Italian Parliament Dissolved

Just a heads up about what's going on over in Italy. Looks like a more conservative government might be coming.

How to Present Failure

The latest Dyson commercial was airing and he was saying that he had over 5,000 failures. But he made one great success. There are good ways to present failures before they become successes.

Posting, Posting

Today, tomorrow and Friday I'm going to be posting over at Conservative Grapevine. Go check out the links.

A Child Chooses The New President and Then Back Tracks

I am almost tempted to start this heavily lifted post with the best single paragraph I've read in a long time. Almost. Instead, I'll lift only part of funny post. Make sure you go read the whole thing. Good night, I love the blogosphere! Here's a toast to James Lileks, one of the funniest guys on this internets thingy:

“I’m going to vote for President Hillary,” (G)Nat said when we got home. I asked her why.

“Because she is a woman and she seems like a good leader.”

Well, let’s just Godwin the hell out of this for grins.

“Would you vote for Hitler if he was a woman?”

She stopped and glared. DAD.

“I’m not saying she’s anything like Hitler," I said. "She’s not at all. But would you vote for someone just because they were a woman?”

“And she seems like a good leader I said. Hitler was not a good leader.”

I considered noting that Hitler was an effective shaper of public opinion as well, but decided to ask her what made a good leader.

“Deciding the best things for people.”

We had a little talk about taxes, and she was surprised to find that the President and the Congresses can just take your money. “That’s wrong.”

Sigh. Careful. This is civics, not brainwashing.

“No, it’s not wrong. We all agree to pay taxes for things we need. We don’t always agree on how much to pay, or what to spend them on. But if they take too much, then we can’t go to Disneyworld.”

Okay, now it was brainwashing. Her eyes grew wide. “I vote for Obama.”

“He might raise taxes, too.”

She looked bereft: “who else is there then?”

Welcome to the club, child. Later we had a discussion about parties, and how they’re like teams. Both want the best for people but they have different ideas about how to do it. Like sports, fair play counts, and everyone shakes hands after the game is over.

It reminded me of this graphic I saw somewhere:

It’s interesting that personal freedom and economic freedom are seen as competing values. You could argue that economic freedom makes personal freedom possible. Go ahead; I won’t stop you. It seems to set up a false dichotomy: if your economic life is completely controlled by the state but you can film yourself sawing wombats in a legal brothel with your six wives watching, you’re personally free. Even if 95% of your income has been taken out of your clumsy little hands and placed in general public trust.

There is a reason I keep blogging, more than one, actually. Mostly, it's because the smartest people are doing it and sharing insight with the wit and incisiveness you'll never flippin' hear come out of Katie Couric's pursed mouth.

Why does anyone, anyone at all, watch the news anymore?

Perez Endorses Hillary

Will his endorsement sway you?

Super Tuesday Do You Say?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Oh, hello. You're actually interested in the outcome of today's nonsense, I mean, super-influential, world-changing event? If you are, then you absolutely must read Jeff Goldstein's advice. The man is a font of wisdom. Paula Abdul figures into it.

And Jeff has a response to those who decry the petulance of the conservatives, and yes, my blog-friend The Anchoress, is one of those people decrying petulance. Is it possible for me to agree with both? Because I do.

On the one hand, I have faith in a power higher than any person or position. On the other hand, I've never felt so enervated by our political class. McCain bothers me to my very core. This is not a new perspective. I've had this visceral reaction for years and cannot, no matter how hard I try, shake it. The thought of voting for him in the general election gives me palpitations.

I'm not warm and fuzzy for Romney, either. I'm from Michigan and know the brand of conservative Mitt is--which is to say, he's not--his Mormon faith, notwithstanding.

The Anchoress was persuaded by these posts--NRO and Tigerhawk.

Blogging Within Legal Limits

Good information for fellow bloggers. It seems that common sense would be to treat others the way you'd like to be treated. Tell the truth. Be fair. Don't steal. And don't be an jerk under a pseudonym. People will figure out who you are eventually.

