Buffalo Gal

Yesterday (July 28) RealClearPolitics, a website with opinion pieces from both sides of the political "aisle" published a long list of presidential approval/disapproval polls taken by the most reputable poll takers in the nation.  Then RCP did an average for the disapproval findings and came up with 48% disapproval of the Presidential job rating.   Many polls were included and the latest ones taken between 7-12 and 7-26 were part of the RCP report:  (all numbers represent disapproval rating)   Gallup:  47;  Rasmussen:  54;  Reuters/Ipso:  48;  CNN Opinion Research:  50;  Quinnipiac:  48;  FOXnews:  48   Time: 45.   Other disapproval poll ratings were listed on the RCP site, but they were taken longer ago than the ones published here.

Victor Davis Hanson, in an opinion piece on July 28, 2010, lists 3 major reasons for what Hanson calls "Obama’s Real Problem" (title of op-ed)

Number 1: the voters in 2008 were not voting for liberal change;  they wanted change from "the costly and lengthy Bush wars; deficits, spending policies and immigration proposals."

Sadly, since his inauguration in Feb 2009, Obama has overdone the average Bush deficits by a factor of 4 to 5.  As a candidate, Obama "demogogued everything from Guantanamo Bay to Iraq" but as President he has not done much different than what his predecessor did.  The promise to close Guantanamo, holding the trial of Khalid Shiekh Mohammed in New York City, and the total pull-out from Iraq are all campaign promises broken by Obama.

The Second Factor identified by Hanson states "since ramming through the healthcare bill without either bipartisan support or public approval, Obama is polling badly on just about every hot-button issue."    We are learning day by day that the American electorate does NOT want the Cap and Trade legislation that has been proposed by Liberals, does not want any more deficit spending and does not want higher taxes.  But Obama pushes ahead blindly ignoring the public’s disapproval of his agenda that he seems unable to veer away from  even by a small degree…..it is the agenda of an  Idealogue and also the agenda of a president possibly in the grip of a major personality disorder in which the person cannot change from the chosen course of events that have been selected.  There is no compromising.

The third problem is not that the president is insufficiently attuned to race, but that he is preceived to be obsessed with it.  "Since 2008 Barack and Michelle Obama have committed a series of gaffes that appeared to reflect an attachment to identity politics. Taken together, these divisive musings have fostered the impression that the first couple is excessively concerned with racial issues."

Then there is the issue of the president’s appointees who have been a source of division and trouble, forcing some to resign quickly.  Van Jones, one of the appointed with no congressional hearings or approval, resigned after a video surfaced of his bragging about being a member of the communist party, and saying that white teen agers are more likely to be involved in mass murders than black teens.  Controversial comments by Anita Dunn, Charles Bolden of NASA who claimed his number- one assignment for NASA was to reach out to Muslim nations and make then "feel good" about their contributions to science.  The recent appointment of hard-leftist Donald Berwick to lead the Healthcare program has convinced the American public that there is no shortage of hard- core liberal idealogues in the present administration.

"In terms of poll ratings, Obama is in tough shape" says Hanson, "but not necessarily in poorer shape than various past presidents who eventually were reelected."    Davis-Hanson concludes that Obama’s main problem is one of self-knowledge."

"Obama and his supporters have somehow convinced themselves that 2008 was the result of either  (1) a left-wing American majority that finally came out of the shadows, or (2) a mesmerizing personality that by sheer force of rhetoric and charisma could take America where it otherwise did not wish to go.  Neither is true.  American remains a center-right country, and Obama, the teleprompted messiah has grown tiresome."

One additional mistake added today to many mistakes in the past, as far as making simple smaller decisions,is going to have negative repercussions for Obama.  His decision to skip the national Boy Scout Jamboree where he was invited to speak live to the Boy Scouts and their Leaders. His decision to skip the Jamboree was because he went to New York to tape "The View"….a pretty blatant attempt to wow the women of America again, whose support he has been losing. He longs to return to the Worshipped Idol of his past campaign.  Another reason he rejected the  Boy Scouts appearance is because he was fund raising for the Democratic party.  That will be another decision that comes back to haunt the president and affect the voting in November.  Coupled with the controversial liberal judge’s decision to partially "gut" the Arizona immigration law is not winning the administration any accolades since they initiated a lawsuit against the state of Arizona. A majority of Americans support Arizona’s state immigration law and have even taken to the streets in Phoenix today to protest the judge’s decision which has been serverely criticized by a number of constitutional law scholars.  It will be appealed, perhaps all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.

There are many chickens waiting to come home to roost.  None of them will be good for the President.  The polls that are taken daily tell the tale of a presidency gone badly awry…in too many ways, both domestically and in foreign affairs policies.

Another entry by Al Mohler on Crosswalk.com brings up a topic that I did not know existed:  that being a parent or parents may cause great unhappiness in one’s life.  Mohler uses an article that appeared in the "New York Magazine"….a publication he describes as "an indispensable barometer of cultural conversation, albeit a New York City conversation in most of the essays in the periodical.  

