Confusing

I thought Ann Althouse was annoyed when I said I didn’t want a law professor running the country, because she commented: “Law professor says ahem.” Now she says she was not annoyed. But I think she may be annoyed that I said she was annoyed. Which gives me a headache.

I still say I don’t want a law professor in the White House. Not even Ben Stein, who seems sane until he starts spouting about how we need $11-per-gallon gas. Hello, Ben? Real people have to drive to work and get their kids to school. Unlike you, they can’t rely on a limo from Fox News.

Is it appropriate to apologize to someone for saying you thought she was annoyed, when she wasn’t? Is that legitimately considered a gaffe? It’s a question I don’t have to address often, because generally, when I think I’ve annoyed people, I’m right.

Pedal Your Tricycle Back to the Faculty Lounge

I am not a political pundit. I don’t know everything. But I have good instincts, and I’ve been right a lot. And I have a wonderful feeling.

I think Obama royally shafted himself over the last month.

1. He was completely wrong about the troop surge, and he wasn’t man enough to admit it.
2. He took a stupid position on offshore drilling and then changed positions in a way that was obviously driven by poll numbers.
3. His ego has gotten so bad, even the liberal press is making fun of him. People are finally starting to realize what a clown he is. Imagine four years of this effete former academic.

Ann Althouse got annoyed when I said I was horrified by the prospect of a law professor running the country, but I stand by what I said. Ask any lawyer. Ivy League attorneys don’t teach law for a relatively paltry hundred grand a year because they want to. A lot of them have no choice. Law schools are asylums for the idiot-savants of the profession. The people who graduate summa cum laude and then have to bail after six months at the public defender’s office, because they can’t hack it.

Sure, there are exceptions. But they are unusual, and there is no evidence that Obama is one of them. Some successful attorneys teach part-time because they enjoy it, or because they feel they have to “give something back,” or because it feeds their egos. But if you go to law school, you will find that most of your teachers are socialist nutwads who couldn’t find their way to the courthouse if you slapped a label on them and turned them over to Federal Express. Many of the profs at my law school had never even passed a bar exam!

They were pathetic, or at least the ones with big egos were. Far-left kooks who went straight from law school to…law school. Goofs who loved pretending to be brave and rebellious, while working tenured jobs with outstanding benefits, and while toeing the administration line with a scrupulousness worthy of OCD. College is the only place where you can rebel by doing exactly what people in authority tell you to do.

They worked fifteen hours a week and pocketed two or three grand for it, while mewling and puking about the evils of capitalism. I know you think I’m kidding when I say fifteen hours a week, but honest academics admit that it’s true.

That’s part of the background of the Obamessiah/Neobama. An idyllic oasis in which theory is everything, because the real world never intrudes. It’s only in places like that that socialism seems to make sense. Unplug Obama from the Matrix and turn him loose in the real world, and he’s going to greet reality the way a bug greets a windshield.

He’s in trouble. How do I know? The Oracle told me.

Here is Fausta, with more.

Costco Comes Through Again

I tried the Costco cheese. I made a 16″ pizza with Bonta sauce.

I highly recommend it. details at Manly Grub.

I am the Almighty Costcolio

I have two fantastic pieces of news.

1. Costco has moved to a new location near me, and it’s twice as big as the old place, and parking is way better.

2. The old Costco is going to be a Lowe’s!

Does life get any better than that?

I stocked up on $4.79 flap meat, and I bought a few pounds of blueberries to freeze. I can’t face life without access to blueberry cheesecake. Not sure how they’ll look after freezing, but it can’t hurt to try.

Here’s great news, for everyone who enjoys seeing me dribble my own money away on food experiments, so you don’t have to. I bought a bag of Costco mozzarella, and a package of Costco provolone slices. The slices gave me the idea. It looks like good provolone, and it’s about $2.50 per pound, so I couldn’t resist. I’m going to make a Costco-cheese pizza and see what happens. If this works out, it would be great news for men everywhere. Think about it. You go to Costco and buy 5 lbs. of each cheese, and you divide it up with one or two friends, and you get super-cheap pizza.

I decided to break down and try Costco’s 12-year-old Macallan Scotch. It costs about half what the 16-year-old does. I’m disappointed. Truthfully, I think 12-year-old blended Scotch is better. I found it harsh. I guess if you want good single-malt Scotch, you have to give up and spend some money.

Fortunately, I have no complaints at all about their $23 Pinch.

