Building Ordered

Now that the slab is done it's time for an actual building to go there. I went online and ordered it today. It ships truck freight from Ihavenoideawhereusa and is scheduled to be delivered on or before June 10th (nothing like a firm delivery date), right to my driveway.

This is my building. Here's why I chose to go this way.

A comparable wooden building would have cost me anywhere between 10 and 15 thousand to build, depending on some choices like trusses, sheathing, entrance door(s) and shingles. In this building everything is built in and comes in a kit. I don't need all the inspections that go along with custom buildings either; framing, sheathing, roofing, etc., ad nauseaum. I'd even have to either buy custom trusses or pay an engineer to either design them or sign off on my design before they'd Ok construction. This way it's no muss, no fuss. For $4200 out the door I get a sturdy, engineered building with a 15 year guarantee. It'll take me a weekend to put up (He said knowing Murphy was laughing his ass off and making plans for a visit to Hurricane and the Six household in the very near future) and I'll be done with this project at a little less than five grand total. Not bad for a 434 sq. ft. garage/shop/storage building. I'll post build pics and a rating of the quality of the building. I'll be as brutally honest as I can, just in case anyone else is considering such a project.

Man, I need to get this finished. My honeydo list is a mile long but most of it I can't even begin until this is built. It just better be right. It's not like I can start this process all over again.

Six

Memorial Day

I was surfing and thinking about what I wanted to say on this Memorial Day. I stopped in to Old Bluejacket's Patriotic Flicks and watched Hall Of Heroes.

Honor their sacrifice and keep their memories bright that we never forget their valor and courage. They are our brothers and sisters and the best of us. Keep their families in your prayers, not just today but every day.

Ken, we miss you. Rest in peace my brother.

Six

War Dogs

Ed Rasimus reminds us that not all of the Warriors who gave their all for America went on two legs. Thanks for the reminder Ed.

Six

Memorial Day Kipling

For all those served and never returned to their true love. You will never be forgotten. We, those of us who honor your memory, your service and your sacrifice, will keep your flame alive. We love you and we always will.
RIP Ken.
Six

Soldier, Soldier
Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Why don't you march with my true love?"
"We're fresh from off the ship an' 'e's maybe give the slip,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
New love! True love!
Best go look for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes,
An' you'd best go look for a new love.

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
What did you see o' my true love?"
"I seed 'im serve the Queen in a suit o' rifle-green,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Did ye see no more o' my true love?"
"I seed 'im runnin' by when the shots begun to fly --
But you'd best go look for a new love."

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Did aught take 'arm to my true love?"
"I couldn't see the fight, for the smoke it lay so white --
An' you'd best go look for a new love."

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
I'll up an' tend to my true love!"
"'E's lying on the dead with a bullet through 'is 'ead,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
I'll down an' die with my true love!"
"The pit we dug'll 'ide 'im an' the twenty men beside 'im --
An' you'd best go look for a new love."

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Do you bring no sign from my true love?"
"I bring a lock of 'air that 'e allus used to wear,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
O then I know it's true I've lost my true love!"
"An' I tell you truth again -- when you've lost the feel o' pain
You'd best take me for your true love."
True love! New love!
Best take 'im for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes,
An' you'd best take 'im for your true love.

For Gun Owners

Go see Scott. He's got something he'd like you to do in reference to the ATF's proposal to register multiple sales of certain long guns. I don't usually do or promote things like this but this is important. Our voices need to be heard and if this is how it must be done then this is how it must be done. I have sent out the letter myself. Thanks for simplifying things Scott.

Six

Update: The gunnie awesomeness seems to be spreading today. TheRedneckEngineer has an awseome post up about NFA Trusts. RTWT.

Web Match Practice

ASM826 is hosting a web shooting contest with an assist from Borepatch. It's 22's at 25 yards, offhand, 5 rounds on each bull. Since the slab is done and we're still in recovery mode it was time for a little practice. We loaded up the rifles, a couple of handguns (just for fun) and headed out on a hot Spring day.

