3rd Party.

Okay, let’s say there is this titanic miracle that Cancer is Cured, Aides gets a Vaccine, and both George Lucas and Uwe Boll are no longer allowed to even look at Cameras or get within 200 yards of a movie set….

And Ron Paul gets elected president by a sudden popularity swell thanks to all the Facebook Pictures of his face and clever captions.

What do you think that Presidency will accomplish? Fix everything all the sudden? Or will he completely embody the term “Lame Duck President”? He would have Zero support in the House and the Senate and he has no Supreme Court Justices to back him up. He would accomplish Diddly Squat. His presidency would amount to Jack Shit.

For anyone to effect anything – He would have to have Infrastructure under him… a foundation. A martial artists talks about his Stance and that being where he gets his strength from. Same thing as this… A sudden 3rd party sweeping the Whitehouse – Neat trick. But useless because he has no foundation. He would be useless and be made to look foolish.
And for God’s Sake – Find someone that doesn’t look and sound like a fucking lunatic like Ron Paul. He has to have Charisma. He has to roll fucking 20’s on Charisma. Ron Paul is a gigantic dork that doesn’t even wear a suit that fits him. You need someone that will bring voters FLOCKING to him by the Stadium full.
Like this:
http://m.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/romneyryan-rally-planned-for-waukesha-sunday-night-096f6lt-165842666.html

You third party guys – Stop Aiming for the Whitehouse! It’s not TIME. You have to build your base. Get your guys into School Boards, City Councils, State Houses and Senates… Then go for Congress and once you have established a solid foundation – Then you go for the Whitehouse with a Chance in Hell to actually win it.

UNTIL THAT TIME –
Stop wasting our time and stop splitting our VOTE! You guys are being used… by Media Matters and the like to Split our Vote… You are termed “USEFULL IDIOTS” by the Left because you are Serving Their Purposes. You split our vote and that makes beating the GOP and staying in power all the easier!

A Better Plan? And Easier Plan?
Let’s FIX the GOP and put it in the RIGHT TRACK. Make the GOP Conservative again.
How? Take some Seats back from them and push the Lean back to the Right. It’s DOABLE. We’re seeing it already working in some states. It’s far easier to fix the GOP than it is to establish a 3rd Party.

It’s growing on me

This is not a Prop from the set of STARGATE.  This is not Admiral Adama’s sniper rifle.  This is not a mock up for the new HALO game.  It’s the TC Dimension hunting rifle.

It’s “Wash Your Eyes Out With Bleach” ugly.  The option of swapping barrels means nothing to me… So why do I like it?

Well, as stupidly hideous as the damn thing looks… it feels awesome when you bring the gun up to your shoulder.  And the trigger… honestly, it’s one of the best “Hunting” triggers I’ve ever felt on a gun intended for actual hunting.  It has some weight to it… but there is no movement and it breaks as crisp as any gunwriter metaphor can equate.  It’s not a Bench Rest Trigger… but you don’t want that on a Field Gun.  Too many people think they do… and those people are terribly wrong.  You want a trigger that has a touch of deliberate intent, and then breaks exactly at the moment you want it to.  Like this trigger.  The height of the comb is perfect for when you mount any reasonable scope.  This allows a good consistent cheek weld, consistent aim through the scope… and combine with that trigger… this is going to let you make those once in a life time shots all the time.

A Zeiss scope for the Cheater

Don’t get me wrong… when it comes to shooting, I’m all about Cheating.  I’ll take any advantage I can.

Such as this… The Zeiss Diarange rifle scope.  It may not be cheap… but it’s like an FPS Cheat Code for real life.

It’s got a very solid mounting system, one like none other I’ve seen before… The adapters connect to any Pic or Weaver rail, which is fine…. easily adjustable to fit any length action.  All good.

They slide in the groove under the scope body and can be turned around for optimal fitting as the shooter desires.

It has a built in laser rangefinder, 999 yards, hence the name… and combines that with the excellent Rapid-Z reticle system.  This is an awesome combination.  The only thing it can’t do is dope the wind for you.  The glass is typically Zeiss quality… meaning it’s about as good as it gets.  Eye relief, clarity, brightness, strength of the glass and action.  It’s a great scope.  The readout is clear and bright.

If there is anything wrong with the scope, it’s the price.  It’s Tony Stark Level.  But man… if you have the means… this is it.  A good customer of ours came in and ordered this.  Its not something we would have normally stocked.  It’s that expensive.  This is in a town where the rich guys will buy a teenager with a new license a Lotus Exige and their daughters trips to Paris for a Back to School Shopping Spree. But this is still one of those “If you want it, we’ll get it for you” things.

Monday’s Motorcycle: Kawasaki Z750S

One of my friends here in Vernal rides a fairly unique machine.  A Z750S.  It’s not the biggest, or the fastest of machines.  It’s not the coolest either. But it does just about everything.  It is fast.  It seems to handle well.  And it cruises just fine.  That’s what I like about it…. Versatility.

