Dr.Hess

The Pontiac Vibe is probably the best car GM sells today and the only GM badged vehicle I would personally consider buying. Oh wait, it's made by Toyota.

There are many things going on here, all intertwined and designed to rip us off more. The car manufacturers have all these retirees. That's good for the retirees, but bad for the car manufacturers because they just cost money, the slobs. Of course, the car companies agreed to these contracts, so it is their fault here. Now, Hillary instituted a destruction of the medical system in the U.S. so that she can put her socialized medicine in when she becomes president in Jan of 09. This destruction has resulted in the retirees' health care costs going through the roof, and Hillary will save the day with her socialism. This will make the car companies real happy because the costs come off their books, and the retirees will be real happy becuase their health care will be covered by the rest of us. That US made car isn't made much in the US either. Oh, there are a few assembly plants, but after we outsourced our entire manufacturing economy, there isn't much left. See any US steel companies lately? Or electronics assembly plants? Plastics? It virtually all comes in from overseas. So, the only thing left is _some_ final assembly (what isn't being done in Mexico or Canada now). If they can shut down the few remaining US plants and through some magic hoops dump the retirees health care costs off on someone else (like you and me) then they will be sitting real good just sending email and collecting their checks. Oh, and Canadian plants are getting shut down too. Know why? Too much government red tape. A good friend of mine is like one of the Bobs in the movie Office Space and that's what he is doing. They don't call him The Hatchet for nothin'. He is trying to move some of the production to the US. The rest will go to Mexico. The corporate owners are German. They could give a shiite less what happens to the US as long as they are making money. The car companies' problem is that for decades they made crap and sold it to us and we bought it and they kept making crap, expecting us to buy it. Then the Datsun 510, Toyota Corolla and Honduh Civic came along. Suddenly we didn't have to buy crap anymore so we stopped buying crap. They tell me the US companies are not making crap like they used to, but having screwed us over for so long (look at any 1982 US made vehicle for an example, if you can find one), no one really wants to buy one to find out. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me. Our current economy is not doing all that well, regardless of what the talking heads tell us. Real inflation is probably around 13%, not the 3% reported and that everything is indexed to. The extra money goes to the oil companies and the government(s). People don't have money to buy a new Cheby, and if they do, they darned sure want to buy something that they know is going to last. Oh, and that Chrysler head guy quoted in the article? That's the one that destroyed Home Depot and got like a quarter billion dollars to quit. There's a guy that really feels for the poor worker and consumer.

OK, I can login to the CP. Dunno what I'm doing, and of the 8 pending members, most of them look suspicious to me, so I'm just gonna sit here and let othere make the decisions and help out when I see something I can do. Yeah, Tony, if you gotta go back to the sand box, be sure to keep your head down. Your current position sounds like a shiite job. Having been around a hospital, I can pick right up on that. I don't blame you on looking for a way out of it.

I got my CMP Garand over 10 years ago, personally handed to me by a uniformed member of Bill Clinton's government (USPS). I didn't need a C&R for that. You do now? I did have to be fingerprinted and wait months. I shot in matches at the Pearland Shooting Club (TSRA affiliate.)

I'll help out if you want me to. I don't know anything about the invision board stuff, but I'm a fairly quick learner. Also, I noticed the board was asking me to login every time I turned around last week and did the weird "your message wasn't entered here it is again" thing. Dr.Hess

I agree with the GoA's philosophy also, and I meant to join the GoA in addition to the NRA after the LQ gets elected (70% chance). It's just that there are many (well, a few anyway) good places for my money, but my money is limited. You guys remember back when she was whatever-she-was? There was a company trying to import SKS's or Mausers or something along those lines. They applied for all the paperwork, everything was OK, not any evil AW or something that might, goddless-forbid, take 11 bullets in the magazine. The word came down to the ATF that Hillary said there were enough guns in America. That was it, importation denied. Hillary said no and no beauracrat would dare go up against her. And she was just first-(?)-lady at the time. When she is in office, we're all screwed like Uncle Bill's intern. And the Republicans are doing nothing but setting us up for it, just like in '96 for Uncle Bill's re-election when they ran that total loser up against him. I still remember him saying that Hollywood needed to make more wholesome family movies like _Braveheart._

