I have to send my HP laptop into HP for repair. It has several issues and while they finally came around and said they would send and in home service tech to replace the hard drive, they also said that the problems could be caused by other things, like a problem with the motherboard, and thus should fix it at their facility. I agreed and will ship it out tomorrow.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Long Island Herpetological Society Cancels Annual Expos
Much to my dismay, the Long Island Herpetological Society announced, today,
that it was cancelling its 23rd annual reptile expo and will not have the same type
of shows in the future. I went to the very first show and all others since with
the exception of one or two when I was away for work. I even went to the one in
November 2011, when I was at the tail end of my cancer treatments, when I
looked and felt more like a walking dead man than I care to remember. Oh well,
as they say, all good things come to an end.
Besides it being a big letdown that the 23rd annual show was cancelled, it is also a major disappointment for me that apparently all future such LIHS expos were also cancelled; although, they may continue a much scaled down (no pun intended) version without vendor sales.
I also am sorely disappointed in another way. The 24th annual show likely would have been held this coming fall. (The 23rd show, the one just cancelled, had been scheduled for November 2012 but was rescheduled to this April after Tropical Storm Sandy devastated much of Long Island.) Well, I had planned to attend the one this coming fall, as I had the previous ones, but with one big change. The change was to include me traveling down to Daytona Beach for the National Reptile Breeders' Expo in August. I had been planning on buying a good number of herps there, keeping them through the fall and then selling them at the LIHS 24th annual show. Then, I was planning on donating all of the proceeds to the LIHS. That was as good an excuse as any to include the National Reptile Breeders' Expo on my bucket list. In preparation, I already made reservations (just a few days ago). The fact is, I had to pay for the airfare in advance but now the trip seems less than pointless. At least I purchased the travel through Southwest Airlines and can change the reservations without an additional fee. Too bad though that I did not know about this just a bit in advance.
Now, I have to let my son know the bad news. While he has not attended a monthly meeting of the LIHS in a while, he often attended the annual shows with me and would help out at my table. In November 2011, I could not made it though the door let alone to the show site had he not brought me there and helped me to get inside.
Oh well, such is life. The longer you live, the more you see the things you enjoy go belly up.
All the best,
Glenn B
Besides it being a big letdown that the 23rd annual show was cancelled, it is also a major disappointment for me that apparently all future such LIHS expos were also cancelled; although, they may continue a much scaled down (no pun intended) version without vendor sales.
I also am sorely disappointed in another way. The 24th annual show likely would have been held this coming fall. (The 23rd show, the one just cancelled, had been scheduled for November 2012 but was rescheduled to this April after Tropical Storm Sandy devastated much of Long Island.) Well, I had planned to attend the one this coming fall, as I had the previous ones, but with one big change. The change was to include me traveling down to Daytona Beach for the National Reptile Breeders' Expo in August. I had been planning on buying a good number of herps there, keeping them through the fall and then selling them at the LIHS 24th annual show. Then, I was planning on donating all of the proceeds to the LIHS. That was as good an excuse as any to include the National Reptile Breeders' Expo on my bucket list. In preparation, I already made reservations (just a few days ago). The fact is, I had to pay for the airfare in advance but now the trip seems less than pointless. At least I purchased the travel through Southwest Airlines and can change the reservations without an additional fee. Too bad though that I did not know about this just a bit in advance.
Now, I have to let my son know the bad news. While he has not attended a monthly meeting of the LIHS in a while, he often attended the annual shows with me and would help out at my table. In November 2011, I could not made it though the door let alone to the show site had he not brought me there and helped me to get inside.
Oh well, such is life. The longer you live, the more you see the things you enjoy go belly up.
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, March 9, 2013
How To Handle A Break-In While Awaiting The Police
This video is courtesy of LiveLeak that had an embed code for it on their site. It is well worth the 8:29 it takes to watch it all. Listen to the police, the politicians and even the second in charge of all federal law enforcement tell you what to do when someone breaks into your home with you there. One of them had an intelligent suggestion, only one of them. He was the only one who made any sense at all and thus not among the arse hats when it came to what you should do to defend your life in the face of imminent loss of life or serious bodily injury.
A hat tip to Herr Richard M for this one.!
All the best,
Glenn B
A hat tip to Herr Richard M for this one.!
All the best,
Glenn B
The Battling Boys of Benghazi
Said to have been written by an annonymous officer of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Sent to me by TOB, a hat tip to him.
All the best,
Glenn B
A Father On Defense of His Daughter Versus Gun Control
I don't think I could say it any better.
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
My First LIF Range Meet Up
Long Island Firearms (LIF) hosted a range meet of some of its members at the Nassau County Rile Range this evening. The last time that I went to a planned shooting event, of any sort, with folks I had never met before was in August 2012 when Brendan and I attended the 5th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot in a supersekrit location in New England. I usually go to the range alone or with Brendan. I am not a very social drinker and it seems not a very social shooter. After tonight's shoot, the idea of me being a not so social social shooter may change into one in which I become much more sociable at the range. I met some nice folks, all LIF members and I had a good time tonight at the range with them.
Mostly, we met at the range, then took over two of the rooms in which to shoot. The range has several rooms with five points in each. I think there was a total of about 16 of us. We made introductions all around in the room in which I was in and everyone introduced themselves with their first names and LIF Forums sign-on name. I am already not great at remembering names, to have to try to remember a first name and a nickname will be almost impossible for me. I do remember the Range Safety Officer in our room was Dan although I forget his forum handle. Another guy whose name I remember is Roman but again I cannot remember his forum name either. I met Roman on the last LIF trip to Albany to protest the NY SAFE Act so his was already a familiar face to me. The RSO in the other room was malakaguy, no do not recall his real first name. Oh well, if I go again next month and again each month after that, I am likely to start picking up a name or two now and again.
After the intros, we got to shooting. Eight guys in the room and only five points, so I shot for about ten to fifteen minutes and let someone else into my slot for a while. We switched back and forth like that for the hour and forty-five minutes of so we had to shoot. At first, I was a tad disappointed that we were slated to shoot from 7-9 but most folks did not get there until 7 and we only started shooting at around 7:15. As it wound up, I had more than enough time to shoot before I started aching between the shoulder blades. I really need to start a work-out routine. I took another break and shot some more later on.
I brought along my Remington R1 1911, my Ortgies pocket pistol and my Glock 26. It was the first time I have shot the Glock since I got new sites put ion it. I shoot okay with it but probably could do a tiny bit better moving the rear site to the right just a bit. I will practice with it a bit more, could have been my fault in how I was holding it that had it shooting a bit to the left, maybe an inch or two at the most, at 15 yards. Nonetheless, the group was a good one. As for the Remington, it is right on out to 15 yards (I only shot out to 15 tonight) and I was perfectly happy with it. I shot well enough with it to get a compliment from the RSO on my group. I was not all that happy that once again there was a problem with the next to last round failing to feed a couple of times when using the Remington factory magazines. The cheap after market mags I have work perfectly, I never have a jam with them. Again, I forgot to mark the mags that jammed. I need to do that and then send them to Remington to either repair or replace. The Ortgies functioned flawlessly but I do not shoot as well with it as the sights are fairly hard to see being they are very small. I shot okay with it, would even qualify with it if I had to shoot a qualification with it but know if the sights were a bit bigger I would shoot better with the Ortgies.
Other LIF members had a decent variety of firearms. There were a few other .45 Autos (at least one was some model of Kimber), Dan, the RSO, was shooting a .44 magnum revolver among other guns. Roman had an Uzi (semi auto only - of course being we are in NY) and also had a rifle that was a revolver. Anew member, I think his name was John, said he had not shot since summer camp many moons ago. He was shooting a marlin rifle in .22LR. Considering he had not shot in many years, I have to say he must have learned really well at summer camp. He was right on the paper with everything and the target he was using was pretty small. Some of the guys shot one anothers' rifles and handguns. Like I said though, I am not all that social a shooter and I held off on sharing for now (although I did share at the 5th Annual NE Bloggershoot). Once I know this guy from that one and know each person's gun handling habits, then I will let other shoot what I have with me if they want to do so. Since I was already aching, I had no desire to shoot guns belonging to anyone else.
I am pretty sure I will go to the next one in a month or so. If I miss that one, then I will attend the next one. It seems they shoot at that range monthly but also shoot monthly at other ranges here on Long Island. When the weather is a bit nicer, I will probably join them on some of the outdoor ranges too.
Nice guys - all them. These meet-ups at the range could become habit forming.
All the best,
Glenn B
Mostly, we met at the range, then took over two of the rooms in which to shoot. The range has several rooms with five points in each. I think there was a total of about 16 of us. We made introductions all around in the room in which I was in and everyone introduced themselves with their first names and LIF Forums sign-on name. I am already not great at remembering names, to have to try to remember a first name and a nickname will be almost impossible for me. I do remember the Range Safety Officer in our room was Dan although I forget his forum handle. Another guy whose name I remember is Roman but again I cannot remember his forum name either. I met Roman on the last LIF trip to Albany to protest the NY SAFE Act so his was already a familiar face to me. The RSO in the other room was malakaguy, no do not recall his real first name. Oh well, if I go again next month and again each month after that, I am likely to start picking up a name or two now and again.
