July 1, 2024

An affront to America

I viewed the presidential debate as a partisan Republican, as an 88-year-old man, as an American, and as a human being. President Biden entered first, stage right.  He walked slowly to the podium.  He appeared empty-eyed, slack-mout...

March 4, 2024

California word salad

No, it’s not Kamala.  This delicious mishmash is brought to us by Professor Stacy Torres of UC San Francisco.  Her article, “Why do we talk about older people so negatively?” appeared in the Los Angeles Times on February 1...

December 5, 2022

The left's spam abuse

Donald Trump's campaign does a prodigious amount of advertising by e-mail.  I have observed that since Trump announced his candidacy for 2024, about 80% of his e-mails ads are now considered spam by Xfinity, my e-mail provider. Over ...

February 26, 2022

Kelo v. New London: Progressives vs. Private Property

Your home is your castle, right?  You get to keep the fruits of your labors, right?  That's what government of, by, and for the people means, right?  Not according to the far-lefties who call themselves progressives.  They say...

February 9, 2020

Two micro-polls to predict the Dem New Hampshire primary

The first of 2020's official presidential preference polls to be conducted by adults happens here in New Hampshire (N.H.) on Tuesday.  This short essay describes two micro-polls conducted Thursday. I live in southeastern N.H., the Ex...

May 5, 2019

The Administrative State's Threat to the American Constitution

We should be appalled of the inroads that the Administrative State has made into American governance and the peril the Administrative State poses to our Constitution. Our founding fathers were dedicated to an avowal of government based on fundam...

March 12, 2016

Some Politically Incorrect Answers for Paul Ryan's Survey

Does Paul Ryan have any clue that we, the voters, are outraged and enraged?  That we are very, very angry?  That we feel betrayed by our party, patronized by our party leaders, and helpless because the alternative is so much worse? And w...

February 6, 2016

Why keep Carly Fiorina out of the next Republican debate?

I'm mad as hell, and I'm voting for Carly Fiorina. The Establishment keeps telling me what to think and whom to vote for.  What do they know?  Whatever they're doing, it's not working, but they have the audacity to keep t...

January 25, 2016

Governor Kasich and the New Hampshire Fishermen

When John Kasich tells you that he is a skilled executive, believe him. Governor Kasich met with several New Hampshire fishermen on 8 January.  David Goethel, owner and captain of the 44-foot fishing trawler Ellen Diane, i...

August 17, 2014

When Should the Family Business Throw Out the Family?

"Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." This is a typical paradigm for a family business: Mom and Pop start the business, their children successfully grow the business, and the greedy, acrimonious grandchildren squabble amongst...

August 14, 2014

When Should the Family Business Throw Out the Family?

 "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations." A typical paradigm for a family business; mom and pop start the business, their children successfully grow the business, and the greedy acrimonious grandchildren squabble amongst th...

November 3, 2012

General Ham Is Still Commander of U.S. Africa Command

So did General Ham, the commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), really get fired?  In fact, the answer to that question is no.  General Ham is still the active commander of AFRICOM. Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) appeared on the Howi...

October 28, 2012

Has General Ham Been Fired?

Has General Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, been fired for defying Leon Panetta on Benghazi? Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, ran a piece Saturday afternoon titled "Interesting Rumor Concerning General Carter Ham and Stand Down Order...

October 15, 2012

New Hampshire Public Radio Edits Debate Tape to Favor the Democrat

New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) conducted a gubernatorial debate on 19 September 2012.  One of the questions had to do with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an effort to limit greenhouse gases by auctioning CO2 allowances (sounds...

September 24, 2012

Obamanomics and Our PHUBAR Monetary Policy

Boy, do I have a deal for you!  For just 100 large, the tenth part of a million, you can save $3,100 a year for the next ten years! But wait, there's more!  There is no need for you to spend even one red cent -- the upfront money comes righ...

