Out of Gas

These days, not too much in the news has the power to amuse me, but I laughed out loud when I read that the "Big 3" CEOs from Detroit flew into town on their private jets to make their plea for taxpayer money.

Oops. Maybe the Beverly Hillbillies pickup truck would have been a tad too far in the other direction, but don't you think the big shots might've had more luck in Congress if they had carpooled to Washington in a Ford Escape-Hybrid SUV?

Taking a private jet to ask for a handout is like wearing a 10-carat diamond ring in a soup line. It's kind of a jarring, what's-wrong-with-this-picture moment.

The planned vote on aid to the auto industry has been canceled, as of tonight. Well, too bad, but thankfully some neurons are firing in Washington. Things are tough all over, and probably will be for a very long time. The auto industry has ignored every harbinger of automotive doom in the last 35 years, starting with the 1973 oil embargo. Why should their stupidity, laziness, and/or greed get preferential treatment in the current crisis?

Like most Americans, my retirement fund is down 35%, and there's no place I can go for relief except back to work in the morning. Every morning. For many, many more years. At the rate the economy is sinking, I'll probably be carried out of the copy room one day, feet first...when I'm in my 70s or 80s.

Again like most Americans, I've managed just fine in life without stepping foot on a private jet. Money's never been much of a presence in my life, and it's even less likely to be in the future. But, unlike the Big 3 CEOs, I'm well acquainted with how to run on empty.

Qualifications?

So, do you think Barack Obama would pass muster if he stood in line for a job within his own administration? Based on this questionnaire, which applicants for a position in the Obama administration must complete, it's doubtful he would qualify. That third section, Relationships and Affiliations, would be a bridge way too far.

Having been put through an 18-month wringer to obtain a security clearance when I worked in the defense industry, I find it particularly amusing that Obama probably would not qualify for a clearance if he was applying as a rank-and-file government employee. But as president, he is automatically--quite magically--granted one.

I suppose he can still be fussy about his underlings. He's on the right track if he's showing more discretion as president than he did during his ascendancy to the office.

Innundation

I'm soaked through with Obama news,
I'm sloshing through tales of Michelle.
I'm sick of hearing Sarah squawk
Around the clock, as well.

On John McCain, the hour is past
For all and every late night show.
And the time has come to hear the last
Of that plumber, name of Joe.

I'm done with this election year,
Of bias, flood, and saturation.
In two months, we'll all drown, I fear
In a Sea of Inauguration.

Veterans Day

Americans, indeed all free men, remember that in the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains”

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

A heartfelt "thank you" to all of our United States veterans, in every branch of our military armed forces on this Veterans Day.

Special thank-yous to my brothers Ken and Jim, my cousins Mary and Kerry, my uncles Bill, Jack, and Joe, my friends Dave, Rick, and yes, another Mary.

Thank you to my hometown heroes, the fatigue-clad neighbors I wave to as I walk my dog, Riga, each morning. I watch them climb into their trucks, driving off to report for duty at the nearby base, and I pray they will remain safe.

Thank you to every man and woman who has served our country in uniform. You are the treasure that we, as a nation, should take the greatest pride in. I can only hope that our voluntary military will stay strong and continue to attract the best of our young people under an Obama administration.

I have my doubts, but I'm trying to keep hopeful. Because, as President Eisenhower also stated, "Pessimism never won any battle."

Happy Birthday, Marine Corps

Monday, November 10, 2008, marks the 233rd anniversary of the United States Marine Corps. The Corps is older than the country.

Happy birthday to our homeland heroes. I'm fortunate enough to claim a few of your veterans in my family.

Thanks for your service, Jim, Mary, and Kerry. I don't know how you did it, but I'm certainly proud you did.

Semper Fi.

Hope, Change, and Reality

The 2008 presidential election is, thankfully, over. My candidate did not win. Although I'm disappointed, I'm far from despondent.

I may be more conservative than the average, middle-aged, white working woman. But first and foremost, I'm an American. It's always exciting to watch our political process play itself out, with all the attending drama and fanfare that accompanies election night.