This is the target at 25 yards. I scoped the range with my Bushnell laser rangefinder.

The guns are scoped Ruger 10-22's. Hers

And His. Both are stone stock with cheapie 4 power fixed scopes.

This is my best 5 shot group. Lu decided she needs a bit more practice so won't post a target until later. It's not bad but clearly I am in need of more trigger time. Oh noes!!! I saw someone in with an 11. I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near that score.

 

After all that hard work a little fun was required. Lu hasn't shot her Ruger Vaquero in 44-40 yet. What did she think of it? It was love at first shot. She proceeded to fire a box of 50, pausing only to giggle and reload. There's a story behind this gun. I saw it at a local shop many years ago. I loved it as soon as I clapped eyes on it but was hesitant. Lu convinced me to buy it (Love that woman). When I wanted the Blackhawk last year I again hesitated. I mean I already had the Vaquero. So Lu stepped up and out of the goodness of her heart took the Vaquero off my hands. Fate or scheming? Only Lu knows and she's not telling.

I brought the Blackhawk .45 LC along. She liked it but not as much as her Vaquero.

All in all a very good time. As I told Lu, it's important she knows how every gun in the arsenal works. How to load, unload and handle each as well as the confidence she can put lead into any target she takes a takes it into her mind to ventilate. That's fair warning to anyone foolish enough to try her on for size. To that end we try and take out either new guns or seldom handled ones along with the training guns for the day every time we shoot.

We'll do a little more practice and then shoot it for score sometime next week. Hey, this is fun!

Six

Concrete Pt. Deux, Zombie Screeding

The delivery truck was a few minutes late which was good because so was Lu's nephew, our third worker. I failed to get any good action pictures as the concrete was being poured because I was just a little busy and kinda forgot. We worked our butts off and are pretty much Zombies at the moment. We even had Cannibal Pizza for dinner. Well, really it was a Domino's Meatsa but we made the Zombie sounds while we ate it and pretended it was braaaiiiinnnnssss.

This is just after the pour was completed. It's been screeded and I've already done the first and second float and started on the edging. The concrete was Six Sack so it was a bit hard to work. I should have asked for it to be a bit wetter. By this time it was getting hard and I had to keep the floats wet from a bucket to even get it to work at all. Live and learn.

Finishing the edging. Still one more floating to go and then the final broom finish. I chose broom because I want a very rough texture. Among other things I'll be doing vehicle maintenance and repair on this slab and I'm both clumsy and a slob. Oil and slick finished concrete are an invitation to disaster for crash boy.

And here is the finished product. That's just a bit over 5 and a half yards of concrete. It'll fully cure in about a week but as of this post, about 7 hours after the pour, you can already walk on it. That's partially a result of the climate and weather and partially because I chose a very hard mixture. It's hard to work but with the steel reinforcement it shouldn't crack. For the next few days I'll water it and keep it covered with plastic to allow the chemical bonding to occur without drying out the concrete. That results in a proper cure and good concrete that'll be strong and last a long time.

A word on screeding. Screeding is where you draw a straight edge back and forth across the concrete to spread it evenly across the pour. This is a 14 foot wide slab. When I made the pour plan I had a 16 foot 2x4 as the screed. Car Guy verbally smacked me upside the head me and informed me that a 2x4 that length would bow too much and never work. Since he is the Car Guy, and therefore presumed to know all there is to know about concrete, I heeded his advice. A 2x8 would have been too heavy and unwieldy so I went with a 16 foot 2x6. He was right. It was the perfect choice. Glad I thought of it. Oh allright. Thanks Car Guy. You were right. And thanks to Lu's nephew.

In the next few weeks I'll be ordering my new building. Can't wait. And yeah, I'm taking tomorrow off. It's hell getting old.

I wonder if there's any of that brain pizza left.

Six

Concrete's Coming Today

The Ready Mix guy is scheduled to be here at 3:00 with 5.75 yards. I wanted to do it later but that was the latest they'd deliver. It's hot and dry so we're going to have to work fast.

