10:14 – When I took Colin out this morning, I thought at first that our digital outdoor thermometer was reading 39F. It was actually 3.9F (-15.6C). Our lows this week are to continue being very cold. The Friday forecast is for 8″ (20 cm) of snow. None of this seems to bother Colin at all.
The heat pump is working fine. I periodically look at the thermostat, which has an indicator for Emergency (resistive) heat, and so far I haven’t seen it running in emergency mode. Of course, we have the woodstove in case of power failure, but I haven’t gotten around to burning it in yet, to burn off the chemical residue from the paint. We have a cord or more of “junk” wood in a pile out back. It’s rotting and has been sitting exposed to the elements for a long time, but I’m sure it’ll burn if we need it in an emergency. Burning much of it would probably glop up the flue with creosote, so I don’t plan to burn it unless we really need to.
Today I need to get our Obamacare situation straightened out. As of 1 January 2016, we changed from BCBS to United Healthcare, but they still have our address as Winston-Salem. I need to get that changed to Sparta and get our primary care physicians changed to up here as well.
I called Costco yesterday and canceled my order for the new notebook. The stamps.com software runs fine on Barbara’s Windows 8.1 notebook, and I should be able to use their web interface to print labels on my Linux system. If not, I’ll re-order a new notebook.
As Stephen Stills sang 50 years ago, “There’s battle lines being drawn.” As a libertarian, I find myself part of a group that’s too small to make a difference. Or perhaps I should say too disorganized. In fact, those who skew libertarian are probably about 25% of the population, which is more than the 15% or so that are true conservatives and the 10% or so who are classical liberals. Unfortunately, the other half are a collection of lefties, progressives, socialists, and populists.
I’m afraid that Kurt Schlichter’s article back in August–Hillary’s Hipster Army Prepares For The Second Civil War–may be prescient, except that it may not turn out as favorably as he foresees. There are already movements afoot in many red states to reclaim rights that the federal government has arrogated to itself over the last century. Those movements are still nascent, but growing. There has even been a call for a Constitutional Convention, which may gain momentum. Be careful what you wish for. But the real point is that conservatives, classical liberals, libertarians, and others opposed to a large, intrusive federal government are, as the saying goes, mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore.
I find myself increasingly sympathizing with the conservatives, even the Religious Right like Schlichter. I disagree profoundly with many of their positions on social and religious issues, but they may be the only thing standing between us and a complete progressive victory. If I have to choose, I’ll side with the so-called conservatives rather than with the progs every time.
RE: Political leanings: In my teens and early 20’s I was an anarchist. No rules, let everyone do what they like. Then one day I realized that in a true anarchy, my parents wouldn’t stand a chance. So I reformed to become a Libertarian. Now I am over 60, and dealing with a number of issues due to my fall off the Marin Headlands (California) last year, I realize that I can’t always take care of me and my own. So Libertarian it is.
BTW: While I was visiting the new Academy Sporting Goods store to pick up extra magazines for my carry weapon (great prices & great service) I noticed an ingenious item. Small stainless steel camping cup with a D-ring Locking Carabiner attached as a handle. It’s mounted in such a way that it can pivot to reduce space required when packed. I can see these hanging off my trail pack as a perfect solution. Bought 3 for about $3.49 each. But given my recent fall from a beautiful scenic cliff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, it may be a while till I get back on a trail.
@OFD – Fox News just had a short segment on the Saratoga WarHorse program for Veterans. They are in Saratoga Springs NY and Aiken SC. There may be something there for some folks in your VA group. Their home page is being slammed right now so access may be slow. I have also included their Facebook page, which is public so you do not need to sign in for information.
http://www.saratogawarhorse.com/
http://www.saratogawarhorse.com/about/our-program/
https://www.facebook.com/SaratogaWarHorse
“I find myself increasingly sympathizing with the conservatives, even the Religious Right like Schlichter. I disagree profoundly with many of their positions on social and religious issues, but they may be the only thing standing between us and a complete progressive victory. If I have to choose, I’ll side with the so-called conservatives rather than with the progs every time.”
Won’t make any difference if you stay home in November.
