Boots On The Ground

Pair of old boots

Decided to take a break from reading commentaries on St. Augustine and "freedom" to write about boots. I've been using a pair of 8" Bates desert boots with suede & nylon uppers, vibram Durashock soles and goretex inners. A very comfortable boot with good traction and until recently, surprisingly waterproof - waded about in the shallows off Aberystwyth a few months ago and came out completely dry. They've held up well too knocking about the country - in the brush, along half dry creek beds and at the stables; so along with the U.S. military I guess I'd recommend them. But they're not without problems.

On mine the sole started to delaminate from the upper; I solved this with Locktite superglue, which has held up well but its annoying to have to use it at all.

Superglue Solution

More seriously, I discovered that when they leak they hold water and refuse to dry. What seems to happen is that water gets held between the leather/nylon upper and the goretex inner lining, with the whole boot acting as a kind of heavy squelching sponge. Granted it took a storm to get this effect but still, the boot's effectiveness was seriously compromised by its inability to lose the water and dry out. A real problem for anyone having to wear them for any length of time in wet conditions. Solution? Heavy duty, breathable, waterproof spray - I think. Better yet, a system that doesn't trap water in the boot. Also, for Texan country use, the Bates boot doesn't give much protection against snakes, which is fine until it isn't.

With that in mind and looking for something that'd be inexpensive, better at the stables and still good for getting out in the field, I went down to the local Tractor Supply Store and bought a pair of 10" Wolverines.

New Wolverines

They seem sturdy, comparatively well made and comfortable. Also they don't have the treacherous goretex lining which I've grown to suspect; I'll see how they hold up. In the meanwhile, the Bates pair still have plenty of life in them.

Back to the African Doctor now.

Cheers,

LSP

Alien Invasion!

Nancy Pelosi - Space Creature?

I thought it was just TEC (The Episcopal Church) that had been taken over by Aliens, but I was naive, myopic even. They're here in far greater force than at first I thought. Here's what Mind Stew has to say on the subject:

"Is Nancy Pelosi some kind of robot or is she an alien? One thing is for sure. There is no way in hell she is human.

Physical Observations:

Skin. It looks as though she has some sort of synthetic skin covering. It could be some kind of bio-mechanical material draped over a mechanical or extraterrestrial skeleton.

Eyes. Always open to the point it looks insane, her eyes are simply creepy. In addition, her eyes never blink. This has people all over begging the question “What the ***k?”

Face. Varies greatly in shape and structure from the human species. Again, this appears to be made of some plastic or synthetic material. Definitely not carbon based."

You can read the whole analysis here, but I'm afraid its not just Nancy. No, there's plenty more candidates and, just think, they're running the country.

Yours contra Alien menace,

LSP

Lebensraum

Justice Ginsberg - getting rid of undesirables

Speaking to the New York Times, Justice Ginsburg had this to say about Roe v. Wade:

Q: "Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid abortions for poor women?"

Justice Ginsburg: "Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae -- in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion."

Question: Who was concerned about 'population growth' in the 1970s and just who is it that Ginsburg's 'we' would rather have less of? Surely not the poor people that Ehrlich wanted to eliminate in his discredited catastrophe theory "The Population Bomb." And what about Dr. John Holdren, Obama's new Science & Technology Czar? He was pretty active in the '70s too, advocating (see Lindy's Blog) that:

Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not.

The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food.

Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise.

People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.

A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

Holdren, Eugenicist (from Jill Stanek)

You can look up Holdren's Sangerite theorising in his 1977 book, Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment. Or simply go to Musings from the Elephant Man.

I know this isn't about guns or country life, but it is about God. I think He's against Holdren, Ginsburg and their new school lebensraum.

Defende Nos.

LSP

PS. Food for thought - is there a link to the drug addict satanist A. Crowley in all of this? Note: The rascist eugenicist founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a friend and lover of Havelock Ellis - so perhaps there is...

Churches I Like

The Brompton Oratory, High Altar

Sunday started off as per usual, with several Sung Masses at the Missions, then everything changed. I didn't get to try my luck against hogs, wild dogs, horses, or even spurious set up targets out in the countryside. No, there was none of that. Instead I got to drive to Dallas and move furniture for one of my sisters in blistering heat - I gained a bed and a Barbour out of the deal; not bad, but not the same as getting out in the field after worshiping the Alpha and Omega.

Anyway, my mind strayed to the Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge/South Kensington, which I used to love when living in London. Beautiful music, Latin Mass, no liberal 'nuns' wailing away with guitars, and sidesmen (greeters) with peculiar green tail coats and brass buttons - probably Colonels. Go there if you can and experience transcendent worship; what's the point of any other? After Mass its always fun to knock about and enjoy a pint (or several) at the Grenadier. LSP points out of ten for an outstanding church? I have to give the Oratory a solid 8, which is by no means shabby.

