by | April 16, 2011 · 2:00 am

Weekend Path – April 16 -17, 2011

By CtH

Atlanta Botanical Gardens glass sculpture – photo by Mama Buzz

38 Comments

Filed under Loose Pollen

38 responses to “Weekend Path – April 16 -17, 2011”

  1. Mafia Rose's avatar Mafia Rose
    April 16, 2011 at 9:23 am

    Just a reminder…Hillsdale College is hosting an online town hall today, beginning at 10am, on “Economic Liberty and the Constitution.” You can register and watch it at
    http://constitutiontownhall.com/Hillsdale/Microsite/microsite-April16-schedule2.aspx
    and the recordings will be available via archive on the 18th. If you don’t already read their Imprimis magaizine, it’s fabulous and you can access it online for free at
    http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp
    or sign up to have it sent to you (also free).

    Hint: There’s also a link on their subscription page to sign up a friend, if you know someone who’s on the fence and might benefit from a little more information.

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  2. Pistol Pete's avatar Pistol Pete
    April 16, 2011 at 9:50 am

    THE SATURDAY GRUDGE

    OBAMA LIKELY TO LOSE
    Noonan drifting to the right again;she’s as phony as a Chappaquiddick neckbrace
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116404576263411383190464.html

    TRUMP’S ON A ROLL
    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/15/trumps-roll/

    ELIMINATING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
    http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/eliminating_the_u_s_department.html

    ALTERATION KEY FOR MICHELLE OBAMA
    This cow has forced dressmakers to change their tags to:’one size fits most.’

    http://www.skynews.com.au/showbiz/article.aspx?id=602088&vId=

    PATRIOT GUARD DROWNS OUT WESTBORO BAPTIST VERMIN
    This will make your heart glad

    NANCY PELOSI CALLS FOR KUMBAYA
    One more facelift and her ears will touch behind her head
    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/nancy_calls_for_kumbaya_FC4dASBWSfLi6J9NVOpk5H

    PROSSER DECLARED WINNER IN SUPREME COURT RACE
    http://www.wisn.com/r/27561591/detail.html

    DICTATING IS EASY;LEADING IS HARD
    http://townhall.com/columnists/jonsanders/2011/04/16/dictating_is_easy;_leading_is_hard

    AMERICAN IDOL CONTESTANT BRUTALLY BEATEN BY GANG OF GIRLS
    Welcome to Obama’s America
    http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-girl-attacked-before-talent-show,0,3499165.story

    CONGRESSHAG FEIGNS SOUTHERN ACCENT TO DERIDE TEA PARTIERS
    Sanchez defeated Dornan with massive illegal vote fraud
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/15/congresswoman-derides-tea-party-lawmakers-southern-accent/

    THE BELTWAY GOP CONTEMPLATES POLITICAL SUICIDE
    http://www.hughhewitt.com/blog/g/6716cb7f-62fa-4bad-aef1-b62cf553e9a4

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  3. Mafia Rose's avatar Mafia Rose
    April 16, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    Some of you may have heard me mention a book called “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Well, 60 Minutes decided to do hack job on it and completely spin it to make a really great philanthropic organization look bad.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/15/60minutes/main20054397.shtml?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

    It makes me so mad that 60 Minutes thinks they can say whatever they want to without doing thorough research. It’s obvious from the way the story’s writen that they didn’t actually read “Three Cups of Tea” or “Stones into Schools.” Also, there are plenty of people out there who will confirm Greg Mortenson’s story, but they conveniently failed to interview any of them. Now they’ve potentially damaged a very valuable organization that’s done a heck of a lot more philanthropy than they could ever hope to do. Thankfully, some people are willing to examine the facts a little bit more thoroughly…

    http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_4d3125cc-67d7-11e0-b861-001cc4c002e0.html

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    • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
      April 16, 2011 at 4:41 pm

      I knew nothing about any of this until I read your post, Rose, and the two articles you linked. The 60 Minutes piece would definitely make me not want to donate to CAI, but I saw the hatchet job they did on my Archbishop, so I’ll order another truckload of salt for that one.

