Fall

Fall. Turn of the season, or something else? Who knows?

Gagdad Bob popped up on my screens ,via Van der Luen, this morning:

"Just as it is possible for a person to lose the grace, so too can a nation; in other words -- or symbols -- no (↑), no (↓). With an Obama presidency, we will find out what this will be like. It may well turn out to be as his spiritual mentor, Reverend Wright says: God damn America!

And why not? If we abandon any pretense of spiritual ideals, it is not God who will damn America. Rather, we'll do it ourselves. I'm pretty sure we'll discover what it felt like to be a Christian living in Rome, as the barbarian hordes were about to put an end to that world (which at the time was "the" world)."

Interesting times of the Chinese kind are upon us.

We are heading into a winter of discontent, boys and girls. I was going to set some fence posts today but I think I'll just grab the Mosin closest to the door of the safe and a jump bag and head across the lake instead.

We have been up on a neighbor's roof for most of the last week, after work, to help him get it sound before the weather breaks this coming Tuesday. Mrs. Utah cannot stand very well so she has spent two days scooting about on a six inch foam pad helping to hand supplies down from the crown to where ever they have been needed. We have a third of the surface done complete and lack only shingles on the other two thirds. Hopefully the owner wasn't too conservative in his estimate but we think we may need another two units of shingles. Roofing in this corner of Happy Valley is as close to an Amish barn raising as I'll ever see. Very, very good times.

I hope you have a fine week.

Local News

I stopped by the American Fork Big 5 on the way home Friday evening and found out that they will be stocking M38 Mosins in the near future.

The counter staff headed back and pulled out a couple of examples for me to look at. I liked what I saw, but I am not sure that I can really justify another Mosin right now. I may have to put a couple my 91/30's up on KSL.com Classifieds in order raise funds as well as to open up some space in the Team Armory.

One of the two they brought out has a bunged up front sight, which probably happened in transport. The globe and post is knocked almost out of its dovetail slot. The damage to the slot would require five minutes of work on my anvil with the right mandrels but I have gotten deals on marred or damaged merchandise here before.

This rifle is the one of the two that has the actual M38 stock - not a more common cut-down 91/30 stock. So I'll probably mosey over there after lunch...

In other news, youngest Goddess attended Homecoming dance last night and had a fabulous time. Unfortunately, she found that her high heels were poor equipment choices for operating our Dodge Dakota. She slipped off the pedals and punched a parking bollard just left off center of the trailer hitch at some speed and shoved the rear bumper right against the bed. The tail gate will still open, but just.

She gets to learn the economics of body work. This will be her first experience with higher education.

ROE

Via Belmont Club:

"U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren’t near the village."


It is my personal opinion that we no longer have any business putting American servicemen in harm's way in Afghanistan. I will be writing my representatives and senators to urge them to end our involvement in the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq.


NCA has abandoned the mission. We are not willing to kill the enemy where we find them, when we find them. From this day forward our dead, wounded, and maimed are pawns in a game that has already been conceded.

Wish it wasn't that way. Tomorrow in the anniversary of a tragic day. I will remember where I was that day. Just as I remember 1979 and 1983, when I first noticed the war.

Our government, too busy attempting to overturn the Republic, will accept a trickle of pointless deaths until they are ready to formally surrender.

They Said There Would Be Tests.

Howdy.

Mrs. Utah and I are spending the weekend in the idyllic metropolis of Pocatello, Idaho. Why, you ask?

I'm glad you did. We are here because I didn't work today, Wendover, Nevada holds no attraction as an escape, and Vegas is too far away.

This morning we made our way out to the boonies and paid our fees to shoot at the Oregon Trail Shooting Club. Mrs. Utah is bad, bad news with our compact Glock 26. Once again she has proven a better shot with a pistol originally intended for me.

I elected to take one of my Mosin carbines, a beautiful model 91/59 I picked up a few years ago. This weekend marks the third time I've had this one out. I shot about thirty rounds offhand, mostly mixed lot old milsurp light ball, and then moved to a bench after my groups started to show I was getting tired.

