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Lets think back to April 19, 2006 when Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said “Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices join Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now.” You can find this and more at this congressional webpage.  Keep in mind that is the exact press release from the Democrats which became an election promise, which we have not seen the results of.  Lets fast forward to July 19, 2008 where the Democrat controlled congress is now considering a ten cent per gallon tax hike on gasoline.  If you don’t believe me then check out this link.  Now folks that will be all.

I am getting sick and tired of hearing our two presumptive candidates for the White House saying “When I am elected as President of the United States I will do/fix/correct/improve…”  The problem is both candidates are United States Senators and actually have more power to get something done now as presidential candidates than they would as President.

According to my government classes I took Senators, and representatives, have the power to introduce bills into congress while the President has to get one of them to do it for him.  Once the bill is introduced they can use their position as a candidate, party ties, friends, ect. to get the bill through committee and up for a vote.  If the Candidate is truly trying to win votes in the election with this effort they would even go so far as to demand a recorded vote so that the voters can see where all the candidates honestly stand on this issue

As a Presidential candidate they also have the power to motivate their party, and their oppenants party into supporting a bill.  Now how would they go about getting their oppenants party to support a bill?  Its rather simple as their opponent, and their opponents party, could be placed into a positiion of having to support the bill or being seen as resisting change/progress or even worse as putting their own priorities ahead of those of the people.  As a candidate they can literally make the proposed bill a campain issue forcing the other candidate to endorse it or show the voters who has their interests at heart.

For the final stage of the bill’s progress the current President could sign the proposed bill into law or veto it.  Depending on the candidates stand they can then make an issue of “If elected I would sign/veto this bil, or its repeal, should it cross my desk.”  The candidate can then submit the bill again or submit a bill repealing the other guy’s bill forcing the issue to go on longer.

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of high gas prices, I am tired of hearing empty promises from both sides, and I am sick and tired of hearing “I will do …. when elected as President” when they have more power now to get something done. So candidates quit telling what you will do and show me what you will do, or as the title of this post says:

Go to work and do your job.

Finally the gun is assembled, equipped with a scope, and ready to go …. as soon as its sighted in or zeroed. I met two friends out on a private range where we shoot a lot and took 11 different firearms with me. Of the eleven firearms my newest stole the show early on, but we’ll get to that later. The real show stopper, and we forgot about everything else when we got to it, was my AR-15 build.

I asked my buddy Eric to zero the scope for two reasons, the first is that he is great at it and the second is that he wanted to shoot the rifle . We started sighting it in at about one hundred yards, and it was hitting its mark within five rounds. We then started moving on out and trying to see how far out we could hit constantly. We ran into one major problem in the “How far out is this thing accurate” test when we ran out of range to shoot. We ended up shooting at four hundred and twenty five yards. or nearly one quarter of a mile.

Our best target was a container three inches wide and eight and a half inches tall. We filled it with sand and when it would move. The first shot knocked it over leaving us with a 3 inch diameter base to shoot at, the second shot nailed it causing it to spin some while the final shot moved it back. After three hits our favorite target was useless and rather than go down range and setup more targets we chose to kill white colored caliche rocks that stood out against the red sand of the area.  Overall the rifle is amazingly consistent and accurate.  The upper receiver is more than capable of doing the job it was designed for, killing varmits.  For me its use will be more of a target rifle.

Ok, its been a while since I started my AR-15 build, but I finally got around to getting the upper and finishing it. I researched everything: stripped uppers, upper parts kits, bolts, bolt carriers, hand guards, and most importantly barrels. I spent most of my time looking for upper receiver assemblies and thought about building my own. Finally I ordered my upper, installed it, mounted the scope and shot the rifle.

First off I researched everything about the upper receiver assemblies, and had already decided on a flat top. Second I looked at the parts kits, nothing of interest there, unless I built my own. Next was the bolt and bolt carrier, and I decided that I wanted a a forward assist and serrations on the carrier. Hand guards were an area where I was tempted to go wild, after all I was tempted to go with the tacti-cool penta rail free float with a whole bunch of accessories. but I decided on a free float tube style with nothing but a bi-pod stud. Finally I came to the barrel, and here is where my research got complicated. I decided I wanted a 1-8 or a 1-7 twist rate for heavier projectiles, stainless steel, and from a well known manufacturer.

After determining that I did not wish to build the upper from scratch at this time I looked at upper assemblies from Bushmaster, DPMS, even found an unused Remington R-15 take off upper, and several off brand manufacturers. I found flame wars for every manufacturer that sells uppers all of which had good stories, bad stories, the “I wouldn’t own one because my friends wife’s uncle’s step-son’s bosses nephew…” stories, and so forth. Finally I found a manufacturer that had two things I liked. They were in Texas, and they used E.R. Shaw barrels. Now I read all kinds of stories about them but decided to give them a try anyway. So I ordered a complete upper assembly with bolt carrier, bolt, and charging handle from Model 1 Sales. It came it exactly one week from when I called in my order and mailed my payment with a 41 cent stamp.

After getting notification from work (I had it delivered there in case I wasn’t home and didn’t want UPS just leaving it in front of the door) that my package was there I went and picked it up. I assembled the upper to the lower and mounted the scope in the parking lot. I then went out to some private land we have permission to shoot on and fired 4 rounds. After that little bit of time too many people showed up and wind was getting out of hand but every shot was on paper, and the fourth shot was a bulls eye at 50 yards.

