Friday, January 30, 2009

FRIDAY

‘Tis Friday AM.
Coffee being drunk. Perhaps consumed is a better word.

Breakfast over – coffee cake and fruit still to be eaten.

What a week – what a winter – such news is in the air.

It is so easy to be negative. It does no good.

There is a song lyric: Deemphasize the negative; Emphasize the positive.
Good thought.

b.o. is trying to be President.

He has, shall I say, a lot of challenges, a lot on his Presidential plate.

The economy, of course, is a biggie. The news just seems to be getting worse and worse.
Federal efforts seem to be achieving nothing.
The statistics keep getting worse.
And the money keeps being spent.

I seem to remember that leadership folk type just a year or so ago were carrying on about how the War in Iraq was going to bankrupt the US.

Well, what can one say.

The trillions keep on lining up to be rolled out.

And the job layoffs. My goodness, they just keep on happening, tens and thousands – and store closings.

On of my favorite stores, Lazy Boy (sp?) – where a few years ago we bought by vary favoritist [I know it is not a word] of leather chairs – has just closed a quadrillion stores.
And the sales clerk was a fox.

There is no justice.

And the snow keeps falling: over 70 inches so far we think.
But it is beautiful.
And the fireplace is a link to a simpler world. But was it really??
Probably not. But maybe, depending on how you figure those things.
How's that for saying nothing?

Iran is demanding total US withdrawl from the world and apologies.

b.o. is confident that George Mitchell will soon have the Middle East under control. b.o. has said so.

US Mail is thinking of reduced delivery schedules.
The Russian Navy is visiting Cuba.

nancy p. and h. reid are carrying on as usual – incompetent and embarrassing, apparently frustrating even b.o.

It is hard for laypersons to really know what is right, but more experts are warning re the continuing strategy of heavy spending to solve current economic problems.

Even volcanoes are threatening the Homeland with rumblings and quakes occurring in Alaska, a lovely place we visited this past summer.

Most Americans are now reportedly labeling themselves as democrats – a statistic which only demonstrates their disconnect from reality and their connect to something less credible.

The currently new edition of the stimulus plans seems to be full of non-stimulating PORK. And every time one of those parts is exposed it is deleted.
Good grief!

And mainland China is festering.
And Afghanistan is festering.

And the b.o. administration has ca. 70% approval ratings from a public that has yet to see it do or accomplish ANYTHING but to contradict itself and announce that it is thinking about what to do.
Good grief!

Time for another coffee and a piece of buttered Irish soda bread.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

LENO 2

Such a coincidence.
Powerline gives credence to our humble effort in our earlier Leno posting.
Check out the link below in the admirable Powerline site.

It will be a stunner if any of the lib entertainers cast any negatives toward b.o.

After all, we read below, b.o. is perfect.

You know, this horrid truth would not be so pathetic and worrisome if the American young folk got their news and analyses from anywhere but these pathetic lib sources.

God save the Republic.


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022666.php

LENO

For a short time last year, before THE election, we began watching Leno’s monologue.
It seemed to be witty and occasionally informative [we thought] and entertaining.

And then we realized that a huge part of the mono was devoted to ridiculing President Bush, VP Cheney, Sarah Palin, and so on.

And so we gave it up as a bad job.

But now the thought occurs : what is he ridiculing now that b.o. is in charge?

Maybe we should watch again, just once.

Will the great wit savage the new prez?

We'll see.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

PRISONER HEALTH

Michigan is concerned about the health of some Michigan residents.

Michigan prisons are about to ban the use of smoking tobacco by inmates and by staff.
No smoking on the ‘campus’, in the buildings or outside the buildings.

Michigan is not going to ban smoking in Michigan restaurants or public places outside of prisons.

I guess the state is concerned about the health of the prisoners.

A MEMORIAL MASS

We attended a memorial mass last weekend.
Officiating were a Jesuit and two Capuchin priests from a nearby monastery.

The deceased was a friend who has passed away some weeks ago, a Nun who had lived a long, full life and who had extended a needed hand of friendship to us many years ago.

The setting was the chapel in the residence of her Order in Detroit, Michigan.

We’re Episcopalians and I think the only non-Catholics present.
We attended because we were invited; we wanted to be present to honor our friend; and we were curious.

