It's the day for sweethearts! Happy Valentine's Day!! These are for my very own sweetheart:
Got to go start the Valentine's Day feast. Yep, we learned years ago never to plan a celebration dinner on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or New Year's Eve. So, scallops and White Chocolate Creme Brulee it is!
Early Wednesday morning in New Orleans Eastan armed man entered a gas station and demanded money from the clerk and a customer. That was his first mistake.
The customer, not taking kindly to being strong-armed, followed the thug out of the store. Thug fired at customer (his second mistake); customer fired back, hitting thug in the hip!
Thug remains hospitalized and will be charged upon his release.
It looks like we're in for a nice, long spring, with not as much heat and humidity in southeast Louisiana -- Pierre C. Shadeaux didn't see his shadow this morning!
The absence of a rodent shadow is much better than in 2011 when Punxatawney Phil and Pierre had differing experiences and we had a miserable summer.
In the next few hours, we have to decide if we want to hop the streetcar and descend into the madness that has become downtown New Orleans on the Saturday before Super Bowl; driving the car and finding a parking place are out of the question. I think I vote "no."
Our puppy, Roux's Mystic Muse ("Mysti"), is up to 29 pounds. She's long, lean, and fearless. Bouie had some follow-up blood work done this week and he got a clean bill of health! The infection has even cleared up! It's so good to see our boy feeling good and back to his old precious self.
Since we're having this Super Bowl thing here (without the Saints, so who cares?), Carnival parades in Orleans Parish were divided this year -- we started last weekend, a week early, and the second week of parades rolls starting this coming Wednesday. Think happy thoughts for good weather!
Speaking of the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell (aka, Satan) is actually planning to set foot in New Orleans! If I were him, I'd wear a flak jacket and bring a food taster. Of course, there might not even be a need for a food taster -- there are signs like this posted in food establishments all over town:
Perhaps he should pack a supply of MREs. Or just starve to death in a city known for its cuisine.
The President now claims to be a skeet shooter, and to verify said claim, the spin factory in the White House released this photo today:
My first reaction -- he even shoots like a girl. Second thought? Photo shop. Next? He needs to do a little work on those arms with Michelle's personal trainer. And what's up with that plume heading off to the right? But after seeing with my own eyes evidence of what a gun-toting sportsman the Young President is, I feel certain, and secure in the knowledge, that he would do nothing to jeopardize the Second Amendment.
Small arms destruction is not an event we celebrate here at Moogie's Mansion. That'd be kinda like celebrating "International Tear the Pages Out of Books Day" or "International Shut Down the Internet Day."
Secretary Hillary and the State Department characterized U.S. participation in the event as part of the United States’ ongoing efforts to support the “rule of law around the world” and bragged about spending more than $130 million to destroy “1.4 million small arms and light weapons.” This is apparently another well-thought-out and clever U.N. plan -- this time to reduce the impact of “illicit flows of small arms and light weapons" across the globe.
Right. What's the old saying about urination and the ocean?
But, seriously -- we have $130 MILLION spare bucks just lying around gathering dust that we can chunk down a rat hole in an effort to destroy the guns of idiots who would surrender them?!?! And guess what else? Since 1993 we've spent more than $1.5BILLIONin similar undertakings!
Check that -- I think we've gone down the rabbit hole instead of a rat hole. Or maybe both.
I received this in an email today. #3 is my favorite -- I live with a guy who subscribes to that philosophy!
Things that I found helpful by living this long:
1. The purpose of fighting is to win.
2. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either.... The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
3. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.
4. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
5. I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.
6. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.
7. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'
8. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No Ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my shotgun.'
9. Beware the man who only carries one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!
But wait, there's more!
I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house. I said I did. She said "Well I certainly hope it isn't loaded!" To which I said, "Of course it's loaded, it can't work without bullets!" She then asked, "Are you really that afraid of someone evil coming into your house?" My reply was, “No not at all. I'm not really afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too."
Since Congress seems to be ignoring all the rest of them, especially the Ninth and Tenth, I thought I'd remind us that, so far, we still seem to have the Second Amendment.
Hang in there, mes amis, it ain't over 'til it's over. And Happy First Day of Spring!
I just read an entertaining and thoughtful post at Stephen Kruiser'sthat concludes the media -- MSNBC shows , in particular -- are responsible for contriving the ever-more-pronounced role that race plays in the expanding debate on healthcare (and countless other topics).
Interesting point.