This is for my combo workshop/storage/garage. It doesn't look it but it's actually 14x31.

It's located on the side yard, between the house and the in law's driveway. A metal building is going on the slab. I'm going to order the building as soon as the concrete sets (and Lu gives me to go ahead).

The forms are done, the 6 mil plastic and metal mesh are down and I'm just puttering until the concrete is delivered. I'll have about $700.00 into the slab by the time I get done, not counting tools. Tools definitely go into the capital outlay column (which doesn't come out of my budget) because...well, they're tools!

More pics later. Oh, my aching back. Where is Big Dick when I need him?

Six

New Pirates Movie Review

Lu and I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie yesterday. Can I say how much I love living in a town where you can see an afternoon matinee basically alone?

I am not a professional movie reviewer nor do I play one on TV but I am a movie goer with some expendable income and an opinion.

Anyway. The fourth installment of the Pirates franchise was....disappointing. It was slow and I thought Blackbeard was wasted. It could have been fun but I watched the climax thinking "Who cares?" It was awkward, painful and less than fulfilling. Frankly, I couldn't wait for it to end. I'm really hoping I'll enjoy it more in a few years when it hits television but I'm thinking not.

Both Lu and I loved the original. The second was OK and the third Meh. I actively disliked this movie and Lu essentially agrees. The movie dragged. Barbarossa was changed and not for the better. He was ugly and not in a fun and interesting way. And who the hell thought the mermaid characters were a good idea? They could have been but no thought went into fleshing out their history and actions and in the end we are left wondering what happened to one in particular along with her love interest. And the back story?

{(Spoiler alert) Blackbeard has a magical sword that makes ropes and sails move by themselves. It was never explained and frankly pissed me off. The Black Pearl was shrunk and encased in a bottle but it was also not explained.}

The movie is slow, riddled with holes and characters I hated or didn't care about. Depp's Swallow was contrived and boring. In short, the movie sucked. If you have to see it I recommend waiting for it to come out on Pay Per View. At least then you can turn it off.

$8.50 and 2 hours of our time wasted. Maybe it's time to just let this franchise die. I recommend making the head of Disney studios walk the plank.

Six

Sunday Kipling

I love this poem. In it Kipling gives advice about writing satirically but not wittily of one's superiors .... It was advice I never quite seemed to learn.
Six

The Man Who Could Write

Shun -- shun the Bowl! That fatal, facile drink
Has ruined many geese who dipped their quills in 't;
Bribe, murder, marry, but steer clear of Ink
Save when you write receipts for paid-up bills in 't.
There may be silver in the "blue-black" -- all
I know of is the iron and the gall.

Boanerges Blitzen, servant of the Queen,
Is a dismal failure -- is a Might-have-been.
In a luckless moment he discovered men
Rise to high position through a ready pen.

Boanerges Blitzen argued therefore -- "I,
With the selfsame weapon, can attain as high."
Only he did not possess when he made the trial,
Wicked wit of C-lv-n, irony of L--l.

[Men who spar with Government need, to back their blows,
Something more than ordinary journalistic prose.]

Never young Civilian's prospects were so bright,
Till an Indian paper found that he could write:
Never young Civilian's prospects were so dark,
When the wretched Blitzen wrote to make his mark.

Certainly he scored it, bold, and black, and firm,
In that Indian paper -- made his seniors squirm,
Quated office scandals, wrote the tactless truth --
Was there ever known a more misguided youth?

When the Rag he wrote for praised his plucky game,
Boanerges Blitzen felt that this was Fame;
When the men he wrote of shook their heads and swore,
Boanerges Blitzen only wrote the more:

Posed as Young Ithuriel, resolute and grim,
Till he found promotion didn't come to him;
Till he found that reprimands weekly were his lot,
And his many Districts curiously hot.

Till he found his furlough strangely hard to win,
Boanerges Blitzen didn't care to pin:
Then it seemed to dawn on him something wasn't right --
Boanerges Blitzen put it down to "spite";

Languished in a District desolate and dry;
Watched the Local Government yearly pass him by;
Wondered where the hitch was; called it most unfair.

