The other day, my 9 year old grand daughter was sitting on the couch, patiently waiting for us to finish watching a news segment with commentary by Republican congressmen, when all of a sudden, she said "What?...only a whacko would say something like that!""
She was listening, she was getting it, and even to a nine year old brain, it sounded ridiculous......
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Rant or Rave?.....Up for grabs!
Well, October is always a full month.......this one? despite writer's block and utter disappointment in my fellow man, it was interesting to say the least.......
What's happening on the home front?
-getting the house ready for fall....fall festival at the FARM to get pumpkins, hay rides, puppet shows........
-starting seeds for my fall garden
-our annual wine Fall Festival at the Hahn winery where we are members...always a fun and beautiful day amongst the
vineyards....wonderful wine and food and other fun stuff....
-planning fall/holiday dresses to sew for the grandgirls
-a trip to the mts. behind Santa Barbara with the motorhome with all our girls, leaving in the middle of the worst storm in
a long time, complete with high winds....ended up swimming, hiking, playing tennis, riding horses in beautiful weather!
-covering child care for 10 days while my daughter has a 'mommy' vacation in NOLA and Puerto Rico......we live 37 miles from
their school in Big Sur, a very curvy coastal drive......taking in the am, picking up in the pm......packing lunches, soccer
practice/games, dr.s appts for physicals and immunizations, homework, and one sick kid as of last night....
-planning for Halloween costumes, a little sewing, school party and Halloween night trick or treating, not to mention a house
guest and pumpkin soup for dinner!
-cleaning and putting the motorhome back in storage......so sad!
-more later on our trip to Tahoe.....hoping to get snowed in and beholden to no one!!!!!!!!!!
What's happening on the home front?
-getting the house ready for fall....fall festival at the FARM to get pumpkins, hay rides, puppet shows........
-starting seeds for my fall garden
-our annual wine Fall Festival at the Hahn winery where we are members...always a fun and beautiful day amongst the
vineyards....wonderful wine and food and other fun stuff....
-planning fall/holiday dresses to sew for the grandgirls
-a trip to the mts. behind Santa Barbara with the motorhome with all our girls, leaving in the middle of the worst storm in
a long time, complete with high winds....ended up swimming, hiking, playing tennis, riding horses in beautiful weather!
-covering child care for 10 days while my daughter has a 'mommy' vacation in NOLA and Puerto Rico......we live 37 miles from
their school in Big Sur, a very curvy coastal drive......taking in the am, picking up in the pm......packing lunches, soccer
practice/games, dr.s appts for physicals and immunizations, homework, and one sick kid as of last night....
-planning for Halloween costumes, a little sewing, school party and Halloween night trick or treating, not to mention a house
guest and pumpkin soup for dinner!
-cleaning and putting the motorhome back in storage......so sad!
-more later on our trip to Tahoe.....hoping to get snowed in and beholden to no one!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Rave....Rachel!!!!!!
Please go to JMG and view the two videos of the thurs. Rachel Maddow show, where she interviewed the prez of Americans for Prosperity.......she kicked ass!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Rave....Reconnecting!
Yesterday I got to reconnect with a friend from high school after more than 30 years, give or take a couple of reunions....in our senior year we spent a lot of time together, putting together our pom pon squad of 8, hours of choreography, practicing and performing at sports events, going to parades, and competitions...what a year!! Interestingly enough, we didn't talk about that at all!!
We had been catching up for a couple of months on Facebook, sharing stories, photos and planning our lunch.....she in NJ, and me in Calif. Yesterday we met in Carmel, talked non-stop over food and drinks, our husbands doing the same......we are all retired, so shared stories about traveling, our former careers and how we don't miss it! After 2 hours we had to say goodbye and I didn't want to.......all the way home I kept thinking of other things I didn't get to say or ask about.....
The good thing is, we have a couple that we will want to see and enjoy again, and a part of the country to explore that we have yet to experience. I'm looking forward to focusing on positive things in the weeks to come. I'm keeping my fingers out of politics for now.........my soul needs a break! And this was a good start.........
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Rant...Hate is alive and well
I loved the president's comeback on the Letterman show, regarding race being an issue for him lately.....he said he was Black before the election! Just saw the video again on a fellow blogger's site and here's my comment:
"Still pinching myself that he got elected, because I didn't have faith in my species that race could be overcome.......I'm glad I was wrong......but I do believe the current political climate has made it okay for the staunchest of racists to crawl out from under their rocks and make themselves known! These are some really scary people!!!!!"
I'm glad the president still has a sense of humor about this issue, because frankly, I continue to be afraid for him......I grew up with a very racist America, and despite a seeming reduction in their numbers over the years, and a movement to the fringes of society, I believe he could still be in danger. All of our beloved leaders who were murdered were taken out by lunatics!!!! It only takes one............
"Still pinching myself that he got elected, because I didn't have faith in my species that race could be overcome.......I'm glad I was wrong......but I do believe the current political climate has made it okay for the staunchest of racists to crawl out from under their rocks and make themselves known! These are some really scary people!!!!!"
