Still blaming that other guy

Some friends and I had a lively exchange on Facebook the other day (half of which was subsequently deleted for sheer irrelevence and occasional creepiness). I had posted some legitimate and indeed very clever political satire (alas, it was borrowed, not my own brainchild). To wit:

And an overly sensitive Obama supporter went all Palin-Bushes(yes, both)-Cheney-Reagan (yes! Reagan! 3 decades after the fact!) over it. I thought this was very funny and a little pathetic. After all, it's 2012; Obama has had FOUR years. It's time to stand or fall on his own record, but no. People are still making excuses for the guy--in public! Bill Clinton makes a speech and blames, well, ...who else? for the crappy state of the current U.S. economy:

In fact, Clinton said that if Obama wasn’t handed a bad economy and was able to institute his hope and change agenda, “we’d be roaring.”

So Bush not only handed Obama a bad economy (true enough), but the bad karma he left behind made Barack 'unable' (cue violins) to institute Hope n' Change. Is there no evil that Dubya cannot do, even when he's out of office?

Update: just had to put in some more illustrations...

And then of course this one, which is too funny for words, 

of the recently fired Keith Olbermann. 

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You go away for a couple of days

And when you come back you have more followers. Welcome, ladies! (Assuming Daisy isn't a guy). This calls for the Iordachescu sisters. Yeah, I know I posted this once before, but dang--it's that beautiful--and so are they. One of my favourite all time operatic duets.

Oh my.

Was I complaining about last week's weather? Woke up this morning to heavy wet SNOW.
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Slow blogging

...due to school stuff, extracurricular commitments, home renovations (the NeverEndingStory), writing deadlines, and general dismay at the horrid weather. Wind, rain, cold, wind, rain and more wind. It puts me very much in mind of one of my fave Bowie tunes, "Wild is the Wind". Cuz we've had plenty of it this week, gusting for days on end up to 60 kmh. So I'm posting a video.  Only fault with this version:  it's not nearly long enough. Original recording of this song (1976) runs a full six minutes.

University Daze

Or is that 'craze'? Even though Mr. P. and I have eleven years of university between us (and I was mercifully spared from another four by the grace of God via an unintended--on my part anyway--pregnancy), I am not convinced that college is necessarily the best thing to start off a young person's life. You send them off with fear and trepidation, hoping and praying that they will emerge four years later with their faith and morals intact, but it's getting to be more difficult all the time. My latest post at MercatorNet. Content warning.
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I wish this had come from The Onion

Alas, it's American Spectator. U.S. will make it manadatory by 2015 to have "black boxes" installed on your car, which, as Eric Peters points out, won't really end up being 'yours'.

We'll be told it's all for the sake of (groan) "safety" -- just like the old 55 MPH highway speed limit and every radar trap in the country. Of course, it's really for the sake of revenue -- the government's and the insurance company's. Your rates will be "adjusted" in real time, for every incident of "speeding" or not buckling up. It'll be so much more efficient than using cops to issue tickets. After all, so many fishes escape! With an EDR in every car, no one will escape. Your "adjusted" premium will be waiting for you when you get home.

This, of course is just the tip of the iceberg. If insurance companies (and the government) can track where, when and how fast you're driving, it can also monitor how much and how far. But oh! It's for the children! I mean, the environment.

It's almost Orwellian, to say nothing of tritely redundant, that the bill in question is titled "Moving Ahead For Progress in the 21st Century Act." I think it should be called: All Pigs Who Drive Cars are Equal, but Some are More Equal than Others.

Mrs. B, Thermostate is looking less like satire all the time...
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Yes, men should be sensitive

But they should not dress like 4-year-old girls. Not ever. What in the name of all that's holy is Björn Ulvaeüs (guy on the far left) wearing? From our "It's just too easy to make fun of the 70s and/or ABBA" file.

And ladies, put on some pants. That is all.
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Time for a nice hot cup of Patriarchy

George Weigel: The Vatican and the Sisters...

it’s both absurd and dishonest for the media and the Catholic Left to propagate the myth that the 21st-century life of those religious women whose orders are LCWR members is just a modernized version of The Bells of St. Mary’s. Yes, many sisters continue to do many good works. On the other hand, almost none of the sisters in LCWR congregations wear religious habits; most have long since abandoned convent life for apartments and other domestic arrangements; their spiritual life is more likely to be influenced by the Enneagram and Deepak Chopra than by Teresa of Avila and Edith Stein; their notions of orthodoxy are, to put it gently, innovative; and their relationship to Church authority is best described as one of barely concealed contempt.

