We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
A man on his Harley was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, God said, 'because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.'
The biker pulled over and said, 'Build a bridge toHawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.'
God replied, 'Your request is materialistic; think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind.'
The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, 'God, I wish that I, and all men, could understand women; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, why she snaps and complains when I try to help, and how I can make a woman truly happy.
God replied: ‘You want two lanes or four on that bridge....?"
- LBJ's federal flood insurance is a perfect example of unintended consequences. The perverse incentive was to encourage people to build on flood plains and coastal areas. Yes, flood insurance is subsidized by you.
- Said by Newt on the radio today: "Barack Obama is a show horse, not a work horse."
- Threw out everything in both fridges and freezers today. Bummer. However, I cooked the bacon hoping for the best, and made bacon and tomato sandwiches. Delicious. I even used the warm mayo from the fridge. And I am still fine.
- Pupette evacuated from NYC decided that living in the cold and dark was getting old, so finagled a trip to San Francisco.
- None of the computer systems I have had access to can do what my own can. Quite annoying to be off all the grids.
- Received this email today from our occasional contributor Bulldog in New Jersey. It begins here, more below the fold with some of my comments:
I'm sure my problems are minor compared to the Doc's Big C - or even compared to the hundreds of thousands who have lost loved ones, friends, homes, etc. It's clear this storm has been devastating. And I agree with my governor that this is not a political situation - however, the night before the storm I did see Obama functionaries commenting on Romney's stance regarding FEMA, so as far as I'm concerned, he drew first blood in the politicization of the storm.
I won't go too political. No need to, and it's not worth it. Christie's stance so far has been correct, at least pre-storm, though post-storm I think he's gotten a bit soft.
But I'm at a disadvantage. I have no power or heat. I haven't had much in the way of news for 4 days, at least not more than I can get on an iPhone. I have been out of work for a week, and may miss more. Since I just took a new position (hence my lack of posting lately), missing work is a bit of a problem. But the company is good about my situation.
The largest assemblage of retired senior military officers ever assembled to support a presidential candidate, almost 500, will appear in an ad on Monday in the Washington Times. There are far more who would have signed if approached. I know two former top Admirals who wanted to sign but were not reached, perhaps because they live in Hawaii now. Below are just the As through the first D. -- Oh, by the way, Obama has endorsements from five former generals and admirals.
“We, the undersigned, proudly support Governor Mitt Romney as our nation’s next President and Commander-in-Chief.”
Brigadier General Arthur Abercrombie, (USA-ret)Lieutenant General James Abrahmson, (USAF-ret)Major General Chris Adams, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral William V. Alord, Jr., (USN-ret)Brigadier General John R. Allen, (USAF-ret)Lieutenant General Teddy Allen, (USA-ret)Rear Admiral Henry C. “Cub” Amos, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General Marcus A. Anderson, (USAF-ret)Major General Joseph T. Anderson, (USMC-ret)Lieutenant General Edward G. Anderson III, (USA-ret)Lieutenant General Edgar Ratclie “Andy” Anderson, Jr., (USAF-ret)Major General Joe Arbuckle, (USA-ret)Brigadier General John C. Arick, (USMC-ret)Major General Nora Alice Astaan, (USAF-ret)Brigadier General Loring R. Astrorino, (USAF-ret)Brigadier General Richard Averitt, (USA-ret)Vice Admiral Albert Baciocco, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Garry S. Bahling, (USANG-ret)Major General Bowen Ballard, (USAF-ret)Major General James D. Bankers, (USAF-ret)Major General James F. Barnette, (USAF-ret)Brigadier General Donald E. Barnhart, (USAF-ret)Major General Robert W. Barrow, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral John R. “Jack” Batzler, (USN-ret)Rear Admiral John W. Bayless, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General Buck Bedard, (USMC-ret)Vice Admiral A. Bruce Beran, (USCG-ret)Major General John E. Bianchi, (USA-ret)Major General David F. Bice, (USMC-ret)Vice Admiral Lyle Bien, (USN-ret)Rear Admiral Linda J. Bird, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Charles L. Bishop, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral James H. Black, (USN-ret)Brigadier General William A. Bloomer, (USMC-ret)Lieutenant General Harold Blot, (USMC-ret)Lieutenant General Steve Blum, (USA-ret)General Billy J. Boles, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Peter A. Bondi, (USN-ret)Rear Admiral Pete Booth, (USN-ret)Major General John Borling, (USAF-ret)Vice Admiral Mike Bowman III, (USN-ret)Major General Thomas