Friday, September 16, 2011

SHORT TAKES

Solyndra and half a billion dollars. Can there be any doubt?
No.

“Pass this bill now!”
You’re not serious.
Yes he is.

3000 troops to be left in Afghanistan.
They will be very busy.

Nevada and New York.
Go guys!!!!

Are Brian Williams and Wolf blitzer clueless and without merit, undeserving of being watched or listened to?
Yes.

Boeing and the nlrb and Seattle and South Carolina…
Does any thinking person really believe that b.o.’s true objective is to do all that is possible to promote economic prosperity for the United States???
Name?

b.o. has called for financial rating agencies to be looked at by the government.
Probably the main line political pollsters should be looked at as well.

Can five heads be no better than one?
Yes, if you are talking about replacing Glen Beck with The Five.
Can there really be no one of quality for the 5:00 hour on Fox?

Can a great, free nation deserve poor leadership?
Yes, if the voters vote ignorantly and stupidly.

Is there hope for this great land?
Yes. 2012 is coming.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

SOPHIE

We grow to be like our pets.

And, if we are lucky, they grow to resemble us.

Sophie Matilda of Waterford is our perfect English Bulldog.

She gardens with us; she breakfasts with us; she is as one with us.

She follows us around the house and loves to travel with us.
She loves the North.

She is more interesting probably than we are.

She doesn’t require a lot of exercise.

She sits and thinks a lot.
She is quiet, most of the time.
She doesn’t like to be scolded.
She doesn’t know how to do a lot of things.
Folks think she is…different.
She is patient.

Patience is a good thing.

As the old saying goes, “Lord, help me to be the man my dog thinks I am.”

THIS ‘N THAT

Books read, recently and currently:

Why Religion Matters, Huston Smith
The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton
A Time to Keep Silence, Patrick Leigh Fermor
Decision Points, G.W. Bush
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Helen Simonson

And thank God for the internet which opens the way to journals, newspapers, and the like.

We are starting to think that 2012 is not b.o.’s to win, but rather our side’s to lose.
The recent votes in Nevada and New York were a tonic -

We are starting to like the Governor of Texas –

Ron Paul is a fool –

A young Marine just received the Congressional – he is a current rep of another Greatest Generation…

Definition of Greatest Generation: a generation that does its duty.

The United States is blessed by an endless succession of such generations.

The United States is only cursed by individuals who are not such sterling reps…

Once again we are reminded…there was never any one greatest…

Saturday, September 10, 2011

50th REUNION

We are just now home from attending Dear Wife’s 50th reunion.

It lasted two days, Friday evening and much of Saturday.

There was fellowship and laughs and tears and hugs and reminisces and speeches and recognitions of each other and food and drink and tours.

We visited the school.
We visited one of the great houses of the United States.
We looked back over half a century.
And we thought about our futures.

At our table was the grandson of one of the most influential families of American history, a fellow alumnus.

I love it.
I talked up the tour of his grandparents' home before I realized who he was.

I love it.

My 50th was two years ago.
A double whammy, delivered two years apart.
Wouldn’t have missed them.

There is no real point to this posting. Just a few facts.

Dear Wife knew [recognized] quite a few of her classmates. And they remembered her.
A few teachers were there, one was about to turn 100 years of age.

As an old retired teacher, my mind runneth over.

I encountered one of my students as we were leaving the Friday night cocktail party … and he remembered this old fella.
And I have been retired quite a while now.

I love it.

'Tis late.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11.
Take a moment and reflect.

Lest we forget.

Lots to think and write and talk about.
Lots indeed.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

WHAT IS WORSE

The speech.

Thursday night before the ball game.
How pathetic.

The ball game? Yes.

But also the speech.

What a humiliation for a nation to have such a leader.

A worse humiliation: the folks who think he is worthy to hold the office.
How pathetic.

That is one of the few good things about having a free web or blog journal…or whatever this is….so few read it that one does not have to defend what one says….but it would be so easy.

b.o. is so terrible…so pathetic…so embarrassing…

And again, what it worse…is all the folks who think he is a winner.

A GROCERY STORE

You notice things as you get older.

I have shopped at the same grocery store for decades.
I have watched it morph through several owners, all the while not losing sight of its purpose – to supply customers with a first class shopping experience: abundant, fresh produce; meats; canned goods; dairy; etc., etc..

And eventually was added a bank; a pharmacy; a special card system; a gas station; a bakery; a deli; and so on.

And it was swell.

And then came a sale to a new owner.

And then favorite brands of decades began to disappear from the shelves. In-store brands began to replace the old favs.
Choices were reduced.
Produce space reduced.

The big draws ceased to be food…becoming gasoline credits and ‘points’ and cashiers were replaced by ‘self-checkout’ lines….

I, the old-timer, was displaced at last when cases of refrigerated water was moved into former produce shelves and the remaining produce shelves too-often ran out of stock.

There was always plenty of water.

And so we are shopping now at several other stores to make up for what had been a splendid full-service entity.

And the staff of the former delight was so reduced in number as to be virtually absent.

Change.

It happens.
It is not always good.

THE GOVERNOR WAS RIGHT

Think of it this way.

The Governor sees the theologians of Galileo’s day as the power establishment of the time.
He thinks of Galileo as the voice of the non-establishment of that day.

He tells the debate audience that the establishment decried the minority [the non-establishment] of that day, Galileo, with regard to correct science.

His point is that while the scientific establishment of today might argue that humans are causing the majority of climate change, it might well be as wrong now as the establishment was of the 17th Century when it condemned the non-establishment Galileo.

The media of today was too quick to deride the Governor.

It was wrong.

So what else is new?
The Governor was right.