reasonablenut

In light of the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and in respect to my fellow adjusters who lost so much money while thinking they were retiring early, I tripped across this essay by John Derbyshire.

Mr. Derbyshire usually writes for National Review or National Review Online (they make the distinction, not I.) I found this essay while trying to find audio files on his personal website. It is listed as unpublished, i.e. apparently nobody had the balls to actually print it.

I understand that Mr. Derbyshire can, at times, have polarizing views on certain subjects; especially race and homosexuality. He has added to that category recently by being both anti-nation building and pro-war. This is a subject that I whole-heartedly agree with the man on.

But back to his unpublished Katrina essay. One of the worst things to happen in this country (not to this country, because that is 9/11 [Not Dead Kennedys]), is the increasing racial sectarianism spawned by whatever 60's movement you want to attribute it to. I can't read a news article, even from a conservative source, without reading the obligatory racial reference. By this I mean, "Mohammed Al Mimi, an Arab-American, has voiced concern about racial backlash after...." well, fill in the fucking blank.

#1. I kinda figured out the guy was an Arab by his name. Unless he's a NOI wacko, the guys Arab or Persian and for the life of me I really can't figure out that distinction.

#2. Is the fact that he's Arab-American give more weight to his opinion? Many times these people are speaking bullshit (not just Arab-Americans, but whatever disposessed group of people the media are citing.)

#3. When did we draw these lines in the US? Recently there was that Wal-Mart/Washington Post guy blaming Koreans, Arabs, and Jews for the fact that blacks, sorry, African-Americans don't own more small businesses. Forgive me, but I fail to see the relation between a Goldstein owning and running a successful business and a black dude who doesn't give a shit.

With a year's hindsight, the most laughable and saddening thing about the Katrina crap was not the government's reaction (if you're waiting for them to help you, you've got bigger problems), but the racial line it drew.

It was the quintessential "World Ends....Blacks hit hardest" story, as Taranto would put it. It triggered a spasm of white guilt and sordid introspection into the "soul" of the country to find if we were institutionally racist.

And in the end, I didn't really give a shit. You build a city below sea level, bad shit's gonna happen eventually. What "ethnic composition" that ticking time-bomb of a location is, I couldn't care about less. Kudos to Houston for taking so many refugees but their crime rate skyrocketed. Better Houston than where I live.

My brief leap into cultural analysis ended badly. Hell, I think there's still a one-post blog that advocates my death.

It's sad and it's endemic and it hints at the roots of our destruction. We seem to be a country of splinters that cannot unite around a common cause, be it war or hurricanes. I think a democracy structured thusly is destined to implode.

Here ends my happy thought of the day.

I always wanted a .44 auto ever since the Dirty Harry Movie. They were just too damn expensive.

The Deagle exceeded my expectations. If you read anything about them, they are supposed to be really picky about ammo, especially handloads. Mine worked fine right out of the plastic box.

Over all, a very heavy gun, but so is a Ruger Redhawk. After shooting a Deagle a 1911 feels like a toy. Much less recoil than I expected, easy to shoot, and certainly an impressive handgun.

On target without much of a problem. It seemed to go 200 yards easier than a .44 mag Henry, which is saying something.

It did have a problem with an after market mag as opposed to the factory, but I think that can be rectified with a little tinkering.

Breakdown and cleaning is simple, one spring loaded pin and it breaks down into basically 4 pieces and goes together just as easily. Simpler than a 1911, I think.

All we have to do now is save up for the .50 action express barrel, same gun, you just change barrels.

All around, a good score. (wait til you see what we scored today!)

THE OLD MAN

Last night my girlfriend came over to my house. Not a rare occurrence, as she lives in a shithole.

Apparently, with the monsoon rains, her ground-floor apartment had flooded. She attempted to clean the shit up and slipped. She is, no doubt, a fragile specimen. She fucked up her knee.

Regardless, I drank a couple of beers with the Old Man and walked back to my place. I found her nearly in shock and with her kneecap in a place it shouldn't be.

Now y'all might remember that I'm still under indictment for DUI, and my coffee table looks the same as it did a week ago, or whatever.

My first instinct was to freak out and call 911. The chick's knee was not where it was supposed to be. I reflected further (read panic), and thought about the ramifications. I'm under indictment; with any booze on my breath I could be incarcerated. Driving her to the hospital was out of the question. Then my mind raced to the ambulance option. I live in a zoning quagmire. Regardless of that, the way paramedics and cops work nowadays, I would have immediately drawn suspicion insofar as I might have capped the chick in the knee with a baseball bat.

