Thursday, May 27, 2010

I Don't Believe the Liberal Media!

I have just taken a stand with the Media Research Center by requesting my free "I Don't Believe The Liberal Media" bumper sticker, and I'm urging you to do the same. The so-called "news" media continue to aggressively push a socialist agenda, and it's threatening the very foundation of our nation.

Organizations like the MRC are exposing and neutralizing the liberal media, but too many Americans are being deceived and misled. Take a stand right now by clicking below to get your "I Don't Believe The Liberal Media" bumper sticker and help spread this message across the nation.

Click here to request your bumper sticker:


Thanks for joining with me.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Garden report

Here's a photo I took this morning.  My lettuce had a bout of the inch-worms.  These aphids (which turn into moths) nearly destroyed my entire crop of lettuce  (I need to re-seed a few of the spots).  I bought some Sevin dust and after two applications, I think I have em' licked (did find one hiding under a leave this afternoon though).  My potatoes seem to be growing well as are my green beans, peas, cucumbers and squash.  My tomatoes are a little slow out of the starting box, but they look healthy, if not a little on the small side.  For some reason, my peppers are very stunted- not more than a few inches tall.  Also, the greens, spinach and onions aren't doing so well.  Birds have eaten nearly every strawberry (glad I didn't put too much work into those) and only two of my six sunflowers are still alive.  Carrots are doing fine, but the seeds didn't stay in their nice straight rows after a hard rain.  They floated to one corner and are concentrated there.

I mentioned my aphid problem to a friend of mine and she said that she has a secret.  She encourages spiders to live in her garden.  Black widows in particular.  The spiders eat all the would-be garden pests.  Just be careful when you pick your veggies!  This would definitely not work for my family; with 3 little girls who's curiosity and fingers go everywhere.

I've already eaten some lettuce and green beans.  I have a lesson to share- lettuce must be chilled 2 days in the fridge before eating or it will be very bitter.  This is something to keep in mind if you have no way to chill the leaves.

On a side note, I'm considering raising rabbits and placing the rabbit hutch over the compost bin so as to ease the clean up of the poo and pee.  It would be removable, so I could put it over the new bin when the current one fills up.  I'm thinking I need 3 cages.  1 for the buck, 1 for the doe and 1 for the off spring waiting to be processed.  There's a bunch of info on the web about this, I just need to read a little more.  Also, not sure how the family would react to eating bunnies.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Make-shift Drill

e preceding article was about the library of articles.  Here is a short one from a Peace Corps manual on how to create a make-shift drill.

A drill

Sometimes you may need to make a small hole through a piece of wood. The following tool will help you do this.




Fig. 9

You will need these materials to make the drill:

One nail, 8 cm long

One piece of wood such as a branch of a tree

The wood should be very hard

Length: about 12 cm

Thickness: between 10 and 12 cm (See page 1 for instructions on measuring the thickness.)

Hammer
he first step is to flatten the point of the nail as you did when making the chisel. Hammer the point until flattened as shown in the diagram.



Fig.10

The flattened point is then hammered into the center of the end of the piece of wood as shown in the following diagram. Cut the head off the nail with a hacksaw blade. This exposed end of the nail is hammered until it is flattened.

Nail with head off before being flattened:



Fig.11

Nail after being hammered:



Fig.12

Finally, sharpen the end using a hard stone, or by rubbing it on a hard cement floor until the point looks like this:



Fig.13

The same procedure can be used to make drills of various sizes, using different sized nails. When using large nails, make sure the wood for the handle is thick enough in diameter so that it will not crack or split when the drill is being used.

To use the drill, grasp the butt of the handle with the palm of the hand as shown in the diagram. Press down as you twist the nail back and forth through the wood.



Fig.14

The drill also can be used to prepare a piece of wood for a nail. If a hole is made in a piece of wood before a nail is pounded into it, the wood will be less likely to split. Choose a drill which will make a hole that is slightly smaller in diameter than the nail that you want to use. Drill the hole not quite through the other end. When joining two pieces of wood, do this for both pieces. Then bang the nail through the holes in the two pieces.


Valuable Sustainment Articles

Just thought I’d pass along this valuable resource for those interested in self sustainment and small farming.

Humanity Development Library

The Humanity Development Library has thousands of articles on everything from training animals to building wells to perserving food to how to make tools.  It’s part of a larger New Zealand Digital Library that has many more thousands of articles that may be of interest to you.

 

All the articles are free, require no registration.  I will be downloading many of the articles for my “off-line” internet library and thought many of my readers would enjoy the link.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Trip Report- History Lesson

Just finishing up a trip to Sumter, SC where I stopped by two musuems.  One in Camden and one in Sumter.  These are Revolutionary War museums that have old buildings that were moved to the site and also lots of information on the area during that era.  Since my last post was about the Constitution, I figured I’d continue that theme and share some of the information I've learned this past week.

