August 2008 Archives

It's the unofficial last weekend of summer, it being Labor Day Weekend.

BeezleBub is laboring, working at the farm yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Deb and I spent a good part of the day yesterday shopping, making our every other weekly supply run to one of the local discount clubs for our bulk items and the supermarket for the rest of our victuals.

Some of our purchases at the discount club included a 30-lb bag of Nasty Dry Crap™ (kibble) for the feline members of the family, a 5-gallon tub of shortening, a half-pallet of toilet paper and paper towels for Deb's business, three 40-lb buckets of kitty litter (we now have six cats living here at The Manse, something I know Bagheera will soon be commenting upon), a couple of 2-lb cans of cashews, a few bags of beef jerky for BeezleBub, and a number of other sundries.

The weather has been conducive to boating, and we will make use of it, trying to avoid the large numbers of weekenders out on the lake trying to get their last bit of boating in before their summer ends for the year. (At least we'll still be boating for another couple of months after most of the summerfolk have gone.)

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The amount of vitriol flowing from the left-wing blogs and forums about the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate is stunning. After reading a number of the posts at the Daily Kos, the Democratic Underground, and Huffpo, I have come to realize that many of those on the left are insane. For being "progressives", many of the posters offered the most sexist and intolerant diatribes I've ever read. These people are anything but progressive. They are troglodytes, filled with such hatred of anyone that should disagree with their view of the world.

These people are just plain sick.

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McCain is proving his campaign slogan - Country First - is more than just words, making changes to the Republican Convention plans to deal with the impact of Hurricane Gustav along the Gulf Coast. Much of the pomp and ceremonies, and many of the speeches, have been cut back or canceled altogether. Instead efforts will focus on getting help to those needing it after the storm passes.

It's possible Michael Moore's words are prophetic, but not in the fashion he meant as McCain's efforts could possible ensure his victory in November.

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Unlike Hurricane Katrina, both Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal are making maximum efforts to ensure the safety of the residents of New Orleans and the rest of Loisisana's Gulf Coast. Mandatory evacuation of New Orleans has been ordered by the mayor, and Governor Jindal requested assistance from the federal government up front, not making the mistake his predecessor made.

Former Governor Blanco belatedly requested assistance from the feds, so help was delayed until she prodded to do so by the Bush administration. Apparently she didn't realize the feds couldn't just step in, so requests for aid were delayed for days, lengthening the time before it would arrive.

Governor Jindal has already activated the Louisiana National guard and had them deploy to New Orleans and the rest of the coast.

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Speaking of Gustav, I find this nauseating.

So much for the Democrats being the party that cares about people.

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One question many have been asking about Hurricane Gustav is the effects on New Orleans should it hit the city head on. If the city is again devastated as it was after Katrina, many evacuees have said they will not return. Others are saying they aren't returning regardless. With people not returning will New Orleans ever return to what it was, or will large sections of the city become and remain ghost towns?

It remains to be seen.

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Want to see the reaction of Hillary Clinton supporters to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate? Just go to the Hillary Clinton Forum and read the pages and pages of posts.

I don't know if the responses seen on the forum are truly indicative of feelings and thoughts of Hillary's supporters, but they are eyeopening.

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Is it any surprise that summer businesses in tourist areas were adversely affected by the price of gas and other factors, such as bad weather we've seen here in New Hampshire?

Business has been down all summer, with much lower boat traffic on the lakes, vacancies at resorts, and unrented cottages on the lakes and islands. Gas sales at marinas are down 45% from last year, which was down 10% from the previous year.

While the lower lake traffic has dismayed businesses, many boaters like me have found it delightful, with boating conditions far more pleasant than we usually see on weekends. Even so, not many of us have made it out nearly as much as we would have liked due to a cycle of afternoon/early evening thunderstorms that lasted for weeks.

All we can do is hope the good weather we've been experiencing the past week and a half will stick around for a few more weeks as we plan to keep boating until sometime in late October.

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NOW has come out against Sarah Palin. No surprise there. After all she's a self made woman that happens to be pro-life, and "because, you know, all women care about is abortion. That's it. Only abortion. Nothing else."

Sheesh.

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It has been mentioned that Governor Palin is the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard, like every governor of the states is CINC of their respective National Guard units. But what few realize is Alaska's National Guard is different from every other, which is why the governor of Alaska, as CINC, has far more duties than governors of other states. Blackfive explains why that difference makes Sarah Palin far more qualified to be Vice President (or President) than Biden (or Obama) when it comes to military matters.

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The annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon started this evening, opening with the national anthem sung by the Cactus Cuties.



The MDA holds a special place in our heart as Deb's brother was stricken with MD and passed away when he was only 8 years old.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summerfolk are trying to squeeze a week's worth of vacation into a long weekend, the farm stands are having their busiest weekend of the season, and where summer is slowly slipping away.

The best line I've read so far regarding the differences between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama, courtesy of Mark Steyn:

Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev. Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth.

Amen, Brother!

It's been less than 24 hours since John McCain made the announcement about making Alaska Governor Sarah Palin his running mate and Obama's Democratic Machine is already sharpening their knives in preparation to flay her alive.

I found it interesting that Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton tried to play the "inexperienced and too young" card.

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same."

Oh? And Obama is experienced in foreign policy? Hmm. If I recall my geography correctly, Alaska borders two foreign nations, Canada and Russia. I would guess she's had to deal with at least one of them, if not both. That's far more foreign policy experience than Obama's ever had, his overseas junket earlier in the year not withstanding.

Sarah Palin has been the chief executive of both a town and a state. How many towns or states has Obama led? Let's see....how about none. She's the Commander-In-Chief of the Alaska National Guard. Obama has absolutely no experience commanding anything.

On her economic outlook, I'd say it's nothing like George Bush's. She is a true fiscal conservative, and her record as the mayor of Wasilla shows she's always been that way. Her record as governor shows likewise.

When it comes to Big Oil, she is not a friend of the oil companies. All one needs to do is look how she's gone after them for their undue influence in Alaskan politics. That doesn't look like someone in the pocket of "Big Oil" to me.

She's fought against the Alaskan political machines, both Democratic and Republican, cleaning out corruption wherever she could find it. Obama is a product of the corrupt Chicago Democratic political machine.

