Between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.  Between the Iowa and Cedar.  Between the Des Moines and Skunk.  I've lived or worked by them all. ( Except the Missouri - that one doesn't count.)  And fought floods against two of them more than once. 

Saturday, February 26, 2011

“We are members of the NRA.  We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment (the right to keep and bear arms).  We are members of Pheasants Forever and Wild Turkey Federation, but our belief is guns and alcohol don’t mix,” said Mike King, part owner of Elm’s. 

Because no crime has ever been committed inside a bar. 

If you are out with your buddies and sip a Pepsi proprietors like this guy would rather you not protect yourself or your friends. ( Besides being able to defend the business.) 

It's an owner's right to restrict their business however way they want and it's a customer's prerogative whether they wish to enter that business, armed or otherwise. 

Friday, February 25, 2011

Database issues, no sleep and trying to get caught up.  I'm out of steam:

Click on the picture for more. 

Remarks: CB&Q's Golden 4-8-4 To celebrate the centennial of the opening of its Chicago to Aurora, Illinois line, the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy very temporarily painted its king of fan trips, Northern 5632, gold.  The scene here is a positioning move in Aurora on May 24, 1964.  An O5B built by the CB&Q at West Burlington. 

In this situation, called “the swarm,” the balls represented different objects that can be thrown at an attacker before several brave people in the room attempt to bring the person to the ground and get control of the weapon. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

"We were seduced," said [Sen. Jack] Hatch, one of four senators who voted against the bill. " We were so interested in getting endorsements from this group that we thought it was going to be a political coup, and it turned out to be a coup d'etat." 

Never mind that most of the Democrats lost because of outdated ideas and as a backlash against bad legislation that was passed. ( Stacy Appel comes to mind)

Crying in the bed wrapped in soiled sheets while your lover is getting dressed is not a pretty sight.  And I think many Democrats thought (like the above example) they would gain the trust of the electorate if they would just make love to the NRA. 

Good thing we saw through that facade. 

Senator Fraise of Ft.  Madison obliged us with a "Wild Wild West" quote confusing reality with fiction.  He's got a few bills in the works:

Fraise's bill also would require Iowans to qualify on a firing range under the supervision of a certified instructor.  This would apply to both new applicants and those renewing permits.  Internet firearm training courses wouldn't satisfy the requirement.  Anyone who appeals a denial of a weapons permit would have to pay the appeal costs, Fraise's bill says. 

If there was some way of certifying teachers, lawyers, hair dressers, gun owners...

The world would be a safe and happy place. 

At the base of these hackneyed piss-pot senators is that they regret having a bill passed that let the citizens have a little more freedom, a bit more porridge from our keepers. 

Those of use who had been humiliated by a pompous county sheriff on a power trip as they denied permit after permit because "no one needs to carry", all the while packing heat themselves, know what it's like to have to ask permission to exercise a basic human right of self defense. 

Fraise's attempt to make a citizen pay again to fight for a denial appeal smacks of contempt for citizens' rights.  We sent people to the statehouse to not be "reasonable" with you.  We sent them to the statehouse to not compromise. 

Don't ask us to be "reasonable" either.  We got tired of that in the last election and booted most of you out. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Did you know that the Wisconsin Constitution requires a balanced budget?  Did you know that the alternative to public sector unions giving concessions is firing more than 5000 of them?  Did you know that it was the refusal of the unions even to discuss potential concessions that lead to the current impasse? 

Bobby E. Thompson Jr., 21, was under investigation in connection with the shooting of another Davenport man when police said they found the stolen 9 mm handgun. 

It wasn’t until police traced the gun they found at Thompson’s, [police Capt] Struckman said, that they realized they had a much larger stolen-guns case on their hands.  The victim was out of town and didn’t know he’d been burgled, so he hadn’t reported it. 

Here's where the sloppy-arsed reporting comes in:

It is worthwhile to note the gun collector did nothing wrong.  He was properly licensed, and his arsenal was secured behind a locked door. 

One, you don't have to have a license (yet) to have a gun collection in Iowa.  I would assume she meant he had a C&R license to purchase them directly from a distributor. 

