Stupid Kills.

There was a fratricidal shooting in the northern Indy 'burbs the other day. Apparently 14 year-old Cain slew 16 year-old Abel with a 20 gauge scattergun in the family garage. Allegedly the older brother was pelting the younger with snowballs when the kid picked up the fowling piece, "jokingly" pointed it at his older brother, and... well, I'll let the local cops, since everyone know that the police are gun experts, say it:

Police say the gun went off when the boy jokingly pointed it at his older brother, hitting him in the chest. Carson later died at an Indianapolis hospital.

Bowen says the shooting "was clearly an accident" and he doesn't expect any charges to be filed against the boy.

I'm sorry, officer, but that's wrong; well meant, but wrong. I know you want to spare the parents and, for some reason, the shooter, but you know and I know and, sure as God made little green apples, the shooter knows that his finger pulled that trigger. Guns don't just "go off" by themselves.

According to neighbors, the young men were familiar with guns and firearm safety.

"The boys hunt all the time. They've always used guns. They know how to handle guns," said Wiles.

If the boys were familiar with the firearms safety, then why did the younger one act like he was a contestant in a "How Many Of The Four Rules Can You Break At Once" shoot-off?

Let's review the Four Rules:

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your $%^&@#$ booger hook off the &*%$#@& bang switch.
4. Be sure of your target and what's beyond it.

Sounds like Junior managed to break all four, with the usual consequences.

You know you're on teh intarw3bz too much when...

...every time you see this "Godwin Roofing" sign, you think "They're the Shingle Nazis!"

The Green Police want me to drive an Audi?

Sure!

I'll take this one, please. I even promise to sing their little commercial jingle while doing great big smoky burnouts with all four tires.

(If you're low on those, I'll settle for one of these. kthxbye!)

Misleading titles.

Broad Ripple has a little local freebie weekly paper, named The Broad Ripple Gazette. (You'd think a place with this many art galleries, hair salons, and chi-chi eateries could scare up a better title, but anyway...)

It has a column titled "Gettin' Ripped In Ripple".

Given the reputation of our fair burg, it might surprise you to know that the column is about Biff and Muffy working out at Cardinal Fitness on weekday mornings, not Seth and Jared blowing chunks in the back seat of a squad car in the alley behind Chumley's at 2AM on Sunday.

Food, Fun, and Fabulous Prizes:

The Indiana Trappers Association and Furbearers Unlimited are having their annual fund-raising banquet in Lafayette this month.

Who: Furbearers Unlimited in conjunction with the Indiana Trappers Association, Inc.

When: Saturday, February 27, 2010, doors open at 5PM

Where: Outpost Banquet Hall, 2501 U.S. 231 South, Lafayette, Indiana

Contact: Mr. Stu Grell, Attica, Indiana
(765) 572-2207
(765) 363-2207
sgrell@tds.net

Tickets: Contact Stu, $25 a piece

What: Meal, silent auction, live auction, 20 firearms, knives, artwork.

Attention, Alanis Morissette:

In case you were wondering, this is "ironic".

A "black fly in your chardonnay" is just gross.

Were I Sarah Palin...

...I'd doodle a little teleprompter in the palm of my hand before my next speech.

Just sayin'...

When the only tool you have is legislation...

...every problem apparently requires a law.

Jim at The Travis McGee Reader notes:

There is some logic to not feeding wild animals, but I object to imprisoning barefoot boy with cheek of tan for the heinous crime of fishing with an angleworm.

I'm going to have to take a firm stand and say that any crime that can be committed with a string, a bent pin, and a worm, and without touching a single other person or their property, is no crime at all.

The bill says feeding and baiting wildlife would be unlawful in Iowa, except in a few specific situations. The aim is to keep animals from gathering in large numbers, which increases the likelihood that a diseased animal will infect others.

[snip]

The bill would allow for exceptions, such as if Iowans want to place feed within 50 yards of their home for the purpose of observing wildlife.

Perhaps another exception could be made for feeding or baiting the wildlife with state legislators.

This is turning into a regular feature...

The Indianapolis Red Star has engaged in (quelle surprise!) a bit of selective "Letters to the Editor" publishing in continued pursuit of the zomg guns! bedwettery it has by way of an editorial agenda. RobertaX takes them to task.

Triumph of the will...

If you want a gun bad enough (and have access to a few simple machine tools,) you'll find a way to get one.

Me and my shovel are getting to be close friends.

I'll be clearing a path from the back door to the garage again this morning and sweeping the roomie's car clear of snow, but I'll do this with a smile on my face every day from now 'til the Fourth of July if it keeps all those bloodsucking midgets in DC from doing any more legislatin'.

Meantime, this is the longest the Bimmer has been garage-bound since I moved here. I've no doubt I could slither to the nearest cleared main artery if I had to, but why risk it when I can walk where I need to go?

Pick a weather pattern and stick with it!

