Happy Independence Day

For this Independence Day Weekend, the family and I went down to northern Indiana to visit Amish country and allow Tash to do some serious quilt supply shopping and for the rest of us to have a short break.

We visited Shipshewana, where we stayed for a couple nights at a hotel with a water park, which the kids loved, We also did some day trips to Nappanee and Elkhart. Northern Indiana is a very beautiful pastoral area - lots of farms, and horses galore and the locals are friendly.

Since Leah at 4 seems to have every young girls love of horses, we couldn't go more than 5 feet down the road before a joyous cry of "horse!" arose from the back seat.

This meant that we had to do a buggy ride in Shipshewana, which was a lot of fun.

An Amish man ran the buggy and told us quite a bit about Amish culture during the ride. He amazed both kids with the news that Amish children as young as grade 2 could take their own horse and buggy to school if they were responsible enough to do so.

Lots of horses and buggies on the roads and of course, Amish-style food is out of this world good - the broasted chicken is awesome, as are the many amazing ways they can prepare egg noodles. Not to mention the desserts.

Then on July 3 we went to Elkhart for a three hour tour on the River Queen, a 150 passenger stern-wheeler, on the St. Joseph River.

The River Queen was leading the annual flotilla of 4th of July boats, many of them extensively decorated:

But, this idyllic riparian cruise was not to last.

While leading the boats, there was a sudden clang and the River Queen came to a sudden and complete halt.

So sudden was the stop and so loud was the noise, I was going to ask if there was an extra charge for the unplanned wreck dive.

The boat had struck an underwater stump on its keel and was well and truly stuck.

We were stuck on a stump for about an hour with two police boats and a jet boat with volunteer river patrol members all with ropes attached trying to tow the vessel off the stump:

They finally succeeded in their efforts and we continued on our way.

The grounding of the River Queen was such a rare event that it made the local news.


So today we woke in Shipshewana and went to both the Shipshewana flea market and Yoders. The flea market was huge, with a tpical vareity of flea market wares from used books to beautiful woodworking to chinese junk trinkets and everything else you could think of at a flea market.

Yoders Meats and Cheeses however was the highlight of the day and the place to go for incredible food to take home.

We bought excellent Amish made cheeses, especially after the kids loved the samples, and a 1.5 lb grass-fed sirloin steak. Then we drove home.

We BBQ'd the steak tonight and it was big enough for the four of us with an unbeatable taste - only a slight bit a kosher salt and a couple grinds of pepper were used and it was fantastic.

A great vacation.

Now the kids are asleep, I'm going to walk outside and see the fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!

6th Circuit: Refusal to consider race unduly burdens minorities in collecge admissions

In a decision that makes one stop and wonder, 6th Circuit in Coalition to Defend Affirmative v. Regents of the University of Michigan has come it with quite the opinion.

The 6th Circuit panel has held that Michigan's Proposal 2, that ended affirmative action in Universities by refusing to allow the race of an applicant to be considered is an undue burden on minorities by not allowing their race to be considered in college admissions.

Orwell would be proud.

Proposal 2 targets a program [affirmative action] that
“inures primarily to the benefit of the minority” and reorders the political process in Michigan in such a way as to place “special burdens” on racial minorities....We therefore find that the race-conscious admissions policies now barred by Proposal 2 inure primarily to the benefit of racial minorities and that Proposal 2, insofar as it prohibits consideration of applicants’ race in admissions decisions, has a “racial focus.”

Under this analysis, affirmative action can necessarily never end as its absence will end a program that benefits minorities. Affirmative action is a one-way ratchet according to this panel of the Sixth Circuit.

The court then heads way off into left field and holds that the ending of affirmative action reorders the political process in a manner that unduly burdens minorities because it prevent public university boards from using affirmative action without arranging for a change in the constitution to permit such racial discrimination.

By amending Michigan’s Constitution to prohibit university admissions units from utilizing race-conscious admissions policies, proponents of Proposal 2 thus removed the authority to institute racially-focused policies from Michigan’s universities and lodged it at the most remote level of Michigan’s government, the state constitution.

Constitutionally enshrining a non-discrimination policy on the basis of race is, according to the court, discriminatory.

I know this decisions is heavily outcome-determinative [both judges were Clinton appointees, the one dissent on the panel was a G.W. Bush appointee), but did the judges draft this tautological and fallacious reasoning with a straight face?

Expect this one to go to the 6th Circuit en-banc and most probably to the Supreme Court.

The Case of the Cancelled Czech

The Detroit Free Press: St. Clair fisherman catches Czech man trying to swim into U.S.

St. Clair County fisherman reeled in a man from the Czech Republic who investigators say was trying to illegally swim from Canada into the United States.

“I’ve caught some big things on this river but never anything this big,” Brad Pederson of Algonac said in a news release about Wednesday’s 11:40 p.m. catch off his boat in the St. Clair River between Marysville and Algonac.

You do have to slightly admire anyone with the gumption to try to swim across the St. Clair River - the current is a real kicker and it is not exactly at spa temperatures with the water hanging around the 60s.

But, instead of returning him to the Canadian side from whence he came, taxpayers will now pony up to return him to the Czech Republic:

The man was arrested for entering the United States at a place other than a designated port-of-entry and is being sent back to the Czech Republic

This creates some bad incentives for visitors to Canada from foreign lands - run out of money? Just start swimming towards the USA and get a free ticket home!

Why You Want To Stand Out In A Crowd, Especially On A Charter Boat

Be memorable so stuff like this doesn't happen to you:

Boat abandons Michigan snorkeler on Australian reef

The Detroit Free Press:

Australian safety officials say they’re investigating a dive boat company that accidentally left a U.S. tourist behind while he was snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.

Ian Cole of Michigan told The Cairns Post he panicked when he realized the boat had left without him on Saturday. He managed to swim to a nearby boat and was not hurt.

The Charter Boat employee failed not only to have all returning snorklers sign in but also failed to notice a snorkler was missing.

The best head-count systems in the world don't work if they're not used.

Whenever you get on a charter, introduce yourself to the captain, chat with the divemaster or other crew and make a lasting and positive impression so they want to stick around and pick you up after the dive or other activity is over.

10 Years of Michigan Being Shall- Issue and No Wild West

Nor even a wild Midwest.

The Detroit Free Press: Concealed gun permits increase across Michigan

Ten years ago this week, Michigan became a "shall-issue" state, making it easier for residents to obtain concealed licenses if they're at least 21 and meet certain requirements.

State Police records show in the first year, 53,000 permits were approved. Today, there are more than 270,000 permit holders.

That's double the amount five years ago.

So much for the detractors of the law, the Detroit Free Press among them, that loudly proclaimed the move to shall issue would result in "blood in the streets" and turn Michgian into the Wild West.

It hasn't happend and if anything crime has declined while permit holders (Michigunners) have been statistically far more law abiding than the average Michigander.

Senator Levin Loves Himself a Government Motors Volt

The Detroit Free Press: Sen. Carl Levin loves his new Chevrolet Volt -- and what it means

But its electric power was the reason he bought it.

"It's much cheaper to run it on electricity. And cleaner, of course. So I bought it to get those savings downstream," he said.

Cleaner out the tailpipe perhaps, but not if you take into account the coal needed to provide for the electricity to charge it. Also accoridng to the article he seems to run it on gas a lot, nullifying the whole "cleaner" claim. Nor is the Volt cheaper if you run an total cost of owenrship analysis - wish it was, but it isn't yet.

