amateurs

I begin to wonder if the White House has a protocol officer. President Obama refers to the Mumbai attackers as killers rather than terrorists. Michelle Obama touches a conservative muslim, thereby offending him and others. You'd think that "progressives", those champions of multi-culturalism, would understand that different people have differing customs.

And Gibbs nearly starts a fight in India.

Is there anyone in the position to take this Administration aside and explain how interactions between heads of state are to be carefully choreographed?

And don't get me started about how a select, favored few business people were brought along to reap the primary benefit, if any, of this job-hunting, sight-seeing, visit-the-old-homeplace trip.

Crony Capitalism at its best and worst.

Hubris

I remember when Obama first won the Presidency I thought the degree and style of celebrating was unseemly. Then I had to confess that it could be envy. After all, he won.

The "Office of the President Elect" seemed a bit over the top, but again I had to caution myself to not fall victim to envy.

Soon came the inauguration (complete with a very bad poem presented by a preacher). The festivities seemed designed to rub everyone's faces in the glorious victory of Obama. Certainly he was not magnanimous in victory. By then I was sure it wasn't mere envy on my part.

Then came the governing. There was no meeting of minds, no effort to govern in a manner acceptable if not pleasing to the majority of the nation. On the contrary, we heard things to the effect of, "I won and you lost". I felt that the President of the United States would be well pleased if I died and fried in hell if I were unwilling to submit to his plans. Blame my southern background, but I'm perfectly able to detect a slight and have no desire to lick the boots of my tormentor.

It took two years for a large majority of the nation to come to similar sentiments. And after being very non-magnanimous in victory our President is now ungracious in defeat.

Conservatives, take note. Govern in accordance with the Constitution, look after the benefit of the Nation. Do not seek revenge, do not be mean spirited or you will share Obama's destiny.

tolerance on display

The firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio is a real shocker. The left is in panic mode and begins to eat its own.

Seriously, the devotion to "correct thoughts" is getting to be a bit much. Valerie Jarrett was nearly thrown under the bus for using the term lifestyle is conjunction with the word gay. Juan Williams mentioned that displays of Muslim behavior make him nervous sometimes.

It appears that "liberals" / "progressives" / "whatever the latest title may be" can have the LEAST tolerance for ANY deviation from the doctrine du jour.

Soros's pit bull

What a laugh! Barack Obama, a wholly owned subsidiary of George Soros, accuses the U. S. Chamber of Commerce of being a front for "foreign influence". You can't make up irony this rich.

Your mom!

My wife named one of her goats for her mother. Now she wants to sell the goat. It's just wrong to hear someone wanting to buy Goldena!

I miss biker babes.

This morning I was following a fat boy on the road. And his equally corpulent old lady was on the motorcycle behind him. Tourists. Every time she pointed at something her lunch lady triceps flapped in the wind.

Remember when motorcycles were part of youth culture?

A word of advice: wear a shirt with sleeves.

Thank you.

Evolution!

The 1970's: we lived in an age of science and reason. And science warned us of the impending ice age. No one knew its cause.

The late 1990's through the mid '00s: we lived in an age of science and reason. And science warned us that global warming was coming and it's all our own fault.

The late '00s through 2010: we lived in an age of science and reason. And science warned us that whether the temperature rises or falls it's all our own fault. Science tells us that climate change is caused by humans.

Makes a weird sort of sense: there continues to be human activity and the climate continues to change. Res ipsa loquitur.

Taking care of business

The story of Tamar, Amnon and Absolom is one of the most tragic in scripture. After the Bath-sheba incident David lacked moral authority to enforce the law of Moses. And he reaped lawlessness in his own family. Imagine that the king's family would think, as Tamar did, that the king would permit brother to marry sister? And the king would have no response beyond anger to the news of rape among his children?

We tie ourselves up in our own indulgences until we cannot do what is right. Then we can't do the hard things that are needed.

They should know

La Raza tells us the Arizona law regarding enforcement of immigration laws is racist. So, "the race" can tell us who's a racist? I suppose the we should ask the KKK if that's "uppity".

"Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada." Their statement, not mine.

Isn't it time to see people, not groups?

Boots? That's sick!

Isn't Obama's mouthpiece Robert Gibbs promise to "keep the boot on the throat" of British Petroleum a disturbing choice of words? I wonder what kind of people think like that? Boot on the throat is an image of the conqueror, who may let the enemy live or simply crush the larynx, depending on the conqueror's whim. Think Assyrian tyrants or Old Testament despots who made conquered kings beg for scraps under the table. So what kind of discussion that goes on in the Obama Whitehouse? High fives all around, British Petroleum is in a completely indefensible position so we can anything we want to them.

Meanwhile, captured terrorists are treated as criminal defendants with no particular animus against them. Does the administration really think BP is more an enemy than the "underwear bomber"?

Back during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal two things disturbed me. First, that the military in general was painted as torturers. I think that the activities at Abu Ghraib were the exception. Second, where do you find people who would ever think of parading a naked man about on a dog leash? That's pretty sick.

Thinking of stepping on your enemies throat once he (it) is down is also sick.

Games you can't win

When I lived in Houston, Texas many years ago I played in church league softball. Our team did pretty well until the big tournament came up.

It was amazing. Apparently we had the only church in the metro area whose male membership was not composed of 6'5" semipro athletes who could knock a softball over the fence one-handed with or without a bat. The other teams were chock full of guys who cursed and scratched, drank a lot of beer and I suspect did not make it to church the next day. Ringers.

It was a shame to see this in friendly christian competition.

Seems to be the American way. Observe youth sports, politics, even religion. The only rule is there are no rules. Win at any cost.

I can't hear you!

The proverb tells us that wisdom (the personification thereof) shouts in the street. This is frequently met with the sound of windows being slammed shut, shouts of "shut up", and thrown boots.

And in hindsight wisdom's warnings suddenly seem obvious to everyone.

Smile!

You're on video.

The prevalent of telephones and gadgets with video recording capabilities means that anything you say or do could wind up on the internet. It can be embarrassing. We can say what we think we said or saw and be proven wrong by a viral video.

I see this as a positive development. Truth speaks for itself, and it's a benefit for everyone to know that no one can lie with impunity. Those who "color" their recollections will be encouraged to a more subjective memory process.

Invasions of privacy are another matter entirely: I can't see an upside to that.