Happy Independence Day, Canada!

I tried to put this on the previous post, but Canada's day deserves a post of its own, in my opinion...and it's my blog, so that's whatcha get.

Happy Independence Day, Canada!

On July 1, 1867, with passage of the British North America Act, the Dominion of Canada was officially established as a self-governing entity within the British Empire. Two years later, Canada acquired the vast possessions of the Hudson's Bay Company, and within a decade the provinces of Manitoba and Prince Edward Island had joined the Canadian federation. In 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, making mass settlement across the vast territory of Canada possible.

My own time in Canada (1968-1971) was spent in and around the town of Bow Island, Alberta. I love the prairies to this day, and miss them more than I can say, whether on the Canadian side of the border or not.

The Pixie and I are off to shop for groceries now, before the temperature hits 90 and before any thunderstorm that may dampen things a bit more. Y'all have a FINE day, and thanks so much for stopping by.

No Graduation Cliche Here

I have no memory of my own high school graduation speech or speeches - I know who I sat next to, and we were all a bit high at the time. I tripped up the step when it was my turn, but I was such a non-entity I'm probably the only one who remembers it. I think the principal was the "main" speaker, and I'd have to dig out the yearbook to tell you who else took the podium. I'm sure it was the expected "make a difference and BE different/ go forth and save the world that awaits you" plea that so many are.

Rabbi Avi Shafran experienced something really different from the oratory at his daughter's graduation ceremony. He's written about this experience at JewishWorldReview.com and it might be worth a few minutes of your time. There are things we really ought to preserve from the teachings of our parents and grandparents. The religion that instructs, comforts, and sustains us is one, but it certainly isn't the only one. The tenets of our Constitution are worth preserving, too, I'd say. It's going to be work, but I believe it's a worthy cause.

Thomas Tuesday!

I am not ashamed to admit I really like Tuesday mornings. Thomas Sowell's column, even when not written on a cheerful topic, seems to be a good way for me to start the day. Today, GCP beat me to the punch, so to speak, but I'm posting the link from JewishWorldReview anyway. You can, of course, find a different link at GrouchyConservativePundits.com, should you prefer. They're a fun bunch over there, take no crap from anyone, and have a level of sarcastic wit AND intelligence I admire and aspire to.

From the column:

The great haste with which the latest government expansion into medical care is being rushed through Congress suggests that the politicians don't want us to stop and think. That makes sense, from their point of view, but not from ours.

UPDATE!
From the Sowell column today on another of Sotomayor's decisions being reversed:

Qualifications are not simply a question of how long you have been doing something, but how well you have done it. Judge Sotomayor has certainly been on the federal bench long enough, but is being reversed four out of six times a sign of a job well done?

Would longevity be equated with qualifications anywhere else? Some sergeants have been in the army longer than some generals but nobody thinks that is a reason to make those sergeants generals.

Performance matters. And Judge Sotomayor's performance provides no reason for putting her on the Supreme Court.

Oh, brother.

Anyone see a withdrawal of this nomination in the near future?

Nah, me neither.

"I mulch therefore I am" and other fun ideas

I wonder if James Lileks cares that when I read his column, it cheers me up from the crapola that is covered by nearly everyone else? Need a mood-altering COLUMN and a cup of coffee? Enjoy!

The line that started my mood-improvement this morning:

I mulch therefore I am. Well, not true; I don’t mulch. I put down mulch. And by “put down” I mean I swear at every bag in the most humiliating, derisive fashion.

Next on my mood-improvement list is Dave Barry. What can I say about his column that you won't think of yourself? Nothing.

There's a place in California, called the We Care Spa, which bills itself as "a holistic fasting retreat," and which charges guests up to $3,484 A WEEK. Yes! To starve!

I haven't been to a high school reunion, and really have no plans to attend one in the future. I wasn't important there, I wasn't 'connected,' and I certainly wasn't popular. I was closer to being a stoner than a nerd...but I wasn't even very good at that, because I usually followed the few rules my parents set down for me. And I love the idea of letting someone pay me for THEM not eating, but I have a tiny little ethical problem with it...I think.

One more on Jacko

This will be the final link from me about Michael Jackson - because, in so many ways, it's just too pathetic to continue on about.

Mitch Albom at JewishWorldReview.com:

"...let's be honest. Celebrating Jackson more in death than in life doesn't honor him. If anything, calling him Wacko Jacko, chronicling his surgically enhanced face and making him a national joke, then weeping for TV cameras about how much we'll miss him makes us seem, for the moment, even stranger than him."

All Conditions Are Temporary

A man I've known for just about six years put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger last week. In April, another man I'd known for four years took himself out with a shotgun. These are only the latest in a line of people I've known who decided that life ain't worth living.

Both these men had lovely wives and children/ grandchildren, good jobs, really nice cars, loyal friends...and a "drinking problem." Both men had spent some time in a 12 Step program and had experienced relief from the bondage they had to John Barleycorn. Due to personal circumstances, they quit attending so many 12 Step meetings and found excuses to call "old friends." They stopped taking calls from people who were Sober and cared for them so much. They finally quit going to meetings altogether. Then, in a fit of what-the-hell, they took another drink. And nothing bad happened, so they took another. And s'more.

We'll bury the second one some time this week. Because the Demons are not forever banished just because we don't drink. They come back again if we are not on guard. Then, if we continue down the road to destruction, we leave behind some of those Demons for our wives, our children, our grandchildren and our friends to mull over and consider. When it comes right down to it, if I believe it's a choice between drink and shotgun, I'll drink. My friends can help me get Sober again -- they can't bring me back from the Dead.

I'm going to a meeting now. Thanks for stopping by, I'll post something more interesting later tonight or tomorrow. Y'all take care, y'hear?

Icon, Idol...pfft. I'll mourn the passing of a REAL Man.

I don't mourn the passing of "superstars" or celebutards. Jonah Goldberg says it so much better than I...which is why they pay him, not me. From the column at NRO...

...I know he was not someone responsible parents should applaud, healthy children emulate, nor society celebrate.

And while we’re at it, his relatively early death wasn’t “tragic.” He was one of the richest people in the world. He spent his money on perpetual childhood and he was perpetually with children not his own.

Meanwhile, in the last ten days, we’ve seen or heard of remarkable people who’ve given their lives for freedom in Iran. We’ve heard of innocents killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the last decade, America has lost thousands of heroes in noble causes and thousands of innocent bystanders who were denied the simple joys of life through no fault of their own. Those deaths are tragic, and we're hard pressed to think of more than a handful of names to put with the long line of the dead. If anything, Michael Jackson’s life, not his death, was tragic.

Lori Borgman at JewishWorldReview.com writes about her father-in-law. THIS was a man I could love and admire, had I known him.

The old suitcase he used to carry on visits to our house now sits in our front hall. The cell phone we gave him for his 95th birthday rests on the kitchen counter.

He was the oldest of four parents and yet he lived the longest. They are all gone now. A door on well-oiled hinges has swung shut with a resounding thud. Another generation has passed.

UPDATE: Another man I know took the 'easy' way out today. That's 2 in 2 months.

Like almost all teenagers, he lies...for no good reason

In another excellent column, Bert Prelutsky calls BarryO the man who would be G-d. That IS what teenagers want, though this column idea and Barone's (in my previous post) may seem to be coming at Mr. Hip from two different directions.

Teenagers of today want a couple things that these columns point out so well. They want to do whatever Mom and Dad say they aren't allowed to do. They want to do whatever they damn well please, whenever they damn well please. They want Power - the power to hurt Mom and Dad (teachers, bosses) for being such idiots and embarrassments to the coolness they believe they possess.

For instance, when he jammed through the trillion-dollar pork pie, he claimed it was so urgently needed, he couldn’t spare the legislators even 48 hours to plow through the 1,100 pages. However, once they passed the bill, Obama waited four days before flying off to Denver to sign it.

