Things have been relatively quiet on the Jihad front this week, but there’s always something happening:
(Hat tips: JihadWatch, Fark, Instapundit, Michael Totten, and the usual suspects.)
This Week in Jihad for February 9, 2011
February 10th, 2011Mubarak to be Replaced by Military?
February 10th, 2011So goes the rumor de jour. Of course, since Obama’s CIA director Leon Panetta is one of the sources of information, I would take that with a huge grain of salt…
Ex-Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer Looking to Run for President
February 9th, 2011If Buddy Roemer’s name is unfamiliar to you, that’s because he was last governor in January of 1992, which was the year after he switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party. Twenty years is an awful long time time for someone to go between elections, much less for someone most famous for losing to ex-Klansman David Duke. (Duke has been thankfully absent from our political landscape as of late, his support for left-wing anti-war catspaw Cindy Sheehan notwithstanding.)
If anyone outside his immediate family has been urging Mr. Roemer to run, it has escaped my attention…
Video of 2012 Republican Senate Contenders
February 8th, 2011From Rick Perry vs. The World comes this dandy video roundup of various Republican contenders for the 2012 Senate race. I hope to have time to watch all of them sometime today…
Israeli Army Training (and some desert mysteries)
February 7th, 2011I saw this dandy Michael Totten piece on Israeli military preparation (including building an entire town for training exercises) a few weeks ago, and meant to write something about it, but got busy with other things.
Being a curious sort, I went searching for that training center on Google maps, and think it might be at 31.163869, 34.532279; you may have to zoom out or scroll south and to the west to see it, since Google Maps centers on the nearest road. (I don’t think anything visible on Google Maps is a military secret, and I doubt anyone in Hamas reads my blog anyway.)
However, even more interesting is the structure due south of it at 31.139718, 34.531937:
There are a lot of structures in the Nagev with a sort of circular berm around them, and I guess those are just oases or something equally benign. But the interesting thing about this one is the big X across the top of it. what is that? Storage facility? Secret silo? For all I know it could be a hazardous waste dump.
But given the Big X, I’m guessing this is the entrance for Professor Charles Francis Xavier’s secret Israeli academy for mutants…
Texas Democrat (and House Financial Services Committee Member) Ruben Hinojosa Declares Bakruptcy
February 5th, 2011“Texas Democratic Congressman Ruben Hinojosa – a member of the House Financial Services Committee – filed for personal bankruptcy late last year.”
The eight-term congressman was forced to file for bankruptcy after Wells Fargo Bank won an arbitration hearing that found Hinojosa owed the bank $2.6 million. That left him with $2.9 million in liabilities against less than $1.5 million in assets.
If I put this in a novel, an editor would reject it for heavy-handed symbolism…
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
Bullettime (Guns Firing in Slow Motion)
February 4th, 2011With snow and ice here in Austin, it’s been a bit of slow day. And what better for a slow day than some slow-motion gun porn?
I chanced across one of these researching information on the Lugar for a story I’m writing, and thought it provided a nice view of the Lugar’s feed and ejection mechanism, giving viewers a chance to see how it differs from the M1911’s mechanism for accomplishing the same thing. So I concentrated on videos that show mechanism cycling rather than bullet impact.
(None of these are my videos, I collected them off of YouTube, so I can’t take any credit (or any blame for the musical choices).)
The Lugar:
Here’s a M1911 Commander 45:
Here’s a cutaway animation of how an M1911 works:
Sig Sauer 22 and 9mm
Here’s real slow motion of an M16 and an M1911:
A Tanfoglio Gold Team (not sure the caliber, but similar vidoes have been for .38 Super):
Here’s a Thompson submachine gun (one of which I fired once upon a time):
A whole bunch of different guns:
Finally, here’s a dad teaching his son to fire a gun for the first time. His three year old son. On a minigun. BEST DAD EVER!
When Democrats Refer to “Stakeholders,” They Mean Lobbyists, Not Taxpayers
February 4th, 2011Terrified of the prospect of congressional Republicans that actually want to cut the budget, Senate Democrats have sent out an emergency distress call to lobbyists:
In an e-mail obtained by ABC News, a top staffer for the key Senate Appropriations subcommittee called for a meeting of lobbyists and interest groups that would be affected by expected cuts to the Labor and Heath and Human Services budget. The Jan. 24 meeting was attended by approximately 400 people, sources told ABC, and served as a “call to arms” for those determined to fight Republican budget cuts.
“One thing everyone should be able to agree on now is that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that a higher [Labor, Health & Human Services] allocation improves the chances for every stakeholder group to receive more funding,” the committee staffer for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wrote in an e-mail inviting people to the meeting.
So remember: When Democrats think about “stakeholders,” they mean the lobbyists that wallow up to the trough to feast on giant piles of taxpayer money. Actual taxpayers aren’t their concern…
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades)