It is another round of the annual battle against the weeds, with Deb, BeezleBub, and I cleaning, weeding, and mulching around The Manse. I expect this will be the last weekend we'll have that all three of us will be available to attend to the grounds. Usually BeezleBub is working down at the farm Saturdays and Sundays, but he had today off, partly because of Mother's Day and partly because he has a ton of homework to finish. We figured he could take an hour or two to help us out around The Manse.
The trailer for The Boat is now at the marina, waiting to have The Boat pulled out of storage. It will make a trip back to The Manse for its pre-launch maintenance, cleaning, and check-out. BeezleBub and I will be going over it from stem to stern, making sure everything is ready before it is put back into the water. I have a feeling we'll have one of the better boating seasons here in a long time, mainly because I believe that we won't be seeing as many boaters on the lake as usual.
Seeing that the cost of gasoline at marinas is already above $4 per gallon, with an anticipated price during the summer months of $4.50 per gallon, I expect there won't be as much boat traffic on Lake Winnipesaukee as we've seen the past ten years or so. When gas was $3.50 a gallon last summer, boat traffic was down considerably in July, with a rebound in August (though still not as many boats out there as we would normally see then).
The high gas prices have already affected business around the lake, with many boat slips going unrented. The same is true summer cottages, resorts, and campgrounds around the Lakes Region. There are quite a few places with gaps in their reservation schedules at a time when every available place would already be rented. This does not bode well for the tourist industry in the area.
Our only hope: the strong Canadian dollar will lure tourists from north of the border to replace those not making the trip up from southern New England, New York, and New Jersey.
From American Thinker, a list of danger signals that warn us when the liberal elite are planning to force the rest of us to do something 'for our own good'. The example provided covers a smoking cessation program, but it applies to just about any idea the so-called elite put forward.
A group of individuals anoints themselves as better-informed than the rest of us. They base this largely on the fact that they listen to the same programs on NPR and consistently vote Democrat.
The self-defined elite group comes to an agreement that the rest of us are not as enlightened as they. This is expressed in many ways, usually involving code words such as "clinging", "mean-spirited", or "greedy". If you hear these words being applied to you or your associates, this is a clear indication that you are not one of the elites.
The elites begin to develop a sense of responsibility for their lessers. This is often expressed in statements like, "It's just makes me so sad to see them like that. I wish there were something we could do to..."
The elites form a plan. The plan generally involves making everyone else behave like them. As enthusiasm rises, what were once "differences" become "problems" and finally metamorphose into a "crisis". When the word "crisis" appears, this usually signals the end of planning phase. The Plan predictably contains the following elements: coercion, moral superiority, lack of debate and voting, and a succession of "experts" who testify on its behalf.
The plan is imposed. If the legislative branch refuses, the judiciary is prevailed upon to conjure up a constitutional justification.
The plan begins to fail. This step is usually followed by demands for more resources to "properly implement the plan", (see the War on Poverty), and angry accusations at non-elite groups for their mean spirited, clingy refusal to change.
The plan fails.The elites meet to form a new, better plan.
And so the circle of ever more intrusive plans and an erosion of rights continues. All of this in an effort to save us from ourselves. The question is, who will saves us from these busybodies?
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
Instapundit has more about the growing trend of parents not having their children immunized and the consequences of that failure.
Winter's grip is gone, but planning for next winter's heating season here in northern New England is already under way. Customers of heating fuel companies are already being warned pre-buy prices for heating oil and propane will be a lot higher than last year. Pre-buy prices for propane last year were about $1.90 per gallon. This year we'll be lucky if we see under $3.30 per gallon.
It looks like our decision to heat The Manse with firewood was a good one. Even if we purchased all of the cordwood we would use for heat at $160/cord for green wood, it would cost us only $1200 dollars for the winter. Of course that means we would need to buy it now in order to make sure it would be dry enough to burn come November. But we don't have to buy it, thanks to the WP Dad-In-Law. But we do have go down to the In-Laws with the big deuce-and-a-half and load it up, twice, and unload it, twice. Even with this, our means of heating will have a much smaller carbon footprint than using propane.
It's a small price to pay to stay warm.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where all the snow is gone, the boats are reappearing on the lake, and where the yard work never seems to end.
The contrariness of weather has certainly made itself known here in New Hampshire, with rain over the weekend turning to warm and sunny for the week. It certainly delayed some of the yard work we had planned, meaning we'll have to get it done during the week after work or school. Normally I wouldn't mind that all that much except I won't be available after work due to meetings in town and a seminar down in Boston. I can't expect BeezleBub to get it done by himself.
The work needs to get done for two reasons – we want to get the work done before the bugs return and; the mulch pile is in the way of the trailer for The Boat, which comes out of storage sometime over the next week.
Could the election results in the UK foreshadow what will happen here in the US?
The voters had enough of the tax-and-spend Labour Party, voting in conservative Tories in large numbers. One of the high profile offices handed over to the conservatives was the Mayor of London. Could Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffer the same fate?
This crap has got to be stopped cold. The last thing we need is a return to 7th Century morality. If we start stringing up the perpetrators of honor killings, I have a feeling they'll stop. If immigrants want to keep their customs and mores intact, then they shouldn't move to a country that outlaws such barbaric practices.
(H/T Viking Pundit)
Blue Crab doesn't like all-electric cars, or at least he doesn't like the hype that surrounds them.
The big problem is there is a disconnect (no pun intended) between the efficiencies of generating electricity on a large scale and the burning of petroleum in an internal combustion engine. Even if the electricity is generated using fossil fuels, the efficiencies are far greater than that of ICE's. Even taking into account the transmission losses, the electric car still has lower total carbon footprint than traditional vehicle.
Here in New Hampshire a large percentage of our electricity comes from nuclear, with hydro a close second. Coal is third, with biomass (think wood chips) fourth. There are a few petroleum-fired power plants in the state, but for the most part they are peak-load plants used only when electricity demand is high.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
If this is 'normal', then bring on global warming!
There's finally a good use for Britain's National Health Service: it's so bad it drives immigrants, both legal and illegal, to leave the UK. If nothing else it's an endorsement for how not to run a health care system.
This is just plain silly.
No, not the video. Rather it's the people that take it seriously. It shows how decadent the West is in danger of becoming.
These folks need to get a life.
(H/T Instapundit)
Despite the bleatings of Hillary and the other We-Hate-The-Oil-Companies wackos, the price of gasoline, diesel fuel, propane, and heating oil is driven mainly by the price of crude oil.
Drivers paying ever-increasing prices for fuel can primarily blame two factors — the rising price of crude oil and government taxes, in that order.
Service station owners tend to make just a few cents per gallon, while a whopping 72 percent of the money paid for every gallon goes for crude oil, which rose to $120 per barrel on Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
Meanwhile, 12 percent of the price paid for each gallon of gas goes to state and federal taxes; 8 percent goes to refineries; and another 8 percent covers retail, marketing and distribution costs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
So it isn't the the greedy oil companies making obscene profits causing the high gas prices, but the price of crude oil and the taxes levied upon gasoline sales.
A comment to this post on my New Hampshire blog prompted me to repost a series I wrote and posted on Weekend Pundit five years ago giving advice to those urban and suburban dweller contemplating relocating to 'the country'. Most of the advice is specific to New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont (sort of), but can be used as a general guideline. The posts are being updated to include new information and new links.
If nothing else you may find it amusing, being able to relate to the topics in the posts. Then again you may find yourself rethinking your plans to move away from the urban or suburban areas.
Some are predicting the price of polysilicon photovoltaics will be dropping soon as the supply of the polysilicon slugs and wafers will soon be increasing as new manufacturing capacity starts coming on line.
That would suit me just fine as I can see more residences and small businesses using PV cells as the costs come down.
Talk about being wrong on so many levels. A lot of people should be fired and the family should sue for millions.
There's stupid, and then there's stupid. This guy is definitely stupid.
Thirty-seven-year-old Frank Drake was arrested last October when state police drug officers saw him tending about 44 marijuana plants about 50 yards off the highway in Warner.
Obviously this genius never figured the State Police would recognize marijuana growing within sight of an Interstate highway. I know the stretch of highway where this guy was growing his crop, and it's plainly visible from the road. I guess this guy figured it would be easier for him to tend his plants if they were close to the highway.
What a dolt.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is approaching, gas prices are rising, and where the summerfolk are already making their presence known.
BeezleBub has finally gotten back into the swing of farm work (as if he really needed the time), and is looking forward to summer. He really likes working on the farm, though I think a lot of that is all the farm machinery he gets to work with (and on). While he isn't old enough yet to drive the tractors, he's proven he knows more about them than the folks using them do.
