Chrism Mass, 2015

I drove to Bedford today, which is a kind of suburb of Fort Worth. It's where our cathedral is and that's where we go every year for the diocesan Chrism Mass.

It wasn't good to drive through the metrosprawl, but I did like being with the clergy and meeting up with like-minded friends.

Blue Liturgical came along for the ride, and got looked after by the kitchen staff, while we ate lunch. He seemed to enjoy the adventure, and one senior clergyman told me that "you should never trust a priest who doesn't like dogs."

God bless,

LSP

All the Colors of the Rainbow

Perhaps you've been following the gay war against Christian bakers, in which the tolerance brigade ask the bakers to bake them a gay cake for their gay wedding. When the Christians refuse, they get sued, and either get gay or go bankrupt and shut up shop.

To stop that kind of thing happening, Indiana passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This allows for-profit businesses the right to "the free exercise of religion." Christian bakers, in Indiana, can't be sued by gays for not getting gay with their cakes.

A Typical Gay Cake

For that matter, Muslim catering firms can't be sued by pork chop Evangelicals for refusing to cook up delicious pulled pig. Neither can lesbian publishing houses be sued by zealous Catholics for refusing to print heteronormative tracts.

Ellen and Portia, Eating Cake

Sounds fair enough, eh? But no. Not if you're part of the pink steamroller equality juggernaut. For Angieslist and Apple's CEO, nothing must be allowed to stand in the way of gayness. Nothing, and certainly not religion. So for them, Indiana's RFRA is abhorrent. You can read Breitbart's take here, and the libleft gay Atlantic, here.

What do I think? Well done, Indiana. Stick to your guns.

LSP 

Go On, Get A Pistol

In a bold attempt to break personal stereotypes, I emailed someone who knows about guns. What pistol should I get, I asked, and got this reply, You’re a Texan for heck sake…you will also need a wheel gun.

That set me thinking, all the way to the nearest gun shop, where I picked up a S&W .357 Magnum. The .357 is a serious round. Can it crack an engine block? I don't know, I haven't tried that, but I do know I liked that revolver.

It just felt right.

LSP

Deadly Assault Rifle Got More Deadlier #AR 15 Build

This blog is mostly concerned with the life of the mind, so it may not surprise you to know that I've been busy turning one AR 15 into two AR 15s, all thanks to a church person who offered to build me a new upper for my stock CMMG.

While I was waiting on that, I thought I'd teach myself to assemble, or build, these rifles, and started off by installing a new hand guard and gas block on my existing carbine. Then, thinking that the new upper-in-waiting could do with a better lower receiver, I went out and built one. Thanks, Fun Guns, in Waco, and Spike's.

The new upper arrived today after Mass, and I'm pleased. It's made out of parts from Rainier Arms: 18" match grade barrel, 1-8 twist, mid-length gas system w/micro gas block, nickel boron bolt carrier group, compensator, keymod hand guard, and a Hipertouch Enhanced Duty Trigger (4.5 lb, single stage). Hogue grip, Magpul stock, back up sights and magazine(s).

My old carbine can stay as just that, a 2 MOA red dot sight carbine, and I'll swap out the free float tube for a keymod rail system. Why? It'd be lighter, neater, and I think it looks more deadlier. The new rifle gets to have a 1x6 optic, and I'll be shopping around for that.

Kick out the Jams,

LSP

Palm Sunday, 2015

I won't preach, because I've done that twice today already, but I will leave you with the Palm Sunday Collect:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Have a very blessed day and Holy Week.

LSP

Hippies. Such Thieves

Maybe you think Hippies are harmless tricksters. You know, no-one-cares, long-haired-layabouts. Yeah, well, keep thinking that.

Until they steal your sail boat.

Hippies.

Such thieves.

LSP

It's Going Down

Check out Western Rifle Shooters Association. (thx for pics) And you know what they say, resist, by any means necessary.

Part of that means not being an NWO shill, or an Illuminati stooge puppet. Both of those things hate Christianity, by the way. 

God bless,

LSP

Wiped Clean!!

Presented without comment.

LSP

Get Out And Shoot

It was a beautiful morning, here in Texas, so I thought I'd better hurry up and head off to the range to see if the AR 15 lower receiver I built the other day actually worked.

First things first, I loaded Blue Tactical into the truck along with gun stuff and bought some ammo, 5.56, 62 grain, out of Turkey. It was cheap, and that appealed.

