I'm done with this snow!

Being in the south, we normally don't deal with much snow.  Normally we'll get one or two snowstorms a season.  Sometimes they are big, sometimes they are small.  For the past few years, most of the snows where small and really didn't stick to the roads.  (There were about two exceptions.)

This year, the snow has been terrible.  It keeps coming.  And it keeps sticking.  The good news is that we've only lost power once.  The bad news is that it seems to keep hitting on my days off.  I work shift work so my days off rotate, but unfortunately that means that I've been stuck in the house on my free time for approximately a month.

Last week, enough snow had melted that I took Adorable Preciousness to the playground.  Of course, it was 40 and windy.  Kind of uncomfortable but I needed to get out.

Another snow.  Now I'm stuck in the house again.  And I hate it.  There is so much that I need to get done...  But it's not going to happen.  Heck, I need to make phone calls to get appointments scheduled, but the businesses are closed due to snow.

I really want to get out to look at and price firearms.  I've been looking at getting an AR and there are a handful that I'm trying to choose from.  Many of the dealers have been cleaned out since December and are now getting some nice models in.  I've been leaning towards a Windham, but a lot of people are complaining that they don't use quality materials or assembly.  My next choice seems to be a S&W, but I can't get any good evaluations on it because once I mention S&W, everyone says to go and buy a Colt.  I'm not going to get a Colt for reasons I won't go into on this post...  But if you ask I'll gladly tell you.  =o)

On that note, can anyone tell me the quality of a Palmetto State Armory rifle?  They keep putting out an $899 deal of AR + nice Optics.  (Such as an Aimpoint Pro.)  I'm half tempted, but not if it's a crappy rifle.

John Lott's Website: Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens unintentionally shows that the 2nd Amendment wasn't meant to just guarantee weapons for the militia

A very interesting article.  John Lott (Author of More Guns, Less Crime) made an interesting argument to the effect of that the statement of wanting to make the amendment "serving militia" only, then in a roundabout way former Justice Stevens is himself admitting that the 2nd amendment is about civilian possession of firearms.

John Lott's Website: Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens unintentionally shows that the 2nd Amendment wasn't meant to just guarantee weapons for the militia

The Liberal Gun Club

This is an interesting read.  Yahoo News: A Gun Club for Liberals: The Un-NRA 

I'm not happy how they color conservatives, but I do know some gun owners like that.  (To be fair, most gun owners I know tend to be more libertarian.)

But, not much time to research this.  I've got to run, so I'll leave without further comment.

Killing of Burleston County Deputy was No Billed.

This is a very interesting article.

Man charged with killing Burleson County Deputy No Billed by Grand Jury

In short, the agency did a "No Knock" entry on his trailer.  The man responded by opening fire with his legally owned firearm.  Mr. McGee's argument was that he was protecting the life of his pregnant girlfriend, and the jury bought that argument.

Please note that the Felony drug charges against Mr. MaGee have proceeded forward, so the man is neither scott free nor clean in my book.

There have been a small handful of self defense arguments where raids end badly for Law Enforcement and turn up no evidence.  With this court decision, I wonder if these arguments will end up at the Supreme Court.

I made it big time!

I got some credit for inspiring this!



Johnny Optimism: Big



OK, it's not much.  Stilton Jarlsberg explains it in the comment section.  I made a comment about "Tickles the clown" dong a puppet show.  (Here's the original web comic that I commented on:  Johnny Optimism: Ate.)  Well, Stilton ran with it.



And that has made me so happy.



Of course, I missed it when it was posted, catching it five days later.  The past few weeks have been very busy.  I'll avoid the details for the time being but I'm just catching up on a lot of e-mail, blogs, and web comics.



Again, thank you Stilton Jarlsberg.

AR-15, TAVOR, and the strange case of money burning a hole in my pocket.

I have recently come into a little money.

Just a little.  About two days worth of Overtime, so it's not a bad amount but it's not enough for me to quit my job and move to a beach house in Aruba.  Obviously my first impulse was to pay off some of my bills as I've been working hard on getting all of my bills paid off and "getting rid" of my credit cards.  But I'm already doing that and I've pretty much cut out all of my hobbies for the past three years in order to get our finances in better shape.  Thus, I've decided that I want to spend it on myself.  I deserve it.

So what do I want to buy?  A firearm.  Quite possibly two.  Or three.  I've been a member of IPSC, IDPA, and even SASS.  But over the past few years I've had to back away from shooting for various reasons...  Mostly because of  what I posted above.

My "Within Reason Wish List" is an AR and a nice tactical shotgun... with the shotgun being easily affordable without the money I just came in to.  One of the local gun stores has been picking up used Remington 870P's from a LE agency that is paring their stock down.  I can tear it down and see what needs replaced (if anything, the 870P's are workhorses) and then work on adding what I want to add to it down the road.  (Furniture, sights, choke, or maybe I'll just leave it as it is.)

Now that I've come in to this extra cash, I've moved up my purchase date for an AR to "As Soon as I Find One I Want."  Honestly, before I had the cash in hand I was looking really hard at a Windham Weaponry MPC.  However I'm a little put off with the fixed front post site.  However, I'm able to get a better deal on it than normal MSRP.  (On an aside, I was linked to this deal at Palmetto State Armory through Glock Talk...  and I'm thinking about it.)

However, I've recently fallen in love with a rifle that I really, really want.  I mean, really want.  A TAVOR.  Ever seen one of those?  It's a beautiful bullpup.  And one of my local gun stores has a great deal on theirs.  Apparently no one is buying it...  Because it is in Flat Dark Earth.

And that is the specific shade of TAVOR that I have dreams of owning.

I can afford this firearm with what I have.  But how can I justify to myself spending two grand on one firearm, when I could buy two entry level AR's and have change left over for sights, furniture, and other accouterments?

Suffice it to say, I don't have the money available for me to spend yet.  I finally got the check today and the bank's ATM won't accept it.  And I'm working straight through until next week...  Eh, it gives me more time to think about my decision.  I'd rather make a good decision and be happy with my rifle than make a rash decision and have regrets down the road.

Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Mental Health Services in a Correctional setting

Inmates often have better access to medical and mental health services while they are incarcerated than when they are out on the street.  (Of course I will state that often most seem to not bother to seek services while they are out.)  In a correctional setting, treatment is regimented and defined.  It may not offer the celerity or convenience of a doc-in-a-box, but  you will get treatment.  

I would like to point out on an aside that treatment is regulated on an "As Needed" basis.  Heart attack or broken leg?  You get to ride the ambulance to the hospital, along with matching silver bracelets and a guard to match.  Back pain or toothache?  You aren't going to die from it so we'll get you some ibuprofen until the doctor can see you and determine if you are a drug seeker or are in valid need.  

Today, I want to talk a little about Mental Health Services.  At one time, there was a lot of money flowing from the state and there was a large number of beds at the forensic unit.  Then the funds dried up, and bed space was lost.  Currently, getting any type of mental health involves a lot of waiting.  We had one violent, destructive inmate take approximately 8 months before he was picked up for housing in a proper forensic environment.  

Recently we have been holding the son of a rather... influential family.  They have money, connections, and resources.  But the "kid" was caught red handed, and he confessed to his string of crimes.  I'm not comfortable with discussing the specific mental health treatment he was receiving, but I will only state that it can easily be classified as "minor."  (This requires a lot more discussion, but for his privacy and the fact that this issue/case is ongoing I shall refrain from expounding upon it.)  

Long story short, a few weeks prior to his court case the "kid" stops taking his pill.  And then he acted up in court.  And thus the defense requested a mental competency evaluation.  Normally we see a turnaround of months before an inmate will be picked up for such an evaluation.  BAM!  Pretty boy is out and receiving treatment.  

Money talks, and in the courts you get what you pay for.  

Is New Jersey "White Republican?"

I'm from the South.  My wife is from the North.  On the political spectrum, I lean to the Right while my wife leans to the Left.  But neither of us is what the media portrays right wingers and left wingers to be.
But I found the following sentence to be oddly...  Jarring.

"To all the people who have given me advice to stay away from white Republican places like Jersey, Florida, Texas and the South, let me say this."  

Jersey?  White Republican?  Well, some parts of it are.  But even in those areas, it's pretty left leaning for me.  Oddly enough, I find more signs of racism there than where I live in the South.  And don't get me started on the gun laws.  

Obviously, each person has their views skewed by their own perception.  They can perceive something better or worse dependent upon their own personal views.  Thus, the view that white/Republican = Racist.  Quite disappointing.  It merely shows that the writer has preconceived biases, which places them on the same level of perception as the racists that they decry.  

Traffic

I keep finding things to post about, but I rarely have time to post them.

For example, before Thankgiving I had a close brush with death.  It was about 4am and I was headed north to work.  There is a portion of the highway that raises into a curving bridge.  It curves right, then left.  Yes, there are a large number of accidents on this bridge when the weather is bad.

So, tooling to work, not many vehicles out that early in the morning.  I saw some headlights and in my sleep addled mind they were in the other lane, separted by a jersey wall.  But I thought "man, those lights are bright."  Normally, they lights get blocked by the jersey wall as they get closer...  But not this time.  I was in the far right lane, the oncoming driver was in the far left lane.  I only had a moment of realization before they passed me.  Heart was beating a million miles an hour, and the only thought I could get out was "Oh S***!"

I was a little rattled and there is no place to pull off for a few miles.  I did not have my bluetooth in.  (I rarely have it in that early in the morning.)  I pulled my cell phone, but I was shaking and dropped it under the seat.  (I didn't find it until I was on lunch break.)  It was 25 minutes before I got to work, so when I called the State Police they thanked me for my input but advised me that there was little they could do.  I knew as much.  Obviously, no accidents reported.

Green Top Sporting Goods, still kicking it after all these years.

Green Top used to advertise itself as the "South's Largest Outdoor Supply" or something like that.  And at the time I believed it.  Then came the large chain stores and they took that slogan down.  In approximately 2007, the announcement was made that a Bass Pro and a Gander Mountain were opening in the area of Green Top.  

And Green Top was scared.  To talk with the employees, they thought that their shop would be put out of business and they would all loose their jobs.  

But brand loyalty and customer service won through.  Gander Mountain garnered a lot of complaints about high prices and bad customer service and it closed.  Green Top moved in to their location and now operate an even BIGGER store than before.  And it is awesome.  It makes me feel good that the "little guy" survived and is doing even better.  

Oddly enough, I have not made it out to the new Green Top location since they took over the Gander Mountain site.  There are a million reasons, mostly because I just don't need the temptation to spend more money.  

But I finally made it over there, and it is awesome!  They have made great use of the space.  The organization is quite similar to Gander Mountain.  The majority of their long guns are out on display where they can be looked at easily.  They have a number of collectible shotguns locked in the case, and they also have a number of their higher end rifles kept behind the counter.  And all of their pistols are behind the counter.  They seem to have a lot more long guns than pistols.  Their pistol counter was very crowded, but their selection seemed a bit off.  More specifically, they didn't have the pistol that I was looking for in stock.  But, nothing is perfect.  

I will state that I've been to the new location twice this month.  On that note, when I went there on Friday it looked like someone's ex had sold off a nice extensive AR collection.  There were multiple AR's in different configurations.  There was one with a forward grip, green laser, and optics for a really good deal...  So good I tried to figure out how to buy it right then and there!  (Couldn't buy it without gutting the Thanksgiving/Christmas budget.)  So, good deal missed, but I'll be back!  

Did I miss Halloween?

I forgot to make a Halloween post.  I like to post a few spooky music videos I find off of YouTube, but Halloween just kind of snuck up on me.  I had a very busy month and I even got my car in to it's annual inspection at the last minute.  (It was not what I had planned!)

I have a bit I'd like to talk about.  Several incidents involving inmates with mental health issues or disabilities that should not be incarcerated but are, training at the Academy, life in general, et al.  I had more to write but I just spaced out.  Of course, life is busy and I don't have time to post as often as I'd like, nor am I as creative in my posts as I would like to be.

Well, at least I have a quick post up.  I recently got another comment to my blog and that was much appreciated.

Until my next post!

The gun show in Downtown Richmond

I made it up to the C&E Gun Show in Downtown Richmond today.  This was the first time that they held the gun show at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.  Previously the C&E Gunshow was held at The Showplace on Mechanicville Turnpike.  But, that location was sold and something new is to be built there.

The big issue for that location is that the attached parking charges $6.  One big issue is that so few people are used to paying for parking.  That was a big drawback for the Sixth Street Marketplace when that was in operation.  But, if you go to Downtown Richmond, you will probably have to pay for parking.  And they wonder why people don't come.  Fortunately I was able to find some free on street parking.