Yes, that will help. I'll tell you something else that helped us out these past years: When George the First forced his so-called assault weapon ban on us, it cost him his re-election. When Uncle Bill pushed his ban through Congress, it cost him a Dem controlled Congress. The powers that be did not let this go unnoticed. That is why W has not pushed for more "control" and why the Dems backed off. Sure, we got stuck with Uncle Bill (and the Lizard Queen) after we didn't re-elect George the First, but I think in the long run we are better off because we showed the Republicans (for what they're worth) that we will not be shiite on and still vote for them. They had better do more than lip service to us to get our vote. Claiming to have hunted rabbits in Utah or "supporting the 2nd" today does not do it when one looks at their actual deeds over the past 10+ years. I really think we would be worse off with them, because they could pass another AW ban on us and the Republicans in Congress would go right along with it, being in the same party and all. Whereas if the Lizard Queen is power, then the Republicans would be obligated to oppose it. When the LQ gets elected, I'm going to join GoA. Right now, I limit myself to the NRA.

I got the same reply. Screw eBay. Yeah, the fun is starting up again. The dems backed off briefly to get elected because they knew it would knock them out (again). I did see that OsammaObamma gave a talk a couple weeks ago about the need to ban "assault weapons" to "stop the violence." Same old crap. Stock up now, guys, 'cuz in about 1.5 years, we will be back to the Klintonistas again. The way the republicans are looking, we would probably be worse off with one of their "front runners." Remember George the First's assault weapon ban by presidential decree is still in place, but Uncle Bill's ban is gone. So there is a Masshole and a gun grabber. Oh yeah, we have a good choice there. One of the things W has done is leave us alone. We won't have that luxury after January of '09, either way. Dr.Hess

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say negative ground. There hasn't been a positive ground system out since well before 1973, and certainly everything from Japan in that era was negative ground.

The three S' in this sense refer to something like Shoot, Shovel and Shut-up. Apparently there are places where certain federal agencies deliberately reintroduced species that the residents had deliberately exterminated a long time ago, and that deliberately pissed off the residents to that point that the three S' are used to deal with the issue today. In a future where only outlaws have guns, what's the difference? Someone breaks into an otherwise law-abiding citizen's house, pop, three S', never saw nothin', don't know what you're talking about and that window broke somehow and I just fixed it, bye.

I suspect that there may come a time when burglars are are give the three S's like certain other species are today.

I still put it at 70% chance the Lizard Queen gets it at this point. The real clue will be who the Republicans put up. McCain is about done, but Giuliani and that Masshole are still there. If one of them is the top pick, 85% chance to the L.Q. Ron Paul will never be allowed to run. Thompson is the other choice, but he won't beat the L.Q., who has been working on this for decades and has much more money and power behind her. Bush/Cheney were just there to do the dirty work (blast the hell out of the sand monkeys and start to clelan up the middle east) and have a target to throw shiite on, which has been non-stop so that the L.Q. has an easy win. Osamma Obamma is just there to have someone for the L.Q. to defeat in the primary and "build momemnum." After she wins the primary, he'll give all "his" money to her, hold hands, sing KumByYa and she'll pick a currently unknown as a running mate, likely from the south or southwest or maybe midwest. Dr.Hess

I agree that there is a perception problem. The roots of the issue go back to the big three selling us total crap that they knew was total crap for years, and expecting us to buy it because of brand and/or country loyalty. Then, as stated by Horsefly, the Japs came along and sold us cars and trucks that ran forever. I have 300K miles on my 86 Toyota Truck. OK, I did rebuild the motor 5K miles ago, but I could have fixed it for about $200 and put another hundred K on it. My Camry has 151K miles on it and drives like a Chevy with 50K. Now the big three say "OK, we won't sell you crap anymore. Trust us." I ain't from MO, but Show Me. I agree that their quality has increased dramatically, but I want to see what their products look like in 10 years and 150K miles, because I know what a Toyota looks like then. I will admit, though, that U.S. trucks were always of better quality than the U.S. cars. And, exactly what part of that Chevy is made in the US? We have no steel industry anymore, so that came from China or Pakistan. The motors come from Canada, the transmissions from Brazil, computers from Japan, it was assembled in Mexico. They probably have outsourced IT to India. Where is the US part? The left turn signal lens? You know, when the industry I was in (U.S. Maritime) was being systematically destroyed, no one came along and said "Ship American" except the sailors. For everyone else it was "what the hell do I care about the U.S. Sailor? Screw him, I can save two bucks on my container shipping costs by using a Panama flag ship crewed by Phillipinos working for $50/month." Now they want me to feel sorry for the US auto industry. Not gonna happen. If they want to sell me a car, make one better than a Camry that lasts longer, because that's the benchmark. I have to compete in a global environment, so do they.

