So the US has had it\’s first fatality from the swine flu (aka the flu) and Minnesota has had it\’s first confirmed case of swine flu.  Ok folks, we\’re prepared for this.  I\’m pretty sure everyone knows what to do.  So please begin by fulfilling your assigned roles:

EVERYONE PANIC!!!!

* runs around screaming with his hands in the air like he just doesn\’t care….which he doesn\’t *

* runs into a wall and knocks himself out *

I had sort of thought about putting together a post rounding up the first 100 days of the Obama administration.  Then I got an email from David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama\’s still ongoing campaign for President.

I figured why throw together a post devoid of substance, when I can quote an already written email devoid of substance about a Messiah devoid of substance.

Kevin –

Ohhh, see that! We\’re on a first name basis!

Tomorrow will mark the President\’s hundredth day in office. A lot of attention will be given to this largely symbolic day, and the truth is that what we do every day after it will be just as important — if not more.

Well that\’s probably because a lot of the stuff you SHOULD have done in the first 100 days hasn\’t been done yet. Admittedly minor things like appointing staff. Probably why you\’re trying to downplay this as a \”largely symbolic day\” yeah?

But our accomplishments in this time have been remarkable, and they\’re having real effects on people and communities throughout the country.

Yes I hear unemployment lines have rarely been longer and firearms sales have never been higher.

You built the movement that made this possible, and it\’s up to you to show Americans that real change can happen when ordinary citizens work together.

Question : As long as we\’re \”working together\” do us ordinary citizens still have to pay our taxes?? Or are just non-ordinary folks exempt??

Explore this interactive map to learn about the progress we\’ve made in the last 100 days and the stories of real Americans whose lives have already been touched. Then spread the word by passing it along to your friends and family.

Yeah, I followed the link and was impressed with your cutesy unsourced graphics. Especially the part about the jobs SAVED or created. That\’s a rather interesting choice of words that sets a rather low bar. Unless you\’re meaning \”saved\” as in \”Christ Saves\” in which case, implying that \”Obama Saves\” is a much higher bar. My apologies Mr. Messianic Complex

I\’m a little curious though…you mention the number of jobs created or saved…seems to be a number that is much much smaller than number of jobs lost. Which makes it a little silly to be bragging over.

With the country in crisis, the President took office and acted quickly to restore confidence and stability to our economy.

Huh, interesting. You must be using definitions of \”confidence\” and \”stability\” that I wasn\’t previously familiar with. I guess I would have figured the failed attempts to prop up GM alone, would have demonstrated a lack of both confidence and stability.

But just as important were the steps we\’ve taken toward building a new foundation for our prosperity, so that we never go back to the system that led us to crisis in the first place.

You mean like creating special programs that give homes to people that can\’t afford them again??

Or were you referring to this:

I ask merely for information.

In just one hundred days, we\’ve made crucial investments to create jobs and improve education, energy, and health care. All of this is a down payment for a new economic vision

That new economic vision wouldn\’t be bankruptcy would it?? Cause when you keep making investments that amount to nothing (i.e. the GM example) you usually go bankrupt.

– one where skilled workers fuel our economy rather than debt and speculation;

You mean debt and speculation like this:

one where American leadership on clean energy fuels 21st century innovation;

Except nuclear energy of course…It\’s clean energy and there\’s been lots of new innovation, but it\’s just not \”sexy\” anymore is it?

and one where families and businesses are no longer weighed down by crushing health care costs.

Except the costs you tried to impose upon our veterans right?? Remember the veterans?? Those right wing extremists that are a threat to our country??

Delivering on the promise of change is the reason we built this movement.

Well that and to prop up the teleprompter industry

Now, President Obama is counting on all of us to build support for this foundation and create a lasting recovery for America.

Anyone else think that sounds rather ominous? In the \”you think that\’s bad, just wait till you see what we do next\” sense of the word??

Take a look now at these critical first steps we\’ve taken together and pass it on for others to see:

http://my.barackobama.com/100days

More cute graphics and vague statistics rather than substance?? Uh nope….same cute graphics and vague unsourced statistics

This new direction would not have been possible without you.

Well our tax dollars anyway

But our biggest tests are yet to come,

Once again that ominous tone. And given what Biden said about Obama passing big tests, I\’m a little scared.

and the future is ours to shape.

Does it look anything like this?

Let\’s seize this moment together so history will show that, at this defining crossroads, a generation of Americans put their country on the path to long-term security and prosperity.

At this point I\’d just be happy with maintaining the value of the dollar.

Thank you,

David Plouffe

Thanks Chuck!

Dear Jackoffs FCC,

Fuck you.

That is all.

With Love,

Kevin

Senator Arlen Specter shocked Capitol Hill today by the announcing that he will be switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party.

This shocked insiders as they had assumed he had done that several years ago.

When asked how this would effect business on Capitol Hill, aides pointed out that it wouldn\’t change anything as Spector has consistently voted with Democrats anyway.