The groups tightened nicely from the bench. I was shooting across the top of my range bag at my fifty yard target the same time as Mrs. Tmj was shooting to my left. Her target was out at fifteen yards to start and later moved out to twenty five. She shot scary good; sight radius on a 26 is about as long as that of a derringer and she was still putting all the rounds inside a twelve inch bullseye at the close target and almost all of them at the twenty five yard range.

This is the unscripted weekend. As we shot, we chatted back and forth. We have a lot to catch up on with my work taking up so much of our time. I had just finished complimenting her on her marksmanship when I turned and buckled down to dump another bullet into the black...sights lined up, target on the post, finger sliding down to caress the trigger, stop breathing, begin to squee...

*clonk*

I own and shoot a lot of military surplus weapons in many different calibers. I've had production lots of surplus ammo where every second round was a dud and every third was a true one-second hangfire. (Pakistani production .303 Mk VII headstamped early sixties. Useless stuff.) This morning I'd already noticed some cracked necks and one spectacular split on one of my spent brass cases.

So a misfire, possibly a hangfire, I thought. Wait for a solid thirty seconds, keeping the muzzle aimed at the target. I turned my head to explain to Mrs. Utah what I was up to at the same time I gently worked the bolt to extract the bad round. I was too vigorous and the "dead" round flipped over the edge of the table before I could catch it. No biggie - I'd police it up with the spent stuff later.

I broke the rules right there. Did you see it?

I went to return the bolt to battery on top of the next round. The bolt refused to seat. I immediately executed Mosin Sticky Bolt Immediate Action and slapped the crap out of the bolt trying to get it down. I could slap it forward where it just started to rotate down, but there it hung. So I pulled the bolt back, this time catching the good round before it could get away. I inspected the open bolt and the face of the chamber that I could see. There appeared to be some soot or lube build up on the mating surfaces so I pulled a q-tip out and made a few passes around the radius of the chamber face. Then I initiated another round of Immediate Action, actually getting the bolt to drop a few degrees. I stood up to get better leverage and then had a thought. I pulled the bolt out of the rifle, then dropped the floorplate and emptied the last two rounds from the magazine.

I stepped over to the side of the table where I'd lost the "dud" round and inspected the ground. Twenty or so spent cases... but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see a bullet anywhere on any of those cases.

I picked up the rifle and looked through the breech up the bore... into blackness. The primer detonation (clonk) had pushed the 147gr steel core bullet out of the empty copper washed steel case ALMOST far enough for me to chamber another round behind it.

We searched through the empty cases on the ground and found, indeed, one case that didn't have soot in the neck, but just a patina of corrosion with red specks from the primer material.

If you have a misfire on the range - anywhere out of combat, actually - you must wait safely for a hangfire (fifteen seconds in some books, I believe in thirty myself) and then open the action and inspect the bullet AND the bore.

If I'd been a little more committed to trying to close that bolt you wouldn't be reading this. Or if the squib bullet had been a sixteenth of an inch deeper into the bore, as well. Mosins are widely acclaimed for being a weapon that often requires a highly physical manner of operation. They aren't acclaimed at all for surviving a shot taken with the bore plugged by a squib bullet.



It's all a test. Study, learn, and live.

(UPDATE 2100 08/23) Here is a picture showing (left to right) a normal fired case, the case that had no powder, and the bullet I punched out of the bore:

Spur Of The Moment

(UPDATED: Expletives deleted. I apologize for letting my tiredness make me lazy.)

Howdy. Busy as heck, hair on fire, no time for anything like following current events.

I spent my Sunday off not thinking of work, though, so I eventually had to spend fifteen or twenty minutes looking at news.

Our money comes out of what is left of our stock market portfolio next week.

If you were a president bent on destroying the constitution you were elected to protect, wouldn't it be wise to remove Congress at some point? Even given the fact that the hockey helmet and rubber spoon political class as exemplified by Pelosi and Reid is temporarily an asset (in a sad and twisted way) for The Won in that they make Obama appear a tad less incompetent and terrifying than he is, really, at some point it will be necessary for them to ... go away.

