The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Philadelphia police arrested some folks for using a raft to get around Main Street in Manayunk when it was flooded:
When Dray asked why the men were being arrested, he said the officers replied, “for lack of common sense.â€
No charges were filed against the boaters.
And I’m guessing the reason for that is there are no charges to be filed, because there’s no law against row, row, rowing your boat.
Hat Tip to SayUncle, who has several more examples of stuff like this.
This is an interesting development. Looks like he’s being moved to Justice, presumably where higher ups can keep a closer eye on what he’s up to. This comes as the Congressional investigation probes just how high the Fast and Furious scandal goes. It’ll be interesting to see the Congressional reaction to this reassignment, and whether Melson will continue to cooperate with the investigation.
As long as you can suck air in, and blow exhaust out, you can run a diesel engine completely submerged in most cases. The New Jersey National Guard apparently tried to take advantage of this capability, without quite enough common sense on driving through flood water:
If you follow the video through to the end, you’ll see where Chris Christie gets it from. Not too smart, I have to say. But I’ll give them credit for trying.
Hat Tip to WizardPC, who notes that there’s no “S” in HMMWV. Though, I would note those don’t look like hum-vees to me. Still, it’s good that the equipment will still allow our troops to do something that could be necessary at some point, but probably not wise in most conditions.
Looks like Irene really hit Vermont hard with the flooding:
Now if that were a river, it would just be kind of bad. Except apparently that roaring rapids is normally a street. Governor Christie is being asked by reporters whether he regrets the evacuation, because the New Jersey shore apparently fared pretty well, and it wasn’t bad at all. The real story of Irene is the inland flooding. The Delaware River has yet to crest (it crested earlier this afternoon, but when I wrote this this morning, it hadn’t yet). They are still evacuating people up in New Hope. Pennsylvania had the second highest number of fatalities of any state (now no longer the case, NY, NC, NJ at 6, PA at 5. 4th deadliest storm since 1980.), pretty much exclusively related to falling trees and water.
Wind wise, I’ve seen Nor’easters that blew a lot harder than Irene, but they tend to come in Winter when the ground is frozen. The problem with this area getting any kind of tropical cyclone is are houses aren’t designed to handle it (basements and a lot of water are not a great combination), and we don’t have the natural selection for well rooted trees that people on the southern coastal regions do.
I will say one thing, this is the last house I ever buy with a finished basement. Growing up as a kid, we had a wet basement, and when it got wet, it was no big deal. When you have carpet, bookcases, washer and dryer, and computers and furniture in your basement, that’s a different story.
UPDATE: Mike W. knows someone personally, who is among the dead in Delaware. In retrospect we were very lucky, compared to some of the flood victims, even in my immediate neighborhood. I can walk to houses that were inundated.
The left is busy trying to debunk Chuck Norris’s assertion about the UN Arms Trade Treaty. It’s also being covered by a blog UN Dispatch. You can find a source of documents here.
All I know is this: we do not yet have any formal treaty, but the parties involved with this are people I did not vote for, nor had a chance to vote for and  I do not trust them or their intentions. So as far as I’m concerned, they can take their treaty and shove it where the sun don’t shine, whether Chuck Norris is right or wrong. But everything I’ve seen suggests there’s much to worry about. From the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (the name of which should raise eyebrows immediately):
In considering problems relating to the unregulated circulation of small arms, it remains essential to focus on integrated policy approaches. The changing nature of armed violence, including where the United Nations has been active in peace operations, post-conflict reconstruction or development assistance, has blurred the line between armed conflict and crime, and between politically motivated and economically motivated violence. Peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities and development assistance require planning for small arms control and armed violence reduction as a priority. In such contexts, it is vital that traditional arms control measures be integrated into interventions that target the demand for weapons and enhance the ability of security providers and governance authorities to strengthen community security, manage conflict and mitigate violence.
Also from this document here:
The draft Bill establishes a principle that has developed globally in the last decade, and is a core objective of many government’s efforts to strengthen their national legislation: “the possession and use of weapons is a privilege that is conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety.â€
[…]
Policies targeting specific SALW typically do so because of certain features – such as lethality or easily concealable firearms – that make them particularly dangerous for civilian use. Specific SALW may also be prohibited because they are not only extremely deadly, but appear to serve no legitimate civilian function.
