Thoughts On A Sunday

Last night Deb, BeezleBub, and I went to our local concert venue, Meadowbrook Farm, to see Gordon Lightfoot perform. While his voice isn't as powerful as it was in his heyday, we still enjoyed his music.

The only downside were the pair of obnoxious...umm...chemically impaired concert goers seated directly behind us. All they did was bitch, moan, and complain. Their not so sotto voce diatribes pissed us off to no end, making an otherwise enjoyable evening less so.

Why did these folks even come to the concert? They didn't care for Gordon Lightfoot, didn't care for the venue, didn't like that there was no seat side service (meaning they had to get up to hit the bar themselves). If they didn't like the place or the artist, why bother coming? I suspect this couple were a pair of the dreaded 'summah people'.

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The US Navy paid one of its highest tributes to a fallen hero, christening the USS Jason Dunham(DDG 109), the newest destroyer to enter the fleet.

Corporal Jason Dunham USMC gave his life to save those of his fellow Marines while serving in Iraq. Dunham received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions. The newest addition to the Navy fleet was christened at the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine.

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Chris Muir has nailed it.

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It appears Obama believes medical care and wealth are both zero sum games, meaning there's only so much to go around. He's wrong on both counts...unless he interferes with either and makes it so.

Like many on the Left he believes the size of the pie that is health care and/or wealth is a fixed size. But the truth is that the pie's size can change, meaning everyone can win or lose as it changes. Unfortunately it seems Obama is working hard to shrink the size of those pies, whether he realizes it or not.

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If you think health care in America is so horrible, you'd be wrong. Health care in countries with 'universal' health care is far, far worse, particularly when it comes to treating potentially fatal diseases like cancer or chronic diseases like high cholesterol which lead to heart disease.

But once Obama and the Democrats take control of health care it will be just as bad as everywhere else.

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The Tea Party protest in Columbus, Ohio drew over 7000 people, showing us there are a lot of pissed off people in Ohio. Given the state of the economy and rising taxes at the federal and state level, is it any surprise the number of Tea Party protests and the number attending them is growing?

Here's another report from the local Columbus newspaper.

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From Brussels Journal:

These are not happy days for Americans, particularly if raised on traditional American values of Northern European provenance. Conscientious work as redemptive virtue, thrift, self-reliance, self-restraint, Biblical ethical principles, modesty, high-minded civic culture, love of liberty, distrust of centralized power.

America’s ruling elite – once the embodiment of such values and now a putrid trench running from Wall Street to Madison Avenue to Washington DC to Hollywood -- has debauched and upended them as thoroughly as though it has been teleported directly from 3rd century Rome. It has deployed the full arsenal of Roman degeneration: unsustainable spending, shaving the coins of the realm, excessive taxation, disincentives to work and saving, wanton waste, corruption on an enormous scale, opulent narcissism at the top, lax borders, importing foreign populations, degrading the value of citizenship, promotion of sexual deviations and excesses, undermining the family unit, trampling on traditions, inuring the populace to “free” handouts and soul-corroding entertainment.

Scary, ain't it?

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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Eric the Viking gives us three examples why expanded government programs and more government spending doesn't work and creates economic hardships: Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maine.

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Massachusetts has another problem with taxes: they've just raised their sales tax 25% from 5 to 6.25%. This increase also includes a broader range of products covered by the sales tax. One of those products is alcoholic beverages, something that had not been covered in the past.

The sales tax increase is having a not unexpected side effect – more people are crossing the border from Massachusetts into New Hampshire to avoid the sales tax (New Hampshire has no sales or income tax). Massachusetts' loss is New Hampshire's gain.

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The MSM is at it again in regards to Sarah Palin. This time Alaska CNN stringer Dennis Zaki has been spreading the rumor that Sarah and Todd Palin are divorcing. Zaki's 'source' is the same anonymous blogger that reported on Trig Palin's 'questionable' parentage.

It's one thing to report on events and facts, it's another to take unsubstantiated rumors or outright falsehoods and report them as fact. It's a darn good way to end up in court for defamation.

If CNN were smart they'd fire Zaki and distance themselves from this loose cannon. But then CNN hasn't exactly been concerned with truth for some time.

There's also this from Wizbang:

ObamaCare Fail + Bad (Worse) Economy + Louis Gates Race Baiting Failure = Palin Divorce Rumor

(H/T Atlas Shrugged)

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Pirate's Cove links to two reports raising questions about global warming.

The first asks if global warming is indeed happening why the Falkland Islands are seeing record snowfalls and below normal winter temperatures?

The second wonders why the UK is deleting publicly available climate data at the Hadley Climate Center? Could it be the data refutes public statements and forecasts made by the UK Met Office?

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I saw this over at Wizbang and started nodding. It is profound in its simplicity and scary in its accuracy.

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It looks like the New Hampshire lawmakers are still eying $110 million of surplus malpractice insurance premiums being held by a state-created underwriter association to fill a budget gap despite the fact a judge has ruled the state is not entitled to those funds.

The Democrats in the state legislature expect to win an appeal of the court decision at the state Supreme Court. But the may be counting the dough before they get their hands on it because there's no guarantee the court will rule their way.

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Despite domestic violence being an equal opportunity problem, prejudices still exist, particularly those that as a matter of course believe only men can be perpetrators and women only victims.

[T]here's a double standard when it comes to charging men. "Now, isn't that strange? When she had a fat lip, it was a felony and I was going to jail. But when they finally realized that she tried to stab me in the neck, it stopped being a crime, and instead it was a mental health issue."

It's a prejudice that must be overcome. I've become aware of it through two sets of friends. Both couples were in dysfunctional marriages and in both marriages the wife was abusing the husband, emotionally at first, then physically. In both cases the husband was arrested on more than one occasion even though they were the only ones showing signs of abuse. Eventually the truth came out, particularly after one of them was nearly beaten to death by his enraged spouse out on the front lawn of their home. In the other case the police arrived just as an argument turned physical and they witnessed the wife attacking the husband. But these cases are the exception rather than the rule. Far too often the husband suffers in silence, having nowhere to turn for help.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is finally in swing, July was the sixth wettest on record, and local corn is now coming in.