MacGyver

It makes for a rather expensive dust cover - but I've seen the work these guys do:   http://leoarmory.com/ss/index.php?l=product_detail&p=304   A dust cover is flat enough and simple enough that you could probably take a standard one to a local trophy shop as well and have them do it,

This sounds like a job for someone with insurance.

Got a note from CMT this weekend indicating that the uppers and lowers have shipped out to be coated.  There are a bunch of them, so it'll take a couple of weeks.   I think they're expecting to start shipping them around the 8th of December.

I've got a background in physics, and I don't get that suppressor design at all...

Nice!  Great to hear.   My wife believes that if your good in life and you die, then you go to Vince Dooley's house for Sunday lunch or something.  That game wasn't good to her.

That seems like a pretty fair deal regardless of whether or not they use genetically modified saplings or growth hormones any of that other communist hootenanny.

I only use organic firewood.  I really prefer free range when I can get it, too.  My firewood shouldn't have to spend its life boxed in with a bunch of other trees just sitting around and waiting to be burned.

Agreed. If congress would allow them to make the decisions they need to run the place appropriately, we wouldn't be having this conversation. As long as they keep putting unrealistic expectations on the table, they've got no way to succeed.

They need all the paying customers they can get. While I'm generally for taking a needed day of rest on Sunday personally, I'd rather them come up with some strategies to get in the black on their own as opposed to us bailing them out. Profitable market. Paying customer. Good service to their customers. Hard to find something wrong with it. Of course, I'm sure someone's going to get their feelings hurt that they can't get their stuff on Sunday outside of these major markets.

I'll be sending names after I close the thread tomorrow.

Fred, I've walked into Gander Mountain several times in the last couple of years with money in my pocket to spend. I've walked out without buying a thing each time because their staff makes it seem like you're interrupting them. I'm sure they'll have plenty of time to fill out their unemployment apps in a few years when that attitude causes them to go out of business.

Tanker, don't think I'm trying to pick on you. I'm not. But we have to bring better rhetoric. I read the Economist. It's a pretty good source for judging how our politics are seen outside of our borders. They don't really give either side much of a free pass. I'd love to see a source on them calling anyone "the Taliban wing." Likewise I'd love to see a source on Obama calling the Tea Party, Tea Baggers. This has been recognized as a practically obscene term for a while. I just can't see him using it in public. Equating conservatives with the Taliban because they promote education is fraught with problems on so many levels. But, at the most basic the Taliban has been blowing up schools and killing educators for a couple of decades. Somehow making them promoters of education is simply ludicrous. If you've got a source saying that - you need a new source. Hate Obama if you like. But let's be intellectually honest in our arguments. There's plenty of material to make a case against him without needing to embellish the facts. Let's call him on his failures - not because he's some kind of boogeyman. Until we can do that, we look like fools - and make it a lot easier for the liberals. We're not going to win any national elections that way.

That picture brought a smile to my face - even at $30/box.

    The IRS hasn't tortured, imprisoned or killed any of Obama's opponents yet.  Yes, they did slow down applications.  They might (and that's a long shot might) have cost Romney the election.  That needs to be investigated and adjudicated if necessary.  But let's be clear about our language.   Not all of the press goes along willingly.  The Wall Street Journal has a million more daily subscribers than it's nearest two competitors.  I read it every morning.  They aren't cutting the man an inch of slack.  I haven't seen y'all's beloved Fox News skipping alongside Obama.  Yes, most of the media is centered in major population centers (New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta) and their editorial bent reflects their politics.  That's nothing new.  But both sides are represented.  The administration may have some allies in the management of the big media conglomerates, but we're a long way from state controlled media.   I was in Washington D.C. a few weeks ago - albeit grudgingly.  There were people protesting Obamacare in front of the White House.  That'll get you killed in a lot of places.  I've been to a bunch of them.  America isn't one of them.    We've got big problems.  Let's not let them take the easy path because we're focused on the wrong things.   By focusing on Obama as a kind of boogeyman, you lose focus on the arguments that'll actually get you somewhere.  As soon as the word "dictator" comes out of your mouth, people are immediately dismissive of the rest of the conversation.  Why don't we focus on what he's not instead?  He's a president that has failed to deliver on a single promise he's made yet - both domestically and abroad.  He talks a big game, but when it comes to delivering, he's a complete failure.    All I'm saying is that our arguments should be supported by our language. 

I added a closing brace to your post above to close your quote.   I fully agree that the executive branch is grabbing power in ways that our founding fathers couldn't foresee when they created coequal branches of government.  And the executive branch isn't alone.  The legislative and judicial branches have certainly availed themselves of every opportunity they could to grab power as well.  Power is attracted to power, and statists are going to state - if you will.  What else should we expect?  That's the nature of institutions that are unchecked by their constituent members.   But, Obama's speech yesterday wasn't that of a dictator.  I'm not a fan of the man, and I'd love to seem him leave office a frustrated man.  But, let's give the process credit where it's due.  He gave a speech yesterday outlining his particular vision of the future, and half of the legislative branch just rejected it outright.  His party is stampeding for the exits and that's a good thing.   He's not making laws, yet.  Even if Democrats had gone for his plan yesterday, it would have still had to have been introduced by Congress.   It may not be perfect.  It may not be going our way.  But the process is holding for now.

