Thoughts On A Sunday

The worst of the cold weather has finally moved out of New Hampshire, with last night's temps in the positive single digits. During this cold spell we did use more firewood and propane than we otherwise would, but that was not unexpected. It helps that the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove appears to be running better than it has the past couple of winters, requiring less stoking and burning longer. The time BeezleBub and I spent making repairs and minor modifications paid off. (The modifications didn't change anything internally. They were made to better secure the air tubes that direct air flow inside the stove which in turn affects how well the stove operates.)

*************

I find it highly misleading when the fawning MSM outlets point to the rising Dow Jones Index as proof the economy has recovered. More than a few state the Dow is slated to reach or exceed its all time high some time soon.

I hate to burst their bubble, but the vaunted 14,000+ is a psychological 'boost', not an economic one. For one thing, in order to reach an equivalent level of what the was the last time it was at 14,000, it would have to reach closer to 19,000 or 20,000. Between the three rounds of quantitative easing (printing a lot of money), the more than doubling of energy prices, and rapidly rising food and commodity prices, 14,000 is more like 10,000 was 'way back when'.

At this point 14,000 is just a number significant of nothing.

*************

At least now we have an answer about Obama's non-recess recess appointments to the NLRB: Obama's 'recess' appointments declared unconstitutional.

Frankly I didn't expect any other outcome. Should the President decided to appeal the decision made by a 3-judge panel of the U.S Court of Appeals, it isn't likely he'd win. This isn't one of those 'grey area's with a lot of wiggle room. There are almost 200 years of precedence that carry a lot of weight.

One of the downside/upside issues with this decision – hundreds of decisions handed down by the NLRB since those appointments will be invalidated because there was no quorum, a requirement in order for those decisions to be valid (that's the upside). The downside (for unions) is that the firmly-in-the-union-pocket NLRB decisions will have to be gone over again, maybe this time by a board that is more evenly balanced and less likely to give the unions a pass.

If nothing else it is a lesson for Obama that the Constitution means what it says.

(H/T Viking Pundit)

*************

David Starr digs into the problems with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. My belief is that Boeing didn't allow the proper amount of time to wring out all of the kinks by setting such an ambitious and wildly overoptimistic schedule (which they didn't meet). Too much new technology implemented at the same time in too short a time is a guarantee there will be problems.

*************

Though this opinion piece came out 11 days ago, it is still worth linking.

Former Washington DC prosecutor Jeffrey Scott Shapiro has seen the effects of draconian gun control laws first hand and in his opinion it badly misfired, leaving law abiding citizens unable to defend themselves while allowing criminals free rein to rob, rape, and murder, free from the fear their intended victim might be able to stop them.

The D.C. gun ban, enacted in 1976, prohibited anyone other than law-enforcement officers from carrying a firearm in the city. Residents were even barred from keeping guns in their homes for self-defense.

--snip--

The gun ban had an unintended effect: It emboldened criminals because they knew that law-abiding District residents were unarmed and powerless to defend themselves. Violent crime increased after the law was enacted, with homicides rising to 369 in 1988, from 188 in 1976 when the ban started. By 1993, annual homicides had reached 454.

When a prosecutor that hates guns thinks gun control is not such a great idea, it should give the gun-grabbers pause to consider whether they're thinking with their hearts and not their heads. Unfortunately, they won't.

*************

Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results this time.

By that definition, the Obama administration is insane, pushing banks to approve sub-prime loans...again.

So it's criminal for the Bush administration to have done so, but perfectly OK for the Obama administration to do something we already know caused a big portion of the housing market and bank meltdown? It's that old double standard being applied...again.

Then again we have to remember that Obama was party to the lawsuits that expanded the 'teeth' of the Community Reinvestment Act back in his community organizer days.

*************

The Saturday edition of the local Laconia Daily Sun asks the question, “What is a payphone?” My home town's board of selectmen voted to remove one of the last payphones in town, located at the town docks on the big lake.

Supposedly the last payphone in town is located at the Gunstock Mountain Resort in the main lodge.

Ain't progress grand?

The phrase “drop a dime” will become all too obscure once the last of the payphones are gone. But then it may hang around just like “the whole nine yards”, still used over 70 years after it first came into being.

*************

And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the really cold temps are departing (so it will only be cold), the sun is rising higher in the sky every day, and where yet another payphone bites the dust.