Trouble in paradise...

  I was very disturbed by the RWVA forum today, the word manslave was used... and I had enough problems with the junior high boy mentality that thought 'the floggings will continue until the marksmanship improves'. And that was on the official Instructor sweatshirts. Sigh.


  So if the California PC crowd that ruined Colorado and Washington States is going to take over the RWVA forum and make mockery of men, many for many good reasons do need mocked. Well, I don't have to be among the ones wondering where the 4MOA and three strikes got hijacked for silly stuff.

  I figured that if one is to build a country, or rebuild a country - you don't leave out important parts of the building blocks. You don't leave women out, you don't leave children out, you don't leave loners out -- everyone is welcome on the line or in the programs. So they do want to extend outreach - and will do Libertyseeds for those that don't shoot, but want to share the history of April 19, 1775. And they will help the National Guard with their marksmanship, and the Scouts, and others. And if there are women that would be more comfortable in a Ladyseed, they have those available, too. I don't work Ladyseeds, because I am a man, and I am not a 'manslave' any day of the week, and won't accept that from anyone. It would have been a game changer in the military - but then I always knew the officer corps had to be smart enough to know they couldn't do without me, and when they discovered they could - I retired.

  Getting older and crankier, maybe I should hibernate again. Is the program going to survive the lack of ammunition, the twisting of effort to make the RWVA acceptable to more folks? I don't know, it may not be worth considering. When I get cute on the line, I might not be as safe as needed, might miss someone not being the best shot they could be while their sling slips down their support arm... one needs focus, and distractions are only such, if I were in the rifleman's bubble I wouldn't hear the fools calling me names, would I?

Have you been listening....

I saw a bit of news on Ferguson, MO. And they said that rioters were looting a store, sure enough there was someone looting a store. While the police were tear gassing the protestors, and there is unrest in Ferguson tonight. Because the good people of that town, went to bed, not wanting to be on television/cable news, and they had jobs to go to in the morning. Now if I had been writing the story, the looters ran lawlessly through the community striking at will. The pushy protestors were being quelled by heavily militarized police forces, having more in common with Storm Troopers than they wanted. This is all brought to you by eTrade, where you too can make Warren Buffet look conservative.

As I finally fixed my yard like I should have long ago, and made my wife concerned but happy, I was thinking of the old television. Tennessee Ernie Ford Show - and others. Where I heard people singing Gospel standards, and patriotic songs. I must be on the wrong planet, because they only seem in my memory. I have a cousin's son that sings in a quartet - they are still doing traditional music, I guess.  Of course that is my traditional music, not the music my son has grown up with -- I am so much of a long gone away era. As I dumped a bunch of WWI books and manuals into my kindle, I may be reaching back into my grandfather's era for no good reason, except I haven't been there for awhile. Maybe I find the current shouting and pounding no longer rocking but frightening... and I might be afraid, very afraid.

Truth is: stay off the cable, find my music and listen to it, and for sure read more about the New Springfield, the 1903 A3, cause I don't want to be behind.  Did you hear that some ammunition manufacturer is hiring more worker? Great news! I have also been following the Camp Perry competitions, great work, and no one was robbed nor attacked by all those military style weapons, but then the targets are all those big circles way down there many hundred yards away. And some of those rifles are almost a hundred years old - at least in design. Why are those shooters smiling? Cause they know very well what they are about.

I have been marveling...

I recommend Joe Abercrombie, for his book The Heroes, it is fiction but I like it.

What I have been marveling about is my healing, my recovery and how long it has been going on and I think is still in progress. I had no idea how far I had fallen in health, just that it wasn't there anymore. 2011 and 2012 were probably the bottom, I hope to never get that far down again, since coming back is awful - but necessarily so slow... so slow.  Still haven't run again - and a gentle jog would be enough to convince me that I could, but I am still hesitant to trust myself and the pacemaker - it isn't far to fall in the YMCA and there are lots of fine folks around to save me... but I don't want to trouble them. Still, I am getting better and stronger and think if I continue to take it slow it will happen again.

Something else in the universe has happened also, and I need to make a call, but I have had a desire, not a need, for a 1903 A3, and I thought if I kept asking I might win the Lottery and find one and buy one.... so I tickled a few folks about it, and sure enough I have a call back on my message service to call and maybe look and buy a sporterized one.  When I posted on Facebook that I was thinking of looking into it I found suddenly three messages that they would like to help me find their rifle for my desires. Wow!

When it rains it pours. I might really have one soon, and will be sharing my joy with the world as I learn new skills with that rifle. Still the search has been interesting in the response to the question and what has been going on with other shooters and their lives.

I have also run into my reputation along the way - I have several of them - and they seem to depend on where I and the reporter of the reputation were when. So there are dark ones that no one talks about, and much brighter ones that I think have been polished by time and goodness greatness thoughts that I didn't recognize as mine. One truth about reputations is comparison and contrasts - the rep is always held up against some real person and situation somewhere, and the reporter/promoter has another chance to make me worthier... hmm, seems like the real me gets dimmer as the rep gets brighter. Like any great war story, if the stink, the slime and the sleaze were part of the story - we wouldn't tell them so often and so fondly. So with the reputation/representation of paratrooper Dungey. Doesn't survive first contact with reality/real me.

We just kill them all until they don't return...

  One of the better messages from the Vietnamese commander in We Were Soldiers, when asked about taking prisoners.

  I have personally concluded that killing all Hamas, ISIS or any other enemy is the only way to stop the madness.  Yes, I will pray for them, but I am sure that killing them will get them to the Lord's  mercy sooner than allowing them to behead people, threaten death and destruction, and in general rape and beat women. Kill them.

  There is a fine thought that they should be able to be moderate, gentler and honorable. But they don't seem civilized, and if our civilization has gotten so cushioned chair bound that we aren't willing to FIGHT the stupids wherever they are -- they will be coming in the back door soon.

  No more non-lethal, no more halls of Justice, just kill them if they are carrying a bomb or a weapon. If they are in charge, kill them. Their sons will avenge their deaths, kill them when they try.

  You may now return to your regularly covered petty little lives.

 

Stuck in Atlas Shrugged, the book...

I am on recovery break, wanting to get smart and beautiful and loving... so I leave you with a gem from the internet, which I left a comment on.  When the Music Stops    Don't you just love it when the looters of the literary world followed to lay out the current stupidity in government goodness?

Sorry, I got side tracked by WORLD events...

 Yesterday was a complete wonderful fine glorious day shooting known distance, full distance, and finding out what works for me, and where I need to work on more better.

  First, I calmly waited for the jammed traffic on the 205 Bridge over the Columbia to open up and allow me to pass through. No choice, and I took pictures, but you have all seen it before, haven't you? So I arrived at about 8:30 and found I was right there for the first shot, cold bore on the steel gong, two hundred and fifty yards away. Which I missed because I can... No, I have no idea where my bullet went. The reason I like paper better than instant ringing gratification.

  My M1 was set on battle sight zero, and I found that will always work for 100, 200, and 300 distances in standing, sitting and prone in a hurry. What doesn't work is sloppy shots - I don't teach sloppy shots, I just know how to do them, more of my shots aren't than are - so I am going to get all of them to the best shot side.

  I found trusting the NPOA very important for shooting in the Rifleman's Cadence, and shooting in the Rifleman's cadence is the only way to put ten round on target within fifty-five or sixty-five seconds on stage two and three of the AQT. I only dropped one round for time, and six rounds for failure to feed (shooter had trouble loading clip - once).

  I found the sling cannot be snug enough, make it snugger.  Practice all positions more, and lock into the best for you and your rifle early in life. Still, be prepared to change to something else and lock it down. Stuff happens.

  Enjoy the shot, enjoy the shoot and speak well of the departed.

The Victory of Chicken Little...

In the good old days, of yesteryear... isn't that a wonderful phrase? I heard lots of poetry, nursery rhymes. and fairy tales - it was part of a most excellent education. A solid grounding in common sense and stories with a moral, and a point, one of those sharp things for you to use in your future. Even cartoon characters used them as a short hand for telling their story - part of the common thread of our American - often British culture. This was a foundation for more education and communication as we grew up. All of the liberal arts in college has always been to reinforce the common accepted truths from the Greeks, Romans, the Bible, European History and moral values and philosophy.. or so I truly believe. Once you have the common grounding, you go where you want and fit how you may and you won't embarrass your family too much. Could even make them proud.

Somewhere a few days, months and years ago - the culture in America, the 'yes, I can' culture was hijacked into the 'No, way, Jose' cult. I firmly believe everyone that comes to live in America, or countries of similar purpose - comes to make their life and times better. They don't come to become slaves, they don't come to be serfs - peasants - peons, they come to make a good life and have a fine life with those they love.

If there are any people here in America, or countries that model themselves as freedom loving peoples, that want to fail, to be downtrodden, or just lay down and die under the whips of the overmaster --- well, just holler and let me know.  Hear anything? crickets? anything at all? Do you think they are all dead? Or has Chicken Little succeeded? They are too afraid to comment, complain, to make noise as they fix the problems, or build the nation and their families and fortunes? Political Correctness is an ugly whip to beat the others into shape, it is a soul stealing whip - no thought needs to be made once the whip is applied, no spirit can live free where Political Correctness is the law of the multitude.

But back to Chicken Little, the poor bird had a bit of trauma, and when recovering decided he must warn everyone of the dangers of Gravity and the Sky Falling! Since Gravity was a law, which everyone knows, then when he says the Sky is Falling - it must also be true. This was before the Blues made the idea famous. Media and government goodness guys (politicians) use your fears, based on their loud announcements of whatever they want you to fear now, to motivate you to their position - Chicken Little really believed "The Sky is Falling". So does the media and your loving politicians. Climate Change? Nuclear Winter? The danger in population growth, the religious Right, the Yellow Peril, racial impurity, social justice, unbound Liberty, individual rights, --- all those and many thousand more must be used to frighten you into compliance, for the children or your own good.  Chicken Little never wanted to harm anyone, and after everyone was safe from Falling Sky - what happened?

You and I can't stop the Sky from Falling, but until it hits us - we should keep working on that wonderful life, living in Love and Liberty. There are probably more people trying to make gain from me than I want to know - but to a certain point they can try, I am not interested in what hits my head, just that it doesn't really hurt nor cause permanent damage. I don't dwell on the unlikely - no matter how loudly media and politicians or Chicken Little trumpet loudly. I don't blame Chicken Little, he was only a public servant and a fool fowl, but politicians and media - they are using fears unfounded to gain some silly value for themselves. I don't have any silly value for them they had best go elsewhere to find it.