Two Trillion Tons

A song about Obama and the Democrats taxing and spending our way into a deeper deficit. It’s pretty catchy, Tennessee Ernie Ford would be proud!

[audio:TwoTrillionTons.mp3]

Barack Obama, Gun Owner »« Michael Yon, again…

Michael Yon, again…

I’ve tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but as they say: “Once is an accident, Twice is coincidence, but Thrice is enemy action.” What do you call four times?

After getting called on the carpet by his readers for shoddy reporting here (which I posted on), he sent out a butt-hurt email to his list about it, insisting he was being misquoted, even though he was being quoted verbatim:

“Interesting that the short dispatch on weapons to Mexico is resulting in such a torrent of comments.

My work is misquoted around the world every day, but nowhere as often as on my own site. Some readers seem to think that I wish to ban firearms in the United States, or that I claim that automatic weapons are flowing to Mexico.  Automatic weapons almost certainly are flowing to Mexico, which would explain how they got there.  But I didn’t write it.  Nor would an easy reading of the short dispatch reveal that I am calling to ban guns in the United States.  It’s just fascinating to see apparent gun-fanatics misquote a document that is just inches away on the same computer screen.  If they invest only that minimal level of attention to the guns they are apparently packing, it’s just a matter of time before they accidentally shoot themselves or someone else.  Attention to detail is an important component of gun safety.“

Thanks Yon, so we’re all fanatics now? Just because we disagree with you?

This was followed up with this post. Notice the forgone conclusion that it’s all our fault:

“How many of the guns in Mexico are coming from the United States?  Good question that will prove extremely contentious if the number of weapons proves to be high.

This transcript from CBS is from an interview between Bob Schieffer and President Obama.  It does not answer the question, but definitely poses it:

BOB SCHIEFFER:

16:53:23:00     Let me ask you about (COUGHING) something closer to home and that is Mexico.  You talked about sending more aid to the Mexican government.  But things down there are really serious, as you well know.  It’s my understanding that 90 percent of the guns that they’re getting down in Mexico are coming from the United States.  We don’t seem to be doing a very good job of– cutting off the gun flow.  Do you need any kind of– legislative help on that front?  Have you, for example, thought about– asking Congress to reinstate the– ban on assault weapons?

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

16:53:53:00     Well, I think the main thing we need is better enforcement.  And so– this week we put forward a comprehensive initiative to assist those– border regions that are being threatened by– by these drug cartels– to provide assistance to the Mexican government to make sure that on our side of the border we’ve got more personnel, more surveillance equipment.

Please click to view the entire interview.“

And now there’s this:

“Nobody seems to dispute that tons of weapons apparently are flowing into Mexico.  A big question is, where are they coming from?  The only casualties assured to occur are those people who are shot by the real guns from the questionable sources, and the truth.  There are almost certainly people within the U.S. government who would fit the facts to fit their agendas, and there are vast numbers of citizens who would do the same.  Iraq and Afghanistan provide stark international reminders of this on the global scale.  It seemed that every cranny of government and civilian political organizations, overtly lied or spackled over inconvenient facts that did not lead to pre-determined outcomes for Iraq, in particular.  Personally, I don’t trust any government, nor do I trust the amorphous “gun lobby” in the United States. All are filled with overt and hidden agendas.  Huge money flies around. Having grown up in America, I’m not sure which to disbelieve more: the government agendas, or the private agendas.  I grew up in the South, and was shooting and hunting as a young boy.  By my young twenties, I had become intimately familiar with perhaps a hundred types of small arms.  Having lived in places like Florida, North Carolina, California and Massachusetts, I am extremely well aware of the gun arguments — from various sides — and the high emotions surrounding them.  That intimate knowledge causes me to suspect the gun-fanatics as much as the anti-gun fanatics.  Neither camp can be counted on to tell the good, the bad and the ugly.  None are to be trusted with mere facts, even when actual facts can be found.“

Again with the names Michael.

I looked forward and appreciated your reporting in Iraq, bringing to light what the MSM would not touch, but you’re just plain wrong on this one, and instead of seeing the error of your ways, you’re just digging yourself in deeper into a hole from which there will be no credibility left.

Here’s another take of the issue and here’s another one.

Two Trillion Tons »« So we’re not terrorists after all?

So we’re not terrorists after all?

Who knew?

In a panicked back-pedalling of Pelosian proportions, The Missouri Highway Patrol is distancing itself from the MIAC report which labeled practically every freedom loving patriot as a domestic terrorist.