So far, the zomg snow! that they were predicting last night and this morning has not happened. Instead we got snow this morning followed by more snow this afternoon. And before, they were saying no snow tomorrow. Now they're saying yes snow tomorrow. And maybe more snow this weekend, too.

I'm not deaf, I'm ignoring you.

Well, actually, I'm not ignoring you; I'm just learning about Savage pistols. I've got the great big book of Savage Pistols open, as well as the NRA's Firearms Assembly: Pistols and Revolvers, and both of my roomie's Savages to poke and prod at.

I'm hoping to get an Arms Room piece on them in detail, including some of the cool advertisements they ran back then. I mean, dig this ad copy from the Saturday Evening Post, circa 1910:

Woman's Turn Has Come

Ten women of Noroton, Conn., on April 15th, tried shooting a Savage Automatic. Eight of them had never handled a fire arm before. They shot at a man-shaped target thirty feet away. Eight women made vital hits, each with her first shot. The other two made vital hits with their second shots. Thus, with the first trigger pull, those women novices found that they were dead shots.

First shots are the shots that count.

Next they tried a common revolver, one of the finest built. Not one made a hit with her first shot; only one scored on the second.

Could there be any better proof that the Savage does not require practice? Anyone can shoot this wonderful arm accurately, because it points instinctively, as you point your forefinger.

This was a full page ad in a national, mainstream general-interest magazine. Interested readers could put $15 in cash or cheque in an envelope and receive a brand-new Savage 10-shot .32 caliber semiautomatic pistol in the mail. It was a different world.

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio:

Michael from The Holster Site (aka EvylRobot) will be the guest to talk about skinning that smokewagon. Be there!

This makes my head hurt...

If you look on ahead of us down the identity politics turnpike, you can see Sweden, currently pulled over to the side of the road with its hood up...

STOCKHOLM (AP) - Sweden's unemployment agency has been found guilty of discrimination for expelling a Muslim man from a job training program because he refused to shake hands with a woman.

So, apparently in largely atheist, egalitarian Sweden, religious discrimination is worserer than sex discrimination. Check.

I am all out of shape for the Oppression Olympics, too; I'd better get my "Oh, my rights are being trampled!" game face on before next season.

All you White Christian Hetero Males are playing with a slight handicap differently-abled score modifier, but you shouldn't let that stop you! Anybody can find their inner Identity and go get someone to Oppress it! Judging from the comments I've seen elsewhere on the internets, some of you have already figured out how to sound like stands-to-pee versions of Germaine Greer. Sack up, already.


(H/T to The Shekel.)

A functioning perpetual motion machine!

From the department of "WTF are they thinking?" comes this tidbit:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers are getting hit with a massive tax hike at a time when they can least afford it.

Companies in at least 35 states will have to fork over more in unemployment insurance taxes this year, according to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

The median increase will be 27.5%. And employers in places such as Hawaii and Florida could see levies skyrocket more than ten-fold.

Gosh, what could higher taxes on employers lead to? Class? Anyone? Bueller?

"We have too many people drawing unemployment! The system is drained! We need to raise taxes on employers that are already laying people off!" Jesus wept, Skippy, are you trying to get everybody on the dole? No, wait... Don't answer that.

Thank goodness I remembered...

...to fetch the snow shovel back in from the garage last night. It will make tunneling out this morning ever so much easier.

The Legionary's Guide: FM VII-XXI.XIII

Just finishing up a fascinating little read: Legionary: The Roman Soldier's (Unofficial) Manual.

Written like a Field Manual for someone intent on joining the army circa 99AD, it's a clever little grunt's-eye view of the imperial war machine, with sections on selecting the best gear, preparing for arduous training, how to get a coveted immunis slot so as to get out of shovel work, and proper salary management to ensure a good pension.

A novel addition to the library of any Roman military buff.

It's spinal reflex now.

Winston's heart sank. That was doublethink. He had a feeling of deadly helplessness. If he could have been certain that O'Brien was lying, it would not have seemed to matter. But it was perfectly possible that O'Brien had really forgotten the photograph. And if so, then already he would have forgotten his denial of remembering it, and forgotten the act of forgetting. How could one be sure that it was simple trickery? Perhaps that lunatic dislocation in the mind could really happen: that was the thought that defeated him.

I know that it's blatant argumentum ad MCMLXXXIV to go here, but after eight years of going after the previous Maximum Leader by describing him as a cunning, buffoonish, Machiavellian, moronic, imperious puppet of a loose cannon who was out of control and carefully steered by various éminences grise, there are some who can now engage in effortless doublethink even faster than their eyes can focus.

QotD: At least waste my money on something cool.

As a conservative, I feel outraged enough that the government profligately wasted Chinese bondholder money on an ad in the Superbowl. -Brian J. Noggle

It's like finding out that not only have you been robbed, but the burglar used your money to buy a baggie of oregano and lawn clippings