The Lover

Re-post NamSouth

As I remember, this was the first foreign film that Communist Vietnam allowed to be filmed in country although they wouldn't allow the bedroom scenes there. They did a wonderful job recreating the earlier Saigon. The music and the narrator Jean Moreau are haunting, leading to a sad finis. Excellent acting.

Culture Court

The Morning Shift.

Hot, bitter coffee tasted especially good when the snow just outside
the living room window was waist-deep. That day, the thermometer under
the ledge showed ten below. To the left of the window, an old-fashioned
clock indicated quarter to five. Anna Smith had insomnia, again.

She has been up since three and moved downstairs to avoid waking up her
husband. Han slept soundly, never woke up before nine and, if roused
out of bed early, was not pleasant. On top of Anna's blue bathrobe, an
old coat fringed with rabbit fur helped the keep her from freezing
outright. The high-backed wooden chair had enveloped the tiny gray-
haired woman on three sides, with only her slippers showing past the
carved oaken legs of it. Somewhere in the dark kitchen, their mutt
Watson was sleeping soundly, twitching his long slender paws in synch
with the tail. He had no trouble with sleep, either.

She had finished her book by four and turned the light off, trying to
doze off. The vast den, interrupted here and there by bookshelves and
potted plants, was getting uncomfortably frigid. Anna rose, clutching
her robe closed. She had intended to put another log on the embers of
the fireplace but, as she got up, the outdoor lights came on. A second
later, she heard cars pull into her driveway. The engines died, first
one, then the others.

Through the frost-covered window, several figures were visible,
advancing briskly. "Wrong house", she thought "My, they are partying
late." A doorbell chimed. The light came on in the bedroom upstairs,
reflecting in snow outside. "Han can talk to these young men", she
thought with relief. They lived some ten miles outside of the nearest
town, but one still never knew who was out and about this late at
night.

The sudden roar had shut off her hearing. She saw the flickering
star-shaped flashes outside, just as the light upstairs went out. A
split second later, a blow on the door had shattered the glass and left
the frame askew. A dark figure in a matte black helmet stopped at the
threshold, scanning the dark interior with a slow, deliberate turn on
the head.

Watson, waking up to a nightmare of noise and strange sights, did not
linger on his kitchen mat. He streaked through the kitchen towards the
stairs, his pale paws ghosting in the dark. The silhouette in the
doorway followed the dog's path. A stubby weapon in the man's arms came
alive, catching the poor beast with a long burst.

The dog's legs twitched awhile after he skidded on the smooth floor and
slammed head-first into the first step of the stairway. The white wall
of the hallway was pockmarked in red and black spots, alternating
randomly. Anna watched the man reload, then reached to her right for a
shotgun.

Now, you would ask: "Why would she even have a shotgun? You didn't say
anything about her or Han being pedophiles or drug dealers or
terrorists."

When her father died, some ten years ago, she had picked through the
estate, trying to salvage what she could before the revenuer arrived.
Hiding assets was more than Anna would have dared to do, but the old
photos from dad's younger days in Hungary and other objects of
sentimental value were hers by birthright. She found the single-shot
.410, unregistered and all the more illegal for that, in her late
father's office. Her first reaction was to turn it in, as she should
have done by law, but Han put his foot down. "We keep it, " he said.

We know that an assault street-sweeper like hers is, at best, an
anachronism in our modern times. One cannot hunt with it, and using it
against people would result in a long prison term. The youths in many
small towns have, in fact, made stable careers based on this fact. They
would roam the countryside in packs and barge into homesteads. If
unopposed, they would re-distribute whatever wealth they found, money,
goods or women. Should a resident threaten them with a gun or any other
weapon, they would retreat, report him to the police and pocket the
reward.

For the past ten years, the shotgun had always been in the den,
concealed by drapery. Anna had never fired it, for she had neither an
opportunity nor any ammunition for practice. All of the four slugs they
had for the gun were kept in leatherette loops attached to the stock.

Her vein-covered hand, numb from both cold and fright, pushed one of
the skinny red cartridges into the open breech, then snapped it closed.
The shiny bead pointed right at the center of the intruder. He was
silhouetted against the door, still looking around. "It's just a
frigging dog", he shouted "I think you got 'em both."

Anna's eyes were fixed on the end of the barrel as her thumb cocked the
hammer. The blast came immediately, as her other finger was already on
the trigger. A soft lead slug is no match for body armor, but the
plastic face shield was not nearly as strong. The man she had just
murdered in cold blood swayed back, then his knees folded and he
sprawled across the floor, face first. The queer black weapon that he
carried slid from his hand and came to rest over by Anna's feet.

