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Range Report: Baby Blue

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I took my M1 Carbine and M1 Garand out to the Casa Grande public range today for a tryout. I brought 100 rounds of Federal American Eagle commercial .30 Carbine, and a couple of bandoleers of the Greek HXP M2 Ball I bought from the CMP for the Garand. As seems to be standard practice when I go to Casa Grande, I forgot to take my spotting scope.

While I was interested in the accuracy potential of the little Carbine, mostly I was interested in how (or whether) it was going to function with the magazines I bought last year. The good news: It functions pretty damned well. I loaded ten rounds into each magazine. Out of the 100 rounds, I had one failure to feed that was very simply cleared. I had one magazine, one of the two Union Hardwares, that didn’t want to fit in the well. It did, but it’s pretty tight. Other than that, the rifle cycled like a sewing machine.

Without sandbags or any other decent rest, and my eyeball Mk. I sighting system, the Carbine was capable of holding minute-of-paper-plate at 50 yards. I’m certain that this is mostly me, and with some work I can definitely improve on that. I was startled to discover that the adjustable sight is dead-nuts on. Set at 200 yards, it hit (pretty much) where I aimed at the 200 yard berm, and set for 250 yards I was able to hit the (rather large) steel plate set into the 250 yard berm with regularity. Set for 300 yards I believe I was lobbing the rounds over the top of the 250 yard berm.

Overall, I’m very pleased! Now I just need to get some more ammo and practice!

I let some other shooters try the Garand and the Carbine. That put some smiles on faces! There was already a Garand shooter at the range when I arrived, and when I left the guys at the table next to me were shooting a Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk. I.

Damn, I love old rifles!

Quote of the Day

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America is the most benign hegemon in history: it’s the world’s first non-imperial superpower and, at the dawn of the American moment, it chose to set itself up as a kind of geopolitical sugar daddy. By picking up the tab for Europe’s defense, it hoped to prevent those countries lapsing into traditional power rivalries. Nice idea. But it also absolved them of the traditional responsibilities of nationhood, turning the alliances into a dysfunctional sitcom family, with one grown-up presiding over a brood of whiny teenagers — albeit (demographically) the the world’s wrinkliest teenagers. America’s preference for diluting its power within the UN and other organs of an embryo world government has not won it friends. All dominant powers are hated — Britain was, and Rome — but they’re usually hated for the right reasons. America is hated for every reason. The fanatical Muslims despise America because it’s all lap-dancing and gay porn; the secular Europeans despise America because it’s all born-again Christians hung up on abortion; the anti-Semites despise America because it’s controlled by Jews. Too Jewish, too Christian, too godless, America is George Orwell’s Room 101: whatever your bugbear you will find it therein; whatever you’re against, America is a prime example of it. – Mark Steyn, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It

I owe Mike Vanderboegh an überpost today, but I’m taking the M1 Carbine to the range this morning. Don’t expect it before tonight some time.

Another Che / Obama Fan

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Another Ché / Obama Fan

This time from Gaza.

Curmudgeonly & Skeptical reports that The Golden Child has been receiving illegal campaign contributions from the Gaza strip. I guess an endorsement from Hamas means more than we thought!

But the interesting thing about the post was the image:

Who is that on the floor behind the artist?

It is said you are known by your associates. Both John McCain and Joe Lieberman have stated that “they cannot say” that Obama is a socialist, but given the evidence of the people who have staked their hopes on him, I’d say the question has been answered.

Third Time was Not the Charm

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Third Time was Not the Charm

I just watched SpaceX make their third attempt to put a payload into orbit on their Falcon 1 lift vehicle. This is the one that was carrying (among other items) some of James Doohan’s ashes. The initial attempt at liftoff was aborted when one of the launch parameters went outside its limits after the main engine started, but before the rocket lifted off. About thirty minutes later the rocket launched.

It cleared the pad, transitioned through Mach 1, passed through Max-Q – the point of highest aerodynamic loading – and at just about the instant it switched to internal inertial guidance, the video signal from the rocket was lost.

SpaceX announced that there had been “an anomaly.”

Usually this means “flaming chunks of debris falling back to Earth.”

Damn. Sorry, Scotty.

Better luck next time, guys. NASA didn’t have much of a record at first either.

UPDATE: NASAWatch has a message from Elon Musk:

From: Elon Musk
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 9:45 PM
To: Space Exploration Technologies
Subject: Plan Going Forward

It was obviously a big disappointment not to reach orbit on this flight. On the plus side, the flight of our first stage, with the new Merlin 1C engine that will be used in Falcon 9, was picture perfect. Unfortunately, a problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to be held together. This is under investigation and I will send out a note as soon as we understand exactly what happened.