Well it looks like we will soon find out if there is any hope for the Supreme Court:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/supreme-court-to-rule-on-obama-immigration-orders-217860
“The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will take up a case challenging the legality of President Barack Obama’s executive actions aimed at granting quasi-legal status and work permits to up to five million people who entered the U.S. illegally as children or who have children who are American citizens.” …more…
Are we going to see a Summer of Rage in 2016?
This is the same supreme court that bent over backwards, turned themselves inside out, then stood on their heads and squinted- so they could find obastardcare legal?
If we’re unlucky, they’ll end up finding that every homeowner is now required to house at least 3 immigrants; and every woman currently lactating will suckle any of the 30 million who ‘just need a taste’ without regard to biological age, only their self reported age; and any guns currently owned by citizens must be immediately handed over to immigrants ‘for our own protection.’
When was the last time those black robed fucksticks made something better?
Heller? The question there is why it was even necessary to go hat in hand to the junta?
nick
I always considered myself a Libertarian but in recent years find myself moving more toward the Right.
The problem with Libertarianism is that people want the right to do what ever they want, but feel that the consequences for their actions should be shared by the rest of us. Unfortunately, the politicians, always willing to whore themselves out for a few more votes, support them with this.
Some examples:
Drug users – taxpayers on the hook for their rehab every time they decide to sober up.
Sexual revolution – how many little bastards and the welfare queens that spawned them are we currently supporting?
People not carrying health insurance – government says the hospitals have to treat them. Costs are passed on to the rest of us.
Lazy bums not willing to work – not allowed to let them starve, must supply food stamps and other free stuff.
I could go on but you get the picture.
As much as I’d like people to be able to do whatever they damn well please, I’ve grown weary of having to pay the bill, so the next best thing is to limit the bad behavior before it occurs.
I think you’re conflating Libertarian with Liberal (or idiot). The classical libertarian is more than happy to accept the consequences of his own actions. Today’s liberal is not the same thing, by a long shot.
Nor is today’s libertarian, who is usually more than willing to use any of those social backstops, “since they’re there anyway.”
Instead of dying from malnutrition and disease.
nick
JimL: I suspect most of the current population of so-called libertarians would fall more under the liberal heading than the classical libertarian heading.
Most people on this board are intelligent, ethical and responsible. I would have no problem with these people having the freedom to do whatever they desire. As far as the general population goes though, my experience is that the majority of those claiming to be libertarian are simply using the classification to justify their irresponsible behavior and have no intention of facing the consequences of their actions.
When was the last time those black robed fucksticks made something better?
+1000
Every ruling they make takes away a little more of our freedom, or does nothing.
RE: Oxygen Concentrators: we have two ‘floor’ machines due to SWMBO’s Pulmonary Hypertension diagnosis/treatment when we lived in Utah. They were rentals from the medical supply company, but we ‘owned’ them after one year of use (the company’s policy, I guess). Both still work. We leave one in Utah at the kid’s place for when we visit; the other is used when we travel (drive there) for use in the hotel. Both still work fine.
We got a portable one while in Utah, for use while living there (instead of dragging oxygen tanks around). Battery operated, extra batteries, worked well (I had to replace the power receptacle after it was out of warranty).
Then moved to Washington state, where SWMBO does not need oxygen (due to lower altitude). The portable was acting up on the last trip, so went looking for a replacement. Found a brand-new one (still in box) via Craigslist at an excellent price, so used that for the last trip to Utah. Both are still working, so have backups for when we travel.
Re: CPAP: have been on that for decade or more. Current mask is a small nasal pillow, which is very comfortable and doesn’t fall off at night. Current machine is connected to the local sleep apnea clinic (via wi-fi, I think), who monitor use and call when they notice problems.
The new nasal pillow devices are very small and comfortable.
Re: weather: currently 43F and cloudy, rain showers expected off/on for the next week.
“The question there is why it was even necessary to go hat in hand to the junta?”
There it is. +1 million.
How did we go from being citizens to submissive, kneeling, begging subjects?
