Fall weather has its benefits
Cool fall weather has benefits: We sleep more comfortably at night, fewer bugs pester us, the lawn grows more slowly and requires less frequent visits with the mower.
Another benefit is that food left for several days inside a vehicle doesn’t go bad. For example, the half-gnawed apple that my son left in the back seat of the truck during a recent fishing trip wasn’t in too bad shape. After slicing off the gnarly chewed sides, I was able to have a healthy midnight snack of about 0.65% of a whole apple.
Thanks, Mother Nature!
Josh
Libya: Land of Savages
Anyone with even just a passing interest in how Moamar Gaddafi died last week can easily watch his entire murder take place on YouTube and other websites with cellphone videos taken at the same time and place by Libyan rebels.
It’s true that Gaddafi himself was a murderer and torturer, and by any legal standard he would have eventually been convicted and sentenced to die for his crimes. But a country run by the rule of law requires due process, and Gaddafi did not get that.
What he got was sodomy with a knife, according to this CBS report that includes a video (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20124758-503543/globalpost-qaddafi-apparently-sodomized-after-capture/) where the attacker’s actions are clear. That would explain Gaddafi’s last words, which were to the effect of “Guys, don’t do that. Islam forbids it.”
If I ever hear another “Allahu Akbar,” after watching the various videos of his death where it was screamed over and over while Gaddafi was beaten, sodomized, and shot to death, I’ll get sick.
Under the guiding hand of the rebels, Libya was supposed to change from a cruel dictatorship to some version of modern representative democracy. Pretty much anything should be an improvement in governance of Libyan citizens, whose individual liberties were crushed by Gaddafi.
But if Gaddafi’s torture and summary execution by an armed civilian is any indication of what is to be expected, Libya is going to lose the stability that Gaddafi provided, without any of the benefits that his death should have given birth to. From what we saw, Libya is full of people for whom the descent into savagery is only a step away.
Egypt: Land of Savages
Egypt is supposed to be the cream of Arab culture. Watch this forced, abusive propaganda TV interview of just-released POW Gil Shalit.
The Egyptian journalist is a national hero, believe it or not.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4136728,00.html
It’s official: I am a Herman Cain man
With nothing against any of the other Republican presidential candidates, all of whom bring tremendous SKA’s to the contest, I am now officially a Herman Cain for President supporter.
Watching Cain sing “Imagine There’s No Pizza” is what pulled me over the line.
Cain has a sense of humor.
On top of his sharp intellect, honest speaking, and leadership abilities, Cain is a real person.
Sign me up.
Josh
Well isn’t this reassuring?
The “Occupy ______________” folks have strong support from Iran’s government, the American Communist Party, and now the American Nazi Party.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/figures-nazi-party-throws-support-behind-occupy-wall-street-movement/
Curious why so many elected officials, including president Obama, are supportive of them. Not only is that support a policy non sequitor, but with friends like these, reputations usually begin to sour.
Yes, plenty of individual “protestors” have violently attacked police, Jews, and people dressed nicely (business?), but it’s the formal endorsements that say oh, so much.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148795
How reassuring it is to know that these “protesters” are as wacked out as they appear.
Interesting Detritus from the Flood of 2011
September’s historic flood waters brought interesting gifts from upstream, nonchalantly and gently leaving them stranded on my lawn and driveway.
How did the three-gallon gas can end up in the flower bed, upright, as though I had left it there myself while mowing the lawn?
Whose pack of 1992 Topps baseball cards had been burnt around the corners before mysteriously arriving? And why were they burnt? A frustrated mother or angry girlfriend?
The cigarette pack was the most incongruous of all, at least in our neighborhood. Lying there in its minty mentholy promise, it looked like a social land mine, or lawn cancer. My tired hands found it first of all the new things, and trashed it first. Mind you, I’m an occasional pipe smoker and hardly a tobacco Prohibitionist. But let’s face it, cigarettes are a dirty habit. The soggy pack reminded of that.
