No Wonder The Arctic Ice Cap Is Vanishing

Whilst the libtards have been screaming about Global Warming having been George W. Bush's fault, the truth is that Climate Change (remember the libs changed names from Global Warming to Climate Change once their facts were found to be dubious) seems to be at its worst under Obummer. Think about that, it has not been this cold in the USA for over 100 years in many parts of the country. No, I am not blaming Obummer as leftists would blame and have blamed Bush, I am just stating a coincidence that may have driven the forces of nature to have been twisted by powers with a foul weathered sense of humor and a chilling one at that.

So while those libs must have gotten it wrong when they called it Global Warming, if anything, they may have gotten it right about it being Climate Change. The climate sure has been changing around here, sort of just as you would expect it to do what with the change of seasons. Now maybe it is a bit more at that as it sure is colder than usual. Yet, as evidenced by the current weather change in the US of A is definitely not global WARMING but by some corrupted manner of thinking it may be local warming - at least local in the Arctic. Seems that Mother Nature or God or the Fates has or have a nasty sense of humor. If there has been any reported, that the Arctic is warming and has lost most of the polar ice cap, one has to wonder how and why with all this cold weather hitting us now. The only thing I can think up is that as the forces of Mother Nature have moved all the cold air south, into our area AND those same forces have pushed all the warm air up north. That would fit in with Local Warming anyway cause as I said it sure ain't global. Then again, how is it that all that cold air was already in the north to be sent here if it already had been getting warmer over all the years they have been screaming about Global Warming and Climate Change. I guess maybe they were and remain wrong and the North Friggin Pole is as cold as ever - otherwise where did all this cold air come from!

It is 8.7 friggin degrees in the village in which I live. Prudently, I had my oil tank filled a week or so ago and do not need an emergency oil delivery. Sadly, the oil is being consumed at a record pace. Luckily, the weather is supposed to change and gradually, dare I say it, warm up over the next few days. That is at least here in NY near the coast. I should point out that the warmer temps will be much more within normal range for this area than are the current blue-balled special temperatures to which we have plummeted and will even get somewhat balmy for at least the weekend - the high on Saturday predicted to be in the low 50s. I am thankful for that, as I am sure will be millions of other folks. My bet is that all of us, including hard left liberals, probably would not mind a bit of Global Warming right about now.

All the best,
Glenn B

Hey NY Gun Owners - Want To Get Really Pissed Off

... that is if you are a responsible gun owner in NY State. Then go ahead and read the linked article; it is sure to make your head spin in amazement and to raise your blood pressure and ire beyond those of mere mortal men. The article claims, in essence, that Jerome Hauer (NY State Commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services) was allegedly absolutely unsafe and reckless with his pistol, and apparently unnecessarily endangered the lives of others in doing so. In a million years I would never have imagined anyone doing what it is claimed he did - thus one of the reasons I tend to believe the story - you can't make up stuff like that! See:
 
 http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Ready-aim-point-talk-5116592.php

If it can be documented that Hauer actually did what it is claimed he did, then it should also make each and every one of us, that is all responsible NY gun owners, petition the governor's office to have this guy fired. Then we need to demand that the NYS Police revoke his pistol license, or that the state revoke any exemption to a license it may have granted him in connection with his employment, and furthermore the NYS Police arrest him for  brandishing a firearm and reckless endangerment (or the equivalent) under NY State law. If horse whipping was still in vogue, and legal as a punishment fitting the crime, then I might have argued to include that too. 

Oh yeah, that's right - he is one of Tyrant Cuomo's minion. How could I be so foolish to have suggested him being punished in any manner for an act that would have gotten the rest of us arrested immediately if not sooner. After all, last I can recall, it always seems to okay, in the eyes of political gun grabbing jackasses like Cuomo, for their henchmen to be armed and show no regard for firearms safety, for the law or for the rights of the people. FUAC.
 
All the best,
Glenn B

U.S Government RSS Feed - Interesting CCleaner Scan Result

As I often do, I deleted all of the temporary Internet files on my computer this evening, as well as running a full system scan by CCleaner and another by Norton 360 Premiere. When I went to close CCleaner, the list of deleted files showed as usual. There were only a few of them and one happened to catch my eye. Go ahead, take a quick guess as to what would be likely to catch my eye as relative to files deleted from my laptop.

Nope, there was nothing sexual about it. Nor was there anything about guns in the file name. Yet, something stuck out like a sore thumb, one that was red and swollen and had been festering stinky pus for days on end. Now think, what is the most miserable, 
disgusting, intrusive, upsetting thing that I (or even you) might unexpectedly find on your computer? Have you guessed it? If you guessed that it had anything to do with an unexpected temporary Internet file that evidently originated within the U.S. Government then you would win a cigar.

Now this may be all ado about nothing. The reason that I say so is because here is the file that CCleaner deleted and erased traces of from my hard drive:

C:\Users\(redacted)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\OO2BOPCK\usagovrssfeed[1].xml

The reason I say it might be all ado about nothing is because of this part of that file: OO2BOPCK. the letters BOPCK may indicate that someone, incarcerated (or working) within the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) made have been checked when viewing my site. Then again, that is a mere guess on my part but "BOP "is the abbreviation for Bureau of Prisons and CK" is often the abbreviation for "check". Then again, there was the disturbing part of that file as follows: usagovrssfeed. Now you might think that is not at all disturbing because it seemingly indicates that I have a RSS feed from the U.S. Government on my computer. The thing is that to my knowledge I do not have such a feed. I am wondering, does it mean they have a RSS feed from my site? I just don't know but it somewhat intrigues me (to say the least) that a file like that, indicating it was in some way, shape or form associated with the U.S. government was on my hard drive.

If anyone of my readers understands what that would be all about please leave a comment explaining it to me. 

Thanks.

All the best,
Glenn B

That Good Old Global Warming...

