Hey Al...

you've been made superfluous. Now go away.
+++++++++++++++

Lawrence Solomon: Science getting settled

Lawrence Solomon  Aug 26, 2011 – 11:37 PM ET | Last Updated: Aug 27, 2011 10:08 PM ET

New, convincing evidence indicates global warming is caused by cosmic rays and the sun — not humans
The science is now all-but-settled on global warming, convincing new evidence demonstrates, but Al Gore, the IPCC and other global warming doomsayers won’t be celebrating. The new findings point to cosmic rays and the sun — not human activities — as the dominant controller of climate on Earth.
++++++++++++++++
Who would have ever thought that a huge continuous H-bomb 93,000,000 miles away and cosmic rays would have a greater effect on the Earth's climate than that puny pretender, Man?

It takes a huge dose of megalomania to believe that what man has done to the planet is responsible for "climate change". If we spent all the money wasted so far on crackpot schemes like "carbon sequestration" and "cap and tax" on energy research - and NOT windmills - we might be able to wean ourselves off some of that oil already.

How much money has the Department of Energy squandered since it was created by the Peanut Farmer in Chief?

Chicago follies

Rahm Emanuel is getting into the spirit. Hide crime close to the house he used to claim he was a Chicago resident...

Rahm's Neighborhood

Some comments are alleging that in the interest of continuing the illusion of "this or that neighborhood is safe" and we aren't really suffering a manpower shortage, officers on the Rahm Detail have been instructed to use the address of 1730 W. Berteau for incidents that actually occur in the area of 4228 N. Hermitage and that this directive may have led to a bit of confusion on the part of responding units.

We aren't sure what the big deal is. Rahm fought a protracted legal battle to claim he lived at 4228 N. Hermitage except for a short stint covering government service. The media showed the house and address literally hundreds of times during the different rulings that went for and against the then-candidate. There was even a bunch of "moving back into 4228 N. Hermitage" coverage on the news a short time ago. We even recall some investigative reporting when it was alleged that 4228 N. Hermitage wasn't even on the tax rolls but rather hidden away in some sort of trust that removed it from the property tax rolls for years even though the owner was probably in a position to pay taxes for his entire block after receiving millions of dollars in "consulting fees" from a certain Illinois utility company. This story was later debunked.

Now it's a big secret where he lives?

At Second City Cop

When Osama lost it

I pray we can bank on this meme:

Guest commentary: How Obama lost his presidency in August 2009

By Andrew Breitbart | Posted: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:30 am 

When the history of Barack Obama's one-term presidency is written, August 2009 will be remembered as the turning point.
It was then that thousands of ordinary citizens began to rise up against a health care bill being forced through Congress. And it was then that the Obama administration declared war, through its union proxies, against the American people.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/article_3044f2a0-ff35-5e1f-a3fe-fd70a8fb1809.html#ixzz1WXc7q03K

It's not your call, Janet!

They need to be deported if they violate our law - which they have done by coming across the border without proper documents. Those who violate the law are criminals.

Big Sis needs to deport ALL the criminals as soon as they are found, before they can get comfortable enough here to commit violent crimes. 

According to this site there are somewhere around 23 million illegals here now. According to Wikipedia there are around 300,000 illegals coming in every year. So, if we kick out 400,000 each year, we will be free of illegals in 230 years. 

Napolitano Says She's Deporting Enough Illegal Immigrants

By Paul Bedard

Posted: August 30, 2011

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano indicated today that the U.S. doesn't need to boost the annual number of illegal immigrant deportations, now 400,000 annually, because she's grabbing most of the criminals and sending them home.

Worthy cause

Support the Wounded Warrior project, and get entered into a nifty raffle!

Over at Carteach0

NSA computer security guide

Here. (PDF file)

H/t Borepatch

More gun control

They never quit. We need to be ever vigilant.

Northeast Senators continue to press anti-gun agenda

Gillibrand, Kerry & Schumer scheme to expoit campus shooter fears

by  Raquel Okyay

08/30/2011

 

North East politicians are rabid about gun control and are unafraid to act.  Let’s take a look at the three U.S. Senators that have co-sponsored the most recent anti-firearm legislation submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, S.436 - Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011.  This proposed duplicative law seeks to place the same legal restraints on private sale and purchase of firearms that is encompassed in the Federal Brady Law, together with some new and so-called improved restrictions.

Senators Charles E. "Chuck" Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kirsten E. R. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and John F. Kerry, D-Mass., the co-sponsors, proudly boost their, urban-style, anti-firearm positions without regard to the limitations set forth in the Second Amendment, to hell with the rest of the country.  They base their anti-firearm goals, as always, on the false premise that less gun sales is equivalent to less violent crimes, when the stats say -- not true.

