Enunciation Is A Good THing

Good enunciation is a wonderful thing.  This, on the other hand, just leaves us scratching our heads.

I guess someone will decipher that for us, but the but the noise to signal ratio is real high on this one.

New Bottle

 Running errands today, I went by Southbound Spirits to see what they acquired this past week.  

During Prohibition, there were six distilleries allowed to produce medicinal alcohol for the trade.  One of these was Old Forester.  Because it was medicinal, and available by prescription only, it was bottled at 115 proof.  Old Forester is still a brand, and they have released a bottling that celebrates their production during Prohibition.

I'll add this to the collection.  I'm sure that we'll hve a gathering over here during he holidays, and this might be interesting to bring out during the celebration.  Or, it might be rot-gut.  We'll find out soon enough.

Beautiful Weather

 After weeks of crappy weather, one hurricane after another, we're finally blessed with cool temps, moderate breezes and gentle sunshine.  It's been glorious outside.

As such, I'm spending time outdoors.  Piddling in the shop, with the doors flung open, letting the place air out.

Belle ad I are driving back to Teas tomorrow, to eat at her favorite restaurant.  While we're in Jasper, we'll go by the Cowboy Church there and fellowship with those people.  They are having a Saturday event, a Western Trade Days, and a team-roping clinic.  Some of us from our tiny Cowboy Church are driving over to meet those folks.  Maybe we can pick up some pointers and figure our how to grow our church.  We feel like we're doing fine, but it never hurts to see what works for other folks.

Louisiana is still in a constitutional crisis.  The Governor believes that we're still stuck in Phase 2.1 (he calls it Phase 3, but we know better).  The legislature believes that they ended the emergency orders last week.  The Governor has sued the Legislature and the Courts will decide.  I'm sure that a District Judge in Baton Rouge is scratching his head, wondering what law applies, and knowing that whatever he decides will be appealed.  In the mean time,   In the meantime, I'm seeing a hole lot less people wearing masks than I saw a week ago.  Louisiana is making up it's mind, regardless of what the government says.  It's an interesting time, and it's intriguing to watch the various players.

Y'all have a great weekend.  I think I'm going outside to play.

Sen. Ted Cruz Rips Twitter CEO a New One

PawPaw don't Tweet.  I don't know that I have ever had an account, but it looks to me,, as it appears to Ted Cruz, that Twitter is trying to silence any news that reflects poorly on Democrats, especially Joe Biden.

There is no doubt that Big Tech is in the bag for Biden, and it would do them well to start paying attention before the FCC breaks up Big Tech like it broke up the Bell System back in the 70s

Wednesday Zeta Update

It looks like Zeta is coming ashore today as a Cat 2 hurricane.  It will focus on southeast LA and the New Orleans metro area.  Because this one is a fast-mover, it will be mainly a wind event, but they haven't posted potential storm surge numbers yet, and we all recall that it was storm surge the killed New Orleans during Katrina.

I don't expect much impact on my acre.  We had a rain band moving through earlier, but the wind shouldn't get over 10-15 mph.  Just a gentle breeze.  The folks in New Orleans are n for a ride, though and we'll keep them in our prayers.

Philly Burns, 30 Officers Inured.

It appears that police shot a black man yesterday, who threatened them with a knife and repeatedly ignored orders to drop the knife.

Of course, the rioters have never heard of the 21-foot rule that is taught in police academies all over the country.  There is more to come out, but I'm betting that the cops did it right.

Governor Edwards Pitches A Hissy Fit

 It seems that the Legislature, in issuing their petition to end the public health emergency order, has caused the Governor to throw a fit, not unlike a three-year-old who gets his hand slapped.  The Governor has now filed suit, claiming, among other things, that the law is unconstitutional.  From the Governor's Facebook post.

.In addition to the fact that getting rid of the mitigation measures that have proven to slow the spread of COVID and save lives is reckless and dangerous, the law being used is blatantly unconstitutional. 

This is a classic separation-of-powers clash, and the governor is being petulant. His argument of the Legislature relying n an unconstitutional law is laughable, because it is the same law that he relied on to initiate the public health order in the first place.  For the record, let me print the law as found in the state website.

§768.  Termination of declaration of public health emergency

A.  The state of public health emergency shall continue until the governor finds that the threat of danger has passed or the disaster or emergency has been dealt with to the extent that the emergency conditions no longer exist and terminates the state of public health or emergency by executive order or proclamation, but no state of public health emergency may continue for longer than thirty days unless renewed by the governor.

B.  The legislature, in consultation with the public health authority, by a petition signed by a majority of the surviving members of either house, may terminate a state of public health emergency at any time.  This petition terminating the public health emergency may establish a period during which no other declaration of public health emergency may be issued.  Thereupon, the governor shall issue an executive order or proclamation ending the state of public health or emergency.

It's the same law.  If the governor is correct that it is unconstitutional, then the entire series of emergency orders he issued are also unconstitutional.

No man is above the law.  The governor should immediately comply with the orders of the legislature. 

UPDATE TO ADD:  The American Spectator has a good piece on the Louisiana Constitutional Crisis.  Go there and read the whole thing.

Tracking Zeta

I'd like to cancel my subscription to the Hurricane of the Month Club. 

It looks like this one is going to miss my acre.  The plots are starting to firm up, but it seems to he heading for the New Orleans/Baton Rouge corridor.

We'll know more in the next couple of days, but it's expected to make landfall on Wednesday.

Masking Illegal In Louisiana

 The Louisiana House o Representatives have ended the emergency health proclamation in Louisiana,  It's over.  By Law.  The proclamation is here:  It says that the public health emergency is order is over, and was over at the time it was delivered to the governor.  It also prohibits the governor from issuing another public health order until seven days after he proclaims the current health emergency over.

The Governor doesn't want to talk about it.  He's pissed, and being petulant.  But, there is currently no public health order in Louisiana.  And, there won't be until a week after the governor gets over his childish attitude and make a decision.

But, what all this means is that wearing a mask in public is now illegal again.  This is the public masking law.  R.S. 14:313.

It will be interesting to see how Louisiana reacts to their petulant governor.

Zeta?

 It looks like we have a new storm swirling inthe Fulf.  Tropical storm Zeta.  According to the National Hurricane Center.

Lovely, just friggin' lovely.

Louisiana House Nullifies Governor's Emergency Order

 The Louisiana Constitution gives the governor broad powers to declare an emergency, to respond to natural disasters.  In this case, Louisiana has been under one emergency order after another in response to the Covid crisis.  Many think that the Governor's order goes too far.  The legislature called themselves into session to address several issues, among those, to address the governor's covid restrictions.

The legislature wanted input to the process to address constituent concerns..  The Governor was unwilling to negotiate with the legislature on the Covid response, saying that he was unwilling to give up those powers necessary to address the emergency.

So, the House invoked a never before used clause in the state constitution.  That, basically, the legislature can petition the governor, requiring him to rescind all emergency orders.  This fail-safe was put into place in the unlikely event that a tyrannical governor imposed emergency powers to the detriment of the people.

Republicans are invoking a never-before-used process outlined in state law that allows a majority of House lawmakers to nullify the governor’s public health emergency declaration — and all restrictions tied to it — with a petition.

 House Speaker Clay Schexnayder said Edwards refused to address legislative concerns about his virus rules “in any substantive way.”

“The Legislature will make no apologies for simply standing up for the people we collectively represent,” Schexnayder, a Gonzales Republican, said in a statement. “The House has exhausted every available legislative remedy and has been left with no other option but to exercise its legislative right to terminate the governor’s emergency order.”

This was the Right Thing for the legislature to do.  However, it bring us a number of interesting questions.  I'm sure we'll see them addressed i the coming days. 

Fun Fact Friday

 In October 1965 in the comic strip Peanuts, we found Snoopy, the beagle who belonged to Charlie Brown challenging Manfred, Baron von Rictofen, to a duel over France.

Snooy, of course, was flying his Mark 1 Doghouse.

It never went well for Snoopy and he found himself in the same problem that many of the Red Baron's opponents found themselves in .

Curses!  Foiled agin.

Eventually, a singing group made a hit single about the beagle's duel.

It's Friday.  Y'all have a great weekend.  Belle and I will be traveling this weekend, and I'll catch up with y'all later.

Laphroiag 10

 Out running errands this afternoon, I stopped by a new liquor store, Southbound Spirits, who has recently opened in Pineville.  Pineville, my current home town, was dry as a bone during the decades following the Second World War.   Recently, the city was forced to put the matter to a vote, after a petition was launched, that forced the matter to be decided by a vote, and the citizenry voted to make Pineville wet.  Very wet.  The First Baptist Church was not amused.

So, we've had one established smoke shop add liquor and spirits to their inventory, and now Sourhbound Spirits.  I stopped by to check inventory.   Every liquor store has to carry certain items.  Certainly Jack Daniels and Jim Beam, and J&B Scotch, and Johnny Walker.  But, good scotch is hard to find in a tiny market, and I was quite intrigued to find that they had a fair collection on the wall.  Ardbeg and Glenfiddich, and Glenmorange were present, along with Irish whiskeys such as two presentations of Jameson, along with Keeling.

Talking with the proprietor, she mentioned that she wanted to fill the niche for Schotch and Irish drinkers, and we swapped ideas.  To show her that I was serious, I picked up a bottle of Laphroiag 10, the only one she had in the shop.  Laphroiag is a heavily peated Scotch, a representation of Islay whiskey, sold in the US at 43% ABV (86 proof)

This will be my first foray into heavily peatedd whiskey, and I'm intrigues to see what it is all about.  From what I've heard, it is sometimes an acquired taste, but for other it is ecstasy at first taste.

I know my way around a bourbon bottle, but I have very limited experience with Scotch, and that is mainly highland whiskeys.  It comes highly rated by the snobs, but we'll have to see for ourselves

They didn't have any Lagavulin, but we'll work on that.

Thursday Thoughts

 Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination passed another hurdle this morning when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to pass her to the Senate floor for the final vote.  Senate Democrats, in a childish snit, refused to participate.  Judge Barrett will get her vote early next week.

The Louisiana legislature continues to play silly games over the Covid response in the State of Louisiana.  T he Governor posted earlier today that the state has the lowest positivity rate of any in the South, but he maintains that we need to stay under his Emergency Order thumb.  By my count, we have now been under emergency orders for seven months.  

It's interesting to see how the maks mandate is working.  If you go to a box store, the mandate is in full throat, but if you go toa  smaller retail, they may, or may not, care about the mandate.  The churches have for all practical purposes, dropped the mask requirement.

Everyone I know has Covid-fatigue.  We're tired of this crap.  It looks like a never-ending saga, yet the Legislature here i Louisiana could end it tomorrow  Yet, they refuse to do so.

The Lyster Bag

 My introduction to Army field sanitation came in June, 973 at Fort Knox, KY.  We got water from a canvas bag that had been in use since 1910.  Let me introduce you to the Lyster Bag.

Purification of drinking water by the use of liquid chlorine was developed in 1910 by Major Carl Rogers Darnell, Professor of Chemistry at the Army Medical School. In the same time period, Major (later Col.) William J. L. Lyster (1869-1947) of the Army Medical Dept. used a solution of calcium hypochlorite in a linen bag to treat water. Lyster's method became the standard for U.S. ground forces in the field and in camps, implemented in the form of the Lyster Bag (also spelled Lister Bag).

 The bag had spigots around the base for filling canteens.  I saw my final Lyster bag in 1998, long after they had gone out of general use.  Our Battalion Sergeant Major had one, in which he had fitted a shower head to the bottom of the bag. The shower head had a pull-rope valve. We would hoist a convenient Private into a suitable tree to affix a block-and-tackle, then fill the bag with water,   Taking a shower in the field is a simple pleasure not to be overlooked.

Drinking Water

 Drinking water is important to troops in the field, and it's important to hurricane survivors who might not be able to access water during their recovery.

Grandson Quinton is working at a FEMA warehouse on Camp Beauregard.  He was put on orders ater Hurricane Laura and has been  there ever since, pushing supplies to the folks who need it.  Tarps MRE's and drinking water.  It's honest work, and they're paying him.

Today, he came home with a little carton of water, what they're pusing out to the hurricane relief effort.  It's a one-liner carton o water, bottled in Georgia.

That didn't surprise me much, as I'm sure that lots has change in the 20+ years since I retired.  What was interesting was the expiration date on top of the carton.  Best used by December, 2031.  That's right.  Over ten years in that carton.

In 1973 I ate C-rations that had been packaged in 1946.  Those pork patties had been dead longer than I had been alive.

When I was in the black-boot army, we used to get water our of something we called a water buffalo.  I would not walk past a water buffalo without filling my canteens.

That is an M149 Trailer, Water, 400 gallon, affectionately known my soldiers of my era as a water buffalo.  The Army has changed a bit over the years.

Tropical Storm Epsilon hangs

So, we have Tropical Storm Epsilon churning the fishes in the Atlantic and the weather-weenies are extatic.

If there is a named storm called Zeta, these guys will be like Jeffrey Toobin on a Zoom call.

Troy Aikman and Joe Buck On Hot Mic

Two announcers were recently caught talking about politics on a hot mic during an Air Force flyover during an NFL game.

What these two bozos don't realize is the amount of coordination and timing that is necessary to prep the planes, get airborne, and hit the target exactly on time.  It's a training mission, plain and simple.

The other thing these two bozos don't understand is that their lack of respect for the armed services and the country in general is precisely the reason that I don't watch the NFL any more.  For all I'm concerned, the entire NFL, from the owners  on down, can get on the unemployment line and earn an honest living.

Seen on Facebook.

 I guess I never thought about it like that.  According to the definition. Sporting purposes, you ask?  Oh, yeah, we could have great sport with that.

Robert Burns, Revisited

 The great Scots poet, Robert Burns said, and I paraphrase: "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

That's where I am today.  I had my Monday planned, and a friend called, and I am compelled to provide assistance.  It's not a big deal, but it needs attention.

In a few minutes, I'll get started getting busy to do a favor for a friend.

In the final analysis, that's what we are put on earth for.