Wednesday - October 12, 2011
I Guess They Didn’t Listen
President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill failed to clear a procedural hurdle in the Democratic-controlled Senate Tuesday night despite a White House push that accelerated in the 11th hour.
The bill received 50 votes falling short of the necessary 60 to end debate. Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Jon Tester of Montana were the only Democrats to vote against the bill. Both of them are facing tough re-election campaigns next year.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., had said earlier that although he intended to vote in favor of ending the Republican filibuster, he did not intend to support the bill if it reached a final vote.
Now that it has failed, both the House and Senate are expected to turn this week to approving U.S. trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, one of the few areas of agreement between Republicans and the administration on boosting the economy. And Senate Democrats are looking at ways of breaking the jobs bill into pieces that would be easier to pass.
Obama declared earlier Tuesday that the U.S. Senate faced a “moment of truth” when it voted on the bill, calling it “gut check time.” He later issued a statement accusing Republicans of obstruction.
“Tonight’s vote is by no means the end of this fight,” Obama said. “We will now work with Senator Reid to make sure that the individual proposals in this jobs bill get a vote as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, the Poser In Chief was out posing again, doing the Beer Summit shit again, having a brewski with some unemployed construction guys down in Florida. So I guess New Orleans is all rebuilt now? I would have thought that city would be the biggest cash cow to the guys with hammers and saws all across the South.
President Barack Obama has joined four unemployed construction workers in Florida for a round of beers on a day his jobs bill met defeat on Capitol Hill.
Obama met with the group at Harp and Celt Restaurant & Irish Pub in downtown Orlando. He solicited opinions on the jobs situation and said he was trying to figure out how to get the construction trades back to work.
The three unemployed pipe fitters and one unemployed plumber drank beer and soda; Obama had a Guinness. They all toasted “to more jobs.”
Obama held the meeting between fundraisers in Florida as Senate Republicans—and two Democrats—turned back an effort to open debate on the president’s $447 billion jobs bill. Obama says the bill would create construction jobs.
Might be a bit of fact checking needed for this one; the guys in the picture all look close to retirement age. That could be one reason they’re hanging out at the pub in the afternoon.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/12/2011 at 07:08 AM
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Permalink • Rattle, Rattle
The alleged Iranian government-backed plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States is quickly exacerbating already flaring tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Members of Congress were quick to condemn Iran over the plot.
Rep. Michael McCaul R-Texas, said if it was indeed sponsored by the Iranian government, “this would constitute an act of war not only against the Saudis and Israelis but against the United States as well.”
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., issued a similar statement saying, “Iran’s assassination of a foreign diplomat in our country would have violated both U.S. and international law, and represented an act of war.”
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, speaking on Fox News, called the plot an “act of war” against the United States.
“We have to do something,” he said, saying the specifics of the response should be left up to the Defense Department and the president.
But a senior Defense official told Fox News the announcement Tuesday “is not a trip wire for military action in Iran.”
“The United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Holder said.
A State Department official on Tuesday called the case a “flagrant violation of international law.”
And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. would work with its allies to “send a very strong message that this kind of action, which violates international norms, must be ended.”
In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Clinton said the plot “crosses a line,” and that she and President Obama were calling international leaders to tell them what happened. She said they want to “pre-empt” any efforts by Iran to deny responsibility, as well as “enlist more countries in working together against what is becoming a clearer and clearer threat” from Iran, according to the Associated Press. She said the reaction could “further isolate Iran.”
The Treasury Department fired the first diplomatic shot Tuesday afternoon, imposing sanctions on five people allegedly linked to the plot, including four members of the Quds Force—which is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Two of them, Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, were charged Tuesday in New York federal court, though Skahuri remains at large. The Treasury Department said the other Quds officials named were also involved in the plot. The sanctions will freeze any U.S. assets held by the individuals and prohibit anyone in the U.S. from doing business with them.
Bunch of noise. Nothing will happen, not with Commander Dickless at the helm. None of these camel jockeys has more than a dollar or two of assets in the US to seize anyway. Hey, maybe Comrade Obama can meet with Ahmadumbjihad and have another Beer Summit to smooth things out. It was worth it to Iran to sacrifice this pawn Arbabsiar; whether or not they snagged the $100K doesn’t matter. Now they’ve got the USA looking under the bed for terrorists and rent-a-bombers, and spending hundreds of millions on union overtime to ‘respond’ to the ‘heightened threat level’. They win this round, and know they can do it again whenever they want. You can kick a weak horse as much as you like, it will never buck.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/12/2011 at 06:46 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - October 11, 2011
Useful idiots
It almost seems like somebody wants them to be there, out making a mess, suffering in the cold and snow that will soon be here. Foolsicles perhaps?
Demonstrators who have spent the last four days camping at a plaza in the heart of Washington to protest war and other causes were granted an unexpected four-month extension of their permit Monday, a day many believed would end in their arrest.
Officials with the National Park Service offered the demonstration permit extension Monday afternoon in a meeting with representatives of the group, which has been camping at Freedom Plaza near the White House. The group needed it to legally remain in the plaza and accepted the offer in a meeting shortly after 6:30 p.m. with cheers, applause and hands waving in the air.
“I never dreamed we would have a four-month extension,” said Margaret Flowers, one of the demonstration’s organizers who met with the Park Service.
She called the offer a “transformative moment,” saying she had expected officials to tell the group they would have to disperse and take down their tents and signs ranging from “tax the rich” and “compassion not capitalism” to “peace is patriotic” and “time 4 change.” She and others believed they would be arrested Monday night if they stayed.
Despite the extension, however, questions remained such as logistics about food and showers for the group. There are also questions about the extent to which authorities will continue to tolerate camping in the plaza.
Still unresolved also is whether the group wants to merge with the Occupy D.C. movement that has been organizing marches from the city’s McPherson Square, just up the street. The groups have said they support each other but are independent.
The group in Freedom Plaza has been using the slogan October 2011/Stop the Machine, and the demonstration was organized to coincide with Friday’s 10th anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan. But individuals with a variety of causes were part of the group, saying their complaints range from health care to home foreclosures and education spending.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 04:13 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People •
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Permalink • No Benji No
Israel and Hamas, two of the Middle East’s most implacable foes, announced Tuesday they had reached a tentative agreement brokered by Egypt to exchange more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held captive for more than five years.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who summoned all 29 Cabinet ministers to vote on the agreement concerning the fate of the captive soldier, Staff. Sgt. Gilad Shalit, went on Israeli television beforehand to announce it, a sign that he was confident of Cabinet approval.
“If all goes according to plan, Gilad will be returning to Israel in the coming days,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader based in Syria, confirmed in a broadcast from Damascus that an agreement had been reached, setting off wild celebrations and cheering in Gaza and Palestinian communities elsewhere as word spread that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails would soon be coming home. Mr. Meshal said the Israelis had agreed to turn over 1,027 Palestinians, among them 315 sentenced to life in prison and 27 women. He called the agreement “a national accomplishment.”
Only if those prisoners have been injected with a fatal poison or disease, and fed the antidote up until now. That way they’ll all drop dead in 3 weeks after the exchange. If that isn’t the plan, or if they don’t have tracking devices on them and a massive air strike planned, then this is a terrible thing. But they will get their guy back, hopefully alive and not a vegetable.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 04:06 PM
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Permalink • Same Old Red Crap As Always
KIEV, Ukraine — From the moment President Viktor F. Yanukovich took power last year, a central question was whether he would lead Ukraine west, toward Europe, or into a tight symbiosis with the country’s Soviet-era masters in Moscow.