But the most interesting thing I find about the whole thing is that Obama's campaign is focusing attention on the GOP Vice Presidential nominee, comparing her to their own Presidential nominee. What's wrong with this picture?

My mother phoned me at work just before 11AM to tell me, "He's selected Sarah!"

I still felt a little down about the bread-and-circuses closing of the Democratic Convention last night, seeing it as a sleight-of-hand effort by the Obama team divert the public away from what he was really selling. But the news of McCain's selection made all of that fade away.

There has certainly been a groundswell of reactions McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, most of it positive, even from many Democrats. There are quite a few links to reactions around the blogosphere and from the MSM to be found at Instapundit, here and here.

This selection is something I've been discussing with quite a few of my Republican friends for some time, and even wrote about almost two weeks ago.

McCain can capture the moderate voters in both parties all by himself, but he needs someone with the conservative credentials that will pull in the conservatives of the party while not turning off the moderates and the undecideds. That narrows his choices.

This should make Mitt Romney one of the last people McCain should choose, because too many in the GOP see him as a RINO (a Republican In Name Only), trying to wear the mantle of a conservative. But all anyone has to do is look at his record as governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to see he's no conservative.

McCain must choose wisely. Frankly, by choosing Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, former US Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, or Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, he'll have a pretty good shot at being able to move into the White House next January.

This is going to be one heck of a race for the White House!

It's the final night of the Democratic National Convention, held at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. 84,000 of the faithful filled the stadium, waiting for The Anointed to make his appearance. The stadium was decked out more like a huge meeting amphitheater, reminiscent of Nuremburg during one of the less enlightened periods of the 20^th Century.

This evening's media coverage started with a ten minute tribute film about him. It took less than a minute to mention that he was raised by a single mother. That seems to be a big meme running through his campaign.

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Barack Obama wasted no time accepting the nomination from the Convention.

He talked about change, but never really got around to explaining exactly what he'll change, except who's in the White House.

After praising his opponent, John McCain, for his service in the military, he slammed him for voting with President Bush "90% of the time". Maybe he did because it was the right thing to do, eh?

Much of what Obama said can be broken down to this: The government will help you because you can't help yourself. What he doesn't understand that most of us just want the government to leave us alone.

He made grand promises. The only thing he never said was how he was going pay for it all...except raise taxes on businesses. (Uh...Barack, American businesses already pay the second highest business taxes in the world. Could that be the reason so many of them have moved jobs and corporate headquarters overseas?)

He also talked a pretty good game about Iraq, Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden. He repeated the canard that we had no need and no right to go into Iraq. Obviously he's forgotten UNSC Resolution 1441, which authorized force to be used to bring Iraq into compliance with the original cease fire agreement after the Gulf War. Saddam had violated 11 UN Security Council Resolutions, including the one that laid out the conditions of the Gulf War cease fire.

This guy is promising everyone "This, That, and the other Thing." Frankly, I doubt he'll deliver on those promises...except the one about raising taxes.

He was right about one thing. We all have cynicism about government. Most of us feel that way for good reason: for far too long government has been the problem, not the solution. Yet he wants the government to take on even more control over our lives in order to fix the problems government created. Isn't that what is called a paradox?

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Other than those few dozen points, it was a good speech. Thank goodness the teleprompters were working.

It's Night Three of the Democratic National Convention and the time of decision has arrived.

It was after I returned home from an errand that my wife informed me Obama was nominated by acclimation after Hillary Clinton interrupted the roll call votes of states to ask the delegations to do so.

I have no doubt 18 million people that voted for her felt disappointed.

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Hillary's speech on the behalf of the New York delegation, and her motion to suspend the convention rules and allow nomination of Barack Obama by acclimation, certainly seemed to bring the party together. But I wonder how many of the die-hard Hillary faithful will actually vote for Obama come November? Some polls suggest 20% or more will not vote for him. That's a substantial number. However it doesn't automatically mean the disaffected will vote for John McCain.

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The headliner tonight was former President Bill Clinton.

I find it interesting he has so drastically changed his tune in regards to Barack Obama's qualifications to sit in the Oval Office. Tonight he praised him to high heaven. Only a few months ago he was slamming him for being so inexperienced.

Bill Clinton did bring up the Republicans claims during the 1992 campaign that Clinton was too inexperienced and too young to be President. Obviously Clinton was not. But Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, the type of office that does give the kind of experience one needs to become President.

Barack Obama has none of that kind of experience. Not one bit. Clinton was a font of experience in comparison to Obama. He's never had to run a state, never had to balance a budget, never had to make the tough decisions of the kind a governor makes. His time in the Illinois and US Senates adds up to less than 6 years. And in all that time he's done little in the way proposing and passing legislation.

That doesn't bode well for one aspiring to the highest office in the land.

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Joe Biden's son gave a rousing introductory speech for his father. I have no idea if he has any political ambitions, but he could certainly follow his father into office. There's some talk that if the Obama/Biden ticket wins in November, Beau Biden could be appointed by the governor of Delaware to fill his father's Senate seat.

Biden praised Hillary Clinton, graciously mentioning that she will continue to make great contributions.

He then accepted the nomination as Vice President, and did it with uncharacteristically few words. (He is known as a talker, being able to use 500 words when 10 will do.) He also made a Freudian slip, talking about the nomination of George Bush, then corrected himself and saying John McCain.

He then got into bashing John McCain, using the phrase "That's not change. That's more of the same!" He talked about some of the votes McCain made, not bothering to mention that in many cases he himself made the same vote.

Basically it was the same liberal tax-and-spend blather, saying black is white, up is down, Left is right and Right is wrong.

Will an Obama administration stand up to Russia as Joe Biden claimed in his speech? Or will they merely make strong sounding noises, yet do nothing? I believe it will be the latter and not the former.

Biden is claiming Obama was right on withdrawing the troops from Iraq, and John McCain was wrong. Biden conveniently forgot to mention that Barack wanted to surrender two years ago when withdrawal meant a bloodbath and the need to return at an even higher cost. Now that conditions have changed in Iraq after the surge, a staged withdrawal makes sense. Yet Biden is claiming Obama was right all along?

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The night closed out with the surprise appearance of Barack Obama after Biden's speech. A nice finishing touch.

Tomorrow night is going to be interesting.

