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Posted on 12/31/2008 10:48:43 PM PST by JustAmy
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Lovely drawings, Billie!
It is a wonderful to have a beautiful opening like this today!
I loved your post..some of my very favorites.
Thanks, GeeBee, I hope your daughter will like them. Portraits have always been my favorite to do, and pencil even more - no mess involved as with paints and brushes and stuff. LOL
Billie, I think today’s Opening Tree Graphic and poem are perfect.
I love those trees, the snow and the touch of red.
I’ll thank you later (when I find something that I think you would like).
I sorta feel lost today; don’t know what to do.
- Penguin Awareness Day
- Cheese Day
- Basketball Day
I understand completely, Amy. I honestly didn't think I would be feeling this way today, but at the same time didn't want to be maudlin today, and yet I'm very emotional and can't seem to help it.
Comment by the author: There was little doubt that, if Obama was elected, those of us who write about the foibles of liberals and Democrats would have no shortage of material. Obama hasn't even been inaugurated and he already has me up to three or four columns a week.
Thinking about the transition from the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration, I couldn't help but think about what might have been said... and what should have been said... when George W. invited Obama, Carter, Clinton, and his dad to lunch last week.
I would have suggested that he look across the table at Barack, and say, "Mr. President-elect, I want to give you my solemn promise. I promise you that once you are in office and I am in retirement, I will reinstitute a tradition that, until very recently, has been in place in our country since the days of John Adams. I promise that, as I travel to the far corners of the Earth, I will never, ever, under any circumstance, criticize you or your policies before foreign audiences. You have my solemn word on that. Okay, now eat up you s.o.b.s, don't let it get cold."
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Rich White Trash
by Paul R. Hollrah
January 16, 2009
At approximately 12:30 PM on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the first members of Barack Hussein Obama's official staff will walk up the sidewalk from the parking area between the White House and the Old Executive Office Building and enter the north entrance of the west wing. They will find the offices neat and clean, the desks and file cabinets all empty, the supply cabinets well stocked, the floors and carpets freshly cleaned, and telephones, computers, and FAX machines all in place and in working order, ready to be put to use.
When Obama, himself, enters the White House following the inaugural parade, he will be better prepared to begin serving than any president in history. His predecessor, George Bush, has seen to that. The president and every departing member of his staff have leaned over backward to make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible. Bush has even gone so far as to ask the Congress to release the remaining $350 billion of the $700 billion in Toxic Asset Recovery Program (TARP) funds so that Obama can have a pot of money to spend immediately… and later place all the blame on George Bush when it turns out to be money wasted.
Contrast this transfer of power, from Republicans to Democrats, with the last presidential transition, from Democrats to Republicans. January 20, 2001 was a cold dreary day, rainy and foggy with temperatures in the mid-30s. But the coolness of the day could not compare to the chill that the Bush people felt when they entered the White House that afternoon. According to news report of the day, one of Bush's first acts as president was to order an investigation into what appeared to be "a systematic disabling" of White House communications equipment and a general "trashing" of the White House, the people's house, by members of Bill Clinton's staff.
As news stories described the scene, White House telephone lines were cut and voice-mail messages were rerecorded with lewd and obscene greetings. One Bush staffer's grandmother called from the Midwest and was "horrified" by what she heard on his answering machine.
White House communications were extremely difficult because many telephone lines had been rerouted to the wrong offices. Desks were turned upside down, rubbish was scattered across the floors, file cabinet drawers were glued shut, pornographic photographs and obscene slogans were found in computer printers, and lewd graffiti messages had been scrawled on walls with magic markers. Hundreds of computer keyboards were found to be missing the letter "W". In some instances the 'W' keys had been taped to walls above the doorways, twelve feet above the floor. Others were found attached to the walls with superglue.
Offices in Vice President Cheney's quarters were found in what was described as a "complete shambles." When told of the vandalism, the former vice president's wife, Tipper, confessed to being "mortified" by the actions of her husband's staff and issued a personal apology to Cheney. The extent of the vandalism was so great that Bush staffers were ordered not to speak publicly about the trashing of the White House by the departing Clinton people.
