Another year

It’s been more than a year since I last posted. My, time does fly like a banana. I’m traveling and plan to continue remaining abroad until it’s time to come home to work for Sarah Palin’s campaign. The U.S. cannot afford Barack Obama.

Whites make Obama sick

Does this mean that he pukes over himself half the time?

UPDATE: The Politico reminds us that Obama parrots some of the Wright’s racist speeches (they are certainly not sermons) which Obama claimed he’d never heard. Wright’s speech is the source of the line “where white folks’ greed runs a world in need” and of his mention of Sharpsville and Hiroshima. Hark back to Wright’s “D*** America” speech. Moreover, Wright’s radical speechifying brought Obama to tears: “I found the tears running down my cheeks.” The words Obama never heard are those which he claimed comforted him during his tenure at law school.

Just words.

If wishes were horses….

What Democrats wish they could do to American industries.

A stumbling stone?

 A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate.

Amos 9, with particular attention to v. 11, is part of the “recognized Jewish tradition” which points to the resurrection of the Messiah. Who is the “tabernacle of David” but Christ Himself? How is he “fallen” but on the Cross for our salvation?

Then, there’s this:

Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley, said that the stone was part of a growing body of evidence suggesting that Jesus could be best understood through a close reading of the Jewish history of his day.

“Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism,” Boyarin said.

And park rangers are shocked to know that bears poop in the woods.

The un-Reagan

Plans for a visit by Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic candidate for President of the United States, have moved forward — slowly — in Berlin, where he may give a speech before the Brandenburg Gate this summer.

Words before Brandenburg. Just words. By the next day, a flip-flop.

Sign the petition

Thank President Bush for the years of safety his policies have brought us post-9/11.

Happy birthday, Mr. President!

On this 6th day of July in the year 1946, President George W. Bush was born.

Happy birthday to you, Mr. President. 

Thank you for upholding your constitutional duty to keep us safe from enemy attacks without and within.

May God grant you many more days.

Not for the faint of leg

Want to lose weight and firm up the leg muscles—and, by extension, the glutes? Take up spinning. Who spins? A lot of folks do. It’s a rewarding and challenging activity. Know somebody who’s got sheep? Get some free fleece; get a spinning wheel, and take a class at the local fiber arts center. Then, treadle away and watch as fleece or cotton becomes yarn. The treadling will firm up the leg muscles.

My first yarn came from freebie fleece obtained from the local petting zoo. The wool is rather coarse, either through over-washing or the very nature of the fleece itself. The sheep? Who knows what breed they are. The folks at the petting zoo didn’t. The fleeces (two and a quarter, one brown, one gray, the quarter white) were as dirty as the sheep could get them, chock full of grass, dirt, bugs, fecal matter, and urine. Then there was that wonderful sheep-smelling lanolin.

It was the work of several hot days to scour, wash, and dry the fleece. The scouring took longer than the washing and drying for I came to this fiber art a novice. A retractable thin-wire doggie brush served to flick considerable dirt out of the fleece. That done, a big old soap bucket full of hot water and some Dawn was the repository for soaking flicked fleece. Clean and clear water swiftly became brown. A quick pour out on the driveway, a refill, another soaking. Then the rinsing in more hot water. Once, twice, enough. Hot sun shone down upon newly washed fleece spread out on an old door screen laid flat on the driveway. The fleece dried quickly and blew hither and thither carried by a mischievous wind.

The debris and dead bugs which remained in the fleece throughout the washing and drying went swiftly in the carding and spinning. Well, most of them. A few bits of debris remained in the twists of the thinly spun yarn.

The treadling, ah, the treadling. The joy of a single treadle wheel is that either foot can work the treadle. Right calf muscle getting tired? Shift to the left foot and keep treadling. Turn sideways, face the wheel, turn again, keep treadling, for as you treadle you have the joy of creating yarn from scratch. That joy you experience means that scratch hasn’t met its match.

For further adventure, get into weaving. Scout Craigslist for excellent, low cost, second-hand equipment. That’s where I found Lilly. 

Oh, Baltimore!

Nina Simone must be rolling in her grave. High taxes have brought Baltimore down real low, and higher taxes are to come.

Wascally oil companies

“No U.S. companies [should be] getting business on the merits with Iraq.”

Tinfoil hat

Police in Wales received a call reporting an unidentified flying object. When they investigated, it turned out to be the moon.

The cops were told a “bright, stationary object” was spotted hovering above the caller’s house. 

Hold on to your wallets

A tiger of a tax is in the offing.

Change we can believe in

First this: “Obama has even refused to accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees (PACs).”

Then, this plea—for the second time, no less:

THE Republican lobbyist who was solicited for contributions by Obama’s campaign a month ago has received a second request for money from the Democratic candidate, who has banned lobbyist money from supporting his candidacy. The second try was made after no response to the first attempt. As did the first solicitation, the second letter signed by Obama asked the veteran GOP donor and fundraiser for a contribution “to change the way business is done in Washington.”

Yep, a constantly changing mind we can believe in all right.

Fourth of July Celebrations Database

Take a look at the Heintze database which looks at July 4th celebrations. Informative, interesting, and loaded with history. Here’s a bit. 

The Declaration of Independence, unanimously declared by the thirteen United States of America, was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The task of getting the document signed began on August 2, 1776. Congress made sure that all states would have access to an authenticated copy of the Declaration by ordering a special printing of multiple copies on January 18, 1777.

The first celebrations occurred shortly after the declaration in various locales along the Eastern Seaboard. Much of the tradition inherent in the way we celebrate today was evident almost from the beginning. Sound, spectacle, and sentiment played an important role in that tradition.

Nice try, Katie

In the guise of discussing a “race” for first lady, Katie Granju tries to stick a knife in Cindy McCain. Her readers won’t let her.

Katie tries to pretend that she doesn’t know why folks aren’t warm to Michelle Obama. Her readers won’t let her do that either.

Since when has there been a first lady race? We elect a president and vice-president, not a first lady, Katie.

One last thing, Katie, attack John McCain directly—he’s a big boy. He can take it. Don’t come at him tangentially through his wife. 

I guess McCain needs to say that his wife is off-limits.