Saturday, October 31, 2015

Master-level Busybody

So Kevin Levin gets on his blog and tells Southern Miss what it should do.

TELLS Southern Miss what it SHOULD do.

He's secondguessing the President of Southern Miss, Rodney Bennett, suggesting that Bennett doesn't want to get specific about what makes the current state flag "objectionable" (race, race, race, race, race, race, of course) on account of  'cause he's African American.

(And yes, I put that term in quote marks because I don't believe the state flag of Mississippi is at all objectionable.)

So then Leo from Mississippi, who has lobbed quite a bit of criticism at me from Simpson's XRoads hate blog, snarls at Levin for criticizing Bennett:
"Your criticism of the USM president is unwarranted. He took action and it is well received by those of us here working to heal our state and for a new flag."
Levin replies:
"It’s not really a criticism as much as it is a question of why a more explicit statement was not issued. I agree with the decision, but I also believe that it is important to be transparent given that this was the work of one individual and not a response to a more widespread campus vote."
Leo responds,
"It sure reads like a criticism to me. He took a stand and that’s enough for the people on the ground here in Mississippi engaged in this issue. If anyone here deserves to be called out, it is Governor Bryant."
http://m.wapt.com/news/governor-calls-out-ole-miss-over-state-flag-removal/36081494?utm_campaign=16%20WAPT%20News%20Jackson&utm_medium=FBPAGE&utm_source=Social
And then we have this snappy comeback from Levin:
"Since when do you speak for all Mississippians?"
LOL! Since when do you, Levin? Since when do you have the authority to TELL Southern Miss what it SHOULD do? At least Leo lives in Mississippi ... you're in Massa-flippin'-chusetts.

I have an idea. Why don't you mind your own freakin' business, Levin?

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Explaining the Obvious

At Rancid Andy's blog, Melanie asks, "Why can’t 'southern pride and heritage' ever refer to things like greens and cornbread, sweet potato pie, and some fiddle music? That would be the kind of southern pride and heritage I could get behind."

Nobody is saying Southern pride and heritage (or, more accurately, Southern culture) can't refer to or include these things, Melanie, sugah. The reason you don't see an effort to preserve and defend greens and cornbread and fiddle music is because there is not an orchestrated, concerted campaign attacking them and attempting to eradicate them.  (Although you do sometimes see attempts to appropriate them.)

There is a widespread, ongoing, well-financed war against Confederate heritage and remembrance, which includes attacks on those who wish to honor and/or preserve and defend Confederate heritage. Did you not know this, Melanie, sugah?

My Favorite Sailing Song...

Sleep Is Racist Now

I'm not making this up.   http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/28/sleep-is-racist-now-scientists-assure-america/

Lyin' Liars ... Again

And I enjoy watching Brooks D. Simpson display his hypocrisy and deficiency of integrity on his blog.

I didn't say Simpson's post SAID heritage advocates are haters and terrorists. ... I said it IMPLIES they are -- and I say IMPLIES in plain English, right after "nevertheless" -- and his post certainly does imply that, beginning with the subject line:

Here's more:
I wasn't defending this guy, although I do defend people from unfair attacks. Or I counterattack those who have no moral authority for the initial attack...

Frankly, I am amazed at how people who present themselves as normally intelligent, even educated people, turn to completely gullible dupes when they see something on the internet, especially if it seems to support their existing prejudices and hatreds.

I dunno, folks, to me, the belt looks like a belt and it doesn't look like any nooses I've ever seen pictures of (I don't think I've ever seen one except in pics and movies). They are made of rope and have a coil around the rope and... well, I wasn't familiar enough to even name the coil, so I googled it, and found this at Wikipedia: A noose is a loop at the end of a rope in which the knot slides to make the loop collapsible. Knots used for making nooses include the running bowline, the tarbuck knot, and the slip knot. The fellow's belt didn't have a running bowline, a tarbuck knot or a slip knot that I could discern, though it did appear to be formed into a loop by fastening with the buckle.

As I've noted in an earlier post, somebody at Simpson comment thread said a friend of his -- an unnamed, unidentified friend said some woman, also not named or identified, purportedly videoed the guy saying the belt represented a noose.|

I read a tweet earlier today that said the fellow used the belt to fasten the flag to his motorcycle.... So who knows?
 
And does it matter? The folks at XRoads are gonna believe the worst, regardless of evidence to back them up, because that's that they do. But I will say this. I wasn't defending the guy, because I don't know what the belt was for, or his reason for having it on his flag pole -- and that was my whole point of offering other scenarios. Theirs is not more plausible than mine and THAT was my point. Not to defend the dorag flagger but to show the willingness of the XRoads crowd to pre-judge based on mostly imagination and interpretation and their own bigotry.  Here's yet another an example:
Simpson is way too obsessed with assigning "inferiority" to people he doesn't like. In fact, it's far more common for leftists, liberals, do-gooder "anti-racists" and such to be the ones who are sooo eager, so anxious, in fact, so needful of labeling people "inferior." (I also note that Simpson's usage makes supremacy and superiority synonyms; they are not synonymous.)

And as a bonus:
Nope. My views are not really compatible with libertarianism. On some issues, they have a tendency to confuse license for liberty. Hope you're not too disappointed, Ohioguy. On second thought, I really couldn't care less what you think of it.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Yikes

From my visitor log....


Some Southern Romance from the 1970s...

