Let's hear it for the hero

Plainclothes cop shoots gunmen, ends robbery spree

Nashville Police Officer Justin Fox was at the right place at the right time--and had the right mindset--to shoot three masked gunmen in a hotel lobby.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — An overnight robbery spree in the Nashville metro area was halted by a plainclothes police officer who encountered the three masked men early Thursday morning at a hotel in the suburbs just south of the Music City.

Three suspects reportedly burst into the lobby of the Hyatt Place Hotel in the small hours of the morning on March 25th, after allegedly already robbing three people at another location in town. Unfortunately for them, 35-year-old Officer Justin Fox was already there — purely by chance — as part of an unrelated, ongoing investigation at the hotel.

The gunmen had forced the hotel clerk to give them cash when Officer Fox and an unnamed undercover cop from another agency entered the lobby at about 0230 hours.

The suspects then ordered the officers to the floor at gunpoint, striking and kicking both men while threatening to kill them, according to a Department press release.

Nashville NBC TV affiliate WSMV had reported during its early morning broadcast today that the Nashville cop, “in defense of his own life and the lives of others in the lobby, shot all three suspects.”

Later in the day, Nashville PD provided some much-needed detail.

“Before Officer Fox went completely to the ground,” said the Nashville PD press release, “he pulled out his department issued handgun, turned around, and fired on all three suspects in defense of himself and the other officer who did not fire a weapon. The suspects did not return fire. A handgun, dropped by one of the suspects, was recovered from the lobby floor.”

Even as new details slowly emerged throughout the day, Jim Glennon, Lead Instructor for the Street Survival Seminar, a nationwide law-enforcement training program, said, “Here’s the thing: life changes fast. You can go from a bike theft, an animal complaint, a domestic issue, or a traffic accident — to taking a life — within seconds. This officer did a great job physically but maybe more importantly he was mentally and psychologically prepared, which is a different animal altogether. There are a lot of officers who can earn a sharpshooter, marksman, or master shooting badge. Adapting to the dynamic reality of real deadly force situations and acting outside of the static training environment is what separates this officer from many others.”

“Being unexpectedly pulled into the middle of an armed robbery is pretty damn frightening,” adds Street Survival Seminar Instructor Betsy Brantner Smith. “In that moment, Officer Fox needed to assess the situation and make some very critical decisions, quickly, and correctly. To be able to draw and deliver multiple rounds to multiple offenders is the epitome of When/Then thinking, and this officer’s response is a lesson to all of us.”

Glennon spoke also of his friend and colleague Bob Nicholas, a Sergeant from Elmhurst Police Department and trainer at the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy in Glen Ellyn, Ill. “Bob tells his academy classes: ‘This is the only job where you can save a life, take a life, and or lose a life in an eight-hour period. You never know when one of those moments will present itself. You have to be prepared whenever a door opens’.”

Brantner-Smith concludes, “In the Seminar we teach: ‘On duty, you go to calls. Off duty, some calls come to you.’ This is often the case when we’re in plainclothes as well. We have to decide how critical this situation is and should we take action or just be a good witness until the uniforms arrived. If we decide to take action, can we do it safely, tactically, legally? Are we going to make the situation better or worse by getting involved? Will more innocent people get hurt as a result of my actions? There is so much to consider in that one-quarter of a second that all cops get to make those life and death, million dollar decisions, which is why we recommend that you think about and visualize various scenarios, like being the victim of a robbery while in plainclothes, and decide in advance how you’re going to respond.”

The masked gunmen, two of whom were critically injured, fled in a maroon van, but Officer Fox followed them in his unmarked car and called in to dispatch their direction of flight. The suspects were soon apprehended as they drove north on Interstate 65 into Nashville. When police searched the van, purses and wallets from the night’s earlier robberies were discovered.

The suspects, identified as Deaunte Carter, 23, Rory Gilmer, 22, and Antonio Leggs, 20, were taken to nearby Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where Carter and Gilmer are reportedly in critical condition. Leggs is in stable condition.

In 2008, Carter was convicted of facilitation of aggravated robbery and sentenced to eight years. Leggs has two previous theft convictions, and Gilmer has been arrested 11 times for driving offenses and for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The website for the local newspaper, Tennessean.com, indicated that Officer Fox — a 12-year veteran who reportedly has never before been in a shooting incident — is on routine administrative assignment following the shooting.

Oh--and you guys who say that cops can't shoot...you might want to rethink that claim. Officer Fox just dunked on you, big time. Way to save the day, Officer Fox!

And of course I have no doubt whatsoever that the relatives of the three youth shot by Officer Fox are lining up at this moment to give tearful interviews to the media in which they will relate how the three were just getting ready to turn their lives around and were planning on getting jobs and taking care of their kids any day now.

James Cameron wants to challenge me to a duel in the streets?

I just returned from the firing range and happened upon this amusing article about Liberal Hollywood director James Cameron. (Thanks, Breda!)

Evincing his disdain for people smarter than he is, specifically those who don't buy into the "global warming" hoax-du-jour, Cameron states that he wants a showdown in the streets with those of us who disagree with him.

The "Avatar" director was equally unsparing in his comments about those who don't accept global warming as fact.

"That's right," Cameron said. "I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads."

Well I'm your Huckleberry, Mr. Cameron. I accept. As the challenged party, I choose 1911 .45 Automatics, duel to be fought in the old dueling ground in what is now New Orleans City Park.

Lagniappe has agreed to be my second in this affair of Honor. He will also assume an overwatch position with his rifle just in case you wish to try to cheat, as liberals are wont to do. Try to bring in some back-shooting ringer and he'll drop you both like a pair of dirty socks.

Following this duel, Lagniappe, my supporters and I shall adjourn to the piano bar at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop in the French Quarter to celebrate the vanquishing of a loud-mouthed liberal.

Name the time, Cameron. We'll be there.

Oh--and be sure to bring bandages and your new Obamacare card. You'll need 'em.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...?

Obama went to Afghanistan for a few hours this morning.

"Big deal," I thought. Of course the AP still has to start out by saying that Obama "inherited" this war, ignoring the fact that he didn't get the Presidency from a probate hearing--he sought it out and begged for it like Rosie O'Donnell trying to get the last pork chop.

But what really got my goat was the report that Obama actually lectured Afghan President Hamid Karzai and told him to cut down on the corruption in his government.

I'm sorry, but after using our own money to bribe hundreds of congressman and senators in order to get them all to vote for Obamacare over the wants and desires of a majority of American voters, Barack Obama telling someone to cut down on corruption is like the late, unlamented Michael Jackson telling people not molest kids.

Shine the light...

Take a cue from Elton John--I guy I used to really dig a couple of decades ago but who still occasionally sounds good...especially when backed up by an entire 200+ piece orchestra:

"Oh Philadelphia freedom shine on me, I love you
Shine a light through the eyes of the ones left behind
Shine a light shine a light
Shine a light won't you shine a light
Philadelphia freedom I love you, yes I do"

Great concepts--freedom and shining lights, especially tonight between the hours of 2030 and 2130 tonight (that's 8:30PM and 9:30PM for you milquetoaste types.) This is supposed to be "Earth Hour 2010", a time when our government and free-range liberals everywhere turn all their lights off for an hour to send some sort of message to someone somewhere.

What's the message? I'm guessing that it's along the lines of "we can't afford electricity because Obama took all our money."

