11/30/2012

Could it be that Congress will finally get around to doing something that is long overdue? No, I'm not talking about balancing the budget, but I am talking about money. In this case it's the dollar bill, or rather doing away with the dollar bill.

One more than a few occasions I have lamented the waste of taxpayer money in efforts to replace the dollar bill with a dollar coin. One of the biggest advantages to the coin is that it lasts up to 30 times longer than a bill. Despite the coin's higher cost to produce, about twice that of a dollar bill, it's longer life in circulation more than offsets the higher initial cost.

But the Treasury's attempts to replace the bill with a coin have failed more than once, with the biggest failure being the Susan B. Anthony coin due to its easily being mistaken for a quarter.

The Sacagawea was the next attempt, a gold colored coin with smooth edges, slightly larger than a quarter. It was popular when it first came out, but with the reluctance of Congress to kill off the dollar bill, billions of them soon languished in bank vaults, unused.

The last attempt was the so-called Presidential series, again gold colored smooth-edged coins the same size as the Sacagawea dollar. And again Congress' reluctance to do away with the dollar bill doomed it, too.

But now it looks like Congress will finally kill the bill and make the coin the “coin of the realm” and stop wasting the taxpayer's money on money no one wants.

11/29/2012

One of my favorite local liberals, James Veverka, is at it again. (I say he's my favorite because he makes it so darned easy to show him up for the unthinking, intolerant, progressive parrot he is.)

This time, in response to a local conservative's remarks about the election results, he writes in the November 27th issue of the Laconia Daily Sun “...out of the six counties in Virginia that have a median income of $100,000 or more, Obama won five. [He] doesn't realize that four years of hysterical right wing fiscal, birther, and religious foaming at the mouth got them nowhere.”

One thing I realized right off the bat is that Veverka doesn't mention anything about those five counties in Virginia other than he median income. Then again he probably doesn't know anything else about those counties other than a bunch of well off people live there, thereby proving his point that even the rich love Obama. But I know far more about those counties that blows Veverka's claim right out of the water.

Those five counties are heavily populated by government bureaucrats, lobbyists, and others whose livelihoods depend heavily upon federal government largess. Their $100,000 (or more) median income is by way of direct or indirect government money (meaning our money). Very few of those within those five counties are CEOs of manufacturing, service, or other private commercial companies or corporations. So when the voters within those five counties in northern Virginia voted for Obama they were doing so to ensure their continuing employment at taxpayer expense.

A well known GOP pollster told me back in August that only two states he polled where people believing things were better in the country since 2008 were Virginia and Ohio. The Virginia perception was almost entirely the result of the massive amount of government spending and employees that spill across the Potomac bridges each day into areas as far away as Prince William and Faquier Counties.

The people living in those five counties are out of touch with the economic and political realities the rest of us must face every day. So to use them as an example of wealthy voting for Obama is ignorant at best and disingenuous at worst. Knowing Mister Veverka from his long history of vilifying non-Democrats in the local newspapers, in his case I'd have to say it's both.

11/25/2012

We managed to survive the Thanksgiving holiday weekend without much in the way of drama. Probably the biggest issue we had to deal with was the change in weather, going from the 50's on Friday to the lower 40's on Saturday, and the upper 30's today.

BeezleBub had two friends from the farm join us for dinner on Saturday, our 'second' Thanksgiving dinner as it was the one where Deb, BeezleBub and I all had the day off. Horse Girl also joined us.

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

The New England Patriots have the weekend off as they played Thursday night against the New York Jets.

This was another game I expected would be a close one, but the Patriots blew out the Jets 49-19, in one case scoring three touchdowns in 52 seconds, with two of them only 9 seconds apart!

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

I've been checking out The People's Cube for some time. Call it a tongue-in-cheek look into the socialist utopia that so many on the left want America to become.

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

Since the unions brought down Hostess, it appears they're redoubling their efforts to get a foot in the door at Walmart, using the same old Walmart-doesn't-pay-a-living-wage-provide-health-insurance-and-has-miserable-working-conditions ploy to worm their way into the American retailer. However, the reality is that Walmart does a far better job in regards to pay, insurance, and working conditions than most other retailers and without the need for a union.

