Monday Open Thread: November 29th, 2010
What’s on your minds this Monday?
What are people talking about where you live?
What do you know about the organization Soldier’s Angels?
What volunteering are you including in your holiday planning?
© 2010, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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I had to take my neice (15) to the airport for her return flight, and after I deposited her in the security line, I waited and noticed that they were sending every single person through the porno-scanner, not ‘randomly selecting’ just some of them. This was taking forever, as it is not a quick thing, they had to line up each person, have them ‘assume the position’ and then they had to stand there for 10-20 seconds. Luckily, for whatever reason, just when she was about to go through, they closed that line, and started directing everyone through the regular magnometer. Thank goodness for small favors.
It is very irritating that we are ALL being treated as suspects, except for people who fit the description of the ACTUAL suspects.
wannacruize,
Anything done or action imposed by lib lefties most certainly turns reality on its heads.
Suspect wrongdoers are without fail rewarded and scrupulously defended and given all protection while the innocent are punished & suffer. Leftism be marxist, socialist, or whatever is without question pure evil.
Cynthia Yockey has a great post on why she supports Palin for President:
http://aconservativelesbian.com/2010/11/28/yes-prof-jacobson-palin-for-president-in-2012/
Larry Elder has a post on the double standards facing Republican and conservative candidates:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/elder111110.php3
Obama as Dubya 2.0.
http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/26/torture-tort-terror
Now, I happen to be straddling a very fine line between civil libertarianism and my loathing of Islam right now. So what makes me sick is the sheer hyprocrisy.
I think this foreign policy hypocrisy is what keeps Eric Holder safe in his job. His incompetence on the domestic front is a wonderful smokescreen from what Obama is doing in the War on Terror.
Leftist education debates. These people actually have debates over this:
“Should students be rewarded for being friendly, prepared, compliant, a good school citizen, well organized and hard-working?
“Or should good grades represent exclusively a student’s mastery of the material?”
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2010/11/standardized-testing-has-embarrassed.html
If I had tried to bolster my grades by claiming that I was, like, sooo friendly and compliant – well, I don’t want to think of the mockery that would have come my way.
One of my American friends once taught in an urban high school. Her main frustration was that no one even *tried* to challenge the students. They came from years of being told they were awesome because they came to class.
Her more senior colleagues told her there was no point holding them to same standards as the students in the wealthier (read, white) schools.
Ah, the subtle bigotry of low expectations. And they laughed at G.W. Bush when he said that, but it is so true!
As for grading kids on their “school citizenship,” do you remember in elementary school part of your report card had marks for things like “works and plays well with others” and “participates in class?” I remember that. In fact, at one company I worked for, the way we described a manager who was a real witch was, “She runs with scissors.” Everyone knew what we meant.
But the letter grades we got were all about the academics. The socialization scores were more like “Exceeds Expectations,” “Meets Expectations” and “Needs Improvement.” Come to think of it, good preparation for our performance reviews as adults…
Nre research suggests that the Death Penalty does, in fact, have a deterrent efect.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/us/18deter.html?ex=1353128400&en=a0778056f87fdc21&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Soldier’s Angels is a wonderful, solid organization. When I make care packages for the troops, I go through SA. Due to the current upheavel in my life, I am unable to sponsor a warfighter at this time, but I have before and plan to again once I’m settled– there’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting a quick thank-you email from a soldier you’ve never met thanking you for cookies and gatorade.
SA has a variety of projects they work on– something for everybody, one could say.
http://www.soldiersangels.org/
This is a stand-up organization– I was first introduced to them through the blog Blackfive, and then through further mentions from Glen Reynolds and others. Really good group– if someone is looking for a venue for charitable impulses, this is a good place to start.
I have not worked with them personally but became aware of the group through Michael Yon. He is an ardent supporter. His new book, “Iraq:Inside the Inferno” is in part a fundraiser for Soldier’s Angels with a goal of raising $50K.
He is former military, active front line journalist, and pretty amazing photog IMO.
And I agree with zmalfoy – really a good group from what I can see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE
this made me feel good this morning!
Merry Christmas everyone!
thanks for sharing! they were wonderful!
Outstanding!
I watched Sarah Palin’s Alaska last night and was blown away…the entire episode was about their family fishing operation. The family went to stay at Todd’s grandmother’s house as they do every fishing season when the salmon run and the show followed them during their fishing trips. It was unbelievable what this family does together. Track is being prepared to take over the business (hmmm…Sarah & Todd are planning for 2012 maybe?). Todd was absolutely awesome – teaching Track, playing with Trig! Sarah pitched right in too with all the dirty work. Todd’s Gramma is an Eskimo and led the family in prayer before their July 4th birthday dinner for Willow. Sarah & Willow visited Todd’s sister and their “fish camp” in an Eskimo village and helped with their operation too.
I am so proud of the Palin family. The footage was raw…muddy, cleaning nets, scrubbing boats, nothing glamorous about fishing. Hard work, long hours, sometimes disappointing results, persistence – everything about last night’s episode was in a dire contrast to the family in the White House now. The Palin family “can do” and prove it day after day. Can’t wait until they are occupying 1600 PA Avenue and the slackers there now are sent back to…well, whoever will take them.
what’s on my mind?
a couple of days before kevin asked us to invite someone to thanksgiving dinner who had no place to go, i’d done just that. she’s unmarried and lives with her dad b/c he needs looking after. he wasn’t feeling up to coming, but she did.
we had a great time, with lots of laughing and a TON of food. she was amazed at us, and kept calling us the waltons *giggleNOTgiggle*
after supper, i packed a her hefty amount of leftovers with the supplication that she was doing my family a favor and saving us from days and days of turkey, turkey, turkey.
guys, i called her last night. they were still eating off our leftovers, and she told me that the food i sent home with her was mainly what she had in the fridge. i’d had no idea, and that burned me with shame. this isn’t a stranger, but a friend, and a good one.
i hung up and cried.
what volunteering am i doing for christmas? making sure she and her dad eat something besides ramen noodles. no, she didn’t ask, and i’m gonna need some creative ways to leave food and/or money so she doesn’t know it’s me.
Sometimes you can make up a Christmas basket full of goodies without hurting anyone’s pride. I like themed baskets, all kinds of soup makings, dried beans, some soup bowls, and a loaf of french bread, or something like that.
Stop making me cry! That’s a lovely story. We had some people over too…neighbors, my husband’s aunt (who really had no where else to go) and in laws who would have just done a tiny dinner at their house (3 people, the inlaws and another aunt). We had a nice time.
Here’s a couple of ways to play ‘angel’ for your friend without her knowing:
Leave a paperbag of unperishable food on her doorstep
Send a gift card to the local supermarked/Walmart in the mail with no return address, or with a return address of a local charity. (so if the mail gets returned, someone uses it)
Ask her to be a food taster for your new recipes or holiday treats you want to give as gifts. (Then you can give it to her twice!)
I posted a long entry about Sarah Palin’s Alaska show last night and it did not appear. When I tried to post again, I got the message that it was a duplicate and cannot be posted. This is the first time I’ve had a failure in trying to post to Hillbuzz.
I’m rather disgusted with this Wikileaks person. I’m even more disgusted that Obama did not stop this guy…because he most certainly could have. Are you telling me our intelligence operations could not trail this guy to make his life a livng nightmare? Are you telling me our military does not have the capability to shut down this guy’s cyber life? Of course they could have. Allowing this to happen is Obama’s biggest mistake. He has put our country at grave risk by exposing himself as a weak president, even more so than Jimmy Carter.
And shame on the Army…allowing some 22-year-old punk to do this. He needs to be severely punished as an example to others who may have the same ideas.
Really….
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/11/wikileaks-completes-obamas.html
Yes! Yours is the first time I’ve seen my same thought expressed: Assange (sp?) and his PFC accomplice did this before and NOTHING HAPPENED. And Obama & company are surprised it happened again?
I don’t see much written indicating there’s widespread belief this is treason. I keep wondering what I am missing. This isn’t a story I followed very closely so I keep thinking there’s some angle I don’t understand which makes all this not a big deal.
This is yet another example of how incompetent this administration is. They just lumber from one debacle to the next. I feel like I’m living in crazyland when I hear talk of how it might be hard to evict Obama in 2012.
Yeah . . . when trying to figure out why the administration was so complacent about this, the only answer I could think of that made much sence was that this is very much according to plan.
Of what has been released, what surprized you? Most of the revelations were things most thinking people already knew or had figured out.
No, this is an excuse for more control over the internet. Instead of arresting the people involved and confiscating the servers, they’ll use this to expand control over the Net.
Don’t fall for it. Assange and Wikileaks are scum, yes, and they’re being used by the very people it looks like they’re working against.
As Admiral Akbar once said: “It’s a trap!!!”