From 1976, to be exact. By Bruce Blackman of Greenville, Mississippi...aka "Starbuck"

"I'll take you on a trip beside the ocean
and drop the top at Chesapeake Bay..."

"...I'll play the radio on southern stations
'cause southern belles are hell at night
you say you came to Baltimore from Ole Miss
a class of '74 gold ring..."



I was living 700 miles inland in 1976, far from Dixie, far from saltwater -- bays, ocean, any of it. This song was sooo Suth'n, so romantic, and made me sooo homesick. Plus it has marimbas...I love marimbas! Couldn't wait for it to come on the radio...

Some interesting background info....http://www.chattanoogaradiotv.com/.../a-summer-song.../

And a little anti-Southern hate from a different website's discussion of the tune: "Who would want to listen to a song with frequent mentions of the American South? Southerners have ugly accents and are usually fat, lazy alcoholics with nicotine addictions. Plus, this song is terrible." (Floggers say this kind of hatred of Southerners doesn't exist.)

Oh, well... enjoy the song. Dream of moonlight glittering across the Chesapeake...

(Note: at the Chattanooga link above, the live version from 2013 in Chastain Park, Atlanta, is fantastic. I don't usually like live versions, but this one is done right ... these ol' geezers still have it! And the video is worth watching if for no other reason than Bo Wagner's fantastic marimba solo.)

Brats Continue Tantrum at Ole Miss

Now the oh, so tolerant leftists want to impeach an ABS senator because he has a different view of the flag issue. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2015/10/ole-miss-food-fight.html?spref=fb

Take a good look at the true face, the true heart, of the left, which has been masquerading for decades behind "tolerance". Their aim, their purpose is to shut up and shut down anything they disagree with (which also explains the left's war on Confederate heritage -- particularly the academic left's war).

It's not enough for these people to say, "I disagree with you, and here's what I think/believe." Oh, no. What you believe must be silenced. Why? Because somebody might hear it and agree with it.

Another thing you won't hear from leftists students, academics, floggers, floggerettes and such folks ... once a watchword of US freedom of expression:

I disagree with what you say, but 
I defend to the death your right to say it.

They don't believe in this. They don't believe in your right to be different from them, to hold different viewpoints about the flag, history, homosexuality, abortion, Islam, terrorism, feminism or anything else, and especially to express those beliefs.

That is why they have spent decades stigmatizing different beliefs as "hate" and different expression as "hate speech" -- to stigmatize the person believing and expressing it in order to Shut. Them. Up.

I think they know their ideas are morally bankrupt, but they don't much care for morals, so ... who cares?  They know the ideas they wish to suppress are superior to their own -- that's part of why they hate them. They aren't "for blacks" so much as they hate whites. They aren't "for gays" so much as they hate Christians who disapprove of homosexuality.  The point is to poke those they hate in the eye and double them over with a kick to the guts.

To. Shut. Them. Up lest someone hear them ... and agree.

Think I'm wrong? That is exactly what this drive to impeach student senator Andrew Soper is. It is leftist intolerance showing its true colors, its dark underbelly.... 

Something Different, Part Three

 Houseboats and Shantyboats

How did I miss these when my boat craze was underway?

Whatever the reason, I've discovered them now.  If you've got the money, and you want to, you can buy a houseboat with several decks and tons of bells and whistles and amenities, but here, as with so many other endeavors, there is a certain segment of the population for whom building your own is a big part of the dream.

A shantyboat is a small crude houseboat. There is a long history of people building and living in shantyboats, the obvious choice for itinerant workers, miners, dockworkers, and displaced agricultural workers. ~Wes Modes, http://peoplesriverhistory.us/project/the-shantyboat/
From Shantyboat Living and Steamboats.com
At Shantyboat Living, the image above is captioned:
A fisherman and his family aboard their tiny shanty boat on the Mississippi below the RR bridge at Louisiana, MO (first big town south of Hannibal).

Post marked Oct 29th 1914 by the Louisiana, MO post office.

Hand written message on verso:

“Would have pictured the entire family – but the other six members were asleep in the spare room and I did not like to disturb them.”

(signed W. R. C.)
My observation is that today, shantyboats are recreational craft that harken back to the day when they were, um, extremely modest floating residences. The shantyboat Mr. Modes is building is a little too crude for my taste, although it's more authentic looking that anything I have in mind. I have been too influenced by (1) travel trailers and RVs and (2) teak and mahogany encrusted sailing yachts... Still, a certain amount of down-home river/bayou flavor appeals to me.

Right now, I am in the very early phase of learning about shantyboats. I know they are shallow draft vessels, suitable for protected waters only, and that they are subject to maritime navigation laws, not the laws of motor vehicles.

And, of course, before I can even think of building a shantyboat, I have a travel trailer to build or restore, if circumstances allow.

Nevertheless, a little advanced dreaming never hurts.

I have found several sets of plans for houseboats and shantyboats for backyard builders, some dating back decades to their appearance in Popular Mechanix style magazines of the day. At least one of the recent designs was the product of an Internet discussion group.

Boats had to meet certain criteria to make my list -- had to be trailerable, and had to be a box that sat atop the deck, not built down into the hull (which means, not much freeboard). In other words, they had to look like a shantyboat....