Is it any wonder they've gone to the NLRB to complain about union harassment? (Not that it will do them any good seeing as the NLRB is nothing more than a union-owned government organ.)

The latest union attempt at coercing Walmart to give in – 'occupy' Walmart and disrupt Black Friday sales – failed spectacularly. (Almost all of the protesters, what there were of them, were non-employees.) I believe any future attempts along this line will fail in the same fashion, after all the unions aren't offering anything Walmart employees don't already have, except for protecting lazy goldbricking wannabe employees from being fired for being lazy goldbrickers.

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

I spent a good portion of the morning cleaning up the aftermath of our 'second' Thanksgiving dinner with BeezleBub's friends and co-workers. A majority of the cleanup was done last night but there was still plenty left to take care of this morning.

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

That seems to be what Obama thinks, but as we have been warned by more than a few intelligent people, our republic will stand until the voters find out they can vote themselves money from the treasury. We've just about reached that point, if not gone past it like California.

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

And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter temps have arrived, shopping madness has begun, and where I still have a lot of getting-ready-for-winter chores to do.

11/24/2012

It seems it's timely that after a lengthy Thanksgiving Day debate with my brother-in-law about climate change (he believes a majority of it is due to human activity and I don't) and what to do about it, this piece about how the US has reduced its carbon footprint more than anyone else shows up. What makes it ironic is that it was all done without the need for Kyoto or draconian measures that would cripple the already weakened economy. But even with that, the environmentalists say it isn't enough fast enough.

What I find funny is that even if these environmentalists got their way, the effect of the reductions they want would be minute on the environment based upon their own projections.

These so-called environmentalists (I say so-called because this flavor of environmentalist isn't concerned about the environment but about controlling everyone under the mantle of protecting the environment) will not be satisfied until we're back to subsistence farming, except for themselves, of course. They talk a good game about “green” this and “green” that but work against actually implementing those very same green technologies and energy. One example - promoting solar and wind but then protesting against the infrastructure needed to get the power where it needs to go, i.e. power lines.

I think my biggest gripe is that many of these 'environmentalists' make dire predictions about how a warmer planet would be disastrous despite plenty of historical evidence that says just the opposite, the Roman and Medieval Warm Periods being just two examples. They take any weather event that causes destruction, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy being the latest example, and extrapolate it to show how every hurricane or tropical storm will be worse from here onwards. It doesn't matter that the severity of hurricanes and tropical storms hasn't lived up to their hype and there are plenty of hurricanes in the past that were far more destructive. I have to say that part of the reason Sandy was more destructive was because of the heavy development along the coastlines of New Jersey and New York. If those areas had been built up like this when the 1938 hurricane paid a visit to the northeast the destruction and death toll would have been orders of magnitude higher.

To get back to the matter at hand, it appears to me that the 'environmentalist will not be appeased until we're living the nightmare of Fallen Angels, proclaiming global warming is a dire threat even as glaciers bury Boston, New York City, Chicago, and Seattle.

11/23/2012

Back in 1993 there was major flooding along the Mississippi River, in many cases wiping entire towns. A large number of these towns had been rebuilt more than once over the years. So what did the federal government do?

They told those living in those towns that if they decided to rebuild again in their original location that they would no longer be eligible for flood insurance.

It made no sense to have to shell out millions upon millions of dollars every few years to rebuild – again – in an area that sees floods on a regular basis. So a number of towns or sections of towns prone to regular flooding were moved to higher ground. One last payout and the government wouldn't have to pay out the next time the Mississippi River overflowed its banks and flooded those same towns again.

And so it should be with those communities built in areas that are flooded out by storm surges every time a hurricane or Nor'easter drives the ocean water over barrier islands and low lying coastal flood plains.

Why should taxpayers be hit with the bill for rebuilding expensive homes in areas that are known for being flooded on a regular basis whenever hurricanes, tropical storms, or Nor'easters hit? (A 'once-in-a-century' storm is one thing, but this is ridiculous.)

It's time to end the endless taxpayer bailouts for those who insist on building homes in places that are regularly swept by damaging storms.

11/21/2012

As the upcoming debate over the looming “fiscal cliff” starts, this may be an opportunity to fundamentally change the tax system in the United States.

