25 December 2004

Rocker Ted Nugent plans move to Texas

The Motor City Madman is coming to Crawford, TX. Should be interesting.

White Texas Christmas

Christmas snowfall missed us here in North Texas - we got a little a couple of days ago. But down in South Texas and the coast, they got a treat: an actual White Christmas. I know that's no big deal for those of you north of the Red River, but it's pretty amazing here. In fact, it's been almost 100 years since that part of the state has even seen snow, period, much less a FOOT of snow.

Here's a link to a picture that you likely won't see again.

Merry Christmas.

24 December 2004

Pirate's Cove: That's What Christmas is All About, Charlie Brown

My very favorite Christmas cartoon special, and the very essence of Christmas.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

23 December 2004

Hampton Union Local News: Boy in a Santa suit asked to quit dance

Principal Fred Muscara said he told the boy he couldn't get into the dance because he was wearing the costume.
'It was a holiday party,' said Muscara. 'It was not a Christmas party. There is a separation of church and state. We have a lot of students that go to Hampton Academy Junior High that have different religions. We have to be sensitive to that.'
I swear I am not making this up. It's a real news story, printed by a real news agency.

Of course, you all know that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Santa Claus, who came to wash away our sins, and drop off a few gifts while he was at it, right?

Caramba. Shoot me now.

My Best Friend


We took a road trip down to Austin today.
This is a pic of me, my best friend Jeff, and his wife Dani. Jeff had a brain-stem stroke this summer. That's a very bad thing. At the time, the doctors told Dani that he was "locked in," which meant he had full cerebral function (memory, personality, all ability to reason and process), but wouldn't be able to have any motor function, save moving his eyes, breathing, and other minor things. They didn't know my friend Jeff very well.

Today, we had barbecue from Schoepf's in Belton, TX, and laughed our butts off (I told him the aluminum foil the meat was wrapped in might give him brain damage. He said he needed that). Jeff showed off a little by standing up. We had a great visit, but I wish we'd had more time. He's gone WAY beyond what any of those veterinarians said he would do.

Merry Christmas, everyone. If you think there are no such things as miracles, drop Jeff a line at bodine@texas.net. He'll set you straight.

22 December 2004

North Texas Weather

The last 2 days, it's been 70 degrees and sunny. I took this picture at 4:00pm today:

That's right - it snowed, and it's about 30 degrees out. Don't like Texas weather? Wait a few minutes.

WRAL.com - News - Fort Bragg Soldiers Confined In Search For Missing Item

Where's my strawberries!?

HoustonChronicle.com - Hines: Why buck doesn't stop in the Oval Office

Yet another example of the whining, petulant children who call themselves newspaper editors and columnists.

Let's see, I fail to recall hearing this much angst over any of Bill Clinton's failed "nannygate" nominees. But, remember, there's no bias in the press.

So, Kerik didn't work out? BFD, life will inevitably go on, don't you think?

And, as for Rummy being an insensitive dolt - please. Get off that horse, you're beating it to death. But, I guess when that's all you've got, you go with it.

Cabinet choices aren’t inspiring

Typical liberalism at its finest.

The editor in question (EIQ) is upset that Bush is replacing his outgoing secretaries with Bush supporters who will be loyal to the President, and not their own political agendas. Rather than seeing this as a negative for the Prez, I look at it as if he's buckling up the bootstraps, getting ready for battle with people he can trust at his side, rather than just the normal policy wonks you would have found in a John Kerry cabinet.

21 December 2004

UN's Annan says Iraq bloodshed will affect elections

You see, this is why bullies around the world often win, and continue to threaten everyone else. Because chicken-shits like the UN and their fearless leader Kofi will cut and run at the first sign of difficulty. What they have not learned and why they'll continue to be the worthless organization they are for the foreseeable future, is that the best way to beat a bully is to stand up to him and kick his ass. Chances are, he's not used to his victims fighting back and HE is the one who will cut and run..

In addition, you just have to love the folks who do NOT want people to vote - the Sunni clerics and the tangos making death threats against polling participants. IF the dumbass Sunni clerics don't want to vote, and lose their voice in the ongoing politicalrocess, I'm sure no one will cry over their absence. As for the tangos, it sure is easy to pick on people who won't fight back, isn't it??

