OK, OK, I have a couple quiet minutes. I found these columns at JewishWorldReview.com, a bit from Paco...but let's start with something I heard about on the radio that I thought I'd share here - Exurban League tells us about Obama and the Pirates.

On the eve of Passover, we had this from Jeff Jacoby. I remember his writing a letter to his son when he was born, too. And yes, I'm kinda behind, this column is dated yesterday. My apologies for that.

George Will writes about a new book - having to do with baseball! Not stars and egos and steroids, this book is about the umpires. I think I want to read it.

Paco Enterprises offers the latest of the lost Che diaries. Brought tears to my eyes!

I'd also like to thank Lovely Daughter for spending her lunch hour with us here at Pixie Place. I'm eating your leftovers!

UPDATE! I think I need a new Category. Something along the lines of "OhfertheluvvaGod." It will cover such ridiculous crapola as this, which arrived a short while ago via James Taranto at Best of the Web Today. Instead of making you scroll to find it - and not being able to link to the link James provided, for some reason - I copy the whole little blurb, including the link in the title James gave, for your perusal:

Where Do the Pirates Stand on Card Check?
Pirates in the Indian Ocean the other day captured a U.S.-flagged freighter. Although they still hold the captain hostage, the rest of the crew quickly regained control of the ship--leading Nick Baumann of Mother Jones to file this entry in the Most Strained Political Argument of All Time contest, under the title "Another Miracle Brought to You by America's Unions":

It's important to note that like all the people involved with the safe landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in January, the crew members of the Maersk Alabama are union members. . . . As former safety chairman of the Airline Pilots Association, Chesley Sullenberger, the hero pilot of Flight 1549, fought to make sure his colleagues got the training they needed to do what he did in January. And as I just heard on Fox News (and confirmed with the SIU [Seafarers International Union]), crew members of the Maersk Alabama received anti-piracy training from (where else?) their union.

By this logic, school shootings are an indictment of the teachers unions.

UPDATE 2! One more before I shut this down for the night. DaddyDave, who comments at Tim Blair's, now blogs on his own at The Empiricist, linked in the sidebar here. He's posted something that I heard about yesterday...Neal Boortz, I think? It's a book that posits a VERY unpopular point of view, from someone who seems to know the topic quite well. Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is A Better Way For Africa by Dambisa Moyo. Anyway, give David's blog a read, it's worthy of your time.

Good Friday

It's a beautiful Friday here at Pixie Place.

The Pixie just undid her training pants & is investigating how they work while we listen to Mickey's Clubhouse. My Chief worked a short shift & has taken his AT-weight pack to the gym to work on the stairclimber for 30 minutes. And Lovely Daughter will be here for lunch in a little while.

No politics today - just listen to this and have a wonderful rest of your day! Thanks for stopping by!

Bright Bright Sunshiny Day

According to WOKV, it's a 10 on the weather gage. I'll go along with that. Sunny, bright, bit of a breeze, and +75F. I'd prefer just a touch more humidity, but I take what I can get from the weather in Florida.

I've been listening to reports about the pirates that have an American as their hostage. I will keep the family and friends in my prayers, as well as the men and women serving in the Navy who have been called for assistance. We love 'em all, we really do.

Lovely Daughter sent a link to the article about the pirates earlier because it mentioned P-3's, the plane her daddy flew aboard as Inflight Technician for the majority of his Navy career, but I can't find that link right now.

If you hear mention of planes taking pictures or being the eyes in the sky, that's our boys & girls, it was part of our lives for a big part of the 22 years My Chief was in the Navy. P-3 crews train here in Jax, and the sound of a P-3 in the pattern is part of almost every day in this house. We were stationed with P-3 squadrons in Maine, Hawai'i, and here in Jax, plus the Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland.

I'm going to miss them.

Brrr!

Ah, Springtime in NE Florida - the sun's coming up over Ben's house, pink flowers show themselves on the redbud tree, the school bus is late (again), there's frost on the BroncoII in my front yard, and the birds are singing "It's beginning to look a lot like January!"

Hubby covered the tomatoes - when I went to bed it was +42F, I'm guessing it was colder than that when he got up at 0230.

I am going to invest my next paycheck in a decent thermometer for this place. My computer WeatherChannel thingy says it's +40F (feels like 34!), but once again, when did frost start coming down when it's 40?!? Suggestions for brand or type are welcome, but keep 'em inexpensive, my paycheck is SMALL.

