I can’t hardly stand flying anymore these days, especially during a holiday. First of all, you’ve got to get there two hours early because you need a good bit a head start in case your flight is delayed. That and the security screening.

Now, I understand we need security precautions; no doubt about it. But I wonder if they aren’t taking things a little too far. For example, everybody has to take off his shoes before going through the metal detector. That’s fairly new as far as I know; it used to be you could go through with tennis shoes on. No more. So now everybody is barefoot, and they’re giving upper-body pat-downs. I swear, if they don’t develop X-ray vision, by this time next year they’ll have us boarding the plane stark naked.

Once we’re through security, though, it’s all smooth sailing. Unless we get hungry. We got here two hours early, remember? We should have brought a snack, or a pile of money. $8 for a hamburger and drink doesn’t sound too steep, does it? After all, we won’t get anything else to eat (except 5 peanuts) for the next two hours. At least Mama has the baby’s food with her at all times…and the security man kindly gave her a free squeeze check while we waited.

Oh, that’s right: new baby means no more exit row for the Thibodeaux family. Mr. and Mrs. Thibodeaux are both about 6’5″; air travel is frighteningly uncomfortable in the best of seats. At least we get to pre-board. That will give us time to wedge our legs into the seat in front of us, and hopefully find a way to keep it from reclining. It will also give us lots of time to sit in the stifling airplane for an extra 30 minutes while everybody else tries desperately to shove their bags into the overhead bins. I guess they can’t turn on the A/C until the engines get going. Maybe flying naked wouldn’t be so bad after all.

But then that magic moment comes that makes it all worthwhile. We’re clear for takeoff, and we line up on the runway. The pilot throws the throttles forward, unleashing the thunder of a hundred thousand horses, hurling this metal tube down the tarmac at ludicrous speed and into the night sky. We mere ordinary mortals are afforded a delight that the ancients believed could only belong the gods and a select few: to hurtle through the air in a winged chariot.

I look down and see a sparkling web, and marvel—not only have we tamed the sky, we have also caged the night, walling off the darkness with a fence of brilliant glass. See the mighty works wrought by the hand and mind of Man! I recall that good news spoken so long ago, and think, “Yes, let there be peace on Earth, and let me have good will toward Men!”

Then we land and I find out the airline lost my bags. Crikey.

How long will it take the usual suspects to spin this:

Law enforcement organizations reported Tuesday that 154 officers died in the line of duty in 2004, nearly half of them in traffic-related accidents.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Concerns of Police Survivors said the statistics for 2004 were compiled from reports through Dec. 24.

Seventy-two local, state and federal officers died from traffic-related accidents while 57, about one-third, died from shootings, the organizations said. A variety of causes led to the other deaths.

Bubba has created a sampler of RTB posts. Neato.

And if you don’t have some sort of feed for your site, you should.

The UN has called the US stingy with respect to the amount of aid that we’re giving.

And, as though you couldn’t guess, global warming is to blame for the 40,000+ dead. They don’t say that outright, of course, but the implication is there.

And I realize that people want info about the tsunami’s impact but do we need the rolling body counters? The number increases almost as quickly as you can hit the refresh button on the Yahoo! homepage.

Heard on the radio: The latest in the Michael Jackson case is that they found hardcore pornography DVDs that had Jackson’s and the child’s fingerprints on it. That’ll teach him to wear both gloves.

In light of the list of the top 10 moments in blogging this year, Publicola notes that gun bloggers should be given props for their hand in the recent pro-gun changes in the political climate. I’m not sure that we gun bloggers had a huge impact on the overall political climate. However, I feel pretty confident with the assertion that gun bloggers are the reason the gun owner protection bill (with its assault weapons ban attachment) did not pass. We made a lot of noise (and so did the various on-line message boards) indicating that gun owners would not trade the assault weapons ban for the immunity bill.

A DVD loyalty oath?

Ravenwood also details gun confiscations in Mass (it’s like the Ravenwood show here today):

On Wednesday, for example, moments after a court placed a woman’s husband under a restraining order, a notice about the order popped up on a new computer terminal at the police station here. Given that information, the Woburn police went to the man’s house and confiscated his guns, all 13 of them.

The criteria for restraining orders are typically pretty weak. No jury, not trial. Just a sympathetic and easily influenced counselor of some sort and a judge is all it takes in a lot of cases. I don’t find that to be a reasonable basis for forcibly entering someone’s home to take anything.

And I’m not defending violence against women and think those that commit it should be, well, shot. However, I think that violence has to be proven without a doubt first.

In light of the San Fran Gun Ban making the news, Ravenwood has the scoop on DC’s homicide rate. Believe it or not, the already high rate of homicide is actually statistically deflated. Go read.