In a March 11, 2001 op-ed column, liberal commentator Chris Matthews put the Clintons and the Clinton Administration into context. In discussing the blatant selling of pardons by the Clintons in the final hours, Matthews said, "The junior senator from New York reminds me of the drug dealer's wife in (the movie) 'Traffic.' She makes it her business not to know her husband's."
A cocaine smuggler from California won a Clinton pardon after paying a $200,000 fee to Hillary's brother. Four Hasidic Jews defrauded the federal government out of $11 million by applying for funds for a school that didn't exist. Following an Oval Office meeting between Bill and Hillary and leaders of the Hasidic community, their sentences were commuted. The Hasidic community of New Square, NY later voted 1400 to 12 for Hillary. And, of course, everyone knows the story of the pardon granted to the fugitive financier, Marc Rich.
Matthews tells us that, amid the rush of 11th hour presidential pardons, Mrs. Clinton admitted to innocently "passing envelopes" from the pardon-seekers to the White House counsel's office. He goes on to say, "What convenience of mind! She only attended a 'meeting,' only heard 'rumors,' only passed 'envelopes.' Admitting the fact of her behavior, she denies its purpose. She admits what is provable, denies what is not."
Republicans and Democrats are vastly different, morally and ethically. But there is no doubt that the power couples of the Democratic Party, as represented by the Clintons and the Blagojeviches, are like Chevrolet and Pontiac headlamps… totally interchangeable. In describing the Clinton's impact on the country, Matthews opines, "Before this, we laughed at poor little countries that drug dealers and international crooks could buy. We mocked the Third World capitals where a little money in the fingers of a certain family member would open doors or close eyes.
"Thanks to Bill and Hillary Clinton, we have now forfeited that small national vanity. The next movie about international drug dealing… may well feature not a Mexican police chief but an American president as the bag man."
Given that our incoming president, Barack Obama, is the candidate of unknown foreign interests who have successfully purchased the presidency for him, and given that he is married to a racist woman who is proud of her country "for the first time," it is clear that Matthews has hit the nail on the head. If the Clintons were willing to pardon 16 Puerto Rican terrorists who murdered innocent Americans in 120 terrorist bombings, in exchange for Puerto Rican votes for Mrs. Clinton's senate campaign, who knows what mischief the Obamas and the Clintons might be capable of now that they've teamed up.
The only difference between the Clintons and the Blagojeviches is that Rod and Patty are still trying to make their fortune, while Bill and Hillary have already cashed in on their government service. They are rich white trash.
I guess there’s some festivities taking place in Washington DC today.
I celebrated by going to the lab for some blood tests this morning and will go to the dentist in a couple of hours for a scheduled appointment. Just adding to the pain of the day. :)
Question: Did you sketch that picture in #2123 on paper and scan it into the computer or did you sketch it on the computer?
It’s a really great sketch.
Well, you certainly have a fun day lined up. :) :(
On paper and scanned. :) Also, pencil sketches don't scan well - or at least they didn't on my scanner at the time. They required quite a bit of retouching in my graphics software to soften it. (which at that time was Adobe PhotoDeluxe)
It’s a really great sketch.
Thanks, fewz. :)
P.S. The original of that sketch, and others of the Bushes, were sent to them at The White House. :)
Absolutely, Amy! You know, I thought as long as we’re reminiscing, it should be posted here, too. I also should say that, while I’m not going to be in Midland this afternoon for the Bushes homecoming, I did get to attend his sendoff 8 years ago when he made his last stop there before arriving in Washington. It was an experience I’ll never forget - never having attended any of the campaign rallies since Texas was a shoein for Dubya!
Haiku with a renga verse
snowflakes descending
you could almost hear them fall
no creature stirring
hush the forest still and now
decorating every bough
Haiku with renga:
winter takes his bow
bending low the leafless limbs
carry weight of snow
falling soft as eider down
forests wear a wedding gown
Thank YOU, fish hawk! I don’t know which one of these two I like the best! Beautiful!
It is lunch time here. I will be back later. :)
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