Since I have gotten this far I may as well mention my thoughts on it so far. Everything works smoothly, smoother than any production AR-15 I have ever shot. The extended/tactical latch on the charging handle is a must for a low mounted scope on an AR-15. Fit and finish on the upper is excellent. I did have to clear some debris from the charging handle guide channels in the upper, but that was a minor issue. Everything was packaged well (in a box that could almost carry the entire gun. I got what I payed for, and was very pleased in the end.

On Sunday March 16, 2008 I purchased a stripped AR-15 lower receiver from a gun show in Odessa Texas. On Friday March 21, 2008 I purchased a lower parts kit, and a used but complete A2 stock assembly at a gun store in Lubbock Texas. I went home and in about 45 minutes I completely assembled my now complete lower receiver.

I purchased this part from a local gun dealer who I have done business with in the past and would have bought it from his local shop except it was already loaded onto his trailer to be taken to the show. Since we had made arrangements I got the lower from him at the show and took it home with me. The thing about the lower receiver is that they are the part that the ATF considers to be the gun as they have the serial number. Seeing how this is “the part that is the gun” I still had to fill out the form 4473, show my Licenses, and pay my money before I could go. Everyone selling at the show appeared to be a Federally licensed dealer so everyone who was not exempt was required to have a background check called in prior to taking their newly purchased guns home (I am exempt).

I got off work a little earlier than usual on Friday so I went to Lubbock looking for parts to flesh out my lower. I picked up a new DPMS lower parts kit and a used, although complete, A2 stock assembly. I picked up a few other items I needed and went home.

After getting home I cleared my bench then got my tools, gun lube (CLP), lower, and parts. I opened up this link on my computer and started to work. After about 45 minutes of work I finished assembling my first lower receiver. I had expected a more difficult task but it was amazing simply, in fact it was easier than building a new computer.

The final components I need to finish my new rifle will be ordered soon, they will in fact be ordered as a complete upper with bolt assembly and charging handle. These will be combined with my now complete lower, scope (Purchased for an AR-15 I no longer have), and magazines(also purchased for the AR-15 I no longer have) to finish out this new rifle.

If you flip through radio dial and catch any conservative talk show program you have heard about Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Reverend Wright happens to be Barack Obama’s former preacher, and friend, for over 20 years. Now you may wonder why is the political aspect Mr. Obama’s former pastor so important? The answer to that is Influence, Agreement, and Association.

The preacher one listens to can influence their thinking, behavior, associations, and world view. If one is subject to a specific belief system as many as three times a week for years it will begin to take hold in someone’s own though processes and influence their thinking. This is one method churches use to convert people to their belief system. This method is also used by teachers in our schools to influence the belief structure of our students. Our media uses this method to convince us their opinions matter. In fact the popular concept of “Brainwashing” is a variation of this method. Additionally some cases of Stockholm syndrome, intentionally or not, may be due in part to this method. This is also a method used by terrorist groups to condition and/or recruit new members.

Most people will quit attending a church, and find another, if the pastor preaches something that they find morally offensive. There is nothing preventing these people from attending another church. If enough people in the church find the pastor’s comments morally offensive the congregation can often remove that pastor or start a new church. By attending a church in which the pastor often makes statements that are morally offensive a person is in fact agreeing with those statements and is showing their support for those statements.

Association is also an important aspect of the issue. One’s association with their pastor, friends, and relatives is always subject to scrutiny as they are the people who are most likely to influence their actions and beliefs. Lets consider a person who does a jail ministry and attempts to help reform criminals with Christian beliefs. Now lets say one of these prisoners gets caught with an illegal item from the outside everyone who associated with that prisoner will be subject to scrutiny. So now we look at who the minister associates with and discover the prisoner’s own brother and the leader of the prisoner’s gang are both good friends of the minister. Should he not subject to more scrutiny than if he was not associated with these people?

In the end who a pastor helps define who someone is, how they think, and what influences them. A pastor does not define all these things on his own, he just helps define them. Continued attendance to a pastor’s church shows one’s agreement with him and support for his message. One’s association with a pastor outside of the regular services shows a level of interaction that can influence and stifle one’s own beliefs to a degree not seen in the regular congregation. One’s pastor may not define who a person is alone, but they help define and help demonstrate who that person is.

But I will have my own waiting area. What exactly is this waiting room you ask? its a forum on the website TexasCHLforum.com and its where people go to keep track of their CHL process while they wait on it. So in the tradition, or perhaps it is fashion, of the waiting room here is my time line (updates to come):

• 04/06/07: Applied for application on-line.
• 05/19/07: Took class.
• 05/21/07: Mailed packet to DPS.
• 05/23/07: Packet received at DPS (Confirmed Delivery from USPS website).
• 05/31/07: Letter Mailed from DPS (Forgot to sign back of photo, somehow).
• 06/01/07: Status changed to “Processing Application”.
• 06/16/07: Received letter above (USPS mis-delivered, receiver hand delivered it).
• 06/16/07: Unofficially heard from the S/O they had performed the criminal BG check.
• 06/18/07: Sent letter and photo back to DPS (Certified mail).
• 06/21/07: Letter with photo received at DPS.
• 06/26/07: Status changed to “Application Completed - license issued or certificate active“
• 07/09/07: CHL in hand (USPS mis-delivered again, same receiver hand delivered it again).

Notes: It seems the DPS continues to process the application even when something minor has to be redone (such as signing the back of the photo).