:: Gandalf23's Blog ::

:: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 ::

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From now on I'll be blogging over on my domain, Gandalf23.com. We've got Moveable Type running on the server, so I'll be using that instead of Blogger. The format looks a little bit different, but I'm still working on it. And I have to figure out how to see it from the house, right now I can only see it if I'm not on our internal network.





:: gandalf23 11:07:00 AM [+] ::
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Reevaluating Weapons of Mass Destruction


"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us
or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
Madeline Albright, Feb. 18, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect
Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of
mass destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998


"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov.10, 1999

"There is no doubt that..... Saddam Hussein has invigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless
using the cover of an elicit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies."
Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham(D, FL,) and others,
Dec, 5, 2001

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002


"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002


"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
Al Gore Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002


"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-if necessary-to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also
should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made
in development of weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002

"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do"
Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and
his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including
al Qaeda members... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop
nuclear weapons."
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons
of mass destruction."
Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002


"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so
consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to
his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003


:: gandalf23 9:33:00 PM [+] ::
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The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.


"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time."
- Lieutenant General Lewis B."Chesty" Puller (when surrounded by 8 enemy divisions)



:: gandalf23 10:45:00 AM [+] ::
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Saw this on someone else's blog:

Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.

:)


:: gandalf23 8:20:00 AM [+] ::
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Webcomics to take a look at:

Nowhere Girl

Electric Sheep Comix


:: gandalf23 1:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Most non-criminals hate burglars more than we hate paranoid farmers; farmers don't break into our houses at night, steal our DVDs and piss on the floor. Not even French farmers.


:: gandalf23 9:35:00 AM [+] ::
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Bang Bang.

If you liked Pulp Fiction and Resevoir Dogs, then GO SEE KILL BILL!

It's a little bloody, but it's cartoony, like a bad horor movie. If you watched say, The Way of the Gun, then this is no problem. WotG was, in my opinion, much worse as it was a more realistic portrayal of the effects of violence. Still, I don;t recommedn that my mom go see it. My dad would like it, but not good for the madre.

The music is, like all Tarantino movies, incredible. The opening scene is great, but I don't know how it would've played without Nancy Sinatra's cover of Cher's Bang Bang.



:: gandalf23 8:49:00 AM [+] ::
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Gun fire is the sound of freedom.


:: gandalf23 8:18:00 AM [+] ::
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Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.



:: gandalf23 8:16:00 AM [+] ::
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:)


:: gandalf23 10:04:00 AM [+] ::
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Wanna be an astronaut? Fluency in Russian and previous space experiance are pluses. :)


:: gandalf23 8:32:00 AM [+] ::
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:)


:: gandalf23 11:52:00 AM [+] ::
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Take this quiz and you're entered to win a 63 INCH plasma TV! 63 inch!!!!!!
The answers are:

1) D $200
2) B 200 kHz
3) C 5.45 mV
4) C 4
5) C 7680
6) B (or anything else, no wrong answer here)

Did I mention it's a 63 inch plasma TV?!!!!

(BTW, the answers are on the site, and it's an open book quiz, so don't feel that having the answers is cheating)







:: gandalf23 1:22:00 PM [+] ::
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Indiana Jones is finally coming to DVD

I'm not sure _why_ it took Speilburg so long to release these movies.


:: gandalf23 8:45:00 AM [+] ::
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It's more important what you stand for than who you stand with. If what you do is right, it's right even if you do it alone.
:: gandalf23 3:11:00 PM [+] ::
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U.N. youth report a 'wake-up call'


HIV/AIDS is spreading fastest, the report said, among youths in sub-Saharan Africa, where about 8.6 million youths are infected -- 62 percent of them female. South Asia follows, with 1.1 million youths infected -- 62 percent of them female.

The report said poverty was a factor in the spread of HIV because some poor girls sell sex for money for school fees or to help their families.

Talking about sex is taboo in many countries so many young people do not know enough about the virus that causes AIDS to protect themselves. In Somalia, for example, only 26 percent of adolescent girls had heard of it and just one percent knew how to protect themselves.
:: gandalf23 10:48:00 AM [+] ::
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Looks like I may have to start a new hobby

:)


:: gandalf23 8:20:00 AM [+] ::
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Interesting.

Schwarzenegger's win marks the first time since Reconstruction that the nation's four most populous states (California, Florida, New York and Texas) have all had Republican governors, three of whom won their 2002 re-election bid by double digits. Two of those states, New York and California, are considered Democratic strongholds.


:: gandalf23 7:52:00 AM [+] ::
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Wow! According to this, muslims discovered america and California is named after them.


:: gandalf23 10:46:00 AM [+] ::
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The oddest thing hapened today at the office. I went to get the mail and started sorting it, and I noticed that one envelope wasin a clear plastic bag that had been taped shut around it. Then I noticed that the envelope was covered in blood! The clear bag had a label on it from the post office saying that they were sorry they damaged out mail.

What the Heck did they do to it? "Now, now. It could be catsup." Nope, didn;t smell catsupy at all, it smelt of blood. Very high on the ewwwwwwww scale. First we had to find some tongs to get the letter out, then a knife to open it and using the knife and tongs get the contents out. Who knows what kind of blood was on it or what was in the blood, but we didn't want to take any chances.

Maybe a mail carrier along the way was injured? Or there was a freak accident at the mail processing plant? Or maybe the mail carrier discovered an injured person and tried to staunch the blood flow with junk mail. Or perhaps the mail carrier is a serial killer who gets rid of his evidence via the mail. I'd kinda like to know.


:: gandalf23 10:43:00 AM [+] ::
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A nurse walks into a bank, preparing to endorse a check.
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a rectal thermometer
and tries to write with it. She looks up at the teller, pauses for
a moment, and then, realizing her mistake, she says,
"Well, that's great, just great. Some asshole's got my pen."

:)



:: gandalf23 10:32:00 AM [+] ::
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TEXAS

When you're from Texas, people that you meet ask you questions like,
Do you have any cows?" "Do you have horses?" "Bet you got a bunch of guns,
eh?" They all want to know if you've been to Southfork. They watched Dallas.

Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just
for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast,
the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything
ever will be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they
know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid off the street in Japan and
draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What
happens if I show you a picture of any other state?
You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And
even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?

In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who
wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or
ride off in a pickup. There is some bit of Texas in everyone.

Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, "Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool,
tell me about it?" Do you know why? Because there's no place like Texas.

Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing
thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance
to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for
the cause of freedom. We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis
and James Bowie and Crockett and do you know why?
Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be
heroes. John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of
Texas.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto.

Texas is Juneteenth and Texas Independence Day.

Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest
Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend.

Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill
Country.

Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South TexasTexas
is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.

Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork.

Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.

Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, and the Astrodome.

Texas is larger-than-life legends like Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly,
Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell
Royal, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan,Denton
Cooley and Michael DeBakey, Sam Rayburn, Audie Murphy, Admiral Nimitz, George Bush, Lyndon B.Johnson, and George W. Bush.

Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and
Compaq. And LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter
and the JSF Fighter.

Texas is NASA.

Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.

Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.

Texas is a place where cities shut down to watch the local High School
Football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and NIOSA River Parade in San Antonio.

Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and
prairies, and modern cities.

If it isn't in Texas, you don't need it.

No one does anything bigger or better than it's done in Texas.

By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its
flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second.
You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, California, or
Maine and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the
Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview at 20 feet, the Lone
Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is
the only state that was a republic before it became a state.

Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our
capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol
building in Washington, D.C. and we can divide our state into five states
if we want to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came
on. That's the best part right there.


And a little funny thing:

Top 10 Signs You Know You're in Texas:

10. You no longer associate bridges with water.
9. You can say "110 degrees" without fainting.
8. You learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
7. When the temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
6. You discover that, in August, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
5. You notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
4. Hot water comes out of both taps.
3. You break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:00 a.m. on the way to work.
2. No one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car.

And the No. 1 Sign You're in Texas:

1. You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
:: gandalf23 10:42:00 AM [+] ::
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Here's part of what I wrote to the Saudi Religous Police:

Peace be upon you my brothers,

I must first apologize for writing in English. My Arabic is very poor at this point. I can speak it enough to get around and be polite (Hello, Thank You, This camel is delicious), but my writing skills are very very poor. I felt that your German would most likely also be poor, and while I speak and write French fluently, I do not enjoy doing so, so I choose to write in English. I hope this is not a problem.

