Wednesday - August 20, 2008

XXX Gun Pron

Outstanding little video of the latest helicopter mounted Gatling gun. What makes it extra special for me is that this thing is built by Dillon Aero, the same company that makes my Dillon reloading press. High quality stuff.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 12:07 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
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Resignation of Pervez Musharraf leaves US policy in a vacuum.  (Some serious reading here)

SO, WHERE EXACTLY DOES THIS LEAVE US?  ANY GUESSES?

The resignation of Pakistan’s resident, Pervez Musharraf, has left a void in US-Pakistani relations at a critical time when Western security officials claim that al-Qaeda has rebuilt its sanctuary on the country’s border with Afghanistan.

By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a hospital in a northwestern Pakistani town that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least 23 people. Five soldiers and 13 Taliban militants were killed in the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Relations with Pakistan and the US got off to a rocky start after the Sept 11 attacks Richard Armitage, the then US deputy secretary of state, forced Mr Musharraf to reverse his country’s pro-Taliban policy.

With typical bravado, Mr Musharraf later remarked of America’s stance: “It goes against the grain of a soldier not to be able to tell anyone giving him an ultimatum to go forth and multiply, or words to that effect.”

Mr Musharraf’s tone underscored the frustration, resentment and distrust that characterise the two allies’ relationship.

But the two countries’ partnership, however flawed, delivered to America limited access to Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the arrest of some leading al-Qaeda members.

A senior Western military official based in the capital, Islamabad, said that the alliance had also helped to foster deeper links with the current Pakistan’s senior military command, in particular, the army chief, Gen Ashfaq Kiyani.

But Mr Musharraf failed to galvanise popular support for the ‘war on terror’ and is suspected of allowing military intelligence to play a double game by maintaining covert support for jihadis and the Taliban.

If true, it has been a ruthlessly cynical policy as Pakistan has sacrificed nearly 2,000 soldiers and paramilitaries fighting in its tribal areas.

The former president most probably harboured a belief commonly-held among Pakistan’s top brass: that America’s anti-terror policy is insincere and is mainly a mask for its strategic regional designs.

The New York Times quoted a senior White House official in a report yesterday who regretted that the US had “stuck with Mr. Musharraf for too long and developed few other relationships in Pakistan to fall back on”.

It cited other senior American officials expressing concern over “the durability of new controls over Pakistan’s nuclear program” and doubts over Gen Kiyani’s commitment to prosecuting the war.

The US will continue its fraught relationship with Pakistan’s military but it will have to forge a new one with its civilian coalition government.

Hussain Haqqani, now Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, was one of the lobbyists who attempted to sell America the idea of “democracy as counter-insurgency”.

His argument was that a popularly elected government will be able to win support for counter-terrorism operations more effectively.

Mr Haqqani also claimed that a civilian government would have less incentive than the military to prolong the “war on terror” as it would not receive billions in military aid.

However, the coalition government has so far proven itself incapable of governing as its two main partners been engrossed in horse-trading and bickering.

After taking power in March, the government tried to use negotiations instead of force to end violence across the country which over the past several years has killed thousands of Pakistanis.

The negotiations brought a lull in violence but also raised concern among allies and in Afghanistan that the talks would only give militants breathing space to regroup and organise cross-border attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan.

“While the two sides wrangle in the full glare of the media, two critical issues are likely to fall by the wayside. The first has to do with bread and butter issues the second has to do with the war on terror which concerns America and the Pakistan Army,” said Najam Sethi, a political analyst and newspaper editor.

“This is an unpopular war. That is why the Army and Mr Musharraf quickly handed over its “ownership to the civilians shortly after the government was formed. I don’t think Mr Zardari will have the time or the inclination to articulate an anti-terror policy that satisfies America,” he added.

Referring to increasing US missile strikes in the tribal areas, Mr Sethi said that the US will probably take further unilateral action on Pakistani soil “regardless of its blowback on Mr Zardari.” Ends

http://tinyurl.com/6rp7nu

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 09:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • War On Terror •  
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Barack Obama’s ‘lost’ half brother found in Kenya.

the story is here, the photo is at the link.
Hey, ya think maybe ....  Coming soon to a neighborhood near you?
Is this old news already back home in states?  We just got it this morning.

Senator Barack Obama’s long lost brother has been tracked down for the first time living in a shanty town in Kenya, reports claimed.
By Nick Pisa in Rome
Last Updated: 1:51PM BST 20 Aug 2008

George Hussein Onyango Obama, Senator Barack Obama’s long lost brother was tracked down living in a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi Photo: Guy Calaf, Vanity Fair, Italy The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut in a ramshackle town of Huruma on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Mr Obama, 26, the youngest of the presidential candidate’s half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender.

“No-one knows who I am,” he told the magazine, before claiming: “I live here on less than a dollar a month.”

According to Italy’s Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack is decorated with football posters of the Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter, as well as a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world.

Vanity Fair also noted that he had a front page newspaper picture of his famous brother - born of the same father as him, Barack Hussein Obama, but to a different mother, named only as Jael.

He told the magazine: “I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist.”

Embarrassed by his penury, he said that he does not does not mention his famous half-brother in conversation.

“If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed,” he said.

For ten years George Obama lived rough. However he now hopes to try to sort his life out by starting a course at a local technical college.

