Thoughts On A Sunday

I had to pinch myself.

Deb, BeezleBub and I were out on Lake Winnipesaukee late yesterday morning, a time when the lake is usually crawling with thousands of boats. The water is usually very rough because of the wake driven chop.

But we were out at noon on a Saturday when the weather was great and there was nary a boat in sight. I think we came across all of 15 boats in the hour or so we were out on the lake. The water was calm, in some places as smooth as glass.

It could have been the threat of severe thunderstorms later in the day, or perhaps high gas prices on the lake (~$3.58/gallon) that kept people from venturing out. On the other hand, it was probably that schools are still in session so only a small percentage of the usual weekenders made the trip up to the lake that accounts for the light boat traffic.

In any case, we aren't complaining.

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The first of the two “First In The Nation” debates takes place here in New Hampshire tonight. The first up will be the Democrats, followed by the Republicans on Tuesday evening.

WMUR's website will have a number of links that are supposed to “enhance the experience”, including a real-time response graph the candidates words, a web-only camera view, as well as 15 bloggers – 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans, and 5 Independents – selected by WMUR to live blog the debates.

Frankly, I think it's too damn early to be running debates between the candidates. There are too many of them and they will more than likely give answers that are too vague to be of any use to anyone watching the debates.

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I was again a guest/host (ghost?) on yesterday's Meet The New Press. Well, for the last half hour, at least. I talked about Fred Thompson's imminent announcement of his candidacy, the formation of an exploratory committee, and his so-far successful “non-campaign” campaign.

We also discussed New Hampshire's new civil union law, how it is flawed, and how it was nothing that was ever brought up by Democratic candidates for the New Hampshire House and Senate during their campaigns last fall.

The New Hampshire Democrats have been pushing a far left agenda since taking both chambers of the legislature, increasing the state budget by 16%, hiking taxes, passing nanny-state laws (smoking bans, mandatory seat belts, outlawing transfats in restaurants, trying to return our state's welfare system to one that never worked and ensures continuing dependence on welfare just to name a few), and basically trying to bring about the same miserable conditions that exist just south of the border in Massachusetts.

Our two representatives to the US House are no different. Never once during their campaigns did they mention that they would out-spend, out-pork, and out-tax the Republicans they wanted to replace.

The consensus in the studio seemed to be that the many of the Democrats voted in last November may find that they will be voted out in November 2008 because of the under-the-radar agendas that came out into the open once they were in office have pissed off the electorate.

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Lorie Byrd tries to answer the question “Who are the real terrorists?” raised by the unlamented Rosie O'Donnell. One of the biggest problems is that too many in America, including many of our own politicians, don't know the answer. Now that's scary.

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I don't know about you, but I am tired of the way white males are portrayed on TV, in movies, ads, and more often than not, in divorce court. We are constantly made to look like morons, incapable of tying our own shoes let alone head up a household, or worse, child abusers.

Someone else tired of it as well is Rebecca Hagelin, who expresses her disdain of the practice, as do a number of those commenting on an earlier column about the subject.

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One thing I can say with pride is that BeezleBub is pretty handy with tools. He has a mechanical aptitude that goes beyond his years. Now after weeks of reading Glenn Reynolds writing about and linking to posts and articles how so many of our youth have no aptitude with tools and can't seem to fix anything, another voice also chimes in, making comparisons between us old farts and the younger generation.

The Wacky Hermit seems to think the problem stems from the fact that so many things these days aren't repairable, mostly for cost reasons (Why fix a broken VCR or DVD player when the cost of fixing it is more than the price of buying a new one?)

I think she has a point.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the lake is quiet, the “summah people” are not, and where my son and I can actually spend time fixin' things.