J's Cafe Nette

Archive for December 7th, 2007

December 7, 1941.

May we as a nation, never forget.

On Dec. 7, 1941, just after 8 a.m., a 1,760-pound armor-piercing bomb penetrated the decks of the USS Arizona, striking the forward magazine. The resulting explosion was volcanic as nearly a million pounds of gunpowder erupted into a fireball of death and destruction. The Arizona would sink in nine minutes, taking to the harbor floor 1,177 sailors and Marines. Just 337 crewmen aboard the Arizona survived the blast. The fire was so intense that it would burn for two days. By the end of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 21 U.S. ships had been sunk or damaged.

To my amazement, as I read further, there have been sections of the USS Arizona preserved in an undisclosed (until recently) location.

Daniel Martinez, National Park Service historian who has worked at the Arizona Memorial since 1985 and is an expert on the bombing of Pearl Harbor, says, “Someone, and we don’t know who, since documentation does not exist, realized the importance of this wreckage of the martyred ship and put it in a place where it would be preserved.” The specific location of what Ms. Tauyan calls the “sacred relics” is a closely guarded secret. The Navy will acknowledge for the record only that sections of the Arizona are on Waipio Peninsula, strictly off limits to the public and safely guarded in a storage area on a military reservation, but it granted access for this article to further tell the story of the famed battleship and its continuing contribution today.

To reach the site, a visitor must proceed through locked gates, down roads and deep into an area that is protected by wasps and the thickets and thorns of Kiawe trees. There, in a clearing, is a debris field that is not large but unmistakably contains a unique look into history.

How could one disagree with the Mr. Sobel’s final paragraph?

Just as the attack on Pearl Harbor reminds the world of the worst of human nature, it was the heroism of those who fought back and later on to victory who live in America’s memory. Now, as the ranks of Pearl Harbor survivors are diminished by time, the distribution of relics from the Arizona helps serve as a constant reminder of those who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941.

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The once revered deliberative body of the legislative branch of our government has now dissolved into a mud slinging, name calling, carnival like atmosphere.

From the NYT:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — As if there was any doubt that Congress was on the verge of devolving into a carnival atmosphere, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, on Thursday proposed doing cartwheels down the center aisle of the Senate chamber to draw attention to Republican efforts to block legislation. (Emphasis mine)

Here, in the Cirque du Senate, there is trash-talking, whining and finger-pointing, bickering and, occasionally, brief flashes of serious disagreement on policy.

But with the clock ticking swiftly toward the end of the year and a stack of stalled legislation piling up, little is getting done in the Senate these days. And tempers are starting to boil over.

Mr. Reid, who turned 68 on Sunday and power-walks four miles a day, ultimately did not perform any gymnastics. But his fury over the inability to move the Democrats’ legislative agenda seemed to have deepened since Tuesday, when he accused President Bush of “pulling the strings on the 49 puppets he has here in the Senate.”

These are the same men and women who have accused our President of destroying the image of the United States overseas. What must they think of the three ring circus which now defines the Senate Chamber?

I know what I think, they all need to get out of perpetual campaign mode and back to the business of the people. Of course what I think and what will be done are probably at opposite ends of the spectrum given exchanges such as the following:

Democrats blame Republican obstruction. “They are filibustering as if they are on steroids,” Mr. Reid said.

Republicans say the Democrats are to blame, for pursuing a partisan agenda. They also say Democrats call for votes to end filibusters that do not exist and, in some cases, seek to end debate on bills before debate has started.

Things are so bad between Mr. Reid and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, that in some cases they even fight about whether they are fighting about something.

On Wednesday, Mr. Reid insisted that the Senate could not come into session until noon because Republicans would have used an earlier start to halt efforts to finalize a bill on climate change.

Mr. McConnell maintained Republicans had no such plan. “I think maybe the leader was anticipating an objection that did in fact not exist,” he said. Seizing a chance to prove Mr. Reid wrong, he offered a motion allowing work on the bill to continue.

Will the adults please stand up? If there are any left, perhaps we will see some meaningful legislation out of this session of Congress.

Left to the alternative of Senator Reid’s cartwheels…well I think I’ll just pass.

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Helen Thomas. That name evokes many emotions in people on both sides of the aisle.

For a Friday laugh, you must read this post at Riehl World View.

I won’t include any blockquotes as the entire Q and A involving Ms. Thomas should be read at once.

Hope you had yourself a good chuckle!

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Sent from a friend.

Great tips for getting the maximum at every gas station fill-up.

I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline. Here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every gallon.

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about
4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage
tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the eve ning….your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode.
If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF EMPTY.
The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.

Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder: If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up–most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

A few of these tips I had heard or read before, but there was some new info here that I thought was worth sharing. Hope it helps you save a few pennies here or there.

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