A friend (lets call him Frank) and I were talking. He’s a gunny. Knows a lot about a lot of things…. He’s friends with a LOT of folks, and generally knows who is selling what, and for how much. A few months ago, ferinstance, I knew a guy who wanted to sell a 629, and called Frank to find out if he knew anyone who was looking for one. He and I put put a buyer and the seller together together and a deal was struck. Made two people happy, and banked a few favors for the future….Frank knows nearly every third person in the area, and has a handle on what is for sale too….

The problem is, of course, getting the information out there in a timely manner…..

I had been thinking about my “five” and decided to look into how much a Sharps would really cost me..(like a starting price for a new one in the $1800 range (plus sights and such), according to the internet, so it isn’t gonna happen soon, I’ll have to save my nickels for a while)..and what it would take to own one and the issues with it’s care and feeding. I’d likely have to load my own in order to be able to afford ammo, and went to my friend to see if he had ever cast or loaded the large bullets that a 45-70 or a 45-90 eat and what the pitfalls might be….and what he knew about paper patching VS grease groove VS jacketed bullets, as he is fount of obscure knowledge…

He says to me….”I wish I’d have known you were interested….John just sold a C Sharps 1874 for $575…it was like new, maybe 20 rounds, but he needed the money and couldn’t find anyone who was interested….so he sold it to Cabelas…..Shame, he had all the accessories. Bullet molds and cleaning kits, a nice fitted leather case….”

*Facepalm*.

*Headdesk*

$575.00….

*sob*

Shit.

Sigh.

I’d almost rather have not known about the “one that got away”….

Yer reading this, and you are either at home, or planning on going home.

Where you will either see your sweetie, or plan on seeing him/her soon.

or at least be able to call then…maybe SKYPE with them if they are traveling or for some reason not where you are.

Or you could be in a far off land, where the natives are hostile, and many people are trying to kill you.

Think about our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who are standing guard so we can live safely, and celebrate Valentines Day in relative safety.

And hold a thought for those who love those military folks, for they share in the sacrifice.

Thanks, folks.

Borepatch points out that Gas (and all other petroleum energy) is gonna skyrocket.

He’s right.

But what he fails to mention is that the cost of energy is part of the cost of nearly everything you own, eat, or otherwise consume.

Food? Trucks, trains, boats and sometimes planes bring your food to your local store. Farmers burn diesel to plant that corn or wheat or soybeans, and to harvest it…and to put on that petroleum based fertilizer that increases their yields. (more yields means a somewhat lower price, just in case you are missing that point). Meat is gonna go up because, as corn goes up, therefore does the price to feed cattle….and it takes fuel to harvest  and haul the hay that is the other staple for cattle…and, of course, to transport those foods to the farm so the cow can eat it, and fuel to transport that cow to the butcher to be cut up into steaks and chops and roasts and burger and shipped to your local supermarket. Those nifty fresh veggies and fruits that you buy in the depths of winter? Yeah, they come from South America on a plane or a fast boat. The ones you get in the summer? They still have to be trucked from the vegetable farm or orchard to the place where you buy them. Still takes oil. Expensive oil.

Consumer goods? Clothes, furniture, rakes, shovels, hammers, blankets, beer, smokes, pet food, milk, etc. All get to you using petroleum. and some are made from plastics, also made from petroleum feedstock…..

The raw materials that make your homes? Yeah, hauled to your local Home Depot using trains and then a truck. That drywall takes a LOT of energy to make, so does that plywood. And that carpet is likely made from Rayon or Nylon. Guess where that comes from?

Paper? Guess.  Tires? Yeah, same thing.

Automobiles? Yeah, they take a lot of petroleum to bring the parts to the factory…..and a lot of the plastic parts that make the car lighter and safer…..yeah, you guessed it.

Think about it. If energy (oil) goes up in price, then so will the cost of EVERYTHING.

Expect your food prices to go up by 25% MINIMUM. Consumer goods? Same thing.
Autos? Fuggeddaboutit. (and yer not gonna be able to afford to drive anyway, as all yer cash is gonna go for food….)

