Dex has a great post up about the myth of the gun show loophole. Check it out here.

BANGS!

 

 I was bored and channeling my inner Bettie Page again… And it was either change the bangs, or chop it all off. 

I like ‘em.

I haven’t had bangs like this since about 4th grade.

EDIT: I wore the new bangs out with the Papa Battery, 5/14 USMC crew, newly home from Iraq. (Welcome home to Daren, Mohn, Rodriguez, Ron, Wilcox, and anyone else I’m forgetting… blame it on Rod’s Coronas!) A girl at the bar did a double-take at me and said, “Wow – CUTE HAIR!” So… success!

This “Campus Security Alert” just in via email:

University Community,
At approximately 9:30 a.m. today, an anonymous female caller using a courtesy phone in the Commons reported seeing a male person in the Commons, whom she has heard previously making threatening remarks. This male person is described as very heavy-set, with dark hair, wearing a white t-shirt and gray vest. Moscow Police are investigating.

All members of the University of Idaho Moscow campus are urged to remain calm but vigilant, and to report any information by calling 911.

Federal law requires the University to report security incidents to the community in a timely fashion.

So – we have a male, who may or may not have a reason to be on campus (is he a student? member of the community?), who may or may not have made threats (not suggesting we should disregard anonymous tips, but… what if this is a disgruntled ex-girlfriend?), theoretically wandering around campus somewhere. We have no idea what type of threats he supposedly made – stalking? Personal assault? Rape? Suicide bombing? Napalm? We have no idea what type of weapons he may or may not have, where he may or may not be headed, or who he may or may not be targeting.

What we do know: Not a single University of Idaho student, faculty member, or administrator is authorized to protect themselves with legally-carried personal firearms. Instead, we must hope this threat is a misunderstanding, or, if legitimate, we won’t be targeted. We must hope passive measures like locking doors, cowering under tables or throwing staplers (seriously – the risk management official at the University suggested that as a valid defense) will keep us alive. We must place all our faith in local law enforcement, who have no legal obligation to risk their lives to preserve ours, and hope they get there fast enough, assemble in teams large enough, and are selfless enough to actually make a difference.

We are fish in a barrel.

I just wanted to give a shout-out to USAA, which is our primary bank, lending institution and car insurance company. I’ve been dealing with them for four years now, starting when Mike deployed to Iraq at the beginning of our relationship and left me with a power of attorney to attend to his affairs. They have consistently bent over backwards in the customer service department, and I always encourage military friends to join while they’re eligible.

Here’s the good news: They’ve changed their eligibility requirements to now include…

Former military personnel:
- If you’re no longer in the military, you are eligible until you turn 35.
- If you continue to serve in the military after you turn 35, eligibility expires upon separation or retirement from the military.

So – if you’re former military, under 35, and not a USAA member yet – go join now!

…Your cell phone’s text auto-complete thingy always wants to select “arf” instead of “are.”

1. I realized (a bit late) that not everybody knows that Patriots’ Day is celebrated on the anniversary of April 19, 1775 – the day the shot heard ’round the world was fired at Concord bridge. If you’re unfamiliar with the significance of Lexington and Concord, educate yourself here. (My dear Inconvenience would argue that the war began long before April 19, perhaps with the Boston massacre or HMS Gaspée affair – but we celebrate Patriots’ Day all the same!)

April 19 also marks the anniversary of the siege at Waco (1993) and the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), neither of which I find occasion to commemorate. I believe both of those events were clashes between two sides generally lacking in sympathetic characters.

Anyway, we observe Patriots’ Day with shooting and festivities to honor the American traditions of independence and marksmanship. Last year, the Inconvenience proposed (on a bridge!) and we followed it up with shooting. This year, we happened to have access to Tannerite, so we had a bit of fun with the effigy of a Redcoat. I of course have no intention of blowing up any actual subjects of the Queen. :)

2. I really hope you’re all watching John Adams, or making arrangements to procure the DVDs. It is simply incredible. I dare you to watch this – just the intro – and try to avoid coming away inspired:

The casting is brilliant, the script is excellent… it’s truly history come alive. It’s also caused me to have a bit of a crush on Thomas Jefferson (as if I didn’t already), played perfectly by Stephen Dillane. The Inconvenience has been pleading Hamilton’s case for months, but it’s falling on deaf ears… And the miniseries isn’t helping. I hate that sleazy little self-serving parasite. I’m totally on Team Burr.3. In addition to spending copious amounts of time fangirling over the founding fathers, I’ve also:

• Continued on in my position at the ice rink, with new and improved summer duties.
• Helped found the Palouse Sons of Liberty.
• Organized a team for and participated in the Relay for Life – for which, by the way, I also owe late donation thank-yous to JJ and Brody. :)
• Kept an eye on Heller, the elections, and other news and current events with the potential to affect our lives profoundly. Idaho Republicans will finally get around to holding the primary on May 27th (when it totally matters, hurrr…) – but there’s still an ongoing pissing match about the closed primary rule, so who knows – maybe I won’t even get to vote.
• Gotten rather involved in a potential lawsuit and am developing a cursory involvement in another… Don’t worry, I’m not in any trouble, nor is the Inconvenience. I’m just a fan of putting my time and money where my mouth is, and as much as I’d like to elaborate at this time, I can’t. Trust me… they’ll be intriguing stories sooner or later.
• Started talking about an entrepreneurial opportunity with a friend. This, too, is in the works, with more details to come once I have a clue what they are!
• Been running here, there and everywhere with this friend’s party and that friend’s shower and on and on… May is only going to be worse. Out of nine weekend days in May, I currently have plans for eight. *thud*

So anyway, those are my lame excuses for severely neglecting the politics, guns, and politics-as-pertaining-to-guns portions of this blog lately. Forgive me?

4. Don’t forget, those of you who have occasion to be on a college campus this week – the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Spring 2008 “Empty Holster Protest” is currently in full swing. You can find details here, along with guidelines for safe, effective participation.

5. On a personal note, I’d like to congratulate Mike – my dear Inconvenience – on his new job, which he started today. He’s also preparing to graduate on May 10th with his B.A. in History, with a Political Science minor… and a 3.5 GPA! ‘Bout damn time one of us graduated. ;)

Patriots’ Day pictures are after the jump. I don’t know if any of the rest of the PSOL crew care to appear on PGB, so I’ve cropped these accordingly.

Warning – 56k death! :)

Read the rest of this entry »

I hope you all got a chance to go out shooting in celebration of 233 years of American asskickery and fine marksmanship. Incidentally, it’s also the first anniversary of the day I was asked (and agreed) to become Mrs. Inconvenience. :)

Our day thus far involved the Palouse Sons of Liberty and Tannerite. It’s about to involve steak and beer.

A good day, friends. Pictures and video to come!

Some thoughts under the jump in the comments (warning – spoilery!).

EDIT: I decided to move my thoughts to the comments, since I don’t want to accidentally foist spoilers on somebody whose feed reader doesn’t correctly interpret the jump or something.

I now have the soundtracks to all three Halo games.

I also have a corset. I procured the corset because I had a dearth of ideas for PGB pin-up outfits, and that was an obvious choice. Shortly thereafter, however, I had a flash of creative brilliance and now have like six ideas. I’m torn. :-/ I may just have to photograph all of the above, then decide which ones look best in 2-D. Speaking of which, I just have to find a photographer (or photographically-inclined friend, more realistically) now, and I’m good to go!

It’s very nice outside today, so I’m going to go enjoy it before I succumb to my sudden desire to play Halo all day…