Real Thought

I went with six of my Sea Scouts to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  We went on this outing to give the boys a day off from working on our boat and to reward them for their hard work.  Here are some pictures of them operating one of the gun mounts on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien and on the ferry Eureka at Hyde Street Pier.  At the end is a video of the triple expansion steam engine on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien running and reversing with the Chief Engineer explaining to my Scouts how to operate the engine.

Since I have posted any thing. What has happened? Well, Senator Barak Obama’s campaign has rejected an endorsement from Louis Farrakan, leader of the Nation of Islam and become mired in a controversy about whether or not the use of the Senator’s middle name, Hussein, is prejudicial to his image. As if the name Barak Obama isn’t odd enough. If the use of the good Senator’s middle name is somehow “unfair”, I would suggest that the problem lies with the Senator and his campaign staff, not anyone else. More importantly, one of my idols has passed away, William F. Buckley Jr. I have been a long time fan of WFB’s. He was truly a towering intellect among conservatives. My condolences go to his son, Christoper and to the rest of his family. I can only say that Mr. Buckley will be missed. There were many times when I looked to Mr. Buckley’s erudite writings for the words to give my thoughts expression. He taught me that sometimes the best weapon in a debate is not a strident shout but a sotto voce comment or a withering look. He, almost single handedly gave conservatism legitimacy in America and pulled it, as a political philosophy, back from being tossed in the dustbin of history. He will be greatly missed. I am sure that he is now with his wife Patricia, having a very nice glass of Bordeaux and wondering what all the fuss is really about.

Requiescat In Pace, Mr. Buckley.

Once again we have come to that holiday in which we celebrate our uniquely American legacy in electing only the best and brightest to the highest of the land.  Today, I choose to honor:

Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth President of the United States.  President Hayes was a brevet Major General during the Civil War and was wounded in action.  Among his accomplishments as President were signing a bill that allowed women to plead before the Supreme Court, having the first telephone installed in the White House and being the first President to visit the West Coast.  He is probably most famously remembered for the action of his wife, “Lemonade Lucy” Hayes who refused to serve alcoholic beverages in the White House.

A date which will live in infamy. I am off today because I am going with some fellow members of the Native Sons of the Golden West to dedicate the pier at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, now called Alameda Point, from which General James Doolittle and his raiders embarked aboard the USS Hornet (CV-8) for their raid on Japan as a historical site. Preserving the memory of General Doolittle and the men who flew with him seems like a very worthy thing to do on this day, a day which more than any other changed the lives of Americans. I hope and pray that this country will never have to live through another December 7, 1941 nor another September 11, 2001.

Not only did Kentucky Girl and I have a very good Thanksgiving, we engaged in the time honored American tradition of dragging out the Christmas decorations. Buddy the beagle had to make sure that they were all safe:

Afterwards, he had to rest.  Making sure that the Christmas decorations are explosive free is hard work:

The billionaire software mogul and alleged yachtsman has filed a lawsuit challenging the staging of the next America’s Cup. According to news reports, Ellison is not happy with the fact that Spain’s Nautico Espanol de Vela yacht club has been chosen as the “challenger of record” and gets to set the rules for the next America’s Cup regatta, originally slated for 2009 but now postponed to 2010 or 2011. OK, Larry, why don’t you try to win back the Cup instead of challenging the winner’s choice of a “challenger of record”? Perhaps if you put a team and a boat together that were worth a damn you would have not lost to Team New Zealand and Alinghi. Just maybe the Golden Gate Yacht Club would hold the Cup and you would be choosing a “challenger of record” and not the Swiss and the America’s Cup would be held in San Francisco Bay instead of Valencia, Spain. Larry, just get your proverbial feces together and win the Cup. Just a thought.

Can someone please explain to be how anyone could possibly run a container ship into the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge? Especially the Delta-Echo span which straddles one of the most commonly used shipping lanes in the Bay? Sure, there was heavy fog but all ships on the Bay have to check into Vessel Traffic Service and all have to use radar. There was a seasoned pilot on board and evidently the ship’s steering and propulsion systems were all working. The initial cause has been officially ruled “human error”. Really? No kidding. I’d say that running into a bridge that has spanned the Bay for more than fifty years constitutes “human error”. I might even say that it smacks of gross incompetence and negligence.

Friday for a two week summer cruise aboard my Sea Scout Ship Chaser.  We will be leaving Napa and going to Avalon on Catalina Island.   The itinerary includes stops at Santa Cruz Island, Avalon, Ventura, Santa Cruz and San Francisco.  It has been over three years since we did any serious offshore cruising and most of my scouts have never been on the boat for an extended length of time.  We have made vast improvements to the Chaser.  She has new Caterpillar diesels, updated safety equipment and navigation software and I think this cruise ought to be a great adventure.  For more information about the Chaser, you can look here.  I will try to post as we are on cruise when ever I can get wifi.  The route we will be taking looks like this:

Today is the day in which the Second Continental Congress declared the independence of the United Colonies from the state of Great Britain.  It would take another five years of bloody and, at times, desperate warfare for that independence to become a reality.  The people of the fledgling United States fought and defeated the most powerful empire on the Earth at that time.  Amidst the fireworks, picnics, barbeques and celebration I think we should take just a little time to remember those who sacrificed themselves so that our nation could be born and just perhaps see them as an example of what a determined people can do.

Happy Independence Day!

Last night my Sea Scouts and I helped work a crab feed for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Napa.  We get a healthy donation to do this so that the organizers don’t have to worry about it.  Basically we place the crab in the buckets, help clean up the kitchen, empty trash and then clean up after the event.  Typically the crab feeds in Napa are ticketed at $50 per person and draw an upper middle class crowd.  You know, middle management types, teachers, attorneys, bankers, business owners, generally the people who don’t have to worry about paying the bills and are comfortably well off.  These are the people who drive Priuses and are concerned about “global warming” and other “progressive issues.”

What concerns me is the amount of food that is wasted at these events.  Half loaves of bread that are drenched in spilled wine, half empty buckets of crab left out on tables for several hours, gallons of wine in opened and partially drunk bottles, half finished portions left on plates, you get the picture.  The amount of food that is wasted is appalling not to mention the mess these people leave behind.  It took about twelve of us about two hours to complete the clean up.  Wine and beverages were left everywhere, the bathrooms in the hall were TRASHED and in general the hall looked as though a herd of rhinoceroses had been through the place.  Not that there was any excuse for this.  There were abundant trash cans and recycling bins through out the hall and I know that these people would never tolerate that level of waste in their own houses.  These are the people who believe that “An Inconvenient Truth” is a great movie and I am sure that they are sympathetic to the plight of the Sudanese in Darfur, but it all rings hollow to me as I am disposing of enough wasted food to feed the needy for a couple of days at least.  It makes me wonder how many of those “socially conscious” people out there are really just hypocrites.