Tuesday Toss-Up

Sweet irony....

I saw this pic over at Act Well Your Part and had to share...

The former Arizona congresscritter is the new poster-girl for the anti-gun soft-heads since she was shot by some insane asshole.  Seems ol' Gabby liked to sling some lead - with an Evil Black Gun, no less - just like the rest of us.
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Your tax dollars at work...

The real scary part is that I believe the target she's using is one of those developed for law enforcement.  You know, to help desensitize them towards shooting kids, pregnant women, and the like.

If you stop by the company's site, you can also buy some "Pink Mist" reactive blood packs.  They let our LEOs know when they've gotten a kill shot.  Hey, for a buck and a quarter... such a deal!  Gotta keep those elite, paramilitary troops sharp.

Problem is, it seems as though EVERY cop on the street is decked out as an elite, paramilitary troop.
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If you can't hold it, you don't really own it...

Last week, I did a post ("Precious Manipulations") where I noted -

Germany asked for their gold to be returned from the NY Federal Reserve bank, and they got permission to view their gold (LOL!) in the vaults.  And were then told they'll get it over the next 7 years!  WTF?

We've got 1500 tons of their gold, and France has 374 tons.  Germany's plan for last year was to repatriate all of the gold held in Paris, and 300 tons held at the NY Federal Reserve, for a total of 674 tons.

How'd that work out?

Bloomberg reports on a Bundesbank announcement that only 37 tonnes of Germany’s gold reserves were repatriated in 2013, and only 5 tonnes of that came from the New York Fed.

Thirty-seven tons out of an expected 674 tons?!  About 5 1/2 percent of what they expected - and only 1.7% of what was expected from the NY Fed.  It's not like they were even asking for everything all at once.  The 674 tons was only about a third of the amount they "own".

German newspaper Die Welt asks “Why is this so difficult?”

'CAUSE IT AIN'T THERE, THAT'S WHY!

Holy crap, do some simple math.  The amount of "paper gold" exceeds the amount of known real gold by a ratio of 92:1.

Looks like Germany might be holding the proverbial Paper Bag...
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Back to Winco...

I'm bummed.  I was supposed to go hunting for wild pigs this past weekend.  We had to cancel because there ain't no pigs!

Porkus Ripyurassupiss

With the drought we're in the middle of here in northern California, the pigs have supposedly moved towards a local lake near where we were going to hunt.  The boaters tend to get nervous when rifles are pointed in their direction!  We'll wait for the next rain, then hit the spot a week or so after that.

As a back-up, I was going to use my Family Card (it's like using the Race Card - trying to get something for nothing).  I've got a brother-in-law who used to be the Fire Chief down in central California at the Fort Hunter-Liggett Army base - a place with a great reputation for hogs.  Same story - none to be found.

I picked up some sausage hooks for my smoker in anticipation of baggin' a boar.  I think I'll head to Winco to pick up some pork butt and try out a couple of recipes before I bag a hogzilla...
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Save me.  Again...

I clicked on one of those Instant Polls that was about the big Target credit card hack.

I just want to puke.  Seventy-nine percent (the total of the second and third options) of the people taking the poll are saying one thing:  I don't want to take responsibility.  Or more accurately, "I want someone else to take responsibility for me."

I've mentioned before that I was in banking for over 30 years.  A good chunk of those years was running IT departments, up to and including as the Chief Information Officer.  I know security, especially when applied to financial transactions.  So take this bit of insight if you'd like:

You're an idiot if you think your private, highly personal data is immune from attack.

In fact, if you don't expect your data and dollars to be corrupted multiple times in your lifetime, you need to put down the bong and play the Slappy Game -

So, if you know with metaphysical certitude that the bits and bytes that represent your wealth are at risk and will be violated, why would you keep anything other than the very bare minimum (bills that must be paid with a check or electronically) in a bank?

Some reasons -

• It's too hard.  Hey, I think there's a Matlock Marathon on the tube today!
• The 0.35% interest rate on my 12-month CD is just too good to let go
• If the government wants to know how I earn and spend every dime I've got, well, that's OK by me
• Only drug dealers and criminals use cash.  That's what the government says!
• I don't know who to ask for permission to buy a small fire safe for my house.  Oooo, look... kittens!
• The US will never do a "bail in" like what happened in Cyprus, even though the Dodd-Frank law now makes, "bail-outs" illegal.  No, they'd never do that.
• A safe deposit box should be good enough.  No one in the world but me can have access.

As one of my morning radio show hosts says, "Stupid should hurt."  It will, soon enough...

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