Obi Jedi Wannabe January 31, 2009

(HOT AIR Gets the lion’s share of links today. Thanks, HA!!)

Just shoot me now.

Rush named it correctly this morning: “The Barack Obama War On Prosperity.” If we don’t do anything else before 2010, we must keep the ownership of this deadly, god-awful fiasco firmly where it belongs–squarely on the heads of the Democrat majority. The Democrats have collected all the pork projects, sweetheart deals, and payoffs they couldn’t get passed by/past George W. Bush and a Republican congress, and stuffed them into what was supposed to be a $700 billion bill to help banks recover from the collapse of the Fanny and Freddy debacle (which was bad ENOUGH), all of which, interestingly enough, are consequences of the Democrat crooks in Washington. I’m beginning to wonder if there is even ONE Democrat in that bunch that isn’t crooked.

And, WHN (What’s His Name) is happy to see prosperity declining right on schedule: More opportunity to blame it all on George W. Bush, more ammunition for his leftist poop-bazooka. Big Labor has its knee-breaking-guys poised to force small businesses to unionize; financed and goaded on by Obama’s Chicago-style politics. The stock market, — which by rights isn’t really a true indicator of the economy, of course, but a fair snapshot — just continues to fall. It was down by 200 points today, and over 100 points yesterday. Even a tiny decline on Monday will take it back down below 8000. No vote of confidence in WHN on Wall Street, I gather.

And now, they are already putting together a NEW “bailout” to the tune of $2 trillion, on top of the $2 trillion we are already stuck for. I am waiting for a lightbulb to go on over WHN’s head when he realizes his wonderful plan is going to stifle so much of the economy that there will be no money left to take. I know that he wants that — to have all of us on the government dole, receiving money the Fed prints as fast as it can for the foreseeable future. I wonder if we will be able to spend one of Zimbabwe’s $1 Trillion bills?

Alinsky would be proud. Oh, yes — his birtday was yesterday. He would have been a hundred years old. Unfortunately for America, the blatherskyte learned to read and write, so he left his legacy to his spiritual offspring, teaching them how to use his Sith mind tricks, and we Americans are suffering through the consequences daily these days, with more to come. Also unfortunately for America, Saul Alinsky has been THE single worst influence on American politics and destroyer of freedom that has ever been unleashed.

The Paduan Learner Barack has learned well from his Sith Lord.

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Mount Redoubt volcano is getting ready to erupt (“interrupt,” as grandson #1 put it) in what could be (hours, according to the report) days. We are downwind, and I’m looking around for a better-than-basic dust mask because of some old chronic lung problems. Check here for updates. This is how people get pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. (Yes, it’s the longest word in the dictionary!) refers to the ultra-microscopic glass particles in volcanic dust. Fortunately, it’s winter, so doors and windows will stay shut. But motorists better beware dusting off their vehicles. Glass, remember?

Smart Enough January 29, 2009

You don’t HAVE to be smart to live up here, but sometimes, it sure does help. I remember some of our friends and neighbors from the good old days, who weren’t afraid to flaunt their lack of intellect. For instance, take the young couple who lived across the street from us in Robe River, a Valdez suburb. John was such a glowing example he deserves a post all to himself. His bride wasn’t really bright, herself, but compared her adorable hubby, she was a veritable Einstein.

They were good neighbors, but temporary. They had come to Valdez to make their fortune with the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and would return to Ketchikan after the job was finished. There was a lot of “neighboring” back and forth across the street, and they were welcome all the time, just because.

On one especially enjoyable (non-rainy, for some reason) evening, after the customary cookout (We cooked out ALL the time. Tons of work, but it was worth it. If it was raining, we moved the grill and picnic table into the garage and cooked out inside), we were sitting around visiting. We somehow got onto the traditional ways of doing things, and John spoke up.