The article does show that, at least on this occasion, even Senators can be hampered by Washington bureaucracy and regulations, namely the difficulties in getting a charging station for the Volt installed at the Capitol building. Of course unlike us, he can push legislation through to make this annoyance go away.

The sad thing is, he's pretty representative of the congressman that passed the bailout of GM among other things and are helping run this economy into the ground:

At one point, the glowing digital letters on the dashboard made him wrinkle his forehead.

"This A and B, I'll be damned if I know what that means," he said. (A and B are trip odometers for separate journeys.)

Democrats in this modern day can't even figure out what a trip odometer is, much less the fine art of good governance.

First USPSA Match And M&P Problems

I grabbed some zzz's after getting home at 1am and then got up and headed to my first USPSA match. I figured after taking the Aim Fast Hit Fast class I should try my hand at some IPSC shooting.

So I'm psyched, ready to safely shoot the match and practice all the skills Todd taught me - the press out, the mag change and the like.

Unfortunately, the very first stage I shot the M&P started acting up. It would shoot, and then click and there was either a light primer strike or nothing at all, it seemed like the trigger was not engaging the striker.

It was almost continually shoot one, click, tap rack, shoot one, click, tap rack, shoot, shoot, click.

Most distressing.

I took it apart and the take-down pin seemed out of place, I moved it back and it seemed to help but I still had the problem intermittently, f course I had forgot to bring my cleaning kit. These problems of course only show up during a match, 1000 rounds at AFHF with not a single problem and now this, its almost enough to have me go back to my Glock as the go-to firearm.

No idea why its happening and it is the first time it ever did it. If anybody's got some ideas on what is going on, advice would be appreciated.

In any case, I shot with a good bunch of people and had a good time even with the malfunctions doing some very fun and challenging stages. Of course, my scores sucked due to the constant malfunctions. But, I did get a lot of good tap-rack practice as a result, so even when suffering from malfunctions something useful can be learned and practiced - learn to stay in the game no matter what happens.

Yes, the press-outs helped me immeasurably with hitting the A-zone, not to mention the steel and dealing with the dreaded Texas Star.

What's a Texas Star you ask? Here's an example:



I can't wait to make sure the M&P is 100% and shoot another match.

Dive 183 - Portage Quarry in June

Yesterday Rob and I headed off to Portage Quarry, Ohio to do some diving.

We got there around 7pm after being stuck in traffic on 275 South due to MDOT closing 2 of three lanes. Thank you MDOT, every year it seems you have close lanes on 275 and 75 backing up traffic headed to and from Ohio.

But back to diving.

We suited up, including attaching the P-valves as we were planning for a long dive, and a long dive it was.

First we dropped down to 20 feet to a platform and did valve drills and then worked with a stage bottle - passing it back and forth, switching over to it, shutting it back down and passing it off again. At 20 feet the viz was great and temps were about 60 with the surface a warm 70.

We then did another valve drill, then dropped to about 38 feet and did an ascent drill - going up 3 feet at a time, holding position at each stop and then heading up another 3 feet and it went perfectly.

At 30 feet the thermocline was not only cold, dropping the temperature to 55 F, but also causing milky visibility so you couldn't see the bottom at 50 feet or much of a distance.

We wanted to go find the Cessna at 50 feet and after swimming around the rock wall of the quarry without any luck, we found a line, followed it down and found the Cessna. Yes, the viz was bad enough that you could barely see an airplane in front of your face.

We then headed back as we could tell it was getting dark out, did a slow ascent and finished up the dive.

Total dive time: 103 minutes!
Average depth was 28 feet.

Portage Quarry is a great place to go diving. Reasonably conveniently located, friendly staff, decent amount of stuff to see and good depths for skills practice.

We then went to BW3's for wings and beer to celebrate our excellent dive and got back home at 1 am.

Goofy Gunfire Grips Gibraltar Gunshow

Goofy as it is alliterative, otherwise Stupid, Insane, and Nucking Futz would also be good choices for that which occured.

Alternatively, this post could be titled as Tam is wont to do: This is why we can't have nice things.

I did a filing in Macomb County and happened to drive by the Gibraltar Trade Center and saw a sign for the Gun and Knife Show for this weekend, starting today. So of course I declared lunch, paid $2 to park and went in.

I missed the boom.

Actually I missed BOTH booms in fact.

But, I was there for the crowd of Macomb County Sheriff's Deputies and medics for the aftermath of two acts of monumental stupidity.

Here's what happended as relayed to me by three seperate eyewitnesses (two of them vendors who were at a table right beside the incident):

The vendor handed an attendee what turned out to be a loaded gun (you know where this is going). What the hell he was doing handing over a loaded gun is anyone's guess.

Attendee then lit off a round, putting a hole in the wall, and then handed it back to the vendor.

The vendor, in the spirit of the moment recovered the gun and then fired a round into the concrete floor!, injuring 2 attendees with either bullet or concrete fragments.

Injuries looked minor and were treated on scene and I was there to see that, as well as the Sheriff's photographers documenting the injuries and the holes in the wall and floor.

Note that this wasn't a CCW'r performing an act of monumental stupidity, because anyone ccw'ing to the show has their gun zip-tied and rendered inoperable, but a gun dealer.

This idiot first stupidly handed a customer a gun that was loaded. That in of itself screams for a sanity check.

Then after the customer failed to use common sense and didn't check before pulling the trigger, the dealer retakes possession but then inexplicably fired off a second round! This calls for nice people in white coats (or Sheriff's Department brown) to come take you away as a danger to others.

Update: The Macomb Daily has got the story. However, they missed out that there were two shots that went off.

By The Macomb Daily Staff

A woman suffered a superficial wound Friday when she was struck by a bullet fragment after a gun accidentally discharged during a gun and knife trade show at Gibraltar Trade Center in Mount Clemens.

The incident occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. Macomb County Sheriff’s deputies and Mount Clemens firefighters are at the scene.

Further update: Foxnews Detroit has the story, correctly reports 2 shots, and states there were 3 persons slightly injured (two women and a 10 year old girl - I saw one of the ladies seated near the scene being treated) and the gun in question was a .45.

Baby You Can't Drive My Car

The Detroit Free Press: 7-year-old driver: Police question how he got so far, who taught him how

Barefoot and wearing pajamas, the boy was too small to even see over the steering wheel of the car.

But that didn't stop him. The 7-year-old Sheridan Township boy reportedly stood up on the floorboard of his stepfather's red Pontiac Sunfire, gripping the wheel with his hands and accelerating with one foot on the gas pedal.

The boy's jaw-dropping 20-mile ride, which ended when police got him to stop by boxing him in near the bridge over the Pigeon River outside Caseville....

So the kid drives, apparently in a pretty speedy fashion hitting 60 mph for 20 miles without an accident.

Obviously this kind of initiative cannot go unpunished: Family puzzled as to why 7-year-old took a 20-mile drive

Now, the boy, who was safely stopped by police Monday morning outside of Caseville -- and found barefoot and in his pajamas in his stepfather's red Pontiac Sunfire -- faces a juvenile charge of unlawful use of an automobile in Huron County Probate Court.

Huron County Prosecutor Timothy Rutkowski said he filed the petition Wednesday in Huron County Family Court to try to help the boy.

"I filed the petition to get the young person into our family court system with the idea we would try to find out why the young man did what he allegedly did," Rutkowski said, adding that the boy's reasoning is still not clear to investigators. He said the investigation did not show anything startling in the boy's home life that might explain why he took the car keys about 10 a.m. as his mother slept and drove off.

So we need criminal charges against a 7 year old to figure out his motives and "help" him?

Anyone think just sitting down and asking him why, not to mention sternly telling him to not take the cars keys and slow down wouldn't be sufficient?

Careful kid, this'll go on your permanent record. On the other hand, I hear NASCAR is recruiting young talent....

"With our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you, Bashar"

Did that quote come out of some Syrian pro-regime propaganda demonstration in Damascus?

No, it came from Dearborn, Michigan.

The Detroit Free Press: Hundreds of local Syrians support regime at Dearborn rally

In a loud and lively rally, more than 500 Syrian and Lebanese people packed a Dearborn hall Tuesday night in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose government has cracked down on protesters in recent weeks.

"With our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you, Bashar," the crowd chanted several times in Arabic during the nearly three-hour rally.

You have to love that kind of local support for such a reformer. Nice to see the crazy doesn't just stay in the Middle East.

Inside the Lebanese-American Heritage Club, a standing-room-only crowd that was mostly Christian or Shia Muslim banged drums, chanted pro-Assad slogans and whistled as speakers declared their support for Assad. In Syria, more than 1,400 people are said to have been killed by government forces and thousands others detained, human rights activists say.

But at Tuesday's rally, speakers slammed the uprisings in Syria and said Assad was trying to prevent his country from turning into Iraq. Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab-American News [and a well-known Hizballah and Hamas supporter, but the Freep forgets to mention this], said it's important to support Syria's government because the alternative would lead to chaos in the region.

....
The other sizable group at the rally were Shia Muslims of Syrian and Lebanese descent. Assad is Alawite, which is considered a part of Shia Islam, and he has been close to the Shia leadership in Iran and in Lebanon. For years, Assad and his father backed Lebanese Shia groups [read Hizballah].

Some speakers and people declared their support for both Assad and Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Shia leader of the group Hizballah.

You know, those nice Hizballah fellows that:
a) in 1983 killed 241 Marines, navy personnel and 3 Army soldiers in Lebanon;
b) committed the torture-murder of CIA station chief in Lebanon William Buckley in 1984;
c) committed The 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the torture-murder of Navy diver Robert Stethem;
d) The 1988 torture-murder of Col. William Higgins;
e) the group that did the bombings of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, killing 29, the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 96, and the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, killing 19 U.S. servicemen.

Heck, Hizballah is even defined by even the US State Department as a terrorist group.

That is the anti-American group along with Assad that this fine bunch are proudly supporting in Dearborn.

Meanwhile, Bashar's Syrian regime killed at least 7 people the same day as this local love fest.

Hopefully Siblani and his friends' support for Assad and Hizballah will be remembered the next time they try to claim to be pro-American and credible suporters of peace.

Unexpectedly? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Both Vodkapundit and Transterrestrial Musings note a newly discovered, unexpected "glitch" in Obamacare that will add another 450 Billion, give or take, to the deficit.

If you see Obamacare not as an insurance reform measure but merely a planned step towards government-controlled and “paid”-for health care, it all makes much more sense.

These “unexpected" costs aren’t unexpected at all, but a step on the path to get more and more people on the taxpayer funded program, to drive the insurance companies out of the market and get employers to dump their employees into the government exchanges, leading to a mandatory single-payer regime.

And Now, A Word From A Very Proud Dad

With Father's Day upon us, the reason for it is, of course, our kids (and our dads too, of course).

We wouldn't be fathers without 'em.

I'm proud to report that Abby just scored in the 92nd percentile nationally on the IOWA first grade level reading test. In other words, she's a better reader than 92% of all the other first grade students taking that test in the United States!

A father lives for these moments.

An Elegant Weapon For A More Civilized Age.

The Webley & Scott Mark IV

Elegant in its steam-punk like styling and its cool automatic cartridge ejecting capability on the opening of the cylinder.

Adopted as a standard British sidearm during World War 2, this one not only bears British markings but also Israeli, namely the Star of David and the Tsadi (The Y like letter within the circle) (visible in the lower picture, and likely served with the Israeli army in its formative years and then the Israeli police.

This pistol is in very good shape, fits comfortably in the hand, and the trigger action is very smooth in both single and double action. So smooth in fact that its double action feels better and smoother than that of my Colt Official Police.

Chambered in .38 Smith and Wesson, not to be confused with .38 Special, it fires a 200 grain MK 1 lead bullet or the 178 grain full metal jacket Mark 2 cartridge.

This pistol is most likely from the Israeli contract that was placed with Webley, with a serial number of 53xxx.

All numbers match on the gun so it is not a later put together from the shipments of Israeli Webley front ends that are currently popping up.

All in all this Webley is a great piece of history. Now I need to go stock up on some 38 S&W and get this pistol to the range.

Yet Another Reason I'm Happy To Be Happily Married

I don't have to experience bad dating scenes like this one:

Novi man beat up, his car driven into lake after Facebook date goes awry

The Detroit Free Press:

A 34-year-old Novi man’s planned sexual encounter arranged over Facebook took a bad turn when he was ambushed by a group of men hiding in the bushes, police said today.

When it was over, the man had a broken jaw, his possessions were stolen and his vehicle was driven into a lake, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office....The victim told police he met a woman on Facebook and arranged to see her at a BP gas station . . ..

First off, meeting someone for the first time at a gas station does not sound like a particularly auspicious nor romantic start. Of course, his date went downhill from there, all the way to him getting rolled and his car rolled into the lake.

The poor fellow is now out cash, a cell phone and has to de-water a Ford Explorer (hey, they don't float after all!) but hopefully has gained some wisdom on looking for love in all the wrong places and in the future eschews lousy date locations.

New Contender for Headline Of The Year

David Hardy of Arms and The Law posts a strong contender for headline of the year:

But now we have the following competitor:

Zombies have risen and they're ruining the economy

Zombie consumers lead US into lost decade

The global economy is being hobbled by a new generation of zombies — the economic walking dead.

Maybe I need to get a few of the Zombie Targets that Tam likes so much, to you know, help out the economy and all that.

Of course blaming the zombies is rather like blaming the victim now isn't it? The state of the economy certainly couldn't just be due to some leader's economic incompetence and lousy ideologically-driven policies being the cause, now could it?

How's that Egyptian Spring working out for you?

The Egyption re-revolution certianly hasn't resulted in any outpouring of liberal democray or any less anti-Israeli and anti-Semitism sentiments in Egypt.

Alleged spy arrested in Egypt is US law student

A man who Egyptian authorities have arrested on charges of being an Israeli spy is a 27-year-old American-Israeli law student who was doing an internship at a nonprofit organization in Cairo, a classmate said Monday.

Egypt says Ilan Grapel is a Mossad agent, and pictures of him in Israeli military uniform have been published in Egyptian papers. The semiofficial Al-Ahram daily identified him in a headline as a "Mossad officer who tried to sabotage the Egyptian revolution."

Horror of horrors look at the incirminating stuff he had:

Grapel was equipped with "communication devices, laptops, CDs, and flash memory," the paper reported.

Tourists and students visiting Egypt beware, your everyday carry on laptop and cell phone just became grounds to get you arrested for espionage.

As the article dryly notes:

Egypt, like other Arab states, has a long history of blaming internal problems on Israeli saboteurs.

No kidding. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose and all that.

Anybody that seriously believed that Egypt was going to transform into a rational, liberalized western-style democracy with respect for minority rights was seriously deluding themselves.