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A closing observation:

My wife was telling me a number of her clients were opining the Republicans shouldn't even bother to hold their convention because the Democrats have blown them out of the water. My words to them: Remember that the Democrats were preaching to the choir, a Democratic choir. Do they really think there won't be similar actions and speeches at the Republican convention?

The upcoming budget season for towns and cities here in the Granite State is going to be a tough one. It will be no less difficult for the state, with the governor calling for department heads to draw up two budgets: one tight, the other tighter. I expect it's not much different in other states, many of which are suffering from the same problems being seen here in New Hampshire.

The word is out across New Hampshire: money is tight and it's going to get worse. Town officials know their residents are having a tough time of it, with much higher fuel and food prices. The last thing the people need is to worry about paying higher property taxes or fees. It comes down to a choice of cutting budgets or raising taxes, and towns are looking very hard to hold the line on spending.

But even town officials are feeling the effects of higher oil prices, with the cost of heating fuel, gasoline, diesel, and asphalt going up. Even if the overall town budgets do not increase, the towns will need to change priorities, shifting funds from other programs and departments in order to cover the increased energy costs. Some towns will defer maintenance on roads or other infrastructure for a year, hoping energy prices will fall or that the economy will recover sufficiently to take the strain off of the individual taxpayer's budgets.

One challenge both the state and the towns will have to meet is declining revenues. Revenues from building permits and vehicle registrations have fallen off as the economy has tightened, meaning even more work needed for the budgeting process.

At the state level, revenue projections from the last bloated budget were woefully optimistic, with the revenue shortfall expected to be $200 million by the end of the biennium. (The state of New Hampshire runs under a two-year budget.) With the drop in revenues from the same decrease in vehicle registrations, as well as fuel taxes, cigarette taxes, and a host of other user fees and business taxes, the state must tighten its belt, too. The governor ordered some spending cuts to reduce that shortfall, but more cuts will be needed to erase the rest of the deficit even if those cuts are made for the upcoming two-year budget. At this point raising taxes would be a non-starter, particularly if state legislators want to be re-elected this November.

Some hard choices will need to be made.

At the state level, rolling back the outrageous 17.5% budget increase of the present budget would be a good start. Much of the state revenue shortfall can be blamed on the oversized budget and the unrealistic revenue estimates used to justify the increases. (The revenue projections for 2007-2008 were unrealistic even without the big boost in energy prices and softening economy, so the blame cannot be laid entirely on those two issues.)

At the town and city level, the choices will be harder. The effects of budget cuts and tax increases are felt and seen in very shortly after they take effect. When budgets are cut oft times they lead to lay offs of town employees, reduction in overtime, reduction of office hours, cutbacks in extracurricular activities at the schools, loss of tutors and teaching assistants, and so on. Tax increases, particularly during troublesome economic times, leads to loss of homes by taxpayers unable to pay their property taxes. Businesses will defer paying their property taxes in order to offset increase costs and decreasing income in other areas. This leaves the towns in the lurch because revenues fall off even more. It's a Catch-22, with everyone in town caught in between. The town budgeting process will have to balance the two needs, perhaps erring on the side of caution and making painful cuts to town spending. But it's something everyone can understand, something most of us have had to do with our own budgets when money is tight. Non-essentials, the want-to-haves, are put aside to meet needs. And so it must go with town spending. It's going to be interesting times around here for the next few months.

Now if we could only get the federal government to do the same thing.

We've survived the first night of the Democratic National Convention, the only high points being speeches by Ted Kennedy and Michelle Obama. Let's see what the Democrats have in store for us tonight.

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Tonight's headliner? The big speech delivered by Hillary Clinton.

There's no doubt this isn't the speech she was hoping to be making at the convention.

The question about her speech has got to be this: Will it be what she says, or how she says it that will be remembered?

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Is this 1992 all over again?

Apparently the state of the US economy is the number one issue of the campaign at this point, with the war in Iraq being a distant second. Can Obama win based upon economic issues just as Bill Clinton did 16 years ago, even though the economy isn't nearly as bad as the media and the campaign rhetoric make it out to be?

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There was a slew of speakers tearing into John McCain during today's convention session. That in and of itself is no surprise. But at least they could have been original rather than reading from the same script.

As far as they're concerned John McCain isn't enough of a Democrat because he supported some of George Bush's moves in regards to the War on Terror, the economy, and energy policy. He's guilty of being a Bush clone because he's a Republican!

I wasn't aware John McCain was supposed to be running against Obama as a Democrat.

Someone inform the media!!

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After a video paying tribute to Hillary Clinton, she was introduced by her daughter, Chelsea. Call it a rhyme, an echo of last night's headliner, Michelle Obama.

The video was well done, no doubt about it.

I wish I could say her rhetoric was as well done. At least she let everyone know that she's proud. She said it often enough.

She claims George Bush's leadership has failed over the past eight years. I guess she has a short memory. All one needs to do is remember September 11th, rousting of the Taliban out of Afghanistan, chasing Obama bin Laden into Waziristan and making him nothing more than a tinny voice heard every once in a blue moon when an audio tape could be smuggled out of the mountains where bin Laden hides. I certainly don't call that a failure.

She laid out a lot of plans for a Democrat-dominated government - the House, the Senate, and the White House - implying that all would be cured once that day came. The lame would walk, the blind would see, the ignorant made smart, our enemies made to melt away, the economy would magically heal itself, oil would flow from every faucet, our teachers made powerful, our children indoctrinated, global warming reversed to bring on a new Ice Age, partisanship eliminated by eliminating political opponents, make the government the provider of all things and the controller of all our lives. After all, we aren't capable of making decisions for ourselves.

Yeah, and pigs will fly.

She also slammed John McCain, making it appear he is nothing more than George Bush in other clothing. I think McCain's voting record says otherwise.

She mentioned our country has been around for 232 years. I fear that if the Democrats get their way, America will likely become unrecognizable, and our freedoms and our economy will fade away. We will likely become more and more like Europe and something unique will have died, and done so to the adulating cries of "Obama! Obama! Obama!"

She used every cliché in the book.

No surprise there.

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And so the second night of the convention comes to a close.

