WWII Veterans..

From the other side:


From bottom to top:



A Weimar K98K made by the Gustloffwerke Co. in 1944. The numbers for the (refinished) stock and barrel match but are different for the bolt . This was common as US soldiers would pick up a rifle and a bolt assembly for trophies from the separate piles that the Germans put them in after surrendering.

This was passed down from my Aunt's father to my Uncle who then gave it to my dad where it sat in the above gun rack (in a different den) for over 25 years, then I got my grubby hands on it.


Yugoslavian reworked K98K w/ Yugo communist crest. This is my 'field piece' for WWII re-enactments :


And finally, a Japanese Imperial Navy issued Katana:


Tang photo added by request of Weer'd Beard. Any further info on it would be appreciated.

Thanks to the G/K43 Community Forum for the info on the Mausers.

Chicago, my kind of town...

Hot on the heels of Blago's arrest, the gang-banging 'former' boyfriend of 'former' Chicago Alderthing Arenda Troutman was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

If the name isn't familiar, she's the one that, after her home was broken into several times, demanded 24 hr police protection with the statement "Deserve it? Damn right. I should receive the protection I am receiving. I am an elected official. You’re darn right", was caught w/ drugs and an unregistered firearm, trashed her office after losing the election, and was convicted for bribery and fraud.

Mix well w/ the Father-in-Law of our indicted Governor, Alderthing Dick Mell, rewriting the law so he can re-register his personal firearm collection, and you have , well, Chicago politics as usual.

End of an Era..

Bettie Page, an epitome of hotness, passed away last night at the age of 85.

Too sweet..

Via Amendment II Democrats:

Fast forward to June 9, 2007. Now we find Blagojevich surrounded by the families of people killed by violent criminals - and once again calling for a ban on semi-automatics, denouncing Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan for not allowing a vote on banning "high-capacity" magazines on the House floor. But this time, the venue is different. Blagojevich delivered these remarks while standing outside the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago...

...which, as it turns out, is the very same hospital that Federal prosecutors allege was secretly threatened by Blagojevich with a loss of $8 million in state funds, earmarked to reimburse doctors who treated Medicaid patients. The reason? Blagojevich complained that he never received a contribution from hospital CEO Patrick Magoon to the tune of $50,000.

The personification of Il politics. You have to love this guy.

The Empty Seat

I see three options for the filling of Obama's Senate seat.

1) Blago tries to appoint someone. Blagojevich seems so disjointed at this point he may just try it. This is a doomsday option as anyone appointed would have ZERO legitimacy while Sen. Durbin has said they would not let the appointee take the seat anyway. Whoever gets the seat becomes persona non grata. Beautiful chaos ensues as the powers turn on themselves.

2) Lt. Gov. Quinn, when he becomes Gov., attempts to appoint a replacement. While he has been outside of Blago's circle for awhile, whoever gets picked will still only see limited legitimacy due to lingering concerns. It will have to be a person as far away from the current Governor as possible, eliminating most of the Chicago machine. Not the best but not the worst option either.

3) A Special Election is called. This increases the possibility of a pro-gun and/or Republican senator being elected. The Republicans can also use the cost of the election (estimated at $50m+) as a point against the Democrats ("look what your boy cost the taxpayers").

The Illinois Republicans can use this to gain a lot more influence in the state. That is, of course, unless the they retain the moniker as being the "Stupid Party" and screw it up. I know where I'ld place my money on that one unfortunately.

None of the options will remove the Teflon coating from the anointed one though.

All of them will provide for much entertainment and blog fodder.

From one of my favorite readers:

" Are you sitting back and popping popcorn??
This show seems to only get better."

Let the games begin.

Ummm...

Obama never spoke to governor about vacancy, aide says

But the headline last month:

Ill. governor meeting with Obama today

So they have to change the story:

In a statement, senior adviser David Axelrod said he was wrong when he told an interviewer last month that the two had spoken directly about the vacancy. "They did not then or at any time discuss the subject," Axelrod said.

How convenient.

Update:

Kaveman noted that the article was scrubbed from the site. I checked the link through where I found it to check to see if I copied it wrong and it was the same thing so.

