Free Speech... Who Needs It!!

So says House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). The Democrats, like their Communist buddies in China (Internet Censorship), and in Venezuela (Chavez seizes private opposition stations), wish to silence their opposition. They do this by forcing radio stations to air "equal" time for their programs. Essentially this makes AM radio go back to playing the farm markets and country music.

Where is the ACLU on this one?


You have the right to say anything you want... as long as I agree with it.

Story

Machida -- Karate For MMA

Using one of the few "traditional" styles of Karate, Kyoushikin, Lyoto Machida has become a force in MMA.

Here are some great examples of the techniques that we learned in days gone bye and how an exceptionally gifted practitioner uses them in combat.

Front leg foot sweep:
vs BJ Penn


Back leg foot sweep:
vs Vernon White


vs Nakamura


vs Sokoudjou


"Magic" kick (that is what we called it in TKD):
vs Tito


Double motion round Kick:
vs Tito

House Apologizes for Slavery

Fhat the Wuck? The House apologizes for slavery? Were any of the current members involved?

Doesn't the Democrat controlled House have more important things to do? Like restrict personal freedoms, and redistribute wealth?
Normally I would applaud such idiocy from Congress. The more time they spend debating ridiculous crap like this is time that they are not plotting to seize more of my property. Madison would be proud. However this kind of thing is very very dangerous, in that it brings the whole reparations thing back in to question. With a Democrat controlled House and Senate, full of the White Guilt that comes with the party, and a newly elected Democrat President who is desperate to show how black he is, there is a very real possibility that people will be receiving reparation money simply because of the color of their skin. How is that for equality? How is that for judging based on the content of character?

This is what happens in an election year. The moron who proposed this bill, Steve Cohen D-Ten., is a white representative in a primarily black district. He is in a run-off primary fight with a black man. So Cohen needs to show that he "feels the pain" of his constituency and panders to them by coming back to the district to say "I got congress to apologize for slavery!!! What did that guy do for you??"


Re-elect Cohen!! He feels your pain.

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No Personal Responsibility

Don't pay your mortgage? Didn't read the fine print? Didn't ask questions when you signed? Just plain stupid?

Don't worry!! The Nanny State is here to help you out. President Bush is set to sign yet another piece of legislation that limits freedom, and openly violates the Fifth Amendment "...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." The private property in question here is your money. It is being taken from you, a private citizen, and given to another private citizen. No compensation was given to me, you, or any other.
When all is said and done this should cost the American people $300 Billion. Nice.

Freedom means just that. Freedom does not mean that the Mommy Government will bail you out if you mess up. Freedom also includes the freedom to FAIL. The government can not continue to bail out idiots for everything. It will destroy our economy and our way of life. Taxes are already a 30%+ burden on working people, and the government is set to take more, no matter who sits in the Oval Office. Never mind that cutting taxes, NOT raising them, generates more revenue for the government. That is simply factual information. We don't want that. We want to hear verbal diarrhea from men who continuously spout buzz words cleared by focus groups. No need in this society.

As always I am a voice in the wilderness. Unheard, unheeded, and unneeded.

Get The Speculators!!!

Yeah!!! Get 'em!! They are the reason gas prices are so high!! Get 'em!!!

What utter and complete socialist bull pucky.

Here we go with yet another example on how Congress really knows nothing about how supply and demand works.

Here is how speculation works. I, a private citizen, think that in the future oil will be worth a lot more. So, I buy oil at $10 barrel. Sure enough, six months later oil is at $20 a barrel. I sell my barrel and pocket $10. Easy right? I am an oil speculator!! Because oil is a commodity, there may be many who think the same as I and buy oil at $10 as well. This helps to raise the price, because the oil is purchased and now off of the market. Because of my, and other's, speculation when the shortage that I predicted occurs the already higher price of oil helps keep supply from running out.

Enter the Government. They say NO MORE OIL SPECULATION. Now when the shortage comes there was no market preparation and BOOM!! Not only do you have sudden high prices, but you have shortages, rationing, and other nastiness.

Don't believe me? Check out what happened during the Oil Embargo of the 1970's. At that time oil speculation was illegal. When the oil embargo came it came with sudden sky high prices and shortages.

Speculation also comes with a risk. I don't actually know if the price will go up after I buy oil. It could go down. What if after I bought oil at $10 a barrel, a sudden glut came on the market, and the price went to $1 a barrel? I just lost $9.

The absolutely stupid thing here is that if the U.S. acts to make oil speculation illegal, it will not change oil speculation one little bit. Oil is a global commodity, and the economy is now a global thing. I simply will not buy oil on the American market, I will buy it in the Hong Kong market, or the British market, or somewhere else. Perhaps this would have worked to curb speculation before the days of the Internet, but not today. The only thing that this does will hurt U.S. companies.

Way to go Congress. Way to go. Idiots.

Story
Dr. Williams does a much better job of explaining things.

Peruvian Neck-Tie

In case you missed it CB Dollaway on Saturday choked out Jessie Taylor with a Peruvian Neck-Tie. This is a very cool choke made famous by Peruvian Tony DeSouza.

Here are the steps to this choke, brought to you by our good friends at LockFlow
This, like all Martial Arts movements is dangerous. Please do not attempt this choke with out proper supervision.


Step one


Aaron has sprawled against Cole, or Cole has posted his right elbow out to block the Anaconda choke

Step two


Aaron reaches hes left arm under Cole's right armpit

Step three


Aaron spins to the right side of Cole and reaches his arm through to the left side of Cole's neck. (Thumb side toward the neck)

Step four


Aaron grips his palms together, right into left with all five fighers gripping the outside of the hand. Aaron then pulls his right forearm in tight over the back of Cole's head and presses it down to the mat.

Step 5


Keeping pressure on the back of Cole's head Aaron slide to his left and throws his left foot over Cole's right leg - this will be important later to keep Cole from rolling out of the submission

Other View


View from the other side - Notice how Aaron's right knee is outside of Cole's head

Step Six


Aaron leans back and quickly throws the back of his right leg over Cole's head. To get the tap from this choke - Aaron pushes the back of his leg into Cole's head as he pulls his wrist into Cole's throat - creating awesome pressure for the Tapout or pass out!

Wishing My Life Away...

I want one of these:



A Garmin 396 Aviation GPS with XM Weather. XM did a great thing and incorporated a weather service for aviation. This allows you to see actual weather right on your screen that is superimposed on your location. Before you could only get something like this with a storm scope radar installed on your aircraft. Not practical for small airplanes, or for large airplanes as you can only see weather directly ahead of you, only for a few miles. With XM Weather you are able to get instantaneous weather over the entire globe. All you need in the airplane is a receiver. Very very cool.

Since I am dreaming, I should want one of these:



The 396's big brother, the Garmin 496. This has terrain alert software that will tell you if you are too low. While the 396 will warn you when you are close to busting airspace, the 496 will shade the restricted airspace a different color so you are very aware about where you are. If flashing alerts and color coded areas aren't enough for you the 496 also has voice alerts telling you to pull up, where traffic is, and warn you when you are about to bust airspace. Very very very cool.

Cool always comes with a price, though. The 396 will set you back $1,700 and the 496 $2,300. Ouch.

As I dream about gadgets, let's pretend I own a 1970's Piper Cherokee Archer II. This is what I would install in to the panel:



The Aspen Avionics EFD 1000Pilot. Essentially the panel of a traditional airplane is made up of circular slots for the round gauges and dials. They are fairly modular, so you can put your instruments wherever you want in your panel. The Aspen allows you to use that and just slip their glass panel in to your existing panel with just a little work to your cover. No need to replace the entire avionics panel like you need to do for other refit jobs.
Combine that with one of these:



Aspen's EFD1000MFD. This guy gives you the multifunction display that gives you terrain mapping, voice alerts, XM Weather, the works.