First, I am not claiming to be unbiased in my reporting on the Democratic National Convention in Denver. While I will report on some of the speeches and activities taking place there, I will also be offering my opinions about them as well. I will do my best to separate the two such that anyone reading my posts will be able to differentiate the two. But I'm not perfect, so please bear with me. If I get it wrong, feel free to tell me. The only thing I ask is that anyone doing so be polite. Invective/expletive laden comments will be ignored and deleted. Period.

Second, I will not be covering every minute of the convention. I have a life that requires me to go out and earn a living in order to pay a mortgage, bills, and web hosting fees, as well as a family that requires my attention, including helping my son get ready to enter high school in a couple of days. Get used to it.

With those caveats in mind, Let's get started.

Note: Newer entries are at the bottom.

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A report on this evening's ABC News Tonight brings up one of the paradoxes of the Convention: Obama has promised he will not take money from Washington lobbyists, yet it is many of those lobbyists and the corporations/industries they represent paying for much of the convention costs. As the report states, it is a loophole in the law that allows corporations and their lobbyists to donate money to a nominee.

I have no doubt we'll see exactly the same thing for the Republican convention as well.

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Why is it that just about everyone making a speech about Barack Obama at this point (7:30PM EDT) focus so much on the fact that he was raised by a single mother? Is this supposed to give him some kind of street cred?

I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't brought up by just about every speaker. I have little doubt the convention delegates will soon tire of it as well.

"Alright already! We know he was raised by a single mom! Give it a rest, willya?"

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There's lots of mid to late 1970's R&B music filling interludes between speakers. Aretha Franklin, War, and Earth, Wind & Fire, just a name few of the covers being performed. I've got nothing against R&B, being a fan from way back. I only hope they aren't sending a message that Obama wants to take us back to those days. You know, the days of Jimmuh Carter, high unemployment, deep recession, oil embargos, and hostage crises.

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During one of the early Q&A sessions, it seems all the answers started the same way: "We won't do it like Bush did. Obama will do it better." And then the answers would address the specific question. One of the most common questions dealt with health care and the answer was always some variation of universal health care funded by the government. Questions about jobs drew answers about trade and how Obama would make sure no more jobs would go overseas.

My question about the last part: How will he prevent that? Will we see a return of the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act? Will he abrogate NAFTA?

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Senator Ted Kennedy spoke a few moments ago (around 10 PM EDT), showing little ill effect from his brain tumor and treatments. He hasn't lost his oratorical touch, bringing the delegates to their feet, cheering "Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!"

He brought up one of his favorite subjects, universal health care, something he's championed for decades. He reminded us about the triumphs of his brother JFK, and pointed out that an American flag still stands on the moon, one of JFK's legacies. He also made mention about Obama's promise to not get our armed forces involved "in a mistake."

He echoed some of Obama's sentiments, saying we are the United States.

There was little he said that surprised me, though I have to comment upon his next to the last statement.

It must be great to be prescient, knowing in advance what will and won't be a mistake. I didn't realize this was one of Obama's talents. It usually only in hindsight we see what actions were mistakes, and which were not.

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After showing a film about Michelle Obama made by the DNC, narrated by her mother, and an introduction by her brother, she made her keynote speech to the delegates on this, the opening night of the convention.

My first impression? She's a much better speaker than either Teddy Kennedy or her husband.

She mentioned Barack's being brought up by a single mother, and by his grandparents. I knew that was inevitable. But it didn't sound cheesy like it did when brought up the speakers preceding her. At least not the first time she mentioned it. She delved into Barack's history and the work he did leading up to his decision to run for President, working to make him sound almost Lincolnesque.

She did manage to work in some praise for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, though only in passing.

She also managed to create entire classes of victims, implying nothing good can come from working hard unless Obama makes it happen. Does she mean to say that unless Obama is elected that we'll see the breadlines return like those seen during the Great Depression? It sounded like it to me.

She did manage to wrap up her speech on the right note, trying to link all the various groups supporting Obama's run for the White House.

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And so ends the first night of the Democratic Convention.

The 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver begins in a few hours and already opinions are flying fast and furious about Obama, his Veep choice, Hillary, and the love affair that the MSM and the Hollywood illuminati have with the presumptive Democratic nominee. The party's barely started and already I'm staring to feel a bit overloaded and weary. All I can do is hope the actuality of the convention will be far more interesting and entertaining than the hype from both sides.

I am also looking forward to seeing the post-convention polls, as I wonder whether the usual post-convention "bump" will materialize or be a non-event much like the polls following Obama's running mate selection.

Stay tuned....

It's been a busy day here at Weekend Pundit, meaning this will be a rather brief edition of Thoughts On A Sunday.

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It was BeezleBub's last day working full time at the farm this summer. As school starts Wednesday and his normal day off is Monday, it didn't seem prudent for him to work Tuesday as he'll be busy enough getting ready for school. He'll still put in a full day on Saturdays until the after the farm stand closes the weekend before Halloween.

As he told me the other day, he's looking forward to starting school so he "can get some rest."

That's my boy!

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Now that the 2008 Summer Olympics Games have come to a close, we can start paying attention to a real circus - the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver.

I'll be blogging about the convention for Weekend Pundit and Dodgeblogium, the latter to provide some Yankee insight into the convention for the British readers of Andrew Ian Dodge's blog.

This is something I did for the New Hampshire Primary and Andrew asked me to comment upon the conventions as well.

As I wrote to Andrew when responding to his request, "I have a feeling the Democratic Convention will be quite...umm...dramatic."

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And speaking of the convention, it hasn't even started, yet there are already anti-war protests. One of those protesting is Cindy Sheehan. She is so yesterday and so pathetic.

There are plenty of Gold Star Mothers I know that would give her a run for her money, particularly since she wouldn't be able to claim some kind of moral superiority over them because they lost children to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, too.

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A post-veep announcement poll shows there's been no bounce for Obama, with the presidential race remaining a dead heat.

That's got to be encouraging for McCain.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where school starts soon enough, politics follows close behind, and we're still hoping for another two months of boating.

Obama announced his selection of running mate early Saturday morning. I must admit some surprise.

While Joe Biden does have the experience Barack Obama does not, I find it puzzling Obama would choose someone who's been one of his biggest critics during the primary season. Even with Obama's claims he wanted someone who would challenge him, I wouldn't think he'd choose someone that made some interesting charges about the Illinois senator's lack of experience and numerous gaffes. Or that he'd choose someone who claimed there's was no way he'd settle for the vice presidential slot. Yet he chose Biden, and Biden accepted.

