Barking Moonbat Early Warning System

Sarah Palin's presence in the lower 48 means the Arctic ice cap can finally return.

Friday - February 08, 2013

Found It

I drive through Flemington NJ a couple of times every week. Up at the end of downtown, a couple blocks past the famous old courthouse, is the town’s little war memorial park. It’s on a little triangular island of land where three or four roads come together, right in front of the Presbyterian church. Like so many of them do, ours started out as a memorial to those who served in the Civil War but has had inscriptions added for each of the conflicts since. So it has a nice statue on a fancy plinth, a little walk around reflecting area, a flagpole, and of course an old cannon, pointing straight down Main Street. I don’t think anyone actually goes into the park to visit because it’s in the middle of a busy intersection, but we all see it all the time.

And for years I’ve been driving past it, and looking at that strange old cannon, and wondering what it was and when it was from. I’m no master of historic artillery, but I can tell the 1770s guns from the 1860s guns, and I can tell the difference between a naval gun, a coastal piece, and a field piece. (Ok, I also know a bit about Armstrong, Whitworth, Parrot, Borgard, Buffington, and the burst-proof laminated iron guns made by the good old Phoenix Iron Company who later used the same technology to make all those gorgeous little bridges around my county.) But this one always looked strange to me because it has an iron frame and what look like spring loaded hanging hooks sticking up above the carriage. It’s always been in the back of my mind to visit that little park one day, and see if I can’t read some maker’s data on the gun. But that never seemed to happen, and late last night I realized I really didn’t need to: I’ve got the whole world right here on my keyboard. Besides, my camera is still hiding in some box in the garage from when we moved, and it’s cold out. And snowing!! So start searching Drew.

Guns on Main Street. Click for a huge picture.

Ok, what do I know? I know the carriage is made of metal, steel or iron, not wood, so this is probably post-Civil War design. So I started trying to Google up “cannon” and “field piece” with various dates. I also knew that by 1915 the US was using fully modern artillery, so my time range was 1870-1900. And I looked and I looked, and found everything under the sun except what I wanted. So it was back to square one. Hmmph. Ok, where is this thing? It’s in a park in Flemington. Fine, let’s Google “Flemington park cannon” ... and that started me in the right direction. It turns out that there are tons of little web pages made by folks who have a hobby called geo caching, where they go somewhere interesting, take down the coordinates on their GPS, then publish that location with some bit of a clue or a few pictures for others to go and take a look. And those that do, write comments on that page and a big discussion ensues. So I found one of those, and it lead me realize, DUH, that in this simplified age, the little park would be called a Soldier’s Monument instead of a War Memorial. Plug in those words. And ta-da. Mostly. A fellow UTwp resident had made a nice web page on the park, with a good picture of the field piece (I borrowed it above) and the thought that this was a 3” gun from the Spanish-American War. And he was right, mostly. The gun was actually from before the S-A War, had a 3.2” bore, and was technically obsolete when we sent it down there. But hey, so were our rifles and our food and our logistics and our medicine. That little war was the biggest FUBAR of the age. And with a bit more looking, I finally opened the floodgates. Heck, I found the user’s manual. I found the builder’s specs. I found photos of similar ones. And I even found a video of a bunch of 21st Century Americans literally having a blast shooting off real antique cannons which they own, shooting full power loads, with explosive shells. Legally. Was this a great country once or what?

The rest of the story below the fold, because this post will be long. But I’ll put in lots of pictures and data and links so hopefully it won’t be too boring. I hope. The whole post is another one of my “interesting history is all around you, open your eyes and amaze yourself at what you can learn if you try” posts.

See More Below The Fold

Observe that this gun, a 3.2 inch breech loading rifle, model 1890, is put together in layers, similar to the Whitworth Rifle of the Civil War. The tube, ie the barrel or the “shooty part” is inserted into a sleeve or jacket, and the sleeve adds extra strength to the firing chamber, ie the “bangy part”. This is how artillery pieces are still made today, in layers of steel. Notice that the sleeve forward of the trunnion (the round stubby hinge pins where the gun tube attaches to the carriage) is much longer and two pieces on the 1895 gun, but shorter and only one piece on the 1890 gun. Better steel, better technology. Steel was really coming into it’s own right when this gun was designed, so technology was advancing rapidly. Google found me part of a nice old book that shows how it works, how to work the gun, and even how much powder to feed the beast to fire it’s 13.5lb shell more than 4,500 yards. Coolness.

