Tue, Jun 18th - 10:56PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 169
68.6 miles
hot

"If you're incompetent you get promoted, if you're really incompetent you become President." -- Greg Gutfield.

187 recordings of 30 types. 11% clear.

Ron picked me up, we had chowder, then went to the Renaissance Society.  I had brought the Team Yarnot Program that Vince wrote for the 2011 family reunion. I re-read it last night and laughed again at all the funny bits he wrote. Ron was amused, as well.

Renaissance was interesting. I hadn't been sure I'd like either topic, but was desperate for some grownup conversation.  The first topic was "Is America a Christian Nation?"  The speaker came up with my answer, which is "yes and no."  He was really good on history and Constitutionalism.  I might like to take his class next year... the only worry being that I might have to present something.  Then the second talker was about a healthy kitchen: a Vegan woman but not a wild-eyed fanatic.  She says they see in Alzheimer's patients plaques in the brain with aluminum, copper, and iron.  Then she was telling us how to avoid these things... hmmm.  Well, giving up dairy would be awfully hard: I love cheese and yogurt.  However, I do need to eat more vegetables, preferably raw.  Anyway, very interesting.

The woman next door moved in, noisily, with a guy wandering around with a flashlight and slamming the garbage can lid.

Mike Huckabee
Barack Obama cruised into office in 2008 not on the strength of his resume, but on the promise that he would be the opposite of Bush. How is that working out?...All the heinous things the media accused Bush of – trampling privacy rights, torturing our enemies – Obama promised to reverse. Flash forward five years. Instead of waterboarding terrorist suspects, Obama vaporizes them with drones. Instead of seeking to track suspects’ phone calls, the government tracks EVERYBODY’S phone calls– and emails and Twitter tweets and more. So maybe this shouldn’t come as a surprise. A new Gallup tracking poll find that former President George W. Bush’s favorability rating has risen to 49 percent. For the very first time, that’s higher than his unfavorable rating, and higher than Obama’s favorable rating of 47 percent. Maybe it’s because Americans are realizing that neither man is what the media painted him to be. Of course, that’s true of everyone in the public eye. Or maybe, we’re starting to appreciate how Bush has spent the past five years just quietly leaving everyone alone.

Greg Lombardozzi: Actually he cruised in because he was the black candidate , sorry that's the truth.

Barbara Mabry: He got in because he was a smooth talking black. There were and are so many more qualified blacks that could/should have been elected that would have done so much better. He is a shame for his race....the first black president will go down in history as the WORST president, bar none!!

Obama Admin Refused to Fly Benghazi Mother to Ceremony.

Jim Haley: Obama commented on this while planning his family vacation at US tax payer expense, that he couldn't do it because of sequestration.

Cancelled the Safari Part of the Trip.

Mon, Jun 17th - 4:15PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 169
68.5 miles
hot

192 recordings of 34 types. 9% left.

I lost the audio on the iPad!  I only use it for the occasional video and (this is the biggie) morning prayers with Divine Office.  Ack! I'll have to take it in next week. :(

It's 12 years since I discovered GoE's body.  A very sad day indeed.

Mike Huckabee
The government’s response to criticism of its gathering of data on Americans is that we don’t have to worry because they’ll keep it all confidential. Well, I think I speak for every one with a brain when I say, “Pardon our skepticism”...We already know the government can’t keep even an NSA contract worker from leaking classified information. We know the IRS let confidential info on conservative groups fall into the hands of their political opponents. And now, a bipartisan group of 24 senators is demanding that the EPA explain why it leaked the names and personal information of more than 80,000 farmers and ranchers to left-wing environmental organizations like Earth Justice. They admitted as much last April after Fox News broke the story. Their excuse: they made a mistake. A lot of people who believed President Obama’s promise that big government could be smart, friendly and efficient are also starting to wonder if they made a mistake.

Jim OConnell Obama can would have no problems keeping a secret because he never knows anything until he sees it on the 6:00 news anyhow

Mike Huckabee's Monologue from the Weekend

Bill CLINTON said 0bama was poll driven????

Victoria Knox
There's a typo in this WaPo hed: "Hillary Clinton, 18 million cracks and the power of making history." It *should* be: "Hillary Clinton, 18 million cover-ups and the power of faking history."

