Thursday Thoughts, October 21st

Sometimes I have a hard time understanding why our Postal Service is so well liked. A former student at the Farmington State Teacher's College in Maine now has a postcard that was sent to her in the fall of 1946. The postcard, a thank you note, was sent to Ruth Webber at Purington Hall by "Gert and Charlie." It was mailed from Winthrop. The postcard showed up recently in the mailroom at the University of Maine at Farmington. Mailroom employee Andrea Butterfield says the postcard was in mint condition and the ink wasn't faded. It had a 1 cent stamp on it.


China continues to be our good friend and money loaning partner -and as many a good capitalist business partner they love to dabble a little in "industrial" espionage. A Southern California couple were charged with conspiracy and lying to authorities about exporting restricted electronics to China without the proper licenses, federal prosecutors said Friday. York Yuan Chang, a U.S. citizen, and his wife Leping Huang, a Chinese national, were arrested earlier this week. Both were charged with one count of export conspiracy, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. They also each face charges of making false statements. Huang, 49, was released Thursday after posting part of a $1 million bond. Chang, 53, was being held without bail. They are both scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 1. U.S. customs officials say they found computer files and documents they believe show an illegal transfer of technology from the couple's company that has both commercial and military applications. Prosecutors said the technology, analog-to-digital converters, is subject to controls for national security purposes and can't be exported from the U.S. to China without a valid license. 

Charles Krauthammer has another really good read out this week. In one part of it he nails the current "anger" sweeping the elections in this country and gives what I think is the best explanation I have heard. Here is what he says: "Conventional wisdom is that the election is being driven by anger and blind anti-incumbent fervor. Nonsense. Overwhelmingly, it is Democratic incumbents, not Republicans, who are under siege. This is a national revolt against the Democratic governance of the past two years. One must understand that "anger" is the explanation du jour when Republicans win big. The last wave election (1994), for example, was dubbed the Year of the Angry White Male -- despite the fact that there was not a scintilla of polling evidence supporting that characterization. Of course the electorate is angry this time around. But it is not inchoate irrational anger -- a "temper tantrum," as ABC News anchor Peter Jennings called the 1994 Republican sweep -- but a highly pointed, perfectly rational anger at the ideological overreach and incompetence of the governing Democrats". Gee, Chuck, I couldn't have said it better myself (really...).

You are never too old to step on the gas peddle. Oregon State Police gave an 82-year-old woman a ticket for driving 28 miles per hour over her age and twice the posted speed limit of 55 mph. A trooper spotted Marcia Brandon's car going 110 mph Thursday on Highway 26 west of Gresham. She said she was on her way to an appointment and wasn't aware she was going that fast. That ticket cost this little old lady a $1,103 fine.


On this day in history, in 1805 Adm Horatio Nelson dies in the Battle of Trafalga, in 1797 the US Navy frigate Constitution, Old Ironsides, launched in Boston and in 1950 Chinese forces occupy Tibet



Long Life and Prosper....