He has only met his famous older brother twice - once when he was just five and the last time in 2006 when Senator Obama was on a tour of East Africa and visited Nairobi.

The Illinois senator mentions his brother in his autobiography, describing him in just one passing paragraph as a “beautiful boy with a rounded head”.

Of their second meeting, George Obama said: “It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger.”

George added he was no longer in contact with his mother and said:"I have had to learn to live and take what I need.

“Huruma is a tough place, last January during the elections there was rioting and six people were hacked to death. The police don’t even arrest you they just shoot you.

(well good damn it. it makes for cleaner and safer streets. wish ours could do that to “peace” demonstrators.)

”I have seen two of my friends killed. I have scars from defending myself with my fists. I am good with my fists.”

http://tinyurl.com/5gubz6

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 08:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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French paratroopers killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.

It really is quite difficult, speaking for myself here, to crack wise with French jokes.  Sure, we have issues. I’m still PO’d after all this time, that their govt. wouldn’t allow air space to our guys flying on a mission to strike Lybia.  I do understand why they did it, I just don’t agree that it was the good thing and it cost us one of ours. So I don’t forget things like that.  But things like this make me think that not all and maybe not even the majority are SMs.  Anyway, some of em died horribly as you will read here.  I also think they’re frightened tho I have no personal knowledge, of the large numbers of life forms who belong FIRST to the ROP and maybe only second to France.  Maybe.

France suffered its biggest loss of life on the battlefield in 25 years when 10 paratroopers were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.

By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 9:57PM BST 19 Aug 2008

French troops on patrol with the Nato-led forces in Afghanistan. President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to the country yesterday after 10 paratroopers died in battle Photo: EPA

Another 21 soldiers were injured and 13 Taliban fighters killed during the ensuing battle in the Sarobi district, 30 miles east of Kabul, which began on Monday afternoon.

France, which has more than 1,500 personnel in the country and has promised 700 more later this year.

The scale of the casualities prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy to fly to Afghanistan immediately to visit the wounded and speak to military commanders.

“In its fight against terrorism, France has been dealt a harsh blow,” said Mr Sarkozy as he prepared to board a plane to Kabul from Paris.

“I acknowledge with respect and emotion the courage of these men, who fulfilled their duty to the point of the supreme sacrifice.

“My determination is intact. France is determined to pursue the struggle against terrorism, for democracy, and freedom.”
The 8th Infantry Parachute Regiment was on a joint reconnaissance mission with the Afghan army when they were ambushed.

After an initial three hour gun battle, shooting continued sporadically overnight.

Around 100 Taliban fighters were involved, and a spokesman for the group later claimed they had destroyed five armoured personnel carriers using land mines in an area known as a militant stronghold.

Rocket launchers and machine guns were also used against the French, who responded by calling in air strikes by Nato warplanes.

At one point in the two-day battle four of the French soldiers, all part of a Nato force, are believed to have been captured before being killed.

The latest deaths will mean France has so far lost 24 service personnel during Operation Enduring Freedom, the campaign to rid Afghanistan of terrorist insurgents.

This compares to 116 British fatalities since the US-led invasion in 2001, 574 Americans and 89 Canadians among 40 countries operating in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

The French losses underscore Mr Sarkozy’s effort to reverse the perception that his country is not doing enough to assist its Nato allies.

Farnce withdrew its special forces soldiers previously deployed in the country after taking high casualties. Some of their dead were reported to have been skinned alive after being captured.

(This isn’t the first time I have read or heard about this kind of atrocity committed by these sub-humans in that country. Apparently it’s the done thing against those seen as the enemy. I do not envy any troops of any nationality fighting this scum.  They and their rop are the cancer eating away the planet.)

The latest attack was the deadliest against international troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 Americans were killed in Kunar province when their helicopter was shot down.

The battle on Monday was the bloodiest for the French army since a 1983 bombing in Lebanon in which 58 French paratroopers were killed.

http://tinyurl.com/5zycrn

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 08:09 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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Nato offers scant comfort for Georgia over conflict with Russia.  (watch the video guys)

How this is being covered over on this side of the pond.

Major divisions opened up between Nato members as European countries rejected an American proposal to suspend ties with Russia over its actions in Georgia.

By Adrian Blomfield in Tbilisi
Last Updated: 7:55AM BST 20 Aug 2008

The differences at an emergency summit in Brussels offered scant comfort for Georgia, which had hoped that its bid for Nato membership would be expedited.

While the alliance agreed to create a Nato-Georgia Commission which will support the country’s economic recovery, there was no mention of speeding up the membership process.

The summit was expected to present a united front against what Western countries say has been an act of unconscionable aggression against an important ally.

The United States had called for a formal suspension of ministerial meetings with Moscow by Nato countries, but European members made clear they favoured a much milder approach.

Even Britain, which has been broadly supportive of Washington’s robust condemnation of the Kremlin, chose to side with the Europeans in rejecting a proposal to freeze the Nato-Russia council, established in 2002 to boost relations between Moscow and the West.

“I am not one that believes that isolating Russia is the right answer to its misdemeanours,” said David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary.

“I think the right answer is hard-headed dialogue.”

Mr Miliband arrived in Georgia later to express Britain’s support for the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

He lashed out at Russia for reneging on three separate pledges to withdraw from Georgia and missing a new deadline of noon on Monday to pull out, describing the Kremlin’s recalcitrance as “incomprehensible”.

“The world is asking Russia to live up to its commitments.”

Mr Miliband warned that the pressure on Russia would grow as it continued to defy international consensus and hinted that Moscow’s presence in international forums like the G8 was at risk.

But the foreign secretary denied that Nato had been too soft, claiming that it had been a major step to get all 26 countries, including those traditionally more supportive of Russia, to speak with one voice.

“People expected that there would be a flaking away on issues like Georgia’s territorial integrity but there hasn’t,” he said. “There hasn’t been an old Europe-new Europe divide.”

Mr Saakashvili praised both the foreign secretary and David Cameron, the leader of the opposition, for “setting the tone” in Europe with their robust support for Georgia.

With France and Germany, heavily dependent on Russian energy, urging caution and Italy broadly supporting the Kremlin’s actions, Nato issued a watered down statement expressing “grave concern”.

It told Russia that meetings could not take place while its troops remained in Georgia and said that relations could be damaged if a pull-out did not begin quickly.

“The Alliance is considering seriously the implications of Russia’s actions for the Nato-Russian relationship,” the statement read. “We have determined that we cannot continue with business as usual.”

The meeting prompted a mixture of scorn and outrage in Moscow, which continued to defy international calls for a full military withdrawal from Georgia.

Russia’s ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, derided the summit as a “mountain that gave birth to a mouse”.

“All of these threats that have been raining down on Russia turned out to be empty words,” he said.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, accused Nato of protecting a “criminal regime”.

Russia also pulled out of a Nato exercise in the Baltic Sea and cancelled a visit by a US naval frigate to the Kamchatka peninsula.

Some progress in alleviating the crisis was briefly visible after Georgia and Russia completed a prisoner-swap yesterday morning.

But an hour later, Russian troops smashed their way into the port of Poti, on Georgia’s Black Sea post. After blowing up the missile boat Dioskuria, the Georgian navy’s most sophisticated vessel, the Russians seized 21 Georgian servicemen and took them prisoner.

Blinded and handcuffed, the soldiers were then dragged to an unknown location. They also confiscated four American Humvees, used in a recent military exercise in Georgia, that were awaiting shipment back to the United States.

There was little visible evidence that a Russian withdrawal was underway, although officials in Moscow said it was and western correspondents were invited to see a small convoy of military vehicles leave the strategically important town of Gori.

But nearby, Russian soldiers continued to build trenches and in other towns there were no signs of a drawdown of forces.

Mr Lavrov, however, said that Russian troops could be pulled out of Georgia within three days although other officials refused to give a time frame.

The UN Security Council was due to meet to discuss a new draft resolution calling for respect of Georgia’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

http://tinyurl.com/6qdzz5

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 04:20 AM   
Filed Under: • International • UK • War-Stories •  
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Manslaughter trial halted after juror investigates case himself.

This really quite out of the ordinary. Bizarre I’d say. Don’t quite know what to make of it. Do you?
What sort of stuff did this would be Columbo turn up that the public should not know.  ??  Kinda leaves thing up in the air.
But this isn’t a job for a juror to take up anyway. Screws up the process, doesn’t it?  Couldn’t resist filing this under “Outsourcing” as well.

A manslaughter trial was halted at a cost of £60,000 to the taxpayer because a juror took it upon himself to conduct his own investigations into the case.
By Paul Stokes
Last Updated: 12:45AM BST 20 Aug 2008

Raymond Quigley died of a heart attack during a struggle over a fare Photo: PA The middle-aged man visited the scene of the alleged crime to carry out measurements and take his own photographs.

He also studied forensic techniques through the internet before sharing his findings with the 11 other jurors in their canteen.

His do-it-yourself detective activities were revealed after he sent a list of 37 questions to the judge at Newcastle Crown Court after more than a week of the trial.

The note contained information which neither the prosecution nor defence counsel had introduced as evidence in court.

It enquired if there were any clues to be found from mobile telephone records and banks statements.

The man also asked for information about the baggy skateboard clothing of the 18-year-old defendant Dale Patterson and whether the jury could hear the audiotape of the police interview of a prosecution witness.

Judge David Hodson responded by questioning the juror who admitted he had carried out his own research to get a “feel for the case”.

It caused the trial to be abandoned and the jury panel discharged from reaching a verdict.

The estimated cost of the case to the public is more than £60,000, excluding additional legal fees for defence and prosecution lawyers.

Mr Patterson was standing trial over the death of Raymond Quigley, 72, a taxi driver, who suffered a fatal heart attack during a struggle over a fare.

He denied manslaughter and making off without payment after a journey from Newcastle to his home city of Sunderland last September.

The prosecution claimed he was trying to dodge the fare and Mr Quigley’s death resulted from the exertion of trying to restrain him.

Two further witnesses were due to be called by the Crown when the jury was discharged on Monday.

But the prosecution opted to offer no evidence against Mr Patterson after the judge ruled its case was “fatally flawed”.

The decision to record formal not guilty verdicts was based on legal submissions on whether to proceed with a re-trial and not the actions of the sleuthing juror.

Robert Smith QC, defending, said: “The public should not draw any conclusion as a result of this case adverse to Mr Quigley in anyway.”

Mr Quigley’s widow Dorothy, 69, said she had been left with a sense of injustice.

