GOP and the City Caption/PhotoShop Contest

Leave it to The Man to find a rare donkey that actually works for a living!

Today's Racist Post

Mine, not theirs (HipHop Republican).

According to a comprehensive study of all enlistees for the years 1998-99 and 2003 that The Heritage Foundation just released, the typical recruit in the all-volunteer force is wealthier, more educated and more rural than the average 18- to 24-year-old citizen is.

Indeed, for every two recruits coming from the poorest neighborhoods, there are three recruits coming from the richest neighborhoods. 98% joined with high-school diplomas or better. By comparison, 75% of the general population meets that standard.

There goes another myth that gets as much lefty war-hater liptime as "Blood for Oil" and "Quagmire." Even if poor minorities are inducted by Jesse Jackson's "Draft Board of Economic Necessity" (damn, I wish I could find that quote--am I the only one who remembers that?), they don't end up as "cannon fodder." Today's modern, all-volunteer military requires intelligence and motivation "where the rubber meets the road." A Poor Kid from the 'Hood is far more likely to settle into a support job better suited to his lackluster education than venture into combat arms where becoming a casualty is far more likely.

ddd

Carnival de Cordite #63

At MrCompletely!

Hail! The Returning Hero!

Just got done with the commissary run (that I'm trying to make only monthly). I decided to relegate my collection of raisin boxes to breakfast oatmeal, since the already dried grapes dry up so fast in arid air here; the ferrets aren't very enthusiastic about the hard little pills. I bought some yogurt-covered raisins for Lenny and Squiggy...got some happy weasels now!

Something to Color Over the Long Weekend

This Shouldn't Be Necessary, But....

If It's Not Really Beer....

This whole week's been a mad cycle of Benadryl, Slimfast & coffee, naps, and Steel Panthers. I know I should throw some exercise in there. Or at least get out of the house. Litterbox-Cleaning Day brought a bout of the Eye Itchies that haven't really gone away. This weekend, I should do some housecleaning, filterchanging, and outside yardwork. Maybe that'll clear me up. Then I'd deserve that beer I've been denying myself. It'll be nice to get some sleep.

Since I can't upload or Email the video to Streaming Outdoors TV, I'll mail them a CD...once I fill one up. My latest project: Malfunction Junction, the one-match blooper reel from last September's 3-Gun Practice Match. Only captured one stage last Sunday due to low shooter turnout--I looked halfway competent. Can't let that footage be seen!

Okay....

For White Trash Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

Without the American Way

Via Outside the Beltway comes Page 6:

SUPERMAN'S motto, "Truth, justice and the American way," has been rewritten in the new "Superman Returns" to "Truth, justice and . . . all that stuff."

Jeannie Wolf reports on Movies.com that screenwriters Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris wanted to avoid outdated jingoism.

Dan: "I don't think 'the American way' means what it meant in 1945."

Mike: "He's not just for Metropolis and not just for America."

Dan: "He's an alien, from Krypton; he has come to Earth to be kind of a savior for this world, not our country . . . And he has no papers."

Mike: "What would happen with the immigration laws we have now?"

Dan: "I'd like to see someone kick him out!"

Perspective

The Fourth Sunday Practice Match uses the No-Frills scoring system of Time, minus one second per steel/A-Zone, plus five seconds per penalty (miss, no-shoot, procedural). Only one shooter finished the day with a negative score, a Grand Master Spacegunner. Jon shot the match in 30.93, beating all shooters except the GM, who also shot his Production Class gun as a mere Master.

Jon not only beat all the long-gunners, but in a match featuring at least a dozen extra long-distance, rifle-only targets and a weapon change the pistoleros didn't have to deal with, he beat all but one of the handgunners too.

I've got to learn not to beat up on myself for not being as fast as Jon (well, I was shooting major and a pump gun too). I had almost as much fun as Jon did...only learning to tolerate the heat better will improve that.

I Thought The Man Was Funnier

But I won anyway. Go figure!

Don't Believe Her

"In the Public Interest"

Today's Burning Question

Africa Hot!

Went to the Cactus Combat League's 3-Gun Practice Match today...saw a man in orange robes burst into flames.

I brought my standard kit, and performed rather miserably. Maybe I wasn't so bad, but next to Jon's Johnny Storm act, I was slow and sloppy. Jon's become re-enamored of his Colt HBar (sans optics), so he had a great Tactical Iron workout in the heat. Glock 34 and Bennelli Semi-Auto rounded out his speed kit.

Did I mention it was hot?