What's the no go point for keeping them around? I'd expect it would be failing to pass cap and trade; health care is programmed too far out to do more than exacerbate the catastrophe inherent in cap and trade.

Were I a Senator or a Rep, I'd make it a point to keep lots of the administration's people in the Capitol building during business hours. Shucks, it's not like there's not enough Czars to fill all the hearing rooms twice over, right?


What a world we live in.

Passi It On

The following excerpt is from a recent essay posted by Cobb:

"What I do believe we all should be involved in no matter what our background is the principle and practice of advanced civility. What America lacks is a firm sense of practical decorum. The proper way of doing things is in doubt. We haven't completely forgotten our manners, but we've seen them beat down so many times that we think they don't matter any more. And it has practically destroyed our ability to communicate trust and strong love in public."

I was raised a "yes ma'am/sir" kind of guy, and I am still that way.

I am an anachronism, even here in Milk Toast Valley, Utah.

Civility is the lubricant of civilization. We are running rather more than a quart low. Without the common sense and respect inherent in even minimal form or simple good manners, the machine develops a fine, almost subliminal whining we hear at speed. Without attention, that whine will soon become a knock, then a grind, then a last violent crunch... then silence.

It's a great essay. Enjoy.

Great Scott!

Forget politics for second, okay?

There are TWO Mosin Nagant M91/30 retired PU snipers in Utah county.

One, a 1943 Tula with good rifling and a wartime stock, is at Gunnies in Orem and is going for around a $110.00. The other is up at the American Fork Big5 and is a very nice 1944 Izhevsk with even better rifling and a very smooth bolt. Big5 has upped their prices quite a bit, and even on sale this rifle will be above a hundred dollars.

Well... okay, some politics:


This morning I took the Goddesses up to Tibble Fork reservoir for a few hours of fishing and then some gold panning.

No bites, one speck of gold, and a vote on whether or not to go camping next weekend was passed unanimously.

Have a fine week.

Fire Them. All of Them.

I expect 2010 to be the last mostly free and fair election I'll see.

The case laid out in this article closely coincides with my own conclusions as to the origins of the ongoing collapse of our economy.

It is important to remember that the hackery committed by Congress over the last thirty years transcended party lines. The mortgage bubble popped when it did because the government didn't have complete control over the books; the racket was too public/private to be maintained.

The coming failures of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare will be as bad or worse. Possibly much worse, because millions of Americans still have what is left of their retirement in the market (read this) , which isn't close to bottoming out yet.

All a lot of us will have to look forward to is Social Security. Which won't be there at all.

If we let the wrecking crew execute their 2010 strategy and effectively replace the FEC with ACORN, we'll all know what card check really means.

But we have the power to save ourselves. The first step is to vote out any sitting representative or senator. First or fifteenth term, it does not matter. They know that it's about getting elected FIRST... which is why they - both sides of the aisle - are actively working to destroying our election system or are turning away and saying nothing.

America is under attack. We have pulled the trigger on ourselves.

In A Nutshell

Behold the new paradigm:

"U.S. officials claimed that a tough stance toward Iran could backfire, bringing about an opposite outcome to that desired by those who support such measures."


The above statement is all you need to know about the new American diplomacy. It is the distillation of the deepest wish behind all the puppet heads, all the unwashed and incoherent chant leaders, and all the apologia for American exceptionalism these last decades. Moral relativism and narrow political calculation has replaced objective national interest as the philosophical guide of American foreign policy.

Now we will look toward properly credentialed progressive ideologues to support at the expense of democratically elected governments or traditional allies. We will negotiate with the most repressive dictators if doing so gives time for consolidating domestic political power.

We have elected a government filled with a majority that views individual liberty as an obstacle, not the reason for their offices.


I liked Ronnie better:

"If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly. We see around us today the marks of our terrible dilemma--predictions of doomsday, antinuclear demonstrations, an arms race in which the West must, for its own protection, be an unwilling participant. At the same time we see totalitarian forces in the world who seek subversion and conflict around the globe to further their barbarous assault on the human spirit. What, then, is our course? Must civilization perish in a hail of fiery atoms? Must freedom wither in a quiet, deadening accommodation with totalitarian evil?"

and

" The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities, which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.

