Dirty Rice

Dirty rice is a staple of Louisiana cooking, alternatively known as rice dressing.  It's an easy recipe and I talked about it first in this earlier post.  It's a filling way to use what's available and make something tasty that goes well as a side dish.

This is my updated recipe.

Dirty Rice. 

The picture above is a double batch and I made it a little differently than I did the first time I talked about it.  It's easy, peasy and I'll tell you how I made the big batch. 

2 lbs ground beef
2 lbs bulk sausage
2 packs of seasoning vegetables (onion, peppers, celery)
6 cups dry rice
6 chicken bullion cubes
6 cups water

In a large iron pot, brown your meat.  Don't drain it, but take it out and set aside, then sautee the vegetables in the meat drippings until clear.  Drain vegetables and put them in a big baking dish.  As you can see, I've used an aluminum steam table tray.  Add rice.  Stir. Put the bullion cubes into some hot water and dissolve them, then combine to make 6 cups chicken broth.  Add to meat mixture.  Cook uncovered in a 350 oven until the rice is tender and the liquid absorbed.

I made this pan of rice last night to take to a family gathering and we fed 20 people, of course we also had a pork roast, beans, country ribs, fried zucchini and a variety of desserts.  I brought the left-overs home and fed about 12 of those same people for lunch.

This recipe is easily halved and is just as tasty for a more intimate gathering.  It's a staple of cajun cooking.  For a little variety, add a cup or two of chopped chicken livers when you're browning the raw meat.  It's good stuff either way.

Sunday Morning Dawg

It's been a hot, sultry week in central Louisiana, with a couple of afternoon thunderstorms.  The dog has been trying to keep cool, inside as much as possible, but when he's outside he's likely in the shade under Milady's chair.

Unless there's a thunderstorm in the area, at which time he high-tails it for the area under my desk, where he cowers in fright until the storm passes.  With lightning about, he's a scaredy little dog.

Summertime is tough on a fuzzy little dog.

Vacation Time

We're taking a big family vacation beginning July 13, fifty of us meeting in Myrtle Beach, SC.  It's going to be a hoot.  Some of the family have already left, planning to vaca with the other side of their respective families and meet us on the beach.

Below, a picture of one grandson in Mobile AL.  Astute squids will know immediately where he's touring.

I bet that he had fun crawling around that old hull.

SUL

Speed reholstering, bad idea.  Say Uncle links to an article talking about the problems inherent in holstering a pistol.  The worst part is that you're liable to shoot yourself, which is bad juju at best.

Draw your pistol with the speed necessary, of course.  As Wyatt Earp so famously said, “Fast is fine but accuracy is final. You must learn to be slow in a hurry.” Once you've taken the pistol out, there's no reason to be in a hurry to put it back. Take your time.

"But, PawPaw," you ask, "how do I present myself as non-threatening if I don't immediately intend to shoot?"  Simple, my child.  SUL position.  It's explained here, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

Hands on belly, thumbs interlocked, muzzle down.  Elbows at side.  It's very safe.  In the SRO business, we call it the schoolhouse position.  The firearm is immediately ready for action, but it's non-threatening.  I can holster here at leisure, or be immediately ready to re-engage, at my option.

Once you draw the pistol, everyone is going to know that you're carrying.  There's no rush to put it back in your holster, indeed, it shouldn't be holstered until whatever prompted you to draw in the first place has ceased to be a threat.  You can re-holster at leisure.  Safely, with your finger off the trigger.  Learn to use SUL.  It's a great gun-handling skill.

Sing it, Reba

Driving home last night, listening to a Classic Country station, they played this little piece and I wondered how long it had been since it was recorded.  Long time, it turns out.



Just as good as it was then.

Reloder 15

If you're a reloader, assembling metallic cartridges, you've probably got a can of Unique on your bench.  Marketed by Alliant powder, it's a staple of the pistol cartridges.  I trust Alliant powder, having used them since I began reloading in the mid '70s.  I've burned a bunch of Red Dot, Herco, Blue Dot in shotshell loads and Unique and Bullseye in pistol loads.

When I began casting about for a rifle powder for the .308 several years ago, I first looked to Alliant.  Scrolling down through the powder list, I came upon their webpage for Reloder 15 and saw this little blurb. 

Selected as the powder for U.S. Military's M118 special ball long range sniper round.

Well, hell, if the Army is using it for sniper ammo, that's good enough for me. I've long used surplus military powder in other cartridges, particularly the .30-06. So, I bought  a jug and commenced to load .308 cartridges with it.  It's an extruded propellant, a stick powder, but it meters relatively well.  I normally set my measure to drop the charge just a little light, and trickle up to the preferred weight.  However, when I'm using RL15 and get my Lyman 55 set, the thrown charge is really, really close to what I want to use.  Most of the time, trickling isn't necessary.

As I used it more, I became aware that it shares many properties with other great powders.  At #97 on the Hodgdon Burn Rate Chart, it falls in with a number of good mid-range powders, like IMR 4064 and Hodgdon Varget.  If the Army uses it, I can be assured that it's relatively temperature stable.  And when I loaded it in the .308, it turned it wonderful accuracy.   So much so that my go-to load for the .308 is 43.0 grains of Reloder 15 under either a 150 or a 168 grain bullet.  That load isn't in the top of the velocity range, but it is wonderfully accurate in the four .308s that my family uses and it's been as accurate in the few other rifles I've fired it through.  If a .308 won't shoot that load, look at the gun, or the scope, or the shooter.  It's a great load, and one of my pet loads.

The other day I was casting about for a .30-30 powder and pulled down my manuals.  Reloder 15 was listed in several of them.  "Really?" I thought.  So, I loaded a few and gave them a whirl in my Winchester 94.  Not bad at all.  I'm getting older and my eyes aren't what they used to be.  I still use iron sights on my lever rifles, but the RL15 load turned in better accuracy than I've been getting from both of my other pet loads in that caliber.  Interesting stuff.

This morning I went to the Alliant website again and looked at the calibers where RL15 has an application.  From .17 Remington to .458 Lott, there is a load listed with that powder. Thirty-eight (38) calibers listed with an application. I'm no fan of the Alliant website, and it takes a while to learn to use it to best result, but it's easy to see that Reloder 15 is very versatile.  I reload for about 12 different calibers and RL15 will cover all the bottleneck cartridges I currently load for.

If you're casting about for a mid-range rifle powder, you could do worse than to give Reloder 15 a look.  It's been good for me for several years, and it has the PawPaw seal of approval.

Zucchini

Ha!  Breda planted zucchini, and now it's taking over.  Serves her right.

I planted zucchini once, in a fertile Louisiana bottom-land garden.  Inside a month it had strangled the garden and taken over two acres of pasture.  It was climbing pecan trees and theatening to strangle the cattle while they slept.  It was worse than kudzu, like Jack's Beanstalk run amok.

I'll never again be so weak as to plant zucchini.

