First Big Match, coming up!

The stages from the first big match of the year have now been posted, and as usual, looks like a lot of fun!

Lots of high round count stages with lots of movement required. A few gimmicky stages that look to be entertaining, but at least nothing like last year's Hellaports which I absolutely hated!

I've got 2 months to get my ass in shape and start hitting the range for some serious practice - hopefully the stinkin' weather will co-operate!

Cookie Monster Searches Deep Within Himself and Asks: Is Me Really Monster?

They don't call the vampire with math fetish monster, and me pretty sure he undead and drinks blood. No one calls Grover monster, despite frequent delusional episodes and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. And the obnoxious red Grover—oh, what his name?—Elmo! Yes, Elmo live all day in imaginary world and no one call him monster. No, they think he cute. And Big Bird! Don't get me started on Big Bird! He unnaturally gigantic talking canary! How is that not monster? Snuffleupagus not supposed to exist—woolly mammoths extinct. His very existence monstrous. Me least like monster. Me maybe have unhealthy obsession, but me no monster.

We're on a Sesame Street roll here...

Thanks again to JR.

photo of the day: Austin shuts downtown after dead birds discovered

More on those bird deaths in Austin. HI-larious.

Hat tip to JR.

More signs of dhimmitude

From Jihad Watch/Dhimmi Watch:

Dhimmitude is the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians. Dhimmis, "protected people," are free to practice their religion in a Sharia regime, but are made subject to a number of humiliating regulations designed to enforce the Qur'an's command that they "feel themselves subdued" (Sura 9:29). This denial of equality of rights and dignity remains part of the Sharia, and, as such, is part of the law that global jihadists are laboring to impose everywhere, ultimately on the entire human race.

It would appear that a group of muslims arrived late to their assigned check in time.

Northwest said the pilgrims failed to check in one hour before their transatlantic flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Detroit was scheduled to depart, as is required. The passengers arrived in Frankfurt via a charter flight from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and mistakenly believed they were cleared to board the Northwest flight, but were not.

However, once the confusion was rectified, the group was placed on the soonest available flight and apologized for the delay. Story over, right?

Wrong.

The January 7 incident was taken up by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which welcomed the airline's apology, but said the group wanted clarification and compensation.

So, what we have here, are a group of muslims. They showed up late to check in. As a result, they were denied entry to the aircraft and placed instead on the next available aircraft. And now NW airlines is going to have to PAY them becuase the group was late? What's next?? All muslims fly for free? All muslims get to fly first class only? All muslims to the front of the line? Heaven forbid a muslim have to wait in line with the rest of us infidels.

I hope NW sticks to its guns and doesn't give in to the political pressure put on it by the asshats at CAIR. I'm not counting on it, but it would be nice.

Inflation has best showing in 3 years

It's Bush's fault!

The slowdown in inflation translated into more spending power for Americans. The government said average weekly earnings for non-supervisory workers rose by 2.1 percent last year, after adjusting for inflation. That was the biggest gain in nine years.

Wait - that's good, right?

Inflation-adjusted weekly earnings had fallen for three straight years, a development that Democrats argued in last fall's election campaigns showed that President Bush's economic policies were not working for the middle class.

Oh, guess not.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes rose by 4.5 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.642 million units, raising hopes that the worst of the housing slowdown may be coming to an end.

Wait, that's good too, right?

The report on the Consumer Price Index offered good news on that front, showing that core inflation was rising at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the final three months of the year, just half of the 2.8 percent rate of increase turned in during the July-September quarter. It was the best showing of the year.

And that's good too, right? Well, what about fuel cost?

For all of 2006, energy costs rose 2.9 percent, a significant slowdown after an increase of 17.1 percent in 2005 and 16.6 percent in 2004. That price moderation occurred in recent months. After advancing at a 22.8 percent annual rate in the first six months of 2006, energy costs fell at a 13.4 percent rate in the final half of the year.

Hmmm...

Repeat after me: "GLOBAL WARMING! IRAQ!" It seems to be all that's left for the Democraps to complain about. Be prepared to hear it a lot.

Now THAT's LOW!

Was surfing around the Military.com website, which is a pretty outstanding resource of military videos and found this gem.

All I can say is that is freaking low.

If you're at work, turn the sound down as there is some, shall we say, adult language. ;)

Reminder

Even if you don't have muffs, you can usually find something at the range to use as hearing protection, like this guy did.

Global Warming - Texas Chilling

What's wrong with this picture?

That's right - it's my car here in Texas, with snow, sleet and ice on it.

This was my drive to work today:

And do you think the weatherman knew this was going to happen? Of course not - this sort of stuff was going to be waaay SOUTH of us. I'd love to have a job where I can be wrong all the time, and still make tons of money.

Of course, the schools are closed, mass panic has ensued, and wrecks are everywhere. Big fun down here in Texas!

Shocked I am!