One of the biggest mistakes made in regards to the US Tax Code has been the reliance upon income taxes, including capital gains taxes. The income tax code is convoluted, arcane, contradictory, incomprehensible (even to the IRS), and too easy to get around. It's time to do away with the tax code as it exists and replace it with something simpler that also reduces the amount of enforcement required to deal with it.

With few exemptions (necessities like food, clothing, and one or two others) it's a much fairer and level tax structure. The more one spends the more taxes one pays. For the most part, the 'poor' would pay a much smaller percentage of their money towards taxes and the wealthy a much higher percentage. (The wealthy will buy a lot more stuff than the poor and with the 'necessities' exemptions the poor will pay very little.) There will be no tax loopholes, no tax shelters, and the bookkeeping will be quite simple.

Revenues will be a bit more stable than those under income taxes as income levels, particularly among the rich, swing wider than spending. A consumption tax does not differentiate between income types. Whether the income is based upon salaries, dividends, capital gains, those monies spend the same. There's no dodging the consumption tax.

The biggest issue with the consumption tax will be its breadth. That will require a lot of work, but if done properly the need to fill out the annual 1040 forms will be eliminated. (Of course a lot of tax attorneys, accountants, and tax preparers will find themselves out of work, but that's a small price to pay for a better system.)

I have no doubt that any such reasonable rewrite of the tax code will be opposed by all “right-thinking” folk, meaning the special interests. (This includes the aforementioned tax attorneys, accountants, and tax preparers, just to name a few.) There are too many who have a vested interest in keeping the tax code as complicated and incomprehensible as possible as otherwise they will be unable to bury tax breaks, exemptions, and other giveaways in exchange for like kind support in other areas. There are too many out there who want to keep the existing tax code because they see it as a means of providing “social” justice, meaning taxing the rich out of existence and redistributing their wealth to the “more deserving” leaches, layabouts, and looters.

Keeping those factors in mind, I give the chance of such a rewrite of the tax code to be between slim and none. There are too many who benefit from the existing one to ever see it changed to something understandable to all and much fairer in its application.

UPDATE: I almost forgot another reason to support the idea of a national consumption tax: California, New York, Illinois, and a host of other blue states would scream bloody murder because the rich socialists so fond of spending other people's money to assuage their guilt would no longer be able to write off their state taxes as they can under the existing tax code.

11/20/2012

The Democrats like to claim there is little to worry about in regards to election fraud, but the results from the 2012 Presidential elections in a number of precincts in two cities, Chicago and Philadelphia, put the lie to that claim.

In Chicago Mitt Romney received absolutely no votes in 37 precincts. In Philadelphia he received no votes in 59 precincts.

Statistically, such results are virtually impossible. The odds of that happening are trillions to one. Even if no one voted for Romney, there should have been erroneous votes that would have given Romney at least one or two in such a precinct. But he received none in a large number of precincts. Not one. There's no way that could happen naturally. Instead it indicates coordinated large scale voter fraud.

And who benefits from such voter fraud? The Democrats, of course.

People need to go to prison, and not just for voter fraud, but for civil rights violations. (As such, being convicted of civil rights violations of this type can lead to lengthy prison sentences in federal take-it-up-the-butt penitentiaries, particularly if it can be proven there was a conspiracy to do so.) But don't hold your breath because we already know the Attorney General of the United States won't bother to investigate. He's got his marching orders from The One to ignore this assault on the Constitution. (We also know The One has little use for the Constitution.)

A number of American citizens were denied their voices in the election process, making them second class citizens in the eyes of the perpetrators. Who the hell do these fascists think they are? (Oh, that's right, they're fascists and the rights of people who disagree with them don't matter.)

11/18/2012

Preparations have begun for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately the WP clan will not be gathering all at the same time or place this year. Deb has to work Thanksgiving Day and BeezleBub will spend the day with Horse Girl's family. I will be driving the WP Parents and one of the WP nephews to the youngest WP Sister's home on Thanksgiving Day.

Deb, BeezleBub and I will celebrate Thanksgiving on this coming Saturday along with two of BeezleBub's farm friends, one from Brazil and the other from Poland.

While not our traditional Thanksgiving celebration, it will do!

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

I am off from work all this week, burning off some of my unused vacation time. Even with this week off and the week between Christmas and New Year's I'll still be leaving some vacation time on the books. Blame it on my usual summer vacation schedule being thrown off because The Boat wasn't in the water this year.

