jinksto

In watching the super bowl last night I, along with others, was charmed by most of the commercials.  I was quite surprised that CBS didn’t duck on playing the Tebow commercial even after the leftist attack squads attempted to destroy his mothers reputation.  Publicly calling her a liar and a whore although they had no proof of this because… well… because, that’s what they do, I guess.   That “anything for the cause” mentality is why this commercial scares the hell out of me:

I get the joke.  Really I do.  Satirical over reaction to the green movement.  Show that your product complies even with these impossibly high standards. Buy our cars, save the environment.  Look we even have a cute mascot in Andy the Anteater.  The scary part is that in looking around I see people who are “ok” with this.  Not people that thought that reaction to the commercial is overblown.  Not people who saw the commercial as just a cute knockoff of other police parodies.  People who can’t wait for the day that these kinds of rules are enforced in just this way.  Seriously.  I get that there are people on the right who are crazily obsessed with avoiding this.   Unfortunately, I think that some of them aren’t so far off base.  As long as those extreme leftist views are out there.  As long as they are fighting to pull the rest of us down to their level.  As long as they don’t care who they hurt in accomplishing the goals set before them I can’t find these things funny at all.

Of course, the more egregious error lies in the title of this post.  The Ordnungspolizei or OrPo were the regular German police during Nazi Germany.  They were absorbed into the Nazi Police forces and were called the Grüne Polizei or “Green Police” due to the color of their uniforms. They reported to the SS. They committed atrocities against both Jews and Cahtolics and were responsible for several million civilian deaths.  Audi, who sponsors the ads should know this but doesn’t seem to care.  Chanting the lyrics “green police” is the same as chanting “nazi”, “nazi”, “nazi”. It’s a catchy tune, it’s a cutesy commercial, it’s inherently wrong.  Seriously people, get a fucking grip.  I can see some blind and poorly schooled left coast production company coming up with a catchy slogan like this but Audi?  A German Car company?   OF COURSE they recognize the connection. Of course they don’t care.  Of course they’re feeding on  the mass hysteria.  Of course they believe that any furor over a super bowl ad is good press. Wrong.

When the ad played last night, we watched it.  In the first scene we all kind of smiled because we were in the mood to watch over the top Super Bowl ads.  By the third scene no one was smiling and people in the room stopped chatting to watch.  When the ad finished playing there was complete silence for about 10 seconds before some one said, “ugh”.  It sounded like he had been gut punched. I didn’t see where he was that far off.

To be honest, Audi hasn’t lost me as a customer.  They never had me to begin with.  It’s a crap car and I wouldn’t ever buy one. I spent one whole summer working on a friends Audi every weekend.  Not tweaking it… just keeping it running.   That said, I can’t help but associate people who DO drive them with this insensitive and horrifying celebration of one of the most murderous groups in history.  Got one?  Sell it.  Haven’t bought one yet?  Don’t.

UPDATE: Someone pointed out that I scooped Michele Malkin on this but even she didn’t make the same connection that I did. Scary.

Public Domain Images from Wikipedia.  In order of appearance:

1) Flag of the Nazi Ordnungpolizei (Orpo) "Order Police", the name for the uniformed regular German police force in existence during the period of Nazi Germany 1936–1945.

2) Ordnungspolizei conducting a raid in Cracow’s Jewish Ghetto, January 1941.

I read this article on a Make Magazine blog post.  I don’t know the author and haven’t read her stuff before but it’s an impressive bit of work.  Have a read:

When I interviewed STS-130 Mission Specialist, Bob Behnken last week in Houston at Johnson Space Center, I asked his advice for what to expect at my first shuttle launch. He gave me three tips: First, he said, "Bring bug spray." Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about that with this morning’s cold, windy weather. Second, he told me to hope for clear skies. Night launches are all spectacular, he noted, but when skies are clear, you can keep eyes on the shuttle for up to eight minutes. When skies are cloudy, that visual can be as little as eight seconds. Finally, he repeated something I’ve heard from shuttle viewing veterans: put the camera down and just watch.

