Nice to finally feel well enough to get out and do something useful. So on last Saturday, before today’s return of Winter, we gathered along the banks of the North River and picked up trash.
Arlington Flyover
Two Air Force Pilots, Major Howard V. Andre Jr. and Major James E. Sizemore, were recently buried at Arlington National Cemetery and were honored with a flyover by civilian pilots. The Air Force pilots were Killed In Action over Laos during the Vietnam War and their remains were only recently discovered and returned for proper burial at Arlington. This Flight of Honor was truly awesome for the other pilots to plan and conduct it.
Powerline article on the Bundy Ranch
So let’s have some sympathy for Cliven Bundy and his family. They don’t have a chance on the law, because under the Endangered Species Act and many other federal statutes, the agencies are always in the right. And their way of life is one that, frankly, is on the outs. They don’t develop apps. They don’t ask for food stamps. It probably has never occurred to them to bribe a politician. They don’t subsist by virtue of government subsidies or regulations that hamstring competitors. They aren’t illegal immigrants. They have never even gone to law school. So what possible place is there for the Bundys in the Age of Obama?
There is no more place for them than there is for me. Ask not for whom the Bell Tolls, It tolls for us all (God-fearing, working class, native born Americans)
My Twilight Years
As I enjoy my twilight years, I am often struck by the inevitability that the party must end. There will be a clear, cold morning when there isn’t any “more.” No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat.
It seems to me that one of the important things to do before that comes, is to let every one of your family and friends know that you care for them by finding simple ways to let them know your heartfelt beliefs and the guiding principles of your life so they can always say, “He was my friend, and I know where he stood.” So, just in case I’m gone tomorrow, please know this.
I voted against that incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron currently in the White House!
Participating in a gun buyback program because you think that criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids.
Regards, Clint
Friend went to Maine this weekend (while I was picking trash) to see the launch of the Navy’s newest big ship. (Important update at the end)
Designation: DDG
Length: 600 ft
Beam: 80 ft
Draft: 28 ft
Displacement: 15,500 tons
Propulsion: All-electric Drive with (IPS), 2 Rolls-Royce MT30 Gas Turbines 36MW, 2 shafts
Speed: 30 knots
Crew: 142
Airwing: 2 SH-60 or 1 MH-60R, & 3 MQ-8 VTUAVs
Armament:
– 80 x PVLS (Std, ESSM, Tomahawk, VLASROC)
– 2 × 155mm Advanced Gun Systems
– 2 × Mk 110 57 mm gun CIWS
– 4 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
Ships in class: 3 building
DDG-1000 Zumwalt (Launched)
DDG-1001 Michael Monsoor (Building)
DDG-1002 Lyndon Johnson (Funded)
From the DDG-1000 ZUMWALT CLASS PAGE
No point in my trying to write anything more about this ship, follow the link above or here to US Navy 21st Century for a excellent and complete page on this ship and it’s sisters.
The only thing I would add is a note about the cost, 7 Billion dollars, cheap only if you compare it to our latest carrier (still a building) at 13 Billion and counting. I’m not one to short our national defense or pinch pennies while crabbing about maintaining the leadership on the sea. But everyone please keep in mind, the old ditty, “For want of a nail the shoe was lost …”. The “Nail” I’m worried about is the loose nail at the top of all these billions spent and to be spent. The current disgraceful Commander-In-Chief of our Armed Forces, BHO the boy from Kenya Indonesia Hawaii? Well into his second term, he has yet to effectively use or deploy in a timely manner the forces at his command. Nor has he shown he understands the uses and strategies of Naval power. My concern is about the number of hulls the US Navy has and it’s steadily dropping nature under Barry’s tenure. He is only going to allow so much money to be spent on the military, and that amount has and will continue to fall as long as he is president. 20 billion dollars for just two ships means that X number of current Navy hulls are going to be slated for early retirement. There comes a point that the US Navy will cease to be a world spanning navy and becomes a coastal defense force.
And in case you share our presidents lack of understanding of the importance and uses of naval power. That will be a BAD thing.
PS. I was just glancing at the page again after publishing it and noticed something, this 7 Billion dollar Navy ship has a suite of missiles, but the only long range missile in it’s magazine is the Tomahawk. The same Tomahawk that Obie is phasing out, zero in inventory by 2016. The rest of the missiles on board are intended to protect the ship from various threats; Anti-missile missiles, anti-submarine missiles, anti-aircraft missiles. But nothing else in the locker to carry the fight to the enemy. Might as well stay at home.
Update: Today I read some stories about what a deadly cool and futuristic warship The Zumwalt is. Because it’s designed to mount the newest weapons designed for the Navy; High Speed Railguns, and High Energy Lasers! Futuristic, Cool, Real Deadly Man!!!
One problem, those weapons don’t exist. Oh, they are under development and are even projected to be tested at sea in 2016. If the programs aren’t canceled, like every single other advanced weapon system proposed for the Army, Air Force or the Navy since, well, since BHO came to office. If by some miracle these programs are not canceled, at best it would be ten years before deploy-able real-world weapon systems would be available to the Zumwalt or it’s sisters. That’s a long time for 22 to 25 billion dollars of the Navy’s force projection to be tied up waiting for it’s punch to be installed.
At that, the Tomahawk would still be a better weapons system for most missions, longer ranged than the Rail-Gun, and do you really want to fire a high energy laser in the atmosphere from a very expensive ship that’s supposed to be “Stealthy”?
Firing the imaginary laser
Flash Traffic! I found this on The Duffel Blog and I had to add it to this post, they go together like lifers and new fish…
Update (Dec 8, 2015): I noticed a big spike in the hits going to this post and wondered why the extra interest, so I went looking and found this..
What had once been seen as the backbone of the navy’s future surface fleet[28] with a planned production run of 32, has since been replaced by destroyer production reverting to the Arleigh Burke class after ordering three Zumwalts.[29] The Zumwalt’s failure to meet cost and schedule estimates[30] is a result of a positive feedback loop of spiraling costs and plummeting productions numbers described by Chuck Spinney as the death spiral, joining other projects such as the F-22, F-35, and Future Combat System.[31]
Because of the decease in the number of hulls (to be built) the budgetary load of the R&D costs have increased to over $3 billion per ship. This explains the otherwise unfathomable cost of $7 billion for a single destroyer, advanced or not.
Since this decision to cancel the building of the rest of the Zumwalt class and build more Arleigh Burke class missile defense destroyers has been made, it can be assumed that the expensive ‘stealth’ capabilities of the Zumwalt class are now not as useful as the Navy once thought they were. The Navy seems to be going in the direction of ‘I’m here, but I can defend myself’ as opposed to the Zumwalt’s ‘Nah, Nah, you can’t find me’ defense. With only two platforms, will the Navy ever produce or deploy a laser defense weapon? Or is the cost and the limitations of that weapon system part of the demise of the DDG1000 class?
The upshot of this decision will mean more new Navy hulls in the water and that is a good thing. Or course that brings us back to the Obama hex on Tomahawk missile procurement. What will the all missile Navy be shooting?
Update (Nov 2016) Now this is just stupidity!
WASHINGTON — Barely two weeks after the US Navy commissioned its newest and most futuristic warship, armed with two huge guns that can hit targets 80 miles away, the service is moving to cancel the projectiles for the guns, citing excessive costs that run up to $800,000 per round or more.
No Laser, No Missiles, No Rail Gun and now No Main Gun ammunition; what’s it for?
It’s the worlds most expensive target.
You’re embarrassed to talk about it. You’ve wondered about it for years. Alas, you’re among the millions who want to know, “How do you pronounce Disqus?”
I’ll tell you, I pronounce it “NOT INTERESTED“.
Even the local Dead Tree Newspaper switched to Disqus for online comments. Then I stopped commenting on their online page.
I’ve tried Disqus, which makes it very easy for Internet Trolls to follow you around and piss in your ear. If you are an conservative.
“She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world,” said the university’s statement. “That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”
The Core values of cowardliness, submission to bullies, political correctness. Here we go again.
In the days following Brendan Eich’s forced resignation from Mozilla, there has been a swift and angry response directed towards the maker of the Firefox browser. Admittedly, I was livid when I learned of Eich stepping down. The inanity of Eich being forced from his job because of his view on gay marriage was difficult to comprehend.
According to reports, Eich was a man who didn’t make his viewpoints on gay marriage known. That was evident from the reaction of Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker who discussed the donation Eich made:
“That was shocking to me, because I never saw any kind of behavior or attitude from him that was not in line with Mozilla’s values of inclusiveness,” she said, noting that there was a long and public community process about what to do about it in which Eich, then CTO, participated. “But I overestimated that experience.”
She said this as if Eich suffered from some sort of mental imbalance. Apparently, it’s not possible to support one type of public policy and still be able to fathom the value of inclusiveness.
What does the tempest around Mozilla mean, to me at least. Well, I’m going to be trying out a lot of different browsers, because as I’ve said, unless Nigel Farage and Sarah Palin get into a hotel room together and start coding a new Conservative, Constitutional Correct internet browser we are all going to have to make due with what’s out there. Flawed and created by obnoxious little leftist hacks as they will be.
In the words of ABC correspondent Terry Moran, Kermit Gosnell was “America’s most successful serial killer.”
I’ve only been in America a few years, but one thing I’ve learned is that Americans are fascinated by killers and serial killers. You see it every night on prime-time TV — “Law & Order,” “Criminal Minds,” “Dexter,” “The Following,” “CSI” and “The Mentalist.” And that’s not including the TV movies — three on Ted Bundy, four apiece for John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer, three on Gary Ridgway and five on the Zodiac Killer.
So a film about Gosnell seemed like an obvious idea that Hollywood was neglecting.
Of course, the reason for this neglect was pretty clear: This serial killer was an abortionist who was completely unregulated. His trial threw up ugly realities about abortion that changed the minds of several jurors, a liberal journalist at the trial and even Gosnell’s defense attorney. Hollywood, with its Planned Parenthood fund-raisers, would want to stay away from this case.
That neglect and urgent wish for the trial and the issue to go away was obvious, especially as the media was a no-show at his trial.
“Reserved for media” – empty seats at Gosnell trial
If you want to donate to see this film get made Please go here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gosnell-movie
I’ve donated to Kickstarter, for a documentary by the name of “Puppycide“. Ironic isn’t it? Kickstarter is all over the issue of cops shooting dumb animals, but don’t want to touch something that involves the wanton murder of innocent babies. Well, you live and you learn. So, here’s a suggestion of who to sponsor instead…
Appalled by the double standard, we immediately pulled our project from Kickstarter and put it up on the rival site Indiegogo. The next day, after getting media inquiries about its censorship, the Kickstarter folks sent us a non-acceptance “acceptance” that noted pointedly that they reserved the right to take our project down at any time if our updates upset them. No, thanks.
Lastly, I’ve been thinking about who gives to charity, and funds good works. Every poll indicates that conservatives donate more and donate more often. I’ve observed that many times liberals “donate” to things that they want to use themselves; theaters, parks, each others political campaigns. I think it’s pass time for conservatives to hold each organization that they give too, to a higher standard. Make them be actually tolerant, not just lip service tolerant. If the values of America aren’t to disappear forever, we need to demand that they be followed.
Written by Sierra Bullets Vice-President of Sales Matt Reams
You hear all kind of numbers about how many firearms owners are in the USA, but you hear 70-80 million quite often. So for the sake of us not arguing that number – let’s cut it to 35 million. Do you know a gun owner that does not own at least one firearm chambered in .22 LR? Do you know any that are not looking for .22 LR ammo or would at least buy some if they saw it for normal prices? How many would they buy when they found it? A lot – right? But again, just to keep the argument on the low end, let’s say they would all be satisfied with just a single 500 pack. 35 million multiplied by 500 .22 LR rounds for them all – is 17.5 BILLION rounds. Let that sink in. Even at 25 million rounds being made PER DAY – that is 1.92 years’ worth of production.
Quite a few shooters in the United States, pity they all don’t vote. The welfare a’holes all vote, quite often. As often as they can, three, four times (one black chick in Ohio voted eight times for Barack Obama). So why is it that so many gun owners can’t vote even once?
In Connecticut, the blatantly unconstitutional law banning most previously legal semi-automatic guns has resulted in massive civil disobedience with most gun owners refusing to comply. And firing up the anti-gun-control forces in the state.
Estimates of the crowd varied from 3,000 to 5,000 — which would have gotten the it on the national news if if it had been a pro-abortion rally in Austin, Texas, of course, but doesn’t merit a word in the Connecticut-covering New York Times.
“We can fight off a tyrannical government,” he told the crowd. “That’s the reason for the Second Amendment.”
And as to incidents of violence like the Sandy Hook massacre? Kimball said government restrictions aren’t the answer. Armed and trained teachers are.
“If you really want to protect the children, you abolish ‘gun-free’ zones in the United States of America,” he said.
Government over-reach, refusal to obey the law or the Constitution, bypassing the legislative process and ruling through agency rule-making, fiat declarations and Executive Orders. We are beyond King George, we are into the rule of the God-King and his court. That didn’t end well as I remember.
Saturday April 12, 2014
Schedule of events:
10 am – 12 pm NSRWA’s Annual Clean Up
There will be captains at each clean up station (see list below)to give you instructions and trash bags. Volunteers may work by foot, auto or boat. All trash should be brought back to clean up stations by noon
12 pm: FREE Celebratory Cookout at the Driftway Conservation Area in Scituate. Winning kayak raffle ticket will be drawn.
Celebratory cookout sponsored by
Clean-up sponsored by
CLEAN UP STATIONS
North River Watershed
1. Driftway Conservation area in Scituate
2. Union Street Canoe Launch, Marshfield (I posted photos of the dire trash buildup here)
3. Hanover Canoe Launch on Riverside Drive, off Elm Street in Hanover
South River Watershed
4. Willow Street Bridege, Marshfield and Francis Keville Bridge area behind CVS
5. Marshfield Town Landing
Marine Beaches in Massachusetts
“The energy needed to refute BS is of an order of magnitude greater than the effort needed to produce the BS in the first place. ”
Brandolini’s law
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On the North River 