Random Thoughts

Tacky is as tacky does…

The only thing that surprises me is that anyone is surprised Rahm Emmanuel used the phrase “f—ing retards” in a White House meeting.

We knew he was a snake when Obama picked him up. He’s probably just echoing what his boss thinks anyway.

His apology is worthless at this point; let the man display better behavior for a year or two and then I’ll believe he’s truly changed his crude speaking ways.

And pigs will fly. Backwards. Through the Oval Office.

Allahpundit over at HotAir points out just how ridiculous Rahm’s apology really is.

The Obama Administration: The epitome of class and dignity. Only really, really not.

And in other news, FLOTUS Michelle publicly humiliates her daughters to authenticate her new pet cause: Childhood obesity.

Nothing like having your mama air your personal health concerns in front of the entire freaking world.

These people redefine classless and tacky on a daily basis.

Hysteria: it’s not just for breakfast anymore

Hysterical [hi-ster-i-kuhl]
1. Uncontrollably emotional
2. Irrational from fear, emotion, or an emotional shock
3. Causing unrestrained laughter; very funny.

I don’t get much feedback from this blog, and most of it is spam for various herbal/pharmecutical products. That’s okay though, I’ve only been blogging for a few months and I don’t think I’ve truly found my voice within it yet.

When I do get a “live” response to something I’ve posted, and the response is not from my small handful of online friends, I’m honestly surprised; people I don’t know are actually reading this stuff? I can’t even get Husband to read it (my receiving no monetary compensation for writing it has a lot to do with that). When someone responds and links to my blog on their own site, I’m even more shocked.

Today I received several paragraphs from someone known as “docweasel.” His response made me look up the word “hysterical,” because his tone was so aggressive, so frantic. Warning to my gentler readers: Docweasel.wordpress.com is filled with vulgar language and graphics, excessively so for my taste. I’m not a prude, and I totally understand why someone like Rachel Lucas says,

…another way to piss off a blogger: telling them not to cuss because you don’t care for it. I don’t care what you care for. Unless, again, you’re giving me A LOT OF MONEY. As in, enough to make me care. I don’t understand how people aren’t aware of the fact that there are approximately 80 trillion blogs out there. You can find something that suits you, trust me.

Rachel’s prose is witty, articulate and engaging. A few blue words can add colorful emphasis. Using a plethora of them indicates a vocabulary–and an imagination–that is sadly limited.

This is what “docweasel” said of me on his site:

Random Thoughts This guy is “trying, really I am, to adopt Andy Levy’s To Don’t List, particularly these key points”. Yeah, well try to shut the f— up then, because if you are blogging using his rules, you are a f—ing worthless piece of s—, and you are actually detrimental to our cause, because the more gutless cowards we have calling themselves Republicans, the longer it will take for the real message to get through. Read our f—ing post, copy paste it on your next 1000 posts, or just go back to the Crocheting Forum and make another f—ing sweater for your dachshund, because you aren’t worth a flying f— at a rolling donut as far as helping the conservative cause. Thxmmkaybai. A–hole

He got my gender wrong but how’d he know I crochet? I never mentioned that on my blog. I wonder if I could crochet a sweater small enough for a dachsund…I don’t know any dachsunds, but Littlest Dog is kind of dachsund-shaped, and I could bribe him with apple bits to wear it for a photo or two…

Scraping off docweasel’s vulgarity, underneath what I see is fear. Deep seated, pervasive fear. This is a person who is terrified of Obama, and of the entire Democrat party. He is all but screaming in terror:

We need in your face fighters. We need grassroots organization. We need fire, we need commitment, we need a strong message.

And we need to destroy the Democrats’ brand.

F— comity. F— that and f— Obama. Listen, you nancyboys, mewling prettily about “substantive policy differences” like whiny little bitches isn’t going to win us any friends or elections. My God, you make us want to puke with that s—.

We need to be loud, we need to be outrageous, we need to be unfair, uncivil and profane. We need to be aggressive and loud. That’s how you get the public’s attention.

Hey, I have moments where I feel kind of scared too, where I wonder what’s ahead of us, and where our country will be in a month, a year, four years from now.

And then I recall three things:

1. Obama and every other politician are human beings. They have finite abilities and finite lives: They can’t do everything they talk about, and they won’t live forever, much less be in office forever.

2. I lived through the Carter presidency. No matter what the msm says, things are not nearly as bad now as they were during the Carter years. And the Carter years are precisely what led us to the Reagan years. It’s all cyclical. Truly it is.

3. There’s a bigger picture, and Someone else is in control of it. Even when it doesn’t seem so.

So yeah, I don’t think being terrified of Obama, and reacting to his presidency with hysterical venom is useful. Or helpful. Or sane.