With mostly clear skies and a flawless countdown, my more-than-20-year-old dream was realized as the shuttle Endeavour lifted off before dawn this morning. The bright white light from the massive rocket boosters turned night to day in a matter of seconds. My brain could hardly process what my eyes were seeing, and when the sound finally hit my ears (there are a few strangely quiet seconds before sound reaches you) my entire body felt the force of this amazing vehicle. It was bigger, better and more exhilarating than I ever could have imagined.

I cried like a baby.

The tears started to come when Endeavour was given the final "go" for launch. They were slow as my heart rate started to pick up speed, and by the time the shuttle cleared the tower, I was completely breathless. Once Endeavour pierced the thin clouds and the entire sky glowed bright white, the sobbing came on hard. As I listened to the loud outdoor speakers blast the communication between Mission Control and Commander Zamka, and watched Endeavour sail through the sky as a bright star for a good seven minutes, I sat on the ground and cried uncontrollably. I cried for the spectacular images my mind was still reeling to process. I cried for the awe and wonder of such an incredible display of human ability and teamwork. I cried for the realization of such a long-held dream that I wasn’t sure would ever happen. And I cried to think that this icon of my childhood, the vehicle of exploration that lit my imagination on fire so many years ago only has four more launches ahead of her.

As I finally settled back in to the press room and finally overcame my weeping spell, I found myself overcome with a smile that would not stop. I smiled for the amazing opportunity I just experienced. I smiled in gratitude of all the folks who helped make this dream a reality. And I smiled at the thought of this great crew unstrapping from their seats and floating as they start their time on orbit. I can’t wait to watch them as they work through this important and complicated mission. And more importantly, I can’t wait to share it all with you.

Posted by Rachel Hobson | Feb 8, 2010 05:30 AM

Along with everything else, we’re giving our lead in space away.  If asked I’m sure Mr. Obama will blame President Bush for our losses on the space front while spending hundreds of billions of dollars on “green” energy to solve the global warming problem.  Thanks for that.

My cousin who has served more time than he should “over there” forwarded this along.  It’s old, I think but I hadn’t seen it before and I wanted to make sure that you had…   Make it full screen.  Turn it up.  Cry a bit.  Say a prayer for our troops.

If one more person…

I went by a local gun shop yesterday to pick up more ammo for the new gun.  The owner spent most of the time that I was there trying to convince me that buying a .357 sig was stupid and that I should let him “rebarrel it”  to .40 S&W for me.  Two things:

One

When I ignored him he told me to be sure to save my brass and learn to reload because, “the .357sig isn’t going to be around much longer”.

Uh huh.  People have been saying that since BEFORE the round was introduced.  Don’t get me wrong, I think reloaders are cool.  One of my aunts reloads.  I’m just not that into it. It’s easier for me to spend $30 for a box of 50 than it is for me to pull that handle 50 times.  As has been noted several times in this blog, I am inherently and unrepentantly  lazy.

“It’ll never last. In a few years they won’t even be making the ammo for it anymore” he said. 

“No other necked down round has ever made it on the commercial market,” he explained. 

Twenty (ish) years after it’s introduction it’s still one of the most popular law enforcement rounds on the market.  However, I learned that this is only because “enforcement personnel use tax-payer money to buy stuff so they don’t care what it costs”.  Right. ok.  End game: Supply and Demand.  If they can’t keep it on the shelves then the ammo makers are going to keep making it.

When I wanted to talk ballistics he admitted that it has good ballistics but that, “WE don’t really need those ballistics… those are good for law enforcement but not something that we’ll ever use. “ 

Really? 

“A cop might need to shoot through safety glass, or heck, even a car door, you won’t ever need to do that.”  he explained.

One hopes not.  But, if “WE” do I’ll be just a touch more prepared than he is won’t I?

“It’ll shoot through walls” was another good reason not to buy a .357 sig. 

“That just means that I don’t have to go into the same room with the bad guy doesn’t it?”, I asked.

Yes, apparently, it does but, “what about your neighbors?” 

My neighbors have an acre of wooded hillside to hide behind.  That particular acre belongs to me.  IF they happen to be trespassing at the same time that I’m having to encourage a “Bad Guy”(tm) to leave my home and accidentally get shot, then yeah, sorry about that.  If I lived in an apartment building that might be a good argument.  Here on the tree farm, not so much.  Seriously though, I’m not one to randomly shoot through walls.  Everything from Daddy smacking me in the head for being stupid to military training has taught me to identify targets first.  Can’t do that if you can’t see them.

