Several aspects of modern life seem to have been very accurately predicted by both Orwell and Huxley. Orwell’s idea of “New Speak,” for example, the deliberate remoulding and distortion of the English language by Big Brother, has been rightly compared to the politically correct manipulation of language that has become all too familiar in western societies over the past twenty to thirty years. The political purpose of “New Speak” is to control the thinking of the populace – not too different in aim from the new terms and words coined by political correctness. Huxley does not go into the language issue in the same way as Orwell, though we note too that in the Brave New World certain “offensive” words – such as “cross” – have been eliminated from public use. Thus for example Charing Cross Station in London has been renamed “Charing T Station” – after Henry Ford’s Model T automobile.

Government has become a sort of malignant metasisizing tumor, growing on its own, parasitical on healthy cells, always searching for new sources of nourishment, its purpose nothing other than growing bigger and faster and more powerful—until the exhausted host collapses. We have a sunshine king and our government has become a sort of virtual Versailles palace.

I suppose that when a presidential candidate urges his supporters to get in someone’s face, and to take a gun to a knife fight, from now on you better believe him...

Got home too late last nite to accumulate the usual stack or to peruse all the links sent to my inbox.

I have always hated swimming pools, but here's another reason.

What will really happen when the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts?

Not too bad really.

Fluoride Fight Cracks Portland's Left

It's not from The Onion

EU bureaucrats clearly have too little to do and too much time on their hands

The challenge for bureaucrats everywhere is to justify their existence and their jobs and their pensions by creating rules for others.

"I recall one university president who, when asked if he had read The Bell Curve, said that not only had he not read the book, but he would not even think about reading it."

IRS To Pro-Life Groups: You Know You’re Gonna Have To Give Up This Whole Protest Thing, Right?

Obama admits he’s a socialist - What his ‘Bulworth’ fantasy reveals

IRS scandal a reminder of how I learned about The Chicago Way

What the Obama Scandals Reveal About Progressive Ideology

Fund:  Three Signs There’s a Cover-Up - “Mistakes were made….I don’t recall” and other surefire clues.

Art Laffer: Obama scandals are phenomenal for stocks

I'll post some more of my Ohio pics later. I took almost 50, which is a lot for me in 3 days.

Sugar in soda pop is no more fattening than any other carb, eg fruit, bread, milk, fruit juices like apple juice and orange juice. Nevertheless, it's not a "public health" issue, it's an individual choice issue. I like that light brown granulated sugar in my coffee.

It's brown, so it must be healthier, right?

They are most abundant here in the later summer and fall, but their numbers nosedive during the winter mostly due to predation by owls, hawks, coyotes, and Red Fox. The cottontails' position on the food chain leads to an annual survival rate of around 20%.

When we see one hop out of its nesting "form" when mowing, we mow around it.

Here's a list of the rabbits and hares of North America

Acts 2:1-21

2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."
2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.
2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.
2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

This year we signed up to help clean a shore town in New Jersey that was afflicted by Sandy.  We were assigned to clean streets and lend a hand to any homeowners who requested assistance in removing trash.  Others in our group were assigned to paint the Ambulance Hall.  We cleaned a 2 square block area, and our team 'captain' was a local man who not only gave us guidance on what we would be doing, but also filled us in on what transpired in the town.

He pointed out that May 1st would be the 6 month anniversary of Sandy, and requests for FEMA funds would have to be in by then.  He said most residents had already applied, but the funds were limited.  In addition the payment wasn't enough to help those with any substantial damage.  His home had filled with water up to the ceiling of the first floor and his foundation had cracked, so he was renting the house next door in order to keep his kids in the school district.  FEMA was a drop in the bucket for him.  Charities were few and far between in this section of NJ.  He was getting by on his pension and couldn't afford to get work done on his home.

He took some of us on a brief walk around town to point out the damage.  The water level had reached 4-18 feet in this 1 square mile town.  7 of the 21 bars and restaurants were open.  The police were still operating out of a trailer.