Of course, the troll-ishcommenters don't even pretend to address the premise of the piece -- they just want to hone in on a few fringe folks at the Tea Party gatherings and point to their signs as evidence of a massive racist current running through the heart of the conservative movement and its like.
Yawn.
There really will not be an end to the racist diatribe, will there?
Okay, I give up — a sign portraying Obama as a witch doctor suggests that its creator may have prejudiced leanings. So what? It’s A sign, carried by someone who has no authority or power to act upon his less-than-P.C. leanings. His Mama obviously didn't rear him properly (Note for those north of the Mason-Dixon Line: "rear" is a southern colloquialism for the raising and nurturing of offspring, not a reference to some odd "teabagging" endeavor).
That sign is also kind of clever in the respect that witch doctors, stereotypically, induce their “cures” through “magic;” through nothing of any real substance, or through mesmerization at best — which is precisely how Obamacare appears to be funded at this point.
Would it be preferable to see the Young President caricatured on a sign as the AFLAC duck? You know — a “quack?” Or would that, more insidiously, be evidence that: (A) Obama = duck; (B) duck = game waterfowl to be shot and consumed by the hunter; therefore, (C) Obama = target of gun-crazed cannibals and/or (D) Tea Party protesters are cannibals?!? (I can't figure out how to extrapolate them out so they become racist cannibals, but I'll keep working on it. Any suggestions?)
I suppose an ObamA-FLAC duck sign would bring the "no-guns-near-the-Prez-ers" out in full force, though, which could be problematic in a whole different vein.
Oops. Sorry, Second Amendment and TEA Partiers — I just gave MSNBC its next story line. My bad.
*UPDATE* -- the Greater New Orleans Tea Party group had a successful picnic yesterday at West End Park! We arrived a little late, so we missed the bulk of the crowd, but a book vendor reported running out of his 500-copy stash of The 5000 Year Leap, and the "Conservative Cone" Snowball vendor seemed pleased (there's no stopping those conservative entrepreneurs, is there!)! Not too shabby attendance for an LSU football day, especially with the game being played up the road in Baton Rouge. In one pic above, taken at the picnic, the diagram seems particularly apropos of the commenters I noted above; in the other, Bouie demonstrates his boredom with the whole racism thing. (click on the pic for a larger view)
Well, as a divisible-by-5-and-11 birthday goodie, this absolutely sucks.
Nowhere on my birthday "wish list" did I leave a hint of, "A Photo-Journal Record to Watch as the First Amendment Sinks into the Denver Soil." I'm kinda partial to the First Amendment -- it's nearly as cool as the Second.
The next thing you'll tell me is that there are self-avowed Communists in the White House acting as close "Advisers" to the President. What's that?!?!? The hell, you say?!?!
And here I thought last year's birthday -- 16 hours of which were spent packing & unpacking the car and/or stuck in contraflow traffic on I-55 at 3 m.p.h. with three dogs, no husband, and no bathroom to escape Hurricane Gustav's wrath -- sucked pretty badly.
In retrospect, MoogieB'Day 2008 was a grand fete by comparison.
As events continue to unfold in Iran, and a purported democracy continues to fire upon its unarmed citizens, we here in the good ol' U.S. of A. should recognize this V-8 moment smacking us on the forehead:
The Second Amendment matters. Big time. Tell Congress.
President Barack H. Obama 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Obama:
I am writing to you once again as an Independent voter from Louisiana. As you might surmise from the watermark on this page, I was an active participant in the New Orleans Tax Day Tea Party -- one of those "folks waving tea bags around."
On April 15th, your economic advisor, Jared Bernstein, announced that you were unaware of the many Tea Parties taking place in small towns and large cities all across the nation; but, in your First-100-Days Town Hall Meeting in Missouri, you not only acknowledged the Tea Parties, you actually proceeded to mock both the participants in and the significance of Tea Parties. Unfortunately, in your belated effort to smile, nod, and belittle the grassroots Tea Party movement, you chose to miss the point intended by most Tea Partiers -- or, worse, you chose to mischaracterize it.
As a consequence of your words at the Town Hall Meeting, I am indeed gratified to learn that you are "happy to have a serious conversation" about the issues facing the nation which you believe to be the most urgent -- your holy trinity of healthcare, energy and education, joined by Social Security during your performance in Missouri. I am most certainly pleased that you and "Claire" are working diligently to audit all federal spending, even though you didn't suggest what might be the outcome of that audit. I am thrilled beyond belief that you sent the world notice from Missouri that you intend to have a "serious discussion" about how to reduce health care spending -- open, thorough, and genuine debate are the hallmarks of democratic deliberation -- instead of rolling out another juggernaut like you did with the Recovery Act. That is what you meant by that comment about "serious discussion," isn't it, Mr. President?
