Is a Polar Vortex a Rock Band?

I hate to constantly blog about the weather, but right now the weather is a hot topic, no pun intended.

Few days ago we had a high of -10 degrees. Today we are looking at a high in the low 50 degree range; a sixty degree difference in less that a week.

Almost like I had hopped a plane from Alaska (which was actually warmer than Kentucky last week) to northern Texas. I went from sweating how I would pay my heating bill to sweating inside a light jacket.

What a January this has been. And it is supposed to be chilly again this coming week, as the Polar Vortex swings back into town.

I want to be on the committee that sits around and dreams up these names, I swear I do. Okay; I'm not certain there is a committee, but I'd bet there is. Not bet the farm certain, but bet a strawberry milkshake certain.

How else do we wind up with meteorological terms like Polar Vortex? Or Wintery Mix? Or my personal favorite: microburst event.

I mean seriously; Polar Vortex? it sounds like a movie title, for a cheap James Bond style rip-off. Or maybe a Captain Video style Saturday Morning Serial Hero.

I can hear the snorts and laughter in the background; So I think I could do better?

Yes; I think I could.

Just off the top of my head, how about:

Cold Snap

It describes the weather event, conveys all of the information the listener needs to know and doesn't require anything more than a free phone app to understand.

Of course , it does fail in some ways that really don't matter.

It can no way be connected to "Global Warming"; "Global Cooling" or even "Climate Change".

Which I don't actually consider a fault.

Isn't that where these newfangled terms come from? I mean it is Really hard to connect a cold snap to any Man Caused Global weather change. My Great-Grandma lived through cold snaps.  My Dad knows what a cold snap is. They were common when I was growing up. Nothing new about a cold snap.

BUT a Polar Vortex; that is something new. We have never had cold weather caused by a Polar Vortex before. There just might be something to this "Global Weather changy-thingy" after all.

But I would be willing to bet that every cold snap this area has ever lived through was caused by the same phenomenon that is now gloriously called a Polar Vortex.

This may sound like a meaningless issue, but it isn't. Language has to mean something. Not just once, but consistently. And it has to be free.

The idea that a cold snap can suddenly become a Polar Vortex means some part of the language has lost its meaning. How far is it from the point where language is controlled to the point where language is forbidden? And then the concepts behind those words forbidden?

We have a lot of freedoms in this country, but the freedom from being offended isn't one of them.

Unless you happen to be in a legally protected group. As a male Christian, I am not in any protected group. I am legally not allowed to be offended by anything, but am legally bound to not offend anyone that may disagree with me.

So I think a Polar Vortex is a cold snap, dressed up in a borrowed tuxedo, and I dare you to disagree with me.

Arguing about the weather is still the one area we can discuss without me causing any offense. At least it was the last time I checked.

If You Don't Laugh, You Ain't Normal

That first post was short, but with a long video.

So how about another short post with another long military related video.

I found this over at the The Borderline Sociopathic Blog For Boys site; always very entertaining.

I did spend a few years serving, but I don't remember anything like this video happening. But then maybe we were this young and dumb.

Or, maybe its because I see lots of Green- Army and Marines.

Didn't see any blue in here at all.

But then again I could be prejudiced.

Cool or What?

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video.

No, to this AWESOME video.

Can you imagine being on the trigger side of that thing? How about the business end?

And the base technology was patented while Lincoln was President. Hows that for an update on an old idea?

If you read the comments they talk about the cost of each shot. Around $.75 to $1.00. Approximately $2300 a MINUTE.

Owning one of those things is like a owning a Ferrari; the purchase price is only half the cost; the upkeep is like buying a second one.

The US Military owns hundreds of those weapons, and shoots them on a regular basis.

And you wonder why we spend so much on the military budget.

A Street Car Named Disaster

There are I would imagine, some very upset voters in the City of Cincinnati.

For those of you from out of town, or in town and under a rock somewhere, the last election was a referendum on the Cincinnati Street car. And all of the candidates who came out in favor of the Street Car Named Disaster lost.

So it was toast, right? No more Choo- Choo through The 'Nati?

