The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
Back from the Match
Man, I need to practice. Still not getting the kung-fu grip properly out of the holster (my left index finger keeps finding the trigger guard), I’m not gripping hard enough, and I’m slow. Only seven shooters today, and I might not have come in last, but it will be close.
Had a lot of fun, though!
UPDATE: Not only was I last, I was a distant last!
Off to the Range
There’s a Tucson Action Shooter’s Club steel match this morning, so I need to saddle up and move out. Perhaps some posting later. There’s a lot that happened in the last week that I haven’t said word one about.
And may not.
Taking a newbie shooting tomorrow. Pictures and video to follow!
Quote of the Day
So, basically, we have two huge companies and their performance sucks more than Metallica’s new album. The solution to the problem, if you’re a politician or a retard, is to bail them out. What that would mean is our government is going to buy something that nobody wants at a price no one wants to pay with money the government probably doesn’t have to spend anyway. This comes after two other big companies tank. Yeehaw, corporate welfare!
That’s the short term fix. These two companies are heavily regulated, one because it’s basically a quasi-government agency anyway and the other because it’s in a highly regulated industry and in NY. Under such oversight, these companies still failed. The long term solution, if you’re a politician or a retard, is more regulation! Yes because that worked out so well the first time.
SayUncle, “Financial Forecast: Gloomy”
Or: “Do it again! Only HARDER!
I wish he’d taken the bet. I’m almost glad I cleared my Haloscan ban list!
On September 1 at 3:50PM, in a comment to my McCain/Palin bumper sticker post, JadeGold (Guy Cabot) posted this:
Palin will be off the ticket by the end of Sep.
Then on the 5th at 1:36PM he posted this:
By 20 Sep, to be exact.
I’m really liking my prediction.
So, I challenged him:
Willing to put $100 on it?
But he weaseled:
What, no odds?
I countered:
Nope. Just a simple bet. If, on Sept. 21 she’s still on the ticket, you pay me $100. If she’s not, I pay you $100.
Game?
No response, so on the 8th I went to his blog and challenged him again:
What about that bet? Still liking your prediction? $100 if Palin is dropped or withdraws from the Republican ticket by Sept. 20? Or you pay me $100 if she’s still on the ticket on Sept. 21?
Only 11 days left to decide!
More weaseling (and verification that it really is Guy and not someone being a sock-puppet on my site):
I really like my forecast. Are you offering odds?
Nope. Like I said, a simple bet.
Nine days remaining!
But he stayed with his “odds” defense:
C’mon, you’ve gotta give me odds! Think about it. A VP candidate has only been replaced once–so, it’s a pretty big precedent. Plus I only have nine days.
Or is than his odd defense? But I stuck fast:
OK, the odds are 1:1. It’s a lousy $100.
Game?
Nine days!
Since then, not a peep!
Tomorrow is the 20th. Palin looks secure, but I’m not so sure about Biden! And JadeGold remains consistently wrong, 100% of the time! And I put him back as the sole occupant of my HaloScan banned commenters list.
UPDATE 9/21: Not only is Palin still on the ticket, according to this report, well, you read it:
Palin draws crowd of 60,000 in The Villages
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin told wildly cheering, flag-waving, chanting supporters that John McCain is “the only great man in this race” and promised Sunday he will fix the nation’s economy if voters give the GOP four more years in the White House.
“He won’t say this, so I’ll say it for him,” the Alaska governor said in an almost confidential tone at the close of her first Florida stump speech. “There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you. John McCain wore the uniform of his country for 22 years — talk about tough.”
The Villages, a vast, upscale planned community north of Orlando, has about 70,000 mostly adult residents — many of them military retirees — who vote reliably Republican in statewide races. Tens of thousands inched along roads into the picturesque town square of the complex, where they stood in sweltering heat for about four hours as local GOP officials and a country band revved up the crowd.
“Sa-Rah! Sa-Rah!” they chanted at every mention of her name, applauding loudly and waiving tiny American flags that were distributed — along with free water bottles — by local volunteers. The fire chief estimated the crowd at 60,000.
That’s from a Ft. Meyers, FL paper.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Obama drew 20,000 “while another 5,000-10,000 were outside.” Wow.
(h/t to McClatchy Watch)
Quote of the Day
Modern Western Philosophy in a nutshell by “Doqz”. The whole thing is worth your time and laugh-out-loud funny in several places, but here’s a taste to whet your whistle:
Basically a bunch of time ago, in 18th century, there was this intellectual Movement called (very modestly) the Enlightenment.
And it was about many things – but most of the folks messing around with it saw themselves as the proponents of Reason (no, honest, they insisted on capitalizing it. In fact they insisted on capitalizing every third word. Completely random. Like a chat bot advertising PenIs enlarGemeNt. Personally, I think they all had a bad case of ee cummings rage. And a capitalizing hemorrhoid.)
So Reason, and Equality, and Anti-monarchism.
That’s pretty broad and pretty inaccurate. I mean the Enlightenment was a lot like the Furby craze. Everyone wanted to get in on the act, and half of them were arguing with the other half and then the halves divided and quarters were arguing with each other, and the words they used got progressively bigger and for a while geeks were cool.
It was a w e s o m e.
Than the French Revolution rolled around and fucked it up for everyone.
Stupid French.
How can you not want to read the whole thing after that?
h/t Labrat!
According to this story, Slow Joe Biden apparently enunciated Barack Tax the Rich Give to the Poor Obama’s philosophy today:
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. In a new TV ad that repeats widely debunked claims about the Democratic tax plan, the Republican campaign calls Obama’s tax increases “painful.”
Now, as I understand it, the Left views dissent as the “highest form of patriotism,” while they also decry patriotism as “the last refuge of scoundrels.”
Does that mean dissenting against higher taxation is patriotic, too? Or does patriotically paying higher taxes make them scoundrels? I’m so confused.
The piece goes on to state:
Although Republican John McCain claims that Obama would raise taxes, the independent Tax Policy Center and other groups conclude that four out of five U.S. households would receive tax cuts under Obama’s proposals.
“We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people,” Biden said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
According to the Congressional Budget Office (a PDF file), the top quintile of income earners – those averaging a bit over $200,000 per annum in 2004 – payed 25% of their income to the government that year. On the other hand, the lowest quintile, (median income, $15,400) received an additional 6.2% (about $950) from the government – that’s code for “from everybody who actually paid in.” The second quintile – average income $36,300 – got back 0.8%, or about $290. So, on average, about 40% of income earners not only paid no federal income tax, they received money from the Federal government – (the rest of us) in 2004.
In fact, according to the same source, the lowest quintile paid only 0.9% of the total income tax burden. The second quintile paid 4.5%. (These people could use an accountant, obviously! Most of the group got money! There oughta be a law mandating that H&R Block do income tax preparation free for people in the lowest two quintiles!) The top 20% – remember, average income of $207,000 – paid 67.1% of the income tax burden of the entire country.
And apparently Barack Robin Hood Obama and Joe Little John Biden think they ought to be paying more because the existing system isn’t FAIR.
You’re damned right it isn’t fair. And making it even more unfair will help exactly how?
Oh, right. It will let the Democrats give more money to people with low incomes to entice them to vote Democrat. I mean, who doesn’t like free money?
Pardon me, I need to go load a couple hundred rounds of .45ACP. There’s a match this Saturday. . .
Quote of the Day
Our primary was last Tues.
I didn’t vote for Huckabee.
Somehow, the thought of trying to elect someone who has a Bible with the pages stuck together bothers me.
Michael Z. Williamson, May 14, 2008 Livejournal entry.
Sorry if that offends anyone, but the imagery of that post requires mental floss to get rid of!
Happy Constitution Day!
The Constitution may not be the greatest work of man ever set to paper, . .
. . . but it beats the hell out of whatever it is they’re using these days!
Somebody on UseNet, a long time ago.
THIS is Bloody Brilliant!
Excerpt, to tease you into reading the whole thing:
Many of the party faithful have long had the feeling that the maverick Tigh was not really “one of us,” in the words of fighter pilot Lt. Kara Thrace, who once faced disciplinary action for punching then-Col. Tigh in the face. “No matter what his service record has been or what he endured back on New Caprica,” she said, “he never really seemed like he was one of us. There was always something that made him different.”
These feelings were accentuated when Col. Tigh recently confirmed rumors that he is, in fact a Cylon, though he swears that his allegiance is to mankind.
“After they revealed that, I was thinking about sitting out this election,” Lt. Thrace said. “But then he named Roslin as his running mate, and that won me back over. Personally, I’d rather have Roslin at the top of the ticket than a Cylon who says he’s on our side, but anything’s better than who the other party is putting up.”
Really, RTWT. It’s hilarious. And almost spooky.
It Must’ve Had a Hitch and Wheels for Towing
Also via SayUncle, the .99 Caliber Rutger! Tip of the hat to No Looking Backwards for catching that gem! It not only can shoot through a school, it can knock down airliners 30,000 feet up! It’s not twice as big as a .44, it’s twice as big as a .50!