"All Joy And No Fun" is the title of the essay to which Mohler refers.  The author, Jennifer Senior,wonders at the disconnect between the claim from parents that it is such a great thing to be a parent, yet parents seem to be more unhappy than non-parents.  Senior writes "Most parents assume that having children will make them happier.  Yet a wide variety of academic research shows that parents are less happy than their childless peers, and in many cases, less so."

Mohler goes on to say that all the research in the world on this subject does not need to be studied to figure things out about parenting and unhappiness.  Yet he cites data that shows that parents are less happy than non-parents; parents of infants and toddlers are especially unhappy; single parents are less happy than married parents;  mothers are less happy than fathers…except when it comes to single fathers and they are the unhappiest parents of all.

" In the most important section of her article Jennifer Senior suggests that what might have changed is the way we view children and parenthood.  In her words:  "the possiblility  that parents do not enjoy parenting because the raising of children has fundamentally changed."

From Senior’s article"  "Before urbanization, children were viewed as economic assets to their parents.  If you had a farm they toiled alongside you to maintain its upkeep.  If you had a family business the kids helped mind the store.  But all this dramatically changed with the moral and technological revolutions of modernity.  As we gained in prospertity,childhood  came increasingly to be viewed as a time of priviledged protected time and once college degrees became essential to getting ahead, children not only a great expense but subjects to be sculpted, stimulated, instructed and groomed.  A Princeton sociologist Vivian Zelizer describes this transformation  in five ruthless words:  ‘economically worthless but emotionally priceless.’    Kids went from being our staffs to being our bosses."

In the introduction to Senior’s article she uses a description of a mother grying to coax and cajole her child away from a computer so he will do his homework.  This came from a large film project at UCLA which chronicled the lives of parents and children on film in their homes and in ordinary everyday situations.  It became obvoius, on the films, that parents were negiotiators rather than disciplinarians to their children;  Strong willed children ruled over their parents and the horrifying truth came out when a graduate student who viewed the films said they were the  "purest form of birth control ever devised."   

As an aside from the article, I have watched films that are like those described in the UCLA study; I was totally amazed at parental helplessness in the face of a demanding and very spoiled child, who would not go to bed when the parents wanted him to.  The negotiations on the part of the pleading helpless, totally controlled by the child parents was so awful I had to turn away from watching the program on which the film was being aired.  I had never experienced that feeling of total helplessness with any of my 3 children; I always knew I was in charge and so did they….we never went through the bargaining and negotiating I was seeing in this film.

Mohler says this:  "What Jennifer Senior actually chronicles in her essay is the fact that parents now see children as projects to be developed.  These children—–especially those in middle or upper class families—-are constantly enroute to one practice or another, subjected to class after class, and pushed to into the level of academic and social success that their parents think absolutely necessary for success in life.  These parents feel guilt if they allow a single opportunity for organized play or a learning activity to pass."

Another factor that is in play currently is that those who become parents are usually much older than parents were several decades ago.  Their lives have been carefully planned, with career advancement put first with economic prosperity a high priority before they have any children.  More advanced methods of birth control have made this careful planning and mapping of one’s life more possible.  Decades ago, a young couple who got married often had their first child before their first wedding anniversary (and not because they married in a "Winchester Cathedral" setting either!)  Having a baby was what happened when you got married.  It was expected even if it had not been carefully planned.  Young couples accepted parenthood easily due to the norms of those past decades.  Having children was just what was expected when a couple married.

Mohler again:  "Marriage and children now appear on our cultural screen as personal choices, rather than as the norm and expectation.  Once these responsibilities  are transformed into choices, the only reason to choose them is to make us happy.  If we do not find ourselves adequately compensated—-especially in emotional terms—for making this choice, we assume it was the wrong choice."

Anohter factor that has to do with the changes that have occurred in parenting is that children have gained control of the household and chaos results;  the home becomes a battleground of a strong- willed, likely spoiled child squaring off with a set of helpless adults who find themselves in bondage to their own child(ren).  The home is robbed of peace, order, health and discipline.  The child is robbed of what he/she needs most…a loving parent who is not pushed around by the child’s selfish needs that are to be gratified on demand.

Mohler conludes his own blog thoughts with a Christian persective (Mohler is the president of a Baptist seminary in Pennsyvania and his outlook is necessarily a Christian one)

"Christian parents must see their children as gifts from God, not as projects.  We should see marriage and parenthood as stewardship and a priviledge, not as merely a lifestyle choice…we must raise our children as a crucible for holiness, not as an experiment in happiness."  These principles apply to parents who are not committed to Christianity as well.

Having gone throught he experience of parenthood in the middle 1960s to the late 1980s.it was quite a different thing to raise childen then…it was very different from what Jennifer Senior described in her article in the "New York Magazine".  I never once thought my 3 sons were in charge of the agenda in our home…neither did their father.  The kids understood that WE…the Mom and Dad…were the ones that would be obeyed and respected.  This was the norm in those past decades for most of the young parents we knew well.

