Archive for June, 2008
In a discussion today with someone who is beyond fed up with oil companies who are gouging good old American citizens, I was told that no one in the US would be driving a gas-powered car in ten years.
I was then told that battery-powered electric cars would be all anyone drove (except for the ones that use plain water for fuel invented by that guy who was probably going to be killed by the government soon – long tangent not really worth delving into) and that the only reason no one had electric cars today was the big conspiracy between the government and oil companies.
When I said I’d be happy to drive a plug-in electric with acceptable performance and safety that was charged off a grid powered by new nuclear power plants but that I was skeptical that we’d see such a car at an affordable price within the next few years, he laughed at me and told me that I’d had the wool pulled over my eyes.
You see, the hillbillies in northern Michigan all drive electric cars. Those were his words. “All the hillbillies in northern Michigan drive electric cars. They drive them all over the place.”
I asked where they bought them and he laughed again. “They built them themselves,” he told me. “It’s easy. Anyone can do it. If dumb hillbillies can do it, don’t tell me that GM can’t do it. They just don’t want to and they don’t want anyone else to, either.”
I asked him to send me information about the dumb hillbillies who built their own electric cars and drove them everywhere, but he hasn’t yet.
Will someone please point them out to me?
I also failed to ask if the dumb hillbillies of northern Michigan were going to be silenced, but it probably goes without saying.
Not part of the campaign or an “official” sign, but these have apparently been “popping up all over Eastern Washington.”
Readers may recall that MO watched the Washington governor’s race quite closely in 2004.
Found at Random Nuclear Strikes, who writes:
The urban –progressives” haven’t the slightest clue as to just how pissed off a large number of folks on the eastern, and more rural, side of Washington are after the 2004 debacle.
Something I’ve seen in the gun control debate and am now starting to see in other areas is the fact that the “grassroots”-type movements can attract a lot more of the Conservative-ish crowd than has generally been the case. The internet, following on the heels of conservative talk radio, has really opened things up for the Right in ways that used to be the domain of the Left.
GAO upholds Boeing Air Force tanker protest
Congressional investigators have upheld Boeing’s protest of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. and Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., and recommended that the service hold a new competition.
The Government Accountability Office said Wednesday that it found –a number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman.”
As I’ve said many times previously, if all things are equal (or even close) Boeing should get the contract.
As I’ve also said many times previously, I don’t know if we’ll ever get a new tanker.
Denver is buying 88 Veritas Mark IV .68 caliber less-lethal weapons.
What do we think about the chances of major violent riots at the Dem convention?
I’m thinking it’s going to be more like a Grateful Dead concert than 1965 Watts, 1967 Detroit, 1968 Chicago, or 21st Century Paris.
What do we think of this:
One resident, however, grew angry when he was not allowed to pass a checkpoint Monday, according to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
After being denied re-entry to a flooded neighborhood, Rick Blazek, 53, returned to his vehicle as a state trooper used his police vehicle to block the checkpoint, according to the news release.
“Blazek drove his vehicle toward the state trooper and struck the state trooper three times with his vehicle,” the release said.
Police told Blazek to get out of his vehicle, and when he refused, “the driver’s window was broken out because the doors were locked and Blazek was removed from his vehicle,” according to the release.
The trooper was not injured. Blazek, who was arrested and charged with assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Account from CNN.
I don’t have any problem with someone being arrested for trying to drive their vehicle into a police officer. But the police weren’t allowing him to return to his property, and I’m not so sure about that.
I don’t think you can rightfully be forced to evacuate, and I would side with the citizen every time if police were trying to forcibly remove him from his property without charges. But are they obligated to let someone back in once they’ve left?
Crossposted from GunPundit.
UPDATE: Discussion at Sebastian’s.
U.S. Marines assigned to Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment position themselves prior to attacking a Taliban stronghold in Now Zad, Afghanistan, June 15, 2008. The Marine unit, based out of Marine Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., is a reinforced light infantry battalion deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. DoD photo by Sgt. Freddy G. Cantu, U.S Marine Corps.
Legions Fate with the rundown of weaponry in Michael Mann’s film ‘Heat.’
Good stuff and definitely worth a look.
Via Rummell.
The first recruits of the Neighborhood Guard in the Thawra 2 neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad hit the streets June 10 to protect their homes and families from a possible resurgence of special groups and criminals that potentially threaten their security. The Neighborhood Guard is a Multi-National Division – Baghdad program in partnership with the Iraqi Army and modeled after the successful Sons of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq) to train Iraqis to protect the neighborhoods where they live and work.
These guys get a khaki uniform, a hat, and a name tag. They’ve volunteered to guard their neighborhood with a rifle. No doubt at least some of them have recently been our enemies, but if they’re serious about making things better they’re another sign that true victory is within reach.
PORSTMOUTH, N.H. (June 10, 2008) Members of Canadian Maritime Operations Group 4, Maritime Forces Pacific, based in Esquimalt, British Columbia, lower the Dorado, a 30-ft, 7-ton Interim Remote Mine Hunting and Detection System (IRMDS) into Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Dorado is used for detecting man-made objects up to 700-feet below the surface of the water. The Canadian Navy and the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, as well as numerous other federal, state and local agencies are participating in Frontier Sentinel, a homeland security maritime training exercise. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Seth Johnson
An Australian Light Armoured Vehicle drives onto a semi trailer for transport from Ali Air Base, Tallil, Iraq.
Not sure that I’ve seen a pic of Aussie LAVs with slat armor.
And I still think a 25mm or 30mm on a Stryker makes sense.
