Grafton County Republican fund raiser/get-together

We had the annual party dinner last night.  I must still be fairly active, at this point I know nearly everyone who shows up at these things.  We had candidates, looking to recruit supporters, and all the Grafton County regulars, the people who do the emails, do the sphagetti dinners,  watch the polls, politick from door to door, in short the party workers. 
  We now have two candidates for Jean Shaheen's US Senate seat, Karen Testermann and Jim Rubins. We have a candidate for Anne Kuster's US house seat,  Gary Lambert.  We gave each candidate a mere TWO minutes of floor time to make a pitch.  These guys (and gal) are all old New Hampshire state government pols.  If elected, I'm sure they could all do a fine job in DC.  I'm not so sure that they have the name recognition, the charisma, the telegenic good looks, and the luck, to carry the election.  Fortunately, the Democratic incumbents are pretty unexciting.
    Senator Kelly Ayotte sent regrets, she is in DC, wrangling over the debt ceiling.  State chairman Jenifer Horn sent regrets.  AND,  Ray Burton, the north country legend was not there.  I hope he is OK, he underwent chemo for prostate cancer this year, and it took some starch out of him. 
    Consensus of  opinion.  Obama might indeed be stupid enough to default if he doesn't get his debt ceiling hike.  That's depressing.

Sports are ruining our Schools

This was on the cover of the Atlantic magazine.  I saw it yesterday on the magazine rack at Mac's Market.  It caught my eye, but not enough to make me buy the Atlantic.  Instead it made me wonder about the mental balance of the Atlantic's editors. 
    Sports are good.  They get a lot of kids, the average kids with couch potato genes, off the couch and out of doors getting some exercise.  Partly 'cause it's an opportunity to hang out with friends, partly 'cause there is still some social status to be had, and partly to get out of the house, a lot of kids will go out for sports, if there are any sports to go out for. 
  Dunno what the Atlantic has agin 'em, as I said I didn't bother to buy the mag and read it.  

Has the "Shutdown" hurt you, or anyone you know?

Things like laid off, or still working but not getting paid.  Or some essential paperwork not getting done.  Passports, drilling permits, visas, etc.  Or something  is closed that you need, or just want to get into. Some service no longer available that you need?
  I figure the shutdown will continue until the level of pain gets high enough to force a settlement.  How much pain are we feeling? really?  Could the "shutdown" go on for ever?  Comments are open.
   If I hear nothing, I'll figure the level of pain is low. 

Obamacare strikes home

Humana  says they will cancel my Medicare Advantage health insurance policy, effective in December.  Wonderful.

How the Republicans lost in 2012

There are a lot of reasons, but number one reason is women voted for Obama 55% to 45%.  That's a ten percent edge, a land slide.  And women are one half the electorate.   Let's not get sidetracked onto Hispanics or blacks or gays.  None of those groups, worthy as they may be, are 50 % of the votes.  Let's concentrate on the main issue.
   I have not seen any polling since the election that tells why women voted so heavily Obama and Democrat.  If the Republicans hope to go anywhere, they have to find out why, especially after suffering thru Great Depression 2.0 for all of Obama's first term, women voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2012.

   Is it just Obama, a slender sexy guy who dresses well, has good name recognition, and has a good speaking voice? 
   Is it the desire for free contraceptives and federally funded abortion?
   Is it a desire for more food stamps, more health care, more daycare, more welfare, more free stuff?
   Is it (was it) Romney?  Was Romney too much a married family man, to obviously religious, and ineffectual on the campaign trail?
   Is it a feeling that Democrats are better equal opportunity employers than Republicans?
   Is it a distaste for Republican defense spending?
   Do women care that men have been losing their jobs ever since Obama took office?
   Does the Republican stance on abortion drive women away?
   Are women actually in favor of legalizing pot?  And repelled by Republican support for the war on drugs?
   Are there other issues important to women?

Unless the Republicans get back in the good graces of women, they face a grim future.

EOF (end of fall) (Time to put the Weber away)

Gotta do it , lessen I want to leave the poor thing out in the snow on the deck all winter.   Some how I have TWO grills for it and both of them thick with grease/soot/crud.  Thankfully I live alone, so I can use the big kitchen sink to clean 'em.  No woman would allow that.  So, between the grill scraper thingie and a lot of brillo, they are now sorta clean.  Clean as I am gonna get 'em.  Pulled the Weber out into the driveway, dumped the unburned charcoal and ash into the woods, and hosed it down.  I'll let it dry, give it a shot of WD-40 to discourage the rust, and stash it in the garage.
   Then I will have an end of fall drink.  EOF?  That actually is a C programming name that means End of File.  I haven't done anything in C for some years, so now it is End of Fall  

Such a deal

The few people who have gotten thru to the Obamacare websites are reporting policies costing several hundred dollars a month, with deductibles of $4000 and up.   Such a deal.  If you are in good health, which most of us are, you won't rack up $4000 in doctor's bills inside a year.  So what are you buying insurance against?  You still have to pay out of pocket for everything under $4000. 
   Support you get unlucky and actually need an operation?  Those go for $20,000.  So you pay $4000 and the insurance pays off the rest.  Big deal.  How many of us have $4000 just lying around?  Damn few. 
   Most young single guys won't fall for deal like that.