Friday - March 19, 2010
We The People
H/T: Free Republic
No further comment required.
Posted by Christopher
on 03/19/2010 at 06:38 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Patriotism •
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Permalink • Friday - March 12, 2010
Airsoft Update: A Post For B3
Consider this the final update to my original post on the subject. I would have called this story over and done with nearly a week ago, but the pro-gun side of the internet leads the rest of the digital world by several days on these kind of stories, and the digital world leads the MSM by an equal or even greater amount. So like a bad penny, this one keeps turning up. Let’s put it to sleep forever then, if we can.
Note: To be fair to reader B3 he did come around to agree that the current toy gun receiver under question was sufficiently different from a real one that a functional weapon could be based on it. But he didn’t have one of the original versions of the toy gun receiver and had to posit that the design could have changed. Has it? I don’t know. Were the seized toys of that “original” design? I don’t know. I do know that design changes take some time to put in place, especially when your manufacturer is overseas.
Quoth B3:
I do not have an original WE receiver that I can compare to, as the first version of the gun was really buggy and didn’t work very good at all. However, unlike real steel, Airsoft can change on a dime by changing the castings for the upper and lower. And it appears that if they are off in size from the RS major components, they have changed.
So, I will stand corrected, the current version of the WE M4 is NOT dimensionally equal to a real steel M4 or AR rifle system. And is as dimensionally in-accurate as other airsoft replicas available.
So this post is for B3, but NOT to bring him to task. No way; he did the RIGHT thing passing along what he’d heard, and he’s the man on the inside of the Airsoft game world. But for those other folks out there - that means YOU BATFE - here is the email chain I’ve had going with the Airsplat company and pics of their attempts to make one of the WE M4 toy gun receivers mate up with real AR-15 gun parts. It doesn’t work.
Gosh, but what about modifying them, wouldn’t that do it? Looks like a big NO to me. There isn’t enough metal on the toy receiver to re-drill the holes without leaving a mess. You’d have to weld on or glue on extra plates on the outside, which would then force you to build your own longer pins. And moving the pins, especially the rear one, could cause all sorts of interference internally. The magazine catch isn’t right either, nor do the internal areas line up for use with the real gun’s internal parts. You’d have to do a tremendous amount of very careful fabrication - casting, welding, machining - just to make that happen. And in the end you MIGHT get things to function - you might NOT is more likely - but the toy gun’s metal is of such low quality - compared to a real firearm!! - that it would likely break.
And that is the big rub about this whole story. The toy gun parts look like the real ones, but they aren’t usable for actual firearms. And it would take tremendous amounts of work by a fully equipped precision machinist to make the necessary modifications, if that is even possible. (and one willing to knowingly skirt the law!) And after all that, on the slight chance you could do all that, you’d still have a dangerously weak receiver. So BATFE’s claim that the toy parts can be “easily modified” for fully automatic fire seems to be rather false. Nearly the same amount of work would be required to mill a real one out of proper bar stock in the first place. So why bother?
Now, let’s lay this one to rest. The modification can’t be done easily. It can’t be done safely. It probably can’t be done at all, even by a skilled professional. These things are toys, not actual firearms parts.
And a big thanks to Airsplat for giving it the old college try, and then some. I edited the emails down to the core concepts, thus the [snip][snip][snip] stuff.
From: Drew458
To: airsplat.com
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 8:31 AM
Subject: corporate response wanted on ATF seizure
Dear AirSplat
News item: ATF seizes shipment of Airsoft toy guns imported from Taiwan , says they can be easily converted to fully automatic lethal weapons.
[snip]
This claim by the ATF seems preposterous, but if your toys are made from parts that are fundamentally identical then they may have a valid point. Even if only AR15 parts can be fit to it, devices like the Lightning Link can be used to allow full-auto fire.
Just how close to real life are your parts?
From: AirSplat
To: Drew458
Sent: Thursday, March 4, 2010, 10:00 PM
Subject: RE: corporate response wanted on ATF seizure
Drew,
It’s great to hear from you about this. We’ve actually been following this for quite some time now. And seen many of the articles and blogs posting about it.
[snip]
We did catch word of the possible usage of it being so realistic that it could be modified to fire real bullets. One version we heard was that a real steal upper could be used with this lower. So, just out of curiosity, several personnel here brought in several of their AR’s to work to test with.
[snip]
Synopsis: It doesn’t work.
From: Drew458
To: airsplat
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 9:22 AM
Subject: RE: corporate response wanted on ATF seizure
Again, my thanks for your great response. I posted your letter and gave you kudos for your research and good business decisions. Unfortunately I have a reader who says it can be done with the one particular model of receiver. [snip]
From: AirSplat
To: Drew458
Sent: Monday, March 8, 2010, 6:19 PM
Subject: RE: corporate response wanted on ATF seizure
Drew,
I have to say, I’m surprised to hear someone saying they are so confident it’s possible. [snip] Fair enough, [snip] we will take it upon ourselves to do so, just to prove a point or just to humor everyone.
I’ll have one of the techs pull out the sample and some people to bring in their guns and we’ll take some pictures for you. Keep you posted!
From: AirSplat
To: Drew458
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010, 1:44 PM
Subject: RE: corporate response wanted on ATF seizure
Drew,
Here are the images.
In general, you’ll notice many parts including upper and lower all seem very close to the naked eye. But on closer examination you’ll see the lower is 1/8” shorter, the upper doesn’t even fit on the lower, the pins are different sizes, lots of minor changes that are really noticeable, but when put side by side, become blatantly obvious.
Hope this helps. Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.
AirSplat.com
More pics below the fold if you still aren’t convinced yet.
Posted by Drew458
on 03/12/2010 at 02:14 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control • Jack Booted Thugs •
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Permalink • Government Departments Arming Themselves
Department of Education Buying MORE Shotguns
Why do they need more? Why do they have any to begin with? By what authority do they arm themselves? Why do they need short barreled weapons?
