one of the coldest, most heartless cities I have ever visited.

Now mind you, don't get all riled up if you are a Phoenician (as I see you call yourselves). Most of the folks I have met here are just that - folks. They are, in other words, nice - regular - people. Most of them have been polite, well the ones i have met in person. Those on the road, driving in other cars, well quite a few of them have been dickheads. No other way to describe them except to say that they have no road courtesy, blow there horns for the least little annoyance, cut you off incessantly, tailgate as if they were fleeing the hordes of hades who are hot on their tails, and are pretty much discourteous drivers. That they do not show much courtesy while driving here is evidenced not so much even by their bad driving habits but more so even through their lack of appropriate response to road courtesies that other drivers give to them. When in a line of traffic, say stopped at a light, when the light turns green and traffic ahead of me starts to move, I have, several times already, allowed (or tried to allow)people who are attempting to enter the road from parking lot driveways to do so in front of me. I have sat there, a few times now, for up to 30 seconds, waiting for the other driver to enter the roadway and they sit there looking back at me like I am a nut waiting to broadside them once they enter the road. I have even waved several of them on, one guy waved back indicating he would not go. As soon as I went he screeched his wheels leaving the lot. This happens on the highway too while in traffic. Someone is in the next lane with directional signal on and indicating they want to move into my lane. i give them space, plenty of space, and as they look into their mirrors I signal they can change lanes. They do not, but once I close the gap, after having given them ample opportunity to change lanes, it is then that some of the try to squeeze in. That is not just me folks, I have seen it happen other drivers who were trying to be courteous. As for driving in traffic I have never, not in all my life, seen worse drivers in heavy traffic with the possible exception of those on the LA freeways or in Port Au Prince, Haiti. I suppose the worst infraction of driving courtesy though is tailgating when on the highway at highway speeds. This seems to be a statewide phenomenon though and not just a problem in Phoenix. Even drivers in new York city are more courteous on the roads and that even goes for NYC Yellow Cab drivers!

To me it seems the drivers in this state, especially in the larger cities, are very angry for some reason. Horn honking for any minor inconvenience is a frequent occurrence. For instance, I was making a left turn from a center lane, a turning lane. About 4 to 6 inches of my right rear bumper was still in the left lane. I had come upon the street on which I needed to turn and only realized it was the street at the last moment. Now despite the fact that the left lane, into which my bumper protruded, was rather a wide lane, a guy coming along behind me decided he had to swerve over toward my car and honk, keep honking as he passed me, then open his window and flip me the bird. It made me think maybe, just maybe he recognized me from some previous encounter or maybe as a Republican. No, the world is not that small a place, it was just a Phoenix driver being a peckerwood. This has happened three times so far. No I did not do the same thing each time. One other time I was entering a driveway of a gas station and had to stop partly still out in the street because the driver in front of me seemed dazed, confused, and not sure of where to pull up to get gas. Despite the fact that there were three lanes, empty lanes at that, on the side of the road from which I was exiting the roadway, the only other driver within sight had to swerve at me and blast his horn like a madman. The other incident was when I was entering the roadway from a driveway. I was not even out in the road, and a nut came racing up honking as if he expected me, or maybe was daring me, to drive out in front of him. He slowed as he passed me to almost a crawl. What is wrong with people liken that, and why does it seem to happen here so often. Others here on the same assignment as am I have also commented on the nutty and discourteous drivers here. I just do not get it. For the most part there is no traffic, except during the absolute height of rush hour, yet the drivers here act as if they are under the constant strain of heavy traffic and bad driving habits of others when such just could not possibly the the case. They just seem full of a wild eyed and frenzied rage that I simply do not understand if for no other reason that there seems to be no cause for it. I would think that the lack of traffic here at most times would make for happy drivers but somehow it seems to have had the reverse effect. I will admit, driving was much the same in Tucson. I will also admit, that it may be much more congested, and there may be a lot of lousy drivers, in New York City but must also point out there is a lot more common courtesy on the roads up that way and a lot less road rage when considering it all percentage wise or so it seems to me.

Oh well, those are over the course of my upcoming weekend, a better impression will be left upon me. Again, don't take me wrong, I still like it here despite those less than wonderful things I mentioned above, and I find the folks i have met to be courteous and nice and the city itself to be beautiful and clean (at least downtown) but there are some rather perplexing things that made there mark on me and led to the impressions I have had so far.

All the best,
Glenn B

New Year's Resolutions

I do not normally put much thought to New Year's resolutions but this year is a bit different. I have some failings I will be working on, hopefully to make myself a better husband, father and all round person. One thing I plan to do is to lose about 20 to 30 pounds. I have already started a diet, I cheated and started it last week. Exercise on a regular basis has already begun too, lightly at first but I imagine it will increase in frequency and in diffuiculty.

The rest are resolutions concerning personal failings, skeleton in the closet type things, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type things you could say (no violence though) so I will not go into them in detail here. I will say that I will be starting on improving with regard to them today, right now. A bit late already being on the third day of the New Year but I suppose there is no time like the present to get things done and since the present keeps ever marching on into the future I plan to stick with my resolutions for the whole year and onward.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Happy And Safer New Year Means Hitting Terrorists Hard

A Happy and Safe New Year to all good people. Hopefully it will be one during which we figure out how to conquer famine, drought, pollution, poverty, hatred, bigotry, religious extremism, war, lying sack of turd politicians and other such nasties. Of course, I do not believe in the faerie godmother, the Easter Bunny, or that the Ground Hog can really predict the weather (but then again he does as well or better at it than does Al Gore) - so I doubt very seriously that we will find a solution to all or even a few of the problems mentioned above.

