Europe bubbling like a pot.

The gloom and doom, end of the world, talk has died down in the MSM after the Greeks gave a haircut to their creditors. It's been a couple of weeks since I last saw a "The Euro is Doomed" article.
But all is not well in Euro land. Today's Economist has a cover story on the coming French bankruptcy. And the WSJ reports that the German central bank will no long accept bonds from Ireland, Greece. or Portugal as collateral for loans. And the European Stabilization Mechanism is only E500 billion. Which is just barely enough to bail out Portugal, but nowhere near enough to bailout Italy or Spain. And the Economist is still calling for "more European integration" by which they usually mean Germany will guarantee/bailout everyone else. The Economist thinks this is a wonderful idea. The Germans aren't on board with it, and the Economist blasts Angela Merkel and the Germans as reactionary stick-in-the-muds every time it hears a German begging for a little air.
We need to pay attention, 'cause we will be next.

The Taxman Cometh.

Alder Brook Sportsmen's Association, a Littleton gun club of which I am a member, had a special meeting last night to approve new bylaws. Seems like our ever hungry town government has voided the club's tax free status, assessed the club property at $86,000, and levied $3800 worth of taxes. That's a lot of money for a couple of acres of scrub land, with no frontage onto public roads, so far out of town it's almost in the next town. $3800 divided among the membership would jack up dues by $100 per member per year. Alder Brook Sportsmen has been around since 1962, and after all that time we suddenly became taxable.
We got a lawyer, who claimed that if we did a load of gov'mint paper work, rewrote the club's bylaws, jumped thru a lot of obscure hoops, and filed paper work with Littleton, Concord and Washington, we could become a tax free non profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Thank goodness we have some dedicated volunteer club officers willing to wade thru this swamp. The new gov'mint written bylaws were adopted by unanimous vote.
If they make life this difficult for a little private club, imagine what a small business, which actually makes money, has to go thru.

The Alarm Cat went off last night

It's o'dark thirty and this high pitched piercing howl wakes me. I get up to inspect, and there is Stupid Beast, in fighting stance, back arched, fur fluffed up, tail fluffed up to a good two inches diameter, defending the front door. I flip on the porch light and I can see tracks in the fresh snow (yes it's still snowing up here). More tracks lead down the steps and across the street. I'm not enough of a woodsman to say what kind of tracks, but they were medium sized, say from a 20 pound animal of some kind. Any how the cat seems to have scared it off.
So I say some soothing words to Stupid Beast and go back to bed.

You don't expect us to read 2700 pages?

So said a Supreme the other day, referring to Obamacare. Well, actually Judge, I do expect you to read the whole damn thing. And pass an examination on the contents BEFORE you judge the case.
The point is, we should never pass a 2700 page law. Give me 2700 pages, and I can find a clause in there somewhere to authorize ANYTHING I want to do. Give a bureaucrat a 2700 page law and you have authorized him to do anything he wants to do.
The court ought to declare the whole damn thing unconstitutional on account of terminal vagueness.

Richard Clarke says US did Stuxnet

Very Interesting. I'm not saying one way or the other. I don't have any facts myself. But Clarke has been around for a long time and is reasonably creditable.

It's still snowing up here.

Less than an inch but enough to keep the ground white. Our hard working town snow plow rumbled by the place early this AM. Not that there was enough snow to be worth it, but heh, we got a brand new town plow truck, gotta make sure it still works.

Why does Hugo go to Cuba for treatment?

As part of the press coverage of the Pope's visit to Cuba, it was mentioned that Hugo Chavez, dictator of Venezuela, was in Cuba for medical treatment of his cancer.
Hmm, Hugo is the dictator of a medium speed South American country, and yet he prefers Cuban doctors and hospitals. Does Hugo really think Cuba's medicine is better than that of his homeland? Or does he fear assassination in a Venezuelan hospital?
Also strange, Hugo, although I call him dictator, still has some political enemies alive at home. Yet he feels his regime is secure enough to keep the lid on, while Hugo flies to Havana for chemotherapy.