Now, this is really speaking truth to power…
Now, if he’s over 35…but, he’s not a natural born citizen of the United States. Drat!
Well, maybe a run for Senate then… I’ll be emailing Mr. Hannan and asking if he’s ever considered Stateside residence and politics.
P.S. Read what Mr. Hannan has said about his three minute speech, that was ignored by the European MSM. Very interesting!
And a BTW, PM Gordon Brown was in the chamber as Mr. Hannan was speaking directly to him!
A Clinton era appointed federal judge (Colleen Kollar-Kotelly) issued an injunction prohibiting citizens with a valid permit to carry to carry firearms into National Parks and wildlife refuges. Pres. Bush issued a decision to allow firearms into the National Parks where a lawful permit would allow a citizen to do so. The reason Colleen Kollar-Kotelly gives for the injunction? The Bush decision “failed to evaluate the possible environmental impact” of the ruling.
Oh.
So, what possible environmental impact would necessitate a 44 page ruling from Colleen? Well, I guess a decision process that Colleen calls “astoundingly flawed”. 44 pages…
And what, pray tell, is the environmental impact of a bear attack on a group of children in a National Park? Or a bison charging a group of tourists? Will Colleen call the National Park Ranger Defense Hotline so the Rangers can come to the rescue of any citizen who obeys the law when confronted by one who does not?
Hhhmmm…probably not.
She’ll be much too busy to be torn away from “Earth in the Balance” or the recent Brady Campaign recent email update. BTW, it was the Brady Bunch who was a party to the suit that brought the injunction from Colleen.
I joined Twitter a couple of months ago (www.twitter.com/AmendmentX). Two organizations I follow on Twitter are the Cato Institute (Cato Twitter link) and the Heritage Foundation– ( Heritage Twitter link). This morning I got a Tweet from Heritage that shows the Bush deficits v the Obama deficits via a graphic.
Here’s the bad news:
The good news? Well, BHO promises to cut the deficit in half. So, as the article points out, BHO will quadruple the deficit, then promises to cut it in half. If he follows through on at least this promise, that means he’ll only double the deficit.
Yesterday my Mom and I were coming back from the St. Joesph’s Day celebration at Mama D’s son John’s restaurant Cafe Biaggio in St. Paul (see below). Traveling down 35W, there was a Ford Escape in the next lane with a number of bumper stickers on the back window:”Franken”, “Obama” and “Wellstone”. And at the left center of all those stickers was one that absolutely baffled me-“I Vote The Constitution”.
My dismay and befuddlement vanished when I finally realized the bumper sticker didn’t say which country’s constitution he voted.
I read with so much sadness this afternoon that Mama D passed away yesterday.
Mama was a Minneapolis celebrity and restaurateur for four decades.
When I was a student at the University of MN, I went to the first restaurant she was associated with, Sammy D’s, in Dinkytown. I had, of course, heard of Mama but had never seen her. I saw this short dark haired woman shuttling around the restaurant and into and out of the kitchen. I naturally assumed that she was Mama. She wasn’t. It was her sister Connie. I found out on my third visit who that white haired woman was who talked to the dark haired woman all the time. That was Mama.
I visited the original Sammy D’s (her son Sammy owned the restaurant) many times after. The original Sammy D’s moved down the street to bigger digs then moved to St. Paul into the old Baker schoolhouse near Raymond and Territorial Rd. The name of the restaurant changed from Sammy D’s to Mama D’s, Sammy bowing to the inevitable fact that everyone was going to or asking about or referring to “Mama D’s”.
And the stories Mama could tell!
She told me that after her husband Gene died, she came back to Minneapolis to help Sammy in his sandwich shop. Sammy went on vacation and people would come in and see a sandwich menu but ask “Do you serve lasagna?” to which Mama replied “Come back tomorrow.” Same question for spaghetti, fettuccine, veal or eggplant parmigian with the same reply. Sammy came back from vacation and his one page menu had become a two page complete menu! “Ma! What have you done to me!” he asked. So, he went back to a one page menu and then faced all the questions: “I brought my family/my office/my friends for the lasagna/fettuccine/veal/etc. What happened to…” And Sammy was taken kicking and screaming into the full restaurant business.
My Mom and Mama had never met. Mama was going to speak at the senior retirement facility where Mom worked. As Mama got out of the car, Mom introduced herself as my mother, whereupon Mama hugged her and said how happy she was to finally meet her. As Mama delivered her speech to about 300 seniors with my Mom on stage behind her, Mama said “If I were 30 years younger, this woman would be my mother-in-law.”
Mama’s husband Gene, as he was dying from cancer, made her promise that she would not forget the poor and hungry, so every March 19th, St. Joseph’s Day, she would feed any and all who came to be fed. After her restaurant couldn’t accommodate the crowd she moved it to St. Lawrence Church. I volunteered for many St. Joseph’s Days. Someplace I have a video of Mama D and me dancing a tarantella in the basement of St. Lawrence’s on a St. Joseph’s Day. So many rich memories as I read that last sentence…
And all were equal in Mama D’s eyes. All.
My first spiritual mentor, Ralph, once said never to take away someone’s dignity. And it was at a St. Joseph’s Day Supper that I saw that lesson: She was an old woman. Short in a heavy coat on a fairly warm St. Joseph’s Day. I had seen her before at the restaurant, but didn’t know her name. Mama had posted a sign “One Plate Only” to ensure that there was enough food for all. This old woman had taken two and was juggling both down the buffet line. As I watched her from the kitchen, I was going to say something to her about the two plates. I would have been right. But my decision would have been wrong. And so I said nothing, but quietly observed that Mama’s generosity and faithfulness to a promise she made her husband would result in my learning a lesson about dignity.
I also believe I was perhaps the only bachelor that asked Mama D out on “dates”. I met Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee on one such outing.
When my Dad passed away in 1993, Mom was talking to Mama. Mama empathized with Mom’s loss when Mom told how much she missed Dad and so often cried. And Mama told Mom “If tears would bring him back, I’d cry with you.” One of Mama’s favorite sayings “It’s the old hen that makes the best broth” come to life.
As Mama got older, her memory was starting to fail her (she was suffering onset dementia) and she suffered from macular degeneration and didn’t see well at all. But, if she didn’t recognize you or remember your name, you would never knew as she treated you as a good friend she hadn’t seen in a while.
It occurs to me as I write and reflect on my four decade relationship with Mama D, that when I met her in 1969, she was five years younger than I am today. What will be the legacy I pass on to those children and young adults in my life? I’ve had a exemplary tutor.
There is so much, much more I could write about Mama D, but let it suffice for me to say how much richer I am because Mama D was in my life teaching me wisdom, humility, kindness, compassion and mercy- personified.
Plus a couple of really great recipes!
Rest well Mama.
An audio interview. It was so wonderful to hear her voice again.
3-20-09 P.S. Tomorrow Mom and I will be going to Mama’s funeral.
We plan to be there very early.
In a little known story, it became apparent to me how freedom and liberty can be evidenced in small ways.
North Korea has just opened its first pizzeria. Seems the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il, thought that North Koreans should “also be allowed access to the world’s famous dishes.” Damn decent of that fellow, I say. Damn decent!
Many customers have tried pizza for the first time in their lives. First time. And only because the Dear Leader allowed it. And ordering pizza is something you and I would and have never even given a second thought to-unless it’s our watching the clock to see if we can get a discount or get it for free.
This pizzeria opened in a country where it’s estimated that millions have died of starvation over the past few years.
This is what happens when power is concentrated and centralized. I’ve written about this before.
And the real crime here: there are tens of millions of voters who will see absolutely no connection, in any way, shape or form in even a remote fashion between the first pizzeria opening in Pyongyang and the decades long and the current disaster called Washington D.C. and the article I wrote over three years ago.
No connection at all.
And just to remind you of what lies in store for you, the loyal subjects of thos ewho know how to do it all:
The Radical Left Wing Drive By Media (Rush’s term) Great Conspiracy.
Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has suggested that the executives at AIG commit suicide over bonuses paid out. AIG has a loan, terms written by Congress (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha…). Total so far : $170,000,000,000. Congress has committed to spending of anywhere from $4,000,000,000,000-$7,000,000,000,000 (trillions, not mere billions). And Congress and the president are in a dither over a few millions?
My suggestion to Senator Grassley: you people under the Great Marble Dome think you can run businesses, banks, mortgages, car companies? Well, Senator Grassley, why not gather a contingent of your like minded Senators and Representatives and lead from the front? Show those AIG executives that those of you who can squander trillions can lead those who spend millions.
From Drudge-“Bonus Mess Depeletes Obama Capital“.
OK, so the lefties at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and under the great marble dome are in a huff and outrage over bonuses at AIG. Did the greatest minds ever assembled who worked out the loan to AIG , well, how did they work out the loan provisions? What are the loan provisions? As there are a number of divisions in AIG, which divisions are involved? As this a LOAN, not a purchase, again, what are/were the strings attached with the loan? How about real businessmen looking over the terms? Are we to assume that the greatest minds ever assembled got it, well, wrong? There’s no way BHO and the Congress get out of this one. They either didn’t get it right (no surprises) or are going to try to cancel AIG contracts. They will certainly do as they have for decades- blame everyone they can see and take no responsibility themselves, unless it’s in some self-serving way (“We thought we could trust AIG to do the right thing.”)
The one big question I have is “Who gets thrown under the bus on this one?”
The same people that have brought you Medicare, Fannie and Freddie, the sub-prime disaster, Bernie Madoff, etc are the same people who now know how to run a multi-billion dollar international business.
Let them start with running their respective lunchrooms first.
And the reason “conservative” talk radio is on the wane is because there is no left wing talk radio to speak of…duh!