1st pic: Model 1885; 2nd pic: model 1890 See the difference in the forward part of the barrel sleeve?

The marvelously named website Fields of Thunder had the above pictures and more, plus some interesting information on the gun. See, what makes it interesting is that this is another transitional piece. It’s not quite one thing or the other. It’s a rifled breech loading gun, using a modern interrupted screw breech block, but it didn’t use fixed ammunition (ie a cartridge). It had a very primitive recoil compensation system - the French didn’t invent the hydro-pneumatic system used to this day until 1897 and they kept it secret for a while. That’s the spring hook things you see sticking up in the photos. What an ingenious but ineffective solution; you’d almost think Colonel Buffington had a hand in the design. But it worked a little. Instead of the cannon jumping back several feet on firing and then having to be re-aimed, the springs hooked to the wheel rims and kept the wheels from turning. Much. So the gun would only jump back a foot, and then wobble back and forth a few times. The springs didn’t absorb any recoil at all, they just caused the wheels to roll forward the same amount that they’d rolled backwards. And that was good enough for the era.

The newly designed 1885 3.2 Field Gun, unlike its predecessor the 3” Ordinance rifle (a front muzzle loading gun), was developed to load from the rear. This enabled the crew to load and fire at a more rapid rate. Its Indian War Era service record includes Wounded Knee in 1890. This gun was used in the Spanish American War battle at Santiago de Cuba and the Philippine Insurrection.

These breech loading unique weapons were the 1st to use dampening recoil brake systems throwing the gun forward and back, giving it the nickname “grasshopper”.

So it’s quite obvious that the photo with the gun crew above is staged. The wheel brakes aren’t hooked up. And with that limber pole (aka trail handspike) still in place, I feel sorry for the soldier standing behind the gun if his buddy pulls the lanyard. Ouch! Fields of Thunder has a picture with the brakes properly set for firing.

There are two brakes, one for each wheel.

The brake consists of two bow springs with their concave sides toward each other, assembled at one end to the brake-attachment socket by two 5/8-inch bolts passing through the ears of the socket. The other ends of the spring are bolted by two 5/8-inch bolts to the brake shoe [ the hook thingies ], which is designed to fit over the tire. The socket is bolted to the shank end of the clevis by the locking-lever bolt; the squared section of the latter works in an elongated slot in the shank of the clevis. The U-end of the clevis fits over the eye lug on the brake eye strap, and is bolted to it by a 13/16-inch clevis bolt.

In other words, the spring gizmo was hooked to the wheel on one end, and could slide in a slot on the other end. So it allowed the wheel to roll freely under recoil a bit, then stopped it via spring action. Then snapped it back. No shock absorbers either. Spring harmonics! No wonder the gun was called the grasshopper.

I also found information about the cannon on a forum - what doesn’t have it’s own forum these days? - that says how the final iteration of the design, the model 1897, was built with a much smaller powder chamber for use with the new smokeless powder, and that almost all of the model 1890 guns had their chambers sleeved down so that they could also use smokeless. I don’t know what was done for the model 1885 guns. Being made of lesser steel, perhaps they were scraped. Or sent to town parks.

There was also a slightly larger 3.6” gun for battery use of nearly the exact same design, and much larger 5” siege gun version. The 5” gun used a hydraulic buffer (shock absorber) instead of the leaf spring arrangement, but not axially in the way you’d think. No. Colonel Buffington at work again is my guess: the shock absorber attached to the arms of the carriage (I think the arms are called flasks [NO: the arm is called the trail. The sides of the trail are the flasks]) and the bottom of the wheels. Fire the gun, the wheels roll back, and the buffer’s actuator rod extends, then pulls the gun back. The wheels were semi-locked into a plate on the ground so they couldn’t slide far. Only a few hundred of the 3.2” guns were built, and I don’t know how many of the 3.6” or 5” ones were made. (a flask is also the name of the sectioned iron mold that earlier cannons were cast in, vertically, in a casting pit. Word for the day, eh?)

Here’s the video, also at YouTube. Watch all the older cannons going boom, and a bunch of guys on horses, or jump ahead to the :52 mark and then to the 1:21 mark. Then go read the forum to learn what that bit flying off is and why it’s Ok. And have a nice OOORAH moment with the music ... which makes me feel friggin’ OLD, because we were taught that song in music class in grade school. Image that. Songs about cannons. In school. Quick, call the Thought Police!!

