Saturday, April 18, 2009
Tea Party Has Begun
As you can see from my past few posts, the Philadelphia Tea Party has started. The turnout is at least several hundred folks on Independance Mall. Male and female, black and white. The first speaker is on now.
I will have better quality pics up later, setup in a Picasa album.
Now, time to hoist my own flag.
I will have better quality pics up later, setup in a Picasa album.
Now, time to hoist my own flag.
Heading downtown
Waiting for the train, further updates once I've arrived at the rally.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Friday, April 17, 2009
Philly Tea Party Reminder
I have my Gadsden Flag ready and I'm charging the batteries in my Blackberry, MSI Wind netbook, and my digital camera. Technology permitting I will be live blogging tomorrow's Tea Party in Philadelphia at Independence Hall.
Check back for updates.
Check back for updates.
Faces of the Revolution
Xavier has some great photos from a Tea Party on Wednesday. Far from being the nutjobs that the left would have you believe them to be, they are flks just like you and I.
Check 'em out.
Check 'em out.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A Couple Thoughts on Taxation and Government Spending
"But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."
-- Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. Source: "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat (1848)
"So low and hopeless are the finances of the United States, that, the year before last Congress was obliged to borrow money even, to pay the interest of the principal which we had borrowed before. This wretched resource of turning interest into principal, is the most humiliating and disgraceful measure that a nation could take, and approximates with rapidity to absolute ruin: Yet it is the inevitable and certain consequence of such a system as the existing Confederation."
-- William Richardson Davie (1756-1820) Governor of North Carolina (1798-1799), North Carolina delegate to the 1787-88 Constitutional Convention Source: speech in the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Convened at Hillsborough, on Monday the 21st Day of July, 1788, for the Purpose of Deliberating and Determining on the Constitution Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia, the 17th Day of September, 1787: To Which is Prefixed the Said Constitution (Edenton, N.C.: Hodge and Wills, 1789).
-- Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. Source: "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat (1848)
"So low and hopeless are the finances of the United States, that, the year before last Congress was obliged to borrow money even, to pay the interest of the principal which we had borrowed before. This wretched resource of turning interest into principal, is the most humiliating and disgraceful measure that a nation could take, and approximates with rapidity to absolute ruin: Yet it is the inevitable and certain consequence of such a system as the existing Confederation."
-- William Richardson Davie (1756-1820) Governor of North Carolina (1798-1799), North Carolina delegate to the 1787-88 Constitutional Convention Source: speech in the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North-Carolina, Convened at Hillsborough, on Monday the 21st Day of July, 1788, for the Purpose of Deliberating and Determining on the Constitution Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia, the 17th Day of September, 1787: To Which is Prefixed the Said Constitution (Edenton, N.C.: Hodge and Wills, 1789).
Monday, April 13, 2009
CNN: Support for Gun Control Plummets
From CNN:
While CNN seems to want to pin lowered support for gun control on the Obama administration's anti-gun tendencies, there's more too it, IMO. Increasing numbers of Americans have recognized that the arguments put forward by gun control supporters are bogus.
Moreover, more Americans are cognizant of the fact that the government will not always be there to protect you. As the saying goes, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
Which ties into something else: Even as hunting has been on the decline, the numbers of people buying guns for self protection has increased. IOW, the Second Amendment ain't about duck hunting.
Now, a recent poll reveals a sudden drop -- only 39 percent of Americans now favor stricter gun laws, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.
The gradual, long-term decline in support for gun control from the early 1990s to 2008 coincided with a decline in the murder rate. But this year's sudden drop seems to be influenced by politics, namely the Obama administration.
While CNN seems to want to pin lowered support for gun control on the Obama administration's anti-gun tendencies, there's more too it, IMO. Increasing numbers of Americans have recognized that the arguments put forward by gun control supporters are bogus.
Moreover, more Americans are cognizant of the fact that the government will not always be there to protect you. As the saying goes, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
Which ties into something else: Even as hunting has been on the decline, the numbers of people buying guns for self protection has increased. IOW, the Second Amendment ain't about duck hunting.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Norinco Type 84S AK
Last weekend I took a drive up to Seneca Arms in Green Lane, PA and saw that he had a preban Chicom AK in 5.56x45mm (.223 Remington). Yesterday I went back and asked to take a closer look, and found that it's a Norinco Type 84S, a pretty rare bird. Even better, it was unfired, as evidenced by the lack of any carbon on the piston end and bolt face. After a little bit of haggling it came home with me.
(Click thumbnail for full size pic.)
While unfired, the rifle came with only one magazine and was missing the factory box, manual, cleaning rod, and bayonet. It did have the cleaning kit in the buttstock.
The Type 84S was imported for only a year or two in the '80s, with imports being cut off by Bush I's 1989 ban. The rifle has the original factory black plastic furniture, a relatively heavy barrel with a 1:9" twist, and a chrome lined bore. The length of pull is a bit longer than most Chinese AKs, my guess is that it was designed with American shooters in mind.
The magazines for the Type 84S are specific to this rifle and due to the low number imported, aren't all that common. I've posted WTB ads on several web forums and should be receiving a 20 rounder in response to one of them. (Email me at davemarkowitz at gmail.com if you have any you're looking to sell.) After doing some research, it looks like AK-74 mags should work with some tweaking, and I'm going to try some ProMag .223 AK mags, which I've read will work OK for range use.