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14” - PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT - XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID - 14” LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
The required date of delivery is March 22, 2010.
If the workers at the DOE feel the need for armed protection, hire some guards. Or borrow some Marines. And why would they need armed protection in the first place?
h/t to Moonbattery, who also noted late last year that the EPA is buying 9mm Glock pistols
Haven’t these dummies heard that government is a gun-free zone?
Posted by Drew458
on 03/12/2010 at 11:55 AM
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control •
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Permalink • Friday - March 05, 2010
Something to make everyone feel good.
My last for the day ... upstairs with a book (old technology).
Thought I’d leave you with this feel good video.yukyukyuk
Posted by peiper
on 03/05/2010 at 01:49 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Humor • Miscellaneous •
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Permalink • BATF Seizure and Airsoft Update
See, that wasn’t so hard. A little bit of citizen journalism: politely ask the people and the company involved a couple questions and get some answers. I wonder why the MSM didn’t do that with this story? Could it be that they were just looking for a bit of sensationalism?
Drew,
It’s great to hear from you about this. We’ve actually been following this for quite some time now. And seen many of the articles and blogs posting about it.
Just as a disclaimer, we do not carry this model because of the possible risk involved with importing it. We believe there’s plenty of money to be made in other ways. However, having said that, we have had a reasonable amount of experience with this model that was seized.
Before deciding not to carry this model we did have a few samples. We did catch word of the possible usage of it being so realistic that it could be modified to fire real bullets. One version we heard was that a real steal upper could be used with this lower. So, just out of curiosity, several personnel here brought in several of their AR’s to work to test with. We made several observations; I’ll start with general ones and move to more specific.
First off, the lower half although made of a metal, is really only made out of cast metal. This is a low quality nickel alloy that really can’t take much abuse. We really doubt it could take any of the abuse needed. Although true a majority of the stress is on the upper, but even the buffer tube takes a good amount of stress from the recoil. Most likely the rear of the frame would break and fly off if a round was hypothetically able to be fired.
Second, the top of a real AR does not fit the lower. We tested this on several different makes and models, none of which fit. The 2 pins were located in different locations and just off about 1/2”; enough so that you couldn’t drill another hole there in place of the original without the 2 overlapping and becoming one big hole. Not only that, but the top half wouldn’t even close down onto the lower, even with the lower gutted and emptied out.
Third, the magazine lock was not located in the same position as the real magazine. It was about 1/4” higher. We’ll have a short video of another M4 that we took a real steal M4 magazine and it would not fit in. It’s part of our weekly you tube videos. And this one happened to be about another M4. It will be published tomorrow, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/AirSplatcom
But even more so, for this gun in specific, the mag well, was about 1/4” narrower than the magazine, so even if you could re-notch it, the magazine would have to make it 1/4” slimmer to fit in. This is only true with the model that was seized. In airsoft, we’re only making replicas, we’re not making makeshift fire arms, so manufacturers really have no standard as to what size they make the magazines or mag wells for that matter. So in the video it’s 1/4’” wider than a real M4 mag. But for this gun it’s 1/4” slimmer.
Fourth, I won’t go too much into the trigger / hammer assembly. Mainly because this is just completely different, it’s not even close to be compatible and I don’t think anyone has gone so far as to say it would be compatible. But I would like to mention that the trigger assembly in the real AR’s we compared to this rifle, were completely different, and it’s highly unlikely that they would somehow fit in, even with major milling and reworking.
These 4 points cover one concern where a real upper is used with this lower.
However, in this specific seizure, if I understand it correctly is stating that the guns as is, even without a real upper, could be modified to chamber and fire a real bullet. Which in this case, I have to say is case is absolutely impossible. The barrel isn’t the right size, there’s no where to “chamber” a round. There’s no hammer / pin to strike the bullet. It’s completely impossible without a complete rework and replacement of the entire internals and barrel, not to mention redoing the entire lower and upper to house these new or modified internals. Making a gun out of paper would probably be more effective and faster, although look less appealing to the eye.
Sorry, I think I ended up writing an essay for you. There are some distributors in the industry that send every one of their airsoft guns to ATF first before they import. Hence, if you ask the ATF HQ, they most likely know that airsoft guns, couldn’t possible be have any sort of these ramifications that are being implied and stated in this seizure.
But sometimes eating your own words is very hard. Sometimes it’s easier to stay the path!
We’ll be sure to continue following your blog, please feel free to let us know if you have any questions. You have a great blog. Feel free to let us know if you’re looking for any support or help. Thanks.
AirSplat.com
I guess that settles it. The parts don’t fit close enough, and even if you could make them fit via a whole lot of modification, they would not hold up to the stresses of firing real ammunition. And we have a corporation, the major player in this field, investigating things on their own and arriving at that conclusion. Sounds like responsible action to me. And even though they disproved this rumor to their own satisfaction, they decided not to run with this model just in case. Because rumors can turn into hassles for business, even when they are utterly untrue. Who needs that? They are even taking it one step further, putting out a video that shows it can’t be done. Just to help squash the rumor. Nice move.
So now the ball is squarely in the BATF’s court: make it work. Get out the hand tools and have at it. Prove your case on both points: that not only is such a modification possible and that a reliable firearm is the result, that it can be done is reasonable time by laymen with only reasonable tools and skills. Otherwise they’ve only hammered a new hobnail into the soles of their jackboots, and managed to give themselves both a black eye and a sore thumb at the same time. And they’ll owe the importer an apology, some sort of certificate of approval, the cost of the materials seized, and some amount of payment for the inconvenience. I’d say court costs too, but there shouldn’t be any; the BATF should be doing the right thing, right now, WITHOUT any pressure from the courts or any legal injunction. Otherwise they ARE a bunch of ham handed jackbooted thugs with an agenda.
