As to the first, BeezleBub felt it was cool enough to warrant the start of the carbon-neutral heating season, so while I was out with my dear brother for a Guy's Afternoon At The Movies yesterday(we saw Ender's Game) he took care of the last little bit of pre-burn maintenance, put kindling in the stove, and fired it up. When I got home from my movie outing the first thing I heard when I walked through the door was the blower on the woodstove doing it's best to move hot air around the first floor of The Manse.
In regards to the second, it was almost good timing on my part to attempt one last effort to cut the lawn to a reasonable pre-winter length yesterday. (The last mow usually includes setting the mower to half the usual cutting height on the few flat portions of the lawn.) I had repaired the Official Weekend Pundit Weed Whacker and used it to trim the growth along the edge of the flats and to cut back the growth on one of the steep slopes to a reasonable length. Of the two actions, only the second took place. The Official Weekend Pundit Lawnmower refused to start, most likely due to a gummed up carburetor because of the ethanol in the gasoline. (This isn't the first time we've had to tear it down to clean it out and I doubt it will be the last.) So even with the abortive attempt at a last mow of the year, the snow wasn't covering an untrimmed lawn.
*************
The New England Patriots have a bye week this week, so no game for them today.*************
In yesterday's post I delved into the Weekend Pundit Archives to show that even back in 2008 many of us knew Barack Obama would be an unmitigated disaster as president.Once again I am looking through the lens of the Official Weekend Pundit WAYBAC Machine to show that nothing much has changed in regards to President Obama's almost pathological inability to be gracious, particularly to his predecessor and his opponents in Congress. We must also remember how he blatantly dissed the Supreme Court to their faces during his first State of the Union address.
*************
First, Obama and his progressive brethren want to make sure all of us get to share misery and poverty equally. I figure the next move is to forcibly create the world of Harrison Bergeron.*************
Is South Africa headed for the same fate as Zimbabwe? If the radical EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) get their way, the answer is yes.With the EFF working to drive out or kill all the remaining white people in South Africa, the economic powerhouse that was South Africa will fall back into abject poverty, exactly as happened in Zimbabwe.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
*************
By any reasonable person's definition, Presdient Obama lied to us when it came to ObamaCare in regards to keeping our existing insurance policies and our doctors. But it is apparent that President Obama believes he didn't lie to us at all, and as NBC's Chuck Todd said, that thought “is unnerving.”If Obama has convinced himself he didn't lie, that borders on pathological. We now know that as far back as 2010 the president knew eight to nine million people would lose their health insurance.Isn't that part of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?
*************
This is just stupid.The school principal involved in this bit of stupidity should be fired, or at least suspended until she completes remedial courses in the US Constitution and can prove she understands what a stupid twit she is.
*************
At least one country has put aside AGW foolishness and the attendant draconian measures the AGW faithful have been pushing on us for over a decade.Australia has decided to send a diplomat rather than one of its senior ministers to the UN climate change talks in Warsaw, Poland. As Environment Minister Greg Hunt says, “he'll be busy repealing the carbon tax in the first fortnight of parliament.”
The carbon tax was very unpopular with the Australian electorate as were other radical “save the Earth” efforts by the previous government. It's no wonder they were kicked out bag and baggage in favor of a more conservative parliament which promised to undo the damage done by the previous government.
Good for them.
*************
You know ObamaCare is on the ropes when even the Washington Post is dumping on it. In fact, they give six reasons why ObamaCare will only get worse for Democrats.There will be more canceled insurance plans.Basically, the problems have barely begun and the website meltdown is merely scratching the surface. It's only going to get worse from here, particularly once ObamaCare starts its destruction of employer-provided health insurance plans.
If you like your doctor, you can't keep your doctor.
Sticker shock.
ObamaCare ads.
Navigators.
Security breaches.
*************
The debate about the Washington Redskins name continues. What I find interesting is that it's mostly out-of-touch Washington DC liberals making a big fuss over this, and in particular Eleanor Holmes Norton. As one commenter wrote, “Eleanor, you must'nt obey your White Progressive masters and tell native American Indians who are not offended and/or support the Redskins name how they must act.”*************
Now for something really stupid...This is almost as silly as the UC Berkeley student government banning the use of the term illegal immigrant, “deeming the phrase racist, offensive, unfair and derogatory.” Frankly I find the phrase UC Berkeley student government to be far more offensive as it has been an intolerant, closed-minded, bunch of totalitarian wannabes for decades. The only response to such a stupid, and in the end, meaningless move is endless ridicule.