Two

“Rebarreling” a Sig P229 to a .40 S&W means taking the old barrel out and putting a new one in.  It takes about 38 seconds for me to field strip this gun to the point that the barrel falls out. I do that every time I clean it which is, essentially, every time I fire it.  I’m not paying a gunsmith to do that for me.  It’s like paying a plumber to change your toilet paper roll.  That said, some aftermarket barrels do require a gunsmith to “fit” them but  Sig Saur barrels are “drop in” and I wouldn’t buy anything else.  Still, it was a very high end “boutique” gun shop in a neighboring town.  I can see where the people that shop there would want to have a drop-in barrel replaced by a gunsmith if only for the ability to make small talk at the range.

Really, I appreciate folks that want to “correct” someone that doesn’t have a clue.  I’m not a gun collector but I do know a few things.  I did the research and decided what weapon I wanted to buy then went and found one that I could afford.  I’m even cool with verbal jousting about which round is better and encourage it.  But don’t trot out your opinion if you’re going to ignore the ballistic proof.   I’ll bury you in sarcasm. 

In the end, we played with his display guns and bought his last two boxes of .357 sig ammo while making it clear that I would have bought more if he carried it.  I would have too… I’m out of practice ammo… again…. and Walmart has had .357 sig for months.  They had stacks of Winchester .40 S&W though… shoulda bought that I guess.

Yup, that’s right.  As free and legal citizens of the United States of America Mrs. Jinksto and I adopted a new family member today. 

We got exactly what we I wanted!  After a few snapshots at the nursery and a TON of paperwork ensuring that I am not a Felon, a nutcase, a wife beater or an illegal alien we were able to load up in the car and come home.

I took these pictures at the nursery. They’re not that great but you know how the lighting can be in those places:

After a 20 mile ride home, the first thing to do was give her a good bath and get down to the first feeding. 

After that we went out in the yard to play. It was 35 degrees F and raining so we only stayed until she got hungry again.  I didn’t have a target so used a 4inch skeet and hit it 5 out of 8 times (there’s not much left of a clay pigeon after you shoot it 5 times with a .357 anyway) at 7 yards.  Here’s a picture after the bath and first feeding.

It’s a SigArms P229 in .357sig. 

Anybody know what color cigars you buy for one of these?

People might complain about Catholics at a pro-choice convention or Methodists praying at a football game or Presbyterians celebrating Christmas openly but NO ONE complains about a Southern Baptist at a potluck dinner.

Obama said today, "When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college."

I’m good with that.  Hell, if you read here you know I’ve been screaming the same message for two years.  However, if you consider that statement along with  the following:

This week Obama revealed his 3.8T budget that contains the largest  deficit since World War II.  We’re way way past “can barely pay your mortgage”… and the absolute hilarious part?  President Obama is indeed scheduled to visit Las Vegas later this month.

… that just makes me giggle.

I was back at Fort Gordon for my second round of AIT.  I had just returned from the Gulf War, spent some time in college and decided to move on.  As a way to earn money, I volunteered to go back to school for a second MOS (job) with the National Guard. 

As prior service we were granted more liberties than the new recruits there for the first time.  As veterans who had served in a war zone we were required to wear a combat patch. In the Battle Dress Uniform (or BDU’s) your unit patch is worn on the left sleeve. Everyone except new recruits not yet assigned to a unit has one.  If you have served in a war zone with a unit you wear the patch of that unit on your right sleeve.  This “combat patch” never changes and you wear it for the rest of your career.  We also wore the backwards American flag (probably the dumbest idea the Army ever had but… don’t get me started).  I think the regulations have been changed now so that everyone wears the flag patch but at the time only veterans had them. Those of us with extra patches were looked at with something approaching awe by the new guys. The older guys that were stationed state side during the war sometimes looked at those patches with annoyance because they didn’t have one.  Both of those reactions get old after a while so we tended to stick to ourselves a lot.

