Quotes sent to me by Lester Norvell, Good Friend!

--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

QUOTE

"When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the  fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is  done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark  with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly  disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the  office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain  folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

Quote

"The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth. He is not actually happy  when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. 

 It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. 

It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty — and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies."

Lester Norvell

Work Shops

Old Hog Hunting Etchings for you Enjoyment

Australian Boar Dogs

Bull Arabs, Staghound Bull Arab crosses, Bad Boys and Girls! Australians hunt in a lot of semi open ground and have developed their Hog Dogs for such. The Australian Bull Arab is a cross between the English Bull Terrier and the Grey Hound, (thus the Arab in the name). Tough, hard hunting and very athletic! Not much nose needed as most hunting is done by sight so very little hound in the blood line if any. A lot of Wolfhound, Mastiff and Great Dane is used in crosses for size. Hats off to them!
All pics come from Boardogs website.

More from Henry, quotes, guns and the rest

1308251816
audwin:

I get the feeling that you appreciate good quotes.  Am something of a
small time collector of quotes and bits of good writing myself.  Here's
one for you.

"You're in love, aren't you?"

"Yes," Thomas said.

"(Insert profanity of your choice here)," Sir Guillaume said in exasperation.  "Love!  It
always leads to trouble."

"Man is born to it," Thomas said, "as the sparks fly upwards."

"Maybe," Sir Guillaume said grimly, "but it's women who provide the
bloody kindling."  ("Heretic", Bernard Cornwell)

hsj
fults cove
Tennessee
131/88
"Live and learn, lad.  If you live."


and more

What I like about you is that I think you are a seeker of Truth and don't
come across as a know-it-all.  I think you are honest and open-minded.
Those are two rock solid fundamentals the seeker of Truth must have if he
is to have any hope of being successful in the search.

I am a big believer in paying attention to lessons learned by the
experience of others.  Broadens out your data set considerably as opposed
to the limited experience and mental capacity of a single individual.  So
I like to go back as often as possible to see what the Old Boys said.
The survivors.  Some of that is baloney and hollow rhetoric and may not
apply any more.  But some of it is right and we need to pay attention.
As the old song says, "The fundamentals still apply, as time goes by."

The problem with lessons from the past is that they are quickly forgotten
and have to be learned again over and over, often at the cost of blood,
sweat, tears, pain, agony, suffering.  Winston Churchill put it this way:
"Never despise your enemy is an old lesson, but it has to be learned
afresh, year after year, by every nation that is warlike and brave."

If you want to think about Stopping Power, I refer you to Chapter VII in
"Shooting to Live" by W. E. Fairbairn and E. A. Sykes. If you don't have
a copy in your library, by all means pick up one and re-read that chapter
every now and then to keep your feet on solid ground.

"But they were restricted to ball ammo and we now have much improved
ammo," you will say.  Maybe we do.  Or maybe we don't.  If you get too
much expansion you will lose penetration and a round may be stopped by
thick winter clothing, bone, or simply by hard muscle.  Simple ball ammo
that provides the penetration needed to reach vital organs may be the
better choice.  Particularly when shot in small pistols or revolvers with
short barrels that don't provide the velocity needed for HP rounds to
function properly. Given the choice, I will rely on penetration first and
not be overly concerned about expansion.  And always bear in mind that
bullet placement trumps caliber.

We were taught that situation and terrain determines tactics.  You need
to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to go all out,
know when to run.  Situational Awareness is a basic fundamental you need
to drill into your students.  Awareness can save your butt.  Lack of it
can get you killed.  ---  "A Snyder squibbed in the jungle.  Somebody
laughed and fled.  And the men of the First Shakaris picked up their
Subaltern dead.  With a big blue mark in his forehead and the back blown
out of his head."  ---  A single round fired from a Single Action .45  in
a dark room and Billy the Kid was dead on his feet.  ---  A shotgun blast
from ambush in the empty desert and Pat Garret was dead on his feet.

All the strength, vigor, agility, and quick reaction time you may have
when young will fade to weakness and trembling if you live long enough to
reach old age.  Old age is the ultimate enemy.  If you don't die first it
will drag you down.  You end up half deaf, half blind, with uncertain
knees and legs and slowed reactions.  Might be good to bear in mind that
you really don't have to reach old age for those conditions to kick in.
Sickness, wounds, drugs, or alcohol can do it to you in minutes.

One of the defining characteristics of humans is that they are infinitely
capable of self delusion.  To recognize Reality is one of the biggest
problems we face in life.  As Mollie Brewer's grandfather, a cattleman on
Tongue River in Montana, said, "They say we live and learn.  We all live
but damn few learn."

