Is This Watergate?

Some people think so.

Christmas Blues

This blog post really says it all.

A Christmas spent, not alone, but with less people. Or I should say with one less person.

Yesterday I put up the Christmas decorations. The Tree, nativity scene, stockings, etc. And it was all done without my mom. She is usually the one who puts up the tree and tells us which ornaments go where, to make it look good. But this year, there was silence. No "move that ornament" or "we are NOT putting that decoration up" (Usually referring to some old dinky thing we made as kids). I didn't get to hear her laughing, or saying "I love you". It was different. And it's going to continue to be different. I know that the one thing I am going to miss this Christmas the MOST is sleeping in the living room on Christmas eve, with my mom walking out and me waking up to see her. But I would have missed that anyway. Maybe it's her telling me Merry Christmas and giving me a hug. I think I am going to miss everything about her. She was the one who made Christmas special. She always made sure we had plans and she always assured us that it is going to be a good Christmas every year, and every year she was right.

I guess it's inevitable. I am going to miss her no matter what. Everyone has that ONE Christmas wish, whether it be a phone, car, book, or whatever. Well, my ONE Christmas wish is to be able to spend it with my mom, and since I know it won't come true, then I just want to be happy. On Thanksgiving I spent the day with my family because I wanted them to be happy. But this one Christmas is more important. It means starting whole new traditions and changing everything. There is a time for everything under the sun. A time to end and a time to start over... It's time to start over.

Via The Other McCain.

This year, in a word, sucked. My father died in March. My best friend's mother (the woman I called my second mother) died over the summer. My husband's grandmother died last month. And my ex-mother-in-law died last week. I've been to more funerals this year than any year of my life, and by the time I was trying to comfort both my daughter and her father last week, I felt like an expert in the grief department.

For me, today marks the slow, sad march to the anniversary of my father's death. This was the day he went into the hospital, and he never went home again. It was a scary and devastating Christmas spent split between my husband and children at home and my father at the hospital. I was torn emotionally for months, fearful of what was to come, tired from long commutes from work to the hospital to home late at night, and nearly numb to the end I knew was coming.

I can identify with April McLean, author of that post. Christmas doesn't seem like Christmas this year. We haven't decorated because we are going away this year for the first time ever. And for the first time in my life, I have no parents.

But I have my family, even if it has been reduced. And I have my health, my home, my friends. I have all my children home again and we are stronger than before. I'll miss my parents this season as I do every day. But I am still thankful for the blessings God has given me in all the people still here.

"I don't know personally a single Democrat who is a dope-smoking hippie that wants to turn us into Soviet Russia."

I say, Thank God to that! I actually have known dope-smoking hippies who were card-carrying communists (back when I worked at the newspaper). I have no idea if these people are still the same. Last time I saw one of them, he was coaching kids' soccer for the YMCA. But Glenn Beck says something interesting about Democrats and Republicans.

The day after the election, I frankly pissed off a lot of my real die-hard Republicans when I said, 'He is my president. He is your president.' We must have him succeed. If he fails, we all fail.

I really think that these parties have done a very good job of dividing us. I don't know personally a single Democrat who is a dope-smoking hippie that wants to turn us into Soviet Russia. I don't know a single Republican who wants to steal your children's school books, take the food away and give all it to Big Oil. Those are cartoon characters. We are Americans. We've got to pull together because we are facing dark, dark times. I don't trust a single weasel in Washington; I don't care what party they're from. But unless we trust each other, we're not going to make it.

One of the things I've discovered since I started blogging is that there are a lot of people out there who would rather believe in their cartoon versions of opponents rather than try to understand and debate those same people. I suppose we can trace that back to Crossfire or maybe Rush Limbaugh, but the shrillness of most blogs make them nearly unreadable. Go check out Pandagon for a good dose of unbelievable vitriol.

Back when Amanda Marcotte was doing her "book tour" (I dunno if discussions in your own town qualify as a book tour), I nearly made the day trip to Austin to shake her hand and force her to see me as a person, not her cartoon projection of what a conservative woman is. I may still do it some day. My thought is that if all the people who call conservatives "mouth-breathing troglodytes" actually had to talk to those people face-to-face, they'd either be ashamed of themselves or would be forced to maintain a certain level of civility. That doesn't seem like a bad idea, really.

