Another Political Test

This one put out by the PEW research group so it's a pretty good bet that Ted
Kennedy would be considered middle-of-the-road on this one. There were 3 areas (two actually) Fiscal, social, and combined. For combined I got:

With a pointer just shy of the right end in the "very conservative" area.  Fiscally I got an arrow at the extreme right end.

Daddy Warbucks couldn't have done any better. Socially I scored just to the right of the moderate republican.

Keeping in mind that a moderate republican, according to Pew would be Arlen Specter. Averaging the fiscal and social would put me almost spot on the "average republican, which is probably equivalent to the average Neanderthal in Pew's eyes. They seem to weight the fiscal part about 3 or 4 times the social part. I guess if I'm not willing to waste other peoples money freely, it puts me beyond the pale.

Update: Added link to test. Sorry.

Never Surrender! Never Give Up!

O.K. so it works both ways. Sen Dianne Feinstein is preparing an assault weapons bill which will likely be introduced in the lame duck congress that goes even further than the last one.

This same “pretty good intelligence” says the items that would lead to a ban would ban pistol grips and “high-capacity” magazines, eliminate any grandfathering and ban sales of “weapons in possession”.
The law “would essentially ban thousands of firearms and require gun owners to turn them over to the Federal government” Slavo writes.

The exact wording is as yet unavailable. One assumes that all the features that cause otherwise inanimate objects to go on killing sprees like bayonet lugs and a do-hicky on the end of the barrel would be included in the description.

Requiring a turn-in is a new feature first tested in California where owners of AK pattern rifles were told to register their guns, and when they did, were then told to turn them in.

Feinstein became a minor celebrity among gunnies when her bill limiting semi-autos to 10 round magazines resulted in the development of the so-called pocket-rocket group of easily concealable 9mm pistols.

I for one do not expect this to pass. Gun control is a third-rail issue that most Dems are reluctant to even bring up. Offering such a bill allows for a kabuki theater vote in which Dems in  reddish districts can vote against to improve their chances with otherwise squishy Republican voters, and Dems in safe districts can vote for to cement their credentials with the extreme left. The vote count will be carefully tabulated beforehand as to assure the bills narrow defeat.

Meantime there's the president's rapidly improving dexterity with executive orders and compliant agency heads. The congress is rapidly becoming nothing more than a cigar and finger pointing society and superfluous to the actual passage of law.

QOTD and More

Political freedom requires economic freedom, taught us Milton Friedman. You don't have the latter, don't expect the former.

This gem from the Grumpy Economist who has a quick summary of some of the regulations coming our way. My favorite is from the administration's hit men, the EPA who are proposing a regulation on "Agricultural Methane". Yup cow farts.

Best solution is to do like the oil industry does and flare it off.

 Then there's the end of the energy industry and tighter regs on fugitive farm dust.

Around here if you're a farmer and you want a government subsidy for not growing anything, you have to disc your fields to prove that you're not. Otherwise it counts as pasture and you don't get paid. Last summer I can remember two days when it rained. Disk plus no rain = dust. Probably a big fine for that. You need to submit a plan to remediate the dust. I suggest hiring that fake Indian from Massachusetts to come out and do a rain dance.

RTWT. It's fascinating what can be done without a pesky congress full of partisan bickering.

Miscellany

Grab bag of what's going on.

The Dow is down 440 pts over the last 2 days, but I suppose the smaller loss today suggests a limit to the garment rending on the market floor. Idle question: Why is the NYSE still in NY? If they moved to Dallas say, they'd have no personal income tax, lower overall taxes, could still operate on EST, saving their employees time and aggravation getting to and from work, and wouldn't have to put up with the mayors and governors of New York.

True Blue Sam has the latest postal match, shooting bottles without the bother of cleaning up the glass. Guess I need to get a sling on the Nylon 66. Results of the last one still haven't been posted at Traction Control, which is probably just as well considering how I shot.

Blogger Fest is still on for tomorrow night. Go here for details.

Harry's Roamers Turkey Run is still on for Saturday, and just in time the weather is changing from sunny and mild to rain mixed with snow. This may well be the first one I don't do in a motorcycle.

Friday:  Partly cloudy, breezy and mild.  Morning lows are forecast to be from 34 to 39 degrees, afternoon highs from 62 to 67 degrees.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy with rain and snow showers possible during the morning and early afternoon.  During the evening snow will develop. Morning lows from 35 to 40 degrees. Afternoon highs 42 to 47 degrees.

Update: Re: Postal match. I missed the results when they came out. It seems I shot better than I thought. Also several really good shooters weren't there.

The Morning After

So I can't call elections. So sue me, I'll find another line of work.

Interestingly Obama drew nearly 10M fewer votes this time than he did in '08. Romney however managed to draw about 2M fewer votes than McCain did, 57M v 59M. This big a falloff in turnout suggests that a lot of people wanted "none of the above". When offered a choice between big government nannyism and big government nannyism, the voters chose big government nannyism. Like there was an alternative.

So it's time for the Republican party to go the way of the Whigs, or maybe it's time for the Whigs to point out that the Republicans have outlived their usefulness and stage a comeback. Or maybe it's time for the Tea Party to come out of the closet as it were.

Election Day

Not only do I live in a battleground state, I live in one of two critical counties in that battleground state.

The lines are long as is the wait.

Gun Stuff - Hi Point

Beemiller is pleased to announce that they are now the nations #12 firearms manufacturer.

Click to enlarge or if that doesn't work, follow the link and click to enlarge. They are right behind Kel-Tec, and don't make shotguns. Perhaps they could take advantage of the anti-gun political maneuvering to keep Saiga shotguns out of the country by picking up a license to make the magazine-fed guns here.