She said: “It was very upsetting when the jury got dismissed. It was dreadful. Unfortunately we were not allowed, nor was anyone else, to give testimony to Ray’s excellent character in court in case it denied Dale Patterson a fair trial. Is this justice?”

http://tinyurl.com/5ehon3

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 03:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Outsourcing •  
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   Tuesday - August 19, 2008

Summer Bowling League Is Over

We went into the night in 4th, battling it out with the 3rd place team. They were 3 points up on us and about 370 total pins ahead. It wasn’t a scratch match but almost one; we got 20 pins handicap. We almost never get a handicap in this league, so hurrah!

The lanes were really hard tonight. Very heavy and long. Nobody could get any ball action in the first game. We pretty much switched to throwing straight balls, and took the first game by 145. Big win! And we had a great time. The other team is 4 older guys who have been bowling for a couple of centuries. Each, I think. They’re loud and rude and playful and have a great time, which is how it ought to be. You can’t have a stinky mood when you bowl with them. They had one guy out who had prebowled, as did we. By the end of the first game the six of us who were there had managed to push the oil around enough so that we could get a little traction and throw properly. And I mean a little. Very little. I spent the whole night 3 feet back and 1 to 2 boards in, throwing 2 boards to the right just to try and slow it down and find some dry. That seemed to work. Even my spaz-ball reverse screwball throw wasn’t doing anything. Nothing. So I went low and slow with major hand and started my approach from the parking lot. Well, at least that’s how it felt.

Their pre-bowler logged a 244 for the 2nd game, about 80 over average. That’s a huge lead to overcome, but I tried. I spared in the 1st and 2nd frames, then found a good spot and stuck to it like glue. Strike after strike, 6 in a row, no open frames ... and I managed a 233. Everyone’s bowling was better in game 2, but theirs was a bit better than ours, so we lost it by 75 when they pulled an 837. At that point it was all over. They had the lock on 3rd place and we all knew it. But they didn’t just goof off from there. No, these guys are real bowlers and, though they have lots of fun, they don’t dick about.

After trailing behind for the first 6 frames we got the 3rd game by about 40. We also took total wood, so we wound up with 5 points. We started the night with 55 points against their 58, so it wound up that we each had 60 points, but they still had the scratch pins total so 3rd place was theirs. They earned it fair and square, so that’s all well and good.

I should have played the average/over average/high game pot; my 233 would have won me $10. Hey, $10 is $10! But I played the Strike Ball, and the Pin Girl, who is back serving beer and has quit her job pole dancing in a bar because it was “great tips but so gross” pulled my ticket. I hit the strike in the 7th frame and won $26. Woo hoo!! I’ve known her since she was 18. Turns out she didn’t even know my name. Doesn’t it suck being old?

When we were done we had to wait for the other teams. Team “The Winers” was pulling another miracle with a come from behind rush against Chix and Dix for 1st place. They were down 5 points going in, won the first 2 games, but by halfway through the 10th frame of the 3rd game were still behind a little. Pam turkeyed out in the 10th on a spare in the 9th, bringing the scores really close. Their last bowler went X 9 / on an open, but the Chix and Dix guy flubbed it with a 9 / 7, and The Winers became The Winners. Last bowler, last game, last frame. By 2 pins. It was that close. Cool. They won last year too.

I didn’t get the high scratch game award. Don’t ask me why, since my name was up on the standings page tonight, but Ed F., who was on the team we played tonight, got the prize for a 279 game. Beats me; he didn’t throw any 279 tonight. Oh well. a 279 is almost perfect bowling: all strikes except for one spare. When all was said and done, we collected our prize money - a whopping big $35 per person for our team - finished off the beer and went home, secure that our record of winning 3 beer frames in a 12 week season was good until next year.

Phew, I need a vacation from bowling. I get 5 days. Winter league starts Monday night. Oh wait, my new balls finally came in, so I have to go in for a fitting to get them drilled. And the Saturday Night league kickoff meeting is this Saturday. Ok, looks like only 3 days vaycay. And it’s going to be a loooong year; I won’t have another week without league until around this time next year.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2008 at 10:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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More .45-60 Blogging

Click each picture in this post to open up a much bigger version in a new window.

Part 1:A Fun Little Gun Project.
Part 2:The Two Cent Machine Shop.

Well the “2¢ Machine Shop” didn’t quite work out. I set everything up on the drill press, put in a case and started filing away at it. Just about no brass was trimmed off. I only had to take 4 or 5 thousandths of an inch. You would think you could do that with ease. I used a medium rough mill file. I used a fine triangular file. I even tried using a sharp cold chisel. Result? Almost nothing. Well, why not? Um, maybe because the pennies and the epoxy underneath them are too thick? Hmm, possible; let’s try it again with some dimes. I know that dimes are a bit too thin, so maybe with a layer of glue they’ll come out right. So I tried that one. That didn’t work either. Ok, I got some brass to come off, but it didn’t seem to be enough. No matter how hard I pushed down, or how much I kept the files moving so they wouldn’t clog up, I still wound up with rims over 0.062” thick. And I wanted 0.057”, or at least under 0.060”. So this “male” solution wasn’t doing it. Let’s try a “female” solution: instead of some spacers protruding up, lets cut a channel down. And so I did. And at first it seemed to work. But then it didn’t. The pine wood was getting a cartridge case head sized dent spun into it. So let’s try a harder wood ... here’s a nice piece of red oak. And let’s cut a precision edge this time, using a router table adjustable down to under 0.001”. Cool! Massive power tools are so much fun to play with!