Sick List

Seems like I am constantly putting up prayer requests. How about one for Morgan Freeman, and one for Bernie Mac?

Freeman was in a car accident, and he and his passenger were injured. Bernie Mac is being treated for pneumonia.

I expect to be re-establishing my titanic web presence later today. Take heed.

Thanks, all who responded to last night’s request.

Sunday Drifts By

I hope everyone is enjoying Sunday as much as I am. I read the book of Romans, and I’m wandering through the Psalms.

Do me a little favor, if you feel like it. Last week I was working on a problem that has been taking up my time. I’m hoping the work I did will put it behind me, once and for all. If you would be so kind, say a little prayer that I succeed.

Can’t Wait any Longer

Keep the Sabbath, and every week you will learn something new about it. This week, I am learning how much it is possible to look forward to it. Have you ever had a week when you just couldn’t wait for your day of rest and worship? For me, this has been one of those weeks. I am looking forward to telling the world to get lost. In fact, I’m starting a little early.

I was just reading Isaiah 49, which is a wonderful chapter. It’s all about the Messiah and the restoration of Israel. I don’t mean to put Israel down. It’s a wonderful place, and a lot of it is very beautiful, but the only place where I’ve seen more dry rocks and dust is Utah. And a lot of Israel is empty. I hope I’m alive to see those things change.

I found an interesting page about Isaiah 49. I don’t know anything about the site. It suggests that Isaiah 49 refers to China when it talks about Gentiles coming to Israel and helping put it back together. Funny thing, and probably a coincidence, but for some reason I’ve felt compelled to keep China on the prayer list lately. I read about the growth of Christianity there, and it affected me. The Chinese people who were interviewed for the article I read made it sound like the Chinese had no commonly held moral drive to treat others well, and that the principles of Christianity had a profound effect on the way converts behaved toward their fellow human beings. I don’t know if that could be true; surely the basic notions of kindness and honesty and humanity and trustworthiness aren’t limited to the West.

Although we did get those toys full of lead, and the poisoned pet food.

I believe Hal Lindsey used to say China was mentioned in the Revelation. Someone used to say that, anyway. The Revelation mentions an army of 200 million soldiers, and I believe the eschatology buffs claimed the army had to be Chinese because of its size. But it may not be a human army.

Anyway, the page I linked to says some people think Christian influence is going to move from America to China, just as it moved from Europe to America. I can’t say we don’t deserve it. We have gotten pretty disgusting. And I suppose it would be a wonderful thing. I mean, China is the most dangerous nation on earth, and the Chinese don’t treat each other very well. So the more of them become Christians, the better off the world will be.

The Chinese may be better material for the church. We may be ahead of them in some ways, but we’ve been exposed to God, and an awful lot of us have decided we know everything, and we’ve chosen to reject Him, sometimes with amazing hostility and even a ludicrous sort of enmity. As if we can teach God a lesson, for not giving us everything we want and letting us live like one-percenters. Many people in Asia haven’t really been exposed to God, so presumably, a lot of them would react better to evangelizing than rebellious Westerners who think God is “over.”

Another Quagmire

I mentioned the notion of getting a cheap, accurate bolt-action rifle and a scope. I had the Savage FVSS in mind, I think. The plastic one, not the wooden one. Then I asked about scope choices. Right now, I have no place to shoot beyond 100 yards, but I thought it might be a good idea to get something good enough for actual varminting; you never know when you might get an opportunity. I received all sorts of weird suggestions.

Reader Blindshooter says he has a 6-24x scope he uses a lot. KDT says 10x is all you need, under 400 yards. I read up on the choices, and it looks like the best choice, without breaking the bank, would be a Nikon. People are raving about them, and they cost about a third less than comparable Leupolds. I’m wondering what makes most sense: the 6-24×50, or the 4-16×50. Even if I somehow find myself shooting at longer ranges, 300 yards is about the best I can hope to find. Is there really any point in getting magnification I will probably never need? And here’s something weird: there is no real difference in price. Due to the vagaries of Internet discounting, they’re both in the same range.

It has also been suggested that I work on my open-sight shooting. My only problem with that suggestion is that I am not anxious to do that with my current weapons. The Romak and the K31 beat my shoulder up pretty bad, and although I’m saving the brass, I doubt I’ll ever take the time to reload it, because it’s all Berdan-primed. I don’t mind the bruising when I’m shooting with a scope at 100 yards. But I’d be shooting at half that distance with open sights, and it seems silly to use a cannon for that. The Savage would be fine, but if I scope it, iron sights won’t be an option.

