The View from the Ivory Tower

" No one now doubts the what the Arab public wants is elected constitutional government."  So says this week's Economist magazine.
 Is that right?  Or does the Arab public just want life to suck less?  The two worst cases, Egypt and Syria are running out of food, have run out of jobs, and feature armed terrorists running around loose.  Both countries have failed to feed themselves, the only thing preventing mass famine is food imports, which they lack the money to pay for.
   Has the Arab public given up on imposing Sharia law, driving the Jews into the sea, and exterminating the Shia (or the Sunni depending upon which side they are on)?
   Me thinks the Economist is merely passing on the bloviations of  properly raised young upper class Brits.  I doubt any of their writers speak Arabic and has lived on the economy in say Cairo. 
   
   

The Fat Lady Sings

Jury just acquitted George Zimmerman.  Maybe we can put this distasteful case behind us, now?  Please.

Dawn over Marblehead

The clock radio came on, as usual this morning, and they are running a piece on a miraculous new educational concept.  Radical it is.  They  mix athletics with class room teaching.  I listened to a long learned discussion of the wonderful neurological effects, and how much more ready to learn to children are after exercise.  They made it sound like the greatest innovation since Socrates.
   Of course this is something any parent knows.  Children are full of bounce and energy and you have to get 'em out of doors and run off steam if you want 'em to sit still indoors.   I used to take 'em out down hill skiing.  After even a half a day skiing Cannon, they would be so tired that they would fall asleep on the living room rug in front of the TV.
   I wonder if the ed majors running our school still do recess.

Child Abuse ???

The prosecution in the Trayvon Martin trial is beginning to doubt that they can make second degree murder stick.  So they are adding some lesser charges that the jury might find easier to convict upon.  The prosecutors are now charging Zimmerman with child abuse, 'cause Martin was under 18.
  Child Abuse?  Shoot a stranger dead out of doors and it's child abuse?  Is this sort of crime that the good legislators of Florida had in mind when they passed the state child abuse law?  
Ham sandwich nation. 

Bye-bye manufacturing jobs.

Sturm Ruger, a noted old line American firearms maker,  announced that they will open a new factory in North Carolina, rather than expand their existing plant in New Hampshire.  The company cited the lack of a right to work law in NH as one strong reason for building else where.
   Damn.  We nearly had right to work up here.  It passed the house and senate only to be vetoed by former governor Lynch.  We had enough votes to override Lynch's veto in the senate, and were only a dozen votes short in the house.  Every union in New Hampshire, and a whole bunch for out of state, opposed right to work with every breath in their bodies.  It would have passed without  that die hard opposition.
  Thanks, unions, for sending all those good manufacturing jobs off to North Carolina.

Must be 'cause of Global Warming

We now have alligators in New Hampshire.   A three footer was captured yesterday in the Lamprey River near Portsmouth NH.  A town police officer, assisted by a state fish and game warden captured the reptile alive.  And a good thing for the alligator, summer may be nourishing up here, but I don't believe alligators can take it when the river freezes over in winter.  Global warming hasn't gone that far, yet.  This story made the front page of the Manchester Union Leader. 
   Up here we aren't that used to alligators yet.  A three footer took two men to deal with it, and caused a front page story.  Down in real alligator country, Florida, a nine foot gator showed up at an elementary school.  The school resource officer, a strapping young blonde woman,  all by her self, got a rope around its neck, flipped it upside down, and duct taped its jaws shut.  We need some practice before we get that good at dealing with gators.

A Mailing from Annie Kuster

Annie is my democratic US rep.  She did a constituent mailing, a duo-fold color post card.  Had artwork showing Main St Littleton (my home town, close enough) the State house, the Ammonusuc River, the covered bridge up by the Flume. 
Open it up and Annie promises to go to bat with federal agencies for you, expedite your grant requests, obtain service academy appointments for your children,  obtain a greeting card from Obama, expedite your passport applications, offer internships in her office[s], issue official attaboys, and get high school students into the Artistic Discovery Contest.   Lots of nice giveaways to voters.
   Not a word about taxes, Obamacare, IRS, Benghazi, jobs, war on coal, cutting off subsidies to the Egyptian army, Keystone XL, sequester, Northern Pass, or any other reason to vote for her.
On the back page it says "This mailing was prepared, published, and mailed at taxpayer expense."
Way to go Annie.