The Original Musings

Be aware! The definition of racism is changing!

Admit it … almost had you going there, didn’t it?

A few little things to tickle your fancy …

Justin Bieber:  I made the statement on FB that I would be perfectly content to never hear about Justin Bieber again. Stump sent me this link, for which I was going to smite him, but I wound up laughing too hard.

Zombies: Since no one was seriously injured, this one makes me giggle.

Barry: Aww, heck, it’s just his middle name!

[...] Wednesday, when confronted with the anxiety that some Israelis feel toward him, Obama said that “some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion.”

“Ironically, I’ve got a Chief of Staff named Rahm Israel Emmanuel. My top political advisor is somebody who is a descendent of Holocaust survivors. My closeness to the Jewish American community was probably what propelled me to the U.S. Senate,” Obama said.

“I think that sometimes, particularly in the Middle East, there’s the feeling of the friend of my enemy must be my enemy, and the truth of the matter is that my outreach to the Muslim community is designed precisely to reduce the antagonism and the dangers posed by a hostile Muslim world to Israel and to the West,” Obama went on to say.

Obama added that he believed a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians could be achieved within his current term. “I think [Netanyahu] understands we’ve got a fairly narrow window of opportunity… We probably won’t have a better opportunity than we have right now. And that has to be seized. It’s going to be difficult.”

He cannot be that naive. I want whatever it is he’s smoking. Seriously. No, wait.  On second thought, I *don’t* want it.

More Barry:  Speaking of our Commander In Chief, he’s staying on top of that Gulf situation.  Honest.

Everything you need to know about some things …

American Idol season 9 — Paula Abdul left, her spot was taken by Ellen Degeneres whose qualifications for judging were debatable at best.  She’s quickly become known for stupid commentary (“you’re like a banana”) mixed in with some surprisingly accurate observations from time to time.  Simon Cowell announced this would be his final season.  No major scandals erupted with the Top 24 (a few mediocre ones, but really, it was a ho-hum group this year).  The final performance show was May 25 (Tuesday) and the final two are Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox.   Crystal (a single mom from Ohio) has been a strong, and steady contender all season long.  Lee (a former paint salesman from Illinois) has been the one who exhibited the most growth over the course of the season and though he is not a “showman” his voice is quite good.  Throughout the season, Crystal has had many “moments” while Lee has only had a couple (his biggest and best was last week’s performance of Hallelujah, which was chosen for him by Simon).  My prediction for this season’s idol:  Crystal Bowersox.  Honestly, though, I’ll be happy no matter which one wins, because I’ve liked them both from the start. 

Cutest (recent) Quip – ”DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARRAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN”

How dare you! — When they were voting on which things to include and strike from the latest edition of textbooks to be used by Texas students (which influences what will be printed in *all* textbooks across the US), state Board of Education officials had a heated debate about whether or not to include Barack Obama’s middle name in the information being added about him.

Lawrence Allen, a black former high school principal from Houston offered a motion to enter President Barack Obama’s name in a section of the curriculum that recognized significant dates in U.S. History.

David Bradley, a white businessman from Beaumont, motioned that the president’s legal name should be used, Barack Hussein Obama. “I think we should give him the full honor and privilege of his full name.”

“I am getting pretty fed up with this,” said Democrat Mary Helen Berlanger. “You don’t have to be derogatory. We don’t always put in Jefferson in William Jefferson Clinton.”

“This is our first black president,” said board member Mavis Knight, who is black. “You are making it sound humiliating.”

“I ask the member to withdraw the motion and move forward in a dignified manner,” said Democrat Rick Agusto.

Bradley did, but said under his breath, he did so, “to put an end to the whining.”

Knight shot back, “I don’t consider it whining.”

His middle name is humiliating?  Mentioning his middle name is derogatory?  Other things being excluded from the books include mention of Joseph Smith and Nathan Hale in elementary school history books — the latter because reading about his hanging “upsets” children.

Biden’s Latest Faux Pas — Brussels, Belgium is more deserving of the title “Capital of the Free World” than is Washington, DC.

[Biden] suggested that Washington, D.C., his home, is undeserving of that title — notwithstanding its wealth of global organizations and the countless international summits that take place there.

“As you probably know, some American politicians and American journalists refer to Washington, D.C. as the ‘capital of the free world,’” Biden said. “But it seems to me that in this great city, which boasts 1,000 years of history and which serves as the capital of Belgium, the home of the European Union, and the headquarters for NATO, this city has its own legitimate claim to that title.”

Biden’s Latest Faux Pas, Part Deux — At that same May 6th assembly referenced just above, our esteemed Veep also remarked that he was “particularly honored” to address the body, “as a lawmaker for more than 36 years in our parliament.”