I don't know if this gamble will help or hurt Obama's chances. I'd like to think he's managed to shoot himself in the foot with his choice, taking on someone with his own set of well documented foibles and mis-steps, some which prevented him from becoming the Presidential nominee more than once. He's also managed to piss off a large block of potential supporters by selecting someone from the Old Guard of the Democratic Party and not someone 'new', and specifically not someone female, as many Hillary Clinton supporters had hoped. To paraphrase the old Knight Templar in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, "He has chosen poorly."

If nothing else it will give John McCain's campaign plenty of fodder to use against Obama, painting him as not capable of making good, sound choices. It's quite possible Obama has just lost the election, even before the convention in Denver. McCain can seal Obama's fate with a good selection of his own. It will be interesting to see if McCain will make smart choice for his running mate.

It seems to be the season of tax revolts around the nation, with one taxpayer group working hard to repeal the Massachusetts income tax. Now another tax revolt is brewing in neighboring Connecticut, where education costs are eating up more tax dollars at a rate far above that of inflation.

Both states are as blue as can be, yet the taxpayers have had just about enough of the profligate spending in each state, with little sign the respective legislatures or governors will curb spending and lessen the tax burden on the residents.

In Connecticut, a state with one of the highest overall tax burdens, education costs are rising far too fast and the taxpayers aren't getting their money's worth. In the past 25 years the student population in the Nutmeg State has grown about 10%, but costs have almost tripled during that time. A state income tax was imposed to help lessen the burden of local property taxes and the state sales tax, which at one point was over 8%. While the sales tax dropped, property taxes continued to rise.

It was the triple whammy of quickly rising property taxes and the double hit of state income and sales taxes that forced the WP Parents sell off their retirement home in Connecticut and relocate to New Hampshire. Too much of their retirement income was being eaten up by the taxes they were paying and it no longer made sense for them to remain there. A home that had been in our family for over three generations was lost because local and state spending was out of control. My parents weren't the only ones forced into taking such actions, nor will they be the last.

A look at the West Coast, specifically California, shows a similar situation, where state and local spending is outstripping the ability of the taxpayers to fund it all. State spending is seriously out of balance, with a deficit of $15 billion and no state budget as of yet, and a proposal by Governor Schwarzenegger to boost the state sales tax. One thing California can least afford is raising taxes at a time when everyone is struggling with making ends meet. This can only fuel a tax revolt.

There are tax cap referendums in Nevada and Florida, where the people have also had enough of the endless tax increases with little to show for all the money those states are collecting.

Even here in New Hampshire the taxpayers have watched the state legislature boost spending by 17.5% while failing to fund the budget increase, seriously inflating revenue estimates to justify the increased spending. The taxpayers aren't in the mood to fund such a bloated budget when they're still dealing with tax increases in their own towns and cities.

The conditions for a tax revolt are ripe. And it's about time the tax-and-spend politicians from both parties realize that...or they may need to start looking for new jobs after November.

Received via e-mail:

An interesting view of the upcoming Presidential elections in the US from our cousins in Ireland...a point to ponder regardless of your political affiliations.

We, in Ireland, can't figure out why you people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.

On one side, you had a pants wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer who can't seem to keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is married to yet another lawyer, who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run!

Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate 'Mc' terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship!!

What in God's name are ye' lads thinkin' o'er in the colonies?!

Indeed.

Why is it this does not surprise me?

With calls for more alternative energy sources, in many cases mandated by state laws, the so-called environmentalists are fighting tooth and nail to make sure that those alternative energy sources will not see the light of day.

Oh, they make all of the appropriate noise about making the move away from the use of fossil fuels, particularly coal, for generating electricity. But once plans for wind farms or solar electric facilities are proposed, those same environmentalists then protest against the power lines needed to get that power to the consumers.

So what is their real agenda?

To control the populace by controlling access to the sources of energy.

In other words, the liberal push for alternatives has the look of a huge bait-and-switch. Washington responds to the climate change panic with multibillion-dollar taxpayer subsidies for supposedly clean tech. But then when those incentives start to have an effect in the real world, the same greens who favor the subsidies say build the turbines or towers somewhere else. The only energy sources they seem to like are the ones we don't have.

They give with one hand and take away with the other.

It's interesting that Republicans and Democrats have a different definition of the term "Swift boating".

To the Democrats it's the attempt to smear an opponent with innuendo and straw man arguments.

To the Republicans it's calling into question claims made by an opponent when veterans that served with that opponent debunk claims he made both during Congressional hearings in 1971 and during his presidential campaign.

During the 2004 Presidential race a number of US Navy veterans that served with Democratic candidate John Kerry on swift boats in Vietnam disputed claims he made, including his memories of being in Cambodia quite some time before President Nixon authorized US military personnel to pursue NVA regulars and the remnants of the Viet Cong into countries bordering North and South Vietnam. They disputed claims about how he received his three Purple Hearts. One of those vets was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. So, who would you believe?

In 2008 the Democrats are trying to turn the tables on the Republican candidate, John McCain, by making claims he plagiarized an incident that he recounts took place while being help as a POW in North Vietnam, saying the scene came right out of Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.. The problem with the Democrats' claim? It's untrue.

First, McCain had a number of other POWs that backed up his claim. Second, Gulag Archipelago wasn't published until 1973. The POWs recall McCain had related his tale in 1970, and other POWs had related the same kind of incident as McCain. So, who would you believe?

It looks like summer has returned, at least for the next few days or so. It figures. There's only a week and half before BeezleBub goes back to school. We have plans to make the most of our mutual day off tomorrow, with as much time out on the lake as we can possibly squeeze in.

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I caught Chris Matthews this morning while waiting for BeezleBub to get ready for work.

Matthews brought up an interesting point about Barack Obama's campaign: He's running against George Bush and not John McCain. Even an NBC/WSJ poll shows many of Obama's supporters believe he's running on an "I'm not George Bush" platform. The problem is that he's supposed to be running against JohnMcCain.

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John McCain has turned Obama's campaign slogan ("Change we can believe in!") against him, stating change in and of itself isn't good if it's the wrong kind of change, and that Obama is offering nothing but the wrong kind of change, and too much of it too quickly.