For a brief instant, she could see so clearly: the dark puddle
spreading from the ruined helmet, shiny brass cartridges staggered in
the transparent magazine on top of the intruder's gun, and the tiny
holes appearing in her picture window. She shrank back behind her
substantial chair, just as the men outside sprayed the den with hundred
of tiny tungsten-core projectiles.

It was fortunate than an armored car was available and no more
casualties were taken. The ponderous six-wheeled vehicle crashed
through the flimsy fence and fired its 6-pounder at the Smith compound.
Anna, still crouched behind her high-backed chair with a shotgun and
three shells, did not answer. The trophy gun was of no use, for she
did not know even how to grasp it. A few minutes later the cannon had
hit the kitchen stove and set the gas line on fire.

The black-suited visitors had backed up, out of the way of the
scorching heat. One of them kicked the mailbox, which was knocked over
by the armored car on its way in. Black numbers on reflective plastic
backing read "3576".

"Sarge!" he shouted, trying to overcome the ringing in his ears.
"Wasn't it supposed to be 3567?"

They had called the HQ and confirmed the error. By then it was almost
seven in the morning, but there was still time to set things right. The
two cruisers followed the armored car down the narrow road to July Avenue,
number 3567. According to a reliable informant, Joseph and Lisa Bergson
who lived there were in possession of at least four pre-ban books.

(c)1999 Oleg Volk

Southern Poverty Law Center Teaching Tolerance (TT) in Schools Headed by William Ayers

• Makes educational materials available to teachers at no cost
• Headed by William Ayers, the former Weather Underground terrorist and university professor
• Features lesson plans that portray America as an irremediably unjust and racist society

Founded in 1991 as a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Teaching Tolerance (TT) works to “foster school environments that are inclusive and nurturing,” and to help teachers “prepare a new generation to live in a diverse world.” Toward these ends, TT produces a plethora of multimedia teaching kits, online curricula, and professional-development resources for classroom instructors, as well as a biannual publication, Teaching Tolerance magazine, which reaches more than 450,000 educators nationwide. All of these materials are made available to educators at no cost.

The individual in charge of Teaching Tolerance is William Ayers, the former Weather Underground terrorist and university professor. In a glowing profile that appeared in Teaching Tolerance magazine, SPLC research fellow Gabrielle Lyon depicted Ayers as an “education reformer,” a “civil rights organizer,” a champion of “social justice,” and a “teacher and author” with “a rich vision of teaching that interweaves passion, responsibility and self-reflection.”

Bearing the unmistakable imprint of Ayers and SPLC founder Morris Dees, TT's lesson plans contain reading materials and suggested classroom activities designed to steer K-12 students toward the conclusion that America is, and always has been, an inequitable, racist and sexist society. For example:

More @ Charleston Voice

Soldiers Deck of Cards

Via Carl

'USA! USA!' Congressman's Anti-Big Government Rant Gets Standing Ovation On House Floor

Via Carl

Obamacare Rebate Ends Capitalism

Last week I was surprised to receive a check from my insurance company. I hadn’t filed a claim, hadn’t canceled a policy, and couldn’t think of any other reason they might be sending me a check. It wasn’t huge, less than $100. But still, why would they be sending me money? Usually it goes the other way.

When I read the letter that came with it I thought it was a joke. I actually read it twice. Then I showed it to my wife to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. Once I realized that the letter actually said what it said, and recovered from my shock, I was furious.

The letter from my insurance company explained that the new “Affordable Care Act” caps the amount of money insurance companies can make. It explains that the new “80/20 rule” requires insurance companies to use at least 80% of premiums received from their customers for payments to health care providers. In other words the insurance company is prohibited from retaining more than 20% of its income from its customers. Once a year the company has to give its customers back any “extra” money the company has collected.

Understand, the 20% the insurance company retains must pay all corporate costs for running the company, including all employee salaries, sales, advertising, and all other overhead.

Our Federal government has decided that it is illegal to make “too much” profit.

I am not a fan of insurance companies. As an attorney I’ve heard more horror stories than you can imagine about insurance companies treating their customers poorly and committing outright fraud. However, these kinds of behaviors by companies, as well as the act of charging “too much” would be naturally limited if our government would allow the free market to be a free market.

If insurance companies were not regulated and restricted to the degree that they are, there would be MANY more insurance companies in the marketplace. Insurance is a pretty good business to be in, if it actually worked as “insurance” instead of the twisted quasi-governmental welfare program it has been forced to become.

If there were more insurance companies in the market, and they could adjust their prices to compete for customers without having to ask the government “Mother may I?” every time they make a change, then prices would stay at fair market values. This would happen without governmental intervention. Treating customers poorly would also stop because truly free markets naturally maximize benefits to customers.

Which brings me to the main point. This “80/20 rule” is just another aspect of Obamacare that was intentionally designed to force private insurance companies out of business. Why would any reasonable person stay in the insurance business when the government caps revenue at a point where the company can barely pay its own bills?