...has it warmed up to an almost balmy 51 degrees right now, after a few days of bitter cold in my neck of the concrete jungle. I guess that would be proof of global warming except maybe for the fact that by tonight, the temperature is supposed to drop by 42 degrees to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. What a roller coaster but it does fit in with the newer weather related terminology that the ultra libs love to use - Climate Change!

All the best,
GB

Ammo Dealer's Starting To Shut Out New Yorkers

It comes as no surprise but still is a major disappointment, at least to me, that ammo dealers are starting to notify their NY customer base that they are about to discontinue sales, via the Internet, to the public in NY State. Today, I received the following email from AIM Surplus:

"

Dear Valued New York Customers,

In order to comply with the New York State SAFE Act (Effective January 15th) regulating the sale of ammunition, we must enact the following policy:

After Monday, January 6th, we will ship ammunition orders only to FFL Dealers or NY State licensed re-sellers of ammunition . We will accept orders from eligible consumers through Monday January 6th for immediate shipment.

As you know, NY State does not yet have the ability to complete background checks for ammunition sales. However, the state is requiring and enforcing the manner in which ammunition sales are transacted as of January 15th.

We greatly appreciate the continued support and business from the shooting community of the State of New York!

AIM Surplus"

Heil Cuomo the tyrant! The ammunition sales portions of the NY SAFE Act are kicking in as of January 15, 2014 and even though the state is absolutely not prepared to run, and is probably totally incapable of efficiently running, the required background checks for each and every purchase of ammunition, within NY, to the public, they are still going ahead with the requirement that ammo sales can only be done face to face by a FFL dealer or a registered ammunition dealer in NY.

As for the fee for background checks, they will start to charge that once the system is up and running. In the event you had not heard, the fee for the background check supposedly was to have been $5.00 per ammo purchase, then we were told it would go to $10 and now we have been told it may reach as high as $20 per purchase of ammunition. So, if I wanted to buy a box of the cheapest 22LR ammo that I could find, say maybe a $6.00 box of fifty rounds (at today's prices) I would have to pay $6 for the ammo, with sales tax added onto that and then either a $10 or $20 fee for the background check. That would be a total of $$26.52 for a $6 box of ammo!!!

Now get this: If I would want to transfer a firearm by way of a private sale, I would also have to get a background check run on the buyer and have it done by an FFL; however, the state is only allowing a dealer to charge a $5.00 fee for doing so while the state will be charging between $10 and $20 for what is in essence the same kind of a check but one run on the state background check system. Yes, run on the same system that is apparently less functional than the Obummercare computer system! That the state is going to charge up to four times as much as they are allowing FFL dealers to charge for running a background check is not only a blatant abuse of power, it is an outrage and quite possibly just another step closer toward the first shot of the revolution being fired. I am not advocating an armed and violent revolution against our government, federal or state, but I do not doubt one is coming and coming soon if things soon do not turn around drastically. It is also probably going to go a long way toward putting local dealers in NY out of business but I imagine that ammo sales in PA will skyrocket.

All the best,
Glenn B

Obummercare Revelation Time

For all of the non-working stiffs who could not afford a wonder health care plan before and thought they would get one under Obama, this one is befitting you:

 

 

Just Got Done Shoveling...

...for the first time this storm and while that does not make me a liar in my last post it sure made me wrong. I went up to check to see if one of the dogs anted outside or was just whining for some company. Opened the side door and guess I saw about 1.5 to 2 inches already on he ground. I decided since the dogs did not want out, I would go out for some exercise and clear off the patio, sidewalk, walkway, driveway and my neighbor's sidewalk too because yes it was time to shovel!

When out there, I realized once again how little my wife pays attention to what I tell her and have been telling her for years which is to park in our driveway and not the neighbor's when it snows. We have to get our cars off of the street for the plows or risk a ticket and or tow. So, I have asked her repeatedly to park her car in our driveway next to one of our other two cars. None of them fit in our very small garage that is currently occupied by my son's motorcycle and weight bench along with other stuff thus when it snows in the driveway they should go. I have asked my wife, over and over and over again, to park in our driveway, and my son even remembered to leave room for her car tonight by parking his all the way to one side. I ask her to do that so that when it snows, the cars keep that much snow off of our drive and thus leave less for me to shovel, we can just pull the cars out into the street to clean the snow off of them - and that is much easier than shoveling it. I guess she is hoping I have the big one while out there shoveling because she hardly ever parks her car like I ask when it snows. Oh well, she can help shovel tomorrow, I will let her do the driveway.

By the way, if the snow keeps coming down like this through early tomorrow, say by 1000 AM, we ought to have about another whopping 6 to maybe 8 inches on the ground by then; that in in addition to the maybe 1.5 to 2" that already has fallen or at least wound up on my sidewalk. Mind you, what I had on my sidewalk may have in great part drifted there, it is light snow and there is a slight wind right now from the north, meaning it builds up on our side of the street so it is more likely only 1.5 inches actually has fallen over about the last 4 hours or so of steady snow. Going with the high estimate, that an actual 2 inches has fallen already, that means an inch per every two hours. If it keeps up until 1000 AM - another 12 hours from now -  then my guesstimate of another 6 will have been right on the money. Thus by 1000 AM, snowing at the same rate, we will have gotten 8 inches. We may get even more snow than that tomorrow but probably not much more as per the forecasts. While it is supposed to keep snowing later on tomorrow, it is also supposed to slow down some from what I heard and the National Weather Service is saying maybe another 1-2 inches after 11AM tomorrow. That would bring the total to 10 inches. Wow, they said 6-12 inches during the forecasts over the past few days, maybe they have gotten it right - that is if the rate of snowfall does not change much. It will be easy to manage though as it is very cold out and the snow is light an powdery, I think the way skiers love it. I love it as it is not that wet heavy stuff that I have had to shovel all too often; and no I do not mean shit, I do mean snow.

