The SCOTUS hath rendered it's decision and opinion. When I heard the news, the words above (pronounced "krasniye pobyedili") went through my mind. It's what russians say when the good guys win in movies or stories. Roughly translated it means "the reds won."

 I wish airboss were alive to see this today.

krasniye pobyedili, tovarisch!

krasniye pobyedili!

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

I am sorry that I have not been blogging much as of late. The fact of the matter is that I have tons of stuff to do, and there are some tough times ahead. All together things seem to have conspired against me to keep Domestic-6 and myself from enjoying this year.

Where to begin?

First, I just found out that my grandfather may be going to hospice soon. In many ways, I am more like him than my own father, and if you saw pictures of the two of us in uniform; myself in the Corps, him in the Army air corps, you would think that we were brothers. He is probably were I get my pugnaciousness. I love him with all of my heart, but his care is too much for his wife. Sometimes, you have to make some hard choices, and that time appears to have arrived. 

Second, residency has not been going well as of late. Someone at one of my rotations got hacked off at me, and raised a fuss. This, in turn snowballed into something bigger and bigger until I find myself basically being audited. This was done by me doing extra shifts in the EC with some senior attendings evaluating me. I did fine, but It managed to turn what was an easy off-service rotation into a high-workload affair. Also, there has been some recent changes at the program, not the least of which is that we have a new department chair who is also the head of the residency program, which has led to unfortunate things like a conflict of interest between someone who is both tasked with staffing the ER, and the resident rotations. This appears to have had detrimental effects on resident shifts since we are now fielding all of the shifts that the attendings don't want. Also, some of my certification is out of date, and while I had signed up for the recert course, and paid the department the money to attend, they went ahead and scheduled me for shifts during the course. Yes, they refunded the money, but then they haven't stopped riding my ass about the expired certification. It would appear that keeping the department staffed is of more value than taking what I consider reasonable steps to keep residents certified. So, basically I have given up on the program. There, I said it. I have given up on this program. I am going to just have to take care of shit myself, and carry on. I work these bullshit shifts, and because of the timing, I may go weeks without seeing my wife, though we sleep together most nights.

Speaking of which, my wife is having a rough time of things, herself. First, she has a Hell of a drive each day which is grinding her down, and absolutely murder on her when the snows come. More importantly, she is getting stressed out at work by performing anaesthesia for these patients who have not had a proper workup, and are getting operations that are of questionable wisdom. All of this has really thrown a wrench in our plans of working on having kids. Kind of hard to do with our schedules, if you know what I mean.

So,  right about now, I am getting pretty hacked off at life in general, and residency in particular. The little things are starting to piss me off way more than they used to. I just had an attending tell me to leave some paperwork in his mailbox when he left early from the shift. So, I stuck around and finished things up. I then dutifully proceeded to drop the paperwork off in his box, and guess what? He lost it. So, then he turns around and instructs me to spend a couple of hours re-generating it. This is an attending I kind of like, but what bullshit! He lost it, he should frikking deal with it. Clean up your own mess! 

I am getting so pissed off at everyone that I have to be careful at this years graduation. I better not drink, lest I start to let people know how I feel. Hell, they just asked for residents to be mentors for the interns next year, and I will be damned if I am going to do that. I have gotten minimal mentoring, if any, and frankly, there has been a real absence of leadership. They had it, but he got fired for not doing things the way the new boss wanted. What dumbasses to lose an asset like that!

I am not going to help out this program in any way, shape, or form. I am not going to welcome applicants, or give them tours. I am not going to host anything official, or volunteer for any duty. I am going to just try to take care of myself. Medicine really has become a culture that eats its young, and shoots its wounded. I hate the bullshit shifts. I hate the bullshit paperwork. I hate the feeling that my life is on indefinite hold, and that I am not living it.

I remember a close friend of mine telling me once that there is this hypothetical question he would ask his colleagues in residency.

"Imagine that you are transported back to your first day of medical school," he would start.

"The alarm just went off, and while you do not have any of the empirical knowledge (the actual education) of medical school, you know exactly what you are going to have to go through for the next seven to ten years."

"The question," he would ask, "is whether you get up and go to class, or do you roll over, hit the 'snooze' button, and do something else for a living?"

Right about now, I think that I would hit the snooze button, and do something else.

SIGH.

Unfortunately, unless someone knows of a job for a Marine turned doctor with a fascination for firearms that can pull down six figures a year (I have all those loans to pay off), I am kind of stuck.

So, it's time, yet again, to stand up, cowboy up, and fight my way to daylight. I'll take care of this certification, move us somewhere closer to where D-6 works to ease her burden, and stand strong while my family has to gut out trying times. If Marines in Iraq can continue kicking in doors, and suffer and sacrifice as they go toe to toe with the devil's children, then I can hump my own pack. 

So, if you don't hear from me for a while, and I only break the surface to gasp for air now and again, it doesn't mean I am drowning; it just means I am working in dark waters.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

Earn this. Earn it.

Hat tip to Blackfive

R/S -doc

I would like to see the US opening Western style Universities in Iraq and Afghanistan. These areas never had a period of enlightenment, and I think that inserting a driving catalyst such as the Classical Education of a liberal arts college, complete with capstone course and all, would be able to make this happen in ways in which all the troops in the world cannot. After all, this is one reason why Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, and Turkmenistan are resistant to Muslim fundamentalism, where Afghanistan is not. The soviets came in and started Russian schools, which became the ticket to success. I think that we should experiment with this model.

I would like to see cops drop military rank designations. They are not military. They are civilian. They are not subject to the UCMJ, and it foments poor relationships with the rest of the citizenry. Being called "Officer Jones" is okay, so are Sherriff, and Deputy. That being said, we need to drop stuff like "sergeant", "captain," and "Lieutenant." Along those lines, we also need to drop the associated rank insignia that are so prevalent in the police culture now. They get to wear a badge or they get to wear sergeant stripes, but they do not get to wear both.

I would like to see a ballot option in the general elections which lets me vote against the DNC nominee. With Bob Barr throwing his hat in the ring, and McCain unilaterally, and condescendingly claiming that the "global warming debate is over," I looked over Mr. Barrs positions, and see a lot that I really like. So, with the GOP nominee staking out a position that I disagree with and a libertarian staking positions that I do, this may be the final straw. I do not want to see the GOP succeed anymore. For too long, they have abandoned the principles of Reagan, and tried to pander and compromise their way to power. This is why they are about to be handed a complete rout. After the elections two years ago, where they were handed solid defeats across the board, they found themselves in a hole, and their response was to dig faster. No, I do now want to see the GOP succeed; they do not deserve it. And they will not. What I want to see, though, is that the DNC fail, and this is unlikely to happen. Sadly, I will probably end up splitting the difference where I will vote for McCain, but send money to the libertarians.

I would like to see someone place an EFP IED in Code pinks permitted parking spot in front of the USMC recruiting office, and then see what they want to do about it that does not include using men who volunteered to pick up a weapon and go in harm's way.

I would like to see John Browning brought back from the dead in order to hand Gaston Glock his ass. I figure that it would take Browning two weeks to learn the progress that has been made in materials, and then six weeks later, we would have a pistol, rifle and shotgun that would make the glock, the mossberg, and the AR obsolete.

I would like to see these commercials for baby boomers to be yanked from the air. Trying to rewrite the sixties as this great evolutionary leap in mankind is crap. You guys really screwed things up with your "free love," "Turn on, tune in, drop out," and "if it feels good, do it" attitudes. If we survive your fuck-ups it will be entirely due to the efforts of diligent and courageous men and women like the fine Americans whom you spat upon.
                                                       Bad hippy! No Viagra!

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

Well, D-6 and I returned from Washington, DC., andf it was overall a good trip. Unfortunately, we fundamentally lost the first day since our flight was cancelled. Only flight out of Detroit that day that got cancelled. This happened before when D-6 was going to be spending the weekend with her girlfriend in NYC. We were both crushed when that happened. She was very much looking fdorward to it, and I wanted her to spend some time with her friend since she has not made any here, yet. I have a childhood friend who believes thatt the city of Houston is out to kill him (and he might just be right), and now my wife is of the opinion that Detroit is trying to trap her here. Anyway, I thought that I would post some pictures from the trip. There are many more, but I deliberately am witholding pics wwith either myself or D-6 in them, as well as ones that just came out poorly.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

Domestic-6 and I are about to catch a flight out of here. We are headed to Washington, DC. Yes, I know that a lot of people are going to be scratching their heads wondering why I would want to go there. The fact is that I have a secret.

I was born in Washington DC.

Okay, not *in* DC, but in the shadow of DC. Domestic-6 and I both have the weekend off, so we decided to go travel a bit, and the airfare was cheaper than Chicago or New York. So, we are going to go and see the sights, and I am going to show her the cradle of my childhood. Sometimes I do miss Virginia very much. I have such fond memories of the place, and the lifelong friends I made there. I remember my father driving down the lanes and roads of McLean, and the way that the trees grew overhead and met in a steeple. It was like driving down a green cathedral dappled in sunlight. There would be mild winters, and warm, lazy summers. I used to leave the window open when I went to sleep, and gently drift off to the sound of the trees rustling in the wind as ghostly shimmers in the moonlight.

Granted, we are going to spend most of our time at the tourist traps, but I will save for us a few hours in a corner of land where, even now, I can remember it's topography, and can wander through it when I close my eyes. I am sure that it will have changed, and drastically so. Still, it will be good to see where I grew up. As much as I love the great state of Texas, Virginia will always have a place in my heart.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia 

Since it seems to be circulating to the level at which I will indulge.

I copy this from LawDog:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. Find page 123.
3. Find the first five sentences.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

I am not going to tag five people. Sadly, my closest book is a prep for the oral boards, so this material is quite dry:

"6) Clinical findings that indicate a serious overdose of cyclic antidepressants include all of the following except:
         a. Ventricular dysrhythmia
         b. Wide QRS complex
         c. AV Block
         d. Hypertension

7) The key to understanding Lithium overdose is in understanding its excretion Mechanism. Almost all of it is excreted unchanged in the urine. Reabsorption of the drug occurs primarily at:
         a. The proximal renal tubule
         b. The ascending limb of the loop of Henle
         c. The distal renal tubule
         d. None of the above

8) The classic sign of Barbiturate overdose is:
         a. Cutaneous Bullae
         b. Absent corneal and deep tendon reflexes
         c. Persistence of the pupilary light reflex
         d. Cyanosis with repiratory depression"

Preparing for the oral boards in emergency medicine volume II. Chapter: Toxicologic emergencies.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

p.s.: The answers are d, a, and c, respectively

I am going to try something here. I saw this item in Lt G's website, and really liked it, so I decided to shamelessly tear that particular page out of his playbook and use it myself. So, if you would like ot hear some of the tunes I like to listen to then you need but hit the pllay button on the sidebar. Be warned; I am not Kim DuToit with an ear for refined music. I like what I like, and I fully expect that the majority of my readership will find it to be an offense to their tender sensibilities. I offer no defense or apology. I like what I like, and that is all there is to it.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

SO, I thought that I would vent, let people know that I am still alive, and remark upon some recent events

Specifically, I would like to address Barry Obama's recent remarks on people "clinging to their guns" when things aren't going well. First off, I shall paint a picture of the circumstances that this was discussed in the doc Russia household. I was sitting on the couch with Domestic-6 at my side, which is like heaven itself. Domestic-6 and I have a long history with communism. No, we are not communists, far from it. We have, however, had a long family feud with communists. My great grandparents were Jews who snuck out of some peasant farm near Minsk after the Bolsheviks took over. D-6's family is made  up of people who opposed the Bolshevik revolution. Actually, she also had relatives who supported it, but she is not a descendant of them because of their fate. The half of her family that opposed the revolution had all of their stuff seized by the state, and then they were exiled to the southern republics. lest they get the idea that they might come back into affluence, and stir up trouble. The side of her family that supported the revolution did fairly well right up until the time that their success was coveted by Stalin, and then they ended up in the gulags and disappeared. As a side note, this goes to show that sometimes, when you try to appease an alligator, you are not, in fact, eaten last. The exiled ones eventual did well after being bled dry by Hitler and Stalin. Thoroughly disgusted by commie bastards, and realizing that it was the only way to be able to listen to the Beatles without fear of government reprisals, my father in law, who I admire and love decided to make an enourmous gamble, and move three generations of his family to America. There was no job or promise awaiting him on our side of the world, he just followed the idea that fortune favors the bold. My dear wife, sixteen at the time, vividly remembers empty shelves of bread, rampant fraud and nepotism. She, herself was a rising star in the young pioneers, and was on the fast track for acceptance into the komsomolyets, the feeder system for the communist party. So, she has lived under the tyranny of communism, and while she misses the comraderie that such strife bred, her visceral hate of communism, and all communism in other guises would shock Joe McCarthy. Personally, I have seen with my own eyes the bloody and brutal hand of communism at work in the world, and the memories of it haunt me to this day.

In other words, while others may wax philosophic about the whole "brotherhood of man" and other such beautiful lies, we know communism, and while I shall notr speak for her, for myself I will say that it is a fate to be resisted by all means available, even death itself.

So, while Obama is on the teevee talking in necessarily vague terms about class warfare, and proletariat small town strife at the hands of the burgeousie rich, my lovely wife bursts out "He's a Fu&]<ing communist!."  When I responded that he wasn't *really* a communist, just a very hard core socialist (which is communism lite), I was treated to a stream of Russian profanities that meant.... well, I am not sure what they meant, but the walls started to change colors. Okay, maybe he is a communist. In fact, I am sure of it.

His remarks also expose the false promise of multiculturalism. Nevermind that he made gun owners out to be a bunch of hillbilly racist bible-thumping morons. Never mind that people who own guns are bitter only because people want to take them away. Never mind that Hillary is trying to stake out the I am not anti-gun because I support some form of hunting. Never mind that they both totally missed the mark. They are, after all successful democrats, and as such are completely out of touch with the reality of gun owners, and the fact that most people buy guns to protect themselves or because they *GASP!* just like to shoot them. The thing that pisses me off is this idea that, as one of my colleagues told me "there is room here for everyone." This is the great promise of multiculturalism. That we will respect people who are different from us, and that will make us better. That's right; all cultures have a place.

...except for the southern culture.

Black liberation theology? A valid and precious system of beliefs where whites are the root of all evil, and any blacks who believe otherwise are traitors. The Reconquista? Another venerated belief where the white man stole Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico from the Mexicans. Vegans and ELF? these are gentle souled people who are in touch with mother earth, not just a bunch of self- obsessed anarchists who we are unwilling to allow to rejoin the food chain at their rightful and desired place where I feed them to my dog. Why, according to multiculturalism, we have to respect these other belief systems, and enshrine all cultures in some sort of protection. But the southern culture? Well you can just piss all over that all you want.

For some reason, multiculturalism doesn't apply to *my* culture.

My culture judges a man by the content of his character not the color of his skin, which is why quotas are so hateful.

My culture believes that a man has a right to the fruits of his own labors, and he may feast or famine dependant upon how fat or hungry he wishes to be, which is why taxing the food out of my mouth and giving it to the lazy bum who cannot or will not take care of themselves pisses me off.

My culture believes that men should behave as gentlemen, and women should behave as ladies, which is why watching girls in Florida luring another girl into a beatdown while the men do not protect her is so offensive.

My culture believes that government is a necessary evil that should only do those things that the private citizens cannot, which is why our blood boils when the blue ribbon panel's solution to the staggering failure of FEMA in the wake of Katrina is to... wait for it... give them more power and a bigger budget.

My culture believes that a man's faith is between him and his God, and as long as it doesn't involve sacrificing puppies or molesting children, you  can pretty much believe in whatever diety you like, but we also get pissed off when people try to enforce state supported atheism by obliterating any reference to any faith, and call believers backwards yokels.

My culture is being assaulted by multiculturalism, socialism, communism, islamic fundamentalism and a whole host of other "isms."

My culture believes that the individual is the first, last, and greatest defense against the "isms" of the world, and that he can, and should avail himself of every tool in the prosecution of this defense, from soap box, to ballot box, to ammunition box.