I'm enjoying watching Democrats writhing and contorting themselves, trying to distiguish Rod Blagojevich from the average Democrat politician or Teh One, but at the end of the day, I hope when Barack Obama says neither he nor his staff were involved in Blagogate that he's telling the truth. Unfortunately, I don't know that I believe any politician who claims to be innocent. It's a sad reflection on modern politics.

I Just Discovered the Reason This Year Has Been So Sucky

I didn't forward every one of those e-mails with the dire predictions about bad luck if you didn't send them to 10 of your friends.

Pro-Choice Is Pro-Abortion

Pandagonistas never fail to entertain, particularly where the subject of abortion comes up. Take this thread for example, where their dark abortion-at-any-price roots are showing (need to get those touched up, I think).

I brought up the case of the pro-lifer who posed as a 13-year-old at a Planned Parenthood clinic. The "girl" said she was pregnant by her 31-year-old boyfriend. The PP nurse not only didn't want to report the man for child sexual abuse (a felony), she supported the rapist taking the "girl" for an abortion across state lines to avoid the parental notification law of her state.

You'd think even the most ardent abortion supporter would blush at such audacity. But then, if you thought that, you've never read their stuff.

The site appears to be down right now (maybe Amanda is finally getting around to that Blagojevich post), but the comments do make good reading. The upshot is that there's never a bad reason to have an abortion and there's absolutely no good reason to avoid one. It doesn't matter if it's a 13-year-old or a 30-year-old. There's no emotional trauma from abortion and seventh graders make wonderful choices (not counting the one that got them pregnant in the first place), so we shouldn't discourage them from having the "20-minute procedure." All parents are evil monsters who have sex with their children then torture them and want them to have lots of children before reaching 18.

Most of the time, I just leave a well-pointed barb and go. I don't really have a lot of time to read 12 comments that amount to "Shut up! We don't want to hear that!" And if you genuinely don't understand why parents should be involved in major medical decisions of their children, then there isn't enough blogspace on the internet for me to explain it to you. But it's always good for a laugh to watch them twist around to defend the indefensible. I'm just thankful that these hardliners are a tiny percentage of the American populace.

Breaking: Pandagon Still Hasn't Posted on Blagojevich

La la la la. If they stick their fingers in their ears and ignore it, maybe Democrat corruption will go away.

UPDATED: I got a rise out of the Planned Parenthood flack by asking why she wasn't writing about Blagojevich, the biggest story over the past two days, but, instead, was writing more apologies for that supporter of illegal abortions for girls:

Sharon, the choice of what to blog about for those of us who do actually know how to think usually involves knowing if we have anything useful to say. And I’ve got nothing besides, “He fucked up. What a moron.” Now, I know this is hard for you to understand, since I doubt you’ve said a useful thing in your life. But for those of us who are capable of it, it is important not to be spouting off for no reason whatsoever.

Shorter Amanda: I can't defend the fact that I'm a lunatic Democrat shill without principles, so I'll just try to say you're stupid for calling me on it.

Culture of Corruption?

Michelle Malkin has a great column today on the Democrat Culture of Corruption.

For the last three years, Democratic leaders cheered GOP ethics woes. Dean accused Republicans of making “their culture of corruption the norm.” Pelosi touted cleanliness as a liberal virtue. But with the eye-popping pay-for-play and bribery case against Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich topping a year of nationwide Democratic scandals, the corruption chickens are coming home to roost.

It's enjoyable watching Democrats defend then denounce their officials. After years of hearing that corruption is, somehow, only found among Republicans, I have to admit to a tiny smidge of smugness at the Democrat criminals making news these days.

2008 was the year of Democratic Reps. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson, Charlie “Sweetheart Deals” Rangel, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame “Text Me” Kilpatrick. It was the year Democratic Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson got caught stuffing bribes from an FBI informant down her shirt. It was the year 12 Democratic leaders and staffers in Pennsylvania’s state Capitol were stung in a massive corruption scandal involving cash, sex and abuse of public office. And it was the year of multimillion-dollar embezzlement scandals at Democratic satellite offices of ACORN and the SEIU.

