Maine Fudd

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Weerd Beard

My folks told me about this story this weekend. Wally dug it up for me.

CAPE ELIZABETH – Warren Roos likes trap and target shooting.

He owns rifles and handguns.

He seems, in fact, like an ideal member of the National Rifle Association.

But he’s leaving his local rod and gun club over a mandate to join the national organization.

What are his complaints?

Roos said his main complaint with the NRA is its lobbying to block laws that would restrict high-capacity ammunition magazines and semi-automatic guns, which he believes are useful only for shooting people.

By contrast, he said, rifles are “sportsmen’s guns and not guns for shooting people.”

First you gotta love the ultra-dummed down talking points. How many hunters and sport shooters use semi-automatic guns? Also If you’re going to speak out against guns “Used for shooting people”, don’t speak out about guns, specifically or in general, speak out against legal force laws! In the appropriate time there is NOTHING WRONG with killing another human being to save your life, or the life of another. This talking point is as short-sighted and unpopular as it is misguided.

Now onto why the club is going 100% NRA Membership:

Wescott said the club will get benefits if it has 100 percent membership in the NRA, including support for a junior shooting team that the club hopes to form.

The NRA will help the team get into sanctioned shooting competitions, he said, and provide financial aid to buy rifles and jackets for the team. The NRA will also do a safety audit of the club’s shooting range, he said, so it can host competitions.

That audit could also be useful in addressing neighbors’ complaints about shooting at the gun club. Wescott said the club has gotten “numerous complaints” since the nearby Cross Hill neighborhood was developed. He noted that the club operated for decades before the development brought in hundreds of residents.

Those are HUGE benefits, also it addresses the huge problem to sporting clubs which is people moving into the surrounding area and then complaining that there’s a long-running gun club near where they just built their house. I love this line:

He said he hasn’t been a very active member of the club, but enjoys the occasional chance to shoot and the club’s social aspects.

So why do we care about why this ignorant asshole is leaving the club? Members like these are a bane to EVERY form of club or group. The people who show up when they feel like it, and are never around when things need to be done to help the organization. If his angle of “We need to ban the guns that aren’t like my guns” line wasn’t proof enugh that he is both self-centered and selfish, then this admission sets it in stone!

Mayon said Roos’ decision to let his membership lapse rather than join the NRA is “unfortunate,” but “with so many members, I can’t make everyone happy.”

He’s more diplomatic than I am. When my folks told me about this story and said he was leaving because he follows anti-gun talking points, and seems to not let his personal ignorance of the issues keep him for speaking like an expert, was “Good, we can stand to have less people like this around.”

The club is better off without members like that.

Oh and on a final note, just as I was squaring away to write this post I noticed that Thirdpower scooped me!

I blame my parents for giving the wrong gun club name when they were telling me the story! Go read over his post, as he also makes some excellent points!

Posted in Freedom, Guns, Politics | Leave a comment

New Logo!

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Weerd Beard

I asked an I received! You’ll now be seeing this logo at the bottom of all stories acquired through the Bubblehead Les News Network.

That’s the mark of quality right there! Image care of the great Robb Allen

Posted in Blogging, Family and Friends | Leave a comment

Movie Night

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Weerd Beard

So I spent most of the First visiting with family. When they moved on, the Mrs, now able to drive after 6 months of seizure freedom took off to run some errands. I decided to pour myself a drink and watch a movie. I’d recently seen the trailer for the new GI Joe movie, and while the trailer from the first movie heavily dissuaded me from paying any attention to the franchise, this trailer looked amusing, so given that the first film was on Netflix Instant Watch I decided to watch it. Dumb movie, but pure entertainment and stupid action. I set the bar low, and was pleasantly surprised.

The wife came home and heckled the end of the movie a good deal (with encouragement from me), and she asked if The Fighter be the next on the docket. This one was depressing, slow, and after a half-hour neither of us gave a shit about any of the characters, so we shit-canned it for something more interesting. I’d been wanting to watch Hot Tub Time Machine since it came out, and like all of the listed films, it was on Instant Watch.