“Want to know how a wolf gets rid of fleas?” He volunteered. Of course, we were all eager to learn this little piece of esoteric Alaskan lore. One never knew when one would encounter a flea-bitten wolf.

“Sure! How?”

“Well, the wolf finds a stick about this long,” he said, and measured out about nine inches with his hands. “Then, he holds the stick by one end in his teeth and wades slowly into the water.”

“Uh-huh,” we all said, hooked by his knowledge.

“When the water gets deeper, the fleas move up on his body to keep out of the water. So the wolf wades deeper and deeper, until all that is left out of the water is his head. When all the fleas are on his head, he ducks under the water, leaving nothing sticking up but the stick.” (Of course, by this time, our jaws were hanging open.)

“Then,” John said, excitedly moving in for the grand finish, “when all the fleas have jumped onto the stick, the wolf spits it out and swims back to shore without fleas!”

Cross my heart and hope to die.

Some Things To Think About January 28, 2009

Nancy Pelosi says that a declining population will help the economy. I figure she will use the illegal aliens that she plans to give amnesties to to replace all the wage-earners/taxpayers she plans to kill off with such a stupid plan. This is what happens, folks, when you re elect brainless liberal ignoramuses like this ditz to a public office and give her even the slightest amount of power.

Poor Mrs. Pelosi. If her brains were dynamite, she wouldn’t have enough to blow her nose. She has absolutely taken leave of any sense she might have once posessed. Hasn’t anybody pointed out to this airhead that a growing population provides a healthy working force/tax base for future generations’ needs? Guess not.

But this is only the most recent manifestion of the left’s obsession with prenatal death, even though they have tried valiantly to sweep it under the rug, their “policy” on abortion just will NOT stay invisible. (Isn’t it interesting that these people, who fight like wolverines to “protect a woman’s right to choose” will deny, dissemble, and mumble ineptly when called out to defend their actions?)

With all the advances in sonogram technology in recent years, the notion that it’s not a baby in there has been thoroughly disassembled. For some unintelligible reason, the left has labored under the delusion that a pregnancy is (pick one): a) just a blob of tissue b) nothing more than a parasite c) an inconvenience d) all of the above. It must be difficult for them to have to squinch their eyes shut really tightly whenever they see a picture

of a preborn child sticking out its tongue in the womb, perhaps one of the same age as the babies they have often voted to be the recipients of the noxious partial birth abortion, the only purpose of which is to guarantee a dead baby and prevent embarrassment to the “doctor.” Or, perhaps it’s one of those infants who survive abortion only to be set aside and ignored until they die (a procedure which the ONE has voted twice to protect). These kinds of things are what haunt bigots, because they know that not only are the procedures infanticide, but that they themselves are treading a very unpopular line with their support. Nice going, Nan.

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Six ways to RUIN America. No comment necessary.

And, if you are still not sure just what is included in the “bailout” “stimulus” “PORKBARREL” bill, look no further than this.

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The Doctor of Democracy is a true surgeon. Rush is like the Samurai who takes a swing at his opponent with his Kitana, and the opponent says, “Haha! You missed me!” just a second before his head falls off. Watching The Master in action is such a pleasure. It’s almost enough to make a feller want to feel sorry for the lefties. Almost.

Just Sayin’, Is All January 26, 2009

I think what’s-his-name is going to lose this little clash with Rush.

For one thing, Rush is a seasoned deulist against the left. And challenging him to “do something about it” is not for the faint of heart. Ignorant people (like Harry Reid) have attempted it, and wound up with not just egg, but something smelly and brown all over their faces. And all the gullible co-signers of Reid’s backfiring missive should feel a certain amount of touch-hole tightening at the prospect of their chosen leader attempting to go head to head with El Rushbo.