Or is it supposed to be some sort of economic stimulus package for the more traditional sort of looters among us--the ones who didn't get elected or appointed to political office? "Hey, we know times are tough...so we'll just turn out all the lights for an hour and you poor Democrat voters just take whatever you can grab during this hour of government-sanctioned darkness...and remember--Keep voting Democrat, because stealing's easier than working for it, yo!"


So please--if you love this country, be proud. Stand up like a true American and turn on every damned light that you have for an hour at 8:30 PM your local time tonight. Tell everyone that despite Obamanomics, you still have the right to speak out by turning on all your lights, and because you actually work for a living, you've earned the money to be able to afford to have them on.

So spin those little electric meters like fans tonight, folks! LIGHT 'EM UP!!!

DC gun control law upheld while DC's gun-toting criminals roam free.

Ah, liberals and their never-ceasing desire to control the rest of us.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, who sits in Washington DC, ruled that he city's onerous and overly-restrictive gun-control laws that the city passed to try to gut the 2008 Heller decision are somehow Constitutionally permitted. The judge ruled that the District's handgun registration process, which requires owners to submit fingerprints and allow police to perform ballistics tests, is constitutional. He also upheld a city ban on most semiautomatic pistols.

Story about the decision here.

The city only allows residents to own revolvers--which must be registered with the police--and it requires that legally registered revolvers be kept unloaded and either disassembled or secured with trigger locks, unless the owner reasonably fears immediate harm by an intruder in the home. Each resident can register one pistol a month, and registrations expire after three years.

Urbina found that the new regulations were crafted to make the streets safer and aren't so restrictive that they violate the Second Amendment guarantee of a person's right to own a gun for self-defense. "It is beyond dispute that public safety is an important -- indeed, a compelling -- governmental interest," Urbina wrote.

Really? If that's the case, then why did that same government just give a thug who brought four guns into a public sports arena and used them to threaten and intimidate someone he was having a disagreement with a slap on the wrist? Why did the thug only get probation if public safety is really all that important in DC? Had it been you or I caught with even one gun on our person or in our vehicle, we'd be in jail there even if there was no underlying criminal issues as there was in this case.

But then again, you and I don't play basketball, so we probably wouldn't qualify for mere probation in lieu of jail.

It's not about public safety at all. It's about control. Safety comes from ensuring that law-abiding citizens cans protect themselves in those instances when the police aren't standing right next to them. Free citizens can protect themselves in most of this country, but in Washington DC, the only ones allowed to have and carry guns are the rich and powerful...and thug basketball players like Gilbert Arenas.

Moral of the story: If you can't dunk a basketball, you're on your own in Washington, DC when the criminals come around. And if you can dunk a basketball? Then you can actually be a criminal in Washington, DC.

Oh, and lest anyone doubt that elections have long-standing consequences, Judge Urbina was appointed to the bench in 1994 by then President Bill Clinton and he's been there ever since, handing down rulings like this one.

Still think your vote doesn't matter? It does, and so does a vote not cast, or one pissed away on some unelectable third-party candidate or fringe lunatic.

Remember in November.

Wow--Ann Coulter appearance in Canada shut down by angry Liberals

American commentator Ann Coulter was scheduled to speak before a group of college students in Ottawa, Ontario last night. However, a bunch of protesters--spoiled liberal kids, leftist professors, and probably even a few delusional street people (it's so hard to tell the latter two apart these days) decided that they didn't like her views and rather than hear what she has to say and try to refute it, they descended on the lecture hall in the form of a howling mob and made threats, screamed, pulled fire alarms, and even hinted that Coulter would be harmed physically if she tried to speak. Ironically, her speech was entitled: "Political Correctness, Media Bias and Freedom of Speech."

Typical Liberals. If they don't agree with your message, then no one is allowed to hear it.

Now there's no doubt at all that Ann Coulter is more than a match for a room full of liberal college students and their leftist teachers, but threats of violence? Hear this, Canadians--You harm one hair on that U.S. Citizen's head and just see if you don't wake up tomorrow to discover that Ontario has just become the 51st American state.

Seriously--your whole country is ours for the taking any time we want it. Your best best if you want to stay Canadian is to not make us want it.

That is all.

Speaking truth to a tyrant.

My hat is off to Representative Thaddeus McCotter for this short and hard-hitting expression of what so many of us feel today regarding Obama's theft of our private health care industry and every citizen's right to choose whether or not to participate.

“So this is what change looks like? I would remind the president that he is not the leader of a party or ideology. He is the leader of our country, one founded not to humiliate others but to inspire the world. As families lose their jobs, their homes and their dreams for their children; as our troops fight and sacrifice in foreign fields for our liberty and security, President Obama’s obsessive-compulsive pursuit of an abominable government takeover of health care has defied the public’s objections and spoiled this House and further alienated Americans from their representative government. As President Obama’s campaign manager of hope and change has degenerated into tax and hate…”

It goes on and gets even better. In sum, he nails it. If this were the Olympics, he'd be getting straight tens!

The day I met Chuck Yeager

There was a time, back in the day, when I worked as a hotel security guard at night to pay my way through school. It was a good job for this, as it paid me enough that I was able to directly pay my tuition each semester instead of relying on loans or other student aid, and also because my night hours allowed me to do all of my reading and paper-writing during working hours after the hotel bar was closed and the guests were mostly asleep. I could come in directly following my evening classes, get my (free to employees) dinner from the hotel kitchen's night crew, be available for a while when the guests were about, then study until the end of my shift, at which time I'd grab a (free) breakfast from the same kitchen's morning crew and head off to morning classes. It was a great gig for a student, let me tell you.

One of the things about this hotel was that it was near the office of a particular defense contractor and offered a special rate to that contractor's employees. One of those people at this time was none other than General Chuck Yeager, USAF (ret.) Naturally, as an enthusiastic student of both military history and aviation even back then, I was in awe of this man, and even thought I'd never seen him personally, the mere fact that he was actually in the hotel filled me with pride, right up until it almost got me fired one day.

You see, it was the task of hotel security to deliver the express checkout receipts to guests who requested that option. we got the job by default since there was no bell staff in the early morning hours, and I regularly made the rounds of the halls at about 4:30 or so and slipped one under each early-bird guest's door. Well one morning, as I was distributing them, I saw one with General Yeager's name on it. I took a few seconds and wrote out a brief note stating that I personally considered it a great honor that he was there and thanked him for his years of service to our country. Who could find fault with that, right?

Well when I got in the next evening, I found out who could find fault with that: My department head, the hotel's night manager, and the hotel's general manager. All three of them were present for a special sit-down meeting with me that evening in which I was warned that if I ever bothered another guest like that again, I'd be out the door immediately. Apparently my little note was the source of a complaint at check-out, and it rolled downhill exponentially from there. To say that I was shocked and seriously disappointed in my hero, Chuck Yeager, was an understatement.

I got over it, however, although not without some resentment. Was my note that inappropriate? I didn't think so, but even if it was, the hammer that got dropped on me certainly wasn't proportionate to the harm. I decided that the General was just a pompous ass, and it served me right for getting so caught up in his public image.

This was my belief for the next few months, and then one night, I got a call from the night desk clerk. He said that a guest who couldn't sleep was in the lobby asking if he could get a cup of coffee. Now the kitchen was closed at this hour and the night clerk knew that if there was any coffee in the building, it would have been the pot that I made for myself to help keep me focused while I studied. I always brewed a pot, and much to the annoyance of the morning restaurant manager, I made it super-strength by turning up the setting on the coffee grinder to about twice what it was supposed to be. It worked for me, but invariably, the morning kitchen staff neglected to notice this and poisoned the first batch of morning customers with coffee that made espresso seem like tea.

