In the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck it this morning, Japan appears to be having issues at one of its nuclear power plants.

Radiation levels are a staggering 1,000 times above normal around a Japanese nuclear plant after a deadly earthquake and tsunami damaged the cooling system, it was reported Friday.

Let’s look at best case scenario here.  In addition to all of the issues the Japanese people are dealing with here, they’re also going to have to protect themselves from localized radiation leaks and add the cost of cleaning it up to the the billions or trillions it’s going to cost them to rebuild already.

Worst case scenario?  How about this?

 That’s the reactor that blew up at Chernobyl, before the fire was out and the concrete containment dome was built.  The thing that worries me is that the West Coast of North America is downwind of this developing problem.  During World War II, the Japanese military used the prevailing winds to send firebombs on balloons across the Pacific to randomly bombard North America.  One or two may have gotten as far inland as Saskatchewan, which means pretty much any part of North America west of the Mississippi and north of the 4 Corners area can be reached from Japan just by floating on the wind.  Want to bet how far microscopic specks of radioactive fallout from a reactor meltdown in Japan would get on the spring winds over the North Pacific?  Remember, it was a radiation sensor in Scandinavia, almost 700 miles away,  that first clued us to the disaster at Chernobyl.  This stuff travels well.

Is the Fukosmima Daichi power plant likely to completely melt down?  I’d say not.  The government is reacting to the crisis already, and will most likely put this at the top of “Stuff to Take Care Of” list for the time being.  With Chernobyl, appropriate containment and mitigation were hampered by bad planning and a slow reaction from the Soviet government.  The design of the reactor is undoubtedly different, and one would hope that safety controls are better at Fukoshima than at Chernobyl.

Another thing that worries me is the impact that this will have on efforts to expand use of nuclear power in the United States.  I’ve always believed that the answer to our issue with imported petroleum will be to a large extend made up of nuclear power.  My gut tells me that if this gets bad, the anti-nuclear crowd will use this to club any nascent efforts to build new nuke plants into oblivion.

If you’re a praying type, I ask that you keep the people of Japan in your prayers tonight, especially those who are risking their own health to contain this nuclear emergency.  Whether or not you’re the praying type, please consider contributing to an organization, such as the Red Cross, which will be working to help those effected by this disaster in their hour of need.

I just walked away from watching your press conference that I assumed would be about the U.S. response to the earthquake in Japan.  Your opening remarks lasted approximately 20 minutes, and then the press corps began asking questions, which for the first five minutes had nothing to do with the natural disaster that has rocked one of our closest allies and has put Americans in Japan in danger.

Here are a few comments I’d like to make:

1. You spent the first 3 to 5 minutes of your opening remarks expressing the condolences of the United States to the people of Japan, and offering any help we can provide.  I’m good with that.  You reported that the government is preparing to assist with any damage to our Pacific coastal population that occurs due to the tsunami.  Again, good.  I hope that the governors of Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California have more sense than the twit who was in charge of Louisiana when Katrina hit and actually ask for help if they need it.
2. You then spent 3 to 5 minutes talking about what you think should happen in Libya, and basically took sides in another countries internal conflict.  I’m not so good with that, but you’re the president, and if that’s the policy you want to follow, then all I can do is respectfully disagree and wait for the next election.  Personally, I don’t think we have a dog in that fight.
3. The remaining 10 to 14 minutes of your remarks were spent either defending your energy policy.  Nice segue though.  It takes a master of rhetoric and sophistry to change from a discussion of a relatively irrelevant foreign issue into a defense of your domestic policies.  
4. This may seem a little picky, but your continual rhythm of “look right, look down, look left, look down, lather, rinse, repeat” throughout your prepared remarks was distracting.  You’re supposed to be a great speaker.  Learn your bloody lines before you step up to the podium and quit reading your speech verbatim from 3×5 cards. Your daughters could have gotten up there and given the speech about as well as you did.

Mr. President, one of our allies just took a shot to the gut, and you gave them maybe 25% of your time.  Even if you felt the need to spend at least half of your speech talking about a domestic policy and political issue, you could at least have ignored the Libyan situation for a moment and devoted more time to discussing exactly what we are going to do to assist the Japanese.  Let me put this bluntly:  You could have spent 3 to 5 minutes talking about Charlie Sheen instead of Mohamar Qaddafi, and it would have been just as relevant to today’s important topics. Assisting Japan as much as we can is going to have a much larger long term impact on the future of our country than who wins the civil war of a sand flea infested, 3rd world jerkwater dungheap. 

I’d like to say that I hope your performance improves at your next press conference, but to be honest, I will never know.  After your performance today, I have no interest in wasting my time hoping that you will speak about what is important when it is important.

Just returned from my first trip to the gym in a very long time.  Too long a time, as a matter of fact.

This getting back into shape and losing weight is starting to suck.

I’ve given up fast food.  No breakfast burritos, no juicy hamburgers, nothing.
I stopped putting sugar in my coffee, and cut out my afternoon cup of hot cocoa.
I’ve stopped going out for lunch.  It’s easier to watch what I eat if I’m not salivating over the 3 cheese nachos platter.