Where to begin? I converted to Islam one year ago, shortly before asking to be transferred to Saudi Arabia. I thought I would be in the next thing to paradise here, but the truth is far from it. I have been in Saudi for only a few months now, but already I have seen crimes against Islam almost unimaginable and innumerable.

Although all the infidels in the compound are breaking the law in some manner, I will start with the French family across from me in the compound. The Cousteaus. They say they are related to the famous diver, but I do not believe this to be true as Jacques Cousteau was a fine upstanding man and I believe he was a devout Muslim. This family is far from it.

The first crime I shall speak of is of the father, Fabron, who, along with his partner in crime, the American Bob Flaa, is manufacturing alcohol in his house. There is a secret passage behind the refrigerator that leads to a small room under the house where they brew the evil spirits. In this cellar as they call it, there is a large apparatus for the brewing of beer and another for the distilling of whiskey. They are growing some plants down there as well. I think it is most likely barley or hops, but I saw at least one plant that looked like marijuana. It has been many years since I saw a marijuana plant, so I could be wrong. Please warn the officers who enter to guard their breath as the cellar smells as foul as the very pits of hell.

I know of this secret hiding place because both Bob and Fabron asked me to smuggle brewing supplies for them as I am in the United States this week, at the company headquarters in Houston. They even gave me a suitcase that has been modified for smuggling. I will be happy to give you this suitcase upon my return to Saudi this next Monday morning. Should I go ahead and purchase the hops and barley they requested so that this may be used against them? Please let me know. I realize that this is more of something for the non-religious police, but I thought you could let them know about it.

The wife, Brigitte, I believe is a whore. I often work late in the evenings so that I may coordinate my time with that of the home office. This leaves me home during the day, and often I see men WHO ARE NOT RELATED TO HER entering the house. I have never seen this woman Brigitte not to wear the hijab, never have I seen more of her than is proper, yet still, I think she is a whore and must be punished.

Speaking of whores, we must now look at their daughter, the evil temptress Azura. Azura! A truer name I have never heard, as her eyes are the color of the sky, and as piercing as a hawks. There are not enough grains of sand in the whole of the Barren Quarter to count the times I have seen her ankles, calves and thighs. Such a wicked woman she is!

When I first moved to Saudi I was working during the day and I would see her everyday as she waited for a ride to school. The first day I went to work, THE FIRST!, she showed me her ankle as I drove by.

A more gorgeous ankle has never been seen on this planet. Perhaps in Paradise all the houri's will have ankles this perfect, but on this world this pair is unique. At first I thought little of it, I assumed that the passage of my vehicle caused the robe to lift slightly. Several days went by with no ankle sightings, so I assumed it was a fluke.

But then, one day as I drove to work I could feel her eyes upon me. I turned my head and she moved her hands down slowly to her sides and grasped her robe, lifting it up just enough to show, quite deliberately, her beautiful ankles.

Thus it began. From this point on, every morning, no matter what time I left, she was there, tempting me, showing me things reserved for her family and husband only. Each day the robe was lifted slightly higher, until I was able to see her full, long, bare legs. There are not words in any language I know to describe her legs. Perhaps when I better learn Arabic, being the language that Allah, praise be his name, designed, I shall be able to describe the features of this girl, this temptress, this succubus, Azura to you, my brethren. The perfect ankles are attached to the perfect calves, knees and, of course, thighs. In my home country the women are more decent than she and do not shave their legs. This she-devil, this djin sent to tempt me, Azura, had shaved off all the hair and her bronzed legs glistened each morning with a faint sheen of oil or sweat, if such a magnificent creature is possible of sweat.

Even now, as I am sitting here several thousand miles away, if I close my eyes all I see are her silky legs glistening in the morning light. I have prayed and fasted for the strength to resist her temptations, but I fear she has cast a spell upon me. I am fasting my whole trip to the United States. My hope is that I will be all the stronger for it when I return. Also, I have heard that since 9/11 the Americans are putting swine into the water supply, and it is better to be safe than sorry, correct?

It goes a bit downhill after this point, but you get the idea. Remember that in Saudi all women must be covered from head to toe when they go out, so a woman brazenly displaying her ankles is about to get beaten by the Religous Police. Alcohol is strictly forbidden. Also, it is not allowed for a woman to be alone with a man who is not her relative. And of course, to eat or otherwise ingest pork products is a big no-no.

Also remember, that the whole point is to get them to read it and waste their time investigating the claims. Or waste their time as the print out copies and pass them back and forth in the break room.



:: gandalf23 1:27:00 PM [+] ::
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The Saudi Religious Police have a handy web form for cowards and informers that they provide for the purpose of turning in heretics, free speech adherents and little girls with Barbie dolls.

The first box is for your name, the second, a drop down menu, is for your town. The first four are: Mecca, The City of Lights, Riyadh, and Jeddah. I don't know wha tthe rest are. The third is for your email address, and the fourth is for the sin committed. The sins listed are:
1. Someone not attending daily prayers
2. Flirting
3. Loitering
4. Selling Stolen Goods (is stealing itself ok?)
5. Immoral Observations (what the heck does this mean?)
6. Engaging in Western Habits (Holding your wife's hand in public, kissing or hugging her would all be examples of this. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are others.)
7. Other
Then in the large box you tell them who committed the sin, when, the usual informer type stuff. Something like: "Fraulein Gunter is hiding a family of Jews in her attic at 31 Hemmelstrasse."

Well, perhaps not that message exactly but the sentiment is the same. So are the results. While it's not possible for an inanimate object to be evil, this comes pretty close. Remember, these are the same thugs who let little girls burn to death rather than let them outside without head coverings

The button on the right is "Submit." The button on the left is "Reset."

After they receive the message the religious police then goes out and arrest them or fine them or beat them, depending on what the situation warrants.

Remember, Saudi recently decreed that Barbie dolls were immoral and would corrupt their youth.

Ah, the fun I can have with this. A real chance to express myself in inventive and creative ways to the thugs over there. Kinda like this:

Sin reported by: Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim

Location: Mecca

Balghunaim@saudi.gov.sa

Type of Sin: Other

To whom it may concern.

Whilst examining the loins of my Filipino servants for evidence of apostasy, I happened to glance out of the second story window of my compound and espy Sheikh Saleh bin Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al Al-Sheikh in the street below, mightily struggling to pull a glossy red women's corset, one of the real quality ones, with a lace-up front, adjustable straps and optional garter attachments, from the hindquarters of a large pig.

The blessed imam was hampered in his attempt in that he was attempting to do so one- handed, his left hand being in possession of a half empty bottle of Grey Goose Vodka, which he alternately drank from or poured from above onto the swine's genitalia. The revered imam was also in a state of dishabille, his robe having fallen down around his ankles. This enabled me to observe his tumescent state once I had set my telescope to its largest magnification.

Please remonstrate with the imam for me, as the stock animals are nervous for days after his one of his visits.

Peace be upon you,

Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim - Minister of Agriculture

Here's a handy list of names to use. Use them unstintingly!

King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz - The Prime Minister, The King

Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud - The First Deputy Prime Minister, Crown Prince and Commander of the National Guard

Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz - Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General

Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim - Minister of Agriculture

Dr Muhammad bin Ali Al-Fayez - Minister of Civil Service

Dr Hashim bin Abdullah bin Hashim Al-Yamani - Minister of Commerce and Industry

Engineer Muhammad Jameel bin Ahmed Mulla - Minister of Communications and Information Technology

Dr Fouad bin Abdul Salaam bin Muhammad Al Farsy - Minister of Culture and Information

Dr Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Qusaibi - Ministry of Economy and Planning

Dr Muhammad bin Ahmed Al-Rasheed - Minister of Education

Dr Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Assaf- Minister of Finance

Prince Saud Al Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud - Minister of Foreign Affairs

Dr Iyad bin Ameen Madani - Minister of Hajj

Dr Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Mane' - Minister of Health

Dr Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Anqari - Minister of Higher Education

Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud - Minister of Interior

Sheikh Saleh bin Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al Al-Sheikh- Minister for Islamic Affairs, Endowment, Dawa and Guidance

Dr Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al Al-Sheikh- Minister of Justice

Dr Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Namlah- Minister of Labor and Social Affairs

Prince Mite'b bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud - Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs

Engineer Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi - Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources

Dr Jubarah bin Eid Al-Suraiseri- Minister of Transport

Dr Ghazi bin Abdulrahman Al Gosaibi - Minister of Water and Electricity

Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz - Minister of State, Cabinet Member, and Chief of the Court of Cabinet's Presidency

Dr. Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Khuwaiter - Minister of State

Dr. Mutlab bin Abdullah Al-Nafeesah - Minister of State and Cabinet's Member

Dr. Musa'ed bin Mohammed Al-E'ban - Minister of State and Cabinet's Member

Abdullah bin Ahmed bin Yosef Zainal - Minister of State and Cabinet's Member

Remember, every fake message sent to these evil bastards is one that might cause them to overlook a real one, and make a innocent Saudi a little more free. At the very least it leaves them with less time to hastle young girls over their barbie dolls.


