Cold and breezy - final installment of election year terms and phrases

Good Morning Augusta

This morning we have sunny conditions with a high of 23ºF. Winds are out of the WNW at 10 to 20 mph. 

Tonight we’ll have some clouds that will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Lows will be at or below 10ºF. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

The readings from my instruments are:

Humidity is 60%, the dew point is 8ºF, its 20.0ºF outside with a wind chill of 9ºF.

The wind direction is West Southwest between 11.0 mph and 8.3 mph.

The Barometric pressure is 29.97 / HPA 1014.9 and rising with a weather graphic indicating sun. Cold, but sunny. 

The UV rating is 0.0 out of 16, Sunrise is at 7:08 a.m. Sunset is 4:31 P.M. Moon rise is at 1:43 P.M. EST and the moon phase is  waxing gibbous.

The Raw METAR reading from Augusta’s airport is:

METAR KAUG 201253Z AUTO 29015G29KT 10SM CLR M07/M14 A2990 RMK AO2 PK WND 31030/1234 SLP133 T10721144

Visibility is 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers with clear skies.

We haven’t had any new snowfall over the past 24 hours, but what is out there is fluffy and its blowing around pretty good, so drive careful.

Below is the final posting of election year terms and phrases.  This one is more along the lines of thoughts to keep in mind as the wanna-be’s talk at you about why he or she is better than the other guy or girl.  What you do when you get into the voting booth is, of course, a secret.  Just remember what your mother always told you: “I know you’ll do the right thing dear.”

Just don’t lose faith in our electoral process and remember, we’ve survived our politicians for more than 2 centuries.  We’ll just have to do it again.

First, As the mud slings (and I mean the really great mud) back and forth up to and beyond the conventions, think about this quotation. “There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told.” E. A. Poe.

Second, if you’re over age 30, you’ve heard “I’ll make America great again!” from candidates dating back to your jr. high school days.  So, we haven’t been great since…?

Next there is the perennial eye-roller:  “I’m going to fix Washington!”

  Then, ask yourself why the “sanctity of marriage” isn’t in the spotlight by this crop of politicians. Might it have something to do with how many of the candidates have “strayed”?

Also, ask yourself how “in touch” with the real world they are when they say they’re going to fix the economy. “Our economy” or “theirs”?

“Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

George Orwell

There's an annual contest at the Griffiths University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term. In this case, the term”political correctness”.

The winning student wrote:-

“Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end.”

And this final one is intended to be a sobering one. It comes directly from the WW II war crimes trials in Nuremberg Germany, April 18, 1946.  These words were spoken by Hermann Göring.  For those of you who did not have fathers or uncles that served during WW II, he was a high-ranking official under Adolf Hitler who commanded the German air force, among other things.  He was convicted of war crimes after the war.

Read carefully and then consider what is going on in today’s international relations.

Göring:  “Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But,

after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy

or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. ... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.

All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works

the same way in any country.”

Please be a thinking, intelligent voter in November.