GOP's Brown wins Mass. Senate seat in epic upset

Holeee Sheeit.

I rather hoped that Brown would win, but didn't really think it was possible in, of all places - Massachusetts.

Wow.

Shot heard 'round the world indeed.

Now that would make me laugh

It would appear that the Democrat party is in free fall and in a major panic. And I cannot tell you how hard I would laugh if the chosen one failed, yet again, to get another loser Democrat elected....

Thugs

Once again, Nazi tactics utilized by the democrat party. Long story short, a documented journalist asking pesky questions to the democrat running for the open Senate seat in Massachusetts. Instead of answering the questions, the reporter is harassed and apparently knocked down by one of the candidates' entourage.



Watching the video and being objective, I cannot honestly tell what knocked the reporter down. You can see the democrat thug moving towards him right before he falls, but I can't tell from this video if the guy tripped on his own or was pushed.

What IS clear, however, is that the democrat thug clearly impedes the reporter's progress and clearly harasses him in an attempt to keep the reporter away from the candidate after the fall. By itself, that is clearly bad enough, and clearly evident of the same tactics used by Nazi thugs in the 30s to anyone asking pesky questions of uncle Adolph. If it does turn out that the thug knocked the guy down as well, that's simply not acceptable - and about what you would expect from today's democrat party.

New Seats available while flying

Look, Rhonda - finally some seats just for you on an airplane!!

Air Canada ordered to offer nut-free seats

Canada's transportation regulator has ordered Air Canada to accommodate passengers with severe nut allergies by seating them in new nut-free zones on aircraft...."The agency has determined that a buffer zone, including an announcement within that zone, is the appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities due to their allergy to ... nuts," the Canadian Transportation Agency said in its ruling.

Light skinned and Negro what?

The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama's race during the 2008 presidential bid and are quoted in a yet-to-be-released book about the campaign. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

How funny! The party that claims to be tolerant, understanding, and post-racial is proven yet again to be nothing more than window dressing.

How long would a Republican last making similar comments? Oh wait, we know that answer. Trent Lott resigned from his leadership position only two weeks after comments he made about Strom Thurmond.

The joke that is our American government continues.

Nothing to see here, move along

Once again we find out that the most corrupt administration in history is not completely speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the leading academic defenders of health care reform, is taking heat for failing to disclose consistently that he was under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services while he was touting the Democrats' health proposals in the media.

Gruber, according to federal government documents, is under a $297,600 contract until next month to provide "technical assistance" in evaluating health care reform proposals. He was under a $95,000 HHS contract before that.

But while he was being paid to provide his services to HHS, he was also fending off health care reform critics in the media.

It would be one thing to clearly state that the man was on the payroll of the HHS. However, it looks better in the press to claim you are an "unbiased observer".

This is no surprise to me. After all, it's the same corrupt administration that has directed the NEA to encourage artists to support the administration's positions. You know, kinda like Goebbels or Pravda would do in the bad old days.

2012 can not get here soon enough, I only hope there's something left when it gets here.

America Rising

Lies, lies and damned lies

It would appear, dear readers, that the current administration clearly has no shame. Despite countless calls for openness and debate during the campaign; despite calls to end the power of the pharmaceutical companies; and despite calls to end sweetheart deals in Congress - the president and his lackeys are doing just the opposite.

Senator Cornyn has issued a statement that's on point:

“Americans have already seen and rejected the way Democrats bought their way to 60 votes in the Senate, including political payoffs such as the ‘Louisiana Purchase,’ the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ and billions of dollars in ‘Gator Aid.’ Americans lost even more faith in Washington watching the Democrats cut deals with special interest groups, such as the pharmaceutical industry, instead of protecting the interests of patients.

“Rather than heeding the public outcry against the way Washington does business, it appears that Democrats are once again determined to shut out the American people when it comes to merging the Senate and House bills. Rather than an open and honest debate about the best way to solve the real problems in our health care system, the Democrats have once again chosen a closed-door process to get them to 60 votes.”

Sen. Cornyn also made the following comments regarding sweetheart deals that have already been cut with special interest groups and other Senators:

On Small Businesses…

“I call on Democrat leaders to remove the last-minute deal with big labor bosses that would penalize small construction businesses with higher taxes. Considering that these same construction businesses tend to steer clear of unionizing, one has to wonder why they are being singled out.

“When this debate began, Democrat leaders pledged to protect our nation’s small businesses. No one, least of all our small business owners—the nation’s top economic engine—should be penalized with higher taxes as a result of a sweetheart deal for union bosses.”

On Taxpayers…

“Several states are slated to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in extra taxpayer money to fund the pet projects and priorities of Senators who were straddling the fence on whether to support the Reid bill. On top of that, special interests like the pharmaceutical, insurance and hospital industries are also poised to cash in from special deals in the Reid bill.”