“State drops warnings over ‘militia’ members

‘Had that report been reviewed by my office it would never have been released’
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

The chief of the Missouri highway patrol is blasting a report issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center that linked conservative groups to domestic terrorism, assuring that such reports no longer will be issued.

The report warned law enforcement agencies to watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers
for third-party political candidates such as Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

It further warned law enforcement to watch out for individuals with “radical” ideologies based on Christian views, such as opposing illegal immigration, abortion and federal taxes.

Chief James Keathley of the Missouri State Patrol issued a statement that the release of the report, which outraged conservatives nationwide, prompted him to “take a hard look” at the procedures through which the report was released by the MIAC.

“My review of the procedures used by the MIAC in the three years since its inception indicates that the mechanism in place for oversight of reports needs improvement,” he wrote. “Until two weeks ago, the process for release of reports from the MIAC to law enforcement officers around the state required no review by leaders of the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the Department of Public Safety.”

He said the militia report was “created by a MIAC employee, reviewed by the MIAC director, and sent immediately to law enforcement agencies across Missouri. The militia report was never reviewed by me or by the Director of Public Safety, John Britt, at any point prior to its issuance. Had that report been reviewed by either my office or by leaders of the Department of Public Safety, it would never have been released to law enforcement agencies,” wrote Keathley

The report simply “does not meet” the needed standard for “intelligence,” he said.“

Read more here…

Indeed.

Michael Yon, again… »« I like this guy…

I like this guy…

President Barack Obama finds his videos “disturbing” and has summoned him to the White House to discuss them.

So we’re not terrorists after all? »« More on Mexican Guns

More on Mexican Guns

From Gun News Daily:

“Homeland Security Spills the Beans

Maybe the U.S. Really Doesn’t Know Where Drug Cartels are Getting Their Guns

March 22 2009

In a recent article I pointed out the scam the feds and Mexican government are playing on Americans regarding weapons trafficking into Mexico from the U.S.  I pointed out that most of the weapons coming into Mexico used by drug cartels are illegal to purchase in the U.S. at your local gun store.  Most are fully automatic military weapons, unavailable to the average gun purchaser, and most definitely not on display at your local gun store.

Yet, our government, aided and abetted by the media, continue to espouse it is U.S. gun dealers in Arizona, California and Texas that are supplying these weapons to cartels, which fuel the violence.  Considering the types of weapons seized, as reported by Mexican authorities, including hand grenades (illegal in the U.S.) landmines (illegal in the U.S.), rocket propelled grenades (illegal in the U.S.), and rocket launchers (illegal in the U.S.), along with fully automatic military rifles (illegal in the U.S.), it certainly leads one to believe that the stories being promulgated by the media and our government look less than honest.

Yet, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) continues to report that “ATF officials estimate that 90 percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico came from dealers north of the border”.  But, they do not in any way say that the 90% of weapons are directly related to cartels.  And, why is that?  Because they are hoping the general public is dumb enough to connect the dots and assume that’s what is happening.

The fact are; the firearms BATFE is referring to are used by petty thieves in Mexico, kidnappers, and weapons confiscated from citizens by local law enforcement officials, whose only crime was seeking self-defense for themselves and their families.  That is a completely different issue.  Firearms do move to Mexico, but the vast majority has nothing to do with drug cartels.  It has everything to do with a demand for firearms by otherwise law-abiding Mexican citizens, particularly the middle and upper-class.

As pointed out in my previous article, Mexican drug cartels purchase the majority of their weaponry from the black market worldwide.  These weapons come from third world countries armed by Russia, the U.S. and other countries engaged in supporting conflicts around the world.  These are weapons that never make it to their destination from the exporting countries because they are stolen or arrive and are resold in the black market by corrupt bureaucrats, dictators, or politicians.  Or, they are simply stolen from their military.  Along with third world sources, the heavy hitter in supplying military weapons to Mexico is China.   Vessels laden with firearms for Mexico, and illegal Chinese immigrants destined for the U.S. through our southern border, are smuggled into Western Mexico ports as a matter of routine.  Both the human and firearms cargo are controlled by Mexican crime cartels.

And, while pushing drugs into the U.S., cartels are selling guns in the Mexican black market to fulfill a need by citizens who find it impossible to navigate Mexico’s highly restrictive gun laws.  Getting a permit to own a gun in Mexico is similar to getting a concealed carry permit in California, which simply means you don’t get one unless you have money and know someone in the government.  What guns are moving to Mexico from the U.S. are those that law-abiding Mexican citizens are demanding in order to defend their lives.  Make no mistake, the demand for U.S. guns in Mexico has existed for decades, but it is no more today than it has been for decades.

Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA, and others have said recently that the Mexican government doesn’t provide the serial number information from guns seized in cartel actions in Mexico to determine their point of origin.  So how can the so-called “estimate” from the ATF be taken seriously?  It can’t.  It’s wrong.  It’s nothing more than government propaganda.  Gosh, our government wouldn’t lie to the American people purely to mislead us, would they?  They would, and they do.  Catching them in the lie however takes only a little research.  Eventually, they are exposed for what they truly are.

In this case, as luck should have it, along comes Janet Napolitano, our new head of Homeland Security.  It is difficult to maintain a lie with one person continually repeating their story.  Eventually they trip up and expose them themselves with inconsistencies over time.  But, perpetuating a lie among several people becomes almost impossible.  Janet Napolitano stepped into it and unwittingly gave credence to Wayne LaPierre’s statement and confirming what I have said previously.  This is all a scam to gin up public support for a new assault weapon ban in the U.S.

In a press conference recently held by Napolitano, she all but admitted that firearms seized by the Mexican government are not traced by U.S. officials.  In fact, the Mexican government doesn’t give U.S. officials the serial number information.  There is no reason to.  They don’t want to expose the fact that the weapons seized are not purchased from gun shops in the U.S.

Take special note of the Napolitano’s statements that are in bold.

Question:  Okay. Randy Mikkelsen with Reuters. Can you please discuss the agenda for this Arms Trafficking Conference? Do you expect to move some policy initiatives or advance — advance the U.S. means to control the shipments?

Secretary Napolitano:  “Yes, I think — I think we’ll be moving forward or discussing several items, and I think Attorney General Holder is also going to be there. So it’s the same — it’s the same meeting. “

“But one is what we can do to better intercept weapons that are going south from the U.S. into Mexico, not only with U.S. but also with Mexican Customs, and what are some of the security equipment, things that we can put in the ports there that will help us better detect whether arms are being taken illegally into Mexico.”

“Secondly, facilitating the tracing of guns that are actually used in crimes in Mexico and make sure that that is being done on — on a very, very real-time basis as opposed to guns being seized during some of these huge violent incidents in Mexico that get put in a warehouse and nobody knows where they came from. So those are two areas I think specifically that I will be part of.”

Question:  Is there sort of illegal activity on the U.S. side in supplying those guns? Are there things you can do — I mean, are there crimes that can be prosecuted here in terms of supplying those guns, and do you agree with some of the lawmakers — I think Attorney General Holder indicated during a congressional hearing that he would support an assault weapons ban. Is that something should be part of the Administration’s agenda?

Secretary Napolitano:  “I think what we need to do is be — there are existing laws that can be used to prosecute these gun crimes in the United States, particularly if you’re selling to someone who obviously is a straw purchaser. There are patterns of illegal gun sales. That’s one of the reasons you want to do tracing, so you can see if large amounts of these weapons are all coming from one or two similar sources, you know, that sort of thing. So there’s lots you can do on the investigation and prosecution side under the existing laws.”

The facts are; firearms seized from cartels aren’t coming from gun dealers in the U.S.  The Mexican government knows it, and so does the U.S., including the BATFE.

So, why let a good political crisis go to waste as they say in the Obama Administration.  Mexico gets to blame the U.S. for the lie that violence in Mexico is caused by guns trafficked illegally from the U.S., and the U.S. gets to blame gun dealers and Americans for the violence in Mexico.  It suits the purpose of both governments.  The first is for Mexican politicians to deflect the heat of Mexican citizens on to the U.S., and for the U.S. to create a reason to ban guns here.  It all fits nicely into one neat package.

The Obama administration simply doesn’t like firearms in the hands of Americans.  They want them removed, but they will start with making them less attainable.  They will attempt to demonize certain types of firearms by giving groups of firearms names that attack the sensibilities of common American.  Do these sound familiar?  They should.  Assault weapons, sniper weapons, high-powered sniper weapons, Saturday night specials, military weapons of war, are all used to turn Americans against gun owners. Additionally, sudden regulatory changes will happen without notice, such as banning the sale of once fired 5.56 and 9mm military brass into the civilian market.  Or, coming soon no doubt will be a ban on certain imported rifles.  Certain types of ammunition will be scorned by the administration.  They are using the war on drugs and attempting to equate drug cartels with American gun owners and legitimate U.S. gun dealers.

Napolitano and the administration will pursue gun dealers in the U.S. using the courts because, low and behold, weapons stolen from U.S. gun owners and gun dealers, are quickly turned over into the black market and a significant number that are not used in crimes in the border states, end up in Mexico.  Guess what will happen to U.S. dealers after they trace the originating source?  They will persecuted by the federal government once again, not in an attempt to find them guilty of fraudulent gun sales, because very few will be if any, but to use expensive litigation to run them out of business and continue to drive up the cost of firearms.  Remember the Clinton hangover?  Gun dealers sued left and right by local and state governments, spurred on by the administration in an effort to run them out of business for gun trafficking within the U.S.  In the end, what happened?  Nothing.  Dealers were run out of business due to the cost of defending against the might of city, state and federal governments simultaneously.  How many went to jail or were found guilty of gun trafficking?  As you may recall, or not as the case may be, we heard of no gun dealers found guilty of gun trafficking within the U.S.  It was all a ruse, and it’s all starting again under the Obama Administration.

The objective is to make guns expensive and unattainable to the average American household.  They can’t ban them outright.  That isn’t going to happen. But, liberals don’t like individualism.  They don’t like Americans using firearms for self-defense.  It goes against their socialistic nature.  It’s not that they fear for their lives because we can own firearms, it because they fear what firearms mean in the hands of Americans.  It means independence, the right to exercise self-defense of themselves and their families.  It represents self-reliance.  All those fly in the face of socialists who firmly believe that you should rely on the government.  Simply ask a liberal anti-gun person a simple question.  Don’t I have the right to self-defense of my family and me?  The answer will be; that’s the job of law enforcement.  And, with that comes control and dominance over you.  It’s about who controls your life, you or the government.  When society is dependent for the basic necessities like safety or health, it controls your pocketbook through taxation.  It uses fear to gin up more reasons to increase law enforcement presence, to grow the government, to make it dominant in our lives.

We have at least four years of this nonsense that we will face from this administration.  And the drum beat of gun restrictions will increase over time as the restless liberal left media and liberal interest groups push their agenda of eliminating firearms from this society.  If they can’t do it with an outright ban, they’ll do it in the court systems to severely limit accessibility.  This is the Clinton Administration all over again.  Get used to it.”

I like this guy… »« Michael Yon Steps In It…

Michael Yon Steps In It…

…with both feet. It makes one wonder if any cool-aid was drunk as well. I guess stupidity is contagious after all.

“General (ret.) Barry McCaffrey continues to sound cautions and alarms on Mexico.  Clearly he loves the place and doesn’t want to see it fall apart.  For their sake or for ours.  I would highly suggest that journalists reach out to McCaffrey through his website.  His latest comments were published on Nationaljournal.com.

Interesting to note that apparently tons of weapons are flowing into Mexico from the United States.  During the Iraq war, weapons were/are coming from Syria and Iran.  Many Americans wanted to attack those countries for aiding the weapons flows, or even just turning a blind eye.  Now with Afghanistan: weapons flood in from Pakistan.  What about our country in regard to Mexico?

I am a gun-owner.  I grew up with guns the way some people grew up with video games.  I’m a far better shot with a real gun than a video-game gun.  I have no plans to give up my hardware, but we must be honest here and help curb flows that are killing Mexicans and Americans.  The idea that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” should be saved for someone who will buy it.  That’s like saying IEDs don’t kill people, people kill people.  Nuclear weapons don’t kill people…

Guns kill people.  I’m not giving up my guns and I’ll stand shoulder to shoulder with other Americans who want to keep theirs.  But we must be honest about the problems to face them.  Of course a country like Afghanistan could tell the United Kingdom, “The fact that your people use heroin has turned our cornfields to poppy!”  (Opium is Afghan Oil, so Afghan farmers don’t complain much about European addiction statistics.)  As in AfPak, these sorts of problems do not know or respect borders and the problems are complex.  Such issues must be confronted holistically.

This isn’t AfPak, it’s AmMex.  Drugs are flowing north, weapons are flowing south, and money is flying everywhere.  AmMex is not about al Qaeda and the Taliban, but equally ruthless criminal gangs — with far more money than al Qaeda could ever dream of.  These gangs will be bringing guns and drugs to your city, and they will hope to make your kid a customer.  And if your kid causes problems, he’ll be shot.  Or worse.”

More on Mexican Guns »« Home Security Fail

Home Security Fail

From FailBlog:

Michael Yon Steps In It… »« More EAA Witness Stuff…

More EAA Witness Stuff…

Jeffersonian and I had a range day on the 21st. He had some handgun science to do and I wanted to see if my used Ruger 22/45 magazine worked in addition to further diagnosing my ongoing EAA Witness issues.