The Oldies:

The Coolwater Houseboat (Modern Mechanix, date unknown)
http://www.simplicityboats.com/coolwater.html


Float-a-Home (Science and Mechanics, 1973)
http://www.svensons.com/boat/?p=HouseBoats/FloatAhome


Bayou Belle (publication unknown)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3HJtuO1-n5acXBXSUlsajNVdFk/view

Cabin is built down in the hull, which is what I don't want. Otherwise, not a bad looking vessel.


More recent designs...
From Glen-L Marine:

The Huck Finn trailerable pontoon houseboats
http://www.glen-l.com/designs/house/huckfinn.html



Other designs:

It isn't unusual to find something online that strikes my fancy...for example, this homebuilt baby atop  a pontoon party barge. It is a true heir to the legacy of the shantyboats of old -- not fancy at all, but a passport to great enjoyment on the water...  To see more images, scroll down to the third post, by Busman1965 and click the thumbnails.
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/pontoon-houseboat-conversion-18963.html 

The Aqua Casa


http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/AquaCasaHouseboat.html
This is a real cute little houseboat built on a scow hull rather than pontoons. The cabin of the 16-footer looks just too small, so it would have to be the 20 footer, if I chose this design. I don't much care for the rooftop helm, and I think I would eliminate that. Photos of the interior at the link above.

The Lisa B. Good

Ah, here we go... THIS is it. She looks like she'd be sooo at home in the coastal waters of northwest Florida! More photos at this link:
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/09/designs/lisabgood/

The 9 foot long cabin is too small, but the plans advise how to increase the length -- and it wouldn't take much. My idea is for a 12 foot cabin. I would leave off the mast -- it's purely for appearance, anyway. Otherwise, there aren't many changes I would make except to add a convertible dinette to the cabin. As designed, the cabin doesn't  show a helm, but the designer's notes say, "The best arrangement would be control and steering cables to a helm under the starboard forward window," which is where I would put the helm on my shantyboat. Other than the convertible dinette, I added a couple of lockers and shelf for a computer.

The best thing about the Lisa B.'s plans is that they're a free download.

I like the Lisa B.'s scow hull with very little freeboard and a six inch draft (my design is a little deeper but may change -- I'm still learning). Frankly, I'm not real picky what the little cabin would sit on, a scow hull or pontoons. The advantage of a scow hull is the space below for water tanks (but then, a third wooden pontoon in the middle added to a two-pontoon deck could serve the same purpose). You can also make several watertight compartments below, so if one gets holed, the others will keep the boat afloat.

Video of a couple of shantyboats built to Lisa B. Good plans ...(You might want to turn your audio down or off before viewing). Do Not Like the fake pilothouse, smokestacks and paddles on the Good Enuf, but the  size of the cabin is just about right.

  


Since I'm still learning, I peruse boat design and building forums, look over shantyboat websites and blogs for information and ideas. I posted my very first drawings on one forum, and a boat designer told me, "...you have to make some decisions about what you want from this design, before actual pen to paper time is attempted. Budget, weight targets, speed targets, amount of underway time anticipated per year, sea state conditions you normally will expect, etc. What these decisions will do is refine the design, so you can approach how much hull volume you need, how this volume should be distributed, given it's static and underway needs and the practicality of the build. We call this an SOR (Statement Of Requirements)."

He also posted one of his designs along with these observations: "The first thing you'll notice is it looks like a boat, not a old crab peeler's shack on a barge," and he further described little houseboats as, "... a Winnebago or old fishing shack thing, parked on a barge looking contrivance."

That seemed a little overboard for a newbie, since I have no idea what weight targets, speed targets, etc., would be. So here's how I replied:
Okay, here's what I want. A little houseboat for weekend and sometimes vacation (weeklong) cruises several times a year, in sheltered waters of the upper Gulf Coast, anywhere in the area from New Orleans to Appalachicola. Trailer the boat from Pensacola to St. Joseph's Peninsula, or Choctawhatchee Bay, or St. Andrews Bay. Or leave Pensacola on the water and cruise Santa Rosa Sound, or the Intracoastal Waterway in South Alabama, along the Redneck Riviera.

I don't want to fish. I don't want to race. I want to travel along the coast and in the evening, anchor and fix something for supper and eat on the deck. Maybe now and then, dock at a waterfront restaurant for a seafood supper... Then, in the evening, hubs can watch TV and I can write.

I think my drawings convey what I want as far as accommodations -- a place to cook, a place to eat, two places to sleep, the helm, a head with a porta pot and a camping-bag shower (or a pump-sprayer shower), some lockers for stowage, and a computer desk. For the hubs, a television. A place under the cabin sole for freshwater and gray water tanks -- capacity? I dunno, fifteen or so gallons each?

Electricity generation for a compact refrigerator, a small household air conditioner, husband's TV and my computer. At certain times of the year, the AC would not be needed, but in summer down here, it's a must.

I want to learn about solar energy and deep cycle batteries, etc., to power these appliances. Perhaps also a small camping generator.

We have lived on the Florida coast since 1980. It's not Paradise, exactly, but close ... and we basically have never taken the time to enjoy it. Now that retirement is approaching, a boat suitable for an old fart and and old broad seems like a great way to enjoy our area. Not everyone gets to live where the water meets the land. We do, and we need to appreciate it more.

"Winnebago ...old fishing shack... old crab peeler's shack... on a barge." Well, at least you didn't call my little shantyboat a garbage scow. I get that you don't like boats that are a little boxy structure on a platform. I do like them. If I had wanted a pointy-bow boat, I wouldn't have asked about shantyboats. I'm asking because this is new to me, and it seemed like a good way to learn.
After that, he "warmed up" a little to houseboats, and even complimented my drawings!

