Via Grouchy Old Cripple:

“Mission: to connect with other military spouses, normalize the "life" of military spouses in a day where many of us are feeling the pressure of so many deployments, and separations. To join all service branches, and male and female spouses to connect, share stories, resources, and information so we can advocate for one another as a United effort.”

Apparently they are doing a conference at Fort Bragg, and for those who cannot attend in person, they will be able to attend virtually, through spousebuzz.com. Anyone who knows a military spouse please spread the word. The show starts tomorrow at 0930 EST.

As a lifelong Californian I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we as a group of people are certifiably crazy. This train of thought came about as I pondered how (or why) we in this state keep electing the most unqualified and nuttiest people to office. I looked up Dianne Feinstein and found that she has been in office since 1992, when she won a special election for the seat vacated by Pete Wilson who left to become the Governor. Sixteen years in office, reelected even after the infamous gun banning statement:

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."

This quote was made only a little more than 2 years after taking office. There may be people who consider there to be a debate over what exactly the 2nd amendment says (those that think it’s a state rather than individual right would be resoundingly wrong), but her statement clearly goes against the oath of office taken by all newly or re-elected Congressmen:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

Yet more than thirteen years after that proclamation about banning guns, in office she remains. She is for enforcing “hate” crimes, she continually pushes for a Constitutional amendment against flag burning, does not want a photo ID to be presented to vote, supported McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, was against banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers for gun violence, voted no on declaring English official language of US govt, wants illegal aliens to be allowed to participate in social security, and supports the “fairness doctrine”. It’s despicable, and I just don’t understand why people would keep putting her on their ballots. We must be crazy.

Her compatriot Barbara Boxer was elected the junior California senator also in 1992. She may not have any juicy mainstream media quotes that represent a total and fundamental lack of understanding when it comes to the Constitution, but she has some loony ideas, some of which she has emailed me. In an email marking the anniversary of the San Ysidro massacre she states;

“The San Ysidro massacre was the first of a series of crimes that were carried out with assault weapons over a period of nine years. By 1994, the American people had had enough. In response to their pleas, Congress passed the Federal Assault Weapons Act. This law has helped reduce the number of indiscriminate mass killings that can take place when the shooter is armed with an automatic killing machine designed to shoot dozens of rounds in a very short time...The Assault Weapons Act has saved countless lives. There is just no reason to allow these dangerous weapons back onto our streets. I am committed to working with Senator Feinstein and to doing everything I can to keep the ban alive and keep our people safe.”

Typical load of uneducated BS. She much like most Democrat politicians, knows little of the events on that day, but does not hesitate to use those false views to push forth her hoplophobe ideas. The man who perpetrated that awful crime back in 1984 used a semi-automatic version of the UZI, a shotgun, and a Browing Hi-Power semi-auto pistol, none of which are automatic or assault weapons. I particularly liked the use of the cliché phrase “automatic killing machine designed to shoot dozens of rounds in a very short time” and the erroneous “assault weapons act has saved countless lives”. Uncountable no doubt, because there is no evidence that the assault weapons act has done a thing.

My favorite example of her ineptitude was an email from her during the gas price spikes leading into the summer of 2004, called “9 Point Plan to Fight Rising Gas Prices”, still available on her website.
I’m gonna have to take these one by one.

1. “FTC Investigation of Current Situation: First, I have called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the current gas price spikes in California…”

In typical politician fashion her first order of business is to spend taxpayer money to investigate an industry that has been scrutinized relentlessly over the last ten years and has not once been found to be in violation of FTC regulations or found to be price fixing. Waste of time and money.

2. Automatic Investigations of Rapid Price Increases: I have introduced legislation that would require an automatic investigation of the gasoline market for possible manipulation any time that average gasoline prices in a state increase by 20% or more over a three-month period…”

Once again, more taxpayer dollars wasted to investigate what ultimately boils down to supply and demand. It would be far cheaper to send her back to school to retake a basic economics class that it would to investigate an industry that has not once been found to have violated the pricing mandates placed upon them by government regulation.

3. "Cease and Desist" Orders in Highly Concentrated Markets: I am cosponsoring the Gasoline Free Market Competition Act authored by Senator Wyden, which would give the FTC the authority to issue "cease and desist" orders in order to prevent market manipulation whenever four or fewer gasoline companies control more than 70 percent of the gas supply in a given market.