The crowds were not as heavy as I'm used to when it was at The Showplace.  Also, there were a number of empty tables.  On that note most of the tables did consist of firearms or firearm paraphernalia.  There were very few tables of artsy/craftsy stuffs as I've become used to.  For the most part I don't go to a gun show to purchase firearms, as I find them very overpriced.  However, I did find some good deals that made me stop and think.

I don't think that the Greater Richmond Convention Center is a good place for the gun show.  Hopefully a better location will come available to them.

Marine Cutbacks.

Business Insider has an article about a funny video that was posted in a response to military cutbacks.

Marines Use Nerf Guns In Video To Lampoon Government Shutdown

It's pretty funny.  "No First Sergeants Were Actually Used in the Making of this Video."

Deathinger

This.

Deathinger

I can't figure out how to post the actual video to this site.  Blogger makes it easy to post from YouTube and not Vimeo.  (Of course, Google owns Blogger and YouTube so that's a pretty straight forward set up right there.)  But go watch it.  It's an awesome short animation about "Death School" for the harvesters of souls in the afterlife.

Stick Shifts. I love them. I hate them.

When I was 15, I got my crash course in driving stick.  My dad told me to get in the driver's seat of our F-150, and take it on down to the cow pasture.  

Now, I'd had very little experience in driving any vehicle up to now.  And the concept of using the clutch was very hard to understand.  Plus I was getting on streets that were not known for slow traffic.  The pasture, maybe ten minutes down the road, took almost a half an hour for me.  Between taking forever to turn onto the main road (too much traffic for me) and having the engine cut off almost every time I tried to shift...  By the time I got their my grandmother had already fed the cows and was leaving.  I don't really recall the trip back, but I'm sure that it wasn't any better.  

But, I eventually figured out how to drive stick shift.  And I became pretty good too!  The rescue squad that I volunteered for needed drivers, so I took the course and became certified.  When I got hired in corrections, I took the EVOC course for cruisers and vans.  The instructors kept making the van course tighter for me because I could do some fun stuff with the transport van.  

There were some interesting incidents.  The first time I was put in the drivers seat of a massive moving truck, I had to get used to the idea of "Reverse" in the far upper left position.  I was exceptionally used to First Gear being in this spot.  I only confused the two once...  Unfortunately I was at a stoplight driving uphill.  It was pretty scary.  

So...  About two years ago we bought a new car.  My wife's car was having back to back EXPENSIVE mechanical issues.  When the transmission went, so did the car.  We were fortunate that we had a friend who was a manager at a local Hyundai dealer.  We got a great deal on a used Elantra.  One of the reasons that we got such a good deal was that it was manual, and not automatic.  Apparently there is not a huge demand for an Elantra that is not Automatic.  

I hate that car.  

Shifting is such a pain.  I'll grind gears or place it in the wrong position.  I'm just terrible at using it.  The manual transmission for this car is just so different from the larger trucks that I'm used to driving.  In the trucks, I had the feeling of power when I was able to shift myself.  In this car, I think it's built for speed but with four cylinders it doesn't seem to work.  Now, my wife has absolutely no problem with it.  She is in love with her car.  Well, I guess it's good that I have no desire to drive her car.  

Dusk Maiden of Bones

Because I haven't posted and AMV in a while, here is one that I like.

I may have to buy the album from this, MS MR "Secondhand Rapture."  The video is from "Dusk Maiden of Amnesia" which I have not watched.  (I'll have to post a review of "Another" at some point in the future.)

We protect the guilty. But what about the innocent?

I merely must vent my frustration in that the criminals have more rights than us law abiding citizens.

While I shall not go into the details of the issue at this time, I will state that it looks like everything has turned out in my favor.  Unfortunately the whole situation has left a sour taste in my mouth.

That is all.

I have updated My Blog List.

I have added Grandma's Recipe Books and The Steel Bookshelf to "My Blog List."  Jon had been kind enough to leave a comment on my blog so I felt that I should at least help him out by adding a link to his sites.  It won't be much, but maybe it will add him a little higher on a Google search.

The term "illegal" can not be used at college.

Change the language and you change the conversation.  Groupthink out of UCLA:

UCLA Student Government resolution bans derogatory term.

And I had forgotten that the AP had removed the term "illegal immigrant" from their lexicon a few months back.

AP Stylebook rejects the term illegal immigrant.