Tea Party Platform

David over at Blue Carp has a post defending Libertarians, in advance, just in case a Big-L candidate draws off enough votes from a Republican to give the election to the Donk. Until the Libertarians become big enough to field a serious candidate, they would be better served by working within the Republican party to pick more acceptable candidates at the primary level. This is the position the Tea Party finds itself in, and who do you think went further towards realizing the Libertarian agenda of small, limited government?

That said, the Republicans owe it to their constituents to support the popularly selected candidates wholeheartedly. As the line went:"Sure she's a witch, but she's our witch, and we want her in office." Yes, I know, fliers happen, as when David Duke, a lifelong Democrat and Klansman, couldn't get the party to back him in the governors race in Louisiana, so he ran as a Republican, the party having no significant presence in the state to stop him at that time. Someone has to make the call whether to strongly support someone who might be a weak candidate, or to let a whack job sink or swim on his own. Michael Steele? Hah!

If ever there was a chance to get amendments passed, or at least on the ballot, for things like a runoff between the two top vote-getters in the event no one draws over 50% (state level), federal congressional term limits, or a federal TABOR, now would be it.

Is there a window for circulation of petitions, or can we start now and turn them in in July of 2012? Not being much of an activist, I'm not familiar with the procedure.

Any Libertarian, or starting now, Tea Partier worthy of his rhetoric should be out there, clipboard in hand, gathering signatures. Polls indicate that federal term limits are favored by some 75% of the voting population, so this should be easy, yet I never see such a proposal. Certainly the public is ready to impose some limits on the government.

Gunney Report

The October postal match results are up.

First in class, 4th overall. Could have done better, I'm sure, but sometimes you have an extraordinary long and tiring day, then you get to shoot a bulls eye match.

This was also one of those targets that after putting forth your best effort, you discover your scores are wayyy lower than you thought they should be, and wonder if you should embarrass yourself by sending it in. The theoretical perfect score on this one was 60. Best score entered was 17. Think you can do better? Give it a shot.

Next, and last match of the year is at Cheaper Than Dirt. Zombies!

The Morning After

So how did the elections go? Depends on who and where you are, I guess. Did the Republicans kick ass? Sometimes. Did the Republicans live up to the tag "The Stupid Party"? Yes, and they lost in places they didn't have to on that account.

Voters didn't seem to be overly interested in candidate Heffalump's assertion that he could run Sen. Donkmeyer's bazillion-dollar boondoggle better than Donkmeyer. That said, keep in mind that Repub promises to repeal anything the Donks have passed in the last 4 years, is so much smoke. To repeal anything at all, a party needs a majority in the house (check) a 60-vote majority in the Senate (Bzzzt!) and a sympathetic president (Bzzzt!). Absent a sympathetic president, they need 66 votes in the Senate to override the veto (Bzzzt!).

The very earliest those stars could possibly align will be January, 2013. There's also the assumption the Repubs can grow a real spine and keep it until then. I'm not holding my breath.

Are they knights in shining armor, riding to our defense? Maybe. As far as I'm concerned, they're on probation. If I don't see some real effort in the next six months, the Tea Party can begin making plans for a real convention, with real candidates, running on real issues, with a take-no-prisoners attitude.

SIL, who is a Republican of sorts, has been complaining that she couldn't vote for some conservative candidates who really could have used the support, because they came across as less than perfect in some way or another. I have informed her that in 40+ years of voting, I believe I've voted FOR a candidate exactly once. The rest of the time you have to pick the weasel you expect will do you the least damage, hold your nose, and pull the lever.

Colorado is still a blue state, notwithstanding a 1-seat republican majority in the State house, and having flipped 2 U.S. House seats. We have a solidly Democratic majority in the State Senate, and a pro-illegal alien, anti-gun governor. Who, by the way, gets to pick the replacement for a recently retired liberal Supreme court justice. If anyone out there is looking for work, may I recommend Texas?

Election Advice

Got your bag of salt handy? Here goes:

There are several questions on the ballot this year, but one of them, Amendment Q, draws my attention. This one says that the legislature should busy itself, in its copious spare time, with finding an official emergency backup location at which to meet should the current location, in the center of Denver, become unavailable.