There is one solution to which we could resort that would solve at least a couple of the problems above and that solution would be to recognize and then crush and destroy our enemies. This country may have been founded on Judeo principals but they do not always work, at least not the way the weird holy men interpret them. The whole thing about turning the other cheek is something I think they got all wrong. Yes we should turn the other cheek, but once it too is either slapped or spat upon, well then - we need to start kicking ass with the intention of making sure that the ones who just struck us twice do not get to do it a third time, maybe with fatal results. This is one of the biggest problems with the united States of America since my childhood and before. We turn the other cheek, we get hit again, we turn back the first cheek that is still red from the first slap and get yet another strike, then we turn the other cheek and have it get hit again and it seems to go on and on and on and on until maybe we strike back. The thing is when we do strike back it has been with too little, too late, to be effective. This is why the terrorists keep attacking us.

Want them to stop, then turn the other cheek but have a mean assed look on it when you turn it toward them. Wipe em out. Not nice but simple and effective. What was it that Alice Cooper sang: No More Mr. Nice Guy!

If that means collateral damage of bringing down their family members tough shit. Remember that the terrorists take refuge in mosques, schools, homes and the like. The people with whom they take refuge are not terrified by the terrorists, in fact they support them in most instances. They give them asylum. Yes, as you may have noticed, I said mosques. I am referring to Muslim terrorists who make up the great majority of the terrorist, if not the total threat, to those of us here in the USA. If it was up to me, there would be no holes left in Tora Bora or other similar places in which for them to hide unless they were bomb holes.

Is this too violent for you? Is this to un-Judeo-Christian for you? It is about the only way to win. They have already proved beyond a doubt they want to kill us. hey have already proved there is no negotiating with them. They have already proved they are willing to find dupes to blow us up. They have already proved that the odds are currently in their favor. Yes, that is correct, the odds of winning or in other words of destroying us, are in their favor. Why - because they send one bomber to kill and maim many innocents. We can increase our odds of survival by killing as many terrorists as possible. Not nice but I am sick and tired of us trying to play Mr. Nice guy to they who would annihilate us.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Cannot Wait To Fly Tomorrow

To say I cannot wait is probably not just right because I probably will have to wait. I anticipate a pain in the derriere trying to check in and get me and my luggage on my flight. I will be pleasantly surprised if all goes without a hitch. I have only two checked bags, and two carry on pieces (a computer case and a small backpack). Then again, being that I have a shotgun, a rifle, ammunition, pepper spray, a couple of knives, a field surgical kit and other things in one of my pieces of checked luggage, and that I have leg irons in another, and that I will be carrying two firearms on my person (I am a fedaral agent traveling on business), I expect at least a minor inquisition at best. Last time I flew out to Arizona for work, I had a Port Authority Police officer tell me that I was positively, definitely, absolutely not allowed to transport ammunition in the same piece of luggage that also contained firearms. Even though I showed him a printed copy of the regulations allowing for such - he argued with me all the way to the TSA screener and the argument was all one sided for a change. The gentelman from TSA told him he was wrong and it was okay for me to have it just the way I had it.

I expect at least the same tomorrow either from the check-in person for the airline, the Port Authority Police Officer who comes to check me because I will also be carrying firearms on my person, or the screeners from TSA. Of course if I clear all of them, I can usually get through the initial TSA checkpoint okay but with the recent terrorist attack on Christmas day, a failed attack at that, my guess is that they will all be jumpy. I imagine the gate agents will also be nervous. So I expect extra checks of my ID, maybe an extra check of my ticket, maybe an extra check of my luggage. So along those lines I have copies of my travel authorization, a copy of the airline regulations about transporting firearms and ammo, and a copy of the TSA regulations about the same.

All the checking I expect will all be okay with me. I don't mind them checking me and my things really diligently so long as they are checking everyone likewise. I sure do not want my plane blowing up with me or anyone else in it. I know I am not going to try to do something like that, never would even contemplate it; but I sure do not know squat about anyone else, so I hope they check them very well too. So while I expect a delay, it will be okay so long as they are professional and polite during my check-in and boarding and during whatever other checks they want to perform. I expect a delay so much so that I expect to be at the airport 2 1/2 hours early for my flight. If I get through quickly, well then I'll enjoy an icy cold beverage or three at the bar - like a coke or 7-UP (no alcohol while armed) and maybe I'll read a book or just keep a wary eye on the other passengers. My motto for this flight is Arrive Alive; you can bet that after what happened on Friday I will be a bit on the wary side myself.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Joke Really Is On Us...

...at least it was on us today. Once again Dumb Luck, or was it his sister Fickle Fate, came to play in the lives of the crew and passengers of the exact same flight, Northwest Airlines flight 253, that was almost blown up on Christmas day two days ago. In an amazing set of coincidences, while aboard Northwest flight 253 from Nigeria to Detroit via Amsterdam, a Nigerian man was observed to be getting up several times and going to the rest room, and at least once locking himself inside the rest room and refusing to come out. This evidently got the passengers and crew on edge after Friday's near catastrophe on the same fight. So, the flight crew radioed ahead for assistance worried that this man was another terrorist.

As it turned out, it is all laughable, very laughable, even though no one was intentionally joking. You see, the man had quite the legitimate reason to be inside of the restroom, and all the reason in the world not to come out when asked to do so by the flight crew. He had a case of the squirts, a la food poisoning. Of course, maybe the joke has yet to be played. You see, it has been reported that this man was arrested upon arrival in Detroit. Can you imagine that - being arrested for having a case of the shits squirts! I think the joke may be coming in the form of a lawsuit but not many will be laughing. Hopefully this guy has a sense of humor and a sense of honor and a good amount of understanding and can laugh off the whole thing in light of how scared others on the flight must have been because of what happened only two days ago under amazingly coincidental circumstances.

Of course the plane was searched, the suspect was interviewed and on and on with the determination being made that he had been ill. Me being the cynical type though has to wonder if the authorities actually checked the blue water to see if any contraband had been passed. I seriously doubt they did so, but it may have been worth the search. The guy could well have been ill, or maybe he could have been passing heroin filled condoms. Did anyone at CBP think of having him x-rayed?

Sources: 1010 WINS radio broadcasts and 880 WCBS AM radio broadcast on 12/29/2009, and http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581232,00.html.