Had this been a smoothbore muzzle loading cannon, it’s 3.2” bore would have made it a very “light” 5 pounder. The gun itself weighs 830lb plus the 1166lb weight of the carriage for a total weight just under a ton, but it would have been far heavier if it was made from iron instead of steel.

When I drive through Flemington, I always go past the memorial park from the back, so my first view of the field piece is from the breech end. Whoever welded close the breech left the lever handle sticking straight out, and it always made me wonder “what’s that stick thing on the back of the cannon?”. Curiosity piqued, and after half a dozen years, finally satisfied.

There are many more pages you can find on the 3.2 inch gun. While it was quick firing and accurate enough to use for counter battery, it was outclassed by the Krupps guns the Spanish had in Cuba, which were superior in every way. Their Mauser rifles were better than our Krags too, as Teddy Roosevelt admitted. For lots of years the US military was behind the technical curve compared to the rest of the world. We didn’t have much of a standing army, so they didn’t have much of a budget.

By 1905 this little gun was hopelessly archaic, and was replaced by the superior 3" Model 1902/1905 which was the Army’s first fully modern field piece, which in turn was outmoded by 1920 (and was never as good as the 1897 French 75mm gun anyway).

Updated: Ok, I was slightly wrong about the flasks. See page 125 here:

The whole supporting leg of the gun carriage is called the TRAIL. But steel was still expensive I guess, so the trail was not made as a closed box (similar to the laced beams on old bridges); the side plates of the trail are called flasks. I have no idea why. Maybe because the opening and the sides were so useful for storing stuff in and on? Beats me. But hey, I learned another new thing from this.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/08/2013 at 08:07 AM
Filed Under: • History • Military •
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Thursday - February 07, 2013

Combination Challenge #69

Still chapter 2 from Combination Challenge. Watch for the pin.

Black to move.

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

I’m calling this one for Wes. He got the first move right.

1. … Rxd4
2. Rxd4 Bxd4
3. g3 Rc2 winning the Rook.

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Posted by Christopher

on 02/07/2013 at 07:22 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •
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Bye Bye Jr

Jesse Jr, Jailbird To Be

Remember a few months back when he quit Congress in shame, citing his “mental problems” and how a big federal probe was launched on him? Things must be pretty bad there ...

Sneed has learned a plea deal is now on the table between former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and federal authorities probing allegations of campaign fund misuse.

Sneed is told the plea deal includes Jackson serving time in federal prison.

“Significant jail time is now definitely a part of the deal,” said a top Sneed source close to the probe.

“But I think [Jackson’s wife] Sandi, feels like she was thrown under the bus by her husband, ” now that a separate probe has begun on her, a second source added.

For years, Sandi Jackson was paid nearly $5,000 a month from her husband’s campaign fund through her consulting firm, J. Donatella & Associates. The payments continued, even after Jesse Jackson Jr. checked into a mental health facility last year and — except for a robo-call — did not campaign for the Nov. 6 election, which he won.

There is loads more. Read it all at Sneeds. Hey, I wonder what Blago has to say on this? This guy won an election without even campaigning while he was staying at the extra long sleeves hotel? Amazing. Boy howdy, that’s the Chicago Way for sure.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/07/2013 at 11:05 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Corruption and Greed • Politics •
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The Geese Did It

An article in last week’s New York Times bemoaned the “gun violence” in Chicago, and blames the rest of the country for it. After all, guns are illegal in Chicago, yet here they are killing hundreds of people all by themselves every year. While banging the tired old drum of “guns easily acquired in other states” it somehow completely fails to mention that it is already against the law for an Illinois resident to purchase guns directly from an out of state dealer. It’s also against the law to sell guns to known felons, and it’s against the law to bring those guns into the city of Chicago. There’s a whole lot of law breaking going on somewhere, or a huge amount of convenient theft.

CHICAGO — Not a single gun shop can be found in this city because they are outlawed. Handguns were banned in Chicago for decades, too, until 2010, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that was going too far, leading city leaders to settle for restrictions some describe as the closest they could get legally to a ban without a ban. Despite a continuing legal fight, Illinois remains the only state in the nation with no provision to let private citizens carry guns in public.