For another thing, what’s-his-name (let’s just call him “WHN”) knows he won by hook and crook and that his victory is hollow. For petty crooks like him, any victory is worth the work, but this was only a victory in name. According to him, he’s entitled to the job. Just take a look at some of the shots of him with his chin in the air, or his face lifted and eyes closed, basking in the glow. He is completely aware that ACORN’s tactics and George Soros’s honeypot got him this election, and that if the facts ever get into the general public about his non-citizenship and his Marxist past, a lot of disillusioned people are going to be shouting for his cabeza.

Not only that, but when all the crap that he promised the masses doesn’t materialize quite like his worshippers think it’s supposed to, there are going to be a lot of disappointed, disgusted people milling around outside the White House fence, shouting for their mortgages to be paid and for their free gasoline vouchers. For this reason, he is very defensive. He is emotionally reacting, instead of being a cool, unflappable leader familiar with having the upper hand. Any plans for prosecuting George Bush and Dick Cheney will have to take a back seat to putting out the brush fires in the ‘hoods.

So, when he remarked that nothing could get done by listening to Rush, he was emotional, personal, defensive, and ignorant. Ignorant, because he didn’t know just how effective Rush is at getting things done. For someone who is supposed to be such a good street fighter, WHN seems to have lost his touch. Maybe he campaigned a little too long and lost his edge.

I think he is so emotionally and personally invested in being king that his daydreams are becoming where he lives. He seems jealous of Rush’s ability to keep a very large listening audience glued to their radios for over twenty years. Jealousy often makes people defensive, and causes them to react rather than to act.

Even the adoring press, proud sycophants and suckups one and all, are incurring some rather sharp and impatient reactions from the king of the world. Snippy replies, arrogantly placing his hand on the shoulder of a reporter, condescending instructions to not ask questions when not in a press conference should be a red flag to the press that their adored one is more human than they could have thought possible.

Although WHN has read and taken to heart Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals,” I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to know that Rush has read it, too. And I also believe that Rush is a successful, practicing student of Sun Tzu’s “The Art Of War.” Whateve it is, Rush is the cool, unflappable pro, and WHN is the crying bully who’s had his bluff called. I think there is going to be a lot of very interesting things happening in this situation. At the risk of sounding like an instigator, I’m hoping it won’t the the only time WHN tries to lock horns with the Maha Rushie.

Furthermore, WHN has surrounded himself with seasoned Clintonites for whatever reason, but then, inexplicably, he put a real Clinton right in the middle of everything. Maybe he’s hoping his VP will strangle on that foot that always seems to be stuck in his mouth, so he can replace him with the Queen of Diamonds. Whatever is going on there deserves watching. And Hillary’s peeps are probably still more than a little loyal/scared when it comes to Madame Clinton. Just whose wagon will these people jump onto if the king of the world starts to lose his bearings?

One last thing: I’m no psychiatrist. But I have always enjoyed being a people-watcher. One of the things I noticed about WHN early in the campaign is that he seems to have some deep mental/psychological problems, which show up when he is stressed, challenged, or when he thinks no one is looking. Now, I am not saying he’s crazy. Not by a long shot. But I do think that he has some narcissistic tendencies that might just get in the way of his ability to lead, govern, and protect. (I’m just sayin’ is all.)

Now — If there was just some way to shut up Nancy Pelosi and dingy Harry Reid.

Undoing PC January 25, 2009

PC is the death of America. If you are anything like me, you have even seen the Politically Correct words and phrases sneaking into your own vocabularies. “Well,” we might rationalize, “it’s only right that we not use those old terms for things.” Of course. I agree that the day for calling Blacks anything but “American” or “Black” are long past. But calling Indians “First Nation” or whatever the current cute term is is simply too cumbersome. I have several Indian friends, and they like the term “Indian.” One even had a teeshirt that said, “INDIAN. And PROUD.”

It’s not just terminology for differences in skin color or genetic origin. These days, you have to use appropriate devices, you must follow certain appropriate guidelines, and you are not allowed to speak out about anything that might actually indicate you have a preference for something the government hasn’t chosen for you. Politically corrected regulations are bogging life down to a pathetic crawl. The robust, business-oriented American culture has been politically-corrected into a cheap, wishywashy imitation; a mere shadow of its former glory.