As for the high winds, they are supposed to hit later on tonight or tomorrow. I guess a snowfall of around 10 inches, in this cold, could wind up being a real pain in my arse if the winds blow it all to my side of the street and that seems to be what they are saying is going to happen to those of unlucky enough to have north facing properties yet, as I said, it is pretty light weight snow. Oh well, more shoveling = more exercise = more beer and or hot chocolate. Then, in a couple of days, it should all be gone as the temps are supposed to go up from a predicted high tomorrow of about 16 degrees Fahrenheit to 28 on Saturday then to one of 43 or so on Sunday. A veritable heat wave compared to what they are calling for tonight and tomorrow. Right now it is supposed to be about 22 degrees out there but you could have fooled me cause I got all warm and thirsty while shoveling.

What is it that the guy, The Most Interesting Man In The World, says in the Dos Equis beer adds? "Stay Thirsty My Friends". Good advice for a snow covered night. I plan to do just that by shoveling, which will keep me warm and make me thirsty too. It just will not  make me thirst for Dos Equiss, I drank too much of that while in the Border Patrol years ago.

To quench my thirst, it is time for one of those brews I love, maybe a nice Ommegang Ale. I have both an Ommegang Rare Vos and a Three Philosophers on hand. I also have a Corsendonk Christmas Ale (which is out of this world delicious) but I promised my son he could have that one. Then again, I still have about 1/2 of an opened growler of McKenzie's and certainly do not want it to lose its fizz before too long. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

All the best,
GB

Time To Start Shoveling?

Nope, not yet. I may give it another couple to few hours before doing that but I will get it done at least once before I hit the hay tonight.

Later 4 U,
GB

Snow Storm Forecast & Politicians Play Up A Panicky Crisis

Okay, so maybe it will be more than a little snow that falls but not really all that much - at least not in the greater NYC area and on Long island and it will be cold (yes a high of 16 degrees is pretty cold at least for this area). Let's face it though folks, 6 - 12 inches of expected snow is not snowmageddon, even with the strong 30-40 mph  winds that should accompany it! It is now forecast that the snow should start to fall by 6PM tonight, Thursday January 2nd. The thing is that yesterday they were saying it would start to fall steadily by about 10 AM. That did not happen but still they are preparing for the worst and I mean the worst, they are not gearing up for a snow storm but for snowmageddon. So, not only are they preparing for a major snowstorm in this area but they are in a piss-pants panic over it. The governor, Andrew Cuomo (FUAC), according to the linked report, already reporterdly closed down the Long Island Expressway (I-495) on Tuesday night at the Queens - Nassau border but expected to open it again on Wednesday morning. Is the reporter that screwed up in his reporting or is the governor that much of a panicky wimp? I expect the first of those two choices is correct, it will probably be closed tonight not last night. Heck, the storm was not slated to hit until TODAY, yet they are saying he closed the LIE at midnight yesterday - the news media is as fucked up or more than the politicians! The LIE is THE major roadway from Long Island into NYC and is heavily used by commuters; really now, is it necessary to even close it tonight. Why not keep the plows clearing the roads. In addition, the governor has declared a statewide emergency. I understand they need to be ready to salt and plow the roads but he is going berserk closing roads throughout the sate - lots of road closures and they are all major highways from what I understand. If the government owned or contracted plows were out there, in the storm, doing the right thing, no roads would likely need to be closed for a mere 12 inches of snow. Buffalo, NY and other localities in the snow belt get many feet of snow each year, sometimes over 20 feet of snow in a single winter and you don't hear about the state closing roads then for a mere 6 to 12 inches of the white stuff! But this storm will hit Long Island and NYC and that is the heart of the liberal stronghold in NY State and Cuomo must think he needs to impress his voting base.

Of course, neither do you hear of schools closing early in places like Buffalo or Rochester or Watertown, NY on the day before a storm, in anticipation of it, and then the school officials not knowing if they will close on the actual day of a storm! A smattering of snow fell here early this morning, not even completely covering the ground, and some school officials have allowed schools to close early today even though the snow is not expected to start falling again until 6PM tonight! Let me reiterate, they closed early today while wetting their panties worrying about a storm that has not yet hit and was scheduled to hit only after normal school closing hours. Yet, they have no idea if they will close on the day, tomorrow, that the storm is expected to be at its worst and on the day that major roads will be closed in the area (source) by a paranoid governor. If this was Bizarro World that would be bizarre but not here in the US of A where it has become normalcy for lunatics to run the school system and for maniacs to run the government.

So why all this maniacal crisis intervention for storm that has not yet hit us. It can only be, as I see it, complete political BS. Cuomo and other officials want to show how grand are they in the face of a crisis but, of course, the governor and the others are making it more a of a crisis than it is likely
actually to become if left to its own devices. I am not saying it is not going to be a nasty storm; I am saying that Cuomo is not letting a crisis (real or manufactured) pass him by without exploiting it for political benefit, just as do most super-duper liberals in politics. I have never before seen nor heard of preparations like this for 6-12 inches of snow in NY State and, most times, storms of that nature have been dealt with pretty well and reasonably by those who have not panicked.

Me, I have a different attitude than panicking. I have decided, after receiving both a phone call and an email from the dealership service center for our Hyundai suggesting I change an appointment for tomorrow morning, that I will stay at home instead of trying to bring the car into the shop for a scheduled recall repair. I already called them and changed the day to Monday. I did that not so much because I am all that concerned about driving in a snowstorm but because the road I take there, the LIE, is likely to be closed because of our worrisome crisis enhancing governor.
Then, after the snow starts falling, I will go out to shovel it once there are a couple to a few inches on the ground, you know - just like state owned or contracted plows used to do to keep the roads open and passable. It usually makes it easier for me to do it in shifts than waiting for all of it to fall and trying to get it in one fell swoop and I am guessing it is, or was, the same when they clear(ed) the roads of snow. Just as I strive to keep my sidewalk clear so anyone could walk past my place easily, who needed to be out, they used to strive to do so on the roads so that people could still use them during a storm. Political crisis mongering seems to have changed that recently.

