Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

Afghanistan Prisoner Abuse

Oh, those poor Talabani fighters! Submitted to the horrors and depridations of mean-spirited, intolerant, and obviously predjudiced American Killer-Robot soldiers!

Looks like they got "roughed up," if you can call getting "roughed up" hit in the stomach and shoulders softly enough not to require medical attention. I spent from age five to age 25 getting and giving that kind of boyish play daily with my friends. I'm no worse for wear.

Now, I wonder what hideous third-world tortures those Talibani goat-rapers would like to visit upon defenseless American schoolchildren?

Can we please - just PLEASE stop the bellyaching for murderous shitbird Islamofascists? Please?

posted by: underwhelmed at October 30, 2005 11:05 | link | comments (1) |

Ah Gots Me Ah Itchah - Ah Means, Ah Acheah Triggah Fingah

I haven't done this in 35 years, and swore that I'd never do it again. I'm on some pain meds for muscle spasms because I have some bulging discs in my upper back/neck, and they're making me kind of dopey. Not stoned or anything, just... forgetful, and a little slow. I was resetting the Oil Service Lamp on the BMW 325Is, and realized that you need to have the key in the on position to engage the tool. Upon getting out of the car, I gently shut the door...

On my finger.

My trigger finger!

Needless to say, there were some... histrionics in the parking lot. Anyone witnessing the event would have assumed demonic possession, or worse.

Looks like I'll be polishing up my left hand shooting drills. After all, when does the forced entry/armed robbery/Zombie Invasion occur? After you've stocked up on provisions and ammo, or when you've smashed your fingie in the door and are unable to shoot a gun with your best hand?

posted by: underwhelmed at October 30, 2005 10:38 | link | comments (4) |

What They're After

Here's why the Idiotarians on the Left are spending $70 million of your tax dollars...

They are praying that if they can just get Karl Rove on the stand, he'll have a Perry Mason moment:

Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald: "So, Mr. Rove, where were you on the night of the 27th of April, 1964?"

Karl Rove: "B-B-B-Bush.. did it! He LIIIIEIEIIEIEIEEEEEED! He LIED to take us to war! He made me lie! Yeah, made me! LIED!

Don't indict me, please, I swear I'll testify to anything you want! I don't wanna go to Club Fed!"

Good luck getting anywhere with that.

Let's try some Democratese on the Left Leaners:

"Censure, and Move On (.org)"

"It's all about sex/image/the war."

"The original event wasn't a crime!"

"Nobody gets convicted of Perjury"

There you go. Got any suggestions for Dimocrat-style defenses for "Scooter?"

posted by: underwhelmed at October 28, 2005 18:25 | link | comments |

Just How Do You Use A Nickname For A 55 Year Old Man, And Keep A Straight Face?

Scooter?

Huh-Wha?

Why do the goofballs in the "Good Ol' Boys" network use the nicknames they were given as eight year olds?

posted by: underwhelmed at October 28, 2005 09:20 | link | comments |

Just Three Words

I have just three words:

Janice

Rogers

Brown.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 28, 2005 09:18 | link | comments (4) |

Hopefully, Miers' Departure Will Shine A Light...

On the Republican party's complete indifference to how they were elected to Congress and the White House, and will reveal to them the wishes of the Little Guys - us, the voting public.

The voting public is largely conservative, with strong (small "l") libertarian leanings. I know this is a broadly sweeping statement. I believe that the public re-elected George W. Bush in a landslide because we are naive enough to believe that our values should be reflected in the makeup of the government.  They knew that Bush was, at best, a wishy-washy "Conservative," but that since our choice has been either an ultra elite-Leftist Statist like Kerry, or an ultra-elite Left-Leaning, "tough on Terrorism," Son-of-a-(Jorge) Boosh, we'd choose the lesser of two evils. I also suspect that most of the voters figured out, prior to pulling the lever on either guy, that they'd have to battle their respective candidate for the soul of the party in just such a fashion as the Conservatives just battled the RepubliSpendocrats machine that nominated such a zero for this most important of positions.

Having chosen the lesser of two evils, I feel it is my duty to reduce the amount of damage that the idiot I voted for would do to my nation in the next three years, and forcing him to justify his Supreme Court pick to me is a key ingredient in the success of that pick in his or her position.

I am hoping to see a nominee that will be a good counter to the persistently Leftist rulings of Darth Bader Ginsburg, probably the most predictable Justice to ever sit on that court. The fact that Ginsberg was appointed and passed the Senate in 1994 with nary a whimper from the allegedly conservative RepubliSpendocrat party is most disturbing, and reveals a startling deficiency of common sense in the party that is never seen in the consistently Socialist-appeasing Democrats.