Again with the government intervention interfering with market forces. Just brilliant. Wikipedia says she was born in 1940, she HAS to remember Carter’s debacle. They have never found the market to have been manipulated, but she sure as hell wants to make it look like she is stopping something.

4. Strategic Petroleum Reserve: We need to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - which is now at 93% of capacity - in order to increase the supply of gasoline on the market. We should also establish a short-term"exchange" in which some oil in the SPR is released immediately and refilled later, just as SPR reserves were released four years ago to ease the home heating oil crisis in the Northeast.

This was my favorite of her points, and the one that prompted a vitriol filled letter to her offices in DC and California. Rather than comment again, here is what I sent:

Senator Boxer,

Today I received an email from you regarding “Tips for conserving gasoline” and your “nine-point plan to bring gas prices back in line”.

I am astonished at the simplicity and ignorance of this email and appalled that you would consider tapping into our strategic oil reserves as part of your “nine-point plan”.
Are you totally blind to history? Do you not recall President Clinton tapping into the strategic reserves during the last “gas crisis”? If not, let me refresh your memory…it did almost nothing to the price of gasoline (The price of gasoline dropped a few pennies at best) while draining oil from reserves that were designed to protect us in the event of war. And in case you forgot, let me remind you we are currently at war, which is why the current administration has spent the last four to six months refilling the reserve.

I noticed in the biography section on your website you tout as “an effort to create a cleaner environment” you “block(ed) oil drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge and along the California coast.” Don’t you think allowing some of that drilling would have helped bring the price of gas down? Are you not familiar with the market forces known as “Supply” and “Demand”? Don’t you think increasing supply by providing our OWN oil would affect the market price? Didn’t you take an economics class in college? (I would like to point out I also noticed your biography does not contain any information on your education.)

In your email you stated part of your plan is to tap into the strategic oil reserve because “…by law (it) is intended to be used in situations just like this one.” I would like you to realize that the strategic oil reserve is not intended to keep market prices down, or make it easier and cheaper for Californians (or Americans for that matter) to take a vacation. This reserve is intended to protect our country in the event there is a national or international oil crisis. It was designed to keep our military forces mobile so in the event of an attack or crisis, we are not caught with our guard down.

Leave the strategic oil reserve alone and spend some time researching how the market in a capitalist system works. Until you understand these simple concepts, you have no business sending email to constituents with your half-baked ideas that ultimately upset market forces and weaken our national defenses.

Thank you,
Shane (last name redacted)
(address redacted)

5. Increased Production by OPEC: “…President Bush should work with OPEC to increase supply.”

Damn, now why didn’t anyone else think of that? We’ll just have those Saudis double production and keep the costs down so they can stop making so much profit. Brilliant!

6. Subject OPEC to U.S. Anti-Trust Laws: I am cosponsoring a bipartisan bill authored by Senator DeWine that would subject OPEC to the laws prohibiting collusion, market manipulation, and other anti-competitive behavior.

This one is just dumb. If I was in OPEC I’d push for a slowdown as a result of this arrogance. Proof she’s a moron.

7. Save the Bakersfield Refinery: I have called on Shell Oil to find a buyer for its Bakersfield refinery and commit to keeping the refinery open until a buyer is found.

So now she’s in the business of forcing companies to do what’s best for her platform rather than what’s best for their shareholders. Criminal.

8. Oxygenate Waiver: I have called on the EPA to grant California a waiver from the requirement that an oxygenate - MTBE or ethanol - be added to gasoline. Adding ethanol to gasoline may already be driving prices higher in some parts of the state.

So she pushes for these fuel additives as “environmental legislation” but calls for a temporary waiver when it drives prices too high… Ironically, MTBE as a fuel additive was found to be poisoning groundwater and causing cancer in Californians. Great job government, way to make my car less fuel efficient, cause gas to cost more, and poison me at the same time. I’m still looking to see if she ever supported MTBE as an additive to fuel under the guise of a “cleaner environment”.

9. Fuel Formula Investigation: We may be able to reduce price spikes by reducing the number of different fuel formulations now required by different jurisdictions.

The one and only one good idea in the whole bunch. Unfortunately she calls for a governmental investigation to determine if this is a good idea. More wasteful spending to solve an easy problem.

