Uncategorized

I disagree

Posted on by Caleb

With my estimable co-host on the issue of the Army using Spanish recruiting stickers – I also imagine that I’ll end up disagreeing with a lot of conservative bloggers on this issue.

See, here’s the thing – to me, it’s a smart recruiting idea to use Spanish language recruiting tools.  Like it not, this country has a large group of individuals that speak Spanish as their first language, and English as their second.  Since you can’t join the Army if you’re an illegal alien, then I don’t care what language is your first when you make the choice to defend your country.

The other reason that this is a total non-issue is because all of the military’s testing material is in English anyway, so it’s not like you could actually pass the exams or anything without a functional understanding of English.

Honestly, I don’t understand why people would care if the Army was recruiting in Spanish.  Personally, I think it’s a great idea.  The military has a proud history of giving opportunities to immigrants and their children, why should the modern generation be any different?  The important thing to see when a young kid who speaks Spanish as his first language signs up for the Army isn’t a Hispanic kid, but rather a young American making the choice to serve his country, regardless of where his parents were born.  I’d much rather be proud of that man for his decision to serve than get all upset because he doesn’t speak perfect English.

rifles/shooting

Gun blag rifle league?

Posted on by Caleb

Where do I sign up?  A little bit more detail – Sebastian is inquiring about how many people would be interested in holding an e-postal style CMP rules rifle match on a quarterly (roughly) basis.

I asked in the comments that if I didn’t have access to a 100 yard range if using a 50 yard range w/a reduced target would be acceptable.

Honestly, I would definitely want to get involved in this, because it’s another excuse to get out to the range and shoot, plus it would involve me honing a skill (that with a rifle) that I haven’t spent a lot of time post-military working on.   I shoot a lot with pistols, but not very much with rifles or shotguns, although I can feel the winds of change blowing and I may end up shooting a lot more long gun in the future.

Click over the Sebastian’s to vote on whether or not you’d participate.

blogs

Oh god so tedious

Posted on by Caleb

I am going through the incredibly tedious process of backing up all of the posts from Call me Ahab at my new archive location.  It has the added benefit of using the “callmeahab.com” address so I don’t have to worry about getting really popular and having someone park on a domain that I’d like to have.

It’s a really really tedious process because blogger doesn’t have an import feature, so I have to manually copy/pasta every single one of my old posts from here to over there.  I’m not going to worry about dates or anything like that, just get the data and post names saved over.

If anyone knows a more efficient way to do this, let me know.  Oh and before you can say it, yes, I have an XML file saved on my desktop of all my posts as well, but you can never have too much backup.

Uncategorized

July 4th – Independence Day

Posted on by Caleb

I have difficulty expressing with words how proud I am to live in this country; I wanted to write a long and well thought out essay on just how proud I am to be an American, and yet the words always fall short of expressing my true meaning.

Suffice to say that I do love my country, and I hope and pray that all of you will take a moment today and step back from the cookouts, fireworks, and other celebrations to reflect on the values, traditions, institutions and people that have made our country into the greatest nation on Earth.

self defense

Terrorists in the closet

Posted on by Caleb

I normally wouldn’t post this kind of stuff because I think it only provides fodder for the “Kill Hadji” folks, but this time it’s an actual news article instead of some crazy guy rambling about terrorists coming out the closet to put the butthurt on you. (h/t sebastian)

IN a notable departure from past al Qaeda strategy, Naji recommends “countless small operations” that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11: The “infidel,” leaving his home every morning, should be unsure whether he’ll return in the evening.

Naji recommends kidnappings, the holding of hostages, the use of women and children as human shields, exhibition killings to terrorize the enemy, suicide bombings and countless gestures that make normal life impossible for the “infidel” and Muslim collaborators.

I agree with a number of commentators that any attempts to try and implement this strategy in certain parts of the United States would likely be met with a violent response from the citizens – the problem is that the likely government reaction would be to try and disarm the very citizens defending their lives against terrorist action.

Uncategorized

Your coat is kind of a brownish color

Posted on by Caleb

To my readers that are browncoats and fans of Firefly/Serenity, I am working on an actual review of Serenity: Better Days, but I won’t have it up until after the holiday weekend.  First off, I’ll be drinking all weekend and I don’t do my best writing under the influence, but mostly it’s because I’m having trouble expressing my thoughts on the continuation of the Firefly ‘verse without going “squeeeee” and sounding like a little fanboy.

I mean, I am a total fanboy, but I just don’t want to sound like one.

blogs/humor

Quote of the Day

Posted on by Caleb

From Mrs. Ahab, regarding the nonsensical statement in Justice Breyer’s dissent about how if you have a gun in the house you could kill yourself with it:

If a resident has a poisonous snake in the home that he uses to do Lord knows what with because why would you possibly want a poisonous snake in the home, but it is America, so if he wants a poisonous snake he has the right to own a poisonous snake, then he has a poisonous snake in the home that he can use to commit suicide or engage in acts of domestic violence.

Read the entire post here.

shooting/shotguns

Project Frankenshotty report

Posted on by Caleb

Last night after work my buddy and I headed down to Marion County F&G to relieve a little stress after what had been (for me at least) a pretty rugged week at work.  I took my Walther P22, my .25 ACP Jetfire, the 1951E Beretta, and of course the Horrible Frankenshotgun.

I hadn’t yet shot the 9mm 1951 Beretta, so taking it out and giving it a few rounds was a pretty fun exercise.  The sights, being pure itty-bitty military with a lot of light around the front sight were pretty good for fast shooting at close range targets, but out to 15-25 yards the groups opened up a little bit.  It did have a problem jamming open on the last round, which probably means that the aftermarket magazine I have for it is junk – which would not surprise me at all.

The Jetfire in .25 ACP was fantastic, not jamming or failing to feed at all, eating 35 grain hollowpoints or 50 grain FMJ like there was no tomorrow.  It’s actually a lot more accurate than I could possibly with the teeny-tiny sights on it, and I was actually able to ring the 50 yard gong with it 3 times out of 9.

The Walther is still the Walther, just going bang all the damn time.  I swear, I must have gotten the golden child of P22s, because mine is still running well north of a 3k round count.

Now, the part that you people are reading this for – the Frankenshotty report.  The short version is that it ran like a dream, chugging through two boxes of shells like a dream.  Ejection was clean and positive with no failures to feed or fire.  Like I said, the gun itself ran just fine.  The operator on the hand…well, let’s just that apparently the gun gods made me a pretty good pistol shot at the expense of my shotgun shooting skills.

I think I hit the little bird maybe 1 out of every 6 shots, but that could be generous.  As a comparison, I hit the 100 yard gong with my P22 (Greg was there, ask him) 6 times out of 10.

The problem with me sucking at trap/clay shooting is that holy crap was it addicting.  The times that I did hit the clay and watched it disintegrate were among some of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in the shooting sports. I can completely understand how people get hooked on this, because the second I felt that gun kick into my shoulder and I saw the bird blow apart over the sights I thought to myself “hell yeah, that was fun”.  The recoil with a 20 gauge and the hard plastic “pad” (that term is used loosely) on the stock of Frankenshotty was just enough to let you know that you weren’t shooting a .410, but not so abusive as to take the fun out of the shooting.

Which of course means I’m going to have to practice with Frankenshotgun, as well as maybe (after I buy the Glock 35 and the 1911 and the pistol grip home defense shotgun) buy another shotgun for shooting clays on a regular basis.

To my wife: I am sorry that I’m now addicted to another shooting sport.  Really, really sorry.

humor

Jadegold is one sad panda

Posted on by Caleb

I will on occasion click over to his blagowebs to “see what I can see” as the phrase goes, and I tell you the epic lulz that he’s been brining ever since the Heller decision have been GREAT.

He’s really outdone himself this time, spouting off anger and half-truths to rival Gonzo, and I must say it’s a fantastic show to watch.  He’s still afraid to engage anyone in actual open debate, and has continued his long standing tradition of ad hominems  against anyone with the temerity to call him on his silly bullshit.

Oh Jadegold, you are my most favorite troll.  I <3 you more than Boring7 and Solaris combined.  Don’t ever stop.

Uncategorized

God I hate fireworks

Posted on by Caleb

My neighborhood sounds like downtown Baghdad this time of year.  Every night for a week before the 4th of July, from 10 minutes before sundown until about 11pm, there is a constant succession of “pop-pop-pop-BLAM” followed (sometimes) by children shrieking.

It just drives me crazy, plus I worry about all the amateur ballisticians out there setting my damn house on fire.