Eighteen months of cautious navigation hit a watershed on Tuesday, when a court in Kiev sentenced the country’s most prominent opposition politician, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, to seven years in prison. European leaders have condemned the case as politically motivated, and hinted that they are unlikely to ratify a free trade and association agreement with Ukraine, a project four years in the making.
Ms. Tymoshenko, an acerbic populist who represents the European-leaning west of the country, rose to drown out the judge’s voice as he read out the verdict, speaking directly to a bank of television cameras.
“This is an authoritarian regime,” she said. “Against the background of European rhetoric, Yanukovich is taking Ukraine farther from Europe by launching such political trials.” As bailiffs led her from the courtroom, Ms. Tymoshenko turned in the doorway to wave goodbye, a small figure in a white coat and helmet of blond braids.
Prosecutors say Ms. Tymoshenko harmed Ukraine’s interests when, as prime minister, she carried out negotiations with Russia in 2009 over the price of natural gas. Tuesday’s ruling excludes her from politics for 10 years, and levies a fine of about $190 million.
But international legal experts say that she seems to have been performing a routine administrative function for which she might conceivably be disciplined, if the government was displeased with her performance, but not charged with a crime.
So much for emergent eastern democracy. Put your political opponents in jail and fine them into penury for the “illegal act” of doing their job. I’m almost amazed she hasn’t accidentally been in a bus accident or been the victim of a gun cleaning mishap at 3am.
It’s a no-brainer to figure that Ukraine is going right back behind the Iron Curtain.
Mr. Yanukovich has made integrating with Europe a central goal, and he is likely to head off catastrophic damage by softening Ms. Tymoshenko’s conviction swiftly. One route to this would be decriminalizing the article under which she was convicted. In that event, her name will be cleared and she will be able to run in parliamentary elections in 2012, said Serhiy Vlasenko, one of her lawyers. This could occur as soon as next week, so that Mr. Yanukovich would be welcome at European Union talks in Brussels scheduled for October 20.
He suggested as much on Tuesday, when he told journalists, “This is not a final decision.”
“Ahead lies the appeals court, and it will without a doubt make a decision within the bounds of the law, but the decision will have great significance,” he said, in comments carried on Interfax.
So then what is this, just a Show Trial? Political theater from the thugocrat in charge? Bullying tactics to teach everyone a lesson?
Off with his head.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 03:54 PM
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Permalink • sweet
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 01:46 PM
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Permalink • WTF Breaking NEWS
Attorney General Holder to give press conference in 10-15 minutes
Iranian plot to BOMB Saudi and Israeli embassies in DC???
Flip on the news and see.
Maybe it’s just smoke and mirrors ... real easy for the gov to say “ooooh look! a terrorist plot we foiled!!” and you can’t prove it one way or the other. A good way to hide from Fast & Furious ? Or it could be true, because the Mad Mullahs really ARE that crazy.
PRE conference rumor:
Iranian immigrant who was part of the plot tried to meet with Mexican drug cartel leaders to get funding ... FBI pretended to be cartel guys, gave him money ... later arrested him and the plot came out under questioning?
OMG. Hey, remember how the MSM and the loony left said Bush was crazy because he linked the drug lords with the terrorists? Guess he was right!
Conference:
Iranian Revolutionary Guard drove the plot, directed it from Iran ... flagrant violation of int’l law. USA holding Iran accountable.
Conspiracy to use WMD, conspiracy to commit act of terrorism, conspiracy to assassinate diplomats.
Meetings started in May in Mexico ... $1.5 million Murder For Hire plan ... feds faked him out and paid him $100K, the guy sang after his arrest ...
FBI Director Mueller:
Individuals from one country conspired to work with drug cartel to assassinate diplomats in our country. No regard for any collateral damage, no regard for the rule of law ... we send a clear message that any attempts will not be tolerated and will feel the full brunt of the law ...
either oversees or here at home ...
Lisa Monaco: (who is she?? AAG, Mueller’s Chief of Staff)
Thanks everyone, this is great cooperation between all the agencies and countries involved.
