Volokh Speaks

Eugene Volokh held a lecture at the University of Utah last night. It was titled Constitutional Originalism and Heller v. D.C.. It was an informal lecture that mostly stayed in layman terms, but occasionally strayed into legal territory. IMO it was fantastic and fascinating.  He mostly stuck to the topic and explained how originalism informed both sides of the decision. While that seems contradictory, he was able to easily show the reasoning and thought process behind both the majority and minority opinions.

One of the most interesting points was that this type of originalism wasn’t even possible 10, 20, 30 years ago. The advent of the internet and then the subsequent (slow) uploading of thousands of period documents enabled quick and relatively easy searches for supporting documents, and contextual/temporal phraseology. This decision has the most supporting documents by nearly 3-1 over any other SCOTUS decision in history. Absolutely groundbreaking.

Volokh went through the major points of each side of the decision and broke the arguments down and discussed period supporting documents. He also gave several admonishments about getting too confident in this decision or the recent trend towards originalism. Originalism can be a bit of a cul-de-sac, and care must taken balancing between understanding the drafters and ratifiers intent, but also not “being led by a dead hand.” According to Volokh he will be releasing the lecture to the public, probably on his website.

I highly recommend seeing his lecture if he comes through your area. It will both energize and frighten you a little.

We can’t get complacent.

Out with the old, in with the “older.”

I’ve been using the same amplification setup for years and years.  Digitech 2101 into an all tube Peavey 120/120 into two custom 2×12’s.  I found what works for me and stuck with it.  I’m not the only guitarist like that, surprisingly we axe-slingers can be a conservative lot.  Recently on a whim I tried a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube at the local guitar mecca, Guitar Czar, and everything changed.  This pedal is [insert fave over-the-top-descriptor]!  

 

This one pedal changed my entire setup.  No longer am I using a rack system.  I went back to my old ‘68 silver-face AB763 Fender Bandmaster and pedals.  That worked great for a few practices but then I tried a friend’s Vox AC30 and more changes followed.  I’m now using a Vox AC30 with an extension cab and pedals only.  About as traditional and as purist as can be.  I’m basically back to a system similar to what I used when I started playing guitar:  Combo amp and pedals.  This is all due to one pedal; amazing.  I’m also using the cool Voodoo Labs pedal switching system as well, I can’t give enough praise to Seymour Duncan and Voodoo Labs, they have literally changed my musical life.  Here are photos of my interim setup before I went to the Vox.

The Twin Tube and friends

 

 

'68 Bandmaster and Custom 2x12's

I Got Quoted

By worldnetdaily.com over the ACLU argle-bargle (I’m SuperNaut btw).  Apparently my anger at the ACLU is shared by quite a few other people.  I was just angry enough to put my money where my mouth is.

Exodus

For the three or maybe four people who suffer through my blog I will be hanging out on a new firearms board.  The recent THR evil-twin-horse-shit has reached critical mass and I’m tired of wading through it.  The new site is called We The Armed.  Since it is brand-spanking-new it is a bit content starved.  So hit it, sign-up, post your thoughts, and help get the ball rolling.

FBMG Shoot

 

I attended the FBMG machine gun shoot at Global One over the weekend.  It was pissing-down rain but I still had a good time.  I didn’t shoot much, I was enjoying watching everybody else.  Besides I’ve already shot a PKM before.  I did shoot a M79 grenade launcher a few times, that’s something I haven’t done before.  These are shots of the PKM’s, Barrett .50, and Tannerite going boom.

 

Fun but wet.

 

Doctor Who Exhibition

I was in London again and I went to the Doctor Who Exhibition.  I’m an ambivalent fan of the Doctor Who series overall, but I’m a big fan of the recent series.  I really like both  Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant.  The Exhibition was kind of cheesy but fun, basically a perfect analog to the show.  I took a bunch of photos but I won’t post very many.  They all turned out really post-cardish and only vaguely interesting.

 

THR Shenanigans

The High Road, IMO the finest firearms site on the web has been hijacked.  Now whatever your feelings are about firearms aside, I think everyone can agree this is total douchebaggery.

Reposted Commentary from Oleg Volk:

In December 2002, I founded The High Road forum dedicated to the advancement of responsible gun ownership. Recently, it was discovered that in 2006, the volunteer forum systems administrator, Derek Zeanah of Statesboro, Georgia, changed domain registration to himself. After he was confronted, Derek locked out all other staff from accessing the Web server administration and would not share even backup copies of its content. After failed attempts to peacefully resolve the dispute, it has become necessary for me to initiate a lawsuit against Derek Zeanah for the return of thehighroad.org domain name and the forum database.

I am seeking and would greatly appreciate donations to help with the cost of litigation. You can use Paypal (olegvolk@gmail.com) or send a check to:
Oleg Volk 3112 Chambley Ct Hermitage, TN 37076

All donations shall be returned if the lawsuit is ultimately avoided. You can also aid me by re-posting this appeal on your blog, forum or web site. My legal position is already endorsed by almost all of The High Road staff as well as Rich Lucibella, the founder of The Firing Line forum.