I feel sorry for the generation of young parents who seem to be raising children so differently now in this current time.

Before I launch into my real blog topic, I have a question and I wish someone would know the answer.  I seldom eat hot dogs but when I have….at public venues like the Fargodome and the Red Hawks stadium, they serve Cloverdale hotdogs and they are superior in taste and quality to others I have eaten.  I have not seen Cloverdale hot dogs for sale in grocery stores….does anyone know why or does anyone know of a place that retails Cloverdale hot dogs?    That’s it.   Now onto the blog topic.

Today I began to think about the clash of hatred and love, in many parts of life…personal and public.  I was reminded when I read or heard a comment about the fact that there does seem to be a fair number of citizens of American who truly hate their own country.  That led me to thinking about statements by persons who became very well known during the 2008 election campaigns and it also led to me to think about past haters of their own country.

First I looked up the definitions of the two terms:  Hatred:  intense feeling of dislike for persons or other things.   Love:  strong affection and personal attachment toward persons and other things.      Pretty generic and not very specific but it does cover the bases.

I thought of the many I know who truly love their nation ; those who have done so much to serve others in this country in so many ways.   I think of people I know who I have seen shed tears when they hear our national anthem or see our national symbol, our flag, get raised or passing by in a parade or other public display.  There are a great number of us who really and truly love their country and want to see it preserved in the way it was created.  I also know that for the many who love their country, these are not passing or shallow emotions..they are very real and genuine— these expresssions of love of country.

I thought about the hatred shown our country by other countries which often express their pure and unadulterated hatred for our nation.  World hatred is directed at hatred of American people, American policies and the American government.  We can daily read statements of pure hatred for us and our nation if we follow the international news.  Recently we are hated very overtly by the Iranian goverment leader (s) who makes anti- American statements frequently.  We have been hated many in the European nations and also by Middle East nations…most noticeably at the present time.  When we were attacked on 9-11- 2001 citizens of some countries celebrated, held parades and danced in the street because American had suffered great losses in that sudden attack on New York and Washington DC.  There was probably celebrating in other countries also but not public celebration, only plenty of personal conversations that were happy for our distress and great economic and personal losses.  Two authors collaborated on a book titled "The Rise of Anti-Americanism" (published 2006) in which they stated this about the 9-11-2001 attacks: it was the "quintessential Anti- American acts…. (destroying the Twin Towers and damaging the Pentagon and bringing the third plane down in Pennsylvania with great loss of American lives)….which satisfied all the competing definitions of Anti-Americanism."

I also thought about the hatred expressed publicly by figures that became well known to us recently….the statements of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright who most famously was quoted as saying "Not God Bless America,  God D – - n  America!"   His anti American statements were well publicized in American media at that time between 2007-2008.      The anti-Americanism of two people , Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn, became well known also at that time, when their involvment in the 1960s Weathermen movement was unearthed again in 2007.  The group was notable for its desire for a new American Revolution which would destroy America as it had been since its inception;  the Weathermen organization claimed, unrepentantly, the bombings of a number of American  institutions including the Pentagon in which Ayers was personally involved.  Ayers, in an interview in the "Chacago Magazine" restated his unrepentance for what was done, Anti-America, in the height of the movement in the 1960′s.  The Weathermen organized a near riot in Chicago at the Democratic convention of 1968, nearly bringing the proceedings to a halt.

People harbor personal hatred also.  There are countless examples we meet in daily lives of people who truly hate others.   I thought  the most recent column by Jack Zaleksi last Sunday (July 25).  It was an example of the way hating individuals can express, anonymously, their hatred for others and  things.  Zaleski reported on phone calls he receives at his office about things in the Forum or things not in the Forum or people who write for the Forum or letters written to the Forum—-apparently this is a daily occurence for one of the Forum editors. He has written about hateful phone calls before and I would not last in a job if I got calls like that….he must be toughened by long experience and also must be a resilient person to take such hateful calls and be able to do his work.  

How much of our own historical events…especially of those citizens who turned against their nation, by spying for other countries or committing other acts of treason…are motivated by hatred?    Or is it often just for personal gain in a monetary way?  I think that hatred is a greater movivator than getting a reward for treason….but I could be wrong.

The two strong emotions of love and hate have been a part of the human race as long as it has existed.  One of the first recorded acts of pure hatred comes from the account of the twins brothers Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis.  It is troublesome to know how much hatred has festered for such a length of time in human history.   The conflicts of human history must be generated by hatred……real love does not generate conflicts like hatred does.  We are all aware of the hatred of Adolph Hitler and his partners in the Nazi party and what it generated in the 1930′s-to the end of WW 2 in 1945 when the cowardly Hitler committed the most hate-filled act of all—-taking his own life with a self-inflicted bullet to the brain.