Aim Fast Hit Fast Class Review

The Aim Fast Hit Fast Class is designed for experienced shooters to improve their shooting ability. Taught by Todd Louis Green. A description of the class can be read at his website.

In short, it is an intensive and challenging class over two days with multiple shooting drills that help you increase your speed and accuracy as well as give you the tools to continue to improve after the class is over.

To The Range

So Murphy's Law and I pulled in Saturday morning nice and early onto the CCF&SA range in Wilmington, Ohio.

After running into some rather unfriendly people at the club, We figured out where and who Todd was, introduced ourselves, did the necessary paperwork and then the course began with a safety briefing and then on to some instruction and then the shooting. The day started out overcast with a weather forecast of heavy rains all day but quickly turned into sunshine and scorching hot temperatures requiring lots of water, sunscreen, and shade breaks.

Please Don't Let Me Be "That Guy"

You know, in every class there's That Guy, the one who: isn't ready for a drill, or who isn't paying attention, or drags the class down in multiple ways through incompetence.

Of course, luck had it that Todd made the order of the class so that I would go first on each of the individual drills after he had demonstrated them. I was number 1 in squad 1 so our squad shot first on the group drills as well.

So I was uniquely positioned to be able to demonstrate to the class how not to do a technique after Todd had demonstrated it correctly.

Without the opportunity to see others do the drill, I often at times felt and probably looked like a retarded monkey. At times, a retarded monkey could have shot better too.

Thankfully, while I wasn't the fastest shooter, I was one of the cleanest, meaning hitting the target with all shots, no misses. I did a 30 second yet clean barrel drill (I can't recall the real name for it - there's two barrels and you weave a figure 8 between and around them firing a shot at a designated target each time your either are at the outer side of the each barrel or in the center - much harder than it sounds) and my other events were pretty clean with the occasional frustrating miss, generally due to anticipating the shot, which Todd helped me work on fixing, more on that later.

In short, I wasn't the class "That Guy".

The FAST Drill:

This is Todd's signature drill. A test of speed and accuracy - 2 shots into a 3x5 "head" above an 8 inch circle "body" in which you reload and fire into it 4 shots, all at 7 yards. On the FAST Drill, I shot the first two clean, getting my best score on the drill Saturday afternoon shooting with a score of 7.66 making Intermediate, but missing Advanced by a long 1.67 seconds. I was the only one that had shot clean on both FAST drills that day if memory serves.

On Sunday morning, just before I got ready to shoot the third FAST, Todd said, "You know, very few people in a class shoot all four FAST Drills clean...." So I got the two head shots, made 3 body shots and on the final shot I jerked the trigger putting it just outside the circle. Jinxed! But it's my fault for thinking too much for about a 10+ second run plus penalty for the miss. Try to think or decide to go fast in your head and you'll end up going slow in reality.

On the fourth FAST, all tired out, I shot clean but with a 9.13 second time, too slow and messing up the mag change.

Other Drills

I scored a 45 out of 50 on the dot torture drill, showing I need to work on my trigger control. First time I've ever done that drill and it is very useful indeed, and worth practicing.

In the weak hand drills I learned I need to practice weak hand only shooting more. 'Nuff said.

My best draw from a holster was on the second Triple Nickel Drill at the end of Sunday. It was 1.4 seconds from beep to shot and everyone said it looked very smooth.

The first Triple Nickel drill started off funny however: On the beep, I drew, the gun went click (I had not chambered a round after the last Fast drill, just loaded the magazine with the amount of rounds instructed) I said "S..t!" very loudly and clearly, and proceeded to rack the slide and get to shooting. I shot a clean run but was over the five second "win" time.

There were lots more drills, all of which showed techniques to enhance one's shooting ability.

Things Learned

If the Class was solely about putting 1000+ rounds downrange, I could do that a lot closer to home. Instead, the course was about learning new skills to improve your technique and shooting faster and more accurately than you had before.

Keeping an open mind, I tried all of his suggested techniques, often with difficulty, but finding adopting them a marked improvement over how I had previously done things. The Press-Out, while I couldn't quite grasp it from his good description on his website, became understandable with his in person instruction, demonstration and then practicing it all weekend under his observation and tutelage made it a must-use technique.

Todd was able to give individual instruction to each of the 12 students and he helped me immeasurably with my grip, fixing a problem I didn't even realize I had, and my shooting got measurably better.

He also diagnosed a trigger control issue where I was squeezing the trigger but then crunching it down when I wanted to break the shot, anticipating it and causing it to go low. Again, my shooting improved a lot in a very short time.

In other words, those two corrections and the instruction in the use of the press-out alone were worth the price of admission, but I learned lots more. The side manipulation technique for reloads that he teaches is itself so simple yet much more effective than any technique I've done before.

Todd is an excellent and capable instructor and very able to demonstrate and communicate how to improve your shooting. His demonstrating and explaining the Press-Out really improved both my shooting time and accuracy. He has an approachable manner with a good sense of humor and excellent instructional skills.

Conclusion

If you're looking to seriously improve your shooting abilities, and be able to leave a weekend class with new techniques that you can continue to practice and perfect to make your shooting even better, Todd Green's Aim Fast Hit Fast is a fantastic class to take.

I will continue to practice the techniques learned and I'll keep on improving thanks to this great class and instructor.

Back from the Ohio Trip

I'm back from Ohio.

On Friday, Murphy's Law and I after driving through a thunderstorm to get there, met up in Dayton, Ohio and we spent the day and had a great time at the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson Airbase.

If you've never been there and you like aircraft, you are missing an awesome treat. Let's put it this way, if there's a military aircraft you like, they probably have one on display.

They also have some of the "onlys", as in "the only remaining model of its kind in the world" like a XB-70 Valkyrie (189 feet long, 105 foot wingspan and 30 feet high) on display indoors.

From the Wright brothers to a Spad VIII,

to a Predator drone and just about everything in between, they had one, nicely and informatively displayed.

A more detailed report of the trip around the museum, including the very interesting discussions with the friendly and learned docents, and more pictures will follow shortly.

Then Saturday and Sunday we did the fun class - The pistol-training.com's Aim Fast Hit Fast taught by Todd Green. A full review will follow but as a preview:

1. Awesome instructor.
2. Learned tons.
3. I need more practice.
4. Without a doubt the class is worth taking and I highly recommend it if you want to improve your shooting skills.
5. When the weatherman predicts thunderstorms, expect a blazingly hot sun and prepare accordingly.

A big thanks to Tam at View From the Porch for informing us by blogging about the class and her good, descriptive, and positive review.

Tired but happy I returned home last night, unpacked the car, did the laundry and passed out and slept the sleep of the just, or something like that.

Before I go on with the AFHF review however, I thought I should pass along a few things learned while wandering in the wilds of mid-southern Ohio:

1. Ohio drivers will regularly pitch a tent in the left lane of a highway and blissfully camp there driving under the speed limit.

2. Ohio drivers have yet to figure out that the stalk on their steering column can cause a turn signal to be activated. Its use apparently never gets covered in Ohio's driver's ed curriculum.

3. Damon's is considered to be fine dining.

4. The staff at Arby's in Wilmington, Ohio can, and did, flunk lunch.

5. Dayton likes to close all of its on and off ramps to I-75.

6. For all of that, gas was 30 cents a gallon cheaper in Ohio.

June Has Been a Bad Month for Authors

First we lose Joel Rosenberg, who was not only a talented and prolific science fiction and fantasy writer, but also a serious pro-2nd Amendment rights activist in Minnesota.