First, some info on the South Carolina state flag that you may not find anywhere else.  Take a look at George Washington there and you’ll notice that he is wearing a “gorget.”  The term dates back to midevil times when a gorget was part of the suit of armor that covered the neck.  Later, the gorget was worn by officers to distinguish themselves from the conscripts or enlisted men. 

The American and British officers of the revolutionary war wore these gorgets, including George Washington.  The South Carolina regiments wore the gorget with the inscription “Liberty” or in some cases like Lieutenant Alexander Hume’s of the Second South Carolina Regiment. the face of his was ornamented with the liberty pole, crossed flags and the arms of war above the regiment's motto: "Libertas.Portior.Vita," or "liberty is more important than life". 

The crescent you see on the SC flag is a gorget, not a crescent moon.  The palmetto tree is to remember how effective the palmetto was in Colonel Moultrie's defense of Sullivan's Island against an attack by British warships in June, 1776. (That's right, the war started well before we declared our independance on the 4th of July).  Cannonballs fired at the fort from the British ships could not destroy the walls of the fort which were built of Palmetto logs. Instead, the cannonballs simply sank into the soft, tough Palmetto wood.

Secondly, and this is the part my readers will find fascinating, is that after the Aggression of the North (Civil War to you yanks) South Carolina refused to fly the state flag!  Why you ask?  It was a statement of the people, telling the federal government that the state flag had no meaning any more.  They believed that SC freely joined the union and that they should be able to freely leave- the war proved otherwise.  Since SC did not have the liberty to secede, it refused to fly the flag that represented it’s liberty.  Others suggest that they did not want to dishonor the state flag by flying it next to or below the federal flag.  What a slap in the face to those who claim to represent freedom!

Here's a period bread oven. There is a small vent at the top of the arch in the middle. The door is steel with a handle. Lots of baking room inside. seems like it might have been hard to get a good draft for the fire, but by the looks of the smoke exiting the door I'm not sure how effective the chimney vent is.

During my trip I was able to check out the dwellings of colonial-era people and gain a deeper appreciation of what they went through and how much labor was required for their existence.  My co-worker pondered, “Were they happier back then? Despite the harder physical life?”  I think he concluded that they were.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Constitutional History Lesson

I think that each of us, as citizens, have a duty to know what our constitution is, and the circumstances of its creation.  I have begun reading the biography "John Adams" in an attempt to learn more about one of the founding fathers.  To that end, I have included a brief history lesson with information regarding the forming of the Constitution.

The thirteen colonies and three and one-half million Americans who had won independence from the British crown a few years earlier were badly divided on many fundamental issues. Some thought the colonies should reaffiliate with the British crown. Among the majority who favored continued independence, the most divisive issue was whether the United States should have a strong central government to replace the weak “league of friendship” established by the Articles of Confederation. Under the Confederation of 1781, there was no executive or judicial authority, and the national Congress had no power to tax or to regulate commerce. The thirteen states retained all their sovereignty, and the national government could do nothing without their approval. The Articles of Confederation could not be amended without the unanimous approval of all the states, and every effort to strengthen this loose confederation had failed.


Congress could not even protect itself. In July 1783, an armed mob of former Revolutionary War soldiers seeking back wages threatened to take Congress hostage at its meeting in Philadelphia. When Pennsylvania declined to provide militia to protect them, the congressmen fled. Thereafter Congress was a laughingstock, wandering from city to city.

Unless America could adopt a central government with sufficient authority to function as a nation, the thirteen states would remain a group of insignificant, feuding little nations united by nothing more than geography and forever vulnerable to the impositions of aggressive foreign powers. No wonder the first purpose stated in the preamble of the new United States Constitution was “to form a more perfect union.”

The Constitution had its origin in a resolution by which the relatively powerless Congress called delegates to a convention to discuss amendments to the Articles of Confederation. This convention was promoted by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, two farsighted young statesmen still in their thirties, who favored a strong national government. They persuaded a reluctant George Washington to attend and then used his influence in a letter-writing campaign to encourage participation by all the states. The convention was held in Philadelphia, whose population of a little over 40,000 made it the largest city in the thirteen states.

As the delegates assembled, there were ominous signs of disunity. It was not until eleven days after the scheduled beginning of the convention that enough states were represented to form a quorum. New Hampshire’s delegation arrived more than two months late because the state had not provided them travel money. No delegates ever came from Rhode Island.

Economically and politically, the country was alarmingly weak. The states were in a paralyzing depression. Everyone was in debt. The national treasury was empty. Inflation was rampant. The various currencies were nearly worthless. The trade deficit was staggering. Rebelling against their inclusion in New York State, prominent citizens of Vermont had already entered into negotiations to rejoin the British crown. In the western territory, Kentucky leaders were speaking openly about turning from the union and forming alliances with the Old World.

Instead of reacting timidly because of disunity and weakness, the delegates boldly ignored the terms of their invitation to amend the Articles of Confederation and instead set out to write an entirely new constitution. They were conscious of their place in history. For millennia the world’s people had been ruled by kings or tyrants. Now a group of colonies had won independence from a king and their representatives had the unique opportunity of establishing a constitutional government Abraham Lincoln would later describe as “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

The delegates faced staggering obstacles. The leaders in the thirteen states were deeply divided on the extent to which the states would cede any power to a national government. If there was to be a strong central government, there were seemingly irresolvable differences on how to allocate the ingredients of national power between large and small states. As to the nature of the national executive, some wanted to copy the British parliamentary system. At least one delegate even favored the adoption of a monarchy. Divisions over slavery could well have prevented any agreement on other issues. There were 600,000 black slaves in the thirteen states, and slavery was essential in the view of some delegates and repulsive to many others.

Deeming secrecy essential to the success of their venture, the delegates spent over three months in secret sessions, faithfully observing their agreement that no one would speak outside the meeting room on the progress of their work. They were fearful that if their debates were reported to the people before the entire document was ready for submission, the opposition would unite to kill the effort before it was born. This type of proceeding would obviously be impossible today. There is irony in the fact that a constitution which protects the people’s “right to know” was written under a set of ground rules that its present beneficiaries would not tolerate.

It took the delegates seven weeks of debate to resolve the question of how the large and small states would be represented in the national congress. The Great Compromise provided a senate with equal representation for each state, and a lower house in which representation was apportioned according to the whole population of free persons in the state, plus three-fifths of the slaves. The vote on this pivotal issue was five states in favor and four against; other states did not vote, either because no delegates were present or because their delegation was divided. Upon that fragile base, the delegates went forward to consider other issues, including the nature of the executive and judicial branches, and whether the document should include a bill of rights.

The drafting of the Constitution was only the beginning. By its terms it would not go into effect until ratified by conventions in nine states. But if the nation was to be united and strong, the new Constitution had to be ratified by the key states of Virginia and New York, where the opposition was particularly strong. The extent of opposition coming out of the convention is suggested by the fact that of seventy-four appointed delegates, only fifty-five participated in the convention, and only thirty-nine of these signed the completed document.


It was nine months before nine states had ratified, and the last of the key states was not included until a month later, when the New York convention ratified by a vote of thirty to twenty-seven. To the “miracle of Philadelphia” one must therefore add “the miracle of ratification.”

Ratification probably could not have been secured without a commitment to add a written bill of rights. The first ten amendments, which included the Bill of Rights, were ratified a little over three years after the Constitution itself.

That the Constitution was ratified is largely attributable to the fact that the principal leaders in the states were willing to vote for a document that failed to embody every one of their preferences. For example, influential Thomas Jefferson, who was in Paris negotiating a treaty and therefore did not serve as a delegate, felt strongly that a bill of rights should have been included in the original Constitution. But Jefferson still supported the Constitution because he felt it was the best available. Benjamin Franklin stated that view in these words:

“When you assemble a number of men to have the advantage over their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does. … The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good.”

Those who enjoy the blessings of liberty under a divinely inspired constitution should promote morality, and they should practice what the Founding Fathers called “civic virtue.” In his address on the U.S. Constitution, Ezra Taft Benson [former secretary of the interior] quoted this important observation by John Adams, the second president of the United States:


“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Similarly, James Madison, who is known as the “Father of the Constitution,” stated his assumption that there had to be “sufficient virtue among men for self-government.” He argued in the Federalist Papers that “republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form.”

It is part of our civic duty to be moral in our conduct toward all people. There is no place in responsible citizenship for dishonesty or deceit or for willful law breaking of any kind. I believe with the author of Proverbs that “righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14:34.) The personal righteousness of citizens will strengthen a nation more than the force of its arms.

Citizens should also be practitioners of civic virtue in their conduct toward government. They should be ever willing to fulfill the duties of citizenship. This includes compulsory duties like military service and the numerous voluntary actions they must take if they are to preserve the principle of limited government through citizen self-reliance. For example, since U.S. citizens value the right of trial by jury, they must be willing to serve on juries, even those involving unsavory subject matter. Citizens who favor morality cannot leave the enforcement of moral laws to jurors who oppose them.

The single word that best describes a fulfillment of the duties of civic virtue is patriotism. Citizens should be patriotic. My favorite prescription for patriotism is that of Adlai Stevenson:

“What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? … A patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

I close with a poetic prayer. It is familiar to everyone in the United States, because U.S. citizens sing it in one of their loveliest hymns. It expresses gratitude to God for liberty, and it voices a prayer that he will continue to bless them with the holy light of freedom:

Our fathers’ God, to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light.
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!

-Author Dallin H. Oaks, “The Divinely Inspired Constitution,” Ensign, Feb 1992, 68

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Pottery for Food Storage


I recently went to the LDS Church History Musuem in Salt Lake.  There is a new exhibit on pottery.  I'll have to tell you, it was not what I was expecting.  I was also VERY lucky to be there while they were setting it up b/c I was able to talk to the professor who was in charge of the exhibit and ask him a bunch of questions.
What drew my attention was a poster that said that the art of pottery for food storage was quickly becoming a lost art.  The food storage stuck out to me and grabbed my attention.
Apparently, once a glaze is put on the pots, they become air and water tight- just like glass.  The method to seal the opening was to melt wax over the food to seal it.  Other methods included storing meat packed in lard, which did not require the wax.  Once sealed, they would put fabric over the top and tie it off to help keep out the bugs.
An average family would have 50+ large pots and jars to preserve their food for the winter.  Without the food storage, they would starve.
Obviously, the pioneers could not transport these heavy clay pots across the plains, they made them after they settled.  In fact, potters were among the most important craftsmen in the community- next to blacksmiths, and wood workers.
Back in the 1800s, the method for creating the glaze was to make a lead-based glaze.  This method is not approved for food storage today- due to the lead content and FDA safety...  but, learning this method might prove very important in some future day.
Now, I've got a bizillion plastic buckets and a hundred or so mason jars.  I'm hoping that I'll never have to make my storage containers out of clay, but its a skill possibly worth looking into.  There's the clay collection, cleaning, mixing, the shaping, the drying and firing, the glazing and firing again.  Not an easy process, but one that served humanity for thousands of years.  I suspect this is not a skill we want to lose.
I looked at local colleges and community courses for pottery and it is all quite expensive.  Additionally, they don't use the traditional methods that I would be interested in, though I'm sure some of the techniques would carry over.  The kiln for the firing appears to be the most difficult to create and not a task completed in one day.  The kiln has to reach very hot temps, much hotter than a typical food oven.  Then, I still haven't found the recipe online for traditional lead-based glazes (If anyone finds one, let me know).

Anyhow, this piqued my interest and thought I would share my observations.

Monday, May 3, 2010

US consumer inflation up two percent

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f4ca4a183df2102e9ad9338f1c9b7c75.171&show_article=1

 

“Americans saw prices rise two percent in the year to March according to the Commerce Department's personal consumption expenditures index published on Monday.

The figure, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve as a sign of broader inflation levels, is approaching the maximum the central bank normally considers sustainable.

Energy and food costs rose 18.7 percent against March 2009, up almost four percentage points compared with February. “ Emphasis added.

Here we go… buckle up.

 

 

 

 

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Ariz. Deputy Shot; Illegal Immigrants Suspected


AP April 30: Emergency personnel wheel a Pinal County Sheriff's deputy into a hospital in Casa Grande, Ariz.

I haven't exactly been glued to the TV, but at least Fox is covering this.

17 Suspected Illegal Immigrants Caught in Search for Ariz. Deputy's Attackers

Associated Press
Authorities have captured 17 suspected illegal immigrants in southern Arizona as they continued their manhunt Saturday for smugglers who they say shot and wounded a sheriff's deputy in a remote desert area 50 miles south of Phoenix.
State and federal law enforcement agencies deployed helicopters and scores of officers to search a 100-square-mile zone for the suspects. The Arizona Republic reported that officials said more than one of the choppers came under fire during the manhunt on Friday.
This sounds like a war zone.  These fools are brazen enough to shoot at choppers.  When are the PTB going to wake up and defend our borders?  Obviously, the state of Arizona isn't going to wait around to find out.  Good for them. I support the State's sovereignty and their decision to defend it's borders.
I just checked over at CNN.  Their 7th headline is a sympathetic news story about 'peaceful' anti-Arizona protesters getting arrested (I wonder how peaceful they were if they were arrested).  The Arizona deputy story, is listed at the 13th article which is basically the AP article, but ends with a full 2 paragraphs that we shouldn't condemn the illegals for this- it was just drug dealers- and that, in case you forgot, "prominent entertainers, including Shakira and Linda Ronstadt, also have spoken against the law" and some support an Arizona boycott.  Thanks CNN.
FYI; Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce accused President Barack Obama, a critic of the measure, of "aiding and abetting criminal activity, inciting criminal activity, inciting violence, and [violating his] oath of office to secure this border, enforce these laws and defend the American people."
Now if we can get a Republican majority and impeach him!  

Shooting Mirrors

Practice dry-firing in a mirror. Remember, FRONT SIGHT! Practicing in a mirror is a good idea b\c you are practicing with a full size target, who is moving, and is drawing a gun at YOU! I must admit that the first few times its a little freaky. Also remember to move so the guy in the mirror doesn't hit you. Try a hundred shots into a full length mirror this week.