I cannot imagine this is what is meant to pray for your leaders.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/31/phoenix-pastor-draws-protests-telling-church-prays-obamas-death/?test=latestnews

It is a shame that someone would take upon themselves a congregation and lead them so poorly. This man is not following the scripture. David prayed for his enemies, even the king. We are commanded repeatedly to pray for our leaders in the new testament.

Lord God in heaven, may your will be done in all things. Give us all grace and cover our sins. Lead us according to your will, teach us what is right, that we may be used for your glory. Help us to humbly submit to those you have put over us, acknowledging that your hand is over all creation. Give our leaders wisdom to set a righteous example before us and all the Earth. Bend their will to your own to that righteousness may abound in our land that we might be a light and example as a nation in this world for your glory and praise.

Even that prayer, as feeble as it might be, is how we should pray for our leaders. To pray for their suffering or death is not how Christians are called to pray.

I have no love for Obama's policies. He cares not for the most innocent lives, and is pushed and pulled by many who desire to continue or expand abortion in this country. His policies have rewarded some of the most corrupt constituencies in our country. He is trying to force great changes on our nation which would our founder would abhor. For all that he earns my prayer, not my hate. I will fight his policies where I am able and pray that he sees what is right.

God has blessed us with our new born daughter Seraphina Faith Day born Tuesday July 14 3:59 AM, 7 pounds 3 ounces, and 19 inches long. Mother and daughter are both doing wonderful. The labor was very easy and quick for my wife and she is recovering excellent. Seraphina arrived with a voracious appetite, but has been satiated and is now sleeping comfortably.

Pictures are on our website: http://www.crazydays.org in the photo ablum section.

I finally signed up for twitter, crazydaysorg is my id. Surprisingly there isn't an option to add a twitter id on slashdot, but there is for every other IM type tool, and even WoW (which I don't play anymore).

On Saturday there I attended a conference with ever other fellow with a laptop twittering or tweeting or whatever it is called. It was so pervasive that there was even a 1/2 hour session on twitter and other social networking sites.

I've heard about it for a while, but never really seen a use for twitter. Well, being all sheep like I decided to sign up cause all the cool kids are doing it.

I'm hoping to make it sort of a "cool links" type tool for myself. To that end, I've followed a couple folks who I think might generate links that I would be interested in such as: nranews, newtgingrich, and timoreilly. Hopefully these folks post links to interesting articles.

I don't forsee me posting much since I really don't have a lot to say. I'll probably mention releases of any of the software projects I am working on. I might post a few other things like links to articles or columns I really like too.

I've noticed Shakrai for a while when reading main page stories. He has an interesting journal about the Binghamton shootings last week too. darkpixel2k posted a number of times in Shakrai's journal too, all stuff I pretty much agree with.

+ Friend dfenstrate

Over all he seems to be a reasonable fellow from the dozen or so posts of his I have read from his user page. What first caught my attention was the pro-gun and pro-castle doctrine stance he took in a thread from today.

Iowa Senator Says AIG Executives Should 'Resign or Commit Suicide'

From the title and what was said, I was pretty sure it was going to be a Democrat. Hating business and saying outlandish things go hand in hand. Well, I was wrong. But, AP made it too easy, as by the second paragraph the party was mentioned immediately.

White House Ridicules Cheney After Criticism

Not really "Name That Party" since we all know who is in the whitehouse. But I am personally upset that we are now a Republican cabal. I much prefered VRWC, even the name sounds mysterious.

However, I do think Cheney should quit playing the Carter role and retire quietly. Unless Cheney is going to be running again, presidents and vice presidents have traditionally stayed out of the political fray after leaving office. Carter and Gore being two modern exceptions to that rule.

Justice Thomas Says Americans Self-Indulgent, Don't Sacrifice

What is wrong with this article? No, it isn't that it is AP posted on Fox News. Fox posts a lot of AP articles.

I like to play a game when reading Fox, which is to skip the source right under the title and read the article and then guess the source. The fourth paragraph told me it was AP. I could tell because the paragraph had nothing to do with the article and implied there was a conservative majority on the court. Conitnuing on in the next paragraph it mentions the confirmation process with Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations, which again have nothing to do with the title of the article.

Mohammed must not be parodied.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509258,00.html

Well, as I mentioned previously, I purchased a gun this week.

I've been watching on gunbroker.com for a Glock 17L or Glock 34 for the past month or so. I finally found a reasonable deal on a Glock 17L and put in a bid (look for the chart about 3/5ths down the page).

As I mentioned before the 9mm and long barrel were the two features I was putting highest on my list. The 9mm for common and less expensive ammo for training, less recoil than a .40 or .45, and also a reasonably effective defense caliber. The barrel is 6.02" long, over 2" longer than many semi-auto pistols. The longer sight distance makes aiming more accurate as the "cone" is smaller.

From the boards I've read, a lot of folks dislike the Glock look. Personally I think they look fine, simple and utilitarian. They are not shiny or gaudy, but rather simple and unimaginative. Folks especially dislike the competition guns, like the 17L and 34 in 9mm, and 24 and 35 in .40. But for whatever reason it doesn't bother me. I guess I find function more attractive than glitter.

So, after winning my auction, I need to do a handful of things. First, I need to go back to the gun shop who will be doing the transfer for me to figure out all of the steps I need to take to take posession of the gun.

http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123-1591_3503_4654-16241--,00.html

According to this, I will need to get a License to Purchase a Pistol. This will cause a NICS check to be run by the FFL (gun shop/transfer agent). The police will do a background check on me and I'll need to answer a Basic Pistol Safety Questionnaire with at least 70% correct. I'll also need to swear before a notary that I am legally allowed to own a pistol. I'm not sure how all of this works with the timing, but hopefully it all works pretty quickly and smoothly.

I've already read over the Basic Pistol Safety Questionnaire, which has a couple of what I would consider "trick" questions. One of them being along the lines of, "The owner must report a stolen pistol within 1 year (t|f)." Well, technically true, since it is actually 5 days, and 5 days being less than a year the discreet set of days by which the owner must report the gun stolen is within the set of 1 year. But I am pretty sure the answer they are looking for is false.

Anyways, while looking around the last couple months, reading about hand guns, safety, and anything else remotely pertaining to handguns I found a number of sites that I really enjoyed.

Most recently is Cornered Cat, a site by a mother of 5 who writes or has written for a couple gun publications. It is very much oriented towards women and self defense, but she also encourages safe gun handling and usage more than any other site I've read. This is a really good site for those with a family and how to be considerate with your spouse.

Christian Gun Owner was on of the early sites I found, mostly because it had a page or two dedicated to Glocks (reloading specifically if I recall). This site really struck a cord with me, as it was shooting with other men from church that really started me on looking into purchasing a handgun. I have wanted to pick up something for a long time, but it was shooting with the guys from church that put me over the edge (that and the timely election of Obama).

The Civilian Gun Defense Blog is pretty interesting. For all of those folks who think guns are bad and only exist to harm folks, this is a pretty interesting list of real situations where a gun owner either protected their life or property against someone. These are folks who did not wait for a policeman to stop a Bad Guy(tm), but stepped up for themselves or others.

I am really looking forward to getting my gun. Once the ground thaws I will start digging out a berm for a homemade range. The layout of our property will work really well for a pistol/rifle range, as we have a gentle slope to shoot at, and after I dig out the berm it will be a pretty level area to shoot into. It will probably take me a few weekends to finish digging, but it will be pretty cool to have a range right behind the house.

Please click to get the correct color scheme.

Sure, it has nothing to do with rights online, but I figured if it was good enough of a category for Michael to post his anti-Bush conspiracy theories, it is good enough for me.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/19/report-oklahoma-city-pd-admits-mistake-pulling-man-anti-obama-sign/

Evidently pro-Obama folks think abortion is murder. Who would have thunk it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,488644,00.html

So, for those who are pro-abortion, does this bother you at all? The abortion failed, since the child survived crossing the into the world from the womb.

Was this murder or an abortion?

It is possible for a child to survive when being born after 20+ weeks, though the chances are very low. And since the child had air in the lungs, it obviously breathed by itself.

I think what this story highlights is that life begins at birth is a really lousy definition of life. There is a point at which a child can survive outside the mother on its own, or at least through help from modern medicine. But that point is getting closer and closer to conception. Assuming techonolgy continues to advance, we might even see the a __Brave New World__ decanting children.

The only clear point that we have at which point life begins is conception. The unique and individual (don't be stupid and argue genetic twins) and completely separate DNA begins an individual. At least to modern science we know of no other clearly defining time that occurs in all pregancies.

RGSPCP

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01232009/news/politics/prez_zings_gop_foe_in_a_timulating_talk_151572.htm

Stop listening to folks that disagree with me and we'll get along fine. I won, therefore I get to implement what ever I want.

This sort of hubris is what the Left expected from Bush.

I have been looking into pistols for the last couple months. Since shooting with some men from church last November I have been researching and reading up on different pistols.

I've narrowed my search down to just a few guns:

- Glock 17L
- Glock 34
- Taurus 24/7 Pro Long Slide

They are all longer barreled pistols which in theory are more accurate, and all in the 9mm family for less recoil. I would mainly consider them to be for using for home defense and target practice. If I choose to carry at some point in the future I will look for something smaller and more concealable, and likely not consider a glock since because of the trigger safety.

From my research I have found that glocks are riskier to reload since the stock barrels are slightly oversized adding to the stress on the brass. But as I am just a noob and without any reloading equipment it isn't much of an issue. Additionally, shooting unjacketed lead bullets will foul the barrel of glocks because of the way the barrel is threaded. This shouldn't be much of an issue either as I'll likely be shooting jacketed rounds anyways.

