Not posted on Facebook.

It must be election season again.  The onanistic frenzy of the "do your part" brigade is ratcheting up a notch, infesting otherwise intelligent young people with the provably ridiculous fiction that the only way to get results is to (engage nasal whine) work within the system.  This, of course, serves the Establishment the incalculably useful purpose of invigorating the pre-indentured noobs to perpetuate their own position of servitude, not only by merely re-legitimizing the system which enslaves them, but actually causing them to go out and pimp for it.  (Damn, it's hard to believe I ever fell for it myself, now, but of course I did, and apparently the same shit still sells.)

And so, on Facebook, I was recently treated to the following:

Hey all you young Americans:  I will no longer listen to you complain about this countries government unless you tell the government what you want and vote.

Gag.  My first thought, sarcastically, was, "well, at least I'm not 'young' anymore, so perhaps I get a pass."

The following is what I did not post on Facebook, in response.  In the end, I just didn't feel like picking on a person who I know to be bright enough to figure this out independently, given enough time and a little attention.

Apologies in advance, [E].  I seem to have a thing with sacred cows.

You said:

   "...unless you tell the government what you want and vote."

And what, precisely, has this ever accomplished?  Seems to me "we" have been "throwing the bums out" since approximately 1796.  The problem is not now, and has never been, who occupies the offices, nor has it been the technical configuration of the dipswitches of regulation.  If there was any chance whatever of that strategy working, it would have worked generations ago, and we'd be reaping the benefits now.

The problem has always been that "we" have gradually conferred ("ceded" is really the better word) absolute power into the state--meaning that no atrocity that we can now observe can possibly come as a surprise--and in what must be the mother of all absolution fantasies, "we" continue to this day not only to expect redress from the very source that produces the problem (!), but also to hold up as heretics any who would intentionally suggest that the answer may lie in (gasp) removing the enforced monopolies that allow the protection racket to "perform"...just exactly as all protection rackets do.

No, see, that's insane.  The right answer is just to make sure the One Ring winds up in the hands of the "real" Frodo.*  (So were we all taught in school, and so are we all reminded whenever the Establishment deigns to address its lessers.)  To borrow from Pynchon, that quite effectively gets people talking about the wrong questions, so that difficult answers can remain safely--at the risk of serially mixing metaphors now--"behind the curtain".

That is:  as long as we all keep bickering about seat assignments, team colors and the implementation minutiae of who should be controlled in what way, and continue to come vote it all into legitimacy for yet another term, the Establishment will remain healthy and undisturbed.  (Once monopoly has been established, only legitimacy is necessary to maintain it, and voting is the basic unit of legitimacy.)

The morning of this year's election, I'll re-post what I finally got around to writing in 2010.  (I suppose I could wait for the election results to come in, but hell, it won't matter.)

(Yeah, I'm a real killjoy on election day.  I share the late George Carlin's attitude that it should probably be called National Public Masturbation Day.  It's not that I like being a 'mudge and alienating otherwise pleasant people, but I'd prefer that, than try to further rationalize a system which, as Lysander Spooner observed over a hundred and fifty years ago during Reconstruction, either is wholly incapable of preventing the horrible things that we tolerate, or is in fact precisely the reason that those horrible things exist.)

I'll be staying home, thanks.  And no matter what "official sources" may tell you, it ain't due to some dismissive fifty-cent term like "apathy".  After more than twenty years of defending all the sophistries just like I was trained to do, I simply ran out of excuses, and realized that politics is not the solution to the problem.  Politics IS the problem.

Disagree at your pleasure, of course.  Most "enlightened" folks do, and perhaps the saving grace of my kind of heresy is that principled non-participation mathematically inflates the value of those who do vote.  That is:  I should be much easier to write off than those who simply want "the other guy", or "no" instead of "yes", etc.  (And a special thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and thinks, "man, what a dumbass...doesn't want to participate and yet will still have to submit to the system's laws..."  Doing so demonstrates once again how the system really works, and validates for me just precisely the reason I avoid politics wherever I possibly can.)