In baseball news, My Padres got their first win of the season, beating the ManRam Dodgers 4-2. Hey, that means they're tied for either 2nd or last place in their division at 1-1. SF Giants are in 1st place with one win but no losses. Yeah, you can tell it's the first series of the season, can't you? This stuff changes on a moment by moment basis for months!

Go Cubs Go

A long time ago, in a little old mobile home in a trailer park not far from where I sit now, I would curl up in a beanbag chair with my baby girl in my arms and watch Ryne Sandberg and the Penguin on our black and white television. I used to tell that little brown-haired doll that she was welcome to marry Ryno if she wanted when she got older, cuz he was just about as cute as they come. The hapless Cubs won 70 games that year, with names I recognize but don't remember as playing for the Cubs. I wasn't a rabid fan, I was a new Navy Wife and mama at the beginning of a new adventure...as I said, it was a long time ago.

The Cubs are retiring Number 31, which was worn by Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux. I've seen Greg Maddux pitch...for the Atlanta Braves, against My Padres, in 1998 in San Diego. He wore glasses then. Never remembered then or since that he wore a Cubs uniform before 2004.

By the way, I kinda like this Baseball Hall of Fame site, and the other one that's been helpful is the Baseball Almanac. I like The Baseball Page, too, just found that one. Wow!

I'm off now, cold with possible freeze in the morning forecast, so need to cover my tomatoes before I bed down. I wish you mud puddles and dandelions!

This is why I pray

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. — Norman Cousins


I better warn you - this is a very disturbing column. It took me all day, going back again many times, to get all the way through.

Caroline B. Glick at JewishWorldReview.com:
On the murder of a 13 year old boy - but not really...
But as far as the right-thinking people of the Western media are concerned, Israeli Jews like Nativ, who live in Gush Etzion in Judea, are simply asking to be murdered.
...
Today, the media's view is shared by both European governments and the Obama administration. For years now the Europeans have accepted the legally unsupportable Arab claim that all Jewish presence in areas beyond the 1949 armistice lines is illegal. Since 1993, supported by the Israeli Left, the US government has gradually moved toward adopting this view. And today this view stands at the center of President Barack Obama's emerging policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.

I won't hate BarryO or those like-minded who are sick in their souls but don't know it yet. I won't hate them because it gives them too much power over me and hate like that poisons anyone it touches.

It takes a special type of person to murder a child. And it takes a special type of society to support such behavior. Palestinian society is a special society. It has become routine, indeed it has become expected that in the aftermath of successful murders of Israelis - including children - Palestinians distribute candy in public celebrations.

President BarryO is a scumsucking, perverted, disgusting excuse for a human - as are all the others who believe as he believes - and if I was going to hate anyone, it would surely be them.

Random Thoughts

No, not mine, those of Thomas Sowell. I'd like to show the whole thing here, because picking a few excerpts is NOT easy, but I want you to give my friend the Rabbi some bidniss at JewishWorldReview.com. He does an amazing job over there, and I'm grateful for everything I've learned - or unlearned - as a result of his work. Starting today, I've got a permanent link on the sidebar, there's always something good there, so check it out once in awhile and see what you think.

Back to Mr. Sowell...my favorites in his list are, in no particular order:

Barack Obama's favorable reception during his tour in Europe may be the most enthusiastic international acclaim for a democratic government leader since Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich in 1938, proclaiming "peace in our time."

...
How a man who holds the entire population of a country as his prisoners, and punishes the families of those who escape, can be admired by people who call themselves liberals is one of the many wonders of the human mind's ability to rationalize. Yet such is the case with Fidel Castro.
...
What does "economic justice" mean, except that you want something that someone else produced, without having to produce anything yourself in return?

Livin' like no one else...

Before I go sit down in front of the tv for a bit, hoping to see the Braves pull off a stunner in Philly, a bit of a thing that happened earlier today.

Me & My Chief (Retired) went to a morning meeting with some people we know. Afterwards, a group does about a 3 1/2 mile walk, down River Road a ways & back up to the meeting house. Duffy walked with them today, carrying the same amount of weight in his pack he'll have when he starts his hike on the AT. Out of the group of 6 were 3 retired Navy Chiefs, a retired Navy Reserve Officer, his wife the retired labor& delivery nurse who delivered the Pixie, and another guy...I think.

One of these gentlemen is in a recent new job (he sold cars when I first met him) selling something on a draw against commission. Not selling something might be a better term. He got married for the 3rd or 4th time a couple years back. His boss at the car lot was murdered & that job went away so he took the real estate school thing & became a licensed realtor. I think his wife did, too, but not sure. He was bagging groceries at the commissary for awhile, don't know if he still does that, he hasn't been there when I've been there, which means less than nothing. Wife drives a very nice little new(er) car (Mercedes? Beemer? Don't remember), and he has an Escalade. They bought a new house about 4 years ago in a very nice little neighborhood. None of which has a small payment, y'understand.