That was seven years ago -- and he still is there!

Once You Start Down The Dark Path.....

I'm going to violate one of my core policies. I'm going to talk about the former California Governor by name. My longtime policy has been to refer to Arnold Schwarzenegger by the name Priscilla. Why Priscilla? Because he deserves to be mocked and because I can. I'm doing this post only because I want to put a period on my views of him and then put him out of my mind permanently.

As everyone undoubtedly knows he's been outed as a philanderer with an illegitimate child. It's hardly shocking. I watched Arnold in the movie Pumping Iron in 1977. He was a putz and a manipulator then and nothing has changed. I saw him deliver a keynote address at the 2004 Republican National Convention. I thought it was a good speech, full of powerful words and moving images. The only problem was it was all bullshit.

Arnold's problem is that he sold his soul a very long time ago. He started down the "I'll do anything to succeed" path early on and never strayed. If you watched Pumping Iron you saw exactly who he is. A massive ego backed by a man who had absolutely no regard for anyone else. A sociopath who viewed those around him as objects, valuable only for what they could do for him. I don't think Arnold veered from the path of righteousness during his tenure as Governor, he was well down that road long before. In truth, he was never what he led us to believe.

Arnold never let morals get in the way of his goals and pleasures. He used steroids by his own admission. His sexual appetites and drug use are fairly common knowledge and, again, freely admitted to.

My point is this. Arnold chose the immoral life a long time ago. The consequence of those iniquities are what you see today. The spotlight has finally been turned on him with full intensity and he can no longer hide what he is. You cannot set aside basic human decency and morality and continue to represent yourself as a paragon of virtue forever. The price of sin is death, be that of the body or the soul, and his soul is as dead as his career and his marriage.

I take no pleasure in his downfall but I do take satisfaction that he has finally been unmasked as the douche bag that he has always been. He will never again be what so many thought he was.

What Arnold has done is part and parcel of what is so wrong with our society. Elites who put themselves on pedestals made of cardboard and lies. Celebrities famous for being famous, with a total lack of anything resembling a moral. Politicians who believe they're above the law and societal values and are shocked and angry when called on it. Arnold isn't even the tip of the iceberg. He's more like a wart on a whale's ass.

I keep hearing pundits tell us to ignore the person and concentrate on the message. That's exactly backward. If the messenger is flawed so is the message. If the author lies his words are worthless and should be dismissed without a second glance. If the man is amoral he should be shunned and separated from polite society.

Goodbye and good riddance Priscilla. May you never again trouble us with your disease and your lies.

Six

Kind Thoughts

Now I'm not sure this would work in all circumstances but I thought it was a good idea, to at least get the word out. I guess if you belong to the LBTC, it's not going to work. Just thought you'd like to know. I bet the Six and the DO wished they'd never taught me how to cut and past, then trusted me to post stuff on my own. I'm in soooooooo much trouble OH Well been there before also. If I offended anyone, I'll apologize right up front, while looking you in the eye.

Flashbang Bra Holster Now Available Online and with New Models (Video)

www.guns.com

He's Here!

I'm here and waiting for you

Got a call from Donna at Highland Labs about 2100 local. We have puppies!

Mom had a tri-color litter; 2 Yellows 3 Chocolate and 4 Black. There may be a 10th puppy coming (Donna would only say Mom didn't act like she was quite done yet) but as of now there is exactly one black male and he's promised to me.

It's interesting. When Trooper was born he was also the only black male. I often said we were meant to be together. That God had chosen him for me, to teach me the things I needed to learn. I hope it's an auspicious beginning to our relationship.

I need a dog. When I lost Trooper I felt lost and alone. I wondered if the hurt and pain would ever pass. In some ways it hasn't. I can feel the hot tears well up as I write about Trooper. But while the loss hasn't dimmed the pain has receded to a place where it's bearable. And now it's time to turn the page and begin a new chapter. Me and my new boy. I think Trooper would be glad for me. All he ever wanted was for me to be happy and today is a happy day.

