Thoughts On A Sunday

Did you remember to turn your clock back 1 hour last night?

I know BeezleBub is happy we're back on Standard Time, because he dislikes having to get up and go to school when it's still dark out. But I think he's forgotten the downside to the time change: it will be getting dark an hour earlier, meaning very little time to get work done outside after school/work.

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We've started using the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove to heat The Manse, cutting back on the use of propane except for the water heater and the Official Weekend Pundit Clothes Dryer.

This year's firewood supply didn't come from the WP In-Laws, but from the farm where BeezleBub works between spring and fall. Farmer Andy gave us a good deal on wood, partly because BeezleBub helped cut and split a lot of it and partly because some of it is green (ash burns well even when it's green!).

Not having to travel to the WP In-Laws meant we also didn't need to borrow Submarine Tim's 1952 GMC Deuce-and-a-Half 6x6 to haul firewood back to The Manse. Instead Farmer Andy delivered, meaning all we had to do was stack it in the garage, the basement, or outside under cover.

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I don't know about other states, but the various voting polls in New Hampshire have been all over the place when it comes to showing which candidate is ahead or behind. Looking at the sample number, it's become apparent why this is so. In the past you'd expect a sample of 500 to 1000 of likely voters throughout the state. This year the sample sizes are down to approximately 250, meaning the accuracy of the polls are suspect despite claims the margin of error is around ±5%.

The falloff of sample sizes could be attributed to one or more of the following: fewer people are willing to spend time answering polls, fewer people are answering their phones when they see unknown numbers popping up on their Caller ID during this part of the campaign, and fewer people have wireline phones (more people use cell phones exclusively, not bothering with wireline phones).

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I heard from an old friend from my days working for a defense contractor. Luc and I have kept in touch from time to time over the years, bringing each other up to speed about what's been going on in our lives.

Luc's also a bit of a wiseguy, calling me last night and acting as an outraged reader of this blog, questioning me about my support of John McCain. It wasn't until he listed the qualifications he thought was needed to be President that I realized it was him.

Hi, Luc!

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Glenn Reynolds links to a Neil Munro piece that asks the question: Why is it Obama's campaign can't track online donations to names and addresses even when the technology exists to sort eligible donors from non-eligible donors?

McCain's campaign doesn't seem to have that problem. It certainly can't be that the Obama campaign doesn't have the funds to implement the use of that technology. Gee, could it be because they don't want to track those donors because too many of them have donated illegally?

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Bird Dog from Maggie's Farm has a message for Barack Obama: "Redistribute this!"

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Remember when Iraq was supposed to be a major issue in the presidential campaign? Since then Iraq has all but disappeared from the campaign rhetoric. Why? Because John McCain was right.

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I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this concept: Being against socialism and for charity is "selfish", at least according to the gospel of the Obamessiah.

Excuse me? Hearing this from someone that gives a pittance to charity, someone nominally Christian, makes me question both his faith and his politics. Government 'charity' is nothing of the sort. It is merely government sanctioned theft masquerading as a social do-gooding.

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If you think energy prices were high recently, just wait until Barack Obama works his magic on the coal industry and electric utilities.

We're acclimated to high electric rates here in New Hampshire, one of the side effects of the bankruptcy of Public Service of New Hampshire 20 years ago. At one point I was paying over 17¢/kWh (this was when I was up in the town of Plymouth, an area served by the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. NHEC was one of the other utilities damaged by the PSNH bankruptcy). But even so, under the Obama plan we would likely pay well above that, and not just here in the Northeast.

High oil prices certainly didn't help our economy, so how is this supposed to help?

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Boston icon Howie Carr gives us five reasons not to vote for Obama.

I agree with every one of them.

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And if five reasons not to vote for Obama aren't enough, how about 50 more?

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From GraniteGrok (again), here's another thing to think about before the election: Obama's fascist tendencies when it comes to dealing with people he doesn't like or those with the audacity to ask him questions he shouldn't have to answer in public.

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It's down to a little over a day left of campaigning for candidates across the board. It will be the last ditch effort by those seeking office to make their pitch to the voters. On Tuesday the only polls that count will open and the campaigning will end. The negative ads will cease and we'll have peace and quiet...until the next batch of presidential hopefuls start their campaigning for 2012 three weeks after this election.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where Eastern Standard Time has returned, warmer weather will make an appearance later this week, and where we're all waiting for all those campaign signs to disappear...for now.