During the walk, this man was talking about how worried he is about all the payments he has to make that aren't getting made. On top of those other payments to be made are a few credit cards that are about maxxed out.

We probably get close to the same amount of Navy retirement, and for us that pays the mortgage, the power/water/sewer bill, the phone/cable/internet, the cell phone, the auto insurance, and part of the grocery bill. For him, I'm not sure it covers the mortgage and electric.

We decided a long time ago to live within our means, to spend less than we brought in, and, a few years ago, to NEVER use a credit card. Duffy also got us almost completely out of debt - except for my dentist - before he retired. We re-financed the house to a 15-year fixed, for much less than it was appraised. We have almost 4 months of operating costs in a money market account, in case of emergency. Our vehicles are paid for, and we're not shopping for the newest and shiniest. We have everything we need, we do everything we want, we're slowly working on our little old house, and even this hike on the Appalachian Trail is coming out of money that is NOT household money.

Duffy has a job that doesn't stress him out, doesn't pay a lot, but gives him a lot of satisfaction, is different every day, and lets him help people.

Dave Ramsey says (quoting the Bible?) that the borrower is slave to the lender. This household is more free than almost everyone at our stage of life. We lived like no one else, so we can live like no one else. Dave teaches what he does as a wealth-building tool, but we don't have to be and don't want to be wealthy (especially with the you-know-who's running the country)

We sleep very well at night, knowing we don't owe anyone anything but the mortgage. My Financial Advisors are Stephen, at our credit union, and Dave, who can be heard on radio stations around the country and online every day. It's a damn good life, and it makes me hurt for my friends who over-extended themselves so they could have pretty stuff, and are now going to have to pay the piper. There's ALWAYS a piper. Always.

UPDATE! Braves win 4-1 at Philly! Sleep well, I know I'm going to!

More from the Wild Wild West

The Great Falls Tribune is one of the papers I read online, keeping up a bit with life in northcentral Montana. Long long ago, Great Falls had the only mall between Minneapolis and Seattle, Holiday Village Shopping Center. I have very little memory of going there, though lots of folks from Havre made at least one trip every year to shop for Christmas (we stuck with Buttrey's Department Store in Havre).

Sorry, got a bit nostalgic there...back to the topic at hand:

Reading a bit today, after finally getting my weekend chores done, I find that there are some in the state legislature itching for a fight with the Feds on gun "control." Yeah, there's a surprise. Wonder how much money Ted Turner (scroll down to #5) will spend fighting THAT little brawl?

I don't like Ted. Not even a little. He was a jerk in my eyes long before he married Hanoi Jane. He might not be Little Hitler, but some of his plans sure smack of genocide.

I wonder if he voted for BarryO.

Ch Ch Ch Chia!

It has been said that imitation is the sincerest (most sincere?) form of flattery.

So, what does that make this???

Remember, makes a great Easter basket stuffer!

from Jihad Watch

Jihad Watch posts this from the AP:

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A former Navy sailor convicted of leaking details about ship movements and the best ways to attack them was sentenced Friday to the maximum 10 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz said Hassan Abu-Jihaad, of Phoenix, betrayed his country and endangered his fellow sailors.

"I cannot really overstate the seriousness of this crime," Kravitz said. The leak "does constitute a fundamental betrayal of your country and of your oath. You endangered your colleagues, you endangered your vessel and other vessels and other sailors, and you endangered your country."

Abu-Jihaad, 33, was convicted last year of disclosing classified national defense information. Prosecutors labeled him a traitor who was trying to help foreign terrorists replicate the bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors.

Abu-Jihaad, an American who is formerly known as Paul Hall and whose chosen Muslim name means "father of jihad," was a signalman aboard the USS Benfold who was honorably discharged from the Navy in 2002.

He was accused of posting information to a Web site in London that openly espoused violent jihad against the U.S. The information included the makeup of his Navy battle group and a drawing of the formation the group would use to pass through the dangerous Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf in April 2001.

The ship was not attacked.

Abu-Jihaad did not speak during Friday's hearing. His attorney, Dan LaBelle, said his client maintained his innocence and appreciated the fairness of the court.

He said his client's demeanor in court has been "very remarkable."

Prosecutor William Nardini encouraged Kravitz to consider Abu-Jihaad's actions, not his demeanor in court. He said the former sailor praised the Cole bombing as an operation carried out by martyrs.