Jeff McCabe A shining example of what a women can achieve if the marry the right man. Not like she's some hick who put herself thru college and was elected governour of Alaska on her own.

“You know, one of the things I think you understand as president is you're held responsible for everything, but you don't always have control of everything, right?”
--Barak ‘All I know is what I read in the papers' Obama - Slayer of Bin Laden & Benevolent Dispenser of ObamaTax

I cleaned out the Tupperware container cabinet.  Threw out a lot, put a lot into the thrift shop bags. It looks great. I think it will last maybe 2 weeks before they all breed and go all over again.

I finally got to talk to Ron, found out what the doctor said (some squamous cells so he had the whole area removed) and what the mechanic did (fixed the gas gauge but claimed an expensive leak which a second opinion said wasn't actually the problem.) He'll pick me up for Renaissance tomorrow.

Sun, Jun 16th - 8:32AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 169
68.5 miles
hot

195 recordings of 36 types. 8% clear.

Tony Lacy:
Benghazi. IRS. AP. PRISM. Illegal Immigration. Gay Marriage. Guns.

Do not forget the Economy still sucks despite the White House and the Main Stream Media trying to tell you otherwise. The housing boom is an apparition fueled by investors and hedge funds and a ghost inventory being held back by the banks. We are still not adding jobs fast enough and there are still almost 8,000,000 less people working today that there were in 2007.

[Yeah, I was NOT happy with my Net Worth yesterday.  Lost a lot of money in mutual funds. Total since I went that way is negative. Grumble. I am living within my means, but my capital is eroding.]

Mike Huckabee
I don’t recognize my country anymore…All the recent government scandals have shaken a lot of people, We’ve seen the Second Amendment rights of innocent citizens put under assault, while the same government smuggles assault weapons to Mexican drug gangs. The Attorney General prosecuted states for trying to enforce federal immigration laws he ignored, while trying to deport a German family, just because they want to home school their kids with a Christian curriculum. We were told 12-year-olds are adult enough to get abortion drugs, but 26-year-olds are child enough to need Obamacare. The Fort Hood shooter wasn’t treated like a terrorist. But the rest of us were, whenever we made a phone call or tried to board an airplane. So why would anyone be shocked to learn that the IRS not only targeted conservatives, but the woman in charge was promoted to overseeing Obamacare? Maybe we’ve just finally reached the point where Americans are standing up and saying, “Enough.”

Andrew Malcolm
Leno: The good news is Tim Tebow got a job playing for Boston. The bad news is, it's the Patriots. So now the IRS is investigating him.

Conan: Marco Rubio announced a new bill to require immigrants learn English to become citizens. Many Americans say it’s the goodest news they has heard all year.

Problem Solvers vs. System Builders.  Good article.

Judith Weiss: Frederic Bastiat:
"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.

We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain."

And in fact today's left would accuse us of wanting persons to starve because we do not want the state to raise grain.

Fred Thompson
A new report shows the federal government shelled out $332 million in employee bonuses in 2012.

Since they were busy burying scandals, should we call these "shovel-ready jobs"?

I babysat today while Bernadette went to play at summer camp (lucky bum.)  Gareth's teacher trimmed his bangs so he could see. B. is kind of lackadaisical about this... also about Joanna's potty training.  I think she's ready but one has to be on top of it.  However, I'm in no position to talk: Pharaoh's leash training is not progressing very fast since I keep deciding it's too hot to walk.

Gareth's art work

I finished ROMANCE, an 87th Precinct book.  It must be 25 or so years since I read these. I'd kind of like to keep the 25 or so I have, but let's face it, I'll never re-read them. And it's not like the collection is complete: there are nearly 50 of them.  (And all of them with Mayer Mayer 37 years old.)

When babysitting was done I paid for Gareth's swimming lessons.

Sun, Jun 16th - 8:25AM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 169
68.5 miles
hot

199 recordings of 40 types. 6% clear.

I went over to the Ladies' Breakfast in the morning but spent the rest of the day at home. The cleaners, not my regular team, came early and I had to dash around corralling the pets and taking out their food dishes.  Then I had the whole afternoon free.  One thing I did in the evening was start a new jigsaw puzzle.

Mark Steyn: Global Warming Assumes Room Temperature.

