5/03/2015

Thoughts On A Sunday

The summer-like weather has arrived, with temps in the 70's today and perhaps 80 tomorrow. We're not complaining by any means because it means the furnace won't be running again any time soon.

The weather has also meant more yard work, an ongoing task from now until fall. The harsh winter did far more damage to a lot of the perennial vegetation than I had originally thought, requiring a lot of pruning of tree limbs and removal of some shrubbery around The Manse.

Work has started on the boat, with the removal of the winter cover (again) and replacement of the canvas snap cover over the cockpit. Scrubbing away the inevitable mildew has also commenced, with a thorough cleaning of the carpet on the deck of the cockpit in the works.

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Elizabeth Price Foley wonders whether Obama is actually going to create his “national” police force in contravention of Congress and the Constitution.

Then again, we already know Obama has no regard for the Constitution and never has. I figure if he succeeds in creating his own Geheim Staatz Polizei that the Obamajugend won't be far behind.

What makes all of this incredible to me is that he has gone out of his way to make sure that relatively small civil/criminal matters have devolved into crises he can exploit. To borrow a term from yet another language, I have to wonder whether all of this is what the Russians call maskirovka, using it as a means to further erode our rights up until the point where he can declare a state of emergency, cancel elections, or if this takes place after the 2016 elections, declares that the state of emergency makes it “unwise” for a new administration to take over until the emergency is over. Of course we know the “emergency” will never end, meaning neither will his reign.

We have to remember that most dictatorships are not often imposed by armed revolution but by the process of open and free elections, whereupon the elected leader changes the laws, in many cases by decree, until there are no more rights for the citizens and the nation becomes yet another police state. And those who elected the leader will wholly support many of the leader's actions...until he starts imprisoning and killing them. Then we'll hear the refrain “But we didn't know!” Yeah. Sure.

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This makes me like Disney even less than I already do.

Walt must be spinning in his grave, knowing that his creation has become yet another corporation supporting indentured servitude of foreign workers.

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On the bright side, we can take a look at the Seven Big Failed Environmental Predictions to see just how far off the mark they were, (Hint: They weren't even close.)

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David Starr beats down the Sunday talking heads who bleated on about Baltimore and what needs to be done to fix the problem.

That Baltimore has been a one-party city (Democrat) since the Eisenhower Administration might have something to do with it.

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Bogie, the Model!

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Gateway Pundit asks “How does Barack Obama manage to insult and pi$$ off one group after another of working Americans?”

One has to remember he really doesn't give a rat's ass about working Americans despite the platitudes he's mouthed over the years. It's always all about him, period. If we keep those two points in mind it explains a lot.

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As if we need yet another reason to hate compact fluorescent light bulbs.

A study performed by Stony Brook University in New York has found “close, prolonged exposure to compact fluorescent bulbs “exacerbated skin conditions,” including skin cancer.”

Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, who conducted the study at Stony Brook...told First Coast News that she believes there are concerns with prolonged exposure to CFLs. “What we found was that these bulbs would emit radiation where if you were exposed to them you got your daily dose not in eight hours, but in minutes,” she says. Her research found that cells exposed to close range compact fluorescent bulbs, “stopped growing and changed shape.” The cause appears to be cracking or deterioration of bulb’s protective white lining, which the study found could allow UVA and UVC to escape.

Yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences coming around to bite our wonderful federal government in the ass.

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If anyone really needs to understand New Englanders, and specifically we tried-and-true old fashioned Yankees, this should give you some insight.

In regards to the picture accompanying the linked post, I think just about everyone in my extended family has a table and chairs very much like the ones in the photo. I even have a lot of the family pewter dating back to the late 1700's/early 1800's, much like what is seen in the background of the photo as well as an oriental rug also like the one in the photo. What I don't have (at the moment) is an old New England house. I have a new New England house built to look vaguely like an old New England house.

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The more I hear about Scott Walker, the more I like him.

The latest bit of news that has me liking him: He's in debt, just like me and millions of other Americans.

He's not living high off the hog, has bills to pay just like we do (mortgage, car loan, credit card, etc), which tells me he's much more in tune with the problems those of us in flyover country have to deal with every day. (Yes, I consider New Hampshire part of flyover country because we are looked down upon by the flatlanders from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.) He's not wealthy (I'm probably a little better off than he is, financially, but that's not saying much), unlike many of his potential opponents for the GOP nomination. He doesn't have the financial baggage so many of the others do.

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Yet another victim of the 'living wage' movement comes to light.

I'm wondering how long it will take for this really bad idea to die the death it so richly deserves. This is an experiment that has been tried before and failed miserably. (France has found out that between the so-called living wage and draconian employment laws and regulations that neither has helped the chronically high unemployment rate, particularly among the young and immigrant population.)

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This shouldn't surprise anyone who's been paying attention.

It turns out that your 'green' cars won't actually save you any green and that they aren't as green as the Greens would have you think.

It's all about the narrative, not the facts.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the boat yards are busy prepping boats for the upcoming boating season, former frost heaves are slowly disintegrating into broken pavement, and where never-ending yard work continues.