Drive-By Thinking.

madam thatcher, fair thee well.

“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”

The Iron Lady has left us. And we are sad. 

An endless champion of right, independence, and principle, the world has rarely seen her equal. And I fear the possibility that we ever will again is very slim indeed.

"Consensus is the absence of leadership."

And that's the basic problem.

Madam Thatcher was never afraid to call out the opposition. She was never afraid to do what Rush called today, "push back." He cited her in her last address to the House of Commons as PM. An MP, one Simon Hughes, attempted to call her on the widening gap between the top and bottom 10 percents in the UK. She didn't humbly sit by and let the gentleman speak. She got in his face and challenged him with the truth of his own POV. 

"…I think I must have hit the right nail on the head when I pointed out that the logic of those policies are they'd rather have the poor poorer. Once they start to talk about 'the gap,' they'd rather the gap was that, down there. That. Not there. But that. So long as the gap is smaller – so long as the gap is smaller – they'd rather have the poor poorer. You do not create wealth and opportunity that way. You do not create a property-owning democracy that way."

Rush went on to opine that there is no such leader in America today. There is no one willing to stand up and push back at their colleagues when the time comes to call them out. There is no one consistently defending conservatism.

Oh, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have their moments, but there's no consistency to their methods. They're still way too willing to compromise. Still too willing to work for consensus instead of standing for principle.

Where there is no leadership. Or balls. (Call it what you want – she had 'em.)

I read comments on other obituaries where many Brits are talking about the "misery" of the Thatcher years. I expect that's what some will choose to remember, because when one is adamantly opposed to something on an emotional level, it's difficult to see anything else. And in any case, when you're trying to drag an economy from "gimme gimme" socialism into "get it yourself, slug" capitalism, people are going to sulk and drag their feet and whine about how much they're suffering. It doesn't happen overnight, and someone's going to get hurt. I expect it's only the whiners posting. Or partying, celebrating her demise. Classy people of principle don't act that way.

Not that she'd have given a tuppence for their opinion in the first place. Which was part of what made her so grand.

Farewell, Mrs. Thatcher. 

i resolve…

… to do better in updating this here corner of the innerwebz. I hadn't truly thought that it had been as long as it has since I'd last posted. Sorry about that. So how about some updates?

• I hadn't knit jack-all in the better part of six months. The mojo hath deserted me. However, I'd made a pledge to turn the fine skein of wool sent to me by my mother-in-law into something useful, and so I did. Behold the Haruni shawl:

Pattern crafted by Emily Ross. Mine is knit from a single skein of Cherryfield Farm Natural Romney Wool. (Of which I still have a fair-sized ball left.) Mother-in-law was thrilled with the gift and the sentiment, since it had been a rather trying year for her. I'm glad I could help.

Next up…

• I have noticed that when someone attempts to re-enter your life, it is more often an indication of why they had been pushed to the background in the first place than an affirmation of their place in your future.

Those of you who follow me on the big blue Eff site might just recognize this statement. Now that I've had the better part of a month to stew contemplate the whys and wherefores behind it, I'll explain it.

I received a comment to the previous posting that I have yet to make public. (And I likely won't, as the writer gave far too much personal information in it for me to feel comfortable doing so.) What it boiled down to was a "wow, I can't believe I found you after so long/when did you become so bitter/how can I persuade you of your inherent wrongness?" I offer you this quote:

I guess I'm glad I saw this first or talking to you would have broken my heart. You are far too young and too smart to be this angry and this bitter.

She then proceeded to tell me her life story and all her assorted woes, complete with a narrative about how wonderful government was and how much it had given her, and why should I be so against everything she believed in?

To this I indeed offered a reply, citing surprise at having been "lost" in the first place, assuring her that I had no need of her concern nor her censure, and ending with the sentiment that I was sorry she had wasted her time, since I was apparently such a stranger to her.

Really, you live barely twenty miles away and know full how to get in touch, yet you haven't bothered to lift a finger to call or email me once in the last ten years. Now you want me to take your advice? Now you want me to believe you're such a good friend? Now I'm supposed to drop everything I know and believe and say, "Oh my… you're absolutely right and how did I ever get through my day without your wisdom?"

Spare me. And I'll do you the service of a true friend and not uncover your foolishness by putting a public face on it. Then I'll hit "delete."

So we move on.