As for the various comments regarding libertarian and conservative stuff; be advised that there are phony conservatives, too, and I believe the genuine article is best represented in print by dead white guys like the very late Edmund Burke and in our own age, Patrick J. Buchanan, who is still very much with us, and praise the Lord.
The other contemporary place for studying up on genuine conservative thought and ideas is through the pages of Chronicles Magazine and the Rockford Institute:
https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/
They discuss politics and economics but their main concern and focus is cultural, as culture applies to the West in general and this country in particular. They also regularly feature our greatest living historian, Professor Clyde Wilson.
As peeps here know, I make no secret of my paleoconservative and traditionalist Roman Catholic beliefs, but I also mostly favor “live and let live” and minding my own biz. I further believe that we will not only make no headway against the commie sons of bitches and traitors who’ve undermined us here in the West since the 1930s, or the musloid hordes in the beginning stages of implementing their worldwide Greater Caliphate, but also stand little chance of surviving; unless we join forces among genuine conservatives and libertarians and rational Christians.
Thanks for the Saratoga Warhorse program links, Mr. DadCooks; wife didn’t know about it but evidently the owner of the horse barns and horses where she rides ten miles up the road here wants to do something similar with veterans. I’ll see what else I can find out and show her the links accordingly.
I note that the vets groups I visit down in Burlap regularly have had various similar outdoor-type activities set up to help combat vets cope with the usual host of issues and symptoms, but I sense that it’s like pulling teeth to get us out in public and mixing with other people we don’t know. I don’t know how many guys, esp. in my age group, have gotten up and out to participate in these things, but I’m guessing not many. It’s a big effort for me, and I’m in comparatively good shape, mentally, lol, but we have a guy, for example, who goes shopping at the supermarket, loads up his carriage, and then has a panic episode and leaves it there and runs back out to his car. The postmaster woman around the corner here, currently a SFC with the Guard and a Sandbox vet of multiple deployments, will start crying outta nowhere, or taking her mom to a sporting goods store, will pull her mom to the floor and cover her because a kayak fell off the wall and made a big noise.
So we have some problems. The ex-jarhead with the shopping carriage has been outta the military and ‘Nam for 45+ years. And we’ve seen WWII vets suddenly break down and start bawling because of shit from over 70 years ago, and only just now are they acknowledging their situation.
I think we can safely figure that this was the case with pretty much all previous wars, too.
Regarding the so-called right/entitlement to healthcare:
Coming from a many generational line of family involved in healthcare (nurses in every generation since before the Revolution) Doctors and Hospitals used to provide care to everyone regardless of the depth of your wallet. You would pay what you could when you could, you (or your family) traded work and chickens for services rendered if you could. Then along came our gooberment, the socialists, and the insurance companies. Now the infrastructure to provide us with our health care is 100 times the number of people providing that care (sound like a big number, just think about). So the money that should go to the Doctor and Hospital goes to people who add no value to the system.
Yesterday Rush was talking about the differences between Conservatives, Constitutionalists, and Constructionists. I used to consider myself a Constitutionalist but realize now that I am more of a Constructionist. The young folks of today consider people like me to be stuck in the past, not progressive (a term they do not understand). Well they are right, I am as I take the cornerstones and foundation of the past as my base: e.g., 10 Commandments, Mayflower Compact, Federalist Papers, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights — none of which are taught in school today (primary, secondary, or higher “education”).
Our Founding Fathers warned of the creation of political parties. Too bad we did not take their warning to heart.
You know what our biggest problem is? We keep reverting to the worst parts of our tribal/clannish past and lose sight of what true tolerance, moral values, and self responsibility are (you cannot legislate any of those).
Well it looks like we will soon find out if there is any hope for the Supreme Court:
It would have been better if they’d let thee lower court ruling stand, but at least they are forcing the administration prove how it is legal. I fear they will accept whatever the laywers come up with.
The Free States of America will have pockets of insurgency.
Here in Texas, the capital will need to be relocated from Austin and barriers built around the Travis County freak show. Since he is very familiar with the situation, having only lost those precincts in his first run for Texas Governor, the wall will be President Abbott’s first executive order.
Keep Austin Weird!
