Free In Idaho!

There was a gun show in Boise this weekend, so before I started my chores I thought I’d better take a walk around and see what was up.  Had it in the back of my mind that if I saw a nicely priced .22 pistol I might be able to persuade myself that I had to have it.  

One thing I noticed was .308 brass all over the place.  I was in the market for brass at the last show, but didn’t find much.  Not so this time.  Hmmm.   I special ordered some off the internet awhile back so I’m good for now.

There are some really poor quality AK builds out there, and the guys who have them on their tables are pretty proud of them.  At least, that’s the way they were priced.  Trouble is, almost every table had at least one, so it wasn’t like “supply and demand” driving up the prices.  I didn’t see anyone buying them either.   Quite a few Mosins for sale too.  Yes, there were plenty of AR style weapons too.  Some of those tables remind of the old Rush Limbaugh parody radio ad for “Spatula City”… welcome to “Tac Rail City!”

Lots of new pistols.  At regular dealer prices.  I expected that, and since I don’t “need” one right now, I skipped by them pretty quickly.  Plenty of Taurus and Glock, but very little S & W today.  Enough $100 junkers to start a new gang (if they ever have a gun buy up around Idaho, I might be tempted to buy a few of those).

Lots of old rifles, but I’m not looking for one of those either, and I don’t know enough about them to be able to spot the unusual, or well priced ones.   But I didn’t see any going out the door, so I must not be missing much.

My Sweetie tells me that I have a different philosophy about selling stuff.  I figure if you want to sell something, price it to make it go away and then turn the money into something else.  I’d rather make ten bucks ten times in a day than wait for “that special buyer” to bring me a hundred bucks.  What is it about some of these guys showing the same silly piece at the same silly price show after show?  “Well, the book says it’s worth $650.”   The book is wrong!  You’ve been proving it to all of us for the last four shows, $650 is too damn high, because nobody is willing to buy it for that.  Not a hard concept.   99% of what’s at the usual gun show is not that rare, or unique, or museum quality.   So I’m learning that a lot of those guys are just showers, not sellers.  Whatever floats your boat.

I did enjoy wandering around and looking, but I must be off my feed, or else I need a nap, because I couldn’t gin up enough enthusiasm to even buy any ammo…  I think I’ll take a glass of lemonade and my book (”John Adams” by David McCullough - excellent!) out to the chair under the tree out back and see if I can fall asleep.  If I wake up and feel like it, I can always go back up to town and wander through the show again.  Before I start my chores, of course.

I’ve heard a little whining about George Bush being a failure because he can’t talk the Saudis into increasing production more than they already did, which would supposedly lower gas prices here in the States.  Hmmm.  I guess when it is Ted Kennedy’s idea, it’s a good one, right?  From a NY Times article in 2004

There is little doubt that gasoline prices in the United States, which are expected to reach a record this spring, are bringing renewed attention to OPEC’s 11 members. At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 23, which was mostly about nuclear weapons, Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, questioned Spencer Abraham, the Energy Secretary, about energy prices.

“No one in that state can understand why the president of the United States isn’t jawboning OPEC to increase production to make a difference at the very time that we’re losing men and women over there in Iraq,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Maybe there’s a rationale for that, but it’s an intolerable position.”

That was 2004 remember, and we’re doing the same argument 4 years later.  OK everyone, Bush has tried it repeatedly now, but it doesn’t work.  The Saudis are not our friends, and never have been.  What’s new?  They have a resource the world needs, they’re selling it for whatever the market will bear.  By the way, do you remember the price of crude in 2004?  Just for laughs, look at this, from the same article

OPEC, which produces roughly a third of the world’s oil, is believed to be producing about 26 million barrels a day, or well above its official target of 24.5 million barrels. Supported by strong demand in China and the United States, the price for West Texas crude oil averaged $35.25 a barrel in the first quarter, the highest such level in the last 20 years, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

$35 a barrel… shockingly high oil prices, as I remember.  And the Democrats where complaining it was all Bush’s fault.  And they have been adding to their numbers in Washington until they are now a majority.  Do you remember the promises they made in 2006, that they would give America an energy policy that would take care of high oil prices?  How’s that working for you?  And do you remember all the promises of the alternative energy gurus and prophets, who told us that all it would take was for oil to go above 50 or 60 bucks a barrel and the alternative sources would be attractive and profitable?  I won’t remind you that some were also suggesting that at that point we could begin replacing oil… only the most wild-eyed of the greens believed that nonsense.  But we’re better than double that $60 per barrel today (sorry to remind you of that)… how’s that windmill working for you these days?  And your electric car?  Little woman really buzzing around town in that, eh?   Be sure to get your solar batter charger out today, it’s going to be sunny and 90 degrees later on.

In four years we’ve had oil prices go from $35 a barrel to well over $120 a barrel.  Four years.  The Republicans didn’t get anything done, and the Democrats do nothing but whine and promise, but they don’t do anything either.  Meanwhile, the Fed meets every 6 weeks to tell us that inflation is under control and cutting rates is a good thing.   By coincidence, it’s another election year.  Tell me again about our choices at the ballot box?

Just out of curiosity, can you tell me what has happened to U.S. oil production in the last 25 years?  Up, down, the same?  What’s your guess?  Right now we’re producing just over 5,000,000 barrels a day.  In the 80’s we were producing between 8,200,000 and 8,900,000 barrels per day.  You do the math.  And the Saudis provide, what?  Do you know?  How does this sound to you

From January-November 2006, Saudi Arabia supplied the United States with 1.4 million barrels per day of crude oil, or approximately 14 percent, of U.S. crude oil imports. 

For the beginning of 2008 those import numbers are up to around 1.5 or 1.6 million barrels a day from the Saudis.  I’m no math wiz, but that means we import around 10 or 11 million barrels a day.  Who says U.S. production doesn’t count for much?  So whether we save all the polar bears or drill right through the heart of ANWAR, the United States is going to have to deal with its own production because it DOES make a difference (that bogus vote this week to suspend filling the strategic oil reserves was a clown car exercise that amounts to zip… 3 cents a barrel maybe).  By the way, the Saudis are only our #2 supplier.  Canada, at 2.4 million barrels a day is #1.  When was the last time you heard anyone bitching about those eeeeevvviiillll Canadians damaging our economy and emarrassing ourselves on the world stage, begging for oil?  Mexico is #3, at 1.3 million barrels.  In 2007 the Saudis were #3 and Mexico was #2.    Hmmm.  South America sends us another couple million a day. 

Maybe George needs to suck up to the Canadians and the Mexicans?  Oh, yeah… never mind.