[..]
Licence applicants may be required to provide a good reason, justifying why they need to possess a firearm. Legislation may prescribe the circumstances under which possession of a firearm may be justified.
If‘personal protection’is permitted as a good reason, applicants should prove to the police that they are in genuine danger that could be avoided by being armed. Research from UNDP in El Salvador indicated that when firearms were used in self-defence, the person was four times more likely to be killed than when firearms were not used in self-defence.
Sorry, given the supporting documents for this Treaty, it’s hard for me to say that Chuck is wrong. In fact, given that the United States accounts for about 1/4 of the UN budget, I would suggest pissing off the most powerful lobbying group in the country is a bad idea if you want to continue to occupy significant space on some of the most valuable real-estate in our country.
Don’t let the left fool you. There’s plenty to worry about from the UN. While we have the votes to prevent ratification of this treaty, it could wreak havoc with arms and ammunition from countries that do sign on. Take a look at some of your favorite cheap ammo, and see where it comes from. Them do the same for your guns. This is a big deal no matter what they tell you.
Cigar maker Edgar M. Cullman, dead at age 93. Remember kids, smoking is a sure path to an early grave.
I kid, I kid. The data is pretty incontrovertible that smoking is bad for you. But genetics, I think, is a greater determining factor. There are plenty of people who live the clean life that die young, and plenty to do everything wrong, and live to a ripe old age. In fact, studies on centenarians have shown that genetics probably plays more of a factor than lifestyle choices.
I normally make an effort to follow along with the comment threads, and try to read and respond to every e-mail. But while our blog hosting site (also known as my basement) is up and running fine, our off-site-backup and e-mail provider (also known as my friend Jason’s basement) is still without power since the storm. Since the town he’s in is along the Delaware River, they are still experiencing flooding, as the river is still above flood stage. While his house is well above the river, flooding could conceivably complicate power restoration.
NEW ENGLAND has a centuries-old tradition of both gun manufacturing and gun control. It shouldn’t have to pick between the two. However, at least one manufacturer is trying to force the matter. Proposals to require that guns be made suitable for micro-stamping, a technology which would allow shell casings to be traced back to the exact gun they were fired from, have been introduced in the Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts legislatures. These have drawn significant criticism from gun manufacturers, at least one of which, Colt, is threatening to move out of New England if such legislation is adopted.
The rest of this sorry article admonishes the manufacturers for holding jobs hostage. Like the manufactures owe the hostile New England states a living, and are required to continually bend over and take it. No blame for the politicians pushing a completely unproven and dubious technology? It’s the politicians threatening the jobs, you ignoramuses at the Globe, not the manufacturers.
But not only is does the Globe show ignorance of who to blame, they show an ignorance of history as well. The Globe describes gun control in New England as a “centuries old tradition”. Reality is, it’s not even a century old tradition, at least not for the kind of gun laws that the Globe regularly speaks in favor of. Most of it, in fact, is less than a half-century old, and much less than 25. Centuries old Boston gun control was regulating where and how one could set up for target practice on Boston Commons, or the old Boston ordinance that said if you’re going to store your rifle, musket, pistol, bomb grenade or artillery piece, it would be nice if you stored it unloaded/deactivated so as not to cause fire hazards. It was still, until the 20th century, legal to carry a loaded pistol around Boston. Does the Globe favor returning to that gun control tradition?
This is not a tradition, Globe Editorial Board, it is a thoroughly modern hysteria. The legal framework this hysteria has produced, is in the process of being dismantled, using our very real constitutional tradition. Imagine that, Globe Editorial Board.
Looks like things continue to go badly for the copyright troll Righthaven, as documented by Clayton and the Righthaven Victims blog. Couldn’t have happened to nicer people. I hope Clayton and others affected can get some of their settlement money back, if not from Righthaven directly, than from their puppet masters at Stephens Media.
Apparently there’s a strain of yeast in lager yeast that no one has ever been able to identify. Turns out it’s a strain of a wild Patagonian yeast that somehow made its way to Bavaria. The important takeaway from this is that this discovery is “paving the way for new types of designer beers.” Give the strain to the folks at Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware. If there’s anything good that be made from it, they’ll figure it out.