i remember you...

and on a day that has become known more for heralding the beginning of summer than for honoring our ultimate heroes, i thank you.

because of you, my family and i live lives of peace, prosperity and freedom...and in spite of everything else that goes on in the world, your sacrifice has earned my undying gratitude.

may God keep your souls safe and warm forever.

jtc

quid pro quo

in recognition of and repayment for the fawning adoration bestowed upon obama by the late and shameless "journalist" tim russert, joe biden is dispatched to stand in for tim as commencement speaker at wake forest university and to extend the year-long eulogy of him.

they probably figured even biden couldn't screw this up. and i'm sure it reinforces in ol' joe's mind (and everyone else's) just what a critically important cog he is in the bobo machine.

jtc

the ceo of "the state" has spoken...

and just like that, your next new vehicle will require a stop every few hundred miles to drain off the excess fuel.

next up: comprehensive unlimited medical care for all, with those greedy medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies limited to a maximum annual charge of $100 per person.

then we'll address all this war stuff going on in the world; if we send them a few gazillion in bailouts and ask them nicely to be good, i'm sure all those bad guys with bad attitudes will love us and join in a nice round of kumbaya...

jtc

i just couldn't resist...

what can i say? i'm a sucker for a good deal, especially if it's a good deal on a good gun. the officer's enhanced colt that clint bought as part of a nice package from a collector (see the rest in my last post) just kept calling my name...i don't really know why, it won't be my carry gun and it's surely not the ideal target plinker with it's short grip and an appetite for dollar-a-shot ammo. still...it's purty ain't it? clint's 14-day hold period expires tomorrow, and it is a good deal; inner and outer boxes, both mags, all the papers including blank warranty, and it looks to have been used very little if at all. so i guess this one's coming home with me.

jtc

some days it was fun to be the pawnbroker...

after thirty years, most of the activity in the pawn shop had become routine, boring, and sometimes downright annoying...which is why i sold out to clint and semi-retired a few years ago.

but when clint called friday to ask if he could delay his regular weekly payment to me until next week because he needed all available funds for a gun collection he was buying, it reminded me that there could be some really fun days.

a middle-aged fellow from the small town south of us needed to liquidate his collection to help his daughter take advantage of a great buy on a house, but didn't have time to go the private-sale or gunbroker route, preferring the immediacy and liability waiver of selling to an ffl...so clint bought: a stainless colt officer's model .45, a model 21 s&w target pistol, an s&w mo. 60 .357, a glock 30, a ruger mo. 1 in .300 mag., a winchester 94 in .444, and a couple of ruger single-action big bores...i haven't seen them yet, but clint says most are lnib, and his total investment? $2600.

i got over wanting to keep the cream from nice buys like this years ago, but i'd be sorely tempted to hang onto a few of these...clint's cashflow situation is such that most of them will go on gunbroker as soon as his two-week hold period expires; should be a turnover of around double for him.

i'm going to stop by his shop tomorrow and take a few pics, and i'll post some of them here...kind of dangerous, though; my son would like that glock mini .45 to go with his .40, and the colt will probably be calling my name. but...must...resist...

jtc





update: well, my son had to take a look at the g30, so he went to clint's to take the pics for me. the ruger 1 and the m94 .444 were not on display and clint was tied up with customers, so no pics of those, and the s&w mo.21 is presold and locked away, but here's the rest (not great pics, they're through the glass as clint has them in the showcase until they make their debut on gunbroker just in case a local buyer pops up.

r.i.p. jack kemp

regardless of your opinion of his politics, his is an amazing life story...

and speaking of amazing, am i the only one who is in awe of newmedia's ability to react to news? just as the legacies are reporting kemp's death as a breaking story, wiki already has his biography updated to his death today. no wonder oldmedia is so quickly waddling down the path of the dodo...

jtc

finally!

a chance for the "o" to inflict some lasting harm.

jtc

mayday, mayday, mayday...

that just seems so appropriate right about now.

jtc

consequences

presidential worshipper...i mean reporter, chuck todd says:

"...conservatives and liberals alike can agree on one thing after 100 days of President Barack Obama: This guy is going to be consequential."

roger that, chuck.

sadly, our kids and grandkids, probably our greatgrandkids, will be the ones who will have to pay those consequences.

jtc

short for vilem and tomas?

here's a sweet love story...

but why the heck did they name these czech twins bill and tom?

jtc

facing a whole herd of elephants...

i had read this story, but hadn't seen or heard from the guy himself.

wow. his business was similar to my son's and mine...thank God we're not in l.a.

jtc

via xavier

and atlas shrugs again...

yer preachin' to the choir there, pugs.

jtc

HE LIVES!

and that's all i need to know.

jtc

i have no words...

the ignorance and naivete demonstrated here just takes my breath away.

"Former ATF agent Gerald Nunziato pointed out that if Samaha had wanted to, he could have caused a lot of damage with the guns he purchased."

true enough. but i could do a lot more damage with my hemi 4x4 truck by plowing into a crowd...if i wanted to. man, how did the feds let that genius slip away?

h/t to say uncle

jtc

taking recycling to a whole 'nother level...

via jason in comments at the munchkin wrangler...

"As an aside to the sudaphed comment, we here in your former town of residence in the southeast learnt something last week! Evidently the body only processes about 40% of the meth that dopers ingest. The other 60% comes out in the urine stream. Dealers are now, literally, accepting PISS as a form of partial payment for meth. They then take this meth laden piss, and evidently, ala waterworld… distill the meth out of the piss, and resell it…"

and i thought smoking drano and rat poison was as bad as it gets. damn.

jtc

i've done some shooting at this range

but i'm glad as hell i wasn't there sunday to see this.

jtc

finally, a little culture...

man, i was so tired of being rep'ed to the royalty by bush, with his lack of deference and proper kowtowing to the bluehairs of the old world...

now for the refinement and smooooth manners of the One. a dvd collection for the prime minister, and an ipod loaded with show tunes for the queen...and the she-beast manhandles (heh) the old girl.

now that's the class that we've been yearning for...our standing in the world is restored.

jtc

welcome home again, discovery...

thirteen days and five million miles after blasting off, discovery and her crew glided back into fla today, with the usual giant thud of a sonic boom that always catches me by surprise even when i knew it was coming.

call it a flying greyhound bus, a garbage scow, or whatever...but it still amazes me that this thing can ride piggyback into space, function like a giant mobile workshop/travel trailer, and fly back home with pinpoint precision.

only a few more missions to come for these awesome machines, hard to believe they've been flying with almost no configuration changes for nearly three decades...i hope their retirement won't spell the end of our space program.

welcome home.

jtc

wow...

sham guy pinched for pummeling prostitute...

damn, dude; you gotta let the "makeup guy" do his thing before the "camera guy" does his.

apparently it's been decided...

that this free-market capitalism thing just ain't working out...

i guess we've been doing it wrong the past couple of centuries.

jtc