Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I'm in love.

It’s come late in life for me, but it has happened none the less. And I had to have help – I don’t know enough about such things to deal with this completely on my own. So Murphy’s Law stepped in and made the introductions. And I was immediately pretty sure that This Was The One. 

Handsome.  Elegant.  Perfectly proportioned in relationship to my short self.  A second date at Occupy Peacemaker, and I was sure. Once again Murphy’s Law stepped in, and he returned from his Christmas trip home with my new love:


Absolutely beautiful M-1 carbine made by Plainfield Machine Co.  Wood in perfect condition.  Barely used. Feels wonderful, like it was made just for me.  Shoots like a dream.

Today was range day, a perfect day for it, and I took possession of my new love.  Much pistol work first, with some training from ML on close encounters of the drawing your concealed weapon kind, as well as a lesson in retention. (Note to self - purchase real leather belt this weekend. This imitation crap can't take the stress.)  I am not a good multi-tasker;  pushing away with left hand and stepping back while sweeping shirt/jacket back and drawing and firing is going to require practice.  And yes, yes I can draw the .38 and find it in my hand with my shirt still wrapped around it.  In real life I hope I would have enough presence of mind (or enough sense of self preservation) to fire anyway but I wasn't going to put a hole in a perfectly good shirt for training.  ML had also repaired the H&R .22 and it is amazing how different it feels after several months of using firearms - it feels fine now whereas at first I didn't like it.  I still can't use it double action - I can pull that trigger way back but not quite far enough.  But single action feels good.

Finally, the M-1.  First time up - 25 yards:


50 yards:


100 yards (the shot in the 7 ring at about 11 o'clock is from ML's Springfield, which he was sighting):


And, finally, I finished messing up Murphy's Law's target at the 200 yard line - a cluster to the lower right and then I got the range:


I'm happy and excited - it was a terrific day at the range. Thanks, Murphy's Law, for bringing my baby home and showing me how to properly use it.  Thanks, Aaron of the Shekel, for parting with such a fine gun. 

Now I gotta go clean a bunch of guns...

Monday, January 9, 2012

D.C.'s Occupy Gets Schooled

I think I'm in love...

Yaawwwnnn...

I've been around, but when not working busy with other stuff.  A good friend's mother died unexpectedly last Thursday, and my friend and her hubby, saturated with all the stuff the aftermath of such things requires, stopped by last night.  They just needed someone other than family to talk to for a while.  So we talked about whatever they wanted to talk about and killed rather more than a bottle of wine and they left just before midnight. 

Seemed I had just crawled into bed when my cats were all climbing all over me and demanding breakfast.  It was getting light so I staggered down and filled the bowls.  At which point my head had cleared enough to realize that the light wasn't coming from the east.  Moonlight.  Flippin' moonlight from the mostly full moon.  It was 4 am.

I am SO too old for this...

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Santorum speaks up.

If I haven't made it obvious yet, I am pro-life.  No, let me change that.  I am PRO-LIFE.  I believe that every abortion takes the life of an innocent human being.  There is nothing, no reasoning (or lack thereof) that changes that.  No proof without a reasonable doubt that what is being killed is not human.  No proof that both a woman AND a man were not involved (in vitro included - there is still a biological father).  And no one can say to me that I don't know what it's like to be in a crisis pregnancy - been there, done that.  And helped others being encouraged to abort get through their own pregnancies. 

Thing is, I was pro-life when I called myself an atheist.  Scientifically, the idea that no human was killed failed.  Culturally, the idea that we could call that a choice, let that get ingrained into our society, then not develop a more violent society failed.  To allow it and then be surprised when people make choices that are harmful to others is ridiculous.  It fails logically.

Along the way, Bernie Nathanson, may he rest in peace, saw the light, and turned away from the monster he had helped create, using his own film, "The Silent Scream", to demonstrate the humanity of what is slaughtered.  "Roe", of Roe v Wade, became pro-life, as did "Doe" of Doe v Bolton, the case that really opened Pandora's box on the innocent, creating abortion on demand.  More and more women who worked for groups like Planned Parenthood have spoken out and published their memoirs of what they saw there.  More and more women who have had abortions are speaking out.  And more and more death certificates of those who were killed by these "safe and legal" procedures have become available on-line. 

So I am a single issue voter.  I will not cast my vote for a pro-abortion candidate.  The famous trilogy is "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness".  If the government does not protect innocent life, then the other two don't matter, for they become impossible to achieve.

So this bit of commentary by George Will, courtesy of Creative Minority Report, heavily influences my thoughts on who to vote for.  I've copied both the Will excerpt and CMR's comments:

I find it hard to believe I am writing these words. But the following is an excerpt from a column extolling the virtues of Rick Santorum written by, are you sitting down? George Will.
They (ordinary Republicans) crave fun. Supporting Mitt Romney still seems to many like a duty, the responsible thing to do. Suddenly, supporting Santorum seems like a lark, partly because a week or so ago he could quit complaining about media neglect and start having fun, which is infectious.

He can, of course, be tenaciously serious. On Sept. 26, 1996, the Senate was debating whether to ban partial-birth abortion, the procedure whereby the baby to be killed is almost delivered, feet first, until only a few inches of its skull remain in the birth canal, and then the skull is punctured, emptied and collapsed. Santorum asked two pro-choice senators opposed to the ban, Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), this: Suppose the baby slips out of the birth canal before it can be killed. Should killing it even then be a permissible choice? Neither senator would say no.

On Oct. 20, 1999, during another such debate, Santorum had a colloquy with pro-choice Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.):

Santorum: “You agree that, once the child is born, separated from the mother, that that child is protected by the Constitution and cannot be killed. Do you agree with that?”

Boxer: “I think that when you bring your baby home . . . .”

Santorum is not, however, a one-dimensional social conservative. He was Senate floor manager of the most important domestic legislation since the 1960s, the 1996 welfare reform.
It was Rick Santorum who took the fight over partial-birth abortion to the Dems. It was Rick Santorum who exposed the monstrous logic of the pro-aborts in Congress. It was Rick Santorum. He has made his mistakes, mistakes he admits, but that is the Rick Santorum I know. That is the Rick Santorum I support. That is the Rick Santorum you should support too.

Oh, by the way. Did you see that Boxer quote above? Your life is not protected by the Constitution until they bring you home. M.O.N.S.T.E.R.S.
Yes. They are monsters.  And they've been voted into office by those who accept monstrous beliefs.  We will have no true freedom as long as these beliefs remain.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Mail Box

From a friend.  My mother was a mail carrier for 26 years, but she never mentioned delivering to a mail box as unique as this one. (The neighborhood kids would, however, on occasion stick a frog in a mail box.)


New Years

And I'm feeling a bit brain dead...

Spent New Years Eve on duty at the local cold weather shelter.  Got home from church New Years Day to find a tree down on the lines and no electricity, so I retreated to a favorite local restaurant/bar, where I found other refugees from the street watching the Redskins game.  Been working on raking up leaves and putting down mulch. Other than that, I got nuttin to report - haven't even been paying attention to the news.