Tonight I did a light upper body workout followed by 2.5 miles in 40 minutes on the treadmill. My legs should stop trembling in a little while.

After I get out of my junk food withdrawals and get used to exercising for the sake of exercise again, this will start being fun.  I have to keep that in mind.  This is good for me and it will eventually be enjoyable.

But if I don’t wake up tomorrow, I blame the treadmill.

As you guys know, I’m a bit of a prepper.   For the most part, I prepare for minor disruptions, but there’s always the “end of the world as we know it” scenario that lurks in the back of your head.  In the event that society just eats its own tail, or even an event in the vein of Hurricane Katrina or the LA riots, security of your person, your property, and your family are a major concern.

Lucky Gunner Ammo is asking bloggers what products on their site could be used to prep, and is holding a contest for those who respond.  Since they’re primarily an ammunition dealer, I’ll talk about which guns from my collection and ammunition from their site I would find most useful.   Even without the contest, I have to say I’d endorse them as a great resource for bulk ammo and other shooting supplies on the web, and have used them several times in the past.

For close-in security, I’d probably stick for the most part with my Mossberg 835 12 gauge.  The shotgun has the advantages of being dirt simple and reliable, easy to keep clean and maintain, and pretty forgiving on the aiming side if you need to use it for personal defense.  It can also be used to hunt small game or birds.  Lucky Gunner stocks a large assortment of shotgun shells both for hunting or personal defense.

For my pistol selection, I’d take two.  My 1911 in .45 ACP and my CZ-82 in 9×18 Makarov.   Both are reliable, simple, and again, just plain easy to clean and maintain.  The CZ is fast becoming my carry gun of choice due to how well it shoots.  .45 is one of the most common calibers out there, so I could either trade for it or use it as trade goods if it came to that.  9×18 is cheap as dirt these days if you buy in bulk, so I can buy a lot and store it against the day it’s needed.

For longer range shooting, either for hunting or security, I’ll have to stick with my Mosin Nagant 91/30.  Yes, it’s ugly as sin, kicks like a mother, and requires that you slap it around to cycle the action, but I’ve put several thousand rounds through it and never had a non-ammunition related stoppage.  It’s also accurate enough to hunt large game out to about 200 yards, especially if I mount the scout scope on it again.  Ammunition can be had that ranges from military surplus grade to match grade for differing uses, and is cheap compared to comparable .308.

You’ll notice that all of the links on Lucky Gunner I provided are to bulk sales.  Two reasons:  Buy in bulk, save money.  And always buy enough ammunition that you can practice often and still have a good reserve in case you need it.

Hope this was helpful.  I’d love to hear your ideas for the guns and ammunition you’d choose if you needed them for a survival event.

It is counter productive to read anything written by Larry Correia, David Drake, or John Ringo while trying to fall asleep.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ambulance Driver and TOWTYR were at the right place at the right time and saved a life the other day.  Go on over, read the whole thing, and give some love!

As all of you have seen, the Libyan Civil War is kicking in to high gear.  Opponents of the Qaddafi regime have been successful in gaining control of a large chunk of the country, and have been pushing towards Tripoli.  Government forces have used armor and air power to push them back, apparently with some success.  Those of you who have learned about the Rommel/Montgomery campaigns in this area probably already know that unopposed air strikes in this terrain are extremely effective.

Leaders of the E.U. and the United States have expressed dismay that a dictator such as Qaddafi would use all the tools available to him to stay in power, and are considering what they can do to settle the problem:

The United States and its NATO allies edged closer Monday to formulating a military response to the escalating violence in Libya as the alliance boosted surveillance flights over the country and the Obama administration signaled it might be willing to help arm Qaddafi’s opponents. Europe, meanwhile, kick-started international efforts to impose a no-fly zone.

American defense officials have made it clear in recent days that imposing a no-fly zone over Libya would start with attacks against the Libyan Air Force and its supporting air defense network.  That means casualties on the ground and air for the Libyans, and probably a few on the attacking side as well.   The rebel forces have no air force to speak of, so crippling the Libyan Air Force means we take the side of the rebels.  That’s a line that I’m not willing to cross, even though I have a lot of bones to grind with Qaddafi.

Aside from the usual concerns a nation should have when getting involved in another nation’s civil war, we have to ask ourselves, what’s in it for us?

In a completely unselfish sense, we could rationalize involvement in this conflict by saying we’re doing it to prevent the wholesale slaughter of non-combatants by the Libyan Air Force.  I don’t believe that the LAF has a large supply of precision munitions, so most of their air strikes are probably done using unguided rockets and bombs, which against urban targets means a lot of collateral damage.

But if we look at this with the jaundiced eye of a country that has spent the past two generations trying to get the rest of the world to play nice and has been kicked in the shins by pretty much everyone involved, is that really a good reason to commit an act of war that commits us to one side of an internal Libyan conflict?

