Toys R' Us

We decided to check out Toys R' Us for some potential Easter gifts for Kayley. We narrowed it down to an outdoor playhouse or a riding horse. She LOVED running around the toy store. Here are a few pictures I took with my cell phone as we tried out some of the toys!

A Lesson From Howard Beale

Obama's Inability To Lead

Politicians are rarely leaders. In fact, I would argue that it is not the ability to govern that gets and keeps politicians elected; it is sheer competence. Leaders are innovative and, sometimes not on purpose, take calculated risks. These leaders stray from what was and ingeniously create what is.

Washington could have became King, but instead, he laid the foundation for the Office of the President. Jefferson doubled the size of the United States and understood that it was the hard-working farmer, not the businessman, that supported this democracy. Teddy Roosevelt used mass communications to inspire a nation. FDR, during our greatest economic crisis, used the people as a main resource to fix a country; not the government. Lincoln's boldness was the glue that kept the Union together. Kennedy understood the need to cut taxes on American businesses. Reagan, in an era of big, liberal government, went against the grain to cut taxes, end inflation and a Cold War, create jobs, and direct the country on what would be over 25 years of economic prosperity.

Barack Obama is not a leader. He is not innovative (and no, a White House web chat doesn't cut it). He does not take calculated risks for the good of the country. Mr. Obama follows a cliche mold when it comes to Washington politics. And, perhaps, the most dangerous idea of his is that he is willing to listen to ALL ideas. Intellectualism and "Divine" rhetoric can only carry one so far; therefore, it is the traditionalist ideology that paves the true path to progress. It defines roles and laws. It is unwavering and consistent. Mistakes are easily righted. Prosperity is often a byproduct.

Before the economic crisis, the 2008 presidential campaign was a dead heat. However, it was Obama's cool, determined persona that drew people into a political obsession. Like moths to a street light, the American people clung to an image and consoling words. The aftermath is still not known. However, in only two months, the American people can clearly see they have been duped. Conservatives, moderates, and even some Democrats can (only reluctantly) say "I told you so."

Trillions of projected debt that throws money at the problem and sweeps it under the rug. Unethical cabinet nominations that have proved a sense of incompetence. Reversals of old policies. A foreign policy that makes our enemies laugh in delight. Instead of confidence, a lesson in pessimism.

What does this say for the reality of our situation? We elected a political robot that sounds great (beyond the pessimism), but doesn't have a clue if the sky is blue.

NBC's Kings

If your not watching NBC's Kings, you should. I tuned in to check it out and I couldn't pull myself away from the TV. After watching the show, I decided to do a little research and was quite surprised by what I found. However, instead of writing about it myself, a fellow blogger did an excellent job of explaining it for me! Obviously, it is "Hollywoodized" (coin that), but the story line could be interesting.

Hats off to the makers of NBC's new show "Kings." I'm not one to say that I think something on TV was good, but this was a show that kept me saying, "Wow. They're really doing this."

I've read a few reviews already, and I'm surprised to see how few people are catching the immense use of symbolism in the movie. Everyone gets the "David vs. Goliath" thing, but few people seem to understand that this show is not just an allegory to the story of the Bible's King David from 1 and 2 Samuel; this show IS the story of King David set in contemporary times. In case you missed it, here are some of the analogues I found tonight:


(TV) Silas = Saul (Bible)

(TV) David Shepherd = David the shepherd son of Jesse and King of Israel (1 Sam 16:11)

(TV) David Shepherd's brother Eli = Eliab son of Jesse, brother or David (1 Sam 16:6)
(TV) Reverend Ephrem Samuel = Prophet Samuel (from Ephraim) who anoints King Saul and King David. (1 Sam 1:1, 1 Sam 1:20, 1 Sam 10:1, 1 Sam 16:13)
(TV) Reverend Samuel says to King Silas "Because you rejected God's command, he has rejected you as King" = Prophet Samuel says to King Saul "Because you rejected the Lord's command he has rejected you as King" (1 Sam 15:23)
Reverend Samuel's pre-Goliath appearance to David Shepherd = Prophet Samuel's pre-Goliath appearance to David son of Jesse (1 Sam 16:12)
(TV) Shiloh = The place where God's word was revealed to the prophet Samuel (1 Kings 3:21)
(TV) Six brothers of David Shepherd = 7 brothers of David (1 Sam 16:10)
(TV) David's friend Nathan = Prophet Nathan? (2 Sam 7)