I have no doubt he'll remain on the short list of desirable employees for years to come.
Bruce sends an invitation to a semi-literate commenter to come visit.
Writes Bruce:
Let me know when you want to drop by and I'll be sure to leave a window by the back deck unlocked for you.
I'm sure Bruce will be waiting for him with his new acquisition.
With all the snowfall we had over the winter and the large amounts of runoff from the snowpack you'd think there'd be little problem with brushfires. It's one of the conundrums of spring, one we've had to deal with here in central New Hampshire over the past week.
Despite the calls by the American public for the government to do something about rising gas prices, there's very little it can do directly except make things worse.
Other than allowing new refineries to be built and oil exploration and drilling to take place, any other actions taken will end up doing more harm than good, as it usually does. A perfect example is biofuels, specifically ethanol. It's a multibillion dollar boondoggle that is eating up taxpayer dollars, creating food shortages, driving up the price of corn, wheat, and soy, among other crops, and diverting resources better used for other purposes.
It seems that far too many Republicans have fallen into the trap of ever increasing spending without thinking about the consequences. Once there's a revenue shortfall, they are reluctant to do what is necessary: cut spending. Too many follow the lead of the Democrats and vote to increase taxes and fees. But there's at least one Republican in office that lives up to Republican ideals and isn't afraid to cut spending and sticks to his guns, refusing to back down when others say it can't be done.
We need more guys like that in Congress and the state legislatures.
We had to fire up the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove late today. This is the frist time we've had to do this for well over a week as the temps have been in the upper 60's to lower 80's. But we're going to be in the lower 40's to lower 50's at best for the next four days or so. Rather than burning our dwindling supply of propane to heat The Manse, it's far more economical to burn some of our firewood.
Hopefully this will be the last time we'll have to do so until sometime next fall.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the ice is gone from the lake, the brush fires are out, and where our boat will soon be back out on the lake.
Saturday was BeezleBub's first day back at the farm. He had a great day on his first day back, but he did overlook one thing.
Sunscreen.
Even though his dear old dad reminded him more than once to put on some sunscreen, he neglected to do so.
When I went to the farm to pick him up at 4:30 in the afternoon, he looked like a UFO – an Unidentified Frying Object.
He put on some SPF 50 before he left for the farm this morning.
While yesterday I would have said Ice Out on Lake Winnipesaukee wouldn't happen until next weekend, today I have to say it will be by Wednesday. Yesterday the ice was still white. Today it's dark blue, meaning it's melted and there's liquid water on top of the ice. It's quite thin and all that's needed to speed things up is a stiff breeze to break up the large sheets of ice covering most of the lake.
Once the ice is gone the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, aka The Boat, can be moved to its slip.
Let the boating begin!
Canada's Human Right Commissions receive even more well deserved disparagement at the hands of the Toronto Sun.
(H/T Instapundit)
This is one lucky dog.
At least one state (mine) is trying to convince some of those people that vacation here it's also a good place to live and work.
They're right. But it also takes more than moving here to actually live here. A lot of people have to adjust their way of thinking to make the transition. Far too many don't succeed, which causes no end of trouble for them and us.
Other than rising gas prices for the upcoming summer, another worry is the lack of summer jobs that is expected to hit teens and young adults the hardest.
While that isn't as much of a concern up here in central New Hampshire, it will certainly be an issue in the southern tier of the state and the rest of New England. I have no doubt it's any different throughout the rest of the US.
George Will warns us that the Fed is suffering from “mission creep”, which will make it far more influential in regards to the economy, which was never its raison d'étre. That will not be good for any of us.
This is incredibly stupid.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the ice is quickly disappearing, boat owners are dreaming of the upcoming season, and yard work has started.
It's been quiet around here this weekend because BeezleBub went on a class trip to Quebec. Also, with the rain and melting snow, yard work was out of the question. What yard was uncovered was too muddy to even walk upon unless wearing high boots or waders. I guess we'll have to wait a little longer before tackling spring cleanup...when BeezleBub is back.
Even during the best of economic times contracting firms must watch their costs and find ways keep their costs as low as possible. Low costs help them when bidding on jobs and allows them to maximize profits.
One New Hampshire contractor found an interesting way to keep his costs very low: all of the construction equipment he used for his business was stolen from other firms. He'd steal them, move them to his business, remove serial numbers and construction firm logos, and repaint them.
If you don't have to make payments on things like bulldozers, trucks, bucket loaders, bobcats, and backhoes, you can keep your costs to a minimum. Of course this means of keeping costs low beggars another question: If the contractor is willing to steal in order to keep his business going, then how trustworthy can he be when dealing with his customers?
This is just too cool!
(via Theo Spark)
Also from Theo Spark, the difference between Britain and Canada and how they welcome home their fallen soldiers. It's a stark contrast and shows how much Great Britain has declined.
Rachel Lucas is making known her displeasure about doing her taxes. Glenn Reynolds thinks we should move Election Day to April 16th, which he believes would make a difference.
I agree.
These folks really wanted to become American citizens, putting their lives on the line to protect us to do so.
Now that's dedication and commitment, something a lot of illegal immigrants should aspire to.
It's hard to believe that boating season here in the Lake Winnipesaukee area is about a month away. Once mud season ends and the ice disappears from the lake boats will start appearing at docks and marinas all along the shore. Even though there's still quite a bit of snow on the ground, it is rapidly melting away and, if the Weather Guys™ are right, we'll have temps in the 60's and 70's as we go through the week which will speed the melting even more.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where spring is quickly appearing, the mud is getting deeper, and where the sound of power boats will soon be heard.
Spring weather has finally made an appearance, with daytime temps in the 50's and the occasional 60's to be seen during the upcoming week. The deep snows are melting away and more bare ground can be seen with every passing day. Unfortunately much of that bare ground is muddy, which means we have entered yet another one of the seven seasons of northern New England – Mud Season.
BeezleBub and I saw more than our share of mud yesterday at the dump. We barely made it in and out, the mud was so slick and deep. I think the only thing that kept the trusty Intrepid from becoming bogged down was the snow tires. They had enough traction in the mud to keep us moving where regular all-weather radials would have failed us.
I'll be glad when we get past mud season.
It was a fine night out with the WP Parents and Siblings last night, celebrating the birthday of one of the WP Sisters. It's not often all of us can get together for an evening out, so we made the best of it. And, as is usual for nights like this, I overindulged, particularly on dessert. I did pay the price for it, believe me.
I've always believed “zero tolerance” policies have been a crutch for the lazy, particularly when it comes to school administrators. It relieves them of having to make a decision and ends up hurting the innocent far more often than not.
The latest example of this is the strip search of a 13-year old girl looking for contraband ibuprofen. Other than the word of another student caught with a couple of ibuprofen tablets, there was no evidence the girl was carrying anything. After searching her backpack and pockets, the vice-principal ordered her strip searched, treating her like a street pusher, making sure she wasn't concealing the contraband in her bra or in her crotch.
This wasn't a girl selling dope on a street corner or on school grounds. It was an honor student with no history of disciplinary problems being treated like drug dealer by the school administrators.
This isn't the first instance of zero tolerance policies gone stupid.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
What would you think if you found out the Global Warming faithful may end up causing more harm and destruction through the actions they propose than global warming would cause?
Frankly, it doesn't surprise me in the least. Remember, to them it doesn't matter what's true as long as it makes them feel better about themselves. Hence, their self-righteous attitudes about their cause.
At least the anti-war Democrats won't be able to criticize John McCain's support of the war in Iraq because his own son has served with the Marines in Iraq.
(H/T Instapundit)
Here's another preview of what health care will be like under a Democratic White House.
I use quite a bit of software in my job. One of my biggest gripes about software is the usability, whether it does what it's designed to do, whether it's easy to use, and if there's good tech support of there's problems. Most of the time the answer to those question is yes. But every so often I come across a program that corporate decided we needed to use and find it to be tough to use, have no particular logic to their menus or functions, and require extensive training if the employees are going to even have a prayer of making use of it. I've always thought business software was supposed to make it easier for people to do their jobs, not more difficult. It's time for management to start listening to the users about software and stop forcing software of questionable utility upon their employees. In the long run it's cheaper to do it right the first time.
There is a way to be objective about whether a woman is attractive or not – Use a computer.
Ed Kaitz writes in American Thinker about the propensity of liberals to use what George Orwell calls doublethink should be a warning. Kaitz warns that the this ability to believe to contradictory things at the same time is something they use to change the definitions we use to describe our thoughts and beliefs. It's something totalitarian societies use to good effect. Do you see the trend here?
