Do I Worry Too Much?

Occasionally I wonder if I'm too caught up in the anti-Obama hype from Conservative pundits. Sure, he had all those problems I addressed during the campaign, but once he became President, didn't he, wouldn't he, pretty much run the country like Bush did, with some Liberal policies tossed in? Don't cynics always claim it doesn't matter who gets elected?

Then I read a column such as Mike Gallagher's, which delineates just what's happened in the first 100 days of the Obama presidency (some of my own observations are tossed in):

• Obama goes to Europe and the Middle East, bowing and scraping and apologizing for the United States of America. Even so, he gets no offers from anyone to help in Afghanistan and a stout nein to the idea of implementing his economic policies in their own countries.
• His friendly encounter with anti-America dictator Hugo Chavez provides a photo op for Chavez. Obama listens to anti-American rants at an international summit without ever defending his country.
• The Obama administration forces the CEO of General Motors to resign, and Obama's Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the same thing could happen to executives of banks who took bail out money. The arbitrary conversion of the government's preferred stock in banks to common stock -- mentioned as a possibility by Obama -- essentially gives ownership of the banks to the federal government. That is, they would be nationalized. [Edit: It was not Obama himself who mentioned the stock conversion, but "White House and Treasury officials" according to the New York Times.]
• Obama's Homeland Security Secretary issues a memo claiming that military veterans and those who believe in state's rights or who are pro-life should be considered a possible terrorist threat.
• That same HS Secretary, Janet Napolitano, later claims -- as qualified for her post as anyone else in this administration -- that the 9/11 terrorists came across the Canadian border.
• Against the advice of his own CIA director, and four former CIA directors, Obama releases memos detailing interrogation techniques used by the CIA, providing information to our enemies.
• Obama first says that Bush administration officials will not be prosecuted for their parts in waterboarding, then a week later says they may be prosecuted. (Political pressure from the moveon.org and the Daily Kos crowd? Or mere wishy-washiness? This is blatant political revenge. A good policy for a President? And when a Republican is President again, maybe Obama should be prosecuted for revealing national secrets to the enemy.)
• Obama and his Democrat Congress have already quadrupled the budget deficit. Through 2008, President Bush increased the federal debt by $2.5 trillion, for which he has been criticized from all quarters. Obama proposes to add $4.9 trillion to that amount.

This is in just 100 days. I'm not sure those of us who opposed Obama during the campaign worried enough.

Four and Out!

Do I even need to explain it?

Next Week He'll Host a Show on QVC

Virulent anti-America dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela presented Barack Obama a book as a gift. The book, The Open Veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano, blames other nations (particularly the US) for the various ills that South America suffers. Check out the reviews at Amazon if you're interested.

The main thing I want to point out is how easily Chavez maneuvered Obama into posing with him while holding the book. It looks as though Obama is endorsing the book. Has anyone ever mentioned Obama's inexperience as a possible liability when facing tough foreign leaders?

There's Nothing Like a Tornado Watch

....to help you focus. Ahhhh, springtime on the South Plains!

And They Say I'm Bad

Comedian James Gregory went off on a 15-minute rant on a radio show about the way things are in America. No politician -- Democrat or Republican -- is safe here. Neither are any of the crazy things that we've forgotten how to become outraged about. (France gets smacked down particularly well.) This is one of the best combinations of reasonable thinking and passion I've ever heard. I'm just happy it's getting the airplay it is.

Listen to Mr. Gregory's rant here.

Maybe if enough of us hear his message...

If Anything Could Make Me Happier....

...than that last post, this is it.

For Some Unknown Reason, This Kind of Thing...

...makes me very, very happy.

A Quote That Made Me Feel Better

A few minutes ago I read a quote from novelist Stephen King that I had not seen before:

"If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented."

Maybe He Dropped a Contact Lens

It has become commonplace in the first few months of Obama's presidency to report occasions when he either didn't know tradition, etiquette or protocol, or else he didn't care. Whether snubbing Britian by returning a bust of Churchill given as a gift, giving inappropriate gifts to Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth, or demeaning America while visiting another country, Obama shows such a complete disregard for presidential behavior that it's no longer considered outrageous. (This, by the way, is a common practice among Liberals -- they simply wear down our sense of outrage.)

The most recent un-presidential move was Obama's bowing (see: kowtow) to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. This violates centuries of American tradition of refusing to defer to royalty. Interestingly, the White House apparently denies that Obama "bowed." The excuse, according to an Obama aide, is that Obama is taller than the king, and simply stooped to shake hands.

Decide for yourself:




Despite the White House's "denial," if Obama's not bowing, then he saw a quarter on the floor. It's pretty clear that when it comes to Obama's actions, the most common comment on President Obama for the next 3+ years will be "Well, what did you expect?"

Latro, Ergo Sum #4

"I rant, therefore I am."


"Liberal" = "Inclined to act inappropriately"
At their initial meeting in March British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave Barack Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet. Obama gave Brown a collection of DVD's. When he met Queen Elizabeth, Obama presented her with an Ipod. A wag suggested that Obama's administration was looking to take over Best Buy next.

Sucker = Me
I completely fell for the Squeez Bacon featured on thinkgeek.com April Fool's Day. In my defense, I previously reported about the wonderful (and genuine) product Baconnaise, so it didn't sound that farfetched. It wasn't until I watched the following video that I got a clue.





Speaking of being a geek
I conducted a semi-scientific test and determined that you get 30% more yield from "jumbo" eggs than from "large" eggs.

Fahrenheit 451 lives
Does it bother anyone else that Obama's Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart argued in front of the Supreme Court that in his opinion it would be acceptable to ban some books under McCain-Feingold?

Netflix pwns me
Since subscribing to Netflix, I have watched more movies than I've watched the entire rest of my life. I'm working my way through IMDB's Top 250 films, watching movies that I haven't seen before, and rewatching some that I haven't seen in years. Most pleasant surprise so far: Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Biggest disappointment: City of God.

I'm unduly proud that I know what "pwn" means.

Dave Ramsey is killing me
When you're in the process of completely getting out of debt, every spare dollar goes to paying off debts. (duh) What that means, however, is that you're always broke. Your business is taken care of, but you have no extra cash. That makes me uncomfortable.

Internet radio
When I'm writing, I usually listen to internet radio. No commercials, very little talking to interrupt my concentration. My station of choice at the moment is KRBX, Rock 104. I listen via Windows Media Player. When I'm in the zone, I can write over 1500 words in an hour. If I could maintain that pace, I could write a book the length of Tolstoy's War and Peace in a little over two weeks.

United Supermarkets
I'm always impressed with the store and the service when I go shopping in a United or a Market Street. What do they know that Wal-Mart doesn't?