All the best,
Glenn B

Airline Security And Our Attitude About It - What A Joke Here and Abroad

If you don't see that airline security in the United States of America is an absolute joke then I think you are blind. For that matter you could probably say that national security here in the USA is a joke but I would need a lot more time to delve into that one, so for today, the eve of my upcoming flight to Phoenix, just let me discuss airline security.

By now, unless you live in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan, you should know that on Christmas Day a terrorist tried to blow up or cause a fire to destroy a commercial passenger plane. He did so by trying to ignite explosive chemical(s) that he carried onto the aircraft on his person. How was he able to do so?

Well it seems that it was pretty easy for him to get away with his evil deed, from smuggling the substance(s) aboard the aircraft to getting it ready for ignition, to actually igniting the substance. Yet something went wrong, but not because of any security policies, procedures or practices on the part of the airlines, nor of our government. What was it that prevented the disaster - apparently it was good fortune - yes plain old dumb luck! Of course dumb luck had some help, help that would likely have been too late had dumb luck not arrived on the scene in the first place, but it did have help to prevent things from getting worse. That help was in the form of a single, I repeat: a SINGLE passenger, among 278 others and 11 crew members, who jumped over other passengers to stop the terrorist act - more about this later.

For now let me spell out some of the facts as they are known and or surmised so far:

The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was suspected, by the U.S. Government, of ties to terrorists. That was months ago or years ago depending on the source. (See: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581211,00.html and http://www.1010wins.com/Alleged-Terrorist-Known--Not-Considered-a-Threat/5977168.)

In November 2009, the father of the suspect contacted U.S. authorities telling them he feared his son was becoming a radical Islamist, an extremist, that he feared he would do something bad. The suspect's name then was placed into TIDE, a U.S. Government data base that holds information on suspected terrorists.

The suspect's name was not placed into the No Fly data base. According the head of the department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, there was no specific information that warranted placing his name on said list. (Source: http://www.1010wins.com/HSS--No-Indication-of-Larger-Plot/5977302.) Imagine that, a suspect terrorist, or at least a person who is suspected of some ties to terrorism, or at least in on U.S. Radar in relation to possible terrorism, is on the radar for months to years and there is not enough specific information to have him on the no fly list even though his father feared that his son had become an extremist Islamist. In addition the same suspect had been banned from England as in deported or removed and was not allowed to fly there (source: Fox News broadcast Sunday December 27, 2009). Why - because they had specific information about him, enough to keep him out of their country. Yet we here in the USA did not have enough information.

So what does the suspect do. He buys a ticket for travel from Nigeria to the USA via Amsterdam. He pays for it in cash. It is a one way ticket. (Reported on in a Fox News broadcast Sunday December 27, 2009.) Folks, these are indicators and supposedly there were others, that he should have been watched more closely and given much more scrutiny regarding security before he boarded the aircraft.

We are at the point now where he is on the flight. Apparently he had planned, or someone else had planned, his terrorist act with some forethought as to where he could sit to do the most damage. He had a seat in row 19. On the particular aircraft on which he was traveling, row 19 is one of the rows over the wing. The wing on this particular aircraft, as on many others, contains fuel tanks. Not only was he in a row over the fuel tank, his actual seat was a window seat, so he was right up against the wall of the aircraft. Why is this an important consideration, well it was explained pretty well here:

"A former Homeland Security official told Fox News that Abdulmutallab's seat selection does not appear to be accidental, and that he was sitting in one of the two most vulnerable parts of the plane. The suspect was sitting in seat 19A, which is over the fuel tanks, atop the wing and next to the skin of the aircraft

There is a high likelihood an explosion could be accelerated by the fuel tank, the official said — and that it could damage the plane's structure and puncture the skin, bringing down the aircraft." (Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581211,00.html.)

Allow me to go a bit further with this based upon my very limited knowledge of fuel tank explosions. Not only is it important that he attempted to set off a bomb or incendiary device while seated directly above and or adjacent to the fuel tanks on the aircraft but it is very important that he waited until most of, or a lot of, the fuel in those tanks was expended. Yes more fuel would burn longer, but less liquid fuel allows for more fumes, and as I understand more fumes means an explosion would be more likely instead of just the possibility of a burning fuel tank. An explosion would more likely have devastated the plane immediately than would a fire. Of course I could be wrong on this as my knowledge is limited to gasoline fumes and I am only guessing that the same could hold true for jet fuel.

Now we are at the point about 20 minutes or so before the plane is due to land in Detroit. The alleged terrorist gets up and goes to the bathroom. He is in there for quite some time, then returns to his seat where he complains of stomach pains and covers himself with a nefarious blanket. It was shortly after that when other passengers heard a popping noise as that of a firecracker, and saw flames coming from where Abdulmutallab was seated.

So what happened then? Did a large number of passengers get up and pounce on the suspect. Did the crew immediately come running over to extinguish the flames and take out the suspected terrorist. Hell no! One man, who was finally identified on Fox News (on cable) this morning took action. He was seated about one row behind and at least a couple to a few seats across, maybe even across the aisle, from Abdulmutallab. He got up, jumped and climbed over other passengers, who all apparently were doing nothing, and tried to extinguish the flames and control the suspected terrorist. I heard and saw this man explain his actions in a short video clip this morning on Fox News. He put it this way: He wanted to put out the flames and basically immobilize the suspect because he thought he was trying to blow up the plane. Other passengers and the flight crew eventually came to his aid but it was he who single handed took action and who prevented the substance from being successfully ignited, that is right after dumb luck reared its ever so fickle head to help prevent a potential disaster. You see, it seems apparent that the suspect never got it lit properly (again something I heard on Fox this morning but that was probably only a guess). Or maybe he did get it lit right, maybe it takes a few seconds to start blazing to where it would have destroyed the aircraft and killed all 289 people aboard, maybe it was just due to this one brave and heroic passenger that the flames were extinguished and the plot foiled. The suspect was secured and brought to the front of the aircraft and placed IN A FRONT ROW SEAT!

