Toto

I know I say it a lot, but OH, MY!
http://wethepeople09171787.blogspot.com/2009/08/this-should-seriously-piss-you-off-and.html

What would Dorothy say?

"Toto, I don't think we're in America any more?"

Further research has found that the man in uniform is actually a Fairfax County Schools Security Officer, but does this change anything? Perhaps a bit-- but not enough to NOT scare anyone who has any hopes of expressing their first amendment rights. He was still acting under authority-- telling the protester what to do-- threatening arrest-- acting like a member of law enforcement.

Hey-- isn't there a law against that?

As for the law against sharing your political views during school board meetings? I find no evidence of that. In our school district, we cannot be in our "employee" roll and persuade someone one way or another to vote. But this was a non-school activity, that had nothing to do with a current voting situation. It was a town hall meeting--about health care-- that happened to be on school property. (Since school property is paid for by taxes, it's considered to be public property-- so it can be used for things like the town hall meeting without having anything to do with school in particular.)

Again-- Oh, MY!

Hopefully, Officer Wesley Cheeks will have some explaining to do. HOPEFULLY, he was NOT acting under any authority that he was given to do what he did. HOPEFULLY he wasn't told to do it.

Gone Shootin' Verse 2

My friends, Laura and Kelly, and I took an NRA pistol class this weekend, as well as the CHL class necessary to carry concealed handguns. NEVER have I thought that I could have so much fun shooting a gun (Gone Shootin' entry was about the first time I had been to a gun range since high school-- and I wasn't very good "way back then"). But MAN-O-MAN, did we have fun!

We took the classes through Capitol Area Practical Shooting. Our instructors were GREAT--a husband-wife team. Saturday we took the NRS First Steps Pistol and Practical Pistol courses. We shot up close as well as far away. We shot slowly, quickly, and everything in between. My personal favorite was the exercise where John, our instructor, said the color name of a target, and we shot that color twice. It was pretty fast paced; it was the most challenging as far as making the target things we did. I was most impressed with myself in that I made most hits. The reason being is that I have HORRIBLE aim-- well, most of the time. I've never been one for team sports, and don't EVEN ask Stu about my horseshoe playing ability.

As for my shooting partners-- I was WAY impressed with them as well. They've shot way more than I have-- and it definitely shows. Laura is now 28 weeks pregnant, and she ROCKED! She was so cute out there with her little belly...although her hoo-hoos got in the way a bit with moving the gun from "low-ready" to shooting position.

Kelly was quite amusing herself-- couldn't decide which eye to close while aiming-- and couldn't decide which gun to use while shooting. I was impressed with the fact that she wasn't just learning-- but she was working on breaking the habit of closing the wrong eye (she's right handed, and was taught to shoot by her left- handed Dad). She shot the best of all of us during our CHL qualifying test.

Which brings me to the next part. We were the only "trainees" out on the range yesterday. The others were our instructor, John, the gun range "dude", Billy, and Will, the neighbor. While we, "the girls" worked on each exercise, "the boys" kept trying to ensue a sense of competition between us. While I understand that competitiveness is a part of both male and female makeup to some extent, it's not so present BETWEEN the three of us "girls." So pushing to be competitive with each other was...well, to use a Star Trek word...futile. So Kelly shot a hundreth of a second faster-- "It's okay"-- "Good Job, Kelly." OR when I shot a hundredth of a second faster-- "It's okay." The timer buzzer freaked Laura out a little, since she doesn't like that "pressure" feeling so much (she's definitely more of a thinker here)-- Kelly and I said "It's okay. You're doing great."

Kelly "beat" me at our qualifying test. She got a 240/250, and I got 239/250. Billy told Kelly, "Okay, do it now."

"What?"

"Talk smack to your Friend."

"I'm not going to do that. She did a good job."

"So did you, Kelly," I said, "I'm proud of you."

Then men just shook their heads.

Oh-- and Laura got a 231. She was a little upset, but Kelly and I told her that since the average women's score is about 215, 231 was MORE than sufficient. ESPECIALLY at 28 weeks pregnant and 100+ degrees. 231 is WONDERFUL.

Laura had to leave early, so Kelly and I finished up ourselves. Before we left, we shot at a target 126 yards away-- the distance from Billy's porch to the heavy-duty target at the range. Can you believe that I hit the target with EVERY SHOT?!?! Absolutely amazing, if you ask me. I would have never thought I could do it. Kelly missed the first 2 shots, and then realized that she was shooting with the wrong eye closed, and then after that, she shot most of the ones she attempted. Pretty darn good, if you ask me. Especially with a pistol.

Today wasn't near as much fun-- we sat through the CHL class; mostly a sit-and-listen bit. John and Julianna did a great job, though-- given the structure of the class. We did enjoy it, though.

To remember our great day at NRA pistol class, we took a photo with John:

Pretty fun, eh?

Oh-- and my DEAR WONDERFUL LOVING husband cleaned our pistol today while I was at the CHL class. It needed it-- oh, MY-- that gun was NASTY after shooting 500 or so rounds through it yesterday. (It was one that Kelly used, too). I thought he would make me clean it-- as dirty as it was-- but he did it this time.

This time. I have a feeling that next time, it will be me.

MY oh, MY!

Things just keep getting better...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/1565

Perhaps there's hope for Obama himself to get a PMF after he runs the country into the ground...

Gone Shootin'

Yesterday, we packed up ol' Buttercup with the family and headed to the gun range. I'll be taking my CHL class in a few weeks, and needed some practice. Not being the best aimer (even at horseshoes), I was a little concerned with how I would do with the pistol.


However, much to my surprise (since it's been a LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGG time since I've shot a gun), I did fairly well. All my shots with the 9mm that I'll be qualifying with were well within the 8-ring. As Stu said-- "a perfect score."

(This isn't mine-- just an example to show where the "8 ring" is. It's faint, but there.)

Mike and Stu shot some-- seemed to enjoy themselves, and did well-- even with the big 44 Magnum. Dirty Harry can keep his gun, as far as I'm concerned-- well, Dirty Harry, Stu, and Mike. It's a bit much for me. Our friends Shawn and Kelly came out as well-- Shawn tried out the 44. I don't think he'd say no if anyone offered to hand it over to him...

Kelly did great--although she's still recovering from learning to shoot as a left-eye dominant while she's really a right-eye dominant. I was impressed! I'm looking forward to taking the CHL class with her and Laura. Shawn says we'll be the best defended 3rd grade hall in the state...

Connor and Chance had a *excuse me for the pun* chance to shoot, too.

Connor said he thought it was cool-- "First time shooting a pistol and I got 3 in the x."

Chance said, "I had fun, but I was kinda nervous. My legs were shaking I was so scared."

The best part of the day was on the way home, when Stu turned to me and said, "Nice job, Honey."


Today, the boys are off to play golf; perhaps I'll get a few things done for school.



Perhaps.

Oh, my...

Hail to the ch-ch-ch-chief....
http://www.chiaobama.com/



I can't tell which side would have come up with this...


I did send the link to Bill O'Reilly; let's see if he talks about it on the Factor...

Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated the Trekker's Birthday. Imagine 8 to 10-year-old boys watching Star Trek and shooting each other with phasers of various generations. Fun, fun-- but a little much for hubby.

We watched 2 different episodes of Star Trek: Phantasms form TNG (since the cake was inspired by this episode-- complete with mint frosting!) and A Piece of the Action from the original series.

Menu items included:
replicated hamburgers
tube grubs (macaroni and cheese)
isolinear chips (Doritos)
gel packs
gak (gummy worms)
Romulan ale (blue Gatorade)
Klingon blood wine (cranberry juice)

and to top it all off, this cake:






















All in all, I think the boys had some fun-- although it might have been the last sleepover (for a while at least!)

So this morning-- It's hit me that there are TWO weeks left before school starts (for me). TWO WEEKS!! There's too much to do in these two weeks-- who knows if it will all get done. So I'm working on curtains for the new room today, and then I'll eventually move in to all the mandatory stuff. (Yes, I know I work a little backwards, but hey-- it all usually gets done!)