(TV) Goliath = Goliath (1 Sam 17)
(TV) Gath = Hometown of Goliath (1 Sam 17:23)
(TV) Shoulder mounted Rocket = Sling (1 Sam 17:49)
(TV) Silas' daughter dating David Shepherd = Saul giving daughter Merab to David (1 Sam 18:17)
(TV) Jack Benjamin, son of Silas = Jonathan son of Saul of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sam 9:16, 1 Sam 13:2)
(TV) Historian saying "And it happened that" = Very common Biblical Hebrew narrative "vayehee" sequence which translates "And it happened that"
(TV) Silas' commanding officer Abner = Saul's commanding officer Abner (1 Sam 14:50)

(TV) David Shepherd, Piano player = David son of Jesse, Lyre player (1 Sam 16:16)
(TV) Homosexual Jonathan = One interpretation of "Jonathan's soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself... Saul's son Jonathan was very fond of David." etc. (1 Sam 18:1. 1 Sam 19:1)
(TV) Silas promotes David to Captain = Saul promotes David to "chief of a thousand." (1 Sam 18:14)

There are more, but I wanted to point out the ones that jumped right out there. I'm surprised that the producers managed to write a story that felt new enough that many critics did not see all the biblical allusions right away. It seems as though the writers are really trying to do a modern rewrite of the Biblical story of King David. They're not trying to allude to it, they're not trying to bring in subtle details and make a new story of it, they're writing the story of 1 Sam. as if it happened today. And I think they're doing it quite well.

All that to say, if you missed Kings, check it out. Yes it is grandiose, but it's a story about the most famous King of Israel, one of the most famous Kings of all time. It should be grandiose. Critics are wrong in critiquing the show for overreaching. It's supposed to feel grandiose, it is recreating epic Biblical stories. Silas has to be a King, and wierd things like butterflies lighting on David to coronate him should happen as signifying God's selectin of David over Saul. These aren't cheesy moder devices of lazy writers, they are an attempt to couch Biblical narrative in modern images, and it's fun to watch.

Oh, and if you watched it and saw any symbolism I missed, go ahead and include it in the comments... I'm curious to hear what people found that I didn't pick up on. I'm particularly curious to hear what people thing Crossgen represents...

Joe Biden: The Blind Leading The Blind

How many, days, weeks, months, or years are we going to have to listen to the Obama Administration and its message of victim hood? Now, I'm not a politician, but does "hope and change" include dwelling on the past eight years every time a speech is made? The American people understand the situation. We get it. It's tough times. Americans just want competent people to see it through the right way. In fact, a clear, direct, confident message would be a great start (along with the filling of valuable Treasury seats during such a crisis).

Apparently, Joe Biden sees the situation, and history, differently than myself:

"Vice President Joe Biden’s discussed the economy in stark terms at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Monday night, in contrast with the upbeat tone coming from the White House over the past few days.

In a 20-minute speech in the lobby of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Biden said President Obama "has inherited the most difficult first 100 days of any president, I would argue, including Franklin Roosevelt."

“Let me explain what I mean by that," he added. "It was clear the problem Roosevelt inherited. This is a more complicated economic [problem]. We’ve never ever been here before – here or in the world. Never ever been here before"(Lee)."

Mr. Biden, in case you're reading (if so, please leave a comment), do you remember the economic times when Reagan inherited Carter's debacle of a presidency? You should. You were a United States Senator.