Did the lower work? It worked flawlessly, with no malfunctions over several hundred rounds. Very pleasing. But here's the thing, my red dot sight (RDS) was zeroed at 100 yards for 55 grain ammo, which meant it was off for 62 grain ammo.

If I'd been a smart shooter, I would have used my not-so-smart-phone to look up ballistic charts for the ammo I had in hand and zeroed accordingly. To help myself, you, and all the world, I've included a chart in this post to save everyone a lot time, money, and aggro. 

People like LL, who have forgotten more about shooting than I will ever know, may laugh at this. But hey, we learn by mistakes, unless you're the Church of England, or the Administration. In which case you don't.

I got on, in the end, after a lot of unnecessary messing around with my RDS. But the main thing is, the lower receiver worked perfectly. It'll go with my new upper, which should be ready in a day or two. I'm excited by that.

Blue Tactical was excited by the gunfire. So much so that he had to have a time-out in the bed of the truck. He liked that too.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Church of England Gets Another Woman Bishop!

The Church of England has promoted another woman to one of its most important jobs, the Bishop of Gloucester.

Rachel Treweek was just an Archdeacon in Hackney, when she got the go-ahead from the CofE's Top Brass to become the first ever woman Bishop of Gloucester. She takes over from bishop Michael Pelham, who was accused of sexual misconduct and resigned from his post.

According to the BBC, Treweek is a "natural leader" and has "a voice that speaks up for those who are marginalised; and a compassionate voice that speaks into lives and places which are hurting."

I think that's beautiful.

Maybe Treweek will reverse the church of England's implosion into risible irrelevancy.

LSP

Is the State Department High, on Crack?

The Obama Administration released 5 top Jihad "generals" in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Bergdahl has been subsequently charged with desertion, by the Army.

The Administration's PR flak, Jen Psaki, explained the move in terms of "tracking."

“We have the ability to track and work with the Qataris. The reason that we know that individuals were reportedly online and engaging with individuals they shouldn’t be is because we track it. It means the system of tracking works.”

Tracking? Surely we're experts. See "NSA."

And we have to ask, is the Administration high, on crack?

LSP

The Feast of the Annunciation

Today's the Feast of the Annunciation, and we rejoice with Mary over the message of an angel, Gabriel, which leads to the Incarnation of the Word and the salvation of mankind.

With that thought in mind, I drove North on the Dallas Tollway to visit Front Sight Firearms. They have a good-looking online presence and I was hoping to pick up an Aero Precision, 7.62 lower receiver. Buy it there and then, I thought, and save yourself FFL transfer fees and hassle. I also like to see what I buy before I buy it; old fashioned, I know, but that's me.

It was weird, driving out to far, far North Dallas, and it's something I rarely do. Miles upon miles of corporate headquarters, nestled between behemoth malls, big box stores and endless subdivisions. All bisected by highways; tomorrow's world today.

But  not my world, so it was strange to see. Not necessarily bad, but alien. McKinney was more of the same, neat little strip-malls with frozen yogurt franchises, and roads that aren't potholed. Look right or left, and you can see the subdivisions. Do the houses have plastic siding? I didn't investigate.

However, I did check out the gun shop. Word to the wise, Front Sight isn't what it appears online. They didn't have my lower, in fact they scorned it, which is odd, and the bored, dismissive, gun nerd behind the counter couldn't even be bothered to engage in right-wing gun shop banter, much less sell me anything. So I bought a Magpul flip-up front sight and left the store.

Is there anything good about Front Sight's shopfront? There is. Their prices are alright, (unlike Ray's) and what they have on offer seems good quality. But there isn't much of it. Don't waste your time going there, unless you're in the area and want to see the suburban metrosprawl. That's my advice. But hey, check them out, maybe they have what you want.

A few hours later I was back in the country. That seemed more normal to me, and I liked it.

Have a blessed Feast of the Annunciation, and ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for her powerful intercession.

God bless,

LSP

Train Hard, Think Positive, Fight Easy

We're not snobs, here at DLC HQ. Sometimes we like a glass of the right stuff, after a hard day's training.

As you were,

LSP

Presbyterian Church Goes Gay

The Presbyterian Church has become America's largest Protestant denomination to endorse gay marriage, after changing its Constitution to read that marriage is a "commitment between two people," instead of a man and a woman only.

