The Paper Chase

In the Heartland our leaders have decided the way to reduce the high school dropout rate is to reduce the high skul grajuashon reekkwirementz.

I liked myself better when I still had the capacity to be surprised at things like this.

Sunday Sermon

It occurs to me that what passes for American conservatism is simply the theology of His Obamaness covering its hairy cowl with a slightly different surplice.

We are still infested with the spawn of Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggert. Send prayer money, vote against abortion, bash a few homos, and your heavenly reservations are confirmed. Celestial joy is yours just as soon as you die.

Obama promises identical bliss, only terrestial. Hand your treasure and your freedom up to the Sacred City of Washington. Eventually, when all comply, the blessings of Heaven will occur right here on Earth, and it will happen just as soon as you die.

An authoritarian is an authoritarian, and one demagogic snake oil peddler smells like any other. No matter whether he chooses to stomp you from the left or from the right.

Defensive existing

The temperature at Camp J is 23 below, and, no, that isn't wind chill. It is the actual position of the mercury in its little tube. A small stream of water trickles from a faucet to help guard against the even more expensive frozen pipes. The busy wood burner is getting welcome help from a pot of ham and beans which will simmer all day. Experience says both the van and the F150 will start. Experience sometimes lies.

I am here because blowing snow and ice yesterday turned me around about a third of the way into a trip I really wanted to make. In a larger sense I am here because I lack the sense to get a place in the south.

It isn't all that bad right now. There's a pleasant afterglow from a good New Year's Eve party. Two good friends I see too seldom stopped by yesterday. The larder is full.

But it could, and likely will, get old in a hurry:

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
404 AM CST SAT JAN 2 2010

.DISCUSSION...

THE STORY FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS IS CONTINUED MUCH BELOW NORMAL
TEMPERATURES WITH THE REGION REMAINING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ARCTIC
AIR...WITH PERIODIC SHOTS OF SNOW...

In more precise language, that means the absolute best we can expect for seven days is a daytime high of six on Wednesday. Otherwise it will be chilly.

The CIA

My sympathy for the bereaved families is as sincere as humanly possible.

And so is my feeling that things just took a sharp turn for the worse in Afghanistan. The stiff personal pride of the agency and its well-known appetite for revenge are now important ingredients in the Mulligan stew of the Middle East.