8/03/2014

Thoughts On A Sunday

It's been a relatively quiet and uneventful weekend here in the Lakes Region, with no major events taking place along with iffy weather. A weekend like that every now and then is just what we all need, giving us a chance to recuperate a bit before the next 'big' weekend arrives.

This weekend also gave Deb and I chance to stroll around the neighborhood, the first time we've had the chance to due to our respective work schedules. It was nice being able to take walk with the missus and not have to worry about tripping over broken pieces of pavement while doing so, the road having been repaved earlier this summer. Since then such walks are a joy and not a constant worry about twisting one's ankle.

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I have to agree with Glenn Reynolds' take on this issue: We've been dumbing down our school curricula for over a century now and we're paying the price.

I noticed many of the same things Glenn did, having been able to peruse a number of textbooks from the 50's, 60's, and 70's and comparing them to the equivalent texts my son BeezleBub was using in middle and high school.

Is it any wonder why a large percentage of homeschooled and privately schooled kids are so much ahead of their peers in public schools? One of BeezleBub's friends, Hobbit, was homeschooled and she 'graduated' from high school at 16. Her parents would have let her do so earlier, but that meant she would have been thrust into college life before she was emotionally mature enough. (Frankly I thought she fas far more mature than her peers and those a few years older than her.)

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It seems the Democrats have a talking points memo about climate change to be used during campaigns and it's filled with disproven 'facts', conjecture not backed by evidence, and outright prevarications about the 'consequences' of climate change.

Of course that won't stop them from using the “Big Lie” in efforts to smear opponents and sell the low-information voter on the idea that the only way to save ourselves and “Heal the Planet” is elect/re-elect them and give them even more power over our lives.

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Call it yet another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences coming in to play in regards to ObamaCare: Employers Already Dumping Coverage Thanks To Obamacare.

It's only going to get worse once the employer mandate kicks in...assuming of course that The Won doesn't issue another unconstitutional Royal Decree delaying it yet again until after the 2016 elections.

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News Junkie delves into the war between Hamas and Israel and I must agree with the title of his post: Give War A Chance.

The only way to stop Hamas from making war again is to defeat it utterly. No cease fire. Ignore the use of human shields or the use of schools, hospitals, or UN sites or offices for their headquarters. As nasty as it sounds, once they know that such ploy will no longer prevent the IDF from going after them they'll stop doing it. Yes, they will use the deaths of civilians to push their 'cause', but it must be hammered home that it is Hamas who put them in that position and that Israel warned them they would no longer restrain themselves. Keep at them until they are all dead or have surrendered. It is apparent to me that is the only message they understand. History also shows this to be the case with Arab cultures.

What's worse is that too many of our 'betters' here in the US buy the Hamas PR, ignoring the fact that Hamas doesn't give a crap about the people under their control. The only thing they care about is how their deaths, deaths Hamas caused, will serve Hamas.

No amount of negotiations between Hamas and Israel will solve the problem.

It's time for the our elitist sheep to wake up and see what is really going on.

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It's interesting that our law enforcement officials have a great deal of concern with the Sovereign Citizen movement. I can see why, considering what they really are is an anarchist wolf in sheep's clothing.

They aren't strict Constitutionalists. They only believe in natural law and not in the laws of men.

One of BeezleBub's friends has been drawn towards this movement, but I set him right with one simple admonition: “If you do become a sovereign citizen I will do you the kindness of killing you on sight because I know you will have no respect for my rights or the rights of anyone else.” I think he thought I was kidding, at least at first. And then he knew I wasn't.

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Launched in 1977, the Voyager 1 space probe is at the edge of our solar system, entering interstellar space. Considering its design life was only 5 years, that it is still operational and sending observational data after 37 years is amazing. NASA really knew how to design and build spacecraft back then.

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Neo is pissed off at Obama about Iraq and his throwing away all we gained and paid for in “blood and treasure”, and rightfully so. As she writes, it's a harmonic echo of the abandonment of Vietnam. The same is true in Afghanistan, where all of the good will we spent years building is being pissed away.

She's not the only one wh's pissed off. More than a few veterans and present military personnel are angry, seeing everything they worked so hard to do being thrown away by a narcissistic and incompetent Commander in Chief.

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Skip over at Granite Grok wonders if Obama considers the state of Arizona and its governor, Jan Brewer, enemies of the United States.

Certainly from his actions, or in this case inactions, he must. With a border with Mexico as porous as can be, no help forthcoming from Washington to close the border, and the Department of Justice prohibiting Arizona from acting in its own defense against illegal immigrants and vicious drug cartels, there can be no other explanation.

How long is it going to take for the rest of the US to realize the President has a deep-seated hatred of America, its laws, its traditions, and more specifically, the people who will not bow down to his will.

Who will rid us of this meddlesome megalomaniac?

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AVI delves into climate science, adding more than his two cents worth to the debate.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer activities are speeding up, back to school flyers and ads are popping up everywhere, and where the weather is still a bit schizophrenic.