And that’s all I have to say about that. Except to tell our overseas readers that ATF and BATF and BATFE are the same folks. The federal government’s Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms enforcement agency renamed themselves the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. So they have a new acronym, but WTP - We The People - continue to call them whatever we want. Which is often unprintable. And now you see why.
Small Update: Reader B3 is big into Airsoft, and he says it CAN be done. See his comment in the original post. So I guess it comes down to Show Me. I’m looking forward to AirSplat’s video, but like OJ “trying” to put on the bloody glove, I will have to view it with a bit of skepticism until B3, the ATF, or somebody can either put out a video that shows that the conversion works, or publish an official paper detailing how it was done in front of recognized experts. Perhaps all that is needed is a diagram that shows the measurements of the “toy” receiver vs. the real one? Mmmm ... no. Even if it was one for one, as B3 says, I’d want to see proof at the firing range, although I realize that isn’t strictly necessary from the ATF’s perspective. The receiver is the part on this rifle that is designated as the actual firearm, so all they really need to show is that the real parts can fit on and that, with a bit of work, pulling the trigger releases the hammer enough to fire the primer on a chambered blank round. Anything more than that is a parts quality issue, which is not germane here.
Update the II: I think this is a situation where we need government. Not for willy-nilly arbitrary enforcement of “it’s wrong because I say so” feelings, but to act as a fair arbitrator in setting up standards that everyone can live with. Somewhere there has to be a line between what is a toy, what qualifies as a BB gun, what is a replica, and what is a real firearm. That line may have to be drawn right down to the individual components, or at least the receivers. But without such a standard and the widespread awareness of it, problems will continue to occur. If such standards already exist - and I bet they do! - then it’s merely a matter of getting the word out; better awareness should alleviate situations like this one. It is not fair to expect customs agents to have the level of expertise required here to tell the toys from the real things, right down to the individual parts level. They have plenty of other things to do. But parts for toys or replicas could be shipped with some kind of label or certificate that says “meets government standard XYZ.123” and a look at the stuff, a quick check of the rules book, and a measurement or two would be enough. Especially since labeling real firearms receivers as toys would be a form of smuggling!
Posted by Drew458
on 03/05/2010 at 10:09 AM
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control • Jack Booted Thugs •
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Permalink • Thursday - March 04, 2010
Thinking It Through First
Seriously, it is. Build this out of the proper material and insert it into the mechanism of a certain semi-automatic rifle made with the proper model of bolt, and you will have a fully automatic weapon. The parts only last 1000 rounds or so before needing to be rebent, but they do work.
One key thing about Eugene Stoner’s little wondergun is that almost all the stresses of firing are contained by the upper. That part of the gun has the barrel, the bolt, the breech, the gas tube, and the recoil system. The lower can be, and has been, made from plastic. Granted it’s a very strong plastic, like Delrin or Bakelite, but it’s plastic nonetheless. Which means it can be modified without much effort. The plastic extension at the back of back of the toy’s receiver could be filed off and a plastic plug glued into the rear ring. The two necessary holes could be easily drilled through that plug. If real trigger parts - the “fire control group” were put inside this and they didn’t quite fit, then grinding the required clearances, redrilling the connecting pin holes, inserting spacer shims, or even building up surfaces with machinable epoxy is no big deal. And out the other end could come a fully automatic weapon strong enough to be fired a few hundred times that is totally untraceable - because toy guns don’t have serial numbers. And every other part of an M16 is perfectly legal to buy and own without any kind of permit or paper trail.
I saw this story a few days ago and wanted to run with it, but I realized it would require a bit more thought before I shot my mouth off about what looked like another episode of Stupid Government In Action:
ATF seizes 30 toy guns, infuriating local business owner
CORNELIUS, Ore. - A local business owner is flabbergasted after a shipment of 30 toy guns for his store was confiscated by ATF agents in Tacoma.
Brad Martin and his son, Ben, sell the Airsoft BB guns from their store in Cornelius where they’ve been in business for seven years.
The Martins said they buy their stock from Taiwan because the merchandise is less expensive. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized a shipment of 30 in October. That shipment is worth around $12,000 and the ATF is promising to destroy the entire shipment.Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said the toys can be easily retro-fitted into dangerous weapons.
“With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun,” Crenshaw said.
Brad Martin is furious about the loss of money, for sure, but also in what he now thinks as a loss of his time and the use of government agents to seize toy guns.
“All this manpower, all this time, all this taxpayer money, [it is] wasting my time and my profitability,” Martin said. “[Just] to seize 30 toy guns!”
Ben Martin disagrees that the toy guns could ever be considered dangerous.
“To say these are readily convertible to machine guns is absolutely preposterous,” he said. “The round wouldn’t go into the firing chamber and even if the firing pin did strike the primer the gun would basically blow up in your face.”
ATF said it also seized the toys because they are missing the blaze orange tips required on all imported toy guns.
Shock News. Jack Booted Thugs at ATF, again, as usual. Waco, Ruby Ridge!!
No. There is misdirection in this story from both sides.
The orange tips thing is just plain wrong, since these Airsoft products aren’t exactly toy guns. They are a form of BB gun, and BB guns don’t get the orange tip specifically because they AREN’T TOYS. They actually shoot some sort of projectile at some sort of significant velocity. Sure, it’s a little plastic ball, but the thing pushes them hard enough so that they can fly nearly 100 yards.
The “absolutely preposterous” reaction of the importer is quite foolish. He is confusing “readily convertible” with “an actual firearm”. No, the Airsoft is not a real AR15 or an M16. But if you can fit a REAL upper onto the thing, and fit a REAL fire control group to the thing, and fit a REAL gas tube and recoil assembly to the thing, and do it all with a Dremel tool and a pot of glue and an hour or two, then the “readily convertible” argument is valid.
Kind of makes me wonder if you couldn’t just carve an M16 lower out of oak and attach all the parts. But that’s more skill and effort than your usual criminal can come up with. No, what we need here is a bit of proof. Show us how it’s done, Mr. ATF guy. Or somebody.
Machine Guns Seized At Tacoma Port
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms found that the rifles were tooled to shoot plastic balls, but replacement of internal components with original machine gun components would render the rifles capable of firing live ammunition.
“These rifles could have had far-reaching and potentially devastating ramifications if they had gotten into the hands of individuals who wanted to do harm in the American population,” said Customs and Border Protection Area Port Director, Rolando Suliveras, Jr. “This was a good interception by our officers.”
The guns will be destroyed.
I have written to Airsoft and asked them for a statement on this situation. Whether they respond, and how their lawyers allow them to respond, remains to be seen. I asked nicely, so you never know. In the meantime, instead of just flying off the handle like so many other blogs, I searched through a large number of hits on Google and finally found somebody with a bit of common sense, who got a statement from the distributor, who had approached a gunsmith with parts in hand and said Have At It:
Now we at Airsoft Outlet Northwest, being the rational individuals we are, went out and had a gunsmith check the true compatibility of these replicas and found the following information:
- The WE TTI M4’s lack any sort of functional gas tube which is integral to an AR15’s operation
- The upper receiver of an AR15 fits onto the lower of the WE TTI M4
- The stock trigger pack in the WE TTI cannot strike the firing pin of a AR15 bolt
- The body of the WE TTI lower is several mils thinner than an AR15 lower, and shims would be needed for any AR trigger pack to work
- The trigger pack of an AR15 appears to be able to fit onto the lower receiver of a WE TTI M4, one of the AR15 trigger pack retaining pins is impossible to insert without major modification, and the hammer isn’t operable with the WE TTI lower.
Nice work, Every Day No Days Off! Thanks.
He provides a couple of links and even has the news video embedded. Great work Mike! And he concludes ...
Basically, if the ATF claims these airsoft guns can be easily converted into real guns, they should just demonstrate the conversion, and put a couple of magazines through it. There needs to be some accountability and burden of proof placed on these government organizations.
I concur. And I’m sure you noticed the bit of CYA in the above statement from the distributor. Again, we need to have a clear understanding of what “major modification” really entails. These “toys” may be a bit too close to the real thing, so let’s see it. On the other hand, if the guy from the ATF has a leg to stand on, then why the hell hasn’t the government immediately banned the sale of these things? You think that the 30 seized ones are the only ones in the country? Hella no, there are tens of thousands of them.
One last bit of opinion from the importer, who seems convinced that the border inspectors are untutored automatons with an agenda:
When I called this CBP Agent in Seattle to inquire what the problem was he more or less gave me the cold shoulder and wouldn’t (or couldn’t) give me any reason as to why he was holding our product. I had stated that it was my right to know what laws Airsoft Outlet Northwest had broken and he more or less told me:
“What rights?”
After this conversation my faith in Customs and Border Protection completely fell apart. I realized that we (Airsoft Outlet NW) were dealing with bigoted individuals whose personal agendas were more important than holding the Airsoft industry to any sort of standard.
I now assume that this agent in Seattle, like many oblivious officials do, based his judgments purely on hearsay and without any circumstantial evidence seized our product for his own self gratification and/or self promotion. He has yet to provide any sort of proof that he, or anyone else, has been able to convert any of the WE gas pistols, KJW M700’s, or WE TTI SCAR’s to shoot live ammo. I would even go as far as to call him a liar if he said he did test them because of the fact that the civilian or military version of the SCAR is still extremely limited in number, and I doubt this CBP Agent would be able to get one to potentially destroy. The simple fact of the matter is that these three Airsoft replicas are nowhere close to having the ability to shoot live ammunition. The inspecting agent is basing his judgments on speculation and not fact, he cannot provide any evidence to support his argument, and refuses to open any lines of communication about our product being illegal.
And one last bit of counter-opinion: if you are importing a product that feels like a gun, looks like a gun, and is a type of gun, then it is in your best interest in this day and age to pro-actively make the effort with the government to get their sign-off that your product is OK. No, you really shouldn’t have to, but there’s a war on, so what did you expect?
Posted by Drew458
on 03/04/2010 at 12:06 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control • Jack Booted Thugs •
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Permalink • Wednesday - March 03, 2010
govt. agency finds a brand new place and way to spend money they don’t work for.
BATS awarded to The Health and Safety Executive for make work projects spending other people’s money and being just plain schtupid if they believe farmers are dumb enough to buy this. Jeesh. I hope we haven’t sunk to this lunacy back home yet. Notice. I said “yet” coz ya never do know.
Forget my knot
SIR – Yesterday, I received a letter from the Health and Safety Executive entreating me to tie a small piece of green rope (provided) prominently in my yard, as a reminder to “Come home safe” from the potential dangers on the farm. I can apply for up to five more (free) green knots.
I cannot imagine any farmer in the land applying for little green knots to tie on the farm gate. This appears to be just a small example of Government waste.
Caroline Appelbe
Malmesbury, Wiltshire
Posted by peiper
on 03/03/2010 at 12:10 PM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • Government • Health and Safety • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •
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Permalink • Tuesday - March 02, 2010
Trust me. This really is funny. Especially for the folks on this side of the Atlantic.
Hey Drew, this is Littlejohn’s take on things here. See, it could be worse. At least back home we have more hills we can take to.
The year is 2015, the Queen leaves and the left wing PM becomes PM for life. And everything of course has an American tie in because the left is never responsible for anything wrong headed. Course not. It starts in America.
In March 2015, the number of British citizens seeking asylum abroad overtook the number of people claiming asylum in Britain.
I’m not certain if our friends Chris and Lyndon will see the humor or maybe break out in tears and say it’s gonna happen.
