May 2009 – Page 8 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Fish Wrap

Newspapers are less popular than airlines:

Not good. In fact, really not good. In the first quarter of ’09, newspaper customersâ€™ satisfaction rating was 63. To put this in some perspective, those surveyed expressed a greater deal of satisfaction with airlines (airlines!) which scored 64. And cell phone providers (cell phone providers?) which score a 69.

I wonder if that could have anything to do with bias, crappy reporting, and not living up to even basic journalistic standards for a lot of newspapers.Â Journalism, as a profession, I think lost the public trust a long time ago, and the slow decline has as much to do with that as it does changes in technology.

Least Friendly States for Motorists

New Jersey tops the list.Â I have a new saying for talking about New Jersey, thanks to Kevin: If New Jersey fell off into the ocean, I wouldn’t fish there.

I Didn’t Get to Meet Him

I think Captain Bob and the Damsel were two folks I didn’t get a chance to meet, but I’m glad it looks like they found plenty to write about on the exhibit hall floor:

One stop we had to make was at the Para booth. We wanted to personally meet Todd Jarett and Kerby Smith, both of whom helped get Damsel on the right track shooting her Warthog. It was Michael Bane who introduced us to the Para team in the first place and they took it from there. Damsel spoke briefly to Todd, who virtually gave her instruction on short barrel large caliber firearms training for women via a video that Kerby sent her. We wanted to thank them both for the training and for the extraordinary Para customer service.

Glad to hear it.Â Todd is the master, but Kerby is no slouch either when it comes to shooting.Â Hopefully I’ll find time this year to review some of their 1911s.

Lead Ammo Ban in California Expanding

Now they are looking to apply it to upland bird hunting.Â Â How long before you just can’t possess lead ammunition in California?Â Will it be constitutional?Â There’s a lot of these grey areas.Â I expect our opponents will make ready use of them.

Progress in Texas

A Keyboard and a .45 seems to be on top of the progress of some positive bills over in Texas.

Post From Yesterday

Yesterday I put up a post that I believe is below the standards I usually try to seek for this blog, and that I now regret posting at all.Â Understand that Bitter and I put a lot of work into the Blog Bash.Â I get very little sleep while the event is going on.Â That has effects on perceptions and judgment, and I believe I picked a battle that was entirely unnecessary to fight.Â Prior to Phoenix, I was rethinking what, if anything, was going to happen in Charlotte.Â This whole sad thing has made me more determined that there needs to be serious changes to the event, if it needs to happen at all.

This is the last I will mention this incident, and my readers can consider this an apology for subjecting them to a drama they had nothing to do with, and was entirely unnecessary for them to read at all.Â I have removed the post, and will speak no more of it.

You Never Know …

… when you might be the one who didn’t have fish for dinner.Â Â The two products I absolutely must have is this joystick, and these rudder pedals.

Bianchi Cup Coverage

Plenty of Bianchi Cup coverage over at NRA Blog, and also at Caleb’s, who is shooting in the cup.

The Running Shot

The Hog Blog takes a look at making the running shots, including some practice tips.

More Gun Industry PR Disasters

This one from JD, who attended the Annual Meeting and Blog Bash from California.Â Seems someone at Charter Arms doesn’t realize that a joke you’d make over beers with your buddies isn’t necessarily the kind of thing you say to someone with a media badge.Â What if it had been Reuters, CNN, or the New York Times?