Over to the next flunky (this is becoming a game of musical chairs!) Preet Bharara, AAG South NY I think
Plan was to bomb the ambassadors in a restaurant with 150 people in it ... Iranian plotters couldn’t care less about collateral damage ... this was supposed to be ONLY THE INITIAL ATTACK, with more to come ... thanks to everybody for their efforts ... other countries will not use our soil for their battleground.
Holder gets back in front of mic for Q’s -
Q. To what degree was Iranian gov complicit?
A. It was directed and approved by senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Q. So the leaders at the top in Iran knew and blessed it?
A. We’re not making that claim at this point.
Q Aside from the money, what were the other overt acts? Explosives?
A. NO. Discussions, meetings took place, no explosives were provided
Q. What was Mexico’s role?
A. Holder: Mexico was cooperative, significant, but we don’t want to go into details.
Q. Are there more conspirators on the loose?
A. No.
Q. What kind of attack was it supposed to be?
A. Read the document ... if memory serves, there was a discussion of using explosive devices.
Q. Fast & Furious! Critics don’t believe your testimony! Comment?
A. Holder: We sent loads of documents, but that situation will not detract from this conference ... and he WALKS OFF THE STAGE. Conference over.
Mansuur Aratsirir was the guy arrested. I’m sure I spelled his name wrong. Golem Shakuri, a co-conspirator and Iranian citizen, is still at large.
Talking heads on Fox (KT McFarland) - P"this could be considered an act of war, but the Rev. Guard isn’t the real leaders of the country"P. HUH? She is trying to say that the Rev Guard is the fall guy; that this could never have been done without knowledge and approval from the very top. (kind of like Fast & Furious, right??) [P” = paraphrasing what she said. Not her exact words] “Iran is entering a high stakes poker game”
Next head: Walid Phares, terrorism expert. DOOODES, hang on a second, don’t think about “act of war”. First think how it is that Rev Guard has such inroads and agents in Washington DC!!?? “This doesn’t come alone.” “It means that they have other things they want to do within the region.”
Mansuur Aratsrir thought he was meeting with the Zetas in Mexico. His return plane was diverted to JFK and that’s where the FBI busted him.
Phares: the plot is wider than just one man. How many others? Iranians, Hezbollah - they could be Iranians or allies of Iran. Was Iran even going to claim it if it happened? Iran has become very bold; units in Venezuela, Navy ships in the Suez and Med., etc. What other stuff do they have up their sleeves ready to go?
White House to let us know in a few hours how they plan to hold Iran accountable ...
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 12:49 PM
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Permalink • Oh Right, This Will Help
DOD Announces New Defense Policy Board Members
Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta today announced the following new members to the Defense Policy Board: Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state; Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general; Jane Harman, former U.S. congresswoman; Retired Gen. James Cartwright, former vice chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Retired Adm. Gary Roughead, former chief of naval operations.
These members join the following returning members: John Hamre, chairman; Harold Brown; J.D. Crouch; Richard Danzig; Rudy deLeon, Chuck Hagel; Retired Gen. Jack Keane; Henry Kissinger; Frank Miller; John Nagl; Sam Nunn; Joseph Nye; William Perry; James Schlesinger; Brent Scowcroft; Sarah Sewall; and Retired Gen. Larry Welch.
The Defense Policy Board provides the secretary, deputy secretary and under secretary for policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning matters of defense policy.
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14841
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 11:29 AM
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Permalink • Scrappy Pirates Getting Rusty
ROME—U.S. and British forces have freed an Italian cargo ship that was attacked by pirates off Somalia and arrested the assailants, the Italian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The Montecristo was carrying 23 crew members—seven Italians, six Ukrainians and 10 Indians—when it was attacked Monday.
All of them are now safe and free, the ministry said, without saying whether the rescue occurred on Tuesday or late Monday.