Well I told the desk monkey that yes, I had some coffee, but that it was pretty strong stuff. He knew how I made it and he advised the guest, but the guest said that he liked it strong, so I shrugged and poured a carafe full and took it out to the lobby on a tray with a couple of cups and the cream and sugar that wusses like to put in their coffee.

Imagine my surprise when the guest in the lobby turned out to be General Yeager himself, sitting on the lobby couch.

I set the coffee down on the table in front of him, still butt-hurt from my last experience. However he thanked me with what seemed like genuine warmth, and he asked my my name. I told him, hoping that he wouldn't remember the note episode, and he took a sip of the coffee and smiled, saying that it tasted like coffee was actually supposed to taste. I told him that it was my own mix, made up to help me stay awake while studying, and he asked me what I was studying. Well one thing led to another, and we started talking. And not only did we talk, but it wasn't long before I found myself sitting on the couch next to him and drinking coffee from the other cup while he told me all sorts of flying stories. And what stories they were--I was amazed at the detail with which he recalled the exact take-off and landing speeds of the aircraft that he flew back in the 1940's and 50's. He took me right through the start-up procedures for both the P-51 Mustang and the old P-39 Airacobra, a plane that I'd always thought was some kind of a dog but which Yeager thought was one of the best planes he'd ever flown. I still remember how much he talked about that old P-39. And he spoke highly of the F-86, too--another one of my personal favorites. I loved old warbirds even back then, and here was a man who'd flown almost all of them sitting right here and only too willing to tell me all about them. His detailed recall of these individual aircraft was simply astounding. My only regret to this day was not asking about his historic X-1 flight!

We spent over an hour and a half sitting there drinking coffee and talking, the time broken only by my going back to the kitchen to get more coffee after we drank the first batch up. I learned all about the Northrop F-20 Tigershark program, Northrop's attempt to develop a low-cost, high-performance jet fighter for private sale on the foreign market.

General Yeager, who'd flown the F-20 extensively, told me how in the hands of a good pilot, it was the equal of almost anything in the current US Air Force inventory but much, much cheaper due to the absence of the sophisticated avionics that our current aircraft flew and fought with. The idea was to offer this low-budget hotrod to developing nations, and General Yeager thought so much of the F-20 that he invested a lot of his own money into it, only to lose it when the US government undercut Northrop's sales by subsidizing sales of the F-15 and F-16 to the same countries that the F-20 was being marketed towards, in effect making it cheaper for those countries to buy the more expensive fighters by absorbing much of the cost. He said that it was a real tragedy that such a fine aircraft had been killed off like that, and he wasn't too happy about losing his own money on it, but he was still working with Northrop and going on despite the burn. He was no quitter, that was for sure.

I couldn't help but be impressed by his positive attitude on that and other things we talked about. This guy was clearly a winner right from jump street--he had that winner's positive mindset and he knew how to put it into practice.

Finally the desk clerk came over and asked me to get another guest's keys from the valet stand, and I looked at my watch and realized that I'd been off duty for the past twenty minutes. When I told the desk clerk that, the General realized that he needed to get going too, so he stood up, addressed me by name, and shook my hand, telling me how much he'd enjoyed the coffee and our chat.

Well seeing as how we were getting on so well, I couldn't let him get away without finding out what the fuss over my note had been. So I asked him if he recalled the letter that I'd put under his door a few months ago. I told him that I hadn't meant to offend him, and that if I had, I was sure sorry about it. He looked puzzled for a few seconds, then told me that he'd never seen any note from me or anyone else. I related the story about how I'd left it for him and then been ripped apart for it, and he laughed and shook his head. "My aide always handles those things, so he probably got it." Then he leaned in close to me and whispered: "He's fantastic at what he does, but just between you and me, he can be a real tight-ass sometimes."

I'll never forget that morning, and Chuck Yeager rose right back to the top of my "I want to be like that guy when I grow up" list.

Oh--and just to make a point of personal pride--General Yeager is a West Virginian, born and bred. Sal-LOOT!

SKS on the range

So since our health care system was just taken over by the government today, I felt that it would be appropriate to take a Communist made rifle out shooting today.

Behold, the Chinese SKS.I bought this little gem back in the 1990's when they first came onto the market. Back then, they were abundant but no one wanted them and I got this one for--are you ready? $64.95 shipped to my door. (I had an FFL back then.)

It was my first SKS and a rifle that I carried afield on a few camping trips before upgrading to lighter rifles such as the M1 carbine or the AR-15.

This one hasn't been fired since Bill Clinton was President; it has simply sat quietly in a gun locker or a display rack while other rifles have had all of the fun. But today, I took it out for the first time in a long time and I was pleased to see that once I made a few minor adjustments to the front sight, it would fairly consistently hold a 4" circle from sandbags at 100M and keep all but one fired on a paper plate at 200M. (And to be fair, the flyer was my fault.)

I put a fair number of rounds rounds through it before another shooter with his bench-rest rifle showed up and made me want to quit for the day, and I have to say that it brought back memories of a couple of camping trips years ago. It felt good against my shoulder, and my only complaint is that I need to learn to keep my fingers away from the forward stock metal and barrel once the rifle starts to heat up.

The SKS isn't going to be my first choice of rifle to grab if and when Obama and Company push this country over the edge, but it's good to know that it's there as a back-up or as a loaner for friends in need, and in the meantime, it's a fun plinker that shoots ammunition that's still relatively cheap and readily available.

My personal thought on Obamacare and the way it was passed.

When all was said and done in last night's midnight session of Congress, Obama's bribes and threats appeared to carry the day over the will of the People. That's not only unconcionable, but I seem to recall that the last time the government tried to jam taxes and oppressive regulations down the throats of the American people without listening to them, a shipload of tea wound up getting thrown into Boston Harbor and things just sort of took off from there.

I'm just saying...

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to head out to the gun range for a bit of previously-scheduled training.

Odor of a corrupt bargain, indeed.

With all of the arm-twisting and bribes being put out there to coerce a majority of the Democratic Party to go against the will of their voters--most of whom opposed Obamacare--one has to wonder just how far the Obama Administration was willing to go to get those votes.

Well in the case of West Virginia's Congressman Alan Molohan, a representative who was "undecided" until just before the vote, (he then came out enthusiastically for it when it was too late for his constituents to pound him for it) it would appear that a very corrupt bargain indeed may have been struck.

If you recall, Molohan has been under criminal investigation by the US Justice Department for four year now, stemming from very substantial allegations that he used his position as a Congressman to facilitate and profit obscenely from some real estate deals that literally made him a millionaire overnight.

Of course this massive ethical cloud wasn't enough to get Nancy Pelosi to remove him from his position as Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, where he actually controlled the budget of those investigating him on similar lines in the House, but we all know by know that Pelosi's promise to "drain the swamp" and target corruption in the House came with an expiration date--it expired the moment that Democrats became the majority in Congress.

So what happened back in January when Obama was trying to get the support he needed for his unpopular heath care scam? The Justice Department suddenly closed it's investigation of Molohan. And yes, that's the Justice Department run by Eric Holder, a man well known for using his position to gain political support for his bosses, be it the Clintons or Obama. This is the guy who sold pardons and dismissed already-obtained convictions; shutting down an investigation that hadn't been wrapped up yet was probably child's play.

So Molohan's criminal case and the possible future of a few years in federal prison just vanished, and suddenly the Congressman who claimed to be "undecided" on Obamacare turned around and cast one of the final, crucial votes for it.

Coincidence... You decide.

A busy and dishonorable weekend in Washington, DC

Remember when our representatives in Congress actually represented us and voted accordingly?

Well today, the majority of them, Democrats all, disregarded their constituents--the people who voted them into office expecting to be...well...represented--and voted for a massive new social program designed to take control of the entire health care industry and give free stuff to the lazy while billing the producers. They did this because Obama and Nancy Pelosi told them to, despite the polls indicating that a majority of the country--including a majority of their own constituents--didn't want it.

They ignored the phone calls and letters that they all admit getting, they ignored the in-person visits from their own district residents, and they ignored the protests of organized outraged Americans from across the country. In so doing, they showed us all that their loyalty is to their party leaders first and their own constituents second, if even that.

Hear that drum beating? I hear it.

Now our National Mall in Washington DC is under siege by thousands of illegal aliens and their supporters, mostly relatives who benefited from a previous amnesty or special interest groups that get money to represent these trespassers and provide them with social services, again with the bill passed on to American workers. They're denouncing our laws, defiling our national flags, and demanding--demanding--that our representatives give them amnesty and American citizenship, making them fully equal to the rest of us and giving them priority over every immigrant who is trying to gain citizenship according to our laws that govern the process. And many legislators are caving into them, Republican Lindsay Graham foremost among them, as is Obama.

That drum beat is growing louder. Hear it yet, Washington?

Now we see that ACORN--the group that has been implicated in or convicted of fraud in numerous states on behalf of the Democratic Party and Obama--is going to keep getting our tax dollars despite a law passed by our representatives to put a stop to it. In other words, let the corruption commence again.

That drumbeat's getting louder yet. And those are war drums. The People are growing angry--the workers, the ones who play by the rules. The corruption and the disregard for the will of the citizens who sent you fools to Washington has to stop. If the 535 of you on the Capitol don't quit it and rein in the Marxist in the White House, We--the People--are going to have to find a way to stop you.

A warm spring day out with my pal.

Today was a beautiful spring day--the first week-end without rain (or snow). So it was fitting that I took my best pal, Lagniappe, out to Harpers Ferry so he could stretch his legs a bit by chasing sticks, romping in the water, and just doing all those things that a German Shepherd loves to do. He ran through the mud, he chased some ducks, and he thought about swimming out into the river after a stick I threw, but once he plunged in, I suspect that the temperature of the water made him reconsider. He restricted himself to just running back and forth in the shallows and barking at the stick as it floated away on the current.









And of course he also had to visit one of his favorite people: Sharon, owner of the Swiss Miss ice cream shop.
Lagniappe waits in line at the Swiss Miss. He knows that Sharon can't resist hooking him up with an ice cream cone...or two...or three. Today he got three. I'd have taken a picture of him getting one, but my camera's not that fast; he snatches them and scarfs them down in seconds...He'd get a brain freeze if he had a brain.

Now here he is begging for a bite of MY cone, and this after he just had three of his own.
You want to give me that ice cream cone...

And of course his Jedi mind tricks work. He got the last half of my cone, too. But what's a bit of ice cream between friends? He knows that he's my best dog buddy.

Erin go Bragh!

For the day.

Some rules to live by

These are not original sayings, but rather ones I've picked up here and there over the years. I can't even cite sources to most of them but the sources don't really matter that much. What matters is that these are my mottoes for my life--I've adopted them and applied them when times got tough and I use them daily for motivation and guidance. They've helped me get this far and maybe you can draw something from them too.

Who dares, wins. Motto of the British Special Air Service (SAS). If you think you can't pull something off, you're probably right. So believe in yourself and be bold. Sometimes sheer audacity can carry the day.

Never give up, never surrender. Got it from a totally stupid movie, but it's perfect for those times when the odds seem stacked against you. Dig your heels in and keep fighting. Never quit.

Do or do not. There is no “try”. Yoda said it to Luke Skywalker back in 1980. It works for me today. There are only two possible outcomes to any effort: failure or success. Which are you going to choose?

Second place is just the first place loser. Damn straight. If you're going to engage in something, be the best. Don't settle for just doing it--get out there and win it all.

You can achieve anything if you want it bad enough. Truer words were never spoken. Since losing my leg, I've run races I never could have run in before, fought to get my pilot's license back, and badgered my way into an even better job than I had before, and all while people kept telling me that I couldn't do these things with one leg. They were wrong. In each case, I wanted it, I worked hard for it, and I did it. And I'm not even close to done yet.

“Fair” is a word used only by small children and Democrats. Life isn't fair. So stop whining because you think you got a raw deal and get out there and do something about it.

Life's tough; it's tougher when you're stupid. John Wayne said this once. It's true, as is it's corollary, "If you're going to be dumb, you'd better be tough." Decisions have consequences. The wrong ones are liable to hurt/cost you money. Think before you act, dammit.

Every morning that you wake up this side of the grass is a gift. OK, I made this one up myself when I realized that I probably should have been killed a few years back instead of just losing a leg. None of us know how many tomorrows we have left, so make the most of every one you get and don't waste opportunities or defer enjoyment of life's pleasures.

When the crisis comes, you will not rise to the occasion; you will default to the level of your training. I've been there. When the stress and pressure really hit, you'll go on autopilot and do what you've learned to do in training. You won't magically excel just because you're special, and the ones who make it look so easy...they undoubtedly trained right and trained hard. Why aren't you training?

To achieve greatness you just need to do two things: train whenever you want to, and train when you don't. Some Olympic joker said this recently. He's right. So just do it, ok?

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome. Yes, there will be challenges and obstacles in life. Things won't go as planned. Surprise. So engage your brain, find a fix, and get past it.

Always have a Plan B. When circumstances change, well-laid plans can go out the window. A man with only one plan is like a warrior with one weapon or a craftsman with one tool. Having a back-up plan, or better yet, a whole toolbox full of back-up plans, will increase your odds of accomplishing your objective exponentially.

Oh—also:
No matter how responsible he seems, never give your gun to a monkey.
Meh. What can I say about this one? Live and learn, right?

Now get out there and win something, dammit.

Texas. Gov. Rick Perry is a...

Well you fill in the blank. Words honestly fail me after reading this story.

DALLAS (AP) — More than 12,000 illegal immigrants, non-permanent residents or non-U.S. citizens paid in-state tuition or received other such financial aid at public colleges and universities across Texas during late 2009, the Dallas Morning News reported Monday.

The figures from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board show about 1 percent of all Texas college students, in the fall semester, benefited from a 2001 law granting such in-state tuition.

The law says students who are not U.S. citizens and want to seek the assistance must have attended school in the state for at least three years before they graduate from a Texas high school. Students also must file an affidavit saying they plan to seek permanent residency.

During the fall semester, 12,138 students benefited from the law. Texas awarded about $33.6 million in state and institutional financial aid to those students between fall 2004 and summer 2008, according to the newspaper.

$33.6 million that did not benefit American citizens, although they were all taxed to raise it.

Gov. Rick Perry, who earlier this month won the GOP primary, supports the law aiding illegal immigrant students. Perry, in a recent debate, said the students are on the path to citizenship.

Huh? Back the truck up, Bubba. They aren't "law-abiding". Our laws say that people need to stay OUT of America unless they apply properly and are granted permission to enter. If they are in our country in defiance of our laws, the only path that they need to be on is a path back across the border, either on their own or in an ICE bus with barred windows.

The Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas filed a challenge to the law in December.

"It's not like we're swimming in budget surpluses," said coalition attorney David Rogers, who maintains that taxpayers suffer because of the law. "It's the responsibility of the government of Mexico to educate Mexican citizens."

Wow--someone gets it. Let's hear that line again:

"It's the responsibility of the government of Mexico to educate Mexican citizens."

Fantastic! HE should be Governor of Texas.

University of Houston law professor Michael A. Olivas said federal law allows states to draft their own policies. "It is a matter for states to determine," said Olivas. "In-state status is a state issue."

Former legislator Rick Noriega, who sponsored the in-state tuition law, said that educating the students is an economic development issue.

"This is about access to higher education," said Noriega, now the president of Avance, a nonprofit organization that educates Hispanic parents on preparing children for school.

"The alternative is to slam the door on any hopes and dreams. How are they going to perform in high school if they don't even have a chance at higher education?" he said.

Again, the question isn't "how are they going to perform in [American] high schools...it's "why are they even in American high schools? Every kid there illegally and improperly dilutes the quality of education that our kids get...especially when the schools have to start repeating half of the lesson in Spanish every day. And someone please tell me why we should spend dollar one on giving Mexican or OTM kids any sort of advanced degree when they cannot even legally get jobs in America? And it's especially ludicrous when you consider that 17% of American workers today are unemployed or under employed, and here we are, trying to make outsiders competitive with those Americans in our own tight labor market!!!
Rick Perry is contemptible and a sell-out. WHY did Rick Perry's primary opponent have to be one of those nut-job 9/11 truther types?

Screw it--I'm moving to Texas and running for Governor. Then I plan to invade Mexico and set up a 100-mile wide buffer zone south of the Rio Grande which will separate my state and the rest of Mexico.

Maybe then at least, we'll have education money and classroom space sufficient for our own kids, and we won't have to put up with this or this on a continual basis.

Oh--and Mexico? Fly one more of those Mexican military helicopters over my border and see if you get it back.

It's times like this that I really miss President Eisenhower.

Shooting!

Finally the rains have stopped. It's rained for five days straight here, flooding damned near everything.

I hold Al Gore responsible. Not sure why. I just do.

I've been using my time indoors to work up some new ammo loads for .38 Special and .357 Magnum--loads that I can just use to process all of my extra bass cases lying around and turn them into useful ammunition for basic practice, impromptu trips to the range, or what have you. Today I took numerous test batches out to the range--the flooded range, alas--and disregarded the foot or so of standing water to fire them for evaluation.

Now that the test loads have been fired and I'm satisfied with the chosen powder/bullet/primer combinations, I can announce that I have two new pet loads--one for each caliber and both checked out in my pistols and my .357 rifle. I also got rid of some old mystery rounds that were cluttering up my ammo room and burned up a box of ancient factory stuff that I found lying around. I definitely put some rounds downrange today and I'll be cleaning guns tonight.

I also had yet another interaction with the live-in caretaker at the range. He came out while I was warming up to see who was shooting on the flooded range and to let me know that it was flooded. That was really very nice of him as I might not have noticed the foot of water that I had to walk through to reach the targets had he not mentioned it.

"You know that the range is flooded, right?"

"Uh, yeah," I replied, standing in the water in my knee-high rubber boots. (I'd planned for the possibility.)

"I should have known if anyone was shooting today it'd be you."

"Yeah, I'm funny that way," I replied. I shoot here in the rain and in snowstorms too. Drives him nuts but I believe in training for real-life conditions, including less-than-optimum weather.

"I also came out to see what you're shooting. What kind of twelve-shot cannon do you have there? You know you can't shoot rifles on the pistol range."

"Just a revolver," I replied, holding up my trusty Smith and Wesson 66.

"How are you reloading it that fast?" He'd undoubtedly heard me firing twelve-shot strings, one shot every two to three seconds apart.

"New York Reloads," I told him.

"What's that?"

"Cover your ears and watch," I told him. "I'll show you."

So saying, I turned, assumed the proper stance, drew my Model 66 from it's holster beneath my jacket, and fired six shots on target. As soon as the sixth round was on it's way downrange, I jammed the Model 66 into it's holster and immediately drew my Smith and Wesson Model 19 from a second cross-draw holster on my other side and fired six more. Twelve shots on target in less than fifteen seconds, and that without me even trying to rush.

"The fastest reload is another loaded gun," I told him. "Ask any old-school New York City cop. That's the idea behind back-up pistols."

He sighed. "You know the club doesn't want people shooting from the holster. I really don't think they'd like you shooting two guns from two holsters."

"Yeah, I know," I said. We've had this discussion before. "And that's why I come out here on days like this when I can have the place to myself. And at least I'm not shooting prone today."

He looked down at the foot of water I was standing in and we both laughed. The club doesn't allow prone or off-hand rifle shooting either--just shooting from the bench because bench-rest Nazis make up a majority of the voting membership.

"Just don't shoot yourself," he said as he shook his head and walked away. I give him credit--he's gotten much more tolerant of me over the past few years. This club is very restrictive and my more realistic training--holster shooting, position shooting, barricade shooting, shooting on the move, night shooting, rapid-fire shooting, carbine/pistol transition shooting, etc. doesn't often fit well here. But for me it's the only range around, and this fellow has seen me and watched me enough to know that I'm safe, plus he knows my background and understands that I'm not just some yahoo. We used to really spark but now we give each other some slack; I play nice when there are other members around and when it's just me he turns a benevolent blind eye and it's game on.

I also got to try out a new product today: Safariland Comp 2 speedloaders.

All my HKS speedloaders are on the way to the consignment sale bin at the local gun shop. These Safariland loaders are the BOMB! Unlike HKS speedloaders, these actually retain the cartridges securely enough to let you just toss them into your pocket. Plus, you don't have to twist any little knob to release the shells--you just push it solidly down onto the revolver's cylinder and when you hear a "click", all the rounds drop into place. This is an added bonus for us left-handed shooters who have always found the HKS loaders awkward in that they turn the wrong way for us.

Yep. I love these Safariland speedloaders. Quick, positive, and they hold onto your cartridges like a good speedloader is supposed to. I did everything I could think of to induce some sort of malfunction or failure in these but they functioned flawlessly every time and never let go of a cartridge when they shouldn't have. If you shoot revolvers, get these.

So now I'm home, the brass tumbler is whirring away (Thanks to whoever left all those .45 cartridges on the bench--you're my pal!) and I'm about to break out the Abita Amber and the cleaning kits and adjourn to the back porch. Life, as they say, is good.

Why is there a hedgehog in my shower?

Here's Lagniappe, enjoying the day with his prized possession, a stuffed squeaky hedgehog.

Now I do not begrudge Lagniappe his favorite stuffed buddy. I just wish that he'd keep better track of it. You see, this dog loves that hedgehog so he carries it around with him frequently as he roams about the house. And that's all well and fine, but every now and again, he sets it someplace and wanders off, and then I stumble across it, usually in some of the strangest places.

As a prime example, I just found it in my master bath shower.


Seriously, what was a stuffed hedgehog doing in my shower? I can't figure it out and neither Lagniappe or the hedgehog are talking.

But that's not the only place it turns up. I often find it upstairs in my guest room, or sometimes in the gun room. Usually if it's not in the living room, it's in my bedroom on Lagniappe's dog bed, but a couple of times I've found it up on MY bed.

Uh-huh...Just levitated itself up there, did it? It must have, because Lagniappe knows he's not allowed up there.

Sometimes it sneaks outside onto the deck, which is wrong because it's an inside toy, not an outside toy. (There is a difference. Basketballs are outside toys, fine for playing with in the mud. Stuffed animals...not so much.) But every now and again, dog-unclear-on-the-concept will try to run out with his hedgie or in with his flat muddy basketball. He always looks miffed when I foil him and redirect the toy back to where it belongs.

But the hedgehog is nothing if not sociable. Often when I'm downstairs at my workbench, it will come bounding down the stairs all by itself, and the laziest dog ever will be standing at the top of the stairs, looking down expectantly and waiting for me to stop what I'm doing and throw it back up to him. This is, of course, a trick. As soon as I toss it back up, he'll throw it back down, sort of a "fetch in reverse" game. And of course if I try to nap on the sofa, I can almost expect to be smacked in the face eventually by a stuffed hedgehog, usually soaked with dog spit. It's a rule around here that you lie down at his level at your peril and the penalty is several rounds of "throw-the-hedgehog, throw-it-again!" Failure to comply is punished by the repeated application of the aforementioned wet hedgehog to your face.

And in spite of all of this nonsense and K9 tomfoolery, every few months, when he's literally loved his hedgehog to pieces, I go to Petsmart and pony up fifteen bucks or so for a new one. If he's ever noticed that his best pal regenerates itself every now and again, he's never given any indication that he cares. He loves it no matter what, and because it gives him so much joy, I just put up with it.


Stupid hedgehog.

Time to step up and help a guy who was there for us.

OK, I don't write much about my own injury, but those of you who've followed long enough know that I lost a leg in the line of duty a few years back. It sucked, but life goes on.

I'm over it now, but when it happened I got a lot of support from friends, professional peers and even strangers, and it made all the difference in the world. Well now's a chance for me to show some support for another injured warrior on the side of Good by asking you all to take a minute and read the story of Chicago Police Officer Densey Cole, who was also permanently injured in the line of duty. Here is the link to Densey Cole's story, in his own words.

Nothing can make that right again, but what you can do if you're willing is to pass the story on, and also, hit this link to a company sponsoring a wedding contest that will pay for the wedding of the couple that gets the most votes.

This isn't one of those internet scams or urban legends; this one's real. The Coles are real and so is the contest. I wouldn't have posted it had I not checked it out first. If the Coles get enough votes, Crate and Barrel will give Officer Cole and his wife Mary--a woman who stuck by him through all of his suffering--a very real shot at the dream wedding that they never had a chance to have.

Seriously--take a minute, visit the Crate and Barrel site, check it out, and once you see that it's real, register and vote for the Coles. It costs you nothing and it's a small way to say thanks to a guy who put his life on the line for you every day.

I remember when this was the height of "cool".

And suddenly I feel very old.

But it still sounds good...admit it.

USS Constitution prevails over commie condo crowd.

"Old Ironsides", otherwise known as the USS Constitution, is our nation's oldest warship. Launched in 1797, she's retained her commission as an active United States warship ever since. In her long history, this ship has fought and defeated Barbary Pirates, the British and the Confederates. And 2010 will forever be remembered as the year that the Constitution whupped the damned Yuppies.




You see, the Constitution has maintained a tradition going back over 200 years, that being that twice daily, she fires a gun and plays the national anthem. I've heard it and it's a wonderful way to begin and/or close out one's day. Every American has a reason to feel proud when they hear that anthem and look upon the Stars and Stripes flying from Old Ironsides' jackstaff.



Unfortunately, this longstanding patriotic tradition--one that dates back to 1798--is now under attack by a handful of unpatriotic assholes who have recently moved into condominiums which were built not too long ago near Old Ironsides' berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston Harbor. These whiners--each of whom moved into the neighborhood knowing that the Constitution was already there--have tried to silence these ceremonies, objecting to the cannon fire and in particular to hearing the national anthem every day. They recently sent a letter to Commander Timothy Cooper, the ship's current Commander, asking him to stop playing the anthem and use less powder in the guns or cease firing them altogether.

I'm proud to say though that Commander Cooper stuck to his guns, literally and figuratively, and refused. The guns shall continue to fire and the anthem will play on.As for the jackalopes in the condos...well they can just up and move if they don't like it, preferably to another country. I'm willing to bet that they're all Obama-voting liberals anyway as any real American would feel honored to live in the shadow of that wonderful ship and no patriotic citizen ever tires of our nation's anthem.


Suck on this, you zipperheads!

USS Constitution Museum page.

Still at it. Rachel Corrie's liberal parents sue Israel over their daughter's death.

It's been seven years since American leftist Rachel Corrie demonstrated astoundingly poor judgment in trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer from flattening a house used by Palestinian terrorists by hiding in the demolition area and popping up in front of the machine at the last second, trying to play "human shield". The results were predictable--Rachel Corrie was crushed beneath machine that she'd tried to stop. (Previously discussed in this article.)

Since that day, her fellow leftists have tried to lionize her as some sort of noble heroine, and her parents--both activists on behalf of Palestinian causes themselves--have chosen to blame Israel rather than admit that they themselves screwed up by supporting her and giving her the money to travel all over the world to bother people in the name of her typically Marxist causes. They have filed lawsuits against the Israeli government and even against Caterpillar, Inc.--the American company that made the bulldozer that Corrie tossed herself in front of.

Fortunately, the court--the US Ninth Circuit of all courts--tossed the suit against Caterpillar. But hell hath no fury like a liberal who feels wronged, and the Corries are in Haifa today, trying to get a paycheck.

Let me say right here that I sympathize in part with the Corries. No one should ever lose a child and it cannot be easy. However they were the ones who condoned her world travel and anti-American protests, and as her enablers and financiers, they bear a lot more blame than the nation-state of Israel or a firm that makes construction equipment. If Corrie had stayed in Washington State and just focused on her studies instead of going to other countries to wail about their policies, she'd probably still be alive today. But she decided that the Israelis were only going to be able to enforce their national security policies over her dead body, so she got some money for plane tickets from mom and dad and off she went, probably not realizing that in this case, the "over her dead body" part wasn't exactly going to be figurative.

Still, that sort of thing is entirely predictable when one hurls oneself in front of a bulldozer.

That said, I have to stand with the people of Israel and call for the dismissal of this asinine lawsuit, followed by the swift deportation of the Corries from Israel. Frankly, it says a lot about that country that they even allowed the Corries into their country and gave them access to their courts. I doubt that Rachel's cherished Palestinians would have been anywhere nearly this hospitable had she been killed in Gaza by PLO madmen.

People wanting the truth about Rachel Corrie and her delusional cause need only visit rachelcorriefacts.org or read this commentary by Roberta Sied. It's clear that she had a number of emotional problems and unfortunately, when her parents just let her go her own way, others, including her progressive private school and assorted leftist activists around her were only too willing to indoctrinate and exploit her for their own ends, ultimately leading to her unfortunate death. In short, there is plenty of blame to go around, but none of it is Caterpillar's or Israel's.Her parents taught her so well: Rachel Corrie burns an American flag in Gaza.

The Toyota Prius...Darwin's answer to effeminate girly-men.

I'm getting sick of hearing about the Prius drivers who can't figure out how to stop their cars when those cars allegedly suddenly speed up for no reason. It may be happening due to a defect, it may not. But whether it does or doesn't, seriously--how stupid do you have to be to not think to just shift the car into neutral or turn the damned thing off?