September 15, 2012

The Honorable Elizabeth Warren?

Elizabeth Warren, Senate candidate from Massachusetts, was recently asked if she considers Scott Brown, the incumbent Republican, to be honorable.  Her somewhat ambiguous answer was "That's not a question for me."  Does she mean that it is ...

September 3, 2012

Elizabeth Warren and the Cab Driver

American politics have always been rough and tumble.  Civility is not a requirement.  Technology has given politicians more scope in their invasive campaigning techniques.  The candidate tracker is such a feature.  Today's campai...

September 1, 2012

Elizabeth Warren and the Cab Driver

American politics have always been rough and tumble.  Civility is not a requirement.  Technology has given politicians more scope in their invasive campaigning techniques.  The candidate tracker is such a feature.  Today's campaig...

June 2, 2012

Marine Aviators at the Battle of Midway

Early June, 1942 The Japanese Empire was at the height of its expansion.  One last, insignificant possession of the United States remained to be cleared from the western Pacific Ocean.  A mighty Japanese fleet was steaming to do battle and ...

May 17, 2012

The Choice Ahead in November

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are very different people; perhaps as different as two candidates for the Presidency have ever been.  They do share one similar trait; a desire for personal privacy.  Romney's reticence derives from a self-depre...

May 5, 2012

The Magic of Change, NOAA Style

Hope and change have been disappointing at best.  Apparently hope was not a powerful enough tool.  Mayhap magic might prevail. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), under the enlightened administration of environmental...

April 24, 2012

Where Are the Rolling Heads from NOAA?

Scandals are shaking the Obama administration.  Personnel with the highest of security clearances are being intimate, in the most basic definition of the word, with foreign nationals.  Pillow talk, anyone?  Other high-ranking officials...

April 13, 2012

The Bad Faith President

Say what you might about Jimmy Carter and the inept presidency, but at least Jimmy was acting in good faith. President Obama is the personification of bad faith. "[N]o president ever before has lied as frequently, as flagrantly or as foolishly as has...

March 14, 2012

NOAA's Party Boat

A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.  An old cliché, and very, very true. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while not yet reaching the level of cliché, has become a euphemism for inept management. NO...

November 10, 2011

Style, Substance, Perry, and the Media

Rick Perry gave a superb speech to NH Cornerstone, a New Hampshire conservative group.  The full speech is here and well worth the time to watch (about 25 minutes).  In fact, this partisan New Hampshire reporter considers the speech close t...

October 17, 2011

Restoring the Right to Work in New Hampshire

After several years of complacency and conceit among New Hampshire Republicans, the combination of which saw the Democrats take a U.S. Senate seat, both House seats, the governor's office, and both branches of the NH legislature, the Republicans had ...

September 22, 2011

Death of an Industry: The President's Impoverishment of America's Fishermen

Déjà vu: President Obama vacationed again on Martha's Vineyard.  While Barry lazed here last year, the fishermen of New England ran a full-page ad in the Vineyard Gazette titled "Mr. President, We Need Your Help."  The fishermen came to the...

September 13, 2011

Ovide Lamontagne Is Running for Governor of New Hampshire

Ovide Lamontagne was already at the GOP Chili Fest and we got there early.  My wife Joan went right up to Ovide, grabbed his hand in both of hers, and said, "Tell me you are going to run."  He said he was.  Good!  He will have our...

August 28, 2011

Obama arrested for drunk driving (updated)

MetroWest Daily News of Framingham, MA ran a story, byline Norman Miller, titled "Cops: Illegal Immigrant Drove Drunk in Framingham." The alleged operator, Onyango Obama, 67, blew a 0.14 on the breathalyzer.  The Massachusetts limit is 0.08....

August 16, 2011

Are NOAA and Other Regulatory Agencies above the Law?

Dr. Brian Rothschild, the prominent fisheries scientist, recently published an op-ed titled "Fish, the intent of Congress, and jobs" in the New Bedford, MA Standard-Times.  He advocates removing the management of our nation's fisheries from NOAA...