Again cool is not cheap. The EFD1000Pilot number will set you back $6K, and the MFD will cost $8K. All that is before you pay your local A&P to install them.
Like all things on the airplane, a certified Airframe and Powerplant mechanic must always do the mechanical work to your machine. That is going to run another $4K
Still, putting $20K in to a $60K airplane to get a glass panel is a hell of a lot cheaper than the $100+K it costs to buy a used or new airplane with an integrated glass panel. But those airplanes look like Darth Vader's bathroom:


Cirrus Design's SR22 Turbo flight deck

Sexy Sexy Sexy

The new jet from Cirrus Design took its first flight on July 3, 2008. It is one sexy beast! I want one! I want one! I WANT ONE!!! Somebody give me $1.3 million...

It will be sold under the name Cirrus Vision SJ50. SJ stands for Single engine Jet.

Cessna 66420, traffic alert!

Traffic is a Space Shuttle on short final. You are number one for take off.

New Holsters

Galco always has good stuff...

This is the new USA ultimate Second Amendment holster.



One of the problems with carrying with a In the Waist Band holster is that, because the holster clips on to the belt, you almost always have to have your shirt pulled out. This looks strange, especially if you are going for a more "business" or polished look, such as slacks and a polo shirt. You want to carry, but you also want to look nice. That limits your options and normal guys go with an ankle holster.
This design allows for the shirt tuck, and remain concealed. Very cool.

Is Global Warming Man Made?

This is the question... But what if the answer was not what we thought it was, or what we have been led to believe?

We know as absolute scientific fact that dirt and other debris in the atmosphere causes global cooling. Volcanoes, meteor strikes, etc, etc, etc, have shown us this through out history. Only in recent days has the thought that more pollution means higher temperatures...

Anyway, contrary to popular belief, the earth is much cleaner now than it was say 20 years ago. With all of that soot and dirt and yuck that has been removed, it has been documented that much more sunlight is getting to the surface of the earth than in previous years since the 18th century, before the industrial revolution.

A scientist, Christian Ruckstuhl of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Switzerland, observed that warming over Europe was much more drastic than anthropomorphic global warming should be. What else could have caused this drastic warming trend over the last 30 years? He found that as we have cleaned up the atmosphere, more sunlight has gotten through, and, consequentially, the earth has warmed significantly.

Interesting, huh? The earth went through a significant cooling trend in the "Little Ice Age" due to very low solar activity and high volcanic activity. More junk from the volcanoes, and less solar radiation, made for a cold earth. After the 1850s though, the sun started to really pour out the radiation, peaking in 1998, and we really started to pour junk in to the atmosphere. Could it be that because of the junk we put in to the atmosphere, that we reduced a significant warming trend? And now that we are cleaning things up, we are experiencing the tail end of that warming trend?

It could be that global warming is indeed man made, but not because of greenhouse gasses, because of the environmental movement. How is that for irony?

Interesting thoughts, and a very good scientific read... if you can stay awake.

The study
The article

Shooting Results

The new Kahr shoots... better than expected.
The recoil was a good deal more controllable than the Taurus, and I got a good grouping right off the bat.

The short barrel makes shots at 25 yards challenging but not impossible. I noticed a good bit of drop, and pulling to the right a bit. A little practice should get me on target very soon.

I took a friend who has not done a lot of shooting with me to the range, and let him blast away with the CW4543. He had only shot a 9mm before, and I was pleased to see him control the much larger round very easily.

All in all I am very pleased with the new gun. It is already worth the extra money I paid for it, simply in the increased confidence I feel in the accuracy, let alone reliability and quality.

I think I finally have a good carry pistol.







The next project is to see if the wife will let me buy a full size pistol for winter, or bag carry... This might take a while.

Its Here!!

I picked up the Kahr CW4543 last night. Very light weight. It feels like a toy.