All humans far prefer to be an object of deep and loving care and committent by other people, whether it is our own familes, our social circles, our faith fellowships….even our government officials.   Anytime citizens detect a whiff of what they think is hatred…or condescension  …toward them from government entities…. it produces a most negative reaction in people which is often seen most prominently in election results.

One thing we can bank on, there will be no end to the two strongest of human emotons…love and hate.

The second book in the  Old Testament (Exodus) describes the struggle of the ancient Hebrews (the descendants of the sons of Jacob who had fled to Egypt to escape a famine in the land that is now the nation of Israel)….to leave the Egyptians who had made them virtual slaves after the Hebrew  people had multiplied into a "nation" with many thousands of descendants of Jacob, the Patriarch.  The Pharoah did not want to let them leave because the Kingdom depended on their slave labor.  After a series of angonizing events, the Pharoah finally heeded the plea of the Hebrew leader, Moses, and "let his people go".

Now in 2010, there is another kind of "Exodus" going on;  "Americans are vacating progressive pews and flocking to churches that offer more traditional versions of Christianity"  quoting author David Shifflet, who wrote "Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches For Conservative Christianity".   Shifflet offers compelling evidences that liberal Christianity is fast imploding upon itself.

"We have figured out your problem.  You’re the only one here who believes in God". This statement was addressed to a young seminarian, and is the introductory statement in Shifflet’s book.  Shifflet is not subtle; he gets right to his point(s).    "Most people go to church to get something they cannot get elsewhere.  This consuming public—people who already believe, or who are attempting to believe, or who want their children to believe—go to church to learn the about the Mysterious truth on which the Christian religion is built. They want the Good News, not the minister’s political views or intellectual coaching.  The latter creates sprawling vacancies in the pews.  Indeed those empty pews can be considered the earthly reward for abandoning heaven, traditionally understood."

David Shifflet takes his readers through the statistical trends that mean the most.  The author cites a study done by the Glenmary Research Center which showed that the Presbyterian Church USA had declined in membership by 11.6 percent over the past decade (the 1990s)   The study done in 2000 also showed that the United Methodist Church lost 6.7 percent and the Episcopal Church lost 5.6 percent in the same time period.  The United Church of Christ lost 14.6 percent, while the American Baptist Church were reduced by 5.7 percent.

On the other side, Conservative church denominations are growing while not losing membership.  The conservative Presbyterian Church in America grew by 42.6 percent. Other conservative denominations showed steady gains:  Christian Missionary and Alliance grew by 21.8 percent;  The Evangelical Free Church grew by 57.2 percent. The Assemblies of God grew by 18.5 percent.

Glenmary director, Ken Sanchagrin told the "New York Times" that "he was astounded  to see that by and large the growing churches are those that we ordinarily call conservative. And when I looked at those who were declining, most were moderate or liberal churches.  And the more liberal the denomination, the more they were losing."

" Shifflet’s opening story about the young seminarian who was confronted by his peers underlines the importance of theological seminaries as either perpetuation or the destruction of the faith.   In this case, seminarian Andy Ferguson who had questioned the anti-supernaturalistic claims of his seminary professors was confronted by a fellow seminary student who said ‘ We’ve been talking about you. We know you are having a rough time and we finally figured out what your problem is…you are the only one who believes in God.’   Andy Ferguson decided that his fellow student was right.  ‘They believed in things like the redemptive power of the universe, but I was the last one to defend the biblical God…the God who makes claims on us, who said we should do some things and not do others, and who put each one of us here for a purpose.’  "

Andy Ferguson left the seminary and became a Roman Catholic and went into business.  He told author Shifflet that "liberal protestantism is doomed.  Mainline Protestantism will reach a certain point  where it will appeal only to Wiccans, vegetarians, sandal-wearers, and people who play the recorder.  No one will feel at home there if they believe in God."

(Al Mohler, on his Crosswalk.com website is the source of the information on my blog) The entire blog can be read at http:www.crosswalk.com/blogs/mohler.1402031/ 

When we had our 3 dogs….1. Freckles   2. Annie   3. Mac …..all three would bury the nice juicy bones I gave them instead of eating and chewing on them.  I would find old bones in the springtime when I started digging in the garden for planting time.  I always wondered why those dogs would bury the bone instead of enjoy its flavor.  I never figured it out but I think this is just doggy behavior…save it for later but never dig it up again..or forget where you buried it.

That is also how new oak trees sprout and begin growing….squirrels bury acorns in the ground for digging up later but never get around to un-digging their acorns and a new oak tree sprouts and continues to grow into a majestic oak tree if given enough years to do so. Another case of wild animal behavior….burying and hiding things.

I think the mainstream media has engaged in such doggy/squirrel behavior also, in the case of the questionable senator from Minnesota, Al Franken (diaper boy/porno-writer/doodler/clown in chief). The MSM like to "bury" the nasty bones of politicians they support.  His election has now been questioned due to group (Minnesota Majority) who did a whole lot of research concerning the fairness of that election and the possible fraudulent "win" by Franken.  When they compare lists of convicted felons in MN and the list of voters who signed in to vote in Ramsey (St Paul) and Hennepin (Minneapolis) counties, the MN Majority found that at least 312 felons voted illegally in the senate election in 2008.  Felons are forbidden to vote so this would be a crime .   I know there are lawsuits in process, not against Franken whose election cannot be undone at this point, but probably against those who are responsible for assuring Minnesotans fair elections ..certainly NOT allowing convicted felons to cast votes.  There is possibly fallout over this issue but it will take some time, no doubt.

I got curious again today….I can’t remember why it popped into my mind…and I googled the words"  Al Franken, felons, voting" and up came more than 30 pages of articles relating to this subject. I was digging up some bones that had been buried in late June and early July.  Almost all the entries were from multitudinous political blogs all over the country and a lot of them in Minnesota.    What I was most curious about was the presence, if any, of mainstream media sources in Minnesota, in particular, the biggest newspaper in the state, the "Minneapolis StarTribune".  I only found one reference to the "Strib" giving any notice of the alleged Franken voting fraud story which should have been hot news in Minnesota.  But the StarTrib is definitely part of the "journolist" genre…..those outlets that are not new sreports but rather blatant campaigners for certain politicians.  The "Strib" is as liberal as they come and they surely would NOT want to report anything bad about their Pal, Al!!!   The one article I found was a letter to the editor which was a refutation of an earlier  opinion piece by Nick Coleman (a real journolister if ever there was one.)  Coleman (whose article I could not locate because I was running out of time and there were many more pages on this subject of Al Franken and felons voting.   Coleman had obviously pooh-poohed the work done by the Minnesota Majority and spent his op-ed discrediting anything that might show his Hero Al had won the election fraudulently with votes from felons.

The blogs were mostly all honest reports of what the MN Majority had dug up in the voting records and the records of convicted felons.  In one, Governor Tim Pawlenty (no pal of Al) opined that felons were just the sort of folks who WOULD vote for Al Franken!!!   Pawlenty is not shy about opining and feels confident enough to make such a statement.  The blogs I looked at were overwhelmingly condemnatory of such a fraud as allowing felons to vote, especially in the close election between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.  When the votes were finally recounted and accepted, the margin between the two candidates was 341 votes. If 312 felons voted in the two largest counties in MN (the Metro area) it appeared that most of them , if not all, voted for Franken.

Googling that topic was one of the most interesting things I have done lately.

The two main political parties in America are throwing verbal rocks at each other again.  So what else is new, one might say, but this time it is an argument over the most recent extension of unemployment benefits.  The Dems insist that adding another 34 billion dollars to the national deficit is fine and dandy but the Republicans wanted the extension of unemployment to be paid for by using funds that are already appropriated but yet unused or by making budget cuts elsewhere.  I would favor the "Paygo" choice myself since the defict figures are already so out of sight we cannot see the end of them.

President Obama took the opportunity to trash his opponents (the Repubs.) with recent speeches about the unemployment benefit extension.  "So after years of championing policies that turned record surplus into a massive deficit, including a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, they’ve finally decided to make their stand on the backs of the unemployed." said Mr. Obama in one of his speeches.

Perhaps he should think carefully before firing any salvos about turning anything into a "massive deficit" since he and his party have done a great job of doing so since February 2009.  Then the Republicans were quick to point out to the President what he had said last November before signing another unemployment extension.  At that time, Obama said this: "Now it is important to note that the bill I have just signed will not add to our deficit.  It is fully paid for and so it is fiscally responsible."           Not so this go round…..the tune the President is singing now is quite different from the one in November.

A CBS newsman questioned Robert Gibbs (the Hapless One) about the contradiction in the President’s stand(s) on paying for more unemployment benefits.  Gibbs (as always) promised the reporter he would "look into it and get back to you" but he never did. (what else is new?)

This extension of unemployment lasts til November 30, 2010 so no doubt there will be another go- round on the same issue around Thanksgiving time.   It would seem like this administration, in approving over and over, extension of unemployment benefits is admitting it has failed as far as creating new jobs…which they guaranteed some time back that they would be doing.   So far there are more people signing up for unemployment; the rate of unemployment hovers near 10% and the promise at the time of the Stimulus bill being enacted was to reduce the unemployment rate to 7 %.  Something is haywire.  More people have even given up looking for jobs due to extreme discouragement so their numbers do not show up in the national unemployment rate.  When the census workers are cut loose this summer, the unempl. rate is going to bounce back up, perhaps over 10% since the census jobs, which padded one report about job additions, are only temporary and are nearly done.

Apparently this administration considers government jobs the best kind to have since very few private sector jobs have been created since the 2009 inauguration.  For good reason: this administration is openly hostile to real business enterprises and it shows;  businesses are NOT hiring extra people or expanding due to the fear of increasingly high taxes and regulations slapped on those who truly create the REAL jobs in this country.

We are in for a long dry spell….on too many fronts.