The most important message I’d like to send right now is that SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward. We have flight four of Falcon 1 almost ready for flight and flight five right behind that. I have also given the go ahead to begin fabrication of flight six. Falcon 9 development will also continue unabated, taking into account the lessons learned with Falcon 1. We have made great progress this past week with the successful nine engine firing.

As a precautionary measure to guard against the possibility of flight 3 not reaching orbit, SpaceX recently accepted a significant investment. Combined with our existing cash reserves, that ensures we will have more than sufficient funding on hand to continue launching Falcon 1 and develop Falcon 9 and Dragon. There should be absolutely zero question that SpaceX will prevail in reaching orbit and demonstrating reliable space transport. For my part, I will never give up and I mean never.

Thanks for your hard work and now on to flight four.

Elon

There’s video of the launch there, too.

(Weird) Quote of the Day

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(Weird) Quote of the Day

Skydivers: If you are at all like me, and if you are at all like me then you regard thirty-minute home pizza delivery as one of the fundamental characteristics distinguishing truly civilized societies from those inchoate masses of culturally benighted heathen hearts who put their trust in reeking tube and iron shard and English muffins with mozzarella and tomato sauce on them, then it necessarily follows that you must also regard the now almost constant loss of various and sundry body parts by skydivers as they plunge towards the Earth as an especially irksome phenomenon and one with disturbing implications for the long term electoral viability of the Republican Party. – Akaky Bashmachkin, Skydivers – at The Passing Parade, in a rather odd but fascinating (in a fatal traffic accident rubbernecking kind of way) rant on . . . I’m not quite sure what.

“There Goes MY Citizenship!”

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I received an interesting piece of mail today, a letter from Mr. Tim Morgan, the Treasurer of the Republican National Committee. I don’t wish to bore my readers, but I think you need to see what it said:

Dear Mr. Baker,

I don’t want to believe you’ve abandoned the Republican Party, but I have to ask . . . Have you given up?

Our records show we have not yet received your Republican National Committee membership renewal for the critical 2008 presidential election year.

As the Treasurer of the RNC, I know our Party’s success depends directly on grassroots leaders like you.

So I am surprised and concerned especially because I know how generously you supported President Bush and the RNC in the past. You helped advance our vision for America and elect Republicans at all levels of government. Mr. Baker, I know other things come up, and perhaps you’ve just been delayed in renewing your membership. If that’s the case, I understand.

But we’ve not heard from you this year — and I hope you haven’t deserted our Party.

Your generous financial assistance and active involvement are more important than ever as we work to elect a new Republican president and Congress.

There is so much at stake. The Democrats are determined to put a liberal like Barack Obama in the White House, expand their narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, and push our country to the Left with their agenda of high taxes, big government and weakened national security.

Big Labor, radical liberal protest groups and Hollywood elites are planning to spend more than $500 million to defeat Republicans and aid the Democratic power grab.

That’s why I urgently need you to renew your RNC membership for 2008 with a contribution of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or even $25.

The men and women who will represent us in this year’s elections are hard at work building strong campaigns.

And so is the RNC. We are doing our part to provide the research, staff support, voter registration, volunteer recruitment and training, and direct financial assistance our candidates need to win.

The RNC is the ONLY Republican organization permitted by federal law to directly support our presidential nominee.

If we fail to hold the White House and make gains in Congress, the Democrats have made clear they will overturn every reform you helped President Busyh achieve.

Democrat presidential candidates and the Reid/Pelosi-run-Congress have promised to repeal the Bush tax cuts, retreat from the War on Terror and increase the size of government through their one-size-fits-all health care plan.

We cannot allow them to succeed! That’s why your renewed commitment is so important.

So if you have delayed in renewing your membership because you feel the RNC has let you down, or no longer needs you, please let me know. I want to hear from you.

Just include your comments and suggestions with the enclosed Membership Confirmation and return them with your 2008 membership renewal check. You can also renew by calling 1-800-XXX-YYYY or via our secure website at www. gop.com/gotohellyoustupidLOSERS.

But please don’t turn your back on our Republican candidates running for office from the Courthouse to the White House; they are counting on your support. Renew your RNC membership today. Thank you.

P.S. The 2008 elections are critical to the future of our nation. We need the support of every Republican to retain the White House, regain Congress and elect GOP legislators at all levels. Please don’t quit on our Party and our cause now. Renew your RNC membership today. Thank you.