My design, as it exists now -- in the early stages of learning about shantyboat design, which is, thus, subject to change -- is shown below. (The 13-foot cabin was originally 12 feet, and I'm going to change it back to 12 feet, and jostle the dimensions of lockers, head, galley, etc... because a 12-foot cabin requires only 3 sheets of plywood per side. Thirteen feet would require another foot cut from a 4th sheet).

Although I would love to find some salvaged wall paneling shown in the interior views (known as "your uncle's basement" paneling from the 60s and 70s) I don't really hold out much hope for finding it. In that case, the interior walls will likely be paneled with doorskins painted with waterproofing prior to installing. Got to have pinch-pleated plaid curtains hung on brass rods with brass rings.

Will also check Habitat's ReStore for crank-out awning windows (new ones are a little pricey), because when cranked out, they open the full window space to the breeze.

Will try to keep electrical appliances to a minimum because the idea is to be teathered to shore power as little as possible. A refrigerator, air conditioner, microwave oven and television are the essentials.  Will research whether a couple of solar panels on the roof will supply a small bank of deep cycle batteries enough to feed the needs of these appliances when not tethered to shore.

Freshwater tank and a small pump will supply water to the galley; but showers will be the camping bag or pump sprayer variety.

Although primarily a "weekender" boat, she will be designed with temporary live-aboard stretches of a couple of weeks, when hubs retires. I have in mind trailering the boat to places like the St. Joseph's peninsula in Florida, Mississippi Sound, and the Intracoastal Waterway nearly anywhere in driving distance.

Of course, whether this dream works out depends on a lot of things -- my health, and my husband's, and the staving off of the collapse of civilization for a decade or so...  And, of course, the travel trailer takes priority, and must be built first.

But, all in all, not a bad prospect for retirement years...traveling around the South to Confederate events, visiting state parks, and boondocking here and there in a tiny travel trailer... and cruising the waters of the upper Gulf Coast in a cute little shantyboat....

First drawing attempts, Spirit of Dixie shantyboat for sheltered waters of the upper Gulf Coast....

(Yes, the AC vent grill would be located where the boat's name is in this image.)



Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Ole Miss NAACP planning for inclusion on campus

The University of Mississippi NAACP tells FOX13 getting the Mississippi state flag taken down is just part of a bigger plan they are working on for inclusion on campus.

The Ole Miss NAACP says next they want the monument to Confederate war dead removed from Lyceum Circle. The monument has the Confederate battle flag on it.

The NAACP also plans on calling for the renaming of several buildings on campus in the interest of diversity.

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/30359307/ole-miss-naacp-planning-for-inclusion-on-campus
=======

Removal is inclusion. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength....

Monday, October 26, 2015

Hissyfit time at XRoads....

... over photos from the Silent Sam demonstrations in North Carolina. Some guy in a Confederate do-rag ran a belt through the grommet of his Confederate flag to attach it to his PVC pipe flagpole, and the buckle end was in a loop, and they're saying it's a ... wait for it ... A NOOSE.

Odious Andy finds another pic of what appears to be the same guy at another gathering, and he has a narrow rope tied to his flagpole near the bottom grommet and both ends of the rope hang down to the bottom of the pole. No loops, no nooses, and the rope is not attaching his flag to the pole like the belt was. If I were to speculate, given the length of the rope (which would easily run the width of a truck bed)I would guess that the rope is used to help secure the flag to a pickup truck. But it is speculation.

One thing these haters don't mention is that no other flags (and there are a lot of 'em in the photos) have similar, ah, embellishments... but you know how it is with floggers and floggerettes. To them, when it comes to anything Confederate, one guy does something, the whole heritage community -- tens of thousands of people -- are guilty of it.

UPDATE -- Odious Andy sez the "noose" belt isn't touching the flag and isn't threaded through the grommet to hold the flag to the pole. I loaded the image into my graphics editor to magnify it, and it appears he is correct; it also may be that it is attached in some way to either the clip that goes through the grommet, or to the eyebolt in the pole. It is difficult to tell because the image blurs out when the magnification increases a certain amount. There appears to be something wrapped around the belt just in front of the flag pole, however.

And then we have this from a commenter at XRoads:

Talmadge Walker    October 26, 2015 / 4:39 pm

According to a friend of mine, he did tell some woman recording the event that yes, it was supposed to represent a noose. Haven’t seen the video myself though.
Umhmm... according to a friend of his. An unnamed, unidentified friend....  Some woman, also not named or identified. Video where the fellow purportedly says the belt, or whatever it is, represents a noose has so far not appeared at XRoads.

Simpson replies to Talmadge Walker, "Interesting. Because Connie Chastain, who didn’t talk to the person, claims differently..." and he quotes this Backsass post, following up with, "Now you can believe the person himself, or you can believe Connie Chastain, Confederate heritage apologist."

I haven't seen where the person himself said that. The information comes from two -- count 'em, TWO -- unidentified persons, and is unverifiable at this point.

Besides, none of this changes the fact that apparently nobody else at the event had a "representation of a noose" on their flags, but Simpson's post nevertheless implies everyone at the event -- and all heritage advocates -- are haters and terrorists because of this one guy...