In a couple of days, Son-of-a-(Jorge) Boosh will have to reach deep in his files for another person who hasn't taken a political stand on anything, or run for dogcatcher, or ever had her picture taken for the school newspaper, for fear of being involved in a hard fight against the MegaLeftists like Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, Feinswein, or our old pal, "Chuckles The Clown" Schumer.

The RepubliSpendocrats clearly did not expect to get a quiver of arrows flung at them about the poor choice of this nominee from their side of the isle.

Good.

Maybe they'll start paying attention to US, THE VOTERS, and forget the ceaseless appeals to the Left-Leaning Media, who will find them wrong on every action anyway.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 27, 2005 20:30 | link | comments |

Moral Clarity On The Right

Remember when Clinton's bit of cronyism reared it's head? In order to narrow it down for you from the 200+ choices, I'll remind you of Marc Rich's pardon...

The Right was amazed, stunned into incredulity by Clinton's flagrant abuse of the Presidential Pardon... But the Left said NOTHING - or defended his reckless abuse of power.

When GWB appointed his longtime buddy and personal lawyer, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court, the Left wailed "CRONYISM!" The talking heads of the Right ALSO YELLED, "CRONYISM!" and attacked the poor choice in front of their enemies. This is something no self-respecting Democrat would ever do.

I believe that the reason folks on the Right are willing to be harsh in their criticism of people from their side of the isle is because Right Wingers feel compelled by their ethno-religious tendencies to believe in the moral superiority of telling the truth about every aspect of the way they live , (even if it's unfavorable to them), whereas much of what motivates Leftist thinking is dreamer-based, unrealistic, child-like simplicity. Left Wingers don't like the uncomfortable structure of reality, often choosing to surround themselves with like minded people so they can be insulated from the unpleasant truths of life.

This laying-open of the Miers nomination by people her appointer would normally expect support from is a most unusual event. I have as yet to see a similar behavior shown by any Democrat through the course of my conscious years.

This behavior tends to remind me of the double standard held by Islamisicts all over the world: Whenever there's any suspicion of a terror suspect's Qur'an being handled by an infidel, the Muslim world goes apeshit. Now, it's perfectly OK with the same Muslim group if some Palestinian nimrod blows up a pizza parlor full of Israeli teeny-boppers - that's PERFECTLY FINE.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 26, 2005 10:16 | link | comments (2) |

Time Going Faster

Could somebody PLEASE tell me why, the older you get, the faster the time goes by?

I'm really getting tired of this shit.

I hit four-zero last January. I still feel like I'm 25. I have the same desires (with the possible exception of the chick-thing, since marriage, I can only focus on The Beautiful One), the same concerns, the same goals. I look up at the calendar, and spring's right around the corner. I look again twenty-freakin' minutes later and it's OCTOBER! Christmas is only two months away!

Jumpin' Jehosephat!

posted by: underwhelmed at October 24, 2005 23:04 | link | comments (2) |

Uh Oh - The Libercontrarian's Found A New Hobby

You are about to read a sad tale of weakness and self-indulgence. Yes, my chillin's, gather 'round fer a tale of woe!

I was buzzing around a hobby shop last Saturday, and came across a radio-controlled car on a table. It was an on-road nitromethane powered car, and it had... EVERYTHING a hot car must have - four wheel independent suspension, oil-filled shock absorbers, four-wheel drive, an aluminum pan chassis, and even a disc brake!

I drove to another shop, intrigued. On the way there, I convinced myself to buy an electric version of the car, hopefully saving some money in the process. I took home a very nice Team Losi XXX-S, pre-built and ready to run. I bought batteries and a charger, and went home about $430 lighter (phew!).

I was looking up some stuff on the internet about this car (it's got a great reputation), and I went to a forum where people get together to talk about their experiences driving and racing these cars, and I happened upon a post that had a link to an online hobby shop, Stormer Hobbies.

That's when things started to get really screwy.

The front page of the shop came upon the screen, and they were advertising a nitromethane-powered car, prebuilt and ready to run with radio and servos installed, a well-known name brand (Ofna)... FOR $200!

I turned into a zombie, made powerless by the Urge to Splurge - I broke out my credit card, and was pushing buttons and pointing here and clicking there like a man possessed by the spirit of Eva Gabor. Four days later, the car, designated LD3, was at my front door, and I had to stammer out an explanation to my amazed wife about why I was the proud owner of TWO radio controlled cars, where as five days ago, I hadn't any, and was $650 richer.

THAT was not as much fun as you would think it was.

