Call me Ahab

You know, I bet Wilbur and Orville never had any idea that their innovation would lead to something like this.

It’s seriously the most awesome thing I’ve looked at in uh…this entire year.

I have a pretty decent sized vocabulary, and yet I fail to find sufficient adjectives to describe how incredibly beyond rad that contraption is.

Or local paper, try as they might, are still pretty much total n00bs at this “internets” thing, and as such I sometimes find some truly hilarious things when poking around their front page.  Click it for the fullsize version.

For those not “in the know”, cornhole is essentially a bean-bag toss game, except instead of beanbags, the bags are supposed to be filled with corn.  Their are two slanted boards placed about 10 yards apart, and the object is to land your bags on the board, or through the hole at the top of the board.

It’s pretty much the game of choice for fratguys and people at tailgates, because the gear is light, portable, and drinking huge amounts of beer usually won’t hurt your game too much.

A couple of days ago I posted that the Secret Squirrels Service isn’t going to allow heaters into the hall where Johnny “Col. Tigh” McCain is speaking on Friday’s Leadership Forum at the Annual Meetings.

There were some pissed off people in the comments, and I also got some nasty emails that were directed at NRA, Sen. McCain, and the Secret Service all with varying degrees of vitriol.  I actually really wanted to talk about this issue, because a lot of people have really got the the wrong idea about this and are angry about something they don’t really have a good reason to be angry about.

First off, this isn’t NRA’s fault.  NRA can in no way dictate to the Secret Service how they (the Service) is going to run protection for Sen. McCain.  Trust me on this one, when you’re dealing with the Secret Service on the issue of executive protection, it’s their way or the highway.

It’s also not really McCain’s fault either; the minute he agreed to accept Secret Service protection, he immediately ceased being the guy who made the final decisions about his safety and security.

I want you guys for just a second to look at this issue from the point of view of the protective detail that has to watch McCain’s shorts during this convention.  If I was in their shoes, I would have made the exact same decision to screen people.  And it wouldn’t be because I think some NRA member is going to take a shot at McCain, it would have been because if I didn’t screen everyone going into this thing, than I wouldn’t be doing my job.

Having been to events before involving presidents and candidates and such, I can say that attendees have been screened at every single one that I’ve seen in the past - to expect NRA members to not be screened is expecting special treatment.  Even if every single NRA member that would be carrying to this event is a law-abiding citizen, the protective detail really can’t take that chance.  Just because you or I or any of the other 60,000 NRA members in attendance wouldn’t do something stupid/illegal doesn’t mean that the Secret Service isn’t going to treat this like any other speaking engagement for a presidential candidate.

If you don’t like McCain, that’s fine.  If you don’t like NRA, that’s your prerogative as well - but if you are going to hate on NRA or McCain, don’t get mad at them for something that’s completely out of control.  It’s also kind of foolish to get mad at the Secret Service for doing their jobs.

For the NRA Annual Meetings/2ABlogBash in Louisville, KY.  Got to get all packed up tonight, and make the tough decision on which carry gun to bring down with me.  In the meantime, here’s my short list of things I’m looking forward to at the Bash/Meeting.

1. Drinks and dinner at Bass Pro in southern Indiana with Michael Bane.
2. The Celebration of American Values banquet
3. Getting to actually meet the blogger’s that I’ve been corresponding with for months.
4. The list really does go on, but that’s all I can think of right now.  I’m like a kid right before Christmas, and I can see the presents under the tree.

Mrs. Ahab and I are staying at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, if any of the other attendees of the BlogBash are staying there, drop me a note in the comments.  If you see me tomorrow, I’ll be the short guy in the Boston Red Sox hat.

You know, if we could harness cognitive dissonance and use it to power cars, our energy crisis would be over.  Because we’d have groups like “Queers for Palestine” to power every car in the country for 1,000 years.

If you don’t feel like clicking through their website (and I wouldn’t blame you) what they are is a pro-gay rights group that is also advocating the creation of a Palestinian state in place of Israel.