For what it's worth, my goal here is not converts.  (It would be pretty ironic, if not outright hypocritical, of me to offer the above thoughts, to anyone for whom they may be new thoughts, and expect you to "take my word for it"--would it not?)  In fact I wouldn't trust anyone who simply nodded along, without any independent investigation, anyway.  I would simply propose a thought experiment for anyone who feels they must continue to vote, for whatever reason.  It's a simple experiment, one question only:

   What if the joke is really on you?

Think about that, non-trivially, for one to two weeks.  Observe the world with this in mind.  And then do with your own answer what you will.

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* And we might do well to remember that even Frodo failed at the moment of truth--it was the sheer luck of Gollum's clumsy greed that finally did the job that needed doing.

The three-year-old match director.

Today after lunch, to give Cathy a few minutes before handing the girls over and going back to work, I went out on the porch with the new Bronco air rifle*, figuring that it might amuse Dee and that Sabre (whose initial reaction last week was that it was somehow loud and therefore scary) would go around to the other side of the house to play on her own.

Not at all.

Dee amused herself with sidewalk chalk, and Sabre took a keen interest in what Daddy was doing.  (I suspect that today, she actually listened and figured out that it's not loud at all.)   The clanks and pings of the pellets against the little steel swingers made her grin, and ditto when I pointed out that she could watch the little orange chicken and ram move when they were hit.   Shortly it even became a game:   I'd break the action, load a pellet, close the action, rest the buttstock on my belt in the ready position, and look over at Sabre, who would then call out "chicken!" or "sheep!" on her preference when she was ready.  I'd acquire the selected target visually, mount (hitting the safety on the way), and fire the snapshot. She learned the difference in sound between a miss (a thwap into the mud) and a hit, and learned that I sometimes have to slow down to make sure I get the hit.

Among "happy Dad" moments, this one is right up there with the bestest. Having her call the target like that is actually quite fantastic practice for me, but the making-it-fun-for-her part is priceless. I cannot reasonably expect that she'll take the interest I have, and will do my best never to push beyond simple, safe competency...

...but I'm savoring this. :-)


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* Another point of praise for a gun I like more with every shot:  I cannot imagine a better piece to have had in hand when this opportunity arose.  It is perfect for this role:  both in its attributes (great trigger, excellent sights, ergonomic safety, fully ambidextrous, and easy to run), and also in its concept.  I was able to focus wholly and completely not on running the gun, but on engaging my audience and adapting as necessary.  For anyone who is a teacher at heart, this is gold!  A deep tip of the hat to Tom Gaylord (amusingly aka "B.B. Pelletier" on his really excellent blog), who designed and brought it from idea to reality--and also who educated me on so much background before I even went to purchase.  Anyone who knows me personally can tell you that design is deeply meaningful to me, and this is a designed rifle.  I'd recommend it to anyone, and everyone.

Mounting: Bronco v. Marlin

Just to document:  Yesterday, I brought the Marlin (45/70) out on the porch along with the new Bronco, just to see how it compared when mounting at speed.  You may recall that on a right-hand mount, the Bronco seems to have a noticeably high comb, causing me to have to crush my cheek down or hold my head much farther back toward the buttplate.  (Oddly, no such problem seems to attend a left-hand mount, which gives a perfect sight picture with no effort at all.)  I was curious to see if I'd have the same problem on the Marlin, which I haven't worked with in a while.

Nope.  The levergun's ghost-ring sights land just where I remembered, with a very comfortable cheek weld whether I go perfectly erect or take a more aggressive mount for managing recoil.  Of interest, it was also obvious that the length of pull on the Bronco is longer than the shortened Marlin stock;  I do like my LOPs at between 12 and 12.5", despite conventional wisdom, and I've had cause to be happy about that when in the field, shooting prone, with a thick jacket on.  :-)    I just have to think more consciously about mounting the Bronco, with the right hand at least.  I'm certainly getting better at that, but it struck me as odd.  I'll not rule out some stock work to shorten the LOP and maybe increase the drop at the comb just a little bit. We'll see.

And boy, I do love my Marlin.  Dry snaps reminded me of just how...unbelievably magnificent the trigger is on this piece.  Part of it was just the lucky coincidence of a really good M1895 trigger to begin with, part of it was the ministrations of the 'smith at Gunsmoke in Denver, and part of it was the truly amazing NP3 finish from Robar, but still...daaang.  Lever guns simply do not have triggers like this, but there it is anyway.