Yeah, well, keep your guard up. It isn't over. I did note that one of my senators, a new guy Pryor, switched his vote to kill it for now. He hasn't been in long enough to do whatever he wants. Dr.Hess

I wuz down there across the Red River in Deep East Texas for about 12 hours last weekend. It rained about the whole time. After that year when we didn't have any rain, I said I'd never complain about it again. Dr.Hess

I believe the acceptable phrase is "Aggie Rigging." Dr.Hess

A friend of mine, now a Master Sgt or whatever about the top enlisted rank is in the Army, used to clean his CAR15 parts in the dishwasher all the time. Parts came out real clean. Last I heard he was with the Big Red 1. Hope he is OK.

Hey Fritz, they don't list the contributions to the Dems. Don't think they aren't there. Az, Most of my fleet takes premium: 4AGE 20 valve JDM motor in a Corolla, Esprit Turbo, the 2 Harleys. The Camry and Truck take regular. I'm pretty much screwed. The 'Rolla gets 30MPG. The Truck gets 27. It costs the same to drive either. The Camry does the best at 30+ on the highway with regular. When we got my wife's Sportster, with no windshield, the stock POS carb, and taking it easy in the mountains back in the 55MPH speed limit days, we got 90+MPG regularly. With a windshield, better (driveable) carb, and higher speeds, we get high 40's. I'm converting it to fuel injection now to finally be rid of carb issues. My Dresser gets about mid to upper thirties at speed with the bat wing faring and depending on head winds. Dr.Hess

I'll tell you what pissed me off (this time): The Lizard Queen gave a talk in Silicon Valley with a big sign in the background that said "Jobs for Tommorrow" with "tomorrow" mispelled, which was pretty funny, but she was talking to CEO's up there and promissing them H1Bs for their employees. Now a H1B is a temporary work permit where some foreigner like an Indian or a Chineese with some technical skills comes to our country and takes one of our high paying jobs at a reduced rate. Oh, the big businesses think it is great, they get an engineer or doctor or programmer for half price and after they are used up, back to India they go. Take back, don't do the job, any excuse at all and they get deported. But what about the U.S. worker? He is screwed. His job is taken by a foreigner for half pay, all of which goes back to India or China. And Hillary is bragging about how she is going to bring in more H1Bs. I can see that the "Jobs for Tommorrow" are actually jobs for foreigners at reduced pay. How exactly is that going to help me?

You're right Fritz. It was domesticated. Grown from a 6 week old and sold shortly before it was released/executed: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,277097,00.html

They scream "Oh, free economy, supply and demand sets the price and that's why gas is so high." Well, that only works in a true free economic model, which the gasoline supply industry is not. If it were truely free, then us guys on MFRC could say, hey, there's money to be made refining gas. Lets open a refinery. But we can't because the government(s) won't let us and it would take a billion dollars just to get the paperwork through. So, the economic model is more game theory or oligarchy where they rip us off as much as they can while we still have to drive to work to make mortgage payments. I get tired of Rush jabbering this crap about supply and demand setting the prices and fair is fair. It's BS and he is just being the mouthpiece for big oil on that topic.

When I lived in Bryan, we had 24 acres outside of Calvert. There was a lot of mesquite on it. I often thought of a mesquite stock. Probably would have been very interesting. I think it is a pretty wood, at least after you cut it, all yellow and everything. It is a very unusual wood and I had trees of it 2 ft thick. I never lacked for mesquite chips for the BBQ. I had trouble believing that people would buy bags of it in the grocery store. Pretty much all you get anywhere is a run-around and delays. That's why I do just about everything myself. I figure that worst case, I can screw it up myself cheaper and faster. I had my 30-06 Mauser 98 bedded, crowned and teflon coated by a gunsmith in Texas City. He did a lot of high dollar custom work. It took him longer than he had anticipated by a couple weeks, if I recall. Part of the problem was that a chunk of the stock came out with the bedding and he had to fix that. But, he did a beautiful checkering job on it to hide his repair and his prices were quite reasonable. Dr.Hess

Dang. My cap guns (60's) weren't nearly that nice. Of course, $5 was a lot of money then, too. Probably like $50 today. Dr.Hess

About the funniest I ever saw was the instruction sheet that came with my SKS back in the 80's. I wish I would have kept it. One of the items went something like "looking down barrel for holes."

What I have trouble understanding is why we (the U.S.A) are importing wheat? I mean, we feed the rest of the world and we are importing wheat? It is insane. If we're going to import things from China, it should be AK's and SKS', things the Chineese make well and inexpensively that the U.S. seems unable to do, not wheat, which the U.S. makes well and inexpensively.