Speaking of Hi-Point, I've got a new sight mount installed on my 4095 carbine which is delivering one-ragged-hole groups at 25 yards. Yes, I know, with a bullet that big, you can get one ragged hole with a wrist rocket at that distance. Sure you can. Out of the box the gun shoots about 6 MOA. I'm looking at half that, maybe less. What this means is that if you're shooting prairie dogs at 200 yards, the little varmints have about a 50% chance.

Testing is in progress. Film, as they used to say, at 11.

Scorched Earth

In spite of the brave front everyone on the hustings is putting up, some folks in Washington are thinking they may not be employed much past January 22 and are planning a scorched earth retreat.

More than 50 EPA staff are now crashing to finish greenhouse gas emission standards that would essentially ban all construction of new coal-fired power plants. Never before have so many EPA resources been devoted to a single regulation.

Agency regulations are issued by the likes of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker behind desks in Washington. They owe their jobs to the man in the White House and know what to do to keep the gravy flowing.

Their regulations have the weight of statute law only without the bother of things like debate and voting as the congress knowing that they know nothing about the topics, abdicated their responsibility to the agency's. To undo anything an agency dictates, the congress would have to pass nullifying legislation and the president sign it. This means overcoming any filibuster threats by Senators who see an opportunity to bring home big pork in exchange for their votes. Remember the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Louisiana Purchase" that helped buy Obamacare.

Look for more such shenanigans to pop up between Nov 6 and Jan 22 if Obama loses. Of course if he wins, look for the same thing over a longer time frame.

Poll Disclaimers

Drudge is showing 3 polls, one of which has Obie winning by 3. The others show R by 1-2. So I followed the link:

The 50-47 percent difference is not statistically significant at the customary confidence levels used in survey research. But it’s likelier than not to reflect a slight Obama advantage, given this survey’s models of who’s most apt to vote.

Translation: This poll was conducted in such a way as to show Obama winning and is otherwise not to be trusted.

Well O.K. then.

The Future Of Medicine - Female Viagra

A drug described as "female Viagra" is entering clinical tests in Austrailia and Canada.

The drug called Tefina is a testosterone gel that is absorbed into the body through the nose, and is claimed to boost female sexual arousal and satisfaction.

It is said to be effective some 30% of the time. I imagine it will work better when used in conjunction with candles and reservations.

Polling Colorado

My partner at the gun show table lives in Denver, near the Denver University campus. Deep blue country. Last election he said he saw nothing in his neighborhood but Obama yard signs. This election they're all but extinct, replaced by Romney signs.

One, he noted was adjoining a sign for Diana DeGette, the liberal's liberal.

If you've lost the DeGette blissninny vote, you've lost. Period.

In other news, Romney sold out Fiddlers Green, cap 18,000, while "Slow Joe" Biden's appearance at my old High School netted him a photo op with a single row of faculty behind him as no one else seems to have shown up.

Domestic Benghazi?

Drudge has such a way of aggregating the news:

Drivers Waiting 6 Hours For Gas in NYC...
Tempers Rise in Wake of Storm...
'Finding bodies left and right'...
Restaurant, hotel prices skyrocket...
CHUCK SCHUMER CONFRONTED: 'We Are Gonna Die!'
CRAIGSLIST: $15 a gallon...
Utility workers pelted with eggs...
Misery...
'We have nothing'...
Residents Furious RED CROSS Offering Cookies & Hot Chocolate, Not Blankets Or Clothes...
Jet Fuel Supply Fast Becoming Concern At Airports...
Staten Islanders Plead for Help: 'We Need Food'...
'Please don't leave us'...
VIDEO: Stranded New Yorkers Defecating in Apartment Buildings...
DIRE...
NJ counties enact 70s style gas rationing... Developing...

Bloomberg was forced to cancel the New York Marathon. Now instead of 2 big generators for the marathon and one backup, he has 3 big generators and no idea what to do with them. And for you New Yorkies, to quote the guy in Blazing Saddles; "You're on your own, son."

Gun Sales Spike

It is by now something of a truism that gun sales spike in advance of elections. Here's a graph of gun sales from 91 through present from infowars:

For anyone who missed them there was an election in 92 in which a gun grabbing Democrat got elected and tried to nationalize the U.S. health care industry. Result: minor bump. In 94 he managed to get the AWB passed. At the end of 92, the Dems got their heads handed to them and gun sales followed hunting seasons until 1995. in 95, Eric Holder, a minor political hack from Chicage called for brainwashing people against the use of guns. I'm obviously missing some big event in 95.

The gun grabber was re elected in 96 to a big yawn from the public since Republican control of the congress acted as a buffer. In 2000 an alleged Republican was elected and the bursting tech bubble was news. Even 9/11 did little to spur gun sales, but look what happened when the Dems took over the house and Senate in 2006 and the whole government in 2008.

Note to new gun buyers: Unless you bought your gun from your buddy, the feds have a record of your purchase which can and will be used to track down and confiscate that brand new gat you just bought. Yes, I know the background check isn't supposed to be kept by the feds, but it is required to be kept by the dealer and turned over to the feds on request.

My theory is that once people noticed how well Florida's CCW law was working out, owning a gun looked a lot better than relying on calling the cops, at least in the opening minutes of the drama.

Food For Thought

Here are some dinner menus, depending on who and where you are:

Things are looking up. Alpo is upscale food.

Found at Power Line along with several other pithy images.

Happy November!

Kicking off the month, the management at work has re-arranged the deck chairs one more time and this time it's me whose left without one. And only 3 months away from retirement.

My thoroughly un-detailed plan at this point is to go on unemployment for 3 months, then retire.

Of course there is the possibility that something low key and part time will pop up, you never know. Mean time there's the $50/week I won't be spending on gas.