Maybe the biggest problem we face is the one of distinguishing between
True Reality and Perceived Reality.  Culture plays a big part in that.
Culture matters, race does not.  Change the culture and all the rules are
changed.




and more

When young, iron sights served me well out to 600 or 1000 yards.  I could
see rifle and handgun sights clearly and down range too.

Sometime in my late 40s I had to start using reading glasses to see
newsprint or handgun sights clearly.  Sometime in my 70s I lost all
vision in my right eye to macular degeneration.  I get along fairly well
now with the one eye and reading glasses but things are pretty fuzzy
without them.  The older and less physically capable I became the less I
shot long guns and the more I depended on handguns.

I used to shoot tight groups offhand on 3 x 5 index targets with a
variety of pistols and revolvers at a range of 21 feet.  Began to have to
use glasses to do it.

In the last twenty years have focused mostly on close-range combat
shooting for personal defense.  Quickly realized you cannot rely on
seeing sights well at such times.  Statistics tell us that most such
encounters occur in low light conditions.  I began to practice shooting
in low light conditions to the point of almost total darkness.  If you
got a fair number of hits on the 3 x 5 target you were a survivor.  If
you got no hits at all you were dead.

Also quickly realized you can't depend on having glasses to improve your
deteriorating vision.  In quick-breaking confrontations you won't have
time to find your glasses or put them on.  Or you will lose them in a
struggle or other violent physical activity.  Then you are not only half
deaf from gunfire but also half blind.

I started practicing this close range combat type shooting with no
sights.  A friend and I took all the sights off a Glock pistol and began
shooting with it in a variety of light conditions on an 8 x 10 inch sheet
of paper at 21 feet.  Using the outline of the gun itself we could
consistently get 4 and 5-inch groups on the target as long as there was
light enough to see the outline of the gun and the target itself.  That
experience pretty much carried through with all the pistols and revolvers
I worked with, the flat-topped semi-auto pistols being the best.  Just
come down until the topline of the gun goes to a flat line and shoot.
Jim Cirillo talks about this type of sighting in his book "Guns, Bullets,
and Gunfights"--calling it "the weapon silhouette point."  It is a
practical low light shooting technique.  Also works well for an old man
with poor vision who can't find his glasses.  "It will get you through
the night," as a Deputy Sheriff friend of mine says.

"But you are young," you say, "and have excellent eyesight and don't need
glasses." Lad, you are about to get snakebit if you depend on that.  You
don't need to wait until you are old to have deteriorating vision.  Dust,
sand, smoke, wind, rain, sun in your eyes can wreck your vision in
seconds.  As can a wide variety of aerosol sprays readily available in
any grocery or convenience store.

The lesson learned is that you cannot depend on strong physical condition
and good eyesight to carry you through a close-range personal defense
situation.  You had better devote some serious practice time to working
on no-sights shooting techniques.  That and the drill may well be what
saves your young butt.

hsj
fults cove
Tennessee
130/88
"You can learn from where you've been, but you've got to go from where
you stand."

Amendment to Post Below, The Essential American Soul

Medal Of Honor, Essential American Soul!

Mollie Cyrus

Waste of Skin,,,,,, Essential American Soul? NEVER! No wonder certain peoples call us Infidels.
Pic from somewhere in the Liberal Press.

Another Rant

The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. — D.H. Lawrence

D.H. Lawrence would reconsider that statement if he lived beside us today. That Old Fashioned High Grade Home Brewed Wildcat Soul poured up in Old America's Mason Jar is becoming watered down. The level grows ever shallow as we digress daily from the "True American Train of Thought." We are plowed, cultivated and sowed daily with the obamanation's hypothesis of how we should live and watered and fertilized by a system of government that has become clouded and mired with the elected participants desire to be reelected. I can't believe my ears at the crap that comes out of the mouths of both Democrats and Republicans. I have become cynical and hardened by the continuous collateral damage dumped on this country like so much agent orange rotting the leaves from the trees and drying up the roots of American willpower. I spent the weekend with a few friends and a mass of worthless individuals that slink through life with no more apparent desire to be an American than an African Baboon which I hate with a passion. They along with the majority of what walks the streets of this country are useless as they have no morals, no backbone and will never have an essential American soul in any sense of the word. This country is doomed to a slow death brought on by slothful parents ignorant of the benefits of living in this country and too lazy to teach their children such. They mooch and beg for an easier way, they crawl all day to get a handhold on things that are as null and void of value as a fur coat on a Bison. These people have no meaning in their life except to be seen in the right places wearing the right tattoo and to be sure and say the "Perfect Politically Correct Statement," so much Bull Shit but it goes a long way these days with the masses. No don't judge what I write, judge yourself first, where do you stand or better yet what do you stand for? 

Ahhhh, I feel better.

AP

The Story of the Cubahama

My father and I were doing a lot of work on the Gulf Coast back in the 80s and were contracted to raise and salvage an old freighter of a ship that was sunk near Port Bienville Mississippi. We had an old 80 ft. Model Bow Tug that Dad had raised in Galveston Bay and had brought to Slidell Louisana where we had a Salvage yard. I had rebuilt her there and she was a good old boat. We had contracted out to the DEA to bring all their seized vessels to Port Bienville. We ranged from Pensacola Florida to Morgan City Louisana. She had 398 Cats and Twin Disc Transmissions pushing a couple of 60 inch wheels we had her down along side the Cubahama and I was looking around figuring out what it was going to take to get her up. The Wooden Name Plates on the sides of the old freighter were painted white and lettered in black the name Wanda Jean. The Name Plates were about 6 ft long 14 inches wide and I took my pocket knife out and scratched one and found they were made of Mahogany so I took them down to save. When I got the first one down I turned it over and on the inside was carved Cubahama. I kept them and the oars of one of the old rotted lifeboats the oars were approximately 16 ft long and light as a feather. I also salvaged some of the built in cabinetry from the Captains Quarters all of which I have today. One of the Cubahama Placks hangs in our home and there is a pic below. We stopped her leaks, pumped her up and had her towed to Galveston where she was scrapped. I never new much of anything about her till one day out of curiosity I Googled her name and you can read the info below. She was a fine vessel even in her dilapidated condition and I would have loved to have seen her in her heyday. She had been hauling Bananas from Central America and had come to Port with a load of Grass hidden in her hold where she was found out and seized by the DEA. She had lain up at Bienville for many years but was mostly forgotten. A Hurricane had blew up and the Port had had her towed up a little back water and she was scuttled to hold her down as they were afraid she would be blown around by the Hurricane and do damage to other vessels or the Port. So here are some pics and History of this fantastic old forgotten Ship that served our Country.
My Thanks to Ron over at the Loftsman Blog for all the work he does to document and share the wonderful pictures and info from Leith Shipyard and others. http://www.leithshipyards.com/. All the info provided below these two pics came from Ron.

M.V.Cubahama

Ship No 262

She was a twin screw motor cargo vessel, of 932 tons ordered by Bahama Line U.S.A.

With a length overall of 250 feet and a beam of 38 feet.

She was launched from the Leith shipyard of Henry Robb on 28th June 1938 and was to go on to have a very interesting history which included her time as a U.S. Navy ship of the Kaula Class and the new name of U.S.S. Kaula.

From the book Leith Built Ships on War Service, printed sometime in 1946 by the Shipbuilders Henry Robb Ltd of Leith, Scotland. (See Picture above)

M.V. “Cubahama” The building and delivering of this fine 15-knot ship to her United States owners in 1938 caused a mild furore in british Shipbuilding circles. Built specially for the West Indies banana trade, this ship was requisitioned by the air branch of the U.S. Navy and eventually purchased outright and re-named U.S. “Kaula.” Whilst attached to the Naval Air Arm, the ship rendered very useful service in the Pacific campaigns and took part in some epoch-making battles.

'USS Kaula (AG-33) was built in 1938 by Henry Robb Ltd, in Leith, Scotland. She was acquired by the U.S. Navy as Cubahama 3 January 1941 from her owner, Balboa Shipping Company of New York and renamed Kaula 15 January then commissioned at Baltimore, Maryland 22 January with Lieutenant Commander W. L. Ware in command.

(Courtesy of Navsource Project General Manager, Manager, Auxiliaries, Amphibious and Yard and District Craft Archives)



Kaula Class Miscellaneous Auxiliary: 

• Built in 1938 by Henry Robb, Ltd., Leith, Scotland 

• Acquired as MV Cubahama, 3 January 1941, from her owner, Balboa Shipping Co., N.Y. 

• Commissioned USS Kaula (AG-33), 22 January 1941 at Baltimore. MD., LCDR. W. L. Ware in command 

• During World War II USS Kaula was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater 

• Decommissioned, 14 January 1946 

• Struck from the Naval Register, 12 March 1946 

• Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 15 July 1946 for sale to her former owners 

• Final Disposition, (See more below)

Specifications: 

Displacement 2,100 t.(lt) 2,250 t.(fl) 

Length 269' 9" 

Beam 38' 3" 

Draft 13' 5" (lim) 

Speed 15.1 kts (trial) 

Complement 

Officers 7 

Enlisted 63 

Largest Boom Capacity 3 t. 