After the intros, we got to shooting. Eight guys in the room and only five points, so I shot for about ten to fifteen minutes and let someone else into my slot for a while. We switched back and forth like that for the hour and forty-five minutes of so we had to shoot. At first, I was a tad disappointed that we were slated to shoot from 7-9 but most folks did not get there until 7 and we only started shooting at around 7:15. As it wound up, I had more than enough time to shoot before I started aching between the shoulder blades. I really need to start a work-out routine. I took another break and shot some more later on.
I brought along my Remington R1 1911, my Ortgies pocket pistol and my Glock 26. It was the first time I have shot the Glock since I got new sites put ion it. I shoot okay with it but probably could do a tiny bit better moving the rear site to the right just a bit. I will practice with it a bit more, could have been my fault in how I was holding it that had it shooting a bit to the left, maybe an inch or two at the most, at 15 yards. Nonetheless, the group was a good one. As for the Remington, it is right on out to 15 yards (I only shot out to 15 tonight) and I was perfectly happy with it. I shot well enough with it to get a compliment from the RSO on my group. I was not all that happy that once again there was a problem with the next to last round failing to feed a couple of times when using the Remington factory magazines. The cheap after market mags I have work perfectly, I never have a jam with them. Again, I forgot to mark the mags that jammed. I need to do that and then send them to Remington to either repair or replace. The Ortgies functioned flawlessly but I do not shoot as well with it as the sights are fairly hard to see being they are very small. I shot okay with it, would even qualify with it if I had to shoot a qualification with it but know if the sights were a bit bigger I would shoot better with the Ortgies.
Other LIF members had a decent variety of firearms. There were a few other .45 Autos (at least one was some model of Kimber), Dan, the RSO, was shooting a .44 magnum revolver among other guns. Roman had an Uzi (semi auto only - of course being we are in NY) and also had a rifle that was a revolver. Anew member, I think his name was John, said he had not shot since summer camp many moons ago. He was shooting a marlin rifle in .22LR. Considering he had not shot in many years, I have to say he must have learned really well at summer camp. He was right on the paper with everything and the target he was using was pretty small. Some of the guys shot one anothers' rifles and handguns. Like I said though, I am not all that social a shooter and I held off on sharing for now (although I did share at the 5th Annual NE Bloggershoot). Once I know this guy from that one and know each person's gun handling habits, then I will let other shoot what I have with me if they want to do so. Since I was already aching, I had no desire to shoot guns belonging to anyone else.
I am pretty sure I will go to the next one in a month or so. If I miss that one, then I will attend the next one. It seems they shoot at that range monthly but also shoot monthly at other ranges here on Long Island. When the weather is a bit nicer, I will probably join them on some of the outdoor ranges too.
Nice guys - all them. These meet-ups at the range could become habit forming.
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
If 100,000 Folks Had As Much Ammo As Me...
...we would have a bit more than DHS reportedly has purchased recently and thus might be ready for them should the government attempt to overtake the citizenry and institute tyranny by force. Oh course, we the people, to the best of my knowledge, do not have anywhere near the reported 2,700 Mine Resistant Armored Protected (MRAP) Vehicles that DHS reportedly also acquired recently. If this report and others like it are true, you had best be stockpiling ammo, legally obtained and possessed components for explosives, Pepper Spray, gasoline, food water, medical supplies and whatever else on which you can lay your hands for possible use if the government goes wild.
Folks, in my opinion (and remember I was in federal law enforcement for 32 years plus some), there is absolutely no justifiable reason, for a federal department handling domestic law enforcement to be purchasing 2,700 such vehicles or to have purchased 1.6 billion rounds of ammo (as DHS reportedly has purchased over the past year). They patrol our borders, investigate drug smuggling, customs violations, money laundering (minor role in that now as the FBI is the main agency relative to ML) and arrest wetbacks with maybe a suspected terrorist thrown in now and then and they search people getting on planes and the like. They are not into handling civil unrest (nor should they be), are not para-military nor should they be that either, and regardless of Janet Napolitano's rhetoric they do not do a lot in the way of actually investigating or preventing terrorism. It is mainly the FBI that handles terrorist investigations, not DHS, trust me on that one. So why do they need all those bullets and those armored personnel carriers unless they plan on putting down mass civil unrest or expect China to invade and for themselves to protect our shores/borders during an invasion?
Remember that Obama, during his first campaign, said he would have a civilian force as strong as the military but he never said why he need a civilian force that strong. Now he is putting it together with law enforcement and I fear all that ammo will be aimed at We The People, at least those of us who disagree with him. If you are not scared or at least very concerned about why this is happening, you must have drunk a good sized amount of the Obamessiah kool-aid. As Michael Savage said last night, Democrats and leftists either are or already have become everything they claimed to have feared and this is just more proof of it.
All the best,
GB
Folks, in my opinion (and remember I was in federal law enforcement for 32 years plus some), there is absolutely no justifiable reason, for a federal department handling domestic law enforcement to be purchasing 2,700 such vehicles or to have purchased 1.6 billion rounds of ammo (as DHS reportedly has purchased over the past year). They patrol our borders, investigate drug smuggling, customs violations, money laundering (minor role in that now as the FBI is the main agency relative to ML) and arrest wetbacks with maybe a suspected terrorist thrown in now and then and they search people getting on planes and the like. They are not into handling civil unrest (nor should they be), are not para-military nor should they be that either, and regardless of Janet Napolitano's rhetoric they do not do a lot in the way of actually investigating or preventing terrorism. It is mainly the FBI that handles terrorist investigations, not DHS, trust me on that one. So why do they need all those bullets and those armored personnel carriers unless they plan on putting down mass civil unrest or expect China to invade and for themselves to protect our shores/borders during an invasion?
Remember that Obama, during his first campaign, said he would have a civilian force as strong as the military but he never said why he need a civilian force that strong. Now he is putting it together with law enforcement and I fear all that ammo will be aimed at We The People, at least those of us who disagree with him. If you are not scared or at least very concerned about why this is happening, you must have drunk a good sized amount of the Obamessiah kool-aid. As Michael Savage said last night, Democrats and leftists either are or already have become everything they claimed to have feared and this is just more proof of it.
All the best,
GB
Monday, March 4, 2013
Header Pic
One day of that blog header pic was longer than enough for me.
Happy hunting, either for Easter eggs of Easter bunnies.
All the best,
Glenn B
Happy hunting, either for Easter eggs of Easter bunnies.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, March 3, 2013
So My Current Blog Header Pic...
...probably isn't something you would see on Wirecutter's, Pissed's, Jay's, Jen's or Jo's blogs but it sure as hell fits right in with how I feel about the Easter Bunny. Being that Easter is pretty much right around the corner, and that Easter Bunnies, of all descriptions (including vicious white ones), are about to invade many homes (maybe even mine), I find my blog header pic as rather seasonally appropriate. That is, it is fitting in a Gomez Addams (he was always well prepared) and a Monty Python (so were they mostly well prepared) sort of way. Living in NY, I'll have to settle for a handgun as my bunny killer. So, I chose my trusty ten shot S&W Model 17. After all, I am willing to bet that The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch has been banned under the NY SAFE Act. One thing is for sure, I am not letting on if its having been banned makes me a felon!
As for how I envision Easter Bunnies, I could see them looking a lot like this one, innocent, cuddly and sweet. I can also see them as being demonic pests acting much like the white rabbit of Monty Python lore. (Those guys must have watched a lot of Elmer chasing down that other pesky widdle wabbit, don't ya think!) So, after I finish one of 'em off with my trusty .22, I figure it will soon enough wind up looking like the one below and taste even better than he looks. 
Easter Bunnies can be simply delicious if properly stewed (just one of thousands of recipes but not the recipe for the one pictured). Don't try this with chocolate bunnies because they tend to melt.
All the best,
Glenn B
A Bad Habit That Sure Has Made Life Interesting
Not the needle tearing a hole but, in one way or another, hurting myself throughout my life and screwing up my chances of living in peaceful, painless, ignorant bliss. How does the purported Chinese saying go: "May you lead an interesting life"! It is supposedly a curse and not the wish for good fortune that many may think it. Well life certainly has been interesting.
A friend of mine always used to say: "Ignorance is bliss" and I used to think how I would never be so lucky as to enjoy it. Now, I am actually happy I never lived that way and instead chose to live an interesting life. It sure has not been easy. Then again, I think, for the most part that it sure has been fun and promises to remain so for awhile. I would not change how I lived it except maybe not to have hurt any others, undeserving of pain, along the way.
All the best,
GB
A friend of mine always used to say: "Ignorance is bliss" and I used to think how I would never be so lucky as to enjoy it. Now, I am actually happy I never lived that way and instead chose to live an interesting life. It sure has not been easy. Then again, I think, for the most part that it sure has been fun and promises to remain so for awhile. I would not change how I lived it except maybe not to have hurt any others, undeserving of pain, along the way.
All the best,
GB
Gun Pron - Semi-Auto In .38 Special
Saw a firearms forum comment, apparently questioning the validity of a claim by the media that a criminal had been armed with a semi-automatic pistol in .38 caliber. In fact, it seems a few people thought the report should have said a pistol in 380. While that is likely true, to doubt the existence of pistols chambered in .38 caliber (not .380) is a mistake.
