Battle of May Battle Report

Saturday, I went with a couple of firends down to Jackson, MS to play some 40k with some new people. It was an enjoyable trip down, except for the speeding ticket the driver got.

My army was my Ultramarines, four mechanized squads along with a Dreadnought, a Heavy Bolter equipped Devastator squad and a Predator Annihilator. But the crowning jewel on this list was Chief Librarian Tigurius. This guy cost more than a squad of Marines, but had some terrifying psychic powers, all geared towards killing other Marines. He had a couple of powers that the normally super-tough Marines did not get their armor saves against.

Anyway, the first battle was some “paintball” against a vinillla space marine chapter. The objective of the scenario was to capture as many of the three objectives on the table. One was in each of our deployment zones, and one just about in the middle. This battle was a draw, because a lone Sergeant didn’t die when he was supposed to, then my HQ unit died when they weren’t supposed to do. This allowed a dreadnought to contest the middle objective, by about a half inch.

The second scenario was paintball against another vanilla Space Marine chapter, and the object was annihilation, wipe out as many units as you could. I was leading this one going into the home stretch, 6-5, until I tried a gutsy move to secure the game. Well, My HQ attempting the teleport screwed up and killed himself and the unit teleporting with him, and that swung the points in his favor. I lost 7-6. Ouch.

The third and last game of the day was a combination of the two, you got points for holding objectives as well as killing units. This one was against Orks, and I was outnumbered by about 3:1. My opponent was litterally throwing twelve dice for every die I threw. He only needed 5′s and 6′s to hit (I need 3′s) on a 6 sided die, but when you throw 30+ of them at a time, you’re going to get a lot of hits in, just by the law of averages. I gave up when I was down to two tactical squads, and the point total was 30+ to my 7.

A rather abysimal day, I travelled about 200 miles each way and paid $15 to come in next-to-last. :( Except for being swarmed in the last game, I did have fun throught the day, so it wasn’t a total loss.

There is a name for it!

Okay folks, I feel better now. There is a name for supply side economics, where if you cut tax rates, you get non-inflationary growth in the economy, leading to more overall tax revenues collcted. Of course, the other side of the curve is when you raise taxes, you collect less: It’s called The Laffer Curve.

 

Case in point. Here is a blog entry from the CATO Institute: The Laffer Curve in Action. Tom Golisano, one of the richest men in New York has decided that he is tired of the confiscatory level of taxes he has to pay, so he moved to Florida where there is no state income tax. This was a smart move on his part, because according to the article, he is saving $13,800 a day in state income taxes. That means over the course of a year, he keeps over $5 million of his money.

 

So, tax rates go up, people move away and tax revenue goes down. It seems pretty common sense to me. When will these tax-and-spend politicians (and I include a lot of Republicans in that group) get this fact that taxes collected is inversely proportional to the tax rate? Probably never.

More erosion of our rights

Here in Tennessee, the General Assembly is looking at having citizens give up their fingerprints in cases of a traffic stop. This way, the police may ostensibly discover those wanted by law enforcement and bring them into custody. Of course, this is a clear infringement of the Fourth Amendment, as we should be secure in what is ours, and fingerprints is one of the most personal possessions.

 

What got me was this quote:

 

Any erosion of the rights protected by the Fourth Amendment should be approached with extreme caution. Americans traditionally enjoy extraordinary degrees of freedom and privacy, and many of us want to keep it that way.

 

“Approached with extreme caution?” How about vigorously defended? How about not approached at all? All this does is add more innocent civilians fingerprints into the police database,  a place that they should not be. Just another step into one of those socialist police states.

The tax Fairy is coming

Okay, these Liberals just don’t get it. And that means more taxes for us.  Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look.

So what does this mean? A national sales tax, and they are talking on the order of 10-25%. This will only spiral downwards, not upwards. People will spend less, or go to an untaxed black market to avoid the tax. Despite rosy projections, the actual receipts collected will be far short of what they expected, and it get worse from there. The tax will go up to try and get back to the original level of tax money collected, and the level of collected taxes will drop even lower. And in the mean time, the economy will drop lower and lower, until no one buys our debt bonds, and the whole system (and government) collapses. Are you ready for that?

Despite uncontrovertable evidence that cutting taxes brings in more money, the Liberals in power at the moment don’t see it that way. For them, it’s about how much control they can have over you. And if you have to spend on the order of another 20% of your income in taxes, that will totally destroy the economy, which is already heading into the toilet thatnks to President Obamas Trillion dollar deficit.

Most lawmakers are still looking for “a painless source of revenue” to overhaul the health-care system and dig the nation out of debt, [Leonard Burman, co-director of the Tax Policy Center] said. “Who knows?” he added. “Maybe the tooth fairy will bring that to them.”

The tooth fairy indeed. I feel rather offended at such a condescending remark. But then again, when aren’t Liberals condescending and offensive? I mean, Liberals accuse Conservatives of “hate speech,” but then turn around and call us every name in the book but Harvey.

You were warned, everybody who voted for Obama. Now your chickens are coming home to roost on all of us.

Memorial day is every day

You have been asked to pause for a moment this day at 3:00 and remember those who have given their lives to protect this country. I ask you to pause at least once a day, every day and do the same thing.

When I had my home in Bartlett, I had a lithograph of “Reflections.” If you have seen it, you will instantly recognize it. It’s a painting of a man, palm outstretched against the Vietnam Memorial, and his buddies that he left behind are there in the reflection, stretching their hands out to touch his and offer comfort.

“All gave some, some gave all” sung Billy Ray Cyrus and we must remember this. From the Concord Green to Iraq and Afghanistan, that phrase is still being lived.

Never forget the heros that lie sleeping in our Veterans Cemetaries, visit and remember them throught the year, not just today.

Technorati, it’s about time!

Well, after about seventeen tries, the Technorati system finally allowed me to claim this blog in their system. Which is why the cryptic post below.

It’s amazing what hoops I have to leap through to increase the visibility of the Zone. Next stop, The Truth Laid Bear.

Found on Twitter

Thought for the day, via psxdns

“You might be a democrat if you think Obama knows how to spend your money better than you do.”

Of course, this is a cornerstone to Liberalism, i.e. the general public is too stupid to be able to spend and save their own money wisely. So, in that I am not surprised. I’m just surprised that we don’t all have the same jumpsuit to wear every day, because we’re too stupid to dress ourselves.

Change and all that, y’know.


Obama 1; Kindergarteners 0

Here you go: Sobbing Kindergarteners Snubbed for Steelers?

 

Our immaculate President has committed the ultimate boo-boo. He made Kindergartners cry. The White House turned away a group of kids who came to have a tour of the White House, because they got there late. I wonder if any of the kids called him “Mr. Poopy Pants.” I guess he’s lost the Kindergarten vote come 2012.

Posted in Fun

Thought for the weekend

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand, chocolate in the other – body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘WOO  HOO, What a  Ride!’

This is starting to wear on me

This is the second time that I have been in Murfreesboro, and for my third conference all in a weeks time. I’m glad every week isn’t like this week. I am, however, doing essential services at all of these conferences and symposiums, so it all balances out in the end.  I am going to a chili cook-off sponsored by the people who sponsors this conference, then I’m going to parboil myself in the hot tub before going to bed.

…And that’s when the fight started.

Found on the internet. Enjoy!

 

Some examples of how fights between spouses start!

One year, a husband decided to buy his mother-in-law a
cemetery plot as a Christmas gift. The next year, he didn’t buy her a gift. When she asked him why, he replied, “Well, you still haven’t used the gift I bought you last year!” And that’s how the fight started.

——————————————-
My wife walked into the den & asked, “What’s on the TV?” I replied, “Dust”. And that’s how the fight started.

——————————————-
A woman is standing nude, looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, “I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.” The husband replies, “Your eyesight’s damn near perfect.” And that’s how the fight started.

——————————————-
My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary. She said, “I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 200 in about 3 seconds.” I bought her a scale. And that’s how the fight started.

——————————————-
I asked my wife, “Where do you want to go for our anniversary?” It warmed my heart to see her face melt in sweet appreciation. “Somewhere I haven’t been in a long time!” she said. So I suggested, “How about the kitchen?” And that’s how the fight started.

——————————————-
My wife and I are watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed. I turned to her and said, “Do you want to have sex?” “No”, she answered. I then said, “Is that your final answer?” She didn’t even look at me this time, simply saying, “Yes.” So I said, “Then I’d like to phone a friend.” And that’s how the fight started.
——————————————-
I tried to talk my wife into buying a case of Miller Light for $14.95. Instead, she bought a jar of cold cream for $7.95. I told her the beer would make her look better at night than the cold cream. And that’s how the fight started.

——————————————-
I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some reason, took my order first. “I’ll have the strip steak, medium rare, please.” He said, “Aren’t you worried about the mad cow?” “Nah, she can order for herself.” And that’s how the fight started.

Posted in Fun

My favorite 40 reasons for gun control

Now, before you get your panties in a bind, read it. My favorite is #8.

 

1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.

 

2. Washington DC’s low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis’ high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are “just statistics.”

4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.

5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should “put up no defense — give them what they want, or run” (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don’t Die – People Do, 1981, p.125).

10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.

13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a “state” militia.

14. These phrases: “right of the people peaceably to assemble,” “right of the people to be secure in their homes,” “enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people,” and “The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people” all refer to individuals, but “the right of the people to keep and bear arm” refers to the state.

15. “The Constitution is strong and will never change.” But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.

16. Rifles and handguns aren’t necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.

17. Private citizens shouldn’t have handguns, because they aren’t “military weapons”, but private citizens shouldn’t have “assault rifles”, because they are military weapons.