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

A Conversation About This Meme

The following conversation is edited from a Facebook thread that occurred as a response to this meme. No parts of the conversation from these two participants have been edited out; only Facebook labels, timestamps and such. Minor spelling errors have been corrected, as well.


Critic: This is racist, and it's not because of the girl on the right.
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My Reply: It's not racist.
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Critic: How? How can you not see that as racist?
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My Reply: What's racist about it?
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Critic: It's a fake picture of a middle eastern woman attaching a suicide bomb vest to a child.
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Critic: Everything about that is racist.
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My Reply: Children aren't used as suicide bombers over there? When did "Middle Eastern" become a race?
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Critic: Your explanation of why it's not racist is hilarious.

It's racist because the picture depicts and implies that it that is a commonly done and that the cases of it happening are accepted. Neither are true. Don't get me wrong, there are some fucked up people.. but while they get the majority of the press, they're a minority. Middle Eastern is an umbrella term like African, Asian, or Caucasian. Since your picture said they were refugees I went with middle eastern instead of Arab/Turk/Persian, etc. I also refrained from using the word Muslim because not only does the Koran NOT advocate the actions of terrorism, but because Muslim isn't a racial identity (even though it's used that way in the US).
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Critic: Also, this pic would be the same racist view if it was a white guy with a dead minority in the background and the white guy held a gun and had the Confederate Flag. It would be inaccurate and would stereotype an entire race for the actions of a minority.
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My Reply: Are you aware that 15 Confederate flag supporters in Georgia who appear to be guilty of disorderly conduct have been INDICTED for TERRORISM? IN GEORGIA, USA. They didn't blow anybody up, chop off any heads... they mouthed off to a group of blacks who were screaming at them and who had thrown rocks at their trucks. The DA in Douglas County, Ga. said they threatened the blacks, but that is alleged and yet to be proven. Anyway, since when is a threat terrorism?

Still, they are charged with FLIPPIN' TERRORISM. Wake up.

The meme is propaganda, Mr. S----. It isn't even about the kids depicted, but about OUR FLIPPIN' GOVERNMENT -- about what it wants us to believe. I created it to illustrate a chilling and disturbing trend in this country about who the government is setting up to be TARGETS as domestic terrorists. The symbolism may be a touch excessive, but not by much. Besides, that is the way symbolism works, has to work to get people to think.

Do you follow the news? Are you aware of the Justice Department's OFFICIAL new emphasis on "domestic terrorism." Have you seen the fabrication that the feds are putting out, claiming that America is in more danger from "domestic terrorists" than Islamic jihadists? Talk about excessive and extremist.... And it's not new. That official conditioning has been going on for years.

Quote: "During his two terms in office, Obama’s government has issued report after report saying that groups such as Tea Party groups, patriotic Americans, nativist groups, and even our soldiers are possible domestic terrorists. ... Earlier this month, Obama’s government announced that it was joining a new effort with the UN to allow international police agencies to help program how American cities respond to terrorism."

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/15/obamas-department-justice-opening-domestic-terrorism-office/

When was the last time you saw a right-winger fly planes into skyscrapers, or a Tea Partier behead somebody? When was the last time you heard of a Southern heritage activist blowing up a building full of innocent people, or shooting up a military base or recruiting office?

In any case, it has already begun with the Georgia case.
=====
My Reply: As for your scenario -- "Also, this pic would be the same racist view if it was a white guy with a dead minority in the background and the white guy held a gun and had the Confederate Flag. It would be inaccurate and would stereotype an entire race for the actions of a minority." -- that is EXACTLY what happened with Dylann Roof.

He was not a Confederate heritage activist. There are pictures of him with a small Confederate stick flag -- circumstances of the pics and who made them unknown. As a Confederate heritage advocate, I can tell you, there's a lot more to it than holding a stick flag for a photo. But because of those suspicious photos, Confederate heritage from one end of the South to the other is under attack and in the cross hairs for destruction.

Monuments to Confederate heroes that have been standing for more than a century are being removed. In several particularly idiotic political moves, city councils and county commissions across the South are denying history by having Confederate flags and/or their images removed from city or county logos.

Stupid retailers are cutting off their noses to spite their faces, removing Confederate merchandise and denying income from them, to jump on the PC bandwagon.

