-- by Ed Naile
A week ago I spent a week in England, the Brighton Hove area, in a small town named Lewes. We went to Stonehenge, Oxford, Dover cliffs, the Tower of London, and a few other spots.
Leaving the US for Gatwick we sat in the terminal as our plane coming in emptied of passengers. Just as it arrived several young mothers with strollers approached the gate. They were carrying American flags and were meeting husband soldiers.
As the men and women in dusty camo exited the plane, better than half of the two hundred or so people waiting for flights stood and applauded – for a long time. The applause got louder as each new tanned face came into view.
I wonder what those same people would have done if a whole plane load of national news media got off and had to walk the gauntlet next? Where's an over-ripe tomato when you need one?
In England I learned that scones are just as tasteless there as they are here. Even with a thing called curded cream? And as I suspected, a Big Mac tastes the same in London as it does in Hong Kong or NH.
The telly had a special about Dr. Who I could have watched on PBS.
There was another British show from which our American “Deal or No Deal” with host Howie Mandel was probably morphed.
Arnold Palmer was doing commercials in England for second home developments in Spain (nice golf courses).
Many of the kids wear American sports team shirts.
PT Cruisers are popular.
For the life of me I could not spend the change I kept accumulating. They need a paper One Pound note over there.
Almost got hit by a tiny little car as I crossed a tiny little road in the middle of nowhere. Driving around corners on two wheels seems to be a national sport.
The best part of the trip:
No news at all for a solid week about the all consuming news of Katie Couric switching networks. These Brits know what's important.
The last time I was in Gatwick was several weeks after 9/11 and most of the cabbies I saw had American and British flags in their back windows. I would wager some of the people applauding our soldiers in the US were Brits going home on our flight.
4.20.2006
4.19.2006
Live Free and Fly?
-- by Ed Naile
The Aldermen in Manchester have been making big decisions lately. Big important decisions. They have officially changed the name of Manchester Airport to “Manchester Boston Regional Airport.”
This bone-headed idea actually serves a purpose much larger than the simple renaming of a municipal entity. It gives voters a look inside the skulls of the people who are supposedly looking out for Manchester taxpayers.
It appears they have more of a regard for Boston than they do their own city. What's next, rename Manchester and make it Lowell NH?
The in-house generated survey by the Manchester Airport Authority states that some huge amount of “west of the Mississippi” travelers do not know where Manchester is. No kidding. Most can't pick NH, or any other state other than the one they live in, out on a map. That, in the minds of Manchester Aldermen is a reason for a NH airport to become, in the minds of travelers, a suburb of Boston?
How are people so dumb as to not know where NH is, supposed to find our airport in the first place. Its almost seventy miles away!
Maybe I am jumping the gun. The Aldermen probably have a deal with people who make maps of Boston to have a mention of the location of the NH airport. They will probably have a little disclaimer on the map that states: Manchester Boston Regional Airport is in New Hampshire - see some other map.
Look up Logan Airport on the net and you will find it called Logan Airport as well as Boston Logan Airport. So Manchester Airport should really be called Manchester Boston Logan Regional Airport. I can't wait until we rename Pease Airport.
When I think of Boston I think, rude, dirty, expensive, snarled traffic, dangerous drivers, and long lines. When I tell people about the Manchester Airport I tell them it is like your uncle has his own airport he lets you use.
My wife is a flight attendant who has flown out of Boston for thirty years. Once, in her uniform, walking across a street, she was hit by a car. The driver backed up looked at her laying on the ground and drove off. She was also half way to Boston to go to work on Sept. 11, 2001.
Kudos to Alderman-at-large Mike Lopez, Ted Gatsas of Ward 2, Bill Shea of Ward 7 and Betsi DeVries of Ward 8 who were opposed to this nutty idea.
Rather than link NH to a state from which most people are trying to move away, why not try to accentuate what we have here.
The Aldermen in Manchester have been making big decisions lately. Big important decisions. They have officially changed the name of Manchester Airport to “Manchester Boston Regional Airport.”
This bone-headed idea actually serves a purpose much larger than the simple renaming of a municipal entity. It gives voters a look inside the skulls of the people who are supposedly looking out for Manchester taxpayers.
It appears they have more of a regard for Boston than they do their own city. What's next, rename Manchester and make it Lowell NH?
The in-house generated survey by the Manchester Airport Authority states that some huge amount of “west of the Mississippi” travelers do not know where Manchester is. No kidding. Most can't pick NH, or any other state other than the one they live in, out on a map. That, in the minds of Manchester Aldermen is a reason for a NH airport to become, in the minds of travelers, a suburb of Boston?
How are people so dumb as to not know where NH is, supposed to find our airport in the first place. Its almost seventy miles away!