( based on report from Mark Knoller, CBS White House Correspondent)

These truly ARE taxing times for many Americans;  taxing in the sense that we are beset and bedeviled by many national issues, especially the specter of increased taxation upcoming when January 2011 rolls around.  Many former taxes are being brought back…death taxes on estates for one.  With the massive, deficit spending that has gone on in the lop sided Liberal Congress, egged on by the demands of the Obama White House, we are in debt beyond our lifetimes…maybe beyond our childrens’ lifetimes and the way things are going, we could follow some of the socialist Euro-nations like Greece, into total financial ruin.   Hopefully it is not too late to pull ourselves out of the deficit mess, but some things will not be reversible… even if Congress changes hands completely in November 2010.

One of the Big Tax And Spenders has found a way to spend big….Senator John Kerry (D-MA) spent upwards of $7 million dollars for a spiffed up yacht named the "Isabel".  This is not hard for Kerry to do….he and his heiress wife, Teresa (that’s "Tare-ay-suh") own several million dollar- plus homes in various parts of the country so buying a seven mil. yacht is no big deal.  But the taxes on the yacht are a big deal, so Kerry has found a way to avoid Massachussetts taxes on his ship by mooring the yacht in much less taxed Rhode Island!!  How clever of him.  He wants to tax us, but he wants to escape paying the $437,500 dollars in sales tax in "Taxachussetts" and the excise tax that would run 70 thousand dollars!!!   Even the big spenders hate taxes!   Too bad Kerry wants to stick it to us, the American people to pay for the wasteland of spending he has been part of since 2009 when the Congress and the Presidency went all liberal/democratic.  All of this news came in out in the July 23 "Boston Herald"….a considerably less friendly newspaper than the liberal "Boston Globe" which finds that Kerry can do no wrong.

It is a taxing time, as in great stress, in the state of Louisiana also.  Louisianans have taken the brunt of the damage from the BP oil spill.   The beaches of Louisiana were the first to get oil on them and the coastal marshes suffered oil damage as well.  Governor Bobby Jindal pleaded with the Obama administration for some immediate help for Lousisiana with barriers that would have sopped up oil on the beaches and in the marshes but the Obama gang ignored the pleas and sat on them for too long… the beaches and marshes were spoiled by the oil washing up on shore.

The later, after the Obama administration slapped a total moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf, a huge number of speakers  appeared before the President’s oil spill commission to plead for the resumption of drilling.  Even the commission, which did not contain one representative of oil or gas companies was inclined to liftimg the moratorium.  There needs to be vigorous oversight by the government so that a similar oil spill disaster can be prevented before it even happens….  But a total moratorium is going too far according to a New Orleans media writer (Jeff Crouere) who is a political analyst for WGNO-TV ABC 26 out of Louisiana. He also is the host of a program from New Orleans called "Ringside Politics".  Mr. Grouere makes his case on behalf of his besieged state.

"When the initial drilling moratorium was struck down by in the federal court, President Obama responded with another moratorium, disregarding both the directive of the judge and the wishes of the people of Louisiana.  Even the President’s hand-picked science commission recommended against a moratorium.  The moratorium is not only harming our local economy but is also making our country more dependent on foreign oil and putting our national security at risk." writes Mr. Gouere.

"Does the President even  care that his decisions are  causing major economic harm to Louisiana?  Senator David Vitter (LA-R) says ‘the President is waging war on Louisiana’s economy’.  It seems the goal of the administration is to inflict economic harm on the red state of Louisiana."

Several major industries are closing down in Louisiana….due to policies of the Obama administration.  Avondale, a major shipyard right outside of New Orleans, will close leaving a loss of 5000 jobs at that company. Officials at Northrop Grumman, the defense contractor that manages the shipyard said that the high paying jobs would move out of the state to other sites in other states.  The cancellation of NASA’s constellation program and  the loss of 2000 aerospace jobs at Michoud facility in East New Orleans, a total of 60,000 top quality jobs will be lost in Louisiana…."due to the misguided policies of the Obama administration."(Grouere essay)

When Charlotte Randolph, the Lafourche Parish president complained to President Obama that his actions were costing Louisiana thousands of good jobs, Obama recommended that the newly displaced workers apply for unemployment benefits.

Now that IS a revealing look into the mind of the President who seems to equate unemployment checks with a viable answer to the loss of truly good jobs.

It may not be accidental that Louisiana is suffering at the hands of the Obama administration policies.  The state went for Senator McCain by 59% in the 2008 election.  Louisiana is considered to be a sturdy "RED" state politically.  Is it possible that the President is playing "payback" for Louisiana who rejected him in the 2008 election.  Obama is notably thin-skinned and does not accept any criticism or rejection; if he were a kindergarten student (and sometimes it seems like he is) his report card would say "does not play well with others."

One wonders if all the delays and non-responses to Governor Jindal (a Republican) and the endless tangles of Governent red tape were deliberate acts to punish the people of Louisiana.