But you have to look at the content of the leaks. They make Obama look foolish and petty. I don’t think Obama would want to make himself look this idiotic.
I don’t believe that. I think it shows how incompetent this president is and quite the opposite that Obama is that smart. He’s not smart. The government cannot just “takeover” the internet.
Bev, I sincerely hope you are right, but if memory serves
me correctly, The Patriot Act would allow it if an “emergency” was declared. Watch for the media reaction, that should tell us if that is what they are planning. I think that the PFC should be tried for Treason, and shot. That would deter any other wahoo who wanted to steal classified documents. What I would like to know is how a PFC gets that kind of Security clearance?
Getting embarrassed is not an emergency. it’s unfortunate but not an emergency. Nothing has come out in this leak that would justify shutting down the internet. It’s not the internet. It’s international news. SPiegal and Guardian…Obama can’t shut them down. There’s left and right hysteria right now. It would be wise to observe and see where the dust settles.
Something tells me that they will try to use this to seize control of the Internet. Seriously, where do we get most of our information?
I thought this was an interesting article.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/how_the_nanny_president_sees_himself_Rz5QE1GoCFaiwCJvR9mrdP
and that y’all would enjoy.
…” the emperor has no clothes!”
I especially love the line that “the President lives in a hall of mirrors and he is awed by the view.” ‘Nuff said.
I’m trying to get a campaign started to investigate why Homeland Security & Dept of Justice are spending time, manpower and money investigating and shutting down web sites for copyright infringement(kids downloading music) instead of concentrating all resourses on shutting down Wikileaks which actually IS a security threat. Here’s a link to the Senators on the oversite committee if anyone else wants to call and ask for an investigation.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Senate_Committee_on_Homeland_Security_%26_Governmental_Affairs
I was commenting on the “How will Palin deal with New Hampshire” piece, and doing some thinking…and realized that there is a real method to Sarah’s madness.
She’s not campaigning.
She’s fighting a war.
Let me explain. If you really want to understand Grand Strategy, the standard work is Carl von Clausewitz’s “On War”. Highly recommended. Get the Howard/Paret translation.
Clausewitz put a lot of emphasis on Strategic Centers of Gravity…the one item that is the foundation of the enemy’s power. Break that, and you defeat the enemy.
Note that Palin has been attacking the media constantly. I believe she has concluded that the Propaganda Press is Obama’s Center of Gravity, and the probably Center of Gravity of her primary opponents – and intends to break it. Blast their accuracy, demolish any credibility they have left.
And I think this military approach may explain a lot of her campaign tactics over the next year. What it says about her is another matter…
I would request a moment of silence today. My wife’s grandfather will be buried today. He was a WWII Navy vet who was in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese Signed their surrender on the USS Missouri. He died late Thanksgiving Day. I am planning my moment of silence for him at 4:00 PM est.
I am emailing my senators, telling them to vote against S510. Here’s a link from “As A Mom” to tell you more about it. The Senate is supposed to vote on it tonight. If you grow your own food or support local agriculture — or if you are horrified by the ideas behind this bill — please call or email your senators.
http://www.asamom.org/forum/topic/show?id=4124144%3ATopic%3A830121&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic
I agree on this. I called both of my Senators and voiced my opposition to the bill.
I did, too!
I also called from VA. but both my Senators are useless dems…
I’m in Arkansas. Mine are Lincoln (just defeated but claims to be a friend of farmers) and Pryor who’s looking to be re-elected in 2012. Hopefully, Lincoln’s defeat got Pryor’s attention!
I will do my part, but I don’t really care what they pass. I’m going to keep growing my own food and supporting local agriculture. I will not “go gentle into that good night!”
So our “brave leader” is leaving the Wikileaks situation to Hillary …what a leader we have. Such bravery. Such competence….NOT. Is Obama so narrow minded and naive that he does not understand the fallout from this situation? I believe he is. The fact that he went on national TV and told everyone not to worry…his lip was fine….is truly mind boggling.
I just saw where the president is (quote) “not pleased” with the leaks. Could he have offered a more stern condemnation? The king isn’t pleased?