Really. I'm shocked. To think that the people in the Middle East were fighting one another some 5500 years ago just shocks me to no end. Really, it does. I mean, there was no George Bush, no Zionist state, no foreigners messing around in their business. Yet somehow one group of people managed to completely wipe out an entire city-state.

I'm waiting for someone to explain this to me because I really thought that the only reason there has been a state of war in the Middle East has been Western meddling, the founding of Israel and our own lust for oil....

Annoying ads can be effective

I was on Yahoo Groups earlier, and was once again assaulted by one of those dancing silhouette ads. Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about - either some goof in a suit shaking his ass, the 2 cowboys performing some sort of brokeback line dance, or the morons dancing on the rooftops. After seeing too many of these things, I decided to consult the Internets to see if I was just being a crabby old man, or if others were as sick of these things as I am.

On a blog called MyOpenWallet, visitor "J.D." added his comments to a post about the ads: "I hate these ads. I intentionally avert my eyes so that I do not know who runs them."

That's funny, because that's what I do, too. I wouldn NEVER buy anything these ads are selling. Just like I won't buy anything from Southwest Kia or Southwest Hyundai ("we wanna see ya in a Southwest Kia!"). Yeah - local TV ad featuring Bill Dickason (great name for a car salesman), where they promise "if you can find a better deal in Texas, I'll just give it to ya!" WTF does THAT mean?

But I digress. Back to hating these silhouette ads. Another quote:

The lowermybills dancing ads are the most ANNOYING ads ever made. Yes, I now know the company but I HATE them -- would never, EVER think of using them.

Note the quote. Yes, we know the companies now (because they're SO damned aggravating), but we would never think of buying from them. So what's the purpose of effective advertising? I'd say it's getting people to buy your product. Want some insight to the geniuses that devised these things?

Coffin said the ads were done in-house, not by an ad firm. As for the many blog-posters that don't see a connection between boot-scooting cowboys and mortgage quotes, "All the dancing you see is really a celebration of saving money," Coffin said. "At least that's how we see it."

Right.

SHOT show

So, what'dya do when you're stuck indoors thanks to nasty weather and terrible DFW drivers??

Check out these pictures from the SHOT Show! Some really cool images here...

7 New Wonders of the World

Well, what'dya think the "new" 7 wonders of the world should be?

I voted for:
The Acropolis, Chichen Itza, The Colosseum, The Great Wall, Petra, The Pyramids, and Stonehenge.

Tactical Tommy Goes to the Store

This is a reprise of the story printed back in 2004. I figured with mall ninjas and all, it was a good time for a redux, this time with hyperlinked references for the uninitiated. Origin: Over at The High Road, there's a nut that goes by "alduro," who's the author. Check out parts II and III.

As I was leaving my house I stuffed my Glock 10mm "man gun" Mexican-style in my pants. My backup is a fully customized 1911 with all the IPSC add-on options in my $500.00 leather pancake holster custom made by Belgian Monks who have devoted their lives to silence and holster making. These are the ones used by SEAL Team 6, which I used to be a part of but all records of my activities were destroyed in a fire "accident".

I put on my Royal Robbins photographer vest to match my pants while wearing a T-Shirt underneath reading "from my cold dead hands." That way, nobody can see what I'm packing. I had my Centennial .38 Special in my ankle holster, just like the gun rag guys carry. Lastly I had my "Covert Sniper" I.D. Card in my wallet with my "Concealed Weapons Permit Badge". I was ready for anything.

I drove my "bug-out truck" to the 7-11 for some beer, 'cause you never know. It is a performance-styled Subaru BRAT with 4 cylinders of ground pounding fury.

I pull up to the 7-11 store and notice a nefarious looking girl scout eyeballing me from the back of her mother's SUV. A likely cover.

The mother returned to the truck and went for the keys in her purse, but I knew from my years of combat-honed instincts that she was actually making a furtive movement for an offensive weapon.

I attempted a tactical shoulder roll, but fell flat on my face, kind of flopping on the pavement to avoid any incoming rounds and to make it look like I meant to do that. The store owner called 911 which is good, because I then did a roll and attempted to draw my Glock.

Unfortunately, since I did not have a holster, the gun "went off" and the bullet creased my weener. But I was prepared for that and bit down on a 9mm casing to take my mind off the pain as I dove for the garbage barrel. That's when I noticed the girl scout shouting something to her mother who began to take cover. I knew they were closing on me so I drew my trusty custom 1911 Wilson COMBAT....I knew that they would be impressed with that. I then duck walked to the front of her SUV but my gut kinda got in the way and I fell on my ass, which caused me to swallow my 9mm casing.

I then tried to roll to my right, but didn't want to scuff my holster, so I just threw myself into a telephone pole, but I landed on my right side anyway. So I fired one shot towards the woman's SUV to pin them down as I recovered my wind.