This is not cultural imperialism; it is providing the means for genuine self-determination and protection for diversity. Democracy already flourishes in countries with very different cultures and historical experiences. It would be cultural condescension, or worse, to say that any people prefer dictatorship to democracy. Who would voluntarily choose not to have the right to vote, decide to purchase government propaganda handouts instead of independent newspapers, prefer government to worker-controlled unions, opt for land to be owned by the state instead of those who till it, want government repression of religious liberty, a single political party instead of a free choice, a rigid cultural orthodoxy instead of democratic tolerance and diversity?"


In this same speech, Mr. Reagan pointed out that the resilience of the free individual was not something to be taken lightly:

"I've often wondered about the shyness of some of us in the West about standing for these ideals that have done so much to ease the plight of man and the hardships of our imperfect world. This reluctance to use those vast resources at our command reminds me of the elderly lady whose home was bombed in the blitz. As the rescuers moved about, they found a bottle of brandy she'd stored behind the staircase, which was all that was left standing. And since she was barely conscious, one of the workers pulled the cork to give her a taste of it. She came around immediately and said, "Here now -- there now, put it back. That's for emergencies."

On this Independence Day 2009 do not be dismayed. Proudly fly your flag. Go watch a parade, or attend a Tea Party. Burn some burgers. But do not become consumed by anger, nor pessimism. This freedom we celebrate today sprang not from the right government, but from the people, and we will not let it disappear from this nation.

Barak Obama may have big dreams, but this isn't 1917 and he surely is no Lenin.

God bless America, and keep her strong and free. And God bless you and yours, too.

You have a fine day.

Cannon firing in Cherry Hill Park sometime after three today.

Only Few Are Called

I see the Washington Post tried to conduct a revenue stream enhancement strategy.

They forgot to dress for success. (Fast forward to 2:40 if you can stand it.)

We live in the Age of The Won!

Well, the world will turn.

I'm off until Monday. Today I am taking a friend up above Tibble Fork Reservoir for some gold panning and maybe some fishing. That means chores need to get done toot sweet, so you have a fine day and a better tomorrow.

The Team will be burning some powder in Cherry Hill Park tomorrow afternoon, probably after five o'clock.

On The Road

Tomorrow we are off to Maryland, south of D.C., for a weekender family reunion.

Back on Tuesday.

Have a fine one.

Iran Policy Evolution

Last week, when the first rumbles of unrest began to spread in the wake of the Iranian clown show our media chose to call an "election", the President of the United States voted present.

By Monday last, The Won had seen the poll numbers and came out with a Strong Statement. He even got some props from traditionally conservative folks, too, I hear.

If Barry stays true to script, I guess Thursday we'll get a riff right out of "The Untouchables"...

"I want him DEAD! His family DEAD!"

Then he'll bounce a basketball off a reporter's head and talk some hoop smack. Or something.

Rhetoric aside, The One has let stand the invite to Iranian diplomats for a friendly Fourth of July picnic. I always say there's nothing like a good steak and a cold drink after you get done cleaning your rifle and having a prisoner wash the dried blood off your boots. If Mousavi calls ahead, I'm sure the Leader of the Free World will make sure the embassies clear a primo parking space for the Iranian Diplomatic Ryder Truck.

In other news... my company has been awarded the contract to build the north office tower that will go on top of the parking garage we are halfway done building. I give humble thanks that I will have a job that much longer.

Links shamelessly lifted via Instapundit, American Digest, Weasel Zippers, and Hot Air.

Comment

I left this at Protein Wisdom:

"Finding yourself on the side of a road in a driving rain really, REALLY wishing you had a spare tire is nothing compared to the feeling you get when it becomes “Damn, really could use a basement full of Mosin Nagants and a bunch of bullets right NOW”….

… because when you figure out you really need a weapon, it’s generally too late to begin your waiting period."