The night before, Jon and I got in a game of Steel Panthers: MBT. Who'da'thunk we'll roll up one of my old stand-bys: Kenya vs. Nigeria, circa 1970, Delay Mission? I've been playing a lot of defensive missions (the lazy man's war game) on my own, challenging myself to eschew armor completely. Methinx Jon was a little alarmed when he saw my side of the map was defended by nothing but infantry...and a half dozen Wombat recoilless rifles on jeeps. Sprinkled in with the rifle companies whose only armor defense was rifle-grenades and a bazooka with the platoon leaders, were two dozen bazooka teams. Since we had only a 12-hex visibility and lots of cover, I knew I could live without Kenyan armor (even though I adore the Saladin scout tank). The stovepipe boys would acquit themselves well, thanks to the terrain and generous artillery support (we sometimes wondered whether our 25-pounders were outfitted with Nerf ammunition only). Jon sent a few tanks down to back me up, but the grunts held the line. Actually, the grunts held the line and the redlegs reduced it to manageable levels.

A good time was had by all; we imbibed some tasty rum and coke, and after Jon retired for the evening, I uploaded my first video to Streaming Outdoors (not available yet). I also availed myself of Jon's cable internet connection to check out many of the videos available. Normally I can count on getting only restless sleep the night before a match (the rum only ensures I get some sleep), and last night was no exception. But instead of me having dreams of meticulously plotting artillery in the game, I was treated to Kim Du Toit narrating a documentary on African armed forces.

On that note:

A man was on holiday in Kenya. While he was walking through the bush, he came across an elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so the man approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he removed the thorn and the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him. For a good ten minutes the man stood frozen -- thinking of nothing else but being
trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.

For years after, the man remembered the elephant and the events of that day. One day the man was walking through the zoo with his son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they are standing at the rail. It stared at him and the man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

After a while it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him.

The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

I Detect Some Grudging Admiration

Heh.

And TWINS!

Monsoons!

Yipee! The first extended Dish Network BSOD of the season at least waited for the NBA Finals to be done. It's raining buckets out there with only minor thunder in the distance. My weeds are sneering at me as they drink deeply.









Kinda hard to get a signal through that stuff when it's bouncing around in the clouds. Those aren't mothballs.

At Long Last!

1st Sunday Match Results were posted late last night. I was Second Place in Rifle and in Shotgun, but that was out of four and three shooters, respectively.

In pistol, I was beat by six C or D Limited shooters and placed ahead of only one other C/L gunner. Lots of Ds, Unclassifieds, and a C Single-Stack down there, but I can't count them...I'm supposed to be better.

I'm looking forward to the 4th Sunday Practice Match this weekend. I took a month off from stage design this month. There'll probably be a light turnout anway...gonna be a hot one.

Try and Spin This, Moonbats!

500 Chemical Munitions Found in Iraq
-- Sen. Rick Santorum in press release from recently unclassified docs.

He says there are probably more. What's a little sarin and mustard gas, right?

(Nothing online yet)

How Much is a Brazilian?

In this case, Thirty.

10 + 10 + 10

Photos from MSN/Foxsports

Humpday Lynx

A little late for Fathers Day, Bug asks Who's Your Daddy?

Stuff you might not have known about Annie Oakley, at No Quarters.

As a former Linguist, I find pdb's post interesting.

Nork missile launch? "Knock it down," sez the Posse. Beloved Leader knows that President Bush isn't even worried.

I'll bet it's a old Colt product....

9AR Pr0N at Ravnwood! Via Say Uncle.

Blood is Thicker Than Salsa. Amen, Amigo.

Telebush is having a great time in Alaska.

Dr. Wadcutter does more WECSOG work on his SP-101, then goes out and burns some BP. Good times.

Sounds like someone's gonna put their eye out!

Hey, Mr. Squeak

Hope you got foamies on under that headset...those things are loud!

The Other Side of the Glass

Let's play a game called "Spot the Idiot with a Gun!"

Go ahead and pick. It could be one, two, all three, or none at all.




Ready to play?

Time's up!

First of all, I don't know any of these people personally. I may have met Col. Jeff Cooper (#1 from left) at Gunsite (I think maybe he was the old man making fun of my Hawaiian CCW shirt at the Gunsite Invitational several years ago). Grace Park, an actress (#2), seems like a nice person. Anonymous Internet Guy (#3) I don't know from Adam...for all I know he has a Ph.D. from Harvard and Medal of Freedom from the President. Or maybe he's a meth-using thug with a mile-long rapsheet.

So, what's the answer? Some bloggers would rush to judge that #3 is an Idiot with a Gun. Of course, "not to humiliate, but to educate." Apparently, humiliation is just a pleasant by-product of the process. Otherwise, why even use the word "idiot?" Number 3 is pointing a gun at himself, and that, of course violates Col. Cooper's Holy Writ:

The Four Rules
1. All firearms are loaded
2. Never let the muzzle of a firearm point at anything you are not willing to destroy
3. Keep your finger off the trigger unless your sights are on the target
4. Be sure of your target and what is behind it

But, you say, isn't Col. Cooper violating his own rules? The author of the Idiots with Guns meme agrees, but why isn't Jeff Cooper Idiot with a Gun #37? Could it be that humiliation really does take place and the author doesn't want to alienate the entire gunblogger community by flinging poo at the Grand Old Man of All Things Gunny?

