in my previous articles on this topic, some have criticized me for me a hopeless old-out-of-date poop when it comes to my preference for wool clothing when it is wet and cold. and, some of the critics have been less than complimentary in their assessments of my intelligence and/or judgment in saying this.
one fellow in a chat room said i was a bit of an idiot for not being with the times, and recommending the latest in military chic synthetics in the wet and cold.
but, there are a couple considerations here that need to be stated, and i missed the mark a bit when i did not bring it up earlier. a bit remiss, you might say.
and, that is cost. and, probably availability in a "crunch" situation. the military stuff is very costly, and it is not as widely distributed as the stuff made from sheep, .e.g., wool.
now, i recommended pendleton and filson as being brands/manufacturers who build sturdy and serviceable clothing. the fact is, however, that wonderfully serviceable stuff that is even more widely available, and worlds cheaper is readily available. it has brand names such as brooks brothers, and trade names such as irish tweed, and the like.
the vendors? why, your local thrift shops, of course.
you can go into any thrift shop, be it the "value village" or "st. vincent de paul's" such as dot my home area, and you can find rack after rack after wrack of old suits, suit jackets and sport jackets, and discarded sweaters for sale at give away prices.
you don't think this stuff is warm and comfy? the next time you are out and about in an urban setting in the cold and damp, or even snow and cold rain, look around you a little bit to what the bums and the homeless wear. they are not dressed in cottons, or synthetics, ... , but, they are dressed in yesteryear's fashions.
how do you think the harris tweed jacket was developed? i do not know for sure, but, i would take a bit of a wager on it, and i would bet it was standard working fare for irish, scottish and british isles sailor in the quest for commercially viable catches of fish. you may think of the lapel as a fashion statement, but, i have worn enough tweed jackets in the dank and damp to know that when you turn the lapels up against the back of your neck, and button the thing to your adam's apple over a good heavy sweater that you are well accoutered.
simple as that.
a good heavy wool suit coat, on top of good heavy pant, over some long johns and a heavy watch sweater, w/ a surplus watch cap, and you are good to go. i don't like heavy synthetic garments, (given that i don't care what anyone says, in my experience they are damp and heavy in really thick weather just as much or more so than good wool), but, i will concede the utility of a light weight gortex shell of good quality over my wool.
but, for the basic outfit, give me wool. surplus or new.
it is durable, ... , i have a twill filson timbercruiser jacket that is 40 years in service, and still going strong. it is easy to take care of, ... , if you want to launder it, don't use heat, agitation or detergent, but simply soak it over night w/out disturbance, in the absolute coldest water you can muster. then hang it to dry, or block it, if you know how to do that. and, i can tell you that if you like to spill butter or cooking oils or other such substances like gun oil on pricey synthetic wear, you really take the utility out of the garment. i don't know what you have to do to take wool out of service.
so, i will go with the wool in a shit hits the fan scenario. i've nothing against the new military chic if that is what you want, ... , but, i think wool performs as well, is cheaper by light years, and is far more durable.
and, one final matter. in the pacific north west, i can wear my pendletons and my filsons in open company, polite or notorious, and not raise an eyebrow. i don't think the same can be said about the military chic synthetics ... you wear them, and you stand out like a sore thumb.
just sayin'.
john jay @ 07.30.2013
p.s. i am not of the bill gates clan, so my finances are at a bit of a reach if i buy an orange julius. but, if i had the money ... .
you want some good outer wear. give "dale of norway" a gander. they make jackets and pants out of a knit wool that is mildly felted to close the knit a bit. the stuff is as tough as heavy duty tow strapping. it's incredible. you will also have to ransom your eldest born good looking daughter to afford it. but, this is good stuff.
i would take it over any military clothing devised anywhere, unless that military is scandanavian and wears "dale of norway" fabricated stuff.
i only wished pendleton or filson made the same sort of item. i'd ransom my daughter. any day of the week. sorry amelia, but, you haven't bought me any for christmas, so i gotta sell ya. laughing.
where are you gonna go? how are you going to live?
if attacked, how will you fight? with what?
maybe you better get the hell out of dodge, "while the getting is good," as they say.
me, i stay and fight where i am, and where my friends are. to put it in more contemporary terms.--
i am not jumping out of the water in which i swim, and which is my home. i am not abandoning those tactical and strategic advantages which i possess where i am, only to put myself into a strange situation in a head long panicked flight.
i die where i stand, if need be. that's my choice. simple as that.
john jay @ 07.29.2013
reply to luckstar61:
(dear reader, i suggest that you read his comment. it is well thought out, based on education, training and experience, and the application of considerable thought. a good man, luckstar61.)
r:
agreed on all points.
a wonderful comment. very much to the point at hand.
don't forget, i did mention beans, rice and the like. and, as always, green veggies are hard to beat, if they can be had.
water. wool. and, fat are the basics. the rest are very welcome, and, as you note, over the long haul, very much necessities as well.
staying warm, staying hydrated.
and, for christ's sake, don't walk the ridge line.