Sweetheart Deals In The Reid Bill:

· The Louisiana Purchase: $100 million in extra Medicaid money for the Bayou State. (Original Reid amendment, section 2006, page 432, line 14)

· The Cornhusker Kickback: $100 million in extra Medicaid money for Nebraska. (section 10201, page 96, line 9)

· U Con: $100 million for a medical center in Connecticut. (Manager’s Amendment To H.R. 3590, Pg. 328)

· Gator Aid: $25-$30 billion for a grandfather clause that would protect only senior citizens living in Florida from the deep cuts the bill imposes on Medicare Advantage. (Original Reid amendment, section 3201, page 895, line 9)

· Handout Montana: Medicare coverage for anybody exposed to asbestos -- as long as they worked in a mine in Libby, Montana. (section 10323, page 193, line 21)

· Iowa Pork and Omaha Prime Cuts: Additional Medicare money for low-volume hospitals of the sort commonly found in Iowa, while Nebraska won a "carve out" provision that would reduce fees for Mutual of Omaha and other Nebraska insurers. (Section 10905, page 371, line 1)

· Vermont ($600M), Massachusetts ($500M): Adds targeted state FMAP provisions. Specific FMAP bonuses for VT and MA (starting at page 96, line 9). VT gets a 2.2% FMAP increase for 6 years for their entire program. MA gets a 0.5% FMAP increase for three years for the entire program. (section 10201, page 96, line 9)

· Hawaii: Adds a DSH extension. (section 10201, page 101, line 6)

· Michigan, Connecticut: Amends section 508 extension so that hospitals in Michigan and Connecticut have option to benefit under section 508 if it means higher payments. This was also done in previous legislation. (section 10317, page 174, line 9)

· Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming: Dorgan/Conrad frontier amendment adds 1.0 hosp wage index for those states. MT, SD, ND and WY would qualify (AK and NV also qualify but would not benefit because they are already above 1.0 wage index value). Also establishes a 1.0 practice expense GPCI floor for physicians in those states. (section 10324, page 208, line 16)

· Nebraska and Michigan: Carve-out from the insurance fee for Nebraska Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Michigan Blue Cross/Blue Shield. (section 10905, page 369, lines 10-25 though page 370, lines 1-15)

And, just in case you haven't yet seen or heard the video compilation showing several times that Obama said the negotiations would be in the open and "on C-span", here it is for your education:



And mark my words - if he said "on C-span" 8 times in the video, he said it 800 times on the campaign trail. But with this administration, it is very much say one thing and do another.

The crybaby administration

Do these people have no shame? I'm talkin' here of both the Obama administration and the news media.

HONOLULU – President Barack Obama ended a Hawaiian vacation to return Monday to the Washington he never really escaped.

I mean, really. How many of you folks get to take a taxpayer paid trip to Hawaii for 14 days? Airfare, food, entourage etc. all covered and paid for by someone else.

To steal a phrase from the messiah: let me be clear. I don't begrudge ANY president for trying to take some time off. That job has to be an absolute ball buster. And the fact is, it's a 24/7 365 deal, regardless of whether you're on "vacation" or not.

The problem here is the constant whining about how hard the job is. You volunteered, pal. STFU and get to work. If I remember correctly, this is the 2nd taxpayer paid vacation you've been on, in addition to multiple trips for you and your brood to Europe for "work" (and shopping for the girls).

Instead of a real Commander in Chief, we get someone who wants to play president on West Wing with all of the perks and none of the work. Amateur hour continues.

I mean, really.

So what if a former FBI agent misled Congress about inappropriately using his authority as an FBI agent.

You people act all surprised about someone abusing Federal authority in this administration like it's something new.

At least it's a different aspect this time, from all appearances, he's not a tax cheat.

But it does follow a pattern. Put tax cheats in charge of tax policy and put someone who's abused his power as a Federal officer in charge of the TSA. Makes sense to me.

The science is settled

Isn't that what Algore has told us ad nauseum??

Well apparently, as we've been saying all along.... the science is NOT settled.

No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New Research

Hopefully, the recent climategate email fiasco will move this debate back into the realm of science uncorrupted by politics and money.... I'm not entirely hopeful, but at least for the time being, that looks like at least a possibility.

Boo Freakin' Hoo

After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.

Who could blame him? The president was on his ninth foreign trip to his 21st country; he added a 10th trip the following week. The year had been bookended by the two most intense periods of his young presidency — the early decisions to bail out the nation’s banks and automobile industry, steps the president deemed unpopular but necessary, and his December orders to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to fight the war in Afghanistan.