“…e.g., 10 Commandments, Mayflower Compact, Federalist Papers, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights…”
Agreed. Throw in the Magna Carta for some medieval flavor and also take a look at the “Anti-Federalist Papers,” written by people who had some problems with the deliberations up to the Convention. Also, Mercy Otis Warren’s history of the American Revolution. Very much worth a reading of the secret proceedings of the Constitutional Convention in 1789, too. Deals were struck in back rooms and we are the worse for them.
“The Free States of America will have pockets of insurgency.”
No doubt. And our best wishes for the great Lone Star State, from Vermont, where we had the Vermont Republic for fourteen years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont_Republic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vermont_Republic
In the latter situation, as with many other dissident organizations, parties and groups in the last couple of decades, too much political infighting, factionalism, and the loss of various leading lights. And massive unrelenting apathy and indifference among Murkan derps who think the free ride goes on forever and the State will take care of them likewise.
Probably most of the people who frequently visit here have read most or all of those documents. Alas, among the general population probably very few have read them or, if they have, remember little or nothing about them.
“Alas, among the general population probably very few have read them…”
Well, one problem is that apparently few of them CAN read. Another problem is that most of them DON’T read and don’t care. It’s all pixels now, whether the tee-vee, pooter, cell phone or iPad. We see the Entitled fugly sisters here on either side of us walking back and forth in front of the house daily with butts hanging outta their gobs and eyes glued to their taxpayer- or parent-supplied iPads and cell phones, they don’t even look up as a gigantic plow truck blasts by them. And these are just white trash types; when I was strolling around the waterfront area of Beantown a few months ago, I swear just about everybody I saw walking was looking at their phones and tablets as they walked, never looking up. Well-dressed young peeps with jobs in the district, obviously. Books to these people are like unto the spinning wheel and horse-drawn buggy.
Where do y’all think these folks will end up if and when the SHTF in this country? Among them are our own children and nephews and nieces and grandchildren….
Being a cold and callous person, I guess that the entertainment world can breathe a sigh of relief now that the rule of threes has been fulfilled. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Glenn Frey.
Where do y’all think these folks will end up if and when the SHTF in this country? Among them are our own children and nephews and nieces and grandchildren….
A slow boat to dystopia. Massive slums and ghettos everywhere, all with brand new phones and tvs. Walled and enclosed communities of people with means. The land of Babel (many languages). Many, many robots according to this incoherent article:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-robot-revolution-will-take-5-million-jobs-from-humans/
“Keep Austin Weird!”
Austin isn’t nearly as Weird as what I saw in Portland.
Austin wants to be like Portland and Seattle, but I speak from experience when I say that people in those cities actually use the much-touted public transportation systems to get to work … well, during daylight hours anyway, before the dystopia surrounding the downtowns creeps in after sunset.
“A slow boat to dystopia.”
Yo, a nominee/finalist innernet winnah for 2day.
Assuming no massive breakdown and second civil war.
“… before the dystopia surrounding the downtowns creeps in after sunset.”
Worcester, Maffachufetts, circa 2006, when I was working downtown as an IT drone for a nightmarish family-owned flustercluck operation. Cover for the second shift operator who’d been there seventeen years (running VAX/VMS, OpenVMS and mostly two monster HP printers for their endless friggin’ reports) and get out at midnight or thereabouts. The immediate downtown streets owned by some Hispanic gang or other and just a couple of blocks away, swarms of UN-variety underclass and white trash scumbags. Nobody ever bothered me, though, for some odd reason.
Naturally if there was an evening event at the Centrum or one of the cultural entertainment buildings downtown, there was a bigger LE presence, but after that, not much of anything. I woulda been on my own. And if attacked, had already made the decision to blow whomever to Kingdom Come and shove the corpse into some alley or down a storm drain.
Listen carefully to the MSM, there has been a subtle but IMHO significant change recently to how the MSM is referring to Cankel’s email servers and the FBI, it is the servers that are going to be indicted by the FBI.
Remember the old saying that a good prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich, well get ready.
There is no self responsibility anymore, “the gun made me do it”.
@OFD, thanks for reminding me about the Magna Carta and more. I surprised myself this morning that I was able to pry as much as I did from the cobwebs of my mind.
It depresses me that so much of my knowledge is now a fog. At least my Son has an interest in history and the documents of the past. He is my mouthpiece.
“… it is the servers that are going to be indicted by the FBI.”
Oh sure, you bet. We’ll get those Microslop servers up there on the stand and swear their sorry asses in and begin the exam and cross immediately. Subpoena those emails and also the sorry-ass sys and network admin drones who maintained them. Focus all the media attention on that stuff and not Cankles herself. Perfect.
“Remember the old saying that a good prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich…”
Absolutely. And also go to jail.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/11/25/sol_wachtler_the_judge_who_coined_indict_a_ham_sandwich_was_himself_indicted.html
“It depresses me that so much of my knowledge is now a fog. At least my Son has an interest in history and the documents of the past. He is my mouthpiece.”
Outstanding. You and he might wanna consider a weekend at a Project Appleseed shindig:
http://appleseedinfo.org/
I guess I consider myself a pragmatic libertarian. I was raised in a conservative household and, like many kids, adopted the political view of my parents for a time. As I got older and got outside the bubble I’d been living in most of my young life my views moved toward libertarianism.
I push for libertarian principles while observing the following realities:
– We have a public school system and that is NEVER going to go away.
– Welfare programs, especially for children, are NEVER going to go away.
– Single payer health care will eventually be the law of the land
– Social Security is NEVER going to go away.
It’s a huge shit sandwich to take a bite of, but that’s the world in which we live. There’s what SHOULD happen and there’s what WILL happen. I cannot take an honest assessment of voting Americans as a whole and come to any other conclusion. The inmates are running the asylum.
We’ll see about the publik skool system; technology and the innernet may do away with it sooner or later; it’s is insanely stupid to keep paying billions for substandard skools that can’t do their job, cave in to commie teacher unions and administrators forever, and do all this in the face of declining enrollments and crumbling infrastructure.
Welfare will disappear, and likewise SS, when the money runs out, and to be fiscally honest and be able to do basic arithmetic, the money ran out a long time ago; $20 trillion that the buggers ADMIT to being in hock for, when the actual number is ten times that. Chickens come home to roost, like pigeons.
Healthcare? The plan is to smush it all together in a giant pile with SS, Medicare, Medicaid, ObolaCARE, our 401k’s, Roths, private pensions, state and Fed retirements, etc., that they will purport to distribute in a fair and equitable fashion while they loot it RUTHLESSLY behind our backs, until it’s gone and the top dawgs have skimmed off the cream, per usual SOP in this country.
We eat shit sandwiches but we don’t get the bread with it.
Whether Murkan derps vote or not makes zero difference to what the rulers intend here in the short and long term. They probably think it’s pretty funny that some peeps still do.
https://pjmedia.com/parenting/2016/01/18/scientists-think-eating-poop-may-help-you-lose-weight/
Oh well hell, I’ve been eating other peoples’ shit for decades. I should be thin as a friggin’ whippet but I’m not, so I tend to think that this is just so much………bullshit.
“Scientists think poop eating may help you lose weight”
Shows you the sad state of what passes for a scientist these days. They used to have swelled heads, now they are just shit heads. 😉
Scientists think poop eating may help you lose weight
I’ve mentioned that here before. There is substantial evidence that much of the obesity in the US and elsewhere is caused by your gut biome. Rat studies have show that they can gain weight even on a restricted calorie diet if they have the “wrong” intestinal flora. What is actually being tested are capsules of bacteria from the guts of skinny people, no feces included.
No skinny peeps around here. No one gets our bacteria. Win!
No rats here, either. Three cats do their job.
OFD’s carefully researched study definitively indicates that most rats and pockets of bacteria can be found in Washington, DC, a.k.a. Mordor-On-The-Potomac.
The main part — the decision — of Heller wasn’t bad, but Scalia’s limp dicta provided all the excuse necessary for gun-grabbing assholes to ignore the actual decision. Pretty impressive, considering that the decision is binding and the dicta are not. Why, it’s almost like the gun-grabbing assholes had already decided what they were going to do and simply grabbed any excuse to do it.
