Here's an article once again demonstrating my belief that any sufficiently massaged data are indistinguishable from outright fabrications.

Core Failures

CPI says inflation is 3.9%, other experts claim between 5% and 10% because Core CPI numbers leave out food and gasoline totally, and food and gas count for only 12% of the overall CPI.

The CPI showed only an 11% increase in housing costs from 2002 to 2006, totally missing the housing bubble and bust. This is so totally unacceptable that I once again must demand Chairman Bernanke's head on a platter.

The only reassuring part of this is that the failure of the CPI to reflect reality has shown up in many articles recently. So something might be done soon.

The danger of course is that people responsible for forward thinking and decision making are using these numbers daily, our raises are based on them, government and private sector spending is based on them, and if you calculate a 5% corporate budget increase and hit 10% inflation you find yourself mid year with no money to spend, and the layoffs begin.

congratulations to John Ensworth and wife on the impending birth of a new baby! John called me to tell me of his sudden descent into tamed domesticity so in his honor I'm posting Yuppiedrone, by the Pheremones.



Doing good guys!

 I got me some primo Federal Gold Medal Match Small Rifle Primers. These things are probably harder to get than illegal drugs. The gooberment's been buying them up for sniper ammo I guess.

I'd like to ask my readers, both of you, whether you know what operation chaos is, who's responsible for it, and what the intended outcome was? I know, I just want to hear what you think.

    It seems I've read and heard several candidates and pundits talking about the mid west and the country and people with shotgun racks in their pickup trucks and it just occurred to me yesterday, can anyone out there tell me when was the last time you saw a shotgun rack in a pickup truck? I really can't think how long ago it was when I last did. It couldn't have been more recently than 1980. It was about then that crime got so bad that if you put a shotgun in the rack in your pickup and left it there, you'd need a new window and a new shotgun in under an hour. So the image the press and the government has of the mid west is at least 20 to 25 years out of date.
    I guess that's about the same as all their other views and opinions.

Found this at American Digest Via Dr. Sanity. Says it all really.

I think I'm gonna like him. Quoth he, apparently of himself.

“beneath the carefully constructed veneer of a blithering buffoon, there lurks a blithering buffoon.”

Thanks to Snowflakes in Hell I found This article on terminal ballistics. It's a bit grim but it's written by a guy working in a morgue, so it bears careful examination. If you don't want to wade through the sometimes grim subject matter here's what he seems to say mostly.

In a gunfight your first choice of weapon should be a shotgun, even with bird shot it's incredibly effective against people at short range. After that comes a centerfire (not 22 long rifle or 22 magnum) rifle which will also almost guarantee a one shot stop. And lastly you choose a handgun preferably in the .40SW-.45ACP class or a .357 magnum.

Gold dot hollow points seem to be the best but any brand may fail to expand in the unknown circumstances of a gunfight, and in .40 or .45 expansion may not matter much anyway.

Lastly, and most importantly, the 22 caliber bullet that hits is far superior to the 45 caliber bullet that misses, so range time is critical to the defense minded shooter, as is carrying the gun you can actually hit with. In my opinion, this is probably the mitigating factor for the 9mm/.380, as cheaper ammo means more range time to me at least.

Anyone reading this can probably figure out why it's bad. But if you know someone who's too undereducated or dense. Here's a version anyone can cope with.

This Book teaches all the basic thoughts going into the theory and fact of the move to fiat currency. As a bonus it's also fun to read. You'll also learn some of the sick secrets of the banking industry. Warning! This is not a textbook! Modern banks contain no golems.

Bonus points if you can figure out Mr Bent's secret origin before it's revealed.