One evening several of us were sitting in a break area passing the time between classes and the final formation of the day.  A Staff Sergeant that we didn’t know walked into the area and asked for directions to a particular barracks.  It’s a training base so strict protocol requires that someone call out “at ease” when he enters the area and everyone stands and assumes a half-ass position of parade rest until the guy says “carry on”.   It’s really mostly for show and just part of everyday life.  The “good” ones will say, “carry on” before you even manage to get to your feet.

I was halfway out up off of the bench that I was sitting on when he said, “carry on” so I gave him a glance and started to sit back down.  He was older than most of us.  I noticed a combat patch and thought, “one of us”.  After a lot of time in the military you learn to evaluate someone in a particular way.  First you check there collar tabs to see what rank they are.  Second you notice the overall appearance. People with sharply pressed uniforms and highly polished boots like this guy either care a great deal about appearances are on some higher ups staff.  That can mean trouble so you checked for a combat patch to get an idea about whether he’s going to be a snob or not. BDU’s are a uniform.  They all look alike.  Every day, all day.  If someone is wearing something on a uniform that is different it’s immediately apparent as “not right”.  You might not know what it is at first but you always catch it.

As my eyes went from this guys collar tabs to his combat patch I caught something “not right” in his uniform.  He was wearing BDU’s (which are the camouflage uniform) but I caught a flash of blue.  There’s no color on a battle dress uniform.  There’s only one award that is worn around the neck rather than pinned on the uniform.  It all happened in less than a second.  The thought process went something like this: “Staff Seargeant”…”Sharp uniform… uh oh” …”combat patch… probably ok” …”wait… what was that… blue? ribbon? OH FUCK!”

“GROUP ATTENTION!” I shouted as I went from half-way back to seated to a fully erect position of attention.  Everyone else snapped to attention as well. It was a training command; You don’t question it, you just do it.   From the position of attention I snapped off one of the crispest salutes that I’ve ever managed to the Congressional Medal of Honor half hidden in his uniform top.  Everyone else caught it a half second behind me and did the same.  We held the salute for 3 seconds and then moved back to the position of attention.  He said, “carry on” again and someone pointed him towards the barracks that he needed.

As he walked away two new privates stared at the ribbon around his neck and kept walking towards us. One of the sergeants in our group flew over a short retaining wall and did a bit of schooling.  Those two will never make that mistake again.

The Congressional Medal of Honor can be worn with any uniform or none.  It doesn’t matter if someone is wearing it in the shower.  If you see it, you salute it.

A few other notes:

* It’s called “The Congressional Medal of Honor”, not “The CMH” or “The MOH”.  That soldier spent something of themselves and was awarded the highest recognition that our country has.  The least you can do is spend some time saying it.

* They are “recipients” not “winners”

* The Medal is awarded not “won”.

* If you weren’t awarded it, don’t wear it.  It’s a federal felony and it makes you an ass.

I had completely forgotten this story until Greybeard reminded me.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like to serve with a recipient.

I’m a law abiding citizen (I used to have a friend that always incorrectly said “law providing” citizen… I never corrected him).  I hear every day or so about how guns are killing America and this concerns me.  I hear about how our nation is being flooded by guns.  They’re everywhere.  In our churches, in our national parks, in our schools, in the JiffyMart down the street.  They are too easily obtained through the “gunshow loophole” and hell, you can just pop by the nearest pawn shop and grab one up on your way to church.

I have a little extra money in my Federal Savings Account so I’ve been thinking about buying handgun that I’ve wanted for a while.  I haven’t bought a handgun in North Carolina yet so started looking into what I need to do. 

First I found that in order to buy a handgun I need permission to do so.  That permission is granted by the County Sherriff.   In order to get the Sherriff’s approval I have to go to the GCSO (Gaston Count Sherriff’s Office) and get a form.  I have to fill out that form and bring it back to the GCSO.  I live about 35 minutes away from there so it would it’s pretty annoying.  Thinking that I might be able to find the form online I went to the GCSO website and was surprised to see a prominently displayed link to “Gun Permits”. Clicking on this took me to page containing only an email address and the following process:

Gun Permit Application Procedures

1. Complete an application; application forms can be picked up or brought back to the Sheriff’s Office any day, Monday-Friday from 8:30am-4:30pm (except holidays).