I part ways with the libertarians because they’re entirely too supportive of government.
Unlike some commenters here, I took “people” there to mean the majority of people, not self-identified libertarians. A libertarian government won’t work if the large majority of the populace is not willing to take the consequences of their own bad decisions. This is certainly not the case in modern-day USA or western Europe or any part of the Middle East. I’m not sure it’s been the case anywhere, ever.
The original compact? So… you’re a socialist?
As for OFD’s suggestion, definitely read the Anti-Federalist Papers if you’re going to read the Federalist Papers.
The Mayflower Compact was put together by Calvinist mercantilists who hoped that “Providence” would provide an opportunity for their city on a hill and of course justifiable wealth and power for their little theocracy. Their first winter was a bitch, however, and they had to rely on ignorant savages to save their bacon. A couple of generations later they were at war with them. My lovely and wunnerful ancestors, descended from Governor Carver’s executive secretary, John Howland. His house still stands down in Maffachusetts.
Yeah, mos def hit the AF Papers as well as the F papers; get the view of the losing side; also look into them secret meetings in Philadelphia of 1789, when various parties colluded to circumvent the majority wishes and succeeded.
“The original compact? So… you’re a socialist?
No, in order to build a good foundation you must understand the past in order learn from it and to not repeat what developed into problems and loss of direction. I like to look for the kernel of good good in all things, sometimes it is a pretty small kernel.
I’ll drop a couple of quotes here:
If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.
~~~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not.
~~~Carl Jung
A final note on the weather before I call it a night and go read. I bring in my rain gauge during the Winter months but we have had so much rain lately I dug it out this late afternoon and synced it back up with my weather station. During the past 3-hours we have had 0.14-inches of rain. Checking the weather stats, my area has already exceeded the normal amount of precipitation for January. If the temperatures had not been above normal we would have more 24-inches of snow on the ground for January.
“And if attacked, had already made the decision to blow whomever to Kingdom Come and shove the corpse into some alley or down a storm drain.”
During my first week in Downtown Seattle, walking up from the train to the office, I stepped in something that caused a pair of Vibram soles to begin crumbling later that morning as I sat at my desk. In the dystopia, you don’t need the storm drain to dispose of the corpse; the mystery fluids on the streets will suffice, even in “green” cities.
“In the dystopia, you don’t need the storm drain to dispose of the corpse; the mystery fluids on the streets will suffice, even in “green” cities.”
Good point, well-taken; and since so many of today’s Murkan derps are morbidly obese, it’d be easier to let them lie there and dissolve than to try cramming them down some narrow drain and risk being seen by other revenants.
Up here we could just toss them into the lake for Champ to chomp on.
Part of the problem with the conservative-vs-liberal debate remains the fact that we only use one axis. Two axes are really essential. The Pournelle Axes are not ideal (they are confusingly labelled), but the idea is right: one dimension for government intervention in the economy, another for government intervention in personal life.
US conservatives have two problems: First, they are actually for government intervention in the economy; they just want to intervene differently from the progressives. They are not “small government” at all. Second, they are all for government intervention in private life (the religious right). Again, differently from the way the progressives want to control personal life, but just as offensive. The US Democrats and Republicans really are just two sides of the same coin.
Y’all desperately need a multi-party system. That makes room for a whole spectrum of parties, and you actually get some choice in who you vote for. The required change is simple: No more voting districts. Instead, you pool the total votes and allocate them to the parties. For example: Texas has 36 Representatives. If the R’s get 30% of the vote, their top 11 candidates get seats. If the D’s get 40% of the vote, their top 14 candidates get seats. If the Libertarians get 10% of the vote, they get 4 seats. Etc, etc.. This gives small parties a chance to get a foot in the door. As a side benefit, this completely eliminates gerrymandering.
Of course, the existing parties would fight such a change tooth-and-nail, because it would substantially reduce their power.
OFD wrote:
“The immediate downtown streets owned by some Hispanic gang or other and just a couple of blocks away, swarms of UN-variety underclass and white trash scumbags. Nobody ever bothered me, though, for some odd reason.”