But last night was especially thrilling, because with the election of Barack Obama, America has chosen its first president of African descent. There is no denying the triumphant significance of this moment in our history. America may screw up enormously, as we did with slavery--but, given enough time and opportunity, America also rights its wrongs in a lavish way.

As an American of Irish descent, I understand the struggle of the social underdog. Thus, I watched the joyful reactions of African-Americans with a fraternal sense of happiness and an awareness that the prophetic message of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered when I was a schoolgirl, was unfolding before my eyes.

Also as an American, I want our new president to succeed. He tells us that change has come. Soon, he will need to tell us what that means. The reality of the coming changes may be counter to what the 56+ million Americans who voted for John McCain want. The new president may be surprised at various times during the coming four years to find he is not the most popular man on the globe. But criticism comes with the job, as any of his predecessors will confirm. Obama's term will be no exception. His charisma can't protect him from that reality.

Obama needs to shoulder the tremendous burdens he has sought so aggressively to carry. He should not look back. There should be no pointing over his shoulder at the previous administration. Obama needs to own his own presidency. How effectively, and how gracefully, he can do so will define his success.

Election Eve-Eve

How are you feeling about the election? Had enough yet? If you're like me, you're done.

Here are my stats:

Media saturation level is up by 23 points. Tolerance for the networks' Democratic cheerleading is down by 75%. Weariness with the whole repetitive, tedious, nasty process has already achieved a blowout victory.

Pending decision to trash TIME magazine immediately upon arrival, without a single glance, it is 10% undecided. My decision not to renew my subscription has already won in a landslide.

Don't forget to vote.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Isn't that supposed to be Disneyland?

Nope.

The happiest place on Earth is the baseball diamond after a home team wins the World Series. It's impossible to watch the winners' antics and not smile.

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies, who tonight won their first world championship since 1980 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Although I always feel bad for the losing team, I do think the 10-year-old Rays have a few more seasons to play before they've truly earned their World Series chops. Ask any Boston or Chicago fan; they'd probably agree with me.

So revel in your joyful moment, Phillies. But be careful not to foul up your celebration in a preventable error--that's Brad Lidge and his golden arm on the bottom of that dog pile.

Scary Stuff

Just in time for Halloween, audio of a 2001 radio interview with Barack Obama. Even then, he was planning his frightening redistribution of wealth strategy.

He even uses the term "redistribution of wealth" in his interview. He also refers to "economic justice." Obama isn't too impressed with the "constraints placed by the founding fathers" on the U.S. Constitution. He terms it a "charter of negative liberties." What we "can't do" is the Constitution's focus in Obama's reading, "not what the government can do on your behalf."

So how is this man who believes that our Constitution is a such a flawed document going to be able to swear an oath to preserve, protect and defend it?

When you peek behind that mask, what's visible could scare the booties right off you.

A Noteworthy Date

October 25 is the feast day of St. Crispian, a third century Christian martyr. Crispian is also known as Crispin, both names no doubt derived from his Latin name, Crispianus. He was a shoemaker who was beheaded in Rome in the year 286 and is the patron saint of cobblers, leather workers, and weavers.

St. Crispian is perhaps most famous for his many mentions in Shakespeare's play, The Life of King Henry V. The great battle at Agincourt took place on October 25, 1415, and is immortalized in Henry's rousing speech to the troops prior to the fight.

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

And crowns for convoy put into his purse:

We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian:

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say, 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:

'Then will he strip his sleeve and shows his scars,

And say, 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember with advantages

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words,

Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,

Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile

This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England, now a-bed

Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

~ King Henry V, IV:III

You've got to hear it to appreciate it. Listen to Kenneth Branagh delivering this goosebump rendition from his 1989 film. Nowadays, one might identify this as the "Band of Brothers" speech, since the title for that classic HBO television series leaps directly from the closing lines of Henry's soliloquy to his troops.

I hadn't realized that today was St. Crispian's day until I did my research this evening. How fortuitous that I decided to take a peek at the Church calendar. Today's honoring of Crispian the saintly cobbler renders me much more at peace with the three pairs of shoes I bought this afternoon.