What happened next. Someone decides it would be a good idea to contact all of the other 120 flights over the USA at that time. From 60 to 90 minutes later, all of the crew of those other aircraft were notified.

The suspect has been arrested and charged with: "...trying to destroy the airplane. A conviction on the charge could bring Abdulmutallab up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine." (See: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581211,00.html.)

So why do I think that airline security is a joke. If not obvious to you so far let me spell it out:

Well it was a job well done by someone who was not working - the passenger who saved the day. It was certainly not a good job by the U.S. Government who had this guy on their 'radar' for months to years yet could not find anything specific enough by which to rate him for inclusion on either Terrorist Watch List (not the same data base in which his name was included) nor on the N0-Fly list not even after the suspect's father informed on his own son to the U.S. Government over his concerns about the suspect having become radicalized. Note this is all the new agencies keep saying was revealed by the father. Think of it though, take a moment, do you really think that is all the father told the government officials. Do you think it went like this: 'Oh, my son is becoming radical in his Islamic beliefs and I thought I had better tell you.' Or do you think there just may have been something of more substance to what he told us? Someone really screwed up on this one, and because of one passenger and dumb luck, almost 300 people are still alive today!

Instead of saying something like: We in DHS really need to check into this and get to the bottom of it, and if this happened because of some fault on the part of U.S. officials - well, heads will roll' what does Janet Napolitano say? "Napolitano says that despite Abdulmutallab's success at getting dangerous chemicals on board the plane, commercial flying is safe. " (Reference: http://www.1010wins.com/HSS--No-Indication-of-Larger-Plot/5977302.) Imagine that, flying is safe.

Well if it is so safe then why are the regulations for flying suddenly changing in what amounts to another pointless knee jerk reaction on the part of the Transportation Security Administration (under DHS) and on the part of the airlines? Why is the government, while not changing the alert level, performing tighter security measures if it is so safe to fly? Why, if flying is safe, are passengers, at least on international flights, being told they can not leave their seats for one hour prior to lading (and this apparently a new regulation enacted by the TSA)?. Why, if flying is safe, are they being told by some airlines they have to stow all carry-ons one hour prior to landing? Why, if flying is safe, are some airlines urging passengers not to bring carry-on items?

Why, if flying is safe, is at least one airline now saying that passengers will not be given blankets or pillows when they fly. Can you even fathom how they think this will prevent terrorism? So the guy covered himself with a blanket while preparing or trying to ignite his device. Could he not just as easily have done do with a sweater, jacket, a coat, a newspaper like the New York Times (I use them because of the size of the paper), or anything else? Would those tiny pillows the airlines give out conceal anything?

Why, if flying is actually safe, is all of this happening now? The truth be told, it is happening now because flying is not safe under the rules and safety policies and procedures that were enacted and changed many times after 9/11. Had they actually been effective, and had flying actually been safe, then the show bomber would never have made it on to the plane and nor would this most recent suspect been able to attempt to destroy and aircraft and kill all aboard. Make no mistake about it, this guy was, in all likelihood, trying to kill everyone aboard that plane. Yet, he is charged only with trying to destroy an aircraft!

Amazingly, even the government is reportedly doubting or at least wondering whether or not current security polices and procedures are working: "But lawmakers are already calling for hearings, and the government may order a review. As President Barack Obama received regular updates on the investigation from his staff, his national security and policy aides have been asking whether the policies the U.S. has in place are working." Can you imagine how long such hearings will take before our government reaches a conclusion. After all, it took them 60 to 90 minutes to notify the crews of only 120 other flights that a terrorist act had just been attempted and to confirm that all the other flights were safe. If the flight in question had been hijacked, instead of a lone bomber trying to blow it up, imagine if you will just how many other flights might have been hijacked and made it to their destinations of destruction, like those on 9/11, if it took up to 90 minutes to notify all the crews of such an attempt. (See: http://www.1010wins.com/Alleged-Terrorist-Known--Not-Considered-a-Threat/5977168.) Whom are they kidding with regard to whether or not security measures are working - of course they are not working, they cannot even get other flight crews notified in a reasonable amount of time let alone implement security measures that work!

If you really want airline security that works, go to the Israelis and look to El Al. Their security measures work. Their security measures would also piss off a lot of people here in the USA and around the world if they were implemented everywhere but, and this is a big BUT, they would also thwart terrorists. To my knowledge, El Al has never had a commercial passenger plane successfully hijacked and never had one blown up by a terrorist and has never even allowed a terrorist with a bomb or other such device aboard one of their planes. They have a strict security protocol in place and believe me it saves lives by preventing hijackings and other terrorist attacks on their aircraft. Folks, we do not need knee jerk reactions made by a bunch of jerks, what we need are good and strong security procedures put in place that may upset or inconvenience passengers (at least until they get used to them) but that will definitely prevent things like this near catastrophe on Christmas Day.

Now not only is the government at fault here. You and I are at fault too. We need to demand strict polices and procedures concerning air travel security. Why - because it will prevent terrorism and save lives. We need to remember that when we travel aboard an aircraft we are not enjoying one of our rights. We are enjoying a privilege. It is something for which we pay, and for which we need to follow rules, and during which we are the guests or customers of a private enterprise. We are in their facility, on their aircraft, and need to abide by their rules within reason. Within reason means everyone should be screened by machine, x-ray and sniffer, for contraband. Personal searches with a wand should include everyone. Personal patdown searches should include anyone who acts at all suspicious and should also include random searches of at least 1/2 the passengers on any flight. Every piece of luggage should be inspected by machine and by a person. Yes every piece. If all these measure mean you pay more for flying, tough. If it means you have to be at the airport 3 hours before you fly - tough. if it means that one plane full of people is saved - well isn't that wonderful.

Before I close, let me address one more knee jerk reaction. This one on the part of the crew of the particular flight that was targeted by Abdulmutallab. After the flames were extinguished, after he was subdued, after he probably was bound in some manner, where did the flight crew place him? They put him in the first row of seats. The put him as close to the cockpit as they could have done and still have him in a passenger seat. Tell me folks, what is it that was going on in the mind of the moron that arrived at that decision? Did they think that whatever method they used to control him was inescapable. Did they not even consider that he might, from that vantage point, be able to make an attempt at breaching the cockpit. Did they not even consider he may have had accomplices on the aircraft and that him causing a further commotion up near the cockpit (the control area of the aircraft, the part which any terrorist would love to breach so he could crash the plane) would cause them to zero in only on him and therefore miss what an accomplice might be doing elsewhere because of concern he may breach the cockpit. It absolutely amazes me that someone could have been so foolish as to have placed him in the first row, but that is what has been reported as having been done.

We are at the mercy of fools when we fly in the airlines, in the government and among our fellow passengers. Luckily we are also sometimes under the wing of dumb luck and of heroes. Even if everything that stopped Abdulmutallab from igniting the bomb or device and destroying the aircraft thereby killing everyone aboard was due to the actions of one man, it is still in part due to dumb luck - at least for the other passengers - that such happened. Why? Well, I guess because of where he was seated, because he was awake and not in a drunken slumber (I am not even implying he drinks just saying it is lucky he was not snockered), because he was paying attention, because he had the balls to actually do something, because he was not a sheeple, because he was in fact a hero and folks let me tell you that people like him are few and far between. The first to take action when action is need, the first to dive right into Harm's hands let alone Harm's way. The first to realize, hell - something has to be done otherwise we are all dead.

Now what has been done for that man. His name has been mentioned on television. He was seen in a brief video as of this morning, right hand bandaged (I think from burns he received when subduing the bad guy) explaining what he did. I wonder though, why no accolades as a hero. I wonder not how much reward he will be given but I wonder how soon he will be forgotten. Why? Because that is the way we are. We would rather reward someone for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a terrorist who actually blew up a plane rather than reward someone who actually action to prevent a tragedy and save hundreds of lives. Why is that? That is because the airlines tell you not to take action, heck they even demand that law enforcement officers not take any actions until notified by a flight crew member to do so. Lucky for this flight crew and all the passengers that this guy did not wait for anyone. If it was up to me, this man would be given free passage anywhere in the world for the remainder of his life aboard any airline, train, bus or ship on which he wanted to travel. In addition he would be given a reward, not a medal, not a citation, but a real reward for saving lives. Something around a million dollars sounds about right. If he is lucky though, maybe he can do a TV show, or write a book, or get his picture on a Wheaties box. As for the million bucks, he deserves more than that, but I doubt he will see a penny of a reward for his brave actions that prevented a disaster. That is a sad commentary on all of us.

What will happen though is more likely to be this: Airline and government security regulations will be heightened. It will be a pain in the butt to travel from now until about the next high travel season - would that be spring break. Then people will moan and groan and complain about what a terrible hardship it is to have to go through security for an extra 15 minutes or half hour, and about how embarrassed they were to have to be searched or x-rayed, and they will threaten lawsuits, and the airlines and the government will relax the stricter regulations and will be back, if not to square one, then to square 2 and folks we should already be at square 10 by now. Then it will happen all over again. Well, maybe not the part about Dumb Luck and a single hero saving the day, just the heightened security measures - that is after a terrorist successfully hijacks or blows up a plane the next time around. Our attitude about this all is a joke and folks, unless we change our attitude and become serious about our security and safety at the cost of our convenience, then the only ones left laughing will be the terrorists.

All the best,
Glenn B

Top A' The World Ma...

...well, maybe I am not at the top of the world by I am now a member of the Lap Top crowd. That pretty much makes me feel at the top of the world anyhow. My wife gave me a Hewlett Packard (HP) Lap Top Computer for Christmas. I almost fell over when I realized what it was in the box. I really was floored. It is the most thoughtful gift i have received from her in years, something I would be bound to like and something I will definitely use a lot of the time. It is especially a nice gift because I am leaving for Phoenix on Monday for 3 months and was not going to have computer access in the apartment complex in which my job is putting me up. Yeah, they have Wi-fi and all that but unlike a hotel with a business center and a computer or two for the guests, this is a bring your own computer type of deal. Now I can bring my own.

As for the new computer, it seems to have a good number of bells and whistles. It is the HP Pavilion dv7, dv7-3065xdx model. What that model means, at least in this particular case, is that it comes with:

An AMD Turion II Ultra Dual Core Mobile Processor running at 2.4 Ghz with 2 MB of L2 cache

17.3 inch HD screen

500 GB Hard drive

4MB of RAM

802 11bg WLAN

Blue Ray ROM with LightScribe SuperMulti DVD R/RW drive

ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics card with 128 MB

Windows 7 Home Premium

8 Cell Lithium Battery

HP Webcam

5 in 1 Digital Card reader

3 Expansion ports

An HP Remote Control (Why I would need a remote for a laptop is beyond me)

Here is a link to the specs from the HP site:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01868468&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=4041777

I suppose that is a lot of bells and whistles for a notebook computer. Still though there is one thing I cannot figure, the 128MB video card. I would have expected at least a 256MB or better yet a 512MB card for today's video memory hungry applications. That is, I hope, an easy fix and I expect to get a new video card pronto. I may bring it back today to see if they will exchange it for one with a better graphics card. Then again the website seems to indicate that this particular video card can have memory added to it (is that possible?). If they can somehow put more memory on the graphics card I will upgrade it to 512 MB or 1GB. Don't tell my wife about me wanting an upgrade for the video card, it is just I am pretty sure some of my PC games will not play on that little memory. She is upset because I said something already about it - me and my big mouth.

The only other thing I really wish that would have been different about the whole set-up is I wish my wife had bought it at someplace other than Worst Best Buy. I cannot stand the place and try not to do business there unless they are the only ones with a product I need. Of course, Linda would not have known that I guess. She bought it there and they talked her into buying a useless security plan for $99.99 under which they made up restore discs and installed an unheard of brand of antivirus software. I did call them to tell them I want to opt out of the plan and will admit that surprisingly they said bring it in for an exchange for a new one without the virus software installed on it. Maybe they are improving.

As for the computer, despite my being picky, I really do love it! It is probably the best present I have gotten in years, certainly the best one ever from my dear wife.

All the best,
Glenn B

Who Was That Masked Man?

Well maybe he was not wearing a mask but for all I can glean from the news reports he may as well have been wearing a mask. I am referring to the young man whom a passenger of Northwest Flight 253 was speaking about in the following quote in White House: Failed Airline Bombing Was Attempted Act of Terrorism at FoxNews.

"Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him.""

That man appears to be a hero. From all that has been reported so far he is the first to have taken action when suspected terrorist Abdul Mudallah allegedly attempted to set of a bomb or incendiary device aboard the flight as it was about to land in Detroit. My guess is that others on the aircraft joined the young hero in his successful attempt to stop Mudallah from causing a major catastrophe; there were a reported 278 passengers on that plane. It has been reported that Mudalla claimed to have been associated with Al Qaeda and at least one report I read said he claimed he was acting under orders from Al Qaeda, see the article: Al-Qaida link in failed plane attack.

Is this the wake up call we need or was this guy just a psycho. Even if he is a real terrorist, and if he was actually acting under orders of Al Qaeda, I doubt that the American people will fully realize the import of this event, that being: They still hate us and are trying to destroy us one bit at a time. The they are radical Islamists, and they are getting help from those in Islam, and those in Washington (as in DC) who remain silent while it happens. Of course there will be an outcry if these stories and allegations are verified and security at the airports will increase. You can bet though more such attacks or at least attempts will continue. Maybe not on a plane, maybe next time in a crowded railway station, or in a crowded restaurant, or in a school during classes, wherever it is you can bet there will be lots of people around. The terrorists love effect and they love to better the odds of them winning. The more people injured or killed, by a single suicide bomber, the greater the effect and the more the odds get moved toward being in their favor.

Be careful. Stay on the lookout for anything suspicious. Report suspicious activity to the police. Stay safe, but if necessary, do what the young man on the plane did and be prepared to risk it all to save some lives, one of which may be your own. Don't have the attitude that you cannot make a difference. I don't know if the lady who was reported, in the article Explosive device set off aboard airliner as saying the following had a defeatist attitude or if maybe she did something to help, but if you think like this before getting involved chances are you have already lost much of the fight: "It was terrifying, I think we all thought we weren't going to land, we weren't going to make it." No, not everyone thought they would not make it; some people had the foresight to realize they could make a difference and had the courage to do something about it and prevent a tragedy from unfolding. My hat goes off to that masked young man and the others who assisted him in subduing the suspect and putting out the flames. I am sure he was probably scared, the others who assisted him likewise. The thing is though they decided to do something instead of just give into the fear that they were going to die. They may have been scared, so scared they took action, but action is exactly that which was necessary and was certainly better than be scared into giving up.

All the best,
Glenn B

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ballseye's Gun Shots 45 - Remington 870 Revisted - The New and The Old

Ah, the Remington 870 pump action shot gun. I have owned one for about 23 to 25 years or so now and whenever I take it in hand it brings back memories. memories of my first big buck (heck my only big buck), and of hunting rabbits and squirrels, and of teaching my son how to shoot a real man's gun (yes ladies, i said a real man's gun - get over it), and of countless hours of tactical training and practice with it but mostly it brings back memories of sore shoulder over and over again! Despite the kick, despite the aches and the bruises, I keep on shooting it because I know that the Remington 870 is about the best all around shotgun I have ever owned.

Besides owning one, I have also been issued one at work for many years now. In fact, I have been issued three of them at work if I have the count correct. The first was an old fashioned Remington 870 with wood stock and fore grip. Then a few to several years ago now, when that first one I had been issued was retired for a newer model of 870, I was issued one with black synthetic stocks. Not all that long ago, I was issued another with black synthetic stocks because the issue on in the middle was having problems. Yes, even a gun I love can have its share of problems, but to tell the truth that was the first 870 that I fired that ever had any recurring issues. It would not feed properly no matter how hard you operated the pump. It would feed but with difficulty that could sometimes require two to three pump actions on the part of your pumping arm. That would not be good so to the armory it went for repair. They sent me a new one.

I have got to say there are some things about these newer models that I like over the older ones we had. They come with a ghost ring sight on the receiver. Heck, the rear sight being on the receiver, instead of on the barrel is a plus as I see it. My old issued gun, and the one I own, also an old timer, have the rear sight on the rear end of the barrel. The new ones also have a much broader front post sight. The Ghost Ring system makes for rapid target acquisition in daylight. The sights also have a glow in the dark dot on the front post, and the rear sight has two such dots for a three point night sighting system.

One thing I do not like on the new ones is that there is no tension cap to retain the magazine spring once you take the cap off of the end of the magazine tube. In other words, the spring can and will fly out of the tube if you are not careful. Of course the retention cap was not a sure thing, they could come loose but rarely did. The big pain here is that when you reassemble to gun, getting and keeping the spring inside the mag tube is difficult, to say the least, until you have the end cap on. You cannot add a retention cap because the magazine is now shaped slightly differently.

Just about everything else, of practical matter, on them is the same. So, I like em both, but sure do miss the magazine spring retention cap. I just shot about 2 weeks ago for qualifications. I usually do very well with the shotgun, getting a fist to hand sized group at 25 yards when shooting rapidly from an unsupported standing position. This time though I was surprised to see that my group was opened up to about 10 to 12 inches, maybe even a bit more. I had pretty much shot a circular pattern around the target center. I figured it was due to my shoulders and neck aching a lot. Tonight I found out differently. Tonight I was getting the shotgun ready for my upcoming work trip to Phoenix. As I picked it up I noticed the rear sight looked to be sitting far back on the receiver at a weird angle. I picked up the gun and the rear sight swiveled around loosely. It had looked funny because it was turned around backwards when I saw it. It was about as loose as it could be without falling off. When I picked up the shotgun again to examine it closer, without even touching the sight, the sight fell off. I got it back in place after some several tries, but I will have to have an armorer at work give it the once over and nod of approval before I carry it in the field.