\”It\’s been like this for a long time\” said one unnamed aide, \”Spector has had Obama\’s name with little hearts on his lunch box for at least a year now.\”

There is a showdown over the border fence building in Congress.  Obama made lots of campaign promises to get rid of the border fence and loosen restrictions on illegal immigration, and liberals are expecting him to deliver.  At the same time public sentiment is still greatly in favor of cracking down on illegal immigration.  High unemployment has the public in no mood to compete with unrestricted illegal immigration.  And border violence and now the emergence of the swine flu, has the public rather unwilling to let things slide on border enforcement.

Late last week, Rep. Duncan Hunter introduce a bill (HR 2083) to build another 350 miles of fencing on the border.  This is partly to further secure the border and partly to compensate for the Department of Homeland Security\’s total incompetence.

Originally DHS was require to build 700 miles of fencing, and it was clearly understood that it was going to be the Israeli style fencing.  They only built 600 miles and most of it is vehicle barriers which are useless for preventing illegal immigration.  They\’re not even useful for preventing drug smuggling.  It\’s very easy to drive a vehicle up to the barrier on one side of the border unload their cargo to a vehicle on the other side and then both drive away and do their business.

On the other side of the issue is a bill soon to be introduced by Rep. Raul Grijalva, which is supposedly an environmental bill.  But basically they are using supposed environmental damage caused by the fencing as an excuse to kill further construction and tear down some of the completed fencing.  Such efforts are hypocritical on their face because there is nothing more damaging to the environment along the border than the flood of illegals and the mountains of trash they leave behind.

But the end result is we\’ll have these two competing bills clashing in Congress.  While Obama has made noise about immigration, he doesn\’t really want to broach this topic this session.  It\’s an incediary issue and one which he is very unlikely to win.  This is a battle better fought later in his term.  But he made promises and his supporters are expecting him to fulfill those promises.

To be honest this may very well turn out to be a good thing for conservatives.  It\’s likely to further poison congressional relations and damage Democrats support with their base because this is a fit they are unlikely to win.  While the public may be willing to have their heart-strings pulled in a good economy, during a bad economy all they are going to see is more people competing for their jobs.   And while this swine flu thing is much ado about nothing, it\’s one of those things that sticks in the public\’s mind for a long period of time.  And if border violence continues, this is going to quickly grow into a very very bitter poison pill for the Democrats to swallow.

Especially without anything to support their cause.  Even critics of the fence have to admit it\’s effectiveness.  Instead, their argument has shifted from \”it\’s not gonna work\” to \”okay yeah it\’s working but it only forces the flow of illegals to another area\”.  The problem with this argument is that this minimizes the the area the Border Patrol has to concentrate on.  A given agents instead of watching 100 miles of border, perhaps only needs to concentrate his attention on 5 miles of it.  That makes him much more effective.  Which is why border enforcement activists have never said that a fence would stop illegal immigration.  It simply acts as a force multiplier, by either concentrating or delaying illegal aliens at the border.  So BP agents can accomplish much more with far less resources.

In a down economy, effectiveness, efficiency and less illegal labor competing with real Americans are all good things.  And the Democrats are likely to find that the public is in even less of a giving mood this year.  How much they try to push will determine how much they\’ll get burned by this issue.

[Crossposted at True North]

The old priest lay dying in the hospital. For years He had faithfully served the people of the nation\’s capital.

He motioned for his nurse to come near.

\”Yes, Father?\” said the nurse.

\”I would really like to see Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi before I die\”, whispered the priest.

\”I\’ll see what I can do, Father\” replied the nurse, and sent the request to them awaiting a response.

Soon the word arrived. Harry and Nancy would be delighted to visit the priest. As they went to the hospital, Harry commented to Nancy, \”I don\’t know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images.\”

Nancy agreed.

When they arrived at the priest\’s room, the priest took Nancy \’s hand in his right hand and Harry\’s hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest\’s face.

Finally Nancy spoke. \”Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?\”

The old priest slowly replied \”I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\”

The old priest continued…\”He died between two lying thieves. I would like to do the same.\”

Finally….they\’ve officially announced this summer\’s media-hyped (but easily treatable) illness, swine flu.

I was wondering when it would happen.  Just likes SARS, bird flu, etc, even though these diseases rarely endanger anyone except infants, the frail or those that live in third world conditions, it will be enough for the media to talk about it at great length for the next four months.  Body counts will ben endlessly cited….at least until enough time goes by that they start looking small.

So the media has adopted their role.  You know yours.

Ready?

Get set….

EVERYONE PANIC!!!

Except me…all this talk of pork it making me hungry for bacon.  Maybe I should make another Bacon Explosion….mmmmm.

A group of twelve of my friends decided they wanted to go for their carry permit and this weekend ended up taking the class through the same instructor I used, Joel Rosenberg.  Top-notch instructor, keeps the class interesting while relating all the information necessary and I have yet to hear a question he doesn\’t know the answer to.

Since it was a private class of a bunch of my friends, including my girlfriend, I asked if I could sit in on it and offered up my services as an assistant if necessary.  I\’m happy to say he accepted.   And even though I had taken his class just over a year ago, it was still a blast.