Back to me shoveling - if the wind keeps blowing it back on my side of the street, then I may decide to wait until it is all over to shovel it away but I will not panic over it now, just plan for it one way or the other. My brand new shovel, bought it about 2 weeks ago because the old one had it, awaits me in my garage as does ice-melt if needed. Other than that, I will remain at home tomorrow and enjoy retirement. We have food enough to last and will have heat as long as the electricity remains on allowing our furnace's electronic ignition to fire up. We will have hot water regardless, the water heater runs on gas and fires off of a pilot light. Now while we have no kitchen in which to cook, our's is currently in the middle of a remodeling job and stripped of all appliances, I do have two BBQ grills. If worst comes to worst, I can fire up a grill and crack open a few cans of spam or chili or both and have a whiteout-cookout. Wow, sounds like we are prepared to face a couple of lousy days - promised to be followed by temperatures rising to the mid forties by Sunday, all without the panic of our piss-pants governor getting the better of us.

All the best,
Glenn B

Happy New Year

Happy new Year.

Back to normal as far as blogging on an almost daily basis, I obviously took off the last week. Hope you had a nice Christmas (whether you celebrate it or not).

Also, hope you had a great Festivus - everyone should celebrate that one! Hope you enjoyed your Festivus pole, aired your grievances, accomplished some feats of strength and maybe even enjoyed a Festivus miracle or three.

All the best,
Glenn B

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all.

Even though no longer a practicing Catholic, I always celebrate Christmas. Christmas to me - is all about, and I do really mean ALL about, gift giving and not one other thing. The gift of the use of the manger to Joseph and Mary, God's gift of his own son to mankind, the gift of the shepherds who watched over Jesus, the gift of the guiding star, the gifts of the Magi to the Christ child, the gift of Christian teachings to us all, the gift of Christ's own life to save us, the gift of forgiveness. If only we would truly celebrate gift giving more often the world would be better. It does not have to be commercial gift giving but can and also should be giving of: charity, common courtesy, a smile to a stranger, good manners, respect, kindness, friendliness, forgiveness, assistance to those in need, love and so forth to one another as opposed to greed, hate, racism, politics, one-upmanship, crankiness, war, politicizing everything and so on. Yes, I think Christmas is 100 percent about gift giving and should take place every day of our lives at least to some extent. Then again, we being less than perfect do okay to celebrate it once a year in big style and then at least a little bit during the rest of the year in the little things we do for one another.

Again, Merry Christmas. And, lest I forget, Happy Festivus for the rest of us!

All the best,
Glenn B

At Last, Time To Unwind - All Done Until Next Year - And The Mall Shooting That Wasn't

I am done with all the Christmas rush, trying to figure out what to buy for whom, shopping, trying not to lose my cool with ill mannered aresehats in the crowded shopping centers, done wrapping the presents (thank the Heavens {or Walmart} for wrapping paper with grid lines on the reverse - a pleasure to cut to size) and done hoping that tomorrow will be a nice day. Now that last one may surprise you a bit, I mean who in their right mind that celebrates Christmas would not want it to be a nice day. It's not that I don't care, I just am not worried that it will not be a nice day, I will make it one. The tension is all gone now that the shopping bit is over. Well almost all gone.

As usual, I went out shopping today. In fact, I went for two very different reasons. As usual, I went Christmas shopping, as I always do, on Christmas Eve. Before that though, I drove 25 miles to a florist to order flowers. Sure, I have plenty of florists closer to home but this was to buy flowers for the funeral of my good friend Jerry (we both retired from the same job) who just passed away. He had brain cancer - he went quickly and as far as I am aware without pain. Of course, his family and loved ones are suffering because of his loss especially at this time of year. While a family member asked for donations to a charity in lieu of flowers, I figured that he was well worth both and took up a collection starting last night. So far, the flowers are covered and whatever is left over will be donated either to the family or the charity. Being that I was out until about 0430 last night, enjoying some hard cider and Jameson's Irish Whiskey at my favorite local pub, I only crawled out of the sack at about 1030. I had a lot of emailing back and forth to folks about the flowers and some other funeral arrangements and the next thing I knew it was almost 1 in the afternoon. I skedaddled off to the florist. Spent about 30 minutes there going over the arrangement we wanted we wanted, a patriotic arrangement with red, white and blue flowers looking like Old Glory. Once done there, it was back toward home but first I had to stop at the mall.

I got to the mall shortly after 3 PM, got there in good time from the florist. When I walked inside, I was shocked, it was not a ghost town but surely was the least crowded I have ever seen a mall on Christmas Eve. As I was shopping in one of the department stores, a saleslady walks over to me and another customer next to me and asked if we had heard about the "shooting at the mall today". She went on to explain that the mall had been evacuated because of a reported shooting but that thee really had been no shooting at all. A shoplifter reportedly had resisted apprehension, In Macy's (my son-in-law works there and must have had a headache over this as he is their Operations Director) and in the ensuing scuffle a large display crashed to the floor. It made a loud noise and the sheep of NY thought it was a gunshot and many bolted for the doors.

The police responded and supposedly the mall was evacuated for awhile but I later heard conflicting stories on the radio news, one saying only that shoppers fled the scene another report saying it was evacuated by police. Each report though said that according to some shoppers, they saw others take advantage of the situation by fleeing the mall with unpaid for items in their arms and then make for their cars. Merry Friggin Christmas! An online report in a local news outlet said that the mall had been locked down for about 20 minutes by the Nassau County Police. (If so, I have to applaud them, they did it right. Heck, they have been known to shut down an intersection for over an hour for a fender bender, so a 20 minute lockdown was excellent for a report of a shooting that was found to be without basis.) The report that said the mall was locked down for 20 minutes sounds like the most likely thing to have actually taken place being that I got in to shop there by just after 3 and this happened just after 1 or 1:30. I guess I got lucky and got there after all the commotion. It seems not all that many folks wanted to go back shopping at said mall after the reported shooting.

