Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Wednesday, the 7th day of March, 2012

On Friday, March 2nd, around 10:45 AM CST, we got a call from Van Buren County emergency services warning us of severe weather in the area with a threat of tornadoes. That was the first time since we’ve lived here (~3y) that we’ve had such an experience… Fortunately, I had been following the storm via a web site that Danny Authement had sent us and, by the time we received the call, we had been in the basement already and, I must add, the storm had all but past already. Kudos to VBC EC for the call; there are, nonetheless, opportunities to improve the timing… But it wasn’t over. At about 6:45 PM we got the same call and this time things got a little hairier. There were tornado warnings for our county and all the surrounding counties as well…Specifically, there was a strong ‘area of circulation’ on the intersection of Bake Mountain Rd and R.T. Davis Rd, about 2 miles from home, as the crow flies… Once again we took off for the basement and stayed there; there were actually no tornadoes touching down in the area at all, but we stayed in the ‘safe area’ until we had the ‘all clear’ signal from the Channel 2 Weather Advisories… Many friends and most of the family called to check up on us; THANK YOU!

As you may be surmising now, my days as political pundit are all but over; I’m almost done! I predicted last week that the Republican primary race was all but over after Mitt the Magnificent had beaten all his opponents up in five contests in a row. Yesterday, on Super Tuesday, Gingrich took GA, Santorum took TN, OK and ND, my man Ron Paul still did not get on the board, and then Mitt got MA, VT, VA, ID, AK, and beat Santorum in OH by 1% of the votes after outspending him 10:1. I think I’m going to start agreeing with Newt on his assertion that Mitt the Meek just cannot close the deal. As Michael Douglas said in The American President, “the problem is not that Bob doesn’t get it; the problem is that he cannot sell it!” You replace Bob with Mitt and you have reality! Robo-Mitt’s inability to make himself credible, to portray himself as a genuine individual (i.e. sell it and close the deal) are really damaging my chances of becoming a nationally-recognized political ‘seer’… Oh well. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we also had elections here in the county; we were having primaries on both parties for the position of Property Appraiser. Don’t know the results yet, and that’s fine since I think that is a position where party affiliation bears no impact.

So Iran is on a mission to acquire nuclear weapons, although they say it is for energy purposes (yeah, right, one of the largest owners of oil deposits in the world looking for nuclear power…) At any rate, regardless of their motive, why are some of us so bent on invading/bombing/punishing Iran for having nuclear weapons? Iran says they will obliterate Israel? Well, let them try that one out for size; many others have tried to do just that over the years, both alone and in confederations, and Israel has been able to kick everybody’s ass grandly. I agree we are to stand by our allies and friends and have their back; I also agree to go to their help when needed/asked for; but to go in and do it ourselves just because the rhetoric sounds tough and appeals to some extreme factions/political sects? Come on, man! Haven’t we learned any lessons from the last recent years of international shame and discredit for invading countries on a whim? If Iran is a threat, where does that leave North Korea? Why don’t we invade them? Why don’t we invade Pakistan, who is clearly hostile to us? Why didn't we follow Patton desires and invaded the Soviet Union? All those countries have nuclear weapons (some by the thousands) and the capability to deliver them… None of these warmongers have ever donned a military uniform and taken fire; but they are certainly chomping at the bit to send more young people into harm’s way and spend money that we do not have… The only sane inmate in the whole asylum is RON PAUL!

And now, food for thought: “Work on your important tasks when they are not urgent; that way you can apply optimal amounts of time and intellectual capital. High quality results will follow naturally.” Translation? Don’t rush the important stuff.

Manage your time wisely, my friends…

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