I'm glad the president still has a sense of humor about this issue, because frankly, I continue to be afraid for him......I grew up with a very racist America, and despite a seeming reduction in their numbers over the years, and a movement to the fringes of society, I believe he could still be in danger. All of our beloved leaders who were murdered were taken out by lunatics!!!! It only takes one............
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Rave....That's the guy I voted for!!!!
I couldn't resist posting the Maureen Dowd article today ( see below )......it was what we were all thinking!! Right? But now, after the speech tonight? That's the guy I voted for!!!!! He pulled it off, said it like it is, called the right on their shenanigans and I was so relieved!!
I did NOT want to be wrong....I did NOT want to be disappointed....I did NOT want to feel like hope had once more
flown out of the window....I did NOT want to hear anyone say I told you so!
Thank you Mr. President for standing up for the American people, standing up for what is right, and especially for standing up against the abominable practices of the insurance industry, and the mean spiritedness of your fellow law makers.....but with a sense of dignity and respect that they have not shown to you.
I did NOT want to be wrong....I did NOT want to be disappointed....I did NOT want to feel like hope had once more
flown out of the window....I did NOT want to hear anyone say I told you so!
Thank you Mr. President for standing up for the American people, standing up for what is right, and especially for standing up against the abominable practices of the insurance industry, and the mean spiritedness of your fellow law makers.....but with a sense of dignity and respect that they have not shown to you.
Rant...Keeping the Prez honest!!
Less Spocky, More Rocky
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 8, 2009
WASHINGTON
Maureen Dowd [Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times]
As soon as I started covering Barack Obama, I knew he was going to be trouble.
Not Global Trouble, like W. and Dick Cheney. Or Hanky-Panky Trouble, like Bill Clinton and John Edwards. Or Tedious Trouble, like John Kerry and Michael Dukakis.
He was going to be the kind of guy who whipped you up and then, when you were all excited, left you flat, and then, when you were deflated and exasperated and time was running out, ensorcelled you again with some sparkly fairy dust.
It’s an irritating pattern. Not as puerile as Bill Clinton’s pattern of wasting time and plunging into personal chaos, or as horrifying as Dick Cheney’s routine of bullying and cutting paper dolls out of the Constitution.
But not as reliably uplifting as Jed Bartlet either.
After keeping his great powers of persuasion and elucidation under wraps all summer, the president at long last comes forward to explain his health care plan to an utterly confused and increasingly skeptical and wary public.
He should have done this speech back in June and conjured up a better glossary. You can’t combat a scintillating term like “death panels” with a somnambulant one like “public option.”
President Obama is so wrapped up in his desire to be a different, more conciliatory, beer-summit kind of leader, he ignores some verities.
Sometimes, when you’ve got the mojo, you have to keep your foot on your opponent’s neck. When you’re trying to get a Sisyphean agenda passed, it’s good if people in the way — including rebellious elements in your own party — fear you.
Civil discourse is fine, but when the other side is fighting dirty, you should get angry. Don’t let the bully kick sand in your face. The White House should have impaled death panel malarkey as soon as it came up.
By the time the president got feisty in a speech on Monday, the inmates had taken over cable TV, much like the spooky spirits swarming up over Bald Mountain in “Fantasia.”
Even Steve Hildebrand, the strategist who helped shape Obama’s historic win in the Iowa caucuses, complains that his former hero “needs to be more bold in his leadership.” Disenchanted at Obama’s disengaged approach on health care and gay rights, Hildebrand told Politico’s Ben Smith that he was “losing patience.”
It was one thing for Obama to delegate freely when he was on the Harvard Law Review, but it’s madness to go play golf and delegate freely to Congress, letting Nancy Pelosi make your case. After signaling that there was nothing he’d fall on his sword for on health care; after dropping Van Jones at the first objection from Glenn Beck — a demagoon who called Obama a “racist” — the president is getting to be seen as an easy mark.
If Obama didn’t have a knife-thrower like Rahmbo in the Oval, Democrats would be totally convinced that the president would fold in a heartbeat.
In the absence of more vivid presidential leadership, the Democrats have reverted to their old DNA — self-destructive scrapping and spending. And the Republicans are sticking to theirs — being mean-spirited and shameless, attacking big government spending while taking no blame for their own.
Just as he let Hillary breathe new life into her faltering campaign in New Hampshire, Obama let the moribund Republicans revivify themselves in the slashing image of Limbaugh and Palin. Administration officials have been chortling that Republicans overreached in criticizing the president for giving a speech urging kids to study hard, write their own destiny and wash their hands.
It’s true that Republicans who objected looked risible. On MSNBC, Joe Watkins, a G.O.P. strategist, explained the perils of letting “one of the most gifted speakers that the world has ever seen” speak to impressionable children.