Five stars! Highly Recommend, it was awesome! We laughed our asses off.

Last up was a “Documentary”: Turtle: The Incredible Journey, now I put the quotes around “Documentary” because rather than the standard nature fare this was more of the Michael Moore-style. It attempted to tell a narrative of the life of a Loggerhead Sea Turtle, and give everything a cinematic appearance by use of staged scenes (many appear to be done in an aquarium tank, using a blue screen, and mixing in stock footage. Also the scenes of the life of a baby sea turtle, unless there is some new studies I’m unaware of) is a bit of a mystery of science. There is speculation that is likely true, but because its nearly impossible to track the movement of baby turtles in the open ocean I was a bit miffed that the speculation was passed off the same as the hard facts presented. The staged scenes were a bit preachy (and IMHO quite unethical given that they likely involved putting a young protected species in a tank of water with known hazards for the sake of adding suspense to a film passed off as fact.

I might say watch it for the stunning nature photography, but even the film wasn’t that good. Sadly more garbage.

Covered some good distance there. I love watching movies!

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Another NY Pharmacy Robbery

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Weerd Beard

BLNN sends me this story from New York.

An off-duty federal law enforcement agent who happened to be in a pharmacy during a holdup confronted the robber as he tried to leave with money and painkillers, and both were shot to death.

The off-duty Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent died after being taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound Saturday, Nassau County police Lt. Kevin Smith said.

I have no love for the BATFE, but this officer acted as a citizen, not as an agent of the law. I think last year’s robbery is still fresh on our minds where the robber killed everybody in the store, dispute their compliance.

Two things to note. A gun is not a magical shield, it is a tool. Much like how trained fire fighters still perish in burning buildings despite training, tools, and support, a gun will not protect you from harm, and the only sure way to survive a gunfight is not to be in one. Still I think the officer was thinking exactly what I was, there was a good chance he was already dead no matter WHAT. His actions didn’t save HIS life, but very possibly the lives of others in the Pharmacy….not to mention future victims of this goblin.

One other thing of note is that the only thing that kept him as disarmed as the other patrons if it wasn’t for his federal badge.

He is no more human than I, and his rights are no more important. Still he died a hero, and that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Carry your guns people, you never know when you might need them.

**UPDATE**Dwight of Whipped Cream Difficulties (Again I love that blog name too much to not mention it every chance I get!) Links this story and speculates if the officer may have been shot by responding New York Police officers.

Surveillance footage from the pharmacy shows that along with other customers, Agent Capano, 51, had initially put his hands above his head, as the robber, who appeared to be armed with a gun, took cash and hundreds of pills or capsules of the painkillers oxycodone and Opana, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

As the suspect, whom the police identified as James McGoey, 43, began to walk away, Agent Capano trailed after him down a parallel aisle. Near the door, Agent Capano shot Mr. McGoey once, striking him in the leg or hip, the person said.

As the two men spilled outside, two more men arrived: an off-duty officer of the New York Police Department and a recently retired Nassau County police lieutenant. Both had been in a nearby deli, and one or both were armed, according to the person and another official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry was continuing.

More shots were fired in the seconds that followed, and details of precisely what occurred remained murky a day later.

Seems very fishy. Keep your eyes peeled. I’m very curious what the end result will be.

Posted in DGU, Guns, Safety, Self Defense | Leave a comment

Good on Gunup **UPDATE**

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Weerd Beard

**UPDATE**The mentioned ad is up, I guess I was wrong about gunup. Screw them.

gunup.com has pulled their sponsorship of The Truth About Guns. In response the site has ginned up some false traffic numbers and is begging for sponsorship.

Hopefully the impressively mediocre and puerile Robert Farago will pack up his carpet bag and move on to torment another media and quit badgering the gun blogs and manufacturers who have done nothing to deserve his drama.

