Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter

Hope Everyone has a happy Easter.

Friday, March 29, 2013

NSSF Objects to U.S. Government Abandoning
Position that U.N. Treaty Must be based on International "Consensus"
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation today strongly objected to the last-minute reversal of the U.S. government position regarding the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. In the closing hours of negotiations on Thursday, March 28, the government abandoned its previous insistence that the treaty be approved only through achieving “consensus” of all the member states. Requiring consensus had been the United States position going back to earlier administrations.
At the end of the session, a U.S. government spokesperson told reporters “It's important to the United States and the defense of our interests to insist on consensus. But every state in this process has always been conscious of the fact that if consensus is not reached in this process, that there are other ways to adopt this treaty, including via a vote of the General Assembly.” The spokesperson went on to say that the United States would vote “yes” on the treaty in the General Assembly, regardless of the positions of other member states. By abandoning the requirement for consensus the United States is assuring passage of the treaty by the United Nations.
“This abrupt about-face on the long-standing United States requirement for ‘consensus’ illustrates that the Obama Administration wants a sweeping U.N. arms control treaty,” said Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “We are troubled by the timing of the Obama Administration’s decision to abandon consensus on the eve of the Senate debate on pending gun control measures. The United Nations treaty would have a broad impact on the U.S. firearms industry and its base of consumers in the U.S.”
Industry analysts have identified three major areas of concern with the treaty text. The treaty clearly covers trade in civilian firearms, not just military arms and equipment. It will have a major impact on the importation of firearms to the United States, which is a substantial source for the consumer market. And it will impose new regulations on the “transit” of firearms, the term defined so broadly that it would cover all everything from container ships stopping at ports to individuals who are traveling internationally with a single firearm for hunting or other sporting purposes.
“We hope that the Members of the U.S. Senate are closely watching the White House abandon its principles and promises in the rush to ramrod this flawed treaty into effect. Not only will they later be asked to ratify this attack on our constitution and sovereignty, but they will also be lavished with new promises from the administration in its drive to push a broad gun control agenda through the U.S. Senate when it returns from recess. They would be right to question those promises strongly,” concluded Keane.
 
 
This is an article from the NSSF, a very worth while organization. Looks like Obama is going to muscle his way past  congress to get the treaty through. All the years prior to now,presidents allowed that pesky balance of powers to interfere with total dictatorship. To think that it is not necessary for the states, and all of us constituents, to have a say in something so huge. Still say if he is going to get away with running the country this way, we may as well just get rid of congress. Think of all the money Obama would have to redistribute. The NSSF is a very worth while organization much as the NRA is. I just joined this year as did the club I belong to. I strongly encourage others to join the NSSF which helps support shooting sports, hunting and second amendment rights. 
 

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Yes, made it

A gruelling eleven hour work day later, I am off for three days. Yeahhh. I did end up moving my vacation another week though. Mid April now. Hopefully it will be a little warmer and sunnier outside. Tomorrow I believe will be just a little relaxation mixed with little housework. Saturday will probably be range day. It is suppose to be chilly but dry. Easter dinner this year I believe will be chili and cornbread. It has been very hectic at work and a few days R and R sounds great.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

We get an actual three day weekend

They usually work us through at least part of the holiday weekends. They are actually giving us Friday through Sunday off. I can't believe it. I was going to be on vacation next week, but, hot job came in and we are low on manpower so I moved it a week, may have to push it two weeks. Two guys out on medical at the same time and we are swamped. Hope to be off for the Cabela opening and the machine gun shoot. Maybe it will be up to the 50's by then. Doesn't seem like spring is ever going to get here.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

That evillllll NRA

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/bloomberg-nra-guns-assault-weapons-ban-173107813.html