On a semi-related note, I like this t-shirt


:: gandalf23 3:18:00 PM [+] ::
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It looks like the Violence Policy Center (used to be Handgun Control Inc)(run by Mrs. Brady[not Florence Henderson]) has a new website up: banassaultweapons.org.

hmm...seems to me that they got banned back in 1994.

Ah, I see, they want to make sure that they stay banned. Back in 1994 Congress put a 10 year limit on the law. I hope and have called my congresspeople to express my feelings, that it just dies and they don't pass another ban. I see no good that came out of the ban. Looking at the banassaultweapons.org site, they see no good either. They said the law was easily circumvented and that now there are more assault weapons than ever. Funny, I don't ever hear of them being used in crimes.

Anyway, I'm looking at their site and I notice that they have a picture mislabeled.



At the bottom left is a Mitchell Arms or Armscorp (both imported the same rifle) AK-22, NOT an AK-47.

Here is a picture of an AK22:



And here is a picture of a real AK-47:



Notice the differences? The AK-22 has a much thicker handguard and thinner barrel. Also the angle of the buttstocks is noticably different. Also look at the magazines.

You'd think they'd do a little bit of research and at least have a correct picture. If it's wrong, makes you wonder what else is wrong on their site.




:: gandalf23 2:04:00 PM [+] ::
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hmmmm....maybe my next case mod will look like this.

or not.


UPDATE:

Definately not. The next case I build will be Star Wars related.

Like this Imperial Star Destroyer PC Case.

Or this Millenium Falcon.

Drool.....



:: gandalf23 8:21:00 AM [+] ::
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This is definatley on my list of things to build: a bowling-ball mortar!


I'd figure out how to make legs for it so I wouldn't have to use an old chair and a board to sight it in. Other than the legs, it sounds easy to build. hmmmmm.....



:: gandalf23 1:21:00 PM [+] ::
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What the heck is wrong with these people? Giving instructions on how to pleasure yourself to 9 year olds?

It includes a cartoon of a girl fondling herself in a bath.

The 16-page guide — called 4 You — also contains explicit diagrams of how to manipulate female genitals.

It tells youngsters it’s normal to be attracted to people of the same gender.

The book was published yesterday by the [Brittish]Government- funded sexual health charity fpa.

However, fpa chief executive Anne Weyman said: “This booklet will help dispel playground myths.”

What playground myths? The ones about getting cooties from kissing a girl? Over here in America the FPA could be charged with child pornography. A drawing of a child fondling herself, yup, that's kiddie porn. WTF were they thinking?


:: gandalf23 12:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Speaking of knifes, I've started work on knife number 2. This one is a more traditional lockback, vs the liner lock of the previous knife. I'm going to make jigged bone handles for it. Might dye them red or maybe brown or black. Not sure yet. I have several bone pieces being dyed right now as tests. I'll see how they turn out, then go from there.


:: gandalf23 9:57:00 AM [+] ::
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If you know anyone who's throwing out an old piano, let me know. I'd like to harvest the ivory keys for use on knife handles. Yeah, I know it's rather unlikely that a) anyone is throwing out a piano, and b) that said piano would have ivory keys, but you ever know. Thanks!




:: gandalf23 9:33:00 AM [+] ::
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Did you know that there is a country between France and Spain? Andorra was co-ruled by the head of France and a Bishop in Spain for 700-odd years, till 1993 when they became a parlimentary democracy. 1993!!!!!


:: gandalf23 5:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Dallas/Fort Worth animal adoption links

It's so sad when people don't take care of their pets. Or abondon them. I would never think of moving to an apartment that would not allow pets. I don't see how any dog owner would. Anyway, if you are looking for a dog (or cat, if you must) check out the places listed above first.


Look at this one:



Who would abondon such a cute little thing?




:: gandalf23 9:25:00 PM [+] ::
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I liked this after-action report from Iraq. I've got several Lee-Enfields, even have some Iraqi ammo for them. Think I'll take a few with me to the range next time. The rest of the report is good, too.


We were in an over-watch position after the battle of Al Samawah. I was watching through the thermals (it was night) and I see this Iraqi attempting to sneak up on us. He gets about 75 meters away, when all of a sudden this bull comes out of nowhere and demolishes the guy. Really lays him out and thrashes him. The whole platoon is watching and is in absolute hysterics.

Then somehow, the guy manages to stab the bull and it bellows and runs away. Using his rifle as a crutch, he then starts back towards my vehicle! He then falls down and begins to crawl towards us. When he is about 35 meters away he aims the rifle at us so we killed him with the coax. It was a really nice .303 British, so I kept it for a while. Later in the war I was shooting RPG guys from 200-plus meters away. When that .303 hit them they stayed down for good.
:: gandalf23 1:42:00 PM [+] ::
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The things pervs will do to get attention

Reflecto-pr0n. Who'd'a thunk it?


:: gandalf23 10:14:00 AM [+] ::
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:: gandalf23 10:10:00 AM [+] ::
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Don't take away my rights
Because you can't control your kid

DUMBASS
It's Lack of Parenting
NOT
Video Games

Grand Theft Auto and its three sequels are designed in Britain and have topped the UK and US games charts, selling more than 20 million copies in the past five years.

And how many of those 2x10^7 kids became killers?




:: gandalf23 8:57:00 AM [+] ::
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Wow!

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. ceehiro.


:: gandalf23 4:43:00 PM [+] ::
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Some of y'all have pointed out that I shoudn't have purchased a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution as they are both available online.

But that's missing the point. It's very tough to curl up and read my computer screen. Yes, I could print out the text, but usually the formatting is screwy when you do that and even if it isn't, it'll be on letter sized paper, instead of nice and book-sized. People are accustomed to reading from books. I know I am. I like the idea of being able to take whatever I'm reading into bed or onto the couch or out on the porch and not have to worry about cables and lugging around huge monitors and such. If you fall asleep while reading from a laptop or PDA and it falls out of your hands to the floor, well, there goes a lot of money. A book on the other hand just gets a few pages bent, maybe the spine breaks, but it's still useable.

Besides, the edition I bought has both in one volume and is leather bound. Ohhh...leather bound book.....


:: gandalf23 8:37:00 AM [+] ::
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Well poop!

Andrew Vachss, one of my favorite writers, came out with a new book, Only Child, a YEAR AGO and I just today found out about it!

grrrrr....

Anyway, a quick trip over to Amazon.com and it's headed my way, along with a new electric drill (mine is leaking oil, or some sort of brown lubricant, all over the place and it's not economically viable to have it repaired) and a book on knives and a copy of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

If you haven't read Vachss before, well, you should. But be forewarned, he does not pull any punches.

From an interview:

DE: There are a number of shows that deal a little bit with some of the work that you do, there is that Law and Order SVU.

AV: Yeah, that's a sitcom.

DE: I was just wondering if you've ever done any consulting or any one ask you to do any writing on the show?

AV: No, occasionally people in Hollywood have sent me scripts and asked me to take a look at it. And I sent it back and said this is so unrealistic I can't deal with it. So no, I've certainly been asked to look at property and I've looked at the property and I didn't feel like there was anything I could do with it.