I'll be spending most of my time off taking care of still unfinished chores around The Manse, getting everything ready for winter.

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

In their urban cocoons, city-dwellers take for granted the abundance and availability of the economic goods that they consume. For instance, many well-to-do, educated urbanites see no downside to supporting stricter regulations and higher taxes on energy producers, because to them, energy is something that is always there at the flip of a switch (except during the occasional hurricane, as some New Yorkers recently discovered). Life in the city for affluent Americans creates the illusion that all they have to do is demand something and – presto! – it will be there when they want it.

When that's the case it's easy for them to promote and vote in favor of issues and politicians that will make it even more difficult (and expensive) to provide the very things they expect to be there while at the same time adding heavier burdens on the people who actually provide the things they take for granted. Call it the out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome.

Should the feces to hit the rotary oscillator and supplies to the urban areas were to be cut off, how well would those cocooned urbanites fare? Not well at all. The rest of us would likely survive with far fewer hardships than the urban folk.

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

Jay Solo has noticed the downsizing of various foodstuffs containers for some time as some items now come in much smaller packages. Others appear to be the same size but closer inspection shows changes in the shape of the packaging that makes it appear it is the same size as always but in truth holds anywhere from 10 to 25% less product than the older packages. There's less product but the prices are the same, if not higher.

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

Talking to friends and business acquaintances in the UK about this issue over the past few months, most of them would like nothing better than to shed themselves from the increasingly invasive and unaccountable dictats from Brussels.

One saving grace for the UK is that they decided to maintain the pound as their currency rather than buying into the euro. Should they decide to back out of the EU that's one less thing they have to worry about.

As one of Glenn's readers opined, it might be better if the Brits joined NAFTA instead, something I and many others (including Glenn) have been advocating for some time. It certainly has far more advantages than their present relationship as members of the EU.

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

Here's a follow up to the entire Hostess debacle, with an interesting graphic showing people's reaction to the closing of an American icon business.

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

This time the target is a regional grocery chain in north central California where even after allowing the union – the United Food and Commercial Workers - to take a look at the books to show the dire financial straits of the chain, the union has demanded even more from the company, including a “re-signing bonus” for the workers who were on strike for 9 weeks before they come back to work and amnesty for striking workers who intimidated customers and destroyed company property during the strike.

Were I the head of the company I would be so tempted to throw in the towel, close the stores, and let the UFCW thugs go find work elsewhere. It's time for the unions to learn a hard lesson in economics.

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

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

The New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts in Foxboro today.

The Patriots buried the Colts, 59-24. Frankly I expected a much closer game, but the Patriots defense forced a number of turnovers, some of which were immediate scores for New England.

The Patriots play again on Thanksgiving day against the New Your Jets in New York.

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

And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where preparations continue apace for Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations now adorn most stores, and where there's still plenty of work to do around The Manse.

11/17/2012

I have to admit that I've held off commenting upon the demise of Hostess, trying very hard not to point out the Pyrrhic victory of the baker's union over the corporation. But it's reached the point of parody and I can no longer contain myself.

This isn't the first time a union has had a cut-your-nose-off-to-spite-your-face 'victory', leaving their members with no jobs and no prospects for new jobs any time soon. Is it any wonder labor union membership has plummeted over the past few decades as the unions have lost touch with both economic realities and the rank and file? How many unions have generated insane, incomprehensible, and contradictory work rules that made it more difficult and more expensive for any company to get anything done? (Speaking as a former union member, I can tell you from personal experience that some of those work rules were asinine. One such rule we had to deal with constantly was that governing fans – the large fans with the round metal floor stands used to circulate air when needed – requiring an millwright to move it and an electrician to plug it into the wall socket and turn it on. You could neither move, adjust, or turn the fan on or off without either one of those workers, otherwise they could file a grievance and cause you all kinds of trouble.)

While unions boast that they protect the rights of workers, and in the past they did, that is no longer true. Much of what the unions fought for is now codified in labor law, leaving the unions floundering for new relevance. Unfortunately much of that new relevance is directed at trying to overthrow the entrepreneurial spirit and capitalist economy that has made this nation great. The problem is that few in the private sector are buying the line of hokum the labor unions are selling...except for the socialists. (It's not like the socialists have all that great a track record in regards to jobs, either.) It's time for the labor union bosses to understand that it's very easy to kill jobs by remaining intractable. Once any company realizes it's impossible to come to an agreement with a union that will allow it to remain economically viable it will pull the plug and close its doors. That's what happened with the baker's union and Hostess.