H/T Instapundit

Yes We Can

There is, within man, an irresistible desire to be a part of something bigger than oneself, to be knitted into a fabric of meaning that transcends an individual life and will last longer than the mortal self.

We all seek, in this way, the fountain of youth.

Since it's appointed to all men once to die, men grasp at immortality. One way to do this is to have children, lots of them and experience an enlarged world by literally enlarging it. Immortality can be achieved another way--through creation of art. Whether the name is remembered or not, the creation is an extension of the author and as long as the matter exists, the connection to the creator exists, too. But there is yet another way to grasp immortality. It is through beliefs and ideas. To attach to a timeless ideal, be a part of it and know that the ideal will endure long after death takes us is a powerful desire.

Great thinkers, politicians, preachers, and innovators tap into that powerful energy. No one is feeling that current and building it quite like Barack Obama. Watch this and see what I mean:

His rhetoric soars and stirs a deep place of longing--the longing to belong. It is heady. It is enrapturing. It is thrilling.

And it can be extraordinarily dangerous. Engaging the heart and feeling completely can be intoxicating...and toxic. In Obama's case, my concern is that the heart-throbbing rhetoric isn't backed up by any sort of substance. Or worse, that the substance is that of other great socialist orators.

To me, this is one of the best ads I've seen this political season. It hits the emotional heart strings. It rises above the distinctions without a difference. It is a call to action. He sees the best of America and Americans and wants us to believe.

Many people will want to believe, and in this cynical environment need to believe--yes, we can.

Romney's Health Care Plan Costs More Than Predicted

Who woulda thunk it?

Iraq:Anbar Awakening

Remember Anbar Province? No? Well, it's the place that all sorts of bad things were happening. Michael Totten is over there reporting. Here's just a tidbit:

I cannot tell you how many times I heard someone say “Mom, it's fine here,” when talking to family members back home on the phone. “Don't believe everything you see on TV.”

For those intent on viewing soldiers as murderous cretins, there's this:

“I love fighting,” he said. “Well, not fighting exactly, at least not for its own sake. I mean, I love forcing an oppressor to stop abusing a defenseless person. I love telling him this isn't your day. I can't imagine anything more satisfying than that.”

Finally, considering the sacrifice of Iraqis:

I had heard this before. Maybe the majority of Americans who work closely with Iraqis feel something like this. Despite the corruption. Despite the incompetence. Despite the fact that some of them act like a bunch of third graders. The Iraqis really are brave, even if it doesn't look that way sometimes from far away or even up close. They are fighting for their survival in ways most Americans can barely imagine. Their enemy is possibly the most ferocious group of indigenous killers in the entire history of Mesopotamia.

Read the whole thing. This is the real news you're not getting if you're watching it on TV.

Who's Crying Now?

Oh yeah, her.

Picture--UPDATED

Two prominent bloggers have mentioned that they think pictures are important. Ann Althouse automatically assumes people are better looking than they turn out to be. She's inevitably disappointed. Ah well..... And to the other prominent blogger: John, here. Satisfied?

My resistance was two-fold: 1) I was taught in Advertising 101--if you don't look good in a picture, don't use a picture and 2) the internet is a place where people can be judged on the content of their character (or the persona they put forth), their ideas and their arguments--who needs a picture? On the second count, I was told that view was patently unrealistic. So, fine. Here's a picture.

Do you think it helps to have one?

UPDATE: That'll teach me to link to John Hawkins! Welcome visitors, sorry there's nothing sexy for ya--unless you consider Super Tuesday sexy, which some of you do or Barack Obama which lots of people do.

Worthwhile Reading

I'm wandering around the web today. This last week has been challenging--sick kids and other concerns--so I haven't been reading and/or blogging much.