August 1, 2011

NOAA's Climate Office: Precursor to Cap and Trade?

Cap and trade remains a key element in President Obama's vow of a "fundamental transformation of America," despite legislative branch setbacks.  Now he may have found a way around the Constitution's checks and balances. Obama knows the consequen...

June 9, 2011

NOAA Fisheries Science: A Guess, a Coin-Flip, and a Kick in the Teeth

Protecting our national fish stocks from ruin by overfishing is a national imperative that requires both good management and solid science.  NOAA, the agency responsible for managing our fisheries, is incapable of even adequate management, as sh...

April 26, 2011

NOAA Fisheries Management -- Masters of Mendacity

The 2011 Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) for the New England fisheries go into effect on 1 May 2011.  They are essentially unchanged from the extremely low ACLs that virtually crippled the fleet in 2010. NOAA spins things quite differently.  The...

February 17, 2011

CBS News takes NOAA Fisheries Management to the woodshed

Wow!  What a nice job by CBS News, Armen Keteyian, and Katie Couric.  On 16 February, CBS News devoted some four minutes to an investigative piece into the scandal that should have rocked NOAA and the Obama administration last fall.  O...

February 11, 2011

Crony Capitalism Comes to the Fishing Industry

Michael Milken evokes thoughts of financial wisdom at a level far beyond that of an unsophisticated fishing industry essayist like me.  So, when one of the sessions at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2009 is titled "Innovative Fundin...

January 19, 2011

Obama's Cellophane Man

Every romping, stomping version of the musical comedy Chicago has its "Mister Cellophane."  The Oscar-winning movie has John C. Reilly.  The ongoing national tragedy currently running in Washington has Gary Locke, Secretary of Com...

December 23, 2010

NOAA's Catch Shares Fisheries Debacle

Barrack Obama came to office with an agenda to fundamentally change America.  An element of his agenda is a plan, known as catch shares, to restructure the nation's fishing industry.  The author of his plan is Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the enviro...

December 12, 2010

Testing the tax compromise

We gave the Republicans every advantage, great leverage, in the recent election.  They are repaying us with more same old, same old.  Get with the program, recognize the message.Let us test the Obama Compromise.  First, the Bush tax cu...

October 13, 2010

The Hubris of NOAA

Fisherman face declining fishing allocations, stormy weather, and fluctuating prices as routine dangers of their profession. But federal regulators from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration are becoming even scarier. This essay g...

September 27, 2010

IG report fingers NOAA law enforcement abuses

American Thinker ran my essay on NOAA’s law enforcement behaving badly at a fortuitous moment.  It coincided with two other closely related events, the release of the Department of Commerce (DOC) Inspector General’s final report and ...

September 25, 2010

NOAA's Law Enforcement Behaving Badly

Almost every one of the 172 law enforcement officers of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Fisheries Service has a take-home vehicle -- sort of, but not exactly, a perk. The cars are not part of the job description; ...

August 26, 2010

'Mr. President, we need your help'

This supplication introduced the full-page ad that the Northeast Seafood Coalition ran on 8/24 in the Martha's Vineyard Gazette. The ad is in the form of a letter from Russell Sherman, the Captain of the fishing vessel Lady Jane out of Gloucester, MA...

August 18, 2010

The Fishy Politics of Fisheries

John Kerry and seven other senators from the northeast have sent a letter to President Obama asking for millions to buy out fishermen who have been forced into dire circumstances by our government.  Kerry's plan would use $100M to buy boats and ...

July 2, 2010

Wealth, Jobs, the Fishing Industry, and Obama

The New England fishing industry is in serious trouble. Fishermen are leaving, giving up on their jobs. Fishing boats have become a glut on the market. The only aspect of the industry that is flourishing is the government bureaucracy. The free-m...