Category: Uncategorized

KevinLeave a comment

Quote(s) of the Day.

The dogma of multiculturalism holds that all cultures are equal, except Western culture, which (unlike every other society on the planet) has a history of oppression and war is therefore worse. All religions are equal, except Christianity, which informed the beliefs of the capitalist bloodsuckers who founded America and is therefore worse. All races are equal, except Caucasians, who long ago went into business with black slave traders in Africa, and therefore they are worse. The genders, too, are equal, except for those paternalistic males, who with their testosterone and aggression have made this planet a polluted living hell, and therefore they are worse.

Once you understand this, the Multicultural Pyramid of Oppression, you can begin to understand how to turn to your advantage certain circumstances that are beyond your control: such as where you were born, the type of genitalia you were born with, into what race you were born, and the religion of your parents. You see, the fewer things you have in common with The Oppressors, the more you can cast yourself as The Victim. And as The Victim, you are virtuous, so there are certain things you can get away with that others can’t: like actually oppressing people. – Evan Coyne Maloney, at Brain Terminal

AND:

(T)here’s a process with certain steps. Tolerance is required. Then acceptance, which must lead to endorsement, lest people feel marginalized – often by the very people they cant stand, mind you. Endorsement is followed by recognition of the new standard as equal to the old, because all ideas are valid (although some ideas are more valid than others, a judgment that’s determined by the newness of the idea versus the reactionary elements who subscribed to the old idea.) (T)hen the new standard must be subsidized, because it is discriminatory not to extend the usual state advantages; then it must be recognized as having superior aspects, in order to empower the marginalized people who believe it. Eventually these advantages will be used as evidence to suggest it’s superior to the old idea in some way that appeals to the intellectual fashion of the day. The process usually takes about 25 years. – James Lileks from The Bleat

Discuss.

KevinLeave a comment

Spock has a Beard!.

I stumbled upon an alternate universe!

There’s a blog named The Largest Minority! Unsurprisingly, the authors are liberal Leftist “Progressives.” Ah, the hell with it. Let’s call a spade a spade – they’re Leftists.

Just remember – It is far easier for we as civilized men to behave like barbarians than it is for them as barbarians to behave like civilized men! 😉

I Wonder, Do I Frighten Them?

KevinLeave a comment

The Smallest Minority was born of a debate between me and a gentleman living in London. Since that time I’ve had several discussions with other bloggers, a guest poster, and by email with a correspondent more than once.

But just recently I have had two debates just not happen. The first was Robyn Ringler, a gun control activist blogging at a newspaper site. Robyn had an open comments policy. Then she didn’t. Then she stopped blogging in September. I never got a response on my invitation. Not even a “go to hell.”

Later in September Say Uncle found an anti-gun piece and linked to it. I, of course, left a comment or two, and those comments drew a response from another reader. That reader is (or was) also a blogger, and we agreed (or so I thought) to have a debate. His next post, however, was apparently his last. I’m afraid that he was possibly arrested by the TSA and received rendition to a redacted country for interrogation! I can’t come up with another reasonable explanation for his disappearance. Surely I did not frighten him away!

Tonight I have made another invitation to discuss the topic of gun control with a lawyer-type blogger in Philadelphia. I won’t go further at this time, as I don’t want to inundate her with gun-rights traffic, but I’m hopeful that this one will take the bait agree to discuss the topic. If she is a lawyer, it should be a most illuminating discussion.

Hope springs eternal…

Test Report: RCBS Chargemaster 1500 Scale & Dispenser

KevinLeave a comment

As I noted previously, I purchased an RCBS Chargemaster 1500 back in May. I have since used it to load some .45LC and tonight some .308. I was asked a couple of times to report on how well it worked. As I noted in the previous post, I bought it because my standard powder measure, an old, pretty worn RCBS manual type wouldn’t throw Unique powder +/- 0.1 grain consistently, and fuhgeddabouddit if you were trying to throw an extruded powder like IMR4350. Unique is my go-to powder for .45ACP and was for .45 Colt (I’ve been using 2400 for the Colt recently and may have settled on that powder for that caliber.) I also use Varget in my .223 loads, and now that I’ve bought a .308 I will be using Varget there, too.

A few days before heading off to the Second Annual Gunblogger’s rendezvous I loaded up some .45LC with 2400 using the Chargemaster. Tonight, I loaded 50 .308 rounds. (Sooner or later I’ve got to load a bunch of .223!)

Conclusion: It’s not quite as fast as I am, but a far cry better than throwing the charges by hand and trickling them up.

The procedure for finishing a rifle cartridge is as follows, once the press and scale are set up and you’re ready to rock:

1) Press the “Dispense” button.

2) Pick up a piece of brass and the powder funnel

3) Mate the powder funnel and brass

4) Wait a couple of seconds for the powder measure to finish weighing out the first charge

5) BEEP! (Annoying tone.)

