Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Miscellaneous Stuff, 1/17/12

 Do you remember that one entry that I made where there was a botched robbery?  The one where I happened to catch the scanner traffic in real time?

I had forgotten all about that until I read this.

The one issue I have with the sentencing is that the multiple sentences are being served concurrently rather than consecutively.

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I left work early yesterday so that I could go to physical therapy for my hand.  The swelling has come down in my finger but it is still sore.  The good news is that my range of motion is coming back, although not 100% of what it used to be.  I return for more PT tomorrow and again on Friday.

In a twist of irony, the young lady (who is also my next door neighbor) who drove me to the hospital last night is one of the therapists!

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On the way home from PT I decided to stop off at Second Amendment Sports in order to get some more ammo for my deer rifle.  I came out of there suffering from some sticker shock as to what ammo prices have done.  I hadn't bought any for quite some time and as I was looking at the sticker yesterday I decided it was time to get into re-loading my ammunition.

Re-loading is something that I've always wanted to do, but never took up since I don't target shoot at the rate that I used to.  I have kept all my brass (spent shell casings) in the event that I do take this up.

I have done some cursory research into this.  There are three well-known manufacturers of reloading equipment.  They are Dillon (based here in Arizona), RCBS, and Lee Precision.  I'm sure all three make quality equipment and I have personally seen a Dillon progressive reloader in action.

I don't think I need a progressive as that I am not planning to turn out lots of rounds.  I think a single stage press is what I need, with dies for my deer rifle and for my handguns.  I plan to start out loading rifle rounds so that I can save some good money on factory ammo.

The research has been interesting thus far, and I'm going to have to carefully select my press and dies.  Some dies, interestingly enough, are for where you are using one handgun (or rifle) exclusively for your reloads.  Others will accomodate different handguns that have the same caliber.  I own more than one .357 and more than one .38 special, so I need that kind of press/die setup.

I don't think I'll reload for my 9mm, as that the European guns are built with tighter tolerances and they don't do that well with reloads.  My Glock gives me excellent groupings when I shoot it anyway, and with my revolvers....well, I need more practice.

I have read where your really serious hunters prefer to make their own rounds.  These guys know their ballistics, and are of the opinion that the rounds they make are more accurate than factory ammo.

I have several rounds of factory ammo designed for hunting, and if I ever have occasion to use them then I might have to make my replacements.

Either way I slice it, I like being creative and building things.  I think I'll come to enjoy reloading.

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I happened to catch part of the Republican debate last night.  I didn't watch all of it as that I had to take care of life.  The field has narrowed down since I last mentioned politics and I think it will narrow down some more.

I was impressed by the performance of Newt Gingrich and also of Mitt Romney.  No, I don't like Mitt Romney and I personally think that he is a conniving bastard who will say anything in order to get elected.

What I'm saying here is that Mitt Romney talked a good game.  He did stumble badly when Rick Perry challenged him on releasing his tax returns.

Newt made a classic remark invoking Andrew Jackson.   "Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear-cut idea about America's enemies:  Kill them."

I am at this point in time, still a registered independent, but I am considering re-registering as a Republican so that I can do my part in stopping Mitt Romney.  I don't like any of the candidates but only one is backed by the Republican Establishment and that's Mitt Romney.

The inevitability of a Romney nomination is indeed a frightening prospect.  I think it would be most interesting to see what would happen if the rank and file voter would somehow rebel against the Establishment and veto Mitt Romney in favor of someone else.  We would, in that instance, see one of two things.

One:  the Republican Establishment actively campaigning for President Obama.

Two:  the Republican National Committee engineering a "brokered" convention, where the will of the Republican voters is overturned by a fiat declaration that Mitt Romney is indeed the nominee since they know what's best for us and those who disagree are too stupid to know when something is for their own good.

Either way, I am currently suffering from the belief that the Republican National Committee really doesn't want to win the White House this year.

I think they would much rather see bad things happen during Obama's second term (even if it's the Iranians detonating a nuke here on our soil).  It's much easier to be a minority party in that kind of situation and snipe about things and to not offer an alternative solution.

They have to know that Romney can't win this year, yet they are blindly marching off the same cliff that they did four years ago.

3 comments:

  1. Besides the fact that usually its hard to kick out a sitting president unless there's some real bad reason to keep them (some exceptions, but sheesh, even GWB got a second term), I agree that Mitt Romney would not be a good candidate. He has no set position (other than go big business), he bends whichever way the wind blows.

    Not that I care for any of the Republican candidates at all and there's nothing I can think of that will keep me from voting the same as I did 4 years ago.

    I do wish that both sides would compromise more in Congress and frankly I put most of the blame on the Republicans for that. It is simply amazing how little has been accomplished over the past year because the Republicans refuse to compromise on taxes and other issues. I do wonder how the Congressional races are going to go this year, even moreso than the presidency (which I don't think is going to change).

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  2. I disagree in the sense that the Republicans did cave over the debt ceiling, and we're $1 trillion past the ceiling and there's now a mechanism in place to have automatic increases unless both houses in Congress pass, which we know will never happen.

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    1. But the Dems were more than willing to make spending cuts on Medicare, etc. if only the Repubs would give even the tiniest bit on increased taxes for those earning more than $250,000 (and I think that floor could have gone a bit higher if there was a real shot at a compromise). But it was an absolute no by the Repubs for any tax increase.

      If we're going to solve the deficit problem, there has to be sacrifice on both sides.

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