In case you missed that on the first pass, let me restate myself: these are gay people advocating for the creation of a Muslim state.  Completely forgetting what happens to gay people in Muslim states (places like Iran “don’t have gays”), and also ignoring the fact that Israel is essentially the only gay-friendly nation in the entire Middle East.

This is the kind of thing that falls into the category of “it would be funny if it wasn’t true”.

Gun crime is on the rise in Great Britian, which can’t be possible since they have all those awesome gun control laws that prevent gun crime.

THE blight of gun crime on the streets of Birmingham is on the increase again after the pioneering use of civil orders suffered a legal setback.

Oh England, what has happened to you?

Despite the fact that the economy is taking a beating, and Paul Helmke keeps saying that the shooting sports are declining, gun sales were up again in April - making it 4 straight months that gun sales have increased from last year.

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 940,961 background checks on the sale of firearms in April, a 12 percent increase from 840,271 reported in April 2007. Adjusted state figures for April show background checks up 10.7 percent. Year-to-date figures reveal a total of 3,945,510 background checks reported by NICS. The increase coincides with an uptick in excise taxes reported by firearms and ammunition manufacturers, an increase in small-arms production and a slight increase in hunting license sales — all key economic indicators for the firearms industry.

I’ve posted these blurbs that I get from NSSF pretty much once a month for every month this year - it’s been a good year for firearms sales.  People aren’t just buying black rifles, they’re buying all kinds of guns: semi-automatic pistols, rifles, shotguns, handguns, you name it and it’s flying off the shelves.

I was talking to one of the local gunshops this last Saturday, and they said that a particularly hot-hot item was the new Ruger LCP - I guess there’s a market for compact carry guns that can go in a pocket.  In fact, my Dad is probably going to be picking one up shortly.

As I ramble on, the point I’m trying to make actually isn’t that the industry is strong - even though sales are up, a lot of that is probably a reaction to the politics that are being played out in front of us right now.  What will be important is how well we as gun owners, shooters, and hunters maintain this kind of market momentum after the election, no matter who wins.

Plus, you can tell your wife that you’re stockpiling ammo in case gas goes up to 10 bucks a gallon and there’s a breakdown in emergency services.

Just got this email from NRA regarding security for John McCain’s speech at Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum on Friday the 16:

By mandate of the U. S. Secret Service, no firearms will be  allowed in Hall A of the Kentucky Exposition Center, the location of the  Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum, on Friday, May  16.        Please be prepared  to go through security screening to enter the venue. We look forward to  seeing you at this outstanding event!

This wasn’t NRA’s decision, or Sen. McCain’s decision - it seems that the Secret Service is pretty intractable on this issue.

You can still carry on the convention hall floor, just not if you’re going to be attending the Leadership Forum on May 16th.

I love the “VPC” Blog.

 It is a well-known fact that Dave Hardy has access to a supercomputer and a team of fifty people. He steals evidence and cracks open encrypted data all the time.

Oh man, that gives me an awesome/terrible idea to do some “Dave Hardy Facts”.

In the last couple of weeks, HR 1022 (The McCarthy Super-Dooper gun ban) has picked up 6 additional co-sponsors, brining the total to 66.  You can view the entire list of members of the House that have co-sponsored the bill by clicking on this link.  If you don’t see your local rep on the list, contact them and urge them to continue to not support or co-sponsor this awful piece of legislation.  If you do see your rep on the list, you’re probably from California - seriously, half the co-sponsors of that thing are from The People’s Republic.

It seems like the anti-gun faction in Congress is growing more and more bold, which means it’s time for all of you who voted for so-called “Blue Dog” democrats to call them and remind them that your support for them only goes so far as they don’t start signing onto crazy anti-gun legislation.  Even if Republican’s numbers shrink in the ‘08 Election, and god forbid we lose the Presidential race, we need to keep the pressure on the Democrat reps who ran on more “conservative” platforms.