      One point from personal experience … my dad spent much of his career keeping an unfunded collegiate athletic program alive. In his later years, when he was too frail to coach and with thousands of devoted former players he’d treated like sons to hit up for funds, he devoted his efforts to creating a nest egg that would provide enough in dividends to allow future coaches to just coach. I know what went into that effort. I remember the times I saw him in his favorite chair, hand-writing fund-raising letters in his distinctive, all caps penmanship.

      I know from the values my dad raised me with that he never touched a dime of that money for his own use. I also saw the four-city-blocks-long line of mourners standing in the rain to honor him at his wake, something that just confirmed for me again what I’d seen my whole life — i.e., that my dad was a good man who made a difference in the lives of a lot of this country’s future leaders.

      It is with this background that I say this Mortenson rings absolutely true to me when he says, “The percentage of CAI money that goes toward schools is higher than “60 Minutes” assumed, he told the Chronicle, because during the last five years it has been building a “nest egg” of savings to make CAI sustainable into the future. The fund is exclusively for overseas teacher training, scholarships, new schools and supplies, he said. As of Friday, it had grown to more than $25.6 million, according to a financial statement CAI released.”

      The mere fact that some accounting wonk wrote a letter warning of problems if they were audited does not mean the money was being misused. It could just as easily mean they needed to improve their accounting methods in order to deal with an audit. As in … maybe they underfunded the accounting department because they didn’t want to spend unnecessarily on admin costs, didn’t fully appreciate the problems an audit might cause and the accounting wonk was pushing for funds to hire staff, maybe buy better software.

      This is not an unlikely scenario: most people have never been audited; most people know little to nothing about accounting beyond their own checking and savings; and HONEST people assume other people are also honest and thus also assume that other people will consider them honest. I learned all these lessons myself the hard way. So I can easily believe Mortenson is telling the truth and 60 Minutes did what he says they did — i.e., trash a great organization for ratings and Emmys.

      I used to respect 60 Minutes. Now … Keith Olbermann, Katie Couric and Saturday Night Live come to mind.

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      • Mafia Rose's avatar Mafia Rose
        April 16, 2011 at 10:54 pm

        Thanks for such a great response, Chrissy. My husband actually got to meet Mortenson and hear him talk when he was at the Naval War College. It’s really sad, because, if you read his book, he goes into great detail about how his organization got set up, how he’s not really into accounting and didn’t want to have to deal with all of that. That’s why he hired a board to take care of those details and let him focus on actually building schools. He never wanted to write a book and hates public speaking, but does it anyway, because it’s the only way they can get money for their cause. Then, he’s criticized for all of his publicity efforts. It’s clear to me that he just wants to do good things, without all of the bureaucracy that goes along with it and now he’s being criticized for it. It’s a shame.

        What you say about honesty and our assumptions about others is very true. I can tell you from my counselling experience that I would run into this issue repeatedly. It’s very difficult for people to understand that not everyone is like them. Most people do things because they think everyone else does (and vice versa).

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        • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
          April 17, 2011 at 5:05 pm

          “It’s very difficult for people to understand that not everyone is like them. Most people do things because they think everyone else does (and vice versa).”

          I believe this one fact is behind a great deal of what the Left spews at us. Fortunately for me, their projecting gives me fabulous fodder for Site Bites. E.g., Nancy Pelosi said Republicans WOULD gladly take food out of the mouths of children to give their rich cronies a tax break, then Nancy herself led Congress in ACTUALLY stealing TWELVE BILLION DOLLARS from the food stamp program to bail out THEIR rich UNION cronies.

          See CSB @
          http://news.webshots.com/photo/2010809300056011884MOkcQp

          I learned this trick from Ann Coulter, who said it’s easy to know what the Left is up to. Just listen to what they’re accusing us of.

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        • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
          April 17, 2011 at 11:12 pm

          Weird post note… Dearest (aka, SalTeaDog) asked me for info about AGW, so I went digging for my PIG book on climate change. Didn’t find that, but did discover we own Stones to Schools! I moved it to my “on deck” book place.

          Like

    • bluebird of bitterness's avatar bluebird of bitterness
      April 17, 2011 at 9:23 pm

      No good deed goes unpunished.

