Thoughts On A Sunday

The plan was to prep the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout – aka The boat – for being pulled out of the water today. Yes, indeed. That was the plan.

All I had to do was put the fully charged batteries back into The Boat, start it up, motor across the cove to the gas dock, fill the gas tank, then motor back to the slip and tie up.

Unfortunately, the only part of the plan completed was putting the fully charged batteries back into The Boat. The second part didn't happen, meaning the engine would turn over, but wouldn't start. After a couple of hours of troubleshooting it became evident there was some water in the fuel system. As a result of the time spent trying to find the problem, the late time of day, and lack of the necessary tools and parts on hand, The Boat did not leave the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee today. So it looks like it will be yet another week before we can pull it out and prep it for the winter.

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Weekend Pundit is adding a new (and hopefully regular) contributor, Nathan Jones. He's already authored two posts, both which asked some long overdue questions. You will see his posts under the nom du blog of TNJ. (I think it stands for The Nate Jones.)

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Gee, now they're saying the 2009 budget deficit will be “only” $1.4 trillion.

That makes me feel so much better.

Of course the huge size of the remaining deficit will still put a crimp in Obama's plans for more big-spending programs.

Yeah. Right.

(H/T Viking Pundit)

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You know the local police were all over this.

What were these idiots thinking?

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The 19th Annual Keene (NH) Pumpkin Festival saw a city record 29,068 jack o'lanterns in the downtown area last night. Keene has held the world record for most pumpkins eight times since 1992. The present record is held by the city of Boston, with 30,128.

As Keene officials remind everyone, Boston has a population of approximately 600,000. Keene has a population of approximately 25,000. I have a feeling Keene will regain the world record sometime in the next two years.

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It's stories like this that strengthen my resolve to oppose single-payer national health care. While some will say it wouldn't happen here, that's true...for now. But once single payer comes into existence it will be an all too common occurrence.

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This is yet another example of the deterioration of the once great UK, where the nanny state has outdone itself in regards to babysitting.

Unfortunately I've been seeing some of that same nonsense happening here, too.

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Are Democrats suffering from Post-Bush Stress Disorder? Jonathan Alter seems to think so.

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As David Carr writes, the White House has brought a knife to a gun fight in its “war against Fox News.”

As the old, but still relevant saying goes, “Don't start an argument with someone that buys ink by the barrel.” Or in this case has a satellite/cable channel of their own.

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The Democrats have found out it's one thing to win the election, but it's another to actually govern.

A number of them are finding out that it wasn't so much a vote for them that put them into office as much as it was a vote against their Republican opponent. Under those circumstances they're finding out they don't have as much support from the electorate as they thought.

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Looking out the window here at The Manse, I see it's snowing. It's October 18th at 1:15PM (as I write this), and it's snowing.

Here's Skip's take on our weather. (His home is on the other side of town from The Manse.)

Does anyone want to tell me about Global Warming again?

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Well this makes sense...NOT!

Disgraceful! There’s no other way to describe Senate earmarks diverting military funds in the midst of 2 wars:

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

And color me shocked, shocked I say to see John Forbes Kerry participating in this earmark scandal. Padding Ted Kennedy’s legacy with a shiny new building is more important than properly equipping the troops.

That's quite a turnabout from Kerry's stance back in 2004.

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The New England Patriots played the Tennessee Titans in Foxboro this afternoon on a snowy, slippery field.

The teams were wearing their 'throwback' uniforms again, with the Titans wearing the old Houston Oilers uniforms. This time it appears the “old uniform” curse affected the Titans, with the Patriots beating them 59-0. In the second half the Patriots pulled Tom Brady out of the game and used their second string QB, Hoyer.

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After decades of sponsoring terrorism, Iran is finding out the hard way that turnabout is fair play, being on the receiving end of insurgent attacks against the Revolutionary Guard.

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Also from Right Thinking comes this idea for reducing greenhouse gases: plug the leaks in natural gas lines.

We leak some three trillion cubic feet of gas into the atmosphere every year. Eliminating these leaks would not cripple our economy—it would save money. And it would reduce global warming by about a third within ten years. That’s a bigger impact than all the hybrid vehicles, dim CFC bulbs and outlawed TVs combined. And it would happen now, not in 2050. This is such a good idea that even the Bush Administration was quietly pushing it. Obama is hesitating a bit but looks like he’ll move forward on it.

That seems to be a much better place to spend money rather than the cap-and-tax scam that is Waxman-Markey. It saves energy and reduces GHG's. And in case you've forgotten, natural gas (methane) is a far more efficacious greenhouse gas than CO₂.

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Ann Althouse slams ever more irrelevant economist Paul Krugman for blocking comments on his global warming post.

What is the theory here, economist guy? You don't want too many people on your webpage? The obvious theory is that you don't like what people are going to say on your post that demands that we all bow to the scientific consensus on global warming. As Barack Obama likes to say the time for debate is over. We need to shut up now.

Yeah, I think that sums it up pretty well.

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Louisiana Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell has been painted as a racist because he refused to marry an interracial couple. The Left immediately pointed out that Bardwell was a Republican, as if that was all the explanation was needed. But it turns out Bardwell had been a Democrat between 1996 and 2008.

So did he become a 'racist' because he became Republican, or was he always a 'racist' that changed his party affiliation for one reason or another?

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Getting back to the Global-Warming-Is-All-The-Fault-Of-The-Evil-Humans theme, I have to remind you we've been using the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove since mid-September, and continuously since October 5th, far earlier than we have in years. I'm beginning to think I should call Al Gore and tell him to get his a** over here to help us stack our firewood.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the snow has already fallen, the woodstove is keeping us toasty warm, and where The Boat is still in the water.