Before Obamacare it could be argued that governmental destruction of markets was unintentional, or at least it was not the goal. Now we have a Federal government that is actively, intentionally, purposefully trying to destroy a market so that the government can take over that market.

Congress didn’t have enough support for socialized medicine to simply outlaw private insurance. So, they made it impossible for insurance companies to stay in business.

If Obamacare is not stopped the government will quickly become the only provider of “health care.” It will then move on to another industry, and then another, and another. Capitalism has already been effectively outlawed for some sectors of our economy. If we don’t stop this trend, we will become the Soviet Union. Obamacare’s individual mandate proved that as the government takes over the economy, it will inevitably take away non-economic rights as we have seen in the loss of conscience rights for medical providers.

This is what is at stake here. Freedom, or slavery. Capitalism or Soviet Union style socialism.

Liberty Legal Foundation is still fighting to have Obamacare overturned in court. Please help us stop Federal government in its attempt to become our primary oppressor.

For Liberty,

Van Irion, Founder

LIBERTY LEGAL FOUNDATION

Tens of thousands protest in Mexico against new president (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Via Keep It Simple Survival

At least 32,000 protesters marched through Mexico City on Sunday to protest the “imposition” of the new president. They accuse president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto, a member of the old ruling party, of electoral fraud.

Protesters have dubbed the country’s TV giant Televisa a “factory of lies.” Demonstrators marching through to capital claimed that Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won the election by vote-buying and an aggressive PR campaign through major media outlets such as Televisa, which they claim was well paid for positive coverage of Nieto’s presidential campaign.

Enrique Pena Nieto, 46, won the election with 38.2 per cent of the vote against 31.6 per cent for the leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Nieto’s victory brought the Institutional Revolutionary Party back to power after being in the opposition for 12 years.

The ruling President Felipe Calderon of the conservative National Action Party came in third.

Opponents of the victorious candidate demanded urgent domestic reforms.

The PRI in turn accuses the losing leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of "disqualifying the entire electoral process with lies." Televisa has also denied all allegations.

The last presidential election in Mexico in 2006 also ended with the defeat of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost to the ruling conservative president. In 2006 Obrador organized hundreds of thousands of his supporters to rally in downtown Mexico City for weeks. This time, however, Obrador announced that his victory is evident and he has no intention of calling his supporters to the streets.

More @ Russia Today

Timing is Everything

They are warming up for the big game, folks, and the hour is getting late…

Armed agencies are out and flexing their muscles right now. Never forget that while today it is drug dealers, tomorrow it will be patriots and other “domestic terrorists”.

Study the actions and tactics of your enemy, and don’t overlook their propaganda – all of these give clues and indicators as to their “rhythm”. Every organization has a rhythm and tempo at which they prefer to work - many FED-GOV agency heads are not even familiar with the rhythms of their own organizations, which is to our benefit – they will work against themselves when hard pressed. Yes, the OPFOR is getting prepared – FREEFOR must be ready to respond keenly, and in kind.

Most importantly, know how to recognize the moment when it is YOU they have in their sights - decidedly avoid the martyrdom of head-to-head combat…better to dodge the attack, and be ready with a swift counter. These are the times which try mens’ souls, yet strength of conviction gives rise to meaningful action. We will prevail.

More @ NC Renegade

Official Patriot Qualification Target

Via Don

Russian Saiga 12 Gauge Shotgun w/ Shooters Package Plus...$599.99

A NC company and I've dealt with them before.

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More @ Classic Firearms

Daddy Boy

Via Cousin Colby

Old, but a first to me.

Shenanigans

1. Obama comes out against guns.



2. Reid says not enough time to debate it.




3. Congresspersons attach a bill which they believe will fail, but then they can blame the Republicans ad infinitum.

Printing Weapons at Home for Fun and Mayhem

Global Guerrillas
VERBATIM POST

It's now possible to print functional weapons at home. This is going to progress rapidly now.

Think: global file sharing of designs for servicable weapons, from pistols on up to ?, that can be printed at home. What you can print -- from the materials to the size/quality of the object to the completeness (snap together construction) -- is already moving forward quickly. The weapons effort will just be along for the ride.

"HaveBlue" has tested the first "printed" firearm and it works. Here's his site, but it's VERY slow. It didn't blow up in his face.

Granted, he used an older professional grade Stratys 3D printer to do it. Printeres are much better now and handle many new materials.

Haveblue has been testing the "market" for distributing CAD/CAM weapons designs. His post of an earlier design to Thingverse (a site for 3D printing design patterns) led to a change in their policy (although it hasn't been enforced).

Haveblue's work is based on the Solidworks files available for download from the CNCguns site. Here's his earlier project:

Didn't Build That