Looks like I’ve managed to miss both the Arfcom and SIGforum PMAG group buys. Any tips on any others?

If not, what’s the cheapest, best source right now? Black windowless are fine.

I just got a call (at work) from a volunteer with the Idaho Democratic Party reminding me to get out and vote on Tuesday. Then she asked if I knew where my polling place was, and I said “Yes, and I’ll be voting.” Then she asked if I needed a ride. I said “Nope!” and she thanked me and hung up.

What I should have said was “Will you still give me a ride if I’m writing in Ron Paul for President and voting to reelect Bill Sali to Congress?”

Well snap. Here’s to hoping they call my cell phone.

The staff of one of the brands we’re a dealer for is made up of a bunch of hilarious SOBs. Most of the time I hate dealing with brands and suppliers because they are a huge pain in my ass, but these guys are awesome. They actually follow through with things, and they’re über-friendly (and English-speaking), and one of them is about my age and the two of us ganged up on the older guy one day and made him get a MySpace.

So anyway, I like these guys. And I just had to order a bunch of parts, so I called and the younger guy took my order and told me no, I couldn’t have any of the things I wanted, and then read it back to me with the opposite of everything I actually wanted… which means I’ll get them in a timely fashion exactly as requested.

Just now, I got the UPS shipment notification for this order, which has a list of everything included. It reads:

LV Windshield, Luggage Rack, Rear Fender, R Rocker, Vin Cover, Veteran’s Pendant of Conquest

I just about horked a mouthful of water all over BOTH my laptop and the work computer. Made. My. Day.

If you aren’t reading SayUncle, why the hell not?

It’s definitely my favorite roundup of guns and politics news. I usually read the RSS feed and after realizing EVERY DAY I click on at least 50% of the entries and think “I should re-post this…” it occurred to me I ought to just point y’all straight at him.

So, consider yourself commanded: Add Uncle to your blogrolls or RSS or however you get your daily blog goodies!

Thing the First: Yes, I’M ALIVE! I made it back to Free America safe and sound, and I apologize for the long delay before giving y’all proof of life.

Thing the Second: Part of the reason I’ve taken so damn long to update is because I returned from the People’s Republic of California with another new Idahoan in tow… and she’s been camped out on my couch. My younger sister finally had enough of The Bad Place and packed up her guns and dog and relocated to our neck of the woods. That’s the good news.

The bad news, for all you single guys anyway, is it took approximately .00002 seconds for one of our friends to bogart her affections. But I can start a waiting list or something in case that doesn’t work out. Be forewarned, she has fairly strict BYO-ammo requirements.

Thing the Third: Today marks the birthday of both my sister and everyone’s favorite Irish PGB reader, the little bastard known ’round here as Fucker. He may or may not have had to remind me for the, uh, sixth or seventh year running that the 29th of October is indeed his birthday (well, was if we’re going by his timezone) and for that I am captain of the failboat YET AGAIN.

But - no matter - here’s a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you both!

Thing the Fourth: I said three, but I lied. We have officially reached the wailing/gnashing of teeth/rending of clothing point about next Tuesday. I’m genuinely scared. I mean - the idea of a McCain presidency gives me the heebies. The idea of an Obama presidency with a Democrat-controlled congress has me absolutely terrfied. I feel my very way of life is under siege, and I feel powerless to stop it. I’m depressed.

I’ll post more tomorrow about the latest Obama redistribution of wealth statements and gun things and everything else that has me wishing I were in drinking condition at this point… Though I strongly suspect I’m just 99.9% preaching to the choir, especially since I think we’re screwed either way, just less screwed less quickly with McCain.

Regardless of who wins next Tuesday, America loses. The Republic is in distress.

Well, I made it to California. The shit has not yet hit the fan.

Egress back to Free America is scheduled for early Sunday.

Posting/email replies/etc. will be limited until then - though my folks actually have a decent wireless connection out here in the sticks, their computer’s fan runs constantly and gives me a god-awful headache.

Guess where I’m going tomorrow-through-Sunday?

Here are some hints:
- It’s 1,000 miles from my dear, sweet north Idaho home
- It’s one of the very last places I want to be in the midst of economic turmoil… and frankly not somewhere I like to be on a good day
- I can’t take my guns

If you guessed CALIFORNIA, you are indeed correct! And, to make the whole situation even more objectionable, Mike isn’t going along. Oh, and I have to fly there.

And Sunday is Mike’s birthday, so I’ll miss most of that.

And deer season starts on Friday, so I’m missing opening weekend.

Fortunately, I’m flying Southwest and they haven’t tacked on any checked-bag fees… so I intend to pack along a bug-out bag for good measure. If things get hairy, I swear I will commandeer a vehicle and head home most ricky-tick.

Everyone cross your fingers there’s no fan-shit contact before next Monday, eh?