Anyway:  duly noted on the sight alignment during mounts.

I should get the chrony out before long and see how consistent the Bronco is.  Wee!

'Wish I'd said that' just doesn't cover it.

Brilliance over at Joel's place, where he relates a message from a friend.  It's not enough just to say "I wish I'd said that".  I've been trying to figure out how to articulate the thought behind this for a good while now, but have never managed it.

Here's how you say it:

For every American killed in the 9/11 attacks, over 1,000 Muslims have been maimed, driven from their homes, and/or driven from their land, their jobs, and their families. The infrastructure of a modern secular society was systematically destroyed, creating a vacuum that was all too easily filled by people skilled in exploiting and harnessing the powers of hatred and righteous anger.

The notion that a crude put-up job like the video could cause violence while decades of murder, rape, and mayhem would not is beyond stupid, beyond pathetic. It is evil. It reflects acceptance of “them” as sub-human, incapable of responding as any and every one of us would respond in similar circumstances. It is the mindset of a slave owner.

When democracies succeed in de-humanizing their enemies, ghastly atrocities always follow. Every time. I will not countenance this evil mindset any longer, and I am rapidly approaching the stage where I will refuse to associate with anyone who indulges in this animalistic barbarism.

This is important.  I lived way too many years of my life without really understanding this, getting caught up in all the right carefully-solicited rage-fests.

I should have seen it sooner.  Had I not for years recognized the demonization of gunnies around the world, in every possible venue and using every possible tool of misdirection?  Or noted the frequency of false-flag operations of "hate groups" which would have vanished naturally long ago except for official infiltration to prop them up?  Had I not long wondered why I never seemed to run into the hateful, dangerous archetypes that were so carefully paraded in front of me on the news as though they were lurking around every corner in the country?  Had I not noted the total absurdity of criminalizing something on one end and subsidizing it on the other, like tobacco for just one example?  Had I not long noticed that the very business of prosecuting the War on (Some) Drugs seemed to serve as a better raison d'etre for that war than any of the marketed goals that it so spectacularly fails to achieve?

Michael Crichton famously called this the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect, and I was victim to it for far too long.

The principle is the same no matter what.
 

More on 'why airguns?'

(Thanks to MamaLiberty, for inspiring these comments in the last post.  After writing them, it seemed appropriate that they be in a separate main post.)

---

Sometimes necessity really is the source of invention. I think I may have waited so long with airguns simply because finding the time to shoot the "real" ones was never a problem before now (kids, different environment, etc.)...it really was a classic epiphany moment when I first thought, "why not?"

Cost is certainly a plus point for airguns.  As of this writing, a tin of 500 (.177) pellets--and quality ones, at that--goes for well under $10; where I'm at even .22 rimfire brick ammo is at least $20 per 500; if you want good stuff it approaches $10 per 100. Centerfires, of course, start almost an order of magnitude above even that, and continue.

Noise is another selling point. Not everyone lives in a place where it's realistic to take two steps out your front door and start hitting steel with a firearm, but airguns give me lots of options.

And I'm intending to try out Airsoft as a "serious" training aid, as well. This breakbarrel springer pellet rifle will be excellent for marksmanship fundamentals, and some basic gunhandling skills (this type of action is so much handier than the tedious multi-pump varieties), but if I'm understanding things correctly, Airsoft can get you authentically there, if you're careful when shopping.

If you can keep your gorge down when watching*, consider this video review of a 1911-clone Airsoft gun. For the whole review, look here:

To go directly to the shooting part where you can see the piece in action, either scroll to about 4:26 or click here to watch it on YouTube. Note that the magazine and pistol should fit any standard leather, and between the low relative cost of Airsoft BBs and the several different gas-charging options available, this may well become a great "everyday" solution between dry-fire and live-fire exercises. I could get up and running with a piece that is functionally identical to the one I carry most of the time, with two or three magazines, gas and a supply of pellets, for under $300...and feeding it thereafter should be cheap. Some (but not all) of the Airsoft guns do appear to be just like the real thing, with the gas not only powering the pellet, but also cycling the action.