H/t Alphecca

Expoit?
As usual, typos in the copied text are the responsibility of the publisher...not the bloggers...
:)

Really stupid headline

but some good points made:

Does America Need Manufacturing?

What I find interesting is this: 

Repatriating a high-tech manufacturing plant to the United States is not simply a matter of hiring the local talent. It requires good-old foreign know-how. “We call it ‘copy exact,’ ” Forcier said. “We bought a company in Korea that had the technology around this type of battery and had developed the manufacturing process there. We basically brought that here, copied it exactly and scaled it up.” A123 also brought a team of six Korean engineers to help transfer the technology to the U.S. and sent a team of Americans to Korea to learn. 

History repeating? I remember when the Soviet Union bought old American car body dies after WWII - and that's why most Soviet cars looked like 1950's American cars.

I also have concerns about where all those batteries are going to end up after the "electric car" turns out to be a boondoggle because no one can afford to charge one, after Osama finishes making good on his promise to make power costs "skyrocket".

More stupidity from the Demonrats

Just got this emergency email from James Carville!


Chuck --

I’m sorry but these Tea Partyin’ fools in Congress have got to go.

They’re trying to gut the New Deal, attack workers, and end Medicare. But when it comes to tax breaks for their billionaire and Big Oil buddies, it’s hands off.

The Republicans may have Karl Rove’s secret donors and the Tea Party ditto-heads on their side but we’ve got committed grassroots folks like you to help get out the truth.

And boy do we need you right now. Democrats’ campaign to kick the Tea Party right outta Congress is just $38,701 short of their $500,000 goal before the August FEC deadline hits in 24 hours.

Contribute $3 or more today and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of House Democrats.
The media and pundits will use our grassroots fundraising totals to judge our will to call out the GOP on their hypocrisy and lies -- so I’m asking you to act right now.

Every dollar you give goes right back out the door to help take the fight right to Republicans on their home turf with targeted advertising, grassroots organizing, and rapid response research.

Give today and help Democrats stand strong at this critical deadline.

James Carville
++++++++++++++++
I'm proud to say they got nothin' from me except wasting whatever electricity it took to email me this.

I wonder how much 'kickin' outta Congress' $500K is gonna do...

True terrorism exposed!

More here.

Again, the unions demonstrate their true nature.

Vandalism. Threats. Stupid chanting. Interfering with the education of our young people.



I particularly enjoyed the "protester" who complained at a teacher "I bet you are proud of what you do".

Duh.

H/t Hot Air

Personal Property taxes

When I lived with my parents in Chicago, my Dad got a "personal property tax" bill from Crook County. He tore it up and threw it away. Never paid. No one I ever heard of ever paid.

When I had my body shop in Barrington, Illinois, I got a notice from Cuba Township (Lake County) to fill out their form listing all my tools and such and send them money based on their evaluation of the value of the equipment I had either gotten when I bought the shop, or paid tax on when I bought it myself. I threw the forms away as my Dad did.

Cuba Township was a bit more insistent - some clerk called to see if I had received their letter. I told them "no", and they sent a second copy, which also went into the shitcan.

Now that I live in Wisconsin, I discovered that "Personal Property Tax" exists here, too. It is levied on businesses only, at least. In Crook County, they expected everyone to pay it, even if no one (intelligent) did.

Talk about a regressive tax - you should pay the gov't. yearly "rent" on equipment you paid sales tax on, using money you paid income tax on, for the privilege of being allowed to employ people who will pay taxes, and produce merchandise that will ultimately also be taxed, and hopefully make a profit that also will be taxed. Of course, we all have to pay "property taxes" on our homes and farms, so this is not so unexpected. At least, here, there are no tax inspectors going door-to-door, as I have heard of in other states, such as Indiana...

I wonder how much it costs Wisconsin to keep all the records that this antiproductive tax requires, and how much in lost productivity it costs Wisconsin manufacturers to fill all the forms out.

 Another thing we ought to encourage the Tea Party to tackle. Government should live on some small percentage of the gross profit of the governed area, and nothing else. No fees, surcharges, special taxes, tariffs, nothing. Just a fixed percentage of the economy. If the economy suffers, the government should not be exempt from the suffering, especially since a sick economy is usually the direct result of governmental meddling at some level.

Range report

Went out back with friends and guns. Friend brought a 1944 Aussie SMLE in .303, a French Lebel in 8mm, and a couple shotguns. I took my AR with the post-ban muzzle brake to see if I could get it to bump-fire.

No luck on bump-fire - the muzzle brake is too good. My buddy's wife enjoyed shooting it, though.

Those old French guys were real men - the Lebel has a pretty good kick. I did not like the action though - it does not cycle as nicely as a Mauser or Enfield.

Shotguns with steel bird shot do not penetrate the sheet metal of an old rusty VW body at 25 feet...