Braaten, (USMC-ret)Major General Edward R. Bracken, (USAF-ret)Major General Robert J. Brandt, (USA-ret)Rear Admiral Jerry C. Breast, (USN-ret)Rear Admiral Bruce B. Bremner, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Clayton “Gary” Bridges, (USAF-ret)Vice Admiral Edward S. Briggs, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Jeremiah J. Brophy, (USA-ret)Lieutenant General Richard “Tex” Brown III, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Thomas F. Brown III, (USN-ret)Brigadier General R. Thomas Browning, (USAF-ret)Brigadier General David A. Brubaker, (USAF-ret)Vice Admiral Mike Bucchi, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General Walter E. Buchanan III, (USAF-ret)Major General Dave Burord, (USA-ret)Lieutenant General Richard A. Burpee, (USAF-ret)Admiral James B. Busey, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General Kevin P. Byrnes, (USA-ret)Lieutenant General Kevin P. Byrnes, (USA-ret)Rear Admiral John F. “Jack” Calvert, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General William J. Campbell, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Jay A. “Rabbit” Campbell, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General Mike Canavan, (USA-ret)Major General Henry Canterbury, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral James J. Carey, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Chalmers R. “Hap” Carr, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Nevin Carr, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Paul Carroll, (USANG-ret)Brigadier General Fred Castle, (USAFR-ret)Rear Admiral Stephen K. Chadwick, (USN-ret)Lieutenant General James E. “Bear” Chambers, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Lawrence C. “Larry” Chambers, (USN-ret)Rear Admiral W. Lewis “Lew” Chatham, (USN-ret)Rear Admiral Geo Chesbrough, (USN-ret)Major General Carroll D. Childers, P.E., (USARNG-ret)Rear Admiral Ronald L. Christenson, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Cliton C. “Tip” Clark, (USAF-ret)Brigadier General Robert V. Clements, (USAF-ret)Vice Admiral Edward W. Clexton, Jr., (USN-ret)Brigadier General Christopher T. Cline, (USAR-ret)Major General Je Cliver, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Casey Coane, (USN-ret)Brigadier General Maralin K. Cofnger, (USAF-ret)Rear Admiral Ike Cole, (USN-ret)Brigadier General George Peyton Cole, Jr., (USAF-ret)Brigadier General Richard A. Coleman, (USAF-ret)Brigadier General John W. “Rip” Collins, (USA-ret)Lieutenant General John B. Conaway, (USAF-ret)Major General Stephen “Pat” Condon, (USAF-ret)General James T. Conway, (USMC-ret)Major General Richard M. Cooke, (USMC-ret)Major General R. Craig Cosgrave, (USANG-ret)Lieutenant General Marvin Covault, (USA-ret)Rear Admiral Bob Cowley, (USN-ret)Major General J.T. “Mike” Coyne, (USMC-ret)Rear Admiral Robert C. Crates, (USN-ret)Major General Tommy F. Craword, (USAF-ret)Vice Admiral Terry M. Cross, (USCG-ret)Brigadier General Mike Cushman, (USAF-ret)Major General John R. D’Araujo, Jr., (USA-ret)General Terrence R.
Washington Free Beacon adds: "The list comes as a Military Times survey revealed that active duty, National Guard, and military reserve members support Romney over Obama by a two to one margin."
The founder and Chairman of GoDaddy.com pledges $1-million to match your donations to the Semper Fi Fund, which aids wounded warriors. He is a proud former Marine Lance Corporal who takes the opportunity of celebrating our 237th Anniversary on November 10th and Veterans Day on November 11th to go beyond us Marines' usual pride in leading on land, sea and air to salute members of all our armed forces. They have all proved themselves worthy as proud warriors over the past decade, and the wounded need your support to rejoin and enrich us civilians with their unmatchable spirit and values.
They gave a lot. You can, at least, give a little. Thanks.
Remarkable that an ordinary storm could have such impact on the greatest city in the world.
My car was flooded in an underground parking garage, and we had 9' of water in my building's basement. All from flooding. There was very little rain. We still have no power downtown, and the subways down here have not resumed. It's called "urban hiking," and it is enjoyable.
I am back to buying newspapers. The NY Post, The NY Times, the NY Daily News. It's a pleasant, familiar old feeling to read a paper newspaper in a pub or coffee shop.
Instead of irritated, people seem quite cheerful and helpful. Maybe people welcome an excuse to take off their tough NYC game faces.
My final pre-election post, set for Monday, is currently at 1,175 words. And counting.
Since Monday will be our last chance to either (1) sound incredibly precognitive or (2) look like complete bozos, I'm inviting you, the Maggie's Valued Readers™, to publicly have a say. Along with my article, I'll also post an article with any predictions you leave here in the comments.
My only request is that you put your official prediction in quotes, to differentiate it from anything else in the comment you'd care to blather on about. If no quotes are used, I'll post the whole thing. Management reserves the right to correct any blatant typos. I'll collate them Sunday evening.
