Romney Campaigning in New Hampshire

The event was at the Littleton Diner, as nostalgic a piece of up country color as you can ask for. It's been there for 60 years that I know of, and looks like it will be in business for another 60. It's was raining. This picture was taken a hour before anyone arrived. By the end of the event the rain had dried up and there was a crowd filling the sidewalk.


Romney left the suit coat behind and dressed for the occasion. We don't wear suits to the Littleton diner much. Romney merely called for each voter present to tell a little bit about himself, state concerns and ask questions. It was a Republican crowd and they had a lot of concerns about jobs and the economy, very few about wedge issues. Romney spoke well and connected with the voters. Everyone agreed that Romney would make a fine president, a real improvement over the incumbent.


Parents brought children. All the local Republicans showed up, including yours truly.




Romney drew a decent crowd. There were as many voters present as press and the place was packed. It 's not a very big place, but it is the traditional place to campaign in Littleton.

My stove is web surfing when it ought to be cooking

Hewlett Packard is peddling operating system software for kitchen appliances to makers thereof. Not sure just why I as a customer would want my kitchen range to be internet enabled, but HP marketeers are hard at work, developing the concept.

Down with family vehicles

Obama is crusading against the evils of SUVs and pickup trucks, again. Does Obama think this is job creation?

Windows Sales slow as iPad Gains

Headline from the Wall St Journal. The author thinks iPad is the Windows killer. Me, I think Vista (and Windows 7 is little better) killed Windows. We stopped buying PC's when we could no longer get Windows XP on them. We buy iPads to avoid Windows 7.
Windows is a walking flapping security hole, takes forever to boot up, runs slow, eats up too damn much RAM and disk space. Which accounts for the popularity of non Windows things like iPad.

What does the Ames Straw Poll mean?

The TV newsies love it, it's a straight forward, simple opinion poll that can be easily comprehended by uneducated journalists. It pops Michelle Bachmann up to the top and drove out Tim Pawlenty. It brought in Rick Perry so we cannot say it limited the field much.
It doesn't really solve the Republican's candidate problem. Michelle Bachmann is too much into wedge issues (aka "social conservatism") to appeal to the independents. Up here in the Northwoods independents are 30% or more of the registrations and control the election. Independents are very accommodating to Tea Party ideas but either don't want to get mixed up in wedge issues, or they approve of gay marriage and are pro choice. Either way, Bachmann is unlikely to attract them. Most NH Republicans just want some one to beat Obama, and that means someone who can attract the independent vote.
So far Romney, despite some baggage, looks like a good bet. We don't know much about Perry except that he has created a lot of jobs in Texas. That sounds good. The Wall St Journal ran an uncomplimentary-to-Perry op-ed on Saturday. The Journal describes a Texas state economic development fund that made a lot of grants to contributors to the Perry campaign. Clearly the Journal wishes Perry would go back to Texas.

So what is the Tea Party

So far, the Tea Party is not a tradiditional American political party. It does not have ballot access like the Republicans and Democrats have, and it does not run candidates. The best description of the Tea Party is an effective political pressure group. This may change, but as of right now, that's how it is.
The Tea Party is most concerned about taxes and spending. Specifically the US budget is un sustainable, we cannot borrow 40% of Federal spending for ever, there isn't that much money in the world. In fact the only reason the US can still sell Treasury bonds is that investors don't think the US will default on them, and all the other places to invest (stock market!) look worse. As soon as Great Depression 2.0 clears up, treasuries will compete with other investments at a disadvantage. The Tea Party was created to oppose this flushing of the American dollar and economy down the drain. I receive constant emails urging the Tea Party members to stick to their guns, (taxes and spending) and avoid wedge issues like gay marriage and abortion.

Hot Landing Zones (LZ) are very dangerous

My condolences to the families of the men killed in the Afghanistan chopper crash over the weekend. They gave their lives defending the country and deserve all honor.
We learned in Viet Nam that landing a chopper under enemy fire is very dangerous, helicopters are not bullet proof. Ordinary rifle fire will penetrate every part of the fuselage, and every part of passengers and crew. According to the TV news, the Chinook was hit with an anti-tank rocket. Such a rocket can kill an armored tank. An all aluminum chopper is no contest.
Helicopter air assault is very dangerous. We should be thankful to have soldiers brave enough to take part in it.