Crushes

So what if the rest of the world has crushes on pop stars who are little more than tramps and base creatures at heart.  This scrumptious babe got me from the moment I saw her on an Andre Rieu program.  A perfect ten, whose singing leaves me in awe.  I present the pinnacle of millions of years of human development, Suzan Erens:

and the best for last!

Filed under: tribute

FOCA

First, That One offended white construction workers with his advisor’s disbursement of stimulus construction funds bypassing them, and I shrugged that off, since I wasn’t one.

Then he offended Catholics with his abortionphile edicts, and I didn’t care, for I wasn’t Catholic.

Then he excited gun owners to new heights with anti-gun laws, and I didn’t join in the offendedness, for I didn’t own a gun.

Then he offended radio hosts who were muffled by a new Fairness Doctrine, but I was not a radio show host, so I let it go.

Then he riled the Jews with his huge, pro-muslim support, but alas, I continued my ennui, for I am not a Jew.  Same for those in the Armed Services, people who want a reputable Treasury Secretary, etc.

When he finally got around to offending me (by the end of his second week of the term), I found no one to share my distress with, for everyone else was gone.

I go to Mass, after nearly blowing it off, and at the end, we get a report from the deacon regarding the FOCA act.  I heard that the bishops would close the Catholic hospitals if this were to take effect, but blew if off as hype, until I heard it from the altar on Sunday.

That One signed an executive order removing blocks on abortion funding overseas (hey, we need the money here at home stimulating our recovery, not killing off little brown ones over by there), and is awaiting the arrival of FOCA to his desk for him to sign into law, effectively codifying abortion.

There need not be one Republican, not one conservative (the two are not one and the same), not one naysayer out there in a loyal opposition.  He and his Speaker, Vice-President, and advisors and Secretary choices are doing all the damage to this brand new administration all on their own.  The trouble is, as they go, so goes the nation.  And we have around 3 years and 350 days left.

Filed under: liberal games, politics

Treasury

Only in an Obamanation can a tax cheat become the Treasury Secretary.

The Senate Finance Committee has cleared the nomination of Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary despite unhappiness over his mistakes in paying his taxes.

Unhappiness.  That’s about as mild as you can put it.  And mistakes in paying taxes?  How about refusal to do so until he was looking to be suggested for this job, then to make all good, he paid up?

But he did not pay taxes he owed for 2001 and 2002, even though he had made the same mistakes for those years, until shortly before he was nominated by Obama last November to be treasury secretary.

Lovely.  He pays so he doesn’t look bad.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said that in normal times he would oppose Geithner but “these are not normal times.”

No, in normal times, there wouldn’t be a teenybopper’s crush over the new executive’s appointee. In the meantime, a person with no integrity in financial matters is put in charge of this:

Filed under: at least someone's having fun, liberal games, no wonder I'm fed up

Robert Reich and Road Construction

No one can make this stuff up.  Every day I think they’ve reached bottom, they bust out the blasting caps and dynamite through the bedrock:

“… that have a high social return, and can be done quickly.”

When in the world has it been important to build a road based on high social value of the workers?  And, when you watch, listen to how they want to bypass states’ rights with the funding, and federally mandate social engineering via the road project.

IT’S NOT ABOUT ROADS.

And as Rep. Rangel points out, the middle class is too busy working to notice that they’re about to get intercoursed sideways with a barbed wired stick.  At least in the old days, they were ashamed enough to hide stuff like this deeply in a non-related bill.  Now, it’s no holds barred corruption in the wide open, daring anyone to complain.

And they talk about hiring unskilled people to do skilled people’s work, (for that to be preferable!) and that the skilled ones are the whites, while the dummies are the minorities.  I guess all of the fine, competent, educated black engineers didn’t get that memo.

Oh, and who are the Democrats’ main backers?  Trade workers.  And here you just put off the construction trades.  I see tons of audacity, with very little hope.

Filed under: liberal games, no wonder I'm fed up

Hey, Truthers!

Now that Bush is gone home, how many of you who thought that he was the center of conspiracy regarding 9-11 and everything else are going to investigate the questions regarding the new president?

Are you going to spend the same time trying to find out not only where he was truly born, but why his long form birth certificate was never produced.  Why he never had a U.S. passport in the past, or so I hear, and what passport did he travel under when he left the good ole U.S. of A. on his various trips?  Why William Ayres flew to Canada on Inauguration Day, only to get rejected by Canadian authorities as a security risk and returned to the U.S.?  And why he flew into a tiny podunk airport, as if on the sly, and not a normal one?  Why a bumbling, spoonerism laden speaker like Bush II gave two flawless swearings-in, while the silver tongued orator who swayed millions into voting for him just because he sounds good bungled his so badly that he had to retake the oath today?  Everything he’s done so far has been meticulously rehearsed, and you mean to say he didn’t prepare for this mighty moment and not have these words burned into memory?  Maybe there’s nothing to anything mentioned above.  Maybe it is all hokum.  But will you do the same leg work you did over Bush?

Truthers, let’s see if you have a shred of integrity.  Let’s see if you use the same unblinking eye of vigilance here as you did for Bush.  Judging by your silence so far, I see that none of you have anything worthy of respect.

Filed under: fact nugget, no wonder I'm fed up

State Senator

Oh. My. God.