These attitudes are temporary and not as strong in children who have been raised with discipline and respect for their elders, for the property of others, and for their Country. Lovely Daughter has passed through the stage and is a fine young wife, mother, and employee today. I'm not taking credit for that, but it's how I was raised so it's how she was raised.

BarryO and company have never grown up, they have remained ill-mannered contrary little brats...with the Power to force our children and grandchildren into servitude.

A second lie that recently went unquestioned by the media was Obama’s claim that he had only given President Sarkozy short shrift when he was in France because it was essential that he get back to the Oval Office and make those tough decisions that only he can make. And, sure enough, it turned out that within an hour of his return to Washington, he was on the golf course, making one of those gut-wrenching executive decisions -- deciding whether to use a putter or a sand wedge from the edge of a bunker.

Ever wonder what it would be like to have your teenager in the Oval Office?

According to Michael Barone, that's exactly what we've got. BarryO the Prez is a prime example of a bratty adolescent who - with his little posse of you're-no-the-boss-of-me's - does the opposite of what his parents say just because he can.

A regime of tyrants dedicated to hatred of America, Britain and Israel is not going to be persuaded to abandon a central goal by even the most dazzling display of adolescent charm

A contrary, pimple-faced boy who thinks he's hip, slick and cool, but really knows just enough to be dangerous. And might just burn the family house down with his arrogance, all the while whining about how mean and hateful and wrong the parents have been.

As president, he has singled out missile defense for cuts, even in the face of missile launches by North Korea and evidence of continuing missile development by Iran. Bush abrogated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and pushed ahead on missile defense, so it must be bad even if there's no U.S.-Soviet balance of terror to destabilize anymore.

The toughest time for me as a parent was when Lovely Daughter was a teenager. For her, as with MOST people, it's a stage she passed through. For BarryO and Company, I'm afraid it may be a lifestyle. And it's our house that's in danger of burning.

These moves show an adolescent determination to renounce the policies of those who came before, no matter what. As parents know, it takes time for an adolescent to grow up.

Have YOU ever herded cats, or nailed jello to a tree?

BarryO is going to corral the unwieldy, unworkable, uncontrollable financial system. Do I need a bomb shelter for this?

John Stossel gives his take on the "sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system," which was announced recently by BarryO. Oh. Boy. If those words don't scare the living Hell out of you, you don't have any nerves left.

A couple of quotes from the column:

"...when regulators set out to redesign an economy, they display not wisdom but a "pretense of knowledge."

"The decentralized, competitive market full of free people is hands-down preferable to a centralized body of clueless bureaucrats who can hold a gun to our heads."

I have a very uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my gut.

Again.

Juniper Springs kayak trip - Pictures

fern garden







the water is so clear and cool







peaceful

The "Obama Effect?"

Caroline B. Glick's column:

THE REAL OBAMA effect on world affairs relates to the US media's unprecedented willingness to abandon the basic responsibilities of a free press in favor of acting as propagandists for the president. From Cooper - who pretends that Obama's unreciprocated open hand to the mullahs is what empowered the protesters - to Newsweek editor Evan Thomas who referred to Obama earlier this month as a "sort of God," without a hint of irony, the US media have mobilized to serve the needs of the president.

Media whores for the government. Our Founding Fathers surely weep for us.

What they fail to consider is that by genuflecting to tyrants, Obama has made the US an international laughingstock. Far from sharing their adulation of Obama and his cool demeanor, most of the nations of the world believe that the US has abandoned its leadership role.

There's a Tea Party here on 2 July. I have a previous commitment (2 of 'em, actually) so not sure I can make it, but I may design a shirt to wear WHEREVER I may be. Suggestions for wording are greatly appreciated, if you'd put them in a comment? Thanks!