And yet Chicago, a city with no civilian gun ranges and bans on both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, finds itself laboring to stem a flood of gun violence that contributed to more than 500 homicides last year and at least 40 killings already in 2013, including a fatal shooting of a 15-year-old girl on Tuesday.

Blah blah blah. Dave Blount at news blog Moonbattery takes them to task and mocks their asinine argument. Yay Dave.

A sidebar article supports the “it’s everybody else’s fault” premise, and shows us a map of traces the Chicago cops did on 50,000 “crime guns” recovered in a 12 year period:

It’s pretty obvious that, while most of the guns came from just outside of Chicago, a vast number seem to have migrated right up the central corridor. Central corridor? Migrated?? A ha! And in a flash I knew the real culprits:

(NYT map roughly overlaid with Mississippi Flyway Migratory Bird map)

The geese did it!

(What the heck. Storks deliver babies; why can’t geese deliver Glocks?)

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/07/2013 at 10:03 AM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Guns and Gun Control • Humor • Media-Bias •
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Good Dog

A Labrador retriever named Kentucky is being credited with helping authorities find the body of its owner, who died hiking in a nature preserve in northern New Jersey.

West Milford police tell The Associated Press that a search team saw the dog’s eyes reflecting off headlamps during its search late Saturday of the heavily wooded and hilly Apshawa Preserve.

Nearby, the team found the body of 51-year-old Bjoern Waalberg, who had apparently died hours earlier.

Police say Waalberg and his dog set out for the hike mid-afternoon Saturday. The man’s wife alerted authorities just after 7 p.m. when he did not return. His body was found just before 10 p.m., his dog close by.

Authorities say the hiker’s death does not appear to be suspicious.

Semper fi, pooch.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/07/2013 at 09:43 AM
Filed Under: • Animals •
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where islam spreads, freedom dies

No surprises here. Not that you’d expect any. A park in Memphis, some journalists in Austria, political correctness and race awareness is alive and most unfortunately well. It’s so healthy in fact, if seems like there is no end to the lunacy.

btw, I’ve always though all those asses raised in the air looked pretty damned stupid.

Anyway, to quote the late and very great Dave Allen.

“Thank God I’m an Atheist”

H/T again to Islam versus Europe

Austria: Repentant Journalists Offer to do Free Work for Muslim Organisations After Being Condemned for Discrimination

The Press Council has condemned the free newspaper Heute [Today] for discrimination against Muslims. 66 readers, a record number, complained about an article. Heute is now taking the necessary steps in response to the incident. The authors of the piece, who according to the Press Council seriously infringed the Code of Standards, had already declared their willingness to do unpaid charity work for Islamic organisations.

The judgement came in response to the article: “Jealousy: Man strangles wife in front of nursery school”, which appeared in the newspaper on 7 December. The following passage generated uproar:

The driver (43) is the type of man who fortunately tends to live behind the crescent moon. In countries where the backside is higher than the head while praying. They consider their partners to be their property. If they act independently, their pride is wounded and they crack up.

...The two authors, Jörg Michner and Wolfgang Höllrigl, who wrote the bad article, also declared their willingness to do unpaid charity work for Islamic organisations. Even more: In conjunction with the managing board, the editorial team intends to develop an internal editorial code of conduct. New review loops for the editorial team will be introduced for articles written late in the evening and there will be training sessions to heighten the sensitivity of the Heute writing staff, according to the Press Council.

Various government ministers, multicultists and genocide propagandists have praised the editors’ reaction to the judgement, but I can’t bring myself to translate it.

Poor Austria. To have come to this. Of course it’s going to get worse once that country, along with the rest of Europe, become islamic.

Germany too is having it’s problems with muslim school kids. Oh that’s a big surprise. News here tells of German born kids outnumbered in one area, and being bullied by muzzy kids in school and threatened. Being referred to as “Christian Shits” is the norm in one school. But the Germans and I suspect the Austrians as well, are soooooooooo worried about being labeled racist Nazis, that they will endure almost anything and go to any lengths to prove they are not. Even in the face of national suicide. Generations yet unborn will be raised with the national guilty conscience, and will continue the practice of the bended knee and begging forgiveness for things even their parents had nothing to do with.

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Posted by peiper

on 02/07/2013 at 06:50 AM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • muslims •
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this might not have happened, but don’t ya wish it had?

H/T to Jim Miller for this.

I don’t actually believe this was mailed anywhere except email but, it would be nice to believe it’s true.

