Clouds with rain possible today

Good Morning Augusta

This morning we have overcast skies with a stray shower or thunderstorm possible. High 67ºF. Winds are out of the East at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight we have a chance of a shower early with overcast. Low 54ºF. Winds light and variable.

The readings from my weather instruments in the North field are:

Humidity is 93%, the dew point is 53ºF, its 56.0ºF outside with a wind chill of 56.0ºF.

The wind direction is North Northeast between 3.6 MPH and 5.4 MPH.

The Barometric pressure is 30.03 / HPA 1016.9 and rising with a weather graphic predicting cloudy skies.

The UV rating is 1.0 out of 16, Sunrise is at 5:02 a.m. Sunset is 8:09 P.M. Moon rise is at 10:28 p.m. and the moon phase is Waning gibbous.

The RAW METAR readings from the airport in Augusta Maine is:

SPECI KAUG 241024Z AUTO 05005KT 10SM OVC009 13/12 A2998 RMK AO2 CIG 008V012 T012

Visibility is 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers with overcast to 900 ft / 274 m  .

We didn’t receive any rain here in the past 24 hours.

Since our presidential election campaign has degenerated from “minimal substance” to a competition between insult artists and social media manipulation, I began seeking electoral common sense and logical reasoning elsewhere.  As usual, when I need a dose of reality I return to people who actually work for a living.

I began to pay close attention to what I was hearing in places like barber shops, grocery store cash register lines and in coffee shops.

I thought I’d share what I was hearing with you so that you can compare these “opinions” from regular folks around here with what you are hearing around where you live.

Regarding the “Bathroom law” national controversy: (From a woman to a male she was speaking with)

“If somebody identifies with being male or female and they need to go to the can, I don’t care which bathroom they use.  It’s better than wetting their pants in public.  But when it comes to using a shower room – that’s a whole different story.  I don’t want my kid getting a sex education in the school shower room because you’re all confused about your sexual identity.  Deal with that part of your problems some place else.”

Regarding abortion: (From an elderly man who was listening to an anti-abortion public speech in N.H.)

“If you want to be able to tell pregnant women who don’t want to have a baby that they can’t have an abortion, then YOU can have your way.  But you also get the doctor bills for the pregnancy, for the baby’s delivery and then you get the baby to raise it.  You don’t get any more free rides on us taxpayers.  Look at it like this, we end up paying the woman in one way or another for the baby she didn’t want to have, then we end up dealing with the kid that she didn’t want to raise and all of the school and delinquency issues that go along with it.  YOU forced her to have it, so YOU take all of the responsibility for imposing your values on somebody else.  You want the authority, you get the responsibility too.”

Regarding texting while driving: (from a woman who’d been rear-ended by somebody texting while driving)

“Stop ticketing “distracted drivers” and mandate that all vehicles be equipped with technology that disables cell phones unless they are parked or otherwise motionless.  Tickets might get the city some money, but that fender-bender devastated my car insurance rates, and I’m not the one who did anything wrong.”

Regarding our public transportation crisis: (from several people who try to use the public transportation system to get to and from work)

“Mandate that all public officials and public employees, including politicians, be required to use public transit.  That should get public transit straightened out in record time.”

Regarding health care reform: (This comes from a variety of average, working people)

“First of all, all federal elected officials and their families get free health care at the nearest VA medical facility at the same level as veterans receive it.  IF they choose not to use their local VA, they can shift over to the Medicare system at no additional charge, but under the same terms and conditions as the rest of us. 

And as far as nationwide health insurance companies go – (It would violate federal law for me to print those comments here and post them)

Regarding Terrorists: (from a woman I used to work with)

“The suicide bombings won’t stop until Arab women get fed up with Arab men.  Look, Islam is pretty much a man’s religion anyway.  After all, when one of those nuts becomes a “martyr” for blowing themselves up and killing a lot of innocent people in the process, they’re supposed to get something like 72 virgins in the afterlife.  Yeah, right.  Most American men would rather have a dozen hookers that already know what to do.  I can’t see a lot of our guys lining up for that religion just to get the virgins.  That’s men for ya:  “Blow yourself up and kill lots of innocent people and you can get laid by 72 virgins in the afterlife.” 

Besides, who said ya get a reward in an afterlife for killing innocent people?  For that they get 72 virgins?  I hope all 72 of ‘em have PMS.” (You can’t make this stuff up folks)