Tonight Lu and I will celebrate. In about 3 weeks I'll head out and see him. Our first meeting. I'm going to wait to announce his name until he comes home somewhere around the first of July. Nothing spectacular, just no sense in taunting fate.

Happy birthday little man. I'll be seeing you soon.

Six

Sunday Kipling

May you all have a warm and Sunday. BBQ anyone?
Six

Puck's Song

See you the ferny ride that steals
Into the oak-woods far?
O that was whence they hewed the keels
That rolled to Trafalgar.

And mark you where the ivy clings
To Bayham's mouldering walls?
O there we cast the stout railings
That stand around St. Paul's.

See you the dimpled track that runs
All hollow through the wheat?
O that was where they hauled the guns
That smote King Philip's fleet.

(Out of the Weald, the secret Weald,
Men sent in ancient years,
The horse-shoes red at Flodden Field,
The arrows at Poitiers!)

See you our little mill that clacks,
So busy by the brook?
She has ground her corn and paid her
Ever since Domesday Book.

See you our stilly woods of oak,
And the dread ditch beside?
O that was where the Saxons broke
On the day that Harold died.

See you the windy levels spread
About the gates of Rye?
O that was where the Northmen fled,
When Alfred's ships came by.

See you our pastures wide and lone,
Where the red oxen browse?
O there was a City thronged and known,
Ere London boasted a house.

And see you after rain, the trace
Of mound and ditch and wall?
O that was a Legion's camping-place,
When Caesar sailed from Gaul.

And see you marks that show and fade,
Like shadows on the Downs?
O they are the lines the Flint Men made,
To guard their wondrous towns.

Trackway and Camp and City lost,
Salt Marsh where now is corn--
Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,
And so was England born!

She is not any common Earth,
Water or wood or air,
But Merlin's Isle of Gramarye

Blogger Issues

I tried to log on and administer the site yesterday. Blogger kept telling me it wasn't available, whatever the hell that means. If you posted a comment that didn't post please try again. I'm not editing comments, I swear.

Six

Umm...Run That One Past Me Again??

I was a cop for 24 years. I cannot imagine what was going through this guy's mind when he thought this was a good idea.

On duty, in his patrol car engaged in "activity" with a transvestite prostitute. Mind boggling doesn't quite do it justice. Complete douche bag comes to mind. As does criminal.

Be who you are. Be what you are. Just keep it legal and keep it the hell away from the job knucklehead.

Fire this puke. Fire him now and then prosecute his sorry butt for solicitation. Dude, you really piss me off.

Six

Got Nuthin

Lu's off to a job interview (A part time gig at the pool so she can teach the littleuns fish skills and spend enough time away to avoid that urge to throttle me). It's a crappy day, been raining and windy, so I can't do any of the five thousand things outside that I need to accomplish. Chrisi is sound asleep. The gym isn't calling my name. My mind is a giant suckhole of blank.

In that light I give you this. From left to right;

2 rounds of linked .50 BMC, 300 Winchester Magnum, 45-70 and .40 S&W.

I don't know who was the first to make a dedicated .50 BMG rifle was but surely Ronnie Barrett deserves some kudos for perfecting the breed. The M82 was a game changer. For the first time a solo Infantryman could tote along a reasonably light weapon that could both punch through armor and deliver a lethal blow to enemy combatants at distances once considered suitable only for Artillery.

Carlos Hathcock talked about 50 cal. sniping in Vietnam by mounting a scope on a Ma Deuce. In fact, he held the record for longest confirmed kill with just such a set up at 2500 yards, a record he held until 2002. (If you haven't read it, Whitefeather is a fine book.) Now, as someone who has a bit of experience with the M2 I can say that I wouldn't want to haul one around just for the chance at making a record shot. Enter the man portable .50 caliber rifle. In the hands of one trained and expert in it's use it's lethal with a capital L.