Oh, those crazy Democrats, Part I — Remember Rod Blagojevich?  Rod thought there was nothing wrong with selling off Barack Obama’s (then-newly-vacated) senate seat to the highest bidder.  He was impeached in January of 2009 and is scheduled to go to trial June 3.

Oh, those crazy Democrats, Part II — In February, Joe Sestak alleged that the White House last summer offered him a high-ranking position in the administration if he would sit out the Pennsylvania primary against Arlen Specter — Specter was formerly a Republican before became a Democrat last year in the belief that his re-election would be secure if he jumped ship.   Sestak refused to step aside, and handily won the primary against Specter.  Now Sestak is facing Republican Pat Toomey in the election this November and is being asked to explain in detail about this job offer and the conditions for accepting it.  An investigation is being sought and the White House is promising to comment “soon.”

Well, if the Democrats can do it, why can’t I? — Sarah Ferguson, the Dutchess of York, was caught on (hidden) camera offering to sell a “wealthy businessman” (played by a reporter) access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, for the paltry sum of £500,000 (about $725,000). Fergie is also on camera receiving $40,000 as a down payment from the businessman (reporter) and making arrangements for the balance to be wired to a bank account of her choosing later on but prior to the meeting.  Sarah has since issued an apology and stated emphatically that the Duke knew nothing at all of her activities; Buckingham Palace has also released a statement insisting the Duke was unaware and above reproach.

“I don’t know why you’d care, but just so you know …” — Victoria Beckham says her marriage is legitimate and not just a sham put on to preserve the family image for their children or a business arrangement to protect their business empire.

“I don’t know why you’d want to, but you can’t” — take your iPad into Yankee Stadium, that is.  Nor can you take a laptop computer.  You know, though, conversely, why can’t you take your iPad or your laptop if you’re paying the price of the ticket and not disturbing or disrupting anyone?  I’d rather see someone on their laptop (which I can ignore) than be forced to listen to some dumbass on their cell phone.

Her voice is toxic and so’s her jewelry — WalMart has pulled Miley Cyrus’ line of jewelry out of their stores because it was found to have dangerously high levels of cadmium.  Cadmium is toxic if ingested (imagine your little girl putting the edge of her bracelet in her mouth to fasten the clasp, or idly putting her pendant in her mouth, for instance) and the levels in the jewelry were high enough to be potentially lethal.

I wanted to embed it for you, but they don’t have embed code … so …

Go watch this video and then come on back and tell me what you thought. The speaker is Bill Whittle — some of you will remember him from his blog Eject! Eject! Eject! — he’s part of pajamasmedia now. Anyhow, go watch it.

Do you have a word or two that make you pause?

I know a lady who just flat out can’t seem to pronounce the word “eclectic” … no matter how hard she tries, her tongue gets tied up in knots and she says it wrong. Mom used to trip over “aluminum.” Every time Missy goes to say “subtle” she stumbles over her own tongue.

For me, the problem isn’t pronouncing a particular word per se, it’s reading the word aloud. I have no explanation for this, it just always throws me for some bizarre reason to see the word “chaos” or “chaotic.” If I’m just using the word chaos, I can say it without a problem, however if I’m reading the word it throws me: I promptly think “that’s not right” and I have to remind myself that it is. Another one that causes a brain fart from time to time is “ciao.”

What’s your problem word(s)? What’s the word you just cannot say, no matter how hard you try? What’s the word that always looks wrong when you see it in print?

This is ironically sad …

On November 21, 25-year old Danielle Bellio crashed her car into a tree and died. On the day after Danielle’s funeral, November 28, 74-year old Ruth Bellio and her husband Joseph went to place flowers at a memorial created by the family to mark the spot where their granddaughter died.

[The Bellios] had parked their Dodge Ram Pickup truck on southbound Springfield Road and were walking across the street to lay flowers at the scene of the accident when a Nissan Altima, also traveling southbound, struck the pickup truck. Police tell 8News the Nissan then hit both pedestrians before hitting an oncoming Jeep Cherokee in the northbound lane of Springfield Road.

Ruth was killed instantly, her husband was taken to the hospital with serious (but not life threatening) injuries.

FOX News, WRIC 8News

Tip o’ the hat to Durkin, who sent it along

Three minutes and ten seconds of “damn straight!” by Kimberly Alyn.

Obama joins a growing list of undeserving winners …

… like Al Gore (2007), Yasser Arafat (1994), Kofi Annan (2001) and Jimmy Carter (2002), and is awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

While the voting for the award takes place in October, the nominations for the prize ended on February 1. What, pray tell, had Obama done to establish peace in his (then) less than two weeks in office? For that matter, what has he done now, after nine months?