Throw in an unemployment rate in the double-digits, a health care bill still stuck on Capitol Hill, and last-minute negotiations on a global climate change agreement, and aides say it’s no secret that the president is tired, and looking forward to recharging during his year-end family vacation in Hawaii.

Not that the commander in chief really thinks he can escape his duties, even on an island. Amid golf, tennis, gym workouts and dinner, Obama has been called on to monitor the airliner attack in Detroit last Friday and what appeared to be another attack on Sunday — that incident turned out to be a false alarm. On Monday, Obama worked out in the morning and played tennis before making his first public remarks on airline security, then hit the golf course.

So much for putting aside the stress of work. Obama himself has been candid about the pressures of being president during what he has called an “extraordinary year.”

“You have a convergence of factors that have made this a difficult year not so much for me but for the American people,” he said in an interview with CBS News last month. “Absolutely that weighs on me.”

The first 20 or so seconds of this video about sum it up!

Dude, you volunteered for the job. Stop whining!

It's an easy solution

Instead of punishing normal folks who aren't interested in getting to paradise and their 72 virgins, the solution to the seemingly endless stream of muslims willing to blow themselves up is an easy one.

Muslims don't fly on American flagged airplanes. If you don't have the stones to take the step necessary to protect the American flying public, then just drop the charade of the TSA searching granny and her walker.

If you want to be PC about it, you could say that muslim males aged 18-50 can't fly on American flagged aircraft and let muslim women, children, and old timers fly. At least up to the point that they also start blowing themselves up. But the sad fact of the matter is that muslim males in that demographic constitute nearly 100% of all suicide bombers or wanna be suicide bombers around the world.

Keep them isolated from the rest of the population and by and large, your problem is solved.

Christmas 2009

Well, it's only 3 years until the end of the world, so let's take stock of where we are: World. Hell. Handbasket.

What's happened to Christmas? It's the celebration of the birth of Christ, but we've turned it into a bacchanalian festivus of commercialism and nonsense. It's turned into something that's all about us, and not...everyone else. Have we become so self-centered that we've lost our ability to care for anyone else?

This Christmas, try something new, and do something selfless. Think about someone else. Then consider that the gift of Christmas is about that, only magnified beyond your human comprehension. Yes, you're smart and wise. But you're a mere speck in this universe, and you need to consider that you might not be the center of it.

If you can't be thankful, at least say thank you to someone. We're better than what it appears we've become.

Merry Christmas.

Priceless

Sight Picture

Posted this article on my photography blog here, but figured since it involves shooting as well, that perhaps some of the gun folks would enjoy it as well.

More from the most transparent government in history

Hmmmm. Let's see. East coast socked in from a nasty snow storm. Christmas Holiday in full swing. Health care debate taking place in the dark of night, behind closed doors and occupying most of the country's political attention.

LOTS of things going on to distract an ADD populace.

And what does the most ethical and transparent administration in history do over the weekend?

They release a dozen terrorist scumbags - scumbags captured on the field of battle - back to their countries of origin.

Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to authorities in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.

Let's see. Afghanistan continues to see heavy fighting. I'm sure none of the turds going home will soon be pulling the trigger against our troops. Somalia continues to be a hotbed of terror - remember all of the pirates from this summer? And the Yemini contingent? I'm sure it is completely and totally a coincidence that our massively corrupt Attorney General's law firm was representing Yemenis who were being held at Gitmo. Follow the money, because if I were a betting man, I'd have to say that I'd expect a large donation to be made from the Yemeni government to Holder's firm in the future. After all, it's the Chicago way.

It's been awhile

Since I last ranted about shooting.... so buckle up that seat-belt Dorothy!

Once again, I keep running head first up against the wall that is tactical trainers. We've had some new shooters come out to play and despite showing them as empirically as possible that their way of shooting is not the best way, they continue to fall back on the mantra of:

I shoot this way because I'm training for real life and not this game.

And I cannot tell you how nuts this makes me. Shooting poorly, yet tactically, is not an excuse for sucking. And it gets used as an excuse constantly.

I have a buddy who I actually like quite a bit. He started shooting with us a year or so ago, and he recently discovered cigars. He's on one of the local SWAT teams and is a heckuva nice guy. Over cigars a few weeks ago, he told me that the reason he shoots so much slower than me is that because he's had it drilled into him that target acquisition is key and he's willing to take his time to find and verify the target. My response was that if we can teach him to verify the target quicker - to see faster - then isn't that a good thing?

My point is, the guys that fall back on the tactical excuse refuse to accept the concept that there is a better and faster way because that way has been developed in competition in a game.

It's pathetic is what it is, and I'm getting damn well sick and tired of it.

A fellow showed up at our local IDPA match today. In 6 stages I believe he nearly doubled my time. I'm shooting a new gun that I'm nowhere near up to speed with in addition to earning a penalty. And I beat him by over a minute. He was a nice enough guy, worked hard at the match, helped out and was a pleasure to be around. However, just by watching him shoot I knew he'd received some training from somewhere. I asked him and when he told me where he went and had learned from I was not surprised as I have come to expect that kind of skill from that particular school. As we talked over the course of the day, you could see he was not buying the information I was trying to help him with until the end of the day when he hung around while I practiced for a bit.

I helped him with his grip and how he manipulates the trigger. No one had ever shown him how to do that before. He probably learned more, and had more to think about based on 30 minutes of evaluation from a competition shooter than he had in any of the other "tactical" classes he had taken in the past.

Tactical trainers believe that your mindset is the building block, the foundation of your shooting. After mindset comes tactics. After tactics comes skill. I would argue that they are bass-ackward. The foundation, the core of your shooting should be your skill. You can know all of the tactics in the world but if you can't put steel on target and manipulate your firearm you suck. And you're going to lose. Tactics are completely and totally worthless if you can't hit what you are aiming at.

And sadly, I have yet to see a shooter come out of one of "those" schools that knows how to shoot. When asked by new shooters why some folks continue to shoot and train with outdated methods when a better, proven system exists, I have recently come to the conclusion that dogma is king, and they refuse to do anything, to SEE anything that would change that dogma.

For example, the entire world was made aware during the American Civil War that line tactics were a bad idea. Yet nearly 50 years later, The Brits, German, and French were still using line tactics. It only took a few million men getting killed before they realized that they were wrong to fight as they had been taught - despite the evidence from a generation before that line tactics were a bad plan.

I see the fight against Weaver shooting and step dragging instructors to be the same thing. Their dogma sucks and does not stand up to the light of day. Period. End of story.

If you are looking to learn how to shoot, here's how to tell if you need to run out the door as fast as you can:

1. If you are taking a 2 or 3 day class and all you shoot is a couple hundred rounds.
2. If your instructor shoots Weaver - or even uses the ridiculous excuse that it's just another tool in the toolbox.
3. If your instructor does not shoot competition. (believe it or not, there are a ton of well known, well respected instructors who also happen to be phenomenal competition shooters)
4. If you ask your instructor "why" and all that person says is "because I said so" - a competent instructor should, nay, must be able and willing to explain in exquisite detail why they do what they do. If they cannot, DO NOT give them your hard earned money.
5. If your instructor says that their way is the only way. Within the general framework of the way "we" shoot, there are many variables; a good instructor will not teach you the way HE shoots, but the best way for YOU to shoot and have the flexibility and experience to guide you to your top level of performance.
6. If your instructor yells at you like R. Lee Emry.
7. If your instructor insists that if your pistol doesn't have a "4" in the caliber then it's worthless. (I invite any of them to step downrange and catch a mag full of 9mm)

This is just a start. But seriously folks, there's a reason that the best combat shooters in the world - Special Forces, SEALS, HRT, etc are trained by the best competition shooters in the world.

Thus endeth the sermon.

This my friends

is what you call being bitch slapped:

At an emergency meeting convened at the Bella Center this morning, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown assembled 26 heads of state in an attempt to revive a deal. But China's Premier Wen Jiabao did not attend and was replaced by vice foreign minister He Yafei.

And oh, it gets better, friends:

This afternoon, the US president and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton called another meeting with China, but were snubbed again when only three low-level Chinese delegates arrived.

The man-child running this country get his feelings hurt a bit:

According to a high level source, the US president clearly regarded Premier Wen’s absence as a major diplomatic insult, and snapped: “It would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions.”

You see, when you are neither respected nor feared, no one tends to listen to or care what you have to say. Let's see... so far, the Chinese have snubbed the great one. The Iranians have snubbed the great one. The Cubans have snubbed the great one. And Chavez continues to poke the great one in the eye at every opportunity. That's some leadership there, fellas, let me tell ya.

How's that hope and change workin' out for ya?

Proof indeed

that God has a sense of humor.

Blizzard Dumps Snow on Copenhagen as Leaders Battle Warming

By Christian Wienberg

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.

“Temperatures will stay low at least the next three days,” Henning Gisseloe, an official at Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, said today by telephone, forecasting more snow in coming days. “There’s a good chance of a white Christmas.”

Delegates from 193 countries have been in Copenhagen since Dec. 7 to discuss how to fund global greenhouse gas emission cuts. U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive before the summit is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Denmark has a maritime climate and milder winters than its Scandinavian neighbors. It hasn’t had a white Christmas for 14 years, under the DMI’s definition, and only had seven last century. Temperatures today fell as low as minus 4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit).

DMI defines a white Christmas as 90 percent of the country being covered by at least 2 centimeters of snow on the afternoon of Dec. 24.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net