I have a .22 rifle, but I’m not sure it’s accurate enough to fool with. If you want to learn anything, you have to have a gun that shoots considerably better than you do. I suspect that the Nylon 66 has enough error in it to confuse me at the range.

I guess I could use the Romak. The ammunition was cheap, and it’s supposed to be very good stuff.

In the past, I’ve considered getting a cheap Savage .22 LR, because they’re very accurate, and the ammunition is cheap. Maybe that’s still the best course.

Another reader emailed me and suggested I try to carve out a niche, writing about guns. Believe me, I would love to. The main problem with that is that I know almost nothing about the topic. That doesn’t stop most writers, I know. Maybe the answer is to turn ignorance into an asset. Find someone who would publish accounts written by an admitted gun doofus, trying to improve himself.

Which Scope?

Here is a new question for the gun clingers.

Let’s say you get yourself a gun suitable for varmint hunting. You know you’ll probably do all your shooting at 100 yards, but you want to be prepared in case you completely lose your mind, get on a plane, and go shoot prairie dogs. Or maybe God will smile on you, and you’ll move to a place that has a 300-yard range.

What kind of scope do you need?

I have a 9x scope on the K31, and it’s dandy for 100 yards, but I have no idea what you need at higher distances.

Nibble on They Tiny Feet

I can see why Kim du Toit gets so much traffic. It’s not the weekend pinups. It’s the guns! Every time I post a gun question, I get a pile of comments.

Last night, I asked about varmint calibers.

I feel funny, using the word “varmint.” Nobody really says that, except for shooters and cartoon characters and the Beverly Hillbillies. I have no idea what part of the country that term comes from, but wherever it is, I’ve never been there. Maybe Mel Blanc made it up. It’s sort of like “ornery.” Who says that? Or at least, who pronounces it the way it’s spelled? In Kentucky, people pronounce it “onry,” as in “onry old bitch.” I’ve never heard “ornery.” Or “dagnab it” or “consarn it.”

I’ve fooled around with two weird rifles: the K31 and the Romak III. The K31 is great, but the scope mount is not quite right. The gun shoots low and to the right, by around 8″ at 100 yards. The scope won’t adjust far enough to compensate. I haven’t gotten around to shimming it so the scope will be on the point of impact. I can’t quite get used to the idea of cutting pieces out of a beer can and putting them inside my pretty black rings. The Romak has a trigger problem I haven’t succeeded in fixing. I think it would be nice to get a cheap, accurate, modern gun that shoots relatively inexpensive ammunition, so I can finally learn how to shoot a rifle.

People are making suggestions based on the idea that I would hunt with it. I don’t see that happening. I have nowhere to hunt. If I did, I’d be hunting pigs. And that would mean scoping the Desert Eagle. There is no way I’d be able to resist. I wouldn’t be making long-distance shots, so a scoped pistol would be perfect. Although I’m afraid the pigs would pop like watermelons.

You don’t need much of a rifle to hunt pigs, anyway. The Cubans rely on the .22 LR. I think it would be a little weird, showing up with a heavy-barreled .243 with a scope. The Desert Eagle would be weird, too, but the fun factor would outweigh the weird.

I think the .223 and the .22-250 are good choices, because the ammunition is cheap. Not much more expensive than pistol ammunition. I might be able to avoid the trauma of setting up to do a new caliber on the ammunition press.

People were asking about the distance. As far as I know, down here, there is no place where you can go past 100 yards. But it seems like the best choices for that distance are the varmint calibers, so it doesn’t make any difference.

The first time I shot the Romak, I was next to an old guy who shot his own wildcat loads. Combining a .243 with something else. I forget. He said he spent his vacations killing prairie dogs. Imagine, paying two or three thousand dollars to fly to another state to shoot giant rats. That is a guy who likes to shoot. And not someone you would want to make angry.

Maybe I’ll expand the gun board at Manly Grub. In fact, I just did. I know the profanity filter will drive a lot of gun nuts away, but I don’t care. The Internet is filthy enough already.

Thanks for the tips.

Watch Them Pop

Okay, let’s say a person wants to quit farting around with exotic rifles and get something cheap that will actually shoot well and not feel like a .22. What’s the best caliber? The choices are .223, .22-250, and .243.

It’s B. Hussein Obama, Tying his Shoes

Chris Muir has progressed from satire to blasphemy. He has slandered the Holy One.