Sure, we all have our opinions about guns so I may catch some flak for this. Head reports that the Army has ordered some Ruger 9mm sidearms. I’m not a fan of Ruger handguns and I’m not a fan of Berettas. However, it is my opinion that Berettas are superior to Rugers. Why the Army is sticking with 9mm is also questionable, but I digress.

You don’t cheat down, fellas. You cheat up.

The California DOJ has released its opinion regarding the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act (aka, special protections for special people act), which allows retired and off duty police to carry firearms anywhere in the country. It can be found here.

I should get deputized but that would make me like you, only better.

People are actually protesting against Libertarians:

It’s not often that libertarians are enough of a threat to anyone else’s interests that they generate protests. But that is what has been happening in New Hampshire lately. In June, 200 residents showed up at a heated town meeting in tiny Grafton township to challenge a trio of libertarian activists they feared were trying to conquer their community. Less than a week later, a squad of protesters picketed a fund-raising dinner in Plymouth, featuring Republican Governor Craig Benson, sponsored by the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance.

Both protests were triggered by the Free State Project, or FSP, a recently hatched plan for libertarians to roll back the government of New Hampshire and thus create a flagship for a freer America.

And what are they afraid of:

The people I met didn’t seem to be libertarian versions of the Unabomber, desperate to live separated from the ideologically uncongenial like a modern-day Thoreau. They just think contemporary government is too expensive, too intrusive, and too active, and are eager to embrace the most effective way to change that.

Maybe they didn’t get the memo and a bunch of small L libertarians showed up.

I usually won’t link to things from Drudge, but a quote from this article caught my attention:

But U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being “stingy” with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised.

“There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy,” he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe “believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It’s not true. They want to give more.”

What the hell? So we, the people with our hard-earned money really, really, really want the government to tax us more? What a maroon! Those of us who feel the urge to “give more” (as if taxation were giving), we’ll just donate to charities, thank you very much. I’m not saying providing relief isn’t a noble cause, but his assumption that we aren’t taxed enough is just inane.

So anyway, I was sitting around being bored during my weekend, relaxing and doing what most Americans do when given a little time off. It’s best not for anyone to guess what that is, though you’d probably hit on the second try.

I’ve been doing some research lately, trying to figure out a way around my tactical shotgun problem. The problem, incidentally, is that I have short arms. Well, actually, I’m short all around. I’m looking into doing a bit of wood working with one of these stocks. Cut it down a bit so I can keep the gun setup for slugs with my red dot scope, though it will be in closer to my shoulder and the handgrip may be a tad awkward, it will still be better than not being able to reach the kelly grip in front. For those of you who are wondering, Uncle has Mr. Blasty, and I’ve got ‘Shaft’. Now, that’s not a phallic term, that comes from an old TV show. Yep, Shaft… he’s one bad mutha- (shut your mouth!)… jus’ talkin’ bout Shaft. Figured it was vaguely appropriate. Anyway, I’ll borrow a digital camera and load some appropriate pictures once I finish the stock.

Alternatively, I’m putting a gauge pod in my 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX, and I’ve got a question for you gearheads out there. Regarding a boost gauge, I’ve seen basically two types (not including mechanical versus electronic), so what I want to know is what useful purpose one would have for vacuum pressure information. Or should I just use a standard pressure gauge without a vacuum reading? Opinions?

I just had the strangest sales phone call at 9:30 in the evening, almost sounded like a con to me. My suspicion is that he represented one of those companies that try to get you to subscribe to 5 monthly magazines for 5 years at a “very low rate,” only, he wouldn’t come out and say that. Here’s a sample from our conversation:

Me: Hello?
Caller: Hi. I represent the publisher of the magazines you subscribe to.
Me:What publisher?
Him: The publisher.
Me: Of what magazine?
Him: The magazine you subscribe to.
Me: Which one?
Him: All of them. Due to some error you haven’t been contacted, but the computer selected you for a 60 month extension.
Me: To what?
Him: To your subscription. Apparently there was an error and the computer pulled you out *yawn* to call and let you know, so if anybody else calls, just let them know you’ve been notified.
Me: Ok, but I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Notified of what?
Him: We represent over 250 quality publications, and you can select five of them.
Me: You don’t represent any magazines I subscribe to. I already subscribe to all the magazines I want and if I don’t already subscribe to them I don’t want them.
Him: Why not?
Me: Because I don’t have time to read them.
Him: Many of us don’t have time to read them, but if you read one article, it’s well worth it.
Me: If I don’t subscribe to it already, I read it online, and anything I subscribe to is a trade magazine and you can’t get it. Thanks for calling though.

