Thursday, October 30, 2008

CAN IT BE?

Can it be true?

Are they really 'hidin bidin?'

Does anyone notice his absence?

EROSION

I suppose ‘erosion’ can mean a lot of things.
It is a natural process in nature.
Natural forces wash away a surface, changing the surface of whatever is being ‘eroded’.

Perhaps it is a natural process in human nature as well.

Perhaps over the decades and centuries, behaviors and customs long taken for granted give way to modifications, even to revocations.

We at The Study thought of this as we note some of the ‘changes’ taking place in this election season of 2008:

Flagrant acceptance of illegal campaign donations via electronic means

Refusal of msm to question one candidate regarding significantly troubling professional/personal associations

Harassment of citizens by one candidate’s campaign for daring to ask legitimate questions

Failure of msm to challenge impossible campaign promises by one candidate

Msm and media intense ridicule of one slate of candidates/not the other

Official toleration of illegal voter registrations w/o concern for effect on election outcomes

Toleration of the idea that personal id is a normal requirement for a host of important everyday transactions but not in the matter of exercising the right to vote…as in buying smokes or booze but not in casting a ballot

We could go on.

But you get the idea.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

POLITICS – A QUESTIONABLE CALLING INDEED

It must be tough to run for high political office. The higher the office, the harder it must be.

Just think, the good candidates must exaggerate what they will do, what they can do, what they want to do.
The bad candidates must lie and exaggerate about the same things.

The good and the bad. The difference is the one exaggerates and the other lies.

And the intelligent candidates know that most of their constituents do not know what the hell is going on.

The intelligent candidates can thus be said to be...hypocrits.

Of course, the above observations become more accurate when one adds the component of motivation.

The bad candidate generally has a bad, or at least a less good motive for running for office.
The good candidate will generally have the more respectable motive.

Depressing.

Imagine having to go before cheering crowds and having to either exaggerate or lie, almost always.

And when matters of high national interest are concerned, lives and physical wellbeing are often involved.
And often lives are lost and welfare sacrificed, for the greater good.

What a responsibility.

We here at The Study made phone calls yesterday on behalf of Senator McCain and a number of other Republican candidates.

We did not make many calls, about fifty or so.

We were verbally abused only a couple of times.
We had several pleasant conversations.

Most folks were not at home or their phones had been disconnected.

We were assured that the phone calling was important. We hope it is. We hope we did some good.

The economic crisis; acorn; the associations of b.o.; the msm; the wars in Asia; the disunity of the nation; the ignorance of the people; the bitterness of interest groups; and on and on. As it was once said so long ago, "These are the times that try men's souls.'

In this year of our Lord, the national dems are bad, very bad for this country.
Folks who support them are ignorant or mentally deficient and consequently are in their own way dangerous to the United States.

We are not at all sure that the Republicans know all the answers. But they sure as hell know a lot more of the good answers than the national dems.

One should make a choice. One should vote.

One should vote for the party and the candidates who will do the least harm and the most good.

The choice is, at the top of the ticket, easy.

One must vote for the national Republican Party if one is to vote intelligently.

The national dems, unchecked, will degrade national security, in all ways imagninable.

The saddest reality of this is that almost half, or more than half of the nation thinks it should vote for the national dems.

What a screwed up bunch of voters.

Monday, October 20, 2008

CORNY?? NOT A BIT!

Chris Wallace asked John McCain how he would do if he lost the election.

McCain said that he would do just fine, that it was an honor to have been able to run and that he thanked God for giving him such a blessed life. He added that he had never had more fun and that IF he lost, he would resume his life with his wonderful family and his career in government.

In a word, he was grateful for the opportunities he had been given to serve…to serve his country and his family.

Kind of reminds you of Horatio Nelson being asked by a fellow officer if he was cold whilst standing on the quarterdeck in a storm. His answer? I am not cold. I have my love of England to keep me warm [paraphrased].

Corny?

Not on your life!!

UNFAIR AND UNBALANCED

There are two sides to many of life’s happenings/doings.
The Study is a tiny online journal or blog if you will.

It has very, very, very few readers. Perhaps three or four.
As such, we at The Study can pretty much say what we like and not really bother to prove any of it.
But sometimes we do put evidence forth. Often we do not.

At any rate, a couple of things:

This AM’s newspaper carries a number of AP news stories, as all papers of any note do.
And several of these stories this AM had to do with McCain and Sarah P. and the financial ‘situation’.
The Sarah P. article had to do with her policies in regard to environmental protection of her hometown when she was mayor.
It is fair in that it discusses both improvements and degradations which occurred either before her incumbency or during her administration.

