The Wandering Minstrel

I spotted this nice ride up on the central coast of California during the recent road trip. The sidecar had a window decal that said “BIKERSFIELD,” which is a takeoff of the name of a town about 100 miles east of where we saw this rig.

I looked up “BIKERSFIELD” on the net and found that it is actually a biker shop in Bakersfield, CA:

Welcome to the All New BIKERSFIELD.COM!

You see us online, now it’s time to stop in at Bikersfield to satisfy that insatiable appetite for leather for your ride.

Whether you need leather apparel, riding gear, or helmets, we have what you need at prices you can afford.

At Bikersfield it’s quality and reliable service, that you as an avid biker can count on.

When you think bike and leather, the only place is Bikersfield.

Bikersfield
2622 Fairhaven Drive
Bakersfield, CA. 93308

Fairhaven and Rosedale Highway(58), Two blocks West of Highway 99.

661-321-9882

It was such a nice rig that I thought I would give them a plug and the link. Clickable image.

A couple of days ago, Taser International introduced their newest law enforcement stun gun, the Taser X3. This is the first of the Taser product line to be able to fire at up to three targets without reloading.

Screenshot from Taser International’s cool video on the X3:

More from the specifications page:

TASER X3

The X3 is a revolutionary new multi-shot ECD that can engage multiple targets, display Warning Arcs™ while loaded, and deliver a calibrated Neuro Muscular Incapacitation (NMI) pulse that results in improved safety characteristics. While the X3 offers enhanced firepower over existing ECDs, it also represents a quantum leap in sensor and computation power – making it by far the most intelligent hand-held force option ever developed.

Update: Welcome 2A Roundup Readers . . .

Michael Barone wrote in May on two topics dear to liberals: gun control and climate change (formerly global warming except the globe isn’t warming so they changed the buzzwords). Since May, the Obimanation’s poll numbers have fallen well below the 60 percent approval mentioned in the article, thanks to cap and trade and the health monster.

Image: conservative pundit, Michael Barone.

Many years ago, political scientists came up with a theory that elites lead public opinion. And on some issues, they clearly do. But on some issues, they don’t. Two examples of the latter phenomenon are conspicuous at a time when Barack Obama enjoys the approval of more than 60 percent of Americans and Democrats have won thumping majorities in two elections in a row. One is global warming. The other is gun control. On both issues, the elites of academe, the media and big business have been solidly on one side for years. But on both, the American public has been moving in the other direction.

Over the past decade, the Gallup organization has been asking Americans whether the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated or generally correct. From 1998 to 2007, except for the run-up to the 2004 election, they said it was generally serious by roughly a 2-1 margin — 66 to 30 percent in 2006, for example. But in March 2009, that margin slipped to only 57 to 41 percent, with two-thirds of Republicans and nearly half of independents saying concern is exaggerated.

[snip]

On guns, Gallup has been testing opinion for many years on one extreme proposal that is the goal, usually unstated, of many gun-control advocates: banning the possession of handguns. Support was 60 percent in 1960 and 49 percent in 1965. It was as high as 43 percent in the early 1990s, before the Clinton Congress passed the so-called assault weapons ban. In March 2007, it had fallen to 29 percent — a minority, almost a fringe position. In the early 1990s, Gallup found that Americans, by a 2-1 margin, favored stricter gun sale laws over less strict ones or keeping them the same. By fall 2008, they were evenly split.

And the numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction for gun grabbers and greenbats alike. See the rest of Barone’s article here.

I believe that there is a growing trend in the country where people are getting more and more fed up with the Obamination and his socialized nonsense. We saw this flag flying in one of the RV parks on our vacation. Many of the rigs we see in all the RV parks are flying colors and occasionally the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. Clickable Image.

Tea Parties continue to pop up all over the country. There’s a Tea Party coming to our area which we plan to attend. It warms the cockles of my black little heart to see just how pissed off the media and the liberals get when conservatives go active.

Charles Krauthammer on Obama’s attempt to defuse the Gates controversy:

I think it was important, because the Democrats have suffered for almost a half a century of a reputation of being soft on crime. The flip side of that is tough on cops, or insensitive to the duties and the sacrifices of law enforcement. …When the Cambridge police came out–a multi-racial police force came out–and spoke unanimously about how this was wrong, this was not about race, and the president really ought to apologize, they [the White House] understood it was a serious political issue. It seems that a lot of the Obama presidency is a contest between his intelligence and his arrogance. And I think he thought when he was asked that question [the Gates arrest] Wednesday night that he can say anything on race and is so smart that he will be untouchable. And one reason is that he gave the famous speech in Philadelphia, the race speech, during the campaign in which, in fact, he did not renounce Jeremiah Wright. He blamed everybody for racism–black, white and grandmother–except for himself, and was hailed by a supine press as the second coming of Lincoln at Cooper Union. So after that, you think you can say anything on race and be hailed as a genius. Well, he now understands that you can’t get away with that forever, and he got really caught on this one.

Emphasis mine. One of many instances where the Obamination continues to demonstrate why he should never have been elected.

Both on the way out of town, and on the way back into town, we’re reminded about what we’re leaving behind when we go - the freaking traffic!

I do not miss this shit when we’re gone, but we get it going and coming. Soon, this will only be necessary when we come to visit.

Touring Wine and Mission Country today along the El Camino Real in California. I snapped this picture near the Mission Soledad just off US 101 in the Salinas Valley.

Clickable image - don’t these look tempting?

Right up close and personal along SR1 on the California Coastline is a place where you can come face-to-face with an elephant seal - or two - or 30.

This one was talking up a storm.