bountyhunter

Doesn't really sound like he changed so much as what was in there all along has just eaten him up from the inside. I spent some formative years in Louisiana, when I was 18 I hated everybody who was different. It's not a terminal illness, anybody can choose to turn it around.The bad thing is that people don't realize that carrying that hate around for long enough destroys them and leaves just what you described. Don't have a magic solution. Living in a free country means people are free to choose to be miserable. Praying for him never hurts.

"But this I can: On July 2, a 45-year-old Seattle man died from something called acute peritonitis. His colon was perforated while he was having sex with a horse." To be accurate, I'd say the horse was having sex with the man......

I use the McCormick 10-round .45 mags to load up 10 rounds of .40 in my Trojan. For the record, they feed ten rounds of .40 OK, but shoving in the extra round to get eleven (which will fit in the mag) causes nosedives on the first round. I shoot factory .40 ammo, so I assume "loading long" would improve the feeding.

Try to "task focus", in other words bracket each function and execute it with 100% attention. Sight Stage (trigger) Squeeze recoil sight stage squeeze Each time you move to a new task you focus 100% on it and block out everything else. BTW: shots going sideways is a common malady I get as well. It usually means I yanked the trigger or squeezed my hand as I pulled. Focusing on a solid squeeze will eliminate it.

The perfect drunk friend is Tara Reid because her clothes always fall off on their own.... sometimes even when she is sober.

About Those Levees "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees," Bush said. Wrong. Just for starters, how about Sunday's New Orleans Times-Picayune , which described a computer model run by the LSU Hurricane Center. "It indicated the metropolitan area was poised to see a repeat of Betsy's flooding, or worse, with storm surge of as much as 16 feet moving up the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and topping levees in Chalmette and eastern New Orleans, and pushing water into the 9th Ward and parts of Mid-City." Or Monday's New York Times , in which New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin is quoted as saying that "Hurricane Katrina could bring 15 inches of rain and a storm surge of 20 feet or higher that would 'most likely topple' the network of levees and canals that normally protect the bowl-shaped city from flooding. And as Andrew C. Revkin and Christopher Drew write in today's New York Times: "The 17th Street levee that gave way and led to the flooding of New Orleans was part of an intricate, aging system of barriers and pumps that was so chronically underfinanced that senior regional officials of the Army Corps of Engineers complained about it publicly for years."

Funding for hurricane, flood protection down By Toby Eckert COPLEY NEWS SERVICE September 2, 2005 WASHINGTON – Lawmakers and President Bush are being confronted by accusations that they shortchanged flood-control and hurricane-protection efforts in the New Orleans area. New York Times News Service A levee collapse has caused major flooding in New Orleans. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said "it doesn't make sense to me" to use federal funds to rebuild the city, as most of it is below sea level. A key flood-control project in southeastern Louisiana has seen its federal funding steadily dwindle, from $69 million in 2001 to $32.2 million in 2005, according to congressional offices and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bush requested $10.5 million for the project for 2006, while the Corps said $62.5 million was required. Funding for hurricane protection, including levee improvements and pumping stations, went from $10 million in 2001 to $5.7 million this year. Bush proposed $3 million for 2006. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported last year that work was virtually halted on one major hurricane levee project for the first time in 37 years. At the time, a local official blamed a shift in resources to Iraq and counterterrorism efforts. "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," the Times-Picayune quoted Walter Maestri, the emergency management chief of Jefferson Parish, La., as saying. Liberal critics of Bush widely circulated the comment yesterday on the Internet. Advertisement White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "This is not a time for finger-pointing or playing politics." "Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one," he said. "We have dedicated an additional $300 million over the last few years for flood control in New Orleans and the surrounding area." Commenting on Bush's overall 2006 funding request for the Corps of Engineers, Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works John Woodley told reporters in February, "It's a frugal budget that reflects the priorities of a nation at war." But yesterday, Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps' chief of engineers, told reporters that the war did not have a major impact on the agency's budget. "We were just caught by a storm of an intensity which exceeded the design of the project we have in place," he said during a conference call. The political fires were further stoked when a suburban Chicago newspaper quoted House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., as saying "It doesn't make sense to me" to use federal funds to rebuild New Orleans, given its precarious geography. Most of the city is below sea level. Hastert made the remarks Wednesday. Yesterday, he and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said they would call Congress into emergency session to provide additional funding for the hurricane response. "In the wake of this disaster, the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida should know that the United States Congress stands ready to help them in their time of need," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. Hastert later sought to clarify his comments to the newspaper. "My comments about rebuilding the city were intended to reflect my sincere concern with how the city is rebuilt to ensure the future protection of its citizens and not to suggest that this great and historic city should not be rebuilt," he said in a written statement. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/...9-1n2funds.html