UPDATE: Derek’s reaction was to disable The High Road forum all together. He also removed most of the staff who opposed him.

Link

Did I Call It Or What?

In an earlier post I created a parody of the Obama poster superimposing Che Guevera’s image.  In a new Wired article, the artist who designed this poster says:

“Fairey looked to Alberto Korda’s famed shot of revolutionary Che Guevara to create his red-white-and-blue print of Obama with the slogan “Progress.” When the first edition of posters went on sale in January, the limited run sold out in minutes.”

I win some sort of prize don’t I?  Or do I just get to enjoy a smug sense of satisfaction knowing that I spotted Obama happily copying communist propaganda?

Mojo Philter Update

Lots going on, the band has been auditioning lead singers over the past few months and we think we have found one.  Her name is Kathleen and she’s got a cool vibe going on.  We threw her in the deep-end during her audition and she swam.  We invited her to practice and I taught her the lyrics and melodies to two songs, then called the song, counted in, and off we went.  She handled it just fine.  In fact she was immediately writing lyrics for a verse where I hadn’t gotten very far.

She reminds me of a cross between Natalie Merchant and Alanis Morrisette.  She’d probably hate either comparison, but whatchagonnado?  I’ve always felt that Mojo Philter needed some yin to balance our yang, and I think the addition of Kathleen takes care of that.

I can tell already that it will be a bit of a tough transition for me.  I have very specific ideas about lead vocals and vocalists, but I recognize that a lot if that is personal art and style.  Kathleen has her own thing going on and I can’t stifle her approach and view.  I feel like I kind of overwhelmed our previous vocalist trying to turn him into something he wasn’t.  I can be pretty alpha when I want to, and I’ll have to keep that tendency in check.

I have set a tentative “gig ready” deadline of Nov 1.  I want us to be able to do openers by then.  An opening slot requires 8-10 songs.

Happy B-Day USA!

Happy Independence Day!

I’m going to go do stuff that is uniquely American.

ACLU Drops the Ball

I was a member of the ACLU until their recent equivocation over the Heller ruling. I know it sounds naïve but I fully expected them to change their official stance. I’m not the only member who is upset. By the way, I took the money I was going to use to renew my ACLU membership and used it to renew my membership to the NRA. I’m also looking hard at the CATO Institute.

They have some work to do. Even if they now modify the wording of their Second Amendment position statement, I won’t believe them until they successfully defend a Second Amendment case. Otherwise it will be only lip service.

6/26/08

Supreme Court affirms that the second amendment is an individual right.

Travelogue

I’ve been on the road a ton over the past month, here are some shots of my latest ports of call.

London:

Germany:

<—That’s Pork Knuckle bitches!

Four Corners:

Good Day At The “Range”

I decided that I wasn’t going to shoot at the usual locations today. HGC is a mud-hole right now, I don’t like Doug’s, and Get Some looked crowded. I threw a bunch of stuff in the Rover and headed West. I got to the Grantsville exit and scouted a couple of locations until I found an isolated horseshoe canyon. I obviously wasn’t the first one to find this spot, there were hulls and brass all over the place. I set up a folding table and got down to business.

I brought my:

STI Spartan

SA Loaded

Para Nite-Tac

XD Service

Beretta PX4

Saiga 12

Remmie 870 w/compstock

I’ve been traveling a lot lately and not only have I not had time to shoot (it has been months), but the SA and the Beretta aren’t even broken in yet. Today was the day to start to take care of that problem.

Here’s the odd thing; apparently the time off was good for me. I shot better than I ever have. I couldn’t miss. I was tearing the centers out of targets, running cans up the hill, obliterating hand thrown clays.

Ran through ~1000 rounds of .45, mostly through the SA and the Beretta. Nary a hiccup. At first I experienced a little trigger sting from the Beretta but it stopped after about 50 rounds. The SA ran like a swiss watch, the trigger is really nice now that I swapped out the ILS and have run a few hundred rounds through it. It is almost as good as the STI, almost.

I had been contemplating getting rid of the Para because I just couldn’t get used to the LDA. Well, that plan is off; it didn’t bother me one bit this trip. I kind of just stopped thinking of it as a “1911 with a funny trigger” and thought of it as part of the same family as the XD and PX4. Strange how a little change in perspective can have wider ramifications.

The Saiga just gets more fun the more I shoot it. I bought it primarily as an HD gun, but I may have to pattern it. I think I could hunt with this thing. BTW the 10 round mag is such a riot. If you have a Saiga 12 you must buy the big mag, it is so worth it. I was only planning on going through a box of shotgun shells, but I was having so much fun I went through all I had (6). What is that, 150 rounds?

I was planning on taking a few pics too, but instead I just shot and shot and shot.

What a day!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been in Germany and Chicago, I’ll post updates and put up some pics over the next few days.

Obama’s Campaign Posters

I finally figured out what Obama’s campaign posters remind me of:

The classic Che Guevara pose.  Why is he using cold war propaganda style posters?