It is unfair in that it couches the improvements in such a way as to seem accidental or incidental, especially as it mentions her concerns about improving the quality of life of Alaskans as incidental to her obligations as mayor of her city.

Fair and balanced is a joke even when both sides of the picture are shown.

Little wonder why Brit Hume has decided to hang up the mike and camera this fall.
But we still detect a twinkle in his eye when he discusses some of the gives and takes of the world scene.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

RUMINATIONS ON A LATE SUNDAY NIGHT

The presidential race is a statistical tie.
But the momentum seems to be with b.o. He is raising and spending…a great deal of money.

He is smooth. Young. A gifted speaker. He makes his young and liberal audiences feel good.
He promises the impossible. A few of McCain’s promises are economical with probability too.

But b.o.’s promises are full of freight, baggage, stuff that will hurt the nation if they ever come true.
McCain’s exaggerations will not hurt the Republic if they reach fruition.

I am a poor chess player. At least I do not think they will hurt the nation.
The Episcopal Church is now down to 2.5 million members one report says. The worldwide Anglican Communion numbers 77 million.
The former entity is shrinking.
The latter is growing.

The leadership of the American wing of the Communion is taking it down the toilet. And the majority of folks in the pews do not even know it.

The Episcopal press was, we recall, at least as impressed with the Presiding Bishop’s resume as a pilot and marine biologist as it was with any theological expertise.

b.o. and Sarah Palin and John McCain appear on such venues as oprah, snl, letterman, and Lenno.
They appear there because that is where a hell of a lot of voters want to see them…and where a hell of a lot of voters get their ‘information’.
God save us.

I restored a political sign to an upright position today. It had either fallen down or had been uprooted. And planted a new one alongside it.
Nice when people toss down your campaign signs. Really ‘fair and balanced’.

We know that it is a truism that as you get older, time seems to fly by faster and faster.
But boy, this year the accelerated passage of time has really been noticeable. It seems but a week or two ago that we put the boat in the lake and opened up the camp.
And now the boat is out and the camp is closed.
In a twinkling.
And so many folks have died. Or become ill.

And seemingly but a few weeks ago we lit the last fire of late winter in our fireplace…and now I am splitting wood for the first of the new season.

It makes you wonder how many more years one has left…how many more seasons.
The time is really passing by…
I suspect that it has always been so, for the seniors of the society.
The youngsters long for the next day, for the next week, for the next season.
The oldsters know that the next will come all too soon.

Take care, take good care with your time.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

THE PROVERBIAL ASS

It seems that there is oil in and around North America.

Indeed, we are being led to believe that there is MORE oil in and around North America, in various forms, than there is in the Middle East.

Let’s be conservative.

There is a hell of a lot of oil in and around North America.

And all of it is accessible.

Some of it is accessible right now. Lots.

And all of it is eventually accessible.

And one political party is preventing the beginning of harvesting it.

ONE POLITICAL PARTY IS SITTING ON THE PROVERBIAL ASS.

We here at The Study urge one and all to vote for the other party.

GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY

acorn [lower case intentional] , the association of community organizations for reform now, is, of course, a national disgrace.

It is an embarrassment.
It is a travesty.

It purports to be working in behalf of the spirit of democratic political life.

In reality, it is working to destroy that very fabric.

The fruits of its labors will be to degrade the integrity of the electoral process.

And its leaders are unrepentant. They refuse to acknowledge the acts of their employees. They deny the damage they are doing.

Perhaps they are merely ignorant fools. Probably they are very aware of what they are doing.

No, not probably.

They are doubtless very aware.

Their expertise is age-old.

They are loading the ballot box. They are seeking to fraudulently change the outcome of an election.

They are the enemies of our system.
And b.o. and b.o.’s party, his ilk, his cohorts, his whatever you choose to call them, will do nothing, are doing nothing, to stop the doings of acorn.

Good God Almighty!!

YOU BETCHA

Troopergate…she had the authority….

So what is the big deal?

Leaders should stay within the law.
But they are supposed to accomplish that which needs to be accomplished.

It seems that the Governor had the right to exercise the power of termination.
She was within the law.

SHE HAD THE RIGHT!!!!

No issue.

She is a leader who accomplishes things, WITHIN THE LAW.

That is the kind of leader we need.
Doing what she did is called leadership.
It is what leaders do.

They don't just talk and organize communities.

They lead. They accomplish things.

That was how Teddy Roosevelt got the Panama Canal built.
While the Congress dithered and talked and organized, he ordered construction to start.