Google cache still had it though:


Here's another site that had it linked w/ a summary leading to the same site. Wonder when it will be scrubbed?

Update: MiniTrue is on the ball:

KHQA Clarification
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 4:04 p.m.

KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama’in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.

The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.

What a track record...

There are bad apples on our side but we're the ones wanting schoolkids to be given AK-47's so it should be expected. The anti's are the ones that claim they're 'honest'.

Is this what they mean?

Blago is the second Brady Campaign endorsed state governor to take a fall for corruption this year. We all remember NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer, right?

Almost half-a-dozen MAIG Mayors have fallen (Daley, we're looking at you next).

Several prominent Million Mommy March leaders have gone down for gun crimes nevermind the fact that their organization folded as an independent group while they were being investigated for tax fraud.

NY Mayor Bloomberg (MAIG member) and Josh Rosenthal (Stop Handgun Violence) have both sponsored or were involved in illegal firearm transactions.

Good company.

Sad, Surprised and Innocent

A fine title for the book Brady Campaign endorsed Blago will be writing in jail.

He's 'Sad' he got caught.

He's 'Surprised' that the authorities actually did their job in IL.

He's 'Innocent' until he spends a few nights in prison.

But he's sure planning to return to work today and hide more of his graft.

This is what you got folks. This is what you got after voting this guy into office twice. All under the cry of "Change" and "Reform" because you didn't like the way the Repubs in office were running things.

Sound familiar?

Chicago Mayor Daley's scared

I've never seen him this distraught. That whole bit about "noone knows, wait for the press conference" even though the indictment has been out since this morning shows that he's spent the day running ragged.

Illinois Special Election Possible

According to FoxNews, the call for a special election to fill Obama's senate seat is being made by the Senate President and other IL legislators.

This could give us the potential to get a pro-gun Senator to fill the slot assuming the stupid party doesn't try to run complete incompetents again as they have the last few elections.

Blago's Going Down!

The FBI just arrested him and his Chief of Staff on federal corruption charges.

Merry Christmas!

Now will we see the dominoes fall on a bunch of other cronies?

Note:

Blago was endorsed by the Brady Campaign in 2006.

Update: Here's a copy of the 79 page indictment.

His FOID card got revoked.

Even amidst calls from his own Lt. Gov. to do so, Blago says he won't resign.

Amazing. Obama's pardon list has already started and he hasn't even taken office yet.

Calling Ray Schoenke.

Come in Ray Schoenke.

Over and over Ray's been spouting that the NRA does nothing for hunters or conservation and it's up to the AHSA to save the day.

Well Ray, The elections over. Your guy won . Time to put up or shut up.

What are you currently doing to increase the numbers of hunters and available land?

What are you currently doing to improve conservation?

I left a message for you on your Daily Kos blog informing you (since no comments get approved on the scrubbed AHSA site) about IL Gov. Blagojevich stripping millions from conservation funds generated by hunters and shooters.

The Illinois NRA affiliate ISRA has sent out releases to its members and is taking action. Where is the AHSA?

The Humane Society of the United States (who also endorsed Obama BTW) is mounting an offensive to ban lead ammunition. They and their allies convinced North Dakota to stop accepting venison from "Hunters against Hunger" except when taken by arrows. Thousands of pounds of venison were thrown away even though the CDC said there was no danger. Now Minnesota is scanning all donated meat and is considering dropping the program all together.

The NRA and ISRA have alerted their members and are taking action. Where is the AHSA?

Since the "NRA is dead" according to the mainstream (and non-mainstream) media, this is your chance Ray. Why aren't you jumping on this chance to show what the AHSA is all about. This is your chance to show all your critics that the AHSA isn't just a the Brady Campaign in Camo.

Ray? Anything?

Anything at all?

Update: "Your comment has been queued for moderation by site administrators and will be published after approval."

It's Always Something

Mom had me test out the new P32 she bought. Good thing I did. It decided it doesn't like ejecting brass.

I was using Wolf Gold 71 grain FMJ. Since I was in a time crunch before having to run errands, I didn't get a chance to experiment. Tomorrow (hopefully) I'm going to try it w/ different loads and magazines JIC. If it continue to no-workie, I'll give Kel-Tec a call unless someone has a better solution.