Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has passed.

Spent part of it under the sink, replacing a garbage disposal that someone had killed by letting a rock get into it (decorative rock, the kind used in vases of flowers) , and not mentioning it until the thing had wrecked the seals, and water was dripping freely though the bottom of the disposal.

It was supposed to be an easy switch, one hour, tops, and I was going to school the Jigglet on some home maintenance tasks. It turned into about a six hour job, and the only thing I managed to teach him was my command of Coast Guard invective.

The holiday itself was just okay. The StepDaughter is feeling the passing of time. Her brother is a freshman in college, and she is a senior in High School. It might be the last "family" Thanksgiving we have for a while. Plus, her father, let's call him Jack, is disabled (bad back...sometimes), and she wanted all of us together.

Jack fancies himself a gourmet cook. It's one of the few things he can do. So he was going to cook a large portion of the meal.

Yep, my wife's ex-husband was making a large portion of our Thanksgiving dinner. I avoided most of the drama: when the man cooks, it becomes "The Jack Show," and I was not interested in being part of the Jack Show or his general pain-in-the-assness with everyone in the kitchen.

After I'd finished the garbage disposal, the Jigglet and I killed some Zombies on the Wii. Ate dinner, which was tasty, and then I went to bed...had to get up early the next day to run

The holiday didn't mean a great deal to me this year, which is strange. When I was single, I'd write thank you cards to the important people in my life, expressing my gratitude for their friendship. Yet, because of the family production it became, this year it was nothing special at all.

I realized on Friday morning, as I was running (training for the next Ironman) that I'd not expressed much gratitude the day before. Which is unusual, since most of my prayers are "thanks for this in my life (e.g., being able to fix the garbage disposal for the cost of parts and time and not having to hire a plumber)" or "Help this person."

Gosh, I hate when I let life and my own pettiness keep me from living right, from being a person making conscious, deliberate choices about how to live. Shucks.

On the other hand, every day we get to choose the apple. We get to choose between good and evil with the birth of every new day.

That could be Grace.

Class

I sent President Bush a copy of my novel (now available on Amazon's Kindle), The Big Bang.

He is the hero, after all.

I received a short note in the mail. It was pre-printed, small (4 x 6, maybe) on thick, cream-colored stock, with a White House seal embossed on it.

It read:

"Thank you for thinking of me. I appreciate your kind gesture, and I am grateful for your support.

"It has been an honor and a joyous experience to be President of the greatest country on earth.

"May God bless you, and may God bless America."

It was signed (probably by machine) with what might have been "George."

What I thought was classy was the line "an honor and a joyous experience." Any cynic worth his bile would say that was a polled, focus-group tested creation, but it rang honestly with me. If you look at the man (as The Anchoress has done at length), you see it is of a piece with who the man is.

People are going to miss President Bush. History will judge him far more kindly than our Masters in the Media. Doubt me? Read "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The press was vicious to President Lincoln (you know, that guy who supposedly influences Obama. Tho Obama has yet to show a trace of Lincoln's honesty).

Take a moment to pray today. Just say thanks.

Words to live by.

A now, a word from a Dead White European Male (DWEM, in the noxious PC speak)

Until there is commitment, there is hesitancy,

the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)

there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which

kills countless ideas and splendid plans;

that the moment one definitely commits onself,

then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never

otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues forth from the decision,

raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents

and meetings and material assistance which no man

could have dream would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

BEGIN IT NOW

Goethe

Strange

I've been feeling more emotional, lately.

I get a lump in my throat over the oddest things. My son giving me an unexpected hug.

Or, listening to Sissy Spacek read "To Kill a Mockingbird." Some turn of the phrase, some small anecdote will make me tear up.

Ah, well.

Upgrading my Ironman stuff. My Heart Rate Monitor failed, so when I replaced it I went with a different brand. Decided to go with Timex and their IronMan. The IM watches have been very strong and dependable, so why not try the Heart Rate Monitor, too.

Time to go back to work.

Random Stuff

Another nice thing: A television series called "Life." Stars the very capable English actor Damien Lewis. Just started watching it on DVD. First episode was excellent.

Random thought: my son is getting older, nearly 15. There's a sense of loss as he moves into his own orbit, pulling away from me. It's natural, it's right (and thank the good Lord he's a good kid), but as he grows into himself, and begins to shine as his way to becoming a brilliant star, I'm left wistful and little colder as he recedes from me.

A few nice things:

A film on DVD: "Things We Lost in the Fire." Slow, meditative. Good performances, moving look at loss, grief, and redemption. It takes its time to build, but it's worth it.

Book: "Black Wave" Still reading it. A family's sailing adventure and the diaster that saved them.

Lazer Tag guns. At Costco for about $62. AdventureBoy and his friend liked this this long weekend.

Media Admits Bias: Rain is Also Wet

Well, the ombudsman of the Washington Post got around to admitting, there was, you know, a kind of bias in their coverage of the race for President. And it wasn't for Senator McCain:

The Post provided a lot of good campaign coverage, but readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts.