This culture is mine. This I shall defend.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

Had those four words been omitted from the bill of rights, there would be no gun control debate (probably). As is often lamented and preferentially interpereted, that clause in the second ammendment has caused no small amount of gnashing teeth and screaming marmosets in both public and legal circles. More on those four words later. Right now, before the Supreme Court of the United States is one of the first cases on the second ammendment of the Constitution in a lifetime. In fact, I would bet that there is nobody alive who remembers the Miller decision from seventy years ago. Maybe there is someone, but I kind of doubt it. There is a lot of emotion tied up with this case, and there really is a lot riding on it. Because there has been so little decided before there is the opportunity for the court to make some significant changes and clarifications to existing law, as opposed to tweaking the law this way or that. But, like the chinese word for crisis, this contains both opportunity and danger. It is also possible that the Supreme court could make a decision which could lead to further controversy, and all the outrages which accompany it.

From what little I have seen and read so far, here is how I think that things are going to shake out in general. I think that the Supremes will decide that the second ammendment is an individual right. I think that they will specifically not refer to machine guns. I think that the Supremes will also say, that this individual right is subject to 'reasonable restrictions.' I think that the Supremes will also create some sort of "test," which will be the basis for what is and is not considered reasonable restrictions, and here is where the controversy will nest. This is also where the real meat of the matter will lie, and where the real opportunity is.

So, the obvious question is what test can be applied to a right that will be considered reasonable to both the gun owning and the unarmed American? What test will be most effective at putting to rest questions over the meaning of the second ammendment? Perhaps most importantly, what test will be most effective at safeguarding the freedoms and liberties of the individual in their pursuit of happiness?

It will be very easy for the court to become mired in the details and nuances of gun control. Barrel length, caliber, trigger locks, transport, assembly, cyclic rate, magazine capacity, concealed carry, et.c, etc. Unfortunately, Just like Carolyn McCarthy, the Supreme court probably does not have the kind of knowledge of the subject matter to decide it along the lines of features of a firearm. Not that they are stupid or uneducated, just the opposite. That being said, most Marines do not have an in depth knowledge of different firearms. They may know their weapon intrinsically, but the cross-sectional depth of knowledge that a gun enthusiast has is much more, and chances are that if you took five enthusiasts, locked them into a room, and asked them to come to an opinion of what would be a reasonable firearms for a woman to use at home, they would bring back seven different opinions. So, I think that if the Court were to go down this route, they would end up eliciting more cases, and inadvertantly muddy the waters even further. Nothing more would be settled, and we would still have controversy.

Now, while I was thinking this over, I suddenly had an idea, that when it occured to me seemed so obvious that I was suprised that I had not heard it before. I bounced it off of Kim, and he had said that he had not heard it either, so maybe this is a genuinely new idea. Maybe it is a new idea so simple and elegant that it will *settle* the issue of the second ammendment, and lead to an increase in both safety and liberty. Maybe.

It occured to me because of those same four words that have been confounding both sides of the debate for so many decades. "A well- regulated militia." There are probably as many opinions on what this means today as there are people who have thought about what it means today. One one hand, there are those who think that the militia clause is just a flowery prelude, and that it has no legalistic weight whatsoever. On the other side, there are people who think that it guarantees the right of the US military to be armed. To the former, I say that the founding fathers would not put even four words into the bill of rights that were unecessary. They would know that it would only lead to confusion at best and tyranny at worst, so they would strike absolutely anything that was not necessary or inaccurate. To the latter, I say that the idea that the government somehow is in danger of being disarmed by a disarmed populace is absurd on the most extreme. These people were fighting the tyranny of an overbearing government, not fretting about the red coats being insufficiently armed. Get real.

So, while we may not like what the second ammendment says inn some places, we cannot choose to quote "a well-regulated militia" while we ignore "shall not be infringed," or vice versa. I think that we have been focusing too much on the word militia, and too little on well-regulated. After all, what would be the difference between a well-regulated militia, and a poorly-regulated one?

Training.

It was a revelation to me, and when it occured to me, I was actually a little pissed that it had not occured to me earlier. Why are even gun banners okay with cops carrying guns? Because they are trained to do that. Why is a seventeen year old flying gang colors with a machine gun terrifying, but the same seventeen year old with a machine gun is reassuring when he wears the uniform of a US Marine? Because the Marine is trained to use the machine gun, and the uniform is the outward sign of that training. 

Think about it. The militia was a group of unpaid citizens who volunteered to go through the trainning necessary to bear arms in the field against aggressors. To shorten this, let us substitute "militia" for "an armed body of citizen volunteers." If we now apply "well-regulated" to mean "training," the second ammendment seems to become somewhat clearer.

"A trained, armed body of citizen volunteers, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

This makes more sense, to me, than quibbling over what is and is not a militia, and would be more helpful than the definittion and role of the miltia in the second ammendment. There are hundreds of arguments about whether the militia is the army or the national guard, or just the general population. There is also the schizophrenic ruling of Miller, which allows for weapons to be regulated, because the constitution does not protect non-military weapons, while the actual laws which regulate weapons restrict those that have "no sporting purpose."

So, how would this play out in the current case, should the Supremes decide to rule along these lines? Well, it would be a simple matter of saying that whatever requirements the states place upon what the lowest level of training one must have to carry a gun as a public servant is, then that is the level which allows a public citizen to carry the same gun.

The more that I think about it, the more I like this idea, for several reasons.

First, it actually clarifies the constitution, instead of either taking sides on an issue, or kicking the can down the road. Second, it is consistent with the rest of the constitution in it's tradition of setting up powerful interests in competition with each other. So, you have a state which must reconcile what it will allow it's citizens to do, and then holding it's own agents to the same standards. So, this effectively eliminates the possibility that the state governments will say that it's okay for their cops and political allies to defend themselves, but the average citizen cannot. Along the same lines, it will help to diminish the growing 'us versus them' mentality in many police departments where they hold cops to one standard, and "civilians" to another (never mind the fact that unless you are subject to the UCMJ, you are a civilian). It also eliminates the ridiculous situation where  retired combat veteran MP is not allowed to own a gun, but the city dog catcher, who has had no formal firearms training, can.