      Like

  4. DeniseVB's avatar DeniseVB
    April 16, 2011 at 5:56 pm

    Here’s a laugh break from Michelle Obama’s Mirror. Just how ignorant she is on the military speaking, er, campaign tour.

    http://www.michellesmirror.com/2011/04/deconstructing-our-first-ladies-of.html

    Mafia Rose it’s a must read for you 😉 Wonder how other military wives feel when Michelle tells them…..my husband has a hard job too!?

    Like

    • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
      April 16, 2011 at 8:41 pm

      Denise … you laughed? OMG, my hair is on fire.

      DR. BIDEN: Hello. I’m Jill Biden, and — gosh, thanks for inviting us here today. We’re so excited. And thank you to Martha Stewart. Gosh, she’s done a great job. (Applause.) … And this is so exciting for us because this is exactly what we hope that other communities will do for military families. And actually in the state of Delaware where I’m from, we actually did a shower for a military family.

      OH MY and DOUBLE GOSH! You ACTUALLY did a shower for a military family in Delaware!? Be still my heart.

      MRS. OBAMA: Wow. So are you all having fun? Is this fun? Have you gotten into the fun part of it?

      THIS is how she talks to all adults? Or would that only be how she talks to women who are stupid enough to get knocked up by and marry the didn’t-do-their-homework-so-had-to-enlist morons?

      MRS. OBAMA: I mean, what we want to tell the country is, you know, imagine that you’re a new mom and your husband is deployed, and maybe you’re alone because you’re in a new community, and you’re not near your own mom, or your sisters, or that support group.

      YEAH, we REALLY needed MEchelle to get us to IMAGINE what it’s like, cuz you know, we wouldn’t have DONE that otherwise. Gosh. ::eyesrolling::

      MRS. OBAMA: And that’s one of the things that most Americans don’t realize, is that you guys have to do this alone sometimes, and you’re doing it not knowing whether your spouse is okay, or will be okay, which adds to the stress. It adds to the pressure.

      IS SHE KIDDING? “Most Americans don’t realize”? Oh, wait. She doesn’t live in America. She lives in Amerikkka. They probably just didn’t spell that right. It should say, “Most Amerikkkans don’t realize.” Yeah. That makes more sense.

      …. Oh forget it. I can’t deal with this any more. It’s making my stomach hurt. I’m just supremely grateful that my dd at Lejeune isn’t expecting, so was not ordered up to make nicey-nice to these two patronizing twits.

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      • DeniseVB's avatar DeniseVB
        April 16, 2011 at 8:55 pm

        Well, by gosh and golly, I laughed, in that snarkilicous way. At Moo, at “DR” Jill and MOTUS telling the truth, it’s a good thing 🙂

        And I don’t call anyone a “DR” unless they can write me a prescription. Jill Biden proves that in this faux care about the troops tour. Euuwww.

        My husband’s a retired Marine Colonel, and a disabled VN/Beirut/Desert Storm vet. My dad was a retired Marine Colonel, and retired WW2, Korea, and VN vet. RIP dad.

        Sending Moo out on a faux military care junket, makes me laugh, because she is so stupid. 😀

        Like

        • notamolly's avatar notamolly
          April 17, 2011 at 1:38 pm

          Ladies IIRC (lived in San Diego and grew up with a lot of military brats: dad had a heart murmur and was 4F) is there not a very active and excellent group of ladies called Navy/Marine Relief (and their equivalents in the Army and Air Force) who do what Moochelle and “Dr” Jill were claiming only they could? It is called Research and “Dr” Jill should know what that means: I am a dummyhead with a BS and I know what research aka due diligence is. Try respecting your audience next time slags. Neither Moo or “Dr” Jill deserves the title of lady.

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        • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
          April 17, 2011 at 5:13 pm

          Thanks, Denise. I’ve been letting this thing make me way too angry and really need to focus on the ABSURDITY of MEchelle obviously believing she is pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.

          I get very Grizzly Mama whenever this administration uses my kids as political pawns … not so much because MOO matters one whit (or twit), but because I am absolutely positive BHO makes war decisions for all the wrong reasons.

          I’m okay with my kids dying for their country. But dying for that narcissistic egomaniac? No way.