Ahh, schadenfreude. Will there be any Democrats left to govern in a year?

Woot! The Obama Soap Opera Begins

Wow, we're still 42 days away from Obama's swearing in and the intrigue has already begun.

As Secretary of State-pick Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.N. envoy-choice Susan Rice separately visited the diplomatic agency's headquarters in Washington's Foggy Bottom neighborhood, persons familiar with the transition said that Rice wants to install her own transition team inside the department.

Such a move by an incoming U.N. ambassador is rare, if not unprecedented, because the job is based at the United Nations in New York, where Rice already has a small transition staff, the sources familiar with the incoming administration.

The push by Rice, an early Obama supporter whose position the President-elect wants to elevate to a cabinet post, is also a signal that she intends to use her influence with the new president to play a more significant role than previous U.N. envoys, they said. The transition sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

As RedState points out,

This, by the way, is why it is a bad idea to do as Obama has done and elevate the position of UN Ambassador to Cabinet rank. Essentially, Obama now has two Secretaries of State. And each is apparently fighting with the other–sotto voce for the moment, but it will probably get louder later–to exert power and influence in the realm of foreign affairs. This despite the fact that as an Ambassador, Rice should be taking instruction from Clinton.

Just the latest example where Obama's inexperience at leadership creates problems.

FBI Nabs Illinois Governor Blagojevich

The Pandagonistas really twitched and screamed when I talked about Obama's rise to power through the "Chicago Machine." There were even threats of violence against me if I went to Chicago because of it. But the facts are the facts and Chicago specifically and Illinois in general is a corrupt and Democratic cesspool. The arrest of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich just confirms that.

The dirty details:

Blagojevich and Harris were accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy that included Blagojevich conspiring to sell or trade the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. The governor was also accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.

Anyone who has read any of the books out on Barack Obama knows about the shady politics practiced in Illinois (remember, Obama has said that if you can win, you should win). This news is unsurprising, really.

And the reaction from the moonbats is also unsurprising.

One thing’s for sure, the Justice Department moves very quickly and efficiently when members of the opposing party are being investigated. Certainly a lot faster than they nab crooked private contractors in Iraq.

Yes, because it's ok as long as he's a Democrat crook.

Choices and Charity

This Delaware Liberal post (and this follow-up) bring up a number of questions and ironies.

First is a look at choices and consequences. This is a guy who (evidently) is an American citizen and graduated from high school. Yet, for undisclosed reasons, he's only worked at jobs that paid in cash (hence, avoiding taxation), and that industry has been drying up. He cannot afford rent and is relying on the kindness of strangers for subsistence. He has no ID. He wants to stay here because his girlfriend is in the hospital.

So, why would someone not have ID? Or work only for cash? I have a few ideas, and none of them make him a terribly sympathetic character. But even those least sympathetic can tug at the heartstrings when it is 20 degrees outside, so I fully understand the desire to do something for him.

The irony comes in the form of the "something" that was done.

My friend has identified a vacant rental that can be availed to this man for a few weeks. Hopefully that is long enough to sort out some of the other issues.

Through Emmaus House, I got connected to a group that helps the homeless, The Empowerment Center.

For the record, Emmaus House is a private non-profit agency for families in crisis.

I wondered why the self-stylized liberalgeek didn't point the guy to the Delaware State Social Services Division? After all, you only have to look at a couple of posts to recognize that these guys are way out on the fringe. You'd think their first reaction would be to e-mail Barack Obama to do something about this guy living in the woods. Instead, he contacts a private group that, while receiving some government funds, actually gets funding from churches! Isn't that against the Delaware Liberal creed or something?

...And Oldest Daughter Was Born Today

Remember, I said I started labor on the 6th. Sometimes, I even amaze myself! ;)

Liberals Angry With Obama

I've been waiting to see this sentiment in print.

Liberals voice concerns about Obama

Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.

Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.

Now some are shedding a reluctance to puncture the liberal euphoria at being rid of President George W. Bush to say, in effect, that the new boss looks like the old boss.

As conservatives have been skeptically approving of many of Obama's picks so far, it has to have had the opposite effect on leftwingers anxious to tear down any and every George W. Bush policy. But it would simply be foolish for Barack Obama to run into the White House and abruptly change every policy on the books, from domestic to foreign to military. And as much as I dislike Obama, he's not that foolish.

Perhaps it's been his seat at the table, so to speak, for the daily security briefings, where he's learned things that the public doesn't know. Perhaps it's recognizing his lack of experience governing and leading, which causes him to pick cabinet staff who have been there and done that...meaning old Clinton era people. Or perhaps it is Obama's way of trying to reassure the populace that he isn't a radical bent on destroying the United States. Regardless, Obama does seem to be cautious in his picks so far.

Still, Teh One hasn't even taken the oath of office yet. It seems to me that embracing him as either Satan or the Lightworker was always a bit foolish, but there's no doubt he will make some disasterous decisions...and some good ones.

The amusing part is watching the moonbats froth at the mouth and sputter about Obama's backsliding. At best, Obama's carefully crafted history reveals an opportunistic shyster with few, if any, guiding principles. When he swung from left to center after winning the Democratic presidential nomination, what were these people thinking? Were they really so stupid that they didn't recognize he was lying either before or after winning the nomination? And what did they think would happen, since they were so willing to accept his flip-flops all summer?

The Myth That Abortion Is Just a 20-Minute Procedure

Feminists often pooh-pooh the idea that abortion can have psychological effects for some women who have them. But two new studies have been added to the body of evidence proving the affect as fact.

The two peer-reviewed papers were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry and the Journal of Psychiatric Research. Both had strong methodology and controls for confounding or alternate variables.

"The results of both studies add to the strong body evidence detailing the causal association between abortion and mental health disorders," said Moira Gaul, Family Research Council's Director of Women's and Reproductive Health. "Additionally, these findings continue to reinforce important implications concerning informed consent in health care. Women in this country deserve quality health care which provides accurate information on the associated risks accompanying abortion," added Gaul.

"Women are increasingly coming forward to share about the negative impact abortion has played in their lives. Clinicians treating women for mental health disorders are increasingly stepping forward to tell the truth about the large numbers seeking treatment due to the fallout from abortion. These studies dispel the repeated lies from the pro-abortion community that abortion is a 'non-event' or somehow 'therapeutic' in women's lives. This substantial body of scientific evidence warrants a government longitudinal study," concluded Moira Gaul.

This comes as no surprise to me. I've known a number of women over the years who have had abortions, but no matter how justified they felt the decision to be, there was still guilt, grieving, and sadness. Feminists attribute this to outside pressure, but the truth is that women know the embryo or fetus they carry is a baby human, and that abortion kills him/her.

"Thanks for playing, even though we apparently all look alike to you."

The reason you all look alike is that you all sound alike. "Tax the rich, they can afford it." "You think no one should have to pay for government." "It’s not about gouging. It’s about fairness." If you didn't all blabber from the same playbook, it would be easier to distinguish.

17 Years Ago Yesterday...

I went into labor with daughter No. 1. Notice I didn't say she was born. Yet.

Moonbat Madness

It's hard to believe there are idiots out there who think this qualifies as economic policy. Thank God even Teh One isn't stupid enough to say this crap.

The comic gold comes in the comments when I asked the question I always ask of the unhinged left: how much is enough for taxes? When have "the rich" paid enough? How much is their "fair share"?

They can never answer it, of course, because they don't want to be held to either a dollar amount or a percentage of income. The idea is that Teh Rich have a grove of money trees in the backyard and can just go pick a few Bennys to pay off their tax burden, rather than (a) hiring tons of lawyers and accountants to hide their money and (b) hiring fewer employees or laying off more.

After commenting in said thread, I've come to the conclusion that Delaware Liberals are exponentially dumber than Texas liberals, because they actually think that favoring our current system of progressivity means you "think no one has to pay for government." Or that pointing out how punishing businesses who move their operations offshore isn't going to make them stay in the U.S. constitutes "not having real information." I'm sorry, Cassandra, for using logic and living in the real world, as opposed to the fantasy land that defies economics and uses lollipops for currency.

But then, I have to remind myself that this is the same Bozo who advocates shooting Republicans, so who, but an idiot from Delaware would take him seriously?