Anyway, Littlejohn is quite conservative as I hope you all know. He is also brilliant.
Something else to inform friends in the USA. Of all the presidents we have had and of all the criticism of any of them, with the possible exception of Barry Obama, I don’t think any politician in modern times has been as badly beaten up by the press and the man on the street as has Gordon Brown. In fact,, I think he’s been beaten up more then Obama. Now that has to tell you something.
Brown’s Britain 2015 and even the Queen has fledRichard Littlejohn
Daily Mail
Dateline: London, March 1, 2015
The State of Emergency introduced in May 2010 is to be extended for another five years, Prime Minister-for-Life Gordon Brown announced in London yesterday.
Such was the scale of the crisis facing the country that a General Election could only lead to instability.
Labour would continue in power indefinitely, Brown pledged. He was getting on with the job, taking the difficult decisions, which is what people wanted him to do.
This was no time for a novice, the Prime Minister-for-Life insisted. The people had spoken when they rejected the Etonian salesman Cameron in May 2010. There was no need for a fresh mandate.
Even though the Conservatives won the popular vote and became the largest party at Westminster, they failed to secure an overall majority in the Commons, as a result of boundary changes introduced by Labour.
For almost a week after the results were declared, Brown refused to leave Number 10 Downing Street. The only evidence that someone was still inside was the fusillade of mobile phones and computer keyboards being thrown out of the windows.
Eventually, he put out a deranged statement on YouTube in which he blamed the election result on the low turn-out caused by the worst winter weather in 30 years, which began in America.
When the Queen invited him to the Palace to ask for his resignation, he declined on the grounds that Sarah was washing her hair that day. He was getting on with the job, taking the difficult decisions, which is what people wanted him to do.
Several days later, Brown announced via Twitter that he intended to form a government of national unity. Although his initial overtures to the LibDems to join a coalition were rejected, Nick Clegg relented when Brown promised to introduce a full system of proportional representation during the lifetime of the Parliament.
In his first Budget, the new Chancellor Ed Balls said that Labour planned to increase ‘investment’ by £100 billion a year to stave off recession, which started in America.
This would include an immediate expansion of the council house building programme to accommodate the ten million extra immigrants expected to arrive in the next decade, as well as hundreds of thousands more unmarried, teenage mothers living on welfare.
Hedge fund managers and most of the City of London had already decamped abroad to avoid penal rates of taxation.
They were followed in quick succession by thousands of British plumbers and bricklayers, who decided to seek a better life in Poland.
The financial markets went into meltdown. When the pound plunged to parity with the Zimbabwean dollar, the IMF cut off Britain’s line of credit.
He claimed that he had the authority, since the threat from the economic crisis, which began in America, was at least as great as that posed by the Nazis in 1939, or his name wasn’t Winston Churchill.
As Britain was now a full province of the European Union, pursuant to a little-known clause hidden in the small print of the Lisbon Treaty, Parliament was abolished.
That was when Brown declared himself Prime Minister-for-Life. His position was endorsed by the new President-in-Perpetuity of Europe, Lord Mandelson, speaking from his official suite on board a Russian yacht off Corfu.
Protesters who tried to storm Downing Street were repelled by three divisions of the European Defence Force, under the command of an EU Reichsmarschall from the 17th Panzer Division, now garrisoned at Aldershot.
Six months later, Argentina invaded the Falklands again. This time the Argentines were welcomed with open arms. The islanders were so disillusioned with events back ‘home’ that they said they were ashamed to be British.
When Brown phoned the White House to ask for help, President Obama refused to take his call, on account of the fact he was playing golf with Tiger Woods.
With the Government distracted by the invasion overseas and by the food riots at home, Bradford, Leicester and Blackburn unilaterally declared that they were now independent Islamic states operating under Sharia law.
Posted by peiper
on 03/02/2010 at 03:43 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Humor • Satire •
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Permalink • Thursday - February 25, 2010
health care summit
No, I can’t be bothered to cover this. I can recognize a steaming cow pat when I step in one. The whole thing is bull. Kabuki theater as Malkin puts it.
Coverage can be found at Michelle Malkin’s, or over at Vilmar’s, or at Right, Wing-Nut. And I share their opinions. Empty noise, posing for the cameras, and Obama being a snotty little dictator.
Don’t waste my time. Flush the bill and figure out how to lower taxes to get the country back to work. The Dems have the majority, and can use the dirty trick called Reconciliation to pass whatever they want. But they know that doing so is a suicide pact. And that about covers it all.
from Contentions, who did a great job live blogging the whole thing:
Question: Why is the 2,400-page legislation Representative Cantor brought with him a “prop,” in the words of Mr. Obama? Answer: Because any argument the president disagrees with is “illegitimate” or a “distraction” or a “talking point” or relies on “props.” Like many others, I have watched Barack Obama quite closely for much of the last two years. And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him more agitated and condescending. He is, in fact, imperious. One can tell he is used to being coddled for much of his life. He’s used to being referred to as the “Black Jesus” by his aides. He’s used to being told he’s God’s gift to humanity. He’s been told those things and he’s internalized them. And so when he’s challenged — especially when he’s challenged in a forceful and respectful way — he gets upset. He becomes preachy and scolding. And he becomes dismissive.
I am quite surprised by how poorly Obama is coming across. I thought this summit would be essentially worthless. In fact, it is serving quite a useful purpose. It is unmasking Barack Obama. And what we’re seeing isn’t a very pretty sight.
Having been exposed to the president’s actions and rhetoric for close to six hours now, I better understand one of the most interesting facts of recent American politics: the more Mr. Obama speaks, the more unpopular his cause becomes. He is a man who talks a lot — and who has very little to show for it.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/25/2010 at 09:59 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Health-Medicine •
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Permalink • Wednesday - February 24, 2010
Treason plus Immigration have changed the face of Britain. Another left wing stab in the back.
