President Subverts Constitution? Space Heaters No Good. January 18, 2009

Tom Jefferson Depicted As Constitutional Destroyer

 

 

Lewis and Clark

On This Date in History:

There are two things that we see as normal. One is the idea that Thomas Jefferson was the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution. The other is that the President submits a complete budget. Well, people forget that President Jefferson sent American troops and ships all the way to North Africa to fight the Barbary Pirates, who were Muslims. It was an undeclared war yet Jefferson maintained that it was Constitutional even though he didn’t go to Congress for a war declaration. On this date in 1803, Jefferson secretly sent a request to Congress for funding for the Lewis and Clark expedition as he was afraid of the formal, Constitutional budgeting process.

Map of Expedition

Jefferson had already determined in 1802 to explore the west. He had already determined that his personal
secretary, Meriwether Lewis, would lead the expedition. He asked Lewis to come up with the costs necessary and they ended up at $2500 which included nearly $700 for gifts to the Indians.

Small problem. The expedition would take the men beyond US territory. So, it was a big secret. So much so that for months only maybe a few people beyond Jefferson and Lewis knew about it. So secret, that Jefferson was advised to not include it in his budget request to Congress. Instead, he sent a secret message to Congress asking for the money. Congress, I suppose, secretly approved the money. They probably didn’t care too much since they had just approved over $9 million for the purchase of Louisiana. Actually, Jefferson only wanted to buy New Orleans from the French but Napoleon was short on money for his latest military escapades and wasn’t able to defend the territory anyway. So, he offered up what amounts to about a third of the Continental United States along with New Orleans for $15 million and Jefferson jumped on it and the treaty was signed on April 30, 1803. It was rather controversial….see…many constitutional scholars didn’t think that the purchase was Constitutional either. Jefferson just did it.

Lewis Meets Clark Near Louisville

Eventually, Lewis chose his old military friend William Clark to be his second. The expedition was originally expected to have ten men besides Lewis but that number grew to nearly 3 dozen. Most historical references have the expedition starting on May 14, 1804 near St. Louis but local historians point out that Lewis got his crew together in Louisville several weeks before so locals say it really started here. But, St. Louis was just about as far as civilization stretched so how could someone explore something that was already inhabited. Anyway, one of the guys they took with them was Sargent Charles Floyd of Clarksville. There’s a county on the sunny side of Louisville that bears his name. He is the only fatality of the expedition, having died of appendicitis a few months after they began.

Anyway….the point here is that you need to check things out before you assume things are true. Jefferson, though one of our founding fathers, was more than capable of navigating around the Constitution when it suited his fancy and when he thought it was in the best interest of the nation for the long term. In each instance, he seems to have been correct. Today, Presidents are rarely given that benefit of the doubt.

A Cold House Sucks

Weather Bottom Line: Space heaters suck.  I’ve got three of them in my house and its still freezing.  Snow White and I got under 3 blankets and had the two fat cats on board to keep us warm last night.  Figures that my heater would go out on a Friday night.  Can’t get a new one until Monday.  Good news is that its warming up. Bad news is that the warm up only takes us to the low 30′s for Sunday and Monday and maybe Tuesday.  Come along Wednesday or Thursday we get to the 40′s again and by then I’m sure I’ll have a heater and be lighter about $2000.  I need a bailout.

Global Warming Update: September Was a Heater; A Man Obsessed With the Oregon Trail October 9, 2008

Global Temp Anomaly Sept 2008

We had anywhere from a half inch to the north to 1.6 inches from Louisville and points south from our first good rainmaker in some time. I think that last time we had an inch or more of rain in the area was late July. We had a precip deficit in January, a big surplus in Feb, Mar, Apr and May followed by monthly deficits ever since. I bet the end of the year will be average. But averages can be deceiving. In this case, the average will not reflect the feast or famine nature of the year. Look for great conditions through the weekend. Cool lows and warm afternoons. After Thursday, we’ll be in the 80′s each day through the middle of next week.

It was Hot around the World in September: The Global Climate Report is in for September from the University of Alabama Huntsville and it reports a global spike in world temperatures. That is a bit of a oddity for this year as there have been below the 20 year average for four months, including 3 of the previous 4. August had an anomoly of -.01. June was -.114, May -.18 and January -.046. The other 4 months were all up less than .01. But September skyrocketed by +.161. What I have been noticing is that the southern hemisphere has been decidedly cooler for most of the past year but this difference this month was that the southern hemisphere joined the northern hemisphere as being warmer than the 20 year average, hence, the big spike. So, the headline for the papers will be that September was the warmest of the year. The should cool the heels of the global warming skeptics and stoke the fires of the Global Warming Doomsdayers who have had a rough go of it for the better part of a year. Here is the September 2008 Global Climate Report summary from the UAH. I’ve referenced these guys for some time now and so you may find it useful to find out more about the methodology and who is behind the UAH research team by CLICKING HERE.

Global Temperature Anomaly from 20 year avg through Sept. 2008

UAH
2008 January -0.046
2008 February 0.020
2008 March 0.094
2008 April 0.015
2008 May -0.180
2008 June -0.114
2008 July 0.048
2008 August -0.010
2008 Sept. 0.161

John Jacob Astor

On This Date in History: I’m sure many people have heard of the Oregon Trail but probably aren’t familiar with where it is except Oregon. In the early 19th Century, Lewis and Clark gained the blessings and financial support (Probably Not Constitutional) of President Jefferson. That paved the way for commerce with John Jacob Astor leading the way in the American fur trade. Again, it was Thomas Jefferson who encouraged Astor, who formed the Pacific Fur Company. Astor sent a man named Wilson Price Hunt to establish a base of operations and in 1811, Hunt followed the trail of Lewis and Clark to the Dakotas and then cut over land through Jackson Hole and eventually to the mouth of the Columbia River. They called the place Fort Astor.

