Right As Usual

This is an old video , from the tail end of October, actually, but I wanted to make sure that I placed it on the blog.

I found this on several sites, finally checked it out. Don't miss the comments, they contain some priceless reminders that PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) hasn't been wiped out. The memes about dumb Republican rich kids and stupid "trailer trash" seem to be immortal. No silver stake through the heart of them can stop their inexorable zombie stagger throughout the American media. If we are to believe the myths, Republicans have a diseugenic breeding program whereby smart parents give birth to morons, who, nonetheless, manage, through family endowments and legacy admissions, to attend the finest schools. No such devious strategies are needed to taint the intellectual accomplishments of the white poor - despite inability to benefit from Affirmative Action policies or parental arm-twisting of college admissions, they somehow manage to stumble into those non-Ivy institutions known as state schools, and, through unknown means, graduate. Not that any education does the...

This is a tough one.  The crimes that she was convicted of are misdemeanors; in fairness, she isn't guilty of greater crimes. That having been said, what is the appropriate punishment for Ms. Drew? Public shunning. Yeah, I know we don't really do that anymore - more's the pity.  But, this case is the perfect example of how community pressure would be the best response. Anywhere she is, people should walk out of - restaurants, schools, churches, anywhere.  The proper response is total silence - for the rest of her life, if she continues to be unrepentant.  It's the Amish solution, and, the fact of the matter is, it works. Will her kids also suffer?  Probably.  Perhaps that will be the goad she needs to finally have a "come to Jesus" moment. Sending her to jail will simply reinforce her self-centered, I'm-the-victim-here attitude.  Instead, deliver the day-to-day reminders that her behavior was childish, careless, and unacceptable in an adult society. Wi...

I just got my old PC back, after an extended time in the repair shop (OK, the problem was 2-fold - lack of money to fix it, and the fact that it was in Cleveland, and I'm in SC).  My dear SIL, who is a hardware genius - are you reading this? - did it on his own limited time, for a favor.  It truly was a Thankful Holiday, as I now have access to 2 laptops, 1 Mac, and 1 PC.  It comes in handy for those times when you need to access certain types of software (such as in the classroom.  I use some science software that is only available in PC). It's different.  I find I'm trying to use some shortcuts that aren't on a PC.  Much of the software needed updating.  In browsers, some bookmarks aren't there.  It's kind of disorienting. One task I'm planning on next week is moving the pictures, documents, pdfs, and movies to an external hard drive.  I've been meaning to do that for a while, but now I have greater motivation. Blogged with the Flock Brow...

This Power Line post spotlights an issue that I've long been annoyed about - the propensity of the Old Media (OM) to misrepresent reality in an effort to be "fair": This kind of silly political correctness infects reporters and news services world-wide. They think they're being scrupulous--the man hasn't been convicted of being a gunman yet!--when in fact they're just being foolish. But the irrational conviction that nothing can be known unless it has been determined by a court and jury isn't just silly, it's dangerous. Call a spade a spade - and an armed terrorist just that.

There's a lively discussion on The NextRight blogs about the future of the Republican Party. Well, actually, there's a raging policy discussion everywhere you find 2 Republicans gathered together - nobody likes to lose, and we all are pretty much agreed that there are some systemic changes that need to be made. But what changes? Soren Dayton has a post indicating that the cure will include more bottom-up activity - in other words, listen to the "little people". Whether you like Sarah Palin or not, it's clear that her extraordinary ability to relate to that group is unparalleled. The party needs to capitalize on that by using her in the national headquarters (no, I don't think she needs to be the head - she has a state to run). But, whoever gets the job of leader of the RNC needs to have her number on his/her speed dial. Set up a national series of meetings over the next 2 years. That'll have two results: She can raise the money for some local commit...

The analysis indicates that the author of http://rightasusual.blogspot.com is of the type: ISTP - The Mechanics [ISTP] The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts. The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters. Yeah, I could see that - not police or a smoke-eater, but I teach in an urban school. Very similar, except for the weapons (mine).

I found references to some strange tattoos on Ann Althouse's blog. When I say STRANGE, I'm not kidding: Ropes tattooed around your arms and legs so when you crossed your arms or legs it would appear as if you were suggesting bondage. Robot parts tattooed on working segments of your body. Open eyes tattooed on your eyelids. A mustache tattooed with glow-in-dark ink, just for fun. Jagged backhoe bucket teeth tattooed around your mouth. Mucus tattooed draining from your nose. The rest of the suggested tattoos are even stranger.

