by Don Surber nails it on Obama’s failure to rise to the occasion.
Month: May 2010
Wrong Kenneth Starr – Ooops, Sorry!
From ProfessorBainbridge.com:
You just knew that when a Kenneth Starr was charged with running a Ponzi scheme on rich investors that some “journalist” would get it confused. I wonder what he’ll do when he finds out the North Carolina Department of Revenue is run by Kenneth Lay.
Teaching the Pig to Dance
Fred lays out some thoughts on personal responsibility. It is is a shame he didn’t get further in the 2008 Republican primaries. I think he’d be a damn sight better President than the one we have now.
America’s Favorite Journey
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Smoky Mountain News is running a series of articles about the Parkway. This article describes how the young landscape architect Stanley Abbott laid out the Parkway.
AC360 on BATFE, Part 2
The second part of CNN’s AC360 report on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Advanced Rifle Scope for Soldiers in Development
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2010/052610_LM_DARPA_rifle-scope.html
DARPA Awards Lockheed Martin $3.9M Contract to Develop Advanced Rifle Scope for Soldiers
AKRON, Ohio, May 26th, 2010 — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $3.93 million contract to develop a rifle-scope attachment to enhance soldiers’ marksmanship capabilities.
The Dynamic Image Gunsight Optic or DInGO system will enable soldiers to accurately view targets at varying distances without changing scopes or suffering a decrease in optical resolution. The system will enhance soldiers’ ability to accurately hit targets at a range of between three and 600 meters.
DInGO automatically calculates the range with a low power laser rangefinder, digitally zooms in on it and accounts for environmental conditions such as wind using sensors built into the scope. It then projects the bullet’s point-of-impact calculated from the embedded ballistics computer.
“Current scopes are optimized for a single target range, impacting soldiers’ effectiveness and survivability when engaging targets at different distances during a single mission,” said Dan Schultz, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Sensors Ship & Aviation Systems business. “DInGO will solve this problem, significantly increasing soldiers’ ability to rapidly reconfigure optics for use from short to long ranges and improving marksmanship capabilities for all soldiers.”
DInGO is based on Lockheed Martin’s One Shot Advanced Sighting System, which utilizes similar precision engagement technology to automatically transmit crosswind information to a long-range sniper’s scope and modify the crosshairs to display exactly where the bullet will strike.
DARPA awarded Lockheed Martin an 18-month, $9.7 million contract in 2008 to integrate One Shot’s new crosswind measurement technology into a prototype spotter scope – a small telescope that is carried by sniper teams and is used to bring far-away objects into close view. During tactical field tests in December 2009, snipers were able to engage targets twice as quickly and increase their probability of a first-round hit by a factor of two using the One Shot technology at distances beyond 1,000 meters.
The nine-month Phase 1 contract, with options for additional phases, calls for Lockheed Martin to develop the DInGO system for use on the M-4 and M-16 automatic rifles. Work will be performed at Lockheed Martin’s Akron, Ohio, site, which has a strong track record for developing laser technology for ship and airborne infrared countermeasures, communications, wind correction and active sensing.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.
AC360 on BATFE
CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 reports on a dysfunctional BATFE here.
Obama Finds Use for Bitter Gun-Clingers
There is some speculation on the weapon in question. While some say it is a Mannlicher-Carcano, I’m going with an Argentine Mauser Modelo 1891 Cavalry carbine.
Don’t Mess with old Korean War Vets
In Chicago this morning, an 80 year old Korean War vet, his 83 year old wife, and 12 year old great-grandson were awoken by a thug shooting into their bedroom.
But just as the man got off a second round, the homeowner, who had a handgun of his own, fired a single shot, killing the intruder, a police source said.
“He missed, (but) my daddy didn’t,” said the 80-year-old’s son, (name deleted), who lives upstairs in the two-flat in the 600 block of North Sawyer Avenue.
Anthony Nelson, 29, whose street name was Big Ant, had a 13 page rap sheet for drug and weapons convictions.
In a news conference held later in the day, Hizzoner, Mayor Richard Daley refused to say if the homeowner would be charge with violating Chicago’s handgun ban.
The man has been hailed as a hero by his family and neighbors, but Daley cautioned that “guns is not the answer to the problems that we see in a home, in the streets of America. It’s as simple as that.”
Unlike the Mayor, I would say that a gun saved the lives of two elderly people who have been married almost 60 years and their great-grandson. Big Ant was a violent criminal actor who was intent on doing harm to these good people and needed to be stopped. And was.