Very muted drumbeats

If Mitt Romney was president and told the nation we must punish Syria for its use of nerve gas on its own people, there would be a continuous outcry in the conservative media for that action.  We would be told our credibility was on the line and we couldn't as a great power allow this kind of atrocity.  Fox news personalities and the ever odious Limbaugh would be telling us we must follow the president's lead.  However, with Obama in the White House, this is a fund raising opportunity for Republicans who are demonstrating a new found reluctance to use the armed forces in this situation.  Even the "liberals" who supported Bush have found their mojo and are opposing military action.  Of course, Obama badly miscalculated the international will to oppose Assad, but he should have known he would be opposed at home by almost everyone but the true believers.  He has almost painted himself into a corner where he must use force unilaterally without Congressional approval.  That is sure to trigger howls for impeachment.  If he does nothing, the same dipwads will tell everyone he is weak and we obviously need a republican daddy to make the world more secure.  I can't say I feel sorry for the president at this point.  He is in a bubble of "Yes Sir" and seems to have lost touch with most of the American people.  I hope he finds his way out of the situation, but it doesn't look too good at this point.

Close, but no frosty cigar

We bottomed out at about 39 degrees on the NCR this morning, so nothing in the garden was hurt, although we will see the effects on the heat lovers for the next few days.  Temps will rebound, but no really warm weather is predicted through next week.  The cole crops and spinach should do well, and I have started to harvest some winter squash.  The tomatoes and peppers continue to surprise, while the lack of corn and potatoes still hurts my gardener's pride.  We have enough precipitation for the rest of the season, which of course means it will rain at every opportunity until November.

More stupidity

As usual, the teabaggers and their Republican allies are displaying the brute stupidity they are known for as the mechanisms for the distribution of Obamacare continue to roll out.  If the media had been as ubiquitous in the 1930s as it is today, I'm sure Social Security would have been under attack even more than it was.  The same idiots who gladly spend far more in benefits than they ever contributed in taxes want to deny younger Americans medical care because they can't pay for it.  These feckless, middle aged boomers benefitted from government largesse from the time they were born and will continue to collect until they die.  Cynical groups like "Americans for Prosperity", a Koch brothers' funded astro-turf organization are mobilizing the greedy geezers and wannabees to try and pull the rug from under the next generation's struggle to fix a broken health care system.  The Rube Goldberg monstrosity cobbled together under Obama is better than what it replaces and eventually will be improved, hopefully into a single payer system which includes all Americans.  It's a shame progress is being delayed by short sighted, amoral fools.

Frosty predictions

By tomorrow night, some mountain hollows in the North Country and far northern areas of Quebec may see the first frost of the season.  Here on the NCR, we should be in the mid 40s for lows, but it will be a big change from last week's heat and humidity.  The tomatoes and peppers will mature more slowly and even the cole crops will slow down, but with the good soil moisture now I'm pretty confident even the last plantings of broccoli and cauliflower will be harvested.  I picked quite a few tomatoes last night and sprayed for flea beetles and cabbage worms, so it was a productive evening. We had some minor hail damage in the bok choy and nappa cabbages, but it only affected the outer leaves.  So even the rain was a mixed blessing.  But I'm not complaining.

September mornings

Clear and cool after a good rain that broke the heat.  Ah, September.  After suffering through a week of hot, humid end of August weather, the 3/4 inch of rain on Sunday afternoon was welcome.  The last lettuce transplants will take off and seedings of broccoli rabe and turnips will come up with only minor (I hope) flea beetle pressure.  The fall cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kohlrabi should jump even with the cooler weather.  Soil temps are still warm.  With the exception of a couple more plantings of spinach and turnips I'm done with seeding and transplanting.  Weeding will continue for another couple of weeks, but for the most part that pressure is lessening.  A long mild fall is what I need.  What I get is probably another story.

Foreign Policy Stupidity

Maybe most of us are just tired of the US acting as the world's policeman, but there seems to be little public appetite for blowing up real estate in Syria as retaliation for the regime's use of chemical weapons against their own people.   Thanks to the system set up by the US after world war 2, the UN is basically  a toothless tiger when it comes to the policing department.  Russia will use its veto to hamstring any action by the Security Council.  This power was supposed to be used by the US and its allies to keep the world "safe".   Thanks to the Cold War and its legacy, this little loophole has drastically reduced the role of the UN to enforce penalties for use of WMD.  Also thanks to xenophobic US foreign policy, we will not suffer the UN to dictate our actions in any given situation.  So now we are stuck as lone actors in a deteriorating situation which has little to do with our national interest.  If we strike the Assad regime, the arabs will probably come down on his side and the Iranians will be faced with a put up or shut up moment vis-à-vis Israel.  The whole episode could spiral out of control and for what.  We blow up a few radar installations because we can't allow any of our servicemen to be killed and then have to deal with the  fallout listed above.  Can't we ever learn?

wishing and hoping

I spent the evening transplanting lettuce and killing (hopefully) flea beetles.  This time of year, transplanted lettuce is a little bit of a gamble.  A warm beginning to Sept. and some timely showers and I will have beautiful lettuce by the equinox.  A cold, dry Sept. and I'll be hoping for a late frost and anticipating harvest in mid-October.  The same goes for spinach planted now.  With a little luck we will be eating spinach frittata in November.  The fall garden is more of the same for me and most gardeners; plant it and hope the vagaries of the weather are in your favor.  With costs for seed, fertilizer and land escalating every year, many commercial growers who used to do the same thing can't afford to gamble that way unless it is a desperate toss of the dice.  An early frost or a too wet fall can be the difference between a good year and clinging to your business life.