God bless,

LSP

All Purpose Bird Gun

Remington 870

Dove season's not far off, September 1st, so naturally the mind veers towards shotguns. A friend asked his cousin, Captain Charles Henry Canon IV, what his recommendations were for a inexpensive "all purpose bird gun". I thought the reply was pretty wise; here it is:

"all-purpose bird gun to me means two guns: one for quail and dove, the other for duck. There is simply not enough oomph in a 20 GA to knock down a duck cruising at 70 mph.

If you are looking for a good duck gun that is cheap with a good reputation, get a remington 870. You can have it "dipped" in camo and it will not chip the paint and it'll be water proof. I started using one this past season after I put to many knocks on my dad's Browning Gold 12 GA.

For the quail / dove, get a Remington model 1100. Classic shotgun that is not too expensive and is a very good skeet/trap gun as well.

You could probably find both of these guns on-line and spend less than $1000 for both of them...."

I'm inclined to take Cpt. Canon's advice and scout about for a 1100, which can be found pretty cheap. Already have a 12 GA (Mossberg 835 gun show special) that's bashed about but seems to work. For a good review of the 870, check out Field & Stream, where its rated as one of the 50 best shotguns ever.

Good shooting,

LSP

PS. The aptly named Canon is a serving member of the U.S. military, hopefully we'll hear more from him.

Riding Around

Got up early to go for a ride in the comparative cool of the morning; the neighbour's birds had escaped their backyard prison to find freedom in the church car park. They were pecking about, pleased with themselves.

Horses were in good form too, intrigued by the addition of several donkeys to the field, which they found strangely fascinating. Enjoyed the ride; practiced sitting and posting trot, two point, serpentines, spirals and cantered about for a bit. Hugely uplifting - then the heat began to rise...

So 'Be-Bop' went back to his stall and I headed off to shoot targets at the stock tank and talk church. Very relaxing after charging about the pasture and a great way, I think, to spend the morning - of course my equine objective is to go extremely fast for long distances while jumping over obstacles, preferably in pursuit of something. But all in good time.

Arrived home to discover the birds had retreated to their gaol where they'd found food - doubtless a metaphor for something if you care to make it.

God bless,

LSP

Dhimmi in Chief?

You will bow down before me, Jor-El! First you and then one day, your heirs!

I know its old news but a recent post at Eye of Polyphemus recalled me to its noxious fact. Why would the leader of the world's largest democracy bow down before a slave owning Saudi Arabian monarch?

Commentators have noted that the slaver king didn't return Barrack Hussein's gesture of subservience, doubtless because:

"Obama’s speech in Cairo will not elicit a new cordial tone with Islamic societies but rather contempt. What was on display was not a visionary new approach... but an abject display of weakness... This situation has placed a degree of veto power over U.S. foreign policy with a feudal theocracy where it is illegal for women to drive. This situation is as intolerable as it is ridiculous." Money Confidential

It is ridiculous and its also tragic that our President should pay homage to the Guardian of the Holy Sites while remaining deathly silent over the daily atrocities carried out their devotees; check out Religion of Peace for the bodycount.

Yours somberly on the Feast of the Transfiguration.

LSP

Hog Poem, Innit.

Photograph: Niall Benvie/Corbis

My good friend GWB, philosopher, theologian, shooter, fisherman and fowler, has been branching out into verse and turned in this number about the tuskers. With apologies to The Cause and Mr. Tate:

You know who have waited by the wall

The twilight certainty of an animal,

Those midnight restitutions of the blood

You know--the immitigable pines, the smoky frieze

Of the sky, the sudden call: you know the rage,

The cold pool left by the mounting flood,

Of muted Zeno and Parmenides.

You who have waited for the angry resolution

Of those desires that should be yours tomorrow,

You know the unimportant shrift of death

And praise the vision

And praise the arrogant circumstance

Of those who fall

Rank upon rank, hurried beyond decision--

Here by the sagging gate, stopped by the wall.

Seeing, seeing only the hogs

Flying, plunge and expire

Well, one word's original and that makes all the difference. Thanks, GWB, for the line and Mr. Tate for genius.

God bless,

LSP

PS. Go to Virtual Mirage for an amusing Cell Phone Karma video. Thanks LL.

Slavers

Grand Mufti with Top Saudi Clerics

In a characteristically irenic gesture towards peace in the Middle East, leading Saudi government cleric, Sheikh Saad Al-Buraik, told Palestinians how to act towards Jewish women, "Their women are yours to take, legitimately. God made them yours. Why don't you enslave their women?" Why not indeed. According to high-level Saudi jurist, Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan, “Slavery is a part of Islam. Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long there is Islam.” And for a fact, slavery is alive and well in several Islamist countries, such as the Sudan, Somalia, Niger, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, to name several.