There are actually a handful of predictions in play. In regards to the presidential race, you could predict the outcome by states, by Electoral votes, or just wimp out and resort to safe phrases like "landslide" or "barely squeak by".
There's also the question of the congressional races, both locally and in Washington. We presume we'll keep the House, but the pundits say we won't have enough to take back the Senate. Is this true? Could the much-anticipated October Surprise turn into a November surprise?
Do you remember what happened in 2010?
Then there's the side issue of Obama's so-called 'firewall' states; states that are so heavily 'blue' that there's no sense even campaigning there. Or is there? Are Pennsylvania (Obama 54% in 2008), Michigan (57%) and Minnesota (54%) actually in play? We'll discount California (60%) and New York (62%) outright, but it all adds up.
And then there's my current home state of Florida. While Ohio has gotten the most press as the official 'swing state' this time around, of the four states with the most Electoral votes, Florida is the only one in play. It was 50.9% for Obama in 2008 compared to McCain's 48.4%, which is damn close. The fourth state is Texas, which went 55.5% for McCain, so we'll figure that one's already in our column. Florida will be the one to watch this Tuesday.
So have it, Maggie's Valued Readers™. This could be your 15 minutes! I've seen some fairly opinionated, vociferous comments in Bruce's and my political posts, so here's your chance to prove to everybody how right you were.
State Department to review its own Benghazi review : "Without mentioning Benghazi specifically, Geisel [State Dept. Inspector General] mentioned that the IG office has been recommending ways to increase security and crisis-response capability at diplomatic posts for some time."
Do I presume we have some bi-cyclists (that is, cyclists who go both ways) in the audience? Is there any merit to this? The video's kind of lame, article is here.
Thanks to all for keeping good content flowing here. Some of us are in the land of no news and no real internet. But that's OK, because nothing is really happening in the world anyway, is it?
I am posting from a Fed Ex office.
Storms are exciting and dangerous, but they are to be expected. People make too much of it. A few interesting observations:
You can only buy $20 of gas at a time around here. Huge demand for gas for generators and power equipment.
No ATMs are working, no power to banks, thus no cash.
Our supermarket has no power, just emergency lights. But they're open to sell non-perishables. They have plenty of those on hand.
It's a great time to stock up on free firewood. A chainsaw is a wonderful tool.
My father-in-law put a new roof on his house, job was finished 2 weeks ago. Big old oak landed on his roof in the storm, puncturing his kitchen and wrecking the new roof. He is not happy.
In our town, clearing of fallen trees on roads and power lines is moving slowly. Why? Because here, the town union contract forbids subcontracting of tree work on roads and public land. Has to be done by town employees no matter how long it takes. Insane.
People have already mentioned to me that global warming caused the hurricane. One just doesn't know what to say in response to such ignorance. I suppose they never heard of hurricane Hazel, or Gloria, or all the rest. Hurricanes routinely hit the northestern US, but just not many in the past 2 decades. Perhaps we're in for a new cycle of them.
It was cool seeing CVS open through the storm and afterwards without power, staff in there with flashlights helping customers. Cash only, of course.
I feel badly for all the people who were subject to flooding. It's even more disheartening than a burglary in disrupting ordinary dependable reality. My advice is not to build or live near sea level.
Obama Uses Crucifixes To Get Catholic Votes : "In all the history of political advertizing, President Obama's new video, with Vice President Joe Biden brazenly appealing to Catholics ignorant of ObamaCare's attack on religious liberty, takes the prize for all-out gall."
They also are more willing to work: "... immigrants are quicker to jump into the rebounding job market while native-born Americans, who under federal law have more welfare options and access to unemployment benefits, are slower to find work." Immigrants are also more willing to fill the agricultural jobs. At the other extreme, many are highly educated and fill the hi-tech jobs (although often at cheaper salaries than Americans).
Meanwhile, our demobilized veterans are often struggling to find good jobs. They are willing to work, certainly have the work ethic and reliability, but need a hand up. Offer it whenever you can, please.
There's not much power in New England, and NYC is a mess too. I'll try to post some photos but DSL isn't broadband. Trees and power lines down everywhere, and even NYC isn't functioning very much. Downtown still without power, and the Bird Dog family is being heated by fireplace, working, cooking, and reading by oil lamp.
Almost like camping. Not too cold, fortunately. Only down to 43 F last night.
Those of you who occasionally drop by Theo's are aware of this guy, but I haven't seen any of his stuff elsewhere. Some of it's simply brilliant, some wittier than hell, and some just laugh-out-loud funny.
The author is Stilton Jarlsberg, his Hope 'n Change site is here.
My final pre-election post, set for Monday, is currently at 1,175 words. And counting.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