Here in Pensacola, our ultra-politically correct mayor took it upon himself to remove the Stars and Bars -- the First National flag of the Confederacy -- from the City of Five Flags displays, which is a brand of the city dating back to the 1940s, originally intended to blend history and tourism. If you are unfamiliar, the five flags represent the NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS that have governed Pensacola since the 1700s -- Spain, Britain, France, the Confederacy and the United States. Idiot mayor replaced the NATIONAL flag of the Confederacy with the FLORIDA STATE FLAG. Mangled the "national flags" concept of the brand for political correctness, over an incident that had nothing to do with Pensacola, or the Confederacy or the history of either one. This is the kind of PC hysteria would be annoying, except that it is increasingly charged with very serious consequences.
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My Reply: This recent trend in all its manifestations is what that meme is intended to encapsulate.
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Critic: Any action with the intent to cause panic is Terrorism.
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My Reply: Further, you said, "Muslim isn't a racial identity (even though it's used that way in the US..." It is used that way in the US by political correct types in the government and most especially in the media to label as racists those who criticize Islamic destructiveness.
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Critic: I know its propaganda. But saying that as an excuse is like agreeing with everything Joseph Gerbels said
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My Reply: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” There was no violence or force against the black group in Georgia. Look at the videos; they are furious, not terrorized....
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Critic: Muslim isn't a race.
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My Reply: Propaganda is what it is and always has been, long before Goebbels and the Nazis showed up. Please, don't go there.
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Critic: You went there by using it as a defense. What's wrong? They're both racist propaganda.
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My Reply: I believe I established in these comments that Muslim is not a race, but people in the US who object to Muslim violence, destructiveness and threats are called racists.
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My Reply: No, my meme is intended to illustrate government's use of imaginary "racism" to control people. Hence the title "In Obama's America...."
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Critic: It was racist because you said refugee. Which in the current climate is Middle Eastern.
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My Reply: Current climate.... sheesh. "Refugee" is no more a racist term than Muslim is. Stop seeing racism everywhere.
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Critic: No your meme is about how the government defines terrorists and refugees. I'm the one who called it a racist
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Critic: lol
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My Reply: Well, you are certainly entitled to your indoctrinated opinion.
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Critic: I see it where it is. How about stop ignoring it.
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Critic: As are you.
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My Reply: Since no races are depicted in the meme, and you admit that, I think you are seeing racism where it doesn't exist.
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My Reply:  What the meme recalls is that the Obama Admin has consistently shown reluctance to call Islamic terrorist attacks in the USA Islamic terrorist attacks... from Nidal Malik Hasan (who shouted "Allahu Akbar" while shooting up Ft. Hood) to Alton Nolen (who called himself "Assalamu Alaikum" and apparently had converted to Islam) to Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (who shot up the Chattanooga recruitment office because he was "depressed") to Chris Harper Mercer, who at the very least admired ISIS. The meme illustrates FIRST how ridiculous it is for our government and the media to not recognize Islamic terrorism as Islamic terrorism -- or any foreign terrorism as terrorism.

The meme illustrates SECOND the chilling implications for Americans in the government's partnering with the Southern Poverty Law Center to focus on "domestic terrorism" as the greatest threat to the country. You don't even have to do something violent to be called a terrorist if you're a conservative, a Christian or a patriotic American.

Look at the different responses -- by the government, the media and the popular culture -- to the Charleston and the Roseburg shootings; nine dead in Charleston, targeted because they were black; nine dead in Roseburg targeted because they were Christian.

It's regretful that you don't see the the purpose of the meme -- what it encapsulates and illustrates. You're letting your PC indoctrination about "racism" get in the way. Unfortunate...that's what keeps a lot of people from seeing what the meme is attempting to illustrate.

Since you seem to need explanation for the meme, the little suicide bomber symbolizes the government's indiscriminate admission of immigrants, particularly "refugees" -- from ANYwhere -- without proper vetting (Europe is doing the same), which means no telling how many criminals and terrorists are coming in with no checks whatever.

Remember the news reports of tens of thousands of children brought to the USA from Central America a few months ago? The individual circumstances of those children went largely unvetted... The meme illustrates the government's unwillingness to acknowledge the very real threat of terrorism inherent in its refusal to enforce immigration law. A PC indoctrinee would interpret it literally, as you have, to keep from seeing that implication.
____________________

(I will have some observations about this in the comments section.

Incidentally, there have been 2,384 shares of this meme on Facebook, as of this writing. The vast majority of sharers are unknown to me, not on my friend list, and are apparently not heritage activists. Some are probably against Obama's policies, and others are just good Southerners who aren't into causes. ~CW)

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Something Different, Part Two

Boats
 
Originally, my interest in boats was kindled in the early 1970s, when I worked for a company that sold them. They sold mostly runabout motor boats, and I wasn't interested in those, but the party barges on pontoons caught my eye.

The second influence was finding Robin Lee Graham's memoir, Dove, in the local library. Nothing had ever caught my imagination like the adventure of the world's youngest (at the time) solo-circumnavigator. I've read Dove several times since, and Graham was my numero uno hero throughout most of my adult life.

A far greater influence, though, was the first sailboat I fell in love with, Picaroon, a salty little 18-foot sloop, also found in a book, Sam Rabl's Boatbuilding In Your Own Backyard. http://www.amazon.com/Boat-Building-Your-Own-Backyard/dp/0685706710  Rabl had designed Picaroon for himself back in the 1920s or so. His book, written for amateur boatbuilders, was a treasure trove of information and that was the reason why building the thing became an integral part of the dream.

Picaroon:




I've wanted to build something all my life, remember...

I went so far as to loft Picaroon's lines on rosin paper laid out in my dining room -- this, when we were living 700 miles from the the water. Oh, we were only an hour and a half away from Lake Michigan, but to me "the water" means "the ocean," and Lake Michigan, despite having tides (though very small), currents, and waves (sometimes very big), is not salty and it is, well, not landlocked, exactly. But it might as well be.