This one is M’s.

When I still had my Magna, I was allowed to put the kickstand up on it.  The bike was fun and ran well.  It reminded me of a Cafe Racer in it’s configuration.  No wind protection and fairly aggressive riding position, especially compared my Magna.  I liked it.  It didn’t help me at all to avoid a Sports Bike bug.  Kind of underpowered below 6,000 RPM, but once you get into the powerband… it’s all there.

Now, M’s machine has been modified.  He’s moved his pegs, changed things around, and has improved wind protection by installing a Vetter Windjammer.  It looks strange, I’ll have to say.  And he will be the first to say so himself.  But it works.

This photo was taken in Rangely Colorado.  An hour’s drive from Vernal… but we made it a lot quicker.  The Z750S, dubbed “The Enterprise” due to the bikes overall shape with the Vetter, had no problem cruising at 120 mph even on less than perfect rural roads.  A testament to the Z750S suspension.

Continue reading Monday’s Motorcycle: Kawasaki Z750S

Gun Violence is a Social Healthcare Issue?

The story on The Blaze about gun violence as a social healthcare issue is extremely naive.

(The Blaze/AP) — Is a gun like a virus, tobacco or alcohol?  According to “public health experts,“ who in the wake of recent mass shootings are calling for a fresh look at gun violence as a ”social disease,” it is.

What we need, they say, is a “public health approach” to the problem.

Dr. Garen Wintemute of University of California, Davis claims it is no longer enough to tackle gun violence by focusing solely on the people doing the shooting.  Dr. Stephen Hargarten, who treated victims of the Sikh temple shootings at the emergency department he heads in Milwaukee, feels the same way.

“What I’m struggling with is, is this the new social norm?” he asked, before asserting: “This is what we’re going to have to live with if we have more personal access to firearms.”

He continued: “We have a public health issue to discuss. Do we wait for the next outbreak or is there something we can do to prevent it?”

About 260 million to 300 million firearms are owned by civilians in the United States; about one-third of American homes have one.  Last year, 55 percent of Americans said gun laws should either remain the same or become more lenient.

There are some very serious issues with this man’s thinking.  If we are going to look at it like a Disease, we need to look at the Vectors.  What is causing this to spread?  Because it does indeed seem like these shooting sprees are happening more often.   If we are not allowed to look at the Shooter/Lunatic/Criminal as the source of the issue, then let’s look at this issue like we’ve examined other “Social Diseases” such as Smoking.  It’s not fault of Tobacco, it’s just a leaf.  And a firearm is nothing more than a tool.  So again, social, not the object.  Okay, with Cigarettes, the social vector was damn near every movie and tv show and advertising showed us that it was Cool to Smoke and Cool People Smoked, so if you wanted to be cool… you smoked.   So they started limiting smoking in Films and such.  That was a Social response.  But that’s not happening with Gun Violence.  In fact, just the opposite is happening.
When someone goes nuts and starts a shooting spree, the more public and dramatic the better.  The news agencies cover the story in every direction and angle and we see the shooter’s face damn near everywhere.  We know their names, where they lived, and we give them what they want… Fame.   If we want to limit exposure and the glorification of committing a shooting spree… we need to turn our backs on the Shooters.  Don’t make the shooters famous.  Don’t say their names.  Don’t show their pictures.  Report the story, fine, but don’t go about it to make the criminal a pop-star.  They need to be forgotten.

Psycho Killer, or Girl Afraid of Nothing?

Access to firearms is not a correlation to gun violence.  Where I live – we have probably the highest per capita of gun ownership as any place in the nation.  I live outside of a small town.  We have a number of gun stores.  2 of the top ten of gun stores in the state, with the one I’m working at… last time I looked, we were 4th in the state.  We’re also 3 hours from Population.  One estimation is that we have on average 18 firearms per home.   We have a lot of guns out here.  Shooting sprees have not happened here.  Shooting sprees don’t happen at gun shows either.  Having guns doesn’t mean we’re going to have blood in the streets.

Another Social Issue that we have that allows these shooting sprees to propagate is the fallacy of “Gun Free Zones”.    Most of these shootings happen in Gun Free Zones.  Where good honest Victims are unable to defend themselves.  At the Theater in Colorado.  At the cafeteria in Ft. Hood.  At the campus of Virginia Tech.  The lack of guns in these gun free zones was a contributing factor here.  Notice in each that the shootings only stopped when the guys with the guns showed up.

Guns Save Lives.  Like Parachutes, Helmets, and Seatbelts.  If we are going to cure this social issue… we need to make it cool to for people to Carry and get Training.

Training is the key here.   Just like all other social issues – Education is the Solution.  Learn to use your guns and have them with you.  Have one on you.