What if next time, he asked, the president made a strong argument to kids about the Defense of Marriage Act? “What if,” he wondered, “kids come back home and say to their mom and dad, when the president who they like and who they agree with, tells them marriage is not necessarily between a man and a woman?”
But if such Republicans seem loco, and the far left looks easily outmaneuvered, the president seems lame, too, for letting the crazies and uglies get on offense all summer, showcased by a superficial media beast. Laura Bush had to ride to Obama’s rescue and explain that he wasn’t a brain-washing alien, that it was a good thing for a president to inspire kids.
It shouldn’t take a superhuman effort by the Democrats, with an assist from a Republican former first lady, to beat back the most obviously nutty, stupid things that Republicans say.
The president told students on Tuesday that “being successful is hard” and “you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.”
He should take his own words to heart. He can live long and prosper by being less Spocky and more Rocky.
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: September 8, 2009
WASHINGTON
Maureen Dowd [Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times]
As soon as I started covering Barack Obama, I knew he was going to be trouble.
Not Global Trouble, like W. and Dick Cheney. Or Hanky-Panky Trouble, like Bill Clinton and John Edwards. Or Tedious Trouble, like John Kerry and Michael Dukakis.
He was going to be the kind of guy who whipped you up and then, when you were all excited, left you flat, and then, when you were deflated and exasperated and time was running out, ensorcelled you again with some sparkly fairy dust.
It’s an irritating pattern. Not as puerile as Bill Clinton’s pattern of wasting time and plunging into personal chaos, or as horrifying as Dick Cheney’s routine of bullying and cutting paper dolls out of the Constitution.
But not as reliably uplifting as Jed Bartlet either.
After keeping his great powers of persuasion and elucidation under wraps all summer, the president at long last comes forward to explain his health care plan to an utterly confused and increasingly skeptical and wary public.
He should have done this speech back in June and conjured up a better glossary. You can’t combat a scintillating term like “death panels” with a somnambulant one like “public option.”
President Obama is so wrapped up in his desire to be a different, more conciliatory, beer-summit kind of leader, he ignores some verities.
Sometimes, when you’ve got the mojo, you have to keep your foot on your opponent’s neck. When you’re trying to get a Sisyphean agenda passed, it’s good if people in the way — including rebellious elements in your own party — fear you.
Civil discourse is fine, but when the other side is fighting dirty, you should get angry. Don’t let the bully kick sand in your face. The White House should have impaled death panel malarkey as soon as it came up.
By the time the president got feisty in a speech on Monday, the inmates had taken over cable TV, much like the spooky spirits swarming up over Bald Mountain in “Fantasia.”
Even Steve Hildebrand, the strategist who helped shape Obama’s historic win in the Iowa caucuses, complains that his former hero “needs to be more bold in his leadership.” Disenchanted at Obama’s disengaged approach on health care and gay rights, Hildebrand told Politico’s Ben Smith that he was “losing patience.”
It was one thing for Obama to delegate freely when he was on the Harvard Law Review, but it’s madness to go play golf and delegate freely to Congress, letting Nancy Pelosi make your case. After signaling that there was nothing he’d fall on his sword for on health care; after dropping Van Jones at the first objection from Glenn Beck — a demagoon who called Obama a “racist” — the president is getting to be seen as an easy mark.
If Obama didn’t have a knife-thrower like Rahmbo in the Oval, Democrats would be totally convinced that the president would fold in a heartbeat.
In the absence of more vivid presidential leadership, the Democrats have reverted to their old DNA — self-destructive scrapping and spending. And the Republicans are sticking to theirs — being mean-spirited and shameless, attacking big government spending while taking no blame for their own.
Just as he let Hillary breathe new life into her faltering campaign in New Hampshire, Obama let the moribund Republicans revivify themselves in the slashing image of Limbaugh and Palin. Administration officials have been chortling that Republicans overreached in criticizing the president for giving a speech urging kids to study hard, write their own destiny and wash their hands.
It’s true that Republicans who objected looked risible. On MSNBC, Joe Watkins, a G.O.P. strategist, explained the perils of letting “one of the most gifted speakers that the world has ever seen” speak to impressionable children.
What if next time, he asked, the president made a strong argument to kids about the Defense of Marriage Act? “What if,” he wondered, “kids come back home and say to their mom and dad, when the president who they like and who they agree with, tells them marriage is not necessarily between a man and a woman?”
But if such Republicans seem loco, and the far left looks easily outmaneuvered, the president seems lame, too, for letting the crazies and uglies get on offense all summer, showcased by a superficial media beast. Laura Bush had to ride to Obama’s rescue and explain that he wasn’t a brain-washing alien, that it was a good thing for a president to inspire kids.
It shouldn’t take a superhuman effort by the Democrats, with an assist from a Republican former first lady, to beat back the most obviously nutty, stupid things that Republicans say.
The president told students on Tuesday that “being successful is hard” and “you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.”
He should take his own words to heart. He can live long and prosper by being less Spocky and more Rocky.
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