Savage 110

Regular readers know the affinity that I have for my Savage 110.  In .30-06, it's been with me for several years and the more I shoot that rifle the more I like it.  Being the type of guy I am, I'm always chasing bughole groups and that Savage has been aggravating me lately.  I bought a bunch of pulled bullets, billed as 150 grain Federal Fusions and I've been trying to get them to work in several .30 caliber rifles.  Wonderfully accurate .308 rifles magically became 3" rifles with those bullets, so I decided I'd try them in the .30-06.  My -06 isn't a bench rifle, nor would it be considered a state-of-the-art long range rifle.  It is what it is, and that's a fairly accurate hunting rifle.  It shoots about 1.5-2.0 inches with whatever ammo I put through it.  It wears a Weaver fixed 6X scope and is not bedded in its wooden stock.  It's a hunting rifle, plain and simple.  Rugged, dependable, it has been lots of miles on the backs of ATVs and in my pickup truck.  It gets beat around, taken out of it's case and fired at things that need to be shot.  Whatever I shoot with it stays shot.

Anyway, I decided to try those Fusion bullets, the same ones that wouldn't shoot in the .308, and sure enough, they wouldn't shoot in the .30-06 either.  I tried every trick in the book and they turned in a fairly repeatable 3" group with everything I shot them through.  I was shooting them through the Savage this morning and accuracy was so horrible that I started doubting myself, doubting my rifle, doubting my scope.  Is something wrong?  Has my scope gone south?  Is the sun in my eyes, or the wind playing tricks? 

In a fit of pique, I decided the hell with it, let have some fun.  I took out a box of Garand loads, 47.0 grains of IMR 4895 with the 165 Sierra Gameking bullet.  This rifle has always liked this load, so I put the bags aside and shot off my elbows.  I shot four shots at one target, then looked through the spotting scope.  It was an okay group, but nothing to write home about, so I switched targets and fired six shots as fast as I could work the bolt and reload.  I walked down to get the target before coming home and sat at the bench to look at my shooting.  Superimposing one group over the other, I took my pen and circled the holes from one target onto another.  Then thought "I'll be damned."

That composite target reveals ten (10) shots in under two inches, centered one inch over the aiming point.  If my calculations are correct, that lets me shoot a game animal at about 250 yards and hold on hair the whole time.  There is not a lot wrong with that for hunting purposes.  Minute of deer out to 250 yards, with a hunting rifle, an un-bedded hunting rifle using a $200.00 scope.

It is true that I could spend some time and money, upgrading the scope, upgrading the stock, worrying about seating depths and doing ladder tests and I might find a load that works better in my rifle, but it won't make me a better hunter and it won't let me shoot farther than I can see on my lease.  Lots of time we spend time, effort and money chasing a bughole group and that's fine if that's what you want to do.  But I'm confident that my rifle and my load will seriously whack whatever I need to whack, and in the final analysis, isn't that what we want a rifle to do?

Sometimes good enough is good enough.

The Winchester 94

I went to the range today at noon, the temperature a balmy 96F, with humidity at about 80%.  Breezes calm.  I was shooting my Savage 110 .30-06 with a Garand load, the load I'm going to use for hunting this year.  It pushes a 150 grain Federal Fusion bullet to about 2750 fps with 49.0 grains of IMR 4895.  It's a good load, and ought to whack our smallish whitetail deer just fine.

However, because I knew that sighting in the Savage wasn't going to take long, I also took along a rifle that I haven't shot in several years.  It's a Winchester 94, the old top eject model.  More particularly, it's called the Antique Model. 

This is a standard Winchester Model 94, a post 64.  Winchester built this model from 1964 to 1983 to appeal to customers who wanted an older-style rifle.  One wag described it as "Winchester's attempt to put a dress on a pig."  My particular rifle was made in 1965.  I shortened the stock a few inches, added a recoil pad and installed a Lyman FP receiver sight.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to shoot this little rifle.  I use the Lyman 311041, which is a flat nosed, gas checked design that weighs about 170 grains.  I double-lube them with liquid alox, size to 0.309 and load over a middling charge of IMR4895.  The little bullet leaves the muzzle at about 1850 fps and while that isn't sizzling by any means, it's nothing to sneeze at, either.  It's not a bench rifle at all, was never designed to be, but if my eyes were better I might be able to shoot the rifle more accurately than I do.  Sill, it's minute of deer accurate out to about 100 yards and it's still shooting into the front sight.

What does that mean?  Shooting into the front sight?  Simply, the front sight on my rifle is a standard Winchester bead, measuring 0.075" and the sight is 28 inches from my eye.  By doing just a little geometry, we learn that the little front sight covers more and more area the further away the target is.  In my case, it covers 4.8 inches at 50 yards and 9.6 inches at 100 yards.  I've got the sights set so that whatever I cover with that little bead gets smacked by a bullet, so it is shooting into the area covered by the front sight. 

I fired about 20 shots through it to verify the zero and to reacquaint myself with the rifle.  At  6 lbs, 4 oz, it's a dandy little carrying rifle in a serious caliber.  And, using cast bullets, it is very economical to shoot.  I recently figured my reloading costs for the little rifle and I'm feeding the little gun for under 10 cents a pop..  Very inexpensive shooting.

Hypocrisy

I remember under the Bush administration the wails of the loyal opposition about keeping prisoners in Guantanamo, about secret prisons, rendition, illegal wars. I'm not hearing that any more. Guantanamo is still open. Where's the outrage? Simple, they all got administration jobs. Those same high-minded liberals who blasted the Bush administration over their war-on-terror policies have all become hypocrites. Follow the link above and you'll learn about rendition, hellish prisons, and drone strikes. You'll also learn that those same folks screaming about Bush are doing that very work under Obama. The best summary I've seen so far comes from Glenn Reynolds.

Let me be clear: All you people who were playing the have-you-no-decency card under Bush, but who aren’t screaming just as loud now — which is pretty much all of you people who were playing the have-you-no-decency card under Bush — were and are miserable lying hacks. And I thank Obama for making that perfectly clear, at least.

Hypocrites.  It's easy to decry something then later learn you're wrong, but without a clear explanation and public apologies to those that you've stung, you're still a hypocrite. 

What Health Care Decision?

Reveling in my sloth this morning, I come upon this Washington Post article that talks about a recent Pew Poll concerning the information that people watch to be informed about current events. 

Inside the numbers was — not surprisingly — even more eye-opening. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, one of the electoral pillars on which Obama’s 2008 victory was built, 43 percent didn’t know anything about the court ruling, and other 20 percent thought the court had rejected most of the tenets of the law. That means that roughly two in every three young people didn’t know or were mistaken about what happened Thursday at the court.

That's reassuring. Still, I remember (faintly) being in that demographic. I was concerned about paying my bills, furthering my career, worrying about kids, sometimes I'd go days between reading a newspaper or watching the evening news.

Most people — especially those who are unaffiliated or independent voters — tend to be relatively low information voters. That is, they don’t have all the facts on an issue — and they don’t really care to find them out.

I doubt that I'll ever have ALL the facts on an issue, especially on those issues that really interest me, but I like to have as many of the facts as possible, especially if those facts support my prejudices. I like to think that I'm an informed voter, but this poll makes me wonder.

Independence Day

My calendar tells me that it's July 4th and my internets tell me that I should be celebrating.  The dog and I did go outside at daybreak and stand reveille, raising the flag in front of the house, but frankly, I'm not into the whole hamburger/hot dogs/fireworks thing today.

Milady went to Florida last week on a mission of mercy.  A family member had a stroke and we put her on a plane to do what she does best; minister to the sick.  The dog and I have been holding the fort, keeping the lamps burning, and frankly we're a bit adrift.   The dog is looking for Milady, he spends time where she normally frequents and comes to me wondering.  I've told him a dozen times that she ain't here, but I don't think he gets it.  Thankfully, we pick her up this afternoon.  She's coming home today and that's a cause to celebrate, although she'll likely be jet-lagged and fatigued from the journey. 

The family member is doing better, thanks, and seems to be "out of the woods".  Rehab continues apace.  We're praying for the best and expecting miracles.

I don't have any formal celebration planned except to be at the airport before she goes wheels-down.  Still, if our independence means anything, then I'm free to sloth.

Happy Fourth, everyone.  Take a  break today, have a little fun, and we'll get back to work tomorrow.

Swearin'

I'm just returned from a swearing-in, which happens when a Sheriff begins his term of office.  No changes to my duty assignment, but I'm one of the worker bees, not residing in the rarefied air of management.  For us worker bees, they used the picture from 4 years ago, and I don't look terribly different now than I did then.  A little less hair, a little more of it gray, the days take their tolls.  It was good to hang around and shake hands with folks I seldom see.

On reflection, when I worked for the state, I was sworn-in just once in 20 years.  With the Sheriff, it's every four years.

The Wobbly Tax

On the way to town this morning to rent a Rug Doctor (don't ask) I was listening to Glenn Beck on talk radio and he proposed a wonderful idea for another taxing scheme, and it fits wonderfully into Wobbly Roberts new tax initiative.  It goes something like this.

There are very many constitutional activities that some people don't participate in.  One of these activities is the 2nd Amendment protections on the owning and using firearms in the home for self-protection.  Now, we know that the Pittman Robertson act helps to fund many ranges, clinics,  educational experiences relating to the shooting sports.  Pittman-Robertson money also funds non-shooting pursuits that are available to those people who don't hunt or shoot.

Although Pittman-Robertson is financed wholly by firearms users and archery enthusiasts, its benefits cover a much larger number of people who never hunt but do enjoy such wildlife pastimes as birdwatching, nature photography, painting and sketching, and a wide variety of other outdoor pursuits. Almost all the lands purchased with P-R money are managed both for wildlife production and for other public uses. Wildlife management areas acquired by the States for winter range also support substantial use by hikers and fishermen, campers and picnickers. Wetlands for summer waterfowl nesting are useful to nature lovers in other seasons. Recent estimates indicate about 70 percent of the people using these areas are not hunting, and in some localities the ratio may go as high as 95 percent.

What? These people (birdwatchers, nature photogs, painters and sketchers, hikers, fishermen, campers, picnickers, nature lovers) are not participating, and they're enjoying the benefits of this money. In the words of Nancy Pelosi, they're free-riders and should pay a ta-penalty.  See, even Nancy Pelosi is on-board with  similar taxing schemes. 

So, how would we do this?  Simple.  Save your receipts when you buy guns, ammo, archery supplies, arrows or bows.  When you do your taxes at the end of the year, add all those supplies and put them on a block on your 1040 form.  If you don't have anything to put in that block, simply put in 50% of your adjusted gross income and send it to the government to fund the Fish and Wildlife service.  Even as little as one box of ammo a year would prove participation and would save you from the confiscatory Wobbly Tax.  However, non-participation is now taxable if you're taking benefits and walking through the woods without paying Pittman Robertson is now subject to a tax penalty.

Sounds reasonable to me.   It's time for another letter to my Congress-critter.

Wobbly Roberts

Unless you've been living in a culvert, or actually doing something that matters.  Or for that matter, if you're in DC and don't have any power at all, you've probably heard about the hard-hitting CBS News report that Chief Justice John Roberts switched his vote during deliberations.  The article even goes so far as to report that a source called him wobbly.  Wobbly Roberts.  It rolls right off the tongue.

Some pundits have opined that Wobbly was worried about the Court's legitimacy.  Others have opined that he is susceptible to news reporting and had come under intense pressure from liberals, even from the floor of the House.  Maybe so.  Forbes goes so far as to say that Roberts caved to left-wing pressure to uphold the law.  Heh!  So much for his legitimacy.  Turns out he's simply pandering for acceptance.  He's concerned about his legacy, which is now irrevocably damaged.

So, Mr. Roberts, how's this for your legacy?  You're wobbly.  Nominated by President Bush as a solid conservative, you've shown yourself to court the admiration and adulation of the liberals. You care what some people think and will go to great lengths, twisting logic into a pretzel to find a way to make plainly bad law into good law.  During your opinion, you will say that you have no interest in policy, yet your decision forms policy of the worst kind.  You are a turn-coat, sir, a deceiver.  The simple Google string,John Roberts Wobbly, returns 163,000 results, and this is just Monday morning.  That's your legacy, sir.  Some pundits are even now calling your tax-and-switch scheme the Roberts Tax.

And, if I ever get the opportunity, I'm going to piss down your leg and tell you it's raining.  You are about as worthless a person who ever was appointed to the bench, and there are many worthless jurists on the bench.  Screw you, sir.

I think I'm going to write my Congress-critters and talk about impeachment.  Even Supreme Court Justices can be impeached.

Sunday

Normally, I go to church on Sunday morning, but this morning my daughter was broke-down on the side of the road.  They suspected the throwout bearing.  So, instead of slacks, I pulled on some old jeans and called my buddy, who runs a UHaul place.  In short order I had a towing dolly and we were enroute to my son's house where we pushed the vehicle into his shop.

By 10:30, we had the transmission out and a new bearing installed.  By 12:30 the truck was being test driven.  PawPaw took the truck dolly back to the lot and came home to pour myself a stiff drink and make a big pot of red beans with rice, a meal I've been craving for several weeks.  Then, a nap.

I woke to thunder.  It's raining out there.  I'll probably have to mow grass tomorrow.

Sunday Morning Dawg

Last week the dog was fairly fuzzy. Hirsute.  Here's a pic of him scrounging for morsels following a grandkid birthday party.

While we're at it, another shot of him actually up on the table.  Shameless, no?  The dog's gotta find his treats where he finds them.

This week we found our groomer, who didn't answer the phone last week, and we made an appointment for the mutt.

That's a little better.  I bet that he's cooler, although his appetite for treats hasn't diminished any.  He looks like he's lost weight.

Somewhere

Somewhere, probably on a range, either formal or informal, Bill Jordan is crying right now. From Fox News:

Border Patrol agents in Arizona are blasting their bosses for telling them, along with all other Department of Homeland Security employees, to run and hide if they encounter an "active shooter."

What? Oh, Bullshit. Run and hide? Are you serious?

“The Department of Homeland Security takes very seriously its responsibility to protect all of its employees from threats that may surface in the workplace,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel said in a written statement to FoxNews.com

Hey, Friel, you're a disgrace. Check your manhood at the door and quit now, before someone comes along and takes your White Rain.  There is only one response to an active shooter.  Close on him with fire and maneuver and stop the threat with extreme violence.  That's the response.  Violent intervention.

Run and Hide?  Only if you're a girly-man.  Oh, and I know plenty of female law enforcement officers who would be covering my back during that whole "fire and maneuver" thing.  It isn't about your gender, bud, it's about doing your job. Your job, obviously, is to wimp-out and cower in the darkness like the cowardly, worthless, stinking, cowering bastard that you are.  Man up or get out of the business.

For those of you who don't remember Bill Jordan, he was a Border Patrol agent and a Marine during WWII.  He served on the southwest border and retired after 30 years.  He was responsible for convincing Smith and Wesson to chamber the Model 66 in .357 magnum and was a per-eminent advocate for the use of the double-action revolver in law enforcement.  He designed holsters and served on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association.  He also wrote a marvelous book on gunfighting, No Second Place Winner. 

Run and Hide?  You make me sick.

Hat tip to Termite for the link.

Steel

When I started working on the gong target I knew that I had two different steel types to work with.  Some locally produced 13/16th mild steel plate and some AR500 steel gongs made by Quality Targets.  This morning was the first chance I've gotten to hang them side-by-side and the difference in the two is interesting.  First, the commercial target is a lot lighter, mainly because it's made of thinner steel.  They both "whack" satisfactorily, but the thinner targets seem to be tougher on the strapping I used to hang them.  Maybe something about the transfer of momentum when the bullet smacks the gong, but the heavier mild-steel target seemed to be easier on the hanging straps.  Both of these are 9" diameter gongs.

Still, the difference is easily seen.  First the mild-steel target, shot with a variety of deer-rifle calibers at about 150 yards.

As you can see, and you can click on it for a bigger version, the deer-rifle calibers cratered the steel fairly severely.  So, next we'll consider the hard-steel commercial targets.

No cratering at all.  Yeah, you can see where the bullets hit the plate, but it left tiny, smooth-faced dimples.  I'd say that the damage sustained was far less against the hard-steel plate.  Interesting, both gongs where painted the same color last week.  The impact from the bullets whacked nearly all the paint from the hard-steel target.

Another interesting tidbit is that at the end of the day, the bolts holding the steel to the strapping were loose, way loose.  What loosened those bolts?  Maybe the shock of the impact?  Heck, I don't know.  They're tight again, farmer-tight.

Field Trials

My sons and I took the Target Hanger (ver 2.0) out to the lease today to give it a field trial. We set it up down a logging cut, about 150 yards from the firing point, as far as we could see in the summertime woods.  It worked great. There are a few little glitches, but I think that it's ready for installation at my private berm at Momma's house.

I didn't get any pictures of the gongs, but I did manage a couple of snaps of my daughter-in-law, Kim, trying her hand.  Below, she's lining up using my Ruger 77 in .25-06.

Then, just after she pulled the trigger.

Yeah, she hit it.  There were several of us there, including step-grandson Jeffery, who did really well with a Remington 700 in .308.    We ran the gamut of centerfire deer cartridges this morning, from .35 Remington, to .243 Winchester, .25-06, .30-06, .308 and 7mm Rem Mag.  We even function tested a 12 gauge shotgun and a .40 cal SW Sigma.

Hot out there this morning, and yes, we sprayed everyone down for chiggers.  It was a great morning, although a hot one, to be in the woods with family.

More on Fast and Furious

This is a great article at CNS, about the Fast and Furious debacle, focusing on Dennis Burke, the former US Attorney who ran the program in Phoenix.  Did y'all know that he was one of the guys who worked on the Assault Weapons Ban enacted under Clinton?

(CNSNews.com) – Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and who then went on to become Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s chief of staff, and a contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.

Lots of good stuff in the article:

“Well, as President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,” Holder said. “I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.”

Then, in 2010, when Burke was confiremed,

It was in July 2010, after his nomination as U.S. attorney, that Burke told the Arizona Capitol Times that he had “been working on homeland security and border enforcement issues” during the transition, and that there had “clearly been direction provided already by President Obama and Attorney General Holder as to what they want to be doing.”

Really good stuff, go read the whole thing. I'm posting on it as much to bookmark if for myself as to pass the information along. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going shooting with my kids.

Obama's First Executive Privilege?

There is some question now whether this is the first time that President Obama has claimed executive privilege to protect Eric Holder.  I heard about it on the Dennis Miller show today during my afternoon drive and when I got home, a quick Google led me to this article.

There are two possibilities in this case, ultimately: Obama asserted executive privilege in 2009 for Holder to help him cover up his past, or Holder incorrectly claimed he didn’t have “authority” to testify about something when he did.

Interesting tidbit, and I'm wondering why the news media's reporters don't Google something as simple as 2009 executive privilege.  Oh, that's right, this is the media I'm talking about.

The Drinking Age

I remember as a kid, lobbying, marching, raising general hell until the several states lowered the drinking age to 18.  We were subject to the draft and thought it only fair that we should be allowed to vote, drink, do everything that all adults do.  In 1984, the law changed again, when the Fed.Gov, in a huge over-reach coerced the several states into raising the drinking age to 21 or lose federal highway money.

Yesterday, while John Roberts was screwing us, he made such coercion unconstitutional.  I wonder when the several states will lower their drinking age back to 18, the age of adulthood for most of the land.  If it's unconstitutional to coerce the states over Medicare money, it should certainly be unconstitutional to coerce them over highway money.

Unintended consequences, and all that bullshit.  That said, I think I'll pour myself a drink.  I'm certainly over the age of 21, won't be driving this evening, and I don't think that they'll make drinking at home illegal before tomorrow morning.  But they might tax it.

I spit in the general direction of John Roberts.

More on ObamaCare

From Investors Business Daily.

With a majority of the Supreme Court refusing to protect American freedom from a predatory Congress, it is now up to the voters to restore lost liberty. They have to fire the president and turn Congress over to lawmakers who respect limited government and will pass policies that will in fact bring down medical costs and expand coverage. Health care must be left to the private sector, not commanded and controlled, and consequently choked, by a central planning committee.

Go read the whole thing.  Yesterday's decision was a crushing defeat for freedom.  The Court failed and the American public is the loser.

On Yesterday's Crushing Defeat

I awake this morning and find that the internets are abuzz with new of the ObamaCare decision.   The conservatives are trying to spin it as a short-term loss with encouraging signs for the future.  One example is George Will's column in the Washington Post. 

By persuading the court to reject a Commerce Clause rationale for a president’s signature act, the conservative legal insurgency against Obamacare has won a huge victory for the long haul. This victory will help revive a venerable tradition of America’s political culture, that of viewing congressional actions with a skeptical constitutional squint, searching for congruence with the Constitution’s architecture of enumerated powers. By rejecting the Commerce Clause rationale, Thursday’s decision reaffirmed the Constitution’s foundational premise: Enumerated powers are necessarily limited because, as Chief Justice John Marshall said, “the enumeration presupposes something not enumerated.”

When Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), asked where the Constitution authorized the mandate, exclaimed, “Are you serious? Are you serious?,” she was utterly ingenuous. People steeped in Congress’s culture of unbridled power find it incomprehensible that the Framers fashioned the Constitution as a bridle. Now, Thursday’s episode in the continuing debate about the mandate will reverberate to conservatism’s advantage.

 Bullshit.  Plain Bullshit.  Nancy Pelosi was correct to ask that question, and John Roberts answered it for us.  Of course it's constitutional.  Congress can do anydamn thing that they want to do and the Court will find some way to make it legal.

There are two lessons to learn from yesterday's crushing loss.  First, Pelosi was right.  There is nothing that Congress can't do.  The Courts will not restrain them.  If it's legislation signed by both houses and signed by the President, it's the law. The second lesson to draw from this is one that Pelosi also gave us, shortly after she was elected as Speaker of the House.  Elections matter.  John Roberts also told us this in his opinion.

It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.

Spin it any way you went to, folks, but yesterday was a loss and the best way to insure that we don't suffer losses like this in the future is at the election box.

Oh, and one other thing:  John Roberts, appointed by President Bush, was touted as a brilliant legal mind and a solid conservative.  Today, I put him in the liberal camp.  He could have voted either way and been in the majority.  He chose to vote with the liberal camp on this issue, and handed conservatism a stunning loss.  He damaged the constitution and handed socialists the largest victory of my lifetime.  If I ever get the opportunity, I'm going to piss down his leg and tell him it's raining.

Another First

Today, the US House of Representatives voted to hold Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.  He is the first sitting Cabinet member in the history of the US to be found in contempt of Congress.  The vote was bipartisan, with seventeen (17) Democrats joining the Republicans in finding that Holder has not complied with House subpoenas. 

Pelosi, of course, thinks it's shameful and I agree with her.  Having an Attorney General who subverts the laws of the United States and of Mexico is shameful.  Holder should be tried, convicted and imprisoned.  When we get the documents, we might find that his boss is a felon, too.

On Stolen Valor

The Supremes brought out another case this morning, where they held that lying about getting the Medal of Honor is free speech.  From Justice Kennedy's opinion: 

Lying was his habit. Xavier Alvarez, the respondent here, lied when he said that he played hockey for theDetroit Red Wings and that he once married a starlet fromMexico. But when he lied in announcing he held the Congressional Medal of Honor, respondent ventured onto new ground; for that lie violates a federal criminal statute, theStolen Valor Act of 2005. 18 U. S. C. §704.

To paraphrase Kennedy: It ain't criminal because free speech is a bulwark of the republic and Alvarez didn't try to make money from it. The military fights to protect our rights and one of those is free speech. He's despicable, but he ain't a criminal.

Well, here's some more free speech, from PawPaw.  Xavier Alvarez is a lying scumbag, a reprehensible piece of shit.  He deserves to drown in the saliva of good American veterans and to starve to death because his jaw is wired shut from the beatings he so richly deserves.  Xavier Alvarez is a sonofabitch who dishonors his family, casts aspersions on his associates and should be expelled from whatever business or office he frequents.  If I ever personally see Xavier Alvarez, I intend to give him a good free speech cussing, the likes of which he'll never forget.

Classy!

Looks like the Democrats are keeping it classy.

He's the executive director of the Democratic National Convention.s  How appalling.

UPHELD!

They upheld the Affordable Care Act.  The money quote, courtesy of Instapundit:

From ScotusBlog: “The bottom line: the entire ACA is upheld, with the exception that the federal government’s power to terminate states’ Medicaid funds is narrowly read.” Plus: “The money quote from the section on the mandate: ‘Our precedent demonstrates that Congress had the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power, and that Section 5000A need not be read to do more than impose a tax. This is sufficient to sustain it.’”

I guess that they can make us all buy broccoli, as long as they call it a tax.  Now it's time for Romney and the conservatives everywhere to start campaigning against the Obama Health-care Tax.

Justice Roberts says, in his opinion, page 6.

Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.

It is not the job of the Court to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.

Those Fusions

Back in November, I ordered some pulled bullets from Rocky Mountain Reloading.  They were billed as Federal Fusion, pulled bullets and when I got my order, I blogged it.  I loaded some ammo with them and was less than impressed with my shooting, or the targets. 

However, I always load more ammo than I need for a range session, and I had a few of those loads left.  That 150 Fusion over 49 grains of IMR 4895 should be a good load, hovering around 2800 fps, but for some reason that day, I couldn't get them to group from my Savage .30-06.  Groups averaged around 1.5 inches, which is okay, but not what I expect from that rifle and good ammunition.

Yesterday I was mowing at Momma's house and when I got off the tractor I took out my Savage to send three toward the steel targets near the berm.  That Fusion bullet rang the gong with authority and because it's a nine-inch circle, I didn't think much of it.  Of course I can hit a 9" gong at 100 yards.  I dropped the gong into the truck so that I could do some work on it prior to adding it to the new gong rack.

This morning I carried it to the bench, then looked at it more closely.  Those three shots made a tight little cluster about an inch above my aiming point, so I took out the calipers.

Those three shots all fell into 1.230 inches.  Subtract the width of a .308 bullet and that's just under an inch.  Those shots weren't fired from the bench, I was leaning across the hood of the pickup truck and sighting toward a gong in shadow just a little over 100 yards away.  Not bad at all.

I don't know what I was worried about.  That's fine hunting accuracy, and I think I've found my hunting load for this season.  Now, to load a few more and start getting ready.  November will be here before you knowit.

Waiting

I'm waiting, like most of the nation, for the announcement from on high from the Supremes tomorrow.  I put no faith in the Court, because if you want to define Ivory Tower, you've got to start with nine lawyers in Washington.  They can couch their decisions in whatever verbiage they want to use, but the simple fact is that they're subject to the will of The People, just like everyone else.

Most observers are giving 50-50 odds, and frankly, that's a wash.  Of course it's 50-50, either they will or they won't and prognostications like that are worthless.  We'll have to wait and see for this momentous decision.  They've already decided, frankly, and they're just stringing us out, which is what judges do.  They could just as easily have published the decision and opinions online, but someone told them they are important and they believe it.

The simple fact of the matter is that the people who are important are those who have to make the decisions work, and the most important folks are The People.

Wednesday Bush-hog

The Weather Channel is promising me another balmy 102 degree day today with 41% humidity.  That ain't bad, actually as our local humidity often hovers over 80%.  I plan to go to Momma's this morning, climb on the tractor and do some mowing on the back of the property.  It's time to knock back the grass and briars and clean up around the pine-thicket that the deer use when the weather gets bad.

A couple of hours of that should be sufficient.

I see that the news media is preoccupied with the pending Supremes opinion on Obamacare.  Whatever the Supreme Court does tomorrow is going to piss-off half of the United States and I'd almost be relieved if they upheld it.  I'd rather that our side is pissed-off and the other side lulled into complacency.  The best place to override bad legislation is in the legislature and if we're energized by a bad law we'll get out, vote, and send Obama back to Chicago.  Congress started this mess and the most beneficial place to overturn it is in the Congress.  I'd really like to see 300 Tea-partiers in the House and 70 in the Senate.  That would be a great way to start the Reconstruction.

Summertime Supper

Here in the Deep South, we call the evening meal Supper.  When it's 102 in the shade you don't feel like cooking, so Milady and I decided on cold sandwiches for supper.  I found a couple of vine-ripened tomatoes, some nice cheese, and a particularly caustic yellow onion.

Tomato, onion and cheese sammiches.  Oh, my!  With a little mayo and fresh white bread, it's a southern delicacy.  My breath reeks from the onion, and I'll probably knock back an antacid later, but my Gawd, it was good.

Pipelines

Pipelines move oil.  It's a lot cheaper to push oil down a pipe than it is to load it in a truck.  There are problems with pipelines though.  They tend to stay where you put them, and the oil producing areas of North America are changing. 

Remember how the US's oil pipelines were designed primarily to move refined products from the Gulf region and the coastal refineries to inland customers? Well, those pipelines of yesterday now run the wrong way. Today what North America's oil machine needs are pipelines running from the oil sands to the Gulf Coast. At the moment there is just enough capacity to get bitumen partway there – it gets to Cushing, the oil hub. And then it gets stuck.

Great article explaining the pipeline infrastructure of the US and how the different in price between light sweet crude and Baaken sands oil makes a difference at the pump.

Lot'sa Weather

Summer is on us with a vengeance, but not like it is in Florida.  Those poor folks won't have to worry about drought for a while, nor burn bans.  It's not over for them yet.  From the NOAA:

Here in central Louisiana, we've got our own challenges.  Almost the opposite of our Florida cousins.  This is the cheerful greeting I got from the Weather Channel this morning.

Oh, Joy!  I think most of this day will be indoors.

I've got my cell phone tracking the weather at our vacation spot this year, North Myrtle Beach, SC, and it tells me that right now the weather there is 73 degrees and sunny.  Two more weeks.

Chasing Kids

We've been chasing a kid all day.  Milady invited him to spend the night, and I had forgotten how much energy a 17 month old can bring into a house.

It's a lot of fun.  He's helped me reload cartridges, work on tricycles and now he's terrorizing the dawg.  Great fun on a Monday afternoon.

Good Monring, Debby!

It looks like Debbie is going to take aim at the Florida coastline, although she'll probably come ashore as a storm and not a hurricane.  These things spawn tornadoes, though, and a tropical storm is nothing to sneeze at.  Someone is going to lose a roof.

Where it goes after it savages northern Florida is anybody's guess.  This is a slow moving tropical storm and those have time to gather momentum and grind on you.

Sunday Morning Dawg

We couldn't find our groomer this week.  She must be on vacation, so the dog is still fuzzy.  However, he and I have been spending time outside.  He likes to accompany me on my projects.  It's like having a 2-year-old underfoot because I've got to watch him every minute.  The second my attention turns he gets into something (like the street) that might hurt him.

Here, he's alerted on something that's happening across the street.

Here, he's sitting the carport, watching the traffic on the street.  He really likes being in the front yard where he can see a world that doesn't exist in our fenced off backyard.  Yet, PawPaw has to watch him like a hawk.

GUILTY!

Jerry Sandusky is guilty on 45 counts and the judge immediately revoked his bail. He's in the iron-bar hotel, an exclusive bed and breakfast where the food is lousy, the room mates are disgusting, and you learn to sleep with one eye open.

Somehow, I don't believe that this fits into his retirement plans.  Still, it's the retirement he chose.  We can only hope that Penn State demands that anyone else who covered up his crimes is immediately sacked.

Watching Debby

From the NOAA:

TROPICAL STORM WATCHES OR WARNINGS COULD BE REQUIRED FOR A PORTION OF THE NORTHERN GULF COAST OVER THE WEEKEND...AND INTERESTS IN THIS AREA SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS LOW. HEAVY RAINS AND LOCALIZED FLOODING ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE YUCATAN PENINSULA...WESTERN CUBA...AND MUCH OF FLORIDA OVER THE NEXT DAY OR SO. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TO INVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON.

That is all.

Target Hanger v 2.0

Between laughing at our politicians and crying for our republic today, I've been working on my target hanger, assembling all the bits and pieces, so that it can be useful in the run-up to the deer season.  As in all things, experience is golden, so I've been doing some testing, swinging the targets.

I can see right now that I'm going to have to paint those targets.  I'd bet that a can of white spray-paint would do a lot to help them stand out from the background.  Those dull-grey steel targets are hard to see against a dull background.

Here's a better shot, from behind the target frame, showing how the steel plates are attached to the webbing.  The holes in the targets are cut for 3/8 bolts.  At the hardware store, I got 1 1/2 inch long bolts, but could probably have used 1 inch bolts.

Initially, swinging the targets would cause them to flip off the upper hooks.  I think I've solved that problem by the simple expedient of using wire-ties to hold the strapping on the hook.  I had considered closing the hooks, but I want to be able to easily take the targets off the frame for portability.  Wire ties seemed a good compromise.

If anyone has a better idea, let me know in comments.

Hope n' Change

If you're not following Hope n' Change cartoons, you should be.  The guy is a riot, and much of his opinion is smack on the mark. You can clink to enlarge the cartoon.


 Nancy Pelosi is the most despicable woman in the United States.  But, let's not leave our President off the hook.  


Those cartoons are by Stilton Jarlsberg and they're copyrighted.  I hope he doesn't  mind me using them.  I tried to give plenty of attribution.

Debby?

We're watching a large potential this weekend, the potential for tropical storm development. 

According to Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski, "There is a slight chance this feature could become a tropical depression as early as tonight. However, we feel this system will become better organized this weekend and should become Tropical Storm Debby later Saturday or on Sunday."

Lots of moisture, high water temperatures and unsettled air all combine in ways that make life miserable for the Gulf Coast.

There are lots of potential scenarios and it's too early to tell, but this might get interesting. 

She knows all about it.

Nancy Pelosi, the Minority Leader of the US House of Representatives:

“They’re going after Eric Holder because he is supporting measures to overturn these voter suppression initiatives in the states… This is no accident, it is no coincidence. It is a plan on the part of Republicans.”

Uuuh, what?  Is she really that stupid?  Or simply that obtuse?  This is unbelievable.  Just as unbelievable as President Obama requiring ID to get into one of his rallies. Is this what passes for sentient leadership in the Democrat party?

In The Mail

The mail lady honked the horn and told me that I had a heavy package for delivery.  I told her it was 3/8 steel and her eyes grew wide.

A six-inch and a nine-inch flat topped gong target for the target hanger I was working on earlier this week.  Tomorrow I'll go get bolts and start assembling it.

Heh, heh!  This is gonna be fun.

Bug Holes and Flyers

Flyers are the bane of every serious rifle shooter.  As soon as you think you've got a great group going, one shot strays outside the box and lands somewhere in the next county.  Case in point:  I took my Ruger 77 to the range today.  It's an older rifle, built in 1973, in .25-06.  I bought it early this year from a local pawn shop.  The rifle has potential, with what seems to be an affinity for the 117 grain Hornady Interlock bullet.  I put a fouling shot through it then settled in at the bench.

That's a five shot group.  The first two went into a bughole, the third shot went down into the doldrums, and the next two simply widened the bughole.  Four shots into an incredible 0.335 inches and that flyer opened the group to 1.35 inches.  Gaah! 


So, then, I took out my Savage 110, a standard .30-06 hunting rifle.  It's my favorite and it likes 165 grain Sierra Gameking bullets and the standard Garand load of 47.0 grains of 4895.  Once again, a flyer ruined a nice little group.

That's the clean-bore shot on the left, then three for meat shots.  Two touching and that third shot down below.  The rifle still put those three in under an inch, but I would have been really pleased if all three were touching.  That's not my karma today, so I packed up and came home.

I might have been flinching.,  Before I started with the scoped rifles, I tried out a new load in the Handi-rifle.  I went to the Hodgdon website and looked up cast bullet loads, found a load for the .45-70 of 45.6 grains of IMR 4895. I used a 405 grain, soft lead bullet.  It's listed as a starting load, suitable for trapdoor rifles, but when I touched the first one off, just damn!  Four more and I was finished with that rifle, much preferring to shoot the .30-06.  The Hogdgon website says that the load should be running about 1500 fps, and that may be wo, but it was throwing pieces of berm 15 feet into the air.  That may be a starting load, but shot from that lightweight Handi-rifle, it was quite a handful.  I'll need to make an appointment at the dentist, simply to see if my fillings were jarred loose in the recoil.

The Solstice

Today, I'm told is the summer solstice, that astronomical time when the sun reaches it's highest point in the sky, heralding the start of summer.  Milady and I were married on the solstice, not to celebrate some Druid rite, but because (1)we were both off work that weekend, (2)the day fell on a Saturday, and (3)the hall we rented had an opening.  Serendipity.  However, we were married on the 21st, so our anniversary is tomorrow. It seems, on leap year, the sun rises one day earlier.

The folks in the Northeast are expecting a scorcher today.  The AP reports:

Readings are expected to be in the mid- to high-90s Wednesday and Thursday in cities including Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Humidity could make it feel even hotter.

Heh! That's a normal day here, temps we've been dealing with since early May. Our own weather forecast for today calls for a high of 92 with 94% humidity. A standard summer's day inn central Louisiana.  I think that in another hour I'll go to Momma's house and sit on a tractor for a couple of hours.  I need to knock down the grass on my range and around my deer stand.  If everything goes according to plan I'll be back home, comfortably ensconced in the air conditioning by the time the noon hour arrives.

Those Wacky Democrats

Evidently, they're being paid to heckle the Romney campaign, but one little tidbit buried in the article makes me wonder.

Neither of the representatives agreed to give their names, but two protesters said they were getting paid to stand outside of the rally, though their wage is unclear: one said she was getting $7.25 per hour, while another man said they were being paid $17 per hour.

So, I'm wondering.. why is the woman getting $7.25 per hour and the man is getting $17.00 per hour. And which party is about equal pay? And who's conducting a war on women? Just wondering.

That Texas Dad

I'm sure that you've been reading about that Dad in Texas, who caught an acquaintance trying to rape his little girl.  Dad commenced beating the pedophile about the head and shoulders and when the paramedics got there, the perp was dead.  Ooops.  The Dad admits that he wasn't trying to kill the man, simply to protect his daughter.  That is how it should be.

The news media is quick to call it a homicide.

The beating death of a Texas man who was allegedly sexually assaulting a 5-year-girl will be treated as a homicide investigation, the Lavaca County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Well, sure it is. Homicide is when one person kills another, and Dad killed the perp. There are degrees of homicide, and some of them aren't against the law. 

A witness told law enforcement that Flores was seen forcibly carrying the girl to a secluded area, the statement said. When the girl’s dad found out, he began calling her name, and when he heard her screams, he moved in. When emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene, Flores’ pants and underwear were down, and his genitals were exposed, the statement said. All the witnesses' statements corroborated the father’s story, the release said.

 I haven't seen any new interviews of neighbors who don't allow as how they'd probably have held the perp so that Dad could more properly get his licks in.  In Texas, as in other parts of the Deep South, the "He Needed Killing" defense is alive and well.

I understand that they're going to convene a Grand Jury, as is right and proper.  If I were the Dad, I'd want a grand jury as well.  There are fewer ways to be completely cleared of judicial bullshit than for a grand jury to declare a No True Bill.

Cases like this is why grand juries are empaneled.  My prediction is that they'll likely want to give Dad a medal.  

UPDATE** I've just learned that the grand jury has declined to indict. Good news for Dad. Now he can put this behind him and worry about the trauma to his daughter.

Snowcone

Zach and I out running errands and we had to stop and get a snowcone

Zach's favorite flavor is Tiger Blood.  Mine is blue bubblegum.  The snowcone is a deep South favorite for our hot afternoons.

Target Hanger

Today's project is a target hanger, a stand to hang swinging targets.  It's made from an old swingset frame.  I scrounged the frame from my brother-in-law who was taking it to the dump.  I cut it down to about five feet tall and added some hanging hooks.

I've ordered targets from Quality Targets, flat top gongs, that I'll hang one one side.  The other side will have our home-made gong targets.  Those targets should be here in the next several days.  My son scrounged some industrial webbing that we'll use to hang the targets.  We tried using chain on the prototype, but chain is easily cut by a bullet.  I feel that the webbing will let a high shot simply slip through.

Hopefully, in another week or so, we can try it out.

Jesse Jackson, Increasingly Irrelevant

I've had great fun in the past several years, poking fun at the Rev'rund Jackson.  He is increasingly irrelevant.  His only contribution to civil rights in the past 30 years has been showing how you can recycle a failed message and gather cash from the people willing to buy into that failed message.

In one recent initiative, he had a crowd of only three protestors.  And he didn't show. All two of Jesse Jackson's Impotent Protesters being shouted down by the crowd of Range Supporters

Hilarous.  He is protesting guns in Detroit, and there are no gun dealers in Detroit.  Somehow, the message fails to resonate.  Jackson is iconic, but he's become the icon of a failed message, not of civil rights.  His message is one of race-baiting and outdated divisiveness.

Like many of my generation, I support civil rights for all Americans.  Further,  I reject racists of all stripes, especially those who caricature the civil rights movement of the '60s.  The Rev'rund Jackson would be amusing if he simply weren't so pathetic.

Voyager escapes the Solar System

When I was a young lieutenant at Fort Knox, 1977, NASA launched Voyager to explore the outer reaches of our solar system.  35 years later, it's still exploring.

With absolutely no attempt at hyperbole at all, it is fair to say that this is one of - if not the - biggest achievement of the human race. For, as we speak, an object conceived in the human mind, and built by our tools, and launched from our planet, is sailing out of the further depths of our solar system - and will be the first object made by man to sail out into interstellar space.

I've now seen the first tentative steps into space, and I've seen humans walk on the moon, and now I've seen a human-built robot leave the solar system.  This is very cool stuff and Voyager is predicted to have battery life until 2020.

So, why can't my cell-phone battery last longer than 12 hours?

On Obama's Immigration Initiative

I like this guy.  Bob Krumm writes that we conservatives should applaud the President's decision to not enforce the law and to embrace the precedent it revives.  He also writes that thinking men should periodically review every law and regulation on the books to see if such law or regulation make sense in the present world. 

So while I believe in “law and order,” I am always cognizant of the fact that law is not an established fact but a transitory event. Free men should always question whether or not a law still makes sense. And if one determines that it does not, it is his duty to violate it.

I believe that too, but I've never been able to write it like that. Good ideas in this blog post, from a serving soldier. Go read.

 In the meantime, I might be evolving on the issue. Imagine if President Romney claimed the Obama doctrine and announced that he was not going to enforce a bunch of regulations because they no longer made sense, and that he did not intend to appoint folks to agencies that had outlived their usefulness. I could get to like a guy like that.

Father's Day

I'm reminded that it's Father's Day and that I'm a father.  I live with that fact and take great pride in my family, those that I love and those that love me.  Being a Father is much, much more than just a Sunday in June, it's an everyday task.  I wouldn't know how to act, not being a father.  My blog title alludes to that status, and like the sidebar says, the most important people in my life call me PawPaw.  I take great joy in my children and my grandchildren and can't imagine a parent who lives apart from family by choice.

The one thing I'd like to do today is drink another cup of coffee with my father.  That's not possible and I'm not maudlin about it.  Simple fact, the old man died several years ago.  Still, he lives in my heart and my head and I'm grateful for the life and example he left me.  I've tried to emulate his example and take care of my family the best that I could.  I failed sometimes and I succeeded sometimes, and I've learned that being present is the most important part of being a Dad. 

Milady asked me what I wanted for lunch today and I told her that if I get to chose, I want hot dogs, sausage dogs, chili-sausage dogs, great dripping greasy sandwiches with buns and beer.  I mean, hell, if it's my day, lets go for the gold.  After church this morning, I'm going to fire-off the charcoal pit.

Sunday Morning Dawg

Milady and I were looking at the dog this morning, and decided that he needs a haircut.

Yeah, it's about time for a trim.  I'll call Monday and make an appointment.  He'll probably feel better and he'll darned sure look better.

Diversity, My Ass

Over at Say Uncle we learn of a guy in Tennessee selling Cajun-style boiled peanuts.  Really?  Seriously?

There are no Cajun-style boiled peanuts.  They don't exist.  I've been around cajun cooking my whole life, have probably 30 or 40 authentic cajun recipes committed to memory because I learned them at the knee of my mother and grandmother.  No boiled peanuts at all.  Cracklins for sure, boudin absolutely, but boiled peanuts?  Not hardly.

Boiled peanuts is Georgia.  There may be cajun in Georgia, but they're immigrants.  When the English pushed us from Acadia, we settled all over the east coast and Gulf coast.  We don't boil peanuts.  We do lots of stuff with peppers, and onions, garlic, all those spices that make your eyes water, but we don't boil peanuts.  Not even with crawfish.  We boil everything with crawfish.  But not peanuts.

At the Auction

Milady and I went to the auction last night.  Every Friday night, starting at 6:30 pm, the Auction Barn on Military Highway in Pineville holds a rather eclectic auction.  Tools, jewelry, furniture, antiques, collectibles, coins, you name it, if they can make a dollar on it, they've got it.  Many times we go and I buy nothing, or if I know that a family member or the church needs something, I'll look and bid.

Last night I was sitting on the bench, visiting with friends, and a tool kit came up for auction.  The auctioneer told us that he couldn't vouch that the kit was complete, but it was a Craftsman mechanics set and that it was heavy.  The bidding commenced and I put my hat in the air, won the kit for $35.00.

I brought it home, and this morning sorted through it.  Half-inch, three-eights, and quarter-inch, 6-point and 8-point, it was a jumbled mess.  In about an hour I had it sorted.  It's billed as a Craftsman, 137 pc set.  It's missing a 1/2 inch wrench, a 10mm wrench, and the driver handle.  Not bad for $35.00.

Collecting Kids

Some of the grandkids have been away at camp this week, a church camp that is highly recommended.  Milady wants to drive down today and collect them, so we're off in another hour or so to get them.  We're on the hook to collect just one, but with five grandkids at the same camp, it will be interesting to see who wants to drive home with Mom and who wants to drive home with Grandma.

I remember camps as a boy, and as a parent taking my kids to camp.  And coming home on the last day, exhausted, chigger-bitten, sunburned, and thoroughly excited.  Going to camp was always the highlight of my summer vacation and I hope that the grandkids had nearly as much fun as I had.

Paupers

There has been much bandied about since the '60s about poverty.  Who is in poverty and who is not?  Before we can grant poverty status upon a person or class of persons, it might be illuminating to look to the definitions of the common words and see what those definitions might tell us.  According to Wikipedia:

Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.^[1] Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the one who lacks basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter.

Well, in the United States we could argue that very few people live under poverty, and certainly fewer under absolute poverty.  It is hard to argue, when you have a rent-subsidized house, food stamps, a television, car, and cell phone, that you're in poverty as defined.

So, we turn to another definition.  From the same source.  Pauper.

Pauperism (Lat. pauper, poor) is a term meaning poverty or generally the state of being poor, but in English usage particularly the condition of being a "pauper", i.e. in receipt of relief administered under the poor law. From this springs a more general sense, referring to all those who are supported at public expense, whether within or outside of almshouses, and still more generally, to all whose existence is dependent for any considerable period upon charitable assistance, whether this assistance be public or private. In this sense the word is to be distinguished from "poverty". 

Okay.  Generally, persons receiving assistance are paupers.  Dependent upon charitable assistance, whether that assistance be public or private.  Pauper.  It's an interesting word.

We in the United States certainly have a surplussage of paupers, but very few in poverty.  I'll leave my few readers to investigate the implications of those  distinctions.