True or false, I found it funny. And I sure needed something to laff at after reading the very depressing story posted by Drew yesterday, with regard to Confederate parks being renamed. What’s next? A ban on the word Confederate?

Is my country worth returning to anymore? I mean, so if I could get away from here, return home to the USA, would I be able to tell the difference?
Ignore the brief rant please. Just upset by that story. That isn’t something I’ll be able to get over soon if ever. I’m still in mourning over the loss of our proud Stars and Bars in public places, just to suck up to race bandits on the left. May they rot in hell.

THIS IS PRICELESS: ACTUAL PASSPORT APPLICATION LETTER SENT BACK TO STATE DEPARTMENT

Dear Mrs. Ms. Or Sir: I’m in the process of renewing my passport and still cannot believe this. How is it that Radio Shack has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a cable TV from them in 1987 (23 years ago), and yet, the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date. For Christ’s sake, do you guys do this by hand? Ever heard of computers?

My birth date you have in my social security file. It’s on EVERY income tax form I’ve filed for the past 30 years. It’s on my Medicare health insurance card and my driver’s license, it’s on the last eight damned passports I’ve had, it’s on every stupid customs declaration form I’ve had to fill out before being allowed off the plane for the last 30 years. And it’s on all those census forms that we have to do at election times. Would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother’s name is Maryanne, my father’s name is Robert and I’m reasonably confident that neither name is likely to change between now and when I die.

Between you and me, I’ve had enough of this bureaucratic bullshit! You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my #*&#%*& address. What is going on? You must have a gang of bureaucratic Neanderthal morons working there! Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? And “No,” I don’t want to dig up Yasser Arafat, for shit sakes. I just want to go and park my ass on a sandy beach. And would someone please tell me, why would you give a damn whether I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? If I ever got the urge to do something weird to a chicken or a goat, believe you me, I’d sure as hell not want to tell anyone!

Well, I have to go now because I have to go to the other end of the city and get another #*@&#^@*@ copy of my birth certificate, to the tune of $100. Would it be so difficult to have all the services in the same area so I could get a new passport the same day? Nooooo, that would require planning and organization. And it would be too logical for the @&^*^%@% government. You’d rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off. Then, we have to find some asshole to confirm that it’s really me in the damn picture - you know, the one where we’re not allowed to smile.
Hey, you know why we can’t smile? We’re totally pissed off!

Signed- An Irate Citizen.

P.S. Remember what I wrote about getting someone to confirm that the picture is me? Well, my family has been in the United States of America since 1776. I have served in the military for something over 35 years and have had security clearances up the ying yang. However, I have to get someone important to verify who I am - you know, someone like my doctor....WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN INDIA! And you assholes want to run our health care system?????

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Posted by peiper

on 02/07/2013 at 05:54 AM
Filed Under: • Humor •
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Wednesday - February 06, 2013

The Great Green Iron Hunter

Spotting ...

Spotting ...

Spotted ...

Tagged ...

(clicky)

Bagged.

The 1890 Pratt through truss in Finesville NJ is a New Jersey bridge all the way. It’s located in a Jersey town on a Jersey river that begins and ends in the state. The designer/builder, G. M. Rusling, was from Hackettstown, a few miles to the northeast. The iron was rolled by the Passaic R.M. Co. on the other side of the state. The bridge has been strengthened a bit over the decades but still retains much of it’s original flavor and functionality. It also fits closely to it’s mill environment, perhaps because hardly one building on the street has changed in over 150 years. Ok, the mill is now apartments, but the outside is the same.

The Riegelsville suspension bridge circled in the top picture is the one I wrote about last time, the one built by the sons of the guy who built the Brooklyn Bridge. I circled it just to show how dense these antique iron creations are in this area; I could point out two more on that same picture, and another 3 or 4 just beyond it’s borders. And just a bit more than a mile away, thousands of cars an hour whiz by on the highway, oblivious. Maybe it’s better that way.
.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/06/2013 at 10:26 PM
Filed Under: • Bridges •
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Etude For A Winter Wednesday

Once upon a time I took a writing class where we’d be shown a picture and then create an essay or story based on it. Sometimes it was challenging. Sometimes it was dead easy.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/06/2013 at 02:56 PM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •
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Only His Hairdresser Knows For Sure

Ahmadumjihad: Nukes. Does He or Doesn’t He?
Because making up stories about your WMD always works in your favor. Right Saddam?

Ahmadinejad: Iran already a nuclear state, but has no intention of launching attack on Israel

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that while Iran is already a nuclear state, it has no intention of attacking Israel. Ahmadinejad was interviewed on the eve of his visit to Cairo, where he will attend the 12th Islamic Summit Conference, due to open there on Wednesday.

To get the latest updates on Israel, Iran and the Middle East, subscribe now to Haaretz for only $1 for the first month

Before his trip, he gave a long interview to the editor-in-chief of Egypt’s newspaper Al-Ahram. Although Al-Ahram ran the entire interview only in its print edition, excerpts appeared on Egyptian websites.

Ahmadinejad said the world must now treat Iran as a nuclear country. “They want Iran to go back to what it was in the past, but they won’t succeed. They assume we’ll give in to pressure; such thoughts are misguided. We’re already an industrial and nuclear country, a country that has conquered space. For years we have been thinking about sending a human being into space, and we will do that, with Allah’s help. We must ensure development and growth and bring them to pass, and the world must acknowledge our progress,” he said, adding that the best solution was cooperation with Iran.

blah blah blah, and more of the usual shiite.

But “Iran is already a nuclear state”? What exactly does that mean, little leader? You don’t have a functioning reactor, and we’ve never been told about any attempts at proving your nukes work, a la North Korea. So what are you saying? And the world “must treat Iran as a nuclear country” for only one real reason. And it isn’t because you want it that way.

Not that we didn’t know this day was coming ... at least 10 years ago. Bush wouldn’t do anything, all those idiot UN inspectors and NSA analysts flat out lied, and Obama the Muslim probably sent Hillary over there with 50kg of plutonium.

So if it isn’t real this day, this time, it will be soon. And then what?

Personally, I think we should gas Tehran just for him saying this. Punishment for lying. Lying about your intentions, or lying about your possession. Either way, it’s sarin time. That’s the price tin pot dictators pay for WMD.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/06/2013 at 11:42 AM
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •
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Just Stay Home

Despite “excellent security”, tourists in Acapulco raped, robbed, and beaten

MEXICO CITY—Six Spanish tourists on vacation in Acapulco were raped by masked gunmen who burst into their lodgings in the middle of the night, roughed up their companions and made off with cash, laptops and other valuables, authorities said.

The attack early Monday on what was in Mexico a long holiday weekend came as the one-time tourist mecca struggles to salvage its reputation. Acapulco, faded gem of Mexico’s Pacific coast, has become one of the deadliest cities in the country as rival drug traffickers fight for control.

“This is a very regrettable incident that undoubtedly hurts Acapulco,” Mayor Luis Walton Aburto said at a news conference.

Most of the violence has been limited to dicier parts of the city not frequented by tourists. But this attack took place near the beach about six miles south of the so-called Diamond Zone, Acapulco’s newest and most luxurious enclave.

Acapulco’s city government press office said the tourists had rented a bungalow on Enchanted Beach south of the city, alongside small four-star hotels that advertise themselves as places for meditation, relaxation and yoga.

Walton said at least five gunmen entered the rooms where the tourists were sleeping, beat and tied up six men and raped six Spanish women. A seventh woman, a Mexican national, was unharmed, he said. The nationalities of the male tourists were not disclosed.

Right on the beach, in the trendiest part of the most famous and money making chunk of the country. Good going, amigos. Muy bueno.

Oh, and “violence limited to the dicier parts of the city”?? Are you kidding me?? The part of Acapulco that isn’t beachfront tourist area is maybe 2 square miles. And the federales can’t keep that area peaceful and happy, when the entire city has good paying jobs working in the tourista trade. Riiight.

Obviously Mexico can not protect anything, anyone, or anywhere from the narco thugs. Maybe we should invade 150 miles or so “for their own good”, clear out the population, and claim the land down to the next river. Not that we’ve got any use for it, but we should have a buffer zone. Just in case, you know?
In the meantime, stay the hell out of Mexico. Spend your vacation money somewhere else, like in your own home state.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/06/2013 at 11:23 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Mexico •
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Instant Unintended Consequence

Dems In CA: Bill To Force Gun Owners To Have Gun Liability Insurance
Guess who provides it at no to low cost to their members? The NRA.

Into the arms of the enemy; push!

Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would require California gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover damages or injuries caused by their weapons.

Similar bills have been introduced in other states after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. They include Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York.

