I have a question

about this photo:

Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy...

The caption reads:

Swiss daredevil Yves Rossy, seen here flying in May 2008, will attempt to cross the English Channel next week, propelled by a jet-powered wing strapped to his back, an aide said.

Since when do daredevils need Aides? This whole seat-of-the-pants thing has gotten more corporate than I ever expected.

I am getting

extremely antsy about the situation that's developing, and I expect I'll be totally nutty by the time I can take any active steps to find out what's going on.

I imagine the Lord is making me sweat this out so I'll learn some patience, but I can't say I'm enjoying it. The paranoid side is waiting for the whole thing to blow up, the hopeful part just wants it done so I can proceed. Neither side is handling the wait very well.

There's a Jewish saying - "Hashem Yirachem" - God will have mercy, that is often used when putting yourself in His capable hands and trusting that He knows what's best. I've been using it a lot lately, and I mean it most of the time. Mostly I am accepting of this particular hand, but the potential for success is pretty high, and the failure of this one would be devastating.

What will be will be, but I admit that I'm not learning the patience part as well as I probably should.

Why, specifically

I don't care for a certain type of liberal, particularly in the celebrity arena. I can't find a link anywhere, so treat everything in this post as "alleged."

As I saw it the other day, and Rush Limbaugh mentioned a few minutes ago, actress/commedienne Sandra Bernhard reportedly warned VP candidate Sarah Palin not to come to New York, or Ms. Bernhard would have "several of her big black brothers gang-rape" Ms. Palin.

Leaving aside Ms. Bernhard's reputation as an in your face, on the edge humorist, there are many reasons why any self-respecting person should be grossly offended by such a statement. Let me suggest a few:

• It suggests Ms. Palin should be raped
• It suggests Ms. Bernhard would like to see that happen, and would aid it happening
• It suggests that black people would be doing the raping

The issues:

• Women, especially liberal women, have for a very long time decried rape as top on the list of worst crimes men can commit
• Any woman who would recommend such an idea should, by most lights, be shredded by the usual suspects in the feminist movement
• The connotation of black men raping white women is one of the oldest and most racially charged canards in the book
  

Now, I don't need to point out that had this come from a conservative comedian this would be all over the place. I accept that this is the media universe we live in, and such statements by a liberal never see the light of day. Probably not a bad thing - normal people shouldn't be forced to read about this sort of stupidity over their morning coffee.

But this is why I hate these celebrities - the logic behind such a pronouncement (if there is any) is beyond twisted, it's repugnant. Hate Sarah Palin, knock yourself out. Campaign to have her defeated. Vote against her. Attack her policies as mean, unfair to poor people, whatever. But this sort of thing is not funny, clever, intelligent, or remotely mature. As long as this sort of thing is acceptable to liberals in public or private, I will consider it both morally and intellectually bankrupt as a political philosophy.

From the too easy department

Poll: Obama tops McCain as football-watching buddy

Yes, but we're not electing a football watching buddy - we're electing a president. I would be happy to sit & watch a game with Obama, but that's not quite the same as asking him to run the free world.

To the AP: Seriously, boys & girls - if you're going to drop crap like this up there, so easy that even I can respond with a takedown, you probably should find another line of work.

Things are

moving in a positive direction. I don't wish to say any more at this point, but I am quite hopeful for the first time in a long, long while.

Updates will come if they are necessary - these things are a long way from being in the bag, and I'm horribly paranoid about jinxing them.

There's really no need

to remind anyone of the significance of today's date. It's seven years and a lifetime ago, and I was sitting exactly where I am now, 15 minutes before the world changed. Let us remember those who fell, but also those who caused their loss and what they want for this small world we live in.

God bless the memory of the innocent, and damn the memory of the guilty.

Am I the only one

who finds it both funny and ironic that the following youtube video:

Steve Cohen Campaigns for Obama on House Floor

is coming on the floor of the Congress from a guy named Cohen?

Tom Petty

said it best. The waiting is the hardest part.

Do I need a change of scenery?

Maybe it's time the North came back to carpetbag - wall-to-wall, and believe me it'll be wholesale prices or better:




Group dangles $50K for Jews who move to Ala. town



Get that deep-fryer ready, Possum Papa, and be sure to clean out all the treyf. 50,000 smackers doesn't go far up here, but I imagine in Dothan, AL we can get a whole lotta corned beef to deepfry with that money.

I'm confused

moreso than usual, anyway, by the following article:



Gov. Mom



So the whole point of the Post's take on this interesting question is that there's a question about the correctness of Palin's choice. The author writes

"Although a clear majority of mothers today are in the workforce, studies show that the pendulum has swung back, and most are skeptical about mothers working full time; they see part-time jobs as the ideal."

So, did I miss something in the last 40+ years of feminist theory? I thought the whole point of being a liberated woman in the modern age was that you not only could, but should do it all. Anyone who questioned a woman's ability to do both her family job and her paid job (and both equally well, incidentally) was a sexist pig looking to keep women barefoot, pregnant, subservient, etc. So now we have a perfect example of the feminist ideal - running a family and a state - and we have to raise the issue of whether or not she's qualified to do both? And ask if it's the right thing to do to her family?



I for one believe in two things. First, if at all possible, a parent should stay home with their kids. I happen to think it's better for the mother to do, but we all knew I was a Neanderthal already. No one raises your kids the way you do, and if you can afford it, better to have a parent home. Second, since that's not always possible, I believe people should acknowledge that something has to give. You can't be a superstar mom and a superstar employee and dedicate equal time to both. It's not possible to do it without sacrificing something, and that's the calculus every family faces. You shortchange work or your family when you try and do both, and that's something that has to be recognized (though not necessarily changed - people survive all kinds of rough childhoods.)



But I remain confused about the sudden change of rhetoric. When Hillary Clinton is running, it's a historic moment to show women have finally arrived. When Sarah Palin runs, it's time to see if a woman is properly balancing her priorities. This should be the pinnacle of the ideal of having it all, and instead it's something to worry about. You don't suppose the party of the woman in question has anything to do with the reporting, do you?