The "O" Word
Conservative by Nature, Christian by Choice
Wait!  Where's the pictures?  They're supposed to be right here!  I swear, you can't find decent help these days...

History

February 23rd, 2009 . by Cary

On this day, in 1945, Mt. Surabachi on the island of Iwo Jima was captured and held by forces from the United States Marines. The second raising of the US flag generated this memorable photograph for Joe Rosenthal, to be a point of inspiration for the entire country:

mn_rosenthal105

I am on the tail end of a round of antibiotics (Z-pak is my friend!) and the resultant coughing up of a lung on a constant basis makes sleep difficult and muscles sore from the coughing. I’m going to go sit quietly until MEG wakes up.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Hopey-changiness

February 19th, 2009 . by Cary

I am conservative.

I know that this comes as a surprise to most of you, and I apologize for the shock to your system.

One of the hallmarks of conservatism is a resistance to change. Not a hate of change, but a resistance – in other words, there should be a really good reason for changing something, other than “I don’t think we need to do it that way anymore.”

Saying that he wanted a more “relaxed” atmosphere – since running the country is a laid back, way-cool thing to do anyway – Mr. Obama has decreed that ties and jackets are no longer required in the highest office. I may have mentioned not liking to wear ties, but I sure wouldn’t treat the Oval Office as a conference room – it should be all business, all the time. There is no other way to treat the station. At the same time, asking the country to cut back and make sacrifices while cranking the office thermostat up is kinda hypocritical, isn’t it? Sure, with the temp above 80 then wearing a jacket and tie is a bit uncomfortable, but if you were to display a bit of common sense and put the thermostat where wearing a jacket an tie would be smart – say, between 68 and 72 degrees – then you’ve kept your image clean and your hypocrisy to a minimum. Both traits, by the way, that the American Public seem to enjoy. At least, when they aren’t swooning about speech patterns.

As you may be aware, the President paid a visit to the Valley of the Sun, arriving Tuesday afternoon after signing a $787 billion “stimulus” package in Denver. His arrival, like the arrivals of other dignitaries, tied up traffic at Sky Harbor and on the already-congested freeways here in the Phoenix area. No change there – no problem.

The President decided that the traditional venue of the Arizona Biltmore was not “edgy” enough – or perhaps, since it’s not in need of foreclosure relief, not “newsy” enough – and stayed instead at the InterContinental Montelucia Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley. The Montelucia started bankruptcy protection foreclosure proceedings earlier this month. The Biltmore, having been around for more than eighty years, is a bastion of conservatism – in other words, they make a profit by knowing their limits and working within them, while still providing excellent service and accommodations. OK, the Presidential suite at the Biltmore is less than 2800 square feet, and has more than two bedrooms, and doesn’t have a private pool, and I’m pretty sure the bathtub is just a bathtub and not “a seashell on the bottom of the ocean” but it is not being leveraged in a foreclosure proceeding, either. Every sitting President has stayed at the Biltmore since it opened, and has a portrait hanging in the hall. We’ll see if Mr. Obama follows suit, or wants to avoid anything connected with McCain. Or, perhaps he will continue to lead by example and spend $3,000 – $4,000 per night instead of merely $1,600 for the Biltmore.

The President was scheduled to speak at Dobson High School in Mesa on Wednesday, campaigning to drum up support for his boondoogle porkulus “stimulus” bill. (side note – stimulus – from the Greek, stim, or large pole, and ulus, roughly translated as “where the sun don’t shine”). Naturally, Dobson High is expected to receive lots of “stimulus” money. Good thing, too – they’re going to need to pay for the new sod somehow.

And this is where the flow of this post comes to a screeching halt.

New SOD? To “spruce up” the campus of a desert city high school?

Oh, what a good idea. This will accomplish so much – let’s see, it will prop up the illusion that landscaping here in a DESERT is the same as anywhere with natural rainfall that exceeds the number of sunny days. It will allow the President to think that Dobson looks real purty all the time. It will make conservatives wonder how the hell they can afford new sod when there are programs within the school that are being cut due to budget restrictions. It will provide some much-needed labor for the current crop of illegals working within the school system as janitors. Oh, you didn’t know? Yeah – Mesa’s mayor, Scott Smith, and Mesa’s Police Chief George Gascon are big pro-illegal movers and shakers. Mr. Smith wants Mesa to be known as a “sanctuary city” – that is, if you are afraid that you will be busted for being illegal in another Valley city, go to Mesa, where the Police have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with regards to your ability to legally work in this country.

My question is, where will the sod go after Obama wings out of here? Or, will they try to keep it watered, only to watch it wither and die when they have to further cut their landscape budget? Did I mention we live in a DESERT?

Mr. Obama could have “stimulused” us much better from his office in DC, where he wouldn’t be forced to look upon the hoi-poloi whilst engaging in serious grown-up politics.

No, I didn’t vote for him. BUt, since he is now my country’s leader, he sure better respond to those he is leading. Unless, of course, he only wants to serve one term, like Carter – come to think of it, that may be the best way to curb him.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Timed Release

February 18th, 2009 . by Cary

Yup, just like the wonderful little sinus capsules I’m living on right now – this is a timed-release entry. I’m actually writing it Tuesday afternoon, since TMBWitW is probably making the computer wish it had never heard of remote access right about the time this shows up…

I just wanted to take a moment and let whoever it is that keeps trying to subscribe under some pretty obviously fake names – that crap ain’t gonna fly. Use your name (established internet alter-ego accepted, and yes, I am talking to you, “wehjklrd@gmail.com”) and a real e-mail address. I’ll let your subscription live. No, really – just ask Lily. She’s been listed for months now, and I haven’t deleted her. I have, however, deleted over 150 faked addresses, most of them ending in “.uk” – what, you got nothing better to do than try to sneak in on some poor Arizona guy’s website?

Sheesh.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Rainy Tuesday

February 17th, 2009 . by Cary

Confession time.

As a young, immortal, and indestructible Marine, I did not take the best possible care of this container known as my body. Heck, I truly did not expect to live this long. I was on a self-destructive bent that I could not see, and in my myopic view of my lifespan, feeling the effects of my actions some twenty plus years later was not in the game plan.

California had some Global Warming yesterday – enough to shut down I-5 north of LA, which doesn’t happen too often – and the storm front, much diminished, is moving into my AO today. Actually, it started moving in last night, around 2300 hours, and that’s where my confession comes into play.

Yes, I know, medically speaking, no one can “predict” “rain” or “weather” through “feelings” in their “joints” and “bones”. The problem with the study is that the ones conducting the study are young and not feeling the effect of their actions. Yet.

About 2300 last night, I could not get comfortable. I knew that a weather change was coming because I woke up and could not get back asleep. I tossed and turned and tossed again, looking for the position that would allow my neck to relax and my back to not creak and my legs to not cramp and my arms to not numb. Could not find that position for all the tossing and turning in the world.

Add a sinus infection on top of that, and you can well imagine how chipper I feel today.

Yesterday I felt pretty good – to the point that I rearranged the “office” to the specifications of TMBWitW, taking into consideration the possibility of finally, actually, beginning to start the planning of the planning phase of my model railroad. I have several elements to be worked into the final plan, among which are a curved trestle and a three stall roundhouse/seven slot turntable section salvaged from previous layouts. The room that is now the office-slash-storage area was originally planned for the railroad, but life, five cats, and a new daughter have a habit of changing your plans for you. (by the way, one of the cats is down by one life after knocking a brass locomotive to the floor. the train room will be way off limits for the cats…) The final plan will not take up the entire room, as once envisioned, but will be a yard and spur, with lots of operation possibilities.

Well, that’s about all I can handle right now. The arthritis that I am not getting and the dyslexia that likes to rear it’s ugly head are combining forces to make typing darn near impractical right now. Hope you all had a good weekend.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Red Friday

February 13th, 2009 . by Cary

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Are you wearing red?

I have a fresh jar of Jelly Belly jelly beans from Costco (courtesy of TMBWitW), my lovely wife is on vacation today and Monday, it’s supposed to be a bit chillier than normal this weekend, and I’ve decided that I am not going to continue with BlogTalkRadio. Pretty good outlook, overall.

I pray that you all have a great weekend. Take a few minutes (if you haven’t already) and send your condolences to Bloviating Zeppelin – his father, a member of the Greatest Generation, passed away Wednesday morning. He and his compatriots left this world better than they found it. I only hope that we, too, can do the same.

Chat ya later…

cary friday

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

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