Thoughts On A Sunday

We went from summer into mid-fall weather over a period of one day. I wouldn't mind that so much if we were in mid-fall, but we aren't. It's still summer, dammit! Even the calendar says so!

It's also NASCAR weekend here in New Hampshire, with the Nextel Cup folks paying a visit to New Hampshire International Speedway. Fortunately the weather cooperated enough to run the Busch Series race yesterday afternoon.

The surge of NASCAR fans has made it a might crowded around here, almost as bad as a summer holiday weekend, but without the all of the summer folk heading out onto the lake. If the weather were warmer that's where we would probably have been.

Well, at least it's supposed to return to summer temps later this coming week.

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You can tell that campaign season is fully under way here in the Granite State. The presidential hopefuls are making so many visits that you can't help tripping over them when you head into town.

Recently the folks at Granite Grok got to spend some time with John McCain on his campaign bus the other day, asking him a string of questions while the rest of the MSM wonks sat around scribbling or doodling in their note pads.

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At least my home state is doing one thing right – saying “no” to deer contraceptives.

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Submarine Tim's boss, Dawn, e-mailed us to let us know that their oldest son, Peter, has graduated from Navy boot camp, following in the footsteps of both his parents. He'll be home for a week to work with one of the local Navy recruiters and then he's off to nuke school.

Go Navy!

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At least one more Congressional Democrat has spoken out against MoveOn.org's NYT ad slamming General Petraeus.

Carol Shea-Porter (D - 1st NH), in a letter to the editor to the New Hampshire Sunday News, (Manchester, NH) wrote:

MoveOn.org's recent newspaper ad was too personal and unfair to General Petraeus. He has served our country and has the very difficult job of salvaging the war in Iraq.

While I am in no way a fan of my representative to the House (she's far too left for even some of the Democrats in this state), at least she said something about the smear campaign launched by MoveOn.org. While some parts of her letter were used to slam the Bush administration (she rarely misses an opportunity to do that), she still expressed her personal anger as well as that so many of her constituents were feeling about the ad. For that, I give her (qualified) kudos.

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As the baby boomers get older and start retiring, a lot of companies are finding that it's difficult to replace them. It wasn't always that way.

Memories may be short, but it is worth noting it wasn't all that long ago experienced older workers were being shoved out of the work force to make way for young, often untrained workers.

Early retirement — either voluntarily or otherwise — became the rage. Older workers had made their contribution to the free enterprise system, went the argument. Now they had a duty to make way for younger workers who would blaze new frontiers.

It used to be that you retired at age 65. Way back when many workers didn't even live long enough to retire. Now people live longer and 65 may soon become to be seen as early retirement.

As much as I might like to retire at 65, I can safely say it isn't going to happen. I have no doubt that I'll be working to 70 or even 75. Then, when I retire, I'll have a good 20 or 25 years to loaf about before I start yet another career.

Hey, you never know.....

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Anal bleaching?

(H/T Instapundit)

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Chris Muir decided to tempt fate by inciting the less-than-peaceful members of the Religion of Peace.

Kick ass, Chris!

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The New England Patriots met with the San Diego Chargers in Foxboro tonight. At the half the Patriots were leading 24-0.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the last NASCAR race at NHIS this season has been run, boats are starting to disappear from the marinas, and where summer weather looks to return later this week.