While reading the forum posts, I already knew of at least a few such pistols, such as Colts in .38 Super, and .38 ACP but did a little research anyway and came up with quite a few semi-auto pistols that had been chambered in .38 caliber. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_ACP
http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/38PM/38pm.html
Then there are those chambered in .38 Special, like the one pictured below. Pretty, ain't it!
While reading the forum posts, I already knew of at least a few such pistols, such as Colts in .38 Super, and .38 ACP but did a little research anyway and came up with quite a few semi-auto pistols that had been chambered in .38 caliber. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_ACP
http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/38PM/38pm.html
Then there are those chambered in .38 Special, like the one pictured below. Pretty, ain't it!
All the best,
Glenn B
Not Watching Fox News - You Don't Know What You're Missing
Enjoy this video, I know I sure did - it is great. I love the line about Bill Clinton and love even more to imagine it is most likely true.
See, I said it was great. I truly believe it has the potential to help turn some Demoncrats into Conservatives and maybe even some homosexuals into straight men. It's not gonna do a thing to change a lesbian or a heterosexual though, is it!
A hat tip and a half to Peter Q for sending me this one.
All the best,
Glenn B
See, I said it was great. I truly believe it has the potential to help turn some Demoncrats into Conservatives and maybe even some homosexuals into straight men. It's not gonna do a thing to change a lesbian or a heterosexual though, is it!
A hat tip and a half to Peter Q for sending me this one.
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, March 2, 2013
The Albany Trip & Protest of the NY SAFE Act
There were we, Brendan and I, bit up at 0400, out of the house by 0440, and at the Long Island Firearms' bus pick-up location by 0510. The bus, and the 50 or so LIF members, had been scheduled to depart to Albany at 0500 but did not leave until at least 0520, maybe even 0530. The ride up was uneventful but this time someone had thought of bringing some DVDs and that made it go somewhat quicker, for some, I suppose. I did not pay much attention to the movies on the way up. I read most of the book I had with me: Worms Eat My Garbage. (I may now have to try composting indoors in a worm bin.)
When we got there, we parked right across from the square that sits between four government buildings, one of them being the state capital. We were parked next to the legislature building. We debarked the bus there although, as I already had been aware from the LIF forums, we were not supposed to do that. No one seemed to care all that much. Once off the bus, I asked the guy who had been assigned as 'bus monitor', or whatever, what we were going to do next. He said there was no plan! I asked what about what had be written up on the LIF forums about us going into the legislature building, in mass, to voice our protest and what about the 1100 pep rally that was supposed to be followed by the mass protest in the square at noon. He said there was no pep rally scheduled fr 1100 and knew noting about any inside mass protest but we could go inside if we wanted to do so. He also said there would be a protest rally at noon in the square/park. Hell, it was around 0945 or so maybe a bit earlier. It would be a bit o a wait until noon, especially in the light rain that was falling. The bus captain told us to be back at the same spot, where we got off of the bus, at 2PM to board and head home. This despite he event being planned to last until 3PM. Since we had been told that the events would go from 10AM until 1230PM, this was quite the change but we voted on it on the bus and most, if not all, agreed to stay later.
Then, some guy in a red baseball type cap comes along and starts telling everyone what was going to be the agenda for the day. He explained the bus could not stay where it was and was supposed to have dropped us off around the block at the bus staging area, the park in another area. H also said the bus would pick us up at that same staging area. (We were told there were 117 busloads of people slated to arrive for the protest, all pro-2nd Amendment folks, plus all those who drove in their own vehicles.) Then he told us that the beginning of our day should be to go into the legislature building and see our legislators if we had appointments. I tried, by sending an email to mine, three weeks ago, for n appointment.His office replied to my email on Thursday, day before the protest, very late in the afternoon, after 4PM. He told me to give them a call during business hours to arrange it. The thing was it was already too late in the day by the time I got to the email. Clever legislator, isn't he. He voted for the SAFE Act, frigging RINO.
The guy in the red cap said, even if we did not have an appointment, we could go inside and ask to see our legislators. I asked about the 'in mass' inside protest; he said none was planned. Then he said that there were about 1,000 folks waiting on line to clear the six magnetometers they had at the entrances and the lines were in essence frozen. Brendan and I looked at on line and though of waiting on it for all of a minute or two. It was not moving at all as we walked toward it, not moving while we waited on it a minute or two, and not moving as we walked away from it. Well, that is to say not moving forward, a couple of people on it got off of it complaining about the long wait. We took a walk, then got out of the rain in a local diner and got some hot coffee and hot tea.
After that, we took another shot walk, Brendan's tendinitis was acting up a bit so we did not go far. Then back to the park/square where we listened to the speakers in the pep rally that started a bit earlier than 1100; yes the pep rally we ha been told would not take place. I am going to guess that there were already about double the people hat had been at the previous rally, in Albany, in January that Brendan and I also attended. My guess is at least 4,000 folks by that time and more were arriving continuously for the next hour or more. I will go out on a limb and give a guesstimate that there wound up being about 6,000 to 7,000 people there - all pro-2nd Amendment protesters. There were zero Brady Campaign types, at least none that made themselves obvious that I saw. We were told to beware of them as they were supposedly coming to the event to cause a stir by getting in our faces and getting us to lose our tempers. More misinformation from the LIF forums but such are forums - open to any arsehat who wants to start rumors.
The protest was much the same as the first except for the quality of the speakers. There were a good number of speakers (people giving their slants on their opposition to the NY SAFE Act) but the audio equipment was worse than the first time around and it was extremely difficult o understand much of what many of them were saying. As for the ones I heard, the speakers giving their spiels, they were not as convincing (in my mind) as they had been back in January. They did not fire up the crowd and where as much as they had done so back then. This was not the fault of the crowd because when a speaker called for them to chant USA - USA - USA, I think it must have it reverberated throughout all of downtown Albany - it was loud. Same for a few other chants, but the speakers did not call for as much of that as the first time around. Oh well, they were saying what they had to say I suppose.
Much like the first protest in January, there was extremely little media coverage for this event. That is true even though the amount of news vans at this event was double that of the amount in January. In January, there was a single news van that was evident This event had 2 media vans. Could you imagine if the protest had been anti-gun folks; there likely would have been at least 10 media vans. As for reporters, I saw two of them, each with a cameraman. I also saw one other cameraman walking around videoing the event. We had a member of the press on our bus with us too. I saw no other media personnel at the event. I will admit, I saw a small article, fairly far back in the page count, of the New York Daily News today (that is a NYC Newspaper, very liberal - ultra liberal in my view).
At the protest, their were a lot of great signs. I will try to get the pics off of my cell phone, having some problems right now but ill post them if I can get that done. As for the people at the event: The protesters were mainly males but there was a large number of females there too. I would estimate about a 60/40 to 70/30 split. While my guess would be that most folks there were 35 or older, there was a good number of younger folks too. That was good to see. As for racial makeup, most of the protesters were Caucasian, followed by Asians, with a smattering of others. That is a shame because the 2nd Amendment protects the right and liberty to keep and bear arms for all of us regardless of race, creed, gender and so forth. Then there was the police presence. I am going to guess there were at least 40 uniformed NY State Troopers. There were also a fair number of Albany Police officers. In all, I figure, there had to be at least 60 uniformed officers at the main event. That was not including plain clothes officers who were certainly there, also at the main event, quite a few of them were obvious. As for uniformed police, there were about four times as many than at the protest in January. This time around the protest was held on a weekday when the legislators were in session and I am sure they demanded the extra protection. Protection from what or whom, I cannot imagine because the crowd was civil, well mannered, respectful and courteous. We are responsible gun owners and not skells. We are very unlike those at an Occupy Wall Street event.
At about 145 PM, I noticed that the crowd was thinning rapidly and I suggested to Brendan that we head over to wait for the bus. We moved across the street and watched the event from there while we waited for the bus. We also watched as hundreds and hundreds of people departed the area and then we realized that the crowd must have been huge because back in January, once the crowd had started to leave, the park/square was obviously not crowded in virtually no time. This time around, there was still a huge crowd remaining even though we watched people leaving, in droves, from just before 2PM until about 3PM. Close to 3PM, our bus driver called the bus captain telling him he was being prevented, by the police, from leaving the bus parking area but figured he would soon be able to pick us up where we were waiting. As we waited, a State Trooper approached the group, telling us we could not wait for our bus where we were waiting. he said we had to go around the block to the bus staging area. The bus captain, Terry, called the driver to let him know he had to meet us at the staging area. Things just kept changing, it was a tiny bit disoRgAnAzized! We went to the staging area and the bus met us there about five or ten minutes later. We boarded and were soon headed home.
As on the way up, we made one pit stop on the way home. That was a bit of a delay due to three LIF members taking unduly long inside the concession area. No one made the speech we received the first time around about getting into the rest area, getting what we wanted to eat and then getting on the bus with it, and to eat on the bus and not while at the rest area. That probably added at least an extra 15 minutes to the rest stop. On the way home, I finished my book and then watched the third movie of the trip Full Metal jacket - great flick. When we finally got to the bus drop-off area on Long Island, no one had already collected a tip for the bus driver. Someone mentioned it to the bus captain but most people were already off of the bus. I threw the driver $10 for me and Brendan. He deserved it and I saw the bus captain hand him something too. I hope that it all did not come out of just his pocket.