Sure there is a great deal of information, all of it deadly serious, literally, so it\’s always nice to hear it again.  And Joel, while he presents that information in a serious straight forward manner, also is a great story teller.  His stories all have a serious point and that part is always obvious, but they are also enjoyable.  But one of the best parts the second time around is watching the faces and reactions of my friends as they took the class.

I remembered back when I took it and the things going through my head and the feeling of being overwhelmed at times.  Mostly notably is the part when he\’s just got done scaring the shit out of you with all the legal requirements for self defense and the seemingly thousands of factors you need to consider in the fraction of a second you have at the moment of attack.

He then gives you a hypothetical situation, that really is the impossibly perfect clear cut case of undeniable justified self defense, and asked what you do.  If not so serious, the reactions around the room would have been funny.  Blank stares and hesitation were the rule.   In their defense it\’s all new information and they were just cold-cocked with a lot of legal requirements only minutes before.

It also made me think of the lessons I\’ve learned in the relatively short time (over a year) I\’ve been carrying.  I\’m by no means an expert but I figured it was worth putting those lessons to type.

Pride is a liability.  With every right comes great responsibility, and carrying a firearm is no exception.  You can\’t afford to escalate any situation.  You have to shrug off every insult, every middle finger and every challenge.  Doing otherwise makes you an aggressor and you are therefore liable if you end up using that firearm, even if the other guy pulls a knife on you.

Nobody knows.  It varies for everyone, but there is that period of time, for some a month (me it was several), where even though your weapon is concealed, you are convinced everyone knows.  Nobody does.  Even those that carry openly (non-concealed) will tell you that most people are so oblivious to their surroundings that they won\’t even notice.

When I started I was obsessive in my concealment, going to great lengths to make sure that even if a hurricane blew there is no way it would be revealed.  Today much less so, I know that unless someone knows what to look for (and even not then most of the time), it\’s not going to be seen.

Stop touching the damn thing.  This sort of correlates to the above one.  But stop touching it.  If it\’s in a holster it\’s in the same spot as it was the last twenty times you touched it.  Plus every time you fiddle with it you run the chance of doing something you shouldn\’t.  You can feel it there, the holster is doing it\’s job, leave it alone.  Plus it makes it pretty obvious you\’re carrying to a trained eye.

Your class was not the end of your education.  Practice. Practice. Practice.  Sure that includes the range, but it also includes your brain.  The law can be complicated, human nature doubly so.  You will NEVER consider all the possible scenarios, but you can make other peoples experiences work for you.

I visit web forums dedicated to this topic pretty regularly, such as Twin Cities Carry.  I\’m able to learn things to avoid or things to be aware of.  What cities have police departments which are ignorant of the law??  What Sheriff believes he\’s God and can openly doesn\’t care what the law says???  What is the best way to handle a certain situation??  What ammo works best???  Not only do I learn from other peoples mistakes and successes, I also am exposed to other sources of education.  Things like seminars on the Fifth Amendment (Part I, Part II).

Clean your weapon, even if you haven\’t fired it.  Sitting next to your body and your clothing it gets dirty.  Lint gets in it.  Sweat gets on it.  Every day debris and dirt get on it.

Situational awareness is a bonus.  One of the down sides to carrying is it is never comfortable.  Just like even the best hunting boots in the world aren\’t more comfortable than a beatup pair of slippers, no matter what system you divine it will not get comfortable.  It\’s always going to be extra weight and it\’s probably going to poke and prod you at time.

The plus side is it\’s a constant reminder to maintain situational awareness.  Take the average person going about their day and really look at them.  What are they doing?? Looking down, talking on their phone, listening to an ipod, thinking over what to make for dinner, etc…..everything but paying attention to their surroundings.  These are sheep in every sense of the world, unaware of the wolves that are out there.  Maintaining situational awareness makes you more of a sheepdog and that alone keeps you safer, and that noticeable presence on your hip (or wherever) helps you remember that.

The \”what if\” scenarios that play out in your head never end.  It\’s part of the situational awareness.  What if that skittish guy in the other aisle of the convenience store is preparing to hold up the place??  What if the guy behind you on the sidewalk is really stalking you, looking for a good place to stick you up?  Seldom, hopefully never, will those situations actually be true, but they happen, again, hopefully not to you.  But it\’s nice to have already decided what you\’re going to do if they do.

Be selective about who you let know that you carry….and yeah I understand that putting that on a public blog kinda of violates that (nobody knows when and where I carry though).  Some people are skittish about firearms, no reason to alarm them for no reason.  Others are idiots…yes even your friends, and their knowledge can only get you in trouble.

Let\’s just take one of those \”what if\” scenarios above.  That skittish guy in the convenience store really is about to hold up the store.   He makes his move and having evaluated the situation, you decide it\’s best to take cover in your aisle out of sight of the criminal.  Having your friend panic and cry out, \”Shoot him!\” probably isn\’t going to help your efforts to go unnoticed, unharmed and escaping out the back door.

Meghan McCain to Cheney and Rove : \”You had your eight years, go away\”.

Me to Meghan McCain : \”You had your fifteen minutes, go away\”