The insanity contnues

Already had one un-f**king-believable post today - here's another.
+++++++++++++++++++++

Indiana College Bans "Too Violent" National Anthem

First it banned the words, now the whole song

By Greg Wilson

|  Friday, Aug 26, 2011  |  Updated 1:44 PM EDT

The National Anthem is a tradition at sporting events, but it is banned at Goshen College.

advertisement

Tiny Goshen College in Indiana has banned the "The Star Spangled Banner: at all sporting events because the Mennonite school's president considers the National Anthem's words to be too violent.

The 1,000-student school had already banned the words last year, but the band could still play the music for patriots in attendance. Now, the school has banned the song entirely, according to NBC Sports.

The school’s board of directors told college President Jim Brenneman to “find an alternative to playing the National Anthem that fits with sports tradition, that honors country and that resonates with Goshen College’s core values and respects the views of diverse constituencies.”

+++++++++++++++++++++

They are free to ban whatever they want - and the rest of us are free to shun them.

Un-f**king believable.

Absolutely idiotic. This is taking PC and fear of "offending" people who ought to be thanking us for being there WAY too far.
+++++++++++++++++++++

For Marines in Afghanistan: be careful where you fart

August 23rd, 2011 | Afghanistan | Posted by Gina Cavallaro

Marine Corps Times is a family newspaper and we only rarely have offensive language in our stories.
But this week the word “fart” appears in a story I wrote about the importance of trust between Marines and the Afghan national army soldiers they work with.
I didn’t want to write this little blog entry about farts. It’s not even on my beat. But my colleague Dan Lamothe, whose byline you have seen here quite often, shamed me into it.
“You owe it to all Marines,” he told me.
So here’s the news:  audible farting has been banned for some Marines downrange because it offends the Afghans.

Does the First Amendment apply to recording our employees?

Growing controversy - filming the government (our paid employees) at work.



Seen at Reason

More idiocy from New Jersey

What do you expect?

++++++++++++++++++++

Ridiculous News Item of the Week: NJ Toy-Gun Buy Back

August 22, 2011

Printer Friendly | Email | Share Your Comments (8)

(GunReports.com) — A New Jersey anti-violence group tried to buy up children's toy guns to reduce Newark's record setting summer shootings.
Newark-based group Stop Shootin' Inc. held a toy gun exchange program this week. They asked children to bring in their toy guns, water pistols or cap guns and exchange them for a positive toy or a book.
Newark City Councilman Ras Baraka says more children and teenagers die each year from gunfire than from cancer, the flu, HIV/AIDS or other causes combined.
He did not comment on how many children died from being shot with toy guns.

FIrst Amendment?

Never heard of it:



H/t The Breda Fallacy

Another reason to avoid the trolls

Back when the Illinois portion of the interstate highway system was built, the crooks in charge told us that the roads would be paid for and the tools abolished in 1970. Well, anyone living in Northern Illinois knows how well that promise was kept.

Now this:
++++++++++++++++

State board could vote today on massive Illinois toll hike

by Alex Keefe Aug. 25, 2011

(WBEZ/file)

The big toll bump would help fund an ambitious, $12 billion tollway construction plan.

Illinois drivers may soon see tollway fares nearly double, as the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board could vote on the increase at a meeting Thursday.
The proposal would bump tolls for I-PASS users from 40 cents up to 75 cents - a nearly 86 percent increase. Drivers paying with cash would still have to shell out double the I-PASS amound, or $1.50.
The Illinois Tollway says all those extra quarters would add up to $12 billion to fund a massive, 15-year construction program. The plan calls for widening a long stretch of I-90, from near O'Hare Airport to Rockford. It would also finally allow for an interchange at the Tri-State Tollway and I-57 - two roads that cross each other, but don't connect.
++++++++++++++++

 Just about the time that the LAST spendathon / "tollway improvement" is finished, these leeches find a new place to throw money. They still have their billion-dollar headquarters building in Downer's Grove.

By the way, WBEZ - the word is "amount". You would think the highbrows at NPR could at least proofread their missives...

In case you forgot

This:

That is all.

Obummer!

I thought it was a joke!

When I read the comic strip "Non Sequitur" a while back, and Danae had entered a contest to suggest designs for an interstellar ship, I thought it was a joke. Not so:

++++++++++++++++++++

DARPA seeks to build interstellar space ship in 100 years

Published 24 August 2011

The Pentagon’s advanced research arm is currently exploring the technology to build a spaceship capable of travelling to distant stars in the next 100 years; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans on awarding as much as $500,000 in seed money this fall to the company with the most promising ability to develop interstellar travel

++++++++++++++++++++

I wonder if DARPA or the USA will still be existing in any form in 100 years, looking at how things are going right now.

Why health care is so expensive

Went back to the emergency room to have the stitches from last week's oops removed. The triage nurse did the work.

She opened a sterile prepack with a tweezers, small scissors, and gauze to do the job. After, the metal tweezers and scissors went into the sharps container - not to be reused.

I understand the concerns about iatrogenic infections and MRSA, but thought that medical hardware got cleaned and sterilized for reuse. Is this common practice now, or is the Beloit Memorial Hospital on the cutting edge of technology?

Be a good citizen

An instructional video. There will be a test, so pay attention.



Found at Random Nuclear Strikes

Holy Smoke!

After you are gone, your friends and family can give you a REAL sendoff. Get your ashes loaded into shotgun, pistol or rifle cartridges, and you can participate in a 21-gun salute.

Or,they can use the shells for hunting, defense, or target shooting, whatever you wish.

Holy Smoke

H/t Rivrdog

Outrageous

Someone needs tar and feathers, and a ride on a splintery rail out of the country.



I'll volunteer the labor needed.

I'm going green!

I've got religion - Osama is right - we need to stop using coal. Up until now, my only problem with that has been what will replace it - certainly not Osama's unicorn farts!

Here's the answer we all have been waiting for!

Seen at Mostly Cajun

We can't even make monuments here any more

The new Martin Luther King monument in Washington DC is a monument to how far we have slipped as a country. We can't find a suitable artist here, nor even the stone to carve it from.
+++++++++++++++++++++++

Martin Luther King memorial made in China

It is perhaps a fitting tribute to racial co-operation. However, the decision to outsource to China the carving of a new national memorial to Martin Luther King has raised eyebrows in the United States.

By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai

2:39PM BST 22 Aug 2011

The 30ft-tall statue, which forms the centrepiece of a $120 million (£73 million), four-acre memorial to Dr King, opened to the public on Monday on the National Mall in Washington. It is the only memorial on the Mall that does not honour a president or fallen soldiers.

Standing in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the statue shows Dr King emerging from a mountain of Chinese granite with his arms crossed and is called The Stone of Hope.

However, there has been controversy over the choice of Lei Yixin, a 57-year-old master sculptor from Changsha in Hunan province, to carry out the work. Critics have openly asked why a black, or at least an American, artist was not chosen and even remarked that Dr King appears slightly Asian in Mr Lei's rendering.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Associated Press article mentions the Chinese sculptor, but misses the bit about Chinese manufacture and materials. A slight omission...

Rein in the TSA

Ron Paul has introduced a new bill - HR 2438, the American Traveler Dignity Act of 2011.

Go here to send a message to your CONgresscritters.

As predicted

Social Security Disability Insurance on Brink of Insolvency

Published August 21, 2011

| Associated Press

AP

New regulations from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission offer fresh guidelines on the issue of how to define "disability" under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

WASHINGTON -- Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.

Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/21/social-security-disability-insurance-on-brink-insolvency/#ixzz1Vmj2aC9A

H/t Ace of Spades

NYC is getting desperate?

I keep getting these emails - "Uniform traffic ticket" from various email addresses "@nyc.gov". No attachments.
 ++++++++++++++++++
New York State — Department of Motor Vehicles
UNIFORM TRAFFIC TICKET
POLICE AGENCY

NEW YORK STATE POLICE >

Local Police Code

THE PERSON DESCRIBED ABOVE IS CHARGED AS FOLLOWS

Time 7:25 AM

Date of Offense 07/05/2011

IN VIOLATION OF NYS V AND T LAW

Description of Violation
SPEED OVER 55 ZONE
TO PLEAD, PRINT OUT THE ENCLOSED TICKET AND SEND IT TO TOWN COURT, CHATAM HALL., PO BOX 117
 ++++++++++++++++++
WTF?


Phishing I can understand - but this is a particularly lame attempt.

Reuse, recycle?

Watching the second episode of "The Time Tunnel" on Hulu.

The heroes get time-portalled onto the first manned mission to Mars in 1978. They get to work on the ship after a meteorite strike holes the "service module". They get into spacesuits and take a walk outside.

Hey - wait a minute - I've seen those suits before! I've seen that whole ship before!

Irwin Allen evidently was an early adopter of recycling back in 1966 - he used a goodly chunk of footage from 1950's "Destination Moon", based on Heinlein's "Rocket Ship Galileo". The space suits and other sets and props are either the same used 16 years earlier, or good reproductions.

I had forgotten how cheesy this show - and most of Allen's sci-fi - was. Entertaining for a kid, and fun as something to look back on fondly, but I can't help but pick nits - like where the bad guy (a Soviet, of course! - but not explicitly called such) pulled a 1911 out of a locker in vacuum with full sound effects of the door opening, the magazine releasing, and the slide working.