i have before me what i believe is the initial offering of "off grid" magazine, the summer of 2013 issue. it has an article in it, at page 50 entitled "brown-bagging it," authored by gorden meehl to which i take some minor exception.
the error in the article, if any, (and you may disagree w/ what follows), is contained in the "side bars" in which a certain disdain to salt and fat is displayed, quite consistent with the attitudes of almost all well fed suburbanites. if you eat well in normal situations, you will probably share this disdain.
but, this is about the fabled "shtf" situation, in which your pallet should be a bit less discerning. see "midnight update," just before the signature line, below.
now, let me make myself clear. i am not so worried for you during warm weather. there are several time honored solutions to taking care of yourself in fair weather, and one is called hunger, and the other is called staying hydrated. if you are like most well upholstered americans, loosing a little lard off your butt is not going to hurt you any during the warm months, and you should be able to improvise even without shelter. and, there is one other recourse you can take if you have to in order to survive, and that is the ancient human expedient of bodily perspiration: it may stink over time, and it may be uncomfortable, but rarely is it fatal.
what concerns me for your welfare is when it get in-climate. this is when you can ill afford to disdain salt and fat, especially if you are under the burden of daily exertion.
you can get along ago is it is only reasonably cold: (real cold is actually pretty dry, and pretty easy to stay dry in.) trying shivering. you can get away with being wet, if it is not too cold. what will kill you pretty quickly, especially without adequate shelter, is a condition of cold, wet and wind. and, exposure to all three.
elk camp.
let me explain elk camp to you.
i once hiked into the woods, carrying my camp on my back, during a driving rain storm, which soaked everything by the time i began to pitch my tent. and, if it wasn't soaked clear through before the tent went in, it was by the time it was up. i spent a long night, sitting naked on an aluminum pot (the biggest i had), trying to dry my clothes by the heat from a coleman stove.
it never stopped raining outside, hard. when i had to pee, i did it on my knees from the open tent flap, no way was i going out into that stuff again. was i miserable? your damned right i was miserable, cold and wet. was i exposed to any danger of expiring from exposure to the wet and cold? nope, not in the slightest.
i had dried salami, triscuits and all the water and instant cocoa in the world, and my metabolism stayed unimpaired, and continued making body heat, though not as much of it as i would have liked. and, i dried out the next day, sort of. but, i wrung the water from my wool garments, and though they were damp, they still continued to help me retain body heat, and i gradually "cooked off" the added moisture in them over the day's exertions.
let me tell you about the "camp from hell." (the above was merely the "night from heck," if that.)
friends and i decided to take a camp back into an area just north of rimrock lake (west of yakima, washington), and camp at the 6,000 feet level, so that we could be off the beaten path and hunt for elk in relative isolation from the hordes. going in, we were elated, because we had about 6 to 8" of snow on the ground, with prospects of more.
this is great for tracking game.
our elation began to abate a little bit when it started to warm some, and then to rain a whole bunch. by the time the second trip in rolled around, it had rained hard, and every time a boot was lifted from a newly made track, the hole immediately filled w/ about 2 inches of water.
by the time we put the tents up, it was miserable. i had chosen to erect them were i usually put them up, but it was in a bit of a low spot. in short, a slushy little pond. in a cussing match with my to-be wife, she arranged camp while i excavated trenches around the tents to drain the water from the camp site. you've never lived, until you've pitched a tent in a location from which the water is running to the brim in snow trenches, like the water in a major irrigation canal.
we woke the next morning, pretty damned miserable. cold, and wet, and not very rested.
rollie taylor to the rescue.
rollie is stubborn, sometimes to a bit of a fault. but, he came through that morning. in a couple trips carrying about 90 lbs of provisions, he had brought in potato's, veggies, bacon and more cans of baby clams than any sane person would ever had contemplated. and, butter, and celery, too boot. in a dutch oven, cast iron variety, (to rollie, there is not other kind), he made an incredibly large chowder. with a huge scum of butter, salt and pepper bubbling along with the rest of it, so thick it belied belief.
we ate huge amounts of it all day long.
the hunting? it wasn't very good. the snow had crusted on top, "just right," almost enough to support your full weight, but when you weighted one foot, you broke through into the snow. and, it was cold enough, so that when you reached "bottom," you were standing on a 2" thick slab of solid, clear, and very slick ice. step wrong, and you were on your butt.
rollie got along pretty well on the slope we thought might hold some elk holding up from the weather. he was wearing "corks," which are heavy soled logger's boots with little spikes on the bottom, to secure purchase on wet logs and the like, which loggers have to negotiate from time to time.
i was not wearing "corks." i fell, repeatedly. that night, as i walked back into camp in the dark, i slipped and fell the final time on a little downhill pitch, and landed flat on my shoulders and the small of my back, with my arms and legs splayed out to all sides. the only thing i could do, the air knocked from me, was wriggle and cuss, first weakly then at the top of my lungs. merriment greeted me as i slogged into camp. in the morning, rollie strolled back into the tent after his morning ablutions, and thanked me for the "snow angel" i had made during the ruckus the evening before. (i had my revenge, but, that's another story.)