• HSH is taking her duties as a Junior Girl Scout seriously, and has been working hard on badges. After spending a frigid weekend camping outside (in NOVEMBER, fer cripes sake), she decided to turn her attentions to the Simple Meals badge. She made mac-n-cheese from scratch, turned a simple salad into a meal with the addition of protein (ham and egg) and carbs (croutons), and baked cupcakes for the troop. She tackled a simple dinner (french toast and sausages) and learned something a little more complex: fresh bread.

It was very good. So good, in fact, that it disappeared before I could get a picture. Kid's got promise. She's also made honor roll. More through threats and persuasion than true desire on her part, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

• We have acquired another living critter in the house.

This is Thomas. He's a fine wee cheetie, and full of piss and vinegar. The shelter said he was a year old. I don't think so. This isn't a kitten – he's too large for that – but he's got some growing to do and is far too speedy and frisky to be a full adult. We figure about 7-8 months old.

We picked him because he was laid back and cuddly, and so he remains. Just about anyone can pick this cat up and pet him. Including the dog.

Which was the other reason we picked him. Freckles needed something to light a fire under her butt, and this was just the ticket. Cat likes dogs. Dog is tolerant of cat. In fact, we're pretty sure that Freckles thinks it's HER cat. They play together, race each other, attack each other, and share just about everything. Except the food bowl. Freckles kind of draws the line on that one. And while they'll cuddle like this occasionally, 

Thomas will just pretty much curl up with anyone. He's particularly fond of Hizzoner. Freckles has learned to share her humans, as well.

So here we are, at the beginning of a new year. 2012 had its ups and downs. I hope for better in 2013, but knowing what's looming over the horizon, I refuse to hold my breath.

Instead, I will tend to this, my own little corner, and not lose too much sleep over that which I can't control. I won't hesitate to point out the absurdities, and I will continue with the "I told you sos" as scheduled, but I think I'll try to add in more of the fun stuff as well. I think we'll all need a little more fun stuff.

So have fun tonight, be safe, PLEASE for the love of God don't drink and drive, and I'll see you next year.

K out.

i told you so #2.

This will hurt you more than it hurts me.

I hate to see it happen to anyone. Lord knows we're all just trying to get by these days. I personally still have too much week at the end of my paycheck. But it's not as if we weren't warned.

Now mind you, academia thinks it's above all this stuff. After all, if we don't indoctrinate teach the children, who will? 

I sympathize with those losing hours. Losing hours = losing money, and with the price of everything still continuing to rise, that will hurt. It will mean that these adjuncts will likely have to take on an additional job. (gasp!) And because they'll both be part-time gigs, they'll still have to buy their own insurance.

(Which isn't as bad for an individual as you'd think. I did it for 3.5 years.)

What tickles me is that the unions immediately have to stick their heads into this mess and suggest that they are the magical fairy-fart cure for everything! I suppose it is, if you're a union head-of-something. More members means more money – for you….

Of course, they could hike tuition. Screw the masses to suit the few. Because of course a kid busting his hump at a part-time job for tuition money while trying to get a degree should pay more for the privilege. Oh wait … then he might be able to get a federal handout or two and then the government will pay for it!

Except the government gets its money from… who?

Yeah.

__________

H/T: Chicks on the Right, who ain't afraid to call like they sees it.

i told you so #1.

Signs that the Lightbringer isn't making it all better: Sandy refugees say life in tent city feels like prison.

I should feel sorry for these people. As a reasonably compassionate human being with a rudimentary Christian upbringing, I should be donating to the Red Cross and sending boxes of stuff up north to help. But other than staying in contact with a few friends in that area and asking what I can do for them specifically, I've done nothing. Nor will I.

All these celebrity-types have had fundraiser after fundraiser. Everything you see asks you to spare some change for the hurricane victims. Where is this money going?

The Outer Banks got shellacked, too. A dear friend's daughter lost her entire business because of this storm. She's not sitting back and whining for government help; she's wading through water and sand to salvage what she can and crank it back up. Hatteras Island is still cut off from civilization. The folks there are simply shrugging it off and getting back to normal. The Eastern Shore is still a mess, but I don't hear them whining for handouts.

So it's just the Tri-state area – the very cradle of civilization, we're led to believe – that can't extract itself from this mess. That is dependent on Mother Government for everything and willing to prostrate itself to The Anointed One and his minions in order to get what they need.

I should feel sorry for these people.

I don't. Especially toward the whiny girl highlighted in the article. Perhaps I can spare a dose of charity for those who truly don't have any other means but not for a perfectly healthy woman in her early twenties without any other attachments who could get up and leave said "concentration camp" for another part of the country, get a job waiting tables and a cheap apartment, and re-establish herself with a degree of normalcy.

Is it easy? No. Is it frightening? Absolutely. Is it better than being dependent on the government?

Oh hell yes.

But since she's apparently used to being dependent on the government, and likely voted for that to continue, she feels as though she has no other route than to sit where she is and complain. She probably feels entitled to do so.

Hey, we're all moving Forward, right?

__________

H/T: Aftermath News, where the commenters hit it right on the head.

well. that was interesting.

Hey.

about time you surfaced.

Yeah, well… you know…

no.

Look, I've been busy, right?

same excuses. we all know you've been sitting on your kiester pouting.

No, I have not been pouting. I won't pretend that I'm happy, but I'm not pouting. I haven't thrown my toys out of the pram. I'm not like a liberal, getting all vicious when they don't get their way.

So it's taken me most of the month to think about what happened and try and form a coherent response to the aftermath. I've listened and read, and come to a few conclusions.

One, is that that election was stolen. Pure and simple. Too many inconsistencies in too many places that defy belief. We're not hearing the whole story because: 1, the left won and therefore there's no other story for the mainstream media to report; and 2, Mr. Romney is too much of a class act to engage in the binkie-throwing, lawyer-screaming antics that prior loser candidates have done. But it's done and over and beyond my power to force folks to investigate, so there it is.

Two, that the American electorate has in fact deteriorated into a bunch of miseducated do-nothings who are so imbued with a lack of values and a surfeit of selfishness that there really was no help for it. Yes, ladies, your uterus is safe from the Republican hordes who want to force you to be pregnant and barefoot. I hope you find comfort in that. Ignore the fact that most conservatives certainly didn't want you breeding in the first place.

Three, that there is no help for the Republican party as we know it if they don't seriously have a leadership shakeup. They've hired the same tired losers to put out the same tired message since Lee Atwater died. Said losers refuse to avail themselves of the newer, more effective techniques of getting out information. They also ignore the fact that their base is more conservative. They ignore that their base is less willing to appease and play nice, and more willing to go on the attack. So they stick with their worn, tired tactics of trying to get votes from people who won't ever vote for them. Then, faced with another loss, they turn around and point fingers at the only tools that HAVE been effective, and claim they're to blame.

Hosers.

Fourth, the TEA party peaked too soon. In November of 2010, I wrote a comment on Bo's blog expressing concern for the momentum that swept those elections. (Can't find the exact link right now, but go over to his blog and leave him some love.) What a furor. Demonstrations, heated debates, a multi-day gathering on the National Mall to stoke the fire. And it worked -- a mid-cycle election yielded a landslide of change. Yet two years later, when it really mattered? Crickets, y'all. Where was the fire? Where was the organization? Where were the gatherings? The protests? The grassroots efforts?

So the end result is this: four more years of the same Asshat, with the same liars for hire propping him up. Four more years of economic devastation. Four more years of compliant propaganda distribution from both a sycophantic media and an elite class of celebrities. Four more years of debasing ourselves to foreign powers who'd like nothing more than to see us brought low. Four more years of invasion of your privacy, dismantling of your rights, and the buildup of a culture that will ultimately be the end of this country as we know it.

All because a bunch of idiots want free stuff, and a bunch of other idiots can't say "no" in a forceful enough manner. Sheesh. Sounds like most of the parents of my acquaintance.

The only bright spot for me? That in four years, when the idiot class starts hurting enough to see past the glitter and fairydust, I'll be able to say "I told you so."

Mind, I'll probably be living out of a cardboard box when I say it, but it'll be just as satisfying all the same.

Oh, and happy Thanksgiving, I suppose.

voting is the best revenge.

Or so sez the Lightbringer at a campaign event in Ohio.

And for once, I'm actually going to agree with his statement, if not his sentiment.

You see, I'm planning on exacting a little myself on Tuesday. As a nod to everyone who has insulted me for the last four years.

that's juvenile.

Yes, on a certain level it is juvenile. Revenge in and of itself is the manifestation of pure emotion and as such, appeals wholly to a juvenile level of development in any human. I generally reject arguments and actions based solely on emotion and therefore should be above this sort of thing.