Welcome, once again, to Thomas Tuesday

Thomas Sowell, of course. From his column, which I read at JewishWorldReview.com:

A Gallup poll last week showed that far more Americans describe themselves as "conservatives" than as "liberals." Yet Republicans have been clobbered by the Democrats in both the 2008 elections and the 2006 elections.
...
...when you have the high cards and still keep taking a beating, then you need to re-think how you are playing the game.
...
Perhaps people who are busy gushing over the Obama cult today might do well to stop and think about what it would mean for their grand-daughters to live under sharia law.
...
Ronald Reagan won two elections in a landslide by being Ronald Reagan — and, most important of all — explaining to a broad electorate how what he advocated would be best for them and for the country. Newt Gingrich likewise led a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives by explaining how the Republican agenda would benefit a wide range of people.

Neither of them won by pretending to be Democrats.

Or communists. But I risk redundancy there, don't I.

UPDATE! Sowell's column on Wednesday is on education. Here's a bit I like:

"..the time comes to leave the classroom and go out into the real world."

I've known quite a few 'professional students' in my life. No one is more self-absorbed than a 40 year old who's going to get her third or fourth degree but has never held a full-time job and still talks, acts, thinks and dresses like the 19-year-old Freshman she once was. No one is as boring as the guy who tells you how much he knows...about everything...all the time.

Real world experience is sorely lacking, both in government and in the nicer neighborhoods. But college degrees? LOTS of those.

Did I mention I really like this guy?

And not just his cute self, of course, I like the way his mind works. Now, Stossel has his own blog, and I may be able to tear myself away from it for normal human interaction...in a couple hours.

I've also been to check out Grouchy Conservative Pundits - even though I'm only marginally conservative, I like they way those folks write. One of the Global Moderators is our friend SwampWoman, and one of the newbie registrants is an old buddy of mine from SoCal. Wow!

My blogroll continues to grow...
UPDATE! Another new one! On Paco's recommendation, go say howdy to Dan Collins at Piece of Work In Progress.

Here in NEFL, it's Hot as Hell with the blowers on, as my dad used to say - even at 8pm it was nearly +100F. Blech. Not sure when to expect relief - but hope it's in time for my birthday! Lovely Daughter, Handsome Son-in-law and BEEootiful Pixie came over to have Father's Day burgers & dogs with Daddy/ Grandpa. I let the other grownups do the outdoor part, I stayed inside with the Pixie and we arranged pickles, beans, and other assorted condiments in the comfort of the air conditioning. Oh, and we watched some Tigger & Pooh, while we waited for the ball game to come on. As the terrible writers at my school paper used to say, MUCH too often, "A good time was had by all." Pfft.

One more load of laundry to fold, then I'm off to bed. Thanks for stopping by!

I don’t have much patience for deliberate lies dressed up in a “science” costume.

SwampWoman, at A1A South, posted a brilliant, thoughtful, and slightly? scathing fisking of the "climate change" report issued by the White House last week. It is, quite simply, priceless. I'm sure glad the woman is on my side! You gotta go read the whole thing, but here's some of my favorite parts:

These f***ing clowns can’t predict what temperature it will be on Monday of next week, so why in the hell should they be considered some kind of experts on what temperature it will be after they’re dead? The temperature trend is DOWN, you morons!
...
Sounds like there wasn’t any evidence before and lots and lots of data falsification has been going on because they know that the Democrats aren’t actually going to check the facts. Hell, they won’t even bother to read the paper. They’ll just have somebody give them a synopsis using one syllable words. I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, that somebody whose job title is “coordinator of global change science” would find evidence of impacts from climate change. For the sarcasm challenged, yes, that is sarcasm dripping off the keyboard and pooling on the floor in a large, glowing puddle.

Gotta love her!

Gah!