The ministry said the operation was carried out by two navy ships—one British and one American—and coordinated by Italian Adm. Gualtiero Mattesi as part of NATO’s Ocean Shield anti-piracy force. The 11 pirates were arrested after they surrendered, the ministry said.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Royal Navy “was involved in a compliant boarding"—in which the pirates indicated they would surrender and sailors boarded the vessel to take them into custody.
“The danger of piracy has increased,” said Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa. He planned a news conference later Tuesday to discuss the operation that saved the Montecristo.
Pirates flourish off largely lawless Somalia by attacking passing ships, taking hostages and demanding ransoms to free them and the vessels.
The ship’s owner, D’Alessio Group, said Monday that the attack had occurred 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) off Somalia as the crew was hauling scrap iron to Vietnam on a journey that had begun Sept. 20 in Liverpool, England.
Italy is to station military forces on its merchant vessels to guard against attacks by Somali pirates, shipping sources said on Tuesday, the day after another of its ships was attacked off the anarchic east African country.
Many ships already carry private security contractors to try to prevent hijacks, but deployment of military forces on merchant vessels would mark a clear escalation in measures to combat piracy, which costs the world economy billions of dollars each year.
The sources said Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa would sign an agreement later on Tuesday with the confederation of Italian ship owners to put military guards on board vessels in the huge area of the Indian Ocean at risk from Somali pirates, who have hijacked several Italian ships.
Ignazio La Russa? Ignatz the Russian? Oy vey, such a name. But it looks like my idea of troops on board manning removable artillery platforms is starting to become reality. Giving the troops a few MANPADS (shoulder fired missiles) might do the job as well, and cost less overall.
The M/V Montecristo is a brand new ship, just delivered in June. If this wasn’t her maiden voyage, it was one of her first half-way ‘round the world voyages. Not an auspicious beginning, but all’s well that ends well.
MONTECRISTO
Ship Type: Bulk Carrier
Year Built: 2011
56,000 tons
Length: 188 m (617 feet)
Beam: 32 m (105 feet)
Draught: 11.9 m (39 feet)
Friday 10 June, at the Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo, the M/V Montecristo has been delivered, the first bulk carrier of the special 56.000 dwt Supramax class of the Dalmare S.p.A.
The vessel, christened with the name of an Island of the Tuscan archipelago as proof of the bond between the Company from Livorno and its territory, with a crew of 20 Italian and foreign seamen will be employed on the great international routes for the transportation of mineral, coal and grain cargoes and for the moment will be part of the spot market.
Supramax is a ship size classification. It is the largest ship in the Handysize/Handymax group, a medium size class of commercial ships. While these ships can’t earn the really large profits that the giant bulk ships do, they can often earn more for their owners because they work more steadily. The world market needs to haul medium amounts of cargo far more often than it needs to haul giant loads. The Handysize ships can also go to ports that can’t handle the great ships. With their built in high speed cranes they can use less sophisticated harbor facilities as well.
Supramax vessels, defined as handymax vessels with a DWT cargo carrying capacity between 50,000 and 60,000 tonnes, have found an exceptionally strong demand from commodity shippers. Despite a very heavy orderbook of over 40%, this market appears to be better insulated for continuing strong rates compared to Capesize and Panamax ships.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 09:43 AM
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Permalink • EU Outlaws Party Toys For Children
Children are to be banned from taking part in traditional Christmas games, from blowing up balloons to blowing on party whistles, because of new EU safety rules that have just entered into force.
The EU toy safety directive, agreed and implemented by Government, states that balloons must not be blown up by unsupervised children under the age of eight, in case they accidentally swallow them and choke.
Despite having been popular favourites for generations of children, party games including whistles and magnetic fishing games are to be banned because their small parts or chemicals used in making them are decreed to be too risky.
Apparently harmless toys that children have enjoyed for decades are now regarded by EU regulators as posing an unacceptable safety risk.
Whistle blowers, that scroll out into a a long coloured paper tongue when sounded – a party favourite at family Christmas meals – are now classed as unsafe for all children under 14.
As well as new rules for balloons and party whistles, the EU legislation will impose restrictions on how noisy toys, including rattles or musical instruments, are allowed to be.
All teddie bears meant for children under the age of three will now have to be fully washable because EU regulators are concerned that dirty cuddly toys could spread disease and infection.
Paul Nuttall, a member of the European Parliament’s consumer safety committee, said the “kill joy” world of EU officialdom was being ill-equipped to understand the concept of children having fun.
“I would say that this is crackers but I sure children are banned from using them too. EU party poopers should not be telling families how to blow up balloons,” said the Ukip MEP.
And the big old socialist/communist ball just keeps rolling, adding another layer. Sucking all the fun out of life is Rule #6 I think. But it’s for your own good. It’s for the chiiiiildren.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/11/2011 at 09:16 AM
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Permalink • Monday - October 10, 2011
It’s a Commie Plot
I haven’t written anything about the foolish people doing their Occupy Wall Street protest, nor about it’s little splinter cells that have sprung up in other cities around the nation. I figured they were just a bunch of spoiled brats having their Hippie Moment in the sun, protesting the Man, man.
I may have been wrong.
That they are Obama’s minions and Useful Idiots is beyond doubt.
My neighbor gives me her newspapers when she’s done with them. Ours is the typical left wing bird cage liner, and they have been running stories on these folks. Parts of those stories talk about what this group wants and doesn’t want, what they believe in, and they’re against. I read the lists aloud to my wife and she said the same thing that I realized: they’re outright Communists, even if they themselves aren’t aware of that fact.
Michelle Malkin has been all over this one. Her latest post shows that along with the support of Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, they also now have the support of Enron’s Paul Krugman and the DNC’s money men, the DCCC, who were only too happy to accept hundreds of millions in campaign cash from the very people they have now publicly come out against. I have not yet heard if CPUSA has endorsed this bunch (they mostly have), but it wouldn’t surprise me. Nor would knowing that such had happened and that it went unreported. Others have wondered if the protests are being infiltrated by the Reds, but I don’t think that’s necessary. Or even possible. It would be onanism; a narcissistic act of self-penetration. The commies can’t infiltrate the commies.
The other day the splinter protest group in DC tried to occupy the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Why on earth would they want to do that? The Smithsonian has NOTHING to do with Corporate Greed or anything like that. It’s a museum fer crying out loud. GOP lecturer Michael Zak has that one figured out, and it’s a play straight out of one of the books that is no longer part of the curriculum in Freshman English, nor part of the college classes in Western Civilization which no longer exist. It’s a commie plot, and Joeseph Conrad wrote about it more than 100 years ago. The playbook hasn’t changed a line in all that time.
The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad, tells of a terrorist plot to destroy the Greenwich Observatory in England. That center of scientific achievement is the location of Earth’s prime meridian, from which longitude and time are measured.
In the second chapter, Vladimir, the chief plotter, explains why anarchists should destroy, of all places, Greenwich—an institution akin to the Smithsonian:
“It must be purely destructive. It must be that, and only that, beyond the faintest suspicion of any other object. You anarchists should make it clear that you are perfectly determined to make a clean sweep of the whole social creation. But how to get that appallingly absurd notion in the heads of the middle classes so that there could be no mistake? That’s the question. By directing your blows at something outside the ordinary passions of humanity is the answer.
Read the rest at Zak’s if your Conrad is a bit rusty. But know the truth: theirs is the bud of an insurrection from the leftmost edge. They are communists. There will be violence. Remember those who support them, remember those who are fooled by them. Remember where you buried all that extra ammunition.
Fundamental Change, indeed.