I recommend the thread. It's all quite good.

Who Knew?

Lincoln was right:

" As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

In other news:

"The bond market is calling the Federal Reserve out," said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst at Weiss Research Inc. in Jupiter, Fla. "Investors are saying that the Fed can't just print money out of thin air to finance a massive deficit."

I've read history my whole life. Which means that empires' ends are kind of a known quantity.

I never expected to watch it happen from my living room.

Bonus (via neoneocon)

In the week just passed I ran into two former coworkers, a boss from a decade ago, a couple I met through AA back in 2000 or so, and the couple that ran the day care our daughters went to beginning in 1992. All totally random. And all asking "what's next??" somewhere in the conversation.

Wish I knew.

More Required Reading

Found via American Digest:

" Communists are now nationalists – or national socialists – who have embraced capitalist means in order to achieve the end of capitalism. They do not admit to being Marxists, full of resentment against “that eminent distinction” that “really is distinction.” They call themselves democrats. They win elections under various false flags. They participate the in the process of leveling on their own terms. "

In other news -

On day one of my three days off for Memorial Day, I crushed my left middle toe by allowing an extension ladder to collapse on it.

It sucks getting old. I broke safety protocol first by attempting to collapse the ladder while it was vertical, then compounded my error by pulling both left and right locks at the same time. I had enough time, as the extended section whistled down, to think "I'll pay for this". If I still had reflexes would have more usefully extracted foot from impact area...

I spent Saturday night on the sofa with my foot iced and elevated. This morning the digit was a shade of dark purple more usually seen on Roman cloaks, so off to Critical Care for an xray. Radiologist said broken, doc said badly bruised.

Tomorrow... don't know. Going to bed in half an hour. Will figure out tomorrow when it gets here.

It will just be another day in the age of the One. And me, still waiting for my rocket car. Fishing maybe. More likely run across the lake and burn some powder.

Never pester the radiologist. Diagnosis is not her job.

Required Reading

From Belomont Club, best comment I've seen on a blog in years:

"The Fed is an independent entity. It is a network of 12 Regional Federal Reserve banks. The Presidents of these Regional Fed banks are chosen by an independent board of directors. Each Regional Fed bank is owned by member banks, but the board is controlled by non-bankers (6 non-bankers, 3 bankers).

This means that the control of the Fed banks is in the hands of private citizens, and not Congress. Each President works for their respective board, which hires and fires them.

Some folks complain about this arrangement, but it has saved our bacon, IMHO. This independence has allowed the Fed to act without having to go to Congress or the White House for permission. This keeps its OODA loop tight, and helps shelter it from partisan political fights. Its independence has also allowed the US dollar to be the world’s reserve currency.

But here’s things get sticky. The Obama Administration is proposing the most dramatic expansion of Federal spending in history. Trillions of dollars will be added to the Federal Debt during the next 3-4 years, and if they pass healthcare reform, it will get even worse. In addition, by increasing marginal tax rates, economic growth will slow, and growth is the only way we can eventually pay off the debt we have accumulated."

It's all good.

In other news, I had a clinic day at the range on Saturday. I believe that the M91/59 Mosin carbine probably represents the cream of the crop as far as mechanical condition is concerned among that vast ocean of old Russian bolties floating around out there. It would appear that the Commies converted their best 91/30's into the 59's.

I will have the holiday weekend off. I'm trying to get the Goddesses out for a fishing day, but their social calendars are probably already booked. If it's not fishing I'll ask a couple of friends out to Tibble Fork to go fishing and maybe even gold panning.

We are going great guns on my project. Scary fast, some have said. We are going to run out of mud in about two months at the rate we are going, then there will be nowhere to go but up.

Warning Order

I'd like to be upbeat, but I just don't have the will.

Today I see that defining Chrysler's advertising budget has become a presidential duty.


That suddenly Mr. Obama understands what a shit tsunami would accompany releasing more Abu Ghraib photos; what looked like an easy sop to his vicious, anti-American base turns out to carry a cost he declines to pay.

