Gun Show

This was an interesting item to be seen today at the Jackson, MS gun show.  A Rossi lever action.  Box was labeled that it was to be sold as a handgun.  And sticker on the side said .357.  Price tag was just under $600.

I really do not see the point of a bling gold digi-cam upper and lower on an AR-15 that is already tricked out to the max.  Prices for 5.56/.223 AR-15s ranged from about $1,200 to over $2,800.  I saw a lot of 30rd and even the Beta 100rd magazines being sold for good prices.  Some had taken to tie-strapping display magazines down.  Saw one 40rd AK-47 mag listed at $55.

Don't want to own an EBR?  How does bright pink grab you?  As you can see one dealer had a fine selection on hand.  All they were missing was some Hello Kitty stickers.

Ammunition prices continued to be crazy for all calibers.
One seller had 1,000rds of Lake City 62gr 5.56mm loose in a plastic bag for $950.  Another place was selling 140rds of 5.56mm in stripper clips for $140.  Did find one seller with an unopened box of Winchester 55gr .223 1000rds.  When I asked how much, the snotty kid quoted a price just under $27 for a box of 20 or roughly $1,350 for the whole box.  Yikes!

9mm was not much better.  Remington or Winchester 9mm was about $27 for a box of 50.  Same place that had the $1.350 box of .223 had some really off brands and the likes of Federal.  Depending upon grain and quantity, price per round fluctuated between 44 cents/round to 54 cents/round.

The only relatively cheap thing for sale at the gun show was the little girl selling Girl Scout cookies for her troop.  And they still cost $3.50/box.

Clinton 1040

Now that the President is talking of people not being taxed enough, something from the ear of Clinton.  This cartoon is from 1992 and can be found 'Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 1993 Edition' on page 55.

Seems still relevant.  Democrats want all the money.  Greedy buggers aren't they?

For Hostess' Sake!

For all the Hostess employees who just got bent over a barrel by their union coworkers.

1992 Electric Car

Jack Jurden. Wilmington News Sentinel 1992. Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 1993 Edition

The 1992 Volt, same as the 2012 Volt.

Modest Immigration Idea

Now that President Obama has instructed the federal bureaucracy to ignore laws on the books and let certain illegal aliens in to compete in this anemically soft economy, over 8% unemployment for 40+ months, against legal US citizens, one question remains.

Has the President completed the environmental impact statement this influx of young illegal aliens will cause upon the United States?  Land use, sewage, garbage, crime, power consumption, and possible adverse impact upon endangered species?

Pesky Oil

The President now thinks releasing some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is just the ticket to solve the current high gas prices.  The man assumes everyone, except him, is a gullible fool.  Which makes him a con-man of the lowest sort.

Here is a suggestion for our sitting on his hands President.

Open the local oil/gas tap.  Drill.  What will this action do?

1. First it will create thousands of jobs.  Jobs that pay taxes. 
2. It will also boost corporate revenues so they will pay more taxes.
3. It will turn the United States into a global exporter of oil.  More tax revenue.
4. It will increase the amount of slack in the global oil market, so will drive down the price of oil.
5. It would give this country a tool to help allies.  It would buffer countries like Britain and France from being held hostage to the likes of Libya or Iran.
6. It will also reduce the outflow of American capital to oil producing countries that have horrible human rights records.  For example Venezuela.

I hope this polite suggestion helps the President of the United States understand all the positive benefits for increased oil exploration and production.

Black Friday 2011

Since this is Black Friday when screaming hoards of bargain shoppers have besieged major retailers since the wee hours of the morning, I decided to be a bit green and lessen the traffic gridlock while tackling the very smelly issue of Occupiers and their bodily wastes. So now on CafePress at the Sufa Shop is the above bumper sticker. Can buy 1, 10, or even 50 of them. And can even order them with a clear background, which will be better for the rear window of a protestor's SmartCar or Volt. {the previous sentence is defined as humor, please be responsible with the bumper stickers.} Just buy one please. Thank you.

Zuccotti Cleared

Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally did something that needed to be done. He ordered the police and sanitation forces into Zuccotti to clear out the two month old shanty town that had sprung up. They started this morning clearing the people out while tossing their tents and other items into the garbage.

The cops were followed by Sanitation workers, one of whom was overheard saying, “We’re gonna disinfect the hell out of this place.”

And naturally the usual ally of the protesters has risen to the occasion to prove again how divorced from reality they are in pursuit of their political goals. I speak of lawyers. Specifically the National Lawyers Guild has gotten a restraining order preventing the clearing of Zuccotti Park with a hearing scheduled at 11:30AM Eastern.

