H&I* Fires, 10 June 2008

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite.

Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want to flame someone in email please - if it doesn't say "The Armorer" or "John" then I didn't write it! And honestly - if you don't like something said or posted... leave a comment, and hash it out (within the context of The Rulez which are clearly posted on the comment form, I would add).

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Heh. All the condom news you can use - first up, Bad Cat Robot:

Seems they got their yearly shipment of condoms, all 16.5K of them. If you do the math, for the winter folk that's over 130 per person, regardless of gender and/or orientation. These are *scientists* , fer crying out loud. Birth control AND STD protection with every degree! (Which probably means 16,500 spermicidal water balloons, or ribbed balloon animals ..)

With a frequency level like that, no wonder they're not having any problems filling the teams to "winter over" in Antarctica... "The first sunrise will occur on August 20 and McMurdo's population will start to increase again in September when supply flights resume, peaking at more than 1,000 during the summer period." Well, at least we can be sure the population won't be increasing except via air-delivery, vice older forms of delivery...

Heh. Then there's this: Practice Safe Policy... Oh, go ahead, click it. You know you want to. It's a natural urge and you shouldn't repress it. Ever.

New York, NY, June 9, 2008 Practice Safe Policy, the nations first brand devoted to showcasing the indecent relations between politics and sex, has launched its collection of intimate yet topical novelty products with OBAMA CONDOMS and MCCAIN CONDOMS.

Now that the people have voted, the lusty patriots at Practice Safe Policy decided that it was time for the people of this great nation to forget about minor concerns like the war, the economy or healthcare and instead focus on the truly important issue of the day: Practicing Safe Policy in the bedroom. OBAMA CONDOMS and MCCAIN CONDOMS were designed so Americans could take their favorite candidates out of the living room and into the bedroomwhere the real game of politics is played.

Heh. Since it seems we conservatives are likely to get screwed regardless. -the Armorer

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I understand farm life isn't for everyone - and wouldn't have been for me, when I was younger. And for people who are neatniks, it must be a nightmare. But the rewards are manifest, if you take the time to watch... Heh. I'm starting to sound like a Fourierist, which I am most emphatically not...

Meet Serafina (in the rear) and her daughter, Morgan La Fey, both wild and wooly wimmin with strong opinions they aren't afraid to express...

Or getting up in the morning, and finding this tired little keet in the incubator, who's just had a long 24 hours or so of being curled up in a shell, trying to peck his or her way out.

That's hard work and just plumb tuckers a feller out... so a warm friendly hand is a good place to rest and take in the strange new world you find yourself in. SWWBO took the pics. -the Armorer

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Civilization advances, one thundermug at a time. This is out in AFSis' region... H/t, Mike L. -the Armorer

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A surge of optimism in Iraq?

The article Dean linked to had one little blurb I found...well..ridiculous:

The "Sunni Awakening" in formerly deadly Anbar province helped turn once-hostile forces into allies or at least mercenaries— since the U.S. has paid them handsomely— against al Qaida in Iraq .

You know these folks must never have been to Iraq or simply refuse to believe, regardless of money, these people had extremely good reasons to become "mercenaries". In fact, those reasons are so real and so important to these "mercenaries" that they are volunteering to go with us to Afghanistan to fight Al Qaeda. h/t Instapundit
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On another note, FBI reports violent crimes are down. Right in the middle of a recession. Huh. I thought poverty was supposed to make that rise? So, which of the left's canards is being proven false? Is poverty on the decline? Or, are people not really driven by poverty to seek the life of crime? Or, maybe there is a third canard that dies with this report: Guns don't make us safer.

CCW permits and less restrictions on citizens to carry or own weapons have been spreading from state to state since slightly before 2006 with 2007 being a banner year for enacting laws or fighting off appeals restricting or slowing implementation.

The only sad part is the note that young black men continue to be the number one victims and perpetrators of violent crimes. Particularly, against each other as gangs once again surge to the fore.
-Kat