And using the word "arsenal" instead of "collection?"  Nice. 

Apparently she can't remember her own written words:

As police and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, ATF, agents continue to search for the weapons and the people who stole them, they hope to piece together how so many firearms made it, unnoticed, out of the house. 

The owner was out of town.  She just wrote that in the previous paragraph but must have missed it. 

Too bad the guy didn't use supernatural powers to notice that he was broken into while he was elsewhere.  I'll try that next time I'm out of the house for a few days. 

Because the guy also had ammunition (what good is one without the other), Barb gives us some sad news:

The obvious sour note is the thieves are armed with loaded weapons.  Secondly, if they had to buy the ammunition, police might have had a lead by connecting a specific ammo buyer to a specific stolen gun. 

Maybe in Illinois where you have to have a FOID in order to purchase ammunition, but in Iowa you only need proof of age.  How would they link "specific ammo buyer to a specific stolen gun" unless the firearm was one of only one made in all of God's creation and you can only buy the ammo from one store with 28 forms of ID? 

I hope one of my readers can help me out there. 

And then Barb tries her hand at comedy.  Referring to the fact that the thieves left behind the more collectible firearms:

In other words, they didn’t fit in the waistband of a pair of boxer shorts. 

More than likely they weren't fully automatic AK47s that could spray 500 rounds per minute.  Thugs and drug lords prefer those. 

I know a collector who has Winchester lever action rifles.  Those not preferred by thugs and drug lords. 

"We felt we had to do something because the Legislature made such a broad sweep with the open carry permit legislation, it was ill thought out.  The Legislature just dumped it on local governments, and this is the best solution we can find to keep our people safe." 

Taking power away from a government agency is "ill thought out?"  Okay, then. 

Lee County Sheriff Jim Sholl reported that there are now 654 residents with gun permits.  Prior to Jan. 1 and the revised law, only 84 Lee County residents held per- mits.  Sholl says he believes the revised law is the sole reason for the increase in permit applications. 

“You’ll never convince me that there were 500 some people denied permits by any sheriff here,”Sholl said. “ It’s just so easy to get one, and there has been so much publicity on it that it piqued their interest.” 

Could it be that many county residents gave up from trying?  Why waste the time and money if the sheriff will deny your application? 

And because mere citizens aren't capable of handling a weapon, the remark:

“One of my deputies said it best, and I stole the line from him — if you go get a driver’s license you have to show you know how to drive, but now you can get a gun permit and not show you know how to shoot,” Sholl said. 

A two-year battle over the operation of a 10-station shooting range near Boone may have reached a conclusion Thursday night when the Boone County Board of Adjustment permanently approved its conditional use permit. 

"Permanently approved its conditional use permit" is a oxymoron, isn't it? 

However, Gleason, who is the medical director of the radiology department at Boone County Hospital and a former U.S. Navy commander, added, “There will be a reckoning.”  He did not say what that might be. 

Is that a threat, Commander? 

"If gun ranges are outlawed, only outlaws will have gun ranges," sounds kind of trite.  But counties could use their regulatory power to reduce or eliminate a gun range.  If there are no places to practice, then it leaves one with very few options. 

There could come a time when you can only shoot on "approved" ranges with strict rules of operation.  Maybe to the point of not being able to shoot on your own property in the country, miles from any population centers. 

But here in Iowa, a neighbor about a quarter mile away, could shut down your personal range.  Because it's too noisy.  Or it smells bad.  Or, whatever... This Gleason is trying real hard to do just that. 

Maybe Mr Davis invited the former Commander Gleason over to pull a few clays.  Maybe Gleason declined the offer.  I'm not that familiar with the feud.  But if that was my neighbor, I'd ask if I could use it or have a good-neighbor membership discount. 

It seems that there should be a reconciliation instead of a reckoning going on there. 

Monday, February 14, 2011

When someone thinks of the term, "bring enough gun," most of us would think that it applies to a gun fight or the battlefield.  Some of us would think that term would apply to the gun one carries for defense.  But what kind of gun would one use for home defense?  Most often (and at the Two Rivers Lodge) a 12 gauge is quite handy. 

