Racist. And Sexist.

That's what Mary Landrieu, our US Senator, thinks of Louisiana, although we've elected her to the Senate three times.  According to Hot Air, (with lots of additional links)

“I’ll be very, very honest with you. The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans,” Landrieu told NBC News in an interview. “It’s been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader.”

Noting that the South is “more of a conservative place,” she added that women have also faced challenges in “presenting ourselves.”

Thanks, Mary.  I really appreciate the vote of confidence.  Of course, we're used to those kinds of disparaging comments from outsiders, but we never expected to hear those kinds of comments from someone who lives in the state and knows the people.

Oh, wait...  You don't live in the state.  I forgot.  We'll try to repay the compliment on Tuesday.

One Week

One week from today, we vote, and learn the results of the only poll that matters, the election returns.  Lots of pundits are watching, prognosticating, trying to detect trends, and the one trend they've identified is that the GOP is liable to win this one.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.  In a week we'll know who won, who lost, and who's wailing and gnashing their teeth.

However, print sells papers, or in this digital age, sells advertising, and Noah Rothman has a good piece about the stages of political grief, and short-sighted rules that make political expediency.

The “obstructionist Republicans” plotline was always ever a myth. The GOP did what all political parties in the minority do: they formed voting blocs aimed at frustrating the will of the majority they opposed. It was this temerity that led the Senate Democrats to rewrite the rules of the upper chamber in order to limit minority filibuster rights, a shortsighted tantrum that they will soon regret.

Yeah, Harry Reid's nuclear option might bite them in the butt.  If the majority can pass something with fifty votes, then it shouldn't matter which majority we're talking about.  Fifty votes is fifty votes, and what's good for the goose, is good for the gander, and Harry Reid should consider that his goose is just about cooked.

Obstructionism works both ways.  If Congress, the will of the people through their elected representatives, thinks it prudent to pass a law, then the President can either sign it or veto it,

 But Democrats and their allies in the press are finding it hard to let go of the “obstructionist Republicans” narrative. The White House is convinced that “obstruction” will continue, even when it will be them doing the obstructing.

All this is interesting to watch, but I caution everyone to not get cocky.  It ain't over till next Tuesday and on Wednesday we'll know the tale of the poll.

If you haven't yet, go vote.

Heh!

Stolen shamelessly from My Muse, I thought my elder son would enjoy it.

Heh!

Sunday Morning Dawg

Another beautiful autumn day in central Louisiana, with temps in the low 50s in the morning, climbing to the low 80s in the afternoon.  Wonderful weather to be outside and the dog is enjoying it too.

I don't know what odor has his attention, but he's almost bent bimself completely around.

It's too pretty to be inside today.  After church, we're serving tacos on the patio.  Happy sunday, everyone.

Fire

Probably one of man's oldest collective memories is of fire.  We're the only animal to have tamed fire, and man spent millenia learning the lessons of fire and other lessons around a fire.  It's how we cook our food and how we heat our spaces, and while many of our citizens don't need fire on a regular basis, many of our citizens still use fire for those basic concerns.

A large chunk of my childhood, and a sizable portion of my adult life revolved around fire wood.  Finding it, splitting it, stacking it, toting it, worrying about it, and finally, burning it.  We had a fireplace in my childhood home and my farm house where I raised my kids had a fireplace.  My  current home has a fireplace, but it also has gas logs, run off  huge propane bottle.  If the electricity goes out during the winter, I still heat my home with fire, but it's a whole lot easier to light a gas log, and easier to control.

However, I do have a fire pit in the back yard, because sometimes it's nice to light a log, to look into the fire, and to poke the logs and watch the embers, reminiscing about fires I've built and conversations I've had.  I've probably built thousands of fires in my life, from cook fires to camp fires, to heating fires, and even those fires I set to clean up a brush pile.

A couple of years ago, Milady bought me a fire pit, and I admit that I've been remiss in using it.  Manly because I had other projects that took precedence, and wanted to finish those before I installed he fire pit.  However, those projects are complete, and I have come to the point to install my fire pit.  I needed some fire wood, and my elder son had recently removed a large white oak that had died.

So, this morning, I loaded the chainsaw in the truck and headed over to son's place, where I spent an hour cutting firewood.  We didn't get in a hurry, we cut and talked and stacked, more of an hour spent hanging out than an hour of hard work.  Then we went in his shop and used some scrap metal to build a small wood rack.  Then I brought it home and unloaded it, stacking the wood in it.

