Nov 30th, Sunday: Email from Horde Lieutenant Glock19:  “Mr. Ogre:  You are right .No question Bush did the right thing; It's insulting to everyone as Americans to hear criticism for the sake of politics. To the critics on the left, he can do no right, whatever he does. He has the courage to do what needs to be done, which is more than can be said about those asshats that just want to tear everything down for their own gratification. If you do the right thing, and it is also good politics, more power to you. Sad to hear all the critics and whiners. - glock19”

The Left has done a very good job at alienating the very people who they want voting for them.  Minorities are seeing more and more that it’s the Republicans that are looking out for them… Old people are seeing more and more that it’s the Republicans that are looking out for them… Everyone else is seeing this too.  Everyone is looking at the Democrats now and thinking “They are against everything now, so they are not for anything anymore.”  They are even getting tired of the constant and relentless bitching about every little thing Bush is doing… even when it’s things that the Democrats are supposed to be for.   This shows them the vacuum that is the Democrat Message.  They are seeing it.  They are not becoming Republicans or anything, but they are at least now starting to open their eyes… and this is a good thing.   The Kool-Aid drinkers are still there bitching and moaning about Bush… but fewer and fewer people are listening.

Email from readers asking me what I want for Christmas.  I was going to say things like new vehicles, guns, knives, DVDs, books, and all that jazz… with some jazz… but no.  I really want just one thing… No, it’s not World Peace, because that will never happen.  I just want this one little thing… I want Ted Kennedy to have a massive fucking heart attack.  That’s it.  After that, anything else would be gravy.

Sorry I don’t have much of a post today.  I was studying for my finals most of the day… and afterwards I had to decompress by playing Grand Theft Auto.   Favorite weapon in the game, other than a Stallion Convertible?  Molotovs.  Oh yeah.  Warms the heart.   The game is ultra gnarly, sure… but it is a sick kind of addictive fun that just lets you get some hostilities out of your system.     

Nov 29th, Saturday: 1430hrs:  President Bush’s trip to Baghdad… The Democrat’s biggest beef is that they are saying Bush did it for publicity just to get some news.  This is bogus, because everything the President does already gets news, because he is the freaking President of the United States.  They are also bitching that “If Clinton did it, the Republicans would be complaining”.  WTF?  Guys, Clinton was over 3 years ago… but if you want to go to Clinton – Let’s talk about Clinton.  There is a difference between Clinton going and Bush going.  First off, Bush’s trip wasn’t staged.  It was ad-lib, on the fly, and “From the Hip” as we Shooters say.  Clinton would have parked a cool looking Navy ship just off the shore to use as a back drop and have had staffers place fake tombstones around with little flags, making sure one flag is laying flat so Clinton could look all special by standing it up right.   Bush, if you watched him, was sincere.  And the troops, if you leftist shit-bags cared, respect and love Bush right back.  Bush wept real tears of pride and joy and love for the troops there.  Clinton?  He shit on the US Military every time he had a bowel movement.  Decimated the military strength, and virtually ruined it.  Bush is building it back up.   Bush was proud to be there, because he wanted to be there to show the troops his personal support and appreciation… sure he was only there for 2 hours, but it was 36 hours of flight time to have those 2 hours.  Was it worth it?  My God, Man!  Did you HEAR the voices of the soldiers?  Look, when I was still in and Clinton was my Commander and Chief – I couldn’t even bring myself to salute the flag, let alone him.  Neither did a lot of soldiers… Many soldiers have gotten in a lot of trouble for refusing to salute that jackass.   Now, we have a real Commander and Chief in office and saluting him is something that every soldier will remember as a cherished memory.  Yes… it was worth it.   Clinton doesn’t know sincere.  To him, it’s just an act.  Like that funeral service he went to… video shows him laughing and smiling… then he sees the camera and within one step, he has on a somber, reflective, sad face.  Clinton was a Used Car Salesmen of a President.  Bush means what he says and says what he means.  We have not had a President like him in Office since Reagan… George W Bush, even if he doesn’t get a 2^nd term, goes down in History as one of the best presidents America has ever had… with his name right next to George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln and FDR.     He is not a perfect President… but we can only take what we can get.    The only real issue that I have with Bush is his stance on Gun Control and the AWB.  If he was to say “I’m against the AWB and I want it gone”, then I would fall to my knees in prayers of thanksgiving for giving America such a President.   Oh, and the left is also crying about how only 15 reporters were allowed.  This is such a bullshit issue.  Obviously the need for security was greater than the need for reporters that wouldn’t be able to keep their mouths shut.  Fox reporters have a track record of following the rules with all the embedded reporters during the Iraq war… the others have even come out and said, if they knew Bush was going to go, they would have reported it on the spot.  Well, had they done that, then Bush wouldn’t have been able to go at all.  Those reporters would have done that to stop Bush from getting any good press at all.  Partisan bullshit like that shows precisely why they were NOT selected to go, and why Bush’s orders for such selections were absolutely correct!   What Bush did was AMAZING, and the Left can not get over that.  The Left has NOTHING to stand on politically anymore and all they can do is to criticize… they have nothing productive to give.  They are a bunch of bitter, unhappy losers. 

HBE Holsters:  Yesterday I visited HBE Specialty Leatherworks.  Eric there is right now finishing up a neat little holster of a very unique design.  When it’s done, he’s going to put up a photo of it on his site and I’ll give you the link.  I’m calling this design “The Rhino”, not “RINO”.  It is seriously one of the coolest holsters I have ever seen, if not THE coolest holster I have ever seen.  Some thought about holster making…  I’ve never really put much thought into what it really takes to make a holster.  Sure, I’ve watched guys cut the leather, put it in the machine to get stitched and pressed and all that… but to really make a holster by hand… there is a great deal of cognitive work to be done before you touch any leather.  This is where Eric excels.  This cat knows leather, and he knows holsters… he is a gonzo gun-nut so he knows how a holster should work.  He loves packing his guns.  This all rolls into his work and is what makes his work exceptional.  Take a look at his gun list for the holsters he has molds for… if you have one of these guns and need a holster for it… HBE.   He hand bones these holsters himself, by hand, with a bone, the old fashioned way.  Looking at the time and care he gives his work – he doesn’t charge enough for them.  He just doesn’t.  Looking at his box of “screw ups” as he called them… he had to point out to me what was wrong with them…  Little things… His screw ups are things I have actually paid twice the cash for from other makers.   Go now, and order one of his holsters.   If you have a CZ handgun – you have got to get two things for it… just off the cuff, this is the “New CZ Owner’s Rule”:  #1, order an HBE holster.  #2, order a set of Hakan Grips for it.   You will be glad you did.  If you don’t have a CZ, don’t worry… Eric can still make you a holster.  Send him an email.  Hakans?  You are just out of luck, sorry.  AH!  Here is the pictures!  Side 1, Side 2.  This is a funky design, but it's all about how it works. Now you can see why it's called the Rhino.  I love it.

Email from readers:  “Ogrish one, Happy T-day to you and yours!  Let us be thankful that we have thousands of brave warriors willing to lay down their lives so that we may live in peace and freedom. Let us be thankful that we have a president with a set of brass balls so big he's willing to step into the hot zone with his troops even though he's the #1 target of every angry loser east of the Mediterranean.   Oh, almost forgot. You may get a laugh from this e-comic, even if you're not a Punisher fan.  Keep up the blogging! - Steve M”

Thanks for the email, Steve.  Indeed, his trip to see the troops… I am still amazed.  More on this later.  The Punisher… that is funny.  Someone has way too much time on their hands.

Another which was marked as Confidential asked among other things my opinion of the Ruger Mini-30.  It’s a fine rifle for it’s type, but not my first second or third choice.  I’d rather opt for an SAR-1.  These can be had for the same or less as the Ruger, but uses standard AK-47 type magazines that can be had on the cheap, good and plenty at any worthwhile gun show.  Another advantage to the SAR is the aftermarket AK parts that can be used to upgrade or repair it.  So logistically the SAR, an AK variant has the advantage.  It’s also more reliable and just as accurate as the Ruger.  So the only reason to get the Ruger would be only for it’s less aggressive looks.  But let’s be honest.  The Anti-Gun crowd doesn’t care about the wood.  Hell, they get pissed over squirt guns so what difference does it make?    

