2011 – Page 62 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Batteredboro

Looks like Irene really hit Vermont hard with the flooding:

Now if that were a river, it would just be kind of bad. Except apparently that roaring rapids is normally a street. Governor Christie is being asked by reporters whether he regrets the evacuation, because the New Jersey shore apparently fared pretty well, and it wasn’t bad at all. The real story of Irene is the inland flooding. The Delaware River has yet to crest (it crested earlier this afternoon, but when I wrote this this morning, it hadn’t yet). They are still evacuating people up in New Hope. Pennsylvania had the second highest number of fatalities of any stateÂ (now no longer the case, NY, NC, NJ at 6, PA at 5. 4th deadliest storm since 1980.), pretty much exclusively related to falling trees and water.

Wind wise, I’ve seen Nor’easters that blew a lot harder than Irene, but they tend to come in Winter when the ground is frozen. The problem with this area getting any kind of tropical cyclone is are houses aren’t designed to handle it (basements and a lot of water are not a great combination), and we don’t have the natural selection for well rooted trees that people on the southern coastal regions do.

I will say one thing, this is the last house I ever buy with a finished basement. Growing up as a kid, we had a wet basement, and when it got wet, it was no big deal. When you have carpet, bookcases, washer and dryer, and computers and furniture in your basement, that’s a different story.

UPDATE: Mike W. knows someone personally, who is among the dead in Delaware. In retrospect we were very lucky, compared to some of the flood victims, even in my immediate neighborhood. I can walk to houses that were inundated.

Arms Trade Treaty

The left is busy trying to debunk Chuck Norris’s assertion about the UN Arms Trade Treaty. It’s also being covered by a blog UN Dispatch. You can find a source of documents here.

All I know is this: we do not yet have any formal treaty, but the parties involved with this are people I did not vote for, nor had a chance to vote forÂ and Â I do not trust them or their intentions. So as far as I’m concerned, they can take their treaty and shove it where the sun don’t shine, whether Chuck Norris is right or wrong. But everything I’ve seen suggests there’s much to worry about. From the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (the name of which should raise eyebrows immediately):

In considering problems relating to the unregulated circulation of small arms, it remains essential to focus on integrated policy approaches. The changing nature of armed violence, including where the United Nations has been active in peace operations, post-conflict reconstruction or development assistance, has blurred the line between armed conflict and crime, and between politically motivated and economically motivated violence. Peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities and development assistance require planning for small arms control and armed violence reduction as a priority. In such contexts, it is vital that traditional arms control measures be integrated into interventions that target the demand for weapons and enhance the ability of security providers and governance authorities to strengthen community security, manage conflict and mitigate violence.

Also from this document here:

The draft Bill establishes a principle that has developed globally in the last decade, and is a core objective of many governmentâ€™s efforts to strengthen their national legislation: â€œthe possession and use of weapons is a privilege that is conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety.â€

[…]

Policies targeting specific SALW typically do so because of certain features â€“ such as lethality or easily concealable firearms â€“ that make them particularly dangerous for civilian use. Specific SALW may also be prohibited because they are not only extremely deadly, but appear to serve no legitimate civilian function.

[..]

Licence applicants may be required to provide a good reason, justifying why they need to possess a firearm. Legislation may prescribe the circumstances under which possession of a firearm may be justified.

Ifâ€˜personal protectionâ€™is permitted as a good reason, applicants should prove to the police that they are in genuine danger that could be avoided by being armed. Research from UNDP in El Salvador indicated that when firearms were used in self-defence, the person was four times more likely to be killed than when firearms were not used in self-defence.

Sorry, given the supporting documents for this Treaty, it’s hard for me to say that Chuck is wrong. In fact, given that the United States accounts for about 1/4 of the UN budget, I would suggest pissing off the most powerful lobbying group in the country is a bad idea if you want to continue to occupy significant space on some of the most valuable real-estate in our country.

Don’t let the left fool you. There’s plenty to worry about from the UN. While we have the votes to prevent ratification of this treaty, it could wreak havoc with arms and ammunition from countries that do sign on. Take a look at some of your favorite cheap ammo, and see where it comes from. Them do the same for your guns. This is a big deal no matter what they tell you.

Maybe I Should Take Up Smoking

Cigar maker Edgar M. Cullman, dead at age 93. Remember kids, smoking is a sure path to an early grave.

I kid, I kid. The data is pretty incontrovertible that smoking is bad for you. But genetics, I think, is a greater determining factor. There are plenty of people who live the clean life that die young, and plenty to do everything wrong, and live to a ripe old age. In fact, studies on centenarians have shown that genetics probably plays more of a factor than lifestyle choices.

Comment and E-Mail Response

I normally make an effort to follow along with the comment threads, and try to read and respond to every e-mail. But while our blog hosting site (also known as my basement) is up and running fine, our off-site-backup and e-mail provider (also known as my friend Jason’s basement) is still without power since the storm. Since the town he’s in is along the Delaware River, they are still experiencing flooding, as the river is still above flood stage. While his house is well above the river, flooding could conceivably complicate power restoration.

Quote of the Day: Gun Traditions

The Boston Globe says:

NEW ENGLAND has a centuries-old tradition of both gun manufacturing and gun control. It shouldnâ€™t have to pick between the two. However, at least one manufacturer is trying to force the matter. Proposals to require that guns be made suitable for micro-stamping, a technology which would allow shell casings to be traced back to the exact gun they were fired from, have been introduced in the Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts legislatures. These have drawn significant criticism from gun manufacturers, at least one of which, Colt, is threatening to move out of New England if such legislation is adopted.

The rest of this sorry article admonishes the manufacturers for holding jobs hostage. Like the manufactures owe the hostile New England states a living, and are required to continually bend over and take it. No blame for the politicians pushing a completely unproven and dubious technology? It’s the politicians threatening the jobs, you ignoramuses at the Globe, not the manufacturers.

But not only is does the Globe show ignorance of who to blame, they show an ignorance of history as well. The Globe describes gun control in New England as a “centuries old tradition”. Reality is, it’s not even a century old tradition, at least not for the kind of gun laws that the Globe regularly speaks in favor of. Most of it, in fact, is less than a half-century old, and much less than 25. Centuries old Boston gun control was regulating where and how one could set up for target practice on Boston Commons, or the old Boston ordinance that said if you’re going to store your rifle, musket, pistol, bomb grenade or artillery piece, it would be nice if you stored it unloaded/deactivated so as not to cause fire hazards. It was still, until the 20th century, legal to carry a loaded pistol around Boston. Does the Globe favor returning to that gun control tradition?

This is not a tradition, Globe Editorial Board, it is a thoroughly modern hysteria. The legal framework this hysteria has produced, is in the process of being dismantled, using our very real constitutional tradition. Imagine that, Globe Editorial Board.

Unauthorized Practice of Law

Looks like things continue to go badly for the copyright troll Righthaven, as documented by Clayton and the Righthaven Victims blog. Couldn’t have happened to nicer people. I hope Clayton and others affected can get some of their settlement money back, if not from Righthaven directly, than from their puppet masters at Stephens Media.

Mystery I Didn’t Even Know Was a Mystery Solved

Apparently there’s a strain of yeast in lager yeast that no one has ever been able to identify. Turns out it’s a strain of a wild Patagonian yeastÂ that somehow made its way to Bavaria. The important takeaway from this is that this discovery is “paving the way for new types of designer beers.” Give the strain to the folks at Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware. If there’s anything good that be made from it, they’ll figure it out.

Mexico Blames US Gun Laws for Casino Attack

This takes a pair:

His voice cracking with emotion, President Felipe Calderon said Friday that the United States bore some blame for “an act of terror” by gangsters who doused a casino with gasoline and set a blaze that killed at least 52 people.

Followed by:

But in unprecedented, direct criticism of the United States, Calderon said lax U.S. gun laws and high demand for drugs stoked his nation’s violence. He appealed to U.S. citizens “to reflect on the tragedy that we are living through in Mexico.”

So someone kills a bunch of people using matches and gasoline, a weapon we regularly refer to as an easy way to kill a lot of people when our opponents insist guns must be controlled, because they can kill a lot of people easily… and the conclusion is our gun laws are to blame? This guy puts some of our worst city politicians to shame with deflecting blame.

And I’ve reflected, Mr. President, on the “tragedy we are living through in Mexico,” and have come to the conclusion the problem is that your country sucks. That’s not my country’s fault. Remember, we’re not building fences to keep our people in. There’s a reason for that.

Lessons Learned

A few things on my “to purchase” list as soon as I find employment:

ETQ TG32P12 4,000 Watt 7 HP 207cc 4-Cycle OHV Gas Powered Portable Generator. This is the third time I’ve find myself thinking “I really wish I had a generator right about now.” Time to get one.
BWSP The Basement Watchdog Battery Backup Pump This has close to the pumping capacity of my main pump. This should be able to keep the basement dry, even if we lose power for a while.
EarthAid Multipurpose Sandbags with Tie, 26-inch x 14-inch, 50 Pound Capacity (Yellow, Pack of 10).Â Found myself really wanting these during the night in order to channel water from the house. The grade of the neighborhood runs down to a small creek next door, so I take the neighbor’s water, and then pass it on. I had to use bricks last night to channel the water coming from his property to my back yard. It worked, but not as well as sandbags would have.
EtÃ³n FR160B Microlink Self-Powered AM/FM/NOAA Weather Radio with Flashlight, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger (Black).Â We’re Internet people, but we were using Bitter’s phone to listen to local radio. I realized we do not have a functioning radio in the house, except in the car. Need to change that. The radio was oddly comforting.
Remington RM1415A 14-Inch 8 amp Electric Chain Saw.Â Several limbs were brought down off my trees. The ones in my yard are small. The ones that fell in the neighbors yard are pretty big. The neighborly thing to do would be to help them clean it up, but I have nothing with which to help.

Wyatt got it worse than we did with his basement, and to top it all off had to go to work today. I hope all you New Jersey folks are doing well. They are the ones who got the hurricane force winds. Gusts are dying down around here, as the storm heads off. I am greatly relieved at that, since I am close to losing another large tree limb.

That Was Enough Storm for Me

Irene is moving on to bigger and better things, but we’re getting pretty severe wind gusts on the back side of the storm. Power could still go out, but since the rain has moved on, Â any power outage now the backup pump will handle just fine. But if we do lose power, the blog will be offline for some time, as they have so many customers out, they say it’ll be days before we get power restored. On the bright side, I could use my big old marine deep cycle battery to buy some extra time for the blog and Internets.

All I have to say is that people who live in Florida must be nuts. This was the first hurricane to strike the Jersey Shore in my lifetime, it was a category one, and I’m 50 miles inland. One of those for one lifetime is quite enough. I have never seen that much water in my life, and the records they are reporting for flooding back up that assertion. I literally had water shooting out of my basement walls. The local creek apparently is cresting 17 19 feet over flood stage.

We came out of this very very lucky, as we did not lose the power necessary to keep the basement dry. I hope I never again have to rush to clear out my basement while I watch the neighborhood excrement rise higher and higher in my utility sink, watch the water level in my sump pit rise as the intake overwhelms pump capacity, all the while worrying about a power outage forcing us to the backup pump, which would have no prayer of keeping up.

Now we have to put everything back in a dry basement, which will probably take 3x longer to accomplish than moving everything out did. But I’m grateful for that. We were quite close to a massive catastrophe insurance wouldn’t have covered, but were were spared. Thoughts and prayers go out to those who did not weather the storm as well as we have so far.

UPDATE from Bitter: Apparently, they are evacuating about a 3/4 of a mile from us due to the creek today. Fortunately, that distance is uphill so it’s no threat to us. The crest should happen in about an hour and then start to recede.

UPDATE from Bitter: About 2 hours later, and the local creek crested at 19.5 feet above flood stage and is now receding. There’s an apartment complex nearby that was evacuated in the last couple of hours due to sewage leaks & possible gas leaks. I admit, most of our neighbors appeared to have gone to bed last night based on how few had lights turned on when we looked out windows. I wonder how many are cleaning up sewage in their homes if they weren’t on top of the flooding.