I've been too busy to blog. My husband was in the hospital for minor surgery, and I've not been sleeping well with him gone. With luck, he'll be out by today. Meanwhile, I've been following the Turkey Trauma of the nation. Due to an interview outside a poultry processing plant, the nation has learned that - gasp - turkeys DIE to provide us with Thanksgiving dinner! It's all Sarah Palin's fault. If she hadn't been in that cruel video, we'd still be blissfully ignorant. And, not only did she rob us of our ignorance, but she failed to demonstrate the proper anguish for the Killing Fields of Thanksgiving. It's almost as though she KNEW what it was to kill her own food!

Powerline points out a likely reason Obama won. It wasn't his nuanced positions, his statesmanlike demeanor, his appeal to reason. It was that the public WANTED him, in a deeply personal and, ultimately, irrational way. They wanted change in their lives, and, once they decided that he was The Change Candidate, all following information was filtered through that sieve. A similar phenomenon happens when teenagers fall in love. Any criticism about their beloved is ignored - because YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND! The facts are superfluous. Even if believed, it won't change their mind - don't you GET IT? WE'RE IN LOVE! And so the American Public (at least, sufficient numbers of them) were IN LOVE with That One. The One. The person without whom their lives would mean nothing . He hangs with a bad crowd? Dad, you just don't understand! We don't know anything about his past - and what we do know sounds kind of shady. Dad, you just don't understand! His mone...

I found this link to a story about a fatal hit & run. Police have not doubt about how Laufer died: Dorantes slammed into the rear of his Harley at a tremendous rate of speed. As the arrest warrant noted, Dorantes' SUV left no skid marks. The reason is because he never braked -- either before or after the collision. Instead, he kept going, pressing the accelerator pedal toward the floor. No matter that -- right in front of him -- a motorcycle was struck upright to his SUV's grill. And for a few seconds, he even could see Laufer's body on the motorcycle and SUV's hood, before it flew onto the highway 317 feet after impact. By then, Laufer was dead. According to the medial examiner, the horrific impact ripped his heart from its arteries and veins; his brain was severed from its spinal attachments. The riderless Harley's rear tire left a single skid mark as Dorantes roared down the highway -- a shower of sparks and burning rubber right in front of him. "I don...

I was going to send this to all my friends. Got into the Compose mood, carefully checked all the contacts who might find it worthwhile, carefully placed the contact into the bcc: field, so they wouldn't be spammed. Then, meaning to close another window, I closed the mail program. As Homer says, "D'oh!" So, I'm posting the link here, thus re-affirming the main point of the post - we don't communicate directly with friends anymore. My old friend Ake (’awke’) Larsson was in St. Petersberg when he received my letter this week, as usual tinged with news about the curious desperation and isolation of Life in America. He wrote about the boozy St. Petersberg tables where they were celebrating some colleague’s PhD, and it sounded like something out of Milan Kundera–just that, the idea of people at a table, the same table, for a long night in which an event is consecrated and celebrated, between people, friends, who went out of their way, in this case traveled from Swe...

I've reached the last stage of post-election realization after my candidate didn't make it: Eh. I have bigger things to worry about - a Senator (Graham) who is anxious to give away the store to Democrats - even before the Dems became our Ubermasters. An economy that may well sweep away any hope of a comfortable retirement. A job that is taking more of my time and energy than I reasonably have - without leading to a feeling of accomplishment. A house that needs to be swept out, straightened up, and battened down for winter. I plan to spend some time taking care of home and work business, and what little remains will be devoted to the work of rebuilding a party infrastructure, from the ground up.

I was just checking, and realized that today is my Blogiversary. So, in honor of that hallowed moment of creation, here's a link to the first post. Some of the best of those posts (at least, the ones that caused the most comments, number of views, or, some I just, in retrospect, liked): The time my gender changed, and how I resolved my gender issue. A lighthearted look at raising children. Including my first mention of math innumeracy. More than you ever wanted to know about greasy, grimy gopher guts. Lest we forget - we don't always like our political choices. We frequently have to hold our noses, and vote for whoever is Less Awful.

I cannot visit either vet today. One is my father, dead for the last 10 years. He was a vet in WWII, a survivor of the European front. He was artillery, and the damage to his hearing was extensive. He spent much of the last 10 years of his life missing so much of what was being said around him, due to his hearing loss. As a result, the human connections he was able to make on the Internet were even more important to him. In the last several years of his life, I wasn't able to visit as often as I would have liked. He smoked, and my asthma flared up every time I was around him. The last few months, I had a respiratory infection I couldn't shake, and was not able to stand more than a short time in the same room, as the smoke made it hard for me to breathe. The other vet is my brother. He served in Vietnam, as a radio specialist. Basically, he repaired damaged or non-working radio phones. Although not generally dangerous, it was a vital job in a difficult war. When he re...