Our good friend, True Blue Sam, hands us a story of one woman who has taken the idea of "bring enough gun" to heart. 

Most folks find it surprising that that True Blue Sam's 110 pound mother shoots a big bore revolver until they give it a try, then, of course, they want one, too.  It is a joy to shoot!  How does a grandmother who never shot a pistol before make the leap to a .45 that could hang on Marshall Dillon's hip? 

She has had the time of her life at the Rendezvous, and she wants to give even more to the event to help Project Valour-IT, so she decided to purchase a Convertible Blackhawk to be raffled off at GBR VI next September.  Lori Petoske, and Ken Jorgensen of Ruger have made arrangements with Bea to provide a certificate for a new Ruger Blackhawk .45 Convertible to one lucky person at the Rendezvous this year

The .45 Blackhawk was the biggest gun in the class, and Mom had instant street cred when she strapped it on.  There were some .38's, some .40's, and one fellow brought a .22. 

That's Bea with a "Big Iron" on her hip. 

I hope you didn't get lost with all of the links and if you made it this far, thank you.  I thought that I would honor Bea as she is an inspiration to those of us who are not large in size.  Breaking the mold of the stereotypical diminutive woman, she even has my wife thinking of "bringing more gun". 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

"This law is tight enough, that we've had the FOID card for years where you have to have a FOID card to even get a gun and that's even a hard situation to do," said Verschoore. 

He said sheriff's departments would be in charge of issuing permits based on a strict set of rules, including an age limit of 21 and older, with no criminal record and a training course to show proficiency with a gun. 

I wouldn't get my hopes up for my neighbors to the east, but it's a step in the right direction. 

Saturday, February 12, 2011

I went through Marion on Friday and with my unofficial cursory poll along the main drag I noticed only one sticker.  Ouch. 

All that effort by the Marion police chief and only one sticker. ( Insert sad face here) And the Pizza Ranch changed their minds and only want to prohibit open carry. 

I say it was unofficial because I did not stop at each business and walk up to the door looking for the magic gun prevention stickers.  I didn't stop at the open air mall or at the Made Rite.  I didn't need to visit Uncle Stan's Military Surplus. ( I don't even want to know what they did with their stickers). 

By searching for "Joyce Foundation" they found my reference to the Joyce Foundation. 

Here's the Joyce Foundation:

Apparently the Joyce Foundation first came by a few days earlier looking for "Iowa police guns" as a search term instead of "Joyce Foundation". 

I really don't mind the Joyce Foundation stopping by, but no one left a comment to tell me how evil I am or that I'm doing a terrible service to America.  Maybe it's because the Joyce Foundation knows that I'm just a lowly blog with very few visitors, certainly much less than what anyone at the Joyce Foundation would expect. 

I must admit that the Joyce Foundation trolling the internets searching for "Joyce Foundation" seems a little bit like busy work.  Maybe an intern had some free time on their hands and were interested in a small and infrequently visited blog from Iowa and what gets published. 

I know that I would be very interested in what some insignificant blog had to say about Between Two Rivers or if someone from the Joyce Foundation stopped by for a visit or two. 

Friday, February 11, 2011

educated the chamber on the rights they have as business owners and the sheriff’s responsibilities pertaining to Iowa Senate File 2379, which allows any Iowa citizen to openly carry a weapon pending a criminal and mental health background check. 

After a business owner stated he recognizes the right to carry a gun but was banning guns from his store, Sheriff Balmer replied:

“As a business owner you always have the right to refuse service,” said Balmer. “ But responsible people may have been entering your business with a concealed firearm for years, and you’d never have known.” 

Other than another reference to the "wild west" (sigh) it seems like this sheriff and police chief informed the business owners of their rights as owners without advocating them to ban guns with a magic sign at their door. 

Last semester, a new student organization, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, was started by Anthony Taylor, junior in software engineering, as a way to change the ISU policy on weapons.  ISU policy reads, "Weapons are not permitted on the campus except for purposes of law enforcement and as specifically authorized for purposes of instruction, research or service." 