Why is it the NRA is painted as the evil entity. Here you have a socialist billionaire that is willing to try and buy a vote against our freedoms. Another one of our freedoms I should say. He has already deprived his constituents of soda and cigarettes. I don't understand how the NRA is an evil entity. The NRA is made up of American people that contribute our hard EARNED dollars to pool enough money together to hopefully be heard on the hill. Bloomberg, a self righteous ass who has mega dollars, calls us names and uses his money as a bully pulpit to muscle his idiotic views on the rest of us. I can not possibly fathom where the press is coming up with their 80-90percent of the public wants universal background checks. I have yet to find a solitary soul who agrees with that. Why don't they understand universal background check IS gun registration. The only way they could make universal background checks work is to know where all guns are now so they can track where they go to. Gun registration is and should be against the law. It didn't work in Germany in the 40's, it won't work here now. As unbelievable as it is, Germany is doing it again. Apparently the ignorant citizens didn't learn a thing during the last radical regime, history repeats itself yet again.
The news had another English person write in stating England's ban on guns has reduced gun violence and is working. How did that work out during the riots they had where the police got over run and the crowds pillaged and preyed on the unarmed helpless citizens. How did that work on the shootings they did have where the victim was defenseless? Why is she here and not in England? Why is Piers Morgan here and not in his perfect country of England? Why do foreigners come here and bash our freedoms? If they don't agree with our constitutional rights, why don't they get out? We left them a couple hundred years ago because of their ignorant ways. They came over here. If they don't like it, leave. I have nothing against foreigners, but it deeply offends me when someone comes to my country seeking to change it. They came to my country, I did not go to theirs nor do I have any desire to. Way too much to see here to have to spend a lot of money to go over seas. I urge everyone to write your congress critters. Make your voice heard. You can call them, but, if you write them, they usually write back. The ones that don't won't get my vote next election. I wrote a long letter to ALL the congress critters (except the pantie wastes in the oval office as they are beyond hope) and got responses back from over half of them. I will keep a list of those who wrote back. Those that don't (Donelly and a couple others) will be thanked at the polls. I vote in ALL elections. You can not just do the presidentials. The house could fall into democratic hands in the off year and then we would all be screwed. A stalled congress is better than one that can ram gun control, immigration reform and handouts for all laws until there is nothing left.

Finally

April 11th is the grand opening of the Louisville Cabela's. And the 13th, R. Lee Ermey is going to be there. Sounds like a nice little road trip is in order. Being a contingent state, I can buy a rifle and bring it back with me. Be sweet if they ever fixed the law where pistols fell into the same category. I have been waiting for the Cabela opening for quite some time. Back in 2008 they were planning one just south of Indianapolis, but that got scrubbed when the economy went into the toilet (Obama got in). Hopefully that one will eventually be back in the works. May have to move my vacation a week. They are busy at work and I am almost certain to be asked to move it for a couple hot jobs going through the shop. So, it may work out perfectly. Wouldn't mind getting a hotel out in the area and hitting cabelas and the machine gun shoot as that is the same weekend. Take in the Patton museum again while out there as well. I seem to remember an old fort in the area as well that would be a nice little stop off. May hit some caves on the way back home. Lots to do along the route, just hard to choose.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Made money instead of spending.

Almost made it out of work yesterday without getting nailed into working today, almost. I thought hiding in the electrical cabinet of one of the machines would hide me. No such luck. Boss remembered an hour before quitting time he needed someone today. Gun auction day..... I am on vacation first week of April, so, hopefully he will remember next week and let me have next Saturday off. Maybe. Lost a servo drive on my circa 1985 CNC OD grinder, so I had to go old school and set up the job in one of the wore out abused manual grinders we have. Took half of today to make the machine somewhat functional. You would think machinists would have a clue that foreign machines use METRIC bolts. Took out some 3/8 bolts that were forced into the 10mm holes, retapped the holes. Broke loose the frozen feed controls. Fixed the autofeed. Filled the coolant. Put a new wheel on machine. Grinding side finishes everything, but we get the oldest, most worn out junk to do it with and the people have no idea how to PM a machine. Cutting side gets the brand spanking new high speed mills, NT's and lathes. Grinding side, we get whatever is left in a business we buy out. They wonder why I am always fixing the worn out junk. Drive I took out had one IC chip on it. The rest was banks of resistors, capacitors (or what was left of the leaking deteriorated things) and power transistors. It had five boards Sandwiched togeather and you had to take all the boards apart to disconnect the wires on the rear most board. Can't believe they wouldn't face the screws upward so as to facilitate an easy removal and install. Typical European forethought and planning. They are actually eyeballing a brand new ID OD grinder. It retails for $500,000, so, I am not holding my breath. Probably get another 1980ish hunk to piece togeather.

