Thoughts On A Sunday

We've had a visitor here at The Manse, and old friend of yours truly. It was nice to see her and catch up on what's going on in our lives as we don't get the chance to get together all that often. Phone calls and e-mail can only do so much. Face to face time is always more 'real' as far as I'm concerned.

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I'm glad to see that the anti-surge resolution failed in the Senate.

I am now firmly convinced that Democrats are working their hardest to make sure that we fail in Iraq, despite all of their claims that they support the troops. It is quite apparent that their definition of 'support' differs from that of the troops on the ground, and that's the biggest problem. Many of the Democrats seem to be of the same stripe as those who 'supported' the troops in Vietnam.

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The first big event for NASCAR ran today- the Daytona 500.

Frankly, the biggest story of this race was the cheating scandal. A close second is the rules changes for this year, making it preferable to have the drivers actually try to win the races rather than hang back a little in order to garner points towards the championship.

It's about time.

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Despite the front loading of the primary/caucus schedule, it appears that New Hampshire is still a presidential candidate's favorite place to visit. Hillary Clinton was here this weekend, her second visit in as many weeks, as was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Hopefuls from both parties have been making themselves as visible as possible at every opportunity.

Nevada, whose caucus is scheduled in between Iowa and New Hampshire, hasn't seen the candidate traffic that Iowa and New Hampshire have. I think the DNC may find that it has miscalculated by working so hard to usurp New Hampshire's First-In-The-Nation status. The DNC's move to front-load the schedule may also backfire as the American voter will become so tired of the political rhetoric and posturing by the time of the election in November 2008 that many voters may stay home, or worse for the Democrats, vote Republican.

Politics is a fickle thing, something the Dems seem to be trying very hard to forget.

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An interesting thing that at least one Democratic representative to the House is learning is that the voters that elected her to office weren't necessarily voting for her so much as voting against her Republican opponent.

It is alleged that, according to two constituents in her district, that Carol Shea-Porter (D – NH 1st District) called them in an effort to silence them after they had written letters to the local newspapers criticizing her stand against the war in Iraq. Shea-Porter denies she did any such thing, but called them merely to discuss the matter with them.

While Shea-Porter ran on an anti-Bush/anti-war platform, it did not necessarily mean that everyone that voted for her agreed with her stand.

Regardless, the one thing that Congresswoman Shea-Porter needs to remember is that she represents all of the constituents in her district, not just those that agree with her.

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The push to create a greater nanny state has reached the federal level, with the leftists pushing hard for 'equal outcome' based initiatives rather than 'equal opportunity' based initiatives. In an editorial in the Sunday Citizen (Laconia, NH), the title says it all (sorry, no link available yet):

Government cannot and should not guarantee success

But that's exactly what liberals want, despite the fact that it isn't possible unless draconian measures are used to achieve those aims, much like those used in Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron.

Usually, when someone tries to force equality of outcome, that outcome is defined by the least common denominator. In other words, that 'equality of outcome' pulls everyone downwards. It does not pull anyone up. But that doesn't seem to bother those proponents of such programs.

A perfect example of this is that damned No Child Left Behind. Rather than pulling those children who may be deficient in academic performance upwards to their peers, it pulls the other kids downwards because now teachers are “teaching to the test”. Those kids with above average academic skills are being shortchanged all in the name of equality.

Does that seem wrong to anyone other than me?

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow has finally arrived, the snowmobilers and skiers can finally have some fun, and where Daylight Savings Time will arrive all too soon....