I've tried very hard since the election of the Anointed One to make counter arguments to his misguided policies based on logic and truth.

I've tried to rechannel the anger and rage that's built up inside me into positive action as I've watched him sign bills and make executive orders that have resulted the destruction of the economy and the America that I have known for these past 44 years.

I've tried to convinced otherwise intelligent people that their arguments to the contrary don't hold water.

I've been nice, and I've been mean. I've been calm and I've been belligerent. I've been logical, and now I've been pushed to the brink of not being able to take any more.

Even Spock lost his temper every now and then.*

I am sick and tired of being told:

• that I don't care enough.
• that I'm mean-spirited.
• that I'm a mind-numbed robot just parroting the party line.
• that I can't tell the difference between truth and fiction.
• that I must hate [insert name of special-interest group here].
• that I can't do basic math to arrive at a conclusion.
• that as a woman, I must be totally focused on my reproductive system.
• that as a woman, I must be guided by others or be a traitor to my gender.
• that I can't see a lie when it's right in front of my face.

I do care. I care a lot more than the little automatons that walk around believing everything the news networks tell them to believe. I care more than people who wear ribbons, carry signs, or promote "awareness" of things. I've cared enough to spend hours researching and writing my opinions on this blog, to my Congressional representatives, and to anyone else in a position of power who might listen. I am an intelligent, independent woman of middle age who's lived long enough to be able to tell the difference between a bouquet of roses and a pile of horse manure and quite frankly, I'm sick and bloody tired of being told otherwise.

For the last four years, the American people have been told a never-ending string of lies. Yet everytime we point out the obvious, and especially when we make even more obvious comparisons to the events that are the precursors to every totalitarian regime that has ever existed on this planet, we're called names, have the "Godwin's Law" label thrown at us, and ridiculed.

Yet the other side exults in cavorting around, enjoying every perk that exists, embarking hell-bent on a totally self-serving ride of destruction without responsibility for the end result.

That shit stops now.

We now have a country where more people are out of work and unable to find it than any time in the last 80 years. We now have a country where more people are on food stamps than at any time in history. Our national defense system has been weakened, both with the lack of monetary resources and manpower. When it comes to our relations with the rest of the world, we've alienated our traditional allies and bowed – both literally and figuratively – to the petty dictatorships most likely to wreak havoc on the rest of the free world. We've refused to take advantage of our own national resources and in fact have severely restricted the ability to tap into them, ensuring our dependence on most of those dictators.

Yet those who are so much smarter than me, or care more than me, either pat me on the head or try to get in my face to tell me how wrong I am. Then they make some snide remark about FOX News, and cackle merrily as if there's something supremely funny about the whole situation.

This … president … has done everything but fiddle while Rome burned. Oh wait – he did. Only it was Benghazi burning, and the fiddling was some over-processed hip hop garbage emanating from a private party in Vegas.

done yet?

Honey, I'm just getting warmed up.

The law and the moral and ethical code by which I've chosen to live severely restrict my options of exacting revenge. (Oddly enough, another difference between myself and …them.) So I will have mine by going to vote. Once.

In the past I've attempted to pour oil on the waters and avoid giving offense by simply asking you to vote your conscience. I'm changing that this year.

This year, I'm asking you to examine if you have a conscience at all. And if you do, I'm asking you to evaluate the events of the last four years, and use your vote to stop the destruction.

If given four more years, the Anointed One will NOT fix anything. He will spend more money, sign more of our basic Constitutional rights away, ignore the crumbling infrastructure, destroy our ability to defend ourselves against outside threats, throw our allies under the proverbial bus, and increase his own personal wealth, ability to play limitless rounds of golf, and ways to waste taxpayer dollars letting his … wife … enjoy a jetset lifestyle. All this while small business is taxed into non-existence, our medical system is systematically dismantled, elderly die from lack of available care, and more decent people are forced onto the public dole for lack of anywhere else to turn.

Past results are a fair indicator of future performance. How anyone with half a functioning brain can think anything will change if events are allowed to go on unchanged is beyond me.

There is no longer any middle ground.

Many have lamented the lack of civility in recent years. Many deplore our political system for the intense divisiveness that it brings in families, workplaces, and in general.

Oddly enough, I too detest the fact that we have gotten to a point where society has become so polarized. But unlike those rending their garments and putting ashes in their hair, wailing about the demise of politeness, I know where it comes from. I see where the lack of compromise has come from. Most of it coming from the people who "care." Who are so "open-minded." Who like to ridicule the actions of others, while engaging in reprehensible behavior themselves. Who defend their actions by name-calling those who dare point out wrong doing.

Cris Carter just said something prophetic on ESPN: "The problem with society is that no one really wants to hear the truth." Mind, he was referencing current football issues, but in a grander view he's absolutely right. Anyone supporting the Lightbringer and his policies has no desire to truly examine the issues and accept the truth of the situation as it is. They swallow the stories that make them feel good in the moment, and ignore everything that might shatter that vision. Or, they're blinded by race, and refuse to surrender that crutch to reach out to the greater vision that is reality and self-reliance.

The truth is that we are headed down a path of destruction. If you want to continue that, then go ahead and give the assclown in the White House and his flunkies four more years.

But if you do, don't ever speak to me, write to me, or so much as reference me again.

I will never forgive anyone who uses their vote to so cavalierly sign away this country to the juvenile pleasures of an arrogant, narcissistic, self-serving banana republic dictator wannabe who has never held a position of responsibility before this one in his life. 

I will never forgive anyone who uses their vote to selfishly destroy my child's future in the spirit of "I've got mine and the rest of you can just suck it."

I will never again turn a hand to help anyone who would rather turn to the government to do it for them.

And I will never lament the loss of acquaintance for those who think that I'm the one being petty based on these grounds.

Please vote for a complete, real change on Tuesday. 

__________

*For altogether different reasons, and I'm not going to discuss whether they apply in this case. Perverts.

lol.

A sorely needed chuckle.

Click here for a link to the best belly laughing you'll do all day.

You're welcome.

just when you think you've seen it all…

… you go and watch the vice presidential debates. Where you see one person being very veep-ish, and the other one just being… well, -ish.

That was, quite frankly, difficult to watch. During the program I did have to stop actually looking at the teevee and instead just listened. This was still very hard to deal with. I think I still have agita going on because of it.

So what did we learn?

Joe Biden has learned nothing of statesmanship over his long career as a politician. He also has lost grip of the facts, assuming he ever had them to begin with. Perhaps someone has a list he can copy. He is also quite possibly the rudest, most arrogant, condescending, loutish putz I've ever heard in such a position.

I mean, if I want to listen to that kind of conversation, I'll just go down to Walmart and hang out for a while.

Perhaps I'm still a bit too fairy dust and unicorns about the character of those in elected office, but I do expect a modicum of professionalism from someone elected to the second-highest office in the country. And that wasn't it.

On the other side of the table, we had Mr. Ryan, holding his composure, answering the questions as best he could before getting cut off by the liar-for-hire that sat in the moderator's chair, and generally looking more vice-presidential than the actual vice-president.

Honestly, I don't know how he kept from leaning over and popping the bastard in the mouth. Mr. Ryan, your self-control impresses me. I wish you'd been a trifle more aggressive in trying to get your point across, but I'll take what I can get. 

Perhaps the best summation of that is:

 

I'm not the bible-quoting sort, but I've learned to take wisdom where I can get it. Certainly this applies here. My NRSV translates it a little differently, but it's the same point. Proverbs goes on to say

A fool gives full vent to anger, but the wise quietly holds it back.
– Proverbs 29:11 

Which is why it was probably far better for Mr. Ryan to follow his own counsel, and not mine.

More importantly, I found this, which might be good advice for all of those folks inside the Beltway:

If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.
– Proverbs 29:12 

Finding those passages makes me feel like I'm a better Catholic than Joey Bee. And I bet, for all I haven't actually been to Mass in a few years, that I probably am.

Some other thoughts I had about last night:

– Wouldn't it have been fun to have Sarah Palin in the chair with Martha "paying you back for that wedding present" Raddatz cutting her off mid-thought? Heh. Catfight, y'all!

– Wouldn't it have been even more fun to have Allen West in the chair debating Jo-Jo? Ooo the carnage…

more thoughts

I have some other thoughts rattling around in the noggin. Mostly on Libya; some on other subjects. They'll have to wait until I've some time to get them in order. Right now, most of my time is occupied by Scouts and work. With trying to juggle paperwork, regular work, programming for the girls and upcoming events (camping! again! overjoyed! not!) my time has been limited and my brain tired. So this is the best you get for now.

K out.