A Just Day
To-day I went out to the range to try out dad's old .357 magnum revolver and the full-power military surplus ammunition for the Mauser KAR98 belonging to my erstwhile colleague Professor Massa that I'm keeping for him. It was quite a trip. I put .38 Specials and .357s through the revolver, which can only be fired left-handed. I managed to hit the target nonetheless, and found that the .357s provided a very satisfactory kick. The Mauser, despite its higher power, was more to my liking this time. I must confess I hate the Mauser action, which cocks its hammer on the opening stroke of the bolt. I prefer the Lee action that cocks the hammer on the forward stroke, using the natural tendency of using force to seat the bullet properly.
However, the rifle handled well, and delivered solid hitting power at 100 yards. My sighting is much improved thanks to the excellent game "Brothers in Arms," where I use the KAR 98 to deliver accurate fire. In fact, my only complaint on this otherwise-satisfactory session was the 90+ degree weather at the range.
When I returned home, I was doubly surprised (and pleasantly so) by electronic means. First, I saw on my mail that my custom rifle is inbound as of Monday. It promises to bring much evil and desolation to wherever I choose to lug it. The other news is that certain parties who were greatly angered by the Kelo v. New London case have announced plans to construct the "Lost Liberty Hotel" over the current home of Supreme Court Justice Souter, who wrote the odious majority opinion in that case. To make it even more sweet, this group intends to use his eminent domain ruling against him and evict him forcibly from his own house! To boot, their restaurant is called the "Just Desserts Café." How sweet can revenge get?
I also see that the Blogosphere has turned out, Left and Right, to oppose the FEC's proposal to regulate individual political speech by bloggers under the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform act. Kos of Daily Kos is the superstar witness. It's good to see bipartisan opposition to this issue. It's better to have ersatz coalitions of political opponents than no politics at all.
Things are not faring so well in Progressive Britain. Parliament has passed the National ID Card Act. However, it seems costs associated with the plan are soaring. The suggested maximum, £100 per person (at current rates, $181.63 US), is apparently insufficient to fund the measure. Clearly there has to be a way to pay it off. The solution? Ministers might be planning to sell personal information for £750 a pop. I've yet to see further confirmation on this, but HMG has denied these charges. This opens the question that if the government steals your identity, who will prosecute them? The answer is, of course, nobody. We cannot depend on paper barriers set up by bureaucrats to protect us. We must prevent them from gaining the ability to abuse their power at all. That is infinitely more effective than rules that they set out for themselves and later change.
However, the rifle handled well, and delivered solid hitting power at 100 yards. My sighting is much improved thanks to the excellent game "Brothers in Arms," where I use the KAR 98 to deliver accurate fire. In fact, my only complaint on this otherwise-satisfactory session was the 90+ degree weather at the range.
When I returned home, I was doubly surprised (and pleasantly so) by electronic means. First, I saw on my mail that my custom rifle is inbound as of Monday. It promises to bring much evil and desolation to wherever I choose to lug it. The other news is that certain parties who were greatly angered by the Kelo v. New London case have announced plans to construct the "Lost Liberty Hotel" over the current home of Supreme Court Justice Souter, who wrote the odious majority opinion in that case. To make it even more sweet, this group intends to use his eminent domain ruling against him and evict him forcibly from his own house! To boot, their restaurant is called the "Just Desserts Café." How sweet can revenge get?
I also see that the Blogosphere has turned out, Left and Right, to oppose the FEC's proposal to regulate individual political speech by bloggers under the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform act. Kos of Daily Kos is the superstar witness. It's good to see bipartisan opposition to this issue. It's better to have ersatz coalitions of political opponents than no politics at all.
Things are not faring so well in Progressive Britain. Parliament has passed the National ID Card Act. However, it seems costs associated with the plan are soaring. The suggested maximum, £100 per person (at current rates, $181.63 US), is apparently insufficient to fund the measure. Clearly there has to be a way to pay it off. The solution? Ministers might be planning to sell personal information for £750 a pop. I've yet to see further confirmation on this, but HMG has denied these charges. This opens the question that if the government steals your identity, who will prosecute them? The answer is, of course, nobody. We cannot depend on paper barriers set up by bureaucrats to protect us. We must prevent them from gaining the ability to abuse their power at all. That is infinitely more effective than rules that they set out for themselves and later change.
posted by The Admiral at 9:15 PM
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