Schools have banned any games in which children might get hurt. This includes softball, dodgeball, tag, cowboys and “first nations,” or vice versa. Have you looked in the aisles of the toy sections of the local store? Although there are a few gun games there, most of the toys are related to non-competitive, non-aggressive, non-violent “play.” What little boy DOESN’T make a gun of his finger without prompting? What’s the first thing boys build with a set of Lego blocks? What’s the first thing a little girl does with a kitten, besides turn it on its back and cradle it like a baby? Then she dresses it in doll clothes, takes it into the house, and has a tea-party for it.

The political correctness that has saturated all of our daily lives might possibly be entering a less-popular trend, as parents realize that they can’t undo the intrinsic tendencies of the sexes of their children. Boys, by nature of their genetic makeup, do “boy” things, while gilrs, for the same reason, do “girl” things. Of course, there is also a parallel trend in the schools. Because boys want to do “boy” things, teachers (mostly women these days) are impatient with the kinetic, boisterous behavior of their male students, and label it “ADD” or “ADHD” and medicate the kids so they become little passive, feminized zombies who just want to sit around and veg out with bland “personal best” video games.

I noticed it in myself when my grandsons were small. At first, I tried diligently to teach them that they mustn’t “play guns” with each other, and that there were other, more constructive ways to play. Then, it dawned on me that they were doing what they were born to do–act like boys. It was unfair to them as boys not to allow them to role-play in ways that would help them learn to be protective of weaker people, to be unafraid to do battle where and when necessary, and to simply live up to their genetic heritage as males.

It’s a shame that their paternal grandfather is no longer around. Of all the perfect role models these boys could possibly be blessed with, he was the ultimate. He was a good, righteous, and honest man, a hard-working laborer who knew so many ways to do so many things that might challenge a young man as he went through life, that it’s perfectly honest of me to say that they are “deprived.” His sons are both good, honest, hard-working men who saw their father set the kind of example he wanted them to follow when they were men in turn. Fortunately for my grandsons, the lessons he taught his boys were well-learned, and now, we have the wonderful opportunity of sending real MEN into the future world. And, buying your sons and/or grandsons copies of The Dangerous Book For Boys is a good start to undoing political correctness.

Raising manly men and feminine women is the most important job a parent can do, which is why single-parent households are handicapped from the beginning. Such families exist from necessity, but their job as nurturers of real men and women is more difficult than the same job in a two-parent household. It can still be done, however, and many a prominent hero or heroine was raised by one parent.

The job is not impossible. But struggling against the flood of political correctness in order to make boys into men and girls into women is a real challenge for good parents. Religious training is a must, if for no other reason than to impress the children with the reality of an Ultimate Authority. Bucking the tide of PC and undoing what the feminized, lobotomized “educators” have done to our children is difficult. But it CAN be done.

By The Book January 24, 2009

For my older readers: What does THIS remind you of?

It has occurred to me that now that they are in unrestricted power, they are terrified to vary from the established template laid down by Mao, Marx, and Stalin. Class envy, mandatory groupthink, fawning press, the whole nine yards are being replayed before our very eyes, and although us old-timers recognize all the signs of imminent national danger, the last generation of public school graduates will not see anything wrong in gushing over their new god or carrying around a little book of his quotations. (Incidentally, if you read the comments further down the page, you will find some interesting verbal candidates for inclusion into the volume.)

Some Clarification January 24, 2009

Reading yesterday’s post made me realize that I have posted several times about the warnings we received from various religious groups in the 80′s regarding the new direction that was being taken in the schools at the time. I realize that people are probably saying “I”ve read this stuff before. When is she going to come up with something new?” But the fact remains that those religious groups saw what was happening long before the rest of us did.