Rachel Lucas lays a smackdown on cellphone companies, stating quite accurately they treat their regular customers like crap but give new customers all the breaks and deals.
I don't know how they think they can get away with treating paying customers poorly. Any other business would be soon be out of business treating regular customers like that.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow is melting away, the mud is getting deep, and Ice Out is only weeks away.
We experienced a return to winter-like temperatures yesterday, with highs in the low 30's and high winds. However, today more than made up for it, with slightly warmer temps but no wind.
There's been a lot of snow melting, with some of the taller piles and snowbanks showing the most erosion. Our only wish is for a slow and steady melting of the snowpack, considering we've had the second highest snowfall on record. Too much melting too soon may cause some flooding and will raise the level of the lakes too much, which could delay the start of the boating season. (High water will cause the state Marine Patrol to declare a lakewide No Wake Zone, meaning all boats will have to go slow, leaving no wake from their passage. That makes getting anywhere on the lake take a long time.)
In any case, the warmer temps and melting snow are welcome.
While it is possible to get a bargain on a house at a foreclosure auction, it isn't as common as it once was.
I remember seeing pages and pages of foreclosure auctions during the last housing bust in the early 1990's, and saw house after house going for far less than it's actual value. The housing market didn't recover until all the foreclosed properties were sold.
Seeing how the housing market is today and the climbing number of foreclosures, I expect the same thing will be true this time around, though the bargains will be found in the more rural and smaller suburban areas.
One plus side to the weak housing market and weaker US dollars has been European bargain hunters coming to the US to buy homes.
With the U.S. dollar at its weakest level in decades, international buyers are chasing housing bargains here, eager to take advantage of their purchasing power and the declining prices in some of the best-known U.S. cities.
Against that backdrop, the Washington area is luring more than the usual crowd of diplomats. Now that the dollar is cheap, the region's appeal has broadened, enticing international business types and sophisticated investors who find comfort in the area's global reputation as a recession-proof market.
It wouldn't surprise me to find the same is true in many of America's vacations spots as well.
It looks like the Verizon-FairPoint deal has hit a snag. Loans that were supposed to have a rate of 8% turned out to have a rate of 13.125%, adding millions more to costs of FairPoint's acquisition of Verizon's landline assets in northern New England.
I've believed this deal was a bad deal for the consumers in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. This 'snag' has only strengthened that belief.
Dutch Elm disease all but wiped out elm trees in America by the early 1970's. They are slowly making a comeback in the form of the American Liberty Elm, a specially bred disease resistant species.
The elm is not the only tree species that was nearly wiped out by a foreign blight, the chestnut tree nearly suffering the same fate. Like the elm, the chestnut is being bred to improve its disease resistance.
Let's hope that one again we will be able to see a “spreading chestnut tree.”
One of the sure signs that winter is in retreat is the removal of bob houses from the ice out on the lakes. Here in New Hampshire all bob houses must be off the ice by April 1st. As of today I saw two bob houses left on Lake Winnisquam and two on Lake Winnipesaukee down at Alton Bay were still there on Saturday. If they didn't get them off the ice today I doubt they'll be able to remove them Monday.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow is slowly melting away, the temperatures are slowly rising, and boating season is slowly approaching.
Despite the calendar telling me it's Spring, the weather is behaving more like it's winter. While we haven't had any heavy snow over the past couple of weeks, the winds and wind chills have been more like the dead of winter rather than the beginning of spring. There have been a few days here and there that were springlike, but they were quickly supplanted by a return to winter weather.
At this point I think I can safely say just about everyone is tired of winter, particularly the folks up in Stewartstown, New Hampshire, where over 19 feet of snow have fallen so far. That's 228 inches of snow. So far.
And I thought we'd gotten a lot of snow.
How many of you out there have access to Verizon's FiOS fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service or the equivalent? Other then some communities in the southern part and seacoast area of New Hampshire, none of us in the rest of the state are ever likely to have such access.
With the sale of Verizon's wireline business to FairPoint Communications, any chance of FTTH service throughout the rest of New Hampshire disappeared. FairPoint has already said they will not be deploying FTTH. Instead they will deploy DSL, a copper technology that won't have the bandwidth or upgrade capability of fiber.
While the cable companies are offering high-speed Internet connectivity, it has nowhere the bandwidth of fiber, and coverage isn't universal because they aren't required to connect everyone within their service area.
What to do? Maybe it's something we should do ourselves.
This bit of good news couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of folks:
The inhabitants of the Falkland Islands are preparing for a South Atlantic oil rush which they hope will make them among the richest people in the world.
Let's hope the Argentinians don't get any ideas about 'reclaiming' the Malvinas, as they call the Falklands. Their first attempt to do so in 1982 ended in disaster. I have no reason to doubt another attempt would end the same way, particularly since the British Armed Forces have considerable combat experience (Afghanistan and Iraq).
(H/T Right Thinking)
I've been using Linux on my old Dell laptop for six months now and the experience has been good for the most part. About the only thing the laptop needs is some more RAM to speed things up when I've got more than a few apps running. Other than that I've got no complaints.
The 900MHz Athlon tower is still running well though I made a change in the version of Linux running on the machine. Originally I was running Ubuntu, but made the change to Kubuntu to experience a different desktop environment. Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop environment, while Kubuntu uses the KDE desktop. Gnome is very plain and simple. KDE has more functionality. Other than the desktop environment the two versions of Linux are identical.
For the laptop Ubuntu/Gnome is just fine. All it's used for is word processing and web browsing. Kubuntu is great for extended functionality, particularly when I've used WINE to run some Windows programs under Linux.
All in all I have to say it's been worth it.
I have been a proponent of more efficient lighting, particularly when it comes to street lighting. While high pressure sodium lamps have been the technology of choice for years, they aren't nearly as efficient as the newer technologies such as LEDs. But now there's an even more energy efficient lighting technology out there that blows high brightness LEDs away: plasma light bulbs.
The plasma bulbs are small, about the size of a quarter, and put out about 150 lumens per watt of electricity. At present LEDs put out about 75 to 100 lumens per watt, though work is ongoing to increase their efficiency. The plasma bulbs emit full spectrum light, just like the sun. LEDs tend to be a cooler white, though that may or may not be an issue. I can see where these technologies, while competing, may compliment each other. The main thing is that they throw a lot more light per watt than existing technologies.
One question making the rounds among the boating community here in the Lake Winnipesaukee area:
Will high gas prices, expected to be $4.50 per gallon or higher at the lake marinas, cause less boat traffic out on the lake this summer?
Seeing how much boat traffic was down last summer when marina gas prices were hovering around $3.50 per gallon, I'd have to guess it will be even quieter out on the lake this summer.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather still vacillates between winter and spring, gas prices are rising, and where we still have two months worth of firewood left.
Even with yesterday's snow fall it feels as if winter is losing its grip. More dirty snow is being exposed as the sun and warmer temperatures are starting to have an effect.
That suits me just fine.
Frankly, I'm tired of winter. BeezleBub and I have moved more snow than we care to think about, have gone through three times the amount of gas for the snowblower than we have over the previous two winters combined, and shoveled off the roof of the garage – something we've never had to do in the past. The biggest problem this winter was finding space to put the snow we were removing. Hopefully we won't have to do much more of that before the spring weather finally takes hold.
Part of yesterday was spent making arrangements for The Boat's new home port. With the money we'll save by making the move we'll be able to buy gasoline to actually go out on the lake this summer.
I have no doubts we'll see a repeat of last summer here at Lake Winnipesaukee, with little traffic out on the lake during July but a normal amount during August. There might even be less traffic this coming summer considering most folks around here expect gas to cost $4.50/gallon or more at the marinas. Goodness knows high gas prices kept traffic down on the lake for most of the summer.
It was the second round of town meetings here in New Hampshire this past week, with many towns voting on their expenditures for the coming fiscal year.
A lot of towns held the line on spending, some cut spending, and the voters in at least one town spent like drunken sailors.
Some towns held traditional town meetings, where town residents gather at town hall or the local school to discuss and vote on warrant articles that cover everything from the town budget to zoning changes to the addition or deletion or changes of town services. There is also a second town meeting, usually called the school district meeting, where the school budget and education related warrant articles are debated and voted upon.
Other towns run a modified version of town meeting where the discussion and debate portion of the meeting is held in February and the voting portion of the meeting is held in March. Many larger towns have switched to this type of town meeting, referred to as SB2, or Senate Bill 2, the legislation that authorized this type of town meeting.