Well, yes. And then maybe. And then no.

Half of the folks elected solely because they opposed the Streetcar CHANGED THEIR MINDS.

Yep; within a week of being sworn in the the Little Engine That Shouldn't was once again the Little Engine That Was.

Here's the thing: I ain't got a dog in this fight, so to speak. I don't live, work or pay taxes on that side of the river. The only thing I will spend money on in Ohio is a 12 -pack of Yuengling, and then only because I can't get a 12-pack on this side of the river.

And then I drive far enough to avoid giving Hamilton County any money, just in case.

So they can do almost anything they want over there; it won't effect me. Except for when they will try to export that insanity down South, or will try to form a 'Regional Coalition' to force me to pay for something I didn't even get to vote on. Like that mattered to the newly elected City Council anyway.

But here are a few facts they need to consider:

1) All of the cities with an extensive mass transit system had that system in place prior to the invention of the Automobile.
2) All of these 'viable' systems (New York; Chicago; London; Paris, etc.) have had over 150 years of building and investment; Trillions of dollars.
3) These 'viable' systems work because there are concentrated living areas and concentrated work areas.
4) All of the cites with those 'viable' systems grew UP because of the need for mass transit.
5) Any city that has grown since the advent of the automobile has grown OUT.
6) All of these 'viable' systems Still Need Taxpayer Funded Support.

These are facts that are inescapable; they can't be whitewashed, and shouldn't be ignored. and Cincinnati does not meet any of the points that would lead me to believe that mass transit would be viable in Cincinnati.

Viable mass transit is a pipe-dream, and in this case, most likely a crack-pipe dream.

BC Ain't PC?

I was looking for a subject for today's post and found this cartoon strip. Which hits the nail on the head.

Nobody is happy with either party, but for vastly different reasons.

Dems are unhappy with Repubs because they are Repubs, and are angry at the Dems because they aren't Left enough.

Repubs are unhappy with Dems because they are Dems, and unhappy with Repubs because they aren't Right enough.

Okay; so maybe they're reasons AREN'T vastly different, just the reasons for their reasons.

The question each party has to ask (and successfully answer) is where do the voters stand?

Kind of simplified, but we can break it down into 5 positions:

Far Right: Right: Center: Left: Far Left.

Earth shattering isn't it? Yeah I know; nothing new to see here.

The chart isn't new, but maybe my analysis of it is. Because the question is where are the voters?

First; they aren't evenly distributed; Second; they aren't static and Third; they aren't mobile.

And no, the last two aren't contradictory.  Very few voters will change their minds on a specific issue. Other than the change from young liberal to older conservative. But in this case they are just replacing their dying parents and likewise being replaced by their growing children. And most of the time they go from left leaning Center to right leaning Center; that aren't going from Left to Right.

Then there are those who start at Far Left. They tend to stay there. Nobody who shouted "Power to the People" in the 1960's grew up to join the John Birch Society. Unless they only shouting "Power" to pick up chicks. Trying to attract women will make men do strange things; sometimes Very Strange things. But you see my point; they are static in their position.

Same with those on the Far Right. If they are God, Guns and Country at 18, they will be God, Guns and Country at 68.  Static.

The Center is a little more fluid. Sometimes they are left leaning Center, bumping up against being Left, and other times they are right leaning Center, bumping up against being Right. A great swilling mass, always stable in ultimate position, but always in motion within the position. Kind of like stirring a big bowl of pudding. right around the spoon the pudding is always deeper than anywhere else n the bowl, but not really deep enough to make a big difference in the depth anywhere else.

The spread breaks down like this: Far Right- 21%; Right- 21%; Center- 25%; Left-20% and Far Left- 13%. The far left has the fewest adherent, but they are the most vocal. Power to the People!, remember?

Assuming all of there groups are static, how can they also be mobile?

Because changes in government will cause their relative positions to change. the problem is they aren't on a line, but in a circle. Your 'Power to the People' Lefty isn't too far away from a limited government Tea Partier when you get right down to it. They want the same thing, just have different methods of trying to get it.

