Ron Paul update and compassion note

So they keep talking about cold-hearted libertarian zealots? Not so fast.

Paul people swept the Minnesota convention floor with Mitt Romney. Thirteen delegate slots  were up for grabs, and Dr. Ron captured 12 of them. So many that...

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose name appeared on a Romney slate Saturday, did not initially get enough votes to join the Republicans going to Tampa. She only avoided a run-off election when a Paul supporter ceded to her.

H/T again to my MSM pal, author of The  World's Greatest Travel Blog

Our day at the range

It isn't that Ken and I had nothing else to do, It just seemed like a good idea to take the battered RST4 down to pond and make something dance a little.

About 60 rounds of cheap Winchester bulk pack (one FTF) at 30 feet or so. Some from a rest on the Rusty Red, the F150, but mostly fast and off hand in a Weaverish way.

I can think of worse ways to pass a little time, even though I recently read an expert who said serious shooters should never "plink." Get lost.

Things Ron Paul wouldn't say or do, even in Minnesota

He wouldn't walk down the street eating lutefisk on a stick. He wouldn't say he loved lefska. He wouldn't promise to name an aircraft carrier the USS Uffdah.

Still, our libertarian Minnesota political whizzes love him, and they're about to prove it by sending a disporportionate number of Paul supporters to the national convention and by ensuring that his ideas carry weight at the state-party level.


On day two of the convention, Ron Paul supporters really get a chance to flex their muscle as the 2,000-plus delegates elect a slate to represent Minnesota at the national Republican convention in Tampa. Paul delegates have already claimed 20 of the 24 delegates elected from the state’s congressional districts. Three delegate slots automatically go to party officers. Another 13 national delegates are chosen on Saturday. With the force behind them, it’s possible -- maybe probable -- that 33 of the state’s 40 delegates will be pledged to nominate Ron Paul.



It parallels the libertarian/Paul movement in Iowa and several other states, and the immediate upshot is that his ideas will not be totally ignored in Tampa. The time beyond the convention is fuzzier, but  it can't hurt the liberty cause to have a young cadre of smart operatives pulling the strings in the middle levels of the GOP bureaucracy.

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I've attended political conventions for decades as a reporter, paid operative, and delegate. An outstanding feature is the blatent cluelessness of of many party officials and most delegates. They think the purpose is to bloviate on issues. The nearest comparison would be a mechanic who thinks his job is to expound this theories of automotive design while you're paying him to grind your valves.

The Minnesota Paulites illustrate the usefulness of highly skilled tinkering after learning the party rules and mores inside and out. When you've mastered the technical aspects,  then the time comes for using the machine to get to where you want to go, in this case from a higher level of statism to a a lower one. It's incremental and tedious, but it stands a better chance of reinstating our Constitution than loading up our M4geries.

What gun for bison?

They're on the loose a half-hour west of me. .30-06?

(Because, dammit, I don't own a .50-70, that's why.)


One of the hunting chiefs:

Lieutenant Seth Hofman of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office says the buffalo are "really, really fast." 


I dunno, Loot. Anything the Indians could catch on a little Appy can't be too swift. But they are big, and you might advise your warriors that while a Glock   -- with several charged magazines at the ready -- might eventually put one down,  they would be pretty well advised to have a Plan B.  Forty-caliber oozing sores get Tatonka heap pissed.






Makes me hungry for some hump meat and boudins.