There are a few outcomes I can see here:

We impose a no-fly zone over Libya, and even with that aid, rebel forces continue to lose.  Gaddafi didn’t keep power for 41 years without making sure he had the resources to fight this fight.  Do we then use our air power to support the rebels?  Do we provide them with material support such as weapons, medicine, and food?  Do we put boots on the ground to protect the rebel strongholds, ala Bosnia?

We impose a no-fly zone over Libya, and the rebels prevail.  Anyone want to bet on how quickly American forces go from liberators and allies to imperialistic targets for every two-bit wacko in Libya with a 1970’s era Lada, a can of diesel fuel, and a bag of fertilizer?

We do nothing, and Gaddafi wins.  Status quo ante bellum.  He’s crazy, but he’s a stable kind of crazy as long as you don’t kick him too much. 

We do nothing, and the rebels win.  We didn’t lift a finger to help them, and they might not like us because of that.  But they didn’t like us before the war and they probably don’t like us now, so no change there.

What I’m getting at is that I don’t believe we have a dog in this fight.  If I were president or the leadership of the EU, I’d pick “Do nothing and see what happens” as the best course of action.  This is a civil war between two groups who want to control a relatively oil rich part of North Africa.  No-one is invading Europe or North America out of Libya anytime soon.

Here’s my suggestion for what should happen in Libya:

• Establish well run and guarded refugee camps in Egypt and other bordering countries.  All the women, children, and old people who want to leave are to be escorted out of the country and provided for by the UN and any NGO’s that want to help.  Military age men need not apply.  We’re not creating a base camp in neutral territory for an insurgency here.  
• We do our best to keep more weapons and ammunition from getting into Libya, but we do nothing to stop the forces in Libya from fighting.  If they want to fight until there’s only one man standing alone in the desert, so be it.  
• After the shooting stops, coordinate international efforts to rebuild Libya and re-settle the non-combatants, regardless of who won. 
• Let the rest of OPEC figure out where the extra oil can come from while Libya goes on and off the market.  Make it quite clear to them that if the price of oil stays where it is, lots of bad things are going to happen to both our economies and their ability to buy off the unhappy hordes in their own countries.

Basically, take care of the helpless, do nothing to interfere with the war itself, and help the non-combatants pick up the pieces afterwards.  We get to brand ourselves as the helpers of the down trodden, and we commit no acts of war.

Update – Donald Sensing beat me to it.  

This weekend, at the invitation of a good friend, I went to a Beast Feast at one of the local Baptist churches.  Basically, it was a men’s evening at the church, with a great meal, entertainment, fellowship, and a touch of worship thrown in.

I knew it was going to be a good evening when I passed over the threshold of the church and wasn’t struck by lightning.

The evening began with one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time that wasn’t cooked by my sweet wife.  The menu included grilled venison steaks, venison and onion tart, barbecue wild boar and mountain sheep, venison sausage queso dip and chips, and elk bratwurst.  All of it was wonderful, but if I ever find the man who makes the elk sausage, I’m going to marry his daughter to BooBoo and tie his bloodline to mine.  Mind you, this wasn’t the healthiest meal on Earth.  The closest to a vegetable at this table was the salsa.  But all of it was delicious.

After dinner, we went upstairs to the chapel, where I was again happy to not be struck by lightning.  That being said, I was glad that our group stayed back from the altar.  “Thou shalt not test the Lord, thy God” and all that.  The evening’s program was headed up by a remarkably good local Christian rock group.  They played a lot of songs that I hadn’t heard before, but my companions seemed to enjoy.   My favorite, and the only song this heathen recognized, was when they ran a little close to the edge and played “First Baptist Bar and Grill”.

Next came the speaker for the evening, who did a good job relating hunting and fishing to fatherhood and faith.  He discussed how his father had used the outdoors to teach him about being a good man, and how he was in turn passing this on to his own son.  He even had this old skeptic doing some soul searching before he was done.

I had a great time, and I’m definitely going to be going next year if I’m invited.  And I meant what I said about the elk bratwurst.

Lucky Gunner Ammo is hosting a gunblogger blog-meet on Memorial Day Weekend for gunbloggers.

I’m already going to the NRA convention the first weekend of May, so this may not pass muster with the Irish Woman.  Unless maybe I can get her to come along. Hmmmmmmm

And do I really qualify as a gunblogger?  I probably only talk about guns or 2nd Amendment issues about 25% of the time, max.  I’m nowhere near Oleg, Uncle, JayG, or Tam.

What do y’all think?

Update – Well I’ll be dipped.  Irish Woman said it would be no problem, so long as I stuck to my new exercise program. Just put in my registration.  Let’s see if they say I’m a gunblogger.

Fox News is asking if stars are better skinny or curvy.

The correct answer is “Curvy”.

Next question.

Ladies, quit obsessing about your weight.  A size 20 is just as beautiful and sexy as a size 2.  Find a weight that your body wants to be at that’s healthy, and stop worrying about it.  You’re beautiful.  Trust us.  Unless you’re involved with a jerk who wants to be with a Barbie doll, then having a little meat on your bones is a good thing.

So quit being neurotic about everything you eat, enjoy your food and exercise in moderation, and be happy with who you are.