I used to measure my firewood by the cord, indeed, I did't feel prepared without four cords,  but I don't need anywhere near that amount of wood.

There is probably one-third of a rick there, which should be sufficient for my needs.  Lots more where that came from if I need it.  Now I'm set for an old-time fire.  I might even set up my tripod and so some campfire cooking.  It's been a long time.

Saturday Song

This old video combines several of my favorite things; the military, a beautiful melody, and Reba McEntire.  The fact that she duets with Vince Gill ain't bad either.

Reba tells us on Facebook that she lost her dad yesterday, and that made me go looking for her old videos.  Sing it, Reba!

School Shooting in Washington

Just to be accurate, this is in Washington state, not Washington D.C.  Fox News reports:

DEVELOPING: A high school student in Marysville, Wash., opened fire in the school cafeteria Friday morning, fatally shooting another person and injuring at least six before killing himself, police and witnesses said.

Providence Regional Medical Center in nearby Everett reported it had three students in critical condition after the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School, located 35 miles north of Seattle, began around 10:45 a.m. PT.

Still developing, and details are sketchy, so I won't comment further except to caution everyone to let the news cycle settle before we start parsing the details, but in the meantime, pray for the victims.

AR Build

I've been wanting to do an AR build for a while, but never pulled the pin on ordering a stripped lower, or finding an FFL dealer that would do a transfer.  But, Brownell's put Bushmaster stripped lowers on sale today for $49.99 and I couldn't stand it.  I ordered two.

Southern Shooters, my local indoor range, agreed to do the transfer and sent Brownells the necessary paperwork.  It looks like I've got another project on my hands.  And some decisions to make.

Wal-Mart Bags

It seems that California continues on their unruly way, doing things that are inexplicable to the rest of us.  Like banning Wal-Mart bags.

California made history late last month in a manner that only its legislature could. With Governor Jerry Brown’s eleventh-hour assent, the state became the first in the nation to outlaw plastic bags statewide.

The real reason may never be known, but I suspect one of the touted reasons was to become more "green", to recycle, and those ubiquitous plastic bags nearly shriek of being disposable.    Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here in the Deep South, those little plastic bags are universally known as "Wal-Mart Bags", just as all soft drinks are known to be "Coke".  And, those bags are not discarded, but used over and over again, until they're in tatters.   There are very few things recycled as completely as a Wal-Mart bag.  Every household I know, has a place where they store used bags, normally on a doorknob near the kitchen or washroom.  We carry lunch in them, we carry clothes in them, we use them for all manner of onerous tasks.  You can stuff your feet into a Wal-Mart bag before you put on shoes if you're worried about getting your feet wet.   Or, put couple in your luggage to separate dirty cloths from clean, or send the neighbors a bag of produce when your garden is producing.  Or, use them for trash-can liners in the bathroom or office.  There are a million uses for a Wal-Mart bag, and there is no reason to throw one away until it is used up.

I'm sure that California has a lot to recommend it, but in lots of ways, it a silly, frivolous state.

Voting Machines

With elections coming up in two weeks, and all of us interested in the outcome in races both national and local, it's heartwarming to see stories like this, where voting machines screw up the vote.

CHICAGO — Early voting in Illinois got off to a rocky start Monday, as votes being cast for Republican candidates were transformed into votes for Democrats.

Say what?  Votes were being transformed from Republican to Democrat? No, that can't be right.

 Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library.

“I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan said. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”

I'm sure that it's just a simple calibration error.   The commissioner of elections provides an explanation.

“This was a calibration error of the touch-screen on the machine,” Scalzitti said. “When Mr. Moynihan used the touch-screen, it improperly assigned his votes due to improper calibration.”

I'm sure that it was a simple calibration error, and I notice that this story comes from Chicagoland.  I also wonder how many other machines suffer from "calibtation errors"and I notice that those calibration errors tend to favor Democrats.  Coincidence?  Who can tell?

Water Bills

Water bills are a monthly occurrence, and for millions of Americans, we simply write the checks.  Unless you live in Detroit, a nearly bankrupt city that's trying to balance the books.  It seems that Detroit is cutting off people who are behind on their water bills, and it's caused quite an uproar, to the point that UN lawyers are visiting the town.

Detroit officials are fuming after two visiting United Nations lawyers scolded the city for cutting off water to delinquent customers and described the shut-offs as a “human rights” violation. 