Before the mother knew what was happening, I charged her and I threw my groin into her knee. I knew that as I vomited on the ground in front of her that I had interrupted her OODA loop, and I had the advantage now. As she ran screaming for the girl scout (I knew she was going for backup) I made for my super-charged BRAT tactical truck. I jumped into the driver seat, forgetting that I had left my rare Israeli contract AR 15 Bayonet on the seat (honed to a razors edge). I could handle it though, half my ass is an implant from war wounds. As I attempted to start my truck, police and paramedics arrived on the scene. My truck would not start and instead backfired once and caused the police to taze me. At this point, I tactically soiled myself while in convulsions. My custom 1911 then fell out the window, but I still had my Centennial .38. I knew then that I had to take out the woman with the purse.

So I aimed my revolver at her, at which point the first police officer fired once striking me in the chest. Fortunately, I was wearing my level III-A body armor. I didn't want to hurt the cops, they had obviously been duped by the evil temptress who was now embracing her partner in crime and crying to the police in the background - I knew it was a ruse.

I pulled out my concealed weapons permit badge and showed it to the officer who shot me and yelled out "I'm one of you guys!!!" He continued to cover me, and ordered me to drop my .38 so I laid it down. After all, I still had my bayonet attached to my ass. The cop walked toward me, and upon reading the badge maced me right in the eyes. Fortunately, my Oakley shooting glasses stopped most of the spray and I was able to rip free of the Taser cords easily. It only cost me one nipple...easily replaced. I dove for the passenger side of my truck and began to run zig zag for a ditch. Unfortunately, the bayonet sticking out of my ass slowed me down. I knew it would have to be hand-to-hand now. I knew the cop couldn't take me when I saw he merely carried a Glock 17, not a man's gun. So I immediately threw my eye into his right hook, followed by a knee into his mag light. As I lay thrashing on the ground, I took the heel of my Bates enforcer boot and kicked at the cops ankle. I knew from my classified experiences in Tajikistan that once I broke his ankle, the cop would fall down and I could "stun kick" him in the head, knocking him out but not hurting him.

Apparently the cop had also been to Tajikistan, because he side-stepped me and struck me in the back with his ASP baton, but my trauma plate absorbed it. I then drew my Benchmade auto knife and was promptly tazed again, but I was ready for it this time and only wet myself a little bit.

Next thing those cops knew, I was unconscious. That'll teach 'em.

Clock ticking on Dems' 100-hour agenda

"So while the House has been in session for almost 48 hours since the 110th Congress was sworn in Jan. 4, the clock on Pelosi's Web site says only 17 hours 48 minutes have elapsed.
'We're just counting the legislative hours,' Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill explained."

Looks like the Speakerette suffers from a common Democrat malady - selective memory. That, and it appears she's reserving the "100" hours for hogging the floor for as long as they can.

Some things change. Politics don't.

MALL NINJA!

He's got a MySpace! Check it out: http://www.myspace.com/tacticalsecurityenforcer

Coyote killing contest prompt howls

Coyotes caused an estimated $47 million in damage to the cattle industry in 2005, according to the USDA. Sheep losses topped $10 million in 2004.

Coyotes are bad, mean, dirty, noisy, and reproduce like bunnies. I live in the city, and have greenbelt/creek behind my house. I was awakened just this week by a pack of coyotes running down the greenbelt. It's an unmistakable sound, and kinda creepy. I've seen coyotes in busy intersections right here in town, running around unmolested.

So, anyway, there's a coyote killing contest going on in Montana this weekend, offering up a $6000 purse. Even the USDA's Wildlife Services division kills about 80,000 coyotes a year. Sounds like a good plan to me - kill varmints, get paid. It's a win-win deal, if you ask me.

Except for one thing: someone's going to be upset.

"You kill some coyotes and six months later it's as if you didn't kill any at all. What are they accomplishing other than just being barbaric?" asked Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense.

Predator Defense? WTF? Do they represent lions, sharks, coyotes, and gators at murder trials? I think Brooks deserves to see what a coyote can do to the family pet.

Gene mutation may raise the risk of alcoholism

The gene mutation involves a cell structure called the mu-opioid receptor. In previous studies, this receptor has been shown to bind beta-endorphin, a pain-relieving chemical the body releases in response to alcohol intake and other stimuli.

Spare me the techno-babble, Poindexter. I believe this makes me a superhero. I could be one of the new X-Men. My new mutant name is Filtro - I have the power to convert beer to urine. Beware, evil-doers!

Texas Pizza Chain to Accept Pesos

In a just world, the INS/ICE would roll in on this place and ask everyone to prove that they are legal citizens, or legally in this country.

This is nuts. If you're here legally, then I don't care if you've got green skin and 3 eyes. But this pandering to illegals is killing us by the death of 1000 cuts.

Report: Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Dead

Tell Saddam we said hi. I wonder if President Ahmacrazyguy is going to make a power play?

1911 Porn

Picked up this S&W 1911 a few weeks ago; added a Smith Alexander mag well and a pair of green Ergo Grips from Dillon. I'll add a decent set of sights; most likely a pair of Dawsons.

I have yet to shoot this beauty, but as you can tell in the picture, she's loaded up with slide glide and ready to roll. Range report once I get some lead downrange.