A passage in Rabl's book that sparked my interest read,
"Picaroon is that same little boat that Brice Johnson built for me in Cambridge over thirty years ago, the same boat in which Hank Hemingway had his great adventure in the Gulf of Mexico, sailing from Mobile to Neuvitas in Cuba. The same tabloid cruiser of which Westy Farmer wrote: “A delight to the eyes of every sailorman,” and to which the late Charles Hall attached the title of the “Perennial Picaroon”. She is the same little ship that was destined to become world-famous and to have been built on every continent of this globe."
In a Duckwork's article about Cherub, Westy Farmer's 23-foot update of Picaroon, there's more info:
During the early twenties, Rabl designed a hard-chine I8-foot cruising sloop for his own use. After sailing her on the Chesapeake in all kinds of weather, he declared, ‘She’s the slickest handling little piece of wood I ever got my hands on.’ That was the first Picaroon, a boat that could be built in those days for about $1000. The design won worldwide fame for Rabl, following the publication of her plans in the June 25, 1925 issue of Motor Boating. No wonder, she proved to be a remarkably able little craft. Ernest Hemingway’s brother, Hank, built one in Mobile, Alabama and sailed her safely to Cuba through a storm that blew him almost to the Yucatan Peninsula. Other Picaroon sailors have told similar tales.
A Google search shows that Picaroons are still being built...

Precious is a modified Picaroon built around 1980, and a saltier little vessel I've never seen:


Patience is a Picaroon II, with the rounded bilge rather than the original hard chines:


As one online observer has noted, "Looks like a little pirate ship after the cabin and decks are on."

Back in the 1970s, I didn't have the skills or the tools to build Picaroon, or any other boat, so what did I do? I ordered the plans for a boat I really couldn't build, the 31-foot double-ender Tahiti ketch designed by John Hanna.


Just owning the plans made me feel a little bit closer to Papeete and the Southern Cross.

Thousands have been built over the decades, by professionals and amateurs, and the design has been tweaked and improved.

Very likely, I also still have around here somewhere the original magazine plans for Starlite, a 27 foot v-bottom, hard chine sloop -- a very good-looking boat, but like the others, beyond my ability to create. She was designed by William D. Jackson, who wrote the article with the instructions for building. According to several posts at WoodenBoat Forums, several people have built to these plans, but I have been unable to find photos of any Star-Lite, except those that appear with the plans.


Throughout the 70s and 80s, I sustained this interest in boats by reading some marvelous books. Ferenc Máté's  From a Bare Hull and Linn and Larry Pardey's Cruising in Seraffyn. These authors built their boats, and I learned a lot from their instructions. Also read Chappell's Yacht Designing and Planning. Street's The Ocean Sailing Yacht, and numerous other boaty books.

The Pardey's Seraffyn, a Bristol Channel Cutter designed by Lyle Hess.


Also read just general sea tales, in addition to my re-reads of Dove -- Wanderer by Sterling Hayden; Airborne by William F. Buckley; Joshua Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World... other stories I remember but whose titles and authors escape me.

Sometimes, when in deep dream mode, I would imagine what it must be like to have the money to buy an ocean-going yacht, like the Norsea 27, with its exquisite lapstrake siding, or the utterly beautiful little Flicka, designed by Bruce Bingham... Both of these gorgeous vessels are trailerable...

Nor'sea 27

Flicka




But, alas, there was a problem with both of these last two boats. Building it was an integral part of the dream, remember.

And there was an even greater problem with boats and sailing -- all of it -- than that.

I'm skeered of the water.

It draws me, but it skeers me. I don't think I could cross the 137 miles across the Gulf Stream from the mainland USA to Bimini on a ginormous cruise ship without fear.

Ah, but coastal cruising ... that I can do. And have done it.

In 1980, moving from 700 miles inland to the Florida coast was like entering boat heaven. Within six months of our arrival here, my brother-in-law and I were invited by his friend, Jim, to help sail Jim's Hunter 27 from Ft. Walton Beach to his backyard boat dock on the Blackwater River in Milton.

It was a clear, crisp fall Saturday as we cruised westward on Santa Rosa Sound, under power and sail, and turned into Pensacola Bay. Where it met East Bay, Jim gave me the helm and went below for a quick snooze. My brother-in-law was already in the cabin sawing logs.  Alone on deck, standing at the helm with the big stainless steel wheel in my hands, the motor stilled and the sails firm as we barrelled along on a port tack, I was experiencing a dream come true.

Hunter 27


Hubs and I even had a little sailboat of our own for a while -- a 1977 South Coast Seacraft 22, trailerable fiberglass sailboat that seemed great when we first signed on the dotted line, but whose flaws gradually revealed themselves -- barely sitting headroom inside grew cramped very quickly; a motor with no reverse (you were supposed to just whip the motor around 180 degrees to "back up" -- nice in theory but never worked, and usually ended up putting the boat in a stand of cattails instead of her berth; and rot in a wooden partial bulkhead where the internal chainplate attached, which I, the great, imagined boatbuilder, did not know how to repair. We sailed her a few times on East Bay, but she stayed mostly on the trailer, and eventually, we sold her.

South Coast 22 -- ours was yellow.


Eventually, I happened up on a set of plans that looked like something I could do -- a Weekender or Vacationer from Stevenson Projects designed for plywood building by really, really amateur builders. The first thing I notice about these little vessels is that they're just as cute as bugs, and would look very salty out on Pensacola Bay. The second thing is that headroom is so scarce in these pocket cruisers there are no seats -- you just sit (and sleep) right on the sole.

Weekender


Vacationer




Nevertheless, I was game to try building one of these things. Some time before that, a friend told me about somebody selling an entire garage of power tools cheap, and I had bought them, so at least in that sense, I was prepared.

But before I could even order the plans, I new distraction popped up. I met a fellow running for Congress, and I got bit, hard, by the politics bug. I became a campaign volunteer, and then a Congressional staffer, and by the time I got burnt out on politics, boats had been superceded by Confederate heritage, and an accompanying travel trailer bug.

