This'n'That; December 12th[Guns;Glbl Wrmg;Military]

Gun Sales I live in the city [Rochester, NY] but in my line of work, I spend varying amounts of time in the surrounding counties. Today I bought one of the small weekly papers, the Times of Wayne County [next county east of Rochester]. The "above-the-fold" headline is "County gun sales, pistol permits skyrocketing" A gunshop owner said that 35-40% of his clientele are women and that the numbers are increasing dramatically!! Wayne County Sheriff's Department normally processes an average of five pistol permits per week. During the past several weeks, permit applications have risen to 8 to 10 A DAY !! My guess is a combination of: Mister Obama's ANTI-GUN stance and the State of New York is considering raising the permit fee from the current $124 to a possible $500-800!! Those with a clean record applying for a pistol permit in Wayne County can expect to complete all the rigamarole and have a permit in about a month. In Monroe County [Rochester] it takes from 9 months to a year. They Threw Us A Bone That liberal Rochester rag, the Demagogue and Comical, threw all conservatives a bone today. They actually published an article that supported the military serving in Afganistan!!! It was a story about eleven soldiers who had earned the Silver Star, the second-highest award for bravery. Two others were awarded the Bronze Star, the next step down in medal hierarchy. Believe it or not, the article was ON THE FRONT PAGE!!! Normally, they bury any positive military stories-hell, positive stories of any genre, on page kazillion of the last section of the paper. How 'bout That Global Warmin', Huh?? Maybe Algore got it all wrong?? Maybe it really is a cyclical phenomenon?? It SNOWED IN HOUSTON, TX., AND NEW ORLEANS, LA.!! The last recorded snowfall in Houston on Dec 10th was in 1944!! For the first time in nearly four years, [Dec 11th] snow fell across the New Orleans region this morning, with flurries reported on the north shore and in the city, Metairie, Kenner, LaPlace and other parts of the south shore. By around 10 a.m., the snow had mostly stopped, replaced by freezing rain in many places, making driving treacherous. Will you indulge me a bit of a "war story??" Back in 1971 I went back in the Air Force after a 2-1/2 year break. I picked and was assigned to Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, La [NW Louisiana]. That winter [1971-72] it snowed mid-way through January, 1972. At the time I was a Security Policeman doing motor patrol and traffic control. The "powers-that-be" determined that only those on-duty drivers raised north of the Mason-Dixon Line would be authorized to drive patrol cars as long as there was snow on the roads. It lasted a coupla days, then everything was back to normal. Being from the north, it was kinda funny to watch the native Louisianans deal with the snow. Most wanted to and did put themselves into intentional skids and try to recover......MOST DIDN'T!! Til Nex'time.......