Well, at least I'll have a car for the winter indoor racing season, and a great buy on a gas car for the summer. As you might suspect, my wife has taken my credit card and has tucked it away somewhere dark and cozy - where I can't get at it.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 23, 2005 20:05 | link | comments (2) |

Anybody Wonder Why The Country's Going To The Dogs?

Check out this article - it's about mothers who "do everything" for their... ADULT CHILDREN! I will happily tell you that the country who raises children with the silly, spoiled, and stupid behaviors of the "Me Generation" (the goofy Baby-Boomer types) will be a country facing a quick and unhappy end. These are people who will raise a kid who, when the Drill Instructor tells him to "Adapt, Improvise, and OVERCOME!" will merely shrink like a flower.

We could be raising a generation of Americans that are so pathologically soft that, when the Goths or the Vandals are at our borders slaughtering our women and children, all they will be able to do is to shriek like 10 year-old girls and hide in the woods.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 21, 2005 23:02 | link | comments (2) |

And Now - A Question For The Right

OK, so what about you people? What's your interest in abortion? Do you people really care if the world has made one more poor person? Are you people just pissed off because you suspect that someone, somewhere is getting more sex, and is less responsible in caring for the unfavorable potentialities than you are? Are you people worried that there may be more "White Trash" in your neighborhood, suckling off the Government Teat?

Now tell me this - is it just because it's a child, so you've got your Christian drawers in an uproar? Children are viciously mistreated all around the world, some as young as eight fight in the 30 wars raging all over the globe. I guess you guys want to get your own house in order first, correct?

Or is it really just the sex-thing - you want to make it as potentially risky as possible for the anti-Bible-thumper crowd to screw around without recourse?

Just remember, those stupid people always have lots and lots of kids anyway; as having them out of wedlock is some sort of goofy "style" these days. Take a walk through China*Mart and you'll see what I mean.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 20, 2005 21:04 | link | comments (1) |

Just A Question For The Left

This is just a question for you Leftists out there that are cruisin' the Blogosphere: What, exactly, is all the hype about abortion? Why do you guys get so worked up and in a lather over, anyhow? You know that's a child, not a choice, right?

What I'm really after is, what does the American Left gain by being legally-enabled to murder a child? Doesn't it smack of "non-inclusiveness," (after all, being included in the pool of the Living is where "inclusiveness" truly begins), a rejection of "Diversity," a quintessential lack of concern for the welfare of "The Children," who must be saved at every opportunity - except for the nine months prior to their birth?

What am I missing here? Surely, you folks won't come at me with that old saw about "a woman's right to choose," equating somebody's "choice" of murdering/not-murdering a defenseless human being with the selection of a meal off the value menu at Mickey D's, right?

You guys do know that if you leave "it" alone, in nine months, a perfectly viable OTHER HUMAN BEING will pop out of that thing, right? A human that will have the same hopes, dreams, and challenges you have faced? You guys sure you want to send this opportunity literally down the tubes?

posted by: underwhelmed at October 20, 2005 20:53 | link | comments (4) |

Debunking Fat Stupid White Leftists - And Their Enablers

I was hunting around for some pro-gun propaganda on Amazon today, and read a comment written by a viewer of the Larry Elder film, "Michael and Me,"  which made me laugh...

"Michael and Me" is Moore-esque satirical documentary on The Fat Stupid White Leftist himself - it documents Elder's attempts at getting Michael Moore to speak with him about the lies and manipulations he portrayed as "documentary subject  matter" in "Bowling for Columbine." Cleverly, Moore's 1989 hit, "Roger and Me" was the style-target of Elder's film.

Reviewer Eric Pautsch was unwise enough to let these words be forever recorded on the World Wide Web:
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3 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

Very Boring!!, October 13, 2005

Reviewer:   Eric Pautsch - See all my reviews

The title attacks Michael Moore (Whom I believe is a bad film maker as well) But [sic] does a poor job of why he thinks Michale [sic] is wrong. Incredibly boring - same old rhetoric about how guns don't kill people, people kill people - blah, blah, blah.

Is [sic] one pathetic attempt to discredit Moore, Elder shows a clip of Moore stating how guns kill an untold number of children in this country...then show [sic] a stupid statistic stating that more 10 year olds die from bathtub accidents then gunfire. Hello? Larry...increase that age by another 10 years and see how many of our children are killed by gunfire.