Regardless of the type of town meeting each town uses, there's one thing in common to both of them that holds true: “If you don't attend or vote at town meeting then you have no right to complain about your taxes.”
One other season tends to coincide with town meeting is sugaring season, aka making maple syrup. The cold nights and warm days get the sap flowing in the sugar maples, so the sugarers tap the maples, setting buckets or plastic tubing to collect sap. From there the sap goes to evaporator to boil away the excess water, which concentrates the natural sugars in the sap. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup, so there's a lot of boiling to reduce the sap to the proper consistency.
The WP Dad-in-Law sugars every year, though his operation isn't big like many of the others in New England. He produces enough maple syrup for the family and maybe just a little bit more to give away as gifts.
One downside to increasing oil prices many people overlook is the effect they have on food prices. As the cost of growing food (fuel for tractors and base chemicals for fertilizer), harvesting food (again, fuel for tractors and harvesters), and transporting the food (fuel for trucks, freight trains, etc), is it any surprise the cost of food has gone up?
The story of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement let a detainee die from a treatable cancer may be a good illustration of what awaits us if we ever end up with a national health care system like that of Canada or the UK.
Just like the detainee in ICE custody, the national health officials will deny you treatment because there have been no tests. And there will be no tests because until tests have been performed you aren't ill. It's a perfect Catch-22, something we can all look forward to if the government takes over health care.
All of the networks have been advertising the return of new series episodes now that the writers are back to work. Some series won't be returning (their ratings weren't good enough). Some shouldn't return despite their ratings because they're plain god-awful. Others won't be returning that should.
But how often do the networks listen to the viewers when it comes to TV shows? Once in a blue moon? CBS tends to be the worst, canceling shows that have better ratings than some shows they keep on the air, Joan of Arcadia being one such example. After receiving Emmy nominations over two seasons, CBS canceled the series. They've also been quick to pull the plug on new series before giving it any kind of chance. When CBS debuted The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire, they gave it four weeks to get a large following. They killed it before they aired the fifth episode. The series might have had a shot if it hadn't been up against perennial hit Law & Order.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter is slowly losing it's grip, thoughts of boating have shoved aside thoughts of skiing or sledding, and where there's still too damn much snow on the ground.
I started today's post quite late in the day, which is unusual for me. But I have a good excuse.
BeezleBub, one of his friends, and I made a trip to the WP In-Laws to pick up a truckload of firewood to fuel the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove. We borrowed Submarine Tim's 1952 GMC 6x6 deuce-and-a-half, aka 'Clifford' to make the trip. Clifford allowed us to bring a little over 23/4 cords of wood in one trip. The only downside is that Clifford rides like a truck. During our fall trip it isn't a problem. But our trip today was fraught with peril, caused by the poor conditions of the roads.
This winter has been particularly harsh on the roads, leaving far too many of them resembling washboards. Now add a large truck with a heavy suspension.
Our trip was exhausting. Loading Clifford with firewood was the relaxing part. We got back a little after 6PM, realized we were too darned tired to unload the firewood, and decided to call it a day.
Note to self: next time make two firewood trips in the fall!
Is this stupid, or what?
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
This story shows that sometimes the little things mean the most to those you least expect to appreciate them.
Before I forget, I should mention I've started a second blog, one devoted to issues concerning my home town and home state of New Hampshire. While I could cover a lot of those things here on Weekend Pundit, it seemed a separate venue made more sense. I know 99.999% of the readers of Weekend Pundit will have absolutely no interest in the blog whatsoever. That's quite alright with me. It's that 0.001% that might find some value from anything that appears there (all one of you).
On occasion I expect to cross post to both blogs should the topic warrant such an action.
And that's the much abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where town elections and/or town meetings will be taking place, the rains have diminished some of the snow on the ground, and where our wood pile has been replenished.
At least it will be sunny and warm today and tomorrow, allowing for some melting of the snows that have fallen over the past couple of weeks. BeezleBub and I spent a couple of hours on the roof of the garage this afternoon clearing away up to 5 feet of snow. With rain and freezing rain forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we knew we had to get it down today. All that rain soaked snow would likely have caused the collapse of the garage roof. As it was the 'fluffy' snow was heavy enough put 100 lbs per square foot load (or more) on the roof, which is twice what most roofs around gere are designed to bear.
It became quite apparent a little over two weeks ago we were falling behind in our efforts to remove snow from the driveway, parking areas to the side of the garage, the walkways, steps, landings, decks, and roofs. We'd get about 80 or 90% cleared and another storm would come along. The next time we'd get 70 to 80% cleared before more snow arrived, and so on.
We aren't the only ones worried about the loading on roofs. There have been a number of collapses, including a warehouse just yesterday. It's not surprising considering we're close to reaching record snowfall totals for the winter.
One bright spot this weekend – we've secured yet another year's dockage for The Boat. This time we'll be at a new location, the move being dictated by the expected cost of boating this coming season. The new slip is only 60% the cost of the one we've used the past couple of years. With gas prices on the lake expected to be well above $4 per gallon this coming summer, the savings from the slip rental will allow us to fill the fuel tank on The Boat an additional 8 times over the summer (a fill up will run approximately $120, assuming I never let the tank get below a ¼ full).
Next weekend will entail a trip to the WP In-Laws with Submarine Tim's 1952 GMC 6x6 deuce-and-a-half in order to replenish the supply of firewood to stoke the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove. We're down to a few days supply and then we'll have to rely on $3.37 per gallon propane to heat The Manse. I wouldn't necessarily mind doing that all that much if The Manse wouldn't go through $600+ of propane every month. I'd rather spend the $160 for gasoline to run the deuce-and-a-half to bring 2 or 3 months worth of cordwood back to The Manse.
Could a Clinton or Obama presidency bring back the worst of the Smoot-Hawley era, also known as the Depression? It will if they gut NAFTA.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
Another link from Maggie's Farm – Democrats are in fact the purveyors of modern racism. It is in their best interests to promote victimhood and poverty upon minorities because it gives the Democrats power. That's something I've been saying for years.
Looking over history, it has been the Republicans moving forward with civil rights legislation. As Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association reminds us, “the Republican Party has been at the 'forefront of the struggle for civil rights, which is why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.' ”
One good thing about this time of year, despite the almost record snowfalls, is that it's sugaring season. Sugarers have started tapping maple trees and collecting sap as part of the yearly ritual of making maple syrup.
BeezleBub and the WP Dad-in-Law spent part of this past week tapping maple trees on his property in southwestern New Hampshire. While the Dad-in-Law's operation is relatively small, making enough syrup for the family, he could easily produce much more if he tapped all the maples on his land.
Making maple syrup takes a lot of sap, requiring 40 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup.
The Verizon-Fairpoint sale looks like a done deal.
FairPoint is buying Verizon's landline business in northern new England. At first I was all for the sale. Then I got a chance to look at the financial information and realized this sale would be a bad idea. Verizon wanted too much money for a shrinking market and FairPoint was going to be carrying too much debt to make this a good deal. The three states involved – Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont – agreed, which forced the two telephone companies to restructure the deal.
I do have a gripe about the deal, specifically FairPoint's plan to expand DSL, covering areas not presently served by any kind of broadband. I don't mind that part. What I don't like is Fairpoint has no plans whatsoever to go beyond DSL, a mature technology that cannot provide the types of connection speeds seen by Fiber To The Home or the newer high speed cable modems. That lack could easily mean that northern New England could quickly become a broadband hinterland.
The three states had best watch FairPoint closely, making sure they meet their obligations and reconsider deploying Fiber To The Home.
It appears the New Hampshire “Blues” are working hard to outlaw or strictly control things they don't like. They're trying very hard to change the Live Free Or Die state to the Do As We Say state by trying to outlaw transfats, incandescent light bulbs, putting a 60 percent tax on cigars, taxing candy, imposing a $250 dollar fine if someone releases a helium balloon into the air, and forcing gas stations to round up the price of gasoline to the nearest penny, amongst other things. They're doing everything they can to turn New Hampshire into another Nanny state, much like our neighbor to the south, Massachusetts.
Frankly these idiots need to spend their time doing more important things like fixing the budget, which they increased by over 16% and now has a $50 million shortfall with a projected shortfall of $140 million by the end of the fiscal year.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow is ever deeper, the legislature is slowly taking away our rights, and where spring is merely a date on the calendar.