I have done some editing so read it all at the link. This could well be the plot for a good movie, but it is honest to gosh all true. No urban myth, right wing political smear of the left here. The left did it to themselves. This really is a case of a govt., in the holy names of diversity and multi culture, attacking the state they are supposed to be protecting. In any other age but ours, this would be (as I understand it) treason.
At last we know the truth: Labour despises anyone who loves Britain, its values and its historyBy MELANIE PHILLIPS
24th February 2010Of all the issues of concern to the public, immigration is possibly the most explosive - and the one about which the most lies are continuing to be told.
During the period that Labour has been in office, mass immigration has simply changed the face of Britain. The total number of immigrants since 1997 is pushing three million.
Ministers claim that immigration policy has been driven principally to help the economy. They have always denied that they actually set out deliberately to change the ethnic composition of the country.
Well, now we know for a certainty that this is not true. The Government embarked on a policy of mass immigration to change Britain into a multicultural society - and they kept this momentous aim secret from the people whose votes they sought.
Worse still, they did this knowing that it ran directly counter to the wishes of those voters, whose concerns about immigration they dismissed as racist; and they further concealed official warnings that large-scale immigration would bring about significant increases in crime.
The truth about this scandal was first blurted out last October by Andrew Neather, a former Labour Party speechwriter.
He wrote that until the new points-based system limiting foreign workers was introduced in 2008 - in response to increasing public uproar - government policy for the previous eight years had been aimed at promoting mass immigration.
The ‘driving political purpose’ of this policy, wrote Neather, was ‘to make the UK truly multicultural’ - and one subsidiary motivation was ‘to rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date’.
The implications of this covert policy are quite staggering. Ministers deliberately set out to change the cultural and ethnic identity of this country in secret.
They did this mainly because they hated what Britain was, a largely homogeneous society rooted in 1,000 years of history. They therefore set out to replace it by a totally new kind of multicultural society - and one in which the vast majority of newcomers could be expected to vote Labour.They set out to destroy the right of the British people to live in a society defined by a common history, religion, law, language and traditions. They set out to destroy for ever what it means to be culturally British and to put another ‘multicultural’ identity in its place.
And they then had the gall to declare that to have love for or pride in that authentic British identity, and to want to protect and uphold it, was racist.
There could hardly be a more worthy issue for the Conservative Party to leap upon. Yet their response is muted through their own visceral terror of appearing racist.
Posted by peiper
on 02/24/2010 at 10:40 AM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • DIVERSITY BS • Government • Illegal-Aliens • Immigration • OBITITUARIES • Outrageous • Politics • UK •
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Permalink • Friday - February 19, 2010
Silvio Berlusconi shortlists dental hygienist as political candidate. (score one for eye candy)
I thought I’d start the day, late as it is, with humor. True, it isn’t so funny to many but hey. Not so poor Silvio is keeping up the tradition of Italian stallions, or at least the perception, and someone has to do it ya know. It can’t be easy. Plus, he provide the press with copy and usually that’s pretty funny.
Last week Mr Berlusconi caused another furore after joking that while Italy had succeeded in staunching the flow of Albanian illegal immigrants crossing the Adriatic, he would be prepared to make an exception for “beautiful girls”.
His ex wife sees no humor in his carrying on but hell. She’s no innocent either. After all, he was married when she was seeing him. He finally left the wife for her and so his fidelity or lack thereof should have been no surprise. And anyway, he’s Italian. He has a stallion license.
Not all Silvio’s lassies are stunners however. So he’s an equal opportunity letch.
Silvio Berlusconi has shortlisted his dental hygienist to contest crucial elections next month, despite the furore caused by his attempts to promote showgirls as candidates last year.
By Nick Squires in Rome
TelegraphThe Italian prime minister has spent weeks denying reports that his party would stack its list of candidates with attractive young models or actresses.
But the 73-year-old premier was apparently unable to resist the charms of Nicole Minetti, a showgirl turned dental hygienist who he met when his teeth were being repaired after he was attacked by a man with a history of mental illness in Milan in December.
Despite the furore and the wrath of his wife caused by his attempts last year to promote a string of glamorous women as candidates for the European elections, Miss Minetti is reportedly now on a short list to run as a candidate for Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) party in Lombardy, northern Italy.
A former dancer who has appeared on various TV variety shows, she graduated as a dental hygienist last November and within weeks was tending to the prime minister when he was treated in Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital for two broken teeth and a smashed nose following the assault on Dec 13.
Hers will not be the only pretty face in the ranks of Mr Berlusconi’s party as it seeks to consolidate its hold on power in the elections in 13 of Italy’s 20 regions at the end of March.
Graziana Capone, a law graduate and model who has been dubbed “the Angelina Jolie of Puglia,” the southern region from which she hails, was recently hired to help mould Mr Berlusconi’s image on television, La Repubblica reported. She had also been touted as a possible candidate in the elections.A smiling Mr Berlusconi was photographed this week as he presented four women who hope to be elected as regional governors, two of whom have cover girl looks: Monica Faenzi and Anna Maria Bernini.
His penchant for favouring brains over beauty earned him exasperated criticism from the main opposition party.“Berlusconi chooses candidates more for their good looks than for their experience,” said Anna Finocchiaro, the Senate leader of the Democratic Party. “He’s filled parliament with beautiful girls, albeit competent, but they don’t count for anything within the party.”
But loyalists within the ranks of his party angrily hit back. Margherita Boniver, an MP, told Corriere della Sera: “I’m astonished. You only have to look at the CVs of our candidates to understand that they are people who are dedicated to politics,” said Barbara Saltamartini, an MP who has responsibility for equal opportunities within the PDL, said that Miss Finocchiaro’s remarks had shown “that she is an enemy of women”.