McCain says he's also for change, but for change that will revive the economy, not send it down the tubes as Obama's proposals will certainly accomplish.

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John Stossel tackles job discrimination, specifically age discrimination.

Most everyone says anti-discrimination laws are good laws, especially those that protect older workers.

But they're not.

It's one thing if someone is fired merely because of their age (sometimes triggered by the fact they get paid more for a particular job than someone far youger), but what if they're fired merely because their position no longer meets the need of the employer? Should the anti-discrimination laws protect someone under those circumstances? Of course not. But to hear some folks talk, you'd think that no one over a certain age should be fired for any reason because "it's discrimination."

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It seems the ink is barely dry on the cease fire agreement between Georgia and Russia before Russia shows its true stripes and continues to spread its forces through more territory in Georgia. Despite claims that they're there to ensure order in the separatists provinces in Georgia, it's really about control of natural resources.

Georgia has pipelines that carry oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan to the Black Sea that bypass Russia. Putin doesn't like that because it means he can't control the energy supplies to the rest of Europe, meaning he can't control Europe. The answer? Create a situation in Georgia to "protect ethnic Russians" allowimg Russia to seize those oil and natural gas facilities, and hence, control of the flow of energy in to Europe.

It's nothing but theft writ large by an authoritarian kleptocrat that will allow no competition.

(Before you write, I know Putin is no longer President of Russia, but Prime Minister. However, President Medvedev is nothing but a figurehead, a puppet for Putin to control. Medvedev may speak the words, but they were written by Putin.)

But it's quite possible Putin's move on Georgia has backfired on him. It has also been suggested that in order to prevent Russia's use of the "ethnic Russian" excuse, it would be cheaper for Eastern European nations to pay the ethnic Russians in their countries to return to Russia than to spend money to defend themselves from Russian incursions.

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Dennis Prager explains why he is not a liberal.

The following is a list of beliefs that I hold. Nearly every one of them was a liberal position until the late 1960s. Not one of them is now.

- I believe that the bigger government gets and the more powerful the state becomes, the greater the threat to individual liberty and the greater the likelihood that evil will ensue. In the 20th century, the powerful state, not religion, was the greatest purveyor of evil in the world.

- I believe that the United States of America, from its inception, has been based on the Judeo-Christian value system, not secular Enlightenment values alone, and therefore the secularization of American society will lead to the collapse of America as a great country.

- I believe that the American military has done more to preserve and foster goodness and liberty on Earth than all the artists and professors in America put together.

- I believe that the trial lawyers associations and teachers unions, the greatest donors to the Democratic Party, have done great harm to American life -- far more than, let us say, oil companies and pharmaceutical companies, the targets of liberal opprobrium.

And those are only a few of the reasons he lists for not being a liberal. I happen to agree with every single one.

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Will the four-day work week become more common? Unlike the mandated 35-hour workweek in France, this is something that businesses in the US have been considering in an effort to reduce energy usage and decrease the commuting costs for their employees. Some businesses also see the move as a way to retain existing employees as well as attracting new ones.

The hours worked during the week will remain the same, meaning four 10-hour workdays, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with many workers.

I know I'm more than willing to make that kind of change, my employer having experimented with that kind of schedule during summer months a few years ago. It made for a great summer with more leisure time available without the need to burn vacation time to enjoy it. And while my commute to work isn't all that long - 8 miles one way - plenty of my fellow employees commute quite some distance would be able to cut that commute by 20% each week, meaning more of their money stays in their pockets. That's one heck of an incentive.

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Ace of Spades believes John McCain had it all over Barack Obama at Saddleback. To quote Drew, "If I were Obama and his people, I'd be trying to figure out how to get out of the debates. The two of them just aren't in the same league."

That's not news to me.

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The AEGIS weapons system, consisting of the AEGIS radar and Standard Missile series of anti-aircraft/anti-missile interceptors has undergone continuous development since the late 1970's. I worked on some of the radar subsystems and SM-2 guidance subsystems when I was employed by Raytheon. Even then the system was awesome. Today it's even more so, with the ability to intercept sub-orbital warheads and low altitude satellites, giving it the means to provide greater protection to carrier battle groups as well as naval ships operating in littoral waters during close to shore/amphibious operations.

That's a capability we only dreamed about way back when.

(H/T Instapundit)

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer weather has returned, boating is now possible, and where many of us still have lawns that badly need mowing.

With the Democratic Party Convention a little over a week away, the hype about the Veepstakes is approaching a fever pitch. While Senator Obama has remained mum about possible running mates, the media has certainly been having a field day, taking odds on who Obama might pick.

On the other hand, the media seems barely interested at this point about who John McCain will pick as his running mate. An informal, non-scientific poll over at Instapundit shows Sarah Palin as the frontrunner for the vice-presidential slot, with Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson showing second and third, respectively.

While Obama's choice may not be all that important (I figure there's no way he'll pick Hillary, for obvious reasons), McCain's choice will be vitally important, because it will make or break his run for the Oval Office. He has to choose someone that can actually replace him should he be unable to continue to hold the office of President. Let's face it, he's no spring chicken. Also, the true conservatives in the GOP only grudgingly support McCain, mainly because he's anything but a conservative in their eyes. McCain can capture the moderate voters in both parties all by himself, but he needs someone with the conservative credentials that will pull in the conservatives of the party while not turning off the moderates and the undecideds. That narrows his choices.

This should make Mitt Romney one of the last people McCain should choose, because too many in the GOP see him as a RINO (a Republican In Name Only), trying to wear the mantle of a conservative. But all anyone has to do is look at his record as governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to see he's no conservative. What proof do I have? That's easy: RomneyCare.

One thing McCain should do is choose someone not already in Congress. That pretty much leaves those holding office as a governor, or that formerly held office at state or federal level. That person will also have to have 'street cred' as an effective conservative that knows how to get things done. That narrows the field even more.

McCain must choose wisely. Frankly, by choosing Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, former US Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, or Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, he'll have a pretty good shot at being able to move into the White House next January.

All I can say is "Oww!!"

This is something I've believed for a long time: for most people college is a waste of time.

Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal:

First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn't meet the goal. We will call the goal a "BA."

You would conclude that your colleague was cruel, not to say insane. But that's the system we have in place.

