Mockingjay Part 1

I paid money to see the first two Hunger Games flicks down at the Jax Jr.  They were very good.  This one, by mail from Netflix, not so much.  Katniss Everdean is no longer a combat heroine fighting thru the games.  She is now reduced to a spokesman (woman) for the resistance.  She is being manipulated some what against her will, by a couple of old resistance fuds.  Peeta has been taken by President Snow's republic and is speaking on TV to support the Republic.  Just how this attitude reversal happens is never made clear.  Peeta and Katniss never meet face to face in this movie.  Katniss seldom takes any action of her own volition, mostly she is maneuvered here and there. 
   The movie runs slow, long periods of Katniss looking moody but not doing anything.

Questions about Benghazi

1.  Why were pleas for more security in Benghazi ignored?  If Hillary claims she never saw the request, do this followup question:  What kind of a state department were you running when emails from ambassadors in war zones get lost?
2.  Why were no aircraft sent to Benghazi that night?  A couple of F-16s orbiting the consulate down low would have been very effective.
3. Why did Obama fire General Carter Ham, head of Africom? And he fired Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette from his command of the powerful Carrier Strike Group Three (CSG-3) currently located in the Middle East . General Ham was fired right in the middle of the Benghazi attack, and Admiral Gaoutte was fired shortly afterwards. Service rumor has it that both officers were re leaved of command because they were sending re inforcements to Benghazi against Obama's orders to let the consulate be overwhelmed
4.  What was that Benghazi installation anyhow?  US consulate? or CIA weapons warehouse?  And what was the ambassador doing at the consulate/warehouse that night?  Ambassadors don't usually visit the lower level consulates, especially when there is no consul in residence.  Speaking of which, who was that Benghazi consul anyhow.  
5.  How long would it have taken to dispatch a rescue force? 
6.  Why did you blame the attacks upon an obscure piece of video?


That's my questions.  I'm sure there are more. 

I wish Paul Ryan every sort of luck

He is gonna need it.  If he becomes speaker, he has to deal with a badly splintered Republican party, and the Speaker doesn't have many carrots or sticks to bring low speed Congress Critters into line.  A lot of reps are doing their own thing, putting sticks in the wheels of progress and getting away with it.  Too many Republican reps like to fight just for the sake of fighting.  They want to pick fights they will never win, just for the publicity they get from picking a fight.  Others, RINOs, are entirely too willing to give Obama what he wants with out even charging him a price.  
   Hopefully Ryan has demanded some party loyalty from the obstreperous Republican cabals as a price for accepting the Speakership.   
  Ryan ought to make a good speaker, he is intelligent, well informed, fair, and a nice guy to boot.  If Republicans cannot give a guy like Ryan their support in Congress, the party is doomed. 

Neil Cavuto on Fox trashes Star Wars

Neil, a nice guy, I watch his show regularly.  He ranted against the coming Star Wars flick, said he just didn't understand why everyone loves Star Wars.  Neil it's real simple. The first Star Wars, back in the 1970's, was so good, that everyone has loved them ever since. 
   The first Star Wars came out when I was full grown, graduated from college, back from Viet Nam, married, home owner.  Took the wife and caught it in the theater on opening night.  I had seen the ad in the Boston Globe, but other than that, I hadn't heard a word about it.  Typical studio effective publicity. It was so good, we went back to see it all over again a few nights later.  Saw it a third time with my mother, who liked it.  No other movie was that cool, to make me pay to see it three times.  The two sequels were nearly as good. 
   I will admit, that the three "prequels" released 20 years later were not up to the standard of the original three.  But they weren't bad enough to spoil the property.  Of course I will go see the new Star Wars coming out shortly.  So will everyone else. 

Jim Webb drops out of the Democratic race

Too bad.  Of all the democrats at their debate a week ago, he was the most rational sounding speaker there,  a man who actually understands how the country works and how it feels.  No flaky socialist stuff, no free stuff giveaways, no domestic enemies list.    I thought Webb was the best candidate the democrats had.  Sorry to see him go. 

Milestone: 100,000 page views reached today.

Somebody is reading this.  Glad to see that. 

Where did all the industry go?

The Boston and Maine historical society presented a talk and slide show in Plymouth NH yesterday.  I drove down to see it, the sun was out, the leaves were bright.  Pleasant drive.  The presentation was in the former B&M passenger station in Plymouth, now a senior center.  Presenter was Dwight Smith, serious railfan and long time B&M employee, with slides going back to the late 1930's.  Subject was rail operations in northern New England.  Lots of slides, diesels, steam, stations.  Long freight trains, mostly boxcars, going to all sorts of places that no longer have rail service at all.  Berlin, Lancaster, Colebrook.  At each vanished rail line Dwight would mention the names of the industries and the traffic they used to produce.  For instance Berlin used to generate 11000 carloads of freight a year. 
   Thinking about those long trains of boxcars, made me think of all the jobs needed to create the product to fill them.  For some reason,  our northlands has de industrialized since the 1950's.  The paper mills are closed, the bobbin mills are gone, the furniture factories are gone and nothing has replaced them.  Some of the business has gone to trucks, milk for example, but most of it has just gone up in smoke.  Teenagers growing up today look to leaving the state to find work when they graduate high school. 
   New Hampshire needs to work on getting more industry.  Right to work would help a lot.  So would reducing the business tax.