Oh well, I have to hand it to the LIF, they got us there in one piece and got us all back home again likewise; a hat tip to the bus driver as well in that regard. I imagine it is no easy task organizing a bus trip like this and coordinating with all the other groups so as to have everything work out as planned. I have to admit, despite my mentioning some minor uncoordinated things, the LIF bus trip went very well and all seemed to have a good time while standing up for the rights of all Americans (as in country not continents). My thanks to Steve the LIF Administrator (he is The Architect on the LIF forums) and to Terry (our bus captain) and to all the other members who went on the trip to try to have the NY SAFE Act repealed and to protect our right and liberty to keep and bear arms without infringement. Everyone in the group was very nice during the ride there and back and all were respectful while at the protest. I also have to give a special thank you to the young red headed lady who was sitting across the aisle from me on the bus. The Oatmeal Raisin cookie she gave me was excellent and made the ride home all that much more enjoyable!
The only thing that could make this trip wind up being more enjoyable, after the fact, will be if the NY SAFE Act is repealed.
All the best,
Glenn B
When we got there, we parked right across from the square that sits between four government buildings, one of them being the state capital. We were parked next to the legislature building. We debarked the bus there although, as I already had been aware from the LIF forums, we were not supposed to do that. No one seemed to care all that much. Once off the bus, I asked the guy who had been assigned as 'bus monitor', or whatever, what we were going to do next. He said there was no plan! I asked what about what had be written up on the LIF forums about us going into the legislature building, in mass, to voice our protest and what about the 1100 pep rally that was supposed to be followed by the mass protest in the square at noon. He said there was no pep rally scheduled fr 1100 and knew noting about any inside mass protest but we could go inside if we wanted to do so. He also said there would be a protest rally at noon in the square/park. Hell, it was around 0945 or so maybe a bit earlier. It would be a bit o a wait until noon, especially in the light rain that was falling. The bus captain told us to be back at the same spot, where we got off of the bus, at 2PM to board and head home. This despite he event being planned to last until 3PM. Since we had been told that the events would go from 10AM until 1230PM, this was quite the change but we voted on it on the bus and most, if not all, agreed to stay later.
Then, some guy in a red baseball type cap comes along and starts telling everyone what was going to be the agenda for the day. He explained the bus could not stay where it was and was supposed to have dropped us off around the block at the bus staging area, the park in another area. H also said the bus would pick us up at that same staging area. (We were told there were 117 busloads of people slated to arrive for the protest, all pro-2nd Amendment folks, plus all those who drove in their own vehicles.) Then he told us that the beginning of our day should be to go into the legislature building and see our legislators if we had appointments. I tried, by sending an email to mine, three weeks ago, for n appointment.His office replied to my email on Thursday, day before the protest, very late in the afternoon, after 4PM. He told me to give them a call during business hours to arrange it. The thing was it was already too late in the day by the time I got to the email. Clever legislator, isn't he. He voted for the SAFE Act, frigging RINO.
The guy in the red cap said, even if we did not have an appointment, we could go inside and ask to see our legislators. I asked about the 'in mass' inside protest; he said none was planned. Then he said that there were about 1,000 folks waiting on line to clear the six magnetometers they had at the entrances and the lines were in essence frozen. Brendan and I looked at on line and though of waiting on it for all of a minute or two. It was not moving at all as we walked toward it, not moving while we waited on it a minute or two, and not moving as we walked away from it. Well, that is to say not moving forward, a couple of people on it got off of it complaining about the long wait. We took a walk, then got out of the rain in a local diner and got some hot coffee and hot tea.
After that, we took another shot walk, Brendan's tendinitis was acting up a bit so we did not go far. Then back to the park/square where we listened to the speakers in the pep rally that started a bit earlier than 1100; yes the pep rally we ha been told would not take place. I am going to guess that there were already about double the people hat had been at the previous rally, in Albany, in January that Brendan and I also attended. My guess is at least 4,000 folks by that time and more were arriving continuously for the next hour or more. I will go out on a limb and give a guesstimate that there wound up being about 6,000 to 7,000 people there - all pro-2nd Amendment protesters. There were zero Brady Campaign types, at least none that made themselves obvious that I saw. We were told to beware of them as they were supposedly coming to the event to cause a stir by getting in our faces and getting us to lose our tempers. More misinformation from the LIF forums but such are forums - open to any arsehat who wants to start rumors.
The protest was much the same as the first except for the quality of the speakers. There were a good number of speakers (people giving their slants on their opposition to the NY SAFE Act) but the audio equipment was worse than the first time around and it was extremely difficult o understand much of what many of them were saying. As for the ones I heard, the speakers giving their spiels, they were not as convincing (in my mind) as they had been back in January. They did not fire up the crowd and where as much as they had done so back then. This was not the fault of the crowd because when a speaker called for them to chant USA - USA - USA, I think it must have it reverberated throughout all of downtown Albany - it was loud. Same for a few other chants, but the speakers did not call for as much of that as the first time around. Oh well, they were saying what they had to say I suppose.
Much like the first protest in January, there was extremely little media coverage for this event. That is true even though the amount of news vans at this event was double that of the amount in January. In January, there was a single news van that was evident This event had 2 media vans. Could you imagine if the protest had been anti-gun folks; there likely would have been at least 10 media vans. As for reporters, I saw two of them, each with a cameraman. I also saw one other cameraman walking around videoing the event. We had a member of the press on our bus with us too. I saw no other media personnel at the event. I will admit, I saw a small article, fairly far back in the page count, of the New York Daily News today (that is a NYC Newspaper, very liberal - ultra liberal in my view).
At the protest, their were a lot of great signs. I will try to get the pics off of my cell phone, having some problems right now but ill post them if I can get that done. As for the people at the event: The protesters were mainly males but there was a large number of females there too. I would estimate about a 60/40 to 70/30 split. While my guess would be that most folks there were 35 or older, there was a good number of younger folks too. That was good to see. As for racial makeup, most of the protesters were Caucasian, followed by Asians, with a smattering of others. That is a shame because the 2nd Amendment protects the right and liberty to keep and bear arms for all of us regardless of race, creed, gender and so forth. Then there was the police presence. I am going to guess there were at least 40 uniformed NY State Troopers. There were also a fair number of Albany Police officers. In all, I figure, there had to be at least 60 uniformed officers at the main event. That was not including plain clothes officers who were certainly there, also at the main event, quite a few of them were obvious. As for uniformed police, there were about four times as many than at the protest in January. This time around the protest was held on a weekday when the legislators were in session and I am sure they demanded the extra protection. Protection from what or whom, I cannot imagine because the crowd was civil, well mannered, respectful and courteous. We are responsible gun owners and not skells. We are very unlike those at an Occupy Wall Street event.
At about 145 PM, I noticed that the crowd was thinning rapidly and I suggested to Brendan that we head over to wait for the bus. We moved across the street and watched the event from there while we waited for the bus. We also watched as hundreds and hundreds of people departed the area and then we realized that the crowd must have been huge because back in January, once the crowd had started to leave, the park/square was obviously not crowded in virtually no time. This time around, there was still a huge crowd remaining even though we watched people leaving, in droves, from just before 2PM until about 3PM. Close to 3PM, our bus driver called the bus captain telling him he was being prevented, by the police, from leaving the bus parking area but figured he would soon be able to pick us up where we were waiting. As we waited, a State Trooper approached the group, telling us we could not wait for our bus where we were waiting. he said we had to go around the block to the bus staging area. The bus captain, Terry, called the driver to let him know he had to meet us at the staging area. Things just kept changing, it was a tiny bit disoRgAnAzized! We went to the staging area and the bus met us there about five or ten minutes later. We boarded and were soon headed home.
As on the way up, we made one pit stop on the way home. That was a bit of a delay due to three LIF members taking unduly long inside the concession area. No one made the speech we received the first time around about getting into the rest area, getting what we wanted to eat and then getting on the bus with it, and to eat on the bus and not while at the rest area. That probably added at least an extra 15 minutes to the rest stop. On the way home, I finished my book and then watched the third movie of the trip Full Metal jacket - great flick. When we finally got to the bus drop-off area on Long Island, no one had already collected a tip for the bus driver. Someone mentioned it to the bus captain but most people were already off of the bus. I threw the driver $10 for me and Brendan. He deserved it and I saw the bus captain hand him something too. I hope that it all did not come out of just his pocket.
Oh well, I have to hand it to the LIF, they got us there in one piece and got us all back home again likewise; a hat tip to the bus driver as well in that regard. I imagine it is no easy task organizing a bus trip like this and coordinating with all the other groups so as to have everything work out as planned. I have to admit, despite my mentioning some minor uncoordinated things, the LIF bus trip went very well and all seemed to have a good time while standing up for the rights of all Americans (as in country not continents). My thanks to Steve the LIF Administrator (he is The Architect on the LIF forums) and to Terry (our bus captain) and to all the other members who went on the trip to try to have the NY SAFE Act repealed and to protect our right and liberty to keep and bear arms without infringement. Everyone in the group was very nice during the ride there and back and all were respectful while at the protest. I also have to give a special thank you to the young red headed lady who was sitting across the aisle from me on the bus. The Oatmeal Raisin cookie she gave me was excellent and made the ride home all that much more enjoyable!
The only thing that could make this trip wind up being more enjoyable, after the fact, will be if the NY SAFE Act is repealed.