Various childrens’ things, like a slipper, a sneaker, some small plastic toys, all were straight forward examples of the shared family sameness from Scranton to Harrisburg. Those were easy to trash. Heck, I’m throwing away my own kids’ leftover artifacts every week, anyhow, so the newcomers were nothing new and in good company.
Someone is missing an important part of their split rail fence. Not to waste, it’s now part of my eight-cord wood pile and will heat my home for an hour on some upcoming winter day. Undoubtedly the least showy or remarkable, it is probably the most useful of all the flotsam. at least after I chainsawed it into 18-inch lengths.
Some buildings in my neighborhood had finning, flopping, fish in their basements. Now you know that if the fence rail felt out if place lying in my lawn, then those fish certainly felt like a fish out of water, so to say. They probably survived and are back in their river now, albeit a bit more migratory than their kind is accustomed to. Just this year, fellas, ok?
While the five feet of water in the basement upended our plans and schedules for the next six weeks, at least, we enjoyed the unusual fruits dropped off by Mother Nature on her way down to the Chesapeake Bay that September weekend.
I reported myself to attackwatch.com….plan fail!
Supporters of Barack Hussein Obama have an official “enemies of the state” website they can report bad people to: www.attackwatch.com
Feeling neglected and unimportant, I went to the site and reported myself. Plugging in this site, joshfirst.com, to that site was supposed to bring a torrent of postings and hate to this site by Obama supporters.
Ok, we netted a few, but nothing like I expected or wanted. I quickly disposed of the weird postings. I had hoped I’d get onto some big political machine radar screen. Alas, I’m still unimportant to Obama.
However, his campaign is getting even with me another way: They’re sending me two to three emails daily about Obama’s tax-payer funded (the Canadian-made bus and his speaking tour tailored to Republican campaign stops and swing states) campaign, his way out-of-mainstream policies, his union-only jobs plan, etc. I’ll have some sport with them, here, in a day or two. The messages from his campaign are so sadly lame that I’m actually feeling bad for him.
Hope and change pablum didn’t cut it. Americans want real, substantive, pro-America policies, and Obama hasn’t delivered.
Buh-bye!
Herman Cain is my kind of candidate
Herman Cain, an experienced businessman who does not run away from a tough debate, is looking more and more like my man to be my next American President.
Smart, articulate, quick-witted, creative, Cain brings the fight to the other corner of the boxing ring.
And he would be America’s first African-American president. Obama is America’s first African president. Cain is the real-deal, a real descendant of slaves brought from Africa to America 300 years ago. As an American, that means a lot to me. Cain demonstrates the possibility that awaits anyone who wants to take risks and succeed.
Cain inspires and motivates me, and I’m weighing my next steps with his campaign. Won’t you please join me?
Happy 11-11-11! My beloved city is about to declare bankruptcy and get taken over by the State
By Josh First
It’s an unusual alignment of numbers today, 11-11-11, and one wonders if it’s an ill omen or good.
After all, Harrisburg City Council voted tonight to declare bankruptcy, a move that Pennsylvania law says is illegal without prior good faith negotiations. Next week, Pennsylvania legislators will vote on a bill allowing the governor to take over the city and run it until it becomes solvent.
The only good faith efforts displayed yet by local officials have been by our mayor, Linda Thompson, who has been constantly stymied by her political foes for the flimsiest of causes. Thompson has been criticized from all sides for years, and of course she has her flaws. But among elected officials here she is also the only apparent cheerleader for Harrisburg City, so dissing her is dissing the city.
Not one opposing member of city council has yet articulated a good reason for his or her opposition. Councilman Brad Koplinski, the Great White Hope of Harrisburg’s moderate Democrats, has never articulated what he is thinking, or why. Many other members are simply inarticulate. Common-sense members like Patty Kim are steamrolled by the majority.
My family has lived here in Harrisburg continuously since the early 1700s, and I am the last Mohican of our clan to remain in the city itself. Is this the kind of place that any American would want to live, regardless of their family history? Our homes’ values are low as a result of the political infighting and lack of problem solving.
As today’s date numbers have aligned in an unusual formation, so we can only hope for an alignment of the political actors here, as well.