So this whole soap opera seems destined to shamble forth like a zombie until reality or disease or both kill the protest. So stay tuned.

For The Occupiers

Since the weather is turning colder, I decided to make a de-motivational to commemorate the coming of the snow and freezing rain. I do hope the Occupy crowd bundle up or move back home before the hypothermia and frost-bite get them. Though it seems lice and TB are already claiming victims, it seems to be the return of the Dark Ages. And next there will be calls of 'Bring out your dead!' unless something changes.

The Economy Stupid!

As the Democrat owned economy 'unexpectedly' continues for the 32d month to have 9% unemployment I figured I needed to repost a political cartoon. The above political cartoon I originally posted on December 9, 2005. Long before the financial crisis happened.

For almost 3 years under President Obama the economy has sputtered and lurched. After wasting over $800 billion unemployment has gotten worse than when Obama became president. In contrast after only one year President George H.W. Bush was run out of office. Next November Obama needs to be shown the door and told to get lost.

Idle Speculation

So information has emerged on how some of the $535 million of our tax money was spent by Solyndra. Besides opulent showers and glass conference rooms that is one thing popped out.

About those robots who played Disney tunes in that brand new factory, did any of them play the song Whistle While You Work? Well play the tune before the plant was shutdown when the government cash ran out.

Germany Gets A Clue

This is heartening news from Germany. Due to the continued onslaught of pirates attacking their shipping, they want to arm security guards and put them on ships in high risk areas. I say its well past time for this to happen. I would suggest one small change and avoid some legal entanglements with private security guards, use the German army instead. An MG-3 going through 800 rounds a minute can take the starch out of any would-be pirates.

What I fail to understand is the worries of the International Maritime Organization. The IMO fears putting armed security guards on merchant ships would be an escalation. I hate to tell you IMO but the Somali pirates escalated this mess first. They are the ones who are costing shipping companies large sums of money plus putting the crews into virtual slavery until they are ransomed. On second thought, lets up-gun from the MG-3 and put an actual naval cannon on the fantail, 105mm should do. Along with the German army troops who would also get to see some of the world.

Economic Monkeywrench

Democratic candidate Obama promised energy prices would rise when he stumped to become president. It seems he is delivering on that promise, one campaign promise kept.

Since Obama has entered office, the price of a gallon of gas has risen by more than $1. The explosion last year of the British Petroleum rig in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 seems to have presented the President and his advisors an opportunity. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has imposed a moratorium on oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, even though a federal judge has ruled Salazar overstepped himself. As a result of all this tug of war generated uncertainty, the number of operating rigs has dropped with devestating economic consequences to states already reeling from the BP oil spill. When Sen. Vitter[R-LA] requested how many leases have been issued, he received two different answers. The Department of Justice, in another display of dishonesty - Fast&Furious, quoted a high number of leases but when Sen. Vitter got Salazar before him in sworn testimony the number was far lower.

Far to the north, our Canadian friends and ally in Afghanistan is offering to sell us oil. Yes it is oil developed from tar sands and needs to be processed, but its oil that does not need to be shipped from repressive countries like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Help our neighbor to the north seems to make more sense than funding Chavez's quest to conquer South America or the House of Saud keeping women repressed. But it seems some in the US do not want this oil because, get this, the process to extract oil releases more carbon dioxide. It seems the New York Times would prefer Canada to sell that oil to the Peoples Republic of China, those paragons of air pollution and political oppression, instead of allowing it in the United States. All because of extra carbon dioxide that I am sure the forests of Canada would love to turn into oxygen while growing bigger. The second reason the New York Times trots out, fear of oil spills, is equally ludicrous since the Trans-Alaska pipeline in its decades of production has suffered few spills and one of those due to a hunter shooting the pipeline. In fact the oil pipeline has become a microclime that is warmer than surrounding areas and hence wildlife has flourished.

I never thought I would say this, but bring back Jimmy Carter. At least he was for making the United States energy independent when he was President. That included developing the abundant supply of oil shale found in Ken Salazar's old stomping grounds of Colorado. Though Salazar and environmentalists are trying to prevent oil shale from being commercially viable. Do I want to know what they think a fair royalty rate is? Probably so high it renders oil shale non-viable even after adjsuting for inflation. Imagine that.

Retro Political Cartoon

From the Reagan years, how little the socialist progressive Democrats have changed. Just remember this when the Democrats agitate for the raising of the debt ceiling. They want you the taxpaying people to pay for their wine and quiche.