So I've come full circle -- with one difference. The boat resurgence isn't for an ocean sailing yacht or even a pocket cruiser, or any kind of sailboat...

Check Part Three to see what kind of boat has caught my attention....

And Now, Something Completely Different, Part One

Introduction

With the possibility that I'm a candidate for bilateral knee replacement and that successful surgery and rehab await in the not too distant future, I've seen a resurgence of a couple of interests I had to give up years ago.

First, I want to build a tiny travel trailer to take to Southern events, author events and for visiting some of the marvelous state parks in the South. I want a little miniature house to carry with us behind our vehicle, or our own hotel room, as it were.  Although I don't want to camp so much as I want to tour, aka travel, a little boondocking now and then sounds pretty good.

Originally, I wanted to buy a new, or newish, trailer -- until I saw how much they cost (and how they are made). So... used then. Older used.

I found a sixteen-foot Nomad at a used trailer place on Highway 98 back when I drove that route twice a week to work in Ft. Walton Beach. It was a cutie, from the 1970s. A couch in front that opened to make a full size bed; behind that a dinette curbside and a kitchen streetside. In the corner behind the kitchen, a small bath with shower; and in the other corner, the closet and the entry door That became one of my favorite layouts for small trailers.
These images are from different campers, but are typical of the front and back layouts..

We weren't able to buy the little Nomad, or any trailer, at the time -- I simply didn't know enough about it --  so I had to content myself with learning about things online. And while I was learning, I was bit by another bug I came across ... restoring vintage travel trailers. Maybe even building one, using plans from old Popular Mechanics-type magazines. I even bought a CD of vintage plans off ebay, and learned a lot about trailer building from them.

The Vacationer, from Mechanix Illusrated, May 1957
This is not surprising. I've always wanted to build something, from fairly young girlhood, an itch that was largely assuaged well into adulthood by sewing, mostly clothes but other items, too (purses, curtains, other home decor items).

What I learned about trailers and building them years ago has been coming back quite clearly in this recent resurgence, so I know what I want as far as a little trailer goes. How to get it? Restoring a vintage trailer (a little canned ham, maybe), remodeling/refreshing a not-so-vintage one, or building from scratch -- these are all viable options.

In fact, I even have quite a few small-trailer components on hand I can use in whatever option works out.

About 2003, I found a 1970 or so Aristocrat Lo-Liner that was for sale by a fellow Confederate in Virginia that I knew from an online forum. We made a deal, and agreed to meet in Charleston for the Hunley funeral in 2004, and I picked up the trailer then. My sis and brother-in-law accompanied me to South Carolina.

Lo-Liner, in need of a power-wash
 I had never pulled a trailer in my life, but I got her home, all the way to Pensacola -- about 600 miles -- with no mishaps except a flat tire. I accomplished this feat by avoiding having to back up anywhere during the trip.

Back home, I got as far as dismantling the trailer, redesigning the new build, and having the metal trailer frame sandblasted, primed and painted, when all work ceased, from a combination of factors ... my parents, who lived in a retirement cottage behind our house, required more and more care from me and my sis; I was laid off, and no jobs were to be had in Pensacola. I began writing my first novel... and my involvement in Confederate heritage grew ... my knees got worse ... and some time later, I lost both my parents in the same year ...

Sanded, primed painted...and fixin' a flat.
Of all those factors, the greatest barrier to trailer building was my knees. I couldn't stand or walk for more than a few minutes -- still can't -- let alone hoist sheets of plywood and wield a circular saw...

But there appears to be a remedy for the knee problems in the not-too-distant future, and with that possibility, the trailer-building interest has made a powerful come-back. And I'm nailing down exactly what I want.

But what has taken me by surprise is the very recent resurgence of a second interest I thought long dead and gone.

Building a boat.

(Stay tune for Parts 2, 3 and maybe 4....)

Monday, October 12, 2015

At Civil War Manipulated Memory....

On the proposed MLK monument at Stone Mountain, Kevin Levin pontificates:
"The problem is that MLK and black Union soldiers threaten – in a way that no other monument can – the meaning of the place."
And I leave a comment:
No. That is incorrect. They violate the PURPOSE of the memorial. What they THREATEN is not the meaning of this memorial, but its existence. They are encroachment, intended to be just one move to completely wipe out Confederate commemoration there -- and everywhere.

Meanwhile, no matter how hard you try to steer people's minds into your way of seeing history as the ONLY way to see it, and to marginalize the SCV, UDC, and Southern heritage in general, only people who already agree with you pay attention to you. If that were not so, the SCV would not have added 5,000 new members the past three months of the current war on Confederate heritage.
 Truth that Levin will not let through moderation....

Confederate Flag "Gang" Indicted for Terrorism

Link to CBS News:

 Ga. Confederate flag supporters face terrorism charges 

From what I've been able to determine thus far, I think the term "terrorism" is overkill. If the indictment accusations prove out, however, then these people should be charged, tried and punished accordingly.

That said, I will need a whole lot more proof of "terrorism," for what, right now, looks like disorderly conduct.  Will look for the text of the indictment and read it as soon as I get some time, hopefully later tonight. Also looking forward to a trial to find out what really happened, if it's possible to do so.

Nevertheless, if true, these guys need the book thrown at them; also need some lessons about showing proper respect for the flags of our Confederate ancestors...