"That is a twisted view of the world," Nardini said.

Abu-Jihaad believed engaging in a fight against his own country would make him a martyr, Nardini said.

"His alliances are not with America but with the American enemies" Nardini said. "He embraced those enemies. When he did that he betrayed his oath, he betrayed his security clearance and he betrayed his country."

Kravitz said Abu-Jihaad's sentence should be a deterrent for anyone who supports terrorism....

Thankfully, this scuzbucket is an anomaly in the Navy. Most Sailors serve with honour and pride, with at least a minimum love for their country. I hope there's something that can be done to yank that "Honourable Discharge" this traitor got, but really don't know. Think I'll add it to my Santa list.

Here's the Oath my grandfather, father, brother, uncles, cousins, father-in-law and husband have all taken:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

My last thought before bed - I wonder if enlistments are up or down since the Ascension?

Congress Passes GIGANTIC Budget

Listening to Neal Boortz while I fix the Pixie's lunch, he announces that BarryO's budget has passed the House and the Senate, by a score of ALL Dems, NO Republicans.

I have no reason to doubt the bit of trivia Neal shared - that this budget puts us more into debt IN ONE YEAR than the debt of the other 43 Presidents COMBINED.

Dave Ramsey says the borrower is slave to the lender. We are now enslaved to our government. Your children and grandchildren, and THEIR children, are going to be slaves to Uncle Sam for a very long time. Will we also be slaves to China?

I "hope" you Democrats are proud. I am ashamed. And thoroughly disgusted.

UPDATE: As usual, Paco hits it dead center. His newest "my favorite" quote: “There are countless horrible things happening all over the country, and horrible people prospering but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible.” (Auberon Waugh)

Tea Party Time!

Tax Day Tea Party - Florida! Swampie, Andrea, you might wanna check this list.

I think I'd prefer St. Augustine or Ocala to Jax, but I'll go wherever My Chief (retired) takes me.

UPDATE: Get your shirts & hats here - so appropriate for Tea Parties OR be part of the next Revolution in one of these great designs

BASEBALL! AT LAST!

The Jacksonville Suns will play the New Orleans Zephyrs in the inaugural Dixie Classic.

This is the first year the Suns are AA for the Florida Marlins, and the Zephyrs are AAA.

The city council in Miami has passed a thing to build a new retractable-roof stadium, scheduled to open in 2012. At that time, the name will change from Florida Marlins to Miami Marlins.

Ick.

But, it's baseball, it's in Florida, their farm team is here in town, and we take what we can get in that case, don't we. I don't have to go to Miami to enjoy baseball.

By the way, the WeatherChannel forecast for tonight's game is +75F, with an 80% chance of thunderstorms. This is why Miami's getting a retractable - they get rained or lightning-ed out of games pretty often! The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville is a very pretty park, I love it - but it ain't got no roof!

MORNING UPDATE: Driving home last night from Callahan - in the worst storm I've driven in in years - I heard the game was on rain-delay after 6 1/2 innings, with the Zephyrs ahead, but I didn't catch the score (lightning static) and I can't find it yet.

MORNING UPDATE 2: Yup, Zephyrs won, 3-2. More detail, if you're interested.

From the Havre Daily News

My hometown newspaper - an afternoon paper, if I remember correctly - reports this today: There's time to submit comments and suggestions about building a visitor center at the Bear Paw Battlefield.

Did I know it wasn't called the Chief Joseph Battlefield? That's how I always referred to it...but I've been wrong about things before. Been a long time since I was there.

I do know it's one of my favorite places on the planet, and hope any visitor center is either on other land, unseen from the battlefield, or in town. Inconveniencing a few Easterners or visitors from other countries who whine about inconvenience is a small price to pay for keeping it as beautiful as it is. In my opinion.

Inconvenience...out on the Montana prairies? The closest airport is Billings or Great Falls, both 3 or more hours from Chinook, over mostly 2 lane blacktop, in good weather!

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
423 AM MDT THU APR 2 2009
.A DEVELOPING PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE
MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA TONIGHT AND BRING PERIODS OF
HEAVY SNOW. THIS STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE SLOWLY ACROSS NORTHERN
WYOMING AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AND BRING
PERIODS OF PROLONG PERIODS OF SNOW.

Lovely Daughter (and Handsome Son-In-Law) you gotta read this

I don't know if it's kosher to do this, as Rachel Lucas has no clue who I am, but if I have to delete this later, I will.