May 2012 be the year we see a lot less of you!

Posted in Blogging | Leave a comment

“Gun Death” Car Accidents

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Weerd Beard

Those who use the metric of “Gun Death” also state that we can’t ever compare cars with guns.

Police were called to the 3900 block of Dakota Avenue Northwest at 8:09 a.m., according to police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson. When they arrived, they found that a car had apparently backed over a woman, killing her.

Johnson said it appears that no one was driving the car when it ran over the woman and that the incident “was not criminal in nature.”

Now we can’t compare cars with guns because “Progressives” own cars and would hate to have any restrictions on what cars they own, and how they can use them. That being said this is the auto equivalent to a “Negligent Discharge”, and like when a gun has an ND, its generally because of negligent operation, as cars don’t start driving on their own.

Now if somebody had attempted to catch a falling gun, or holstered a gun with their finger inside the trigger guard, or discharged a gun being carried without a holster, this would be all over the anti-rights blogs as a “Gun Death” and a reason to ban guns. But it wasn’t a “Gun Death” so it doesn’t count.

h/t Jake

Posted in Gun Death? | Leave a comment

I’m So Glad I Don’t Work for these Swine Anymore

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Weerd Beard

C-90 sent me this NPR Report.

In New England, fishermen are bracing for what may be unprecedented restrictions or even a shutdown of cod fishing in the Gulf of Maine. Federal regulators say new data show cod as dangerously overfished, but fishermen say they don’t believe that, and say drastic restrictions would be catastrophic. NPR’s Tovia Smith reports.

TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE: Three years ago, scientists found plenty of cod around. After years of overfishing, they said the stock had rebounded. But new data this season shows just the opposite.

The key lines are here:

GIACALONE: Which one’s wrong? What’s to say that this one’s not wrong and that one was right? You know, this doesn’t pass the red face test.

SMITH: Indeed, fishermen here say data showing dangerously low stocks totally contradicts what they’re seeing every day.

Peter Shelley with the Conservation Law Foundation concedes trying to assess fish stocks is not an exact science. I’ve heard fishery science compared to forestry science, except you have to do it with a blindfold and the trees keep moving.

Shelley says scientists are looking into several different explanations for the disparities between the 2008 and 2011 data. But unless the new reports are totally rejected, he says, fishing restrictions will be mandatory.

I’ve done a bunch of work in stock assessments, and it indeed is that much of a pain in the ass. You see you can fly over the ocean in a helicopter and look down into the water and there could be a billion fish below you or none. You run sonar and you can see “Stuff” and often get a reasonable idea if its marine life or not, but overall telling the subtle differences between cod, haddoock, Pollack, or even Shrimp on a sonar scan is hard to do, and impossible to do with any accuracy. The most accurate way to count fish is by trawl surveys where you net the fish and actually COUNT them….but that is nothing short of educated guessing, as most of the species counted are killed in the process, and how are you to know if you nailed the biggest school in the area, or if that just the thin spot in a rich fishing ground. Also if even a small part of your unbelievably complex models the data produced from the survey is 100% junk.

And then comes the point that you’re observing a system that you are actually destroying with your observation.

And then comes the catch 22 with any government agency that is both in charge of monitoring problems AND enforcing laws and restrictions. If the Cod data showed that the stocks were recovering and in good shape (Something fishermen have been observing as they fish…not to mention this scientist over his years in the Gulf of Maine and George’s Bank) if they declare the stock “Recovering” well then there isn’t much need for further research or regulation. Next word from Washington is that their budget has been slashed and they’ll need to shut down labs and terminate employees.

Not unpredictable that their data ALWAYS points to threatened stock and need for further regulation. This would be quaint if they weren’t taking away the lively hood to a massive and centuries old industry with their antics.

Sad really.

Posted in Biology | Leave a comment

Happy New Year

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Weerd Beard

Just wrapped on what apparently is the final Vicious Circle. Alan’s getting tired of it, and as they say “When your hobby becomes work, get another hobby” it was a good run, and a good ending to a beloved podcast. Hopefully something will rise from its ashes and be reborn as something new and interesting.