I don’t imagine Hillary is too pleased she has to face foreign leaders while Barry plays hoops again today, with his daughters.
latest from insider….
the media elected Obama, not the American people…. no chit! like we didn’t know this
http://newsflavor.com/opinions/white-house-insider-the-media-elected-obama-not-the-american-people/#ixzz16hE693Iu
I think “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is getting my boyfriend to drop some of his ambivalence about her. He never pays attention to politics (he only voted in the midterms because I “made” him read about the candidates, pick one, and go vote) and sometimes he buys into liberal talking points without looking into them. He’s one of those people who really hates conflict and I don’t think he wants to think about the concept that the entire mainstream media could be completely unfair and wrong about someone. Example:
Him: Glenn Beck said something about the Holocaust.
Me: What’d he say?
Him: I don’t know, but it was really bad.
Me: How do you know it’s really bad if you don’t know what he said?
Him: I don’t know, I just know it was bad. (Translation: someone I know told me it was bad, and I don’t want to risk conflict by disagreeing with them.)
Me: Let me look. *gets on computer* He said that as a teenager, George Soros was a Jew helping the Nazis put other Jews in concentration camps. Then he said that if he’d been in the Holocaust, he didn’t know what he would have done to survive. That’s not “bad”, that’s just TRUE. George Soros DID help the Nazis put Jews in concentration camps. He’s talked about it and everything.
Him: *something non-commital*
Anyway, we were watching “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” while we were eating dinner yesterday night and he was actually kind of into it. He wanted to know which kid was which, and was the little blond kid Bristol’s son, and did we not see Track during the campaign because he was in Iraq then, and commented that he didn’t know Todd was part Eskimo. Just after the part where they discovered Track and/or his friends had messed up the trailer, he went into the kitchen to get more food and when he came back he wanted to know what happened while he was in the kitchen. He thought Trig was a cute little kid, too.
bambo’s many english bloopers..
p://www.americanthinker.com/2010/11/me_being_president.html.
p://www.amerhttp://www.americanthinker.com/2010/11/me_being_president.html
darn, why doesnt the http show up!
Food for thought: The blogs are alive with gloom and doom…everybody is in freak mode. Obama is trying to shut down the internet. George Soros is trying to destroy the western world. The right is trying to derail Obama and sabatoge his presidency. The GOP is destroying economic recovery to make Obama look bad. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Keep in mind that the news industry (whether it’s on TV or the internet or in print) MAKES MONEY by sensationalizing the news. Websites and blogs MAKE MONEY the more sensational they can make a claim and get you to hit their site. Whenever something happens this is what they do.
It is wise to not fall for THE SKY IS FALLING stories. Chances are great…it is not falling. I promise you, if he world is about to end you are not going to read about it on the internet first. Take every single thing you read with a grain of salt. Be suspicious of it all.
Sorry Bev, but have to disagree with you. Obama is a marxist, Soro’s and his kind are behind destroying America.
Those are truths, not hyped up news on TV or on the internet.
Just look at what Obama has done in less than two years already. Doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out what he is up to!
I don’t want to put words into her mouth, but I don’t think Bev was necessarily trying to say that none of those things are true. There’s just a lot of stuff flying around right now. So, be careful. Don’t be too quick to believe everything you read on the internet just because it fits with your viewpoint. Question everything. The internet is notorious for spreading bad information. Besides, anyone using Alinsky tactics will realize that we now depend on the internet, so they will try to use that to their advantage. We don’t want to become like the liberals, who believe anything that the media tells them. We should approach the internet with an equal amount of caution.
Good point both Bev and Alli. Stepping back and taking a fresh look is in order.
Just to lighten things up I just saw this hilarious article on another website.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/adorable-children-seem-to-confuse-michelle-obama-with-santa/
Macy’s is alive and well. You were at the old Carson Pirie Scott store. They’re both in the same area.
Cute shirts at Beck’s shop
http://glennbeck.shop.musictoday.com/Product.aspx?cp=29940&pc=BXCT036
buzz, buzz, buzz !
Wanted to post these to today’s open thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWPTzvkkZ04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwFWzoKwUs
If they’re reposts here, I apologize… but they’re both beautiful!
Was anyone else involved in the Tea Party Patriot Town Hall conference call today? I was and I learned quite a bit. It is late today, so I will write about it tomorrow.
My best buddy Jayson met Governor Palin today in Houston!!!! Had his picture taken with Willow. He’s going to send in his report to Hillbuzz. He got to shake her hand and tell her that he was a former Democrat. Jayson told EVERYONE in line to visit Hillbuzz. He was in line for four hours and saw people visiting Hillbuzz via their cell phones!
Here’s the video from today’s Houston book signing:
http://www.chron.com/video/?692012942001
Jayson said he met many former Dems in line.