We had skipped the rosary right after our friend’s death. But we attended the Mass.

Our services, the Roman and the Episcopalian, have many features in common – and, depending on the individual Episcopalian, even many beliefs in common.

What interested me was the ease with which the priests ‘talked’ to/with the Saints, with the departed, with Mary, the Holy Mother.
And the order of the service; the Eucharist; the readings; the prayers were familiar.

At the reception after the service, there was wine, and the Jesuit raised his glass in a toast to the Dear Departed Sister, and we all drank to her and he asked her to pray for us, to help us to someday be able to join her.

It was impressive, the idea of ‘a cloud of saints around us’ as we prayed.

And then, some days later, I visited The Anchoress at the site linked to below, and read her post Who Needs the Saints?

Even the comments make for powerful reading.

I think that we touched something or some things good at this event.
And the posting at The Anchoress is a nice touch.

Check it out at http://theanchoressonline.com/2009/01/25/who-needs-the-saints/.

I am thinking that it is good to engage in a variety of things/activities when possible. I am sure most folks already know this.
I need reminding.

Life is not always a bed of roses, but there is a lot of important stuff going on which while not always fun and games can help us get on with our lives in meaningful ways.

Monday, January 26, 2009

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Monday morning – bright and sunny – 0 degree last night.

Cold!!

Last night was the second night of computer virus/worm/whatever infestation of our ‘window on the net’ and of combat against said infestation.

Hours and hours were expended by various technical people cleaning out the garbage.

We have been asking ourselves what kinds of people generate such bad things.

What kind of folks like to create things which cause so much frustration and even damage of various kinds?

With all the wholesome and interesting things to see and do – why generate destruction?

Maybe that is a good question for a good portion of humanity.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

SATURDAY MORNING OVER COFFEE

In our county, too many theater goers routinely pass up a local professional theater in favor of the big city version, paying higher prices and driving longer distances.
Consequences for the local are smaller audiences and revenues and a questionable future.
Support the locals when they are at least as good or better than the biggies.

Suburban communities are beginning to ‘cull’, aka kill, encroaching deer and coyote populations.
Who is doing the encroaching?

Our squirrels are eating two corn cobs/day and our birds one large coffee can of seed.
They and we do what we can.

U.S. drones are still killing inside Pakistan.
Presidential campaign promises are ‘adjusted’, honored, ignored.
This is change?

The White House press corps is friendly but…questioning.
Promising!

Press briefings are good theater.
We at The Study can now enjoy them.

10-12 inches of snow are melting.
May it all stay outside of our house.

Differences are apparent in the nancy, harry, and b.o. camps.
How sweet it is.

Costume failure on ice – check out the link .
If accidental; if she was embarrassed; and if the couple are truly professional, how sweet it is.

http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2009/01/21/figure-skater-ekaterina-rubleva-has-legitimate-wardrobe-malfun/?icid=200100397x1217739809x1201145429

Friday, January 23, 2009

TIME TO MOVE ON

As President Bush retires, so does Col. Mark Tillman...Commander of PAG - the Presidential Airlift Group, part of the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base.

After flying Mr. Bush to every state in the country but Vermont, and on 49 foreign trips to 75 countries, many of them more than once, Tillman will be ending his 30-year career in the Air Force.

Bush nominated him for promotion to brigadier general, but the Senate Armed Services Committee never took action on it.

I wonder if such "never took action on it" is routine or if this was special treatment reserved for the former President.

msm - THE PROBLEM - THE IGNORANT

From Powerline again comes wisdom...
The authors of this site are very busy, very smart people...

Read their take on the nyt today:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022626.php

Thursday, January 22, 2009

THE CHALLENGE

Old things, lovingly and carefully restored, are a joy to behold, a real treasure.

There is nothing finer than an old this or that which has been…upgraded. That is, it works and works well, at least as well or better than it did when it was new.
A cabin Up North; a fine restaurant; a church wedding; a well-broken in automobile; traditions, eagerly anticipated and lovingly practiced, time after time, year after year.

Traditions,…The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation, especially by oral communication…; A mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation; a custom or usage…; A set of such customs and usages viewed as a coherent body of precedents influencing the present…, are especially to be valued.

Anniversaries, holidays and birthdays fill our appointment calendars and give joy and meaning to our lives.