It was our “superior” attititudes at the time that made us ignore the warnings and continue to turn our parental rights over to the schools and cede our authority to the school boards until it was too late to change things back. Our condescending attitude — illustrated in the previous post (“There, There…”) allowed us to blithely look the other way while these changes were instituted and set in stone in our local schools, which, one after the other, jumped onto the public school bandwagon in order to be eligible for the bounteous bri-, er, subsidies, coming down from the Feds.

I guess I’m trying to apologize for waiting so long to realize that everything they warned us about has come to pass, and it’s probably too late to undo even a bit of it. I can’t help be feel a certain amount of responsibility. Every time I see the political mess we’ve managed to get ourselves into in the past thirty years, I realize just how RIGHT those “mine-shaft canaries” were when they risked their reputations to get the word out, and how little we cared.

Isn’t it interesting how long it can take to see the truth, even when it is pointed out right under our noses? Now that I look back on those days, I realize that Conservative leaders like Phyllis Schlafly and Paul Weyrich saw what was about to happen and tried to spread the alarm before the inevitable damage could be done.

I’m not an expert on the educational system in America, and it’s a good thing that I’m not, because I would probably be tempted to do at least as much as Weyrich and Schlafly in terms of getting the truth into the hands of parents and voters. But this little blogpage is all I can muster, for what it’s worth.

Take a look around next time you are at a public school, and observe what is on the walls in corridors and classrooms. See all those cute, rhyming self-esteem/political-correctness slogans about niceness and fairness? Believe me, they teach them. My 8-year-grandson had to sit through the inauguration ceremonies on January 20. I could understand it if it was something that was done at every inauguration, but these children were being taught that THIS election was historic because it elected a “Black man” to the Presidency. As if none of the OTHER inaugurations in America’s history had been important, historic, or newsworthy. And, SECOND GRADE?? Have you noticed the absence of classes in Civics, American History, Business, or Economics? These things all teach about citizenship, individual responsibility, and good stewardship, while giving us a sense of being part of the history of freedom in the world.

No matter that the guest of honor at the inauguration refuses to prove his citizenship (and, thereby, his eligiblilty for the office), has left us with absolutely no history of himself beyond what he chose to write about in his memoirs, or that even without any historical facts we can see by the company he keeps that he is not only a Chicago hood but a Red-Diaper Baby, born, raised, mentored, and groomed by Marxists.

And, because we are so uneducated about American history, civics, and basic election rules, even many of us on the Right have, in our “White Guilt,” rushed to crown him without even really knowing who he is, simply because of the color of his skin. In our desperate dash to be the generation that makes this “historic” choice, we have glossed over and ignored the kinds of details that would have made us very reluctant to put into the same place a white person with the same lack of qualification and history.

Suddenly, all those “Dissent Is Patriotic” bumper stickers are being scraped off the backs of all the Volvos and Saabs, and we are informed that any reluctance to agree with the new administration is racist. I find this very interesting, don’t you?

There, There… January 22, 2009

Years ago in Valdez, the little evangelical churches all tried to warn the rest of us that trouble was coming down the road, disguised as “secular humanism.” It was going to go into the grade schools, and it was going to propagandize our kids by introducing things like “values clarification,” “self-esteem,” and “peer pressure.” And, of course, we laughed.

Everybody knew those evangelicals were sweet but silly, and they were always finding Commies under the beds and crying, “Wolf!” all the time. We just patted them on the shoulders, said, “There, there…” and forgot immediately what they had been trying so desperately to tell us.

When our kids started coming home from school with stories of being shamed in class for not wanting to write things about their parents in their classroom journals, or made to sit out from special events because they didn’t “conform,” when they came home and told us that there was no such thing as “right” or “wrong,” or that they had the right to divorce us, report us for spanking them, or to do whatever they wanted, we were upset and angry, but we didn’t make the connection between that and what those sweet, silly evangelicals had wrung their hands about so emphatically and tried so desperately to make us understand.