Law and Order SVU, the show that many people find too disturbing and realistic, is a sitcom. Compared to his writing, it certainly is. And I know from previous interviews I've read that he still has to tone down the books somewhat. His first book, A Bomb Built in Hell, written in 1973 I think was never published as it was seen as too unrealistic and too hard-hoiled and extreme.

Most of y'all have probably read some of his articles in Parade, the Sunday paper magazine.

Here's a pretty good write up of him, from the Anchorage Press:

Originally published in The Anchorage Press, November 6, 2002

Before Andrew Vachss became a lawyer and best-selling author, his sundry career included work as a labor organizer, a social services caseworker, the director of a maximum-security youth prison and a sexually-transmitted disease investigator for the U.S. Public Health Service. When Vachss worked for the feds, syphilis was his thing. He talked to people who had it, talked to people who gave it to them, and then talked to the people who gave it to them.

"It was a hell of a job," he said in a recent phone interview from Portland, Oregon, where he was promoting his latest book, Only Child. "I saw some horrifying stuff."

What horrified Vachss most was what adults did to children, he said. He saw one infant with a venereal disease. He saw another nearly torn apart by rape. It threw him into a permanent state of controlled rage.

Vachss was also horrified by what he saw in Africa. In 1969 he oversaw an aid agency on the front lines of the Nigerian civil war, where he contracted malaria and got his nerves good and fried.

So he was horrified, mad, and fried—a combination that would send most people to the couch with a bowl of oatmeal. It sent Vachss to the typewriter.

Writing wasn't new to him. Before Flood, the first of a series of 14 novels featuring Burke, a mercenary, he'd written a textbook about juvenile justice, although it never reached outside the criminal justice system.

"I longed for a bigger congregation," he writes in his introduction to Flood, published in 1985. But he did not yearn for fame; he avoids the parties, the author's lunches. "I don't have time for all of that," he said. "I'm trying to make a difference."

Vachss wanted a bigger audience so that he could make a difference in the way the world treats child abuse.

His books took a while to catch on. His portrayals are unusually frank, taking an unblinking look at the underbelly of the underbelly, the horrible ways that people hurt children. Vachss has written about pedophiles who work in daycare centers, child pornography on the internet, illegal organ harvesting, the serial murder of teenage prostitutes, AIDS, gay- bashing and a suburban S&M ring. Only Child takes readers through a distasteful world of underground film production in New York.

Reviewers were not kind to his first novels, he recalled. "They said, What kind of sick, crazy mind would fantasize about such things?"

But critics don't sell books. Readers sell books. Word of mouth sells books. And Vachss' books had people chattering.

Now people wait impatiently for another Burke book, and the reviewers have come around, calling his work "edgy" and "raw and hungry," saying his plots "pierce like bullets" and "churn with energy and a memorable gallery of the walking wounded." Now the reviewers say he "fills a void" and shines "light into the darkest recesses."

Alaska is Vachss' last stop on a two-week tour.

"I've heard people say that Alaska, with all its fresh air, doesn't have any problems," he said. "I know better. Alaska's got child abuse problems just like everywhere else. Alaska should be a media stop. It's an important place. It hasn't made up its mind about a lot of things yet, and that makes it real attractive. If I can just get one member of the audience to listen, it will be worth it."

Vachss is a busy man. In addition to the 14 Burke novels, he's written another textbook, numerous articles, comic books, two books of short stories and song lyrics. He's also a full- time lawyer who only represents children—a luxury he can afford now that his books are successful.

"I'm a full-time lawyer and part-time writer," he said. "I write bits and pieces at a time. I've never had the luxury to sit down and just write a book. I don't want that luxury. My material comes out of my life, my job, on the streets. There's no tour bus that goes through my world. You have to live it. I wouldn't be living it if all I did was write."

You can find out almost everything you want to know about Vachss on his website (www.vachss.com), which includes information on his legal and political activities, newspaper articles on convicted child molesters, his speeches and interviews and the correct pronouncement of his name ("vax," like "fax"). But there are some things the website leaves out. It won't tell you, for instance, that the author wears an eye patch because of a childhood injury. And it won't tell you that one of the characters in his books, Wolfe—a former sex crimes prosecutor—is modeled after his wife.

Vachss' website also won't tell you that he has a few things in common with his protagonist, Burke, such as a love of racehorses, women and dogs. But unlike Vachss, Burke is "nothing but a criminal," Vachss said. He lies, cheats and steals, he's been in and out of prison and has sex with prostitutes. Burke is different from other tough-guy protagonists, who are generally descended from the archetypes forged by Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett. Burke isn't redeemable. He has no soft core; he's all hardened exterior. He's simply this: a criminal who loves his dog and hates child molesters.

"I had no interest in imitating all the Chandler clones out there," Vachss said. "If I presented you with the typical private eye—always sensitive, always handsome—you wouldn't believe in him or in his world."

Another thing Vachss' website won't tell you: if you read his latest book, Only Child, you might find yourself a little lost. Granted, it's part of a series, and it's always hard to jump into the last book in a series. But it doesn't help that Vachss refuses to play catch-up with his readers.

Still, even if there were a guide to Vachss plots and characters—which include Mama, a Chinese restaurant owner; Max, a deaf-mute giant; Michelle, a transvestite; and a pair of lesbian "power exchangers"—there's something else going on in his novels that's both confusing and ultimately satisfying. There's a vernacular unique to the underworld he writes about. Vachss stubbornly refuses to let Burke step out of character and interpret. Here's the way he introduces a character called Gateman:

"Last time down, the jury hung on homicide. Gateman claimed the other guy was making his move. Self-defense. The other guy was strapped, but he never cleared leather. Gateman's a cutie. Told the DA he had to sit anyway, might as well sit on The Rock until they tried him again. They have a staredown, and the DA blinked. Kept dropping the offer. When it got down to Man Two, Gateman took the lucky seven, did his half-plus."

I m still not sure what "cleared leather" means. Nor do I understand how sitting "on The Rock" constitutes a threat to the DA. And where is "The Rock," anyway? Alcatraz? Maybe, but Gateman's in New York. And what does it mean to do a half-plus? Half your sentence plus time off for good behavior? Maybe. But Burke and Vachss aren't telling. Vachss prefers his characters straight up—no splash of water, not even a few rocks.

"I write the way people in that world talk," he said. "Do you really think that (the kinds of) people in an Elmore Leonard novel talk that way? I'll sacrifice a few readers to get authenticity."

To his credit, Vachss doesn't strive for authenticity by barraging the reader with lurid details. He doesn't need to. Yet in addition to the street talk his books come with plenty of allusions to nasty situations. You're not going to leave skipping. He doesn't want you to. He's going for rage. He doesn't want you to like him, he wants you to be like him.

© 2002 Anchorage Press.

Children know the truth
Love is not an emotion
Love is behavior


:: gandalf23 7:54:00 AM [+] ::
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REI is having their Scratch and Dent sale next Saturday.

"Saturday 9/20 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Scratch and Dent Sale "

If you need any camping gear, you should head over there and see what they have. Most of it is damaged, but should be repairable. Last time I went to one I got a tent for $40 (new would be $150) that just needed a little repair done on the screen door (a tube of goop and some duct tape were all it took to fix it) and a Therma-Rest for $10 (had a slice in it, but otherwise in great condition, a $5 repair kit fixed it right up. New Therma-Rests of that type run $60. I also got a brand new pair of climbing shoes that was discontinued for $15 or so. Good deals all. If you plan on going, show up around 8am, as the line gets crazy long. Expect the good deals to be gone by about 10:15am or so.




:: gandalf23 7:36:00 PM [+] ::
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And at what cost? Did jackbooted storm troopers descend in the night from black helicopters to take away those voicing dissent? Or do the most vile and baseless accusations fly hither and yon, blown ever larger by a terrified and complicit media elite? Did hundreds of thousands of Muslims have their businesses torched, their families terrorized and beaten, the rest hauled off to concentration camps, or are you far safer, both physically and emotionally, as a Muslim in the US then you would be in any middle eastern country – safer and less harassed, without question – than Jews are in France today?


:: gandalf23 1:20:00 PM [+] ::
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Interesting article over at Time.com on Saudi Arabia and what they are doing (or not doing) to combat terrorism.


:: gandalf23 9:29:00 AM [+] ::
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911 Remembered: Rick Rescorla was a soldier

Have some kleenex handy.


:: gandalf23 3:14:00 PM [+] ::
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:: gandalf23 12:06:00 PM [+] ::
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must...buy...lamp

I think it would look very cool next to my mini suit of armor and swords and such.


:: gandalf23 11:51:00 AM [+] ::
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Interesting article on the possibility of hackers playing a role in the August 14th blackout. I really liked this phrase:

"security by antiquity"




:: gandalf23 2:44:00 PM [+] ::
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Looks like there is a silver lining to the heat wave that hit Europe this summer. Their crops are failing left and right. Ours are not. We can sell them all the surplus crops we have. I think we should push for some reforms first, before we agree to sell the crops. For example, Russia needs to lower their price for oil if they want any grain. The rest of Europe needs to ease of on the Anti-Americanism if they want any corn. Stuff like that.
:: gandalf23 11:29:00 AM [+] ::
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:: gandalf23 7:52:00 AM [+] ::
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Underworld looks kinda cool. But it may not make it to the theaters. White Wolf, the publishers of the Vampire and Werewolf RPGs is suing Sony. They think Sony ripped off their game "Love of Monsters."

The best quote on this is from Penny Arcade:

"To be honest, as regards Underworld, I thought of Romeo and Juliet before I thought of the World of Darkness. The lawsuit claims that the movie draws heavily from a story called Love Of Monsters - I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but the idea of Vampires and Werewolves loving each other ain't that special. I don't doubt that it would make a very fine movie, or story - Romeo and Juliet is a Goddamn timeless template. I saw it set in Ireland with an all female cast and it still worked, one family was all lesbians and one was all dinosaurs. You just can't fuck it up. You dab your eyes at the end and wonder what is so wrong about the love of a lesbian for a dinosaur. "






:: gandalf23 8:21:00 PM [+] ::
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:: gandalf23 8:59:00 AM [+] ::
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This is My Song
Lyrics: Lloyd Stone
Music: Jean Sibelius

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the Nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.


:: gandalf23 10:27:00 AM [+] ::
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A blonde calls her boyfriend and says: "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started."

Her boyfriend asks: "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?"

The blonde says: "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger."

Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. He studies the pieces for a moment, then turns to her and says:

"First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger."

He holds her hand softly, leads her to a chair and says: "Secondly, I'd advise you to relax. Let's have a cup of coffee, and then ...."

he sighs...

...."let's put all these Frosted Flakes back in the box."


:: gandalf23 11:46:00 AM [+] ::
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It seems that the French have had over 11,000 (eleven thousand) heat related deaths this summer. 11,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to this article, they don't have Air Conditioning in Hospitals. WTF are they thinking? A/C was invented over 100 years ago, why isn't in their hospitals at least?

:: gandalf23 8:52:00 AM [+] ::
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All the beauty pageant contestants are taught to wish for "world peace." But in fact, freedom and progress have ever developed only in lands of ongoing struggle -- albeit shot and shell can usually be supplanted, between pirate suppression raids, by the "creative destruction" of healthy commercial trade and competition: war under a different guise.

But that's not the kind of robust, chaotic, pluralistic "peace" the victim disarmament gang have in mind. No, their vision of a peaceful world has been common to Caesar, to Stalin, to Hitler and Mao: a world at peace ... because no peasant dares rise from his knees as they ride past.

Read the whole thing. It's good.
:: gandalf23 8:34:00 AM [+] ::
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A woman won the national national rifle championship at Camp Perry this year.

Shooting her M-16A2, Spc. Liana Bombardier, a U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit service rifle shooter, won the Service Rifle National Long Range Rifle Championship at Camp Perry, Ohio. Bombardier garnered the Billy C. Atkins Trophy as the highest scoring service rifle shooter in the National Highpower Rifle Long Range Championships Aug. 15 - 18.




:: gandalf23 7:36:00 AM [+] ::
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Found a picture to go with the article on US soldiers using AK-47s.

http://media.militaryphotos.net/photos/albums/USMC_EOD_in_Iraq/aaa.jpg
[Link not working]

The guy on the far left first row has a Dragnov sniper's rifle. The guy next to him has a FN Para FAL, as do three other guys. Ther rest either have AKs or M-16s. Very neat picture.


:: gandalf23 7:47:00 PM [+] ::
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Just read Kim Du Toit's Why I Own A Gun. Good read.


:: gandalf23 7:52:00 AM [+] ::
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I got a (rare) email from my dad over in Kirkuk today. Lots of family stuff, he misses us, then this:

" I got some really good pictures of the two wounded Ali Babas that the SAWS operator shot. I don't know if I told you about that incident or not. We drove up to a group of about 8 vehicles at a valve pit. When they saw us coming they started to run, our soldiers jumped out of the 4X4 they were driving that day and told them to stop. I got out and stood in front of our Tahoe. Then an Ak opened up(our CINU guard), then the SAWS opened up. Very distinct difference in the sounds. The two were running to get into their truck. We found an AK in that truck and 4 more in 4 other vehicles. Our safety guy who is a paramedic put IV's in them and we hauled them to the local hospital. Lots of blood but really fairly minor wounds. My replacement was with us and it was his first full day in Iraq. I thought he wsa going to ask to come home. He wasn't doing very well after the shootings especially when I told him that this ususally doen't happen but two or three times a week at the most."

I'll post pictures of the incident when he gets back (next week!).

As promised, pictures:



SAW gunner covering some of the theives. Note that one of them is bleeding.


Closeup of the guy in white that was shot


Closeup of the guy in blue that was shot


These AKs were taken from their vehicles. Note that one has had the buttstock removed, there is a clear plastic mag, and a 75 round Romanian(? does not look Chinese style) drum.


Driving the wounded to the hospital.


The four GIs involved.



:: gandalf23 8:32:00 AM [+] ::
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Cool.

US Troops using captured AK-47s

"We just do not have enough rifles to equip all of our soldiers. So in certain circumstances we allow soldiers to have an AK-47. They have to demonstrate some proficiency with the weapon ... demonstrate an ability to use it," said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

In Humvees, on tanks — but never openly on base — U.S. soldiers are carrying the Cold War-era weapon, first developed in the Soviet Union but now mass produced around the world.

The AK is favored by many of the world's fighters, from child soldiers in Africa to rebel movements around the world, because it is light, durable and known to jam less frequently.

Now U.S. troops who have picked up AKs on raids or confiscated them at checkpoints are putting the rifles to use — and they like what they see.

Some complain that standard U.S. military M16 and M4 rifles jam too easily in Iraq's dusty environment. Many say the AK has better "knockdown" power and can kill with fewer shots.

"The kind of war we are in now ... you want to be able to stop the enemy quick," said Sgt. 1st Class Tracy S. McCarson of Newport News, Va., an army scout, who carries an AK in his Humvee.

Some troops say the AK is easier to maintain and a better close-quarters weapon. Also, it has "some psychological affect on the enemy when you fire back on them with their own weapons," McCarson said.

Most U.S. soldiers agree the M16 and the M4 — a newer, shorter version of the M16 that has been used by American troops since the 1960s — is better for long distance, precision shooting.

But around Baqouba, troops are finding themselves attacked by assailants hidden deep in date palm groves. Or they are raiding houses, taking on enemies at close-quarters.

Two weeks ago, Sgt. Sam Bailey of Cedar Falls, Iowa, was in a Humvee when a patrol came under rocket-propelled grenade and heavy machine gun fire. It was dark, the road narrow. On one side, there was a mud wall and palms trees, on the other a canal surrounded by tall grass.

Bailey, who couldn't see who was firing, had an AK-47 on his lap and his M4 up front. The choice was simple.

"I put the AK on auto and started spraying," Bailey said.

Some soldiers also say it's easier to get ammo for the AK — they can pick it up on any raid or from any confiscated weapon.

"It's plentiful," said Sgt. Eric Harmon, a tanker who has a full 75-round drum, five 30-round magazines, plus 200-300 rounds in boxes for his AK. He has about 120 rounds for his M16.

Young doesn't carry an AK but has fired one. He's considered banning his troops from carrying AKs, but hasn't yet because "if I take the AK away from some of the soldiers, then they will not have a rifle to carry with them."