And the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there is an important middle ground between dry-fire and live-fire, that this idea should cover well. For example: training in your own house with live fire is certainly going to be messy, and dry-fire is limiting because you can't realistically engage multiple targets. But the Airsoft option would allow you to do that, either without or even with the plastic BBs, if you have suitable backstops. Others will point out the actual force-on-force options that Airsoft makes possible as well, to train in tactics beyond the square range. It's intriguing.

Thus far, I believe I've found such an Airsoft trainer for both the 1911 pistol and the M14 rifle (other possibles like boltguns, leverguns, revolvers and the Kahr auto haven't been as fully vetted yet), and when I get around to each I'll be sure to post findings here.


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* Explanation for that carefully considered statement is at the bottom of this post.

Now that's how you do lunch.

That's what a lunch should be like.  A quick bite, followed by probably 50 pellets off the porch, at paper and a small steel spinner.  (Range is probably a little over the airgun-standard 10m.)

Today's lessons:  this rifle is completely ambidextrous, and I'm fascinated that I don't have to work on my cheek weld for the left-side at all, even while I continue to fight the right side.  Left-hand mounts are consistent and natural, and the hits follow..."weak-side" me woulda beat the snot out of "strong-side" me today, in a formal competition.  Groups were tighter and more on point of aim--in fact the only thing limiting me on the left side is the need to close the non-dominant eye.

On the right side, IF my mount is good, I can keep both eyes completely open and hit quickly, but I have a strong tendency to crawl the comb and have to fine-tune the mount when I do, slowing things down considerably.  As I work with this a little more I'll do some dry-fire with the Marlin in parallel (which also employs ghost-ring sights) and maybe something will suggest itself.

The Bronco's trigger is excellent.  It is so good it is clear to me that I need to raise my game in order to better appreciate it.  Very well then, will do!  And the operation of the "auto-engaging safety" is clean and positive too.  These are two items that are very important to a training and practice regimen, and those are some of the reasons I went with the Bronco in the first place.  Gratifying!

With a dedicated airgun spinner of a little higher visual contrast, this "off-the-porch" thing is going to be really, really nice for daily practice throughout the year.  The porch provides both rain protection and vertical post options for practicing the tree rest.

I've started thinking about an effective way to carry this piece on walks (breakbarrels are challenging on traditional slings and are probably even worse for Ching Slings), and am intrigued at the back-scabbard option here:

Beyond that, I'm envisioning a few accoutrements like the "pellet pen" which may prove its weight in gold on really cold days, and figuring out what the right backpack or fannypack combination might be.

We'll see.  For the nonce, I'll start with lunch tomorrow.  :-)

The airgun adventure begins.

I am now the simply giddy owner of a spankin' new Air Venturi Bronco air rifle.

This came about as the end choice of a couple of months of self-study, much of that at the simply splendid Pyramyd Air website.  (Pyramyd Air was not the first airgun resource I came across, but it so quickly overtook everything else that there was no question of where my business would go.  These are folks I am happy to go back to for all things airgun.

The package came early, and the boy in me was absolutely powerless to resist trying it out right away. After just the first ten pellets, I am so happy I made the choice I did. This rifle is pretty clearly going to be everything that its designer and promoter says it is.

I have much to learn about airgun-fu, and intend to, but within a simple ten-shot string I have now learned how to compensate for the high comb in mounting, figured out how to manage the trigger and safety designs, and in general have now seen first-hand how to run a breakbarrel springer.  Squee!

At the fourth or fifth round I dispensed with the rear-sight aperture insert, creating a true ghost-ring arrangement, and will be much happier with that. I may yet experiment with it some more, but my eyes like a sight picture that does not obscure the target. The first three pellets (offhand, at about 10m, onto a shoe box with no fixed aiming point), which had felt cleaning wads in front of them, went into about an inch, which tickled me greatly. The next seven grouped a little higher and tighter, and it will be interesting to see how things improve with a little familiarity and some attention to a deliberate bull. (I make no claim to outstanding marksmanship;  this piece should be capable of far greater things than my skills can reveal.) And with this rifle, the safety is ergonomic enough that snapshot work will be excellent practice for "real" rifles.

Next up:  more getting to know this trigger and sights, position shooting, learning the "artillery hold" that all the serious airgunners talk about, and some time with both a bull and a chronograph.

Since I can only learn it the first time once, I intend to enjoy it with complete abandon. This rifle is going to make that really, really fun.

Here goes!