Here is a small list of what Reagan inherited from Carter upon entering office:

1. A recession of almost a year
2. Gas rationing
3. 21% mortgages
4. Just under 11% unemployment
5. Stock market under 5,000 points
6. Rampant inflation
7. Americans held hostage in Iran (yes, the same president who ruined foreign policy is now trying to give this Administration advice)

How did he fix it? A huge trillion dollar spending...I mean...stimulus package? No. In fact, there were 20 recessions in the 20th century and not one of them was fixed by a "stimulus" package. How were they fixed? "Over strenuous congressional opposition, Reagan pushed through his “supply side” economic program to stimulate production and control inflation through tax cuts and sharp reductions in government spending (Pearson Education)"

Reversing his "hope over fear" campaign slogan, Obama proclaimed that he'd "inherited the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression," a "crisis" that would turn into a "catastrophe," possibly "irreversible," if we didn't hurry up and get on board with his trillion-dollar package of pork, political payoffs and "shovel-ready" government projects, the largest expansion of government in American history.

At last count, the mayor of Las Vegas was seeking $2 million for more neon, Chula Vista, Calif., wanted a new $500,000 dog park, the mayor of Pittsfield in Maine sought money to patch his "pain in the hiney" potholes, and Shreveport, La., appealed for eight new Harleys for the cops and six new water slides, all with money to be deducted from our paychecks or borrowed from China.

With Reagan, the solution was the opposite. Seeking to unleash the productivity and job-creating potential of the private sector and reverse the downward slide of Carter's high-inflation, big-government, high-unemployment, slow-growth economy, Reagan's answer was to get government out of the way by way of reductions in government red tape and an across-the-board tax cut that reduced the nation's top income-tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent.

The result? The worst economy since the Great Depression turned into the largest economic boom in American history, a 20-year surge of investment, entrepreneurial risk-taking and economic growth.

Inflation and unemployment rates of 13.5 percent and 7.6 percent in 1980 dropped, respectively, to 4.1 percent and 5.5 percent by the conclusion of Reagan's presidency in 1989.

Altogether, 19 million jobs were created from 1982 through 1988, more than the total number of jobs created in Europe and Japan combined, producing real (adjusted for inflation) income gains in every income quintile. The poverty population, after expanding by 7 million in the late 1970s, dropped by 4 million in the 1980s.

~Reiland 2009

But hey, what do those pork blocking, partisan, conservatives know anyway?

Pet Projects, Earmarks, and Spending...Oh My!

No lobbyists in Washington? They're giving Obama advice. No earmarks or wasteful spending? Obama now says it's OK to keep them in legislation. Stimulus package? More like a SPENDING package to create the biggest growth of government ever seen. The greatest administrative team ever created? Sure, if tax cheats and critical job vacancies are your thing. Tax cuts for 95% of working Americans? I was hoping for more than $13/week as new legislation piles on thousands of new tax monies.

Feel duped?

You should.

Recreational Broken Bones

For the past few months, Megan and I, along with some good friends of ours, have been playing in a recreational, co-ed volleyball league. Although we haven't always been the best team on the court, playing volleyball with our friends has been something to look forward to each Sunday.

However, all things must come to an end.

For Megan, that will be a week earlier than the rest of us.

As is evident from the picture above, Megan broke her ankle this past Sunday. Along with the break, she also tore some ligaments around the ankle bone area. OUCH! The ankle was pretty swollen (it was the size of a tennis ball when it first happened) and it is gradually healing. Meg will be in the cast for at least two weeks followed by some physical therapy. I took off Monday and Wednesday this week to help her with Kayley and with things around the house. Luckily, the doctor said she can walk on it if need be...and with a 15 month old running around...need be is a lot of the time! Kayley was unsure of the crutches at first as Megan clunked around the house for a few days.

Heal quick!

Backyard, Bubbles, and Baby

45 Days and Counting

Let me start off with this statement:

I want Barack Obama to succeed as President of the United States.

However, with that said, it is extremely difficult to support our 44th president's early actions, political aspirations and ideology, and downright political stupidity.

As a people, we are transitioning to a political myth known as "hope and change" while the new American motto morphs into something along the lines of "America: the Land where hard-working, responsible citizens financially support those who single handily destruct the foundation of Democracy." Has a nice ring to it, eh?