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
OFF TO ALBANY TO PROTEST THE NY SAFE ACT
Brendan and I will be getting up early tomorrow. It will be so early that if
we both had any sense we would be in bed within the next half hour at most but
I doubt either one of us can get to sleep that early since neither of us are
early risers. If we want to get to the bus pick-up area on time, by 0500, we
need to leave the house by 0430 and that means waking up by 0400. That sucks
but it has to be done.
We will be traveling up to Albany, NY with a busload of Long Island Firearms members to protest the NY SAFE Act within the legislative building. As far as I am aware, the legislator will be at work and the governor is also in Albany. Last time we went up on a Saturday. It was dead up that way, but we had a crowd of about 2,000 to get things a bit fired up. This time, as opposed to our January trip to Albany, to protest the same bill, we will actually be there while the legislature is in session. We have two buses going this time around. One full of LIF members and many LIF members and others on the second bus. Of course, there will probably wind up being thousands of other folks there to protest just as we will be doing.
We will be confronting, first hand, some of the most leftist politicians within the United States of America, maybe only beaten to being any further left by those in California. Hopefully our voices, the voices of the NY State gun owning citizenry and those of some few right wing NY politicians, the New York Rifle and Pistol Association, hopefully the NRA and SAF, right leaning media types, gun and ammo manufacturers and the like, will be heard loud enough to make a difference. We plan to be polite but loud and clear in our message: We The People will not bow to infringements of the 2nd Amendment any longer; the stripping away of our rights and liberties piecemeal must end and end now and our rights and liberties must be restored.
I think it will be a great trip. We had a good time back in January because we spent the day with one another and because it was something as worthwhile as anything we have ever done together.
The only drawback, this time, is that the administrator of Long Island Firearms has decreed that no one is allowed to bring firearms or anything that could be construed as a weapon, onto the bus and he will be checking. Imagine that a pro gun rights guy preventing others from carrying! Anyway, the bottom line is that since we will be entering government buildings we should be unarmed. As far as I am aware, there is no law in NY State against such, and there is certainly nothing in my pistol license handbook about it, except concerning federal buildings (and that is in part incorrect), but I have been informed that building security, for NY State buildings,
goes ape-shit if you try to enter with anything remotely hinting of weaponry. I would imagine, just as with almost any other government building I have entered while armed, they have lock boxes to secure arms if they do not allow them inside but I will go with the flow this time and leave all of my shooters at home along with my Victorinox Huntsman Swiss Army knife. Last time I had my Glock 26, my Ortgies pocket pistol, a Buck folder and the Victorinox knife. I had been thinking of carrying the Remington R1 1911 tomorrow but such will not be the case; instead I will be as if nekkid.
Hopefully whatever bag I take, to carry my lunch, will not have something like an empty shell casing inside of it. I have already checked and double checked and am pretty sure it is good to go. Shit, I have to check the laptop case since I am bringing my laptop. Who knows what is inside the many compartments of that black hole of Calcutta.
If you can be there, I highly recommend it. If you cannot not be there physically, then be there in spirit. Think of us and pray for us in the hope of us getting our message across and causing the NY SAFE ACT to be repealed.
All the best,
Glenn B
We will be traveling up to Albany, NY with a busload of Long Island Firearms members to protest the NY SAFE Act within the legislative building. As far as I am aware, the legislator will be at work and the governor is also in Albany. Last time we went up on a Saturday. It was dead up that way, but we had a crowd of about 2,000 to get things a bit fired up. This time, as opposed to our January trip to Albany, to protest the same bill, we will actually be there while the legislature is in session. We have two buses going this time around. One full of LIF members and many LIF members and others on the second bus. Of course, there will probably wind up being thousands of other folks there to protest just as we will be doing.
We will be confronting, first hand, some of the most leftist politicians within the United States of America, maybe only beaten to being any further left by those in California. Hopefully our voices, the voices of the NY State gun owning citizenry and those of some few right wing NY politicians, the New York Rifle and Pistol Association, hopefully the NRA and SAF, right leaning media types, gun and ammo manufacturers and the like, will be heard loud enough to make a difference. We plan to be polite but loud and clear in our message: We The People will not bow to infringements of the 2nd Amendment any longer; the stripping away of our rights and liberties piecemeal must end and end now and our rights and liberties must be restored.
I think it will be a great trip. We had a good time back in January because we spent the day with one another and because it was something as worthwhile as anything we have ever done together.
The only drawback, this time, is that the administrator of Long Island Firearms has decreed that no one is allowed to bring firearms or anything that could be construed as a weapon, onto the bus and he will be checking. Imagine that a pro gun rights guy preventing others from carrying! Anyway, the bottom line is that since we will be entering government buildings we should be unarmed. As far as I am aware, there is no law in NY State against such, and there is certainly nothing in my pistol license handbook about it, except concerning federal buildings (and that is in part incorrect), but I have been informed that building security, for NY State buildings,
goes ape-shit if you try to enter with anything remotely hinting of weaponry. I would imagine, just as with almost any other government building I have entered while armed, they have lock boxes to secure arms if they do not allow them inside but I will go with the flow this time and leave all of my shooters at home along with my Victorinox Huntsman Swiss Army knife. Last time I had my Glock 26, my Ortgies pocket pistol, a Buck folder and the Victorinox knife. I had been thinking of carrying the Remington R1 1911 tomorrow but such will not be the case; instead I will be as if nekkid.
Hopefully whatever bag I take, to carry my lunch, will not have something like an empty shell casing inside of it. I have already checked and double checked and am pretty sure it is good to go. Shit, I have to check the laptop case since I am bringing my laptop. Who knows what is inside the many compartments of that black hole of Calcutta.
If you can be there, I highly recommend it. If you cannot not be there physically, then be there in spirit. Think of us and pray for us in the hope of us getting our message across and causing the NY SAFE ACT to be repealed.
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tasty Goodness - 500 Feeder Roaches Coming My Way
Yep, I have an order of 500 Blaptica dubia roaches Bearded Dragons and Crested Geckos.
My order will consist of all nymphs. No, not nymphos but young roaches, each ranging in size from 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. Within about another two to four months, they should be adult sized. By that time, I figure to be rid of most of them and be left with just enough adults to make up my second breeding colony. Yes that does mean I already have breeding colony going but I want to augment that one with some fresh meat.
The lizards love them but I was wondering how they would go down, with a beer, after frying them in a pan with bacon.
All the best,
Glenn B
This Email Is A Pisser
Content of an email I received from a friend today:
"My wife hounded me for months & months to fix our damaged gutter downspout, but when I finally fixed it... she was hopping mad!
I guess I'll never ever understand women."
Thanks to Don S. for sending me that one. I have got to say, the guy who created that has a great imagination and is either single or must have a very loving wife if he is still alive.
All the best,
GB
"My wife hounded me for months & months to fix our damaged gutter downspout, but when I finally fixed it... she was hopping mad!
I guess I'll never ever understand women."
Thanks to Don S. for sending me that one. I have got to say, the guy who created that has a great imagination and is either single or must have a very loving wife if he is still alive.
All the best,
GB
Students Told To Call 911 Hijackers Freedom Fighters...
...instead of calling them terrorists and to call the Holocaust ethnic cleansing instead of genocide. This reportedly happened in Lumberton High School down in Texas. (source).
To call the killing of the Jews - let alone the killing of the Gypsies, Poles, Russians, dissidents, mentally deficient Germans, criminals, nuns, priests, and all the others - ethnic cleansing is far, far, far beyond the scope of stretching the truth to its furthest limits. Then for the superintendent of the school district to have said, the teacher, who so instructed the students, did nothing wrong was following state guidelines and followed that up by saying:
He thereby implied that the lesson is the truth and that anyone calling the Holocaust genocide, or calling the 911 hijackers terrorists, are liars. How could that school system ever even imagine using a term that makes the murders of 6 million Jews seem as if it were a wholesome thing, as is implied by the word cleansing! It is to me beyond the scope of truth, decency and sanity. Are not those the same words used by that murderous bastard Hitler about what he was doing by way of killing off approximately 12 to 13 million in the gas chambers and camps! Now the schools are borrowing and using the words of one of the worst demented criminals, of all time, when they teach about such things. Educators shamelessly twisting fact into some morbid fantasy is, even some of them evidently proud of having done so, is in my opinion, heinous and terribly disgraceful. Emulating the speech that Hitler used for himself to help justify the Holocaust is inexcusable. I do not think the school system in question should
continue to do so and I beleive that people like the supoerintendent or they who tought up this curriculum deserve to continue their employment. They may well deserve what they may well wind up getting; I would hope that would be getting fired and losing their teaching credentials.
All the best,
Glenn B
To call the killing of the Jews - let alone the killing of the Gypsies, Poles, Russians, dissidents, mentally deficient Germans, criminals, nuns, priests, and all the others - ethnic cleansing is far, far, far beyond the scope of stretching the truth to its furthest limits. Then for the superintendent of the school district to have said, the teacher, who so instructed the students, did nothing wrong was following state guidelines and followed that up by saying:
"“What is more dangerous – fear and ignorance or education and understanding,” he asked. “From our standpoint, we are here to educate the kids.”" (source).