And Number 2...why does Xavier stick to apparent amateurs for his feature? Of course, none of you would call Grace an Idiot with a Gun...that's all just a product of the Magic of Hollywood! Nobody ever gets hurt with Hollywood fake guns....

The truth is: THERE ARE NO IDIOTS!

Why? THERE ARE NO GUNS! It's all pixels!

You're looking at a two-dimensional representation of these people and guns/props they once held...but they're on the other side of the glass. If they were in person, you could slap the gun away from Mr. MansonHat, give Coop a loud tsk-tsk (or drop to the ground if you're that high-strung), and double-check with Ms. Park's union equipment wrangler or the prop itself if you had any business being on the set. Or call them Idiots to their faces.










"So, Cowboy Blob, what crawled up your ass?" you might wonder.

Oh, nothing.

Allow me to borrow from another meme (thanks Mr. Codrea!), namely "We're the Only Ones," a jab at the elitists in our society. Are Hollywood producers The Only Ones Magical Enough to depict the business end of a shooter? Admittedly, some of Xavier's subjects appear to be folks displaying little or no gun safety...but how does he know unless he's contacted them directly? Why call them "idiots" when you can just post their pictures and let commenters be as crude as they will be?

I have nothing personal against either Xavier or Countertop, but can't we cut out the namecalling (implied or actual)? There are human beings on the other side of the glass.

Unless you're talking about Sarah Brady/Cindy Sheehan/Hillary Clinton/Chuck Shumer, etc....they're idiots. :)

Update: Oh, Great! Now I'll be responsible when Xavier quits blogging! A pox on me!

I better make this a Carnival of Cordite entry so everybody can hate me!

Warp Speed, Mr. Morgenstern!

I never got around to watching much of the final Trek franchise, Star Trek: Enterprise, mostly because they stuck it on Sunday nights. I figured I could catch up on the inevitable DVDs that'll come out. Although a fan of all the Trek Universe shows, I was nonchalant about Enterprise's passing. "They'll make more!" I figured.

I was so right! Except it won't be messed up by Paramount Studios any more. Trek has gone INDIE!! By more than one group! Swerve Left has the scoop.

Here's one group from the USS Farragut. I gotta get high-speed internet.

Song of the Day

Safely o'er the horizon
Run aw-a-ay!
Can't face thugs like Zarqawi
Let's flee to Paraguay.

BWAHAHA! Read the rest at Cassandra's!

I always figured Murthatroid for the Cowardly-Lion-in-Reverse (he started out with courage, then lost it). My Dorothy would be Hillary, whose "No Place Like Home" mantra obviously refers to the White House. I can picture Kerry as the Scarecrow...he's never had a Brain. Tinman Dean and Toto Pelosi round out my cast. You?

Why I'll Never Live in Kalifornikkka

At ROFASix.

Also, they kill ferrets on sight.

More GSG

You'd think they'd program mechanical girls with better trigger discipline, wouldn't you?

History Stuff

h/t to Mobile11

Carnival of Cordite

At Spank That Donkey

h/t to MrCompletely

French Monopoly

On cool, low-flying jet videos?

Quote from an Email Sig

"The purpose of a security device is to protect a network, not to be
fast. Fast is what airline travelers want when passing through airport
security, secure is what they want when they tumble through the air
after their plane blows up."

--Bill Stout

Worth It

Even if you have to wait for Dial-up.

Or here.

h/t to GM's Corner

Update: OMFG! This video is like popcorn Lays potato chip crack!

For a more-better experience, get the URL out of the page source and watch it full screen! I'd paste it in here, but the guy deserves the hits!

Happy Father's Day!

Like a Chicago hotdog, Rodger is on a Roll today.

Just scroll around.

h/t to Da Goddess

VALOUR-IT

The Armorer reports that Project VALOUR-IT has an empty cupboard. This worthy cause supplies laptops and voice recognition technology to wounded warriors unable to to manipulate a keyboard (like Chuck Z here). Da Goddess describes it best.

Donate here.

Update:

Blogsurge complete! Chock up $18,265 for a worthy cause!

Let This Be a Lesson, Bloggers

Nothing gets hits like a link to Michelle Malkin PhotoShops.

Don't follow the MM link for that, though...that's just her blog. No pics of Michelle Malkin in a bikini, there...or anywhere.

I think I'll stick to sqrrrls.

Most of them don't have lawyers.

Heh. If I wasn't already banned by G00gle, this would do it....

Not PhotoShopped

"We're gathering the nuts the black skwerls won't gather!"

So said some guy named Fox. Don't Foxes eat skwerls? Only the ones who don't send their nuts back to Mexico.

Everything Old is New Again

From the Great Prophet Berk Breathed (peas be unto him)