Mr. Weigel probably hasn't hung around these types of sisters much lately, cuz he's a bit off on the last point. The contempt is not concealed, but in many cases, open and celebrated.

Do read the whole thing, because it gets much, much worse. Remember, these are the sort of Religious Sisters who have moved beyond Jesus.

But of course, the news isn't all bad...

The other fact to be noted about the LCWR congregations — largely unremarked in the Gadarene rush to pit plucky nuns against Neanderthal prelates — is that they’re dying. 

 h/t Pundette

COEXIST

Shea comments here. Steyn explains COEXIST here  (scroll down a tad to p. 78)
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Life is too short

For all the blogs out there. Garden of Holiness, written by a Catholic convert who used to be a pagan priestess. You can read her conversion story here.
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Every day is Earth Day

For the Earth is the Lord's and everything in it, and Christ died to redeem it. Man is the pinnacle of creation, and the God-Man is the pinnacle of the pinnacle.

Just what I like in a pundit

Witty, analytical, erudite and easy on the orbs. Daily Caller's Theo Caldwell, on "Mitt Romney and the Ridiculous Modern Presidency".

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was embarrassing, what with the chanting and the race-baiting idol-worship and the “Yes we can” rhubarb that resulted in the election of this preening, ridiculous person as president. The intervening, desolate four years and the fatuity of his term of office permit us to call that phenomenon what it was: sheer, mass idiocy, demonstrating Winston Churchill’s aphorism that, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

But, his acolytes and self-regard notwithstanding, Obama cannot be blamed for the layers of nonsense that come with the job. To wit, the modern presidency is a pompous absurdity. With its giant airplanes, its 17-car motorcades, its Praetorian Guard of a security detail and on, the office demands more deference than King George III ever did. It has taken longer than most – over two centuries – but the American Revolution has gone the way of all others: The revolutionaries have made themselves royalty.Moreover, the American president is no longer the Leader of the Free World in any meaningful sense. Besides that the nation’s self-imposed, weakened economic state represents a de facto abdication of leadership, America is arguably the least-free country in the West.

[...] 

[I]f Romney’s stunning lack of star power reminds America that its president is just a person, and its politicians work for us, not the other way around, he will have served his country well. 

Pure Steyn

NaPo. 

Raising awareness is a waste of time. Raising awareness is some mumbo jumbo term that allows people the pose of compassion, rather than actually doing anything. And that’s all it’s about now. Earth Day’s a waste of time. Pink Shirt Day is a waste of time. Pink Earth Day is a waste of time. Earth Shirt Day is a waste of time. They’re all a waste of time,” he said.

So I don't feel bad for missing Earth Day. Though we did sort of observe it by spending part of the evening outside in nature --our backyard-- and having the first log-burning firepit marshmallow roast of the season (Oops! I guess that caused some carbon emissions) in between watching playoff hockey on our big screen TV. If it helps, my awareness was raised that we were running short of vodka coolers.

I do, however, feel very bad for missing Steynamite.

Here he is with Ezra.

Wow

There ain't no pandering coming out of this bishop's mouth...

Bishop Jenky (Illinois) homily to a group of Catholic men.

h/t LSN

Funniest question of the day

Courtesy of my youngest:

"Mom, where is that book I can't find?"

Don't shoot the messenger

Brian Lilley on a new tell-all book about the CBC.

CBC is a left wing, anti-business, Toronto-centric broadcaster that doesn’t care about producing shows Canadians actually want to watch.That’s not my verdict — although I may agree with it. That’s the assessment of Richard Stursberg, the former head of English services for both CBC television and radio. Stursberg has just released a tell-all book about his six years at the top of the CBC food chain and it doesn’t always paint a pretty picture.

Critics of the CBC will not be at all surprised by stuff like this, cuz we've been exposed to it forever:

[Stursburg] made enemies of people who felt CBC should make the “art-house fare” that no one would watch and bask in their own superiority.Nowhere was change resisted as much as the news department. Once upon a time, and it was a long time ago, CBC’s The National had been the dominant television newscast in Canada. Now it was third in a three-horse race and showed no signs of improving. Suggestions they should improve were met with contempt. Stursberg writes that the news department — Fort News, he calls it — felt it was above everyone else. 