2. After completing the front page of the application, you will need to bring the application back to the Sheriff’s Office.  After all record checks have been completed and the application is approved, the final permit can be picked up at the Sheriff’s OfficeMonday-Friday from 8:30am-4:30pm.  When you turn your application in, you will be given a phone number to call back in three to five days to see if your application was approved.

3. The fee charged by the Sheriff’s Office for issuing gun permits is $5.00 each.  You may purchase up to five permits from one application.  This is payable (CASH ONLY) to the Sheriff’s Office and is set by state law (G.S. 14-409).  When the permit is picked up at the Sheriff’s Office, you will need to have correct change.  If you do not have the correct change, we cannot issue the permit.

4. Gun permits are issued for the purchase of handguns only.  It does not give you the right to carry the gun concealed.  Carrying a concealed weapon without a N.C. State Concealed Handgun Permit is against the law (G.S. 14-269).

5. Gun permits are issued to allow you to purchase handguns for the protection of your home, business or property, to use in target shooting, hunting or collecting.

APPLICATIONS EXPIRE WHEN PERMITS ARE ISSUED.  A NEW APPLICATION IS REQUIRED WHEN APPLYING FOR ANOTHER PERMIT.  PERMITS MUST BE PICKED UP BEFORE 4:30PM AND WITHIN 30 DAYS OF APPROVAL.  AFTER 30 DAYS THE APPLICATION WILL EXPIRE AND YOU WILL NEED TO RE-APPLY.

No form.  I carefully read the process and thought the following:

1. No reference to an online version of the form. Damn. The business hours look reasonable, even including the “except holidays” exclusion.
2. The front page of the form?  After finding the online version discussed below I discovered that it only had one page.  So I was a bit concerned that something was missing.  No holiday exclusion here?  Can I pick up on a holiday?  What “record checks”?  Isn’t that what NICS is for?
3. Seriously?  Bring 1 five dollar bill for each permit that you want.  Ensure that it is pressed and stacked neatly with other five dollar bills. Give me a break.  I get that they might not want to maintain a cash drawer (it’s dangerous out there, that’s why I need a handgun after all).   I get the feeling that that if I showed up with a 20 and asked for one permit that my request would be immediately denied and all permits destroyed.  That’s probably not the case… they’d probably just make me walk across the street to the gas station for change.  I’d be scared, it’s a rough neighborhood.
4. Interestingly, though they don’t mention it, if you have a CCW then you don’t need a gun permit to buy.  Your CCW suffices. I wonder why they don’t mention it.
5. I was going to use my handgun as a paperweight for my desk and finally get rid of that half drank (drunk?) cup of moldy coffee.  According to this passage that use is illegal in the state of NC. I’m only allowed a handgun if I intend to shoot something?

I realize that these comments are petty, but seriously?  I’m not a criminal.  Certainly not a felon. Who are they trying to protect me from?

While reviewing these rules I noticed a link in the header of the page called “Document Center”.  Clicking that link takes you to a general download page that has a couple of hundred different forms and documents linked on it.  It’s the typical small municipality website approach of putting everything in one place in hopes that someone will find something, anything, useful.  I did. Using the search function I found this document under the heading “Sherriff” most of the way down the page.

Here it is:

I printed the form off and stood over my bar filling it out.  I realized that the ten questions are the same ten questions that are required by the Brady Bill and that I’ll have to answer again when my NICS check gets completed.  In writing this, I notice that I didn’t complete the “Previous Address” section of the form.  That was somewhere in Illinois three and a half years ago. My memory doesn’t work that way.  I needed to look it up so skipped it and meant to go back.  I forgot.  Hopefully that doesn’t cause problems.  I finished off the rest of the form trying to write neatly and even included my (optional) SSN because the thing is linked to my Drivers License number anyway and maybe I get points for saving an admin some time looking it up. 

I won’t go into the stupidity of asking criminals these ten questions.  Billions of words have been written about the idiocy of asking a pot head in a gun store if he “has ever been an unlawful user of , or addicted to alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, depressants or narcotic drugs?”   As I write this though, I wonder how many inherently honestly people have been denied the right to own a gun because of one bad decision in college… the phrase “ever been an unlawful user of” nails about 80% of the population.   There’s not even a spot to say, “but I didn’t inhale”.  Also, if coffee counts as a “stimulant” I’m completely screwed.