I'm sure all of those now unemployed baker's union workers are exultant that they've shown Hostess they won't back down. I'm sure they're also overjoyed at the fact that they've lost their jobs just before the holiday season.

11/15/2012

Now that the 2012 Presidential Election is over and the final votes are being counted, taking a look at the breakdown of the votes makes for some interesting graphics.

Looking at the results from each state in regards to which candidate won in which state gives as a very basic look at the outcome, but a somewhat deceptive one.

Here's what the results looked like state by state, with blue signifying a win for Obama and red a win for Romney:

Note: Click on map images to enlarge

But if you look at the results on a county by county basis the view is quite different, again with blue signifying an Obama win and red a Romney win:

Of particular interest to me were the results in my home state of New Hampshire which showed three of the ten counties taken by Romney.

Looking even closer, if the county by county results are recolored using shades between blue and red to show the relative ratio between Obama and Romney voters we see and even more striking result:

Notice that the shades of purple show a better representation of how people voted on a county by county basis. Looking at both county maps we can see that while Obama may have won in more states than Romney, Romney won in more counties than Obama.

11/11/2012

Some of the last fall preparations for winter started this weekend with some cleanup outside, moving the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout – aka The Boat – to its winter location next to the garage, moving some fire wood to make repairs to a side brace that holds up one side of the fire wood stack in the garage, and the gathering of materials to start sealing the slider and some of the windows to reduce heat loss during the coming months.

It's ironic considering it's been getting warmer over the past few days and will be in the upper 60's on Monday. I let the woodstove go out this morning because it will be warm enough without it for the next couple of days.

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

Nobody gets a senior job without a meticulous colonoscopy. If you were ever cheating, they pursue every rumor and know all about it. Unless one is an elected Democrat, of course, in which case one's sexual history is irrelevant.

It sounds more like the Obama administration needed a means of deflecting questions about its failure in Benghazi and decided the throw Petraeus under the bus. It also means he probably won't be testifying in any congressional hearings now that his reputation has been besmirched and any testimony he gave would be suspect.

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

I have found one means of keeping the squirrels and chipmunks away from the bird feeder on our main deck – make sure there are plenty of blue jays around. When ever we have seed that appeals to the jays they drive off the squirrels and chipmunks trying to partake of the seed we've put out. When the jays arrive the rodents disappear.

Unfortunately when the jays appear the other birds also disappear.

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

And speaking of birds, both Scary Yankee Chick and Bogie have pictures of some wild birds that have graced their back yards over the past few days, including Evening Grosbeaks and even a few Harris's Sparrows. Neither is all that common to upstate New York or New Hampshire.

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

As David Starr reminds us, Alexis de Tocqueville warned us that we will exist “until that time when the voters they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury.”

I have a feeling that the 2012 election will be the turning point considering many voted for Obama to get “free stuff.” Only that free stuff isn't free and inevitably those receiving the free stuff will be shocked once they get the bill, particularly once the rest of us are bankrupted by these folks. As the old saying goes, TANSTAAFL (“There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.”).

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

It's gotten so bad that criminals are committing crimes against news crews while they are on the air, live. Now news crews will require armed guards to protect them, just like in a number of Third World countries. Then again California is becoming more like a Third World country, at least as far as its government and tax tax tax/spend spend spend economy is concerned.

(H/T Instapundit)

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

The New England Patriots came off a bye week to play the Buffalo Bills in Foxboro this afternoon. The managed to beat the Bills 37-21 despite the defense playing only 3 ¾ quarters.

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

Apparently spending isn't just a problem in Calfornia. Brevard County in Florida may have to close four of its elementary schools because voters rejected a ½ cent sales tax increase. Never mind that school enrollment has dropped by 7,000 students over the past few years (and by 705 students this year).

That tells me they have a spending problem and not a revenue problem. Maybe it's time to shed some of their excess school personnel since they're no longer needed for students that are no longer in the school system. That alone should free up millions of tax dollars that are otherwise wasted.

