I know that all of the current plumbing solder is lead free, but these things are manufactured “using only traditional early 18th century techniques to ensure accuracy”, and there is an overwhelming amount of lead in use. The belt buckles and insignia are stamped brass sheeting filled with lead. I wouldn’t doubt they used mercury to make the hat felts, as that is how it was once done [the origin of “mad as a hatter”, being a reference to the common mercury poisoning in the industry].

I’ve repaired a couple of them and replaced the lead with modern plumbing solder and listened to the complaints about not being authentic. I call it solder, but it is usually straight lead, and I have to collect it for disposal. They aren’t hiding it as all this stuff comes with standard hazardous waste warnings when you buy it.

I personally use a military canteen with a canvas/felt carrier and a larger stainless steel job with a wool cover and shoulder strap. There should be a couple of canvas water bags in a box somewhere, if someone didn’t borrow them and forget to return them.

I have infinite confidence that every piece of packaging we have devised in the last 50 years will eventually be demonstrated to be killing us, but thanks for the facts on the BPA.

BTW, I was really annoyed when they discovered that crystal decanters would leech out lead when used for alcoholic beverages, but I still can’t convince reenactors that drinking water from replica tin canteens that were soldered is a bad idea.

I have often wondered when being stupid became a political asset in the US, but it’s fairly apparent that it has, and not just among Republicans. HL Mencken was writing about it the trend in the 1920s and 30s so it wasn’t all that recent a change.

“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.”

He was a “nice” person, because he too often told the truth. He lived through the last “Great Awakening” of evangelicals in this country, and was thoroughly disgusted with it.

I’m just thankful that the avg human lifespan is so short. I seriously do not think anyone sane can survive more than 80-100 years of this. 🙂

Ehh… what the hey… Here’s a couple quotes:

“Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science?” — Carl Sagan

“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. ” — Albert Einstien

“Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.” — Richard P. Feynman

“One of the greatest gifts science has brought to the world is continuing elimination of the supernatural, and it was a lesson that my father passed on to me, that knowledge liberates mankind from superstition. We can live our lives without the constant fear that we have offended this or that deity who must be placated by incantation or sacrifice, or that we are at the mercy of devils or the Fates. With increasing knowledge, the intellectual darkness that surrounds us is illuminated and we learn more of the beauty and wonder of the natural world.” — James D. Watson

Amen to that!

As for the religious side, if you drive by one of the local schools in the morning you will see the lawns littered with “prayer circles” as the students make sure everyone knows what good Christians they are [so people will be surprised when they do all the things that teenagers always do, because they are hormone-crazed humans].

The state exercises almost no control over these schools, so they have no one to blame but themselves.

Maybe that sounds harsh, but, geez, there are WAY too many idiots running around loose. This school thing is just one more example of that.

yup. We call those “Sunday Christians”. They blissfully ignore the parts of the Bible warning them that they will be judged far harsher than any others. 😉 I sincerely hope when I die that I am there to witness their Judgment. I wonder if I can get the popcorn concession? LOL

The way I see it, On Sunday they might be considered a *good* person, they other six days they should all be locked up because you KNOW they are going to be evil. Would solve a lot of problems IMHO. 😉

Regarding the moral deviancy of the right wingers, and why can’t abstinence-promoting Republicans control their, err… members: They literally believe that if they bend their knee at church on Sunday and “accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior”, all their sins will be “washed away in the blood of the Lamb” and it doesn’t matter what they do the other six days of the week because they can just do it again on Sunday and have THOSE sins forgiven too. This is a logical result of a moral framework that devolves around “avoiding Hell” rather than about any sort of attempt to build a morality of what’s right to do. They think they have a free get-out-of-Hell pass by bending the knee, and since avoiding Hell is all that their morality is about, it doesn’t matter how much evil they do the other six days of the week.

Now, when I was a child my preacher would have told them, “if that’s the way you think, you haven’t *really* accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, because if you had, you’d be trying to emulate Him.” But the Southern Baptist Church has done a race-to-the-bottom, as churches hire preachers who tell the congregation what the congregation *wants* to hear rather than what the congregation *needs* to hear. Indeed, the congregation at my grandmother’s old church ran off a preacher who kept telling them what they *needed* to hear rather than what they *wanted* to hear — they simply stayed away in droves, and the deacons finally had to raid the building fund for severance pay to get rid of him because otherwise the church would have gone under. I met the man and he was a good and honorable man, a true Christian. But that’s not what congregations want from their preachers today. They want preachers who tell them what they want to hear — that they can be evil during 6 days a week and be cleared of all their sins by bending the knee on Sunday and “accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior”, that they don’t have to do Christian charity, they don’t have to help others, etc. etc. etc. It’s sad and pathetic, and it’s what passes for “Christianity” today in the Southern Baptist Church :(.

– Badtux the Multi-Religious Penguin