For those who don't know me, I am a professional child-care provider, most recently known as "Grandma Daycare" to the blond little love of my life. This post - and comments - of Rachel Lucas' is THE BEST!

Go read it - go on, go NOW!

We're not ALL stupid, are we?

I know, I know, I've already posted two pieces of drivel (linking to SMART writing) this morning, but I read Rich Lowry's column in JWR.com, and if you don't make reading his stuff a priority (as RSMcCain and Steyn are), you might miss it.

F'r instance - "It used to be that presidents only could fire chiefs of staff and Cabinet members; now, Obama can fire any of the corporate officials who effectively work for him. It used to be that the country had clearly delineated public and private sectors; now, they are mashed together in an arrangement vastly increasing governmental power." (emphasis mine)


How can you resist a line like this - "...if politicians and bureaucrats knew how to run car companies, they'd probably be working for Toyota or Ford."

Yep, got us one impressive administration these days...(hack-cough-sputter-gag)

UPDATE: Excellent post on this topic at Are We Lumberjacks?

Buckle Up!

I don't know how many cities and towns and counties around the country have seat belt laws (have you noticed they've morphed into "safety" belts?) but I'd guess MOST of them. Some places are so Big Brother that they can stop you JUST BECAUSE the cop doesn't see you wearing one, while most places I've lived so far are only allowed to ticket for seat belts if there was another infraction or accident as the primary reason for the traffic stop.

Seat belt rules on military bases have been around much longer than the civilian world, so we made it a habit long ago that the durn thing is on before we leave the driveway. This center-conservative libertarian-leaning Constitutionalist woman doesn't AGREE with the laws, but to the best of my ability, I try to follow the Law of the Land, if for no other reason than I don' t have a lot of money to be throwing away on fines. And it IS just as if I were throwing money out the window, except if I threw it out the window, someone who REALLY NEEDS it might find it and use it for something worthwhile.

What brings this up is a friend of mine was recently ticketed for not wearing her seat belt. The fine is $99! Her income is from unemployment and odd jobs, so this hundred bucks is a HUGE chunk of her monthly pay. Even those of us with really good jobs don't need to be THROWING MONEY AWAY like this. Your Government - at every level - takes your money in enough different ways that you can't control. Don't give 'em extra just because you're lazy or your dress might wrinkle!

I DID take History...

...this makes my skin crawl:

In the name of "change," Barack Obama is following policies so old that this generation has never heard of them

Wanna know why? Here's why:

Seeking deals with our adversaries, behind the backs of our allies? France did that at Munich back in 1938. They threw Czechoslovakia to the wolves and, less than two years later, Hitler gobbled up France anyway.
...
However much Barack Obama has proclaimed his support for Israel, his first phone call as President of the United States was to Hamas, to whom he has given hundreds of millions of dollars, which can buy a lot of rockets to fire into Israel.
...
Our oldest and staunchest ally, Britain, has been downgraded by President Obama's visibly less impressive reception of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, compared to the way that previous Presidents over the past two generations have received British Prime Ministers. President Obama's sending the bust of Winston Churchill in the White House back to the British embassy at about the same time was either a rookie mistake or another snub.

You know, don't you, that in the NFL, a rookie mistake can lose a game. We have not just a rookie, we have an arrogant rookie with really dangerous friends who likes to lecture US as President.

Congratulations, America, you're even dumber than I thought.

I'm using my Noggin, and Noggin's using YOU

Much as I want her to be smart and sassy and aware of the world around her, I don't think I'd agree with my Pixie sporting a Palin/Jindal button when she goes to kindergarten. Of course, I may change my mind between now and then!

Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal Online:

Typically, Noggin features such fare as "Dora the Explorer," "The Backyardigans," "Blue's Clues" and the deeply enigmatic "Yo Gabba Gabba." And typically, my wife and I are grateful for these sweet-natured, violence-free, semi-educational programs, even if Noggin's claim to being "commercial-free" elides the fact that it is one big ad for all the merchandise (dolls, toys, books, DVDs, the works) that goes with the shows.

I have a feeling 'commercialism' isn't going to be the point of THIS column?

Yet there we were -- my right-leaning self, my otherwise-leaning better half, the Obama-aware-though-not-yet-politically-engagée Lara and her slightly befuddled younger brother Noah --watching the Noggin channel as it "celebrates President Barack Obama and some of his favorite things."
. . .
I've been watching Noggin on a more-or-less daily basis for four years, and I can't remember a similar clip about President Bush, his bike rides, cowboy boots and Scottish terrier.
. . .
And if you campaign as a messiah, better not drop the mask.

Good stuff.