Outside a handful of majors -- engineering and some of the sciences -- a bachelor's degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in a vocational major like business administration can mean anything from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered gut courses.

The solution is not better degrees, but no degrees. Young people entering the job market should have a known, trusted measure of their qualifications they can carry into job interviews. That measure should express what they know, not where they learned it or how long it took them. They need a certification, not a degree.

The CPA exam is one example used to illustrate how certification would serve much better than a degree. Anyone can take the CPA exam. Anyone passing it has proven they know what they're doing. Plenty of people with degrees in Accounting, even from prestigious institutions of higher learning, fail the CPA exam. The degree doesn't mean you know your supposed area of expertise. Certification does.

I've known plenty of people with engineering degrees incapable of designing or analyzing designs worth a darn, and plenty of people without engineering degrees that were the best damn engineers I've ever had the privilege of knowing or working with. Engineering has something similar to the CPA called PE, or Professional Engineer. Like the CPA exam, it is a standardized exam that certifies the engineer is indeed a master in their field. It is not an easy exam to pass. If you pass it, you've proven you know your subject and can add the coveted P.E. after their name. (In case you're wondering, I have not taken the PE. I'm pretty decent engineer and I make a good living from it, but I doubt I'd pass it the first ten or twenty times I take it.)

There are plenty of people out there with college degrees that, once they have them, end up working so far outside their field of study it seems the degrees they have aren't worth they paid to get them. It's like the old joke that goes something like this:

The scientist asks "What laws of nature define why this happens and can I recreate it?"

The engineer asks, "How can I make this work?"

The marketer asks, "How many of these can I sell and for what kind of profit margin?"

The person with the BA in English asks "Do you want fries with that?"

Yes, it's silly, overblown, and does not reflect reality...or at least it didn't only a few decades or so ago. So many people have degrees they spent four years and a lot of money to obtain, yet they haven't necessarily opened the doors to success that so many of us have been told will open once we have a degree. In reality, the degrees mean nothing. It's what you know. It doesn't matter how you came about that knowledge or experience, only that you have it. That should be the real criteria for so many of the so-called professional jobs out there. Certification is one way to prove that you do have that knowledge and/or experience.

Is it likely changing to certification rather than a degree will ever come to be? I doubt it. But it is something worth thinking about. And it might save a lot of people four years worth of time and money that could be better used to actually learn what it is they need to know.

You may have noticed there are a few changes to the look of the blog.

Skip has been working on getting things squared away, changing the sidebar (at some point) which will restore all the links I used to have, a new banner photo (which is already there...and which looks nothing like the one on the old blog site. New banner for new URL!) The banner photo will (hopefully) change with the seasons, much as used to do at the old blog site.

Weekend Pundit will not be recreating the old color scheme, as much as I liked it, because the new one is far more readable, or so some folks have told me.

Comments work, though I haven't yet instituted Captcha, which requires a commenter to enter randomly displayed letters in order to post their comments.

The blog may look weird from time to time as Skip and I work out the settings and widgets and stuff. So please bear with us.

The latest McCain-bashing ads by the Obama campaign and the DNC lambastes him for taking campaign money from the oil industry. Of course that same ad mentions nothing about Obama accepting campaign money from the oil industry as well.

Barack Obama...is up with television spots that accuse Mr. McCain of being "in the pocket of Big Oil" before touting a plan for a windfall profits tax.

But wait. According to FEC data examined by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in a new report released this past week, Exxon executives and employees have broken in favor of Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain this election cycle -- by $41,100 to $35,166. Chevron's and BP's contribution margins also favor the Democrat -- by about $6,600 and $4,500, respectively. Guess those Democratic commercials now could use a footnote or two.

So it's OK for Obama to take oil money, but not John McCain? Talk about a double standard. Of course it could be a case of sour grapes as McCain has received more money from the oil industry in toto than Obama. Then again, McCain hasn't made promises to take away their profits with an ill defined "windfall" profits tax.

While yesterday provided weather we haven't seen in a while - a bright and sunny day - we didn't have as much as an opportunity to enjoy it as we might have.

I checked out the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout to make sure there was no damage caused by the series of thunderstorms that have ravaged the Lakes Region in New Hampshire the past few days. Heavy downpours dropping two or three inches of rain in less than half an hour caused flash flooding in a number of areas, and killing a 7-year old girl at a campground owned by friends of our family. Roads were washed out and tourist areas damaged, including the boardwalk and train tracks at Weirs Beach, one of the more popular summer destinations on the lake. We've had so much rain that we've already had more rainfall than is normal for the entire year.

The spring-like weather pattern given us sun in the mornings and showers and heavy thunderstorms in the afternoons and evenings. It's made for poor boating conditions for the WP family as most of our boating is usually done after work during the week and weekend and on Mondays (the only day off all three of us have off in common). We've managed a small portion of the boating we'd planned for the summer, all due to the weird weather pattern we've been experiencing for almost 2 months.

We had a sunny morning today, but by noon the thunderstorms and heavy downpours swept through the area. Some of the precipitation here at The Manse included pea-sized hail. We experienced a second round later in the afternoon.

So far the summer weather has been a real bummer.
 

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Is Russia's invasion of Georgia the start of an effort to rebuild the old Soviet empire? Or was the decision to do that based purely on being able to maintain an energy monopoly in Europe?

Either way, it appears the bad old days of the Cold War may return...with a vengeance.

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Speaking of the invasion of Russia, the responses of the two putative Presidential candidates illustrate one of the major differences between them. McCain's response sounded like something I would expect of a president, while Obama's was a "vapid statement that would ingratiate him with the State Department while not requiring any distraction from his Hawaii vacation."

John Hindraker concludes his post with something with which I cannot disagree:

It is often said that Obama is not ready to be President, but I don't think this is exactly right. It seems pretty obvious that Obama, given his temperament, his self-regard, his blithe ignorance of history and of the material conditions of life on this planet, will never be ready to be President. He is not unready: he is unsuited for, and inadequate to, the office.

'Nuff said.

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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Dr. Helen comments about an article claiming men in Scandinavia are being feminized against their will and the fallout from those efforts.

As interesting as her post is, it is the comments where the real action takes place.