Maybe I am jumping the gun. The Aldermen probably have a deal with people who make maps of Boston to have a mention of the location of the NH airport. They will probably have a little disclaimer on the map that states: Manchester Boston Regional Airport is in New Hampshire - see some other map.
Look up Logan Airport on the net and you will find it called Logan Airport as well as Boston Logan Airport. So Manchester Airport should really be called Manchester Boston Logan Regional Airport. I can't wait until we rename Pease Airport.
When I think of Boston I think, rude, dirty, expensive, snarled traffic, dangerous drivers, and long lines. When I tell people about the Manchester Airport I tell them it is like your uncle has his own airport he lets you use.
My wife is a flight attendant who has flown out of Boston for thirty years. Once, in her uniform, walking across a street, she was hit by a car. The driver backed up looked at her laying on the ground and drove off. She was also half way to Boston to go to work on Sept. 11, 2001.
Kudos to Alderman-at-large Mike Lopez, Ted Gatsas of Ward 2, Bill Shea of Ward 7 and Betsi DeVries of Ward 8 who were opposed to this nutty idea.
Rather than link NH to a state from which most people are trying to move away, why not try to accentuate what we have here.
4.11.2006
I'm Baaack
---By Ron Dupuis
Rumors of my early demise are somewhat exaggerated. Those readers who are happy for me can thank Dr. Tom Wharton and the wonderful doctors, nurses, and registered cardiovascular technicians’ of the Exeter Cardiovascular Associates and the catheterization lab at Exeter hospital. Dr Wharton and his team performed a procedure known as "angioplasty" on an artery that was 99% blocked then installed a couple of "stents", and in two days I was feeling 100% better.
To Dr. Wharton; May GOD not only bless you and all your associates, may HE always smile down on the work that you do.
Now for the politics.
On...
Immigration: I’ve spoken with a number of military people in the last year and they all agree that when you are being “invaded", the first thing you have to do is stop the invasion. You don’t make plans for an occupation, and you certainly don't form a strategy for how to get along after the invasion is complete. Washington has it all wrong. Whether it be amnesty, a guest worker program, deportation, or shoot on sight, the first step in solving the problem is to stop the invasion. Anything less is only compounding the situation.
By the way, someone should inform Washington that we already have a guest worker program. It'’s called a GREEN CARD. When I mentioned this to Senator John McCain at a function the other night, his response was that we needed this "exchange of ideas and discourse”. I then commented on the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 and how many conservatives feel this was the beginning of our problem. What makes his legislation different? Senator McCain then promised to send me a letter outlining his views and requested that I critique and return it in order to continue the “exchange of ideas and discourse”. I responded that I will do such, however, "first close the border”.
A point I failed to bring up was the guest worker program that allows immigrants to pay their back taxes and a two thousand dollar fine in order to be on the path to citizenship. If Joe Average American refused to pay his taxes and got caught, the fine would be a lot more than two thousand dollars. The chances are very possible that we would be sharing a cell with a three hundred pound roommate named Bubba and eating off metal plates.
On...
Iraq; You read it on these pages over a year ago. After getting rid of Saddam "Insane” our job would be to write a constitution and let the Iraqis form a democratic government that had a chance to live in peace. Much as General MacArthur did for Japan.
We've done that and now its up to the citizens of Iraq to pick up the ball. Our young men and women have died so that Iraq could be free of a brutal dictatorship not witnessed in the world since Hitler. It is getting really close to the time for the Iraqi people to determine their own future.
On...
IMHO radio; I have received another positive endorsement from the station concerning the IMHO radio program. I have been assured the final approval will come within the next 24 hours. We are planning a three hour talk program geared to all ages and political affiliations to be aired on Saturday morning. Stay tuned.
Rumors of my early demise are somewhat exaggerated. Those readers who are happy for me can thank Dr. Tom Wharton and the wonderful doctors, nurses, and registered cardiovascular technicians’ of the Exeter Cardiovascular Associates and the catheterization lab at Exeter hospital. Dr Wharton and his team performed a procedure known as "angioplasty" on an artery that was 99% blocked then installed a couple of "stents", and in two days I was feeling 100% better.
To Dr. Wharton; May GOD not only bless you and all your associates, may HE always smile down on the work that you do.
Now for the politics.
On...
Immigration: I’ve spoken with a number of military people in the last year and they all agree that when you are being “invaded", the first thing you have to do is stop the invasion. You don’t make plans for an occupation, and you certainly don't form a strategy for how to get along after the invasion is complete. Washington has it all wrong. Whether it be amnesty, a guest worker program, deportation, or shoot on sight, the first step in solving the problem is to stop the invasion. Anything less is only compounding the situation.
By the way, someone should inform Washington that we already have a guest worker program. It'’s called a GREEN CARD. When I mentioned this to Senator John McCain at a function the other night, his response was that we needed this "exchange of ideas and discourse”. I then commented on the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 and how many conservatives feel this was the beginning of our problem. What makes his legislation different? Senator McCain then promised to send me a letter outlining his views and requested that I critique and return it in order to continue the “exchange of ideas and discourse”. I responded that I will do such, however, "first close the border”.A point I failed to bring up was the guest worker program that allows immigrants to pay their back taxes and a two thousand dollar fine in order to be on the path to citizenship. If Joe Average American refused to pay his taxes and got caught, the fine would be a lot more than two thousand dollars. The chances are very possible that we would be sharing a cell with a three hundred pound roommate named Bubba and eating off metal plates.
On...
Iraq; You read it on these pages over a year ago. After getting rid of Saddam "Insane” our job would be to write a constitution and let the Iraqis form a democratic government that had a chance to live in peace. Much as General MacArthur did for Japan.
We've done that and now its up to the citizens of Iraq to pick up the ball. Our young men and women have died so that Iraq could be free of a brutal dictatorship not witnessed in the world since Hitler. It is getting really close to the time for the Iraqi people to determine their own future.
On...
IMHO radio; I have received another positive endorsement from the station concerning the IMHO radio program. I have been assured the final approval will come within the next 24 hours. We are planning a three hour talk program geared to all ages and political affiliations to be aired on Saturday morning. Stay tuned.
4.06.2006
Science humbug: Jesus walked on ice, not water
---by Micheal
Doron Nof, an oceanography professor at Florida State University is publishing a paper in which he asserts that Jesus walked on floating ice, not water. Professor Nof, a non-religious Jew, describes himself as an "equal opportunity miracle buster," because he and a colleague suggested in the 90s that it was "just" wind that parted the Red Sea for Moses.
The problem with Nof's latest "miracle busting" is that he apparently has almost no idea what he's busting.
Nof's study of core samples suggests that the Sea of Galilee was as much as 10 degrees cooler 2000 years ago. Freezing was much more likely. That, and he describes a phenomenon called Springs Ice, in which saltier spring water floats on top of a body of fresh water and can cool and freeze faster in cold air than the whole lake could. In an interview with a CNet reporter, Nof explained that Springs Ice would be confined to near shore (the spring source)
Jesus, Nof claims, could have been walking on Springs Ice, not water. Sound plausible? Only if you have less than a Sunday School youngster's knowledge of the events.
Nof admits to having less knowledge than that. "I don't know whether the story is based on someone seeing Jesus walk on ice..." Nof told a Washington Post reporter. Nof is only operating on a culture-rumor level of knowledge of the event he's claiming to "bust."
Read the accounts -- Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-51, and John 6:16-21. The boat load of disciples saw Him. Eyewitness accounts. Note too, that there were strong winds and high waves. This is hardly the placid, non-mixing waters of Nof's mental image. Jesus walked out to a boat far into the lake, not near shore where Springs Ice might form on a calm cold night.
What if there were chuncks of Springs Ice? Imagine the scene. Jesus is on shore. The boat is out in the middle of the lake (they had been trying to row across for several hours against the headwind). Jesus has to travel against the wind and waves. If there were chunks of floating ice, they would have been coming at Jesus at a good clip. He'd be jumping from chunk to wave-tossed chunk like someone trying to go UP a wiggling DOWN escalator. How likely does this sound?
As a kid in Minnesota, I found out the wet way that walking on ice chunks is not easy. Unless the ice is thick, it will more likely break than support your weight. Unless the ice chunks are much longer/wider than you are tall, they'll just tip and dump you in than let you stand on their edges. Real ice doesn't behave like cartoon ice.
Come to think of it, if Jesus really had run against the wind and flow of ice, hopping from chunk to chunk to a boat out in the middle of the lake, that really would have been a miracle. Mere mortals couldn't have pulled that off.
Sadly, however, Professor Nof serves as a fine example of "science" managing to "bust" only its own poor understanding.
Doron Nof, an oceanography professor at Florida State University is publishing a paper in which he asserts that Jesus walked on floating ice, not water. Professor Nof, a non-religious Jew, describes himself as an "equal opportunity miracle buster," because he and a colleague suggested in the 90s that it was "just" wind that parted the Red Sea for Moses.
The problem with Nof's latest "miracle busting" is that he apparently has almost no idea what he's busting.