Which brings us back to my premise; where do the voters stand?

It depends; what is the issue?

So much has been made over the years of the Reagan Democrats, and why they were willing to cross party lines to vote for a Republican. Here is my take on it: Reagan said it best; "I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me". Reagan carried the old line Democrat principles into the Republican Party, and bridged the gap between the two. It hasn't worked since, and will never work again. All of the old line Democrats are gone already, and no one will follow a so-called Progressive from the Dems to the Repubs, even if one was so foolhardy as to try.

And no Repub would bother to vote for them either, knowing the conversion wasn't Saul-like, but one of opportunity.

So, after all of this prattling; WHERE DO THE VOTERS STAND?!?!?!!?

Right where you would expect the to be; in favor of limited government, less taxation and a strong defense. They may say it different ways, and define 'limited' or 'less' or 'strong' a little differently, but other than the 13% fringe left, this is what they want.

So why won't either party give it to them?

New Year's Resolutions

I have found the perfect way to not break a New Year's Resolution.

I don't make any.

It's not because I am already perfect- depending on who you ask either I am durn near or far from the ideal- but because I have realized nobody keeps the Resolution they have created.

Sometimes the change they are making is not well thought out. Sometimes the liquor induced resolve of New Years Eve evaporates in the light of New Years Day. Sometimes events conspire against the Resolution, like when your resolve to lose weight runs up against a buy one get one free sale on Big Macs.

I have usually failed to keep a Resolution because the goal I set one day seems irrelevant the next. Yes, losing weight is a great goal. But compared with working toward World Peace? Can't hold a candle.

Really; think about it. Could you sacrifice losing 10 pounds in order to work toward World Peace? Isn't the goal of World Peace worth almost any cost?

Besides, working toward World Peace will help you meet Miss America, or Miss USA, or Miss World. Aren't all of those young women working toward World Peace? Think about it; when they are asked what they hope to accomplish in their year as Miss Whatever, have you ever seen ONE of them declare that they hope to lose 10 pounds?

Nope; they're all working toward World Peace. Or ending hunger. Ending hunger is easy; see the aforementioned BOGO Big Mac Sale.

Yes, I am kidding.

Another reason Resolutions aren't kept; they are too esoteric. You have all met the individual who has decided to "become a better person".

Really?

Based on what standard?

Right now I am a better person than at least half the world ; especially if the half I am compared to involves anyone in Washington DC.

And then we need to look at what makes me better. After all; there are some changes that in one group's eyes would improve me, and in another group's eyes would devalue me. Going on the Atkins diet would be a great move in some circles.

But not if that circle is full of vegans.

Everything is relative; even losing weight. Ever seen a Ruben's painting? If any of those girls would have dropped 10 pounds they would have been out of a job. Sumo wrestler? 10 pounds is the difference between winning and getting thrown out of the ring.

All in all though improving yourself is a worthy goal. My criticizing the goals folks have set for themselves is probably overly judgmental.

I could resolve to be less judgmental, but I'll bet if I did this is the year I would be called for jury duty.

Well, That was a Big Bust

Well, that was a big to-do about nothing, wasn't it?

They were predicting 4-6 inches of snow for yesterday. All of the TV weather talking heads and hands have been talking about nothing else for DAYS. The Bengals game and the commute home afterward were going to be a flat mess because of the SNOW. Kroger's has been swamped since Friday; sold out of milk, eggs, bread and bathroom tissue.

The wife and I went shopping Thursday and got two loaves of bread. She was out again Sunday morning, and wanted to pick up BREAD, because of the snow. WHY!?!?!? We have two unopened loaves in the kitchen already! But the SNOW she says. What if were snowed in? Long enough to eat two loaves of bread? Not hardly.

And what did we get? 50 degrees and rain. Lots and lots of rain. Probably 2 inches of rain.

Not that I am really complaining mind you; I would rather have the rain. It's a lot easier to deal with. I have never in my life shoveled any rain off my driveway.

It's the disappointment; I was promised SNOW bygawd; DEEP SNOW. And I got nuthin'.

Well; its only January. we've still got a few weeks to get dumped on.