And as it is with our individual lives, so it is with the ‘life’ of a people, of a nation.

Traditions help us to know what we are and what we have been.
Traditions help us through the difficult times and help us to celebrate the good times.
Traditions give us strength, even when we no longer really understand them.

They suggest that our lives have meaning, that we have inherited a legacy and that we are helping to pass on that legacy.
We may modify and add nuances, but we are in a line of succession.

And so it is with nations. A nation is like a collective person. It is conceived and born, often with a certain amount of suffering and joy. It grows and matures. It wins and loses. It rejoices and grieves.
Those nations that have traditions; a sense of the meaning of what they are doing, are nations that will most willingly bear the burdens which life imposes.

That is why it is so important to remember and to honor our personal and national traditions.
We are going to face successes and failures and our traditions will help us deal with both.

The leaders of our families and of our communities and of our nation will most deserve our thanks if they do all that is humanly possible to promote and to preserve the best of our American traditions.

It should go without saying that the promotion and preservation of the best of our traditions implicitly requires the suppression of the worst.

Perhaps this is the greatest challenge for the new Administration just elected to Office.

Perhaps this is the greatest challenge for all who are in positions of leadership in our nation.

Revisionism is in the air. Change is the ‘mantra’ mouthed mindlessly by ecstatic adulators.

Many of the old ways are examined, found wanting, and discarded. Many once regarded as common sense, truisms taken for granted; are now derided as wrong, prejudicial, and unhelpful.

Important past errors are ignored, never known about, or declared to be irrelevant.

Courtesies, practices observed and expected by generations of Americans are ridiculed.

Again, a people who have no traditions have no past.

And a people without a past are like children.

Monday, January 19, 2009

BOITES

Here at The Study we have named them the boites, aka barrack obamaites, aka b.o. supporters.

Boites are those who idolize; those who see b.o. as divine; those who believe that he would not need a boat to cross the river.

Boites believe that with b.o.’s inauguration, what they perceive as international disapproval of American policies will go away, that b.o. will cause all foreign capitals and people to idolize him and once again love and believe in what the US under b.o. has in mind for them and for the world.

Boites hopefully are well-intentioned.
Boites are ignorant.
Boites are wrong.

They do not understand the elementary rules of Diplomacy 101.

Nations generally do not have friends. Sometimes they do. But not as a rule.

What nations have between each other are interests.
Generally, a nation’s interests never change.

EXAMPLES UPON REQUEST

Over decades and centuries, interests may evolve and morph into other than that which they were.

But they do not change with personalities.
Rulers and leaders come and go. They change.

Interests remain the same, changing sooooo slowly.

National interests trump the wills of individuals.
When individual wills trump national interests, disaster almost always occurs.

EXAMPLES UPON REQUEST

b.o. will subvert US national interest for the interest of one or other of his damnable democrat party interest groups at great cost for the welfare of the United States.

Our hope here at The Study is that his change rhetoric during the campaign was a pile of bull sh.t.

It is no secret that we did not support the candidacy of b.o.

It is no secret that we hope he will succeed in protecting the interests of the United States.

We wish him well in that regard.

We do not wish him success in promoting the interests of his various wacko democrat party interest groups.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

TIPPING POINT – FROM ABNORMAL TO NORMAL

…a tipping point …is the event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common.

Large crowds of demonstrators; msm journalists; religious leaders and ‘elites’ of this or that category of opinion makers inveigh consistently and loudly for an end to hostilities in Gaza – with or without any sort of resolution of the causes of the recent outbreak of violence.

London, as shown in a previous post, has witnessed significant demonstrations.

London, the city of diversity…the city which tolerates…perhaps too much.

And other cities as well.

And the rockets continue flights into Israel –flights which were not sufficient to generate any protests at all around the world – when they were the only ordnance events going on in the region.
You gotta wonder – really – Why is it ok for Israel to be hit…and why is it not ok for Israel to hit the hitters?

And then there was a program the other night on TV – some sort of awards program – called, we think, golden globe or some such as that…
We did not see it…

But apparently it was a performance laced with four-letter obscenities which would have done a young Marine proud.

Major US cities announce defiance of immigration laws.

Major cities defy law and marry members of the same sex.

Mainline churches never pray for victory for American troops abroad – only for peace.