This means there will be no further Guardians of The Flame Books. There will be no further additions to the Metzada Series. There will be no more D'Shai adventures, and no more Keepers of the Hidden Ways Books.

Damn and double damn, Joel Rosenberg's books got me through some rough spots in my teenage years and really into good Sci Fi.

On top of the terrible loss of Mr. Rosenberg, z"l, we come to find out to our dismay that Lillian Jackson Braun, the author of the extensive and enjoyable The Cat Who Series mysteries just died as well.

Both of these fine authors and fine people will be sorely missed.

Fiction Review - Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst

Spies of the Balkans: A Novel is a great fiction read.

The book is wonderfully written, and the story is richly told, breathing life into pre- and early-World War 2 Thessalonika.

The book revolves around Costa Zannis, a senior Salonika police official who handles sensitive (i.e. political) matters for the police force. Without giving any spoilers away the novel begins as a spy novel and then becomes much more. The Walther PPK does feature prominently throughout.

Well worth reading not only for the suspense, it chronicles every-day life and history in the city and Greece itself before and during the Italian invasion of Greece and then the German invasion.

The book is a very readable work of fiction set in a well described historical setting of Greece and the Balkans before and during World War 2. The Balkans and Grece is an area that hasn't received a lot of attention for that time period in fiction.

Spies of the Balkans is well worth your time should the desire for well written historical fiction strike.

Dive 182 - Union Lake and a taste of Scootering

So Chad, Rob, Chris, Keith and I met up at Union at 8am this morning and hit the water.

Lots of boats were present and the visibility wasn't great but it turned into a pretty decent dive.

I did a good valve drill, no hitting the bottom during the drill, and my trim is getting better.

We kicked around the boats a bit and then Reichy gave me his scooter to try.

Its a Dive X Sierra and awesome is not the word for it.

Once I finished embarrassing myself clumsily hooking into the tow line and trashing my buoyancy while doing so, I was ready and it was a blast.

I was zipping in circles around the other divers effortlessly. I went from boat to boat and just had a great time before handing it back. Much too much fun.

Here's a cool example of what these scooters can do:


Now I gotta get me one of these. One more item on the must-get list.

I also donated air to Rob who was running low and as we headed back to shore we saw a 2 foot long pike almost completely hidden in the weeds. Nice smooth ascent on the way back keeping in good trim with good buoyancy control.

Great dive.

Comms Restored. Rule 2 of CCW no longer violated.

Well it took a reset to factory option to clear the problem. To do a factory reset option on the droid to unbrick he phone after the Gingerbread install bricks it, do the following:

Note this formats the phone and kills all your data and customizations. You have been warned.

1. Hit the power button and home button at the same time.
2. when the triangle appears on the screen hit both volume buttons.
3. Then scroll to restore to factory default and press the power button.

Interestingly enough it did not restore the factory installed operating system but made the Gingerbread update operating system work.

The downside is that all data, customizations, downloaded apps are gone due to the factory reset.

Luckily, the work server backed up the calendar, contacts, and email and the phone is synced and data is flowing once again.

If you haven't backed up all your personal data or do not have a server it syncs to, don't try the update or you may end up being badly hosed.

So I'm now busy reinstalling the apps and trying to redo the customizations I had done.

At least now my brief non-communications dark age is over, allowing me to no longer violate Rule 2 of carrying a gun.

Rule 1 of course is: Have a Gun.
Rule 2 is: If you're carrying a gun, carry a cell phone.

Droid "Gingerbread" Update Bricks Phone, Hard.

I ran the Droid "Gingerbread" update on my phone last night.

Others in my office had complained that it required them to redo their account settings manually. I ran it anyways figuring I could easily reestablish the account if necessary and looking forward to some improved security and allegedly better functionality. So figuring that was the worse that could happen I ran the update from the settings feature on the phone.

The update downloaded, I executed it, it ran and after some time I got a red Motorla icon and then nothing.

After about 45 minutes, I took the battery out to reset it and on reinstalling the battery I get the start-up screen including rotating eye, it takes me to the home screen, gives about 5 seconds of functionality, and then locks, hard.

Touch screen does not work, pressing the power button blanks the screen and on pressing it again the home screen disappears, leaving only the top indicator showing the time (which freezes and does not change), the 3g , bluetooth and connection bar symbols, not pressing the power button results in the same black screen with top bar. The phone will not receive calls or work in any fashion, and the time indicator freezes at the time it bricks.

Removing the battery for up to 45 minutes does not change the result, it always starts with a white M with a red background, does the eye roll, goes to the home screen and locks, and every reinsertion of the battery results in the same effect leading to the bricking.

This sucks and I'd strongly advise anyone with a Droid to not run the Gingerbread update until Google announces they've un-screwed up (a more angry word would be used but this is a family-friendly blog...) this upgrade.

You'd figure that Google could handle an upgrade on Droids given that they're all running the same operating system and are on the same Motorola phone hardware but No....

Perhaps Google could issue an appropriate warning with the update:

"This update that we produced and delivered to you may turn your phone into a brick, with less utility than a brick as it doesn't offer a lot of structural support when mixed with mortar. Would you like to continue y/n?"

If anyone can offer some help or suggestions on backing this out, or doing some other reset procedure, it would be appreciated.

Dive 180 - Valve Drill

So last night we hopped into Union Lake at about 9:30. No boats were to be seen and the viz was pretty decent. Quite a few fish were about including one hiding in a cooler inside one of the sunken boats. Surface water temps were in the high 50s and dropped as we descended, with a very marked thermocline separating the warm(ish) from the cold water layer.

We kicked out to the Model T and then followed the lines out to the north boat, ending up in 40 feet of water and then I did a valve drill for practice.

A valve drill involves maniplating each valve in sequence, showing that you can reach, shut down and reopen each valve on your doubles. The valve drill demonstrates that you can safely shut down a post that has failed thereby saving your breathing gas supply and that you can isolate one tank from the other, preventing an irreperable blow out of one tank from consuming all of your breathing gas.

The sequence goes: right post shutdown, switching to the backup reg that's on your left post and clip off primary regulator, right post opening, check primary regulator to ensure its on and unclip, isolation shutdown and opening, left post shutdown, switching to primary, left post opening. Check all valves, check pressure gauge and done.

Here's an example of how its done (with a slight variation from our technique described above, see if you can spot the difference):



Valve drills are good practice for valve manipulation, but not easy to do while keeping your buyancy and trim under control. Typically when you breathe your primary down after you shut down the right post, you don't have air left in your lungs so you drop a bit until you get the left regulator in your mouth and start breathing again.

In other words, I dropped quite a bit, then stabilized and got on with it.

Its also a pain doing it while using drysuit gloves and with a sore shoulder, but practice makes the drill go better.

We then headed back to the shore, did a slow ascent with stops and ended a good dive. Trim and buoyancy were much better than before and I'll keep working on it.

A Little Levity Break

Too Good not to share: Transterrestrial Musings has a posting with links to some hilariously bad ad placements and some funny answers allegedly from students.

Well worth your clicking and eyeball time.

One final thing, I'd advise against drinking anything while viewing the links, the monitor and keyboard you'll save may be your own.

Surf And Turf On Your BRIDGE Card, Sir?

The Lansing State Journal: Lobster, steak, Mountain Dew on Bridge Card no urban myth

So someone used a Bridge card (here's an image of the receipt), Michigan's version of food stamps to buy a case of Mountain Dew, 6 lobsters and a couple porterhouse steaks in Menominee Michigan.

Living large on the state, baby.