I don't need that sort of scrutiny. The Boys in Blue do alright with traffic stops and catching guys driving around at 10 o'clock in the morning with a hangover. With the guns, and indictment, and a fucked up bitch, they were the last thing I needed.

Luckily, I was able to contact a friend who transported her to the Emergency Room.

BTW, the knee-cap was completely shattered. My flower budget just went up.

knee

This is not so much an original post, as I am merely extrapolating on a point Citizen Arrest made awhile ago.

While most of the time I will go with the slim-line pistol (read 1911) in a IWB configuration, I think there are situations where other utensils are necessary.

I like the MOB for home-carry. Likewise, in the middle of winter, when you can wear a heavy jacket, it makes sense. You can carry a larger pistol, with more capacity.

The reason I thought about this is that there is not a better holster configuration for presentation, outside of a front-break shoulder holster.

That being said, I'm wearing one now and it is comfortable as shit. If you actually have the right belt (which most people don't bother with) you don't even notice it is there. Comfortable, accessable, and useful. You cannot condemn it; or can you?

The Desert Eagle did not do that bad at 25 yards. In fact, at 200 meters, it was in the game. This was the sighting in target.

Find the two pistols in this picture. And tell me why this would upset anybody.

I've flirted with Libertarianism, but have never fully embraced it. I've always considered myself to be a "law and order" conservative, with the understanding that government will leave me largely alone.

I've not converted to Libertarianism, but something has fundamentally changed. I don't trust any government in any branch or shape. Let me explain:

On December 30th, 2005, I was advised by a subcontractor that there was a job that I was working on carried a considerable amount of suspicious white substance. In a short frame of time I consulted people of my own profession, lawyers, and my father. The consensus was that I needed to contact the authorities and take my cues from them.

As such, I called a Sheriff's deputy whom with I had worked on a previous drug case. He advised me that he would contact dispatch and that I needed to meet the unit on site. I dispatched with all possible haste.

At this point, let me state that I had been up drinking the night before. None of my friends wanted to be riding around over the weekend, so we did the deed early. This was the Friday before New Year's and we were planning to hold our Christmas office party. Cut out early, 6 foot sub, etc.

I arrived at the site about 10:00 AM. The dispatched unit beat me there by 30 seconds. I left the car and introduced myself to the officer. I presented him with a business card and tried to state the nature of the situation. He asked what authority I was operating under and I answered as well as I could.

The subcontractor had advised me that the substance was in a shed. I proceeded to the nearest one and it was locked. At that point, the officer asked me if I had been drinking or was under the influence of drugs. I advised him that I had drank the night before, but was not under the influence, and that I was not "on drugs."

At this point the Deputy put his hand on his Glock and asked me, again, if I was on drugs. I answered "No."

I told the deputy that the substance was probably in one of the other 3 sheds on the property. He told me to lead and that he would follow, while calling in Police codes on his 2-way. There was a contractor crew present and I asked them if they knew where the substance was. Unfortunately, none of them spoke English.

Eventually, we found the right shed and the substance in question. The deputy opened up a bag and began dicing it with my Driver's License (which was confiscated.) He advised that if the substance was cocaine, it would probably be valued at $12,000-$15,000. He also related that cocaine does not cake like flour. Apparently, it remains flaky. He told me he was sorry, but that he had called a DUI unit. He also advised that a mobile lab would be there to test the substance. After that, he lectured me on the Fourth Amendment and the fact that Chain of Custody would prevent charges against anyone.

After a bit, another Sheriff showed up. By now, I was scared shitless because I thought they wanted to link me to the drugs. I was nervous and shaky and the officer was not exactly encouraging. They like to take down DUIs during the holidays, from my experience.

I failed every single field sobriety test they ran me through.

Cuffs, in the car, down to the station.

Long story short, about 3 hours. 2 Breathalyzers and a blood sample. BAC came back at .03 (it was a bad hangover.) Toxicology came back with a single prescription drug, which, even if combined with alcohol, does not have the ability to impair. These results took 6 months.

In the meantime, I made a complaint. BS.

As of June, I am under indictment for DUI (note that my blood was .03 and the threshold is .08). I've made one court appearance so far, and may have several more to go. No DA ever looked at this file as the complaint was signed by the deputy alone.

Finally, in my job's requirements, I need to gain public records. I order Police reports all the time. I've been able to pull the report on my DUI arrest but I've never found the suspicious substance report that should have corresponded to the same address.

This was a bit of a breaking point for me. I've always abided by laws and have cooperated with police in numerous investigations.

My trust in government is gone.

But I'm still not a Libertarian.