but, we were comfy, more or less. oh, it stayed very wet, and very cold, by turns, but, we got along for a while. the secret was wool, (which i advise you purchase in the stead of modern materials, which i do not think sturdy enough to last long exposure to harsh conditions, ... , i recommend pendleton shirts, and filson everything else, including jackets, pants and socks, and wonderful merino wool long johns, and lots and lots of fat and salt.
lots and lots of fat and salt. again, it is not hard to get along in the cold, so long as you are moderately well dressed. and, a little wet never hurt anyone, so long as the temperature stays moderate, say 45 to 50 degrees fahrenheit. but, the most debilitating weather in the whole world is cold and moisture combined, and wind.
this kind of weather will kill you very quickly if you are out in it without shelter, and you cannot find respite from it.
then your only defense is your body's metabolism, and its concomitant ability (if it lasts & holds up) to generate as much heat as the environment is soaking out of you. if you do not fuel your furnace, your furnace will not produce heat. if you eat lots and lots of fat and salt, you should be o.k., though you sit naked in a tent, your butt purchased on top of an aluminum pot heated by a camp stove and lantern: it will not be as much fun as snuggling up next to a loved one in a nice little village on the mediterranean, but, you should get by.
fat. salt. and, the luxury of some carbs and a little protein, and you will be o.k.
what do i recommend for food in harsh winter conditions, potentially involving cold, wet, wind, exposure and what may be great amounts of physical exertion? (one year rollie and i packed an elk that i had shot from a location a little past our camp site. by the time we got it out, we were both stripped of our outer wear, down to the bottom layer of insulated undie tops .... walking the last couple miles in a pelting rain, the condensation rising in a "steaming cloud" off our shoulders and heads, laboring under the load of an elk quarter each. our breakfast? eggs. toast. bacon. sausage. ham. and, all the cocoa we could gulp down. we carried that elk up hill, over rock, mud, snow and frozen mud, and then in areas of muck and goo on side hills exposed to the sun. in a rain. but, we were working, our metabolisms were in good shape, functioning and fed, and though tired to the bone, no worse for the wear.)
if you must have meat, make it the lowly pig. sausage, bacon and the like with a bit of ham. and, you must not eschew the fat and the salt. (in a survival situation, e.g., shit hit the fan, canned bacon will do very well, indeed, thank you. yes, there is such a thing. canned bacon. what an idea!!!)
vienna sausages, right out of the can over crackers, are gourmet fare in elk camp, and just like eating pure sticks of butter, given the fat in them. tinned chili, extra thick and extra hot, are pretty much like canned salvation, when the weather turns nasty. and, my favorite of all, nalley's canned tamales, which are literally heart attacks in a can, but, will keep your skinny ass alive long enough to get you to the emergency room. they are pure fat, with chili and tomato sauce thrown in.
with this, combine potatos, or rice, or beans, or with all of them at once, if you are able.
these ingredients, if taken in sufficient quantity and supplemented by a bit of cheese and dried beef jerky, are enough to get you through the toughest of conditions if you maintain a proper mental outlook.
"midnight update:" the point of all this? what, you may ask, is the point of all this story telling? the point of all of this, is that if you cannot acquire such food stuffs as i have described when you need them, or acquire them "fresh" from reliable and functioning markets, then you had better acquire them before hand, right now, and the only way i know how to do this is to acquire such matters canned.
or, tinned, if you will.
you need to acquire a larder. i am not mormon, nor do i intend to become a mormon. but, the mormons for years have made it a fundamental principle of prudence to have a year's supply of food on hand, consisting of such materials and foodstuffs as discussed above.
for, you see, the mormons have experienced in their history several "shit hits the fan" moments, the extent of which spurred there migration from the midwest of the united states into the present area of utah, and thence an expension into the rest of the american west.
it was called "persecution," and that it was, and included violent conflict and attack.
it was simple prudence then. it is simple prudence now. my fore bearers had a simple phrase for it, and called it "saving for a rainy day." well, if you think it likely to rain, then does it not make sense to prepare for it?
fat. wool. water. foodstuffs and staples. as much as you need. end "midnight update."
john jay @ 07.28.2013
p.s. and, remember, ... , wool socks, wool underwear, wool pants, wool shirts, wool stocking caps, wool gloves, and a wool coat, preferably a "single mackinaw" jacket by filson, any color so long as it is red and black checks.
a synthetic or wax coated duster made from a good quality duck is o.k. to have, ... , but, wool. once, in my ardor to get closer to an elk, i took an unwise step, and went through about 4 inches of snow into about nipple deep water. i crawled out, and marveled at my stupidity.
i was dress as above, without the duster, and spent the rest of the day thoroughly soaked, but warm. wool retains about 60 to 70% of its ability to insulate and retard your heat loss, even when saturated.
fat. salt. a modicum of protein. wool. wool. and, more wool.
sell your down sleeping bag, even though you paid $350 for it. it is absolutely worthless, working well only in conditions in which you don't really need it. down retains 0% insulating value when wet. zero, zilch, nada, cipher, naught, nichts. so, if it rains, you will be as cold as an ice cube in it. and, if you sleep in it for 2 or 3 nights, it will be saturated from your sweat. sell it. give it away. i don't care how much you like it, it is a frigid coffin in bad weather, or even when it is merely cold.
it is worthless. worth less than worth less. you retain it at your peril. simple as that.
the same with any down garment.
p.s.s. be advised on my dietary advice. i've had quad bypass, and have five coronary stents in place, as i type this. in defense of the observations above, i've yet to die of exposure. i've been cold. and, miserable. but, i am here.
god bless the pig. and, the sheep. noble creatures that they are.
i suppose almost all who do not live under rocks are familiar with the media uproar over the killing of trayvon martin by george zimmerman, who was tried and acquitted of the murder of martin. and, you would have to be quite oblivious to be unaware of the lynch mob mania inspired by the press & media coverage mantra that martin's killing was a social outrage, and zimmerman's acquittal a transparent injustice.
update: 11.07.2013. i like this poster. i have no idea where it originated, it just came floating in on my email account.--
it's a pretty acute observation. end update.
fanning the flames are the usual suspects, race baiters such as al sharpton being preeminent, but aided by the not unexpected allies & cohorts of the political left, raging to foist any and all indictments of social injustice at the supposed dominant and violent white majority.
it would appear that there is nothing to counter the assertions of the likes of sharpton, and the left, ... , nothing, that is, except the facts. which we'll get to in a little bit.
but, some have raised an issue in my mind, which has a great deal of legitimacy. and, they are asking, "where in the world is al sharpton," and where in the world is the mainstream media, when it comes to the issue of whites who are killed by blacks?
a very interesting email campaign is being wielded (by authors unknown to me) who bring to attention the matter of the murder of a 13-month old boy, antonio west, shot in the face by two black young men, one adult and one a juvenile, during an abortive robbery attempt. the boy's mother was also shot, and watched the killing of her child.
the antonio west email campaign. the following is an email i received from carolyn, aka "abraxas," regarding the murder of young mr. west. be advised, the email is racially charged, emotional, and makes the case that demagoguery in this topic run one direction, and one direction only, at the discretion of the leftist political machines, and its leftist allies, the media. in short, this is polemic, and you will have to judge whether the case it makes is well brought, or mean spirited. --
You won't recognize me. My name was Antonio West and I was the 13-month old child who was shot in the face at point blank range by two Black teens who were attempting to rob my mommy -- who was also shot. She didn't have any money, so they shot us both.
Too bad I was given a death sentence -- shot right in my face because my white mommy didn't have any money with her.
My family made the mistake of being white in a 73% non-white neighborhood, but my murder was not ruled a Hate Crime. Nor did President Obama take so much as a single moment to acknowledge my murder.
I am one of the youngest murder victims in our great Nation's history, but the media doesn't care to cover the story. President Obama has no children who could possibly look like me -- so he doesn't care. And CNN & NBC don't care because my story is not interesting enough to bring them ratings. Neither Al Sharpton nor Jesse Jackson visited my family or promised to get justice for me. I don't understand why. Maybe if I had been allowed to grow older, I might have understood some day.
There is not a white equivalent of Al Sharpton because if there was he would be declared racist, so there is no one rushing to Brunswick GA to demand justice for me. There is no White Panther party to put a bounty on the lives of those who murdered me. I have no voice, I have no representation, and unlike those who shot me in the face while I sat innocently in my stroller - I no longer have my life.
So while you are seeking justice for Treyvon, please remember to seek justice for me too. Tell your friends about me, tell you families, get tee shirts with my face on them and make the world pay attention, just like you did for Treyvon.
i think legitimate issues are raised by the email. why has not president hussein obama sought sympathy for the death of this little boy? and, where is al sharpton in all this?
by the way, i do not give attribution for this email, because i do not know who sent it out, nor do i have any other notion who wrote the post.
i do know one thing, however, and that is, the event occurred, and that the little boy was shot and killed. confirmation comes, from all places, by way of this article, "georgia baby dead: 13-month-old antonio shot by young boy in front of mother, police say (update)" by russ bynum, posted by the ap on 03/22/2013 and updated on 03/23/2013 presumably by the same author. attribution for the story was also given to ap writer christina a. cassidy in atlanta, and news researcher monika mathur in new york city.
this ap article is printed at the huffington post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/antonio-santiago-west-dead-georgia-baby-killed_n_2931273.html , the same date as the article initially appeared over the ap wire. the events as depicted by the email set forth above are more or less confirmed by the ap story, as reprinted at the puff ho.
there is no rhetorical inquiry with regard to al sharpton, or hussein obama, for that matter, in the puff ho piece.
some have sought to take the sting out of the accusations leveled at al sharpton and the other race baiters, to include president obama, by seeking to distinguish the story of antonio west from that of trayvon martin. in "beware of the senseless antonio west -- trayvon martin comparison going around the internet," author jonathan wolfe points out that trayvon martin was shot by a white man, while antonio west was shot by two black youth. http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/crime/beware-senseless-antonio-west-trayvon-martin-comparison-going-around-internet# .
hey, i don't make this stuff up.
wolfe goes on to point out that the two blacks were arrested and charged very quickly, while zimmerman was not. he had to wait a little bit, before being arrested, having his bail revoked, and then being tried to a verdict of acquittal for murder. and, wolfe points out, the two black youths will not be exposed to the jeopardy of the death penalty, because georgia law prohibits it.
well, o.k. decide for yourself whether these are distinctions of any weight.
but, does bringing these matters to attention have anything to do with the central issues involved. and that being the relative disregard of the murder of antonio west as a matter of social, ethical and judicial import, on the one hand, in comparison to the trumpeting of the trayvon martin "injustice" by the media at all levels, for many months, on the other. i suppose the whole social drama engineered by the left, and it media henchmen, reached the all time low of rachel jeantal appearing on peirs morgan, to give her views on social justice, and "old school" versus "new school" theology.
in answer to the inquiry, i think not.
it is clear, that the death of antonio west has slipped into relative oblivion, while the death of trayvon martin, not nearly so innocent of the 13-month-old baby, has become a continuing cause celebre. and, there are no calls for the lynching of the two young men who killed the baby, while george zimmerman, acquitted in a court of law, is continually subject to threats of reprisal, and the instigating of reprisal by race baiters such as al sharpton, on an almost hourly basis.
snopes to the rescue. that paragon of public decency, that protector of fact, snopes.com, also reports on the death of antonio west. the snopes article basically sets forth the facts as found at the ap article, the puff ho piece, and the anonymous email broadside setting forth antonio's case for public attention. http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/antoniowest.asp .
snopes also notes that while trayvon martin was shot by a "white hispanic," the situation involving antonio west is to be distinguished, because he was shot by two black youths and not a white male. again, i don't make this stuff up. and, snopes also mentions the fact that antonio's case received some attention in the media, before being quickly and permanently forgotten.
i will remind you, no "black spokesperson" calls for the lynching or retribution murder of the black youths who killed antonio west, as opposed to their posture and posturing on trayvon martin.
think about it.
again, i do not see much to distinguish the cases in these observations.
apparently, the mainstream takes the attitude that while the shooting death of a black male by a white male is sufficient to support calls for lynching, rioting and retribution by murder, the killing of a 13-month-old baby boy is not cause for such social excitement. al sharpton apparently sees it that way, as does hussein "b. insane" obama.
a fascinating take on the matter is found at "the inquisitr," which notes:
"antonio west, or antonio santiago, was indeed a 13-month-old child shot to death earlier this year in georgia, and it is also true that no protests, vigils, petitions, or other attention like that given the killing of trayvon martin have been lavished on the case."
and then seeks to divert attention from this salient fact by noting that the child's mother and father were found to have had "powder residues" on them as a result of the babies death, directly trying to direct suspicion, by innuendo, upon the parents for the child's death. btw, no source is given for these "facts," and none of it is attributed to police investigation nor statement. and, notice, no mention is made in this context that the child's mother was shot in the leg above her knee, and also grazed by a gun shot over one ear, before the "youths" shot her child directly in his face.
if you want to read more of this scurrilous attempt to take attention away from the issues raised by the antonio west email campaign, go here, http://www.inquisitr.com/867514/antonio-west-trayvon-martin/#GZWgPTikCwirIvVH.99 . i wouldn't waste my time on this odious kettle of stew, this odour, were i you, but, in the interests of showing how far the media will go to take attention from its own actions and misdeeds, i supply the link.
and, now, to the facts of interracial murder in america. i am ever mindful of mark twain's dicta about lies, damn lies and statistics, but in discussing a topic as fraught with emotion as murder in america, some recourse to actual fact is prudent.
if you are a glutton for punishment, i suggest trying to decipher you way to statistical analysis at the f.b.i. website, but, i gave up after a fruitless 20 minute search yielded nothing more than f.b.i. news releases about statistical charts, ... , i was unable to find one.
but, i did come across an interesting analysis of interracial murder in america in an article by william m. briggs at his web site, in an article entitled "black and white homicide rates: who is killing whom?" http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=7168 . briggs, 16 july 2013.
the analysis is fairly straight forward. it really is quite simple. fact, as it were, and as it likely shall be.--
black males kill at a far greater rate than white males.
blacks kill more whites than whites kill blacks, by a great margin and in absolute terms.
white males kill far less. they do not kill anywhere near the number of black males, in terms of percentages of those killed or in absolute numbers, that black males kill.
males kill at a grossly disproportionate rate compared to females.
again, the link. http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=7168 . i invite you to visit the briggs website, as the article itself is informative, and the comments section worthwhile reading in and of itself.
it is my conclusion that some rhetorical flourishes aside, the antonio west email raises valid social, ethical and moral concerns.
these concerns are bulwarked by the briggs statistical analysis.
the posturing of race baiters like sharpton and obama aside, the statistical analysis proves beyond peradventure that the united states of america is not a society in which blacks suffer the infliction of disproportionate numbers of murders and homicides inflicted upon them by whites. the great majority of people who kill blacks, are blacks.
indeed, the statistics have always shown that blacks inflict the greatest suffering upon themselves, and kill whites far more frequently and at a great rate than whites kill blacks.
yet al sharpton would have you believe otherwise, and he would have you commit civil violence and criminal retribution upon whites for the death of trayvon martin at the hands of george zimmerman, even though zimmerman has been acquitted by a verdict of "not guilty" of murder, by a jury of his peers.
sharpton is a race baiter. he would have you become a lynch mob. and, he would have blacks take to the street and riot, and loot, and even kill to address "the issues" raised by trayvon's "murder," even though he blithely ignores that martin was acquitted by jury verdict, and even though he maintains an absolute and ominous silence on just what the natures of the wrongs he was addressed by such violence, are.
his refusal to take up the cause of a little dead and murdered boy like antonio west does not prove it. it suggests it, but, it does not prove it.
the numbers, however, do establish that sharpton is a charlatan, and race baiter of the rankest odour, and that he should be repudiated and castigated for the hatred he spews, and the vengeance he seeks, in the absence of any identifiable crime. and, in the absence of any social wrong that he can identify.
his message is clear. any killing of a black by a white is by definition a racist act, and is wrong, and should be avenged, while any killing of a white by a black or blacks carries no similar significance, nor is it to be avenged. sharpton is such a superficial asshole, as is his colleague and cohort in this racial baiting, obama, that he does not even condemn the killing of blacks by blacks.
sharpton is an asshole. pure and simple. and, barack hussein obama is also a race baiter, and an asshole. it is a tragedy that he is president of the united states.
trayvon martin could have, indeed, been his son. and, obama could have been, indeed and in deed, trayvon martin 35 years ago. in my view, such admissions and assertions are an indictment of obama, and not reflective of any virtue, in and from a man without virtue.
sharpton may be dismissed as the simple huckster he is. after all, we don't really expect much from a con man, and sharpton is in the final analysis, a simple con. obama is deserving of no forgiveness for the racial divide he causes and seeks to exploit. obama stands condemnation.
do not forget antonio west.
and do not be incited by the lies and misdirections of sharpton, obama, and the mainstream media.
i caught this little blurb attributed to soren kierkegarrd, in a little paper called "tidbits," a favorite.
"people demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." -- soren kierkegaard
no doubt kierkegaard favored a moment or two of thought, reflection and contemplation before yammering away on the spur of the moment. just to make sure that any utterance is not on the spur of an ill considered "inspiration."
this seems a good policy, in general, to me. something al sharpton should consider, something obama might consider doing, from time to time.
before they try to confer martyrdom upon thugs and loudmouths, and victims who have never been victimized. so as to avoid playing the race card, upon the shrill of the moment.
it will take just a little bit to work back around to janet napolitano, and today's little essay may not seem to have much to do with her, at all. but, we'll get back to the stumpy frumpy little "her." ---
update, 07.24.2013. well, it seems that napolitano "outfoxed" me, quit the feds and now is the head of the university of california university system. laughing.
well, she won't be heading up obama's little private army any longer. but, she is now taking her ideas to one of the largest university systems in the world. (as i reflect on this, probably china and india must have larger systems at this point. it will be interesting to view the very influential opinion and analysis that will have to issue forth from such fertile minds, to say the least.) (does america become a back water?)
to mold children, w/out guile, in her own image. scary.
i won't pull this post down. even though a bit "outdated" by the course of events. for the reason that the tenor of her public discourse fits all obama's minions, and the same observations apply to all of them. and, quite possibly, we have not heard the last of napolitano as american dumpiest thug. end update.
i belong to a little discussion group. as of late, several of the members have been discussing the intellectual evils of labeling and categorizing things, events, people, ideas and the like all without dealing with the subtleties and nuances of the historical and intellectual context surrounding them.
they especially are irritated with the intellectual short cuts that people take with political matters, to include the problems associated with derogatory public discourse, and superficial discussion of political theory.
well, this is all well and good. and, not at all unusual in such groups. but, i find troublesome the notion that all political thought and discourse has to be elevated, in the sense that only highfalutin ideas are worthy ideas.
i don't think that such is the case. i think that a lot of political discourse is not aimed at intellectualizing the "great ideas," and that it is wrong to ignore the impact of discussion which falls far short of that, and to ignore the motivation of less elevated discussion.
such as involved in "labeling," or categorizing. one must pay attention to the motivation of one, who for instance, might label little old grandma and grandpa "tea party" activists as "terrorists," as has our little fat frump, janet napolitano.
so, i penned these missives to my friends, which i am going to pass along more or less unedited, to you.
and, you can figure out things for yourselves from this point forward. ---
the letters/emails.
subject: ("the limited case for labels, labeling ... .")
"______:
i've been reading the recent notes lambasting the human tendency to label, or to label others.
duly noted, pretty much agree.
though, i think you approach the matter from a standpoint exalting reason to the exclusion of other human qualities, which on occasion must be served. and, sometimes, for good reason.
you view reason as the penultimate quality, strive for it, and voluntarily impose it upon yourself as serving a legitimate aim in and of itself. in my view, this sometimes serves to limit your humanity.
in chief point, the use and application of reason dulls the ability to hate, and to hate ones enemies, as they so willfully deserve on occasion.
reason wants to equivocate to temporize to hold back. ask hamlet, as he considers what to do, and as he whets his appetite for revenge, ultimately rejecting the 'reasonable course.'
this, in the appropriate context, means that reason serves weakness rather than resolve. sometimes, we do have to rouse ourselves to the sticking point, and it is right, and just that we do so, and it would be immoral not to be capable of doing so. in this process, reason is eschewed, and hate and bile assume the front rank, and no other device serves this quite so well as the label.
snake. pervert. leftist. communist. asshole.
labels identify our enemies, and they take the equivocation and tolerance completely out of the process of discussing them.
yes, a dangerous process. not the handmaiden to reason, or reasoned nuance.
but, sometimes necessary. and, always a device to be resorted to when a fight looms.
sind sie nicht mein fruend, sind sie mein enemy. sorry, forgot the kraut label. the nazi's.
john
p.s. we do not say, for instance, "once more into the breach, those of you with whom i take the field in temporary alliance, against those fellows probably much more like myself in temperament that you, but with whom i have a disagreement on a very fine point of jurisprudence."
we don't say that.
we say, "grind their guts in the tank treads, the scurrilous bastard sister rapers."
nothing serves this process like labels, and it is a good and necessary friend to have in tight times.
"p.s. so, the illustrious mrs. napolitano, is she being merely stupid and not horribly rigorous intellectually, when she labels those of us who are conservative or "tea party" in view point as being "domestic terrorists?"
or, no my friends, i don't think she is being stupid or intellectually lazy at all. not in the fucking slightest.
she is laying the intellectual ground work to justify a fight. she's working up the troops.
if i were you, i would not be so dismissive (in an intellectual sense) of those who stoop to the stupidity of "labeling," and i would give them the appropriate respect they are due when they seek to label us, to demean us, to dismiss us, and to prepare their loyalists to fight us.
there is no room in this world for those who would survive it, for intellectual snobbery, or for thinking the enemy dunce like for engaging in "labeling" or mere rhetoric.
understand what they do. if you wish to survive the process.
"______:
precisely. [to a reply, not published herein.]
let me indulge in a rhetorical question. (i love 'em.) --
and, why do you suppose that obama chose the poor pudgy homely little napolitano as homeland security director?
it is precisely because the stupid bitch is capable of calling all the grandma's and grandpa's in the "tea party," and all those who confronted the incumbent demo's on the first congressional election "town halls", terrorists. without batting an eye. without nuance. without temperance. without qualification. without every having back down one fucking dime from the description.
he appointed her because she is a malignant hater.
she did not come up with the description of "tea party" and "veterans" as terrorists just by accident, she said those things because she believes them, right down to the very cockles of her twisted little leftist socialist radical heart.
she wants war. he wants war.
and, i believe they shall have it. i see very little reason to delay it. why wait, and let them gather strength?"
usually a couple days pondering on something, and i've at least got it figured out what i think about it. what "i think about it" may not comport with historical truth, and may not be very enlightened or in line with the "current thinking" on something, but, it is what i think. at least i know what that is.
rachel jeantel, quite frankly, has got me stumped. (she was the girl friend of the recently departed trayvon martin, and testified in the trial of a mr. zimmerman, who was acquitted of any criminal wrong in the death/departure of mr. martin. for those of you who've been sleeping under a rock as of late.)
she has achieved some notoriety as a result of her testimony, and is something of "a rage" on the talk shows.
it's a mystery to me.--
after considering the matter, i've arrived at a "no decision" regarding who is more stupid, rachel jeantel, or those who give a rip as to what the the squat, homely, illiterate & ignorant, loud mouthed arrogant miscreant twit has to say about anything, or those who put such tripe on the airways?
it remains a "horse race" in my mind.
john jay @ 07.18.2013
p.s. i am given to understand that she has been offered "full ride" "scholarships" to a number of black colleges. well, we'll see if you can make a silk purse from a sow's ear. i personally doubt that it will work out that way.
i want to purchase 4 to 8 lbs. of new manufacture hodgdon's h-4198 powder. contact me in the comments section below, if you have any for sale, and if you hold a valid ffl. if contacted, i would want a copy of the ffl sent to me.
in short, i want nothing to do w/ any illegality, and i want stuff of recent manufacture that has been stored properly and has not tampered with. (it must be sealed, n.i.b.) and, i will drive to any ffl/store in eastern oregon or washington to pick it up.
i would also consider the purchase of alliant's reloader 7.
no matter how hard i tried, i could not get the same performance w/ hodgdon's 322 powder, as with h-4198 or imr 4198. this surprised me, because the burn rate charts show h-322 as just a bit slower than 4198, and i thought it would give the same performance.
maybe for someone else, but, not for me.
my problem was this.-- as i neared full case capacity, the performance became very erratic, with some loads delivering the velocity i was seeking, and others falling as much as 100 to 125 feet per second slower. finally, i got to a point where velocity was not going up with added powder, and muzzle velocity becoming very erratic.
this is not the formula for success.
using remington-peters .243 winchester cases to fabricate my "jj's brit," i finally settled on a load of 30.5 grains of h-322 and a cci 200 large rifle primer behind a 130 grain sierra bthp (matchking) bullet to obtain about 2350 feet per second from the muzzle of an 18.5" barrel.
not bad. not particularly good, either. pretty pedestrian, really. but, that is all i could get with any degree of uniformity with the h-322 powder. i don't exactly consider the whole thing a failure, but, it is most certainly no resounding success. this performance is not really very much better than that obtained w/ the 7.62x39mm russian (model 43), nor that much better than a standard loading in a 6.8mm remington spc.
not bad. but, not good.
so, it is back to the tried and true 4198's, from which i easily obtained another 100 feet per second, plus. at least i now have a "substitute standard" load to fall back on, when the 4198's get scarce.
john jay @ 07.14.2013
p.s. when loading a wildcat such as mine, particular care must be given to the parent cases from which the wildcat cartridges are developed.--
for instance, i have used a variety of cases from which the "jj's brit" has been fabricated. they include, with the weight of the finished cases and its resultant water capacity in grains given. (there are some discrepancies, as for some cases i weighed sized cases w/ fresh primers, while with others i weighed fired cases w/ spent primers, ... , variations of as much as a grain of water weight resulted. some are more exacting & accurate, e.g., tedious, about this than i am, as they take pleasure in figuring this down to the gnat's eyebrow, but, i figure in the real world you have to judge the pressure in the resulting loads anyway, so why worry about theoretical exactitude that damned much. to each his own.) ---
remington peters, .243 win. cases: -- 160 grains empty, an additional 45 grains water when full
winchester, .243 winchester cases: -- 159.2 grains empty, plus 44.5 grains water when full
remington peters, .30-06 cases: -- 173 grains empty, plus 42 grains water when full
winchester, 6.5x55 swede cases: -- 172.5 grains empty, app. 42 grains of water estimated
as you can see, the cases for the larger calibers are heavier, and have, therefore, less volume for powder. this results in these cases generating higher pressure when the same charges of powder are used in them ... for this reason, you must take care when loading wildcat cases to be just a little careful about the cases you are using to fabricate your cartridge.
there is this fact. as you approach a maximum charge, pressures begin to increase more rapidly with incremental increases in powder, sometimes very rapidly and somewhat unpredictably. so, you've been going along, adding .5 grains of charge at a time, and then, ... , a pressure spike, and things get out of hand. sometimes cases can get stuck in chambers, or firearms can be damaged when too much pressure is created.
so, be careful. know the weight of your cases, and the resultant water capacities, and take care. reduce charges for heavier cases, if maximums have already been reached for the lighter cases.
i am not english, so perhaps it is not for me to comment on this whole sorry mess so very much. but, i am a "colonial," and i have adopted wholeheartedly the civilization & heritage that england once so ably carried forward and defended.
seems to me that perhaps we've both slipped a bit, as of late.
lee rigby is laid to rest. heartbreaking, the photo's of his young son, who comprehends all too well that his daddy is gone. and, perhaps comprehends as well, that not much except some superficial hanky wringing has been done about it by english official-"dumb." http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/07/my-daddy-my-hero.html .
it is a tragedy of epic proportion, the appeasement that the english*** government has engaged in, in the hopes that "cultural accommodation" will "avoid conflict." as if there is no conflict when murder by muslim thugs is not defended nor redressed.
there is only one glimmer of any hope to emerge from this, in my estimation. and that is, that even the most unfeeling englishman, e.g., benumbed by the incessant inundation of the culturally "correct" and "superior," will realize how shabbily his politicians treat him in the interests of coddling islamic thugs, and will rise up, enraged, against the mollusks who control his once proud land: now, sadly, much diminished, so close to vanishing completely.
let this be the outrage that unleashes english pride, and rouses english manhood. if it does not, i am afraid the only logical conclusion to be drawn is that neither exists any longer.
john jay @ 07.13.2013, milton freewater, oregon. an anglophile, who pines for what once was.
*** i do not use the word "british." i think that "britain," as a reality and a concept has disappeared, washed to the sea by the continual drenching and leaching impact of membership in the euro union, and the dominance of euro leftism. i suspect that in a generation or so, even english soccer hooligans will have disappeared, so continentally effeminate the english have become.
