2nd Amendment Practice...

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I had the opportunity this past weekend to spend some time with an old college friend from N.J. at one of his favorite places to practice a familiar hobbie\skill\sport...

He took me to the local shooting club that he is a member of and we spent a interesting morning of playing "Golf" and target practice...

The facility is very well kept and maintained at the highest level of safety\security procedures and is a welcome sight compared to some of the "backwoods" shooting ranges that are available around here...

My friend has an impressive collection of weapons and the day was spent shooting mostly 243 and 22-250 caliber. Targets were set at 100 yards, 150 yards, and at the max 200 yards up against the safety berm...

Both of these calibers are somewhat small size bullets but with a substantial amount of energy behind them that results in a very fast feet per second.

Above is the entry point of a golfball shot at 100 yards with the 22-250 caliber rifle. This rifle, with a impressive scope, made hitting golfballs at 50 and 100 yards easy with the proper steady hold and trigger pull...

Shown above is the exit point of the same golfball after being hit with a 22-250 at 100 yards...

At the extreme range point of the rifle range up against the safety berm we placed a "Small" steel target that was 3" wide by 4" high. Location of target can be seen in the above photo with a "X" marking the spot. It was barely visible with the naked eye. We consistently hit this target with both calibers. Both the 243 and the 22-250 have relatively small bullets but since there are traveling at such a high feet per second they deliver some substantial damage to the target...

No Purple Finger here...

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The Staunton NewsLeader reports that the local Republican Party of Augusta County will be electing a new Chairman now that the old one has stepped down after a error filled campaign, mass meeting, and spectacle in the local media…

It is reported now that the new committee will have the task of selecting a new chairman and only those on the new committee list will be eligible to vote. This new committee is made up of those who stayed after the original 3 hour mass meeting for a second “mass meeting” that was not properly announced to all eligible voters of Augusta County. It also seems that the “Official” list has grown since that second mass meeting.

“Though Green said he walked away from the meeting with a list of 61 names, he said that this membership was later increased to 75 after County Republican insider Lynn Mitchell presented a larger list and members added names during a May meeting. The bylaws of the county party only allow for 65 members, he said.”

Before stepping down for the “good of the party” the prior chairman, Kurt Michael made sure to elect a new executive committee made up of only those he chose to notify of the meeting while excluding many long term committee members. Numerous committee members who had been active in the party for years and holding active committee positions were excluded by choice during the election of the new executive committee…

Chris Graham over at Augusta Free Press also has a related article on this topic:



"I’m not going to argue the reasoning that was presented by a local party member as to how this could be valid, because I’m sure it is valid, at least according to the local committee’s bylaws. The problem I would have if I was a Republican would be that I would think that I was disenfranchising a wide swath of my party base in so doing, and possibly alienating an even wider swath of the party faithful as we’re heading into an election season featuring competitive races for president, the U.S. Senate and Congress."

Virginia Pork Festival 2008...

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Attended my first Virginia Pork Festival yesterday and found\sampled the numerous ways that PIG can be prepared and served. Never knew so many ways that Pork can served such as slow pulled pork, shredded, chopped, BBQ, Chitterlings (Not a chance here), chops, ribs, ears, feet, sausage, meatballs, sliced, etc...

I then found it interesting that after hearing the numerous ways to prepare a butchered Pig, I came along the above booth sponsored by the Humane Society serving Festival Stew...

Manasquan Inlet "Treasure" Find...

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I had the opportunity to Scuba dive with the Point Pleasant First-Aid Rescue Dive Team this weekend at the Manasquan Inlet NJ. This inlet has recently been dredged to maintain navigation status and this exposes the bottom to the strong tidal currents each day...

During this training dive the above object was discovered and retrieved by a team diver who found it at the mouth or entrance of the inlet near the South jetty...

This item is all brass construction and is made up of three seperate compartments with fine threads and is watertight... It stands 3-1\4" high and is made up with a top compartment 1-1\4", middle at 7\8", and a bottom compartment of 1\2"... Top and bottom diameter is 2-1\4" and inside diameter 1-3\4"...

The bottom has an inscription "J.W. Forestal" and the date 1876 with the month of April. It has been noted that personal items of military service personell were required to have their name on it. This practice helped to identify the German Submarine U-869 that was located off the coast of NJ when a personal item was discovered with a crewmembers name on it. The inclusion of the month "April" may show that this was a Memorial service award. Several people have suggested that this item was used to carry tobacco, snuff, powder, gunpowder, or the likes...

Jenkinson's Aquarium Seal Tank Dive...

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I had the opportunity to dive with the Point Pleasant NJ First Aid Rescue Dive Team this past weekend when they did a promotion at the Jenkinson's Aquarium. It was a dive in the aquarium tank with the resident Seals to show interactions between the divers and the seals as well as examples of SCUBA skills...

Busy weekend for the Mannasquan inlet...

United States Coast Guard station Mannasquan New Jersey...

All good Tiki-bars come with appropriate decorations...

Who to "Call" when we get to $5 a gallon...

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Mark Levin mentioned this on his show yesterday and RED STATE provided this information on how Congress is working on the energy issue.

When gasoline reached $2 then $3 a gallon people began to “complain” but did little to cut back on consumption. At $4 a gallon the consumption has been cut back 5-7% and people are complaining that much louder.

Wait until it gets to $5 a gallon and I predict people will be calling on Congress and telling them that they do not care one bit which party they belong too and they will be voted out at next election…

The interesting thing is let’s look at “who has voted for what” in the past and who is actually keeping technology, private industry, and the free market from increasing energy sources being added to the inventory and market…

In a breakdown of top energy issues, you'll find the GOP is in favor of more options for energy than the Democrats.

ANWR Exploration

House Republicans: 91% Supported

House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-LiquidHouse

Republicans: 97% Supported

House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration

House Republicans: 90% Supported

House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration

House Republicans: 81% Supported

House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity

House Republicans: 97% Supported

House Democrats: 96% Opposed