Thoughts On A Sunday

The rains arrived overnight, drenching the ground with much needed moisture.

As wet as the spring and beginning of the summer had been, August has been quite dry. Even the big lake is down almost 8 inches from the 'full' level. Some of that might be the lack of rainfall. Some can be attributed to the flow through the Lakeport Dam still being elevated.

Of course, with the rains today we didn't venture out on to the lake. But I have a feeling we'll be out there during the rest if the week.

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John Stossel takes aim at government stupidity and how it spends our money.

I can honestly say I was not surprised by anything he found.

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I doubt that the Lebanon-Israel cease fire will last very long. It is a repeat of the mistake made during the Gulf War in 1991. Everybody knew it was a bad idea and that we'd have to go back and finish the job later.

This latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is no different. The only difference is that many more people will die and Israel will not hold back like they did this time. It will be total war and Hezbollah, the de facto Lebanese government, will not survive it.

Peace may come to the Middle East, but it will be the same kind of peace as that seen at the end or World War II.

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In reference to World War II, WP Dad – aka Mudge – related a story about a fellow he knew that grew up in Nazi Germany and experienced the strategic bombing of German cities, which left nothing but rubble. When he had the opportunity to ask an American general why the Allies bombed the civilian areas, the general responded “Because we don't want the German people to forget for a hundred years what we'll do if you piss us off.”

This is a message both we and the Israelis should be sending to the Islamofascist pinheads.

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An editorial in today's New Hampshire Sunday News warns us about politically correct speech and how PC standards are applied only to moderate and conservative public figures.

I have been working on a post about PC and its derivative movements and hope to have it tomorrow.

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On more than one occasion I have read letters to the editor of various publications or listened to people spouting off about 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, and a whole host of other related issues. Most of the comments read or overheard have been heavily negative, repeating conspiracy theories that are so out in left field or 'facts' that have since been debunked that they make me cringe to hear them.

There have been number of things that I've noticed about many of the folks writing or saying these things: They're all reading from the same script.

What one writes or says is damn near identical to what someone else writes or says. They quote the same sources and phrase their objections the same way. It's like a broken record. It is also reminiscent of Joseph Goebbels theory of the Big Lie – say it loud enough and often enough and eventually the people will come to believe it. It is this latest version of the Big Lie of which many have come under the influence.

The rhetoric has gotten to the point that I now truly believe that many of these folks are incapable of thinking for themselves. They are letting others do the thinking for them and they mouth 'opinions' given to them by others. When it comes to a debate about the issues they bring up, they can do nothing but mouth the same platitudes over and over again as if that should be enough to 'win' the debate. But they never actually answer the points brought up by their opponents. It's sad, really.

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It appears that one of my favorite programs, Everwood, may be resurrected.

With the combination of the WB and UPN into the new CW network, the combined networks had to shed itself of some of their programs. Two networks' worth of programming won't fit into one schedule. Unfortunately Everwood was one of the casualties.

Everwood will reappear on ABC Family starting in September. Whether it will be reruns of its four seasons or new episodes is unknown, but there were a lot of viewers out there pushing hard for it to be picked up by another network. Maybe their efforts have come to fruition. It would certainly make be happy.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rains have tapered off, the “summah people” are still making asses of themselves, and where I have to go back to work tomorrow.