The glamorous line-up invited comparisons with the row which broke out last year when Mr Berlusconi’s party proposed fielding a bevy of actresses, models and reality television starlets as candidates for the European parliament elections in June.
His wife, Veronica Lario, branded the plan “shamelessly tacky” and a week later demanded a divorce after nearly 30 years of marriage.
In the end most of the women were ditched from the line-up and only one, Barbara Matera, 27, a television presenter, actress and former Miss Italy contender, was elected to Brussels.She revealed that her role model was Mara Carfagna, the former men’s magazine model who Mr Berlusconi made his equal opportunities minister when he returned to power in 2008.
Posted by peiper
on 02/19/2010 at 09:15 AM
Filed Under: • Celebrities • Eye-Candy • Fun-Stuff • Government • Humor • Politically-Incorrect •
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Permalink • Tuesday - February 09, 2010
Citizenship Blues
While Peiper fights the system trying to get his papers in order so he and his wife can come back to the US, this woman has it far worse. Her grandfather was an American, her father is an American, and she has lived her live believing she also holds citizenship. She even had a US passport. Now the State Department says “oops, sorry, we made a mistake”.
Bulgarian-born Niles woman, bestowed U.S. citizenship in 1981, struggles against sea of bureaucratic red tape while worrying she could be deported
Angela Boneva always thought she was an American, never imagining that valued piece of her identity could be stripped away.
Because her father was born in Indiana, an American consulate in Bulgaria bestowed U.S. citizenship on Boneva when she was growing up there in 1981. It granted Boneva privileges unavailable to her Bulgarian friends, allowing her to visit relatives in Chicago and then to move to the area in 1997.
Boneva, now 34 and a married mother, settled into a quiet American lifestyle in Niles — until the day a letter arrived from the U.S. State Department, upending her world. In six indifferently worded paragraphs it said, in effect: There was a mistake. You’re not an American.
Boneva’s situation also illustrates the sometimes dizzying, kaleidoscopic nature of the U.S. immigration system. While the U.S. has welcomed new arrivals for generations, critics of the current system say that overlapping bureaucracies and conflicting rules can lead to unimagined outcomes and complications, especially in an era of heightened national security concerns.
After she sought to renew her U.S. passport in 2003, the State Department informed her that a consular employee’s decision to give her citizenship in 1981 broke a rule dictating that her father had to have lived in the U.S. for 10 years before she was born. His time in the U.S. before moving to Bulgaria totaled only six years.
But the letter pointed out, that same residency requirement was reduced in 1986 to five years, so someone in her position would be eligible for citizenship today — though not her.
Boneva received a form letter in 2003 saying “it does not appear” that she qualifies as a citizen anymore. She has made repeated but vain attempts to get a definitive answer from U.S. authorities.
Though frustrating, the experience at least has helped Boneva discover some lost family history — in the Midwest and in Bulgaria.
Digging through old records to show U.S. officials, she learned of her family’s late 19th century roots in Akron, Ohio. Boneva’s grandfather Pete Boneff was born there in 1895
Gosh, you mean that the State Department actually analyzes claims of bestowed citizenship under the laws applicable at the time? And in 1981 one of her parents had to be a citizen for 10 years before the golden aegis could be passed along? Will wonders never cease.
What about the laws that were in place in 1961? Wasn’t the rule 19 years back then?
Posted by Drew458
on 02/09/2010 at 12:54 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Immigration •
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Permalink • Saturday - February 06, 2010
How Do You Say “Kangaroo Court” in Dutch?
We’ve covered this outspoken critic of islam before but at the moment, things not going that well for our side. Seems the very PC Dutch ar quite happy to gag one of their own ELECTED politicians and give their country away to the islamists. If that’s really the case, what the heck did they fight the Germans for?
Nothing I have read on the subject and I confess I haven’t read everything, indicates that the Dutch are very happy with events there. Unfortunately for them, their country is in the hands of the left. They are concerned about immigration and they are worried about militant islam. In fact, many are just plain bothered about islam period, militant or not. Some have “quietly” said it has no place in their culture. I think the Dutch who said that have already moved out.
So anyway ... Geert Wilders is on trial. More like the Inquisition minus the burning then a trial. But you guys MUST read this to get a feel for how scary this actually is. Especially from muslim authorities.
H/T TUNDRA TABLOID
The Amsterdam District Court apparently doesn’t want to hear the truth about Islam. Nor is it interested to hear the opinion of top class legal experts in the field of freedom of expression. In one swift move, the Court brushed aside fifteen of the eighteen expert-witnesses the defence had requested to be summoned.Only Hans Jansen, Simon Admiraal and Wafa Sultan were allowed to be heard as expert-witnesses. Their testimony will be heard in a session behind closed doors. Apparently the truth about Islam must remain a secret.
Geert Wilders: “This Court is not interested in the truth. This Court doesn’t want me to have a fair trial. I can’t have any respect for this. This Court would not be out of place in a dictatorship”.
The Court also brushed aside the preliminary objections concerning its jurisdiction and the admissibility of the Public Prosecutor.Nevertheless, Geert Wilders remains extremely motivated to seek justice: “I’m still counting on an acquittal”.
THERE IS THIS FROM THE GATES OF VIENNA BLOG AND I ENCOURAGE ALL WHO HAVEN’T READ IT TO GO OVER THERE AND DO SO.
It isn’t a short read.
It’s obvious that the Dutch government wants Geert Wilders out of the way, and doesn’t much care how it happens.
In bygone days the Queen might have murmured to herself, “Who will rid me of this troublesome blond?” And then, to please his monarch, some eager courtier would have dispatched Mr. Wilders to meet his maker.
But today’s tactics have to be different. First the government demonizes the head of the PVV, eroding his official legitimacy and making it seem as if he almost deserves a violent end. Then it puts him on trial on trumped-up charges, and declines to provide the same courtroom security for a member of parliament that it gives to Islamic terrorists.
