Off the tracks

I got off track the last couple of days.


Let's hope tomorrow is better.

Sunday (not so) funnies, 2/27/11

"We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment"

But not always.

“We are members of the NRA. We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment (the right to keep and bear arms). We are members of Pheasants Forever and Wild Turkey Federation, but our belief is guns and alcohol don’t mix,” said Mike King, part owner of Elm’s.

Because no crime has ever been committed inside a bar.

If you are out with your buddies and sip a Pepsi proprietors like this guy would rather you not protect yourself or your friends. (Besides being able to defend the business.)

It's an owner's right to restrict their business however way they want and it's a customer's prerogative whether they wish to enter that business, armed or otherwise.

He'll be glad to take care of it

Ft Madison Police Chief, Bruce Niggemeyer had a Q&A with local citizens. In response to a business owner in Ft Madison who had a question about responding to a person toting a gun in their establishments:

"It depends on how comfortable you or the business owner feels walking up to them and asking [if they have a permit]. If you don't, call us and we'll be glad to take care of it," Niggemeyer responded.

A citizen remarked that magic no-carry signs have no effect on someone intent on committing harm to another. Niggemeyer agreed, adding:

If someone is bent on doing something like that, I don't think a sign or someone else with a gun is going to stop them.

If guns are so ineffective in stopping violent criminals, then why do law enforcement officers carry them?

Saturday (out of) steam, 2/26/11

More snow.

The CB&Q 5141 at Quincy, IL.

Friday out of steam, 2/25/11

Database issues, no sleep and trying to get caught up. I'm out of steam:


Click on the picture for more.

Remarks: CB&Q's Golden 4-8-4 To celebrate the centennial of the opening of its Chicago to Aurora, Illinois line, the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy very temporarily painted its king of fan trips, Northern 5632, gold. The scene here is a positioning move in Aurora on May 24, 1964. An O5B built by the CB&Q at West Burlington.

The students learn some lessons

The University of Iowa thought some training for students was in order. These students learned how to confront an armed assailant on campus.

By throwing stuff.

LeeAnn Yeckley entered a training room at the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety wielding a red rubber gun.

Instantly, the 22 other “potential victims” pelted the UI graduate student with yellow Styrofoam balls.

In this situation, called “the swarm,” the balls represented different objects that can be thrown at an attacker before several brave people in the room attempt to bring the person to the ground and get control of the weapon.

Nevermind that one of the best defenses against an armed attacker is to be armed themselves. They have a policy against guns on campus.

If this policy prevents guns from coming onto campus, then why "train" students? Doesn't the policy work?

Around the state update, 2/24/11

Up at the statehouse: amendments galore.

Law Enforcement officials are complaining in Des Moines.

North Liberty votes to ban guns and "dangerous weapons."

Buyer's remorse at the statehouse

Or, How we voted for the gun bill last year and now regret it.

There is some good fodder in this article. Like:

"We were seduced," said [Sen. Jack] Hatch, one of four senators who voted against the bill. "We were so interested in getting endorsements from this group that we thought it was going to be a political coup, and it turned out to be a coup d'etat."

Never mind that most of the Democrats lost because of outdated ideas and as a backlash against bad legislation that was passed. (Stacy Appel comes to mind)

Crying in the bed wrapped in soiled sheets while your lover is getting dressed is not a pretty sight. And I think many Democrats thought (like the above example) they would gain the trust of the electorate if they would just make love to the NRA.

Good thing we saw through that facade.

Senator Fraise of Ft. Madison obliged us with a "Wild Wild West" quote confusing reality with fiction. He's got a few bills in the works:

Fraise's bill also would require Iowans to qualify on a firing range under the supervision of a certified instructor. This would apply to both new applicants and those renewing permits. Internet firearm training courses wouldn't satisfy the requirement. Anyone who appeals a denial of a weapons permit would have to pay the appeal costs, Fraise's bill says.

Maybe he has a point. The earlier post of a Wisconsin teacher's poster comes to mind.

If there was some way of certifying teachers, lawyers, hair dressers, gun owners...

The world would be a safe and happy place.

At the base of these hackneyed piss-pot senators is that they regret having a bill passed that let the citizens have a little more freedom, a bit more porridge from our keepers.

Those of use who had been humiliated by a pompous county sheriff on a power trip as they denied permit after permit because "no one needs to carry", all the while packing heat themselves, know what it's like to have to ask permission to exercise a basic human right of self defense.

Fraise's attempt to make a citizen pay again to fight for a denial appeal smacks of contempt for citizens' rights. We sent people to the statehouse to not be "reasonable" with you. We sent them to the statehouse to not compromise.

Don't ask us to be "reasonable" either. We got tired of that in the last election and booted most of you out.

We can boot the rest of you out next time.

What's going on in Wisconsin?

Did you know that the Wisconsin Constitution requires a balanced budget? Did you know that the alternative to public sector unions giving concessions is firing more than 5000 of them? Did you know that it was the refusal of the unions even to discuss potential concessions that lead to the current impasse?

I didn't hear any of this on our so-called "news."

Confederate Yankee reveals more at: Wisconsin Observations

Thanks be to ASM826 at Random Acts of Patriotism.

Last thought: If you are a teacher and you print up a sign, check your grammar.


"Our" my cup of tea. Makes me wonder if they have a Masters degree like the whiny teacher in an earlier post.