Then, before we knew it, our kids were putting condoms on cucumbers, telling us that religion was a waste of time, that sex was nothing more than recreational fun, almost like sports, and that they didn’t need our guidance because the teachers had told them they were all grown up enough to do their own thinking.

And now, we have a whole generation of young people (and old hippies) who hate America, hate the rights, freedoms, and privileges she provides, think Cuba and North Korea are ideal places; and who think that they are entitled to be taken care of from cradle to grave by a government that is topheavy, intrusive, abusive, and ubiquitous. Unfortunately for us old-timers, we have been so disgusted and disappointed we have opted out of engagement in public life, willing to let somebody else do it, and we have turned our franchise over to the kids who were taught that there was no “right” or “wrong,” that all religions were equal (but that Christianity was “too judgmental”), that “government is good,” and that “only the government can take care of us.”

We are seeing in our lifetime, before any of us are even really creaky and old, the results of all the things those sweet and silly people tried to warn us about all those years ago. Looking back and remembering the condescending way we shone them on when they tried to explain that our children’s souls were in mortal danger, and that America was teetering on the brink of disaster, we can see now how those people we treated like children were really the canaries in the coal mine.

Our schools have banned God and all Judeo-Christian moral teachings. God is forbidden in all public venues and private venues that can be seen from public places. We have stopped dealing in absolutes: no truth, no right, no wrong. Without God anywhere in public life, moral behavior is scorned or ignored. “Fairness” is the new holy word of our culture, and we are reduced to toothless spectators who can only stand by and watch while the NEA foxes ravage the educational henhouses, the Call To Action coyotes steal the unchurched sheep, and our leaders are known criminals, thieves, and marauders.

If there is ever a “next time,” and I am accosted by sweet and silly evangelicals trying to tell me the wolves are in the sheepfold, I am going to pay attention. And I hope, that as old as I am, that I am able to actually DO something about it. And one thing is certain: I absolutely will NOT be wasting time patting them kindly and telling them, “There, there…”

Aftermath January 22, 2009

This is what was left of the Mall in Washington D.C. after the worshippers left. Doug Powers has the story on American Thinker.

And then, there’s THIS nice, class act.

It wasn’t enough that this bunch of infantile, selfish little whiny pr*cks trashed the White House staff offices when the Clinton years were (thankfully) over, by writing graffiti on the walls of the offices, upending desks, stopping up toilets, leaving obscene pictures in the printers and scanners and salacious messages on the answering machines, right down to removing the “W” keys from all the keyboards and gluing them to the walls with super glue.

They had to show the whole world just how uncivilized, sick, and mannerless they really are by pulling a childish, bratty stunt like this. They have won. What more do they want?? But they are proving by this kind of behavior that they are in no fit condition to lead, guard, or guide this nation. I hope Obama has his day-care license up to date, because he is going to need it to ride herd on this bunch of babies.

Can’t Win For Losing January 20, 2009

Why is it that what’s-his-name has so much trouble keeping the spotlight on himself? First, it was the announcement of John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate that rained on the afterglow of w-h-n’s barnburner of a convention speech. (Belated update: Forgot to throw in the upstaging he got when he accosted Joe Wurzelbacher in Ohio and got a bug put in his ear about redistribution of income…)

Now, on the very DAY that he should have all the glory, what happens? Not just one, but two — count ‘em, TWO — old glory-hounds collapse in Statuary Hall during an inauguration luncheon. Teddy “Chappaquiddick Kid” Kennedy had a siezure related to his terminal brain tumor, and Robert C. “Grand Kleagle” Byrd, probably alarmed at the sight of a dark-skinned President taking the Oath of Office, keeled over at the same luncheon. He is VERY old. Most dirt is younger. He’s been in the Senate since shortly after the Flood — not Johnstown, but Noah.

I hope they recover, even if it’s only long enough to confess and make their peace with the Almighty Judge of Hearts.