Buffalo Gal

It is shortly after noon on Monday and I just came in from doing some pre-winter garden jobs.  I saw several high-flying formations of obviously wild geese (opposed to the Fergus Falls geese) winging their way  southward, being pushed by the high velocity winds from the northwest.  The high flying vees….at least 3 of them….must have had hundreds of geese in each of them. 

The geese must know (without listening to any weather men on TV) that wintery weather is soon coming.  We know it but we do not like to admit it.  I always hope that snow will stay away…the kind that accumulates and stays….til December.    This morning while I was up to my forearms in a soapy dishpan, gazing out the north window in my kitchen, I saw a very short snow shower blow through and I was reminded of "coming attractions"  as the old movie previews used to say.

It was an attraction when I was still a child—-I would get so excited by the prospect of overnight snowfalls that I could barely go to sleep.  It is funny how one’s view of snow changes when you become an adult and it means driving on bad roads or paying heating bills.  Gone is the excitement of rolling huge snow-balls and making snowmen (if the snow is just right with a modicum of water in it)  or just walking to school in it with your snowboots on,  blazing a trail in the thick cover of new snow.

The cold winds— which guarantee no biting insects and not getting overheated by working hard —-have motivated me to go out and work in the raspberry patch and cut out the dry old canes that need to be removed before next years raspberry season.  First I will have a bowl of homemade Minnestrone soup and see if I am still motivated.   That is another beauty of retirement—-you can always do it tomorrow or the next day or next week…weather permitting!!!

Have we ever been subjected to so much presidential campaigning at least 18-24 months in advance of an election?  I don’t know if 368 days is totally accurate but it is a close guesstimate on my part.  Every day, or at least every week, there is a huge political flap involving 2008  presidential politics.  The latest one is the Democratic candidates debate last week hosted by Tim Russert of NBC.  I did not watch it nor have I watched any of the debates—Republican or Democratic—because I can only tolerate so much political overload a year in advance of an election.   I have read some interesting commentaries about last week’s debate which pundits are calling Hillary’s Big Gaffe regarding her support of Illegal Aliens being allowed drivers’ licenses in New York…she supports Gov. Eliot Spitzer who is being castigated for this political move in his state.  Then Tim Russert and the other newspeople who made up the panel of questioners last week did not throw Clinton the Cottonball Questions she is so accustomed to.  The other candidates—-all males….were accused by the Clinton Campaign of "piling on" and causing her to be pummeled on her political policies and proposals.  Hillary did not like getting into the true "rough and tumble" of presidential political debates and her campaign issued a response to the bad night that Their Girl had to put up with.

Now some of the Liberals are even ganging up on her over the Debate Flap of last week. In a statement by Kate Michelman, the Feminist to end all Feminists, Michelman said this in an article in the Los Angeles Times (a most liberal newspaper!)    and I quote MIZ Michelman in an article written by LA Times writer Richard B. Schmitt:

"When unchallenged, in a comfortable, controlled situation, Senator Clinton embraces her political elevation into the ‘boys’ club’ , Kate Michelman, the former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, wrote on a posting on a blog of the liberal group Open Left.  

Again quoting Michelman:   "But when she’s challenged, when legitimate questions are asked, questions she should be prepared to answer and discuss, she is just as quick to raise the white flag and look for a change in the rules……it’s trying to have it both ways."  (unquote Kate Michelman)

Schmitt’s article further states this:    "At the debate, Clinton appeared to give non-specific answers on several topics, such as on whether she supports the controversial plan of New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer, to give drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants.  Democratic rivals seized the moment as an opportunity to portray Clinton as a calculating candidate with chameleon -like views.  The Clinton campaign subsequently posted a video on her website that showed clips of the men at the debate uttering her name in rapid-fire succession."  (unquote Schmitt of LA Times)

I found it interesting  that when the website campaign clip which seemed to say that the others " piled on" Hillary did not play well in the polls, the website campaign clip was quickly pulled.   A-Ha…say those who accused Hillary of sticking her finger in the air (polls) —-she did it again!!!   Another example of policy-making by polls, as her husband was often accused of during his presidency.     I read several other commentaries on the latest debate,  that were intriguing, to say the least.  The most intriguing was a commentary by Kevin McCullough in "Townhall.com" titled "Why Talk Radio Best Lay Off Hillary"  McCullough gave 6 reasons why national and local talk radio should pull back from criticizing Clinton. I will briefly list the first five reasons and then quote from the 6th reason which was the most stunning….controversial, is a better word.

The first five reasons why talk radio better steer clear of Hillary’s campaign:      1. Talk radio speaks to the wrong audience (conservative talk radio is aimed at mostly fifty year old white guys who already are opposed to Hillary)        2. Barely anyone saw {Hillary’s} the muff. (Hillary’s flop on illegal licenses for illegal immigrants occurred in the final two minutes of the debate..one which not many were watching in the first place)      3. Conservatives said she did well otherwise. (Charles Krauthammer was the one cited)       4. Hillary only wins—-when she is a victim. (her most successful moments have come when she can cast herself as the victim of circumstances)     5.  The Rasmussen Poll shows that she gained support after the debate.