I’m always interested in where words come from, in their etymology. Here’s the etymology of “hysterical”

Origin:
1650–60; from Latin hystericus, < Gk hysterikós: Suffering in the womb, hysterical (reflecting the Greeks’ belief that hysteria was peculiar to women and caused by disturbances in the uterus).

Suddenly I have an entirely different mental picture of “docweasel.” And it’s hysterical.

Excuse me, I need to wipe Apple Chai off my monitor before I can continue typing.

Postscript: Apparently “docweasel” is an hysterical schizophrenic:

In reality, this is a group blog written by several anonymous authors with wildly differing viewpoints, which can lead to some contradictory opinions (sometimes in the same post). For this, we make no apologies. Its supposed to be confusing. We decided to all blog under one pseudonym so no one can be the star blogger, but also so no one has to take responsibility for anything we write.

Now that explains everything, including the ridiculously excessive profanity.

Only human…

Had a good dinnertime discussion with Youngest Son, who is at the age where the drama of US politics is interesting enough to make him ask lots of pointed questions.

His main question: “Why do people think our enemies will like us better just because our president’s changed?”

Nothing quite like trying to explain irrational hatred and equally irrational adoration to a 12 year old, but he’s smart, he gets it: “When people see he’s not God, maybe they’ll stop acting like he is.”

We can only hope, son. Tracey of Beyond the Pale has more to say about this:

Why is it that neither of these men, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, is allowed to be human?

Why are they viewed with such ridiculous hyperbole?

George W. Bush is subhuman, a devil, a demon, the man who’s ruined the world, whatever. He’s made mistakes as our president, but he’s positively reviled for his mistakes. That bastard! How dare he screw up?? And because of his mistakes, it seems to me, he’s now deemed subhuman. And it’s not fair.

Barack Obama, by contrast, is superhuman, an angel, a savior, the man who will redeem the world. He doesn’t make mistakes, it seems, or won’t, or if he does, we will likely not hear of them. He’s “The One.” He’s superhuman. Also not fair.

These men are human, for God’s sake. Bush is not subhuman; Obama is not superhuman. Bush made mistakes; Obama will make mistakes. I abhor this black-and-white thinking. It degrades both men, actually, when neither of them is allowed to be human beings. It’s ridiculous and unfair.

Added bonus: Tracy shares my appreciation for William Bouguereau. But I digress.

Best perspective from across the pond (H/T The Anchoress) I’ve read all day: Melanie Phillips

I think that the desperate dangerousness and complexity of our world and a profound terror of what properly facing up to its problems would entail have led people to believe a cartoon version of why we’re in such a state - and to have invested their hopes similarly in a fantasy figure of hope, to such an extent that they have shut their ears to some very loud warning bells ringing from his past history.

People believe that Obama represents a renunciation of an America that throws its weight around the world. And they think it’s that ‘war-mongering’ characteristic, represented in particular by President Bush and the war in Iraq, which has caused so much global trouble and resentment.

I believe that’s a dangerously false analysis which fails to grasp the extent to which western civilisation is under attack from a world-wide enemy that intends to destroy it, and which further fails to distinguish between true aggression and true self-defence.

Ah, but now that Obama is in office the world will love us! They have to, we’re a totally different nation today…aren’t we? In Germany and France apparently it’s now cool to be an American.

Jennifer Granger, 34, a teacher from New York who lives in Prague, said she no longer hesitates to say she is American.

“Thank God! It feels better,” she said. “The people I work with give me high-fives and say things like ‘You can be proud to be from your country again.’ “

I’m with Rachel Lucas when she says in response:

I don’t know why this pisses me off so very much but it does. Just seems to me that if I’d moved to England a few years ago, the only decent and adult thing for any English or European person to do would have been to treat me with all due respect just for being a nice person who means them no harm. I don’t want their respect and interest just because of who the American president is, because that has nothing to do with me and my own personal worth as a human being.

So knowing that now, only now, because America has elected a black president, people overseas will like me better? I am unimpressed. They can blow it out their ass is what I’m saying. I’m the same person I was before any of them ever heard of Obama.

I know why it pisses me off:  Because I have ALWAYS been proud to be an American. I was proud to answer “America” in 1995 when people in Scotland asked me where  I was from, and I was proud to say “America” in 2007 when people in Italy asked me where I was from. I think of my family’s ancestors who emigrated to America in the 1700s and 1800s from England, Germany and Finland . If those countries were so damned great, if they could have lived safely and comfortably there, they wouldn’t have left. They deliberately chose to travel at no little risk and considerable hardship to a country where they didn’t speak the language and could only get jobs as laborers. They chose to become Americans, to raise their children as Americans, and to me it would be akin to spitting on their collective graves to deny my own citizenship. I am alive today because they chose America.