This solution also allows for the individual states to decide what requirements are appropriate for them, and does not force Hawaii to conform to the same standards as Texas, which is also consistent with the manner in which the constitution was written with strong states' rights.

So, states will have to think long and hard about how little training they are going to allow their personel to get away with for carrying a gun. This can only help to reduce the incidents of negligent discharges and accidental shootings by police officers, which have led to no small amount of conflict and distrust in our communities.

Additionally, there are already models of this in action in states which allow concealed carry. Civilians already have to go through a not insignificant training process to carry in the state of Texas. Many states have similar programs in place, which would provide a template for such a system. When someone wants to purchase a gun, then it becomes a simple system where they presenty their concealed carry card or firearms owner ID, or whatever is peculiar to the state, and  once the ID is verified, then the ID carrier can buy whatever they want. It is a simple, cheap and reliable system.

There are also a number of civilian owned and operated shooting academies which police departments used, which can also be used for testing and training purposes. Gunsite, Thunder ranch, and other establishments could provide for the training for such ownership, and all states would have to do is recognize the certificate from one of these courses as passing the requirements for gun ownership. In short, we are already a long way towards having the infrastructure for such a system in place, which means that the court will not be causing a lot of upheaval should they decide along these lines. Yeah, there may be a sudden surge in the number of applicants, but that is honestly a lesser problem.

[in response to some comments, let me make this clarification: this training threshold would be the highest standard that the state could impose upon the individual, as anything more would be considered unreasonable. The State would of course retain the ability to loosen it's requirements for citizens, and may, indeed, not have any requirements, should it so choose.]

Yes, it seems to me that the highest court in the land may have the opportunity to make a definitive ruling on a very important part of the bill of rights, and provide for a long-lasting  and publicly acceptable solution to the question before them.

I am very interested to see what others think about this.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

First, let me say that Sam is doing well and continues to improve. Thanks aain to everyone for your thoughts, words, and prayers.

Second, while I was speaking with my good friend Moriarty today on the phone, discussing the Heller case in front of SCOTUS, he mentioned a video I found through TamaraK. Moriarty was making the point that the tide may have shifted in regards to gun ownership. Katrina, Columbine, VATech and all these atrocities have shown many previous advocates of gun control that while we appreciate their desire for safety, the lie of safety by gun control will only provide us with further examples of innocents slaughtered on the altar of gun bigotry. I am of the opinion that SCOTUS will *probably* do the following; they will *probably* recognize an individual right. They will probably say that like all rights, the right to self defense has some reasonable restrictions, and they will outline some sort of "test" for what is a reasonable restriction. Just spitballing, but that's my take, and while it is not likely to be as sweeping an endorsement of the second ammendment as I think there ought to be, it will solidify some gains we made in recouping our loses. I think that From there, national reciprocity/concealed carry will not be much further off (and to think that ten years ago national concealed carry was a pipe dream!). Hopefully the Hughes ammendment will not be further off. If the above were to come to pass, I would consider our struggle more victorious than not.

Anyway, Moriarty had mentioned this video that I saw on the net. Let me preface it by saying that while I am not a Jew by some people's standards, my mother's side is. They snuck out of the peasant farms in a hay cart from around Minsk when the Bolsheviks took over. A single brave decision by some family elder whose name I never knew saved generations of my family from Pogrommi, Hitler's gas chambers when they overran Minsk in WWII, and the genocide of Stalin. My wife's family was less fortunate. Half of them supported the revolution, half opposed it. The opposition was exiled to the southern republics, the supporters were eventually killed for political expediency. Looking around the world today, we see Ahmadinnerjacket and others only too happy to pick up where Hitler left off, and start herding jews back into cattle cars destined for assembly-line slaughter. Well, I saw this video, and it reminded me of something I swore to myself years ago, below the video.

One promise. To myself, and to all who would wish otherwise.

I ain't goin' in no damned cattle car.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

When I first met my wife, we were both in college. We were both pre-med students at the University of Dallas. We had both gone there because we wanted to be close to our families, and it was a good school. Well, when we started dating, the time came for me to meet the folks. So, one evening, I went over to have dinner with her folks. It was a mixture of Russian and Uzbek cuisine, and it was delicious. I had been playing Rugby earlier that day, so I brought my appetite (and anybody who knows me knows that I normally have a sizeable appetite to begin with). Her father started serving shot after shot of vodka, as I went back for seconds, thirds, and even fourth helpings of plov and Vinagrat. I managed to ingratiate myself with my future in-laws that way. My M-I-L was flattered at how much I enjoyed her food, and my F-I-L was satisfied that having been gotten to my core through the liberal application of vodka, I was the  same man sober as I was drunk, and not just putting on a face for him. I also met the other members of the in-laws, which included a significantly younger sister and the family dog, an Aerdale terrier named Sam.

Sam, I saw very quickly, was a spoiled dog. Domestic-6 had known him as a pup from the first day he came home, and had watched him grow over the years. At that point, I would guess that he was about 6 months old. Sam was very interested in me, as a newcomer, and tended to stick his face into mine when I was trying to talk with the future in-laws. Over time, I grew to like Sam a lot. He was a spoiled, but very good dog. I established some boundaries with me, and he abided by them. We were both rivals for domestic-6's attention.

He usually won.

Sam is a happy, loyal and loving dog. My father-in-law refused to neuter him. His argument was that in a house full of women, once the dog got neutered, he was next. So, Sam was always a rambunctious, loud and mischevious dog. For his birthday, he got a steak. Just him. Marinated, grilled, and served on a plate on the floor. 