After loading up the “new” magazine with ten rounds of Federal blue box bulk .22lr ammo I proceeded to put ten shots rapid fire into a two inch circle from seven yards away. Not bad..and the magazine worked fine. A little gun oil and some fine steel wool will get rid of the surface surface rust no problem. At this point it appears to be a good, solid magazine. I’ve still got to try the new one I got afterwards, but my expectations are that it’ll work just fine. We’ll see.

The easy part of the session over with I loaded up twenty rounds of CCI Blazer Brass .45 ACP into my two magazines and slid one into the magwell. I thumbed the slide release and right off the bat it stopped just short of going into battery. A little nudge on the rear of the slide and it slid into battery. I then shot four shots and then the same thing happened again. If you remember (before the blog crash) I wrote about how this was happening with my handloads. These were made on the same reloading setup Jeffersonian makes his on, and his EAA Witness eats them up. Next I loaded up ten rounds of UMC bulk .45 ACP and popped the magazine into the gun. What followed was a repeat performance of the first magazine full of CCI Blazer Brass .45 ACP ammo.

Since Jeffersonian had brought his EAA Witness along I popped his barrel into my slide and got the same results as above. Because his barrel and slide are longer than mine, it was not possible to test my barrel in his slide. Next, we swapped slide assemblies and we tested them this way to see what would happen. My slide assembly on his lower receiver yielded the exact same results, while his slide assembly on my lower reciever performed flawlessly, and I turned in some great shots with it. Both of our guns are accurate, it’s just the reliability issue which has been plaguing me.

One possible cause of this problem could be in the locking lugs on the barrel and slide. Jeffersonian’s seem to have been relieved slightly while mine are almost sharp enough to cut yourself on.

One thing which Jeffersonian and I have found interesting is that my slide has very faint markings on the side, which if viewed from the proper angle say “Model P9″. The P9 of course is the Springfield Armory pistol based on the CZ75. It is my understanding that the P9 is in 9mm and uses a barrel bushing, whereas the EAA Witness I have is in .45 ACP and does not have a barrel bushing. It is also my understanding that both pistols are virtually identical and most parts are interchangeable. Seeing as how the EAA Witness comes in multiple calibers, the fact that my slide may have originally been a P9 slide does not seem as odd as I first thought.

Anyway, the upshot of our range based science appears to focus on the locking lugs and upper slide assembly. If I can’t figure out what’s causing this issue, one solution is to order a new slide assembly from EAA. This is by far the most costly solution as it would cost almost as much as the whole pistol did, but at least it would be reliable. The other is to find a knowledgable gunsmith who has dealt with this kind of issue before and knows how to fix it. Hopefully this solution would cost considerable less. Honestly, at this point I just want it to work.

Jeffersonian, I know you’re reading this. If you have anything to add, do so and I’ll update the post with your comments. I’m sure I’ve probably forgotten something too.

So, based on what I’ve written above, do any of my readers have any idea what to do about this problem?

Oh, and I brought my son along with me too, and when I was done with the science part, I taught him a little about how to shoot.

Home Security Fail »« The Mainstream Media

The Mainstream Media

More EAA Witness Stuff… »« Thanks Obama!

Thanks Obama!

After the highly enjoyable, and informative (more on that later) range trip and a mediocre lunch, Jeffersonian and I headed off to browse the local gun shops. Our first stop was Brightwater Ventures, where I picked up another Ruger 22/45 magazine (for a total of four). the shelves were empty of most items, and business appeared to be brisk. I would have loved to get a picture of Mike’s “Employee of the Month” sign featuring Barack Obama, but Mike’s skittish about cameras, so we bowed to his wishes.

Our next stop was Sportsman’s Warehouse and it’s a good thing we weren’t in desperate need of ammo, because there was none, at all. Reloading components, especially brass and powder were few. Ditto the handguns and Ruger 10/22′s especially, among others. An observation which I shared with Jeffersonian at the time is that the fighting calibers, handgun and rifle were picked clean, leaving only bird shot and funky hunting calibers, ditto for the firearms that shoot them. People aren’t buying these guns and ammo to go hunting folks, and they aren’t buying them with the intention of turning them all in if another AWB comes down the pike. The good news is however, if you want to go hunting, there’s lots of guns and ammo still available. While pricey, a lot of these would still make excellent “sniper” type weapons. Pssst…don’t tell the Brady’s that! Somehow I suspect they already know this, however.

I managed to snap a few photo’s with my cell phone to demonstrate just how bare the shelves really were.

So yeah, thanks again Barack Obama, you lying SOB. Aparently most people saw through your statement you weren’t going to take anybody’s guns. Actions speak louder than words. As for me, I’ll just have to stay bitter and clingy.

The Mainstream Media »« Save Me Obama!