Friday's snowfall did little to deter any Weekend Pundit activities, seeing how only 3 inches of the light fluffy stuff fell at The Manse. However, that hasn't meant we've been able to sit on our bottoms doing nothing. With another snowstorm forecast for Tuesday, BeezleBub and I have been trying to clear away the leavings of the storm from two weeks ago (mainly a lot of ice to chop through) to make it easier for us to clear way the upcoming snow.
It doesn't help that Beezlebub headed off to the WP In-Laws for the week, it being the February school vacation week. It will be up to yours truly clean up the aftermath of any snowstorm while he's gone.
Yesterday was a busy day, including a run to the transfer stat....uh...the dump. I saw a lot of my neighbors there, something which is a bit unusual. But an unusual event meant a lot of us had to make the trip to the regional...er...dump to dispose of our household trash.
On our usual trash pickup day the barrels remained full and the trash bags undisturbed. Instead we were greeted with a letter stating the contractor would no longer be servicing our neighborhood due to ill health.
A little advanced notice would have been nice.
We'll be looking at another contractor to haul our trash, but if the cost exceeds that of making the trip ourselves (it's a $5 fee per trip to dispose of our trash at the dump) we'll continue to make the weekly or bi-weekly dump run rather than pay someone else to do it for us.
It seems the rhetoric between Hillary and Barack has picked up considerably. I find it interesting Hillary is slamming Barack about Obama campaign flyers that seem to come out of the old Clinton Dirty Tricks Handbook. Maybe she's pissed off because he beat her to the punch.
We must remember that Hillary is not as pure as the driven snow. Both she and Bill have campaigned dirty in the past. All one needs to do is ask Bob Dole about that, having been on the receiving side of Clinton dirty tricks during the 1996 Presidential campaign.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has an eye-opening article about how our court system is in danger of becoming less about enforcing our laws and more about politics.
The judiciary currently is experiencing unprecedented pressure from interest groups to make decisions that are based on politics. In Washington, D.C., we hear a lot about federal judges, and they have a critical role in upholding the Constitution. But having been a state judge and a state legislator, I know that the vast majority of law is state law. Ninety-five percent of litigation takes place in state courts. Many legal issues are primarily decided there, including divorce, property rights, employment law, product liability and medical malpractice.
Political pressure is a big problem in a number of our state courts. More than 89% of state judges go through some form of election process. Many of these elections recently have become full-fledged political battles, fueled by growing sums of money spent by candidates and special-interest groups to attack, defend and counterattack.
The last thing we need is a judiciary for sale to the highest bidder.
Does the so-called “campus rape crisis” really exist? According to the piece in the LA Times, it is so far overblown as to be ludicrous.
Our friend Jon Henke tears apart Paul Krugman's claim that poverty in America is on the rise, that it is impossible for people today to work themselves out of poverty, implying another LBJ-esque “War On Poverty” is needed.
Jon points out a few inconvenient truths, such as LBJ's War On Poverty stalled the decline of the poverty rate in America for over 30 years. Only once major welfare reforms were enacted in the late 1990's did the poverty rate continue its interrupted decline.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
As the oil business has been waning in Texas, wind energy has been stepping in big time.
Texas now has the largest wind energy generation capacity in the US, blowing past California in that regard. The amount of wind energy capacity in Texas is expected to more than triple over the next few years. A lot of dying oil towns in the state have been revitalized as wind turbines have been built, bring jobs and money back into the local economy.
Alternative energy is making a resurgence in New Hampshire, with biomass energy becoming a growing business, particularly with the pulp/paper mills in New Hampshire's North Country and Great North Woods shutting down. It's getting so good a mothballed wood-chip generating plant is being renovated and will soon restart. It is expected more plants will be planned and built to replace the closed paper mills...as long as NIMBY and BANANA responses can be kept to a minimum.
Now this is the kind of affirmative action I can support.
A big problem from this winter's heavy snowfall has been making itself felt throughout New Hampshire.
The heavy snows collapsed roofs in a number of towns and cities around the state. The amount of snow itself isn't the problem. It's when the snow is followed by rain, causing the snow to become waterlogged and very heavy, the load on the roof exceeds its capability to carry it and down it comes.
We have more snow forecast for Tuesday evening.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the woodpile is getting too small, more snow is on the way, and my supply of ice melt is darn near exhausted.
Just when we thought we might catch a break in regards to the weather, my hopes are dashed.
BeezleBub and I have spent time every day since Wednesday cleaning up after the snowstorm and we're still not done. If all of the precipitation had been snow we wouldn't have been having so much trouble. But with the sleet that came in towards the end of the storm, which then changed over to freezing rain and rain, we ended up with heavy sodden and frozen snow. It's required a lot of backbreaking work to clear it all away, making sure to make room for future snowfalls as well as ensure that melt water or rain won't work its way under roof shingle or siding.
The weather forecast says we have another bout with snow to sleet to rain coming tonight.
Sometimes you just can't catch a break.
We're not the only ones dealing with this endless cycle of one snowfall after another.
It appears the Battle of Berkeley goes to the pro-military protesters merely due to the calm and reasoned protests and support they gave the USMC. The Left, on the other hand, showed how out of touch and deluded so many of them have become.
While many on both sides of the issue of the USMC Recruiting Office have complained the Berkeley Police Department showed favoritism to the other side, it is apparent they handled things properly, not giving either side any excuse to escalate things and clamping down on any misbehavior.
The housing market is still in the dumps, with sales off as much as 26% as compared to a year ago. The sub-prime/ARM debacle is still nowhere near over, with a large number of them heading for foreclosure as interest rates reset. Too many unethical lenders abetted by buyers with too little understanding of what they were getting themselves into led to this problem. Many buyers probably figured they could always sell their homes if they ever got into trouble, not foreseeing the hot real estate market would cool off, leaving them with no way to unload their homes and avoid foreclosure.
Another problem adding pain to many homeowners is some mortgage service companies lack of service, in many cases putting homeowners into default even though they've never missed a payment. The number of consumer complaints about mortgage service companies has been climbing rapidly as too many homeowners have had their homes and credit ratings put into jeopardy by the incompetence of these companies.
About the only part of the real estate market still performing well is for second homes (vacation homes). The sales pace of second homes never reached that of primary homes, with many of them on the market for six months to a year before they sold. That hasn't changed. For the most part second home sales aren't time sensitive, with sellers willing to wait to get their asking price. But the second home market is a small fraction of total homes sales, having little effect on the overall sales figures.
Despite claims by certain Presidential candidates to the contrary, Americans have never had it so good.
Are there still problems with poverty in America? Certainly. But with few exceptions, the level of poverty in America would be considered middle class or wealthy in a lot of other developed or developing countries.
Is modern liberalism a form of mental illness? There may be a case to made for it.
“The roots of liberalism – and its associated madness – can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind,” he says. “When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious.”
'Nuff said.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
It figures.
It seems that every winter we suffer the breakdown of one appliance or another. Last winter it was our refrigerator. The winter before that it was our clothes drier. This winter it's the washing machine. Apparently the water pump that drains the tub has failed, meaning we had to pull out a load of sodden clothes and take them over to the WP Parent's to run them through a spin, rinse, and spin cycle. Then it was back to The Manse to pop the now wrung out clothes into the drier.
The WP Mom offered to wash and dry the rest of our clothes, so we won't have to worry about running out of clean clothes before the washing machine is repaired.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter seems endless, the snow banks do nothing but get higher, and the woodpile is getting smaller all too quickly.
Morning greeted us with yet more snow, something that is beginning to seem never ending. We've received about a foot over the past week with another 8 inches forecast to fall by this evening.
It isn't that I'm tired of moving snow. That doesn't bother me. It's the problems associated with the all of the snow.
One problem: BeezleBub and I are running out of places to put the snow. We're limited to blowing it onto the side of the hill in front of The Manse, which makes it more difficult to clear the driveway and the area in front of the garage.
Another problem: one of the town plow crews are becoming more reckless. During this past storm this particular plow crew took out our mailbox. They didn't hit it, but with the speed they were coming down the hill the force of the snow they were plowing was such that it broke the post upon which the mailbox was mounted. The 4” X 4” post broke off just above ground level, giving you an idea of the force of all that flying snow. On the storm previous to the last one they damn near killed me in the same fashion, their plow throwing snow 25 feet past the snow bank and almost burying me in my own driveway.
We did a little shopping yesterday, looking for a new woodstove for The Manse. It's not that our present one isn't any good, only that it's inadequate for our purposes. We made the decision to do a little remodeling inside The Manse once we're past the heating season, which will allow us to use a more traditional woodstove rather than the fireplace insert we're using now. The new woodstove will heat better than the present one and won't require as much wood for the amount of heat it will throw.
