Posted on 12/03/2009 6:41:04 PM PST by Kaslin
First of all my apologies for being so late to post the monthly Sanity Island. I got started late and and that put me behind
It’s almost 11 month since President Bush has left office. There goes no day by that I wished he were still in the White House. No matter though he is still my President and will always be as long as I live.
Today I will post photos from December 2001 and 2002, and tomorrow from 2003 and 2004
For the quote of the day I have chosen the address President Bush gave to the Marines at Camp Pendelton on December 4, 2004. I will only post the first two paragraphs and will post the link to the entire address
Thank you, both, for your kind words and your prayers. To not see or speak with my Mom on a daily basis is an impossible thought for me.....so I force myself to think about her being at peace.
Ohio, yes, I KNOW she is happy to spend her first Christmas with Jesus and that helps me.
Nord, thank you for the virtual hug....hugs and prayers are of great comfort.
There WAS something else that helped a LOT...Mom had many friends that were older. I didn't want them to have to feel like they needed to send flowers or anything really, just remember her fondly. I asked them to do five random acts of kindess in her honor....just open a door for someone or take back their cart at the grocery store. When that person said thank you, I told them to either thank them mentally, or let them know out loud that this random act of kindness was done in memory of ____ and (optional) tell them something about her. So many people wrote me e-mails back telling me of wonderful experiences...that they felt her presence there when they did the acts. Many told me how beautiful of an experience it was... Hope this helps. I'm so sorry for your loss.
My Mom went to be with the Lord on Good Friday. Worst and best Easter I ever had.
I'll keep praying for you, sweet friend. God is faithful, and you WILL get through this.
And I'm sure that, with what we're enduring right now, I won't recover.
I’m so sorry, I missed your sad news.
God be with you and grant you His
endless peace and comfort... HUGS~!
Don’t know if y’all saw this one .. it’s a goodie.
Enjoy and Happy New Year, Dosers !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3YbrXAFnUQ&feature=player_embedded#
Misses this, too, but Sen. Orrin Hatch gave
what Flopping Aces called a brilliant speech
as Pres. Bush was leaving office.
~~~~~~
Mr. President, I rise to offer some thoughts and observations about the Presidency of George W. Bush as his time in office comes to a close. This is truly a time to thank God for our country, for our system of government, and for our liberty—unparalleled in the history of the world.
President Bush served at a time of great challenge and even crisis for our country and I wish to focus on him both as a President and a person.
When America’s Founders gathered in Philadelphia in 1787, it is said someone asked Benjamin Franklin, the Constitutional Convention’s oldest delegate, what form of government was under construction. He famously answered: A republic, if you can keep it.
James Madison defined a republic as a government which derives its powers from the people, a principle enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
One way we work to keep our Republic is by the people choosing those who will govern them. In his farewell address in 1837, President Andrew Jackson said:
But you must remember, my fellow citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing.
Elections and transitions of power are part of that vigilance; part of keeping our Republic in order that we might, in the words of the Constitution’s preamble, secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Every transition goes from something to something and is an occasion to look at what is concluded as well as what is beginning.
With the inauguration of President-elect Obama around the corner and the flurry of confirmation activity in the Senate regarding his nominees and the intense focus on economic and other challenges, much of our attention is rightfully focused on the future. But we look to the future from a present shaped by the past.
Only by understanding where we have been can we have the ability, perspective, and confidence to act today and plan for tomorrow.
Although a Presidency has a beginning and an end, it is simply part of the flow of events. Presidents inherit situations they did not create and create situations that they then leave to their successors.
They may get credit for successes they did not produce and escape blame for failures that do not materialize until after they leave office. That is the nature of political life in America. While we focus on the individual—the President—I think it is more appropriate to speak of an administration—the Presidency.
There are hundreds and hundreds of people who serve at the pleasure of the President to develop and implement his agenda. All this makes very difficult even describing, let alone evaluating, something as multifaceted as the Bush Presidency. Some of President Bush’s critics almost reflexively look at opinion polls, noting his approval rating has sunk.
I do not have to tell anyone serving in public office about the allure as well as the danger of this particular reflex. Polls are snapshots, they are not motion pictures. The pollster is the photographer. He chooses the subject, the lighting, and the angle. He frames the shot and determines how the final picture turns out.
The Bush Presidency was book-ended by national crises—the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the financial crisis before us today. Not surprisingly, as the Washington Post pointed out a few days ago, President Bush enjoyed the highest approval rating in late 2001 and nearly the lowest in late 2008 in the history of the Post’s reporting.
Once again, that is the nature of political life in America and comes with the Presidential territory.
While President Bush’s approval rating has many ups and downs, one thing has remained absolutely constant: His approval rating has been consistently higher than ours in the Congress. The Web site pollingreport.com shows that dozens of national polls in the last couple years have given Congress an approval rating in the tens, down to a measly 12 percent, while President Bush has never had one that low.
We in the Congress have the advantage of getting lost in the crowd when we want to, blaming such dismal public sentiment on the institution, while insisting that as individual Members we are certainly much more popular. The President never has that luxury.
The polls do not ask whether Americans approve of his administration but whether they approve of him. President Bush knows it is tough to lead if you follow the polls. As he said in an interview last month, he did not compromise his soul to be a popular guy.
George W. Bush is not leaving the Presidency with chapped fingers from holding them up to the political wind. His critics spin that as stubbornness, saying he wants to go it alone. I fully expect many of those same Bush critics will praise the next President for the very same thing.
One man’s principle, I suppose, is another man’s inflexibility.
But as President Bush said at Texas A&M University, popularity is fleeting but character and conscience are sturdy.
The only test that matters, he said, is going home at night, looking in the mirror and being satisfied that you have done what is right.
Rest here
<popularity is fleeting but character and conscience are sturdy.
Amen. Unfortunately, Zero’s popularity hasn’t been fleeting enough, but it does seems to be on the wane and we are left with the base, characterless, immoral cipher that is Obama. 2012, my FRiends, 2012.
Good to see y’all.
Very nice. I like it
Thank you for the ping....this is TRULY Sanity Island.....where I want to be!
You’re welcome ... ;)
;) Hi Kas ... Happy New Year! Thanks for all
you do for the Dose ... we go on!!
Thank you, STAR. I am comforted in knowing that my Mom is no longer suffering and is with GOD....THE only ONE who can take better care of her than I could. but I miss her terribly...
Star, you made me smile! Thank you for the you tube video of our wonderful President Bush.....God bless that man.
Didja see all those beaming faces on our troops? Sure don't see that now a days. Nope, now the one in charge interrupts their meal and is of no comfort to them. *pittuie* on him!
This sure made me nostalgic for the feeling of comfort I, as an ordinary citizen, had when W was in charge. *sigh*, it always scares me most when Cheney has to come out and remind Biggie O of what he's supposed to be doing.
Prayers for our country....
Thanks and Happy New Year to you too
My pleasure & Thank You,K! :)
CONSERVATIVE AGAIN IN 2010!!!
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