These are basic examples of how we as Californians keep electing people who clearly cannot perform the basic duties of office. She supports “hate” crimes, is against privatization of Social Security, helped block drilling for oil in ANWR, voted against the use of military force in Iraq, and supports banning guns based on cosmetic features, yet we keep reelecting her time and time again with apparent growing popularity.
As a group of people we can only be described as either dupes, stupid, or insane, there’s no other way to explain it. Boxer will be attempting her fourth term in 2010. Come on people, there has to be someone better to represent us in the Senate.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about CRV lately. In California we have container deposit legislation called California Redemption Value which is basically an incentive to recycle, and to a lesser extent, not to litter. Customers are required to pay $.05 cents for glass, plastic and aluminum containers less than 24oz, and $.10 cents for larger containers at point of sale, and this amount is added to the cost of the item, and then the entire amount is charged sales tax, which here is 7.75%. This is where I start getting pissed. In theory, if I say, bought a $.99 cent 12oz bottle of soda, I would be charged $1.04 (cost of soda and CRV) plus sales tax. So I am forced to pay an extra $.05 cents that I can work to get refunded (or let someone pick it out of the trash and do it), and on top of that, the government is taxing my .99 cent drink as well as the $.05 cent government mandated redemption tax. They are taxing the tax! (This does not apply to non-taxable drinks like fruit juice.) But it gets better. To recoup the $.05 cents I paid to buy the soda (minus the tax they charged me on it of course), I now have to recycle the bottle at a recycle center. Not too big a deal, in some places you can drop the bottle in a machine that will spit out a receipt to spend in the grocery store, or where I am, I take bags to the recycler and they pay me by the pound. But all I am regaining here is the original $.05 cents I paid. I am trading the bottle back for my own damn money. Shouldn’t I get my $.05 cent deposit, PLUS what the plastic is worth? I probably spend more in gas to get to the recycle center than I make back (in my own initial investment) from the returns, not to mention the hassle and space bags of plastic bottles take up. It’s a BS deal as far as I am concerned. State sponsored scam.

Somewhere in comments of one of Kevin Bakers posts in the last month or so he mentioned washing your hands after shooting to avoid lead poisoning. This alarmed me because it was something that I should have been aware of, but had never occurred to me before. I don’t know if it’s just me and my group of friends, or if it’s a common occurrence, but I figured it was important enough to warrant a few words. Over the years I have done a fair amount of shooting, most of it on camping trips where we would break for lunch, and hardly ever wash our hands before making a sandwich. I admit, even without the lead, it’s not the best of practices, but sometimes you get lazy, especially when you sole goal is to push a sandwich down your throat so you can resume a shooting competition or go throw some horseshoes. No more.
Lead poisoning is commonly talked about in the media, but usually in generic terms. Excessive lead in the blood can cause neurological damage, renal disease, have adverse affects on the cardiovascular system, can interfere with brain development, and be toxic in your reproductive system. Learning disabilities in children have also been linked to lead exposure and extreme cases of lead poisoning can result in death. Ironically, being shot by a lead bullet is not considered dangerous as the bullet rarely causes any significant levels of lead poisoning unless the bullet is lodged in a joint where it can deteriorate over time. One of the common signs that you may have lead poisoning is a weakness of the exterior muscle of the hand known as “wristdrop”. This occurs after many weeks of exposure. Most lead poisoning cases are in children and comes in the form of dust or chips from lead-based paint or from leaded gasoline contaminating the soil and in some cases from contaminated drinking water. (Incidentally, leaded gasoline began to be phased out by the US in the early 70’s and was banned for use in on-road vehicles in 1996, but Tetra-ethyl lead as a fuel additive is still legally used in off road vehicles, racing cars, farm equipment, marine engines, and aviation fuel.) The most common form of exposure in adults and children is ingestion with inhalation being the second major pathway of exposure. Lead exposure is a cumulative effect, and there appear to be no reliable methods to reduce the amount of lead you have exposed to your bloodstream.
All this being said, most of us are probably fine, but there is no need to add to the amounts that we have already exposed our systems to. So remember when you go shooting, before you handle food or touch your eyes, nose or mouth, wash your hands, just to be on the safe side.

I have been busy as all in the office today and one thing kept creeping into my tired brain:

"Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
--Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

One of my favorites.