UH-HUH....... don't let the facts get in the way. The fact that the levees were unable to withstand anything above a CAT2 was well known and projects were underway to shore them up with the assistance of the FED.... that is, until the Bush admin strangled the money for the project.Fwd: Category 4 Hurricane Determined To Strike U.S. by Hunter Wed Aug 31st, 2005 at 17:58:43 PDT Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA [southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project] dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars. Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming. ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation." In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness. On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us." Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune: "The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them." The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in decades. In spite of that, the federal government came back this spring with the steepest reduction in hurricane and flood-control funding for New Orleans in history. Because of the proposed cuts, the Corps office there imposed a hiring freeze. Officials said that money targeted for the SELA project -- $10.4 million, down from $36.5 million -- was not enough to start any new jobs. ///// Pouring guns and gold into Iraq while ignoring basic aspects of America's own domestic safety was a risk that the Bush administration was willing to take. Now the neo-cons of the administration and their tubthumping supporters have a vivid demonstration of why pumping money into Iraq combined with deficit-causing tax cuts combined with cutting basic domestic safety programs has results a bit more sanguinary than the careful spreadsheets of either Karl Rove or Grover Norquist might convey. After 9/11, the administration was eager to put Bush at the top of the "pile", a cheap show of determination in the aftermath of disaster. Somehow, I don't think Bush standing atop one of these shattered levees and speaking through a bullhorn to the citizens of New Orleans would have the same effect right now.

"everybody has a crazy friend, a friend who's a drunk, and a cheap friend." And if you don't have such a friend, that means it's YOU!

WOW...... we are really getting old if we have a thread devoted to the merits of toilet paper. NEXT WEEK: Dulcolax vs Metamucil: the big guns square off for a showdown on who delivers the goods. Folders vs Crumplers: let's get to the bottom of this disagreement once and for all.

You might consider the SIG 226R in .40SW. You can buy a 9mm "conversion" barrel from Firedragon or Barsto and you will have both a 9mm and .40 gun with only a barrel change. I have one and it shoots pretty well.

I shoot an STI Trojan in both 9mm and also in .40: the 9mm does feel like "slow motion" compared to a .40, but it is not objectionable. The .40 just "snaps" and the 9mm seems to "cycle". My 9mm is extremely reliable.

Sellier + Belott sells 180 gr .40 that is pretty good. You can usually find a sale price of about $170 - $180/thousand. Try Natchez shooter's supply.

The technique I use is to obsess about it which makes me even more fixated on what I am doing wrong... thus making it more likely to happen again.Mind you I am not saying this is a good technique, just the one I unfortunately seem destined to repeat.

My wife says the only birth control men need is their personalities.

I absolutely LOVED it when the media started monitoring the pilot's communications to the tower... he was all cool, but asked the people from the airline to have somebody there on the ground to "keep the media sharks off my back!" It was hysterical.......

Amen on the Squirmenator. He got fried in the last two weeks over a total conflict of interest that came out: he was "executive editor" of a couple of fitness magazines where they just put his name on the editorial list and sent him a couple of million dollars a year.... problem is, those mags hawk the dangerous crank up diet supplements body builders use to "cut weight" which are herbal forms of ephedrine (the main ingredient in crank). The state of kali passed a law to regulate sales of any "supplements" that contained this herbal crank and Arnie immediately vetoed it..... When it all came out, his approval numbers dropped below Gray davis' lowest water mark. I hope they kick Arnie's butt out as soon as possible. he's a lying sleazeball.