“I was moved, like many others, being the father of two young children, by the Sandy Hook incident and looking for constructive ways to manage gun violence here in California as well as the rest of the country,” said Assemblyman Philip Ting of San Francisco, who introduced AB231 along with Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez of Los Angeles.

I am so sick, tired, and disgusted by these genital sores in human form using a pile of those dead children as their moral high ground. Funny how they didn’t introduce this “obvious” “common sense” legislation 5 months ago.

Ting equated the idea to requiring vehicle owners to buy auto insurance. Gomez said it would encourage gun owners to take firearms safety classes and keep their guns locked up to get lower insurance rates.
...
Some proposals would require buyers to show proof of insurance before they could purchase a weapon. The proposal in California would apply to anyone owning a weapon, Ting said, though the bill’s details are still being worked out.

Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said most gun owners already act responsibly and can be sued for damages if they don’t.

He said the proposal is part of an ongoing attempt to “price gun owners out of existence,” particularly the law-abiding poor who live in crime-ridden areas and need protection the most. Criminals would ignore the law, he said.

Moreover, he questioned whether it is constitutional to require someone to buy insurance to exercise a constitutional right.

“If they don’t address it in committee, I’ll guarantee they’ll have to address it in court,” Paredes said.

Ting said he and Gomez plan to work with gun owners and opponents to craft a constitutional bill. It will not require insurance companies to offer gun insurance, but will encourage them to enter the market.

He noted that the National Rifle Association itself already offers its members the chance to buy liability insurance, despite its opposition to requiring gun owners to buy such policies.

Golly, and when NRA membership in California suddenly jumps by 15 million, what kind of political clout will they have then?

${lang:my_avatar}$

Posted by Drew458

on 02/06/2013 at 10:46 AM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (4)

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Cowardly Revision

Memphis Quickly Changes Parks Named After Civil War Heroes
It never happened! We always hated those guys! Racists!!

The Memphis City Council on Monday voted to change the name of the city’s Confederate Park [and] two other parks that honor notable members of the Confederacy.

... the council voted 9-0 to pass a resolution renaming Confederate Park and Jefferson Davis Park, located in downtown Memphis and Nathan Bedford Forrest Park, which is located a few miles away. Three council members abstained from voting.

The idea for the resolution to change the name of all three parks emerged Monday morning, after council members learned of a state House bill that would prevent parks named after historical military figures from being renamed.
...
The resolution changes the name of Confederate Park to Memphis Park; Jefferson Davis Park to Mississippi River Park; and Nathan Bedford Forrest Park to Health Sciences Park.

The name changes upset those who believe the council is trying to change history by downplaying the significance of the Confederacy’s struggle against Union forces. It was applauded by at least one civil rights activist.

Chickenshits. Perhaps a better idea would be to erect a series of Learning Boards in those unrenamed parks, like the ones you see at nature parks showing you what kind of tree you’re standing under and what plant is giving you that rash on your arm. Show both sides of the story. Let people figure things out for themselves. Yes, it’s complicated. So?

Oh wait. Anything that might mention that secession and the rise of the Confederacy was a push back against excess federal powers would be a criticism against Obama and Statism. Can’t have that. Raaaaacist! Raaaaacist!! It was all about slaves!!!

Arrgh. Ok, I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole prelude to that War. 150 years later it’s tough to see it clearly. On the one hand, what was seen as excessive federal powers in those days would merely be a light hearted jest today, but that doesn’t mean they were wrong to object to it. On the other hand, the South had used the threat of secession for years and years as a club to bend things their way. The North finally called their bluff, and a few years later when they finally got serious about fighting, laid down some serious ass-kicking. On the third hand, it’s always going to boil down to slavery, no matter what peripheral “state’s rights” (states don’t have rights, only powers) may have been involved.

On the fourth hand, I’d like one of those Learning Boards to explain to some benighted people what “2/3 of a person” really meant, since that bit of the Constitution will go under the Root Causes column. OMFG it galls me when I hear some pineapple headed inner-city rabble-rouser getting all uppity about that one. Stuck On Stupid for 9 generations.

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Posted by Drew458

on 02/06/2013 at 10:12 AM
Filed Under: • History •
• Comments (3)

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Tuesday - February 05, 2013

Proud member…

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Posted by Christopher

on 02/05/2013 at 07:16 PM
Filed Under: • Obama, The One •
• Comments (4)

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing

Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:

Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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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.