Day By Day

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Even more drug war stupidity

This takes the cake. SWAT storms in, shoots two dogs in the process of raiding a family home, as a small child watches, then charges the father with "child endangerment". They just make shit up as they go these days, and we're all their potential victims...

A man arrested on suspicion of drug charges and child endangerment said he is concerned with the actions of police who shot two dogs they described as “aggressive” while serving a drug-related search warrant at his home earlier this month in southwest Columbia.
Police arrested Jonathan E. Whitworth, 25, of 1501 Kinloch Court on Feb. 11 on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and second-degree child endangerment.
A police SWAT team entered Whitworth’s residence around 8:30 p.m. suspecting a large amount of marijuana at the location, police spokeswoman Officer Jessie Haden said. SWAT members encountered a pit bull upon entry, held back and then fatally shot the dog, which officers said was acting in an uncontrollably aggressive manner.
Whitworth was arrested, and his wife and 7-year-old son were present during the SWAT raid, Haden said. A second dog, which Whitworth’s attorney Jeff Hilbrenner described as a corgi, also was shot but was not killed.
“The family is concerned with what happened,” Hilbrenner said. “We don’t feel like what happened in the home was appropriate. The priority right now for us is the misdemeanor charges.”
Police discovered a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana, Haden said. Because the SWAT team acts on the most updated information available, the team wanted to enter the house before marijuana believed to be at the location could be distributed, she said.
“If you let too much time go by, then the drugs are not there,” she said.
Drug distributors traditionally have a history with firearms, which is why the SWAT team is used when executing such warrants, Haden said. If the SWAT team believed they could have executed the warrant successfully during the daytime when the wife and child were not present, they would have, she said.
 Militarizing our police departments in the name of the hopeless war on drugs is stupid, stupid, stupid.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

From the department of we have no ideas of our own...

I give you the righteous liberal backlash movement, the coffee party!


A relationship with Government? WTF is wrong with these people? Most of us want the f'ing government to just go away and leave us and our wallets alone. I guess some people live to be oppressed. 

Uncle J tells it like it is

More than likely Not Safe for Work due to language...



But pretty much right on...

Friday, February 26, 2010

This is awesome

Thousands of intellectual property violations in 16 mins of a really clever film.
nominated for an oscar

             

Should we be going to the dogs?

An interesting comparison of two health care systems, pets and humans. Once again that arch-liberal* Nixon's dead hand is still fucking up the market...



* I consider Nixon to have been a liberal for the following reasons:

  1. Wage and Price freeze
  2. Federal 55 MPH Speed Limit
  3. Created the now out of control EPA
  4. Spent more on social programs than defense
  5. CON laws

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Out of control....

Yep that's me adding this nice Wayne's World Squier Strat to the mix


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sonic Boom Meets Sun Dog

About as cool of a thing you will ever see....


Sonic Boom Meets Sun Dog from barbara tomlinson on Vimeo.

Does this pull it all together?

I admit it, I'm pessimistic about the future of the US, the world and sometimes humanity. Despite being educated enough to know better humanity still clings to stupidity. This stupidity takes many forms, and falls evenly across the political spectrum. In the end it boils down to two basic concepts for me:

TANSTAAFL - their ain't no such thing as a free lunch - made famous by Robert Anson Heinlein in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

A coworker sent me this link today. It's a sobering read, but it ties together many things that have been nagging at me for quite some time. I fear, as the author does, that we've only just begun to plum the depths of the economic mess that our politicians have allowed to happen because they were in the pockets of the bankers and the manipulators. The hole is deep, and we may not be able to dig our way out:
It appears that AIG - the company we have bailed out (thus far) to the tune of some $100 billion plus, in fact isn't done.  It appears they may have written credit protection on Greece.  If this allegation by the German equivalent to The New York Times is true Americans are going to be asked to pay billions of dollars - or more likely, hundreds of billions (since Greece is almost certainly not the only place - try Spain, Portugal, Ireland, etc) to bail out a bunch of FOREIGN NATIONS.
Do you both think Americans can and will pay that bill?  A bill that has been forced on us, and yet benefits not The United States economy, but foreigners? 
 Scary thought isn't it? We've spent the last 60 years paying a portion, some would argue a significant portion, of the cost of defending Europe from itself and the Soviet Union and now we're going to have to bail out the socialist nightmare they built with the money they saved on defense?
Do you both think Americans can and will pay that bill?  A bill that has been forced on us, and yet benefits not The United States economy, but foreigners? 
 Wars - big wars - start over much less, my friends.
Sobering isn't it? But consider this, how stable is the US domestically? We've just been through three highly charged Presidential elections starting with Bush's narrow win over Gore in 2000, the 2004 election and now the election of our current President. I remarked in 2004 that I'd never seen the US as divided as it was then, 2008 was worse, not better. The left is consumed with hatred for the right; the right is consumed with annoyance at the malfeasance of the press, the continuous race baiting and the endless spending and giveaways that never seem to satiate the left no matter how big. A large, loose coalition of people from the center, fed up with politicians of both parties has risen up only to be characterized as potential terrorists, racists, called 'tea baggers' by the press and politicians alike, while 24 X 7 the left wing noise machine dominates the news coverage presenting a picture that doesn't represent reality, just an "objective truth" invented to agree with the left's narrative. Yet the signs are there that a growing majority of people have had enough:
A recent Rasmussen poll disclosed that only 21% of the voters in this country believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed.  Put another way, only 21% of the voters in this nation consent to what Washington is doing.  
More ominously, 61% say the government does NOT have consent.  The remainder (18%) are not sure.
May I remind you that in 1776 less than that 21% of the population (19%, actually) were loyal to Britain?
If you do not believe this nation is wound tighter than a clock spring, you need to have that Thorazine dosage checked again.
You are in denial. 
Denial indeed, but it's more the politicians and the press that are in denial because damn near everyone I know is furious with the government; and that is government at all levels from our local towns to the Feds and beyond to the unaccountable UN with it's constant efforts to help itself to a nice helping of what little gold remains in the west with various deceptions and schemes; the "treaty of the sea", the IPCC and the climate fraud, AIDs you name it the UN has it's hand out and they're skimming off the top, the bottom and out of the middle to feed the maw of unaccountable corruption that represents this proto-world governing body.