Nof's study of core samples suggests that the Sea of Galilee was as much as 10 degrees cooler 2000 years ago. Freezing was much more likely. That, and he describes a phenomenon called Springs Ice, in which saltier spring water floats on top of a body of fresh water and can cool and freeze faster in cold air than the whole lake could. In an interview with a CNet reporter, Nof explained that Springs Ice would be confined to near shore (the spring source)
Jesus, Nof claims, could have been walking on Springs Ice, not water. Sound plausible? Only if you have less than a Sunday School youngster's knowledge of the events.
Nof admits to having less knowledge than that. "I don't know whether the story is based on someone seeing Jesus walk on ice..." Nof told a Washington Post reporter. Nof is only operating on a culture-rumor level of knowledge of the event he's claiming to "bust."
Read the accounts -- Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-51, and John 6:16-21. The boat load of disciples saw Him. Eyewitness accounts. Note too, that there were strong winds and high waves. This is hardly the placid, non-mixing waters of Nof's mental image. Jesus walked out to a boat far into the lake, not near shore where Springs Ice might form on a calm cold night.
What if there were chuncks of Springs Ice? Imagine the scene. Jesus is on shore. The boat is out in the middle of the lake (they had been trying to row across for several hours against the headwind). Jesus has to travel against the wind and waves. If there were chunks of floating ice, they would have been coming at Jesus at a good clip. He'd be jumping from chunk to wave-tossed chunk like someone trying to go UP a wiggling DOWN escalator. How likely does this sound?
As a kid in Minnesota, I found out the wet way that walking on ice chunks is not easy. Unless the ice is thick, it will more likely break than support your weight. Unless the ice chunks are much longer/wider than you are tall, they'll just tip and dump you in than let you stand on their edges. Real ice doesn't behave like cartoon ice.
Come to think of it, if Jesus really had run against the wind and flow of ice, hopping from chunk to chunk to a boat out in the middle of the lake, that really would have been a miracle. Mere mortals couldn't have pulled that off.
Sadly, however, Professor Nof serves as a fine example of "science" managing to "bust" only its own poor understanding.
4.01.2006
Hot Democrat Races For Congress
-- by Ed Naile
CNHT News Flash for 4/1/06
The Democrat Primary for Districts #1 and #2 just became even more crowded after a new ruling by Deputy AG Bud Fitch.
Fitch has drafted some interesting opinions in the past regarding elections in NH but his newest draft has Democrats really excited.
Under his newest and ever-changing interpretation of the domicile of a voter or candidate, Fitch has ruled that is is now possible for South Dakota resident Geoff Wetrosky to run for Congress as a New Hampshire citizen as he has always “in his mind” wanted to live in the Granite State and told somebody that once as proof. That is only part of this exciting news.
Since Wetrosky, according to Fitch, had always “in his mind” wanted to live in NH and had never actually established a home here, he can run in BOTH DISTRICTS!
This is really self-evident in the language of State Statutes if you read them in bed with a flashlight under your Buzz Lightyear sheets.
It gets better.
Mr. Wetrosky can run from Democrat Party Chair Kathy Sullivan's house, where he was a recent NH voter, or he can run from Salem with a post office box. The latter choice is probably the hardest to accomplish because so many Massachusetts residents have bought up all the available boxes to register their Lexuses and Beemers.
Wait there is more!
Since this is going to be a banner year for Democrats here in NH - where all America votes - our good friend Jesse Burchfield has agreed to come back to NH to run Geoff's campaign.
We hear donations are through the roof!
CNHT News Flash for 4/1/06
The Democrat Primary for Districts #1 and #2 just became even more crowded after a new ruling by Deputy AG Bud Fitch.
Fitch has drafted some interesting opinions in the past regarding elections in NH but his newest draft has Democrats really excited.
Under his newest and ever-changing interpretation of the domicile of a voter or candidate, Fitch has ruled that is is now possible for South Dakota resident Geoff Wetrosky to run for Congress as a New Hampshire citizen as he has always “in his mind” wanted to live in the Granite State and told somebody that once as proof. That is only part of this exciting news.
Since Wetrosky, according to Fitch, had always “in his mind” wanted to live in NH and had never actually established a home here, he can run in BOTH DISTRICTS!
This is really self-evident in the language of State Statutes if you read them in bed with a flashlight under your Buzz Lightyear sheets.
It gets better.
Mr. Wetrosky can run from Democrat Party Chair Kathy Sullivan's house, where he was a recent NH voter, or he can run from Salem with a post office box. The latter choice is probably the hardest to accomplish because so many Massachusetts residents have bought up all the available boxes to register their Lexuses and Beemers.
Wait there is more!
Since this is going to be a banner year for Democrats here in NH - where all America votes - our good friend Jesse Burchfield has agreed to come back to NH to run Geoff's campaign.
We hear donations are through the roof!
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