Thoughts On A Sunday

It's been a nice summer weekend, only without the usual summer crowds. While plenty of summer folk are still making the trip up here for the next few weekends, there won't be nearly as many as there usually is on summer weekends.

That suits us just fine. It makes for less boats out on the lake which means that we've got some time to ourselves before the weather turns cold.

Of course, today it rained all day, so our planned outing on the lake had to be postponed.

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It seems that some Congressional Democrats sharpening their knives, and the worst of the MSM are doing likewise in preparation of General Petraeus's and Ambassador Crocker's report about progress in Iraq. The Dems and the MSM are working hard to discredit any positive report that either the General or Ambassador may make before Congress.

Both these Democrats and the MSM have a lot to lose if the reports are taken at face value. Already some of the anti-war Democrats have “left the fold” after visiting Iraq and seeing that progress has indeed been made. They also know that there's still plenty of work left to be done.

That's a message the staunch anti-war Dems and the MSM want to quash because it leaves them looking like idiots or traitors, and that's something they want to prevent at all costs.

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It's the first weekend of the NFL season and the New England Patriots will be playing the New York Jets in New Jersey. The Pats look good this year and, assuming no injuries to their first string players, they may be ready for another Super Bowl appearance.

It didn't hurt that they won their first game, 38-14.

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To show the power of the NFL, Republican candidate Fred Thompson will visiting potential supporters at a number of sports establishments in New Hampshire during the Pats game.

Recognizing where much of the population's attention will be this afternoon, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson will largely confine his tour of the city to destinations with large concentrations of potential voters: local sports bars, where the focus will be on the New England Patriots' season-opening game against the New York Jets.

"There's an old rule in politics: 'Never mess with the NFL,' " said former state Rep. Dan Hughes of New Castle, a Thompson supporter. "You could be giving away $20 bills and have the Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders dancing at your event, and you'd still not get anybody."

Such is the power of Patriots fans support of their team.

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Something we've been hearing about more often – copper theft.

Thieves have been hitting construction sites, stealing wire, pipe, and flashing. They've also hit vacant homes, stripping out the copper pipe used in the plumbing and heating systems.

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Rural states like New Hampshire are still struggling to provide high-speed Internet services to some of the smaller, more remote towns. Ironically Alaska, about as remote and as thinly settled as one can get, has better cell phone and high-speed Internet service than New Hampshire.

Lack of such services will lead to missed economic opportunities because most businesses rely on high-speed connections to the Internet in order to conduct business.

A second bit of irony – New Hampshire has the highest number of high tech workers as a percentage of its residents in the US, but has one of the lowest percentages of residents with high-speed Internet access.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the lake is quiet (because of the rain), the number of weekend summer folk is down (because of the rain), and where there's not as much grilling going on (because of the rain).