I obviously had not noticed this before but you can bet that is why I had such a lousy group when I qualified recently. I will take it on the trip and have an armorer check it out. I imagine it is okay now, but I don't want to bet my life on it not being an armorer. I will say this, that never happened with the older models I was issued nor with the one I own. Oh well, lucky for me it happened at the range and I found it at home - instead of when needing it when my life depended on it. Still though, I do not like problems like that at all; it does not give me much confidence in the gun. I can only hope the screw was simply not tightened properly at the factory and now that it is tight this will not recur.

The one in the picture is the latest one I was issued at work.

All the best,

Glenn B

Pope Benedict - One Tough Hombre

I mean at 82 years old, to take a knockdown, then get up and go to say Christmas Eve mass as if nothing had happened, well he has got to one heck of a tough guy.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The apparent psycho who tried to do him harm looked much younger than him the way she jumped over the barrier to get at him. Did I say apparent psycho, she knew enough to wear bright red to be highlighted on television! She also seemd to have an awful lot of room by herself up at the barrier and swung her legs over it amazingly without hitting anyone else in the crowd. Think she had some accomplices? I would tend to think so.

Very poor security for the leader of the Catholic Church, then again, I guess really tough security would sort of go against the whole idea of the church. Still though, it seems they could protect him somewhat better. Anyway, nice to see he was uninjured. I do wonder about the Cardinal who was also knocked down, heard he went to the hospital for a checkup.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Holiday Rush - Over At Last...

...at least it is for me. I was out most of the day doing my annual Christmas Eve shopping and futzing around. As opposed to most years past, I did not go into NYC today. I did that yesterday but even that was not my usual. I usually go to St. Patrick's Cathedral, yeah I know I am not religious. I still love it there, perhaps because of my Catholic upbringing or because it is just a very spiritual place for me. I did try to get into the church of St. Francis of Assisi on 31st Street, but it was closed. I got there too late, God started keeping hours when I was back in my 20s. I also visit what is another very spiritual place for me, the top of the world, where earth meets the heavens, at least in NYC. That would be the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I thought I was going there, got side tracked, got crushed, crammed, stomped on, pushed, shoved and outright discombobulated in Macy's and forgot all about it. I miss not having gone to those two churches and the top of the world very much indeed; I really don't know what happened that got me so turned around as to not visit at least one of them. Oh well, later for them, I hope.

My rush is over though. No more shopping, no more scurrying about for last minute presents or last minutes items at the supermarket, and I did remember to fill up the car with gas for tomorrow when we are due to go to my sister's place out east. I am scheduled to pick up my mom at 10Am at the assisted living facility and then drive her out to my sister's place. That will be a spiritual experience all of its own; it could make up for missing the two churches and the Empire State Building. When I think of it, it was my mom who got me liking the Empire State Building as much as I do. She took me there, I took my kids there, hopefully my kids will take their children there too.

Once I got home today, I remembered that there were a bunch of presents to pack. I ate a quick dinner of a wonderfully roast chicken that my wife made while I was out, then I got to wrapping. That is all out of the way as far as I know. I tell ya - I really think everything is done. Well, except for bringing up the dozen and a half yellow roses I bought for the wife today, everything is done. They will be a nice surprise for her tomorrow morning when she comes downstairs to take out the dogs.

Wait a minute, I do have yet another task to complete. I have to fix the new Christmas Stockings that are currently hanging off the mantle over the fireplace. Our old ones got ratty after about 20 years or so, so the Linda bought new ones. The thing is that I had written every one's names on the old ones - one for Mama, one for Celina and one for Brendan, one for Oma (my mother-in-law) and one for granny (my mother) and Linda made one for me. What I did was wrote out the names in Elmer's glue and then poured green glitter over the glue. The stockings were red with white trim at the top. I put the names on the white trim. They looked great. Well it took me 2 weeks to buy the glitter but I finally got it today. Hard stuff to come by now that they sell glitter pens and glitter glue; but I wanted the real thing and it took some looking to find it. Tonight, when everyone is asleep, I will do some side work moonlighting as one of Santa's helpers and get the job done.

For now, I'll just enjoy my red wine, The Best of Jethro Tull, and writing my blog and reading some others; and of course, I'll enjoy this one of my favorite times of the year - one that is full of the spirit of love and of giving - and that is a good thing indeed. With that all said, let me say one more thing:

Merry Christmas to all of you.

All the best,
Glenn B

Dumb Luck?

Someone emailed me the below video today. It was described as a video of the World's Luckiest Train Track Inspector. I have got to admit, if the video is a shot of a real occurrence, the guy in it has got to be one lucky man, if not also a dumb ass. My brothers-in-law (wife's brothers) both work for the NYC Transit Authority. Both have had their share of track work. I don't think even they ever heard of anything like this before - sure never told me if they did.



One has to wonder if the guy in the video is still alive. I mean, you would think that he, being a track worker, would have some idea as to whether or not a train may be scheduled to come through that area of track on which he was working and even if not then he would at least give a good look in both directions before stepping onto the tracks. As for his athletic abilities, wow he is one heck of a good jumper. I can only imagine the shakes he got after the adrenalin rush that must have flooded his system. I bet he looks from now on; heck maybe he is even looking for a new profession.

All the best,
Glenn B

Blizzard 2009 - Not Too Bad...