Finally got home around 5PM, shopping all done. At last, I got to eat breakfast a few minutes later. Had not had a bite all day until then, nor a drop of coffee. Then onto the final stage of the gift wrapping. I was done wrapping most presents yesterday but still had several to do today. That is all over though now it is time to kick back and unwind with a drink or two. My first one for the evening was a hot cocoa. My next one or two will probably contain Vodka and hot cocoa will not be an additional ingredient. While it has not been a very long day, it sure has been a busy one, I can use a small libation and some good cheer.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Legend Has Passed - Mikhail Kalashnikov 1919-2013 - RIP

It may seem strange to wish that the creator of the AK-47, one of the most abundant of all firearms in the world, rest in peace but it is what I wish for him. Yes, he created weapons that probably have killed hundreds of thousands if not millions but all in the name of defending the USSR and her people. After all, as Kalashnikov himself has been quoted, the AK-47 was not an offensive weapon, nor one made for use by criminals, it was a defensive firearm. As quoted by the NY Times:  

"The weapon, he said, was designed to protect his motherland, not to be used by terrorists or thugs.“This is a weapon of defense,” he said. “It is not a weapon for offense.”  (source).

Today's American politicians should take heed of that; and thus my using the NY Slimes Times article as my source. Normally I would not quote the NY Times but it seemed ever so sweet that a liberal rag like it would quote the creator of one of the world's most popular rifles, if not the most popular, when he said that an AK-47 is defensive weapon not an offensive one (thus not an assault weapon).  Yet, jerks with no practical firearms experience classify them as assault weapons. You know whom I mean, anti-gun politicians whom the NY Times almost always supports: President Barack Obama, Senator Harry Reid, Representative Nancy Pelosi, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They are all folks who claim the semi-automatic versions of the AK-47 are assault rifles even though the creator of that rifle calls the fully automatic version a defensive weapon.

Well, anyway, back to Kalashnikov. He was an important man in worldwide events, a great inventor and a worthy opponent in the scheme of things. He lived a long and productive life. I wish him an eternity of peace in the knowledge that he gave many of us the ability to afford to be able to effectively defend ourselves from thugs, criminals and tyrants and gave us one heck of an excellent, inexpensive and fun rifle in having done so!

All the best,
Glenn B

Christmas Shopping

Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Not me! There is nothing quite like the thrill of waiting until the last few moments to get your Christmas shopping done. Running and diving for that "exactly right" Christmas gift, that just happens to be the last one on the shelves, is an adventure not to be taken lightly. It requires courage, agility, speed, patience, abilities to procrastinate far beyond those of mere mortal men and true Christmas spirit!

My nerve endings are tingling in anticipation of the madhouses I am going to visit tonight and tomorrow as I do my last minute Christmas shopping. Will I get it all done?  I am certain to do so but assuredly not until closing time at the last store I visit tomorrow and that is likely to be the last store that will be open in my area. The anticipation is killing me (or maybe some other holiday shopper reaching for the same last minute gift, and last available one at that, will do that for me).

You would think that by my age (which remains a secret but it is pretty old) I would have learned to get my Christmas shopping finished by October but then where would be the excitement in that!

All the best,
Glenn B

Oh Baby It's Cold Inside...

...and if that's true, I will love it even more than I do now. Got a free (as in no cost to me) GE refrigerator a couple of hours or so ago - delivered by my brother-in-law (the elder) and the friend who was giving it to me. I just got done cleaning it up and it looks virtually brand new. If it runs as good as it looks, I will be a very happy man indeed and if lasts a couple of years I will be that much happier. I was in the market for a new fridge for the basement, I have had my daughter's mini fridge from her college days down there but it holds very little. So, I had been thinking of getting a 3/4 sized fridge or maybe a smaller full sized one. Figured I would wait until January or February when some of the the bills for Christmas presents were paid off. Then, my brother-in-law (the older) called to say a friend was getting rid of one - no charge!

The new one is pretty big, while I don't know the cubic footage it looks like it would easily hold a few cases of my favorite beverages or the food my wife would rather put into it. I guess we can compromise and I can reserve one shelf for beers and ales. The freezer is a decent size too which means I can have a good stock of ribs and other pork products on hand for future smoking or BBQ'ing and still have room some bacon for the frying pan!

Not being a total Grinch or tightwad, I went out two days ago to do some Christmas shopping and made sure to buy a gift certificate, at Zum Stammtisch, for the friend who was about to give it to me. Should be enough for a meal for him and his wife at what is a great German restaurant. Then again, he could spend it all at the bar too. Either way, he (and maybe his wife) is sure to make a good time of it. Of course, while there buying the gift certificates (I bought some for other folks too), I enjoyed a meal and a few good German Biers. I got to see an old friend who works there and had a very good time. Could not have been better. If you are ever in that neighborhood, I strongly recommend you making a stop there for lunch or dinner.

All the best,
Glenn B

Firepower F-UN

Firepower F-UN, my very own and my first comic firearms related poster. ©

 

Just your run of the mill military-style helmet, painted blue, and then we blew it away or at least blew away big parts of it. No animals, children, responsible adults (or even liberals) were harmed in the creation of that masterpiece (that is in making the helmet look like an exploded blue Swiss cheese, not the poster).

All the best,
Glenn B

The Incandescent Light Bulb Ban

We use CFL bulbs in my house, in almost all of the lighting, not because of government regulation but because we choose to do so. It is the same as us using incandescent bulbs for some lighting applications. As for the CFL bulbs, I have not seen this wonderful reduction in my electric bills that others talk about but I will admit that the reduction in the electric bills, due to lighting changes, may be there but not evident because of other factors that may have increased other usage overall.

I do not like them myself, those CFL bulbs, at least not for most lighting. I prefer incandescent bulbs over florescent, always have done so. My wife buys the CFL bulbs because she likes them and I tolerate them. I have a small store of incandescent bulbs in stock. As opposed to the CFL bulbs, they make a good supplemental heat source, in addition to supplying lighting, for some of the reptiles I keep. They also will not emit any mercury into the tanks should the bulb break or otherwise leak while over the tank but I do take that chance and use CFL with some of my critters for a very limited number of applications (they help some plants grow wonderfully in my gecko tanks). The thing in all of it though is we can choose now which we use – soon the choice will not be ours to make because the government regulates otherwise.