But perhaps we needn't go so far afield to find the kind of human subjagation endorsed by the Koran, here in the West we've been at something like it for several generations. Belloc had this to say:

"The more the State steps in to enforce conditions of security and sufficiency; the more it regulates wages, provides compulsory insurance, doctoring, education, and in general takes over the lives of the wage-earners, for the benefit of the companies and men employing the wage-earners, the more is this condition of semi-slavery accentuated. And if it be continued for, say, three generations, it will become so thoroughly established as a social habit and frame of mind that there may be no escape from it in the countries where State Socialism of this kind has been forged and riveted on the body politic.

In Europe, England in particular (but many other countries in a lesser degree) has bound itself to this system. Below a certain level of income a man is guaranteed a bare subsistence should he be out of employment. It is doled out to him by public officials at the expense of losing human dignity. Every circumstance of his family is examined; he is even more in the hands of these officials when out of employment than in the hands of his employer when employed. The thing is still in transition; the mass of men do not yet see to what goal they are tending; but the neglect of human dignity, the potential, if not actual, denial of the doctrine of free will, have led by a natural consequence to what are already semi-servile institutions. These will become fully servile institutions as time goes on." Belloc, An Essay Against Communism

I think Belloc was right; the "servile state" that he prophecied so accurately is surely a natural consequence of our ongoing retreat from the Incarnational Faith which endows mankind with inalienable worth. With that foundation abandoned, freedom becomes an exercise in dictatorship and the triumph of the strongest will.

Perhaps, then, it's no accident that we see the Socialist Worker's Party marching in step with Jihadi terrorists, for both deny in their separate ways the real value of the human person and are slavers, united in their attack on what was once christendom. The question is, do we have the conviction to fight back the assault?

Just a thought!

LSP

White House Suds Scandal

picture from...

White House Kegger, a "big waste of time"

Great shout of respect to GNN (Goomba News Network) for first rate coverage of Barrack Hussein's White House beer party. Click here, It Don't Make Sense, and get the full story.

Thanksh Goomba.

Cheers,

LSP

Only Mad dogs and , er, Englishmen...

Union Jack

...go out in the noonday sun after two Sung Masses. Except, of course, that the "mad dogs" didn't; they were sensibly keeping their heads down while I went out to hunt them in 104* heat. You see, there's this cruel new trend here of people dropping off their unwanted attack dogs in the countryside. They go feral, pack up and attack livestock and, if they get the chance, humans. My Treasurer saw some yesterday and invited me out to "git 'em" after church. Damn good chap, the Treasurer. Evidently the dogs are black, betwixt the size of a coyote and a wolf, and six in number. Their tails are short, interestingly.

I was there, gun in hand, stealthy.

They were doubtless sleeping. I kept going, to the Valley of the Dry Bones...

Still no dogs, so I went untactical, had a smoke and shot a rabbit. They've become a menace.

Spent the rest of the afternoon shooting empty shotgun cartridges off of haybales with the venerable JC Higgins .22. Childish, but fun. Altogether a good way to unwind after the the Sunday morning biznai.

Back in the A/C now, contemplating next move against wild dog pack. Perhaps scoped AR in .308 would be sensible?

God bless,

LSP

PS. Stay tuned for linguistic philosopher GWB's Hog poem.

Ranging About

Kragg - not dissimilar to the Lee in feel & action.

Extremely enjoyable day at the range thanks to Tom, of Boomers & BS, who kindly let me sample a portion of his significant arsenal. I enjoyed it all - Garand v. Lee Enfield shoot off, .458 Lott, .557 Snider, Encore, Contender and more besides.

Somewhat indifferent marksmanship on my part at 100 yrds, shooting low with the Lee (oddly) and to the right with a scoped Mauser 7mm - which Tom shot with deadly accuracy. Still, we were in it for the fun and, for me, a chance to try out new weaponry.

Enormous Huge Great Rifle!

Shot better with the pistols, in particular Tom's custom 1911 Dan Wesson; I'm a complete convert, not that I was unwilling... Seriously - what an excellent pistol. Go out and buy one if you can. Today.

Just a lot of pistols.

Then, just as we'd finished firing the larger hand guns and were about to settle into shooting some relaxing Ruger & assorted .22 pistols, the rain came down in sheets and it was back to the range office to take shelter from the storm.

Despite the last portion of the shoot getting rained off, a great day was had by all:

Huge respect to the authour of Boomers & BS for sharing part of his exciting and powerful collection of fire arms.

The 1911 is "right on" - certainly as customised by Tom.

"Astro" range near Florence, Texas, is friendly and was happily empty - on Friday.

Garand seems easier to shoot than the Lee - but a very different rifle.

Winchester 70 Featherweight (30-06) looks beautiful, kicks like fury.

Evil Nazi sporterised rifle can be dead on target.

Ancient Rhodie Cavalry Carbine (?) might not hit much these days but is mighty fun to shoot.

You can shoot EXTREMELY LARGE ROUNDS through pistols single handed and hit the target.

And just in case you were wondering, the .410 through a rifled pistol barrel is no use whatsoever as a self defense round at 15 yards - perhaps much less (thx. Tom for the demo). At least that's the way I see it.

Looking forward to the next shoot.

Cheers,

LSP