I wonder if this same treatment would have been accorded to say, New York, California or Pennsylvania if they had sustained the disaster that Louisiana has taken from the  Gulf Oil spill?    I think those Liberal states that voted for the President would have been taken care of swiftly and helpfully.    When the name of the game is "I’ll get you for what you did to me" …it is highly likely.

 When I grow up, I want to publish a new magazine for women; it will be called "Random Housekeeping".  Years ago, after reading a book by Peg Bracken, I wanted to help her edit a magazine called "Bad Housekeeping" but I am going to do "Random Housekeeping" on my own. I do not know if Peg Bracken is even alive yet.  I read her book in the 1960s decade.

A subtitle to the blog " Random Housekeeping" could be "The Diary of A Mad (as in frantic) Housekeeper"  or mad, as in nutty- mad.   Because I am so definitely Left-Brained I do things the Left Brained way and that includes housekeeping and other such mundane things.   A Right Brained person is "Visual;  processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking at the whole picture, then putting the details together."             On the other hand (or brain – side) Left Brained people are "Verbal; {oh are they ever!}….process information in an analytical and sequential way; looking at the pieces and then putting the pieces together."

Well that certainly describes my randomness when it comes to housekeeping.  If I looked at it the Right Brained way….looking at the whole picture"….I would probably feel like jumping off a bridge from seeing all the things, housekeeping wise, that needed to be done…by me…alone!    Being Left Brained is far better;  I can deal with the tiny pieces one at a time and eventually (like 5 years from now) I may see the "whole picture" which is a neat and orderly and clean home.  But by that time everything I first did would be disorderly and messy and probably dirty….housework is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge; you finish one end of it, and the other end is already rusty and needs paint again.

Here is this morning’s Diary of a Random (Mad Housewife) Housekeeper:      1.  Plan the day’s tasks making sure they won’t last more than 3 hours.   2. Make list…today it is a mental list not a written list.    3.  LIST:   a. clean upstairs bathroom putting away all the CR -  P on the counter of the sink.    4. Apply vacuum cleaner to all first floor carpeting (not the Lion’s Den of course…DBs "office"..leave it alone and he’ll come home…..et. al.)  5. Shut DBs office door.   6.  Pack up throw-away clothing ( old stretched- out cheap bathing suits which are mine for the past 12 years or so)   7.  Water Sugar Babies, Cantaloupes and Big Potted Flower planters   8.  Load dishwasher and wipe off the kitchen counters   9.  Put wet clothes in dryer first and hang outside on clotheslines when damp-dry.  10.  Scrub out cat’s nest (bed) to remove all fleas which were discovered at Vet’s clinic last week.  11. Continue to wash all bedding the Cat has set foot on.

So what have I gotten done now that it is 12:15 in the p.m. ???     I went looking for the Lowe’s sacks that had a container of Palmolive dish detergent.  This led me to the garage where I noticed a pile of garden dirt near the door. I stopped looking for the soap and swept up the dirt.  Back to the sacks.  Cannot find Palmolive. Go inside and accuse DB of taking the detergent to his little camper that he is cleaning up.  Denied; has only taken Murphy Oil soap to camper.  Back to sacks.  Take out Gold Bond cupboard cleaner and restorer.  Go inside and test the product on kitchen cupboards.  Back to sacks from Lowes; taking out the Gold Bond cleaner reveals the Palmolive dish soap underneath.  Back to kitchen to fill up dishpan to soak  messy dishes before loading the dishwasher.  Go out on deck and get Cat Nest(bed) and put it on the table out there.  Get soapy detergent water and a small brush and scrub cat bed.  Amazing amount of gray hair found on scrub brush.  Keep scrubbing inside, on sides and bottom.  More matted gray hair comes up and out.  Then it was taken to the front lawn for a severe rinsing process to get the soap out. Run to dryer which has been forgotten, and find clothes all dry and wrinkled up.  While in the basement, might as well put the last big blanket in the washer and set the cycle.  Go up stairs and plop in recliner in front of huge fan that is whirring to cool off from so much running around chasing my vestigial tail.  Back to kitchen where refrigerator door is opened to reveal last night’s cooked garden string beans which have to be made into 3- bean salad.  Start that recipe.  Run downstairs again and outside where container garden contains red onions.  Back upstairs to kitchen.  Wash off onions and then go back to cat bed which is rinsed but needs to be patted down with huge swimming towels so it will dry faster.  So far  have done multiple tasks but none of the first and important ones on my mental list.

This takes me up to the time I sat down again to cool off and I realize I have not been near the upstairs bathroom or the vacuum cleaner.   Had enough of Random Housekeeping? Clearly I have not since I have been doing this for years….it is not another function of being in one’s seventh decade of life…I have been living this "dream" for all decades of my teen years and adult life.  It will go on.  I am SO left-brained!!!

Now where’s that broom so I can sweep the kitchen floor?