So let's say that the legislation making Colorado an official sanctuary for UFO pilots becomes law, and a couple of illegal aliens (they have warrants out on them on their home planets) while attempting to land, step on the wrong pedal ( happens to Toyota owners all the time). The resultant surge from the engines reduces the capitol building, and several nearby government buildings to a glass-lined pit, several hundred feet deep.

Let us further speculate that this happens as the Governor is giving his State-of-the State address, and every parasite for miles around is in the chamber to hear it.

What's our hurry to replace this?

Vote NO on Q.

Science Marches Onward

We all know that when a new technology comes along with great promise, and an equally great price tag, there's nothing like a widely sought-after application to bring the price down to the point than the ordinary citizen can afford it.

Photography, comes to mind.

Now, in the field of stem cell research, it seems that ordinary fat cells, available everywhere, can be run through the white-lab-coat version of the Waring blender, and turned, in some part, into stem cells. These accommodating little fellows will cheerfully turn into whatever they find themselves next to. In Japan, that means boobs.

Here, the demand for breast augmentation is high enough to drive a rather large industry, implanting bags of gel. Think what the demand would be like if this procedure involved only transposing some excess bum to the balcony, and letting it grow. 100% organic, as it were.

They also suggest it will work on whatever needs a boost, like kidneys and hearts. Get it to produce brain cells, and the zombie chow industry takes off, making it practical to keep them as pets. Or factory workers.

Film at 11, which in this case probably means 2011.

Vibrations Slow Bone Aging

A study just out suggests that subjecting your body to a regimen of periods of vibration will slow bone aging, which takes the form of softening or porosity. Sources for this therapy cover the gamut from riding a Harley-Davidson to holding a purring cat in your lap.

I favor the motorcycle version myself, having subjected myself to this sort of vibration since I was 17 or so, I can attest that the bones in my head are as solid as ever.

A well-sheltered scientist does this sort of experiment by vibrating mice periodically, and comparing them to non-vibrated ones. Shaken vs stirred. An enterprising doctoral candidate could take this up a notch by offering the denizens of a biker bar a coupon good for a free beer in return for a quick bone density test.

Proofread Your Ballot

Reports are now in of voting machine irregularities in Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

In Nevada and N.C. the machine accepts your selection, then changes it to favor the Democrat. In New Jersey and Penn. the internally collected vote total doesn't add up, although one vote per machine is probably less than the total of bogus absentee ballots sent in.

When voting on a touch-screen machine, carefully proof-read your selections before pressing the "VOTE" button.

Motorcycles

In the face of the impending Fimbulvinter, let me put in a plug for a local event with a great long glorious history: Harry's Roamers Turkey Run.

This thing is now in it's 54th year and features turkeys as prizes in an old-fashioned poker run.

For anyone not familiar with the event, this is similar to a sports car rallye, with nebulous directions to 5 stopping points at which each participant picks up a random card. At the end, the best poker hand wins, so it's as possible to win with a mo-ped as a Boss Hoss.

The date for this is November 14th, and the inside joke is that the turkeys will be out in the weather riding motorcycles around Denver on that date. I have ridden this thing in weather ranging from the mid 70's to the mid 30's, and it was fun every time. Except maybe for the rain.

Start at Quincy's Bar & Restaurant, 14011 W. Quincy Ave. Doors open at 8:00 with breakfast available, including Bloody Mary's. $10/rider, $5/passenger, and a good time will be had by all. Ride starts at 10:30, and ends at 3:00.

I'll be there.

Empathy

I took the empathy test. I probably should have stayed away. I love humanity, it's people I can't stand, and it isn't getting any better with age.

Your score: 17
0 - 32 = low (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score about 20)
33 - 52 = average (most women score about 47 and most men score about 42)
53 - 63 is above average
64 - 80 is very high
80 is maximum

Support mental health, or I'll kill you.

Why We Win

Justice Scalia has been observed instructing newbie justice Elana Kagan in the fine art of trap and skeet. This, I suppose is the higher-class version of "come on out to the range. The first box of .22 is on me." which is only a step away from being a crack dealer only without the unpleasant consequences.