For the impeachment crowd, I'd argue what does it matter?  What's the fight going to get you?   Let's fight the battles where we can make a difference.  The GOP needs to have a unified message right now that this whole mess is but a portent of things to come if you let the government take over healthcare.  Mind you, then they have to offer a compelling plan of their own, and that's when the wheels start to come off.

You could argue both sides of that last paragraph.  One would hope that the American people won't allow the government to expand a program that they've already shown themselves incompetent to run.  On the other hand, I can see the administration making the case that they can't get this right because there are so many players in the mix, and they need to nationalize to make it work.    I don't think you can get to there from here, though.   The interesting thing about all of this is that it's nothing other than posturing.  This bill - assuming Harry Reid allows it to come up for a vote does nothing.  Obama has already said that he'll veto the Upton bill if it comes to his desk, and I don't know that either chamber has the votes to override a veto.  So, really all this bill has done is to allow 39 blue dog democrats political cover for next year by allowing them to say, "we listened to our constituents."   Meanwhile, this train wreck rolls on.  Nothing real has changed.  And today makes it harder to get change.  Mind you, I'm okay with that - and I'm one of the ones who gets hurt by my rates going up 250%.  Obama has misjudged.  He thought his mea culpa yesterday would make it better somehow.  Yet, his pride (and increasingly I think his pride alone) will prevent him from allowing this law to be changed until it's too late.   My position remains unchanged.  The DNC has never met a sure thing that they can't find a way to screw up.

  I've been thinking about this all day, and I thought I'd give some insight into an administrative action I took last night.  A look behind the curtain if you will.   We can have conversations about race on TGO.  We regularly have good discussions on a variety of issues here, and there aren't really any topics that are verboten.  That said, when we're talking about difficult or potentially controversial issues, our position is pretty much the same as we discussed in the post regarding anti-law enforcement threads - either bring something to the discussion or don't participate.   We have almost 20,000 users on TGO at this point.  People from every area of the state and every background are represented.  Not everyone looks like you.  Not everyone has the same views as you.  I wouldn't ask anyone to change their views just to please someone else.  Far to the contrary, we encourage good debate on conversations that are worth having.  But, we do ask that everyone show some respect for the other voices at the table.    When it comes to racial issues, TGO will not tolerate hateful language.  Period.  It colors all of us as a community in a negative light. 

  I think a change in language might be useful here.  Regardless of how most non-progressives feel about him, there's still a lot of distance between Obama as the elected President of the United States and "dictator".   He's not torturing, imprisoning or killing political opponents.  He's not outlawing the press.  People are still free to gather.  People are still able to protest.  This current debate surrounding healthcare is a wonderful example of that.   He just lost a vote in the House with 39 Democrats joining the Republicans in a 261-157 vote to reject his "vision" from yesterday and act on their own.    One can argue a lot about the abuses of Executive power, and frankly that doesn't rest solely in the lap of this administration.  But, we're a long way from a dictatorship.   I only make this point because I think language is important - and lacking in the national discourse right now. 

I'm so done with this...

Stupid knows no geographic boundaries.

I've always thought if their end goal was a single payer system, then the ACA was a brilliant opening move, as no private entity can compete with an organization that is willing to operate at a loss quarter after quarter. If you're really wanting a good conspiracy theory to chew on, maybe the "failed" rollout was actually planned to accelerate the transition... Personally, I don't buy that theory. I don't think they're smart enough to pull it off.

He has no intention of changing the law.  This whole thing was designed to try and slow down the developing stampede of Democrats who were going to vote with the House Republicans tomorrow.  The only major difference between what Obama offered and what the House has proposed is that the Republican plan would continue to sell "cancelled" plans for the next year, where the Obama plan would nix new enrollment.   Problem is.  All of the major insurers have already acted in good faith to obey the portion of the law that went into effect 44 days ago.  The insurers aren't going to play ball.   If the GOP is smart (and those are long odds), they'll use whatever clout they have with big business (the insurers) to get the message out that this "administrative fix" isn't going to help address the problems.  At this point, if they push, they can likely really get a year delay - which takes it out past the mid-term elections.  Assuming they can get on message and actually bring some people to their side (again not holding out a lot of hope), they could possibly take enough seats to attempt a real repeal - which the president will veto - and we'll have two years of absolute gridlock - which I'm okay with.

This is nothing but trying to give Democratic lawmakers cover to avoid voting for the House Republican plan being offered tomorrow.   It sounds like a delay, but pragmatically it exactly nothing.  Health Insurance companies have already acted in good faith, assuming the law would be implemented.  The plans have already been cancelled.  And none of them are going to jump through hoops to act against their own self interest (any more so than the ACA already requires) to renew a plan that's going to be constantly bad mouthed and cancelled again in a year anyway.   And yet...

Mind you, Tiffany doesn't look like she weighs 100lbs. with her boots on, but that thing is a lot bulkier in person than I expected from the pictures - and not in a good way.   There appear to be a couple of quality issues that present themselves right away.  I don't like the plastic picatinny rail.  It also doesn't look like the threads for the rail inserts are anything but plastic.    I'm sure they'll do a hi-cap mag at some point, so that issue will likely become moot - but who knows when that's going to happen.   At almost $700 - assuming their online price is accurate, there are a lot of other weapons in a more proven platform that I'd consider.  A Beretta PX4 Storm can't be too much more than that.  If you're going to go with a 16" barrel and not SBR it, you could probably build a DDLES or Lonewolf pistol caliber carbine for that kind of money, too.