One Cheer for the Fiscal Cliff and Other Stuff

Good news: we may be going over the fiscal cliff. While I believe you could pick 535 Americans at random and solve this problem in about half an hour, the idiots in Washington have apparently set off a rush to the Registry of Deeds which in turn will help pump up the state contribution to the CPA fund. Unfortunately, this is not going to help this year. CPA funds remain limited, but requests continue to grow. If you have a request, they are due by this coming Thursday (the date was extended) with preliminary applications available on line.

Working on the fiscal cliff with an ultraconservative friend yesterday, we readily agreed to eliminate the Bush tax cut for millionaire's and close tax loopholes that would most heavily effect those earning above $250,000. Defense cuts would be more limited than the Democrats have proposed and entitlements like Social Security and Medicare would be tweaked mostly by raising the age for full benefits. This would help keep them solvent while contributing to deficit reduction. Fuller details remained when the talk turned to gun control. Here we both agreed there is no constitutional reason for assault weapons or automatic handguns, but the discussion fell afoul of handguns for self protection. Since I've been reading a lot about the genesis of the 2nd Amendment, I had to agree that self-defense is a protected right (with all the limits of other rights). On the other hand I'm not sure the founders felt handguns were needed for a well regulated militia. The irony is that while I have been trained to shoot a pistol and actually won prizes for target shooting, I would never have a loaded gun in the house for self-defense. My friend who has never owned or fired a gun and is among the most mild-mannered people I have ever met wants the right to own one despite risks to self, spouse, and assorted grandchildren. Don't be surprised if changes to gun laws are not forthcoming.

It's been fun watching the work at the shovel shops over the last few months. They have been racing to get exterior work done before winter so it will be interesting to see what happens after today's first snow storm. Speaking of which, this is my first chance to try out my NOAA snow forecasting app. Our national weather service is working hard to improve snow forecasting. Snow doesn't show up on weather radar the way rain does making forecasting difficult. NOAA has developed a weather model for snow. It says that at 7 am this morning the leading edge of light snow will reach southwestern New York. Snow for us should start around noon time since the whole state is covered in light snow by 1 pm. Moderate snow will be switching to heavy snow here after 7 pm. The heaviest snow of the storm will fall on Easton and surrounding towns. The height of the storm will be around 1 am although light snow will still be falling at 7 am. The Pats will have to squish the fish on their own since the weather should be clear by game time tomorrow. Let's see if the new model actually works!