Now, I had no idea where the GCSO actually is so I rang up Rob over at hines57.com and invited him to lunch (see how that works?).  When questioned, Rob knew exactly where the GCSO and the Courthouse and the Jail annex was.  I’m not commenting on what that means other than that it got me where I needed to be.

Rob gave me directions while browsing Facebook on his iPhone which only resulted in one missed turn that required a two block trip around downtown Gastonia.   The GCSO shares a parking lot with the county courthouse (and conveniently the Jail Annex) and requires that you pay to park.  There were signs that had a complete scale posted at seemingly random places throughout the parking area but the relevant one was “$1 per hour or part thereof”.  I love it when municipal code gets transferred to public signs.   Not having a dollar bill on me I didn’t want to break the law by not paying so we stopped in the fire zone and Rob agreed to drive around the parking lot while I went inside.  When I walked in there was a sign that said , “GUN PERMITS –> “ and pointed at the window that I would have stopped at to ask directions anyway.  I handed the lady my form, she looked at it briefly to make sure that I had signed it and handed me a slip of paper that has a number and directions to call in 3-5 days and ask if my permits are ready.  Thirty seconds later I was back in the parking lot and watched as Rob, now 40 yards away, got stuck in a lane and was forced back onto the divided street in front of the courthouse.  Five minutes later he was back.  As I stood there in the freezing rain waiting I took cold comfort in the fact that it served him right for making me miss a turn earlier.  That five minute downtown tour probably cost me five dollars in gas for the F250 but I saved a dollar in parking dammit.

By previous agreement we went by “Wired Coffee Express” where I bought our usual round of Americanos fixed up by Owner and Proprietor Todd.  The shop was empty at that time of day so as usual we stood chatting with Todd, trading barbs and exchanging a off-color jokes. 

As we walked out of the store, offending (and addictive) stimulants in hand, a Sheriffs cruiser rolled slowly trough the strip mall.  “DAMN!” I thought, “those guys are GOOD!”

I’ve mentioned before that I use my truck for all sorts of things.  Being the only one in my immediate circle of friends that has a heavy duty truck means that I get to volunteer for all sorts of neat stuff.  Moving people, towing stuff, pulling things out of the ground… you know, redneck stuff.

A couple of years ago I even got scooped into a deal to make a home delivery.  After a party… in the dark of night…   Here’s how my buddy Rob describes the event:

…My brother closed on a house in Gastonia last week, and they have been laboring to fix up the house for the past few days in order to move into it this weekend. Over the course of their labors, they removed the toilets (my brother sat ‘em out on the back deck for expedients sake) and had all new plumbing and toilets installed.

Well, my brother and his wife had his sister in law stop by to see the progress and so that they could show off all they had done. Of course, siste in law immediately noticed the toilets sitting on the back deck and couldn’t help herself but started explaining to my brother that "Maybe that’s they way they do it in Mississippi, but in North Carolina …." – well, suffice it to say – she gave my little brother a lot of grief over it and had quite a good laugh in the process.

But little did she realize that I live in the area now – and no one but me picks on my little brother and laughs at his expense! Oh yes, it is payback time!!! Tomorrow night, my brother is going to pack the two old toilets in the back of his truck and bring them over for Campfire w/Bubba. After we have all taken our ease around the fire, and are about done for the night, we intend to fill those two toilets with fresh potting soil, along with some beautiful blooming flowers my wife will pick up from Wal-Mart – then we shall drive over to Jane’s Fabulous House in her Posh Neighborhood and position the toilets on either end of her beautifully paved driveway!

Oh yea, Saturday morning is going to be a blast – as my brother and his wife are telling everyone to meet early at sister in laws house for breakfast prior to heading over to help move. All of the family (15 people), a few of sister in law’s closest friends, and of course us – will meet at Two Potty Drive!

  For some reason his brothers truck didn’t work out and we ended up using mine… here are the pictures from “Two Potty Drive”