Last week, Sam was getting his usual haircut, and the stylist noted a hematoma on his ear. It was a small thing, but left untreated, it could cause something akin to cauliflower ear. So, they took him to the veterinarian to get it looked at. The vet told them that it should be drained, and that this would best be done under anaesthesia. My in-laws agreed to the procedure, dropped of Sam on the appointed day, and then went home. Later, they got a call saying that Sam was having some issues with recovering from the anaesthetic, and that they would like to watch him overnight. So, they came back the next day to pick him up.

When they picked him up, they noticed that he had a lot of problems getting into the car. They were told it was just the anaesthetic, and that it would gradually improve. However, by the time they got home, he could not get out of the car, and so they took him back to the vet, who referred them to a veterinarian emergency department (I had no idea that those existed). Well, they took him in, admitted him to the hospital. Now he was having problems urinating, and they put a foley in him. They took x-rays, and ran some tests, but couldn't find anything wrong. So, they told the in-laws that they would wait and see with the hopes that Sam would get better.

Today, they went back to check on Sam. He has not improved. He cannot stand, and can only barely move. He was able to recognize my parents-in-law, but he could not run to them, he could just kind of claw at the ground in a futile attempt to pull himself to them. He barely ate the boiled Kielbasa that they brought him, which is highly unusual. Right now, they are still just watching him, with noidea of what is going on. It is understood that if he does not improve in a few days, we will have to put him down. We are a long way from where this started with a blood collection on his ear. My wife is very upset, and understandably so. While she is undoubtedly closer to Sam than I am, the fact of the matter is that I love that dog, if for nothing else than the joy and happiness that he brought her.

I do not know what is going on. Comparative mammalian anatomy is a course I did not take. I do not know how dog physiology differs from human. The only thing that I can think of is that Sam suffered some sort of perioperative stroke that either progressed or converted. I don't know about these things. I am going to make a humble request of you, my readers. I don't want or need money or anything like that. What I do need is information. If there is anyone that any of you know who may have some insight into what might be going on, please point them to this site. I am coincidentally flying to Dallas next week, and I am going to talk to the vet, but by then, it might be  a moot point, and perhaps more importantly, I want to know what the Hell is going on before then.

So, please, if there is anyone out there who can give me some insight, please post in comments, or eMail me.

UPDATE

First, Thanks to everyone for their kind words and well-wishes. It is very much appreciated. Second, out of desperation, they started high-dose steroids. It appears to have had some effect. Sam is doing much better. He is still not out of the woods, yet, but he is doing better, and the plan is currently to start him on oral steroids and let him go home. I will keep people posted on what develops.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

A couple of things I wanted to talk about.

First is the retirment of Adm Fallon. I know that the journalists are sugestinng that the Bush administration is at fault for effectively firing the Admiral allegedly because he disagreed with the administration. First, like it or not, that is the perogative of the commander in Chief. This is why we have a great nation with an elected government, and not another two-bit tinpot military dictatorship. The CinC can fire any general or private for any reason they deem fit. Certainly there will be times that this is a bad move, but the alternative would be a civilian leadership that cannot truly control the highest levels of the military. The dangers of this should be immediately apparent. Second, this retirment has been a long time coming, and is not like a bolt from the blue. Did Fallon and Petreaus have differences of opoinion? certainly. It is, again, the sign of a healthy military that subordinates can, when appropriate, question their superiors. This helps the cream rise to the top. So, what do I think actually happened? Well, I think that Fallon gave an interview to Esquire magazine, and then this writer spun things to make it appear as though there was dissention within the ranks. Once this happened, I think that it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I think that once this piece was released, Fallon realized that anything he did would be viewed through a political lens and not a military one, which means that he would be a liability to the prosecution of any campaign, especially the war on terror. So, Fallon did the hoonrable thing, and threw himself on a grenade. He is now a bloodless casualty of the war caused by the traitorous fifth column within our press.

Second is the AR reliability. I came across this article about the reliability of the M4 carbine. To sum up, it did very poorly when compared with other rifles. There was one stoppage for every 68 rounds fired in the "extreme dust test," whereaas the XM8, Mk 16, and M416 had one stoppage for every 462, 265, and 257 rounds, respectively. Now, in the article, there is a lot of hemming and hawing about the applicability of the test, and how closely it mimics actual combat conditions. Now, it should be fairly apparent to anyone that there is not any way you can really mimic true combat conditions in an expirement because you are trying to conduct a test in a controlled environment, and combat is about as far from a controlled environment as you can get. That said, the bad news is that the AR does have a relative reliability problem. The good news is that some 6,000 rounds were fired, adn that the odds are that the stoppages probably clustered towards the end of those thousands of rounds. I think that one valuable set of data points in this test would have been how many stoppages occured at each 1,000 round mark. Now, the good news is that the military is acknowledging the problems with reliability, and they are plannning on changing out the AR platform. It appears that this may now be the SCAR Mk16, but I have hear about Special forces getting neat, new weapons, only to see them taken back by the powers that be. *cough*6.8SPC*cough*. So, I am not sold that the mk16 will be the next service rifle. Time will tell. Unfortunately, they seem to brush over the other, and perhaps more fatal flaw in the AR, and that is the chambering of the round. 