I knew most politicians were at best average Joes and Janes, and at worst, barely tolerable.  And being quasi-in politics, and having met a good number of them in person, I often wonder if I had the right social connections and financial backing, why couldn’t I hold at least statewide office.  And now I have come across a mouth breathing simpleton who is the quintessential Person Whose Presence in Government Automatically Qualifies Me:

But apparently, poverty, crime, taxes, homelessness, and unemployment are of secondary concern to Baltimore State Senator Lisa Gladden, a democrat, who showed up at the opening of the General Assembly session sporting a flashy Obama watch.  Gladden told the intrepid political reporter, “It doesn’t matter if the state of Maryland is broke as long as Barack Obama is going to be President of the United States – this is great!”  Not so great if you’ve just lost a job, your home, your 401k or your health insurance.   But to Lisa Gladden, it doesn’t matter if we starve in the streets; nor does it matter that Maryland state workers are being furloughed; nor does it matter that crime in the city she represents is among the worst in the country; nor does it matter that her mayor (Sheila Dixon) has been indicted on charges ranging from theft to perjury; nor does the $1 billion dollar shortfall facing the state.  As long as Obama is president we can just put on our rose-colored eyewear, hold hands, and enjoy the ride to hell in our Barack-logoed handbasket.

Aw, shucks, here’s the video:

Filed under: common stupidity, liberal games, no wonder I'm fed up

I Hope You’re Ready!

Tomorrow is the day That One becomes Mr. President.  So where do I think things will go with the new Change?  Guess.  I doubt I’m the only one who feels like the convertible’s driver.  My Congressman had a Town Hall Meeting (more like “I make my case, read your question cards, and make you look small if you have the audacity to disagree with me), and nothing came out of it that had any promise.

Also, 5000 porta-potties will be made available.  That is the most ever for an inauguration.  Even more reason to keep an eye out for Obama Sheds as you approach bridges.

The above image was photoshopped.  This image is NOT.  It is a screen capture of what came up on the Live Search when I typed in the term “inauguration porta potties.”  Whose picture came up?

Filed under: at least someone's having fun, liberal games

Monk’s Advice

I only present this piece.  I have nothing to add to it.  To either add to it or take from it would diminish it:

Hat tip:  the Anchoress.

Filed under: religion

Matterhorn Boots

I bought these boots in September, 1989.  Just now have they taken in water.  I went to the local boot expert for a repair (the seam that joins the top of the sole to the boot is cracked in a number of places, and I thought he might be able to just re-gasket this), and he said that this is not the problem.  What happened is that somewhere, I tore the membrane of the Thinsulate lining, and that is what is making my feet wet, not the cracks.  There is nothing that he can do.

As you can see, in spite of being 19 years old, they are in remarkable condition.  I surely hate the thought of pitching these.  Any of you hunters and outdoors people have any suggestions for a removable waterproof liner, or “bootie”, to use with this, so my feet stay dry, and I can continue to use the finest boot that’s almost custom-made for my wide foot?

Filed under: tribute

Ten Intriguing Movies

The Book of Lists lives on in top ten lists in the blog world.  Neanderpundit (guest writer:  Dick) is responsible for this reply.  I can’t call them favorites, for that neglects a lot.  Just ten intriguing movies that stayed with me.

1) Hero (with Jet Li).  The archery scene alone is reason enough to see the movie:

the definition of meaning business.  As far as the rest of the movie, words fall short.  Just See. It.

2) Dead Man.  See what happens when you take a train to THE END OF THE LINE.

3) The Gods Must Be Crazy.  Why the Gods would give a Coca Cola bottle to a man on the African plain, who knows?  But he tries to find out why.

4) To Live and Die in L.A.  One of my favorite action adventures.  Amazing how it disappeared.  But it has one of the best car chase-shootouts ever.  By the director of the French Connection, so you know why.

5) Tora Tora Tora.  If ever a war movie straddled the fine line to make the enemy into a human counterpart, without either making him into a cartoonish figure on one hand, or oversympathizing and taking away the fact that he was, yes, the enemy we had to fight, this movie does that.  A study of the attack on Pearl Harbor, as seen from the attacking and defending sides.

6) Once Upon a Time in Mexico.  Part of the El Mariachi series. Are you a Mexican’t, or a Mexican?  A full adrenaline rush from start to finish.

7) Ronin.  I am a huge Jean Reno fan; he cannot make a bad movie.  Just like Johnny Depp, he has the Midas touch for picking a winner every time.  I almost chose Leon (The Professional) as my favorite work, but that one had too much pointless humor in a very dark story to make it.

8) In the Shadow of the Moon.  Ron Howard’s work of love, in tribute to the Apollo Moon Program.  He was able to dig out much unseen NASA footage, and intersperse it with narratives form the astronauts who did the job.  Its simplicity, its “just the facts” presentation and “aw shucks” personalities within the Program belie the greatness that was achieved by these people, many with just one or two degrees of separation from farm or ranch life.

9) Miracle.  The story of the 1980 Gold Medal USA hockey team.

10) The Shootist.  The final movie for a dying John Wayne.  My father’s favorite star, the only one I remember him admiring, living the slow death on screen that he was fighting also in real life, the exact same slow death from the exact same cause that my father fought 20 years later.  Seeing how the Duke’s mannerisms, quick flinches of pain, gait, and other quirks, like the studied, measured way to stand and sit so mirrored my father’s, it was almost like seeing the Old Man through the Duke.  That movie was no acting.  It was the Duke’s lesson on how a man faces his death.  I could not sleep the night after seeing it again last year, and it stayed with me for a long time.  And it will be many years before I let myself see it again.

Filed under: Uncategorized