Army Strong

Picture by Tom

The Army Pistol Team was a big presence at the Nationals in Missoula. Not big physically as you can tell by the guy on the right who can put his headphones around his waist. The back of their jersey has a big "Army Strong" on it. These two were shooting Open Class, and Max on the left won the whole thing.

Picture by Tom

Here's Max showing us his "Load and Make Ready" routine. These guys shoot fast but as a squad they are slow.
The guy on the far right writes books and was doing a DVD while he was shooting. He would set up a camera in the field and one or two others. He was mic'd for sound and had a hoser-cam in his hat. So he was acting, directing, and shooting good enough to get 4th in Open and high international shooter. He even blogged it.

Unfortunately, the Limited-10 supersquad was shooting at the same time as we were and on the opposite end of the range. Well, we'll just have to go back then.

Woooeeee!

OK, let's assume you have your finger on a deadman switch attached to a Thermo-Zombification warhead. Lights are flashing, a siren is blasting, and you're fighting off disappearing and hostage-holding zombies one handed.

You'd wanna know how to do that, wouldn't you?

An Unusual Experience

Update: Never mind. It never happens to me, but the second place shooter got his score corrected. Now I'm a distant second---so that confidence boost just before Nationals? Forget it. I'm back to just trying to not be disqualified.

I spent Father's Day out on the range, as planned, but managed to win Limited-10, which was unexpected. It wasn't just by default either (my usual method), but a third of the competitors were in that class.

I did OK with the rifle, on the side match but obviously need to practice shooting prone. Last time I shot prone, I lay a lot flatter on the ground. Now it's like using a beach ball as a rest.

I had one stage design in the pistol match. It worked out pretty well and seemed to be fun to shoot. I did OK on it, which is unusual as I make stages based on what is hard for me to do.

Both kids checked in and are still alive, so Father's Day was a success for 2007.

Road Sign Up Ahead

In Happy Father's Day Mom, we get a little taste of the future that corporate America has already sensed. Father's Day has always had a tenuous hold, coming as it does after school is out. Mother's Day has the whole school machine behind it, pumping out personalized artifacts galore to bring home to honor that special day.

And, let's face it, the job of mom is pretty secure. Dads are mostly replaced already by the Nanny State after supplying their special contribution---more and more via syringe.

Maybe Father's Day will be better off as a back-up Mother's Day.

I still enjoy Father's Day, and love to hear those special words: Shooter Ready?

Notes for those who misinterpreted my previous post:
1. I'm not saying I don't like Father's Day.
2. I'm not saying I don't like my kids to call on Father's Day.
3. Shooter Ready? is a USPSA command and is not a reference to turkey basters.
4. I'm not saying that school teachers waste too much time on Mother's Day.
5. I'm not saying that Moms can't shoot their husbands and fathers of their children in the back as they lay in bed if they really wanted to.
6. Go away, don't look at us! (gratuitous LOTR reference)

Beer is More Important than Life

For proof, let us consider:

Serving beer at your under-age son's party ---27 months in the slammer.

Shooting your husband in the back whilst he lay in bed --- about a week while they get the paperwork straightened out.

Should I be worried when the Justice System reaffirms my life priorities?

The World as Our Economy

Click to go to the full size picture. The map makers took the Gross Domestic Products of countries around the world and matched them to GDPs of states in the USA. Kind of Amazing really.

Are you conservative?

So, I've mentioned before that when it comes to our government, etc., I'm conservative with a small c. To my amazement, there is a top ten list of what small c conservatives mostly believe in. You may agree with more on the list than you might think at first.

Many have said that Liberals in America aren't; I think it's also true that Conservatives in America aren't so much either.

Revolutions are usually carried out by persons of little forward-looking ability for realistic outcomes. They are focused on their Utopian vision and don't see what else could come. For instance, Tony Blair in the UK has helped build a surveillance network (to make people safe, you see) that photos an average person in London going about his business 300 times a day---and increasing coverage is coming daily. The government may change several times before someone realizes what an ambitious man or woman could do with such a network. And acts.

Revolutions, like our American one, are better for everyone getting a say at a very local level before changing something that has served for generations. Like local people watching out for the public order themselves, not an apparatchik in front of a bank of monitors. How long before the job of watching the monitors gets outsourced to India, China... Russia---they'd be good at that and cheap. Once the video is in the network, it can go anywhere in the world.

Getting our say is not to foreclose the people from doing something stupid, however. Peoples can diminish and nations can fail though great they once were.

Dave for Prez

Iowahawk is running for president. Here's his environmental platform:

The Environment

The scientific debate is over: man-made global warming is real. Finally! This means we can now stop paying for all those expensive redundant research projects to prove global warming. Not only will this save over $2 billion dollars per year in federal spending, we will see significant reductions in CO2 as unemployed global warming scientists sell off their Volvos and move to mud huts.

To further help reduce the nation's carbon footprint, I will order the Environmental Protection Agency to bulldoze the mansions of Al Gore, John Edwards, John Kerry, and Laurie David, and convert them to more eco-friendly use as free public drag strips. And for all serious environmentalists willing to make the ultimate Green sacrifice, I will offer discounted funerals with hybrid hearses, and framed federal carbon credits for their surviving families and animal companions.

Burqas Everywhere

Well, above is a Burqini when you just have to swim where they beat women in the streets when they show too much. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Even the little mermaid is covering up:
Hans (Deleted by order of the Mufti) Anderson is resting more comfortably I'm sure.