Fuzzy Economics

After reading this paean to the Elysian Fields of Keynesian economics, I am thankful this bloke is not making policy. On the other hand, he probably has ideological siblings actually making policy. And that should terrify anyone with a lick of common sense.

What this gentleman is suggesting is Germany should be booted from the Eurozone not because its like Greece but because the country is the antithesis of Greece. Germany has a budget surplus, has cut spending, and has kept high work standards. Can not have such a success mucking up the great experiment called the Euro and European Union.

He conveniently forgets since the creation of the Euro, it has been a transfer of money. That Germany and Holland took it in the neck economically, their former strong currencies weakened by the pre-existing debt and economic weakness of countries like Greece and Italy.

Now Greece, Ireland, and Spain are teetering on the edge of economic destruction because they never changed their habits. They expect the powerhouse called Germany to keep picking up the tab of their wastefulness. After going on the hook for the staggering sum of €220billion in bailing them out, Germany is saying no more money. So socialists in Greece and this British writer are now blaming Germany for the whole mess. They do not want to admit to the fact that the Euro is an abysmal failure, it was not a magic wand to remake Greece into another Germany.

At this stage, one thing should be clear. The Euro and the EU is an artificial creation that can exist only in a carefully regulated environment. As such, better to let it break up now before the architects of the EU delusion fully destroy Europe and inflict untold suffering on people who never wanted this kind of mess.

Professor Obama's Economics

Once again President Obama decides to impart his economic wisdom upon the rest of us in the United States. This is how he describes the ‘surprising’ and persistent high unemployment numbers.

"There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don't go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you're using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate."

I think he would be better served watching the below video. And also hiring two people to hold his cue cards instead of using two tele-prompters.

The No Lube Spin

There is only one revolution on this planet that requires no petroleum based lubrication. That is the spin put out by people opposed to domestic oil production. Case in pont is J.W. Sutton Jr from Wisconsin. I should forgive him, since he is pulling the data for his opinion from NPR. Sole sourcing in a time of $107.24/barrel for May delivery is not terribly prudent.

First lets look at that 3% rise in oil production since 2003 he quotes. the last numbers released by DOE are from July 29, 2010. Deepwater Horizon blew out on April 20, 2010, killed 11, and has since shut down oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico due to Dept. of Interior moratorium and very lethargic issuance of new leases. So right there Sutton is using out of date information to base his opinion. Or should I say NPR is using out of date information for its report and Sutton is reciting by rote what NPR says? I can't honestly say since Sutton does not even link to the NPR article.

Lets next look at the term "Proven Oil Reserves" Sutton uses. In the United States, that term has a legal definition that factors in government regulation. Which means if the federal or state government says a site is off-limits, then whatever oil deposits are beneath that site are not factored into US proven oil reserves. ANWR in Alaska is off-limits to oil-exploration, which means 6 to 16 billion barrels of oil [ 6 billion barrels at $107 = $642,000,000,000] is not part of that 2% of proven global oil reserves Sutton uses to argue against increasing domestic oil production.

Just by calling into question these two premises of Sutton's logical construct, the structure of his argument is endangered. His argument can be summarized as - we are already at max domestic oil production so we can't just "Drill Baby Drill!" our way out of the current predicament.

So I have to say Sutton is wrong on many fronts. We are not at our max domestic production, not with the likes of ANWR aribitrarily taken out of the equation. ANWR is 19 million acres of land, of that acerage only 1.5 million acres along the coast would be open for oil exploration. Prudhoe Bay is only 100 miles away so running pipeline between them would not be of the same order of magnitude as building the original Alaskan oil pipeline nor take as long. There is also the 1.5 trillion barrels of oil just waiting to be tapped in Ken Salazar's old stomping ground of Colorado called oil shale.

But I guess I should forgive Sutton since all he is doing is parroting what President Obama has recently said. Obama used that 'the US only has 2%' argument to support his desire for more government subsidised Green projects while ignoring what those subsidies does to the national debt. Recently on his tour of Brazil, President Obama told Brazil the US would be happy to buy their oil, so Sutton was wrong to lump Brazil in with China.

Sutton ends his opinion piece with collectivist pap - "We need electric cars, not those that run on gasoline. We need solar and wind generators for electricity to power those cars. We need less vehicles on the road, period. The fuel efficiencies of buses and trains must be chosen over the speed and flexibility of automobiles, tractor-trailers, and commercial airplanes."