Photo from Gates of Vienna
I HAVE CRAMMED QUITE A BIT IN HERE BUT HAVE EDITED A LOT SO PLEASE GO TO THE LINK FOR MORE.
H/T Europe News for the following and see her site. This really does get bad and scary.
How Do You Say “Kangaroo Court” in Dutch?International Free Press Society 4 February 2010
By Diana WestEven if you have never been involved in a criminal prosecution wherein your very freedom is at risk, I want you to now imagine that you and your attorney have prepared a defense that includes a list of witnesses that will provide a mountain of exculpatory evidence. Then, imagine that the Court summarily and arbitrarily decides that it will not listen to nearly ninety percent of your case.
“This court is apparently not interested in the truth.” Wilders told De Telegraaph (translations from Gates of Vienna). “I cannot conclude anything but that the court does not award me a fair trial.”
“I have no respect for this,” Wilders added. He pointed out that in a typical criminal case there are often dozens of witnesses heard.
But this is not a typical trial. This is a rigged game, a fixed fight, a show trial that is premised not on Dutch law but on Islamic law. Indeed, the trial of Geert Wilders is a test case for sharia in the Netherlands, the grafting onto a free Western country the repressive cage of Islamic rule.
Discussing Muslim progress against “Islamophobia” at the 35th meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Kampala, Uganda in 2008, Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu made the following statement:
In confronting the Danish cartoons and the Dutch film “Fitna”, we sent a clear message to the West regarding the red lines that should not be crossed. As we speak, the official West and its public opinion are all now well-aware of the sensitivities of these issues. They have also started to look seriously into the question of freedom of expression from the perspective of its inherent responsibility, which should not be overlooked.
One reading doesn’t convey the chilling import of these words.
As we speak, the official West and its public opinion are all now well-aware of the sensitivities of these issues.
Yes, and to the craven point where “the official West and its public opinion” are paralyzed and silenced by these same “sensitivities.”
They have also started to look seriously into the question of freedom of expression from the perspective of its inherent responsibility, which should not be overlooked.
When the OIC speaks about “freedom of expression,” it means freedom of expression as governed by the laws of Islam — sharia. When the OIC says we in the West have “started to look seriously into the question of freedom of expression from the perspective of its inherent responsibility,” it means we in the West have started to regard expression from the perspective of sharia — from the perspective of the totalitarian Islamic system.
So here’s some unwashed creep with a name nobody outside his own country can pronounce ( Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu), and he’s telling the west how things are gonna be. And so far, a lot in the west seems to be caving in.
Posted by peiper
on 02/06/2010 at 12:52 PM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • FREEDOM • Government • Immigration • Jack Booted Thugs • Muslims • Oppression • Outrageous • Politically-Incorrect • Racism • Religion • Stoopid-People • Terrorists •
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Permalink • Wednesday - February 03, 2010
Pay Your Taxes
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intends to purchase sixty Remington Model 870 Police RAMAC #24587 12 gauge pump-action shotguns for the Criminal Investigation Division. The Remington parkerized shotguns, with fourteen inch barrel, modified choke, Wilson Combat Ghost Ring rear sight and XS4 Contour Bead front sight, Knoxx Reduced Recoil Adjustable Stock, and Speedfeed ribbed black forend, are designated as the only shotguns authorized for IRS duty based on compatibility with IRS existing shotgun inventory, certified armorer and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
Submit quotes including 11% Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax (FAET) and shipping to Washington DC.
Hey, aren’t they coool? Aren’t they the shizzz? They have to have the super dooper Knoxx Stocks, $150 each, all tactical and adjustable, and double spring loaded to absorb 95% of the recoil. Just wait till they have to bash in a door or smash a still with one of those things. Ain’t gonna work.
And while it’s interesting that the IRS sees fit to remind their vendors to include the special gun tax, do they grant themselves special Class III SBR status now? Because none of us can own a scattergun with a 14” tube on it. Ain’t legal. Or did they just spend a big pile of our scratch getting 60 Class III permits from BATF? Transferable ones, so anybody in the department can use these weapons?
The sights are nice, good stuff. The forend is a bit of a silly specification, since the Remington comes with a nice grippy forend to begin with. But the “only shotgun authorized for IRS duty based on compatibility with IRS existing shotgun inventory” is pure horse shit. Because they just bought 200K dollars worth of Remington model 11-87 shotguns 12 years back. The model 870 is a pump gun, the model 11-87 is a gas powered semi-automatic. Two entirely different guns, with very few parts shared between them.
Richard Bachert, Georgia CATS
July 29, 1998 Richard BachertThe IRS is contracted with several vendors to obtain various specialized
weapons and covert surveillance materials. Please see:
http://www.treas.gov/sba/irssic.html For example, Remington Model 11-87
Shotguns (a $200,000 contract) are a special model made exclusively for the
IRS, holding 8 cartridges instead of the normal legal limit of 3.
How the hell do you wear out a Remington in 12 years? This is something no one else has ever been able to do. You’d think the IRS is in constant gun battles or something? Or at the range busting clays 40 hours a week? About the only thing that ever wears out on a gas gun is the gas seals, and that’s a $5 fix once a year if you shoot constantly!
Why the IRS can’t buy Mossbergs like every other police department in the country is beyond me. Or why they have to come up with their own spiffy standards when the FBI and the military are already procuring tactical shotguns in a very workable design. And then they need fancy fast acquisition sites on their choked sawed off barrels? Sounds to me like they’re building drive-by rigs, or long range buckshot blasters they can hide under their black leather trench coats.
No, let the IRS get their shotguns from the leftovers from the other branches that have an actual need for such things. If they really have to have new ones, go to Walmart like everyone else.
Posted by Drew458
on 02/03/2010 at 09:37 PM
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control •
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