Thoughts On A Sunday

Our family reached yet another milestone Friday: BeezleBub graduated from 8^th Grade! He also found out that, contrary to his beliefs, most of the girls in his class do like him, and at least half of those want to date him.

Thank goodness he's not following in my footsteps in that regard. My belief at that age wasn't a misconception and I didn't really start dating until I was a senior in high school. Even then I had to date girls from another town. (It's a long story with which I have no intention to bore you)

He's off to the WP In-Laws for the week, returning next weekend to work full time at the farm.

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Today was the last day of the annual Laconia Motorcycle Week. Most people expected the number of bikers attending this year to be down considerably from previous years, but it appears those expectations were wrong as officials are saying the number of visitors was pretty much the same as last year. Most of the vendors have reported record sales, so it appears high gas prices did not have as much of an effect as most people expected.

No one knows if this will be true of the rest of the summer tourist season, but I believe Motorcycle Week will be the exception. There are still too many unrented summer cottages and boat slips for this time of the season.

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Unless you've been completely disconnected for the past few days, you've probably heard about the so-called “pregnancy pact” made by a number of teens in Gloucester, Massachusetts. As Rachel Lucas comments, “I can’t possibly fathom why this situation is a mystery to anyone who is paying attention to popular culture. Frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often and on a grander scale.”

As one commenter puts it:

Politically incorrect and entirely accurate. The academics, in step with Hollywood, have destroyed our culture. Anything Christian is vilified while the poorest and most base behavior is celebrated.

Indeed.

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Do you want a preview of what a single-payer health care system would look like, at least on the financial side? Then look no further than California, and the financial train wreck such a system will create.

The People's Republic of Massachusetts is already feeling the effect of similar system, the so-called RomneyCare system, where the Commonwealth is finding mandatory health insurance is adding almost half a billion to the state budget above and beyond the projected cost.

The question is whether the proponents of a single-payer system are paying attention. At present I see no evidence they are.

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Eric the Viking clues us in the Jeff Jacoby's latest about the coming population bust and what it means for society.

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George Will points out Barack Obama is having problems with crime statistics, preferring to ensure the victimization of an entire class of young men, black young men, rather than allow it to be known the opposite is true.

Is this a tactic the Dems will use in the presidential campaign, trying to create entirely new classes of victims in order to claim they have the remedy for all those new “victims”?

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I know this to be true – attractive women prefer plain men – because it's certainly true in my case. Deb has been getting more attractive, while I look more like Fred Flintstone.

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It appears there is now a link between Iran and Venezuela, with Hugo Chavez providing support and protection to Hezbollah fund-raisers and facilitators.

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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There are two question both Obama and the Democrats have to answer:

How much will oil prices and supplies be affected five or ten years from now if we start drilling for oil now?

and

How much will oil prices and supplies be affected five or ten years from now if we don't?

I don't expect a cogent answer from them any time soon.

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High gas prices are inducing people to drive less? Who'da thunk it?

(H/T Instapundit)

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The weekend here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire came to a close with a bang. A line of thunderstorms came through the area with heavy rain, high winds, lightning and thunder. It wasn't exactly the kind of ending to the weekend we like to see here. One casualty was the Official Weekend Pundit Deck Canopy, which collapsed under the weight of the heavy rain and high winds. I still don't know if it's salvageable.

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Why is it when Republicans cut budgets they're accused of being cold-hearted and uncaring, but when Democrats cut budgets they're seen as forward looking and responsible?

And so the double standard lives on.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer officially arrived this weekend, the motorcycles have come and gone, and where the call of vacation is starting to come through loud and clear.