Well, here I sit waiting to be buried in the next few hours under between 18 and 24 inches of snow.  Fortunately I'm all stocked up with enough supplies to last at least 30 days.  Food good.  Water good.  Dry goods good.  Candles good.  Batteries good.  Books good.  Perscription meds good.  TV Cable and internet up, but may be taken down by the storm that's about to hit, but then I have plenty of movies to watch, assuming I don't lose  electrical power, and then I even have a little bit extra power using inverters and fully charged, heavy duty batteries.  We'll see.  In the mean time, I'm hunkering down for the big one as they say.

It's not that there is nothing to rant about.  There's plenty.  Raising the Federal debt limit, Obama saying the country is going to go bankrupt if we don't spend a trillion dollars on healthcare, Crazy Al Gore's problems in Copenhagen, and on and on and on.

No, it's not that there isn't anything to say something about.  It's just that I'm tired and need a few days rest.  With the 22 degree weather we're having in part of the world (14 with wind chill), I feel a nice time with a book is in order.

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Featured_Grownups is asking about a Friend I have.  As soon as I read that, my thoughts went immediately to one person.  Mary. 

I first met Mary when she was just 7 years old.  She was such a little girl.  Not like me.  I was 10 and soooo grownup.  But despite the huge difference in our ages, we somehow found ourselves spending time together.  I think that was mostly because both of us seemed to be something just short of social outcasts. 

I was deeply introverted, making it very hard for me to open myself up to those around me.  I also grew up in a family where children were to be seen and not heard.  The combination made me fearful of initiating personal contact of any kind.  As a result, I became thoughtful, introspective, and far too analytical for someone of my years, always thinking everything through before taking action.  There was no spontaneity and no laughter in my life. 

Mary, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.  She was a very outgoing and giving person, who always sought out friends. Where I had no sense of humor at all, Mary seemed to live for humor.  She was constantly trying out new jokes to see how people would respond to them.  She was so delighted when they laughed, and just as depressed when they didn't.  I think she did it in a desperate hope that if she could make people laugh, they would want to be her friend.  You see, while Mary had the kindest, gentlest heart of anyone I have known, she wasn't the brightest person in the world.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that Mary's IQ was more than just a little below average -- enough to make people around her feel uncomfortable, but not so much so that she could not function.

So there we were, two social cripples looking out for one another.  Neither of us really exhibiting any emotional detachment from society, yet both of us showing signs of some form of impaired communication skills.  And yet somehow, we managed to find our way through this life and all the heartaches it can bring. 

We both are still two very different people, and through the years, our differences seem to have magnified themselves.  Mary still cannot resist telling some of the world's stupidest and least funny jokes, while I never tell jokes.  I am a Conservative; Mary is a Liberal.  I vote issues; Mary doesn't understand the issues.  I consider myself an independent; Mary is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat because her father was.   Mary is also subject to depression which has three times required hospitalization, while I have never been anything but a tower of strength and self-sufficiency. 

Today, Mary is 64 years old and I am 67.  Through 57 years we have shared our experiences and a portion of our lives.  We have vacationed together, had special dinners to celebrate birthdays, exchanged Christmas presents, shared our heartaches and our sorrows, attended each other's weddings, and done just about everything two friends can do together.

Mary is still something of a social cripple, but she is my cripple, just as I am her's.  What I think I dread most in this life at this point is that I will die before Mary does.  I am the strength in our relationship, and I know that I can survive her passing.  What bothers me is that I don't think Mary can survive mine.  I tremble at the thought of the suffering she will endure if I don't outlast her.  Therefore I will survive her, because I must!

Here's an interesting thought.  I would expect it from China, but coming from Canada was a surprise to me this morning.  The Canadian NationalPost ran an article on Dec 8th by Diane Francis entitled "The Real Inconvenient Truth" in which she suggests that the key to solving the global warming issue is not cutting back on our meat consumption or fossil fuel usage.  Rather, she suggests that the approach should be to reduce the world's population.

Citing studies that suggest global warming is directly related to the number of people actually consuming the planet's resources, she goes on to say that China's one child per family policy, if implemented world wide now, would reduce the total planetwide population by a billion people by 2050, and would further reduce it by another two billion, to a total of 3.4 billion by 2075.

"This would have immediate positive effects on the world's forests, other species, the oceans, atmospheric quality and living standards.  Doing nothing, by contrast, will result in an unsustainable population of nine billion by 2050.

"For those who balk at the notion that governments should control family sizes, just wait until the growing human population turns twice as much pastureland into desert as is now the case, or when the Amazon is gone, the elephants disappear for good and wars erupt over water, scarce resources and spatial needs."

It's an interesting idea.  One that even sounds like it has some merit, and one that isn't even on the radar for discussion at Copenhagen.  What do you think of this idea? 

The Democrats have actually jettisoned the Public Health Option in an attempt to get a compromise bill that will pass the Senate.  What they propose as an alternative is to allow private insurance companies to continue to provide policies, but under direct government supervision.  That might have some merit if by supervision is meant some government regulation.

