Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Obama Judge Drops USS Cole Terror Charges

cole.jpgA Pentagon judge dropped charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, an al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo and accused of masterminding the USS Cole bombing. Obama holds meeting with victims’ relatives after the fact, but not all relatives were in attendance.

Al-Nashiri and the other defendants are not about to be turned loose. The cases against them were dismissed without prejudice, which means new charges can be brought against them. And they are still enemy combatants. Obama has declared his intention to remove them from Guantanamo by January, but he has not pledged to free them. Releasing these terrorists would endanger American security.

All of this legal and political maneuvering is very distressing to the families of the sailors killed on the USS Cole. They have been struggling to get justice for over eight years now and are worried that the people of our Nation are forgetting what happened.

One of those families is that of Gary G. Swenchonis, Jr. Gary’s father, Gary, Sr. wrote why he chose not to accept President Obama’s invitation to meet with him:

It is because of the Obama Administration’s latest move toward surrendering to terrorism, that I now include a panel in the Never Forget Tribute to commemorate the Cole attack. Check it out in the sidebar.

We are very proud that Mr. Swenchonis, Sr. includes our tribute on his Blogspot page. We are also proud that the tribute is seen on hundreds of sites and will soon have passed the 50 million hits mark.

We must NEVER FORGET.

09 Feb 2009 by Islamic Terrorism Never Forget Whacko Politics

Asian Lilies

These were in the supermarket flower concession on Friday. They just had to follow me home . . .

Asian Lilies

Click on the image to enlarge.

08 Feb 2009 by Home & Garden

Warthog Recoil Spring

spring-assy.jpgLast weekend while inspecting and cleaning up my little Para Ordinance Warthog .45ACP compact pistol, I discovered cracks in the recoil cap and a broken ferule on the recoil spring assembly, itself. In last week’s range report, Bob said:

This was the day for misfeeds, I guess. The Para, which had been working mostly flawlessly the last several outings, suddenly had numerous misfeeds. Nothing serious and a little lube fixed it for the most part. It happened using the same ammo and under all the same conditions as before.

spring-cap.jpgAfter making the discovery of the defective parts, it was no wonder it acted weird. It’s a good thing that I found the cracks and broken ferule before the gun catastrophically failed.

We will be ordering the replacement parts on Monday. We will be calling our friend in Para Public Relations to discuss the best way to restore my favorite pistol to full functionality.

Click on the images above for a closer look at light shining through the cracks in the spring cap and the broken ferule.

07 Feb 2009 by Firearms Shooting

TASER XREP Shotgun Stun Projectile

While a TASER XREP might be a good non-lethal solution to a home invader, I would recommend the next round in the magazine to be a standard 12-gauge double-ought round – Just in case.

Taser XREP

How Stuff Works has a new article on this interesting technology.

Creating a device small enough to fit into a shotgun shell casing but powerful enough to incapacitate a subject was no easy task. The development team at TASER had to find a way to balance power with size. Not only did they need the device to travel farther than a standard TASER, but also to have the right amount of mass. If it had too little mass, it wouldn’t travel far enough. But if it had too much mass, it could become a deadly projectile rather than a non-lethal solution.

UPDATE: This has nothing to do with this post, but deserves your attention. Gun Rights Examiner has details about a teacher getting suspended for having a picture on Facebook while holding a gun. Recommended reading for sure.

06 Feb 2009 by Second Amendment Technobabble

California DMV Rollback

dmv.jpgGovernor Terminator terminates DMV services a couple of days a week to ‘save money.’

All Department of Motor Vehicles offices will close the first and third Fridays of each month by order of the governor.

The action begins this week under the Governor’s Executive order, addressing the state’s $42 billion deficit and ongoing financial crisis, the DMV said today.

DMV officials encouraged customers to schedule advance appointments and use services available on the DMV’s Internet website at www.dmv.ca.gov

Motorists whose registration renewal date falls on a furlough day will have penalties waived until the next business day, officials said.

I can think of a lot of useless state give-aways he could terminate to save money without shutting down public services. Also, the DMV, like the USPS would probably do better if administered by private enterprises that actually make a profit from the businesses.

05 Feb 2009 by California

Boxer’s Greenbat Agenda and Inhofe’s Reaction

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chair is Democratic California Senator Barbara Boxer; the ranking committee member is Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. Recently, Boxer put forth a list of “principles” to address “Global Warming.” Inhofe, as usual, answered Boxer’s crazy shopping list with some sensible remarks.

Typical of the contents of the Democratic Platform, Boxer and her committee Democrats put forth the following rambling, nebulous list of ‘principles:’

  • To reduce emissions “to levels guided by science to avoid dangerous global warming” and to set targets that are “certain and enforceable,” as well as adjustable.
  • To maintain state and local anti-warming efforts.
  • To utilize a market-based system — that means cap-and-trade, as opposed to a carbon tax, which some economists favor to reduce emissions.
  • To use proceeds from the sales of emissions permits for a variety of uses, including: support for consumers, governments, businesses and workers (presumably to help offset higher energy prices under the system); investments in alternative energy; preserving wildlife and ecosystems threatened by warming; and money for developing nations to help them respond to warming.
  • To ensure a “level global playing field … so that countries contribute their fair share to the international effort to combat global warming.

Senator Inhofe responded with frankness and reality, in stark contrast to the vague list above:

“At a time when Congress is debating a near-term multi-billion-dollar bailout for the American economy, once again the Democrats are proposing principles for climate legislation that will impose a long-term multi-trillion-dollar energy tax on families and workers,” he said.

“As demonstrated last year, when it comes to drafting comprehensive climate legislation, the devil is in the details. These principles offer nothing more than a punt on all of the difficult issues that Americans expect to be honestly debated. Congressional cap-and-trade bills, often touted as an ‘insurance policy’ against global warming, would instead be nothing more than all economic pain for no climate gain. We look forward to debating these tough issues in the Committee this year.”

The emphasis above is mine.

04 Feb 2009 by Global Warming Greenbats

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