Now. I've got to check out 'Lost in Space" and see how badly that matches up with my memories...

Start 'em young

This kid's going to have great stories to tell his buddies. What a neat way to start out!

Apology

Who the heck is Chris Brown, anyway? Never mind - this is good:



H/t From the Barrel of a Gun

Now we know how she REALLY feels!

Rep. Maxine Waters: 'The tea party can go straight to hell'

August 20, 2011

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) came out swinging against Republicans in Congress on Saturday as she addressed the unemployed during a forum in Inglewood.
The event occurred a day after new statistics were released showing that California's jobless rate last month went up to 12%, from 11.8%.  California now has the second-highest rate of unemployment in the nation, trailing only Nevada at 12.9%, and its jobless rate is well above the U.S. average of 9.1%.
Waters vowed to push Congress to focus on creating more jobs. "I'm not afraid of anybody," said Waters. "This is a tough game. You can't be intimidated. You can't be frightened. And as far as I'm concerned, the 'tea party' can go straight to hell."
++++++++++++++++++
I wonder if she ever considered that HER party is the source of most of the anti-business legislation that has chased so many US jobs offshore, and has eliminated and prevented so many jobs that could so easily be "created" here. Offshore of Los Angeles is a whole lot of easily accessed oil - but you know, Mother Gaea don't like it if you poke holes in her ocean floors.

The fact that your party has led the charge to raise taxes and the national debt, causing ever more businesses that might hire people to back away out of fear of the future might also be something to think about, Maxine.



CONgress creating jobs - I'm sure they can - but can America afford the kind of jobs they create?

So GM isn't going to honor their warranties?

GM to ignore Impala defects

But Osama promised!

Science Fiction reading list

Saw this at From the Barrel of a Gun - NPR's 100 top sci-fi books.

Books I have read in bold.

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin (watching Game of Thrones...)
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle (Osama's bio?)
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard  (a couple of them)
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey (the first one)
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
++++++++++++++++++++

I have pretty much everything Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein wrote. Read some King, but not a big fan of horror. 


One of these days, I'm going to look up "Discworld"...

Finally - some gun content

Fixed the stock on my home-made AK-47 today. When I made the receiver, I had the top stock tang coming straight off the back of the receiver - not tilted down at around 5 degrees as they ought to be. I bent the lower tang down to fit the standard AK stock, and had to trim off the square plug at the front end of the stock to make it match up. Result - the gun sat too low on my shoulder to get a natural sight picture.

I milled out the bottom tang cutout on a spare stock until I got the proper angle. Trimmed the front of the stock to match to the back of the receiver. The top tang rides above the stock now. I could heat it up and bend it to get a clean fit, but I don't want to ruin the heat-treating and finish of the receiver.

Got to refinish the modified stock. Next time I make up one of these, I'll know better how far to bend the tangs.

For my next trick, I want to make up a bump-fire stock similar to this.

Here it comes

Higher power costs, just like Osama promised!

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Utilities warn of higher rates because of pollution rules

By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel

Aug. 19, 2011 |(24) Comments

Plugged In

Energy writer Thomas Content keeps you current as you adapt to changes in the world of energy, climate change and efforts to build a greener economy.

Two state utilities said this week new federal pollution rules will lead to higher electricity costs come January.
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay said its residential customers can expect an increase of more than $4 a month next year, including about $2 linked to the new rules designed to limit air pollution from coal-fired power plants.
The utility said it would see higher costs of about $32.6 million in 2012 from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that was finalized recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That will result in rates going up by 6.8% instead of 3.4%, the utility said.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The EPA must be defunded, better yet, completely disbanded. CONgress needs to pass a law requiring CONgressional oversight and approval - 75% majority sounds about right - for ANY regulation proposed by ANY agency.

Put CONgress back in control, as the law requires. Force these slugs to earn their pay. Maybe if they have to spend a significant part of their time OK'ing new bureaucratic bullshit, they won't have time to pass more bullcrap like Osama's next round of "stimulus".

The article also states "But the EPA estimates the nation will see $120 billion to $280 billion in annual health and welfare benefits beginning in 2014.". How the hell do they figure that? Less on-the-job injuries due to mass closings of plants already operating on pennies?

Basic chemistry

If inorganic chemistry gave you problems in school, this might help:



H/t Ace of Spades

Walker recall in trouble?

The Demonrats might have to scramble...
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COMMENTARY: Feingold Senate decision raises odds against Walker recall

August 19th, 2011

By Kevin Binversie

It was not the type of wake-up call Democrats in the Badger State wanted to have on Friday.

In an email from his Progressives United political action committee, former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin announced he would not be running for any public office in 2012, and he was “thoroughly enjoying the life of a private citizen in this great state of Wisconsin.”