Linoge has been nice enough to allow me some time polluting his fine blog with my kooky ideas and aimless ramblings, so I figured the least I could do is give you an idea of who I am.
Born and raised in Southern California has done nothing if not influence the loathing I have for the seemingly endless tide of government nanny-ism and rampant state spending resulting in an abundance of taxes. (The first half of my property tax bill is due in about a month, so the sticker shock is fresh in my head). It can be hard growing up in a state where there seems to be many-a-law to protect yourself from well, yourself and things I took for granted as a kid are now considered illegal. (How in the world can people grow up not knowing the simple pleasure of fireworks on the 4th of July or of riding in the bed of an open pickup truck?) But I guess it’s all relative (or maybe the incremental nature of politicians got me) considering I still live here after thirty-eight years (minus less than a year living in Portland, OR) and I can’t seem to convince the family to move out to one of the preferred states like Arizona or Texas.
I grew up conservative to nice, hard working middle-class conservative parents, and have not strayed too far from the tree. I call myself what others have termed a small “L” libertarian and dream of a day where we regain our lost freedoms and return to the Constitutional Republic that our legislative branch seems so willing to throw out the window. (I say legislative branch because although I think the Democrat party is largely responsible, I also give much credit for our countries backslide to the Republicans who at times do not appear conservative at all). I am a strong believer in the Second Amendment and the individual’s right to defend oneself with the best tools available, and although I don’t want one, miss the days of going out to shoot my friends AR-15 before the media demonized it as The Evil Incarnate. (I suppose the AK-47 is the official Evil Incarnate, but the AR is a close second only because the military and law enforcement still use the M-16). Sometimes I wonder about the people who so greatly fear black plastic and magazines that hold 15, 20 or 30 rounds (as opposed to our 10rd max laws) and still can’t figure out how perception got so swung out of whack.
Before home ownership my hobbies were shooting, camping, movies and shooting. (You said shooting twice…..) I like shooting. With the “honey-do” list ever expanding, time has been tight, and when time does free up, ammo costs have been a killer. With the costs of metals going up worldwide, probably due to both high demand from growth countries like India and China and the increase in fuel costs, ammo costs have gone up quite a bit over the last three years. As I understand it, this is not going to let up for a while, so my goal for next year is to get a new hobby; Reloading. I have read a few great reviews on reloading at The SmallestMinority and The AnarchAngel and hope to be able to report back from a layman’s perspective on the whole process. More to come there.
In the mean time, for those of you out there who may be in the same predicament but still want to shoot, you might want to consider an NRA match at your local range. I competed in my first this year and it was more fun that I imagined. All that was required was to join the club (in this particular case it was $60, others may vary), pay the match fee ($20 should be a standard deal since it’s an NRA match) and bring ammo. Total ammo expended for the match, 60 rounds, and they even had loaner M1 Garands for those who didn’t have the appropriate firearm. (As it happens, I shot the match with a magazine fed bolt-action CZ-527). The range-masters were very friendly, experienced and helpful and although I did not come anywhere near the top shooter, I was well above last place. Now I have a baseline to try and better next time. This particular match also qualified me to join the CMP which I did immediately. For anyone out there who wants a classic WWII battle rifle for a relatively reasonable price, this is the way to go.
In his introduction Linoge mentioned my proximity to the recent wildfires that made a destructive run through San Diego. These events have sparked a renewed interest in disaster preparedness, something that I have been continually working on over the last two years. I have an ever-growing list taped to the wall of my garage of things I wish to acquire. This list may never be complete as I am adding to it all the time, but it helps me take note and prioritize my needs. The fires here put the spotlight on a few major deficiencies that I have been trying to fill but have been putting off because they are big ticket items; a generator and high capacity water storage. As I further research I will post my findings, it may come in handy for anyone out there looking for something more permanent than the Costco 2.5 gallon bottled waters like I have stacked in my garage. There are several great places out there for information on this stuff, and many of my ideas have come from a few of the fine blogs in the Pacific Northwest: Rivrdog has a blog dedicated to overall preparedness called Paratus, which has some fine info on topics from armed conflict to vehicle preparation. Random Nuclear Strikes, although not dedicated to disaster prep, has semi-regular articles filed under the category of “By Ourselves, For Ourselves” that can be very handy in increasing readiness. If you haven’t already, check them out.
One last thing I wanted to do was piggyback on Linoge’s post from Oct 29, and make one addition to his “damn skippy #2. Though shall not post hateful material.” I would like to add that I hate clowns. That is all.
Thanks to Linoge for having me as a guest in his bloghouse. It’s new for me, but already a lot of fun.