Think I am crazy? Maybe I am. But it happened in Britain in the ’70’s when their currency went to shit when the socialists destroyed the Pound…and Britain as we knew it…and Argentina when the socialists did a similar thing in the late 80’s…Same tune….. just a different language. The price of everything went insane. They were both productive prosperous countries…now they are second raters in decline.

Wanna live in Greece? No big deal, just wait a year or two. Especially if we re-elect the Socialist in Chief for another 4 years. Inflation will be rampant, and the cost of a gallon of gas will likely be $7.50 or more. It’ll be just like Greece, without the lamb dishes and the wild taxi drivers and the lovely seashore and the hirsute women. 

It isn’t the oil that is going up, it is that the dollar is worth less. And it will be with those worth-less dollars that you will pay your fuel bill, and try to purchase your food and other goods…especially those that you buy from other countries. It’s gonna take a LOT of those worth-less dollars to buy things from foreigners…or from your neighbor.

The dollars we use today are just paper…just an easy medium of exchange. The fact that there are many more of them means that each dollar is worth less than it was a year or two before. They have no intrinsic value, just paper “backed by the full faith and credit of the United States’. Which is rapidly becoming worthless. We have maxed out our credit, as a country as we print worthless paper dollars to pay our bills……and when our ability to buy energy fails, because our ability to generate credit to back our paper currency ceases or becomes less, then we, as a nation, will starve. Our wealth is not the stacks of dollar bills we print, but the productivity of our citizens balanced against our expenditures…and that ratio is not a good one lately.

What to do? Plan. What to plan for, and how to implement those plans is up to you. But expect less commerce, and expect food to be costly, as well as consumer goods. Expect less…you won’t be disappointed.

But when the decline accelerates (it has already begun) you’d better have a plan to feed yourself and your family. It’s gonna be ugly. Argentina is the most recent example. Read “Surviving in Argentina” to get an idea of what is coming. Look to Greece for an example.

It’ll be us in a year or three, no matter who is in the White House. It can be worse or just bad, but it ain’t gonna be good either way.

This…if you haven’t seen it, you should:

Then think.

Remember, we get the government we deserve.

Go HERE.

Think

How do we change this?

You may be able to do Prequels, add scenes, etc. to Star Wars.

But I saw the original. I really don’t care what you say now.

Han Shot First.

What do you expect? He was being held at gunpoint and Greedo was threatening to kill him.

Any sane person would have done the same.

I don’t understand how Mr. Lucas :

A: thinks that this is a bad thing, and that he should be ashamed of it…

B: Why he thinks that after all these years and all the people that saw the original movie he is somehow able to rewrite history.

I like the fact that Han shot first. I’da done the same.

Especially if you live in, or near, a large(r) city that is run my “Blue” politicians (yeah, I know, most of ’em are).

Riots

Except that the Greeks are, for the most part, decent folks, if greedy.

Some of the people in our inner cities have a …different …take on how they should treat their fellow citizens.

Expect that we will have the same, only more violent, response to the austerity measures that will take place here in the US inanother 3-5 years.

I hope to have sold my business and moved to a more isolated defensible rural area by then.

Got pulled over Tuesday AM…On my way to work. At 7:35 AM. Conditions were fairly dark and overcast.

Speeding. And I was, no question. No argument, no quibble. 56 in a 45. .
Guilty as charged.

When the nice policeman pulled in behind me, I opened my window, put my insurance card and registration along with my drivers licence in my left hand along with my carry permit and placed both hands on the wheel. I wanted the officer to be comfortable and feel safe. Better that way. Don’t want him to do something foolish that might end up with one of us getting hurt. Make this as pleasant for both of us as possible.

He was polite and professional:

Do you know why I pulled you over, Sir?”

“yeah”.

“Can I see …oh, thanks.” as I handed him those forms and such. He noticed the pink CHL form as I handed them to him

“Do you have a weapon in the car, Sir?”

“Yes,” I replied “on my hip”

“Would you please step out of the car Sir?”

I did so, and he asked me to turn around. I placed both hands on the roof of the car, and he raised my jacket and removed the pistol from the holster. He took a step back and asked me to turn around. He dropped the mag and said “I’ll have to run this to see if it was stolen”.

“No” I replied. “No probable cause. Get a warrant…..I’ll wait….else it’s illegal search and seizure…I got all day”.