With Feingold finishing a book on foreign policy and continuing as a professor at Marquette Law School, he will not be trying to return to his old job with a Senate run for the seat of the retiring U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Milwaukee.

His exit makes a list of potential big-name candidates in any recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker even shorter. 

Can this be true?

Sounds about right.
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Rick Perry wants to change the Constitution

Mostly, I agree with him.
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Seven ways Rick Perry wants to change the Constitution

By Chris Moody

Political Reporter

(Kelly West/AP)

Rick Perry has many ideas about how to change the American government's founding document. From ending lifetime tenure for federal judges to completely scrapping two whole amendments, the Constitution would see a major overhaul if the Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate had his druthers. Perry laid out these proposed innovations to the founding document in his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington. He has occasionally mentioned them on the campaign trail. Several of his ideas fall within the realm of mainstream conservative thinking today, but, as you will see, there are also a few surprises.
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I agree with all of his ideas here, except the last two.

Like it or not, America was founded to preserve individual freedom, and there is no justification for the federal government defining marriage or interfering with reproduction.

I have never understood how the feds managed to force the Mormons to abandon polygamy, with the First Amendment in place - but if that was acceptable, why can't we outlaw radical Islam and "churches" like Osama attended for so many years?

The fleebaggers reap the whirlwind?

All those Demonrats who ran away rather than face the music get their just deserts...

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AWOL lawmakers could see expensive penalties

August 18th, 2011

 

 t

By Alissa Smith | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON — In February, 14 state senators thought their best bet to stop the governor’s budget-repair bill dead in its track was to leave the state.
That move failed and the bill became law. And now similar actions may have an expensive consequence.
State Rep. Tyler August, R-Walworth, co-authored a bill, AB 153 – known as the Leave Law – that would penalize any lawmaker who is absent without approved leave for three or more days.
A proposed fine for unexcused absences has Wisconsin Democrats worried that Republicans may take away traditional privileges in the legislature.
AB 153, known as the Leave Law, was less than gracefully received in its first public hearing Thursday before the Assembly Committee of Judiciary and Ethics.
The proposed law, August said, is “pretty simple.” The measure was debated Thursday during its first public hearing before the Assembly Committee of Judiciary and Ethics.
“If any legislator from either house (of the General Assembly) would be absent without leave for a period of three consecutive session days or more, they would be subject to a $500 fine per day” after the first three days, August said.

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They get elected to serve us - if they are AWOL, let them suffer. No more running away from their responsibilities.

Now, if we could also get "castle doctrine" passed before the Demonrats try to get Walker recalled...

Ruger enters the new century

Ruger finally produces a large-capacity magazine for the 10-22 and similar guns.




Carolyn McCarthy must be weeping. At least Ruger hasn't started marketing that shoulder thing that goes up.

Next up; a Ruger Beta drum clone for the 10-22? 500 rounds would be nice.

Who you gonna believe?

Teh One, or your own lyin' eyes?

Osama went on TV recently to tell us he had reversed the recession and gotten all those great jobs lined up and ready to go - but then BAD LUCK raised its' ugly head!

If it weren't for everything he's done so far, and the horrible state of the rest of the world's economy, everything would be just hunky-dory!

So - be sure to vote Hopenchange again in 2012! Obviously, NO ONE could have the run of bad luck Osama has experienced so far two Presidential terms in a row!

Looking at history - FDR, Osama's spiritual forebear, got re-elected by a landslide to a second term using many of the same ploys Osama has used - of course, FDR only had 20% unemployment and there was no modern media to expose his real agenda - a socialist America. Also, Americans did not have a clear image of what Communism actually was - the Soviet Union was still looked at as a miracle by many. His third term was "don't change horses in the middle of the river", I think.

Is Osama counting on a reprise of Pearl Harbor?

Let's hope not. Another term of The Lightbringer will finish the job FDR started, and we will all have to show our little books of Osama's wisdom to any secret policeman who accosts us.

 By the way - the word is DEPRESSION - not recession - and it's been going on since late 2008. We haven't hit the bottom yet by a long shot. Continued "help" from Osama and his buddies will only prolong the agony.

Small victory

For now, us rural folk don't have to worry about sharpening pitchforks and heating up that tar bucket, or getting a CDL in order to drive our tractors down the road from field to field.
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Feds back off commercial licenses for farmers idea

By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/17/national/a001942D54.DTL#ixzz1VVe9MLYM

Federal highway officials have decided that farmers who operate tractors, combines and semitrailers can keep driving on rural roads without the same kind of regulations that apply to long-haul truckers.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week that it won't require farmers to get commercial driver's licenses after agriculture organizations and lawmakers from farm states flooded Washington with letters opposed to the idea.
It's a victory for farmers who argued that requiring them to carry commercial licenses would cost them time and money.
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It was just another illegitimate (Agenda 21) extension of federal power for no other reason than they thought they might get away with it...

Solar storm warning

Just found this:

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Power cuts threat as sun storm hits earth

A huge mass of electrically-charged particles thrown out by a gigantic eruption on the Sun is due to strike the Earth tonight.
Scientists expect it to trigger one of the most violent geomagnetic storms ever recorded.
The result could be widespread power surges and even blackouts, disrupted TV and mobile phone signals, and broken down communication satellites.
At the same time the Northern Lights, normally confined to polar latitudes, may produce dazzling displays in the skies above southern Britain.
At least one satellite has already been knocked out of action by the storm. Japan's space agency said its Kodama communications satellite had been temporarily shut down after malfunctioning.
The solar flare that caused the eruption burst out of a sunspot at 10.54am yesterday.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-200952/power-cuts-threat-sun-storm-hits-earth.html#ixzz1VVce3art

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Might be wise to unplug sensitive equipment this evening...

Please click on the ads

The ad content is courtesy Yahoo - not my choice - but every click supposedly sends me a few cents - and I sure need to buy some more ammo. Burned up quite a bit in the last couple range sessions.

You don't have to buy anything - just click!

Thank you.

Chuck

Excuses, excuses

Osama sure likes his excuses, don't he?



H/t Random Nuclear Strikes

Ouch.

Went out to fix the trailer jack on my utility trailer - it stopped working a while back, and I got tired of manhandling the tongue. Pulled the jack off and took it apart. Simple enough fix - the jack nut, which was staked into the top end of the foot. pulled out and was spinning free. Got everything cleaned up and greased, restaked the nut, and went over to the parts washer to clean the grease off my hands.

Tripped on the raised edge of the cover of my grease pit and stumbled over some VW bumpers I had laying there - fell head fist onto my hydraulic press stand. Put a nice gash in my right cheek. Didn't break anything. Bled like a stuck pig. Mari drove me to the emergency room.

Two hours and eight stitches later, I finished putting the jack back together and back on the trailer. Works good.

Got my tetanus booster shot - first one in about 30 years.

Now I see...

I never thought about how our dollar and gold got disconnected - always assumed it had something to do with FDR banning private ownership of gold in the US.

Well, I was wrong. Nixon also gave us the EPA and OSHA, which have done immense harm to our country by overreaching regulation.
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August 15, 1971: A Date Which Has Lived In Infamy

• 

  

  Brian Domitrovic, Contributor

   
  In their impossibly good book Money, Markets, and Sovereignty (2009), Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds make the point that over the last four thousand years, the only period in which humanity has not consistently based its currency in metal, specifically gold, is the last forty. That’s right. Ever since President Richard M. Nixon announced forty years ago today, on August 15, 1971, that the U.S. would no longer officially trade dollars for gold, we have been enjoying a new era of human history.

Must read

Osama's newest ghostwritten book!

Seen at Ace of Spades

All you ever need to know about Algore

Go here.

US Day of Rage

European riots coming here?


Day of Rage website

Watch and be prepared.

Commies in CONgress

Here:
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Socialist Party of America Releases The Names of 70 Democrat Members Of Congress Who Are Members Of Their Caucus

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Conservative Byte

This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. The radical Marxist-progressives (communists) took control of the democrat party some time ago. They’ve only become more emboldened with the election of Barack Obama, who was raised as a communist from birth.
With their new found leader, Barack Obama, the Socialist Party of America felt secure enough to announce the names of 70 democrats in Congress that belong to their caucus.
Other than Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who openly ran as a socialist, the rest of this lot ran as “moderate democrats.” I think it’s time we put the myth of the “moderate” democrat to bed. They are all Marxists, or Marxist leaning. They all are big government totalitarians hell-bent on destroying America, the Constitution, and our way of life. One needs no other proof than the way Congress has acted since the Marxist-democrats took control four years ago, and the tyranny that has been championed since Obama was sworn in.
Read the entire document here.
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To my great surprise (not), my favorite US Representative, Tammy Gay Baldwin is a member...
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DSA-Members: American Socialist Voter - Democratic Socialists of America - 10-1-09

How our betters think...

Jeffery Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere opines:

Many times I've riffed on a dark, delicious fantasy about rounding up Tea Bagger types and sentencing them to green re-education camps for minimum one-year terms. Not to punish per se but to expose these contemptible morons to facts, to truth, to the way things really are and how they're being played by the rich, and the fact that Boomers have taken almost everything and that diminished lifestyles and economic security are being bequeathed to Genx and GenY for decades to come, and that the best is definitely over. The infra-structure that once provided decent, fair-minded quality of life to middle-class people in this country is disintegrating. The game is rigged. This is the fall of the Roman Empire.