Mike and I woke up bright and early this morning to make progress on two fronts: He, to take the LSAT, and I, to complete my Idaho hunter education field day.

The field day wasn’t too horrible - though ‘field day’ is kind of a lie. It’s actually about 5% shooting, 5% safe handling of dummy rifles (like how to best carry when on line with hunting partners), and 90% classroom stuff that is totally redundant with what was already covered in the bookwork portion of the course. I was afraid I was going to be the only person in the room over the age of 12, but since it was a field day for folks who had taken the bookwork portion online, it actually turned out to be all adults.

We shot break-action pellet rifles - 25 yards, 20 rounds per person, five rounds in each of the four major shooting positions. Fortunately, I’m not so pregnant that prone was impossible - though it was a little uncomfortable. After my sitting shots, the instructor walked downrange to squint at two of the targets - mine and the guy next to me. I was convinced I’d managed to embarass myself that horribly. But nope! He walked back behind the line and I heard him tell one of the other instructors “I have a hard time seeing them when they’re all in the black.”

*smirk*

I ended up ‘winning’ an Idaho hunter education canvas bag thingy for being a top shot. I’m thoroughly stoked to use said canvas bag thingy as a reusable grocery bag at the hippie food co-op.

Anyway, I passed everything and am now an officially educated Idaho hunter, complete with a super-awesome ‘Idaho Hunter Education Graduate’ blaze-orange trucker cap. Since I needed to pick up some .22LR while in Lewiston, I went ahead and got my license and whitetail tag at the same time.

It is so on, Bambi.

—

As for Mike’s LSAT - he’s scored between 154 and 167 on practice tests over the last couple of months (I think his average has been ~160) so he was relatively confident going into it. He also swore up and down there was no way the logic games - his worst section - could be the extra/experimental section on the test. I told him not to be so sure. GUESS WHAT THE EXTRA SECTION WAS! Anyway, he said he feels like he probably scored somewhere in the range he’d seen on the practice tests, but he really didn’t have a feeling about how high or low.

He said a chick behind him at the test had a t-shirt on with a giant Obama face on it, which kind of freaked him out. I asked, “Like one of those Che Guevara looking ones, the Latin American communist propaganda kind?”

“Yep,” he said. “I wanted to thank her for the extra motivation, but didn’t really feel like getting into it in the middle of the LSAT.”

—

Last but not least, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Idaho’s newest residents: The wonderful, freedom-loving Ellie and Barry (and their pups, Gus and Raisin). They just relocated from southern California to Boise; Ellie has accepted a position at Boise State. (I’m going to let that part slide.) Neener-neener, California - we’re taking all the good ones! Y’all are so screwed.

Welcome to free America, friends!

Joe Biden seemed hell-bent on competing with Sarah Palin’s everymanness during last night’s debate. He repeatedly mentioned that he was from small towns, too, and even threw something out there about Katie’s Restaurant and Home Depot.

Joe Biden doesn’t understand that people identify with Sarah Palin not because she grew up in a small town - it’s that she isn’t that far removed from the small town. Or the small town jobs. Or the small town income. Contrast that with Biden, who has been entrenched in the Senate since 1972.

The issue isn’t about whether or not a politician was once in touch with your average American… it’s how long they’ve spent out-of-touch on the hill in Washington. In Biden’s case, it’s 36 years and counting.

Not all Americans want politicans they can identify with - in fact, I’ve talked to quite a few who don’t feel like they could fill the shoes of vice-president, so they don’t feel comfortable sharing that much common ground with a vice-presidential nominee. Fair enough. I, personally, am more disturbed by somebody telling me they’re just like me when no, they’re not, and they haven’t been for going on four decades.

Then again, nobody really cares what I think because I’m probably still writing in The Ghost of Barry Goldwater.

I’m just tired of being bullshitted. Sarah Palin isn’t a foreign policy expert and Joe Biden isn’t my common-man compatriot. I have a lot more respect for straight talk than I do for fake-it-’til-you-make-it, but I suppose I shouldn’t expect such high standards of politicians.

Here are the latest suggestions for the big list of WORDS AND PHRASES BANNED UNTIL NOVEMBER 5TH:

- Hockey mom (and by extension, ‘lipstick’ and ‘pitbull’)
- Heartbeat away
- Walk in my neighborhood
- Joe Six-Pack
- Fundamental

I’ve also had a nomination to ban ‘Biden’ altogether - but another to keep ‘O’Biden.’

Oh, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of these in the first place, but I’m going to go ahead and declare a ban on:

- Hope
- Change (also, ‘Change we can believe in’)
- Yes we can (or ‘Si se puede’ or any other languages they try to sneak it past me in)
- Country first
- Community organizer
- ‘Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor’ and variations thereof
- Up there in Alaska

Keep ‘em coming!

Edit: Oh yeah… MAVERICK!