This mea culpa comes a little late in the day, wouldn't you say? There's so much more a principled person would have to say about that bias. For instance, take a look at how many front page photos of the criminally unqualified Mr. Obama featured backlighting, which created a halo effect (he’s Obama the angelic), as compared to the many photos of Mr. McCain which emphasized his age.

So, in this completely useless spasm of honesty, the Ombudsman is merely joining the rest of us who knew the emperor had no clothes, and who also knew that much of the press were his obedient couriers, following the time-honored Joseph Goebbels Big Lie principle, repeating only what they wanted us to know.

(Quick historical note: Joseph Goebbels was the Propoganda Minister of the Nazi Party. A concept that has been attributed to him goes like this: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” Simply substitue the word "Press" for the word "State" above, and you have a perfect example of what happening during this past election.)

My goodness, how much time did that paper (and others) spend on Ms. Palin’s time in Alaska, her college efforts, her family…yet no one had the time to ask about Mr. Obama’s many gaps in his resume, including his undergraduate experience and his failed work on education with the Annaberg Foundation in Chicago.

Shame on them all for the damage they have done to our nation and our democracy.

Qualifications

As much as I may think President-elect Barack Obama is an unfortunate example of affirmative action at its worst (marginally qualified individual is elevated to a position based not so much on his abilities, skills, and experience as on identifiable characteristics -- color of his skin -- by our "betters" to make up for perceived past wrongs to others with those identifiable characteristics), I can not wish him ill.

I have to want him to do a great job.

For to wish him ill would be to wish ill to our country and our citizens.

I will pray for President Obama. I want him to do well so that our country will thrive and our nation will be safe.

One good thing

When something major happens that I think is bad, I try to ask, "What good can come of this that God wants to happen?"

Going back to the idea that we're all God's hands and feet, you know.

One thing that occured to me about Barack Obama's election: will it remove the last mental barrier from the black citizens of the United States? Like it or not, there has been an attitude among many blacks that they can't get ahead, the Sytem/the Man has rigged success against them.

Perhaps Mr. Obama reaching the highest office in the land will help free them from those mental chains.

The Zero

America had a choice between a Hero and a Zero.

The majority took the Zero.

The man with zero real accomplishments and apparently, zero principles or beliefs (or, at least none that couldn't be conveniently discarded). He can give a speech, however.

The nice thing about Zero is that you can add anything to it: your own hopes and aspirations and wishes...and they appear to be there! But the truth remains...they've been piled onto a Zero, and Zero stands for nothing.

The End of The World: NOT

Whoever wins today's election, the other side may think it's the end of the world.

The world will go on.

Each of us will still need to be God's hands and feet in the world.

It all comes down to people, to individuals.

To living the principles.

If anything has damaged our political system, it is the lack of principles.

The Democrats, while all too willing to claim moral superiority, have peddled away their principles. Voter Fraud and Acorn? Pshaw. Too much money in politics; bad when Repubs do it, not an issue when it's Obama's campaign.

And on and on and on.

Not that the Republicans have done much better in Congress.

But at the end of the day, you have to have done your individual best. You have to have given reign to what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our natures," rather than succumb to hatred, apathy, and despair.

The Lord may have a million dollars waiting for me, but I have to get up off my lazy tuchis and meet Him halfway.

So...go out, make God real by what you do and say today.

Vote the facts

That's all.

Vote the facts.

Vote for the one who Walks the Walk, not the One who Talks the Talk a Lot.

Obama: half-brother in poverty, dear Auntie in a Boston slum. But he's about change and compassion. Hangs out with the most fringe people you can imagine, including raving racists (Reverend Wright), would-be kid killers (Bill Ayers), and virulent anti-Semites. Has concealed, consistently, his executive experience wasting 150 million dollars on education programs that were to indoctrinate children into leftist/socialist views (because we can't trust that they'll discover truth on their own). Has not released information about his undergraduate life, for some reason. Worked with and gave money to Acorn, an organization that consistently practices fraud and deception in vote registration. Has allowed a corrupt fund-raising set up on the web that takes money from "Nodda Real Person" and other nonsensical titles. Has seen his attack dogs go after critics (Joe the Plumber) for practicing their constitional right to question and after opponents (Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton) in the most sexist terms; and Obama has not called out to the attack dogs to lay off.

But he's about change (as long as we don't point to his VP, a 30+ year member of Congress).


McCain and Palin: McCain consistently pisses people off in his own party, because he seeks change, and doesn't just talk about it. He's made mistakes...but, unlike Obama, he has an actual record to which to point. Sarah Palin took on the entrenched forces of her state's Republican party. She made change happen.



You want a third world style government of corruption and favoritism, with high taxes, lower productivity, more jobs overseas: vote Obama.

You want a decent American government, that believes in your rights: vote McCain.

Vote the Facts, not the Fantasy.

Now, for a lighter moment...

Yep, it's DeadMan and DisMember Boy.