There are other rounds out there that have taken some of the sniper shine from it, such as the .338 Lapua, but for my money there's nothing like the Big Fifty. A friend to the Infantryman and a terror to his enemies.

Thanks Ronnie.

Six

Sunday Kipling - Mother's Day Edition

To all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day. I love you all very much.
Six

Mother o' Mine

If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!

Sunday Kipling - Thursday Version

For my brothers and sisters still serving and the men of Seal Team Six. Mostly though, it's for those who do not, or perhaps cannot, understand.
Six

The Thousandth Man

One man in a thousand, Solomon says,
Will stick more close than a brother.
And it's worth while seeking him half your days
If you find him before the other.
Nine nundred and ninety-nine depend
On what the world sees in you,
But the Thousandth man will stand your friend
With the whole round world agin you.

'Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show
Will settle the finding for 'ee.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.
But if he finds you and you find him.
The rest of the world don't matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.

You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call
For silver and gold in their dealings;
But the Thousandth Man h's worth 'em all,
Because you can show him your feelings.

His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right,
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men's sight --
With that for your only reason!
Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide
The shame or mocking or laughter,
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows-foot -- and after!

Training Course

I signed up for a Defensive Pistol course this Saturday with Crusader Training. The lead instructor is The Mad Ogre.

I've been following The Ogre for a while now and he seems like a very knowledgeable guy and a good instructor. We've chatted over e-mail and through his website a bit and I'm comfortable turning myself over to him. It should be fun and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm a firm believer in training and this course should be a good one to re-acquire my base and get me back up to speed. I haven't shot competitively or in a true training environment in over a year. When you're a bit rusty going back to the beginning is often a good way to get your head straight. I plan on keeping my mouth shut and my ears open. It's just a one day course but The Ogre wants us to bring at least 300 rounds so I anticipate a lot of trigger time. I'm hoping to get in at least one more course this year, maybe something longer and more advanced. Provided I don't embarrass myself on Saturday. This is a good chance for me to evaluate Crusader because they're Utah based and not only do training but also have a line of pretty cool weapons as well as a lubrication system that looks very interesting.

I'm going to bring 2 guns and 2 rigs. My primary will be the new holster from Michael's and the G34. My backup will be a Sig 226 .40 in a nylon duty rig. I'll be bringing the camera so pictures will be forthcoming. I'll also have a write up on the training and how the new rig performed.

Now if I can just remember how this goes. Ogre, be gentle with me.

Six

update: Thursday. The day I need to pack and get ready. Yeah, I'm sick. Frickin' fabulous. I'm still going though, if I have to have Lu haul my semi-comatose butt to the range on the trailer.

update 5/8/2011: The class got cancelled. Apparently on Friday the range decided they needed 700 bucks from Crusader before they'd allow the class. It never ceases to amaze me how short sighted some can be. It costs the range literally nothing to allow us to shoot there. I could totally see a modest fee for 'range upkeep' or some such but $700? Now I have a negative view of the range and will pass along that view to others. Maybe they don't care. My only answer is we're all in this together. If this is your attitude you're not only doing nothing to bring in new shooters to your facility, you're actively damaging the sport and potentially damaging the possibility of bringing in new people to the sport period. Get your heads on straight. Kudo's to The Ogre who did his best to notify us of the issue in time to avoid problems. That some of us didn't get it in time isn't his fault but the ranges and the idiots who are running it.

Borepatch: H. S. Precision rifles are best for the job

Borepatch: H. S. Precision rifles are best for the job because HS Precision should go the way of the Ford Edsel.
Six

Bin Laden Dead

Woo Hoo! Let me just say it. I'm glad he's dead. He deserved to die and I just hope it was by our hands. We've been waiting for this day for a very, very long time.

Information is sketchy at this hour (2120 MST) but he was apparently killed about a week ago outside Islamabad, Pakistan either by missile/bomb or gunshot. Waiting for the Obama press conference.

At this point I'm just hoping it was an American who pulled the trigger, either in a cockpit or on a rifle. ID was through familial DNA match which argues that we do indeed have his body.