Nonplussed, he looked at me…..”It is in plain sight, he replied”

“Nope,” I said. Terry VS Ohio says you can remove my weapon for your safety. But you have to have cause to go any farther. With respect, state your cause.  Or prove it is in plain sight by telling me the serial number right now…. If you can’t then, with respect, stop dicking around….Or call your boss.”

Now understand, this is outside of a little tiny town in NW Indiana, about a mile outside of the city limits…The young policeman (fairly new to the job, I am sure) was on questionable ground. He was far outside of town (and likely his jurisdiction), and was not sure what to do with someone who was older, respectful, but firm in his refusal to be under control.  I am fairly certain that he wasn’t sure if I was right or not, and he wasn’t sure what to do with someone who just refused to fit into any of the scenarios in his training. Someone who was sure what the law was, and the limits that it placed upon the police, and was willing to be difficult.

He placed my firearm on the back deck of my car, and told me to  return to, and sit down in my car and close the door (it wasn’t asking, but was worded politely) and took my license, registration, and insurance card (and magazine) with him to his car.

4 minutes later, he got out and returned to my door. He asked me to get out again, handed me my documents and magazine, and told me I was free to go. He asked me not to load the firearm until he had left, and returned to his car after thanking me for my cooperation.. I picked up the pistol as he was pulling out and waited until he had gone down the road before inserting the mag and reholstering.

Note: I still had a round in the pipe!.

The stop was valid. I was speeding. Had he written me a ticket, I’d have paid it with no protest.

Yet he knew that I had a CHL, and yet he insisted on going through the ringamarole about taking my firearm. But he NEVER UNLOADED the pistol. He left me in arms reach of a loaded firearm.

Apparently, he needs retraining on how these gun things work. Taking a mag out of the pistol still left me with one shot, had I chosen to use it (not to mention the magazine that I still had on my belt). He did NOTHING to enhance his safety with our little dance. Had I allowed him to take the pistol to his car to check out the serial number, it was entirely possible that he might have hurt himself or his police car (or me!).

I wonder how many legal firearms carriers he intimidates just so he can check out serial numbers. How many people aren’t sure of their rights, and who let him violate them because of their ignorance. How many times he has been lucky because he has not known how to properly make a firearm safe to handle. How many times he has put himself in danger with his actions.

I wonder if he realizes that his time could be better spent hassling people for other reasons, rather than wasting his time checking out serial numbers on guns owned and carried by people who have taken the time and spent the money to have the State do the background check in order to get that little pink slip of paper.

Surely, he can tell the difference between legal concealed carriers and the average “Yo” or meth-head. Can’t he?

If not, then his ability and judgement comes into question….as well as his suitability to be a police officer.

The Catholic Church was all for the Mandate, when they thought it didn’t/wouldn’t apply to them. They were all for the rest of us being forced to purchase Health Insurance when our doing so would benefit their dependents….Those who were, through fortune, misfortune, or bad lifestyle decisions caused their situation wherein they had no easy access to low cost health care and/or catastrophic care….

It was ok to force us to purchase a product which we did not need/want, in order to add to the pool of money to pay the freight fo those who couldn’t/chose not to pay their own.

But when that Mandate came to them, they are crying “First Amendment!” loudly and repeatedly.

Were it not so sad, it’d be amusing.

So everyone is in a tizzy because Obamacare does not exempt Catholic Hospitals and other Church organizations.

Whah.

Too fucking bad

They are trying to have their cake and eat it too.

They are employers, same as me. They pay people to do jobs. Worse, most of them take federal money ion order to accomplish their mission.

They should get no exemption. None.

If they get an exemption because they are a (supposed) Catholic organization, and the thought of Birth Control or Abortion is abhorrent to them, then I should get an exemption because having to give someone something that they have not earned is abhorrent to me. And those of you who read me regularly know that I hold that as dearly as the Catholics hold their rules.

The Catholics were all behind Obamacare, until it went and bit them in the ass. While I think that Obamacare should be repealed, I also think that if it is not, it should apply to everyone, equally. No exemptions…no special treatment….Everyone plays by the same rules. That pesky 5th/14th Amendment thing….

Or scrap the whole thing.