Fascinating. Smells a bit of desperation, no? Especially since I’ve never been a member of the RNC.

So I took up Mr. Morgan’s suggestion and decided to send him some comments. I wrote a nice, concise one page letter to stick in the little postage-paid envelope. When I read it to my wife (who is a Japanese national, though she’s lived here since she was nine years old,) she said “There goes MY citizenship!” She decided this year that she would finally apply to become officially an American.

Below is my brief reply to Mr. Morgan:

Mr. Morgan:

I read with interest your recent missive to me (attached) beginning “I don’t want to believe you’ve abandoned the Republican Party, but…”

Mr. Morgan, I’ve never been a member of the Republican Party. I changed my voter registration before the last Arizona presidential primary because I wanted to vote for Fred Thompson, but he withdrew before my vote even got counted. (I voted absentee for work reasons.)

Your letter continued: “So I am surprised and concerned especially because I know how generously you supported President Bush and the RNC in the past.” Really? You know that? Because Fred Thompson is the only Republican candidate I think I’ve ever donated money to. I “supported” President Bush by voting against Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, but he never saw a dime of my money.

Continuing on: “…I hope you haven’t deserted our Party.” No, you’ve deserted me. “The Democrats are determined to put a liberal like Barack Obama in the White House, expand their narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, and push our country to the Left with their agenda of high taxes, big government and weakened national security.” Well, Tim, I have to tell you; the only difference I can see between what the Democrats want, in that description, and what the Republicans did over the last seven-plus years is taxes.

Here’s a clue if you want any of my money: secure the borders, confirm the judges, CUT SPENDING, keep the Bush tax cut in place, DRILL FOR OIL ON OUR OWN SOIL, rein in the BATFE and get rid of the TSA. Oh, and implement a damned flat-tax while you’re at it.

The next four to eight years look to suck like a Dyson vacuum cleaner, and personally I’m not certain the Republic can survive it. I’ll hold my nose and vote for McCain, though, in the faint hope that more than half the (tiny) voting population isn’t insane. I’ve enclosed one of the McCain campaign bumper stickers I’m selling to benefit my favorite charity, Soldier’s Angels. Sorry I had to fold it to get it in the envelope, but somehow I doubt seriously you’d actually put it on your vehicle.

Thanks for writing, and have a wonderful day.

It goes out in tomorrow’s mail. With the McCain bumpersticker.

But, But, a College Education is an ENTITLEMENT!

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Mostly Cajun writes about the career opportunities in Louisiana. Read the whole thing, but here’s the key graph:

Entry level positions in many local industries start at twenty bucks an hour. Somebody with a skill and who’s willing to do construction work is valuable. E&I techs (if you have to ask, you ain’t one) do over $30/hour. The downside is that these jobs aren’t the kinds that made the stuff of network sitcoms. You won’t be worrying about suits and ties.

Calcasieu School Board Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Pat Deaville says there are many vocational classes and that they are adding more. But he says many parents resist the idea that their child might not need a four year degree. “Your child, we’re not saying that he shouldn’t go to college but, we have jobs that range from fifty to a hundred thousand dollars, and they don’t go to college, they can be making by the time they’re 20, 21 years old.”

Yep! Hundred K a year, with a couple of years experience and a two-year associate degree or a certificate from a vocational school. Sort of puts that Masters in Medieval Lit. in perspective, doesn’t it?

Indeed.

Don’t Be Evil

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Don’t Be Evil

That’s Google’s pledge, isn’t it?

Well, I received an interesting email this morning from JR of A Keyboard and a .45. It seems that he’s been locked out of his blog because Blogger (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google) thinks his is a spam blog.

Now what could give them that idea? And who’s next?

Quote of the Day

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When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said “Praise the Lord.” And when the young leader said, “I will be for change and I’ll bring you change,” everyone yelled, “Viva Fidel!”

But nobody asked about the change, so by the time the executioner’s guns went silent the people’s guns had been taken away. By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing. By the time the press noticed, it was too late, because they were now working for him. By the time the change was finally implemented Cuba had been knocked down a couple of notches to Third-World status. By the time the change was over more than a million people had taken to boats, rafts, and inner tubes. You can call those who made it ashore anywhere else in the world the most fortunate Cubans. – Manuel Alvarez Jr., “Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach ‘Change’ ” letter to the editor of the Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch found at Liberal Morality

RTWT. He has a pertinent question at the end.