Lots of pundits speculating and Geraldo bloviating. I'm guessing security will get ratcheted up for possible (probable?) retaliation.

This is important for a couple of reasons. Bin Laden needed to be dead. Our war dead and the victims of 9/11 cry out for justice. It's also a good message to send to the rest of the world. Yeah, it took us almost 10 years but we persisted for almost 10 years. No matter how long it takes us, if you want to perpetrate such crimes against Americans we'll not rest until we find you and kill you. Bin Laden was living on borrowed time since September 11th 2001. It's also better he's dead than bringing him in for a trial. Every two bit terrorist with delusions of grandeur would have tried to try and either free or ransom him. Yeah, yeah I know. Now he's a martyr. He'd have been that one way or another. Whether by violence or lethal injection, dead is dead.

Paki's now confirming. Still waiting on The One. Come on, it's been at least half an hour since the story broke.

2135 MST. Obama confirms it was an American Operation. He's talking about 9/11. He's taking credit. No surprise there. He's confirming it was an American team who killed Bin Laden in a firefight. No American casualties, thank The Lord. Obama's speech was actually pretty good. The best I've heard him give. He ended with the last few lines from the Pledge of allegiance. Wow.

There will be more information forthcoming in the coming days I'm sure. For now all I can say is this.

To all our men and women who have and are serving in the cesspools of Iraq and Afghanistan. To the team who finally ran this mad dog down and ended his miserable and evil life. To the America who has supported and loved our valiant warriors.

Well Done!

I am so very proud to be an American tonight.

Six

update: Looks like it's a party in New York tonight. Go right ahead folks, you earned it.

update: Looks like it was special ops personnel, perhaps Navy Seals. I know a few guys who will never, ever have to buy a drink in America again.

update: Geraldo is interviewing people on the streets, including veterans, active duty and military families. The joy is palpable. Chants of USA are everywhere.

Sunday Kipling

Happy May Day Comrades. Lu and I will celebrate this day of Socialist Brotherhood/Sisterhood by sending a few pounds of lead and copper into various inert and innocent paper and cardboard receptacles .22 inches at a time.
Tovarisch Six

Natural Theology

Primitive

I ate my fill of a whale that died
And stranded after a month at sea. . . .
There is a pain in my inside.
Why have the Gods afflicted me?
Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith!
Wow! I am sick till I cannot see!
What is the sense of Religion and Faith :
Look how the Gods have afflicted me!


Pagan

How can the skin of rat or mouse hold
Anything more than a harmless flea?. . .
The burning plague has taken my household.
Why have my Gods afflicted me?
All my kith and kin are deceased,
Though they were as good as good could be,
I will out and batter the family priest,
Because my Gods have afflicted me!


Medieval

My privy and well drain into each other
After the custom of Christendie. . . .
Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother.
Why has the Lord afflicted me?
The Saints are helpless for all I offer--
So are the clergy I used to fee.
Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer,
Because the Lord has afflicted me.


Material

I run eight hundred hens to the acre
They die by dozens mysteriously. . . .
I am more than doubtful concerning my Maker,
Why has the Lord afflicted me?
What a return for all my endeavour--
Not to mention the L. S. D!
I am an atheist now and for ever,
Because this God has afflicted me!


Progressive

Money spent on an Army or Fleet
Is homicidal lunacy. . . .
My son has been killed in the Mons retreat,
Why is the Lord afflicting me?
Why are murder, pillage and arson
And rape allowed by the Deity?
I will write to the Times, deriding our parson
Because my God has afflicted me.


Chorus

We had a kettle: we let it leak:
Our not repairing it made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week. . .
The bottom is out of the Universe!


Conclusion

This was none of the good Lord's pleasure,
For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free;
But what comes after is measure for measure,
And not a God that afflicteth thee.
As was the sowing so the reaping
Is now and evermore shall be.
Thou art delivered to thine own keeping.
Only Thyself hath afflicted thee!