Archive for March, 2010

…so blogging might be light.

Lucky for everybody others are on the ball:

Casey Fiano takes a pause from her pro life blogging to remind us of the small annoyances that the Obama administration brings us:

“An international partner”?? This may be an international relief effort — with the United States as usual giving far more than any other country — but that hasn’t kept other countries from flying their flags. France, Germany, and Croatia are all flying their flags, just like every other country. I doubt anyone in Haiti is weeping over the French, German, and Croatian occupations taking place because of it. No one besides Obama is idiotic enough to think that flying our flag means that we’ll be seen as an occupation force. It’s perfectly clear to everyone with a brain that we are in Haiti for one reason alone, and that is to give relief.

Considering the amount of money, time, and manpower we’ve contributed to the relief effort in Haiti, one would think that Obama would be proud to have our flag flying in Haiti. But Obama isn’t a president who is proud of his country, is he? He’d rather apologize for the United States than take pride in it. We are literally saving lives for no gain of our own in a foreign country, and he’s still apologizing.

If we aren’t even allowed to be proud of the country when we are doing a humanitarian mission when will it be.

At the other McCain Smitty has a word about St. Patrick’s day at google:

As a Christian, I’ll venture as a default position that Saint Patrick would be as excited about the attention directed at himself, and not Christ, as, say, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be.
Heaven forbid anything ever be about me personally, in all seriousness.

I don’t know it sure looks like a cross on that G to me and anyways we Catholics don’t have a problem asking the saints to pray for us. After all these guys have proven that they know what they’re doing.

Meanwhile the Washington Monthly bemoans CNN’s desire to try to actually get people to watch them.

This is easily the worst decision CNN has ever made. That the network probably reviewed Erickson’s work before hiring him, and offered him a job anyway, suggests CNN’s professional standards for what constitutes “an important voice” have all but disappeared.

The point here isn’t that it’s disappointing to see CNN hire yet another conservative voice, adding to its already-large stable of conservative voices. To be sure, it’s frustrating, but it’s nothing new.

The problem here is with Erickson himself.

Well Erickson did give me CPAC credentials so that’s a strike against him.

And if you need a sign of spring, look no further than the site of Father Z. He not only give you a taste of the birds of spring he handles the attacks on the Pope exactly the right way:

Pray.

Just pray.

Forgiveness for the haters.

Forgiveness for the failings of all professed Catholics.

Consolation for the damaged.

Courage, health and length of days for the Pope.

And he provides a prayer for those who might not have one handy.

I’ll be back in a bit, meanwhile pop in The Quiet Man and enjoy St. Patrick’s day

What is manhood?

Posted: March 17, 2010 by datechguy in oddities
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A rather silly post concerning of all things a music video and an exchange concerning it really got me thinking about the subject of what it means to be a man and what manhood actually is.

Unlike most people my age my parents grew up in the depression, when times were much harder than they are now (and yes they were harder no matter what anyone tries to tell you) That in itself conveyed a particular side to manhood as did the tales of my grandfather and reading history. There were certain expectation of men, what it meant and how one proved oneself as a man.

Modern times has redefined the rules to a large degree, some of those rules changes are valid, others are not but no matter what society says there are certain things instinctive in men that are constant throughout history. All these things come into play when deciding what a man is and how a man should act.

Many different examples have come up through history, some concerning looks, some style, some strength, some ability, some vitality and the lot, but as I’ve thought hard about the matter particularly in my current situation I think it comes down to a basic premise:

The biggest part of manhood is the ability to face what life throws at you. Life is a cruel mistress, fickle and demanding. It doesn’t care what you’ve done so much in the past, you have to live in the now, and it will come after you and try to break you. The problems may come from work, from home, from illness, from tragedy. The source doesn’t matter, what matters is that life will come at you when you least expect and try to throw you to the ground, either physically, spiritually or emotionally or all of them put together.

The strength and dignity of manhood is the ability to take what life throws and you and still arise. It comes when you can experience hurt and pain, no matter what the source and decide that, you will stand up, brush yourself off and try again. From the bully in the schoolyard, to the trouble at the job, to the pains in the body, through rejection, fear and distress, dishonor and ridicule no matter how awful the source; to rise up and cry “I will not allow it to master me.” That is manhood.

That willingness to stand up to say to the world, I’m not beaten, to put on that brave face even if you are dying inside to inspire yourself and your family saying I will not submit! To stand tall and not let any adversity be used as an excuse to surrender my dignity as a person, my honor as a gentleman or my obligations of any type no matter what the temptation. That is manhood in its truest form.

It can be expressed in as small an act as greeting your wife and children lovingly after a tough day at work, or as intense as facing and IED on the battlefield. It can be holding as simple as holding a door or as annoying as taking an insult without striking back. It can be as certain as accepting the inevitability of death or striving to live a life to its fullest extent.

It is taking a complement without conceit or accepting critique without malice. It is in the offering of aid without request and the ability to accept help offered without embarrassment. It is the an easy rule that is the hardest thing you will ever do.

That is what being a man is, at least in my book. It’s a rough standard and you can spend your entire life striving for it, but in striving for it without surrender, it will be obtained.

Barack “Don’t worry Martha Coakley I’ll come to Massachusetts to save you” Obama has decided to lay down the law for wavering democrats:

The president will refuse to make fund-raising visits during November elections to any district whose representative has not backed the bill.

A one-night presidential appearance can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds which would otherwise take months to accumulate through cold-calling by campaign volunteers.

We all saw how anxious John Boccieri was to attend the Obama event in Ohio, I’m sure other congressmen in swing districts are just as anxious to have him there.

Between this and the sudden shifts by newspapers things are going to get very interesting.

FYI around the blogroll will return tomorrow.

It is rare enough for Fitchburg to have protests, It is even rarer for a group to have two protests in one day, but it is totally unheard of for Two different groups to be protesting two separate issues within a block of each other at the same time here.

The first of the two was the daily protest against Planned Parenthood’s attempt to open a clinic in Fitchburg. Ted Turner and his hearty band were once again standing tall. Every time I come down I see new faces but the message remains the same:

I’ve known Lorraine and her sister and her son for decades. I was surprised to see her.

Therese Cross comes down weekly to protest. she has no intention of giving up.

Ted spoke about the regular protests that have gone on since Feb 8th. He said it was a good experience and allowed him to meet a lot of good people. A new zoning resolution is going up before the city counsel tonight and he is hoping that regular order will be followed allowing the petition to pass to the zoning board without being blocked by the city counsel.

As for the tea party protesters down the block Turner and the rest of the regular group of protesters to a person expressed their support for their goals. When they left they expressed that support with a symphony of car horns.

Down the block I saw some familiar faces from the morning. Anne Andrews was there as was Michael Wertz. A local reporter showed up and asked a few questions, unfortunately for the group he left before the crowd reached its height.

I started my interviews with Kate Wirtz:

I never thought to ask if they were related. Joyce Jacobs talked to me as well.

Clark Straight had a perspective that most of the other people I talked to did not. Unlike everyone else I had met he was a long time activist who was active in Republican Political circles.

The big question is why now? We had smaller movements like Porkbusters during the Bush years but what has made the difference is? Ted Turner had one interesting thing to say. He suggested that the policies of President Obama lit a fire among the electorate. It motivated folks to get involved and an involved electorate is an informed one. You can’t have a healthy republic without one.

From what I’ve seen today, the republic is healthy indeed.