My issue with these bulbs is mostly the federal government demanding that we use them and not use others. It is another instance of the federal government overstepping the bounds of its authority on its way to becoming a totally controlling nanny state (of course state and local governments do likewise with ridiculous regulatory laws). That we have a choice to use the light bulbs we want may seem of little consequence but now the government (covering federal, state and local) also regulates: the toilets we can use, the guns we can shoot, the cribs we can allow our children to sleep in and not all the banned ones were deemed unsafe (see), the amount of soda that can be sold, the use of e-cigarettes (here), the type of ammunition with which we hunt, helmet laws, seatbelt laws, drinking age (from 18 to 21), that we must be subjected to TSA searches (without any probable cause or suspicion) before boarding commercial aircraft, the amount of liquid we can carry on a plane, where people can smoke in public, ammunition sales, where people can smoke in privately owned establishments, where we can and cannot carry a gun, the bathing suit one chooses to wear on a beach, free speech in blogs (link), sales of girl scout cookies (see), vaccinations (link), healthcare and health insurance (link), collection of rain water (crazy but true), gun registration, feeding the homeless (citation), the milk we drink (scary), firearms magazine capacity, alcohol in gasoline, the showerheads we use, the free market, the lunches our children eat at school (source), our privacy (see), what our doctors must report to the government about our personal health, our freedom to hand out free stuff - even water, Internet use (source), the amount of ammunition we can load into magazines (citation), our ability to defend ourselves, and I am pretty sure you can think of other things. The government (used broadly to include federal, state, local) has been and continues to overstep its bounds. It is because people say, oh this regulation is okay and so is that one that the government gets away with things like violating a major Constitutional right like your right to keep and bear arms, your right to freedom of religion, your right to free speech and your right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The more such laws are passed, the more folks become used to unneeded government intervention, even illegal government regulation and actions, and they become callous to it. That allows for more and more of it to take place. All the while they are losing more and more of their liberty.

When will it end. I think when most, if not all, of the lawyers and political scientists are voted out of office and practical people, with practical experience in the things government currently regulates, take over in the seats of power. I would vote for Joe The Plumber any day before I would even consider voting for a angry fool like Harry Reid, an arsehat like Nancy Pelosi or an inexperienced boob like Charles Schumer - who while having passed the bar, jumped right over it and went into politics reportedly without ever practicing law (source) and now he writes them (bad ones at that).

All the best,
Glenn B

Men - Is It Cold Enough To Hang Christmas Ornaments?

I, and I think many other men, have often felt less than Christmassy when it has been warmer than normal at this time of year. That kind of unseasonal weather always makes me (and other men) wonder if it is fittingly cold enough to hang ornaments. Nothing to worry about this year because I have proof positive that it is definitely cold enough to hang them this year . See (adult content):

http://s861.photobucket.com/user/gbarthgwt/media/christmastits_zpse55bbe02.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

A hat tip and my everlasting thanks to R.M. for that one.

All the best,
Glenn B

John Beale - Our Government's Leading Climate Change Expert

I really should say: John Beale WAS our government's leading climate change expert and was one of the EPA's senior policy advisors and certainly lead EPA by the nose. That "he was" is key because now he is going to jail for 32 months. Why? He spread lies about himself being in the CIA, and on missions for the CIA in Pakistan (while actually in cape Cod enjoying himself), apparently all to keep earning his pay but avoid actually working for a living while he was supposed to be carrying out his duties as a top advisor at the EPA. He made up those falsified duties saying he needed to be able to take off from work, one day per week, over 13 years. In 2008, he took off for over 6 months saying he was on a political security detail and charging the government for $57,000 worth of trips to California. He also took an official trip, a flight in first class to Europe that cost $14,000, when coach would have cost only $1,000 and allegedly flew first class other times because of a dubious back injury claim. There were numerous other deceptions. He pulled of scams over a 13 year period that netted him over $1,000,000.00 in government money.

Kudos to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who smelled a rat relative to this embezzling thief's expenses and to Assistant Inspector General Patrick Sullivan, who spearheaded the internal investigation. Oddly enough, out of 40 employees interviewed, only one reportedly ever suspected Beale's claims, that he was working for the CIA, were bogus. My bet would be that plenty more suspected it but were smart or scared enough not to open their mouths and talk about it out of fear of retribution for never having brought it to light in the past.  

Now remember, they called him the government's leading expert of climate change! Makes me wonder what lies he may have told about that, not only to support all that climate change balderdash, but to fill his pockets with more unearned taxpayer funds.

Sources: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/18/epa-fraudster-sentenced-for-outrageous-cia-scam/?intcmp=latestnews

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/18/epa-fraudster-sentenced-for-outrageous-cia-scam/?intcmp=latestnews 

All the best,
Glenn B

AMC Lowes Movie Theaters- Gun Unfriendly?

I stopped by a local AMC-Lowes movie theater last night. I could not remember the last time I was at one of them, must have bee at least a couple of years ago, I am not a frequent theater goer. I was about to walk inside when I noticed something someone had told me about during a LEOSA seminar I attended last week. That was that AMC theaters do not allow firearms inside or at least have stickers proclaiming such on the bottom corners of their entry doors. Well, there were at least 4 outer entry doors, maybe six, and none had that decal on them. However, out of the same number of inner doors, two of them had a sticker, showing a red circle around a revolver with a slash through it and the words "No Weapons".

I had been about to enter to buy a couple of gift cards for folks on my Christmas list and upon seeing the signs started to walk away disgusted. Then I got the idea to give them a call to see if I could come in to purchase the tickets. I did that and explained to the person who answered that I was outside freezing my butt off, had come there to buy gift cards but was stopped in my tracks when I saw those signs. I also explained that I was a pistol license holder and was carrying. The manager (I am guessing he was a manager) said come on in. I did so and bought the gift cards, then left.

