NEVER BEEN SHOOTING? Would you like to try it?
An offer for Louisville Metro area residents.

If you have never been shooting, are 21 years old or older and not otherwise barred by state or federal law from purchasing or possessing a firearm, I'd like to invite you to the range. I will provide firearms, ammunition, range fees, eye and hearing protection and basic instruction.

(Benefactor Member of the NRA, member of KC3, former NRA firearms instructor, former Ky CCDW instructor)

Email me if you are interested in taking me up on this offer. Five (5) people already have.

January 28, 2009

Who are the poor?

Over on SurvivalBlog, Monday’s quote of the day was:

"Americans who are in the bottom 10th of income distribution live better today than kings lived in 1800. They have better health care, cheaper entertainment, cheaper books, longer life expectancy, air conditioning, central heating, and much more. This has come as a result of the private property system, the future-orientation of a broad mass of savers, and the willingness of entrepreneurs to invest their time and money to meet the wants of consumers in the future." - Dr. Gary North

A couple of years ago or so, I posted this:

“Overall, the typical American defined as 'poor' by the government has a car (31% of ‘poor’ households own two cars), air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR, or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs... A third of ‘poor’ households have both cell and land-line telephones... If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year—the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week... nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty... If poor mothers married the fathers of their children, nearly three quarters of the nation’s impoverished youth would immediately be lifted out of poverty... A quarter of legal immigrants and fifty to sixty percent of illegals are high-school dropouts. By contrast, only nine percent of non-immigrant Americans lack a high school degree. As long as the present steady flow of poverty-prone persons... continues, efforts to reduce the total number of poor in the U.S. will be far more difficult. A sound anti-poverty strategy must not only seek to increase work and marriage among native born Americans, it must also end illegal immigration, and dramatically increase the skill level of... legal immigrants.” —Robert Rector

About 25 years ago, a social worker in my rural Appalachian county’s health department told me this true story. A woman participating in one of the health department programs mentioned she needed a bed for a couple of her children, but they just didn’t have the money to buy one.

My friend A., a social worker there, decided to take it upon himself to meet this family’s need. So, over the next couple of weeks, he talked to merchants, churches, and individuals getting a headboard here, a footboard there, some rails another place, and finally, a new mattress and box springs.

A. called the woman and told her he had a bed for her kids. They arranged for her to pick it up at the health department. On the appointed day and time, there she was. She had borrowed a pickup truck and was ready to take delivery. After they loaded the bed into the truck, the woman turned to A. and said, “You don’t know how much we appreciate this. Our two youngest are sleeping in the box the color television came in.”

Having been very “poor” as the government measures it, I must say that, at least in America, poor is more an attitude, and sometimes culture, rather that a measure of income or assets.

January 26, 2009

Half-Truth from President Obama

In his Inaugural Address, President Obama said,

'These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.'

This is true - if you're on the Left. The Right still sees America as a land of opportunity. In fact, so do immigrants, legal and illegal. No one moves to a new country expecting to do worse.

I'll be the first to admit that things aren't going so well for everyone. However, as did President Reagan, I'd point out that much of it is the government's fault, and looking to government to fix our problems is putting the coyote in charge of the chicken coop. .

Well, the proof is in the pudding. We have a Leftist in the White House, and a substantial Leftist majority in the Congress. Whatever happens can't be blamed on the Right, now. Leftist polices can sink or swim without much interference from the Right, indeed, with the new rules in Congress (in the spirit of bi-partisanship, of course), the Right has hardly any input into legislation other that voting.

We'll see how all this works out for you.

January 20, 2009

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Eh.

No, I'm not talking about the President Obama's inauguration. I'm talking about the movie.

A few weeks ago, a co-worker and I went to see the remake with Keanu Reeves. It was on the IMAX screen, and had a few interesting effects. However, changing the theme to a tale of pending environmental apocalypse and revenge against the human race obviated the need for Klaatu to come to Earth to begin with. Why land, if all you're going to do is destroy mankind anyway?

The "advanced galactic civilization" just blows off over six billion sophonts because we weren't nice to the polar bears, snail darters, and several types of bacteria in our digestive tracts. It's difficult to believe that those with such an obvious technological superiority couldn't take us under their wing, teach us what we needed to know to clean up the Earth, and then all live happily ever after. Of course, to the "rat is a pig is a dog is a boy crowd" I'm sure it was just peachy the way it was.

So after much consideration, I give it two stars in the Neflix rating system. (1=hated it, 2=didn't like it, 3=liked it, 4= liked it very much, 5=loved it) I won't watch it again. I can't recommend it.

I'm ready for Hollywood to give apocalyptic environmentalism a break, unless they want to do something like Crichton's Next or State of Fear.

January 19, 2009

Never fails...

A little snowfall last night brought out the usual idiots. Which idiots, you ask? Why, the ones who believe they and their 4WD vehicles have been exempted from the laws of physics, such as Newton's Laws of Motion, seen below.

First law

There exists a set of inertial reference frames relative to which all particles with no net force acting on them will move without change in their velocity. This law is often simplified as "A body continues to maintain its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force." Newton's first law is often known as the law of inertia.

Second law

Observed from an inertial reference frame, the net force on a particle is proportional to the time rate of change of its linear momentum: F = d(mv)/dt.[3][4][5][6][7] Momentum mv is the product of mass and velocity. Force and momentum are vector quantities and the resultant force is found from all the forces present by vector addition. This law is often stated as, "F = ma: the net force on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration."

Third law

Whenever a particle A exerts a force on another particle B, B simultaneously exerts a force on A with the same magnitude in the opposite direction. The strong form of the law further postulates that these two forces act along the same line. This law is often simplified into the sentence, "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." 

(from Wikipedia)

On the way in to work this morning, I didn't see a single car wrecked on the side of the road. I did, however, see four 4WD trucks and SUVs with noses in rock walls, guard rails, or safety cables.

GBW

January 10, 2009

A new discovery: SurvivalBlog.com

Tam mentioned SurvivalBlog in this post a while back, and I finally took a look. Wow! Can't believe I have missed this. I like it. A lot.

Hence, I have not only added it to a list, I've put up a SurvivalBlog banner under Day by Day.

January 3, 2009

Something for nothing? Maybe.

Over at Joe's Crabby Shack, Joe mentions the Blackhawk Serpa holster in his "Metro-tactical update" In the comments, Sailorcurt tells about the hookectomy he performed on the paddle option.

Joe also mentions the products of Bullet Blocker, the folks that brought us the bulletproof backpack. If you follow the link, you can sign up for their newsletter which will enter you in their January 14th drawing for a Threat Level IIIa Executive Backpack or bulletproof zippered folio.

Hey, someone has to win it...
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