Based on my experience with my Arsenal SA M5 5.56mm AK, the Norinco should be even smoother shooting and have less recoil than either of my AR-15s in the same chambering. A range report will follow once I've shot the rifle.
(Click thumbnail for full size pic.)
While unfired, the rifle came with only one magazine and was missing the factory box, manual, cleaning rod, and bayonet. It did have the cleaning kit in the buttstock.
The Type 84S was imported for only a year or two in the '80s, with imports being cut off by Bush I's 1989 ban. The rifle has the original factory black plastic furniture, a relatively heavy barrel with a 1:9" twist, and a chrome lined bore. The length of pull is a bit longer than most Chinese AKs, my guess is that it was designed with American shooters in mind.
The magazines for the Type 84S are specific to this rifle and due to the low number imported, aren't all that common. I've posted WTB ads on several web forums and should be receiving a 20 rounder in response to one of them. (Email me at davemarkowitz at gmail.com if you have any you're looking to sell.) After doing some research, it looks like AK-74 mags should work with some tweaking, and I'm going to try some ProMag .223 AK mags, which I've read will work OK for range use.
Based on my experience with my Arsenal SA M5 5.56mm AK, the Norinco should be even smoother shooting and have less recoil than either of my AR-15s in the same chambering. A range report will follow once I've shot the rifle.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Busy Saturday
This morning I stopped over at a client's house to fix his wireless network. It was working the last time I was there but at some point in the last week it died. All it turned out to be was that his Linksys WRT54G2 needed a reboot. Once we did that his wireless clients came back online. Since he's a good repeat client and I was there for only about 15 minutes and he's only a couple miles away, I didn't charge him.
BTW, I do NOT recommend the Linksys WRT54G2 wifi router. He bought it when his old Linksys WRT54G died after several years of use. The G2 is a different beast and frankly, it's a POS.
After that I drove over to Harbor Freight to pick up a broken screw extractor kit. Last week I bought a 2 gallon Campbell-Hausfield air compressor at Wal-Mart, and managed to snap off the tank drain valve through being stupid. I ordered a couple replacements from C-H and they arrived in a few days, but I needed something to get the remnants of the old valve out. It's a brass fitting that screws into the tank and allows you to drain out accumulated water (which condenses from the air as its compressed into the tank). With the broken screw extractor kit I was able to get out the old broken valve without too much trouble.
With that fixed, I played with the girls for a little while then took a drive up to Seneca Arms in Green Lane, PA. It's a nice, old fashioned gun shop where I've picked up a couple guns over the years. John, the proprietor, is also one of the top High Power match shooters in PA. He had some interesting pieces* but nothing I really wanted to drop money on now. If I wasn't worried about the economy I might've snagged a Savage 23D or Winchester 43, both of which were in .22 Hornet. I noticed he had a good supply of Brownells 30 round AR-15 magazines for about $17 each, plus some 5.56mm ammo from both Winchester and Prvi Partizan.
* One of the most important guns for any person who is preparing for emergencies should have is a good .22 rifle. They are good for small game hunting, vermin control, marksmanship practice, and can be pressed into service for self defense, though they aren't ideal for that. John had several used .22 rifles made by Marlin, Mossberg, Remington and Winchester in stock, in semiautomatic, bolt action, and lever action varieties. All were reasonably priced at from $120 to $180 (a couple of the Winchesters were more).
Tonight I'm going shooting with my dad. I'm bringing the Springfield XD-9 I bought a few weeks ago along with 200 rounds of Brown Bear 9mm 115 grain FMJ and 50 rounds of CCI Blazer Brass 115 grain FMJ loads.
BTW, I do NOT recommend the Linksys WRT54G2 wifi router. He bought it when his old Linksys WRT54G died after several years of use. The G2 is a different beast and frankly, it's a POS.
After that I drove over to Harbor Freight to pick up a broken screw extractor kit. Last week I bought a 2 gallon Campbell-Hausfield air compressor at Wal-Mart, and managed to snap off the tank drain valve through being stupid. I ordered a couple replacements from C-H and they arrived in a few days, but I needed something to get the remnants of the old valve out. It's a brass fitting that screws into the tank and allows you to drain out accumulated water (which condenses from the air as its compressed into the tank). With the broken screw extractor kit I was able to get out the old broken valve without too much trouble.
With that fixed, I played with the girls for a little while then took a drive up to Seneca Arms in Green Lane, PA. It's a nice, old fashioned gun shop where I've picked up a couple guns over the years. John, the proprietor, is also one of the top High Power match shooters in PA. He had some interesting pieces* but nothing I really wanted to drop money on now. If I wasn't worried about the economy I might've snagged a Savage 23D or Winchester 43, both of which were in .22 Hornet. I noticed he had a good supply of Brownells 30 round AR-15 magazines for about $17 each, plus some 5.56mm ammo from both Winchester and Prvi Partizan.
* One of the most important guns for any person who is preparing for emergencies should have is a good .22 rifle. They are good for small game hunting, vermin control, marksmanship practice, and can be pressed into service for self defense, though they aren't ideal for that. John had several used .22 rifles made by Marlin, Mossberg, Remington and Winchester in stock, in semiautomatic, bolt action, and lever action varieties. All were reasonably priced at from $120 to $180 (a couple of the Winchesters were more).
Tonight I'm going shooting with my dad. I'm bringing the Springfield XD-9 I bought a few weeks ago along with 200 rounds of Brown Bear 9mm 115 grain FMJ and 50 rounds of CCI Blazer Brass 115 grain FMJ loads.
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