On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the lion’s share of his fortune to a series of “Nobel Prizes.” As described in Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize was dedicated to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” in the past year. The five member committee has chosen to take a wide interpretation of Nobel’s guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.

So what has our esteemed president done to establish peace or to combat poverty, disease or climate change?

The committee says Obama won the prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people.”

The Nobel Committee lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama’s calls for peace and cooperation but recognized initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change. So here’s a thought: why not give the award to someone whose efforts *have* yielded fruit?

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

“Hope for a better future.” There’s that Hope and Change thing again. Apparently the Nobel committee likes rhetoric and empty promises. And evidently Obama’s willingness to throw the United States of America under the bus if necessary in order to make the rest of the world “like us” has been rewarded. Perhaps they think it will buy his cooperation in the global playing field. Will he now listen to the wishes of the UN as he makes his decisions? (He’s certainly not listening to ours, is he?)

“The Nobel Committee has in particular looked at Obama’s vision and work toward a world without atomic weapons,” Thorbjoern Jagland, the chairman of the five-member committee, said. “Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.”

Even if I had voted for the man and thought he was the greatest president of all time, I would not believe he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize at this time. Princeton University presidential historian Fred I. Greenstein doesn’t think he deserved it either: Greenstein said awarding the prize to Obama “seems like premature canonization” and could bring scorn to the awards committee. (Just as an aside, I had my title set before I read Greenstein’s quote. GMTA, I guess.)

1983 Nobel Prize winner Lech Walesa said the prize was handed out too quickly. “He hasn’t made such a contribution. He’s proposing things, getting started, but he still has to do something.”

Choosing Obama is “highly political,” said Nicole Bacharan, associate researcher at the National Foundation of Political Sciences in Paris. The Nobel jury “chose a symbol over completed actions.”

Shen Dingli, deputy dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Fudan University in Shanghai, was even more blunt about it: “It’s a dangerous thing to give Obama this prize after just nine months in office because what happens in the next three years could show him to have been undeserving of this prize. It takes decades to determine what scientific work is deserving of a Nobel prize.”

Update: For a frame of reference, here’s some of the people who were passed over in favor of Obama. From Newser.

* Sima Samar: A Afghan women’s rights activist who kept her schools—the only high schools in the whole country girls were able to attend—open under the Taliban regime.
* Ingrid Betancourt: French-Colombian politician held hostage by FARC militants for 6 years.
* Denis Mukwege: A doctor who has devoted his life to helping Congolese victims of sexual violence.
* Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition: Both work tirelessly to remove unexploded landmines around the world.
* Hu Jia: Chinese blogger and human rights activist, sentenced last year to 3½ years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.”
* Wei Jingsheng. A Chinese democratic activist who spent 17 years in prison until international pressure forced his release in 1997.

Yeah, he’s done a whole lot more than these people, hasn’t he?

I don’t see how anyone (even those who think he is the second coming) can say he deserves this award. Alfred Nobel is no doubt spinning in his grave.

It’s September 11 again.

I originally wrote this post in 2006 for the 2996 Project.

In past years, this entry has attracted many wonderful comments and visitors. It has also attracted some comments which detract from the tribute meant with this entry. Therefore I am operating on an absolute zero tolerance policy for this post this year. Any offensive comments will be removed by me as quickly as I see them. Repeated posting of such comments will result in your loss of posting privileges on this domain. If you are a new poster to this site, your comment will be held for moderation until it is approved. I apologize in advance for this heavy-handed treatment with those of you who would never think of doing such a thing, and hope you understand that this is not in any way directed at you.

Missy has reposted her column from 2006 as well, on her blog with her honoree, David William Nelson.

~~~~~

A tribute in the 2,996 Project

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Ruth McCourt, her four year old daughter Juliana and her best friend Paige Farley-Hackel drove to Boston’s Logan International Airport. They were on their way to Southern California. They were going to see friends, they were going to spend a few days at Deepak Chopra’s Center for Well-Being where Paige would receive certification in the Debbie Ford Shadow Process and they were going to take “Miss J” to Disneyland. Because they wanted to use frequent flier miles, they wound up on different airlines. Paige was on American Airlines flight 11, Ruth and Juliana were on United flight 175. They would meet up at the airport in Los Angeles, California, and begin their mini-vacation.

That same morning Ruth’s brother Ron Clifford, who lives in New Jersey, had a meeting scheduled at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown, but it was moved to the Marriott World Trade Center at the last moment. He and Ruth were especially close, she’d even instructed him on which tie to wear for the meeting. It was a beautiful day, his daughter Monica’s 11th birthday, and this meeting was extremely important to his career future.

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