Is it OK if I say I absolutely LOATHE Rosie O' Donut because she is such an arrogant hypocrite? You may recall she had Tom Selleck on her show to talk about a new movie or something, but no sooner was he in the chair than she launched a tirade on him for being a "spokesman for the NRA".... The show was never aired, but after this leaked out, she later apologized. http://www.nracentral.com/tom_selleck.php Transcript of Tom Selleck and Rosie O'Donnell's NRA Discussion Rosie: We're here with Tom Selleck who's a member of the NRA. Three months ago you joined the NRA. Tom: I did. I actually joined to do an ad. Because, I've done a lot of consensus work for like the last 7 to 8 years and what disturbs me and I think disturbs a lot of Americans is the whole idea of politics now-a-days which seems to be, 'if you disagree with me, you must be evil' as opposed to 'if you disagree with me, you must be stupid'. That's very American. You know, the demonizing of a group like the NRA is very disturbing. And that coupled with the idea that the government is getting into the idea of suing. We did it for noble reasons with tobacco. I think it was a mistake. Then they moved to gun makers, now they're suing television shows. Oliver Stone there's a suit on his movie. I think the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and all of the Bill of Rights are extremely important. And somebody needs to stand up at times where... maybe some of our politicians are demagogue-ing issues. Reasonable people should disagree in this country; we should celebrate that, not consider it a threat. Rosie: Right, but I think that the reason that people are so extreme against the NRA is because the NRA has such a militant strength, especially a power in Washington to veto or to stronghold any sensible gun law. They have been against every sensible gun law, until yesterday, including trigger locks, so that children, which there are 500 a year that die, don't get killed. Tom: I'm not a spokesman for the NRA. In fact, all I can tell you is, I was a member when I was kid. I was a junior NRA member. I learned firearm safety. And from what I can see in the last three months, they don't do a lot of the stuff that you assume that they do. Rosie: I don't assume. Tom: They are for trigger locks. The NRA is for a lot of things as long as they're voluntary. Rosie: They're against the registering of guns. We have to register cars. Why shouldn't we register guns so that when a crime is committed we can trace who has owned it? Tom: You know, I understand how you feel. This is a really contentious issue. Probably as contentious, and potentially as troubling as the abortion issue in this country. All I can tell you is, rushes to pass legislation at a time of national crisis or mourning, I don't really think are proper. And more importantly, nothing in any of this legislation would have done anything to prevent that awful tragedy in Littleton. What I see in the work I've done with kids is, is troubling direction in our culture. And where I see consensus, which is I think we ought to concentrate on in our culture is... look... nobody argues anymore whether they're Conservatives or Liberal whether our society is going in the wrong direction. They may argue trying to quantify how far it's gone wrong or why it's gone that far wrong, whether it's guns, or television, or the Internet, or whatever. But there's consensus saying that something's happened. Guns were much more accessible 40 years ago. A kid could walk into a pawn shop or a hardware store and buy a high capacity magazine weapon that could kill a lot of people and they didn't do it. The question we should be asking is... look... suicide is a tragedy. And it's a horrible thing. But 30 or 40 years ago, particularly men, and even young men, when they were suicidal, they went, and unfortunately, blew their brains out. In today's world, someone who is suicidal sits home, nurses their grievance, develops a rage, and is just a suicidal but they take 20 people with them. There's something changed in our culture. That's not a simple... Rosie: But you can't say that guns don't bear a responsibility. If the makers of the TEC-9 assault rifle... Why wouldn't the NRA be against assault rifles? This is a gun that can shoot five bullets in a second. This is the gun that those boys brought into the school. Why the NRA wouldn't say as a matter of compromise, 'we agree, assault weapons are not good'? Tom: I'm not... I can't speak for the NRA. Rosie: But you're their spokesperson Tom, so you have to be responsible for what they say. Tom: But I'm not a spokesperson. I'm not a spokesperson for the NRA. Rosie: But if you put your name out and say, 'I, Tom Selleck... Tom: Don't put words in my mouth. I'm not a spokesperson. Remember how calm you said you'd be? Now you're questioning my humanity. Rosie: No, not your humanity. I think you're a very humane man. I'm saying that if you... Tom: Let's just say that I disagree with you but I think you're being stupid. Rosie: But you can't say that I will not take responsibility for anything the NRA represents if you're saying that you're going to do an ad for the NRA. Tom: Really? Rosie: You can't say that. Do you think you can? Tom: Look... you're carefully skirting the issue. It's an act of moral vanity, Rosie, to assume that someone who disagrees with your political agenda to solve our problems, cares any less or is any less shocked... Rosie: I never said you cared less. Tom: Well, let me finish... Rosie: Tom, I don't think you cared less. Nor do I think the men in the NRA cared less. Tom: The women too. Rosie: And the women. I simply said, why can there not be a compromise on the issue... Tom: There IS a compromise! There's a compromise in enforcing laws. There's a compromise with not allowing kids with guns in school. The problem is, and what you don't seem to realize... you seem to have some sort of... look, we all hang out with people we agree with. And you have a one very one-sided view of the fact of what you don't understand... Rosie: As does the NRA and the people you hang out with at the NRA have a one-sided view as well. Tom: I don't hang out with people of the NRA... Rosie: OK, well, you're saying that I hang out with people with my views. I'm just saying... Tom: I said people tend to... Rosie: We all tend to. The NRA does and the un-NRA does. Tom: You know, this is a nice one-sided conversation but you keep interrupting me. Remember how civil you said we were going to be? Rosie: I let you talk for four minutes without saying one thing! I did. I didn't say one thing! I simply asked a question on what their philosophies are. And you don't want to... Tom: I told you... look, when do you want to get to television and violence... Rosie: I agree! I agree. Tom: ...and game shows... Rosie: Game shows? Tom: ...and how do you reconcile... Rosie: You mean video games? I agree! Tom: Please let me finish! Let me say just one thing. What you're really talking about... at least what I'm talking about... is are we a responsible enough society, in terms of television, in terms of guns, in terms of everything else, to be this free? That should frame the debate. My answer unfortunately, in this culture, is 'probably not'. But I'm going to down with the Civil Liberties ship, and all the Bill of Rights, and apply them equally. That's the way I feel. You can ask me specific questions about anything, but it's simply stupid political rhetoric. Rosie: Well, it's not stupid political rhetoric. We also have freedom of speech, but you're not allowed to scream 'fire' in a crowded movie theater because it threatens the safety of other people. Tom: I understand. Rosie: Assault weapons threaten the safety of other people. There's no reason, in my opinion, to have them. You want to have a hunting rifle? Great! You want to have a handgun? Tom: Do you really think the Second Amendment to the Constitution to guarantee hunting and target shooting? Do you really think that's what the Founding Fathers meant? Rosie: I think the Second Amendment is in the Constitution so that we can have muskets when the British people come over in 1800. I don't think it's in the Constitution to have assault weapons in the year 2000. But I'm wrong? I guess... Tom: (nods his head) Rosie: You know, this is the problem. Here's what happens. The people with opposing views, there is no compromise because, you feel attacked, I feel attacked. You feel less understood... Tom: I haven't attacked you. I've disagreed with you. Rosie: And I've disagreed with you as well. But mine comes in the form of attacking because... Tom: I haven't mentioned assault weapons once. I haven't mentioned a lot of things once. The nature of this debate... I didn't come on your show to have a debate. I came on your show to plug a movie. That's what's I'm doing here. Rosie: And that's what we did. Tom: If you think it's proper to have a debate about the NRA, I'm trying to be fair with you. Rosie: As I am trying to... Tom: But this is absurd. You're calling me a spokesman for the NRA. Rosie: Tom, if you are a celebrity and you're doing an ad that says, 'I am the NRA', then what should have been... Tom: Have you read the ads? Rosie: I have read the ads. Tom: Good. Rosie: Did you read the ads? Tom: I said them. I read them when I say them. Rosie: Well, I do too. Well, this is not supposed to be a personal... Tom: Well it's certainly very entertaining, look at the audience, they're just laughing and having a great old time. Rosie: Well it's a serious subject. I don't think it's a lot to laugh about. Tom: Well, that's fine. Rosie: All right, well, this has not gone the way I had hoped it had gone. But, I would like to thank you for appearing anyway, knowing that we have differing views. I was happy that you decided to come on the show. And if you feel insulted by my questions, I apologize, because it was not a personal attack. I was meant to bring up the subject as it is in the consciousness of so many today. That was my intent. And if it was wrong, I apologize to you, on a personal level. Tom: It's your show and you can talk about it after I leave too. Rosie: Well, I thought I would give you an opportunity to discuss your side of it. Which is what I hope that I did. And if I was wrong I'm sorry. (Tom looks away from Rosie) Well, obviously, it didn't do much good.

Actually, the second one would say "I'm Negative"" since he was the receiver of the e-.... the first one who lost it would be positive. EE...... you can't spell GEEK without it!

I heard the fish are jumping out of the filthy water applying for Federal relief....

SW triggers are case hardened. You will likely wear out a set of files trying to smooth the serrations off a trigger (I just tried on my model 14). If you can get through the hardened part (about .010" deep) you can probably smooth it. I never got that deep.

Hopefully electronics / IC design. I was strongly considering working for an electrical utility, but sort of scrapped that due to the obvoius mind-numbing boredom and bureaucracy that would be involved. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Not to mention the fact that they have to work with voltage and power levels that can vaporize an elephant into charcoal briquets.About 30 years back when I started work as a EE, we had a young lady come into interview for a job. She had worked in the elictric utility power industry. This guy drew a circuit and said: "OK, you have 5V logic gates set up like this. If I put a "zero" here, whay will be the output?" She stared at it and said: "5V? Nothing will run on THAT........"

We all know the only DIRECT effect of eating Cheetos is to turn your FINGERS orange......... I am not going to point out the obvious as to how the privates got to be the same color....

And they will NEVER admit it was a 17 year old gang banger who started a gunfight and got the worst of it.... in the statistics, they are all "children" who died from a gunshot wound.