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This creature seems to think that the crumbling of our society, which has been ongoing under "bipartisan" leadership for many of the last forty years, is completely due to the machinations of the Tea Party, which only has existed since 2008. The fact that many of "the rich" are the leaders they turn to for their funding and marching orders escapes him.


The fact that the "green" push for control is dominated by people who stand to profit immensely also escapes him.

He goes on:
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All largely because of impediments to logical, intelligent governing put up by the knee-jerk, mule-like, corporate-kowtowing mentality of Tea-Bagger types and their 60 or so looney-tunes Congresspersons now in office. We've truly become a South American society of rightist oligarchs, angry lefties, disillusioned wage-earners, retirement-age fuddies and struggling, debt-smothered have-nots, and the rightist boobs will never understand that they're primarily the problem.
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Osama certainly has "kowtowed" to GE - billions in profits and zero taxes paid, and their chairman and CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt, is his good buddy. No mention of THAT.

I've got a dark fantasy of people like  Mr. Wells being forced to take responsibility for ALL their actions and opinions, and being forced to earn a living in a world where only truly productive people actually get paid...

H/t Sharp as a Marble 

Seen in a job description

I was looking through the Job Center of Wisconsin web site, in search of a paying job. Came across this in one posting:

	Experience/Qualifications:	previous exposure in an Engineering discipline; must have working knowledge and proven ability of items in job description. Occasional driving, valid driver's license must be good in math

I guess I'm not eligible - my driver's license can't add...

Go Electric!

An electric car that will fill all of Osama's unicorn-fart powered dreams:
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Commuter Cars Tango T600

Description

A unique 2 passenger car with inline seating and a range of 40-200 mi, depending on battery choice. The T600 will accelerate from 0-60 in just 4 sec, and charges with AVCON (old J1772) connector. The T600's retail price is $108,000 for a kit with some assembly required by customer. Tango is located in Spokane, WA.

Specs

Vehicle Type: 

Cars & Trucks

Drivetrain: 

EV

Range: 

200 mi

Target: 

Now Available

Top Speed: 

135 mph

Connector Type: 

Other

Price (USD): 

$108,000

Vehicle Website: 

Commuter Cars - Tango

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 Some of the creature comforts of a Smart Car, and most of the performance of a Tesla, with none of the class! Some assembly required. I wonder if $108,000.00 is with the cheap battery (lead-acid) or the good one (lithium ion). No word on how long either battery lasts before you have to spend a lot of $$$ to replace it.

Yeah, I'll sure feel safe at 135 MPH (where the hell can you do that in America, off a racetrack?) in a top-heavy s**tbox that makes a Messerschmitt KR200 look stylish...the website says it weighs 3,150 pounds.

He's concerned!

About rural jobs.
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The White House Blog

President Obama: Our Biggest Challenge Right Now Is Putting People to Work

Posted by Colleen Curtis on August 15, 2011 at 06:15 PM EDT

President Barack Obama addresses a town hall at Lower Hannah’s Bend Park in Cannon Falls, Minn., at the beginning of the three-day Economic Bus Tour in the Midwest, Aug. 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

During the first stop on his rural road trip, President Obama took questions on topics ranging from using renewable energy to create jobs and helping young farmers buy land and market their products effectively to the future of Social Security and his Administration’s plans to bolster education.

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As part of Mr. Osama's plan, his Department of Transportation wants to require federalized commercial driver's licenses for everyone who drives a tractor or other farm equipment. That ought to work out real good.

See a previous post for how well  "using renewable energy to create jobs" is working.

(Note to whom it concerns: You come on my land demanding to see my CDL when I'm out back working, and we'll see how fast you can run when I pump up some 12ga rock salt loads..)

Another myth goes down the tubes

NASA was where many of the original "glowbull worming" scares originated, so it's appropriate that they do some truthin'...
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New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism

By James Taylor | Forbes – Wed, Jul 27, 2011

• NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.

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Thanks, Julie.

So much for "green jobs"

The only real green jobs out there involve farming. All else is illusion. When we find true "clean" energy sources, it won't be because leftie-liberal taxfeeders threw our money at the problem.

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Evergreen Solar files for bankruptcy, plans asset sale

By Greg Turner And Jerry Kronenberg
Monday, August 15, 2011 - Updated 7 minutes ago

Evergreen Solar Inc., the Massachusetts clean-energy company that received millions in state subsidies from the Patrick administration for an ill-fated Bay State factory, has filed for bankruptcy, listing $485.6 million in debt.
Evergreen, which closed its taxpayer-supported Devens factory in March and cut 800 jobs, has been trying to rework its debt for months. The cash-strapped company announced today has sought a reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and reached a deal with certain note holders to restructure its debt and auction off assets.