Farewell to Campaign Promises

Neither side made any promises this time.  They didn't promise the voters squat.  Modern politicians fear to say anything of substance, 'cause on any issue there are pros and antis.  For some reason, the antis remember and pros forget.  So politicians say nothing because saying ANYTHING just gains enemies, never friends or allies. 

Should TV stations air deceptive ads?

Down at the bottom, the local station owners can decide to air, or not to air, any ad.  Is it ethical for them to air ads that they know, and everyone knows, are deceptive?  Like half the political ads aired this last election (like just this week).   The ordinary voters get their info from the TV.  The "news" programs are complete pablum, with no context, no examples, not even speeches by the candidates.  And the ads.  Most of the ads accused the other side of illegal, improbable, and unprovable crimes. If you bothered to watch, most of 'em were so far out that anyone knew they were false. 
   Should TV station owners air this stuff?  Does the money they gain outweigh the pollution of the public airwaves? 

Snow in Franconia Notch

It stopped falling.  We got two inches on my deck.  I'd expect the summit of Cannon got a bit more.  Not enough to open Cannon, but it helps. 

If you have the votes, do it.

TV is full of happy talk about "bipartisanship" and "cooperation", and other psychobabble. Let's be real, the Republicans now have the votes in Congress to pass anything reasonable.  They ought to do it.  Some of it Obama will sign.  Some of it he will veto.  Make sure the issue is framed clearly so that you can bash Obama for the veto after he does it.  Might as well start off easy, with some medium duty issues that Obama might sign, just to get things warmed up.  Then press on with some heavy duty stuff, immigration, tax reform, EPA reform, budget, deficit, and other stuff. 
   What  John Boehner and Mitch McConnell (expected Congressional leaders next term) ought to be asking is "Do we have the votes to pass this bill?"  And by how solid a margin?  Passing a bill by a mere single vote looks flaky and can make you look dumb, when some other single vote turns against it unexpectedly.  If you don't have the votes, change the bill to attract more votes, or drop it.  Don't waste time on losers. 
   Don't waste time trying to be "bipartisan".  If you have the votes, pass it. If you don't, drop it.

Snow in Franconia Notch

It is coming down as I write this.  It's beginning to stick on the grass.   The ground has not frozen yet (we haven't had but one or two nights with frost to do the freezing) so the snow is melting on the road. No where near enough for skiing yet, but it is a good sign.

Names have been changed to protect the guilty

That Wallops Island rocket crash last week.  The one they are blaming on Russian built engines.  The company called itself "Orbital Sciences"  and the failed rocket they called "Antares".
   Funny, up until the disaster at Wallops Island, the company was known as "United Launch Association" or "ULA" and the vehicle was called "Atlas".   ULA was formed some years ago when Boeing and Lockheed decided to stop competing for NASA business, and spun off their space divisions.  The two spun off divisions promptly merged, creating ULA.  Their vehicle,Atlas, despite the Russian engines, has a pretty good record launching commercial comm sats, and military payloads (recon sats probably).
   Up until last week, Aviation Week worried about the Russian engines, and the possibility of the Russians cutting off the supply of engines in a tit for tat over Ukraine sanctions.  And they said, several times, that the cost of developing a US built engine would be prohibitive.  Well, last release to the popular (low information) press blamed the disaster on the Russian engines and announced that they would be replaced, with a yet to be named, US engine.  Nothing like an explosion filmed in full color to expedite the decision making process. 

Update:    Nov 7 20014.  Aviation Week came in this morning.  Apparently I am wrong, there ARE two US rocket operations, both using Russian built engines.  Aviation Week discusses both.  ULA and Atlas use a big Russian engine still in production, Orbital Science and Antares are using an old Russian engine, going back to the 1960's.  Sorry about the misinformation. 

Carpetbagger

That's what they called Scott Brown the day he joined the campaign.  I heard it said, over and over again.  I think that is the thing that tipped the election against him.  Jean Shaheen didn't campaign much, she hasn't done much except vote in Obamacare.  But she pulled it out in the end.  Too bad.  She is pretty much a do-nothing senator.  I'm afraid I live in a no-think blue state.   With yellow dog democrat voters that vote a straight party ticket no matter what, and no matter who is on the ticket.