That works for me.
The Winnipesaukee Ice Fishing Derby came to an end today, and at the time I'm writing this the biggest catch so far has been a 10.5 pound lake trout.
The winner of the Derby gets a new fishing boat and trailer. Not bad for a weekend's worth of fishing.
This weekend also saw another derby taking place here in the Lakes Region.
The annual Laconia Sled Dog Derby started Friday, bring sled dog teams from all over the US and Canada.
It's a good thing criminals are so dumb.
Thomas Dipirro's 1994 Ford F-250 pickup truck was stolen in Haverhill, Massachusetts, just over the border from his home town of Plaistow, New Hampshire.
Two days later he spots a truck that looked a lot like his driving down Rte 125 in Plaistow. A closer look at the license plate showed Dipirro it was his stolen truck. He didn't have a cell phone so he couldn't call the police. So he did the only thing he could do:
He confronted the driver of his stolen truck when they both stopped at a traffic light.
Dipirro asked the man behind the wheel, later identified as Angel Valle, 49, why he was driving his truck.
The two then got into a scuffle in the middle of the intersection, prompting several calls from passersby who thought they were having a fight after an accident, police said.
The police did arrest Valle after he fled on foot.
The lesson to be learned? Don't drive a stolen vehicle in the hometown of the owner unless you want to get caught.
Are the Clintons planning to steal the Democratic nomination? It certainly appears that way.
It's been a long time since I've linked to Ben Kepple's blog. It's also been a long time since I checked it out, so the fault is entirely mine.
So I click on the link to check it out and what do I find? One of my favorite Ben Kepple features:
Your Search Engine Queries Answered!
The NFL Pro-Bowl was played today. Frankly, I had no interest at all. After the disappointing loss of the Super Bowl by the Patriots I have no desire to watch football again until next season.
Is it any surprise that the so-called “anti-war” Democrats were anything but? Instead they hijacked the anti-war movement in order to ensure the election of Democrats and the defeat of Republicans. But now their duplicity is out in the open. Could it be that there will be another change in the make-up of Congress after elections in November?
Is Hugo Chavez in trouble?
(H/T Instapundit)
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter continues, the ice fishing is great, and where thoughts of summer boating are starting to intrude.
It's Super Bowl Sunday and it has been impossible to escape coverage of the pre-game activities. TV, radio, newpapers, and web sites have been nothing but Patriots, Patriots, Patriots for two weeks.
We're headed over to one of Deb's friends to catch the game on their oh-my-GOD sized HDTV, though we'll only be staying until halftime. With a 6:20PM kickoff, we can't stay until the end of the game, it being a school night.
Unless you've been hiding some place without Internet access, you must have heard of the madness of the Berkeley's city Council and their minions, Code Pink and World Can't Wait.
The two protest groups have been holding almost daily protests outside the Marine Recruiting office. They've been doing so with the support of the Berkeley City Council, which passed a resolution calling the Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders in the city.” To his credit, one council member disagreed with the decree. Councilmember Gordon Wozniak was the only dissenting voice in the city council.
And here's a libertarian view of the whole kerfuffle.
The last bit of winter weather we experienced on Friday was what many called “a useless storm.” Lots of sleet and freezing rain created hazardous travel conditions in a very short time. The clean up afterwards was lengthy and painful for many, yours truly included.
It wasn't a matter of firing up the trusty Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower and removing the frozen precipitation. Oh no. Instead it required the use of chemical intervention to loosen up the frozen mess and a lot of muscle power to move the two to three inches of icy cover.
BeezleBub and I spent quite a bit of time breaking up and shoveling the ice to clear the driveway and the area in front of The Manse's garage. Once the sun had moved and was no longer working to melt the area we were trying to clear, the work stopped. We were hoping for more sun today to help us continue the work, but it looks like we'll be out of luck. Sunshine isn't expected until later in the day when the cloud cover will move off and by that time the sun won't hit the area we still need to clear.
The Barrister at Maggie's Farm asks the question: “How come liberals never talk about liberty?”
Yeah, why is that?
Do you need any more evidence that any kind of government run health care would be a very bad idea? If so, all you need to do is look at Massachusetts to see one possible future of health care.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we're still chipping ice, dreams of spring are starting to intrude, and where Monday will get here all too soon.
We've received a little bit of snow,enough to remind us winter is still here. Ice-In was declared for Lake Winnipesaukee this past week, meaning the entire lake is frozen over.
Though frozen over it doesn't mean the ice is thick enough for people to drive on, as one fellow from the People's Republic of Massachusetts found out the hard way. It became quite evident the ice was still too thin when his 2007 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer Edition broke through the ice 400 feet from shore and sank to the bottom. The poor fellow had driven up from his home in Andover, Massachusetts to test the ice prior to his ice fishing trip planned for this weekend.
I don't know about you, but I think I would test the ice thickness with an auger, drilling holes in the ice and measuring it. The ice is thick enough to walk on just about everywhere, but not thick enough to support a 3-ton truck. Also, it is known by many of the locals and regular visitors that the area he tested rarely gets thick enough to support vehicles due to the water currents that run through there.
I wonder how the poor guy is explaining this to his insurance company?
Am I surprised Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in yesterday's South Carolina Democratic Primary? Not in the least.
Once her campaign started using tactics out of the old Clinton playbook I figured it was only a matter of time before the voters got wise and would slap her down. It wasn't just a slapdown she got from them, but a body slam, with Obama receiving 55% of the vote and Clinton only 27%. The Clinton campaign seriously miscalculated, for once they started playing the race card they lost the voters.
Maybe it's time for Hillary to muzzle Bill as it seems he's more of a hindrance to her campaign than a help. The question is, will she?
The fans started gathering at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough early this morning for the New England Patriots Super Bowl Rally. The Patriots will be departing for Arizona later today for next weekend's Super Bowl. Can they go 19-0?
I'm gonna get hate mail on this one:
We were watching ventriloquist Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central last night when he brought out one of favorite characters “Walter”, and Walter laid this one on the audience.
“Yeah, I had an argument with my wife this morning. She rolled out of bed, hopped on her menstrual cycle, and rode right over my ass....”
If you GOP voters out there don't like the present field of Republicans running in the upcoming primaries, Bill Quick suggests writing in Fred Thompson. If nothing else it sends a message to the rest of the candidates they aren't conservative enough. As a longshot it could also garner Fred the nomination.
(H/T Instapundit)
Here's yet another example of Palestinian fauxtography used to inflame anti-Israeli forces.
You'd think they'd at least get the proportions right, wouldn't you?
I warned about the unintended consequences of “free” health care as provided by the government. Some of you may have thought I was being over the top with such a prediction. But here's a cautionary tale from the UK showing exactly what will happen here in the US should we go the path of the UK's National Health Service.
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.
Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.
I have no doubt the same thing would happen here should we ever be foolish enough to go to socialized medicine like Europe and Canada. I wonder if euthanasia will be far behind, rationalized as a means to preserve health care resources for the “truly deserving”? And if so, who would make the decision?
Hmm. This sounds familiar. Where have we seen this before?
Ah, yes! I remember now. Nazi Germany, wasn't it?
One of my all time favorite bloggers – Rachel Lucas – tackles the incessant male bashing that goes on, ad nauseum, in this case deconstructing an article called “10 Things You Should Never Say To A Woman.”
Tonight's episode of ABC Extreme Makeover – Home Edition is about a family here in New Hampshire that lost their home to the Mother Day's Flood of 2006. The Voisine family lost everything, their home completely destroyed by the unusual flood waters. All that was left of their home was the lot and a little bit of the foundation.
While we've already seen what the exterior of their new home looks like we'll have to wait until the episode airs to find out what the interior looks like.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow has returned, the lake is ready for ice fishing, and the New England Patriots are enroute to Phoenix for the Super Bowl.
It was a busy day yesterday, leaving no time for blogging. It happens now and then, even to someone like me. Deal with it.
When I woke this morning it was 16°F outside The Manse. That's as warm as it was going to be today. The temps have been dropping since then and the winds has been picking up, giving wind chill factors of as low as -20°F. It will make for excellent playing conditions for today's Patriots/Chargers game down in Foxborough.
I'll admit that I was a little disappointed in the results from the South Caroline Republican primary, Frankly, I expected Fred Thompson to do a bit better than he did. On the other hand Mike Huckabee didn't beat John McCain, which pleased the South Carolina Fredheads to no end. To say that there's no love lost between Fredheads and Mike Huckabee, keeping in mind the alleged push-polling done by Huckabee or those supporting him.