11/10/2012

I have to admit that I haven't felt much like writing since the Tuesday debacle of Obama's re-election. The con man has once again conned the American electorate and has won another 4 years to continue damaging America's economy and standing in the world.

What galls me even more is what I've come to call the “sore winner syndrome” where many of the local populace here in my part of New Hampshire seem to be even angrier and less tolerant now that their “messiah” has won a second term. One in particular I have mentioned here before, a fellow living in a world of his own making where anyone who disagrees with his beliefs on any level is seen as deluded and/or evil. And he's a smug SOB, to boot.

In his latest diatribe against Republicans he likens them to demons to be exorcised.

The people saw the pathological lying and distortions of the right wing hate machine and stuffed them in the garbage disposal where they belong. Their radical agenda is no longer recyclable so the next time the far right rears its ugly head, the people will recognize the smell right away. They will not be fooled by economic conservatives who have an extreme social agenda and religious agenda that would make Mullah Omar beam with pride.

In his last sentence he equates conservatives with the Taliban. He also mixes up the economic conservatives (those who believe we shouldn't spend more than we take in or borrow money from our adversaries) with social conservatives (those who are pro-life and believe in the freedom of speech and religion). There are times when the two groups cross over, but for the most part economic conservatives could care less about social issues one way or the other. But to hate-filled unthinking indoctrinated pedantic leftists like Mister Veverka, there is no difference. By that measure I might make the claim that he is a Stalin-loving communist looter who would like nothing better than imprisoning anyone who dares speak out against his beloved messiah, but I am not venal like him.

His less than magnanimous slap in the face to those who do not share his political views quoted above is one of his less over-the-top Leftist rants. After reading his screeds over the past few years I and other readers of the Sun can predict exactly what Mister Veverka will write about any topic.

He's an angry man who thinks that the rest of us owe it to him and others like him to let them run our lives because he's so much more intelligent and wise. And this is where he departs from reality because I doubt very much he has much luck running his own life. Otherwise why is he so angry all the time even when “his” side has won? He's just another one of those sore winners that can't keep his hate in check even in victory. I guess that shows everyone what a pathetic excuse for a “tolerant” Democrat he is.

11/06/2012

It's Election Day, a day that will help set the course for the nation.

Voting turnout has been heavy, at least here in my small home town, with one of the selectmen telling me voting has been heavy since the polls opened at 7 this morning. The New Hampshire Secretary of State is expecting a 70 to 80 percent voter turnout.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One worry we don't have here in New Hampshire is issues with voter fraud as this state requires proper ID in order to vote. That can't be said of some other states where voters have found that someone else voted in their place and others have voted more than once.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One thing I found irritating last night was ABC's World News all but calling the election for Obama hours before polls opened in those states without early voting. Can they possibly make it any more obvious that they're in the tank for Obama?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

More than a few people have wondered whether this election is a repeat of the 1980 election, where polls showed the race too close to call or slightly in favor of James Earl Carter, only to have Ronald Reagan defeat him by almost 10 points, carrying 44 states and receiving 489 electoral votes.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Now it's all about the waiting. Either we will have a new president, or we will have to endure another 4 years of a not-so-closeted socialist working hard to dismantle American and turn it into another failed socialist state.

11/04/2012

It was a birthday date for BeezleBub and Horse Girl Friday night, with BeezleBub taking her out to one of our favorite restaurants as part of the celebration of Horse Girl's birthday.

It isn't often that they've had the opportunity to go out fro dinner at some place other than Friendly's due to BeezleBub's work schedule. Now that he's working a somewhat more normal Monday through Friday workweek they should have more time to do the normal dating stuff.

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

Dr. Helen reminds us that the PC Police on college campuses have it in for men, trampling on their civil rights and allowing unsubstantiated allegations of sexual assault (which has been so broadly defined as to be meaningless) to substitute for evidence. The idea of “due process” doesn't exist on many campuses and the only evidence needed is the accusation.
An example of this injustice:

One in particular is Caleb Warner who was kicked out of school and banned from every North Dakota state campus for three years after he was found guilty by a campus tribunal of sexually assaulting another student. The police investigated and filed charges against the accuser for filing a false police report about the assault. (Emphasis added – ed.)