It's really not that hard. Just move the gear selector or turn the key. Problem solved.

I suspect that most people who have this run-away car thing happen to them do just that and we don't see them in the news for days. But let it happen to just one functional retard, drama queen or lawsuit-seeking opportunist and press conferences are called and the alleged "victim" cries and tells the world how scared and powerless he/she felt.

These people need to just take a deep breath and have a nice glass of "shut the fuck up."
 I don't need to read or hear about people who can't solve simple problems. I'm betting these fools regularly lock their keys in their convertibles and then get upset when it rains and they can't get in to put the top up. These are the kind of people who spend hours stuck on stalled escalators.

I remember when something bad like this happened to me when I was driving many years ago. Only I wasn't driving a sissy-faggy Prius. I was driving a six-ton M35a2 ex-military truck that I was looking to buy back when I used to buy such things, and as my luck would have it, the air-pak blew out on this one just as I was starting to descend a long grade with a lot of curves in the mountains of North Carolina. Instantly I lost the brakes and the truck began picking up speed. I tried to downshift but I missed the gear and wound up stuck in neutral, unable to get the transmission into any gear at all. And the big truck kept picking up speed.Now these old trucks weren't like the little metrosexual Prius. No airbags, no crumple zones, no purple teletubbie keyrings included with every car purchased new... No, these primitive monsters didn't even have seat belts. And to make it more interesting, this one has a canvas cab top supported by a couple of thin aluminum tubes that would offer no protection at all if and when this truck flipped over. And it didn't take a physics major to figure out that this truck eventually would flip over as soon as the speed got to the point where it couldn't negotiate one of the curves and left the roadway. In short, I knew that there was an excellent chance that this truck was going to kill me within the next minute or two unless I kept it under control; if it got away from me for a even a few seconds, I was probably going to die.

So down the hill I raced, going faster and faster, trying to keep the truck on the road. I'd given up on even trying to stay in my lane—I was just trying to keep it in between the ditches and I was using the whole road, praying that I could dodge any oncoming traffic. Meanwhile, my then-girlfriend was following behind in my Ford Ranger, screaming at me over the hand-held CB radio to slow down. I managed to tell her that I had a problem with the truck, and then I lost the radio onto the floorboards while wrestling with the steering wheel and that was that.

The truck kept picking up speed. 40Mph, 45 mph, 50mph, 55mph, 60mph..I'm betting this truck had never gone this fast since leaving the factory back in the 1960's. And for a while I was actually managing quite well and riding the curves out as we barreled down the mountain. I even managed to avoid a car or two that was coming up the road, and I was starting to think that I might get through this yet when suddenly I saw the mail lady up ahead.

This area had rural mail delivery, and each little hollow or side road had a row of mailboxes at the end of it with a mailbox for each resident. A mail lady in her station wagon was filling these mailboxes and when I first saw her, she was backing out of one of these little side roads on the right onto the main road—the main road that I was barreling down in an out-of-control twenty-three thousand pound truck that was probably doing well better than 70mph (an estimate, as the speedometer only went up to 60)...instinctively I went for the horn to warn her, but when I hit it and nothing happened, I realized that without the air pak, I had no air horn either. Damn.

Had I thought about it, I'm sure that I'd have given anything to be sitting in a little plastic Prius at that time. But that wasn't an option so I wrenched the wheel sharply to the left to miss her and then back to the right again, hoping that this wasn't going to be the maneuver that flipped me. I managed to swerve around her car, missing it by scant feet—and the girlfriend swears that the truck tipped onto the five wheels on the driver's side only—but I wasn't able to avoid the mailboxes on the left shoulder. The two- to three-dozen mailboxes for everyone living on that side road were in exactly the wrong place that day. I nailed that rack of mailboxes dead on and wiped out every damned one of them, sending wood and metal splinters and plenty of mail flying every which way.

But God was watching over me that day, and the road leveled out shortly. The truck finally slowed down and coasted to a stop, and by the time that I got it onto the shoulder and shut it down, the girlfriend was pulling up and screeching like a lunatic about what I'd just done.

But I didn't call a press conference, hire a lawyer and a PR firm and start planning to sue everyone like these milquetoast Prius drivers are doing. No, I just remembered that we were in the South and had just caused what the locals called “a heap o' trouble.” We jumped back into my Ranger, drove back to the garage where the truck's seller was waiting, and tossed him the keys on the fly. Then we focused on getting out of there before the troopers showed up and when it became clear that we'd pulled that trick off, we found the next bar and did some serious drinking.

No mental trauma, no claims for damage, no public expression of outrage or tears before the media's cameras...it was just another day and life went on. But then real men know how to handle crisis and adversity. And no real man would ever—ever--drive a Prius, so I guess that explains all of these whiny Prius stories and all of the sobbing or wildly-gesticulating effeminate males on the news describing their horrible ordeals.

Death by Prius...please. The rest of us would be so sorry to see you girly-men taken out of the gene pool. That would just break the heart of every real man in America. Grow a pair and get over it already.

Oh--and I can't help but notice that every Prius seems to come from the factory with an "Obama" sticker on it's back end someplace. That alone says mouthfuls about the type of dependent lemming who finds such cars attractive.

Give me a 1960's Mustang or a vintage GTO any day...or even another M35a2. If I have to go out behind the wheel, I'm at least going out in a man's ride.

Subverting the rights and desires of the people, Democrat-style

Now you might not guesss it from this blog, but I'm really an independent politically. I will vote for Democrats or Republicans as long as the candidate is true to my belief in small, limited government and the Constitution.

Stuff like this does not exactly endear me to the Democrat Party however:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ― Senate Democrats have found a way to block passage of several bills to loosen the state's gun laws.

Senate Courts of Justice Committee Chairman Henry Marsh on Monday announced the creation of a subcommittee to handle bills concerning guns and other issues. The subcommittee is stacked with four anti-gun Democrats and one Republican.

Democrats hold a 10-5 majority in the full committee, but at least three party members regularly vote with Republicans on pro-gun legislation. That means bills such as repealing Virginia's one-gun-a-month law or exempting guns made in Virginia from federal law were more likely to have passed without creation of the subcommittee.

Republicans complained, saying allowing the subcommittee to kill bills would be "contrary to our traditions."

So because the people of Virginia want new pro-gun legislation enacted and old anti-gun legislation repealed, and because they've got legislators willing to write the bills and possibly even enough supporters in both parties of the legislature to pass them, the Democrat Party leadership that now controls the Virginia legislature has found a way to just kill it all regardless of how many citizens want it or how many legislators are willing to vote for it--they created a new senate subcommittee with five member just for pro-gun legislation and they staffed it with four anti-gun Democrats and one token Republican.

That, to be frank, is total bullshit. And it's why I have such a fundamental problem with the Democrat Party. They have indicated time and time again that the desires of the majority don't matter...if the majority want something other than what they, the Dem leadership want.

Obama now selling federal judgeships to pass his health care scheme

OK, I mean we all knew how low he was willing to go when he bought the vote of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D)--Storyville, by promising to divert three billion dollars of taxpayer dollars to that state in exchange for a vote in favor of his cherished bill a few months ago, but now Obama has gone that one even better.

Representative Jim Matheson of Utah has been voting against Obama's health care industry takeover bill regularly and had indicated that he would continue to do so despite the pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because his constituents overwhelmingly don't want this bill passed (just like Landrieu's didn't).