          Still … laughing instead or snarling about “Joining Forces” would be much easier on my blood pressure. I’ll try.

          Like

    • Mafia Rose's avatar Mafia Rose
      April 17, 2011 at 4:13 pm

      Wow…now that’s what I call ridiculous. Did they provide those women with babysitters and a cleaning crew to straighten their house while they were getting pictures with FLOTUS and SLOTUS? ‘Cause that would have been helpful…not White House Onsies and Blankets.

      I was in Newport, RI back in ’08/’09 when the Obamas first got into the White House and some friends of mine there initiated a letter writing campagin to get MO to visit us so we could tell her our thoughts on what would be helpful for militaray spouses and families (since that was going to be her big pet project). Needless to say, we never heard anything from her and then she dropped the military thing like a bad habit. Wonder what suddenly made it seem so important again???

      Oh…wait…election season’s ramping up. Never mind!

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      • DeniseVB's avatar DeniseVB
        April 17, 2011 at 7:34 pm

        I know, MO and Jill are so out of touch on this “campaign”. And bless their hearts, none of these troops or their families wanted to be there. And those were only the admins from the base headquarters, not the combat troops. Many base orgs have contacted the WH since her campaign promise to “help” them. Nobody’s heard back.

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  5. DeniseVB's avatar DeniseVB
    April 16, 2011 at 6:44 pm

    Looking back at GWB’s favorables at this point in Obama:

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/17/opinion/polls/main593849.shtml

    And he was re-elected. As was Clinton at 40%. Though Poppy (GWHB) had the highest, 47, and was a one termer. The fix is in?

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    • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
      April 16, 2011 at 8:00 pm

      If Perot had not run, Poppy would’ve been re-elected. And Clinton, the outsider nobody the Dems nominated because none of the viable candidates wanted to go up against a popular one-term president, would have gone on being a governor nobody heard of.

      Like

  7. Pistol Pete's avatar Pistol Pete
    April 16, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    I truly feared for her safety today,but the lady’s got a lot of guts.I think it ranks just behind her convention speech.I don’t understand people who say she can’t win.The presstitutes have been out to destroy her for years only because they’re afraid of her.Palin/Cain would be my dream ticket.Can you imagine a debate between Sarah and Obozo without the questions in advance?I’d pay money to see it.
    PS-Breitbart has a link to Rightscoop at Breitbart.tv.Check out Breitbart’s intro to Sarah-its priceless!Tells Trumka and the unions to ‘go to hell!’

    Like

    • chrissythehyphenated's avatar chrissythehyphenated
      April 17, 2011 at 5:38 pm

      I’ll have to pay attention to Cain, Pete. Don’t know him yet and am definitely for Palin on the TOP of the ticket in 2012, but as VP … interesting thought.

      Two other thoughts … I can easily imagine Sarah defusing a possible Trump as 3rd spoiler by recruiting him. He’s definitely got private business sector skills, which the current admin is sorely lacking.

      Also, the fact the Left has obsessed about and scoured the Palin trash so thoroughly is good for us. There’s NO possibility of an October 30th surprise, you know?

      BHO on the other hand … the mountains of unexplored trash have barely been explored! E.g., there are old friends and co-workers who were effectively silenced by what the Left did to Joe the Plumber.

      Plus, the Big Dogs in the Left Stream Media may be permanently hitched to the Obama wagon, but what about all the young, ambitious reporters like Woodward & Bernstein were?

      Look at what James O’Keefe and Lila Rose have accomplished with their underfunded little exposés. ACORN is all but moribund and Planned Parenthood is on the run!

      I believe the Obama Machine’s tide has turned and that, as the outward momentum builds, these people will finally come out of the woodwork, ready to talk. And they won’t just be telling about what they were afraid to talk about, but also about how the Obama Machine made them afraid to talk.

      It kinda reminds me of a tsunami. As a tsunami approaches land, the first land sign is that the tide seems to suddenly and dramatically recede. In actuality, the water is being sucked into the impending doom of the mega wave. I could get poetic and wax on about how it sweeps away those Lefties who build their houses on sand yada yada. I’ll spare you :o).

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