To the barricades.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/10/2011 at 08:26 PM
Filed Under: • Commies • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Obama, The One •
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Permalink • more from my inbox
A short bit from Wally Eastwood’s Vegas act. Some folks say it’s faked, but I don’t think so. Guy bills himself as the World’s Fastest Juggler.
h/t to Doc Jeff
Posted by Drew458
on 10/10/2011 at 02:14 PM
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Permalink • Curiosity Killed The Drew
It started here:
then went to here:
with a side trip here:
and wound up here:
It was a really nice early fall day yesterday so we took a drive out into the local hinterlands and had a bit of a ramble. We went out along the Musconetcong River for about a dozen miles, up over into Port Murray on the outskirts of Hackettstown then back up and over the mountains into High Bridge and Lebanon Township. It’s a pretty drive through the woods and fields; this part of the state is lightly populated, what I call exoburban, but that gives way to farmlands and forests within half a mile of the main roads. This area is rich in history, from colonial iron mines and forges to places where Washington’s army set up artillery batteries to stave off the British during the Revolution to many places that were once significant points in the early years of the Industrial Revolution, right on up to various modernities. Each era has left its mark on the land, although many of those landmarks are now almost lost to sight and memory. This makes a scenic drive around here a bit of a learning experience, even if a large part of that learning is done online after we get home. And it’s all connected somehow ... which is why the internet is a dangerous thing. Learning about what was and what is, and tracking down those connections can suck up your life. Hours go by; the curiosity slaked by finding one thing out is just refreshed again by seeing something else a bit related, and wanting to know more about that. And on and on it goes.
The Musconetcong River is one of those famous trout streams that the fly fishermen so love. It flows across a good part of the state from east to west, eventually joining the Delaware River at Phillipsburg on the PA border. Today it’s hard to envision such a thing, but once upon a time it was one of the major thoroughfares across the state; sections of it were part of the Morris Canal works that was built in the early 19th century.
The first picture of the little green bridge is a bit of local color. It is the earliest example of an eye-rod Warren truss adjustable tension pony bridge in NJ. It was built here in New Hampton by Francis Lowthorp in 1869 out of cast iron. This one spans the Musconetcong River in the nearby town of New Hampton. There are two other Lowthorp iron bridges here in Hunterdon County, both only a year younger and both still in use, including the rather famous one we have here in Clinton by our equally famous Red Mill.
Perhaps a mile further down Musconetcong River Road we came upon these huge and brooding stone pylons by the very edge of the street. Looking like something out of Ozymandius they shoot up out of the ground and stand 5-8 stories tall, and march down the mountainside and out across a farmer’s fields. They are the pylons for a large bridge that crossed the river at elevation. The bridge is long gone. There is no town on the top of the mountain. There is no neighborhood up there. There are no roads there, only forest. And there is nothing at the other end. So why a bridge? It turns out that this was the Changewater Trestle, a railroad bridge put up in 1859 for a railroad that ceased to exist long ago. The bridge and the tracks survived until 1959 when both were dismantled. The pylons were cut down only enough to no longer be a danger, and their bases were just left in place.
I spent a bunch of time looking at railroad history in our area. Once upon a time there were tracks everywhere. The sleepy little towns were busy with factories, the farms had to shuttle their crops to the cities (New Jersey really was the market Garden State), and of course all that coal had to be brought in from Pennsylvania. I’ve written before about Upon the Road of Anthracite, the world of coal that opened up so much of this area long ago. What struck me was the serendipity of the whole thing; half a mile south of this bridge is an old iron works, where the ore dug out of the ground in nearby High Bridge was smelted. That railroad probably carried those rough smeltings 10 miles further south to the sleepy little town of Lambertville, where the castings from the bridge were forged. So it was a very local harmonious endeavor, but it still amazes me that the pristine and spotless little towns in our area were once centers of heavy industry, little Mt. Doom zones of smoke and fire, heat and noise, danger and newly created wealth. How times change.
A tangential trip on my choo-choo research ( I guess that would be a siding in railroad terms? ) gave me the picture of the Pullman car. That’s the Union Gap diner in 1974 (note the Ford Pinto) just after it had taken delivery of the observation car from the Blue Comet, once a passenger train of the Central New Jersey Railroad, back from the days when trains had names. The diner has since been renovated and modernized, yet the train car still sticks out the side of the building. What comes around goes around: The diner is half a mile from my home, and right on the edge of Rt 78, one of NJ’s 3 east-west highways. Rt 78 follows old Rt 22. I don’t know if it once had train tracks or a canal on it, but the area is called Union Gap for a reason: this is where there was a gap in the mountains to the west, and an easy path to get to the interior of the young nation from New York City. Stage coach lines once ran up and down the road when it was just a dirt track; one of our state’s finest restaurants a couple miles west of here was a stopping point. It was the main road from New Brunswick NJ to Easton PA. Before those days George Washington could have run his battered army down that trail when Cornwallis was chasing him, even stopping off down the street here at Bonnell’s Tavern for a cold one (the building still exists but hasn’t poured a draft in 100 years) but he didn’t. He went straight across the state from New York City to Philadelphia. How about that? George Washington, inventor of the Jersey Turnpike.
Looking at railroads and bridge trusses lead me to that last picture somehow. That’s an aircraft carrier in the foreground, the HMS Argus, one of England’s earliest attempts at floating runways. It didn’t work too well. That ship started life as the Italian ocean liner Conte Rosso, but it got co-opted (laws of angary) when WWI came about. The amazing pile of girders in the background is the Firth of Forth bridge, a multiple cantilever arch truss creation up in Scotland between Edinburgh and Firth. This was the first all steel bridge ever built, and it pretty much defines Drew-spec. The bridge was tremendously overbuilt on purpose, because an earlier bridge on the Firth of Tay had collapsed in the wind and had caused the worst train disaster in history at that point. So the bridge was built about 20 times stronger than it really needed to be, to regain public confidence. 120 years later and the bridge is still so strong that it barely even wiggles even in the strongest storms. It is a huge thing, the pinnacle of Victorian engineering, stretching nearly as far as San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge (ok, 600 feet less, but still 8276 feet) built 60 years later, with foundation plinths 70 feet across that sink 90 feet or more down below the bay to bedrock, circular main beams 12 feet in diameter, and the tops of the arches 350 feet above the water. Built in less than 7 years, it can still carry two full size modern freight trains on its double tracks. While this steel giant was being built, the fwench got busy and built the Eiffel Tower. Out of wrought iron.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/10/2011 at 09:13 AM
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Permalink • Today in History
Events
680 – Battle of Karbala: Imam Husayn bin Ali, grandson of pedophile prophet Muhammad, is decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I.
732 – Battle of Tours: Charles Martel defeats a large army of Moors, thus saving the rest of Europe from ‘the peaceful religion’ of Islam.
1938 – Munich Agreement: Sudetenland ceded to Nazi Germany. Peace in our time.
1971 – London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
1973 – Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with tax evasion.
Births
1813 – Giuseppe Verdi (Italian composer)
1895 – Wolfram von Richthofen (German field marshall)
1900 – Helen Hayes (American actress)
1917 – Thelonious Monk (American jazz pianist)
1946 – Ben Vereen (American actor)
1955 – David Lee Roth (American singer)
1958 – Tanya Tucker (American singer)
1969 – Brett Favre (American football player)
1974 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR driver)
Deaths
19 – Germanicus (Roman general)
1837 – Charles Fourier (French philosopher)
1901 – Lorenzo Snow (5th President of the LDS Church)
1913 – Adolphus Busch (American brewer)
1939 – Eleanor Rigby (seriously, she’s a real person)
1985 – Yul Brynner (Russian-born actor)
1985 – Orson Welles (American actor/director)
2004 – Christopher Reeve (American actor)
Posted by Christopher
on 10/10/2011 at 01:13 AM
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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