I've got a son that works for a water district, and they routinely cut off water for delinquency.  While it's true that everyone has a right to water, it's not true that you have a right to have it filtered, cleaned, stored and pumped into your house.

 “It is contrary to human rights to disconnect water from people who simply do not have the means to pay their bills,” Catarina de Albuquerque, one of the two representatives, said Monday at the conclusion of their visit. 

Mr. Albuquerque needs to learn the law.  While everyone has a right to water, there is no right to have it delivered.  A quick look at a map shows that Detroit is served by a huge, fresh-water lake and a nice sized river.  If residents want free water, they should get a bucket and head toward the lake.  Lots of free water there.  If you want it pumped into your house, you should expect to get a bill for it, just like the rest of America.

It's a slow news day when something like this makes national news.  Pay your water bill, or start hiking toward the nearest river.

Yellow Jackets

Recently we've been noticing an infestation of yellow jackets on the patio, little black and yellow stinging insects that show up whenever we're sitting on the patio, eating or having a drink.  With grandkids about, stinging insects ain't cool, and PawPaw resolved to do something about it.

Hereabouts, the yellow jackets live in the ground, and we suspect that we've got a nest under one of the two decks.  Burning them out is normally the way I deal with ground wasps and hornets, but that measure would be tough on my deck, so I cast about for an alternate solution.

I went to Lowe's this afternoon and found a trap that's supposed to kill wasps and yellow jackets.  I found Rescue brand trap that is supposed to capture and kill flying insects, specifically wasps and yellow jackets, so I bought two for the back yard.

You can't tell from the picture, but ten minutes after I hung it, there were a half-dozen yellow jackets swarming around it.  They were on it like a bad rash.  I hope it works, at least until I can figure out where the nest is and take more appropriate measures.

Sunday Morning Dawg

The weather this week has been magnificent, and the dog is enjoying it as much as the rest of us.

Beautiful weather, balmy breezes, mild temperatures.  We'll probably get him groomed in another week or so, so that he can get a little coat before winter sets in.

The Dawg recommends that you get out and enjoy this marvelous weather.  As cor myself, after church, I intend to do that very thing.

9mm Ammo

This past week, I made another bulk buy of ammo, from Ammoman.com.  This time, 9mm ammo, sold by the pound.  I bought 11 pounds of bulk 9mm ammo, with no other warranty than it was good ammo with reloadable brass cases.  The price was $72.00.  Fair enough.

The ammo came in this week, so I commenced to sorting it by headstamp.  Lots of 9mm ammo, and the manufacturer came out as follows

PMC - 101
Blazer Brass - 205
Speer - 139
Winchester - 5
Federal - 2
G.F.L - 1
HPR - 1

That's waht it looked like on the table.  I was fairly familiar with most of those headstamps, but I have to admit that those last two piqued myf interest.

A quick Google search, and GFL brass is evidently a headstamp of Fiocchi.  Okay then.  I know Fiocchi ammo, and we're good to go.

HPR is revealed to be an outfit called High Precision Range ammunition.  I admit I've never heard of them, and with just one round of ammo, I doubt that I'll be able to give much of a product review.  How one round got into that box of ammo is anyone's guess, but I was told it was a bulk purchase with mixed headstamps.

Total round count on that shipmet was 454 rounds.  If you consider that the ammo box is worth $9.00, then the ammo cost just under 14 cents per round.  Not a bad deal on 9mm ammo.

II'm becoming a fan of Ammoman.com.

Top Holder Official Resigns - Fast and Furious

It seems that a top Holder deputy has resigned after allegations that Fast and Furious guns were used to injure Americans in Phoenix.  Breitbart tells the tale:

The top deputy to Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation on Thursday amid revelations that Operation Fast and Furious scandal guns were used to harm Americans in Phoenix in 2013, a development top congressional Republicans say President Obama’s administration sought to cover up.

You may recall this ill-intentioned, poorly-executed operation from 2010, when Holder's Justice Department let guns walk across the Mexican border.  You'll also recall that Eric Holder was held in contempt by Congress after having hidden under a bogus claim of executive privilege.  That contempt citation is still pending.  The cover-up continues, and Holder has yet to be held accountable for his violations of US law in this, and other operations he's carried out for the President.

Center for Disease Control

The Center for Disease Control has thoroughly screwed the pooch on this whole Ebola thing.  Knowing that the disease has been out of control for several months in Africa, they failed to come up with effective protocols for treatment, and they're "learning on the fly" now.

Noah Rothman, over at Hot Air, lays out their failures.

Incompetence and excuse making are fundamental traits which the public has become accustomed to seeing in federal agencies and the bureaucrats who manage them, but first responders addressing an acute crisis are supposed to behave differently. If the public does not believe the federal government can get their arms around this Ebola crisis, the public will start taking matters into their own hands. That is an outcome no one wants to see.

If we look at the webpage for the CDC (linked above) we see that they're active in a great number of things that have nothing at all to do with diesase.  Like violence, and workplace hazards, and social media.  So, I've got an idea.

First, fire everyone in the top three layers of management.  Just fire them.  If any of them have professional certifications (like the AMA) recommend that their licenses be pulled.  Then, limit the CDC, by statute, to only studying infectious diseases.   They don't need to be involved in 80% of the stuff they worry about.  The CDC should be staffed with good doctors, studying infectious diseases.  Nothing else.  It's clear that they've lost their way, and we should provide adult leadership to them by severely limiting their scope and focus.  And their budget.  It's become increasing apparent tha they have too much time on their hands, and no leadership to help them focus.

Deer Get Birth Control

It seems that Cornell University, in upstate New York was over-run with whitetail deer.

After years of bitter debate, Cayuga Heights decided that the deer population would be controlled through sterilization at enormous expense:

Yeah, but deer are mobile.

 The Cayuga Heights deer control was mostly a failure because, you know, deer move around, so sterilizing deer in Cayuga Heights didn’t prevent new deer from coming into the area.  And so on.

It didn't help the deer population, which seemed to be stable.

 Basically, if you were a deer on campus, you got so much free birth control it would make Sandra Fluke jealous; if you were a deer off campus, you got served for dinner.

But, because the does were sterile, they noticed an increase of more aggressive bucks, looking to find a mating partner.

Under normal conditions, all female whitetails go into heat within several weeks of each other and become pregnant at around the same time. This annual event is called the rut. However, if a doe is not impregnated during the rut, it will enter heat again the following month and again the month after that. Because the ligated does were unable to become pregnant, they continued to produce chemical signals of readiness to reproduce — signals that can attract bucks from miles away. 

Well, duh.  They finally decided to try limited hunting, archery, because guns on campus are so.... you know.

 “In winter 2013, our camera survey indicated there were 100 to 105 deer on campus. After the nuisance deer removal in 2014, the camera estimate was about 58 deer remaining on campus,” Curtis said.“Because the bow hunters are volunteers, this program is essentially cost-neutral,” Blossey said.

But, this is Ivy League, and an effective, cost neutral program simply can't be allowed, they're back to deer surgery.

Even after the surgical removal of their ovaries, one of the three deer became pregnant again. It is not clear how this was possible. One supposition is that some ovarian tissue may have escaped the scalpel and regrown into a functioning ovary.

Heh!

ISIS Warning

According to both NBC news and Fox news, ISIS recently called for lone wolf attacks against western targets of interest, including police, military, and public figures.

According to a Joint Intelligence bulletin from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security sent to U.S. law enforcement officials, an ISIS spokesman recorded an audio message that urged lone offenders in Western countries to attack “soldiers, patrons, and troops … their police, security and intelligence members.” Attackers did not need to “ask for anyone’s advice” prior to striking, said the message, because such actions are legitimate.

Isn't that special?  It'll be interesting to see if anyone comes out to play.

True Colors

The folks of ISIS, the guys who brought us the caliphate in Iraq and Syria continue to show their true colors, and to paint Islam with a tawdry brush.  Their latest communique talks about the enslavement of women.

(CNN) -- In a new publication, ISIS justifies its kidnapping of women as sex slaves citing Islamic theology, an interpretation that is rejected by the Muslim world at large as a perversion of Islam.

"One should remember that enslaving the families of the kuffar -- the infidels -- and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of the Shariah, or Islamic law," the group says in an online magazine published Sunday.

The title of the article sums up the ISIS point of view: "The revival (of) slavery before the Hour," referring to Judgment Day.

Enslaving the families of infidels and taking their women as concubines is firmly established in Sharia law.  How nice.  Be sure to ask your "moderate" Muslim friends about this tidbit of knowledge.

Plumb Turrible

Great Googly-Moogly, we've had some turrible weather today.  Plumb turrible.  Rain and wind and lightning, and thunder, it's been impressive.

Map, courtesy of Weather Underground.  We haven't had any rain for a couple of weeks, but it looks like we're making up for it today.