But here is my question; will any of these TV 'experts' explain WHY we didn't the storm they have spent a week hyping?

My guess is no. Why won't they? Is it because they won't own up to the error, and will dump this whole episode down the memory hole, or is it because they don't know why we got 2 inches of rain instead of 6 inches of snow?

I sometimes think I could do as good a job as any TV weatherman.

After all; I've got the free app on my smart phone.

I'll Take the Ferrari, Thanks

I was perusing Instapundit this morning and saw this headline: "When Going to College is Like Buying a Ferrari on Credit.". Yeah, that caught my eye. It linked to this article on The Blaze, which references an article by Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit. If it wasn't such a good article I'd make some comment about shameless self promotion.

It is especially timely because I was talking to my nephew last weekend, and he mentioned some schools he was interested in, and at one of them a four year degree costs $200,000.00.

I checked. You can't get a Ferrari for $200k. At least you can't get a NEW Ferrari for $200k. That amount of cash will get a very nice 2 year old Ferrari however.

The thing is, the government will lend an 18 year-old kid that $200,000.00 IF he spends it at a college of their choice.

They will not lend an 18 year old kid that amount for a used Ferrari.

I think that's a shame. How about a little analysis?

Lets say I buy an indocrina... I mean 'Education' with that money. What will that education be worth in 10 years? How about a show of hands? How much of what you learned during your four years of undergrad do you still remember and/or still use? And I mean what you learned in THE CLASSROOM! How many of you are earning a living based on the field your degree was in? How many of you are using your Geology Degree as a basis for your management position in the growing field of fast food?

Now lets buy that used Ferrari!

First; having a car like that will open lots of doors. Not a member of the Hill 'n Dale Country Club? Roll up in a Ferrari; I'll bet they let you in. Roll up in your 10 year old beater Taurus and flash you degree from the University of Beer and Broads; my guess is they will hand you an employment application. For kitchen help.

Roll up to ANY hot spot in the city: Ferrari- you have a girl. Degree- you may get a free beer and some commiseration from the bartender, using his $200,000.00 Humanities Degree to mix drinks and change out empty beer kegs.

I could go on (And on. And on. And on...) but you get the picture. Plus; most, if not all Ferraris appreciate in value. Historically, the older a Ferrari gets the more it is worth. So your $200k investment today will net you double that in 15 years. Give or take.

Economists talk about something called 'Opportunity Cost of Money'; spending your cash one way means, as money is individually finite, you cannot spend it another way. Meaning every dollar you spend on rent is one less dollar you have for beer. Or vise versa. Every dollar you spend repaying that $200,000.00 in student loans is one dollar less you have for a house payment, car payment, 401k funding. Or beer.

I'm not against a college education. In fact, for certain positions I am positively for it. What I'm against is the ubiquitous nature of the college degree. One purchased at fantastic cost, on credit, and never used.

What are you buying for your Two Hundred Thousand Dollars and no sense (pun intended)? The piece of heavy stock paper with you name on it (which cost the college $1.45- it pays to buy in bulk) or the education that you allegedly obtained in your chosen field of study?

So; just how often will a discussion of the finer points of Women's Studies come up in the slack times between asking "do you want fries with that?"

I know some folks in the Payday Lending field. Before you can borrow $200 they must fully disclose the terms, interest rate and how much you will be paying back.

When you borrow $200,000.00 in student loans, some student- working at the school to avoid student loan debt- will advise you to "sign here to pay for next semester".

How many 18 year-olds would hesitate to sign if they knew the money they were borrowing today would still be coming out of their paycheck when they they are 40?

And that this debt will cost them that used Ferrari?

Goodbye Holiday Season!

The Holiday Season is over; I can tell. This is the first Saturday in weeks that I don't have a party to attend.

And the Christmas decorations are starting to disappear from the house.

The decorations usually start appearing in October. While everybody else is carving pumpkins, my wife is digging out some of the innumerable Christmas chotchkies; the smaller Santas and Frostys, the Christmas themed dishtowels and the 6-inch tree she keeps on the kitchen counter. Then all through November, bit by bit, like watching a slow motion video of a lava flow taking over a small Pacific village, the house turns from a home for people to a Christmas village we have to live in. The coasters disappear, to be replaced with the Christmas set that we can't use (who am I kidding? like I use a coaster at home anyway); then the guest towels and the poinsettia shower curtain appear in the bathroom, and one afternoon on the way home I notice the wreath up on the front door.

Thanksgiving Day the Tree goes up; another sacrifice my wife makes. She loves a live tree, but has an issue. I won't get a live tree until after December 15th. And since none of the boys will help her get a live tree before Thanksgiving, she has to have an artificial one. And the boys will help her drag it out of the attic in November.

Christmas may have been creeping up on me since Halloween, but on Thanksgiving it arrives with full gale force. Every window sill has a Dickens village; the stocking hanger army has arrived on the fireplace, with their stockings in tow; the Shelf Elf is patrolling the living room nightly and I have to move some sort of Christmas paraphernalia just to find a spot to rest my beer.

New Years Day it all ends (personally, I think she has set out the last of the decorations the day before); like a movie fog that slowly recedes leaving the landscape visible once again, the decorations start to find their summer homes. And there are always a few new ones; the after Christmas sales always tend to have a few MUST-HAVE bargains.

But every year a few more things don't summer in the attic. We have lived with the Christmas soap dispenser in the bathroom for a few years now. and we have gotten accustomed to the snowman and reindeer glasses year round. The Santa snow globe has been a summer squatter for a while now, and there are probably others that I just have blinded myself to. I learned years ago that there are decorations that 'don't fit' into the attic, and have to be displayed.

I also learned years ago that my offers to help make things fit only earned me an icy stare. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. I quit volunteering to help.

I really don't mind the small things she does to keep Christmas around her year round.

It's much better than putting up with the Tree all year, like she would like to do.

Yeah; About That Global Warming Thing

It snowed last night. Not a lot; about an inch and a half here, but it was a wet, sticking snow. The kind that lands on the branches and barbed wire fence and gives everything a white frosting that makes the world look like a real-life Christmas display.

I love that kind of snow.

At least until I have to scrape it off my windshield and then drive in it. Like I had to do today.

And then it got COLD. not cold, or even Cold; but COLD. Single digit all day cold. It isn't COLD yet, but they are forecasting it. Another 29 days of this and the river might freeze again.

Don't tell me you are young enough that you don't remember when the river froze? Back in '77-'78? 'Course that was back in the day when it got COLD. We went an entire month below 0 degrees, and two months below freezing. and the half mile wide Ohio River froze over. Froze to the point that people walked on it. One young idiot even drove his car across from Ohio to Kentucky. It was a Volkswagen, but only a Beetle, so it wasn't like it was an expensive car, but still.

But, I digress. I was talking about today, not 35 years ago.

I took the picture on my way to the car this morning, just before I found the doors frozen shut. Yeah; that improved my mood alright.

And then, after find one door that would open (passenger side rear) and climbing through the car to get the driver's door open, then getting the car started I reached for my new $10 ice scraper (that I have used twice) and couldn't find it. Struggled to get the trunk open- yeah, it was frozen shut too- and still no ice scraper. For some reason it had migrated from the front seat to the back seat.

So by the time I did get the windows scraped and ready to go I was already in a foul mood. The snow that had looked like a fairyland frosting now looked like a salt encrustation  from the Dead Sea.

But I had a decent day while I was out, and coming home I grabbed some good Friday Night Beer, and went through a few back roads to get home.The road did look like a fairyland tunnel, withe the snow still on the trees and the snow covered branches reaching across the road toward each other like long-lost relatives at the airport.

And the road was clear; that really was the thing that improved my mood.

They are forecasting more snow for the weekend. With luck I will be able to enjoy it.

By staying home with a glass or two of bourbon.