Really bad [sic]

Was this review helpful to you?   (Report this) (Report this)
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"Third-Grade-Math to Eric Pautsch... Third-Grade-Math to Eric Pautsch... Come in, Eric Pautsch!" Last time I checked, Big Guy, 10 + 10 equals 20. A 20 year old IS NOT A CHILD. Your writing skills also reflect a liberal, public-school education, with all of the attendant logical mishaps and grammatical errors that are never routed out and destroyed by Socialist teachers, for fear of destroying the all-important self-worth of the student. Since the causal factor of the overwhelming majority of deaths for Black Males under the age of 25 is gang-related gun violence, are you counting in all those 21-year-olds and those 24-year-olds?

Anti-gun leftists are quite fond of lumping in various adult males into their childhood death equations so that they can "pump up the numbers." Never mind that criminality carries with it an "enhanced risk" (as my State Farm agent would put it) "of pre-retirement demise," a 15 year old inner-city gang-banger is often considered by courts to be the equivalent of an adult when he commits vicious crimes against society. The fact is, if you take out the somewhat older "children" (18 - 24 y.o) in the statistics, the childhood death rate by guns plummets dramatically. This study from the .gov shows that all types of childhood deaths are in decline - likewise, you will note that the studies STOP at age 14. There's a reason why - 15 year-olds are "old enough" to perform adult things, like making babies and killing/being killed. The study reports that in the ages of 5-14, the leading cause of death is Unintentional Injuries, followed by Cancer and Birth Defects. Homicide (which lumps firearms-related homicides with non-firearm-related homicides) is a measly FOURTH, beating Heart Disease (in a kid?) and Pneumonia/influenza.

So lighten up, Eric. I'm sure you were pushed in this ever-faster, instant-on society to grow up before your time. Please don't claim that a 22 year-old is powerless to prevent his murder via gunfire by choosing a different lifestyle.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 20, 2005 19:50 | link | comments (5) |

Hi - It's For You... 2005's Calling, And Wants To Say Hello

I'm eating at Panda Express on Thursday at lunchtime, and I've got the Sanyo MM8300 (multimedia-capable wireless phone) tuned to Fox News. For the uninitiated, multimedia wireless phones can receive limited TV broadcasts. It's real time (maybe four seconds behind Fox's cable broadcast), and I am watching Neil Cavuto's show - Neil has on Stuart Varney, a Fox News Journalist.

Varney was talking about wireless phones. He was talking about how, in the very near future, the wireless providers would give consumers the opportunity to view television on their wireless phones. The fact that I was watching this very report on my wireless phone was ironic and funny, especially since Varney appears to be somewhat behind the eight-ball with the timeliness of his advice.

Hey Stuart! If you'd like, I'll set up an appointment with the Chief Information Officer of my company, a multinational wireless and wireline telecom, and he can show you the REALLY cool stuff on the horizon!

posted by: underwhelmed at October 14, 2005 18:24 | link | comments (1) |

The Carnival Is Up

Folks, the Carnival of Liberty is up at R.G. Combs Spouts Off. It's filled with wonder and mirth, and I suggest you vist post-haste.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 11, 2005 06:33 | link | comments |

New Format

You will invariably notice that I have a new format - I say "invariably" because, of course, you've been here before. After all, I AM the most popular blogger in the Blogoshpere.

At least, that's what my dog told me.

Well, it's always great to be the person your dog thinks you are.

Instapundo Delenda Est!

posted by: underwhelmed at October 10, 2005 16:33 | link | comments (18) |

My First National Match Shooting Competition In Five Years

Last weekend, I competed in National (Regional) Match Highpower Rifle Competition in Byers, Colorado. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing; my buddy Publicola, a fellow blogger and shooter graciously extended his invitation to the match. So, the next morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I piloted the Bimmer to dusty Byers and the Colorado Rifle Club, probably the most comprehensive range in the West.

I have not shot in a competition before, and have attended five training sessions over the five years from 1996 to 2000, so going right into competition was a bit like you driving your dad's Chevrolet Corvette to Daytona, and entering yourself in the race with that car. My rifle is really well tuned, but my experience is essentially zero - and I was using my ski-parka, didn't adjust my sling, anything - I just picked up the rifle and kinda banged away at the targets.

Nevertheless, I managed to finish with a 564 - 0X To the non-shooters, that's four matches x 20 rounds/match x 10 points/shot, so 800 is the highest possible score, with number of Xs equating to the times you struck the X-Ring in the bull's-eye. In one sentence, the competition involves shooting at 200 yards slowfire offhand (holding up the rifle, swingin' in the breeze, dinkin' off rounds as the sights drift though the target), 200 yards rapid fire seated, 300 yards rapid fire prone, and 600 yards slowfire prone. You've got to know your sights; you only get two rounds to do the math on your rifle.

