2/25/2013

Thoughts On A Sunday - Storm Delayed Monday Edition

Note: This post is a day overdue. I had it finished, but Murphy had different ideas. Even though our power here at The Manse was out for less than an hour, our Internet connection wasn't restored until sometime late this morning. And while I did have 'net access from work, I do not have access to this site. (They're real funny about certain blogs...mainly mine.)

So without further ado, I present this, the Monday Storm Delayed Edition of Thoughts On A Sunday

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Winter weather has visited us yet again, dumping about 4 inches of heavy snow so far, with a couple of more expected before everything winds down some time tonight. Unlike the last storm that left 22 inches in its wake, this one has been slow moving and the rate of snowfall has been slow as well.

The media didn't do its usual “We're all gonna DIE, so stay tuned!” shtick, which was a relief. There was no ominous 'severe weather' music leading into the “Storm Center”weather reports. There was only one report I saw with some TV reporter who drew the short straw standing out in the snow to show us that yes, indeed, it was snowing.

Frankly, I'd be happy if the TV media would keep the drama to a minimum, report snow totals, road conditions, and a brief synopsis of what has happened, what will happen in regards to when the storm will move along, and leave it at that. Trying to artificially crank up the anxiety level about something that happens every winter gets old very quickly. (It takes me all of 5 minutes to become bored with it, if that long.) But if this were happening in July, that would be newsworthy!

UPDATE: I had to go out to clean the snow off the satellite dish because it killed the signal. As I shoveled my way to where the dish was mounted to the side of The Manse, I realized the snow was almost knee deep and it's supposed to snow until some time around midnight.

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A friend sent me a link to this piece of journalistic tripe, a hit piece blaming the sequester and budget problems on the GOP. Considering the Senate, a Democrat-majority chamber, hasn't passed a budget for over 4 years, I think they're pointing their fingers at the wrong party.

They lay the problem with the sequester solely at the feet of John Boehner, conveniently forgetting it was the President who put forth that solution after the GOP balked at Obama's demands for a last minute $400 billion hike in income taxes after a deal had already been struck between Obama and Boehner to head off a default.

This linked piece also lists all of the 'problems' the sequester will cause for the American public, again forgetting that the sequester was, in effect, a way of punishing the American people for having the audacity to question The One's intelligence and foresight. Such cuts are always aimed at the services and programs that will cause as much pain as possible while ignoring the pork, the do-nothing appropriations, the little known and little used agencies and programs that nobody would miss. They're acting like an $85 billion cut will cripple the entire government. That's funny considering that government expenditures total almost $4 trillion. It's a drop in the bucket.

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At one point even NPR got into the blame game in regards to laying the sequester at the feet of the GOP. But pressure from those on Twitter forced NPR to correct their claim and put the responsibility where it belongs – the President.

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Granite Grok has a series of posts covering the New Hampshire .223 Day of Resistance Rally on the State House steps. The rally showed our continuing support for the Second Amendment and our resistance to those who would strip us of the right to keep and bear arms. As Skip noted in one of his posts, “Many had rifles, the majority being the “make Progressive soil themselves” semi-automatic AR-15 style modern sporting rifles – most of the rest had pistols strapped to their hips or thighs (semiautomatics – you know, that 100 year old technology?).”

I had hoped to attend, but life's responsibilities got in the way. Chores I would normally do on Sunday had to be taken care of on Saturday because the impending snowstorm would have made them very difficult, if not impossible. (Believe it or not, one of my biggest 'difficulties' yesterday was finding a simple 1/4” shear pin for the Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower. There were none to be had anywhere. I guess everyone bought up what there was of them after the last storm. Is 1/4” the most common size of pin used on these things?)

Yeah, I know. Excuses, excuses. But there are times I just can't get to the events I'd like to attend because I have to do things like support my family. (Both my wife and son are in college now, meaning I have to pick up the slack. That doesn't leave me nearly as much time to do the other important things.)

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Like Glenn Reynolds has been saying for some time, it's time to end the Hollywood tax breaks!

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The People's Cube celebrates 100 years of Progressive Redistribution of Wealth in the US.

(H/T Pirate's Cove)

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Partway through writing this, the power at The Manse went out. That was about 7PM. The power was back on 40 minutes later. After shutting down the computers (they all have UPS units), I pulled out one of our laptops, fired it up, and watched a DVD from the extensive Weekend Pundit Video Library. Once the power was restored I fired up the Weekend Pundit Main Computer and continued working on this post. However, I couldn't post anything because my Internet connection has not yet been restored (as of 11:22PM).

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And that's the abbreviated (and storm delayed) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the Weather Guys blew the forecast snow totals, the snowblowers had to do double duty, and where we're still not shoveled out.