Rock concerts are attended by crowds of people which are – shall I say – significantly different from what you would encounter in the light of day – although I understand that sometimes crowds of them do appear in aforesaid light of day.

I suggest that these happenings have at least one common characteristic:

They are examples of events which are more and more common, more and more routine in our perception of what happens in the community and in the world.

Common = routine = normal.

There is a saying: When the abnormal becomes normal, normal becomes abnormal.

Just a thought, but what a thought!!

Making a longer list of abnormals which have become somewhat common would be very easy.

It would also be unnecessary – and it would be depressing.
Sufficeth to say, the abnormal can become normal…

The question is, can the transformation be reversed – or is the slippery slope a slippery slope.

And – what if anything can be done about it.

We suggest that there is still a very strong core in our society which is normal – that this core will last for a long time

But my goodness, the assaults seem to be mounting.

And one has to wonder if remedies are being undertaken – if they can be undertaken.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

RETREAT

The video linked to below is disturbing.

It is found in Powerline and it shows British Police falling back in the face of foul-mouthed demonstrators.

Read the brief accompanying text...
Food for thought.

Why on earth would the Police react in such a way??
I can think of a few...

Are any possibly 'good reasons' any where near good enough?


http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022543.php

MINUS 3

The arctic freeze arrives tonight. Now predicted to be -3.
Day started off at +29.

It is different out there when the mercury drops and drops…
Our son would say…”You think?”

That’s what he often says when Dad renders ‘words of wisdom’.

Again, we shoveled and moved snow and for the first time in awhile, activated the squirrel feeders.
We have three resident fox squirrels – and they are lookin’ hard for food.
Will keep two corn cobs /active/full for them till spring.

Clerk at the feed store said that it was nice for a customer to ask for ‘squirrel food’ – that most folks go for squirrel repellers.

But they are such greedy eaters. May have to expand to peanut feeders as well.

PENNY WISE

Just found out that ex-Presidents of the United States, starting with President Bush 43, will only be given Secret Service protection for ten years.

Did you know that?

Prior law accorded lifetime protection to President and to spouse.

Not any more.

My Grandmother and Mom had a saying: Penny wise and pound foolish.

Monday, January 12, 2009

GAZA

It is commonly said that by storing weapons in mosques and firing rockets and mortars from residential areas and school yards, Hamas is using human shields in Gaza, a war crime. But the truth is really worse than that. Hamas doesn't endanger civilians in hopes that it will deter retaliation; it does so in the hope and expectation that civilians will be killed and wounded [emphasis mine] .

The quote above is from Powerline -
Read the entire article below...the link will take you to it.

And appreciate what the IDF is really up against...

Unbelieveable!!! - but all too real.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022521.php

FINALS

Just watched the last Presidential Press Conference to be given by President Bush…

Superb!

Lots more folks than realize it now will come to miss this guy…

Class act…

The Bush family is an American dynasty of a different sort…
Not unique, I am sure…

But special nonetheless…and good for what ails the nation.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

506th PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT...CURRAHEE

Major Richard Winters, CO of 506 PIR, Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, and Easy Company made history during WW2, from the Normandy Invasion to the end of the War.

He and Easy Company were made known to the public by the HBO special, Band of Brothers.

He was and is a man of peace who went to war because he felt it was his duty.
He has played an important part in the preservation and the telling of the story of a most remarkable group of men known as the Band of Brothers.

Sadly, it now seems that time has taken its toll.
I noticed the following announcement on the Winters website a few days ago:

Special Announcement from the Winters Family

It is with deep regret that we have to inform you that Dick is no longer signing pictures, books, or posters. Any mail from persons unknown will be disposed of and not answered. Any packages containing books will be refused at the post office. We feel it is time to retire and get some much needed peace and quiet in our golden years.

Regards,The Winters Family

If you haven't read the book, Band of Brothers, or if you haven't seen the HBO special, you are missing out not on a unique story, but on a unique telling of an amazing story.

As the saying goes, Lest we forget.

Ah Friends, dear friends, as years go on
And heads get gray
Touch hands, touch hands, with those that stay.

Read the book. Watch the movie.

And, the next time you meet a Vet, especially a Vet from the 1941-45 War, let him/her know how you feel.


FROZEN MOTION

It snowed 6+ inches last night.
And the temp dipped to low teens.

Today we shoveled and raked roof snow [low-pitch roof] and fed birds and squirrels.

In early AM looked out at a silvery, foggy, very cold morning.
I was reminded of the wintry scenes in Lion, Witch, Wardrobe film.

In a day or two an arctic air mass is supposed to dip actual night temps to ca. 5 below…
Now, that is cold.

But today is tolerable. The sun burned off the fog and we took pictures.

And we noticed the animal tracks.

Footprints in the snow – footprints in snow are like…frozen motion…a sign that something has come and gone our way.

It is like looking at photos of long ago, slow-shutter photos with people, things moving during the taking of the pix…and blurring…

Frozen motion.

I love it.

19th century photos with subjects moving and blurred…it is like seeing the impossible…motion in a still print: slushy, snow-covered roads in Victorian London; or tire tracks outside our home this morning.

Too good.

Out wood pile is next to a neglected flower bed, long overgrown.
The overgrowth is now quite bare – all the leaves are gone.

I was packing up the ax and saw – the wood was stacked, ready for the evening…when I looked into the midst of this poor, neglected bed, into the middle of the now leafless stalks and branches of whatever weeds have managed to survive another year.

And right smack in the middle was this 3 foot + pine tree – a baby, as it were, and perfectly shaped.

It has been growing all previous spring an summer and most likely for some few summers before that.

Only now we noticed it.

Dear Wife has wanted me to clear the bed for several years and I have put it off…put it off.

I should have cleaned it up...made it look respectable.
We would have discovered this little volunteer.

Now we will.

It really is true that often we only see what we are looking for.

We should look for more things.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

MISERABLE harry

Tis true we have no inside info…
Tis true we are not privy to a lifetime of experience of serving…

But my God, I hope that h. reid and his colleagues have more going for them than the current Illinois fiasco suggests they have…

For it looks like harry really is a lad in serious need of remediation…
And the Congressional dems chose him as their leader……

And they are in charge of the Senate…..

May The Good Lord take a likin’ to us…

For with leaders like these…we really and truly need such a likin’.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

1 JANUARY 2009

The first day of the New Year is just about done.

Last night was the time to say goodbye to The Old…

The saying is something like: “Ring out the old, ring in the New”, or words to that effect.

A part of our family gathered at a watering hole and shared a few drinks; a good dinner; and better fellowship.

We did a little ‘ringing.’

We danced at midnight and sang the old Scottish ‘hymn’, as we have come to think of it, and remembered the folks we used to do these things with.

And then, before we knew it, it was morning of the first day of the New Year.

We slept in a little.

It was the New Year, but we did the old things: we made the coffee, watching to see if the new suet cakes would suit the woodpeckers at the feeder just outside the window; toasted the first of the English muffins; cut up the mushrooms and tomatoes to go with the eggs; brought in the paper; and checked out the view from the front windows.

The ceremonial all-day fire was lit in the fireplace, and all the Christmas lights were activated.

It was cold outside and it was warm inside.

All seemed right with the world.

We knew, of course, that beyond our lawns and fences and streets another sort of world was roiling and broiling and that not everything was the way it should be.

But lots of things are the way they should be, and lots of people are trying to keep it that way and even make things better.

For our part, we will continue to do what we do…

Stay the course, as it were…regret losses but know that a new day will dawn and another day after that…

I have this belief, hope really, that beneath all the hoopla of the last election cycle, beneath all the lies and the foolishness and the naiveté of those who voted for b.o., that he will not be as bad as he might be, that smarter heads will prevail, that up there in the rare atmosphere of the inner circles of the American Government is a hard core of ‘them that know’ … that he and his minions will be given the word….that he will be better than we fear, that if he is not, that he will be ‘given the word’…

And we will endeavor to continue to do what we do, as little as it is, or as much as it is….in the spirit of a 19th Century age long past…but remnants of which we hope still exist.

Quoted below is a shot of common sense from that age, from Rudyard Kipling…admonitions I can only hope to approximate…one that I hope our leaders at all levels of our society can approximate…all levels…family, church, government, and on and on….

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Words to live by.
Words even to die by.

We at The Study wish all People of Good Will joy and success and justice in 2009.
This is an exciting time to be alive.