Personally, I think that the military should go back to the drawing board, design a 6.65mm round, perhaps with a longer cartridge length (50mm or so), and then build a rifle around it. Make it a rifle which can reach out to 800 yards, but is still compact. Piston drive the action. Drop the in-line recoil system which mandates a non-collapsible stock, as well as provides a vulnerable catastrophic failure point. That means that if the stock breaks, then the rifle will not fire, and you now have a fancy paperweight. Float the barrel, do all those things that people are already doing in the civilian world. There should be BUIS, and a 2.5x scope on it. I also think that there should be a total of three barrel lengths: 10-12", 16-18", and 20-22." The short barrel would be for SOCCOM, and PDWs. The mid length should be for general service, and the long should be for designated Marksmen. These rifles should be designed with a 50 year, 500,000 round service life in mind.

Alright, enough. I need to get to work.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

...I want to introduce you to the newest member of the gun cabinet, and what is, by far, the crown jewel.

Allow me to introduce....

"VERA"

She is a 16" midlength AR chambered in 6.5 Grendel, topped off with a nightforce scope, and a few other bells and whistles

She has been a long time coming to fruition. A very long time. In fact, Vera started out as a 5.56mm M4gery. I had settled on getting one with the money I had been given for my graduation from medical school, and over a year ago, I had placed an order for the Rock river Arms upper of my choice from Legal Transfers, LLC. Well, Legal Transfers is run by a damned idiot. I ponied up the sizeable cash, and was told to wait a couple of months. So I did. After nine weeks, no upper. So I called, and he said that there were delays, and to be patient, and it would be another month. I said 'okay.' A month later, I call again. Again, there is no upper, and Legal Transfers says that I should call Rock River arms (RRA), since they are shipping it to me direct. Well, I do, and they say that they can't be sure, and that they generally only discuss things with those who placed the order (legal transfers). So, I call hiim back, and this goes on and on. In the end, while he took my money, Legal transfers had no clue about where in the supply chain my order was, he had no clue when it would be shipped. He kept on telling me that "it's being shipped tomorrow/wedndsay/next week." Well, fed up, I canceclled the order, and told him to give me my money back, or I was going to contact Visa's fraud department. The money came back, but at this time, I was so soured over everything that I had no interest in getting an AR of any type. So, I gave up for a bit.

Then something happened shortly thereafter. I had heard of the 6.5mm Grendel carttridge (65G), and it had all been good stuff. Unfortunately, it was also hideously expensive (close to $1 a cartridge), and was out of my price range. Well, it turnes out that Wolf had started making brass cartridges for 65G that was closer to $.50 a round. Now, while that is not as cheap as 5.56, or even .308, it is a heck of a lot closer, and brings it into the affordable range. So, suddenly, there is this confluence of events where I have the funds for an upper, and 65G just became affordable.

Let me point out a few difference between the 5.56, the 6.5, and the 7.62 NATO before I go any further

 Now, while it may at first glance appear that the 65G is a somewhat underpopwered cartridge compared to the 7.62...well, it is, but that difference tends to even out over distance. You see, the 65G is a more efficient slug with a higher ballistic coefficient, and cross sectional density. What this means is that the 65G does not slow down as fast as either the 7.62 or the 5.56. In fact, by the time the 7.62 and the 6.5G get out to 800 yards, they have roughly equal ft/lbs of energy. 

Now, I was re-examining what I wanted, and what I wanted was a universal, all-around rifle. I wantred a rifle that could do it all. Now, I am no fool, and I realize that I would have to make some compromises, but I decided to first settle on some principles and then stick to them. What would an ideal rifle be for me? First, I had decided on the AR platform because it has a ubiquitous amount of parts, accessories, and variations available which would allow me to customize the rifle to my specifications. Also, I am already familiar with the AR from my time in the Corps, and under stressful situations, I am confident that that training will serve me well. I wanted something that could be used for CQB, as well as being able to reach out to 800 yards, if not further. The M16/M4 rifle has two large drawbacks, IMHO. First, the cartridge is anemic. Second, it's reliability is questionable. Now, the 6.5G handily addresses the first shortcoming. While a .308 may be too much, and a 5.56 may be too little, the 6.5 is just about right. The second problem (reliability) comes from two design flaws in the AR. First, is the direct impingment system, which, IMHO, was a compromise done by Eugene Stoner. It was a sysytem which would cut down on the moving parts, and also, if the system were to fail, it would fail slowly, but not be knocked out of commision altogether if the gas tube were to occlude or blow apart. The drawback to this is that the thing gets foul very quickly, and is a bitch to clean thoroughly. The other weakness in the system is the buffer tube. If that breaks, then the rifle will fail, and will be completely out of commission. Now, my thoughts on the reliability is that while it is a pain to clean, as long as you keep the thing lubed, the direct impingment system is not terribly unreliable. It will be a pain to clean, and that is something I will just accept until such time as I can retrofit the thing with a piston upper that is reliable, and retains accuracy. As for the buffer tube, I spent a few extra dollars and got a reinforced buffer tube. It may not be a perfect answer, but I think that the perfect is the enemy of the good in this case.

So, I started building a 6.5G Ar with a 16" barrel. Ifloated the handguards to tweak accuracy. I put in a set of BUIS, and kept a bayonet lug. You always want to be able adapt to when things go wrong, and your primary optics get messed up. So, I got some flip-ups. Also, you can always ditch the optics, and go with irons if you want to cut thew weight to the bare minimum. Along with this, I went with LaRue sight mounts. They are known for their durability and quality, and being able to pop them on and then pop them off is huge.