They thought you were a bro? 🙂
So, I read that the US East coast is about to get hit with the “Blizzard of the ages”. Then in the article, it says “a foot or two of snow”. Um. Maybe that would be a lot in Virginia, but in Mass, or New York, or NH that’s kind of average, no?
A foot or two in foggy bottom will shut them down. (Good!).
A foot or two where I am is just another winter storm. That’s usually a lake-effect type of snow around here. We have the equipment and experience to handle it, so leave a little earlier, and watch out for southerners that don’t know how to handle it.
What makes this storm unusual is the projected accumulation. A lot of water from the Gulf has apparently been brought in to help. It’s the American way!
“A foot or two in foggy bottom will shut them down. (Good!).”
A couple of INCHES will do them in for a few days; I saw that back in the winter of 1988-89; the city was like unto a ghost town.
“Of course, the existing parties would fight such a change tooth-and-nail…”
Exactly. We’re not getting any drastic political changes like that here until we go through some sort of breakdown, collapse, cleansing fire, whatever. The entrenched powers simply won’t have it, and what you just proposed would confuse the heck out of most Murkan derps beyond any hope of comprehension.
One of Dads many snow stories (humor an old man please):
Back in the Spring of 1967 the family was doing our usual Spring Break thing and heading to Civil War (War of Northern Aggression) Battlegrounds of the South.
This year was a bit different as we had our American Field Service (AFS) Foreign Exchange Student with us, he was from Stokmarknes Norway (above the Arctic Circle). We had left at 0-dark-thirty so we could make it to Nashville TN the first day (my Dad believed in leaving early and stopping little if at all).
Well when we awoke in our Nashville hotel the next morning there was 1/2-inch of slushy snow on the ground. The hotel clerk told us the city was shut down and people were not supposed to drive. My new Norwegian Brother was practically rolling on the floor with laughter, using that opportunity to point out the superiority of Norwegians. We were within walking distance of a few memorials so we did some walking and saw many people using those little fireplace shovels to shovel snow.
When we were leaving town there was no traffic. When we got to the Interstate entrance there was a TN Highway Patrolman (not PC, deal with it) blocking the on-ramp. He said the Interstate was closed and they were waiting for a snowplow. My Dad said, “please sir, see that we are from Illinois and that the car has snow tires, may we please go through” (there was more but in the interest of brevity). Well the Trooper acquiesced and waved us through. It was more than an hour before we saw another car on the Interstate.
Well it’s not the people who can deal with it that are the problem. When snow hits pass elevation out here in sunny southern California the CHP shuts the highways down pretty fast. Way too many idiots still trying to do 80mph. My nephew was telling a story recently about driving in Tahoe and his fwd truck sliding. I reminded him that 20″ wheels with low profile tires are for cruising streets and are not going to get traction regardless of how many wheels are powered.
“(my Dad believed in leaving early and stopping little if at all).”
Me ditto, but no one else in this household or extended family. All alone in that regard.
“Way too many idiots still trying to do 80mph.”
Same up here; where even on the best of days, the interstate is a roller-coaster; any precip at all makes certain sections of it hazardous, particularly the snow belt ridge up above my AO here and Frenchman’s Hill in Williston just south of Burlap. We see or hear of cars going off those places all the time in the winter, usually because cretins, mostly outta-state, were going way too fast. OFD stays in the slow lane and takes it easy; he didn’t get to his advanced stage of senility and decrepitude by also being a damn fool to die on some highway.
Y’all desperately need a multi-party system. That makes room for a whole spectrum of parties, and you actually get some choice in who you vote for.
This only works, and not well, in prime minister/parliamentary systems. It tends to give small parties disproportionate power – see Israel for examples of how small fringe parties can dominate the power structure.
@ech: You’re right, a multi-party system isn’t a panacea. I’m not familiar with Israeli politics, but Italy is also a mess. It’s important how the system is tuned. For example, by requiring small parties to achieve at least 5% of the vote to get any seats at all.
And Libertarians would be extremely lucky to get even that amount in this country from what I have seen. They’d be eclipsed by Wiccan trannies and musloid imams.
And Mr. OFD wins the innernet today.
Awww, shucks…just reporting cold hard data…