He was a leader.

You betcha!!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

BEYOND THE GATES...

Summer is…nearly kaput. I hope that is the right word.
Summer is about over.

The Northern Camp is shut up. Maybe one more trip to sort out a detail or two.

Splashes of color are abundant throughout the green foliage…and bright leaves litter the ground.

And it is cold at night, even tho warm during the day.

And the sun is sooo bright…and the blue sky so brilliant. Fresh, fresh air.

A squirrel ate a considerable portion of the British flag flying alongside the Stars and Stripes. We suppose he or she saw it as a warm liner against the coming elements.
The flag needed replacing anyway.

We have checked the wood pile and it stands ready.

Snow blower still needs work. And the koi need to be brought in.

And serious things are happening beyond the gates.

We non-economists here at The Study are watching the free falling stock markets.
We are watching the sober projections regarding the outcome of the looming election.

We see and hear about the doings of a group called acorn [small case deliberate].

We note the simultaneous registrations and voting going on in Ohio.

We hear of the transporting of bus and vanloads of folks from shelters and the like to registration centers and voting centers. We note the number of absentee voters…early voters sending in their ballots.

We are amazed that officials of one party should object to the showing of one’s ID to establish one’s identity. How un-American!!

Government is finding it necessary to dispense hundreds of Billions of dollars and still…the slide continues.
And now Government is talking of buying banks…and compelling the extensions of credit.

And on and on.

We are told that accounting rules are partly to blame; that mortgages were given to those without the ability to pay for them; that the ongoing difficulties are really at least partly to blame on political agendas.

We are witnesses to an economic epic…the outcome of which is not yet in sight.

As the mariner would say, beware the lee shore.

At stake in all this is more than our material comfort and economic well being. At stake here is the very national security of the United States and hence the security of law and order in the world.
For kid thyselves not: just as the mushroom people come out in the streets of a city suffering power outages and/or other catastrophic urban setbacks, believe us, the mushroom nations and tribes will emerge if the mighty power of the US and US allies is degraded.
In the city it is the thin blue line which stands between the good and the bad.

In the world, it is, in the last analysis, the power of the remaining hyper power which keeps the mushrooms at bay.

We watch and wait, and pray for the good guys to win, wherever and whenever they are engaged.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

STARTING TO STIR

The activists at The Study are armchair activists.
That is, we watch and listen and think and engage in conversation and write and go about our business.

But today, we got out of the armchair, just a little bit.

We sought out the local County Republican Club Election Hq, acquired some literature/signs, and solicited info on how to help.

It is time.

The polls say it is time.

Our nation is facing a Presidency the like of which it has not known, at least for quite a while. And it is good the nation has not known such a Presidency for quite a while.
We do not claim to know if this Presidency could be the most disastrous of all time….We do not claim to be that knowledgeable.

We are concerned for John McCain’s campaign.

We think he wins the debates, the arguments, the image making, etc. And yet, so many do not or are unsure about this or that.

And it seems to us that he could raise more red flags, make more powerful attacks, strike boldly and point out ALL the negatives of b.o.

And yet he does not. And his surrogates do not.

And so the armchair folks at The Study have begun, only begun, to stir at this late date.

Cobwebs are dusted off. Addresses are looked up. And movement is apparent.

Let’s hope that lots of folks start to stir.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

GENERATION'S #1 GOAL, ACCORDING TO b.o.

b.o., in a recent speech, announced what he felt to be the #1 goal of this generation: the stopping of global warming.

Say what??

The #1 goal of this generation, if there is a #1 goal, is not to stop a hypothetical computer model.

Most likely there is no #1 goal of a generation.

The real #1 goal of a citizen might be, emphasize might be, to help create a world in which the individual can realize his fullest potential whilst helping to make his family, his nation, his culture, safe for future generations of his fellow countrymen/women.

Baloney on the #1 goal being to stop something which is probably not even happening.

b.o. is an airhead.

He talks nonsense.

Folks who believe him think nonsense. Is that a correct sentence??
Regardless, it is a true statement.

AFRICOM

On October 1, 2007, United States Africa Command achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC). AFRICOM's IOC marks a realignment of the U.S. Defense Department's regional command structure. For its first year, AFRICOM is operating under U.S. European Command (EUCOM) as it progressively accepts oversight of the programs and activities that the U.S. military conducts with African nations.

The American version of empire continues to evolve.

Check out some of the facts at http://www.africom.mil.

We believe that it has to happen; that if it is done properly it will be a good thing for the United States and for the world.

As Grandma used to say, big trees from little acorns grow.