11/13/2022 - BLOG COMMENTS are again allowed and are moderated to exclude only the bots, advertisements, racial / ethnic pejoratives, and embedded links. I'll attempt to honor Chicago's historical "Bughouse Square" concept of free-speech and open debate --- spanning the curve from the far-left to the far-right. /JZ
Blogging to you from the Northeastern Badlands of The County of Lake, in the state currently known as Fatmanistan, DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP inside the heartland of the Banana Republic formerly known as the USA, WELCOME TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! WARNING! ALL FORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ARE ADDICTIVE; EXCESSIVE USE MAY LEAD TO MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS, REDUCED JOB PRODUCTIVITY, INSOMNIA, SOCIAL ALIENATION, GENITAL ULCERS, BLINDNESS, POLITICAL EROTICISM, AND / OR DEVIANT FUNAMBULISM. NOTICE: NO GUNS OR AMMUNITION ARE FOR SALE VIA THIS BLOG. (No, I will not trade my Colt Python for some lubricious adventures with your trophy wife and a future first-round draft pick.) CAVEAT: This blog is not suitable for viewing while at work, while inside a public library, while inside any public or private school, or while inside any public or private restroom. Do not view this blog while driving a motor vehicle or while piloting an aircraft. Viewing this blog may be illegal inside the EU, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, and other parts of the Third World. THIS BLOG CONTAINS (albeit often very childish) ADULT-CONTENT. DISCLAIMER: This blog is a hobby, it is not a livelihood. Even though much of what I blog about relates to firearms collecting and recreational shooting, I am not an expert (by any measure) on any facet of guns, shooting, hunting, or personal defense. Entries at this blog are akin to good old-fashioned campfire chats or post hunt bourbon-fueled barroom-bluster; I offer no opinion on what you should or should not purchase, or what you should be using or doing. What does or does not work for me could be rugged-country-miles away from your tastes and your needs. All products, places, and miscellany that I review for this blog are purchased / rented / leased at retail price by me. I do not accept payment, gifts, discounts, freebies, products on loan, distilled spirits, recreational pharmaceuticals, plea-bargains, probation, parole, Papal Blessings, Presidential Pardons, or sexual favors for doing any review or blog post. TRACKING COOKIES: Google et al stick tracking cookies on everybody. If you are online, you are being spied on via one method or another, for one reason or another; 'nuff said. You may be able to minimize your online DNA residue by using Tor and Duck Duck Go. Vive la liberté! Vive all y'all! Ante omnia armari. To each of you, thanks for stopping by!

Friday, February 24, 2012

The C. E. “Ed” Harris series continues with the Ruger Mini-14



CLICK HERE to read the latest, and then scroll down the page for the articles that you may have missed.  If you don’t lust for Ed’s .32 caliber “walking gun,” your soul just may need an overhaul.


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The Governor Quinn Spin on the Illinois Budget



While admitting that Illinois lawmakers screwed up by spending far too much money, Governor Quinn framed the malfeasance in a 35-year window, which is incorrect.   By the end of his second term in 1999, a mere 13-years ago, Governor Jim Edgar had brought the Illinois money problems under full control.  Before and since Jim Edgar, Illinois has been under the bipartisan control of self-serving fiscal-imbeciles. 

Please consider voting career politicians out of office at every opportunity.  “Do it for the children.”


Monday, February 20, 2012

Blogger comment CAPTCHA

I shut CAPTCHA (word verification) off at this site.  I noticed that it was near impossible for me to decipher when I tried leaving comments at other blogs so I shut if off here.

Moderation is still on so I'll catch the robot-spam there.

Glenn B’s Honest Gun Owner MEME


It is time for some fun.  The idea came from HERE; Glenn tagged me along with four other bloggers so I am tagging,


I’m sure there are exceptions, but IMHO “You may be an honest gun owner if”

1) You admit to knowing certain folks who legally own guns but deep down inside your soul you believe that they should not; quite frankly, they scare the hell out of you.

2) You admit to deliberately avoid socializing with, shooting with, and hunting with those same folks.

3) You admit that plinking with a .22 rifle is your favorite shooting pastime.

4) You admit that, yes, there is a mouse gun bulging your pants pocket and, no, you are not happy to see me when I ask where your full-framed 1911 “every-day-carry gun” is.

5) You finally admit that your (fill in the brand name) 1911-pattern pistol DOES NOT have a string of firing over (fill in the blank x 1000) rounds of hollow-point ammo without a jam.

6) You admit that the J-Frame .38 that you said you bought for the “girlie hands” of your wife or girlfriend was purchased for your own use and your wife or girlfriend has taken a fancy to packing your 1911 “man’s gun.”


Saturday, February 18, 2012

Thank you Wilson Blog!


I’m not familiar with the protocol on this, other than to say how gratified that I am for the recognition.   Others have already tagged most of the blogs that I follow and I am both too lazy and too busy to hunt down blogs not yet recognized.

Any bloggers wishing a shout-out, please drop me a line and I will be more than happy to tag you.

While I am on that subject, one of the many blogs I follow has this neat posting on lever-action-shotguns!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

R. Lee "Gunny" Ermey wants YOU to register to vote



“Listen up and hear me well! This is a critical time for our nation, and too many people are sitting back to let others do the hard work. So it’s time for all of us to put some gas in it and persuade all eligible gun owners to register. That’s why I volunteered my time to film the ad shown here.

Now it’s your turn and I want to see results! Start now by sending this message to everyone you know who supports the Second Amendment.

I expect 110% right now from everyone who values our freedoms! NO EXCUSES. And remember -- pain is just weakness leaving the body!”

NOTE 2/16/2012:  The server hosting "Trigger the Vote"is having a bad day for some reason.  CLICK HERE to see the clip on YouTube.


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Under the weather 2/7/2012



I don’t believe that I get sick very often, but I don’t have any way to measure or reference my past health other than by my memory, which does contend that February is the month when I am most likely to become miserably sick.  I rarely go to the doctor when I get sick; I just tough it out until the cold, flu, allergy, or combination thereof passes.  Today ends week-number-one of what started off as a non-fever head cold, which turned into a full-fever head cold, which evolved into a head cold enhanced by a chest cold.  If I recall correctly, this can hang on for another week or more.  The fever broke after a couple of days so there is some chance that I am on the mend.  I canceled my annual eyeball inspection that was scheduled for tomorrow.  Contingent on my feeling less contagious next week, the exam was rescheduled for next Wednesday.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Q&A With David Hardy from "Of Arms & the Law": Why is the 2nd Amendment Controversial And Where Is It Heading?



(The following came in via email)

Hi James,

My name is Ruth. I am the content manager on Gun Values Board. I thought you would be interested in an online Q&A I just posted with David Hardy, author "Of Arms & the Law" about the 2nd amendment, the controversy behind it, and its status now and in the future. You are welcome to check it out at


Please feel free to share it with your readers.

All the best,

Ruth



Saturday, February 4, 2012

I am doing a review of our home security



Based on the above (summertime) photo, would you have the cojones to attempt to steal the right front tire from the green van during the dark of night?  What the picture does not show is how painfully close my driveway is to my west-side neighbor’s living room window, the fact that the cul-de-sac is extraordinarily well lit by a municipal streetlight, and that the outside lights are on dusk-until-dawn at my house and at the houses on either side of me.  My interior lights are always on during the night and the neighbors and I keep irregular hours; day or night, it seems someone in our locale is always coming or going.

One night during the week before last I stayed up reading until 3:00 AM.  Before hitting the sack, I double-checked all doors as usual, which does involve me opening the front door for one last peek outside.  At 10:30 AM I went outside and found the hubcap and all of the lug nut covers had been removed from the right front tire of the van and were lying in the driveway.   Further, the cover to the outside keypad for the garage-door-opener had been flipped open.  The lug nuts were all still tight, so either the thief was ill prepared for the task or something caused him to lose his nerve.  If I had to guess on only one possibility, it was that my buddy Igor, the west-side neighbor’s Neapolitan Mastiff, started raising a ruckus.

Regardless of how close our houses are on the cul-de-sac, and how much light we have as a deterrent, the car being parked next to the van did provide some cover for the attempt.  I now stagger the vehicles in the driveway to do away with the sheltering “blind spot.”  I informed the neighbors about the incident but did not bother our overworked police with what they would consider a non-event. 

I am considering installing exterior security cameras and some heavier deadbolt-locks to the doors.  The outside keypad for the garage-door-opener may be removed; I believe it is a secure system but that the keypad may be an attraction to those prone to misadventures.


Thursday, February 2, 2012

One year ago, the Great Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011



It was actually a two-day storm, beginning on February 1 and ending on February 2, but most of us will remember it as the Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011.

This was a real-time exercise in preparedness.  There was ample warning about this storm and many folks did things right and had little problem.  Others didn’t manage it well at all and more than a few souls perished inside their cars while waiting for help that just could not get through to them.  Most who spent the night stranded in their vehicles did survive but were ill prepared and very uncomfortable.   Many people were on the road through no fault of their own; they had bosses who did not heed the storm warnings and the employees were not allowed to leave work until it was far too late.  Complicating matters further, there were no provisions or policies at most companies for allowing employees to “overnight” where they worked during such an emergency.  The old rule of “no less than ½ tank of gasoline” proved to be not good enough for many motorists. 

Wherever we may be, at work, home, or on the road, it never hurts to have kits, provisions, and plans for dealing with emergency events.  Those of us who suffered through this storm now have experience that makes us better able to handle the next. 

Stay safe.


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Chicago winter of 2011 – 2012 to be worst winter EVER!



So said many experts, with the media zealously using such ostentatious predictions to sell newspapers and attract website clicks.  Those of us living in the Chicago area are still waiting; so far this has been the warmest winter in 80-years.  Tomorrow is Groundhog Day and that leaves only around 6-weeks or so for us to be awestruck with the experts’ abilities to make precise long-term predictions.  Is it remotely possible that science and technology still does not measure up to such a task?  Obviously.  However, do not expect the media or the weather experts to admit as much.


*AGGREGATOR* -NEWS-WEATHER-SPORTS-OPINION-SCIENCE-TECH-RELIGION-POLITICS-GUNS-HUMOR-ENTERTAINMENT-

This Blog's most viewed posts during the past week

This Blog's most viewed posts during the past month

This Blog's most viewed posts during the past year

This Blog's Most Popular Posts of All Time


Be they Republican, Democrat, third party, fourth party or beyond, make each candidate earn it. Vote NO MORE GUN LAWS!

'We the Politicians of the United States, in Order to avoid a more perfect Union, manipulate Justice, destroy domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common offense, promote general Warfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Progeny, do blaspheme and eviscerate this Constitution of the United States of America." ("Zack," circa 1966 -1970)
Please consider RECURRING UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS of ALL FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL POLITICIANS (including but not limited to school records, acquaintances, employment history, Social Media, financial, drug, and psychiatric screenings). Please consider TERM LIMITS; political power corrupts.