One Fred supporter went so far as to write a letter to the Senator.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier – the New England Patriots were 14-point favorites over San Diego for today's playoff game.
I just hope they can pull it off. Oh, and one other thing: we'll be watching over at the WP Parents on their new HDTV! So cool.....
UPDATE: The Pats beat the Chargers, 21-12.
I watched Dirty Harry on the History Channel and flashed back to all of the signature cliché phrases from that movie. Surprisingly, my favorite one is not “You've got to ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?”
Instead it's “When I see a naked man running down an alley with a butcher knife chasing a woman, I figure he's not collecting for the Red Cross.”
There's something to be said for some of the old movies.
George Santayana told us some time ago that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Philo of Alexandria reminds us of that by way of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr's 30-year cycle theory, which states that every generation has to relearn the lessons of the previous generations the hard way. When it comes to politics, and particularly political ideologies, that 30-year cycle comes at a cost of the reduced civil liberties, increased social spending to no good effect, and the crippling of our military might. As Philo noted:
I see echoes of the 1970s all around me, and so far it looks as if those who are succeeding in this campaign are those most likely to repeat its mistakes.
Unfortunately, I see the same thing.
(H/T Instapundit)
Could it be the war against boys has succeeded all too well?
One thing my dentist suggested I buy to help maintain my dental health was a Waterpik. If you've never heard of or seen a Waterpik, it's a device that uses a pressurized water jet to clean between the teeth and below the gum line. It's supposed to work better than flossing, being able to reach places that flossing can't.
After three days using it I have to say it does indeed work better than flossing. It takes some practice to get it right (I got wet more than once while I was figuring it all out), but it's worth it.
My only complaint? It makes a lot of noise.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has returned to its winter norm, the ice has completely covered the lake, and where we know the New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl.
There was never any doubt the January Thaw wouldn't last much more than a week, and the weather forecast for Monday bears that out.
A Nor'easter is forecast to start sometime early in the morning with snowfall totals in this part of New Hampshire expected to be between 5 and 12 inches. Because we live at a higher elevation we tend to get a little more snow than those living down by the lake, I'm expecting closer to 14 inches here at The Manse. The only question is, will the schools close for the day or will they shorten their day as the storm intensifies? Only time will tell.
Welcome back, winter!
We are still suffering the aftermath of the New Hampshire Primary, feeling wrung out after the non-stop campaigning, the barrage of TV and radio ads, and the endless polls being taken or talked about by the so-called pundits. It was exhausting. At least we've got a break from all of this until October, when the national campaigns will kick into high gear.
Then once we get past the national election in November we can count on a break until...umm...two or three days after the election until the campaign for the 2012 nomination starts.
Speaking of the New Hampshire Primary, our friends over at GraniteGrok/Meet The New Press had some visitors during their radio show yesterday.
Doug and Skip had a crew of film makers filming their radio show as part of a documentary about how the new media has a big effect on presidential campaigns.
Very cool.
Bogie had one of those “What the hell was that noise?” moments the other night.
I can say I sympathize with her plight as BeezleBub and I had a similar experience the other evening while we were stacking our latest pile of firewood.
Bruce gets on Boston mayor Menino's case when it comes to health care.
Apparently Hizzoner believes that only the government should be allowed to provide health care and that for-profit walk-in clinics should be banned. Just because most of these walk-in clinics can provide basic health care faster and cheaper than government run clinics (think Boston City Hospital) is no reason to allow them. After all, they'll be making a profit! Hizzoner can't allow that! It would be against his liberal beliefs that the private sector are nothing by greedy, money-grubbing exploiters of the poor. Never mind that they can do it cheaper, better, and faster than the government.
Sheesh!
The New England Patriots managed to squelch the Jacksonville Jaguars' Super Bowl ambitions by beating them 31-20 last night in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Patriots managed to score on all but two possessions, one of them being a missed field goal attempt.
The Patriots will be playing San Diego next weekend.
BeezleBub and I managed to finish stacking the firewood Deb ordered last week. The only downside to this job was collecting and cleaning up of the bits and pieces of wood that are useful only for kindling. There's a lot of kindling, so much so that we had to pile it and cover it outside the garage in order to protect it from the upcoming snowstorm. We have no other place to put it for the time being.
John Stossel continues his interview with Ron Paul. The topic: prostitution, drugs, and gay marriage.
The Times in the UK seems to think that the US is on the brink of financial ruin, with an oncoming recession that will drive the race for the White House. To read Liam Halligan's article you'd think we were going into a recession to rival that of the great Depression.
One cynical commenter made the claim that this recession will be worse than the one in the 1990's because “its not just GM or Ford on the ropes, its the banking sector.” How soon they forget.
During the 90's recession lots of banks failed, particularly because many of them held non-performing mortgages. The housing market tanked as a consequence of the deepening recession. Too many people were upside down on their mortgages, then lost their jobs. Once the banks foreclosed on their mortgages they held billions in property they couldn't dispose of, forcing many of them into receivership. Ford, GM, and Chrysler weren't in trouble the way the banking industry was back then.
This time around the banks are not the ones at risk. It's the investment houses. Banks are not the ones holding sub-prime mortgages. They aren't the ones holding a large number of adjustable rate mortgages. They learned their lessons from the 1990's recession and were careful about mortgage lending. The investment houses, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to develop new income paths. They gambled on the housing market. They lost.
Many on the Left in the US have been pushing multiculturalism as a cure all for all our problems. However, practical application of multiculturalism in the UK has proven to be a dismal failure, with some long time residents feeling like unwelcome aliens in their own towns.
Immigrants have failed to assimilate, creating cultural enclaves where residents speak nothing but their native languages, maintaining their native customs, and in some cases ignoring the laws of the UK in favor of the laws/customs of their native lands. It is always a recipe for disaster.
Yet this is something the Left here thinks would be just dandy.
As the deadline for complying with the federal Real ID Act approaches, opposition to it has been growing. One major opponent is Senator John E. Sununu (R – NH), who believes the Act has civil rights problems and represents a $4 billion unfunded mandate for the states. He hes filed legislation to repeal the Act.
Seventeen states, including New Hampshire, have already voted to not implement Real ID because of the civil rights implications, the costs of implementation, or both.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter is returning, the firewood has been stacked, and where I still don't need a federally sanctioned ID in order to board a plane.
I made the sacrifice and liveblogged both debates last night. It was painful on two levels.
First, it became quite obvious to me that the top four Democrats haven't got a friggin' clue about how the economy works, how foreign policy works, how free markets work, or the true situation in Iraq. Their answer to every problem was yet another government program that will piss away taxpayer dollars and fail to do what they were supposed to do. They will then suck even more money out of the economy in the form of higher taxes to pay for even more do-nothing government programs.
It also became obvious to me that Ron Paul is living in a dream world. He seems to have little understanding of what motivates people that don't think the same way he does, particularly when it comes to Islamofascist terror organizations. Here's a clue, Ron: They want to kill us. All of us.
Second, my knee was killing me after three hours of liveblogging. Because I was couch-bound with the laptop, my legs were motionless for the most part. I had a tough time standing up once it was all over. Hopefully I won't have to do this again until some time in late October.
It seems weird that there's no Patriots football game this weekend. At least the time off will give them a chance to rest up, practice, and get ready for their first playoff game next weekend.
The January thaw has arrived, which will give us some warmer than average temperatures over the next few days. It is a normal occurrence, happening almost every winter, but I expect that someone will get around to blaming it on anthropogenic global warming.
John Stossel continues with his interview with Ron Paul. The subject this time is immigration.
Voter turnout is expected to be heavy for Tuesday's New Hampshire Primary. The warm weather will certainly help increase the number of voters participating. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner expects a record turnout as there's no clear frontrunner in either party.
It appears that freedom of speech is quickly becoming a thing of the past in the UK. British blogger Lionheart has been arrested for so-called hate speech due to a post he made decrying the undue influence immigrant Moslems are having, creating a Christian underclass by silencing anyone critical of Islamofascism.
One commenter to a post covering Lionheart's trials and tribulations at Gates of Vienna has the right idea: he should come to the US and seek political asylum. It might be just the right move.
It should be a quiet week for me for a change. No big meetings at work. Only a couple of regularly scheduled meetings for town committees I'm involved with. In other words, it will be a relatively normal week for me. Normal is good every now and then.
And that's the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the debates are done, the Primary voting is on Tuesday, and where I received my invoice for my boat slip from the marina for the coming summer.
The Patriots have done it! A perfect 16-0 win-loss record for the regular season.
Next stop, the Super Bowl!