I still find myself sick of politics. My bottom line: this election seems exceedingly important to me and I have never seen such a weak field on both sides. Mark Steyn says "it's a shame one of them has to win". Indeed. On the Left, both Clinton and Obama are untested. Clinton has everything the Clinton name implies which so does not interest me. Four years of that, again. Obama seems a mile wide and an inch deep. There just doesn't seem to be any there there. Lot's of people love him, though. McCain strikes me, above all else, as still angry. Others use the word "briny". I know it's a cliché, but he just doesn't have a presidential temperment--his refusal to buckle on anything seems recalcitrant not righteous. Romney, has business experience sure, but I just feel uneasy about him. Is destroying the conservative movement worth any of these people?

This all sounds vague and nebulous, I know, but those are my overarching impressions--never mind the policy decisions they've all made. Other impressions:

Betsy gets at why Bill Clinton has been so wheels off lately.

What place does faith have in elections? I mean, we vote, asserting our point of view. If we were truly faithful, would we vote or get involved with politics at all? Well, Christians do have dual citizenship, feet in two worlds, so it stands to reason to be fully present in both, voting would happen here and praying would happen for there. But how to do this? Does the shrieking hysterics from the likes of Ann Coulter constitute a lack of faith or is she asserting her place in this world? The Anchoress writes on the "hand wringing" and urges conservatives to pray. Like me, she thinks we'll be missing G. W. Bush after he's gone. I think that's a given at this point. Her post calls to mind my favorite scripture: I John 4:18. "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear." Fear just doesn't go away, it must be replaced with something and that something is love.

That brings me to something else. My Australian friend and I were Skyping last night (isn't technology amazing?) and contemplating the election. For what it's worth, her friends think that McCain will be the American president. Meh. A friend in France was calling it for Giuliani and that's not going to happen. Back to the point. We agreed that people rise to the occasion, that the Presidency forces a person to grow. Now, some Presidents refuse to grow--Jimmy Carter strikes me as one. He chose to stay the peanut farmer. Part of my worry about Mike Huckabee was just that. We don't need a President who refuses to grow into the role. I do feel that for all their faults, any of the people now seriously considered as candidates would attempt to grow (except possibly for McCain), but I do think the Democrats would put forward horrible policies for the nation. The economy is shaky. We don't need shaky leadership.

Back to faith and life. My friend Maxed Out Mama is alive today because someone believed she was worth saving. She discusses forced starvation by dehydration, the medical version of doing harm without actually "doing" anything. It is barbaric and wrong and almost incomprehensible in this day and age, but it happens all the time. I have two friends who were severely brain injured--one in a car accident, the other thrown from a motorcycle. In both cases, they came out of their problems different than they went into them. They are both whole and both could have been left to wither away. Meanwhile, the 35 year anniversary of Roe v. Wade was this last week. What we do to the innocent.

Quote of the week via LaShawn Barber:
I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves. – Harriet Tubman

Her whole post is worth reading, but I'm taking the idea in a different direction. To one extent or another, we are all slaves. Most of us are enslaved by our own beliefs and dogma. For those of us trying to live aware lives, it can come as a shock when we are blind-sided by a blind spot. But we are ready to see when we're ready. When the shake-up happens, the experience begs the question: where else am I enslaved? The benefit of friends, and of therapy or coaching, can be to see the blind spots and change.

But the fact remains: we must acknowledge that we are slaves. To get to freedom, we have to admit we're not free now. It's still the beginning of a new year and a good time to reevaluate beliefs. Are they helpful? Are they true? Do they build joy and happiness or do they limit and create misery?

And with that, enjoy the game. There are winners and losers in life, but the biggest losers are the ones who refuse to play. This week, get in the game!

Obligatory Superbowl Post

In honor of my friend Jay, I pick the Giants to win by 3, 24-21. He loves the Giants. He deserves a miracle.

P.S. Tom Brady annoys me, but he is a machine. Plus, I think he's faking the ankle sprain. Psyche!



Cross-posted at Right Wing News.

Hottie of the Week

Equal time. We need equal time. I'm not interested in seeing Denise Richards in a bikini. But seeing Patrick Dempsey in clothes does it for me. What can I say? I'm an old lady.

And, I don't usually dig facial hair, but it works for him!