I feel for all you folks back East. We’ve had a pretty easy Winter so far.
A crash of this magnitude. Doctor Zero’s latest deserves wide attention. Here’s just a taste.
The system was doomed to crash because its vast array of taxes, spending, and regulation destroy the very wealth that sustains it. It ran out of fat long ago, and began feeding on muscle… and now it has worked its way down to the bone. Wealth is a product of choice, and every action taken by a collectivist government destroys wealth by reducing the options available to its citizens. Liberal politicians assume the population will go on blindly producing the same extraordinary prosperity, no matter how much the government skims off the top. That’s why every outbreak of bad economic news is “unexpected” to them, as well as the media who share their assumptions. Has a nation ever grown poorer after reducing the cost and power of its central government? Why would anyone assume a nation could grow richer by reducing the size and power of its private sector?
So much more. Go. Read.
First, I bumped into this nasty comment at Instapundit
Luckily, he was Muslim, not Baptist, so it won’t be a big national scandal.
What’s he talking about? His comment comes concerning an article about a Muslim speaker at Vanderbilt who said he “would go with what Islam teaches” concerning capital punishment for homosexuals. Of course, except for the Westboro Lunatics, Baptists don’t call for the execution of homosexuals, and we all know it. Come on Glenn, you’re better than that. Cheap shots for the laugh? Leave it to Letterman. You’re just wrong.
Then I see this article, “First Openly Gay Episcopal Bishop Says St. Paul Was Condemning Homosexual Acts by Heterosexuals“
(CNSNews.com) – In a section of his New Testament letter to the Romans (1:22-27) dealing with God’s admonitions against same-sex relations, St. Paul was actually writing about heterosexuals who engage in same-sex acts and not homosexuals, said the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church.
Really? That’s a new one. What makes you think that?
“We have to understand that the notion of a homosexual sexual orientation is a notion that’s only about 125 years old,” Bishop Robinson told CNSNews.com. ”That is to say, St. Paul was talking about people that he understood to be heterosexual engaging in same-sex acts. It never occurred to anyone in ancient times that a certain minority of us would be born being affectionally oriented to people of the same sex.”
Oh, I see, the ancients were ignorant morons who weren’t as intelligent as we moderns are now. So they didn’t know anything about “orientation” or stuff like that. If you’re “oriented” that way, then it’s OK, but if you’re hetero and just looking for a little taboo thrill it’s a sin, is that it? I wonder if the good bishop would make the same distinction for thieves? It’s OK for them to steal because they’re “oriented” that way. It’s their job. But for someone who isn’t a thief, it’s a sin to take something from someone else. And it might be OK for Tiger Woods to cheat on his wife because apparently he’s “oriented” that way, but it would be a sin for me because I’m not. Alright then. I wonder if that’s why politicians (no names please, they can’t help it) are given a pass for lying? So everything Ol’ Paul wrote you can pretty much ignore because he was just a guy who didn’t know anything? Bishop, you’re just wrong.
That’s the silliest thing I’ve read all week (except for the comments threads over at the local fishwrap). I wonder what Bishop Robinson does with this from Paul, which he wrote to a young minister named Timothy?
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
I almost feel sorry for a man who has spent his whole life ministering to people and supposedly learning what God has to say about life, about human beings, and about Himself, who then goes so far into the weeds in order to justify something in himself that doesn’t fit with all that he has learned. I say almost because were it just between him and God it would be one thing, but when you get into the pulpit, or worse, a governing office in the church and lead the flock away… well, there just isn’t a “sorry” left.
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
Quick, name the “10 Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians“. I got 8 of 10. Oh well, we all know there’s more than 10.
A felon with guns?!! Oh No!
Anthony Ashley is being held in the Ada County Jail on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm after police found 20 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his North End home.
Police say they are still investigating how the 49-year-old Ashley was able to get the guns, since as a convicted felon, he is not permitted to have any. Police officials say there is no indications Ashley was selling guns and the case is still under investigation.
He’s “not permitted”. That’s all there is to it. There’s a law! How did he get them? He’s not playing fair. Waaaaaaa….
You know that creeping wussiness has invaded the Gem state and taken up a large and growing presence in Boise, centered, ironically enough, on the North End. So it is humorous that this guy makes the paper but the 6 other guys also in the County lockup for “felon in possession” did not. This guy lives in the North End. Hmmm. Perhaps that’s just coincidence though?
Maybe it’s the tremendous hoard of ammo he had? 5000 rounds! Goodness, who does he think he is, Venezuela or something? Who needs more than one bullet? 5000. Wow. If his 2 rifles were .22’s and he had a couple bricks for each, that leaves 3000 rounds for his 16 handguns and 2 shotguns. That’s less than 2 boxes of WWB from Wal-Mart for each. Definitely, the guy is a menace. We oughta have another, more powerful law.
People. Get. A. Grip.
Take a minute to go through the arrest record and the inmate list on the Ada County Sheriff’s website. Read what all those hundreds of folks are in for. We don’t have a problem with guns and bullets in Idaho, we have a problem with criminals in Idaho. Burglary. Child molestation. Assault. DUI. How about a little real concern where it is due? Let’s not get all worked up over some guy’s guns. Let’s get worked up over the fact that there are hundreds of really bad people out there.
Or is that inconceivable in Boise?
(Bonus chuckles are to be had in the comment stream to that article.)
UPDATE: this evening the paper is reporting that at least 5 of the weapons were stolen from cars
Police discovered Wednesday that at least five of those guns, valued at $4,500, were stolen from vehicles parked in the Boise area over the last few months. Police say Ashley forced entry, like smashing windows, to get into the cars. “Detectives want to remind citizens that leaving weapons in a vehicle, even in a locked vehicle, is a risk no one should take,” Sgt. Jeff Basterrechea said.
I have to agree. And what I said earlier about bad guys on the street? Yup, got it right here
Ashley has convictions for robbery, grand theft by possession, and illegal possession of weapons in Wisconsin, Idaho, Arizona, and California, beginning in 1980, according to Boise police reports and Idaho court records.
The laws don’t stop it, and the whole idea of “rehabilitation” is a joke. Be careful out there!
Noticed this meme (yeah, I’m late) at Say Uncle. Here’s a photo I took a year ago. It’s in the blog files but I can’t seem to remember where I used it in a post. Same pockets today. I’ve been practicing with something else as a primary carry but I’m not ready to switch yet.
Spitting on Zinn’s grave? Oh, go ahead, he’d spit on yours David, and stab you with your own civility if he had half a chance. Good riddance, I say.
Zinn’s wretched tract, A People’s History of the United States, is worthless as history, and it is a national tragedy that so many Americans have fallen under its spell. It is a political cartoon which even the socialist magazine Dissent described as an intellectual fraud, which it is. All Zinn’s writing was directed to one end: to indict his own country as an evil state and soften his countrymen up for the kill. Like his partner in crime, Noam Chomsky, Zinn was a wicked man and his life’s work was a pernicious influence on the young and ignorant, with destructive consequences for people everywhere.
I love this song… “Grace Alone“. Here is a big choir version for our Sunday hymn this morning.
Grace Alone
Every promise we can make
Every prayer and step of faith
Every difference we can make
Is only by His grace.
Every mountain we will climb
Every ray of hope we shine
Every blessing left behind
Is only by His grace
Grace alone Which God supplies
Strength unknown He will provide
Christ in us, our cornerstone
We will go forth in grace alone.
Every soul we long to reach
Every heart we hope to teach
Everywhere we share His peace
Is only by His grace.
Every loving word we say
Every tear we wipe away
Every sorrow turned to praise
Is only by His grace.
©1998 Maranatha! Music.
Words and Music by Scott Wesley Brown, Jeff Nelson
Today was the 9th Annual Frozen Chosin M1 Garand Match presented by the Nampa Rod and Gun Club in Nampa, Idaho. This end of January event is one of those “start the new year” matches that many of the high power and CMP shooters look forward to, since there haven’t been any matches since the fall. This year’s event drew a great crowd of battle rifle enthusiasts out to the frozen, windswept sagebrush to see if they remember how to shoot.
