Saturday, May 17, 2008

CAN'T SAY THAT!!

WARNING!!!

POLITICAL TALK AHEAD!!

If you don't want to read about my politics, stop now!

Lovely Wife Karen and Sweet Daughter Jenna will be pretty peeved at me when they see that my second blog of all time is about politics. I think my other family members will all understand my interest in politics, but Karen and Jenna...nope, they're going to be ticked!

LAST WARNING...HERE GOES:

When I first heard about Barack Obama I was excited to see the United States finally looking at an African-American who could possibly become President. He seemed so sincere and so positive that I was sucked in. Previous Presidential candidates of color were pretty much a joke, in my book.

I liked the looks of Barack Obama and not for the reasons that Joe Biden referenced:
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man." Then, I read Liberal columnist Maureen Dowd's column where she mentioned how big his ears are. Obama complained to her that he was teased mercilessly as a kid about his big ears and he doesn't like it. (Dowd came back and said she was just trying to toughen him up.)

That seemed like a reasonable thing to be upset about, sort of, so I gave him a pass on it. Now, several months later, the list of things we can't talk about, relative to Mr. Obama, has grown to almost ridiculous proportions. I read a partial list of those things, given by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. I'll give him credit for part of this list and I'll take credit for the rest of the things we are no longer allowed to talk about, as they relate to Mr. Obama. If we do, by the way, we're accused of being everything from racist (of course), to insensitive, to mean-spirited, to, well, both lists (things we can't talk about and things we'll be accused of if we do) go on and on.

Don't talk about any of these things, if you know what's good for you:
  1. His ears.
  2. His Mother.
  3. His Grandmother ("She's just a typical white person!")
  4. His Father.
  5. His wife.
  6. His preacher.
  7. His voting record.
  8. His religion.
  9. His terrorist friends (Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn)
  10. His stand on appeasement.
  11. His color.
  12. His lack of color.
  13. His race.
  14. His experience.
  15. His income.
  16. His stand on lapel pins.
  17. His stand on putting his hand on his heart during the Star Spangled Banner.
  18. His name
  19. His schooling.
  20. His politics. (Yes, he's extremely liberal, bordering on socialist.)
So, I went from liking him to being afraid to talk about him.

Two questions:


  • Why has he surrounded himself with so many people who hate America, or are ashamed of America, or think America is a bad country, or hate whites...from his preacher to his wife to his terrorist friends?
  • Why was he so arrogant and haughty when talking about not wearing a flag lapel pin and not feeling the need to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance, but when the first sign of trouble came, i.e., when his preacher's anti-American and anti-white sermons came to light, when he set up his discussion about race, he surrounded himself with something like 7 - 8 full-size American flags. It makes him look like he's patriotic, only when his butt's in a sling.












So, I'm afraid to talk about Barrack Obama. I've never liked Hillary Clinton's politics very much. And McCain has never been my favorite Republican. He might be okay as a Democrat, but he's no Republican.

Looks like I might be purchasing a great, big clothespin to put on my nose when I vote for the next President.


Okay, Karen and Jenna, I won't do anymore political rants for at least 30 days.

WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED BLOG?

So, you know I'm old. Even if you don't know me, you can tell by the photo above that I have no hair. Not that all people without hair are old, but my eyebrows don't look like those of a young man, do they? Trust me, I'm old. When I was 20, I knew some people who were retiring at the age of 65 and I thought they had to retire because they were ready to die. Now that I'm 61, I no longer feel that way. I'm afraid to retire, though, because, just in case I was right when I was 20, I'm just not ready to die.

I want to live!! I want to experience new things. I want to keep working. I want to have more children. Wait. Sorry. I got carried away. More grandchildren? Yes. More of my own children? No! I want to live and I want to be a 21st Century Man. I don't want to be one of those old guys who's always saying, "We didn't do things that way when I was a youngster." Or, "Why do I need the Internet when I've got a perfectly good Philco 90 Cathedral-style AM radio?"

Anyway, I want to keep up with the times, which isn't always easy. I heard about these new High Definition Televisions, so I went to Costco and found a really nice Toshiba HD TV and HD DVD player. I couldn't believe how cheap they were. I brought them home and set them up. Well, I had my 28 year old son set them up. (I'm not ready to do all things modern by myself. I'm doing it one step at a time.)

The next day (not a year later, not a month later, but the very next day), I read an article on the Internet (see, I am a modern guy) explaining that HD was going away and Blu-ray was the thing of the future. My brand new, just installed, HD was going bye-bye and Blu-ray was in. So much for one of my first forays into the high-tech lifestyle. Next time I'll have to do some reasearch on the Internet. Keeping up with the times won't be easy, but I'm still going to give it a try...Blu-ray be damned!!

So, I've been hearing about blogs. My daughter Jenna has a blog, but when she talked to her Mother about her blog, I thought it was a woman-thing and I tuned them out. Then I heard some guys talking about their blogs, so I learned that blogs were something that both women and men could have. After I discovered that I didn't have a blog, I asked Jenna to help me get one. She set me up on this thing.

This is my first blog and I have to admit, I feel kind of naked ("nekkid" if you're from Utah), but I'm going to do this anyway. I've had an exciting and fun life, up to this point, and I'll continue to have more exciting and fun experiences until I die. I'd like to share my life with you. Please feel free to drop in anytime and read about me, my family, my interests, and my mastery of all things high-tech and my foibles, as well.