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Professor Bainbridge reports on further collateral damage from the incompetence of the Prince George County police department and their raid on the residence of the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland. He also makes mention of the fact that the same kinds of mistaken raids on homes of those with black or brown skin are vastly under-reported by the media.

(H/T Instapundit)

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Soulmaster Isaac Hayes has died.

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Jay Tea, one of my favorite Wizbangians, gets into the definition of Orwellian, its relation to Obama, the Democrats, and efforts by leftist activists to silence dissent from the Right through intimidation and outright lies.

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The Jerusalem Post has a positive article about John McCain, character, honor, and humility...and how other Presidential candidates have little of what McCain in spades.

Is this a partisan piece? You betcha. So what?

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We've been watching the Olympics in Beijing. It's been a long time since I've had much interest in the Olympics, but this time around I've been watching whenever I can. Part of it may be the incredibly good coverage provided by NBC, some of the best I've seen in years. The rest might be explained by the location of this summer's Olympiad and the high quality of the competitors this time around.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is stuck in a spring pattern, flash flooding is a daily worry, and where we're still waiting to get back out on the lake.

Even while negotiations are ongoing with Iran about their nuclear program, one must wonder what plans Iran has for its nuclear weapons, assuming they succeed in developing them. While some have painted a picture where Islamic terrorists smuggle them into Israel or the US with the idea of obliterating cities in each country, I and others believe there's a much simpler means for Iran to achieve their goal of damaging, if not destroying the US, and ultimately, Israel.

It won't take a number of nuclear weapons in a number of cities to do the damage. All it will take is one. It won't need to be used in Washington, DC in order to decapitate the American government. It won't even need to be smuggled on to US soil.

All it takes is a single missile capable of carrying a warhead high above the atmosphere over the US. It does not need to descend to a designated target. All it needs to do is detonate, creating an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that will disrupt or damage electrical systems and damage or destroy electronics. With a single high altitude detonation, Iran's nuclear weapon could send portions of the US back to the mid-18^th Century. There will be little or no electrical generation, telecommunications will not work, and in short order, people will start dying. There will be no transportation, needed to move food, no electricity, needed to run every aspect of our modern life, and no communications, needed for everything from calling for help to running the government.

The...scenario is the one envisioned by a long-running commission to assess the threat from electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. The subject of its latest, and little discussed, report to Congress is the effect an EMP attack could have on civilian infrastructure.

An EMP attack occurs when a nuclear bomb explodes high in the Earth's atmosphere. The electromagnetic pulse generated by the blast destroys all the electronics in its line of sight. For a bomb detonated over the Midwest, that includes most of the continental U.S. Few, if any, people die in the blast. It's what comes next that has the potential to be catastrophic. Since an EMP surge wipes out electronics, virtually every aspect of modern American life would come to a standstill.

The commission's list of horribles is 181 pages long. The chapter on food, for instance, catalogs the disruptions up and down the production chain as food spoils or has no way to get to market. Many families have food supplies of several days or more. But after that, and without refrigeration, what? The U.S. also has 75,000 dams and reservoirs, 168,000 drinking water-treatment facilities, and 19,000 wastewater treatment centers -- all with pumps, valves and filters run by electricity.

Getting everything up and running again is not merely a matter of flipping a switch, and the commission estimates that many systems could be out of service for months or a year or more -- far longer than emergency stockpiles or batteries could cover. The large transformers used in electrical transmission are no longer built in the U.S. and delivery time is typically three years.

Do you think Iran wouldn't or couldn't pull off such an attack? Think again.

Iran has carried out missile tests for what could be a plan for a nuclear strike on the United States, the head of a national security panel has warned.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee and in remarks to a private conference on missile defense over the weekend hosted by the Claremont Institute, Dr. William Graham warned that the U.S. intelligence community "doesn't have a story" to explain the recent Iranian tests.

One group of tests that troubled Graham, the former White House science adviser under President Ronald Reagan, were successful efforts to launch a Scud missile from a platform in the Caspian Sea.

Another troubling group of tests involved Shahab-3 launches where the Iranians "detonated the warhead near apogee, not over the target area where the thing would eventually land, but at altitude," Graham said. "Why would they do that?"

The answer is simple: Replace the conventional warhead with a nuclear weapon and it's the exact launch and mission profile that would be used for an EMP attack. With their Shahab-3 boosters, all Iran would need to do is launch their missile from a freighter off the coast of the US in order to get a detonation over the central US. What's even worse is that we'd have only a few minutes warning from NORAD of the launch and there'd be little we could do about it except wait for the lights to go out.

While many of the military systems might survive such an attack, there would be little they could do, either. Unless Iran came right out and admitted they'd committed the attack or we otherwise had proof of their perfidy, the military wouldn't have a target to retaliate against. But if they did, about the only satisfaction we might have is to learn our military reduced Iran to radioactive slag.

Hardening our infrastructure to be resistant to EMP is something we must do if we are to take this particular weapon out of the hands of powers that have nothing but animosity towards the US. As a side effect, such hardening would also help protect our infrastructure from electrical and electronic disruption caused by massive solar flares. (A small consideration, but a beneficial one, nonetheless.)

It isn't only Iran we have to worry about. There are other antagonistic nations out there with nuclear capability that would love nothing better than to see America brought to its knees. But at the moment Iran appears to be the biggest threat in that regard.

I can understand when the police make a mistake when it comes to raids, but this one beggers the imagination.

Not only did the Prince George's County Police Department neglect to do any investigation about the home they were about to raid, they failed to identify themselves when they broke in the doors of the home they raided, were dressed in plain clothes, and since they failed to notify the local police department of their raid as they were supposed to could have easily ended up being shot by officers from that department. On top of that, the house they raided was the home of the mayor of the town where the raid took place. The County officers also shot and killed the mayor's two black Labs because they "felt threatened" by the dogs as they were running away from the raiders.

The lack of planning, minimal to non-existent investigation, violation of the conditions of the search warrant (no-knock warrants are not allowed in Maryland), and poor judgment during the raid has prompted an investigation of the County Police Department by the FBI.

So far no one from the County Police Department has offered an apology to the mayor, his mother-in-law, or the mayor's family for their error in judgment.

I have a feeling there will be a top to bottom change in the Prince George's County Police Department by the time all of this comes to an end. I also have a feeling a few law enforcement officers may soon find themselves in court, either criminal or civil.