For the stock, I went with a CAA collapsible stock. They are very nice, and I like them a lot. The rubber buttpad is also very nice

Speaking of CAA stuff; I also got the CAA Flashlight grip adapter. Let me explain why. It dawned on me that it would very helpful if I could quickly and easily modify the rifle for particular uses, particularly CQB. CQB requires fairly specialized stuff. The two big things I wanted to be able to put on were a flashlight, and also a laser sight. The role of the flashlight is to ID targets in the darkness, and to keep you from tripping over stuff in the dark, and hurting yourself. The CAA FGA has a thumb actuated button which can be put on either flash or constant on. It took a little while for it to loosen up, but now it works pretty well. The FGA also has a rail on the side. The original instructions said to heeat this, and hammer that to get the rail onto one of the three available positions. I just superglued the damned thing, and it seems to have worked well. On this rail, I mounted a 12mw green laser. It is very bright, and has a touchpad switch that I put on the FGA. While not something that is an absolutely necessary, a laser is a very useful tool for particular times and places, not the least of which is the ability to make precise hits in very dynamic environments, without the need for perfect sight alignment.

The sling is a Vickers tactical two-point sling. It is easily adjustable, and while single point slings look neat, and may be handy in a very narrow range of applications, I think that more traditional two point slings are more useful accross the board, especially when using a sling to steady a weapoin you are firing.

I also put an angle Cosine indicator on the side. It is light and idiot proof. I first found the utility for one of these things while plinking with an enfield in the Sierra Nevadas. I was shooting downhill at a tire about 300 yards away. the round went high. I adjusted the sights, and hit the thing. The sights were on 250 yard settings. I was a little disappointed that I had missed a tire from only 250 yards away. Well, the thing is that when you are shooting up or down inclines, since the gravity vector is not perpendicular to the line of sight, the vector that is perpendicular to the line of sight is smaller. In other words; whenn shooting up or down at significant angles, your rounds will go high. the angle cosine indicator gives me a percentage to multiply the range by in order to adjust.

For sights, I went with a nightforce 2.5-10x variable power scope. 2.5x is low powered enough to use the Binden aiming concept at close ranges, and rapidly moving targets. The 10x will allow me to engage targets accurately out to up to 1000 yards. Again,  the principle is to have a rifle which can do it all.

So, there it is; the universal rifle.

As for the name, well... Grim suggested it, and it sounded good. Also, Vera means "true." which sounded appropriate. Anyway, here are some more shots of the rifle.

Hopefully, I will be able ot get it out to the range soon.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia

For those of you who did not check comments the fragrance that my wife is foisting on me, that I am appreciating is Mechant loupe. Along the same lines, and the thing which impelled me to post today is that I was reading about the .327 federal cartridge which Kim DuToit had posted about, and I mentioned to Domestic- that this might be a good cartridge for her. Her question was "well, what does it smell like?" Apparently brass and copper is not appealing. She told me to make it smell like orange blossoms and she would think about it. Then, it hit me; I could make a mint! If I could find a way to make pistol powder smell like peaches or vanilla, it would draw in a whole lot of females into shooting, and I would be rich!

In other news, I have been rotating in downtown Detroit, and have seen the violence that Detroit has to offer. So far, nothing terribly impressive. I seem to be seeing more stab wounds than I did in Texas. It is too small of a sample to have any significant power, but it does seem to support the idea that when you outlaw firearms, you only influnce the tools of violence, and not the violence itself. Yes, I know that you can carry in Michigan, but Detroit does not have near the prevalence of armed law-abiding citizens that Houston does. I have seen as many people killed by getting stabbed to death as shot to death here. Then again, I do not know about stuff that does not come to the hospital.

Last night, I was flipping around the channels and I saw Bowling for Columbine. I decided to go ahead and see it since I never had, and it's difficult to argue about a flick being garbage if you have never seen it. Also Micheal Moron doesn't get any royalties off of it. Well, I couldn't finish it. It was so absolutely offensive and un-American that I couldn't handle it. I was watching it, and having a background knowledge in some of the areas discussed, I was apalled at the level of misinformation, journalistic sleight of hand and outright lies contained in what I did see. I do not know where even to begin. Should I start with the insinuation that the NRA is just the klu klux klan with a paint job? Never mind that the NRA was founded in New York, which was hardly a bastion of the KKK. How about the use of the number of firarms related deaths in America? I noted that the homicide rate was not mentioned. I also remembered that those figures used for foreign countries were based upon official government reports that were later found to be grossly underestimated. As a for instance, Britain would not actually count a homicide unless someone had been caught and convicted of homicide. In other words, it cannot be a murder until it is a solved and successfully prosecuted murder. What he also distinctly fails to mention in all of these is that these countries also do not have a bill of rights.

there was also the tally of commy bastards killed by the US without a mention of the millions of innocent people killed by communists, which, by it's very definition, is propoganda. Michael Moore is a Communist, plain and simple. This explains why he espouses the cuban health control system, and mentions the thousands of communist insurgents killed in south America, but fails to mention the tens of millions of Russians killed by their very own communist government.

Most offensive, I found the cartoon history of America to make me want to smash Moore's face in with a nail-studded two by four. In it, Moore alleges that America was founded by a bunch of fearful white men, and has been driven by white men's fear of everything, and that the impulse to purchase guns is motivated by fear. Listen; people motivated by fear do not make dangerous and deadly crossing of the Atlantic. Men motivated by fear of violence do not gravitate tools of violence. If such were the case, then the Marines and cops of America must be the most frightened bunch of kittens in the world with the way they gravitate towards firearms. It is self evident that the fearful kittens of America not only fear violence, they fear even the symbols of violence, which is why they hate guns, or even pictures of guns.

Well, that was an hour of my life I cannot get back, but at least now I can tell those fuckheads who reference Michael Moore that yes, I saw his garbage, and yes, it really is packed with as much lies and disinformation as it's detractors say.

Well, I am going to go read. Maybe I will do some work on my rifle later.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia