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I Speak Bureaucratese…

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I just got a letter from the Transportation Security Administration (or “A Security Theater”) about my status as a person of interest who cannot print out a boarding pass from home or work. Here’s the key graph of the letter I received from a Mr. Jim Kennedy of the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) [and my, aren’t they clever with the acronyms!]:

In response to your request, we conducted a review of any applicable records in consultation with other Federal agencies, as appropriate.

That’s good. Wouldn’t want any inappropriate reviews.

Where it was determined that a correction to records was warranted, these records were modified to address any delay or denial of boarding that you may have experienced as a result of the watch list screening process.

And this means exactly bupkis.

I won’t know if my status has changed until the next time I try to print a boarding pass out at home. That should be in May when I fly to Louisville for the 2nd Amendment Blogger Bash and NRA meeting.

Well, we’ll see.

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day.

Speaking as an utter amateur, I’m worried less about a recession than inflation. I’m worried most about a recession, inflation AND a jolly round of trade wars, coupled with fragile banks, overcapacity, diminished consumer confidence and aggressive messianic collectivism. Something about that smells familiar. I love studying the thirties and forties, but not first hand. – James Lileks, today’s Bleat

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Technical Question.

Does anybody know the actual size and thread pitch on the scope mounting holes of a Remington 700 5R receiver? They look to be #6 screw holes, but the thread pitch appears to be finer than 40 TPI. Or are they 5-40? Or metric? Evolution Gun Works says the screws they ship with their bases are 6-40, but they don’t fit the holes in my rifle.

A web search has netted me nada on this question. Even AR15.com has not been helpful.

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day.

But first, from the Nov. 13, 2006 Los Angeles Times:

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vows to make reform of congressional earmarks a priority of his tenure, arguing that members need to be more transparent when they load pet projects for their districts into federal spending bills.

But last year’s huge $286-billion federal transportation bill included a little-noticed slice of pork pushed by Reid that provided benefits not only for the casino town of Laughlin, Nev., but also, possibly, for the senator himself.

Reid called funding for construction of a bridge over the Colorado River, among other projects, “incredibly good news for Nevada” in a news release after passage of the 2005 transportation bill. He didn’t mention, though, that just across the river in Arizona, he owns 160 acres of land several miles from proposed bridge sites and that the bridge could add value to his real estate investment.

Reid denies any personal financial interest in his efforts to secure $18 million for a new span connecting Laughlin with Bullhead City, Ariz.

“Sen. Reid’s support for the bridge had absolutely nothing to do with property he owns,” said Rebecca Kirszner, Reid’s communications director. “Sen. Reid supported this project as part of his continuing efforts to move Nevada forward.”

But some Bullhead City property owners and local officials say a new bridge will undoubtedly hike land values in an already-booming commuter town, where speculators are snapping up undeveloped land for housing developments and other projects. Experts on congressional spending say Reid’s earmark provides yet another sign of the need for reform.

That’s not the QotD, but RTWT. Especially the part where Rebecca Kirszner, Reid’s communications director says: “With Democrats running Congress, we are in a much better position to achieve real transparency and openness.”

THIS is the QotD:

As we look back in history, the Founding Fathers would be cringing to hear people talking about eliminating earmarks. – Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-NV) after the overwhelming vote to defeat an anti-earmarking bill

And where do you find this quote? The Associated Press? Reuters? CNN? FOX News? ABCBSNBC? The New York Times?

No. According to Google the only news source reporting this fascinating utterance was The Hill, though National Review Online does have a Tom Coburn response that quotes it.

I cannot help but wonder at just which history books Senate Majority Leader Reid has been reading.

And which Constitution he swore an oath to uphold and defend.

KevinLeave a comment

The Geek Turns Five!.

Contrary to the beliefs of some, The Geek with a .45 is one of the blogosphere’s better “critical thinkers.” I’d suggest you go congratulate him, but his comments are currently turned off due to a problem with Haloscan. (Odd, mine still seem to be working fine.)

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Things You Hear at a Shooting Match.

Do you need any .223? I’ve got 40,000 coming in on Monday…

One of the shooters has a side business selling bullets to reloaders.

Must be nice!

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day.

In trying to understand bureaucratic infighting, you must grasp: (1) political appointees are a tiny, tiny oil film atop the ocean of career people. Esp. at Justice. (2) They often have no experience at all, and are dependent upon what their subordinates tell them. – David Hardy, Column on Heller and the conflict within DoJ

Bear in mind, this is largely true also of the freshly-elected, which is why term-limits aren’t the panacea they otherwise would appear to be. Senators, Congresscritters, and elected vermin of all types come and go, but the bureaucracy lives on. And if you don’t properly fill out the form 1934 stroke seven B and file it in triplicate, your office will never receive its standard issue one gross of paper, sanitary, single-ply, perforated, on rolls.

And if you strike out “paper, sanitary” and replace it with “oven, pizza,” one will be delivered in under one week.

I shudder to think what would happen if you substituted “device, nuclear.”

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day.

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms. – David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal’, Village Voice, 3/11/08

There’s a lot more there very much worth reading. Of course the normal readership of the Voice is full-throated in its outrage that Mamet has “gone neo-con” on them.

Big tip of the hat to reader Rob Bowers for the email pointer to the piece.