Planned Parenthood: It's About a Woman's Choice

Even if the woman is 13, and still watches The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana has suspended a nurse after the release of an undercover videotape showing her coaching a supposed 13-year-old on how to duck Indiana's laws about parental-consent on abortion and the reporting of child sex-abuse.

The videotape shows Lila Rose, the president of a university pro-life group and a brunette, posing as a blonde 13-year-old girl named "Brianna" and telling the Planned Parenthood nurse at the clinic in Bloomington, Ind., that she is pregnant by a 31-year-old man.

"I am supposed to report [you] to Child Protective Services," says the nurse on the videotape, though assuring "Brianna" she will not do so if she can tell a plausible different story.

"I didn't hear the age. I don't want to know the age," the nurse says at a later point on the tape.

Sex between a 13-year-old and a 31-year-old is child abuse and rape. And parents have a right to know these things are happening with their daughter. But that's not what Planned Parenthood wants.



H/T: The Other McCain

Keep this in mind while watching Amanda Marcotte drooling about how evil crisis pregnancy centers are.


RH Reality Check: Crisis Pregnancy Centers from RH Reality Check on Vimeo.

Yes, Planned Parenthood has "real medical personnel," but Amanda doesn't talk about how the "real medical personnel" lie and circumvent the law. Granted, I'm sure Amanda thinks a 13-year-old having sex with a 31-year-old is her "choice," and none of the parents' business (until, of course, the girl needs other medical attention that the parents must pay for and sign for).

But listen to her arguments for why offering contraception and abortion advice (well, she kinda glosses over the abortion part of it) makes PP a wayyy better alternative than organizations which encourage women not to kill their babies. "It's better going to a place with a whole variety of options and real medical care." Really? So, telling a 13-year-old how to cross state lines to obtain an abortion is just giving her the "variety of options"? Keep in mind that 13-year-olds don't even get to choose their own classes in school, but giving them the "variety of options" that include abortion is a good thing to the Amandas of the world.

This isn't the first time Planned Parenthood has been busted trying to steer teenagers to abortion, breaking the law while receiving taxpayer funding. As citizens--and parents--we deserve better.

How Should President Bush Fix the Economy in the next 46 Days?

Lots of liberal websites have posts along the lines of this, which imply that George W. Bush should be fixing the economy in the 46 days until Barack Obama is inaugurated. My question for these people is: what exactly is he supposed to be doing? Buying stock? Lowering interest rates? Creating/expanding government jobs programs that will take affect yesterday?

The point is that there is nothing George Bush can do in the next 46 days to change the economy. For one thing, Congress isn't going to send him any legislation because they, too, are waiting for Teh One's ascendency. Secondly, despite what the tinfoil hat crowd thinks, the president, even George Bush, is not all powerful and can't change the economy by himself.

Of course, the carping that Bush should be "doing something" about the economy is just the moonbatty way of saying they don't like him doing things that presidents can do when Congress is doing nothing: namely, changing agency regulations and issuing executive orders. Liberals don't like these things--at least, for the next 46 days--because it means the president can do things that help businesses and circumvent the hundreds of rules liberals like to tie business up with.

So, the next time you read a bit o' crap about how President Bush should be "doing something" about the economy, just remember which party is actually in charge of producing legislation.

You Can Find the Darndest Things on Wikipedia

My high school.

About that Zogby Poll

Liberals have been up in arms about the how Obama got elected poll, which showed Obama supporters to be woefully ignorant on a variety of issues of the 2008 presidential campaign. They've cried. They've whined. They've accused Zogby of push-polling (this poll was not, in fact, a push-poll, regardless of whether you agree with the results). They've had a field day because John Ziegler finally got pissed off at jerks who don't know what the definition of "is" is.

But now, we have the same poll run for McCain voters who doubled the number of correct answers compared to Obama voters.

35 % of McCain voters got 10 or more of 13 questions correct.

18% of Obama voters got 10 or more of 13 questions correct.

McCain voters knew which party controls congress by a 63-27 margin.

Obama voters got the “congressional control” question wrong by 43-41.

Those that got "congressional control" correct voted 56-43 for McCain.

Those that got "congressional control" wrong voted 65-35 for Obama.

As RIGHTWINGSPARKLE notes, McCain voters were simply better informed than Obama voters.