The War of 1812 broke out and the Crown sent a warship to seize the fort. The guys in the fort figured out that they were in trouble so, being good businessmen, they sold the town to their British competitors. The North West Company purchased the fort, renamed it Fort George and the British gained control without firing a shot and presumably John Jacob Astor got some money for his trouble.

Did Ogden Have a Neck?

Just before the Brits took over the fort, a group of men led by Robert Stuart left Fort Astor for St. Louis. That party in 1812 was the first follow the Oregon Trail, though they did it in reverse. About 10 years later, the Northwest Fur Company merged with the Hudson Bay Company and a hellion with the Company named Peter Skene Ogden was used as a inspector of operations in the far west. He got the position probably to keep him out of the offices because in the past, he had tried to incinerate a campanion for fun, nearly beat a company officer to death and led an entire outpost in a mutiny. Ogden ended up knowing more about the west than anyone except for mountain man Jedediah Smith. Ogden’s explorations made its way to cartographers who made maps that paved the way for settlers to emigrate west over the Oregon Trail. I suppose that Ogden Utah got its name from this rough and nasty man of the west.

Ezra Meeker 1906

Ezra Meeker and Friend 1910

So, a bunch of people went west following the Oregon Trail. One was Ezra Meeker who took his family along the trail in 1852 and moved into the Washington Territory. What makes Meeker stand out was in an attempt to keep the history of the trail alive and honor the men who blazed it, Ezra Meeker got an ox and wagon and took the trail again, stopping often to give speeches and promote its importance in history. Meeker at the time was 75 years old. It was a tough trip and the ox died, but not Meeker. So enthused with his efforts, he did it again in 1910. In 1915 he traveled the route by automobile. And on this date in 1924, Ezra Meeker once again followed the trail that he first set out on 72 years earlier. This time he was 93 years old and this time he made the 1300 mile journey like a bird. He traveled by airplane. At age 98, he attempted to travel the trail by car again with the support of Henry Ford, but he died on December 3, 1928.

Recognize This View From Kindergarten Cop?

Fort Astor is today known as Astoria, Oregon and was the setting for the movie Kindergarten Cop. Meeker had his last oxen team slaughtered and mounted by a taxidermist and can be found today on display, still hooked to the wagon, at the Washington State Historical Society Museum in Tacoma. A commemorative coin was struck in the 1920′s and 30′s to commemorate Meeker and the trail. In the 1980′s, a computer game company put out “The Oregon Trail” game and had a default feature that listed Ezra Meeker in 5th place on the all-time scorer list with a score of 2052. Why they picked that score is a mystery to me.

I’ll tell you what…in the dictionary under “obsession” should be a picture of Ezra Meeker.

A Real Problem May 14, 2007

I brought up the topic of “chemtrails” because it was brought up to me and I have yet to find any substanative evidence to support any claim. Global Warming has been in the front burner for some time yet there are many experts (more than the media has led you to believe) who dispute much of the “consensus” opinions. About 15 years ago, the topic was ozone depletion. A couple of laws were passed and suddenly that debate left the headlines, but has the problem or risk really gone away?

All of the above are fueled by speculation and some of that speculation may have very strong merit. But, in my view, we are whistling past the graveyard regarding an issue that is real and is affecting us right now.

If you walk down along the river near the Belle of Louisville, you will see a sign warning of the pollution of the river following a rainstorm. Apparently, a heavy rain causes an overflow of contaminated water up and down the river. Our news department tells me they have reported on the problem. You can find numerous reports of all sorts pollution into the river from raw sewage to other items as pointed out by the Local Government Environmental Assistance Network:

Solvent cleaners and paints, mercury switches and lamps, lubricants and other wastes from operations and facility maintenance activities.
Disinfection by-products, i.e. trihalomethanes.
Corrosion by-products.
Leaking or broken lead from service lines, goose neck or service connections.
Radon in wells.
Pesticides and herbicides rinse waters and containers.
Industrial, commercial and household chemical discharges.

http://www.lgean.org/html/p2-11.cfm

Here’s the deal. We know of these problems. Most people I know who fish laugh when you ask if they eat any fish taken from the Ohio River. Report after report confirms the pollution and where its coming from. Its not speculation that marine species are disappearing due to pollution in fresh water and oceanic ecosystems. That could affect the entire water cycle. It deserves more immediate attention and action than other more publicized “crises” and certainly more than merely posting a sign.

Some other time I’ll talk about the problem of a lack of water. Its a bigger problem than you think. Hydrologists know it and so do investors who are buying up water rights and investing in private efforts to create water resources.

On This Date In History In 1886, Louisville had its overall warmest Derby Day with an average high of 78 degrees. Note this was in the late 19th century and not the late 20th century. But I think derby goers dodged a bullit. In Ohio a big F4 tornado killed several people and caused extensive damage. 200 years earlier, Gabriel Farenheit was born. He went on and invented the mercury thermometer, but I’m not sure if he got rich from it. I betcha he’s one of those guys who did all of the work and someone else made the money. In 1804, Lewis and Clark left St. Louis on their famous expedition to the west coast. Thomas Jefferson had commissioned them to do so to explore the lands largely made up of the Louisiana Purchase. I guess ole Tom wanted to find out what he paid for. Louisvillians like to say Lewis and Clark began their expedition from here but in general, St. Louis usually gets the nod….just like Louisville was once known as the gateway to the west (as well as the graveyard of the west) until St. Louis took the title of gateway city and now they have an arch. We’re supposed to get a couple of new bridges soon.

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