Okay, rant over.

I am trying, really I am, to adopt Andy Levy’s To Don’t List, particularly these key points:

DON’T make it personal. We don’t need another Derangement Syndrome. We don’t need people doing things like emphasizing Obama’s middle name in a derogatory fashion. How anyone would think that’s beneficial to their cause, or to the country as a whole, is beyond me. Also, it’s not even clever. Neither are smushwords like BusHitler, or sillywords like Rethuglicans and Dhimmicrats.

…DON’T automatically think people who disagree with you are stupid or evil. Some of them are, of course. But most of them aren’t, and you might actually learn something if you listen to them.

And finally, DON’T use the fact that many on the left behaved abominably for the past eight years as an excuse to behave the same way. America needs adults. And if it bothered you when they did it, it’s a good sign that you shouldn’t do it.

Keeping us safe…

This is why I am not afraid to travel by air:

Because of pilots like Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.

Capt Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger was out of options at 3000 feet on Thursday when he intentionally and calmly steered his crippled US Airways jetliner, fully loaded with passengers, toward the Hudson River.

US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds just after takeoff minutes earlier at LaGuardia Airport, apparently disabling the engines…The plane took off at 3:26 p.m. for a flight that would last only five minutes. It was less than a minute after takeoff when the pilot reported a “double bird strike” and said he needed to return to LaGuardia, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. He said the pilot apparently meant that birds had hit both of the plane’s jet engines.

The pilot, identified as Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III of Danville, Calif., “was phenomenal,” passenger Joe Hart said. “He landed it — I tell you what, the impact wasn’t a whole lot more than a rear-end (collision). It threw you into the seat ahead of you.

“Both engines cut out and he actually floated it into the river,” he said.

…Another passenger, Jeff Kolodjay, said people put their heads in their laps and prayed. He said the captain instructed them to “brace for impact because we’re going down.”

“It was intense. It was intense. You’ve got to give it to the pilot. He made a hell of a landing,” Kolodjay said.

Copilot Jeff Skiles also deserves a commendation, as do the three cabin attendants on flight 1549; they deployed flotation devices and rafts, shepherding the passengers in their care off the downed aircraft. No lives were lost. No one was critically injured. Everyone got off that plane safely.

We whine and complain about the state of air travel, about flight delays, bad baggage handling, about overbooking, and especially about the TSA’s inane regulations–just Google “TSA confiscates” for the plethora of stories. What we don’t think about are the men and women who are so skilled they can bring down a disabled plane safely, without critical injury to any passengers. Captain Sullenberger had the lives of 155 people in his hands. He did not betray their trust.

This is why since 9/11 I haven’t been afraid of terrorist attacks:

President George W. Bush has had the safety of over 305,000,000 Americans in his hands. Our lives have indeed gone back to normal; his never did. He’s lived with the memory of 9/11 and shouldered the crushing responsibility of keeping us safe from another 9/11 every single day of his presidency. He did not betray that trust.

To the military integral to our safety, President Bush said, “There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander in Chief.”

At those words I found myself tearing up; I want my son to have that sort of Commander in Chief. As my son takes his place among the men and women of the USAF, I want him to serve under a President who truly perceives the profound honor it is to have my son, and thousands like him, under his command.

Bush is not a perfect human being. None of us are. He was not a perfect President. No one ever is. Obama will not be perfect either. What I wonder though, is at the end of his presidency, will he want to say:

There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I’ve always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I felt was right.

Will he be willing to say:

As we address these challenges and others we can not foresee tonight, America must maintain our moral clarity. I’ve often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time every where. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense, and to advance the cause of peace.

And most importantly, will he be able to honestly say:

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your President. There have been good days and tough days, but every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other: Citizen of the United States of America.

Now Obama will have to face this sort of hatred. I cringed when that sort of venom was spewed at Bush, and I do not like it any better with Obama’s face on the posters. That’s an act done by the “evil” Obama’s predecessor spoke of.

I have found that Canadian and British citizens often have clearer perspectives on our elected officials than we do. They had no dog in the 2000 election fight so they have no lingering bitterness to taint their view of Bush. Consider the thoughts of this Canadian for example.

The Anchoress has a nice summary of the good we’ve been given in the past eight years.

And Gateway Pundit sums it up beautifully in photos and words.

God bless you, Mr. President. And may He bless our new President, and grant him an equal measure of humility and grace as he attempts to lead an all too often ungrateful nation.

The intolerant demand tolerance

Once again, California government proves that it’s indifferent to the will of the people who elected it. The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors has voted to join a lawsuit against Proposition 8. Spearheading this vote were ultra-left Democrats Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina.

“I think it’s important that the county be heard on this issue,” Yaroslavsky said. “It is unusual for the high court to overturn an initiative. It should be an unusual event, because the will of the people should generally be respected when they cast their vote.”

Except when you disagree with them. Then it’s okay for government to invalidate the entire voting process.

Someone ought to point out to Councilman Yaroslavsky that the county was heard on the issue. Over 82% of LA County voters cast a ballot in the recent election. Prop 8 passed in LA County, with 1,317,125 voters in favor of it.

Yaroslavsky’ and Molina are not fond of considering the voters will, as they proved when they decided to remove a tiny cross from the Los Angeles City Seal. Urged to put the matter before the voters, they refused.

Ignoring the will of the people has become business as usual in California. Meanwhile, we have aggression and threats on the local level in an effort to further intimidate the voting public.

Michelle Malkin gives a run down on the latest acts of insane rage, noting that

Corporate honchos, church leaders, and small donors alike are in the same-sex marriage mob’s crosshairs, all unfairly demonized as hate-filled bigots by bona fide hate-filled bigots who have abandoned decency in pursuit of “equal rights.”

Thomas Sowell warns of the danger in tolerating intolerance.

Almost by definition, everybody thinks their cause is just. Does that mean that nobody has to obey the rules? That is called anarchy.

Nobody is in favor of anarchy. But some people want everybody else to obey the rules, while they don’t have to.

A disregard for the voted will of the people, and the implementation of threats and violence are nothing less than anarchy.

Post-election withdrawal

I’m out of town on family business, but just had to share this gem from The Onion. To prevent choking hazard, please do not eat or drink while viewing.

In this world we will have trouble…

I miss President Bush already. I miss civility, and humility, and the sense that the leader of our country operated within a moral framework, answering to a Higher Authority.

Having spent from 6 am to 9 pm working as a poll inspector today, I’m burnt out on the process. I had nearly 70 people (that’s about 10% of the total vote at my polling place) come in and vote provisionally, with the explanation that “I don’t remember where I’m supposed to vote,” or “I never got my voting information,” or “I vote absentee but forgot to send it in.” Invariably they were Democrats. Not saying anything duplicitous was going on, but it was…odd.

Now I’m watching the celebrations on the news, and seeing people waving signs that say things like “Why wait, throw Bush out now!” and feeling ill. Even when Clinton was president, I felt some degree of equanimity, I had a sense that there still was a system of checks and balances in place. Not so anymore. The Presidency, the Congress, soon the Supreme Court will all be controlled by the left, and of course the extreme liberal media is backing it all. So this is what it feels like to be disenfranchised.

I don’t want to think about my son going into the military under Obama’s leadership. I don’t want to think about the reaction terrorists are going to have. I do not want to think about what this shift of power means for unborn babies and people with disabilities, the most vulnerable in our society. These things sadden me, but at the same time I wonder if perhaps God is teaching us something. Perhaps, like Israel, we’re getting the leadership we deserve.

My pastor on Sunday pointed out that the most important thing is not who wins the election, but that the gospel be preached. And when things get bad, when a government becomes oppressive, that’s when the gospel of Christ flourishes.

The Anchoress writes with more grace than I can summon towards Obama. I will respect the office, regardless of who holds it, but I’m not sanguine about the ability of Obama himself to treat his subjects citizens with any respect.

Brutally Honest reminds us of the purpose of lamenting and gives us healthy food for thought. They’ve also got a clever sidebar ad that reads in part,

We lived through the Carter years. High interest rates, high taxes, bad judge appointments, gas shortages, high utilities, ‘coming ice age’ scare, hostage situation in Iran, defunded military. Worst economy in a century.

Then came Reagan. And we recovered.

Palin for President in 2012!

Please God, send us another Reagan, and help America to recognize her when she runs for office.

Michelle Malkin tells us it is time to gird our loins,

What do we do now? We do what we’ve always done.

We stand up for our principles, as we always have — through Democrat administrations and Republican administrations, in bear markets or bull markets, in peacetime and wartime.

We stay positive and focused.

We keep the faith.

We do not apologize for our beliefs. We do not re-brand them, re-form them, or relinquish them. We defend them.

We pay respect to the office of the presidency. We count our blessings and recommit ourselves to our constitutional republic.

And despite my mournfulness and general sense of foreboding, The Onion manages to make me chuckle.