Obama's trial balloons burst yet again

Most competent administrations use underlings to float trial balloons on policy. Then, when the trial balloon bursts and the administration needs to disavow that particular proposal, the President doesn't look like an inexperienced incompetent.

President Obama sadly lacks or feels no need for such a competent administration.

That's why he announced a push for Israel to concede to have the 1967 borders as a starting point in negotiation and offered a contiguous Palestinian state. That of course, would be an unmitigated strategic disaster for israel and just emboldend both Israel's and the US' enemies in the Mid East.

Thankfully Prime Minister Netanyahu gave the American people a solid dose of reality. You could tell Obama was annoyed to find that not everyone wants to roll the dice on survival for a promise of hope and change. (via the excellent Thunder Tales). Hopefully the staunchly Liberal Democrat wing of American Judaism just had a "WTF?" moment.

So what does Obama do after this particular foreign policy balloon pops? He backs away from it a bit at the AIPAC conferenc, claiming he was "misunderstood".

Hardly misunderstood, he was just caught yt again pushing his unpopular left wing agenda.

This administration seems determined to change the Presidential March from Hail to the Chief to "Send in the clowns"

Update: The Palestinians certainly have recognized the new course set by obama - Palestinians reject Netanyahu peace outline

Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Netanyahu's insistence on keeping key parts of the territories the Palestinians want for their state is a "declaration of war against the Palestinians." ... "What Netanyahu said in his speech tonight is a clear rejection of the suggestions of President Obama concerning the borders of 1967," said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.

In other words the Palestinian negotiating posture just changed based on Obama's statement to "first give us everything we want, then we'll consider peace with you".

Bandit! 9 O'Clock Low!

This little masked bandit turned up in our backyard 9 am this morning:

Apparently he didn't get the message that racoons are supposed to be nocturnal.

15 Years Ago Today I Got Married....

And I've been happily hitched ever since.

Thanks to my darling wife Natasha for 15 wonderful years together and two of the best kids in the world. The time has certainly flown by and looking back I wouldn't have spent these past 15 years any other way.

If you run, you only die splattered.....

Yet another example of why running from the police is just a dumb and often fatal idea.

Lansing college student dies on I-96 after 140-m.p.h. motorcycle ride, crash into cop car

A 20-year-old Lansing Community College student was killed when his motorcycle struck the back of a patrol car during a high-speed police chase on I-96 in Livingston County early today.

The fleeing deceased's speed during the chase reached at least a clocked 114 mph and since he easily outran police cruisers doing 127 mph they figure he was doing 140 mph! The guy had no record and obviously no reason to flee police.

At 140 mph (heck even at 114 mph) on a motorcycle your margin for error is zero, and he slipped outside the margin with fatal consequences. Its a damn shame the man is dead for a stupid reason.

Look, when the flashing lights come on behind you, it means the game is over.

Come to a stop, take your ticket and fine like a man. You're speeding, you got caught and the ticket is the cost. Deal with the consequences and get on with your life.

Fleeing adds criminal charges that are far more serious than your initial speeding offence to the mix, and you run the risk of losing your life. Neither criminal charges nor death offer an improved result over what's going to happen if you just pull over.

Pull the other one, its got bells on....

Gates: 'No evidence' Pakistani leaders knew bin Laden was there

U.S. officials have “no evidence” that current Pakistani leaders knew Osama bin Laden had been holed up near their capital city for half a decade, but they suspect someone — perhaps a retired official — did know about the al Qaeda leader’s whereabouts....Amid passionate calls from Capitol Hill for the Obama administration to get tough with Pakistan after the revelation bin Laden had been hiding there for up to five years, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he has seen “no evidence at all that the senior leadership knew.”

Gates told reporters during a Pentagon briefing that “I’ve seen some evidence to the contrary.”

In fact, Gates said, U.S. officials “have no evidence yet with respect to anybody else” knowing bin Laden was hiding in a compound about 30 miles from Islamabad.

Still, the former CIA director added, “My supposition is somebody knew.”

No kidding. Its rather unlikely that "senior leadership" had no idea Osama was operating from and hiding beside a major military base. His presence was a little bit too explosive so to speak for this to be the work of some low-level functionary. More than likely someone high up in the government leadership knew, and the ISI certainly knew and supported his living there.

Gates kind of covering for the Pakistanis is what happens when you rely upon unreliable "allies" like the Pakistanis and Saudis, both of whom are at least playing double games to undermine the US. However, as the US has put itself in a position of having to rely on these unreliable regimes expect more of this soft-shoe approach where a far sterner approach would bear better results.

Detroit 1-8-7 star gives a classy good-bye but really mixes up his metaphors

Actor James McDaniel wrote a farewll letter to Detroit after learning Detroit 1-8-7 would be cancelled. He should have seen it coming as using California's penal code section 1-8-7 for murders taking place in Michigan was always a bit Hollyweird.

However, Mr. McDaniel's letter starts off with a rather inapt description:

Dear Paris of the Midwest,

We will miss you.

Methinks he meant the Beirut of the Midwest and he was confused because Beirut used to be called the "Paris of the Mid East" a long time ago.....

Afghan Pro-Insurgent Protest Against Violence Leads to Violence

In the Afghanistan feel-good story of the day, after NATO forces on a raid killed 4 insurgents, a protest against the raid of 1,500 people turned violent.

The AP via Findlaw: Protest over NATO raid turns violent; 11 killed
Note in the article that the 4 "civillians" reported in the first paragraph as being killed were, according to NATO, shot after pointing weapons at NATO forces during the raid in the sixth paragraph.

The protest turned violent as some in the crowd started looting shops and throwing stones at a small German base in the city.

So the protest over the deaths of 4 insurgents led to the deaths of 11 of the protestors protesting.

Insurgent supporters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan must be adepts of the new math.

Interesting Headline Word Choice

The Associated Press (via Findlaw): French agape over treatment of jailed IMF chief

agape: /ˈæɡəpiː/ or /əˈɡɑːpeɪ/; Classical Greek: agápē; Modern Greek: αγάπη [aˈɣapi]) is one of the Greek words translated into English as love, one which became particularly appropriated in American Christian theology as the love of God or Christ for mankind. Many have thought that this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love. Although the word does not have specific religious connotation, the word has been used by a variety of contemporary and ancient sources, including Biblical authors and Christian authors. Thomas Jay Oord has defined agape as "an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being."In his book, The Pilgrimage, author Paulo Coelho defines it as "the love that consumes," i.e., the highest and purest form of love, one that surpasses all other types of affection.[citation needed] Contemporary philosopher Slavoj Žižek refers to it as "political love".

Considering that IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces criminal sexual conduct charges, the headline was either unintentionally ironic or some headline editor is having a bit of homographic fun. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Local Idiocy Of The Day: Win the Lottery, Stay on Food Stamps.

The Detroit News: $2M Michigan lottery winner defends use of food stamps


So if you won $2 Million from the State Lottery, how many of you, dear readers, would stay on food stamps?

Lottery winner Leroy Fick (sadly of Michigan) has no problem doing so:

A Michigan man who won $2 million in a state lottery game continues to collect food stamps 11 months after striking it rich.

And there's nothing the state can do about it, at least for now.

Leroy Fick, 59, of Auburn won $2 million in the state lottery TV show "Make Me Rich!" last June. But the state's Department of Human Services determined he was still eligible for food stamps, Fick's attorney, John Wilson of Midland, said Tuesday.

Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines; lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and don't count as income. As long as Fick's gross income stays below the eligibility requirement for food stamps, he can receive them, even if he has a million dollars in the bank.