Of course it may not work.
Here's a liberal, obviously enjoying himself immensely, who still doesn't want the peasantry doing the same.

Global Warming

I'm for it. It was comparatively balmy this morning at 6:20 when I took the motorcycle in to work. 1 hour later the temp dropped and wind and heavy rain hit. By 4, the sun had come out, but it was colder than when I rode in in the morning. 14-24" in the high country, too. Hello, Broad Ripple? Here's your long range forecast.

Weather wonks are calling for an unusually cold winter, followed by a cold summer, followed by the return of the ice sheets to Wisconsin.

Gun Fun

Went to the club IDPA-style* shoot. For those of you unfamiliar, it's best described as Dungeons and Dragons with live ammo.

One course of fire involved walking between two barrels, some 8-10 yards apart. There are 6 targets on one side at distances from 2 yards to 5 yards, and 2 no-shoots mixed in to keep you on your toes. You start at one barrel with the target group on your weak side, and at the signal, walk to the other barrel, placing one shot per target as you walk. You must be moving as you shoot, and using your weak hand only. Upon reaching the other barrel or firing your sixth shot, your time is noted, you reload, and walk back, this time strong hand only, and finally one more walk with the weak hand.

I drew the short straw and went first. I was told I did well on this, and was also told that this was attributed to my use of a Czech pistol from the cold war era which was reputedly at its best shooting prisoners as the guards walked by.

In keeping with the theme, I named the course the Feliks Dzierżyński memorial stage, after the man who made the practice a routine.

Global Warming

Over at Q&O, pundit Billie Hollie is noting that the media are blaming the Dems assorted problems on an "adverse political climate". Finally, something relating to climate that can, in part at least, be blamed on global warming.

Rational people have suspected all along that there might be something wrong with blaming todays weather on yesterdays trip to the grocery store in an SUV, and the massive dump of e-mails and cooked books from the climate poo-bahs themselves only confirms the suspicions.

While this is certainly not the Dems only source of the current out rush of faith, it's certainly a significant contributor. Without the fig leaf of AGW theory, Cap & Trade is exposed as the giant tax on energy use, to be imposed on everybody, that it is.

Micro Stamping

An OK legislator has introduced a bill to fund a study into incorporating microstamping into firearms presumably at some point in the future. The NRA has come out in favor of the study. This has some of the more rabid gunnies (and here you thought I was bad) panties in a knot.

I think the study would be useful in that it would let the Dem legislators vote for something that would likely do no harm, if done honestly, and still be able to tell their constituents they're doing something.

Again, done honestly, with close adult supervision, the study would conclude that microstamping is a colossal waste of time and money.

On the other hand, I was at a pistol match today, and to judge by the enthusiasm with which the spent brass was being policed, I'd guess that most of the shooters would pay a bit extra for a mod to their guns that would imprint their names and addresses along with a message like "if found, please return to Fred Gunnobbler, 40 Smith Ln, Freerange CO, 80380".

I mark my brass by painting the rear red using Dykem metal marker, which sticks well enough that it's the last thing removed in the tumbler. This serves a double purpose as I shoot 9x18 Makarov in my CZ, and reload using 9x19 (Luger) brass I find at the range. I trim the cases back 1mm to do this, and if they were used to reload 9x19, would probably yield less than satisfactory results.

Interesting Poll in Colorado

Interesting poll results out that raise some questions. I don't know who Magellan Strategies is or who they're working for. Some of their methodologies are here. It was a robo-call poll of likely voters, which lends some credibility to the results.

Magellan Strategies Releases Colorado Governor Survey

Hickenlooper (D) 44%,
Tancredo (C) 43%,
Maes (R) 9%,
Other, 2%
Undec.2%

Does that include the 6000 bogus registrations the local SEIU just got caught with?

For every one caught, some others get away. What do you suppose the margin is on this?

In a hotly contested election, the Republican will need to win with 3% margin to keep the Dems from finding lost boxes of ballots at the last minute and making up the margin. Chicago is famous for this, and Colorado is not, but successful techniques will be implemented where needed.