I had debated, for a few moments before going inside, whether to support such a theater then guessed that all the area theaters probably have the same regulation. Maybe I screwed up there but I know someone who wants to see some movies soon so I went in to buy the gift cards.

Maybe I should have stayed bit longer to ask about their no weapons policy to see what it excludes movie goers from carrying in their premises but I did not. Maybe I should have voiced my opinion of places that prohibit carrying of guns and knives and pepper spray but I did not. I am pretty disgusted with myself for not having done so and can assure you I have given myself a proverbial good hard kick in my ass for it. In my defense I was tired, grumpy and fed up with Christmas shopping and the rude arsehats one runs into in the Christmas shopping crowd and just wanted to get it over with that night. Not much of an excuse but it is all I have.

I have since looked up their policy on weapons. The only thing I could find on their website was a PDF file called "CODE OF CONDUCT". In it, there is an opening paragraph that says:

If you were to scroll down a bit in that PDF file, you would see this:

I have written to AMC Theater group about it though to try to at least show my disgust with that policy.

No legal authority is cited; however, I usually conform to the wishes of private property owners about what they allow and do not allow onto their property. What I will not do is accept that policy without trying to change it because in no way shape or form is legally carrying a firearm, as they state it, a dangerous behavior. I also doubt I will be buying any more gift cards from them in the future unless they change the policy.

All the best,
Glenn B

Think Your Christmas Cards Were Expensive?

Maybe you should think again. One of the original Christmas cards, from the set of 1,000 of the very first ones ever, was recently sold at auction for the price of £4,200 British Pounds or just over $6,800 US dollars. (source)


Much as it is now, it seems that even in 1843, a Christmas get together
meant good cheer in more ways than one - a smile on the face, a 
glass in the hand and even a little nip for the young ones.

Wow, what people will pay for one man's trash is absolutely amazing. Then again, the particular card is one of only 14 or 15 known examples of it remaining in existence and thus it had to have also been some folks' treasure ever since it first made its appearance in 1843. There were both color and B&W issues made of those first known Christmas cards. This one was B&W and I shudder to think how much the color version would be worth to someone with lots of money today. I hope that auction price does not give Hallmark any ideas!

All the best,
Glenn B

Squirreling Away Your Survival Assets

You don't have to be some sort of a right or left wing kook to think about caching  away some things to get you through hard times. As they say - don't carry all of your eggs in the same basket, or as is more appropriately said for most of us nowadays, diversify your assets. Diversifying your assets does not only mean to have several different types of financial investments but means having several different places to store them too.

Just like a bushy-tail (gray squirrel) that stores its various assets of acorns, seeds and nuts in several different underground hiding places, so too could you do likewise. Keep money in the bank, in the stock market in different funds, buy some municipal bonds and Treasury bonds, maybe stash some gold and silver in a safe deposit box along with some of those municipal and or Treasury bonds. Keep some bonds at home, maybe even a bit of gold or silver and of course some cash at home too - just not in your mattress.

Bear in mind though that money, in whatever form, is not your only asset. Take the hint from those squirrels, acorns are not all that the little bushy-tail hide for future use. Instead of just money, you may also want to stash away some emergency food supplies. You can store some at home in dry storage in your basement, maybe some in a freezer in your garage, or just in a pantry. Better yet, store some elsewhere too, maybe more in a storage locker or your second home. Store water too. Needed medical supplies, like your prescription medications, are another thing to consider stashing for future use.. You may also want to keep a small supply of other basic survival items in your cache in the event you have to depart your residence during a crisis.

I am not telling you to do any of this in preparation for a fantasy 
zombie apocalypse, or for the end of days, or a civil war, or revolution, or government takeover (although those last three are distinctly possible even if improbable). I am telling you to be ready for things like an economic collapse (a depression), bugging out in the event of local civil unrest (continued days long riots right in your neighborhood), a natural disaster that destroys your home and prevents aid from arriving rapidly (think Hurricane Katrina and Tropical Storm Sandy) causing shortages of food and water, or just something as simple as you losing your source of income even if temporarily. All of them could rapidly deplete your supplies of all the things mentioned above. So, it might not be such a bad or far fetched idea to have some in stock to fall back on.

If you do decide to store your survival assets, think a bit like the squirrel. You don't want to lose it all them in one fell swoop in the event of a flood, fire or theft. I am not telling you to run out, like a squirrel, to bury all of your assets but maybe burying some of them would not be too bad of an idea. What I am suggesting is to secure your survival assets in numerous places to assure a couple to few different things. First is that your items are not easy for others to find and steal or for a disaster to destroy, all at once. Secondly, you may not be able to get to only the one single location in which you stored them all, if you made only one cache. Your access may be blocked by natural obstacles or manmade ones and you may be forced to travel in a different direction.

So where else - besides your home - can you reasonably store some of your survival assets? There are several storage companies such as Public Storage (I used them because I think they are nationwide). They rent storage containers / rooms. You can easily find these types of storage units at offered by many other companies at many different locations. Self-storage locker(s). come in units as small as 5'Lx5'Dx8'H - maybe even smaller and some can be had for as little as about $20 per month plus tax. Others are much larger and could fit the furniture from a large house. You could rent one or more and rent them in different areas. Many self-storage facilities offer 24 hour, 7 day per week access to the renter. Check with the facility management to see what kind of security is furnished at their location.

Then there are banks that offer safe deposit boxes. Banks offer great security although that affects how and when you can access them. You only have access to them during banking hours. In the event of a crisis, the bank may not allow access even during regular banking hours. In addition, safe deposit boxes are all pretty much 
small sized containers. You may want check on the legality of storing certain items in a bank.

Then there are secret underground caches. Yep, you really could squirrel away some of your survival assets. That requires you to find a place where the items are not likely to be discovered or effected by a natural disaster, and it should be a place where you could locate the stash again easily. If you have some acreage, you could bury your things on your own property. Other site choices might be state lands or federal lands out in the boonies. You may or may not also want to consider your own backyard. The locations are up to you but make sure it is legal to bury your items where you do so. You have to consider that this option may be the least secure of all and you need to be able to take the loss should someone else discover your stash.

There are companies out there that offer ready-made burial containers for your valuables. Mono Vaults, manufactured by Store Guns (aka: Poly Farm, LLC of Meridian, Idaho),  are cylindrical containers that are manufactured to be buried and they come in a variety of sizes. While they are specifically designed to accommodate firearms, they certainly will also store a wide variety of other items. MTM Case-Guard also offers a single model of similar storage device, the Survivor Ammo Can. You could also make your own underground storage container from products available at places like Home Depot or Lowes.

I am sure you can think of other storage options. One other thing about rentals or containers you purchase,  no matter which one or more you decide upon, one type can by quite variable in price depending on the sources where you can buy it or rent it. So do some shopping around before making a purchase.

As to what you should be storing, the list is up to you but I recommend at least the following items in any survival storage cache:

At least three days of food, per person in your group, at each location where you have items in storage.

Water and or water purification tablets or a water filtering device.

A small first aid kit.

Prescription medications to last at least a few days to a week.

Necessary, and I do mean truly needed, over the counter medications.

About $50 cash per person in your group. This can be supplemented or added to in the form of a small amount of gold and silver bullion (maybe 1/4 to 1 ounce of gold and 10-20 one ounce silver coins).

A good quality pocket knife.

Small LED flashlight(s) with extra batteries.

Waterproof matches and tinder (small to medium sized household candles are great for this.

A few glo-sticks.

A legally owned pistol and about 50-100 rounds of ammunition for it. Make sure it is legal to store it where you do so.

A space blanket for each person in your party.

A compass and a map with prearranged meet-up locations marked in order of preference as accessible. This way if one family or group member gets to one storage spot, he or she can take the items and head to the preferred rendezvous spot. If the way is blocked to the first preferred location, then go to number 2 instead, or to number 3 if you also cannot get to the second choice. Of course, the storage area itself may serve as the initial meeting place but if you arrive their alone, and have to vacate for safety reason, you would then head to one of the other prearranged meet-up locations going in order of preference.

You can easily come up with others items you would want to have at the ready if you need them. Again, the options as to where and how to store them are up to you, I only made a few suggestions. The amount you store is also up to you as your finances and situation allow.

Even if you decide to only store emergency items within your home, each family member could have a grab an go bag, with the above items in it, at the ready to do just what the name says, grab 
and go. 

All the best,
Glenn  B

I Have Heard It Said: A District Attorney Could Get A Grand Jury...

...to indict a ham sandwich. I think that maybe a DA in New York City has taken it a step further by charging an allegedly mentally disturbed with assault after New York City Police officers shot two bystanders while in an altercation with said man. The DA reportedly charged him with assault on the premise that the man was responsible because if not for his actions, the police would not have drawn their weapons and fired at him, albeit missing and hitting the bystanders.  (Source.)

Note, there was no reported physical contact between him and the officers as they shot - they shot and missed and hit innocent people on a crowded NYC street. I do not see this charge having a chance should the man take it to trial. The person responsible for the shot fired is usually the person who pulled the trigger. There are very few exceptions to that although one could be if a gun were discharged at a bad guy by an officer and the bad guy hit or grabbed the gun, just as it went off, redirecting the shot. In this case though, that apparently did not happen.

Now please note, I am not saying the man was an innocent nor am I faulting the officers. I am saying I think the DA is pushing for a what seems to be a very strange prosecution. Yes, the man was acting like he was emotionally disturbed, was putting his life and possibly those of others at risk. Then he placed his hand into his pocket, evidently like he was about to draw a weapon and the police fired on him but the man did not fire on anyone or grab the officers' guns causing the shots to go astray.

There have been lot of questions as to whether or not the officers should have discharged their weapons with such a large crowd in the area. Sometimes they have to weigh all the potentialities and do whatever they decide in a split second, and physical changes to their senses - such as tunnel vision - come into play during such stressful situations and he was quite possibly all they saw. I will not second guess them - at least I will not without a lot more information indicating that they were wrong.

Regardless of what comes of that, I find it fairly amazing that the man was charged with assault on the reported theory that he was responsible for the shots being fired. I would be even more amazed if the DA actually expects to successfully prosecute that charge at trial. I was always taught that I was responsible for the rounds I fired out of my issued weapons and I taught other shooters likewise. To say that the defendant was responsible for those shots seems to be a stretch, a big one. As I said, a DA could get a Grand Jury to indict a ham sandwich.

All the best,
Glenn B

One of My Favorite Christmas Songs Sung By A Heavenly Voice

All the best,
Glenn B

What Took The Courts 30 Years?

I will never quite understand why it is that Justice is not only blind but also as slow as molasses trying to flow uphill on a bitter cold day in January. It seems there must have been a good amount of evidence, over those years, so that Stanly Wrice - convicted of a 1982 rape and sentenced 30 years ago - should have had his case reexamined by the courts. Wrice alleged that police beat a confession out of him. That may be with or without merit; however, others have been freed who made the same allegations against the same cops who worked under the Lt. John Burge. Now he is free and it will be up to the prosecutor to determine if they will attempt to retry him.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/11/after-30-years-man-who-says-chicago-police-tortured-him-into-false-confession/

If Wrice remains free, and is not retried and convicted again, one has to wonder how he will adjust to life on the outside after having missed the developments of the past three decades. A lot has changed sine he went inside. Of course, he could have to face a new trial and could still be convicted all over again if the prosecutor's and police have a lot of physical evidence pointing to him as the rapist but it is difficult for me to fathom why police allegedly would have bothered trying to beat a confession out of him if such had been the case. If he ultimately remains free, let us hope it is because he actually did not do the crime as opposed to because of two police officers beating a confession out of a guilty guy to get him convicted; thus not only leaving Justice blind and slow but with dirty hands as well.

All the best,
Glenn  B