...is how I have to look at last night's blizzard. I measured several spots in my backyard and several out front of my house. Out back almost every spot I measured was between 14" and 14.5", out front they were all between 10-12". So if I lived on the other side of the street I would be shoveling more is how I see it. Just the way the snow lands. A snowstorm like this is unusual around here especially in December but we were lucky because it could have been more. Back in 2006 we got well over 2 feet of snow but then again that was in February. In that storm, NY City had its all time record snowfall of 26.9 inches, that is about 25 miles west of where I am now. I know, not a lot of snow for places like Masena or Buffalo, NY - but an awful lot in NYC and just east of NYC in Nassau County on Long Island. Further east on Long island, in North Haven, NY (very close to Sag Harbor) my sister measured 25 inches in her yard in a level spot. Yes it could have been worse.

Back to it not being as bad as it could have been. Lucky for me I have the habit of going out when a few to several inches has fallen and clearing it away so there is not as much the next morning. I did about 6 inches worth last night. Also, lucky for me, my neighbor let me keep my government car in his driveway overnight. If on the street it would have gotten a ticket for obstructing the snowplows and they would have buried it. There is no room for it in my own small driveway with my own cars parked therein. As I was digging out my driveway and just contemplating going over to dig out my G ride from the neighbor's driveway, I saw he was stuck in the snow in his small SUV. I dug his 4 wheel drive out of the snow just outside of his driveway with the ass end of the car sticking out in the street stuck in the pile left behind by the plows. Yep kiddies, SUVs get stuck in snow too when it is deep enough.

That was a bit of a chore but I figured since he allowed me to leave my government car in his driveway overnight, I owed him more than a thank you. Right after that he brought out a snow blower and did my front sidewalk. That was nice. He then told me his back was killing him and asked if I would continue on to his sidewalk. I know his health is not the best, so it was my pleasure to help him out even though his sidewalk is about 3 to 4 times as long as mine (corner lot). Man what a breeze it was with that brute. It ate it up and spit it out and took minimal effort to push along. That left me only my front walk, and getting my work car out of his driveway. Just getting the driveway clear for my G ride was a lot of work as I did that with the shovel. Only shoveled as wide as the car in a path about 12 to 15 feet long but lots of snow was built up at the curb from the plows. Got it done though and got the car right out and parked back on the street. As I said, not too bad, could have been worse. Lucky I did not have to shovel all of the sidewalk on my house and his without the aid of the snow blower. I have done it before when only a few to several inches and it is a lot of work. With what we had last night, it was probably a heart attack waiting to happen. Now that I am getting older and Arthur I. Tis is a constant companion, I may have to cough up enough for a snow blower. That will wait till next year since I will not be here this winter with my Phoenix trip upcoming. As for this winter I foresee my sons back getting stronger. (Thanks Brendan!)

Right now, I am typing and listening to Nat King Cole's Christmas For Kids CD. Great stuff. I am also enjoying a nice big cup of coffee and letting the Aleve do its stuff (which usually is not much but I guess it helps a little). Of course, if I was a kid or even a teenager (maybe even in my young 20s) I'd be out there now waxing up the rungs of my Flexible Flier and screaming full blast down the steepest hill I could find trying to crash into one of my buddies (that's one of the reasons me and Arthur I. Tis are such good friends nowadays). As for me now, I guess I'll spend the rest of the day puttering around the house and maybe I'll clean my guns and oh yes - I'll be hoping we do not get any more snow for awhile.

All the best,
Glenn B

Snow Shoveling Induced Insomnia

Yep, it is 0330 and I am still up and wide awake. I suppose getting pumped up shoveling last night has kept me going. Oh well, time to hit the hay in a few minutes. When I do wake up I think that about the only thing good for the day will be some gun cleaning and of course - more shoveling. I shoveled about 5-6 inches before and there is more than double that now where I already shoveled. Yowza!

Hopefully we will not be snow bound. I wonder if Al Gore is in town?

All the best,
Glenn B

The Blizard of 09...

...is doing its best to try to knock down our power lines making it impossible for me to blog, or watch TV or make phone calls (well the phone does have battery back-up for a few hours) so I will get a quick blog in right now. (by the way, I am not exagerrating when I call it a blizzard, I am repeating what I just read in online weather accounts.) Besides doing its darnedest to knock out the power, the storm is also doing its best to make me shiver with cold. Fact is though, I am sitting at my computer sweating like it was 90 and am enjoying a rather large dram of fine spirits on the rocks. I am not sweating because it is hot in my home, the thermostat is set at 62. Nor am I sweating because of the demon rum (err - whiskey in this case). I am sweating because I was outside not too long ago and was shoveling around my house. It sure isn't as easy as it was even a few years ago. Every joint was creaking and now every joint is aching, well almost all of them anyhow. So I figured I had better relax quickly and thoroughly and take something for the pain. Since I have nothing other than aspirin or Aleve, I figured I have a drink instead. I'd rather not mix any of them so my Saturday night drink is just a wee bit bigger than usual.

My guess is that so far we have had at least 5 to maybe 6 inches of the white stuff, and that was where it was flat and evenly distributed. It is pretty fine and powdery and because it is in the mid 20s (reports says it is 25 here) the snow is pretty dry. It is, perhaps, the kind of snow that skiers dream about waking up to on the slopes. It is the kind of snow I dream about when they say we are going to be hit by a major winter storm that will deposit anywhere from 7 inches to 14 inches of snow that I need to shovel (at 3:30AM I saw this had been changed to 12-18 inches expected). If we have to have snow, well then - I am happy when it is like this. Drier snow, fine powder, is just easier to shovel than the really heavy wet snow we are more likely to get.

The storm promises to drop more snow, and the weather man is saying it may also be somewhat spectacular in that we may also get some thunder and lighting. That is always somewhat weird to me, you just don't see lots of thunder/snowstorms, at least not around here but it is something we seem to have had more of in recent years. Must be due to all that man made whatever. If the lightning comes through the clouds it will sure brighten things up with all that powder on the ground and should put on quite a show. If the dogs start barking loud enough tonight to wake me up my first guess will be a thunder storm.

All the best,
Glenn B