Staff Sgt. Michael Perez, a tanker, said he would take anything over his standard issue 9mm pistol when he's out of his tank.

And the AK's durability has impressed him.

"They say you can probably drop this in the water and leave it overnight, pull it out in the morning, put in a magazine and it will work," Perez said.


:: gandalf23 7:25:00 AM [+] ::
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Hillary Clinton was out jogging one morning along the parkway when she tripped, fell over the bridge railing and landed in the creek below.

Before the Secret Service guys could get to her, 3 kids who were fishing pulled her out of the water. She was so grateful she offered the kids whatever they wanted.

The first kid says, "I want to go to Disneyland."

Hillary says, "No problem, I'll take you there on my special senator's airplane "

The second kid says, "I want a new pair of NikeAir Jordan's."

Hillary says, "I'll get them for you and even have Michael sign them for you."

The third kid says, "I want a motorized wheelchair with a built in TV and stereo headset!"

Hillary is a little perplexed by this and says, "But you don't look like you're handicapped."

The kid says, "I will be when my dad finds out I saved your butt from drowning."

:)


:: gandalf23 9:18:00 AM [+] ::
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This may be a fake, but it looks cool. A satelitte picture of the US during The Great Blackout of 2003:




:: gandalf23 9:16:00 AM [+] ::
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After I heard about the massive blackout on the East Coast I heared on over to CNN and MSNBC to check it out. I ran across an article at MSNBC on how the power grid works in the Unites States. My favorite quote:

"The power grid, essentially an interconnected grid of transmission lines, covers most of the United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. It’s divided into three major regions: the East, the West and Texas. "

Woo-Hoo! We get our own major region! Yee-haw!

:)


:: gandalf23 2:01:00 PM [+] ::
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Glenda and Dean




:: gandalf23 9:45:00 AM [+] ::
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Did y'all know that Morocco offered us (the US) 2000 exploding monkeys to help get rid of mines in Iraqi?


In a related bit of news, they are training rats to sniff out mines in parts of Africa.



:: gandalf23 8:43:00 AM [+] ::
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hmmmmm...looks like the Islamic Martyrs need to re-check their dictionarys!

From an article entitled "Radical New Views of Islam and the
Origins of the Koran," by Alexander Stille in the March 2, 2002 edition of the
New York Times:

"Mr. Luxenberg's radical theory is that many of the text's
difficulties can be clarified when it is seen as closely related to Aramaic, the
language group of most Middle Eastern Jews and Christians at the time. For
example, the famous passage about the virgins is based on the word hur,
which is an adjective in the feminine plural meaning simply "white." Islamic
tradition insists the term hur stands for "houri," which means virgin, but
Mr. Luxenberg insists that this is a forced misreading of the text. In
both ancient Aramaic and in at least one respected dictionary of early
Arabic, hur means "white raisin." Mr. Luxenberg has traced the passages
dealing with paradise to a Christian text called Hymns of Paradise by a fourth-
century author. Mr. Luxenberg said the word paradise was derived from the
Aramaic word for garden and all the descriptions of paradise described it
as a garden of flowing waters, abundant fruits and white raisins, a
prized delicacy in the ancient Near East. In this context, white raisins,
mentioned often as hur, Mr. Luxenberg said, makes more sense than a reward
of sexual favors."

The full article can be found at:
http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~leem/Files/Qurantheories.html


Wouldn't that suck? You blow yourself and some little kids up expecting to go to a paradise full of 70 young virgins only to find 70 white raisins. :)


:: gandalf23 8:06:00 AM [+] ::
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@%$&*&*&*&*&$@$%!!!!!

Please excuse my French, but se déplacer suce des fesses! Stupid utility companies take the opportunity to ream you a new one just because you move from one location to the next. The house is already wired for phone, electricty, water, gas, and cable: all they have to do is flip a switch on their end (probably not even that, just do some typing and hit "enter"), but for their huge trouble they really stick it to you.

Les bâtards!



:: gandalf23 9:22:00 AM [+] ::
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You know, people always ask me, "Gandalf23, why do you have a big, foot long metal spike in your tool box?" and I always say, "Well, you never know when one will be handy." And last night I was vindicated. I used the large spike to fix the refrigerator. The fan was hitting the cowling and I used the spike to push the cowling back a bit so that it no longer collided with the fan blades.

Also used copious amounts of compressed air to clean the thing out. Wow was it dirty! But, considering it was first installed in 1971, really, it wasn't so bad. I think there was a plugger where you were a plugger if your fridge was older than you were. :)


:: gandalf23 7:58:00 AM [+] ::
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This is the coolest thing ever!

You can play the old Infocom games on the internet: Zork, Zork 2, Zork 3, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Bureaucracy, and Leather Goddess of Phobos! The only bad thing is that you can't save the games (and it does not work in Opera, looks like it's IE only). Now to dig up my old Zork 3 map....


:: gandalf23 10:14:00 PM [+] ::
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You know, I can't make stuff up like this:

"It's all true about the magic stone," says car dealer Mokhaled Mohammed, sitting in a cafe on Baghdad's upmarket Arasat Street. "First of all, he put it on a chicken and tried to shoot it. Then he put it on a cow, and the bullets went around it."

Other choice excerpts:

"Hussein's all-seeing network of informers and bugging devices, which allowed him to know in advance of any impending plot, also contributed to his reputation for preternatural power.

Alharith Hassan, a psychologist at Baghdad University's Department of Parapsychology, has spent years trying to scientifically debunk such superstitions, a rationalist crusade which cost his department dear in slashed funding under Hussein's occultist regime.

He said Iraqi people had become very susceptible to such myths in the long years cut off from the outside world, and suffering brutal oppression from which the only outlet was religion and sects, which the country's president - whose peasant mother used to read the future with seashells - openly endorsed.

Nearly two thirds of the patients coming to see Mr. Hassan have already visited shamans, who try to exorcise genies with spells and often viciously beat their clients.

"It's all a lot of gibberish," says Hassan, who was however careful not to dismiss the genie, a mythical creature mentioned in the holy Koran.

In such a climate, myths of Hussein's supernatural prowess have survived his regime's demise, and contribute to the climate of fear still hindering reconstruction.

"When they pulled down Saddam's statue, lots of men were jumping on it like monkeys," says car-dealer Mr. Mohammed, a Hussein loyalist. "Then a child came up and kissed the head. Why? I think the child was an angel."




:: gandalf23 12:56:00 PM [+] ::
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Who knows what happened on this day 58 years ago? Anyone?

That's right, August 6th 1945 was the day we dropped the first nuclear bomb on Japan.

A few points to ...umm...point out:


1) We didn't start the war, Japan did.

2) We asked, begged, cajoled, pleaded with, and warned Japan to surrender first.

3) Our best estimate was that it would cost 1 MILLION American service men their lives if we were to invade the Japanese mainlands. This estimate was based on our previous experiance in the Pacific and was not just pulled out of our butt.

The closer we got to the home islands the worse the resistance was and the greater our casualties were. We suffered half of all casualities in the Pacific from April to July of 1945. In Okinawa we lost one American for every two Japanese killed, so it was reasonable to assume a similar ratio for the home islands. Since there was a 2 million man army in Japan at the time, we were looking at 1 million dead Americans.

4) We were, at the time, bombing the hell out of Japan with conventional bombs and firebombs and were causing just as much destruction to the cities and to the civilian population. In fact, my understanding is that part of the reason we choose the cities we did was because they were relatively free of existing bomb damage. The big thing was that all this damage came from ONE bomb. Civillians were killed in probably every bombing raid (by any side) in the war, not just when we dropped the atomic bomb. The two bombs killed approximately 150,000 people when they fell. Earlier in the year, intense bombing of Tokyo with conventional bombs had killed about 225,000 people without causing Japan to surrender. It was not one atomic bomb, or two, which brought surrender; it was the experience of what an atomic bomb will actually do to a community, plus the dread of many more, that was effective. If 500 bombers with firebombs could cause so much destruction to Tokyo, what could 500 bombers with atomic bombs do?

5) After dropping the bomb on Hiroshima we again asked the Japanese to surrender. They did not. So we dropped another bomb. Even then the millitary staged a coup and tried to stop the Emperor from surrendering. Luckily they failed, and Japan did surrender. Even after the Emperor surrendered there was another millitary uprising and thousands of officers killed themselves rather than surrender. Remember that: we were up against people who would rather die than surrender. Historically, if you don't mind dying yourself you are very difficult to beat.

6) We didn't drop the bomb on Japan instead of Germany because we were racist. Look at Dresden for cryin' out loud. If we were not wanting to kill "white folks" would we've firebombed the city? Nope. We destroyed that city to see how much damage we could do. Turns out, we can do a hell of a lot of damage. We didn't drop nukes on Germany because we didn't have them ready in time. They surrendered before we had a chance to drop them.

7) A lot of people point out that Japan was trying to surrender as early as May of 1945. What they forget is that by that time we had cracked not only the Imperial Navy's codes but also the diplomatic codes. Sure, we knew about their attempts at surrender, but we also knew that they were lies BECAUSE WE WERE ABLE TO READ THE ACTUAL ORDERS SENT OUT not just what the diplomats were saying to our faces. Also please note that just prior to the start (by Japan) of our involvement in WWII (by bombing Perl Harbor) there was a lot of dipomatic activity by the Japanese to convince us that they'd never go to war with us. Even had we not cracked their codes why would you believe what they were saying? (moot question, as we did crack their codes and knew exactly what they were up to)


:: gandalf23 1:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Important Axiom:

Diagnostics only find known problems.


:: gandalf23 11:24:00 AM [+] ::
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I was just up in my parent's attic looking for my Electronic Battleship and Axis & Allies games and I found two unused 2-drawer, industrial filecabinets each just shy of 29 inches tall. I think I'm going to use them as the "legs" of my desk. I may need to paint them, and I need to figure out what color to stain the desk top. I'll still go ahead and make some saw horses, 'cause you can always use sawhorses.

Still have no idea where Electronic Battleship and Axis & Allies are. Maybe in the warehouse?
:: gandalf23 9:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Update: I now know Dean's last name. It's....shoot...well dang it....I asked this morning and was told it.... Dearman? Yeah, that's it. Dearman. So my sister will become the next Mrs. Dearman.


:: gandalf23 11:39:00 AM [+] ::
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Wow.



must...get...more...ammo.....(first must get better job, then can get more ammo)


this is not my stash. This is the stash that I aspire to emulate. Sadly, I have not so much ammo at my disposal :( I may post a picture of my meager stash in a few days.



:: gandalf23 10:59:00 AM [+] ::
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Ever wanted to write in Elvish? Well, now you can. Pretty cool. Now I can print out the text on the One Ring and try and get someone to engrave it on a ring for me :)

Ok, I'm a dork. But still, who doesn't want their very own Ring of Power, especially the One Ring?


:: gandalf23 9:57:00 AM [+] ::
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From the Washington Post:



U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters
Intensified Offensive Leads To Detentions, Intelligence

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2003; Page A01

Thousands of suspected Iraqi fighters were detained over the six-week period, many temporarily, in hundreds of U.S. military raids, most of them conducted in the dead of night. In the expansive region north of Baghdad patrolled by the 4th Infantry Division, more than 300 Iraqi fighters were killed in combat operations, the military officials said. In the same period, U.S. forces in all of Iraq have suffered 39 combat deaths. The continuing casualties -- such as the four soldiers killed Saturday -- are the direct result of the intensified U.S. offensive, the military officials added.

At the beginning of June, before the U.S. offensives began, the reward for killing an American soldier was about $300, an Army officer said. Now, he said, street youths are being offered as much as $5,000 -- and are being told that if they refuse, their families will be killed, a development the officer described as a sign of reluctance among once-eager youths to take part in the strikes.

Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.

The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.

Tips began paying off so quickly that officials would launch one raid before another was completed, allowing troops to catch some targets off-guard because they didn't know that fellow resistance fighters had been apprehended. Iraqi resistance fighters in the Sunni triangle at first tried to attack U.S. forces directly with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. While some killed U.S. troops, many attempts were ineffective. So in recent weeks, military officers said, Iraqi fighters have turned to other weapons.

Senior U.S. commanders here are so confident about their recent successes that they have begun debating whether victory is in sight. "I think we're at the hump" now, a senior Central Command official said. "I think we could be over the hump fairly quickly" -- possibly within a couple of months, he added.

Hogg, whose troops are still engaged in combat every day, agreed. "I think we're fixing to turn the corner," he said Thursday. "I think the operations over the next couple of weeks will get us there."


:: gandalf23 9:16:00 AM [+] ::
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Administration In Crisis Over Burgeoning Quagmire

Washington DC, August 12, 1945 (Routers)

President Truman is coming under increasing fire from some Congressional Republicans for what appears to be a deteriorating security situation in occupied Germany, with some calling for his removal from office.

Over three months after a formal declaration of an end to hostilities, the occupation is bogged down. Fanatical elements of the former Nazi regime who, in their zeal to liberate their nation from the foreign occupiers, call themselves members of the Werwolf (werewolves) continue to commit almost-daily acts of sabotage against Germany's already-ravaged infrastructure, and attack American troops. They have been laying road mines, poisoning food and water supplies, and setting various traps, often lethal, for the occupying forces.

It's not difficult to find antagonism and anti-Americanism among the population--many complain of the deprivation and lack of security. There are thousands of homeless refugees, and humanitarian efforts seem confused and inadequate.

In the wake of the budding disaster, some have called for more international participation in peacekeeping.

A Red Cross official said that, "...the German people will be more comfortable if their conquerors weren't now their overlords. It makes it difficult to argue that this wasn't an imperialistic war when the occupying troops in the western sector are exclusively American, British and French."

The administration, of course, claims that, given the chaos of the recent war, such a situation is to be expected, and that things will improve with time. As to the suggestion to internationalize the occupying forces, the administration had no official comment, but an unofficial one was a repetition of the quote from General McAuliffe, when asked to surrender in last winter's Battle of the Bulge--"Nuts."

In an attempt to minimize the situation, a White House spokesman pointed out that the casualties were extremely light, and militarily inconsequential, particularly when compared to the loss rates prior to VE Day. Also, the attacks seem to be dying down with each passing month. But this statement was leaped upon by some as heartless, trivializing the deaths and injuries of young American men.

Many critics back in Washington seem now to be prescient, with their previous warnings of just such an outcome a little over a year ago.

One congressman said that "...it's time to ask whether the German people are better off now than they were a few months ago. Yes, a brutal dictator has been deposed, but at least the electricity and water supply were mostly working, and the trains running on time. After years of killing them and destroying their infrastructure with American bombs, it seems to me that the German people have suffered enough without the chaos that our occupation, with its inadequate policing, is bringing."

It's not clear how much support the Werwolf has among the populace, who may be afraid to speak their true minds, given the fearfully overwhelming "Allied" presence in the country. But it is possible that, like the guerilla forces themselves, the people have been inspired by Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels' pre-victory broadcasts, and those of Radio Werwolf.

"God has given up the protection of the people . . . Satan has taken command." Goebbels broadcast last spring. "We Werewolves consider it our supreme duty to kill, to kill and to kill, employing every cunning and wile in the darkness of the night, crawling, groping through towns and villages, like wolves, noiselessly, mysteriously."

While no new broadcasts of Goebbels' voice have been heard since early May, no one can be certain as to whether he is alive or dead, and continuing to help orchestrate the attacks and boost morale among the forces for German liberation. As long as his fate, and more importantly, that of the former leader Adolf Hitler himself, remains unresolved, the prospects for pacifying the brutally conquered country may be dim.

Although Grand-Admiral Donitz made a radio announcement of Hitler's brave death in battle to the beleaguered German people on the evening of May 1, some doubt the veracity of that statement, and there has been no evidence to support it, or any body identified as the former Fuehrer's. Rumors of his whereabouts continue to abound, including reported sightings as far away as South America, and many still believe that he is hiding with the "Edelweiss" organization, with thousands of Wehrmacht troops, in a mountain stronghold near the Swiss border.

Many have criticized flawed intelligence for our failure to find him, causing some, in the runup to next year's congressional elections, to call for an investigation.