I've read mixed reviews of the Taurus. It is hard to separate fact from general dislike. Taurus as a Brazillian company had lots of quality issues, but Taurus USA is supposed to have a much higher quality guns. It is hard to figure out if folks are just being "bigots" or if there is still valid concerns with the Taurus.

Well, the Mrs and I are batting .667*. Our second child is on the way and hopefully to arrive in July, Lord willing. Morning sickness has been much worse this time around (which all the old wives around tell us means it is going to be a girl). We have are really hoping for a girl, but we'll take what comes our way.

The little guy still is having speech issues and understanding speech, so we have had a hard time communicating that he is going to have a sibling in a few months. He has been in a group for children with speech issues since the beginning of the year, but in such short time we have not seen much success. He otherwise seems very intelligent and able to manipulate his surroundings, but speech still eludes him quite a bit.

* 3 months of trying, 2 pregnancies

http://townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas/2009/01/06/interview_with_president_bush_from_the_oval_office

This was a pretty interesting interview with President Bush. It fills out some of the his reasoning, whether you agree with it or not, of why he made certain choices and explains some of his thought process of why he worked at certain issues.

So, a bunch of men from church got together Saturday to bitterly cling to God, guns, and religion. Since I haven't shot anything since my teen years I figured I'd go along and try out some various guns. I'm interested in picking up a handgun at the moment, since our president elect is likely to try to make getting them more difficult. My personal hunch is we'll see another "assault weapon" bill within the first few months, because scary looking weapons are bad. Then we'll see something for handguns, cause they only serve one purpose, which is to kill people. Finally, if it makes it that far, we'll see hunting weapons targeted.

There were two stations setup, a shotgun/skeet station and a rifle/handgun station. Before we split up one of the men explained the rules and safety pointers. Once we were familiarized with the rules we broke up into groups to head to the respective stations. I went to the rifle/handgun station as I've shot shotguns before and am in the market for a handgun. We were setup across a pond from the targets, at a range of about 50 yards. Certainly longer than I would consider for a handgun distance.

We pulled out the rifles first, which were only 22s. Because of the cold they were not loading well at all from the clips. It took some playing with before I got my first shot off, but I pinged the 4" target from about 50 yards. Of course that was beginners luck as I was only about 75% after that. I might consider picking up a 22 rifle at some point for my rabbit issues, but certainly not any time soon. Over all, very uninteresting.

The pastor's son brought a 9mm. It was about a 4 inch barrel, which seemed pretty short. I'm not sure if he has a CWW or not, but that seems to be more the size I'd expect for carrying. He put in the clip and shot off at the target 2' x 3'. I'm pretty sure he didn't hit the target once, and sunk a handful in the pond. One of the professors tried next. He was a bit more accurate, actually hitting the target a couple times. I loaded up a clip to try it out and put most of them at the foot of the target. The issue was that the sight was low, so I couldn't actually see the target when it would have been centered. I found it was pretty nice, with not a lot of recoil. But I'm not sure my wife would feel comfortable with it, but there are some things you can do for limiting the recoil. This was the gun I shot the most, as it is probably what I would be looking for as a hand gun. I might consider something with a longer barrel around the house, as I'm not sure that carrying about town is really a
concern.

The second handgun I tried was a 45. Thise one certainly had a bit more recoil, and definitely would no be suggested for the wife. It would take a lot of concentration to use this in a defensive situation and be able to hit your target even if they were not moving, at least for a second shot be be any accurate. The trigger on this one was very sensitive. The professor who tried this one accidently shot off twice while only intending one shot because of the recoil and light trigger.

I also tried out a 22 handgun, which was equally unintereting as the 22 rifle. I don't really see the purpose of a 22 handgun as you are not going to be shooting small game with it, nor using it defensively. So it seems more like a toy rather than a useful weapon. I suppose you could use it to put down a rabid racoon, but that seems kinda a niche use.

While I'm not a huge gun buff, I do figure I ought to exercise my right. First, living out in the country I don't expect a cop to be around to help. And relying on a neighbor who wouldn't be able to hear a yell in the first case is no help. I don't expect to ever even need a weapon around the home, but I don't ever expect to need a cell phone to call for a tow truck either, but we keep one around just in case. We even use it for calling other folks once in a while too. Just as I'm sure when we pick up a gun we'll shoot off a few rounds every now and then too.

As of now, the Sarah Palin article on wikipedia has 2000 revisions since 09:50, 28 August 2008. The Joe Biden article on the other hand 2000th revision would place it 01:27, 29 July 2006.

Interesting. I am sure some of it comes from Biden being more of a known quantity for a longer period of time. But a lot of the revisions I see are fairly minor and often repeated, such as one that changes the heading "Public Safety Commissioner dismissal" to "Abuse of power" and back again, and "Pro-Life" to "Anti-Abortion" and back again.

I did find one revision which was pretty chuckle worthy. Look at the previous revision for the picture of the moose.

[update]
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/30/1858240

It seems I am not the only one who found this interesting. I haven't read the story, but it looks related to what I was observing.