"I think that if people started carrying concealed weapons on campus, the atmosphere of campus will change to one where people are fearful and suspicious of other people," said Stephanie Madon, associate professor of psychology. 

College campuses have been promoting the idea that any and all males are potential rapists (please disregard members of Iowa athletics for a while) and just now she doesn't want people to be fearful or suspicious of each other? 

I suppose if someone is coming after me or mine, I'm supposed to bend over and take it, Jennifer? 

Oh, and talking about crazy:

"It's just absolutely crazy," said Brian Malte, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence. " It's a license to just start shooting in public.  You're basically giving permission to shoot almost anyone and shoot in the public arena and possibly kill or injure an innocent bystander." 

This panty-waist would rather a victim be assaulted, raped or murdered with no opportunity to protect themselves. 

His advice would be to run away:

Remember, according to the Brady bunch, handling a firearm magically transforms a person into a cold-blooded killer. 

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

It is, of course, the Brady Campaign wish list (the one for this year), one that's being sold to us by oath-breaking politicians, media cheerleaders, anti-defense special interests and their useful idiot followers as “common sense” and “a good first step.” 

“They have a right to their opinion, but my way of thinking is a little different.  The more guns you have out in the streets, the more chances of an accident happening.  It’s just common sense.  They’re getting handled by more people, so the percentage of accidents have to go up.  They just can’t go down.” 

“All these people are getting these weapons and they may not know how to load them,” he said. 

The clairvoyant chief believes that a sticker at your place of business will magically prevent someone from bringing a firearm in.  Businesses could expect to never have an armed robbery. 

The arrogant top cop at Marion is out asking businesses to place magic stickers at their entrances; spending department money (confiscated through forfeiture laws) on a letter campaign and creation of these magic stickers:

Conklin [of Iowa Conservative Union] said his group will urge 2nd amendment supporters to avoid any Marion business posting the “gun ban” notices sent out by the chief.  At least one business owner said the idea of making some customers unhappy might give her pause and keep her from using the stickers. 

All week we witnessed the arrogance of a business controlled Iowa House of Representatives and Executive Branch

Ignoring the arrogance of Sen Gronstal, are we? 

This week you had to look at CNN and the streets of Cairo, not the back rooms of Des Moines, to find honorable folk of fervor and belief. 

Comparing and contrasting the citizen filled streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez this week with the screaming white males lined up at last year’s Health Care Forum around Iowa is also enlightening. 

The noble protester in a country that will probably end up installing another tin-pot dictator to replace the current corrupt dictator, versus screaming angry white males and their implied racism. 

Not only are we angry, but we are a bunch of cry-babies:

To create this juxtaposition is to expose the juvenile character of the rage of tea party Americans.  Juvenile because of their petulance, of their insisting on their toys, i.e. guns, of their individualism gone amuck, of their lack of collective responsibility.  My American brothers were enraged, but uninformed; enraged with selfishness. 

She reinforces that with:

Throwing a tantrum in the nursery versus going “into the street” to demand democracy. 

That's what we are, a bunch of cry-babies who demand their money back from the government; demand that the state and federal government leave us alone; little children who demand their toys (guns) in order to protect ourselves. 

But Mizz.  Oleson who is much more educated than the angry white males of the state, because we are uninformed little tykes and need her highly educated guidance. 

A woman whose fascination with all things leftist, would probably never understand the ideas of smaller, less intrusive government.  A search of her written work suggests an obsession with the labor unions and the collective mentality.  Individualism may not even be in her vocabulary. 

But since she was on the University of Iowa faculty and is an Iowa activist, it's obvious she is smarter than myself. 

What could be a better function of government than to confiscate tax money from some individuals, and give invest that money with political cronies in worthy projects. 

Our last governor seemed to think that putting up a bunch of signs throughout the state to advertise his using state money to "stimulate" the economy was a great idea.  Especially when state funds were used to put up signs with his name on it.  Free campaign signs and it costs the state to take them down. ( The Democrats in the statehouse are currently arguing that taking these signs down would cost the state money we can't afford.  Who would have thought they were fiscal conservative?) 