He thereby implied that the lesson is the truth and that anyone calling the Holocaust genocide, or calling the 911 hijackers terrorists, are liars. How could that school system ever even imagine using a term that makes the murders of 6 million Jews seem as if it were a wholesome thing, as is implied by the word cleansing! It is to me beyond the scope of truth, decency and sanity. Are not those the same words used by that murderous bastard Hitler about what he was doing by way of killing off approximately 12 to 13 million in the gas chambers and camps! Now the schools are borrowing and using the words of one of the worst demented criminals, of all time, when they teach about such things. Educators shamelessly twisting fact into some morbid fantasy is, even some of them evidently proud of having done so, is in my opinion, heinous and terribly disgraceful. Emulating the speech that Hitler used for himself to help justify the Holocaust is inexcusable. I do not think the school system in question should
continue to do so and I beleive that people like the supoerintendent or they who tought up this curriculum deserve to continue their employment. They may well deserve what they may well wind up getting; I would hope that would be getting fired and losing their teaching credentials.
Of course, years ago, there might have been another alternative offered by the local community whose children were taught such crap. When men were real men, before having been pussified by money hungry lawsuit generating lawyers and ultra-liberal politicians, a few fathers, or even older brothers, of the school kids quite possibly would have beaten the hell out of that teacher and his boss. If so, then not surprisingly, the case likely would never have been solved by the police. Not that it is right mind you but I can almost envision it happening even today if crap like that keeps getting pushed at that school. I would hope not but such things d tend to raise the furies.
To be fair, I must point out that some students reportedly have said that the teacher seemed extremely uncomfortable teahing that but she apaprently felt compelled y the educational system to do so. How the teacher felt though does not excuse the lesson plan nor the statements of the superintendent. I think it would have been much better had the teacher refused to give the lesson in the first place. But such is America, the land of spinless whimps and uber-leftists.
To be fair, I must point out that some students reportedly have said that the teacher seemed extremely uncomfortable teahing that but she apaprently felt compelled y the educational system to do so. How the teacher felt though does not excuse the lesson plan nor the statements of the superintendent. I think it would have been much better had the teacher refused to give the lesson in the first place. But such is America, the land of spinless whimps and uber-leftists.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, February 24, 2013
How Long Will It Be Until Obama Violates The 3rd Amendment?
The Obama Administration, with apparent glee on the part of President Obama, has, in my opinion violated the 1st Amendment, the 2nd Amendment, the 4th Amendment, the 5th Amendment, the 9th Amendment, the 10th Amendment and the 14th Amendment to the Bill of Rights (which if you do not know is part of the Constitution, the Constitution being the basis of all of the federal government's powers, authorities and laws and many of our state laws). He and his administration probably also have violated several other constitutional amendments and original articles of the Constitution as well. Don't get me wrong here, George W. Bush was guilty of doing likewise regarding violating many of our rights and disregarding the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is not necessarily a party line concern, it is an overall corruption of the government in its broad disregard for our rights and liberties. I must say though, Obama has brought this travesty of justice to a new high.
It all makes me wonder, when the Obamessiah will violate the 3rd Amendment. I see it as almost being inevitable during his tenure as president. What with the drones patrolling our skies and spying on U.S. Citizens, the president authorizing seizures of just about anything without just cause, the authorization by the president for our military and law enforcement to kill, without probable or even reasonable cause, American citizens who are deemed terrorists - I imagine it is only a matter of time before he demands that both federal law enforcement and military personal be lodged within the private homes of citizens. (I think, LE should be covered by the 3rd Amendment since Obama in essence vowed to create a force as strong as our military within our borders.) Of course, my guess would be that it will all be for our own protection, at least as he most likely would put it, when the government tries to establish itself as almighty and overtake the people by brute force, keeping the citizenry subdued by housing troops and LE within our homes.
All the best,
Glenn B
It all makes me wonder, when the Obamessiah will violate the 3rd Amendment. I see it as almost being inevitable during his tenure as president. What with the drones patrolling our skies and spying on U.S. Citizens, the president authorizing seizures of just about anything without just cause, the authorization by the president for our military and law enforcement to kill, without probable or even reasonable cause, American citizens who are deemed terrorists - I imagine it is only a matter of time before he demands that both federal law enforcement and military personal be lodged within the private homes of citizens. (I think, LE should be covered by the 3rd Amendment since Obama in essence vowed to create a force as strong as our military within our borders.) Of course, my guess would be that it will all be for our own protection, at least as he most likely would put it, when the government tries to establish itself as almighty and overtake the people by brute force, keeping the citizenry subdued by housing troops and LE within our homes.
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, February 22, 2013
The Ammo Gods Tricked Me...
...into spending too much on ammo this week. What else can I say for having bought another $480 or so worth of ammo over the past two days (yesterday and the day before). Two days ago, I saw that Lucky Gunner had PMC Bronze ammo available in .308 Winchester, 147 grain, FMJ-BT and I bought 100 rounds of it. Can you blame me? After all, I have the Marlin XS-7 in .308 WIN and only had about 250 rounds on hand for it. So what was another 100 rounds at $25 per box of 20 rounds. It was on $125 but yes I did have to add shipping. That brought it to a mere $140.97. Amazingly, I ordered it 2 days ago and it already arrived today!
Then yesterday, I visited a local store and saw that they had 6 boxes of Remington UMC .45 Automatic on the shelves along with about a dozen boxes of CCI Blazer .45 Auto. The funny thing was that they wanted more for the aluminum cased CCI Blazer ammo. As I was hemming and hawing, trying to decide if I needed anymore .45Auto ammo, a guy comes up to the counter and asks the price of each. He then bought three boxes of the Remington ammunition. After just a bit more of justifying an ammo purchase to myself, I bought the remaining three boxes of it; there was yet another guy also asking the price but I beat him by about 10 seconds. That set me back another $81.45 but the real total was about $114 plus change because I also added a lensatic compass and a small knife sharpener to my purchase.
Then last night, I was browsing some sites and saw that SG Ammo had 762x39 mm ammo at a pre-buying-frenzy price or darned close to it. They had Golden Tiger, 7.62x39 FMJ, steel cased ammo (I am pretty sure this is lacquer coated), in lots of 200 rounds for only $59.99 - limit one per customer per day. Whom were they kidding, a limit of one per customer per day with only about 75 lots available; there would certainly not be another day. Of course, I had to add shipping charges to this too, meaning yes I bought 200 rounds of it. It wound up at a total of $71.99 shipped.
I decided to do a good deed for the day and went to Long island Firearms Forums and posted there about the availability of the 7.62x39mm ammo at SG Ammo. While doing so, I went back to the SG Ammo site to check and it was down to about 30 lots. That all within less than 5 minutes of my ordering. In almost no time after that, they were sold out of it.
I again took a look at SG Ammo's site, just a bit later, wanting to look at the same ammo again but somehow winding up on their page listing 5.56x45mm ammo and was shocked to see that they had just listed 100 lots of 5.56 mm, M193, 55 grain, FMJ, Prvi Partizan ammo - LIMIT 5 PACKS PER CUSTOMER at $139.99. Now, I do not like the fact that 5.56x45mm ammo is selling for a price that high (this ammo going for .69999 or effectively .70 cents per round) but that price was lower than anything else that I could find on the Internet over the past two months. So, I bought 200 rounds of it too. Just go to gunbot.net for some examples of current pricing; most .223 and 5.56x45 ammo is selling for at least .90 cents per round plus shipping. The total for this order was $153.39 shipped.
Yikes, what to tell the wife if she sees the credit card bill when it comes due! Lucky for me, I pay the bills. Unlucky for me, I have to come up with just over $480 to pay for it all. That ain't gunna be easy with the price I have been paying for my mill-ups this winter but it is not impossible either. Although, I suppose it means, I cannot buy any more ammo for the next month or two. That is unless I see a great deal on .308 ammo, or maybe even on 5.56x45mm or 7.62x39mm ammo. Heck, as it has turned out here in New York State, soon I will be required to be submitted to a background check to be able to purchase ammo (no problem) and I will also be prevented, by law, from buying it online (big problem). Fuck NY State and its whackadoo leftist politicians. This whole NY SAFE Act situation is, about as un-American as you can get. I had planned on spending no more than what I paid for the .308 ammo this month. Now, after my little spending spree, I am hopeful I do not bankrupt myself trying to put away some ammo, for a rainy day, at the current ammo-buying-frenzy driven prices.
By the way, if the wife does find out about this, I will just blame it on the ammo gods, really - what else could I say.
All the best,
Glenn B
Then yesterday, I visited a local store and saw that they had 6 boxes of Remington UMC .45 Automatic on the shelves along with about a dozen boxes of CCI Blazer .45 Auto. The funny thing was that they wanted more for the aluminum cased CCI Blazer ammo. As I was hemming and hawing, trying to decide if I needed anymore .45Auto ammo, a guy comes up to the counter and asks the price of each. He then bought three boxes of the Remington ammunition. After just a bit more of justifying an ammo purchase to myself, I bought the remaining three boxes of it; there was yet another guy also asking the price but I beat him by about 10 seconds. That set me back another $81.45 but the real total was about $114 plus change because I also added a lensatic compass and a small knife sharpener to my purchase.
Then last night, I was browsing some sites and saw that SG Ammo had 762x39 mm ammo at a pre-buying-frenzy price or darned close to it. They had Golden Tiger, 7.62x39 FMJ, steel cased ammo (I am pretty sure this is lacquer coated), in lots of 200 rounds for only $59.99 - limit one per customer per day. Whom were they kidding, a limit of one per customer per day with only about 75 lots available; there would certainly not be another day. Of course, I had to add shipping charges to this too, meaning yes I bought 200 rounds of it. It wound up at a total of $71.99 shipped.
I decided to do a good deed for the day and went to Long island Firearms Forums and posted there about the availability of the 7.62x39mm ammo at SG Ammo. While doing so, I went back to the SG Ammo site to check and it was down to about 30 lots. That all within less than 5 minutes of my ordering. In almost no time after that, they were sold out of it.
I again took a look at SG Ammo's site, just a bit later, wanting to look at the same ammo again but somehow winding up on their page listing 5.56x45mm ammo and was shocked to see that they had just listed 100 lots of 5.56 mm, M193, 55 grain, FMJ, Prvi Partizan ammo - LIMIT 5 PACKS PER CUSTOMER at $139.99. Now, I do not like the fact that 5.56x45mm ammo is selling for a price that high (this ammo going for .69999 or effectively .70 cents per round) but that price was lower than anything else that I could find on the Internet over the past two months. So, I bought 200 rounds of it too. Just go to gunbot.net for some examples of current pricing; most .223 and 5.56x45 ammo is selling for at least .90 cents per round plus shipping. The total for this order was $153.39 shipped.
Yikes, what to tell the wife if she sees the credit card bill when it comes due! Lucky for me, I pay the bills. Unlucky for me, I have to come up with just over $480 to pay for it all. That ain't gunna be easy with the price I have been paying for my mill-ups this winter but it is not impossible either. Although, I suppose it means, I cannot buy any more ammo for the next month or two. That is unless I see a great deal on .308 ammo, or maybe even on 5.56x45mm or 7.62x39mm ammo. Heck, as it has turned out here in New York State, soon I will be required to be submitted to a background check to be able to purchase ammo (no problem) and I will also be prevented, by law, from buying it online (big problem). Fuck NY State and its whackadoo leftist politicians. This whole NY SAFE Act situation is, about as un-American as you can get. I had planned on spending no more than what I paid for the .308 ammo this month. Now, after my little spending spree, I am hopeful I do not bankrupt myself trying to put away some ammo, for a rainy day, at the current ammo-buying-frenzy driven prices.
By the way, if the wife does find out about this, I will just blame it on the ammo gods, really - what else could I say.
All the best,
Glenn B
Why Have These Police Officers Not Been Charged Criminally?
I do not mean all eight of them as mentioned in this article but do mean at least the two who shot at the two innocent women. There reportedly were over one hundred bullet holes in the pick-up truck and both of the female occupants of the vehicle were injured, one of them critically. Why?
So a truck drove by lights out that they reportedly believed looked like Dorner's; they seem to think that is all it takes to be able to start shooting and putting peoples lives at risk. Well, they had better be able to convince folks that they had at least that much reason to justifiably fear for their lives but for the life of me I do not see how with what has been presented thus far. Note though that Dorner's truck was a gray Nissan Titan and not very similar to the blue Toyota Tacoma that the women were driving. Well, in my opinion, at least the vehicles were not similar enough that they should have proven to look the same to the eyes of police officers. Mind you, officers who are taught how identify vehicles, are taught how to observe, and are trained and retrained to make assessments before firing their weapons. Furthermore, one would think it would have been standard operating procedure, for a police department
supposedly as professional as the LAPD, to have supplied those officers with pictures, or at an exacting description, of the alleged cop killer's truck before being sent out to guard another cops home so that such a case of mistaken identity likely would not result in exactly what happened.
This has been called a case of mistaken identity and indeed it was such so much so as to possibly be a criminal act of reckless endangerment. It also appears to me as it most probably must be an absolute breach of regulations, the law, and protocol on the part of the two officers who fired at the women’s' truck. Police officers, just like non-law enforcement folks, can only legally be justified in using deadly force (such as firing their weapons) if they in essence have probable or reasonable cause (varies by state) to believe that they are facing an imminent threat of death or of serious bodily injury. Even if the vehicle driven by both women had been identical to Dorner's, which it most definitely was not, the vehicle driving by them with lights off should not have been enough cause for the officers to have fired on it. Why - because they had not identified the driver of it. But he truth is that the vehicle was very different in appearance. The truth is that the officers were looking for Dorner but evidently, at least to me with my limited knowledge, fired knowingly at two subjects in the women’s' truck judging by how the bullet holes are positioned.
As far as I am concerned, based upon my 32 years of law enforcement experience, my having fired my handgun twice in the line of duty and once while off duty (fully justifiable all three times) and my having been a firearms and tactics instructor for 14 years while on the job, I think this was quite likely a bad shooting based upon the information that has appeared about it. Of course, as with anyone else I believe may have been involved in a crime, I insist on waiting until all the evidence is made known before condemning anyone. Yet, this looks to have been questionable enough, indeed more than enough, so that charges should have been filed against these officers at the very minimum for reckless endangerment and then the courts could have ironed it out. Something tells me though that charges will never be filed against them regardless of if they were unjustified in shooting at that truck and its occupants. We don't live in the America I grew up in anymore - that is for sure but one thing remains the same - the us against them status of the police, prosecutors and other government officials who all too often stick together regardless of justice and the rights of the citizenry being trod upon by those wearing a badge.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wasting Away Again In...
...a place where it just could not get much better - at least for a welfare slug.
A hat tip to mein guter freund Rich M. for finding that one.
All the best,
Glenn B
A hat tip to mein guter freund Rich M. for finding that one.
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Call Boxes, Safe Zones and Whistles Better Than Guns To Defend Against Rapists?
That is, in essence, what Colorado Legislator Joe Salazar reportedly said recently as he seemingly implies that women are too stupid to know a real threat and know when to employ deadly force to protect themselves.
Just seeing him and judging by how he has dressed himself, I would guess that someone who judges books by their covers, might suspect him of being a woman hater, or a member of NAMBLA, or maybe even just a pervert of commoner sort seeking to take advantage of a woman by way of dropping a few roophies in her drink, and/or a politician. A judgemental person also probably would have thought of him as a supporter of gun-control. Finally, it might be easy for someone to have thought him an asshole just because of the gold lamé bowtie.
After me having listened to him to him on the subjects of rape and gun control on college campuses, I would have to say that, had you had such an opinion of him based only on how he appeared, I guess I would have to say 'wow, what a good judge of character are you'. Now, I am not one to judge a book by its cover nor a person solely by how he is attired. So I allow you to judge for yourselves by reading the article at this link and watching the below video.
All the best,
Glenn B
Just seeing him and judging by how he has dressed himself, I would guess that someone who judges books by their covers, might suspect him of being a woman hater, or a member of NAMBLA, or maybe even just a pervert of commoner sort seeking to take advantage of a woman by way of dropping a few roophies in her drink, and/or a politician. A judgemental person also probably would have thought of him as a supporter of gun-control. Finally, it might be easy for someone to have thought him an asshole just because of the gold lamé bowtie.
After me having listened to him to him on the subjects of rape and gun control on college campuses, I would have to say that, had you had such an opinion of him based only on how he appeared, I guess I would have to say 'wow, what a good judge of character are you'. Now, I am not one to judge a book by its cover nor a person solely by how he is attired. So I allow you to judge for yourselves by reading the article at this link and watching the below video.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Olympic Arms To The State of New York - No Sales To NY State Or Its Law Enforcement
Olympic apparently released this press release this past Tuesday. I hope it is just not meaningless chatter, I truly hope that they were a supplier of firearms to more than just a few departments within NY State, especially to the state police and the NYPD.
My source for the following was: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=573076246049586&id=114264921930723, and a hat tip to Richie M for letting me know about this.
"Press Release: Olympic Arms, Inc. Announces New York State Sales Policy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Olympic Arms is a staunch believer in and defender of the Constitution of the United States, and with special attention paid to the Bill of Rights that succinctly enumerates the security of our Divinely given Rights. One of those Rights is that to Keep and Bear Arms.
Legislation recently passed in the State of New York outlaws the AR15 and many other firearms, and will make it illegal for the good and free citizens of New York to own a large selection of legal and safe firearms and magazines. We feel as though the passage of this legislation exceeds the authority granted to the government of New York by its citizens, and violates the Constitution of the United States, ignoring such SCOTUS rulings as District of Columbia v. Heller - 554, U.S. 570 of 2008, McDonald v. Chicago - 561 U.S. 3025 of 2010, and specifically the case of United States v. Miller – 307 U.S. 174 of 1939.
Due the passing of this legislation, Olympic Arms would like to announce that the State of New York, any Law Enforcement Departments, Law Enforcement Officers, First Responders within the State of New York, or any New York State government entity or employee of such an entity - will no longer be served as customers.
In short, Olympic Arms will no longer be doing business with the State of New York or any governmental entity or employee of such governmental entity within the State of New York - henceforth and until such legislation is repealed, and an apology made to the good people of the State of New York and the American people.
If the leaders of the State of New York are willing to limit the right of the free and law abiding citizens of New York to arm themselves as they see fit under the Rights enumerate to all citizens of the United State through the Second Amendment, we feel as though the legislators and government entities within the State of New York should have to abide by the same restrictions.
This action has caused a division of the people into classes: Those the government deems valuable enough to protect with modern firearms, and those whose lives have been deemed as having less value, and whom the government has decided do not deserve the right to protect themselves with the same firearms. Olympic Arms will not support such behavior or policy against any citizen of this great nation.
Olympic Arms invites all firearms manufacturers, distributors and firearms dealers to join us in this action to refuse to do business with the State of New York. We must stand together, or we shall surely fall divided.
Sincerely,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Olympic Arms is a staunch believer in and defender of the Constitution of the United States, and with special attention paid to the Bill of Rights that succinctly enumerates the security of our Divinely given Rights. One of those Rights is that to Keep and Bear Arms.
Legislation recently passed in the State of New York outlaws the AR15 and many other firearms, and will make it illegal for the good and free citizens of New York to own a large selection of legal and safe firearms and magazines. We feel as though the passage of this legislation exceeds the authority granted to the government of New York by its citizens, and violates the Constitution of the United States, ignoring such SCOTUS rulings as District of Columbia v. Heller - 554, U.S. 570 of 2008, McDonald v. Chicago - 561 U.S. 3025 of 2010, and specifically the case of United States v. Miller – 307 U.S. 174 of 1939.
Due the passing of this legislation, Olympic Arms would like to announce that the State of New York, any Law Enforcement Departments, Law Enforcement Officers, First Responders within the State of New York, or any New York State government entity or employee of such an entity - will no longer be served as customers.
In short, Olympic Arms will no longer be doing business with the State of New York or any governmental entity or employee of such governmental entity within the State of New York - henceforth and until such legislation is repealed, and an apology made to the good people of the State of New York and the American people.
If the leaders of the State of New York are willing to limit the right of the free and law abiding citizens of New York to arm themselves as they see fit under the Rights enumerate to all citizens of the United State through the Second Amendment, we feel as though the legislators and government entities within the State of New York should have to abide by the same restrictions.
This action has caused a division of the people into classes: Those the government deems valuable enough to protect with modern firearms, and those whose lives have been deemed as having less value, and whom the government has decided do not deserve the right to protect themselves with the same firearms. Olympic Arms will not support such behavior or policy against any citizen of this great nation.
Olympic Arms invites all firearms manufacturers, distributors and firearms dealers to join us in this action to refuse to do business with the State of New York. We must stand together, or we shall surely fall divided.
Sincerely,
Brian Schuetz
President
Olympic Arms, Inc."
President
Olympic Arms, Inc."
If all of the firearms and ammunition manufacturers within the USA stood behind us and the 2nd Amendment like that, there would be nothing to gun control at all except being able to hit your target while using whatever firearm and ammo you desired.
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Oh My Achin' HP Laptop
I just got off the phone with the HP Technical Service department. I dealt with them for hours on Sunday, waited for them to call me back at 10AM on Monday, as promised, but they only called at 3PM when I was at work ad I could not take the call. Yesterday, they called to leave me a message saying they were happy to have resolved my problem and to call them for anything further. As I am off from work today, and since they never esolved any of the problems I described to them, I gave them a call at a little after 1PM. I was on the phone only 48 minutes and 46 seconds this time (sure beats a couple or a few hours). I explained that on Sunday night, after getting off the phone with HP tech service, I backed up my files and then performed the full battery of tests available under F2, within System Management, and that the laptop failed the Hard Disk Long DST. The service rep told me the hard drive had to be replaced and I would have to pay $49.95 for onsite service. I reminded him, as I have had to remind them each time I have called them, I have onsite service included with the premium warranty I purchased.
I was then put through to a supervisor. He told me the hard drive had to be replaced and so too the graphics card (having a problem of which they are aware although you could have fooled me that they were aware of such a problem just this past Sunday when I first called them about it). He also told me that they would also address the fingerprint reader (also showing a problem) once the hard drive was replaced because to fix it required the hard drive operating properly. He said I would have to send it in via FedEx and I said "whoa" and explained I have onsite service under my warranty. He explained that if just the hard drive, they would replace it onsite but since the video adapter is also having problems that has to be replaced at their service center since it is beyond the capabilities of an onsite tech. I believe that to be bullshit but what can one do. The supervisor also kept telling me how if it was damaged by a fall, or liquid spills or anything like that it will not be covered. I have not spilled anything on it nor ever dropped it. In fact, an HP service technician was just here a couple of weeks ago to replace the keyboard because two keys popped off of it. Back then, the HP service representative, at their service center, insisted on the same thing, that I had somehow damaged the computer. He insisted it must have been dropped, and thus the keys broke off. The onsite technician, who fixed it, looked it over and assured me there was absolutely no damage to it, except that the keys fell off in normal use. They have been so insistent about the possibility of it having been damaged as to make me wonder, that when I send it to them, they may try to trump up things by saying it was damaged somehow and thus is not under the regular warranty. I am going to take a lot of pictures of it, to document its condition, before I send it to them.
As it now stands, the three day turn around, that I would have had with onsite service, is about to turn into a ten day to two week turn around because they have to mail me a shipping box, then I mail it back to them with the laptop inside of it, then they repair it and return it to me. They offered to get it done in an expedited fashion if I wanted to pay another $15.95 but I said forget it. Perhaps, I am about to discover just how badly I am addicted to using my laptop over that time period.
I never had any such problems with Dell. Thus, I am pretty sure that in the future I will not be a repeat customer at HP but will be a returning customer at Dell. When I had various problems with my Dell PCs, had a few of them, they replaced parts pronto with an onsite service technician coming to fix it after first running diagnostics online. No questions asked, no hemming, no hawing, no having me send in the computer, no insisting I must have dropped it or spilled something on it, they just fixed it and there were no charges for me to expedite things because they sent the part expedited delivery as part of the warranty coverage. With Dell, I always spoke to someone in the USA (except for one Dell Desktop that I bought my daughter and for which I did not purchase a premium extended warranty) instead of someone in India. Maybe that is where the part comes from too, who knows! I only got this laptop last August and figure to be stuck with it, and with this kind of service, for a few years until I will need to buy a new one.
All the best,
Glenn B
I was then put through to a supervisor. He told me the hard drive had to be replaced and so too the graphics card (having a problem of which they are aware although you could have fooled me that they were aware of such a problem just this past Sunday when I first called them about it). He also told me that they would also address the fingerprint reader (also showing a problem) once the hard drive was replaced because to fix it required the hard drive operating properly. He said I would have to send it in via FedEx and I said "whoa" and explained I have onsite service under my warranty. He explained that if just the hard drive, they would replace it onsite but since the video adapter is also having problems that has to be replaced at their service center since it is beyond the capabilities of an onsite tech. I believe that to be bullshit but what can one do. The supervisor also kept telling me how if it was damaged by a fall, or liquid spills or anything like that it will not be covered. I have not spilled anything on it nor ever dropped it. In fact, an HP service technician was just here a couple of weeks ago to replace the keyboard because two keys popped off of it. Back then, the HP service representative, at their service center, insisted on the same thing, that I had somehow damaged the computer. He insisted it must have been dropped, and thus the keys broke off. The onsite technician, who fixed it, looked it over and assured me there was absolutely no damage to it, except that the keys fell off in normal use. They have been so insistent about the possibility of it having been damaged as to make me wonder, that when I send it to them, they may try to trump up things by saying it was damaged somehow and thus is not under the regular warranty. I am going to take a lot of pictures of it, to document its condition, before I send it to them.
As it now stands, the three day turn around, that I would have had with onsite service, is about to turn into a ten day to two week turn around because they have to mail me a shipping box, then I mail it back to them with the laptop inside of it, then they repair it and return it to me. They offered to get it done in an expedited fashion if I wanted to pay another $15.95 but I said forget it. Perhaps, I am about to discover just how badly I am addicted to using my laptop over that time period.
I never had any such problems with Dell. Thus, I am pretty sure that in the future I will not be a repeat customer at HP but will be a returning customer at Dell. When I had various problems with my Dell PCs, had a few of them, they replaced parts pronto with an onsite service technician coming to fix it after first running diagnostics online. No questions asked, no hemming, no hawing, no having me send in the computer, no insisting I must have dropped it or spilled something on it, they just fixed it and there were no charges for me to expedite things because they sent the part expedited delivery as part of the warranty coverage. With Dell, I always spoke to someone in the USA (except for one Dell Desktop that I bought my daughter and for which I did not purchase a premium extended warranty) instead of someone in India. Maybe that is where the part comes from too, who knows! I only got this laptop last August and figure to be stuck with it, and with this kind of service, for a few years until I will need to buy a new one.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, February 11, 2013
Hey Jo, Where You Going With That Gun In Your Hand
Yeah, I know, the Hendrix song is Hey Joe and not "Hey Jo" like it says in the title of this blog post. I wrote it like that because this post is for someone special. It's for my good friend Jo, one of the Farmer's Oval Schaefer Girls (you had to be in our circle of friends to understand). I just found out she is a shootist. Not only is she a shooter, she is a pretty darned good shot at that.
Hey Jo, just let me say that while you listen to this music video, I hope you have a Schaefer in hand, an ice cold one. They would go good together.
All the best,
Bart
Hey Jo, just let me say that while you listen to this music video, I hope you have a Schaefer in hand, an ice cold one. They would go good together.
All the best,
Bart
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