Since taking office on January 20, Barack Obama's presidential approval rating has dropped (according to most polls) an estimated nine percentage points (68% to 59%) within the first six weeks. The Dow Jones, which opened at 8281.22 on the morning of Obama's inauguration, has plunged 1686.78 points. "That's a vote of practically no confidence in Obama's strategy for reviving the economy. The numbers were worse on the biggest days of the Obama presidency. The Dow fell 332.13 points on inauguration day, 381.99 points on the day Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced step two in the bank bailout, a 200+ point drop after his health care pitch, and 297.91 points when the president signed the stimulus bill (Barnes)." Basically, the business world has a grim outlook when it comes to President Obama's destruction of free-market capitalism (In 2010 Obama, and congressional Democrats, plan to increase capital gain taxes on businesses to an astonishing 46%. China, with its statism government is at 25%. US Companies Pay Highest Taxes in the World ).

Ever heard the proverb 'You judge a man by the company he keeps'? Apparently, the Obama administration hasn't. Bill Richardson (political donation scandal), Tim Geithner (tax cheat), Tom Daschle (tax cheat), Nancy Killefer (tax cheat), Ron Kirk (tax cheat), and Judd Gregg (saw the writing on the wall). No wonder Dems want to raise taxes, they don't pay them! Not to mention some questionable ethics by nominations that did make it through the Democratic majority approval hearings.

Then, there is the ever popular (sarcasm) stimulus bill. You know, the one that Obama praised as a bipartisan effort (3 Republicans voted in favor of the bill) and a bill that was completely diluted of pork and earmarks (which Congress,without Obama knowing?, just voted to keep over 9,000 earmarks and pet projects in the bill). The bill opens the door for socialized health care (knocking over 10 million Americans who currently have health insurance onto the government's books), does very little to create sustained job growth, gives the average American an immediate $13/week tax credit while we split the cost of the stimulus bill in increased taxes over the long haul, keeps more of the same when it comes to the failed education program in this country, nationalizes banks, and pays off the greedy CEOs and politicians who got us in this mess beginning in the 1970's.

And finally, if we can say that after 45 days on the job, Obama's reckless decision to close Gitmo without a clear plan to provide justified judicial reform to Illegal Combatants (which, under the Geneva Conventions, we have every right to detain), Obama's "be nice to abortionist" memorandum (financial support to fund abortions abroad), the 17,000 troops issued to Afghanistan without any reasonable objective, his fear-mongering when it comes to economic "catastrophe" (as he wined and dined in Chicago for 4 days) and the money-draining myth known as climate change, ridiculous attempts to appease terrorists and their organizations (and state-funded), and the continued rhetoric to blame everything on the past eight years.

Even (the smarter) Democrats are beginning to distance themselves from the Obama Administration and their ghastly tactics. For politicians are a lot like meteorologists; they forecast, easily, what is to come. And for these Democrats, visions of political careers crashing and burning is enough cause to look the other way.

How many days has it been?

Cartoon Humor...err...Truth

Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 to December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.

The Socialist Party candidate for President of the U.S., Norman Thomas, said this in a 1944 speech:

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened! "

He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform."

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher~

Ryan's Reads

One word to describe this book? Eye-opening. Mark Steyn's
America Alone is a book that every Western civilization should be required to read. Although the book is based on speculation, Steyn does a riveting job by providing many useful statistics and examples to support his research and writing.

We don't make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, innocents and non-innocents. Only between believers and unbelievers. And the life of an unbeliever has no value.

~ Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed

Nature has made up her mind that what cannot defend itself shall not be defended

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Steyn discusses world issues, in regards to Islam and the Western World, like the declining fertility rate that could potentially cripple developed nation's economies, liberal government policies that are leading us toward a social democracy which values second-tier priorities, the crumbling of Europe (where Islam has silently penetrated religion, politics, and law) and Russia (where abortions now outnumber birthrate), and the many issues that deal with the problems of a 7th century religion in a 21st century world.

Steyn is getting out the message, but will anyone listen and take action? Read...this...book.

In the end it will be America vs. the Rest of the World. Whose side will you be on?

~Matthew Parris