18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940′s, 1950′s and1960′s, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.

19. The NRA’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby’s attempt to run a “don’t touch” campaign is responsible social activity.

20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is “an accident waiting to happen” and gun makers’ advertisements aimed at women are “preying on their fears.”

23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.

25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.

26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a “weapon of mass destruction” or an “assault weapon.”

27. Most people can’t be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.

28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.

30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do “civilians” who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.

33. We should ban “Saturday Night Specials” and other inexpensive guns because it’s not fair that poor people have access to guns too.

34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.

35. Private citizens don’t need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.

36. Citizens don’t need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.

37. “Assault weapons” have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.

38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that’s bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that’s good.

39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.

40. The Brady Campaign says they want to “keep guns out of the wrong hands.” Guess what? You have the wrong hands.

Truer words were never spoken

I found this article today:  Soda Tax Weighed to Pay for Health Care and began to read it.

 

It talks about adding a tax on sodas and other sugary drinks, trying to raise money for President Obama’s health care plan. Of course, if a tax is added, the price will go up, and less people will drink it, leading to less than expected income from the taxes. So, they will raise taxes on it, and revenues will take an uptick, before dropping to the same level or lower.

 

But it was the money quote at the end of the article that got my attention:

 

“When it comes to health-care spending, we are on an unsustainable course that threatens the financial stability of families, businesses and government itself,” Mr. Obama told reporters.

 

Thus, the title of this post. One of the main reasons that socialized medicine works in other countries and won’t work in ours is on the ocean right now:  Eleven Supercarrier battlegroups. They took billions of dollars to construct, and billions of dollars more to run and maintain. You see, the other countries like Germany, France, and so on don’t spend for their own defense. They rely on the largess of the United States to protect them from Evil. So, they can spend a higher proportion of their budget for social programs. You see, the Defense Department budget is more than most countries GDP. That is why no one can challenge us militarily as far as organized armed forces goes.

 

But the socialized health care system laid out by the Obama Administration, will cost an estimated $1.2 trillion dollars just to enact and for the first couple of years. And with the present pipe dreaming of the Administration, that number is likely to at least double. What do I mean by pipe dream? Considering the economy shrunk by 1.2% the first quarter of 2009, the Administration is projecting a 3.5% overall growth of the GDP for the rest of 2009, and are betting everything on those numbers. When (not if) those numbers fall short, then we will be about a foot deeper in alligators than we thought we would be.

 

Bookmark this post with a MLK day 2010 timer, and read back through it then to see just how right I was.

The viciousness of the Left

For those of you who haven’t heard, here’s one more you can file under “double standard.” David Feherty was put through the wringer for his remark, Which alludes that Nancy Pelosi is a greater threat to the United States than OBL. Given today’s political climate I’m not sure if that is an incorrect assessment or not.

 

Anyway, Saturday night Wanda Sykes makes the comment that she wishes Rush Limbaugh’s “kidneys would fail.” This was in response to Rush’s comment that he wished Presiden Obama’s policies would fail. We as Conservatives go after positions, and most of the time Liberals have to attack the person, rather than the position.

 

I still remember a conversation I had with a former co-worker. She was extolling Obamas virtues and how he was going to make the rich pay “their fair share.” I calmy countered with the facts that the top 1% of the taxpayers already pay about 40% of the total income taxes, while the bottom 40% of the taxpayers pay no tax at all, in fact they usually get money back with some program like the EITC. Then I asked her how many poor people create jobs. She didn’t know. I told her that it takes money, i.e. being “rich” and in charge of a business in order to create jobs. If the rich were taxed to death, how could they spend the money to hire more people? Thankfully, she kept quiet about that. I was half afraid our relationship would have suffered if she had said what I thought she was going to say, which would have been an insult against me personally for “siding with the rich” or some such. I know I didn’t win her over to my position, otherwise she would have said so.

 

So, for the most part Liberals have to attack the messinger, simply because they cannot refute the message. I do not work out problems using my feelings. I work out problems using facts. I analyize what works, and what doesn’t. If something doesn’t work, I do not redouble my efforts and pound away at the same section of wall again, I find another way around it. I try different things until I find something that does work, then I redouble my efforts and solve the problem faster.

 

The Left, when (not if) their programs fail, they ask you to “look at their intentions” rather than the results. They meant well, and I can understand that. However, I also firmly believe that you do the right things for the right reasons. If you do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons, you will destroy what you have tried to do with the law of Unintended Consequences.

 

I can come up with several instances where the Left has tried to do good, but then screwed the pooch when it came to repercussions to the original act. I laud them for wanting to do the right thing, but they cause more trouble by not thinking the whole thing through. And like a child, confronted with the mess they caused, they either lie through their teeth or blame someone else for the mess, including you for not helping them in the first place.