Now the 6th reason , and  the most startling:   Number 6:  (direct quotes from McCullough)

"WOMEN VOTE IRRATIONALLY.  Some women will be offended by the observation that most will agree, women do not vote by what they know.  They tend instead to vote based on intuition. The get ‘ a feeling’ about a candidate and that’s what they trust.  Hillary has understood this better than anyone else.  Her consistent campaign ‘story’ of the 90-year old woman ‘remembering when they didn’t have the right to vote’   and ‘determined to live until they see a woman president’ has been thoroughly mocked by talk radio for its lack of believeability. Which is true—no one believes Hillary is being swarmed by a bunch of silver-haired Susan B. Anthonys.  But talk radio is missing the point.  Thirty-year old women don’t care if it’s true. It makes them feel like they are a part of history and for that reason alone, ‘it’s time’    Smart women understand this as well.  Ann Coulter recently confided to me off air—that she would gladly give up her vote because she is tired of  using her informed knowledge of candidate selection being overridden by four or five other women who could not even name the other candidates running for president, much less identify what they stand for.  The only other group less rational in its voting patterns than women is African-Americans who consistently elect people who keep them poor, keep them uneducated, and keep them killing their own." {I am compelled to insert my own  thoughts on the former statement by McCullough…I thought immediately of the election and re-election of the New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, who truly doomed his city and his people to destruction in Hurricane Katrina, but he he got re-elected in spite of it, by the mostly- black population of that unfortunate city}  —–   back to McCullough: " It should be noted—Hillary does exceptionally well with that demographic as well."  (unquote Kevin McCullough)

The McCullough "6th Reason" for why talk radio should lay off Hillary Clinton is truly frightening.  Without any prejudice or accusation of political incorrectness,( McCullough is relying on past election statistics) —- that 6th reason, if it is true, is going to see Hillary Clinton elected as the next president of the United States. She is capitalizing on those voting blocs to get her into office and unfortunately, she is politically bright enough, along with astute advice from her chief political advisor (Bill) to pull it off and the United States will be living with the consequences for 4 years— at the least.

I am not an admirer or supporter of Daylight Savings Time.  It started when I was still a college student and had an instructor who had to wear two watches—one for Daylight Savings Time and one for North Dakota time…he lived in Fargo and taught in Moorhead and at that time Minnesota alone had embraced DST.  It was a juggling act for those who lived in ND and worked in MN and vice versa.

DST messes up my biological clock when it begins in the darkness of late winter (in my opinion)  I fret and stew over the lost hour in the spring and am not at all impressed by the extra daylight hour at the end of the day.  I used to mutter all the way to the school I taught at while driving in darkness after April 1.  Now that I am retired it should not matter but that old biological clock still keeps getting tick-tocked off when DST starts.

So triumphantly I set the clocks back last night and smirked about getting the hour back finally. This has gone on for decades since DST was instituted.     My thoughts include keeping the time the same year round…if DST is so marvelous, lets just have it all the time so those of us who are snarly about getting rooked on an hour each spring can just settle down and NOT enjoy DST the whole blasted year.   So what if schoolchildren have to stand in the darkness waiting for the bus in December, January, February, and March?   So what if it stays light in December until 5:30p.m. instead of 4:30p.m.???    So what if our electricity bills rise precipitously from enduring darkness in the mornings for the whole winter?  Let’s just have the ***!!!###$^^^??  daylight time year ’round and be done with it.

I, for one will not have to suffer the loss of the hour in spring and get snarky about gaining  it back in the fall.  That is my totally selfish opinion for the day.  Now I feel better.

One of my favorite national news sites in HUMAN EVENTS.  It has a long history as a magazine (begun in 1944) so it is not a fly-by-night recent newcomer to news and views. It is mainly an outlet for op-eds and that makes it extremely interesting.   One of the recent essays was one by Monica Crowley who is a regular contributor to H.E.   She wrote a piece on Oct. 23, 2007 titled "Liberal Meltdown" and I would like to quote from her essay….a few paragraphs to give the general thesis.

"Last week, the Washington POST reported an absolutely astounding statement made by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.  She was asked by reporters about the anger of the liberal base over the Democrats’ failure to end the war in Iraq.    ‘Look’ she said, her frozen smile turning into a frozen frown, ‘I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things–Buddhas?  I don’t know what they were…couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk. ….If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they should be arrested for loitering, but becaue they have ‘Impeach Bush’ across their chest, its the First Amendment."

I will now insert a comment of my own about this stunning statement Pelosi made.   Nancy was not at all concerned about war protesters setting up a camp at the entrance to President Bush’s property some months ago when Cindy Sheehan, the war protest mom the Dems loved to embrace at that time, camped out and made hourly statements to the avid waiting liberal press members for many  weeks in a summer past.  But now when Pelosi’s property gets camped upon, it’s a different story.  She would like to have them arrested and hauled away for violating her property.  I am also sure Pelosi is stinging from Cindy Sheehan’s planned oppostion to Pelosi, going so far as to say she(Sheehan) will run for Pelosi’s seat the next time Nancy is up for re-election.  (that really gets personal, huh???)

Crowley goes on in her essay to prove further that the Libs are having a "meltdown" when she reports an incident on the Bill Maher show one Friday night recently.

"Last Friday night, Bill Maher was heckled during his live HBO show. The offending audience member  stood up, unfurled a smuggled-in banner, and began shouting loudly.  Maher, unaccustomed to being eclipsed, stormed the stands and helped security throw the guy out. What was the heckler heckling about? Why, he was shouting part of the extreme left-wing agenda: that September 11 was a U.S. government conspiracy.  Maher was livid  that his show had been interrupted…..why do they{the extreme left protesters}  stir outside Maher’s studio and not, say, Larry King’s?  Because Maher has spent the the last four years criticizing the president, the war, and other post-9-11 policies.  He has given aid and comfort to the protesters by supporting their arguments—and their right to heckle the president. He has embraced them, winked at them, given them tactical air support every week on his show."

Back to my own thoughts on these quotes from Monica Crowley:       I wonder why Maher and Pelosi seem so surprised by the invasion of their own domains by the very crowd they have supported and courted in the past few months and years.  Now that their Protesters are bothering them in a personal way, both of them are reacting similarly and are angry that the tables are being turned on them, of all people!!!    One of the crowning moments of proof of Liberal Meltdown came when Pete Stark, a congressman from California had a personal "meltdown" on the floor of the House chamber calling the president , in essence a sadist when Stark claimed that Bush sent young servicemen to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement".   Even in the face of such craziness by Stark, it took Pelosi more than a day to "rebuke" him.    If a conservative representative or senator had said anything compared to what Stark said, he/she would have been drummed out of office by now by Pelosi and her friends on the Senate side.  It is an interesting contrast to what happens or doesn’t happen when a Liberal has a public meltdown.

A final quote from Crowley’s essay: 

    "And the Democrats wonder why they have not been entrusted to run a "hot" war since Harry Truman.  Not only have they proven themselves weak and incompetent on national security, they have also shown that they are increasingly desperate………They are flailing.  And the amusing consequence is seeing them doing exactly what they accused President Bush of doing:  shutting down their agitators and telling them to watch what they say."    (unquote)

If I am not incorrect, I think tomorrow is opening day of deer hunting in our area. If it is, I am prepared.  I bought a blaze orange sweatshirt so I can walk out to the mailbox without fear of being shot at.   Other than the mailbox, I plan to stay undercover all day long.  We have our land posted but one cannot be too trusting, especially of overzealous hunters who might see something moving as they drive slowly by (cruising road hunters are the worst possible nightmare).  We once had a most obscene sign and tacit message deposited in our mail box (illegally of course, and anonymously, of course) probably because we post our land which is filled with the much – sought after deer who take refuge in our willow thickets and heavy woods.  I think the deer are smart enought to know they are not going to be molested if they stay put in the willows along the dead river on our property.    I would really like to set up a corn feeding station near our outside buildings to keep the deer in side a corral during the opening day of hunting.   Yes, yes, I know the deer herds need to be thinned. But I wish that the "thinners" would all be able to clean-kill an animal unlike the poor doe we saw once who had had her jaw shot off and she was trying to eat….we knew she was doomed to suffer and die.   I absolutely hate the hunter who did that.

One of our near – neighbors is a gun collector and gun afficionado and he regularly engages in target shooting on his own property.  Buffaloguy refers to it as "Baghdad" when we hear the rapid-firing rifle being used.  Another neighbor’s registered dogs go berserk hearing the rifles firing nearby.   It makes one wish that hunting was still done by spear-wielding cave men….one of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons shows a caveman engaged in the dangerous game of "Kiss the Mammoth" as other cavemen watch him sneak up behind a woolly mammoth’s posterior.  At least hunting with a spear would give the animals a fairer chance than they get with high-powered rifles…..or other hunters "driving" them.  How unfair can it get?

On a lighter note, a true story that my late brother in law related to me was of the time he was bow hunting and was posted high up in a tree, remaining absolutely silent as he stood there.   Another bow hunter appeared out of the woods and walked to the same tree and sat down resting against the tree trunk.  My brother in law remained silent for awhile but finally spoke up and said "Having any luck today?"    The other bow hunter did a loop-de-loop into the air, probably soiled his underwear and came down in a heap to look up and see my brother in law grinning at him like the Cheshire Cat from "Alice in Wonderland". After he recovered from the shock of not being alone by the tree, the two hunters engaged in hunter’s chit-chat.  I doubt that either of them got a deer that day.

We are bound to hear of hunting horror stories (hunters dying from gunshots) and hilarious tales like the one about the dog who shot his master by stepping on the loaded guns’ trigger.  Fortunately that gun shot was in the leg and did not kill the unfortunate hunter. After one of our neighbor’s outbuilding took a gun slug during opening day of deer season a few years ago, we posted our land once and for all.  Hunters and close-by residences do not mix at all, just like hunting and flasks of liquor should not ever be mixed.  Unfortunately, too often, they are.

I wonder if any one has agreed top go hunting with Dick Cheney this year?