I found one such sign last week in Belle Plaine.  Take a look and see if you can see what I see. 

I appreciate the slogan "Building a 21st Century infrastructure and creating jobs without raising taxes" hogwash. 

Do you see what I see?  Or rather not see?The empty lot behind a sign with the word Facade. This aptly describes the whole I-Jobs fiasco.  The sign is more important than the project.  But on the other hand the sign is true. 

Thanks, Chester for spending $1.5 million dollars of our tax money without raising taxes.  Putting our state in a hole that will take years to dig out of. 

Thanks for the laugh, too.  But I don't think I got my money's worth out of it. 

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Mrs. Viola Sievers, one of the wipers at the roundhouse giving a giant "H" class locomotive a bath of live steam.  Clinton, Iowa, April 1943.  Reproduction from color slide.  Photo by Jack Delano.  Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Another example of the war-time necessity of asking women to do a "man's job".  Although a job on the railroad could have been considered as a draft deferment, my dad left his switchman's position at the time and entered the war. 

Friday, February 4, 2011

Gun rights, gun rights, gun rights, ad nauseum.  What about the rights of ordinary citizens to not be endangered in public by gun-toters who promise that using the gun is the last thing they want to do? ( At least that's what the trainings they are all voluntarily attending are supposed to be teaching).  But if it is the case that they are being trained not to use the gun, why do they want one?  What are they so afraid of here in Iowa?  And why are their fears more important than everyone else's? 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

At the Jan. 20 Muscatine City Council meeting, City Administrator Gregg Mandsager raised the subject of banning firearms on city property, asking City Council members if they wanted to broach the subject. 

The Council’s response?  Silence, other than council member Phil Fitzgerald, who suggested the item be filed in the recycle bin. 

The editorial board of the Des Moines Register protests against efforts to strengthen our state's preemption laws.  In the balance is whether citizens can carry guns on city and county property without interference by local governments.  They "awarded" a thistle to our statehouse legislators for their efforts. 

Funny how they were all in favor of state control and against local governments regulating smoking in public.  And it must be a strain on them to figure out which hypocritical side of an argument they take on any given day. 

A thistle to Iowa state legislators who want to prevent cities and counties from enacting any local gun-control laws.  This is a slap at the notion of local control under the Home Rule amendment in the Iowa Constitution.  It is also hypocritical.  Imagine, if you will, legislators sitting in the comfort of the state Capitol, with guards and metal detectors at the entrances screening for weapons.  Meanwhile, they propose a law to prevent such protections at City Hall.  Perhaps these legislators would change the rules and let people carry guns into the House and Senate chambers.  Too bad Iowans repealed the section on dueling in the Iowa Constitution back in 1992.  Emphasis mine. 

Isn't that a veiled threat against the legislature? 

Didn't their lord and savior make his case last week to pledge an era of peace a civility in our public discourse? 

Then why the asinine statement that can be interpreted as wishing ill on our elected officials?  But then it was probably meant as a joke. 

The real joke is the Des Moines Register being thought of as a legitimate paper of record for the state. 

Hoplophobes in Iowa

Fear of weapons

County Firearm Bans

Prohibition of [firearm] regulation by political subdivisions

A political subdivision of the state shall not enact an ordinance regulating the ownership, possession, legal transfer, lawful transportation, registration, or licensing of firearms when the ownership, possession, transfer, or transportation is otherwise lawful under the laws of this state.  An ordinance regulating firearms in violation of this section existing on or after April 5, 1990, is void. 

Quotes

Anyone who can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted without a custodian. -  David Codrea

A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie.  -Vladimir Ilyich LeninThou shalt never be a perpetrator.  Thou shalt never be a victim.  And thou shalt never, but never be a bystander - Yehuda Bauer

Do you think the laws of God will be suspended in favor of America because you were born in it? -  Mark Steyn

After America, there is no place to run. –  Kitty Werthmann

It doesn’t matter how smart you are, unless you stop and think. -  Thomas Sowell

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.'  I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does.  I would like very much to ensure--and in some cases I have--that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy. -  Col.  Jeff Cooper