Romney the Saint

As Romney faced off against Barak Obama a few short years ago, we were treated to a lot of descriptions of him by the left:

• Uber-rich
• Out of touch
• Bigot
• Magic underwear wearing
• Religious zealot
• Homophobe
• Nazi
• 1%
• Racist
• Misogynist (remember how the "binders of women" quote was treated?)
• Etc.

Now, with his vote for impeachment, he's deemed as:

• Honorable
• Principled
• Grounded
• Fair-minded
• True to his religion
• Etc.

Sorry, Democrats.  You played the Nazi, racist, homophobe, etc. card - not only on Mitt, but also on Bush, McCain, and everyone else with an (R) behind their name for the past twenty years.  And also on everyone that chose to vote for and support them.

And that's EXACTLY what got Trump elected.

The time for reaching across the aisle was decades ago.  Your current embrace of Mitt is rich.

Literally and figuratively.  

You made this bed.  Sleep in it.

 

On Rush

On his show Monday, Rush Limbaugh announced he had stage 4 lung cancer.  

I started listening to Rush in 1990 during the Gulf War.  While I've not been a regular listener for a number of years, I've always been a fan of his steadfast and resolute conservative convictions.  In many respects, his is the last voice left of the true conservative.

No, he's no saint, and his bombast rubbed many the wrong way.  That being said, when conversing with someone with whom he disagreed, he always did so respectfully, and with an eye toward conversation.  No personal put-downs.  Just conversation, albeit with a hope of perhaps changing a mind.

I heard his announcement, and he sounded weak.  I saw his picture, and he had lost a ton of weight - weight which plagued him his whole life.  I came away from those engagements concluding that he is indeed a very sick man.  His odds are incredibly long, if not completely insurmountable.

In the wake of the announcement came the vultures.  The comments at the Huffington Post (the only area I allowed myself to read) were stomach-turning.  His impending death is being met with glee.  Unmitigated, hate-filled glee.

I won't link to that garbage and I won't say any more about it, other than if your political side celebrates the impending death of someone on the other side for the sin of political disagreements, you and your ilk are beyond sick.  

And, as it turns out, you're even worse than what you imagined Rush thought of you.  

Rush had a saying, "Rush is right."  Even in the announcement of his greatest fight, he's proving that phrase correct.

Suggestions for Super Bowl Halftime

The 2020 halftime show had a lot of stuff.  Mostly crotch.  Yeah, lots of crotch.  

It's hard to juxtapose all of the woke messages about women in space, and the groundbreaking performance of the first woman NFL coach with all the crotch, but there had to be some fit into women's empowerment or something somewhere.

Anyway, unless you were into crotch, the halftime show sucked.  It just did.  Hence, NFL, I have a list for you of some real bands that would knock the bad taste of the last lamentable episode right out of our mouths.  In no particular order:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Huge library, longevity, and incredible music.  Unfortunately, shirts may be optional, and given some previous appearances, maybe some tube socks.  On second thought, maybe not RHCP...
• U2 - Hard to have them back for an encore after they knocked out the greatest halftime show ever following 9/11, but many have appeared more than once.  We could use it.
• Metallica - Another huge library, and not all hard.  They can slow things down when necessary (Nothing Else Matters, Unforgiven, etc.) and they can tear up an arena.  James and the boys would be perfect.
• Foo Fighters - Ah, the last rock and roll band standing.  If rock is going to go the way of the buggy whip, at least have it go down fighting, or should I say Foo Fighting?  There simply is no better band for this show, and it's not close.

Here you go, NFL.  Any of these will work fine.

And to see what a real show looks like, let's revisit that U2 performance, shall we

Shoptalk 100% Women

Shoptalk is a conference in support of retail and retailers.  It's also woke.  I mean really, freaking woke.

How woke?  This year, all of their 257 speakers will be women.  Not. One. Man.

They justify this by claiming that currently there are only 5% female heads at S&P 500 companies.  Forget the myriad logical and reasonable reasons for this.  Forget the fact that retail, among all other business sectors, has been historically the most gender-diverse in terms of leadership, and has been for decades.

Nope, Shoptalk has a point to make, and men can just shut the hell up.

Personally, I know where I'm not welcome, and I'm certainly not welcome at Shoptalk.  Hence, I won't be attending this year.

In fact, I won't be attending any year.

Here's a hint - discrimination, even if it's to prove how woke you are, is still discrimination.  And that, Shoptalk, makes you scumbags.

Enjoy your conference.

Sunday Gospel - Luke 2 22:40

When the day came for the purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought the baby up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice as ordered in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord. So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law.

Simeon took the child in his arms and blessed God, saying,
“Now, O Lord, you can dismiss
your servant in peace,
for you have fulfilled your word
and my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you display for all the people to see.
Here is the light you will reveal to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”

His father and mother wondered at what was said about the child. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, “See him; he will be for the rise or fall of the multitudes of Israel. He shall stand as a sign of contradiction, while a sword will pierce your own soul. Then the secret thoughts of many may be brought to light.”

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God and spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the child grew in stature and strength and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon him.

Today's Gospel reading is a most famous one, and again shows revelation of who Jesus truly is and what his role is going to be.  You can imagine the joy Simeon felt, knowing that God's plan had finally come to fruition.

However, as joyful as Simeon must have felt, Mary must have felt foreboding, worry, and anxiety.  It doesn't get much more ominous and horrible than "a sword will pierce your own soul."  How long did she carry that worry?  It had to be in the back of her mind constantly.  I'm sure she wondered what it all meant, and what exactly would happen.

Then, on that darkest of days, when they took Jesus' lifeless body down from the cross and placed Him into His mother's arms, I wonder if she didn't recognize and say to herself, "So this is what Simeon meant..."

Blessed art thou among women...

Saturday Song Share: John Hiatt - Tennessee Plates

Anyway he wouldn't care
Hell, he gave 'em to his friends...

Winter Blues

While I'm less than two weeks removed from an incredible hunting trip with family in Louisiana, the glow has worn off.  Or you could say it has frozen off.

Late January in northern Minnesota is brutal.  Every day is the same, and it's the same because we can't go outside.  The days are getting longer, which helps, but the snow is up to your crotch, ice and snow are everywhere, and there is just this cold that feels endless.

It's amazing how limited one becomes when being outdoors isn't an option.  Sure, we can go to the movie, church, work, club, etc., but it just feels so limiting.  

We'll be in the mid 30's this weekend, and I'm looking forward to a rare January outdoor run, provided I don't break my neck on the ice.

I miss my patio, my grill, my boat, my lake, my grass, the whole damn thing.  

Hurry it up, Spring.

Why Trump Wins in 2020

The media thinks that you're an idiot.  A raving, southern drawl, uneducated idiot.

And they hate your racist, homophobe, gun-loving guts.

And sometimes all that hatred bubbles up to the surface.  Like this:

Unless you think EXACTLY like them, you're hated.

And that's why Trump wins in 2020.