One shame on Mr. Fick for ficking around and continuing to draw on public largess after winning that kind of money. I don't know a lot of people that would even consider receiving public assistance after winning 2 million, but apparently its ok by the state and Mr. Fick.

Also, I'm rather amazed at the stupidity of a federal and state system that doesn't consider liquid assets as part of the calculation for eligibility for public assistance. Liquid assets by definition are liquid and can be used to support oneself without reliance upon the public purse.

The mind boggles at the sheer idiocy of the system in action.

California: Land o' Fruits, Nuts, Flakes, Bad Judicial Decisions, and Gun Bans

Federal judge rules against Calif. gun advocates

A federal judge ruled Monday there is no constitutional right to carry a hidden gun in public - a decision that dealt a setback to gun-rights advocates who had challenged how much discretion California law enforcement officials have in issuing concealed weapons permits.

U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England Jr. in Sacramento supported a policy by Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto that says applicants must have a reason, such as a safety threat, to legally carry a concealed weapon in his county northwest of Sacramento.

. . .

England signed the ruling Friday and it filed in court on Monday.

. . .

[Alan] Gura filed a notice Monday saying the groups will appeal Judge England's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Gura had argued that Prieto's policy gives the sheriff arbitrary discretion over a fundamental constitutional right to bear arms.

England countered that California law currently lets gun owners carry an unloaded weapon so it can be quickly loaded and used in self-defense if needed.

As a result, "Yolo County's policy does not substantially burden plaintiffs' right to bear and keep arms," England wrote in his 16-page decision.

Talk about ignoring reality, the Constitution, Heller and MacDonald. Thanks Judge. Glad I'm not in California.

With luck, and acceptance of certiorari, this case will push forward through the 9th and up to the Supreme Court and get this lousy decision, that essentially restrict Heller to bearing arms in the home then decides the ban is not a substantial burden on the right to keep and bear arms, reversed.

In the decision, the judge also concludes that a decision to issue based on "Good Cause" and "Good Moral character" is not void for vagueness and then it is not a violation of equal protection as some might meet these undefined requirements and some might not. Well, ok then.

The decision is (available for viewing here).

But wait, there's more: The Judge's dubiously-reasoned decision is absolutely predicated on the fact that California allows unloaded pistols to be openly carried and thus people aren't substantially burdened. So what does the California Assembly do the very same day the decisions comes out?

Calif Assembly bans open carrying of unloaded guns.

California.

Why Can't the answer be: "Both"?

Religious obsession or psychological disorder? Mental exam ordered in Warren shooting death

A Minnesota man who police say killed his 20-year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she left home and wasn't following Islam will get a mental evaluation.

Lake Huron Dive Cancelled Due to Storms

The only thing worse than a cancelled Great Lakes Wreck Dive would be an unanticipated Great Lakes Wreck Dive when your dive boat sinks and you get to dive on it.

Discretion being the better part of valor, and the good captain not wanting to lose his boat or us divers in a storm, the awesome lineup of three wrecks at an average depth of 100 feet was cancelled this morning when 4 foot swells were reported with even nastier storms and waves coming in. Drat.

The wrecks: Checotah (possibly the most sunk vessel in the Great Lakes - 4 sinkings and three name changes), The Col. A.B. Williams and the New York, none of which I've dove before.

Luckily they'll still be there when the weather clears and we can get out and try them again. Hopefully soon.

Instead we did Union Lake for a 70 minute dive to burn up the 32% Nitrox mix in the stage bottle I rented from the shop along with Rob and Keith. A good dive, but Union Lake with its sunken speedboats is a far cry from the Great lakes and Great Wrecks of Lake Huron.

Whither Romney the RINO?

Vodkapundit ably and eloquently lays out the case against Romney for consideration this primary season and I certainly agree.

As I commented over there, as Romney is a squishy and beatable RINO I expect the MSM to pile on praise for him through the primaries and push for him to win as they did with McCain.

Then, on the off chance he wins the primaries (this could happen if the GOP powers that be figure its his “turn” a la Bob Dole and McCain), expect the MSM to replay September Dawn (Mountain Meadows massacre movie) on primetime TV prior to the election. Then watch the MSM nail him for this Romneycare and other squishiness and then assail him for conservative views on other things and being out of touch etc.

This is one RINO that needs to be put on the endangered species list during primary season and sent back to his natural habitat -- far, far away from the race for the Republican nomination.

In the wake of Federal banking reform to help defaulters, fees go up for all. Who knew?

Who indeed? Its not like this wasn't a predicted consequence of reducing charges on those who don't pay their credit card bills on time or overdraft their accounts.

The Detroit Free Press: Banks hit customers with higher fees -- and more of them

Well, Prof Todd Zywicki of the Volokh Conspiracy certainly did. He gets one free "I told you so" to everyone that claimed it wouldn't happen. However, that doesn't make the increased fees any more palatable.

As usual with this administration, and Democrats in general, the responsible are stuck with the increased costs and those who are irresponsible are relieved of, or get reduced, consequences for their actions as everyone pays for their failings.

Update: A similar and thoughtful post from The Blogprof: Thank a Democrat: Banks hit customers with higher fees -- and more of them because of increased government regulations

GM to spend $109 million, create or save 96 jobs

The Detroit Free Press: GM to pump $109 million into Flint, Bay City plants

General Motors says it will invest $109 million in its Flint and Bay City, Michigan, operations, keeping or creating 96 jobs.

That's over a million dollars per job saved or created.

At this rate, it would take GM spending $589,811,111,111 to create enough jobs to fully employ all 487,000 of Michigan's unemployed (Source State of Michgian's labor market Information website) assuming these were all for jobs created not just "saved".

And you wonder why, with that kind of job creating power and efficiency, wags call it Government Motors.

The Obama Administration Really Intends That It Means It This Time......

Reuters: Attorney General vows to close Guantanamo

Although we have not closed Guantanamo within the time period that we initially indicated ... it is still the intention of the president, and it is still my intention, to close the facility that exists in Guantanamo," Holder told a joint news briefing with French Interior Minister Claude Gueant.

Well, at least Holder and Obama still intend to do it, so perhaps the headline that Holder is vowing to close it is a bit of an overstatement. Good and noble intentions, after all, are all that matter when every promise comes with an expiry date.

When pressed for an exact date of closure, Holder allegedly replied "ad kalendas graecas".

Dive # 177 One Dive Over Two Days

We got into Union Lake on May 6 and got out on May 7.

Crossing midnight underwater was kinda cool. Visibility was excellent. There was a ton of mudpuppies to be seen and quite a few very large fish. The water was calm, not a boat to be seen and Keith, Chad and I had a great dive. I had my heated best on and it worked very nicely so I was not feeling cold during the dive. We saw the various boasts including the farther off north boat. The dive felt pretty good, but I'm unconsciously waving my right hand while diving which is a habit I need to break, but other than that the five was great with good control.

The details:

Time: 45 minutes
Max depth: 40 feet
Water temperature: 50 degrees
Gas consumption: 700 psi.

Oh Canada!

In a great Canadian Election, our good Canadian neighbors just elected Stephen Harper and the Conservative party to a majority in Parliament, reduced the Liberals to third party standing and decimated the Bloc Quebecois.

A fantastic result even with the socialist NDP moving up past the lackluster Liberals to form the opposition.

This election will change the political dialogue in Canada with the Conservatives potentially in full control of law-making in the House of Commons. Some of Harper's priorities for defense, the economy and justice issues now stand a much better chance of becoming law.