I just read the news article about lawyers gearing up for another appeal of his death sentence (Alphonso Rodriguez, the convicted murderer of Dru Sjodin).  There are also some very angry comments posted at the end of the article with which I am in agreement.

If this criminal who committed many crimes against women before he killed Dru and dumped her body in a ravine got what he really deserved in the old Eye For an Eye tradition, he would be terrorized, threatened with a long sharp knife, driven around in a car, raped and stabbed and dumped in a ditch or ravine somewhere.  Just make sure he experiences the terror that Dru did.  

I am angry and so sorry for Dru’s parents and siblings or other family members that have to get dragged through this again and have to remember the horror of not knowing what happened to their beloved Dru for so long and then finding out how she died and was left in the cold of winter in a ravine near Crookston.     Give her killer what he gave her!!!!

While I was sitting on a pillow on my Slave’s lap this morning…at the computer of course..she can barely drag herself away for the first hour (s) of the morning….we read Chance Farside’s blog entry.  I think I should be able to add my own version of some events that my Slave, Buffalogal has been writing about lately.

It is true that I have been sick and it was disgusting to get sick in summertime.  I have actually never been sick in all my 12 years of life, except for the time that Nasty Dude took a potshot and hit me in the shoulder and I had to go to the Vet clinic for an amputation making me a three legged cat.  But I was not sick….just hurt and disabled for a time. So when I started feeling "low" on a Monday about two weeks ago, it was surprising….although I did stay out all night before that Monday in spite of the frantic efforts of my Slave and my human dad to get me to come inside the house, which they always do.  But that evening I was having too much fun in my special places where I go to hide and lurk and possibly knock off a mouse or a chipmunk of if I am really lucky…a small rabbit.  I just decided to ignore their calls of "Kitty!"….."Kitty,come here!" and all that folderol.   A dog might come when called but I, a cat, just take a message and if I feel like it, I will get back to them when I feel like it.  So I kinda had a hangover from my all nighter when they found me in the garage on Monday morning after they left the door cracked for me.  I felt kind of dizzy and hot and it turned out I had a pretty good fever.  My nose was dry and I just felt like hunkering on my special bed in my basement condo.  I did not drink water (which drove the Slave crazy) and I did not eat.  Who can eat when they feel so lousy??

By Tuesday "she" was fit to be tied…acted like she had a sick human baby and called around for advice and finally made an emergency appointment at Lee’s Vet Clinic which is just about 3 miles from our farm.  I then got stuffed head-first into that blankety-blank little pet carrier and I immediately sounded my siren….I have a special cat wail/growl/ complaining voice after being put in the carrier because I know I am going to be taken somewhere in a car and I hate riding in a car.  "She " called up Jane and Jane said cats cannot go without drinking water and that their electrolytes (whatever they are…treats?) would get all out of whack.  I find myself sitting on her lap, inside my cage, at the clinic where there are a lot of bad smells of dogs and other cats and other unknown animals I do not know about.  I got very quiet because I did not want anyone to notice me, especially a big dog who was waiting for an appointment also.

We got called into a little room and the Vet who was really a nice gentle lady took me out of my cage and began prodding my belly and sides.  Then she took a thermometer and stuck it in my…..never mind.  It was enough to make me try to hunker up again but it did not last long.  I had a fever of 103 which the lady said was pretty much for a cat.  Then I got hauled to another place where some more nice ladies (ladies are nicer then men…men are big and loud and they scare me a lot, especially since I got shot)….poked me with a needle and took out some blood to be tested.  Things turned out good though…I did not have cat leukemia or anything bad but they gave the Slave a bunch of antibiotic pills to give me for ten days. 

This pill giving has not been the greatest time of my life either.  I hate being restrained in two big towels by the man in the house and then my Slave pries my mouth open and sticks a pill way back in my mouth to make me swallow it.  I have foiled her a few times!  I have not swallowed but spit it back out as soon as she lets go of my mouth.  But then we do it again and again til I swallow it.  She even took to giving me water and something called Pedia Lite in a little squirt thing that I cannot resist swallowing the water. I have just about "had it" with the pills but the Slave says there are at least 5 more to take. Today, at least, she smartened up and put the pill in a nice ball of canned cat food that I really like so I did not even notice the pill.  She is a slow learner!

The upshot of all this attention and panic and trips back and forth to that clinic where the nice ladies are is that I am pretty much all better.  I go outside again after being kept in the house for 4 days which just about drove me nuts.  I am an indoor/outdoor kitty and I cannot change my spots when I am already 12 years old, so they let me go out again.  I get hauled inside though before it gets dark and after staying out all night that time, I kind of like going in to my own sweet bed and food dish and water bowl.  Yes, I am back to eating and drinking again—anything not to have the squirt thing put in my mouth after I have already been force-fed a pill.

The Slave says I have to quit now…she has something called a "hair appointment".  I wonder if someone is going to use a cat brush on her to get the under-fluff out of her fur after winter?   Something like that I guess.  I know I am going to stay home for the rest of my life, if I can help it.   Being sick was a total bummer.