Well tonight, Obama is having Matheson and nine other holdout Democrat congressman come to the White House for a closed-door meeting to try to convincw them to vote in favor, constituencies be damned, but he's apparently trying to buy Matheson off early by giving a plum patronage job to his brother, Scott Matheson. The White House just announced that Obama is nominating Scott Matheson to the Federal Appeals Court as a judge.

“Scott Matheson is a distinguished candidate for the Tenth Circuit court,” President Obama said. “Both his legal and academic credentials are impressive and his commitment to judicial integrity is unwavering. I am honored to nominate this lifelong Utahn to the federal bench.”

OK, so maybe it's all a coincidence, and there really was no one else as qualified as Scott Matheson anywhere in the entire Tenth Circuit, which consists of Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. But the timing is definitely suspect, and I don't think it's too much to ask that this president at least try to avoid even the appearance of impropriety when it comes to handing out peach appointment and soliciting votes from members of congress. But who am I kidding? That's the sort of thing that a president who actually cares what America thinks would do. This guy just wants his health care bill passed, and if that means that he bribes members of Congress (with our money), gives their family members nice things, or pimps his daughters out on Southern Avenue in Southeast DC, then it's pretty clear that he's going to do it; his health care bill is that important to him...more important than ethics, honor or the safeguards established by our Constitution; more important than the law.

I hope Matheson and the other nine Dems stand tall and continue to represent their constituents instead of selling out to the big-eared tin god in the White House, but it'll be easier for them if they know that America's watching. We can't stop Obama from imporperly and blatantly buying votes, but we can at least let those that he's trying to bribe know that we're watching.

Those members are Representatives Jason Altmire (PA), Allen Boyd (FL), Lincoln Davis(TN), Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin(SD), Frank Kratovil (MD), Beth Markey(OH), Jim Matheson(UT), Murphy(?), Heath Shuler(NC) and John Tanner(TN).

Give these folks some calls tomorrow. Urge them to hold out and let them know that you're watching.

Just plain stupid

Detroit -- A top fire department official minced no words in criticizing a firefighter who parked a truck on a set of train tracks while responding to an accident. The fire truck was subsequently hit by a train.

"I'm very upset," said executive fire commissioner James Mack. "I'm going to make it known that this is not acceptable and we'll do some training."

The fire truck was crushed by a passenger train late this morning in southwest Detroit. The train resumed its trip to Chicago around 3:00.

The driver of the fire truck was injured when he ran back and tried to get his rig off the tracks. He was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital and treated for a gash to his head, said Capt. Steve Kirschner, vice president of the Detroit firefighter's union. No other firefighters were injured.

Also, no serious injuries were reported aboard the train, though a female passenger was taken to a local hospital after complaining of neck stiffness, Mack said.

Officers from the Detroit Police Fatal Squad were on the scene, however.

The crash occurred in the city's southwest side near John Kronk and Lonyo, where police officers and firefighters were responding to an accident involving a car and a tractor trailer. For reasons that are unclear, the fire truck was parked on the train tracks.

Then someone was heard to have screamed: "Train coming!"

"The fire truck was parked right on the tracks," said Willfrido Gutierrez, 27, whose Monte Carlo was struck by the tractor trailer. "I tried to get my wife and kid away from there and I heard a huge explosion."

The truck, Ladder 13, was T-boned by the westbound train and crushed like an aluminum can and dragged a considerable distance before coming to rest on the tracks.

The same ladder truck had been involved in an accident earlier this year, but Mack was unsure if it was the same driver.

"It was a $600,000 truck," Mack said. "We're trained professionals. We should always be thinking. I don't think the citizens of Detroit are pleased that he parked on the tracks.

"I'm very upset. This was a disservice to the citizens. It's their fire truck -- they paid for it."

The commanding officer of the ladder truck was Lieut. Gerard Martinez, according to a fire official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.

"Right now I can't say anything about it," Martinez said when reached by telephone at the fire house.

Passenger Aaron Timberlake, 22, of Clinton Township said he had a window seat on his way to East Lansing.

"I feel jolts riding on the train all the time," Timberlake said. "I saw a white ladder hit the side of the train and it took out a light pole. It was crazy."

I'm thinking that the Detroit Fire Department needs to be a lot more aggressive with it's drug and alcohol testing programs, and a bit more selective when hiring.

But it'll be ok. Fire Commissioner Mack says that they're going to do some training. Yeah, that should make it all better.I'm thinking that the dumbass operator of that truck should spend the rest of his career standing out at intersections with a boot in his hand, collecting donations to replace that truck. Maybe he could even wear a sign that says: "I'm the best guy Detroit could find for the job. Be afraid."

What should we do with Stacie Mullins?

22 year old Stacie Mullins of Madison Township, Ohio has just reached the top of my list of people who need to be beaten within an inch of their lives, then branded with a scarlet letter on her forehead, then sterilized to prevent her from ever having children, then flown to the Sudan and sold into slavery.

If you've guessed by this point that I have a real problem with this person, you've guessed correctly.



Oh--and I want the same penalty applied to her two teenaged accomplices in the savage and totally uncalled for and inexcusable beating death of a baby Alpaca.

Two teens and an adult have been charged in the theft and fatal beating of a Madison Township family's alpaca.The 3-month-old animal, named Masterpiece, was taken Feb. 5 from the family's farm in the 1700 block of Browns Run Road, and investigators said they found a trail of blood leading away from the scene.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested last week and charged with animal cruelty, breaking and entering and tampering with evidence.

A second teen and a woman, identified as 22-year-old Stacie Mullins, have also been charged in the attack.

Authorities have not released the names of either teen because they are juveniles.

Detectives said the three photographed themselves at least once as they beat the animal with a wooden board.

The animal's owner, Rebecca Hardin, had said the suspects videotaped themselves as they hung the animal and beat it, but police said that information was not accurate.

A detective said the teens, who both had dropped out of Madison High School, stole the animal to "mess with it and have fun."

Police said the teens admitted to taking the alpaca from Hardin's yard and beating it to death, then placing its remains in Mullins' car, taking it to her home and beating it some more.

"Each of them even ended up writing out statements to their involvement to taking the alpaca, striking it with a board several times in the side and head, killing it and dumping it in Montgomery County," said Detective Mike Gutowski, of the Butler County sheriff's office.

Its eyes were missing when the body was discovered, but police were not sure if another animal had eaten them or if the suspects damaged them.

The alpaca also had broken ribs and a punctured lung, police said, and a necropsy has been scheduled.

Some of the family's neighbors hope to raise $8,000 to buy them another alpaca, which are South American herd animals related to camels and llamas.

Seriously, how do you do something that inhumane, the purely evil?
I've seen some horrible things in my time--probably more than most people ever will--but this sort of casual savagery just takes the prize.

And there's no coming back from doing something this depraved; there's no redemption possible. How do you take a baby animal from it's mother and then sadistically torture it to death? What kind of twisted person would ever consider that "fun" the way that Stacie Mullins and her two teen friend admittedly did? Stacy Mullins and her co-criminals need to be segregated from the normal decent people, and steps need to be taken to ensure that they're never allowed to be around animals or small children, and that includes ever having children of their own.

If you're as outraged and appalled as I am, take a moment and call or write to Butler County Prosecutor Robin N. Piper and urge that the two juveniles be prosecuted as adult offenders and that maximum penalties and permanent records be sought for all three of these scumbags.

Robin N. Piper
Butler County Prosecuting Attorney
P.O. Box 515
Hamilton, OH 45012
Main Number: 513.887.3474