The Wandering Minstrel

Mayor Mike and his anti-gun coalition have managed to badger Wal-Mart into signing up to an agreement called the “Responsible Firearms Retail Partnership Program.” The measure requires Wal-Mart to keep tighter records regarding firearms purchases. In part, the agreement will make firearms purchases records available to law enforcement without any reason given. In addition, Wal-Mart employees who conduct firearms sales will be subjected to a more rigorous background check.

As we know, none of this will make anyone any safer from crime. The Mayor misuses his office to pursue an anti-gun agenda while his understanding of existing laws is patently ignorant. For example, during a recent deposition in a case where the City of New York brought a suit against several out-of-state firearms dealers, the Mayor displayed his ignorance of current law.

Bloomberg testified he stood by his earlier statements that ATF is “asleep at the switch,” and added that the agency is “not doing their job.” Of course, many of us will agree that the ATF is too vigorous in their charter.

Bloomberg agrees on the question of his ignorance; “I don’t know what the law is and what procedures are,” responded the mayor to a deposition question on illegally purchased firearms. “I have no knowledge of what appropriate safeguards are for a dealer to comply with the law or what standard practices are in the arms business.”

The Mayor did not know that ATF conducted inspections of firearms retailers. “I didn’t even know they had inspections,” he said. He also noted that he did not know what a Federal Firearms Transaction Record commonly known as a Form 4473 was or a NICS background check. Of course, before a licensed firearms dealer can sell a firearm the law requires the purchaser to complete, under penalty of perjury, a Form 4473. The form asks detailed questions about the purchaser including any past crimes committed and whether they are the actual buyer of the gun. Once the form is completed, and before the licensed dealer can transfer the firearm, the purchaser must pass a mandatory background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICS, which is run by the FBI.

What a disingenuous bunch of crap - the Wal-Mart deal is nothing more that a stunt by Bloomberg and his cronies to attract national publicity.

This convenience store has my complete shopping list posted just outside.

After shooting and cleaning the Glocks today, I dorked around with my photo editing program to get this antique effect.

Did I tell you I love these pistols? A Lot?

Same sentence - two visual concepts . . .

Personally, I wouldn’t associate this particular sentence with a freakin’ gnome, but that’s just me.

After about 100 rounds of .45 ACP “smoky Fiocchi” go through my Glock 30, it needs a little cleanup. Lately, I have substituted a CLP product called Strike Hold for the solvent and oil treatment. This is the before and after picture of the front end of the slide - just spray a couple of drops on a cleaning rag and wipe it clean. Wipe it again with a finishing rag and presto - like new.

I got my wife to take a picture of the post-operative area - to put it into perspective, she laid a quarter alongside. Not a pretty sight.

The surgeon removed a fairly large section of my backside and stitched the rest together. It was a Basal-cell carcinoma, which is not particularly serious, but it can spread. To make sure that all of the cancer cells have been removed, they send the section to a lab and verify the cells are contained within the boundary of the removed section.

For a graphic view of this mess, continue reading. Ugly Frankenstein stitches below.

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I’m sort of out of commission today. Here’s the story . . .

My dermatologist took a biopsy of a rough spot I had on my back a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out to be some nasty shit. Today, I underwent a procedure to excise the little malignant bastard. Now, I have a Frankenstein-sized zipper installed in my backside for the next ten days. The stitches come out then. I’m dealin’ with the discomfort with some non-prescription spirits.

Image - The Sun as seen through a hydrogen-alpha filter. More than just a big yellow ball in the sky.

All those years of fun in the sun finally caught up with me. I only have two lame excuses:

• Sun damage to the skin was not well known when I was a kid. Mom didn’t know and, later, I didn’t care.
• If I knew that I was going to live this freaking long, I would have taken better care of myself.

But, why belabor the point? The damage is done and the consequences must be endured.

I have to tell you about the pre-op examination. The medic that performs these procedures is an “Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgeon.”

When my better half and I were waiting in the examination room, I noticed a display on a bookshelf where several translucent oblate spheroids were positioned. They looked like water balloons. The display had writing on it - “As seen in Vogue” and “memory gel.”

Suddenly, I realized that fixing cancerous skin wasn’t the only line of business the doctor was in.

I told my wife “Oh my Gawd - the Titty Fairy must live here!” She threatened to kick me in the nutz with her Electric Cinderella Shoes if I didn’t knock it off.

This is hilarious.

Liberal U.K. schools have a problem. They want to educate children that it’s OK to be gay. They want to appease the Muslims too. So when Muslim parents insisted they pull “gay orientation” books from classrooms, they sheepishly complied. They know that gays won’t terrorize anyone, but incensed Muslims might.

What to do? What to do?