Another Email:  “Hey Ogre,  I’'ve been reading your blog for about a year now,  and I enjoy your commentaries, rantings, reviews,  etc...   I was reading your entry for the 26th,  and had to go dig out my Infantry ring.  I did my osut at sand hill  (sand hotel),  and we really felt for you guys out in in harmony church.  That was 20 years ago,  but literally seems like yesterday.   Anyway,  you can up the count of people you know with an Infantry ring to 7.  My 5 year old son is fascinated with it at the moment,  so I guess I'll let him keep it for a while,  before I put it back in the "memory box".   Best regards to you and your family.  Good luck with your studies,  and  keep up the good works. – Rule” 

Ah, Sand Hill.  Yes.  Stayed at Sand Hill for about a week... our last week there actually.  They decided to move all of us out when one of the buildings had a stair collapse.  We felt that we had been jipped!  Smooth unsplintered floors... real toilets! No broken glass to do pushups on.   Harmony Church gave me some unique memories that I wouldn't trade for anything.  Thanks for the email.

Nov 27th, THANKSGIVING DAY!   Things Ogre is thankful for:   This year I have had a lot of blessings and trials.  I think I could honestly say that I am thankful for my blessings, but I could do with fewer and lesser trials in the upcoming year.   I’m thankful for my improved health.  This last week I have been feeling almost like my old self again.   I’m thankful for the chance I have to be going back to school, but not thankful for all the mountains of homework.   I’m thankful for my beautiful wife, who backs me up on all my harebrained ideas… including going back to school.  I’m thankful for my sons… who are all wonderful boys… who are also each and everyone “Evil Geniuses” and have taken over my world.  I’m thankful for Ranger, who like the loyal and trusting companion that he is, chased those 3 damned cats all the way up a telephone pole to help punish them for shitting on my leather bomber jacket that my Dad gave me. (fuckin cats)  I’m thankful for my family in Virginia, my Mom and Dad… My brothers J and Z who are cool guys and will one of these days illustrate one of my stories for me… (hint hint hint)  I’m thankful for my brother TC, who just gave my Dad a Russian wristwatch that he can’t stop bragging about “Hey, this Russian Watch says its time for you to find me a present as cool as the one your brother gave me!”  Uh huh, thanks TC.  Kidding.  I’m thankful for my In-Laws… who I also call “Mom and Dad” because they are so awesome.  My In-Law-Sisters who are each wonderful people, smart and funny.  My In-Law brother for his new healthy son, and my In-Law-Sister’s husbands who are all very cool guys too.  I’m thankful for my friend Steve who gave me this computer that arrived the day before my old one popped sparked smoked and self destructed like the blue R2 unit that Uncle Owen first got for Luke Skywalker… I am especially grateful for it because without it, going back to school would have been useless.  I’m thankful for my guns.  In the last 4 years, they have saved my ass twice, and many times before that… but this last two times have been here in Utah, one of the safest places in the country.  I’m thankful for my Church, and the comfort that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to my life, and his sacrifice for our sins.  I’m thankful for my friends around the world, some who I have met, others who I have not… Awesome people out there who read MadOgre.com and share interests in History, Liberty, and the Politically Incorrect things such as our guns.  I’ve got the most kick ass readership of any personal opinion weblog.   

Mrs. Ogre is busy in the kitchen and I can already smell some good things… I think I’ll go join her.

Have a joyous Thanksgiving Day, everyone. 

Nov 26th, Wednesday:  1700HRS:  Mrs. Ogre read the last update and got a little miffed.  To thumb her nose at me, she came home for lunch with new collars for her freaking cats… with little fucking bells on them.   So I went and got a new extra length chain for Ranger.  HA!   Leather Jacket is at the cleaners now.  It’s going to take a week and 50 bucks before I get it back.   I don’t cotton to animal cruelty, but I have been most tempted.   Email from Heath suggesting .44 Special is good on cats had me thinking for a second that I had not done any testing of this 200 grain Federal load I’m using.  I’ve ran the ammo through the gun and can make good quick hits with it… but I don’t know what that LSWCHP slug actually does.  3 cats lined up side to side would make a good test…. but no.  Ogre is a right bastard, but he isn’t an Evil bastard.  Well, maybe not with a capital “e”.   I will not touch, shoot, slice, blend, smash, fold or staple the cats, as I promised Mrs. Ogre.  But I didn’t promise anything about pole-axing, so I do have a recourse if needed.   For now, I am content to having them banished from inside the house.   These kitties are now officially “Outdoors” cats.   Of course I have to chuckle… they are going to be awfully frustrated trying to hunt with those bells.   AH!

For some reason Acidman posted a pic of his ring.  A Celtic pattern ring… looks nice.  I think I’ll post a pic of my ring, just for fun.  I got it at Ft. Benning, GA another lifetime ago.  It has a long story behind it that I am not going to tell.  The ring it’s self is pretty cool… It’s a solid chunk of Stainless Steel that got a little gold plated onto it, and it’s topped with an Infantry Blue stone.  One one side is an image of the famous “Iron Mike” statue in his classic “Follow Me” pose.  On the other side is the patch worn by the Cadre there at Ft. Benning in the ITC, right under the crossed rifles of the Infantry… the symbol of the US Army Infantryman.  Around the stone it says “US ARMY INFANTRY TRAINING CENTER”.  This is my ring, I only know 6 other people who have this ring, and I have never seen anyone else wearing one.  I wish I didn’t get the gold plating on it and just kept it stainless.  Before you die, you see This Ring.  

I feel sorry for the US Army Infantry grunts that trained someplace other than Benning.  Cause at Benning we had a name for those guys.  "Pussies".  I was at "Harmony Church" there in Benning.  Harmony Church was the area with the barracks buildings built for WWII troopers heading to Europe.  I was in the very last Light Infantry group to train there.  After we left, they used it for "11 Mike" training for a little while and then they leveled it for who knows what reason.  I was greatly saddened at the loss of history, but it happens all the time.  I guess I know how my Dad feels... who looks up pictures of old airfields and stuff... places where he knows all the details about and are now left to be overgrown.  Even though he knows who what when where why and how of how worked where and when and why in all the old buildings there... he was *ahem* never there.  We never had this conversation either.   Your PC will self destruct in 5 seconds.  Maybe less if you are running Windows.

Guys, I am pumped.   I am totally jazzed.  I have mentioned holsters from HBE Specialty Leatherworks for some time now.  Friday I am going out to Bountiful to finally get one.  A cross-draw rig for my 696.  I am looking forward to this one.  HBE rigs are some of the finest available from anywhere, and soon I shall have my own example.   As Cartman says: “Sweeet”!  Of course I had planned on wearing the cross draw under my Bomber Jacket, but I’ll have to wait a week for that so the Cleaners can get the cat shit out of it!  

Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life.  Good movie.  I think Angelina Jolie looks even better in this one... especially in that white leather outfit.   I liked this flick better than T3 that I rented last night.. Of course the best thing about that one was the hot babe in the tight leather outfit.  Hmmm... something about leather just makes everything that much sexier.  Of course that leather clad chickybabe was the badguy... but she really didn't look all that menacing.  She did that "I'm tilting my head forward and not smiling to look more evil" trick, but it really didn't work.  She just looked more tasty.

0924hrs:  The Rogue Warrior has totally ripped off MadOgre.com.   Look at this.  Green text on a black background, just like how I had mine before I switched.    And look at this logo.   Just like my MadOgre.com logo.   Freaking sticky fingered Navy…  I’m going to kick his trash!  I ranted about his in a private discussion and this is what a friend said about this: “Immediately Dick would lose his MP5, or it would jam, that way you guys could go hand to hand. Then for three or four pages you would fight, of course Dick would be kicked in the nuts several times, finally using his mad SEAL skillz he would break your neck with some sort of judo move, either that or stab you with a really expensive knife.”  Okay, so maybe I wont kick his trash.  In case you read this, Mr Marcinko, I’m joking.  Chill.  And in case you don’t… my guns don’t jam.   Neener, Neener, Neener.   Seriously though, I respect the Rogue Warrior for his service to the country, but man, dude, hire a new writer.  I have to smirk at your site though… “Enlist” to talk to you and your “Real Team”?  It’s just a shill for some bucks from the comic book crowd.  You don’t want to really talk to them and even you did, what would you talk about?  How you’d splash the deadly Bombay Gin over Britney Spears before devouring her?   Uh huh… Get in line.

Cooper Leather Bomber Jacket.  I love this jacket.  It’s warm, woolly and furry, and all together a great jacket.  Last night I took it off and hung it up, right?  Well, somehow it fell.  Then during night, one of the fricken cats that Mrs. Ogre brought home decided it was pretty warm and cozy too… but instead of snuggling into it, it shit all over the wool.   Yeah.  Her freaking cat shit inside my freaking bomber jacket.   So this morning I get to take it to the dry cleaners… I was going to do other things… but no… I get to take by freaking bomber jacket to the freaking cleaners to get the freaking cat-shit out of it.    I am so… disgruntled right now.  I am going to… I want to… these cats… !%%*@****&$#!$!@!@!#!!!!   Ranger is getting his Thanksgiving Dinner, today. 

These cats… I blame Mrs. Ogre for these cats.  See, I had Ranger.  Ranger used to lay at my feet while I studied… but since SHE brought home these fricken cats – Ranger has had to stay outside because Ranger hates cats and we had damned Tom & Jerry thing going on until we could put the chain on Ranger.   Well… Guess what?   These cats are outta here and Ranger gets to come inside to lay at my feet again.   Fuckin cats.

Email from reader, long one:  “I have an issue that needs a forum and Madogre may be the place. I received a ticket here in the great police state of New Jersey for driving without my seatbelt.”  

STOP, Stop, stop!!!  Wait a second.  MadOgre.com is my Soapbox!   Don't get me started on this, man. Privilege of driving... in the car you bought and paid for, but unless you keep paying the graft of "Registration" - you don't get the Privilege of driving it on the roads you pay for in your taxes...  And then they don't let you register because your car blows too much carbon... even if it's over 15 years old and such requirements were not on it when it was built and first purchased.
Or the house that you bought and paid for and lived in for over 50 years... you short the State 500 bucks out of 50 years of paying property tax and the State takes your home and the land and sells it at auction.   "Welcome to Reality", my friend, in this modern USA, "property" is an illusion.
Where did this go wrong in the Land of the Free?  When the North won the Civil War... that's when the Government decided it had the biggest balls, raped states rights and put in place the ultimate subjugation of the "Citizens".   Kinda makes one want to be an Anarchist, doesn't it?

Val Kilmer’s HK91 rifle in the movie HEAT.  Another email has come in suggesting the variant.  Since that article has been posted, I have received dozens of emails suggesting the variant, and all of them have been different.   Guys, listen to me:  A.  There is no way to tell from the film just what it is.  B.  All indicating clues can be swapped out by the film crew to make it look different.  My hell, you can put a PSG1 grip on an SP89, but that doesn’t make it a PSG1.  The specific variant is really unimportant.  We already know his character is an HK fanatic, so he probably dropped the coin on some customizations and stuff anyways.

THR has a thread about over rated handguns.  Undoubtedly the most over rated handguns are #1, Glocks, and #2, Kimbers.  HK’s and SIG’s?  Yeah, they rate high, but they are not over rated.  By the way people speak of Glocks, you would think they can only be defeated by kryptonite.  Unfortunately, Glocks are one of the most frail handguns you can get next to a pot metal made Saturday Night Special.

Nov 25th, Tuesday: 1100HRS:  Zero Tolerance has finally gone too far?   Well DUH!  That’s what we have been saying from the start!  Hopefully this will do something to end the madness.  Zero Tolerance means zero intelligence.   Anyone who says they have “Zero Tolerance” is a flipping macaroon, and I wouldn’t recommend spending much quality time with them because they might suck out your IQ.

So Congress has passed the Medicare bill.   I can’t comment on the details because I have not read the bill.  However I am not sure that this was a very good thing.  Bad spending practices of a flawed program now gets a lot more money to create a flawed revision of a flawed program.  Being a Centrist, I’m a bleeding heart Conservative.  I look at a nation that is wealthy beyond imagination… and I see a lot of Conservative talking heads crying out about entitlements, and while I can understand where they are coming from… I also see the people who need the help and I don’t understand why its wrong for the richest country in the whole fucking universe to help out the citizens who helped make it so.   If people are in NEED, then they are in need of HELP and I believe as a Nation we should help.   If you ultra conservatives want to stop spending on this kinda stuff – then first and foremost we need to stop sending billions of bucks to foreign nations to help them.    

Then we need to check the out of control spending and put some common sense into place.  Okay, what would we have then?  A balanced budget, a non existent deficit… and then the US Government is just FLUSH with cash.  What are we going to spend the money on?  Spitting walnuts at Mars hoping they take root?   Defense?  Sure… but there is more than enough money to put on where it needs to be put… Back into the CITIZENS!  Medical care, fine.  Education, fine, retirement plans so 80 year olds don’t have to go to work… Yes! All that.  

The Goal of “Smaller Government” doesn’t mean we have to shit on the citizens.   We are the most generous nation on the planet… to everyone else.    Foreign Aid?  That should involve things such as we take over what needs fixed, like power plants… they become US Power Plants.  Sure, we will pay to build it… but it’s ours and we send out the bills.  Water system?  Same.  Airports?  Same.  Our airports.   We send millions in Wheat because they can’t grow it… and they can’t pay for it… fine.  We get land.  We’ll grow the wheat there, and sell it to them after we develop our new land for that purpose.  PRIVATIZATION is the key to this. 

Why can’t we have cross between Teddy Roosevelt and FDR to lead the Democrats?  Our Government is just completely insane now.

The one thing that is still under my skin… China still has Favored Nation Trade Status.   Do you know who we should give that to?  Someplace that supports the US, cooperates with us, needs the help and all that.  China?  No Freaking Way.

Nov 24th, Monday: 2330HRS:  This story has me a little furious.  Michael Jackson’s defense plan is to discredit the accuser boy’s mom.  This is pathetic and despicable.  I don’t care what the mom did in this case.  I don’t care if she knew what was going on, I don’t care if she sold the boy to Michael… it doesn’t matter to this case.  Regardless of what the mom did, what Jackson did was illegal.  If the evidence is there, and Jackson really did do this thing… then he should be punished accordingly.  On the way to school tonight, I heard some radio where this cat was yelling at Sean Hanity that this was a race issue.   WTF?  This isn’t a race issue… this is a Sick Bastard issue.  I don’t care if the freak was Superman AKA Christopher Reeves… Poor helpless white guy… Doesn’t matter.  You fondle a kid, you get fondled in prison.  That’s it.  That’s the rule of thumb here.  That’s the only thing that matters.  And let’s not forget one little thing here… there isn’t just one kid.  Jackson did this before.  Jackson had court documents that show some of the most sickest shit you will ever hear… but Jackson PAID the people off to drop the charges.   The laws were screwed up to allow him to do that, to pay it off and get away with it.  Since that time, and because of that time, they changed the state laws.  This is history enough to indicate a very serious problem with this sick bastard.    I only wish such offenses were executable. 

John F’d Kerry’s team says he needs to ride more motorcycles.  Interesting.  Well, first he will have to BUY ONE.  And second, why don’t they tell him to GROW A DICK and TAKE A STAND ON ISSUES instead of WAFFLING around and imitating Howard Dean!   MAN!  This spinelessness that  these jackasses are showing really makes me sick.   Do you know who deserves to win the Democratic Nomination?  Al Sharpton.  Because regardless of what that ignorant racist says – at least he really believes it.  He is a man acting on his own beliefs and not what a bunch of dip-shits say he should act on.  If he gets to be the President, this will put us right back to Brown vs the Board of Education… but at least there will be a Democrat in office with his own mind.  I think I just scared myself worse than when I sat through “The Ring”.

The call them the “DC Sniper” guys.  But they didn’t just prey on the DC area.  One victim was as far south as Ashland, Virginia.  Ashland is only about 5 minutes north of Richmond, and was my home town for some time.  I know exactly where that guy was shot, because I had stood there myself on many occasions.   I only hope they kill this guy slowly, and convict the other guy just as quickly.

Heard on the news that a Tech Company is pulling back telesupport to the US from India, where they had sent it.   GOOD.  You Liberals want to bring back jobs, yell at these companies instead of Bush.  Thousands of jobs went to India because India could do it cheaper.   Hard to compete with 5 bags of rice a month salaries.

She is the turkey. 

If a member of the KKK shoots a member of the KKK, is it a hate crime?

Soccer & Stupidity do not mix.  Ever.

Been working on my story a lot more today.  Fleshing out snapshot scenes and filling in some blanks.  Created a handful of characters as well.  Big story.  I don't think I'll be able to do this in under 400 pages.... more like 600. 

Nov 23rd, Sunday: 1100hrs: Forgive my lack of updates yesterday, I had some things to do.  Went shooting, went to the store, took the kids to see “Brother Bear”… and started on a new story.  Without giving away any details, this is a story that came to mind yesterday morning, and by noon I had it completely outlined in my head.  Start to Finish.  Normally when I come up with great story ideas, they are only starts or middles or ends… But never the whole thing.  I don’t feel bad, because Stephen King has yet to write an ending.   No offense Stephen.   This one is complete.   So yesterday, while my muse was still whispering to me… I began putting the text down.  Snapshot scenes from different parts of it to flesh out the outline.  So that took the rest of the day for me.  This morning I’ve been conceptualizing certain aspects such as character traits and such.   I’ll be writing more on it today, perhaps for the majority of the day save a few hours where I shall be feasting at my In-Law’s house on a huge spiral cut ham that we picked up for 30 bucks.  Last year we were in Orem, Utah and the same ham cost us 10 bucks.  Food out here is EXPENSIVE.  Anyways, other than a couple school papers I have to write… I’m working full time on this new story.

Let’s see what we have in the email stack this morning:

“Yahoo News had this tidbit. See you at the wake. - Wright”

They say that all good things must come to an end.  This however is an example of the ending of something that was never really good to begin with.  Yeah, I am all torn up inside… My heart is just breaking… I hear the slow sweet sadness from a small violin.  Wait a second.  This isn’t that kind of wake… This is more like a New Orleans funeral with a band playing some jazz… and a couple trombones and everything.  This is a fricken party!   WOO-HOO!  Unfortunately they are only saying that the M-16 is being replaced with the M-4, which is nothing more than a compact M-16.  I didn’t see any mention of the XM-8 that will be seeing service in just a few years.

Brother Bear.  It’s a Disney cartoon.  Total crap.  This is one of the worst Disney flicks I have ever seen.  Hunters are “Monsters” and bears are just big cuddly buddies needing a hug.  Right.  Lets ask the Wildlife Guru that went to Alaska armed with only a Video Camera about how warm and fuzzy bears are.  Oh, wait a second.  You can’t.  That’s because he was - eaten - by a bear!  See, this Disney flick is the type of bullshit that programs people’s minds and literally gets people killed.  Stupidity like this is unforgivable.  It’s not just this that makes Brother Bear so retarded… it’s the magic… lots of swirling colors and all that crap that gave me a headache… the repeated and tired joke that the Moose are Canadian Rednecks… Yeah, I am up on the Bob and Doug McKenzie Brothers… Great White North gag.  I watched it before when it was a sketch on SCTV before John Candy got so big… I watched that movie too.  It was funny… the first time I saw it.  Yes, two ignorant Canadian rednecks with a beer fetish.  And if you didn’t get this joke in Brother Bear… yeah, they throw in a beer joke too.  Tiresome.  What makes it so disappointing though is all the other things they could have done.  More gags with the talking animals… like they had with the birds and the chipmunks… That was funny.  How about a raccoon gag?  You know how raccoons will wash their food in streams and wash there hands too sometimes?  Why not a raccoon that has an obsessive compulsive disorder and can’t stop washing things?  I don’t know… do something FUNNY!  Riding woolly mammoths?  Give me a freaking break.  This concept had a lot of potential but took the wrong turn.  Same reason that Matrix Revolutions sucked so bad.

Speaking of bears… got an email from Stig.  He is our Artic Hordmaster in Norway, and he knows a thing or two about bears.  Here is his email:

“Hi MadOgre,  Yes, we do not tend too make the most noise! Thanks for what you wrote on the site the next day!  The last two years i have had the opportunity to spend nearly a month in the extreme north of Norway, the Svalbard archipelago, I'm going there next year as well.  There I've been spending most of the time outdoors, living in either a tent or in old trapper huts. Being outside of the only "city" Longyear City, without a weapon are illegal, due too the fairly large polar-bear population. Yes, i have seen them and it  felt good too have the hands on a rifle, in case they  decided to get too close.  I have also shoot warning shoots at them with signal-guns with varying results, some scatter and  some don't give a damn. One had to be shoot with Israeli rubber bullets, from a Benneli shotgun, not by me ,I was using the signal-gun. They left the scene.  I'm driving a snowmobile over very large distances, and too have a heavy rifle dangling from my neck 6-12  hours  a day while riding is a bit tiresome. And it  also affects my handling of the snowmobile in difficult terrain. So I want something a little more handy, and with sufficient stopping power to stop a 500+ kilo (approx. 1100 lbs, i think), hungry polar bear.  A rifle is the best, but its too bulky A shotgun wouldn't be to bad either, but its also too large.  That leaves a handgun!  And here comes the big question: Which handgun is big enough too handle this kind of animal! In the extreme situation I would have to use it, it will be at very short range, with very limited time to access it. Also the gun have to endure very harsh weather, below zero temperatures, snow and ice, big daily temperature variations and so on.  I would appreciate your input on this.  STIG”

This photo is from Stig, those are his snowmobiles over there on the left… looks like the Polar Bears are going over to check them out.   Yes indeed this calls for bear medicine.    Knee jerk response would be to get one of those new and absolutely huge .500 S&W X-frame revolvers… You know the ones that the Anti-Gun lobby says can shoot down jetliners, satellites, and near earth objects… This is jus the automatic reaction because polar bears can be very scary creatures.   Stig sent me another photo that showed what a polar bears does to a seal.  (Non-US Navy variety)  You see the hole in the snow and ice… then you see all the blood stained snow extending for meters out in every direction from that hole.  Judas!  What the hell does the bear do?  Must make the seal just explode!  Hmm… No… actually what they do is bite big chunks out of it… swing it around… and generally just thrash the hell out of it.  This is what they would do to a person too.   So when it comes to personal defense from this kinda fate – I would want a really big freaking gun!   Realistically the .500 is not actually required.  The recommendation I sent to Stig was for a Freedom Arms revolver in .454 Casull.  Hot Casull loads of the type that can be fired in a Freedom Arms gun will be just fine for bears, polar types included.    Stig had a picture of himself… from the looks of him, he doesn’t need a gun for polar bear.  He could undoubtedly take one down using a pointy stick and harsh language.   Me, I’ll take a Freedom Arms .454 and carry it in a nylon shoulder holster, perhaps with a flap to help keep the snow out of it.   I think this would meet all the requirements for a hunting trip in Stig’s Norway.    Freedom Arms also makes revolvers in other calibers… bigger calibers… even .500S&W.  I’d look at those other calibers as well.  Barrel length?  6 inches.  That would perhaps be the best balance for scooting across the ice on a snowmobile while keeping the bears off you.  Walt Disney can kiss my ass.

Another email… no bears this time.  “Great site and great article on the XD sub compact.  I'm having trouble finding a good, very high ride, very concealable holster, don't want an IWB right now.  Any ideas would make my day. Sincerely, Dave”

I sent a brief answer to Dave suggesting the Viper rig from De Santi.  This is a high ride paddle back holster that is most excellent.  It was just an off the cuff holster solution that I know meets those requirements.  However thinking on this further, I would send an email over to HBE and have Eric make me something nice.  Go take a look at his leather good.  Excellent, and if I might say so… smokes De Santis.

This is all the time I have right now... I've got to get back to my writing... and it's almost time to go over for supper at the In-Law's place.   Mmmm... honey glazed, spiral cut ham...   Just thinking about it makes me as hungry as a bear!

Oh, wait a second... I have 2 links I have to put up... take a look at them.  The first one is Spoons.  A solid fellow that has some good thoughts.  And the other is "Heartless Bitches".   There we go... I'm outta here. 

Nov 21st, Friday: 1830:  Two news items from Drudge that sparked my interest.  First, Jermaine Jackson said “If you handcuff my brother, you handcuff the whole family.”  That’s an acceptable bargain.  The line forms to the left.  The whole family probably knew about it and should be looked at as possible accomplices.  “It’s a big fat lie” he says.  Really?  Then the whole thing about the court documents from 10 years ago where it said your little brother ate the sperm of a kid he masturbated and then paid off to drop the charges… that was a lie then too?  Even if the court system had to pass new laws because of it?  That’s all a lie?  You, Jermaine, are a pathological liar, a pathetic sack of offal, and you have no talent… but I do agree with you.  Let’s handcuff the whole family.  

The other thing Drudge is reporting… the attorney for the State in this case is requesting that Michael Jackson’s children be removed.  This only makes sense.  Yes, innocent until proven guilty, but the nature of the case in question should require that for the safety of these children, they should be removed and placed in secure care.  And questioned very carefully… by police psychologists.

Oh, and one other story… Spam Rage.  This cat in Silicon Valley threatened to send a package of Anthrax spores to the Canadian company that keeps sending out Spam.  The only think Booker did wrong was to threaten the use of a terrorist-like action.   I advocate a more hands on approach to Spammers.  Strangulation.  This article mentions counter-spam actions by hackers.   Interesting that there is no mention of how expensive spam is when your address gets into their lists.  All the bandwidth that spammers use to flood everyone with spam over a system that we individuals pay a lot of money for use.  This isn’t like TV where advertisements pay for the production of the shows… no… we users pay for the bandwidth to check our emails for our businesses and personal responsibilities and such.  Spammers use that to make their own money off our dime.  This is morally and ethically corrupt.  Spamming should be banned world wide and the computers of those who send spam should be smashed with hammers… along with the heads of the spammers themselves.   I have seen small business networks grind to a halt because they were overloaded with spam.  Fuck spammers… they should be hunted like the vermin they are.

We have a HUGE storm rolling in on us tonight.  Huge.  High winds.  I expect power outages. We might go down for a day or two, but we are well prepared for such events so it will only be inconvenient.   I stocked up on goodies and stuffs so if we get snowed in... hey... no problem.

0950:  Email from the Frozen and the Furious:  “Hi Ogre,  Read your little rant today about Europe, and cant help, but get a little eh "disappointed" that my little country didn’t get on the list of countries to like in Europe. We do support operations in Afghanistan, our special forces have done a tremendous job down there, as our F-16 also have done. Norwegian Special forces are trained in just the same environment as exist in Afghanistan, so they were very well suited for the task,  they had more days in the field than any other SF in Afghanistan.  Support for Iraqi operations are a little more complex, and public opinion are more divided than towards Afghanistan, but we have troops there as well, but they are more second line, such as mine-clearing and engineers.  – STIG”

This was an oversight, Stig. I do seem to overlook the cold countries… My bad.  But you are absolutely right… Norway has been actively supporting the Anti-Terrorist operations.  Norway has good military capability that shouldn’t be taken lightly.   Italy pretty much overshadows the other COTW nations because Italy has the hottest cars and the hottest women… so you must forgive me if I am distracted.   And you have to admit that Norway’s policy of keeping a low profile pretty much puts you in the shadows per your nation’s wishes.  The article you linked even points this out.   

0748:  This NY Times article… After reading it a couple times, I have some deeper thoughts on the matter.  Europe is still embarrassed that we had to bail them out twice.  France, especially since we bailed them out, kicked there asses during Operation Torch, and then bailed them out again…    Europeans have a nasty habit of putting there heads in the sand, instead of drawing lines in the sand.  They ignored Hitler’s rise to power and obvious potential threats until it was too late, when they could have easily have put a stop to it.  Hitler then took all of Europe by the balls.  During both world wars, the only thing that stopped them was American Resolve^TM.  After WWII the US adopted to policies that Bush is following… I’ll let you search them out.  The Truman Doctrine and the Marshal Plan.  (we just covered this in History the other night – Thanks Prof Barton!)   These two things formulate the American Foreign Policy^TM that has been followed more or less for the last 50 years – this isn’t a George W Bush policy.   This American Foreign Policy^TM makes us the World Cops – Not George W Bush.  

Ah, now I recognize why I like Bush in spite of his giving things to the Democrats… he is acting like Teddy Roosevelt… he is speaking softly and carrying a really big stick that he isn’t afraid of using it.  Bush would be much more accepted in Europe if he looked like “John F’d Kerry” and acted like big stinking French pansy… because he wouldn’t remind them of their own failures and shortcomings.   Do we really need anymore reason to dislike Europe?  No… But let me remind you of why we LIKE Europe… I got three names for you:  Italy, Czech Republic, and Spain… the three leading European countries, other than England, in the Coalition of the Willing.  Looking at this objectively… all the best things from Europe comes from these three countries anyways.  Scroo the rest of them.  

20th, Thursday:  2130hrs:  Email from Hordemaster John:  “We share an appreciation of some of the good things, definitely.  Here is one.   Of course, she can't hold a candle to Mrs. Ogre, but at least Monica isn't taken (to my knowledge)! –John” 

No, she is not a lovely or as graceful as Mrs. Ogre, but she is still exceedingly lovely… and I’m officially not allowed to look at that gallery according to Mrs. Ogre.  

I’m writing my final psychology project this weekend, most of the legwork and such is done… just a matter of fitting it all into a report.  It’s an interesting one that bares out that certain kinds of music can improve your shooting.  Soft soothing music can make you shoot more accurately while harder music, like rock, can speed your reaction time.  This is tested by having shooters listen to one kind of music, then shoots a string of 6 shots, timed, and the group is measured.  String one is the base line, string two is the Rock, while string 3 is the soothing music.  This plays out to the obvious results, and after I finish the report, I’ll publish the findings.

In class tonight other students gave the presentations on their projects... I think mine has about 20 fathoms more depth than the other ones, and those guys are getting A's.  I think I may have put too much effort into this.  History class wanted an 8 page outline/reader journal of history book... I turned in 25 pages... 10 point font.   I don't think this is what he had in mind... but I can't help it if I am over zealous in things I like.  

Some people sweat over which bullet to buy… they pour over Marshal & Sanow statistics and read every gun rag article about bullet loads from Federal, Cor-Bon and Black Hills… I’ve even heard someone scoff at Hornady because it didn’t rate… Even if that specific load is a well respected choice for handgun hunting… WTF?  Please… Let’s invest a few coins of common sense here.

To me, the whole point is to make as large of a hole as you can, that goes as deep as you can make it.  Wiser men than I have said you, “carry as much gun as you can handle.”  This advice was given, when, back in the 50’s?  Still holds true.  Guys, look, gun rags and advertisements… it’s all marketing to keep you spending.  Hell, most Gun Reviews are nothing more than ammo reviews.  Who gives a flip if a gun fires 50 rounds from a Ransom Rest with 800 different kinds of ammo?  What matters if the gun can be fired accurately by a real shooter and not a machine rest, and if the favorite loads are even manageable or not in that gun.  The rubber meets the road right where the bullet meets the bone… it’s all about the hole because the gun and the bullet is no different than a knights lance… it makes a hole. 

How you make that hole, be it bullet or drill bit... it doesn't matter.  Hydrostatic shock, expansion, energy dump, “Deathraytazerblasters^TM” ... any other effect is just icing on the cake if you get it... but it all comes down to that hole.  If you can't see daylight through it, it might not be big enough for a guarantee of an OSS.  So if you are not packing heat big enough to shoot a hole through someone large enough for a trained poodle to jump through... then what you need to worry about is where to put that hole.

Center Mass is the best bet.  But if Center Mass is just the Left Big Toe, that might not be good enough, but go for it.  Ideally you want your hole making process to penetrate through as much mass as possible.  If you have to go through that big toe to get there... then do it.    Take the best bet... aim center mass... and push it on through.  It's always a good idea to take more than one core sample, so make some other holes for the best results. Remember, there are no magic bullets.

Kim du Toit just picked up a K-11.  This is a seriously funky rifle.  It’s a straight-pull bolt action, with out the bolt handle.  Instead of a bolt handle, it has a big ring on the back that you just pull pack to cock the firing pin.  Very simple, but very effective and reliable.  The round it fires is a cartridge slightly bigger than .308, but lower pressure… A talented gunsmith can convert these to .308, and that’s a good idea.  A friend of mine has a sporterized, .308 K-11 and it’s a great little rifle.  I’d love to get one like it and mount a forward mounted scope on it.  Call it the “Swiss Scout”.    Oh, Kim’s wife got that rifle for him.  Obviously she is a woman of good taste.   I think an appropriate gift for her would be something of equal taste in return… Such as a leather purse from Coronado Leather with a hidden holster.

This just in:  “Ogre, Sorry to hear about the troubles with your neighbors. This short editorial by retired LTC Ralph Peters in the NY Post should raise your spirits.  He delivers a good, proper spanking to our European critics.  Keep up the fire! – Steve M”

That’s a damn good read.  Thanks for sending it, Steve.  Just in time for the update for the “Institute of Advanced Ogrish Studies^TM”.  Class, you have some required reading.  

Don't worry about the vermin next door... He has already taken his first class in Ogre 101:  Ogre is not one with whom to fuck.  This course was taken by another fellow the other night...  This isn't the first time that this has happened to me.  Look up "Mongo and I" in the weapons section.  Weapon used: S&W 696, shots fired, zero... this will go down as another unreported use of a firearm to stop a crime:  From my original venting of the incident that night:

"I was coming out of the local IGA and walked around the corner to where I parked, and this cat that was standing up against the wall grabs my arm really firmly, painfully and says "I need money." He smelled very drunk and was undoubtedly high on Meth which is very popular out here. He also had a long Maglight, held in a ready to strike manner.  He stunk of beer and other strong odors... he was hyped, nervous, and ready to smack me if I didn't comply.
I said "Sure, okay... here." And I reach back like I was going for my wallet. Instead I grab the butt of my new 696, and I swing as hard as I could. It connects across his face... upper lip area with a squishy crackly sound and the guy dropped like a sack of wet dirt. I cover him as I back my way to the car and get in. As I turn on my headlights the guy gets up and runs off staggering into a near by apartment complex holding his face. I drive home, pick up my wife, and we go out to see the latest Matrix..."

Anyways, I don't want to report this as I don't want to get charged for assault and I'm not posting this in public because I don't want this coming back on me and have this cat come after me for cracking his melon... but that's what happened.  I've never seen this goblin before and I've yet to see him again.  Had the guy been armed with a knife, or a little old lady walked out of the store before I did - things would have been a lot different.  Yes, if greater force was used, then I would have called the cops... meaning: "Hey, I bagged a Goblin for you... you owe me 5 rounds of .44 Special.  Thanks."

1545hrs:  Called the Sheriffs, deputy came out.  He took the report, and took photos with a digital camera.  Then he went over next door and talked to the little troll of a lady there.  Then he got back into his Dodge Durango (marked, with light bar on top) and drove off.   So what happens next, I am just not sure.  But things are filed.  So if anything happens next, this is all documented.   Let me rephrase that… so when the next thing happens… *sigh*.  

I’m going to pray for them.  I really am.  I feel sorry for people who are so unhappy and bitter that they are offended by a happy family next door who has never crossed them.   I’d get them a holiday basket, but it would just be thrown away and they would just find some reason to be offended by it even further.  *sigh* I don’t CARE if they like us or hate us… really I don’t.  I just want my family to be left alone.   But it would be *nice* if they were at least polite.   

If this guy swears at children and throws rocks at animals, then he is *putting on my psychologist hat* an emotionally unstable person.  His mentality is in the adolescent stage, not yet even to the propositional thought stage.  Their marriage is probably dysfunctional because of his and her deep depression because of his small penis and latent homosexuality of which he is in denial.  Police would call him a “10-86”.   While I wouldn’t call him “Snake-Shit Crazy”, I would say he is emotionally disturbed and would recommend clinical therapy for him and for his family.  She probably drinks a lot of bourbon for lunch and is in a similar mental state as him.    

Okay, I’m done analyzing these people… for now.  I’ll flesh this out later and turn it in as my final project for one of my classes.

1330hrs:  Last night was the last lecture night for my history class.  Fun class.  The point of the class is socioeconomic theory and development of American History so we didn’t get into the wars… this might sound boring, “skipping the best parts” but it really wasn’t… The Prof made it a lot of fun… and very interesting.  Mainly because he was enthusiastic and energetic with his lecture.    Great class.  I enjoyed it a great deal and learned a lot.  This is weird.  Feels like I just started and the semester is about over.  Tomorrow I have to select my classes for next semester.  Crazy.

The asshole next door.  That guy has been a pain in the ass since Day One.  I came home from school this morning to find a note on our door from the Animal Control Officer.  Evidently Ranger is a Barking Dog Nuisance.   Er, Ranger doesn’t bark.  Ranger has barked a couple times… mainly when their kids are shooting BB Guns in the back yard and scaring Ranger to death… or when Chief Asshole throws rocks at him.  I just got off the phone with the Sheriff’s department about this guy.  I like living where I am living now… I really do.  I’ve always – ALWAYS – had great relations with everyone that lives around me.  Never have I had such a problem.  This is absolutely new to me.  These guys wont even speak to us.  They wont say one word to us.  “Hey, your 2 year old picked up that cat by the tail…”  Really?  I better talk to my two year old, thanks.  No, this jackass calls animal control for “Animal Cruelty”.   Wow.  I’m not sure what I am going to do about this guy, but I am about ready to file in court for harassment.  If I do, I’ll sue for a few grand for the cost of moving, paying off the remainder of the lease, and getting into a new place away from them.   The upshot of this… his fucking cat got ran over this morning… it’s DOA in the middle of the road about 2 houses south.  I don’t like to see animal get hurt… but this is poetic justice.   No, I didn’t hit it.  Happened before I even defrosted my windshield.   10-1 says they are going to blame us for it.    What did I say about being Christian?  You have to strive to live it every day?  Well, this is pushing my limits of turning the other cheek… I’m getting really close to turning his.   If he cusses at my kids one more time, I’m calling the Sheriff and reporting a Disorderly Conduct.  Class 3 Mis.  Maybe that might shut him up.    Really, all I want is for me and my family to be left alone.  That’s not too much to ask, is it? 

Update:  Lots of rocks laying around Ranger’s house.  Rocks of the sort and color that I don’t have in my back yard… but he has in his.  The only for those rocks to have come across the fence, is if they were thrown.  These rocks are laying only around Ranger’s house.   I’m calling the police right now.  Animal Cruelty for picking up a cat?  What about softball sized rocks?  Asshole… Time to burn him.

Okay, so Jackson is about to turn himself in.  This whole mess is the ultimate in disgusting, and so is Jackson.  Yeah, I know innocent until proven guilty and all that, but the evidence is there enough to prove that he is one sick bastard.  I have never been a Jackson fan.  His music holds no resonance with me.  He might be the King of Pop, but I’m a Rocker.  To me, Wacko was wussy.  I grew up on Rat, Scorpions, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith… all that. 

His “Bad” album?  Who was he kidding?  He never looked tough, or dangerous, or threatening… he looked like a prettyboy.  He looked like a wussy brat that is role-playing like he is a tough guy.  A fake.  I have never had respect for such a person.  What was that one rock video that he has where he has a hard rock guitarist come out and play his electric guitar… with absolutely huge hair.  If I remember right, that guy never wore his hair like that before… but that was Jackson’s interpretation of hard and edgy.  

Being a budding Psychologist, I have some theories about Mr Jackson.  He is molding himself as the boy that doesn’t grow up… hence his surgeries, his toys and zoo and even the name of his joint… “Neverland”.  He thinks he is Peter Pan.  I bet he has a lot of Peter Pan themes that the general public doesn’t see.   The fact that he is a pedophile… Not surprising.   I'm just wondering what other disorders he has.

Just a guess:  Peter Singer, Ethics Professor of Princeton probably has all of Jackson's albums.

Nov 19th, Wednesday:  0915hrs:  NATIONAL AMMO DAY!  I’m going to pick up a brick of .22s and a box of .357 Magnum Blazers in about an hour from now.  I’ve saved my pennies just for this reason.   Saturday morning I’ll shoot it up.   Go buy your ammo TODAY!

Email about the Vest issue:  “Ogre,  Before you go off on the vest issue you definitely need to get informed. The issue at hand is Zylon. A high strength fiber many times stronger than Kevlar or Twaron. The problem is that Zylon can lose as much a 20% of it strength in as little as 3 months. As for the 5 year expiration date on most vest is for liability reasons. My agency has yet to see any including 20 year old Kevlar vests not stop rounds that they were rated for. I am not however advocating wearing a 20 year old vest.

There has been one officer killed in the line of duty due to round penetrating his vest. The round was on that should have been stopped by the rated vest. At least two others have been injured as a result of penetrations. The prime manufacture had denied there was any problem with Zylon vest until after the officer was killed even though many people were asking questions years before about durability of Zylon.  Please read this summary of the Zylon issues at tacticalforums.com. – Raven”

Thanks for the heads up Raven.  I didn’t know the particulars of the issue.  After reading what Kevin McClung’s report on the issue… I am seething.  I can’t believe this… Second Chance is the biggest offender!  WTF!?!  The only thing I can hope is that Second Chance was just ignorant of Zylon’s extremely rapid deterioration.  I really hope they were just ignorant and not knowingly put Officer’s lives in jeopardy.   That is the ultimate in asinine.  Unfortunately, after reading all the information, that’s what it looks like.  Damn.  Well, either way… they are probably as good as done now as a business.  BTW, I wore Safariland, and used Safariland duty holsters.  Thanks for the heads up! 

Found this on Fark.com, Epson makes a tiny, micro robot helicopter.  It’s about 2 ½ inches.  Very cool.  I love technology… and I love aviation… so of course this sparked my interest radar.  The question is, what do you do with this?  Well, you mount a tiny wireless camera on it, and you have a spybot.   You have a Seaker from Dune, you have a spybot like in “Deception Point” or you have a sentrybot like from “Diamond Age”… You could take one of these and fly them through windows or down chimneys to get inside someplace too dangerous to get into…  Lots of things.  Radmeters to search for nuke leaks in a nuke plant… sniffers to search for chemical leaks in other industries, or bombs… Put a bunch of them in a bucket and let them map a tornado.   You could do anything with this kinda technology.  Awesome.

Also from Fark, I got this report:  An Arrest Warrant for Jackson.  Evidently this 12 year old boy’s story has found some degree of truth, the cops searched Jackson’s joint and found evidence of this truth.  Based on that alone, Jackson is officially one sick bastard.  I don’t think he can buy his way out of this one.  Multiple charges.  Funny… no one can find him now. 

This is unfortunate.  Iraqi Government Official assassinated.  I’m surprised that this hasn’t been done before.   We will probably be seeing a lot more effort by the goblins to target new government officials in an attempt to stagger the whole new governmental effort.  Saddam is undoubtedly directly behind this, and this is nothing more than a terrorist action.  This makes Saddam himself a terrorist and nothing more.  He should be dealt with accordingly.

I got this from Kim Du Toit: "Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency."  AMEN!  Er, not that I’d buy the booze or smokes…  if you could add a good books store, Mexican food café, and a good computer store... then you would have something there!

A lot of people are talking about Body Count.  I think it’s a good idea.  We are being fed the numbers of Americans killed over there… what about the numbers of enemy killed?  I’d like to know.  Unfortunately this would be seen as being “insensitive” and politically incorrect.  And maybe so… but I still want to know.

Nov 18th, Tuesday:  1730hrs:  China is a possible threat?  No way!   LOL, I spoke of this ages ago.  I humbly submit my article, "Special Report: The China Military Threat" that I posted like 3 or 4 years ago.    Yes, China is a threat.  China is a big threat.  China wants nothing more than to kill off America and make it China.  This is why we haven't kicked North Korea's belligerent ass. 

444PM:  When I lived in Richmond, I used to go to an indoor shooting range all the time.  I had to laugh when I found a couple people linked to me from that shop’s website.  LOL, I see Joel is still there… His photo is on the Staff page.  So if the Jerry, the CEO is Moe, and Dwayne is Larry… then that means Joel, the token bald guy, is Curly.   Adam?  I don’t remember Adam… he must be Shemp.    They have really improved that joint since when I used to frequent there.  Last March I went back to Richmond for a time and stopped in.  Very different.  They finally managed to remove the “Dank” from the place.   It’s a great joint for going, doing some shooting, and hanging out.   One of the best things about Dominion – it has a good selection of rental guns on hand so if you want to formulate an opinion on something you have never tried before, you can try it out.

Just in the news:  Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch is being flooded with police… evidently the place is a crime scene.   Interesting.   Jackson sleep with another kid? 12 year old boy?  Molestation?  I’m really not surprised here.  Are you?  Wouldn’t surprise me if he ran off to France and then won an Oscar.  Sick fucker needs to serve prison time.  Mil-Stone around his neck?  Sure… in the end.  I’d rather see a mallet to his nuts, then throw him into General Population and let him sing about Billy Jean for all the nice thugs that do nice things to child molesters.

Why is “Police Body Armor” in the news today?  Everyone knows soft body armor is good for 5 years… so why are they investigating this?  After 5 years, the elastic fibers can become brittle, making them less effective at stopping handgun rounds.  However I am still unaware of any police officer killed by a shot fired from a handgun that penetrated the ballistic panels of a vest.  Rifles, unfortunately, scoff at soft armor, and I know of a couple who have fallen thusly.  Police work is dangerous work.   I admire those with the grit to make it a career.  I was following that path, but the constitutional discrepancies could not be reconciled in my mind and I became disenfranchised and left that path.   If you have a warrant to put up a sobriety check point, you check the DL Card to verify the ID of the Driver, you smell for the odor of alcoholic beverages, and you look quickly for anything in plain site, like drugs, open containers or something of that nature… and that’s it.  That’s all you have a warrant for.  This doesn’t give you the right for random vehicle searches.  If you have Probable Cause to search for something else – fine.  But you can’t take every other car and just search it on your whim.  You can’t demand answers to “Where are you going” question… because I believe the Police have no right to ask that if there is no Probable Cause.  I know the questions are designed to get the driver to open his mouth and speak so you can smell his breath – but too many Cops I observed went far beyond that.  That’s a constitutional violation in my book, and beyond that, it’s harassment.   I couldn’t tolerate this.  Not in the slightest.   Anyways… where was I?  Ah, vests.   Only a dumbass questions the 5 year lifespan that is the rule of thumb with ballistic vests.   Who is going to pay for this investigation?  My vest had a warning label on it… are they going to do the smoking thing and require bigger warning labels now?

Master and Commander:  Yes indeed.  I saw this movie last night, and if I had some cash and time, I’d see it again.  Great film.  Fantastic.  The cinematography really made you feel like you were on the ship as a member of the crew.  This made it very immersive and allowed for an instant suspension of disbelief.  I swear that I could smell saltwater…  This total immersion into the movie made the combat scenes all the more shocking.  A cannon ball is hunk of iron the size of a melon.  They are often solid for penetration, or filled with explosives.  Other cannon rounds include chain-shot and grapeshot.  Grape was used to clear the decks of another ship… turns the cannon into a huge shotgun.  Horrific.  Chain was two balls connected by chain for use in crippling the other ship by destroying the rigging and masts.  I think all of these were shown in the movie… along with the horrific results.  Now, the simplest form of shot, the solid ball fired through the hull of the other ship crashes through with tremendous energy.  The ball doesn’t cut through cleanly… far from it.  Huge chunks of wood splinters are sent flying.  These splinters are every bit as deadly as the ball its self.  You see this as well.  Naval warfare back then was incredibly brutal… because once you get close to the other ship you still have the cannons going after each other, but now you have the sailors and marines getting into the action with sharpshooters looking for Officers and gunners… we see this in the movie… and then you have the boarding parties armed with sword, knife and pistol.  Yeah, we see these.  Swivel guns get some action as well… I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen another movie that used the Swivel guns.  Unless they used them in “Pirates of the Caribbean”, but Master and Commander kicks Pirate’s arse.  The acting performances were top notch.  I have ZERO negatives for this film other than it ended way to soon!  I wanted to ride this ship all the way to home port!   Books… Patrick O’brian books… going to the Library tonight.  (Have no Boarders or Barnes and Nobles here)

Email in from Reader:

Thanks for the email Robert... We Mormons are used to hate.  We are like America's version of the Jews.  Well... kinda.  Okay, maybe not, but we understand what persecution is like.  No other group or faith in America is so hated.  Only the American Indians with the Trail of Tears can really understand what Mormons have gone through.  No other Church has ever had a Governor issue and extermination order. (Davidians in Wako Texas comes close) Anyways, this is something that we have overcome and have moved past... even though the ignorant keep it up.  What's funny is that these people haven't come up with anything new since the 1800s.  What does not destroy us, makes us stronger. I could go on and on about matters of Faith.  It could become a whole new MadOgre.com section.   Hmm....

17th, Monday: 1515HRS: Jim Henson called, he wants his muppet back.  I’ve been trying to pin down Wesley Clark for the last week as to where he is politically.  Face the Nation showed him to be flip flopping and contradicting himself left and right… or should I say, left and left again.  Then this morning on FNC he exploded and denied that he said what he said when what he said was clearly documented.  

I think I have found what Clark is…   The DNC’s Court Jester.   Historically speaking, Jesters are also nothing more than “fools” who pull off wacky hi-jinks in order to entertain or to distract the audience from a scene change or something.  This is what Clark is… the Jester Ass-Muppet to distract us.  

I am seriously ashamed that Clark was not just in the US Army, but was a General.   There is a deeper and darker side to Clark.  I don’t trust him one bit.  Not for one second.  I don’t like him.   However I think his act might do a little better if during his next interview he threw some fish or introduces his assistant “Beaker”.   Fuck Clark.

Rush Limbaugh was back on the air today.  I caught a few minutes of it.  For some reason I felt better hearing him.  Just like I prefer hearing Paul Harvey on the radio rather than his stand in.

Health report:  I’m doing better.  A lot better.  I feel healthier, and stronger.  This weekend I got sick a bit, but it passed and now I’m right as rain.   Right now I’m sitting here typing with tacks in my ears.  I had some acupuncture therapy this morning and the Doc used some acupuncture tacks that you leave in your ears… interesting. 

Almost as painful as getting your ear pierced, but it faded out fast.  Now it’s just a little itchy.  I have 4 of them in each ear all along the digestive system meridians.  I don’t know about you guys, but I really think acupuncture works.  It’s helping me at least.  And if it doesn’t, my mind makes it works and that’s good enough.   

The drugs are gone and out of my system and if anything, I feel a lot better for that.  Check this out… I baked sweet rolls this morning and even ate breakfast.  I never eat breakfast.  Never eat anything before Noon.  Today I did.  And I didn’t even get sick or puke from it like I had for the last decade.

What is up with Senator Kennedy calling people Neanderthals?  Bush’s nominees… If they are Neanderthals, then Kennedy is a drunken flatworm.    I have a suspicion that it’s Kennedy and not the Clintons that has his hand up Clark’s ass.

Speaking of Clintons… Hillary is a lying sack of shit.  She said that she has comforted Iraqi War wounded at Walter Reed hospital.  She made an emotional story of it… makes your heart break for those that are wounded.  Oh, wait a sec… she never went to the hospital.   “I comforted troops…”  I don’t know about you guys, but there is no way in hell Hillary Clinton could comfort anything, let alone wounded American soldiers.  If I was in a hospital bed, and she came to comfort me – I'd hit her with my filled bed pan. 

She is unique in the world of politics as she is the sum of all fears… you take everything wrong with politicians, boil it down and pour it into a female shaped mold – You have Hillary Clinton.  No morals, no ethics, lots of skeletons of her own making, and a long list of corruption scandals.   But saying she went to the hospital to comfort the wounded – that is so outlandishly outrageous – it’s insulting to the US Military.  Then again, a Clinton slapping the US Military is nothing new.   Man... look at her face... Makes you want to sodomize her with a naval 16 inch gun.

Got an email this morning… “Join the NRA Web Ring!”  Had a “link button and HTML code to add to my site to join the NRA ring.  These attachments to the email were Klez virus carriers and the email was of course from a bogus email address.   This is probably going around trying to target Pro-Gun website operators.   So if your Pro 2^nd, and have a site… watch out.

I’ve been reading some of the forums over at Right Nation, and I am enjoying it.  What I am not enjoying is the large amount of Anti-Mormon bullshit that goes on there… not just there, but all over the net.  Pretty much any time someone mentions Utah, or anything close – someone is going to bash Mormons.  My favorite one is “Mormons are not Christian” and that we worship a “different” Jesus and Father in Heaven.   This makes me laugh every time… How can someone still be so stupid to believe that?  This is as archaic as Puritans accusing someone of witchcraft.  Well, maybe they might be right.  We are not violent enough to be “real” Christians.  We never started a crusade, we never burned people at the stake trying to bring them to Christ like the inquisition, and we never hung people because they were witches.  As far as that kinda stuff goes, Mormons are really quite boring… we’ve done none of that and in fact, we tolerate all faiths.  

I’ve had stimulating discussions with Atheists, Wiccans, and even a Satanist.  I’ve attended mass many times at a Catholic church… and I appreciated the insight given to me from the Catholics over the “woman at the well” story.  I have attended services for just about every Christian denomination, and I found lots of “positives” at each one of them.   I explored Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Again, I found a lot of positives.   But when it came down to my own faith… after all of it out there… I chose to be “Mormon”. 

Mormon isn’t really the name – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Jesus is in our name, and it’s in the name of Jesus that we pray.  “But you believe in a different Jesus.”  No, I’m afraid not.  There is only one Jesus Christ and if anything, we just believe he visited more people on earth than just in the Middle East.  We believe he did more than just what was written in the Bible. 

Speaking of which, yeah, Mormons believe in the Bible.  If you look at the cover of the Book of Mormon, it says “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”.  That’s what it is... an addition, not a substitution or upgrade.   The Book of Mormon is an important book to us… of course it is.  But we read it WITH the bible.  If you don’t believe me, get a copy (they are free) and take a look at it – you don’t have to read the whole thing if you don’t want to… just open it up and look at it.  See the footnotes at the bottom of any given page?  They cross reference to other verses in the Book of Mormon, our Doctrine and Covenants… and The Holy Bible.  We use the King James version of the bible because we believe it to be the most accurate translation of the original texts.  

We are very much Christian… We have statues of Christ in all out Temples or in the Temple Visitor centers all around the world… go into most any good LDS home and you will probably see pictures of Christ and maybe a small statuette of Christ.    To insist that we are not Christian is to insist upon your own bigotry, hatred, and outright stupidity.  “Having paintings doesn’t make you Christian.”  That’s correct.  Being Christian isn’t a club you are member of – it’s a way of life.  Being Christian is something you have to work on.  It’s something you have to strive to be every day. 

Some of the best Christians I have ever met have been both Mormon and Non-Mormon… one doesn’t even claim to be Christian, but other Christians would do so well to emulate him. Look, I am Mormon and proud to be Mormon.  But I am not that great of an example of being a Mormon.  I’m more “J. Golden Kimble” than I am “Spencer W. Kimble”.  I’m more “Orrin Porter Rockwell” than I am “Orrin Hatch”.   I even have some different perspective on some doctrine points than other Mormons.   But I am still proud to be counted a Member, and I’ve sworn to defend my Church and its Members for as long as I live.  

You don’t have to agree with me.  I only ask that you treat me with the same dignity that you expect you and your church to be treated.  That's only fair.    

After my classes tonight, I’m going to go see Master and Commander.  I’m looking forward to it greatly.   In fact, I’m outright excited for it.   Tail ships, broadsides… oh man… that is so exciting!  For that era, nothing is more thrilling.   Awesome!  Crowe is a stone cold serious actor that really strives to perfect his art and that’s something I appreciate. 

Nov 14th, Saturday: 1130 hrs: Last night I watched Matrix Revolutions.  I have a hard time expressing my disappointment in this film.  I have a hard time understanding just how and where it went so horribly wrong.   The visual images from the film are stunning, and very cool looking… but at the same time utterly retarded.  First off, the battle at “The Docks” looked like the video game “Galaga” with the alien formations flying past you so you can blast them.  Secondly, I was expected Agent Smith to start talking about Planet Houston and order Neo to “kneel before Zod”.   Then you had Neo go to the Machine City so he could talk to the MCP?  I was waiting for him to start throwing Frisbees at it!  And then with those supposedly cool visuals… half the time the lights were set to strobe and flash like a fricking disco.  I think a guy a couple rows behind me when into seizures or something because he started to puke into his hands and had to run out.   My wife and I both got headaches from watching it.   All is not lost and as bad as it is, it still had things in it that made it worth while to watch.  4 things actually.  #1, Hugo Weaving.  Get your Hugo fix before LOTR ROTK comes out.  This guy acts with such cool intensity that there is just no one else like him on screen… he rocks.  His dialog is the only good dialog in the whole freaking movie.  Make that the last two movies, next to the Frenchman with that wipe your ass with silk line… that was great.  #2, the battlemechs in The Docks are very cool.  Mix 2 parts Battletech, with 2 parts Warhammer 40,000, add in 2 parts of crème of John Woo and you have it.   I thought they were great.   I looked forward to seeing these in action when I first saw them in film #2 and they didn’t disappoint.  #3, the Asian cat in the white shirt and sunglasses – he is very cool.  We see more of his action, and best yet, he breaks out two pistols that I am going to mention in The Guns of The Matrix article, after I post this.   So more on that later.  And of course #4 is Monica Bellucci.  She is only on screen for 30 seconds, but it’s a good 30 seconds.  Her character is the one that aided our hero trio in #2 and she does so again here in a way.  Her character is deeper one than what it looks like on the surface.  She is a machine made program in the Matrix that is sympathetic to the humans and has a thing for the human emotion of love… and passion… as you can tell from her words to Merv about how she knows Trinity is willing to die for Neo.  It looked like she was getting hot from it… like her nipples were about to perk up.   Anyways, so there are 4 reasons to go see it.  And these are reasons good enough to buy the DVD to round out the set.

Okay, the Guns of the Matrix article is finished... take a look.

Now that this has been expressed, I must mention the other movies that Ogre gives the claw up for:  The Master and Commander with Russell Crowe.  I want to see this one very much.  I’m into that era and it just gives me a 3 masted woody.  The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise.  I love Shogun and the other feudal Japan movies and books… a lot.   The Japanese have a very cool history… and then they gave it up for Jelly Bracelets, Toyotas, and YuGiHo whatever.  When you banned Samurai – you lost something.  You really did.  Anyways… this movie looks intense.  Of course, then we have the 3^rd and best yet.  Best ever… Lord of the Rings: Return on the King.  If it stick closely to the book – this will be the single most incredible film of all time, and no film after it could ever touch it.  Kneel Before The Ring!  Kneel!

So we have this report from 1990 that links Saddam and Bin Laden.  Interesting.  I think this is the point were all the Liberals attacking Bush for the war can fuck off and die.   I see this story on FOX News, but I can’t find anything about this on the other news sites.   Is it that they don’t know about it or are they choosing to not bring it to light?   These Liberal Democrate Socialist bastards twist the truth to there fitting, out right lie, and do everything they can promote the Liberal agenda.  This shows a very large lack of morals.   I’m of the opinion that Liberals these days just can not be trusted, should not be trusted. As Captain Kirk says “Let them Die!”  Okay, he was talking about Klingons… but his words ring true in this setting: “DON’T trust them.  DON’T believe them…  Let them DIIIEEE!”    Bush pulls out the Democratic Party Playbook and looks under the Economy Tag.  He sees FDR with his effort to “Prime The Pump” to help economic recover… that’s what his New Deal did.  We talked about it last week in my college history class.  Then he sees JFK dropping taxes to put more money in the hands of the citizens so they can spend it… again… priming the pump… both instances aided in the recovery of the economy.  Bush does this… But NOW, because it’s a Republican that is doing it, it’s a bad idea, George W Bush is an idiot, and 747’s are going to fall from the sky like rain because he has pissed off the Terrorists.   I don’t care if a Liberal hands me 4 quarters and says that I have a dollar – I’m counting those quarters and checking the marks… then I’m going to bite them to make sure they are not made of tin, and scratch them to see if they are painted.  I don’t trust them.   They are willing to rewrite history and whatever else it takes to deceive and beguile the ignorant people to vote for them and support their agenda.   They are wrong, on so many levels.

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