I will say that overall 2011 was a pretty good year in Weer’d World, and a good year for the 2nd Amendment. Here’s to 2012.

And now I have an early call so I must be getting to bed

Happy New Year all, and thanks to each of you for reading and making this site what it is today!

Posted in Family and Friends, Podcast | Leave a comment

More From the Disarment Mentality

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Being a stupid person, Joan Asks a Stupid Question.

Yes, I understand that sometimes bad people come in to work places. But the need to carry at work is just not on the minds of most people when they get dressed in the morning. It is the 2-3% of you who try to change the culture for the rest of us. It’s like the quotes from the articles about the Kroger shooting- people who aren’t trained and don’t keep up their skills shouldn’t be shooting in a work place. As we all know, accuracy is a problem and panic is another problem. I just don’t see it, Bryan. But some of you insist that you would and could carry in spite of the desires of employers or CEOs of companies. What is that all about?

What IS that all about. Well again Joan is flailing against a righteous shooting that likely saved several lives at that Kroger. Of course the elephant in the room for anti-rights cultists is that guns are used to save vastly more lives than they take, so they must discount as many defensive gun uses as they can to keep the lie alive.

As for people putting their guns on in the morning, I’d say its a thought of every gun owner who keeps arms for self-defense. If you own guns and are proficient in them, why wouldn’t want to keep one close at hand? As for percentages, I suspect Joan is pretty tone-deaf in this endeavor. Every place that issues permits is noting a rise in applications, and Wisconsin is FLOORED with the number of applications that have been received since carry became legal there in November. These are the people who will be carrying guns in their day-to-day lives, and not particularly considering WHERE they are going, just that they’ll be going there and where they go, they’ll be armed.

The question of training of course is more flailing as Indiana carry permits don’t require a training class, and this shoot went down as clean and perfectly as anybody had hoped. Of course like Joe Zamudio Joan wants to focus on what DIDN’T happen because what DID doesn’t fit with her fabricated view of reality.

Of course the reason why people would carry at work is simple…bad things can happy any time and any where, and if we KNEW where bad things were going to happen, bad things would only happen to stupid and reckless people. Of course any place that deals in cash can be robbed, and ANY robbery can turn violent by its very nature. Also if you work in a secure office building that does nothing to stop a troubled employee from entering. (Note that the shooter in this case was a prohibited person, was ignoring the countless Massachusetts gun laws…and one of his victims died with a New Hampshire Conceal Carry permit in his pocket…gun laws only disarm the lawful). And even if you work in a “Gun Free Zone” that does little to protect you as we know from various College Shootings, as well as stories like this.

As for the will of my employer. Well I work at their pleasure, so I will do my best to be a good worker…what I will NOT do is die for my job, nor do anything unsafe for a paycheck. If that means I get terminated from a job, there are better jobs to be had. I will note that my employer has no policy against firearms, and I’m happy for it!

Carry your guns people, the life you save might be your own!

Posted in DGU, Freedom, Guns, Safety, Self Defense | Leave a comment

Blog Biology Roundup

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Saw some cool animal stuffs on the blogs today, Thought I’d pile them up for all to enjoy.

First is from Bluesun he asks if Ostrich Chicks are Cute or ugly.

I say “cute”, but I gots a thing for baby birds! Still Emu Chicks blow their doors off in the cute department!

I don’t know how to imbed this next one from Bluesun, but go over and watch this, trust me, its the best of the lot!

And from Pissed comes this impressive video.

Those Mantas can get FUCKING HUGE, those actually look quite small. Be need to see one with a 15′ wingspan breech like that. I’ve seen whales breach, as well as Basking Sharks, and seeing something THAT big pull itself out of the water is AMAZING!

And in closing I’ll end on some crass animal humor. First from Pissed. LOL!

Then from Old Windways.

Good stuff there!

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