Spent many hours with no internet and no house phone. Generally no phone isn't a problem because I have a cell phone, with a handly little spot to store all the phone numbers I need or want or have to use. Well, MY cell phone spent the week in Kansas City, and the house phone went down, and not having contact with the outside pretty much ruined my day...for 2 days! Nice young man showed up yesterday & replaced the box the phone & computer plug into, all the lights are now properly lined up & the right ones are blinking. I'm hoping to be back on track today, but no promises on that score.

Woke up tired again.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day, there's a bunch of us going to go for a paddle at Juniper Springs. The swimming hole is closed for renovation, but the kayak/canoe launch is new & improved & I can hardly wait! Depending on how the rest of today goes, I may be back with a couple easy posts. Y'all have a great day & thanks for stopping by!

John Stossel on Glenn Beck

I've listened to Glenn Beck off & on for years now. I feel a connection to him you might catch when you read the column. And I don't mean about his being a Mormon convert, cuz I'm not. It was HIS Tea Party appearence in San Antonio, with Ted Nugent and Janine Turner - and at which a good friend was in attendance - that I was glued to on April 15.

John Stossel has been a favorite much longer, but also only intermittent, since I don't watch network tv, or really much tv at all except baseball, cooking, and DIY. So, two of my favorite guys in one column? Wow, this could be a grand day after all!

From Stossel's column:

And now he's host of his own Fox News show, which, even though it airs in the ratings desert of late afternoon, has a bigger audience than every show on the other cable news channels.

Why is he so popular? Beck says it's because he really believes what he says. I don't buy that. Rachel Maddow and Lou Dobbs believe what they say, but their audience is a fraction of Beck's. I hope he's popular because of what he says, like: "Both parties only believe in the power of the party"; "if we get out of people's way, the sky's the limit"; and the answers to our problems "never come from Washington."

Good stuff. Glad I got up for it. Y'all have a great day now, thanks for stopping by!

If it's Tuesday, it must be Thomas Sowell

And it IS Tuesday, I'm sure of it.

From Thomas Sowell's column this week:

One of the many problems of the pay-back approach is that many of the people who most deserve retribution are no longer alive. You can take symbolic revenge on people who look like them but this removes the whole moral element. If it is all right to discriminate today against individuals who have done you no harm, then why was it wrong to discriminate against you in the past? (Emphasis mine)

...

Attempts to claim that Judge Sonia Sotomayor's words were isolated remarks — a slip of the tongue "taken out of context" — have now been discredited by further information showing that she has repeatedly expressed the same ideas, in virtually the same words, at other times and in other contexts.

On a personal note: Tough day for me yesterday, woke up tired again today. This is becoming the way of my world and I'm not crazy about it. All my meds are correct, so once again, I'm going to blame the heat. There are times when it isn't just living in a city that I can barely stand, it's living in a city covered in a blanket of "hotter than Hell!" It's ten minutes till 8 - A.M! - and it's 81F. Gah!

Happy Belated Birthday, Handsome Hubby and Paco and Irobot!

They had a Flag Day celebration on your birthday I'm sorry I missed, in Great Falls, Montana.

From the Great Falls Tribune:

"In honor of the flag that has stood guard over Great Falls for the last quarter century, the Great Falls Association of Realtors organized a picnic to go along with this year's ceremony, and there also was a parade of Harley-Davidson motorcycles."

Thanks for stopping by, we're off to the Commissary now for juice and other goodies.

My Favorite Old Guy does it again!

Bob's Bites has the story...and what a story it is. Thanks, Bob, I love that picture!

If it's true that you're as young as you feel, Mark Martin oughta feel like a young gun tonight. That ol gunslinger hasn't had the young'uns after him. He got respect from the whippersnappers, including ones he's known since they were in Pampers, but no one worried about him stealing their thunder. He's old, he even semi-retired...but that means diddly when you're the one taking the checkered flag AGAIN!!!

Is he a threat to win the Cup? I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, that's fer damn sure. He is a DRIVER!

One other quick thing - I really get interested when they start worrying about running out of gas. It adds another something that keeps me on the edge of my seat and the unpredictability makes me CRAZY!!! But in a good way.