Looks like hope and change is costing Pennsylvania steel jobs.
Month: June 2009
Iguana Hunting
Chalk up another activity you can do with air guns, namely help rid Florida of an invasive species. Perhaps Bitter can dig up some iguana recipies.
Animal Planet Celebrates Piracy
Much like a train wreck, Bitter and I couldn’t help but watch the Animal Planet series Whale Wars, which looks to me like a celebration of eco-piracy. Bitter and I were rooting for the Japanese, and the ice. What these people are doing is appalling, and Discovery Communications should be ashamed for painting criminals in a positive light. The Japanese government has put out Interpol alerts, and the leaders of this gang of pirates is wanted in Japan, at least. Yes, those brutish Japanese, eh, who want to continue barbarous whaling?  Tell me if this video of a Japanese vessel defending itself against a deliberate collision by the Sea Shepherd looks anything but measured:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXQq78lvKrU[/youtube]
If I’m Captain of a ship being attacked and rammed on the Antarctic Ocean, in an attempt to sink my ship with my crew on it, I’m ordering my harpooner to fire one of the explosive harpoons at the bridge, not spray the hippies with water cannons, even though they could probably use the shower.
That might sound extreme, but sinking in water that cold is likely to kill some of my crew. It’s time to stop being nice to these people. If the countries harboring these terrorists don’t take action, someone needs to send the Sea Shepherd to the bottom of the ocean. I don’t care what you think about whaling, or whether you think the Japanese are abusing the research exemption. You don’t get to attack shipping, put people’s lives at risk, and get away with it. If someone attacks and tries to kill me on land, I’m justified legally shooting them dead where they stand.  The high seas should be no different. Just for fun, here’s a video of The Sea Shepherd being rammed by the Canadian Coast Guard.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nUSWTzvzZA[/youtube]
Go Canada! And shame on the Dutch for allowing these pirates to continue flying their flag. The Japanese and the Canadians ought to file a formal complaint with the IMO against the Dutch for failing to prosecute piracy by ships flying their flag. Why do we tolerate this?
UPDATE: Please file a complaint with Discovery Communications here. I did.
I am absolutely appalled that Discovery Communications is legitimizing piracy by airing a program that promotes violence against other human beings. Regardless of what one thinks of whaling, the actions of these eco-terrorists is in violation of the international law of the seas, and is criminal. What’s next for Discovery Networks? Following around people who try to murder abortion doctors? I have been thinking about canceling my cable subscription as of late. This has convinced me it is time, and I will make sure Comcast knows why.
I’m not kidding about the cable either. There’s literally nothing on worth watching except for Mythbusters, which still isn’t worth 80 bucks a month.
Guns in Parks Signed in TN
Looks like Governor Phil didn’t want another veto fight on the parks issue. But he also said something rather bizarre about the Firearms Freedom bill as well, while letting it become law without his signature:
This bill is not about firearms. It is about a fringe constitutional theory that I believe will be quickly dispensed with by the federal courts.
I think I agree with RAH. He has to be hoping for a spot in the Obama cabinet. I guess he figures in order to qualify, he’ll have to demonstrate that he has not “gone native” while living among the southerners. (Governor Phil was born in New Jersey, and grew up in New York. Shocking eh?)
23 State Attorneys General Say “No” …
… to a renewed federal assault weapons ban.
Someone Missing 134.5 Billion Dollars?
Kevin has a story that is absolutely mind boggling. They apparently didn’t realize when you steal that kind of money, you better make sure they think you are dead. They’ve not been watching enough movies:
Well, when you steal $600, you can just disappear. When you steal 600 million, they will find you, unless they think you’re already dead.
I’m going to agree with the folks who say they are counterfeit. I also would not be surprised to find out they are not, in fact, Japanese Nationals, but North Koreans with false papers. Can you imagine being the teller at the Swiss Bank when two guys show up with more treasury bonds than the GDP of most countries in their briefcases?
Quote of the Day
Goes to Bruce, on a story about a man indicted for voting twice last election:
There isn’t a soul alive so enamored with John McCain as to vote for him twice. Most of us had a hard enough time voting for him once.
Amen.
The Plastic Bag Menace
New Jersey Mailer from the 1990s
I’ve seen this mailer making the rounds for a while now. I can’t speak for Chris Christie, but I’ve spoken to Rick Merkt at a few ANJRPC events, and don’t believe he supports this position any longer. He’s one of those folks who was duped by the fully automatic/semi-automatic confusion, and no longer supports the ban, and in the mean time has become a gun collector himself. Having said that, it’s a moot issue, because the ban isn’t going away any time soon. Commenter NJSoldier hit the nail on the head when he said this:
It would be great to replace Corzine with any Republican. Further erosion of our rights, and further wasteful spending would be halted. But to make real reforms and roll back the damage done will require some serious gains in the legislature.
Emphasis mine. That’s one of the problems I had with Steve Lonegan’s candidacy, is that he was telling people he’ll get right-to-carry through the legislature. It’s a nice thought, and I appreciate Lonegan being willing to talk favorably on the issue in New Jersey, but anyone who knows Trenton knows that bill is going nowhere, and Corzine will be happy to scare voters in November about Lonegan favoring all manner of gun wielding lunatics running around their kids soccer games, around churches, shopping malls, and restaurants waving guns around. In New Jersey, that rhetoric works.
New Jersey’s percentage of gun ownship is 12.3%. Compare that to Delaware’s 25.5%, Pennsylvania’s 34.7%, even New York’s 18%, and Maryland’s 21.3%.  Even Guam has a higher percentage of gun owners! The goal in the New Jersey’s governor’s race is to get someone in who will veto bad legislation, and give Second Amendemnt activists time to work on the legislature. The overall goal now is to stop losing ground, and see if perhaps we can gain in some minor areas that would allow that number to creep back up. Garden State gun enthusiasts need to mint more of yourselves. That’s going to be the only real way to turn things around. As much as I would like to be able to carry in New Jersey, or take my ARs over there to shoot high-power, your laws that make it tough for people to be introduced to the sport do far more harm than either of those things. I’d start there.
Congratulations to our Trophy Winner
A few of our club’s air gun shooters headed down to Winnsboro, Louisiana last week to take part in the Southern Nationals, and we were very happy to have Dave Carpenter (known as “Limey” to the locals there, because he is one), who runs much of our Silhouette program, come back with a trophy:
It says undernealth “Pat Steiger Memorial Bullshit Award.” And yes folks, that’s 100% real, gilded bullshit mounted on top of that trophy. I think it might even still smell a little.