The new definition of marriage was ratified last week by the declining denomination's 171 regional Presbyteries, giving the go-ahead for same-sex marriage rituals in all of the church's 10,000 congregations. 

Rev. Robin White, who lives with her spouse, Rhonda, and acts as Co-Moderator of More Light Presbyterians, was pleased with the decision.

“So many families headed by LGBTQ couples have been waiting for decades to enter this space created for their families within their church communities,”

So many LGBTQ families? How many would that be? In the meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church has lost over 20% of its membership in the last decade, losing just under 200,000 members in 2012 and 2013 alone.

Maybe gay marriage will reverse this disturbing trend. Just like it has in the Episcopal Church.

Don't hold your breath.

LSP

The Government is Your Friend

Texas seems really free, compared to England. How's that? The Government isn't telling you what to do at every turn. Nanny State is a whole lot less evident. Are people happier for that? You better believe they are.

Soon we'll have open carry, and that'll help roll back Nanny a bit more. I look forward to that. Less Government, please. How does it even benefit you? Does it, at all? Maybe it's just a vicious parasite, to be shucked off and left to die, on the East and West Coasts.

Ask yourselves. How do a gang of rich insider oligarchs, based in DC and New York, who scorn you, and look down on you, who are beyond your wildest dreams of imagining RICH, and despise you accordingly, how do these people deserve to be our leaders.

Are they more honest, more skilled, more faithful, smarter? Worthy, like Hillary Clinton, because of great stateswomanlike wisdom and gravitas? Or are they just that much more cunning and wicked? Better at hiding their emails, servers and foreign bank accounts.

Or, to put it another way, are we sick of being ruled by crooks?

There will come a point when this will not hold.

Arm up.

LSP

Juke Box Sunday

Part of the ethos behind this family blog is firearms, or guns. And I'm in an AR phase right now; I like the little gas-driven heaters. But some people think they lack knock-down stopping power, and they call these deadly assault rifles "poodle guns."

With that in mind, I wouldn't mind something a bit heavier. Like an M14. Some of you might think this rifle passed out of use, services no longer required. Think again and check out LL's post on the M14 and its enhanced SEAL variant.

When we ride on Austin and hook West to take out Burning Man and San Francisco, there'll be a few EBRs in the mix. And Drones. Obviously.

Shoot straight,

LSP

We're Riding on Austin

I said to my MC this morning, before Mass, "Mr.******, we're fixing to ride on Austin." He's an outstanding horseman, so I figured he should be in on the action. "That's right," I continued, "And when we've sorted out Austin we'll head West, and take out Burning Man."

Typical Austin Street Scene

"Then San Francisco."

"But why San Francisco?" asked a nervous church person. 

"Because it's a hippy capital. Of the world."

Get a Haircut LSP

By the time our flying column moves out of Austin, I predict we'll be at Brigade strength.

A Couple of Monkeyheads at Burning Man

That might be needed.

LSP

Fun Guns in Waco, Texas

I know. You should be patient in firearms acquisition. Don't rush into things. But I didn't want to go through the hassle of a transfer and FFL fees to get an Aero Precision lower receiver. So I drove to Waco, where Fun Guns (which ones aren't?) promised stripped lowers, ready to go. 

The first thing you notice about Fun Guns is that they're playing Led Zep, the Stones, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple and all kinds of '70s rock, which is alright by me. The next thing you see is your old pal, D, Waco's famous gunsmith, shut down by the Administration, behind the counter. D once told me that "the .303 is a shark gun." Right on.

Alright then, you look around the store, pick out what you want, and find yourself agreeably pleased by friendly, helpful, and generally young staff.

I bought a Spike's stripped lower, nothing wrong with that, and gave the completed background check form to the tattooed but efficient-seeming AR afficionado in charge. He phoned up the Feds and got into trouble with the birthplace part of the form. So he questioned:

"What's 'Oxford,' man?"

"It's like a city. In England."

"Yeah, I know, there's a few."

"Oxford, England. Not Oxford, Kansas, or wherever."

"Gotcha."

Check done, I complimented the store on its music policy, and learned that St. Patrick's Day meant listening to the Dropkick Murphys. Shipping up to Boston? On St. Pat's, for sure.

If you're in Waco and you want a welcoming place to visit, check out Fun Guns. They're alright.

Shoot on,

LSP