So, do you have any idea of how far 300 yards is?

How about 600 yards?

The wireless phone camera is a wide angle lens, so there's a bit of shrinkage (as George Castanza would cry, "Shrinkage!"), as you could see the bull at 600 yards with the naked eye (the black area is bigger, about 36" across, but the X-ring is still only the size of a smallish cantaloupe, 6", inside of a small-pizza-sized, 12" 10-ring - and by then you're wicked tired, to boot). The black part of the target looked like the period at the end of this sentence. If you're able to hold 5 MOA (minutes of angle, about 1" per 100 yards, or 30") at this distance consistently, then you're much better than average. The really good shooters were holding 3-4 MOA, somewhat less on the closer distances. Wind starts to do a lot of wierd things to the bullets at this distance, to complicate matters even further.

I managed to get my sighters on target with the two sighter shots, and I mostly peppered the target, taking a bunch of hits around the bulls in each match. No groups could be determined by modern science, but I beat a 50% score by a goodly margin, and I'm damned happy about it. I squeaked by my buddy Publicola by 19 points, only because in the seated rapid fire, he accidentally turned up his sight too high and got a nice, tight group... 24" north of the bull. In all of the other matches, he cleaned my clock! The other competitors were all alumni of Camp Perry... many of them shot 750+ with 8-13 X! These were definitely people you did not want to be down range of... even with iron sights.

I will be attending more of these events, hopefully with my strategy gamed out a little better than 'Oh, it's my turn to shoot? I'd better run to the car and fetch my hearing protection! Hold Fire!"

posted by: underwhelmed at October 09, 2005 21:18 | link | comments (4) |

Question About The Outcome Of The WOT Revisited

Got this comment from a reader back in July. I hadn't seen the mail come in prior to yesterday; perhaps Motime's mail system is FUBAR.

Anyway, here's his quote and my response:

> Hey there,

> I loved your blog regarding how the war on terror will end. Thought it was brilliant, actually. You wrote it about a year ago -- still have the same opinion?

> Nino

> nXXo@earthlink.net  (name and email address changed)

Hello! Sorry for the late reply, and thanks for the good wishes. After a year, I'm less optimistic, but can still see the whole thing going towards a positive outcome. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more normalized the Iraqi society becomes - and the more apparent is the need for an orderly society where theocratic radicalism is ignored, and enlightened liberalism (classic sense, not Socialism) becomes the new standard.

It can go to hell in a handbasket, that we know. The region is rife with tales of long-remembered hostilities, ceaseless in form. People there have been killing each other over nothing for thousands of years. The dysfunction of such a cultural ethic is powerful, and will take more time than a typically impatient, Western industrialized society is likely to expect.

I pray that the other, darker vision I had, where we are reduced to a husk of our former selves by way of a crippling attack from inside, is less likely... although it doesn't feel that way. :-(

I am left wondering myself how adroit my analysis was. The threats I spoke of were real, and seem nearer to us today than they did in 2004. I still like the odds (I rated our chance at success as 75%, today I'd call it maybe 70%), but our resolve has diminished with the apparent lack of threat to the general welfare of the nation. Americans tend to do that - they tend to group together, no matter their differences, to accomplish great things, only to devolve into petty squabbling the moment the challenge diminishes. We may not have "what it takes to make the long haul" if the "long haul" can be described as patience with the boredom of peacetime.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 09, 2005 19:30 | link | comments |

Has America's National Pastime Become Robbery?

America's national pastime, Baseball, has long been a beloved sport for the young and the old. Somewhere, Baseball grew some legs - and it's a multi-billion-dollar business these days. With that kind of money comes greed for unbridled power. With unbridled power comes the belief, apparrently held by both a billionaire baseball franchise owner and some rocket-scientist in D.C, that you can steal people's land anytime it becomes convenient for you to do so.

"The District will begin using eminent domain to acquire parcels of land at the site of the Washington Nationals' ballpark by the end of this month, after unsuccessful negotiations with nearly half of the landowners.

City officials said they expect to file court documents to take over at least some of the 21-acre site in the coming weeks and have $97 million set aside to buy the properties and help landowners relocate. "

That Kelo vs. New London Township ruling did a lot of good for Big Gummint, and it appears, for Big Baseball. Have people in government LOST THEIR MINDS? Don't they know that at some point, Americans who are having their property stolen by corporations, utilizing the government as their Mafiosi bully-boys, will eventually snap and start shooting?

Clock's ticking, kids. Only a matter of time, now.

posted by: underwhelmed at October 09, 2005 06:44 | link | comments (3) |

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