6) Pick up the powder pan, pour the charge into the case, replace the pan on the scale.

7) REMEMBER TO PUSH “DISPENSE”

8) Put down the funnel

9) Pick up a bullet

10) Place the bullet in the neck of the case

11) Put the cartridge in the press and pull the handle

12) Remove the loaded cartridge and put it in the ammo box

13) Pick up a new case and the funnel

14) Mate the case and funnel

15) Wait for the measure to finish…. (Lather, rinse, repeat…)

Out of 50 charges, the scale was ready before I was probably five times. The longest time I had to wait for it (when I remembered to hit “Dispense” as soon as the pan was back on the scale) was probably ten seconds. The scale was dispensing 43.5 grains of Varget.

When I did 100 .45LC using 2400 I had to remove the case from the press, dump the powder charge into the case, and put it back in the press (Dillon RL-450). I have a powder-through-expander die, but no funnel to fit it. (Yet.) Again, the Chargemaster never made me wait more than ten seconds or so.

It doesn’t seem to matter much how large the charge is, it’s those last few tenths that take the longest to measure out.

I can unequivocally state that the Chargemaster 1500 is FAR faster than throwing low charges by hand and then trickling up to the desired weight. It is FAR more accurate with 2400 than the Dillon measure that came with my RL-450. In fact, the shape of the powder is immaterial to the function of the Chargemaster – it’s going by weight alone, not volume.

If, however, the volumetric measure you have does a good job metering the powder you prefer, the Chargemaster is most definitely SLOWER. I won’t, for example, be using it to measure out my 7.0 grain Unique charges for .45ACP – the measure on my Square Deal-B works just fine for that.

Quote of the Day

KevinLeave a comment

What you need to know, first and last, is that so-called PTSD is not an illness. It is a normal condition for people who have been through what you have been through. The instinct to kill and war is native to humanity. It is very deeply rooted in me, as it is in you. We have rules and customs to restrain it, so that sometimes we may have peace. What you are experiencing is not an illness, but the awareness of what human nature is like deep down. It is the awareness of what life is like without the walls that protect civilization.

Those who have never been outside those walls don’t know: they can’t see. The walls form their horizon. You know what lays beyond them, and can’t forget it. What we’re going to talk about today is how to come home, back inside those walls: how to learn to trust them again. – On PTSD, or More Properly, On Coming Home by Grim at Blackfive.net

Read the whole thing.

KevinLeave a comment

Quote of the Day.

From time to time I hear people who think that the EU will eventually lead to more liberal gun laws here in the UK. They reason that because many of our neighbours have less strict gun control that EU law will eventually standardise to the French or German model. They are of course quite wrong. The EU is not in the business of providing freedom, it is in the business of control. – Lurch at Gun Culture

(RTWT) Thus it is with all governments, which is why government is best kept small and watched closely.

But starry-eyed idealists always seem to believe that human nature is not what it is, thus Supreme Court Justice Louis Bradeis’s warning:

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

Or as P.J. O’Rourke put it:

Neither conservatives nor humorists believe man is good. But left-wingers do.

KevinLeave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving.

And a link. Marko the Munchkin Wrangler expresses his beliefs. Hear, hear! Excerpt:

I believe that you cannot have a right to anything that necessitates a financial obligation on the part of someone else. You have a right to life, liberty, and honestly acquired property, not to any sort of monetary or material thing. The former merely requires your fellow citizens to leave you alone; the latter requires them to work for you free of charge.

Why is it that immigrants so often have a better handle on what being an American means than so many of our neighbors who were born here?

KevinLeave a comment

I Was Wrong.

I hope I’m going to be happy about it.

Apparently the Supreme Court has granted certiorari on D.C. v Heller. (h/t Say Uncle)

The elections this year should be especially interesting.

Expect to hear a lot about “legislating from the bench” and “activist judges,” too.

I wonder if there’s any way to find out who voted to grant cert?

UPDATE: And expect to get LOTS of letters begging for money from the NRA, GOA, SAF, JPFO, EIEIO….

As I understand it, Alan Gura – lead attorney and the guy who instigated all of this – isn’t taking contributions.

So just how much does it cost to write and file an amicus brief?

KevinLeave a comment

Read and Compare.

I ran across something tonight I hadn’t read in quite a while, and I’d like to share it with you. For quite some time Steven Den Beste was one of the finest voices of reason in the blogosphere before, for medical reasons, he pretty much departed the field and took to blogging about anime. But the piece I want you to read isn’t by Steven, it’s an email from one of his readers, a young man living in Spain at the time.

But first, I want you to read something else. Something by a young man living in Minnesota. I want you to read A Profound Divide. It’ll take you a few minutes, but please bear with it. Read it. Cogitate on it for a bit.

Then read An American in Spain.

Afterward, you might want to read the piece that inspired Den Beste’s correspondent, Steven’s Non-European Country, too.

And read all the links that aren’t broken from age. They’re worth your time, too.