But, then you suggested that the Tea Parties were all about -- and only about -- the Recovery Act. Wrong.
The ill-thought-out, helter-skelter overspending embodied in the Recovery Act is certainly an element of "the point" of the Tea Parties. What you must come to understand, however, is that "the point" is most assuredly not only about the Recovery Act. The passage and signing of the Recovery Act were simply the tipping point.
In April, the implementation of the Recovery Act was coupled with teasers of what other spending plans you and Congress had yet to announce. Add that fact to the rapid growth of the federal government in the mere first weeks of your administration, together with overt steps in Congress that threaten individual freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. When all these straws came together, the Recovery Act broke the camel's back.
We camels -- we defenders of the Constitution -- coalesced, we spoke, and our numbers grow daily. That is another point. Our numbers grow daily.
Your administration's condescension to the patriotic men and women who serve in our military is deplorable; its social agenda to "spread the wealth" is a turn to the "failed policies" of former first-world nations. You and the Congress have corrupted the spirit of volunteerism with the passage of the Kennedy Act. The road upon which you and the Congress have placed the country is heading straight toward the destruction of the Republic by centralizing too much power in Washington in defiance of the Constitution.
You were elected to be our president -- a leader -- not our nanny or our omniscient exalted ruler. Please start listening to all American citizens and assume the appropriate presidential role as conceived by the Framers.
Sincerely,
Send cookies to my cell at Gitmo, and tell my family I love them.
April 21, 2009 A SMALL CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY IN TENNESSEE: “The House voted Monday night to allow people with handgun carry permits to take their weapons into state parks . . . . The House also approved a bill that declares the guns of Tennesseans cannot be seized during periods of martial rule. All three bills now go to the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey has predicted they also will win approval.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds at 6:15 pm
We gun-owners in New Orleans know just how important that no-seizing-of-guns-during-martial-law stuff is. The post-Katrina experience taught many lessons.
There are now 16 confirmed Tax Day Tea Parties scheduled around Louisiana!
Tiedye Judy has some great pre-Tax Day Tea Party ruminations on her blog HERE.My favorite is her idea to call Congress and the White House from your TEA Party to "share the wealth" of support out there for smaller, smarter government. A great idea, no? The phone number for Congress is 202-224-3121 and the White House is 202-456-1414.
I've come up with a few protest sign slogans. We've been advised to keep the signs relevant and family-friendly. One of mine treads the line, but I live in New Orleans, for crying out loud! We'll see if I take it along or not. How do you vote?
"Turn ON the Lights, the (political) Parties are OVER"
"The Tenth Amendment Rocks!"
"Size DOES Matter -- re: Government, Smaller is Better!"
Yesterday's Times-Picayune ran a nice articleabout our TEA Party tomorrow. The posts on the e-version are predictably volatile; most of the againsters are typically clueless about the purpose of these protests, choosing to Bush-bash rather than accept the fact that D.C. is out of control.
My purpose is to be part of a message -- a mass message -- to our federal government, enlightening our elected officials that our Constitution and our very form of government are being transformed, at breakneck speed, into European statism. And we will not stand for it.
I will not stand idly by as Congress enacts Bills of Attainder, using the Tax Code to punish a small group of American citizens. I will not stand idly by as both Democrats and Republicans race like giggling schoolchildren to enact a behemoth spending Bill that has already mortgaged our children's future. I will not stand idly by as medical decisions are removed from my hands and the hands of my personal physicians, only to be given to a bureau of the federal government. I will not stand idly by watching the first step in the demise of the secret ballot while American workers have no choice but to submit to union goon thuggery, and more jobs pour out of the country. I will not stand idly by as the federal government wrests more and more control over education from the states. I will not stand idly by as volunteerism is corrupted into nothing more than government service. I will not stand idly by as the Second Amendment is shot full of holes.
I will not stand idly by and merely observe as my Republic erodes into an intrusive nanny state.
The Tenth Amendment still lives -- let's pump a little life into it before the federal government suffocates it.
Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former for the sake of the latter. -- Samuel Adams
Envy is always referred to by its political alias, "social justice." -- Thomas Sowell
Curse you, Red Baron! -- Snoopy
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. -- Winston Churchill
It's people! Soylent Green is people! -- Charlton Heston
