Jan 15th, Thursday, 2004: 1430hrs:  I am glad to see Dennis Miller get his own show again.  Dennis is one of the few people that I like on TV.  I love his rants.

Someone please tell me why taking kids away from loving parents is a good Idea?  Child Services will snatch kids faster than that creepy guy from Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, with nothing more than a phone call to go on.  Then they will drop this kids off at Foster homes.  We hear about foster home nightmares all the time.  My response would be just Bang-Bang.  Especially in this case. 

Dong Resin makes a good point.  I’m getting very tired of hearing about more and more jobs getting farmed out to overseas locations.  I think companies that do this should suffer some economic repercussions, for example increased taxes or other penalties… or people just all agreeing on something like “Fuck Them” and not conduct business with them until they change their beat.  I’ve said before that I am a “Right Leaning Centrist” or a “Bleeding Heart Conservative”… whatever you want to call it… but when it comes to Capitalism, I’m a fucking Socialist.  I believe that a Corporation should be first and foremost beholden to it’s employees, and after that, then they can give consideration to the shareholders.   I think the way things run now, being backwards from this, is disingenuous to the people that make the Corporation function.   Do shareholders make a company work?  Sure, they can help… with investing that allows some expansion or something, but really it’s the employees that make things happen.  It’s these employees that should not only get the credit but also the rewards.  A corporation as part of the community owes allegiance to the community as well.   Sending good jobs to India is a slap in the community’s face as well as a big middle finger to the employees.  Sure the NASDAQ is over 2111 points, companies are doing well… unfortunately they are doing well by shortchanging Americans.  I’m sure that all the asshat Executives and Shareholders are all just fucking giddy.

The Douglas Clifton situation in Ohio.   To bring latecomers up to speed, this is the guy promising to publish the names and addressed of all new Ohio CCW permit holders.  Special thanks to Horde Member “Boom_Stick” who posted a thread over at AR15.com about this.  That’s one way to get the message out.   I can see Douglas getting his ass kicked very soon over this matter.  Who should also get their asses kicked are the jackasses legislators how put in the clause that allows the newspapers to publish this private information.  This puts people – good people – at risk.  “Hey Bad Guys!  These are the houses of gun owners!”  This also makes these good people potential victims of discrimination… from church members to coworkers or even from bosses.  Having a CCW is a personal matter that no one else should have to know about.  In fact, looking at this logically, what’s the fucking point of having to conceal the gun if the whole fucking state knows you packing?   This is some of the worst legislation that I’ve ever seen.  Snide and spiteful and dangerous.  Here is another suggestion from one of the Horde:  “Just to add on to the suggestion of publishing the editor's info mirroring what they publish about CCW holders.  I would also list the editors who do and do not have CCW permits, or any other firearm related paperwork. Those that do have the permit but are against anyone else having one can be exposed as hypocrites, those that don't, well, maybe it would be time for those to reconsider...”

Gun Bunny has been reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  Excellent book.  This is the best version of Vampire lore ever.  It’s also the original… it’s the jackasses like Anne Rice that have screwed up what a Vampire really is.  One thing about BS’s version that I really like is the method he used for telling the story.  Very interesting perspective.  If you have not read this book, I think you should.  And then you are fully able to scoff and mock the frilly, lacy, foo-foo vampires everyone else writes about.  Okay, that Anne Rice writes about.  I just hate her writing… she sucks.   

WHAT?  Wes Clark was FOR THE WAR when he has been telling all of America that he was AGAINST IT?  You mean he LIED to us?  No way.  I don’t believe it.  Not Clark!  He he he he… Clark can go to hell.   It’s funny that Howard Dean was caught in the same lie… Each one is wandering around the issues like drunk sailors wandering around Bangkok.   Neither one can be trusted because both have a great number of public records that just happen to be sealed.  Why is that?   I'm telling you, I'd vote for Sharpton in a second.  As screwed up as his views are - they are his views and he is solid on them.  He is a true believer and that’s something no one else has... save maybe Lieberman.  But since Lieberman is the only guy that makes sense when he opens his mouth - he is the farthest from getting the nomination. 

Well, this is all I can post right now.  My migraine headache is killing me and I think I have to go puke now… this is especially not fun with a headache such as this and a sore throat. 

Jan 14th, Wednesday, 2004:  1000hrs: Bush is giving NASA another billion dollars to build a moon base and put a man on Mars.  Nifty Idea, but NASA is not the agency to do it.  They are too slow, too fat, and lack the vision as an agency.  There are other groups that are more motivated and more able to do it.  If they had the funds that NASA gets we would be on Mars in less than 10 years.   NASA overlooks and scoffs at all new ideas that doesn't come from within.  This is the kind of thinking that had Pontiac building the Aztec and NASA killing the workable X-33 space plane.   NASA is now the modern equivalent of THE VIRGINIA COMPANY.   In other words, hopelessly outdated.   What's the big news today?  "We just told the Rover to roll 10 inches.  Cross your fingers."  Come ON! 10 Inches?  Drive the dang thing over the horizon!  What are they going to see 10 inches away that they can’t see right where it is now?   Rover moves 10 inches… “Oh yeah, that’s SO much better.” – Houston.  Please.  That’s the vision of exploration?  My point is that NASA thinks TOO SMALL.  Moon base. Why? What are we going to get out of it?  What is a guy going to do on the moon?  
"Houston, I found another rock."
*cheers* - Houston

I'm for space exploration too... but I'm for taking it from another route.   Let's look at another exploration/expansion situation:  The American West.  We had explorers cruising around the west... we knew everything about the west... we had maps and charts and paths laid out... but we didn't expand into it.  It wasn't until the Government took a hands of approach to Privatization that the expansion to the west really took off.  With in a few years we had railroads layed out and we had towns and industry just blooming all over the place.
We need the same thing for SPACE.  Exploration is pointless without it.  Check this out - the coolest space photos... they are not from NASA... but from Russia.  They have photos of the surface of Venus.  

THE ONLY GOOD DEMOCRAT. 

The ACLU has come out on the side of RUSH and is fighting on his side regarding his medical records.  This is surprising that they have been able to put the politics down and actually do the right thing.  Now if we could just get them to recognize that the Second Amendment as an INDIVIDUAL RIGHT rather than Collective – then they would have crossed the line from being jackasses into being “Okay”.  Regardless that they could become a better weapon for gun rights than the NRA, they still have a problem.   They still support partial birth abortions and they still support men publishing wishes to have sex with little kids… I have a huge problem with those two issues.  I don’t believe anyone has a right to those things.  I’m sorry.  Until the ACLU gets real, they are still a bunch of jackasses.

Get Well Soon, Ted Nugent!  Ted had a slip of the chainsaw and cut his leg badly.  40 stitches.  Ouch!  He’s going to be okay… thank goodness.  Ted remains one of the only guys on the NRA board of directors with any balls.  If we loose him…

Ohio has a little situation that I have held off on talking about.  I shall start out with an email from our man on the scene, Horde Captain Heath: 

“Hey there Ogre,  How goes things from the frozen wasteland?  Hope all is well out thereabouts.  Couple of questions for ya.  Ohio just joined the ranks of the civilized states and is now going to allow we peons to defend ourselves with concealed weapons.  There’s one problem though, a provision giving the MEDIA  access to the list of permit holders and their info.  I have no idea what the fuck that’s supposed to accomplish, but it pisses me off no less.  make matters worse, the Cleveland based Plain Dealer, the biggest paper around, had decided to do the very asshole-ish thing and vows to publish all CCW holders names and info.  Sound like utter bullshit??  does to me.  anyhow, we've got a thread going over on THR, and the idea is to get guys with blogs to publish the editors info all over the internet to see how he likes it.  you can read the rest of the details there, but i think i've paraphrased the important stuff.  The point of this letter is to see if you'd want to help us out with this and maybe put that asshole editors info in one of your updates and send him a little email notifying the posting of his info on a high volume site.

On .22 pistols, with all your suggestions, why no mention of the Ruger MK 2?  specific gripes?  I got one for a 16th birthday present and i love the thing, anything within like 50-75 yards is not safe, its a tackdriver.  Heath  PS- Rest of asshole editors info: 

Douglas Clifton
19 Shoreby Dr
Cleveland, OH 44108-1161
Tel.: (216) 761-6577”

I am just as angered as you are.  This is the most asinine thing they could do.  It's nothing but spiteful and it's also dangerous.  The paper is knowingly and willingly putting gun owners at risk by creating a "To Do" list for both criminals and politically motivated activists.  This has got to be stopped before any names and addresses are published.  They have no right to do this.  None.  The legislators that allowed for this should be voted out.  Even Liberals should see that.  In light of the ACLU’s coming out for privacy rights for Rush Limbaugh, they might be a good source to turn to.  If not them, every gun owner that gets a permit needs to sue both the legislation, but also the newspapers, and the editors personally.  Also, publishing all the information about the paper’s employees would not be out of line.  If they want to play that way – they got to be able to take a shot back across the net.  I would also suggest publishing salaries if they could be found.   Look for an employee that is pro gun and get that information from the inside.   I’d also hold a press conference and let all the press know that this is what you are going to do.  
I’m asking all blogs out there to help Ohio out.  Post Douglas Clifton’s information all over the place.

As for the Ruger .22’s… I just don’t like them that well.  I don’t like the funky take down.  If they fit your hand, and you can shoot them well – bully!  They are fine pistols if you like them.  I just like other ones.  However, if I was to get one, a classic styled 6 inch bull barrel with target sights would do well.  They call it the Government.   Why is that?  Because they look like they are suppressed?  

Jan 13th, Tuesday, 2004:  1100hrs:  This is the 3^rd day in a row we have had a cold and heavy fog.    Outside everything is a grayish white thanks to a build up of frost and ice.  At least the streets are clear, but it does nothing to help me get over the feeling that I am at an Antarctic Ice Station.  I feel like I’m in the movie THE THING and every time Ranger starts barking, I feel kinda creepy.  Especially since he’s barking at something, but there is nothing out there.  Spring is something to look forward to, but really we are doing just fine.  I did a little work on the eagle photo and I guess it turned out pretty good.  This tree is about a hundred yards out my back door, and the eagle is sitting there again today.  So beautiful… I am pleased that Old Ben Franklin didn’t get his suggestion of a Turkey passed as the national bird.

I’ve been thinking about where I wanted to live after I graduate and we can move out of this little moonscape.  I’m wanting to go north… I’m thinking northern Idaho.  It’s Idaho, yeah, but it’s beautiful up there.  Pacific Northwest without the Yuppies.  Just across the boarder from Spokane, Washington.  I love Spokane, but I like the gun laws in Idaho better.  Yeah, they have a lot of snow up there too in the winter, but it isn’t that bad up there.  In Washington, I guess Spokane wouldn’t be that bad.   I’m also thinking like Prescott Arizona.  It’s not as hot as the lower levels of Arizona, and the winters there are much more mild than here.  I’m just tired of being so cold right now… cause let me tell you – where I am now, the winters are bitter cold.  I thought I saw a polar bear outside the other day… turned out is was just a frost covered bull out for a run.  Don’t know where it got that sea lion though…

I’ve decided I am going to keep my .357 Magnum, the S&W model 66.  I was going to trade it off for a Browning Buckmark, and as much as I want a Buckmark… It’s a bad move.  This 66 is a FINE example of a .357 Magnum revolver.  The action feels so smooth and the trigger is so fine… The single action breaks so crisp, it’s like a thin glass rod.  I’m thinking it’s breaking someplace around two and a half to three pounds.   Yeah, I am keeping it.  However in it’s current configuration of a 4 inch barrel and a “square-butt” grip frame, it’s just not a packin gun to me.  I am packing Saint Wesson (the 696) all the time and never the .357 anymore.  I am going to have the barrel cut down to just under 3 inches, have an aggressive target crown cut into it, and have the grip frame recut to fit some nice wood boot-grips.  I’m also thinking about having the stainless frame bead blasted, and have the trigger, hammer and cylinder all polished.  Front sight will be a gold bead.  That’s what I am going to have done to it for my birthday.  Then instead of calling it my Agent Smith, I’m going to call it my Precious.

About handgun grips.  I really like the recoil absorption of rubber grips… but I also like the smoothness and looks of wood.  Would be a sin to want a rubber grip that was smooth and looked like exotic wood?

Dear Abby,   My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning, and when I confront him, he denies everything.  What's worse, everyone knows he cheats on me. It is so humiliating.  Also, since he lost his job three years ago he hasn't even looked for a new one.  All he does is sit around the living room in his underwear and watch TV, while I work to pay the bills.  Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me. He keeps calling me a lesbian. What should I do? 

Signed, Clueless

Dear Clueless: Grow up and dump him. For Pete's sake, you're a United States Senator from New York now -- you don't need him anymore.

Email from Horde Captain John  “Hey Og,  I think a more important question is what do Martians taste like? What if your average run of the mill Martian tastes like a Bacon without the fat? Would it be morally wrong to consume said Martian? Do Martians have rights and if so are those rights void if they taste good?   There are a lot of considerations to take into account when dealing with Martins. Would it be wrong to shoot the like prairie dogs? Who knows. Hope you enjoy the day.  John”   That's a good question.. but then we would have the PETM people up in arms... People for the Ethical Treatment of Martians.  Then again, they are a bit bigger than the little P-Dogs... I'm thinking .338 Win Mag.

Jan 12th, Monday, 2004:  1400hrs:  I stayed up until 5 AM reading a book.  A novel by Dan Brown called “Digital Fortress”.  I couldn’t put it down.   Today I am dragging ass, and I am in need of a high dose of caffeine.   If I don’t get caffeine, I think I might die.  Anyways, enough of my Over the Counter Addiction… This book… wow… very good… Fast pace.  I’m talking like Turbo Corvette kinda fast.  

Hiring Diversity.  Al Sharpton blasted Howard Dean about Diversity.  Of course Sharpton was talking skin color.  I can’t see skin color as a factor when it comes to hiring.  When you are filling a position, there are only 2 points to consider.  #1 is Skill Set, and #2 is Team Dynamics.  You are looking for the best candidate with the highest level skill sets… and you have to select this person that fits with your team dynamic.  If you throw in Race – you are ruining you team’s potential.  Race should have ZERO factor on hiring.  If the best candidate is black, white, or plaid, it means nothing… you take the best for not just the position – but for the company.  Do that, and you will have done your hiring job right.

Ah… I have a liter of Dew and a liter of Pepper.  I’ll be fine for the rest of the day.  On the way out to get my fix, I saw a huge bird swoop past me in a power glide… only 8 feet away… It was a Bald Eagle.  Not just a Bald Eagle, but a very large one.  Out in my back yard field I have  a huge dead tree.  This eagle as perched there off and on for 2 days now.  When I returned from the store with my bottles of ambrosia, I noticed another eagle perched on the tree.  This one smaller.  But they sat together on the same tree very close together.  I tried to take a picture but this digicam didn’t do well…. It was too far away to get the cam to focus and with the light snow and fog and a completely grey sky made it impossible to get the camera to work… Wish you guys could see it.  Majesty.  I suspect it’s eyeing the cats.   I’m not bothered.

What bothers me today:  Disney Channel.  FM Radio DJ’s.  Hollywood Scriptwriters.  Gun Jams.  NASA.  Stubbed Toes.  Flour Tortillas.  “What are you thinking about?”  Spam Emails.   Other People’s Kid Photos.  Printer Ink Cartridges.  Running out of hot water in the shower.  People with cell phones in movie theatres.  Winter.  Commercials using spoken dead pan humor.  Not knowing how to do something, or even worse, knowing how to do something, but are unable to do it.  Having a great idea, but not the money to capitalize on it.  Changing light bulbs.  When my gargoyle winks at me.   

Jan 11th, Sunday, 2004: 1900hrs:  I’ve got good news and bad news today, my friends…  Good news first.  Congratulations to my young brothers, Josh and Zach.  Yesterday they were both promoted to Spec-4s.  Way to go my brothers!     The bad news is that our friend Spectre has been hit by some extremely dire family news from two fronts.  I can not give details… I can only ask that you keep him in your prayers.  He needs spiritual strength and support through this very trying time.   We are deeply saddened by this news. 

Here is a quote I picked up off the CZ Forums:  “I'm a Caucasian Christian male between the ages of 18 and 65, I can't legally be offended.”   Painfully true.

“If the US finds Martians, will it declare war on them?” – Walter Conkite.  Walter just unwittingly gave us insight into the mind of the typical Liberal, and we can now see clearly their attitude.  The snide and disrespectful attitude aside, what we are looking at is the word “It”.  Why did Walter say “It” instead of “We”?  He isn’t talking about the Martians declaring war on the US… he is calling the US an “it”.   If the Liberals want so much to regain the political steering wheel of the country, why are they striving so hard to distance themselves from mainstream America?  This isn’t the first offhand comment made by a Liberal Democrat (Can we kill that phrase right now – there is no such thing as a Liberal Democrat… they are Communists pure and simple) it’s just a comment that was printed in large bold letters in the news paper so you couldn’t miss it.  Why are these people so ashamed of being Americans?  They want political control, without being a part of what they want to control.  That’s scary.  That’s very scary.  Clive Barker couldn’t come up with a more scary concept than the modern American Leftist.   Do you know what they keep distancing themselves from America?  Because in their hearts they are not Americans.  They have spat upon the very citizenship that gives them the freedom to express their tainted and bitter views.   Should they gain full control of the US Government, they would do everything they could to destroy the American way of life faster and with more fury and malice than any member of the Taliban.

Saw a Political Cartoon… showing a empty landscape with a single oil well off in the distance.  Caption said “Bush’s bold new plan for Mars.”  Was that supposed to be funny?  Gimme a break.   “Ha ha ha Bush and oil… ha ha ha!”   These assholes have no idea how the world works.  They mock and deride anything that has to do with producing energy… without any concept of the facts behind the actual demand.  For example, we don’t get a lot of oil out of Iraq… we never did.  We get most of it from the middle east from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.  If we really wanted free oil – we would have just kept Kuwait 12 years ago when we had it.  Going further, if we really wanted free oil, we would take it from South America, where we get a huge percentage of our oil from.  Ignorant dipshits.   I still think we need to tap Alaska and put up more off shore platforms.  Great a glut of it and drop fuel prices back to below a $1.50 a gallon for Premium.  I’m tired of paying 2 bucks for it.

Mountain Lions, Cougers, Pumas… whatever you want to call them, they have become a problem all across the country.  They are attacking Mountain Bikers, Hikers, Golfers… and basically anyone who spends any time outdoors.  It’s getting silly.  These animals are legally protected so we can’t just shoot them on sight anymore.  Fine.  But according to Liberal thinking I say we should pass laws forbidding these Cougars from attacking people!  That ought to do it!  Yeah!  I’ve not seen a Cougar in a couple months now or so it seems.  But now we have a new problem.  During this last week a man was mauled to death by a bear here in this area.  Oh that’s just freaking GREAT!  .357 Magnum, .44 Special… crap!  Now I have to get a .454 Casull like STIG!   I’m thinking a Taurus Raging Bull .454 Casull would work just fine.

“What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of me?”  I asked Mrs. Ogre. (Who had just asked the same question of me about her)  Here answer, without a second of hesitation “Hard”.   Ha!  Like I need any spam messages about Viagra!

Email from Captain Gordie:  “Ogre!  Been thinking about a new weapon or two for the collection. Thinking seriously about a little M-1 Carbine. I got a goal of collecting at least one of every type of main battle rifle from WWII. Seriously thinking about some WWII Living History stuff to but that is another post.   In my research on the M-1, I have come across much about the Assault-Weapons Ban and its sun setting. Well, don’t make me lie to ya’, Because I can’t even recreate the train of logic but here is the end result.    I wonder how many of the Hoard have actually written a letter to their Congressman and Senators to voice their opinions that it should be sun-setted is that a word?).   Yeah, I have been a bad boy and not done it yet. (so there I have whacked myself on the proverbial pee-pee).  The point is, we have a great opportunity here for the Hoard to do good. We need to write a form/template letter that each hoard member can use to let their representatives know how they feel.  What do you think,  Captain Gordie“   I think that’s a great idea Gordie, and the work is already done.  If every Horde Member (Who happens to live in the USA that is) would just click the button over there on the right side column that says “Gun Owners Of America” you will be able to find the email addresses of all your relevant politicos and even pre-written messages that you can attach your name to and there you go.  Done.  However I would also suggest to take it a step further, print it out, and mail it via US Postal Service with some of your own personal thoughts attached.   Emails are nice, but come on, of your Reps are Democrats they probably have a filter on the GOA emails…  Snail Mail your representatives to death.  It’s only .35 cents a shot… less than good .308, so fire away!   And there is no high capacity limit either.  Make a stack of letters to each of your reps, and mail one out to each of them every couple of days.  Hit them and keep hitting them.  And when you run out of stamps – Call them.   Talk to them personally.  If you can, make an appointment to go see them in person too.    We really have got to push them hard this year and all year.  The AWB is coming up and guys – it’s going to be an ugly fight.  It’s time to BATTLE!   GET ACTIVE NOW or it will be too late.  You don’t have to send money to the NRA (but they would REALLY love for you to do that… they need another coat of lacquer on their huge-ass conference tables) you just have to COMMUNICATE your beliefs to your Representatives.  If you live near your state capital – make an appointment and get all your shooting buddies together for a group visit.  BE ACTIVE OR BE NOTHING.  Because that’s what it takes.  You don’t have to Million Mom March or any of that bullshit – you just have to talk to your Politicos.  If you don’t know who they are – the GOA link will tell you.  If you don’t want to do that, just call Directory Assistance.   But Call, Write, Visit, Email, repeatedly… and make your message heard!    This isn’t just about guns – this is about EVERYTHING!  This is about Schools, and Water Rights, and Industry and Traffic Laws and NAFTA and anything else that you have an opinion on.  Because by God, these people are elected to represent YOU and those that live in their Districts.  They work for YOU.  It’s time MAKE THEM WORK!    There you go my Horde!  You have your Marching Orders!   DISMISSED!

Jan 10th, Saturday 2004:  Well, I got the response from Gun Broker Dot Com about this CZ-Rami issue.  (read below from Jan 8th's entry) They just glossed me.  Blew me off.   This is disappointing to me.  I would have at least expected that they would look into the matter a little.   But no.  They didn’t.  Not a damn bit.  They just gave me the finger.  At least we can see the character and caliber of GunBroker.com without someone having already lost money on them.  A lesson learned without the hard knock.  I guess you can say we dodged a bullet.   As much as I myself want a RAMI, this shady dealer and GunBroker.com is going to be the 2 last places I go to get one… or anything else for that matter.  Someone less knowledgeable could have placed a bit and sent in money… and he would be out of luck.  Luckily the auction closed with no bids.  Probably because everyone looking for the RAMI knows it aint been distributed yet… but GunBroker.com seems to be unwilling to verify or even “look into” anything.  I’m so disappointed.  

Plastic Bottle Suppressors.  For no reason other than being really bored and being out in the middle of nowhere with nothing more productive to do, I decided to experiment a little bit.   I had a number of various sized plastic pop bottles.  Using my trusty Remington and some Remington bulk packed ammo, I set about in a very unscientific manner doing an experiment.   Here is the facts… A plastic soda bottle is not going to make a suppressor.  This has been shown in some movies as field expedient way to muffle your gunshot.  However what it can do is change the sound of the shot a bit so that it no longer sounds like a gunshot.  The one that worked the best is the 2 liter size as it was the one that was able to grab the expanding gases and resonate differently than other sized bottles… a bit of a lower frequency was created that really didn’t sound much at all like a gunshot and lower frequency sounds don’t travel as far through the air.   From further away, you will here a pop, but you wont think “Gunshot”.  I think that’s an important factor in an effective suppressor, but a plastic pop bottle is far from effective.  The reason for this is that there is no baffling inside.  I’m not going to go into any details here, let’s just say that while this 2 liter thing kinda worked… it is virtually useless because the gunsites are totally obscured.  Putting this on something of a larger caliber would also be useless as large calibers produce more gas and any benefit of sound alteration would be totally lost.  There is no point to any of this if you can’t make an accurate shot with your weapon, and this stuff keeps you from making an accurate shot.  If you have your gun scoped and your line of site is above the bottle, your slug still has to break through the bottom of the bottle… thus changing your shot’s point of impact… sometimes dramatically.  For this test I wasted about a foot of tape, 3 empty bottles, and 3 .22LR shells, and about 5 minutes.  My conclusion is that if you want to have fun with pop bottles, fill them with water and stand them up 50 to 100 yards away and shoot at them.  If you want your .22 to be quiet, grab a box of CCI CB shells… If you want even more quiet than that, Aquila makes something even quieter.

An offer was extended from another gun discussion website for me to help Moderate.  I will help when I can.  CZ-Forums is the joint btw.  I used to be a member there, but had to re-register.  I have Three guns I am looking to get.  One is a .22 auto…. The other two are both CZ guns.  The CZ-75 P-01 and the CZ-RAMI that I have already mentioned.  I’m also still looking for a glossy blued CZ-97B, because selling that one was a critical fumble on my part.  Should never have done that.   Well, had I not done that, I wouldn’t have developed such a deep respect for Beretta, so I guess it was for the overall good… Now I just have to get another 97.  But since I have already owned one and I’m down with the 97, it’s lower on the list of priorities.  I want the P-01 and RAMI first.

If total government control equals safety, why are prisons so dangerous?

Jan 9th, 2004:  1500HRS:  I am taking some of my classes online this semester.  It’s interesting because there are students from all around Utah taking the classes to.  I am struck by the number of people who have said things like “I’ve lived here all my life” or “I’ve never left Utah”.  I have to admit a tinge of sympathy to these cats… travel is one of the best educators.  Getting out and seeing the world and drinking new experiences… that’s one of the best things about living in America.  You don’t have to get permission to move or to even just travel.  You get a Utah (or any) driving license and it’s good all over the US and even in Canada and Mexico.  So there is the whole North American Continent that you are able to explore.    Please, go explore!  Get out and see things!  Spending your whole life in one little area… that’s sad.  Very sad.   I’ve been very lucky to have been able to see damn near most every bit of the USA. 

FINALLY a logical and honest explanation as to why someone is a Democrat.

Caffeine.  Mrs. Ogre took the Jeep this morning, leaving me stranded until lunch because our own Jeep and Subaru remain DOA.  This is all the sudden bad situation for me here… The nearest 7-11 is about 2 miles away, and I am having shakes from a distinct lack of caffeine in my blood stream.   My hands are shaking and it’s even difficult to type.  I NEED CAFFEINE!  I think perhaps, maybe, I might be just a little bit… addicted to caffeine.  Maybe.  Or maybe I am just feeling both ill and thirsty at the same time?  Forget the Vanilla Coke right now… I need to slam a Red Bull and a 1 litter Mountain Dew right about now.  Let’s see… wait 2 hours or jump on the 10-Speed bicycle and cycle the 4 miles round trip on icy roads.   I’ll have to flip a coin.  UPDATE:  a liter bottle of Vanilla Coke has indeed soothed my nerves.  I am feeling much better now.  Drinking the first few gulps, I could feel the caffeine surge through my veins from center all the way out to my fingertips.  Aahhh... It was almost as good as an orgasim.

Knights Vs Samurai:  Who wins?  This cat takes it all into consideration, but doesn’t give is any conclusion.  He also completely overlooks the Bushido factor.  I don’t know about you guys, but I think a Samurai would kick an Knight’s ass quite thoroughly.  I say this having studied both sides in detail for decades.  This isn’t just an opinion, but an educated assumption.  Even if you expand the scale from a one on one encounter to a battalion on battalion level engagement, or Army vs Army level.  The Samurai would win almost every time.   I mean, come on… it’s not even a question.  They were living breathing and sleeping, Bushido and The Art Of War while the Europeans were dealing with things like The Black Plague and inventing new torture methods and studying “180 Days in Sodom” and burning people alive for fear of them being werewolves.  Okay, so that came later, after the age of the Knights… but come on… that was what they evolved to.  The Japanese had much clearer understandings of volley archery fire and the application of cavalry.   To me, just asking the Who Would Win question indicates a deeper ignorance on the part of the person asking.

I have had some emailed “advice” from some self considered “better bloggers” over the last 2 days.  They say that MadOgre.com would be much more popular if I had a regular Blog Roll, stopped bashing Liberals so much, and used Moveable Type.  To this I have to say “FUCK OFF”.  I think I have explained myself pretty clearly in the “ABOUT” section… that I do this for ME and the Horde, not to get some bullshit popularity rating.   Yeah, maybe I opened myself up for this by posting the Tacitus Watch post… making people think that I some how really give a shit about internet popularity.  *sigh* I really couldn’t care less.  And I am not posting any blog-roll because I’m not giving any links to anything that I am not myself going to read.  If It’s a site that I don’t look at at least twice a week, why the hell am I going to bother linking to it?  That’s bullshit.  I’m only putting up links to sites I like.  If your not on the list, make your site better and make it interesting to me.  Cause you know why?  I use those link lists as my own personal book marks… that’s why.  MadOgre.com/News is my homepage set in my browsers, and I am too lazy to grab the pull-down menu.  Who cares if I am “more popular” than someone else?  What kind of childish, junior-high bullshit is that?  I tell you what… you want a junior-high type after school fight?  Fine.  Bring it.  I’ll take on anyone.  Who is the biggest blogger out there?  Instapundit?  I’ll take him.  There, I kicked his ass.  Are you happy now?  Do you think I’m better for it?  You fucking retards.  Now about you better bloggers who think you’re going to advise me on how to blog.  Looking at your pathetic sites, I can see you have been blogging for about a year only and have done so completely hosted on free blog sites using blog software.  To quote Weird Al’s “It’s all about the Pentiums”, you can back up your whole blog on a floppy diskette.  Excuse me if I have to laugh at you.  I’ve been blogging since 1998, and I’ve been doing it virtually all with HTML.  Do you even know what that is?  I’m not saying that I am an expert… I’m just a user.  I don’t do any neat HTML tricks or anything.  I just use it for internet authoring.  It was only recently that I starting using FrontPage as a tool to speed things up and keep things organized better.  I’m an old school blogger before there ever was such a thing.  You are just a trend following guttersnipe puppy.  If I want your opinion of blogging, I’ll give it to you first, okay? 

I had a couple emails asking me what pistol I’d trade the 696 for.   I don’t think I would trade the 696.  It’s not up for trade, but I think the real question is what handguns I would consider getting next.  That would be a CZ P-01.  I don’t think I’d trade my 696, unless it was for a P-01 with a nice HBE holster with a half dozen mags… and a better reason for the trade than just the trade it’s self.   Seriously… I’m not looking for offing my 696.  I love my 696.  It’s one of the few guns that I feel is “Fun” to just carry.  The grip just melts into my hand, and it’s a pleasure to shoot it.  I’m keeping it.

1000hrs:  I picked up a new copy of Undying off ebay.  It was only 4 bucks.  Not bad at all.  I loaded it up and man… all the sudden I got the chills.  I played it for about 5 minutes and had the willies.  Had to turn in off.  That’s some scary shizz.   Then I thought, no, something much scarier would be Wesley Clark being elected POTUS.  That slimy bastard is Americas #1 Threat, with Dean at #2 and Kerry at #3.  The only Democratic candidate that would perhaps be the least dangerous is Al Sharpton.   For some reason Sharpton just doesn’t scare me because Sharpton wouldn’t even be able to get his shoes tied by the congress let alone get anything serious done.  But Clark?  His deep ties to the UN is seriously troubling.  There is some skeletons in that guy’s closet, and if they are not in his closet that means he has them buried some where in Europe.  That guy crawls.  He is unclean.  Just looking at him, you are looking at an empty soul.  There is nothing in his eyes.  Dean is a just a moron and Kerry a huge idiot… but Clark… man… he is scary.   I doubt he can even see himself in a mirror.   Anyways, Undying.  I’m having to think about politics to get my mind of it.  Yeah, I played it though before… but now I’m playing it on a computer that runs it the way it was supposed to run with the graphics all at the games best settings… but the difference is the speakers.  I’m running better speakers that what I had before, so the sound is so much better.  It’s the sounds that really make the game crawl up your spine.   If you have a PC or a Mac and you have never checked this game out before… OMG – You have got to check it out.  You can pick up a new one or a used one off ebay real cheap.  There is no excuse for you not to.  You gotta check undying out.  And if you have stainless steel balls… play it at night, alone, with headphones.  *shudder*

Tough Question comes out of Hawaii this morning:  “Ogre, I know you have tons of mail about 1911's but I am new to the model and I would like get a recommendation. I like Kimber models but I can only spend about $1,000. Which should I purchase (It would be primarily for defense and target practice). Tim in Hawaii”  Hey Tim,  That's a very good question. The options in the "Up to a Grand" price range are staggering. There are many guns out there right now that are downright excellent. Picking one of them.... Well, I have felt your dilemma before.   Okay, here we go, a quick review of the state of 1911’s out there, best options up to a Grand:  Colt M1991A1 (New Roll Mark) there are around 700 and go up from there given options.  Colt’s Gold Cup, these are around 850 on up. But for carry, the small Defender Plus is around 850 and it's a sweet little gun.
Kimber has a good value line in the Custom II series, or the polymer framed Kimber Ten... These are the same frames Wilson Combat uses for his KZ-45 and that is also an excellent gun.  But for Carry, the Ultra Carry II series is a better choice.
Para Ordanace has a number of good guns with that weird LDA trigger system. Weird, but pretty good once you get used to it. I'm loving the little Carry C6 LDA gun and the Tac-Four that are both under a grand.
Smith & Wesson's new 1911 is very good, and you can get them out the door for under a grand. I've seen them and the look great, but I've never fired them. All reports are very positive. I'ld like to see one in a Commander or Officers size.
Back to that Wilson KZ-45 I mentioned... It's not your traditional 1911, but it is a sweet shooter. I shot one next to an Ed Brown custom that cost more than double and I honestly liked the KZ much better. You can still get these for under a grand, but you might have to shop for it. Again, it has a poly frame and a weird 10 round mag - but it works very well. Excellent shooter, perhaps the best of the lot that I am recommending.
STI has a couple for under a grand and they are fantastic shooters ment for competition, but you can carry them for regular duty as well. Very fine guns... almost too fine.
This leaves my personal choices for last:   SPRINGFIELD.  Here is why... Springfield WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. Some of the other guys have sketching customer service if you ever have to call them... Springfield will take care of you and your gun for the rest of your life. Simple as that. Springfield has all the options and sizes you could want and they can be mostly had for under a grand. I'm a huge fan of the TRP models, but they are a bit more than a grand (But SO worth it). They have a nice high capacity model that feels really good and looks good too. Springfield is also my favorite because these guns feel stronger than some of the others, Kimber especially. My Springfield Loaded took no cost trip back to Springfield and when it returned, it was printing 1.5 inch groups offhand. Gun cost me only 600 bucks cash out the door. Not bad at all.
If I was going to have to pick a gun other than Springfield... it would be either a S&W (I can't believe I'm saying that!) or a Colt.   Let me know what you select.   For you Horde Members out there, don’t be offended if I skipped your pet 1911… I was suggesting guns off the self that he is likely to be able to find out there in Hawaii.  Rock Islands, Charles Dalys, Armscors, Buls, there are just too many options… It would take all day to go over all of them!   Don’t even get me started on the AuctionArms.com quick search for “1911”.  Judas!

Email from our newest Horde Member, her name is Dark Puck.  “I stumbled across your website during a search on the types of guns used in the Matrix trilogy for fan-fiction reference.  (Yes, I am a fanfic author.  I'm not ashamed of that.)  After a few days, I stopped just reading the parts of your site on the guns and got myself to the main site.  I am, quite frankly, in awe.  I wish I had discovered you site when I still had to put up with my very liberal history teacher, but I digress.  The point of this email is to see what type of gun you would recommend for a small girl (not even 5'1) with small hands.  I will admit that I am totally ignorant as to what kind would be best for me, and despite my attempts to gain knowledge, I'm still very naive in the world of guns.  I'm asking now so that I'll have an idea of what to try when I go for some gun training.  I'm not stupid enough to buy a gun without any idea of how to use it apart from point-and-shoot.  Thank you for your time, and may God bless you, your family, and MadOgre.com  -- Dark Puck/Archangel, Seraph fan and admitted Matrix fanatic.  ps: Regarding the Asian "cat" who opened up that can of whoop-ass on the Merovingian's thugs with his Browning BDMs... his name is Seraph, in case you no one else has told you by now.  Sorry if you already know.”

Puck, from Midnight Summer?  Good screen name.  I like it. Thanks for the email and the kudos, I appreciate it.   Let's see... small girl... small hands... Wouldn't be a gun that would be overly powerful, but you would still probably want a reasonable magazine capacity while still being small.  Here is my first choice.  The CZ-83, a very good gun and fits small hands.   Another choice would be the little Beretta Tomcat, holds 7 rounds of .32ACP... less powerful than the CZ's .380 caliber, but much smaller and concealable.   There is also a stainless colored version as well.  If you want her to pack a more serious handgun... a good choice would be the Kahr PM9093A or an Springfield XD-9, perhaps in a 3 or 4 inch version.  These are all good choices for a small handed female... If you want a more exotic choice or a revolver or something different, let me know.  Seraph, as in Seraphim a guardian/warrior angel.  Yeah, I know, but the name slipped my mind when I typed that article and I am critically lazy and have procrastinated updating it with the right name… not doing it today either.

Jan 8th, 2004:  UNDERWORLD:  I just watched this movie late last night.  I thought I would enjoy it, but I didn’t really expect much out of it.  Turns out I was wrong.  I loved it.  It was awesome.  I’m loving all the guns in it… Full auto conversion Beretta 92FS, and full auto conversion Walther P99s.  Very cool.  Very well done.  I even liked the Romeo & Juliet with a plot twist story line.  Very well done.  If you haven’t seen this flick, it’s worth it.  I purchased this DVD in widescreen format and I’m feeling this was a good call.  The movie has a lot of cool things going on, I’m going to have to watch this flick a couple more times just to take it in.

The hyperlink above is to Long Mountain Outfitters.  Those cats do a lot of movie guns and have photos of the specific guns they provided.  Check out the LXG guns.  Very cool.  I’d appreciate more details about the guns, a little story behind them or something… like why they chose these guns or something like that.  LXG has some details, but most of the entries just have the serial numbers.  Oh well.

I read what I thought at first was good news… the IRS to cut jobs… But then when you read the article it states that they are cutting from logistical areas in order to make room for more stormtroopers.  That’s just fucking great!  HEY IRS – GO AFTER JESSIE JACKSON!

Congratulations to Ohio for joining the ranks of the “Shall Issue” states.  This means that if you want a CCW permit, you can apply and the state will give it to you unless they have specific reason not to such as criminal or mental health problems.  This is outstanding news.  I am now curious as to which states are going to honor Ohio and what states Ohio will honor.  This is good news for liberty, and of course that means it is bad news for the fucking idiotic liberals.  Fark.com is always a good place to check out those opinions.  The responses are laughable to this… laughable and vehement.  Liberal Farkers always jump on the Conservative Farkers like Yogi Bear on a picnic basket.
What a bastard!  Check this auction out for the new CZ Rami. Look at the red text under the picture.  This guy says he has them.  Then when asked via email, he says he is taking pre-orders.  Check out the emails: 

“MESSAGE FROM USER:

REGARDING ITEM #:  14862303

ITEM TITLE:  CZ 2075 Rami  9mm or 40sw

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=14862303

Hello:

Do you have these pistols in stock, or is this a pre-order?

Didn't think they were approved for import yet.

Thanks for any info.

From: <ton80@mindspring.com>

To: withheld

Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 8:18 AM

Subject: RE: Question regarding GunBroker.com Item 14862303

I AM TAKING PREORDERS.  CALL TOLL FREE 1-888-207-2220 TO ORDER.

THANKS  PHIL”

Phil – You cur said on the auction:  “We ensure this item is in stock at the beginning of the auction. However, inventories do shift and we cannot 100% guarantee immediate availability. In the unlikely case of a back order, we will honor the auction price and ship your item as quickly as possible. If rush delivery is needed, please contact us toll free: 888-207-2220”

This is deceitful.  This is lying.  This is outright FRAUD. I call bullshit on this dealer.  I’ve submitted this to GunBroker.com as fraud.  I’m looking forward to see if they boot his ass.  If they don’t boot him (because there are a lot of complaints about him before and he is a well known bullshit artist) then I am going to have to endorse that people stop using GunBroker because if they don’t do something about this guy, then GunBroker simply can not be trusted.

Jan 7th, 2004:  1100hrs:  Tacitus Watch:  Just popped in to read at Tacitus.  After I read the current updates I scrolled down to look at the lists.  I just passed USS Clueless!  WOOT!  (WTF does Woot mean anyways?)  Happy Ogre Dance!  Reeehaaaw!  Okay, I’m okay now.   I also noticed that down below my top score I have another hit for 12 more points.  YEAH!   Now if I could just get this to actually mean something, that would be great.   

I was doing homework... no really.    

I was asked what kind of digital cam I have.  (This was due to the new page in the weapons sections) This new digicam is an HP Photosmart 620, 2.something megapixle.  It cost something like a hundred bucks from walmart and while not the best digital camera out there, it does a good job for some things.  Just don't try to focus on something far away or too close... oh, and if it's moving you can forget about it.  It wasn't my first choice, but then again my first choice was just shy of 500 bucks.  Mainly we use it to take pics of the kids and stuff.

1000hrs:  Last night I watched one of my favorite James Bond flicks… Golden Eye.  Great movie.  James slinging around a Krinkov submachinegun when he isn’t packing his classic Walther PPK.   I love the Krinkov… fantastic SMG.  It’s just a chopped down AK-74, but it’s still a good thing.  Short and handy, yet fires a potent rifle caliber round.  Then you have the lead badguy played by one of my favorite actors, Sean Bean, and he is packing one of my favorite automatics… a Browning BDM.  Very slim and easy packing high capacity wonder nine.  If you come across a used one at a gunshow, stop and check it out.   You’ll see what I love it.  I’ve never actually shelled out the cash for one though… it’s my unicorn.  Every time I have the money, I can’t find one.  Every time I find one, I don’t have the money.  Fate keeps us apart.  *sigh*  The other interesting gun is used by the fat Ex-KGB agent played by the guy that plays Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies.  This cat is packing the super evil CZ-52.  You only see it for a second.  He whips it out and shoots Bond between the legs missing his Johnson by about 4 inches when Bond insults the guy’s girlfriend.   I love the CZ-52.  You can get them as low as a hundred bucks and they are fantastic.  Hits like a short little hand held M-16 and are really cool looking.  Fun to shoot.  Surplus ammo is only $6.50 for a box of 50 rounds.  Any cheaper and you would have to shoot a .22LR.  Gotta love that!   As far as Bond Girls go, Golden Eye has one of the worst… but the Girl Villain is perhaps the second best ever.  Here is #1, #2, and #3.  In case you were wondering, here are the 3 worst: #3, #2, #1.  There are many really horrible Bond Girls… Search that website and you will see some seriously nasty ones…. My #3 Bad Bond girl pic is a little harsh… she really is pretty… she just has a really horrible character and Diamonds Are Forever is perhaps one of the worst, if not the worst Bond flick ever.  Even for a Sean Connery Bond film.  The costumes and the colors are all horrible… the moon buggy chase is just stupid… and the badguy’s off shore oil platform?  You gotta play the game “No One Lives Forever II” to really appreciate how bad this movie is.     

I’ve mentioned my favorite military helicopter, the Mi-24 Hind, several times.  But for those that may be new to MadOgre.com, I’ve not mentioned my favorite military jet.  There are some seriously impressive jet fighters out there for interception and air superiority… the F-15 is awesome, but generally I prefer the Russian bird… the Mig-29 and the SU-27 platforms.  However when it comes right down to it… if I had to pick just one plane.  It would be the A-10 Thunderbolt II aka The Warthog.   I LOVE that jet.  It’s not the first plane you would send in to a combat area.  It’s not even the second.  Pretty much you would use the other planes to open the airspace up to give you free reign and totally control of the airspace.  Then you send in the A-10s to mop up everything on the ground.  Here is a huge archive of seriously awesome A-10 photographs.

The Gospel According to John (Moses Browning, that is...)

1. In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was the pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck about with my disciple John's design, for it is good and it worketh. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain.
   
   2. "And shouldst thou muck about with it and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."
   
   3. And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metalsmiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.
   
   4. Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field-worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it.
   
   5. And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and loose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle.
   
   6. And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunction to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.
   
   7. Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.
   
   8. And being a deceitful spirit the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did function.
   
   9. And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a "dingus" to make them appear safe.
   
   10. But man, being stupid, did not understand these new pistols and did proceed to shoot them-selves with the plastic pistol, and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.
   
   11. And when man had been totally ensnared with plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-BOOM to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.
   
   12. Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the Prophet had intended.
   
   13. And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil sprits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land, and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation by the followers of John.
   
   Amen

Special thanks to new Horde Member and newly commissioned Horde Officer, Second Lieutenant Lawrence.   His timely contribution has paid for this month’s server fee.  Thank you, Larry. 

  Well, enough fun for now… back to some homework.

Jan 6th, 2004: Afternoon:   Check the Weapons Section.  I got some new things and redid some old things.  Some photos too.

I was asked the "If I could take my pick" question as to a new Ogremobile.  It would be a new Ford F150 4X4 short bed with four doors with a roll bar and off-road lights.  Dark Green.  That's what I would get if I had 30 grand to spend on a new vehicle.  What a dumbass fucking question is that.  If I could afford it, I'd already fucking have one.  Thanks for the lemon juice in that cut!  Asshole. 

Actually I am not in that bad of a mood.  I have vehicle issues and thats as bad as it is for Ogre.  Thats my only issue.  It could be a lot worse so I am grateful I'm not being tested any worse than this right now.   

Morning: So the engine in the Jeep is completely DOA, gone, dead, toasted.  And the Subaru refuses start after an HOUR of trying to jump start it.   This means I am one truly pissed off Ogre.  I kicked the Subaru so hard with my steel toed shoe that it not only dented the finder but almost popped out the headlight.   The problem in the Sube seems to be the fuel system, because once it gets running, it’s fine.  But only if you can get it running… and I can’t.  Of course once you get it running the other problem is the transmission not shifting when it should, so my fuel economy is down the drain.   If we could get that engine in the Jeep with it's manual transmission, that would be fantastic.  As long as it no longer has this hard start issue. 

It was so freaking cold out there that touching something feels like it's hot and burning.  Last year it didn't get this cold.  Year before it didn't get this cold.  Of course I was out on the Wasatch Front and not out here in the Uintah Basin where evidently it gets a lot colder.   I think it's this cold that has effected the Subaru... because before it started getting cold at night, it had none of these problems.  Of course now even during the day it's not really any warmer.    I HATE cold weather. 

We are borrowing my Mom-In-Law’s Cherokee so we are not completely stranded… but since the wife and I both have to be at different places as different times – it just doesn’t work.  I’m going to have to drop one class and pick up the credits as an online course.  And to top this all off, I’m out of caffeine so I have headache too.    So if anyone is going to email me -  It had better be some fucking good news.  

I'm wanting to move to Saint George now.  It’s never too cold… 364 days a year you can ride a motorcycle… Nice.  Hmmm… really freaking hot in the summer time, but at least it’s not freezing in the winter.  That’s a trade I’d be glad to make right now.

I'm going to drown my foul mood in a steaming hot shower, and then play Grand Theft Auto 3 and rampage like mad until it's time to go to class. 

Let me talk about two things really quick... #1 Bush = Hitler according to MoveOn.Org.   This proves that The Left is as stupid as a sack full of assholes.  #2, Crock Hunter.  The guy is a lunatic, and what he did was a bad idea... but I don't think child services should take the kid away or any of that shit.  Someone should slap him up the back side of his head and tell him "Don't do that again!" and that should about do it.  Like that guy needs any more minutes of his fame.  His 15 minutes are up.

Jan 5th 2004: 1300hrs: HA!   There is a site called “truth laid bear” that ranks blogs according to an “ecosystem” model.  MadOgre.com isn’t even listed by them.  I have a better ranking system.  It’s called Tacitus.  Looking at my list, I show that I am above TLB by 3 points.  HA!  Not that I am shallow enough to be into this sort of thing… but I just thought it funny.

Remember how I said the Jeep always starts?  I spoke too soon.  It’s right at this moment sitting DOA at the side of the road down the street.   Triple Shit. 

1130hrs:  My Battery is dead.  Second day in a row this has happened to my Subaru.  Takes 5 to 10 minutes to get it jump started, and then it’s just fine for the rest of the day… no problem starting at all.   I suspect that this has something to do with the deep bitter cold that we have had last two nights.  Last night, it was so cold outside that we had ice that formed around the doors and sheets of it on all the windows.  Seriously bitter cold here in Utah and it doesn’t normally get that cold.  Painful cold.  Right now its up to a balmy 13 degrees.    I suspect that this has had some play on the Subaru.   It also played havoc on the Jeep too, and that Jeep never has problems starting.  Anyways, to sum it up – it’s farking cold out here!  I don’t know how Stig does it.  Stig is out there in Norway and goes out into the frosted archipelago and plays with polar bears and snowmobiles.  I’m sure he is well accustomed to such deep cold – but I’m not.  I don’t like it.  I don’t like winter very much at all.  I really don’t.  However there is one aspect of it that I do appreciate.  The quiet peace that comes after a snowfall.  Everything is so still and quiet… utterly peaceful.  I like that.  But do you know why it’s so quiet?  Because everything is fucking frozen – including my damned car so I have to wait until someone gets over here in about an hour to give me a Jump Start because I’m all the way out here in the middle of nowhere!

You guys know that when it comes to hot rods, I like the old iron.  I like cars from the late 40’s up to the end of ’74.  After 74, all cars have been complete shit until recently, but only when it comes to SUVs and trucks because all the rest of the cars are complete shit.  Anyways.  I like old iron hotrods.  Last night I had a cool dream.  I dreamt that I had a few grand in my pocket cash and I came across a very nice 1970 Hemi Cuda, with new tires, and a fresh coat of bright yellow paint.  The engine was awesome and had been rebuilt with lots of go-fast stuff and it sounded beautiful.  The seller had some sudden and deep financial issues and was motivated to sell it.  I offered my 6 grand cash and he took it.  Handed me the keys and signed the title right then and there and took off leaving me with this wonderful car.   Yellow outside, black leather inside.  Enough rear seats for my boys, with my oldest in the passenger seat.  I just left the Subaru sitting there on the curb and we took off in the Cuda.  What really weird is that I have never been into Barracudas.  I’ve never had a thing for them or even really paid attention to them.  I’ve never opened the hood in one or even sat in one.  Yet in my dream I closely viewed all the details under the hood and inside the car… I remembered the dream very clearly and I remember the details in the dream.  Then this morning I looked up a 1970’s Hemi Cuda.  What I am seeing in the photos is exactly the same as what I observed in my dream.  Very strange.   I am more of a GTO guy myself… but considering what I have been looking at this morning, these Cudas are just awesome and would make a great car until I get my GTO.  In the meanwhile I am having to get over to USU and I can’t, because I am stuck here with my freaking Subaru that wont start.  Did I mention that even the clock clicked over to blink 12:00 at me?  I hate that Subaru… I really and truly do.  I used to think “I still like Subarus”, but now I am not sure.  I would take a Kia right now over this freaking Subaru. 

1000hrs: I want to put out an idea of mine.  Paintball and Softair are becoming very popular with regular shooters.  Softair is actually now popular as a training aid for tactical operations.  The most popular shooting sport is Cowboy Action Shooting.  Here is the idea.  Cowboy Action Softair.   Make softair replica guns of popular cowboy guns, revolvers, single shot pistols, side by side shotguns, and of course lever action guns.  Using softair paint pellets for force on force Cowboy action.   How come no one is doing this already?

Did you hear about the guy that was cutting an avocado and accidentally cut himself?  He is trying to figure out who to sue.   That would be yourself… dumbass.   This is an illustration as to the state of affairs in today’s American Society.  You cut yourself, but it’s someone else’s fault. There needs to be a Judge that not just throws this out, but fines this dumbass for wasting the court’s time with his bullshit.   Sometimes, it’s no one’s fault but your own.  Sorry to say that, but that is what I and The Horde believes.

Surprising email this morning from a Liberal.  Brothers and Sisters of The Horde, I am Shocked and Awed by this email.  It came in via the private channel, but I am so shocked that I can not sit on this one… You gotta read this: 

“In my on-line search for some history on Charlton Heston and his involvement in Civil Rights and other activities (prompted primarily by his appearance in Bowling for Columbine and subsequent controversies), I stumbled upon your site, and specifically the speech given by Heston at Harvard in 1999.  It did not surprise me that I agreed with the majority of what he said, and your comments regarding the disease of Political Correctness were right on the money.  And you know something funny?  I'm a bleeding heart, progressive, tax and spend, commie liberal.  And I agree with Charlton Heston and yourself on this particular point. 

In my own experience as a college student some years back, in the early and mid nineties, I constantly found discussion stifled by name calling and both implied and outright judgment.  I pointed out once that a critique of feminism is not the same as being against it, and I was shouted down.  When a Republican friend of mine revealed his party affiliation, people's jaws dropped open.  When a friend of mine saw me carrying a book by Camille Paglia, I was aggressively asked "isn't she the one who say's rape victims are asking for it?"  And, most irritating of all, a devoutly religious friend of mine was constantly having his faith challenged by people who literally announced their intention to make an atheist out of him.  I told the guy that while I did not share his religious views, I felt he should tell those people where to stick it.  I could cite even more specific stories, but I won't bore you with the details (I already deleted a rather lengthy story when I realized the bulk of my email was going to end up being a petty anecdote). 

Worse than my relatively innocuous experiences, though, is that the PC police have really hurt the credibility of liberals.  In Charlton Heston, I don't see a conservative so much as a liberal who "switched sides" so people would take him more seriously, to distance himself from the shrill screeches of the nuttier lefties, so the issues he takes to heart would be taken seriously.  Sure, he's a bit pompous, which can be off-putting, but he's an actor, for heaven's sake!  That's an asset in that particular profession!  (and in many others, really).  And, like his biggest critic of late, he is simply not afraid to say what he believes is right amidst a potential firestorm of hatred.  

Now, please don't get me wrong. I voted for Nader twice, I hate the Bushes and Reagan, I am appalled at the violent situations abroad which our country has a hand in, I applaud Michael Moore for his audacity even when I disagree with him (like with the Heston interview), I read a lot of Chomsky, and I'm practically a certified tree-hugger.  But political correctness really, really pisses me off.”  

A Liberal that is against Political Correctness.  I am not sure if this is actually even possible.  PC is the main weapon of the Liberals for undermining everything that is conservative…. It’s part of the Liberal Core Philosophy.  How can this guy actually be Liberal if he doesn’t revere Political Correctness?!?   I suspect that he is NOT a liberal, but actually a Centrist.  Especially since this cat actually wrote to the Ogre, and made no form of attack whatsoever.  People, I am just stunned.

I hate to brag, but I have a fellow that has asked me about buying a Colt M-4 carbine.  I now have him converted in only about 3 emails to the AK-47.   I’ll not go into any details, but if you are thinking about getting an AR-15, take a look at this and this… and think again.

Jan 4th 2004: 1530hrs: Thanks to ThunderPelvis from Fark.com for this little post:  “NASA's budget for 2004 is $15.47 billion. At $40 per appointment, that would buy roughly 386 million doctor's appointments. 1 out of every 8 American citizens has no health insurance.” I had not searched out what NASA’s budget figure was… I knew it was huge, but I didn’t not it was that huge.  15.47 Billion dollars and the neatest thing we get from them is a black and white picture from the Mars Lander of nothing.  Nothing but a flat expanse and small rocks laying around.   Very nice.  That, my friends, is money well spent.  A flat horizon and rocks, for only 15.47 billion.  That is super spiffy.  NASA should be cut back to an annual budget of only 1 million dollars a year for the sole purpose of keeping SETI running, just in case.  The rest of that budget – ThunderPelvis’s idea is a good one, but I could think of a bunch of others… I am sure you could to.

I have a Blog I want to link to:  “Say Uncle”.  This guy is like me in that he is a Gun Blogger.  We need more of them.   Check him out, he has some good stuff.  Another Blog that I am liking is “Insults Unpunished”.  He has some interesting opinions.

Do you guys remember the F-20 Tigershark?   The F-20 Tigershark was developed by Northrop, with Northrops own funding… meansing taxpayers didn’t have to pay for the machine to be invented like oh, say, the V-22 O-spew.  Let’s look at the F-20 for a second… these pictures are great.  I apologize for the link being to a Geocities website, but there really is very little information on the F-20 out there.  

Here is what I know – it’s performance was equal or better to the F-16 in most aspects.  It was also much cheaper than the F-16.  The F-20 was basically an upgrade to the F-5… The F-5 is an interesting jet in that they had built these little potent jet engines for use in cruise missiles and these engines were so good they said “Let’s put two of them together and we would have a great little jet fighter!”  And that was what happened.  It was a great little jet fighter.  Used as trainers and as fighters by other air-forces around the world.  It appears in the movie “Top Gun” as the enemy Mig fighters.  Anyways… take all the good points of the F-5, and give it more than double the engine power thanks to the removal of the two little engines and shoehorning in one really big one.   Give it an avionics package that at the time was actually better than the F-16’s… and there you have it.  There was other improvements as well, but this is basically the nutshell.   Great fighter… the US Air Force could have banked on it.  Ready NOW… no development…   but that is not how the Air Force likes to buy things.  Senators in the Defense committee had no pork (political kickbacks for spending big bucks) on the Tigershark… the Generals in the Air Force had no pork on the F-20 Tigershark either.  

Unfortunately for Northrop, since the US Air Force didn’t buy any, everyone else didn’t either because there must have been something wrong with it.  This jet would have been perfect for Israel or for Brazil or any western-tech country needing an Air Force.  This is really too bad.  The F-20 is one of my favorite jet fighters.  

Why am I talking about this?  I’m not sure, but I was thinking about tying it in to the US Army’s own money sink hole/cluster-fuck… the Comanche.  

Could someone please tell me the actual advantages that the 60 Million dollar Comanche is supposed to have over a 50,000 dollar Cobra?  Seriously.  Could not the Cobras be fitted with Comanche avionics and systems and still be under 2 million a pop instead of 60 million? 

Look, I love the Cobra… I have a hard on for the Cobra.  I joined the Army because I wanted to fly the Cobra.   And even better than the Cobra, are the Super Marine Cobras that have twin engines for more speed, power, and range.  Just awesome.  I love the Cobras! 

Now take a look at these Comanche's.   Personally, if I was a Rotor-Head (I am at heart, I have about an hour of stick time in the co-pilot's seat of an Iroquois and about 3 hours in an autogyro) – I’d much rather fly a Cobra than the Comanche.  The Cobra is able to be quickly configured and reconfigured for each mission… this makes it much more “Multi-Purpose” than the Comanche.  The idea that the Comanche is more stealthy is bullshit.  You can hear choppers long before you see them.  That’s how you know they are coming… not with Radar. 

Considering how they always like to fly really low anyways… why is this stealth crap so important?  I’ll tell you why.  Political Pork.  There are some people who are getting really wealthy thanks to the Comanche.      

Email from Reader… it came in Not for Publication, but I have to share this with the Horde:  “Hey Ogre, I just wanted to share my collection with you......I think I'm turning in a Sigaholic...  Is there a cure???? I hope there is before I go broke!!!! LOL See ya, Larry”   Larry I got good news and bad news.  The bad news is that your condition will only worsen over time and it becomes both acute and terminal, especially when you also catch the CZ bug, as it looks like your about to catch.  The good news is that I just saved a load of money by switching to Geico.   Okay, I lied.  I didn't switch and there is no good news.  However you can take comfort in the fact that you have extremely good taste in handguns and your not into Glocks or Bersas or anything like that... so your not bad off.   The SIG P245 is one of my favorite .45 caliber automatics.  6+1 capacity in a nice package that carries well and is of course SIG.  Excellent.  It’s hard to do better.  For those liking this idea, but are not into SIGs for some reason… The Beretta Cougar is the way to go.  The SIG P239, even more compact than the 245, you can get these in 9MM, .357SIG, and .40 caliber flavors… It’s good in all of them.  Ah, and then you have your CZ P-01.  This gun makes me weak in the knees.  I love it.  There is just something about it that makes me drool when I see it.  I want one very badly.  Any of these three guns would make an absolute wonderful EDC gun.  (That means “Every Day Carry” for the Firearms Illiterati that sometimes reads MadOgre.com and then tries to correct me)  Owning all three of these wonderful guns is a triumph.   Now, looking at your collection, you are indeed off on a great start.  I would suggest a couple other guns since your collection is based on CCW work:   SIG P232 and the CZ 83.   I know these are .380s, but they are also excellent CCW handguns, especially loaded with those hot Pro Load .380s...  And just wait until you see your first CZ RAMI at your local gunshop.  There is no hope... Make your time.   

Emails regarding the Liberal’s Civil War:  First from Robert:   “I think I'm starting to agree with you far too often.    About the revolution...what are they going to do, give us bad hair cuts in sallons? Gay pride parade us to death? I could pinky slap these guys to surrender. "THTOP! THTOP! THE PINKY HURTH!"  LOL, Classic. 
And from Ed : “Ogre;  Civil war? Let 'em bring it on! It'll never happen because way deep down below their warm fuzzies, they know that we've been WAITING for an excuse to eradicate their ilk from this nation. Think of it, their would be a deafening roar of gunfire, and then America is cleansed of all of those isdiots that belong to the "USA out of North America Club". No doubt, a certain Arkansas scumbag and his wife would be found with so much lead in them, it would take a crane to lift them into the meat wagon.   So, yeah, let's get it on and get it over with.—Ed”  My feelings exactly.  I’ll personally lead the raids on Barbara Streisand’s and Michael Moore’s estates.

I think I gave myself whiplash from a recent snowboarding spill.  My head, neck and back hurt like a biatch. Especially my neck.  I'm going in to get it checked tomorrow.   I hate snowboards.   Skis are much better... smoother with greater control.   This is why skiers look graceful and boards look rodeo clowns going down the slopes.   Fucking snowboard.  *Ouch!*

1100hrs:  Time to do some good.  Peter Grant is a friend of mine and this request is legit... there are some people that need a hand.  If you can help, please send Peter an email.  If you have a weblog, please copy this request and post it on your site or link to this page referencing this Jan 4th 2004 11hrs entry:

"Hi, folks. I'm asking for your help in finding handguns to equip several disabled and/or handicapped people whom I've been training.

Let me give you some background. Most of these folks are in wheelchairs or on some sort of support system for walking. Most are the victims of industrial accidents, although there are some disease victims. Most have limited upper body strength, including arms, wrists and hands. For this reason, semi-auto pistols don't work well for them - "limp-wristing" is a fact of life.

I've taught them to shoot using .22, .38 and .44 revolvers. I find that for many of them, a compact .44 Special snub-nose revolver is the ideal carry weapon. It's a major caliber, readily controllable in a steel revolver, with good defensive ammunition freely available (at least in this area), and it's compact enough to drop into a holster next to their leg or hip in a wheelchair without causing any discomfort.

I'm looking for .44 Special revolvers - examples are the Rossi 720, Smith & Wesson 696, or Taurus 431, with 2" to 3" barrels. Stainless steel is preferred for ease of maintenance, although blued steel is acceptable. The guns should be in good to excellent condition - no major gunsmithing required. Fixed or adjustable sights are fine. Very important - there should be NO PORTS in the barrel. These folks will use them from positions close to their body, and we don't want jets of muzzle-blast singeing their nosehair!

A second choice would be .38 Special revolvers in the Smith & Wesson J frame or Colt D frame size. These, again, should be 2" to 3" barrels, steel frame, stainless if possible, etc.

Price is very important. All of these folks are on some form of welfare or disability payment, and only a few have family support. If anyone out there would like to donate a firearm to them, I'd be very grateful indeed. If you can't afford to donate one, how about a generous price?

Also, if anyone out there is flush with cash, would you consider sponsoring a firearm for one of these individuals?

Let me know, folks. email me if you can help.

God bless, and a happy and peaceful New Year to you all.

Peter Grant"

Jan 3rd, 2004: Noonish:  WARNING:  THE FOLLOWING RANT IS RATED R:  For the frequent mentioning of the name Howard Dean.

I was reading Boots and Sabers this morning and found this link.   Howard Dean’s big idea to fix the Federal Budget is to tax the shit out of us.   If you are middle class and invested… you could end up paying double the taxes you are paying now.  That’s Howard Dean’s plan. 

This plan sounds familiar.  “Double the taxes… Triple the taxes!  Squeeze every last penny out of those ungrateful, musical peasants!”  Reinstating the marriage tax penalty, and instituting a 55% Death Tax.  So if you die, more than ½ your stuff goes to the government instead of to your family.   As bad as that is, take a look at Dean’s Dividend Tax…  Right now it’s 15%, but Howard Dean’s plan is to bump it up to just about 40%.  Do you have any idea what that would do to the economy? 

Dividends are what you get from your investments.  If you are taxed by 40% of what you earn from investments…. Are you going to put your money into investments?  No.  You are going to put your money into other things… and probably take money out of investments.  

What will this do to the stock market?  Crash it like a fucking Saudi Arabian on a Boeing 747.  

If people stop investing and the stocks of a company go down… what’s that company going to do?  Lay people off.  That’s what we have seen since 1998.  Move jobs to over sea areas…. More unemployment means less people spending money.  Less people spending money means even more business cutbacks and failing business.  Which means more unemployment… This is the Downward Spiral that caused the whole Grapes of Wrath thing back in the 1930’s, and it all started in the stock market. 

And don’t think that rich uncle of yours is going to help when he dies… because the Government will take over half of it outright and then tax the rest as capital gains for another 20%.  So instead of 100 bucks, you will get only (off the top of my head) 36 bucks.  Nice. 

Now, let’s take a look at what George W Bush has done… he made the stock market attractive and some time later the financial reports are showing better numbers than we have seen since the early 90’s.  (If we could just get companies to stop sending jobs to India!  Fucking NAFTA!) Howard Dean’s ignorant plan will KILL America.  Pure and simple, Howard Dean is poison.  

You know what the scary thing is?  He is the best the Left has to offer.  The best thing the Left has is to take the American Dream and dump a bucket of ice water on it.  That’s just fucking GREAT!   YEAH AMERICA!  Check this out… Before Christmas the local football coach paid a visit driving a different vehicle that what he normally drives.  He joked that he had to downgrade thanks to Bush.   You want to talk downgrading, Coach?  If Dean wins, you will be lucky to be driving a damned Yugo – If you could afford the gas for it!  Fuck Howard Dean, Fuck the Clintons, and fuck every Democrat in America.

Some Liberals have had the complete ignorance to say that if Bush wins in 2004, they are going to start a Civil War.   I've discussed this matter before, check the MOA (Mad Ogre Archives) but this fellow over here has done a great job of laying it all out for them.    I'm not sure if I like this guy's post.   Such a posting will convince them that a civil war would be a bad idea and they wont start such an uprising.  I say we need to convince them that they do need to start a civil war!  Bring it!  We will wipe them out so completely it wont even be funny.  Fish in a barrel.  Especially considering that he left out another key element.  We are the ones that serve and have served in the military and are the ones that know how to shoot and drive tanks and fly the helicopters and the jets... We have all the gun, we have all the guts, and we have all the know how....  Bring it.  Please, oh please, bring it on!  

This guy is unsure of to what guns he should get.   Let me make the suggestion in the form of a quote:  "The AK-47, the very best there is... when you absolutely, positively have to kill every motherfucker in the room... accept no substitute."    That about sums it up.  The added bonuses are that AK type rifles are cheap and plenty and even more importantly... so is the ammo.   

Jan 2, 2004: 1230hrs:  I don’t get what it is that makes people think that they have a right to get into an airliner’s cockpit.  Several such attempts have been made lately.  I think airliners should have the cockpit completely separated from the passenger compartment.  The only way to get into the cockpit should be from the outside.  Also, the aircrew in the cockpit should be armed.  Well armed to include body armor.  Airliners should also be fitted with automatic countermeasures like military aircraft.  Flare and chaff dispensers.  Remember the movie Air Force One?  That’s what I am talking about.  The reason for this is that I think the next major air-terror even will not involve a passenger, but a couple of guys in a truck parked near the airport at one end of the runway or another and these guys will be packing a MANPADS of some sort and will nail a jetliner as it’s taking off or coming in for a landing.  For those that don’t know what MANPADS means, it’s “MAN Portable Air Defense System” and it’s simply a shoulder fired missile that will lock onto an airliner’s hot jet engine exhaust.   The flares are used to drop something hotter than the exhaust that will hopefully spoof the incoming heat-seeking missile to into going after the flare.    They work well, but are not 100%... but at least it increases the chances of survival for the passengers.  For that reason, I don’t care one bit if these systems are expensive.  Put them in.  I am sure any and all passenger would not mind one bit an extra 5 bucks on the ticket to pay for it.  (BTW Chaff is used to spoof radar guided missiles)   Barring surface to air missiles… another form of attack could be shoulder launched rockets fired across the fences from outside the airport into jets that are on the taxi way or sitting at the end of the runway waiting for the clearance to launch.  Many airports are set up to where these planes are very close to the edge of the airport grounds so such a shot would not be long range at all.  Some are only a few hundred feet.  Well within RPG range, and accessible from roads not going past the air terminal and airport security.    I’m not going to name any such airport that has this problem… but there are far too many of them.   If a terrorist wants to hit a plane, they can.  It’s far too easy to do it.  However we have not seen such as attack here in the US or at a major airport someplace else.  Why have we not seen this?  They are too dim to figure this out?  Maybe.  Or maybe these terrorists that some people are so afraid of are just not capable of such an attack.  They don’t have the means or the man power capable of doing this shit.   

I am going to have to give my full support to George W Bush for his 2004 election.  I think he is doing a pretty good job in spite of Liberals blaming him for everything including baby birds falling out of nests, and stubbed toes.    He has thrown the Democrat party into a tailspin by ripping the rug out from under them.  This was expensive, but I think ultimately it is worth it.  We took all the democrat’s issues and made them Republican issues.  The most valid issue the left as right now?  I don’t see one valid point they have right now.   The Right as all the cards and should be calling all the shots right now… but I am not going into what a collection of pussies we have on Capital Hill… I am deeply disappointed in many things that Bush and the Congress is doing and has done… but even at the worst – even at Bush’s WORST he is much better than the Howard Dean’s or Wes Clark’s BEST.   My big issues are spending issues and the AWB right now.    I think we should sell NASA to Star Trek fans piece by piece and I think the AWB should go away with an associated evaporation of all gun laws save 1 single issue.  Convicted persons of violent felony crimes should never again be allowed to touch a weapon.  Other than that – it’s all green lights.  Including the proliferation of suppressors for all firearms.  Because guns are very loud and causes lots of hearing damage.  Someone please thing of the ear drums.  Suppressors can reduce the noise levels of a gun to the point that hearing protection is not required.  Anyways… I’m rambling again.  Bush is my man for 2004, because to not vote for Bush is to vote for the DNC’s man.  Whoever that is. 

Before Christmas, I had an interesting conversation with my Bro-In-Law, Mike.  Mike is a cool guy and I like him a lot... He is living in Chicago... the city that has just won the Murder Capital of America award for 2003.  Watch your back out there, Mike.  Anyways, we discussed the pros and cons of the two party system and the merits or lack there of, of 3rd parties in the political spectrum.  I was on the side of the 3rd party, and Mike was for just the 2 party system.  He made some good solid points.  This short conversation that we had was the most interesting verbal exchange that I have had through the holidays.  This is also making me really look forward to my Political Science class that I am going to be taking this coming semester.   I am excited.  I just really hope my instructor is not a Liberal or I will be in deep doo-doo.  My grades from last semester were pretty danged good save for one class.  And I didn't even expect to pass that class, yet I did and earned the credits for it.  Good enough.  It pulled my GPA down, and for that I am going to register formal complaint.  I'm not whining about my performance in the class or any of that shit... but I have some major issues about the instructor of that class.  She was a PHD and extremely full of herself.  When you study hard for 12 hours and only get 50% on an exam... it's frustrating.  The highest score was like only 68%.  Why was this?  Because the teacher was such a fucking idiot and so totally disorganized that she didn't know what book the class was using.  Her test questions? They were often questions that had no reference to either lectures or the books.  She was pulling things out of her (sizable) ass and expecting us in an entry level course to know it.   She was sloppy and unprofessional and demotivated everyone in the class.  I know several people who are retaking the course from a different instructor.   I'm of the opinion that this person should not be teaching anything.  I am so looking forward to my classes this semester.  Can't wait.

From Jason in Virginia, I have this link.  Looks like this Target email I got earlier today is total bullshit.  I still don't like the way they organize the magazine racks.

1100hrs:  I got this in the email this morning: “Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.  We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:  "Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and education."  So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really wrong at this TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial remembrance.  As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET U.S. corporate headquarters and  their response was the same. That's their national policy.  Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the  Marines to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores. And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further, TARGET is a French-owned corporation.  Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET can not support American Veterans, then why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard earned American dollars and to have their profits sent to France. Without the American Vets, where would France be today? Sincerely, Veterans helping Veterans”    I’m not sure as to the validity of this forwarded message, but I’m passing it along just in case it’s true.  This would not surprise me if it was true… I used to like Target stores because they have pretty good guy clothes as stuff… but then I noticed something that bothered me.  They wouldn’t sell any gun magazines because “guns are bad” but they well sell porno mags right next to magazines aimed at kids. Buy Porno I’m not meaning Penthouse… but the “Okay Porn” in the form of Cosmo and some other fashion mag that discussed the benefits of oral sex.  I’m not kidding, I saw it, and it was right there by kiddie magazines.  Not that I have anything against oral sex… far from… but I’d rather that jazz not be wear little kids are grabbing it and reading it.   That’s just not right.

Nightmares.  2 animals that give me nightmares:  That would be Llamas and Badgers. I'd rather not get around either. Badgers because they are evil and Llamas because they creep me out thanks to Dr Doolittle and that "Push Me-Pull You" creature. Unholy.  The only thing that could make a Llama worse is if it was being ridden by a Clown. I hate clowns. Especially Libyan clowns. Gives me nightmares that are kind of a cross between "Poltergeist" and "Back to the Future".   Wait... what are we talking about?

A question came up on THR as to what gun James Bond should have.  Lots of suggestions, but only mine is correct.  Let me explain why.  The Walther P99 that Bond is currently issued is a fine choice.  It’s a full 9MM caliber, good capacity, good reliability and all that… but my suggestion is for a Beretta 92 Compact L model.  It’s concealable under a tux, has a better capacity than the P99, and if we wants, he can put in 20 or even 30 round mags.  Of course the barrel would be threaded for the use of a suppressor.  But best reason for this is that it’s a Beretta.  Bond’s original gun was a Beretta .25.  So this would be both an upgrade, and going back to his roots.  And the Beretta is a much better looking pistol that the P99.  This is just my opinion.  I might be wrong… but I’m sticking to my guns.  If Bond wants to stick with a Walther, why not the little P22? .22 caliber guns are the traditional gun of the Spy… Especially with a suppressor.  2 to the back of the head and all that.  Okay, that’s silly… but that P22 is cool as hell.  I actually like it better than the P99 for 2 things.  #1 is the external safety, and #2 is the hammer.  The P99 doesn’t have these things and I think this is a shortcoming.  The Beretta 92 Compact has both as well.

January First, 2004: 1900hrs:  Ogre’s New Year Bash:  It was just me and my wife and my five young sons.  All of whom fell asleep promptly at 10:00PM.  After weighing my options I narrowed it down to driving up to the local bar and getting smashed, falling asleep myself, or going outside at Mid Night and telling Ranger happy new year.  This is what I did.  Getting smashed would have been hard to do since I don’t drink anymore and the bars around here don’t serve Sprite.  At least I don’t think they do.  I don’t know.  I haven’t checked.  So just about a minute before midnight, I walked out to hang with Ranger.  He was happy to see me and gave me a New Years kiss.  I gave him a hug and petted him and then gave him some chicken wings… he loved the attention and I was glad that I had someone to talk to that wasn't snoring.  This was almost the only up for the day.  I had another up (Note: an “Up” is what I call a “Positive Moment”) yesterday, and that was when I went to the nearest 7-11 and got flirted with by a babe that was in my history class… another older (meaning not just out of high school) student, but she was the hottest babe in the class.  Pretty and with a nice rack.  Felt good to be flirted at.  This doesn’t happen very often.  Not that I’m not a sexy hunk of a man… look at my picture.  I’m fucking gorgeous!  But I’m also considered by many around here to be scary.  I don’t know why.  The question as to where I was going to be at the stroke of midnight was part of the flirt… at the time the answer “Standing outside in the cold getting licked in the face by my dog” was not what I had in mind… but that is what happened.  Did anyone have a more lame New Year's Eve party than that?   

Email from Leon in New Zealand:  “Hey man, just wanted to say cheers for adding the link to THS, sweet as eh. Having a bit of a browse mate and just had to say about that M16 add on / Warhammer 40k looking thing.  Sure as, add something, more bulk to make a weapon like the M16 better.  Not a go in my book.  You want a shotty and a tool for entry then you get the weapon specific for its application.  Mossberg 500, Remington 1100 or whatever. Heck even a Pancor if you really must.  Everywhere I look there are M4's with this that and the next thing accessories hooked on.  Rubbish IMHO.  Give me a shotty for close up, Sniper rifle (bolt action) with good optics and decent fields sights for backup for long range, or an SLR for everything else.  M16 was light.  That for me was the only real benefit, but I didn't go into the Army to worry about carrying heavy rifles.  20 rounds of 7.62 at one round a time beats 30 rounds of 5.56.  CQB we can deal with that asides, but I have a thing for 00 buck.  Look at the Ruskies going to 9x39 in the Groza. Has a 7.62 option but the short lived 5.45 is down the road. They know what are doing there I reckon.  Just because so many people use the M16, doesn't mean its a good thing. Much like Microsoft and Windows, as I have explained it to mates down this way.  Had no problems with it in the Army but there are so many better rifles out there.  Plus I am a one or two shot man, one shot that hits and drops the target. The supporters of intermediate cartridges for combat need to realise that wounding is no longer an option. The enemy (in general) do not respect life any longer, and want to take you with them, not sharing any concern for rules of war and the conduct and honour of soldiering as we do.  As far as the Hind goes, it must be my Russian blood (despite some opposition to some of their political moves) that I think the Hind just rocks. Can actually carry ground troops for tactical deployment. Also interesting to note that there is a reason the USMC still use Cobras; so much cheaper to run, much less of a logistical strain, and less techno-crap to go down, over the AH-64. The Aussies have gone with the EuroCopter Tiger, which (perhaps for PC reasons) they call it the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH)  But give me a Hind with a cannon, 57 32 rocket pods AT missiles and some lads in the back.   Also Og', if you haven't checked out the film 'Dog Soldiers', do get hold of it.  Awesome Mil flick featuring Werewolves.  Some Brit Paras have a bad time of it as a routine Ex with the SAS turns into a lycanthrope nightmare.  All the best to all the troops on deployment overseas.  Thanks eh Ogre. Happy New Year, have a great 2004.   - Leon Way down under in New Zealand”

I've linked to THS a few times before, but neglected to give it a more permanent link... you would have to go through the MOA (Mad Ogre Archives) to find think links.   "Just because so many people use the M16, doesn't mean its a good thing. Much like Microsoft and Windows."
That is the best analogy for the M-16 that I have ever heard.   I'm going to have to steal that one.
The best shotgun I have ever seen is not allowed to come to the US because the ATF doesn't know how to classify it.  It's called the NEOSTEAD.  It's a dual tube feed reversed pump action... sound funky, looks funkier, but I really like the design.  That would be flat out the best CQB shotgun and the only think that could make it better would be to build a Semi-Auto version.
I had very few problems with the M-16 in the Army too - but I still recognized some of it's shortcomings.   The biggest advantage to the CAR-15, M-16 and even the M-4 is that it is so light and handy.   I really can not see the motivation for taking the light and handy carbine and making it heavier than an M-14 when the whole rationalization for getting rid of the M-14 was that it was too heavy and the M-16 was so nice and light. A short and light weight version of the FAL or an HK G3KA4 would be ideal.  Vertical fore grips, 2 scopes and landing lights are really not all that impressive to me.  I saw a picture of a rifle that had not just a light on it, but 3 lights... including small LED lights for when your not using the main super bright light.  And then it had not one, but 2 scopes on it.   Fore grip... and a bayonett.... That is just getting SILLY.     I am not going to be packing all of that around.  Forget it.  I don't care if it's WWIII, I'm not wanting all that.  Especially since the rifle is still just a glorified .22!   If you are using your weapon as a bigass flashlight using your small lights instead of your big bright one that you use to blind badguys with.... You are probably not practicing the basic rules of firearms safety as you are probably pointing your rifle at all sorts of things you do not intend to shoot.
Not only that, but I found that you don't want to be searching around in the dark with your little flashlights with badguys about, because the badguys WILL see you before you see them... And they will see you from much farther away because your the doofus with the lights on!   All the badguys have to do is salvo a volley of fire around the pretty little lights and you are toast.   In the Infantry we learned that you NEVER use your flashlights unless you had a red filter on it... and even then it was always pointed at the ground and never far from what you are looking at.   Why?  Because lights can get you killed.   Now lights are the cool thing to have on your gun?
Have we forgotten simple lessons learned back in WWII and relearned in Korea, and again in Vietnam?   Dog Soldiers... Creepiest werewolves ever put on film.  Great movie.  Good gun handling through the first half.... The dog grabbing that guy's guts was really disturbing.

Dong Resin must have been to some of the same parties that I have been to.   I was down with the whole thing right up to the Jacko comment… I can understand where he is coming from. 

Email from Stig in Norway:  “Hi MadOgre! Good gun related posts lately!  I see that you are interested in silencers, here is a link to a really good manufacturer of such. I planning to buy one for myself, to my Kongsberg 393 rifle, it will cost me about 270 $ + work. Remember,last year i got caught in an automatic traffic controller? The fine I got was 2500 NOK=367$. Do the math, there goes my suppressor. I`m attaching a couple of pics of said rifle.  Caliber .308, versapod bipod, sightron 4-16 scope, which i am  looking for a replacement for, it has a crack in one of the lenses inside, so i reckon its gonna fall apart anytime soon.  I`m shooting mostly at distances from 80-130 meters, and i am looking for a rugged scope in the 1000$  range, it could be fixed or variable, but at least 12x magnification.  Shit, there’s a lot of stuff i want!  First: Large caliber revolver, probably an Smith and Wesson 629 44 mag., i would  like something in 454 casull, as you recommended to me, but s&w 44 mag., are easy to get used, and they are nicely priced over here right now. Second: A new scope Third: A Hausken silencer. The list could go on but i stopping here for now. STIG”

Now that is one cool looking old warhorse of a rifle.  I've never had the chance to shoot a Kongsberg, they are rare here in the USA, but I understand they are fine rifles.  I'm not sure what scope I'd select for it, but it would probably be something very tough given your environment.   130 meters, 12X magnification... given your stock configuration, you are wanting something extremely precise.  Take a look at these.   One of those should do well given your rifle.   But you really don't have to spend all that much cash for a great scope.   These Springfield scopes are outstanding and 1/2 the price.  Browse around that website and you will find something suitable and more affordable so you can still budget for your suppressor.   Most scope makers all get their lenses ground at the same mills so what you want to look for are gas filled scopes with good coatings and then what ever features you are looking for.  Personally, I have been very rough on rifle scopes.   I have broken far too many and far too easily for me to spend a lot of money on something so fragile.   That being said, I tend to buy Burris Simmons and Red Star scopes… because if they break (and I WILL find a way to break them) I'll just say a couple cuss words, then rip the scope off and use the iron sights.  I know the arguments for buying a great and strong scope that should last you the rest of your life – but when you drop a grand on a scope and you are holding it in your hands… one part in one hand and the objective lens in the other… You tend to think about all the other stuff you could have spent that grand on, minus a few bucks for that little Red Star scope that lasts just as long as the more expensive ones.  Anti Fog?  You can buy some Rain X at autozone and it’ll do the trick for awhile.   But then again, I’m a cheap bastard and for most shooting situations I can do just as good with a BSA or Burris as most guys can do with a much more expensive scope.

Tacitus has his predictions for 2004 in… his predictions for 2003 were mostly correct, but all safe bets.  I am not having many expectations for 2004… save 2 things.  George Bush will get a second term and the Assault Weapons Ban will unfortunately find a way not to sunset and we will see it made permanent and that situation will be worse than it is now.  Those are my only predictions.  I have low expectations.

CHECK ARCHIVES FOR OLDER CONTENT

Donate ogre@madogre.com via PayPal to support MadOgre.com, or God will kill a kitten.

Copyright G H Hill 1999-2012

This site is powered by: OGRE'S ALL CONSUMING BITTER RAGE!