Bagheera is a bit miffed that the Mount Washington Observatory hasn't contacted him yet about the open position of Chief Observatory Cat.
I have told him more than once that he really isn't cut out for life at the Obs, but he denies it. I don't think he really understands what the obligations of the job entail. Frankly, he's too lazy to fulfill the duties of Chief Observatory Cat. Oh heck, he's just plain too lazy, period.
The Christmas decorations gracing The Manse came down today. As always they come down a lot faster than they went up. The artificial (but real-looking) Christmas tree and all of the ornaments that go with it, the snowy village, and nativity scene have been returned to their boxes and stored away in the basement for yet another year.
It started as an offhand comment from BeezleBub; “I wonder what the living room would look like if we moved the TV from that wall over to the corner?'
Five hours later and we were pretty much finished rearranging the furniture in the living room and the dining room. The new arrangement makes better use of the space in both rooms but has created a problem: I can't run the wires for the rear speakers of the surround sound system where they need to go without cutting holes in the drywall and drilling some holes through a few floor joists.
I'll bite the bullet and do the work the right way, but it might have to wait until spring.
Fred Thompson slams a reporter that reported on one of Fred's town hall meeting in Iowa and got it wrong. In fact she wasn't even there.
John Stossel has Part 3 of his interview with Ron Paul, whom he has dubbed “Dr. No.”
I just happened to catch a YouTube of Michael Jackson's Thriller. It's easy to forget that at one time he was the number one entertainer on the planet. The video of Thriller was one of the most elaborate and expensive at the time it was released. It was an awesome production and stands up to any that followed.
It appears that we are in danger of having the third, or maybe even the second snowiest December on record. With up to eight inches of new snow forecast for early to mid morning on Monday. The “normal” New England Winter is holding up so far this year. Goodness knows the ski areas are loving it, as are the businesses that cater to them and the snowmobilers.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where Patriots fans are rejoicing, New Year's is rapidly approaching, and where even more snow is on its way.
BeezleBub and I spent a good portion of the day yesterday cleaning up from Thursday's snow storm. There was snow to shovel from the decks, snow banks to cut through in order to reach the front door, snow drifts to remove, and plenty of slush on the driveway to get rid of.
All of this was in preparation of the rain that's forecast for later today and tonight. Removing the snow was necessary to prevent one of two possible problems: the decks collapsing due to the heavy load of water-laden snow, or said water-laden snow freezing and turning into something resembling concrete. Neither is an acceptable outcome, so we spent the day clearing what we could.
As a back up I picked up 100 pounds of calcium chloride (also called Super-Melt) in case the driveway ends up being one big sheet of ice come morning.
The New England Patriots are 14-0. With such success, the Patriots have become universally reviled by fans of the other NFL teams. It's a burden the Pat's and their fans are willing to bear.
The Patriots are going up against the 1-14 Miami Dolphins today at Foxborough.
UPDATE: The Patriots beat the Dolphins 28-7, moving the Pats to 15-0.
There are times when school zero-tolerance policies can backfire, punishing victims of violence as well as perpetrators. I can see where there's no evidence showing which party was the aggressor. But when there's video showing clearly perpetrator and victim, punishing the victim is stupid and unfair.
One parent fought back after his daughter was attacked, beaten by another girl. The incident was caught on the school's video surveillance system. The high school suspended both girls, but the father of the victim informed the school he intending to charge the aggressor with assault and battery and sue the high school for failure to protect his daughter while she was in school. The school backed down, dropping his daughter's suspension.
Frankly, I see so-called zero-tolerance policies as nothing more than a crutch of the lazy.
(H/T Instapundit)
Nuclear power is poised to make a comeback. It seems that the TVA is ahead of the game, with a utility in Texas following not too far behind.
It's about time.
While the article linked above talks about the resurgence of nuclear in the US, it gets some things exactly wrong – nuclear waste. For one thing, the only reason nuclear waste is a problem is politics, not technology. By reprocessing spent fuel, much of the waste is eliminated and what remains consists mainly of short half-life radio-isotopes that require short term storage before they decay into harmlessness.
Michelle Rhee is shaking up the education bureaucracy and taking on the teacher's union in Washington, DC. In the process she's been turning around the school system and making long overdue changes.
If global warming is a fact then why haven't temperatures risen since 2001?
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
John Stossel has Part 2 of his interview with Ron Paul.
I have to say that Mr. Paul is incredibly ignorant when it comes to the motivations of our enemies, particularly the Islamofascists. Our very existence is reason enough for them to plot our destruction for we represent everything they find abhorrent and un-Islamic, or at least in relation to their twisted version of Islam. He makes the assumption that if we leave them alone they'll leave us alone. I can't even begin to list all of reasons why he's wrong.
I've mentioned before how we've used far more firewood than we had thought we would. At first I thought it was because of miscalculation or faulty memory on my part. However, after a discussion with a number of friends and acquaintances it appears everyone has been using more firewood. heating oil, or propane than they had the past few winters.
It's been far colder this year up to this point and we haven't even reached the coldest part of the winter. The colder temps would certainly explain why we've used as much firewood so far as we did for the entire winter last year. In another couple of weeks we'll be heading back to the WP In-Laws with the deuce-an-a-half for another load of wood.
Posting will be light for the next day or two, for obvious reasons.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where last minute Christmas shoppers are making the rounds, families are finalizing plans for Christmas Day, and where this part of the Weekend Pundit Team will be making merry for the holiday.
It's snowing like hell this morning.
“Stay tuned to NewsNine for our Storm Watch Team coverage of the [add ominous news theme music here] Nor' Easter!”
Give me a break.
It's not like we haven't had snowstorms before. It's not like we haven't had Nor'Easters before. And it's not like we really need to see hours and hours of coverage of the storm, ad nauseum. An update once or twice an hour should be sufficient, wouldn't you think?
Frankly, it looks more like we're going to have a real old-fashioned “normal” New England winter.
Yeah!
Speaking of snowstorms, I had thought that BeezleBub and I would be out at least two or three times to run the Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower during this storm. But now I'm thinking I want to do it all at once. Maybe it makes me lazy. Maybe it makes me cheap (I only want to run the snowblower once rather than two or three times). In any case we won't be going out to clear the driveway until some time this evening.
The storm certainly hasn't stopped New England Patriots fans from making the trip to Foxborough to watch the Patriots play the New York Jets this afternoon. The aforementioned NewsNine interviewed a number of Pats fans heading south on Interstate 93. As more than one of them said, “What? We're not going to let a little snow stop us from watching the Pats go 14-0!”
UPDATE: The Patriots beat the Jets 20-10.
Our fellow Weekend Pundit team member Brent has been going to town with a number of posts yesterday and today. He'd already posted four times by the time I got up this morning and at least twice since I stared working on this post.
Way to go, Brent!
Yes, I know comments are broken. I'm hoping that they'll be fixed sometime soon.
I've also dropped a note to Matt, our blog host, about the new free version of Moveable Type 4.0. We never did make the transition to MT 3.x on this blog. That was more my fault than anything else. I think it's time to upgrade this blog.
This is no surprise.
Housing prices dip this year in New Hampshire.
Tell us something we don't know.
The move back to nuclear power in the US is picking up more speed and support.
Electrical utilities and environmentalists support the move, seeing nuclear power as a carbon free power source that can replace coal, oil, and natural gas fueled power plants. Advanced Generation IV power plants will also be able to generate hydrogen in large amounts, allowing a move away from fossil fuels and further moving us towards more carbon neutral or carbon negative technologies.
John Stossel has Part 1 of his interview with Ron Paul.
The Top 10 Economic Myths of 2007.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
It looks like BeezleBub and I will have to plan another trip to the WP In-Laws with Submarine Tim's deuce-and-a-half sometime in the next three or four weeks. We seriously underestimated the amount of firewood we would use to heat The Manse. Last year we used about three cords between late October and the end of March. But last winter was relatively mild, with only a few nights below zero and a number of days/weeks of temps well above normal (January had a number of days in the 60's). With a “normal” New England winter and the temperatures to go with it, we'll have used three cords of wood by the middle of January!
With propane selling for over $3 per gallon, I'm in no mind to switch to using the furnace at this point. I'd rather spend $160 on gasoline for the deuce-and-a-half rather than $1500 to $2000 for propane.
We've been talking about upgrading to a better, more efficient woodstove. Unfortunately it will have to wait until next summer because it will require some renovations in The Manse's Not-So-Great Room in order to properly install it.
And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the lake is not yet frozen over, the snow is still falling, and where it looks like a white Christmas is guaranteed.