They also propose to lower the age people can qualify to receive Medicare from 65 to 55.  This will add between 30 and 50 million new people to a system that the Dems already say is incapable of sustaining itself.  And at the same time, they still want to reduce medicare benefits by half a trillion dollars. 

Even the stupidest moron on the face of the planet knows that this can't work.  So to make up for the apparent shortfall, they suggest that the poor will no longer be able to collect medicaid, and the elderly will be moved from medicare to the stripped down medicaid system, making room for the younger folks to ride the medicare train. 

But what will the poor do for insurance and medical care?  Aren't these the very ones who the Dems originally wanted to help to begin with?  What about all the children who won't be covered under this arrangement?  And how will they explain the reduced amount of care available to the elderly when they need it most, especially after they spent more than 40 years paying into the system.

It all makes me what to ask what manner of men have been elected to govern us.  It is even more frightening than I once had dared to imagine, but it does prove once again that you can't expect a Phd to be able to do anything.

I wish someone would tell me why the abortion issue is even under consideration for the health care bill.  After all, abortion is an 'elective' procedure when you get right down to it, and I don't know any health care policy that covers elective procedures.  (Please don't tell me it's just in cases of the mother's health, because we all know where that leads.) 

Anyway, if there is a way to get government run health care to pay for elective procedures, I'd like a tummy tuck and maybe a face lift and a nose job.  And some breast implants wouldn't hurt either.  It's just to offset the effects of age and gravity mind you.  Oh, wait!  Maybe I should just say that my physical and mental health are both at risk if the government doesn't give me these things. 

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The rich, the famous, the powerful -- they all think they can get away with cheating on their spouses, because while others may get caught, they themselves are far to cleaver to be caught.  They will be the one that gets away with it, regardless of how many potential wagging tongues may be out there.   Okay.  There's nothing new in that.

I even understand how some people can be lulled into thinking that they can blackmail these cheaters so as to buy their silence.  That's an old, old game that goes back thousands of years, and has been illegal for just as long.  What is perhaps new in this game is that the targets of these would be extortionists are less and less willing to be held up by some petty crook.  There are a number of such cases in the last few years, the most recent being the Letterman case. 

The would be extortionists are also becoming more aware that as the number of targets who refuse to cooperate goes up, the risk of jail time is becoming greater, and they are asking themselves why they should risk it when the odds are increasingly against doing a successful ripoff?!  But instead of the old racket dying, the Perps are becoming more sophisticated about how they approach their targets. They no longer walk up to them and threaten them with exposure if they aren't paid off.  Instead they enlist the aid of a lawyer to accomplish the extortion without the risk of doing time.

How is that done?  Well, actually it's quite simple.  Let's say that I want to extort a million dollars from you or I'll expose something potentially embarrassing and even career threatening about you to the press.  Instead of open extortion as was done in the old days, I go to see a lawyer with a tale of how, as a result of your negligent and thoughtless actions, you left me severely traumatized, maybe even putting my job at risk, and I feel I'm entitled to some compensation, so I'm going to sue you in the public court system.  If you want to negotiate a settlement before my case comes before the judge, where all the details will undoubtedly come out, I will, of course, consider your offer.  

No threat -- No mention of money -- but you're just as caught as you would be in the old fashioned way, and I risk no jail time at all.  You either pay a settlement to me up front through my lawyer, or you pay your lawyer.  Either way, you pay!  And, while the odds of a court ordered judgement against you might seem slim, your secret will be out.  Besides --who knows -- in today's courts, I might still be awarded something for pain and suffering anyway.   

Now you know why so many of the women in Tiger Wood's life are "lawyering-up" even before the press is finding out that they exist.  Disgusting, you say.  Welcome to the 21st century in America.

According to The Telegraph, the 140 Private Jets and 1200 petrol or diesel burning Limos used by participants in the Copenhagen climate change summit will dump as much CO2 into the atmosphere as some developing countries do in a whole year:  According to the organisers of the eleven-day conference, the participants will create a total of 41,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide before it is all said and done.  They continue to polute the atmosphere with reckless abandon, and they want us to cut back on our power usage.  As usual, the proponents of global warming remain a bunch of hypocrites.

In the aftermath of Tiger Wood's late-night dash across his neighborhood, the The Florida Highway Patrol issued a press release including a photograph of the interior of his car. The scene is what you'd expect after any car accident: upholstered seats covered in broken class and other debris strewn around... and a copy of Get A Grip on Physics by science writer John Gribbin.

Can you believe it:  sales of the Gibbin book have skyrocketed over night.  Says something about America's buying habits and how we are suckered everyday into a new form of snake oil.

From an article in The Hill by Tony Romm:

"The U.N.'s decision this week to investigate whether some of its climate change research had been manipulated constitutes a "direct rebuke" of the Obama administration, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Friday.

"The White House's unwillingness to open a similar inquiry could now only be characterized as "a sad abdication of their responsibility to ensure that U.S. policies are not driven by corrupted science and data," the congressman added.

"'The very integrity of the report that the Obama administration has predicated much of its climate change policy has been called into question and it is unconscionable that this administration and Congress is willing to abdicate responsibility of uncovering the truth to the United Nations,' explained Issa, the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee."