The Girl Rocked

I heard her on Glenn Beck. I heard about her on Rush. Yorkshire provided a link to the video, which also provided a link to her own blog. This 17-year-old girl gave Nora O’Donnell a beat-down on-air and even more of one on her blog.

For those of you who can download videos, I strongly suggest you do so and send it viral before PMSNBC sends a takedown notice.

Flora Bora

I just felt like boring you with personal statistics regarding flora.

On the west side of my property, I planted a flower or two a few years ago. A flower or two died since then. Here is a partial list:

60 Negrita Tulips
90 Chionodoxa Lucilia
90 Iris Reticulata
60 Flower Record Crocus
10 Large Cupped Professor Einstein daffodils
36 Large Cupped Ice Follies daffodils
36 Large Cupped Carlton daffodils
10 Striped Squill
45 Grape Hyacinth
20 Uniflorum Rolf Fiedler Ipheon
20 Ranunculus pastel mixed
10 Single Early Apricot Beauty tulips
36 Triumph Mixed tulips
7 Fringed Pink Fountain tulips
36 Triumph Red tulips
36 Triumph Passionale tulips
19 double late Black Hero tulips
10 Triumph Princess Irene tulips
30 single late Queen of Night tulips
7 double late Lilac Perfection tulips
10 Chionodoxa forbesii
20 Camassia esulenta
30 Blanda Blue Anemone
2 Asiatic Lollipop lilies
3 Oriental Trumpet Touch lilies
4 Oriental Stargazer lilies
2 Oriental Le Reve lilies
2 Trumpet Pink Perfection lilies
2 Asiatic Monte Negro lilies
6 Iris germanica Superstition
1 Iris germanica Olympic Challenge
1 Iris germanica Supreme Sultan
1 Iris germanica Pass the Wine
3 Iris germanica Gay Parasol
3 Iris germanica Snow Cloud
1 Iris germanica Victoria Falls
1 Iris germanica Best Bet
4 Orientalis Woodstock Hyacinth
4 Orientalis Anna Marie Hyacinth
10 Dark Eyes Muscari
1 Imperialis Rubra Maxima Fritillaria
10 Blue Queen Meadow Sage Salvia
—————–
and things I don’t have the cards for (most of the trees in my south yard):
1 Burning Bush
9 different varieties of Tea Rose
1 Purple Smoke Tree
3 varieties of apple tree
2 peach trees
2 nectarine trees
1 plum tree
1 Wine and Roses Weigela (spelling?)
1 male Holly
1 female Holly
2 white “snowball bush”
1 Monk’s Hood
———
I planted a bunch of other stuff that I can’t remember the names of. And, since I do not have any idea about gardening or any such thing, much of what I planted has already died. But, dang, my west side looks beautiful in the spring!

EDIT: Oh, and my front (north) yard contains 9 upright yews that are supposed to max out at 6 feet but have already surpassed 9 feet, a bleeding heart, 2 (expanded to multiple) ground-hugging white-leaved plants with dragon-shaped flowers (and dragon is in the name).

Those Lousy Pigs Pulled Me Over

I got pulled over by some local cops around 0230 today. And the cop’s excuse for pulling me over? I was all over the center-line in the middle of the night!

Okay, enough of that. I was returning from a food run to Taco Bell during “drunk hour” and I was hugging the center line. So the police pulled me over. They checked my driver’s license, my registration, my insurance and asked where I lived (trick question to catch drunks). But they also noticed I was actually eating a taco after they pulled me over. That and I have one light that looks at tree-tops and one that looks at the road (broken fiberglass mount from before I bought the car) was enough for them to realize I wasn’t a drunk and I wasn’t a hazard to the (nearly empty) roads as I was ensuring I wouldn’t fall off the edge of the road.

They were doing their jobs to keep the roads safe from drunks. They stopped a non-drunk to gather facts. And, less than three minutes later, they let the cooperative non-drunk go without any problems.

Cudos to the police force.

Wow, Some Folks Are *Proud* of Being Petty

and what ignorant things to be petty about!

Ms. Dowd thinks that “bass-ackwards” was coined by Mrs. Palin– exibit # umpty-squat that the woman isn’t too familiar with — and some other guy thinks you can’t live an American life in Alaska.  (Based off of a quote of a guy who apparently does those “I am writing about my traveling” travel books.)

Y’know, the folks who use bass ackwards and other amusing spoonerisms– but who, by and large, don’t wonder if men are necessary, nor brag about having been loved and left– would probably look at Mrs. Palin, note that she’s got a boy in the military, see her husband is a hard-working guy, remember that she hunts and is able to look at wolves and see a large predator with all the needs that involves, rather than A Proud, Wonderful, Mystical Creature that looks really cool in a painting on your wall.

All and all, I think I’d consider Mrs. Palin a lot more qualified to decide if Mr. Dunn has lived an American life than the other way around.

Health Is Heavy

HR 3200 (the ObamaCare plan) weighed in at 1502 pages. HR 3962, the Pelosi Plan, weighed in at 1990+ pages. And the Reid Plan? Roughly 2100 pages!

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

–James Madison

Limosines Everywhere, Even Limosines Sarah Recognizes

I bet Sarah Palin recognizes two of these photos of limosines more than the rest. Can you guess which two?

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9 (the entire chapter here)

This is part of the Beatitudes. Jesus said it, that settles it; therefore, I believe it. But what does it mean? I have heard people claim that it means Jesus wants us to be pacifists. I have seen it written in such a way. But is this actually true?

I earlier wrote an article where Jesus also said for His disciples to arm themselves with modern-at-that-time weaponry. I intentionally left the citation void, but provided it in the commentary shortly thereafter.

Luke 22:36 says “[Jesus] said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”

There is nothing pacifistic about that. Nothing at all. So, did He change His mind? No.

Hebrews 6:16-18 says

16Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.

Since many places in the Bible, Jesus indeed called Himself Providence, and the Jews very clearly understood that, Jesus is Providence. And Providence, who cannot lie, has an unchanging purpose. Thus, the “peacemaker” line and the “sell your weatherproofing for weaponry” line cannot be contradictory. One cannot be pacifist while the other demands arming yourselves. And since one very clearly demands arming yourselves, the prior cannot be pacifist. QED.

Let’s look at some definitions from Dictionary.com.

Peacemaker

peace⋅mak⋅er
  /ˈpisˌmeɪkər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pees-mey-ker] Show IPA
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–noun
a person, group, or nation that tries to make peace, esp. by reconciling parties who disagree, quarrel, or fight.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME; see peace, maker

Related forms:
peacemaking, noun, adjective

Synonyms:
intermediary, conciliator, mediator, arbitrator.

Peacekeeper

peace⋅keep⋅er
  /ˈpisˌkipər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pees-kee-per] Show IPA
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–noun
1. a person who maintains or restores peace and amity; mediator: Mother was the peacekeeper in our family.
2. a soldier, military force, etc., deployed to maintain or restore peace: American marines sent abroad as peacekeepers.
Origin:
1570–80; peace + keeper

Pacifist

pac⋅i⋅fist
  /ˈpæsəfɪst/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pas-uh-fist] Show IPA
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–noun
1. a person who believes in pacifism or is opposed to war or to violence of any kind.
2. a person whose personal belief in pacifism causes him or her to refuse being drafted into military service. Compare conscientious objector.

Pacifism (further down in the “pacifist” link)

pac·i·fism (pās’ə-fĭz’əm)
n.

1. The belief that disputes between nations should and can be settled peacefully.
2. a. Opposition to war or violence as a means of resolving disputes.
b. Such opposition demonstrated by refusal to participate in military action.

As shown, a peacekeeper may necessarily be of a military force. Pacifism does not fit here. There are those who will not abide any peace and will only be stopped by military force. I must be clear here. Peacekeepers do not at all reconcile differences. They merely maintain a peace between differing people. That is all.

Peacemakers work to reconcile those who are fighting. That means, bringing the very antagonistic views to the table. And if one party refuses? The only way to make peace is to cause the warring sides to stop warring. And there are times when an aggressive side can only be stopped by matching that aggression. So, in those cases, a war must needs be faught in order to make peace. As someone elsewhere so wisely said, “Sometimes the opposite of war is not peace; sometimes it is slavery.”

If a peacemaker is not willing to go to battle, the aggressive side will just overthrow by default. And, if we’re lucky, we’ll be enslaved. If we’re unlucky, we’ll be dead.

Now, a pacifist will refuse to fight, regardless. A pacifist will refuse to be part of the military, the selfsame entity that provides the might to make a peace.

Clearly, pacifists are not the same as peacemakers, or the far-weaker cousins, the peacekeepers. And, clearly, Jesus did not tell anyone to be a pacifist.

Shove That ‘Native American’ PC Out Your Blowhole

I am part Irish, part Mexican, part Indian (american variety), part Nation of Texas. I do not show my Mexican or Indian heritage but one of my brothers most definitely does. Of the four, three have been soundly rejected by the rest of the people at one time or another. And the fourth? The Nation of Texas was what breed, again? That’s right, mainly a mix of two of the others with Europeans.

Let me be crystal clear here. I despise “politically correct” anything. If you have to add a qualifier to “correct” that means whatever that “correct” is attached to is incorrect, hence, a lie. I adamantly refuse to use PC terminology because PC terminology is a lie. It is a lie of commission. While much is a lie of omission, the omission is intentional, thus making it commission.

And this is exactly what the PC “native American” bovine byproduct is. It is a lie of commission by omission. Any man, woman, or child born of American parents is, by default, a native American. No ifs, ands or buts about it. You are a native American. And, by definition, so am I.

But I also have Indian blood coursing through my veins. That does not make me better than anyone without. That doesn’t make me any more a native of this place than anyone without. That just means I have blood running through my veins that can be traced back to people here before the European settlers arrived. So freaking what?

Every single person in this land born of citizens of this land are native to this land. And if you want to make a spectacle of my native-ness being much greater than yours, shove it out your blowhole!

Let Your ‘Yes’ Be ‘Yes’

Many people hold swearing an oath to be of great value. Whether it is to hold a public office or to give testimony in court or all sorts of non-legal, every-day junk, swearing an oath is held to a higher standard.

I am not one of those people. I will not put my hand on a Bible and swear to Providence anything. Why should I?

People suggest that means someone must needs tell the truth or fulfill a promise if they swear an oath. Does it really? If it takes an oath to make people honest, what does that tell about those people to begin with? And, what does that mean about the oath those people swore? Is there really any weight to it? I think not.

The Bible says don’t swear by this or that or the other thing because there is not thing one you can do to change any of that. It goes on to say let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” “no”. If your word is solid, a promise or oath means nothing because your word is already solid. If your word needs a promise or oath to become solid, that promise or oath still won’t make your word solid.

And for those who may wish to call me all wet for this stand, you might like to look at the Constitution, which has the Presidential Oath of Office (Article II Section 1):

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The Founding Fathers took this position seriously when they wrote the Presidential Oath of Office. And courts of law also allow an affirmation instead of an oath.

While it may seem on the surface that an affirmation is much weaker than an oath, I contend it is the oath that is the weaker. The oath presumes an oath is necessary to assure honor and integrity, whereas the affirmation presumes honor and integrity already exist. The oath relies on the power of words to do what the power of the heart cannot. The affirmation relies on the power of the heart to remain true. The oath admits someone may not have been fully honest without it. The affirmation points to the person’s previously demonstrated honesty.

If you are going to swear an oath and put your hand on the Bible, you are, in essence, admitting you can’t do it on your own, whether that admission is true or not. But if you say “yes, I’ll be telling the truth,” then you are telling people to look at your past behavior. And this is why I believe an affirmation is weightier than an oath. It is because the affirmation uses your character and past behavior to make its stand while the oath ignores everything about your character and past behavior.

Foxfier Popped Out A Baby

As some of you know, Foxfier sometimes cross-posts over here. She has recently temporarily stopped posting on her site, due to a medical situation: She has caused Washington state to be one girl more populous. And she did it the hard way. I suspect 18 years from now, there will be a new squid.