A staffer of one prominent Senator said, "For months, starting last fall, we were told by this administration that Hitler would make a last stand in a 'National Redoubt' in Bavaria. General Bradley diverted troops to the south and let the Russians take Berlin on the basis of this knowledge. But now we find out that there was no such place, and that Hitler was in Berlin all along. And now we're told that we can't even be sure of where he is, or whether he's alive or dead."

For many, marching in the streets with signs of "No Blood For Soviet Socialism," and "It's All About The Coal," this merely confirmed that the administration had other agendas than its stated one, and that the war was unjustified and unjustifiable.

General Bradley's staff has protested that this is an unfair criticism--that the strategic decision made by General Eisenhower was driven by many factors, of which Hitler's whereabouts were a minor one, but this hasn't silenced the critics, some of whom have bravely called for President Truman's impeachment.

But some have taken the criticism further, and say that failure to get Hitler means a failed war itself.

"Sure, it's nice to have released all those people from the concentration camps, but we were told we were going to war against Hitler, even though he'd done nothing to us," argued one concerned anti-war Senator. "Now they say that we have 'Victory in Europe,' but it seems to me that if they can't produce the man we supposedly went to war against, it's a pretty hollow victory. Without this man that they told us was such a great threat to America, how can even they claim that this war was justified?"

(Copyright 2003 by Rand Simberg)


:: gandalf23 9:09:00 AM [+] ::
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You may remember the pictures that I posted a while ago of our Marines destroying AK-47s in Iraq and how I said it was both sad and stupid? Well, seems I was right, we are now looking to buy 34,000 AK-47s for the Iraqis! I say, if we have to buy them, we buy them from Poland. They should have a bunch stored away somewhere. And since they supported us in the war, I say we throw them this bone. If not Poland, then maybe Romania or the former Yugoslavia, they both make AKs. Not from Russia or China though.


:: gandalf23 1:22:00 PM [+] ::
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Defend your castle is a very fun game. You umm...defend your castle from hordes of malevolent stick figures. You have two choices: 1) You can click on the stick figures and just knoick them down or 2) the more historically correct(*) way, you can drag them into the sky and release them. Usually they fall to their deaths that way, but not always. It's especially fun to fling them towards the left side of the screen so that they bounce off and go flying through the stratospehere before landing.

You earn points for each foe that is dispatched. You can use points to repair damage to the wall, build a temple that lets you capture the stick figures, train the capture stick figures in archery or explosive or repair work, all kinds of fun stuff. Eventually you can have magic spells to smite down the stick figures with. It's really quite fun. Check it out.


* Historically correct in that usually when the Hand Of God, or at least a Gigantic Disembodied Hand reaches down from the sky to disrupt people in their attack on a castle it does not just tie their shoelaces together so that they trip, it smites them with great vengeance and furious anger.


:: gandalf23 8:09:00 AM [+] ::
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If anyone has a desk that they are getting rid of lemme know. Even if the top is trashed, I have a good top, I just don't have the rest of the desk. I've got three 8 foor by 3 foot veryvery heavy doors, I figured one would make a good desk top, the other two would be good workbench tops. I think I'll end up building the rest of the desk from scratch. I want it to look nice, but I also need it quickly. Usually quick and nice-looking are mutually exclusive for me. I can always go uber-cheap and just use some saw horses for now and then when I have the time/money do something nicer. hmmmm....
:: gandalf23 1:51:00 PM [+] ::
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Well aparently the perfect girl for me lives in England. I just wish I'd known that a few weeks ago :) My mom's best friend's daughter and her husband have found the perfect girl for me. She's pretty and likes computers. That's about all I know. There're only going to be in England for another year so I guess I better hurry up and head back over there.


:: gandalf23 1:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Very Interesting. Two people are at a restraunt having a disagreement. Both leave something at the table but forget that they do. However, each notices that the other left something. Now the interesting part. One of them gets the item that the other left and hands it to the forgetful person. Only one of them does this. What's that say?




:: gandalf23 7:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Interesting






:: gandalf23 11:02:00 AM [+] ::
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I thought about getting this T-shirt to wear a as joke at the next 3 gun match, but then I decided that I don't want to give these folks any of my money. Since the guy is unarmed, though I figure I can probably steal it off him, no problem. According to the site he shouldn't even fight back as that would be promotting violence. :)



just kidding. sheeesh! I'll just buy one of these from Flashbunny.org instead.






:: gandalf23 9:00:00 AM [+] ::
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Well, my little sister is engaged.

Wow.

She and her boyfriend fiance are on vacation in Cozumel (not the restraunt [which would be an odd place to spend one's vacation], but the place off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico). She emailed me yesterday with a rather brief email: "i said yes!"

I'm assuming she meant to his proposal of marriage. Perhaps she meant "Yes, I'd like some more lobster, por favor" but I kinda doubt it. Although, really, who doesn't want more lobster?

They've been talking of buying property out in Weatherford and building a house. I don't see Glenda living in the country, but who knows.

I like Dean. That's his name. Don't know his last name, guess I better ask, but it's soo awkward after you've met someone a few times to ask them what their name is. Maybe I'l just wait till I get the wedding invitation. Anyway, he seems like a nice enough guy. Has a good job out at Bell Helicopter, has a big truck and a Harley and a big riding lawnmower. Wants to build an airplane. Likes to shoot. He seems to have some sort of affection for my sister, and is willing to put up with her bizarreness, so that's good, too. :)


:: gandalf23 8:57:00 AM [+] ::
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hehehehehee

:: gandalf23 1:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Jeez!

Looks like things are just nuts in the Isle of the Britons (and the Scots and the Welsh). To quote:

"The protests began with demonstrations by less than two dozen people outside the gates of the Huntingdon centre. These quickly turned violent, with threats to kill staff and to attack their families.

Within a month, activists began making "home visits", often in the middle of the night. Windows were broken, cars damaged and rape alarms thrown on to roofs so that the piercing noise could not be switched off.

Two senior directors of HLS - Brian Cass, the managing director, and Andrew Gay, the marketing director - were attacked. Two years ago Mr Cass, 54, was set upon and beaten so badly that he needed hospital treatment.

"I arrived home in the dark, got out of my car, turned around and there were three individuals with what looked like pick-axe handles already raised above their heads. I protected myself as best I could but they hit me on the back of the head," he said.

Mr Gay, 47, who is married with four children, was also assaulted outside his home. "Andrew stepped out of his car and two people sprayed something in his face and punched him," a company spokesman said.

"He stumbled against his front door and fortunately it opened. He fell in front of his wife and three-year- old daughter. Andrew went to hospital and for hours didn't know if he would see properly again." Mr Gay made a full recovery, although on another occasion last year 180 protesters turned up at his home highlighting his "murderous" activities. It was the biggest of more than a dozen protests at his house during the past year."

It's funny to me that this thing started over a video of someone punching a beagle in the face. So you have these folks protesting violence to animals by....umm...atttacking humans! Yeah, that's a great idea. Nothing ironic there. Sheesh!

Also note this quote:

"Activists say that they sense "victory" in their attempt to shut down Europe's largest contract medical research centre."
So, ummm...where exactly will future reasearch be done? From my reading of the article, it seems that this company does testing of new drugs so that they can be declared safe for human use. If this place closes, who will do the testing? Will there be no new drugs in Europe or England? Do the people that protest even think about stuff like this?

On the plus side, tactics like this would not work in America. We'd shoot the bloody buggers!

"On Thursday, 1,200 company employees will be sent a short, factual e-mail by their management. It will warn them that animal rights activists are planning a 48-hour weekend of action from midnight on August 1 and staff should take extra care over their safety at home.

For two days and nights, employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) will face an even greater likelihood of having bricks thrown through their windows, their cars covered in paint-stripper, incendiary devices put through their letter boxes and hooded men attacking them as they walk from the car to the front door."

In the US, blowing up or setting fire to mail boxes is a FEDERAL offense. Carries a large amount of time, too. You don't want to piss off the post office. No sir.

Hooded men attacking you at night? Shoot 'em! Oh wait, that's right, you can't in England because a) you have no guns, and b) you'll go to jail This wouldn't happen in Texas. I'd like to think that this crap wouldn't happen anywhere in the US, but sadly, I'm sure some people would put up with it and condone it.
:: gandalf23 7:52:00 AM [+] ::
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