Monday Morning Rant 70

(OK, so it’s Wednesday; just continue reading…..)

Monday was a beautiful day. I was completely filled with a good spirit and ready to resume my normal activity. A busy weekend, interrupted by a trip to Independence to be with old, faithful friends of the orthodox Saints variety, had left me in a marvelous mood. The gathering was instigated by an east coast friend and further punctuated by telephone calls from those who could not conveniently travel long distances on short notice. To hear their cheery voices and have some brief contact was wonderful. I returned through the 7º night with a heart full of hope and excitement.

On the trip up and back (350 miles) I had plenty of alone time and an opportunity to review the Sunday sermon taken from (where else?) Luke. My mind was filled with thoughts of the young mother who had conceived under circumstances which had probably left her confused. Although selected by God she could not be faulted for having unanswered questions about her circumstance. As usual, His choice was more than up to the job. I also contemplated the thoughts of her alleged perfection. She was obviously a great mother, a wonderful person, a guide and a superb director of the life she was charged with but, being human, was also subject to sin. She was human. Were she not, the entire exercise would lose its validity. This is not a criticism but rather an acknowledgement that as humans, we share the capacity for sin. It’s something to keep in mind as we pursue our daily lives.

Once I arrived home, I went to the computer and tidied up the “Rant” a bit for posting on Monday morning. I then retired for the sleep of the just. One little problem arose; I found my concept of “just” was not shared by my computer. On awakening, I found all my systems in near complete disarray. With one slight errant click, I managed to delete the “Rant” into the black hole of memory loss. In an attempt at recovery, I discovered my internet service had gone to live elsewhere. At the same time, the entire system came up fuzzy and I was invited to use “SAFE MODE” to reinstate it. This is not my idea of a good time. After two days (!) the system is not yet operating at the speed I desire but it is operating. This has to be a result of divine intervention because I certainly don’t possess the skills to make the change. Now I shall attempt to remember what was so important that I regretted the loss.

More on Chris Dodd

The senator from Connecticut has been dilly dallying now for about five months in gathering a response on the particulars of the mortgage he received from Country Wide. You may recall that as a “friend of Angelo,” he is accused of accepting an exceptional favorable rate on his indebtedness on his personal residence. His denials have been met with a request to see the application for the mortgage. Perhaps he has misplaced the papers.

Personally, I have a small mortgage on my property here in the wilds of the Ozarks. If I were to stand up and turn left, take one step and open the overhead cabinet, I would see a large manila envelope which contains copies of all the mortgage papers. Actually, there are three such envelopes of about the same size for each of my preceding loans which I had on property in Las Vegas and before that, Wisconsin. I am not the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee but if I were, I would be profoundly embarrassed to not be able to come up with confirmation of the loan particulars. Perhaps some folks are more easily embarrassed than others.

Reminder from the time machine

Does this sound familiar? “I did not have conversational relations with that Governor, Rod Blagojevich”

Observations on the auto bailout

The following is from Mark Steyn by way of Instapundit:

“Can you still see the USA in your Chevrolet? Through a windscreen darkly..

General Motors now has a market valuation about a third of Bed, Bath And Beyond, and no one says your Swash 700 Elongated Biscuit Toilet Seat Bidet is too big to fail. GM has a market capitalization of just over two billion dollars. For purposes of comparison, Toyota’s market cap is one hundred billion and change (the change being bigger than the whole of GM). General Motors, like the other two geezers of the Old Three, is a vast retirement home with a small loss-making auto subsidiary.. The UAW is the AARP in an Edsel: It has three times as many retirees and widows as “workers” (I use the term loosely). GM has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to a million people. . . .

So many areas of endeavor that once embodied the youth and energy of this great land are now old and sclerotic. I include, naturally, my own industry. I loved the American newsrooms you saw in movies like The Front Page, full of hardboiled, hard-livin’ newspapermen. By the time I got there myself, there were no hardboiled newspapermen, just bland anemic newspaperpersons turning out politically correct snooze sheets of torpid portentousness. The owners of The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune recently filed for bankruptcy protection. . . .

See the USA from your Chevrolet: An hereditary legislature, a media fawning its way into bankruptcy, its iconic coastal states driving out innovators and entrepreneurs, the arrival of the new Messiah heralded only by the leaden dirge of “We Three Kings Of Ol’ Detroit Are/Seeking checks we traverse afar”, and Route 66 looking ever more like a one-way dead-end street to Bailoutistan. Boy, I sure could use a poem by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis right now, even one of the lesser-loved ones.”

Reynolds comments; “Ouch. Well, things got worse because people — politicians, and their enablers — made ‘em worse. They’ll get better when people make ‘em better.”

And finally

The bird feeders (actually, 2-liter bottles) are all full for the voracious feathery creatures who occupy the view over the new deck and cause me so much delight. I often wonder about the charge that “he/she eats like a bird.” The intention is to describe an individual who scarcely eats. Obviously, a person who says this has never actively attempted to feed birds and keep the feeders full. The feeders are designed for birds the size of the finches but that doesn’t discourage the full grown cardinals from trying to hang on to that precarious perch. It’s hard to miss their colorful presence.

Again, my apologies for the computer mess. It is our prayer that each of you may enjoy the fullness of the season with emphasis on the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is, without doubt, the greatest gift of all.

Merry Christmas

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon