Requirements for the Job

I was listening to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's reply to an inane question from one of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee this evening that was being replayed on the radio.  Part of her answer caused my to shout at the radio,

IT'S A REPUBLIC!

When a Supreme Court nominee does not know that we live in a constitutional republic and not a constitutional democracy, shouldn't that automatically disqualify the nominee?  Not that she is alone in this particular mistake.  A good portion of Congress thinks the same thing.  Our founding fathers had this to say about democracy.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.  - John Adams

Perhaps Elena Kagan should go back to school and leave the Supreme Court seat to someone who at least knows which form of government the Constitution of the United States established.

He Don't Get It

If you live in Colorado and need a reason to not vote for Stan Garnett (aside from the fact that he's from Boulder).  Look no further than his comments on the McDonald ruling.  The Denver Post reports the following.

Garnett said he was concerned about the implications of the ruling — and criticized Suthers for injecting Colorado into a local issue in another state.

 Suthers is State Attorney General John Suthers, the current and hopefully future AG.  Mr. Suthers was kind enough to join the amicus brief signed by damn near every state in the West in support of McDonald.  Garnett, the fine gentleman from Boulder, feels that writing in support of incorporation of the Second Amendment is a waste of time and resources.

Somehow, fighting for individual freedoms has become a waste of time to some Americans.  Come November, make sure that enemies of freedom like Stan Garnett have wasted their time running for office.

Hopefully They'll Issue Him a Hunting License

Pakistan is releasing the Greeley Colorado man that was hunting Bin Laden.

Maybe when he goes for his next trip into Pakistan they can issue him a special hunting visa.

But I Saw It In a Video Game!

Some things you can do in my current favorite video game Red Dead Redemption that might not work out so well in real life.

• Firing warning shots to break up a fist fight
• Shooting every critter you see
• Shooting hats off of people's heads
• Shooting guns out of people's hands
• Using throwing knives to silently kill enemies
• Hunting cougars (not that kind) with a knife
• Roping a bull elk

That being said...I'd really like to see someone try the last one, preferably with slow motion instant replay.

A big coincidental thanks to the Atomic Nerds for posting a picture on the same day I wrote this post. 

Midichlorians In Your Cup

Espresso machine, I am your father.

How to Use the Gun Blogger Glossary

In comments to the Gun Blogger Glossary post, Stingray of Atomic Nerds fame had this to say

This is tactical coffee. That other thing is just some midget spazzing while fumbling for his midget-heater in a tense moment because it wasn't in a gamerfag holster.

I might just have to add midget-heater to the glossary...

Our Last Best Hope

A local man's plan to kill Osama Bin Ladin has been thwarted.  Too bad, he was likely our best shot at getting the guy.

Where I Come From

We don't call them elks.  One, two, four, or a herd of 400, it is still elk.  Not only that, but I have no idea what an Elkette is even though I drove by the sign every day for three months.

While we're on the subject, I will admit to providing false answers to the question of, "What elevation do deer turn into elk?"

I realize how lucky I am to live near these animals, so I try not to bust anyone's balls when someone asks an off the wall question.  There are some questions though, like the one above that demand a creative answer.

Wear It Proudly

The infamous FU bracelet.  I now know what to tell my kids to get me for Father's Day.

Beat To Hell

I just got my shipment of HPR ammo from Scottsdale Ammo.  Frankly, I'm not impressed.  There is "once fired" brass that I would not have reloaded if it were me.  The bullets are beat to hell.  I thought I was being picky so I pulled out every brand of range ammo I own.

I could pour out 500 rounds on the table, drop one round of HPR in the middle, have someone else mix it all up, and pick out the HPR round within 15 seconds.  Even with the initial release discount, I didn't pay any less for these rounds than anything else I have in my ammo closet.  Unless the quality improves, I don't think I'll be buying HPR again, made in the USA or not.

HPR ammo, excellent marketing, poor execution.

Arguing On the Internet

Apparently I've been doing it wrong.

Life In The West

I was in Montana for work the last couple of days.  A couple of notes below.

All over the town I was in were fliers for a raffle.  The raffle was to support the local American Legion baseball team, the Laurel Dodgers.  The raffle is, 30 Guns in 30 Days.  Unfortunately, not being a resident of Montana or one of its contiguous states, I was not eligible to win.

Nine Fingers Mustard is excellent.  It also reminds me of the excellent book series The First Law by Joe Abercrombie.

My rental car was a new Nissan Maxima.  It comes with a keyless remote.  I threw it in my pocket and never touched it again.  With the key in your pocket, you can start the car, lock and unlock the doors from the outside, and open the trunk all with the push of a button.  Pretty cool.

The current trend of training via videos or computer based slide shows with an accompanying quiz sucks in my opinion.  There is little retention and virtually zero opportunity to ask questions.  On the other hand, I haven't gotten myself killed yet.

Red Dead Horse Thief

While I'm writing reviews, I figured I'd go ahead and say a few words about the hit video game Red Dead Redemption.  This might just be the best video game I've ever played.  The story is excellent, the side missions are challenging and varied, and you get to play old west cowboy. There's gunfights, duels, poker, dice, horseshoes, train robbing, horse breaking, and my favorite horse thieving.  Plus when you're done with the single player, you can gather up a posse and go riding.  If you have an extra $60 in your sock drawer, I highly recommend blowing it on this game (which I bought with my own damn sock drawer money, thank you very much).

Top Shot Quarterbacking

So I've read quite a few opinions on the Top Shot premier episode.  A couple of comments on the comments...

• It's entertainment.  It isn't educational, it isn't fair, it isn't really even competition in the traditional sense.  It's a spectacle that is supposed to be fun to watch.  If it isn't your cup of tea, fine go find some gladiators in loincloths or turn on Michael Bane, whatever floats your boat.  I thought the slow-mo and splody was plenty of fun.
• Shots with open sighted rifles that aren't your own at 50 and 100 yards can definitely be challenging.
• In the team challenge Mike missed his first and second shots and got flustered.  Don't believe me?  Watch it again and look at his face.  With the number of shots he fired he should have gotten lucky and hit, if he was relaxed and shooting.  Instead he was reloading and jerking the trigger.  Not terribly conductive to hitting the target.
• From what was shown, Mr. Mike had little help from his spotter.  That being said, I've used the exact type of rifle Mike was shooting, which is not mine, to ring gongs at 200 yards.  I didn't have a spotter and it took me 5 shots to figure out where I was hitting, make the needed adjustments mentally, and ring the gong regularly
• I wasn't on national TV when I was shooting.
• I probably shoot open sighted rifle as or more often than Mike.
• I'm glad I'm not the only one who wondered about some of the shots on the elimination targets.  Andre and Denny were the only one who dead centered the target.  Mike was only just on paper.
• Kid can shoot...under pressure.
• My wife wants to be on season 2 of Top Shot.