By the way, the correct term for criticizing an Obama–any Obama–is “hating.”

I just can’t believe we could have a pencil-neck like that for a President. Have you seen his arms? Jimmy Walker could beat the snot out of him. He looks like Olive Oyl.

And I still can’t get used to the idea of a President with a head the size of a grapefruit.

He’s Large and in Charge

I have an exciting announcement. Manly Grub now has an honorary mascot. I have awarded that honor to Prince Chunk, the recently discovered 44-pound housecat.

Drop by the forum and tell us how you would cook him. Call it a contest. I’ll look at any recipe submitted by Monday. On Tuesday, I’ll arbitrarily and unfairly choose a winner, who will receive nothing. Probably.

I predict it will be less than two weeks before a rapper decides to name himself Prince Chunk.

Great Uncle Passes Away

I just found out my great uncle is dead. He was my grandmother’s younger brother. I wrote about him recently; it was July 2. I referred to him as “Bill” because I didn’t want any problems with some people I was criticizing. Some relatives had taken him in; something about caring for him in exchange for a house.

He got pneumonia and became emaciated, and my aunt found out about it and had him moved to a nice nursing home in her town. We were able to put him in better surroundings, and he got visits, and he had a roommate he liked. And we got him some creature comforts. But he didn’t last long. We should have been looking out for him; he has closer relatives whom you would expect to watch over him, but apparently they chose not to, and for one reason or another, we didn’t take up the slack very well. I can sit here and write about how I’m a thousand miles away and no one keeps me in the loop, but the final conclusion is that he had relations who could have helped him sooner, and he fell through the cracks.

The way Americans treat the aged is a disgrace, and I am sure we are judged for it. I’m glad I figured that out in time to be good to my father. I’m also glad I never had the opportunity to neglect a close relation of advancing years, because I might well have done it, had I had the chance. It’s so convenient to pack them off to warehouses and visit them once a year. I have done a lot of selfish things in my life; I can’t say that would have been beyond me.

It’s sad that we learn these lessons so far into life. Sometimes, by the time you learn, you’ve already done a great deal of damage, and it can’t be undone.

My mother did not live to enter old age. I was good to her, but not as good as I should have been, and not soon enough. I will always regret that I didn’t do better. But because of her, I will always be conscious of the need to do well by others who are older than I am.

If you’re in the same boat, or worse, I have something that might make you feel a little better. You can go to the website of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and donate money for the care of elderly Jews in the former USSR or Holocaust victims in Israel. You’ll never know who you helped, but at least you’ll know that you are doing what ought to be done. Some of these folks have no relatives, and I suppose some have relatives who just don’t care. Maybe there is someone you didn’t treat right when you had the chance. The IFCJ can help you show that you’ve changed.

By the way, the Manly Grub Forum has a board where people post the names of charities they like. Most of them are new to me. If you ever feel the need to give, the board might be of some use to you. You can find it here.

I talked to my aunt on the phone tonight. Apparently, people in the town where my mother and many of my relatives are buried look down on you if you don’t keep flowers on the graves of your loved ones. I guess I’m awful, but I have never cared much about putting flowers on graves. I always think of the dead as spirits who are far from the grave, so I don’t feel like it’s meaningful to put flowers on tombstones. Maybe that’s a character flaw.

She told me about an old mountain tradition called “Decoration Day.” People up in the hills used to make flowers from crepe paper and dip them in paraffin to protect them from the rain. Then on Decoration Day, they’d put them on the tombstones of people they knew. I had never heard of it. People up there must think my father and sister and I are barbarians, for failing to look after my mother’s grave.

My aunt told me that someone had placed American flags on the graves of my grandfather and her husband, my uncle. Probably for the Fourth.

A long time ago. someone in the family put a dogwood tree on one of the graves. My other aunt’s, I think. On the next visit, there was no tree on the grave. But there was one just like it on another grave, up the hill.

So tonight I told my aunt things were looking up. They used to steal our landscaping, and now they were making contributions to it. You have to wonder what kind of person puts a stolen tree on a grave.

Take a look at those charities. Might bring you some comfort.

We are at the Gates of Hell

Did My Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy originate “Obamateur™”?

I certainly hope so.

The scariest thing about Obama is that he taught at a law school. No one who hasn’t been to law school can understand how inept and effete law professors are. They are among the most helpless, incompetent people in society. You have to know the species to understand.