But that didn’t work either. AGGRAVATION!!!! The spinning cases, which were really only just contacting the wood jigs, kept spinning a dent down into the surface. Finally I surrendered and got out some stainless steel feeler gauges and put them underneath. Hey, stainless steel. Harder than brass, right? Shouldn’t wear at all. Shouldn’t allow the cases to keep cutting a dent. And they should bring the case heads up a precise amount! Problem solved? Like hell. They didn’t do diddly. Even when I used a feeler gauge several times thicker than what should have done the job, I still could not get the brass to thin down hardly at all.

Ok, this isn’t entirely true. I did manage to thin several cases with each tool’s implementation. But after just a couple cases the tools wouldn’t work any more. And that was really frustrating. And I do not know why this happened. So, between using a tool, filing down some case heads, the tools ceasing to work, going “huh??”, designing a new tool, building it ... lather rinse, repeat ... more than a full day went by. Finally I just threw up my hands and quit.

But an hour or so later I was back. Son of a bitch, I could do each case by hand in about 2 minutes and had done so. So I went back to that. Mount the case in the sizing die, with the sizing die in a high speed hand drill. Hold the file and the case head in one hand while the other hand works the drill trigger. Veerrrrrreeemm! When the brass got too hot to touch I let it cool. And each case took about 2 minutes. Son of a Beach. And they all came out right about at 0.057-0.061”. Dubble Beach! Of course, they weren’t pretty. The file jumps around a bit and scratches the case walls sometimes. But these should be good enough for now.

Next step was shortening the length of them. I drilled a 1/2” hole in a block of wood, and sanded it down until it gave me the proper thickness for the length of the body of the cases. Next I pressed a case in from the back, and buzzed it up against a sanding disk. This took the brass down in a flash. In hindsight, I should have mounted a steel fender washer to the front of the block, as the block got a little sanded off during “production” and a couple cases came up a bit short. No biggy really, but that would be a smarter tool. For next time. If there is a next time!

Final trimming and cleanup was done back here on my case trimmer, and with the aid of an oversize chamfering tool. The little chamferer that everyone has is just barely up to cases that are 0.480” wide at the mouths. Better to use the big one that’s designed for the .50 BMG. These gizmos last several lifetimes. A couple of gentle spins in some 0000 steel wool cleans up the ends real nice so they don’t snag anything. Like bullets. Or scratch expensive rifles as they go through the loading mechanism. To that end, I also softened the edge of the rim with a sharpening stone, but I didn’t get a picture. I only have so many hands you know! You want to do this, because the milled brass edge is quite sharp. See the band-aid on my finger in the picture? Guess why! I think it’s time to just Man Up and find somebody with a small precision lathe.

Now it’s off to the doc to see if each and every case fits. Then it’s time to figure out some loads from my small selection of gun powders. Ha, just teasing. I’ve got 3 good ones figured out already. Save that for the next post.

Yeah, in theory the .45-60 is a bottleneck cartridge. That’s because it was built to shoot .454” diameter bullets. But the new Uberti seems to be made to shoot .458” bullets. We’ll verify that one too before loading up any ammo. That’s an easy but frightening process. Oil up the barrel and them hammer a soft lead bullet all the way through it. I’ve got a 7/16” steel rod that’s perfect for the job. Bashing away at a chunk of steel in a $1000 rifle. Yup, frightening. 

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2008 at 03:35 PM   
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •  
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still alive

I know, I know. Just one post since last Thursday. Sorry. I’ve got a big photo essay on the .45-60 coming up. I have to take 3 or 4 more pics to finish it, but I’m waiting for the camera batteries to recharge. It didn’t go as planned, but it did go. With any luck I can even get a range report out by Thursday night.

Last night of summer bowling league tonight. We’re in the run off for the 3rd-4th place slots, but we’re down by 3 points, 55-58. Even if we take 5 the other team is up on wood by a few hundred, so we have to win it all tonight to seal 3rd place. No pressure. Yeah right! Good news is that the 5th place team has 52 points, and they get to play with a much smaller handicap tonight then when we play them. So we’ll see. But if we screw the pooch and get 0 and they take at least 4, then we’re right back to 5th again. So we’ll do our best.

I’m job hunting again. Two or three possible leads, have to see who calls me back. I need something, and with fall approaching the outdoor work loses it’s appeal. Come winter I want a nice warm office somewhere, thank you.

Friggin Obama is going to announce his VP choice later this week. The talking heads on the news will NOT shut up about it, as this is their last chance to push push push push push for Hitlery as VP. Dream on idiots. Ain’t gonna happen. Even that idiot isn’t that stupid. OTOH, let’s see if she can steal the nomination at their convention. That would be fun. Even if she fails, just the attempt will add loads of drama, and guarantee a McCain victory. Nothing like a power grab for totally pissing off half the dem base. I can hardly wait!

Pat Buchanan blames the US for starting Cold War II in his latest piece on the Georgian battle. While there is a small grain of truth in there, he’s an idiot. If the countries that broke away from the Soviet Union had wanted to live under Communism, they would have stayed part of the CCCP. Duh. And that the US supported these emerging democracies ... gosh Pat, that’s what we do. “Rather a grave than a slave” for all you John Irving readers, right? And just because we helped train their army doesn’t mean Washington was pushing Saakashvili to go beat up on one of his troubled counties. But the Russians shouldn’t have had people there in the first place, they should have tried for a diplomatic solution in the second place, and it was a dirty deal issuing the people there passports and having your army on the other side of the hill ahead of time in the third place.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2008 at 12:35 PM   
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‘It’s either you or your bags… because the plane’s too heavy’.

Holidaymakers told: ‘It’s either you or your bags… because the plane’s too heavy’

By Paul Sims
Last updated at 5:18 PM on 19th August 2008

Like any holidaymakers they were simply looking forward to a relaxing break in the sun.

But for the 151 passengers sat on board the Crete-bound flight excitement soon turned to despair.

Moments before they were due to take-off on a three-hour journey they were issued with an extraordinary ultimatum.

Due to a lack of fuel on the plane and the resulting need to reduce weight the captain ordered them: ‘It’s either you or your bags.’

John and Sandra Kendall were told the aircraft was too heavy and that half of them would have to stay behind, or their bags would have to instead.

They were told that there was only enough fuel to take 70 passengers and the luggage.

With no one prepared to leave the flight they were then informed that the last remaining alternative was to leave the baggage on the tarmac.

‘It totally spoiled our holiday,’ said Sandra Kendall, 53. ‘The stewardess said we were about to take off, but first they had to make an announcement.

‘She said that not all the bags could go with us and that people would have to volunteer to get off the plane.

‘We could either all fly without luggage, fly with less fuel and refuel in Verona, or 70 people could stay behind and the rest of us fly with luggage.

‘No one wanted to get off so there was chaos.’

The passengers were then asked to leave the plane and return to the departure lounge whilst the pilot took instructions from his superiors.

‘They decided we could all fly and the luggage would be sent on another flight,’ added Mrs Kendall, a school kitchen assistant who was flying with her husband John.

After a four delay they finally flew out at 1am from Newcastle Airport to begin their holiday.

But their misery didn’t end there.

When the couple arrived in Crete the luggage was nowhere to be seen. Three days later, having spent hundreds on new clothes and toiletries, the first of two finally showed up.

The couple then had to wait a further 24 hours for their second and final suitcase to appear.

‘Some people had medication and money in their cases, it was ridiculous,’ said Mrs Kendall.

‘We just can’t believe it took four hours to sort out.

‘If they had just said from the start when we checked in that we could fly but our bags would be going separately, it might not have been so bad.’

She added: ‘We’ve been going to the same resort for 15 years but we’ve never had anything like this before.’

The couple paid over £1,000 for their two-week holiday and, like the other passengers, checked in as normal for the 9.40pm flight on August 1.

But only after they boarded the plane were they given the ultimatum. After a tense stand-off lasting four hours the plane finally took off.

‘It was half one in the morning by this point and everyone was fed up, and children were crying,’ said Mrs Kendall, from Forest Hall, North Tyneside.

They booked their holiday through Kosmar Holidays which chartered a flight with Viking Airlines, a Swedish company which operates flights to and from Greece.

Neither companies were available to comment.

http://tinyurl.com/6rbq4c

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2008 at 12:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Dollar surge will not stop America feeling the effects of a global crunch.

Hold on ter yer ats me buckeroos. We’re in fer a bumpy ride.

Not that I really fully understand all this stuff to be honest.  I have to have it explained to me half the time.  So ok, 3/4s of the time.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 11:07pm BST 17/08/2008

Two alerts landed on my desk this weekend from the elite markets team at Goldman Sachs. One was entitled “The Dollar Has Bottomed!”. Those betting on an imminent disintegration of American economic and political power may have to wait another cycle. Rival hegemons are falling like ninepins.

The US dollar index hit an all-time low in March. It crept slowly upwards in the early summer before smashing through layers of resistance over the past month.

The surge against sterling, the euro, the Swiss franc and the Australian dollar is one of the most spectacular currency shifts in half a century. “Something fundamental has changed,” said the bank. Indeed.

US industry is now super-competitive, if small. Mid East funds are drawing up shopping lists of Wall Street takeover targets. Airbus and Volkswagen are shifting plant to America to escape crushing labour costs.

US exports have risen 22pc over the past year, outstripping Chinese growth. The US non-oil trade deficit has shrunk by two fifths since 2002. It is now running at $300bn a year. This is 2.1pc of GDP.

The other note advised clients to “Take Profit on Globalization Basket”, especially on Eastern Europe currencies. Goldman Sachs has quietly dropped its talk of $200 oil. Even Russia’s petro-rouble is now deemed suspect.

The twin missives more or less sum up the dramatic change in mood sweeping financial markets since it became evident that the entire bloc of rich OECD countries has succumbed to the delayed effects of the credit crisis.

Japan contracted by 0.6pc in the second quarter, Germany by 0.5pc, France and Italy by 0.3pc. Spain recalled the cabinet last week for an emergency summit. New Zealand and Denmark are in recession. Iceland contracted at a catastrophic 3.7pc in the second quarter.

“The whole decoupling thesis has started to come apart at the seams,” said David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC. “Canada is frozen over. We have Arctic conditions in Sweden, and the UK is falling off the white cliffs of Dover.”

The UK economy is not my brief, but I see that hedge funds are circulating a report from the US guru Jeremy Grantham predicting a very bad end to Gordon Brown’s debt experiment.

“The UK housing event is probably second only to the Japanese 1990 land bubble in the Real Estate Bubble Hall of Fame. UK house prices could easily decline 50pc from the peak, and at that lower level they would still be higher than they were in 1997 as a multiple of income,” he said.

“If prices go all the way back to trend, and history says that is extremely likely, then the UK financial system will need some serious bail-outs and the global ripples will be substantial.”

For months the exchange markets ignored this impending train crash, just as they ignored the property bust in Europe’s Latin Bloc, or the little detail that UBS alone had just lost the equivalent of 8pc of Switzerland’s GDP. All they cared about in the currency pits was the interest rate gap: US low, Europe high.

Now the paradigm has flipped. The Fed may have been right after all to slash rates to 2pc. The European Central Bank may have panicked by tightening in July. Note that the elder Swiss National Bank did not do anything so rash.

Bulls now believe America is turning the corner. Financial stocks are up 20pc since early July. Some “monoline” bond insurers have risen 1,200pc in a month as fears of Götterdämmerung give way to sheer intoxicating relief, and a “short-squeeze”. Such are bear-trap rallies.

Regrettably, I remain beset by gloom. The US fiscal stimulus package that kept spending afloat in the second quarter is running out fast. There is nothing yet to replace it. The export boom cannot keep adding juice as the global crunch hits. My fear is that the US will tip into a second, deeper leg of the downturn, setting off a wave of savage job cuts. This will start to feel more like a real depression.

The futures market is pricing a 33pc fall in US house prices from peak to trough, based on the Case-Shiller index. Banks have not come close to writing off implied losses on this scale.

Daniel Alpert from Westwood Capital predicts that a mere 28pc fall would alone lead to a $5.4 trillion haircut in US household wealth, and leave lenders nursing $1.25 trillion in losses. So far they have confessed to less than $500bn.

Meredith Whitney, the Oppenheimer’s bank Cassandra, predicts a gruesome 40pc fall in prices. If so, expect prime borrowers facing negative equity to start throwing in the towel en masse. “I do not think we are near the end of writedowns. I continue to see capital levels going lower, and stocks going lower,” she said.

So no, this painful ordeal is far from over. We are not witnessing a dollar rally so much as a collapse in European and commodity currencies. The race to the bottom has begun in earnest.

http://tinyurl.com/5fnwpz

OK so should I be buying dollars or pounds?  Hey ... you watch this.  Any slump and the Qs (QQQQ) drop, right?  BUY and hold till the next earning season and sell.  I think.  Buy hi and sell lo. No, that doesn’t look right. There a tax advantage in that?
Been one of those days today. All day long. Puter problems and lightheaded from the searches and the pounding on keys. Might help if I actually knew what I was doing.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/19/2008 at 11:32 AM   
Filed Under: • Big Business • Economics •  
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   Monday - August 18, 2008

They are heartily sick of the direction that Britain is taking .

A large number of Brits have had it and don’t want to take it anymore.  I hope the folks in USA will take a look at this site.  Who knows, maybe there’s hope after all.  I sure hope so and yeah, I am gonna send em the £7.50 ($15) soon as I’ve posted this.  I won’t hold my breath though because the loonies have gone on so long and so many have just accepted it as business as usual, that it’s very hard for me to get overly xcited.  Like, remember Ross Perot?
That was the last time I thought there might have been hope in politics.  I was wrong but had lots of good company.

Now then, here is where and how I found this very interesting site.  In the Telegraph today.
This is just a very small part of his editorial comment but I really hope you you click on the link and read the whole thing.

Senseless red tape leaves society poorer
By Philip Johnston
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 18/08/2008

Over the past week, the cavaliers must have fulminated mightily as eye-popping stupidities arrived more swiftly than a rain shower across a West Country beach: the soldier in full battle dress just back from Iraq thrown off a train because he had forgotten his pass; the wheelie bin that the council refused to collect because it was too far from the kerb; the former police officer arrested when he sought to detain some hooligans; the health and safety rules that have brought to an end a 150-year tradition of winding the town hall clock; the couple refused postal delivery because of “risky” steps to their house; the criminal-records checks needed for work-experience mentors. Would any of these things have happened 30 years, even 20 years ago?

What most infuriates people are the disproportionate requirements placed upon them by the state when all they seek to do is to help others and contribute to their communities. The ludicrous impositions placed on volunteers by the new Independent Safeguarding Authority were well documented in a letter on this page from Roger Howard.

He identified 14 different requirements, ranging from an equal opportunities policy to the establishment of a disciplinary procedure merely to qualify for £300 of funding in order to run a small community care group. Mr Howard hit the nail on the head when he wrote: “I do not think that the Government has any idea of the impact its recent legislation will have on volunteer groups.”

http://tinyurl.com/66dytv

Who Are The Laughing Cavaliers?
The Laughing Cavaliers are a group of like minded individuals, ordinary men and women, who are heartily sick of the direction that Britain is taking and who seek to bring together other men and women from all walks of life who share their views, to turn the spotlight on those things which make life miserable for all of us and to change them.

The Laughing Cavalier movement is intended as an antidote to the puritanical attitude of the roundheads who are trying to make our lives a misery (and largely succeeding). The movement will give you a chance to hit back when you have been unfairly treated by roundheads.

There are far too many governmental organisations, local authorities, unelected bodies, self appointed, smug, self righteous groups of single issue zealots trying to tell us what to do, what not to do and lecturing us constantly. They are uniformly depressing and we mean to do something about it.

They love their country, its traditions, its ingenuity, its kindness and its tolerance and they make absolutely no apology for so doing. (This must be the only country in the world whose political and cultural elite, along with some of the Commentariat, seems to despise such a stance). They want to protect what is good from those Roundheads, who would seek to destroy all these things.

They prefer to retain their anonymity, as can all contributors to the Forums.  The vindictive and vengeful nature of some of those bodies who may find themselves criticised by our contributors is well known. A certain amount of anonymity is therefore necessary, they feel. How sad that they have to say this in Britain but it is now so and is indicative of the power that some state funded institutions have taken to themselves. This is one of the very Stasi like attitudes that they seek to question.

They are of no importance themselves anyway. It is you, the contributors and the sponsors of polls and petitions, who are the drivers behind this movement.

They will not normally contribute to forums. They will however make various entries in the “Comments” section where contributions from Members on matters of the moment will also be considered for inclusion.

They do pay particular respect to those ladies and gentlemen of the press who are doing such a marvellous job, in many cases, in exposing wrongdoing, idiocy and arrogance by those who would be our masters and they would encourage these journalists to watch this site regularly for fresh incidences of bureaucracy gone mad as reported by contributors.

http://tinyurl.com/66bu9o

Posted by Drew458     on 08/18/2008 at 12:07 PM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • Nanny State • UK •  
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IGNORANCE LIES BEHIND OUR HOSTILITY TO AMERICA.

British anti-Americanism ‘based on misconceptions’
British attitudes towards the United States are governed by ignorance of the facts on key issues such as crime, health care and foreign policy, according to a new survey.

By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 1:54PM BST 18 Aug 2008

Most of those surveyed believe the US sold over a quarter of Saddam’s arsenal to him
A poll of nearly 2,000 Britons by YouGov/PHI found that 70 per cent of respondents incorrectly said it was true that the US had done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000. More than 50 per cent presumed that polygamy was legal in the US, when it is illegal in all 50 states.

The poll was commissioned by America In The World , an independent pressure group that launches on Monday and aims to improve understanding and appreciation of the US in Britain and around the world.

Tim Montgomerie, its director, said factual inaccuracies and mistaken assumptions have contributed to Britons and Europeans taking a hostile stance towards their most powerful ally, which often acted against national interests.

“We wanted to find out how British people understood America and found that there was an unbalanced view. Maybe there are good reasons but if we cleared a lot of that factual ignorance we would have a better understanding of what America really is,” said Mr Montgomerie, who also founded the influential ConservativeHome website three years ago.

The survey showed that a majority agreed with the false statement that since the Second World War the US had more often sided with non-Muslims when they had come into conflict with Muslims. In fact in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the US has sided with the former group. Those conflicts included Turkey and Greece, Bosnia and Yugoslavia, and and Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

Asked if it was true that “from 1973 to 1990 the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons,” 80 per cent of British respondents said yes. However the US sold just 0.46 per cent of Saddam’s arsenal to him, compared to Russia’s 57 per cent, France’s 13 per cent and China’s 12 per cent.

“Ideas get around. Perhaps it’s that old picture of Donald Rumsfeld with Saddam,” suggested Mr Montgomerie, whose website includes a petition against anti-Americanism.

“Hollywood and all its violence has something to do with it, and the awful Bush diplomacy,” he added.

Almost a third of Britons believe that “Americans who have not paid their hospitals fees or insurance premiums are not entitled to emergency medical care”; by law such treatment must be provided.

More than half the respondents believed that polygamy is legal in some US states, while it is illegal in all US states.

Most Britons were unaware of positive aspects of the US, such as the robust environmental movement or the social justice work of evangelical churches, he said.

Apart from US-bashing being a favourite topic around European dinner tables, it has serious affects on national policy.

The controversial missile defence shield in eastern Europe might have happened sooner with a more favourable climate, while public opinion helped Turkey’s leaders deny the Americans an invasion route into Iraq from its territory, aiding the northward flight of elements of the Saddam regime.

http://tinyurl.com/5lvjjn

Posted by Drew458     on 08/18/2008 at 11:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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Burglar in underpants ‘just wanted to do his laundry’.  (just had to post this one for fun)

Burglar in underpants ‘just wanted to do his laundry’
A burglar who broke into a woman’s home in order to do his laundry fled in his underpants after being disturbed half way through the wash.

By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 12:43PM BST 18 Aug 2008

The break-in was discovered after the woman returned home to find clothes covered in bleach strewn across her basement laundry room.

Unaware that the intruder was still on the premises, the woman from Wichita, Kansas went upstairs to call her husband.

While she was on the phone, the burglar, dressed only in a pair of blue boxers, darted out of the basement, grabbed her purse, and fled.

The woman chased the intruder and managed to grab back bag her purse. On returning to the basement, she found the man’s trousers and belt in her washing machine.

Police believe the man broke in through the basement window after deciding that his clothes needed washing.

The suspect, who police describe as a 5ft 9in white man in his 30s, with light-coloured hair, is still on the run.

http://tinyurl.com/5b8pdo

Posted by Drew458     on 08/18/2008 at 11:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Humor • UK •  
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