What To Make of a Climate Change Plateau?
Mark Wandrey What to make of it? How about that we've been systimatically lied to by 'big green', its government sponsored so called scientists, and their willing lapdogs in the media about a dangerous threat that was over with before they ever noticed it!?

The great thing, they're still shutting down power plants every month to stop global warming.

Comment: Obama just gave a speech wherein he claimed we should be SUPER EXCITED to absorb 20 MILLION UNEDUCATED, UNSKILLED MEXICANS because "25% of all new small businesses are created by immigrants! 25% of all new tech companies are started by immigrants!" It's amazing that Mexico isn't full of NEW SMALL BUSINESSES & WORLD CLASS TECH COMPANIES WITH ALL THOSE MEXICANS THEY'VE GOT THERE! Only a moron would believe that absorbing the bottom rung of a failed society like Mexico was somehow going to be anything but an ECONOMIC CALAMITY ON THE FEW PEOPLE LEFT PAYING TAXES IN THIS COUNTRY! Even one child born to ANY of these illegals bottom feeders WILL OPEN THE FLOOD GATES OF WELFARE. You will be responsible for paying for THEIR kids WHILE YOUR OWN AMERICAN CHILDREN WILL BE PUSHED TO THE BACK OF THE LINE IN THE NAME OF "SOCIAL JUSTICE."

Abolish Human Abortion
The very image of God, torn limb from limb, abandoned, naked, robbed of the life created to glorify God. Glory from our God, stolen and thrown away in the name of choice. Is this not the image of our maker being disregarded, labeled as a burden and mutilated? Shouldn’t His people be outraged by such disregard for the image of God, such thievery of His glory? Who will give an account for such an atrocity?

Angela Hale I don't know. The liberals and the press are circling the wagons. I don't think we are going to win until we can do something about the media. They are so determined to cover for this administration and to make excuses for Obama that I'm beginning to think Obama could order half the population killed in a drone strike and the media would say "Right-wing groups jump in front of drones to make Obama look bad."

Retiredprof took down one of his caches.  We never found it.  This was my DNF log, from 8/18/10.

We had a haiku*
all ready for a find but
Once more, DNF.

*(This time we found it
It is so much easier
when the cache is there.)

Third time still no find.
Our ignore list is full with
Yuba City hides.

Fri, Jun 14th - 7:39PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 169
68.5 miles
hot

199 recordings of 39 types. 6% clear.

Jim Treacher:
Oppressive
Bureaucracy
Assiduously
Monitoring
Americans

I stuck around to talk to Roni (who got in at 2 AM) and found out how the wedding went and who she saw.  They did so much yesterday at Gettysburg and Washington it just makes me tired to think about it.  Then I got in the car about 10:30 and made the trip home. I am TIRED of that commute!

I mostly puttered around, getting ready, sort of, for the cleaners tomorrow, and then went to spend an hour in the chapel for Adoration. I signed up for Monday afternoons and have been looking forward to it.  No one was there when I arrived so I turned the lights on and realized they'd left the tabernacle doors open, a no-no. 

Partway through, Father Eduino came in and spent some time.  Then my replacement didn't come, so I did close the tabernacle doors and turned off the lights.  I left with a light heart.  I'm glad I scheduled it, because I'm really good at coming up with reasons why I can't go, but I do like it.

Andrew Malcolm: From Twitter's @iowahawkblog "your privacy is important to me," said the guy who's president only because of the release of 2 different sealed divorced proceedings.

Obama, Stalker in Chief.

We have learned that the NSA is collecting Americans' phone records, emails, audio and video chats, transferred files and credit card records. If news reports are accurate, the data is so refined that the NSA is even capturing keystrokes as they are typed. This is in addition to an administration that is capturing Americans' health records and will begin to capture information concerning Americans' driving habits beginning next year. If liberals had their way, the administration would begin capturing information about gun ownership as well. This data is in addition to the copious financial records collected by the IRS. We are told the NSA data snooping program has helped stop terrorist attacks. Yet, with all this information, it took an astute street vendor to prevent a bomb from exploding in Times Square. Two terrorists who managed to kill and injure scores in Boston, hid out for one week within one mile of the explosions only to be discovered by a guy who left his house for a smoke!