Now is the Future's History

It is hard in the short term to judge how history will eventually judge the events of 2013, as we don't know the long term impact of the events of the last year. What will the events in Benghazi mean in 10 years? In 20? Will Obama's reaction, or lack thereof, to the events that night lead to the first President to be thrown out of office by impeachment, sealing those events into the history books, or will they drop into the rabbit hole of history, studied only by the random scholar, delving into the most forgotten recesses of the early 21st Century?

I can certainly say that I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball or functioning Tarot deck, or even a bag full of old chicken bones.

But I do know History. Thousands of years of History. One fact stands out in the thousands of years of recorded history; it is the winners who write it.

So much of the last year's events will become history as told by the winners of the 2014 General Election.

Will the multitude of scandals currently slinging mud around Washington stick to Obama, as they should?

It depends; will we have 60 Conservative Senators?

Notice I didn't say Republican.

That is where the history will be written; in the Chambers of the 114th Congress.

If We The People win in 2014, then History will be written to include every misdeed the current Administration has made; Obama, Holder, Clinton, Sibelius, Kerry and the seemingly endless list of others will be held accountable for their seemingly endless list of crimes against the country.

If They The Government win, it all disappears down the proverbial rabbit hole.

It isn't enough to vote Republican (Boehner and McConnell are two traitors that immediately come to mind); we need to be able to vote for the RIGHT Republicans.

I registered to vote in 1978 as an Independent. I'm not a big joiner; I don't like big organizations, and I like joining big organizations even less.

But a few weeks ago I became a Republican. Not because of what they have become recently in a positive way, but in a negative way.

Since 1978 I have relied on the members of the Republican party to provide me with competent people to vote for. Apparently I can no longer make that assumption.

One of the best men in Congress, Thomas Massie, my Representative from Kentucky's Fourth District, has been an accurate voice for me in his term. The Republican Party wants to Primary him; he tends to tell the "Leadership" NO too often. I became a Republican to protect Thomas Massie.

One of my Senators is Mitch McConnell, who long ago stopped being a voice for me in the Senate.I can't say Matt Bevins will be any better. But there are two things in his favor: He can't be much worse, and he AIN'T Mitch McConnell. I became a Republican to vote against McConnell.

I am a Logical Libertarian. There are certain planks in the Libertarian Party Platform that I have issues with. Basically, the only legal function of the Federal Government is to deal with other countries, which may or may not mean militarily. The Libertarian Party seems to think if we leave the rest of the world alone, they will leave us alone. I find that position illogical. Besides, we need the rest of the world to buy what we are selling.

So while I may agree with most of the Libertarian platform, they seem naive on the way the world works. Or, if not naive, at least a little too trusting.

Which brings me back to the Republicans.

They seem to be taking my support for granted. I am not a big fan of being taken for granted.

So it's time to let the Republicans know that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And I do mean Happy NEW Year!

A new year should mean new beginnings.

Or, if not a beginning as such, but a new start on old things.

Like this blog.

I always feel I have something to say, and I also feel my opinions are worth sharing. You may not agree with any of my opinions, including the one from earlier in this sentence. So be it; it is still a semi-free country. We are still allowed to express our views on topics of the day, regardless of approval of the general populace.

But, I digress. A little anyway.

The events of 2014 will have a huge impact on the future direction of this country, and I intend to do my best to influence those events. I may be a lone voice crying out in the wilderness, so lone I don't even have an echo to help break the silence, but it has to be done.

I don't think I am alone; but I do think those who believe like I do have been made to FEEL alone, even though we are, I like to believe, a vast majority in this country.

A+E and Cracker Barrel thought GLAAD represented a majority a few weeks ago; they were corrected rather quickly.

My goal this year is send that same message to Congress, to let them know how the REAL Majority thinks, by being the voice in the wilderness calling out to those who have been silenced by the vocal minority; to let them know they are not alone.

I always say that I was never interested in Politics, until Politics became interested in me. By that I mean when the government started interfering with me personally. A government that can demand I perform an action solely to protect myself from myself is a government with too much power.

The Seat Belt Laws are the ones that alerted me to the fact the servants I thought I had elected believed I had elected a boss. Government had become interested in me.

So this year I intend to let Government know I am interested in them.

Hopefully with a little help from my Friends!