I don’t know if the strategy was to confuse me so much that I get conned into giving out credit card information, or if the guy just sucked. The yawn halfway through was really entertaining, and it sounded like a bar behind him. I just did a reverse lookup on the phone number, in Kansas City, and nothing came up…almost tempted to call it back.

I hate having to wait to get our new number on the Do Not Call list. Too bad they couldn’t transfer our old number over here to the new house.

Boy, site stats really let you know it’s the holidays.

Why do so many musicians like to write songs about flying? Talk about your over-used metaphor… My personal Launchcast channel just shat out a new Richard Marx song called “Ready To Fly,” and the lyrics are sooooo freaking cheesey (“I’m ready to fly over the sun like a rocket to heaven?!?”). All these songs like to whine on and on about how somebody always had wings but they never could figure out how to fly, the sorry bastards. I guess it isn’t as poetic to sing about how somebody always had a unicycle but couldn’t get the hang of it, or how somebody always had fins but couldn’t swim.

What are your favorite songs about flying? Neither U2 nor Pink Floyd count (PF’s “Learning to Fly” is actually cool IMHO, and U2’s “The Fly” is about an insect or something).

The word “fly” turned up 22280 matches at CDDB…and that was just on song titles. On the other hand, “crawl” only turned up 1496 matches. “Wings” turned up 11985 times. Sadly, “unicycle” only turned up 15 matches.

Can you tell how hard I’m working today?

A new (to me) site, Defense Review, has the skinny on all sorts of fun toys. Worth the read!

Or has there not been a terror alert nor a change in that stupid little color coded chart since election day? I guess Bush’s re-election really did save us from terra.

It may have changed when I wasn’t looking so I could be wrong, of course.

Update: DHS reports it changed last on 12/20. Funny, I don’t remember that making the news. But I still can’t find any terror alerts since the election.

In other news, Ready.gov is still not giving good advice to citizens.

Looky, y’all. Mr. Mike is back (sorta).

I’m guessing the Knoxville Police Department didn’t get the memo that Project Safe Neighborhoods is unfunded. I’ve seen a variety of billboards around Knoxville that state Gun Crime Means Hard Time and they give a contact number. The logo for PSN appears on these billboards.

Little late posting this (holidays and all) but Bubba alerts us to new Rocky Top Brigade members:

Trying To Write A Book

What it is Today

Rebel Rouser

Lance in Iraq

Scratch My Name On Your Arm

Appalachia Alumni Association

One Reporter’s Opinion

The Ghosts

WhitesCreek

Welcome aboard, all!

That’s a gigantic number of dead. My sympathies and prayers to the people of Asia.

Err, rather the yearly edition. Jeff has it.

Pretty frightening to me:

Shortly after a record number of teens were murdered in the streets of St. Louis, police met with residents to talk about ways to get guns away from juveniles.

One woman offered a simple solution.

“Why don’t you knock on the door and ask that mother if you could search the house?”

That idea 10 years ago spawned a wildly successful partnership between police and the community that led to the seizure of hundreds of guns from teenagers.

These consent to search programs frighten me. It’s amazing how many judges are informed that people who are in their court consented to searches yet the defendant states that they did not. This just seems to be another avenue to cover up abuse, but I digress. The real issue is why the parents themselves can’t do the checking. Walk into your kid’s room and find out for yourself.

Looks like there is a push for state wide ban on guns that look like military rifles in Oregon.

Mostly facts about breed specific legislation in Canada.

I’m taking a break from drilling a 3/4″ hole through masonry block that has been filled solid, to share an observation with you: duct tape is good for anything except being duct tape. If you need to do duct work, you have to use the shiney aluminum stuff with the peel-off paper. If you actually try to use (grey) duct tape on duct, it won’t stick. Odd, isn’t it?

Now where did I put that Big Ass Hammer and Big Ass Iron Bar so I can knock the hole through the block since drilling is going to take all day?

10 – When the in-laws have the baby for the night, your plans include getting lucky. And by getting lucky, you mean getting to bed early and sleeping in.

9 – At least weekly, there is some new gizmo that shows up in your house. You typically don’t remember buying it or what it’s for.

8 – You buy five gallon tubs of OxiClean.

7 – You can use new excuses on your wife like: How many times can I be expected to go into Toys R Us and not buy an XBox? or Yeah, you and I have a rifle but the kid needs one too!

6 – Your pitch for talking your wife into sex includes the phrases I know you’re tired but I’ll get up with the baby tonight and C’mon, it won’t take long.

5 – All other children are measured in relation to your child. As such, all other children are ugly.

4 – No time to finish lists

3 –

2 –

1 –