Thoughts On A Sunday

Yesterday Deb, BeezleBub and I had to make a trip down to the big city – Manchester – to attend the state PTA convention luncheon, where BeezleBub received award for a video he made for one of the PTA sponsored arts contests. We braved the foggy rainy conditions, arrived just as the luncheon began, munched on our rubber chicken meals, and sat through the series of awards for the various winners in each category.

Once done we departed for our humble abode back in our little town.

So ended our annual/semi-annual trip to the big city.

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Despite the rainy conditions yesterday, it was quite warm with the temps being in the lower to mid 60's. Just before midnight it was 64ºF here at The Manse. By this morning the temps had dropped to the lower 50's and continued to drop throughout the day. The windy conditions also helped dry things out, making it easier for BeezleBub and I to start stacking the last cord of firewood and finally remove the last of the equipment from The Boat.

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The possible bailout of the Big Three automakers is generating a lot of discussion in the blogosphere and the media, with a majority of opinions appearing to favor letting them go through bankruptcy in order to come out leaner and more competitive. Quite a few opined that giving the automakers a bailout will only delay the inevitable while leaving the taxpayer in the lurch for billions of dollars. Others believe the bailout is more to meet the demands by the UAW to keep their overpaid members on the job rather than rescue the companies they work for.

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Bird Dog over at Maggie's Farm comments in regards to Obama's decision not to attend his grandmother's funeral:

There's a pattern of family disconnection here which seems odd to me.

It's not the first time I've seen this kind of disconnection from Obama. He's shown the ability to 'disconnect' from people no longer of any use to him or his career. You know, people like William Ayers, Reverend Wright, and a host of others too long to list here. His grandmother is just the latest.

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Bogie reminds us why the season is called 'Fall'.

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They've got to be kidding about this, right? It must be a joke.

If it isn't, then all it can be is one more sign that Britain is doomed.

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Does anyone else other than me remember when MTV actually played music videos?

(H/T Eric the Viking)

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Just as I've always suspected, today's version of liberalism is akin to mental illness.

[Dr. Lyle] Rossiter says the kind of liberalism being displayed by both Barack Obama and his Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton can only be understood as a psychological disorder.

Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by:

* creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization;
* satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation;
* augmenting primitive feelings of envy;
* rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government.

“The roots of liberalism – and its associated madness – can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind,” he says. “When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious.”

What he said.

Anyone wanting to force adults to act and be treated as children does not have their best interest in mind. They want control, figuring they know better how to live our lives than we do. I find that amusing considering more often than not their lives are worse than ours. Maybe it's schadenfreude which drives their desire to make sure we're more miserable than they are, but justifying it by believing it's for our own good.

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Since the New England Patriots played this past Thursday night, unfortunately losing to the New York Jets 34-31 in overtime, they did not play today.

Maybe they can use the extra time between games to heal up a bit more.

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Now that the elections are over, some of us can now focus on economic issues, specifically those dealing with municipal and state budgets.

Both my town and state are looking at tighter budgets due to higher costs, lower revenues, and more demand for services. It will be a daunting task for all concerned. My little town is looking at keeping the town and school budgets level, scrutinizing every line of every budget or funding request. On top of that our town is trying to renovate and add on to our police station, something the town has been attempting to accomplish for over 6 years. Though everyone realizes this work is desperately needed, they may be reluctant to spend the money, even though it's not like the town will have to put up the cost of the project in one lump sum.

Our town is not the only one that will be making tough budget decisions for the coming fiscal year. Plenty of others will be tightening their belts in order to keep from burdening the taxpayers with higher property taxes.

Our state has a bigger problem, with a looming $200-$250 million deficit to contend with. The governor has already told the legislature that creating new taxes, such as an income or sales tax, are not the answer and that he would veto any such bills. Instead he is expecting the legislature to cut spending. (Of course this wouldn't even be a problem if the governor had vetoed the last two-year budget, which increased state spending 17.5%, which works out to about a $300 million increase.) He's already told the department heads of all the state agencies to expect budget cuts.

Let's hope they can all pull it off.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where campaign signs are finally disappearing from roadsides and front lawns, colder weather will soon be arriving, and where belt tightening has just begun.