Armament 

one single 4"/50 cal gun mount 

two single 3"/50 cal dual purpose gun mounts 

four .50 cal. machine guns 

Fuel Capacity Diesel 1,120 Bbls 

Propulsion 

two Atlas Diesel engines 

Ship's Service Generators 

two Diesel-drive 60Kw 240V D.C. 

two Diesel-drive 40Kw 240V D.C. 

two propellers, 2,240shp 

Class Notes:

FY: None (acquired with funds appropriated for "Maintenance Bureau of Ships"). On 23 November 1940 CNO directed the acquisition of this ship for use as a miscellaneous auxiliary (AG). She was needed to carry cargo to outlying bases in the 14th (Hawaiian) Naval District, particularly Johnston and Palmyra Islands, and was accordingly named after an island in the Hawaiian group. (Early Navy correspondence misrepresented her Navy name as Kaulahe, and this erroneous name was actually welded on her stern in raised letters.) She was taken over from the Balboa Shipping Co., a subsidiary of the United Fruit Co., and given a limited conversion by Bethlehem SB Co., Key Highway Plant, Baltimore, Md. No guns were mounted during this conversion--they were added in 1942 at Pearl Harbor. Much of the cargo carried was ammunition and other explosives, and sprinklers were added to some of her holds in 1942 to give her some protection against fire. She served as an inter-island supply ship in the Hawaii area until May 1945 and was then reassigned to Alaska. In 1946 she was resold to her former owner through the MC (WSA).                                         (Taken from U.S. Naval Sources.)

Broadside view of USS Kaula (AG-33) underway in Puget Sound, 26 July 1945. Naval Air Station, Seattle photo # 19-N-89167, a Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives RG-19-LCM.


(Below is from the U.S. Coastguard Files, courtesy of -Archivist

Naval History & Heritage Command http://www.history.navy.mil/)


Kaula, 1941

AG-33

(ex-Cubahama)

A small, rocky, 550-foot high islet in the Hawaiian Islands, nearly 20 miles westsouthwest

of Niihau Island.

Builder: Henry Robb, Ltd., Leith, Scotland

Commissioned: 1938 (private); 3 January 1941

Decommissioned: 14 January 1946

Length: 267'

Beam: 38' 3"

Draft:

Displacement: 2,100 tons

Propulsion:

Performance:

Max: 12 knots

Economic:

Deck Gear:

Complement: 70

Armament: 1 x 4"; 2 x 3"; 4 x .50 cal MG

Electronics:

History:

Kaula (AG-33) was built in 1938 by Henry Robb, Ltd., Leith, Scotland; acquired as

Cubahama 3 January 1941 from her owner, Balboa Shipping Co., New York. She

was renamed Kaula on 15 January and commissioned at Baltimore 22 January,

Lt. Comdr. W. L. Ware in command.

Sailing to Hampton Roads, Virginia, 25 January, Kaula departed 4 February for

Hawaii, via the Panama Canal and the West Coast, reaching Pearl Harbor 17

March. Prior to the outbreak of war in the Pacific, she carried cargo from Pearl

Harbor and Honolulu to various islands in the Hawaiian chain and to Johnston

and Palmyra Islands. During the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor 7 December, she

was en route to Palmyra Island.

Throughout the struggle with the Japanese Empire, Kaula operated out of Pearl

Harbor and Honolulu to principal Hawaiian Islands and to outlying islands west to

Midway and south to Palmyra. Usually sailing in convoy, she ranged the Hawaiian

Sea frontier carrying military equipment, ammunition, and contingents of Seabees

until she sailed for the United States 18 May 1945, arriving Seattle 26 May.

Following 2 months of overhaul Kaula departed Seattle 31 July on the first of

several voyages to Alaska where she transported materials for the construction of

Coast Guard LORAN stations in the Alaska area. Assigned to the 13th Naval

District, she steamed for the U.S. Coast Guard to Ketchikan, Juneau, Seward,

Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor before returning to Seattle 18 September. She

operated in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca before steaming to Blake

Island Anchorage, Wash., 6 December and decommissioning 14 January 1946.

Struck from the Naval Register 12 March, Kaula was transferred to the Maritime

Commission 15 July for sale to her former owner.

Sources:

Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.



Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: USGPO.

She was still called CUBAHAMA 1947, and then renamed WANDAJEAN 1976. Deleted 1993. So this fine vessel seems to have disappeared from records around 1993. This would complete a near 55 year service history and tribute to the Shipbuilders of Henry Robb