Even though Warner was innocent (the police said so) he was denied a rehearing and it wasn't until the debacle was made public by FIRE that Warner got his 'day in court' and the ruling of the tribunal was overturned. Unfortunately there are a lot of other men on college campuses across the nation who are afforded no such opportunity to defend themselves and are either expelled or leave due to the hostile environment created on the campus.

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

Tom Bowler disagrees with Karl Rove's prediction that a Romney-Ryan declaration of victory will be made in the wee hours of the morning of November 7th. Tom believes it will be called before midnight on the 6th and that the margin of victory will be greater than the 51% Rove has predicted.

Part of Tom's arguments rests upon the 91% of households surveyed by pollsters either won't respond or won't offer an opinion. That's one of the lowest response rates in 15 years. Tom believes the cause of the fall-off in respondents is the explosion of blogs and the resultant decline in trust of the MSM. It could also be that fewer people have landlines and are more dependent upon cell phones than ever before. Both of these factors mean pollsters have an ever shrinking pool of voters to survey which in turn means the poll error rate is going to be higher.

I agree.

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

When it comes to natural disasters, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shown that he has the “Wrong Stuff”.

Rather than dealing with the widespread power outages, flooding, and fuel shortages caused by Sandy, he starts spouting off about global warming. Rather than dealing with the widespread power outages, flooding, and fuel shortages caused by Sandy, he decides it's okay to shift badly needed resources away from disaster recovery and towards supporting the New York City Marathon (which he finally cancelled after a lot of political blowback from all quarters).

Rather than dealing with the widespread power outages, flooding, and fuel shortages caused by Sandy by allowing National Guard troops into Brooklyn to help, he declines an urgent request by the Borough President because “the NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns” despite the fact that the NYPD and FDNY are overwhelmed and cannot deal with the outages and looting taking place.

Bloomberg has got to get his priorities straight.

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

As if the aftermath of Sandy isn't a big enough problem, a possible Nor'easter may be hitting the eastern seaboard on Wednesday, adding to the already difficult situation with which the folks in New Jersey and New York are dealing.

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

There are two things wrong with this plot, the first being that maybe the university system needs to make budget cuts and start dumping all of the excess administrators infesting the system which is why their costs are so high.

Second, they may be violating a state law “barring the use of government resources for political purposes and for 'urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure.' ”

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

By ensuring there is no fraud the Democrats won't be able to commit such fraud, something that has been a deciding factor in a number of races including at least one for the US Senate. (Al Franken, anyone?)

Then there are others who openly admit to voting multiple times in an effort to “do whatever it takes to save our country from the world envisioned by Mitt and his fear mongering followers.” Needless to say both the local authorities and the FBI field office in North Carolina have been notified. I guess the joker making the claim doesn't realize that what he's done is a felony and can lead to decades in a federal prison.

The French government will not collect anywhere near what they think they will in additional revenue, assuming they collect any additional revenue at all. (This seems unlikely.) In fact, it's quite possible they will collect less revenue over all, leaving them even deeper in the financial hole they've been digging themselves for decades.

Welcome the the real world, France.

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

And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the temps have fallen, it's getting close to time to fire up the woodstoves, and we're close to escaping the perpetual campaign ads.

11/03/2012

George Santayana said “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”

And so it goes for those so hell bent on turning America into a socialist country. Despite numerous examples showing that socialism in its various forms doesn't work, we still have people in our country – the Left – who seem to think they can make it work...this time. And as my old friend Yevgeny told me decades ago, Einstein's definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results this time.” So we have a group of people who ignore history and are insane in regards to the proven evils of socialism.

Despite plenty of first hand evidence to the contrary, the Left keeps pushing for all kinds of programs, spending, and government control best left “on the ash heap of history”, to borrow a phrase from one of socialism's 'heroes'.

One of those personal accounts comes from Alla Axelrod, a Soviet emigré (she came to the US in 1979 when the Soviet Union still existed). She explains from personal experience why socialism is such a bad deal for everyone except those in power. She also explains why she hates Obama with a passion – he's no different from the leaders she fled from all those years ago.