On the bright side, the auction I missed out on went like most of the gun shows as of late. They are set up with an online bidding that rusn alongside the auction. I checked the prices on the guns I wanted and they went much HIGHER than I or most sane people would have paid, so I was better off working. It was frigid this morning when I went in, but 60 degrees when I got off. They say we are going to get snow tomorrow. Weather is down right goofy lately.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Getting back to normal-ish

Hit the Indy show today. There was no line. It was crowded, but no half hour wait to get in. They actually had AR's at normal-ish prices. The guy by the front door still has his marked for twice their worth, but, I believe they are the same ones he had at the last show. The ammo is still way overpriced, but not as bad as last time. Still too high for me to buy any. Maybe by next show I will be able to purchase something without feeling I have been raped. I like the PMC bronze .223 as it is reasonably priced and is quite accurate. Pre assault weapon ban price ranged from $6 to$7 a box of 20. Now, the few places that have it online (cheaper than dirt) want $21 a box. The show had some for $17 a box. Sorry, for that price I will shoot my garand. Heck, the 30-06 doesn't cost that much. Not too optimistic on the machine gun shoot prices. It will still be fun to look. I did buy a new knife while I was there.
Tomorrow is the club spot shoot again. Suppose to be chilly out again, but they have wood fires placed all around the area. Two weeks until vacation. Haven't decided what I want to do yet. I think I may head up to Indy to check out the zoo and maybe a museum.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Happy pi day all

3.14159265359

Although I prefer the blackberry variety, or the lemon meringue for that matter.

Another bright spot for Texas. They actually have a Senator that has the stones to stand up to Feinstein and ask the same questions of her most normal Americans wish they could ask. Although I would prefer smacking her in the head with a two by four following every word just to help it sink in to her thick, thick head. I do agree with her on one aspect. She is not a sixth grader. Sixth graders probably have a better grasp of the constitution than she does. I sincerely hope this assault weapon ban nonsense woke enough voters up that we can take the senate back in 2014.

Saturday is the Indy 1500. Still trying to make up my mind whether to go or not. I usually have a good time, but, the prices are high and the ammo is scarce with all the nonsense going on. Not to mention the line going around the building.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Nice

It was almost 70 degrees,sunny with a mild breeze for the spot shoot today. Absolutely beautiful day to be out. It was very busy today. Between the weather being nice,and the newspaper actually advertising the shoot, there were double the people this week. Did almost double the rounds we did last week. They had homemade chili this week. It was pretty good. Did wind up in a strange conversation. One of the members I was working with was actually an Obama supporter. They have a rather disturbing and peculiar view of events. Through his view, the republicans are the real ones pushing the anti gun agenda while poor Obama is tasked with single handedly trying to right the economic woes the country is in. He even blames the 94 (Clinton) assault weapons ban on the Republicans. In his mind, the republicans pushed the bill through, and when Clinton signed it, they blamed it on Clinton and the democrats. I then find out he is a union worker thus at least explaining the Obama, democrat support part. Where on earth they get their strange and absurd view of events though is beyond me. Maybe their union propaganda are all they base their beliefs on.

Monday, March 4, 2013

A lot of empty racks

Went to Whitakers today. It was spooky. They have seven aisles of rifles. Each aisle has upper and lower racks of rifles on both sides. each aisle is about 30 foot long. The racks looked like a turkey carcass a few days after Thanksgiving. They are bare in most spots. A few aisles are empty, others have clusters of several guns. I was able to check what they had in minutes instead of a couple hours. The pistol room was just as bare. A lot of empty glass cases. Some cases have a couple pistols. Even the .22 case was stripped clean. They had an old trapdoor I was hoping on getting, but, it had been sold as well. I figured the black guns would be gone, but even the old collectibles and just about anything with a trigger was gone. My buddy said last month, they had security by the entry door monitoring how many entered and issuing numbers for getting in. The place is huge and they were over their legal capacity in customers. I have never seen anything like this before. I have seen the regular gun stores bare, but Whitakers is absolutely huge. To see them stripped like this is unreal.

Got a little feed back from my letters already

 
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for gun rights. It was a pleasure to hear from you.
We are in agreement that Congress and State law should support the constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. On June 26, 2008, our nation was presented with a significant legal victory when the Supreme Court upheld what I believe was the true intent of our founding fathers by ruling in Heller v Districtof Columbia that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to handgun ownership for purposes of self-defense.
In many ways, excessive gun control is as illogical as it is unconstitutional. Too much gun control can leave law-abiding citizens defenseless while doing very little to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals. After all, people who are not deterred by laws against murder will not be deterred by laws that say you cannot have a gun.
Under the belief that firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens result in less, not more, crime, I will continue working to protect your constitutional right to gun ownership. I appreciate your input into this important matter and will keep your views in mind the next time that I am presented with legislation involving the rights of gun owners.
Again, thank you for contacting me. It is an honor to serve as Governor and have the benefit of your advice. If you would like more information on this or any other issue, please visit my website at www.in.gov/gov.
Sincerely,
Mike Pence
 
 
 
 
I am hoping on hearing back from all. Usually hear back from a few, but there are a couple hoosier politicians I am hoping will express their stance as they have not done so publicly yet, and I would like to know which side they are on before the next election.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Down right chilly out there

Went to the club and worked the spot shoot. It was chilly, windy and damp, so, the crowd wasn't that huge. Doesn't help the newspaper forgot to run the advertisement for it again. Usually takes a few weeks before the paper runs the ad. By then, word of mouth gets out and we are already up to full capacity. It actually let out early as the people started leaving as the wind picked up. I was the one running the targets out and I didn't think it was that bad. They have several fire pits going which makes things a bit more tolerable. Free homemade bean soup for lunch wasn't bad either. They usually have some good soup and coffee for the workers. When it warms up, there is free beer. The beer is there now, but, just a little too nippy out to sound good to me.

My buddy changed his mind on shooting today after the spot shoot. He is moving, and thought he would be done yesterday. His buddy won a gun and they wanted to go out and try it. Hopefully it will be warmer next weekend. It is March, so it should be getting warmer before long. I did get signed up for the friends of the NRA gunapalooza at the club while I was there. It is a small banquet deal where you stand a chance of winning one of many guns available as well as a silent auction. I always have a good time and usually come home with something. It is around my birthday, so hopefully I will win a birthday present. The M1 carbine would do quite nicely.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Spring spot shoots starting up already

Tomorrow is the first of the spring spot shoots at the club. Hopefully, the light fluffy white stuff will stay away. Got just enough today to tint the grass. I am ready for some nice spring weather, even though it is still winter time.

Wrote all my congress critters yet again. Trying to get some of the guys at work to follow suit. One of the congressmen is a club member and helped sponsor the Indiana lifetime handgun permit years ago. He also was one of the founders of the Second amendment patriots club that meets at our club and discusses guns and politics. He speaks at our meetings when he is in town.

I found the easiest way to do it is I write a letter in word, copy and paste it into their webmail service. It still takes some time going to each critter's e-mail. Would be nice if they would make it where you could send one letter to multiple representatives, but you can't. They don't list a normal e-mail address so you could send it through normal outlook mail. I find e-mails get answered at times. Tried the phone deal once and wasn't too impressed with it. Not really sure if any message actually gets past the secretary or not. One nice feature they do have on the web mail is the remember me. It places a cookie on the computer so when you fill out your info once, it autofills on any more you do. I sent out to several different reps, so, after the first one, all I had to do was go to the next rep and paste the letter. The rest of the info was filled in and I could just hit send. Gives the option of whether or not you want a reply. I do sometimes actually get a reply. Some are generic while others are more personal. This one was on the gun issues, next one will be a detailed one on immigration. As far as the gun issues, I don't think Indiana has to worry about more than a couple of representatives.

Should be a nice day tomorrow. Start by working the shoot, then, meet up with a couple of buddies to shoot at cowboy town and the range. Blow some of the cobwebs out of the AR and shoot the cowboy guns again. Want to check out the new skeet machine as well. Club just bought a new machine and will be auctioning off the old one. Too bad I don't live out in the country where I could set it up. It's a professional unit. You can load hundreds of clays in it. Some people look for the birds as a sign of spring, I look for the spot shoots. The fall shoots was where I won the AR.