I never in a million years thought I would actually agree with CBC executives, but I sure do on this point: 

One thing made clear to Stursberg was that CBC should not be involved in making Canadian sitcoms, reality shows or the sorts of American-style programs watched by millions in this country.

Amen! Not because of the "Canadian content" angle, mind you, but because they totally stink at it! What should the CBC produce? I think they should do whatever they want to or feel like doing... Let them produce Season 47 of "GLBT Beatnick Environmental Poetry Readings at Little Mosque on the Return for the Tenth Time to the Road to Avonlea" starring the ghosts of Pierre Burton and Pierre Trudeau-- in a canoe, as long it is required to compete on the open market. Let Canadians decide what they want to watch, and what they want to pay for.  

The books does indeed sound like a must-read. 

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I no longer have an excuse

For why I can't learn to play the piano/ organ, except laziness. Amazing and inspiring.



h/t Alan Yoshioka on FB.

Mr. Blurn will be so happy

And so will Mrs. Blurn. At last... the secret to picture perfect abs, without the pain and effort!

Transitional Papacy--NOT

Vatian Insider at La Stampa: 

It is turning into a foundational kingdom, created by someone who seeks to work silently, persistently and deeply.[...]
Benedict XVI is adamant that the strength - and weakness - of the Church is found first and foremost in the dioceses, in local Churches.... He studies every dossier prepared for the three candidates [for bishop] in each diocese, he examines the course of studies and professional experience of potential future bishops and finally takes a decision. Indeed, he often asks for other candidates to be presented to him if he is not satisfied by the individuals who have been shortlisted. It is a tedious and not particularly glamorous task, but one for which the Church of the next few decades will be very grateful to him.

AMEN!


h/t Shea
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March of the spambots Chapter 27

Proffesionle writter "Imogen" wants to join the team at DOH! I'm shocked; flattered; amazed. How did she even HEAR of us? My fisks in red.

Howdy there,

egad, maybe she DOES know us, Mrs. B!

I hope you're keeping well.

Mutual, I'm sure. 

 I'm just getting in touch to ask if you're in need of any freelance writing at Dumb Old Housewives - if so, it'd be an honor to help out and I would love to get involved if you have any need for me.

Lord knows, we need help. And good help is so hard to find these days. Do you do windows? Can you cook? 

I'm 29 have been working full-time as a professional writer and researcher for five years;

Have you been paying your mom and dad rent all that time?  

 in that time there isn't a lot I haven't already covered (there are a few samples below for you to check out). Anything I send over would be written with the site's readership in mind

Hmmm... how can you know the site's "readership" if you're not one of our siblings, cuz that's who makes up 90% of the site's readership. 

 - as long as you're happy with the resulting material,

Sometimes I'm not even happy with what I write. 

 you'd be welcome to publish it as you see fit and the content will be owned by you entirely (in that I won't send it to anyone else, either before or after publication.)

Yeah, we're pretty dang uptight about copyright around here, seeing as how Amazon.com and iTunes are somehow in a position to profit from MY previously published columns without my consent. 

The good news is that I'd be able to offer my services at no charge;

Wow! That's incredibly generous of you! You have totally restored my faith in humanity. But how on earth are you finding time to do this, if you are already working full-time?

the only thing I would ask in return is that I'm able to include a link to a company within the article - nothing adult or in bad taste, just one of the professional businesses for which I freelance.

If they are truly professional, they should already have an advertising budget. And I'm not really sold on the promise that it won't be in bad taste. 

Otherwise I'd be happy to chat about alternative arrangements if you'd rather not link to a corporate site.

Do let me know if you're interested, and if so I can get something written for you over the course of the next few days. Needless to say, the offer is open to any other sites you might own as well as dumboldhousewives.blogspot.com. I appreciate that this kind of offer is not for everyone however, so if I don't hear from you I won't trouble you again.

Yay! but not holding my breath on that promise. 

Very best,
Imogen

Anyhoo, no thank you, "Imogen", we already have enough proffessionale writters who write for this site for free, and who link to things that are sometimes not in bad taste. 

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