The Soviet Union was a very poor country with a very proud people living under a "successful socialism," officially "building a bright communist future," with a military system equal to that of the USA, if not better, with a finger always on a red button, claiming everything is hunky-dory, while people didn't have a pot to piss in, but the bosses in the Russian White House (oops, Kremlin) lived like Tsars. Let me repeat: the average pay was 120 rubles a month, but at least it was guaranteed. On a payday, workers got their promised pay. Very little was taken out of it -- some jobs took nothing, while some bigger organizations withdrew very small fees for union dues, or someone gathered a ruble for a funeral or a gift for someone's wedding, but that was it. So unless a worker spent it on vodka before getting home, he brought the entire pay to his wife and kids.

--snip--

Most of us Russian immigrants have already been through "successful socialism," where you don't have to work hard, but then you have nothing but rubbish because there is nothing to work for. You have no incentive to do anything. It's a system that evens everything out. That is socialism.

The problem is that it's still a lie. There, here, and everywhere. Some crawl to the top over dead bodies and get a better piece of pie, like many politicians here, who (think about it) produce exactly nothing but somehow get paid for it even after they leave the office, live luxurious lifestyles, get wonderful benefits, and whatnot. Oh, yes -- something is very wrong with this picture.

--snip--

Even I know that most American money is made by hard work, smart ventures, and good business practices. This opportunity is open for everyone. Isn't it called "the land of opportunity"? Mister Obama himself is a very good example of that! He is doing very well for a black guy -- constantly playing the race card, which I find quite disgusting...and by the way, I don't see him spreading his own personal wealth about. Do you? Did he open any orphanages, animal shelters, sponsor any institutions for the handicapped? Medical charities? Did he personally help any tsunami victims? Maybe I missed those aspects of his noble life. Correct me if I am wrong, but I'd love to know about this humble lifestyle he proposes to make for all of us. I heard he made many millions selling his touching book...why not share some of this wealth with those unprivileged he is so willing to give other people's money to?

--snip--

The average traditional Russian of my generation is an honest immigrant who came here with empty pockets seeking freedom and a new life after years of a nightmare.

[We] are very grateful, and most of us are real American patriots.

We know what Socialism is face-to-face.

We don't want to live in it again.

We don't want this country destroyed.

We don't want it here, because we'll have no place to run to.

If you can't trust the accounts of those who have lived under the very system the Left (and Obama) want to create here, then who do you trust? The Left who have made their opinions well known and have told you that they're going to control every aspect of your life? Then you are more than welcome to try an experiment and move to one of the few bastions of socialism still in existence and try living under that system for a while. (No, you can't live like one of the elite. You have to live like the rest of the people who aren't in control so you can experience just what they do and what the Left in the US want for everyone here.) Then come back here and tell us how wonderful it was..except that you probably won't tell us it's wonderful.

Alla paints a pretty grim picture of socialism. But then socialism always tries to ignore two intertwined factors: the Law of Unintended Consequences and human nature. That is why socialism inevitably leads to misery.

Some have made the argument that socialism has worked in the EU, but all one has to do is look at Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain to see the lie in that claim. These nations are bankrupt and the so-called 'safety net' created by socialism is falling apart. Germany has had to bail out these nations more than once, putting a major strain on their economy. This is not something the Germans will be able to do again without bankrupting themselves. It is the Thatcher Axiom come to life: Socialism works until you run out of other people's money.

Sweden, which has had a socialist structure for decades, finally came to the conclusion that their system wasn't sustainable and have been dialing back many of the previously 'free' services because they no longer have enough money to pay for them. Their experiment with socialism has failed, but at least they recognize its failure and are attempting to do something about it.

It's too bad that not enough people here in the US see socialism for what it is: a system that guarantees nothing but failure and misery.

11/01/2012

Gee, are the Democrats and their traditional supporters, the labor unions, getting desperate? Depending upon how you read the mailer sent by the Oregon office of the AFL-CIO, it could be construed as an attempt to intimidate voters.

"Your voting history is a matter of public record," the mailer declares, implying that the union can determine how people vote.

--snip--

"How you vote is a personal decision," the card reads, but the message on the front seems to suggest otherwise.

"It's an updated version of a tool that's served them well in the past: 'Nice little place ya got here. Be a real shame if something was to, you know, happen'."

Call it the old mob “protection” racket modernized in an attempt to influence voters. Chicago politics have come to Oregon.