We helped, we helped a good deal because we refused to recognize when the UN had lost it's way, and ceased to serve any useful function. The US has cruised along, footing most of the bill for the UN while allowing it to sit countries like Libya and Saudi Arabia in judgement of our human rights record. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Yet so consistent.

At home we've helped too. We've allowed the Government to carry out a huge war against us, a civil war that targets us, our neighbors, and their children in a hopeless task; I'm speaking of the so-called "War on Drugs". You would have thought that the US might have learned a thing or two during the alcohol prohibition days. See Albert's definition of insanity above.
Now consider the "bad side" of America.  The Justice Department estimates there are at least one million gang members - active gang members - in America.  These people, mostly young males, have nearly all drawn or fired weapons in anger.  They are responsible for more than three quarters of all crime in this country, and some eight out of ten violent crimes.  Those gang members have families - younger males who are "coming up", "friends" (if you can call a murderous thug a friend) and others.  Between all of those "loosely attached" folks and the hard-core inner circle itself we probably have somewhere between 5 and 10 million people in this nation who, given the wrong sort of provocation, might decide that "Zombieland" wasn't just a movie.
Our politicians created most of these monsters so the "finest" would have something to do.  A nearly-100-year obsession with what consenting adults put in their bodies is largely responsible for this, and an intentional policy of allowing an effective invasion of illegal aliens over our southern border provides some the most-violent core of this group.  The illegal drug trade has fueled international wars, international gangs, and virtually all of the organized violent crime in this nation going back to Prohibition.  Essentially every automatic weapon in the hands of criminals (and there are plenty of them) comes into the US through this same intentionally-left-open border as do the gangbangers, lies of this (and previous) administrations notwithstanding.  Those of you in the Law Enforcement business may not want to accept these facts, but if you reflect on it you cannot escape reality: weapons, ammunition and other means of street thuggery all cost money, and without these drugs being illegal there would be no profit in it, and thus a huge part of the criminal gangland element would not exist.  You've cheered on the War on Drugs as it has meant more cops being hired and more, better, fancier toys for you to play with, along with $200,000+ pensions (in some areas.) You've been fools and even self-destructive assholes for having done so.  But that, today, is water over the dam - the bad guys are here, they're not leaving, and there's no evidence that the political class is going to suddenly legalize these substances tomorrow, cutting the source of funds for the thugs off at the knees - after all, you won't rise up and demand it happen.  So we must deal with reality on the ground as it is (and as you have cheered on the creation of), whether we like it or not.
Cheery thoughts huh?  Are we close to a breakdown? How thin is the veil of civilization? Ask the Donner party. Ask any combat soldier. Ask yourself. The veil is about as thick as it can be but it'll be wisps of fog as soon as the supermarket shelves are empty.

Mad Max was a movie, but that movie could come to your neighborhood if the political class doesn't suddenly grow a responsibility lobe in their power and status besotted fore-brains. Good luck with that. Instead I think we're about to see Obama and his Democrat dominate Congress push through a bank breaking health care takeover that does nothing to fix the real issues we have with healthcare. It will however break the back of the camel called the US economy and as they say "if the US economy sneezes the world catches cold". The US government has become possibly the most corrupt political mechanism in the world, except of course for all the others.

How bad can it get? You ain't seen nothin' yet! Read the rest here.