Canada just decisively moved toward the center-right and away from the center-left and left.

It was such a wipe out that in a historic shift, even my Dad voted Conservative.

Flying pigs were seen on Toronto Airport Air Traffic control radars as the 905 area code went Tory in a big way. Ice-forming conditions were reported in the netherworld.

The National Post has a good editorial on what should be expected from the Conservatives now that they're in the majority. May the Conservatives live up to expectations.

So congrats to Canada for an excellent election. Here's to at least 4 years of good government and for a strong Canada as an ally and good neighbor.

You Just Can't Make Every Islamist Happy....

The Detroit Free Press: Bin Laden's burial at sea criticized by metro Detroit [Muslim] funeral home operators

and

The Detroit Free Press: Islamic scholars criticize bin Laden's sea burial

Yeesh, the Obama administration and the US Military cater to Islamics and bend over backwards to ensure Osama gets buried in an Islamic fashion and all they get are complaints. My preference for his head on a pike is looking better by comparison - give 'em something worth complaining about.

One example of these complaints:

Clerics in Iraq — where an offshoot of al-Qaida is blamed for the death of thousands of people since 2003 — also criticized the U.S. action. One said it only benefited fish.

"If a man dies on a ship that is a long distance from land, then the dead man should be buried at the sea," said Shi'ite cleric Ibrahim al-Jabari. "But if he dies on land, then he should be buried in the ground, not to be thrown into the sea. Otherwise, this would be only inviting fish to a banquet."

And the problem with that is? After all turingin him into fish food makes him 1000% more valuable to the world than he was prior to his demise.

Another complains that cotton wasn't stuffed up his orifices:

After Rahman was told that authorities feared that bin Laden's grave would become a shrine, she said, "That has nothing to do with God. They should have buried him."

Under Islamic law, the body has to be washed, all the orifices are stuffed with cotton, and then the body is wrapped in cotton sheets, Rahman said. The body is laid in the casket on its back with the head facing toward Mecca.

Instead of cotton he received some copper-coated lead in his orifices, and that kind of deposit, worth far more than cotton, has got to be worth something.

Not to mention there's just tons of unhappy islamists in the world today, which certainly confirms that the world is a much better place without bin Laden in it.

Update: Well that's a relief, via Instapundit, Frank J. Fleming notes that Osama Was Shot in Accordance with Islamic Tradition. Nicely done.

Kwame Korruption - The Gift to Detroit that Keeps on Giving

If we hadn't known before, this is even more confirmation that Kwame and Krewe used the city as their personal piggy bank.

The Detroit Free Press: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's cousin charged with stealing from nonprofit

Nneka Cheeks may love Trouble -- the dog she is accused of caring for with money embezzled from a nonprofit -- but she is likely less thrilled about the double trouble the Michigan attorney general is bringing.

Attorney General Bill Schuette charged Cheeks on Thursday with eight counts of embezzlement and one count of racketeering -- all felonies -- accusing her of stealing more than $19,000 from a nonprofit established to maintain the Manoogian Mansion, Detroit's mayoral residence.

Schuette said Cheeks -- a former mayoral aide to Kwame Kilpatrick who is also Kilpatrick's cousin -- used $1,300 of that money to pay a veterinarian who cared for Trouble.

The article goes on to list the numerous ways in which Cheeks enriched herself by tapping the funds including jewlery, furniture and wedding items.

We've certianly not yet reached the bottom of the Kwane & Kompany Detroit rabbit hole. Just wait until the federal investigation really gets rolling.

OBL now RIH

Making my day this morning I just found out that Osama Bin Ladin is now Resting in Hell (hence the catchy header).

Nicely done Seal Team 6.

My only criticism is why the heck was the body buried at sea "in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial".

As tons of Islamists and Al-Qaeda types are going to claim he's not dead but just resting somewhere. His body needed to be brought to the US and his head put on a pike at Ground Zero to assure all that he is in fact toast.

Putting a head on a pike ensured in the good old days that no pretenders to the dead outlaw could arise claiming to be him, and besides it would have been quite a fitting act of closure to his worst act of terorrism.

Other than that we'll give this an A for effort and result, and we'll give the Obama Administration credit for the guts to authorize it.

In Honor Of May Day, Some East Bloc 9x18 Goodness

The Eastern Block under Soviet domination manufactured a variety of pistols chambered in the Russian designed 9x18mm Makarov caliber.

I've already talked about my CZ-82, now for May Day its on to some other pistols chambered in this useful cartridge.

Both of the below pistols are blow-back action and both owe much to the Walther PP design.

The FEG PA-63

Made in Hungary by Fegyver és Gépgyár, Arms and Machine Factory more commonly known as "FEG".

With an aluminum frame strengthened with a bit of titanium in the alloy, the FEG is a nice, lightweight carry pistol. Walther PP in size and highly influenced by the Walther design, if not an almost complete copy, the FEG has a reputation for being more reliable than the Walther.

The action has a double action first shot with subsequent shots being single action, and with a seven round magazine the pistol is a very adequate pocket carry pistol. The magazine locks the action open on the last shot and just like the Walther PP, there is no external slide lock.

The FEG is an inexpensive firearm that can be found for $200 or less, making it an excellent choice for a CCWer on a budget.

The downside to the FEG is the trigger. The initial double action trigger pull is an excellent trigger finger exerciser that takes all your strength to operate. You don't need a Gripmaster when you have a PA63.

The FEG's single action is much better and hopefully the double action pull will loosen up a bit with time and further shooting.

At the range, the PA-63 fed all rounds perfectly, from the standard 9x18 ball to the Silver Bear hollow points.

Its a nice pistol at a great price.

The Bulgarian Makarov

This is a military surplus Makarov manufactured in Bulgaria and it was still encrusted with cosmoline when I purchased it.

Designed by Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, the Makarov pistol became the Soviet Union's standard military side arm from 1951-1991, replacting the 7.62x25 Tokarev. Satellite nations such as East Germany and Bulgaria and China also produced Makarov pistols.

This Bulgarian Makarov's trigger is very nice and smooth and far better in both double and single action than the FEG, indeed this trigger while not a match trigger by any means, is more than adequate for self-defense and plinking. Smooth in both double and single action, hits on targets were easy to achieve, even with the smallish sights.

An 8 round magazine and a price under $250 makes this yet another excellent carry choice when using hollow points. It fits tightly in a jeans front pocket or decently in a cargo pocket and multiple holsters are available for carry.

The Makarov design shines in the area of reliability and this one was no exception - ball, hollow points, it ate everything with no problems at all.

The PA63 and the Makarov are great pistols, both as carry and historical pistols and reminders of the Cold War. Both firearms are a testament to the excellent East Bloc small arms manufacturing industry while unable to provide consumer goods of quality to their subjects.

So Happy May Day and here's to the West winning the Cold War.

For proof, see the video below.

How's that Airport Security Working Out for You?

The Detroit Free Press: 12 airport employees charged in 2 drug smuggling rings and Details emerge in case of drug smuggling at Detroit Metro Airport

Its pretty clear that for all the show-and-grope of the flying public, they're not scrutinizing the baggage handlers very well, and in fact apparently baggage handlers don't go through security checks before going to work.

Anyone else see the problem with this gaping hole in airport security?

If you can smuggle 16 Kilograms of cocaine and 130 Kilograms of marijuana in one shipment alone (should the fact that the last name of one of the cocaine smuggler's was Coke have been a clue?), a couple pounds of Semtex and an air pressure triggered detonator would be child's play.