The match consists of two stages, both shot prone (no rests) at 200 yards with Korean War era rifles with iron sights. M1 Garands, a couple of carbines, a 1903, an SKS or two, an AK, and a couple of Mosins made for a diverse field. Stage one was 16 full sized E type targets all raised at once. Each four shooter team had 2 minutes to put as many rounds down range as possible, with the goal of hitting every target as many times as possible (but at least once per target). 1 point for each hit, and minus 10 for each target missed. Stage two was more difficult in that the targets were prone F type silhouettes, raised in pairs, four pairs at a time. These were exposed for 30 seconds then dropped, with the other four pairs raised for 30 seconds. Lather, rinse, repeat, for 2 minutes, sending as many rounds down range as you can.
Oh. I forgot to mention the walking target. During the prone targets’ exposure there was a constantly “walking” E type target, worth 2 points per hit (or minus 20 for a total miss). Needless to say, this walking target figured prominently in most team strategies. Each team member was limited to 100 rounds for both stages, and to make things interesting there was a roughly 12 mph cross to quartering wind “complimenting” the very flat lighting. Actually, these are pretty good conditions for this match. Every “old-timer” had a story about the year it was 20 degrees, or the one it snowed all day, or the time it was so foggy nobody could see the target line.
Our team didn’t win, although we managed to shoot better than some of the teams. I’m not sure that we expected to place high, considering the very generous prize promised to the match winners… a K98 Mauser redone by the Israelis to 7.62 Nato, one for each member of the team. The really good shooters didn’t stay home today with those on the line. 17 teams turned out and the competition at the top was fierce, and it was tied for much of the match.
I didn’t see who the winning team was, but we did get to see them shoot. All the teams took their turn in the pit working targets. Sometime during our shift in the pit the winners took their turn, and it was evident watching the targets from down below. “Wow, look at the guy on target 5!” followed by “yeah, and his buddy on 9 and 10 is putting on a clinic!” I’ve never worked the hot end of a rifle match from the pit. The *crack* of the bullet going overhead, followed by the thump into the dirt berm, then the distant report of the shot from the line was a new experience for me. And I have to admit, even with a scope I have a difficult time watching the targets from the spectator area 220 or so yards away. But watching the holes appear from directly below the targets was fun. And being out of the wind for an hour or so was wonderful.
Good job, Nampa Rod and Gun Club, it was a great saturday of shooting! Lord willing, I want to shoot it again next year. And we’re already talking about how to change our stategy!
You can find all the SOTU morning after you’d like somewhere else. I’m sick of the man and don’t feel like talking about him. Instead, I pass along a picture. Today’s picture of the day is perfect, and shamelessly lifted from Theodore’s World.
What’s truly sad, and telling, is that everyone will recognize this (whether they’ll admit it publicly or not). And for all that we might complain about GW and how terribly off track his Presidency went the last few years, nobody would think this about him… nor did we fear what it might mean for the country.
State of the Union? Deep in debt, nothing in the bank, and living way beyond rapidly declining means. Hmmm…. sounds like a lot of Americans.
ObamaNomics is built on the assumption that politicians are better stewards of economic resources than the millions of individuals and business enterprises who created those resources. The Democrats’ plan is to dramatically increase taxation to fund programs through which government can exert greater control over our lives.
But these data show that the private sector’s ability and willingness to generate wealth for government to seize through taxation is rapidly diminishing. These data show that Obama’s own actions are are literally killing the goose that lays the golden eggs he needs to fund his agenda.
The drop in individual income tax revenue in fiscal 2009 was the steepest since 1939. As the chart shows revenue continues to plummet in fiscal 2010.
Thank goodness we’ll never get worse than 8% unemployment because we’ve passed some of Obama’s policies. Oh, wait. It’s over 10% now… well, just think how bad it would have been if we didn’t have him in office? We’re so lucky that he’s in there fighting for us. (And that, my dear reader, is the capsule summary of his State of the Union speech.)
Good Sunday morning to you all. This morning’s music is “Wonderful Merciful Savior“.
Wonderful, merciful Savior
Precious Redeemer and friend
Who would have thought that a lamb could
Rescue the souls of men
Oh, You rescue the souls of men
Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
Spirit we long to embrace
You offer hope when our hearts have
Hopelessly lost the way
Oh, we hopelessly lost the way
[Chorus:]
You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for
Almighty, infinite Father
Faithfully loving Your own
Here in our weakness You find us
Falling before Your throne
Oh, we’re falling before Your throne
[Chorus:]
You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for
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