In financial circles, the sucker's rally continues as congress continues to explore yet more ways to tax individuals and businesses.

Just how great a tax burden they will hammer us with is a mystery. What is absolutely certain is that they will continue to shield their own from any annoying questions about ethics.


Here at the home of Utah we are doubling emergency cash on hand at the house, refilling prescriptions out to three months, and have decided to double our garden area. I don't know when I'll find time to tend it properly but I think that come fall we'll be glad we grew our own this year...


What a joke we have become.

Won't be anybody laughing by August, I'm thinking.

Day Of Rest

I just finished watching a couple of episodes of 'Firefly' with Mrs. Utah. Damn, the good die too young, don't they?

We watched 'Serenity' earlier in the week.

In it, the captain utters one of the greatest lines in Hollywood history:

"I aim to misbehave."

Think I'll get that on a smallish sticker for the rear window of my Dakota.


Shooting tomorrow morning. I'm taking a Mosin out across the lake and am going to shoot jugs until I get tired. Then it will be home for yard work until it's time for Mrs. Utah's famous Sunday Night Spaghetti Feast. Now with TWO kinds of homemade bread!

I hope you have a fine week. Comrade. Because now we ALL are comrades...

But I aim to misbehave a bit, myself...

I Wonder

Working closer to sixty than seventy hours a week now. I've arrived at a state where the macro of maintaining horizontal and vertical control over a city block's worth of parking structure is routine. Not that familiarity has bred anything close to contempt, of course. Far, far from it.

I still cannot prevent myself from listening to radio instead of cycling through my CD's on the commute. With radio comes network news and commercials.

The news talks about our communist president and imperial congress as if they were just the same old stripe of politicians. The commercials are going... well, going green. And going collectivist as well. Lots of PSA's talking about "doing our part" "helping the recovery". The aim is to appeal to community, but the execution is just damned sad and wrong.

My tax dollars paid for them. If I close my eyes I can here the script of 1984.

Or maybe THX1138.

I cannot talk politics with my family. But I can post links like this on the off chance somebody who knows me may wander through and perhaps follow it. There really is nothing to talk about. Nothing I could change. We could change.

I think it's time I bought a grain mill and several vac pacs of hard red wheat.

Depression is a bitch. I will grab a random stack of CD's off the shelf and put them in the truck tonight.

The fifth different surveying outfit to pass through my job has confirmed my control network and adopted my coordinate system. Funny how it all comes down to thousandths of a foot each time. "Close enough" is the goal. Nice that "close" in this case is damn near nuts on.

Back in the hole tomorrow.

(Link via American Digest)

Party On

I went to the Salt Lake City Tea Party at the Federal building. This location happens to be across the street from the hole in which I work.

I estimate minimum seven hundred people. The venue was not all that large, but it was packed. Speakers included the President of the Utah chapter of the Eagle Forum, Rep. Jason Chafetz (freshman, we kicked Cannon out last election), AG Shurtleff, Rep. Rod Bishop. I don't know if any elected Democrat spoke but I was only able to stay for a short half hour. All the speakers I heard made a point of the non-partisan nature of the Tea Party movement. Many passing cars honked in response to signs asking them to honk if they are taxed too much; many thumbs up.

I’ve got to get a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag for the yard; I’ll fly it alongside the Colors on holidays for the next little while.

The protesters were overwhelmingly working and family people and many kids were present. One goober did show wearing a Glock on a duty belt and cammie trousers bloused into Doc Marten boots. His tshirt said something about “combat training team nine” and I overheard him stating that Utah was an open carry state. He was ignored by everybody, including two uniformed cops. One guy on the periphery wore an Obama mask and had a Soviet flag on his shoulders. He danced around whenever a camera got close.

I leave my ball cap in my truck when I get to work in the morning. You have to be wearing your badge, hard hat, safety glasses, and vest to get into my site. So I stood hatless in the rain and listened to the speeches until the rain turned to snow. The crowd was growing larger when I had to leave.

No paper machet heads were hurt in this protest, and we didn’t even kick in the Starbuck’s windows.