I bought the seven round magazine for it as well, and it looks a bit strange with it in. The stock handle was meant for the six round mag, so the seven round mag sticks out a bit. I have yet to carry with it so I can't say how that will affect me. Right now, I don't think it will matter much, but if it does, I will use the seven round mag when I go to the range, and the six round mag when carrying. I don't think that one round will make a huge difference, but, with the six round mag, I am giving up four rounds to my Taurus.

I will take it shooting today, so I will report back on how well I do. I will be mighty disappointed if it does not perform well right out of the box. This gun is significantly more expensive than the Taurus, so I do expect better performance right away. I don't expect to shoot clover leafs at 30 yards, but I do expect the bullets to go where I want them to.


AWESOME!!

CCW Holder Shoots Two

John Lovell, a citizen of Florida, who has never been convicted of a felony, has never been convicted of a drug crime, nor been diagnosed with a substance abuse problem, has demonstrated competence with a firearm, has never been committed to a mental institution, has never been convicted of domestic abuse, and otherwise good guy, was in a Subway restaurant in Plantation, Florida on June 27th. Lovell, a CCW holder, had his gun with him.

During his stay, two young men Donicio Arrindell, 22, and Fredrick Gadson, 21, walked in to the shop. They were armed. The two young men began to demand money from the employees behind the counter. At some point, they noticed Lovell. They took his money, Lovell gave that up with out question. It was when they tried to force the former Marine, and professional pilot, in to a bathroom that the trouble started.

Lovell knew what would come next. If you have just committed armed robbery, and did not want to kill any witnesses you would have just left everybody alone and left after you had the money. The only reason you want to spend time getting somebody in the bathroom is to make sure that that somebody does not talk.
Lovell feared for his life, and the lives of the other people in the shop.
In an act of incredible bravery, the 71 year old man drew his pistol and shot Arrindell in the head. He then drew a bead on Gadson, and put one in to Gadson's chest. Arrindell later died of his wounds.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of the State of Florida, Lovell acted in self defence, and in the true spirit of the CCW law. He defended himself and others from certain harm, if not death.
I don't know if I could do what Lovell did. I carry my pistol, but could I draw it, and fire accurately as I was being forced in to a bathroom by an armed person? I don't know. I hope so, for my own sake, and the sakes of those I might help, but I honestly don't know.

As no good deed, and killing that man and wounding the other was certainly a good deed, goes unpunished, the grandmother of Arrindell has come out and said that Lovell should not have taken the law in to his own hands... Really, grandma? Just what the hell do you think your grandson would have done to Lovell in the bathroom? Ask him pretty please, don't tell the cops that it was me who robbed the Subway? No, you grandson had committed a very violent crime, and was about do commit the ultimate crime, when he was stopped by an armed citizen. Your grandson was a piece of dung that deserved exactly what he got.

Original Story
More on the story with quotes from Subway employees

Kids Are Fat These Days...

Great googly moogaly... I read this story and thought that the stats they threw around, fewer than 10 percent of high school seniors are fit, sounded about right. Then I saw the requirements... A 10-year-old boy must be able to run a mile in 11 minutes, 30 seconds and do 12 curl-ups, nine trunk-lifts, seven push-ups and an 8-inch sit-and-reach. Ok, a mile in 11 minutes that should be do able. Nine trunk lifts, reverse sit ups, huh? Those are easy, no issue there. You should be able to do seven push ups in your sleep. Eight inch sit and reach??? You mean touch your toes? My 92 year old grandma could do that before she passed, surely a 10 year old boy can. 12 curl-ups? Hummm... What's a curl-up? That must be what they are calling a pull-up that you do with your palms facing towards you. Those are hard! 12 is a tall order. I can maybe bust out twenty, and I think that I am pretty strong, so I can see where most high school seniors would have trouble with that. Then I looked at the graphic... A curl-up is what I call a stomach crunch. All you need to do is bring your shoulder blades off of the ground twelve freaking times... You don't even have to do a sit up any more. Just a crunch. This is not a fitness test, this is a joke. If your kid can't do this ridiculous test at age 10, YOU are to blame. Get them off the freaking couch and out side.