How's it feel to be watching your ever more tenuous grip on power slipping away???

Jihad accuses Pentagon of shutting down its websites

yeah, so? mess with the bull, you get the horns.

Top spy: NZ safe haven for terror -

First, hobbits. Now, jihadists. Sounds like it's getting kinda hairy down south.

I would imagine, however, that if the Kiwi SAS is anywhere near as good as their press, the tangos are gonna have a hard time keeping their heads above water.

Bush backs Rumsfeld, sees lack of Iran leverage - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - December 21, 2004

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing the media (and some linguinie spined Republicans as well) bash Rumsfeld.

"Several members of Congress, including some Republicans, have accused Mr. Rumsfeld of insensitivity in responding to complaints from troops who lack sufficient armor in Iraq."

Let's just cut to the chase, shall we? I don't seem to recall ANYONE in the National Media, nor do I recall hearing a similar amount of whining from politicians back in Somalia. I know guys that ran the Mogadishu mile. I don't seem to remember hearing them getting the same press coverage about having a lack of armored support during the battle in the Mog.

When you take into consideration that the armor WAS available, but we didn't use it at the time because blow job bill didn't want to offend anyone's sensibilities, you can see where this could get irritating.

Enough already.

Philippine terrorist leader reported dead - (United Press International)

outstanding work, fellas.

The 3rd Annual Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States: The 2004 Edition - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

Too good for words. If you're feeling a little holiday downer now, give this piece a read - it'll pick you up in no time!!

Harsh interrogations in Iraq went beyond FBI standards, memo says

Ummmm, the FBI ain't the military, dear readers. What a worthless comparison.

But wait, maybe we can try this route the next time we have a hard core terrorist up for interrogation - I mean, questioning:

Please please, mr freedom fighter, can you please kindly tell me what the plans for your cell are?? Pretty please? With sugar on top?? Can I get you some more coffee and donuts?? Are you comfy? Are you getting enough sleep? Can we arrange phone calls and meetings with your pals?? Maybe fly you over there for visitation so you won't get lonely?

Yeah, that'll work.

19 December 2004

Range Incident Today

As mentioned in the previous post, I went shooting today. PD had some new hand-loads for us to try out (notice the smoke in the pics), and they were pretty nice. 147-grain round-nose bullet with some powder weight (3.5 gr Tite-group?) I don't remember off the top of my head. Made for a low-recoil, slow-cycling bullet that was pretty darned accurate. Very sweet round.

Anywho, I'm on the last stage, where we draw and fire 2 rounds from retention, then engage another target while moving to cover. My first shot goes off fine, then the second does something funny, and the third round will NOT chamber. I racked the slide, no dice. Released the mag, reseated, racked again...nada. The slide will NOT go into battery, so I declare my gun broken, unload, and step away.

I took the gun apart, and when I pulled the barrel out, I found the problem. The bullet had only travelled about half an inch down the barrel. No powder in the bullet - a squib. When there's no powder in the bullet, the primer is the only source of propellant, and it's not enough to get the bullet out of the gun.

The good news is that the bullet didn't travel far enough to allow the next round to chamber. We're usually VERY good at hearing a squib, and stopping the shooter. This time, I was the shooter, and I did not hear it. Because the bullet was in the way, the next round wouldn't chamber, and the gun would not lock into battery.

The bad news is that if the bullet had gone a little further down the barrel, and I had fired the next round...well, a couple of things could have happened. I've seen a Glock where that happened, and subsequent rounds pushed out the previous bullet, and stuck the following bullet. I've also see a Glock where the barrel bulged after doing that same thing, and quit working because the barrel wouldn't allow it to go into battery. I've also seen pictures of Glocks that have exploded - a KB, or KaBoom, as they're called. Those can be serious.

If the latter had happened while holding the gun at retention...well, that would have sucked. Just feeling pretty lucky today. No harm, no foul.

My New Camera

Went shooting with The Girl and Pimp Daddy today, and took a couple pics with my new (early) Christmas present. Check this one out:

and this one:

Of course, I had to crop and shrink these down to fit on the blog, but you get the idea. The full-size pics are amazing at the 4.0 megapixel resolution. Copies available on request.