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The cost of a life via the NYT. Move past the political snottiness. Does he have a point about a failure to win hearts and minds and does he have the best solution?
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Looks like OD’s worst nightmare over the Afghani poppy field situation is coming to pass: the WOD enters the WOT in Afghanistan. This could be brilliant, or it could be a goat----(which is OD’s position, and I don’t know that he’s wrong).
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Armchair isn’t real happy about the whole ‘War Czar’ idea and the choice for it(not what you think about the pick).
--ry
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Something that irritates me is the new ‘sanctuary’ movement. CA Proposition 187, and its legal battles, proved once and for all that anything and everything to do with immigration is a Federal level power; and states and community preferences or votes be damned. Or doesn’t the law matter when it’s not working in your favor, immigration advocates?
--ry
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Via the NYT comes this gem of Congressional thought.
A congressman from New Jersey said yesterday that he would propose a bill that would require all visitors to military installations to undergo federal background checks. The proposal comes in the wake of the charges filed last week against six men accused of planning an attack on soldiers at Fort Dix. The congressman, Representative Jim Saxton, a Republican whose district includes Fort Dix, said his bill would require the background checks for all visitors, including contractors, delivery people and civilians. The authorities have linked the six terrorist suspects to a pizzeria that frequently delivered to the base.
Heh. I suspect this will die a quiet death as someone from DoD drops by the Congressman's office and gives him a reality check. He will effectively be closing those installations to outsiders. There goes any airshows... open houses, access to the museums... the list goes on. Then there's the cost. I would remind the good Congressman about the backlog in doing security clearance investigations - largely due to... cost. And would security be enhanced? Only marginally. Better to allow the denizens of military installations the ability to carry concealed. That would nip things like the Six Dix in the bud pretty quickly, if there's a group out there that isn't a Keystone Kops operation. -the Armorer
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Then there's this, from Vic Hanson:
What do leftist, mostly secular elites share with medieval sinners?They feel bad that the way they live sometimes doesn't quite match their professed dogma.
Read it here. -the Armorer
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From Zach Bauer of Missouri Carry yesterday - admittedly, it's the state next door, not here - but regional solidarity and all that!
At approximately 9:24 pm, the MO House took up and passed the Castle Doctrine bill, SB62 by a vote of 151-6.The Missouri Castle Doctrine Law and PTA Repeal has now passed both the Missouri Senate and tonight the Missouri House! The Bill will now move on to Gov. Blunt who has said repeatedly that he will sign the bill. This is an important victory won by those of you who wrote letters, sent those emails and made countless calls to your elected state officials.
So do you want the really good news? The good news is that the Brady Campaign who currently rates Missouri a "D+" when it comes to gun laws will probably be upgrading us to the much sought after "F" rating in the coming weeks when Gov. Blunt signs the bill. That is when you will truly know that we have done something right here in the state of Missouri.
Ah, sometimes it *is* good to have an "F" on your report card. From the Brady Campaign, from Kossacks, etc. -the Armorer
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Jules - supporting Palestinian Statehood. Why wouldn't we want these guys to be a full-blown government? -the Armorer
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Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.
*Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*
The UAVs (oops, can't call 'em UAVs anymore - they're now Unmanned Aerial Systems... some Colonel got his Legion of Merit for that change...), er, um UAS's we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.
I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".
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I recently completed the tactical weapons course under the direction of instructor Pat Rogers. It was a life changing event for me. The course allowed me to become familiar with the firearms, and also to understand what I hadn't realized before.....that black rifles are used and owned by people who are salt of the earth. Fifteen of us took the course, including four women, two doctors, a chef, a retired engineer and law enforcement and military folks. I have to tell you that I was overwhelmingly intimidated the first morning, and was tempted to quit. I had difficulty with the unfamiliar guns, and the course was designed in drill fashion. This was no bench rest scenario where you sat and tried to shoot as accurately as possible. Here we followed very explicit orders by the instructors and shot from sitting, kneeling, standing and prone positions. As the first day wore on, I began to feel more comfortable with the gun and shooting requirements. By the third day I didn't want to leave, and had one of the most incredible experiences of my life when I fired fully auto rifles and handguns. I made great friends among the other students and instructors, and have to tell you that I drove home from the Indiana course with an ear to ear grin. Sitting beside me in my pickup truck was a very large Elmer Fudd doll that was given to the student who screwed up the most. I don't need to explain the reasons why I was the recipient! It was all in great fun, and the outpouring of kindness from the people there was terrific.Throughout all this, since I wrote that blog in February, I learned many, many things. I want to thank you for understanding, early on, how my words indicated an ignorance about black rifles, and I want to thank you for your efforts in using my ignorance as an example in order to unite all of use who own guns, all guns, whether they're for hunting, shooting, home defense, or simply as collectors items.
Rock on, bloodbrother!
Jim Zumbo