Happy Halloween

When hinges creak in doorless chambers,

When candles flicker, where the air is deathly still...

This is the time when ghosts are present...

Happy Halloween...
And beware of hitch-hiking ghosts!


From Doombuggies.com
Recommended:
Ghostpix.com

Bipartisanship = Democrats Winning

From ABCnews.com:

"Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win and have substantial majorities, Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan," said Pelosi.

Thanks for clearing that up.

UPDATE: "[Because] Nancy and Harry have done such a fine job with the “most ethical Congress” evah in the past two years!"

October's End

Fall's a glorious time to be alive.

The trees and shrubs resolve to go out in a blaze of reds, oranges, and yellows; a last jubilant cheer before the colors dim and life bows to the inevitable coming of winter. This season has been one to remember in my neighborhood, as the trees have turned a brilliant crimson. The aspens have not matched their competition, turning a faded gold. An impressive view awaits one who looks out over the Willowcreek area.

But in the early morning or late evening, the riotous colors fade, and the air takes on an uncomfortable chill - a premonition of the coming winter's bitter cruel dominion. The mask of Nature comes off, revealing the harsh cold reality underneath.

It suits that Halloween comes at this time of year.

Tracing the Wasatch Fault

Courtesy of the Utah Geological Survey:

Quote for the Week

"[W]hen the Communists show up to protest the Nazis, you're supposed to pray for an asteroid, not pick a favourite."

-- Kate McMillen of Small Dead Animals (a blog*)

*Highly recommended, by the way, if you are interested in events north of the border.

Submitted with only one comment

Gee, who thought this would happen?

Hawaii ending universal child health care

HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

[snip]

Let me just repeat this one key quote: "People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free."

And you were surprised this happened?

Only a Matter of Time

You know it's only a matter of time before someone rules along these lines here.

Spirit of the Age [Mark Steyn]

From Britain's Daily Mail:

A gardener has been ordered by council chiefs to remove three foot high barbed wire ringing his allotment - in case thieves scratch themselves climbing over it.

Shouldn't that principle apply to prisons, too?

1-800-WNT-MUSE

I am trying to come up with something insightful, clever, or at least readable.

No luck yet.

It's a Monday

Rough weekend. Not that I had a bad time; but I did not sleep well at all; and then stayed up to watch the Red Sox-Angels game go twelve innings.

Could be worse, though.

I could have been a Cubs fan.

A little of the late, great BC Rail

Going to be out of pocket for while, so here's a little BC Rail action:

The Pemberton Pushers

That's College Football!

With 2:30 left in the fourth quarter last night, the score was Utah 20, Oregon State 28. Fans were grumbling (myself included), and people (not me) were leaving.

At the end of the game, the score stood Utah 31, Oregon State 28.

Endings like that are what make college football fun.

Government is not the solution

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”

- Ronald Reagan

Something to think about in the next six months.

A new link to consider

Just wanted to let you know about a new website* I have been reading. It's called RobinsonandLong.com, and serves as a gateway to some of the best of today's conservative opinion. You can use the above link, and I have also added it to the sidebar.

It's an "aggregator" site - basically, it takes the articles and blog entries from several different websites and puts them together on one page. You just pull up the page and start clicking away, to your heart's content.

*New to me, I should say. It's been up for a couple of months now.

Hurricane Ike's Effects - on the Great Lakes

You have probably heard about Hurricane Ike's results in the Houston area, especially in Galveston and on the Bolivar Peninsula. (If not, I refer you to Houblog. He was in the middle of it.)

But the storm also had effects clear up into Lake Michigan:

While assessing Ike's impact on the lake, Whitman noted that "The velocity and height of a tributary emptying into Lake Michigan at Portage, Indiana went off the chart. We measured a tremendous amount of sediment accumulation near Ogden Dunes."

A minor footnote in the record of Ike's passing, to be sure; but a plain reminder of the lasting and unusual power of a hurricane.