Hard choices need to be made by responsible adults with the will to follow through on those decisions. We need to stop spending money we don't have. I don't care where it's being spent, it has to stop. We need to force the politicians to stop bribing us and each other with our money, because the interest payments are going to kill us. We need to close our borders to the invasion of people. Some of those people are good people, some are bad. That doesn't matter because we need to have control of the level of immigration in order to save something for those who qualify to immigrate to, and to honest we owe it to ourselves and our own children to leave something. That's not racist, that's just common sense.

I lack faith that either party can do this because both parties are full of politicians who specialize in lying to us. Why do they specialize in lying? Because we reward them for doing so, politicians who tell the truth, who treat the electorate like responsible adults have very short careers. In a very real sense it reminds me of this:


Col. Jessep: You want answers? 
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled. 
Col. Jessep: *You want answers?* 
Kaffee: *I want the truth!* 
Col. Jessep: *You can’t handle the truth!*
Sick isn't it? We're all in denial and we've lived there most of our lives. Welcome to the 21st Century.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

What is it about Democrats?

Well this pretty much sums it up. 


Click the image to see the story, HillBuzz has it.


Monday, February 15, 2010

WW2 Carrier Footage in Color

This is fantastic stuff.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

It just keeps unwinding

As the evidence clearly shows anthropogenic global warming is bunk. Even those who have made a living off the hysteria are admitting it:


Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon. And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming.
Indeed...and there's more:



“The temperature records cannot be relied on as indicators of global change,” said John Christy, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a former lead author on the IPCC.
The doubts of Christy and a number of other researchers focus on the thousands of weather stations around the world, which have been used to collect temperature data over the past 150 years.
These stations, they believe, have been seriously compromised by factors such as urbanisation, changes in land use and, in many cases, being moved from site to site.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

nostalgia



The USS Ranger from NAS Cubi Point spring 1976

Beer!


We hit the local beer store to stock up the other day. On the way out I noticed a freebie newsletter called Yankee Brew News so I grabbed one and threw it in the truck. Tonight I finally took a look at it. I had no idea there was so much beer activity going on! It appears that the brewing news has beer maps for much of the US. It also lists special events, tastings and other beer related items of interest. Beer heaven!

http://brewingnews.com/

So there it is, check it out. You can download a craft beer map for your State and set out to taste all the local craft beers!

I'm off on the Maine beer trail!

The real climate hockey stick

Following back a link in the comments I found a nice youtube channel that had this video



he's got a bunch more on his channel and it's worth the trip to educate yourself on the real science that supports a skeptical approach to the cult of global warming.

As promised

I put a warmouth neck I had sitting about on the fender powerhouse:


The original owner had the neck reshaped from a boat neck to a sharp vee and then refinished by Dana Bourgeios of Pantheon Guitars in Lewiston, Maine. He didn't care for the shape so I picked it up fairly cheap and had it on a Fender Lead 1 for years. I'd recently decided to put the original neck back on the Lead 1 so this was spare. The shape is different and takes a bit of getting used to but it plays like a dream with a nice low action that allows for some serious string bending without buzz. If you're not familiar with Dana's guitars and work he makes some really outstanding high end acoustic guitars.

I think it looks better with the dark neck and I know it plays better. When I had it apart I learned something about these I did not know. This guitar has a "dummy coil" installed to help combat the hum that plagues single coil pickups. When I removed the pickguard to look underneath I was stunned when I saw it.


That's the dummy coil, looking like a 4th pickup, wedged in between the 5 way switch and the volume and tone pots. I had never heard of this before. You know what? It works. This guitar also has a Fender mid boost preamp that boosts the mids 12db. It almost makes these single coils sound like humbuckers, almost. Overall it's a very useful thing to have as it adds tonality that regular strats lack.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Frozen Wasteland

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Target Toyota

I drive a Tacoma. I've never had an issue with it. My last one was totaled by Toyota because of frame rot. I was really, really, really pissed off about that event despite the settlement that Toyota gave me.

But the current major stockholder of GM is coming down hard on Toyota; conflict of interest? Here's some perspective.
As those cases come to light, it is necessary for carmakers to take action, and it is natural for consumers to be concerned. But the intensity of the backlash against Toyota is almost unprecedented. Here's what is being missed in most of the coverage of the issue: All cars are inherently dangerous. They propel their fragile human cargo at high speeds over unpredictable terrain. They combine thousands of parts that need to interact flawlessly—in environments ranging from Death Valley heat to Fairbanks cold—in order to maintain safe operation. Their radiators contain scalding fluids; their batteries are full of toxic acid; and their gas tanks hold explosive power equivalent to more than 100 sticks of TNT. And, by all accounts, Americans drive those cars faster than ever, on increasingly congested roadways. 

new Yon post

With some stunning cockpit photos...

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/seven.htm

Monday, February 8, 2010

Back from the dead

Insert a bunch of lame excuses here. I know that at least two people come here regularly. Sorry I let this place slip. I was out of town for a week, I got disgusted with everything (forever?) my daughter is visiting. I'm lazy.

I've been working up to a full fleet rant about the state of IT today and how badly IT workers get abused. Truth is if someone replied "at least you've got a job, and a good paying one at that" I'd want to hunt them down and pummel them. Two weeks ago I put 81 hours on my time sheet, the week I was out of town I put in 62 (while in training) I'm salary. Screw that crap. If I was unemployed at least I'd get to see the wife and cats and play one of my guitars.

But since I am employed and have the occasional bit of disposable income I scored a couple of cheap additions to the guitar collection.

First up - an 1980s Fender Squier made in japan E series (serial number) guitar. The E series are sought after because of the necks and over all quality. The neck on this is very nice indeed. The picture doesn't quite capture the color which has a bit of green in it making it an interesting dark teal color.


Next we have a bit of a mess. Guy took a Fender Powerhouse Strat, which has an active mid-boost, and stuck a maple neck on it, he claims the neck is a fender that he put a "custom headstock" on. It's a decal of his name. The neck is ok but I'm going to replace it with an old warmouth ebony neck I have for now while I shop for a nice rosewood fender neck on ebay.


I'll probably put up another pic of this one soon because I'm going to change out the neck later.

So all sorts of exciting crap in the world now. Scott Brown takes Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate. I welcome the thought that ObamaCare might have taken a heavy blow with this election but that's tempered by the realization that this guy is a Massachusetts Republican, which means he'd be a Democrat in almost any other state except California or Maine. After running a campaign that mirror's Obama's presidential campaign, where he said what he believed people wanted to hear, he immediately came out in favor of national health care, just not the current bill. This guy may make Olympia Snowe look more conservative.

Obama's state of the union speech sure was a doozy, It's all Bush's fault, his reckless spending forces me to spend even more....you can fool some of the people some of the time....


I said before Obama is working overtime to rehabilitate the Carter Presidency. I think I was correct. Expect increasingly shrill messages to come from this Whitehouse.

Pelosi is wasting our money? We're getting worked up about the liquor bill on her jaunts around the world in her transport? For Christ's sake that's only a $100K or so, every time she picks up the gavel she spends billions. Sure it's abuse but don't we expect a bit of abuse from our totally out of touch ruling class? The Republicans' can squawk about it all they like but they passed utter shite like "no child left behind" and then didn't even have the balls to fund it, sticking the bill back to the states and the local taxpayers. Repeat after me "Unfunded mandate". Remember when Newt was all the rage and Republicans were opposed to unfunded mandates? No? Well they were back in those days, the dark ages when Reagan was President. That got lost when they discovered how much fun it was to be in charge of the cash flow; everyone shows deference to the holy cash flow, it's great to be king. I have an idea that both parties could use to great advantage:

STOP SPENDING OUR FUCKING MONEY!

Especially when the most abusive spending is when they use our money to bribe each other into passing crap legislation.

So Palin gave a speech? and for the most part it's not a bad speech. At a "national" Tea Party gathering. Funny that, my local "tea party" is claiming that particular 600 people don't represent them. This is probably just an attempt to hijack the movement and bring it back into the Republican Party. Good luck with that Republicans you're 1/2 the f'ing problem. These days it seems the only thing more corrupt than a Republican is a Democrat, but that's only because with the majority comes the ability to control the flow of graft and these days it's all graft, even if it's being used to bribe the locals by building them a bridge.

Climategate continues unabated, the more people dig into this treasure trove of emails, the more we realize that the high priests of global warming were cooking the books. Much has been made of their motivation, in my opinion it was simply a fund raiser. Hansen and the rest have been rolling in funding and attention while playing their star roles in pushing for action now. Of course they may be true believers, which makes them stupid and stupid people almost always get caught...oh wait....

My wife bought herself a droid. It's pretty cool, all the cool of an iPhone without the draconian stupidity imposed by Steve Jobs and apple. No iKoolAid. I like it, if I was in the market for a smart phone I'd get one, but I'm forced to carry a Blackberry "smartphone" and I hate the damn thing. Granted a blackberry is so obsolete in comparison to the droid that they are almost not the same thing. I want a phone to talk on, and possibly text; while I'm a reluctant texter I can see the utility of it. It's like email only we call it texting because we use a phone instead of a computer to read it. Whatever. It's fast, it's beautiful, it's essentially a laptop in a phone and that's what the wife wanted because her boss doesn't have internet at the shop and she wants it to lookup stuff for work. Imagine that, it's 2010 and here is a business without a PC, without internet, and the business is doing quite well for itself. Without the intraweb! Ok he does have a website. Anyway she's delighted with the thing and that's why she got it.