TAKING “PREPAREDNESS” TO THE NEXT LEVEL. Reader James Rummel writes:

I read the Popular Mechanics article that you linked to, the one that discusses the various Terminators that have been introduced over the years. Thank you kindly for brining it to my attention.

Speaking as an old shooting enthusiast, I noticed while watching the two available episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles that the various weaponry deployed against the kill-crazy deathbots wasn’t very effective. They are just too well armored, too well built. But I suppose a .50 sniper rifle would still make some holes since it was designed to defeat armor.

I have wondered why the anti-gun lobby wants to ban the .50’s, even though they have yet to be used in a crime. Maybe they have sold out to the enemy of all mankind in the hopes that they will be spared? It makes as much sense as any for their irrational hysteria against these weapons.

I also noticed that the Terminators in the TV show will shut down for a few minutes if they come in to contact with electric current, even current as mild as standard house current. Popular Mechanics back in October mentioned a new TASER device that could be fired from a standard shotgun. This increased the range from 15 feet to over 100. It might very well be the only hope for mankind!

You might be wondering why I am so interested in the subject, a TV show based off of a fictional war where a computer network named Skynet nukes most of humanity before trying to exterminate the survivors. But did you know that the British have already set up a military satellite communications system which is named Skynet?

Right about now I bet you’re thinking that adding a .50 Barrett and a few TASERS to your home defense arsenal might not be a bad idea.

“Adding?”

UPDATE: Reader Darren Duvall, MD emails:

Your correspondent Mr Rummel is incorrect that the .50 BMG has not been used in a crime. A police officer was killed in Colorado with one in 1995 or 1996.

I’m not anti-50 cal, but it does pay to be as accurate as possible when it comes to contentious issues. The VPC and their hoplophobic ilk are against .50 caliber rifles because they are a small segment of the firearms market that can be marginalized, period. It is entirely accurate to say that they are virtually never used to commit crimes.

My personal choice for an anti-Terminator weapon is an EFP. A molten copper slug at 5,000 fps beats the Taser. If the Terminators attack, it may turn out that the Iranian defense plants are our last, best hope. Weird world.

Heh.

ERROR CORRECTION UPDATE: The above contains an error:

This is absolutely untrue. The incident he refers to is the death of Deputy Sheriff Timothy Mossbrucker in Jefferson County, Colorado in April of 1995. Deputy Mossbrucker was killed by Albert Petrosky as the deputy responded to a “shot fired” call at a small shoping mall. The suspect had gone there to kill his wife and her boyfriend (her boss) after he found out they were having an affair.(he did kill both of them) He then waited in the parking lot for the cops to show up (I suspect so his death would be a suicide by cops). Deputy Mossbrucker was the first unit in. The suspect shot him three times through the windshield of his police unit killing him instantly with an 7.39 SKS rifle.

The problem was, Petrosky had thrown every gun he owned into the bed of his pickup to go have his 15 minutes of glory. Included in those firearms was a LAR Grizzley big bore 50 BMG. There were also 5 empty 50 caliber casings in the bed of the truck that probably were thrown into the bed the last time he had been out shooting the rifle. There is no evidence to indicate he fired the 50 BMG during his shootout with the cops.

The suspect was taken into custody a short time later but committed suicide in his jail cell before he was ever brought to trial.

The reason they claim he killed the deputy is the press was allowed access to the crime scene about an hour after the shooting and the photographer took a photo of the LAR Grizzley and the fifty cal ammo. He just created the headlines “Deputy Killed By 50 BMG” for the next day’s paper.

That’s from John Burtt of the Fifty Cal Institute, via Prof. Joseph Olson.

VOTING PROBLEMS in South Carolina?

UPDATE: Reader Sean Brittain sends this report:

I went out at about 1:00 to vote. There had been a total 220 voters at our polling station when we got there. The weather is getting worse, so I will be surprised if the number of voters at our polling station doubles by closing time. I’m a Fred supporter, so I’ve been happy to hear about his resurgence. However, I didn’t see any Thompson signs around the school where I voted. The only candidates represented along the road where McCain, Huckabee and Romney. I’m not sure what any of this means (if anything), but I thought I’d send it your way on the outside chance that it’s a useful data point.

Thanks. And here’s more on those voting machine problems.

SPARED GITMO, FOR NOTHING: Terror Informant for FBI Allegedly Targeted Agents.

REMEMBERING the original Mazda RX-7. “Like the Datsun 240Z a decade before, the RX-7 revolutionized the sports car market. With performance easily on a par with the Porsche 924 and close to that of the contemporary Chevrolet Corvette, but at a vastly lower price, the RX-7 became a legend. It was an immediate smash sales success, became the first sports car for a generation of young drivers, and quickly established itself as a force on the race track.” I had one of those — a 1980 model — and it was a great car, though with some rough spots. What I like about the RX-8 is that it recaptures the feel of the original RX-7, but without the rough spots.

DAVID BERNSTEIN on Ronald Reagan and “States’ Rights.”

THIS SEEMS LIKE BIG NEWS: “The CIA on Friday admitted that cyberattacks have caused at least one power outage affecting multiple cities outside the United States.” (Via Slashdot).

BILL BRADLEY is providing constantly updated coverage of the Nevada and S.C. contests.

Fox just called Nevada for Mitt Romney. Huckabee’s currently showing #5, behind McCain, Thompson, and Ron Paul, though only a small percentage of votes are actually in.

UPDATE: Bob Krumm is in South Carolina and says people care more about the snow that’s falling than about the primary now: “Snow-just the mention of snow- might make all turnout predictions worthless here.”

It’s also snowing in Atlanta. Not a flake here, so far.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A report from Nevada reader Charles Chase — click “read more” to read it.

YASSER ARAFAT’S FAKED BLOOD DONATION: What’s notable is the willing acquiescence of the press.

SARKOZY OF ARABIA: I see this as a positive development.

YOU WON’T CATCH ME IN ONE OF THESE: A 340 mph production motorcycle.

MICKEY KAUS: “Another country is complaining about an influx of Mexicans crossing its borders looking for work. That country is Mexico.”

LOTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND NEVADA UPDATES at Sister Toldjah’s place.

MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT: “A Belarus court sentenced a newspaper editor Friday to three years in prison for reprinting a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked worldwide riots when it was initially published in a Danish newspaper.” When American celebrities complain about crushing of dissent in America, remind them that this is what it really looks like.

And if you don’t want your religion dissed, you might as well start blowing people up. Obviously, it works. Nice incentive structure, there.

AT AUTOBLOG, a gallery of photos from the Tokyo Auto Salon.

WHAT IRAN truly fears.

PHIL BOWERMASTER SAW CLOVERFIELD and liked it. “I’m pleased to report that Cloverfield does not disappoint on any level.”

JONAH GOLDBERG IS STILL #1 on Amazon. And I hear he’ll debut on the New York Times bestseller list next week. Nonetheless, I keep getting emails like this one:

I work at Barnes & Noble (in California) and we have not seen the book in our store. I checked and BN.com has it at #8 right now. I checked 4 – 5 zip codes on the BN.com web site for store availability and only one had it in the store.

This is really interesting because it is B & N’s stated policy to be politics neutral about the content of books. They sent a memo around to employees explaining the policy when the OJ Simpson book came out for example. And they do have any number of controversial books on all sorts of topics all the time.

So I am somewhat mystified.

Beats me. Perhaps they underestimated its popularity. But I’m sure it’s costing them sales to the Internet.

UPDATE: Reader Stephen Barron emails:

Piling on about B&N…

I live in CA but am in Wichita KS over weekend for business. I went looking for Jonah’s book in one of the local B&Ns and couldn’t find it. Heck, I saw Newt’s book, Colbert’s book, David Frum’s book, etc. There was a wide variety of political persuasions represented, although I think this particular store actually leaned a little to the right, but Jonah’s book was not to be seen.

And reader Todd Frehafer writes: “I wrote to Jonah about the same phenomenon in the Rt.9 Chestnut Hill, MA store. When I asked about the book, I was told it ‘wasn’t in stock and wasn’t on order.'”

They can’t stock everything, and for whatever reason didn’t stock this book. So people will order it off Amazon. And next time they shop, they may go straight to the Internet and not even venture down to the store to look.

MORE: Roger Kimball does some research.

BOW DOWN, CHRIS MATTHEWS! “You cannot be disrespectful to Hillary Clinton, the woman.”

BYRON YORK reports from South Carolina. Will Thompson pull off a surprise? Hey, the early returns are in his favor. . . .

COMPLAINTS OF VOTER INTIMIDATION IN NEVADA.

A PAPER AIRPLANE designed to reenter Earth’s atmosphere from space.

THE LANCET blows it again.

THE YEAR OF THE GUN: Brannon Denning and I have a piece on the Supreme Court and the Heller case, in See Also, the online edition of the Texas Law Review.

UPDATE: A somewhat prettier and easier to read version can be downloaded here. (Bumped to top).

HERE’S A ROUNDUP OF CAUCUS/PRIMARY NEWS FROM Nevada and South Carolina.

DON SURBER says Kos’s plans misfired.