Lets see the solar projects in the southwest American deserts are being held up due to environmental impact studies, what will all that shade do to native species is the question. Wind generators only work when there is wind plus they tend to kill migratory birds as they spin. In fact many energy projects are stalled by bureacratic red-tape, from nuclear reactors to geothermal. Buses and trains tend to be government run and only on schedules, thus ensnaring people to fixed timetables. Plus trains and buses are so last century in the technology department, hasn't Sutton heard of telecommuting? If he is so enamored of getting cars off the road and planes out of the air while reducing oil consumption, then telecommuting is the way to go.

If Sutton is a product of the Wisconsin school system, I have one thing to say. Gov. Walker fire all the teachers and get new ones. As for US energy needs, first lets stop the government from acting like a roadblock. Let the markets determine what is viable, not another $200,000/year drone in Washington D.C.

Lies, Budget, and Obama

Sometimes you just have admire the gall of this administration is how bald face they lie. Case in point is the Obama proposed 2012 budget and the forecast for the following years. It has come to light, that Obama's budget fails to factor in debt interest payments into their numbers.

Naturally this makes the Obama budget look better than it is. Now if you were WorldCom or Enron, SEC and IRS would be hauling the CEO, CFO, COO, plus others to court and then to jail. Crime? Cooking the books to make the company's financial standing look better. Or if you were a person with a house, two BMWs in the garage, and a pool plus ten credit cards. It would be like paying for the house, the cars, utilities, and ignoring what is due on the ten credit cards. Pretty soon your creditors will be in court taking everything you own for repayment.

The Obama administration is betting the United States is too big to be repossessed or denied credit. I wonder if the Peoples Republic of China has gotten that memo? I seriously doubt even those comrades will keep selling Obama the rope he keeps using since he is buying it on credit. Eventually they stop selling on credit because its no longer remotely profitable and then what? A house of cards collapses, sic transit the US into debt peonage to Beijing.

So what to do? Contact all your governors and elected people in Congress to stress this spending spree has to be curtailed. In fact the massive increases in all non-defense spending that came out of the failed stimulus needs to be zero'd out of future budgets. Cuts in spending results in less accumulated debt because the gap between revenue and outlay narrows, which means the existing debt can be paid down faster. What Obama is doing is what he does best, vote present and kick the disaster down the road for someone else to fix. He is the quintessential moocher and looter Ayn Rand talked about. His and the Democrats' failed spending policies need to be stopped before the United States goes into receivership. To borrow from the progressives, do it for the children so they won't be saddled with billions in debt before they are even born.

Global Doomage

In case anyone missed NASCAR recently, then you might have missed them testing E15 fuel. That's right, government mandated bio-fuel is going up from 10% to 15%. Which means even more corn will be turned into ethanol and mixed with gasoline to power vehicles. As a result engines have to be tinkered with to compensate for the loss of energy due to the increase in ethanol content.

Meanwhile the likes of World Bank President Robert Zoellick are warning on the rise of food prices globally. Ever since the concerted push for green energy, the price of things like tortillas has done up - need corn to make them. Cost of meat has also gone up - corn is used to feed cattle. Supply and demand should hold here; but when a national government artificially distorts a market to push dubious goals via monetary bribes, the supply will follow the greatest profit which in this case is government green subsidies. Since the United States exports so much food, this distortion causes global ripples. Which means poor people in places like Egypt become even more impoverished because their limited money has to pay for food who's price has zoomed up. As more money is spent on food, there is less for other things which means other sectors of the economy will starve of cash flow. Which means such dreaded things as recession and rebellion can happen. All because of misguided government meddling based on dubious science. If you want a recipe for a new Bastille Day, this is it.

SSA Delenda Est?

It seems the Social Security Administration went broke last year to the tune of $76 billion owed to pensioners and the disabled. And only now are people noticing the cratering of one of FDR's signature policy triumphs. This article's writer seems shocked over the news. I hate to tell the writer but many people for more than two decades have been warning of this collapse of this grandiose Ponzi scheme, among those sounding the alarm bell was Ronald Reagan. And it will only get worse unless Congress puts back all the billions of dollars that have been siphoned from SSA to the General Fund over the decades. With thousands and thousands of Baby Boomers now hitting retirement age every day, it will get worse until its fixed or it breaks forever. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, you can only steal money from someone else for only so long. The pigeons of FDR are coming home to roost and the spending spree of the past fours years leave the federal coffers drained and incapable of buying time to fix things.