From the Chicago Sun Times, May 11, 2008: Rob Malley, a Middle East policy adviser to likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, resigned after news surfaced that he had been meeting with Hamas -- something Obama pledged he himself would never do. Well, that's good. Obama found himself an adviser who displayed poor judgment and an unsavory affiliation with Hamas, and got rid of him. Why was that so important? The issue of whether to have dealings with Hamas is a particularly sensitive matter for Obama, who needs to persuade skeptical Jewish voters that he is a strong supporter of Israel. Last week, presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) highlighted a Hamas leader's statement that he hoped Obama would win the White House. Asked about McCain's suggestion that Obama is "favored by Hamas," Obama said McCain was "losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination." Last month, as former President Jimmy Carter was set to meet with H...

Right now, the Minnesota state Senate election is in the process of being stolen , just as the Washington state election was stolen in 2004 . That's NOT right-wing hyperbole, just fact. Al Franken LOST. The Minnesota election rules mandate that a recount is conducted when the count is so close, which I support. What I can't stomach, is the way that the Franken forces are STEALING the election. To believe that, suddenly, 100 extra votes were unearthed, from a single precinct, is to stretch belief. To believe that ALL of the previous "missing" votes were for Franken, is to be as credulous as an adult that still believes in Santa Claus. Come on, folks! These are phony votes! I realize that some devout supporters want Franken to win, but have they no shame? Damnit, where are the Democrats of integrity? Where are the Democrats who have too much pride to blatantly falsify the process that our forefathers died to preserve?

Pride goeth before a fall. The One is filled to the brim with that particular failing. As is his wife.

We're out, they're in. What can we do? Get a backbone. Coordinate the efforts of Senate & House Republicans, and work together. Stand up against truly awful Court candidates - threaten filibuster, and force replacement of underqualified candidates with more moderate ones. Get a strong National Chairman, and re-build the local party. Bring in new blood, and make sure they are comfortable with the new media. Start training programs for the rank & file. Provide resources to fight fraud in election boards. Get the lawyers out for challenges - NOW! Before the fraud becomes entrenched, and it's harder to eliminate. Build your defense. Learn procedural tactics, and how to delay, re-vamp, bury, and stall truly horrible legislation. Make a fuss at every point. Force a delay, so as to make them give up another objective.

I read this analysis of the pre-election polling with growing excitement. I was led to the site by Ace of Spades. The clincher for me was this, talking about Palin's effect on people, particularly men: Even dry McCain became far more energetic and has sounded like a different person, as if he had passion, as time went on after Palin joined the ticket. While no one else will comment on this, it is something I’ve noticed as I have gotten older how a woman can draw out a man. Palin seems to be creating that effect from the men around her. When I ask people, “Why do you like Palin?” they respond, “Because she is normal.” They see her family as normal, her way of talking as normal, and her personality as their personality. More intriguing, people I have asked seem to really want to watch Palin’s family for the next four years. They did not respond the same to McCain’s family, or Obama and Biden’s. Other points in the post that resonated with me included: The polls are way, way off t...

I'm a HUGE fan of Fran Porretto, who writes at Eternity Road . I've not been keeping up with him lately (I've been over-focused on blogs dealing with election news. Fran writes less of the super-timely current events - his stuff lingers, and will be savored for some time to come - rather like a good stew). [Stop to eat me breakfast - the above made me realize that I'm hungry] Here's another priceless post . Unless you live somewhere really, really special, you have to know one or more persons who will vote for Obama on November 4. That is, you have to know one or more persons whose ethical standards and character judgment are so poor that they'll use their franchise to affirm the elevation of a lying Chicago thug to the most powerful office on Earth. Have you asked yourself how anyone could be that stupid? If so, congratulations: you're a conservative. The giveaway is that you didn't assume those folks are villains; conservatives are reluctant to prono...

Let me understand this: An election campaign that seems to have VERY shaky controls on the grabbing of the cash A Vice-Presidential candidate who says strange things, and is put under wraps for a time An undercover operation that involves a "plumber", that the campaign has APPARENTLY no connection to A paranoid belief that the other side will steal the election Dirty tricks Threats by campaign officials Whoever does this remind you of?

I've been running around for the last few weeks, trying to get caught up on school work, and get ready for the convention. I have had to skimp on something, and that's been the housework. The house now looks like someone dropped a paper bomb in the living room, and another one - this time a clothes bomb - in the bedroom. I expect that it will take at least 2 more days to make it livable again. On the politics front, I'm tired of trying to analyze the widely varying polls. If you believe some polls, Obama needs to start measuring the White House for drapes. If you believe others, McCain will squeak by. No matter which you see, all the pollsters are hedging their words, hoping that their reputation won't suffer in the aftermath. Feh. And eh. What is the only thing that counts, the actual vote, is still 3 days away. I'm personally rooting for McCain/Palin, but am not willing to say that they will win. To hear the media tell it, the majority of the country is fi...